The Daily #3 – Overhead

April 28, 2011 in My Life, Photography

I had two hours free in the middle of the day and I was coming up blank on the drawing boards. After going to work and getting home at close to 11pm I knew I had to shoot something. Knowing that I only had one backdrop paper at my house and that I used it a couple days ago for a shoot I decided to shoot against a red wall in one of the rooms in my house.

One of my reasons for doing a photo each day was to experiment with light and learn the effects of light placements and modification. Not wanting to set up anything too complex, I set up the camera on a tripod (1), hung a Sunpak 555 (4) with small diffuser from above using a magic arm and super clamp, a White Lightning X1600 (3) from behind with small reflector aimed towards the camera, and used a large umbrella (2) on the ground in front as a reflector to bounce some light back up.

Shot with iPhone 4

Shot with iPhone 4

I took about 12 photos total in this shoot. Making adjustments and getting the settings was pretty quick and then it was just a matter of figuring out where to stand. Because the main light source was coming from above, as I stood closer to the camera less light would be hitting the front of my face, which is why I used the umbrella for a little bounce. Its always good to get some gaffers tape and mark a spot, although at the time I couldn’t remember where my gaffers was. Here are a couple other shots.

04-27-11_Red_Glow_Roeder_11

Canon 1D Mark IV, 24-70mm @ 30mm, 100iso, f/7.1, 1/50th

04-27-11_Red_Glow_Roeder_12

Canon 1D Mark IV, 24-70mm @ 30mm, 100iso, f/7.1, 1/50th

Minor adjustments in Lightroom and those where the final images!

I’m always looking for assistants, models, ideas for shoots and requests. Just post a comment, email me, or send me a message on twitter.

Thanks for looking!