Portrait | Dan Perovich's Cyberfront Property

A First Time for Everything

On 01.31.10, In photo365, photography, strobist, By Dan Perovich

Photo365-20100131 – A First Time for Everything, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/250 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 400, 70mm (EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM)

Today I can say I had my first real gig as a photographer. My friend asked if I could help him out by taking a corporate head shot for his boss’ web site. Of course I told him it would not be a problem and that it was perfect timing as I am heading to my company’s winter meeting to do head shots of all my coworkers later in the week. The setup for this shot was three small strobes. One in a soft box at camera right as the key, one in a reflective umbrella on camera left as the fill and a third gridded and pointed up at the background from behind the subject. It turns out that the intended fill light became the key. I guess I am still learning the ETTL and ratios functions in the Canon system. However, even though they got switched on me, I like the overall picture. The lighting is clean and there is good separation from the background. Maybe next time I will leave just a bit more head room in the shot to allow for future clients to be able to frame their images.

Tagged with: available light • background • corporate • grid • portrait • reflective • softbox • three light • umbrella

Back to the 80’s

On 01.30.10, In photo365, photography, strobist, By Dan Perovich

Photo365-20100130 – Back to the 80’s, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/100 sec @ f/4.5, ISO 800, 35mm (EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS)

Our friends had an 80’s party tonight to celebrate a thirtieth birthday. We decided to take some high-key galmor shots to help remember the event. I broke out the white seamless paper and set up three flashes to achieve the almost completely blanked out background, a.k.a. high-key, photograph. Two flashes were used to light the subjects, one high and camera right and one high and camera left. Both flashes were equipped with a reflective umbrella and tilted down at forty five degrees to get complete coverage. The third flash was behind the subjects at camera right. It was only a few inches away from the background and aimed in such a way so the light was feathered across the background. I did this to avoid a hot-spot from appearing on the seamless papear close to the where the flash head was on the right side of the frame. To prevent any of the light from the background flash from getting on the subjects or into the camera lens, I used a gobo on it. While not a perfect high-key photograph, I think it is not bad at all for a first attempt at this type of shoot.

Tagged with: background • bare bulb • gobo • high-key • portrait • reflective • three light • umbrella

TV Time

On 01.28.10, In photo365, photography, By Dan Perovich

Photo365-20100128 – TV Time, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/250 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 400, 50mm (EF50mm f/1.8 II)

It has been a super long week. I think this picture speaks to my level of exhaustion. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for the project.

Tagged with: ambient • available light • portrait • still life

A Lucky Lunch

On 01.26.10, In photo365, photography, By Dan Perovich

Photo365-20100126 – A Lucky Lunch, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/3200 sec @ f/4.0, ISO 400, 185 mm (EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM)

I was on my way to Wegmans today to pick up some lunch to bring back to work when I spotted this hawk in a tree fifteen yards off the parking lot. Luckily I still had the DSLR in the trunk of my car, usually I bring it into work and lock it up during the day. I quickly parked the car and got to work getting my 70-200mm lens and flash put onto my camera. By the time I was ready to start shooting the hawk, she had flown about fifty yards away into another tree. I made the small trek and started shooting picture after picture when I could fill the frame with my new friend. I set the flash in a way to provide me a bit of catch light in the hawk’s eyes. Doing this gave life to the bird, without it, the hawk may have looked fake.

I spent about fifteen minutes taking different shots using both the wide-side, 70mm, and long-side, 200mm, focal lengths. In the process, I walked a complete circle around the tree where my friend stayed perched during the shoot. At one point I was about fifteen yards away from the the tree. The hawk did not seem to mind my presence and constant flashing. In fact, she was even kind enough to try several different head positions for me.

Tagged with: ambient • animal • available light • catch light • daylight fill • nature • portrait

Glasses Practice

On 01.20.10, In photo365, photography, strobist, By Dan Perovich

Photo365-20100120 – Glasses Practice, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/250 sec @ f/9.0, ISO 400, 75 mm (EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM)

I added a third flash to my arsenal in preparation for my company’s corporate head shots in February. I ask Jaclyn, my fiancee, to be my model so that I could test out the setup with the third light. I also wanted to make sure I would be able to handle the handful of people in my company who wear glasses. By placing the key and fill lights more towards the sides of the frame instead of closer to the lens, I was able to prevent the reflections of the lights in Jaclyn’s glasses. The setup that I used tonight will most likely be the exact setup I use for the photo shoot in a couple of weeks.

