Cowboy Up split toned

Cowboy Up split toned
Originally uploaded by Anthony L. Solis.

The post processing on this one was done only in Adobe Lightroom. I did a grayscale conversion and a split tone. I brought the exposure up a half stop and adjusted the luminance. I also added slightly darker shadows.

Cowboy Up

Cowboy Up
Originally uploaded by Anthony L. Solis.

In playing around with a 2-light setup, I wanted to use something in the shot that would make an interesting subject with a rin light ... something with an interesting shape. Hence the hat.

Srobe info:
Canon 580ex to camera right at 6' off the ground. 1/2 power. Snooted. CTO gel.
Prinz Universal Tri-Lite just behind right shoulder pointed toward hat. Full power.

Silver Self Portrait

Silver Self Portrait
Originally uploaded by Anthony L. Solis.

I was playing with the exposure and setting for my Canon 580ex and my new umbrella. Taking the F-stop down increasing the ISO allowed me to use my desk lamp as a side light.

Strobe: Canon 580ex at 1/128 into umbrella at camera right with CTO filter. 40W tungsten bulb in desk lamp at camera left behind subject and about a foot away.

Snowboard Helmet

Snowboard Helmet
Originally uploaded by Anthony L. Solis.

Now that I have an umbrella, I wanted to try some studio-type shots. I had one flash, one piece of white mattboard and nothing to bounce off of (I couldn't find a blank wall to use). My snowboard helmet seemed like a good thing for my tests.

The Canon 580ex strobe is placed just to camera left, about a foot above the subject and about 3 feet in front. The flash was at 1/4 power and pointed into the umbrella.

I used curves in Photoshop to clean up the white backdrop and darken parts of the helmet. Then I placed a gradient map over the plastic of the helmet to remove any color imperfections.

I tried to digitally add a light to the back of the helmet, but it never looked passable. Also, the goggles are a tad overexposed on the left, but it didn't bother me enough for me to fix it.

A new umbrella

I started thinking las week that this photography stuff is pretty fun, and I'd like to continue doing it. Good thing, too, because the camera cost a lot. I've also thought that in addition to selling prints of my pics, I may be able to supplement my income as a photog for hire, a la senior portraits and engagement photos. I want to get better at my portraits, so I'll continue to practice, but I did buy a studio umbrella for those oh-so-soft-light pictures. With winter here, my guinea pigs ... er ... models ... Cody and Elyse will be too busy skiing to sit still for photos, so I'll just have to find someone else to shoot.

I hope to have my first umbrella shots up next week, so keep an eye out.

Halloween

Me as Zorro
Originally uploaded by Anthony L. Solis.

I didn't take my camera out, but I had a few frames grabbed of my costume, which, as I hope you can tell, was Zorro.