Author: Chris Smith

One of my images of last year’s Family Circle Cup Champion, Samantha Stosur, is being used for this year’s main stadium banner! As one of the Official Photographers of this Premier WTA Tour Tournament, it’s always an honor when one of my images is selected for this 40×47 foot display. Two more banners of past champions should be going up soon.

With only a few more weeks until the 2011 tournament, I’m already getting geared up! It may be a lot of work. But as a tennis player myself, this is one of my favorite assignments of the year!!!

Ocular Surgery News assigned me to photograph an “Environmental Portrait” of Dr. Edward Wilson, M.D., for the cover of their magazine. He’s the director of the Storm Eye Institute at MUSC. More than just a portrait of a person, an Environmental Portrait should tell something about the person. So we posed Dr. Wilson in one of the examination rooms. Everyone that’s ever had an eye exam will instantly recognize the instruments in the background, giving a visual connection to what Dr. Wilson does.

The natural light in the room was horrible.  So I brought in some creative lighting to make the portrait more interesting.

First I added a main light to my right by firing a Nikon SB-800 through a Lastolite EZYBox.  Why a softbox instead of an umbrella?  I knew I wanted to light the background.  Selecting a softbox allows me to better control the spill of the main light onto the background.  An umbrella splashes light everywhere and would have contaminated the color of the light I was going to use in the background.

Next I added a warm Accent Light behind Dr. Wilson to my left.  I used a 1/4 CTO warming gel on another Nikon SB-800 and fired it through a Honl grid to give me a warm shaft of focused light.  This light helps separate Dr. Wilson from the background and accents his hair, the shadow side of his face, and his back shoulder.  The grid helps contain the direction of the light, again preventing it from contaminating my background light.

For the final shot, I added a blue gel to a third Nikon SB-800 and put a dome diffuser over that.  The light was placed behind Dr. Wilson and aimed at the wall behind him.  Images involving technology, science, and medicine can be greatly enhanced with blue light due to our mental association of deep blue colors with the high-tech world.  Plus the sharp blue contrasts with the soft warm tone of Dr. Wilson’s face, making our subject stand out.

All images were photographed with a Nikon D3 with a Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 and a Nikon SB-900 on it to control the remote flashes through the Creative Lighting System.  Each flash was triggered via a RadioPopper Px unit to eliminate the line-of-site limitations of the CLS.  I shot at 1/200sec, f2.8, at ISO 200.

Bob Krist is quite possibly the most recognized travel photographer on the planet.  I love his work, enjoy his articles in Outdoor Photographer Magazine, and follow his Blog.  So it was a pleasure getting to hear him speak when he came to Charleston last week.  I got to talk to him during a break and my buddy Robbin Knight took this photo of me with the man of the hour.  🙂

Former Champions Nadia Petrova and Sabine Lisicki have officially entered the Family Circle Cup.  Petrova, who received direct entry via her World No. 20 ranking, was a singles champion at this event in 2006, as well as doubles champion in 2009 and 2010.  Lisicki, who accepted a main draw wild card from the tournament, claimed the singles title in 2009 and returns with an active six-match win streak in progress.  These former champions join World No. 4 and defending champion Samantha Stosur, World No. 6 and 2007 Champion Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova, Shahar Peer, Daniela Hantuchova, and Melanie Oudin in a stellar player field headed to Daniel Island.  Marking the tournament’s 39th consecutive year, the Family Circle Cup is scheduled April 2-10, 2011 at the Family Circle Tennis Center in the Best Tennis Town in America, Charleston, SC.

“I always enjoy returning to the Family Circle Cup,” said Petrova. “I really love the fans and the atmosphere, and it’s just an exciting place to play tennis.”

“I’m so excited to compete in the Family Circle Cup again,” said Lisicki.  “It was such a disappointment to miss this event last year, but I’m looking forward to picking up where I left off, and making another run at this historic title.”

I finally finished editing the rest of the images from the Center for Birds of Prey. Here are a few more of my favorites. 🙂

I think Jacquelyn & Craig missed their calling as Professional Models. 🙂 I had so much fun during their extended Engagement Session! They were popping into the perfect poses and inventing their own “looks” all afternoon.

We started at Bowens Islandwith its rustic, rugged, textures. This is where they’re having the Rehearsal Dinner Party. Then they switched outfits and we zipped over to Folly Beach. It was fun meeting Baylee, the third member of their family, as we included the adorable 7 year old yellow lab in some shots.

CONGRATULATIONS, Jacquelyn & Craig! I can’t WAIT to be there for your wedding!!!

(Most images shot with Nikon D3, Nikkor 70-200VRII, sometimes incorporating off-camera SB-800 and SB-900 flashes which were triggered via RadioPoppers, often with high-speed sync speeds up to 1/3500 second!)

Here are a few more favorite images out of the 977 from my adventure at the Center for Birds of Prey. Shot with either the Nikkor 200-400 4.0 on a D300/MB-D10 combo, or the 70-200 VRII on a D3 body.

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to photograph some of the amazing creatures at the Center for Birds of Prey. If you’ve never been, I highly encourage you to visit…especially if you’re an avian buff!

