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.

Toronto Portrait Photographer - Headshots and Portrait Session with David S.

This photoshoot was arranged by fellow photographer and friend Jared Wielfaert and he was kind enough to let Shelley and I tag along to help and do some shooting of our own. The model's name Dave and you can find him at Model Mayhem. He was extremely professional and very easy to work with.


One SB-800 camera right (65 degree) at 1/32 power on shoot through umbrella.


One SB-800 camera right (65 degree) at 1/32 power on shoot through umbrella.


AB1600 at 1/2 power on a medium octabox.


SB-800 on shoot-thru umbrella at cam left, 1/32 power.


SB-800 on reflective umbrella with 1/4 CTO gel, high above subject at cam left. WB set to Tungsten

High End Office Environments in Toronto - Tayco's Metropolis conference table and Sona chairs by Boss Design

As the resident graphic designer/photographer at Tayco I get to work in and photograph office furniture that most people dream about. Ergonomically designed accessories, worksurfaces with enough space to hold all the stuff that sometimes piles up on us and workstations that you actually enjoy working in as opposed to dreadful cubicles. The showroom at Tayco has a section with a large window that allows for plenty of natural light to come through and illuminate most of the setup placed there.



The only challenge faced while capturing this image was to get a neutral white balance that would render the color of the chair as close to white as possible. There was plenty of light coming through the window but it produced severe backlighting, so I had to introduce an artificial source to compensate. I placed an 18% grey card on the table, fired a frame for the reference WB and then took it off and captured the image you see* here.

*After a few adjustments to Levels and Curves in Photoshop.

Toronto Event Photography - ASID CEU Educational Seminar Series at The Gladstone Hotel on Queen St. West. Hosted by Tayco

Last night I had the pleasure of photographing the first event of Tayco's Educational Seminar Series. Penny Bonda, FASID, LEED AP, and Eco Editor for Interior Design magazine was the featured speaker. The presentation was titled The Green Materials Maze and it was certainly an eye-opener for me. However, the emphasis was on which materials to choose from for interior design projects and how to tell the real deal from hype. You can visit Penny's blog by CLICKING HERE

Here are some shots from the event. The room at The Gladstone was quite interesting on its own. The lighting was quite mixed, with gelled stage lights, natural light coming through the windows and overhead lamps throughout the room. Needless to say, it made post-processing quite interesting.

The shots of the podium were taken using a custom WB from my ExpoDisc






This is when things started to get tricky and I opted to set the WB to Auto and then fiddle with it in post.






Door prizes for the attendees


While the lighting was a bit challenging, the room at The Gladstone had a lot of character and one that I wouldn't mind going back to again and again.


This is the lamp that was hanging on top of the bar.


Since I was on Queen St. West, I decided to grab a few shots on my way back to the car but I was so tired that I literally just took a couple: