The Savage Land Pictures

Some of the best of Jess on 500px

2012-02-19T21:36:00.001-08:00

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://500px.com/JesseJamesAllen"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;JesseJamesAllen&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; on &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://500px.com"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;500px&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

I decided to start a page on 500px since the website is gaining so much momentum in the photography community. So far I have added 20 of my most popular automotive pictures from Flickr, more to come.

The Tiger

2012-02-12T11:20:00.000-08:00

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://jessejamesallen.bandcamp.com/track/the-tiger"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;The Tiger by Jesse James Allen&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt; Aside from the vocal and drum samples all of the sounds in this dance track were made with "The Tiger" a new VST synthesizer from HG Fortune www.hgf-synthesizer.de

The Tiger is a very inspiring synthesizer with a simple GUI interface and a lush sound set. The synth was a lot of fun to work with during this track, I especially liked the Rhythmic pattern Gator/Step Modulator feature.
The sounds used to create this song were:
16 Sync Lead - The heavy bass (Was processed through guitar rig)
52 interactivity - A SFX type sound that did the build up in the intro
90 2012 Pad - The main background pad (Pulsing pad)
18 Eastern Melody - The melody sound in the main chorus of the song. Also a second tweaked version of this was used as the bass sound in the chorus.
30 TheBorgDas - Main element of the long breakdown (TB303 sounding)
48 Ladder Down - The heavy bass sound hitting in the long breakdown
57 SkrimeEDT - The light arpeggiated synth sound heard at the beginning of the track
2 Spiderlegs EDT - The arpeggiated synth heard as the build in the long breakdown
12 Ultra Overtune(DS) - Used as the ending of the song

"Eternal" - New dance single released

2012-01-31T22:18:00.001-08:00

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://jessejamesallen.bandcamp.com/track/eternal"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Eternal by Jesse James Allen, Jansia, Kel-e, Orl-y&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;
Time to change the formula..."Eternal" a blend of Anthem Trance, Dub and Reggaeton with three guest artists Janisa, Kel-e and Orl-y. After weeks in the studio it is now up on bandcamp!

Dakini - Trance Anthem Single Released

2012-01-22T18:07:00.000-08:00

&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://jessejamesallen.bandcamp.com/track/dakini"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Dakini by Jesse James Allen&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Dakini was inspired by the Daft Punk’s “Derezzed”, with an ending inspired by Jack Wall’s theme for “Mass Effect”. Composed over two and a half weeks across 38 tracks, Dakini explores some interesting themes both musically and sonically.

Perhaps the most unique attribute of Dakini is its focus on classical style piano passages that lead the massively stacked trance synth sounds.

Those who play through to the end section will be treated to a pretty radical drop into the climax of the piece; this transition sound was a wonderful experience in sound design itself as I put the sound together from a variety of synthesized elements.

Dakai is many electronic styles rolled into one… enjoy the trip.

Cover Design by Travis Hill

Will the internet prove everyone has talent?

2011-12-20T19:52:00.000-08:00

A close friend of mine made a statement “What the internet will eventually prove to us is that everyone has talent.” I have been thinking about this for a while and it’s true, we have arrived in an age where if you need tools to unleash your creativity those tools are often easy to find and are very affordable.

With so many people able to create all sorts of media one has to wonder what that will happen to the creative industry as a whole in the near future?

I think the music world is giving us a sneak peek at what will happen to other artistic media. It use to cost a fortune for a band to go to a studio, put together an album, get it duplicated, marketed and distributed. Now days a composer can put together an album with great home recording gear and get it on i-tunes or bandcamp working a minimum wage job. In basic terms what was once a playground only for the rich or lucky has now become open to anyone with a passion and some basic computer skills.

iTunes, Pandora radio and the like have completely change how people think of hearing and obtaining music. The term "album" is rather obsolete and most people these days associate artists with specific songs rather than an album; A crazy example but - Rebecca Black’s “Friday” made her an overnight one-hit-wonder thanks to You Tube – not a record company, not a manager, not a distributor and it wasn’t even part of an album at all. Another interesting case was the vastly popular Skrillex who created his Grammy award winning album “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” on his laptop in his apartment; The next thing we know the former unknown is on a world tour with millions of fans worldwide from the internet.

(The super talented Josh money is a Orlando based composer on the edge of breaking into the big time. He held the #2 spot on the Beat-port top 10 right Dub-Step just under Skrillex recently. Check him out here http://www.beatport.com/artist/josh-money/27088 )

If you haven’t already discovered it another revolution is happening on Cinema5D.com and Vimeo and that is all the independent film makers finally being able to make and release films for under $10K.

These films are all amazing:

Panic Attack:

The Chapel

TheChapel. A short film. (HDR timelapse) from Patryk Kizny on Vimeo.

Portal No Escape

Tempest Milky Way:

Tempest Milky Way from Randy Halverson on Vimeo.

Films with quality as high as these use to cost an extraordinary amount of money often with little or no way to ever recoup your expenses or even be seen by the general public other than film festivals. Some films such as “Paranormal Activity” were made on a shoestring budget and became box office block buster’s rivaling films costing over 100 times more to produce.

Of course the word of photography has been exploding with creativity since digital cameras and programs like Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro have made what was once an alchemy-like-art accessible and understandable by the masses. The ever popular Flickr has millions of photos a day loaded on it. Before the internet many images would likely only see leather portfolios and scrapbooks with some lucky artists managing to show in a gallery or magazine. It is likely however in many cases (even for me) that the social aspect of people actually commenting on our work online keeps a lot of us creative types going, where as unsupported many would likely give up in time otherwise.

Some of my favorite Flickr artists:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rammorrison/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emsoto/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/denniske/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dehaven_digital/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/darkstarsphoto

http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniel_2009/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gfwilliams/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/benheine/

All of this makes one wonder if people like George Lucas, Ansel Adams and The Beatles were just coming up today would they have enjoyed the same success as they did back in the day? These people helped inspire so many of the ideas and processes we use today in modern software so if they hadn't been a part of history our history may have been a little different...but what I am talking about is could their talent still shine through as brightly as it did if millions of others had access to their same tools and processes?

