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I’m still going through a lot of revisions on this rig but so far I am liking where this is going.
The rig consists of parts from different manufacturers as there is not really a single source with all the parts I need anyways.
For the most part, the rig is based off of a gini rigs cage setup. I’ve added a proaim compendium swing away matte box that accepts 4×4 and 4×5.65 filters. The follow focus unit is a d|focus v3.
I don’t really like that I would need to get a riser for the follow focus when I have the battery grip on so I attached the d|focus to the short rails on top alongside the handle.
Basic 2 Light Beauty Portrait
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I’ve been a big fan of minimalistic lighting and I really don’t like lighting setups that require a ton of sophisticated gear. For the following images, I wanted a really simple lighting setup that created more depth and drama. To do this you would have to create interesting shadows that are not too sharp but at the same time are not too flat and diffused.
I first opted to use the Elinchrom Ranger RX with the Elinchrom Giant Octa, but it was too large to create sharp shadows so I ended up using the Speedotron 22″ Beauty Dish with it’s grid camera left at about arm’s length from the model’s face. The background light was created with a single Profoto Compact 300 Monolight. You can see the lighting diagram at the end of this post.
I had my 5D Mark II and my EF70-200mm f2.8L IS USM lens on and triggered the lights with the Pocketwizard miniTT1 and used a Pocketwizard PowerST4 on the ranger. The Profoto monoblock would just use its own built in optical slave to fire. I was zoomed in at around 160mm, shot at f3.2 to get a soft feel and speed was set at 1/160th to eliminate most of the ambient light.
Credits:
Photography: Kim Guanzon – http://www.kimguanzon.com
Art Direction: Roldan Din – http://www.roldandin.com
Makeup: Laa Guanzon – http://www.makeupbylaa.com
Hair: Jamie Pettinger
Models: Sheena Marie & Jamie Pettinger
EOS Holga – My 2006 Tutorial Reposted
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I originally wrote a tutorial back in 2006 that has been linked from Strobist.com and a bunch of other sites. I owe my current photographic interests to all the popular sites that have linked to it. But due to a failure of my then hosting service from unforseen business hardships, I have lost access to the site that originally hosted the tutorial. I have since reposted the tutorial on Howcast although I still get inquiries that I have a hard time answering. So now i’ve decided to rewrite my original article here on my personal site and let all viewers of my original flickr set see the full tutorial here.
So without further ado, here is the article that I rewrote for howcast.com:
Originally wrote this article for litratista, a photo/magazine blog that I ran a couple years ago. The blog article has been getting a lot of hits, but I am going to switch the whole website off and relocating the most valuable articles here in Howcast.
You Will Need
- 1 EOS body cap
- 1 EOS lens cap
- 1 Holga lens
- 1 Empty 35mm film canister
- 1 Scissors, xacto knife and some super glue
- 1 Electric drill with 1 in. hole bit, and a 3/16 in. drill bit
- Dremmel with sanding attachment
[like-lock]I have to admit, I am tired of using Photoshop to create a pseudo Holga shot using javascripts found in flickr.com so I decided to just go ahead and hack my Holga CFN and give it a second life since all it has been doing is gathering dust. My plan—to hack the hell out of my holga and turn it into an EOS lens for my Canon 20D.
Step 1: Holgalicious
The process was really simple and it took me about three hours to finish the project from thinking up how to do it to finally getting the vignetting right. The good thing about this experimental home made lens is that I can focus from 5 inches away to infinity.
Step 2: Hole in 1
Drill a 1” hole in your EOS body cap (don’t forget to wear rotective gear!). Make sure it’s centered:
Step 3: Holga Decapitated
Unscrew your Holga lens from its body (counter clockwise till it pops right off) and use a dremmel to file out the sides untill you are left with a lens that resembles a pancake lens.
Without extending the actual lens barrel, you won’t be able to focus anything closer than 10 feet or so. So we need something to extend it a few millimeters away from the focal plane.
