Food!

I love food. I love eating it, I love watching it being prepared, and love, love photographing it.
food is one of those things that makes me smile. When I was a kid, my grandmather used to make me watch her cook, perhaps because she tought I would learn a thing or two about cooking. It was then that I develop a passion for it. Recently....I started to do a few jobs where I had to shoot food, I had never done it before, and although the logistic are different than shooting people... its not that different than say shooting objects, such jewelry or shoes. Photographing food is all about capturing the imagination and senses of the person looking at the photo. Since it is our vision that is being stimulated only, our other senses take a back seat, therefore, we have to create an atmosphere where you can stimulate the senses.

The lighting for this shot was relatively easy...I used an existing window camera right and my SB-24 with a grid camera left.



For this shot...I used and umbrella camera right, a gridded SB-24 camera left, and a Vivitar hv285 far right in the back.





As I said...I love food.

Ciao



The nostagia of the camera....

Photography is one of those professions that at one point held such a glamorous, elite, and exclusive status. I dare say…at one point, if you were a photographer, you were looked at as if though you were part of the Hollywood scene, or even a celebrity, maybe even a doctor. I always saw photography as such a prestigious “club” to get into.

Long gone are the days when people looked at you with admiration…and why not…envy when you told them you were a professional photographer. They looked at you perhaps as a super hero (ok maybe not that part)

This industry has morph quite drastically into what I like to call “the 3 kinds of photographers”

1. The Shutter bug: A person that just aims and shoot (among gun enthusiasts this is called the "spray and pray" effect) in which such individual will take 500 shots and maybe get that one descent photo worth bragging about (99% of all Facebook users fall into this category). This individual has no concept of art, composition, or correctly exposing a subject.
2. The amateur photographer: This guy is the one that has somewhat of an understanding about photography, the way a regular Joe will try to fix his car during the weekend by looking at the manufacturer book, and has a bunch of tools he has collected a long the way.
3. The Pro: This is the guy that has taken the time to develop proper technique, it has found a niche and has build a business around it. Has learned to adapt to any economy cycle, and is always learning new ways to reach people.

I make the above description only because, it has never been this easy to be a photographer. Why do I say this things? Well…with the advancement in camera tech, Internet etc. The monopoly that was once held by a few, now has become this new revolution of innovation. Just look at photobucket and Flickr as an example. Innovation and competition is good.

Many Photographers I know...have complained about how there are so many wanna be photographers that are killing the market, by charging $50 per headshot session. I laugh every time. This is a prime time to evolve the market and make money.

Ciao!



 

 
 
 

 

Product photoshoot

Some time ago I did a photoshoot for my very good friend Kristin Snyder, she is a nomad (inside joke)  and has been spending some time in Hawaii, she calls it going to work, but all of her friends including myself call it going on vacation.
The thing about Kristin is that she is one the most craftiest persons I have ever know. Combined with her free spirtied personality she has created a hand made jewerly line that is both very stalish and afordable.

Back then when I did this shoot, I was mainly experimenting and trying to put into practice some tecniques that I learned from Forrest Tanaka (you can find him on Youtube)
at the time of the shoot I was only armed with two speedlight, 1 SB-600, you can get them here. But I suggest you get the SB-800 it is an overall, superior speedlight. Additionally the SB-800 has an off camera Sync/Multiple Flash Terminal on the side that the SB-600 does not have, should I had know this 4 years ago, I would had not bought the SB-600.

The 2nd speedlight I had was an old beat up Vivitar 285HV which I still use (you can get it here) If you were to compare speedlights to trucks...the Vivitar would be an old Mack truck, tough, bulky, and heavy on the other side it's durable, has consistent output, and its super easy to use. It is a great start up flash and I strongly recomend it. My only beef with this gem is...it has NON standard SYNC port - and thus CANNOT use STANDARD sync cables! you can find them in adorama or ebay, but since this is a unique feature for this flash...many people stay away from it, and overlook the many advantages of this flash. Personally, I got over, all the disavantages and have learn to love this guy specially since it's cheap. Be warned...if you find one for under $100 make sure the battery contacts are free of oxydation/rust and if it is in good working condition...GET IT!

