Jeremy Saffer Photo Blog

Capturing Music feb 2012

2012-01-23T17:34:00.011-05:00

its been a while since i posted on here, i will do
my best this year to keep better updates... for now this one is just going to be behind the scenes photos from my seminar this weekend. Check it!

Also big thanks to Vanna and Thy Will Be Done for always going above and beyond, making it out to the seminar and doing multiple shoots with all of the students, thank you!!

TD - lord of breaking things.

Triangular lighting example portrait - edited

Showing a 2 light set up to create depth using shadows and leading line via a main parabolic down toward legs

lighting from above - single light

TD

Shooting TWBD

Davey relaxing toward the end of a very long day of photos

Frank on a ladder

Nikon... tisktisk.. dont worry, she will learn...

TWBD getting cuddly for a shot

Jocelyn shooting Jay TWBD

My incredible assistant Christine being assisted with rabbit ears

TWBD

TWBD using a reflector to fill in shadows in a natural light shot

TWBD location shot using 3 lights

Alectra shooting TWBD

Alectra

Jocelyn

Christian

Brendan

Some dude with a beard

Using that 1.2F stop to get foreground, subject and background. loving this lens

Alectra

Christian

Casey

Brendan and Jackie

Students and Vanna watching some shoots

Vanna braving the cold to do a quick shoot with me

Test shot with Davey before resetting lighting for fisheye

Wicked Lou says something wicked to Davey

Davey

Nick

Bullet Belts are KEY

Chris TWBD

Wicked Lou and Davey

Todays Shoot - Alesana (live) Lumiquest gear!

2011-10-13T20:40:00.001-04:00

SO! if you follow this blog or my concert photography, you know that the Lumiquest 80/20 is not only a staple of my equipment but is KEY to getting the look I strive for in my live photos.

Recently I was fortunate enough to add a slew of lumiquest gear to my arsenal, and what is the best way to test any equipment? Test it in the field!

SO! I brought my 80/20 - along with the big bounce and softbox 3 to an Alesana show. I'm pretty sure the softbox 3 is mainly for off-camera flash, but in concert photography I generally dont use off camera flash, however I plan on testing all this gear out again in a portrait setting.

Anyhoo - I wanted to really experiment when Alesana and Attila came on, so I warmed up with Serianna and Memphis May Fire.

I did my photo shoot with Alesana and ended up missing the first band Lions Lions (while doing the shoot).

I ran down to catch Serianna, and just shot with the 80/20 to get a feel for what the lighting situation would be before even thinking about experimenting.

During their set, their lighting did NOT change from red the entire set... HORRIBLE! but! the best thing about the 80/20 is its powerful enough to clear out the reds from your subject while still bringing in the red stage lighting evenly - which is pretty much unheard of.

check it out - these are at f 8 at a 15th at iso400 - shot with the 16-35 lens using the 80/20. note: these are unedited images.

Next up was Memphis May Fire, and for this band I wanted to experiment a little bit, and again to my utter dismay, the lighting was red for the ENTIRE SET!!! ugh! So I started with the 80/20 for the "safe shots" knowing id get what i needed, then experiment after. These are at the same setting F8 at a 15th - and again - raw/unedited.

Next up I wanted to try out the big bounce because it was the closest thing to the 80/20... kinda. The first thing I noticed was that I needed to back up and jump up my Fstop to F11 - it was BRIGHT! and I believe the artists noticed the change of flash power. But what I found the big bounce perfect for was full stage shots with a fish eye - or close up shots using the 70-200 of the drummer. for drummer shots this light mod is PERFECT! - it throws enough light onto them so they are well lit, and movement is locked in, while not blasting out the stage lighting. - the settings were between F11 (stage shots) and F4 (drummer shots)

Next was Attila - and as always I got my safe shots first - shooting with the 80/20 - and luckily their lighting wasnt RED! yeay! - but it was a bit darker than the other bands blasted reds. SO I was shooting at F9.5 with the fisheye - these are about one stop under where they should be - but none the less - you get the idea - these are unedited

Next I used the softbox 2 with the fisheye and then the 16-35 lens. All in all i LOVE the big softbox for this light set. It filled in everything it needed to, but being that it is stronger than the 80/20 it did bleed out the stage lighting a bit, but not enough to kill the image. this again, was great for bigger shots but was also AWESOME for individual shots, check it (unedited images)

Last was Alesana, I had previously warned them that I would be using all sorts of different lighting when I shot them, so they were well aware haha. I started with the 80/20. shooting at F8 with the 16-35. (unedited images)

Next up I used the big bounce, which, if the artist was too close, it blew out the stage lighting a bit too much, but was great for wider shots of multiple members or fisheye shots. these are at F11 (unedited)

Next up I popped on the softbox 3 - and used it with both fisheye and 16-35. I was at F11 still - and what I noticed is it blends the stage lighting and subject lighting better than the big bounce, but the lighting on the subject is still too hot and concentrated. but its PERFECT for wider shots and for any show with brighter lighting, but with mid to dark lighting its a bit too spotty for close ups. however - PERFECT for wider shots and full stage shots (unedited)

lastly I put the 80/20 back on and finished up with some final shots to compare and contrast from. (unedited)

SO! my thoughts... The 80/20 is still king for what I want to capture - its the PERFECT way to blend stage lighting and get even lighting on your subject for close ups, wide angle, and full stage shots, but absolutely lacks the power to hit the drummer if he is super far away. for that, I would use the big bounce. the big bounce throws light like a football with the precision of an assassin scope and rifle. It is awesome for bouncing light where you need it at the right angle. The softbox is a bit like the mini softbox I used years ago for a few shows, but the softbox 2 just shows that size matters. Making your light area greater is KEY to getting good lighting on bigger subjects. I can easily say that all three of these items will not leave my camera bag anytime soon.

What I would LOVE to do, if I get another big bounce, id love to get innovative and cut up the top a bit to make it like a gigantic 80/20 - I think that could be SO awesome.

all in all the 80/20 is still going to be my primary light mod for concerts. Im going to try them all in a portrait and wedding situation in the next few weeks as well, and see how they measure up.

But all in all, if you are serious about being a photographer, you need different tools for different situations, and Lumiquest mods is clearly what your photographic tool box should be loaded with. I still strongly suggest the 80/20 with frost diffusion for any serious concert photographer who uses flash. its a MUST have

heres where you can get it

www.lumiquest.com

ill be updating this blog more often - the reason for its lack of updates is I have literally been shooting almost every day with tight deadlines, so I never have time to do this labor of love that this blog is. I will do my best to back-blog alot of past shoots this year, so keep your eyes open.

Todays Shoot - Blessthefall (days 1 and 2)

2011-08-06T14:56:00.009-04:00

Day 1.
Todays shoot is a two part shoot with Blessthefall for the upcoming Outburn Magazine COVER!

So the plan was to do on location stuff the first day in poughkeepsie outside of the chance theater, and shoot in studio the next day.

The drive to poughkeepsie is SKETCH - like straight up farm land most of the way. I havent been to that venue in YEARS so I wasnt entirely sure where I could even shoot, also knowing that it was a fest there would be tons of cars, vans, and buses. (but that also means i get to see my sister and brothers from other mothers IWABO, MIW, and C-GRIN yeay!)

Anyway, I got to the venue, and had a few other shoots to do for Vic Firth. So I got those out of the way then did a bit of location hunting for where I was going to shoot the band. I found 4 spots and thats pretty much all I needed for today as the bigger shoot would be the next day.

So I quickly met the band and found my good friend Bobby was on tour with them doing merch, so it was cool to see him, as i havent seen him since the Eighteen Visions days.

Anyway, so after meeting the guys, we went over to a spot with a green wall and I set up some triangular lighting (two rims one key) all hard light - using two bare parabolics as rims and a large beauty dish on a boom stand about two feet above them pointed at them. all dynalite uni400 jack rabbits. I shot these with the Canon 1ds Mark 2 and the 24-70 lens at ISO100 - F14 at a 50th to bring in some natural light

Next I wanted to get a big sky shot, but instead of standard triangular lighting, I wanted to offset the rims a bit so I took their right (my left) rim and set it a bit back to offset the balance. I was shooting at the same settings aside from jumping up the speed to a 160th - and also switching out to the 16-35 lens for the wide shots

I turned off my pocket wizard and did some natural light solo shots with the 24-70 - i wanted the max depth of field so I shot at 2.8 at a 500th.

Next, I went to a wall across from the entrance which had this crazy colorful painting on it - I shot this with just the beauty dish blasting straight at them, I wasnt really into these shots but heres one so you can see what it looked like - was F18 at a 160th.

