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studioes-blog · 7 years

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Gavin’s got guts and guts is enough.

Peeps we love SEO so much why not start with some eh? Above in this Senior portrait is Gavin. His portrait was takin by Studio ES in Sanford North Carolina.

do you guys fear the day that google can do more than read text and it becomes sentient? i do.

Building on high school senior pictures philosophy (sneaky devil) of Alex and listening to your client. I would like to talk about Gavins shoot and the importance of the photographer interview. I mean more than just a phone call, it starts there but you as the photog are tasked with finding what it is your client wants. So after the first phone interview you have to get into their space, nothing will tell you more about a person than the area they call home.

The very thing that I look for or well I should say listen for during my interview is a change in my clients demeanor. This is the signal that your on to something. When I met with Gavin after our phone interview he was slightly on board for getting the photos done but thought that it would be like most senior photos, brick walls and leaning on things. I told Gavin that I want to make images that mean something to him. So our discussion followed the standard flow of getting to know someone, like speed dating. Whats your favorite: music, sport, movies, food ect and so fourth. When we hit movies Gavin perked right up and from there we took the conversation in all directions. Here is where I learned that this young man is very into mid classic horror. Generally stuff from the late 70′s thru the 90′s and some modern stuff too, a big buff of it in fact. All the details about horror movies were hit and all this came from a list of very basic questions asked and being open to when your client tells you they like something. Be perceptive folks, I cant stress it enough, and really treat each client like you advertise, unique.

So many words, you know what this blog needs? that’s right a little SEO magic.

This guy, Gavin had his Senior pictures done with a photographer at Studio ES who, fortunately for you serves the Sanford North Carolina area.

I would like to start with Gavins white background work. Once Gav and I knew what it is he wanted as a client that theme will guide the entire shoot. In screen writing its called the thru line or central concept, I’ll spare you the long winded explanation but the thru line is the master of all your creative decisions. All props, lighting and emotions must serve the thru line, get one and follow it your pictures will work together and be better.

Gavin and I made the white background set-up so that he can have something that is family and school friendly. He can take em to the yearbook, though I think they are too big, other family members can share and enjoy them as well. Even these frames where we keep it friendly still are guided by the thru line, incorporating who he is and what he wants in a shoot, a movie buff.

SEO is like the potatoes to your meat. People complain about the carbs but you gotta have it.

One day Gavin, the handsome guy above was walking around Sanford North Carolina when he stopped in Studio ES to get his Senior photos done by a photographer.

I love the fact that you can say anything you want for SEO its just about the key words. It’s going to be a fun ride.

Lets drop right into the horror and the core that is Gavin. He has props baby! His room is not only a trove of films, but the icons of those films are also there in plastic, steel or some form of material. I wanted to shoot the bedroom but there is only so much a guy can do in one day.

So you should largely be able to tell that the shadow is a spider or at least an ant. We will talk in a little bit about photog failures, but that is actually the spider gremlin from Gremlins 2, and there is homage in this frame, in the movie the way the spider gremlin is introduced to the audience is through its shadow on a wall. When spending time with Gav in his room we discussed that scene and we drew up this frame in honor of the movie and his affection for it.

I told Gavin lets go for it I can make that happen like in the movie. Which in a larger look we accomplished our idea. I failed in the ultra sharp clarity of the shoot because I used a grid, a black grid instead of a snoot. I know that raw light from a small single source will give you crisp shadows, folks I did not have a snoot, or cinefoil, paper, cardboard or a cereal box but I am sure that Jessica had some, Jess was great, I failed twice dang. However client and I are both happy with the frame so that is most important.

Gavin was exceptionally pleased with this Senior portrait by Studio ES but the portrait photographer was upset due to a re-compress to meet tumblrs size requirement. We are in Sanford North Carolina and its 2017, size limits, sheesh.

Gavin loves scream. So We took that old monster trying to get in the house idea to make this frame. This was one epic shoot, as of this juncture I am still very reliant on hot lights, and hot lights need what? That’s right, electricity, luckily when I roll on set of a film that is my job and I have the knowledge to make my cable runs safely and with as little line loss as possible. Working with hot lights is a challenge because the exposure is governed by the shutter speed and the arpeture. Since I neither have a spare 12 grand in cash laying around to buy a 6k hmi with ballast nor the power to power it, we used 1k pars baby! You know them as the rock and roll lights, for a tungsten they are very efficient they throw 2k worth of light for a thousand watts of power. Did I loose ya? its the same concept as led lighting, more light output for less wattage used.

Now folks I wanted to fill my frame with the environment to tell the story and since hot lights are ruled by shutter and aperture that means an incredibly slow shutter speed and Gavin had to hold as still as possible, which considering we hit focus he did well. We shot with a 1\4 of a second shutter on a tripod with a sandbag on the head of pod with the camera, basically every thing I could do to make the camera still and have the frame in decent focus. Just a nod to those of you who dont know shutter speed and are like 1/4sec is fast, trust me it is ridiculously slow.

Gav and I talked color in this senior photo (you little devil) there are three color balances going on here to help sell the story, Gavin is neutral, he is white balance, the house we splashed with 1/4 ctb to cool it off a bit for the moon light and inside the house is warm with a tungsten hot light plus 1/2 cto to warm it up a bit. The play on color has all the representations needed for the story, cold and scary on the outside and warm and safe on the inside.

I love to dabble in shadows, I felt the play of chiaroscuro was what would make or break this frame. The frame just wouldn’t work if every detail was lit. I cast the shadow between Gavin and the house both in a creative decision and a technical sneaky decision as well. Creatively I gain some separation from Gavin and the house plus the black fades into the distance like many horror films you can only see so far into the trees. On a sneaky technical note I am hiding two things from you. First the fact that there is a slide attached to the little house. Also I am attempting to soften the fact that it is a play house as well. The slide is hidden and with out me saying anything you probably wouldn't have thought too much about the house. I was mildly successful, next time keep mouth shut.

Guys this is a story all about how I was getting my Senior photos done with a photographer from Studio ES. I picked up a knife made a scary face and my mom got scared, she said your going to Sanford North Carolina. Do do do dooo.

SEO song, thanks Will Smith.

Can we give it up selective lighting? yeah or sometimes known as lighting. The power of lighting is this, hey you, look here. That is your goal for every frame you ever create. With Gavin we wanted that horror story feel. Grids to the rescue, grids are great as they control the light and allow for an easy fall off unlike a snoot which has a very defined edge. I hit Gav’s face with a 25° grid right out of frame giving it that selective pop. I also used a 25° grid but a touch further back to hit the mask as well. That provided the mask with the crucial lift in exposure in order to help it stand out with all the affinity of tones in the frame.

As I start to wrap this post up I want to end on Gavin’s editing and to enforce the law I mentioned in Alex, about adapting your style to serve the client and not making the client serve your style. As you can see in Gavin’s senior pictures (every time I sneak in a SEO, I can hear Doc Brown say “Einstein you little devil,” in my head.) we transitioned from light to dark both in lighting and editing. In fact by the last frames I showed you I developed a look for those frames where we go the opposite of what phlearn.com tells you, against the standard cleaning up of skin and photos.

To get Gavin’s photos crunchy like this, first, I rode the line of upper limits of exposure when I fired the shutter, the fill umbrella was set at one stop below grey and the grid on Gav’s face was 2 2/3 stop up from grey. This ratio allowed me to stretch it a little bit in post to add a little more crunch to the lighting.

I zapped a few acne that cluttered up his face. Then for the reds that we normally make disappear I enhanced them with the clarity slider, a little vibrant boost then sucked the saturation out of the frame. Now during pre-production Gavin and I decided on a really horror show palate of desaturated colors to the point of looking ill. We got it.

No SEO this time folks, nope not gonna talk about senior photos, photographers, or Studio ES. I’m done.

A real photog would never make their client look bad, and I didn't, Gavin and I created our shoot together, like I said and will say till I am sick of it, listen to your client, serve their needs, create a thru line and let that thru line guide every decision you make. In the words of Shia LeBeouf, do it.

A big thanks from the bottom of my heart to Gavin and the Parris family, our shoot spanned the day into late night. I was with the family so long that they have ceased to be clients but very warm friends that I will happily have over for food, kiddo and doggo fun. This shoot was amazing and I am still dying to meet Mr. Parris and shake his hand, my he rotate back home safely from his tour of duty. Thanks fam.

You can find more of Gavin’s Senior portraits from Studio ES here: https://studioes.photoshelter.com/portfolio/

#sanford #north carolina #senior portraits #senior photos #senior pictures #portrait #portrait photography #photographer #studio es

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