VerveCast

For the past five years I’ve been working on a new lighting technique that I call light painting. Traditionally one uses strobes or even hot lights for photography. Well, my new technique instead involves a $5 flashlight from Ace Hardware. Be it large sets like buildings and landscapes or micro-sets like food or small tables, I’ve used my technique successfully.

It’s a process that requires visualizing what you want the final shot to look like, as well as a good amount of Photoshop work. Large outdoor scenes (like a building) as well as small tabletop scenes (like appetizers) both have the same challenge. The only difference is the size of the light you use. Without getting into too much detail, “painting with light” is just like it sounds.

As an example, take this shot below.

The above photo represents how the property actually looks. The sun was down and the camera was set to 0.4 second shutter speed, 200 ISO, and an aperture of f/6.3.

Now, here is the light-painted shot.

Both of the above photos are of a property out in California that I recently photographed. The challenge with this particular shot was to make it look different than any others of the house and also hide the things that you don’t want to see, like neighboring houses and drooping plants, all while highlighting other amazing details.

The final light-painted shot actually consists of 23 separate photos. We wanted to highlight the roses and grape vines on the left… so we painted them with light. We also used the technique on the fountain, the curved drive, roofline, sky, bushes, windows, etc. If you look closely, you will see no strobes and really no landscape lighting in the photograph. That’s because there isn’t any on the property. The effect comes from just my lighting technique.

Painting with light is an amazing way to highlight specific areas of a scene and capture images that the eye cannot normally see. Note: this is NOT a HDR effect.

Here is another shot done with the same light painting technique, but on a micro-set.

This shot was done for Marcus Hotel & Resorts at CLEAR inside InterContinental Milwaukee. This shot was actually made up of 13 different photos. Jim Rude, my food stylist on the shoot, helped bring it to life. He found it interesting on how we shot this; during the shoots, my technique can look kind of odd. I get a lot of, “is that a flashlight?” But hey, we—and our clients—always love the end result.

Photo by Victor on Flickr

There’s this concept of “Aunt Tilly” in the world of software and technology, where people often use the argument of “Aunt Tilly wouldn’t understand it!” to explain why some new idea/concept/software won’t work.

Aunt Tilly is sometimes the reason things become simplified and easier to use, but I also think the Aunt Tilly argument is used inappropriately.

For instance, you could say “Cameras are too confusing! Aunt Tilly can’t figure out how to use them!” as an argument that an easy-to-use camera is the the camera everyone should have. My complaint here is that while an easy-to-use camera is, easy to use, it’s not always the best camera for the job. There are point-and-shoot cameras, and there are DSLR cameras, and there are cameras like the Flip Video (or the Kodak Zi8) and there are cameras like the RED ONE. The DSLR and the RED ONE are not as easy to use, but they are powerful tools, and sometimes powerful tools have a learning curve, and that’s OK.

I can hand a point-and-shoot camera to someone and explain it in less than a minute, while a DSLR takes a bit more time to learn and become familiar with. This is fine. There should be a spectrum of knowledge and skills for such things.

This recent Advertising Age story We Tried to Resolve the Google+ Issue on Google Wave but… uses the Aunt Tilly argument, and I think it’s flawed:

Dear Aunt Tilly isn’t on Google+. She’s too busy playing “Farmville.” Sure, she signed up for Twitter, but she never used it. There was so much going on! Google+ confuses her. Is it Google Plus or Google Plus Sign?

While I’m often called an early adopter in the technology world, I’ve seen plenty of people who started on networks like Twitter or Facebook (or even Google+) not exactly sure what it was, or why they were there, or what they should do, and over time some of them “got it” and became experts, utilizing every aspect of these services, and becoming so comfortable with them, it’s like they’d been using them since the beginning of time.

If Aunt Tilly doesn’t use Google+, and just stays over at Facebook playing games, that’s fine with me. If she sends me a message via Facebook, I’ll probably still get it. Personally though, I’m finding way more signal than noise on Google+, and way more noise than signal on Facebook. Will that change in the future? Maybe… I’m willing to stick around and find out, and if the Aunt Tillys of the world don’t join me, I’m fine with that.

(And for the record, I’m one early adopter who thought Google Wave served no real purpose. Then again, I still believe email is useful.)

We’ve been doing some 360° panoramic photography lately. It involves using a panoramic head, shooting a lot of photos at a lot of angles, and using specialized software to stitch it all together and create an immersive experience.

The two images above are samples of photos stitched together but not put into the viewer software. I think they look pretty cool as is, since it gives you a view of a space you can’t actually get by just looking at it. It’s similar to how HDR imaging provides you a view of the world that exists, but you can’t really see.

This was a fun project we did back in 2010 for Assurant Health. It’s a 10 second TV spot that was done using stop motion animation. We shot it using a Nikon D3x, frame by frame.

It took a few attempts to get what we wanted, and there was a good amount of Photoshop work in there as well (editing of all the individual images) before it all went to Final Cut for assembly.

Oh, we also composed and recorded the original music. The voiceover? That’s C. Thomas Howell.

As for the airplane itself, the only magic involved is a piece of aluminum foil we spray glued between two pieces of paper to get the plane to stay in position as it was folded.

There’s no crazy 3D rendering involved, no real complicated video editing, just a simple idea, a bit of trial and error, and some creative thinking. Sometimes that’s all you need. :)

Z2 is very proud to announce that NOH8 (“No Hate”) will be in Milwaukee on Friday, August 12 at InterContinental Milwaukee from 4 – 8 pm.

What is NOH8? “The NOH8 Campaign is a photographic silent protest created by celebrity photographer Adam Bouska and partner Jeff Parshley in direct response to the passage of Proposition 8. Photos feature subjects with duct tape over their mouths, symbolizing their voices being silenced by Prop 8 and similar legislation around the world, with “NOH8″ painted on one cheek in protest.”

How do I get my picture taken? The photo shoot at InterContinental Milwaukee on Friday, August 12 is scheduled to begin at 4pm and end at 8pm. The photos are taken on a first come, first serve basis, but we assure you that the wait will be worth it! When you get there, you’ll receive a model release to fill out and then you’ll get a NOH8 temporary tattoo. You’re asked to wear a plain white tee to match the signature look of the campaign, and after the photos have been retouched, they’ll be made available on website, usually in 4-8 weeks.

What does it cost? The cost for the NOH8 portraits are $40 for a solo portrait and $25 per person for couple and group portraits. You can pay with cash, credit and checks. “Funds raised by the NOH8 Campaign will be used to continue promoting and raising awareness for marriage equality and anti-discrimination through NOH8′s interactive media campaign.”

We’re so excited that InterContinental Milwaukee is going to be hosting this event. We look forward to seeing you there!