20/365: Squeezebox.

Learning to play the accordion is hard. Way too many buttons. Exponentially more buttons than on a guitar. Lighting it is a bit easier. Read on...

If you've read my manifesto, then you know that the main reason I'm undertaking this project is to keep myself engaged in a creative photographic life, and to push myself to keep learning. I wasn't sure if I'd be writing little blurbs, or describing the setup for each picture, but the way I learned what I do know is through certain other photographers' willingness to share their knowledge with the world. And so I feel obliged to follow in their massive footsteps with my own paltry dribble. For some of you, the lighting info is something you couldn't care less about, and eventually, I won't be doing a 'lit' photo everyday, so that won't always be a part of the daily post. But you photogs that might be stopping by (most of you I know by name and face already) may find that information interesting, and perhaps even learn something new, or at least be inspired to build on what you see and blow me out of the water with your own work (trust me, it's easy). And then there may be some of you that are just starting out, and wondering just what in the bloody fark a 'snoot' or 'Pocketwizard' is (and the mind could come up with a few options for those).

"Damn, she snooted all over my pocketwizard!"

Well, I won't be telling you what those things are, but if you want to learn, go to this website: Strobist.com. Everything I have learned about off-camera lighting started there. Find 'Lighting 101' and begin, if you're game. The Strobist, a.k.a. David Hobby, must be one of the most generous people in the photographic world, because he began sharing all his considerable knowledge, gleaned from years of photojournalism, on his site long before the blog got so huge he could make a living off it. He single-handedly began a revolution of technical knowledge-sharing among photographers, in a world where most professional photogs were secretive and always hid their techniques in an effort to beat the competition. Me and this blog are just children of that revolution, pimples on the ass of a global strobist community that is continually learning from itself and growing. Thanks for stopping by the Pimple, and please don't forget about us once you start reading Strobist.com.

Tonight's Strobist info: Three lights. One, directly above main keyboard, with a very tight homemade grid. Two, camera right and behind accordion, in a tight snoot, aimed at the other side of the accordion. Last speedlight is directly behind the accordion and gelled deep red, firing right back at the instrument. Couldn't quite get that light to do what I wanted (rim the bottom edge of the bellows) without it lighting up the room around the accordion and killing the dramatic feel. In the end I had to crush the blacks pretty hard in Photoshop to kill the details that were still visible in the non-lit areas, which were getting lit as all those photons bounced around off my walls and ceiling.

19/365: Bite Me.

Sometimes you just have to play with your food. I'm no chef, but I do love to cook, and to eat. Tonight's photo is dedicated to my friend Joe Kwon, who IS a helluva chef, and even has his own food blog: www.tasteontour.com which features some stellar imagery as well.

I call Joe for cooking advice (he had some recommendations for tonight's pizza toppings) and he calls me for photography advice. Sometimes we even work in the same room, which is much, much more preferable to cooking yourself, and then trying to light and photograph the food while its still hot...

Which is what I did tonight as the wifey and I came up with a delicious pair of pizza pies. As I slid them into the oven, I figured it was as good a time as any to add some food porn to the 365 Blog. The Recipes, and more shots, after the jump:

Making pizza dough from scratch is easy, and very rewarding, both in terms of your self-satisfaction (I'm the man), and the taste in your piehole. I'm not gonna give you that recipe, but if you have the original Moosewood Cookbook or the Enchanted Broccoli Forest, its the calzone dough recipe. Get to it.

Any combo of toppings is fair game in my book. Often I'll try to emulate my all-time faves from restaurants, especially anything from Pepper's in Chapel Hill. Tonight there was a lot of available ingredients at the house, so much that we had to decide NOT to use some things. That's rare. Usually we are find ourselves scrounging to find some sort of topping to add to the cheese that we DO always have:

"Hmm. We have these dried olives and some cornstarch. Also this seaweed paper from when you tried to make sushi."

"OOh, can i get extra seaweed?"

