Rita

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Originally uploaded by fwisneski
In Thursday Nights Lighting on Location class, we went to a new spot. Down the street from the school, we have an abandoned used car lot. I lit our model Rita with the Canon 580EXII in a Westcott Apollo 28" softbox. And then, just for fun, we fired a Nikon SB900 into the broken Parts sign above her.

Miss Palm Springs

In my Thursday night class, we had the pleasure of working with Keeley Boess, Miss Palm Springs 2010. She will be going after the Miss California crown in November. A big thank you to Jennifer for bringing her in. It's always tough to organize and light a shoot with only 21/2 hours, and 60 people. The set-up needs to be generic enough to allow the model some space to move, but also specific enough to facilitate all the different levels of photo gear. Some people don't have ISO 100, some zooms are 5.6 at the long end, some cameras are horrible at high ISO, etc.

We went with a little different set-up this week, using the Westcott 28" softbox, and a second flash with a snoot as a hair light. Both were powered by Canon 580EXII's.

Our first set-up was in the world famous Covina Alleyway, and our 2nd set-up (it started to rain) was on the ramp in the parking structure.

This first shot was done with only available light. The hi-light on her face was provided by the flashlight we were using for focusing.

A man and his bike

On Thursday night in my Lighting on Location class, Herman was kind enough to agree to be subjected to our lenses. He rode in on his electric blue Ninja, and away we went. We lit Herman up with a speed light mounted in the Westcott Apollo 28"  softbox and balanced some ambient while we still had it.

As it was 7:30, the light was dropping fast, so we wound up with shot's like these after the sun set:

 And then we moved Herman and his bike into the elevator. Yep, an elevator...

This last 1 is my favorite of the night. I love the aggressive feel of it, and the hint of blue, with the brake lights glowing red in the background.

For my engagement class, I need a couple for Monday night. If you know of anyone, let me know.

On Wednesday for the wedding class, I will be lecturing on how to set up your equipment and make it work for you.

I also need models for Thursday night's class.

Lighting on location... or not

Had our first shoot last night in my "Lighting on Location" class, and our very own Tri-Community student Tiffany was our model. We busted out the Westcott Apollo 28" softbox and the wireless triggers in a parking lot and shot away. Our first set up was against an aluminum door:

After this set, we moved Tiffany to include some more ambient light and environment. While the students were using the flash set up, I was shooting available at ISO 6400, f/4, at 1/40 sec. Her face was lit with a torchlight mounted on a stand that the students were using to lock focus.

Just a couple of slight adjustments in Lightroom 3, essentially a light sharpening, a medium contrast curve, and a saturation/color adjustment brush on the face and hair. I like the way these came out.

The last week of school!

WooHoo! This is the last week of school!

For all my classes this week, we will be doing review, and having fun. For my Wednesday and Thursday classes, we will be having potluck. Please make sure you bring something. We need drinks, snacks, munchies, pizza, etc. If you bring soda, please make sure you bring some cups.

And it's your last chance to turn in images. Make sure you bring them in.

The last couple of days have not beeb great for shooting. We got a break today, And had some good light. I had the opportunity to work with Carmen again (my Thursday class knows Carmen). We went out to my not so secret anymore spot in Duarte. Got lucky too, the river was flowing. Carmen is a lot of fun to work with, and is game for wearing 4" heels, and standing on rocks in the middle of the lake. I haven't had a chance to go through all of them, but here are a few from today. All images were shot with the Canon 5D MKII and the 70-200 f/2.8 IS

This first shot was taken with the Westcott Apollo 28" softbox. All the rest of the images were available light, except where noted. Read more

Carmen at the Gas Station

We have had a lot of fun in my Thursday night class this semester, haven't we? This past week, I actually took the opportunity to take some shots, as we were using the Westcott Apollo softbox again (I love that thing!), we had a great car, we had a fun set, and we had Carmen. I am really hoping that I see some cd's from the students. It's getting harder to get models, as they all say the same thing, "we never get that many images". I know, I sound like a broken record.

