Soobumim Photography: Vegabond

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.

Engagement Session: Misti & Tom

Filed under: Alienbees, Canon, Canon 1D Mark III, Canon 85 1.2L, Engagement, Movie, Portrait, Vegabond by:

Engagement session at the waterfront. We don't get to see any cloud in mid July. It was crystal clear all day and we had some cloud short period of time. We decide to use cloud as a background. I could have drop the shutter speed so that make more dramatic shot. But that would be too flashy. This shot was made with Alienbee 1600 + Beauty dish (camera left) powdered by Vegabond.

Again, we got lucky. We had two fire trucks standing by. Misti and Tom wanted to do engagement session that tells a story since they are getting married in Texas. I don't know if you can see or not but the fire truck actually said "PORTLAND". No lighting here. We had about 1 min to shoot before the trucks disappeared.

We are now offering a short video clip using Canon 5D Mark II and each engagement session include complementary YouTube version slide show. Here's Misti and Tom's slide show

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.