Mar 26: More Quilts

We shot quilts from 9am to 6pm.

My camera rig worked great. It was consistent and reliable.

I had a terrific assistant, whose tasks included smoothing, flattening, rotating, clipping, and in this case, lint-rolling.

We shot 38 pieces in all. Here's a smaller one.

Now all I have to do is replace the background, remove distortion, square the edges, rotate, crop, and clean up any loose ends.

38 times. It's a good thing my computer chair is comfortable.

Mar 25: Climate Change

In winter, I shoot mostly skiing. (Maybe you've noticed?)

In a change of pace (and climate), I'm photographing quilts this weekend.

I'm using the same planning and precision that I use in my ski images to create a repeatable and consistent set of quilt images.

Here's the set, (with a quilt's backside serving as a model):

I've found that laying the quilts on the ground and photographing from above is much easier than hanging the quilts on a wall.

It's a bit tricky getting the camera stabilized, but a sturdy tripod and some heavy A clamps are doing a good job.

I've tried balancing the lighting with multiple strobes, but it is actually quite clean and nice to photograph the quilts with just one speedlite, when placed in the correct orientation. In this case, the light is placed 12' above the ground and 10' away from the quilt's corner. It's feathered towards the far corner. The result resembles a Rembrandt light, without the nose shadows. There's a 1 stop difference b/w the closest corner and the farthest corner, which gives a nice feel.

Here's a different angle on the geometry.

We've shot 7 quilts so far. ~20 more to go.

Feb 7: Must Stache

I'm having too much fun with this.....
Please, enjoy it with me.

I've figured out a nice way to do simple head shots with one light. I basically turned a softbox into a ring light. You can see it in the catch lights. The camera is mounted directly in front of the soft box, with a shutter release cable and a pocketwizard.

70mm, f5.6. The focus was tricky, but I figured out a repeatable way to get it right. Self portraits are tough when your DOF is 1cm or less.
It's a bit creepy, yeah?
Well, how about a few with no eyes?

Nice light, right? It's hard to see any differences here. You might notice the sweet mustache. I definitely took it around town today, owning it. I even put wax in it to keep it tight.
The dude at Verizon said, 'Wow, got the mustache today, huh?' (he recognized me from last week.)

Now for the kicker...

Look how the pupil size completely determines the mood of the image. I had no idea it would be so influential.
Left: modeling light on.
Center: modeling off, but kitchen lights on.
Right: total dark.
Apparently, a totally dark room brings out the crazy eyes.

Btw, click on the last image to enlarge it. You'll be happy you did.

Feb 6: Super Beard

I hope you laugh while looking at these images. I'm still laughing.

(For the full effect, click on any of the images to enlarge it.)

I set up my gear for a repeatable shot, in the living room.

I rigged it all with Pocketwizards. My handheld PW triggers the camera's PW. The camera triggers the strobes with a sync cord and simultaneously relays the signal to a 3rd PW. The 3rd PW triggers my Speedlite in the back (pictured above).

A couple meter readings and we'll be ready.

The light looks pretty nice.

(This would be a good one to enlarge. Click on it. Then laugh heartily.)

The Super Bowl has arrived. Kickoff. I win the bet.

Let the insanity proceed, unabated.

Although Vanessa doesn't care for it, I might keep the 'stache for a few days.

It took me 11 weeks to grow it. I might as well flaunt it.

June 16: Garnet Ghost Town

This ghost bike needs a bit of work.