On location with United Way of Miami, at the hotel Victor in South Beach!

Tonight we are shooting the JAWS South Beach Cigar party to benefit the United Way Youth Fund.

Jaws Youth Fund with Ron ‘Jaws’ Jaworski, NFL great and current ESPN Monday Night Football analyst, is an active community champion and has partnered with United Way to create his foundation – the Jaws Youth Fund – which has raised more than $3 million to date.

Tonight we had Mike Tirico, John Gruden, Suzy Kolber, Mike Ditka, Merril Hoge, ESPN Radio personalities and other celebrities join us for a terrific event!

The Jaws Youth Fund promotes the future successes of at-risk youth by assisting programs that provide leadership and growth opportunities for disadvantaged youth.

Madeline 5 weeks old!

Miami portrait photographer Travis Harris, had the wonderful opportunity to photograph little baby Madeline today! Madeline is only 5 weeks old, and her parents are wanting to have some keep sake photos taken of her for a new baby announcement card! Travis and Adriana arrived on location around 12:15PM to setup for the shoot. Shooting location was going to be in the bedroom, which we turned into a little mini studio for our subject. The setup was a large softbox behind our subject to create both the background, and a separation light. This was powered about 2/3 stops over my main light, which was a 22" Beauty Dish on a boom. I basically "sandwiched" Madeline with my lights, getting nice soft light everywhere..

Shooting for model agency "FAME"

A new model agency here in Miami (FAME) has been working very closely with Miami Photographer Travis Harris! Recently, we have been shooting model portfolios (comp cards) for new models going to be listed on their site. Today, we have a pleasure of working with Gabri G. whom is from Naples, FL. Our shooting location for her five look comp card is here in Miami, and will consist of bikini shots, lifestyle shots, beauty shots, high fashion shots, and maybe a little glamour.

We started with model in makeup for 6AM, and myself and assistants headed out on the beach to setup for bikini session. Sunrise was at about 7:15.. however today it was very overcast.. and we did not get the bright rays I was anticipating. Knowing this, I decided to use a very cool white balance in camera.. to make the water and sky behind model very blue in temperature.. and used CTO gel on our 22" beauty dish to return nice warm tones to the model. This, had a very pleasing effect out of the camera!

Around 8AM we stopped and my MUA (makeup artist) Yuliya, changed her look and we moved to another beach location where we had a nice long dock to work with for the life style shots. Here I wanted to take advantage of the nice ambient (natural) light and not use any studio strobes. I assembled one of our large (4.5' x 6.5') full body reflectors and bounced some nice light back onto her. This was the best choice for this type of shot!

9AM it was time to go into the studio (walking distance from the beach) and transition our model into some makeup for some close up beauty shots. Here I used a large soft-box as the background, and a diffused beauty dish on a boom as the main light. The background light was about 2/3 stop over the key light, so I would get some nice wrap around light on her sides. We also used a reflector from below to fill in some shadows under chin / neck. The key in this setup was to keep the BG light angle about 45-deg up.. and the main light about 45-deg down... she was sandwiched in the middle. I did get some flare in the lens (and I knew I would).. but this is so easy to get rid of in post processing (increase your "black point" in RAW).

10AM we moved into some fashion shots.. this was a simple large (gridded) softbox camera right up high and a large white card camera left for fill..

11AM some glamour style shots / high fashion (comp card cover).. was using three lights.. two strip boxes on sides camera right and left.. and a beauty dish as a key light on boom.

All in all we are very happy with the results.. and I am sure we will be shooting with FAME model agency again very soon ; )

PS - I also designed the comp card!

Palm Beach Princess Casino Calendar

About three weeks ago I got a call from Todd (creative director) asking me about photography service for a large project that he is in the final stages of putting together for a casino cruise line. The project is to shoot a promotional calendar for a casino boat in West Palm Beach, FL. The calendar will include some of the promotional girls (models) that work on the boat, as well as some models that I was able to provide.

Myself, Kevin (my business parter), Yuliya (our Makeup Artist / Stylist), and my assistant Brett all went to meet with Todd on the boat, so we could get a better feel for what they were looking for.. I brought my camera along so I could also take some "collateral" shots of some locations they had in mind for the shoot (this was for my notes, and planning). The shooting time was going to be a challenge because the cruse ship is always at sea.. and we needed to shoot this with the boat docked. The times the boat is docked was from 1AM - 9:30AM. This meant everyone had to be ready to start shooting at 1AM, and each day we had to be finished before the boat left for sea (9:30AM)!! In addition to the general shooting times.. we only had a window of about 45-min to allocate to each model... this also had to include moving all of our lighting equipment and getting it all setup from one location of the boat to another! There was no time for error.. nor any time to "play" with the lighting.. everything had to move along very quickly as they came out from makeup and on set.

