John Cowie Photography

Oh Snap - Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:53:00 +0000

What do you do if you're a dog photographer without an assistant? If you're shooting your own dogs, you settled for those moments when they're least likely to jump up and come sniff the lens. Sure, my guys can sit and stay, and Skittles can even sit up on her hind legs, but come on, how many times can you shoot that? Here's Journey sitting in the living room, and the kitchen, and the back yard, in the dog park and by the lake. And Skittles... .... ... well, you get the idea.

I saw Candy laying in the middle of my freshly vacuumed carpet (an almost daily activity - she sheds like crazy!) so I snuck over, grabbed my camera and 70-200 and started playing. At first I stayed on the couch so the dogs would ignore me. Leaning over the arm, I was able to get these:


(A butt shot? WHAT was I thinking?!)


As long as he's focused on Candy I can catch some Z's!

Candy never seems to lay with her head toward me, so I got down on the ground and tried to get some interesting shots of her from a very low perspective. For most of these I set the camera on the ground and tilted the lens with my hand to frame them:

Am I dreaming, or is there a nut on the ground with a camera pointed at me?

Candy has this inner lid that slides over her eyes when she sleeps. As I clicked away, she opened one eye partway, leaving the inner lid covering her eye. Almost a zombie look, huh?


OMG it's NOT a dream! Wow, he looks silly when he's down this low...

All right, fine... But if you're gonna shoot, THIS is my best side.

There's something interesting about Candy's eyes - the more relaxed and laid back she is, the more they seem to recede under her eyelids, and the more the lower ones droop. When she's actively engaged in something her eyes are larger and closer to the surface. I can't think of a better way to explain it than that. I think I need to try to do a series of photos on the many shapes of Candy's eyes...

For the techno-weenies, all shots were taken handheld at ISO 6400, between F/2.8-6.3 in ambient room light. No processing was done to address ISO noise, and only basic exposure/contrast tweaks in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Hope you enjoyed...

Oh Snap! Shelter Dogs

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:04:00 +0000

If you've been following me for very long you know my two passions are photography and dogs. Over the last few years I've spent time helping out Denkai Animal Sanctuary, and on my last visit I took along my Canon 5D with the 50mm f/1.2 lens. As usual, I fell in love with everyone and wanted to take them all home with me. I can't, but maybe some of you can.

These images are part of a project I'm working on, and aren't intended for their adoption site profiles. I won't tell you about the project, but I would be curious about your reaction to these images.

You can view the entire on my Flickr site, but here's a few of my favorites:

Ramble, a long time resident at Denkai, has my heart most of all

A bundle of pure fun, loving energy

Just met these 2, they were a little shy but
enjoyed a scratch through the fence.

This little thing has more energy than I was ready for -
she scrambled out of my arms before I could stop her!

If you're in the Ft. Collins/Greeley area, go check out the Denkai Animal Sanctuary out on highway 392. I'd bet a beer you'll fall in love with a dog, a cat, a few of them or (if you're like me) every single one of them.

Hope you enjoyed...

Channeling Grace Chon - and others...

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 05:06:00 +0000

I've been following and studying pet photographers for some time now. In previous posts, I showed my efforts to learn from the work of masters such as Tim Fach, Andrew Zuckerman and Jill Greenberg. These shooters were known for their use of flash in their work with animals, and I wanted to understand how they achieved their effects and see where I could take it from there.

A while back I discovered Grace Chon, a pet photographer in the L.A. area. Grace is known for working with available light, and she has quite a unique style. Her work is known for bright and cheerful imagery and, when not including the pet's owner, typically uses very short depth of field to create interestingly blurred backgrounds.

Getting that bright and airy feel has been alluding me, but I think I'm beginning to get closer. Here's a couple shots of one of my most favorite subjects, and one of a neighbor with an interesting reaction to passing dogs...


You know I don't make eye contact when you point that thing at me.

Silly man, I'm looking at that rabbit hiding in the grass behind you!

I was thinking about Grace's work as we came upon this small patch of grass with good, open shade. I thought we'd try letting the background blow out a little more than I usually do. These images are basically straight out of the camera, except for some small tweaks in post for cropping, vibrance and saturation. Oh, and a small tweak to improve contrast.

Not quite there yet, but I'm getting closer. In the same vein, this next one is a shot of a neighbor's Airedale Terrier in full sunshine. This guy gets excited when other dogs pass his yard, and his owner taught him to grab these stuffed balls and shake them rather than run along the fence and bark. It doesn't always work, but when it does he puts on quite a show!

Shake that ball thing, shake that ball, oh yeah!!!

As with the flash shooters, it's not my intention to adopt Grace's style as my own. Rather, to understand it to the extend I can blend it with my own, which tends to go darker. Some good examples are a couple images from a series I've started called "Behind The Fence":

Chomp "Bark!" chomp, slobber, chew, "Bark Bark!!"

Another neighbor's dog has a berm just behind the fence, running the length of it. This morning, he happened to be chewing what looks like a rawhide bone. He ran back and forth on the berm barking and staring at us, and at no time did he drop that thing! It was really fun to watch!

Nothing to see here, move along fella!

This guy starts barking when you approach, but if you and your dogs stay calm and quiet (as my WONDERFULLY FANTASTIC puddies do!!!!) she settles down quickly and just watches you walk on.

Studying the style of shooters I admire isn't about mimicking their work so I can create images that look like theirs. It's about expanding my toolbox of choices by taking components from what I learn and incorporating them into my own evolving style. I do that best by practicing their style till I've got it down, then I can determine which components best aid me in creating the kind of work I want to do.

Thanks Grace, for your inspiration...

Hope you enjoyed...

