Showing posts with label White Seamless. Show all posts
Showing posts with label White Seamless. Show all posts

Monday, July 5, 2010

Band Promo Shoot With Adalee | WESLEY CHAPEL SENIOR PICTURES

As I mentioned in a previous post on shooting band promos, my studio isn’t quite large enough to accommodate several people at once.  So when a local Christian rock band called Adalee (which consists of 5 members- all of whom go to my church) approached me about shooting their promo, I immediately began thinking along the lines of digital compositing.  If you’re not a regular reader of my blog and aren’t quite familiar with that term, it basically means taking individual shots of each member and then later combining them together in Photoshop.

This is my favorite method of producing band/group shots, because it allows me the freedom to select the best individual poses for each member.  When they're all blended together into a seamless composite, it appears as if the stars just aligned perfectly and everyone gave you the ideal expression and pose simultaneously, and in the same frame.  I gotta tell ya, it sure beats shooting for hours and hoping for this sort of thing to happen organically (believe me-- I've been there!).

Anyway, here are the 5 original unedited shots:

ZH3A8310 ZH3A8329 ZH3A8335 ZH3A8332 ZH3A8297

In order to make the composite look believable and not scream “PHOTOSHOPPED”, I had to completely replace the background, because as you can see from the above photos, there are some major differences in the lightness levels from one shot to the next.  So I basically created a nice, smooth gray background from scratch in Photoshop using the radial gradient tool. To put the finishing touches on the image, I darkened the bottom half to draw the viewer’s eye more toward their faces, where the focus really oughtta be.  Here’s the final result:

For further examples of my work, including high school senior pictures, baby & family portraits, and fashion & glamour, please visit my website at http://RussRobinsonPhotography.com

Questions?  Comments?  Please leave me a comment below, and click “Like” along the way!










Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Before & After, Episode 14 | WESLEY CHAPEL MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHER

In continuing with this recent maternity kick I'm on, I'd like to show you yet another example of an image that was heavily manipulated to achieve the final effect.  While I'm a huge advocate of getting things right in-camera, sometimes knowing a thing or two about Photoshop can come in really handy.

One of the first things I noticed about this image when I pulled it into Lightroom was that the hand and flower weren't in the ideal position vertically on her belly.  When I was originally taking the shot, I told my subject to just let her her arm hang fairly loosely, which put her hand (and the flower) in a much lower position.  I thought it would look better in the final shot, but it turns out that I was wrong.

To move the hand & flower higher up on my subject's belly and  into a more visually appealing location, here's the procedure that I used:
  1. Duplicate the background layer
  2. Drop the opacity of this new layer down to around 20%
  3. Use the Move tool in conjunction with Free Transform to reposition the hand/flower in the new location
  4. Mask out everything but the hand/flower
  5. Go back to the background layer and clone out the original hand/flower
Aside from that, I performed some light "digital plastic surgery" to alter the shape of her belly, and of course I reduced (but not removed) some of the skin blemishes that I found to be rather distracting.  The background is nothing more than a lavender-to-white radial gradient, with the subject, hand, and flower masked out.  Please let me know if further detail would be helpful.

To see the before & after, just move your mouse pointer over the image for a few seconds until it changes. Then you can switch them back and forth as much as you like.

Maternity Pregnancy Photography
For further examples of my work, including high school senior pictures, baby & family portraits, and fashion & glamour, please visit my website at http://RussRobinsonPhotography.com









Monday, June 21, 2010

Before & After, Episode 13 | NEW TAMPA SENIOR PICTURES

This shot comes from the same senior portrait session that I referenced in a previous post.  It's a typical example of the kind of fashion/glamour retouching that I normally do for my modeling clients, which includes:
  1. Skin smoothing (while still retaining texture)
  2. Removal of major blemishes
  3. Reduction of dark circles under eyes
  4. Eye & teeth whitening
  5. Removal of stray hairs
  6. Lip color enhancement
  7. Iris enhancement
  8. Tonal contrast boost (using luminosity, dodging & burning, and a few other techniques)
  9. Eyebrow cleanup/enhancement
  10. Minor facial reshaping
Obviously, this young lady was quite beautiful to begin with, and by most folks' standards she didn't really need to be "enhanced".  However, to be a successful commercial photographer these days it's an absolute MUST to achieve a mastery of the latest high-end beauty retouching techniques.  So I give all of my fashion, glamour, and senior portrait clients the 5-star treatment to really accentuate their best features and make them look like they just stepped off the cover of Cosmo.  It's relatively difficult to find photographers who have expertise in this area, so I continue to study, practice, and improve my craft constantly. 

