I love the art of Sylvia Ji and was inspired by her Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) paintings. We had an amazing team for this shoot - everything came together to create some very cool images. The overall theme was "death" but I wanted to combine Winter - which is symbolically associated with death - with Day of the Dead, where to buy viagra sugar skull inspired imagery. Jenny did a fantastic job with the makeup, and Dani and Candice were awesome with the hair styling. Dani's styling was perfect and Charity was beautiful and inspired
I chose "Gone With the Storm" by One Dice as the music to accompany the video slideshow, which fits perfectly with haunting vocals and strings and cold, icy piano!
I'm looking forward to the total lunar eclipse that will be visible from North America on the night of December 20-21, 2010. The moon will travel through the earth's shadow, and during the total eclipse it will become very dim, taking on a beautiful coppery red to orange colour depending on the atmospheric conditions. It's pretty easy to get some great photos of the lunar eclipse as long as the weather cooperates and it's not too cloudy. I'm hoping for a clear winter night!
Here are some tips and advice for photographing the lunar eclipse. The advice applies mainly to DSLR cameras, but the more advanced digital compact cameras should work well too.
Exposure settings
The brightness of the moon during the total eclipse can vary quite a lot, so it's best to let the camera's built-in light meter determine the exposure for you. Use the point metering mode (instead of an average reading), pointing the camera at the moon.
Use manual mode to set the aperture and shutter speed to give the correct exposure for the moon, which typically, will be 2 to 4 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 100.
If you prefer to use aperture priority mode instead of manual mode, choose the maximum aperture for your lens to give you the fastest shutter speed at ISO 100. I don't recommend a longer shutter speed than 2-4 seconds because the moon will become blurry due to the movement caused by the earth's rotation. I was surprised how much movement takes place in a few seconds! Another way to further reduce the blurring caused by the long exposure is to increase the ISO. For most modern DSLR's you should be able to go to ISO 400 with no problem, and some will be fine at ISO 800 and higher, depending on the camera.
Tripod
Use a tripod because the exposures will be a few seconds, make it impossible to hand-hold the camera without blurring the image. If you do not have a tripod, you can find a stable place to set the camera, although it will be trickier to frame the moon in the viewfinder. For maximum flexibility, you could use a telescope mount that slowly moves the camera to compensate for the earth's rotation, allowing you to have much longer exposure times.
Cable release
To prevent camera shake, use a cable release instead of pressing the shutter release by hand. If you do not have a cable release, you can use the self-timer so that the shutter will activate a few seconds after you press the button.
Turn off image stabilization
Image stabilization is not necessary https://www.rossitchpediatricdentistry.com/buy-ativan-online/ when using a tripod. I use an Olympus E-510, which has image stabilization in the camera body, but for long exposures, the gyro mechanism actually increases the motion blur.
Turn off noise reduction
I usually turn it off and use Adobe Lightroom's noise reduction feature. Noise reduction increases the time for the camera to process and save images to the memory card, so I prefer to turn it off.
Lenses
One of the amazing things about the total lunar eclipse is the beautiful three dimensional spherical appearance of the moon. It is much more apparent than during the full moon, when it looks more like a two dimensional disk. I prefer to use the longest lens that I have in order to get as much detail at the highest resolution I can. Even with my 200 mm lens and 1.4x teleconverter, there's still a lot of empty space in the frame! If you have a longer lens, congratulations, and I hope you get some great shots!
If you are in a location with some interesting foreground or landscape features, then you might want to use a wide angle lens to capture everything in one shot. In this case, you will have the additional complication of setting the exposure for the moon as well as the other parts of the photograph. For the foreground, you could use the on-camera flash (or an external flash if you have one). For the background landscape, it may not be feasible to use the same exposure for both the eclipse and the background. Also, the moon will look disappointingly small when you use a wide angle lens. For the Vancouver lunar eclipse shown above, I used Photoshop to combine the lunar eclipse photo with the cityscape shot the same night. You could also do a double exposure if your camera has the capability. One of the nice things about the double exposure method (or Photoshop) is that you can use the large moon image (shot with the the longer lens) to create a more dramatic looking photo.
