Photography Background: DIY Crackle Paint

Here at Luke Photography, it is time to start building new sets and painting new backgrounds for the upcoming senior portrait season.  This year, I've decided to add a few new grungy backgrounds to the options that I have for senior pictures.  One background is authentically weathered and beaten down, the other had to appear that way.

I visited a salvage yard that sells old architectural parts that are taken from buildings that are slated for demolition or major renovation, and purchased couple of pairs of old exterior shutters that are 8 feet tall. Years of sun exposure and weather have cracked, peeled and faded the paint, and they had a beautiful patina on them.  All it took was a wire brush to scrape off the loose paint, and they were good to go.

I acquired five fiberglass interior doors in the past 6 months.  Didn't pay a dime for them.  Three were being thrown out, and I rescued them before they hit the dumpster. The last two doors were near the curb in my neighborhood on trash day.  Score.  Now I had to make them look as old as the shutters, without waiting 80 years.  Yeah, I'm a little impatient.

DIY Bare Bulb Attachment

This attachment is meant to expand the capabilities of your shoe-mounted flash by giving it the appearance of being a bare bulb, which spreads light in 360 degrees, not just in the direction the flash is pointed.

You can buy similar attachments that cost upwards of $100 or more that do the same thing.  I made this one for about two-and-a-half bucks and maybe 15 minutes of time.  You do the math.  Then go spend that saved money on something worthwhile, like a couple of new games for your X-Box.

Hand-Built Video Dolly

Finished Video Dolly

Now that I have a digital SLR that will record high-definition video, I want to take advantage of it and produce video pieces for my clients.  However, as most photographers know, the shape of dSLRs does not always enable steady hand-held use, and if you want to introduce intentional camera movement, most results look like they came from the cutting room floor of The Blair Witch Project.

This has spawned a whole new-fast growth industry in accessories for video dSLRs that allow the photographer/videographer to get better footage with motion effects, which add impact to the resulting video.  One such accessory is the video dolly, which allows the camera to be moved laterally in a smooth motion.  Like any new cottage industry, the prices of said accessories tend to be outrageous.  And as many of my peers will attest, said author of this blog will likely come up with a unique, hand-built, inexpensive solution that will operate at least as well as its over-priced brethren.  My peers have dubbed me “MacGyver” and it is a moniker that has to be earned…and it is not just thrown around like a party favor.  Here is my story...and my honey of a dolly.

Larson 4x6 Softbox Modification

If any of you have used the Larson 4x6 softbox, then you know how amazing the light is coming from the front of this beast.  Throw a monstrous light source in front of anyone or anything, and you can make them look amazing.

However, if you've used this beast, you also realize how big it is to use, and how much weight it can add to the front of your studio strobe.  I've only used it a couple of times, and it's already slipped off the front of my White Lightning studio strobes.  There is alot of weight cantilevered off the front of the strobe head.  I thought to myself: "Wouldn't it be nice if I could mount the soft box...the biggest, heaviest part of the whole apparatus...right on the light stand, then mount the light to it"?  Well, now I can.

After a quick trip to my home-away-from-home...some of you refer to it as Home Depot...I came a way with a very inexpensive solution.  Everything I needed was in Aisle 8 Plumbing, the official sponsor of MacGyver Corner here at Luke Photography.

Here are the ingredients to this recipe:

•  1/2" galvanized floor flange
• 1/2" to 1/4" galvanized bushing
• 1/4' elbow
• 1/4' x 2" steel pipe nipple

You'll also need 1/4" steel machine screws, lock washers and nuts to fit the floor flange to the softbox mounting plate.

Assemble the pipe components together as tightly as possible, then lay the assembly on the softbox mounting plate (disassemble the mounting plate from the softbox first) so you can determine where to drill the holes in the mounting plate.  When the holes are drilled, mount the new apparatus to the mounting plate using the screws, lock washers and nuts.

Re-assemble the softbox and mount it on the light stand.  Then mount the studio strobe into the mounting plate as normal.  The only thing left to add is a safety strap to keep the strobe from dislodging from the mounting plate if it gets bumped too hard.