To see the before & after, just move your mouse pointer over the image for a few seconds until it changes.  Then you can switch them back and forth as much as you like.

New Tampa Senior Pictures & Portraits

As always, I am more than happy to share my post techniques with anyone who is interested, and I'd be delighted if you'd click "Like" and share your thoughts in a comment below.  Thanks!








Tuesday, June 1, 2010

An Exercise In Digital Compositing | WESLEY CHAPEL BAND PROMO PHOTOGRAPHER

What do you do if you've been asked to put together a promo shot for a band consisting of 4 members, and your studio space isn't quite big enough to pull it off?  Freak out and tell them you just can't do it?  Of course not......Photoshop to the rescue!

Not only does this method save you the hassle of trying to squeeze 4 people into a space that was really designed for a single model, but it also affords you quite a bit of flexibility in terms of shot selection.  In other words, you can mix and match the best individual shots to your heart's content in order to come up with the best overall composite.  So you basically don't have to worry about capturing good facial expressions on all 4 faces in a single frame.

Here are the 4 original SOOC shots:



Using Photoshop CS5's new masking tools, extracting a subject from a solid-color background has never been easier.  You just draw a rough selection around the subject with the Lasso tool, add a mask, and then use the Refine Edge dialog to decontaminate the excess color (in this case, white).  Then just take the individual shots that you want to composite together and drop them onto a large white canvas in Photoshop.

One last thing I had to do in this case was use the Free Transform tool to adjust each band member's size relative to the others.  In order to figure out who was taller than who in real life, I had to go back to a previous shot that I had done of this same band.  Of course I could have saved myself quite a bit of time by simply using a tripod and shooting each person from the exact same position and angle, but I'll just have to take that as a "note to self" for next time.  Anyway, here's the final composite:


Ever use this technique yourself?  Plan to use it in the future?  Please tell me about it in a comment below, and click "like" along the way!  :-)










Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Pic-A-Week, Episode 1 | NEW TAMPA SENIOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

Hello, loyal readers! Obviously I've been WAY delinquent in keeping up with my blog over the past month, so here's what I'm gonna do.....basically, I want to implement a few new ideas that will help me to establish a more regular posting schedule so that you guys can better stay in the loop with what I'm working on. One of these ideas is a "Pic-A-Week" concept that I gleaned from Richard Arsenault's blog. Rich has got some fantastic nature shots, so if you're into that sort of thing, then I recommend you take a peek at his work.

Anyway, for Episode 1 I'm gonna kick things off with an image that I shot a couple of weekends ago. Believe it or not, this was actually my very first high school senior session. Although I've had the pleasure of working with a good number of fashion/glamour clients thus far in my photographic journey, none of them have been seniors (or even high school-aged, for that matter). I consider senior portraits to be a natural extension of fashion & glamour, so it only makes sense that I would expand into this market eventually.

This image was shot on a white seamless paper backdrop, and all the other colors and embellishments that you see were added in post. If you'd like a more detailed description of how I accomplished this, please just let me know below, and I'd be happy to share my techniques with you. Otherwise, please leave me a comment below with your thoughts, and help me spread the word by clicking "Like" as well.  Thanks ya'll!

For more examples of my fashion, glamour, and beauty work, please visit my portfolio website at http://RussRobinsonPhotography.com.  









Saturday, March 6, 2010

Giving Credit Where Credit's Due

I've gotten quite a few comments lately from fellow photographers who correctly identified some elements of my work as drawing heavily from a certain "white seamless" tutorial made available by Atlanta-based photographer Zack Arias. Well, the truth is, not only did I base my current studio setup on Zack's amazingly informative 5-part blog post on the subject, but long before I even decided to take the plunge and build a studio in the first place, I actually learned the core fundamentals of off-camera lighting from his OneLight Workshop video. So to say that Zack has been instrumental in my photographic journey would be the understatement of the century-- the guy has taught me more about lighting than all other photographers combined. His down-to-earth style and unique way of explaining things jump-started me from pretender to contender almost overnight.

