Studio Failure

Ok, so this wasn't a complete failure but more of a rushed and half-baked attempt to get things done for a project. I have 1 hours to set up the studio, photograph my friend, then drive off to Santa Cruz for an interview.

I really really wish I had access to the studio again so I could redo this. Chelsea and I had a great idea that required me dressing in drag that hopefully we will be able to do sometime in the future. Anyways, here is a behind the scenes look of what we did that day.

On the left, you can see part of the studio and lighting set up. On the right, I just cropped out everything that wasn't Chelsea and the background. I didn't think through the lighting so things came out a little grey and dark. In hindsight, I should have done digital because I'm more familiar with using a digital camera in a studio. Live and learn!

I thought this was a sweet one of Chelsea. This "failure" made me realize that I really need to practice studio lighting so that I can branch out into commercial work. Chelsea is also a great model! We did a special Halloween themed photo shoot in my garage last October. Click here to check it out!

p.s. Don't forget to enter my giveaway here! Today is the last day to enter!

Halloween Portraits

These are some of the edited photos from the Halloween themed shoot I did with the deadly doodler. The lighting and studio were pretty ridiculous, as you can see from this entry here. We worked with what we could, and these are the photos that came out the best:

"Halloween Portrait"

"Goth Doll"


"Crawler"


"Goth Doll with Candle"


"Halloween Portrait 2"

I still have a lot to learn in dealing with post-processing. This was great practice and I'm excited to do more.

News:

• I have an interview today for a full time job. I am thoroughly ecstatic.
• I really appreciate all the comments over the weekend about my Etsy shop. I will be changing a lot of things through November and will hopefully have plenty of new things for Let It Be Raw in December and the new year.
• I have officially started a new project in black and white, and I am looking forward to sharing parts of it soon.
  

Kitty Bank (Studio Light Table)

Kitty Bank, a photo by Let It Be Raw on Flickr.

This cat is so cool. Look at that bow tie! Also, besides all the game tokens that were inside it, I found about 3 dollars in quarters that I had forgotten about. This kitty has been with me for as long as I can remember.

This is the one of the more simple studio shots that I did. That cat is classy, detailed, and needs a good polish. It stands on it's own with a simple white background.

Meow.

Whiskey Decanter (Studio Light Table)

Whiskey Decanter, a photo by Let It Be Raw on Flickr.

Ah yes, the glorious whiskey decanter. I love whiskey and my man knows that I love whiskey, so having a fancy-ass bottle to put all that whiskey love in is more than awesome. I don't think I've ever been smitten by glass such as this before (say, except for Penelope).

So that was strange.

I added a rose and orange gel to the back light behind the table to try and recreate the color of the decanter while using both a main and fill light. I think it came out quite lovely and perhaps a little romantic.

I could so do a whiskey commercial with this decanter like Bill Murray does in Lost in Translation. Whiskey it not just thirsted by old men with beards who smoke cigars, but by young and eccentric women in their 20s.

Avon Fish (Studio Light Table)

Avon Fish, a photo by Let It Be Raw on Flickr.

So this is an Avon fish that still has the goo in it and everything (smells weird). I found it in an antique store in Gilroy among a lot of other cool things like a silk scarf and (Nick's glorious find) Bruce Campbell's movie The Man With The Screaming Brain.

This is the second studio project for my photo class. For this assignment I had to chose some items to do product or subject shots using a light table, studio lights and sheets of color gels. For the Avon fish I used a turquoise color gel sheet to make it more ocean-like. Fake fish or not, blue made the most sense to me for a background color.

I know I'm a strict film user, but using digital for studio lighting saves a lot of time so that I can concentrate on printing the final project.

Studio Portrait Project

This blog has become full of projects lately. Anywho, this is the lovely Meghan! She was kind and patient enough to go with me to the college studio and pose while I stressed and experimented over different lighting situations. I also used a Nikon digital SLR for the first time and had a lot of fun playing with it. I'm so used to having a completely manual camera that I was thrown off by new technology for a few minutes. Luckily, I had played with DSLRs back when I worked at a camera store and soon figured it out. These are the four best from that session (studio work is not my forte).

Photo Project Part II

Mums Hands, a photo by Let It Be Raw on Flickr.

This is a photo idea I'm still working on for my project. It may or may not make it into the final 10.

I was trying to make beauty seem out of context in this photo by distracting the simplicity of hands with rings, painted nails and a silky patterned back ground. It almost works for me, but I'm still tweaking the composition. I want to make all the objects considered beautiful as more of a background so that my eyes are drawn more to the simplicity of skin.

I'll be posting individual photos for a while unless two work well together so that I can brainstorm my ideas about them. I have to be able to write a cohesive paper and talk about an idea when I present my work to my peers, so this is good practice.