Softlighter II portraits.

Judson and I were asked to give a quick demonstration of the Softliter II (the one Annie Leibovitz uses) for portraits. This set up used a Softliter sl-5000 (the mid sized one) and a profoto head for the top portraits (Hey Paige!) , and a Canon 580x II for the bottom one (Mister Plax Photo trying to get the perfect Rembrandt...). Strobe was high on camera left and bounced on a white board to camera right. We used a 5D Mark II with 24-70 f2.8 USM Canon lens. You can see the Softliter reflected on the window...

Heavy Metal Shoes. Shiny Background. First test with the Canon 7D

I needed a second image of the patent black boots I photographed some weeks ago, so I went for a different, more metallic style. This time I shoot from above (camera was rigged on a boom). Lights: Diffused top flood, two strip lights very (very) low on the table to give edge to the shoes. And a small softbox from below. The difference? I used a metallic, sheer textile over a plexiglass as the surface on which the shoes lay down. The image on the left uses a similar set up, but adds a blue/yellow color palette and the top light is harder.
Small trick: I used a few small plexiglass cubes to angle the shoes the way I wanted. I used photoshop layers to increase the contrast on the background and usual details clean up.
Shot at ISO 100, f11, 1/125th. 35mm, with a Canon 7D.

Updated Photo website.

Check it out at www.fabiogovernato.com

It's a bird! It's chocolate? ... It's books!

My art director (Hi Chelsey!) likes to pick up the camera and needed a cool image of books for a conceptual poster (I think this is how designers 'd call it). So we fussed together with the lighting scheme for a bit, which turned out to be two large softboxes on top of the books and with a little space in between to place the camera, looking down on the table. There you go. Artsy. Shot with a Canon G10, which I really like for those quick.and.dirty.yet.professional jobs.

Check Chelsey Scheffe awesome work here.

Hard Punk Rock Light. Black Patent Shoes.

These shoes actually smell of gasoline. The art director drawing (hey Tiffany!) had the shoes on a pile of ice so we went to the local grocery store and got a several bags of ice (2 chunks 1 solid block). Here is where my old ice axes came out useful....
I set all the ice in a big transparent plastic box with a lot of empty tupperware for fill. I put the shoes on top and off we went. The background was shot separately with a red #42 Rosco filter. I used the ring flash (a Coco modifier) in several positions to highlight different spots (the heels, the reflection on the lower edge of the shoe at the front) and put them together in post. Shot at f16, ISO 100. 1/200th with a Canon t1i. A nod to the Clash and David Clugston, who shoots with a somewhat similar style. Thanks for the inspiration!

Anthropologie Time.

I love the style of the Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters catalogs.
It's graceful, simple and well, dreamy. It mixes vintage settings and tones with modern living situations. It's a look that many retail stores like and customers can relate to.
I also affectionately call it "shooting like a girl" with some envy for photographers who have mastered it (darn you Chloe Scheffe!) . The photos above are the result of me having a stab at it. The first set was shot in an old apartment in Chicago (hey Angela!). I used only window light, a large white sheet as a reflector to camera left, about 5 feet from the model and a camera almost literally grabbed from a friend who happened to be there. The second set up was almost equally minimalistic: the model (hey Tiffany!) got hair and make up done in my studio and we walked out to a small city garden in Seattle. I used a simple ring flash modifier attached to my hotshoe flash (see this post) and exposed the flash at about half a stop below ambient. Then I used Lightroom to add the "Holga/Vintage/Polaroid/Artsy" look to it.

Both sets featured several Anthropology clothes and accessories (and my dad's thirty year old scarf). What's not to like? This images would form the core of a relatively low budget ad campaign perfect for a fashion store or an up and coming apparel designer. I like.

New Web Site!

I have a new spiffy web site!:

www.fabiogovernato.com