Chuck

Click for larger versionWell I don't know what it is about guys holding beer, but I seem to get a lot of shots of it.  Maybe I'll put together a show of guys with beer some day. 

Anyway, this is my friend Chuck who I see about once a year usually at the Phoenix Improv Festival.  He's a very talented improviser who performs out of Wisconsin and Minnesota.  He was in town this year to teach an improv masters class, but sat in with Joker and Jester and then later performed in a "Bat" which is basically improv in the dark (not a good show for picture taking ;).

This shot was taken after those shows had wrapped.  Chuck snapped into this "determined" pose after he saw me approaching with the camera.  The ambient light in the theater was very dark as it was the festivals party time, so I shot this at ISO 1600 f/2.8 1/100th.  I really like balance created by the two lights in the upper left.  I went with black and white in this image because some of the lighting was gelled and generated an ugly color cast.  As with any ISO 1600 image, we get a lot of grain.  Some people love grain, others hate it.  I'll hold my opinion for now and ask what do you think of the grain?

If you've got any questions or feedback feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks for stopping by,
Greg Inda

PIF 8

This past weekend I was in Phoenix for the eighth Phoenix Improv Festival (PIF).  I've been going for the past couple of years to perform with the Phoenix Neutrino Project and run lights and sound for Chicago's Bare.

This year the festival took place at the Herberger, a beautiful theater in downtown Phoenix.  It had 3 seating levels including the main floor, mezzanine, and balcony.  It provided a ton of great shooting angles, but my favorite quickly became level 2.  It was high enough to isolate the performers on clean backgrounds, yet low enough to still get facial expressions. I chose to shoot mostly from the "house left" side as it allowed me to use the festivals logo as a background element.  Its always important to me that I give a context or a sense of place, and that logo brings those elements together.

Shooting in theaters can be challenging depending on the lighting.  Some shows are very bright, some are dark, and it's often out of your hands.  The stage at PIF had a lot of gelled light which put some wonderful colors on the performers, but it did cut down the power.  Flash was not allowed, so I shot at ISO 1600 often at f/4.5 and 1/60th.

Below are two photos from the festival that were shot from the 2nd level with the goal of isolating the performers against a clean background that offered some context.  I'd love to hear your feedback in the form of a comment.

ToySoup out of Salt Lake City, Utah. One of the festival highlights.COG from LA's iO West, a perennial festival favorite in their last show.Thanks for stopping by,
Greg Inda

Headshot Specials! Vacations!

I'll be going out of town this weekend with some friends.  I'll be bringing my camera along, so I should have something to post to the blog on Monday.  In the meantime I thought I'd mention one of my specials and post a photo.

Once a month, I hold a special event called "The $100 Headshot."  I open up eight, 45 minute slots that clients can book out over the course of one day.  The client comes in with one look prepared, and we exhaust the possibilities of that look over the 45 minutes.  We may change the lights a little, may go outside for a shot or two, but it's mostly one set-up aimed to get one perfect headshot.

Having been involved in Chicago theater for the past 9 years, I thought it was a good niche to fill.  Not everyone needs a full headshot session.  Maybe your just starting off and need a single headshot to get going.  Maybe your established but want a headshot with that beard you've been growing, or your looking to get a niche headshot to show a different range.  Whatever your need, the $100 Headshot is an affodable way to get your 1 headshot.

My next date for the $100 Headshot is April 25th.  Spaces are booking, so contact me if your interested.  As always, I suggest a free consultation.

But now on to a photo...

Michael Kleen, Editor of Black Oak Media
Did this "Presidential" type shot for the editor of Black Oak Media, Michael Kleen.  What makes it presidential?  The look upwards to a new tomorrow, clean lighting on the face, very sharp and crisp.  I shot this on a white beckground with two lights.  I darkened the background because I really liked the idea of the white figure coming out from the dark background, enhancing the idea of progress.  Little thing to note is the lack of glare or reflection on the glasses, which if your not paying attention can be a pain to take out in post.  Anytime glasses are involved you have to be very careful of what your doing.

Hope you enjoy the image, can't wait to post some from the trip!

Thanks for stopping by,
Greg Inda

Puppet Throw Down

I did a shoot with a good friend of mine, Noah Ginex.  He will be in the upcoming Chicago Improv Festival leading his self titled Noah Ginex Puppet Company into battle vs. Felt, another improv puppet company, in an improv grudge match called The Cagematch.  I won't go into any more details about the show since, well, this is a photography blog.  But if your interested visit the links.

Left to right: Amanda Rountree, Fuzzy Gerdes, and Noah Ginex

The photo was shot against a white background with the subjects filling the frame.  In photoshop, I replaced the white background with the gradient blue and widened the whole thing to accommodate text to advertise the show.

The hardest thing about shooting puppets is getting the eyes to look where you want them to look.  Even with just one puppet, the puppeteer has no idea if the puppet is actually looking into the camera.  So it's a combination of directing the puppeteer's hand movements and as the photographer, moving around to find the right angles.

With 3 puppets and 3 puppeteers, its an uphill battle getting all the eyes focused on the same thing.  When I was a kid I went to Space Camp, and truth be told I never thought I'd need to remember terms like roll, yaw, and pitch.  But boy did it help with directing hand movements.  But even then, you have to be clear who your talking too.  At one point I was directing Amanda to get closer to Fuzzy.  She kept moving the Pig closer and closer, but hadn't realized I was directing her.  That got a nice laugh out of everyone and after that I was sure to be very clear about who I was talking too.

Overall I'm very pleased with how this turned out.  If you have any questions about the image, feel free to leave me a comment and I'll be happy to answer.

Thanks for stopping by,
Greg Inda

Finally here!

I'm very happy to open my photography site.  It's been a long time coming, but I feel very good about what we've built and I look forward to what we're building towards.

This blog will be my little space to post pictures from recent shoots, photography how to's, upcoming events, stories from the road, and opportunities that you can take advantage of.  Hope you enjoy!

 

And now for the first photo...

Took this photo of Harz as he was working box office for The Sickest F***ing Stories I Ever Heard.  Harz has always been a great subject.  Lets face it, he's not pretty.  Which makes him strangely compeling.  I've always felt he'd be a good candidate for a marketing campaign similar to "The Most Interesting Man In The World."  Something that pushes structure over polish.  And lets face it, not many could pull off the striped shirt, striped tie, and a hoody.

Thanks for stopping by!
Greg Inda