I'd really rather be doing this with a model.

But it's good training nonetheless.

It seems the standard clamp light housing works better than my DIY rig. At least better than the Mark I, Mod I DIY rig. Hmmmmm.

Footnote: those are the stunt glasses.

Ciao Bella,

Dano

First Friday Artwalk, June edition

What a bunch of stunning, good looking people at Bergerets for the First Friday Artwalk last night!

And special thanks to Bambi for taking the camera and getting this last one of yours truly!

Caio Bella,

Dano

Creative Blockage

I've been looking at a lot of my creative blocks lately. All too often I run hot and cold with my art. The cold spells are usually infused with doubt and self indulgent "I'm not good enough" bullshit.

Throwing up a picture from January mostly because it's an easy one to let go of and I need to practice that.

Once I'm done with an image and put it out there it's none of my business any more. I gotta remember that.

No actually, I won' t agree to these terms....

I was introduced to an inspiring, edgy website:

http://www.deviantart.com/

The only problem is this: If you take the time to read their EULA you will find that in posting any artwork on their page the artist retains copyright but allows the website owners to use their artwork for any purposes in any form of reproduction for an indefinite period of time. And there's nothing about compensation.

No thanks. If you want to fuck me you'll have to buy me dinner.

A productive summer.

Just finished....

At Work from Annie Leibovitz.

Wow. 10 frequently asked question, the gear she's used, her process... all engaging and super relate-able. And quote-able too. If I wasn't passing it on to another photog, I'd likely be saturating my life with quotes from that book.

It's got my leaving the house with 1 camera and one lens. Simplify Dano, Simplify.

Ciao Bella,

Dano

Eclipse 2012 or "what was I THINKING?!?!"

I've received tremendous response to my Eclipse 2012 album from my Facebook friends.

Thank you all.

Now, if you'll indulge me, I'll share a bit about my creative process with these two images. If not you may click away at any time.

For those who remain, here goes:

I knew I wanted to shoot the Eclipse so I did a bit of planning. Years ago my friend Alan Spiegler shot a comet (I think it was Hale-Bopp) out at Wupatki National Monument. I don't have a copy but, take my word for it, it's an awesome image. Comet, sky and ruins. Perfect. That basic compositional idea is what I had in mind.

I did some map recon at Wupatki and saw that the access road runs just about North/South at the Citadel ruins. That would allow me to put some ruins in the foreground. Also, I shot an azimuth for sunset the day before and it would line up nicely.

I did a little internet research about photographing an eclipse and found that for this type of eclipse I wouldn't need a filter at its peak. That was not quite accurate, at least as far as my gear is concerned. Between ISO, aperture and shutter speed I could not block off enough light to get an acceptable image. Thankfully, I keep an IR pass filter in my camera bag. That brought my exposure into a tolerable range right away. I knew I could get my color back or go B/W in post so the filtered color didn't bother me. I could have set up a custom white balance but I didn't. So there.

The angle, difference in exposure between the sky and the landscape and countless pedestrians all worked against me.

Frack.

I even attempted to put up my speed lights in the ruins via radio trigger but the distance was too great.

Frack.

I was committed to a composite so I focused on shooting the Eclipse.

I short, I bracketed by 2 stops and shot. A lot. A lot-a-lot. Since I knew I was going to seriously crop my actual Eclipse image I played with positioning the Sun in my viewfinder to separate it from the bad sunspots I was getting. I set used auto-foucus once and put the camera on manual. If the sun changed position enough to effect the sharpness of the image, image sharpness would be the least of my problems.

I shot a series of blown out silhouettes of the ruins and stopped once the alien looking woman walked through the frame. I knew I had what I wanted.

I cropped, layered, filtered and converted to black and white all in Photoshop.

So, pre-visualization, planning, happy accidents and Photoshop. That's all it took. Here are the unedited images and a couple of out takes.

(above) Eclipse 1 unedited.

 (above) Eclipse 1 out take

(above) Eclipse 2 Layer 1

(above) Eclipse 2 Layer 2 Out take

 \(above) Eclipse 2 Layer 2

(above) Eclipse 1 final

(above) Eclipse 2 final

Thanks for indulging me!

Ciao Bella,


Dano