The Two Sides of Michael Sweeney

May 21, 2010 | Category: Lighting, Photography | 2 Comments

Here are a couple from a last minute shoot of filmmaker/photographer Michael Sweeney from Everything to Nothing Studios. You should check out his work.

Specs: Nikon D3, 35-70mm 2.8. 1/125th at F/13, ISO 200. I stopped down so much to get some nice diffraction spikes from the sun. WB was set to overcast for a bit more warmth. I decided to leave the lens flare to add to the “bright” feel. For the main light, I used an Elinchrom Ranger AS with an A head shooting at full power through a varistar brolly box to camera left. The wind can be thanked for newly dented umbrella in the setup shot

Specs: Nikon D3, 17-35mm 2.8. 1/200th at F/9, ISO 200. For the main light, I used an Elinchrom Ranger AS with an A head shooting through a varistar brolly box to camera right. I also used a couple of gridded Q-flashes (one to light the foreground slightly and one out side of the frame to camera left as a rim).

These were trigger by Elinchrom skyports. Both photos are 99% processed in Lightroom with minimal Photoshop. See setup shots for more details.

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Tags: commercial, Dan Newton, Elinchrom Ranger, Everything to Nothing, Films, Lighting, Mike Sweeney, photographer, Photography, portrait, quantum q-flash, Speed AS, strobist, varistar

Shooting Cars or the Dumbest Title Ever!

May 2, 2010 | Category: Lighting, Photography | 2 Comments

Here is another attempt at a rig shot, this time I shot a friend’s nice 370Z.

Looking back, I wish that the car was turning to the right so I could see the wheel better, but I’m still experimenting with the car stuff. Thanks to Mike Sweeney (ETN studios) for gripping, Fielding Cathcart for providing the Zeus and Vagabond setup and Bobby M. and her husband for the sweet ride!

For more details, photos and setup shots, keep reading…

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Tags: 2007 Audi A4, 2008, car, car rig photography, commercial, Dan Newton, daniel newton, Location lighting, Nikon D3, nissan 370Z, Nv, photographer, Photography, Reno, rig, S-line, Sports car, vagabond, White lighting, Zeus

Playing Catch-up: Bonsai Rock

April 29, 2010 | Category: Photography | 2 Comments

I can’t believe how back logged I am on editing/posting photos. Here’s an oldie that I’ve been meaning to put up since mid winter.

I wouldn’t consider myself a landscape photographer, I don’t have a pano head and the sky wasn’t very spectacular, but I’m fairly happy with the result. The location is Bonsai rock at Lake Tahoe. Being one of my favorite summer swimming spots, I’ve always wanted to do a winter sunset/sunrise shoot there. I plan on going back soon to try again. I like the polarizing effect interesting in this photo (clear foreground water).

Details:

Nikon D3, Nikon 17-35mm 2.8, Rodenstock C-PL filter. The panorama consists of 6 vertical frames.

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Tags: Bonsai Rock, california, Lake tahoe, landscape, nevada, Nikon 17-35mm 2.8, Nikon D3, photographer, Photography, snow, sunrise, winter

Bouldering at Night

April 28, 2010 | Category: Lighting, Nocturnal Photography, Photography | 5 Comments

Here’s one from a late AM night of bouldering with Paul near Carson City, NV.

The shoot was a little disorganized: we showed up in the dark, the batteries were dead on our spotlight, I had never been to the spot before and Paul had only climbed there once. On top of that, it was ridiculously windy and the stands blew over a few times. But it was fun and we’ll hopefully do it again, perhaps earlier than 1am next time.

Details:

The image was captured using a Nikon D3 and a 17-35mm 2.8 lens. Two strobes with red gels were used to freeze the climber (sort of) and an LED flashlight (also red gelled) was also used to paint in the rock and background. In post-processing, the speedlights were removed and the light painted frames were combined with the strobed frame. There’s a tiny bit of motion blur from his leg moving, but it was necessary to pull in the starry background. The final exposure was 8 seconds, at f/4 and ISO 1000 (to pull in the stars). The strobes were set to rear sync.