Prime Wars

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:37:00 +0000

I've had one of the early generation Canon 85mm F/1.2 lenses, and have used it a bit in some of my fashion/glamor work, but never with a wide open aperture. Slow to auto focus, I never considered it for work that needed fast focusing capabilities. Working with dogs definitely falls into that category - I thought.

I'm currently fostering a HUGE black lab (I think she has some horse in her, however) for surgery, which she goes in for tomorrow. Yesterday I decided to play with and compare my 50mm F/1.2 to my 85mm and see how they compare to each other. Following a suggestion I picked up along the way, I chose to only shoot at F/1.8, and here's the results:

85mm @ F/1.8


Here we go again - take the picture, this IS me smiling

This is the only picture I could get of Skittles. All the outdoor shots have either Journey's butt or Candy's nose poking in at just the right time. I love how fast the Depth Of Field (DOF) falls off here. It just takes your eyes right to Skittles beautiful face.

85mm @ F/1.8

Can't you just go shoot someone else?!

At least Journey didn't immediately get up and come lick the lens, at least not till after I took this shot. With such a tight DOF, I think I like the lack of background clutter better here.

50mm @ F/1.8

Why is that guy pointing that thing at me?

This shot was taken about 6 feet away, the furthest I could get Candy without removing the leash. Try as I might I couldn't get her to look at me, she was too interested in the birds, kids and other distractions. At least she finally sat still for a couple shots. DOF falloff at 6' on the 50mm isn't as fast as the 85mm, and looks better to me, especially when there's a busy background. Nice, clean separation without looking like I pasted her into the scene.

50mm @F/1.8

Take this profile, it's my best side!

Another advantage of the 50mm, I can still get a nicely focused head shot when my model comes in for a kiss and a hug and sits down on, not at, my feet. Lean back just a little and voila - great head shot of Candy!

And just cause I feel like it, a couple more of my favorite shots from this experiment:

85mm @F/1.8

I think I smell a Puddy Tat!

This close with the 85mm and Journey almost looks like he's been pasted into the picture. But with the exception of a little exposure, vibrance and saturation tweaks, this is straight out of the camera.

85mm @F/1.8

Grass is always greener, ain't it da truth...

Candy's mission in life seems to be finding out how much a nylon leash can stretch. Like Skittles, Candy is very interested in her surroundings. Going for walks is an adventure keeping her focused on her job. Which is also in contention. She thinks she's in charge... (grin!)

Hope you enjoyed...

My Puddies my Puddies my Puddies!!!

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:07:00 +0000

My wonderful, lovely Pack buddies are back with me!

It's been so awesome having them back with me, and I'm back to shooting my favorite subjects as my medical issues ease up. The following images are what I call practice, as I didn't bother to clean up the background or anything. The light in the room was really great, and I wanted to get some more practice at extremely narrow depth of field, so I pulled out my 50mm F/1.2 lens and got down on the ground with them to play.

Needless to say, it took a couple Vicodin tablets to recover afterwards. So, just say hi and try not to be too disappointed in the actual photography... (grin!)

Your bone? Yeah, right!


Think you're close enough dere Butch?


I remember this ball!

Can't a guy have a little privacy?

Hope you enjoy...

Oh Snap! It's all about energy

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:17:00 +0000

I know, it's been awhile since I've posted to my blog. I've been dealing with some medical issues that have kept me inactive lately. I have, however managed to get out with my camera recently, and have captured a few things you might find interesting.

Those new to my blog aren't aware that I have 2 passions: photography and animals, especially dogs. For the last few years I've been studying dog behavior and dog training. And one of the first things you learn is that in the dog world, size isn't as important as energy. You've probably heard about "alpha" dogs, but have you ever seen anything like this???


Hey, I'm talking to you - you need a reminder who's in charge?!


When I say "JUMP!", you say...

How High?!

Angle to the sun wasn't the best, nonetheless the relationship between these three is interesting. Three??? Whatever are you talking about John? Oh, you didn't notice the other little one rolling on her back in the first shot? The entire time I was hanging out shooting these guys, she was just a happy little girl, relaxing and watching the 2 drama queens...

Gotta love energy!

Hope you enjoyed...

Oh Snap! Family Pets

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 22:19:00 +0000

I'm working on my speedlight skills, and wanted a challenge: shooting black subjects. Black can be very challenging to shoot properly. You have to over-expose areas so you can show form and texture while maintaining the sense that the subject is black and not gray. But shooting black subjects in itself brings a challenge - how do you light them without blowing out the lighter surrounding? And if that isn't enough, let's try shooting something that can't be counted on to sit still....

My friend Carol has 2 cats, Pancho and Elvis. Pancho is pure black, and Elvis is black with white face, chest paws, etc. - an interesting challenge, and lighting is only one of them. These are the first cats I've shot that were free to wander. Well, until Carol caught them and brought them back.

For the shoot I brought along some small softboxes and a couple 43" umbrellas. Cats don't much like umbrellas, and they weren't too thrilled with the softboxes either. These strange objects in the house that kept popping light in their face wasn't thrilling the cats too much, but they handled it better than I'd anticipated. Mostly they ignored me by being cats. Turning away and acting like we (me and my stuff) weren't there. As such they didn't relax and play as much as we'd hope, but I still got a few good shots that I liked.

Here's a few for your viewing pleasure:

That's MY floor, buddy!

Just another day by the lake

The cats have their very own window, with a cushioned perch set up so they can relax and watch the world go by.


HEY! Donchu see the "Do Not Disturb" sign?!

In this shot I deliberately underexposed the cats till they were almost a silhouette. I set one speedlight with a Lumiquest SBIII softbox at camera left to bring out just a touch of their fur. It was a happy accident that Pancho turned to look at Carol. I was just after some profile shots, but when he turned, I had to take the shot. The speedlight put just enough light on his face and whiskers to bring out the details without making it obvious that a light was there. The only clue - the catchlight in his eyes.

