Off to Fiji!

I'm off to Fiji tomorrow morning! I'll try to post updates and images everyday, so keep checking!

Proceed With Passion!

I readily admit that there are many times that I get wrapped up in the technical aspects of photography and lighting in particular: I love playing with the science involved with creating images. I was involved with a shoot yesterday that proved to be a subtle, yet powerful reminder that it’s the art that drives the passion behind photography. I’ve had a studio of some sort for almost 30 years and I’ve created images for a professional market for more than half that time. Walking into my studio is like walking into my living room--it’s my comfort zone. I was reminded yesterday that creating images--just for the pure beauty of creating art from what started out as an empty room is an awesome experience.

My buddy Max has helped me out on numerous occasions--both in the studio and on location shoots. Max owns and runs his own scuba diving company on Oahu called Manini Dive Company Hawaii. He is not a newcomer to photography by any means. However, most of his photography takes place underwater. He and I have had many many conversations about the differences between light underwater and light on land as well as creating the light you want with strobes an other light modifiers. Max finally took me up on my offer to share the studio for a day and for me to HIS assistant for a change.

Max has always been an artist and has been a photographer since high school. He had a shot in mind that he wanted to create that would use a fairly harsh lighting scheme to emulate the glamour lighting and formal portraiture of the 1940’s. He found his perfect model for his vision and Elizabeth was willing to sit for her first time in front of a professional camera. Melissa Hurley agreed to do the make-up for the shoot and a project was launched.

Max always puts his all into everything he does. His vision was to create a formal portrait of a young lady in a classic cocktail dress, so he showed up at my condo to load up the camera gear dressed to the nines in black slacks, a white button down shirt and black tie! Setting the mood an be a very important piece of the creative process!

Max and I both photographed Elizabeth in each of two sets. We took a quick look at the images before leaving the studio. Max half-jokingly stated that he thought that he had captured better images of Elizabeth than I had. It was meant as a light-hearted jab at his old friend, but I have to agree after a more careful review of the images. There is nothing wrong wit my images: I got some nice images of a very pretty young lady. Max’ images images show--well--they show his passion!

What’s the lesson to be learned here? The ability to create the images you want--whether it is underwater, outside on land, or in a studio is an awesome treat. Take every opportunity to do so that comes your way--and Proceed With Passion.

Max's images used with permission. All rights reserved.

New book!

My new book has a name! It's called "Portrait Lighting Made Simple." It's due out in November so I'd better get back to editing! Photo soon! I'll get back to blog posts as soon as this round of edits are finished.

Old questions revisited

I write a monthly column for a terrific website called www.prophotoresource.com. I am also lucky enough to have my own forum on that site called "Ask Steve." I get asked a wide variety of questions so it's always good fun to read what's on people's minds as they navigate their way through the fascinating world of photography. Many wonderful questions and discussions are now buried in the archives--they are still available on PPR, but you have to go digging. I thought it was time to bring them back to the surface and breathe some life into them. Hopefully they can spur on some new discussions and help some other photographers.

I wrote "Bring Back Your Background By Taking Your Studio Strobes Outside" several years ago for prophotoresource and covered the topic in some detail in my Outdoor Lghting book. The two images of Brooke that start this post show the before and after efffect of the technique discussed. The basic technique was to shoot at a faster shutter speed at a midrange f-stop to show the detail in the background and to use a powerful stobe to illuminate Brooke--jut the opposite of "dragging the shutter" to show detail in a dark background. This was the question and my response:

Stephen, when you changed the shutter speed to 1/250s didn't the camera indicate a 2 stop overexposure? This probably seems like a silly and very elementary question. But I ask because I think it is important to mention what the camera meter will display. Some photographers may not understand that many times the camera reading will not indicate a normal exposure but that the set exposure may in fact be the correct exposure to achieve the look you want.

Response: First off, there is no such thing as a "silly question." The only bad questions are the ones that you don't ask. Now, you pose an interesting set of questions. My camera is always set to manual exposure so I tell IT what to do rather than IT trying to dictate to me what it wants to do. I would have gotten that awful first shot if I relied on the camera's indicator. However, if I had checked the the camera's indicator, it probably would have said that I was UNDERexposing the image by two or more stops--which is essentially what I did--except that I used the strobe to bring the light on Brooke up to meet the the new exposure. Remember that your meter--in the camera or hand held--is both an amazing machine and a stupid tool: It understands one thing only: midtone gray. It's amazing because it will translate ANY metered scene into 18% gray. It's stupid because it doesn't know what to do with that information. That's where we come in. We get to take that critical information and tweak it to fit our needs. The image of Brooke actually had two correct exposures: one for her and one for the backdrop. The two were not compatible--until we introduced the strobe. (The originally questioner did mean to say underexpose but mistyped it)

My approach seveal years later is very similar. I've written several articles for PPR about metering for the background and using strobes to balance the foreground with the background. I also address this in detail once again in my upcoming "Back to Basics" book. Please feel free to visit me at either PPR or join my "Ask Steve Photography Related Questions" on Facebook!

