All posts tagged: profoto d2

Captain’s Log 16/06/2018 – Studio Workshop

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Another fun workshop. Spent the morning introducing the different types of lights and modifiers used in a professional photography studio. In the afternoon we photographed our model Brianda after makeup up artist Jessica Coupar worked her magic. Little Jasmine even joined in at the end of the shoot wearing her own baby uniform. Thank you to workshop participants Tyson and Angie for managing to join us during the heaviest rain in recent history! Thank you to Jessica Coupar for makeup, and Brianda for being our model. Finally thank you to Jasmine for bravely wearing a red shirt and surviving the mission.

Dia de los Muertos

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Día de los Muertos (Día de Muertos) is the Mexican holiday also known as Day of the Dead. Before Spanish colonization the holiday took place in summer, but is now celebrated on November 2nd, just after All Saints’ Eve (more commonly known as Halloween).  For me, the festival seems to share more in common with Okinawa’s Obon celebrations than ghoulish Halloween. Halloween is usually thought of as night to scare away ghosts and monsters, but during Okinawa’s Obon and on Día de los Muertos families clean graves and tombs, decorate them, and give offerings of food. The departed are welcomed back to spend time with the family once again. Día de los Muertos celebrations were featured at the start of the Bond movie Spectre, and are the theme of the latest Disney / Pixar movie Coco. My friend Bernadette is Mexican American and we thought a Día de los Muertos inspired shoot would be fun. We collaborated with makeup artist Audra Pesicka who transformed Bernadette into “Catrina” with her distinctive skull. Images were shot with the Pentax 645Z and the 90mm …

Knock Out

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An epic Fight Club studio workshop yesterday. In the morning we went through the basics of studio strobes, triggering, and variables such as distance, position and quality of light. Then it was fight time. In the red gloves, Zac “The Flash” Pesicka. In the blue gloves  Andre “The Body” Smith In the early rounds Zac’s speed was a clear advantage,  Andre was thrown onto the ropes with  a crushing right hook.  Shrugging off the blow, and up before the nonexistent referee had counted to 10, Andre continued the fight. A mid-fight tussle with makeup artist Audra Pesicka had left the fighters bruised and bleeding. Keith “Cutman” Robbins stepped into check on the condition of his fighters. Zac landed a punishing blow to the ribs. But moments later Andre retaliated with a fight ending uppercut. The champ. A huge thanks to both fighters for shedding sweat and fake blood during the fight. Thanks to “Cutman” Robbins for the inspiring words and continuously humming Eye of the Tiger. Once again, thank you to makeup artist Audra Pesika …

Rock Stars Studio Workshop

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A fantastic rock star themed studio workshop last Sunday. After a few hours in the morning covering the basics of studio shooting we moved on to the theme of the day.  For most of these shots we used the Profoto 7a generator with 2 proheads as the rear hair lights. Grids on the zoom reflectors controlled the spill of light, while gels gave the lights color. A small smoke machine gave the shots more atmosphere. We had a Profoto D2 with a gridded softlight reflector as the key light and a Profoto B1 with red / orange gels on the left side. The lights were triggered with Profoto Air Remotes. Natalie and Kelley were our awesome models. Both where more than willing to sing, play guitar, and hammer away on the keytar.  Although it was probably for the best that none of the instruments were plugged in 🙂 Makeup and hair was by Audra Presika who also created the temporary tattoos for Natalie. It’s great to have an MUA to work with who can help …

Studio Workshop – Medics

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Another fun themed studio workshop. After covering the basics we used a multi strobe setup to produce clean medical images on a pure white background. Images shot with Pentax 645Z with 90mm. 4 light strobe setup with two background lights, a 3×4′ softbox, and a softlight reflector white. Profoto D2, Profoto compact, and Profoto 7a generator system. A big thank you to Keith, Tyson and Allison for joining the workshop and being willing to dress for the part!

Hatsuko Machida 6th dan Uechi-ryu Karate

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Hatsuko Machida  町田 初子 is ranked 6th dan in  Uechi-ryu karate 上地流　空手. She teaches at the  Ageda Women’s Dojo which is unique in Okinawa for offering women only karate classes. She explained that many of her students had not been allowed to study karate when they were young so now embrace the opportunity to do so. Many of the ladies are over 50 with the oldest still training at 78. Machida-san was a student of Takamiyagi Shigeru (1935-2014) who encouraged her to set up her own dojo and help spread karate to more women. Machida sensei’s class also uses the nigiri gamae (握りえ構え)  ceramic jars that strengthen their grip and forearms. After shooting in the dojo we took a short walk to the local park to get a shot of Machida sensei training outside. All images shot with the Pentax 645Z with the 90mm lens (indoors) and the 25mm lens (outdoors). Lighting with the Profoto D2 (indoors) and Profoto B1 (outdoors) with a Softlight Reflector.

“Kid” Yamamoto Portrait Shoot

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Portrait shoot with MMA fighter Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto on friday night. Yamamoto is perhaps most famous for his 4 second flying knee KO to Kazuyuki Miyata back in 2006. Pentax 645Z with 90mm lens. (I had brought a black background but spotted the Japanese flag in the gym so changed my plan). 2 light setup. Profoto D2 with gridded 4×1 softbox as rim light (back left), Profoto B1 with gridded softlight reflector as the main light (front right). Air remote trigger. Huge thanks to Ben of Capoeira Academy Okinawa for setting up the shoot, and Shawn Miller and Yuki  for assisting. Some BTS pics and video!

Studio Workshop / Profoto D2

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Yesterday I had a 1 on 1 workshop with Mina who wanted to learn some more studio photography techniques before she leaves Okinawa next month. After the dark and smokey Star Trek shots in September we decided to go clean and bright. This was a three-light setup. Two strobes were pointed at a white background, and the keylight was a  Profoto D2 with a 3×4′ softbox.  Large flags stopped any spill from the background lights hitting the subject. Our model was Kelley, and makeup and hair was done by Audra Presika. We first went will a beauty look that was reminiscent of Daryl Hannah in Splash.  We then switched to an 80’s glamour look, that with the addition of a prop gives us some (somewhat tardy) commercial images for the  Motorola Dynatac. A more up to date bit of kit was the new Profoto D2 1000W light. Unlike my Profoto B1 this is a mains powered light, so is designed for studio rather than location use. It has fast recycle times, fast flash durations, and …