The lighting was meticulously planned out weeks before the shoot. I actually drafted up lighting diagrams for each model / location.. and made my notes based on the initial meeting we had with the client. Everything from what lighting I was going to use, to the over all timetable was planned in advance... I even had my camera settings all marked off and ready to go. I still needed to be able to think very quick on my feet during shooting.. but all the planning helped us narrow down any "grey" area that might have come up.. and now looking back.. there was no other way to do this project... planning was the key!

The actual shoot was done over two days. About half the models were shot day one.. and the other half shot day two. Our makeup artist Yuliya was amazing.. she was able to match all the looks perfectly to the costumes.. and kept the models coming out on set right on time.. she was such an integral part of this project, and give the models the professional look we all wanted!

We are all so very proud of our results and hard work on this one.. the shots came out exactly how I planned : )

Miami Fashion Photographer on the roof!

Mixing color and fun!

Here we are on location with some new toys in hopes to create a "unique" looking / feeling photograph of our model. Our location is a Miami rooftop facing west at around 5:45PM. A very "dull" and "industrial" look on the roof is made interesting with some special lighting effects.. and a blend of ambient sunset.

Lighting:

22" Beauty dish with 40-degree grid used camera left provided our "key" light and two other AB800's were used for background effects. One was placed about 20 feet camera right pointing at the stairs behind model, with a blue gel.. and the other was camera left in the background giving us a "rim" light on our model, and was also giving us a nice flare off in the sky. All lights were fired using Pocket Wizards, and power was provided by the Vagabond II pack.

Exposure:

This was still daylight when shot, thus I stopped my lens (24-70mm) way down to about f/11 to get a full underexposed frame.. then just feathered back the shutter to get some nice sunset colors off in the sky.. My strobes were used to "overpower" the ambient light, and dominate the frame.

Post Processing:

I was very determined to get the exposure and lighting I wanted right out of the camera.. I succeeded in my goal, with the exception of some "hot spots" from the Beauty dish, and a little punch in contrast..

Miami headshot photography

On location today with Tom, whom is an actor that just moved from Los Angeles, CA and looking for work here in Miami! Tom has done many commercials over the years, and now is looking into some modeling..

It was a pleasure to work with Tom!

Tech:

It actually started to rain when we were shooting, and I had to move indoors right away! Lucky, there was a gym near by, and I asked if I could do some shots in the unused racquet ball court.. they said "no problem".. Here is a perfect soft light solution on the run! Four large white walls, what could be better! I placed tom where I wanted him (facing the white walls) and used two strobes bare bulb, bounced off the adjacent walls for some nice soft light. The results were perfect!

Miami Portrait photographer

Today we are going to take a few on location shots of Gabby who has turned 8 months old today! Our setup includes a portable backdrop and two studio lights that was setup in the clients living room. I shot tethered into the MacBook Pro, so we could see how the results were coming along. This was a very fun session and our model was a pleasure to work with!!

Here are a few images edited from the shoot!

Tech:

EOS 50D

1/250 @ f/8 70-mm ISO 100

x2 AB800's both at around 1/4 power with shoot through umbrella's triggered with Pocket Wizards.

Miami Commercial photographer

Adriana and I are on location this morning at High Point for product shots, to update their catalog. High Point specializes in bathroom vanities for the "higher end" consumer. They have truly designed some very beautiful pieces... Thank goodness I left my wallet in the car, or I would have ended up with all new bathrooms in my house!

Todays location shoot involves about 70 different products that will need to be photographed for the catalog. We arrived on location at 9-am to setup our studio, lights and computer system. We decided to shot tethered directly into the MacBook Pro laptop so that our clients could see the results instantly. This worked well, and gave an all hands on deck approach to the shots. After all the products were shot, we burned a DVD with all images on the spot and handed over to them! We were all packed up and driving away by 1:30-PM.

Our clients were very happy, and we hope to help them again as their product selections change / grow!

