Liberty Sports Magazine

Here's a portrait I took for Liberty Sports Magazine's article on the Performance Lab powered by Rothman Institiute

The shot was taken at a slow shutter speed of 1/5 second to allow for some blur around the runner. A single flash exposed for the subjects. A blue light was added to the background to contrast the warm lights from the exam rooms.

Click here for four shots that were submitted for publication

Philly Cycling Classic

The name has changed. Big name riders have come and gone. The skyline is different. But the fans keep coming. Despite the sponsorship woes in recent years, the crowds are as big (and as inebriate) as ever.

Most of these shots were from the medical car with a 50mm lens and a TTL cord for off-camera flash.

And yes, the picture of the back of a man in slacks is Philly Mayor, Michael Nutter.

Team PBR elite p/b The Performance Lab

I had the opportunity to take some publicity photos for the "ride everyone else into the ground" cycling Team, also known as the Pabst Blue Ribbon Elite Team presented by the Performance Lab. The goal was a group shot with some elements of Philadelphia thrown in for some local flair.

We agreed to meet around twilight to get some good sunset sky colors. I was hoping for something like this which I got 8 hours later in the same location.



I ended up with grey and cloudy. Not a problem, though, we'll just underexpose and move on. We were working on location on the roof of a parking garage. Regardless, I had power outlets so I brought out the big studio lights.

I started with a simple two light setup. Main to the right and fill to the left. The fill was minimal to keep the drama. I added a speedlight with a grid to highlight the Rothman logo on Dave's shorts in the front row.

After the portraits, got some action shots which let do some zoom bllur effecrs and shutter drag panning, but in the end, it still looked like a garage. As we lost the light, it was time to pack up and go, but I"m pleased with the pictures from the shoot.

Click here to see the whole shoot.

Technical data:

For the group shot of the guys in a line, there was a light in the back as a rim. For the skyline photo the lighting was main from the right, fill from left 2 stops down and a grid on speedlight aimed at the shorts.

For the action shots, there was a light camera right and the camera was panned to the right during the exposure.

Raindrops on Roses

I've owned a lensbaby for 4 years. It doesn't get much use, but recently I got a macro kit for it. This has allowed me to get much closer to my subjects, opening up a great deal of detail that I couldn't capture before. This morning, while going to get my weekly supply of coffee, I passed a rose garden, still wet from last night's rainstorm.
Each raindrop was like a little gem on the rose petals. It's no wonder Julie Andrews counts these as her favorite things.

Click here for a series of raindrops on roses

Macro Photography

I'm not usually one to shoot with a macro lens. There is a certain level of patience needed in the ultra close-up world of macro photography which I just don't possess. The spring colors proved too strong and I reverse mounted an old lens on the end of my 85mm f1.8 and went out in search of color. Most of these photos were taken within a few houses of my own. I love the color and I hope you do too.

Here's the whole set from the shoot, ants included.

A Broken Lens

I love my 50mm f1.8 lens. The problem is, the aperture blades are stuck wide open. Lucky for me, that is my favorite setting when using this lens. Even though it is broken, I took it out this weekend and got these great children portraits:

Liberty Sports Magazine

Accompanying the article by Michael J. Ross, MD in the April/May 2010 edition of Liberty Sports Magazine is my picture of Becca Howell. This was from a fitness shoot with Becca a few months ago. The picture is simply lit using 2 back/rim lights in small softboxes and a main light in a softbox in front. The main light is in a softbox without the front difuser to give a little more punch to the light. The image is as it came out of the camera, with the exception of removing a power cord in Photoshop. From the experience of cloning out the cord, I realized it would be easier to carry an extra extension cord.

The entire photoshoot with Becca can be seen by clicking here.

Corporate (Head)shots

I was asked to do some corporate headshots for a medical consulting duo. They are a couple of hip guys, great outside the box thinkers.

I thought that they could be represented with some outside of the box photos. There is no reason, I thought, that corporate headshots have to be headshots. I thought some GQ style fashion photos might be fun to get as well.

I used a bounced light through a tranlucent panel for my main light with small softboxes as rims and a gridded light for the background. The bounce into a light panel gives a soft light with a great fall-off for a soft light with some crispness to the clothes from the shadow fall-off.

Click here for the collection of 3/4 and head shots.

Tour of California

Last year at this time, the Tour of California was in full swing. I was in Sacramento for the prologue and the start of the first stage. It was Lance Armstrong's return to racing in the US since he came out of retirement and it seemed that every Bay Area cyclist came out to see him.

I was taking pictures of each rider as they passed, when suddenly I realized that my camera battery was dying. With 12 riders to go, all of the big names hadn't passed our way yet, I didn't have time to run back to the hotel and grab another battery, so my photos stopped with Carlos Sastre, the winner of the Tour de France in 2008.

Here's what I got from the day

Beauty Headshots

I teamed up with Makeup artist Calista and Model Lea Faye for some beauty headshots this week. When I spoke with Lea at our planning session, she brought some pictures with her of what she wanted to accomplish.

We decided that the bare shoulders look was less distracting and were looking to grab a few profiles as well as some hair and full-face portraits.

For lighting, I wanted both high-key (white background at the top of the post) and dark field (dark background with bright rim lights) setups.


I used a combination of studio strobes and reflectors.

I never realized how much time it takes for full makeup to be applied. I had setup my lights and run extension cords with time to spare. It may have taken longer than I realized, but the results were worth it!

Click here to see a slideshow of my favorite shots from the day


Technical info:
High key images were obtained with 2 calumet genesis strobes aimed at the background. They were set to f11, 1 stop above the main light. To get the wisps of light that provide contour on here neck and under her chin I positioned Lea where the refection off the back wall read f8. The main light was a softbox up high, set to f8. For some of the shots, I removed the outer diffuser to give a higher contrast light. Fill light was behind me with a strobe fired into an umbrella and set 2/3 stop below main. A reflector was placed against the main light stand to fill some of the shadows.
Dark field images were done with the same main light and reflector, but the background lights were fitted with softboxes and aimed back at the model. They were set to 2/3 stop over the main light.

Kids in Charge

What do you get when you give a four and a six-year-old control of a camera with a radio light trigger?

A lot of fun and some memorable photos.


I handed over my 9-year-old digital Powershot G1 (they're up to the G11 now) to the boys for some cold weather indoor fun.

See the slideshow