Site online

New website online!

www.mizomi.com


designed by Valeria Figallo

New photography website under construction

I have a web designer working on a new Flash version of my photography portfolio website. She's a model/photographer/web designer I met through Model Mayhem.

The cool thing is, we've never met face to face. She's located in Lima, Peru.

What even cooler is, she's only 17.

I've already had the chance to see the preliminary work she's done for my site and it's way beyond anything I'd be able to create on my own.

Check out her work at www.design.valeriafigallo.net.

Images from last month's shoot on Oahu

Had the chance to work with two models on Oahu last month - Alia and Kristen. I met both of them through their portfolios on ModelMayhem.com. I also got to work with two excellent makeup artists - Toni and Kecia. They were all excellent to work with and very patient with me as I am still getting used to working in a studio.

For these two shoots, I was able to rent some studio time at Ohana West Studio in Honolulu.
Very convenient location - right across the street from Honolulu Community College.

These two images are of Alia. We wanted to add some color to her portfolio, so we used a kimono-style silk robe and a red samurai sword (found both of these in Akihabara). We had a WL 1600 in a medium softbox as her main light, and an AB800 in a strip box behind her to separate her from the background.


We used a fan to add movement to some of the shots. Ohana West Studios has this big industrial fan that only has 2 speeds - hurricane mode and holycrapthisisfast. The fan was so strong it kept moving the softbox. But it made for some great shots.






This is Kristen. She wanted to try out a cupcake theme, and this was one of my favorite images of the day.


Even though she did not have as much experience as some other models I've worked with in the past, she was amazing to work with. This was one of the last images of the day that we shot, and she really made it work.

For this image, We used pretty much the same lighting as Alia's kimono shoot with only two changes. First we changed the background to a white seamless. We then put a grid on the medium softbox to keep most of the main light from spilling onto the white seamless paper, and cause the main light on her to gradually falloff. This let us change the background color to medium gray, and also draw more attention to the model's face.


Thanks to two wonderful (and patient) models, and two excellent makeup artists, I gained some more experience with working in a studio environment and was able to add some variety to my portfolio.

What being a photographer means to me

To me, photography is not always about making a profit, it's about being able to give something of yourself to someone - to make a difference in people's lives. Sometimes when I least expect it, I'll be reminded of why I got into photography in the first place.


I had a short break between two model shoots that I was doing at Ohana West Studios on Oahu this past weekend, so I walked next door to Spot's Inn to get a quick bite to eat.
While I was eating, I was very surprised to learn from their staff that it was their last day of business after 13 years.

They were serving the last of the food to their customers and taking lots of pictures with their cameras.

Before I realized it I ran back to the studio, grabbed my 5D, a strobe and a lightsphere, ran back to the restaurant and offered to take some photos for them at no charge.




I emailed the photos to them and also sent them a CD. The following email from their staff reminded me why I really enjoy photography and why I would do it again in a heartbeat if the situation ever presented itself again.


"Aloha Todd,

All of us at Spot’s Inn were sincerely touched by your thoughtfulness and kindness. It is a rare occurrence, indeed, for someone to so generously give of their time and talent. You can never know how much it meant to us to have someone capture such an important and memorable day in all of our lives. We deeply appreciate you more than we can ever say and will always treasure not only the pictures, but the generosity you showed to us that day. We thank you again Todd from the bottom of our hearts and we will cherish YOU and your photos forever!"

And Now For Something Completely Different....

Up until this last trip to Japan, the only models I have worked with have been female.  This was a new experience for me.

Meet Hiro-san:

Shortly before I left for Japan at the beginning of this month, Hiro contacted me via Model Mayhem and wanted to setup a shoot together in Tokyo.  Since I had never worked with a male model before, I thought this would be a great learning experience. I wasn't disappointed.

As you can see from above, Hiro isn't your typical Japanese salaryman.  He is a very dynamic and expressive individual.

We also had the help of a very talented makeup artist who specializes in male models & creating special effects like sweat, cuts and bruises.  This was perfect as one of the themes Hiro and I wanted to try was an action movie style shoot.

 There was a summit meeting being held in Hokkaido while I was in Japan, so there were many policemen to be seen on almost every street corner.  We had to use caution because we were using airsoft guns as props so we tried to find areas out of the public eye.  Law enforcement people tend to react negatively to male models running down the street waving a Sig Sauer 226 handgun.

