Sean's Recent Shoot: Panos Galore

[neuroanatomist]

I'd kinda liked to see that now...

Hopefully not like one of those Magic Eye books...

[Sean Setters]

This morning I set out to create another self-portrait. I wanted to nail down the type of shoot where an HOBD might be the perfect modifier to use. My original idea was to hold my hands up as if I was framing a shot. After trying a few, I wanted to see if I could use the distortion of the wide angle to achieve something more dramatic. On a whim, I made a face to the camera and leaned in real close. After laughing histarically at the image, I decided it would be more fun to run with it. Twenty-one shots later, I had my prize. I'm not really close enough to the camera or the edges of the frame to achieve the distortion I was looking for, but I liked the shot all the same.

It wasn't until I threw the image into Photoshop that I realized the dead space in the image could be very useful for copy text. A short time later, after fiddling with a few ideas, different fonts, and special effects on the text, I was happy with the result.

Introducing [PΘNΣ UP], the next big thing on the suburban rap scene...


Rappin' the Suburbs by budrowilson, on Flickr

If you're interested, here's the setup shot:

[bob williams]

Sean, You nailed this one---I can definitely see this one as a magazine cover. I'm trying to find something wrong with it----But I just cant. Killer job on the magazine cover as well.---Great Job and thanks for sharing a shot of the setup.

[Steve U]

Nice look birthday boy.

[Kayaker72]

Too funny. But seriously nice work.

[Sean Setters]

There's actually a glaring error--the ratio of the image. The cut size for a typical magazine is a little less than 8.5x11 inches (usually around 8.375x10.75). The ratio of my "magazine" is 2x3. I tried going back and redoing it to a correct ratio, but it really didn't work. So, I left it as it was. I appreciate the compliments. ;-)

[DanoPhoto]

Really cool shot!

Happy birthday, as well.

[Sean Setters]

A couple of Noelle's friends were in town over the weekend, and they wanted a few shots for profile pics. One of their ideas was doing something along the lines of a "film noir" style. Typically, speaking, that's not really a genre I'm all that familiar with. However, I know one key element of the film noir look is a strong shadow patterns. We were to shoot at night.

So what'd I do?

First, I removed the window treatments from one window (but left the blinds). I set up a monolight outside about 40 feet from the window. I used a grid on the monolight to control the light so that the whole house wouldn't be lit up on each pop (the house sits on a busy street...I figured that corralling the light to a specific area would limit how many motorists got startled). Then I used another monolight inside the room, set to its lowest power, and diffused by a softbox. The monolight in the softbox allowed me to see a little bit of detail in the shadows.

I added a film grain in post to [hopefully] add to the effect.


Andy: Film Noir by budrowilson, on Flickr

[Steve U]

I like the grain and I like the blinds, you could have put a hat on the shadow in the background.

[Sean Setters]

I decided to reprise my role as PØN∑ UP in the February issue of Suburban Rapper.


It's Always a Production by budrowilson, on Flickr

Truth be told, the purpose of this session was to test out the capabilities of my newest equipment purchases including:

Avenger D600 Mini Boom
Matthews Baby Drop Down Pin
Avenger A1020CS Low Boy Combo Stand
Ebay 22" Grid for beauty dish

I originally purchased the boom arm a while back to allow myself booming of monolights with modifiers attached. However, while the boom proved perfectly suited to the task, my Matthews stands worked--but I was still a little worried about them. With the weight of the boom, monolight, modifier, and couter-balance weight, I cwould easily exceed the maximum capacity load of 25lbs for the Matthews stand.

After a bit of research, I found the Avenger stand. It compacts small enough to fit in the trunk of my car (a limiting requirement for many of my purchases), and it can handle weights from 66-88lbs depending on the height of the stand.

The 22" Grid I purchased from Ebay doesn't actually fit the PCB HOBD; unfortunately, it's too big. However, I was able to duct tape it to the dish for testing purposes. With the duct tape, it worked. I won't use it often, so the duct taping won't bother me that much.