To the thought above I say yes...talent is talent and no amount of software or hardware will ever replace a great mind, a deep passion. Think of the modern creative trends like stock car racing, it's getting to the point where everyone can enter the creative race on equal technological par. Those who really have the talent, passion and persistence will likely find some victory and cheering fans.

On the negative side of all this there is also an alarming trend of devaluation of all creative art. I'm not going to drop any links here but there are certain stock media websites that encourage selling photos, footage & music for little money. I have seen open licences for music going for $14 or less (with the stock host taking half), photography going for $1 on some for unlimited rights. I could really take a deep dive into why this a very bad thing for the creative industry but for all you artists out there before you give away your gift for so little consider the time you spent creating it, all the knowledge you had to gain to create it, the price of all the equipment needed to bring it to life ... think about that... lets just say if you had to make a living at it, would you charge the same as you are about to ask for now?

The last thing I will talk about here is creativity for creative resource. I am of course talking about all those artists and companies making the huge amounts of plug-ins, samples, software and equipment to empower all us creative types. If your really looking to make a living at creativity you might take a serious look at what is going on with this. People who find a new hobby quickly buy up a lot of creative content to help them; if you can make a product to help inspire creative minds or help them work more efficiently you likely have a successful and creative future ahead of you... a modern day "Funk Brothers" or ILM

(Photo from Tonehammer now known as 8dio and Soundiron make extrodinary samples for modern composers at very affordable prices)

Will the internet eventually prove to us is that everyone has talent? Maybe.. but what is more important is that with all that is going on creatively the internet is showing us without question how important art is to the human race.

My Top 20 Photos from 2011

2011-12-16T10:01:00.000-08:00

As 2011 comes to a close I decided to reflect on some of my favorite shots and projects. This year the list is 20 wide but you’ll see why as this was a very diversified year for me as an artist.

(Click any picture to see it in a larger size)

“Azlan” was shot at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay with a rented lens at the end of 2010. Every photographer goes to a zoo hoping for that magic when you can capture a moment with a rare creature that would be virtually impossible out in the wild. There is a lot of waiting for a shot like this, animals rarely pose for long so it’s all about being ready to hit the shutter.

The shot was tweaked to maximize the beautiful light across the main. Of course I thought of the story “The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe” and that is how the shot got its name.

Diva LaIndia was starting up her you tube page and needed a proper background. I hired in Kyle Vest to do the wonderful body paint. After hours under the airbrush LaIndia emerged as a character with great Puerto Rican pride and some wonderful New York accents as well.

Image was done against a green screen and the wall behind her was composited. I was pleased with the metal texture I made for the lettering in her name as well.

“Djinn Remix” started out as dancer Lori Katz stood up and arched over backwards to the camera for a bellydance portrait. The shot as taken really didn’t come off as we hoped but flipping it upside down and adding some black smoke like a “Genie in a bottle” It came to life. Lori’s husband liked the shot so much that he commissioned me to make a bigger/grader version of it. There must have been 30 layers of lens flares to get all the sparkles, not to mention all the painted in smoke effects. After all the layers were built a considerable amount of time was spent in re-coloring as the original shot was set against a neutral grey backdrop.

Bonnet Smart was shot at an Orlando drag racing track for a local Smart car club event. This was a tricky shot to get not so much in the set up but walking across the surface of the drag track literally stopped me in my tracks as the surface was like fly paper. A simple light change took nearly five minutes just to walk over and back. I used two studio strobes to light the car from each side.

In post I did an HDRI pass with some extra contrast. The shot was named after the owner Ivonne Bonnet who runs the local chapter of the Smart club

“Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars” was shot one evening on the St Johns river after I was returning home from Daytona Beach. I shot a series of photos that night in that area mostly because I was interested in the massive power plant nearby.

All the shots of the power plant came out pretty bad but this shot with the airplanes heading toward Daytona Airport more than made up for it.

“The Deadstalkers Album Cover” was shot on a green screen for the band “Fast Fists”. Make up for Lori Katz was done by Kyle Vest in a ultra Goth type fashion.

The background was shot separately at Rollins Collage in Winter Park Florida but lit the same as the studio shoot for continuity,

Bringing the composite together was fairly straight forward and the rest was simply picking the best tonal look (done in Nik Color EFX Pro). The band was very pleased with the cover.

“In the Shadows” was a spin off shot from an album cover shoot I did for the St Petersburg band “Fast Fists” . The image was shot on a green screen and the set was created in DAZ 3d.

I created the shot because I have an interest in blending 3d environments with reality as they do so well in movies these days. I thought for a serious first attempt this turned out pretty realistic.

“Heart of America” was of course taken in Times Square New York. Though this exact spot has shown up in countless photographs the simple fact that I was actually standing in the most famous intersection in America made me snap the Cliché shot but add my own little twist to the post process.

“Let Freedom Ring” is an HDRI image shot in the shadow of the Statute of Library. The sun was directly behind lady library to create the halo effect seen here. The HDRI processing only got me about halfway to this shot, I spent a considerable amount of time in the NIK program Viveza 2 to bring out all the detail and color hidden in the shadows.

“Ellis Island” – You would never know from this shot that there were a ton of tourists there that day. My family and I just happened to walk into this hall when no one was there, I’m not sure why it was so empty but thinking quickly I used my backpack as a tripod and captured the moment.

In post I used HDRI processing on the triple bracketed image along with a little bleach bypass love to bring out all this detail in the bricks.

“Departure Ceremony” - Independence day weekend - American reserve troops stand in a departure ceremony saying goodbye to their friends and families before leaving for up to a year.

I volunteered my time to these troops and their families on this day to photograph each of them so they can remember each other on the far side of the world.
Regardless of your political beliefs this event was very humbling. These troops and their families willingly make a sacrifice the majority would never consider. I have a great respect to the American men and women who so bravely serve our country, we would not be here if they did not.
This was a 4th of July event I will never forget.

