Tags: 80mm, advertising, Apo-Digitar, Apple, Aptus-II, design, digital photography, equipment, Leaf, lighting, Phase One, Profoto, Schneider-Kreuznach, set, Sinar, still life, studio, tools
Posted in Shoot | 5 Comments »
posts tagged ‘80mm’
Alright, to be honest: I’m not going to write much because I’m dying to get into Sonic Generations on my 360!!!
Be sure to check out Matt Pickett’s blog, rolled out fresh on 11/11. Matt rocks, his inaugural post rocks, can’t wait to see him get going with it. Go learn something: http://www.mattpickettphotography.co.uk/blog/
I’m dropping off some odd stuff from over the weekend; nothing to write home about, probably, but pretty large in terms of production time. Three sets in one day plus an emergency trip across town to IKEA for a glasstop without text imprints. This shoot was tied to a mock campaign for depression help-lines. Get it? This campaign is the antithesis of those dark, scary, and unnerving ads that I hate so much. I truly feel for anyone who suffers from depression. Please get help.
Also, chomping to mess with my 24mm Nikkor, I had plenty of incentive to grab some production stills. That’s the best part, really! Enjoy ~~>
It has been a stellar week – I finalized and ordered the sequencer chassis, tracked down some really hard to find PVC process control 22/3 wire, worked out a new logo mod, updated manvsbigmachine, and designed a cool shutter testing tool (which I will share in the next post). Feels good.
The sequencer parts are floating in (landing in droves, actually) and I’m organizing the final build. Let me tell you how hard it is to find Mencom MDC-3CBL-C industrial MDC sensor wire – eh, right, I’ll spare you. Just understand that I had a horrible nightmare about it. I’ve never lost sleep to process control wire before, a new low. One reel is on the way, drop shipped from the factory. Sweet. I’ve also developed a set of testing cables for the ScopeMeter which will allow a peek into the timing chain once the thing is all together. I’ve learned more about Kester 331 solder and Neutrik Tiny XLR connectors than I care to share. If you don’t know what I’m blathering on about, just visit here: /build-sequencer-part-i
I will share this image with you, in case you forgot that I’m a photographer. It’s not really my normal type of output, but it was fun and it looks very tasty. Thanks to Kelsey and Junior for the help.
I joined Google+; as if I have the patience to deal with another social website…we’ll see how it goes. My website is also now +1 enabled. Please go click it.
Like I mentioned above, new business correspondence is in the works. I found ready-cut 17×22 inkjet cardstock and custom built some printable folder and sleeve templates in Illustrator, so now I can one-off business packages at any time. I also went on a city wide search for the specific 1/4-inch corner punch, only to end up ordering one through B&H of all places. That’ll teach me to leave the house.
Look for some cool DIY posts coming up. Also, I have a ton of cool photographers to share with you as soon as I have the time; always happy to make this blog a bit less of a Me show. Thanks for watching.
Tags: 80mm, beverage, Culinary, Denver, digital photography, editorial, Leaf, lighting, Photoshop, Profoto, Schneider-Kreuznach, sequencer, still life, studio
Posted in Work | 6 Comments »
I’m killing myself trying to prep the sequencer project for manufacturing before I become saturated with shooting due to a special topics course in food styling that starts tomorrow. I’m totally excited about this. The only problem is that, because it is a mid-term course, we will meet from 8AM to 5PM every Monday. That’s nine hours. No problem. Tom Moore is teaching and we’re joining the culinary program, sounds like a hell of a good time to me.
Before the sequencer update, check out my latest portfolio addition. The first time I gazed upon a toaster with a LCD I knew something like this was going to happen eventually. It was also a great way to test out the counter top I built. Lots going on here. If you’re wondering: the wall is false, made of foam core. The LCD display was modeled digitally; however it does match the actual display and is based on scan of the plastic protective cover out of the box. I am using a false DOF here stylistically, but I was crafty about it. It looks right. Also, something is missing, can you find it? I’m having a lot of fun with this kind of strange style, and all the fun appliance humor that I’m pretty sure most people won’t appreciate.