The next spot was a concrete wall with alot of texture to it (which I tend to like to use with lighting from above) So I boomed the dish as high up as possible and shot these with the 24-70 and 16-35 at F18 at a 160th - and I made sure the dish was close enough where it would put a ring of light around them, but not put too much into highlights and shadows behind them

I switched off the pocket wizard and went to natural light shooting mainly with the 24-70 at F9 with a 125th - The reason I was at F9 is I wanted to have a wider focus point. and loved the way it turned out in the solos

I turned the pocket wizard back on to get a few quick solos of Beau at F18 at a 160th with the same lighting from above.

I quickly set up two parabolics for triangular lighting for the last set of solos with Beau for the day, and got one of my favorite shots from that day.

It was a great first day of shooting, and ending the day hanging out with my ol tour buddies in IWABO and Chelsea Grin was a great way to close out the day. I sorted out the details for the next day, and we had a good morning of studio shots coming up, so I left a bit early to prep the studio for tomorrow.
-------
Day 2.

the second day of shooting was at the studio. As much as I like shooting on location, at different venues, my studio is where I know exactly what is going to get done before it even happens. So I came up with a game plan of shooting regular stuff in studio, shoot around outside a bit, then finish up with a fun shot in studio, I was thinking something with blood, or weapons, or... i dunno, whatever we come up with.

We started with a 5 light set up. A boomed key beauty dish, two umbrella rims, and two 3x4 soft boxes split for lower lighting (see the set up shot) the dish was at 50% while the other lights were all at 75% to balance the hard and soft lighting. I shot these with the Canon 1ds Mark 2 with the 70-200 and 24-70 (wider shots) lenses. I was at iso100 F10 at a 160th - we did some straight shots, some fun shots and jump shots so we would have a good mix for the mag.

I had an idea to get a heavily shadowed shot where I would do something cool in post with the shadows. Although I didnt end up liking the post production I did (so I never ended up finishing the post) - the magazine liked and used the original images with the shadows. These were shot with a single light with frost diffusion pointed up at them - shot at F14 at a 160th with the 24-70 lens. If i was any good at digital manipulation it woulda been a good idea but... OH WELL! haha thats why im a photographer and not a photoshop-ographer. BUT! theres a set up shot here, so check it out.

Next up I set up triangular lighting, using two parabolics flagged with soft boxes, because this was all hard light, but I wanted the rims to be a bit brighter I left the lighting at 75% for the rims and 50% for the key. I shot both white and pink as an alternate, I dont think the pink ones will ever be used for anything haha. but these are all F10 and a 160th.

Next we went outside. I brought my fisheye along to do some cool super wide shots if lighting allowed. I started with natural light shooting F8 - with fish eye I didnt want to be wide open at 2.8 because alot of it would blur out - so I kept with mid-range. I was at a 125th - and we had a perfect partly cloudy day, so lighting was even with no blasted out highlights.

I set up a beauty dish from above boomed straight over the dudes, and was shooting at F16. I didnt want the light to overpower the natural light like the photos from the previous day on the concrete wall. I wanted more of a blend between the two with little to no heavy shadows so I kept the light away from the wall - check the test shot for example.

We went back into the studio for the last sets. I had Beau write BLESSTHEFALL in fake blood and splatter the background a bit, I figured its been a while since I used alot of fake blood, I was well over due. SO! after the background was ready I had them stand on the background and I started with lighting from above to do some darker photos - using a boomed beauty dish shooting with the 70-200 lens at F10 for the tighter shots and the 24-70 for wider shots. - see the set up shot

I wasnt feeling the darker shots so I used triangular lighting to flood in way more light - again using softboxes as gobos for the rims - and I had beau put blood in his hands (check the test shot) - these were at F10 with the 24-70 and for the last shots I had him take off his shirt and have more fun with it - had the dudes jump back into the shots and do something really "evil metal" looking - as if braveheart were holding oranges as some like to say haha. and THAT is the shot that got the cover...

Yes, they turned the cover shot from a white background to yellow, but the inside shots are still on white - I guess it was to make the cover pop a bit more. anyway..

It was AWESOME getting to work with these dudes, I'm really pumped on how so many of these shots came out, and they are such an excellent band to work with. I'm sure they will be in front of my lens again before the year is out. Best dudes, for real.

I will be putting up prints from this shoot at jeremysaffer.bigcartel.com sometime in the future, so keep your eyes out on the print section.

Legends Never Die..

2011-07-27T16:01:00.002-04:00

A non-photo post.

You know what rules?

growing up with posters of a band on my wall, then, just a few years later, opening up lighroom to see my portraits of those bands staring back at me. sometimes its even surreal. As a kid, I know if I saw some of these, they would but cut out of the magazine, id put 4 small pieces of poster putty behind it, and then on my wall it goes.

Alot of people dont get it. Sometimes im not even sure if i get it. But I know growing up, those photos were so important to me. At the time those photos were my gateway into that bands life and image. Id see photos of Manson, White Zombie, Metallica, Korn, Megadeth, Slayer, Cradle of Filth, etc. and see what they were wearing, where they were in the world, what it would be like to be right there where the image was taken and be as close to the bands i grew up worshiping as possible.

You may think I’m blowing it out of proportion here… but thats what I did growing up, id buy a magazine if a band i liked was in it - cut the shot out - and put it on my wall, and that was a big part of my life growing up as a fan of these bands, and a fan of music. If i was having a bad day - I would go to my room, surrounded by photos of the bands i loved and listen to metal so loud it would usually end in my parents taking away my cd player. haha. But being surrounded by those images made me feel like i was within reach of my heroes.

So I guess what im trying to get at… is its really and truly an overwhelming honor to be able to create images that I hope, one day will be cut out of a magazine, and put on someones wall, just as I had in the past. and just as important, when I get the rare and sometimes surreal opportunity to work with a band that had spent some time stuck to my wall, it just solidifies the reason I got into doing what I do in the first place.

With out YOU - the fans - the bands… I would not be able to do this… so thank you

Keep cutting out photos, getting them signed, and putting them on your wall.

“Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.” - The Sandlot.

Warped Tour Shoots - Weerd Science

2011-07-17T18:24:00.005-04:00

My buddy Josh aka Weerd Science was on the tour, so we figured it would be kinda cool to do a quick shoot for the warped spread.

We set up in a few areas for this one - first off was the backroad behind the main stage where I also shot Kevin and Johnny, I went with the same triangular lighting here, Shooting at F13 at iso 100 at a 200th - for some reason the sun was blazing at this time so i jumped my main light up to 75%

Shot again with dynalite uni400s and the canon 24-70 2.8 on the mark 2 1ds

for the second shot we went around to the green fence nearby and shot with a boomed beauty dish at F 16 for a few shots

last up I did some natural light shots against a green wall behind main stage (well, the MAIN STAGE not warped tours main stage). and shot these between F8 and F 2.8 to get a variety of depths of field - i was at ISO200 because the sun was fading out a bit and I needed that extra kick of light for the shots.

Always awesome getting to see, hang with, and shoot Josh. Its amazing to see where he started and where he is now. Such a talented dude.

Warped Tour Shoots - Kevin Lyman

2011-07-17T17:45:00.004-04:00

A bit more behind the scenes is the creator of Warped Tour (and Mayhem Fest) Kevin Lyman.

Between my many shoots today, I decided it would be cool to snag him for a minute and do a quick shot of him to pull this Warped Tour spread together.

SO, I shot him in the same area I shot BVB and Johnny Plague, because it was not only the only location around that worked, but it was the best location around.

I had him grab his bike he was riding around, and set up triangular lighting (two bare rims and a main light which was a large beauty dish)

for lighting - its the same as the rest - 3 dynalite jackrabbit uni400s set at 50% power - shot with the 24-70 2.8 L canon lens on the canon mark 2 1ds body at F10 - ISO100 at a 200th (as it was very bright out)

I shot him so the road would create a bit of depth and the sky would create a perfect balance between the road - which i made sure wouldnt go dark so there wouldnt be and over abundance of contrast.

It was awesome getting to do a quick shoot with him, I havent photographed him since the first taste of chaos with my chem and the used so its been a while, but I think having the person who is responsible for the tour in the tour spread is a key shot and really brings it together, and in this instance, there truly isnt a nicer or harder working person out there.

Thanks Kevin!

Warped Tour Shoots - Asking Alexandria

2011-07-13T17:22:00.005-04:00

At the venue in Mansfield, I know exactly where I can shoot that will look good. There is a concrete bridge/tunnel I tend to do alot of my shoots in there (murderdolls, deftones, etc) where I know I can make it look different each shoot.