“Blue Monday” - While on a business trip to Vancouver I shot this image on a cell phone while strolling through the immensely beautiful “Stanley Park”. The image of ships in the harbor was just so tranquil I had to bring it to life as I saw it that day.

Through some color restoration in Viveza the shot was sculpted to be what I had hoped for. Though it was not shot on Monday it was named so because of the lyrics to the New Order song “Blue Monday” that say “I see a ship in the harbor, I can and shall obey but if it wasn’t for your misfortune I would be a heavenly person today” … whatever that means.

“Orl-y & Kel-e” - This image was taken for a couple of Reggaeton artists here in Orlando out in an abandoned railroad yard. The color processing on this really made this special , I was working with some new “Red Giant” software - “Magic Bullet” to achieve the effect.

“Bubbles” - Lori again (my muse for this year) had hired me to do some bellydance photos for her, but at the end of the session I requested a couple extra shots to try out some more virtual reality sets. This shot modeled after the Michael Parks painting “Gargoyles “ was by far my favorite, though did not receive much attention online.

To create it I composited a shot of Lori on the green screen, a photo of a bubble blowing device and a sky photo taken on the parking garage where I work. The stone structure and big cat were created with Daz 3d. Color processing was done with Nik Color EFX Pro and Red Giant “Magic Bullet”

“Flamenco del Sol #8” - Tammy Millar poses for a shot to be used in the “Pasion Flamenca” performance program. The shot was taken in the lobby of the Casa Monica historic hotel in St. Augustine (about 12” from the reception desk)

I used three strobes for the shot to freeze the dress that was dropped by hand.

The theatrical gobo lighting effect was created with the Digital Film Tools Plug-in “Light”

“Flamenco del Sol #9” - Karen dances outside the Casa Monica hotel for the “Pasion Flamenca” performance program.

This shot used four monolights to add some color to the night. I used a blue gel for the strobe hitting the fountain.

I really love the movement in this shot.

“Like my Status” was taken at the 2011 Orlando Festival of Speed. The Ferrari F430GT was parked in a very crowded spot but thanks to a wide lens and a low angle I was able to walk away with a sweet shot.

I lit the car with a 240 Watt studio strobe attached to a Alien Bee’s Vagabond tucked inside pilots case; it made a great mobile lighting setup.

“4 5 8” was also shot at the Orlando Festival of Speed, ironically I was actually setting up to take a shot of a Ford GT when I saw the Ferrari making its way down the path. I quickly turned the camera and strobe light around waited for that perfect moment as the 458 entered my frame; the strobe froze the 458 in the image so most would never know it was a moving shot.

In post I did a selective desaturation and toning process. I also spent some time in Color Efx pro getting the Ferrari just the right shade of red.

“Serenidad 10” was shot from the deck of the 41’ sail boat as we pulled into the docks in Marco Island Florida. The sunset created this beautiful golden tone that really summed up the romantic atmosphere that was with my girlfriend and I during our sail; simply a beautiful way to end a day.

Equus Prime – Album cover
Inspired by the “Shadow of the Colossus” video game by ICO - I created this album cover image using fractals, star brushes and a photo of a “Colossus”
The image of the Colossus horse is in fact real, it was a group of trees in a local greenbelt that took on such a wonderful shape that I had to capture it. Though the shot was taken in daylight I transformed it into a night to fit the mood of this sci-fi type musical track.

Equus Prime - Relased

2011-12-12T21:10:00.001-08:00

, a photo by Savage Land Pictures on Flickr.

Equus Prime by Jesse James Allen

Via Flickr:
My latest original score: jessejamesallen.bandcamp.com/track/equus-prime

This track pays homage to artists like Enigma & Vangelis. Equus Prime is a very atmospheric track lush with sound textures and melodies.

For me one of the most creative aspects of composing this track was creating all of the sounds for it across a wide range of samplers and synthesizers. I wanted it to sound otherworldly with a trace of familiarity so real instrument elements are blended with synthetic sounds.

The cover artwork was done by me as well. As with the name is inspired by the ICO video game "Shadow of the Colossus" . The image of the horse is in fact real, it was a group of trees in a local greenbelt that took on such a wonderful shape that I had to capture it. Though the shot was taken in daylight I transformed it into a night to fit the mood of this sci-fi type track.

Thanks for listening! Namaste - JJ

PASION FLAMENCA

2011-12-10T17:14:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the most complex project I have worked on over the past couple months was a complete body of work around a group of Floridian performers named "Flamenco Del Sol".

To explain who this group is it is advisable to watch this short documentary about the group that I produced with former "Hip Hop 411" host "Diva La India"

Part 1

Part 2

The dance group lead by veteran instructors Tammy and Alonso Millar was slated to perform at the Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center at the end of October but before the show the group requested that I photograph the dancers for the official program.

In the past I have done such shots in the studio but I was really wanting to take it up a notch this go around. I worked with Tammy and the Casa Monica historic hotel in St Augustine Florida to really raise the visual bar. The result was a full day photo shoot on location.

The theatrical type lighting was really the key to success with these dancer photos ; during the shoot I ran a four light array with various colored gels to bring out the wonderful colors in the costumes . Some shots were done externally so for power I relied on the Alien Bees Vagabond 2.

To dial in the stage like lighting gobo's I used a plug-in package called "light" from "Digital Film Tools", for me this was an invaluable tool since setting up all these patterns live would have required so much more time than I had available. Color correction was done primarily with Nik Viveza , an excellent color tuning tool that runs with Lightroom

About a month after the pre-show photos I was shooting live at the Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center, The theater staff there really did a great job with lighting. Flamenco Del Sol performed "PASION FLAMENCA" a two hour show.

The primarily Latin audience was mesmerized and for good reason; having worked for a performing arts complex in Denver for many years I have seen some great shows and this one was top notch, especially on night two.

There was a lot of emotion on stage and each dancer brought their own persona out in full light

Each number had it's own style but all numbers pulled the audience deeper into the world of Flamenco dance, transporting us all to not only another place but another time as well.

For me as a photographer, watching the transformation of each dancer as they walked across stage to embrace their persona was somewhat magical. As the music starts you see a notable change in the face and eyes, the movement does not seem planned but rather let out like words from a beautiful poem.

