Ask me anything about photography...[pic]
 

Answering all your photography related questions today....at least the ones
I know the answers to :winkwink:

This is Penthouse Pet Celeste Star photographed exclusivey for Twistys.com by
yours truely :pimp

http://www.glamourshoots.com/pics/ce...estespread.jpg

oh, i have a question or two... :1orglaugh

for example: do you use any filter?

:)

So kind of you to help us amateur photographers out.

I've gotten pretty good with most things, but the issue i still face is lighting. I bought all of the fancy lights, the reflective and white shine through umbrellas, etc. etc.

Yet, I am still not able to achieve that perfect, soft lighting effect that is indicative of higher end photographer in our industry.

Any suggestions?

How may lights do you use for a typical shoot, wattage and are they filtered.

thanks, :)

no question but dam thats a nice pic.

I don't use any filters...kind of a purist in that respect. I don't even have a
clear glass lens protector on my lenses :Oh crap

I did purchase a few diffusion filters last week though...so I'll be trying those
out sometime in the near future.

I wanna know if you use photoshop, cause everyone here says your not a real photographer if you use photoshop. :1orglaugh

protector yes - but no filter here too. but i was wondering if it might help somehow.

Soft lighting is not in my opinion indicative of higher end shooters. That pic that
I posted here today for example was shot with a raw strobe (notice the hard
shadows under her fingers caused by her fingernails. Don't get stuck in the rut
of using only soft light, the possibilities are endless, experiment :winkwink:

I have half-dozen stobes...some more powerful than others. I don't know what
the wattages are cause I'm not that technical and shit. They have plenty of
power and that's all I care about :winkwink:

Yes, I use Photoshop. I guess I'm a fake Photographer :Oh crap

What kind of filter are you referring to that might help?

I just want to shove my tongue deep in her pussy.

http://www.amazingcontent.com/conten...a/sample01.jpg


see - our pics look different - your colors seem to be more "powerful". will not say whether one or the other is better - i'm just wondering how you do it. :winkwink:

Different camera and different lights setup... you use only strobes, he use reflectors as well...
At least that is my :2 cents:

Hmmmm....I'm not sure that it's any "one thing" that I do that gives me the look
that I'm getting. Even when I shot with film years ago...I was a stickler for
good skin tone and nice snappy colors. Maybe when we meet in person we
can discuss this more in detail :winkwink:

I totally understand that!

OK, I have one question... Lenses? I mean which lenses you use?
Thanks.

possible, yeah - and maybe 13 years more experience :)

and your stuff looks amazing too - do you use reflectors?


and Dean: I would love to!

I didn't mean for this thread to be about my work and how I do things.
I intended for it to be about photography in general. I don't necessarily
consider what I do "secret", but I do have techniques and skills that have
taken me years to develop and I'm not in a position to give all that away here
to you guys who are competing for the same dollar that I'm competing for
in this marketplace. I hope you understand :thumbsup

What's the best way to shoot single products for a shopping cart with a Sony Cybershot DSC T1 and no special lights? I'm looking for pics similar to the teddy bear you shot recently.

Yeah...
Don't take me wrong, I don't think that you are better or inferior, or that anyone can acquire some secrets from you... Actually I thought that this can be thread where we can share some experience with equimpent... Simply if you have some bad experience with some lenses that can help, on the same way when webmaster post about some scammer...
And, I didn't think that because you started this thread only you answer on every single question, especially questions which you can see as professional secret :)
I like your work, and couple other posters here (not too many of them)...

Me too i guess.I love photoshop, its so easy to fix blemishes and make the models look like a million bucks.

http://www.dp5.net/collen1.jpg
http://www.dp5.net/collen2.jpg

what kind of camera would you recommend to a photography newbee (I don't want to shoot porn, I'm talking about general pictures, my current digital camera is kinda crappy)

What kinds of products are these? Any sample shots?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no... But, I see difference if I use them and not...
Different (vivid) colors is plus
Much more work on pics is minus
Forget about long sessions with reflectors... Too hot for me :1orglaugh For model and makeup as well...

And... of course, I like your work as well!!!

I don't keep up with the latest camera technology but you can check out
this website because they do keep up with
it and they do extensive reviews on the cameras.

Some of the other posters here might be able to give you some suggestions.

Damn nice photo, and I really think that you captured the essence of her.

Products would be for a wedding gifts site. Anything from shirts, hats, undies, socks, to money clips, pens, jewelery boxes, candles, etc.

