Storytelling with Photographs - Alice in Wonderland themed photoshoot with Brittney

My apologies for not having updated this blog in a while.  Work has been keeping me preoccupied and though I have continued doing model photoshoots, I've been falling behind on doing the BTS posts.

I have been keeping notes on each shoot to help me remember details when I finally get around to doing the BTS write-ups, so the posts will eventually get caught up (I hope).  It's just difficult to get back into writing when you haven't done it in a while.

To help me get back into the swing of things, I decided to start with something simple:

For a while now I had been wanting to experiment with photographic storytelling - creating a series of images that put together would tell an entire story. So when model Brittney Baker (one of my favorite models to work with in Maui) contacted me about doing an Alice in Wonderland styled photoshoot I quickly agreed.  After a few days of prep work, we headed up to Olinda to the Waihou Spring Trail one morning for the shoot.

To prep for this shoot, I put together a simple storyline to use as a shooting guide for the different photos that we would need to take to convey the story:

Alice wanders around a forest.  It seems normal at first, but she starts to see things that may or may not be illusions.  She eventually finds a large rabbit hole and peers into it but cannot see where it leads.  She ponders for a moment, then decides to take a leap of faith.

Since we were there early in the morning, the light coming through the trees looked amazing, so we mainly worked with the existing light.  Whenever we needed some fill light, we used a California Sunbounce Pro Silver/White reflector which we had mounted on a C-Stand.

In a couple of instances, we also used the Cheetahstand CL360 as a backlight.

Assembly of the slideshow was done in Final Cut Pro X, using various transitions and some subtle movements of the photos to imply the action of walking through the forest. Music was licensed through SongFreedom.com.

Wandering Alice from MauiPhoto on Vimeo.

Again my apologies for the lack of updates, and the relative brevity of this post.  Lighting-wise there wasn't much to write up about, as it was mostly done with natural light. In a lot of the shots, we didn't even need to use the reflector as the existing light was already awesome.  Plus when you have a fantastic model such as Brittney, you could probably light her with a $2 flashlight and she would look awesome.

Working on more BTS posts.  Stay Tuned....

Photoshoot with Anya - my first Russian model

One of the things I enjoy most about photographing models is meeting people from all over the world so when the opportunity came along to work with Russian model Anya who contacted me via Model Mayhem, I did not hesitate.

We both had tight schedules during the time she was visiting Maui, so we had very little time to arrange a shoot together.  Luckily, we were able to pull off two photoshoots that incorporated three separate locations.

We started early in the morning in Kapalua, in a jungle setting.  Had to put up with a lot of mosquitos, but it was so worth it beacuse the morning light coming through the trees was amazing.

For lighting we used a Cheetahstand CL360 in a small white shoot thru umbrella as our main light with the sun as her backlight.

On a couple of poses we had some hard sunlight coming through the trees and falling on Anya so we propped up a Lastolite Trigrip Diffuser Panel to keep that off of her as needed.

Anya is definitely one of the bravest models I've met, lying down in the middle of the jungle like that without caring about the hundreds of spiders, centipedes, or the many other creepy crawlies that were probably underneath all that.  Just thinking about all that gives me the heebie-jeebies!

We then rushed to our second location in Kapalua which was at Dragon's Teeth.  I've shot on the north side of this spot before with a few other models, but because of the position of the sun around the time we got there, Anya and I went to the opposite side of the rocks to find some shaded areas to work with.

Anya changed into her Bohemian look for this set.

Because this area is very windy, any light modifiers such as a softbox or umbrella would have immediately ended up in the ocean.  The extremely rocky terrain also made it difficult to find a spot near the model to position the lights close to her and still be out of the frame.  We ended up shooting the light from a fair distance - two Cheetahstand CL-360s provided just a touch of light.

The next day was a short photoshoot at Makena Cove in the morning. Used the Cheetahstand CL-360 in a Cheetahstand QSB silver beauty dish.

On this day it was slightly over cast, so we didn't have to fight the sun too much.  The flash was used just to add a bit of fill as needed.

