If I told you I could create any one of the colors you see above at a client’s request in under 5 minutes, would you believe me? What if I told you I’d do it all in camera, without ever launching Photoshop? Or, that I could deliver the precise RGB or CMYK values, and assure you that it would fit within the gamut of the target output device? Maybe we’re a little old...
Learn MoreSeamless paper comes in some lovely colors. But, it doesn’t come in every color, and certainly not in 20ft. widths. Plus, paper wrinkles, tears, gets dirty beyond salvation, and frankly isn’t exactly “eco-friendly”. That’s why I really love our studio’s cyclorama. We had some friends over for dinner one night, and all the kids wanted to dance around on...
Learn MoreI have a good friend, Stan Jirman who’s an engineer at Apple. He’s also a hell of a photographer. And, he’s got the Swiss penchant for precision that makes him almost a poster boy from the Land of Perfection. There’s nothing I’ve ever seen him do that didn’t require his thorough, scrutinizing attention to detail – especially when it comes to digital...
Learn MoreA long time ago when I was starting out in this little Midwest city showing my work around, a lot of the comments were “it’s so dark & moody”, “are you sure this isn’t too dark?”, “why such deep shadows?” and the like. Well, it did win me some pretty handsome jobs, but I was almost getting a complex out of it. Then I happened to meet a guy who asked if...
Learn MoreSo, we’ve been kicking around the idea of trying to do more thematic shoots for consumer work around the studio. The idea here would be to bring a more commercial flair to the consumer work we offer too. With Valentine’s Day upon us, we thought we’d give the process some time to see if we could pull off two completely different looks with one couple in under an...
Learn MoreOkay, so I light with panel style scrims a lot, everyone knows this. It’s an old Hollywood way of controlling light, and I’ve found it to be the most versatile, flexible, beautiful way of setting the proper diffused value of subjects. Now, I’m not opposed to softboxes, nor do I have anything against them philosophically. In fact, on a recent location shoot for an...
Learn MoreOkay, so I just got a gibe about how if one does capture in color with a digital camera, that it still cannot match the quality, tonal range or beauty of B&W film. Once again, I say poppycock! Let’s have a look. My friend Jim Moore needed a quick shot after hours for a FOID card that he was renewing. As it was too late to go to one of the photo stores’ passport...
Learn MorePoor Aaron. When he showed up at our studio door one day a few years ago, he had an image stabilized Pentax SLR that he used almost exclusively hand held. And, you know what? He was pretty good with it too. But given about a year of me pushing him to shoot at ISO100, and finally to upgrade to a Canon 1Ds MkII, and to stop down his lenses a bit, and the next thing you know...
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