"The pictures you make are like a connect-the-dots game that becomes the line of your life, as real and vibrant as the lines on your face and hands. We tell stories with our pictures. In turn, our pictures tell our story - what we did, and how well or poorly we did it, and very significantly, if we stuck with it." - Joe McNally
Nick Colionne, Eight Ways
It's been several weeks (months?) since my last blog post; Spring is my most busy season, what with dance studio portraits, multi-performance dance concerts, and other end-of-school year projects. I'm still working through over 300 portraits from one of my dance studio clients. But sometimes a guy just has to take a break and do something for sheer fun. For me, it's photographing live music, and most often, it's at one of KSBR's "Gary and Kelly Show" broadcasts from the Norman P. Murray Center in Mission Viejo. Today's show featured Nick Colionne, who pretty much blew the roof off the place, as we all knew he would.
I've posted several images from previous outings at the Murray Center, and I have a gallery on the website solely devoted to artists photographed there. I've also discussed at some length the strategies needed to produce good images at this venue, primarily the need to shoot from the sides into the dark voids in what would otherwise be wings if this were a legit stage. Otherwise, shooting from the front toward the back produces utterly distracting and unmanageable backdrops to the artists, due to bright windows covered in sheer draperies lit by colored gels. Looks okay to the naked eye, but in photographs, no. I've also commented on the limited shooting angles here, necessitated by avoiding conflicts with the video crew and the audience members. Some of these shooting angles are measured literally in inches. Constrained as these angles are, photographs can tend to take on similar looks, and thus, become repetitive and boring, no matter how talented the artists are.
So lately I've turned to different post processing techniques to try to give fresh looks to otherwise repetitive compositions. I've found several I like, and will use them depending on the mood of the shot. These techniques are primarily based in Lightroom, my first stop in the post production process. Next comes a trip to Photoshop for more detailed or localized adjustments not possible in Lightroom, especially getting rid of distracting background elements. Finally, I'll employ one or more plug-ins from Nik Color Efex Pro if the mood of the shot would benefit from them.
Today, Nick Colionne provided opportunities to make use of many of these techniques. Colionne hails from Chicago, and was introduced to the music scene at a very early age. He auditioned and toured with the Staples Singers at the age of fifteen. His mom wanted him to play like Wes Montgomery. Dad wanted him to emulate the style of Kenny Burrell. Nick himself preferred Jimi Hendrix. Today, you can see all three of these influences in Nick, both musically and visually. (My first photograph of Nick Colionne, made at the 2013 KSBR Birthday Bash, immediately struck me as channeling Jimi Hendrix, before learning of Hendrix's influence on Nick. It's the photo at the top of this post.)
So today, we saw and heard each of these musical influences, which created visual moments captured on the sensor of my Canon 5D Mark III. These moments can be characterized, in the words of Jay Maisel, in terms of light, gesture, and color. Together, they create a mood, which leads me in certain directions. Sometimes I want to tone things down, while at other times I want to jack 'em up.
So here's Nick Colionne, captured and processed eight ways.
This image has relatively little post-processing. The lighting today, for some reason, rendered more yellow/red and contrasty than in previous broadcasts, so color correction and reduction in vibrance was applied globally to all of the images. This had the unfortunate result of washing out some of the blue in Nick's suit and hat. But it provides a baseline for further adjustments depending on the composition and mood of the frame.
As Nick's performance gets edgier, so too does my interpretation. More liberal application of mid-tone contrast (clarity), and less vibrance gives the shot a bit more "grit".
Then, as Nick does a vocal performance, his mood softens. A brief guitar riff between vocal passages produces an inward-focused moment. I look for these moments as they, too, tell a story. For me, they call for a softer, less aggressive approach. A subtle application of the "Midnight" filter in Color Efex Pro takes the edge off the scene, while at the same time helping to restore the blue of Nick's suit.
Here's another shot without much noticeable post-processing. What's missing from this frame are distracting elements in the original capture, including light leaks from the gridded soft box behind Nick, and miscellaneous fixtures on the wall. These distractions are easily removed in Photoshop.
