The Top Hat Project – Part 1

Stunning Visuals Photography — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:39:20 +0000

The Queen of all thing Yard Sale

The Top Hat Project is a photography endeavor I recently began. It was created for a school assignment. The idea came to me while I was reviewing old Black and White photos made by famous photographers of the past (which by the way is a fantastic way to stoke the creative fire). For the project, I’ve created a simple set consisting of a table, a backdrop and of course, theTop Hat. The minimalist set allows for it to be easily transportable.

Just a little FYI, This post will span over two Blogs just because there are so many photos and this project has been so fun.

The Defiant One

The central concept for the Project is simple. Most photographs are taken to record a likeness of the “exterior” of the subject at the moment the image is taken. The idea behind the Top Hat Project is reveal something about the “Inner Person” at the time of the photograph.

Before each photo, I learned a little about each subject. I tried to identify some trait or notable something that identified them at this time point of their life. Next I located an object that each subject pulled from the Top Hat. The key was then to have the subject interact with the with the object and try to capture the emotion.

The Bartender

Here’s a neat Photography Tip that was reinforced during these shoots. Posing people is difficult especially for people who are not comfortable in front of the camera. And what the heck to do you do with their hands. Many times people will just hang their arms and hands by their sides, which will make them look heavier and can really take the life out of any photo. By using the Top Hat, an object and then having the people interact with it, I really, really got some attitude, life and natural expression. Everyone became instantly comfortable and forgot that they were in front of the camera. I also didn’t have to worry about the added problem of what to do with their hands. This was a super cool learning experience which will definitely stick in my mind.

So for this Post I’ve included the first three subjects.

First up is my Mother-in-Law. She and my wife have a long standing practice of hitting Yard Sales first thing Saturday Morning. I swear they get started so early, they help most people with their setups and it seems they NEVER miss a weekend. Then my wife introduced my Mother-in-Law to SoduKu about a year ago. She already was an avid puzzle putter together person so this just fit right in and she was hooked. Funny thing about the photo is my Mother-in-Law never lets me take any pictures of her and on the couple I’ve sneaked in she was never smile. Well, enter the Top Hat and her book, and Whala ! Magic. Even she liked her photo.

The second photo is of my neighbor. What can I say the photo says it all. He’ll look you in the Eye and tell you exactly what he thinks and how he’s going to do it. He’s also a great Mr. Fixit and I believe he told me he taught Tim Allen all he knows. The Propane Torch for the cigarette was his idea and really fits. One of the secrets for this photo is I applied a lot of selective sharpening to bring out some of his features.

Lastly, I have our young Twenty-something. She is obviously beautiful and a bartender to boot. She is also of the age where going to parties andbeing seen is something very important. I love the angles and lines in this photo along with her expression

Next week I will be posting another group of photos from this project. Please note, I want to continue this series and I am seeking additional people to add to the Project. If you know anyone who may present as an interesting subject please contact me. I would like to keep this rolling and growing.

Thanks again and enjoy the photos.

One Light Portraits

Stunning Visuals Photography — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 04:33:42 +0000

You know sometimes less is MORE. The other day in class we worked on One Light Portraits in the Studio. We only used one Studio light but used several different types of modifiers in front of the light. These modifiers changed both the size of the light and harsh the shadow were. We learned a couple of things, the main items being the closer the light source and the larger the light source, the softer light. Softer light means the line between shadow areas and bright areas is less defined and the transition is more gradual.

I know what your thinking, “wouldn’t we always want soft shadows to make people look great.” Well it depends on your subject and the mood you are trying to project. For men, especially those with a few shall we say, “wisdom lines” (notice I did not say old), harder light works great and makes the portrait look more dramatic.

But for class, we had a beautiful model with incredible hair. Her name was Annette and the super cool thing for me was I was able to use my spanish for my entire posing session with her. Here are just a few images from the session. Not that for a couple of the images, you will see a shadow in the background. This is what is known as a

cookie. We are able to do this by using a second light and placing some type of object between that light and the background. The result is the casting of a cool shadow on the background. See I told you shadows are cool!

Enjoy. Bill

Desert Truck

Stunning Visuals Photography — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 20:14:01 +0000

Last week I was taking a photography seminar in way North Phoenix. At the location there was this old GMC truck on the property. The body was real clean and the light was hitting it just right late in the day so I snapped these shots just before heading home. In the first shot I shot directly into the sun.

In this shot I did some post processing. I first converted the image to a black and white photo and then I “painted” some rust on parts of the metal.

It may not be the newest truck on the market, but it sure made for some cool photos.

Urban Landscape

Stunning Visuals Photography — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:37:40 +0000

Alfred Hitchock Delight

For this assignment, I had to capture unique images of Urban Settings. This required me to have a camera with me at all times during the week (something I “effort” to do any) and to look at ordinary settings from different perspectives.