Not tonight, Friend-O's. Pizza One, in the foreground, is a bastardization of something you can get at CPK. Thin crust with olive oil sauce, thinly sliced pears, a smattering of shredded mozzarella, gorgonzola cheese and carmelized red onions. Baked on a stone at 400 degrees for 18 minutes, then brought out and covered with the rest of the gorgonzola and raw baby arugula. Let it sit long enough to get your light right and a decent picture made ("Its just for a blog, not a book, jeez") and then enjoy. This creation was Joe's idea, he just rifled off the potential ingredients over the phone, and that was it. All the tastes that happen in your mouth! Sweet, salty, and that blue cheezy pungentness on top. Oh, it's a scene man. In fact, you at home may need a bit of a closeup to see what's going on here:

Maybe that didn't do it. Maybe one more step closer:

 If that wasn't enough, we also came up with a new recipe, one with a name even: "Pescatarian Pesto-Pocket Pizza." Olive oil base brushed on the dough again, then completely covered with a layer of paper-thin sliced zucchini (thanks Rick and Amy for the Mandoline). Thin layer of baby spinach on top of that, then a just a few translucently thin slices of the raw red onion, in the end its really just a hint, because then you toss a generous portion of mozzarella over all that. Over the cheese, we added little 'pockets' of homemade pesto, some pockets of goat cheese, and feta as well (we always have cheese, I told ya). Now for the part that will only appeal to some: calamata olives and...ready for this...sardines, kinda shredded up. I may have lost most of you there, but for those that are still salivating, YES, it was THAT good.

Strobist info: Notice this: most food photos, the good ones in books and such, look like they are taken in natural light. I'm sure that's not always the case, but the apeing of natural light is still important. Not that I nailed it tonight, but I made an effort: one speedlight zoomed to 105mm, high on a stand outside my house, pointed back into the window, and filtering thru all the plants and the chairs between it and me. Inside, one speedlight is in an Ezy Hotshoe box, behind and to the right of the pizzas. Finally, a large silver reflector to my left, held by the lovely Vanna Wife. Fired with PWs.

PS- if you have been coming to the site regularly, give me a shout out in the comments so I know who you are! All 4 of you!

18/365: Stop the Car

Driving home tonight, thinking of my shot options for the evening, taking the backroads...

Stopped in the country, and shot the sky for a bit. Turned around and shot my car too. Lighting info after the jump:

Strobist info: this is a 126 second exposure, which is how you get the stars to register at f/4, ISO 200. I walked behind my car with a single Canon 580exII and popped the flash a buncha times toward the ground and up toward the car. Then I walked around and popped the driver side of the car a few times from camera left and right. Colored tweeked in PS. Anyone care to guess what the dotted line is?

17/365: Parlor Games

Tonight's shot is inspired by an upcoming trip to the City of Excess, Las Vegas. The place is not really my style, but since I'm going with a crew of good friends, I *think* I can manage to have some fun ;)

Strobist info: one speedlight directly above subject in ezy hotshoe box, pointed straight down, full cut CTO. One speedlight on stand to the right of the piano, gelled green and in a tight homemade grid. One last speedlight gelled blue clamped to the right and pointed back at subject. First two fired with Pocketwizards, third fired via its optical slave.

16/365: Planting Seeds of Dissent.

Sorry to be so crass tonight, but we just got our year's seed order in, and they just came out this way. Weird, I know. This is not an endorsement for the Southern Exposure seed exchange, or the Southern Exposure Gentlemen's Club in West Virginia for that matter, but it is an endorsement for knowing where your food comes from. A little more after the jump...