Shooting Flamenco requires some understanding of music and timing. Many of the choice shots were achieved by counting the measures varying between 3/4 and 6/8 to anticipate a choice moment.

My choice lens for the shoot was the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II IS USM for it's constant F-stop and favorable range. I have shot at other indoor events and found that this lens is ideal for capturing fast movements in low light.

Each night at the end of the performance the audience stood and cheered; The dedication and passion the dancers had brought to the stage had paid off.

This was a wonderful project and I am honored they chose me as their photographer.

The complete set of shots from the PASION FLAMENCA show can be seen here

Thanks for reading!

The 2011 Orlando Festival Of Speed

2011-12-06T15:49:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a little while since my last post but only because I have been on a number of projects, one of them photographing automobiles for a couple collectors at the Orlando "Festival of Speed".

For those of you who are not familiar with the show, the Festival of speed is the premier Exotic car show in Orlando, Miami and St Petersburg at various times of the year.

http://festivalsofspeed.com/

I have been attending the Festival of Speed for a number of years and have worked in the past as a photographer for the coordinators but this year it was a couple of collectors who wrangled me in to capture their hard work on a set of beautiful Mustang Mach 1’s.

The Mach 1 (1969-1978) is a stunning muscle car that shares many of the key features of the original Ford Mustang but has a more aggressive looking style that cues you in that this pony means business.

Both the classic 302 and 428 Mach 1’s were on display at the show and certainly turned some heads.

I actually enjoyed following these two down the highway as they made some glorious sounds out on the road.

I did manage to shoot some other vehicles at the show as well because well…I love automobiles and I was like a kid in a candy store at the show.

Before I get to the ultra speedy stuff I will make mention of a beautiful trio of Thunderbirds that was on display; I have always been fond of the styling of the Thunderbird as it really sums up to me the classic 1950 American auto design.

Moving on of course the crowd favorite was the Bugatti Veyron that I believe is the rare Centenaire as it was painted in an all elegant blue tone. I had a brief moment with this car alone as they loaded this vehicle in that I captured this image.

The other head turner at the show was the brand new Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4; this 700 HP aggressively styled exotic for me really brought back what made Lamborghini so different many years ago.

The previous Murciélago seemed so rounded compared to the edgy lined classics like the Diablo and Countach, I was glad to see the bold lines and high shock value were back with a vengeance. I think many people agree as getting a clear shot of the Aventador was next to impossible with the crowds gawking around it.

Another new Exotic strutted its stuff at the event – the Ferrari 458 Italia stayed for a while. This new Ferrari was raved about on the BBC show “Top Gear” as “one of the all time greats” “It really is absolutely , unbelievably, mesmerizingly brilliant. “ All I know is that it is a stunning vehicle in person.

Aston Martin of Orlando brought out a beautiful display of British brilliance , as a huge Lotus fan I was loving the Lotus Exige SC RGB Edition

But certainly the 007 chariots were impressive as well.

My favorite shot from the show? Well that would have to be the stunning GT clad Ferrari 430 that was on display in the main ring…wow, just wow.

Thanks for reading

Wanna dance?

2011-10-18T15:54:00.000-07:00

My"Lo-Fi epic" music cue strikes again in a completely different form , this time as a viral video made by the you tube user FineLeatherJackets who managed to rack up a mind boggling 604,217 views

This one looks like it might make the game fan history books as detailed on "Know Your Meme"

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/wanna-dance#fn3

That is the funny part about what I do for a living, I never know what will happen to the material I create next... for a track I wrote back in 2006 it's been a crazy journey.

Major thanks to "FineLeatherJackets" and the other 70 people who have posted variations of the "Wanna Dance" You guys all rock!

Cover tracks

2011-10-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

So today something very cool happened; I received an email through you tube that a couple of artists had redone my best known musical piece "Lo Fi Epic" from Mass Effect 2 in a pseudo 8 bit style.

Here is the original:

Here is the Super Nintendo remake by "TheRealDutchOwner":

And here is the Windows XP remake done by Stickheadz32:

For those of you who don't know the story behind my Mass Effect 2 music track it goes like this:

So for you Mass Effect 2 Fans here is perhaps one of the oddest "making of stories" you will hear. This track "Lo Fi Epic" was actually composed for the EA Sports Arena Football game in February of 2006 but never saw the light of day, hitting the cutting room floor after a producer nixed it for being "Too Techno" . The track went into the music archives and lived on the main server network for years.

Fast forward to 2010 when I was sitting down with my new copy of Mass Effect 2. I am a huge Mass Effect fan, I had played through version 1 many times. So one can only imagine my reaction when I walked into the lower level of "Club Afterlife" and heard this track... At first I said "hummm that sounds very familiar" then it hit me "Holy crap I wrote that!".

Sadly I was not credited in the game for this piece of music but neither was:

Saki Kaskas - Callista - Upper Club Afterlife (Originally used in Need For Speed Hot Pursuit)

John Morgan - Happiness - Dark Star Lounge

Comaduster - To Hide To Seek - Eternity Bar

This story got even crazier when I Googled the name of the ME2 planet this music was found on, there was a user on You Tube that had extracted the file from the PC version of the game and identified me as the composer; his video had over 100,000 views with many comments about who wrote it and where they could find it. EA Traxx or whoever passed along the cue to Bioware renamed the track "The Techno Madness Mix" but had left my name in file name or metadata.

I had actually met the sound design team for Mass Effect up in Canada during a sound design for video game meeting; Simon Pressy the Mass Effect audio director and I talked at length during that meeting, I expressed my interest and support for their projects. While working on Warhammer I even helped produced some sounds for their games to use. So I can't say I don't know how this all happened but in my wildest dreams I would have never imagined Lo Fi Epic making it into Mass Effect 2 much less the fans reaction to this track (Thank you all). I even got an email from the Mass Effects' main composer Jack Wall that stated he heard so many good things from fans about "Lo Fi Epic" (Of course I am in awe of Jacks score for the game).