Really enjoyed working with Anya on this series of images.  My only regret was that I forgot to have her teach me how to swear in Russian. ;-)

First Las Vegas Photoshoot with Natasha Tyler

My apologies to those of you who actually take the time to read this blog.  I've been busy with other commitments and have not been able to keep up with the BTS postings of our shoots.  Have a bunch of them that I'm working on and I will get them up online as time permits.

Went to the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) trade show a while back and since both the Star Trek Experience is no longer there and I'm not into drinking or gambling, I had some free time to schedule a couple of photoshoots and make some new contacts in Las Vegas.  The first of our two shoots was with Natasha, a model I met through Model Mayhem.

For this shoot we were working out of a TINY hotel room, so it was a challenge to try to find angles that would look good. Decided to use mostly prime lenses and shoot wide open to throw the background out of focus as much as possible. This entire shoot was done with the Sony a6000 with 3 lenses - the 35mm f1.8 OSS, 50mm f1.8 OSS and the PZ18-105mm F4 G OSS lens.

Our first set was a simple headshot next to a window. We improvised a reflector by holding up a white shoot thru umbrella right next to the model's face just out of the right side of the camera frame.

Not only was the room tiny, the furnishings were so old that they still had an old tube style television instead of a newer flat screen LCD or LED.  In this shot of Natasha in a black evening dress we hid that by carefully positioning the camera angle so that we could hide it behind her.

The lighting for this shoot was mostly natural window light mixed with a Cheetahstand (Godox) CL360 with a white mushroom adapter firing into the ceiling next to the camera position.

A Cheetahstand (Godox)V850 in a Westcott Apollo Strip was used to add edge lighting to the model.

The same lighting setup was used in this shot of Natasha reclining on the bed in her second evening dress.

Natasha was as great model to work with.  Was even up for having some fun with a "geek glamour" type shot. Again we used the camera position to hide unwanted elements in the background.  Sometimes it came down to where if either she or the camera moved even an inch to either side, we'd see stuff in the background.  Lots of trial and error on this shoot.

To close this shoot, Natasha changed into a white mens shirt and we had her recline on the bed for a few implied shots.  Would have liked to have gotten a higher vantage point for the camera, but the low ceiling didn't give us enough clearance to frame her properly.

All in all it was a lot of fun for my first official photoshoot in Las Vegas. A big Mahalo to Natasha for being such a great subject to photograph!

Test shootings with Shawna at Jillian's Piiholo Stables in Makawao

Whenever I need to test out a new piece of gear, Shawna is one of the first people I think of to call on. Not only is she an amazingly beautiful woman to photograph, she's also a lot of fun to work with and always down for getting together to create some awesome photographs.

We went to visit  Jillian's Piiholo Stables in Makawao.  This was my first time to this location so Jillian took us around the property and pointed out all the different locations that could be utilized.  My head was reeling from all the ideas that started to come to mind.

Shawna, we really have to go shoot here again someday. :-)

We started shooting around 4pm, when the light started to look really awesome.

For lighting we used 2 Yongnuo 560III flashes firing through a white shoot thru umbrella to enhance the existing light.

The light that comes through this place is incredible.  We found a spot behind one of the stalls that worked perfectly.  Even without firing the flash, the light that bounced off of the shoot thru umbrella created beautiful light on Shawna.

Sony a6000 50mm f1.8 OSS lens iso100 1/200 @ f1.8

After a quick outfit change, we moved to spot against the back of the stall.

Love working with models who are not afraid to be total goofballs in front of the camera. ;-)

We added a third Yongnuo 560III on the other side of the stall, with a 1/2 CTO gel on it to mimic the setting sun and to add a separation light to Shawna's hair.

A lucky accident of shooting it through the wooden slats was that it created leading lines to draw the eyes to the subject.

Sony a6000 50mm f1.8 OSS lens iso100 1/160 @ f1.8

Once we finished here we moved around to the front of the barn and switched to a third outfit.

Sony a6000 50mm f1.8 OSS lens iso100 1/160 @ f1.8

Sony a6000 50mm f1.8 OSS lens iso100 1/160 @ f1.8

Sony a6000 50mm f1.8 OSS lens iso100 1/160 @ f1.8

Jillian's Piiholo Stables in Makawao is one of those locations where you could literally spend days shooting at. There were so many spots we passed up this time that we utilized probably less than 1% of the property.  I'm looking forward to the next time we can make it up there.

