Here are some of the images created for the 2013 football season. Below you’ll see individual player images, the schedule poster composite image, poster detail images, and a behind the scenes video of the photo shoot. As you’ll see in the video each player was photographed in a (on location) studio setup and composited into a backdrop created from my imagery captured at an earlier date. All photography and retouching is done by myself and the design work on the poster was created by Old Hat Creative.

Great year of photography for the University of South Carolina Athletic Department awarded Saturday night with a Gold Addy! A huge thanks to the athletes, Eric Nichols and the entire marketing staff for all their hard work. It’s been a privilege and I’m looking forward to doing my best to continue creating dramatic images for the best fans in the country! Go Gamecocks!

The week before Christmas I received a call from photo editor, Stacey Pleasant, regarding a photo shoot with starting point guard for the Charlotte Bobcats, Kemba Walker. The article/interview was based more on his off the court activities so we were tasked with finding a location that would fit this theme. At a younger age Kemba was part of a dance group that performed several times at the Apollo theater so Stacey was able to source a dance studio in Charlotte for the location.

Here I am discussing my technique for Big Air

My goal, after discussing concepts with Stacey, was to get an image that might bring the the two worlds of dance and basketball together. Since both include jumping, I wanted to capture him in the air. Kemba, although he was just back in from a long road trip, was a great sport and effortlessly grabbed some big air for the shoot. Instead of “Hangin’ with” they might should have retitled this one, “Flyin’ with”!

Shooting tethered so Kemba could see what the images looked like.

We shot tethered so Kemba would have a feel for what we were capturing and be at ease. This process also allows for the talent to give some input on body position and other elements that he might find he likes. I’ve found this aspect of tethered shooting to be priceless and is tremendous for getting talent excited and into the process of the shoot – leading to better images!

Kemba checking out what we were capturing during the shoot and giving input.

Retouching the shot involved some cleaning the space and removing distracting elements in the ceiling. The wall color was also altered in order to help the flow of the layout.

Kemba Final Image and Out-take

All in all it turned out to be a fun Sunday, afternoon before Christmas!

As we wind down 2012 I thought I would put together a little blog post that might be of help for other photographers looking to add to their wish list for 2013(or beyond). Things fortunately ramped up for me a bit this past year and where I’m located forces me to purchase most of my gear so a lot of revenue was “reinvested” back into my company. For this post I thought I would include the items that I’m really happy with and in some cases can’t imagine working without again. I’ll follow this post later with new software/plugins that I’ve found useful this year as well in a couple of days.

Let’s start with the camera:

Nikon D800

This camera, paired with good glass, is the real deal. There are thousands of reviews out there so I won’t spend time doing one here but suffice it to say I’m very happy with the results using this camera. If Nikon could pull some of the attributes or at least get close to the D4(fps, buffer, build quality) with the 800′s sensor they would really be on to something.

Hard Drives:

Other World Computing

With larger files comes the need for more storage. I’ve been happy with these drives and rotate them out as I need to keep some backups in multiple locations.

Laptop Computer

MacBook Pro

I’ve owned a few laptops but I can’t remember being wowed by one before now. These new Retina screen laptops with “flash architecture” are amazingly fast! My first couple of shoots using a tethered D800 were excruciatingly slow and it’s never fun being slowed down during a shoot in front of clients because your computer can’t keep up with file transfer. Those days are long gone with this laptop and the files look amazing on the retina screen – a great first impression for clients and models!

Tether Tools

Before I switched to this table I was using some Bogen/Gitzo laptop stand that attached to my tripod with a T arm. What I like about the Tether Tool table is the larger size and the “no-slide” pad. It is more expensive but I feel it’s definitely worth it. I also prefer to mount it independently of my camera on it’s own c-stand.

I’ve also switched to using the bright orange cords you can purchase from Tether Tools as well. These tacky cables at least make it harder to be clumsy around the computer and camera!

Tripod Head:

Really Right Stuff

I’ve switched to an “Arca-Swiss” mount this year because I was not able to lock down my camera effectively when shooting vertical using the Manfrotto mounts. I’ve seen these heads recommended elsewhere and I have nothing but good things to say about it myself(except that it’s expensive!).

In order to take full advantage of the above mount I’ve acquired L-Brackets for all my cameras. This is an item where I don’t know how I survived before without it. Just the ability to switch from horizontal to vertical without having to tip your camera over using the tripod head(and then recompose) is worth the upgrade!

