AC Johnson Photography Education » Alien Bees

NPC Competition with Lisa

Alec — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:11:41 +0000

A recent client, Lisa, participated in the NPC (National Physique Committee) bodybuilding, fitness and figure competition in Wyzata, MN a few weeks ago. The day after the competition we photographed Lisa in the studio to document what she has accomplished. She is a self-employed business owner, a mom, a daughter, a sister, an aunt and without totally ratting her out, nearly my age. To do all that and yet create the time, energy and commitment it took to accomplish her trophy winning place in this competition is truly inspiring. It was an honor to photograph her. I hope you enjoy the images.

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Studio Photography: One/Two Light Portraits

Alec — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:52:57 +0000

This post and next features commissioned portrait work. The bulk of what we shot in both cases featured a single subject light and, in some cases, a background light. The power of a single subject light setup is that it allows the photographer and subject to concentrate on what’s really important; the soul/personality/attitude of the subject, to stay behind the camera and remain connected with your subject. To this point, its also very helpful to have an excellent assistant. In this case I had Marek Lakatko and he made all the difference.

These two light setups are GREAT, but the light modifier you choose for your subject light is critical. In today’s images I used a 46 inch Alien Bees Octobox. This is a very large softbox and produces excellent catch lights in the eyes. I move the light in to 3 feet or so of the subject, position it high and, typically, to the side. In some cases I’ll come right over the top and front of the subject. The background light is an Alien Bees strobe with a 30 degree spot grid.

These folks are the founders of a consulting firm. We shot for nearly 5 hours capturing over 500 frames in the studio with different looks of clothing, backgrounds, etc.

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Portrait Photography: 85mm (Canon f/1.8)

Alec — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:13:19 +0000

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Hi Gang,

Today’s post is about a new portrait lens I’m using. Its also about lighting.

The lens I’m using in these images is an 85mm f/1.8 (Nikon also makes this lens, but the reviews aren’t as strong as they are for the Canon). Its amazingly sharp, gives GREAT control over depth of field, its fast (f/1.8) and its relatively cheap ($400). If you don’t have this lens, rent one for your next street photography outing, family reunion, or studio shoot.

The first image is a client/studio shoot I did recently, using the 85mm. The lighting in this is complicated, perhaps more so then necessary, but essentially there was a lot of layering of light. Some of the lighting is fairly obvious. I have a background light, “rim” lights coming in from behind and both sides of the subject. Then I used two umbrellas/lights to give a base of lighting to the full torso. The last light was a beauty dish, to finish off the exposure of the face. Additionally, I shot on a neutral gray background. This allows me, with a great amount of detailed photoshop work, to tone the background exactly the way I want it. Technical: f/5.0 with the 85mm

The second image was shot this past weekend at a Johnson family reunion and the lighting was much more simple. One strobe with a large octobox (softbox). I used a shadow cast by the house to soften the direct sunlight, dialed in my exposure to manage the background and adjusted the light to what I wanted for output. I shot 30 family portraits in the afternoon using this setup. Technical: f/13 with the 85mm

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Studio Portrait Photography: Ania Saletis

Alec — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:19:05 +0000

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Today’s images are from another comp card studio shoot recently, with Ania Saletis. What I want to focus on in today’s post is the use of a hair/make up artist for a shoot. Its the first time I’ve hired out for one on this type of shoot. Usually, the model’s budget is tight and will choose to do her/his own work. Personally I have a hard time including those images in my portfolio because things don’t look very good.

For those new studio lighting, one of the many issues you’ll deal with is the softness of light and the specularity of the model’s skin. Good make up can help with both these issues. A reduction in specularity is an increased in perceived softness of the light. For this shoot I hired Shannon Darsow, one of the Twin Cities more recognized names in the business. Not only is she a talented hair/makeup artist, she really knows how to calm the model and help set a great tone for the shoot.

Shannon Darsow can be found on MNCREATIVE and her email is shannon@darsowmanagement.com

Now some of you might be asking, “Alec, can’t I just fix this all in photoshop?” Yes, you can and will retouch in photoshop, but the quality of the retouching is ENHANCED by the quality you start with. As always, photoshop can take you far, but only so far. So, there is a trade off in the look/feel you want for the images and the cost/complexity of getting that look.

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Studio Portrait Photography: Matt Albiniak and Sierra Bravo

Alec — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:18:24 +0000

Hi Gang,

A shift back to studio work this week and next. Over the past month I shot two studio projects, the first of Matt Albiniak for his web brand identity which he wanted to link to his employer, Sierra Bravo. The key word to capture was “nerdtastic.” I had a definite look and feel in mind for the shoot, asked Matt to bring some props and he did the rest. I hope you enjoy these!