The image above was the first one that immediately caught my eye. The combination of light flare on the headstock of the guitar and Nick's facial expression led me to hit the Lightroom sliders hard. Boosting contrast, clarity, and vibrance restored color intensity that was threatened by the flare. At the same time, the flare is the key element of the mood of the photograph.
This image is one where the mood is contemplative, but not downbeat. It called for a light touch. A slight boost in clarity, offset by reduction in vibrance to reduce redness in the skin, produced a more natural result than the camera's internal engine did.
Back to higher energy, both in terms of Nick's performance, as well as the clutter of visual elements in the frame. This is one of those shots where the shooting angle is so constrained. As a result, the image is a jumble of colors, lines, and shapes. Perhaps not the most immediately accessible frame, but it's still one I like, primarily due to Nick's facial expression. So I went with it, boosting contrast, clarity and vibrance again. I left in some of the elements I would normally clone out, such as the light leaks and red label on the video soft box behind Nick.
Here's the final frame of the day, made in the final moment of Nick's final song. This image is clean, focusing solely on Nick, his expression, and his interaction with the audience. What it doesn't have are: a headless portion of host Gary Bergeson behind Nick, unrecognizable foliage from the background at the upper left of the frame, portions of a desk at the bottom of the frame behind Nick, and a half-wall of purple color above a black fabric used to flag off stray light behind the desk. Each of these distracting elements were removed in Photoshop, not by the use of selections and extractions, but by careful cloning away of each separate piece of visual junk. And although the final result is devoid of any contextual elements present in the other photos, the starkness of Nick's expression, and his engagement with the unseen audience, is a more powerful representation of this very talented individual. Would this treatment work in all cases, with every artist? Probably not. But for Nick Colionne? Most definitely.
The Fashion Show
Every once in a while I get to do something I've never done before. A few weeks ago, I was asked to volunteer my services in support of the Santa Margarita Catholic High School Mothers Club annual fund-raising senior fashion show. Well, I've never shot a runway fashion show before, so I said, "Why not?" As it turned out, I joined dozens of Santa Margarita students who also had never done anything like this before as well. Together, it was a fun ride.
The show had previously been staged in the school gymnasium, but this year, the organizing committee of the Mothers Club was able to secure the services of a professional fashion show producer, James Campbell, and the use of the neighboring San Francisco Solano Church Parish Hall, which was still under construction when rehearsals began. So the group conducted its first rehearsals in the courtyard outside the church. Most of the kids had no clue what they were doing (and some were wondering why they had been volunteered into doing this).
First lessons included how to walk like a runway model.
It was easier for some to grasp than for others...
The guys were even talked into learning some choreography, to Justin Timberlake's new release, "Suit and Tie", a perfect piece. The guys' ability to pick up the choreography....not so perfect.
Eventually, things began to shape up.
Though there were always a few that just didn't quite get it. if it was a guy, he was subjected to good natured ridicule from guys who probably just squeeked by themselves....
As the show neared, the kids finally got to move into the new Parish Hall for two final rehearsals.
The day before the show, the crews came in and transformed the Parish Hall into a full-fledged fashion show venue, complete with elevated runway and wings to create entry and exit points. The lighting crew erected a scaffold filled with LED lighting focused on the runway, which would be my shooting position. The power required for this rig pretty much taxed the load designed into the building, preventing the producers from bringing all the light they were used to. But things were rapidly coming together, which was a good thing, as the show was just 24 hours away. You could see the progress that the producers and the kids had made.
Sunday was show day. The event began with a boutique and a luncheon. To give some insight into the behind-the-scenes activities of the day, I like to shoot details of things like the clothing and food prep.
The event was catered by Dave Hanna, owner of Hanna's Prime Steak in Rancho Santa Margarita. Not only is Hanna's the best restaurant in town, but Dave Hanna has got to be the most active businessman in town when it comes to supporting charitable activities. Here's Dave pausing during the morning rush to speak with guests.
