Photography On Location

Archive for June, 2010

climbing video

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Spending the day in airports traveling to Alaska, a perfect time to add one more blog post before getting really busy up north.  Had a chance to upload another short video shot on the D3s.  Once again I relied on the Glidetrack for the moving shots in this video.

For sound we are using a Zoom H2 portable recorder, great sound from a very small device.  The soundtrack on this piece was created in Garage Band.  If you are a Mac user and haven’t worked with Garage Band, take a look at this program.  It offers endless ways to create your own soundtrack, and perfectly sync the beat to your video.  We edit everything using Final Cut Pro.

Tech: Nikon D3s, 24-70mm, 1/250 at F11, ISO 100.  Two Elinchrom Quadras were used to light the climber.  Right light shot through a 27″ Rotalux box, other head shot through at 30 degree grid from the left side.  Skyports triggers the strobes. A little drama was added in CS4.  Video shot using the D3s, 14-24mm and 24-70mm lenses, and Glidetrack used for moving shots.

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Pacific NW

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Just in from teaching a workshop for the Mentor Series in Seattle and Olympic NP.  We had a great group and got lucky with the weather.  It has been raining a lot in Seattle this spring and summer, but our day on the beach was a sunny blue sky day.

I can’t get enough of the old growth forests in the NW.  It is almost a religious experience to wander along a stream below these huge trees.  I wanted to capture that, so I worked on an image with silky slow water.  It is always interesting to see what people prefer, silky water or frozen whitewater.  Silky water matched my idea of a peaceful scene more than freezing the water motion.

We also visited La Push, an area I have wanted to see for a long time.  This area is famous in sea kayaking circles for some great surfing with stormy seas.  Our day was calm on the water, but the obvious break in the bay had a few surfers working the waves.  I plan to return in winter for some exciting paddling shots.

Off to an assignment in Alaska now, the first of three trips there this summer.  Hope I get as lucky with the weather.

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Let the light breath

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

There is a saying I like use when teaching lighting classes, ‘let the light breath.’  This refers to figuring out what is the best lighting ratio between outside ambient light and your strobe on the subject.  There is  no right answer.  When shooting assignments the client often tells you what style of lighting and mood they are looking for, other times they give you full creative control.  Ratios can go from a fill flash ration where the flash is almost the same exposure as the daylight, or to very dramatic with the ambient light being underexposed 2 stops or more.

I like to darken my ambient exposure from minus 1/2 to 2 stops on many shots, especially if there are clouds.  Darkening my ambient allows my flash ‘to breath’.  With a dark background I can really see my lighting and the fine details of accent lights and subtle fill.  With a fill flash ratio of lighting the strobe is less apparent or not even obvious….and that might be your goal for the shot.  There is no right answer.

Yesterday I was working with Greg, a local athlete in town, a runner, jumper, fighter…a very talented guy.  We worked on some running shots on the university track, and I liked the mood and intensity of this image.  And the background was underexposed 1 1/2 stops to achieve this effect.

Tech: Nikon D3, 45mm tilt shift, 1/200 at f27. ISO 100.  One Elinchrom Ranger was used with a Freelite A head shot through a 39″  Rotalux deep Octabox .  Triggered by the Skyport wireless system.

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D3s Glidetrack video

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

The Poudre river near my house is running at peak flows right now, which means time to kayak, and photograph kayaking. Nothing beats being on the river on a sunny day surfing a good wave.  My friend Patrick is always on the river, so we thought he would be a perfect subject for a short multimedia piece.  See the video.

We have been using the Glidetrack for some moving video shots. This clever mini dolly system produces great moving shots using the D3s.  The first few clips in this video are using this system. Below is a shot of the set up in the water.

To solve the problem of contrast on Patrick boating we used one Elinchrom Ranger shot through a Freelite A head with standard reflector.  The A head has a faster flash duration and better for stopping fast moving action.  We get many questions about how the Elinchrom Rangers perform.  Put simply, they always perform…in rain, wind, sand, tornados (seriously!) and even getting soaked by a large river wave (not recommended).

Tech: Nikon D3,  24-70mm, 1/250 at F11, ISO 100.  Elinchrom Ranger shot through Freelite A head, standard reflector.  Skyport System used to trigger flash.

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