portraits

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Single light source portrait.

Here is a portrait done with a single light. Since the light source was relatively large compared to her and it was not far, I was able to get the look I was after without the need of additional lights or bounce cards.

The strove was an Einstein from Paul Buff fitted with a 35″ octabox. I attached a grid to the Octa to direct and guide the light more precisely. That “on my opinion” makes the light a bit punchier adding a touch more contrast and also it kept the light from spilling over to the background.

The portrait was shot with a Canon 5D MrkIII and a Canon ef 70-200mm f 2.8 is L. A Pocket wizard Mini TT1 and Pocket Wizard power MC2 were transmitting and receiving to power the strove.

And that is how I shot this portrait with a single light source.

Here is a diagram with the light set up.

Natalie's

Natalie's Portrait

 

This last portrait here shares the same lighting concept of the first one with the exeption of … You guess right, a rim light coming from camera right behind the subject. “In relation to the subject the light was positioned at about 2PM”

Since he was not rearing a cute fuzzy white hat like she was. I wanted a bit of separation between the dark background and his dark hair, and that light did exactly that.

Dani's Portrait

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Portraits with Canon 5D MrkIII

This past weekend I tried a simple lighting set up with my daughter Sofia prior to shooting some head shots of Lucca, a cute young actor.

The lighting set up was basically a main light. Paul C Buff Einstain E 640 with an Octabox and a grid on it to better direct the light. The strobe was placed overhead at 45deg angle. Lucca (the model) was holding a small gold and sliver reflector on his lap to bounce light back into his face as a fill. The other light source was a rim/hair light. This was a Travelite 750 fitted with a 10″ reflector and a 40deg grid to avoid light spill and lens flare. The pictures were done with a Canon 5D MrkIII and a Canon 70-200 ef 2.8 IS L set at f8.

Below it’s a simple diagram of the lighting set up for this two portraits.

Lucca Lighting set up

 

Sofia's Make up

Lucca-Monti

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A dash of color.

I recently took some pictures of Kassandra. Las night I revisit some of the images and decided to try something different. Since she often change her hair color and look, I decides to add a DASH OF COLOR to it and I came up with this image.

The original image was taken  with a Canon 5D Mrk III set at ISO 100 and speed of 200. White balance was manually set at 5600K. The lens is Canon EF 70-200 f2.8 IS L set a f9. The light is from a Paul Buff Einstein E640 and a 36″ Octa with a grid positioned very close to her face at 90 Deg and as a rim light I used a Canon EXII 430 set to manual mode. Black background and everything was triggered with pocket wizards.

Nothing extraordinary or new in concept, but fun and different. I did this playing around with layers and blending modes on Photoshop.  When I can’t sleep, I find it therapeutical to do some edits or watch  tutorials that will teach me some new photoshop tricks and techniques.

Adding a DASH OF COLOR to an image every now and then could be fun. I like the result. I will keep on playing with this idea and see if I can come up with something else along the lines.

#dash of color

Touch of Color

Dash of Color

 

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Fitness photo shoot for Beach body coach.

I just finished a photo shoot for Anna Gray. She is a coach for Beach body, she is all about fitness and sports healthy living and family. In 2013 she made it to the top 1% out of the 150,000 coaches that beach body company has. Now that is one heck of an accomplishment. She lost 70 pounds with pure exercise and healthy eating and now she is a coach for beach body. Here is a link to her Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/fitbalanz so you can read more about her. If you need to loose some stubborn weight or need some great inspiration seems to me that Anna Gray is the right person to look for.

We shot quite a few pictures (many that I haven’t work on yet) and they came out great. Here a just a hand full.

I really like this shot of Anna Gray lifting. 

Anna-Gray

Anna also play Hockey. So why not show that as well.

Hokey player.

Anna Gray 01

Anna Gray 02

Anna Gray 03

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Self portrait. Half winter Half summer.

This is the year when I get to celebrate half of my birthdays on the northern side of the glove. The first half where celebrated on the southern side of the Ecuador, Argentina to be more precise.

Due to the occasion, I thought to make a SELF PORTRAIT showing half of me in a summery look and the other half of my face resembling winter, like a Jack Frost kind of look.

For this project I used a Canon 5D Mrk III with a Canon EF 85mm f 1.8. I used a single light source, which was a Paul Buff Einstein E640 with a large silver beauty dish with a sock “diffuser”. The light was placed high-up  right in from of me, pointing about 45 deg into my face.

The rest was done as you might imagine with Photoshop. A bunch of layers and some hours of moving pixels around.

Thanks for looking. and Happy Holidays to you all.

Half winter Half summer

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Christmas picture idea. Portraits with Christmas lights.

Another # Christmas picture idea. Nothing totally new but I love the look of it. Christmas portraits using Christmas lights

The only lights here are those on the floor. I used a Canon EF 85mm f1.8 on a Canon 5D MarkIII set at 1600 ISO, White balance to tungsten, speed 125, and aperture at f 2.2. Shoot some frames and then work your magic on post. The pictures will come out a bit warm “color wise” I desaturated the color a bit on post.

Thanks for watching.

ImageImage

Image

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Kids photography.

Kids grow fast. Very fast. That’s what they do. On the other hand I take a bunch of pictures of them and I do that very often. I like to think I do a decent job at keeping up with their growth pictures.

Here are some recent ones. Some are just for the sake of taking pictures, some others are ideas I see online or things that pop on my mind.

Now that Sofia is almost 9 and Sebastian is 5 I can go back in time and find pictures of just about every week of the year. I love that.

I enjoy Kids photography a lot, it’s fun. You sure will not regret all those pictures in 5 or 10 years.

Don’t forget that they will not stop growing and will not be kids forever.

Like-father like son

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Wedding pictures at Calamigos Ranch.

Thanks Lexy and Aaron for trusting me with your wedding pictures. You guys were great and the event was a blast. I wish you many years of happiness.

Click on image to enlarge.

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Sophia Baby girl pictures

Here are some pictures we did a few weeks back of baby Sophia. Her mom ask for either black and withe or sepia/toned images. I did a little bit of both to see what style she likes better. I think this baby would look great with any finish.

Click on images to see larger.

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Engagement Pictures

Two weeks ago I met with Lexy and Aaron to shoot their engagement pictures. They are an awesome young couple with a fantastic future. The place they picked for the shoot was terrific, and although time was limited we had a great time taking the pictures.

Thanks for the opportunity.

Alex Elias