For this one, I knew I had to be quick and simple, it was 100+ degrees out, if I shot for too long my batteries would overheat and possibly pop a circuit or a light could blow as that type of weather is NOT good for using equipment that is weather sensitive (only had an issue once though, cause dynalite rules).

Anyway, I went with simplicity and set up a quick triangular lighting set, two bare parabolic rims and a single large beauty dish main - for this one i left the main at 40% and kicked the rims up to 50% so they would just be a touch brighter. - shooting with a dynalite jackrabbit kit - three uni400s

I shot these at F13 at ISO100 at a 160th

Next up I did some solos of Danny against the sky - keeping with the same lighting structure - I turned all my lights to 70% and jumped to F14 to bring in the sky but not completely blow out the highlights. - the trick to these shots is making sure the light hitting your subject is equal to the light around them - and balancing the two with your shutter speed (letting the light in for the right about to time to balance it) - and fstop to be dead on with your exposure. - i used the canon 24-70 for this shoot

See more of these shots in print in the next issue of hails and horns, outburn, and amp magazine

Todays Shoot - Fireworks, Guns, and Canons

2011-07-03T22:21:00.018-04:00

Anytime I get an invite from Phil (Labonte of All That Remains) to go shoot stuff, blow up stuff, or eat food, im always down, because a solid 80% of the time it turns into some sort of adventure, or I get to do something awesome for the first time, like shoot a gun, watch a canon go off, etc. Plus hes a great friend that I dont get to see too often due to him being on the road always.

SO! when he told me to come up for a fourth of July cook out and shoot out and he sent the words "BRING YOUR CAMERA!" I knew it was going to be good times.

So I made some food and hit the road for NH. I wasnt sure exactly where his new place was, but I hit a road that goes around a beautiful lake, then I see a sign that says "dont tread on me" and another that says "gun store"... yep. im here!

As im parking I hear POP! POP! POPPOP! PAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPA! yep - i have definitely arrived to phil-land. ha - machine guns!

First thing I see when I get there are two tables full of guns.. awesome! one of them was pink! so epic!

So the first thing to really kick it off was a canon! Rob shot a concrete filled can of soda out of it - and you can actually see it in the photo (just above the smoke). I shot all these photos on high speed so I had a solid chance of getting the fire-shot - which i got 80% of the time - anyway - here are canons and guns. tadaa.

Next up I handed my camera to Phil and shot a machine gun for the first time! it kinda ruled and kinda sucked - the smoke went into my eye toward the end of the mag, and oooof that shit stings! my eyes were tearing up badly. haha. oh well.

Rob set... some impact smoke explosion things - i forget what they are called - but you shoot it - then BOOM - loud explosion and smoke - check it!

yeah there was a grenade launcher, shot orange smoke marker thingys - used for training - sorry i dont know the terms for these things ha

Another canon...

I shot a few fireworks from the side of a road near water - I should have gone down to the dock to get shots clear of trees and everything but didnt think I could - so heres the first group - from the water

When we got back to the house they had their own plethora of fireworks - I experimented with long exposures - shooting at 6-10 seconds at F19-22 - got some really cool stuff from it - check it out!

Last thing they did was shoot fireworks out of a canon... yyyyyyeah. that happened. it worked once but the other two times it was just a loud explosion.

SUCH! an AWESOME! way to celebrate the 4th. I dont think that will ever be topped, but I hope to be proven wrong one day.

Todays Shoot - Motionless In White

2011-06-07T23:49:00.003-04:00

First off - PLEASE DO NOT TAKE AND MASS REPOST THESE IMAGES! This blog is for me to share what I do, and many photos that would normally never see the light of day, so when people take all the images and post 30 pics, one at a time, it ruins the purpose and makes it much more difficult for me to share these images with you - If you absolutely need to repost a photo or two (please no more than that). do it but please link back to this or to me (the photographer). and the band! :) Much appreciated. <3

My buddy Chris and I are always talking about doing a big shoot, something that will be iconic, and solidify an image for the band. Last time we did a band shoot, the label HATED it but we loved it. which happens... well, almost never but whatever. it is what it is. Basically Chris has a specific vision for his band, that I share and wanted to magnify. After the first shoot was shot down - and then they did a shoot with another photographer that the band disliked, and didnt feel represented them properly but the label liked... it was time to do something to appease both the band and the label (and myself!).

So after speaking at length about doing a big shoot and what we could do, the label lined up a shoot and gave some very specific details on it, which wasnt outside of the range of what I wanted to do to begin with - so it worked out perfectly The idea was to expand on the creatures video look. but to give them a very specific feel. My idea was to give them a more fashioned high-end type of feel like studio industrial style stuff (manson, NIN, etc) Simple, brightly lit with minimal shadows, so the darker part of the image isnt the lighting, its the band! wardrobe to be uniform, heavy make up, and just all around high end look to everything. Then aside from the studio shots - take them on location and get some solid outdoor shots as well.

The band drove up from Scranton, Pa (however they neglected to bring Dwight Schrute or Michael Scott!) the night before the shoot. I figured that would be easier on everyone, so they could just crash here, wake up a bit later, shower and prep as needed, rather than do a long drive then shoot a long day etc.

So after a night of mortal kombat, magic, and hanging out, we got up, and headed over to the studio. I knew they had a bit of prep time, at least an hour, so I did some behind the scenes video of them getting ready (and later of the shoot).

Once they were all ready, I tried a few different types of lighting set ups - my goal was to have all hard lighting - front and rims, but what I ended up doing was putting two umbrellas in the rims to soften them a bit - shot those at 100% power - used a boomed beauty dish pointed toward them at 50% power - and had two 3x4 softboxes pointed down for side lighting their legs (so it wouldnt go dark with the rest of the lighting being from face level) - at 75% power - all profoto compact 300 lights. Check out the set up shot.

I did a bunch of shots with this set up at F10 at a 160th iso 100 on the 1ds mii with the 24-70 lens, heres a few.

After shooting a few like that, I took out the umbrellas and shot harsh light but did something really smart i havent done before.. I was getting alot of flare and bleed from the parabolic rims so I set up my softboxes to gobo the rims! (blocking the flare/lights from my lens but keeping the lighting on the band) - GENIUS! why have i not done this before?! check the test shot!

so I was shooting with two parabolic rims and the beauty dish remained the same. - I did a chunk of shots like this including solos - these are at F13 still at a 160th iso 100.

Next we went into the basement - I brought a dynalite kit of two parabolics and a beauty dish on a boom. Theres one spot in the basement where its a white wall with black stuff all over it - it sort of looks like someone spit black blood on the wall - its perfect! - so what I did was I set up a single boomed beauty dish pointed straight down for strong directional lighting... it was time to get DARK! I shot these at F14 at ISO100 at a 160th - still using the 24-70 lens - for these shots I really wanted to bring out those arm bands and line them up - You will see one of these images at the merch table as they tour. The cool thing about this lighting is it make the armbands pop because they are white and screen printed so the white reflects enough light to really make them come out in a dark shot.

Next we went outside - we did some natural light shots against a concrete wall, but I decide to cut that and move to a better spot - which I found just adjacent to that wall - an area that looked similar to the performance footage of the creatures video (well, the window and building) - So I put down to parabolics at 50% to their right and left a bit above them and aimed to their shoulders so it would hit the side of their faces a bit, then used the beauty dish main in front of them. These are at F10 at a 160th ISO100

Next I took them to a spot with a decent amount of sky - I was going to do a wider, open shot with split lighting via parabolic and a raised but front facing beauty dish - now - some of these photos were cool but I just didnt like the overall feel of the wall cutting into them so I went tighter for sky shots and honestly I just thought they were the weakest of what we had done so far, so heres one of them and a set up shot just for kicks - but being the weakest of the bunch - I doubt these photos would (or should) be used for anything. These are at F13 at a 160th.

We went back into the studio and it was time for me to do something I had not done in almost 3 years... shoot on black velour. I set one for floor and a second for background - and then set up the lights with the same settings as the last shots on white (two rims, blocked out with softbox gobos, and a beauty dish main). At first we had some fun - and did a shot that would later be photo shopped to chris holding the band.

Then we did some regular shots first normal - then with a smoke machine that I had asked them to bring, which I thought would enhance the images a ton - aaand it did. These are shot at F11 at a 160th

we also got a sweet shot of them sporting some monster energy drinks!

Lastly there was an idea for a movie poster. Shooting Chris in the same way as the beginning of the Creatures video, and making it into some sort of movie poster, which I believe is being printed. SO! I started with him in his regular make up and shot in three different ways with two variations and two make up variations: triangular lighting with two rims and a main dish facng front - split lighting with two 3x4 softboxes - and lighting from above using a dish pointed straight down... then we varied smoke - no smoke - and shot first with regular make up then his video make up... now ill leave this up to you - can you guess which shot is which lighting?

