Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean Setters
Printable View
Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean Setters
Ditto---Quote:
Originally Posted by HDNitehawk
Another Great shoot Sean. I like the effect of coming just a little bit closer in each of the 4 images. All of them look totally different. Nice work:)
After mulling over a few ideas for the next Suburban Rapper cover, I finally settled on one: a punk-ish looking girl with big headphones in front of a background made of CDs. Coincidentally enough, one of my recent subjects (Kristin) fit the bill perfectly. When I contacted her about my idea, she was all for it.
Ingredients for a cover shoot:
- Ridiculously large headphones from Amazon
- 75 blank CDs from Staples (used 56 cds)
- 32”x40” black foam board
- Low temp glue gun and glue sticks
- Hot, punkish model
Steps to creating the background:
- Measure black foam board and find out it’s 32”x40”. Create 32”x40” blank template in Photoshop.
- Research CD diameter (120mm, apparently). Convert measurements in Photoshop to millimeters.
- Draw 120mm circle. Lay down guide lines for edges. Copy layer and move second circle next to first circle. Repeat.
- Copy first row of 6 circles, offset by 60mm, and place below first row. Repeat.
- After realizing I need 54 discs, exclaim “Thank goodness I bought the 75 pack!” Center 9 rows of 6 discs to template.
- Convert Photoshop units back to inches. Get a rough estimate of how far in on each side I need to start the first row.
- Preheat hot glue gun. Law down discs in pattern on board. Think to self, “Surprisingly enough, that looks just like the Photoshop drawing…that never happens!”
- Carefully glue down the first row of discs. Once they’re in line, the rest fall right into place
Setup:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8020/7...3ec7084952.jpg
Suburban Rapper April 2012 Setup by budrowilson, on Flickr
Shots:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7217/7...7111c830_c.jpg
Suburban Rapper: April 2012 by budrowilson, on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7255/6...52c7b136_z.jpg
Nurse ReRyme by budrowilson, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8161/6...57e0385f_z.jpg
Rhymin' by budrowilson, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8151/6...a524a1a4_z.jpg
Taking Music Seriously by budrowilson, on Flickr
And a shot of Hayden, the friend that drove her to the shoot:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8158/6...c2db4605_z.jpg
Haden by budrowilson, on Flickr
I like your continuation of this theme Sean, great series. Nice portrait of Hayden and your hot nurse is hawt.
Wow Sean, you must have a really good camera. :)
Good lights too. :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidEccleston
Wow... open the wound and rub a little salt in it.;)Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidEccleston
Good one though:p
I took it with my phone.Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidEccleston
;-)
Your latest set is fantastic, Sean! She seems like she would be alot of fun to photograph, she appears to be really relaxed and comfortable in front of a camera!
She is. She's great.Quote:
Originally Posted by ddt0725
Now there's a fun experiment to be had, after all that setting up and lights and modifiers and such, take the exact same shot with a few different cameras and lenses, like those throw-away kodak instant thingies and a camera-phone, post them all and see who *really* can tell the difference...Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean Setters
Something tells me Sean could take better photos with all those lights and skill using an instamatic, than I can with my 7D...
Cool idea and (as usual) great execution. I must say that the “driver” really challenges the model for the place on the cover - that pose/expression/overall look would do well on a music magazine cover.
About the background - did you consider gluing them with the data side visible? As I recall it the data side of CDs can reflect colorful patterns, and maybe that could have added some color effects instead of the brand label. (By the way, I really like the 8 step background creation recipe; it takes a photographer/artist to solve that type of problem that way.)
Honestly, no--at least not until Noelle and I were half way through gluing them down when she asked, "Is there some reason you decided to use the label side instead of the other side? The data side probably would have reflected the light in an interesting way..." I looked at her and said, "Nope, it never crossed my mind. When I saw the shot in my head, I saw the blank side. Now if you had said that before we started..."Quote:
Originally Posted by cls
After thinking about it for a while, though, I realized the label side was the better side to choose for this particular project. The label side gives the viewer a sense that those are indeed blank, writable disks while the other side would not have. I think having blank CDs behind the subject is more illustrative of the issues that continue to plague the music industry in the ever changing landscape of digital piracy.
