Rosen Hagood Charleston Office

Last week I had the pleasure of going back to Rosen Hagood law firm to photograph headshots for new attorneys that have joined the team. Their marketing group prefers I photograph everyone as a 3/4-lengh portrait, giving their graphic artists options for using the images in marketing material….while still being able to zoom in and crop headshots out of these photos for the website. This is one of the many reasons I love shooting with the Nikon Z9. The high-resolution 45MP sensor on Nikon’s flagship camera gives my clients PLENTY of pixels to play with so that they can kill two birds with one stone!

(Nikon Z9, Nikkor Z 70-100 f2.8, Godox/Flashpoint AD200 flash, Manfrotto supports, Westcott 60″ umbrellas)

Seamon Whiteside Columbia Office

Seamon Whiteside is expanding! I’ve photographed headshots, team photos, marketing shots, and of course a ton of their engineering projects throughout North and South Carolina. I’ve done photos at their offices in Mt. Pleasant, Greenville, Charlotte, Spartanburg…and now they are opening a new one in Columbia!

It was my pleasure to meet up with the founding members of the new Columbia office at The Horseshoe on the University of South Carolina Campus (USC). We strolled around, found some nice backdrops, captured a variety of headshots, and photographed some team photos. Plus one of the guys from the Charlotte office joined us to get his headshot taken as well!

Many thanks to Brittany for helping organize everyone’s schedules to make this happen…

High-Key Headshots for Bridge Commercial

I photograph high-key headshots for a lot of firms in Charleston. That clean, modern, all-white background just seems to be a popular choice for many companies. Plus it’s also an easy background to knock out in Photoshop if your marketing team wants to change the background to something else. I know the Rosen Hagood law firm does that with all the high-key portraits I shoot for them.

Periodically, companies will switch up their marketing or change their web-design, and ask me for a different background to go with their new “look”. But I’ve been working with Bridge Commercial for probably over a decade and they just continue to love the simple and elegant look of the high-key background. What’s not to like?!?

The key to lighting a high-key portrait is the background light. If you don’t light the background separately from the subject, even the whitest background will still come out looking dull. That’s because of the inverse square law of light. As you can see in my setup, I’ve got two speedlights on the left-side stand as my main light, which is Group A. I’ve got one speedlight on the right-side stand as my fill light, which is Group B. The power ratios in both groups are about the same. But having one speedlight instead of two naturally gives me half the amount of light, providing a pleasing ratio between the highlights and the shadows on my subject. Finally, I’ve got one speedlight on the stand behind the subject, aimed at the center of the background. The ratio on this light is double the others because I want the background to be nice and bright.

(Nikon Z9, Nikkor Z 70-200 f2.8, Godox/Flashpoint transmitter and speedlights, Manfrotto supports, Westcott 60″ umbrellas, and a twist-flex white background)

Headshtots for Premier Physical Therapy

It was a real pleasure to meet and photograph Darien for Premier Physical Therapy. She was super sweet and fun to work with. Her heritage is from Honduras. So I got to practice a little Spanish, which was awesome. Jill is the owner of Premier Physical Therapy. I’ve been photographing headshots and marketing photos for her and her team for a very long time. And I have to say, she always seems to find the nicest people to join her staff!!!

Gracie’s Senior Portraits at Hampton Park

When my friend Melissa reached out to ask if I would photograph her cousin’s Senior Portraits, I said ABSOLUTELY!!! We’ve known Melissa since the early days when we first moved back to Charleston. She and Cami used to work together at Picture This One Hour Photo and Dennis Munn Photography! Who remembers where THAT was?!? Fast forward and here we are, still connected after all these years. 🙂

I met up with Melissa, Gracie, and her sister at Hampton Park on a beautiful summer evening. Gracie was an absolute joy to work with! It was fun to tap into her energy, excitement, and sense of adventure. Plus it didn’t hurt that she was absolutely gorgeous!!! We moved quickly, and managed to explore the whole park, while still switching into three different outfits. What a pleasure it was to catch up with Melissa, and photograph these beautiful memories of this special time in Gracie’s life!

Everyone say CONGRATULATIONS to Gracie!!! We wish her all the best as she embarks on this next big adventure in life…

Bales Family at The Sanctuary on Kiawah Island

I love an adventurous family!!! In spite of the afternoon thunderstorms, the radar indicated there “might” be a break in the showers just long enough for us to get our family beach session in. So I called Tammy and she said “LET’S GO FOR IT!!!” 🙂

I met up with the Bales’ clan at The Sanctuary on Kiawah Island. With ages ranging from 15-21, and potentially serious relationships blossoming, who knows when the next time everyone will be together again? Some will be heading off to college? Others might be starting their own families soon? Maybe one of them decides to travel Europe next summer? You just never know at this age. So it was particularly rewarding to be a part of this wonderful evening, with the proud grandparents surrounded by their lovely daughters, their handome sons-in-law, and all their amazing grandchildren!

The weather was touch-and-go, with dark clouds all around us, and dim lighting conditions to work with. But strategic use of higher iso settings on my Z9, combined with careful use of an off-camera Flashpoint eVolve 200 flash, brought out the gorgeous colors of their outfits, and lit up their beautiful smiles. The photos actually turned out extra dramatic as a result! The best part was, the rains stayed away long enough for us to complete our session. I’m so glad we took Tammy’s advice to go for it!!!

