Coco Rocha — Expressions

THIS is an amazing model. If you can model like this, I want to shoot you.

Heather photoshoot

Shoot date: October 17th 2008

Another video of the shoot, this time shot by my assistant and sister, Cassidy Steele. Note: Cassidy was holding my mini-flash during most of the shots, so that's where my second light came from, if you want to reverse engineer my setup. I don't talk a whole lot during my shoots, as you might be able to tell from my video; I'm not big on giving a lot of direction unless there's something very specific I want. I prefer to let my models do their thing, and I do mine.

This shoot was planned to be something completely different, but the stylist I'd booked cancelled at the last moment, so this was what came out. I'm pleased with the results although of course I'd have preferred my original plans. Alas. The model in this shoot is the wonderful and gorgeous Heather with FORD/RBA . We shot on the grounds of my city library in Chandler, AZ (since I was back in Arizona for a family vacation and figured I'd make the most of it.)

Heather wanted some more natural looking shots for her portfolio, and since the library grounds had an abundance of greenery (natural background, ha ha) that provided some lovely shade, since it was very sunny outside. As long as I made sure her face was shaded, I could add a little light from my Vivitar 285HV through my standby white umbrella (which desperately needs to be replaced and I just haven't gotten around to it) for a soft, natural look. I like using artificial light even in natural situations, and usually prefer to be in complete control of the light, but that's just me. Occasionally my baby-flash Quantaray MS-1 fired and I got an extra hair light, but that wasn't particularly reliable.


We got a few bystanders and apparently, a creepy guy hanging around to watch. I never seem to notice these things but my assistant Cassidy (little sister) and Heather commented on it as we changed locations. We went into the Community Center courtyard, a nice shaded area, and went up the stairs for a different look. There was a lot less light here so I was better able to control what i was going for, and decided to play with a little lens flare. My assistant Cassidy held the little light so it just entered my frame of view, and it was gelled for some color effects. Then, of course, my white umbrella was at camera right and a little forward of me for my "signature" light.


Questions? Comments? I'd be happy to answer.

Post processing, Photoshop

Recently I've noticed that, as my photography skills improve, people comment more and more often about my Photoshop use—usually that I use "a little too much." So I wanted to clear up some misconceptions. As I get better as photography, I've started to use LESS Photoshop, not more—and people usually pick my most (and poorly) photoshopped photos as the very opposite.

So some examples: original on the left (straight from the camera, not even cropped) vs. final on the right.

Model: Kim Baker

Also Kim Baker

Model: Heather H

Posts on the recent shoots (whence came the first and third photos) coming this weekend.

Evelyn shoot, October 4th 2008

Model: Evelyn

Makeup artist: Nikki

Assistant/videographer: Whitney

There were two sets in this shoot: the purple-y images against my white wall, and the silver images against the fabric background. The wall, of course, was easy; the silver fabric was, too. It's crinkly silver lamé (I think), and overtop, some gauzy grey stuff embedded with rhinestones. It provided exactly the starry, textured look I was going for, although I forgot to iron or wash the rhinestone fabric and so I had to photoshop out the fold line. No big deal.

The setup for this shot was easy, an old tried-and-true method. I had my Vivitar 285HV into a white shoot-through umbrella for my main light, and my Quantaray MS-1 baby flash as a rim light. In the purple shots, I had the baby flash gelled, and in the silver shots, I had it farther back and angled so that it raked across the background to create some texture.

I have a new video camera, so I've put together a video of some of the shoot. My sister's cat Maggie decided to get in on the fun, which you can see in the clip. Another note: toward the end, we had put on Dane Cook to help Evelyn get some emotion out of the shots, which is why everyone is cracking up.

Questions? Post them in the comments.

Older shoot, LOOK

Model: Brittani

Well, we originally started with a completely different idea for a more conceptual shoot... but things got in the way of that one. (We're still going to shoot it though.) So after some brainstorming and closet-searching, we started shooting the LOOK set.



I shot against a black background (black bedsheet from Wal-Mart, ha!) that had been held up against my desk/bookshelf. I was attempting to create something similar to a ringlight feel, without the ringlight, so I set up my Vivitar behind me into my umbrella. A little trial-and-error and I was shooting away. It looked paparazzi-ish and I decided I liked that.

We began with a more traditional set, and in this shot ----> shot we tried consciously to imitate the recent DIOR ads.

Then we added my sunglasses ($4.50 at AGACI) and it turned into something that looked like druggie-model caught by the media, or something. I always wanted to call one of the shots, "I Was A Socially Awkward Teenage Dinosaur". Oh well. I kept telling Brittani to mess up her hair a lot—we'd straightened it during hair and makeup and it was behaving itself too much.

I processed the shots similarly, starting with a basic Levels adjustment, skin retouching, and dodge and burn. With the sunglasses shot I also adjusted the Blue levels, pushing black output blue and white output yellow. For the DIOR shot I only pushed black output blue. For the first below shot I messed around with setting a brown layer on "Difference" and reducing opacity as well.

An Introduction, and stuff

Hi there.

I'm a young'un in the world of photography, but don't let that stop you. I'm certainly not going to let it stop me. :D This is my blog for how I did everything.

So, to start off: my equipment and setup.

Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D): my basic tool. I'm a cheap student and even though this isn't top-of-the-line, it gets me the photos I need. It's very easy to use. I usually shoot on manual.

Canon 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 lens: basic camera kit lens. Some people trash this lens as not being high-quality, but I've never had a problem with it. The range is perfect for what I usually do, it's fairly sharp and—most important—cheap.

Canon 50mm 1.8: my favorite. Sharp, fast, and light, not to mention inexpensive. If you're a Canon shooter and you don't have one of these, you're missing out.

Sigma 70-300mm 4.0-5.6 lens: my second lens, used mostly for wildlife and nature shots. Very nice, sharp, useful range for nature work. Also fairly inexpensive.

2 Vivitar 285HVs: my babies. These are my primary lights. Variable power and decent output make this incredibly useful for studio stuff. I got one on eBay and the other for Christmas. They're relatively inexpensive though and back in production.

Quantary MS-1: A really cheap, fairly low-output slave, I use this for rim or hair light to decent effect. Close range only.

GadgetInfinity radio triggers: I have three. Two are currently malfunctioning. The other one, I've never had a problem with. D: Looking for something new.

White umbrella: I think it's 40". White with removable black backing for shoot-through possibilities. My tool for big, soft light.

Light stands: Yep. Light stands to put my lights on.

Roscoe gels: The free sample pack fits my tiny strobes perfectly and lets me play with colors.

Snoot: made out of a cardboard box and covered in duct tape.

And that's about what I use. No light meter except the one in my camera. I tend to use one strong key light with one or two rim lights. I like dark shadows and bright highlights, with little in between. I do a lot of work in Photoshop, but not enough to change the nature of the photo. Just skin retouching, background stuff if necessary, dodge and burn for more contrast. :)

Future posts to cover specific shoots.