Dance Photography, Westminster Arts Center

Nina Brewton


Rie Sueyoshi, Nina Brewton, Jennifer Bocian


Samara


Samara


Samara


Nina Brewton, Nahoko Sugiyama


Samara


Morgiana Celeste Varricchio


Morgiana Celeste Varricchio


Rie Sueyoshi, Jennifer Bocian

These are a few images from a set taken at the tech rehearsal of the Mosaic Dance Theater Company performing at the Westminster Arts Center in Bloomfield N.J.
Prior to the tech shoot, there were some lighting issues that the techs were trying to resolve but had not been completely ironed out during the shoot. Still, we managed to capture some fine moments of the performance.

I really enjoy photographing these dance performances. They are quite challenging due to the low lighting and movement of the dancers, but rewarding as well. Also challenging is having a large group on the stage at one time and getting the entire scene as well as isolating individuals.

When talking shop with other photogs, questions about settings and technique often come up and so here is a basic run down of how I approach this.

I used to shoot in manual mode and manual focus as I found it a bit more reliable, but lately I have been shooting in "Shutter priority" mode with auto focus while manually selecting focus points.Shutter Priority mode offers quicker flexibilty for me when it comes to changing settings.

In this performance I had the camera set to 1600 ISO. WB is set to tungsten for consistency. Using Shutter Priority mode allows me to quickly slow down or speed up the shutter release depending on what effects I wish to achieve for any given capture. Slowing down the speed of the shutter can give motion blur to hair, veils etc, while speeding it up can freeze the action. Due to the dark areas of the stage such as the black curtains I find its best to reduce the cameras exposure by about 1 stop. That would be EV -1. The black background fools the cameras meter into thinking it needs to increase the exposure. If I allowed the cameras meter to have its way, I would have lots of detail showing in the curtains and the dancers would be too bright with loss of detail. Spot Metering is not a good option in this situation. Most all cameras with any manual features at all have the ability to adjust the EV (Exposure Value). This also help to tweak out as much shutter speed as I need from the low lighting situation of theater.

I compose and wait until I think the timing is right and then fire off a burst of three or four shots, hoping everything falls into place and one of those bursts hit the right moment.

The good fun is looking over the several hundred images taken during the performance and seeing the magic of these wonderful dancers come out on the screen.

Editing and importing is done through LightRoom 2.5 and work requiring more extensive editing is brought into Photoshop CS4. All of these were cropped and tweaked to bring out the best exposures and detail in LightRoom only.

Katherine fighter pilot

Katherine is a very talented graphic artist/ illustrator with a style like a mix of Mark Ryden and Tim Burton. She wanted weird and quirky portrait shots and this is one from the batch. This was one of her personal choices.

I initially shied away from it because of the "huge" smile, but what was I thinking!

She chose it, I worked on it and this is the result. She is very happy, as am I and is even using it as her FaceBook profile pic.

Cooll!!

I am inspired to produce more quirky characters. . .

Strobist info:

This photograph was captured in a small studio using two 580EXll speedlites and a Vivitar 285HV. One speedlite shooting into a Photoflex 24x32 softbox. The other speedlite into a 33" white bounce umbrella with black cover for fill (softbox was main)The vivitar 285HV is hitting the background with a warm color gel. Post processing in LightRoom 2.5 and Photoshop CS4.

Love the grin

the playmate

the playmate

I had went upstate to Sullivan county with another photographer and friend, Georgine Benvenuto. We had nothing but bright sun and clear cloudless skies (not great for landscape and outdoor photography).
Spotted this tree swing and decided to use the blank clear bright sky and hard sunlight to create the stark and minimilist scene of this somewhat scary tree with swing.
Added a sepia type toning through some gradient mapping as well as trimming away some distracting elements and came up with something I thought worked as i imagined when I first began composing the shot in my viewfinder.
The playmate
Sorry its been so long since I have posted or visited any other blogs. Been too busy for my own good. . .

steampunk in corridor

steampunk in corridor

Did this a few weeks ago on location at an old miltary fort. Its actually a pillbox/bunker that is almost completely buried under sand at this time, but there remains an obscure path to both entrances, one of which can be seen behind me.

I had a couple of Canon 580 EXll strobes. One shooting through a small softbox to light subject and another off in the back shooting through a red gel to the wall in back of me.

A vivitar 285HV shooting from the back to light side of subject and hair. There are three rooms off the corridor one of which I placed the two lights shooting out from so as not to be in view of the scene.
It was good fun till the wild dogs decided to come strolling through. . .

Man at the Table

Well, this is what I was doing on Valentines Day weekend :)

Actually, I had been working on this SP for a few weeks and finally finished a take I was overall pleased with, and it happened to be on Valentines Day.
Thanks to Georgine Benvenuto, owner of Gallery 364 in Bay Ridge Brooklyn for putting up with my requests for her thoughts on each take as I went through the process of the concept. Georgine is a fantastic photographer as well as owning and running the gallery and its been my pleasure and benefit to have her as a friend over the years. Wonderful person too.

