First time photo shoot

Cynthia Feustel · 06-09-2005, 10:05 AM

Here is my first attempt at some shots for a figurative painting. I just bought the Canon digital Rebel. I wanted the D70 but money was the deciding factor. My daughter just graduated and we never got her senior pictures so I thought it better to spend the money on a camera I would have for a long time rather than on one set of senior pictures. Besides the camera is a tax deduction. So after a two day cram course of reading everything I could on how to use this new toy we gave it a try.

I am posting some of the shots that I took to use for a figurative painting. I also took some great smiling ones for her senior pictures. All in all it was a fun experience.

My studio has very large north light windows (I'm in an old factory) so I tried using no flash and just the north light. It was later in the day and I think I could have had better lighting. It was raining and gloomy and then the sun would come out.

The pictures with the doors were taken in a back stairwell, west facing windows and bright sunlight. The green door faces into the building. The backside of the door was painted bright orange and the sun was very intense but the windows were frosted glass so it made for softer shadows.

I did adjust some of the images in photoshop and some in my printers program. I had to buy a new printer for this project too. I got an HP Photosmart 8150. It has a nice adjustment called adaptive lighting and it seems to work well if the photos are too dark. I may have over corrected but I can post the unadjusted images.

Let me know what you all think.

Cynthia

Kimberly Dow · 06-09-2005, 10:59 AM

Cynthia,

I really like the contemporary feel of the ones by the orange door! There is distortion that makes me feel like it is an advertising/fashion shot or something, but it's interesting. Can you back up farther from that spot?

Cynthia Feustel · 06-09-2005, 11:15 PM

Kim,

I really like the orange door shot too. It was a tough picture to take. The landing she is on is about a four foot square and the stairs are unbelievably scary. They are cement and have an exceptionally narrow tread and are VERY steeply sloped and go a distance of about 15 feet between floors. Not a stairway used very often. I had to just hold onto the camera, lean against the wall and hope I didn't go tumbling down. My daughter picked this location and loved the door. She is an artist and very creative. It really fit her personality.

That's probably the best I'll get as far as the distance and distortion is concerned unless you have any suggestions- a harness and hanging from the ceiling maybe. I did alot of mural work on the first floor of this building for Harley Davidson on scaffolding and even a fork lift and the owner was always threatening to dangle me from the ceiling.

Do you think it would help if I just added more background?

Here is a picture of Sarah with one of her pastels and a few other shots we did for her senior pix.

cynthia

Michele Rushworth · 06-09-2005, 11:19 PM

My favorite is the one by the window: great lighting and no distortion from being too close.

Chris Saper · 06-09-2005, 11:46 PM

Two and four work for me. Paint them both. ( Ha! Easy for me to say, you would have to do the work) They are diverse images and wil give you a breadth of expression. Keep us updated!