Scream Sorbet

Went to visit the team of Scream Sorbet in Emeryville, Caifornia. If you ever wanted to meet a bunch of good people that are passionate about what they do look no further.

They are taking the art of Sorbets to a whole new level. My current favorite Carrot and Walnut v1.

About the photo:

This is their Beet and Lemon sorbet. Working in the actual live kitchen there really was no way for me to set up my lights so I shot this all with the fluorescent lighting overhead.

Using the countertop as a nice tonal match to the cup and getting in as close as I could I wanted to capture the purity of their product.

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

School Project

The girl had a school project where we had to cut out a picture of a headband, shirt, shoes and a dress from a magazine. Unfortunately, we don't have magazines but what we do have in the house is someone that likes to take pictures. So this weekend we gather her clothes and with her help proceeded to take some photos of them. She'll be the only one in her class with custom photos that's for sure.

About the photo:

This is the headband photo. Just a really simply layout of the headband and to add some additional interest to the photo we laid out some other accessories.

About the photo:

We debated a bit on how the shirts should be arranged and eventually we agreed that we would just stack them on top of each other. Again just something simple.

About the photo:

We were having a great time shooting her stuff that we decided to carry it onto the photography of the dress. Instead of having it hanging somewhere of casually placed on a chair I told her to throw it up in the air.

I am so gonna use this style of shot for my wedding clients. With a few changes in how I position the lights and a change of background this will come out really ace.

About the photo:

Now I know what you're gonna say, we can't see the profile. I just didn't like how spaced out it looked when I did that. So instead I did a tight grouping on it and propped the heal of the forward facing shoe up. Call it editors choice.

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

Cinnamon & Sugar

"I just wanna touch and kiss. And I wish that I could be with you tonight." - Butterflies : Michael Jackson

I remember making toast then spreading some butter on it. As it melted I sprinkled some cinnamon and sugar and had an instant treat.

For today's photo I just wanted something muted in color, nothing that was in your face. So based on that I didn't run the speedlites too hot today. A speedlite in an umbrella camera left provided the key light. A grided 430 camera right gave the cinnamon and sugar some separation from the background. The background was lit by another speedlight that was placed right underneath the table which was diffused by 2 cups of water.

Using this combination not only was I able to get a very muted look but I was able to have the trailing edge of the table somewhat disappear into the background.

Strobist Info:

1 580EX II (Group A) Master on camera disabled
1 580EX II (Group A) Slave 1/128 power shoot through umbrella camera left
1 430EX (Group B) Slave 1/32 power snoot/grid camera right
1 550EX (Group C) Slave 1/16 power shot through measuring cup directly underneath table center pointed at wall.

Triggering System

580EX II on camera

Camera Settings:

1/300 f/4 ISO400

Lens Used:

Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM

See the setup shot here.

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

I ♥ U

"Et pourtant me voilà. Tous peut avoir confiance en moi." - Je Ne Repartirai Pas : Nat King Cole

What does a biscuit, a bowl of cereal and some dried strawberries make? Why breakfast of course!

Have a good one everyone.

Listen to the music track while viewing.

Strobist Info:

1 580EX II (Group A) Master 1/32 power on camera ceiling bounced
1 580EX II (Group B) Slave 1/8 power lower left of frame ceiling bounced
1 550EX (Group C) Slave 1/4 power upper right of frame ceiling bounced

Triggering System:

580EX II on camera

Camera Settings:

1/300 f/4 ISO400

Lens Used:

Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM

Setup shot can be found here

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

Bowl of Lights

"We ain't gotta go all the way, but baby we can do somethings. A little game I like to play." - Just A Kiss : Mishon

I believe Wednesday is known as Bokeh Wednesday or something like that so I figured I'd shoot that for today. Since I didn't bother putting away my flash from yesterday I just used it for today as well.

I strung up the Christmas lights on a light stand out back and after I was happy with the grouping I placed a bowl on the kitchen table and lit it with a single speedlite camera left.

Happy Bokeh Wednesday!

Strobist info:

1 580EX II (Group A) Master on camera disabled
1 430EX (Group B) 1/8 power snoot/grid camera left

Triggering System:

580EX II on camera

Camera Settings:

1/80 f/2.8 ISO800

Lens Used:

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM

For those that want to see the setup shot click here.

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

Café

"I can't believe how good it felt. I tried to keep it to myself. I know I said I wouldn't tell my friends" - I Couldn't Keep It To Myself : Tony! Toni! Toné!

Today started with a prompt wake up call at 0300 hrs and the day is finally winding down for me. What probably would have helped me today was a good cup of coffee. Today's photo was inspired by a cup of Nespresso Latte and my exhaustion.

I wanted to capture the solitude of an early morning wake up call with the beans, so I lit it with just 1 speedlight from the back of the cup camera left. This allowed me to get some highlights on the beans and bounced light up to the cup while also producing some spill on the coffee table itself which then bounced back up giving the saucer some redish brown tones to go with the beans itself.