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Technical: Canon 1Ds Mark II, 70-200 mm lens, f/10, ISO400, 1/200 shutter speed. All lights/diffuser made by Alien Bees All strobe lighting (see lighting diagram): Key Light: Beauty dish with with diffuser, rim lights with flags and 30 degree spot grids, hair light with 10 degree spot grid, background light with 40 degree spot grid.

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Studio Portrait Photography: Val Carpender and Hilary Duff

Alec — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:26:48 +0000

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This fashion look is one that’s being used a lot today. From Maxim Magazine to Target Advertising, the black on white background with strong shadows has almost become common place. It was used recently as the cover of Maxim, featuring Hilary Duff. They’re using it again this month with Eliza Dushku. One of the technical questions that can arise from this look is, “How do you get a white background to shoot white, not off white or gray?”

Short answer: You light it seperate from your model.

Long answer: In this case the desired look is to have the background feel very close, strong shadows, impromptu style. So, Val is lit directly by a beauty dish on a boom overhead. To each side of her and very close to the background are strobes with umbrellas. The light from the umbrellas spills on to the background, but not so much as to fall anywhere on Val. I first get those lights set to an exposure that gets me to a white background just about everywhere and the beauty dish does the rest.

Camera Technical Information: 1Ds MKII, 70-200mm, f/8, ISO200, 1/200th shutter speed

Back to Basics: How to Choose an Umbrella (strobist.blogspot.com)

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Video – Grace3

Alec — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:29:10 +0000

Hi Gang,

A good friend of mine, Bryan Allen, turned me on to Animoto. They have an amazing service turning digital images into something approaching an MTV video. Well, maybe that’s a little overstated but the founders came from MTV, and the service is for amateurs and professionals alike.

You can also view another example of this. Its a slideshow of the north shore of Lake Superior set to the music, titled, “EXPERIENCE Lake Superior” found on the right hand side of the screen.

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Studio Portrait

Alec — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:14:51 +0000

Hi Gang,
This is Grace and she is 3 years old. This is the second year I’ve photographed her and what a difference a year makes. There were way too many fun expressions to share, so I’ll post this triptic and on Friday I’ll post a slideshow from the shoot.

Technical: Canon 1Ds Mark II, 24-70/70-100mm, f8, 1/250th sec., custom white balance, 7 strobe setup.

I shot this using a fairly complicated lighting set up so I can produce a tutorial on studio lighting (coming soon). For your reference, here are the lights I used:

1) One background light, shot through the ribs of a chair;
2) Two rim lights (or kicker), side-left and right;
3) Hair light overhead w/softbox;
4) Two lights w/umbrellas filling from front-left and right;
5) One light with large softbox as key light;

This is not what I would necessarily use with this subject, but I do like the lighting setup in general. She was quite active and mobile, so sometimes the hair/kickers hit their intended mark, sometimes they didn’t. Color scheme was chosen around her dark eyes and hair. She was very shy at first, but once she warmed up it was game on. I did all I could to keep up with her expressions, nervous the entire time that I was missing them, or they weren’t sharp. All was good on that front.

Studio Portrait: 5 Light Setup

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Kubota-Greenburg Effect

Alec — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:31:55 +0000

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Hi Gang,

We’re in a transition here. So, here’s what’s happening…knee deep in the middle of a full custom re-design of the blog and my commercial site. The new blog site will soft launch Jan 15 with a full launch Feb. 1. It will contain new images and new video content. Until then, I’ll be posting a mix of things, including today’s post, a critique of one of my own images and perhaps a few other goodies. So, please stay tuned.

On with today’s post, in which I INVITE YOU TO COMMENT on the post-production feel of this image. Many don’t like going too far in post production while others have made a career on it. Jill Greenburg the “Manipulator” is one example. So, I’ve been working on a look and today’s subject is my studio assistant, Sam Scherf. We were working on a different shoot in the studio (all of which you’ll see soon, with the blog relaunch), and I had him stand in for a few lighting adjustments.

I’ll be producing a video tutorial on the lighting set up in this shot. But, between the lighting, my post production, and the use of a Kubota Action “Bronze God #1″, what are your thoughts on this look? I’ll leave it at that.

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AC Johnson Photography Education » Alien Bees

NPC Competition with Lisa

Studio Photography: One/Two Light Portraits

Portrait Photography: 85mm (Canon f/1.8)

Studio Portrait Photography: Ania Saletis

Studio Portrait Photography: Matt Albiniak and Sierra Bravo

Studio Portrait Photography: Val Carpender and Hilary Duff

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Video – Grace3

Studio Portrait

Kubota-Greenburg Effect