Professional Portraits

Recently I have been getting quite a few requests for these new professional portraits. With all the professional sites out there people are looking for better portraits. Your Facebook photo is no longer acceptable on LinkedIn 

The days of the studio background portraits are gone. The new generation of professionals are looking for something to set themselves apart from available pool of talent out there. There is no better way of doing that than standing out, being different and remember-able with a new portrait photo.

As you can see for this example, I talked to the client and asked what exactly she was looking for. She wanted something more than a passport photo. She wanted to be pictured in the working environment. We scheduled the shoot couple of days later. Luckily the weather was beautiful that day so we decided to start outside. We found a park near by the office building and picked a spot under the shadow of a tree.  Perfect lighting.

Thirty minutes later we were off into the office building looking for a conference room. I used 2 shoot through umbrellas and 2 Youngnuo flashes to light up the room.Shooting in the conference rooms becomes tricky if they have lots of windows. You have to watch your reflections.

Tools of the trade

• 2 Yongnuo YN-560 II Speedlight Flash
• Two CowboyStudio 7 feet Photography Light Stands
• 2 Interfit Photographic INT390 33-Inch Translucent Umbrella Lighting
• Yongnuo Rf-602 2.4ghz Wireless Flash Speedlight Trigger with 2 Receivers
• Tamron SP 70-200MM F/2.8 DI VC USD for Nikon
• Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro Aspherical Large Aperture

Verdavanti

A marijuana grower/distributor in Washington asked for my photography services. I was hired to get photos of the products to be used in promotional materials along with their website. This was and awesome gig. I got to play with all my toys and I got something out of it. This was not the fist paid gig, but it was more fun than the rest. It was challenging.  

First off i must begin by saying i know nothing of Marijuana. I know it's legal in Washington and Colorado and that the smell of the Marijuana smoke makes me sick.  With that in mind I was excited. The challenge, how to photograph plants. What is the right lens? What is the right lighting?

Here comes the breakdown. 

Lighting Set Up

For almost all of the shoot i have used to 2 lights(strobes $120) 2 stand($60) s and 2 umbrellas($40) and triggers ($50). This is the cheapest Strobist kit you can put together. Its portable and it's not bad. If you don't know what a strobist is, check out David Hobby's

Strobist.com  for more information. He is a great photographer, DIYer and budget photographer that has great ideas and reviews. 

• 2 Yongnuo YN-560 II Speedlight Flash for Canon and Nikon. GN58.
• CowboyStudio Set of Two 7 feet Photography Light Stands with Cases
• 2 Interfit Photographic INT390 33-Inch Translucent Umbrella Lighting
• Yongnuo Rf-602 2.4ghz Wireless Flash Speedlight Trigger with 2 Receivers

Lenses

For the product shots  

• Nikon 60mm f/2.8D AF Micro
• Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF
• Tamron SP 70-200MM F/2.8 DI VC USD for Nikon
• Rokinon 8mm Ultra Wide F/3.5 Fisheye Lens

Also for the product in the jars I used a light tent.

LimoStudio 25" x 25" Square Light Box Tent with 4 x Backdrops

There are other things that I didn't include here because it seems like it was too much. But at some point in the photo shoot i pulled the plants out of the growing light and used the white inside of my LimoStudio 43" 5-in-1, Reflector as a background and shot the plants in the pots. So ya a $15 dollar thing can be used for many purposes.

This was a great experience and I'd love to do it again. And if you get a change you should get out there and challenge yourself and take some great photos.

If you like my photos follow me on instagram. +monkifoto  @monkifoto

If you are interested in the products I just photographed, check out their website.

Verdavanti - Pacific Northwest's Premier Cannabis Grower

www.verdavanti.com/