Stan Killian

My friend and ubiquitous NYC jazz saxophonist, Stan Killian, stopped by the other day.  We got the best egg sandwiches in town at Newtown and headed to my roof to take some pics.  Stan also gave Morgantown a mini-concert.

Gauntlet Hair perform “I Was Thinking” at Glasslands in Brooklyn, NY on April 24, 2012.

Per usual this live one shot video is more about the show experience than quality recording of the band. Have a look for yourself. I’m not sure who’s the sloppiest here; my video work, the crowd or the band. Super fun show and my favorite new band this year.

Cat Fights! Temper Tantrums! Lewd Alcohol Fueled Behavior! 

I’m sorry to report these reality TV staples were not part of the day I photographed the stills for the Title Intro of Bravo’s “Shahs of Sunset.” I know, I know, it’s a lame trick to get you to read this blog post but if you’re truly hungry for reality, you’re going to have to read me wax on about how great everyone at Ryan Seacrest Productions was in coordinating the shoot day, how the people from Bravo were trusting of the process set in motion by the team at Charlie Company and how funny, pleasant and cooperative the cast was.

I was slightly daunted about photographing six set ups scattered around the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills in 10 hours.  There wasn’t going to be time for any set backs. I was confident in my abilities and the production was going smoothly but I didn’t know what the cast would be like since the show had yet to air. I couldn’t help envision a typical Bravo scenario where my lighting was tossed in the pool and beverages were poured over someone’s head, possibly mine.

The first shot of the day was GG, the princess of the show.  We had limited time with her at the pool and for some reason (electrocution perhaps) I’m always a bit worried shooting around water.  But the sun was out making for a great hair light and my friends, Ryan Riccio and Chris Pagani, from Charlie Company were more than happy to roll up their pant legs and stand in for the talent.  A few pours of lemonade, some minor wardrobe adjustments and we were out of there just in time.

Next up was the flamboyant, Reza, in the bar.  He was really funny and seemed right at home with a bottle of bubbly sitting in the VIP area we fashioned for him even though it was only 10:30 AM.  Surprisingly, we didn’t even need to pop a bottle open thanks to some CGI wizardry. 

We moved around the corner to shoot the stage set up for, Asa, the sassy outsider of the group.  I futzed with lights and lenses for a bit and the energy seemed to hit a lull until someone had the great idea to put on one of Asa’s jams.  She really came alive with her gypsy grooves.  Originally we thought the microphone would be the foreground element for this shot but Asa’s outfit and hand motions made it clear that she was all we needed.

After lunch, it was time to shoot Sammy, the real estate developer and self described “ladies man”.  This set up took some stretching.  As in me stretching across a very long conference table to get the proper angle and the folks at Bravo stretching their imaginations to see a large window and cityscape that would be put in during post by Charlie Company.  The white room made it easy to replicate a large window light by bouncing my strobes into it.  Once that was set, the papers started flying, Sammy started smiling and we had this one in the bag in no time.

For real estate agent and party girl, MJ, we had an office set up ready to go in the hotel room we were using for our home base.  It was tight in there but we left just enough room for MJ’s big personality to shine.  She was silly, charming and really fun to shoot.  Pink heels on the desk, mirror in one hand, phone in the other and a few laughs later it was time for the final set up, Mike.

Mike seemed really excited about having his picture taken.  He instantly won me over complimenting my glasses (yes, they are real).  We brought in his tailor for a pseudo fitting staged in the hotel room’s closet.  I liked that the tailor had his business cards on nice suit fabric with his info sewn in.  I knew he’d have no problem with the measuring tape toss we were going to use for the foreground element of this shot.  I got hit in the head a few times with the measuring tape which made for some genuine smiles on Mike’s part.  A small price to pay to get the shot and wrap for the day.

Well, my job was done once I got the files to the Charlie Company’s office and now it was time for their team to log some serious post production hours in After Effects and the like.  As for me, I was packing up to move to Brooklyn and anxiously awaiting to see the results on TV.  The premiere finally rolled around and I headed to my friends house to catch it.  Wow, that was quick, I thought.  All of that work for 15 seconds.  But I guess when it’s perfectly executed, less is more and I think you can agree the final product looks great.

Ok, one more big shout out to my friends and fellow S.C.A.D. alumni at Charlie Company and congratulations to the folks at RSP, Bravo, and the SOS cast for getting picked up for another season

Went upstate for a bit.  Had the stereotypical NYC daydream of living off the grid.

Part of the great big Jim Avignon mural near my place in Bushwick.  All the amazing graffiti and street art make for great computer desktop pics.

7 TIPS FOR SHOOTING FULL LENGTH MODELS ON A WHITE SEAMLESS BACKGROUND.

 So what leads me to this post today? Well, invariably when you execute web site edit that “brands you” and shows off “your style”, you end up leaving out what may be deemed boring work than can get you paid.  Like shooting a full length model on a white background.  I did some test shots the other day of exactly that and wanted to share some pointers.  Now, you can find a pretty exhausting amount of blog entries and “how to’s” about the proper lighting set up (just search “shooting on a white background”) but I want to hit on some things that most of those entries don’t tell you.  The shots you’re looking at above only have some slight digital developing done to them in Lightroom.  I upped the whites, highlights, contrast, warmed up the color temperature and synced them all. You’ll notice this still left a bit of color density at the bottom which is very easy to get rid of once all the photos are laid out as a group. But hey, it’s a hell of a lot closer than I see other photographers get and their is NO PHOTOSHOP done to these. This should be your goal because there is nothing worse than having to cut around hair in Photoshop for 30 or more images. 

