Soobumim Photography: Dramatic Lighting

Portland Winterhawks Player Headshot

Filed under: Dramatic Lighting, Elinchrom BX, Headshot, Pocket wizard, Portland Winterhawks, Portrait by:

Portland Winterhawks 2009-2010 player roaster
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Portland Winterhawks Player Headshot - Images by soobum im

Family Photo Session

Filed under: Canon, Dramatic Lighting, Edgefield McMenamins, Elinchrom Quadra, Family, Family portrait, Pocket wizard, Portrait by:

I had a photo session at the Edgefield McMenamins. First picture was taken by the small golf course nearby.
I shot this less than 15 min (we could have hit by a golfball if it took any longer than that) with Elinchrom Ranger Quadra camera right.
Full power with shoot through umbrella and shot with 70-200 2.8 @ F8. I like the light quality: soft and directional.

We found cool pinkish door and thought it would look good with female subject.

I like bossy and dramatic shots. Shot with a 580 EXII on camera right.

I feathered the light (I am using 1 light source here!) so that light fallout is even across.

and decided to have some fun before the session ends

Wedding Photography: Shannon & Jason

Filed under: 5D Mark II, Canon 1D Mark III, Dramatic Lighting, Elinchrom Quadra, FlexTT5, MiniTT1, Pocket wizard, Portrait, Posing, Waterftont, Weddings by:

Late summer wedding photography. Photography session was scheduled at 2:30 but things got little delayed as usual wedding day. I loved the inside of the academy chapel located in downtown Vancouver, Wa. We used just one Elinchrom Quadra with an white shoot though umbrella and head was plugged in B socket. It was plenty of power and recycle time was just immediate.

I wanted to shoot quick outside the church shot. Here, as you can see, it was shot bright sunny day. It was really hard to over power the sun with 400w Elinchrom Quadra. I just wanted to fill any shadow on the good looking subjects. Lighting was on full power on camera right.

I wasn't able to shoot without flash because of harsh shadow (it was very bright sunny day). Quadra on camera right on almost full power. A gold reflector would have been nice as long as they could see me without closing eyes .

some candid shots before the ceremony

and after the ceremony

on the way to the reception, we decided to stop by waterfront. I shot this with natural light. My original shot was backlit pretty bad and I wasn't able to see subject. I shot the image so that background was little over exposed yet the subject was underexposed. I post processed the raw image in Lightroom and it was easy to do since I shoot everything Raw.

I shot this with Elinchrom Quadra on camera left. Little harsh but I think be able to shoot at F16 for small to medium size group on a very sunny day is pretty impressive. I've never seen any wedding photographer bring studio lighting gear to shoot outdoor portrait on a busy wedding day. Elinchrom Quadra is small and light enough to bring all day and my assistant, David is so much happier as well.

Dance with father picture. I used a fisheye lens to capture dramatic moment. Back of the stage, I placed two Nikon SB 26s and triggered via pocket wizard. They are gelled (CTO) to match with ambient light.

Inside the ball room was just totally dark.

David backlighted using Quadra and I bounced the light using the back wall.

We used a LED modeling light of Elinchrom Quadra with 1/2 CTO gel. White balance was tricky since the office building on the back was fluorescent and mixed with incandescent light.

Fisheye, ISO 3200, shutter speed at 1/20. I love 5D Mark II

Bridesmaids & Groomsmen

Filed under: 5D Mark II, Dramatic Lighting, Elinchrom Quadra, Pocket wizard, Weddings by:

Here's another wedding portrait. Late August clouds looked nice and wanted to create some fun yet dramatic shot before the stressful ceremony. I used only one light source; Elinchrom Quadra with standard reflector on camera right. It was set full power at F16, 1/320, and ISO 200. No post processing has been done in this image and it's pretty much like I saw in the back of my 5D MK2 LCD.

Later, a train passed by us. I told Bride and Groom stop right there. I shot couple of images on the way back to the church. It's not the best image in terms of lighting and composition. But it's one of the unique images I've got on that day. If I had a tripod with me, I would have slowed the shutter so that there's some train movement in the background.

