Toronto Portrait Photographer - Dramatic Lighting for a Dramatic Situation

While we don't hear as much about the doom and gloom of the financial crisis and the recession. The rippled can still be felt throughout the North America, people are still being laid off and quite a few have been unemployed since last year. While I consider myself one of the lucky ones, I wanted to convey the feeling of desperation and anxiety using dramatic lighting.



For this particular shot I used the following setup:
One (1) SB-800 on 1/8 HONL speed grid slightly above subject and placed to camera right. Power set at 1/8. One (1) SB-800 at 45 degree angle behind subject to camera left, fitted with a HONL gobo. Power set to 1/16. One (1) SB-900 with same setup as previous but set to camera right. All triggered by SB-800 on camera via CLS.

Post processing consisted of Nik Filters Pro Contrast, Darken/Lighten layers followed by high pass filter in Photoshop, with additional tweaking in Lightroom.



Same Strobist setup as above with post processing using Nik'Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Nik's Silver Efex Pro.




Again, same strobist setup as above and post processing done using Nik's Color Efex Pro 3.0

Commercial Photography in Toronto: Photographing Office Furniture

The assignment sounded simple but being a portrait photographer, photographing office furniture doesnt sound quite as exciting. Unless, of course, the furniture is on the cutting edge of industrial design and you can place it in a very cool and trendy office environment with plenty of natural light. Well, it doesn't always work that way. The following shot looks like it was taken with plenty of natural light but as you might have guessed already, when you have severe back lighting as it was the case with the large window in the background, the bookcase should have looked quite dark. Enter the Bees! Using a B1600 with a medium foldable octabox as main light placed at camera right and aimed almost straight towards the bookcase to illuminate the compartments and binders, along with an SB-900 with a translucent umbrella set to SU-4 to illuminate the side opposite to the window light.

Also used the Expodisc to set a custom WB, which would allow everything to look like actual natural light. I added the blurred background in Photoshop to put the emphasis on the bookcase.

Event Photography in Toronto: ASID CEU Educational Seminars hosted by Tayco

On Wednesday, May 13 Tayco hosted the second educational seminar for interior designers. This time, it was Susan Szenasy, Editor in Chief of Metropolis leading the presentation. The thought-provoking session showed the attendees a wide range of social and environmentally-driven projects in architecture and industrial design. As in the previous seminar, I was there to capture images of the evening.

Susan Szenasy during her presentation


Susan Szenasy after the presentation, mingling with the attendees


After the presentation


This attendee was sketching away on his notepad/sketchbook after the presentation


The image above inspired this promotional piece I put together to thank the attendees and prompt them to register for the upcoming events (2 more left in the calendar)


Attendees also participated in a draw for prizes such as this one:


And this one:


After spending the whole night standing up taking pictures, it was time to sit down and enjoy the wine

Wedding Photography in Toronto: Floral Arrangements

So the agenda for our wedding is right on track, thanks in great part to Miriam's advanced strategic planning. Last Tuesday I went to check out the floral arrangements with her. As soon as I get the info on the lady who put them together, I'll post it here because I would highly recommend her to fulfill any needs you might have for your own wedding.

Here's a close up shot of Miriam holding the bouquet.