OK then, I have been putting in LONG hours to get the sequencer ready for manufacturing. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just visit my previous post. The first order was to add isolated and buffered outputs which required a large addition to the electronics. Once this was accomplished and the parts sourced, there was a rather hefty PCB redesign to accomodate - this is still in the works. Today I am happy to share the final chassis design. I have dropped the Hammond enclosure idea and have decided to design my own enclosure from scratch. This was a huge undertaking and it took uncountable hours of research, design, and fitting. Ok, it took about twenty hours. But, that’s a lot of hours. This enclosure fits everything quite nicely with an extreme utilization of space, which is something that was not possible with the pre-manufactured Hammond box. Also, I am saving myself a ton of trouble by having the end panels milled directly for the parts that mount to them. The end product makes it look easy, but I had to track down and find the engineering drawings for every single part and specify each cut and drill hole to those specs, in addition to figuring and allowing for tolerances. A ton of work, but actually it was all kinds of fun.
The new enclosure will be milled from 2.5mm black anodized aluminum blanks with 2mm end panels. The channels on the edge of the front panel are 1mm cavities which fit into the 1.5U edge channels. The external components are all placed so that they avoid everything inside, specifically the power supply, the main board, and the daughter board. I am not showing the rear panel, but it is drilled to precisely mount the internal components. Hopefully everything will come together.
The big news is that the components are all sourced and ordered. Thank you, Mouser!
Added: Since two people have asked about the new board, here it is. Major additions are fully buffered and isolated 3A switching outputs, four pin output channels to support isolated switching, mountings for the newer 1012 daughter board, USB power routed through the data channel, drilling for 24AWG and 18AWG wiring, and industry standard Molex K.K. power connectors.
Tags: 80mm, advertising, Apo-Digitar, Aptus-II, CAD, design, digital photography, electronics, Engineering, equipment, food, Leaf, medium format, Photoshop, product, Profoto, Schneider-Kreuznach, sequencer, set, Sinar, still life, studio
Posted in Work | 7 Comments »
Just a quick drop off. That phone snapshot, the new countertop, a pre-existing idea, and Dave on hand resulted in a prototype shoot on Monday. The concept is obvious, so I made sure to shoot clean and allowed for some experimentation. I was probably not as strict about a few things as I normally would have been, but in the end I’m glad about that as it lends a bit of comfort, having the straws and other items just a bit off and such. I think I learned something there. Anyway, we constructed both sets and shot the product on each set aligned as closely as humanly possible. I think I used every movement on my camera to get the second shot to match the first. Angle and focal movements were frozen, but everything else was variable between them. We carefully matched lighting, but also allowed for some differences in character to match the expected ambiance. With nice, clean frames coming in, post was a blast. There are issues, but they are nit-picky. I am very happy with the result. Thanks to Dave M. for all the help.
Starting to use the D4 a lot more and I’m afraid I’m falling in love with it, which is bad. A seriously hardcore generator that handles like a kitten. No, really, it purrs. Very accurate, very versatile. It’s awesome.
Tags: 80mm, advertising, Apo-Digitar, Aptus-II, digital photography, equipment, Leaf, lighting, medium format, product, Profoto, Schneider-Kreuznach, set, Sinar, still life, studio
Posted in Shoot | 2 Comments »
Check out that shaver. I bought it for personal use, but I admit that I picked it purely for its aesthetic values and had a product shot in mind the whole time. It’s a good looking device, I had a lot of fun lighting it. Obviously this is a study in new school illustrative product lighting; sexy, clean, and sharp. Hyperreal. I’m learning a lot from these studies, and that’s how I like it.
My second Seamaster shot comes from my Advanced Studio course with Tom Moore. The set was constructed in our 9th floor studio and is being used by the entire class for a great variety of shots. Special thanks to Kelsey Hansen for assisting and helping to direct this still. Some pretty basic contrasts happening here, with the steel and the damp barn…you can figure it out. Check the production stills. We used a lot of light, very subtly. Great fun on this one! I wrapped another shoot with Kelsey and much of the class this morning on the same set – like a group effort; will post that soon.
