Portrait Lighting Practice

I went to the fabric store today and bought some heavy fabric  for use as a  backdrop to practice studio lighting. The piece I bought was only 8ft x 5ft; which greatly limited who could fill in as a subject in the shot. It took two cheese sticks and a bath, but I finally found someone that had nothing better to do. This is about as simple as it gets for a lighting set up since I currently only have the option of using one off-camera flash. My key light was a canon speedlight, shot through a translucent umbrella, with a silver reflector set up opposite to fill in just a touch highlights. I’ve worked with better… but not many. (ghostbusters quote)

2000 Celica

Anyone that knows my darling wife can affirm that she is very loyal  and has difficulties parting with anything she has developed a personal relationship with. This includes cars… We’re selling her 2000 Celica tomorrow and she’s having a tough time letting go. She asked me to take a picture of her with it so she can always remember her little sports car. While this doesn’t show much of the car, it was my favorite.

Manzanita

Ash and I were invited to a beach rental this weekend in Manzanita with friends. On Saturday we went on a hike along the beach; the trail ended at a point with sheer cliffs that drop off hundreds of feet to the ocean. It was a great place to take some shots with Hank and his dog Zoey.

Nortwest Beers

I love my Northwest Beers. I have a basket next to the refridgerator under my bar where I always discard  bottle caps. I thought it would be fun to dig out a selection of caps from the northwest and take a photo. I think there are 10 different brewery’s represented in this shot. I have come to the conclusion though that I don’t have a favorite brewery. Full Sail is probably the most fun to visit because I love Hood River, but outside of that, I just can’t choose just one. I can say that I visit Pyramid/Mac Tarnahans Brewery the most. This weekend I had the opportunity to have a beer with the old Brewmaster. He is currently the Brewmaster for PBR China. I asked him if he had one tip for basement brewers like Hank and myself.

 Don’t reuse your yeast!

I didn’t have the nerve to tell him that we still use a dry yeast.

About the photo: The caps were placed on a glass table and lit from below and above with speedlites. Color adjustments made in Lightroom.