Shooting People on Dark Background

Written by Tandy Sean on December 29, 2009 – 12:42 pm -

I’m putting together project right now with a personal brand, website, and headshot for Ricarido Gimena, Vancouver based Opera singer with the Vancouver Opera Company. I’ll be following up this post with the remainder of project elements. This one will focus on the shoot.   The goal was to get some good studio shots for the site and for the head shot to give out at auditions. We worked on a dark background and experimented with the lighting. Since it’s for Opera, the more dramatic the better! Read more for deatails on the lighting setup.

A great lighting scheme for a professional, dramatic image

A great lighting scheme for a professional, dramatic image

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Product Photography on White Background

Written by Tandy Sean on December 17, 2009 – 11:22 am -

Product is king, and to make your product shots stand out, sometimes you need to get a little creative. I did a series of product photography recently for Janna Hurtzig, a local designer who’s astro satchels are taking Vancouver by storm. Since the shoot was for publishing in a book next year, I decided to break away from a flat white background and spruce it up with a bit of shadow.  Click through to see the lighting scheme and to read a bit more about the shoot.

Janna_Hurtzig_bags 32

Janna Hurtzig Astro Satchel's shot on white background

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High Key Lighting – a fun alternative

Written by Tandy Sean on November 11, 2009 – 5:57 pm -

High key lighting isn’t too complicated but is a fun alternative to a standard portrait. Check out the photos from a recent shoot and find a lighting schematic after the jump.

My favorite opera star is the king of posing

My favorite opera star is the king of posing

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Vancouver Urban Colors

Written by Tandy Sean on November 3, 2009 – 11:58 am -

Downtown Vancouvers East side may be a sketchy neighborhood but there’s still some urban beauty to be found.

Downtown on Hastings near Carol St.

Downtown on Hastings near Carol St.


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Stained Concrete

Written by Tandy Sean on November 2, 2009 – 9:55 am -

Fall leaves stain the concrete rusty shades on a rainy Vancouver day.
stained concrete


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Shooting Film… Going back to the roots of traditional film photography

Written by Tandy Sean on October 11, 2009 – 2:45 pm -

A Cross processed transparency of a girl jumping off of a waterfall in Laos

A Cross processed transparency of a girl jumping off of a waterfall in Laos

When I was traveling through Laos 2 years ago the unthinkable happened.  My digital camera sputtered and died! I couldn’t believe my misfortune! I mean, how often does one travel to Laos anyways and I was fortunate enough to be there during the biggest festival of the year, the rocket festival where home made rockets were shot into the sky to signal the beginning of the rainy season.  Fortunately I had been lugging my Canon Ellan 7 35 mm film camera and a bag full of film since I left home 6 months ago.  Being forced to go back to traditional photography was both a thrill and a joy. It inspired me to be more creative, make film choices that I hadn’t had to make in years, choose between color and black and white… It really brought something back to the art that died with digital photography.  So, here’s a story I wrote for a  travel website  about returning to traditional photography. There are also some tried and tested  techniques on getting better digital shots too.

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