Sunset & Glamour Photoshoot with Mai Mao and Tia Kai

Sony a6000 18-105 F4 G OSS lens iso800 1/160 @f5.6

Its always much easier to do an implied nude photoshoot if you work with a model who is comfortable with nudity in the first place.  When you work with professional models that are at ease both in and out of clothing, you don't have to constantly worry about trying to crop out or hide underwear or bikinis in the shot and later having to edit it out in post production.  It allows the model to pose more freely and just makes the shoot go a lot smoother.

Near the end of last year, I was contacted by Mai Mao, a model I had worked with previously worked with. She was planning to visit Maui again and asked if I'd be interested in shooting with her again.  She was also bringing another model, her friend Tia Kai, and suggested we do a joint shoot with her.

Two stunning models at the same time? How could I refuse?

Sony a6000 18-105 F4 G OSS lens iso100 1/500 @f4

Our first session was at Makena Cove in the late afternoon.  We were lucky enough to have a couple of assistants with us this day, so we were able to use a silver California Sunbounce Pro, a Sunbounce Mini, and a Lastolite TriGrip diffuser panel to direct and diffuse the natural light for the first half of the shoot while we waited until sunset.

Sony a6000 18-105 F4 G OSS lens iso100 1/1250 @f4

Mai is a great model to work with, very laid back and easy to direct.  Really enjoyed having the chance to work with her again.

Tia was also amazing to work with. An experienced model, Tia was able to come up with a lot of her own poses, freeing me up to just focus on lighting and shooting. Like I've said in the past, I like it when models are so skilled at posing that I can go into chimpanzee mode and just concentrate on shooting.

Sony a6000 18-105 F4 G OSS lens iso100 1/200 @f4

She also manages her own website that she is constantly adding content to, so the majority of the images from this session will be available to view on Tia's website.

Sony a6000 18-105 F4 G OSS lens iso100 1/500 @f4

For sunset, we used the Cheetahstand CL360 in a silver Cheetahstand Beauty Dish.

Sony a6000 18-105 F4 G OSS lens iso100 1/160 @f8

This was actually my first time using the Cheetahstand Beauty Dish in the field and it performed quite well.  It collapses down for transport and the quality of light from it worked well for our needs.  I think I'll be using it a lot more on future location shoots.

Sony a6000 18-105 F4 G OSS lens iso800 1/160 @f5.6

Our second day was spent in their hotel room where we focused on more boudoir-style images.  Shooting two models together in a bedroom setting was something new to me, and I relied heavily on Mai and Tia for posing ideas.  Thankfully they have a lot of experience working with each other and had no problem with posing together.

Sony a7mkII FE 24-70mm f4 ZA OSS lens iso400 1/125 @f5.6

The hotel room was quite small, with very little room to maneuver and set up light stands.  The one good thing we had going for us was that the natural lighting we had in this room was much better than what we had the previous year at this same hotel.  The room that Mai and I had shot in the previous year was on the ground level, and the surrounding greenery blocked a lot of the light coming in from the lanai.

This time since we were on a higher floor and it was a bright sunny day, there was a lot of light streaming in from the glass doors to the balcony.

The hotel had recently remodeled their rooms with a more modern decor, so I took a few minutes to look around and see how we could best set it up to shoot without disturbing the furniture or their belongings too much - they were on vacation after all. ;-)

A few tips I learned from photographer Dean Capture when shooting in a hotel room - keep the lighting simple and avoid shooting blank walls in the background.  Find a background with some character and then think about how to incorporate that into your shots.

We settled on two setups on the bed, and two main angles.

To start off, we set up a Kessler Pocketjib Traveller to position a Sony A7mkII with a 24-70mm f4 Zeiss lens as high as possible and aimed down at the bed for an aerial POV shot.  The camera was triggered using the Sony PlayMemories app on an iPad.

Some tulle material was spread over the bed to try to hide the fine lined pattern of the bedsheet and give the shot a softer look.

Sony a7mkII FE 24-70mm f4 ZA OSS lens iso800 1/125 @f8

We supplemented the existing light by adding a Cheetahstand CL-360 and a white shoot thru umbrella on the lanai, shooting in the same direction as the existing natural light.  Fill light was provided by our assistant holding up a white bedsheet just out of camera frame to the left.

