Posted by Jared on February 10, 2010 at 12:28 pm You might be wondering what a photographer does on the afternoon of Superbowl Sunday prior to the game. Well, he does what he loves: portraits! We had a great time shooting Bella and her mom, first indoors and then outdoors. It isn’t easy to pick out my favorites to post on the ol’ blog but here are a few samples. Look at that smile! 
Okay, now I want to swing too. 
Brr it was so cold outside but Bella was a real trooper. I guess I’d be a trooper too if I had a lollipop like that. Mmmm… By the way, you can now easily link to each blog post directly from Facebook, Twitter, etc using the buttons below. Check it out! Posted by Jared on January 26, 2010 at 6:25 pm Hot on the heels of last weekend’s wonderful portrait session, this Saturday we had a great chance to spend some time with an incredibly energetic set of twins, Delaney and Reagan. We threw a bunch of toys into the equation and wouldn’t you know it, they warmed up for the camera quickly! 
When I grow up, I’m gonna be a basketball star… and I’m gonna be her agent! Show me the money!! 
Then we hopped outside just in time to get some of that late-afternoon golden sun. How cute they are! 
Gunther joined in for a game of catch! 
Strike a pose! 
Off they go into the sunset. Thanks girls for a wonderful session! Posted by Jared on January 21, 2010 at 9:36 pm This Saturday we had a great opportunity to shoot two wonderful kids. The idea was to catch the kids doing what they do best with almost no posing. We spent about three hours in three different locations and we kicked things off in the library. 
This next one is probably my favorite from the whole day. 
Then we moved things outside and really got the party started. 
This looks like the most delicious marshmallow-lollipop of all time. 
We wrapped up the day back at home, starting with a mighty stretch. 
Priceless! Thanks girls for a wonderful session. Hope to see you again soon!  Posted by Jared on January 10, 2010 at 5:21 pm Apparently Sunday baking sprees are becoming a tradition around here. Here’s a quick shot of a half-cookie half-brownie snack. After looking at this photo for about 2 seconds I decided I just had to eat the screen. Chomp! Hmm, my sense of humor is weird on these freezing cold days. 
Posted by Jared on January 7, 2010 at 8:42 pm For me, one of the best things about the holiday season is the abundance of home-baked goods in our kitchen. This past weekend was a cupcake extravaganza. Here’s a few sample shots of my wonderful wife’s creations: 
The next bit of deliciousness isn’t cupcakes, it’s Kahlua-infused chocolate balls with a white chocolate shell! Mmm… 
I always like to impart some photography wisdom. Notice how the chocolate glistens. It’s all about the lighting. I specifically set up the plate near a large sunny window to the left and then used an off-camera strobe to the right to gently fill in some of the shadows (I didn’t fill in all of the shadows though to create some drama). In some of the shots you can see that I cranked up the strobe to get an interesting cross-lighting effect because my goal was to show as much texture as possible. I don’t know about you but my mouth is watering! Posted by Jared on December 24, 2009 at 7:13 pm More delicious baking from the wife today, this time a secret recipe! This was shot with two strobes, one left, one right, on manual mode 1/64 power. 
Lighting is always crucial with food photography, particularly with a bundt cake. One of the things I wanted to accomplish with this next shot was to show the internal texture of the cake so I needed to ensure that the “hole” is adequately lighted. I simply elevated the left flash to achieve the look I wanted. Gotta love the shadows too. 
And finally, enlarged to show texture. Don’t you wanna grab a fork and dig in? 
Posted by Jared on December 23, 2009 at 9:20 pm My wonderful wife has been baking up a storm these last few days so I thought I’d share some photos to make your mouth water. But first, a few tips on photographing cookies: - As with all food photography, setting the appropriate white balance is particularly critical. Shooting indoors is almost guaranteed to induce a color cast. To compensate, you’ll want to set a custom white balance.
- Don’t be afraid to zoom in. Make those chocolate morsels look huge!
- Focus on texture.
Ahh, all wrapped up and ready to be delivered as a gift. Notice the homemade fudge on the left? Amazing! Happy Holidays from all of us here at Goldchips Photographics! Posted by Jared on December 5, 2009 at 6:58 am Ever wondered how photographers get those perfectly white backgrounds on perfectly lighted products? They use something called a Light Tent, sometimes called a Light Box or a Soft Box. You can go out to your local photography store and buy one for $50 and up, depending on size, or you can build your own for $2.96. Besides saving a nice chunk of change, you gain the ability to fully customize your tent/box. You’ll need these items: - A cardboard box (of whatever size you choose) – You most likely have one of these around the house.
- A roll of decently wide tape – I bought a 50 yard roll of clear packing tape 1.88″ wide for $1.08.
- A piece of white poster board – I bought a huge sheet for $0.38
- A thin white plastic tablecloth (alternately you could use a thin white sheet of cloth) – I bought mine for $1.50.
All you need to do is cut out the sides of your box and tape the cloth over the openings. The cloth acts as a light diffuser, giving you nice soft light over your subject. Cut your poster board to fit and you can use it for “infinity sweep” purposes. I use two strobes on manual settings to provide the actual lighting. 
Posted by Jared on September 11, 2009 at 5:35 pm From Pisa we took an hour-long ride to Florence, the center of the Renaissance, through the Tuscan countryside (not that scenic near the tracks unfortunately). Here we saw the famed Duomo which is another architectural and artistic marvel although its beauty is definitely reduced by the fake leather purses and trinkets (all made in China) aggressively hawked by salesmen in makeshift shanty stores all around it. Alas, our time in Florence was short because of the hour and a half it would take to get back to Livorno by train. We will absolutely come back here some day and fully explore Florence and the rest of Tuscany. There is so much to see, it’s unbelievable. 
Outstanding architecture. Marble panels everywhere. Construction began in 1296 and wasn’t complete until 1469. Posted by Jared on September 11, 2009 at 2:57 pm Today we started off in the city of Livorno, sometimes called Leghorn by the English. We awoke at our usual time and made our way to the Livorno train station. A quick 20 minute ride via rail brought us to Pisa’s Centrale station. We walked up the pedestrian-only shopping street Corso Italia and crossed the Arno River (which dissects the city). Once on the other side, we made a left to walk along the river and admire the buildings here, some of which date from the 1200s when Pisa’s power as a port and trading center was at its peak. By the way, Pisa is also famous as the hometown of Galileo, a scientist who challenged the Church’s belief that all planets revolve around the earth (obviously we now know that the planets revolve around the sun) and he was imprisoned for some time. In fact, we walked by Scuola Normale which is the building that now houses part of Pisa University, which is one of Europe’s oldest and this is where Galileo taught. Within a minute we had arrived at Pisa’s most famous site: the Leaning Tower. I guess there’s not much I could say about one of the most written-about buildings in the world other than to merely concur that is both beautiful and leaning. By the way, the Arno River is quite beautiful as well. 
After walking around it and admiring it from every angle we hopped a quick taxi ride back to Pisa’s train station. Stay tuned for more info on our next destination! |
