Head Shots

Some head shots for News 14 Carolina.
Nikon D300 and three lights fired via pocket wizards. Not your average set up but it works nicely.

peach outtakes

A peach that I used as a subject while getting my shooting table and lights together for a recent commercial shoot. The client was running a few minutes late and I had some time to work on the lighting. It's important to use test subjects while setting up and not your hero subject. The lighting and set up should be as close as possible when you bring in the hero.

Technical notes: AB800 in huge softbox, hanging from a boom, to camera left. One SB-800 in softlighter umbrella to camera right for a smudge of fill light. I used a D300 with a Nikon 105 VR macro lens and very little processing in Lightroom 2.0. I'll have more from this shoot soon.

steak experiment

Teamed up with Chef Michael for a practice run on food photography. He has never been exposed to the level of preperation and detail needed to pull off a food photograph. So this exercise was a way of helping us both break the ice for his food and my photography. A cook book is possibly in the works although the grand scale of Michael's book might be pulled in a bit based on what he saw.


Mise en place. This was not a planned image but I really liked the idea when Michael requested a Mise En Place shot. It's like posting the shots of my lighting set ups.

Tech: One Alien Bee 800 in a large softbox to the rear of the subject. A snooted SB-800 skimmed across the steak to give the highlights. Various white and black cards to fill shadows accordingly.




Sorry for the big copyright notice. I host my blog photos on Flickr. It's a great way for me to have easy hosting, easy access and additional viewership, but it's also the preferred source for stealing images on the internet.

pink guitar

I've got a big assignment this coming weekend and really wanted to spend some time with Hannah before I head out. We planned to go swimming but the swim team had taken over the whole pool. What to do?

Let's go back and play. Hannah got to play with her new pink guitar and had written a song just yesterday. I got to try out my Edirol R-09HR digital recorder as well as my new Alien Bee 800 studio strobe with beauty dish. We were both happy playing with our new toys.

I processed this with a develop preset I downloaded from Lightroom Killer Tips blog(Matt Kloskowski). The preset was called Sin City Light and basically desaturates a bit and boosts the contrast. I look I find myself using for adults but not kids. I think it works okay.

We put together a little show. Nothing more than us kids goofing off with cameras and guitars but I'm quite proud of it, especially to see her write a song. It's a minute long and might take a bit to download.
Link to the show...
I think Hannah was inspired by the Brandon Leffel senior portrait show I did last month. She's asked about it several times.
We have a good time playing together.

Two blog posts about my daughter in a row? Hannah has taught me more about photography than anyone I know.

Lightroom 2.0 Beta first look

Warning: I'm a huge Adobe Lightroom Fan ever since 1.1 was launched and I have fully switched my workflow to this great product. I downloaded their 2.0 beta two days ago and spent a couple hours playing with it. It's a very nice upgrade and the additional tools are very, very nice.


Some local adjustments using 2.0 beta including the localized dodge, burn, clarity and exposure tools. This is an awesome step forward and I see it changing my post process significantly.

Straight out of the camera and probably not a fair comparison. I should post one up using the current LR version.

The tools and changes in 2.0 are significant enough that I feel I need to spend several hours learning and reading up on them. I won't be processing any client photos with the beta but rest assured some family snaps will get the treatment.

George Main has a great article on the new dodge and burn tools in the beta. Lightroom 2 Beta - Dodge and Burn for RAW image files.

Carrot-Pineapple Muffin

A couple takes from my ongoing local project with a bakery in Apex.

Stick a fork in it, it's done.


And boy did it taste yummy. The cream cheese frosting... forget about it.

The images were taken with a combination of window light and two strobes. The window was camera left and rear. I supplemented the window with an additional strobe/soft umbrella. The other strobe was behind the camera to the left and bouncing off the white ceiling to bring the exposure up. Match all that lighting up to a 105 VR macro lens and cook it up in Adobe Lightroom.