Sony a7mkII FE 24-70mm f4 ZA OSS lens iso800 1/125 @f8

Had to be careful about centering the position of the camera above the bed.  Since the ceiling was rather low, we had to play around in the wider range of the 24-70mm lens. Moving the camera too far off in any direction distorted their bodies too much.

The second setup was angled so that the framed painting on the wall behind the two models could be used as a framing element in some of the shots.

Sony a6000 35mm f1.8 OSS lens iso100 1/100 @f1.8

Sony a6000 35mm f1.8 OSS lens iso100 1/200 @f1.8

Working with these two beautiful models from California was a great way to end 2014. Really looking forward to working with Mai and Tia again in the near future.

To view more images from these photoshoots, visit TiaKai.com.

Sony a7mkII FE 24-70mm f4 ZA OSS lens iso400 1/125 @f5.6

Little Beach Photoshoot on Maui with Floofie

Sony a6000 50mm f1.8 OSS Lens iso100 1/160 @ f2.8

Floofie is one of the most interestingly named models that I've had the honor of working with in my career.  We had both been wanting to shoot with each other for several years, but the opportunity never presented itself.

That's the problem with being trapped on an island in the middle of the Pacific.  Nobody wants to come out here. ;-)

This past December, things worked out where she would be visiting Maui for the first time and I had an opening in my schedule so that we could finally arrange a shoot together.

I had just returned from Oahu on a Friday night, and had a sunset wedding scheduled the next day, so Floofie and I scheduled our shoot for early Sunday morning at Little Beach in Makena.

Really early.

Like 6 am before the sun comes up early.

Mental note - piling that much on your plate in one weekend can be hazardous to your health.

Thankfully my friend Ronald was available to assist us on this shoot.  It's a good thing he was there too, as I twisted my back near the end of the shoot and barely made it back to the car when we were done.

Yep, I'm gettin' old...  Shaddup.

We were the first ones at the beach that morning and once we got to the top of the cliff that separates Little Beach and Big Beach, the sky was starting to get some really nice color to it. We decided to start there with a few fashion shots with Floofie modeling a BCBG Max Azria dress.

Sony a6000 55-210mm f4.5-6.3 OSS Lens iso 100 1/50 @ f5.6

For lighting we used 4 Yongnuo 560-III strobes ganged together firing through a Westcott White Shoot Thru umbrella. We remotely adjusted the power levels of the flash from the camera position by using a Yongnuo YN560-TX controller.

The entire session was photographed using just 2 Sony a6000 bodies.

Lenses used for the shoot were primarily the Sony 18-105mm f4 G, 50mm f1.8 OSS, and the 55-210mm f4.5-6.3 OSS.  Video footage was shot with a Sony DSC-RX10.

These little workhorse cameras have replaced my Canon 5D mkIII and L lens collection on virtually all my professional shoots now. I'm still amazed at the quality of the images that come out of these tiny cameras which are a mere fraction of the size and weight of our old Canon system.

Sony a6000 55-210mm f4.5-6.3 OSS Lens iso100 1/160 @ f8

Applying what I learned from photographer Rolando Gomez at his first Maui workshop, we adjusted our lighting for the sunrise in reverse of how we shoot a sunset. Usually when we shoot a sunset session we start with a higher flash power setting and faster shutter speed and work our way down, but for sunrise it's the opposite.  When the sky was still relatively dark, the flash power was set low and we used a slower shutter speed so that the background didn't get too dark. As the sun started to get brighter, we raised the shutter speed and then the flash power until the sky got too bright.

Sony a6000 55-210mm f4.5-6.3 OSS Lens iso100 1/160 @ f8

We alternated between some fashion shots and some nude/implied nudes to mix it up a bit.  I don't have a whole lot of experience shooting nudes yet, so it was great working with an experienced model like Floofie who could come up with a variety of poses that worked well with each of our setups during the shoot. She pretty much nailed every pose in every shot, so that it made it difficult in Lightroom to select our favorites.

