Out of my Comfort Zone

Lately I've been experimenting with fashion photography. This is totally out of my comfort zone. Usually I do portraits, shooting exclusively with natural light. With these fashion type shoots, I've been using the strobist techniques, using off board lighting to light up my models. I went out and bought two sets of Nikon SB-800's and a pair of Pocket wizards (remote triggers). I'm starting to play around with these equipment and learning what my limitations are. I'm still not too sure what to think if this fashion photography thing. We'll see how it goes.





Below is one of the images from my shoot with Sophie and her models:

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This one was edited by Kate Wang.



Peep the new logo. Complements of Sophie Taylor of www.sophietaylor.com








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Update: Here's what Sophie did to that shoot we did. Great Job!

Org Ad!

I finally made a flyer for my org services! I would say I almost have all the orgs in my area on lock. I want to expand to So Cal too, so if your org is located in SoCal, hit me up!

For the Orgs in Davis, Sac and SF, thank you for your luv and support.

*University of the Pacific, Rho Delta Chi
*UC Davis/ Sac State/ SF State Chi Rho Omicron
*UC Davis Gamma Zeta Alpha
*UC Davis Sigma Omircon Pi
*SF State Beta Phi
*UC Davis & Sf State Delta Omicron Chi
* San Jose Pi Alpha Phi
*UC Davis Nu Alpha Kappa
*UC Davis Sigma Lambda Gamma
*UC Davis Lambda Sigma Gamma
*UC Davis Sigma Epsilon Rho
*UC Davis Phi Kappa Psi
*UC Davis alpha Kappa Delta Phi
*UC Davis Kappa Psi Epsilon
*UC Davis Chi Delta Theta
*UC Davis Pre Law fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta
*UC Davis Delta Epsilon Mu
*UC Davis Alpha Phi Omega
*Sac State Lambda Phi Epsilon

And to all the other orgs that has booked me for their special events. My success is because of you all.

A New Mama

This shoot was done a while back. Dao drove all the way from Merceed to Davis to get photographed by me. I feel special. :-)

The Aftermath

The excitement of shooting a wedding for me usually makes a long, fast paste day of the event fun and...well...exciting! The adrenaline usually keeps me running the whole day on full alert looking out for the best moments to capture during a wedding. After the wedding, however, I'm knocked out!

...and after the wedding comes the post-processing and editing. Yaay. :-P

Right now I'm in the process of working on a wedding album for Tanya and Ivan. Their wedding ceremony was held in SD and their reception was in TJ, Mexico! I had a blast photographing the wedding. It was a long day for me. My assistant and I started shooting at around 8:00am and ended our day at 1:00am. Like I said, the adrenaline keeps me going. The wedding was the fun part, now it's time to get down and dirty with the retouching and editing. Here are some of the images I've finished working on:

The Album Cover:


A page from the album:






I retouch ALL the images that are going in the album. Each image is carefully worked on. What does that mean? Well, on a typical image I would enhance the color/brightness/contrast, as well as remove any distracting elements in the picture; such as ugly street signs. I also take out any blemishes from the face and sometimes brighten the teeth, etc. What I'm trying to get at is that I spend countless HOURS retouching to ensure that the images are impeccable. Hopefully Tanya and Ivan will love their album! :-)


Before & After:

...can you spot the difference? :-)

Avalon

Occasionally I photograph club events for Mass Appeal Productions at Avalon Night Club. Events like this are fun because it allows me to be creative with my photography. It's a completely different style of shooting from portraits or weddings. Here are some of my images from last week's event:

Ok, I posted this on my personal blog, but it might be useful on this blog as well. For people who keep asking me how to take these pictures and what equipment I use, listen up: First off, I switch between my D300 and my D80 for the camera. As for the lens, I switch between my 24-70 and the 10.5mm. The secret is to shoot at a sloooow shutter speed using a rear curtain flash (the flash pops twice). I use the SB-800 as my flash. I usually shoot on manual because it saves me crazy mounts of batteries. Flash is adjusted to taste and it depends on how far the subject is from you. Just practice balancing your flash with the ambient light in the club.

Han & Samule

After work today, I headed over to Sacramento to photograph Han and Sam. Another E-session with fun and amazing people. Of course they're amazing, Sam is my cousin! :-D We walked around downtown Sacramento and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather today. I got to test out my new lens on them! ( The 70-200mm 2.8 VR). After a couple of shots, I gave up on the lens because it was super heavy! Thanks for the fun shoot Sam and Han!

Here are my favorites from the shoot:

Sophie Taylor

I had the pleasure of working with a graphic artist last night in Sacramento. I did a photo shoot for her in exchange for a logo for my studio. It was a fun shoot. The models were great. Here's a peek at what we did. Hopefully Sophie can work her magic and we'll see what she produces with these images. Check out her website: www.sophietaylor.com