12 hours, 800+ frames, 3 cases of Red Bull: The Four Elements Photoshoot

Wow, that was a really long day!  But it was FUN!

Makeup artist Kahulani and model Julie LeBlond wanted to do a “Four Elements” shoot in the studio.  We had a lot of help on this one – Ronald, Jeane & Alex were our assistants.

To make the setups go as quickly as possible, we chose to use the same basic lighting on the model and just change up the background lighting and hair light between each look.

To light the model, we setup 4 AB800s with these modifiers: a large softbox above, medium softbox below, and two strip softboxes on either side.  Each light was controlled with the Alien Bees Wired Remote Control.
Since the lights were in so close to the model’s face, the sliders on all four of the lights were set at minimum power.  Shot through the middle of this setup with a 5D mkII and 70-200mm f2.8L lens on a tripod.  Settings were iso 200, 1/160@f5.6.

Because we set up the main lights about 10-15 feet in front of the white wall, the light falloff allowed the white wall to go dark grey. For the background light we used another AB800 aimed at the white wall behind Julie.  We covered the light with a different colored gel to change the color of the wall for each look.

For Julie’s hair light, we used a Nikon SB26 set at about 1/8th power.  This we also gelled differently for each look.

While Kat was working on Julie’s first look “Fire”, we put red gels on both background and hair lights.  We also added a 20 degree grid to reduce the light on the wall to just a small spot of color.

The look really started to come together once we put the hair light directly behind Julie and set up a fan to add motion to her hair.

For the next look “Wind”,  we went with a high-key look.  We took off the gels and put a shoot thru umbrella on the background light.  To help add a subtle suggestion of wind/clouds to the background, we setup a couple of C-stands and strung some white tulle between them.

Because of the shallow depth of field, the tulle blurred out and left just a hint of movement in the background.

Each look also incorporated a neck tattoo to represent each element – Earth, Water, Fire, Air.  The graphic used was similar to the ones from the movie “The Fifth Element”.

For the “Earth” look, we took off the umbrella and put on a green gel for the background light.

To help break up the light, we tried various things- shooting the light through water bottles, stacks of plastic cups, etc.  We finally just put an imitation silk tree in front of the background light.

This was one of the more elaborate looks of the day and Kat worked extra hard to make each look amazing.  The eyelashes were Kat’s own invention.

For this “Earth” look, Kat also incorporated some greenery taken out of her own backyard.

We added a CTO gel to Julie’s hair light and dialed down the power a bit to give a more subdued look.  You can just barely see the hair light on her neck and shoulders.

For the last look, “Water” we brought out the C-stands again and draped a blue satin bedsheet over them.  Alex positioned the fan underneath the sheet to add some random movement.  We lit it with a blue-gelled AB800.  After shooting a couple of test frames, we added another SB26 with a blue gel to help fill in the background from the other side.

To go along with Julie’s wet hair for this look, we added some water droplets.  Alex was able to macgyver together a spray bottle with a bottle of water and the sprayer from a Windex bottle.

We then had Alex spray the water behind Julie as we shot. With a blue gel on the Nikon SB26 hair light, the water spray lit up pretty well.

We took over 800 frames to get to these final four images, and it was a very long day of work.  The results however, were really worth it.  I’ve always wanted to try shooting a concept like this and I’m glad I got to be a part of it. Mahalo to everyone for all their hard work!

Action shooting with Yves-Lauren

 

Towards the end of our shoot together, Yves mentioned she wanted to get some action images with our gun props and the Lamborghini that was parked in the garage.

I thought it would be cool to recreate the scene from Mission Impossible 3 where Tom Cruise hangs out of an SUV to shoot at his pursuers.

Since we had neither the crew nor the budget of a typical Hollywood movie, we had to cheat a little bit.

It was late in the evening so we kept the car in the garage.  I setup behind the rear wheels of the Lamborghini and used a sandbag to help position the camera nearly eye-level to the ground.

We shot Yves hanging out of the car with the gun and lit her as if she were actually in traffic.  We used 2 AB800s with 7″ reflectors – one next to the camera position for the main light and one behind her for a separation light.  These were lowered as much as we could to emulate headlights from oncoming and rear traffic.