Have a great weekend. Eat and drink!
Tags: 80mm, advertising, Apo-Digitar, Aptus-II, digital photography, illustration, Leaf, lighting, medium format, Phase One, product, Profoto, Schneider-Kreuznach, set, Sinar, still life, studio, tools, Watch
Posted in Shoot | 14 Comments »
I’ve been experimenting with some catalogue style watch photography this week. In preparation I begged and cheated and lied in order to get my hands on one of my favorite chronometers of all time, the Seamaster 2254.50 – this is the black dialed sister to the popular James Bond blue dialed 2531.80. A big, heavy, sexy deep-sea saturation-diving watch; it’s a classic that I’m happy to have around for a while. I’m a huge fan of Omega and if you are inclined I urge you to visit their website and dig around for some really breathtaking catalogue work. I hope I am that good someday.
While I have this watch I want to do some advertising shots with it as well, so look for that. No production snapshots this time, but I’ll be sure to post some next time – quite a lot goes into lighting a watch like this, just count the facets…we made a special tool for holding mirrors and reflectors that I think would be interesting to explain. Also, I’m looking for a used Acute2/D4 ring light to modify specifically for lighting bezels…stay tuned!
(Added: I found this still of the table set for this shot.)
Tags: 80mm, Apo-Digitar, Aptus-II, Catalogue, D1, digital photography, Leaf, Omega, Phase One, Photoshop, product, Profoto, Schneider-Kreuznach, Seamaster, still life, studio, Watch
Posted in Work | 16 Comments »
I’ve got two new pieces to drop off. These images are the first to come out of the new workflow, and the Bombay Saphire piece was the first from Capture One 6.2 which was released just this morning. (Note that the Saphire shot was a way bigger deal than the Absolut shot.) I’m trying to get back into documenting my setups, but I got rusty. Also, I really just wanted to take pictures of my new Sinar. It will get better, I promise. I can’t leave a post without some geek info: I’m moving all of my lenses to Sinar boards and I need to get a Sinar-to-Cambo board adapter from S.K. Grimes! That probably deserves a post on its own. Sooooo, I’m about to have a bunch of Cambo lens boards for sale if anyone is interested. After an entire quarter studying and shooting outside of the studio, it is totally awesome to be back. More in the works, stay tuned, and thanks a bunch for all the support!
Tags: 80mm, advertising, Apo-Digitar, Aptus-II, beverage, D1, digital photography, equipment, Leaf, lighting, medium format, Phase One, product, Profoto, Schneider-Kreuznach, set, Sinar, still life, studio
Posted in Shoot | 33 Comments »
Whoa! Things are ramping up! I’m directing and shooting a preliminary sequence for my graduation portfolio as I round the bend into my final year at AiC. That’s exciting. I’m shooting contracts here and there and moving out old equipment – making room for some new. See note below. I’ve also started teaching Capture One to a few students, and possibly a few instructors starting this week. Busy.
This week brings huge changes as I switch over to the Sinar platform (evil Sinar!) via a brand new X body. I couldn’t resist any longer and I was offered a deal I really couldn’t refuse. Along side that comes a 150lb camera stand and a huge Manfrotto 400. This rig takes over as studio queen whilst my trusted and beloved Cambo Ultima sticks around for out-of-studio jobs, secondary, and backup. On the production side, I’ve really been getting into Profoto’s Air system combined with Capture One for lighting control directly within the workflow window. Everything is now managed from Capture One… Really, really sweet. I make no apologies for being a gear head, btw. I think I’ve found the one area of photography where that’s okay.
Earlier today I chatted with my friend and fellow studio rat, Kelsey Hansen, about starting an interest group at AiC dedicated to tabletop and still life. It would be great to get together in order to talk about trends, tech, do some camera and equipment demos, visit some commercial studios, and so on. Honestly, I can’t believe that this doesn’t already exist. If you’re a student and you’re reading this, PLEASE CONTACT ME OR KELSEY if you’re interested! Awesome.
