First post!

[laurenornot]

Hey everyone! I'm really excited to have discovered this forum, it seems like there's a wealth of good information and good people here. My name is Lauren and I am born 'n raised in Brooklyn, NY. My current setup is a Canon 30D and primarily a 50mm f/1.4, sometimes a 17-55mm f/2.8 IS if I need to go wider -- still saving up for the 5D MkII! I also have a little Panasonic Lumix LX3 that I carry around everywhere. I learned everything I know about photography on a Canon AE-1 given to me by my father for my 18th birthday. I have no formal training whatsoever but have picked up tricks and techniques on forums and just by practicing.

I've been freelancing now for about 5 years. I'm most comfortable shooting in natural light, but I am currently trying to teach myself more about studio lighting. I own two monolights with umbrellas and it's slow going, but I'm figuring out how to play with light more. Good times.

Anyway, here are a few photos from a recent shoot with fantastic singer/songwriter Johnny Marnell (www.myspace.com/johnnymarnell), intended to be used as promo shots for posters and the like.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2622/3901190686_41e8e7f93f.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2676/3901190884_7f5e29d6ab.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2528/3901191422_73dc556f77.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3523/3900412943_b74504879f.jpg

Thanks for your time (and eyeballs!)

[Nikolai]

Hi Lauren,
welcome to Dgrin and to People section! :clap
Nice series, I especiall like the last one... Was it a golden reflector or a gelled flash on the camera left?

[laurenornot]

Nice series, I especiall like the last one... Was it a golden reflector or a gelled flash on the camera left?

Thanks so much! It was indeed a golden reflector, good eye! It might be a little too orange, but of the few shots I got of him in that position, his facial expression was best in this one so I just settled for it :)

[marikris]

Hi, Lauren! (Go Brooklyn - grew up in Queens myself.)

The last one is my favorite as well. He looks very Edward Norton-liscious there :lust.

I like the warmth of his face more than the person sitting on camera right :)

[laurenornot]

I like the warmth of his face more than the person sitting on camera right :)

Thanks so much! Yeah you know, I don't really know squat about using Photoshop properly so I didn't even attempt to clone that rogue person out. Perhaps I should post the original here and give someone else a shot if that would be fun for them? :dunno

[RBrogen]

Hello laurenornot and welcome to DGrin! I like the last one best but I do think that it's a bit too strong on the reflector camera left (nice eye Mari). The first 3 have very distracting backgrounds that are competing and somewhat overpowering your intended subject matter. In #3 with the garage door BG, IMOP would be better with a more grungy appearance than an almost prestine door....it seems to not go together...perhaps because of my getting the image of "Johnny Cash" from the black clothes. lol

[laurenornot]

Hello laurenornot and welcome to DGrin! I like the last one best but I do think that it's a bit too strong on the reflector camera left (nice eye Mari). The first 3 have very distracting backgrounds that are competing and somewhat overpowering your intended subject matter. In #3 with the garage door BG, IMOP would be better with a more grungy appearance than an almost prestine door....it seems to not go together...perhaps because of my getting the image of "Johnny Cash" from the black clothes. lol

Hey there, thank you for the input. I do agree with you about the reflector being a bit too strong, but his facial expression was perfect so I kept the shot. I suppose I could try to tone it down a bit in post.

I did actually edit some of the "grunge" out of the garage door at the request of Johnny, who was going for a sort of clean look with his black suit and skinny tie :wink As far as the first two, those were purposefully left with excess space in the background because they are intended for posters and there will be a text box above his head with information about upcoming live shows. So in reality the photos will look more like they are a 1x1 crop.

[amazingPicsCo]

These are some nice shots. The lighting may be a little harsh which is my only nit.

[captain78]

The shots look great! My only complaint is in the first two, my eye goes right to that red fire alarm bell.

[toddb]

Like them all, but my favorite is the one in front of the door. Understand that it could be a little overpowering, but I think it makes the shot really strong. I think he was right to have you clean it up a little bit -- I think it really works.

[D'Buggs]

Like the garage shot, like the bench shot - Nice work.
The BG in the other 2 is overwhelming for my taste buds... But if its what you're after, there good too.