We found this "empty" side alley while walking to Yoyogi Park in Harajuku and decided to make use of it.  I set up 2 Nikon SB-26 flashes on either side of him (being careful to watch out for the security camera nearby) and started experimenting.  I used a Canon 5D with a 17-35mm L lens and triggered the SB 26s with Pocket Wizards.  This particular shot I had both flashes on about 1/2 to 1/4 power.  The SB-26 to camera right was fitted with a gridspot made from a Frosted Flakes cereal box and some black drinking straws to direct the light more onto him and not so much on the back wall.

Of course, the moment we started shooting in this empty, unused alleyway, it turned into Grand Central Station. We had to pause every few minutes to let people, deliverymen, bicycles, baby buggies, etc. go through.  We were able to get a few good shots in before one of my SB-26s got knocked over and went bye-bye.

An unexpected bonus of working with Hiro was that I also got to work with Lille, a friend of Hiro who joined us halfway through the shoot.

I used the same lighting setup for this shot, but added a CTO gel to the back SB-26 to warm up the backlighting on her hair.

She kinda reminded me of a younger version of Sex in the City's Kim Catrall.  

Lille was great fun to work with as well, and we ended up getting some pretty fun shots by the time we ended our session together.

After a slight mishap, I finally received my Strobist DVD set

Yayyy!!!!!

David Hobby, who teaches lighting to photographers via his website Strobist.com, recently released an  8-DVD set of his lighting seminars. Whether you're an amateur or a professional photographer, you HAVE to get this DVD set if you want to understand how to use small flashes to really improve your images.  There's nearly 10 HOURS of material here!

I had ordered this DVD set as soon as I heard about it.  Unfortunately, our local post office had a break in and my package was among those that were stolen.  Since it was shipped via Priority Mail, there is no chance of recovery.

I mentioned this in a Flicker discussion group and David Hobby caught wind of it.  The next thing I know, he sends me a replacement copy out his own pocket!  This guy really wants people to learn how to light! 

I received it a few days ago and have been watching it nonstop ever since.  There is so much good information in it and I;m learning so much that my brain is starting to melt.

1 Light Photography

Using strobes outdoors has been a challenge for me.  I shoot mostly outdoors, so I tend to rely on using natural light and wide open apertures for my lighting.  I've used strobes mostly during wedding shoots to fill in shadows or when shooting indoors in dark churches.

Since I began venturing into model photography, I've studied every book/training DVD/website I could get my hands on in order to better understand lighting.  I wanted to learn how to use strobes not merely as a fill light, but to add that little extra kick to an image.  

One of the first things I learned was not to start by buying a whole bunch of studio lights.  It's far easier and more efficient to start simple - 1 light.  Once you understand what you can do with that one light, then you can go on and add more lights to your gear.  The idea is to go slowly, adding one light at a time while learning what that light can and cannot do.

This past Sunday, I was fortunate enough to work with Sara, a model from South Carolina who contacted me through the Model Mayhem website.  We shot in the garden and the beach at the Sands of Kahana.  This gave me a great opportunity to practice what I had learned - using a single strobe on a lightstand to supplement/enhance the natural light.

Most of the images we shot were done with a Nikon SB-28 in manual mode, triggered by a Pocket Wizard on my Canon 1DMkII.  This image was done with natural light, and the SB-28 behind her acting as a hair light.

Here we reversed the setup.  The SB-28 is now the main light, overpowering the sun.  The sun is used as a rim light to pop the model off the background.

I also had an Alien Bees AB800 and a beauty dish with me but unfortunately the battery pack for that strobe died on me that day, so I ended up having to rely on the Nikon strobe for the majority of our shots. I was really hoping to try out the beauty dish on more shots with Sara as she was a really great model to work with.  I was able to get the following shot done before the AB800 battery went down.

I was very lucky to have such a patient model to work with.  Sara was a real trooper, running back to her room countless times to change outfits and braving the passing rain showers to keep on working with me up until sunset. 

This was one of the last shots we did.  I softened the SB-28 with a Gary Fong Lightsphere II in direct mode.  One of the cool things about the Lightsphere is that it warms up the color of the flash, which looks pretty cool when shooting with the sunset in the background.

This was a fun shoot.  I got to practice new techniques I had learned and was able to create some cool shots with a model who was just awesome to work with.  Thank you Sara for all your hard work!