It was awesome getting to do a big shoot with these guys - im hoping to do another one when the next photo cycle is ready to go. I think this is one of my favorite shots I have done to date - and am really pumped with what we got. I will get Chris out here sometime soon - probably next month after the all star tour to do a day shoot for a really cool project we will be announcing soon...

Keep your eyes open for a behind the scenes video I will post when I have time to edit it down.

Todays Shoot - Aiden

2011-05-27T22:55:00.006-04:00

Anytime Aiden or William comes around I'm pumped to get them in front of my lens, because they can NOT take a bad photo. I would say they are one of my favorite bands to photograph, since I first shot them in 2005 - I think we have shot maybe 5 or 6 times total and each time we have created some excellent shots.

As soon as I saw the tour was coming through, I hit up Wil to sort out a photo shoot and get them some press. Nicholas actually hit me up a few days prior saying he also wanted to get some solo shots, so I was pretty pumped to know they were looking forward to the shoot as well.

We Planned to shoot just before they went on, which meant we would be shooting in a dressing room ive shot about 100 times. SO! I knew I had to do something special and make it look different. I brought some softboxes with me - which I rarely use on location, and I was going to experiment with the room a bit to make it look unlike the many other shoots I've done there in the past.

First thing I find out when I roll up is that my buddy Mike aka Ratboy ex-ETID was playing drums for Aiden and would be in the shoot. So I was pumped to see him for the first time since the last ETID shoot I did with him, oddly enough, in the same dressing room.

I started with a boomed large beauty dish on a dynalite uni400 - set at 35% power - set up high - pointed at about a 50 degree angle toward the band - so the main light would be directional, from above but with enough front lighting to light down to about the bottom of the chin rather than if it were straight down it would start having fall off after the nose. I also set two rim lights up almost to the ceiling and downward to them for the first set. I started off with solo shots of Nick as he was ready first, I shot these with the 24-70 on the Canon 1ds Mark 2 at F16 at an 80th ISO 100. When the whole band came in I had my assistant move the rims to be behind the guys so there would be back lighting and rim lighting - as youll see it acts as a hair light for Nick and Angel - but a rim light for Mike and Wil. Anyway, enough words right? heres some photos.

After having them sit, I had them stand for a few shots - actually standing on the couch - not in front of it. I jumped up to F18. it gave them almost a whole different look. One thing to keep in mind as a photographer is you dont always have to move lights to change a shot, you can move the band! So I did another set with the band then a set of solos with Wil, The cigarette acted like a mini smoke machine, and actually added to the whole atmosphere of the image.

Next I set up two 3x4 soft boxes - I didnt really like the group shots in this lighting, in this room, because it looked too much like stuff ive done before but the solo shots of Wil were perfect - so heres a group shot just so you can get a feel for it - and a couple more solo shots of Wil - these were at F8 at an 80th.

And that was the end of that shoot. Thus far I would say some of my favorite aiden shots were taken during this shoot. I could shoot them constantly, always get something different, and always get something awesome. I'll probably find an outlet to shoot them for the next time they are around. I'm sure this is far from the last time they will be in front of my lens. It was awesome seeing Mike again and getting to catch up with him, and as always its excellent seeing Wil who is one of the best dudes I know in this industry. Til next time...

Todays Shoot - Get Scared

2011-05-27T20:55:00.010-04:00

I first saw Get Scared when I did two days shooting Escape The Fate for Outburn, and they not only put on an incredible show, but they also really impressed me, which is actually a pretty difficult feat being that im a jaded music elitist haha.

One of the shots I got of them from those shows is in the current issue of Outburn, so I brought a bunch of copies to the Aiden, Eyes Set to Kill, Get Scared, Vampires Everywhere, Dr Acula tour. because most of the bands were in the new issue with a review or photo, or whatever.

I love shooting bands with a strong image. Its why Ive done a bunch of work with bands like slipknot, 18visions, bleeding through, motionless in white, misfits, aiden, etc. So seeing Get Scared - I knew i had to get them in front of my lens.

I already had set up shoots with Aiden and Eyes Set to Kill for the day, so when I saw it was going to be a pretty nice day for shooting, I figured I would set up a quick shoot with Get Scared, which they obliged.

So after shooting Eyes Set to Kill, and Vampires Everywhere (I also ended up doing a shoot with them that day), It was time to shoot Get Scared.

Time was tight due to them going on stage next, and with alot of bands I've shot (slipknot, gwar, cradle of filth, behemoth, etc.) who wear make up, or have stage outfits, they generally have a very short amount of time to shoot directly before they hit the stage. SO! I was ready to shoot well before they were, as my assistant set up in the location - which was the parking lot across from the front door of the palladium.

I started with some natural light shots of Nicholas - because it started getting dark out I jumped my ISO to 400 and shot at 2.8 at a 160th at a 125h - I was shooting with the 24-70 2.8 lens on the Canon 1ds mark 2. This was the first shoot I loaded into lightroom and the vignette they put on the import library looked so awesome i tried it out on a few shots - but meh - its over done - but ill put em in here so you can peep em anyway. heres the shots.

Next up I did some natural light group shots - still at 2.8 - and I shot these wide because of the natural vignette it gets - pushing the brightest point of even lighting to the center of the image while not completely darkening the boarders. I had to jump down to an 80th as light was fading fast.

Next up - I used two large softboxes - which I havent done on location in a long time, but I figured soft split lighting on this band would look excellent - and im usually right? right?! RIGHT! so! I set these 3x4 boxes up on dynalite uni400s at 70% power (had to up them a bit for the soft lighting to hit hard enough) and shot these at F10 at ISO100 at a 125th

Next. I switched with them, I stood where they were standing - and had them stand where I was shooting from - kept everything the same - and tada - a completely different shot! These are at an 80th (to bring in the sky) at F10

Another quick switch - i took out the two soft boxes for a boomed beauty dish to get more selective and directional lighting - it was up top pointed straight down - and this minor change gives you almost a completely different look - these are at F16 at a 30th (to bring in the sky)

By the time the last shot was taken they had to literally run directly on stage - which isnt uncommon for shoots with bands who have stage outfits - i remember shooting behemoth as their intro music went on haha.

I'm STOKED on how these shots came out, and I really hope I can get them in front of my lens again in the near future - maybe next time they come around.

See these shots in print this august!

Todays Shoot - Eyes Set To Kill

2011-05-27T19:01:00.007-04:00

Today I get to see some of my favorites! Eyes Set to Kill! - After touring with IWABO in October, with them being direct support, we spent alot of time together and became buddies, as you do whilst on tour.

SO! We didnt really get to do any big ESTK shoots while I was out with IWABO, and it was actually my first time seeing ESTK since the tour - I figured it was nice out and we could do an awesome shoot, and try to get them some press, so I hit up the guys a few days earlier to sort out details.

I waited for the to load in their gear, and then we started in the parking lot of the palladium, I wanted to give them a bright shot against the sky - lots of blues - highlights and midtones, very minimal shadows. I set up two bare parabolic rims behind them to the right and left pointed in at them at 60% - then boomed a large beauty dish and pointed it right at them at 40% power. It was a clear day so I was at a 250th at F13 to bring in the blue sky with out blowing out the highlights in the sky. Shooting with the 24-70 lens on the Canon 1ds mark 2.

Next I wanted to do some bright natural light shots. We went around the corner and shot against a white brick wall - for these I wanted the white to go out just a touch - not too overpowering but about a stop over - I shot these at 4.5 at a 160th - and the white wall was getting direct sunlight which reflected into some back lighting. Posing a band who have multiple main people is difficult. You have the sisters who are the most publicized members of the band - as alexia is also a vocalist - and thereby a front woman - then you have cisco who is the front man - then theres caleb... who has the short end of that stick - start singing buddy! haha. BUT! with ESTK I tend to make the sisters the main focus but not with out losing cisco and caleb. Everyone in this band is as important as everyone else in the band, as with many other bands, but again - can be tricky if not done right.

For the last group shots I kept with natural light but wanted to do something with less blown out
highlights - so I found a wall that I had previously used with Reign Supreme and Tony Laureano that always works well and was out of sunlight so there would be even soft light. I shot these at 2.8 at a 200th

For the last shots with the girls, I basically recreated the same lighting I started with - two rims brought in a bit closer turned down 10% - same with the boomed large beauty dish - and tada! we had our shots. These were at F14 at a 200th as it was a bit brighter bringing in the lights for two people rather than four.

It was awesome seeing the ESTK fam again, as much as I love my job, doing four shoots didnt really give us a ton of time to hang out, which is a bummer, but hopefully they will be back around soon and we can spend more time hanging out, less of me running around shooting everything.