Time lapse
Some of the most beautiful lunar eclipse images that I have seen show the moon going through the entire eclipse by using time lapse photography. The images can then be combined in Photoshop, or they can be made into a video. I have not tried doing a time lapse, and I'm planning do this for the Dec 20-21 lunar eclipse!
Bring a flashlight and gloves
It will be dark and probably very cold!
Good luck with you photos and feel free to share your results by posting a link in the comments section.
Lunar Eclipse Through the Clouds, Vancouver, February 20, 2008
I recently took a photographic art history course that covered photography from the beginning to 1979. Here are five of my favourite 20th century portrait and fashion photographers. I love surrealism, quirky subjects, striking graphic design, and amazing technical skill. I have picked these photographers because they have created iconic images that continue to delight viewers and inspire us all!
Man Ray (1890-1976)
Man Ray was an American avant-garde photographer who worked in Paris during the 1920s and 30s. He experimented with techniques such as solarization and photograms and was influenced by, and part of, the surrealist art movement. His work in turn has influenced future generations of photographers.
Le Violin d'Ingres - Man Ray (1924)
Tears - Man Ray (1930-32)
Martin Munkácsi (1896 - 1963)
Martin Munkácsi was one of the first photographers to use movement and action in fashion photography. He photographed many different subjects including photojournalism and sports, and excelled in getting a sense of motion on his photographs. His motto was "Think While You Shoot"!
Lucile Brokaw on the Long Island Beach - Martin Mukasci (1933)
Peignoir in a soft breeze - Martin Munkácsi (1936)
Philippe Halsman was a celebrity portrait and fashion photographer. He photographed Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein, John F. Kennedy and many others. His also worked with Salvador Dali and produced the book "Dali's Moustache" in 1954. His technical skill and creative work are amazing!
Irving Penn photographed for Vogue magazine in the 1940s and continued doing fashion, portrait and still life for over six decades. His work is visually stunning with a great eye for detail and composition.
Richard Avedon photographed for Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and many other magazines, and his portraits were often shot against a plain background with full attention on the subject. His ability to capture mood and emotion through expression and movement was one of his many photographic talents.
Dovima with Elephants, Evening Dress by Dior, Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, France - Richard Avedon (1955)
Monica Fraser is a graduate of the Vancouver Community College’s (VCC) Fashion Arts program. She was one of the designers at the VCC graduate fashion show that I wrote about in an earlier post. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to photograph her designs in the studio. In this session I photographed three beautiful outfits, each designed around the motif of the peacock.
I was fortunate to be able to work with an awesome model, Charr, and talented makeup artist Tessa Mitz as well.
The first outfit featured a 2.5 meter train made from a vintage print from Vienna over a natural linen dress with a gold silk bolero jacket with pearls and feathers and a golden belt.
Linen Dress by Monica Fraser
The next https://ellisclinic.com/medical/buy-cipro-online/ dress has a handmade tramadol buy online bird motif print by Monica Fraser. The fabric is white cotton dipped into caustic soda, waxed, then repeatedly dipped into indigo dye. The dress was finished with feathers, Swarovski crystals and a whimsical bird nest!
Indigo Batik Dress
The third outfit was a beautiful vivid blue silk dress made using four different types of silks with shredded silk on the top to look like feathers. It also has a long tail with Swarovski crystals hanging from it. To go with the dress, is a long black hand embroidered coat with a beautiful peacock design made from silk threads in Vietnam.
Vivid Blue Silk Dress
Feathered Silk Detail
Hand Embroidered Silk Jacket
Charr Wearing Coat by Monica Fraser
Congratulations to Monica for a fantastic collection! Thanks also to Charr for modeling the outfits and to Tessa for the beautiful makeup and hair styling.
