Workshop Results

Really glad to have made it home after our week in California. We held two wonderful Small Strobes, Big Results workshops, one in San Francisco and the other in Orange County. I arrived back in Denver just as the snow was piling up, we're having a blizzard for sure!

I wanted to go over some of the images we shot during our workshops. The first on the list is of the image I posted a few days ago while in SF.

First I would like to thank Tim for modeling for us during the day, I think we got some nice images for his portfolio. We were photographing in Pier building 40, a maintenance building along the harbor near the AT&T Giants Stadium. The large building doors provided wonderful directional light in the location of this photo as you can see. The large door is at camera left and the image below is just doing what my camera meter asked me to do.

By centering my meter on my camera, it provided me with what I would consider is a normal exposure. The next step for me was to change my white balance from daylight to tungsten, and than under-expose the image. How much do I under-expose it, maybe 2 or so stops. There is no set rule as to how much, it's your shot, you decide. By doing so, I not only create mood, I am also creating my fill light.

With my WB shifted to tungsten, all daylight turns to blue and any strobe or flash used must be gelled to match this WB. To complete this shot, I used 3 VALS (voice activated light stands) to hold my lights. Each of the SB-800's were fitted with full cut CTO (Color Temperature Orange) gels in order to balance with the tungsten WB set on the camera. I also place cinefoil around each of the strobe heads to snoot the light, allowing me to direct the flash where I wanted them.

I also want to show you another series of images that might demonstrate that there is not set rule about any of this image making. When your behind the camera, your camera, it's your shot! You decide how much of to add or take away, it's just like cooking, Bam!

In the photo below you can see the progression of shutter speeds in order to control the amount of ambient light. I used one SB-800 shot through a Light Break in order to provide some texture to the wall that Tim was resting against. The aperture remained the same throughout these exposures as "the aperture controls the flash exposure" and the shutter speed controls the ambient "fill light" Which is right exposure? your choice! What kind of mood do you want?
After San Francisco, Erik and I headed to Orange County, CA. Wednesday night I had a speaking engagement at a local college and on Thursday we held the 11th Small Strobes, Big Results workshop since beginning them.

Our model in Orange County was Jennyfer, a very nice young lady looking to increase her portfolio of images. In this photo I was demonstrating the use of proper bounce technique for the key light.

I used a total of 3 SB-800's for this photo, one strobe bounced off a white wall to camera right, another for the hair or hat light and another on the other side of the glass block wall behind our model.

For this photo, I used an 80mm-200 f/2.8 lens for this shot. You can see that the DOF is shallow, must have shot this one wide open, say f/2.8. As I mentioned above, my key light is bounced of a white wall at camera right. The hair or hat light is gelled with a CTO gel to provide some warmth and color contrast with the gelled strobe behind the glass blocks. The strobe on the other side of the glass blocks has a full cut of CTB (Color Temperature Blue) gel over the lens of the strobe.

For the above photo I switched my color balance to tungsten and than gelled the key light with a full CTO. Remember, when a CTO gel is placed over a strobe head, the resulting light will be balanced with a tungsten white balance setting on your camera. You can see a blue cast to the windows in the lower left corner of the frame due to the daylight coming through those windows. The green cast in the ceiling is due to the florescent light fixtures overhead.

I want to thank all of those that attended the workshops, I truly enjoyed meeting each of you and I hope that you'll stay in contact. These workshops are not only fun for all the participants, I really have a blast doing them. If you are interested in hosting a SSBR workshop in your city, please let me know.

I want to also mention that I have 1 space available for the up coming "Denver" Small Strobes, Big Results workshop on April 25th if your interested. Other workshop locations and dates are listed on the side banner on the right.

San Francisco SSBR Results

Erik and I had a wonderful time at the San Francisco Small Strobes, Big Results workshop yesterday! The workshop was a sell out and it was great pleasure to meet all of the participants in person after exchanging many emails and comments on my blog. I would like to extend a very special thanks to our model Tim for spending the day with us.

The above photo was lit using 3 Nikon SB-800's all being held by workshop participants. Each of the strobes where fitted with black wrap foil fashioned into snoots and fired with Pocket Wizards. On a shot like this I would normally communicate with my strobes via CLS, however, during our workshops we have Canon, Nikon and other cameras being used so PW's are used so all can shoot.

