Studio Lighting for Film Tutorial

Since arriving in Japan I have become an avid member of a group known as the Film Shooters Collective which was started by a fellow Yokosuka spouse.  I was put in charge of writing an article about studio lighting for film photography which was the inspiration for this photo shoot.  Even though my favorite film camera is better suited to landscapes than people I decided to put it to the test for this.  In order to not miss an opportunity to get as many great photos of the beautiful Madison as I could we shot our only 8 frames of film and then ran with the digital, which is what you see here. We really started rocking later in the session and I wish I had captured some of those images with the old camera.  Film is a great way to slow down and think about photography with a different approach.  Perhaps I should have had more faith in my ‘landscape’ film camera, I think the film images turned out great too.  Check out the film images and read the article!


Sakura

I’m concluding my Yokosuka photography services on a great note.  I met this family, my final clients in Yokosuka, through my holiday card session special.  They are the kind of people you just have to like because they are so easy-going.  Because their son was born in Japan, they really wanted Sakura photos taken while they were here.  First came the Kawazu-Zakura of Miurakaigan.  Smaller and pinker than the standard variety, I was really amazed by these flowers.  The next wave was the standard Sakura.  Large trees filled with cloud-like puffs of blossoms.  My wife and I cannot agree on which Sakura to like more, they are both so beautiful.  I was lucky to discover a park near my home, Hashirimizu, that opens up more space during the bloom.  Hashirimizu is a beautiful location on the beach.  It has faucets for what is said to be some of the best drinking water in the world.  There is always a line of people filling up large jugs of this water.  It was here that our session took place and if you happen to read this at first publication I recommend to head down there very soon as this beauty will not last long.


The Power of Flash, Tokyo Workshop

My Power of Flash workshop that I put on in Tokyo recently has to be one of the most fun things I have done in a while.  We spent time discussing very technical aspects of lighting in general, and got into the specifics of using flash.  After the discussion we put our newfound knowledge to use with a variety of gear from small speedlights to large studio strobes.  The lovely and talented Reila Heaven was our model.  We were able to photograph both in the studio and outdoors, using different techniques.  I always have fun experimenting with what not to do.  One of the images below has a dark band from one such experiment with improper flash sync speeds.  I think it ended up looking really cool. I have to thank one of my students, Carl Bryan, for letting me use his images from the workshop in this blog post.   


Using Format