Honestly, that's what I was thinking about while Nurse Re-Ryhme was blowing bubbles-a plague of digital pirates rampaging across the changing landscape.:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean Setters
Not too long ago I was contacted by a guy who will be graduating from college this weekend. He said he wanted "...graduation pictures, but not like...normal ones." When questioned further, he basically said that he didn't really want the pictures to have a graduation theme (school, cap & gown, etc). He just wanted pictures made around the time he was graduating. That way, looking back, he could point to the pictures and say, "Yep, that's what I looked like when I was graduating from college."
He then went on to say that he wanted "...to look like a model. Could you do me a magazine cover like you've done for that Rapper series?" Well Jordan, yes I can...
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8161/6...847fe0bc_z.jpg
Jordan Chitwood: QE Cover by budrowilson, on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7214/7...4236266d_z.jpg
Jordan Chitwood: Ready for Anything by budrowilson, on Flickr
Setup:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7178/7...5dec41cf_z.jpg
Jordan Chitwood Setup by budrowilson, on Flickr
Brilliant Sean. Great concept for this demographic.
What does QE stand for?
Sean, Your photographs and cover are amazing, as usual, But what I am really impressed with is the location and background building---its genius. Was that your choice or his???
Bob
I asked him to drive around town and pick out some possibe locations. This location was one of the ones he mentioned. It was indeed perfect, and coincidentally, a location I had passed dozens of times without noticing.
I also have to admit that my favorite shot of the three is the "set-up" shot. That in and of itself looks like it took a great deal of effort---Even the black in the umbrellas look perfectly exposed and then to get the subject, the building, the sky and the black street all well exposed just amazes me. Kudos for shot very well done.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean Setters
I recently picked up a used Singh-Ray Vari-N-Duo on Ebay. The Vari-N-Duo pairs a circular polarizer with a variable neutral density filter. After being impressed with the results I got while shooting at Burgess Falls, I really wanted to try the filter out on a portrait shoot.
So, here we have a young lady who will be graduating high school later this year. We set up in the same location as the Jordan Chitwood shoot, and the lighting setup was a near mirror of it as well (however, I was using a fill light on this shoot, unlike the previous shoot). Samantha wore the flannel shirt to the shoot, and that's what we used first. After several shots, I asked her to put on her prom dress (which I had seen pictures of on Facebook). The dress transformed this (for lack of a better term) kid into a Greek goddess. The dress turned out to be a stellar choice. And on the equipment side, the Singh-Ray filter surpassed even my highest expectations. While the Genus provides satisfactory results for a variable ND filter, having a circular polarizer in the same filter is an ideal fit for my type of shooting.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7244/7...3d2b1d522a.jpg
Samantha: Flannel 1 by budrowilson, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8001/7...eb906fe1d0.jpg
Samantha: Flannel 2 by budrowilson, on Flickr
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5272/7...8efc78b9_z.jpg
Samantha: Prom Dress 1 by budrowilson, on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7091/7...56d2c917_z.jpg
Samantha as Aphrodite by budrowilson, on Flickr
Yep, greek goddess is definitely the right word. The first and third pretty much sum up every teen movie, girl next door turns into a princess for the prom.
I love it.
(and I think the building behind the third shot also helps with the goddess image, modern-day acropolis maybe?)
I don't know what it is about your photos (these and all the others), maybe it's the fast lens, or the lighting (like in your basketball shot), or a bit of PP, but that foreground-background separation you get is amazing. I have so much to learn, master.
