For those who do not know, Peter Hurley is a phenomenal head shot photographer. Here he is given, what I think is, the greatest tip I've ever heard for shooting a great head-shot.  Now that I have seen this, I have no excuse for taking head-shots or doing portraits that make the subject look corpulent. 

Well I'm suppose to do a couple photo shoots in the upcoming weeks. So I wanted to play with my light kit and think out my lighting scenarios. Since I didn't have a subject, I just took my own picture. These were shot with a Canon t2i and a 24 to 105mm L lens (45mm) at F9.0 (ISO100).  I used 2 Alien Bees B800's at 1/4 power with soft-boxes to defuse the light.  

After watching a tutorial by PhotoExtremist  Evan Sharboneau, I decided to try High Speed Photography. I must admit, this type of photography requires careful planning. Not only do you have to make sure that your camera is properly setup, you have to spend a good amount of time setting up the shot. Now, I have done shoots that require some set up time. So, I was fine with the process. However, if you are the kind of person who prefers to do point and shoot photography, this may not be for you.

I used a similar setup to the one used by Evan Sharboneau in his youtube tutorial. I just used my kitchen instead of a garage and a bowl to get the water in a the fish tank instead of a hose. Overall, I am pleased with my first experience and will definitely work on refining my technique. A few of the shoots I took are listed in this post.  They were shot with a Canon T2i and a Canon 50mm f1.8 lens at f14. I used two AlienBees B800 flash units at 1/32 power. ISO at 100. 

If you want to see the  tutorial I followed, just go click the following link: High Speed Photography Tutorial

 Today I tried a few of new things.

1) I decided to let it fly. I usual need to compose every shot. Because of this, I often miss shots. This is something that is tolerable when I have time to compose a shot. For instance, when I'm shooting a model or I will be able to visit a location several times.I can redirect a model or visit the location until everything falls in place. However,it is not good to miss shots when its a once in a life time shot.  So, I am trying to become more instinctive. See the shot and take it, particularly when I'm taking doing street photography, shooting at a remote location or I have a paid shoot with strict time restrictions. 

2) I don't usually shoot random things. I look for art, not simple beauty. Yet when I get home and see these type of shoots, I am often drawn to them. I admire the photographers ability to find the beauty in what is often considered mundane. So I am coming down off my high horse and opening my eyes. My theory is that if I look at everything I will increase the chance of capturing those once in a lifetime gems. 

3) Becoming more open minded about the color, texture and style of my photographs. I tend to gravitate toward certain looks. This may seem fine. But by doing this I run the risk of making all my pictures look the same. So, I will try at least 8 new looks. Today I focused on a muted look. Although the images I took are not going to win me any awards, they are the forerunner to more expression and creativity. 

4) Last but not least. I will work on getting out of my own head. Our greatest detractor is our-self. So I will stop worrying about other peoples opinions of my work. I can and will accept constructive criticism, as I always have. But, I will not let it stop me from taking risks. There is no growth without risk. 

Anyway here are a few shots. Just the city in action. Shot in daylight with a Canon T2i and a Canon 24-105mm f4 L lens (around 200 to 400 ISO). Looks were applied on a iMac using aperture. No special plugins.   

 

OK. This was a weekend of experimentation. I have always been interested in smoke photography. But, I have never had the patience to attempt it. Well, that changed this weekend. I used a basic setup. Black foam core background, a light source to give me something to focus on and an alien bee 800 watt strobe set a its lowest power setting (1/32). I then lit a few incense sticks and began shooting. I was using a Canon 24-105mm /4 lens on a T2i with the ISO at 100 and the f-stop at around f10. I learned quickly that the magic happens in post. My first attempt was merely a collage of color (created by creating multiple layers in Photoshop and changing the hue).

Here is my first attempt:

After I saw how it was done and realized that extreme manipulation is expected when doing this type of photography, I decided to use my imagination. My second attempt is a bit more elaborate.

Here is my second attempt:

Overall I like my initial results. Each image has its own charm.

The most important thing to come from this foray into smoke photography is that I gained another weapon. I will definitely use smoke photography to augment other times of photography I am interested in. I will also use it to expand my creativity and broaden my imagination. If you haven't tried it, I recommend it.

I thought this was a interesting image. I did quite a bit of color processing to give it a hard yet detailed look. This was shot with my 12-24mm Tokina lens at F4, ISO 200.   

I think this is the most important information I have learned about my rights as a photographer EVER.
I thank Mr. Speier ,as well as B&H, for providing this amazing insight. I hope you learn as much as I have.