Rich in Spirit

-Here's a fun photo with, partner, Rene's dad and Vickie at Lincoln Park. When it comes to family photos I think I'm almost ready to ditch the reflector entirely. It would have been nice to get a little more light in the eyes and fill in the shadows, but a single light lends itself to much more natural looking photographs outdoors. With shadow depth of field I think you can get away with flat lighting as the depth and dimension is felt already. Since I was using the 50mm I had to use my feet to zoom in. I still have a little pep in my step so the zooming isn't a problem! Lit with my favorite Einstein 640 and large octabox with a large boom stand. The extra weight can be a pain but it's nice knowing my light is going to stay wherever I put it. I'm addicted to flash with large apertures, but focus on groups of people can get tricky. www.nakean.com http://flic.kr/p/iMf147

Family Holiday Photo

-I love taking family photos, but I love it even more when i get to be in them! You can try these with a tripod and a timer but I would recommend getting yourself a wireless remote before attempting with children, or with this many people for that matter! We took countless photos and just like at work, there's almost always one or more people not looking straight ahead. Too often I don't offer to take my families photo, thinking it's a hassle and a bother for them all. More often than not it's exactly what they all hoped for! Thanks for wonderful Holiday breakfast, fun opening presents, and a wonderful outing at the park! I hope we can do it again soon! Lit with a single Large Octabox with Einstein 640 directly over the camera. I think I'm in love with 50mm 1.2 L !!! It goes back to Glazer's rentals tomorrow.... :( http://flic.kr/p/iBrCZR

Little Clark Kent

-My Little Clark Kent who just forgot to take of his cape! Had so much fun running around with Grandpa listening to the theme song of Superman blaring through the living room speakers! Man this kid can lift your spirits! I couldn't help but sprint to the garage studio for my stripbox and Einstein light! One of many great captures with Grampa in the kitchen! Happy Holidays to all! lit with a single Einstein through gridded stribox camera right. http://flic.kr/p/iyqDv8

All SMiles

-One of my favorite headshots from my session with fellow photographer Miles. Lit with beauty dish from above and large octa from below.(clamshell). Two gridded ab800's through strip boxes from either side. Who says 50mm can't be a portrait lens? Not taken with a 50mm lens but it was taken at 50mm. www.nakean.com http://flic.kr/p/iuxNNZ

Sunset Senior

Here's another image of Merle posing with some swag! look out Hollywood! Again, about 32 degrees outside but not a problem for this senior and his fam! You guys rocked it. This was taken down at Lincoln Park with the fast disappearing sun right behind him. Lit with a single large Octa and Einstein 640 boomed overhead. I got all the fill I needed from the ambient light even though it wasn't much. http://flic.kr/p/ionjit

True Arrow

This is one serious Bow with an equally serious arrow. The tip of this particular arrow is essentially 4 razor blades that are serrated on the back end! You do not want to be on the business end of one of these bad boys! I still don't think I can comprehend the amount sheer force behind an arrow on a bow of this kind. This particular composite took me quite sometime before it felt right. There are countless adjustment layers dealing with color, light and sharpness to name a few. If I had tried to create this 3 months ago, I would have posted it on day one even though it didn't quite feel complete. I couldn't bear to do that to this particular image. I slept on it at least a couple nights and made incremental changes as ideas came to me. Sometimes it's hard for me to give a project, I'm so excited about, some breathing room and time. It's like putting together an intricate puzzle. No one completes those in one sitting, and when your run into a brick wall the best thing you can do is walk away and come back later! Matt brought his bow into the studio here in West Seattle so as not to scare the bajesus out of passers by in public. The background was taken at Lincoln Park near the bluff overlooking Puget Sound. I posted a similar image on my facebook page with the fence located on the opposite side of the frame. Matt was lit with a large octa right behind me and the rims were b800's through medium sized stripboxes. http://flic.kr/p/ikskvM

Strength

There something about this image that just screams strength to me. Part of it is the confidence that is portrayed by my subject, Merle. He looks comfortable which was no easy feat, it being about 32 degrees when we photographed. Maybe it's the large and beautiful trees that surround him in the near distance and just slightly out of focus. It could be the hint of sun and flare coming into the frame that seems as if it's about to burst through the trees, but instead gives just the perfect amount of glow to his jacket, cheek and hair. Mostly it's the way those brown eyes just look into the lens. Merle looks confident, strong, close, tangible. Man I love photography! Especially when I get to photograph during the best light the day has to offer! This was lit with a large Octa camera right and feathered in front. Bit the heavy lifting is done by mother nature! Man she kicked ass in this portrait! http://flic.kr/p/igk5Sp

Unmistakable Truth

You can see every light in this shot except for the main which is just out of the frame and to the right, via a large octabox. I've become fixated on shooting wider portraits as I think it draws a more interesting portrait of your subject. This one doesn't really exaggerate Matt, given the distance, and he remains in the center of the frame (most objects at the edge of the frame are what are exaggerated in wide angle photographs). There's also something I like about the exposed garage, wood, and lights. It feels raw. It seems real. My sleeves are rolled up and nothing is left unexposed. After my eyes are done wandering about the frame I always come back to Matt standing calmly and poised. I almost don't see the lights. It's as if he just about to smile. Just about to tell me something. Some unmistakable of truth. http://flic.kr/p/ib3DLr