Stuff like this:

http://blthumbs.com/3.jpg
http://blthumbs.com/4.jpg
http://blthumbs.com/1.gif
http://blthumbs.com/2.gif

Do you use a tripod or hold your camera in hand? And if in hand, what is your shutter speed and other settings?

I'm not a photographer, but like to take pictures and if I don't use a tripod the pics usually turn out crappy due to me not having a super steady hand. Any ideas would be appreciated.

:)

You do really gorgeous photography.

:thumbsup :thumbsup

Best way to clean the sensor of dust?
That shit scares me, I am thinking of just sending it in.
1D Mark II

I usually send my cams in and let Canon take care of that for me. I've heard
many horror stories about people who tried to clean their own and ended up
having to replace them.... :Oh crap

Everything I shoot is handheld...tripods are cool if our shooting the moon or
something but when your working with a girl who is constantly moving...you
have to be moving as well.

In regards to shutter speeds, what shutter speed I might use has to do with
the lighting situation that I'm in and what lens I might be using. A longer lens
will require a higher shutter speed to cut down on motion blurr. A shorter
lens will allow you to shoot with a slower shutter speed. Here's a little trick
to help you decide which shutter speed is best for the lens that your using.

If your shooting with a 50mm lens, your shutter speed needs to be at least
50th of a second. If your shooting with a 300mm lens, your shutter speed
needs to be at least 300th of a second - make sense? One thing to remember
about the higher end digital cameras is that when you put a 300mm lens
onto that camera...it's not really a 300mm anymore. My Canon 10D's require
me to multiply my lens mm by 1.6 to get the real mm lens that I'm using. So,
a 300mm lens on my camera is really a 480mm lens. And if I have a 480mm
lens on my camera, I want to use a shutter speed of 500th of a second or
faster.

That first picture... she needs to house my Penis there for a few minutes. Wow, that looks inviting!

With a telephoto VR lens (Vibration Reduction) you can shoot as low as 1/30 sec with stable hands at 200mm.

Eg. Nikor 70-200 F2.8G Lens.

Hmmmmm....my very first apprentice job working for a photographer years ago
was for a product shooter. I've shot product on and off over the last 15 years
for different projects but it's not the kind of photography that I enjoy shooting.

One thing that I'd say about that list of products that you listed is that some
of those will be harder to shoot than the others. There is no "one lighting
situation" that will work for everything. Products that are shinny and reflective
will need to be photographed differently than a product that doesn't reflect.
Candle pictures will look much nicer if you actually have the candle lit in the
picture and getting a good exposure of the candle as well as the flame could
be a challenge for you without the right gear and some knowledge of
photography.

Also, I might ad that professional pictures on that site will probably result
in more sales. And with that in mind...I would consider either hiring someone
to shoot that product for you or having someone come in and consult with
you about the best way to go about shooting it yourself.

Here's that bear pic that you mentioned in your thread. It's a simple 3 light
setup. One flash as the mainlight and two tunsten lights. The big challenge
for this picture was not blowing out all the white fur on this bear and making
sure there was detail there.

http://www.glamourshoots.com/pics/bear.jpg

http://www.glamourshoots.com/pics/bear_bts.jpg

that is one sexy bear - i'd hit it! :thumbsup :1orglaugh

who is she? MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

As a beginner, I'm finding that my product shots seem a bit yellow-ish. I'm using a 10D, should I just continue working with the white point setting until I get it right?

Can you post a sample that shows what your talking about?

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately they are at my office, I'll post one tomorrow when I get in.

Sounds good. Be sure to post how you lit the product and what kinds of
lights your working with. This will give me a better idea of how we can
solve your problem :thumbsup

I'm not familiar with 10D, but my suggestion will be - play with different white balance settings. If with different default WB settings you still getting wrong color balance, try with manual WB. However, 10D must have enough pre-setted WB combinations to make good photos in 99% cases...
And... don't use auto WB if you shoot inside...

i second that :thumbsup

dean is right on the money here about this http://www.dpreview.com/ this is where I get lots my info, another way is hang out a camera stores and bug people like I do and then ya can always bug yer friends too :)

you really don't need more than 5 mega pixel these days. go for the 'newest' model ya can . . . that will have the best on board processor . .

bmb

Do you get hard on while on photo shoot?

How much do you charge to shoot a model so she can use the images on her personal site?

i don't have any questions but i love those pics.

:disgust

That question has nothing to do with Photography...which is what this thread
is about....thank you very much :thumbsup

Depending on how bad I want to shoot her...I'll try to work with her to find a
fee that we can both live with :thumbsup