Tag: Westcott

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Tired of the Same Old Backgrounds and Scenes?

   

I'll be the first to admit that I actually get tired of shooting in the same location time and time again. No matter what studio I'm in, including my new one which I LOVE, there are only so many backdrops to shoot against. This is one advantage to landscape photography as you can always go somewhere you haven't gone before. While I'd love to build sets (and I will), I just don't have the time to build new sets on a regular basis and they can be expensive to buy or have built. It's also funny when I can look at a photo and tell who shot it not, because of their photographic style, but because I recognize a piece of furniture that they always use 🙂

I remember seeing some cool scenes in the Westcott Live Shooting Bays at the last Photoshop World and I thought "Wow, Cool! But, I would get tired of that scene eventually." Little did I know at the time that Westcott actually will "rent" those scenic backgrounds. That changes everything. You can have a change of scenery, shoot it a few times and send it back without getting bored with it. I decided to check out a few of them and I used a couple of them in a shoot yesterday.

The backgrounds ship folded and as you can see you will have to either steam them or Photoshop out the wrinkles in post.

The tricky part is getting the perspective/distance/lighting right depending on the scene. Also depending on the color of the background you will either need to gel your lights or match the color in Photoshop afterwards.

Lastly the backdrops aren't as long as you may need for a full body shot. They come in either 5'x6' or 6'x8' However, you can get away with a seamless effect if the subject is sitting/kneeling or laying down.

 

If you're looking for a change of scenery but don't want to commit to one particular scene forever, check out the Westcott Scenic Background Rentals here.

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Big Beautiful Light for $99.90! – Westcott Parabolic Umbrellas

 

I'm a fan of big beautiful soft light for the beauty and fashion stuff that I shoot. As you might imagine I have a collection of large softboxes. While I love them and use them all the time, sometimes I need something that's large and more portable. Nothing is more portable than and travels as easily as an umbrella. Heck you can even carry an umbrella on a plane (as of today TSA has not banned them). Not long ago FJ Westcott introduced 3 NEW 7 FOOT Parabolic Umbrellas. You can get either a white one with a black cover, silver one with a black cover or white diffused shoot through one. It's a tough choice to make as I like all three for different situations. However, for starters I went with the white diffused one. Since it's a standard umbrella it should fit in any light setup/stand that you have that has an umbrella hole. In my case I used the Spiderlite TD6, which has an umbrella hole right on the included tilt bracket. Unlike the 1st two, you actually aim the light source into the umbrella and the light is diffused out from the other side. With the white and silver models you're bouncing your light source into the umbrella and back out the same way.

The bigger the light source and the closer to your subject, the softer it will be. 7 feet/6 feet curved is pretty big as you can see above in the production shot. The Spiderlites are already pretty soft and shooting though this umbrella makes them even more natural and soft. 

The umbrellas come with a carrying case to store them and make it even easier to travel with. You can use what ever lights you want with them. Like I said above, i used mine with a Spiderlite TD6 to produce the shot below. 

ISO 200, 85mm, f/1.4, 1/80 sec shot with my Nikon D700.

Model: Liz Hoang, Makeup/Hair: Joey Killmeyer

 

You can get the Parabolic Umbrellas here:

White with Black Cover – $99.90 Amazon or $99.90 B&H

Silver with Black Cover – $99.90 Amazon or $99.90 B&H

White Diffused (the one I used above) – $99.90 Amazon or $96.48 B&H

Spiderlite TD6

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Video Review: Westcott Shallow Softboxes with the Spiderlite TD6

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDv42NWezic

 

Sometimes it's easier just to show you a product that I use rather than write paragraphs about it. Today is one of those times. I started using the Westcott Shallow Softboxes earlier this year during a workshop that I taught in Texas. I've been enjoying not only the new shallow boxes, but also the size of the new "large" one. 

Advantages of a shallow softbox

You probably wouldn't use one with a strobe because more than likely you'd create a big hot spot having the strobe that much closer to your subject. However, with the Spiderlite TD6 (or TD5), you don't have to to worry about. By having a shallow softbox you can you can get it into to places that normally wouldn't accomodate a deeper one. I have a nice red wall in the hallway of my studio and it's really tight trying to shoot there with my other softboxes. However, with the new shallow ones from Westcott, it's much easier.

