Life in Zion

The Thinker

regina — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:19:20 +0000

I got my new 5′ Photoflex Octabank a few days back and couldn’t wait to try it out.
Had no idea how to use it and things were a bit cramped, with the modifier touching the ceiling.
I managed to get one that I liked, although Fred thinks he looks a bit downtrodden.
I think that what I’ve read about a large size modifier, especially the Octa, is true… it’s like cheating.
I hope to post more after I learn what to do with it!

After:

From left to right: Final version, Original after basic color correction, Original Raw image SOOC

Close up of retouch:

Lighting info:
5′ Photoflex octabank three feet to the left of subject, angled only slightly towards him
Paul C. Buff gridded strip box to the right and behind the subject, to give some separation from the background
Thunder gray seamless background
Triggered w/Paul C. Buff Cybersyncs

Photos by Regina Pagles

Don Giannatti’s Wacky Winner Gets ME Contest

regina — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:36:50 +0000

A few months ago, I entered a contest titled ‘Wacky Winner Gets ME‘ sponsored by Don Giannatti of Lighting Essentials.

Would you believe…I won!

Congratulations to the other winners:
Tyler Walczak – Second Place
Kathy Jan – Third Place
Brent Jackson – Fourth Place
Em Thomas – Fifth Place

The Mess Maker – Composite

regina — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:44:05 +0000

Yeah, it’s not the best crop

I’ve looked at this one for so many hours now, that I don’t know what to think.
I hope that after a few days I love it, but who knows… I may hate it…

The background image was taken in the semi-abandoned town of Cisco, just outside of Moab, Utah.

Inspired by Joel Grimes.

**Kelby Training just released Joel’s first class ‘Creative Compositing: Professional Techniques for Composite Photography’ and IT’S AWESOME!**

After:

Composite images:

Along the way:

Lighting Info:
AlienBee AB800 with 20° grid on each side of the subject (about 4′ behind him)
AlienBee AB800 in 22″ white, socked beauty dish boomed in front of subject & just overhead
Lastolite silver reflector waist level
Triggered with Paul C. Buff cybercyncs
White seamless background (subject was quite a bit away from the background)

Photo by Regina Pagles

Late For The Train – Composite

regina — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 06:58:52 +0000

This photo was inspired by Atlanta based photographer, Ryan Gibson.
Ever since I saw this photo of his in the January 2012 issue of Popular Photography, I’ve wanted to recreate it. Fred was nice enough to model for me.
Unfortunately, most of my exposures were way too dark… how disappointing
One day I’m gonna figure this stuff out.
I hope…

After:

The background, an abandoned rail car, was taken during our recent trip to Salt Lake City.
I processed it as a 3 exposure HDR with Photomatix. Shown is the middle exposure.

Lighting diagram courtesy Studioxil:

4 light set up, all AlienBee B800′s
- Two gridded strip boxes on either side and behind subject
- Soft box camera left very close to subject and feathered (main)
- Strip box camera right and further back (fill)
- White reflector placed on floor and angled up for additional fill
- Triggered with Paul C. Bluff Cybersyncs
- Thunder grey seamless background

By the way, I just purchased Studio Lighting by Zack Arias from Creative Live.
WORTH EVERY PENNY!

Photos by Regina Pagles

Lost At Sea – Composite

regina — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 07:55:06 +0000

Everyone knows how much I love Joel Grimes. So I’m sure it comes as no surprise that this is another image inspired by him. Unfortunately, I can’t link to the image of his that gave me the inclination to try this style. If you check out his website, in his portfolio, Beauty/Fashion Two, it’s the 3rd image on the top row, Aimie.

Final:

Composite images:

5 light set up, all AlienBee B800′s
- Two 20° gridded strobes on either side and behind subject
- 22″ white, socked beauty dish directly in front of subject
- Strip box camera right for fill
- Backlight with 40° grid behind subject & 2′ off the ground
- Paul C. Buff Cybersyncs
- Thunder gray seamless backdrop

Photos by Regina Pagles

African Bull Frog Ant Crusher – SUPER Funny!

regina — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 05:36:09 +0000

Graffiti Dungeon Composite

regina — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:34:09 +0000

Well what can I say, but this photo kicked my butt. Compositing may not be my thing.
We did get a lot of great background images on our recent trip to Salt Lake City, like this one of the abandoned building with the graffitied walls, so I am tempted to try a few more times with some of them.

