Studio Portrait for SCFCU

When we’re not shooting weddings and events on weekends, we photograph lots of head shots and executive portraits throughout the week.  South Carolina Federal Credit Union has been sending their employees over to us for a couple years now.  Jessica just joined their team and needed photos for a press release.  This image was shot with a giant 6-foot LiteDome softbox to her left as the main light, a medium softbox behind and on her right as a kicker light, a small softbox on a boom above her for a hair light, and an SB-800 right behind her as a background light.  I like using small wireless strobes as my background light since it’s wireless and I don’t have to worry about cables showing in the photo if I do a full-length shot.  The rest of the light sources were Alien Bees, which are triggered with the RadioPopper Jr (Studio Version) radio triggers.  The image was shot with a Nikon D2x (which I use exclusively in the studio), and the 70-200 f2.8. 

Anchor Commercial

My “Double Your Pleasure” post about the team photos I did for ESPN got such a big response!  So I thought I’d share this group photo I did last weak using the same technique.  Anchor Commercial has been a client of ours for many years.  One of the things they have me photograph for them each November is a group shot they put in a Christmas Card to send all their clients.  Rather than setting up on the South East side of their building where they’d be squinting in to the morning sun, we decided to set up on the North West side.  This provided a nice rim/back light.  However, their faces were in extreme shadow.  So I set up my double-flash technique with two SB-800s on each of two light stand, firing them through my favorite Westcott 43” Collapsible Umbrellas, and triggering them with my trusty RadioPoppers.  Here’s the scene before everyone arrived, and the final image they selected for their card. 

Belle Hall Eye Care

I first got to know Dr. Lori Donovan when I photographed her wedding seven years ago.  Hard to believe it’s been that long…she’s just as beautiful as the day she wore her wedding gown!  Now Lori, with the help of her super sweet Mom, Maxine, and indeed the whole family, has become an instant success in the field of eye care.  After out-growing their original building in just a few short years, I got to do a photo shoot for them to showcase their brand new state-of-the-art facility!  Check them out at www.bellehalleyecare.com. 

Product Photography

Although I primarily showcase our wedding/portrait work on here, we photograph a wide variety of subjects and genres.  So I thought I’d write a post about a fun shoot I did for healer Ayal Hurst the other day.  She’s a long-time client of ours and so full of positive energy.  It’s always a pleasure working with her.  Plus she’s a fellow artist, designing and creating beautiful jewelry and truly unique paintings with depth and dimension like you’ve never seen before!  Her and her husband also run a very peaceful Bed No Breakfast downtown.

When photographing Products and art, it’s important to use feathering techniques to prevent hotspots.  Feathering the light means not pointing it directly at your subject, but aiming it such that just the softer “edge” of the light source illuminates the product.  Here I used a soft-box with 2 SB-800 strobes coming in from the right.  Feathering gave me “almost” even illumination across the camera plane.  But I added an umbrella with a single SB-800 from the left to fill in and further even out the exposure.  All strobes were triggered by an SB-900 Commander on my D3, pointed backwards AWAY from the painting so as not to create any glare, and controlled via RadioPoppers.

High-Key Headshots

Earlier this week I got to work with some of my favorite corporate clients at Colliers Keenan.  They’re doing some re-branding and decided to make all new headshots using a high-key white background.  I lit them with a single giant softbox and placed a reflector on the oposite side to open up the shadows.  The background was placed about 8 feet behind my subject and lit separately with an umbrella on each side.  I’ve found that when shooting high-key, it’s very important to light the background separately from the subject to really keep those whites clean and bright!

Holiday Inn – Charleston Airport & Convention Center

Over the years I’ve done several shoots for the new award-winning Holiday Inn at Charleston Airport & Convention Center.  Dan, the GM there, is a great guy and goes to our church.  Recently they asked me to put together a video montage of some of the images and post it to YouTube so potential guests could see what the interior & architecture of their facility looks like.  Here’s what I create.  Enjoy!

Caldwell Commercial

Though I mostly post my Wedding and Portrait work on here, I shoot a good bit of Corporate/Commercial photography as well.  One of my favorite corporate clients to work with is Caldwell Commercial.  They are a great group of folks, always fun and entertaining to be around.  Plus, Bob (the owner) used to do a bit of professional photography himself back in the film days.  So he and I always have lots in common to talk about.  Here’s a shot I did a few days ago of Cindy, the latest member on their team.

Ken Sklute Seminar

Last weekend I attended Ken Sklute’s photography seminar for the annual Lamarr School of Photography in Columbia.  He’s an amazing photographer and fantastic speaker.  After the seminar, we had a short photo-shoot-out where the attendees could break out their gear.  It was overcast, meaning the light was nice and soft.  So everyone else just started shooting with available light.  But when I saw our model and the custom chopper, I knew I wanted something a little more EDGY!  Soft natural light just wasn’t going to do her justice.  So I lit her up with three SB-800 strobes and further enhanced that with a high-contrast selective-color filter in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.  Let me know what you think…