Shooting the background and road (in Hollywood special effects, these are called “plates”), required shooting on an actual road at night a few weeks later.  Usually if you’re a famous photographer like Chase Jarvis or Joe McNally, you have a whole bunch of gear and crew at your disposal to make it happen. 

For me, I had my wife drive me to Safeway one night while I leaned out of the passenger window holding my camera as close to the road as I could reach.  Didn’t have any fancy gyroscope or suction cup mounts, so I just braced the camera against the side of our car to help steady the camera.  Very low budget.  Probably also very illegal and dangerous (don’t try this at home kids).

Used a slow shutter speed of about 1 second to blur the road and the lights.  A problem with driving late at night on Maui, is that there aren’t any big city lights to pass by and not many places are open around 11pm.  It took about 250 frames and multiple drivebys of Jack in the Box, McDonalds, and 7-Eleven before I got an acceptable image.

In creating the final image, I used streaks from one of the unused background plates and layered it over the model to give a sense of speed. The bullet was modeled in Lightwave and composited in Photoshop.

Afternoon shoot with Yves-Lauren

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to work with model Yves-Lauren.  With my assistant Quddus, we were able to do several different lighting setups very quickly in a short span of time.

Our  first setup was by the infinity pool of the estate Yves was staying at.

 

Canon 5D mkII  24-105 f4L IS lens iso 400 1/160@f16

For this shot I wanted to overpower the sun with the flash.  This was about 2-3pm in the afternoon in Kapalua, so the sun was off to the left of the frame.  I used a circular polariser on the lens which helped to both reduce the reflections in the pool and define the clouds in the sky better.

We used a WL1600 with an 11″ reflector to light her from across the pool.  The 11″ or long throw reflector is larger and shaped a little different from a standard 7″ reflector.  It is a little more efficient at shooting light over a greater distance.  The long throw reflector was very handy to have because it enabled my assistant to light the model from a safe distance on dry land instead of having to stand in the shallow end of the pool (batteries and water do not tend to play well with each other).

  

Canon 5D mkII  70-200 f2.8L lens iso 200 1/160@f5.6

I had originally planned to use the sun as her rim light for this next look, but by the time we were ready to start shooting it the sun was lower than the surrounding trees and we didn’t have the angle of sunlight that we needed.  Luckily, the sun was also starting to reflect off of the windows on the house behind me, which gave us a nice soft main light to work with.   I had Quddus setup the WL1600 across the pool and off to the left to use as our rim light.  We used a silver California Sunbounce Pro to help add more reflected sunlight as her main light.

 

Canon 5D mkII  24-105 f4L IS lens iso 200 1/160@f8

This next series of shots were taken on the balcony above the pool.  This time I wanted to use a larger light source because the softer shadows would match better with the look that Yves changed into.  Ordinarily we would have gone with the 5ft Octodome, but because it was so windy, we had to settle for a large softbox which was slightly easier to brace against the edge of the roof overhang.

Canon 5D mkII  24-105 f4L IS lens iso 200 1/125@f5.6

Canon 5D mkII  24-105 f4L IS lens iso 200 1/125@f5.6

For this last set, we used 2 lights.  The main light was a WL1600 and softbox on a C-stand boomed above camera center.

About 10 feet behind her we used an AB800 with a 1/2 or 1/4 CTO gel for a rimlight.

Canon 5D mkII  24-105 f4L IS lens iso 200 1/160@f8

Canon 5D mkII  24-105 f4L IS lens iso 200 1/160@f8

In hindsight I would have liked to have the rimlight surround her more as we sort of start to lose her black dress into the background, so if I had backed up the AB 800 light up even further away or maybe added a second rim light?  File it under things to remember for next time.

Another weekend shoot with TJ

My friend TJ contacted me for a shoot while she was in Maui last week, and we decided to do a quick swimsuit shoot at Polo Beach.  We were lucky enough to have Ronald as an assistant this time, which made our setups go much faster.

We mainly used 2 silver California Sunbounce reflectors for lighting – a micro mini and the Pro.

When I met TJ in the morning at her condo, I noticed this spot near the front office.  It was a shaded area with sunlight hitting the leaves in the background that I thought would look cool if I used a shallow depth of field.  I setup the micro mini reflector to be her main light and positioned her so that the sunlight would hit the back of her shoulders. I shot it with a Canon 5DmkII and an 85mm 1.8 lens. Aperture Priority mode at f2.0, which made for some nice bokeh in the background.  Thinking to get a 135mm L prime lens in the near future as I’ve heard the bokeh on that lens is really nice.

