I have worked for many years with the owners and chief executives of CAO Cosmetics, Alee and Peggy — beginning prior to the launch of their product line (they are also closely affiliated with Paul Mitchell, running a prominent region of the training network).

They recently needed new images to promote the color components of the makeup line. We did a full day shoot with three models — it was a lot of fun and we captured a tons of great images. It was the kind of job where the editing process was tough because there were so many we didn’t want to let go. Hopefully the final images will be public soon.

The lighting was a classic beauty setup, with a slight twist: Overhead butterfly key light, with a big full bounce reflector under the chin. But instead of a beauty dish I used a 27″ Elinchrome Rotalux Deep softbox reflector that I’ve been loving for portraits.

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With our switch to the RED Epic camera, we’re now working with RAW files on the tv commercial shoots. This gives us an extraordinary amount of color control and range. Below are a few snapshots from my day in the color grading suite optimizing the color on the files from our last shoot.

With film (as opposed to digital), color was an obvious part of the Director of Photography’s job since color was a result of film selection, development technique, and the choice of lighting, lenses and filters. The DP would recommend and come to a decision with the Director before the shoot on what the final look would be, then execute that look.

Now that digital is taking over, the color tones are largely determined in post-production on computers (setting aside set and wardrobe choices). The tools range from simple sliders in the editing software, to separate software packages just for color grading, to full hardware/software integrated bay’s at the higher end like we have in the images here. This particular system is the Nucoda Film Master at the post-production house Keep Me Posted.

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The new RED Epic Camera and Arri 18-80mm 2.6 lens that we were testing in my earlier post has now been rolled into production on our latest tv commercials. It’s a beautiful setup — detailed photos below.

The lens is not only quicker for transitions (no lens changes), but also sharper than the Zeiss CP2 primes we had been using. The raw files are beautiful, with an extensive range to manipulate in post. I also love the well thought-out touch screen field monitor from which you control most functions in the camera. Fast, intuitive with exceptional image quality.

It’s not light, but compared with cinema cameras of even a year ago in the same category it’s far more versatile in terms of movement and rigging. The extra weight is actually nice on the larger fluid head, making moves on the slider (shown below) even smoother.

We had a curve-ball thrown at us in one shoot which required shooting portions at very dim lighting levels, and we had no problem matching the brighter shots with the more dimly lit ones.

Very happy with this new setup, this will be the standard in the immediate future for our broadcast tv commercials.

Photos from the recent productions below show how we configured the rig.

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Among the most fun things I have done in my career as a photographer is the live demo shoots and presentations for Hassselblad, Broncolor, Livebooks, and others. After each one I’m always asked about workshops, but it has been hard to work them into the schedule.

No more. I’m clearing the schedule and creating the workshops I have always envisioned.

First up is a two-day workshop on June 25 & 26 all about Photography Production — how to plan the shoot, casting and working with model agencies, props and sets, and then all the elements around the shoot itself (working with the creative team, directing models, lighting, vibe, client presentation on-set, etc…).

I’m throwing a lot of resources into this elite workshop — including the sponsorship support of the premier camera company, Hasselblad, and the most advanced photo lighting, Broncolor. They’re going to give us an arsenal of gear to work with. My studio will become a giant sandbox to play in.

We have discussions planned on key parts of the business, and demo shoots, and hands-on instruction (your camera and/or the Hasselblad H4D cameras provided). We’ll explore both simple and complex lighting, concept development, and execution.

It’s my goal to make this a once in a lifetime experience that will rapidly take each participant’s photography to higher level. And I anticipate the dialogue started in the workshop to continue through the online platforms we’re building.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. Early-bird discount for those signing up by May 23.

Details here: Photography Immersion Workshop

Here is the behind-the-scenes video from the recent Louis Verdad Fall 2011 shoot, showing more of the team in action and more clearly revealing the production process.

Lighting was explained a bit more in the previous post with the time-lapse video, but you can see the tools in action more clearly in this one. The final images were included in the first post on this project. This is the third of the three part series on this shoot.

In the comments section of the time-lapse post, Greg asked some detailed questions which I answered there.