BTW, Adobe just launched public beta test of Adobe Lightroom 2.0. I have it installed and played with it. I'm very excited! The masking feature will put it over the top. The best review I've read so far is here.

More through the viewfinder shots: '64 Chrysler

I'm enjoying the through the viewfinder technique as a creative outlet. Yesterday, I only had 30 minutes for photography and needed something close by. I had previously photographed these two decaying Chryslers but decided the ttv technique would be a good fit and they are really close to my office.

A note about how I cropped these images. My digital camera shoots a rectangular photo and the old Duaflex shoots a square crop. Thus my photos are pretty much black except the exposed square of the Duaflex viewfinder. I could have adjusted my crop to align perfectly with the Duaflex square (like the previous post). Instead, I simply cropped a perfect square that fits my digital camera field of view. It illustrates how my digital camera lense was seeing the Duaflex viewfinder. It's not a photoshop border. Very little photoshop was done to these images. Mainly some contrast adjustments, slight desaturation and the previously mentioned crop.

Carter thinks these cars are ugly. I have to agree with him but there must be a reason they never went to the scrap yard?

Pajamas through the viewfinder

My favorite model helped me on a technique I picked up from Flickr called Through the Viewfinder (TTV). I'm making images from the viewfinder of antique cameras. My ultra modern digital camera is teamed up with a 1950's era Kodak Duaflex camera. It takes some effort to get everything aligned just right. The focusing is tricky and I haven't mastered the old Kodak quite yet but the fun factor is large! I added a little Photoshop to this image as well with the rough pastel type border.

I'm going to pursue this technique some more and I want to take it outside, perhaps using old homestead to create some portraits. I just need to fine the right willing subject and the time to pull it off. It's not a point and shoot technique.

Zoey loves cake

Zoey was more than happy to pose for me while covering a 50th Anniversary celebration for her great grandparents. I used an SB-800 flash, on camera, bounced off the ceiling/wall to camera right and a wide angle lens. One of over 300 photos from this exciting event.

Dark skies and sound triggers

Day 54
Dark skies rolled in on us.


I built a sound trigger that I bought for $12 from Hivis.com. It's a simple circuit not too different from the infamous clapper. Not quite sure what I'm going to use it with but I see some dead balloons and eggs coming soon. I was able to make one test by snapping a CD.

Don't throw out those way overexposed shots

Even the greatest photographers blow some photos completely out. I wasn't quick on the camera controls when trying to capture Stewart in a panning shot. But I didn't delete it. I don't like to delete in camera if I can help it. I like to take overblown photos into Adobe Lightroom and convert to black and white. An overblown photo is a great candidate for black and white, especially when you bump up the contrast. It returns some of the details that were previously lost. Lightroom's 'Recovery' tool also helps bring some detail back. I sometimes get lost trying to shoot the perfectly lit photo when sometimes the best work comes from abstract exposures and unique processing with the end result something different. So my advice to you is don't be so quick to delete and give black and white a try.

The Moment it Clicks: Joe McNally

Day 36 for POD 2008

I'm reading the Moment it Clicks by Joe McNally. I pre-ordered it from Amazon.com and it arrived two days ago. Joe McNally is a legendary photographer in the making. He routinely shoots for LIFE, National Geographic and Sports Illustrated. His photos rock.

When I bought my first SLR camera almost seven years ago, I immersed myself into learning how to use it. I read the entire Nikon website and even attended a Nikon School of Photography in Chicago. The name Joe McNally was the one name I remember the most from my first studies of photography. The first photographer whose name I remembered. The first photographer whose work I admired and wanted to emulate.

It's probably no coincidence that I gravitated towards his work because he is constantly sharing his ideas and techniques on making an image tell a story versus taking a picture. He shoots Nikon and so do I. His style of photography and blend of humor, wit and technique are amazing. His pictures just simply rock and the average person will recognize some of them as iconic.

