Starhawk
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off
|
Hi guys, I'm a bit new to photography having just bought a Digital Rebel last December, and this thread has just been another step into the world of photography for me. After discovering this thread over 2 months ago, I started looking into getting studio equipment as soon as possible. I managed to buy 3 Alien Bees 800s, and a bunch of equipment from amvona.com's Ebay site. I highly, highly recommend both, as I was able to get all of my equipment for much less that what I originally thought. IMO, the amovona stuff is of great quality, but to be honest, this noob doesnt have anything else to compare it to. 
First, I can't say enough about this thread and how informative and inspiring it has been! Thanks to everyone.
Now, on to my shoot... I have a few friends who work for a local radio station. Every Christmas, they promote "Merry XXX-Mas", an amazingly popular stunt that drives loads of traffic to their website. Basically, everyone at the station takes pictures of themselves in some type of Christmas theme, while at the same time, just barely covering their "bits and pieces".
The pics are usually always done with P&S cameras, in someone's home, in front of the Christmas tree, etc. I've done some photography work for my friends over the past year, and I suggested letting me take their Merry XXX-mas pics this time as well. Something of much better quality that would beat everyone else's pics this year. What a better way to get started on studio photography? 
Unfortunately, my setup shots are not as good as others here, mainly due to the fact that my widest lens is a 50/1.4 on a 1.6x crop Canon Digital Rebel (the exact equipment I used for this shoot) I simply did not have enough room to step back and get everything in the shot. I decided to invest in the lighting equipment, rather than a wide angle lens right now 
One interesting note: I priced 1/4" plexi glass as JohnE and others suggested, but it was just out of my price range right now. I actually just went to Home Depot and bought 2 sheets that were about .090 of an inch thick. I forget how large they were off the top of my head, but they worked great! We didnt have any issued with the plexi bowing in at all, and we shot these on carpet. I did have to clone out the seam where the two sheets met though.
The final pics were touched up in photoshop, and might be a bit much for some tastes. I wanted to bring this up, because I have read some criticisms on heavily altered work. This was the look I was going for, especially in the second photograph which turned out just like I wanted it.
"Cocktail" Carly:
 |
|
|
|
http://cameron.smugmug.com/photos/45935467-L.jpg |
|
|
|
|
The only thing I really didnt like about this photo was that I should have cleaned the plexiglass, and I really couldnt think of a good way to get rid of the imperfections in Photoshop.
DJ Randi West:
|
|
|
|
http://cameron.smugmug.com/photos/45971429-L.jpg |
|
|
|
|
"Cuz" Jackie:
|
|
|
|
http://cameron.smugmug.com/photos/45935282-L.jpg |
|
|
|
|
In the end, Randi didnt actually like the photo I chose for this promotion. She thought she looked like a corpse and went with this one I dont like instead
I had a great time shooting these, and I am extremely pleased with how they turned out! Please let me know what you think, as constructive crticism is very welcome. Thanks again for everyone who contributes to this thread. I look forward to everyone's future posts! 
Edited on Dec 21, 2007 at 11:13 PM
|
