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A message from Jennifer Emery

Welcome to my blog. You will find photography tips, tutorials and reviews here at jenniferemery.photo/blog. Always with a positive theme to encourage your photographic journey. Please subscribe to keep up with all the current posts.

All the Best! Jennifer

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The Daily Blast Live Promo Shoot

August 10, 2017  •  Leave a Comment

The Daily Blast Live Promo Shoot

DBL_grouppressreleaseDBL_grouppressrelease

I have to say, it never gets old doing a promo shoot for a new TV show. I was totally honored to be hired by TEGNA, Inc, a while back, to photograph the cast of the new show Daily Blast Live. Often I can't post immediately about my shoots so here it is a little late. Above is the final version of the group photo that was used in the press release: 

http://www.tegna.com/tegna-announces-host-lineup-fall-premiere-date-for-daily-blast-live/

Below is the original image after retouching.

group-475group-475

These beautiful people were equally beautiful to work with. All with wonderful personalities and easy to direct.

From left to right, w/ links to their twitter feeds are....because my friends, this is a live social media broadcast show!!!

Al Jackson, Sam Schacher, Ebony Steel, Jen nepotism, Jeff Schroeder, Tory Shulman, Erica Cobb, and Tracey Gold.


Get 10% off Interfit products now by using code "EMERY10"

enter code at check out


So Lets talk shop. How did I shoot this? 

Image setting and gear:

Canon 17-35mm L series at 32mm

ISO 250

1/180

f/6.7

Why these settings? This was a group shot, and I did not have enough room to move back on the stage to use a longer lens. Also we were working on a sound stage with a small corner cyc. Getting in close physically was the best option, so I used a wide lens. As for the setting, I wanted a sharp image, so ISO 250 creates less grain/pixelation, and f/6.7 left me with plenty shallow depth-of-field for everything to be sharp on the subjects and still blurs out the background a bit. The shutter I wanted to be fast to avoid camera shake. 


Lighting Equipment

Interfit S1 Strobes and modifiers at work: We did a 2nd set-up with a couch. The lighting was similar for the standing shot above. 4 strobes: 2 in front and 2 lighting the background to go as white as possible. Because of the shape of the cyc, I opted for the strip-boxes, seen in this BTS photo, because a larger box would have shown in the photo. I could only get the back lights in so far, therefore the background did not go as white as I would have liked. But that was an easy fix in post. The front modifiers are Octaboxes. 

IMG_4685IMG_4685

 

Here's me with the cast on the couch set. - Photo taken by my assistant Patty Naranjo

IMG_4678IMG_4678

Lighting settings:

4 Interfit S1 strobes 

•2 foldable Octabox w/ diffusion for front Key-lights at 6.5 output.

•2 foldable Strip-Boxes w/ diffusion for front backlights.


I'm often asked

How did you land that job?

Students of mine often ask how I get my jobs. Well as a freelancer that varies, and I don't work with an agent. After over 20 years of pro-photography, I can tell you these don't come easy or often. But this one was almost nepotism.  I wad referred to the job by a colleague/friend I have been working with off-and-on for pretty much my entire career. Anything Jen Friesen needs done on a show, I will help out with, even if that means being a stand-in or a PA. She always remembers me and refers me for photo jobs when she can. Many moons ago I used to shoot child actor headshots for the agency she worked for. She cast this wonderfully diverse group and will be working as a producer on the show in Denver. Now, know that the client did shop around and get bids from other photographers. I landed the gig because of my portfolio of work and a good referral. A discount price didn't hurt either! My advise to those wanting to do this kind of work, is to go out and shoot similar spec shoots for your portfolio. You need to have something to show that speaks to what the client is looking for. You are not going to get a gig just because of a good referral, nor should you if you are not qualified. So keep honing your craft and you will get there!


More BTS:

Me directing the group photos.

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Jen and Jen on the set working together again!

B2BFB77F-B2BFB77F- Stay tuned for my next blog on how I shot the cast headshots.......


More great photo discounts from my favorite photography companies:

Lighting Gear:            10% off Interfit Photographic: click here and use code "EMERY 10"

Rental Equipment:     Barrow Lenses: 10% off go to this link: click here 

Business software:       Honeybook 50% off go to: click here 


mermaid_4

July 27, 2017  •  Leave a Comment

The Mermaid Shootout WPPI weekend in Las Vegas

Mermaid Blog Post #4

A fantastic Mermaid Shootout during WPPI weekend in association with Interfit Photographic.

Mermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_5900_TU_BeachglowMermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_5900_TU_Beachglow

Mermaid in the Desert


Get 10% off Interfit products now by using code "EMERY10"

enter code at check out


One last post on the Mermaid shootout. I love this one because the sky opened up a bit and the pose is just so perfect to advertise the sign of the location.

Image setting:

Canon 17-35mm L series at 24mm

ISO 160

1/180

f/6.7

Why these settings? I wanted the background to come out and not over expose.... and as you can see it was a dull cloudy yet bright background. So I closed down on the ISO and shutter and pumped up the light output to match the background as much as possible. 


Lighting Diagram

mermaid lighting diagrammermaid lighting diagram Lighting settings:

2 Interfit S1 strobes 

•Key light is the S1 with foldable Beauty dish w/ diffusion.

•Fill light is the S1 with foldable Octabox w/ diffusion


Retro Style in the desert.

Here's the original

Here's the original. It was a little hard to get our model Gabriella into the positions because she could not stand in the tail. I literally picked her up and moved her into the positions. Thank goodness models are light. There was a lot of laughing at my tossing her around......