Garman Family Beach Portraits on Kiawah Island

What a SMALL WORLD!!!

Last evening I had the pleasure of photographing beach portraits for the Garman family while they were vacationing on Kiawah Island. The amazing part is they are from Troy, OH…which is where Cami is from!!! In fact, Cami’s family lived on Dorset Rd…which is where one of the Garman daughters and her family lives! I met Cami while she lived in Troy. We were married in Troy. And one of her brothers still lives in Troy. What a cool coincidence to meet up with this beautiful family from “back home”!

The afternoon showers swept through Kiawah earlier that afternoon, cooling things off a bit for us. Plus the beautiful clouds and nice soft light left behind from the storm made for a lovely evening to be on the beach. We could still see the distant lightning lighting up the sky across the ocean as the rain clouds drifted away.

Many thanks to Moxie and her family for bringing back fond memories of Troy for me!!!

Eva’s Bat Mitzvah Portraits

In a few short months, I’ll have the honor of photographing Eva’s bat mitzvah!!!

Bat mitzvah is Hebrew for “daughter of commandment.” When a Jewish girl turns 12, she has all the rights and obligations of a Jewish adult, including the commandments of the Torah. From that date forward, she takes her place in the Jewish community. This milestone in her life, called a bat mitzvah, is often celebrated with creative projects, meaningful gatherings, a special ceremony and of course a joyous celebration afterwards!

To help commemorate this special chapter in Eva’s life, her beautiful family joined her for a fun photo session at Hampton Park. She’ll be able to use these photos in her announcement cards for her celebration later this year. But more importantly, the whole family will have these wonderful memories preserved for all eternity, as Eva grows from this amazing girl she is today into the even more incredible woman she will become!!!

Brandy & Dan’s Hampton Park Engagement Photos

WOW!!! What an amazing sight greeted me at Hampton Park when I arrived for Brandy & Dan’s engagement session. The rains had just passed through Charleston, the sun was out, and a gorgeaous rainbow stretched across the sky!

Brandy & Dan arrived shortly thereafter. And we had an AMAZING time exploring the park, getting to know each other, and creating beautiful images together. As we returned to our cars, we realized there was a great chance for a brilliant sunset. So we zipped over to Brittlebank Park to capture a few dramatic silhouettes against that colorful sky!

CONTRATULATIONS Brandy & Dan! I can’t wait to be there for you guys on your wedding day!!!

Muro Family at Wild Dunes Beach

I’ve been photographing the Muro Family at their annual vacations to Charleston for many years. But each year it seems there’s always someone missing. Whether a family member was studying abroad, traveling, or just sick…it we always seem to be missing someone. But this year, we actually had EVERYONE TOGETHER!!!

It was so much fun catching up with the Muro family. They always treat me like family. And photographing their beach portrait session is always a highlight of my summer!!!

Center for Birds of Prey – Why Use Off-Camera Flash?!?

I frequently get asked: “Why do you use flash for outdoor portraits?” There are a ton of variables that I evaluate before starting a photo shoot. But paramount to them all is the QUALITY of the lighting. Whenever possible, I seek out beautiful natural light. For outdoor portraits, “open shade” is one of my favorites to work with. For indoor portraits, I look for soft “window light” to work with. But when the location is surrounded by trees, creating a gloomy greenish-blue color cast to the light, I pull out the flashes. If I don’t have beautiful natural light to work with, I create my own with speedlights!

That’s what happened in this photo session at the Charleston Center for Birds of Prey. In the first test-shot, you can see how muddy and unflattering the natural light is. Because we were in a clearing surrounded by trees, the only available light is coming from directly above Angelina, creating those sunken “racoon eyes” and a hotspot on her nose. So I mounted a Flashpoint eVolve 200 Pro in a large softbox on a Manfrotto light-stand, and placed it about 30-decgrees off to her left (the camera’s right). This gave me a fantastic directional main light, which created a soft contour to her face, cleaned up the skin color, and produced a nice catch-light in the eyes. Then I mounted a Flashpoint Zoom LiOn II on another Manfrotto light-stand, and covered it with a CTO (Color Temperature Orange) gel, which mimicks the color-balance of the late-afternoon setting sun. This speedlight was positioned behind the subject, aimed at the back of her hair, in a cross-light pattern opposite the main light. The result is a warm rim-light, which gave a golden glow to her beautiful hair, and helped separate her from the background.

Now that I had the lighting the way I wanted it, I mounted the Nikon Zf with the 70-200 f2.8 Z lens and a Flashpoint wireless trigger on a Manfrotto tripod…and the rest is magic!!!

The nice part about using this lighting setup is that it’s consistant and repeatable! Next time I show up to photograph a new staff member, whether it’s an overcast day or a bright sunny day, it doesn’t matter…the light hitting my subject will always be the same.

Katie’s Senior Portraits

Katie and her family were down here on vacation from Ohio. And she wanted some senior portraits that were “different” from all her friends. So we met up downtown and walked around the French Quarter, capturing a variety of cool shots of her with some Charleston cityscapes. The following day, I met up with her and her family at Magnolia Plantation for a little more of the “plantation feel” in her photos. Katie is a big photo-buff. So it was fun capturing her with her camera, and sharing a few photography tips as we walked around the beautiful property.

CONGRATULATIONS Katie! We wish you all the best as you embark on this new chapter in your life!!!