You can see the full set on my flickr site...

Hope you enjoy....

Just How Many Rules ARE There?!

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:02:00 +0000

This time I'm only considering one rule - subject placement. More specifically, where do you place your subject when they're not looking right at you? The basic rule is to place them so there's more space where they're looking than there is behind them. So, if they're looking off to the right, place them in the left portion of the image. This also applies to shooting motion - if they're moving left-to-right, place them on the left portion, and vice-versa.

Ok, I lied - this is about the one situation where they're looking niether left or right and are in motion - right straight at you!


There's John! He's got TREATS!!!

So, if they're coming straight at you, and looking right at you, place them in the center? I find that placing them just off center makes the image more pleasing.


Use the force! Usetheforce Usetheforce TheforceUsing - wait....

To be even more specific, when the subject is leaning, the image felt better when I matched the offset to with their body lean. In other words, if they were leaning right I placed them right of center...

Mumphmphmumph (translation: Mine MINE MINE!!!)

And if they were leaning to the left I placed them just left of center. As a matter of fact, their side opposite the lean is pretty much lined up with the center.

You got another one for me?? Where's mine?! Where-where?!?!

Then there's the dilemma where one's coming right at you and the other is turning away. I decided to give Journey someplace to go and add to Skittles' intensity by keeping the image off-balance.

I do feel the need to point out that Skittles loves to run. She goes all out when she does, and can look quite intense as you can see in this series. However, despite her rather fierce look, she's just a happy, excited dog. Once she manages to apply the brakes and slow down that intense look is immediately gone. She's quite fun to watch!

Don't know about you, but I like these images!

Hope you enjoy...

Obeying the Rules

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 05:19:00 +0000

My last post dealt with what we think about when we're shooting. What do we internalize so it happens automatically, and what rules we consider when setting up a shot. During my walk with the dogs I'd shot some birds and noticed, after the fact, what rules I thought about and which I didn't.

A couple years ago I was pulled over and ticketed for not using my turn signals. Now, I argued (with myself of course) that since no cars where around I didn't need to signal my intent. Why do you have to signal when there's no traffic for heaven's sake?!

But in the days that followed I had to admit that I'd gotten lazy and out of the habit of using them except in certain tight situations. And I found myself using them consistent from that point on. 2 years later I'm still a good boy, using my turn signals all the time. Well, there is the rare time when no one's around... ... ... ;)

So, during today's walk I did some more bird shots - the day was warm and the sky mostly covered with high clouds. I found myself thinking about all the rules I'd either ignored last time and it effected my shooting greatly. I'm happier with this session, and I choose to believe it has something to do with being deliberate. Internalizing some things (like checking your camera settings before each session) makes sense, but when it's time to shoot I realize that I want to do it consciously. The experience was richer, more fulfilling. My success rate was higher, my total image count was lower and I only had to throw a couple out for bad framing (hate when I cut off their tails).

Last time I took my 7D with a 24-105mm F/4-5.6 lens. The combination wasn't the best choice for shooting birds cause you just can't get close enough without them flying away. I had to do some serious cropping to get the images I shared. This time I attached my 70-200 F/2.8 and the results were significantly better. I still had to get closer than some birds liked, but those I shot required very little cropping, which gave me nicer closeups.

So, here's the results of raising my consciousness:

To self: Push the rule of thirds here to keep the main trunk from overpowering the birds

To Self: Step up the incline so the branch doesn't cut through his head

To Self: Next time you're shooting movable objects, set follow-focus and
burst mode and you won't have to rely so much on luck!!

To Self: Breaking the horizontal rule of thirds can work sometimes
and one "Atta Boy" for creative use of negative space

To Self: Anticipate the grab so you catch him with his mouth open

To Self: Ah... forget it - you already talk to yourself too much anyway!

The last 3 images were deliberately overexposed. Sometimes a white sky background can create an interesting effect, especially if you push it just a little. I really like these last 3 - I can't tell you why, but I really do. The negative space adds to the feel as well. Moving the bird to the right of the frame just made it feel too busy. Maybe that was because all the earlier shots were, and I'd grown tired of the look. Not sure why, but it was a conscious decision to frame it as I did.

OH! While I'm thinking about it - if you're going to shoot movable objects, try shooting them actually doing something. You'll notice the conspicuous lack of berries in the 1st image, and a certain sedentary feel to the bird. After shooting him I noticed the tree with the berries had more birds, then realized they were eating the old, dried berries. In the remaining shots the birds were either in the act of choosing a berry or grabbing one. In the 2nd image, even though the bird was sitting, he still seems to be active, searching for a berry to grab. And the remaining all have energy and intent as well. It's much better to shoot that!

Hope you enjoyed...

A Bird in hand - or is that the bush?

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Recently I had a brief chat with a friend of mine regarding what goes through your mind (or more importantly what doesn't) when you're trying to get a great shot and are feeling rushed. How easy it can be to overlook depth of field or how the background interacts with the point of interest. Is the sky blown out or the shadows losing details, and on and on and on.

It got me to thinking about all the "rules" I've learned. The one's I've internalized and the ones I'm still combating. More importantly, it got me to thinking about how I shoot - do I consider the rules when I'm framing my shots, what factors do I consider? And the answer came back - not many.

I looked back through my history of images, remembering the frustrating times when I'd beat myself up for not remembering the simple things: ISO is a variable too, don't cut off their head or feet or crop at their joints, and on and on. And I thought about what I do now...

So, today my dogs and I went for our walk and I took my camera to shoot some birds. My friend told me there were these robins hanging out in some trees, and they'd let you get pretty close. Too close and they'd fly from tree to tree, but they'd never leave.

True enough, that's what they did. Although the getting close part wasn't working so well for me. At least, not with birds in the lower branches. Might have something to do with the dogs not sitting still.