Inspiration tonight came from watching Food, INC, an awesome film that pulls the veil off the system that gets our food from the seed to our plates. I've been interested in this issue for sometime now, since my wife Bri taught me the value of knowing where our food comes from. Food INC didn't really present any new information, but it got me riled up nonetheless. One of the major players in the complicated system of greed and consolidation that is the Food Industry is Monsanto. Stories of what this company has done to the environment, not to mention the individual farmers that stand up to them in one form or another, make my blood boil. For large scale agriculture, Monsanto is systematically destroying the farmers' ability, and right , to save seeds from their crops to plant the next year. As a home gardener, I don't have to worry so much about this...yet. I guess, in theory, they could shut me down if a grain of pollen from one of their genetically engineered corn plants pollinated a small corn plot I might be growing in my backyard, and I saved the seeds to plant next year. It has happened to others.

Ok, off the soapbox. If you are interested in learning more, the info is out there.

Strobist info: one seedlight (har har) in a shoot-thru umbrella high and behind the seeds, fired via Pocketwizards.

15/365: Balboa

Had a good time working alongside my friend Brian Oliver today. He was gracious enough to be my subject for today's pic. Brian is a good dude, and a super-talented videographer, editor, screen-writer and actor. More pics and some funny stuff after the jump:

I first met Brian when he basically told me he would be directing my band's first music video. Old friends will remember "Ginseng" I'm sure. If not, give it a peep. A huge time was had by all that day, and Brian and I became friends as we went on to work together on various video productions. Currently, he is starring in a 30 sec Doritos commercial that basically has an 80% chance of airing during this year's Super Bowl. It is really funny, like Dogs Are Funny funny. You can see the spot here, and if you are so inclined, vote for his video. I myself registered so that I could vote, daily, and I have received absolutely no junk mail from Doritos. I would appreciate a bag of Cool Ranch though, in my real mailbox.

Here's some more from the quick photo session:

Strobist Info: one canon speedlight in shoot thru umbrella subject right, camera left. one bare speedlight far camera right, behindish to subject. fired via manual flash canon wireless system, whatever E-TTL is when its manual.

14/365: Doppelganger

Another one from the archives. See? I told you I was running out of ideas. Actually, I just ran out of time today, busy busy. And this one deserves to be posted. It's from July of '09. Hit the jump for more...

After shooting architecture all day in Old Snowmass, CO, my buddy Keith and I had a beer and begin playing with long exposures, painting with light, and multiple flash pops in one exposure. This is one frame, a 30 sec exposure at f/10. Keith posed as the victim first, I manually popped a handheld flash from just outside the right of the frame, slightly behind him, then he moved to the spitter location, and I mirrored my own position and popped another flash. We did it only once. Keith is a great writer and actor, not to mention a cool dude to drink a beer with, and he nailed the performance first try. I think we went and complained about our jobs after this...

13/365: Flash of Inspiration

I'm beginning to suspect that the first bottleneck of creativity that this project will pass thru is the limited subject matter around my house. So far the ideas have been flowing surprisingly well, and the repeated exercising of the Creativity Muscle is having the same effect as any exercise on a real muscle...it seems to be getting stronger, and used to the strain (you all may disagree). hit the jump for more...

But as a working man, the days are filled with other activities (specifically a lot of video editing at the moment), and by the time I get around to taking my daily photo, I have little time to do it. The elaborate lighting schemes I have been tossing around get nixed for something easy, something quick, something RIGHT HERE IN THE HOUSE.

Tonight was the worst so far...I'd have a good idea, then set it up in my head, and realize there wasn't enough time  left in the day or energy in my body to try it (tonight, anyway). So I started looking around for something to spark an idea, walking into each room and staring around...I looked at my photo bookshelf...maybe something here...and then it hit me. Non-photographers out there, pardon my esotericism. You may not have heard of Joe McNally, but if you aren't blind, I can almost guarantee you've seen a picture that he took. Unless you've never read National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, Fortune, New York, Business Week, LIFE or Men's Journal, that is. He has written a couple books now that have taught me a lot. "The Moment It Clicks" is a shot, a spark, a flash of inspiration for any photographer. If creativity could be converted to watts, there's enough practical and entertaining information in that book to power Vegas for a day, or light up my face even. If you are a photog, and you haven't heard of Joe or read his books, come out from under your rock there and welcome to the light my friend! Gosh you look pale...what? the light hurts your eyes? Try these blublockers. No, I promise you look good in them. Seriously, they updated the design since you crawled under there...ok, you're right. You look like an idiot. Apparently the old school yellow ray-bans are big again too, but talk about looking like an idiot...

