New Photos - Winter 2017

Here is a collection of photos I took all through the winter of 2017. I haven't had much time in the studio for the past few months due to various circumstances, however im hoping to get back in the swing of things sometime soon. 

The first is a recent project. Here is a simple product shot of some Pomegranate juice. I have always wanted to do a project with a pomegranate, and I may revisit this shot in the future to maybe add some splashes or something cooler. This could be the start of an interesting set of product shots, so expect more in the future. 

The second set of images is a little project I made for someone very special. Over the past few months this person has been struggling with severe depression and was even hospitalized for an entire month due to various different conditions. During her stay she informed me about Project Semicolon, this set of images was my way of providing support. 

The final composition is made out of about a dozen different shots of different colored liquid frozen in mid air. We achieved this result by applying food coloring to heavy cream and tossing it in the air, freezing the image with my flash. This project was incredibly fun to shoot, and we had a lot of fun producing the raw images. I will include the final image as well as two of the best raw images in the slideshow below. 

A Camera That Shoots Infrared - A Brief Guide to IR Photography - Sample Images - 3/2/17

After two years of experimentation with mixed results I've finally decided to bite the bullet and purchase an infrared converted camera. 

I have had an obsession with infrared photography for the better part of two years now. Ever since I took my first few shots, I knew I could have a lot of fun with this new method of shooting. As I kept on practicing, my results kept getting better and better eventually resulting in images such as Dreamland. A few other examples of some IR shots can be found at the following two posts. 

IR images from 7/3/15.

IR images from 7/28/15.

However, up until recently I have been severely limited in what I can achieve due to the technical aspect of shooting infrared images. 

Technically these photos are not pure infrared. They are a mixture of visible light and a small amount of infrared light that exist outside the perception of the human eye. So in essence they are near infrared images. A few different methods exist to capture these types of images. Up until now I have been using a $70 Hoya Infrared Filter. 

These filters are designed to be attached to standard DSLR cameras. The disadvantage with this method is that standard cameras have a filter in front of their sensors that prevent any IR light from hitting the sensor. Filters like the Hoya IR filters block out visible light and allow the IR light to reach the sensor. However getting a useable image requires a ridiculously long exposure. 

This little handicap comes with its own set of problems. All of which I will explain at a later date. It is these handicaps however, that convinced me to buy a camera dedicated specifically to shooting in IR. 

The other more expensive alternative to the Hoya filters is to have a camera converted to only shoot in IR. The downside to this is that you can only use that camera to shoot IR photos. However if you are serious about shooting infrared, you can never go wrong with a camera conversion. 

There are a handful of ways to obtain an IR converted camera. One is to have an old camera converted by services such as LifePixel. Although LifePixel is a great service, I personally didn’t feel like going through all the unnecessary work that it requires. 

Instead I decided to purchase a camera that was already converted off of eBay. I was able to find someone who sells cameras brand new with the IR conversion already applied. So rather than having to worry about all the technical details myself, I just purchased one that was already done. 

The specific model I got was a Canon T5 or 1200D for those outside of North America. 

I was genially surprised by the quality of the camera. It arrived in pristine condition, almost like new. Im actually pretty sure it was new and only used for testing. The battery and charger were even sealed in their packaging completely untouched. In addition to the camera a CD was included with a set of tutorial video’s and guides just incase you need help learning how to shoot infrared. 

After attaching a lens, I set the camera to RAW and than I was ready to soot. 

At some point in the future I intend to create an all purpose guide to shooting in infrared. So if you are looking for a tutorial, that will probably be released this summer. However today I just want to share some test shots from my first day with the camera. I am still learning the basics of how to shoot with this particular camera. As you can imagine it is very difficult to shoot photos using light that you cannot see normally. It will also take some time to perfect my post production process, but I will improve with time. 

The following image is a pure unedited JPEG that was white balanced in camera. I’ve included this so you can get an idea of what I was seeing through my live view screen. 

These two images are the ones I was the most proud of. I think I really nailed the post production on these ones. 

The following images are to test how the IR light affects human skin. I basically just pointed the camera at myself, so I didn't expect them to turn out great. All I can say is that you can definitely get some outstanding results when photographing people. Although I need a little more practice. Just for fun I’ve included a few processed images of myself, as well as one unprocessed. 

These final images are the other leftovers that are not to bad and not to good. I mainly included them to showcase the rest of my tests.  

Overall I am very happy with my new camera and I cannot wait until the leaves come out in the spring. Once spring comes along I will take some fantastic IR landscapes. 

I can’t wait to share more IR photos with everyone. At some point I plan on making a guide to IR photography, and it will most likely be a video. Definitely let me know what you would like to see in that. 

As always I thank everyone for taking the time to read the blog. Let me know what you think of the images, and have a good day. 

 

New Photo Series - "Aqueous Motion - Volume 1"

After seeing quite a few examples online I decided to experiment with underwater ink photography. It took a while for me to find the correct ink to use in order to get the effect present in the images, but after a few hours of research I finally found the right kind of ink for the job. 

The following five images were created by dropping acrylic ink into a flower vase. I than captured the flowing cloud of ink by using a flash and a very fast shutter speed. After I went through about 100 test images and a few gallons of water, I managed to pick out these five as the best images. 

Im still experimenting with this technique, so expect more in the near future. 

Below are the five final images. Enjoy, and let me know what you think. 

[Photo] - "Strawberry Sundae" - 3/17/16

The following image is another shot for my upcoming senior portfolio. I decided to stray away from my current trend of photographing beverages, and focus on food photography. For this weeks project I figured I would try photographing deserts. The initial process of taking the image was a bit harder than I expected, mainly due to the fact that studio lights cause ice cream to melt a lot faster than normal. However despite the problems I had while shooting I am still happy with the result. 

Below is the final image, as well as some alternate versions. I am still having a hard time deciding which version I like the best so I decided to include the alternate versions. Feel free to let me know which one you like the most.  

Above: Final edit as of 3/17/16

Below: Alternate versions. 

[Updated Images] - "Sparkling ICE" - "Passing Time"

All of the projects I have posted over the last few weeks have been taken as part of my final portfolio for my photography major. After getting some feedback from one of my professors i've decided to revisit a few of these images. Below are new and improved versions of "Sparkling ICE", and "Passing Time".  

[Photo] "Leninade" - Experimenting With Color.

Toady I am continuing my theme of taking pictures of soda bottles. Honestly it's one of my favorite things to do. My goal for today was to do a few experiments with color, and the following is what happened. I decided to look around online for a unique soda bottle featuring the color red. After a few hours searching I stumbled across a drink called "Leninade" which has a very obvious Soviet Union theme to it. And since im so fascinated with the color red this was exactly what I needed. 

For this shot I intended to place a bottle of Leninade on top of a red and black background. I ended up getting a 20x20 print of one of my own images, for this instance I used "Texture 1". I than lit it using two soft boxes and an off camera flash. I used a red gel on one of the soft boxes to lessen the glare, the other was left white. I also used a yellow gel on the flash in order to bring out the text a little. I than took a series of 4 to 5 shots and brought them into Photoshop where I preformed an HDR conversion. After about an hour of processing I came out with the image you see below. Overall I am quite happy with this one. It is exactly what I was looking for in terms of the color, and is probably the best HDR conversion I've done to this day. 

If you're interested, im offering this photo as a print. You can get yours at this link. If anyone decided to pick one up send me a picture, id love to see.