Todays Shoot - Foxy Shazam

2011-05-25T16:03:00.008-04:00

This was my first time working with the dudes in Foxy Shazam. I've heard about them time and time again and then got the assignment to shoot them, so I set it up, and planned on shooting before doors, because we would have much more to work with before a ton of fans arrive.

At the webster there arent many places to shoot, so after doing a ton of shoots there its difficult to come up with something you havent already shot... twice.

SO! thats why I liked shooting earlier in the day so we could pretty much shoot anywhere and not be in anyones way.

We started off in the parking lot. I wanted to get a good sky shot, so I set them up to the right hand side of the lot where there isnt a high house line, and a good spot to get alot of sky. I set up two rim lights to their left and right, and then a dish pointed at them from a slight downward angle to get very little directional lighting but still staying full. These are at F16 at a 125th ISO100 - shooting with the Canon 1ds Mark 2 - 24-70 lens.

We went down to their dressing room, which was downstairs below the webster, with newly painted orange walls. I figured I could do something cool with spot lighting, using the beauty dish like it was an on camera flash. Now, it is no easy feat to fit 6 people on a couch, so we did what we could and I shot these at F10 - I dropped the power to the light to 15% so it wouldnt be completely blown out, I was at 24mm the whole time - i should have brought my 16-35 but I didnt want the ultra wide look to it, so i kept to the wide-mid range.

For the last set I did some solos with Eric - I started off with natural light shooting at F2.8 to get alot of very selective focus points, always focusing on the eyes.

Last I threw a beauty dish up as high as possible pointed down and shot at F18. for these shots I had him bring his chin up so the face would get the majority of the lighting and getting a solid classic portrait with directional lighting.

It was awesome getting to work with these guys for the first time, we got some excellent shots, and then their live set was just incredible! see these guys live if you havent! Hopefully when their next cycle hits I will be working with them again.

Todays Shoot - Elisabeth (NSFW)

2011-05-14T13:10:00.000-04:00

This model comes from way out in Arizona

It was her first time modeling, and due to it being a corpse paint shoot - I can only show you one photo (get the book when it comes out for the rest).

For the shot im going to post - I was using split lighting - two 3x4 soft boxes - shooting with the 70-200 IS lens - F14 at a 160th.

Elisabeth is awesome! I hope we get to work together again in the future, if she can ever make it out this way again.

Todays Shoot - Four Year Strong

2011-05-04T23:26:00.012-04:00

As you know, if you follow FYS, they had recently parted ways with Josh (the keyboardist and screamer) as they are moving in a musical direction that no longer called for him to be a part of the band.

I knew they would need some images between now and their next cycle with the current line up for various press, so I set up a shoot with them to happen at the webster theater before doors.

Though photos arent one of Four Year Strongs favorite thing to do, I have shot them enough where they know how I work and I know how they work, and this time no fire was involved so, it would be much safer haha.

We started in the merch area shooting against the metal gate to the deads room. I set up two rim lights put them up about 6 feet high - and used a boomed beauty dish pointed straight at the band - all were at 70% power - dynalite uni400s - shot with the Canon 1ds Markii - 24-70 lens.

I was going for a look with and with out lens flare, but it caught a but more flare to the left (camera right) due to positioning, I had to edit contrast a bit on that side because of a bit too much flare, but all in all it worked out, as you can see... F18 at a 160th ISO100

Next up I wanted to shoot them against their back drop, but a band was loading on stage - SO! it got real tricky - the stage is super high - there was part of a barricade set up, and i had three lights... ok so the obvious is to put the beauty dish on them - then I set up two rim lights to their left and right sort of as split fill lighting from above (you can see the angle of the lighting right?) - and this shot was ment to be them and a dark background - F16 at a 10th - ISO100

After shooting that we put to rim lights on the background to give it a canned look and to bright light to it - still going with the same settings F16 at a 10th - ISO100 - but i believe we turned the rim lights up to 80% to throw more light on that backdrop

We went up to the dressing room, and I knew I wanted to shoot against the plumb colored wall which looks awesome when hit with direct light - so i set up a boomed dish - set it directly toward them at 50% because it was really close and I wanted a harsh light point with heavy fall off (mission accomplished) to give a slight natural vignette - these are at F16 at a 125th.

For the last group shots we set up on the couch, I wanted to do something with alot of light bleed and a little more fun - so I set up two rims at 50% and a straight dish at 75% - shot at F16 - but had them sitting on the top of the couch, standing up, throwing pillows, being more animated all with light bleed but not enough to compromise the image.

Last shots were going to be solos of everyone then dan and alan, separate and combined, as well as Dan asked me to do some shots of him with his guitar, so I would do those with the same lighting - for this its the same as earlier - single dish - F16 - and i missed with the crop a bit - doing some off center shots to make it a bit more interesting - still at a 125th

It was awesome getting to work with these dudes again (and again) - and im sure, again in the future. Great dudes, great band, that combo is much more rare than youd think!

Todays Shoot - Andrea (NSFW)

2011-04-30T13:13:00.012-04:00

Todays shoot was a model from Buffalo. She was going to be out following (aka stalking) 30 seconds to mars. I teased her a bit about it - but not gunna lie - i loooove their first record, and havent heard the rest, im sure id dig it, but still, had to tease her a bit.

Anyway, she was fresh from a fashion show in canada so to say she was tired would be an understatement but none the less we got some solid images.

We started with two 3x4 soft boxes, for split lighting - set to 50%

rather than talk about individual sets within this, ill just give you a photo-load because the lighting doesnt change, its always set split im shooting at F14 at a 160th iso100 - with the 70-200 lens. she had alot of cool stuff like a bieber shirt, a samhain shirt, and a slew of other stuff that would be cool to shoot in. check it.

After shooting the euro stuff it was time for corpse paint, but as you know, im not showing you a ton of shots - just one per shoot - but there will be a bunch in the book

for this shot - the lighting is actually the same - split with 2 3x4 soft boxes

it was great getting to work with a new model, i think we both got on each others nerves during the shoot due to being overtired, but alas, it happens on rare occasion, but we still got solid shots and that is what matters!

Todays Shoot - Cheri Rose (NSFW)

2011-04-27T21:05:00.004-04:00

So today I am doing another shoot with the incredible Cheri Rose, who I have shot a few times before and always get amazing images.

this time we were just doing a quick shoot as she got some new masks/fetish gear to shoot in, along with her brand new super numetal braids (yes, i teased her alot about these, and this is written specifically to further tease her of them ha).

Anyway, we started by shooting outside - it was raining but only VERY lightly, enough where we could get a few shots - but it was super dark, and almost 8pm so I was shooting at ISO800 at 2.8 with the 24-70.

It got too dark quick, and started really raining, so we went into the studio and did some fetish style stuff. This was using two 3x4 soft boxes real close - about 4 feet apart - maybe 5? at half power - shooting at F14 with the 70-200 lens - this mask she was wearing was AWESOME! i dont know how to describe what it is exactly - but check it out

I thought this mask was pretty awesome and wanted to shoot it with darker lighting - so i boomed a small dish from above pointing straight down and posing her so the mask would be the focus and concentration of the lighting - these are again with the 70-200 at F20

Next up she had another mask, and a really cool strap outfit - we shot both with the original close up split lighting at F14 - the strap outfit was kind of weird to shoot because it was never exactly center and if it was it looked kind of off but here are the shots i like of it

It was awesome working with Cheri again - I think were going to be shooting again next month for some more corpse paint stuff - outdoor/on location - so keep your eyes open for that

Todays Shoot - Tony Laureano (sick drummer cover)

2011-04-16T14:00:00.006-04:00

I got an email asking for me to get some live shots of Tony for Sick Drummer Magazine, which I quickly offered a shoot, which turned into being the magazines cover.

Tony was out with skeletonwitch, previously he had been with Dimmu Borgir, All That Remains, 1349, Nile and a slew of others, but thats where I had previously worked with or photographed him in the past.

SO! between shooting live and a hectic slew of photo shoots both before and after this one, I found a good time to shoot a few sets before having to run in for the next band while setting up for the next shoot. HECTIC DAY!

because it was on the verge of raining all day - it was pretty dismal, cold, windy, and basically crappy out. Theres so many vans, buses, cars, people - all walking around because its metalfest - so not only is there a limited area to shoot in, but its also difficult to cut out the background - so what I did was I went with strong directional lighting - I used a boomed dish boomed up as high as it could go - then used a bare parabolic pointed to the ground behind him then to enhance that even more, I shot at a 250th at F16 - ISO100 - using the 24-70. i was using the high speed to cut out light bleed, but still have the atmosphere bleed in just enough to create a solid image.