We then headed out to Polo Beach.

 When we got to the beach park, we snagged this spot by a rock wall that was completely in the shade.  I had Ronald use the Sunbounce Pro to act as TJ’s main light for this fashion shot.  It never ceases to amaze me how much light the Sunbounce reflectors can throw.

From the wall, we moved to a nearby tree.  This is the same tree that I shot Crystal at a few months back, just shot from a different angle.

We used the sunlight as TJ’s edge light and the Sunbounce Pro as the main light. Shot with a 70-200mm f2.8L (no IS) aperture priority at f2.8 handheld.  I really would like to trade up to an IS version of this lens on my next trip to Tokyo.

 For this headshot, I had Ronald mount the Sunbounce Pro to a lightstand, then use the micro mini to fan TJ and get a little wind motion in her hair. So nice to have an assistant on these shoots! 🙂

 For this shot of TJ lying on the rocks, some clouds rolled in and diffused the sunlight, so I had Ronald hold the Sunbounce just below the frame to add a little fill.

Since it was now a bit too overcast to use the reflectors, we switched to using a strobe setup – an off-camera 580EX triggered via ST-E2 wireless transmitter and a set of Radiopoppers.

The sun started peeking out again so we went back to the Sunbounce Pro for fill lighting for the remainder of the session.

This session just flew by.  I always have fun working with TJ and really look forward to the next time we can collaborate.

Iao Valley Shoot with Shawna Pt II – Shooting in a Parking Lot

By the time we were done with the shoot at Iao Valley, it was near sunset.  We had just returned to the studio and started unloading gear when our makeup artist Kat yelled out to everyone to look at the sky.

The setting sun was starting to light up the clouds in the sky, making a really cool background for a photo. The problem was that we were in the middle of a large parking lot, surrounded by trees and lamp posts, with no place for  Shawna to stand to get a clear shot of the sky.  We could have gone over to the beach across the street, but by the time we got there, the colors in the sky would have faded.

With no time to change location/wardrobe/makeup, we had Shawna scramble up on top of Q’s truck and stand on the roof.

By shooting Shawna from this angle we got rid of the distractions in the parking lot, and also made her look 10 feet tall. 🙂

The sun was behind the mountains so there was no direct light on Shawna.  In order to simulate the light of the setting sun on her, we used a 580EX flash and an ST-E2 transmitter, augmented with a set of Radiopoppers.  This was mounted onto a painter’s pole that was modified with a Kacey Pole Adapter so that Quddus could position the light high enough above Shawna to simulate the light from the setting sun.

Because we had to work fast against the fading light, I set the camera to manual mode, iso 200 at f 5.6 and left the flash in fully automated ETTL mode. I let the flash determine the exposure on the model while I adjusted the camera shutter speed to either lighten or darken the sky.

To change the color of the sky, we put a green color correction gel over the flash and set the camera to fluorescent white balance.  The white balance of the camera canceled out the green color of the gelled flash, and turned the sky purple.  Ended up tweaking the colors slightly in Lightroom.

Iao Valley shoot with Shawna

On the last Sunday before I headed up to Tokyo, we did a location shoot with model Shawna.  Assisting us again were Ronald and Quddus.

We had originally planned to shoot in the Olinda forest upcountry, but due to the weather, we ended up changing locations to Kepaniwai Park in Iao Valley.  This actually wound up being better because it gave us several different looks in the same location.

Kahulani did an excellent job with the makeup as always.  Kat added little gemstones to Shawna’s face and hair as we were going for a fairy in the forest kind of look.

For these first couple of shots, I had the camera on tripod, shooting with a slow shutter speed to blur the water.  One thing I need to remember when doing a slow shutter speed shot is to make sure the model is in a pose that she can comfortably hold still for the amount of time it takes to make the exposure.

It was really nice having Kat on location with us.  Not only was she able to touch up Shawna’s makeup when needed, she also helped out in choosing spots to shoot in.

For example, Kat visualized this shot of Shawna on the rock with the misty mountains in the background.

In order to get the angle I wanted for this shot, I had to position myself really low.

