How is it lit? Free print to the best guess...

How is it lit?

In a selfish effort to completely whore myself and my blog, I am giving away a free print (up to 12x18) to the person who diagrams most accurately the setup from the photograph above. It is the most intricate lighting setup of all the portraits featured in this layout, and I wanna see who guesses it... and it ain't all that hard. Please include, if you've got the voodoo, the under/over readings for each light as well!

Please submit your conjectures in the comments field... email an actual diagram if you so dare! I'll send a 100% coupon to whomever is closest... you can choose any picture you want off my site.

And since I've been neglecting this blog for so damn long now, I bet that I get very few responses, so your odds are quite good!

You've got all this week... pass it around.

BTW, that photograph is of stage producer, new cafe/bar/performance-house owner, and all-around neat fellow Chall Gray. Go and see him, have a beer or coffee, and enjoy show at The Magnetic Field in the River Arts District of Asheville, NC.

Thank you all for playing!

Hmmmmm.... who is closest...???

Camera setting: ISO 400 1/60 @ f4.

Lamp is ambient as-is (but it is not lighting the room.) What everyone missed is a speedlight @ -2 popped into the ceiling to light the room. If I had used the lamp to light the room it would have blown out and created a very warm-tomed room.

Key is a squished up silver umbrella to direct the light at subjects upper body / to keep it from spilling into the whole scene.

Subject fill is a RING LIGHT @ -2

Outside light is an Alien Bee with reflector and lots of blue gel. @ +-0

And so, EVERYONE WINS! Email me with your image choice (anything from my website) and I will send you a 100% coupon with a link. Sorry, but you will still have to pay shipping... there is no way around that.

We will do this again someday soon... I'll try and find a harder one.

The Land of Popular Photography...

I was recently approached by Popular Photography Magazine and asked to contribute to a "How To" lighting column. They specifically asked to use a shot I produced for a personal project in which I photographed a group of small town police officers... Pop Photo wanted to use this particular shot to highlight solutions to obstacles presented when shooting into the sun. I said "yes" immediately, and for one simple reason: years ago when I was the photographer for my high school yearbook and had just begun to realize my passion for this light sensitive craft, Popular Photography was the very first magazine I subscribed to... nostalgia. Pop Photo's editor, Peter Kolonia, was gracious and awesome as we put together the column... visit your newsstand or subscribe today!

The overall project is entitled "Has Anyone Seen America Lately?" My idea is to travel this great land of ours and use this lighted pano technique to capture all the everyday unique and fantastic folks I can get my hands on... folks like the Martindale, Texas Police Department (see above), World Champion Gun Twirler Pistol Packin' Paula, and Xaden the red-headed firestarter. I'll write more about this project in the coming weeks... I need to muster up some funding first... wanna help?

In the mean time, check out the article in Popular Photography, and watch this Behind-The-Camera-Timelapse below.

I underexposed the ambient light in the scene by two stops. I used four Canon Speedlites to mimic the sun by wrapping light around the subject. Each strobe was equidistance from the subject and each reduced by 1/2 power in relation to the one before it. The strobe furthest from the camera (and closest to the sun) was at full power, and the one closest to the camera was at 1/8 power. This allowed the light intensity on the subject to fall off gradually as it wrapped towards the front of the face. They were triggered using the ST-E2. Each subject was captured separately on my 5D and later compiled in Photoshop. I don't want to give away all the details... need to save a few for the Pop Photo article. Fun stuff!!!

My Printed Portfolio...

Just found an interesting website, ISSUU.com, that lets you upload and "publish" a PDF... I embedded it in my website HERE and am now doing so on my blog too. This is the most recent update to my printed portfolio, the one I mail to folks I want to work for. I've got some cool shoots coming up in the coming weeks, included the former governor of SC, so this sucker will be updated regularly... but here it is for now. What do you think?

New Website!!!

Guess what, folks? I just launched my new website! I did every little ounce of design and coding myself, and I am looking for your feedback... honest critique, please, not just typos. If you hate it, just say so, and tell me what you hate.

Some of the galleries (especially in the world-map area) still need to be updated, and some of the full-screen features aren't working as they should. If you run into any other technical flaws, please holler!

Visit: patrickcavanbrown.com

Commercial, Editorial, Portrait, Documentary Photographer... Asheville NC, Greenville SC, Charlotte NC, Charleston SC, Atlanta GA...

Thanks!!!!!

The 37th Frame

Today I have the honor of being featured on the home page of The37thFrame.org, a new website "dedicated to bringing readers the best of the photojournalism on the internet." Finally someone (Peter Marovich?) has put together an organized, daily updated, non-bloggy, professional website "celebrating the best of photojournalism." I highly recommend that each of you visit and bookmark The 37th Frame.

Extreme Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (TB) :: xdrtb.org

CLICK HERE NOW

A few of my own TB pics: Portraits of Hope

James Nachtwey Needs Your Help :: TED

James Nachtwey and TED need your help. In 2007 Nachtwey won the TED Prize, and on October 3 he will be revealing the documentary photography project he has been producing as a result of winning that prize. Nachtwey has asked for help from the digital community in breaking this news story. Follow the links above and below for more info.... or revisit this blog on Oct 3rd.