To pull this assignment off, I relied on some of my past SWAT Team experience. During my 17 years on the team the mantra to scan up and down for threats was constantly hammered home . We always had to change the “plane” at which our eyes “searched” to gather information.

Look up for Creativity - Urban Fire Escape

This assignment was right up my alley, the only difference was that I was trading in my M4 Carbine Rifle for a Canon 5D Mark II. I was still looking over the sights and scanning for clues. In this case I was not hunting for felons, but for unique combinations of either, light, color, shapes, or movement.

For this assigment, I headed to downtown Phoenix which seems to be my favorite playground these days.

City Hustle

Enjoy the scenery.

Office Light and Reflections

Shopping Cart Tunnels

Urban Ballerina

Stunning Visuals Photography — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 20:07:57 +0000

Professional Ballerina Christina Gee Noakes

So I’m walking down the middle of downtown Phoenix wondering what I am going to photograph next, when suddenly this vision from Heaven floats down to earth. Turned out her name is Christina Noakes. Christina was a touring professional ballerina up until she her little twins came along a little more than a year ago.

This was the first time I had the opportunity to photograph a professional dancer. The first thing I noted was the absolute precision to all of her movements. It reminded me of a movements of a military drill team, only way more graceful. I was then blown away by her strength and power. She is absolutely an athlete inevery sense of the word.

I captured these photos with the use of one off camera studio strobe (White Lighting 1600 and a Canon 580 EXII speedlight. The lights were triggered with Paul Buff triggers.

Special thanks goes to Lisa Hensley, my fellow photographer and Christina the Urban Ballerina.

The Sax Man of Central

Stunning Visuals Photography — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 01:22:31 +0000

The Sax Man of Central

Two things I love are Smooth Jazz and Great Photos. On Friday I was walking around downtown Phoenix before the Suns game and had the awesome pleasure of hearing Dwayne the “Sax Man of Central” blasting his smooth sax sounds from the PHX bar located at 122 E. Washington. It was too cool an opportunity to pass up so I snapped these photos.

So Smooth

Just as the sun was setting and our Sax Man was playing just outside the Fireman Roll up doors on the patio. The sun was casting the coolest side lighting across Dwayne and I was able to capture these images before the sun faded.

Obviously after snapping the photos I had to try the happy hour offerings. Wings, small sandwiches, more munchies and drink specials. Wow, I could have stayed there forever, but only had limited time. I will definitely be headed back that way on another Friday for more super smooth sax and photo fun.

Magic Fingers

Special thanks to the Sax Man of Central, Dwayne and his magic fingers

History of a Great Shot

Stunning Visuals Photography — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 05:25:40 +0000

The New Strawberry

This is one of my favorite shots. It started out as a school assignment which focused on color. When I thought about the shot in my head, I envisioned using a strawberry. I headed to the store for the aforementioned strawberry and matching lipstick; however, when I arrived the strawberries looked horrible but the raspberries looked amazing, hence the change. Then over to cosmetic counter for lipstick, needless to say, but I felt like a fish out of water in very unfamiliar territory, but I prevailed.

Then off to the fancy studio to set up the shot. NOT ! The shot took place in our kitchen. I set up a quick white background. Then roped my “Lip Model” – Kimmie, my daughter into a sitting. I used two speedlights, one camera left which created the highlights on her lips and the raspberry. The second, was used to light the background. The real key to the image was using a tripod for stability. The reason this was necessary was that I used a 100mm macro lens to take the shot. The depth of field is sooooooo shallow when using the macro it’s tough to get the proper depth of field focus. The tripod and manual focus enabled me to really refine the focus on the raspberry stems.

The rest was easy. I popped few shots and made some positional adjustments between the raspberry and my daughter’s lips and the rest is history.

Street Photography

Stunning Visuals Photography — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 02:52:48 +0000

From the Street

Street Photography is so cool. Last semester at school I had to do a “Street Photography” project. It was my first exposure to this genre of photography. The thought walking around in a downtown setting and snapping photos of random people caused lots of questions to dance around my head.

Do I ask permission before I shoot? Will this spoil the moment? Should I stage the scene? Should I use a long lens (kinda like a voyeur) or should I use a short lens and get up close and personal? and oh yeah, should I do color or Black and White.

The neat thing about the project is that I found out the genre of street photography has been around for more than a hundred of years and everyone shoots differently. The absolute master is Henri Cartier-Bresson and some of my favorites who followed him were Robert Frank and Joel Meyerowitz (he was the only photographer to shoot the fallen 9/11 scene). Check out their images, they are so special.

Street Warrior

For me street photography captures that “Decisive Moment” in time. It’s the ultimate candid photo which sets the stage for how looked to the camera for a precise moment in time.

From time to time I’ll post some images that I capture. Street photography really helps train my eyes to see interesting compositions and how to capture those images with the added difficulty tricky lighting that exists outside. I’m still developing my style so we will see what comes.