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Singer Yung Vokalz of YVPG is on the move!

15 Jan

If you have been following my blog for some years, you may be familiar with this guys funny face. Well here he is again! As a good friend of his, I’m really proud of the moves he has been making as of lately. Touring across several states, and now spending more time in the studio. The guy has an amazing voice in person, so obviously the studio voice comes to no surprise to most. Its unique, different, and that’s what the industry typically looks for now and days other than image and acting skills, which he has both. Recently I was fortunate enough to get a listen on his single track, that he recorded with several members in the band. The Bass line played by Kmarbeast(Kevin) was grooving like no other. Listening to the amazing coordination of bar chords played by the lead guitar player we call “Lil Man” was spot on. When the track goes up, I will be sure to promote it here. Enough of that, on to the recent shots. More to come with select other members in the band soon!

 
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Posted in Composite Photography, commercial work

 

Self Portrait! Composite Fun!

08 Jan

I’ve always had the idea of me falling out of a sky, in a picture that is =\ Tonight I finally got around to making that happen. I think it came out fairly nice, but I’m honest with myself often, it could be better, but what couldn’t be better in life? There is always room for improvement. But overall, im satisfied with the photo. It makes me laugh every time i look at it LOL.

 
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Posted in Composite Photography

 

Must be nice to have a photographer for a friend…

08 Jan

This is my buddy Ryan. Been knowing him for about 6 or 7 years. Ryan has been there with me since day one with doing photography, Im talking back when the Nikon D50 was the camera to get! Looking at the first pics I took of him at his house to this composite image now….. makes me extremely proud and confident to say… I’ve come a Hell of a LONG WAY!

 
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Posted in Composite Photography

 

Check Out Rapper Nick Paul!

08 Jan

Nick Paul contacted me, told me my work was DOPE! He was no slouch either. When he said he needed an album cover, he had no problem spending Big. That means I had to deliver BIG results. I really admire his energy, always working towards success, always in the studio recording, always in front of the camera making videos which I will post at bottom. It was a very fun project to work with both him and his buddy OlTyma, OlTyma is the mastermind behind the beats for Nick Paul, and I must say, its not your usual rookie production. So many tracks I like from OlTyma musically and Nick Paul Lyrically. Nick Paul definitely has to image to be a star, but you dont become a star over night! Keep at it Nick Paul!

And a glimpse of the Back cover I put together using various free images and stitching

Check out this video for more about Nick Paul, OlTyme, and exclusive interviews from several others including ME! Im all the way 13 minutes in with a couple other shots, but its a very nice documentary. You really get to see WHO Nick Paul really is and the talent and intelligence in him. Also include is several videos and songs. The entire documentary as well as including music videos is directed and crafted by Kenny Luk.

 
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Posted in Composite Photography, Photo Shoots, commercial work

 

Random Shots from 2011!

08 Jan

Just posting some random shots from 2011!

 
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Posted in Composite Photography, Photo Shoots

 

Singer Sherri B.

13 Dec

This is Sherri B. a local R&B singer. Sherri has been working on her career and album for quite some time. I have heard a couple tracks put together by American Idol winner Ruben Studdard. Sheri and Ruben have a great relationship and she has been on tours with him as a background singer. I’m sure she’s going to blow up big one day with her unique tenor like voice. I really enjoyed shooting with her as she is full of energy and giggles. Possibly for her cd cover!

 
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Posted in Beauty Dish, Composite Photography, Photo Shoots

 

Just a new shot

12 Dec

Here is a very nice shot of model Crystal Andrea. Make up was done by Shara Shaw, who is making her way into the industry with some impressive skills I must say. More shots to come with more of Shara’s work!

 
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Posted in Beauty Dish, Face Shots, Fashion Photography

 

More on compositing!

22 Nov

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am now practicing composite photography, which basically means replacing a subject on a different background for extremely cool photos. This technique is used for artistic photos sometimes, but is more commonly found in the movie and music industry. Assuming you want big high paying jobs, you will often be asked for a certain look with photos like a scary looking sky, or something more graphical for a CD cover or poster. But this technique can also be used to fix a lot of common issues. Its your world. Joel Grimes is one of the best at it. You can see his work at his website www.joelgrimes.com

Here is a cool photo that I had a vision on the previous night. Still keep in mind, I am no pro at this.