Several of these shots were taken at high ISO with available light. So, what did you get from this shoot?

And attention students! Do you want your images seen by thousands of people? So do I. But if you send me your single favorite image that was shot in my Thursday night class, I will post it here on this blog for all 10 of you to see ;-) Here is what I need: 1 image sized at 800 x 800 at 72 dpi. Please send it to me at frankwisephotography at geemail.com (please note the purposeful misspelling of geemail) I only want 1 image, and it needs to have been taken during 1 of my Thursday night lighting on location classes. Deadline for this is Friday, 6/11/10.

28" Westcott Appollo Softbox

I just received my 28" Westcott Apollo Softbox late last week, and aside from a brief use on Thursday night, actually got to practice in a more natural situation today with my favorite model. Set up couldn't be any easier, as it is an "umbrella style" softbox, meaning it opens up just like an umbrella. The softbox attaches to your stand via the umbrella holder on the flash bracket, or through the umbrella hole on your studio strobes. As the flash unit mounts inside the softbox, TTL communication is impossible, and requires the use of radio triggers like Pocket Wizards or an inexpensive solution like those offered by CowboyStudios.

I tend to be an available light shooter, so when I use light modifiers, it is generally to "enhance" a portrait, so the image doesn't scream "FLASH". As you will see in the sample images below, the effect is subtle, basically just giving a little pop to the skin tones, and creating a nice catch light in the eyes. The images were shot between 10:30 and 11:30 am, with the sun directly overhead. I choose a spot in shade, and the available light was actually quite nice, and certainly usable, but then I wouldn't get to use my new toy. I was looking to balance the available light with flash, so I metered the area we would be shooting in. As I wanted to use flash, my determining factor was my shutter speed, I needed to keep it under 1/200 sec, and ideally for me, 1/125. With that consideration I was metering between f6.3 and f9.0 at ISO 200. I was shooting with the Canon 5D MKII and the Canon 135mm f2 L lens, a favorite lens I don't get to use much.

The new Westcott Apollo Softbox

Those of you in my Thursday class know that I bought the new 28" Westcott Apollo Softbox. And you know that because we used it that night of course. Here are a couple of test shots that I took with it. It will take me a little time to get used to it, but I think I am really going to like this unit. We were just using 1 light, and obviously it was dark, so this wouldn't be my typical or ideal use for it, I would prefer to use it in open shade much earlier in the day, but again, I just got it about 2 hours before these shots were taken ;-) I will do a much more thorough review on Faded & Blurred very soon.

The first shot is  of Herman in the parking structure after the jump:

"Something to Believe In"

A week ago on my Facebook page I posted a video of Bret Michaels performing "Something to Believe In". The video used to be embeddable, but that functionality has been removed. It's a great song with a poignant message, but it never mentions anything to actually believe in, it's more about the search. So here's my list:
My daughter's "Proud Face", the sound of my son's laugh, the twinkle in
my wife's eyes, the power of photography, the small of a woman's back,
Apple products, dreams, goals, http://fadedandblurred.com/, that I
still haven't hit my peak, http://lifehacker.com/, the words "I'm
sorry", the Yardhouse, Newcastle beer, Dr. Pepper, the Coke at
McDonald's, wasabi, my children's future, my wife's shoulders, Christmas Eve, Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours", Plavix, the smell of wet concrete, fresh cut
grass, the Arboretum, Dodger Stadium on opening day, the Seahawk's
chances this year, the laughter when Beth, Laurie, and Sue are together,
my friend Tommy, spay & neuter, Star Wars, Kevin Smith, , Rolling Rock, the Thin Man series, my 40's, Metallica, the ability of a great song to transport you right back to a particular time or event in your life, the power of passion, and the list goes on. 

What are some of yours?

 If anyone from Thursday nights class is interested in the softboxes used in the video, here they are:

Westcott Apollo 28"

Westcott Apollo 50" 

Westcott 60" umbrella

 Coming up this week in school:  

Monday: "What do you give the client?"

Wednesday: Photographing the bride and groom. Please bring images of Craig on cd!

Thursday: We need models