Commercial High Tech Equipment Shoot in Clearwater for Nordson March

August 20, 2012 in Commercial

A real worker being the model for this Nordson March commercial equipment shot - Nikon D300 (tripod mounted) Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/3 sec Strobist: SB-800 to frame left in 43" shoot through umbrella and SB-600 in same setup to frame right - white background added digitallyLast week I had an interesting commercial photography job in Clearwater that on the surface would sound super simple--photograph a large square machine in a warehouse, no editing required as the company's graphic artists would handle that as they use the images I make in online and print media materials. Easy right?

Well, nothing really is ever as easy as it seems in photography. The machine itself was about the size of two refrigerators and an off-white color, meaning reflections from any lighting I may use would be an issue. I used two 43" shoot through umbrellas to produce maximum light surface area in order to try and minimize hot spots on the machine. It took me quite a bit of time to position the umbrellas so that the upper corners of the machine did not appear as hot spots. However, once everything was setup, and since I was shooting on a tripod, each shot after that was rapid.

The purple lighting is the result of plasma being produced! - Nikon D300 (tripod mounted) Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/4th sec - Strobist: SB-800 to my left in 43" shoot through umbrella & SB-600 in same setup to my rightFour minutes after turning the machine on, plasma is produced inside! Seeing the plasma up close like that was kind of a David Banner moment for me! To have no glare on the LCD screen I had some of the warehouse staff hold up a white background sheet over me and the machine to diffuse the light and make the screen readable (in another closeup shot).

The two 43" shoot through umbrella setup I used to make all the shots for the shoot.The above photo is the setup I used to make the top photo in this post. All other shots were made with a similar arrangement of the two speedlights in the shoot through umbrellas. I have to thank the workers in the warehouse for their help holding the diffuser sheet and for not minding the good amount of space the shoot took up in the middle of their work day.

Business Headshot St. Petersburg Studio with digital background - Carol

July 27, 2012 in Commercial

Business Headshot made right in my St. Petersburg home studio for a client - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @ 1/8th power with diffuser cap to frame leftCarol visited my home studio this afternoon for a new business headshot. She was an excellent client and knew how to get into position well. Before we started shooting I showed her a few different lighting and background options. Through the process of making the headshot we decided upon a slight shadow and a digital background for the image seen above. The real background was a light tan wall that I removed and in its place inserted a gray-blue one.

Making a portrait of any type is a collaboration between photographer and subject, and this time I involved the client in more of the process than I usually do as I was even able to show her on my computer monitor a rough sample of what the headshot would look like on a given background.

I offer business headshots both at your location or in my home studio (as long as you do not mind Kiki).

Ford GT supercar in black Tampa Car Photography

June 18, 2012 in Cars

Making the most of an opportunity to photograph a rare Ford GT in Tampa, FloridaWhile on location in Tampa for RM Auctions to photograph a 1974 Jaguar E Type (photos cannot be published until July), at the end of that shoot I had an opportunity to take a few shots of a Ford GT also on site. This supercar could not be moved and was just parked along side a building with about a third of the car in shade, the other two-thirds in direct afternoon Florida sunlight. I knew to get any kind of detail and exposure worth having I would need to make it an HDR shot, and I went all the way to the max of 9 exposures that my Nikon D300 does automatically in bracketing mode. I was for the most part pleased with the results of the HDR process (which does nothing for the reflections in the paint, unfortunately), but still did not like the foreground nor the background. To get the foreground like the above I Quick Selected it in Photoshop CS5 and burned and underexposed it, also cloning out a few stray pieces of debris. I repeated that process for the background and just painted it completely white.

In the above sequence you can see the difference HDR makes and then how cleaning up the foreground and eliminating the background puts the focus on the car itself. Now about the reflections in the car, there is nothing I can do about those. Small reflections can be cleaned up, but entire body panels cannot. Still, I am happy with the results and glad to have the chance to photograph a Ford GT, a car made famous recently by Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear who purchased one himself.

Removing the photograph background but preserving foreground details for depth

June 07, 2012 in Pet, Photography Tips

In an attempt to further refine my own skills with using the "Refine Edge" function in Photoshop's Quick Select tool I made the above photograph of Kiki right here in the living room. I knew beforehand I would be removing the background and painting in a new one. I have really started to like using this technique lately, especially when adding a pure white background. However, when including a full view of the subject, replacing the entire background be it with all white or any other color a lack of depth can result as the foreground and background are exactly the same. As you can see in the finished version on the right some shadow and light remain on the floor around Kiki's paws. After doing my usual edits to the image, the process I followed for making the digital backround was thus:

Quick Select the floor area only & increase its contrast
Using the Eye Dropper tool select a color from the increased contrast floor (gray-ish in this case)
Increase the area Quick Selected to included everything except Kiki herself
Using the Brush tool at 100% paint the background up until the edge of the floor
Change the opacity to 40% and paint the floor area until a uniform gradient appears

In am happy with the process I used to make the digital background in this case, but I would like to improve the smoothness of the gradient/transition of the background to foreground even more by using every smaller opacities to brush it in.

The finished final image of Kiki with gray background added in Photoshop leaving floor light and shadow for depthAlas there is no editing I can do to make Kiki not look like a sad puppy. This was right before our usual dog park time and I think she was wondering why do I have to sit through this when we could already be on our way to the park! Next time I will attempt her portrait in the morning.

Get images like these of your dog or cat or pet done right in your own living room . . . contact Jason today to reserve your shoot!

Porsche 911 GT2 RS white with black rims St. Petersburg Florida

April 01, 2012 in Cars

Porsche 911 GT2 RS in white with black rims - Vinoy Park - St. Petersburg, Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR micro @ f/4 ISO 200 1/2000th - black & white processing in Silver Efex Pro, white background digitally inserted in PhotoshopSitting at my desk now, before me on the wall is a large poster of the new 991 generation Porsche 911 Carerra. I found the poster in with an edition of the Wall Street Journal. To my left on the wall is a custom photo of a Cayman S made by Porsche specifically for me from a Facebook promotion they had last year. In the photograph above, is the current apex Porsche, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS. I made this photograph in Vinoy Park where the Porsche was one of several others waiting to be part of a car show the next day.

The problem with photographing cars at car shows is that it is very hard to get a clean shot. Choosing the angle I did insured no other cars appeared in the shot. The background bokeh of trees and condos was busy. In my post processing of the image in Photoshop, the final step I took was removing the GT2 RS itself from the frame and placing it upon an empty background. I then created a new layer and inserted it behind the Porsche layer. I painted this layer white thus removing the background distraction resulting in a clean image.

The original color photograph on left; The black & white digital white background image on the rightIn the above comparison you can see how removing the background (also in the windows too) puts the focus on the GT2 RS. Also notice the optical illusion created by using a white background. Doesn't the color image make the Porsche look much bigger in the frame? However, they are the exact same size.