Kiawah Island Grandeur

I had another truly FABULOUS shoot for the creative folks at Solaris Inc last week on Kiawah Island.  These beautiful homes they build just blow my mind!  The imported front doors alone probably cost more than my vehicle!!!  J  This one had a rich French flair to it that I particularly enjoyed.

 

Hyatt Place Grand Opening

Hyatt Place Hotels & Resorts is having the Grand Opening of their 150th company wide location.  And it’s right here in Charleston next week!  I’ve shot for Judy, their new Director of Sales, before when she was with another company.  So it was wonderful of her to remember me and call to ask if I’d continue working with her and photograph their opening ceremony next week!  But before then, they needed a photo of the new hotel to use in promoting the big event.  So I zipped up there last night and got this dramatic image right at dusk.  Sure I got a few funny looks from folks driving by…but standing on the roof of my SUV, parked on the sidewalk, in the drizzly rain, with my tripod and camera, was the only way to get the angle I wanted.  J

Kiawah Island Living

Last month I had an AMAZING shoot for Solaris Inc.  They are the leading builder of custom luxury homes on Kiawah Island!!!  One of the things I love most about being a photographer is the diversity of my day-to-day existence.  One day I might be photographing a famous lawyer, the next I’m photographing a beautiful baby.  One day I might be covering the Family Circle Cup, the next I’m covering a wedding.  Each set of circumstances is unique and interesting in its own way.  And each presents a different set of challenges.  But the best part is, every single problem-solving skill I learn on one assignment can be carried over and applied to another!  I love it!!!

Shelia’s Designs

I’ve photographed for Sheila Thompson before…check out my portrait of the artist at work.  She is such a creative spirit and the biggest sweetheart on the planet!  I had the privilege of shooting some more of her new designs for their catalog.  But photographing beautiful garden decorations among bright flowers on sunny “spring” days in the middle of winter is kind of tough!  J  So we contacted Magnolia Gardens and were pleased to be able to do our shoot in their Conservatory.  Using Nikon’s amazing Creative Lighting System, controlled via RadioPoppers, I was able to simulate early morning sunlight streaming through the foliage.  So inspite of being in a dim Arboretum on an overcast day, the images came out great!

Super Lawyer Andy Savage

In January I got to do another shoot for one of my favorite editorial clients.  Super Lawyers Magazine asked me to photograph the subject of their next cover, Mr. Andy Savage.  If you live in Charleston, chances are you’ve heard that name.  If there’s a high-profile criminal case going on, he’s probably involved.  Plus his television show, The Savage Report, is a huge success.  I really enjoyed working with Mr. Savage and the folks at Savage & Savage during the photo shoot…what a great group of people!

Depth of Field

Here’s an interesting question I received this morning:
“Hey Chris, I had a question about something I’ve been struggling with when taking pictures. In short, how do you get good background blur yet maintain good sharpness in a group shot. I know increasing f stops (or closing aperture) will help but I don’t know what range i want to be in to get uniform sharpness through the group and blur the background. What looks good on the LCD screen isn’t always translating when I upload on my computer. Hopefully, this makes sense and any advice you could provide would be greatly greatly appreciated. I’m really enjoying your posts on your blog and FB. I never realized that setting up shots was so complicated. thanks for sharing your knowledge!

J.
And my response:
“Hey J! Great to hear from you. There are lots of variables when it comes to DOF in group photos…how big a group, what focal length you’re using, and how far away you’re shooting from, for example. My general rule of thumb when doing wedding parties and family shots with 2-3 rows of people is f5.6. Rows of 4 or more I move up as high as f8. I’m usually shooting with a moderate wide angle from 10-15 feet away. (Also remember I’m shooting on a full-frame camera, which is important since you get slightly more depth of field at a given aperture when using a camera with an APS-C sized sensor.) One key to getting the most use out of your available DOF is to focus 1/3 of the way into the group. Logic would have you focus 1/2 of the way in. But DOF doesn’t work that way…there is more “in-focus” room behind your point of focus than in front. So put your focus point on someone 1/3 of the way into the group and you’ll be maximizing your available DOF and be able to use a smaller aperture to still get everyone in focus. (And another tip is to position your group as far away from the background as possible.) There will definitely be some variations between your cameras LCD and your monitor…like brightness and color temp. However, DOF should NOT be one of those. If there is a difference, it’s probably just because your camera’s LCD doesn’t have enough detail to properly show exact DOF. Do you have a DOF preview button on your camera? Try using that if you have enough available light to see the image at that dim an aperture. Hope all his helps. Cheers!”
Here’s a group photo I did yesterday for Anchor Commercial’s holiday greeting card they sent out to all their clients. Nothing fancy, but it’s got enough DOF! 😉

Dixon-Hughes Executive Portraits

I just wrapped up shooting Executive Portraits for Dixon-Hughes, one of the largest accounting firms in the nation. The firm celebrates it’s 50th Anniversary this year!

They had me set up in their conference room. And I used my totally wireless system that I LOVE!!! This time I fired two SB-800 flashes into a large softbox (seen on left) instead of using the Westcott shoot-through umbrella as my main light. Fill was provided by the reflector (seen on right). I almost used the dry erase board that was already there instead! 😉 Hair light was a Westcott Apollo with a domed SB-800 in it. It was triggered by RadioPopper. The others were fired by Nikon CLS.

I popped up the Old Master’s canvas background and fired away on the Nikon D2x with 70-200 f2.8 attached. I used the D2x instead of the D3 because I have the WT-2a wireless transmitter on that camera, allowing the images to magically appear on my laptop as I’m shooting. Each indevidual can then go through their shots right then and there to make sure they’re happy with them. 🙂