The graduates of the Vancouver Community College Fashion Arts Program showed their creations last night at a fantastic show held at Rocky Mountaineer Station in Vancouver. The show featured the work of 21 graduating fashion designers, each of whom had 4 pieces in the show. The production was spectacular with great models, makeup, hair styling, music, lighting and of course catering! But the emerging designers were centre stage with some incredible work.
I took as many photos of the outfits as I could! I have previously photographed the designs of one of the graduates, Ana Jost, and I love her work. It was a pleasure to see her graduating and finishing this phase of her fashion design career.
All the designers' work was very impressive and I'm looking forward to seeing more from them in the future, and I hope to use their designs in my photography as well.
You can view all of the outfits in the music video below, or view the photos here.
Congratulations to all the graduates for your amazing work!
The graduates of the Vancouver Community College Fashion Arts Program showed their creations last night at a fantastic show held at Rocky Mountaineer Station in Vancouver. The show featured the work of 21 graduating fashion designers, each of whom had 4 pieces in the show. The production was spectacular with great models, makeup, hair styling, music, lighting and of course catering! But the emerging designers were centre stage with some incredible work.
I took as many photos of the outfits as I could! I have previously photographed the designs of one of the graduates, Ana Jost, and I love her work. It was a pleasure to see her graduating and finishing this phase of her fashion design career.
All the designers' work was very impressive and I'm looking forward to seeing more from them in the future, and I hope to use their designs in my photography as well.
You can view all of the outfits in the music video below, or view the photos here.
Congratulations to all the graduates for your amazing work!
Here's the video on YouTube if you are unable to view the flash version above:
Music for the video No Return! by Romahichi
I recently wanted to take some photos of some antique glass apothecary jars and used a technique called "bright field lighting". Glass is tricky to shoot because it is both transparent and reflective. If you are not careful, treatment you will lose the definition of the edge of the glass and and unwanted reflections and highlights.
The graduates of the Vancouver Community College Fashion Arts Program showed their creations last night at a fantastic show held at Rocky Mountaineer Station in Vancouver. The show featured the work of 21 graduating fashion designers, each of whom had 4 pieces in the show. The production was spectacular with great models, makeup, hair styling, music, lighting and of course catering! But the emerging designers were centre stage with some incredible work.
I took as many photos of the outfits as I could! I have previously photographed the designs of one of the graduates, Ana Jost, and I love her work. It was a pleasure to see her graduating and finishing this phase of her fashion design career.
All the designers' work was very impressive and I'm looking forward to seeing more from them in the future, and I hope to use their designs in my photography as well.
You can view all of the outfits in the music video below, or view the photos here.
Congratulations to all the graduates for your amazing work!
Here's the video on YouTube if you are unable to view the flash version above:
Music for the video No Return! by Romahichi
I recently wanted to take some photos of some antique glass apothecary jars and used a technique called "bright field lighting". Glass is tricky to shoot because it is both transparent and reflective. If you are not careful, treatment you will lose the definition of the edge of the glass and and unwanted reflections and highlights.
http://www.mazenabusrour.com/?p=103
cheap on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalamakia/5202003492/">
Here are a couple of photos from a recent fashion shoot with model Joleen and makeup artist/hair stylist Elizabeth McLeod. The makeup was inspired by Audrey Hepburn photos from the early fifties and the hairstyle has a vintage forties look.
More details and photos from this shoot will be posted soon!
abortion on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalamakia/5201891860/">
I learned the basics of photography using the Fujica STX-1N. I got it as a birthday present in 1983. It is a manual focus camera without any automatic exposure modes. It does have TTL metering with an LED display in the viewfinder, so I was able to learn the basics using this camera. The light meter uses the average method to determine the exposure, which means it can be fooled by certain scenes. It is important to adjust the exposure to compensate if necessary. The camera has shutter speeds of 1/2 to 1/700 s, bulb setting, and cable release for long exposures and night photography. It also has a self-timer.
The STX-1N is very similar to the STX-1, https://assaultvictimlawyer.com/buy-cialis/ introduced in 1980, except the STX-1N has LED indicators for the light meter instead of a needle indicator.