100+ hockey player headshot

Filed under: Canon, Dramatic Lighting, Elinchrom Quadra, Headshot, Photek softliter, Portland Winterhawks by:

I photographed 100+ hockey players today. Winterhawks gave me 2 hours to finish and set up was fairly simple. I like to use background light but client wanted similar background that WHL used (they didn't use background light nor hair light). I can give up background light but I couldn't photograph without hair light. For this many players, setting up boom arm and adjusting it's position was impossible. I used strip-box as a hair light instead and it was set about 1 stop under. This created some separation from dark background and lid up player hair and shoulder. Main light was 60" Photek softliter II which specifically designed for Elinchrom. Great for full length portrait and I generally don't use fill due to its large light source. I used a silver reflector in case player wears a hat or helmet. A 10x20 Westcott muslin backdrop was used since some of these players were really tall.

Here's some of the images that I shot today. I only had less than 1 min to shoot for every player. To see more player headshot, visit my website or winterhawks homepage

Wedding Photography: Jamie & Larry

Filed under: 5D Mark II, Alienbees, Canon, Canon 1D Mark III, Dramatic Lighting, FlexTT5, MiniTT1, Pocket wizard, Portrait, Vegabond, Weddings by:

Jamie and Larry wanted to do formal portrait session at high noon. David (my assistant) and I knew that we had to bring high power strobes to overpower the bright sun. With new pocket wizard, my 5D Mark II can now sync at 1/400 sec no problem. A 1600 Alienbee strobed was powered by Vegabond. My strobe was at F16 and camera left. Stones, trees, water, railway, bridge and four good looking guys.

We found old building and it was in shade. It was a lot easier to do and I used 70-200 2.8 and shot wide open.

Group portrait was done in shade as well. This time, we used an umbrella to soften the light. Umbrella is great for large groups and it's small and inexpensive as well. I used telephoto lens to compress the background. Camera was 1D Mark III and sync speed was 1/320 sec. With 1D Mark III, I can sync at 1/500 sec.

Last image was shot under the gazebo. I started with natural lighting. Very soft lighting but little flat on my opinion. I added a background light behind the couple. Background light was 580 EXII and triggered by pocket wizard mini. I like to use background light for bride portrait since it lid up the veil and hair nicely. It also separates the background.

I still have to edit 600 + pictures for Jamie and Larry those are just some of my picks (August is busiest month for me).
I will be photographing Portland Winterhawks player headshots and I will post some of their pictures.

Pro Light Seminar | Beauty & The Beast Portland Tour

Filed under: Beauty the Beast Tour, Dramatic Lighting, Hanson Fong, John Woodward, Posing, Profoto, Seminar by:

Today, David (associate photographer) and I attended the Beauty & Beast Tour by Hanson Fong and John Woodward. It was all day seminar (10~6) and time gone so fast! 100+ Pro & serious amateur photographers attended and techniques such as posing, lighting etc was discussed. In this picture, John was teaching some of his best headshot technique. He told us how to analyze people's face and where to light the subject. Although this is subtle, it can make a big difference. Look at how many Profoto gears John has. I am Elinchrom guy but those D1s looked really good. He also used Leaf digital medium format camera, gold standard for commercial photographers.

Hanson Fong was fun and serious photographer knows what his doing. When it comes to posing, he "directs" people. With his 30+ experience as a wedding & portrait photographer, all the posing from couples to large group was done with in couple of minutes.

I like to attend seminars. It gives me opportunity to meet people and get to use some of the great / newest products. The price of the seminar was reasonable and best part was that David & I didn't have to travel.

Engagement Session: Shannon & Jason

Filed under: 5D Mark II, Alienbees, Beauty dish, Canon 1D Mark III, Dramatic Lighting, Engagement, Portrait, Vegabond by:

Engagement session at the waterfront. Couple showed up little late and I lost all the available light. Flash was the only option. Umbrella was not an option since there's quite a bit of wind. David and I end up using beauty dish. Little flash image and grid spot would been nicer. It was the lowest power setting on my Alienbee 1600 powered by Vegabond. Can you se the bridge behind Shannon and Jason? We were right next to the Hawthorn bridge and I believe that's Morrison (first bridge illuminated by Willamette light brigade and there's 16 colored flood-lamps).

I didn't particularly like the flash look and we decide to use modeling light as a video light. 5D Mark II is capable in shooting in high ISO. Believe it or not, next two images were shoot at ISO 2000. Noise reduction was off and I didn't use any noise remove software either. WB was changed to Tungsten.