Hearing "Lo Fi Epic" in game reminds me of the days when I use to have acetates cut of my music and taking it to clubs. That feeling of watching hundreds of people dance to something I created was beyond words... this track in Mass Effect immortalized that feeling for me. Anyway that is the crazy story of Lo Fi Epic and Mass Effect 2.

Jesse James Allen to Speak at SIEGE atlanta

2011-09-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

I'll will be giving a formal presentation on "How to avoid the top 10 mistakes in game audio" at the Southern Interactive Entertainment & Game Expo in Atlanta GA - October 7th-9th. Other speakers include EA Chief Creative Officer Richard Hilleman and Ben Sawyer of the Serious Games Initiative. If you are in the area feel free to attend this event - siegecon.net/SIEGE2011/

Arrullo Gitano - Gypsy Lullaby

2011-08-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

I just released a new track called " Arrullo Gitano - Gypsy Lullaby":

Arrullo Gitano was based on the musical styles of some of my greatest influences such as "Enigma", "Deep Forest" and "Delerium". The track features atmospheric vocals against both orchestral and electronic sounds.

For me the choir and voices were the highlight of the track as they were completely done with sampler VST's from East-West. For the choirs I used Symphonic Choirs that allowed me to type in phrases for a boys choir to sing; quite amazing technology but the software achieves this by using phonemes. The Female vocal at the end of the track was also done with a sampler VST, this one known as "Voices of Passion" that not only allowed me to play in the melody of the female singer but also allowed for vocal expression with a lower set of control keys.

Back in the days when the band Enigma released Sadness Part 1 it was composed on an little known $45,000 Waveframe Audioframe 1000 sampling workstation, comparable to a Fairlight CMI Series 3 it is understandable why many people didn't create this type of music as it was financially inaccessible the bulk of electronic musicians. These days a few hundred dollars will get you a sampling workstation program that would smoke these older machines like a ham such as NI's Kontakt . For me growing up and being inspired with bands such as Enigma I finally feel my time has come and I have the ability to truly explore my musical creativity with out really any limitations (or insane financial overhead).

I put together this video to show a complete inside look to how I put together Arrullo Gitano - Gypsy Lullaby:

I know a lot of electronic musicians may question why I reveal the instruments that I use in these making of videos but I really don't see why not, it's no different than a guitarist of a rock band saying "I use a Les Paul" as it is not what the instrument is but rather how it is played. The teacher in me also feels that it is important to share this information so newer artists, be they young or old can discover the joys of these instruments for themselves and create better music for all of us.

Thanks for reading and I hope you like the new tune :)

How to bottle lightning

2011-08-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

First a little disclaimer: Photographing lightning is a high risk venture, if you choose to try it be smart and let your gear do the dangerous work while you stay safe inside a house or car

Though there are thousands of lightning photos out there,

as a photographer no subject will offer you a challenge quite like getting a great shot of lightning, nor the gratification of saying "I took this". To capture that split second of mothers natures fury you will need to be well prepared and patient.

What you will need to pull a lightning shot off: The way I did the shots in this blog was to find a night with significant electrical storm activity. I waited until the heart of the

storm passed overhead and crossed a huge lake near my home (until the thunder was very distant). Lightning can strike from miles away so I did everything I could not to hang outside for long. I set up the 7d on a tripod under a set of trees and hooked it up to a Satechi TR-C; This device has an Intervalometer that can be set to take a photo every X-seconds and take up to as many photos as you like back to back (This works for Time-Lapse photography too).

Camera setting for night time lightning action are:

- Manual Mode

- Exposure time 15 seconds

- F 5.0

- ISO 250

- Manual Focus set to infinity

- Intervalometer shoot once every 32 seconds (to cover the 15 seconds taking the shot + the 15 second noise reduction the cameras do internally)

- 11 shots a set

From the safety (and air conditioning) of my car several feet away all I did is watch the distant lightning show and keep an eye on the back of the camera. Since the Intervalometer was shooting on such a tight interval I just waited for the red processing light to turn off on the back of the camera to know the set was complete. Then I would go retrieve the camera or set up the next set of shots.

If you shoot at too high of an iso you will never see the bolt itself, just the halo around it and the cloud so this is the biggest reason why I shoot at a low iso especially for 15 seconds. The reason for the long shutter time is that you will radically increase your odds of getting one or more lightning strikes per photo. This will save lots of frustration trying to hit the shutter faster than the speed of light.

It should be known though if you do wish to have a device trigger your camera when lightning goes off they do make them; try the one from AEO Photo or the Lightning Trigger .

Hopefully this will help you get that elusive lightning photo for your portfolio. This is not an easy task so give it more than one try and someday you will get that jaw dropping shot you are after.

Be safe and good luck!

My first vocal trance anthem track released

2011-07-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

<a href="http://jessejamesallen.bandcamp.com/track/just-believe">Just Believe by Jesse James Allen</a>

I am very excited to announce the release of my latest single "Just Believe"; this is my first vocal trance anthem track.

This track was written and composed last week and sang by the lovely Bernice Chaberier.

The lyrics:

Another Day

The light burns within

Another Way

To keep the fire burning

You use to say

Hold tight to your faith

It will be okay

Close your eyes - Just believe

NCAA Football - The making of the game

2011-07-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

I recently finished working on the EA Sports NCAA Football 12 video game from an audio standpoint. Recently the folks over at ESPNU have put together a documentary that followed the entire process of making all aspects of this video game.

I believe the part I am in is Episode 3 as my main function on this title was audio source acquisition; the highlight being recording a massive DrumCore as part of the original soundtrack.

Check out details on this documentary here

Here is the initial schedule of dates and times the series will air on ESPNU:

Episode 1: Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT

Episode 2: July 21, 7 p.m. EDT

Episode 3: July 28, 7 p.m. EDT

Episode 4: August 4, 7 p.m. EDT

From the Base to the Bass

2011-07-06T19:59:00.001-07:00

Busy month for me as I did a slew of projects and traveled from Canada to New York and back home. Some of the stand out projects this month:

Independence day weekend - American reserve troops stand in a departure ceremony saying goodbye to their friends and families before leaving for up to a year.

