Do you know what surgical forcep is? According to Wikipedia: “Forceps are used when fingers are too large to grasp small objects or when many objects need to be held at one time while the hands are used to perform a task.” In case if the object is a tiny piece of human body needed for biopsy, something very internal, surgeons pin a hole in human’s body and use 1.5 mm in diameter micro jaws to bite a piece of the liver, for example…
macro photography in your hand
Scary enough? Do not worry, I won’t go further:-)
I was lucky to feel these things in my hands, not inside of me. One of our good long-term customers, medical supplier EndoChoice sells such devices and my duty is to produce outstanding images of these little gremlins.
Last week I had this nice assignment: on-location shoot for Vieler International LP (www.vieler.com). The company was established in 1913, now 3rd generation 100% family-owned business, specializing in architectural hardware out of stainless steel and aluminum: high quality door and window hardware, shop fitting systems and much more. When I’ve checked the company website (after a brief conversation with the Andre Vieler, the owner of the business), I was surprised by the beauty and style of the products they manufacture. The current product look:
The challenge was to match the company colors and style of the images withing quoted 3 hours of work in the warehouse, having the shooting date in 4 days from the first contact with the customer. After I’ve received a company’s brochure, I started to look for a right-color background paper: best color match was absolutely necessary for the project. I was lucky to found right color (that was ultramarine) 107” paper roll for a background in Showcase Atlanta.
Packed with half of the studio ( full list of equipment), I drove just inside the warehouse through a loading dock (saved us about 10 minutes). Aluminum frame with the glass inside was mounted on a wooden board about 6 feet wide, painted black. After a little consideration I’ve decided to use a big chunk of the background paper to cover the board, so we disassembled the frame, covered board with the paper and screwed frame back to it. Andre Vieler, the owner, was helping us, working like an undercover boss
I was done with setup withing 30 minutes: 2 large softboxes on front and side ( main and fill light), small narrow box on behind, two 20 degree spot honeycomb for a background and laptop connected to a camera, ready for a remote capture. Four strobes was connected to a remote controller, camera was mounted on a Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod and 405 geared head.
I do not use (never did) a flash meter (why?), but this time I measured light once at the middle of a frame: f13. That was only the time I needed a meter, the rest exposure evaluation was done on a laptop’s screen.
Also, Andre and 2 other guys were looking at setup preparation and now was looking at laptop’s screen, ready to see the first image, so I wanted to impress them: even the first test image came exactly as I wanted. As usual, I’ve got correct ratio between all light sources without using this “necessary if you a pro” tool :
Industrial photographer Atlanta, GA for Vieler International by Alex Kolsokov
Several days ago we had a chance to do a photoshot for good friend of ours, Lana Kravtsova (dreamfollowers.com). She is true positive thinker and highly motivated business coach as well as a great model:-) I was surprised how easy it was to work with her.
She was needed a few headshots for social media and business card, and I’ve used lighting to show her bright personality.
Recently we’ve finished shooting a line of hand made pens for PenzByDesign.com and I would like to share the lighting setup and few tips on how we did this project.
So, the pen: Relatively simple object to photograph, right? I’ve used narrow softbox on top to make that line-like reflection on a pen. However, one light source placed on top did not highlight a shines of a pen’s acrylic or wood trim. This is why I’ve added two spot lights on each side of the pen.
Example of small reflective object photography in a studio
Did you ever feel what a frozen chicken feels ? I recently had a chance to get an idea
I was hired to shoot annual winners for Refrigiwear, Inc. These tough guys are working in a huge warehouse refrigerators and freezers, 25F – 0F temperatures around! It was quite refreshing environment to work I am glad my Canon 1Ds Mark III was happy: no sensor noise at all, working on 200-400 ISO settings.
Warehouseman of the Year 2009 photoshoot for RefrigiWear, Inc.
Eventually we have updated our web site: http://www.koloskov.com
The biggest advantage is a re-sizable content.
Also we have decided not to do any people/portraits anymore. Feels like need to narrow down my specialty.
However, I’ll miss our models:-)
April 25th, 2010 | 
