DIY Micro Studio

Earlier today, I got bored, I was sitting around watching a Mariners Game, and got the excellent idea that I should get creative. After reading all of those Do It Yourself (DIY) blogs on creating one out of a cardboard box, I went ahead and made one of myself. I finally decided to put together a micro studio. It turned out great!

I live extremely close to Wal-Mart (like 5 minutes walking) so making the purchases was very simple! I drove anyway, because i didn't want to carry a bunch of odd things, even if it was a short distance to walk. Yeah, I know, I wasn't thinking much for the local economy or the environment, so don't rub that in!

So, here are the supplies that I collected:

(1) Used box from moving a month and a half ago, FREE (but about $1.50 at Wal-Mart).
(3) Large Poster Boards, $0.38 each (For the white background and the reflection from the top of the box).
(1) Parch Paper, $2.84 (it is supposed to keep your cookies and stuff from sticking to your pan. Instead, i used it to diffuse light).
(1) Clear boxing tape, $1.77



Here are some more pictures from the shoot.

So overall the project turned out great, now i just have to find some place to store this beast!

She Could Stop a Train

Senior Photos are in the air. This is my first school year that I am actually going to try to pursue senior photography. I don't mean old people, but young and ready to graduate high schoolers.

I am trying something unique for my senior photos, unlike any that I have seen for a long time. I am pushing the limits, I don't want to follow any kind of tradition with senior photos. I want to make each student feel special like a model, and spend as much time as needed to get plenty of excellent shots of each of them.

As you can see, the picture that I have here, this is Aubrey. My first senior photo "model" of the year. She did great, at first it was a little rocky, as we went to a very beautiful park, but all the flowers were dying, and there was a wedding going on near the more photogenic locations. We later decided to go downtown, and get some pictures around there, and we got a lot of fabulous pictures!

I will edit more later, but I just wanted to show how excited I was about the photo shoot, and I am looking forward to more!

So, stay tuned! More from the photo shoot coming later!

The Season for Senior Photos

I have some senior photo shoots in the works, I will get them online as soon as I am done processing and editing these pictures. They are turning out pretty good, I would say they are slightly unique, but then again my subjects so far have been extraordinary! I have finished one of two shoots so far. I should be able to get some of these done today, but probably not likely until Thursday.

So far I have two girls, both I knew before doing the shoot, so that makes it extremely easy! I am hoping that with both of them combined, that they would be able to bring me some more business! I am looking forward to seeing where this goes, especially since I am a lot cheaper, and offer a lot more than the competitors.

My only weakness, is the years of experience. Years don't really mean quality, it just means an they've got an old shutter and probably have some sort of strategy to get things out the door like a factory. I feel like i have a very special unique touch to each of the pictures I take that exceeds the expectations of my customers.

First Photography Studio Pictures

The other day, I had mentioned on Facebook that i was in the process of creating my own photography studio. It threw a little tiny bit of a buzz around. Except for one friend of mine. She wanted to be the absolute first person to be featured in my new photography studio. Allison and I have meet through unusual circumstances. I actually knew her mom, and her mom recommended that she would message me on Facebook . I knew her mom Tammy from work, she works downstairs near the exit and i walk by her desk every day to enter and exit the building. Occasionally saying hello, and having a long conversation other times especially when getting coffee!

So, yesterday, I had setup a time with Allison to do a photo shoot in my garage studio. I had been out taking senior photos for a friend of mine from Camp Harlow for most of the day, so I didn't really have time to prepare. Also, when importing the pictures from the senior photo shoot, i had a slight issue. My hard drive had overflowed. I can just imagine it as a garbage can, gross. So i went to best buy to purchase a new hard drive.

At this time, Allison was already at my house. Talk about professional photographer, I was tromping around at Best Buy like i always do. A Man's toy store!

So, I get back to my house, but i don't have the proper supplies for the photo shoot, so we all go to home depot, and I got to show off my amazing ability to not know where ANYTHING is in that store, and I prove both the girls wrong immediately by going and asking for help. That was easy, so much for male pride, everyone i asked was female, and they knew exactly where EVERYTHING was. Wow, a humbling experience.