For the most part I’m happy with the outcome of this photo. A lot went into it and as I was editing it, I learned a lot. Now on the actual Subject, a 3 light setup was used. Lighting is very important when you have the vision of a composite photo. It keeps the image from looking too flat, gives it more of a 3D’s is feel and more realistic one you blend it with whatever background you come up with.  A Beauty Dish was used as my main light, Ab800 with warming gel on subjects back, and a SB700 to the left that was pointing on the seamless background to help with separation. The lights play several rolls such as the more realistic look as I mentioned earlier, and better separation. The Warming gel was used because I already knew what type of background I would be using. If I’m using a night time street background with Warm street lights, then obviously you wouldn’t want to use bare light. Your photo would look more of a cutout. I learned this from the great Joey L. It just looks more natural. Once that’s all done, you get your colors right, getting the entire photo to look and feel like 1.

 
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Posted in Beauty Dish, Composite Photography

 

Photoshop Compositing

16 Nov

If you know me, I tend to try and learn all style of photography. From Simple & Clean to Complexity and Graphic. What I have been studying lately is Compositing with photos. For those who are not familiar with the term compositing in the photography world, it means masking, or cutting out, different subjects or objects and combining them into one image. Now it is not a simple thing to do. The two areas where most learning photographers struggle in is…

1. color/tonal blending

2. Masking hair

Both require an amount of skill to do with in photoshop. Yes, there are plugins that get the job done, and does it a lot quicker. But my theory is, what if i did not have these plugins? Todays plugins Fluid Mask 3 and Portraiture make it very simple and saves time. But, sometimes these plugins fail to get exactly what YOU want out of a photo. Also, these plugins are usually priced at $199. Adobe Photoshop is already expensive by itself. If you dont necessarily don’t have $200 to spend on plugins, just know there is a free way, and to me, FUN WAY.

I have taken the time to learn and master the Refine Edge tool found in Adobe CS5. This tool is what you will use in order to mask out hair. There are plenty of tutorials floating around showing you how to effectively use the Refine Edge tool. LEARN IT! You will be able to mask anything in a couple minutes.

To further my learning on compositing, I recently purchased Photoshop Compositing Secrets by Matt Kloskowski. I’m not going to go into too much detail, just BUY THE BOOK. Its $17.50 on Amazon Kindle, $30 for paperback copy, and if you are an Loyal Apple fan, its $40 on iBooks, OUCH! Obviously the Kindle price is the cheaper price. “But Eric, I dont own a Kindle..” Dont worry, I dont either. Kindle offers a FREE web app that installs in your browser. Just go to google.com and search Kindle Web App, and make sure your source link is from www.amazon.com. Installs in seconds, purchase the book for $17.50, and start reading!

I have not finished the book yet, but I have been playing around with some things I have learned from the book. I’m going to end this topic with a before and after composite photo. For future reference I will be using different lighting setups as this helps VERY much if you know you are going to do something really cool with your photo. Keep in mind, i have not perfected compositing, and to be quite honest, this pic im about to post still does not live up to where I want it to be, but im getting close!


Lighting setup on this photo is just 1 AB800 into beauty dish above left, thats it.

several layers later…

Not too shabby eeh?

 
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Posted in Photo Shoots

 

The Onyx Hair Show!

18 Sep

Saturday September 17, 2011 was a great day at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center (BJCC) for a lot of artists to shine. Dancers, clothing designers, prop makers, make up artists, kids, adults, men women, and duh, HAIR STYLIST all came together and put on an extraordinary show for locals. This experience was great for me because I got a chance to get to know some really good make up artists that I never knew about, right here in Alabama!

One particular make up artist I was very impressed with was a Huntsville, AL bound woman named Sylvia Smith. She really worked it on 8 different ladies of all difference skin shades. There were a lot other MUAs there with very impressive work and it was a honor to network with them. I can’t wait to work with them. Having a professional MUA is a HUGE help and really cuts down on editing time. Not only that, it just plain and simple look better. Don’t believe me? Allow me to show you. Keep in mind these two shots are not using my studio strobes, its on camera flash. Lucky for me the ceilings were low and the walls were white. ;D

First pic is my love, the lovely Crystal Andrea. Her theme was the evil doll. Her hair was set to be cut and styled on stage during the performance.

Next is a local model named Kelly Ling. This chick has some experience and seems to know the camera very well. I will be doing a full shoot on her soon. I was VERY impressed with her doll look pose.

More to come soon. Don’t forget, Click the images for the full effect!

 
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Posted in Face Shots

 
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