In this case, it's primarily good lighting paired with a [relatively] wide aperture (all are between f/1.8 - f/2.8). She has 4 different lights on her:
1) Mainlight, camera right, beauty dish
2) Fill light, camera left, octabox
3) Rim light rear right
4) Rim light rear right
The subject was actually shielded from the sun with an umbrella. The biggest role of the sun in this shot involved lighting up the background for me. That said, I'm underexposing the ambient light by using powerful monolights. The monolights allow me to use, in this case, an ND filter and a circular polarizer to bring the ambient down while illuminating my subject to allow her to stand out against the background. The polarizer also helps by bringing that rich blue to the sky. It's the kind of shot I've been working toward for a long time now, and I'm finally getting the exact results I've been after.
Well, I'm running behind on the Suburban Rapper series, but I finally got May's done. As the flickr caption notes, the inspiration for this shot came straight from my buddy Mark. He said, "You know what? You need to do a group of kids for the next rapper cover thing you do. And I'm pretty sure I know where you can get a bunch of kids..."
So, we ran with it. We used his five kids to create the next cover. I had to make sure and tone down the humor in this cover because I wanted his kids to be able to show it off to their friends. ;-)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7072/7...e2c54491_z.jpg
Suburban Rapper: May 2012 by budrowilson, on Flickr
Ha! Ha! Lovin' this one, Sean! The little girl in front looks like she can keep her big brothers in line pretty good!
You're right, she's tough. :-)
Very cool, nice light all the way around Sean, well done.
I posted a couple of these in various threads for one reason or another, but I had initially planned on putting the series on this particular thread.
This young lady was a joy to have in front of the camera--funny, cool, with an almost zen-like attitude about her. Great shoot.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8167/7...7b31e1aa71.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7135/7...8bc577a101.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8009/7...407121c234.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8007/7...3a0112f65a.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8021/7...6f4398f8_z.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8017/7...2260b2cf_z.jpg
Fantastic as usual :cool:
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by clemmb
But top right and bottom left really stand out to me. Great great shots.
Great stuff Sean, I think you have defeated the sun and made it your .....doesn't matter.:rolleyes:
Seriously, great skill and technical know how to produce the outdoor shots, beautiful model. I hope you are creating a market niche for yourself in this line of phoyography. And as the sun gets hotter and brighter I hope you can still find an angle to frame a shot of your model between all the light stands. ;)
If the light stands become a problem, I'll buy stronger lights and move the stands back a little. Where there's a will (or a stubborn reluctance to give in), there's a way. ;-)Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve U
Sadly, though, I don't market myself very well. I'm not booked nearly as often as I'd like to be.
This shoot was originally intended to feature our historic train depot and the town's most recognizable landmark, the Cream City sign. Unfortunately, some of the lights in the sign are out. In fact, there's a benefit happening this weekend to raise money to repair the sign. So, with the sign in disrepair, we parked ourselves under the canopy of the train depot and used the buildings across the street as a backdrop as well as the walls of the depot itself. One reason for shooting within spitting distance of the canopy was because of the slight chance of rain that evening.
Although I don't have a lighting setup picture, the lighting setup remained relatively constant throughout the series. I used a Mola Demi beauty dish with stacked Opal and P.A.D. diffusers for the mainlight camera left, and a Canon 580EX diffused through an umbrella for the fill light camera right. For the shots with the red wall behind the subject, I used an additional shoe-mount flash to add some light to the background.
Canon 5D Mark II
28-70mm f/2.8 L
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8288/7...480631e862.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8024/7...809ba62f43.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7257/7...d3de030614.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8284/7...28d3f6c9d7.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7275/7...f527297cf4.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7253/7...15abe69319.jpg
...I missed these....great series Sean. I like each one for different reasons. You captured a great range of expressions.
;-)
Brillant! Thanks for sharing.
Was there a building in those photos???:confused:
Sean
If I may ask a technical question; from somebody without any talent. The red brick walls (last two shots) as a backdrop, seem (to my eye) to detract from the subject. The skin tones and pale red bricks seem to make the subject look a bit flat?
Are there any rules for backdrops and skin tones?
If there are rules, I'm unaware of them (that's not to say there aren't any). In this particular instance, however, the wall was close and the shoot was wrapping up. I used it because it convenient, not necessarily because of its color.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
That's not Google's 16gb version is it Sean?