Strobist info: One Canon 580II on camera as master, firing up into the ceiling at 1/16 power for room fill, one 580II taped in the book at full power with a couple goldish gels on it. Added a Quantary (sp?) in a tight grid at 1/8 power camera left and a bit lower, aimed right at the book. Normally I can't trigger the slave eye on that thing in sync with the 580s in IR mode, but it worked this time, could be the long flash duration of full power or the slow shutter sync of the 5dmk2...

12/365: Twin Lens Reflex

An idea I had tossing around in my head. Didn't quite pull it off as I had hoped, but I like the result nonetheless.

Strobist info: One speedlight in ezy hotshoe box right of the subject camera, and a white door directly to its left is providing bounced fill. Behind the model is a white sheet, and behind that is one speedlight at full power, bounced into a large reflective umbrella.

11/365: Web Sight

One from the archives tonight, didn't have the time or the gear to do the idea that was in my head. My personal 365 project rules don't stipulate that I take each day's photo THAT day, and I have wanted to share this one for a bit. I can't top yesterday's bee shot, but of course working with live subjects is a bit more challenging. Such divas. Hit the jump for more pics too.

One night last in September I saw this girl as I pulled into my driveway. Yes, it was big enough to see from my car. I love/hate spiders. Find 'em fascinating. Can't touch them. Please dear god don't make me touch them. I felt ginger enough getting this close, but she seemed content enough with the moth I tossed her. Yes, I can touch moths. And throw them too.

Strobist info: one speedlight camera left aimed at spider's belly, full cut CTO. Second speedlight camera right and sort of behind the spider, about 5 feet in front of camera, blue gel.

Here's a few more, with bigger moth feeding as well.

10/365: Iron Bee

Snapped this right before he stung me in the eyeball. Just kidding. My advice for would-be insect photographers...

Use a dead insect. I found this unfortunate (yet well-preserved) fellow in my shed last year, and brought him inside in hopes to take his post-mortem portrait. Finally got a chance to do that. I think he is quite regal, for a dried-up husk anyway.

For those of you interested in how I lit the shot: one speedlight in homemade grid behind and above the bee. One speedlight in Orbis ringflash. One speedlight on wooden background in dome duffuser with full CTO. All manual, all fired with PWs. Cloned out the needle he was perched on in Photoshop, and fixed his sorry-looking broken antennae. You can see the setup here, that's the little bee right in the center...

And here's one more from the session that I liked a lot, though this one has been mirrored in post, for symmetry's sake. In this shot, only the gridded speedlight behind the bee is firing, for a nice dramatic effect.

Thanks for stopping by!

- LLG

9/365: Self Portrait #1

North Carolina meets Illinois: Joy Ensues.

Decided to try some product lighting tonight. This one is straight outta "Light Science and Magic": Dark field lighting, and a translucent subject. Harder than it looks. Easier with beer. Hit the jump for the rest...

Main lights are a hotshoe softbox camera right and slightly in front of the glasses, and a shoot-thru umbrella camera left and slightly behind the subjects. The big light sources create a nice large highlight on the edges of the glass surfaces. To illuminate the golden tastiness of the ale, we cut a piece of rigid paper that exactly fit behind the glass from the perspective of the camera lens. This was then lit by one more hotshoe strobe with a tight snoot above camera right, aimed only at the paper. In hindsight, we could have brought the paper closer to the glass and shaped it for that position, and it wouldn't have the edges it does now. Live, learn.

7/365: Shaving Kit

Yes, I shave on occasion. When I do, I prefer a deadly weapon. Today's photo is a study in sharpness. Hit the jump for more...

