Merry Christmas

SWS Photography world headquarters.

Merry Christmas from Steven W. Seal Photography. It has been another great year for us. Many unique opportunities have presented themselves this year as well a a few surprises and we are looking forward to 2010 with anticipation.

-- Steve

Christmas card photos, there's still time!

Christmas is just a few weeks away, but there is still time to shoot photos of the little ones (or big ones) for Christmas cards. We can create a custom 4x8 card for you, and have them shipped directly to you. We even include the envelopes, so all you have to do is address them and drop then in the mail (sorry, we can't help you with that part).

Our basic package is $100 which includes 50 4x8 cards. Other options are available, so contact us if you have any questions, or would like to schedule a session.

-- Steve

Executive decisions

Chuck Howell, CEO of AQA International contacted us recently to shoot a photo of him for an upcoming book. The shot called for a full length portrait and we wanted something that would stand out.

We originally tried this in our study at the house, but the setting just wasn't quite right. After talking it over with Chuck, we agreed to reshoot at his office. This turned out to be a much better location. There is a large conference room at the office with the AQA logo on one wall.

Once I saw the logo, I knew we needed to incorporate it into the shot. I did this by lighting it separately with a single speed light with a snoot to restrict the light. I also added an orange gel to warm the light a bit.

Once that was sorted I made a few test shots with just the light on the logo to get the exposure that I wanted. Then I used a second speed light shooting into a white umbrella as the main light on the subject. A little post processing in Light Room and Photoshop and Bob’s yer uncle.

-- Steve

SC Watermelon Queen

Summers Slaton is the reigning SC Watermelon Queen. Summers and her family are old friends and it was a real pleasure to make these photos for her in preparation for the national Watermelon Pageant. These were done with a glamour style of lighting which really works well for this sort of thing. The main light is on axis with the subject and slightly above. Various reflectors and fill lights were used to minimise shadows rendering a flat yet flattering light quality.

With such good material to work with, minimal retouching is required ;O) This one was a lot of fun.

Steve

Here are a few more...

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More from Banff

I have posted a few more photos from Banff on the Smugmug site. Click on the image above for more.

SC State Fair

Well, it's late October in South Carolina which means that the State Fair has come and gone. This year we entered 2 photos in the professional fine arts division. Both photos were processed with Photomatix High Dynamic Range (HDR) software. This process involves taking multiple images captured at different exposure values, then using the HDR software to process the images using tone mapping. The results can be very interesting.

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Olympia Grocery.

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Funky Little Shack

We didn't receive any awards, but still, this is a great way to have your work viewed by lots of people.

Lake Minnewanka

I spent 4 days in the Canadian rockies this week attending a conference. It was a busy week, but I managed to get out on my own for a few hours on the last day and photograph some of the scenery. It was, in a word, breathtaking.

The photo above is a composite panorama of nine images taken at Lake Minnewanka just outside of Banff. A little snow on the peaks would have made this perfect. Maybe I'll get have better luck next time.

I will have more from the trip on smugmug soon, so check back often.

-- Steve

SCANA Insights

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Three of our photos were published in the latest issue of SCANA's Insights magazine. The photos are part of an article about Carolina Gas Transmission on page 25. A PDF version is available on line here. The photos were made several months ago at the request of the CGT Customer Services group. They were originally to be used for the company's web site, however, they were not well suited for that. A few others were eventually used in the company's customer brochure. Today's publication came as a bit of a suprise. A welcome suprise to be sure.

In the Garden

I photographed these two young ladies this past Saturday in their back yard. Simple setup, just one SB-800 strobe with the shoot through umbrella camera left. There was plenty of ambient light for fill, so one key light was all that was needed.

I am evaluating Adobe Lightroom 2 and used it for these shots. I am quickly becoming a true believer!

Grid Posters

We set up a make shift photo booth at the beach house this summer and did head shots for the yearly art project. Once the shots were complete my Mom, Mimi as she is known to the grandkids, projected them and traced them on canvas board. The kids then each used pastels to create a unique portrait of themselves.

This was all pretty cool, but the original photographs ended up being really good as well. I took 9 of my favorites of Jessica and Taylor and made these photo grid posters. These are being printed up on 16’x20’ and will be framed for display.

This was a neat project. Now that I have gotten the set up in Photoshop, duplicating this will be a snap. This could be great idea for a senior portrait project, or for a Christmas present.