The Kennedys

-You would never guess it by looking at this photo but it was 32 degrees outside during this shoot. Not only was it this cold, this awesome family helped carry my photography gear all throughout Lincoln Park! It's getting darker so much earlier and our plan was to shoot at the Water Taxi on Alki, however, the son had other plans! By 2:30 there was only a sliver of light left on the on the last few pieces of the pier banisters. By driving to the opposite (West) side of Alki we bought ourselves 2 more hours of beautiful sunshine! I love how comfortable this family was. It felt like just a stroll in the park with some interesting people. Every once in a while we would stop and take a few photos before heading on our way again. It was getting a darker outside and the single light would be responsible for all the light reaching there faces. If it wasn't directly in front there would be some pretty harsh shadows everywhere. This image was lit with a single Large Octa boomed above the camera. http://flic.kr/p/i9oEun

Mysterious Hot Pants

This photo was toward the end of our senior shoot. We photographed around Alki Beach and the water taxi in West Seattle until it started raining on us. I have no idea how her hair is as perfect as it is in this photo because it just spent the last hour or so being blown this way and that by some pretty powerful gusts of wind! Ok, let me address the tittle of this photograph (Mysterious Hot Pants). They were, most certainly, pink. Not crazy bright but everything else she had going on was darker. Almost 2 full stops darker! I took advantage of a little trick I keep preaching about, which is convert your image to black and white. Then see where your eyes take you. Straight to the pants and legs. I needed to tone these hot pants down and did so using the burn tool in Photoshop. It Really helped to even out the image as far as lighting was concerned. The Mysterious part is all in the eyes and slight covering of one of the eyes. I can't quite tell what she's thinking but she seems pretty confident about whatever that might be. shot with a beauty dish boomed directly overhead, rim lights on either side with gridded strip boxes, gridded and nd gelled x800 through silver reflector low and camera right. http://flic.kr/p/i8gC27

The Hunter

Sometimes the test shots are the best! This was one of the first images from a setup where I wanted to test the light and see exactly where the shadow fell on Matt's face! We both loved the natural looking pose, position of the bow and light placement. Thanks Matt for a great shoot! Can't wait to get to some more of these images. Particularly the wide angle shots we took! This was lit with an Einstein 640 camera right through a gridded beauty dish. One rim light camera left and a background light placed behind him. http://flic.kr/p/i6KmDi

Skate or Die

-Or just look into his Dreamy eyes.... I really liked how we filled the frame with Miles and his board. The compression at 105mm works well to keep lines straight and image flat. Dimension relies solely on the light and shadows. There was something so intriguing to me about keying from beneath for some of these images and I think I'll be revisiting this setup soon. Lit with Large Octa on the floor and pointed up for main. I filled in shadows with a beauty dish from above. Two rim lights provided by stripboxes on either side. The board and shoulder, camera right, or catching a bit of the background light as well. www.naekan.com, www.nakeanworkshops.com/blog http://flic.kr/p/i5QqrW

Calm Number 5

I always post the most interesting photos I take of my son and sometimes forget to post the calm and cute ones. So this one is for you Rene. Lit with Einstein 640 through large Octabox camera right and reflector camera left. Strip box camera left and behind him for rim and a light on the floor for the background. This one was shot at 2.8 giving a pretty shallow depth of field from the 85mm lens. http://flic.kr/p/i4pvfX

Ready for Action

Ready for some Football! http://flic.kr/p/i4oSb7

On the first day of Yuen Lui Christmas Santa Photos

Here was our test shot sent out to the photographer manager before we started the long day of back to back Santa photos at the Yuen Lui Studio in Bellevue. A little love from photoshop goes a long way! When there is a lot going on in your images it is best to convert them into black and white to get a real sense of depth and light without the distractions of color. In the original image all the light was focused behind Meghann and distracted from the overall feeling. I shifted the light, in photoshop, to focus in front of her and on her drawing the viewers from right to left. http://flic.kr/p/i2Yr8h

Before

http://flic.kr/p/i2YzCw

Mind your surroundings

-The more you take portraits, especially locations portraits, the more you learn to really see your potential background and potential light. You also discovery the capabilities and unfortunately, at times, the limitations of your equipment. Location work, more often than not, forces you to push your camera to it's limits. I just finished editing 60 headshot images for my client and I'm proud to say I didn't exceed any limitations of my equipment, only expectations of my photographs. Photographed with a single Einstein 640 through an umbrella with a warming cto (Color Temperature Orange) gel. http://flic.kr/p/i2NNPG

Sweet girl

-Profiles of little ones might be my favorite photographs to take. I love the shadow and attention to the eyes. This was lit with a large octabox camera right feathered in front. a strip box was placed camera left and high as a hair light. Lastly, an alienbee b800 was pointed at the background with a grid to give a nice gradient. http://flic.kr/p/i2AmrL