Next, to give it a different look and to do some vic Firth shots, I simply turned the dish from straight down - to more angled toward him then moved the bare parabolic camera right - brought it over our heads about 7 feet up - and pointed it downward and in so it would skim across his shoulder and give some glare lighting

here is the unedited shot with the light still in it (i cropped it for the final)

Next I found a big white box truck parked next to a bar with a similar colored white wall and I figured it would make a cool scene if shot wide angle - so I kept this one closer to the 24 range of the 24-70 - these are all 2.8 at a 250th - and are my favorite shots of the set - being a photographer you always want to look for cool environments to shoot in - and any other day - this one wont exist because that box truck wont be there.

And here is the cover! - it was awesome getting to work with tony again, and shoot my first cover - hopefully more in the future - for this drum magazine.

Todays Shoot - A Life Once Lost

2011-04-16T13:35:00.001-04:00

Funny story.... years ago when I first started in portrait work, at Hallmark, I was still shooting shows, and a band named "a life once lost" needed a place to crash.

SURE! - heres the deal - i let them crash at the place, as long as I could photograph them the next day for an assignment.

And thus began an awesome working relationship and friendship.

Since out first shoot - my first real band shoot (i believe) - we have shot probably 10 times since - as I have followed their career, they have followed mine. shooting at my moms house (my first studio) - at my studio in springfield - and maybe even my current studio in chicopee? - as well as many on location shots at the palladium or webster.

Anyway, when my good friends over at Adrenaline asked for a shoot for the ALOL guys - I was pumped! getting to work with my friends again, even though it was during a hectic metal festival.

One thing I will say before getting into the tech - is they have a new drummer - who does NOT like looking at the lens EVER! even when I say "look at the camera" hahaha - so about 50% of the shoot was trown out.

SO!

We started in the parking lot - I used a single rim light to their left - camera right - and a boomed dish pointed down but not straight down - id say if 90 degrees was straight down - it was around 80 or so... that way there would be a bit more light on their faces.

It was a dark day but I wanted the sky to go grey and dark so I shot at a faster speed - these shots are 160th - F16 - ISO100 - using the 24-70 on the Canon 1ds Mii

I wanted to change the lighting just a bit - so i put the dish down to get very contrasty shots, and brought bob up to the light which was cool for a shot or two

Next we went around to a white wall around the side of the palladium and shot some natural light stuff at F5.6 - not 2.8 this time because I wanted the background to be a bit more clear in the depth of field. When posing I try to make the most of it - make it more interesting, so youll see the singer is closer to the lens, while the other dudes are mirror each others poses, leading to a more successful shot

After shooting that spot, I went to another spot that was a bit trickier to shoot. to the left was the sun - to the right - shadow - so I had to stagger their pose enough so the dude all the way on the right has lighting that isnt WAY darker than the dude on my left. The easiest way to do that was to pull them away from the sun the best I could into even lighting - and make sure no one was directly next to someone else. I shot these at F4.5 as it was getting a bit darker, but again I didnt want to completely blur out the background in the depth of field

And another shoot down! I did 17 shoots during metalfest? something like that? oof. It was great to see my friends again, I cant wait for them to start touring again, it feels like its been years since I saw them regularly. The new jams by the way.. soooo awesome! get ready! ALOL is back!

Todays Shoot - Alana Potocnik (Winds of Plague)

2011-04-15T18:00:00.007-04:00

Metalfest is always a hectic time to shoot - and anytime the Winds of Plague crew is around, I know were doing some sort of shoot, if its the whole band, Johnny Plague for a clothing line, Art for Vic Firth, or Alana for whatever.

Alana is working on a pop/dubstep type of thing and wanted some shots to go with it. Now, I would love to get her in studio to do a shoot, but obviously that cant happen amidst a metal festival - and shooting a female in a band wearing less then fully dressed clothing amongst a swarm of metal dudes - is also difficult - but alas - it was to be done!

Because I wanted to do a bit more with this shoot, than with some of the others today - I knew I would have to take breaks between shooting to run inside and shoot a band on stage.

Anyway, we started in the parking lot I boomed a dish to her right (camera left) and turned it in a bit toward her - at an angle so the lighting would be more directional than just from above - and I wanted to make these shots super dark with little saturation other than the clear dark blue sky (which was actually bright blue. but I shot at a higher speed to make it go darker) - the settings were F18 at a 200th - ISO100

After these quick shots I had to run in to shoot the next band while my assistant and alana waited for me to get out to the next set.

The next spot we shot in I wanted to shoot in two very different ways. for one - lighting from above to get the darker, more contrasty, with more concentration on the face and shadows - this is shot at F18 at a 200th - now - these are in straight up broad daylight - by shooting at a high fstop and speed I was able to give it a nighttime feel - which is what i was going for - for the first set here

For the second set - I wanted to go with something bright - poppy - pretty much the opposite of what I had just shot. So pointed the dish directly at her and used the bare parabolic camera left - to her right - up about a foot above her head - pointed down to her creating a minor lens flare - these are shot at F14 at a 160th - and as you can see with just a minor change you can get a completely different look.

Next I wanted to shoot some shots of her low to the ground - so i set up the boomed dish way low for a couple shots - these are shot at F18 - i liked what i was getting but I wanted something a little bit different

SO! I boomed the dish so i could get it low and pointed it directly to her - but keeping the same settings - ran inside to shoot the next band - came back out and finished the shoot here. I went with a bunch of different crops - close up - far - off center - etc. as I was posing her we did some really cool shots of her contorted to look like she was wearing nothing but boots! eep!

It was awesome getting to shoot with Alana again - I wanna get her in the studio in the near future so we can do some really cool industrial - fashion looking stuff

hopefully sometime before the end of the year itll happen!

Todays Shoot - Phil Labonte

2011-04-09T13:31:00.000-04:00

My good friend Phil recently got way into guns and shooting. He even is part owner of a gun store, i believe?

While he was home for a bit, he wanted to hit the studio to get some photos of himself with his gun, which is a H&K UMP .45 - before even going onto the shoot I should mention that anytime the gun was pointed at the lens - he took out the mag for an empty and checked the chamber - he is VERY strict and safe with his equipment, which is why i feel comfortable photographing guns, and even shooting guns under his supervision - dude still has the discipline from his days as a marine haha.

As always, anytime Phil is like "lets shoot!" im always down, because its generally not something ive shot before, and i get to experiment a bit... one of my first ever HDR images was with him and his (at the time) new car. my first firework photos (and canon, and shooting a machine gun etc) all him! SO! when he said - lets take some photos of me with a gun, I was down, its something I havent shot before, right? RIGHT!

SO! I wanted to just roll with two very dramatically different lighting set ups

the first was a boomed small beauty dish on a profoto compact 300 - raised up about 10 feet in the air pointing striaght down for directional lighting and a more dramatic lighting effect.

I had the light at 1/4th power shooting at F13 with the 70-200 lens. - The dish would scrim light across the gun giving its details more depth - as you always get more depth/shadows&highlights with directional lighting rather than flat, straight forward lighting.

for the second set I wanted to blast the room with light - I unboomed the dish and had it behind me just around head level - then two bare parabolics turned to 50% - and shot at F11 - this would give two slight highlights on the side while giving a solid midtone in the front - and shooting F11 - when doing the shots of the gun looking for slight depth of field, i could knock the focus a bit rather than having it be 100% sharp, which is what I wanted in the "shooting" shots.

It was awesome getting to see Phil for a bit before he disappeared again on the road for what? three months? something like that. and it was cool to shoot a gun instead of a guitar or amp rig. Variety is what its all about in any job you do. next up i think guns and ammo needs to hire me... right?

Todays Shoot - Jamey Jasta

2011-04-08T14:30:00.009-04:00

Anytime I get an email or phone call from Mr. Jamey Jasta Esq. I know its probably going to be some sort of adventure, generally way before I normally wake up.

HE hit me up to do photos for his upcoming solo record, which of course I was honored to do, being that I did the last two Kingdom of Sorrow records, the Ice Pick record, I have had a history of doing solid work with Jasta.

So if my memory serves me - I got hit up - "YO! Saffer! what are you doing tomorrow? can you do a shoot?"
"sure man! what time"
"can you get to NY at 9am?"
".....nope! haha, wanna come to my studio for 9?"
"sure, lets do 10pm at the studio!"

haha, well, im pumped I dont have to drive to NY at 6am, I woulda been sleeping during the shoot! And interestingly enough, Ive shot ALL of hatebreed at the studio at various times, aside from Jamey!

