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Thanks for stopping by. I'm Michael Corsentino, a lifestyle photographer based in beautiful Sonoma County California. Stylish, fun, creative and relaxed images are what my work is all about. Check out the drop down menus above for links to my weddings, engagements, portraits, album designs, resources, photography tips & web sites.
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Happy 4th of July everyone!! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday weekend filled with family, great food and good times.
Here are this year fireworks photos!! I love doing these. I captured these at tonight's annual fireworks show in Petaluma, CA. Check out my how-to notes below and have a great week!! |
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How-to notes:
Lens: 24-70mm 2.8, Aperture: f14, ISO: 400, Shutter speed: Bulb, Metering: Manual, Format: Raw
First, I mounted the camera on a sturdy tripod, set the camera's ISO to 400 and focused on the action. Then I experimented with different shutter speeds and aperture combinations to find just the right combination of settings. I wanted to capture the fireworks in motion, what some call "painting with light". I ended up settling on a shutter speed setting of b (for bulb) and holding down the shutter release button for an approximate 3 count long exposure. Using the camera's shutter release button when making long exposures like this can cause unwanted movement and result in blurry images. Ideally you'll want to invest in an off camera cable or wireless shutter release to avoid this. I stopped the lens down to an aperture of f14 so that I could make a long exposure and capture the movement of the fireworks but not overexpose the image.
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Happy 4th of July people! I hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday weekend. Last week when I posted the pet portrait session of Otis the pug I promised a behind-the-scenes post describing the studio lighting setup I used, so here it is.
There are a ton of different ways to light any given subject. The setup I used here is just what worked for me in this situation and not necessarily the only way to do it or the way to do it in every scenario. The type of lighting used and the pattern of light I choose for this session were based on the specific needs for this session and the look I wanted for my pet portraits. Every session will vary and have different requirements so flexibility is key. I look at determining the right lighting solution for each new situation, studio or location, like solving a fun puzzle . Each new session is a new challenge with new obstacles to overcome. That’s the cool part, because each obstacle overcome and lighting problem solved is a new lighting trick to put in your lighting bag of tricks. |
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I’ve seen lots of pet portraits, many lit from one side with a reflector on the other side. Nothing wrong with that but I wanted to try something a little different with Otis. Rather than creating the dramatic and sculpting light that side lighting can produce I decided to go for a more wrap-around lighting pattern typically used in beauty or glamour photography. It’s called Butterfly Lighting and it’s created by placing a light source, angled and, directly above the subjects face and a reflector directly below the subjects face. (see diagram). Based on his height I knew I’d able to use the white sweep I was photographing him on as a reflector to fill in the shadows from below. I also knew his height wouldn’t present any problems with full figure shots as well. Keeping the light and subject close to the back of the white sweep allowed me to light them both using one light.
Otis and his mom Rebecca on set. |
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The thing to remember is that the larger your light source (light modifier) and the closer it is to your subject the softer the quality of light will be. I used a Westcott Spiderlite TD6 & 36”x48” softbox with a white interior and removed the interior and front diffusion panels to maximize light output.
I choose a continuos light source, Westcott’s Spiderlite TD6, for several reasons. The first being the incredibly soft light it produces even at full power and without any diffusion material in front of it. Using continuos lights like Westcott’s Spiderlite is also great when working with pets, children, babies, maternity, actually any kind of session where you want a less intrusive light source. And by intrusive I mean compared to big popping, studio strobes that can be intimidating or distracting for some subjects. The other really cool thing about Westcott’s Spiderlite is not having to wait for it to recycle.
This means you can shoot uninterrupted and catch those fleeting moments without worrying about your flash keeping up. The added benefit is that your subjects end up being less aware of the lights and consequently more relaxed. No big flashes pop pop popping in their faces every two seconds. |
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| I hope this been informative and maybe even inspired you to try it yourself. Let me know what you come up with and thanks for stopping by. |
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If you ask 5 different photographers their favorite thing about being a photographer you’ll probably get 5 different answers. For me it’s definitely how photography continuously challenges me to grow and learn in so many different ways.
I’m a firm believer in the dividends paid from attending workshops. As a matter of fact I wrote this post one evening while in LA learning about Boudoir photography at Kay Eskridge’s Red Velvet Tour! Ok I know Boudoir, twist my arm!!
Workshops have revolutionized my business, sparked my creativity and are some of my most memorable experiences. Each one has been a fantastic opportunity to learn from my photography heros in an intimate environment, get hands on experience working alongside top pros, network with other photographers and take my photography to the next level. I’ve made great friends and met so many talented photographers from around the world at the workshops I’ve attended. This alone is worth the price of admission.
Last week I had the pleasure of attending a workshop with top Los Angeles commercial photographer Joel Grimes’ in his downtown LA studio. I was invited to do some Lightroom teaching and participate in the workshop. Of course I jumped at the opportunity because I love sharing with other photographers and knew I’d learn a ton of cool studio stuff from Joel. For those not familiar with Joel’s incredible work, please visit his website and blog. I think you’ll be as inspired by his work as I am.
