Andy Wakeman Behind the Shoot

Contax Test

2009-11-11T07:23:00.000-08:00

As promissed I'm posting a few images from my new Contax 645. Sorry for the crappy scans, for my next test I'll send them out to Richard Photo Lab. I just wanted to get one roll out and make sure the camera was working properly. I'm really excited about the potential. This camera creates really unique images unlike anything else. Check out the shallow depth on the flower shot, no 35mm film or digital could do that.

New Camera

2009-11-06T07:45:00.000-08:00

A new addition to my camera family. What makes this camera so unique is it has really fast piece of glass at f2.0. When you combine the fast glass with the image area that is way bigger than standard 35mm film you get super shallow depth of field. I'm shooting some tests, I'll post them as soon as I can. The film work-flow is tedious and expensive but I think the images will be worth it.

1+1 = More

2009-10-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

I just want to illustrate something really quickly in a post. This is something that I bring up when meeting with couples and discussing my photography style. The basic concept is using 2,3 or 4 images juxtaposition to one another tell a more complete story then just one image by itself. An image of interesting architecture or decoration or even just an unique texture doesn't have much merit by itself but when positioned next to a shot of the bride a groom it can really add to the story. When I'm shooting I'm thinking about the people but I'm also looking at the colors, textures, light anything that adds to the memory of the day.

Below are some samples.

Flash Fun

2009-08-29T15:59:00.001-07:00

Normally I'm more of a natural light kind of guy but I've been wanting to experiment with off camera speedlights. Dan and Liz were the perfect test couple, since they are photographers they didn't mind me fiddling around.

Here I had a speed light with a small bounce umbrella. Was using the natural light coming through the windows as a rim light. The camera set up is pretty easy. My 5d has a 200/th max sync speed so I set the camera to that and dial down the aperture until I get the right exposure. Then I play with the flash output to get the right balance between ambient light and flash.

It's a more edgy sharp look compared to my normal blurry backgrounds and soft natural light but I can see the potential for the right subject matter.

Here's a few more shots with off camera flash. Just as a comparison I placed a natural light shot next to a flash shot. Same lens but quite a different look.

Stock Photo Shoot

2009-03-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

Last week I set up my first stock shoot. My plan is to get some revenue going on some microstock sites and eventually build a nice enough portfolio to submit to higher priced agencies like Getty. The difficult part about shooting microstock is that what sells isn't necessarily the most exciting subject. In fact the more generic the better. For me it will be a balance of shooting what I want and what I know will sell.

Here's a shot for the sequence. I shot for about 1hour and 15 minues and probably have 4-5 shots that are worth uploading. As a rule of thumb anytime you have babies involved you get less just because it's really hard to make the little buggers do what you need them to. Overall I'm pretty happy with the shoot and feel that I achived that "stock" look.

This was shot with a 70-200 at f4ish. I had a speedlight with an shoot through umbrella off camera on right and another speedlight boucing off the ceiling on the left as fill.

What's in my bag right now.

2009-03-11T19:11:00.000-07:00

This is my current lens kit. I just added the 50 1.2 and 70-200 2.8 which replaced my 50 1.4 and trusty old 80-200 2.8. I'm still getting used to the new lenses, the 50 1.2 is a bit finicky. It's a little more difficult to get the shot but when you do get it's magic. Not as sharp as the 85 1.2 but has similar look and for me 50mm is a very useful focal length.

Most people have the 16-35 2.8 but I'd rather have the 24 1.4 and 17-40 combo. The 24 is plenty of wide for weddings, i use the 17-40 for landscapes, architecture and outdoor lifestyle shots where I don't need fast glass.

Also, I don't feel like I need a "normal" zoom 24-70. If I want normal I use my 50. I feel like with a zoom I tend to crank it in and out to frame my shot, but when I do this I'm not being intentional about what focal length I'm using. With a prime I know the look of the lens which makes me very intentional about what type of shot i'm trying to get. Plus they just look sooooo good!

The 70-200 2.8 is an amazing lens. I've shot with the 80-200 2.8 for the past few years and this is quite an upgrade. You can hand hold 1/60th zoomed to 200mm with the IS system. This thing save my bacon last weekend where I had to shoot a very poorly lit ceremony. I cranked my 50d mkii to 3200, set the shutter to 1/80th and held my breath for each shot. I was nervous about shooting this slow but most of the shots are pretty darn sharp, my non IS would have been a blurry mess.

Anyway this is my kit for now and probably will stay this way for at least this year. Although I've heard the new 24 1.4 is just amazing. I'll post any changes to my bag as they happen.

5d mkii Test

2009-03-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

I'm setting up some model shoots for stock photo in the next few months. I had Sam come in to do some quick tests and it was really the first real shoot with the 5d mkii. Needless to say I was blown away by how far you can zoom into the photo. Crazy!

Here's a 100% shot with 70-200 2.8IS at f13.

2009-02-03T19:30:00.000-08:00

Hello there,

My name is Andy Wakeman. I'm a photographer based in Traverse City Michigan. The purpose of this blog is to give you a behind the scenes look at some of my shoots. Basically I want to share what I'm learning while I'm learning it. Hopefully it will be a good resource in the future.