Third First

The home studio has been inactive for a while, but I got to set it up recently to shoot this little girl's portrait commemorating her first Holy Communion. I was also fortunate to have done this for her two older sisters.

This is a fairly simple setup. I used my Alien Bees in the large octo-box for the main light camera left and one of my Nikon SB-800 shoe mount strobes with a Photoflex Lightdome XS softbox camera right to the rear. The AB was triggered by cybersync radio remote, the SB-800 was triggered in SU-4 slave mode. The backdrop is my go-to plain white paper.

I posted about her older sister's portrait in this post...

All in a Days work

It is a bit of a hassle to set it all up and take it back down for a ten minute shoot, but I do miss it sometimes.

--Steve

Edisto Pano

It has been a while since my last post. Guess I haven't had much to post about. I have not picked up my camera in weeks.

Anyway, we were at Edisto for Easter weekend and I did take my camera. Unfortunatly I forgot to take a CF card. #FAIL. I did have my crappy Blackberry and it will do in a pinch. I snapped this nine shot paonorama and put together with Autostich. Not bad for a crappy cell phone camera. I have vowed to start carrying the camera bag with me (CF card included) now that the weather appears to be on the up.

--Steve

Self Portrait

My work with CGT capturing environmental portraits of our field personnel has come to an end, at least for the time being. I had set up for the last shoot in our control room area and before I took all of my gear back to the car I took about an hour or so in our server room to make this self portrait. I had wanted a good professional portrait for my on-line profile pictures so I took advantage of the opportunity of having all my lighting gear in the building.

This one uses pretty much the same lighting setup that I have used for the other shots with the exception of a bare SB-800 with a blue gel pointed at the rack on the left side of the image. The light was flagged off by a server cabinet so there was very little spill on me.

Making self portraits without assistance is pretty hard to do, at least is for me, but after taking several images from different angles I was reasonably happy with this one.

--Steve

On assignment for CGT

I spent a morning in Aiken this week where Carolina Gas Transmission is replacing an 8 mile section of natural gas transmission pipeline. My assignment was to make a portrait of one of their engineers for the corporate marketing department. I like these assignments because, while I am given some general guidelines, much of the creative process is left up to me. There is also the element of the unknown, I never know exactly what the environmental conditions are going to be. Fortunately everything came together one this one. The setting was perfect for what I needed, and the 'talent' was cooperative and willing.

Lighting was pretty simple. SB-800s fired with Nikon's CLS system. One camera left with the Photoflex Lightdome XS softbox at full power, a second bare flash camera right behind the subject at 1\4 power for a little rim light. Quick and simple setup, the whole thing took about 20 minutes to set up, shoot and take down. Another field assignment is coming up in September, stay tuned.

--Steve

Rockbridge Men's Night for Frances' fight

---

The other day my Friend Summer Duffie called and told me about Frances Carmichael Reynolds. She is battling her second round with breast cancer and Summers and his friends at The Rockbridge Club hatched a plan to shave their heads as public show of support for their friend. By the time I had listened to the heart rending story of Frances and the desire of these good men to show solidarity with her, I was ready to join in and have my pate shorn as well. That was not what Summers had in mind, he needed, as he put it, a ‘sho-nuff’ photographer to document the spectacle. I was only too happy to oblige.

Frances Carmichael Reynolds

This was a special event, and I wanted to capture it with a touch of flare. I knew that an event like this would call for on-camera flash, as I would be moving around a good bit shooting not only the cutting but some of the large crowd that would be there to watch. On-camera is fine for this sort of thing, but I wanted to do something to add some pop. I had no idea how they were going to set up, but I knew that the men would be stationary while having the locks removed. This means that there is an opportunity to use off-camera flash.

I came up with a plan to use a second strobe on a light stand with a CTO warming gel as a back/rim light. This would add some shape to the subjects, particularly as the roundness of their heads was laid bare, so to speak. The warming gel would imitate the early evening setting sun and make for a natural look while adding some contrast. Fortunatly everything took place in pretty much full shade, which meant that I could have full control of the light.

The tricky part was how to trigger the second flash. I could have relied on optical slave as my SB-800s strobes have this capability built in, but I knew there would be other people there taking photos for themselves. Their camera flashes would be firing my strobe, not a good thing. Radio trigger is the only option in this scenario, and I have a set of Paul C. Buff cybersyncs that do a great job of this. One problem though, if I was going to use on-camera flash then there is no place for my shoe mount trigger. Fortunately my Nikon D200 has a built in PC socket and I was able to use that with the trigger. I connected the trigger with a PC cable and used a Wein hot shoe that I had from my early days of shooting with sync cords (I still carry this stuff in my bag as a backup). I was using my Custom Bracket CB Junior for the on camera strobe with a Nikon SC-28 TTL cord. The SC-28 has a nice flat top the camera side connector so I attached the Wein hot shoe using Velcro. Not a perfect set up but hey, it worked. And I was able to pull this off on short notice with the gear I had on hand. The group photo above was done with this setup. I moved the gelled strobe to a potition behind the men and made the shot using the on camera flash in TTL mode. I was quite pleased with the results.