After lunch, the show began. It was at this point that I realized that the big white void above the back of the runway was actually a video screen, showing the logos of the merchants who provided the models' clothing. Unfortunate for me, because I had dialed in a shutter speed of 1/125 or 1/160 of a second to freeze the models as they walked down the runway. That shutter speed was way faster than the video image cycling. The result was unacceptable color banding across the video screen. I would eventually have to desaturate the video screen in Photoshop, rendering it essentially in black and white. Occasionally, I was able to save some color. But the focus was on the models, who now walked the runway with confidence and poise. The audience was blown away. From my vantage point, so was I. It was great to have a bunch of dads around me, marveling at their sons doing something they'd never imagined they'd ever do.
The girls rocked it!
Even the guys' choreography looked sharp.
The merchants' part of the show concluded with some formal wear.
Finally, a parade of graduating seniors in their soon-to-be college sweatshirts.
All in all, it was a great day for everyone.
One Lighting Setup, Three Looks
Here's a quick tip on getting three different looks from one lighting grid, without moving a single light.
Today I received another urgent request for a quick headshot for a young dancer, Halley, who has been accepted into a fashion show/dance competition. She needed the headshot for the event program. So it was time to set up the Qflash in the Kacey beauty dish as a key light, with a collapsible white muslin backdrop lit by two speed lights. The speed lights are unmodified, except for flipping down the built-in wide angle diffuser and attaching a velcro'd Honl Speed Gobo to flag off the light from spilling onto the subject.
The hardest part of this setup is getting even light across the backdrop with the two speed lights. I place each one about two feet outside the backdrop, about one to two feet in front of it, each one twisted vertically and aimed across to the opposite edge of the backdrop. This cross lighting, aimed properly, provides fairly even lighting across the entire backdrop. It requires multiple tweaks to get the coverage even. I check it first by using my light meter at various places on the backdrop. I then examine the coverage more closely by using the highlight clipping warnings on the LCD of the camera. With a constant ISO of 200, a shutter speed of 1/160 and aperture at f/8, adjusting the power levels and aiming the flashes will eventually trigger clipping across the entire sweep. Stopping down the aperture incrementally will reveal where the clipping drops off. From there, more careful aiming can reveal exactly where the light is hitting the backdrop. Once this precise aiming is complete, you can then dial up the flashes to blow out white, or leave them just below clipping, as I did here, according to your taste.
From there, the key light is placed in a clamshell configuration, centered above Halley about three or four feet in front, with a reflector below. I first used a white foamcore fill board, then decided to decrease the lighting ratio even more by substituting a silver reflector, placed immediately out of frame below her. With the backdrop metered at f/11 and the key light giving me 1/160 at f/8, here's the result:
After making several frames with this setup, the second look is achieved by simply turning off the speed lights. The falloff from the key light renders the backdrop a darker gray. Still at 1/160 at f/8. No other change was made. Here's the result:
From here, the next move is dramatic, but the lighting setup hasn't changed at all. What has changed is the camera position. I've moved about 120 degrees to my right. Halley is now rendered in perfect profile. I've taken the white collapsible muslin (which has a black side on the reverse), and placed it to what was the previously the camera left side of Halley, now behind her relative to the new camera position. That prevents spill from the beauty dish from contaminating the background. Why 120 degrees rather than a straightforward 90 degrees? Because at a 90 degree angle, the coverage from the beauty dish provided more illumination on Halley's cheek and hair than I wanted. From my position at 120 degrees, and turning Halley that extra 30 degrees toward me (leaving me 90 degrees from her - a perfect profile), the light is coming from slightly behind her, wrapping around her slightly, then falling off rapidly. The result is beautiful, and dramatically different from the look with which we began the shoot.
Still at f/8 and 1/160.
The Busy Season
Some photographers (i.e. the good and famous ones), are noted for either a specialty, such as landscapes, or portraiture, weddings, sports, or whatever, while others are known for a particular style. Then there are guys like me, who shoot everything under the sun, and hope that something sticks. I'm being a bit hard on myself, because just about everything I shoot these days is in response to a request, whether paid or not. So I've set myself up for this, and I'm certainly not complaining. The point, however, is this: no matter what the assignment, whether it's a dance competition, headshots, a charity event, or family portraits, the photographer has to bring all of his or her skill, experience, and perspective to the assignment. That doesn't mean pigeonholing the client's needs into the photographer's own "art"; it means drawing on the photographer's experience, technique, and ability to see and tell the story visually, no matter what the assignment demands.
