Skateboarder

This image was taken during a lifestyle session that I did over spring break. This young man was in to all the high energy sports - skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX, mountain biking. We spent the day going to numerous locations to capture him "in action".

I captured this image right at the beginning of the session, before we really got into the action. It was captured with a 10mm lens so the skateboard was just inches from the lens. The perspective of the lens gave the image this interesting look. I had a single 580EX flash to camera right with it zoomed to 105mm to add an extra punch of light to the face. The balance of the image was lit by ambient light reflected off the building  Black and white conversion was done using Nik's Silver Effects Pro 2.

Photo Challenge #7

This weeks challenge is to photograph somebody doing their thing. It could be some kids skateboarding, snow skiing, bowling - whatever it is that they do for recreations. As an added challenge, try using a strobe to increase the impact of the image.

Photo Challenge #6

Photo challenge #6 is to create a still life using off camera flash. Try lighting from the sides and the top. Experiment with using a diffuser and without using a diffuser. The goal is to give the still life shape and dimension by bringing the light in from an angle instead of straight on.

My Challenge #5 Image

It was fun to work with a model who is easily motivated by a cookie. This is an image of my dog Maxx. As you can tell, he is no puppy - in fact, he is almost 14 years old.

I took this image with a speed light to camera left. It was diffused through a panel to give a softer light on the dog. A second light was pace above and behind to give separation of the black dog from the black background.

Both the flash and the camera are on manual. Camera, Canon 7D with a 70 - 200 mm lens at 145mm, f8 at ISO 400.

Photo Challenge #5

This weeks photo challenge is your pet. Create a portrait of your pet using your flash to create directional light.

Granville Island Alley

Las t week it poured rain here in Vancouver. I had planned to take my students down to Granville Island to practice balancing flash and ambient light. That morning the weather cleared and we had fantastic conditions for photographing. Only problem was that it was really cold - for Vancouver anyways. The coldest of the group were the models, but they persevered and we came back with some great images.

This image was taken on a Canon 7D with a 24-105 lens.  To keep out of the wind, and to try and stay a little warmer, we were working in very narrow alleys. The natural light was very top sown and proved to be port lighting for the models. By placing a 580 EX II flash on camera right, we were able to create directional light on the model. Exposure was 1/60th at f5.6, ISO 400. All other light was ambient.

Flash Challenge #4

Lets play with the zoom function of our flash this week. This weeks challenge is to use your flash zoomed out to max. This will create a smaller beam of light that can be used to highlight certain features in your image. Try it - it's great for black and white glamour shots.