Here is some of what I learned during Joel Grimes' two day lighting and shooting workshop:
Note: All images are minimally processed (sounds like chicken!) except where noted. I wanted you to be able to see exactly what I was getting with these lighting setups straight out of the camera. They don’t really need a whole lot of post processing work anyway due to the great lighting we’re beginning with. |
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| figure 1: Joel started things off with a discussion about being an artist and his minimalist lighting philosophy. It’s refreshing that even though Joel is a top shooter, and can work with whatever gear he wants, he prefers to keep it simple, focus on the art, and work with inexpensive equipment. Great to be reminded that you don't need a ton of expensive gear to produce top quality work like Joel's. |
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figure 2: Here Joel demonstrates a version of his 3 point edge lighting. You’ll notice that this lighting setup can either be soft or hard depending on the modifiers used and their sizes. In this setup Joel is going for a softer look. He’s using 2 large soft boxes with egg crate grids to the left and right of the model and 1 medium Octobank in front of her. A fill card has also been added to open up the shadows in the model’s face.
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figure 3: This image was captured using the edge lighting setup in figure 2. You can see how soft and wrap around it is. Later we’ll look at an edgier and harder version of this 3 light setup.
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| figure 4: In this setup Joel is using a 7’ Octobank directly behind him and photographing surprise workshop guest Russell Brown from Adobe Systems. The ambient light coming from the window actually doesn’t end up impacting the exposure. |
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| figure 5: When Joel was finished with Russell the lovely Jessica stepped in. This image was captured using the one light setup in figure 4. I love this soft wrap around light. Take note of the catchlights, you can see me standing right in front of the light and still getting this gorgeous result. Because the source is so large!! |
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| figure 6: Here’s another image captured using the one light setup (figure 4) with our second model Lauren. She had a more gothic look so I thought I’d emphasize that in a full blown edit (figure 6b). To create the final image I used a cool technique that I learned from another student (a heart surgeon!!) that I’ll share with you here. |
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figure 6a: My heart surgeon friend and I were discussing our favorite new black and white conversion tool, Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro 2, when he mentioned that the bulk of an image’s contrast information is contained in the grayscale portion of an image. He continued that if you created a great b&w image, overlaid it on top of the same image in color and then switched the blending mode of the b&w layer to Luminosity - blamo, super cool contrast effect.
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| figure 7: Before the day was over I had a chance to break away and do an impromptu natural light shoot with Adobe Photoshop Evangelist Russell Brown, one of my all time geek heros!! That’s the cool thing about workshops, you never know what’s going to happen! |
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| &viewImagefigure 8: On the second day we learned how Joel produces his HDR portraits and got to shoot with an awesome and very affordable continuos light source ringlight from Personal Touch Portraits. This thing rocks and can be had for about $250!! For a ringlight that’s pretty amazing. |
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| figure 9: Here’s a post processed HDR portrait created using Joel’s techniques and the ringlight in figure 8. |
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| figure 10: Earlier I mentioned Joel showed us different versions of his edge lighting setup, both soft and hard, so here’s the second version. In this setup Joel has replaced the Octobank above the camera with a beauty dish (w/sock diffusor). He’s also switched out the large soft boxes and replaced them with very small versions with egg carte grids and moved them further away from the model. These changes were made to produce a harder look (figure 11). |
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| figure 11: Here’s the image produced using the new harder version of Joel’s edge light. You can see the clear difference between this and figure 3. |
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| figure 12: For our last shoot we ventured outside the studio to shoot our model Jessica in an old warehouse using Joel’s 2 bungeed speedlights/octobank/paint pool rig pictured here. This thing rocks and I promptly created my own when I got back home. |
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| figure 13: This is the light produced using Joel’s 2 bungeed speedlights/octobank/paint pool rig pictured in figure 12. Needless to say I was convinced! |
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| figure 13: Joel and I at the end of the workshop. What a great workshop and a great guy! |
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| figure 13: Joel also covered his signature compositing and retouching techniques. Now I can’t give away all of his secrets in this post but here's an image I created using his HDR compositing techniques. This is a combination of a studio shot of football player Joe Trombetta and an HDR background I captured in rural Petaluma, CA and created using Nik Software's HDR Efex Pro. |
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If you're interested in learning more about all of Joel's awesome techniques check out his in-depth video tutorials, they rock!
The way I look at it, if I walk away from each workshop with a few awesome gems it’s been time and money well spent.
It needs to be said, that while I’m relating my experiences at Joel’s workshop this isn’t really meant to be a review. Rather, the point I’m trying to get across is that attending quality workshops can be really beneficial to your business by helping you cultivate new skills and recharge your creative batteries.
No discussion of workshops would be complete without mentioning one of the best there is, a truly life changing experience, Kevin Kubota’s Digital Bootcamp . Those who’ve taken this week long workshop know what I mean. Make it a point to get to one of these!!
Take my advice! If you haven't done it already take the plunge and sign up for a workshop with someone who inspires you, you’ll be glad you did.
Fisheyeconnect.com is a great resource for finding top quality workshops.
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