As I prepped for this post, I thought about what went through my mind as I made my images: I considerwd exposure, letting the cloudy sky blow out a bit so the birds were properly exposed. I considered where to position myself to eliminate branches between us as much as possible, and I considered the rule or thirds (sometimes). Oh, and I'd decided before I even got there that I was going to minimize depth of field to keep the attention on the birds.

As I reviewed and processed the images, I was reminded of those rules I hadn't thought of. What I like to call the lucky accidents ( I seem to have a lot of them).

Rules like:


Don't position subjects so things are growing out of their head, neck, etc.

This little guy looks like he has a bit of a mohawk but it's a nub on the branch behind him.. And since he's so close to it his head is blending in with that branch. This is an example of "go back and do it again!".

When your subject is looking to the side, compose more space in front of him than behind

The idea is to keep your eye from being drawn out of the picture. Now, I didn't consider this rule till I was cropping it on my computer, and I can't tell you why I put the little fellow right in the middle (which also breaks the rule of thirds, by the way) when I did, except to say it felt right.

Rule of thirds, and avoiding things that dissect your subject

Seems I broke this one more than once. But here again, this crop felt right to me during post processing. And in my defense, I'd taken a step to get closer and the fellow turned slightly away. I quick-snapped this shot before he flew off. And sure enough, just after I pressed the shutter he did.

As to the branch passing through his head, while not the optimum picture, it's better than the first one because his head is separated from the branch and easily identifiable. Would I have taken the picture if I'd thought about this rule? Most likely not. The second image above it is indeed much better. But if you do break it, at least make sure they don't merge as they did in the first one.

Keep your foreground and background simple.

Now, really - how can I declutter a tree??? Here, this was an artistic decision I made to have the bird play a little "Peek a boo". And with the narrow depth of field blurring the branches surrounding him your eye is naturally drawn right to him. AND I obeyed the rule of thirds.

Avoid busy surroundings

Same rule as above, different way to think about it. But here again, I think it works. With the majority of the branches in soft focus your eye is drawn to the bird. The larger branches bring you in from the sides and lead you right to him (no, I'm not a male chauvinist - he might be a she but I ain't looking up his skirt to find out).

Lines and objects dissecting your subject.

This shot appeals to me in that the bird is popping out from his surroundings despite all the clutter. This is one of those times I think breaking the rule works. As does the one above it. Somehow the clutter works in these shots. At least, it does for me.

So, how big a deal is it to consider all the variables when you're shooting? Depends on what your shooting and why, doesn't it? If your doing a paid gig and the client is looking for something very specific then you'd best make absolutely sure you're taking everything into consideration. Even if you're rushed. And you will be, you can count on that.

If you're out on vacation, or just walking about or even setting up a shoot to capture something you've been thinking about, it's not the end of the world if you forget something. Chances are you can try again at a later date. But these are the perfect time to practice and hone your technique. Just don't beat yourself up - you're on vacation, remember?!

Digital cameras have been a god-send when playing and practicing. The instant feedback lets you look at your crop, your depth of field, background clutter, etc. It affords us the opportunity to fix the little things we tend to forget.

And as I considered what I was going to write on this blog it occurred to me that this instant feedback has been the method that has helped me internalize those key rules that are most important to me. Things I used to agonize over while shooting I now do as naturally as breathing.

Some things that I've internalized, strangely enough, include conscious thought - what camera settings do I want to use, where should I set my white balance, is there anything in the frame that takes attention away from my subject? what's lying along the edges of my frame? It's like an internal checklist that automatically runs when I pick up my camera.

Repetition builds habit, and done right, these kind of habits can make all the difference in the world.

Hope you enjoyed...

Oh Snap! Tabletop Car shot

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 03:17:00 +0000

It's pick your favorite night!

Each one evokes a different reaction for me. I like them both for different reasons. How about you?

The setup:

Another single light source setup (hey, we covered the whole two lights, one source thing last time so let it go, ok?!). I flipped the table (from the last shoot) on it's side, shined the same two light cans into it and strategically placed black foam cards and paper to create the light patterns I wanted.

Simple setup, but precision is essential. The small card directly behind the car, for example: too tall and it blocks light on the center of the car. Too low and you get too much on the roof and start picking up lens flare. Too wide and not enough light hits the "ground" - too narrow and you get rim lights on the edges.

The 2 tall cards have to block the light completely off the car and table surface. Well, off the part of the table that will end up in the picture. Lastly, the paper you see on top eliminates unwanted reflection from the windshield.

I wanted to reproduce this concept, but obviously on a much smaller scale. I also wanted to try it with constant lights instead of flash. This last proved to be a bit of a problem - those 2 20W light bulbs can't put enough light out to create the intensity I got from the Lego shoot. I shot this at night, with all the lights in the house turned off and still couldn't create the intensity I was after.

Yes, yes - with constant light sources I can drag the shutter to bring up it's intensity. But the ambient hitting the black cards and the car come up too. Despite the 8' tall black v-flats I placed around the back side of the table, the ceiling and walls in front of them bounce enough light back. The only other choice is to bring in more light behind the white fabric. Trouble is, there simply wasn't room for more lights back there - the set was just too small!

All that aside, even though I didn't achieve the effect I was after I still really like these shots. They are probably in that "love em or hate em" category.

Well, I love em, hope you do too!

Hope you enjoyed...

My First Car Shoot

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 01:42:00 +0000

Recognize this beauty???

Not enough information to identify this sweet little car? How about this?

Still not enough? Then how about this...

No? Well, that's the best shot I have, so I guess I'll just have to tell you. It's the 2005 Ford GT. A race/sports car with a rich history. And she's my pride and joy. Well, not next to my BMW Z4 cause, you see... um.... I don't fit in the Ford.

