Prepping for the jump

Here is the beautiful bride and her bride's maids and the lovely flower girl moments before their jump photograph. I spent a good few minutes on my belly on this pier and it was well worth it. There was, however, a moment of momentary laps by that of my assistant in which my light (I was directly under) toppled over onto me! I was glad to have my giant softbox on at the time which completely cushened the fall. The look on their faces was priceless! Stay tuned. Shot with a sing large octobox just above my head. If you look hard enough of you can make out the spaceneedle and seattle skyline. http://flic.kr/p/fDTonM

Confidence

Christoph Mayr posted up on the bridge at Bothel Landing. One of the 4 seniors I photographed that day. Thanks for all your help carying gear and posing for photos! This was definately one of my favorites from the shoot. Lit with Large Octa Camera left. I thought I was done taking this giant outdoors, but the light is just too gorgeous not to use it. I don't believe in compromise when it comes to great portraits! I'll let someone else do that. http://flic.kr/p/fCSr8b

All smiles

Had a busy weekend with a wedding and 4 senior portraits in 3 hours the following day! Here's one of @Maya showin how it's done at Bothel Landing Park. Thanks for bringing your friends to help me lug my gear around and take some photos as well! It was a ton of fun and I hope to take some more soon! If you're looking for senior portraits let me know! This shot was lit with Large Octabox camera right. An ab800 was placed behind her and camera left for the rim light on the hair and I had my lovely assistant shading Maya from the direct sun with a diffuser panel. http://flic.kr/p/fCuehW

Big Bosses

Had to share thIs epic shot of the Groom and groom's men at the West Seattle Jack Block Park. Had a great day taking the wedding photos and meeting the family. They couldn't have been more welcoming! Can't wait to share more. Stay tuned! I prayed to the cloud gods and they answered with a beautiful blanket of sun diffusing clouds! This was lit with a single giant softbox camera left and feathered to the right quite a bit. About 600ws pumping through the white lightning to get f13 at 1/60th of a second. Very little photoshop needed. http://flic.kr/p/fBFdhm

A thin line Jumper

Here's Danielle performing the Leg over at Hiawatha Park in West Seattle. With sun behind her, I'm finally getting the seperation I want from the images. It's not in the best spot to shoot (almost directly overhead) but I've learned to work with that mangy ball in the sky in just about any position and condition. Here the 64" PLM is boomed overhead at a little more heigt than her eye level. I am laying on the ground with the camera actually resting on the track quite aways away. I'm using the 85mm and I have it stopped down a few stops at f2.8 My shutter is, you guessed it, 1/1250. The DOF really helps take some attention off of the flash and provides a more natural looking photograph in my opinion. What do you guys and gals think? http://flic.kr/p/fymEpQ

Poised and ready to jump

Here's the very begining of our shoot at West Seattle highschool. Jessica was nice enough to pose for Rene and I after assisting Rene in teaching a jumprope class for kids. I'm still having a ball trying to understand what I can achieve with faster shutter speeds and flash. It's something you have experiment with quite a bit to get right because you don't get every ounce of your flash power with each pop. No meter will be able to tell you if you are exposed correctly. Thank god for digital!!! Here I have a 64" PLM boomed overhead with my interfit exd400 doing all the heavy lifting. It's shot with my 17-50mm lens at f4 and the speed is the 1/1250 that I've had good luck with in the past. I'm waiting to do some test shots in the studio to find what shutter speeds and power settings work best on the stobe. http://flic.kr/p/fy4RzW

Washington Summer Drive

Riding in the back of a gorgous classic car a few years back. Couldn't help but take this shot. So natural, so free. Can't beat Washington summers! Sometimes it's fun to go back and revisit older photos with what newer sofware has to offer. Not only the newer software but as the years go by my retouching hand tends to become softer and more natural. I'm less infatuated with sharpening, and I find it easier to take a look at an image as a whole. Take a look at your images in thumbnail view. Don't get lost in the zoom. Often this will help you decide, whether an image is worth editing/posting or not. http://flic.kr/p/fxzJTM

Park Bench View

Just finished the last appointment at BeaverLake Park on the Eastside and had to snap a few from the park bench. Such a peacful park on a gorgeous day. Single exposure with shadows brought up and highlights recovered in Lightroom. THIS IS WHY YOU SHOOT RAW! now for another 12 hour day shooting portraits for Yuen Lui! Fasten your seatbelts and place your seat in the most upright position. Working on glitch on the website, but you can still see my work at portfolio.nakean.com http://flic.kr/p/fwHdCU