Here are a few of the men having their heads denuded...

Summers Duffie

So, what did I learn from this. Well for one, always consider how off camera light can be used to make better images. Two, be ready for anything and think outside the box. I had to stretch myself to come up with a setup that worked with the gear that was already in my bag and I did it with very little notice. Three, photography is hard work. By the time this one was over I was sweating like a mule.

Aside from the satisfaction of pulling this off, I must say that I was very touched and inspired by this whole event. I should also give a shout out to Great Clips for providing their expertise in head shearing. This was an awesome example of a community coming together in support of one of their own.

--Steve

CN Girls

We held a photo shoot at the SC State House grounds yesterday for Taylor and a few of her friends from Cardinal Newman School (CN). It was hot afternoon, but we found a shady spot to set up.

I used a pair of SB-800 strobes on stands left and right with shoot through umbrellas. Shooting groups this large outdoors requires nearly full power from strobes this small. Not a problem, but the recycle time is around 7 seconds so you have to adjust the pace of your shooting. Other than that, this setup is pretty much bullet proof. Nothing fancy, just nice soft even light.

In addition to the groups, we did individual and buddy shots. This was a lot of fun, but next year maybe we’ll wait until October, just too hot in August around here.

--Steve

The Edisto Mystery Tree

The Mystery Tree of Edisto Island, SC stands in the salt marsh just a few paces off of highway 174 directly across from Botany Bay Road. No one seems to know the origin of the tree or who decorates it, but its theme changes with the seasons. Patriotic in the summer, Christmas in the winter even pink hearts and cupids in February. The Mystery Tree has become a local landmark, and a symbol of Edisto’s laid back care free attitude.

Some say, however, that there is something more sinister afoot. The tree is a marker for, and reminder of the evils of slavery that occurred just down the road at Botany Bay Plantation. The gaudy decorations are there to chase away the evil spirits that emanate from that place.

Either way the tree, for many, is a reminder of the good times shared with family and friends at Edisto. Each time, as we make our way down the lonely highway to the beach, there sits the tree waiting to greet us with assurance that good times are just ahead.

This photo was captured just after sunset. The tree is lit with 2 SB-800 strobes, right and left. Both strobes were fitted with Honl full green gels. Color correction in Lightroom 3 shifts the color balance to match the green gel and gives the sky a magenta cast.

--Steve

Jessica Ryan Seal, With Honors

We are very proud of our daughter Jessica here at Steven W. Seal Photography. She graduated with honors and is in the top 5% of her class of 484. She will enter the University of South Carolina this fall following the Gamecock family tradition. Way to go Jessica!

This portrait uses the same set up as for my friend Barney in the previous post.

--Steve

DIY Florescent Keno-Flo Lights

I've been wanting to build a pair of these floresent strip lights ever since I saw this post by David X. Tejada on his blog a couple of years ago here - Annual Report Photographer David Tejada "The f-Stops Here". These were pretty easy to put together, it just took a few minutes per light.

My subject here is my friend Barney, he came by the other day and I coerced him into setting for a few shots. I used the lights as fill on either side of his face in addition to three shoe mount strobes, one high on axis, and the other two left and right behind him. Post processing in Lightroom 3.

In addition to creating those weird catch lights in the eyes and reflections on his glasses, which I do like, the lights add just a little shadowless fill that appears to come from nowhere.

I'm looking forward to finding new ways to incorporate these lights in my other work.

--Steve

Gills Creek

I've been looking for places to do some nature/landscape photography. I found this spot on a lunch break near my office. This is a creek that feeds into the Congaree river near the Congaree National Park. hopefully I will get some time to get out and shoot some more before it gets too hot, and the bugs get bad.

--Steve

The best camera in the world

So, what is the best camera in the world. Why that's simple, the best camera in the world is the one you have with you.

Case in point. I was in Calgary last week on work related business. I left the real cameras at home because i did not think we would have time to make the one and a half hour trip over to Banff. I was wrong. I did, however, have a camera. The crappy little one in my company Blackberry. Naturally I put it to use.

The results were pretty good and with a little post processing in Lightroom 3, I manged to squeeze some pretty tasty stuff out of that Blackberry. The one above is a 4 image panorama composite.

So, remember, cameras don't make photographs, photographers do.








--Steve

Senior 411 cards

I recently partnered up with MPIXPro for print and press products. They have some really cool ideas for high school seniors this year including these senior 411 calling cards.

I really like these. I think they make a nice addition to the traditional graduation invitation which are sent to family and close friends who you plan to have at the graduation ceremony. 411 cards can be sent as an announcement after graduation and added in with thank you notes.