One of the things I really liked about the camera was the split prism focusing screen, which made it really easy to focus the camera manually.
In addition to the X-Fujinon 50 mm f/1.9 lens, I have a
Makinon 80-200 mm Fuji X-Mount lens
Makinon 80-200mm f/4.0 zoom lens with macro capabilty, which greatly extended the flexbility of the camera. The camera uses Fuji's X-mount lens system.
I used this camera until I bought my first digital camera in 1999. It has travelled with me and taken photos of my family when they were growing up, so I have happy memories of the Fujica STX-1N!
Eco Fashion Week (EFW) is taking place in Vancouver on Sept 27-30, 2010. It is being held at the Creekside Community Centre, which was part of the Olympic Village during the 2010 Winter Games.
Vancouver has a goal to become the greenest city by 2020 and EFW will help to educate the fashion industry and fashion-buying public about environmentally friendly best-practices and to promote those business that have good green https://gigglesgobblesandgulps.com/buy-valtrex-500mg/ practices.
A Green Advisory Board helped to evaluate the fashion designers, retailers and manufacturers using the following criteria:
Fair/ethical trade
Local
Custom/tailor made
Organic/Natural textiles and materials
Recycled/reborn
Vintage/second hand
Vegan/animal free/cruelty free
Eco printing
Fabric waste reduction
Green marketing
Socially responsible
Resource efficiency
Eco-certification
These practices can also apply to other industries and I will be looking carefully at my photography business to see what I can do to make sure it is green too!
On Sept 28, I attended runway shows featuring the spring/summer 2011 collections by designers emesha, Lara Miller, Eden, Nixxi, Lav and Kush, and Kim Cathers. Here is a quick look at the the collections by emesha and Lara Miller. The rest of the designers have been posted here.
emesha - Eco Fashion Week, Vancouver
Lara Miller - Eco Fashion Week, Vancouver
Here's a slideshow with more photos from the show:
Eco Fashion Week (EFW) is taking place in Vancouver on Sept 27-30, 2010. It is being held at the Creekside Community Centre, which was part of the Olympic Village during the 2010 Winter Games.
Vancouver has a goal to become the greenest city by 2020 and EFW will help to educate the fashion industry and fashion-buying public about environmentally friendly best-practices and to promote those business that have good green practices.
A Green Advisory Board helped to evaluate the fashion designers, retailers and manufacturers using the following criteria:
Fair/ethical trade
Local
Custom/tailor made
Organic/Natural textiles and materials
Recycled/reborn
Vintage/second hand
Vegan/animal free/cruelty free
Eco printing
Fabric waste reduction
Green marketing
Socially responsible
Resource efficiency
Eco-certification
These practices can also apply to other industries and I will be looking carefully at my photography business to see what I can do to make sure it is green too!
On Sept 28, I attended runway shows featuring the spring/summer 2011 collections by designers emesha, Lara Miller, Eden, Nixxi, Lav and Kush, and Kim Cathers. Here is a quick look at the the collections by emesha and Lara Miller. The rest of the designers have been posted here.
emesha - Eco Fashion Week, Vancouver
Lara Miller - Eco Fashion Week, Vancouver
Here's a slideshow with more photos from the show:
Eco Fashion Week, unhealthythis site Vancouver, BC, Spring/Summer 2011, www.kimcathers.com
Eco Fashion Week (EFW) is taking place in Vancouver on Sept 27-30, 2010. It is being held at the Creekside Community Centre, which was part of the Olympic Village during the 2010 Winter Games.
Vancouver has a goal to become the greenest city by 2020 and EFW will help to educate the fashion industry and fashion-buying public about environmentally friendly best-practices and to promote those business that have good green practices.
A Green Advisory Board helped to evaluate the fashion designers, retailers and manufacturers using the following criteria:
Fair/ethical trade
Local
Custom/tailor made
Organic/Natural textiles and materials
Recycled/reborn
Vintage/second hand
Vegan/animal free/cruelty free
Eco printing
Fabric waste reduction
Green marketing
Socially responsible
Resource efficiency
Eco-certification
These practices can also apply to other industries and I will be looking carefully at my photography business to see what I can do to make sure it is green too!