So I hit the studio around 930 to prep - Jasta hit me up and had some family stuff to do before coming up (aside from being an amazing vocalist, hes also an amazing father) - so we got started around 11.

We started in studio - I used a medium sized beauty dish on a profoto compact 300 at 50% power boomed it up as high as it would go - pointed straight down - to get a darker, strong directional lighting. I was shooing these at F13 at a 160th with the 70-200 IS lens on the 1ds M2. One thing to keep in mind when shooting with strong directional lighting is that the more you move your subject away from the light, the stronger and larger the area of shadow will be. So, when shooting with directional lighting from above I tend to always tell the subject to look straight at me or look up so they had good facial lighting with out casting too harsh of a shadow and look like the converge jane doe cover. anyway, here they are.

Next I wanted to shoot something a bit brighter with triangular lighting, something different from what you would normally see. No shadows, all mids and highlights. This lighting worked SO well with Jasta, it makes everything pop out, rather than look flat and boring as with the flat light metal bands are often shot in. These are probably my favorite shots of the set. Shot at F11 at a 160th.

Next up we went outside. Theres a few spots I tend to favor outdoors around my studio and its always a big area with not alot of noise, such as a metal garage door, a concrete wall anything that makes a good simple background - because i HATE seeing shots of a band where its half sky - a building to the right - and trees to the left - it just looks god awful - remember simplicity is sometimes key when shooting on location.

We started in front of a metal loading door, shooting with the 24-70 on the canon 1ds mark 2 - first at F4 then at F2.8 always doing an eye focus - I really like the natural vignette that wide lenses give when shooting natural light, it adds to the overall composition by bringing your eyes to the center of the image where the focus should be, and also gives your subject a "glow" around them if you can see what I mean from the images.

Next we shot against a concrete wall - first with natural light at F2.8 for the straight shots and at F5.6 for the side shots (as i was shooting into the sun) - one of these side shots is the one that was used heavily upon announcing his solo record. The shot of him leaning against the wall is similar to one of his older promos, so we were trying to recreate it a bit, and it seemed to be everyones favorite image.

Next up I put in the same lighting I used in studio - but this time a large beauty dish on a dynalite uni400 - at 50% pointed straight down. These are at F18 - the light wasnt up high enough and gave a really strong facial highlight which - in post - i brought down the highlights just a touch and took down the contrast across all the outdoor shots with lighting - to even it out a bit and give it more of a natural feel.

Lastly, it was a clear day so I figured I could get great shots of him against the sky, and the trick to shooting against the sky with upward directional lighting is to make sure your subject keeps their chin up so their face doesnt become a giant blob of shadow. Luckily Jasta is an absolute pro when it comes to shoots, he needs ZERO direction and almost telepathically moves his face, body, arms, etc. however I would have told him to, before I even say it. haha. SO! here are the last shots of the day - at F16 at a 200th

Its always awesome working with Jasta, because you never know what to expect. I think this whole photo shoot took about 45 minutes, at most. Very few bands, or even people in bands are as disciplined and professional as Jasta is in a photo shoot. Hes there to accomplish the same thing I am. To get the best shots possible. And as always, we did a pretty excellent job in doing so. I look forward to working with him again and again in the future.

Todays Shoot - Aleena (NSFW)

2011-04-07T23:22:00.002-04:00

Today was my first time working with a model named Aleena

She came up to shoot some of my industrial/goth fashion nude work as well as a bunch of corpse paint stuff.

Now because we didnt shoot too much of the ladder, and the corpse paint work is now minimally posted (wait for the book!) theres not ALOT I can show you all.

BUT! heres what I can show ya

We started with two 3x4 softboxes on profoto compact 300s in studio - shooting with the Canon 1ds mark2 and the 70-200 IS lens - at F14 160th ISO100 - the one thing to keep in mind with split lighting is watching where the shadow will be - throwing a shadow in the middle gets redundant - move around - move the model around - use the light so the highlights do exactly what they should - highlight what you want it to! - for me i try to use it to highlight faces and catch the light in the eye. as youll see with many of these images, while some of the others I wanted some solid half lit/half shadowed shots.

Next up we shot corpse paint in studio then on location - the photo im going to post is toward the end of the day I was shooting F3.5 at a 160th - at iso200 (as the light was fading i had to up from 100 to 200) - and I messed with some different off center and in-crops - this is one I liked a bunch.

I'll be working with Aleena again in the future so im certain we will come up with some more awesomeness in the coming weeks.

Todays Shoot - Ashley and Adrianna (NSFW)

2011-04-06T23:48:00.006-04:00

So after much planning, I was finally going to get my buddy ashley in front of my lens. She brought her friend Adrianna with her, who also models, and does make up, so between sets I did a few shots with her as well.

Anyway - we started with two 3x4 soft boxes split lighting on profoto compact 300s - shooting at F13-14 (depending on the clothing) at a 160th ISO100 - using the 70-200 IS lens - which is honestly the best lens for shooting a single subject in studio on seamless paper - telephoto=the jam.

SO! We did a bunch of sets in various outfits - and even did a fun shot to do some post production on having her hanging onto her own hand (cheesy but fun for sure).

What I noticed after looking at the images is that her face is to her right just a bit in about 95% of the phoos but i works for the images because the softbox highlights hit exactly where they should, but I think when we shoot again ill give it a bit more variety in facial expressions.

While Ashley was doing her corpse paint, Adrianna wanted to do some cool shots with pink tape I found at home depot. These were with the same settings - F14 - ISO100 at a 160th. The thing with using thin tape as a cover all is that you have to strategically plan how the pose is going to work to not uncover anything that should be covered and if it is, that it looks intentional, rather than a slip up. also when you have the subject pull on the tape, give it more shape, its much better than being wrapped up like a pink mummy.

When we were done with that, Ashley was ready for corpse paint, and as you know, im not posting a bunch of photos every corpse paint shoot, just one! cause ya know... gotta get hyped on the book!!!

For the shot im posting, I used a boomed medium beauty dish at 50% power up as high as possible pointing straight down for dramatic directional lighting. These are at F16 at a 160th ISO 100. shooting still with the 70-200 IS lens.

I am trying to get both ashley and adrianna back in the studio for more corpse paint and a slew of other stuff, so hopefully you will be seeing more of them in the near future.

Todays Shoot - The Word Alive (days 1 and 2)

2011-04-03T18:09:00.019-04:00

Today (and tomorrow) I'm going to be doing a big shoot with The Word Alive. I wrote down all the set ups - all the settings and a bunch of misc. notes - so expect this to be quite a read - JAM PACKED with photo-info as well as some never before seen images of The Word Alive..

Telle has been a friend for a little bit via touring with my good friends in IWABO and ADTR, so we were basically planning to do a shoot ASAP when we could, and it just lined up perfectly that they had a show near me AND a day off the next day with a not TOO long of a drive the day after.

SO! The first day we were going to shoot at the Webster Theater before doors at their headlining show, which is always somewhat tricky shooting outdoors in public accessible locations because often fans will come over and be... fans. which is coooool, but they gotta wait! ha.

so we started in the parking lot, shooting to the right of a large tree where there was a small clearing for head room - enough to get a good sky shot with 6 people and no have too much background bleed.

ok so heres the lighting set up: Two bare parabolic rim lights set around two feet above head height pointed at a downward angle toward their shoulders - i set these at 50% power - then i set a large beauty dish and had it pointed almost directly at them but with a VERY small downward angle - at about head height (im 5 foot 6... so... just above my head) as i wanted the focus of light to hit their upper bodies - and the rims to give semi directional rim lighting. The main light was also at 50% power. I shot these with the 24-70 2.8 lens on the Canon 1ds mark ii. Shot at F18 at a 160th ISO100.

Next up I wanted to use the awesome tree to the right of them (to your left if youre looking at the photos) from the first set. I wanted to go with a darker shot here so I set one bare parabolic rim behind them at 75% and pointed it down to get great leading lines from their legs - and set the beauty dish around where it was previously - but blasted it to 80% and set it a bit further back so the area of light would be a bit larger and hit everyone a bit softer. These were shot at F14 - 160th - ISO100

Next up we went down to the load in alley - and I set up a boomed beauty dish pointed straight down at 50% power to get darker and more directional light. I did a set of solos - which came out solid but the group shots here were kinda rough because it was suuuch a small area to fit 6 people. The settings for this are F18 at a 160th ISO100.

For the last two sets - we shot against the brick wall - but two VERY different sets - the lighting for both sets was two rim lights at 50% set behind and to the left and right of them pointed torward their shoulders - with a main beauty dish pointed at them also at 50% and shot at F10 at a 125th. for the first set I had them take off their jackets and hoodies - and had the rims bleeding through them so it would create a lens flare and look pretty bright. The way I did this was I gave them depth in the pose. I had them set a few steps back from each other rather then shoulder to shoulder or close together. SO! for the second set im sure you can figure out what I did - I brought them together - made sure the rims would be hitting behind them - and used the same settings.

