Welcome Home 2009

Today, I traveled over to the USS Yorktown for the Welcome Home 2009 celebration. I had a crack-team of interns who helped me immensely. Des'ola Gunter and Valerie Yermal helped set up stand, light and back drop. They also helped me to organize all of the veteran's names and managed to get all of their model releases and contact information. It's a pretty big undertaking when you are shooting over 100 folks! FUN!

Anyway, we set up a white back drop and three SB-900 strobes. I chose not to use a soft box today because I wanted a really hard light. I was looking for a high contrast black and white and new straight strobe would give me the desired effect.

I used a Nikon D3 and Nikkor 70-200mm lens. My camera was set on ISO 100 with an aperture of f-8 and shutter of 1/125. I had two strobes in the back on stands shooting at an angle toward the back of the subject's head. I didn't move those for the duration of the sitting. However, I moved my main strobe depending on the subject's face and expression.

I would like to thank the veterans for being great subjects today. I also want to thank the Charleston VA for inviting me to be a part of this wonderful event!

-Stacy Pearsall

Night Time - Strobe Time

A while back, I was showing my friend what you can do with a couple of strobes and 1/4 of an imagination. We found a wide open field and waited for night to fall. All we had was one camera, one strobe and a slave. We put a Nikon SB-800 on a light stand and remotely fired it with another Nikon strobe.

Now, there is nothing sophisticated about this. We were just having fun. So, we stuck the camera on Manual exposure, ISO-200, Aperture f-2.8, Shutter 1/125 and started to plug away. There was a couple of settings we messed with on the strobe. We had it on TTL and Manual. As you can tell, there's not much difference in the results. Therefore, confirming what I always say, "There's more than one way to skin a cat."

One other thing I have come to realize is that you should always be aware of your options. Practice at all of them and find what you are comfortible with. What works for some does not always work as easily for others. Be patient and practice, practice, practice.

We are no models, so all we could think to do was JUMP FOR JOY!

-Stacy Pearsall

What's New October 3 and 4

Up coming workshops include Travel Writing with Sharon Lieb, High Dynamic Range (HDR) with David Despeaux, and Street photography with Alice Keeney. Please join us at the Center to expand your knowledge. To read more about the workshops please visit http://www.ccforp.org/main-October_workshops.html.



If you're taking classes, don't forget that the Intro To Photography and Drawing with Light is this Thursday. Miss the sign up for this session? No problem!

Classes start again October 26th. Please join us!

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Catching up:
Have you heard that Stacy Pearsall was interviewed for Moxie by the Post and Courier?

We Asked. . . Stacy Pearsall

About winning Military Photographer of the Year twice and her goal for the Charleston Center for Photography

Check it out at http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/sep/04/stacy-pearsallabout-winning-military-photographer/

Shooting with Small Strobes

A while back a girlfriend of mine asked me to help her with small flash lighting. "Of course," I said. "I'll drive up to you and we'll have some fun"

She shoots primarily weddings and bridal portraits. So to make it even more fun, I brought my wedding dress, camera gear and all the small strobes I had at the time. I believe I only had 4 Nikon SB-80's and a couple of Nikon SB-800's, but they were little troopers. Quite frankly, I miss them from time to time.

We went to a small Southern church down the road and set up shop in their graveyard. It was pretty toasty as I recall and my dress didn't quite fit like it used to! LOL! However, there was a beautiful tree with sap moss and it just happened to be noon'ish. Was the lighting awful? YES! Did we fret? NO! I love a challenge!

I showed her how to put the flash on a stand and set up a a relatively easy lighting scheme. The image above was shot underneath an old oak tree with one strobe up high. It was remotely slaved by an one camera Nikon SB-30. I don't unusually have much use for any flash output from my camera. So I opt to either use a unit like this or turn of the output on my Nikon SB-900.

I channeled America's Next Top Model and gave her some poses. From there, she had it down to an art. If you would like to see more of Ashley Brokop's bridal portraits, please visit www.ashleybrokop.com. She's very talented and just recently won WPJA!

This picture was one flash on a small stand shooting into a gold reflector just right of the subject. The effect can be neat on cloudy days. The ward versus the cool tones makes your subject (me in this case) stand out even more.

This is one direct-light strobe up high, which is exposure balanced for the background. While I am standing in shadow, it appears that the sun is lighting my body. Now these pictures were just down and dirty. Imagine if you had a really pretty bride. Oh, an now they have special soft boxed you can get made specifically for small strobes called Lastolite EzyBox. It just keeps getting better!

-Stacy Pearsall

CCforP Booth at Green Fair

Today the Charleston Center for Photography debuted their new eco-friendly printing capabilities by showcasing the Hahnemuhle Bamboo Fiber paper and water soluble inks. Yes, it's still considered archival too. Can you believe it? Renewable resource printing that lasts a lifetime!

