Bridgepoint Music

Bridgepoint Music asked me to photograph for  their website. The job entailed several different photos of many different genres of photos. My favorite we probably the photographs of the instruments.  We decided to do them on a white background. I used a small white seamless background and my Octabox for lighting.

James Manganaro, Owner at Bridgepoint Music

I had met James when I photographed him for a profile in InMenlo.com. James and his father Charles asked me to return for the website photography.

Inside the showroom at Bridgepoint Music

They also wanted shots of their impressive showroom full of musical instruments. I have down indoor shots before and often you take a lot of time cleaning up the space. But their place was neat-as-a-pin. The spot lights were nice to as the created some bright spots to make the shot more interesting.

I returned a few weeks later to photograph their newly installed practice room. These high tech rooms are sound insulated but small. I tried to show the open feeling of the rooms with their windows. I also tried to show the clean and modern appearance of the room.

The ancient instrument called The Serpent

Cache Creek Lavender

Linda and Charlie from Cache Creek Lavender. 85MM lens, f6.7, 1/180 sec. ISO 400. Alien Bees B800 camera right fired with shoot wireless trigger. 

Note: I wrote this blog for InMenlo.com. It is reprinted here because I love the photos I got from my two sessions there.  The first was at the annual lavender festival in June where I got the photo of the little girl and the macro of the bees and the second was a portrait session done around dusk, where I got the portrait. 

When Charlie Opper acquired a few acres in the beautiful Capay Valley northwest of Sacramento, he needed to figure out what to do with the place.  To the gratitude of hundreds of Menlo Park Farmers market attendees every Sunday, he chose to create a lavender farm. The Cache Creek Lavender Farm booth is where Charlie and his partner Linda Barrett share the products of their labor.

Charlie and Linda chose lavender as an ideal product to raise in the Mediterranean climate of their farm near Rumsey, CA. Asked what attracted them to lavender, Charlie rattles off a long list that includes, aroma therapy, sleep aid, antibiotic, anti-virol, burn remedy and scar reduction. But the thing most people love is the fragrance, which seems to relax and bring on a pleasant mood in most people.

100mm macro lens, f4.0, 1/350 sec, ISO 100

After getting the farm up and running, they were looking for an outlet for their products. Farmers markets seemed like a logical choice. Charlie says there is lots to like about the Menlo Park Farmers Market. “The market is really quaint. We have a very regular clientele and we are surrounded with very high quality vendors.” Charlie also likes the demographic mix which he says features students, seniors and dot-commers.

Charlie grew up in Southern California. He also took his love of surfing to Hawaii for 20 years. He met Linda in nearby Woodland, soon after moving to the farm in Rumsey. Linda grew up in Boston and came west to go to school at Davis, where she studied plant and soil sciences.

Now that the farm is up and running, they have a lovely shop on the premises and host an annual lavender festival the second week of June each year. The festival is well attended by hundreds of people from all over the state. It features lavender ice cream, wine, crafts, music and this year a wood-fired pizza oven. 

24-70mm Zoom at 62mm, f6.7, 1/500 sec, ISO100

One Light

Christopher Webster of Hogan's Goat Tavern for indogpatch.com

I seem to be going through a phase where I like shooting with one light. And even then, only when the ambient doesn't give me what I want. I think part of the beauty of it is the simplicity. I do a reading on the ambient, I then set my ISO as low as possible so I can see the surroundings in their own light and still freeze the action, or at least most of it. In the above photo of Christopher Webster for indogpatch.com,  I used a 1/4 sec exposure at f5.6 and 400 ISO. I used an Alien Bees B800 with a gridded soft box placed to camera left. This mirrored the light coming from the door. There is a slight blur when Chris moved to greet a customer (Look at his left hand), but the expression is priceless and the ambient in the bar is just what I wanted.

Hooper Nicole Wong at sunset at Warm Water Cove

Nicole Wong is a Hula Hooper. We wanted a shot of her at sunset and with the hoops in motion. Balancing the light at dusk is always a fun assignment. Here, we used my Alien Bees B800 with a gridded soft box, to the right of the camera. I wanted to freeze the hoops as much as possible, so I used 1/180 for the shutter speed, the fastest that allows me to sync with the flash. There is a little blur on the hoops, which I like. f5.6 gave me the right amount of depth of field. I used ISO 200 to help get there.

Bud Spangler at his Oakland studio. 

This shot for (InMenlo) of jazz producer, Bud Spangler, did not need any ambient. It was a tight space I could light with the single light. In this case I put the Alien Bees B800 with Octabox, right behind me. It gives me a ring-flash type effect, but with softer light. This was shot F8.0 to keep the acoustic material on the walls sharp. 1/90 was the speed and ISO at 100 for detail.

Challenges of a Tight Space

Mary shows off her collection in a very crowded closet.

