Guest Article By: Stephen Poff
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| Light Painting Photo by Stephen Poff |
Exif Info:
- Shutter Speed: 1/60
- Aperture: f/16
- ISO: 100
- Focal Length: 35mm
- Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
When I started this little series I thought I'd wax poetic about inspiration and where we as artists find our muse. But the more I thought about it, the more I figured that the photos should speak for themselves.
This year has been about being more creative and learning new techniques that I didn't have the opportunity to use with my current clients. I feel like I've come a long way towards that this year. And what better way to learn than from the best... you guys!
Strobist Info: Alien Bee's B800 through a large soft box just above camera and two SP Studios strobes at left and right behind subject. I also had a Canon 430ex in the book at 1/32 for a slight fill under the eyes, but in the dodge and burn process I think rendered unnoticeable.
Edit: I would also like to note (since I've had some emails and comments about the lighting setup) that I was going for a look that combined different white balances, but I didn't want one light source to contaminate another.
I wanted everything not being lit by the "book" to fall into a blue cast and then the book would "light" the face and jacket in a neutral tone.
I could have done that by setting my white balance to tungsten and then gelling my key-light with a CTO. That would have turned the back-lights blue but I wanted some of the key light to turn blue as well.
So here's the secret. Shoot RAW. When you shoot Raw, you don't have to choose a white balance until you process your photo. After pulling the photo into Adobe Raw, I processed a "blue" version and a "correct" version. I then laid the two over each other in Photoshop and masked in the "correct" color where I wanted it to show up. Hope that helps.
Here's another one:
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| Light Painting Photo by Stephen Poff |
Exif Info:
- Shutter Speed: 1/13
- Aperture: f/4
- ISO: 400
- Focal Length: 28mm
- Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
And one more:
While geocaching the other day I discovered this wonderful little trail to nowhere and just had to come back to shoot here.
Strobist info: I found a little patch of sky through the trees to light my face and then back-lit it with a Canon 430ex to the back of subject at camera left.
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| Light Painting Photo by Stephen Poff |
Exif Info:
- Shutter Speed: 1/125
- Aperture: f/9
- ISO: 200
- Focal Length: 28mm
- Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Strobist info: Alien Bees B800 through a large softbox overhead and slightly in front of subject.