Because that's how I roll ;)

Strobist Info:

1 580EX II (Group A) Master on camera disabled
1 430EX (Group B) 1/8 power snoot grid camera left

Triggering System:

580EX II On Camera

Camera Settings:

1/300 f/4 ISO400

Lens Used:

Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM

Confused? Don't be and check out the setup shot.

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

Cake

"Ooo baby, baby, baby. It's gettin kind of crazy. Cause you are takin over my mind." - You Don't Know My Name : Alicia Keys

Had this chocolate/coffee cake in the fridge and figured I'd take a picture of it for tonight. But just one long rectangle slice looked a bit daft, so I cut it into thirds and plated it on these little sauce dishes that I use quite frequently in my photos.

I put them in a row on one of the coffee tables in the house and lit it with a speedlite on the lower left corner and one on the upper right corner. I then placed another speedlite on another coffee table at the rear to give the back end a bit of lift but not enough to blow it out as I still wanted a gradient like fall off in the rear.

Strobist Info:

1 580EX II (Group A) Master on camera disabled
1 580EX II (Group A) Slave 1/64 power shoot through umbrella lower left
1 550EX (Group C) Slave 1/64 power shoot through umbrella upper camera right
1 430EX (Group B) Slave 1/8 power upper camera center pointed at ceiling

Triggering System:

580EX II on camera

Camera Settings:

1/300 f/2.8 ISO400

Lens Used:

Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM

If the text above didn't make any sense, then check out the setup shot.

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

Slow Food Las Vegas

Yesterday I was working the Slow Food event here in Las Vegas. In addition to shooting, I was able to talk to all the local growers and ranchers and learn quite a bit of what they do.

It's amazing to see how passionate these people are about their craft and how much effort they put to make sure the final product is something they can be proud of, just like photographers.

You can just taste the difference in the food, honestly.

If you want to learn more about Slow Food check out their website. More photos of the event can be found right here.

Support your local farmers and ranchers. Develop a relationship with the people that grow the food you eat.

Eat local, eat better.

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

Camera, Lens & Flash

"Just sendin chunky rhythms right down ya block. We be to rap what key be to lock" - Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat) : Digable Planets

I don't have many gimmicks to my photography. No funny lens that you can bend nor do I use presets found on the internet in my post process work. All I have is a camera, a few lenses and a handful of speedlites.

With this I'm able to translate the ideas floating in my head into pictures, with some of them ending up on Getty Images.

This is my flow.

Strobist info:

1 580EX II 1/128 power snoot camera left pointed at camera prism
1 430EX 1/64 snoot/grid camera right pointed at side of camera facing... err the camera taking the picture
1 550EX 1/128 power fired through mixing cup at back wall

Triggering System:

Gadget Infinity V2s

Camera Settings:

1/500 f/2.5 ISO50

Lens Used:

Fixed Canon 7-21mm f/2.0-2.5 as found on a Canon PowerShot G2

If you feel lost with all this camera right/left stuff don't worry I get confused as well. Good thing for setup shots!

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

Untitled

via twitterrific

09.09.09

"Everyone's a winner, we're making our fame. Bonafide hustler making my name." - Paper Planes : M.I.A.

There must be something about this date that makes people want to get married in the middle of the week and Lisa and Eric hopped on a plane to do just that in that crazy town called Las Vegas.

Since it was getting dark I suggested we go for some "night time" photos and they were game. It was quite windy and at one point my umbrella came crashing down so I decided to just to shoot with the wide angle diffusor instead.

In this photo I asked them to just be as innocent as possible and give me that magical kiss. I placed the 430 on a light stand camera left and backed up pretty far since I was shooting at 200mm and was pretty surprised that my poverty wizards actually worked.

A great couple who allowed me to photograph their special day. Congratulations Lisa and Eric!

Strobist Info:

1 430EX 1/8 power with wide angle diffusor camera left

Triggering System:

Gadget Infinity V2s

Camera Settings

1/40 f/2.8 ISO400

Lens Used:

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM

No setup shot for tonight. Also it's only 1 flash to the left so just close your eyes and imagine :)

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

Testing 1-2-3

"And she'll take to my rap, cause my rap's the best. The educated rapper MD will never fess" - Roxanne Roxanne : UTFO

Just wanted to test out my Gadget Infinity triggers to make sure they were working fine for this week, as I'll be on assignment and based on my locations I won't be able to trigger the flashes using Canon's trigger system.

So for today's photo I actually fired off the 4 speedlites just to make sure they were working. 2 speedlights were placed behind to the left and right of me to provide background texture to the wall as well as some rim light to either side of me. I barn doored the side that was facing the camera with some cardboard to prevent the flash from firing into the lens.