This is meant to be light hearted and even funny as is most of my SP that come with the intention of poking fun at myself and the characters I create.

Ok, for the strobists out there who are interested in how this was made, this was done using two 580EXll speedlites and a vivitar 285HV all triggered with Paul C. Buff Cybersync wireless triggers. No TTL, all lights and settings are manually set.

The background is a botero collapsible muslin which is about 5x7 ft and grey. I hit it with the Vivtar shooting through a green gel for the color and separation of the subject.

A 580EXll speedlite was shooting through a photoflex 16x22" softbox for the main light and was camera right about 3ft away from and just above head level of subject.
The second 580EXll speedlite was set at subject right and behind shooting through a small lumiquest softbox and aiming at the right shoulder,hair and side of face.

Canon 5D mk2 on a Slik 700DXpro tripod with Bogen Ball head using a Canon programmable remote shutter release.

I had not smoked cigarettes in about 20 years and so most of the takes had my eyes closed as I was squinting from the smoke burning them. . .not very cool glad no one was there :) The cigarette case was given to me by a friend of the family who had acquitred it from a friend who passed away. The case nust be at least 50 years old and still had about 8 filterless cigs inside. Very old and stale smelling, though.

I get asked about my post processing often and while I like to offer much information there are certain things that I like to keep to myself. Basically, I desaturate, tone map a bit with PS gradient tools, layers using "mulitply" properties and sometimes "color dodge" properties, sometimes add diffuse glow and textures and of course dodging and burning here and there.

Yes, it was another Bad Hair Day, and I had to take advantage of it. . .
thanks for looking, hope your not totally disgusted and will return again in the future;)

True Evil (self portrait)

True Evil, "self portrait"

I have been working on some self portraits of late. It really came about one day as I was experimenting with lighting and stuff and had no immediate subject available and so decided to get in on the act. I liked the results especially when I loosen up a bit and got a little theatrical :P. So, it became a theme and I am slowly putting together and full series of self portraits. I guess it will only stop when i get too miserable to look at anymore. . .

This shot was actually a second attempt. the first attempt, a few weeks earlier did not have the right perspective I was going for and some of the background was not working.

This is on a location in that old warehouse that I previously posted about. Inside a small room with some industrial equipment behind me as well as a scary and ratty looking window. Nice ugly green walls too :)

For the strobists out there that might be interested, this was done using two 580EX2 speedlites. The main light was shooting into a bounce umbrella placed directly in front and above subject(me). The second speedlite was shooting through a Flashpoint snoot off to subject left and higher than head level. It was aimed toward the hair and side of head area. The hair was something I wanted to be highlighted and stand out. Its a natural prop :).

One very useful tool in doing these SP's is Canon's programmable remote release. I can set the delay time to the initial shot, the time interval between shots as well as how many shots overall and much more. It allows me time to set things up and reposition myself and change expression between takes.

Past readers of my blog might remember me entering a Self Portrait competition/exhibition that was being judged by some high profile people.
I entered this photo as well as another later on to the portfolio as I was able to edit it the entire time..
The voting has ended and I am pleased to announce that my portfolio made it to the top 15. You can see the top 15 portfolios here.
The judges will be choosing the grand prize winner, and so being in the top 15 i think gives me some attention. some very impressive portfolios there, and it was good fun. I'll surely let everyone know if I were to be chosen.

Portrait of Eleanor

Eleanor, originally uploaded by garyhellerphotography.

Eleanor is a warm hearted soul. She is naive, good natured, caring, sensitive and fragile. She is an artist, a dreamer and a wonderful mother and Nana.
She was an ever devoted wife to her late husband, Harry.
She is vulnerable, and yet strong.
She is a wonderful person

This was also shot with two 580EXll speedlites, one firing through a softbox and another firing through a very small diffuser for fill.

I'll spare you the diagram on this one ;)

Portrait using portable strobes

This is a portrait of my daughter Christina and her beloved dog, Dior.
I had wanted to get a session with her for a while but our schedules were tough to arrange a time, but we finally got it together and I am pretty much pleased as this is about what I was hoping for.

I did not want her to look like she was posing for a glamour shot or to smile really. I just wanted a very sullen, relaxed and almost introspective feel about this.

I have been using hot shoe flashes or portable strobes because I have more of a need to be able to set up small shoots on location, such as the portrait of my son Kyle and at the same time they work extremely well indoor for various situations.
I am using two Canon 580EXll speedlites and a Vivitar 285HV flash. I also have some light weight stands, a softbox, some bounce umbrellas,snoots, various reflectors and flags and a boom stand. The flashes are all controlled by the wireless Cybersyncs from Paul C. Buff. (maker of the alien Bees and white Lightning studio strobes)They are much less expensive than the famous Pocket Wizards and do a fine job really.

