photography

We hope that you have had the very best New Year’s holiday with your family!

Here at CnvStudios we thought that a new year should come with a new look. So today we rolled out a new look to our site. It’s bold and beautiful… We hope that you enjoy it!

In the upcoming months we will be sharing more photography, more often. We hope that you will join us as often as you can to see our further Misadventures in Photography! Thanks for being a fan!

I would like take a few minutes to say thank you and Merry Christmas! Particularly to everyone who purchased a glamour session or photos as a gift for a special someone in their lives. I hope that you have the best holiday ever!

Backlighting. It’s tricky.

If the backlight comes from a natural light source It can be very difficult to compensate for. Particularly when the light source is constantly changing. In many cases, too much backlighting can ruin an entire series of shots.

Sometimes you just have to embrace it. Mold it. Use it to create a mood or a particular style of shot. Which is exactly what I did in this series of shots of Mo Stones.

The camera was set to an ISO 400, f4, and 1/160 for the shutter speed. The natural light coming in from the window was very intense but because of the white walls and ceiling it was very soft. The walls acted as a great fill light and eliminated any harsh shadows. I set a single key light with a large softbox to the left of the camera. Which gave me enough light to eliminate the shadows created by the back light. Yes I know the whites are blown out… that’s exactly the look we were going for.

Enjoy! As always comments are encouraged and appreciated!

This is something that I don’t normally do… I don’t like having my unedited photos out in the wild.

However… I get asked so often how I get my photos to look so good out of the camera. Well, the real answer is… Photoshop. Duh, duh, duhhhhhh!!! That’s right! Photoshop! It is an essential tool for the photographer’s digital workflow. If a photographer says he/she doesn’t use Photoshop he is either lying or he/she is not getting the full potential out of the shot. Ansel Adams once said “We must remember that a photograph can hold just as much as we put into it, and no one has ever approached the full possibilities of the medium.”. He also said “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”.

I believe both of those statements to be true. In my opinion a photograph is never done. There is always an improvement to be made no matter the subject. Now I don’t subscribe to the idea that you should make fundamental changes to the subject, like changing the shape of a face or a nose. I don’t play that! However, blemish touch up and minor adjustments to clothing or backgrounds is sometimes a must.

I offer you one of my older shots of the beautiful Jantzen Rees. The photo looks great in full color and untouched. However, I felt that a little blemish touchup, darkening the edges and punching up the highlights in key areas would help lead the eye to the focal point better.

The color change, I will admit, is a matter of taste. I prefer the sepia like tone over the colored version because it adds a vintage and almost intimate feel to the shot. You can disagree with me, that’s the beauty of all art, interpretation! Click the image for a larger view.

These shots are from a shoot I did earlier this year of Jamie Wilner. I liked the way these shots turned out.

I used primarily one light on her shoot. I like the challenges that using only one light gives me. So I tend to do it often.

It was a large softbox that was sitting just to the left of the camera. For you photo-philes that are wondering, it metered at f6.3, I used a 1/80th of a second shutter and and ISO of 200. I also used a 36 inch white reflector just to her right to soften the shadows.

Take a look and tell me what you think of the shots.

It’s been a few weeks since I last posted on the blog and they I’ve been busy! Photo shoots, video shoots, editing, web development, you name it I’ve been doing it.

So It’s time to share some of the great images that I’ve been creating in the last few weeks. This session is of the beautiful Monique Hayward. We had a great photo shoot and we got some great images in the process. Here’s just a couple of them, I hope you enjoy!

In my last post I shared an early look at Keri Gillen and her classic look.

This series of photos is from the same shoot, but with a more modern twist and style!

Keri is a local model that was expanding her portfolio at the time that we did this shoot. She has a great look, is super laid back and totally fun to work with. I think every photographer that has worked with her would say the same.

Comments are always welcome and appreciated!

I have been traveling for a few weeks now shooting, going to conventions, and generally just having an all around good time. Now it’s time to slow down, edit, and share.

Many people often assume that glamour photography is what you see in modern men’s magazines. While that type of photography does fall in the category of glamour that’s not where it ends… nor where it began. Glamour photography started in the mid to late 1920’s and was inspired, in part by silent movies. A photographer by the name of George Hurell pioneered the look and went on to create ”Hollywood’s Golden Era of Portraiture”. These portraits were often lit with as many as 6 lights and have a very distinctive hair light. That’s the light that caused a models hair to have that super bright glow.

In honor of Glamour’s beginnings I would like to share a couple of 20’s inspired portraits of Keri Gillen. I didn’t initially set out to create a 20’s style portrait, nor are these a true 20’s style. In these portraits I have done something very different from the 20’s style. Primarily in my decision to use only one light. That’s right, one light. I chose one light softened with a large sofbox to make the subjects face more dramatic and to force the shadows to turn to a crushing black. I tried to keep the overall feel of the 20’s portraiture while putting my own spin on it. I often choose to light my subjects with one light because I feel it gives the shots a little bit more drama. Tell me what you think of them, and don’t be shy.

Kids are always a challenge when they are being photographed. It’s no exception for this little one. We had to play a game of hide and seek to get her to smile. Their not the most traditional of shots and their not my best shots; but I think their fun and they look great in my portfolio. What do you think?

I really spent a lot of time trying to come up with a new memorable way of making my new business cards. I wanted something out of the ordinary and unique. So my first decision was to make them a different size. At first I thought I would go with one of those mini cards. You know the 1.5″ x 3″ cards that are popping up all over the place. The problem with those is… they’re popping up all over the place. 

So that lead to the descision to go the opposite direction. I decided to make them 3.5″ X 3.5″ square and to make them photographic. I couldn’t find a printer that would print that size for a reasonable price with the right finish. So I decided to literally make them out of luster finish photographs. So not only do you get a card with a great image you get a sample of one of the best looking prints available.

Take a look at the new cards and please, please, please share your thoughts about them. These are for portrait photography. Photo on the front, black on the back.

This next set of cards is for the Glamour photography that we do. Again the photo is on the front and the black is on the back.

Thanks for looking and I’ll see you at your photo shoot!