I'd like to thank Megan Gamwell, Timothy Pakron and Valerie Yermal for volunteering their Sunday to man the CCforP booth. I'd also like to thank Joe McNally, Bill Frakes, Keith Bedford, Mary Calvert, Alice Keeney, Amelia Phillips-Hale, Dan Hale, Andy Dunaway, David Edwards and J.T. Lock for their thoughtful donations of their beautiful images.

Thank you,

Stacy Pearsall

Bill Frakes is Coming Soon!

Bill Frakes Interview

About the Shooter, Not the Gear

I wanted to talk a bit about Canon versus Nikon, Digital SLR versus Compact Digital Camera and Flash or no Flash.

When I was in Africa, I did not have a water housing for my Nikon D2. So, the Navy guys I was with let me use their Canon Power Shot with water housing. I didn't know what I was going to do with it. But, I thought I would just do my best.

We went out into the Djibouti harbor to sweep for bombs and the explosives teams were swimming around the boats. So I got in the water with them and started taking pictures. It was my first attempt at swimming and shooting. I didn't do too well with those. But, after we climbed back into the boat, a storm started to roll in. Huge dark clouds formed and static filled the air. I knew I could make a really great portrait.

The camera had a built in flash, which I didn't use nearly the entire time. I turned the flash on and covered it with one of the sailor's white t-shirts. This helped to diffuse the light a bit. I waited for the American flag to drop down and made the picture.

What's the point of this story? You don't need an expensive Digital SLR to be successful. It's about knowing your surroundings and how to compose a frame. It's about paying attention to all of the small details - including the flash. It doesn't matter whether it's Canon or Nikon, you can make a good picture with a disposable film camera!

What makes a good picture? I'll tell you -- Content, Light, Composition and Exposure. If you can master these four things, then you are well on your way.

This image is by no means spectacular. However, it did win 1st and 2nd place awards in various photo competitions. -Stacy P

Stacy in the Studio

Today I had a young lady by the name of Melissa Rauton. She is getting ready for college and needed some pictures done for her package. She was really great.

I had two big lights and three small strobes. The big lights gave me nice soft wrap around light and the small stobes gave Melissa a nice hard rim to highlight her arms and legs.

Here is a view of my set up.

Trying to get through some e-mails.

Doing several iterations, so that the pose is spot on.

I'm giving Melissa instructions on posing for her portrait.

A quick picture of Melissa and me. These pictures of me photographing Melissa were taken by Andy. He's so great!

This is the portrait that Melissa chose.

This is the pose Melissa decided on. I'm pretty happy.

Custom Black & White for Digital

I wanted to chat a bit about my custom black and white setting for my Nikon D3 Camera. A freind and Nikon Professional Services (NPS) representative, Mark Suban, created a custom setting he calls, Illford HP5. He loaded the custom setting and now all I have to do is pop into my camera 'Menu' settings and go to 'Set Picture Control' and there it is! Now, this setting will never be film, but it's pretty cool.

What do you think about the setting? -Stacy P

Tales of an Intern

Today Stacy, Sally and I got down and dirty while repainting the studio! (There must be at least a foot deep of paint on that cement...)

I learned a lot today about the Center and that owning a studio is a lot more work than Stacy makes it look!

This week has been a lot of work but it will finally pay off with our booth opening at the Green Fair on Sunday. Come visit me, Stacy and the rest of us there!

Check out my feet! I really am white now!

Once again, a fresh new white coat of paint for the studio, check it out!

Sincerely,

the high school intern

aka. Valerie

Stacy returns to Charleston after a week in Maui

Stacy is thinking how she can stay in Maui a couple extra days to enjoy the surf.

She realizes she can't.

Waiting for the shuttle to deliver her to the next terminal.

Back to work checking emails. :-(

We had a great time at the Maui Photo Festival!

- Andy

What You Can Do With Photoshop

All of the below pictures were taken by CCforP student, Ellen Yampolsky. I have been teaching her a bit about Adobe Photoshop and all of the great things you can do with it. Well, she had this great portrait of an older gentleman eating ice cream.

"What can I do about the busy background?" Ellen asked.

"You could just replace it," I said.

So, that's what we did. We took the picture of the guy and dropped the background out. We replaced the background with a layer of white, so that we could easily put the man in another photo.

We picked this pretty picture Ellen took in Canada and really beefed it up. We popped some contrast in there using Curves and History Brush. We gave it a cool motion blur and really gave it some punch.

Then we took our man and placed him over the back ground. We adjusted size so that everything looked proportional and BAM! You now have the Farmer in the Dell!!!!

