Portrait of a band - Saint Motel - Salt Lake City @ The Complex

Recently I had the chance to take a portrait of one of the best new bands touring today.

Saint Motel right on the heels of the release of saintmotelevision [Explicit] they stop their tour to perform in Salt Lake City Utah at the downtown venue The Complex.

I was contacted by their representation to cover this show. Having had the privilege to shoot this group before and gotten to know it's members, I jumped at the chance to cover, really focusing on a group photo that was the focus of the event.

I arrived at the venue a tad early with my lights and gear and waited to be shown the available shooting space. The idea of outside was discussed, maybe even on the tour bus? But we eventually just decided on the green room for the shoot, super casual.

The green room consisted of a few couches and a small to medium sized room.

I grab my rental D1 kit from Pictureline in Salt Lake City. Open up the case and set up only one of the monolights due to the space. One with the softbox umbrella I brought along can definitely fill the room for a group of four.

Cameron of Weathers graciously being kicked out of the space for the photo.

With only a few minutes to shoot, I quickly decided that I would use the corner, have twomembers on each side and just have them place themselves as they are no stranger to being in front of the lens. I quickly took a few test shots, chimping at the preview and then adjusting to my taste to what I knew I could work with for a great portrait.

Members of the LA band Weathers offer the space to use and leave the room for a few minutes to shoot.

Way too bright, quickly need to bring the settings in a tad.

A tad too bright, I then bring the aperture in a bit to shut out some extra exposure.

A tad too bright, I then bring the aperture in a bit to shut out some extra exposure.

Just about right, a little highlight on the skin, still some shadows and blacks, a lot to work with.

So then the guys take their places, I said whatever they wanted, throwing a few ideas out about sitting on an arm or feet on the table. But really I knew they knew what to do, they sat as they saw fit, a/j was already dressed in a coat with an umbrella form being outside. Effortless.

After a few shots I really appreciate the comfort-ability level with the shoot. I wanted to get some great shots and also be quick and get out of their hair.

These are the two "keepers" that I wanted to share.

Thanks for looking!

If you are in need of Photography,

Be sure to let me know your thoughts and of course,

Be sure to contact me at LOGAN@LMSORENSON.NET 

or at (801) 455-9957

And follow on

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Saint Motels "Move" -- See them live if you have the chance!

Part 1 of 3 - Swim Team Photos @ J & Jeanné Wagner Jewish Community Center

This summer I had the opportunity to take some portraits of the youth swim teams at the IJ & Jeanné Wagner Jewish Community Center... 

I had a great experience and wanted to share some of my steps in preparing, capturing and editing these images.

Having taken portraits of various sizes of teams, families and concert goers, I took this opportunity to expand my skills in large group portraiture. This was a shoot that needed minutes of research as the size of the group and the location of the shoot were at the time unknown.

The area available to me being the community center pool area, I decided to both arrive early and I also used google earth to get some ideas as to where to place my subjects and my lighting set up.

Not knowing if the pool area would be totally crowded or chairs laid out all over. I thought that the best staging area would be the top of the pool's swim lanes (as highlighted in red). A straight line to arrange the subjects and with the pool as the background there was just enough space for my lighting set up and camera.

I arrived about 20 minutes early with the need to set up and get some last minute checks out of the way. I found myself with 4-5 feet of room for each group another 2-3 feet for lighting and tripod. I checked my batteries, set up lights and roughly composed my shot.

Set up was:

 1) Photoflex Reflective Umbrella 2) 71 inch shoot though umbrella from Neewer 3) Profoto B2 Location Kit (rental from local store Pictureline: Kit including Manfrotto lightstands, B2 heads) 4) Sandbags: *Must have especially when outdoors and with wind catching umbrellas near a pool.... 5) Lowpro Backpack of mine propped on the bigger lightstand for added weight on this stand with the massive modifier. 

Lastly with my camera (not pictured because I took the picture with it.) A Canon 6D with a Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 zoom lens.