We are planning to do these for our own daughter who is graduating next month. Contact me if you might be interested and pass this along to any seniors that you know.

Here are a few more examples.







Check out MIPXPro for more cool stuff...


--Steve

High Speed Sync

Nikon has a really cool feature in their flash system called high speed sync. It allows you to shoot at very high shutter speeds to 'kill' the ambient/background light and therefore control your depth of field with aperture.

This was taken at 1/8000 sec at f/2.8. The subject was sitting indoors with a full daylight background. Normally this would be impossible to balance, but with the high speed sync option it's a pretty simple deal.

If you are a Nikon shooter, give this a try. I'm betting you get some pretty interesting results.

--Steve

Carolina Gas Transmission pt. 4

The CGT People and Places project continues. This time out side at a valve station. Work was being done to run a smart pig through an 8 mile section of high pressure gas pipeline near Aiken, SC. A smart pig is not an animal but rather a highly sophisticated piece of electronic equipment that can perform all manor of analysis on a section of pipe. Launch the pig from point A, retrieve it at point B. Easy right?

After the pigging was complete and everyone cleared out I set up and made this portrait. Lighting set up pretty much the same as the others.

One more and this project is a wrap.

Cheers,
--Steve

Carolina Gas Transmission pt. 3

Continuing to work on the people and places project at CGT. This one was taken at one of our compressor stations. We were inside one of the buildings that houses 2 1,200 horse power gas fired turbine compressors.

Lighting setup: SB-800 camera left with Photoflex Lightdome XS, 1/4 power. Vivitar 285 1/16 power camera right and back. Reflector disk camera right front low, SB-800 1/16 power on compressor unit.

--Steve

Some favorites from the last few years

Looking through some of my work from the past few years and decided to put together a quick portfolio page. I really need to update my portfolio galleries on the main site but who has the time, amirite? Anyway, follow the link and have a look at some my favorites. Hopfully I will have some more in the coming days/weeks.

Portraits portfolio

Cheers
--Steve

White Christmas (almost)

Here in the midlands of South Carolina, we have always dreamed of the elusive White Christmas and in 2010 we got our wish. Well almost. The snow came a day late, but it was just as sweet. Indeed, this was the first time ever for significant Christmas snow in Columbia since records were first kept in 1887.

The great part about snow in this part of the world is that it rarely lasts on the ground more than a day or two.

The photo above is a composite of three images, blended together using an HDR program called Photomatix. The process brings out the colors in the shadow areas while allowing details to come through in the high lights.

Merry Christmas,
-- Steve

Merry Christmas

This is our miniature schnauzer Tucker, aka the LBD (Little Black Dog). I set up the studio last night for a portrait session, and before taking everything down we set Tucker in front of the lights and posed him in his Santa outfit. He didn't much care for this arrangement so I had to work quickly. Anyway the results are quite amusing I think.

Lighting setup: Alien Bees 800 w/ Large octo-box left, SB800 w/ Lightdome sx softbox above, Photoflex multi disk reflector right, sb800 w/ Honl neutral density filter left rear. Camera: D200, Lens: 50mm f/1.4. ISO:200.

Thanks to all of you who have supported us over the years. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Carolina Gas Transmission pt. 2

I have been continuing my project for Carolina Gas Transmission, finishing up the last of the people photos. This one was out on some right of way north of downtown Columbia. The weather was iffy, it had rained all night and more was on the way. We caught a break in the weather just after sun rise and got the shot.

The setup is pretty much the same as what I have used for the other portraits. I used the Photoflex Lightdome XS softbox with an SB-800 for key camera left. A second sb-800 camera right and behind for rim light. These portraits are going to matted and framed for the Field Ops Center, so I want a consistent look to the lighting.



This one was shot with the same light setup. The location was a measurement station near our corporate heaquarters. It was mid day, but we were working in shade so I was able to use the lights to balance the ambient.

Thanks for looking.

--Steve

Carolina Gas Transmission

Most of you who know me know that photography is not my full time job. I work days as a systems administrator for Carolina Gas Transmission, a natural gas pipeline company and subsidiary of SCANA. Occasionally they ask me to shoot photos around the company for various uses. Today I traveled around the area with a couple of co-workers shooting some company facilities and rights of way. I was also commissioned to shoot environmental portraits of two of our employees.

The one above was one of my favorites. We found a spot of shade outside at one of our compressor stations and set up a couple of SB-800s on light stands. The key light was camera left with a Photoflex Lightdome XS softbox. The second was camera right and slightly behind with just a snoot. A reflector disk was held low camera right by one of my travel companions. Post processing in Lightroom and CS4.



This one was shot inside one of the compressor buildings. Same lighting set up but this one has a darker look and feel to it.

Oh and yes, it was hot out there today :P

Thanks for looking.

--Steve