That was it for day 1!

Day 2 was the larger part of the shoot.

We started in studio shooting on a white background - using a boomed medium sized beauty dish pointed down set at 25% - set camera right - to their left a bit - so not only is it vertical directional lighting but it also casts a horizontal shadow as well. For these shots I was using the 24-70 lens on the Canon 1DS Markii. I did both group shots an solo shots here. F14 - 160th ISO100

Next we went outside and I found a location I liked alot that I had not shot before at my studio. I messed around with how I was going to light it a bit, so heres the rundown. First I shot with just a boomed large dish shooting at F18 (see unedited photo below) - but this wasnt what I wanted... too dark of a feel for what I wanted to get.

So I left the dish up but tilted it toward the band a bit and set a bare parabolic behind them pointed at the ground to get some leading lines for vertical shots. still at F18 - but as much as I liked this I wanted to try something different, something better!

For the last (the win!) set - I used two bare parabolic lights set to their right and left - set about 7 feet high - pointed downward toward their shoulders for strong directional split/fill/rim lighting (yes, these lights has THREE uses - then I used the boomed dish as a main - the parabolic lights were set at 75% while the main was at 80%. I posed them so everyone would get hit with the main light but those in the back would also get the parabolic to even out the lighting on all of them - and turned everyone so they would mirror an opposite - while turned toward the center. These are at F13 at a 80th (to get light bleed from the sky) - and this by far was my favorite set of shots from this big shoot.

Next up we shot against a concrete wall which is always great to hit with some directional lighting - I used a boomed dish pointed straight down on them - and the cool thing about shooting with dishes are the circular lighting so it will set a halo of light around them and around the background as well - These are at F18 at a 60th. and keep in mind with shots like this with one light and 6 people you need them CLOSE so they get lighting that doesnt have a massive fall off, the further away your lighting is - the bigger and softer the area of light is! for some reason alot of photographers dont use that to their advantage when shooting with hard lighting. So the dish for this shot is about 3 feet above the band.

Next I wanted to do some natural light shots - so I dropped to F5 for some group shots - then to F2.8 for some very selective depth of field solos. I really like shooting solos in natural light with a strong depth of field - focus on the eyes - because it always brings out a great shot - i think the quote is "the eyes are the windows to the soul". now, i may not believe in all that - but it absolutely makes for some solid shots.

We went back inside to finish up in studio. I did some drum stick shots with Justin for Vic Firth - For these I used a beauty dish straight at him at 50% and two main parabolics at 75% as I wanted the rim/side of his face to go about one stop over the main light. These were shot with the 70-200 lens - at F11. You can see some of these shots used by Vic Firth.

Next up - keeping the same settings (and lens) I widened the parabolic rims and did some group shots with the same settings (F11 - ISO100 - 160th)

For the last set we wanted to do something ridiculous and fun - a great way to close a long and epic shoot. They all took off their shirts and got a weapon... or two... and did some straight up metal SCREAMS at the lens for every shot - if anyone else was in the building they would probably have been bummed or terrified. As these were just for fun I popped on the 24-70 and shot wide - getting the environment of the studio - and the lights in the shot. After having fun with weapons and partial nudity - they re-dressed and did a.. i dunno, it was something from wrestling i think - it means "suck it" i think? and those shots were meant to be used on warped tour soooo look for it - they may have used it! - these shots were all at F13-F14 at a 160th

Afterward we went up to the hangar and destroyed some wings!

And thus ends one of the longest blogs I have written about a photo shoot - Working with these guys was AWESOME - im hoping I get to work with them a TON in the future - great dudes and a great band as well.

Todays Shoot - Krista (NSFW)

2011-03-30T12:50:00.007-04:00

Krista came out from the land of oh hi oh! she came up to shoot and holy shit will you guys be stoked when you see the corpse paint images we got! - they will be in the book - but again im not going to be posting many here - just a few to show you a taste of the awesomeness. Also, i will say its easier to shoot black metal photos with someone who is actually really into black metal and understands what im trying to do - as some models see corpse paint and go "oh like a zombie" ...oof. no! haha. Krista is one of the true, grim und kvlt!

Anyway

she rolled up and we started with a ton of awesome clothes she had - corsets, lingerie - then she took a pair of leggings and cut them up with a razor blade - she cut herself once or twice i believe - but gave for an awesome look. These are all shot with the 70-200 - the corset shots are F16 - then the lingerie shot was F14 - the leg shot was F11 - then the leggings shots were F14 - the reason for the change was I wanted to brighten it up for the shots that showed more skin tone and keep the corset shots a bit darker - these are again split light - but i kept the soft boxes at about 5 feet apart - maybe less to get some harsher shadows and give her a darker look.

Next up - she had this awesome pelt - look out peta! and an awesome old school bon jovi shirt she wanted to shoot in - same settings and lighting

Next up was CORPSE PAINT! and like i said - i wont be posting a bunch of them - but needless to say - this shoot was top 3 of the corpse paint shoots thus far - im sure probably 5 or 6 images from this shoot will be in the book

buuuuuuut you get two.

so!

heres one in studio - boomed dish - close to the model rather than far away for more selective lighting and contrast - shot at F13

After shooting in studio we went outside and went on a journey!

we went down by the water - got some excellent shots there - then went to the bridge about a quarter mile away from the studio and found a bunch of awesome branches that looked creepy but framed her face PERFECTLY! while a homeless sketchy dude kinda looked on - walked away - we shot - then he came back as we were leaving and tried to talk to us about... dunno cause we walked fast haha. anyway - 3.5 - 24-70 ISO500 as the light was dying

This was THE BEST shoot ive done in a while for this - mostly because - SHE GETS IT! - im trying to get her back here before the book closes to get another day or two of shooting in with her - im so pumped on these shots - and when you see them in print - you will be stoked as well!

Todays Shoot - Cam Damage (NSFW)

2011-03-28T15:04:00.006-04:00

Todays shoot was with a model you may recognize as I have worked with her before - miss Cam Damage

We were shooting more of the fasion/gothfetish stuff before going into corpse paint

This stuff is kind of like catalog shooting, the lighting generally remains the same, while the model changes poses and clothes, pretty simple.

This is shot with two 3x4 soft boxes in split lighting - I shot these at F8 to get more of a depth of field than my normal F14-16 - but still at ISO100 at a 160th - using the 70-200 IS on the canon mark 2 1ds

when shooting with split lighting its really important not to have the subject be straight centered or the shadow will be dead center across their face and body - you want to really use the split and the shadow to highlight different things such as bring out faces, curves, clothing, whatever you are shooting - one thing i do often is have their body turned to one light with their face toward the other to really give a good fall in and fall out of light

anyway - heres some photos!

Next up we did in studio corpse paint - and as i said before - I wont be posting alot of the corpse paint photos on here anymore because why would anyone get a book if they could get the images here? right? - so heres a few - and judging from my past shoots - can you match the lighting with the shoot? - one is a boomed beauty dish shot at F18 - another is Triangular lighting - two rims/front facing dish at F14 - another is split lighting like above - can you tell which is which? :)

After finishing up in studio - we went on to shooting corpse paint outside - it was getting dark so i was shooting closer to iso400-800 at f2.8 - as the sun faded and the widn was blowing making it extra cold - but shes a trooper and we got what we could - again - only going to post a couple photos from this for now..

It was awesome finally getting to work with Cam again - hopefully we will shoot again in the near future!

Todays Shoot - Laura Mae D3 (NSFW)

2011-03-27T12:18:00.003-04:00

Day 3! which happened about a week or two after our first shoot

She got a new wig she wanted to shoot in which I thought looked wicked cartoon/anime - I used the same set up of setting two 3x4 soft boxes about 8 feet apart so there would be no real harsh shadows - and had her face toward the light for most of the shoot so one light would be hitting the hair while the other would be catching her face and eyes. - These are at F13 with the 70-200is - iso100

After shooting with the soft boxes - i took a smaller beauty dish - boomed it but kept it close to the model rather than raising it all the way up - then shot at F8 for some reason i can even remember - i was probably just experimenting with the lower Fstop to see if theres a big difference between my normal F18-20 to F8 on this type of lighting - and no - not much of a major difference aside from minor depth of field focus -anyway - here it is!

so being that this was just a quick shoot - we just did this one set with plans to shoot again in the future - but alas - my schedule got hectic and she done moved to arizona - so hopefully one day she will be back to shoot again!