We’ll see. I keep thinking that one day working with Photoshop will become second nature, but instead it just keeps getting harder

Once again, inspired by Joel Grimes.

After:

Composite images:

Abandoned building from the outside:

Lighting:
- 4 light set up, all AlienBee B800′s
- Two gridded strip boxes on either side and behind subject
- 22″ gridded beauty dish directly in front of subject, 3′ overhead
- background light with 30° grid pointed at Thunder Grey seamless paper

Photos by Regina Pagles

Splash Experiment Thanks To Corey Barker

regina — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 06:25:34 +0000

I have wanted to add a water splash effect to an image for the longest time… and had no idea how, until I got Corey Barker’s new book ‘Photoshop Down & Dirty Tricks for Designers’. Chapter 3 has a tutorial on how to do it, and it ain’t easy, at least for me. Hence my less than stellar results. My biggest mistake was choosing an inappropriate start image. It just looks wrong with the splash added. Aside from that, I find displacement maps (the technique Corey uses) quite challenging. Hopefully, I’ll persevere, ’cause my dream is to one day produce images like Danielle Tunstall.

Some may think that I have already tried this technique, because it does look very similar to several of my other images. I used brushes (check out DeviantArt – lots of brushes there) for those and not a displacement map. The reason the effect may look identical to what I have done before, is because I did not do such a great job with this new technique

After:

Side by side comparison:

Close up comparison:

Lighting Info:
AlienBee AB800 with 20° grid on each side of the subject (about 4′ behind him)
AlienBee AB800 in 22″ white, socked beauty dish boomed in front of subject & just overhead
Lastolite silver reflector chest level
Triggered with Paul C. Buff cybercyncs
White seamless background (subject was quite a bit away from the background)

Photos by Regina Pagles

Our Thanksgiving Hike

regina — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:50:42 +0000

Little Creek Mesa – Southern Utah

Photo by Regina Pagles

Now For Something Completely Different

regina — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:27:02 +0000

How cute is this guy?

After:

Retouch comparison:

Prior to the studio expansion…

Photos by Regina Pagles

Motorcycle Man – Redux

regina — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:21:27 +0000

So this is a do-over. Some might remember the original post back in June, about Fred not actually being a Motorcycle Man, but a Bicycle Man.

Overall, I really liked this one, but cringed over certain aspects of the post processing. Basically, it just looked way too sharpened, which is a by-product of one the the filters I use from OnOne Software.

This is my attempt to fix those things.

After:

Retouch comparison:

The set up:

4 light set up:
AB800 with 7″ reflector & 20° grid on each side and several feet behind, pointed at subject
AB800 with 7″ reflector and 30° grid pointed at Thunder Gray seamless background
AB800 in 22″ white beauty dish (no sock) on camera axis and 3′ above subject
Lastolite white reflector on stand, chest high for fill
Triggered with Paul C. Bluff Cybersyncs

Processing steps:
- Triple Raw conversion for face, jacket & neck, learned from Calvin Hollywood
- Cropped
- Hue/Sat Adj. & Selective Color Adj. layer for face & hands separately
- Reduced magentas overall with Hue/Sat
- Darkened hands with Brightness/Contrast
- ‘Calvinize’ technique by Calvin Hollywood on jacket & hands separately
- Natalia Taffarel skin retouching technique on face
- Topaz Detail on hands
- Color correction on skin with Color Balance Adj. layer
- De-saturated glasses with Hue/Sat
- Lightened eyes with merged layer in Screen mode, masked
- Removed original catch lights and replaced with my own catch light brush (too big?)
- Nik ‘Tonal Contrast’ filter from Color Efex Pro
- Liquified right eye to enlarge
- Dodged & burned eyebrows & lids with soft light neutral gray layer
- B&W Adj. layer in Luminosity mode to adjust color on face & background
- Changed jacket color with Hue/Sat
- Topaz Clean on beard, hair, eyebrows & glasses
- Used Mystical Ambiance & Lighting Plugin for subtle fog effect on background
- added vignette
- added some texture with assorted ‘crack’ brushes on jacket only in Overlay mode

Photos by Regina Pagles

Carisa – Head Shot

regina — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:52:38 +0000

Thanks again to Peter Hurley.

After:

Retouch comparison:

Close up:

Photos by Regina Pagles