Here I started off with the Canon 5D and 70-200mm L lens on a tripod (can’t afford the IS version of this lens yet), but couldn’t get it low enough.  So I ended up tossing the sticks and lying down on my back in the waterfall with the camera and lens on my chest.  Not something I’d recommend doing very often, but sometimes “ya gotta do what ya gotta do” to get the shot.

We used an AB800 powered with a Vagabond battery pack (finally back from repair) with a long throw reflector to fill in the shadows from across the waterfall.  (In the BTS shot above, Shawna and the rock are just out of the frame to the left and the AB800 setup is just out of the frame to the right behind Quddus.)

By the time we started shooting in Iao Valley, it was quite overcast and we were starting to lose the light.  I wanted to do a shot that looked like early morning, with the sunlight streaming through the trees, so we used two Nikon SB26s triggered with Pocket Wizards, and a California Sunbounce micro mini reflector to simulate the sunlight.

One of the nearby trails in Iao Valley goes through a grove of bamboo trees.  We picked this spot to setup our shot.

Because the sun was hidden behind the clouds, there was not much light to reflect.  For Shawna’s main light we mounted one of the SB26s onto the frame of the Sunbounce and aimed it into the silver side of the reflector.  The extreme lightweight construction of the Sunbounce made it easy for Quddus to hold the reflector up above Shawna and position it as her main light.

We setup the other SB26 on a lightstand and positioned it behind and off to the side so that it would come through the bamboo leaves.

Usually I try to avoid lens flares, but in this case, it kinda looked cool, so we just rolled with it.

For the fairy shot, I wanted to appear as if fireflies and rays of sunlight were lighting the scene.  Once we picked out the spot for it, I had Ronald give Shawna an SB26 with a Pocket Wizard ball bungied to it to make it easier for her to hold in her hand.  The SB 26 is modified with a Stofen omnibounce.  To help flag off the light from flaring into the camera lens, we inserted a small piece of cinefoil (black tinfoil) into the omnibounce, on the side that faced the camera.

We had to play around with the power levels on the SB26 a bit so I’m not sure what we finally ended up at, but the idea was to have it slightly overpower the ambient light so that we had the light direction coming from her hand.

Later in Photoshop, we erased the flash. Since the flash body is mostly black, it blended into the background pretty well.  Added some fireflies, wings, and a few rays of light to get to the final image.

More studio lighting work with Uilani

Had the chance to work with model Uilani again in Maui a few weekends ago before I flew up to Japan.

Makeup and hair was done by Kahulani.  We were assisted by Ronald and Quddus.

For lighting, we used basically the same setup as last time, with two AB 800s lighting the white wall and an AB800 in a large softbox for the main light.  To even out the lighting on the background, we used a white shoot thru umbrella modifier on both rear lights.

Uilani had a lot of different outfits and props to use this time, courtesy of Isle Empress.

except for the guns, of course. 😉

One thing that was a little different this time was that we ended up having a group shoot, since pretty much everyone present had a camera and we had enough Pocket Wizards to go around.  A lot of my frames ended up dark because the poor Alien Bees were getting a workout. 😉  But the  great thing was that everyone had the chance to get some shots and Uilani had a lot of images to select from.

Studio / Beach shoot with Joy and Anne

Had the chance to work with model Joy a few weekends ago.  Makeup artist Kahulani did the makeup for her as well as her friend Anne.  We did some shooting in studio, then headed out to Wailea to catch the sunset on the beach.  Quddus Ajimine was our assistant.

 Joy works out a lot and one of her requests was to do shots that highlighted her physique.

We shot this in a storage room next to the studio.  Thanks to a tip I learned from fellow photographer Chaz of After6Media, we used Pam Olive Oil spray to give Joy’s body a “wet look”. 

We used a Paul Buff Alien Bee AB800 with a 22″ beauty dish for the main light, and a Nikon SB26 with a 1/4 CTO gel for the edge light.  It took a couple of tries to get the SB26 to highlight just the model and not give us a reflection off the back wall.  We ended up zooming the flash head to the max and flagging it off from the wall.

For this shot of Anne, we used 3 AB800s.  The main light was modified with a large softbox, the rimlight with a small strip softbox, and we had one light shooting through the panels in the back.

My Vagabond battery was still out for repair during this shoot, so I rented a 1000 watt Yamaha generator from a local rental house.  We took this with us when we went to the beach in Wailea.  Worked out pretty well, so I’m thinking of picking one up in the near future.  Nice to have as a backup, plus you can run the modeling lights of the AB800 from it (something you’re not supposed to do when using the Vagabond battery).