It wasnt untill I found my SB-24 and SB-28 that I sort of stop relaying too much on it.

The other pieces of gear for this shoot were 1 white satin shoot thru umbrella, and several pieces of white reflective foam.

The set up was relativebly easy, SB-600 above the table with umbrella, and the Vivitar 285HV camera right with the reflective material camera left for fill light. I had to "tweak" the set up several times until I got the light I wanted.

As far as the background is concern...I went for a walk in the park (that is...when I lived in Lancaster, PA until last summer) and found some rocks, a tree stump and some foliage on the ground, oh and moss.

This goes to show you that to take good photos, you really don't need thousands and thousands of expensive photo equipment. All you need is a vision, and ingenuity to manipulate light.

Please take a minute to see my friend's Kristin website at http://www.etsy.com/shop/sophieluckjewelry

Until next time....

Ciao.











Headshot session with the one and only Daniella Dalli

I had the pleasure, and challenge to photograph my beautiful wife, Daniella the other day...she needed a new headshot photo very fast, so we decided that doing it in our apartment would be the best course of action since the weather outside was so nasty.

I used one of the main windows as a key/main light, and a SB-24 with a silver umblella as a kicker on camera right, to give it some dimension.

I tried using a reflector to make the light more natural and to see what it would look like, but didn't like the way they came out.

I love shooting my wife, she is very inspiring, has a great eye for detail, and is extremely organized (I mean military grade organization skills)

If you have time, and I recommend you do, go visit her website at www.danielladalli.com

Ciao.







Corporate Shoot.

Last Tuesday, Jan 24th I had a corporate photoshoot. Now if you are my friend or have known me for sometime...you will know perhaps that I am a bit claustrophobic. The space that I had to work with was so small, it made a subway car in NYC during rush hour look like Texas. Fortunately I had my trusty $10 shoot through umbrellas and voila... I made the space work. along with my trusty hand made beauty dish and snoot (for details on how to make this DIY projects go here ) I got some very nice photos.
OK so I will be the first one to admit that doing a corporate photo shoot is a very tough assignment, if you are not well organize that is. If you have not done your recon, met the people you are going to shoot and get to the location 1 hrs prior to do your set up. Well I did all of the above. It was a fun shoot, the clients were very relax and one of them even cracked a joke.



Someone once told me.... if you have the opportunity to find (if you are lucky) and buy a Nikon Speed light SB-24 or SB-28...GET IT!....I love this speed light so much, I own several. Many are the reasons why I recommend them...but one my favorite is.... off of camera control. Combo with a remote trigger.... the sky is the limit....by the way...if you are thinking about doing something like it...save up the money and buy yourself a nice set of Pocket Wizards II yes they are expensive...but trust me they are reliable and you will never have to worry about miss fires.

I started experimenting with snoots recently....I love it.



Small space, big space, pro equipment, DIY equipment, assistant or no assistant....if you have a vision of how you want a photo to look, you will find a way to manipulate the light, or as Tim Gunn always says: "Make it work"

Ciao

That winter thing....

I really hate the cold winters of the East coast. I like snow, not too much but enough to go outside and play with my dog for an hour or two.

Photo by: Daniella D.

Out the old, in with the new

OK...so I am not really what you would consider a writer....English is not my primary language, although this days it has become since my Spanish has deteriorated so much. So before you start to criticize my writing...think about that.

alright...so the new website is up and running...for a while I had a Word Press based page which was great, but it was not what I really wanted. My darling wife Daniella took the time to set something up on her spare time and alas....is up and running. Go take a look when you can... www.franklinnavarro.com
Ciao
Frank