Here's Taylor

The art projects can be veiwed here.

Just another day at the office

I have the good fortune to work for a company that occasionally does some really interesting things. They also ask me to photograph them from time to time. Yesterday I spent a good part of the day shooting welders plying their trade on some 16 inch pipe for a natural gas transmission facility. I don't care where you're from, that's some pretty big pipe.

This was a difficult environment to work in, but I managed to get a few keepers, including this one.

Steve

Beaching it...

Enjoying some time off with family for a couple of weeks. Last week with the big family group, this week, just the wife and kids with one extra guest.

We were inspired by our cousin Kevin to shoot this photo of John hitting a golf ball into the ocean. This was shot as the sun was about to set on the last night of our family week. We set up a couple of strobes on light stands and under exposed the ambient by a stop or two. Has a real cool look to it I think.

Strobist Boot Camp II: Assignment #2

OK, so I think it is down to these two for my SBC2ASSIGN2 submission. This was a lot of fun, and was more challenging than I originally thought it would be. I decided on Sushi because, well, I like sushi. It is also readily available at our local Publix stores so I didn't have to go for restautant take out on a Friday afternoon.

This project also had the added benefit of supplying an early evening munchies after the shoot was done.





Here are a couple of others that I shot, but probably will not use.

Strobist Boot Camp II: Assignment #2

David Hobby has announced the second strobist boot camp assignment. This one is all about food. Make a photograph of a gastronomic delight. Not sure I'm going to have time to participate, maybe I'll recreate the martini shot that I am using for my business card, we'll see.



There are already some pretty cool entries that you can see with this search.

I think lighting for this assignment should be fairly straight forward, the key in my mind will be the styling and presentation.

Full details from the Strobist at the link below.

::Update::

Here is a concept I'm working on...



The finished image will be something other than eggs. I'm thinking of something that goes with hot wine. mmm.

Strobist Boot Camp II: Rahsaan

Rahsaan and I hung out for a while this afternoon. We talked camera, and I shot some photos of him for the Strobist Boot Camp II assignment. Rahsaan is a great guy and he has a passion for photography. Hopefully we will continue these meet ups and find interesting subjects to shoot. This was taken at the Columbia River Walk in an out of the way corner.

More information on the Strobist Boot Camp II assignment is available at the link below.

Other submissions can be viewed here.

Other blogs that are following this assignment can be found here.

Boot Camp II: First Assignment

Do you know someone who is out of work? In this troubled economy, many folks are looking for gainful employment. The first assignment in the Strobist Boot Camp II is to help someone who is unemployed and looking for a new job by making a head shot portrait that they can use on their resume, blog, or social networking sight.

If you know someone who would be interested in having this done, please let me know or put them in contact with me. All I am getting out of this is the experience, and the opportunity to submit my photos for consideration. The prizes awarded to the winning photograph small, and my chances of actually winning are probably slim. But I'm game if somebody out there is willing to sit for a head shot.

More information on this assignment is available at the link below.

Thanks,
Steve

Panorama

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I really enjoy panorama photography. The wide aspect ratio gives the viewer a sense of 'being there'. With digital photography it is a fairly simple thing to 'stitch' multiple captures together to create a single image. The trick is to make sure the images are lined up correctly when captured.

The preferred method for this is to use a tripod and a leveling device, however, these were done freehand. I have all that stuff, but I was out for a bike ride when I made most of these, and a tripod was a luxury that I was not willing to afford myself. Anyway, I hope you like them.

Click on an image for a larger view

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Thanks for looking,
Steve

Strobist Boot Camp II

Strobist Boot Camp II starts tomorrow. I have been following David Hobby's Strobist blog for about 2 years now. If you have not heard about the Strobist, it is an internet blog site which focuses on off camera lighting using the small strobes which are typically mounted on the hot shoe of an SLR camera.



Strobist boot camp is a series of contests, each based on a particular assignment. People participate from all over the world and even if you don't submit a photo, there is still ample opportunity to learn from other photographer’s interpretation of each assignment.

Much of what I know about lighting was learned by reading this blog, and it is a regular stop on my daily web surf. If you are a photographer and are new to the concept of off-camera strobe lighting, then the Stobist is the place to be.

I hope to participate in boot camp as time allows. I am trying to keep making photographs, even when I'm not being paid for it. I will be following the boot camp here as well.

