Hendrick's County Visitors Bureau

This was a project I did with Hendricks County and William Randall ad agency. I worked with a food stylist and an art director from the ad agency who requested that she be able to see the images as I take them. I used the Eye-fi Mobi Pro to make that happen. I love working with ad agencies and creative directions because they usually communicate really well with their expectations.  

The art director had a shot list but wanted it to feel editorial and spontaneous than set up so we used natural light with a bounce card on the food. They also wanted to get the food in the context of the diner. The idea is that you get this kind of food you have to come here. I used a wide angle macro to help get us there. 

After the food shots we moved to the family having fun, eating off of each others plates and getting an idea of dinner at the diner. Because they wanted that spontaneous feel with the shallow background I used a lot of natural light and supplemented with two 360ws lights pointed at the ceiling to fill in shadows and keep the colors bright and saturated. Backlighting has a way of reducing color and contrast. 

We moved around quite a bit to get some different looks like a couple out on a date.

And a couple more of a whole family having fun.

For the outdoor seating shot I used 3 lights to light the people while keeping my background nice and dark. 

Showing the outdoor eating area at the diner.

All in all a successful shoot. The ad agency was happy and even in the different challenging lighting conditions we pulled out some amazing pictures. 

Indiana Senate Portraits and Group Panorama

Senate Portraits

My set up. (click on pictures for a larger view)

For the portrait session part of the day I was set up in the hallway outside the chambers so we could have easy access to the senators as they roamed the halls to and from meetings. I used a clamshell set up with a light on a boom, a reflector under for fill and a background light to brighten the background. The lights I used were Flashpoint 360ws Streaklights with Bowens adapters. The background light used a gridded hair light from LA softbox to avoid light spill. I used the Fujifilm XT2 with the 50-140mm at f/8. This camera and lens combo is the sharpest I've ever shot with, its truly an amazing combo although I am falling in love with the 16mm f/1.4 macro. 

Senate Chamber Group Panorama

This is my 3rd panorama and 2nd portrait session with the Indiana senate. The senate is all about business so making sure I was doing things quickly and efficiently is very important. I was able to get into the senate chamber 20 minutes before the scheduled group photo so I was able to get a plan worked out. There were several obstacles to overcome the biggest being where to take the photo. The further back I go the more of the front desk is in view (which means more photoshopping) but I get a better picture with less distortion. I tethered my Fujifilm XT2 camera to my laptop so I could get a better idea of what the final composite would look like and decided the further back I go the better. 

The closer view with less desk but more distortion. Doable with lots of photoshopping but not ideal. 

I opted instead for this view. So we took down the monitors and stuff of the desks and went with this view. Less distortion but still lots of work to take out the desks.

The second obstacle was that the room was rather large but even my widest lens, the Fujifilm 10-24mm f/4 wouldn't be wide enough. Having done this is year past with a Nikon D4 and D800 with the 14-24mm f/2.8 I knew what I was up against. I ended up using the 16mm f/1.4 at f/4 and focused somewhere in the middle of the room to get the best depth of field. This ended up being a fantastic choice as everyone was in focus and sharp as a tack. The room is also very dark and in years past I've hand held the D4 at high ISO and a faster shutter speed just to speed things up. This year I opted instead to use a tripod so I could get a lower ISO and slower shutter speed. This also turned out to be a great decision as the final image is noise free with great color and very good dynamic range. 

The final image: Fujifilm XT2, 16mm at f/4, ISO 400, 1/4 Sec.

Notice I'm getting use out of the flip screen, something I once thought was a gimmick but now use more than I expected.

The image I used to replace parts of the front desk.

I ended up having to put the legs of the tripod up on the desk with the back leg on the ladder to get the height needed to get the look I needed to get the people in the back in the picture.

I also took some pictures of the carpet knowing that I would have to replace the desk with carpet and stars as well as part of the front row or senators desks. 

All in all it was a better experience than the last 2 times I've done it. Partly because of experience but also because of the sharpness of Fuji's lenses and the ease in which I'm able to get around the XT2 and the great color coming out of the camera. All in all the Fuji system has proven itself to me once again.

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Reindeer Auto Relocation

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I was contacted by Reindeer Auto Relocation to take a variety of photos for use on their web site and in ads both in print and online. They needed headshots, group and building photos. 

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Morgan Stanley

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A local Morgan Stanley office contacted me for some updated headshots and a group photo. Everyone was a little apprehensive about getting their portrait taken but I was able to work with them individually and we ended up with something they were very happy with. They were able to see the images on my laptop as I took them so they could see which ones they liked, which pose, which side was their favorite so we could refine and come up with something they were happy to represent them on social media and on their web site. 

Don't underestimate your image