Tech:

Camera - EOS 50D

Lens - 24-70mm 2.8 L

Light - x2 AB800's

Transmission - Pocket Wizard II wireless radio slaves

On location for Gourme Mist & Weight Watchers Magazine

Today we are on location in beautiful Parkland, FL to shoot a full page ad for our clients at Gourme Mist that will appear in Weight Watchers Magazine. We will be shooting, processing, and designing the final product for the magazine. Our final production will include a model demoing the Gourme Mist product on food items, in a luxurious kitchen setting that is "bright" and "light". Additionally, we will be taking product shots that will appear on the ad itself along with a coupon for the consumers.

Myself and assistant along with our makeup / hair artist arrived on location at the clients house at 12-Noon and began setting up and prepping the model(s). We knew in advance that they did not have the type of kitchen they wanted for the ad, but we were up for the challenge of creating a composite shot using another image of the "ideal" kitchen. We used only a small part of their existing kitchen island to place food, and make for a suitable stage.

We used a green screen behind our model(s) and island, that would later be replaced by our new kitchen for the final ad. After our lighting setup was dialed in, we started taking shots and reviewing them together as a team on our computer. Once we had "the shot" I then was able to quickly create a mock up of the ad for the client on the spot, so they could have an idea of how the final product would come together. Our clients were blown away, and very satisfied. We departed around 8-PM.

Tech Data:

Camera - EOS 50D with RRS custom L-plate mounted to carbon tripod, tethered to MacBook Pro.

Lens - 24-70mm 2.8L

Lighting - x2 AB800's with shoot through umbrellas, both set to around 1/4 power. Both strobes are triggered via Pocket Wizards.

- Model Jennifer -

Q: Real or Fake?

A: Fake, but real good...

Fun with green screen composites. Our lovely model Jennifer wanted some new images that were going to bring her portfolio up to date and get her noticed by potential clients. Here you can see the final shot for this session. Using a "Green Screen" and a proven workflow in post processing, we were able to create stunning results without actually finding a nice location to shoot outside. Our final image shown is the result of our composite and, was a finalist on Model Mayhem.com out of 200 other competing shots!

Shot on location with our portable studio, and off camera strobes. We shot "tethered" into a Macbook Pro to ensure best results.

Camera: 50D 1/125 @ f/8 ISO 100

Lens: 24-70mm L 2.8 USM

Lights: AB800's (one camera left 1/4 power, one camera right for background 1/4 power and 42" reflector camera right) triggered with Pocket Wizards.

Cooper City High School Prom

We had a wonderful time taking pictures for Alexis and her friends on prom night.  She wanted to have some formal style pictures of her event, and looked to us to create something special.  Knowing everyone was going to be wearing something different I wanted to have the ability to show a custom background that would match the clothing worn by each couple.  We decided to setup a portable green screen studio in their living room, with two studio strobes.  The kids and parents loved the effects we were able to create after the shoot by making a color coded studio background for each couple!

Sweet Sixteen with Jaslady!

Nothing like turning the big 16! I remember when I turned 16..

I bought my first car.. it was a 1985 VW Golf automatic with 263,000 miles on it. I got it for a steal at $650.00. I was in heaven, and paid cash for i

t by working at the local gro

cery store in

Burlington, Vermont.

However today... we are going to provide a gift that is going to last forever, and freeze this day in a custom designed photobook for our client Jaslady. We have taken the time to ge

t to know her, and her passion for life. She has chosen the popular location of Vizcaya Museum & Gardens in Miami, FL for the location on her special day. Having shot there many times in the past, I knew when and where we needed to shoot for the best lighting, and reduced shadows in the shots. We spent about four hours on location, and I had two assistants with me. In addition to taking shots of our beautiful subject, I took the opportunity to capture some of the epic scenery, and historic textures that surrounded us. I knew this would be a wonderful addition to the custom book I would be later creating. Everyone had such a good time, that our client wanted to book me again the very next day to shoot some lifestyle shots on South Beach! All in all we had a blast, and exceeded our clients expectations across the board.

Here is a shot from a few pages in the custom book we designed for her! We use only the best vendors for book production, and this one had "lay flat" hinged pages and a leather cover, with a custom photo jacket!

Tech Data:

Camera: 50D - with RRS wedding pro flash bracket

Lens: 24-70 2.8L, and 70-200 2.8L IS

Flash: 580EX II - with external waist power pack

Some shots we used a 42" reflector for fill or to hide shadows.