Took this shot during some location scouting last weekend.

Some shots from a recent model test with Diana. The last shot was a lighting test shot… and at the time I thought “the light is crap, now what?” In moving some lighting, I snapped a plastic housing on a monolight… tried a ringflash… snapped a plastic tightening knob on that… so moved to the window for some backlighting, and lastly to the wall with diffused light from the window coming in from her right.

In the end… what did I learn? The initial lighting looked pretty good and I should not have abandoned my initial setup so quickly. And secondly, you have to have durable, reliable gear. That’s why made the switch to Profoto Acute2 1200R… and window light. I’m loving both, though the window light is significantly less expensive.

All of these were shot with window light with model against a matte metallic silver v-flat.
In the second image I used a light with a 20º grid to brighten the face and shoulders.

Here are some shots taken over the weekend. Lighting: AB1600 in beauty dish… very close. Subtle rimlight withAB800 with 30° grid. 5DMKII with 24-70mm.

My studio, Indigo6 filmed the behind-the-scenes collaboration between stylist John Barrett and fashion designer Carlos Miele. The short takes you through the hair test at Miele’s downtown showroom to the unveiling of his Fall ‘09 collection at NYC Fashion Week.

Thursday, we (i6) went to Carlos Miele to capture some behind-the-scenes prep with celebrity stylist John Barrett. Monday, we will be photographing and filming John’s team behind the scenes as well Carlos Miele’s Fall Collection. Since this is my first time shooting at Fashion week I’m not sure what to expect. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Don’t forget to look for shots off-set
Sometimes I find myself so focussed on getting the shot I have in my head, I’m not leaving myself open enough to what’s happening around me. Here are three examples from the same shoot.

I had decided to try a ring-flash, so as I made sure it was working I turned behind me to shoot something, and there was Bernadett & Daryon. Popped a frame and said to myself… “yep, it’s working.” Little did I know that I had just taken one of my favorite shots of the day.

Later that afternoon, as the window light began to fade, Daryon (MUA) needed light so that he could see what he was doing… I quickly set up a kino-flo diva light and pointed it over his right shoulder. While Melissa was getting madeup I wanted to shoot her… but I had the ring-flash attached to my 5D, and did not want to take it off So I grabbed a Rebel-XT with a 50mm ƒ1.4… and took this shot of Melissa… one of her favorites.

Which led to this shot (below)… where I played with camera position and used the kino-flo as a backlight and nothing in front. You can see a bit of green fringing on her chin… that’s how the Rebel deals with extreme contrast. I wished I’d had a backup 5D at the time because it would be nice to have this shot in better quality.

After this shoot I became convinced that a good second camera (not only as a backup but as a second camera to shoot with) can be extremely useful.

This is from a shoot with model Jen Lee. I was messing about with Silver Efex Pro and really liked the tones. So, I wanted to share. Highly recommend this plugin.

Here’s a short video I put together with some of the random footage and stills from one of Sarah’s tests. Based on this first try, we have a much better idea of how to document the entire process. I just want to thank Chase Jarvis for continual inspiration. His “Frames” pieces gave me the idea to work with all of the frames of the shoot… for better or worse. It’s difficult to throw every shot out there–where people can see just how bad some of them really are. I look at some of my choices and wonder “what was I thinking?”

I shot Sarah Hartshorne last Friday at the South Norwalk, CT train station. Here’s some samples from the shoot.