Making this modification solves two issues:

1. It brings the center of gravity of the light stand several inches closer to center of gravity of the softbox, making it more balanced.
2. It takes most of the stress off the spring-loaded mounting clips on the front of the strobe, thereby prolonging it's life. 

It also opens up the possibility of mounting any strobe....think Quantum or any hotshoe flash...in this huge softbox.  For all you Strobist fans, did you ever think you'd be able to throw a 4x6 softbox on a Nikon SB speedlight?

It only took about $7 in parts and 15 minutes...and now I can make anyone look amazing....safely.

The Birth of a Photography Studio

After 3 weeks of blood, sweat and a few tears, the new Luke Photography studio is nearing a point where it will be ready for occupation.  And unlike the Occupy “Insert City Here” movement that has fizzled out in various cities across the country, this one is here for the long haul.

The changing room has been built and is awaiting the finishing touches.  The wall along the north-facing windows has been extended, so that standard-width backgrounds can be hung from it, to take advantage of the natural light from the windows.  The floor has been installed in the shooting areas.  And most of the painting has been done.  The waiting area was finished off with a new couch and coffee table, and will be receiving new prints for the walls and some comfortable décor touches.

Next week, the changing room will be finished in a vintage Hollywood theme.  The work island in my office will be completed and stocked.  And finally, the sales room will be readied for the final touches.  Next weekend, furniture from the current studio and office will be moved in, and all the photography equipment will be following shortly after.

A new friend that I met in New Orleans sent me a congratulatory greeting card that contained a Home Depot gift card and several band aids.  The band aids have been used up, as has the gift card, which was used to help pay for the wood for the cabinets in the work isalnd.  There will a storage cubbie in my work island that will be forever known as the “Slye Spot” as a thank you to Kiera for her thoughtful gift.

As I told one of my new building neighbors: the good thing is that I can do all this renovation work.  The bad thing is….I can do all this renovation work.  Most of the heavy work has been done.  Now onto the finish carpentry, which will require fewer band aids, and a lot less sweat.  Then I can sit back and start the work that I was meant to do: create great photographs.

  

Just a Pinch of Light - DIY Grid Snoots

Chefs who cook without recipes go on instinct, knowing when to add a pinch of ‘this’, or a pinch of ‘that’.  If a newbie cook were learning from them, they’d ask: “how much is a pinch”?  Almost always, the answer would be: “it’s just the right amount, and you’ll know if it is too much.  Like the kid who gets his pudgy cheeks pinched by his scary Aunt Betty, too much is too much.

Photographers cook with light.  As you get better and better at it, you start realizing when and where you need a pinch of light to set your image apart from everything else out there.  Often, an umbrella or soft box over your light source will add too much light.  Like the kid with the pinched cheeks, you’ll get all irritated and run screaming into the other room.

Beauty and the Booth

 

I’ve been getting a lot of comments from the HS Seniors and their parents when they look at the images after the HS Senior portrait sessions:  “Wow! That looks like it should be in a magazine!”  Well, what is it about the images that say to them ‘it should be in a magazine’?

Well, it takes a nice looking model.  That’s a ginormous step in the right direction, but it is not always necessary.  But there is one thing that links all these images together: the lighting.  During high school senior sessions, I set up a Beauty Booth, which is a lighting set up used by…you guessed it....photographers that shoot magazine cover shots.  It’s not always an easy set up, seeing that I employ five different lights to get it to look the way I want it to.  However, instead of spending thousands of dollars on equipment, I’ve manufactured much of it myself…and that money instead stays in my pocket.  Here's how it's done.

The LukeSphere Light Modifier

The best inspiration comes from desperation and exasperation.  I was exasperated to see that photographers were paying $60 or more to buy a piece of Tupperware from a nationally-known photographer that they could put over their flashes to modify and soften their camera-mounted hot shoe flashes.  I know that real Tupperware cost a lot less than that, and I knew that there was an even better alternative that would do exactly the same thing for a lot less Andrew Jacksons donated from my wallet.