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

Beautiful Bokeh

Just finished editing another set of headshots for Group Health. I twas fairly dark outside today I needed to bump my iso up to ISO400 in order to balance the ambient outside. This also meant that there was a fair amount of ambient light coming from light fixtures nearby. It was critical that I white balanced correctly so as to keep the tones natural looking and consistent with other images I've done in different conditions. The building behind is outside while we are in and on the other side of the street which creates the nice bokeh (blurriness) in this image. Tis the season for headshots. Got yours? http://flic.kr/p/hFUNQv

Shing blues

Here's a photo of my best friend I've known since we were 6 and 7 years old! One might think I've taken a ton of photos of him but they would be completely wrong. Ultimately, taking photos of him when he wasn't cleaned up and ready to be photographed primed him to come back and show his more put together persona. There were a ton of images we both liked from this shoot. One of the images I posted recently was without the jacket and lit from the front by only two lights. In this image, however, There are 4 lights illuminating Corey from both sides, top, and bottom. All lights were gridded except for the bottom fill light allowing me to add color to the black paper in the background. http://flic.kr/p/hzo2GT

Don't be a sucker

Just got home from dinner and felt the need to photograph my little man with his lollie pop! He wouldn't let me call it a sucker! This was so much more! In his defense it was far too large to suck on. I must say I like having the background light suspended from the rafters rather than to the side as it helps keep the fall off much smoother and linear to the edges. I love the look of the wood floor but struggle with the paper background roll exposed. Does it take away for you at all( I see it all the time in images)? Lit with a large Octa camera right and reflector camera left. Gridded strip boxes either side and the background light superclamped above on a rafter and pointed behind him. http://flic.kr/p/hwEQ7J

Skate King

I've had the perfect background for a long time and just needed a skater with board! Enter Miles Tucker. Doesn't hurt that he's comfortable both in front of and behind the camera! The park is Jefferson Skate Park which is part of the 6th largest park in Seattle. And would you check out that view! Not talking about Miles, but he's not too hard on the eyes either. You've got the mountains to your left with the goreous seattle skyline just to the right of him. One of the best features of this park happens to be what makes this photo work so well. That would be the giant Tower of Lights for night skating! If you haven't checked it out, you owe it to yourself to swing by sometime! It has a huge playground for little ones with several things to keep the adults entertained as well! This particular shot of Miles was taken in the West Seattle Studio. Gridded beauty dish boomed above with a large softbox below for fill. Two strip lights on either side to emulate the large lights in the background that he was dropped in later. http://flic.kr/p/hsM6L9

Utlimate Results

A fun headshot session with my best friend and owner of Ultmate Results personal fitness training Corey Galusha. Working the clamshell lighting here with a beauty dish boomed overhead and a large softbox below for fill. To rim lights via ab800's through gridded stripboxes. Gridded light to his right and pointed behind for background light. http://flic.kr/p/hqyMvB

To Cool for Fall

I love the term, available light, whether it be sun, lamp, strobe, or otherwise. This one happens to be the sun bouncing off a rather large white building. The light is much more direct than cloudy natural light but softer than strobe. Once you become a photographer you spend all day "looking for light" whether you mean to or not! http://flic.kr/p/hnVnSv

She's a natural

I love the feel to this image taken a couple weeks back at Group Health in Olympia. The sun was just setting behind us and to the left. I used a cto(color transfer orange) gel on my main light to help balance the warm tones of the sun. The sun was only hitting the background to the right and, of course, outside. These shots are difficult to maintain as I had quite a few employees to get through and golden hour lasts, well, for an hour or less! I just kept adjusting my shutter speed as necessary which changes the ambient only and leaves the light from my strobe the same. Due to space restrictions I used only one key without a fill and a hair light camera left just behind the subject. http://flic.kr/p/hnj5Yx

Deep Blue

From a recent headshot session with a great family friend. Glad we could finally find some time to shoot together! Lit with a beauty dish above and silver reflector below the subject. Two rim lights through stripboxes to really make the hair shine! http://flic.kr/p/hmn62N

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

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

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

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

Ooh baby

Man how this kid grows!! Mom got him dressed this morning and he looked so much older to me for some reason. I had to take a photo in order to try and freeze his ever increasing aging! Stop growing little man!!! He brings a smile to my face every time I see him. This was lit with a large octabox boomed over the camera with two strip lights to light the background. I almost never use my white background but I think it's time to bring it back. http://flic.kr/p/ggKQMr

Cool Blue

One of Christoph Mayr's picks from a while back at Bothel Landing Park. Gotta be one of my favorites as well! The sun was coming in pretty hot in this image and I was lucky enough to have another senior along for the shoot to hold a defuser panel and knock the sun down a bit. The Heavy lifting was done with an Einstein 640 through a large Octabox camera right. An AB800 was behind and camera left for rim and hair light. http://flic.kr/p/ge77Yp

Bridges of Love

Victor's pic of the session with Yesica at the Arboretum. Been incredibly busy with other work and was excited to get to this image and add some finishing touches. This particular day was very cloudy with a few moments of sunshine peaking through. Using a large modifier really helped to mask the use of flash and keeps the image a little more natural looking. Lit with a single Einstein 640. http://flic.kr/p/gcniha