Kathy Sheridan

Video – Chase Jarvis on Workflow

Tutorial – Photographing Fireworks

Since it is the New Year I thought I would give some pointers on photographing fireworks.

The main concept is that you need the shutter open for an extensive time so you are able to capture the motion of the firework trails. I would try your shutterspeed somewhere between 20 seconds and 30 seconds. The longer the shutterspeed the longer trails. Here is a list of additional important criteria you need to keep in mind.

1. use a tripod

2. find an area where there is as little light as possible

3. use manual focus and focus to infinity

4. turn your noise reduction ON in your menu

5. shoot on around F8

6. use a shutter release or your time to prevent camera shake

Be patient because with the length of the shutterspeed and the noise reduction each shot can take several minutes.

Photo Analysis – Brandy Toss

Recently, I did a very fun and messy shoot with these brandy sniffers. I wanted them to almost appear as dancing jewelry.

Tutorial – Comparing the Human Eye to the Camera

Today, I had saw the optometrist for my annual checkup. I have always thought the human eye and the camera had a lot in common. However, today I noticed an even stronger connection between the human eye and a camera lens.

When your eyes are dilated it is the same concept as opening up your aperture or making the lens opening larger. And as your pupal begins to go back to its normal state it is similar to closing your aperture down or making the lens opening smaller.

As you open the aperture the number gets smaller (F2.8 or F3.5) and as you close the aperture down the number gets larger (F16 or F22).

Remember, the smaller the number (F1.8, F2.8 and F3.5) the less depth of field and clarity, just like your eyes being dilated. The larger the number (F11, F16 and F22) the more depth of field.

Another connection is how the human eye squints. As you squint, the light bends and you are able to see clearer. The lights on cars at night begin to have rays because you are able to see more of the light. This is similar to closing down the aperture (making a smaller opening or hole in the lens).

Inspiration – Photographer Kevin Boyd

Photographer Kevin Boyd simplifies composition and still amounts to give every element of the photo equal attention. These are just a couple of his photos from a recent trip that I wanted to share with you to show his talent and hard work.

To see more go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevin4au/

Photo Analysis – New TruAde Packaging!

Several months ago Carolina Canners asked O2 Ideas to redesign the logo and packaging for TruAde, a delicious soft drink from our past that will be back on the shelves again. Shawn Wideman and myself have been working passionately to get the design of all the packaging ready for production. We recently were shipped the newly printed 20 oz bottles and were asked to photograph the new product.

There are so many challenges when photographing liquids, plastics and labels. We wanted a solid white background for this product. So, the first thing we did was compose the shot and light the background so that it is two stops darker than the product. This will insure that it will be solid white. Another important principle when lighting the background to be solid white is that the white background will become a light source and will be needed to light the liquid. In order for the light to be even from left to right we used two lights.

Once the background and liquid was just the way we wanted it, we then needed to make sure that there was no light spill on the front of the bottles because the liquid would begin to look muted and show glare. We also needed to add shape to the top of the bottle where there is no liquid. Otherwise, this part of the bottle would fade into the background because it would be completely clear. Therefore, we brought in two black boards and placed them to each side to flag the light reflected from the background and to reflect black into the top of the plastic bottle for definition. We also needed to keep in mind how far back we placed the boards because if they were back too far they would begin to be visible within the liquid because liquid acts as a magnifying glass.

After the bottle is correctly lit we needed to light for the label and the cap. If the shot was taken at this point everything would be lit well except the label and cap would be black because we have not allowed any light to hit the front of the bottle. As we lit this area we were careful where we place the light. If we placed the light in front of the bottle to light it there would be a bright reflection and a lot of glare. We preferred a more evenly lit label. Therefore, we could have placed the light anywhere that it would not bounce off the label and back into the camera. We could have placed it far to the side and made the light go directly from the left to the right or vice versa. However, then one side of the label would then be bright than the other and we would again need to use two lights as we used on the background. Instead, we put a light above the bottles and shined it straight down. Since there is a white board below the bottles this reflected light back acting as a second light making it even lighting top to bottom. And with the cap also needing light it benefited as well.

Photoshoot – Trails of Africa

The Birmingham Zoo is soon to open a new exhibit called Trails of Africa. O2 Ideas is working along side to produce a number of advertising elements including, billboards, direct mail, posters, brochures, tv and more. Trails of Africa is the world’s first exhibit featuring a herd of African bull elephants in a natural setting. This distinguishes the Birmingham Zoo as a national leader in the care and conservation of threatened elephants. Grand Opening Weekend April 22-24.

The photo below is a 53″ panoramic of Bulwagi, the eldest of the herd in the new Trails of Africa habitat.