Ok, so here are my 7 tips to shoot on white like a real pro:

1. YOU NEED MORE SPACE THAN YOU MAY REALIZE

First off, you’ll want to use at least a 9 foot roll of ultra white paper. Second, to evenly illuminate that paper your lights will have to be at least 2 feet from the paper on either side. So when your talking width, you’ll need a minimum of 14 ft.

As far as length goes, you’ll need a minimum of 25 ft. for a few reasons. One, to keep the background light from bouncing off the white paper and hitting the model.  (Sometimes this is a good thing but too much of it will make the edges of the model soft) and two, is my next tip …

2. SHOOT IT WITH A LONG LENS

On a standard 35mm sensor I wouldn’t go with anything shorter than 70mm.  I used my Canon 70-200mm 2.8 IS AF lens and shot at about 85mm.  This eliminates any body distortion, keeps everything outside the paper from entering your frame and it will …

3. ELIMINATE FLARE

I remember working at portrait studio right when I got out of college. We had a white background set up ready to go at all times.  The thing is, some of the shots would consistently come out kind of faded looking around the center.  It was vague but noticeable and very annoying because it wasn’t an easy fix in Photoshop.  After some testing with different lenses, I discovered the problem was happening because of the short lens that was being used was picking up flare from the white background.  From then on, everybody switched to a longer lens on this set up and the problem was solved.

But flare can flare up from various sources even when using a long lens.  So keep your eyes open to lights that may be affecting this and flag them. Also, it’s not a bad idea to put your lens shade on. In fact, just do it while your assistants flag those background lights.

4. USE A TRIPOD AND MAKE A MARK FOR THE MODELS

Consistency is number one with this set up.  Put your camera on a tripod at about waist or knee level of the model. This is has multiple benefits. One, the model looks taller and two, you don’t see as much of the floor.  Which is good because you’re going to want to put some white tape on the floor to mark where the model needs to stand.  Not only will this make the designer happy because they won’t have to mess with sizing as much but it keeps the contrast consistent throughout. If you’re shooting this set up for more than a day, be sure to mark your lights and tripod too incase anything gets moved or needs to get packed up.

5. DON’T TRUST YOUR VIEWFINDER/LCD/HISTOGRAM

You probably know your camera pretty well.  I know my 5D MK2 always shows the pictures much brighter on the LCD than when I see them on my calibrated laptop monitor.  And even though the histogram may look good or your highlight warning appears to be giving you what you want, take 5 minutes and download a shot to your computer before shooting the job because you’d be surprised at the amount of density in the whites once you take a good hard look at your image on the computer.

Ideally, you’d be shooting directly into the computer and have a Digital Tech monitoring all of this but the way budgets are these days, good luck.  I actually used to be the lead Digital Tech when we’d shoot Max Studio’s catalog. That A.D. really knew the benefits of having digi techs on set.  We had one monitoring the shoot and renaming the files and the other marking selects at the A.D.’s request and printing out contact sheets.

The A.D. would then have the contact sheets cut up and she’d lay the whole thing out right there on set.  It was a great set up.  Two days of shooting and one more day for tweaking the images and the catalog was sent off to print.  That’s fast!  That’s knowing how to put a good team to work.  What we got done in 3 days, most other companies took over a month to do.  Speaking of which …

6. HIRE A GOOD TEAM

It kinda drives me nuts even to put these photos up because I see little things that need fixed.  Things a great stylist and hair person would be all over.  Trust me, you’ll need to pay very close attention to what the clothes and hair are doing but you really don’t want to be the one having to fix every cuff and out of place hair. I did pretty good on my own but I see stuff that bothers me. This was only a test shoot so I’m letting it go.  So get a good stylist and hair and make-up.  You’ll know they’re good if they serve the clients needs and pay attention to the model being shot instead of gabbing and eating.

As you can see in my previous points, having great assistants and digital technicians are worth it given that they know what they’re doing and if you know how to put them to use, you’ll save massive amounts of time.

7. CAST GOOD CATALOG MODELS

There are loads of beautiful models out there but catalog work is where the pros really shine.  They barely even need direction.  It’s amazing to see them work.  They understand the clothes, the vibe, the angles and they have endless amounts of subtle fresh poses.  So don’t book someone purely based on looks.  Make sure to see some catalog work or better yet bring them in for a quick test. 

Well, I think that about sums it up.  I know it looks easy.  Great photography often does but there are always tons of things to consider and lots of talented people behind the scenes.

 Life Size Maps perform, Weird Luck, at 285 Kent in Williamsburg, NYC

Life Size Maps, Mike McKeever, Rob Karpay, Jordyn Blakely at 285 Kent.  Working with these guys on a new video.  They released a new EP last night. Check out some of their music on bandcamp.