I'm not done reading the book. I'm savoring it. But I can tell you it's really good. It breaks down his ideas with a shot that demonstrates it. He further breaks down the shot by describing the gear and exposure. Each idea (shot) is a page or two such as "Don't pack your camera until you left" or "Put your camera in different places" and "Keep looking when the lights all gone". 240 pages of these nuggets!

This will be a book that I will read for years to come. It's that good.

About this shot: It's a three light shot with mix white balances. The umbrella and small strobe on the table are shooting 5000K white light. I set the camera to tungsten white balance mode and this makes that pretty white light look blue. The third strobe, with a grid on it, is gelled with a CTO tungsten gel to make it's white light look a light bulb or tungsten. So the camera sees it's light as natural. Restricting that light gives focus to the book.




A simple shot to illustrate my post, but I just couldn't put up a simple picture of a book now could I?

Hannah has a cast.

Day 33
Hannah, as always a good sport for my photography, posed with her new cast. In true Do It Yourself spirit, I created two 24 inch strip lightboxes for my strobes.


The boxes have a window cut open and a slot for the strobe to sit in. I covered the interior with metallic tape and topped the box off with some plastic foam packing material I had saved for this purpose. Less than $10 spent. If I was to buy a real strip soft box they would be over $200 each!

I like the results and the ability to direct the light. I might add velcro on the sides so I can furter soften or direct the light. I got the idea from a photographer in Belgium named Bert Stephani. He has a great blog and is chock full of ideas. I have his blog on my RSS reader and that allows me to see every new post he puts up.

A Cairn named Sailor

Literally a snapshot that I took this past weekend. I almost threw it out but I decided to see what Lightroom could do with it. I applied a split tone to it and some basic adjustments such as contrast and curves. I then brought it into Photoshop for some selective sharpening around his eyes and snout area. A gausian blur layer was added and reduced to enhance the blur around him. The original photo had natural DOF blur, but I felt it needed just a touch more. I think the photo really works in black and white. He has a silver gray look to him anyway and it really works for this type of treatment.

The shot was taken with on-camera flash. When I first started taking good photographs I was pretty much an on-camera flash guy. I quickly learned to bounce light off walls and ceilings to eliminate the deer in the headlight looks so commonly found on direct flash shots. When I turned into a Strobist a couple years ago, I pretty much stopped shooting with on-camera flash and started putting my strobes in all types of places. I went back to my roots this weekend for several shots and was pleasantly reminded that on-camera flash, with proper bouncing of the light, is a great way to get the shot.

rED bLUE gREEN DAy 21

Day 21.

Inspired by a photo that David Hobby posted in his Flickr feed, I attempted to recreate his shot. I figured it would be good practice for product work.

Here is the set-up.


I created a shoot through light tent using an old box, I cut out a sunroof and covered it with printer paper. Using two strobes, I illuminated the background and the third strobe was for the box. It's a nice technique that would work good for any number of small items, including artwork or jewelry.

Through the viewfinder = Day 17

While cruising the Strobist Flickr pool, I came across a really great photo from Sharon Neel-Bagley. It's shot through the viewfinder of an antique Kodak Duaflex camera. I had never heard of such a style. I immediately jumped up and grabbed my Kodak Duaflex (circa 1950) camera to attempt some quick snaps. What better subject matter than a similar camera to the Duaflex, a Compco Reflex I. I think its a Duaflex knock-off. I paid less than $15 for both cameras at the flea market. It sits among my antique camera collection decorating my bookshelves at the house.


The setup was quick and dirty. I used my 5K Sunpak light and set them on the counter. With a close focusing 35 F2 lens I was able to manually focus the subject. I shot it at 1600 ISO to give it some grain. After cropping in Lightroom, I used Lightrooms built in preset for 'antique' to give it an old film look.

I need wine corks

Day 14.

I'm collecting wine corks for a conceptual photo I have planned. I only want the real, wooden type. If you can collect some corks for me I would appreciate it.

