Cam Damage - Many Shots in Short Shoot

Often when I shoot my tattoo portraits, I am pressed for time. 4 to 5 hours is all we get. A recent shoot with Cam Damage was a good example of how to get many different photos in 5 hours. Cam was flying out from the east coast for the shoot and a few others. She brought an escort. I decided I wanted a combo shoot of environmental and studio.

3 PM - I picked her up and we did our first shot at a bike bridge. This shot was fairly simple. I had scouted it the day before at the same time of day. I had Cam’s escort hold a Lumipro LP160 speedlight with a wireless trigger, just off camera to the right. We did several shots here, but this was my favorite in pose and light. I had a better sky the day before, but you can’t have everything.

4 PM – We arrived at the warehouse where I would set up the studio shots. I always like to start off in the studio or at an indoor location with natural light. I positioned Cam next to the window and shot this with a 85mm lens at f2.0 and ISO 800.

4:45 PM - We set up a white background and shot a couple of nudes. We turned a classic 60s ball chair on its side for this nude. I used an Alien Bees B800 with a 5’ Octobox for the key light. I handheld an LP160 over the camera lens, a la Terry Richardson, for fill and to brighten the ball. I have not posted it here to respect google mature content rules. It can be viewed on my Tumbr blog.

5:40 PM - The shot with the ripped dress, was shot with the same Ocotobox. I added a bare B800 behind Cam on the right. I like the rim light on her arm and jaw and especially in the hair. The yellow background was added in post.

6:30 PM - Next, we pulled out the grey seamless. I love shooting a black dress against the grey background. Having her kneel fills the camera frame, while getting I all her legs and the shoes. This is shot with an Alien Bees Ring Flash on camera. There is the Octobox on the right. It is mostly overpowered but adds some highlight in the hair. The other B800 is behind on the left for hair highlights. There is also a LP160 thrown on the background, which I darkened on the edges in post.

7:10 PM Finally, we added the Saarinen Womb chair. We kept her in the black dress, but I wish I had done another clothing change. Still, I think this is a luscious shot. It is just lit with the Octobox in very close. The falloff is beautiful on her arms and back. We packed up and were out by 8. Cam is an amazing model with a lot of energy and ideas. I can’t wait to work with her again.

Persistence - Cupertino Bridge

Marabel Morgan said, "Persistence is the twin sister of excellence. One is a matter of quality; the other, a matter of time." The shot above took me a long time to get. I knew this bridge was a great subject the first time I saw it driving under it on the freeway.

The first time I shot it, six months earlier, I had just gotten my Canon 5D Mk II. I did not have my wide-angle lens yet and really knew nothing about the camera. The image (middle Left) was a good one, but not that exciting to me.

I went back again recently with my 17-40mm lens, tripod and shot the bridge at night using a 20 second exposure at f/16. I decided to emphasize the cables rather than the triangles. The cables in the back were very dark and there was significant lens flare around the back triangle support. (Image Pre-Photoshop Lower Left) Using some Photoshop skills I acquired in school on masking and levels I corrected the lens fair and the overexposure on the triangle. I then brightened the cables in the back. The image is still not perfect, but it is getting more perfect.

A teacher told me that Ansel Adams didn’t like one of his early images on the contact sheet. But as he learned his craft he went back to review the sheets and realized he now had the skills to print as he had envisioned. Harry Callahan was known to return to subjects again and again until he got the shot he wanted. Persistence, it seems, is another tool that we photographers should always keep in our camera bag.