A reminder about the ease of this set-up with the portable S1's that have a build in battery pack and need no external power. And if you have not checked out Interfit's foldable soft-boxes, your life will change forever shooting on location with these easy to set-up modifiers.

Mermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_5900_TUMermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_5900_TU

See more about this shoot and different set-ups in the following blog posts.


More great photo discounts from my favorite photography companies:

Lighting Gear:            10% off Interfit Photographic: click here and use code "EMERY 10"

Rental Equipment:     Barrow Lenses: 10% off go to this link: click here 

Business software:       Honeybook 50% off go to: click here 


mermaid_3

July 20, 2017  •  Leave a Comment

The Mermaid Shootout WPPI weekend in Las Vegas

Mermaid Blog Post #3

A fantastic Mermaid Shootout during WPPI weekend in association with Interfit Photographic.

Mermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_5929_tu_BeachglowMermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_5929_tu_Beachglow

Mermaid in the Desert


Get 10% off Interfit products now by using code "EMERY10"

enter code at check out


Image setting:

Canon 17-35mm L series at 24mm

ISO 160

1/180

f/5.6

Why these settings? I wanted the background to come out and not over expose.... and as you can see it was a dull cloudy yet bright background. So I closed down on the ISO and shutter and pumped up the light output to match the background as much as possible. 


Lighting Diagram

mermaid lighting diagrammermaid lighting diagram Lighting settings:

2 Interfit S1 strobes 

•Key light is the S1 with foldable Beauty dish w/ diffusion.

•Fill light is the S1 with foldable Octabox w/ diffusion


Retro Style in the desert.

Here's the original

Above I added a filter in Lightroom and a little skin smoothing retouching to achieve the final look below. The Las Vegas National Golf Club was nice enough to allow us to shoot on their property, so I thought it would be fun to do some promo shots they could use from our shoot. Here I incorporated their sign, and used a wide lens to achieve the look. 

This was really easy to set-up with the portable S1's that have a build in battery pack and need no external power. And if you have not checked out Interfit's foldable soft-boxes, your life will change forever shooting on location with these easy to set-up modifiers.

Mermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_5929_tuMermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_5929_tu

See more about this shoot and different set-ups in the following blog posts.


mermaid_2

July 13, 2017  •  Leave a Comment

The Mermaid Shootout WPPI weekend in Las Vegas

Mermaid Blog Post #2

Mermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_6013_TU2_noflagsMermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_6013_TU2_noflags

This image is straight out of camera.

The only photoshop is skin smoothing.

Get 10% off Interfit products now by using code "EMERY10"

enter code at checkout


Back in February I conducted a fantastic Mermaid Shootout during WPPI weekend in association with Interfit Photographic. I know, long time to do a blog post, but I thought it was time to talk about lighting and achieving the look straight out of camera.

Image setting:

Canon 70-200L series at 75mm

ISO 400

1/125

f/5.6


BTS: This is the actual set-up for this shot without the green gel as previous post.

IMG_2430IMG_2430 Lighting settings:

2 Interfit S1 strobes 

•Key light to the front of models face is the S1 with a 40º grid

•Sidelight is the S1 with foldable Beauty dish w/ diffusion.

 


Retro Style in the desert.

Doesn't this just sing Las Vegas of the 60's?!

I thought this series would be fun with kind of a Star Trek retro look, so I added a filter in Lightroom and a little skin smoothing retouching to achieve the final look below. Here we still work with the lighting as is, and desaturate it a bit in photoshop. If you tried to achieve this in-camera, you would end up with an overexposed image, and not a lot of detail. So, lighting correctly to start is the way to go. Then a little vision after the fact.

Mermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_6013_TU2_noflags_BeachglowMermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_6013_TU2_noflags_Beachglow

See more about this shoot and different set-ups in the following blog posts.


mermaid_1

July 04, 2017  •  Leave a Comment

The Mermaid Shootout WPPI weekend in Las Vegas

Mermaid Blog Post #1

Mermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_6055_tu2Mermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_6055_tu2

This image is straight out of camera.

Yes you can light like this. No need for filters later.

The only photoshop here is skin smoothing.

Get 10% off Interfit products now by using code "EMERY10"

enter code at checkout


Back in February I conducted a fantastic Mermaid Shootout during WPPI weekend in association with Interfit Photographic. I know, long time before blog post, but I thought it was time to talk about lighting and achieving the look straight out of camera.

Image setting:

Canon 70-200L series at 75mm

ISO 400

1/125

f/4.0


BTS: This shot is actually set up the opposite, with the modifiers positions switched.

IMG_2430IMG_2430 Lighting set-up    Look mom, NO CORDS.    Notice we are working with the amazingly portable Interfit products. The S1's have builtin battery power and the soft-boxes are foldable and lightweight. 

2 Interfit S1 strobes and a canon TTL flash.

•Key light to the front of model's face is the S1 with a 40º grid, Interfit barn-door modifier, with green gel.

•Sidelight is the S1 with foldable Beauty dish w/ diffusion.

•Backlight is a Canon TTL flash, set on the ground directed at the model to separate her from the background. Radio Slave attached to trigger.


Here's another version from a slightly different angel. Again, straight out of camera. Only photoshop is some skin smoothing. No color manipulation. The green you see on the model is from the gelled light.

Mermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_6081_tuMermaid_Shootout_2017_IMG_6081_tu

With a little forethought, you can achieve the image you want straight out of camera and not spend endless hours in photoshop after the fact.

See more about this shoot and different set-ups in the following blog posts.