I built a homemade strip light for this shot. I took a small, rectangular box and cut out a window on one side. I then covered the inside of the box with aluminum tape to provide a reflective surface. I covered the opening with some white foam packing material to act as a diffusion. It's a mini-strip soft box. It works great with an SB-800. You can see it the lower corner of the setup shot.

Got a second six shooter

I invested in a second pro body for my photography. I received my Nikon D300 on Wednesday from Peace Street Camera (thanks Geoff) and have been putting it through it's paces over the last couple days. I call it the second six shooter as I now have two pro level cameras in which to work with with. My previous backup was a good camera (d50), but it lacked some tools that I learned to love.



So far I'm very impressed. My previous pro camera is the D200. The D300 is very similar yet offers increased resolution and some superior low light abilities. I plan on using it at weddings as my main natural light camera while utilizing the D200 as my main strobe tool.


I also had some family in town who didn't escape the new camera. This is my nephew Tucker trying to drill down to the root of the problem.

This is Ben, Tucker's older brother, hammering out the details.


















I'm running the new camera photos through Adobe Lightroom 1.3 and the latest Adobe Camera Raw software. I have yet to run a calibration script for the new camera, but I'm pleased with the images out of the box. I also installed a plug-in from Jeffrey Friedl's Blog that uploads a web ready image straight to my Flickr account.

I guess you could say I'm cutting edge. Latest version of Lightroom, the D300 and using the newest plugin to upload to Flickr. Yee haw!

Lemon Blues

I set the white balance on my camera to tungsten, this normally gives natural light a sureal blue tint when your light source isn't tungsten. I fired one strobe into a white background and with the tungsten white balance, it's now blue! I then gelled two strobes with tungsten balanced filters, bringing the white balance back to 'normal' on just the lemon and not the background.

Goes great with a glass of tea.

Scott Kelby's Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers

You may recall a few posts back where I switched to Adobe Lightroom for my RAW file image processing needs. I can completely endorse Lightroom as a tool for professional photographers. It has cut my work flow in half and added tools to my arsenal that are quick and functional. One of the biggest reasons I enjoy using Lightroom so much is Scott Kelby's book, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers,The (Voices That Matter).

Scott lays out each module of the software in a concise and proven manner. His delivery is great and includes tips with a taste of humor. If you've read other software books and had trouble staying awake, you might be pleasantly surprised with this book. I know it sounds funny, but the book has good flow to it. I'm sure it's because Lightroom has good flow to it as well and is very intuitive. When I first purchased Lightroom I made the decision to by a good book to go along with it and completely devote some serious time to the software. I've read this book from beginning to end. My style was to sit with the book and the software together so I could immediately test out the concepts and tools that Scott was trying to convey. This technique works great for my learning style. Your results may vary.

The book is great and the software is phenomenal. The section on camera calibration has significantly improved my photography. That's worth the price of admission right there! If you're using Lightroom (ver. 1.2 is current) and have yet to fully sink your teeth into it, I suggest investing in Scott's book. The last two chapters alone are worth the price of admission.

Becky & Brett's gallery is up!

Here it is! Link
It's pretty easy to see these two are in love with each other.

I also wanted to post this cake shot. The cake(s) are fairly conservative and even more so as they sat in an empty room with builder tan painted walls as a background. I'm starting to use a touch of color to bring some shots a touch of spark. The color starts off a touch blown out in this particular shot but the effect is dramatic. I used an SB-24 on a gorillapod and fired it with pocket wizards. I'll be doing more of this type of accent in the future.

100!
This post marks my 100th blog! Woo hoo!

East Coast School: 4 - Bob Boyd

Bob Boyd. Master photographer. Manipulator of light. Craftsman of the smile and maker of stunning portraits.

