Compositing Away

Starting to work on more concept based stuff, Trying to get to a point where doing a composite and edit is second nature like lighting and shooting has become. This is just a quick idea that a guy might try to fly without having the proper resources or know-how. Doesn't usually end well.

now that's a one light setup!

i went to a workshop last year put on by zack arias.... he's a big proponent of the "one light" aesthetic, where you keep your lighting setup very simple.... one light source, and that's it. while i respect that in a purist sense, i almost always want to set up a light for the subject, a light for the background, a rim light, an uplight...... the list goes on and on.

so for this post, i wanted to see how far i can get to that goal using only one light. i used dean collin's trick of using a translucent panel with a light behind it as my main, and then manipulating the raw light that goes past the panel to provide my rim and fill.

it doesn't take any longer to set up than setting up three or four lights would.... the sacrifice you make comes in the form of being able to easily adjust the ratios of the lights against each other.... if i wanted to make the background darker, say, or the uplight or rim light stronger, it would involve changing the relative distances to the lightsource, or putting up thicker material as a scrim, or moving farther away or closer to the background. it's not impossible, it just requires a lot more creativity in your approach.

i'd like to do a project where i recreate all my favorite lighting setups with only one light.... it would definitely be a challenge. i'd have to buy a lot more mirrors and reflectors and goboes.

-tim feb'11

chris, erika, and slayden

a couple of pictures i took last october, of chris erika and slayden. i was really happy with how they came out. they have one of the happiest babies (slayden) i've ever met. it was a fun shoot.

tones

i've been trying to preserve tonal range and qualities in my post processing work lately, and i feel like with these i'm getting closer to what i want to see. a lot of good tones and colors in the backgrounds, and some decent stuff in the foreground. i have no idea what that pink thing is. alien seed pod? weird cabbage? super mario brothers level boss? seriously. no idea.

post growth

i'm always working on taking pictures. i figure that great lighting is the key to great pictures. so, mastering lighting is the most important thing i can do. however, every now and then i realize that lighting isn't everything.

for example, this picture. i took this picture a year ago. i processed it, decided it wasn't very good, and left it to sit on my hard drive, forgotten. then the other day i was going through my old pictures and i came across it. so i reprocessed it, and decided it was decent. so here i am posting it.

what's interesting to me isn't how i thought it was crap, and now i think it's good. the interesting part of the story is that how i go about doing my post-processing has changed dramatically in the last year. i used to emphasize dark, ominous shadows and heavy handed contrast. now i emphasize a wider tonal range and crispness.

i think the best thing about my day-to-day practice regimen is that i have to go from start to finish, all the way through the process. set up lights, take pictures, edit pictures, run post processing, photoshop where necessary, export, post..... by practicing the entire workflow, i slowly, gradually improve step by imperceptible step. until a year later i can rework an image from something crap into something decent.

2010 is almost over.....

in the last year, i took 25,700 pictures. i like to think that if you show up and do the work, the results will come. so while i'm pleased that my shutter count is up there, i wish it were much higher. but i'll get there.

a cold rain's gonna blow...