Steve

Water Drops

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I was inspired by the a post on the Strobist blog to try my hand at high speed water drop photography. This is lots of fun and easier than I thought it would be. Heck even I was able to do it with just a few minutes set up.

Here's another.

On the River

The Confluence

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Starting a new project for myself. I recently began riding my bike on the trails along the three rivers here in Columba. I am taking my camera with me and photographing the environment. I plan to continue this for the next several weeks and see what turns up. I also plan to explore downtown Columbia as well as the West Bank neighborhoods of Cayce and West Columbia.

Stay tuned.

Steve

Blythewood Golf Team

Bryce Howell

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We shot individual and team photos for the Blythewood High School Varsity and JV Boys Golf Teams yesterday at Columbia Country Club. This is a great group of young men, and it was a pleasure to make their team photos.

Proofing gallery is available here

More experimenting with the big light

Using the same lighting set up as the 'Martini anyone' shots. A shoe mount Nikon SB800 flash on a stand with a shoot though umbrella adds interest to the lens element.



Same setup. Here the shoot though provides a little highlight to the front of the subject. These were really quite easy to pull off, I made 3 or 4 of each one and processed in Photoshop CS2.

For photo geeks, here's a set up shot on Flickr. The brolly is not in the shot, but you get the idea.

Thanks for looking,
Steve

Martini Anyone?

Okay, maybe I have a little too much time on my hands today. This was a fun little project. The light is from behind with a piece of black foam paper between the subject and the light source. I think it's pretty cool looking.

Steve

Prom Night

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Prom Night! We shot formal prom photos at the home of Tim and Kathy Pifer yesterday. We had 8 couples and had to move the shoot in-doors because of the weather. It was a toad strangler.

Two words for anybody interested in trying this, radio triggers. Optical slaves are great until you have a house full of teenagers and their parents armed with point and shoots popping flash all over the place thus triggering your slaved flashes.

This one was lots of fun. I hope the prom goers recover from their reverie. I heard that most didn't go to bed until well after 4:00am.

The rest of the photos can be viewed here
Blythewood H.S. Prom

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I really like the look of these squre cropped group shots. Hopfully other will like this look as well.

For photographers: These were shot using the Nikon D200. For the group shots the lense was a medium wide to tele zoom at the wide end (28mm i think) at f/5 - 5.6. The first shot above was done with an SB-800 mounted on the camera hot shoe. For the formal shots the 50mm f/1.4 @ f5 - 5.6 was used. Light was provided by an AB800 with the large octa-box and an SB-800 speedlight with a white reflector umbrella. The Lights were up high and feathered just slightly.

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The square print looks really smart with a custom matte and frame. We can offer this as an option at very reasonable rates. Contact us for details.

Steve

Run, baby, run

We had the honor of photographing a 50th wedding anniversary in Springdale, SC this past Sunday. It was a lovely afternoon, and the children took advantage of the yawning spring to play a game of tag on the lawn. I was amazed at how fast these kids could run dressed in their Sunday best.

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This one was taken with the D200, and the 80-200 f/2.8, wide open.

Steve

Wesley

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My friend Wes has been after me to shoot this photo of him for quite some time. We have talked about it often so we had the concept pretty well defined before hand. We used the Alien Bees AB-800 with a shoot through umbrella attached as the main light, and two Nikon SB-800 strobes with snoots right and left behind for rim light. A photoflex multi-disk was used as a clam shell for some additional fill.

We shot several of these to get the smoke curls just right. There was a lot of post processing in Photoshop to get the final look.

BTW, Wes is a real pro to work with ;o) Thanks man!

Steve

--Update--



Here's another take from the Wesley session. This shot mimics the Platon Stallone shot pretty well. Only one light here, the AB-800 w\ the brolly

Realtor John Brooks' new web site

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Several of our photos are featured on Columbia Realtor John Brooks' new web site, including the two pictured above. John is a seasoned real estate professional with 24 years of experience and is a good friend or ours. We wish him well with his new web site.

Steve

We've been stung by the bees!

We are pleased to anounce some new members to our family (of lighting equipment that is) A new Alien Bees B800 and large octagon shaped softbox have recently made their home with Steven W. Seal Photography.



These will be great additions to our arsenal of lighting gear and will make for soft even light on our subjects.