Neighboring these magnificent yet playful elephants are three Giraffes that love attention. We wanted to capture that personality and show a fun opportunity that people can partake in when they come to the Zoo, feeing the Giraffes. Therefore, Victoria was kind enough to model for us to show this experience. And you could not ask for a better model. She did a spectacular job. A fill light was used to add a little light on the side of her face since we were shooting almost directly into the sun.

Next, we needed to show a new central area of the Zoo, the Safari Cafe. With this shot we needed to show off the new Safari Cafe. A wide angle helped capture its grand scale. This scene was a balance of sunlight and strobe. The sun was the main light and the fill light was placed in the far right of the photo to give the shadows casted on the right side of the family detail in-place of being lost in shadow. There were also additional strobes placed under the roof of the cafe for the same reason. In order to help balance this ambient sunlight and the strobes we used a polarizer on the lens to slow the shutterspeed down. This also helped with cutting through glare and gave the image more saturation. When confronted with a more difficult shot like this where you need to balance harsh sunlight and strobe, compose first without any people and get the exposure correct on the background. After the background exposure is just the way you want begin adding strobes one at a time where they are needed. And remember, as you are tweaking the balance of the exposure shutterspeed controls the ambient light and aperture controls the strobe light.

Once we were done with the cafe photo we were rushed over to photograph the rhinos. With the accompaniment of trainers I was allowed to go between the fences to get within a few feet of the rhinos. What a great opportunity!

Photoshoot – Honda Employees

The photos above were taken for Honda at the facility in Greensburg, Indiana with O2 Ideas for a Honda Civic Line Off.

Below I have illustrated the basic setup. I wanted one side to have slightly more intensive light than the other to add modeling and pop. Therefore, I place it back further and put a smaller softbox on it. This allowed the light source to be smaller–making it slightly harsher light. Plus, it is at 3/4 of the strobe heads power where the fill light was at only 1/8 power.

After we arrived at the site, got unloaded, took the safety course and scouted out the location–we then first prepared the backdrop. Seamless white paper was the background for this shoot. But just like you scout a background on a location first, when you are shooting portraits also begin with setting up your background.

Next, decide on where the people will be shot and where you will be standing and at what focal length you will be shooting at. I almost always recommend a 50mm or longer. This is because it will give a natural perspective. The only time this is not the case is when you want to add distortion. If that is the case, you would use a shorter focal length.

Setting up the background, composing and choosing a focal length are all apart of composition. Once you are done composing, decide on what aperture you want to shoot at. These where taken at f/14 to get plenty of depth of field and you allow less light to come in because the lights used put out a lot of light. If you are not balancing strobe with available light and if you do not wish to add motion to your shot use 1/60 or 1/125 for your shutterspeed. We used 1/125 for these shots to insure that motion blur would be out of the question.

Now, it is time to set up the lights and get to know who you are shooting. The interaction you have with who you are shooting is key in the mood and impact of the shoot.

Resources – Making Video with your SLR

Explore the possibilities of HDSLR cameras through this free and engaging educational series with Shane Hurlbut, ASC. Learn basic and advanced material based on the years of hands-on experience Shane has amassed as a leading Hollywood cinematographer. Simply, click the image above to watch or go to hdslrhub.bhphoto.com.

Photoshoot – Venture Net

One of latest shoots we have had the opportunity to shoot was for Venture Net. They were as fun, personable and entertaining as a client can get. I had a great team to work with. The Art Director on the shoot was Brian Blackman and the Account Services head was Elizabeth Stark. The job was to capture photos of them in their working environment and capture professionalism as well as compassion. You can visit their site at www.venturenet.net.

The shot above is an interesting shot Brian and I captured within the server room. We shot a low light exposure of about two seconds. When setting up a shot like this there are some practices that you do that you would not normally.

First, as always, take your time and get your shot composed exactly the way you want.

Next, choose how much depth of field you want and set your aperture. This particular shot was taken at f/11 for more depth of field.

Now, you want to make sure your shot is perfectly focused with all lights on. If you are shooting outside and need more light to focus us a flashlight of some sort. After the shot is focused make sure it is on Manual Focus if you were using Auto Focus and turn the lights you do not need in the shot off. If the lens was not set to Manual Focus here the camera would have trouble focusing or change your focus if set to Auto Focus.

Another must for low light photography is to turn your long exposure noise reduction on. This feature is typically within the custom function in the menu.

Finally, we need to get our shutterspeed set just right. If it is an exposure longer than 30 seconds your camera meter will not be able to assist you with getting the exposure. Therefore, you will need to take several test shots to find what shutterspeed is right for the shot. I moved the shutterspeed to 30 second first and saw the that would be several stops underexposed by looking at the camera meter. So, next I tried it at one minute. Looked at the results and wanted it brighter for more detail. So, we tired two minutes and it worked as you see above. I enjoy the outcome of shooting these type of shots because the cameras results are different than anything our eye sees.