Dramatic Portait

I did a photo shoot with my lovely wife, Camille, to try some new techniques. We mostly did head shots and a few with the dogs, who seemed to want to be in every shot and yet not cooperate for the camera. That's pretty typical for Chewie and Mara. Aside from the dog shots, I got several keepers and a couple I really like. Below, is a back and white close up that I processed to give it a dramatic, classic look. There's a hint of sepia tone and fairly high contrast. It's one of my favorites from the shoot, but I've posted my top 4 in the portrait section of my portfolio. 

New Lights!

Hello all,

It's been a while since my last post, but the last month and a half have been a bit busy. I hope to start shooting and posting more again.

I recently picked up some new lighting equipment including several light stands, umbrellas and a flash mount. I wanted to do some test shooting so I bribed my favorite (and most difficult) subjects with a couple of biscuits... yes, they are our dogs, Mara and Chewie (Chewbacca). As difficult as it was to get them posed or capture their random poses, I think I got a few decent shots and an understanding of how I can best use the new lights and off-camera remote flash. The blanket they are on is not the best color for the tones in their fur, but it the dogs love it and it had already been sitting on the couch. I selectively toned down the color of the blanket in post to help make the dogs pop a little more. Here's a shot of the two of them together, which is rare to capture. More pics are on my flicker feed to the right if you're interested.

Focus Stacking

I did a shoot a few weeks ago where the client wanted some pictures of the family playing poker. For one shot, I had an idea to put a hand of cards up in front of the camera to give it the perspective of another player in the game. However, with the distances and lighting involved, there was no way to get both the family and the cards in focus. But, there is a technique called focus stacking that made this shot possible. I took two pictures. The first with the family in focus and the second with the cards in focus. Then, in Photoshop, I opened the first image and masked in the cards from second where they were in focus. In the final image, all of the important eliments are in sharp focus. Here's the finished shot:

Dog photo shoot

I took some pictures of our two Yorkies tonight on a whim. Here is one of my favorites. This is Chewie (short for Chewbacca).