By the way, just after this shot, the rock broke and since someone had moved the crash pad out of the shot, Paul hit pretty hard, but still landed on his feet.

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Tags: bouldering, carson city, Dan Newton, daniel newton, nevada, night, photographer, Photography, rock climbing, sports, stars, washoe valley

Ghost Town Weekend

April 3, 2010 | Category: Nocturnal Photography, Photography | 7 Comments

Here are a few from a weekend photo excursion with friends to rural towns of Tonopah and Goldfield, Nevada.

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Tags: Dan Newton, decay, Goldfield, Hanger, Hotel, infrared, IR, nevada, Nikon D3, Sante Fe Bar, Star trails, Tonopah

A fun Alternative to Air Fresheners

March 31, 2010 | Category: Lighting, Photography | 5 Comments

Here are the results from a weekend shoot that will hopefully lead to bigger things. Thanks to Jon Loder, Kevin Clifford and Fielding Cathcart. Creative art director and props: Donnie Meyers Studio, New York.

Specs: 9X Nikon Sb-800s triggered by pocketwizards and an audio trigger. Nikon D3 + 105mm 2.8 Micro Nikkor, ISO 400, f/14. Flash duration is calculated at roughly 1/41000 sec.

Some behind the scenes shots:

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Tags: "audio trigger", Beautiful, commercial, Dan Newton, Estee Lauder, explosion, high speed, Nikon 105mm 2.8 Macro, Nikon D3, perfume, photographer, product, Reno, SB-800s, skull vodka

It’s not as Fast as it Looks

February 10, 2010 | Category: Photography | 3 Comments

This is a first second attempt at a type of photography that I’ve always wanted to get into: car rig photography. Kevin and I assembled all of the pieces and set out for a quick test with his jeep. The result isn’t too bad. Basically the camera hangs off of a “rig” attached to the car. Using slow shutter speeds, the camera records fires while the car slowly rolls along and you get a shot that emphasizes motion with the main subject frozen.

If there’s anyone in the Reno area with a nice car that wants some free shots, email or call me. I’m looking for more practice and nice subject matter.

See how it was done after the break….

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Tags: car, car rig photography, Dan Newton, jeep, manfrotto, motion, Nv, photographer, Photography, product, pump cup, Reno, superclamp

Something Wicked

January 26, 2010 | Category: Photography | 4 Comments

4 Comments | Permalink

Tags: flames, ice, long exposure, night, Photography, snow, sparks, steel wool

Sparks Will Fly

January 11, 2010 | Category: Photography | 7 Comments

This was a failed first attempt at attracting the authorities with flying sparks (some reaching heights taller than the freeway above us). More seriously, the sparks were made combing very fine grade steel wool, metal cabling and a 9V battery. All exposures were made using a Nikon D3 and a 17-35mm 2.8 lens. Exposure lengths vary, but most were around 8 seconds.

Things to work on:

Better location
Cleaner looking Orbs
Nicer cabling job (my hand was seriously bloody by the end of the night)
Wear all black next time

7 Comments | Permalink

Tags: Dan Newton, flames, long exposure, nevada, night, Nikon 17-35mm 2.8, Nikon D3, orbs, photographer, Photography, Reno, sparks, steel wool

More Stars…and a New Video

December 26, 2009 | Category: Nocturnal Photography, Photography | 8 Comments

I’ve been slacking on posting photos lately so I thought I’d share a “reject” photo since I haven’t really shot anything blog-worthy in a while. Hopefully that’ll change on Monday (big, fun, icy-cold shoot planned)!

This is a “cave” near Pyramid Lake, NV during the recent meteor showers. 2.5 hours of exposing, freezing and conversing with some photo buddies. The red glow comes from a red-gelled headlamp facing into the rocks behind the camera.

And speaking of star trails, I’ll leave you with this new video I hacked together from my recent star trails’ still images.