Jesse Rosten

High-Output Beauty Dish

Here are a few MadMen inspired shots of my friend Jim. Though I'd never seen Jim smoke a cigar before, this is how I always picture him in my head - a bit of daring, with a dash of dashing. Jim has a long resume that is full of acronyms like CEO and MBA. I don't know what any of those mean but I do know that Jim is a nice guy and a good friend. Lyn and I set up a little photoshoot last week to test out the newly arrived backdrop (ordered it here: neutral gray), and the new high-output beauty dish. The lighting setup for these shots was pretty simple: beauty dish ...

February 9th, 2010 | 2 Comments | Trackback | Tags: lighting, photography, stuff I use

On-axis Fill

Had a little free time last week so I pulled together an impromptu shoot with some friends. This was an experiment to test out some lighting setups with on-axis fill. On-axis light is light that is on the same axis as your camera lens; e.g. your on-camera flash. This kind of light illuminates everything very evenly, creating a flat, and generally unflattering image. It's akin to xeroxing your subject. The idea here is to create shadow and depth with some off-axis lighting and then let the on-axis ring flash (AB800R) act as a fill and lift those shadows out of the dark. Daniel (pictured) mapped out the the setups on his nifty Strobox ...

January 11th, 2010 | 4 Comments | Trackback | Tags: lighting, photography

Fashionistas

My wife is slowly teaching me what it means to be well dressed. Thus far I've learned: shoes and belt color should match, and denim does not go with MORE denim. During this little impromptu photo session with Lyn (wife) and Kallie (friend), I also learned that with you can never have too many layers. This is true in Photoshop, too. I'm all about the layers. I usually make a new layer for every step in the edit. Healing brush, dodge and burn, sharpening, curves - each major step lives on its own layer. And I always keep the original layer in the stack, too. That way I can go back if ...

January 4th, 2010 | 3 Comments | Trackback | Tags: camera test, lighting, photography

Lance & Laura Nuptials

Finally finished up the edit for my cousin's wedding back in Colorado. Here's a gallery with a few of my favorites. It was fun seeing some of the extended family, many of whom I hadn't seen in 10 years or so, including my cousin Matt. He was a great resource for me when I was first learning about photography. Back in 'those' days we shot film and had to walk to the photo lab, through the snow, uphill, both ways, etc, etc, kids these days with their rap music and digital cameras... Since I traveled to Colorado by plane, my gear was limited to what I could fit in a carry on ...

November 23rd, 2009 | 4 Comments | Trackback | Tags: photography, wedding

Skate ‘N Strobe

Here are a few spur-of-the-moment shots from the local skating rink. We threw this shoot together very last minute with the help of a Facebook casting call (don't forget to follow via Facebook and Twitter!) I first tried setting up the light on a stand and had the skaters roll by as I shot. This yielded horrible results. I quickly realized that I needed to get the camera and light rolling along with the skaters, at a consistent distance, to get consistent focus and exposure. Well, it just so happens that I spent a good portion of the '90s roller skating on a weekly basis. Yes, I was THAT kid. I skated in ...

October 18th, 2009 | Comment | Trackback | Tags: MKII, musings, photography

Prouty Wedding

Lyn and I had the honor of shooting Ryan and Nancy's nuptials a few weeks ago. Here are few of our favorites. ...

August 31st, 2009 | 4 Comments | Trackback | Tags: photography, wedding

Twiggy?

Lyn got her makeup done did by the lovely Michelle. Going for the Twiggy look here. I’d say it’s pretty close. This was shot with a small camera flash modified with a shoot through umbrella. The umbrella is choked up a bit to create a harder light and thus harder shadows. It’s really amazing how versitle one flash can be. ...

March 4th, 2009 | Comment | Trackback | Tags: lighting, photography

Crazy Dancing

Here’s a shot we did for The Dance Project - Redding’s best dance troupe. (If you disagree I’d be more than happy to arrange a ‘dance off’ with the troupe in question). I’ve been using the same lighting setup for most of my shots lately. It’s a very simple, three-light setup. One key light overhead (in a shoot thru umbrella) and two kickers on either side in the back. This is the same setup for the Supermom shoot. Even though I’ve been trying to use this set up consistently, I feel like each time I get something different. The same lighting setup, with subtle differences in key light, distance, angle, diffusion, intensity, ...

January 27th, 2009 | Comment | Trackback | Tags: photography

The White Stag

At the last Pasta Nite (not to be confused with Beer Nite, Movie Nite, or Night Nite), someone raised the question of Narnia vs. Harry Potter. I think the point was to compare the two series of books based on commonly accepted literary criteria. But since both of these book series have been made into films, it got me thinking. What if “Narnia Vs Potter” was a movie? It would be kind of like “Alien Vs. Predator” only less slime. So who do you think would win in the worlds-collide epic “Narnia Vs Potter”? While you’re thinking, please enjoy this photograph of the White Stag from Redding School of the Arts’ stage ...

January 8th, 2009 | Comment | Trackback | Tags: photography

Supermom

Title: Super Mom Location: Kids Kingdom Playground, Redding Model: Angie and her daughter. Special thanks to Michelle for her stellar make-up work. Lighting: Three 1200ws strobes (I forget the brand), shoot-thru umbrella, high output fan (for the cape) and a generator to power it all. For this shot we used the trusty (and glossy) three light setup. No, it’s not the three-light setup you’re thinking of (key, fill, back). It’s an edgier take on the three-light. Actually, it’s more like a four light setup if you count ambient as a light source. So we’ve got a strobe with a shoot-thru umbrella camera left as the key. It’s about a stop over ambient allowing ambient to ...

January 4th, 2009 | Comment | Trackback | Tags: photography

Posts Tagged ‘photography’