I volunteered my time to these troops and their families on this day to photograph each of them so they can remember each other on the far side of the world.

Regardless of your political beliefs this event was very humbling. These troops and their families willingly make a sacrifice the majority would never consider. I have a great respect to the American men and women who so bravely serve our country, we would not be here if they did not.

This was a 4th of July event I will never forget.

___________________________________________________

On the music front I produced a new track called "Tranquility Bass"; this hard hitting trance track also features a video showcasing the various synthesizers I used to create the original track. Check out the video here:

_________________________________________________

Photos from my trip to New York will start hitting my Flickr account this month. I hadn't been to NYC since I was about 10 years old but I remember it vividly and I wasn't disappointed. From the top of the Empire State building to Liberty Island I was truly amazing at this city

_________________________________________________

I also did another round of Bellydance photos this month. This time through I took a more subtle approach with the backdrops and tried to capture a unique perspective of the essence of each dancer.

I used a new product by "Digital Film Tools" called light that was amazing to work with on this project. Check out this plug in here

More to come, thanks for reading!

The three most enigmatic musical instruments

2011-06-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about working as a sound designer is the conversations I get to have with other sound designers and composers. I find so often that I am always learning something new.

Today I am talking about something that has nothing to do with me other than my love for music and sound; I am going to share with you something that sound designer Dale Stump shared with me about three very special and yet very mysterious instruments. Two of the three I am going to bet you have heard before but would never know by seeing it and one of them is like no other instrument I have ever seen.

The first instrument is the Ondes Martenot; those of you familiar with the Theremin might quickly relate it to that as the sound is very similar. It was invented in 1928 by a Cellist and it shows. There is a great you tube video demonstrating this electronic instrument and at the end of the video the musician playing it will play a little melody that you most certainly will recognize but would have never guessed it was composed on a Ondes:

Click here to see the Ondes Video

More detailed reading on the Ondes Martenot can be found here: Wikipedia

Invented in 1761 by Ben Franklin the "Glass Harmonica" aka "Hydrocrystalphone" is a visually beautiful instrument with an even more beautiful sound. Though the Glass Harmonica sounds electronic it is not , the instrument spins on a cylinder rotated in very much the same way an old fashioned sewing machine works; the musician simply rubs damp fingers over the spinning crystal bowls to produce the sound and oh what a beautiful sound it is - take a listen ---> Glass Harmonic Video You will totally recognize this instruments sound.

More detailed reading on the Glass Harmonica can be found here on Wikipedia

Ok now it's time for something a bit unworldly, I give you the Cristal Baschet created in 1952 by French brothers interested in making a sculpture you could play based off their instrument building skills to encourage kids to take an interest in music.

Similar to how the Glass Harmonica is played the musician glides their fingers over crystal cylinders that resonate through a block and three large cones that amplify the sound. This instrument makes some hauntingly complex tones and depending on what you use to manipulate the crystals (such as a soft mallet instead of your fingers) it can radically transform it's tonal range.

Take a listen to this amazing instrument here Cristal Baschet Video

More info on the Cristal Baschet here on Wikipedia

Cool stuff right? That's exactly what I said. Now if your like me and are asking "Alrighty where can I get my hands on these?" Well sadly they are very rare, though you never know what may show up on ebay. In the mean time there is a set of sample libraries by Sonic Couture you could pick up for NI Kontakt that may be the next best thing. Check out Sonic Couture

*Photos used in this post are creative commons from Wikipedia

Back to my documentary roots

2011-05-09T19:59:00.000-07:00

Wow, where do I even start?

There is so much going on for me in all areas of music, photography and video production but before I go into all that is new I should reflect and something from my past; "Chiefs" was a documentary I worked on with director Daniel Junge in 2001 that aside from letting me work at Skywalker Sound for a while (on sound design and some music) it also won "Best Documentary" at the Tribeca Film Festival the year it was released. It recently became available for free viewing on Hulu.

See Chiefs here on Hulu:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/232907/chiefs

Or pick up a copy at amazon

As for what the film is about: "Chiefs - It's been seven years since the Wyoming Indian High School Chiefs have won a state championship in basketball. For most schools, this is a rather unremarkable statistic. But for the inhabitants of the Wind River Indian Reservation, who have experienced a century and a half of injustice, basketball is a form of empowerment, self-expression, and access to the world outside "the Rez." By using basketball as a vehicle, CHIEFS explores what it means to grow up Native American at the turn of the 21st century."

Now on to recent events:

Recently I have returned to my documentary roots with Latin host "Diva LaIndia" to produce a short documentary on a Flamenco Dance Duo here in Central Florida. I did all the photography, cinematography, music, lighting and edit on this. Catch "Flamenco Del Sol" on you tube:

How about some new music? Yes I have two new tracks to share, the first is a remix of "Deadstalkers" by the St Petersburg band "Fast Fists" you can hear it here on Bandcamp:

I should make note of the image on the cover that I shot with the master make up artist Kyle Vest and Bellydancer Lori Katz. This was shot on a green screen at a studio and the backdrop was lit and shot to match in Winter Park a few days later. I did the toning process in the style of "Twilight" to sell the Goth Theme

So the next piece of music is a recent track I did just because. The track is called "Alpha" and it's a melodic trance theme in the style of DJ Tiesto. You can hear it here:

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://jessejamesallen.bandcamp.com/track/alpha"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Alpha by Jesse James Allen&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
There is also a very cool video of it on you tube with some behind the scenes "making of" this track here

Also the music from the Flamenco Documentary is available here as my first venture into Dub Step:
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://jessejamesallen.bandcamp.com/track/dub-sol"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Dub Sol by Jesse James Allen&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Well that about wraps it up for now. I am currently finishing up sound design on NCAA Football and Madden 2012 with EA Sports

Cheers,

Shooting an MTV wedding

2011-04-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

At around 1pm on a Saturday I received a call from a good friend - renown wedding photographer Kristen Wheeler. Kristen said that her secondary photographer had fallen ill with the flu and needed someone who could shoot a very high profile wedding that night with her; I agreed since the location was at the Orlando Science center so I knew this would be a unique wedding.

