Andre Labonte wrote:
Nicely done sir. Both mag shots are great ... but I really like the 2nd mag shot. That's a standout.
The last shot is great too. My personal opinion/idea that would have been fun to try: a 3rd person in the left background either sitting at the bar or behind it getting a bottle off the left-most shelves ... just a thought.
Thanks, Andre! I really do like that last shot as well. If you look at the far end of the bar on the left, you'll see a mug of beer there. The bar actually opened shortly after we started shooting and three guys who came in were nice enough to sit at the far end of the bar. I would have loved to have incorporated them into the shot but they just didn't look the part. Same with the bartender. It would have been really nice to have had a few extras milling around in the background, sitting at the bar -- but this mag doesn't have much of a budget. But I'm right there with you, would have really liked adding that to the shot.
Squirrely Eyed wrote:
Nice work, Ron! I enjoy the photography in all of them, spot on. #1 I just wish the model didn't look like she was trying not to pass gas.
Your ballsiness in #5 looks like it paid off, at least at these sizes it looks razor sharp. At that distance, it does make me wonder why you bothered with such a wide aperture since the background blur is still somewhat light. The wood arch in the bar background looks like it has a bit of a blue/magenta highlight to it, was that some of the sunlight reflecting or maybe something else?...Show more →
Thanks!
No. 5 is sharp so I was happy with that. Since I'm shooting so wide, I knew that I would lose the bg into a sea of murky bokeh. If I moved in and shot tight at f/1.4, yes, the bg would have just become bokeh -- which looks great in a lot of images, but I wanted to keep the bar pretty much intact visually for this shot. So wide, f/1.4 works great, and allowed me to shoot this shot in complete ambient light. I was a little worried about the shadows over their eyes from the overhead lights, but it worked out okay. I probably could have tilted the girl on the left's head up a bit but I don't like it to appear too unnatural.
So yes, the blue cast. You busted me. There's a big LED TV in that space taking up the upper half of that stone wall just below the arch, and I totally hosed the cloning. I tried to clean up the cast as best I could and then finally said "enough" (using different words) since it wasn't for the publication, just for me and possibly the models. Good eyes!
Vcook wrote:
These are all great, 1 and 5 I like best. I've read that surburban life before, I'll have to track down a copy.
Thanks. I actually cheated a bit on the Suburban Life mag, it doesn't come out until next week, I think. The Kane County mag came out this week, which allowed me to put out some of these shots.
It has been fun to watch you improve from an already great starting point. These are extremely well done. I hope you don't mind if I share a minor nit, with the full understanding that I definitely couldn't do as well in the same situation. I agree the balance in 2 is fantastic, I do wish you had been able to gel your strobe a bit warmer so it matched and wasn't so blue compared with the rest of the light. But I really had to look hard to find something to complain about ;-)
No. 5 is sharp so I was happy with that. Since I'm shooting so wide, I knew that I would lose the bg into a sea of murky bokeh. If I moved in and shot tight at f/1.4, yes, the bg would have just become bokeh -- which looks great in a lot of images, but I wanted to keep the bar pretty much intact visually for this shot. So wide, f/1.4 works great, and allowed me to shoot this shot in complete ambient light. I was a little worried about the shadows over their eyes from the overhead lights, but it worked out okay. I probably could have tilted the girl on the left's head up a bit but I don't like it to appear too unnatural.
So yes, the blue cast. You busted me. There's a big LED TV in that space taking up the upper half of that stone wall just below the arch, and I totally hosed the cloning. I tried to clean up the cast as best I could and then finally said "enough" (using different words) since it wasn't for the publication, just for me and possibly the models. Good eyes! ...Show more →
Ah, that would explain it! Even if this weren't a 'Gatsby' themed shoot I think it was a good choice to clone the TV out.
Michaelparris wrote:
I love your work Ron. simple but not simplistic. Fancy but nothing fancy. Hope that makes sense. What camera body you using these days.
Thanks, Michael! Totally makes sense, and I appreciate it. Still using the Nikon D4.
neighbourboy wrote:
It has been fun to watch you improve from an already great starting point. These are extremely well done. I hope you don't mind if I share a minor nit, with the full understanding that I definitely couldn't do as well in the same situation. I agree the balance in 2 is fantastic, I do wish you had been able to gel your strobe a bit warmer so it matched and wasn't so blue compared with the rest of the light. But I really had to look hard to find something to complain about ;-)
--David
Thanks, David. I really appreciate that. I never mind the nits, helps me look at the pics differently and as in this case, I often agree. It's time for me to get with the gelling. I have the gels, have had them for a year or more with my Einsteins, just never really used them. But I see -- and have seen -- what you're talking about, and I've been aware of the need to gel for a long time. Sometimes, a minor nit like this is what motivates me to finally start doing something that I need to be doing, so thanks for mentioning that.
Something about #5 kept bothering me. Finally figured out what it was. And this is going to sound so silly.
The Knob Creek straw holders and napkin holders. When I look at that photo it takes me back to what I would imagine the "roaring 20's" would be like. And those holders made of paper just kind of throw the look for me.
Thank you for sharing this it is truly inspiring.
WiredMike wrote:
Something about #5 kept bothering me. Finally figured out what it was. And this is going to sound so silly.
The Knob Creek straw holders and napkin holders. When I look at that photo it takes me back to what I would imagine the "roaring 20's" would be like. And those holders made of paper just kind of throw the look for me.
Thank you for sharing this it is truly inspiring.
Thanks, Mike! Yeah, it wasn't a perfect setup for the Roaring 20s but we took what we got. I think if it was really closer to what we considered that era's look, we might have considered focusing more on the details. That, and the fact that the hotel was kind enough to just let us use their location as opposed to our paying for it.
I hope I didn't miss an explanation you already gave ...
I was wondering why you shot with higher ISO values. You mentioned having fairly powerful strobes. Was it so that you could match the ambient light conditions more closely? Thinking aloud here, if the light on your models is too different from the ambient light, you either have to light everything, or lower the light until it is closer to the ambient conditions.
There's a big LED TV in that space taking up the upper half of that stone wall just below the arch, and I totally hosed the cloning. I tried to clean up the cast as best I could and then finally said "enough" (using different words) since it wasn't for the publication, just for me and possibly the models. Good eyes! 