Swim Teams' POV of the set up.

As shown in the EXIF data from the image below, I was in manual mode, had an aperture of f/6.3 for deep enough for focus on a small group at the focal length of 27mm while still having a reasonably fast shutter speed of  1/160. I arrived at these settings by metering for the sky behind the group allowing for the blues to be visible and highlights not blown out. Then letting the TTL capable Profoto B2 pop off as much light as needed to light my subjects.

*A helpful aspect of the shoot: Talking with the coaches before and during the shoot. I observed that the swim teams looked up to and followed instructions of their adult teachers very well. I was easily able to have the attention of the group and have them at ease (for a few minutes anyway). We took a bunch of shots rapid fire asking for both "serious" faces as well as a "crazy face" (as seen in final gallery). 

As for editing the images:

Below is a straight out of camera (SOOC) image. You can see that overall exposure is pretty decent, only a few tweak are necessary as well as a quick straightening and removal of two life guards that I had failed to account for while focused on my subjects.

Making a few basic changes such as a slight reduction in overall exposure, bringing down the highlights and whites to give details back and adjusting the tone curve to fit my tastes. With a dash of warmth to compensate for the early morning blue hue I have create what I think is a solid portrait of these kids that in my mind would hang on their parents walls for all eternity. 

With this similar formula repeated in a few of my "keepers" from the shoot, here are a few of the finals that were sent to the client for your viewing pleasure.

STAY TUNED for Part 2 and 3 of this overall JCC Swim Team Shoot.

Up Next: Solo Swim Team Member Portraits.

Thanks for looking!

If you are in need of Photography,

Be sure to let me know your thoughts and of course...

Be sure to contact me at LOGAN@LMSORENSON.NET 

or at (801) 455-9957

And follow on

 Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Crated, 500px, Tumblr

Family Portraits - Locations, Lighting and Equipment

Taking family photos is always a different experience, out of a studio, in a new space with multiple variables. This blog post should serve as an example in some things that you might run into and have to adapt to as your shoot progresses.

One such instance was earlier this year. At a families home, they arranged the shoot to coincide with their newborns first birthday. There are many people around as they had me arrive and some of the next points are just some of the things you have to be aware of.

Equipment used:
Softbox 24" x 36" with Grid
Canon 600ex RT Speedlight
Heavyduty Saddlebag Sandbag
Yongnuo Transceiver of YN622 YN-622C (x2)
Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD
Canon 6D

1. When shooting in a new location, or an uncontrolled location, you have to adapt and go with your best option.

Now with this particular house, there was a front yard and a back yard as options as the house is not well lit and has guests. With party supplies all over the back yard and a patio taking up most of the available space (marked in yellow) the only option seemed the front fence side corner of the property. (Marked in red). (Images via google maps)

2. Position and Lighting

I grabbed a light stand weighted down with the sandbag and set up my collapsible soft box, mounting in the trigger and speedlight.

Now that I have the scene set, I am using TTL through the Yongnuo controllers and the speedlight, metering off the subjects face and simply using the exposure lock button.

Which brings me to the third and final point.

3. Time, Location & Light Available  

The last thing and really sometimes the least important part of a client's shoot. Variables you cannot control i.e. clients schedule, the amount of time you have to shoot, location and what time of day, these are technically out of your control and just what you have to adapt to.

This particular shoot the variables included. 

Time of shoot 12-1pm, shooting around the babies nap time ending, limited space/background options, budget not including rental of larger lighting source, 10-15 minutes total shoot time in-between food preparation and entertaining guests.

With these factors you have to improvise and use previous experience to get the shots you were hired for.

Here are some of those images.

Thanks for looking!

Be sure to let me know your thoughts and of course.

Thanks for looking, if you are in need of Photography,

Be sure to contact me at LOGAN@LMSORENSON.NET or at (801) 455-9957

And follow on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Crated, 500px, Tumblr