Lights:

Paul C Buff Einstein

Okay, I have been shooting with Profoto gear forever and that’s still what I usually ask for when I rent but these little Einsteins are fantastic. It is really amazing you can purchase a light that can stop action at up to 1/13,000 second for $500! Count me sold as I’m a happy owner of eight of these puppies.

Portable Power:

In keeping with the bang for the buck theme, these little guys are great for location work when you don’t want to haul that heavy gas generator. I even use them indoors if I run out of extension cords or need to place a light somewhere that doesn’t have access to an outlet.

Here’s a peek inside one of my lighting cases:

Retouching:
NEC MultiSync 27″ LCD Monitor w/Calibration

Fantastic monitor and you can get it bundled with a colorimeter.

Intuos5

I had the Intuos3 and upgraded to the 5 this year. With my work a tablet is a “must have”. I also work with a medium size as I feel it gives enough room for fine detail but you don’t have to cover as much ground with your arm as you would using a larger tablet.

Back in July I was contacted about creating an image for an article in Smithsonian Magazine. The article was centered around a former CIA agent that made his living breaking into offices and cracking safes for the agency. Using his background (and the story in the article) we decided on a concept that would recreate a scene of the agent at work. With the concept in hand we gathered what we needed; an office wall, safe, desk, office props, etc.. I also went to a local “safe and lock” store and talked the owner into letting me photograph one of his safes – it’s much easier to photograph something that heavy and carry it on a compact flash card! For color and mood we decided on a blueish, “Jason Bournesque” type of feel with some intense rim lighting to give it more of a dramatic feel.

On a side note, I have an old safe here at the studio that I couldn’t open so I took the opportunity to test my model’s talents. After jokingly agreeing to give him half of the contents, he had it open within ten minutes.

Click the animation below to see how the part and pieces were put together.

Here’s a link to the online version of the article – an incredibly interesting read!

Here’s a look at the new University of South Carolina Football poster. The final image is a result of a couple different photo shoots. The backdrop was photographed on location at Williams-Brice stadium late one afternoon. The players and coach were photographed in a studio setting at the stadium on another date. Each player and Coach Spurrier were photographed separately and combined with the backdrop in post. Below is an animated gif to briefly show the process of constructing the image. Note: The graphic design elements and layout were created by Old Hat Creative

Last month I finished up the photography and retouching on an ad campaign in conjunction with Intermark Group out of Birmingham, AL. The creatives, Jason Corbin and Noah Williams, had created a fun concept around a new mascot for the university bookstore. The ads are for what is called “Book Rush” so what could be more fun than students chasing the mascot in three differing scenarios. We needed a “Spring-ish” backdrop and since the mascot’s construction wouldn’t be ready until late October, we all traveled to the campus in September to scout and photograph the locations. Out of five or six the client selected the three and we went to town drawing out the scenarios for each.

Leap of Faith:

With roughed out concepts, we hit the studio on campus in mid-November where we proceeded to photograph the students. When photographing and building composite imagery, the students(models) really had to engage their imaginations in order to pull off what we needed in camera. With not much else to go on but instruction from Jason, Noah, and myself they actually did a fantastic job! As the day progressed I was able to show the later groups some samples of our work on the computer screens to help demonstrate what we were after but they really didn’t need it – except to maybe reassure them we weren’t completely crazy!

After a full day shooting, and another day of travel, I was set to begin the task of assembling the images. We ended up have a very tight deadline so sorting, selecting, and rough assembly were all completed in a matter of days. Another couple of days were needed for the final touches and changes that had to be made due to the thirty plus layouts that were needed for the full campaign. Check below for an animation of one of the images coming together – it’s probably 16+ hours of work condensed into a few seconds!

Composite Animation(may take a second or two to load):

Creating composites for this campaign proved to have several advantages. First, we were able to work around the mascot’s construction and still produce imagery in December that will have a “Spring” look and feel. Second, we avoided any weather issues and other problems that occur shooting on “location”. Finally, we were really able to stretch the creative end of the concepts with students flying in the air, jumping off platforms, and repelling off buildings!

That’s a Wrap!

Just a few months back I was approached to write an article for “Light It” magazine which is only available on the iPad. If you do have an iPad I highly recommend the magazine as it is packed full with information on lighting and gear.

My article “Visualizing Lighting for a Composite Image” break down my process for three different composite styles. I hope you all enjoy it and if you’ve got any additional questions or comments feel free to use my comment section as a Q & A. I’ll do my best to answer any questions you might have!