Sony a6000 55-210mm f4.5-6.3 OSS Lens iso100 1/160 @ f5

Once the sun got too bright for this spot, we moved down to a shaded area on the rocks near the water to get some shots with the waves crashing up behind her.

Sony a6000 50mm f1.8 OSS Lens iso100 1/160 @ f2.8

I would had liked to have experimented with putting CTO gels on the flash and setting the white balance to make the surrounding area more blue, but gels were one of the things I forgot to pack.

Like I said, too early in the morning...;-)

Sony a6000 50mm f1.8 OSS Lens iso100 1/1000 @ f2.0

Climbed up the hill and found a spot where the light was starting to come through the trees. Backed up a bit to put some branches out of focus in the foreground to add some depth and to try to frame Floofie in the morning rays of the sun.

Sony a6000 50mm f1.8 OSS Lens iso100 1/500 @ f1.8

For this reclining shot in the water, there was some direct sunlight that was starting to create a small hotspot just on the top of Floofie's head.  We used a Lastolite Trigrip Diffuser Panel just out of the right side of the frame to diffuse the light and bring out the color in her hair.

Sony a6000 50mm f1.8 OSS Lens iso100 1/640 @ f1.8

For our next set of images we moved further down the beach into a grove of kiawe trees.  We found a spot where the trees naturally curved and the light would have been perfect for shooting Floofie in a couple of shots.

Unfortunately we also noticed a huge swarm of bees flying in and out of the tree that we were going to use.  Since bees and nude models don't play together nicely, we decided to play it safe and looked for a different spot further away from the bees.

It's always a good idea to make sure to keep your models safe during a photoshoot.  If you can manage to keep them from ending up in the emergency room in a full body cast by the end of the day, you greatly improve the chance that they will want to work with you again in the future.

The lighting in the spot that we chose was kind of flat, but it was kind of nice the way the rough texture of the tree contrasted with the smooth skin of the model, so we needed to tweak the lighting a bit.

Sony a6000 55-210mm f4.5-6.3 OSS Lens iso100 1/160 @ f5.6

To supplement the existing natural light, we set up the lightstand behind her and aimed the flashes at the back of her hair.  We then had Ronald hold up a Silver California Sunbounce Mini to bounce the light back into her front. This resulted in the highlights in her hair and the edge lighting along her back that you see in these images.

Sony a6000 55-210mm f4.5-6.3 OSS Lens iso100 1/160 @ f5.6

Sony a6000 55-210mm f4.5-6.3 OSS Lens iso100 1/160 @ f6.3

We took a short break to film some footage for "FloofieFriday" a short travel video segment that Floofie does every week for her fans.  You know you're working with a top professional model when they're willing to eat a raw Opihi live on camera. ;-)

Returning to the photoshoot, we did a few swimwear shots using a silver California Sunbounce Pro to fill in the shadows and the 55-210mm lens to compress the ocean in the background so that it would fill the frame.

We were lucky enough to catch a couple of really good waves crashing on the rocks behind her. It took several tries to get the timing of the waves right, and Floofie was a real trouper, holding her poses until we got the shot that we wanted.

Photographers - if you think it's easy for a model to pose on hot jagged lava rocks in bright sun and staring into a bright reflector while waiting for you to get your shot, YOU try doing it yourself sometime.

Sony a6000 55-210mm f4.5-6.3 OSS Lens iso100 1/1000 @ f6.3

After quick outfit change to a J.Crew top, Floofie got in the water for our last few sets.

Sony a6000 50mm f1.8 OSS Lens iso100 1/3200 @ f2.0

Sony a6000 50mm f1.8 OSS Lens iso100 1/2000 @ f2.8

Throughout the shoot, we alternated between shooting stills and video footage.  It's very challenging to try to do both at the same time, but thanks to Ronald's assistance and Floofie's great work in front of the camera, we got lots of great images and a killer video as well.


Floofie In Maui from Todd Mizomi on Vimeo.


Really glad Floofie and I finally had the chance to collaborate after so many years. She is a fantastic  model to work with (and a fellow cat person as well) ;-) and I'm looking forward to the next time we can shoot together. To contact Floofie for bookings, visit her Facebook page. She also now has an Etsy shop where you can order quality signed prints from her many photoshoots including a few from our Maui shoot, so please check it out.