Copy Cat!

                

Disclaimer: This week we had to find a photographer and copy their work.

Now I chose to go with a very simple lighting setup, not because I wanted the easy way out. On the contrary, I chose the simple one because I wanted to show that even with a one light setup someone could show drama and mood. The particular blog,   “Night n’ Day” caught my eye especially the first photograph of Thomas Rodriguez mopping the floor. Drama is a big part of a photograph, and I loved the drama in this particular image. The light pouring in like a streetlight was brilliant, and the hard shadows created a nice frame around the subject. Though, my favorite part about this image was that the viewer could not tell that there was a strobe/flash unless told otherwise. I like images that utilize lights in a way that it looks natural or in this case a normal streetlight. When I saw Joe McNally had the “sweet” concept of shooting in a doughnut shop I instantly thought of a Doughnut shop that is not far away from where I live, Glaze King is a doughnut shop on highway 49 and they have the best doughnuts. So on Friday evening after closing the storeowner’s wife let me in. Samreth Kem, the store owner, was in the back getting the batter fried, he starts at 9:00 PM after the store closes and cooks all the way through the night till the store opens at 5:00 AM the next morning, a labor of love. Mr. Kem took a break at 10 and let me photograph him and within 2 minutes I had the photograph. But in reality, I had practiced on Jaime and Mr. Kem’s son, Ronnie, for about 30 minutes beforehand. To achieve the image of Mr. Kem I used an SB800 at ¼ power and 105 zoom mounted on a Profoto air-cushioned light stand. I used two Rogue filters on the flash, Full CTO, and Plus Green cc30 to give that street like feeling, however, I can’t figure out why mine looks more neutral or cooler than McNally’s. The camera was a D7000 with an 18-200mm Nikkor lens set at 20mm.

    In closing, this assignment was actually really fun and I would suggest it to any photographer that wants to expand the field of knowledge in the aspect of photography. However, the challenges that I faced helped prepare me and made me really think. The main problem was the color temperature; the image you see is an untouched photograph. As you can see comparing mine to Joe McNally’s image that mine does not seem as warm as his. I think this was due to the interior color of the buildings.

The bonus was that my photo made the photo of the week: RCC Photo of the Week

The final image was:

Shutter Speed: 1/250

Aperture: f/5.6         

ISO: 800

Flash: ¼ power 105 zoom with green and warm filter.

I would like to say thank you to the Kem family for allowing me to photograph at your shop (Glaze King.) Secondly thank you Mr. McNally for you blog Night N’ Day. Also thanks again Jaime for helping me out and being a stand in model for me.