Purchased at Walmart for $5, I've been having some fun with tabletop photography. Thought I'd share the results, and some behind the scenes info on how I did it.

The 1st 2 shots were made with this setup:

I wanted to play with constant light sources (a fancy way of saying "I'm using light bulbs") for a change. Unlike flash units, they let you see where the light is going before you take a shot. I also wanted to play with a single light source, so I started with a 12" square DIY (Do It Yourself) soft box with a 20W CFL bulb in a rigged up housing.

The soft box is suspended over a black mirror (sheet of glass painted black the bottom side), which provides that awesome reflection.

To get the first shot I shifted the soft box till the edge facing the camera was just over the car. I then taped on a piece of black foam card so that only about 2" of the front section of the soft box was providing light. For the 2nd shot I removed the card, shifted things so the car was centered under the light, then added white paper "tents" to bring in details on the front edge and tail. You've got to watch where you place the tents, however. Bring them too far forward (toward the camera) and they'll reflect light onto the side of the car, ruining the effect.

For the last shot things got a bit more complex. My goal was to recreate the look and feel of a full-sized car shoot while sticking to the single light source theme:

Ok, ok, as you've not doubt noticed there ARE 2 lights up top, but that's only cause I didn't have a single light bulb with enough power to do the job. So, I arranged them so they lit the nylon rip-stop fabric evenly across it's entire length, creating one single light source. Wouldn't you agree??? (ahem)

Ok, so - I stretched white nylon rip-stop fabric across a PVC pipe frame I'd built some time ago, then strategically placed black foam cards on top to create interesting light/shadow patterns on the surface of the car. The most important effect to accomplish is the reflection in the windshield. Placing the black cards to light the top of the card took only a couple minutes.

The sticky part comes when trying to redirect the overhead light source onto the sides and front of the car. This is where tabletop photography gets fun - I cut custom sized pieces of stiff chrome paper, folded them into tents and placed them around the car to get the lighting effects I wanted. This worked great for everything but the grill and tail.

For the tail, I added a large tent of white A4 paper for a larger, softer look. The front grill was the problem - I couldn't get enough light from the fabric above to light the grill properly. Easily solved though - there's a lot of spare light around to play with.

Those Home Depot reflectors don't point all the light down into the fabric. Some light leaks out to the sides above the fabric/frame combination. I placed a 12" square mirror tile in a clamp (just visible on the left side of the setup pic) and aimed it to pick up this stray light and send it toward the car. In the right side of the setup shot, the mirror tent behind the right-front corner of the car bounces this light back onto the grill and corner. A nice side effect of the large mirror is that it also brought up the light on the wheels and the white stripe running down the side.

So, who needs fancy, expensive gear to create a great car shot??? Grant you, things would have been a bit more dicey if the car was life-sized....

OH - before I forget: that little black dot on top of the fabric? It's placed there to block most of the light from hitting the "Ford" emblem on the nose of the car. There was too much glare bouncing into the camera that you can't read it without the little dot.

(grin!) Hope you enjoyed.

Oh Snap! A little more smoke

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 10:04:00 +0000

Played around with an art piece a friend loaned me, working light and shadow, and the challenge of mixing props with smoke. I kept stalling cause I wasn't sure how I was going to make it work, but once I got started it was quite fun.

Here's what I came up with:

You are my tree and I will protect you!

When I saw this tree at my friend's house I knew I wanted to play with shooting it. When I saw the bear on sale at Hobby Lobby I knew just exactly HOW I was going to shoot the tree.

The above shot is not it... Not entirely....

Ah MAN!!! That was my LAST ONE!!!!

THIS is what I had in mind from the moment I saw the bear... (click on the image to see it larger)

And this is how I did it:

Speedlight @ 1/4 power camera left and behind the tree and bear. Gelled orange and fired through a 1/4" Honl grid. Speedlight gelled red @1/2 power fired through one of those bathroom glass bricks to create a pattern on the black background. It's propped up on a roll of blue tape to help with positioning. Speedlight camera right @1/64th power with 1/2 cut CTO fired through a Lumiquest SBIII soft box. I ended up adding 2 sheets of velum to drop the light level on the tree so I could could balance it with the bear.

Table top is a 1/2" piece of MDF with solid black low-gloss formica. It's propped on rolls of duct tape to keep the tree's base out of the frame. It also allows the incense to be placed right next to the tree without showing up in the bottom of the frame.

Hope you enjoyed...

Oh Snap! Tabletop Photography

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 04:58:00 +0000

It's cold in Colorado. I like it (please ignore my sister snickering in the corner there in Az.), but am spending less time outdoors as a result. So, turned my attention to some photography I'd wanted to do for some time. Product, or tabletop photography.

My first attempt - I got hold of a small-scale model of the Tron bike (the new movie version) and played with it on a black mirror.

What's a black mirror? It's a pane of glass from a 24x36 framed picture I bought from Goodwill for $5. Tossed the cheap metal frame, stowed the artwork (in case I need a backdrop) and cleaned up the glass. Paint one side with black paint and you've got yourself a black mirror.

Here's what I came up with:

First, a little black-on-black actio

Lower the camera and hit the background with some blue light

Back up high (the angle I think of when I think Tron bike) and add smear to the mirror

Back down again after adding a second, orange light on the background.

Take orange background light off the stand, and aim it hand-held at the front rims

And there you have it. the dulling spray I applied to the black mirror was streaked simply by pulling a cotton cloth through it. Combined with the non-spoked wheels it gives the illusion that the bike is screaming down the path.

At least, it does to me!

Hope you enjoyed...

Oh Snap! Up In Smoke

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:39:00 +0000

Sooner or later just about every photographer is going to haul out the incense or favorite cigar and shoot some smoke. After all these years, I finally succumbed...

Here's my first attempts: A couple images I inverted, and I like both - leave me a comment and let me know which ones you like the most...


Incense just getting started

Smokin' Tree

My Cup Runneth Over


Cup in White


Cradling the Smoke

Cradle in White


Tower


Smoking Pipe

Tumblin' Down

For those interested in the behind-the-scenes information, I have a little callenge for you: Only a couple of the two-tone images are presented as shot in the camera. No artificial work was done in post processing to create them. Which ones are they, and how'd I do it???

Hope you enjoy...

Oh Snap! My Car Collection

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 07:16:00 +0000

For some time now, I've been thinking about some interesting ways to shoot my cars. Here's my first attempt.

If you're not into cars, you might still like these - 2 Ferrari's and a Fiat...


My first Ferrari


HA! Gotcha, didn't I?!


Gull Wing-like doors are hydraulic - Dude, really!

My 2nd Ferrari

And, of course, for a fast getaway on the weekend, my Fiat!

See, even you can afford a Ferrari - well, maybe if you can find them on EBay. For a few years, Lego did limited runs (each model was only made for one year) on these large scale kits. I missed the first one (a generic formula race car), but started collecting when I saw their first generic convertible (not pictured). It could be built in 3 different ways. The next one out was the Ferrari (first one pictured above), and it only had one look you could create. Same for the next 2.

The year following the Fiat's production run (shown above) they came out with a large scale Humvee. I passed cause it wasn't a car. If I'd known what I know now, I would have bought it - it was the last of the large scale kits. (sigh)

All these cars have functional suspensions, steering and operating engine. Roll the car forward and watch the pistons in the engine pump up and down and the fan move. The Fiat's suspension is fully functional, complete with shock absorbers. This is some cool tech here boy!!

Hope you enjoy...

Oh Snap! Holidaz - Holiday lights!!

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 06:13:00 +0000

I've been running around the last few nights shooting Holiday lights. I've been perfecting my version of David Hobby's blog post on shooting lights. How did I do?

While scouting other opportunities to add to my collection I ran into a couple houses I couldn't wait for good light to shoot - they were just too tempting. As a result, I decided to launch my first annual "Griswald-Hall" contest. The rules are simple, the most enthusiastist decorations win. And you get to choose the winner!

First place goes to the entry that comes closest to Clark Griswald and Buddy Hall's triumphs (personally, I'm glad I don't have to vote on which of those 2 would win!).

So here we go, our first 3 candidates (hey, it's all I've found so far!):

Candidate #1

Candidate #2

Candidate #3

So help me pick a winner, add a comment and pick your favorite, or email me directly (I'd rather you leave a comment below, so I ain't gonna give you my email here if you don't already have it - I'm a a stinker!)

Let the voting begin!!!

Oh Snap! Frolicking in the Park

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 07:22:00 +0000

A cool morning, no wind and cloudy skies met us on our morning walk. So, off to the park to play some ball....

Eyes on the ball Journey!

There you go, that's the ticket!

Uh, um... you don't wanna go up when it's coming down...

Or you'll be coming down when it's going back up!

See the ball, BE the ball... WATCH THE BALL!!!!

See Skittles? She's got the idea!!

You got it!!!! Now bring it here!

Not there, HERE!!!!!

If he drops it, 'cn I have it?!

S'all cool Dude, I got this!

I'm thinking... Lunch! Who's in?!

Hope you enjoy...

Oh Snap! Over the top

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 02:20:00 +0000

Quick vote - let me know if you like or don't like these images?!

I hate when this happens - last night I was reviewing a cool set of photos that deliberately over-exposed images of structures, etc. It was the inspiration for the pictures below. Over-exposing is nothing new, but when something inspires me I'd like to be able to give them proper credit. Once again I have to apologize to the Unknown Photog.

Over exposing means pushing the dynamic range and ending up with black-n-white images which look very much like pencil drawings. To do that, however, you have to have a bright whites and strong shadows to start with...

Skittles, Journey and I headed off for our walk (what else is new), and returned to Windsor Lake with the over-exposure idea in mind. First thing we run into is the park bench (1st shot). After that, I just shot whatever tickled my fancy.

Each image was 2-3 stops over-exposed, then pushed further in Lightroom.

Again, am interested in hearing what you think!

Bench by the lake

Winter Tree

Overhang

(yes Virginia, I shot daylight balanced, and yet the shadows turned blue!)

Lone Tree by the Lake

Even Bigger Overhang

Somehow these feel old-school, old-tech to me. I kind of like them, actually.

Of course! I wouldn't have posed them otherwise... :)

Hope you enjoyed...

TTV Shoot

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 06:02:00 +0000

I just finished attending a 2-day live-stream workshop of Jeremy Cowart via CreativeLive. The topic was experimental photography - trying new ideas and keeping your photography fresh. Great workshop, Jeremy showed us a lot of great ideas, and some neat tricks. The one I'm playing with in this blog is shoot your subject through the viewfinder of an old, vintage camera.

The best cameras seem to be those with larger viewfinders (remember the old Rolleiflex box camera?), but Jeremy's first set with this trick seemed to be a very small camera with a small viewfinder. He created some really cool images with this setup. During today's session, he also used a camera more like the Rolleiflex mentioned above.

I liked the idea so much I thought I'd try it. It just so happens I have one of my Dad's old cameras - a Graflex Custom Graphic medium format camera. I remember many unhappy times as a child, waiting while Dad fiddled with settings, loaded film cartridges, tweaked my posture, my position, and grumbled over my frown or frozen smile. Now, when I look at it I just grin, but back then... JEEZ....

For this post I wanted to include a shot of the my Dad's camera. So, in keeping with the experimental nature of Jeremy's workshop, I played with hand-painting the camera against a medium gray seamless. First, I painted the camera with a straight tungsten flashlight with a black cinefoil snoot. I then followed up by painting the area around the camera with a blue gel on the same flashlight. This was my result, after merging a few select layers in Photoshop:

(ok, it needs a little work - but hey, it's my first time!)

For the shoot, I set Dad's camera on one tripod, and posed Tammie in front of an east facing window with the blinds down. I hung some filmy black material over the blinds to create some texture to give it a better look. I used my Hoodman loup to check focus on the back glass of the Graflex, and then scan the whole frame to ensure I had things set as I wanted. I had a touch of nostalgia, imagining myself doing this back in the 50's when this kind of thing was commonplace.

Next, I set up a strobe with an 11" reflector, set it up high and aimed down at Tammie's face. Using just the modelling light, I set the camera's white balance to 2800 Kelvin. Here's what I got:

One of the cool things about my Dad's old camera is the tilt-shift capability of the lens. I took advantage of that when I set up this shot. I angled the lens away from Tammie's face so her left eye was even more blurred than the wide open aperture was giving me. As you can see, even her nose is also significantly blurred, and just her right eye is in sharp focus.

Something you'd want to do with a live model? Maybe not, but as a first attempt I think it looks quite cool!

Notice also, the daylight streaming through the window behind her turns a nice blue when I set the white balance to match the tungsten modeling light I was using. Nice!!!

Here's a pull-back shot, which I also like quite a bit as well...

Kinda cool, yes?

An interesting trick/technique, which I'll be exploring further. There's dirt and spots on the back glass as well as the lens, and I think that adds to the effect so I'm not planning on cleaning it as long as I'm using it this way.

Hope you enjoyed...

You never write..

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 01:28:00 +0000

I've been a little lax in my blogging, but as much with my shooting... Sorry...

This past Saturday my dogs and I went for a walk around Windsor Lake. I took my camera as usual, but for some reason I decided to mount my 100-400mm zoom. I usually take my 24-105mm for more versatility, but something made me switch. And I'm glad I did. The first half of the walk I thought I wouldn't get a chance to use it though.

All that changed on the south side of the lake. All the geese were hanging out there and I managed to get one interesting shot - I'd never seen them line up like this before:

But of course, they only showed me their butts. That seems to be all I ever get from geese. Long before I get in range they're moving away. And you can forget sitting and waiting for them to ignore me - the dogs keep moving around and scaring them off. However, I thought this marching (paddling?) line was interesting enough to capture...

All those birds and all I can get are the back sides. (sigh) So we move on. Nothing else of interest, we get back to the car and load up. I'm pulling away, look over at the other small lake on the west side of the road and freak out when I see this guy:

This is a major crop from the original image shot. This guy is on the far side of the lake, and he's just a small part of the whole image. I left the dogs in the truck and walked the path that wound around the lake to see if I could get closer. No such luck.

But, there were some gulls that gave me some good shots:

This last shot was taken after I'd come back around to the east end of the lake and hunkered down in the grass at the water's edge. I caught him out of the corner of my eye while watching the eagle, and quick-snapped this image. Even though his wing is cut in the image, I still like this shot!

My hands are starting to get really cold and stiff, and I'm ready to pack it in when a shadow cuts across the ground directly in front of me:

This guy never came down, and never got any closer than the other eagles. This, however, isn't as drastic a crop as I liked the scale of him against the clouds... It's a cool effect: when they're circling as he was, they give you an almost perfect profile, and it gives the illusion that you're up in the sky with her.

(I know, I know - I referred to the bird as "him" at first, but I'm an equal opportunity sex-guesser! So, there you go).

Hope you enjoyed...

Sketch shots: Tilt-Shift

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

In the old days, camera's consisted of lenses mounted separately and connected to the main body with bellows. This allowed the lens to be shifted up or down, left or right and tilted along the same axes. This feature created some rather awesome possibilities for your photography.

You can still buy "field" camera's that do the same thing, but they are not nearly as prevalent as the cameras of today where the lens is hard-mounted to the body. Enter the tilt-shift lens. If you've got the money, you can buy tilt/shift lenses in different focal lengths, such as this 90mm Canon lens.

If you have the money...
Or can justify the purchase - if your wife will let you...

Or, you could buy one of the Lensbaby devices (this will win over your wife if you first show her the lens option)

I'm gonna do what photogs have been doing before there were tilt-shift lenses or Lensbaby's - I'm going to detach my lens and hold it in front of the camera body while I'm shooting.

WHAT?!?!

Yep, something I picked up this morning. I was doing my usual morning surfing and ran into a cool shot using that technique. That's REAL old school!

I got so excited by the idea I grabbed a camera, did a real quick natural light setup and shot Teddy. (so quick I've lost the original web page that I got this idea from. Respect to whoever that was - my apologies for losing you)

Canon 20D, 85mm F1.2 lens @ F/1.2

Now, the first thing one realizes when making a shot this way - there's no control of the aperture. You're shooting wide open cause you can't close it down when it's off the body. Make sense? So, for consistency I shot all images of Teddy wide open so I wouldn't have to worry about changing settings when I took the lens off.

Other factors are also at play - first, there's lens-to-sensor distance. The shot above was taken from roughly 3 feet away. That's as close as I can get and still achieve sharp focus with the 85mm when it's mounted normally. You can buy extension tubes, which allow you to get closer, even into the macro realm. But these tubes maintain the parallel relationship of the lens to the film sensor. You can't tilt the lens to a different angle for additional effects.

But you can with a LensBaby or holding the lens by hand. And since I'm strapped at the moment, I'm going with the latter.

This is what I got!

See how close I can get just by extending the distance between the lens and sensor?
I'm only about 10" away!

Both images are as shot, with minor contrast and tone curve adjustments in Lightroom. No cropping or clarity/sharpness tricks were used.

Pretty snappy, huh?!?!

