Fall Harvest

Beautiful skies are over Niagara County today. Autumn is here and the fall colors are approaching quickly. I plan on getting out to shoot some fall foliage this weekend.

Portraits Outdoors

This is my older brother, Robert. He is my best friend. He supports me in everything I do. Gives me drive and purpose to my life and is just generally there for me when ever I need him. The image above is an example of what I mean. I had an idea in mind of something I wanted to try out and I didn't have the proper equipment. My SB 800 is on the fritz and I knew brother owned one too. I text messaged him and asked he bring over his flash unit. He was at our studio within an hours time with flash in hand. I set the settings on his flash to give me approx. -2.5 stops fill light and used a SB 600 at ttl +.3 in a soft box for a main light. I said now I need a model and outside we walked into the back yard and I took this image. Now that is a brother. The 2 flashes balanced with daylight gives his face nice modeling and a 3D quality to the image.

I guess I'll have to break down and buy a new SB 800 this picture is good.

Spooky Promo

Summer has ended and fall is here. Our special this month is about Halloween. Ghoul Portraits.
Come in costume, bring your pumpkin or jack o lantern as long as it implies Halloween. Dress as scary as you want and your session is free. Yes...I said FREE. That is a $25 savings. Prints may be purchased from that session at our regular prices. Just mention the promo code when you book your appointment and receive your $25 free ghoul session. Promo Code is : "Gone Batty"

Lighting Lesson 03

The above image was achieved with Nikon speedlights using the CLS ( creative lighting system ). As you can see we have a commercial studio look which took about 1/2 hr from start to finish. Our goblet was placed in front of a blank wall. We used two books ends up about 2 feet apart and placed a piece of clear glass across the books on top of a small table. This lets use slide a gridded speedlight underneath our subject to add specular highlights from below. Our main light is diffused in a soft box from camera left. Our background is lit from camera right and is snooted to control light fall off. An additional light from camera right is pointed directly at the subject with no diffusion. The diagram above gives you the complete overview. Click on images to enlarge. All lights were controled with SB commander unit from camera position.

Notification

Notice of announcement that our wedding packages have been rearranged and our top of the line package now includes parent albums and a standard size 11 x 9 story book. We will carry the larger 13 x 11 story book but it will be and additional charge option. There is no change in package pricing at this time but an increase may be coming for 2009. We suggest anyone booking weddings for the upcoming year should consider booking soon to lock in the 2008 prices.

Night photography

Here are some night photography shots I took the other evening from the rear parking lot of NFHS. The first is a composite of two images merged together in photo shop to bring back the detail in the window areas which other wise would have blown out. The second image didn't have the high contrast problems as the first so I used the car roof as a tripod and did a long exposure the achieve the great clarity. It had just stopped raining and the foreground reflections were an added bonus.

Lighting Lesson 02

Studio quality lighting is easily achieved with the Nikon CLS ( creative lighting system ). The diagram shows you the technical specs. of the image. A black bed sheet was draped behind the subject for a quick background. Click on images to enlarge.