Self Family Portrait

  This was a self family portrait we did the other day as a Christmas present for grandparents.

The photo was taken in our studio using a 3 light set-up.  The key light was CR positioned 40-45 degrees, with a gridded medium soft-box.  The fill light was CL positioned 45 degrees and low, with a medium soft-box.  The fill light was one stop less than the main light.  The third light, was a gridded strobe used as a 'hair light', CR positioned behind us, being one stop brighter than the key light.

  The camera and lights were all tripped with pocket wizards.  The photo was taken in a low-key style on a black background, with intentions for a black and white portrait.

  When taking 'self-portraits', is always more difficult than having someone else take your portrait.  Here are a few good tips on shooting a self portrait. 

 1) If you do not own pocket wizards or radio transmitters, you can use your self timer that comes on all cameras.

 2) Use a tri-pod, set your camera on a tri-pod in the position that you are going to shoot from, and compose your shot.

 3) Pre-focus on your subjects, then switch your lens to manual focus, so that focus will not change through out.

 4) Last but not least, take LOTS of shots. You are bound to get one or two that are good.

  We hope you find these tips helpful when shooting self-portraits. Any questions or comments are welcomed and appreciated!  *Sincerely; Rob & Leiann

Architectural Photo Shoot

I  recently did a little interior architectural photography for a local custom home builder, Artisan Homes. They needed a couple of shoots of kitchens they have done for an advertising campaign  they have coming up in the new year.

This first kitchen shot is pretty basic, it was lit with only two speed lights.

The first 580Ex was to camera left. I set it on a light stand and used a shoot thru umbrella to soften the light so that I didn't get any harsh shadows.
The second 580EX was on camera right, it to was on a light stand but was bounced into the corner of the ceiling, again in order to minimize any harsh shadows.

The second kitchen was a little more complex, they wanted to have the entire kitchen in the shot but not the eating nook, which made the space to shoot in very tight.

I used 3 lights for this shot, an Elinchrom D-lite 4 with softbox to camera left, then a 580 EX with shoot thru umbrella just off of camera right and then a second 580 EX bounced off the ceiling far camera right.
In order to get the entire kitchen in one shot I had to take 3 separate photos, each over lapping the other and stitch them together in CS5.

I think both kitchens turned out great and the clients where very happy with the final images, which is all the matters.

Both images where taken with a Canon 1DMk3/ 16-35 f2.8 L .

Craig Family Photo Shoot

   Yesterday, we had the Craig family at out studio for a Newborn/Family Portrait session. We had a great time photographing 5 week old Alexis, her big brother Ben and mom and dad Vickie and Jamie. Little Alexis was such an angle, she was awake for the whole shoot and didn't so much as utter a peep, she is every photographers dream client. Her big brother Ben, was also a lot of fun to work with, for a 3 year old I have to say he is very well behaved and has a lot of patients to be in front of the camera for the length of time he was.
We would like to thank Jamie and Vickie for letting us have the honour of photographing their lovely family and we're looking forward to watching and photographing their family grow as the years go by.

Below are a few teaser photos from the shoot we did. We hope you love the photos as much as we loved taking them.

Happy Halloween Everyone....

I hope everyone had a great halloween, I know my kids did. It was a pretty busy night here at the house, took my daughter to Kingsway Mall for Trick or Treating then took her around our neighbourhood. Let's just say she cleaned up in the candy department. So with all of this going on I didn't get to do very much shooting, but we just had to have a few studio shots of our little Snow White.

 And of course a couple of shots of my handy pumpkin carving skills, and I have to say they turned out pretty good. Leiann drew the designs free hand onto the pumpkins which is a lot harder than it looks. It's one thing to draw it out on paper but to draw it on a irregular round surface is another thing. great job honey.

We Want You....

My son Rylan has joined the Air Cadets this year, 533 Sabre Squadron out if St.Albert. He is very excited about being an Air Cadet and as soon as he received his uniform, we had to do a photo shoot. These photos are from that shoot.

A walk in the park.....

In my neighbourhood we have a few man made lakes or ponds. These photos were taken at one of those ponds, which is about a block from my house. When you take your time and look at what nature has to offer it might surprise you, even when your in the middle of a city.

Book review......Photographing People, Portraits,Fashion,Glamor by RotoVision

Well I just finished reading the book Photographing People, Portraits, Fashion, Glamor and have to say it was a very good book on lighting. Now this book isn't a how to book on lighting, it's more of a how do the pros do their lighting. Each page shows a photo, a lighting diagram that shows how the photographer set up the lighting for the shot and a brief write up as to why they set up their lights that way for the shot. The book features may of the top pros in the industry like, Frank Wartenberg, Michael Grecco, Michael Freeman and many many more.
If your in a lighting rut and need some inspiration for new lighting set ups then this is the book for you.

A Child's Gaze....

Here is a natural light portrait of my son Kai. The diffused natural light was coming in from our living room windows and was side lighting Kai. The soft side light really brings out his eyes and wraps around his face opening up the shadows on the right side.

A Childs Gaze

Camera: 5DMk2

Lens: 85 f/1.2

Aperture: f/1.2

Shutter Speed: 1/160