Thursday, April 26, 2012

The Inspiration Behind the new Comic Book

I received a pretty cool request a few days back.  To do a portrait session for an image in a comic book?  Yup, weird.  That's what I was thinking too...weird and AWESOME!

Melanie (click image for a bigger view)


There is a new comic book series coming out soon and Melanie, pictured above, is what the character is semi-based on.  I can't go into too many details until the release but her portrait for the inside cover will give you some ideas...conclude from that what you will.

The original shot idea was for a crazy, messy-haired, half naked woman flailing a bottle of liquor in one hand and a cigarette in the other.  The imagination always runs a bit ahead of the cart when you have some creative freedom.  We found ourselves with only a beer bottle, a cigar, and a pretty cramped living room in which to work.  You make the best with what you have and I think with what we had...we knocked it out of the park!

Here's what we started with.  After moving some things around and setting up some lights, we got what we were after.

Living Room Before
 

Can't wait to see the first issue.  I'll keep you posted.

Dave

Saturday, April 14, 2012

The Perfect Model


I know what you're thinking...and yes, it IS a bit creepy.  I just ran across this from David Hobby's blog, the Strobist.  This Virtual Lighting Studio is pretty fun to play with and it gives you a pretty good idea of what your lights are going to give you.  Perfect for rainy days and avoiding doing any housework :)

You can choose from a bare strobe, soft box, or a ring light.  You can choose angles, heights, and exposure levels as well.  All with or without ambient light and/or colored gels...definitely a time killer but more importantly you can save your lighting diagrams along with an outcome visualization.  It's in the beta stage now and I'm sure it will become a valuable tool for testing out some lighting set ups for quick reference.  Cool stuff.


Dave

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Lynn and Dave

A few weeks ago I hooked up with Lynn and Dave.  What an amazing couple.  They both work crazy hours and still find time to bike, pretty aggressively I might add, play broom ball all over the state and travel like there's no tomorrow!  Fun, laid back and all around genuine is who these guys are.

They recently got engaged and immediately called me to capture the wedding and whip up some engagement photos...

Being an outdoors sort of couple, we naturally went right to the woods along the Mississippi River, walked around Minnehaha Falls, climbed a tree or two and ended with some down town shots and a bike ride.

Lynn and Dave











Thanks for an amazing day you guys...can't wait for the wedding!  Congrats!

Dave