Step 4: Lens Barrel
Then we cut an empty film canister with a pair of scissors and an xacto knife to make the lens barrel.
Step 5: Light Leaks. YEY!
I then wrapped it around the inner lensbarrel of the Holga Lens. This will now act as an extension tube that will allow your holga lens to have a working distance of 5 inches or less.
Be careful that you don’t make this new lensbarrel too long or else it will hit your mirror. the advisable length for the hole thing is about 3/4 in – 1 in max. anyways, the reason why I used a white one to enable a little bit of light leaks.
Step 6: Adjust the Diameter to fit
You then need to adjust the diameter of your body cap hole. Using a dremel widen the hole enough for the new extended lens barrel to fit into it snugly, but not too tight that you cannot adjust the focusing.
Step 7: Classic Vignetting
Your next step would be drilling a 3/16 in. hole into your lens cap. what for? this is for your classic vignetting.
Now, this will be a loose part of your Holga lens because if you glue it onto your lens, you wont be able to control the amount and the “random look” of your vignettes—making your shots more authentic looking.
Step 8: Assemble
Now fit them all together like in the photos below:
Step 9: Mount
Mount the body cap part to your camera like you would a regular lens:
I usually crop my shots to create a square, making sure that my vignettes are spaced out nicely.
Step 10: Sample Photos
Pls view the complete flickr photoset here: EOS Holga
There are a few photoshop javascript snippets out there that will enable you to emulate cross processed images. You can go look around and google for actions, custom curves and JS scripts for this purpose.
Step 11: Thanks!
Thanks for viewing my tutorial and dont forget to leave comments here as well as in flickr.[/like-lock]
Best Buddies Ball 2011 – XANGO
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I was fortunate enough to be asked to take portraits for XANGO and Best Buddies International for the Best Buddies Ball 2011. Of course I grabbed the opportunity to volunteer my time. It’s great to once in a while share your resources to a great cause. You’ll never know who’s lives you will touch and what other charitable opportunities will open up.
I will be posting an update with the gallery pictures and a BTS still of the setup.
The Last Supper Shoot BTS Stills
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BTS images taken by various participants of the shoot.
The Last Supper Full Gallery
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Roldan, Laarni and I have been planning on shooting hats for Roldan’s hat designer friend for 6 months now. We finally got everyone together and shot individually stylized images to be composited into the final Last Supper image.
Below you can see the final image and individual panels that made up the image. We plan on printing these for a gallery show soon.
Credits:Art Direction/Producer: Roldan Din (http://www.roldandin.com)
Hair: Karla Artigas Klingensmith
Makeup: Laa Guanzon (http://www.makeupbylaa.com)
Assistants: Ferdinand Din / Marden Blake / Chareen Valmonte
Photographer: Kim Guanzon (http://www.kimguanzon.com)
Hats: Belle M
Models:Vanessa Lacerda, Rhyan Atrice, Stephan Atrice, Ginamarie Chiechi, Jonath Packham, Victoria Packham, Ferdinand Din
Lighting:Profoto Compact 300R main Rembrandt with just a zoom reflector with barn-doors and 40º grid
Profoto Compact 600R as hair light
The Healthy Home Book BTS
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I was recently hired to shoot for The Healthy Home Book which is currently in the top 10 best-selling health books on amazon. For this assignment I utilized the use of my giant parabolic light which I lit up with the 320ws ABR 800 ringflash. The giant reflector was great providing a giant light source that acted as fill while I used a 300ws Profoto Compact monolight as my main on a Speedotron beauty dish. High key was achieved using 2x Profoto Compact 600R’s with barn doors and flags.
I was also shooting another 5DMKII set to record a time-lapse of the whole shoot which the client used and edited for their blog. The resulting video is shown after the jump.
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I will be initiating some reviews on certain products I use in most of my commercial, editorial and advertising work. These reviews will focus on products like strobes, cameras, lenses, grip gear, computer gear and other essential equipment to aid in the success of most shoots.