I used a combination of two cameras throughout the day. I had my Nikkor 200-400 4.0 on my D300/MB-D10 to give me maximum reach. The full-frame equivalent to this is a 300-600mm lens! This is a HEAVY combination. So I mostly used in with my Wimberly Sidekick setup. I used my 70-200 VRII on one of the D3 bodies for the hand-held wider shots.

I’m certainly not a full-time nature photographer like my idol Raymond Barlow. So let me know what I can do better next time…

Justin is a chef at Husk, a fabulous new restaurant on Queen St. His fiance, Michaela, is from Slovakia and here on a fiance visa. Trust me when I tell you their story is like a fairy tale!

They met two years ago while Justin was working as an executive chef at a little inn in Brooklin Maine. Michaela (Miska, as her friends know her), was working at the same in as summer help through a program for college students from abroad. Since then Justin has flown to Slovakia to meet her parents and ask her father for her hand in marriage. He learned enough Slovakian so that he could ask him in their native tongue! They were engaged at Disney World last February. Soon after, Michaela went back to Slovakia to finish college. During that time, Justin went to Italy to study butchering in Tuscany. Finally three weeks ago Miska came back to the US so they could finally get married and be together.

Isn’t that an AWESOME story? They were married at the Gazebo in White Point Gardens, down by The Battery.  Afterwards, they rode off down Meeting Street in their white Palmetto Carriage.  It was so romantic!  Head over to www.chrisandcami.zenfolio.com to see the rest of their photos. CONGRATULATIONS Michaela & Justin! It was such an honor being a part of your special day.

Cami & I haven’t been to the South Eastern Wildlife Expo in several years. I guess the crowds and parking headaches have detered us. SEWE is the largest art/nature event in the nation! This year we decided to venture down there again. It was a lot of fun! We saw some excellent programs and picked up great tips on places to hike, bike, canoe, photograph wildlife, and just enjoy the great outdoors. I probably spent most of my time at the booth and flight demonstrations by the Center for Birds of Prey. What AMAZING creatures these are! If you ever get a chance, go visit the center…it’s just up the road in Awendaw.

Mastering the use of small, compact speedlights has helped me improve in every aspect of our photography. Though we’re mostly known for our wedding and portrait work, we photograph a wide variety of subjects…from professional sports to editorial assignments to architectural work and so on.

Recently I had the pleasure of doing another shoot with Elizabeth Allen of Allen Designs. Elizabeth is an AMAZING architect who I’ve worked with many times before. Check out some of her other projects we’ve worked on together at http://www.allen-design-inc.com/projects.htm.  She wanted some “before” shots of the house before the new home-owners moved in. Later I’ll come back and photograph the “after” shots when they’re done settling in and decorating.

I mostly work with the Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 mounted to one D3 for the wide shots, and the Nikkor 70-200 VRII on the other D3 for detail shots. Both cameras have an SB-900 on it, set to commander mode, and triggering my remote SB-800 flashes via RadioPoppers. Depending on the complexity of the room, I might have 1, 2, even 6 remote speedlights with various umbrellas and light-modifiers to get the look I want. Here are a few before/after shots to show how the Nikon Creative Lighting System can solve just about any lighting issues you can think of…

(Before adding 3 speedlights)

(After adding 3 speedlights)

(Finished shot with 2 speedlights)

(Often bouncing a speedlight off a white wall or reflective surface is more efficient than using an umbrella or other modifier)

(Before adding a single speedlight)

(Hiding a speedlight in the closet and bouncing it off the white door to illuminate that space not only gave me better light, but it corrected the ugly orange glow from the incandescent light bulb, and brought the white balance in line with the natural daylight filling the rest of the bedroom)

World No. 11 Shahar Peer has officially entered the 2011 Family Circle Cup.  Peer, whose world ranking has set a new record for a player from Israel, joins World No. 5 and defending champion Samantha Stosur, Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova, Daniela Hantuchova, and Melanie Oudin in a stellar player field assembling on Daniel Island.  As one of the Official Photographers of the event, I encourage you to come out and enjoy the world class tennis from April 2-10, 2011 at the Family Circle Tennis Center in the Best Tennis Town in America, Charleston, SC.

“Shahar Peer is a very talented tennis player who also transcends the game as an Israeli national hero,” said Eleanor Adams, Family Circle Cup Tournament Manager.  “She is playing the best tennis of her career, and has a very large and supportive fan base in Charleston, so we really look forward to watching her compete on Daniel Island this April.”

Throughout her 8-year WTA career, Peer has notched five singles titles, 309 singles victories, over $3.7 million in prize money, and posted three Top 20 seasons.  She has also competed on the Israeli Fed Cup Team from 2002-2009 and 2011, and her nation’s Olympic Team in 2008.  Peer’s official web site is www.shaharpeer.co.il.

“I’ve really enjoyed competing at the Family Circle Cup, and I’m excited to return to Charleston this spring,” commented Peer.  “I’ve received a lot of fan support at this event, so I’m looking forward to participating in this historic tournament again.”