Another speedlight off camera left was shot through a grid to illuminate the lid of the computer. Then finally the 4th was shot with a snoot camera right at my face to try to lift the shadows just a tad as I wanted my face dark but not Darth Vader dark.

Strobist Info:

1 580EX II 1/32 power snoot/grid high camera left
1 580EX II 1/64 power snoot high camera right
1 550EX 1/16 power barn doored behind subject camera right
1 430EX 1/16 power barn doored behind subject camera left

Triggering System:

Gadget Infinity V2s

Camera Settings:

1/250 f/5.6 ISO400

Lens Used:

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM

Setup shot can be found here

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

Financier

"Girl get comfortable we bout to do something you never done before. Baby not the usual tonight we gettin unpredictable." - Unpredictable : Jamie Foxx feat. Ludacris

While my buddy is still on his month long hiatus from the bakery the team did supply me with some Financiers last night. History says these were made out of molds that resembled bars of gold back in France. While they are French in origin, I just thought it looked pretty on a soup spoon.

I wanted to produce a white/gray photo, where most of the colors were not quite there. Just enough so that you could tell the Financier was there but not too much.

For this I placed a shoot through umbrella at upper camera left and lower camera right. I ran the upper left light a lot hotter than the front to get the plate underexposed. I then added a speedlight lower camera left, pointed directly at the Financier to give it it's own light separate from the rest.

Strobist info:

1 580EX II (Group A) Master on camera disabled
1 580EX II (Group A) Slave 1/64 power shoot through umbrella lower camera right
1 430EX (Group B) Slave 1/64 power snoot/grid lower camera right
1 550EX (Group C) Slave 1/8 power shoot through umbrella upper camera right

Camera settings:

1/300 f/5 ISO400

Lens used:

Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM

Setup shot can be found here

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

Air Freshener & Trio of Dishes

"I really don't care what you think or say. I gotta bust a rhyme in my own special way." - I Don't Care : Audio Two

Wanting to do something a bit different today with more white/cream look with everything somewhat blending into one another. I decided to take a picture of the air freshener as well as some small dish things in the kitchen.

Main lighting was provided by a speedlite directly overhead of the camera. I felt that the brown stalks of the air freshener would look good with a bit of light coming in hard left so I placed a speedlite there as well.

I wanted the background lighting to come in about the same as the rest of the shot instead of having that a be slighting darker. In order to get the exposure I wanted I actually pointed the speedlite towards camera right so all that got on the wall was the spill from the left side of the speedlite.

Strobist info:

1 580EX 1/32 power shoot through umbrella above camera center
1 430EX 1/8 power snoot/grid camera left
1 550EX 1/8 power background fired at camera right

Camera settings

1/300 f/4 ISO400

Lens used:

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM

Setup shot can be found here

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

Little Snack

"I'd give you the breath that I breathe. And if you ever yearn for the love in me" - Whenever, Wherever, Whatever : Maxwell

Sometimes you just have so much work to do at the office you end up brining it home with you to finish up. On those days when I actually bring work home, I like to have a snack nearby, in this case some milk and cookies.

Strobist info:

1 580EX II (Group A) Master 1/128 power bounced behind right
1 580EX II (Group A) Slave 1/128 power shoot through umbrella camera left
1 550EX (Group C) Slave 1/128 power shoot through umbrella upper camera right

Camera settings:

1/50 f/1.2 ISO100

Lens used:

Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM

Setup shot can be found here

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

International Cup of Bokeh

"But if you feel like I feel. Please let me know that it's real." - Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You : Lauryn Hill

Who knew that my photo of green OOF lights on a plate would work like it has. So I figured what the heck, here is another photo from last night's set of "What the heck am I gonna shoot".

This was when the sun started setting and the automated lights just started to come on in the distance. I wanted to capture something like the feeling you get after a long day at the office and you're ready to unwind with your friends over a nice cup of General Food's International Coffee and talk about good times : Celebrate the moments of your life.

No strobies for this shot, just all ambient light and a silver reflector below to direct some fill back up to the plate.

You didn't think I would just take a photo without shaping light in some way. :)

Camera settings:

1/13 f/2.8 ISO400 @200mm <--- yes all handheld IS really does work.

Lens used:

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey

Minty Bokeh

"Every time you kiss me, kiss me like you'll never see me again" - Like You'll Never See Me Again : Alicia Keys

Today Chef prepared a plate of locally organically grown mint bokeh. Preparation was simple to allow the natural flavors to come through. Chef metered for a stop under ambient then placed a speedlite camera right for key and a speedlite camera left for a bit of fill.

When you have no ideas for your dailyphoto shoot OOF lights :P

Strobist info:

1 580EX 1/128 power shoot through umbrella lower right of frame behind camera
1 550EX 1/128 power shoot through umbrella left of frame

Camera settings:

1/25 f/2.8 ISO1600

Lens used:

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM

Setup shot can be found here

Follow me on Twitter: @joeyjoeyjoey