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As promised, I prepared lighting setup and a video from our last workshop (more about this here). I am not going to post simple setup we started from, it should be self explainable, if you look at the photo. Below is what we have done by the end of workshop, after playing with ratios and different light modifiers. Setup like you see below can be considered “basic” for a standard fashion-like style portraits.
 Atlanta photographer workshop: ligting setup Continue reading Atlanta photography workshop update: Lighting setup
 
Our first workshop just happened last Sunday! Hurray!
 Atlanta photographer workshop class Many thanks to all participants, I am sure it was very enjoyable and interesting for all of us:-)
Workshop lasted for 4 hours, during this time we have covered a basic’s of studio gear,shooting techniques, had a master class and an actual photoshoot session for each participant.
At the end we had nice party time:-)
Continue reading Our first photography workshop: Studio lighting for fashion photography
I had an opportunity ( many thanks to John Williams from Hotwire Digital) to play with this beast, Hasselblad H3D -31 few month ago, eventually got time to write this short review.
The intention was to compare Hasselblad with tilt shift adapter with my Tilt-shift adapter system for Canon EOS I am currently using.
 In studio test Hasseblad H3D-31 V.S
 Tilt/Shift camera system for 35mm DSLR Continue reading In studio test: Hasselblad H3D-31 v.s Canon 1Ds Mark III mounted on large format camera
I continue to use my tilt-shift adapter for DSLR, and now I explore the limits of the system. Below is the watch, at a very narrow angle, shoot by using Rodenstock Rodagon APO 80mm F4 lens at aperture set to F16.
 Watch photography using tilt-shift DSLR
The lighting schema is simple: two narrow soft boxes on top, each highlighted top and the bottom part of the watch. There should not be direct reflection form a watch’s glass, as it immediately become dull and low contrast. Continue reading Watch photo shoot: advantages of using tilt-shift camera adapter
When one of our client’s ask me to shoot several bracelets, it looked like an easy task, at first. But when we started to talk about technical requirements, the photo session become more challenging than I was thinking…
First, he wants a spot-like gradient background, from deep purple to a complete black.
Second, bracelets must be shoot in frontal position, not a simple from-top shoot. Saying that they also mentioned that full bracelet must have as maximum details as possible.
So, how to get the first task done? Hang bracelet on a tiny fishing lines and project a a spot on a dark background? Master background digitally, after the shoot? I am not a big fun of such massive digital post processing, especially when I shoot for a catalog, hundred of pieces. Same dislike of a complicated to repeat setups because of product’s quantity.
What I did is this: 2 light sources ( Paul. C Buff monolights) , one mirror and one white paper background on rails. Plus, unfortunately, one photoshop task for a post production, you’ll see later what I mean.
The setup, was simple: Jewelry was placed on a mirror positioned so it was reflecting a white paper backdrop when looked from a camera’s angle. However, backdrop was black, as no other light source was pointed on a backdrop. Narrow rectangular softbox was placed directly on top of the jewelry, so no lights was escaping on a backdrop behind.
Now only spot (honeycomb attachment was used) needs to be pointed to appropriate place on a backdrop to create a nice gradient.
The same but in drawing:
 Lighting schema for jewelry photography Continue reading Photographing jewelry: the lighting setup, tips and tricks plus bonus video
Everyone knows how tricky may be a shooting reflective object, especially if the object is spherical shaped or cylinder, like a kettle. Recently we had a photo session for a new Walmart kitchenware, and I want to share some tips and trick I was using to get it done.
First, a kettle:
 Product kitchen Photography. Electric Kettle. Continue reading Kitchenware Photosession: Lighting setup for highly reflective objects
Few weeks ago I was working on a tilt-shift adapter for Canon EOS cameras, (see my previous post). Now I have first in studio test – review of this system.
Lens: Rodenstock APO Rodagon N 80 F4.
Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds mark III.
Lights: White Lightning 1800, various light modifiers.
Camera/lens setting: 1/250 sec, F8.
The main idea is to see what quality I can achieve on this system and what benefits would give me the ability to tilt the lens. So, What I did it this: Took a first photo with a non tilted lens, focusing on a closest part of watch’s dial. Second shoot with exactly the same lightning, exposure (F stop was not changed), but I tilted lens both horizontally and vertically. The result is below:
1. This shot was made without any tilt, you can clearly see a where the focus plane is. I’ve used a relatively shallow DOF to show what you can do with such great lens attached to such a nice system:-)
 close up image of product photography Continue reading Tilt-Shift adapter in studio test review: EOS 1Ds mounted on a large format system camera
As some have noticed, I’ve got a new profile image. We had a self-portrait photo session (my less favorite type:-), so its one of the photos. We tried to stay away from a usual “me and the camera” portrait, but… Were not successful finding something else to describe the nature of photographer. The good thing, I’ve add some emotion into this.
Soon I’ll post the best of me form this photo session for you judgement. Stay tuned!
We had our very good friends visiting us for a 1.5 weeks. That was a fun! Have not seen them for about 10 years. They are still very nice and creative guys, we had a few (unfortunately) photo sessions done. The rest of the time was spent together in St.Pete, FL with vine, ocean and sun:-)
3 more…
A cake from a Whole Foods Grocery, same technique as we have used HERE, except white background. White because it was for a microstock, as they like products on a white. Start feeling that we’ll need to shoot more like this, as these images age quite popular on iStock and Shutterstock.
2 more…
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