Real_Smiles

A couple of my favorite dudes! Love these guys and glad we could get some real smiles! Thanks for helping me test out my new grid for my beauty dish. A tiny investement on a huge amount of control of light! Simple enough setup.... Beauty dish above and reflector below for fill. Just a hint of background light on the black paper behind them! http://flic.kr/p/h1haef

Centered-

Here's a fun shot of David at the school we were photographing student portraits at. Lit with a single 64" PLM (Huge silver umbrella) directly behind me. I love the way the light falls off to the edges. I would have loved to have added a little hair light but the wide angle didn't really allow for one to not be in the frame. It was shot at 17mm on a full frame. The more I think about it the more I wish I would have used the giant spot light behind him and the camera right and pointed it at him while placing a strobe in front of it. This way I would have an excuse to have a light in the photograph! If stage lights were on it would have really added as well but I didn't want to go poking around the school when we were really just there to photograph the children. Thanks David! http://flic.kr/p/gNsmxQ

Beautiful Blues-

www.nakean.com Another Headshot of Rene Bibaud. Love her smile and those blue eyes! When she's not jumping rope and performing she's either teaching other children and adults to jump like the world class athelete she is or she's updateing her blog with information on how to jump. Check it out at www.learntojumprope.com this was lit with Einstein 640 through a beauty dish boomed overhead and two ab800's through stripboxes on either side. It was shot at 150mm at f9. WIth the longer lens even f9 gives a more shalow depth of field and helps to create a more realistic and almost 3 dimensional feel. Just white background with no light on it which fades to a nice grey. This also makes it fairly easy to cut out if needed. http://flic.kr/p/gMJLoD

Chicago

Don't be afraid to shoot at high ISO with today's(or yesterdays) DSLRs! Today during a lull in our day I had an itch to take a portrait that didn't involve forcing a highschool student to smile and take a yearbook image. Thanks David! This photograph was taken at iso 1250 at f4 to use as much ambient light from the sign as possible. This all on the older 5DmkII. Still a wonderful portrait camera! The signs lights help illuminate David's hair and separate him from the background. I also used a gridded light through an 8 inch reflector High above the subject to give that stage lighting presence. I tried to ad just a bit of rim to the camera right side of davide with the a large plm wihtout drawing attention to the light itslef. http://flic.kr/p/gKz2hk

Leading Lines

An image a couple definitely in love! I love the leading lines of the bridge in this image. They draw your eye right to the couples embrace. It was an overcast day which was great for lighting but challenging to keep the background bright enough. Shadow recovery to the rescue with Lightroom! Photographed with Large Octabox boomed overhead with Einstein 640. http://flic.kr/p/gH4Lw9

Trails of Happiness

Another favorite of a sweet couple at the Arboretum. There's so much that I love about this image and had to share with them and everyone else! I'm back to an old workflow which includes sharpening the image before retouching. I think it does wonders to keep skin looking like skin. I'll post a video soon showing the before and after retouches and why the small digital image doesn't do this portrait justice. www.nakean.com http://flic.kr/p/gARgCp

We did it!

The ladies showing their mad ups after the weight of the wedding ceremony was lifted from everyones' shoulders. I don't know how Holly managed to get that high with a dress that heavy and that form fitting! Thanks girls for being so awesome and helping me have fun on your special day! Lit with single large Octabox just boomed over my head while I lay on the ground to snap this image. Miles keep an eye on that boom for me my man! http://flic.kr/p/gqWK4Q

Alki and Juliet

Love this shot of Juliet at Alki beach. This was our last stop before shooting indoors at the studio for her senior portrait session. The rain ensued 60 seconds after this image was captured. I love shooting wide open with nice soft light! It really helps to sell a natural looking photograph. Lit with Einstein 640 through a large softbox camera right and feathered in front of Juliet. Shot at f2.8 around 130mm. www.nakean.com http://flic.kr/p/gnHa2f

Beautiful Boy

Sure wish I got to see this face every morning! Working early hours makes it impossible but on the day when I do, I can't help but smile ear to ear! Morning everyone and Happy Friday! Lit with a large octobox boomed overhead and two strip boxes lighting the seamless background. http://flic.kr/p/gn7vzi

Ellen n Maya

Love these two beautiful ladies! Thanks for such a fun shoot! Not many mothers and daughters can both do the splits! Yeah, you read correctly, both took a photo doing the splits (posting soon) in the studio! Even more than myself, my son adores these awesome women and really perks up anytime they come to visit! Thanks for being part of our lives and including me in so much of yours as I enjoy capturing every moment! Lit with Einstein through large Octabox Camera right with silver reflector camera left. Two ab800's through Strip boxes on either side behind subjects and ab800 on almost no power behind for background light/separation. http://flic.kr/p/gmue44

Ropeworks Owner

Meet my Partner Rene. World Renown Jumproper extraordinaire! This woman can get a 3 year to do double dutch, She holds world records for speed jumping, but mostly, she just makes jumping rope look easy. It's anything but, however, she manages to pull off the most difficult of tricks with this exact smile on her face! That's show"woman"ship! Check out her blog at www.Learntojumprope.com This was lit with a single beauty dish boomed overhead with Einstein 640. Fill is with a large silver reflector below. No background light or rim lights. Background is a white seamless and I just love how it's a nice gradient grey. It's also great to have a strobe which allows you to shoot at 2.8 as this photo is. http://flic.kr/p/gieBSr