Little did I know the wedding was the wedding of Christina & Jereme Adams as featured on MTV's "Quierro Mi Boda" see it here: www.mtvtr3s.com/videos/quiero-mi-boda-christina-and-jerem..

Shooting with a reality show camera crew behind you was quite the experience but the bride and groom seemed to love the attention. One of the big benefits was that the MTV crew brought in tons of lighting so that made my job a little easier though I still relied heavily on my trusted Vivitar 285HV.

Kristen has shot weddings all over the world so it was a great learning experience for me as well as a creative challenge to shoot something more photojournalistic in contrast to my very commercially biased style . In a wedding you do not have a second chance for anything, you have to be on your toes and able to adapt your gear in a heartbeat.

I followed the groom mostly as he and his side of the family prepared for the big moment. There was some touching moments as Jereme Adams helped his dad get ready and of course the moment he said his vows to Christina with tears of joy. You could tell despite the extravagance of this wedding these two truly are in love with each other.

The majority of the wedding I shot with my Canon 50mm for its low light ability, I had a few other lenses in the backpack just in case but overall this shoot was about capturing the moment.

Major thanks to Kristen Wheeler for such an amazing opportunity.

The effect of Mass Effect

2011-04-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

Those of you who aren't into games "Mass Effect" Is a sci-fi trilogy that will likely go down as one of the greatest video game trilogies of all time. This epic space saga by EA Bioware is so amazingly deep it has captured the hearts of millions of fans worldwide. Check it out here: http://masseffect.bioware.com/agegate/?url=%2F

I recently played through the "Lair of the Shadow Broker" on "Mass Effect 2" and being inspired in my rare off time I decided to pull an all nighter and compose Zorah's Fire as if I were composing for ME3. Check it out on you tube:

Yes, likely I will send Zorah's Fire off to the great North and see if the Bioware team would want to use it for DLC or the like since I know they already have a composer for ME3 (Clint Mansell) ---lucky guy.

Zorah's Fire was Inspired by the amazing Jack Wall Score on ME1 & 2; I decided to step away from my basic trance style and try somet

hing a lot more cinematic. From a musical standpoint it really is not that complex but from a sound design standpoint creating the soundscape of this track with a huge array of VST synths was quite the challenge.

I used a number of synthesizers from HG Fortune on this score namely "Avatar" and "Protoplasm TSM" http://www.hgf-synthesizer.de/ ; I can't say enough good things about the HG Fortune synthesizers; patch for patch they are packed with inspiration for this type of score. A fellow sound designer named Dale Stump turned me onto these synthesizers and I was just in heaven when I downloaded the free demo's of them. The Avatar Synthesizer is to VST's what the Oberhiem Matrix 12 was to analog synthesizers.

The rest was layer after layer of Reaktor 5 user Synths (I could write a novel on how amazing Reaktor is check it out at: http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/reaktor-55/ ) and the sampled strings for that more human feel. I will say that my mind thought a lot about Daft Punk's recording for the new Tron film on this.

Ironically it was composed in "Reaper" a wonderful "can't live without" audio editing program http://www.reaper.fm/

The illustration of Tali'Zorah nar Rayya the "Quarian" Alien from Mass Effect was also done by me in Corel Painter. This actually took many nights of work since I am not the best illustrator and it was an endless game of look at reference screen capture and building the image piece by piece (painting by grid)

Anyway this track is not officially part of Mass Effect in any way and may not ever be but that won't stop me from my enthusiasm for this epic game. If nothing else this is simply for all you die hard Mass Effect Fans out there, consider this a serious piece of fan art. Besides I had to follow up my last appearance in Mass Effect 2 (The track used in the Lower Afterlife Club was mine, check out the remix of it on the link below:

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://jessejamesallen.bandcamp.com/track/lo-fi-epic-embracing-the-afterlife-mix"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Lo Fi Epic - Embracing the Afterlife Mix by Jesse James Allen&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Cheers,
- JJ

Bombastic Beats Back Again

2011-03-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

t's been a very busy set of weekend for me as I am really getting back into music production. Two tracks have emerged from my late night studio adventures that you gotta check out.

The first track is Karnātaka a Daft Punk style trance track embraced by haunting Carnetic vocals. Those who have been following my music through the years shouldn't be surprised to hear the Indian influence in this track as I have long been a fan of both the Culture and Music of India and have dropped many ethnic elements in my tracks through the years.

Take a listen to Karnātaka here

The second track is Deep C: based on a track by German electronica artist Josua Kollmann called "C" . I worked with Josh on another track called "Going Mad" back in January that he sent to me through You Tube.

Deep C: is a DJ Tiesto style all out Progressive Trance track that packs a mega-punch for 125BPM. Take a listen to Deep C:

For those interested in the tech of these two tracks I composed them in Reaper using the NI Komplete VST's and a couple of wonderful free vst's: the Genesis and some DSK plugs

Both of these tracks were a lot of fun to produce, I can't express how happy I am to be composing again.

Shooting smart

2011-03-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

This month I was invited by the Organizer of "Central Florida smarts" to the 3rd annual smart car anniversary which is a celebration of the smart car being in the United States for 3 years. For the “smart” owners this was a fun filled two day event that included good food, fun drives, track events and a chance to meet face to face those that they chat with on the smart forum.

The group spawns from a meet up group located at: Meetup.com/smarties The group is packed full of die hard smart car fans who talk about driving, modifying and the basic joys of owning one of the most unique coupes in the world. The event was hosted by fellow photographer, smart car owner and Organizer to the Central FL smart car group Ivonne Bonett who worked with me on coving the world class Festival of Speed in Orlando two years ago.

Photographing automobiles is something I am very use to but I have to say the smart is no ordinary automobile. The 106.1 inch mini car frames up vastly different than the normal exotics I shoot, even little ones such as the Lotus Exige seem pretty hefty compared to the smart for two coupe.

