Sometimes the money shot sneaks up on you.
A few months ago we had family in town and took a quick trip to the Grand Canyon, stopping in Sedona on the way back to Phoenix. The quintessential scenic Arizona road trip. Both locations, though touristy and on the beaten path for photographers of any level, have a beauty and wonder that continues to surprise me.
This photo is a prime example.
I spent a couple hours shooting the 2012 annular eclipse. I couldn’t get a hold of a solar filter so I made a quick pinhole camera and tried to find a unique backdrop for the sun’s projection and come up with something interesting.
I poked a hole in some cardboard and taped it to the top of my tripod to make my last-minute pinhole camera. This street art is located in downtown Phoenix, on a west-facing wall of the recently shuttered Phoenix Public Market. I liked the bright blue paint and black skyline for the backdrop.
C is for cookie, that’s good enough for me!
Samples from a tasty shoot for my cousin’s cookie business: Something Baked. The photos will be used on her website, and were featured in a recent review on a local food blog: Phoenix Bites – Get Baked.
Notes from the shoot:
Alternative titles:
Photo details:
“Hi, I’m a Con.”
I chose one my favorite shoes to expose as the first subject in my new light box. A light box (or light tent) eliminates the unwanted shadows that you often get when shooting objects like this, and comes in handy for displaying products for promotions. Light Boxes can be made at home for cheap, but ever the wannabe handyman, I had a gift certificate to Tempe Camera and went the really easy route instead: an SV Imagemaker Plus Light Tent that included some backdrops and two external lamps.
The main issue I’ve identified after my first session with this equipment is that it’s very easy to overexpose the photograph. Adjusting the white balance manually makes a big difference and is something I’ll do every time from now on. Also, it is possible to get good lighting without external lamps, but I was very pleased with the way they worked together when placed on opposite sides of the subject. Finally, the most important pick-up I’ll need to make before my next session is some write-on / write-off poster board to give the backdrop and surface a cleaner and more continuous appearance. I used white fabric in these shots and many times the patterns appeared in the background and detracted from the image.
Still, love how my shoe turned out in these shots.
Click here to see these photos up-close
Equipment used: