All posts by Mark Wallace

Mark is a traveler, photographer, and writer.

workshops November 16, 2008 5 Comments

New Workshop: On-Camera Flash

We’re finally ready to announce a new workshop in our lineup. Please welcome Digital Photography 102: On-Camera Flash to our ever expanding collection of workshops.

Take your photography to the next level by learning how to use an on-camera flash. In this workshop you’ll learn how to use an on-camera flash for maximum creative effect.

This is a one-day workshop and has a nice low price of just $50. The workshop begins at 1:00 pm and ends at 5:00 pm. There is an optional field trip to Mill Avenue immediately following the workshop for some real-world experience.

The first workshop is December 13, 2008. Click here to enroll.

Topics include:

Understanding the controls on your flash

How your camera determines exposure.

Flash Photography Basics

Using the Aperture to control flash exposure

Getting creative with flash and shutter speeds

Balancing flash and ambient light

Rear-curtain shutter sync

Freezing action with your flash

Bouncing your flash

Using a flash in low-light

Using your flash to soften shadows (fill flash)

Useful Info November 13, 2008 3 Comments

Scarlet and Red Epic

In case you missed it Red just announced a new system for their DSMC (Digital Still and Motion Camera) with two brains; Scarlet and Red Epic. Chase Jarvis talked about this possibility a few weeks ago and now it’s become a reality.

Red-sm

For a sneak peek at the marketing materials click here. I’m not sure how long these will be live so forgive me if the link is broken.

The implications for photographers, like myself, who shoot both video and still is pretty staggering. For the cost of a medium format camera I can have both a high end still and HD system that rivals film. Ultimately this lowers costs and increases quality and productivity.

I’m going to beg, borrow, steal one of these systems as soon as I can. I’m just about $50k short at the moment but hopefully a local rental shop will start stocking this system. I can’t wait.

I find this appropriate since I’m just a few hours away from getting a look at a Red One system. Who knows, maybe there will be some used Ones on the market soon.

Digital Photography 1 on 1, models, studio, Studio Lighting, Useful Info, workshops November 11, 2008 13 Comments

7 lighting setups

As promised, Episode 11 is finally here. In this episode Mark demonstrates 7 basic lighting setups.

workshops November 2, 2008 20 Comments

Episode 11 is coming soon…

I’ve been shooting, editing, diagraming, re-shooting, and editing more. Digital Photography One on One Episode 11 has been one of the most fun and most challenging episodes to date. This episode is all about lighting setups. In order to pack the episode with as much information as possible I’ve had to really work hard to make it seamless.

The wait is almost over. In the upcoming episode I’ll be covering about 6 very flexible lighting setups. Each setup will have a diagram, a video overview, sample photos, and some behind the scenes video showing the setup in action.

Setup-1

I’ll be showing you how we set the lights to achieve specific looks. The example above shows that you don’t have to have a ton of equipment to get some really neat looking photos. My goal is to take some of the mystery out of studio lighting.

Setup-2

This simple setup uses a single light with large softbox. Both of these setups will be shown in the video with more sample photos for each.

I’m working hard to make the diagrams easy to understand so you can use them to create your own art. If you can wait a few more days I think it will be worth it!

models October 26, 2008 4 Comments

Swarovski

Yesterday we spent the day in the studio shooting some product shots for one of our favorite clients. All of the products were from Swarovski and the crystal bra was the focal point of the campaign. Here’s a quick mock-up I did from one of the shots in the set. I’ll definitely post the final results when they are available.

Diane did a fantastic job with hair/makeup and Erin was terrific with the wardrobe styling (as usual). Marlow DeVonne was the model for this shoot.

We also shot a lot of behind the scenes footage that will be part of an upcoming Digital Photography One on One episode. Stay tuned…

Swarovski-blog
© Copyright 2008 Mark Wallace/SnapFactory

models October 16, 2008 3 Comments

Marlow!

I had another session with Marlow yesterday and, as expected, it was awesome. I can’t wait to get everything through post production and share it. Here’s another shot right out of the camera.

WQ2U6463
© Copyright 2008 Mark Wallace/SnapFactory

Behind The Scenes, models October 13, 2008 No comments

Great weekend of shooting!

I had a terrific weekend in the studio. I was able to work with Yasmin again and Marlow DeVonne. I am a big fan of photographers like Andreas Bitesnich, Mathias Walter, Marc Baptiste, Ellen Von Unwerth and other European fashion photographers. Working with Marlow I was finally able to get some Bitesnich looking shots (the photo above is straight out of the camera) as well as some Baptiste looking fashion shots. We plan to shoot again tomorrow and refine the look.

Yasmin was also terrific to work with. We were able to shoot some terrific fashion shots that would feel at home in a J. Crew catalog. The great thing about both shoots is that we video taped a lot of the behind the scenes and I’ll be posting the lighting setups along with completed photos and lighting diagrams in Episode 11 of Digital Photography 1 on 1. We have two more shoots to complete before the video footage is finished but I think it will be worth the wait.

models October 1, 2008 5 Comments

Shoot with Caterina

I met Caterina Lopez of The Agency Arizona for a quick shoot and conversation about upcoming projects. She’s a terrific model and if things go as planned you’ll start seeing her on upcoming episodes of Digital Photography One on One and in my portfolio.

For more information about Caterina check out her portfolio at The Agency.