Chris Collins Photographer

WHY?

The inverse square law will help you understand light, and after-all light is the most important thing to a photographer, it's what we record.

Along the way I will review photographic fundamentals so we can speak the same language.

OK, admittedly explaining the inverse square law in usable terms is quite a feat, but let's see how we do...

For starters let's break this down into the most simplified version and build from there:

The further away you move from a light source you the darker it gets. Conversely, the closer you get, the brighter it gets.

You already know this to be true! Go stick your hand next to a light bulb and look at how bright the light is on your hand. Now move a few feet away! Your hand will not look as bright. The actual brightness of the light doesn't change at the source but its intensity on a subject changes as distance changes. Eureka! This will probably not be a eureka moment for you, but hang in there... There's more!!

Click Read More to continue!

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I updated my portfolio today to show a little more of my range. Check it out Here.

On the menu:

Dry Aged Beef Rib-eye with Sweet Soy Reduction and Matchstick Potatoes Drizzled with Wasabi and Sriracha Mayonnaise topped with Sesame Seeds

Having been on somewhat of a 'hobby hiatus' recently due to intensive MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) preparation, I have been forced to find more 'action packed' outlets. What I have done is stumbled upon a logical combination of two of my passions, food & photography.

After a long day of studying one must have something to look forward to. These days it is food, friends, and photography... At the same time!

Recipe:

Marinate Beef in the following for one hour:

1C Beef Stock
3 T Rice Wine Vinegar
3 T Sesame Oil
¼ C Sesame Seeds
½ C Soy Sauce
¼ C Sugar
Handful Crushed Cilantro
1-2 Minced Shallots
3 T Garlic Chili Paste (TT)

Maple Soy Reduction

Reduce over medium Heat:

5 C Beef Stock
1-2 C Soy Sauce
1 C Maple Syrup
½ C Ponzu
½ C Sugar
3 tbs Rice Wine Vinegar

Mayonnaise:

Follow a mayonnaise recipe or use store bought mayo to make two different sauces. For the first add sriracha chili past to taste. For the second sauce add wasabi powder or paste to taste.

Matchstick Potatoes:

Julienne russet potatoes into 1/8 inch long slices, soak in cold water 10 minutes to remove starch. Fry in 350 degree vegetable oil till golden brown. Drain and season with sea salt.

Voila!

Plate and Serve!!

Setup:

I placed the subject on a slate tile on a small end table about 6 feet from a neutral colored wall. For the key light I used a 580exII in a small softbox directly above the subject, slightly left, and angled towards the wall slightly. Because I was using a bright white plate I knew that fill on the front of the food wouldn't be an issue. The placement above the food gave me the added benefit of some separation light, without spilling light onto the background. Back-lighting was a 430ex gelled blue zoomed all the way out directed up from the floor.

Shutter speed was 1/250th to kill the ambient and aperture was between f/3.5 and f/11 based on my desired Depth Of Field (DOF). I don't recall the exact power on the strobes but I was looking for a hot-spot on the background falling off to about two stops underexposure and a properly exposed foreground. The shots for the recipe were basically the same setup. If you don't have a softbox you could use a shoot through umbrella or even a cardboard box with white transparent paper on the top and sides to diffuse the light. The key however is controlling spill on the background with some form of a gobo or simply distance from subject to background. The latter would be an exploitation of the inverse square law... More on the inverse square law on another day.

Like many photographers I have decided to shoot almost entirely digital. As a result of this the vast majority of my work is displayed digitally. This is great except when I feel like showing off some of my best work or when my fiancee requests 'copies' of our pictures. In these and other cases printed work is far superior.

I have a Canon PRO9000 wide format (semi) professional printer. This prints remarkable pictures when everything lines up just right and when it decides it likes my profiles. Other times I use SmugMug and sometimes Pictage. I am thrilled with the prints that SmugMug produces, especially their metallic prints. For the price they can't be beat. The only problem is that with SmugMug the customer side of the site is lacking... More on that at another time. Pictage is great all around but takes some getting used to, time better spent shooting in my opinion. Pictage offers some very nice services free of charge but much like the days of film I have to wait after uploading, sometimes as long as 48 hours, to view my pictures and order prints.