For the group shots I placed my CCS (Colossus camera stand) on the back of a truck and ran the 7D remotely with a robotic head with joystick remote, live view and my Satechi TR-A. I took a couple of traditional shots with my 8mm lens and then had the truck backed in closer for the overhead HDR Panorama that was stitched from 9 shots (3 across in triple bracket HDR) in Adobe Photoshop. The smarts were so small that the truck was only about 3ft away from the front bumper of the nearest smart in the shot. The Bescor Robotic head can be purchased here for $124
www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/64399-REG/Bescor_MP101_MP_101_Motorized_Pan_Head.html

Day two was track day and I had the opportunity to use the drag race strip as a photo location for owners interested in my services while the other smarts auto crossed nearby. The staff at the Central Florida Racing Complex was very accommodating granting me access to their 1/8 mile drag strip.

The track was covered in super tacky rubber that offered up a very cool surface for photos but was a lot like walking around on fly paper. I found after taking a shot I was literally stuck to the ground and often needed assistance to break free from the tracks grip. The lost shoes and ruined jeans were well worth it though as the shots came out very dramatic as I hoped.

The majority of the shots were taken in the middle of the day so I had to contend with the bright sun often behind the smart car. To offset the harsh shadow I used an Alien Bee Vagabond II to power a set of studio strobes to kick away the shadows yet leave the light looking fairly natural. The strobes were triggered wirelessly using the Alien Bee cyber syncs that have a great range.

The post process was different for each of the shots depending on what type of effect I was after. I shot everything HDR ready meaning 3 shots about 2 brackets apart but not everything was processed as an HDR, some shots looked better with more subtle lighting.

The shots that were processed as full HDR were done so with HDR Soft Photomatix and NIK’s HDR Efex Pro using Adobe light room as the host. Both programs offered up tons of creative options and I was quickly able to dial in a dramatic look. To finish the processing I often turned to NIK’s Viveza 2 to really fine tune the photo for contrast, lighting and color in specific areas; Photoshop was only really used to remove unwanted objects with its powerful content aware brush (a god send).

A couple tips for those of you interested in automotive photography. To help keep the subject car pronounced I often paid extra attention to the cars color. For instance on the blue car I emphasized the blue by enhancing the color contrast to make the car move vivid. On the bleach bypassed type shots I used white balance to bias the image toward the blue color.

To bring out the color of the sunburst orange smart I completely removed the cyan color from the vehicles surface; this is a trick I commonly do with red and black cars to bring out the color since shades of blue are in a conflicting spectrum.

The white smart was de-saturated by brush in nearly every shot so the white color would be pure; this eliminated any color casts from the vehicles’ surface that could easily drift the color. At the end of post process I would once again white balance off the smart to make sure it was “white”.

HDR Software I used on this project:

http://www.niksoftware.com/index/usa/entry.php

http://www.hdrsoft.com/

Across the Desert

2011-02-19T07:45:00.000-08:00

I first went to Utah around the time I was 20 coming back from Canada. I have been back around 6 times and I am still in awe of this magical place. Perhaps that it seems untouched by man or that out there in the desert you feel like a small part of something so much greater; whatever the reason, when I need to truly escape from all the chaos that can be life...this mystical land is where I long to be.

These photos are from a road trip across Utah that I did in 2010 with my best friend from High School. We took a Subaru STi across the backcountry dirt roads; saw places of extraordinary beauty and seemingly forgotten by time.

Exploring the Cell Phone Camera

2011-02-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

It has been said that the best camera is the one with you. As with many people on the go I found a need for a smart phone in my life and with it some wonderful photo applications for the photographer on the go; my favorite is Retro Cam that emulates older style film camera adding a little special twist on images. Since many of today’s smart phone cameras are 5-8 mega pixels they are fine for web based photo sharing or small print. I also often bring along my little LED headlamp to use as an off camera light for indoor shots since the LED bulbs are balanced to 5700K (more powerful than the in camera LED too!)

Though most pro photographers might balk at the thought of using a cell phone for photography there are some things about it that make it both liberating and useful: The first thing is that without a million setting options, special lenses or even a proper zoom, you as the photographer are forced to go back to the basics of composition, light and color to make the photo interesting. I feel that refreshing the fundamentals is a great exercise for the creative mind and also breaks you of your dependency for elaborate gear or software to make a shot interesting.

The resolution and light gathering abilities of the cell phone are limited but sometimes that limitation can open up new creativity . The lens may bloom as it hits light creating a neat halo effect; To capture that moment cover the lens with your hand then take it away as you hit the shutter and you may be surprised what you capture as light floods the sensor.

Other benefits of the cell phone camera are that you can get it into places that big cameras can’t go. This shot of a working light house lens was only possible because I was able to squeeze my cell phone through a small space in the floor below it as the area itself was locked of from public access; if I would have had a bigger camera I would have not been able to fit it through the grate.

Obviously the other benefit to a cell phone cam is that it’s not looked at as a serious camera so security and the public are not intimidated by it as you snap a casual picture. It’s more accessible and even more tolerated in areas bigger cameras are not allowed to go.

Some of the other wonderful things about the cell phone camera is that you can lay it flat up against a glass window or case to capture subjects enclosed, such as a zoo or museum exhibit. This helps in both stability of the shot and eliminates all reflections from the glass.

Stability with a cell phone is easy - you can tape it to anything. Suction cup windshield mounts work great as make shift tripods, placing it on a ledge, window pane or the like will likely work fine to hold a the camera still.

My favorite thing is the ability to experiment with random shots just to see what comes out interesting. Would I trade my pro DSLR for it? No but sometimes when I see a place I find interesting I’ll snap a couple quick pics and return with my pro equipment another day to get a better shot; photo scouting is a great use for a cell phone cam.

I was never all that intrigued by smart phones until I started messing around with this camera stuff, now it’s hard to put down. Oh yeah another benefit of the cell phone cam - if you get lost a smart phone has a GPS to get you out of there, if you get hungry you can order a pizza with it or if you just found the coolest photo spot ever you can instantly email the image to your photo buddies with a text that says "Call the models and come down with your gear I just found the best place to shoot." Not to mention you can use it to take photographic notes of your camera rig settings or simply review shots you took the day before on flickr while sipping a latte at starbucks