Tagged with: background • grid • portrait • softbox • three light • umbrella

More Headshot Practice

On 01.17.10, In photo365, photography, strobist, By Dan Perovich

Photo365-20100117 – More Headshot Practice, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/200 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200, 50 mm (EF50mm f/1.8 II)

I am still trying to perfect the setup for my company’s corporate head shots that I will be taking in a couple of weeks. For this trial shot, I used the softbox at camera left and a reflector on camera right. The background was lit up with a second strobe with a gird placed on it. I am thinking that I will need to order three more pieces of equipment. One to get the exact look that my CEO is looking for and two others to make the setup flexible enough to use in even the most unprepared locations.

The first piece I think I will be buying is a third flash. I have not been able to get the ratio of light on the dark side of the face using the reflector. This may be because I do not know how to use it effectively yet. A third flash will allow me to get the exact ratio I am looking for more easily.

The second piece will be a background light stand. The stand will make for quick setup and adjustments of the background light flash.

The third piece is a posing stool. I would love to get an adjustable one, but they seem a bit pricey. I will have to do my research to see if I can get something effective, but cheap.

Tagged with: background • portrait • reflector • self-portrait • softbox • two light

Are You Done Yet?

On 01.15.10, In photo365, photography, strobist, By Dan Perovich

Photo365-20100115 – Are You Done Yet?, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/250 sec @ f/10, ISO 200, 50 mm (EF50mm f/1.8 II)

It has been a very busy few weeks since my last posting. I have completed my first two official photo shoots for clients and been traveling here, there, and everywhere. I also ran into an issue with posting to the blog from Flickr. The issue has since been resolved and now I plan to try and get caught up with the project once again. Do not fear, I have been taking a picture every day of the project. I am just incredibly backlogged with editing the photos, uploading them to Flickr, and creating the posts here on the blog. Without further a-du…

This shot was set up using a single bare bulb strobe. I bounced the light off of the white-walled kitchen island at camera left. I really like the details seen in the throw rug and Mela’s fur.

Tagged with: animal • bare bulb • bounce • one light • portrait

Bed Jump: Attempt 1

On 01.14.10, In photo365, photography, strobist, By Dan Perovich

Photo365-20100114 – Bed Jump: Attempt 1, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/250 sec @ f/10, ISO 800, 50 mm (EF50mm f/1.8 II)

I read a blog post several weeks ago about a fun type of photo which lends itself to being taken in hotels. The best way to describe these types of photographs is “bed jump” pictures. It all sounds so simple: set the camera on the timer setting and then time jump on or onto the bed to coincide with the shutter releasing. This is exactly what I tried to do tonight. I set the camera up on a tripod and used a bare-bulb flash bounced off of the ceiling. After each of my first few jumps, I took the time to remake the bed as best as I could. It did not take me long to grow tired of this routine. I settled on just touching up the sheets between attempts going forward. It took me about twenty-five to thirty attempts until I was certain that I had a useable shot in camera. My 50mm f/1.8 lens limited how much of the scene I could fit into the frame. However, I like the end result. I named the photo “Bed Jump: Attempt 1″ because I know, for certain, this will not be the last time I attempt a bed jump type photograph. As soon as I have a wider lens with me during an overnight hotel stay, I will be bed jumping once again.

Tagged with: action • bare bulb • one light • portrait • self-portrait • tripod

Christmas, A Little Late

On 01.09.10, In photo365, photography, By Dan Perovich

Photo365-20100109 – Christmas, A Little Late, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/80 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 3200, 50 mm (EF50mm f/1.8 II)

Today was my family’s belated Christmas celebration. I had the camera out to take a few pictures when my nieces and nephew started to tear into their gifts. I did not have an “extravagant” light set up like I did for Christmas morning over my fiancee’s sisters’ house. Instead, I relied on the natural light coming in from the windows in my mom’s living room and a higher than normal ISO. Overall, I am quite happy with the quality of the photographs, even at the higher ISO’s. Maybe I have been too picky in the past on the 7D’s low light performance. Is it possible that I am a pixel peeper? Please, do not let it be so!

Tagged with: ambient • available light • Christmas • portrait

Puppy Posture

On 01.03.10, In photo365, photography, By Dan Perovich

Photo365-20100103 – Puppy Posture, originally uploaded by HokiePerogi.
1/30 sec @ f/1.8, ISO 3200, 50 mm (EF50mm f/1.8 II)

Here is Leila, our one year old yorkiepin puppy. She was hanging out with us in front of the fire tonight. I had my camera at the ready because I was still waiting for my inspiration to come to me for the project picture today. I applied a Matt Kloskowski preset called “Matt’s Vintage New York – 02” to the photograph in post-production. I found this free preset on Matt’s Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips web site.

Tagged with: ambient • animal • available light • portrait • preset

Dan Perovich's Cyberfront Property

May 22, 2009 – May 21, 2010