THE ACADEMY
Welcome to the PREP TO POST Academy, an online learning center for all things photography including lighting, retouching, and working in a studio environment. We hope you enjoy watching these tutorials as much as we enjoyed producing them for you.
HOW IT WAS LIT: NAHA 2008
In this installment of HOW IT WAS LIT, I will walk you through a fairly complicated lighting setup which I used to shoot Lucie Doughty’s entry to the North American Hairstyling Awards in 2008.
Working with different colored lighting gels can be quite daunting and is definitely something you want to practice doing. Before we dive into it, there are some safety precautions you should be aware of to prevent any mishaps. You have to remember that even though photographic or theatrical lighting gels are meant to be heat resistant, they are still made of plastic and will melt with direct contact to any tungsten bulb, including modeling lights from flash heads. You want to make sure that you have enough space between the gel and the lamp for the heat to properly dissipate, otherwise you will melt a hole through the gel or worse, set something on fire. Whenever I light with gels, I constantly check their condition to make sure that nothing is amiss. Take the usual preventive measures and use simple common sense. For example, if you don’t need the modeling lights on, by all means, turn them off. You can read other common safety measures on my article for Sekonic HERE. (more…)
HOW IT WAS LIT: HOLLYWOOD ICONS
Today we have a very special episode of HOW IT WAS LIT because we will go over not one lighting scenario, but four completely different lighting setups that I used to shoot a Hollywood Icon inspired beauty editorial for Bello Magazine. If you missed the RECAP on this shoot, I suggest you read through that post to give you a little more background on how the shoot was conceptualized and executed.
RECAP // HOLLYWOOD ICONS on www.seanarmentablog.com
Okay, now onto some lighting diagrams! (more…)
HOW IT WAS LIT: KERI HILSON
In this installment of HOW IT WAS LIT, I will walk you through a shoot I did with Keri Hilson for a Wet Seal campaign.
We always enter into a shoot with an art direction in mind, and this time was no different. The creative director and myself collaborated via email a week or so before the day of the shoot; we sent each other some images that served as inspiration for the desired art direction. We agreed to shoot (more…)
PHOTO LAB: PAPER CHINESE LANTERN
Hey guys welcome to another installation of PHOTO LAB!
Today I show you how to make your own Chinese Lantern, or a lighting globe, out of tracing paper. Many of the major lighting brands have their own version, the most popular probably being the ProGlobe from Profoto.
A Chinese Lantern is used quite a bit in the filmmaking (more…)
HOW IT WAS LIT: Romancing the Stones
For this episode of HOW IT WAS LIT, we will dissect the lighting we used on THE ARTIST LABS live shoot we did a couple of weeks ago which was broadcasted live via Ustream.
Before the shoot, I had briefly discussed the concept with Roshar and Daven over email. We had sent each other some inspiration shots to provide visual aids for what it was we wanted to do. After a bit of back and forth we decided on doing jeweled or rhinestone encrusted pieces that would be placed over the face. Since those pieces would, by themselves (more…)
PHOTO LAB: USING TRACING PAPER TO DIFFUSE YOUR LIGHT SOURCE
I love doing DIY lighting modifications, especially when it’s on the cheap and gives great results. In this episode of PHOTO LAB, I demonstrate how tracing paper can be used as diffusion material.
Tracing paper is a great source of diffusion because it’s cheap, readily available, and results in virtually no loss of light output. You can also purchase tracing paper in various sizes, including huge sheets. It’s a great alternative to buying photographic diffusion (more…)
POINTS OF CONTACT
As freelancers, one of the most important characteristics to have is the ability for potential clients to contact you with the greatest ease possible. Freelance artists are absolutely dependent on having at least a cell phone with email functionality. Aside from word of mouth referrals, our web presence is our primary point of contact, because it is the most convenient way for clients to view our work. (more…)
PHOTO LAB: HOW TO KEEP SEAMLESS ROLLED TIGHT
One of the things I hate most about using and storing seamless is how sloppy they end up looking once they start getting tears and when they are rolled up improperly.
In this episode of the PHOTO LAB I show you an easy little trick to keep your seamless rolled super tight.
PHOTO LAB: PERFECTLY FLAT SEAMLESS
I personally am not a fan of using seamless paper backdrops, but they are a necessity. Older rolls of seamless will usually curl around the edges and exhibit waviness. In today’s session of the PHOTO LAB, I show you a little trick to getting your seamless to lie perfectly flat.
HOW IT WAS LIT: NAILPRO COVER SHOT
In an ideal world, we would have pre-production meetings, be able to scout every location before the day of the shoot, and people really would serve martinis when doing the last shot of the day. Realistically, however, photographers are often times thrown into situations and expected to perform magic. The majority of clients do not understand the physics of photography and lighting, leading to near-impossible expectations. Going into a job as a photographer (more…)
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