Many Uses of The "Shoot Through" Umbrella.

Groovy discovery. Decided to grab a quick portrait of my niece. Dark, foreboding, storm clouds as backdrop. Ran inside, got the SB800 and a shoot-through umbrella. Set the flash to full power, used the on-camera flash as a trigger, under exposed the sky by about 2 stops, held the flash and umbrella in my left hand and made a few photographs.

Love the chocolate smudges.

The rain soon began to fall, my niece said she needed to be under the umbrella, I held the umbrella over her head and suddenly thought, Hmmm... this could be a shot. Even though it's a "shoot-through" umbrella there was more than enough bounce-back to create this image.

Will be using this technique more often.

You don't necessarily need to stop shooting even when you think you've got the shot. You just never know.

Sometimes... just lucky!

On occasion I do work for a florist in Alexandria VA: HelenOlivia.  Shooting arrangements in-store or on location at events. Recently, Marianne asked me to do a portrait for her new blog. We kept it pretty casual, using window light and existing overhead track lighting... no strobes, she is quite the blinker!

Anyway, while I was setting up I noticed a cool shadow on the wall that was not there just minutes before. The sun had just peeped out and was reflecting off the windshield of a car in the parking lot next door. It was at that moment perfectly redirected in through a window that happened to have a plant sitting in it. How cool is that? I brought Marianne over, put her against the wall and wouldn't you know one of the overhead lights was in the perfect position as well?! Just the right amount of warm light highlighting her hair. I shot off a few frames, then the sun ducked back behind the clouds. The pattern on the wall was gone.

This is my favorite from the set.

Workshop.

Did I mention I was able to attend a one day workshop with Joe McNally? I had signed up a little too late, so I was put on a waiting list. Well, apparently the waiting list grew large enough to make it worth while adding on another day.

So, very last minute, I packed up my gear and made the nearly five hour drive to NY. Drove back immediately after the workshop. Whirlwind. Crazy. But fun!

Here are a few shots.

What a Groovy Idea!

Sell the house, buy a camper, travel the country... then settle in a new place. Sounds great!

No, no, no. I'm not going anywhere! But when my friend Amy Marquis and her husband Tom take off later this year I'll be going along... via the web.

If you happen to run into her in Colorado or California or Washington or Wyoming... say hello for me. Oh! and tell her I said she'd buy you a beer! (heh-heh.)

We lucky few who get some 7 or 8 decades on this fine planet should always take care to spend them well. Take chances, live fully.

Hope it all comes together, Amy.

Cheers.

Headshots

As I mentioned earlier, I do on occasion make portraits.

Kirk Penberthy is a voiceover artist and actor. (His website... here.) Among other things he's had parts in Homicide-Life on the Street, The Wire and the movie The Contender. Also, if you watched last year's Super Bowl you most likely saw this Coke commercial. Kirk's the moderator with James Carville and Bill Frist as the guests.

We did a photo session the other day and Kirk is kind enough to let me blog about today. (Thanks dude.)

The outside shot was done simply with a single speedlight (Nikon SB800) with a mini-softbox attached to help diffuse the light on his face. The speedlight was on a stand at camera right about a 45 degree angle between the camera and Kirk.

The photo inside was done with an SB800 shot through an umbrella that was placed high, directly above the camera. A white reflector is at Kirk's waist level just out of the frame. This helps fill in any unwanted shadows created by the main light. In the background there was another speedlight aimed at an angle at the wrinkled blue fabric creating a little bit of a pattern.

Oh and in case you people don't remember, Kirk is the father of this cool little fellow! And, of course, husband to the cool little fellow's mama (Mariel!) in that very same post.

Anyway, thanks Kirk. Fun shoot!

Portraits.

I have, on occasion, been known to do portraits. They're not my forte, but I enjoy them.

These first two are from many moons ago. That's black & white film... set up, shot, developed and printed right here in our basement! Heh!

The last one is from this year's trip to New Smyrna. Susannah and Jay wanted a family portrait, they and their three beautiful kids. That shot might be used as a holiday card so I'll not jump the gun by showing it. But here's one I got of just the two of them.