It would quite simply be a disservice to Zack, as well as to my fellow photographers to move forward without a proper shout-out to him and a firm acknowledgment of all that he has done for me personally and the photographic community at large. So here it is....my official shout-out: Zack, you rock, dude, and I can't wait to see you speak at Photoshop World Orlando in a few weeks! :-)








Thursday, November 5, 2009

John Miseroy - 10/31/09 | NEW TAMPA FASHION GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHY

My long-time friend John stopped by for a quick shoot the other day. He's a musician in my church's worship band (among others), and wanted to see I could help him construct a particular image he's had in his head for some time now (the "floating guitar" shot below). Once we felt like we nailed that one, we decided to grab a few extra "modeling" shots to spiff up his Facebook profile a little. I really like how a few of these came out-- leave me a comment below if you do too.











Sunday, September 13, 2009

Before & After, Episode 7 | WESLEY CHAPEL FASHION GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHY

This fashion/glamour image has gotten more comments than any other in my portfolio since I uploaded it to my profiles on ModelMayhem, OneModelPlace, and FashionPage. Perhaps it's the whimsical expression of the model, or maybe it's the splash of color on the background that complements her dress, but whatever it is, people really seem to like it.

I put this image through my normal glamour retouching routine, enhancing the eyes, teeth, and skin, and making colors pop a little more. I also added a light green gradient to the background to make my subject really stand out and enhance the overall appeal of the image. If you look at the original, you'll see part of the chandelier that used to hang from my studio ceiling (it has since been removed), and you'll also see the edge of the white tileboard that the model is standing on. These things are really easy to clean up in Photoshop-- the only thing you really need to worry about when doing shoots like this is making sure that the model completely surrounded by white.

Drop me a comment if you'd like any further details about how this was done, or if you just wanna give me some feedback.








Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Shannon Landers - 7/3/09 | NEW TAMPA BEAUTY GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHER

Aspiring model and all-around sweetheart Shannon Landers stopped by a few weeks ago to update to her modeling portfolio. The pics she had done up that point weren't all that great in my opinion, so I wanted to give her something that really did her justice and accentuated her natural beauty. She was pretty thrilled with the final product, and I have to admit that she looks amazing in these.

As I often say, if you really want to increase your chances of making great photos, choose beautiful subjects! Enjoy....










Sunday, May 24, 2009

Devon Baxter - 5/22/09 | NEW TAMPA FASHION GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHER

Last Friday I finally got the opportunity to direct my first fashion/glamour shoot, and I had a blast! Devon was amazing, and she really knew how to work the camera well. We went through a variety of different clothing changes and looks, and I even got to try out some new lighting techniques, which I was pretty stoked about. Here are the best photos from the shoot:










Ayres Family - 05/05/09 | NEW TAMPA NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER

Our long-time friends Chris and Michelle Ayres brought their 5-week-old baby Lilly over for a quick late-night shoot a few weeks ago. Here are the best 5:










Monday, April 20, 2009

Baby Playdate - 4/17/09 | NEW TAMPA FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER

This past weekend, my wife, Heather, and I played host for the monthly "Baby Playdate", where about 7 or 8 mommies and their little ones gather together for some fun & social time. With all the little "models" running around, of course I just *had* to grab my camera and start snapping away. :-) Little did I know, I would end up shooting for about 2 and a half hours straight! But it was totally worth it...here are 5 of the best shots:














Friday, April 10, 2009

Adelyn - 4/6/09 | NEW TAMPA CHILD BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

This is my beautiful daughter, Adelyn Renèe, who absolutely HAS to be the most photographed baby in the entire world! Seriously, I learned everything I know about photography and lighting by using my poor baby girl as a captive subject, so she's certainly no stranger to the camera.

I'm still trying to perfect my "white seamless" technique, constantly adjusting my lighting ratios and post-processing methodologies, but I feel like I'm getting a lot closer lately. The next time you're in Target, take a look around and you'll see this exact same look on all the big posterboard ads & displays hanging from the ceiling-- lots of commercial photographers are doing this (and have been for a long while). Anyways, enough chatter-- check out my pride and joy:













Owen - 4/5/09 | WESLEY CHAPEL CHILD BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

My adorable little nephew, Owen, just celebrated his first birthday. When I was asked to take some pics to celebrate the occasion, I couldn't resist-- his cute smile and precious little dimples are irresistible. Oh, and the whole "trash the cake" idea was a total blast...check it out:













About Me

My photo
Tampa, FL, United States
I'm a commercial photographer in Tampa, FL specializing in band & musician promos, CD covers, press kits, posters, and the like. Please feel free to check out my website/blog using the link below, and give me a shout if I can be of service to you!

http://TampaBandPhotos.com

Search My Blog

Followers