10/31/09

Sustainable Red-Wine


Phase one at Hallmark is winding down, and our final project is due in a week. One picture we have to shoot is a product with an appropriate background or location, and I just happened to pick up this cool bottle of wine from a local store. While driving back to the studio, I also passed a tree with some great red leaves that were falling. Some people driving past may have seen me picking leaves up off the ground and shoving them in a plastic baggie.

The cool thing about the commercial bays at school are that, right now at least, it's pretty empty after school. I get to use equipment from 2 or 3 bays instead of having to keep changing everything out when i start a new picture. Luckily, this was a fairly simple setup, but I think a few weeks of instruction and some lighting diagrams will do me good.

The setup, which I actually do have a picture of this time, was a little more complex than I've done in the past.



















A softbox in the back through the infinity table, one in the front right for the bottle, and a third bare bulb underneath the table. No bounce cards, but I did have to black out the wall on the left side to get rid of some highlights. Post processing was cleaning up the bottle and re-arranging some of the leaves, curves, and some trade secrets.

It likely won't get used for class for one reason-they want us to be turn in lightroom edits only, and this shot, like most product shots, is a disaster till it gets polished. I'll definitely be holding onto this one for a while.

Keep coming back to check out new pics that will be getting posted, we're just getting started.

10/4/09

Hallmark in Motion- Weeks 3 & 4


After watching most of the class get jump started from zero to 'pro' photographers, we hit the ground running, literally. Our assignment this week included techniques on capturing motion, and my experience as a 'sportraiture' photographer came in handy. Josh was willing enough to run endlessly through dirty puddles in the unusually wet Massachusetts weather so I could get a great shot like this one. More after the jump.

Without 'distractions' like things to do on the weekends, we have plenty of time to throw on a jacket and spend a few hours in the rain. Josh, Colin and I took the day to do our motion assignment, and ended up with some great shots. Nearly running over Josh just so that Colin could get his homework done was priceless.

Coming up in the next couple weeks we have a few field trips, including one to New York for PhotoExpo, and to some smaller locales around the Massachusetts area. Assignments should start falling out of the sky any day now, and I'll have something a bit more interesting to talk about than how I captured movement with a fast shutter speed.





____________

Follow Me on Twitter
Join the Mailing List