Studio Lighting – Page 2

Balancing Your Creative Passions

Portraiture, Studio Lighting, Studio Photography

If there’s anything I missed in 2014. It would have to be portraits and studio photography. While the year presented many opportunities for travel, event and real estate photography. My studio work suffered greatly for many reasons. Moving to a new and spacious loft in nearby Jersey City offered new opportunities while allowing me to expand and grow. Unfortunately, I stalled in the process and temporarily lost my way. It seems I lost my ability to communicate in a way I’m used to, in a way I’m accustomed to. Then came the winter, the cold, the ice and the snow. During that time, I kept busy, worked on other aspects of my photography and waited. Suddenly an opportunity showed itself when our interior decorator, friend and neighbor stopped by to see the remaining pieces he ordered for our kitchen. A great communicator and story teller in every sense. I asked him to sit for me as I tested some lighting set ups. He happily obliged and within five minutes we had some great photos to go with the stories we had shared. It was a nice moment that reminded me about navigating the highs and lows of creativity. How when one aspect of your work loses steam, another might thrive. Like life itself, creativity is a balancing act. Thanks to my new friend for reminding me.

The Art of Fashion Portraiture

Fashion, Fashion Portraiture, Modeling, Studio Lighting

In my September 20th post “Just when I thought we were done” I wrote about my trip to ICP. (International Center for Photography) I mused about my portfolio review and signing up for the “Art of Fashion Portraiture” workshop. This past weekend I embarked on a two weekend intensive workshop that has been both an education and an emotional roller coaster.

On our first day myself and four other photographers (I actually expected there to somewhere between twenty to twenty-five.) gathered at a tremendously spacious Photo Studio and spent the day learning the ins and outs of the fashion industry from models, stylists and world famous fashion photographers who’s names I will stop short of mentioning.

It was a learning experience to say the very least. During the first eight hour day I absorbed more than I ever thought my puny brain could take on and changed my mind numerous times about attempting to enter and extremely competitive and tough aspect of photography. During the day we each had a chance to work with a model. Each given a matter of minutes to work our magic. Although I was nervous and had some performance anxiety due to working with close two ten photographers, make up artists and stylists just a few feet away. I had an amazing model to work with. She was sweet, soft spoken and completely understood what I was trying to convey. More on the workshop later.

Extras from my Shoot with Tara.

Beauty, Canon lenses and equipment, Humor, Portraiture, Studio Lighting

Once we were done with getting the head shots she needed. Tara asked me if I could take a few of her in her leather jacket. I could immediately tell that the clothes she had brought fro the shots didn’t fit her or her personality. Once the jacket went on the real Tara came out. It was a pleasure to see. Such an amazing personality and fun person to work with. We were literally rolling on the floor with laughter.

Learning, growing and giving thanks.

Studio Lighting

About a year ago I got a My Space message from my friend Justine in Boston. She told me she had always liked my work and enjoyed keeping up with my new pictures and adventures. BUT, yes there is always a BUT. She said the lighting in my studio shots seemed predictable. Had I ever thought of going darker and maybe adding more drama? Hmmm, she was right on target. My lighting was predictable and to be honest boring. It all came down to one thing, Fear. When I worked for other studios the lighting was either set up for us or when I was setting up and taking down the studio every day there was blueprint I was expected not to stray from. If there was ever a problem there was someone in the studio (a manager or owner) to fix it. When I went on my own I had no backup. No one to call when things went wrong. There was a certain fear of failure involved. So I never strayed far from the blueprint. When I got that email from Justine I really started to think. Why let fear of failure ever stop you from learning and growing. I really wanted to take the kind of pictures I saw my favorite photographers taking.

So the next time I had a model over to the studio I told her. “We’re going to try some new things today. We’re probably going to make some mistakes. Hopefully they’ll be good ones.” The results were great. She loved the shadows, contrast and overall dramatic effect they created. It was like being reborn. I started experimenting with different configurations. Moving the lights around and using one light instead of two, three or even four. I’ve been really happy with the results and I see a lot of growth and progression in my work and even confidence. I’ve gone from being afraid of making mistakes to looking forward to making and learning from them. It’s also helped me in gaining confidence in the studio. Something I lacked since deciding to go on my own. Thanks Justine, you gave me the little kick in the ass I needed.