I set my white balance on the camera to tungsten and made a base exposure which was about 2 stops under what the camera indicated. This base "under exposure" is my fill light, and the strobes are than added to complete the photo and direct the viewers eyes through the photo.

I'll have more photos and set ups to share from the SF workshop when I return home in Denver. In the meantime, we are headed to Orange County, CA for our second workshop of the week. Hope you enjoyed the above image. DT

Small Strobes, Big Results Buffalo, NY

Registration is now open for a up coming Small Strobes, Big Results workshop in Buffalo, NY. The workshop will be held on Sunday June 28th. Our workshop will be hosted by Alyssa and Rich Mattingly, and they are working to obtain some very special locations for us to photograph at.

These workshops are fun! I really enjoy putting these together and helping photographers shave years off the learning curve when it comes to lighting. These workshops fill up quickly, we only have space for 12 participants. To get a good feel for what a SSBR workshop is like, check out the video at the upper right corner of the blog.

Santa Fe Workshop "Small Strobes, Big Results"

I'm currently teaching at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops in Santa Fe, NM. We are into our second day of the workshop and we're having a blast. I have 14 excited students that are just loving there time here, and so am I!

This is my first time teaching a 5 day workshop and I just love it. I hope I have other opportunities to teach here. Apparently, the waiting list for my workshop could have easily filled an additional class. Wow, that just blows my mind.

The photograph at the top of the post was from a morning demonstration illustrating a portrait technique using only one SB-800 strobe and two reflectors. This beautiful young lady featured in the photo is the workshop assistant that has been assigned to my class, eat your hearts out Erik & Ian!

Colorado Biz Bank

No sooner did I get back from Philadelphia, I received a call for a quick executive portrait for an annual report. The design firm and client wanted these two executive photographed outside with rock or some sort of natural stone around them. Weather dictated that the photograph would be shot inside instead of out. This image needed to be completed and delivered to the printer on Friday.

I was able to scout the location with the two designers working on this annual report the day before the shoot. The only natural stone available to us anywhere within the building where their office are located was between a stairwell and elevator lobby.

Here is the lighting set up for the shot.

I shot this using 3 SB-800 Nikon strobes using CLS (Creative Lighting System). I was able to control the strobes via the build in command unit on the D700 I was shooting with.

Even though the two strobes used for the background lights (group B) did not have direct line of sight to my position behind the camera, the CLS system worked great. The lights used for the background where bounced into the ceiling and both where fitted with full cuts of CTO in order to provide warmth to the wall behind the subjects. The lighting in the elevator lobby is the available ambient light from tungsten fixtures. The elevator lobby is through the doorway behind the gentlemen on the left

The key light or (main light) was 2 tall panels connected together with a white fabric. I positioned a SB-800 across the doorway where the two subjects where standing and directed the light into the panel system. I placed 2 gobos around the head of this strobe in order to control flare. Just above the subjects heads where 3 small spot lights that where effecting the shot. We used black foil in order to cover the lights during the exposure. There was also 3 florescent light in the hallway which we turned off via turning the tubes in their fixtures. The florescent fixtures would have contaminate the scene with a green color cast if left on while dragging the shutter for the elevator lobby exposure.

City of Brotherly Love

Wow. What a wonderful visit to Philadelphia, thanks so much to everyone for making me feel so welcomed. I just love Philly, what a beautiful city with warm and friendly people.

My visit to Philadelphia started off with a speaking engagement at the local chapter of the ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) held at the "Power Plant Production Studios" in downtown Philly. I was simply overwhelmed by the turn out, it was my first speaking engagement at an ASMP meeting. I've been a member of ASMP my entire professional career, I never imagined that one day I'd be making a presentation at an ASMP chapter filled with peers and friends. I'm very humbled.

While in Philly I conducted 2 Small Strobes, Big Results Workshops at Eastern State Penitentiary. I added the second workshop due to the overwhelming response and sell out of the first one. Thanks very much for the wonder turn out.

I want to also thank our wonderful models, Lauren, Andrea, Don and Belito for there time and modeling skills, fantastic work.  

Here are a few of the images for our workshop at Eastern State Penitentiary,  I'll try to do another post regarding the approach to each of the photos at a later date.  I have an assignment to shoot later today and I'm headed to the mountains for a one night get-a-way for my sons birthday.  I'll be headed down to Santa Fe to teach my one week Small Strobes, Big Results workshop on Sunday.