55mm :: 1/160 @ f/5.0, ISO 100
Meet Peter Waskiewicz of Sow True Seed. A couple of years ago he starting a small seed company in Asheville that is now exploding... they specialize in open-polinated, heirloom, and organic seeds. We dug tilled the garden this weekend (my back hurts) and plan on filling it with Sow True's seeds very soon... I'll include pics when I update this post, so check back if you are interested.
I was tasked with shooting Peter, the founder, on a rainy and blisteringly cold January day. I tracked down one of his vendors, Reems Creek Nursery, because I needed to hide the winter and highlight "growth," what Peter and Sow True is all about. The nurseries weren't quite in full swing yet, too early in the year, but I the good folks at Reems Creek had one table of young plants that I could utilize. I got low with my camera, right over the plants, to emphasize them in the foreground. I cleaned up the background by moving all the other plants to the floor. I used a couple of bare Speedlights as kickers, and one with an umbrella as key. I underexposed the ambient by about a stop, to both help the subject "pop" and to reduce the influence of the strange color created by the natural light filtering through the plastic ceiling. We tried a few different poses and positions, and I liked the one with Peter holding a flat of new plants the best.
Is there any other information that you would like to see covered in these posts? Leave a comment and let me know...
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8 comments:
Patrick:
I really enjoyed visiting your blog. Great work!
You have a few items that you use regularly that I'm interested in. They are very thin soft boxes or reflectors. You use them in Dr. David Shi and Brandon Raab. What are those and why do you use those rather than a soft box or other type of reflector?
Thanks and keep up the great work!
Tad
Tad,
Thanks for writing...
...those are some DIY strip-boxes that attach to my Speedlites. I use them because, unlike a softbox, they keep the look of my kickers specular while softening the vertical shadows that you would get from using just a bare-bulb speedlite. Make sense? I also use them because I had fun making them...!
I may post a how-to one of these days...
I'd love to see a how-to for your DIY strip-boxes sometime. Great post, and as always I really enjoy seeing the video!
William... alright, I've almost been talked into it...
That makes sense.
For the inside of these - did you use white or something like foil? Can you give a approximate height you chose? ...and why does this height make the most sense as opposed to building it larger or smaller?
I'm gonna make a few of these using thin luan plywood or thick cardboard.
Thanks for the info!
Yes please post a how to on your DYI strip boxes. :) And thanks for posting the videos.
You got a shout out from a reader on Strobist...enjoyed your how-to's. Question - why the E2 versus pocket wizard?
Oh and a vote for the DIY rig.
OK... more DIY stripbox info coming soon.
Dom: why E2 vs pocketwizard? One simple reason: I've had the E2 for ever and ever... and I don't have a spare $800 to blow.
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