Location Photography, The Story Behind the Picture
How did I get these fantastic images of April Scott Actor/Model? April contacted me about a shoot and we talked about what sort of images we would like to shoot and what was needed. I arranged to be at April’s home in Palm Desert CA. I had not seen her home before so I was going into this shoot blind and would have to think on my feet for what would be the best views around her home for the shots. I had done this sort of shoot before so I was confident in that I could get some great images. I looked around the house, & found that the front door to her home looked fantastic for a backdrop. I think it was the color that was the first thing I spotted then the design. I had a set of clothes that would look good in front of the door and April had a bra that could go with the look we were going for. As we were going to shoot outside in open shade, I needed to bump the exposure up with some sort of fill light but at the same time keep it balanced, I could have done this with a silver reflector but I wanted to have a stronger light that would be constant so I went with my ring-light. You can see in the image of the camera & how I have my rig set up. The camera is on a rail that can move back and forth to get the right balance as I was going to be hand holding...
Location Photography, Studio Photography, The Story Behind the Picture
Note: At the trade show (World of concert) they ran out of the posters as the guys there went crazy for them. Kelli was there to sign the poster for White Cap®. The company went on to become known for its fabulous promo poster’s till a women’s rights group went and shut their concept of using promo poster’s. Just another insult to women (Models) who make a living looking lovely. I was commissioned to shoot a new poster for a wholesale construction company White Cap®. I had shot two posters for them before so this was going to be my 3nd poster for them. The idea that the owner of the company wanted me to shoot was not the greatest idea but he was the client and you do need to shoot what you are asked to shoot if you want to get paid. I did have some impute but I could not get them to go with my idea’s all the way. So, at the end of the shoot I asked the model to come back the next day and I would shoot my idea of what I thought would make a great shot for the poster. The model Kelli said she would be only too happy to come back and do a re-shoot with me as she also liked my idea of a poster better than the one we had just shot that day. That’s the sort of respect and trust I have from model’s as a professional photographer. We did not inform the client of the re-shoot. This image is what we came up with...
Location Photography, The Story Behind the Picture
So how did I get these great shots of Gretchen Stockdale lying on the stones. The stones are light and dark black in color and can be found in any garden center. I had my assistant rub each of the stones with some baby oil to get them to glow and have a nice shine when the light hit them. This made for a much more interesting look on the stones, it’s little things that will help make your shot stand out a bit more than a model just lying there on the stones. I had the pink swimsuit on hand which I thought would look great against the dark stones. The set was out-side in open shade which gave a lot of flat light to work with, I also had a large silver reflector off to one side to bounce some bright light into the space to help with a highlight on Gretchen’s body. We sprayed some water on the stones before the model was laying on them and once she was in the right spot on the stones we also sprayed the model with some water on her as well. The makeup girl also put some baby oil on Gretchen’s body before she was on the stones so that she would be shiny and sexy looking. We placed Gretchen hair around her head and made sure to not just let the hair fall down behind her head. Once we had Gretchen in her place on the stones it was time to work with the position of the camera set up and to focus in on what...
Location Photography, The Story Behind the Picture
How did I get these great shots of Diana Rein? I have talked about shooting live events before, this time it’s about shooting in an intimate venue. “The Merc” in Temecula California. I had not shot at this location but I was confident that I could pull off another great set of images. One of my magazine contacts got me on the list of photographers for the event & I arrived at the theater just before show time so I could look around to see if I could find the best places to shoot from and what the lighting was like. There are three things you need to know about a small theater. One makes sure you do not get in the way of people that have paid for a seat, find out who is the lighting director so that you might talk with them as they could advise you of the best-known views and what they might be doing with the stage lighting during the show. If there is security at the show let them know who you are and why you are shooting. (Check in) Once you have done all this you might be able to meet the artist who is playing or their people so they know who you are running about taking photos. That way the artist might look your way for some shots as they then know who you are at their show and that your images could end up being published. You might find there are other guys shooting and a lot of them are just people with cameras who are nobodies. But...
Location Photography, Playboy Playmate, The Story Behind the Picture
I received an e-mail from a producer in Canada that was going to be in Los Angeles and would like to add me to a story he is doing about glamour photographers in LA. His film was to be a documentary of interviews with photographers and their models with some B roll of the photographer shooting a model on location or in their studio. I contacted him back and told him I could do it and that I would have a Playboy® Playmate Barbara Moore as my model to shoot that day and that he could also do an interview with her. He informed me where he and his crew were going to be staying in Los Angeles and I let him know that I would just come over to them and that they could film me shooting in the hotel room and do the interviews right there. I could also give them some of the stills from that shoot, right out of the camera as I was now shooting digital. For this shoot as you could not get that many people in the room I would bring my DP/assistant and one 650 W tungsten light and stand, I did not need a lot of equipment. Barbara Moore was coming on this project with us to help promote her website at the time. We all get to the hotel and it’s just the same as always so no surprise’s there. We set up the light and Barbara got into some very sexy under wear which she would then strip out of as the shoot progressed. I had been...
Location Photography, The Story Behind the Picture
”Nightclub Shoot with Yvette Nelson” - Story Behind the Picture When working on a shoot for Razor magazine I had cast Yvette Nelson as a background model for a men’s wear spread. She is a fabulous model to work with and I was very happy with the look’s that she gave me in my shots with the guy’s. After the shoot I asked if she would model for some solo shots of her in this black baby-doll dress. We set up a 650-watt light (Tungsten) that we used for the shots with the guys for the magazine. I had Yvette stand near to the bar in the nightclub at the location that we were shooting at and had her give me some poses. Now when you work with a professional model you have to respect that they know what to do. The reason you hired them in the first place was for they look like and what they do in front of the camera. All you need to do is give some direction. Now as for my lighting I wanted to have some of the light that I could see in the club to show up in my images so I had to lower my shutter speed and open up my f-stop to get as much light into the camera as I could for the exposure I was looking for. Now in doing this I was dragging the shutter and this way I could get a bit of a blurry glow off the lights that were in the club and also the light that was coming though...
