8/1/09 - Second shooting fun w/ dangin :)

[Shima]

Second shot with Dan Gin (dgrin's dangin / host of Chicago SMUG meetings) on August 1st and had a lot of fun! Learned some really neat ways that video light can be used for photography purposes... Dan's really fun to shoot with and I'm looking forward to doing this again with him next month for another of his weddings :)

Anyhoo, here are some photos I took while second shooting for him!

1. This is one of the cool video lighting ones that Dan set up, very cool how you can get the background in this by manually setting and using continuous light instead of a flash :)
http://photos.cathoffman.com/photos/612129117_PSauk-L.jpg

2. The venue had a very fun staircase!
http://photos.cathoffman.com/photos/612128411_mg2jR-L.jpg

3.
Chicago sky line, even though I'm fairly certain the bride is looking at Dan when I took this (which is obviously fine since I was just second shooting after all) I still like it
http://photos.cathoffman.com/photos/612124751_ok3ev-L.jpg

4.
More fun with video light and the Chicago sky line
http://photos.cathoffman.com/photos/612128079_4DYAT-L.jpg

5. We showed the couple a teaser of this photo after I took it (this was lit w/ the video light btw) and they really liked it when they saw it on the camera lcd
http://photos.cathoffman.com/photos/612129606_br4E8-L.jpg

6. you know me and rings though, I also like this shot I took (again video lighting)
http://photos.cathoffman.com/photos/612129460_oxmtA-L.jpg

7. A shot from their first dance
http://photos.cathoffman.com/photos/612126258_v5JPt-L.jpg

8. & 9. He had such a great face watching her walk down the aisle towards him
http://photos.cathoffman.com/photos/612121439_z3X8j-L.jpg http://photos.cathoffman.com/photos/612121539_9nuhy-L.jpg


Can't wait to shoot with you again Dan, had a great time!

[jeffreaux2]

Shima....these may very well be the best looking set Ive seen you post...and THAT is sayin' something....as you consistantly post some very fine imagery here!:thumb

They are lovely photographs, but I particularly like #3....for its "relaxed" appearance.

So....any of these shot with your new glass?:wink

Good grab on the groom as the bride entered. Some folks dont think to catch that, but IMO it is often the best shot of the day. Very nice welling of emotion!

...and BTW....

I am trying ever-so-hard to get myself free'd up to attend a Tri-Coast workshop. Their workshops are centered on ETTL flashwork, and primarily aimed at senior portraiture...but they also work with video lighting....and I secretly want to get my "hands-on" with the Radio Poppers before plunking down the money for my own set. It seems to be a workshop that is about everything that I hope to employ and I DESPERATELY wanna be able to get to one!

[Shima]

Shima....these may very well be the best looking set Ive seen you post...and THAT is sayin' something....as you consistantly post some very fine imagery here!:thumb

They are lovely photographs, but I particularly like #3....for its "relaxed" appearance.

So....any of these shot with your new glass?:wink

Good grab on the groom as the bride entered. Some folks dont think to catch that, but IMO it is often the best shot of the day. Very nice welling of emotion!

...and BTW....

I am trying ever-so-hard to get myself free'd up to attend a Tri-Coast workshop. Their workshops are centered on ETTL flashwork, and primarily aimed at senior portraiture...but they also work with video lighting....and I secretly want to get my "hands-on" with the Radio Poppers before plunking down the money for my own set. It seems to be a workshop that is about everything that I hope to employ and I DESPERATELY wanna be able to get to one!

WOW - that is quite the compliment coming from you! Thanks!!! :D


Dan has this I believe that he uses for his continuous lighting: http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/LP9502/
It was really neat the effects it allowed us to achieve, but I have to hold off on dropping any dough on such stuff... after the 8/1/09 wedding I finally got a second 5D Mk II body and a second 580 EX II... so my account is on the low end of things again, lol.

And no, none of these shots were with the 85 1.8 I just traded to get from you, that was used a whole bunch at my 8/8/09 wedding... you and I traded for lenses in between those two weddings. I'm still editing photos from the 8/8 wedding, so you just have to wait for now! Will certainly let you know once I get shots from that done so you can see it. It was a fabulous lens to use, I highly enjoyed it. :thumb

[heatherfeather]

These are fan-spankin-tastic. Love love the ring shot in the pearls. That is gorgeous.

Also 1,2, 4, 8 &9. Well, I guess most of them are just wonderful!

Nicely done! You sure are getting good!

(#4 might be my favorite. The colors & processing are perfect!)

[Shima]

These are fan-spankin-tastic. Love love the ring shot in the pearls. That is gorgeous.

Also 1,2, 4, 8 &9. Well, I guess most of them are just wonderful!

Nicely done! You sure are getting good!

(#4 might be my favorite. The colors & processing are perfect!)

Thanks! :D

[Shima]

No one else has any comments for these?

[mmmatt]

Hey Shima! Well... your ring shots suck. (yeah right!) There should be a hot key that says "Awesome rign shots Shima!" so that I don't have to type that in every thread you start! My faves are 7 and 8. Both are showing real emotion. I love his anticipation in 8 and getting 2 really good expressions on a first dance is often a trick, so well done there!

As a whole, these all seem to be a tiny bit underexposed to me... since nobody else mentioned that I'm going to say it might just be me. I like what you did here and I'm happy you are digging the video lights. They can be a lot of fun. I have a couple of cheap sunpac video lights (about $25 each) http://www.adorama.com/SURL20.html?searchinfo=sunpak+readylight+20 and even though the batts only last for 10 minutes or so, they provide a very nice soft-ish light. Lightpainting, hair light, side fill, background, primary... there are tons of ways to use video lights!!! I'm still in the process of experimenting with mine but hope to make them part of my every-day soon.

Nice work Shima

Matt

[bendruckerphoto]

The 1st is my favorite. I was in Chicago a few months ago for a cousin's wedding. They used some chain photo studio, which did a very poor job. They should have hired you and Dan! You guys did a great job.

[Agnieszka]

Very, very nice photos Shima + you're just the ring-shot QUEEN!!! :lust

The only photo I'm not so much into is #3. Not because of the pose, but in my opinion the colors are off ... The skin looks too orange / red to me ... Def. a "Canon photo" (:deal :giggle :lust)

[Shima]

Very, very nice photos Shima + you're just the ring-shot QUEEN!!! :lust

The only photo I'm not so much into is #3. Not because of the pose, but in my opinion the colors are off ... The skin looks too orange / red to me ... Def. a "Canon photo" (:deal :giggle :lust)

Haha, I often joke to my friends that I'm the "ring queen" ever since you started calling me that :D

Anyhoo, as for 3, don't blame the colors on Canon, because the original looked *nothing* like that, lol. I totally applied a preset onto that one when I was editing it in Lightroom.


bendruckerphoto & mmmatt thanks for the kind feedback as well. Matt - your hot key idea had me laughing inside (but not out loud, silly wisdom teeth are still recovering and that would have hurt, hehe)

[zoomer]

I love the first two. You make this look like an expensive classy wedding.
I love her dress, very classy looking.
Very nice series.
I like the look of that video light, hmmmmmm........

[smurfy]

You really are the ring queen! I try and try and can't come close to what you do with those...If you get tired of weddings, there would surely be a job for you shooting jewelry, since the work in most magazine ads doesn't even approach the beauty of your shots.

Nice capture of the groom's emotion, too!