Whats Happening September 28-October 4

What’s Happening Sept 28-Oct 4


Travel Writing with Sharon Lieb

October 3,2009--Charleston Sc-- Learn how to Travel Write with Sharon Lieb, at the Charleston Center for Photography. Since you’re already creating compelling images, why not create compelling stories too? This interactive one-day writing workshop will teach you innovative techniques for crafting powerful stories from your travel adventures. You’ll leave with the first draft of your own dramatic or funny travel story and ideas on publications to pitch. The Workshop instructor Sharon Lieb is the author of travel books on Seoul, Chicago , Trinidad ,Florida and Santa Fe. Sharon, and her photographer husband Warren Lieb are creators of THE GLOBETROTTERS. This workshop is $130 per person and will run from 10 am- 3 pm. The Charleston Center for Photography is located on 654 –D King St. Charleston, Sc 29403. If you have any questions of concerns please call (843) 720 3105 or e-mail us at Info.ccforp.org.




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High Dynamic Range (HDR) with David Despeaux

October 3,2009--Charleston SC--The Charleston Center for Photography is giving a-one day workshop on how to use HDR photography to more fully record the range of tones, adding clarity and contrast and sharpness in ways unobtainable in traditional photography. This workshop is $100 per student and runs from 9:30-4:30 with a lunch break from 12:00- 1:00. The Charleston Center for Photography is located on 654 –D King St. Charleston, Sc 29403. If you have any questions of concerns please call (843) 720 3105 or e-mail us at Info.ccforp.org.



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Street photography with Alice Keeney

October 3,2009--Charleston SC-- The Charleston Center for Photography Instructor Alice Kenny will be teaching a workshop on Street Photography. This workshop will examine what makes a documentary photograph “successful”. Students will have an opportunity to improve their own photography skills while documenting the happenings occurring in a chosen area. Although, students may not desire to be a street photographer, the skills acquired throughout this workshop will enable the student to photograph all subjects in a more effective manner. This workshop is $100 and will run from 9:00-4:00 with a lunch break at 12:00. The Charleston Center for Photography is located on 654 –D King St. Charleston, Sc 29403. If you have any questions of concerns please call (843) 720 3105 or e-mail us at Info.ccforp.org.



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Maui Photo Festival and Workshops

Andy and I would like to extend a HUGE thanks to the Maui Photo Festival crew for making this event so memorable. We also had a great time interacting with the Festival goers and students. The weather was perfect, the food was yummy, the customer service was amazing and the people were more than friendly. It couldn't have gotten any better!

During our time at the Festival, we also met some wonderful workshop teachers too.



We flew with the Blue Hawaiian Helicopter service for our aerial photography class. The pilot was brilliant and very accommodating too. This picture was taken shortly after landing from our third group.



I have to take a moment to mention a very special person. His name is Scott Bourne and I have to admit, I really like him. Although, I bet I would be hard pressed to find anyone who didn't get along with him. He is genuine, affable and downright awesome. He's also an Army veteran (11 Bravo) and I tip my hat to him for his dedication and service.

Okay, so there's more to Scott then being a great guy and all smiles-- he's truly talented behind the camera. What's more is he is not afraid to share his knowledge. If you get a chance, sign up for his blog or check out his workshop tour.



Another very nice and talented gentleman I met was Rick Sammon. He's a Canon Explorer of Light and also does a lot of teaching. I really enjoyed his presentation about his travels and his positive energy which seemed to radiate around him. Nice guy for sure!



Andy and I sat in the middle of the helicopter and guided the novice aerial photographers at the craft. The doorless helicopter made the experience ultra-enjoyable and gave the photographers a 180 degree view of the island. I feel it was a BIG success. The students made some wonderful pictures and I was really happy to see their glowing expressions upon landing!



The interior of the hotel. Open air and really neat.



Of course, I cannot forget to mention Eli Reed. What a beautiful person and such a dedicated friend. I met Eli, who is a Magnum photographer, at the annual DoD Photography Workshop several years ago. I have stayed in touch with him since and consider Eli a friend for life. Eli is thoughtful about everything from his friends to his photographs. He is so dedicated and committed to the craft that I wonder how he has time for himself. But, that is just who he is....a wonder.



Now I'd like to share with you some of the pictures I made during my whirlwind Maui adventure. I hope that you join us next year (in October) for the next Maui Photo Festival.








Everyone really treated us like gold and there was such a positive atmosphere for learning. The locals were so welcoming and the other presenters were very knowledgeable. I'd like to thank Randy Jay Braun for really making me feel welcome and Andy Katz for making me laugh. Though I didn't mention everyone by name, I really do appreciate everyone that was involved in this event! Mahalo!