Growth and Maturation in the Middle to Late Teen Years

Growth and Maturation in the Middle to Late Teen Years


The amount of growth and change that occurs in the first two years of life is remarkable. Capturing those changes for posterity is a viable and often lucrative market for portrait photographers. Many studios have established programs where babies are photographed every few months--creating a cherished baby album for the family--and eventually the child--to enjoy for years to come.

Senior portraits, on the other hand, are at the opposite end of childhood. Senior portraits are a snapshot in time that documents the transition from childhood to adulthood. There is, however, a critical period of time that falls between these extremes, albeit more towards the “senior” end of the timeline.

I have always like working with teenagers. I’ve worked with them as a school psychologist and as a photographer. The changes that occur in the mid to late teen years affect every aspect of the young person’s life. I have been fascinated by the changes in the way teenagers think and understand their worlds for as long as I’ve been in psychology (long time!) However, we have the opportunity as photographers to document the changes as they grow from children to young adults. I’ve had the pleasure of watching many youngsters grow up right in front of my camera.

One of the most dramatic examples comes from my work with Cassie Ann. I’ve worked with Cassie four times over about one and half years. She changed dramatically with each shoot from a pretty kid to a beautiful young lady--right in front of my lens.














(Cassie with Sam Chung)

















(Cassie with Serena)























































Cassie is also a very professional and friendly model. Drop me a note if you want to work with her and I will pass your information on to her. (Hair and Make-up for Fruits and Harajuku Girls was done by Toni Farley and Tiffany Pestana-Breaux)

I couldn't resist!

Sorry for the delay in posting--it's been a busy few weeks.

I was supposed to be there as lighting director and a support to my new student who was making her debut behind the camera. Luna was doing an anthropology project for a class at the University of Hawaii when she contacted me. She was to explore the culture of a field that was unknown--but of interest to her. She wanted to explore fashion photography. She assisted me on a few shoots and took a bunch of notes, but I felt that she needed to actually conduct a shoot for the project to be valid.

Luna took on the challenge and set out to find her first model. She found Esther. Esther was indeed very pretty, but she was as much of a novice at modeling as Luna was at professional photography. Hmmmm...new photographer working with a new model...could be a recipe for disaster!


It wasn't! Esther was a great sport as I made Luna make the tough decisions about the lighting (with a little guidance) and as she built the set. Luna did NOT make the classic first time photographer mistake--she did not freeze and take way too long between shots. She kept shooting and directing Esther (with some whispered directions from yours truly).

I may have helped more than the usual assistant, but it was definitely Luna's shoot--she determined the lighting components and took on the task of directing a new model. Esther was great too. She was goood fun and was easy to work with. I think that it was a great success for both ladies.

Oh yeah, I was looking through the viewfinder at one point and Esther was in what looked like a very natural pose. Instinct took over (I've been pushing the shutter when a pretty girl is in front of my camera for thirty years, so I just starting shooting!) and I grabbed about 8 shots. The photograph of Esther that leads this story was one of them!

Liquify Filter

Sorry, this one’s being posted in multiple places because it’s a great technique. There is an incredibly wonderful filter at the top of the filter drop down menu called “Liquify.” You need to play with this tool if you haven't discovered it yet. Eddie Tapp introduced it to me several years ago and I quite frankly forgot about it. I ‘re-discovered” it this year and it as become once of my favorite retouching tools. It works by moving pixels around in some unusual ways. The filter has several tools to choose from. The two that I use most often are the forward warp and pucker tools. There are others like “bloat” and “swirl,” but I don’t have much use for them yet. You can also mask off areas that you do not want the tools to effect.

When and how do I use these tools? EVERY model will have a shot where the pose is great and the expression is terrific, but the body position creates a “roll” of skin that looks very unflattering and makes her look heavier than she is. I use the forward warp tool to push that roll of skin back where it belongs...and ”voila!” she is back in the shape that actually represents her body! I use the hash mark in the center of the brush as my start point to push the pixels.

I have every model “arch their back and suck in the bely.” It creates a flattering pose. I shoot fast and sometimes I catch a shot where she relaxed--or the angle extends her belly a little too much. The Pucker tool does a great job of tightening a loose stomach.

I mostly use the forward warp tool to open a model’s eyes a little. Sometimes a model will have a lazy eye where one will appear more closed than the other. While this is a natural phenomena that occurs to a degree in almost every photograph, sometimes it can be too distracting. Other times you’ll have a great model who gives you a wonderful expression but in doing so closes her eyes too much. This was the case in the photos below. Joanne Guillermo is a lot of fun to work with. She is a beautiful model with many very natural expressions. The smile in these photos is real and genuine, but in doing so her eyes wound up squinting a little too much. I opened her eyes by VERY gently using the Forward Warp tool in the Liquify Filter. The cropped versions of this commercial shot show the before and after results of using this tool.



















You need to use these tools with caution because they are very powerful and you can easily get an unnatural looking distortion. You can “Undo” one step, but as far as I’ve seen there is no History trail to revert to--you have to start over if you go to far and are beyond a single step mistake. Play with the controls on the right side of the dialog box to find the settings that work for you.