For my recent shoot with vintage clothes collector, Mary Kuhn, I literally photographed in a closet.  To get the light I wanted was a real challenge. The angle of the door did not allow me to set the light outside. So to make space, I sat on the floor and put a light on a stand above me. Then I held the camera just inches  above her shoes on the floor to get a super low angle.  With my free hand I used a handheld speedlight to light her jewelry. The total space here for Mary, me and the equipment was probably 3 feet x 6 feet. It was a good challenge.

Our second shot was in a tight hallway, I loved the vintage phone hanging on the wall. In this case I put a light outside a glass door that entered the hallway from the side, giving me a nice soft effect. I filled with a speedlight and softbox from the right. Always a sucker for a tattoo, I focused in on that for this shot.

Our final shot was more what I am used to. I used a large Octabox for this shot on the bed. We lined the bed with more of her beautiful dresses and she posed in a vintage play suit. This pose is a bow to the pin ups of the 50s.

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.

The Little Black Dress as Technical Exercise

Emily in an American Apparel Dress

I recently shot a whole series of shots with the models appearing in their favorite Little Black Dress, or LBD, as it will be abbreviated here. I also decided to shoot on a black or dark grey background, to simplify the shot and increase the emphasis on the subject. This post, like most on this blog, will discuss the technical challenges of the shoot. For more on the philosophy and concept, read the blog on my website at scottrklinephoto.com/blog.

I always like to light my subjects in studio (and usually outside) with an Octobox for the key light. I place it as close to the subject as possible, usually off to one side, but occasionally right behind me. This provides a soft flattering light on the subject. A circular catch-light is another nice aspect. (See photo below of Karli Henneman for catch light)
Karli Henneman in LBD with Vintage Jewelry
The challenge here, with the dark background is getting a good separation of the black dress from the background. The first thing I tried was creating a slash shaped gradient of light by throwing a strobe on the background then cutting the light in a diagonal shape using flags. (You can see this effect in the first photo of Emily above.) I found this frustrating and inconsistent, every time I got the light balanced on the subject, I has to rebalance the background. Also, unless the studio is huge and the subject is a long distance from the background, light from the Octobox spills onto the background, spoiling the dark effect. This can be mitigated to some degree by flagging the Octobox.

Later, I decided to place a snooted or gridded strobe above the model that points to the background, at waist level. I like the circular gradient I get. It generally flatters by outling the curves of the model. It also tends to be behind the black dress. The darker part of the background tends to be behind the head, arms and legs, giving a nice contrast to all aspects.
Miss Nicole Malice in her own dress
I like to throw a rim light on the opposite side from the Key Light. This is usually done with a grid or bare strobe placed behind the model and just off camera. I center it on the shoulder so that it falls on the hair and the arm as well. Occasionally, I will rim both sides for variety.

Finally, I often use a handheld speedlight, right above the lens for some fill to give the dress a little more detail. Sometime this adds a second smaller catch-light as you can see in the Karli photo.

As for camera settings, I usually shoot around 5.6. This allows me to get most of the subject in focus, and have the background somewhat out-of-focus, minimizing and flaws in the seamless.

I think this set up is very dramatic and flattering. It also has the simplicity that mirrors the dress.
Krysta Kaos in her own LBD and shoes

You can see the entire collection of black dress shots on my flickr page.

Fun With Gels

For portraits, the photographer is often presented with a drab or at least colorless backdrop. One way to liven up the shot is by using a gel on a speed light or strobe. It is particularly easy using a speed light. All you need is a little strip of gel taped to the speed light to make it happen.

In the first shot of Model Michelle Cisneros, I posed her in front of a grey roll-up door at a warehouse. I balanced the main lights using an Alien Bees A800 strobe with an Octobox on Michelle’s right. To fill in the shadows and add a catch light I used an Alien Bees Ring Flash on the camera. Finally, I placed a Lumipro LP160 speed light on the ground pointing up at the door. I used a deep blue gel taped over the light. You can see the dramatic effect of the blue as the door appears to glow.
In the second shot of model Kill Joy, I used a very similar approach. The dramatic red light was shined on a concrete wall. I aimed the light a little higher and placed it close to the wall so that the main part of the light was behind her dark skirt. In this photo I used an Alien Bees A800 with a 20% grid for the key light on her face. I wanted big fall-off so that the lower part of her body would be almost a silhouette against the bright red. Finally I used a LP160 handheld just above the lens of the camera to give just enough definition in the shadow.
The final photo gets a little more complicated. When Boo Yao showed up at the shoot, she sported magenta hair and a green dress, those complementary colors begged to be exploited. The shot was in an abandoned munitions depot. I lit Boo with the same Alien Bees A800 with a 20% grid for the key light on her face. I used a 580EXII speed light handheld for fill. The LP160 with magenta gel was placed on a stand to the camera’s right and pointed forward to provide a rim light and light the floor behind the green dress. The second LP160 was given a green gel and point to the back wall so that the green light was behind the magenta hair. The resulting double-decker complementary color combo pops.