Julie

An all natural light shot at Lincoln Park with the Trusty 85mm 1.2. I sht at f2 to get a little more DOF here and used a reflector just below and to the right to bring a little more of that gorgeous light in. We worked hard for this one with the last direction being a little dip in that front shoulder. Photography is a game of inches folks! http://flic.kr/p/fw3q3k

Ikea Smiles

Gotta love these guys! Just finished our little Ikea prject and now it's time to bask in our success, quite lterally! Gotta love that natural light! http://flic.kr/p/fvEPhm

CJ's Hog

Playing around with High Speed sync once again. Had to get a shot my son's ride in the backyard! Lit with giant Octa camera left. Again shot at 1250 shutter speed at f2.8. http://flic.kr/p/fuSXEn

Beach Wedding

A beautiful beach and an even more gorgeous couple sharing moments together just after tying the knot! Thanks to Daniel Nguyen for holding my 6 foot scrim on the seriously windy beach! Wouldn't have been able to get this shot without you! All natural light with aforementioned giant scrim to block the direct sunlight. http://flic.kr/p/fusyTW

Freeze Jump

Playing around with a form of high speed sync in the back yard. I had my 580exII on the camera set to hypersync. On top of the flash I taped am optical slave peanut which was connected to trigger a wireless radio trigger. This, in turn, triggers my strobe and allows me to sync at much higher sync speeds. This particular shot was shot at f2.8 and a SHUTTER SPEED OF 1/1250 !!!!! Enough to freeze some serious action! I'm looking for some athletes to capture doing their thang! Hit me up and let's make art! http://flic.kr/p/ftywhf

Check out my bike

Hanging out with my son in the backyard, moving equipment from the car back into the studio. Funny how I always end up taking a photo when this happens. I used my large baffled softbox for this (I swore I wouldn't shoot with this modifier outside again since it is so heavy) but the light is just soooo beautiful! I also put a 1/4 cto warming gel on the light to help match the ambient. Lit with single interfit exd400 boomed overhead and using sun for rim light. http://flic.kr/p/fthmA4

Melanie

A head shot with Melanie at the West Seattle studio. It's important to use the same modifiers when matching portraits as they can change the color temperature of your shots. You're probably thinking, "just white balance and you're good!" Problem with that is your if you change the color balance and then use your key for the white balance your will inadvertently change both your hair light temperature and your background temperature. The latter of which you client will surely notice when placing images side by side for something like a website or directory. Consistency is everything! Lit with Interfit ex400 camera right and large reflector camera left. Hair light boomed overhead with gridded striplight to keep spill from hitting background and her shoulders. Another alienbee b800 behind for the background light. Have a great Monday everyone! http://flic.kr/p/fsRXHz

Wickliff Family at Alki

A great time with my family at Seacrest Park! Lit with a single x1600 barely camera left. I got lucky and sun dipped behind some clouds for just a while! http://flic.kr/p/fsrNyo

Watching over Loved ones

Hangin out at Hiawatha Park in West Seattle just a couple hours before sunset with our son. When Seattle's sunny it's got to be one of the most gorgeous places ever! No light, no reflector, just my trust 85 f1.8 Such a great little walk around lens for portraits. Super small and light and at the same time it delivers! http://flic.kr/p/frvjAb

Julie

A photo I took with Irish Folk singer at Lincoln Park in search for an album cover. One of my favorites by far! Lit with large PLM camera right. http://flic.kr/p/frafD1

My True Colors

It's football season baby! Go Hawks! http://flic.kr/p/fqQY61

The Wickliff's Future Generation

Most of the time photographing Portraits doesn't feel like work. This is made even more true when photographing family. Thanks for coming to se me on my home Turf in West Seattle! I had an absolute blast meeting some of the new additions to family (new to me). This particular shot was made with a single light camera left (mostly just in front of subjects) and a reflector camera right. I tried to match the ambient light best I could so as not to draw attention to the flash used (white lightning x1600 through halo soflighter. Shoot me an email if you're interested in family photos! photos@nakean.com http://flic.kr/p/fqhPgP

Jumpin with J

This kid's going somewhere! Great attitude. Awesome jumper and just dang cute! Showin us how the cross is done here in the studio. Bit of Motion blur but the new photoshop cc ate it for breakfast using the new camera shake reduction tool! Lit with small speedlites in pop up softboxes on either side of him and a large octabox camera right. Large silver reflector camera left for some fill. I'm getting addicted to capturing movement! http://flic.kr/p/fq4Q2r