So I left Home Depot with 10 small clamps (for $0.37 each), 4 large clamps (for $0.99 each), and a smallest and cheapest step ladder (for $11.99). I already had the rope.

So, as you can see here, my studio is very simple. It is basically a sheet that is clamped onto a rope, that is clamped onto my garage door railing. The sheet is free falling to the ground, creating a nice flat appearance. On the more technical side, I lit the scene with two flashes, and one reflector.

My equipment for the shoot include:

• Nikon SpeedLight SB-800 (on the right, behind the umbrella)
• Nikon SpeedLight SB-600 (on the left, lighting the background and hitting the reflector)
• (2) Monfrotto Bogen 3373 Light Stands
• (3) Pocket Wizard Plus II
• (1) White Shoot Through Umbrella
• (1) Foam Board (AKA: Reflector)
• (1) Allison M.

If you look on my Flickr set for Allison M. you can see more pictures from the shoot! The photo shoot went with no problems, was a lot of fun, and definitely a huge learning experience for me!

So far, this weekend has been keeping me very busy. It is quite exciting! And I hope i can keep the business going! I have been doing multiple shoots for different people.

Photography Studio

First off, I just wanted to personally congratulate you for finding my new Blog. I recently moved over to Blogger just so everything would be more streamlined, and controlled. I have a couple different services such as Flickr and YouTube attached to this Blog, and I hope to be able to integrate the content that I post on these with my Blog. I will also be importing all entries to my Facebook profile.

This is really exciting! My goal for this Blog is to just discuss different things that are going on with my photography, what I am learning, and just what ever comes to my mind that is related to my work! I will post links and examples of my latest projects as well! I have a lot of new projects coming up, and I just wanted to let everyone know just how excited I am for my work!

So, this is my first official post. So I should probably write about something!

In the next few days, I will be putting the final touches to my garage in hopes to create a small photography studio. This is really exciting for me! I am looking forward to having complete control of my light! So far, I have only dealt with really low-key studio type of locations. Such as my bedroom, living room, or other random places. As you can see in the picture for this Blog entry, I have a picture of myself! It is a very simple setup, just one umbrella shooting right at my face. I am sitting on my bed. How silly is that? Fortunately the ghetto ness of this picture does not show up, and it overall looks like a professional picture.

I am going to try to convince myself to take more self-portraits. Not because I want to be an emo kid, but because I want to practice my lighting techniques, and being in front of the camera. Being a photographer, I feel much more comfortable being behind the camera, and in control. This will be nice once I get my studio setup, so I don’t have to sit around on my bed!

So hopefully, my garage studio will be done in the next few days, and definitely before… tomorrow?

The Hair Cut Video

This is a little video I made at Camp Harlow of me getting my hair trimmed. I actually did not use my video camera to film this, instead it is a series of photographs taken with my Nikon D200 and a SpeedLight behind a white shoot through umbrella. It turned out really good, and I have gotten a lot of praise on it so far.

Family Pictures

I have two beautiful nieces, this picture is of Kesi. She is the youngest, and reminds me of an innocent Halli Berry! Be sure to go check out some of my pictures at my Flickr page!

About Me

I am Will Foster. An aspiring photographer. I would love to be known world wide for my work without being the stereotypical wedding or nature photographer. I am seeking to build my own style, and shine through my own work. I love working with people, and showing their true beauty with all the vibrant colors of a photograph. I love working in post production as much as the photo shoot. I use all Adobe applications, including Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Lightroom 2. I love to get down in the dirt to get the right angle, and risk my equipment to get the best shot.

I am interested in many forms of photography, but I focus mostly on promotional value. I have done many portraits, bands, artists, portfolios for models, small businesses, and more. I would love to be able to help promote your business with photography that helps you stand out, and make an impact and attract new customers and help display the purpose of your products.

I hope that someday I'll be able to help impact your customers for your business. If it is a band, corporation, modeling portfolio, or what ever, I would love to be able to help promote your product!