I thought I would do a little bit of instructional post today. I shot JD yesterday at the train tracks and I lit him with a single gridded head and it lit his face well and kept the exposure of the background looking correct. However, the background is the problem. Have you ever taken a photo and thought, “If only that man with the pizza box weren’t in the background it would be a great photo?” My thoughts were similar to that on this photo where I thought the photo was nice and I did a little cross-processing on it and liked it. But, the background on the left really looked bad.
So what I did was to use the pen tool (in Photoshop) and outline very close to his hair and across his shoulder to mask off the part I wanted to remove down to the top of the silo. If you’ve never used the pen tool you should consider it because it is an excellent way to mask more accurately. After the selection was made I simply used the clone tool and since I had lots of blue sky I sampled the sky and cloned it over the parts I wanted to remove. Since all of that was next to and “behind” his head the mask allowed me to clone remove very accurately so it looks like nothing was there in the beginning.
If you have any questions about specifics shoot me an email. I wanted to illuminate the concepts and point you in the direction as to how you might be able to do the same thing on your photos.
When I decided to shoot Mandy again with the idea of shooting for stock I decided on something youthful and fun with some kind of flair. So we decided on striped socks and braids for her hair and I let her decide what else to wear. I think she did a great job. All my shoots are fun because that’s what I want to do – have fun. But in the process I want to create great images in great locations with great engaging subjects.
We decided to shoot at the laundromat and just have fun with it. These here are strictly natural light which turned out terrific I thought.
The laundromat had only two older men in there and one left soon after we arrived. The other man was friendly and came over to watch us. He chatted with us a while and I found out that his wife had died recently and that he survived two heart attacks himself and now at 82 (he didn’t look that old) was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. He was just doing his laundry when he said he had declined the chemo and would let it take it’s course. I asked about his family being close by and they weren’t.
I’m finding out all this while I’m shooting but at one point I stopped and introduced myself (his name was Cox) and gave him my card with my phone number. I hope he calls because I would like to take him to lunch and learn about him more.
It always amazes me the number of personal stories there are around us and how easily we have our own pat answers on how to handle all the things life throws at us. One truth I am learning is that no matter what a person is or has done or will do; no matter the situation in which they find themselves there is a God of grace who wants to spend time with us in time of need. We get so focused on performance sometimes that we think that’s all there is and while there are expectations we forget the simplicity and stillness of just being rather than doing.
Korean Beauty
I’m really not sure what most models think when going on a shoot with a photographer. Models have a goal of portfolio pictures and photographers have a goal that if shots are good they can be used to enhance a portfolio or sold as stock. I have had many models say to me that other photographers start out clean and all but then slowly start asking for more compromises with regards to clothing. I shot Talia yesterday evening and we just were going to have fun at the beach and we did. My goal with her, and any model, is to get lifestyle imagery with fun as the emphasis and beauty as a secondary thing. Since we weren’t shooting high fashion we focused on ideas that could be used in lifestyle ads.
Talia is half Korean and somehow she owns a ukulele which she borrowed from her husband for a prop. Enjoy.
Can I play you a song?