There is something to take into account though - camera shake. Instead of just having to just stabilize your camera, you now have to stabilize it AND the lens while maintaining distance and orientation. Doing this hand-held, as I did, can be shaky (pun intended). It took several attempts to get a good result. I set my elbows on the table, pressed the camera's viewfinder into my forehead, and got a strong grip on the camera with my right hand. Resting the camera against the palm of my left hand helped stabilize it and the lens, and maintain the spacing. That leaves it to the fingers and thumb to hold the lens at the desired position.

Once I got the hang of it, it worked pretty good! And it was cool to shift the lens around and see the results. However, one final note - be careful how far you space the lens away from the body - too far and you'll get haze on your image from light sneaking through the gap.

I could have tried to do this with a tripod, but I don't have a means to extend mine out over the table I was shooting from. I didn't want to pull Teddy over to the edge, I would have lost the bounced light from the white surface he was standing on. In the end, patience and a little trial and error gave me a great shot.

There's a certain sense of security when you're free-holding your expensive lens a few inches from the table top, but what am I gonna do when I shoot a 5'10" model?! hmmmm.....

Hope you enjoyed...

Sketch shots: Channeling Zack Arias

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:39:00 +0000

If you're a photog and haven't heard of Zack Arias yet, then get busy, get caught up and then get a feed for his blog. You won't regret it.

My first taste of Zack came when I attended his 3-day weekend workshop on CreativeLive where he covered studio photography, and the do's and don'ts of running your own business. Lots of great ideas came out of that workshop.

His latest offering comes in the form of his new "OneLight Field Guide", a companion to his Onelight DVD and associated weekend workshops. While I can't attend his workshops, I did pick up a copy of his field guide.

It's exactly what it says it is - a field guide. He starts with a list of lights & modifiers that he typically takes on location shoots, and follows up with page after page of images he's shot, an accompanying diagram of equipment used and where it was placed, along with the camera settings required to create the shot.

However, it's not really a newbie's guide in that he doesn't walk you through an introduction to lighting. It's a field guide after all, and as such it's short and to the point. If you're an Over-Analytical (O-A) type, but don't have a reasonable grasp of lighting concepts, the guide might be best read in conjunction with his DVD, or after attending one of his workshops.

Since I am an O-A, and A-R to boot (chew on that one for awhile!), I decided I'd try to duplicate some of his results to make see if I could create the same effect with my equipment. For me, that first step of recreating helps me get a firm grasp of another's concepts. From there I can merge and incorporate it with my own style.

So, here's some of my results. Oh, and if you already have his field guide, note that Tammie has been with me a couple years now, so this is one concept I've already been practicing! (this will make sense when you read his guide)

I call this series "The many moods of Tammie"...

(all images are as shot, with only minor tweaks in Lightroom, except where noted)

One Light, large open umbrella

The large umbrella creates a nice, soft light that wraps around Tammie. Where Zack shot against a white background, I shot against black. However, by feathering the light so some hit the background behind her, and placing her closer to it, I achieve roughly the same effect. Notice how she separates from the background.

One light, large half-closed umbrella

Without moving the umbrella, simply closing it down and channeling the light tighter, you get a more dramatic look. The darker mood is enhanced by the lack of a catch light (impossible to get on a mannequin) in her eyes. Some may not like this look, but I'm intrigued by it. Notice how it looks like now she's almost blowing a kiss now?

Adjust the exposure in the camera a bit and zoom in tight on the eyes, and you get another mood from the exact same setup:

(No, those aren't actual catch lights in her eyes, they're painted dots, from the factory. Apparently mannequins with dead eyes don't sell clothes well.)

Back to an open umbrella, and toss in a gridded rim on the other side...

And she pops nicely out of the background while keeping the effect subtle.

Now, something I've only recently been playing with - the idea of moving the main light to more oblique angles...

Strobe with 7" reflector & 20 deg. grid

I placed a 2nd strobe to the side and just slightly behind Tammie, dialed up to create my main light. I kept the large umbrella where it was, and dialed it down till it just barely kissed her face and brought out her eye. To do this I had to feather it so most of the light fell on the background.

Why isn't the background showing up lighter? Inverse Square Law!!! If you don't believe me, read Zack's guide - he mentions it 7 different times in his book. Yes, it's that important...

Ok, last shot - turn off the umbrella light, relocate the gridded one and adjust the power...

(shot in tight, then pulled into Photoshop to extend the canvas to create the effect)

Quite a bit of mystery here...

Ok, so there you have my Zack Arias impression, with maybe a touch of me mixed in here and there. As David DuChemin puts it, these are all sketch photos - test shots of lighting concepts.

Some of them I think I've got dialed in very nicely, some I still want to work on. But they're still sketch shots till I get a chance to use these techniques on a live subject.

Hope you enjoyed...

A fairy tale

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 22:18:00 +0000

Or just a tale I'm trying to tell...

Know what it is?

Enjoy...

An Organic experiment

noreply@blogger.com (John Cowie Photography) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:34:00 +0000

(Thankfully blog editing doesn't include my iPhone's auto-correct feature!)

The experiment revolves around some interesting leaves I found in the back yard during a doggie potty run. I won't give you much in the way of setup, but am asking you to look, react, and send me your impressions.

I tried a couple new ideas, and out of all the shots I selected 5 images to play with. Some images I really like, the others intrique me but also bother me. I won't taint your review by saying anything else.

I could use the help of getting your reactions to these images. No response is wrong - you don't have to be an art critic or photographer to reply. I'd actually prefer a laymen's point of view. If an image bugs you and you don't know why, that's good enough response - just let me know which images you like and which ones bug you. However, if you have an idea of what does bother you, or can articulate what you'd like to see changed, I would appreciate that feedback too!

Here we go:

Image #1

Image #2

Image #3

Image #4

Image #5

Thanks in advance for helping me with this!

Enjoy...