The new LARGE one is also ideal for those times when you're doing a portrait of more than one person or you're shooting a larger product such as a motorcycle. 

Here's what I used in the video above:

Spiderlite TD6

72"x54" shallow softbox

48"x36" shallow softbox

If you're looking for a kit, I'd go with this one.

The shots were taken with my Nikon D700 and 70-200mm VRII lens.

ISO 200, f/4 to f/4.5 at 1/50th sec.

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Hey! Are those my images in the NEW 2011 Westcott Lighting Solutions Catalog?

 

One of things I look forward to every year is the NEW Westcott Catalog! I've been taking my photography more and more seriously over the past couple of years and when a well known company chooses to use one of my images to represent their products, that's a big thing for me. I got a chance to pick up a copy (ok several copies) of the new Westcott Lighting Solutions Catalog here at Photoshop World. Needless to say that I was deeply honored to have not just one image in the new book, but six of my shots featured. Wow! The crappy iPhone shot of the catalog above doesn't do this book justice. Stepping aside from looking at my own images for a minute, this is by far the best version of their catalog yet. There are not only tons of great images from some of the top photographers in the world, but also the book has a new format, layout and it just looks awesome overall!

The NEW catalog is not yet up on their website in PDF, but as soon as it is you'll be able to grab a copy here. If you are here at Photoshop World this week be sure to stop by their booth and pick up a copy.

Don't forget to check out my shots from the Photoshop World Project Runway Keynote.

One more thing….

I was also very thrilled to see my images on their booth too! Woot!

I also have to thank my great models: Aferdita, Cecilia, Lauren, Tika and makeup artist Renata.

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Review: F.J. Westcott Spiderlite TD6

There is no easier lighting setup to use than the Westcott Spiderlite TD5's. While these lights are great, everyone that uses them says the same thing. "I wish they were brighter." In other words we all wish they output a little more light. Westcott has answered our wishes with the new Spiderlite TD6's. Instead of 5 daylight balanced fluorescent bulbs you not get to use 6. This means 1200W of output instead of 900W of output on the TD5s and that makes all the difference in the world. In fact for everything but their giant softbox, a 6 foot shallow rectangle softbox <-this softbox is amazing though, I can now shoot at 200 ISO as opposed to 400 ISO.

It's more than just an extra bulb

They also made some additional and welcomed improvements. The switches on the back and now more high quality and professional looking. They also added a much needed cord switch to turn the entire unit on/off without having to climb up on a ladder when you have the lights mounted high. Speaking of the cord it's longer too. Basically the TD6 is improves over the TD5 in just about every way possible.

 

The Bottom Line

Although I love my strobes, I'm still amazed by the results I get with the continuous lighting the Spiderlites. Life will only be better with the enhancements on the TD6's. They don't get hot and are great to use in workshops/classes where you will have multiple shooters. If you're doing product photography they rock for that too! Thanks Westcott!

You can get a single Spiderlite TD6 here for about $420. My recommendation is that if you have Spiderlites already, then perhaps one TD6 to replace your main TD5. Otherwise, I would recommend this kit if you're starting out. I use a setup like this one for most of the portrait work I do!

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Great Weekend of Teaching at the Precision Camera University

I had the great pleasure of teaching my Digital Photography Lighting and Workflow Session at the Precision Camera University this past weekend. I went into this weekend with quite a bit of trepidation. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough material to fill an 8 hour day (3 days in a row).

Part of my day was spent showing various lighting setups using the NEW Westcott Spiderlite TD6's and the rest of my day was spent showing my workflow from start to finish including everything from signing model releases with Easy Release on the iPad, importing images into Adobe Lightroom 3 and managing them, delivery of the web proofing gallery via the TTG Highslide Gallery Pro plug-in and retouching in Adobe Photoshop CS5. Needless to say by the time I did all of this and allowed time for the students to shoot using the various setups that I did each day flew by.

prepping for a group shot with all the attendees, I stole this opportunity to grab one using my iPhone 4.