Shaving with a straight razor kinda feels like stepping in a time machine. Yes, the whole process takes a lot longer than a quick twice-over with the Gillette in the shower, but these digital days, I need every reason I can get to slow down and take my time with something. The whole process is meditative; the hot towel on the face to soften the stubble, the lathering of the shave soap with the boar's hair brush, the stroping of the razor, back and forth, back and forth, ad infinitum or 40 times, whichever comes first...the pulling of the face to stretch the skin, the first ginger touch of razor steel to skin...the unexpected hiccup, the almost imperceptible severing of the jugular, the geyser of blood onto the mirror, the panic, the fainting...

You may notice I wear a thick beard most of the year.

In all seriousness, I love shaving with the straight razor, but in general, I don't really like shaving. I need every reason I can get to slow down and take my time with something, like the weeks or months it takes to grow a beard. Now there's a meditative process.

On to the photo info. This is the second day of my first sub-challenge to the blog: to light each pic I post for a month. I had mulled this pic in my head for a couple days, but as always, it was harder than expected and turned out different. I messed with various lighting schemes for almost an hour, hard direct light, soft light thru an umbrella, ring flash, bouncing all the aforementioned into the mirror behind all the goods...finally I settled on something I kinda liked: one Canon 580EXII in a shoot thru umbrella high camera left. Makes nice specular highlights in the blades. The mirror at the top of the frame effectively makes that first light into two lights, and you can barely see the double shadows. A second EXII is in an Orbis Ring Flash, in the usual ringflash place, around the lens. This fills in the shadows cast by light 1, and gives everything a sweet punch. I had the light right, but wasn't sure about the measured composition. 

This is what I had originally intended: a stylized still life, like a display case almost. I still like it, but when I showed the wifey the two versions, she much preferred the more 'candid' shot. I'm still not sure, but I trust the little lady. What do you think?

Day 6 of 365: The Great Tate and Foxy Roxy.

SO I got this one out pretty late in the day, I know. Two minutes to spare. Whatever, my day doesn't end at midnight...

We had a dinner party at my buddy Joe's house tonight.  A wonderful crew of friends was there, including these two, some of my favorite people in all the world, Tate and Roxanne. We ate and drank like kings; the table was covered with dishes like goat cheese stuffed mushrooms, Chili con Fritos, pork soup, brushetta, vegetable frittata, fried chicken, and blueberry cobbler. I knew I wanted my first 'strobist' picture to be a shot of Tate and Roxanne, but I kept putting off it off as we drank, ate, and laughed. I wanted it to be outside as well, and it was COLD out there, so again, let me sit and drink this port for a spell before this nonsense of the picture-taking.

(Warning: the following paragraph contains langauge some may consider Geeky, Nerdy, and generally Dorkish. Apologies.)

Then, suddenly, people were yawning and putting on coats and hugging goodbye. I sprinted out the door to my car and tossed up a Canon 580 EXII into a large shoot-thru umbrella on a stand. I put another 580 EXII on my Canon 5D Mk2 to wirelessly fire the off-camera flash. Used a slow shutter speed (1/4 sec I think) and wide open aperture to get the street light to expose a little brighter, especially on their backs and the street. The trees had a cool motion blur in the raw frame (cause I can't hold a camera steady), but I decided to add a lens blur in PS, which I think looks better and doesn't distract from the subjects.

Thanks for reading. More coming...

Seth Avett on Drums. New Year's Eve 2009.

Scott and Joe Diptych, New Year's Eve 2009

Scott Avett, New Year's Eve 2009.

Another image from the Avett Brother's New Year's Eve show in Asheville, NC. I'm only going to post a few more from this evening, and then get into one of my personal challenge projects...I'm not sure which theme I'll go with first, but I think it will the the 'Strobist Theme.' Keep checking in...

8 Strings Makin' Nasty.

Joe Kwon and Bob Crawford, Asheville Civic Center, New Year's Eve 2009.

The Avett Brothers. New Year's Eve, 2009.