My last blog post was in early February, and here it is in mid-April. In the intervening weeks, I've had fourteen assignments, some requiring only a small amount of time, and others covering multiple days of shooting in high volume, with similar demands on the back end, editing and delivering the final images.
The first assignment came from the Advancement Office at Santa Margarita Catholic High School, where I volunteer my photography services on request. This one was to cover the visit of Bishop Kevin Vann, the new Bishop of the Diocese of Orange. Bishop Vann's visit to the school was his first public appearance in his new role, and the school was very proud to welcome him to celebrate the Mass. This was the kind of assignment that demanded a quick turnaround, as the school and the Diocese both wanted photos as soon as possible. This image was my favorite of the day, isolating Bishop Vann visually, with a diffused background of students in the gym.
Later that same day, I traveled to the theater at Soka University in Aliso Viejo to photograph the first Winter Showcase of the JSerra Catholic High School performing arts department. This production featured drama, musical theatre, dance, vocal, and instrumental music. I shot two rehearsals and the performance over a two night period. Lots of good images came from this venue; one of my favorites was of this violin player, whom I placed in the center spotlight during a break in the rehearsal. Normally, performance photos are "found"; this one was "made".
Two days later, still in a black and white mood, I covered another live radio broadcast of the Gary and Kelly Show on KSBR, featuring pianist and composer Brian Simpson.
I picked up a new dance studio client, Center Stage Dance and Performing Arts in my hometown of Rancho Santa Margarita. My first assignment was to photograph their Dance Team. This engagement included photographing approximately fifteen groups and individual portraits of each dancer. Because some of the groups were quite large, the lighting setup was intentionally broad, flat and flexible. Not particularly artistic, but appropriate for the fast-paced progression of groups, individuals, groups, and more individuals. So, from a photographic perspective, I can't say that this was an "artistic" result, but it was a success from the clients' point of view. For my purposes here, the photograph presented below represented a highlight of the weekend. This is Brooke Schulte, trying to replicate a jump attempted by a previous dancer. In two attempts, she nailed it.
This was a high-volume project requiring about two weeks of editing and order fulfillment. As soon as it was completed, I was back in dance competition mode, this time at Santiago High School in Corona, one of my least favorite venues. Why? Because the gym floor is the darkest place in the entire gym, and it usually requires significant post processing to pull anything usable from the captures. This time, however, there was some sunlight filtering through the windows, enabling me to get some direction to the light and better shots than on other occasions. Empty bleachers on the other side "helped", at least in that there were no other distractions back there.
Two days later, I was in mid-afternoon sun shooting 65 members of the SMCHS Pep Squad. Shooting in mid-day sun requires careful attention to mitigating the harsh shadows cast by the sun, which at this time of day is behind the camera-right shoulders of the girls. Filled properly, the sun angle presents a pleasing rim light; improperly filled, it could be a mess. The challenge here is wrangling all 65 members of the squad across the chosen location, taking into consideration the placement of the individuals as well as the curvature of the group, and lighting them effectively.
The location selected for the individual portraits provided the same challenge: harsh side lighting and deep shadow on the other side of the face. Not really a problem, though. I asked another squad member to hold a two-stop scrim just out of frame between the sun and the subject, and filled the face with light I could control, in this case a Qflash in a socked beauty dish. At the end of the session, I asked one of the girls, Mari Yacoubian, to take a different pose for a more casual look, but I used the same technique to diffuse the harsh afternoon sun and fill with flash.
Two days later, it was young actor headshot time. I've photographed the St. John's Episcopal School Middle School play for the past seven years. This year's production is "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". Big cast, young cast. I tried a different approach here. One light in a 72-inch diffused Westcott umbrella with a white seamless behind. Placed properly, this one light gives an almost shadowless look vis-a-vis the background. If you look closely at the catchlights in Lexi's eyes, you can see me, blocking the lower portion of the light.
