self portrait

April 26, 2013

Clamshell portrait

Tagged with 80/20, b&w, behind the scenes, bicycle, black and white, clamshell, depth-of-field, focus, handlebar, humidifier, lightstand, Lumiquest, Magic Arm, Manfrotto, manual focus, model, moody, portrait, portraits, reflector, self portrait, setup, shallow, smoke, softbox, softboxes, speedlight, speedlights, tri-grip, umbrella

I recently read in a magazine about a lighting setup called the “clamshell” where the subject is lit from the front by two softboxes (one larger one up high and a smaller one set lower to half power) and a reflector right above the subject.

Seemed simple enough. I didn’t have any softboxes, but eh, I improvised. Lending out some of my lightstands and gear to a friend for a shoot, I was pretty limited, but still had one lightstand with an umbrella, a Lumiquest 80/20, small tri-grip reflector, and two speedlights. Yeah, that should work…Read More

February 18, 2013

Self-portrait Monday

Posted in Musings

Tagged with 105mm, 2.8, b&w, black and white, Clay Enos, D600, depth-of-field, dramatic, flash, garage, lighting, Lightroom, manual focus, Nikon, portrait, self portrait, shallow, strobe, studio, tethered capture, TriggerTrap, Watchmen

That’s right. Time to start a new trend. Self-portrait Monday or SPM for short. We’ll see how long this actually lasts (me being notorious for not sticking with

What was I saying? Right, so Reese’s Peanut Butter cups are hands-down the best candy ever.Read More

February 11, 2013

Portrait Outtakes

Posted in Musings

Tagged with diy, do-it-yourself, flash, garage, Max McDonald, mondayshift, Nikon, outtakes, portrait, portraits, ring flash, ringflash, self portrait, speedlight, strobe, studio

Portraiture is something I’m still relatively new at (as if that wasn’t evident), but it’s still a lot of fun goofing off.

Here are a few portrait outtakes from down in the garage studio. Thanks to Max for lending a hand (and sometimes a face).Read More

September 26, 2012

Wednesdays, Take It Or Leave It?

Posted in Musings

Tagged with awesome, Batman, Brian, conundrum, D90, dork, eye, fedora, hat, lens, me, Nikon, Pentax, portraits, reflection, self portrait, Wednesday

Wednesday has always held a special place in my heart as the one day out of the week that I can never decide if I like or hate. Monday is easy. Monday blows. Tuesday is just kinda there (same with Thursday where your energy starts to wane in direct correlation with your growing excitement about the impending weekend). Friday goes without saying.

So Wednesday is where it really comes down to the whole glass-half-full vs glass-half-empty debate. And that really depends a lot on how my week is going, what’s in the cards for the weekend, what I had for breakfast, etc., etc.Read More

September 21, 2012

Happy Friday From the Cave

Posted in Musings

Tagged with blue, bounce, Brian, concert, D90, flash, gelled, guitar, keylight, Nikon, orange, portraits, SB-800, SB600, self portrait, snoot, spotlight, suit, wall, white

Here’s to a happy Friday for everybody! Took this shot yesterday while I was messing around in the garage trying to simulate a concert spotlight look.

Basically I just gelled the keylight with some blue and bounced it off the white wall to my right, then gelled the hair light with some orange and snooted it up in my face.Read More

September 18, 2012

Goofing Off (As Usual)

Posted in Musings

Tagged with black, D90, flash, garage, goofing off, light, lighting test, Nikon, portraits, self portrait, serious, studio

To continue indulging my habit of posting ridiculous pictures of myself, here’s one from a recent lighting test in my garage. Using the on-camera flash to remotely trigger the key light seems to work pretty well, though it does tend to leave a very small catchlight directly in the center of the eyes. I’ll have to rig up a gobo to prevent that in the future.Read More

September 14, 2012

Raiders of the Lost… Munitions Box?

Posted in Musings

Tagged with box, D90, experiementation, flash, fun, hat, Indiana Jones, leather, Lightroom, munitions, Nikon, portrait, Raiders, reflector, SB600, SB800, self portrait, tethered, USB

So I’ve got this box. I love this box. Bought it at an antique store in… I don’t remember, but it turns out that it’s an old munitions box from who-knows-when.

For as long as I’ve owned it, sadly I’ve had no idea what to do with it. It’s not really functional in regards to its original use (I don’t have many munitions), and it’s too heavy to use as a wallet. What to do???Read More

August 6, 2012

Goofing Off – Lightpainting Portraits

Posted in Musings

Tagged with Canon, D90, dark, dork, experiment, experimentation, flash, goofing off, light, light painting, lightpainting, Max, night, Nikon, portrait, self portrait

The importance of goofing off is something that never really gets expounded upon, which is just sad. A lot of the time, it’s even frowned upon. But I think goofing off, like most things in life, is good when used in moderation (and downright valuable at times). This is especially important when it comes to doing what you love for a living. The saying goes, “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” That’s awesome for the 2% of people this applies to, but I (like the majority of people, I’d wager) get tired/bored/frustrated sometimes even doing the things I love. It just happens.Read More

January 1, 2011

A new year

Posted in Musings

Tagged with Black Lab, Black Pearl Tattoo Parlor, Maisie, photography, portrait, self portrait, Simone, tattoo, Website

Been wanting to post on this for some time now, but as usual I’m dragging my heels. I am looking forward to the new year as a time of discovery and adventure. I’ve got my new site up and running and I have the motivation to get back to work on a lot of projects I’ve let fall by the wayside over the past few years. It’s gearing up to be a fun year and I can’t wait to see where it takes me.

Here’s to a new year.

Photography assistant: Maisie. Tattoo by J with the Black Pearl Tattoo Parlor. Shirt by Black Lab.

Tag

self portrait

Clamshell portrait

Self-portrait Monday

Portrait Outtakes

Wednesdays, Take It Or Leave It?

Happy Friday From the Cave

Goofing Off (As Usual)

Raiders of the Lost… Munitions Box?

Goofing Off – Lightpainting Portraits

A new year

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