Overall I like this set a lot. If I were be critical about them, I want the background to be a little bit brighter. I like how the subject is isolated but I want to see more of the scene(it looks like a great setting for this shoot), especially in 3. I realize, though, this would probably require additional lighting so the sky is still properly exposed.. Also the foot cut off in 3 bugs me and the foot in 2 needs more room as well. Those are minor things though.
This isn't my area of expertise, but, personally, I only really like the first.
As there is so little foreground in the first shot, you focus on Stephanie. It's not immediately obvious that it's a staged flash-lit shot (unless you notice she's lit AWAY from the sunset).
In all the others you can see the light fall-off on the ground, which I don't like the look of, and distracts you from the two main subjects (girl and sunset). Perhaps they would work better with thin-DOF, with OOF-blur hiding the falloff on the ground, and with smoothly blurred sunset tones behind her. If you want to keep the details, perhaps two shots, one exposed for her and the sunset, and one exposed for the ground without flash, and merged in post.
Chris Cullen of Candid Coyote came to me with an idea for the album cover to his latest work "Blessed Be Those Who Weep". I LOVE these kinds of projects. Lets me play in photoshop more than usual.. which design is definitely outside of my comfort zone. SO much fun though!
Two light setup - PCB Einsteins. White beauty dish boomed above him. Large softbox camera left, slightly behind him.
He was super stoked with the result. Made him cry. heh. Last I heard, the album has already been pressed and will be shipped next week, and it's already in the iTunes store and on Spotify. He's pretty damn good.
Front cover Original Photo - Edited
Rear Cover Original - Edited
Finished Front Cover
Finished Back Cover. The idea here is that it's the burlap blindfold from the front cover.
CD Label
Totally loving the last set, I would love to eventually be able to shoot an album cover. I love shooting bands live, haven't really tried any portraiture yet though. Great job though, looking forward to seeing more!
I must say that the lighting is perfect, and again, I wish I could take such pictures. But on picture 3, you have cropped half of her shoe. Was this intentional? I seems a bit odd to me. The only thing I could pick on...
Otherwise, well done... The combination of the sunset and the soft light added by the artificial lights is spot on.
Lars
Alicia and her boys doing what they love to do, read on the couch. Tony is reading that book upside down on purpose, he thought it was HILARIOUS so of course I allowed it.
I have a few more of the standard group shots that were taken outside, but I felt like this is the one that really captured this family.
On this one I again took advantage of my einsteins and turned off all the ambient light. Behind me, camera left, was the einstein with the 64" PLM and Diffusion cloth for fill. Key light is the bare white beauty dish slightly behind the couch, camera left. Camera right was my 430exII bouncing off a wall directly to the right of the couch.
Last edited by Rocco; 06-09-2013 at 07:18 PM.
Great tones Rocco!
Rocco your work just keeps getting better mate. Really enjoyable sets, keep it up.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ben_taylor_au/ www.methodicallymuddled.wordpress.com
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+1...that photo has a great feel to it.Originally Posted by btaylor
Couples have always intimidated me. I don't know why, but I always feel more comfortable with a single subject in my frame. The illusion of control, or whatever. So naturally, after I realized that fact I jumped in feet first and found myself a couple to shoot for their engagement announcements. I learned a lot with this one.. Mostly how wonderful it is with how little control you actually have during a shoot when more than one person is involved. You have to think on your feet and see what sticks.
"How do you want us?" they asked me a few times. All I did was encourage them to interact with each other, even if they're just talking about how stupid and uncomfortable the whole thing was. I didn't pose them so much as observed and occasionally nudged them in a certain direction. The result was natural poses and genuine expressions. Perfect. I'll be doing couples again soon.
Unfortunately I didn't think to take a set-up shot this time. I used both Einsteins. 64" PLM umbrella camera left and a white beauty dish camera right.. and of course the sun. In this set I tried to incorporate some intentional sun flare. To me I thought it would help create the feeling of a summer picnic. To convey warmth. I think the end result was pleasing and pretty close to what I was visualizing.
As always, comments and critiques are very much appreciated!
-Rocco
Last edited by Rocco; 07-02-2013 at 08:09 AM.
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