The very next day, it was back to high school dance competition, this time at Glendale High School for the CADTD State Championships. I had never photographed anything at Glendale High School, so I wondered what kind of knuckleball this venue would present. Friday night was the preliminary solo competition, held in the school auditorium rather than the gym. Nirvanna! No crappy gym light, no distracting gym floor or bleachers behind the dancers. This was like studio competitions, but with no annoying competition banner behind the stage. What could be better than that?? Here's what: Ashley Traber of Saugus High School. When I shot this, I knew she had nailed the leap; when I opened the image on my computer, I literally stared at it for nearly thirty minutes. My favorite image of the year.
Well, this was the high point of the competition. The rest of the event transpired in two gyms, one decent and one absolutely devoid of anything to work with. I was spoiled.
I'd say that at least 75% of what I shoot involves performing arts or performers of one sort or another. So shooting products and architecture takes me out of my comfort zone. But for the past three years, I've shot the National Charity League Canyon Chapter's annual Home Tour. It involves careful awareness of my own limitations of equipment (no Tilt/Shift lenses to mitigate wide angle lens distortion) and access to the properties. So you get what you can, and concentrate on the environment, the details, and the people.
Three days later, back to performances. I've been blessed with the opportunity to photograph the Tesoro High School choral groups twice now; most recently at their Spring Concert. For this particular engagement, Director Keith Hancock asked me to get some shots of him directing the Madrigals. This sounds like a pretty straightforward photo, until you realize that the subjects (Keith and the singers), are facing each other, and the photographer has no angle to capture both, except in profile, and even then, with no angle to get the whole group without Keith's back to me. Well, I got those shots, and they're competent frames. To get them, I concentrated on the Director, timing my shutter to his instantaneous movements. But for me, the better shot was made in the tight corner of the stage, tucked in next to the singers, during the final rehearsal. What did I see from there? The light on Keith's face, bounced back into it from behind him via the sheet music on his piano. Sheet music fill light; what could be more beautiful?
Two days later, it was back in mid-day sun covering the Special Olympics at SMCHS. This was a huge event at the school, with hundreds of athletes of varying ages from all over Orange County competing in track and field events. Lots of opportunities for good picture making. My favorite of the day was this guy, the winner of his 50-yard dash. It's the thrill of victory. And as I said when I posted this shot on Facebook that day, there was no agony of defeat that day, anywhere.
Two days later, a celebration of a different kind, the commissioning of Lieutenant Sean Watson into the United States Marine Corps. I had photographed Sean first several years ago, as he came back to St. John's as a high schooler to portray the Cat in the Hat in St. John's production of "Seussical the Musical". Little did I know that the next time I saw him, it would be on the Janss Steps at UCLA receiving his commission. Photographically, this was actually a tough gig. Absolute mid-day sun (high noon), in a ceremony that lasted only five or ten minutes. Gotta get everything and get it quickly. Followed by portraits of family and friends, while the restaurant was holding our reservation. No pressure there.... So after the ceremony, I asked Sean to follow me to the colonnade at the front of Royce Hall, where I could find some soft yet directional, diffused light. Three minutes and we were out of there.
With all of this activity, I was a very busy guy. But just when I completed delivery of all of these disparate projects, another one flew in over the transom. One of my favorite dancers, Emily Justiniano, needed some senior photos quickly. I mean, like now. Her mom had an idea to create some cap and gown shots with Emily en pointe, so off we went to the Mission Viejo Library to place Emily in the stacks. I had done a variation on this theme two years ago with the seniors on the SMCHS Dance Team for a calendar project, so this was an easy task. One speedlight in a Westcott Asymmetrical Strip Bank and we had the shot. The scholarly dancer who's going to study the human body.
Emily wanted some more "traditional" senior portraits, so we went over to the windows for some casual, relaxed looks. No lights, no reflectors, no nothin'.
That night, I delivered her favorites of the day, in time to make her deadlines.
Right now, I'm smack in the middle of the busy season. This week it's more volunteer work at SMCHS, including shots for the school's publications, plus rehearsals and staging of a runway fashion show fundraiser and the Middle School play, all in the same week. Then it's more portraiture, and vocal and dance concerts followed by studio dance recital season.
I need a bigger hard drive. And vitamins.
