Putting The CEO In His Place

I've been busy shooting a lot of corporate portraits recently. A few weeks back I was shooting for a high tech company in Boulder, Colorado. I shot several head shots in a small conference room, similar to the video I have posted at YouTube.

Aside from the head shots, I was ask to create a special portrait of the CEO. The company I was shooting for is in the business of developing innovative microRNA to treat cardiovascular and muscle diseases. I felt a portrait of the CEO in one of their high tech labs was fitting for the boss.



I scouted several labs on their premises and selected one which gave me a good depth to work with. I wanted the background to go soft, so I needed a bit more length in the room to do so. The lighting was quite simple, I had windows in the back of the room which I was able to turn cool by using a white balance of tungsten on my camera. Doing so, meant that I had to turn my key light into a tungsten flash.

My main light was a 30" X 30" FourSquare with a single SB-800 gelled with a full cut CTO. Here is a set up shot for your reference.
You will also notice that I placed a reflector on a stand to bounce some additional light on the shadow side of my subjects face.

Doing The Dubai Bounce

One of my favorite light modifiers is a simple bounce. If you have ever attended a SSBR workshop you know this about me. I look for surfaces that available near a setting that will serve my purpose. During my 2 day Corporate/Industrial workshop, I used a nearby wall to light my subject. Here is the final image showing the results of my bounce.

The ambient light in the office was tungsten, I set my camera white balance to that and also gelled my strobe to balance with that setting. By placing a full cut CTO on my flash, I am able to produce a natural skin tone on my subject.

I placed my flash just to the left of my subject or camera right. I had a flag on the flash, preventing any raw light from striking my subject. When I bounce, I want to make certain that my subject receives only light produced from the bounce and not from the hard raw light from the flash. Here is the bounce as a reference.

At each of my workshops, I make it a point to demonstrate as many setups and modifier uses as possible. If your interested in learning how to produce studio quality light from your speedlights, join me at a Small Strobes, Big Results workshop. My next workshop will be held May 14th in Denver, for more information click HERE.

Gulf Photo Plus Workshops

It has been one hell of a month! I've spend the better part of the March on the road. I was teaching at the GPP in Dubai from the 5th of March - 15th and then at the Santa Fe Workshops 20th - 26th. I'm pooped.

The image at the top of this post was one taken during my two day Corporate & Industrial workshop. On the first day, we had access to a nice small internet company in Dubai. We arrived on location at about 4 PM and shot until 8 or 8:30 PM. This was one of the first shots we did when we arrived.

The lighting could not have been more simple. The ambient light was tungsten so the color temp. on the camera was set to that. I needed only a small kiss of light on the subjects faces, I simply placed an SB-800 with a full CTO on the keyboard of the laptop. I placed a white piece of paper to the screen of the computer and I also used the plastic Dome on the flash, the one which comes with the flash.

My workshop had both Nikon and Canon shooters, so I used a Pocket Wizard to fire the flash. I love the corporate shooting done during this workshop, I'll be showing more images in the next several posts.

I might mention that I have an up coming Small Strobes, Big Results workshop here in Denver on the 14th of May. I limit my workshops to only 12 participants allowing more one on one and hands on experience.

Driving Through Wink, TX and Blinking

I'm on assignment in western Texas today, I had an opportunity to drive through Wink, TX. Ever been there? I not really certain I have or was, I might of actually blinked. Wink is a really small town, but one of many I had to pass through to get to locations that needed shooting.

I've been sick for the past few days, I was in Canada for 4 days and home sick two before heading down here to Texas. I'm shooting oil rigs and pipelines. Here is an example of a rig shot done late this evening. I'm tried and going to sleep. :)

On the Road Again

I've had a busy day of travel and I'm tired. I'm in Prince George, BC. Canada on assignment. I'm shooting an annual report for a mining company based in Denver. It seem strange to me that it is warmer here than in Denver, when I left this morning it was -9 degrees F.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be driving for about 2 1/2 hours to reach my first location. I'll be shooting aerials from a helicopter and some ground images as well. I'll try to post some images tomorrow if I can. Until than, good night. DT