For the first hour before sunset however, we did most of the shots using nothing but Quddus holding a California Sunbounce Pro silver reflector to fill in the shadows.

Because this reflector is so huge, it really throws a LOT of light where you want it.  I shot most of these on Aperture Priority mode on a Canon 1d mkII with a 70-200mm f2.8L lens.

When we got near sunset time, we broke out an AB800 and a 5ft PhotoFlex Octodome (with the interior configured to all gold panels) and plugged them into the generator.  Since we were working pretty close to the water, a big safety precaution we took was to plug in a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) between the generator and extension cord.

A GFCI monitors the current flowing through it.  If there is even a slight change (such as if a wave were to wash over the connected power cords, it quickly cuts off the power.  The end result is that you don’t electrocute yourself (although you may receive a painful shock).  You can find GFCIs at any hardware store or Home Depot (The Vagabond battery packs have GFCIs already incorporated into them).

Electrical shocks are NOT fun – I know this from firsthand experience.  I try to always use a GFCI when working with strobes on location.

For the shots with the Octodome, I had the camera set to iso 100, 1/250 at f11 and kept experimenting with different shutter speeds to change the exposure of the background.

This was a fun shoot to do.  Now that I’ve got my Vagabond battery back from repair, going to have to test it out on a few shoots.  Definitely going to look into getting a generator though one of these days. 🙂

Enhancing the light

Pink Lingerie, originally uploaded by Mizomi Photography.

This was shot in a bedroom that had lots of natural light coming in from all around.

I originally planned to use a Sunbounce to reflect in light from the open deck behind me for Corinne’s main light. The late afternoon sun made that difficult, plus we started getting harsh sunlight across the front of the bed. So I repositioned the Sunbounce and C-stand to flag off the sunlight instead of reflecting it.

We were getting good light from all the windows, but it was a little too dark. I ended up using 3 lights to try and bring the surrounding light up just a skosh.

I used 2 Canon 580EX flashes on stands. Each was triggered with a Radiopopper trigger. On the front flash, I used a Gary Fong Whaletail Studio. The background flash had a Gary Fong Clear Lightsphere. I chose to do it this way so that the flash would reflect off of the surrounding walls and surfaces to mimic the natural light coming into the room. I also had my assistant Ronald hold a Nikon SB26 aimed at Corinne’s hair to provide a rim light. This was triggered with the SB26’s built in optical slave. To keep stray light from the SB26 from hitting the wall, I had Ronald use his hands to manually block the light.

In hindsight, I probably could have gotten away with just 2 lights and used the rear 580EX as the rim light instead of lighting the background. (You can barely see Ronald’s head shadow on the door)

I had to shoot this pretty tight – there was a mirror on the headboard , a work area for painting (which Ronald was standing in the middle of) and a home gym setup in the space next to the bed. Just left of this bed is a whole rack of barbells. I ended up using a 70-200mm f2.8L lens on a tripod. Canon 5D iso 400 1/50@5.6

Changing your perspective

There’s a scene in the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” where Indy is in a library looking for a hidden symbol. He keeps searching until he comes to the realization that the symbol is embedded in the floor and can only be seen from upstairs.

As photographers, even though we train ourselves to look around our surroundings for shooting locations, we sometimes forget that there can be shots other than at eye level.

When scouting a location, don’t hesitate to look at a scene from as many different angles as you can think of, even if it makes you look weird (Todd, why are you sprawled out on the floor? Did you fall down?)

For this shot with Luciane, we started shooting in the living room (the same from my previous post with Whitney), but we weren’t happy with the green foliage through the windows as a background.  It didn’t really work with the black lingerie she was wearing. I racked my brain trying to think of a different background when I had that Indiana Jones epiphany above.  I ran upstairs and saw this angle from the second floor bedroom overlooking the living room.

Passion on the Floor, originally uploaded by Mizomi Photography.

I had Luciane position herself along the edge of the living room floor covering so that she had different textures on either side of her. We then had our makeup artist Kahulani come in and arrange Luciane’s hair so that it flowed with her pose.

We lit her with just 1 light, an AB800 with a large softbox on the floor next to Luciane’s head.