Once printed I typically place the photos into portfolio type binders which I will occasionally showcase. The problem I found here is I am forcing my photos upon visitors rather than allowing them to look at them independently. The solution is obvious: FRAMES!!

Framing artwork can be a difficult and very expensive endeavour. Custom frames, while very beautiful, can run up into the thousand dollar range. While acceptable for framing the works of Annie Leibovitz, Ansel Adams, or perhaps David Hobby, I can not justify the expense for displaying my own work.

The Solution: Cheap Frames!!

But who sells cheap frames?

Michael's

Michael's is a countrywide(?) chain of arts and crafts stores which has an impressive selection of reasonably priced pre made frames and competitively priced custom frames and matting. The kicker is that they have some seemingly perpetual promotions that will save you a bundle. For starters, most of there frames are 40% off without a coupon. Some weeks there is a coupon in their circular for 25% additional savings on frames. There is also a 40% off any one item in the circular. Add these savings up and you can walk away with a cart full of frames for pennies on the dollar. They also have 50% off custom framing orders!!

The frames are not high end, but they look nice and come in many sizes and colors so check the stock before you order custom.

Michael's is SERIOUSLY lacking in the mat department. They offer some pre cut mats but the quality is very poor and the selection very limited. Do not count on finding any acceptable mats here. Better options exist online. Links to follow.

Here are a few pictures of my little gallery which will continue to expand. The frames range from ~ $20.00-$40.00 before discounts so some of them ended up being around $10.00. I actually recommend the cheaper ones as it is easier to fit a photo, matte, and back into the cheaper frames with the bendable metal frame tabs.

Links:

SmugMug
Pictage
Michaels
MatCutter.com

My fiancee and I are expecting our first baby in July, 2009. We are both ecstatic about our future child however I must confess I am also excited about all the wonderful pictures I will get to take of our baby!! I'm anxious to get started so here are the first shots of the pregnancy

The setup for these shots is fairly straightforward. The background is a white hospital sheet with a speedlight on each side at 28mm and 1/2 power fired by infrared. The background is exposed at about f/11 at 1/250th ISO100. Adrianna is about 10 feet in front of the background to help avoid the bounce from behind. Adrianna is lit by an Alien Bees AB800 at about 1/8 power fired into a shoot through umbrella 45 degrees camera left and filled on the right by a silver reflector. Adrianna was lit to f/5.6 1/250th. I shot these with my Canon 40D and my 70-200 f/2.8L IS. This is the first time I have really shot on an overexposed white background and I am definitely a fan. Next purchase is definitely going to be a roll of seamless white paper.

In order to view the video click the read more link at the bottom of this post.

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::Free Photos.... Links Below::

Want some photos from Krysta & Dustin's wedding for your facebook/myspace/other? Well today is your lucky day!! I have put the photos up on my flickr account which you are free to download! Don't forget you can also order prints from my pro lab! I spent a lot of money to rent equipment so I could get the best pictures possible, then spent about 36 hours editing them so that everyone looked good in the pictures. If you like the photos ordering prints will help me recover some of the expense. If you like them enough than please give my name out to your friends!! Thanks again to everyone who made Krysta & Dustin's wedding a truly unforgettable event!!

Click to download photos.
When you click on a photo you will see a small magnifying glass above the photo on the left, click it. Now you will see a link that reads 'Download the original size.' Click this link and a window will appear prompting you to save the image. If you are a flickr member you will also be able to grab a link to the photo to put directly into your social networking site.

To order prints check out my gallery @ CollinsPhotographer

The fine print: Images may not be used for commercial purposes. Downloads are for a creative commons personal use license only! 2008 CollinsPhotographer.com These photos will not print well, the printable files are simply too large to share all at once, if you need a photo for personal printing let me know which ones and I would be happy to get you the files...