It was an honor presenting along side Michele Celentano, Tony Corbell and David Guy Maynard at this event. Also I have to thank the staff at Precision Camera for all the hard work that went into coordinating this 3 day event with multiple simultaneous tracks, location scouting and model/makeup/wardrobe setup.

 

John Williamson was on hand from Westcott

It was a pleasant surprise to walk in and see my buddy John from Westcott. Westcott was one of the sponsors of the event and I was there on their behalf as well as Adobe's behalf. While it was great seeing John again, he was a huge help in my classes acting as photographer assistent and I imposed upon him to kick each day off explaining the six styles of lighting. I've never heard anyone explain it the way he does and I didn't want my class to miss that opportunity. John also made for a very handsome male model 🙂

 

Briana, Cheryl-Rose, Jennifer & Sarah

    

 

Without the great models this workshop would have been a lot harder to teach!

 

Thanks!

A Special Thanks goes out to all of my students over the 3 day period. You had a choice in instructors and you chose my class. So I thank you for spending a day with me and hearing what I had to say.

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Thanks for Attending My Westcott Top Pro Tour Event Last Night

If you attended my 2010 Westcott Top Pro Tour Event last night I want to take this opportunity to thank you! It was a blast doing this event and seeing everyone so engaged. I not only had fun but yes I learned a lot too. The evening started off with John from Westcott showing the 6 different lighting patterns and how light affects your subject. Although I've been doing this for years, I've never heard it or seen it explained that way and it clicked with the audience. I now have a whole new appreciation for my gold reflector. 🙂 Then it was my turn to show my complete end-to-end workflow when photographing a model. Once again I had the beautiful Shannon Bayless as my subject and not only did I shoot, but I gave the audience an opportunity to shoot with each of my setups.

We then got into image selection and management with Lightroom 3 as well as the final retouching techniques that I use in Photoshop CS5. This was the first time that I've been able to walk a class through the exact things that I do during a shoot all the way from Makeup by Renata to final client image delivery via Lightroom. I ended up going over my time by about 20 minutes and the telling sign for me was not a single person moved to leave 🙂 So I guessing you guys were getting something out of it.

Thanks again to Westcott for putting this tour together and I look forward to more opportunities like this to share my workflows with you.

 

Gear mentioned last night

Nikon D700

Nikon 70-200mm VRII f/2.8 lens

Westcott Spiderlite TD5

Westcott Modern Vintage Backgrounds

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

Wacom Intuos 4 Small <-It's the one that's always in my bag. Yes, i have a medium and medium bluetooth too. Yes I like all 3. If I had to pick one it would be the bluetooth one.

1TB Portable Backup Drive

The Turning Gate Client Response Gallery for Lightroom 3

Model/Property Release Apps for iPhone/iPad – Contract Maker Pro (more customizable) & Easy Release (native iPad and iPhone version)

The long USB cable that failed me during my tethered shoot 🙂 All kidding aside I've been using this cable for about two years now and it has worked flawlessly up until last night. I have already replaced the one from last night with a new one that I had ordered and forgot to pack. Cables that you're winding and unwinding day in and day out don't last forever. My lesson learned is that I will now always have TWO of these in my camera bag as you never know when one is going to die.

 

Be sure to check the Westcott Top Pro Tour Schedule for the one coming to your area.

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My Westcott Top Pro Tour Event is Thursday!

Westcott's 2010 Top Pro Tour is underway!  My tour stop will be this Thursday in Southfield Michigan on October 7th and I'm looking forward to seeing you this week. 

I'm looking forward to showing you my end to end studio photography workflow. See how I use the Spiderlite TD5, tips on working with models and lastly my Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 workflows including retouching, web gallery creation and delivery of the final images.

Save $20 when you register with code TPT9195. Register here


Continue reading “My Westcott Top Pro Tour Event is Thursday!”

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Photoshop World – Vegas 2010 Wrap Up

For me this was probably not only my busiest Photoshop World, but probably my best. There was a good vibe going on all week long! I not only got a chance to see some old friends, but I also got a chance to teach some new classes and do some presentations that I hadn't tried before. 