What comes through most clearly in this video is the range of people and talents involved in a shoot. What is not shown is all the preparation by the fashion team getting the clothes finished, and then selecting the looks and finding the right accessories. Nor does it reveal the concept development by the hair and makeup team, or the set design and construction. But seeing the results of those efforts here is a hint at the process that went into getting to this point.

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This is the first of a couple views behind the scenes of the Louver shoot that I recently posted images from. The time-lapse covers most of the shoot with a frame taken every 10 seconds. It was a half day shoot with just a few looks, which is relatively short.  It gives a sense of the process on the shooting stage in my studio.

Lighting was very simple in this shoot, we wanted to clearly light the models to show the details of the clothing, though also wanted some drama with deep shadows to create mood and give the images some geometric shape.  I used a grid on the soft box and feathered it to limit the spill of the light and create some quick fall-offs into shadow on the wall. Lighting was a Broncolor Unilite and Verso pack.

A second light was used to create a pattern of light/shadow at an extreme angle on the back wall adding to the geometry and the dramatic effect. This was done with a Broncolor Pulsospot4 strobe (you put metal patterned slides inside between the lens and the flashtube, then focus to the desired degree of sharpness with the lens on the light).

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I hope everyone had a great holiday. I did a lot of catching up on reading and planning new projects, I’ve never started a year with so many new things brewing.

So I’m kicking off by getting something taken care of that’s a bit of a hassle but will set up the motion productions on better footing.  Our studio is switching from Apple Final Cut-based editing to Adobe Premier CS5-based editing.  FCP’s instability (looking at you Compressor), constant rendering, required file converting, poor integration with the rest of the suite (hey there Color), lack of native 64-bit (with no sign of this even in the next version), and Apple’s apparent declining interest in pro-apps makes me believe this is not a platform on which to build for the future. (more on these limitations here)

The choice was then between Avid’s Media Composer and Adobe’s Premier CS5, and we have chosen to go with Premier CS5 which made a quantum leap in the last version and seems to have the full enthusiasm and commitment of the manufacturer behind it.  With this move there is no more need for slow transcoding (with the right graphics card, more below), native 64-bit so all the processors and all the RAM on a MacPro can be used, much improved integration and far better transferring of projects between After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc…  Also finding a lot of little nice benefits along the way. Talked with a lot of  experienced video editors, and this migration path is getting more and more popular.

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Several months ago I was retouching late at night and uploaded a snapshot of my computer workspace to facebook and it generated a long discussion and a lot of interest in how it was setup. I’m always interested in other peoples’ creative spaces and how they work, so thought I would post some more detailed photos of my computer work area.

This is the main workstation setup. There are two other computer work areas in the studio for the studio manager, specialists, assistants, and interns depending on what’s going on. But this is the main workstation where I always create images or do video editing / color grading (and increasingly visual effects and graphic design).

Also included below are some screenshots of how I have the palettes setup in Photoshop. Will do the same for Final Cut soon. And some hard drive data storage shots too since that’s always a big issue these days.

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I was in the sound studio this weekend with my audio guru and master sound designer, Geordy Sincavage (Emmy recipient from work on Lost, Alias) who I work with closely on motion projects, and with master audio mixer Onna who mixes the sound for CSI among other projects.

Several elements contribute to creating the final audio for a film or dramatic tv . There are endless effects and audio accents that enhance the depth and emotional impact of the work. Every little smack, tap, click as well as braking glass, punch sounds, wind, traffic, etc… is recorded independently by the foley artist. The the mixer blends the volume and level of emphasis for each of those individual audio recordings layered on separate tracks. Then each is directed to an output track for the full surround sound experience.

This is the same sound studio where CSI is mixed (see slide-show). In a facility like this you have a giant screen (maybe 30 feet here) with a fully equipped surround sound installation. In front of the screen is a large space for musicians or an orchestra to setup and play while the film plays above them. The sound engineers work on an elevated platform overlooking both the screen and the musicians, recording and blending the performance with he other audio components and the visuals. On an even further elevated level behind the mixer’s platform sit the director and clients overlooking the entire process but in easy conversation range.

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