On Sept 28, I attended runway shows featuring the spring/summer 2011 collections by designers emesha, Lara Miller, Eden, Nixxi, Lav and Kush, and Kim Cathers. Here is a quick look at the the collections by emesha and Lara Miller. The rest of the designers have been posted here.
emesha - Eco Fashion Week, Vancouver
Lara Miller - Eco Fashion Week, Vancouver
Here's a slideshow with more photos from the show:
Eco Fashion Week, unhealthythis site Vancouver, BC, Spring/Summer 2011, www.kimcathers.com
approvedvisit this site on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalamakia/5205649561/">
Glass Apothecary Jar
I recently took some photos of antique glass apothecary jars using a technique called "bright field lighting". Glass is tricky to shoot because it is both transparent and reflective. If you are not careful, here you will lose the definition of the edge of the glass and get unwanted reflections and highlights.
In this shot, I used a white background and lit it with a single strobe facing the background and placed it behind and below the glass jar. The jar was on a table covered with white paper and placed on top of a clear piece of glass. I put black cards on each side of the jar to give more defined edges. I also used a reflector in front of the jar to increase the light on the label. The basic setup is shown in the lighting diagram.
I did some post-processing - changed the image to a sepia tone, using Lightroom and added a vintage photo to the background with Photoshop. I used a levels adjustment layer to increase the brightness of the label.
Lighting setup for glass
The next photo shows a basic image of a glass of water with a couple of drops of food coloring, shot using the same technique without the Photoshop work. In this image I adjusted the contrast and removed a few stray water drops using the dust removal tool in Lightroom.
Lighting Glass with Bright Field Method
Another way to photograph glass is by using a dark background with highlighted edges such as in the photo of the glass vase below. The strobe was placed behind a black background, which was placed in front of a larger white background. The strobe was facing towards the white background, so the edges of the vase were lit by the reflected light.
Glass on Black
It is very helpful to use a tripod to aid in composing the shots and to help tweak the setup. Although I used strobes for these shots, continuous lighting will work too, and a tripod will allow you to use longer shutter speeds with no problem.
A great reference for lighting, including glass is Light - Science & Magic by Hunter, Biver and Fuqua.
This is the second part of the shoot that I did with Charity,Jennifer Ruth and Celina Prado. In Part 1 we did 2 pop fashion looks. In Part 2, here's a futuristic fashion theme with black lights, smoke and neon colours!
We used two outfits for this shoot. The first was a black dress with neon pink stripes on the sides (H&M, $39.95), Red Dollhouse boots (Winners, $18) and a rainbow purse (Value Village, $5.99). The second outfit was a white top (H&M, https://www.glenerinpharmacy.com/buy-viagra-online/ .95), Orange https://churchhillnaturalmeats.com/buy-valium-online-diazepam/ knee-high socks (Winners, $2), Harajuku Lovers purse (Winners, $88) and blue Dollhouse heels (Winners, $16). Proof that you can be fashionable on a budget! Here are some of the photos from the shoot.
It was a lot of fun and as a photographer, I really enjoy using unusual lighting like the black lights and effects like the fog machine!
Celina Prado is a fashion design student at LaSalle College who worked with me on a fashion shoot, along with makeup artist Jennifer Ruth and model Charity. We did two pop fashion and two futuristic fashion looks. Here are the pop fashion photos.
The first look featured a satin metallic dress with turquoise accessories and blue heels. Click here to see more photos of this look.
It was awesome working with this team! I have worked with Jennifer Ruth for several shoots and her work is superb. I have also worked with Charity previously and hope to do so again in the future. This was my first shoot with Celina, but hopefully we will also team up again soon.
My next post will be about the two futuristic fashion looks that we shot the same day. Here's the link for the futuristic fashion sets.
