How To Shoot A Rapper.

(Above) I had a flash @ camera left and another one behind him
so as to separate him front the background which was a door.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of shooting (photographing) an up and coming rap artist from Tanzania who goes by the name of God’s Replikah. Being the first shoot of the year I must say I was a little bit nervous, but the thing that gave me the confidence to do the shoot was my week long preparation. I had done practice shots with a stand in and I had also drawn a couple of backup diagrams for the shoot. I call them JICSH (just in case ship happens) diagrams.  There is nothing better than being over prepared and nothing worse than being ill prepared. At least when you over prepare you won’t have to worry about not having given it 101%.

(Above) Here I used a home made ring flash and a bare flash behind him.

Knowing that I had done my part I decided to set all the  technical details of lighting aside and just shoot him. By the way, it is really easy to get bogged down with the Variables of Exposure when shooting, but the truth of the matter is this – NOBODY CARES! Well, except you. All the client cares about is you making the images they are paying you to make. At the beginning of the shoot my main concern was to build a rapport with God’s Replikah so that I could make images that did not look like they were shot by my grandma.

The first thing I did after he signed the contract was find out what he wanted. There is nothing worse than storming into a shoot like Rambo and forcing your will and vision on your client. Replikah told me his vision and it was my goal to make it happen.The first thing I did was set up the lights and make sure that the exposure was perfect. I used my hand as a stand in model while my Replikah was getting dressed. I learnt this trick from David Hobby. Why bore the client with your desire to get a good exposure when you could use your hand as a stand in model?

Stand in model.

(Above) I used one flash on this one with a home made Beauty Dish.
Below him was a “reflector” aka car sunshade
that bounced the light back up to light his eye lids.

(Above) Final Shot.

This is a new year with a new approach to lightning. I have moved from shooting with only available light to shooting with any light thats available to me eg off camera flashes. If you want to learn more about lighting with off camera flashes just go to the storbist website. Thanks for reading!

Test Shotting (Disclaimer: Camera talk below)

It’s been a long time since I last blogged but I’m black! or is it back. 3 months ago my one and only camera decided to get messed up. I eventually had it fixed by a local camera repair man and tho he fixed the problem, my sensor and viewfinder is now dirty.

All that aside, I am back to taking pictures. For now I am taking test shots using a method called OCF (Off Camera Flash) aka strobes to see if my camera is ok. The flash is a borrowed SB 600 (thanks klew). I kinda like it, tho I am lusting over either an SB 800 or SB 900 flash.

OCF is kinda cool coz it produces really cool looking images, the images look different from how they would look if one put the flash on the camera. So here are some images I took. My setup was a DIY (Do It Yourself) “Lunch Box “which I got from strobist.com. So here are the images along with the setups:

My wife cooked some tasty cookies this weekend and here is an image of one. The strobe was set on 1/64 at a 14mm zoom. The lens was if the 70-300mm kind. My camera was dialed to 1/13th of a second at f/5.6. Below is the setup.

With the DIY setup, I decided to take a shot of a used “Imperial Leather” soap which I used to use but now detest coz it feels like showering with a bar of leather rather than a bar of soap when I last used it. Yuk!

Anyway, you must be asking yourself, “Is that dania (cilantro) I see?” My answer to that is yes in-deedee. Why dania? Coz I thought green would make the image more interesting. This image was shot with 1/5th of a sec at f/4.8 with the same lens. The SB 600 was set on 1/32 with a flash compensation of 0.7.

The setup:

As you may have noticed, I shot the image at a really low shutter speed. It was mainly coz I was indoors. As a result, I had to put the camera on a tripod and I also used the 10 sec self timer setting to make the shot.

As i took the shots, I noticed that the cameras sensor was way dirty. It has so many spots on the view finder and sensor. I guess the guy who fixed the camera did not bother to clean it real well. Any-who, I cannot complain too much coz I paid him a fraction of what I would have paid if I had sent the camera in to be fixed by the manufacturer. Notice the spots in the pic below (click on it for a bigger pic):

The problem with spots is that they are such a pain to remove via photoshop or lightroom. The are even harder to remove if you take a picture of a group. I might have to send it in to get the sensor cleaned. By the way, I used the DIY setup for this image. The flash was set on 1/32 at 14mm. The camera was on 0.6th of a second @ 5.6. I used a 10 second self timer to prevent blur coz of the insanely low shutter speed.

So this is it for now. If you have read all that I have written, I applaud and admire you. Thank you.

When the passion fades….

I feel caught in a runt and I no longer feel inspired to take images. Lately I have been spending a lot of time online checking out photo websites and blogs. There are so many photographers out there and their collective work is beginning to look the same to me. My fear is that I am adding my images to the electronic dumpster which we call the web. I keep asking myself; “Are my images any different from all that is out there?”

There is a part of me that really wants to set my camera aside, walk away and let it gather dust because I feel that I am not up to the task. I feel that I am not capable of making lasting, and memorable images. I love making images, I just hate it that currently I am making images for the sake of making them. Should I stop and take a break from photography, or should I continue to take pictures in the hope that as I do so I may get into the zone and begin to find my voice?

Using a Snoot with the Strobe

I decided to go ahead and keep on experimenting. I got a piece of paper, a stapler and made a snoot. Then as usual i took advantage of ras and decided to take a couple of shots.

THE TOOLS

So here are the shots i came up with.

SETUP #1

(Above) Strobe shot without snoot.

(Below) Same shot with a snoot.

SETUP #2

(Above) Here is the setup. I also turned off the light in the apt coz i thought that the darkness would make the shots interesting.

(Below) The setup in action.

I hope that I am not boring you with my excitement and images. I really cannot wait to do real shoots with the strobe. Hope you liked the images.

Bethany Cemetery:: Plano, TX

I have a thing against taking images that everyone would normally take. I always ask myself, if National Geographic commissioned me to take images of a place or a person how would I photograph it/them? With that in mind I took these images of the Bethany Cemetery in Plano, TX.

The fears of a photographer

I came across a video that speaks to me as it does many photographers. We at times have doubts about our skills and abilities. The video is long, but it is well worth the watch.

At the Dallas Arboretum

I got my undergraduate degree at a christian college, and though I do not have many fond memories at that school one thing that came out of my ordeal there were cool friendships. A few weeks ago, a college buddy called me and asked if I could take pictures of a friend of hers who was about to graduate from college. I jumped on the opportunity because I simply love taking pictures.

The shoot day was set and the place was the  Dallas Arboretum. As usual I arrived a little earlier to scout the place and in so doing, I found really cool places to take pictures. I mist say I really enjoyed taking pictures of Quay.

Photographing Children

It has been said that the hardest people to photograph are dogs and kids. This weekednd I got to photograph two children who made this quote a fallacy.

Finding the Courage to Photograph.

I have always loved taking portraits of people and I believe that the face is by far the most interesting landscape ever. The other day I was in search of things to photograph when I came across some high school kids. I asked if I could photograph them and they agreed.

Asking to photograph people has not been easy thing for me because I really don’t take rejection well.

“Ku uliza sii ujuinga” is a Swahili saying that when roughly translated means; Requesting for something is in no way a stupid thing.  Americans have a somewhat similar saying that says; There is no such thing as a stupid question. This saying has been a source of encouragement when I am afraid to photograph people.

So as we go on to a new week, be courageous and do not be afraid to ask.