Here’s the note: I have a gorgeous Cambo Master PC technical camera (L-Frame, base tilts, variable-axis tilts, fully geared) with perfect bellows, 4×5 glass, extension rail, and hard case for sale. I’ve been going back and forth about selling it, but the new Sinar ends that indecision. All in EX+ condition. I really hate to let this camera go, it is a classic. I also have several MINT- Nikkor lenses on Copal shutters to let go if you’re looking. Contact.
And, suddenly, it looks like the latest Safari 5.0.5 update for OSX breaks my current implementation of the Facebook Like button running in my site-wide footer. I’ll have to fix that. Always something.
I’ll leave off with a new shot. This started out as a classic bottle and glass still, until my friend commented that, had she that glass of Green Label, she’d be drinking it not looking at it. Ha! Brilliant! Thanks Stacey.
Tags: 80mm, advertising, Apo-Digitar, Aptus-II, beverage, Cambo, D1, digital photography, equipment, Leaf, lighting, medium format, Phase One, product, Profoto, Schneider-Kreuznach, set, Sinar, still life, studio, tools
Posted in Work | 19 Comments »
Hi again. I’m just dumping out my work from this quarter at school. Let’s see, where are we… I shot this huge bread production as an editorial for a recipe book that I want to put together someday. Or, at least, as a test editorial for a recipe book that I want to put together someday. Bread. It’s so good and it’s so much fun to light. These two shots are my selects from the entire project and now that it’s over these two are really the only two that I care about. First we have this HUGE three pound boule of traditional sourdough, which is to say that it is not the nasty San Francisco stuff we are used to here in the Midwest. Next is this midsized but very dense loaf of Cherry Walnut holiday bread that makes the mouth water.
I should mention that I did not bake these things. They came directly from the hearth ovens of The Denver Bread Company up there in Denver’s Highlands neighborhood. This place is so sweet; this place will be visited by me frequently. The people who live near this bread bakery are so very lucky. In this age of supermarkets we often forget tradition, flavor, and aesthetic qualities in our foods. Eating this bread was like a revelation. Life is too short to eat mass-produced bread. Search out a local bread maker and realize what you’re missing.
Tags: 80mm, Apo-Digitar, Aptus-II, Cambo, Denver, digital photography, editorial, food, Leaf, lighting, medium format, Profoto, Schneider-Kreuznach, set, still life, studio
Posted in Work | 7 Comments »
These three shots complete my Advertising & Art Direction class at AiC; probably most informative and motivating course I have ever taken. I’m half-way sad that it’s over, and half-way relieved…time step back and evaluate what I’m doing and shoot some stuff for myself. That kind of course is exactly why I’m spending money on commercial photography school.
This advertising campaign features Jameson Gold Reserve Irish Whiskey, a premium Jameson blend. Each part is set in a distinct environment and stylistically they stand half way between modern and traditional liquor advertising. My technique for these shots produced a great look and feel that seems painterly, hyper-real even. They seem like foreground/background composites, but they aren’t – each set was complete from foreground to background, and each set was built on location. Each piece was multi-shot, however, over six lighting segments and composited to produce the final images. I love the look; I just need to refine the process and keep pushing it. This series was produced over a two week period with 4 to 5 hours shooting and 4 hours editing for each piece. Hell of a lot of stress, planning, and travel on top of all that; we moved a full studio kit to each location. It’s a good thing this stuff is so much fun!
I have TONS of nitpicky issues with these, but I’ll just keep them to myself. Please feel free to comment; otherwise just enjoy!
Interesting -> the weird distortions on the third shot (holiday) are due to shooting on a carpeted floor: misalignment between plates, etc. Lesson learned!
Again, lots of great work from friends and other students recently. Hopefully I’ll get some links up soon.
Tags: 80mm, advertising, Apo-Digitar, Aptus-II, beverage, Cambo, design, digital photography, lighting, medium format, Photoshop, product, Schneider-Kreuznach, set, still life, studio
Posted in Work | 23 Comments »
