Using Gobos to create "New Spaces" in your studio

This technique covered over at DIYphotography is one I’ve been exploring a lot lately. It’s actually how I set up this shot, from about a year ago:

copyright 2013 * Tim Lewis Photography

It’s fun, but hard to do well with speedlights. I’d recommend either continuous lights or something with a modeling lamp in it if you want to explore this idea further. It helps you see what you’re doing right away, instead of having to chimp in closer and closer with each picture.

DIYphotography did a really good job explaining it and showing all the possible effects, so I’m just going to leave it to them… check out the whole article, it’s pretty great.

 

Using Gobos to create "New Spaces" in your studio

Headshot for Jon Davies

Copyright all Rights Reserved 2014 Tim Lewis Photography

I was hired recently to build a website for a psychologist here in Eugene, Dr. Jon Davies. Of course, he also needed a headshot for the site, and luckily I was able to provide him with one. Jon wanted something a bit more casual than a formal headshot, so I set up something like a big white box for him to stand in. Really big, soft light bouncing around from every which way was the key to this shot, which came out really nicely. The finished image has an almost ring-flash type glow to it, even though I didn’t use my ring flash at all. I’m very pleased with how it came out.

Headshot for Jon Davies

Shutter-Drag the Landscape

Looking for a more abstract way to capture your surroundings? Check out this post by ePhotozine! Basically the idea is to set up a shot with a long-ish shutter exposure and then move the camera while the shutter is open. This usually results in a dragged-out-streaky image, which can be really cool and evocative (like the one above). I used a variation on this technique in this picture, with very controlled continuous lights being shutter dragged to create all of her “necklace-sparkles”:

It would be more of a challenge to create something in a broader landscape with a portrait worked in there. So the background is abstract, but the figure is (mostly) sharp. That could be quite a challenge, for sure. It’s something to think about.

Shutter-Drag the Landscape