In this set up, I had a 580EXll mounted in a Photoflex 16x22" softbox on a boom stand just above Christinas head and about two feet in front and to her right side a bit.
On her left was another 580EXll on a light stand about 6ft high with a Flashpoint Q series snoot attached. This was aimed towards the dogs head and Christinas left shoulder area just filling in where the main light would have fallen off, but snooted because I did not want too much filled in as I wanted this to have a mood about it. Basically, I needed to have the black dogs face and fur exposed.

Behind her is a greenish linen fabric bought in a fabric store at 4.99 a linear yard. This was secured with clamps to a couple of spring loaded poles that mount from floor to ceiling much like the expensive Manfrotto Autopoles. The whole background was about 7 ft wide and 5 ft high. I attached it so the bottom started at about her leg area as I was just going for an upper body portrait.

On Christinas left side and between she and the background was the Vivitar flash on a lightstand about 6 ft up and a couple feet over. There was a 1 ft long piece of white foam secured to the flash with a rubberband so that the light would not spill out towards the camera but just skim over Christinas head and mostly be directed back towards the backdrop to illuminte it slightly enough.

The shot was basically ISO 160, 9.0 at 1/160. I am using Duracell AA 2650 NiMH batteries to power the strobes and am always amazed at the performance of these things.Very long lasting and reliable. I use a 2 hour charger as well as a 15 minute quick charger in case I needed fast recharging on the spot. To note, I was shooting the main speedlite through the softbox at about 1/4 - 1/2 power and got close to 200 shots without changing a set of batteries and still had quick recycle times to boot.(under 1 sec.)

The most challenging thing about this particular shoot was getting Dior to stay awake. He goes right to sleep in her arms! While I was shooting, I would make strange noises and dog barks to get him to look at me or at least keep his eyes open. However, Christina would break out laughing at my ridiculous sounds and so when the dogs eyes would be open, Christina would be laughing. Finally got the moment where everything looked as I wanted :)

Attached is a most ridiculous looking daigram of the basic et up for anyone out there who are thinking of using a similar approach and might be curious as to how this was done.

Artists Lounge "Anywhere"

The Kim Crawford Artists Lounge program is winding down to the final selections. I have made my second and last selection. The contributing member whose post I chose as my inspiration is one by member Joshuart titled "Anywhere".

The Artists Lounge is a forum of which members contribute their ideas and/or art to inspire the Artists in Residence(myself and three other artists) Works that were created by the Artists in Residence from the selected inspiration will be presented and given to the member for his/her personal collection.


Title - Anywhere by Joshuart (Robert Camba)
"Wherever you stand on the earth, be still and see. There is beauty anywhere. Even an abandoned industrial plant might have beauty in the patterns of light in shadow, iridescence in an oil-polluted puddle, or just the beauty of decay. You don't have to be on a mountaintop to see beauty".

Anyone who has known me for some time knows that I am fond of abandoned buildings, neglected structures, grunge and beauty in the least likely of places.
So, with that I headed out to one of the most attractive ugly places that I know nearby to find a diamond in the rough. Lots of wonderful textures and mysterious shapes and shadows and light. Also lots of Possums running about that I must have woke up as they don't get very much human company coming around. . .


The outside of the industrial warehouse.


Getting closer, the junk piled up outside.


Closing in. . .


the entrance


some inside views


more inside


more


view from the second floor platform


"I gotta thing for you" is one piece I isolated in the debris. I love the shape and textures and subtle color of this spot. Also the commentary is. . .amusing.


"broken glass" I like the stark contrast of the panes against the glowing panels of glass. Also, the various patterns in the wire inlay of the glass as well as the bit of iron grating outside through the cracked opening.Some subtle color glowing through behind some areas as well.


"industrial view" I thought this was intriguing in an eerie sort of way. The sharp jagged edges of the corroded window panes with pieces of glass still left hanging and then the various shapes,textures and color of the inerior below. This also is full of stark contrast which always catches my eyes.

The piece that I captured for Mr. Camba is one that i'm very proud of and is titled "Industrial Love". The title actually carries a double meaning as you will get to see in the spring at the Kim Crawford Wines Artists Lounge unveiling, where all the works that were created by the inspirations posted by selected contributing members, will be displayed.

Portrait: Kyle and Sabre

Here is a portrait of Kyle, my son. Kyle is 13 years old and autistic. I have photographed him over the years but it is usually difficult as Kyle does not like to make eye contact and usually does not look at one place for more than a few seconds. He is shown here with his beloved plush animal Sabre which is one of two Smilodons that he has become very fond of. He takes them most everywhere he goes. They are like comfort creatures for him.
Kyle is capable of communicating and can hold limited conversations, but only with people that he has become familiar with and feels comfortable around. This moment was special in that it is a side of Kyle that no one will ever see except those who are close to him and around him often.