More Feb PDO pics

Ok ... more PDO pics ...

This time we have Todd, whom you have all seen before. He came out for some shots and although we really only did natural light stuff with him, he still came away with some neat images for his portfolio.

Here ... obviously window light, but I added a reflection - I think it is a nice touch.

Love these boots ...

Here I used the window light as backlighting (then, I had to process it in PS because I thought it looked so dang cool) ...

a silhouette shot ...

yes, I know this is out of focus, so before everyone emails me ... just know that I meant to do this. I was actually playing a bit with shapes ...

Oh ... Todd was here for our backlighting shots. Karen showed us how to use backlighting to wrap around the subjects ...

Todd, thank you so much for coming out. I know seeing me twice in one month is a lot for anyone - ha!

I really appreciate you helping us out! You did a great job.

Mandy

Mandy

Our Feb PDO was great yet again! It was a very small group this month due to sickness, etc ... so we didn't stay quite as long as we did in Jan. We cut the day short and all went home to relax a little.

Here are a few of Mandy's images from our day ...

the first thing we worked on, was shadows...

I wanted to play with the shadows of Mandy's high heels ...

Here is Mandy at our one light portrait setup ...

And, last, here are a few of my natural light shots...

Mandy, thank you SO much for coming out an modeling for us. I couldn't have asked for a better model!

The Grand Banquet Center

The Grand Banquet Center

So, today we had our February PDO. Before we headed over for the day of shooting, Tim and I stopped by last week to get some shots of the venue for one of the owners.

This place is FANTASTIC. They have done an amazing rehab job. Just gorgeous. Great for a wedding reception! Here are a few of our shots from the first visit. I will be posting PDO pics in the next week or so.

The Grand Banquet Center is located at the northeast corner of 5th and Madison in Covington, KY.

Melissa

Melissa

Ok ... so I know you all recognize this next model from our PDO. I have had the wonderful opportunity to work with Melissa a couple of times now. She is fabulous and so easy to work with. Here she is with the downlighting setup ...

downlighting from a different angle ...

a couple of natural light shots on the red wall ...

and the rest are also natural light shots ... some with a reflector and some without ...

I have a busy day of shooting today so hopefully I'll have more photos to post next week!

Toni

Before I get to the next set of pics from the PDO, I wanted to make mention of what exactly a 'PDO' is. I have gotten a lot of emails from people about it. So, I thought I would explain a little more.

PDO stands for Photographer's Day Out.

It is an opportunity for us 'photogs' to get together and try out new things and learn from each other. This is the first year we have introduced models to our PDOs and the first session of the year was fantastic. If you volunteer (which a lot of people have in the last few days) to be a model, please keep in mind that first and foremost it is a learning experience for the photographers. So, we will have certain things that we will be practicing/learning each month. Therefore, we are choosing the shots we need to get to learn a certain technique. Also, since I am in 'charge' of getting models for the next few months, in order to model for us, you have to be a current or past client of mine. This can be any type of client (wedding, model, etc...). It is good for me to know a little bit about you before working with you in a 'learning' environment.

Ok ... onto the photos!

Toni

Here are a few of Toni's pics from our PDO. This first one is the 'spotlight' technique that Tim set up.

As we were working with the 'spotlight' technique ... this AMAZING natural light came out of nowhere and bounced up off the floor to give us this ...

This next one is my shot of Toni in the natural light from the leaded glass windows ...

Next I got to practice a little 'light balancing' There was natural light pouring in from the right and I used a bounce light on the left to balance everything out.

Same setup ... but closer

Here is one of Toni's other natural light photos ... we loved the way her hair bounced and popped off the red background ... what a great expression!

This last photo was taken with my 'homemade dishpan reflector' .... since I haven't been able to find an engineered or mass produced one on the market. If anyone knows of one ... please send me a link! It needs to be for a speedlight and not studio lights.

That is it for today ... whew! The last model's pics will be up shortly.

January PDO - Angie

Angie

Here are a few photos of our first model, Angie. The first photo is the lighting that we were practicing. Tim calls it the 'superhero' lighting - a nice rim light with a soft light on the face. I love the lighting effect although I think I'll have to practice a bit more. The light on the Angie's right cheek is a bit too bright.

And, because I LOVE flare ... I HAD TO ... (this was SO not the lighting we were supposed to be practicing ... I just couldn't help myself)

Here was our basic 2 light w/reflector portrait setup. I think the shot looks great.

Then we played a bit with some natural light shots. And, just a side note, when there is a red wall near you during a shoot ... you SHOOT IT. It was screaming to us.

This was shot while using the up/down lighting setup. In this case (downlighting), this was lit from high above. It has some nice moodiness.

And this was the 'uplighting' shot from the same setup with the light coming from below.

Tim had another 'station' set up for some dramatic spotlighting and 'darkening' of the background. To put this in perspective, it was pretty evenly lit inside the bar and that backwall was as well.

And some more natural lighting shots I took.

I will be posting photos from the other two models in the next couple of days. A BIG thank you to all of them for volunteering for the PDO.

If you are interesting in being a model for one of these PDOs, please email me (from my website) so I can put you on the invitation list. We will be attempting to do one every month. You do not have to be a professional model for these shoots (since we are all there to learn), you just have to be comfortable in front of a camera (and at least 18 years of age) and willing to volunteer your time in exchange for photos. We only take a few models for each PDO so respond early if you're interested.

Another BIG HUGE thank you to The Avenue (in Covington on Madison Ave) for allowing us to invade their amazing venue for an entire day!