I didn't know it at the beginning of class but by the end of the class I knew I was learning under a legend and all around good guy. Bob is inspirational and immensely knowledgeable. My photography style is fairly modern with a slant towards journalistic. It must come from my love on National Geographic, but Bob was your classic portrait artist with the end result being that super print hanging in your living room as an heirloom. We're actually quite different when it comes to style, but similar when it comes to passion and the love of photography. I had an incredible time at his portrait class and took away ton of information that I'm keen to unleash on the world.

A shout out to my new friends in class. It was a real treat spending time with other professionals and I look forward to some long term relationships on a professional and friendship level. I can highly recommend the East Coast School and Professional Photographers of America. I'm in good company.

Fixed gears, red boilers and hearts

Last night I joined several of my riding buddies in downtown Raleigh for some riding and photography. My friend Jason built up a nice old Raleigh bike as a fixed gear and wanted some cool shots for his apartment. The above shot is at an old boiler turned modern art. I used my new heart bokeh trick as well as some colored gels.





I really like this last shot. It might as well be Paris instead of Raleigh. I used a flash to camera left with an amber gel to simulate sunset. I need to shoot more for myself as it really allows me to expand and experiment.

Flags and Hearts

Beautiful day this past weekend. No weddings or shoots and I spent the day with my family. My flag out the front door was looking rather nice.


I also got some time to experiment. I saw a post on DIYphotography.net about creating heart shape bokeh (or out of focus highlights for my non photographer readers). When I saw this, I knew I had to try it.



My first two shots are experimental and very basic. That's a rope of lights (green) and the second photo is one single light. The lights were about two feet back from the subject. I envision using this technique for reception shots where there are lots of sparkling lights to catch in the background. I'm going to make some other shapes too... diamonds, dog bones, chevy bowtie, fish... this could be very fun. No photoshop tricks in these photos. That's all in camera.




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Big Hair

Hannah styling the latest trend in hairstyles.

Tech: Viv 285 into soft umbrella fired via PWs. Trying a single light set-up.

They were giving the wigs out at the movie theatre for a promo. Hannah wore that thing with honor as we shopped around North Hills.

My progression to Lightroom for photo processing is coming along nicely. I've immersed myself in Scott Kelby's Lightroom Book (great book).

What a great piece of software. It's going to improve my images, increase my turn around time, make stunning galleries and promote one look and feel for everything Tim Broyer Photography related. If you are into digital photography, look at Lightroom. It's that good.

The kids are all right

No gigs this past weekend and that gave me a chance to catch up on some chores around the office. It comes as no surprise that when I'm in the office my daughter comes in. This time, she brought some buddies. From L-R, Hannah, Henry, Sophie and Will. I lit this with two strobes. One Viv 285 to camera right into a soft umbrella as a main light. One SB-800 to camera left into a soft umbrella as a little fill (could probably have used a touch more). What's so special? This image was processed in Lightroom.

Well, this post marks my transition to Adobe Lightroom for my image processing. I purchased a copy of it last week along with Scott Kelby's LR book. I'm going to commit myself to this product for many reasons. I'm just not getting the results I think I should have from Bibble for RAW processing. LR offers more tools and image controls not to mention library and HTML tools. By getting on the LR band wagon now, I will save money when it comes time to upgrade. Bibble would have cost me to upgrade as well. Bibble is not mainstream so online advice is lacking. Many quirks in Bibble not to mention it looks homemade. Don't get me wrong, Bibble is good product but I want excellence now.

My next wedding will be all LR and some Photoshop.

Natural Light

As I progress through the images from my last wedding, I was struck by a certain image. It's Ace, the ring bearer, from Angel and Derek's wedding. The shot was totally spur of the moment, but none the less, it's a keeper. More important to me is it's a natural light shot at low apeture. Not the easy shot to pull off in setting light.

Certainly not the best photos I've ever taken but it has spurred me to do more with natural light. Seems I've been consumed with off-camera lighting (thanks Strobist) but I also need to balance it with some good old fashion natural light. I'm thinking self-assigned natural light projects coming soon.










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