Sophie, On a Moment's Notice
Lots of good, young, ballet dancers aspire to attend summer intensive workshops put on by some of the most prestigious ballet companies in the nation. To be accepted, the girls need to submit an application, accompanied by a photo of the dancer doing one or more ballet poses, including an arabesque, and a headshot. Many times, a dancer (or a bunch of dancers at a studio) will simply have a mom or dad with a camera snap a frame or two at the studio and submit them with the girls' applications. So these apparently don't need to be portfolio shots, but they get the job done.
Me? I'm not satisfied with that approach. I've done several of these audition sessions. Until last night, my approach has been to set up a white backdrop, whether muslin or 12' seamless, and light the heck out of it. Last time I did this, I set up two completely separate shooting sets, one for the dance pose and another for the headshot. The dance pose was lit by four moonlights, including a key fitted with a big octa, a broad umbrella fill, and two accent lights in stripbanks. The headshot was lit with a Qflash in a beauty dish augmented with two speedlights to hit the back. Lots of setup time, but when you're shooting a dozen or more girls, the results were worth it.
So yesterday (Wednesday), I got an urgent phone call from a mom whose daughter, Sophie, needed an arabesque/headshot combo for an audition this weekend. She needed the photos ASAP. Uh, okay.... I'm thinking to myself, how am I going to pull this off? No time to set up the usual grid, and I certainly don't want to set up two. But the most important aspect is the need to have a qualified ballet instructor present to ensure that the pose is good, and that the image selected is the best one captured. So I immediately called the studio, whose staff helped secure the assistance of one of the instructors who kindly agreed to stay after her last class to help with this.
Knowing that the instructor would stay after class was a big relief, but the pressure to set up quickly and efficiently to not abuse her generosity weighed heavily in my thoughts on the approach I decided to take. First off, no backdrop. Setup time for the seamless is not long, but steaming a muslin would be out of the question. Instead, I decided to use the environment of the studio, including the marley floor and the ballet barre as a setting. My lights of choice: the Qflash T5DR mounted in a Photek 60" Softlighter to provide a big, soft, pillow of light. It was set just to the left of the camera position, because I wanted to get a slight gradient effect from left to right as the light falls off. In post, I decided that the gradient was a distraction, and a quick fix in Lightroom took care of that. The other light was an unmodified speedlight from camera left pointing to the wall, to add a bit of spark to Sophie's face and knock down the barre shadows just a bit. Manual mode, maybe 1/32 power.
We needed to get in and get out quickly, so I put together the Qflash and Softlighter at home and brought it to the studio already assembled. I even decided on exposure settings ahead of time: ISO 400, f/6.3 at 1/160 of a second. I set the Qflash to give me that at around 6 feet away from Sophie. I also mounted the speedlight on a small stand at home. On arrival, all I needed to do was mount the main light on a C stand and check the exposures of both the key and accent lights with my trusty Sekonic flash meter. Total setup time: less than five minutes. Call in the instructor, make about 20 frames, and here's the result:
I'll take it. Sophie's form is good, the instructor's happy, Sophie's happy, and that's what matters.
So on to the headshot. I brought a popup Westcott black/white reversible "Illumimator" muslin with me. Allowing it to spring open and propping it up on the floor against the wall, it became my backdrop. I put Sophie on a stool about two feet in front of it. I moved the speedlight on the stand to a position immediately behind Sophie (so as not to see it), opened its zoom setting to it's widest at 14mm, aimed it at the backdrop and metered it to just clip behind her head (giving me f/16). I then moved the Softlighter to a position about 3 feet from Sophie at about an 11:30 position. Not quite straight over camera position, but close. Dialed down the power and metered her face at f/8. I then asked her mom to sit on the floor in front of Sophie and hold up a white foamcore fill card just out of frame below her chest. Total setup and test time, less than five minutes. Because Sophie has a perfect face, about ten snaps later we have this:
I like delivering headshots in landscape orientation. It allows me to put the subject's name in an attractive font to the side of the image if desired. Plus, I just like the look of a horizontal headshot better than the old-school vertical.
So, from arrival at the studio to turning the lights off and locking the door, we spent less than an hour. Post-processing at home was minimal, including cloning out some distractions on the floor and wall on the arabesque shot, and not much on the headshot. Delivered five shots to Sophie's mom last night via email. She prints them today, and Sophie's good to go for Saturday.