 

Honored to be a part of the Adobe Keynote Address

shot by Cari Gushiken

The last time I was on stage for the Photoshop World Keynote was actually the very 1st Photoshop World Keynote 1999 in Orlando FL. Back then I was the keynote speaker and oddly enough back then the big news was Adobe InDesign 1.0. Wow! A lot has changed in 10 years! This year I took the stage along side Johnny L to show a quick 5 minute demo on taking your photos and DLSR video from Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.2 into Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. It was great to hear so many photographers that were thinking about getting into DSLR video come up to me afterwards and say "I think I can do that". 

If you missed the keynote, you can watch the replay here.

 

Celebrating Photoshop's 20th Anniversary In the Adobe Booth

 

Adobe took a totally different approach to the tradeshow floor this time. Normally our booth is the typical theater with demo stations and continuos demos of our latest wears. This time we paid tribute to the 20th Anniversary of Photoshop by setting up Macs running every version of Photoshop all the way back to version 1.0. These Macs were running the version of the Mac OS and Photoshop of their era. Users could walk up and play with the earlier versions of Photoshop to remember just how far Photoshop has come in 20 years. I started with Photoshop 2.0 and yes I can remember a time before Layers, editable type, multiple undos and installing Photoshop from floppies. 

We also had "Spotlight" sessions throughout the day where Adobe Evangelists and partners showed Photoshop tips and techniques.

 

More Classes and Partner Presentations

photo by Brad Moore

photo by Brad Moore

that thing we call Midnight Madness 🙂 photo by Brad Moore

I had 4 classes on the conference track instead of my usual 2. Not only did I get to do my 2 InDesign classes, but I also got to do one on Lightroom as well as a Social Media Class dealing with Facebook. Thanks goes out to all that attended my classes and the many kudos you gave me.

I also did a couple of lighting demos for Bogen and Westcott. Sarah K on the left lit with the Elinchrom BX-RI 500 against a Lastolite Hi-Lite background and Tala lit with the Westcott Spiderlite TD5s. Both shots taken with my Nikon D700 and 28-70mm f/2.8 lens.

 

Wacom also asked me to give a demo in their booth of the Intuos 4. 

 

The Westcott Booth Was Over the Top!

Westcott added something very cool at this show. They had their usual corporate booth with various lighting setups and equipment on hand. However, they also added a second area near the rear of the show floor with Live Shooting Bays. They had 4 bays setup so photographers could walk up and shoot the various themes and models they had for each day. I was completely blown away by how well this worked and it was the buzz of the show floor. It was one thing to have this very creative setup, but I was stunned when it changed each day. A lot went into this for sure. The real beauty of this setup was that it allowed Westcott to REALLY SHOW OFF their Spiderlite TD5 Lights. These continuous lights don't need triggers and therefore not only is it what you see is what you get, but its perfect for allow multiple photographers to shoot at the same time. Bravo to the Westcott team for pulling this off and allowing everyone the opportunity to get some creative shots!

See more of my shots here:

If you also did some shooting in this Gallery the guys at Westcott are offering you a shot to be featured in their next catalog. Check out the details here.

I told the Westcott guys, "you know that you can't ever come to Photoshop World again without doing this right?" they smiled 🙂

 

Lessons learned (again)

Don't rely on one camera battery. I figured one fully charged battery would last me the week. Normally it would have, but the Westcott Shootout took it's toll on my battery and at the end of the week I was only able to get off two shots during my Lightroom Class (tethered shoot) before it died. I have several batteries, they're small and don't weigh much. I could have easily fit two more in my bag without even noticing the added weight. Next and once again I was reminded how important it is to have comfortable shoes. I normally wear or bring sneakers, but this time I was tight on space and left them. Lastly, I brought my Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 lens and while it's a great lens, I was really wishing I had brought my 70-200mm f/2.8 instead. It's not that much bigger and it would have been so much better for the shoots I did. 

 

I look forward to seeing you all in Orlando for Photoshop World East 2011!