Steve Z Photography » Steve Z Photography – Wedding, Portrait, and Business Photography

Infrared Portraits in the Florida Swamp

Steve Z — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:07:17 +0000

I had the opportunity to borrow an Infrared converted Nikon D200 while I was visiting Tampa over the holiday break from my friend Mitchell. I posted my introduction to infrared photography on my personal blog a while back. I wanted to try out the camera using a portrait model, so I contacted Lisa to sit for me while we took some outdoor images in the swamp. OK we didn’t actually go into the swampy part of the swamp, but we were only about 2 vertical feet above swamp level so I figure that’s close enough.

The infrared camera exposes humans and plants brighter than in the visible spectrum, so there is definitely a cool effect here. You can see how bright the palm fronds on the forest floor are compared to what they would be with a normal black and white image. I converted the images to black and white to get rid of the funky colors shown in my other blog post.

Other than the infrared shots, I also wanted to get some more use out of my new Nikon primes. These first two images were taken with the Nikon 85mm 1.4G, and the bottom one was with the Nikon 35mm 1.4G. I posted some shots from similar locations with both cameras (although than the b/w vs color) so that you can see the difference in the background blur. The above shots were taken at f7.1-f9, while the color images are all wide open at f1.4. Shooting wide open with the infrared camera has a negative affect on the image sharpness. There is some science behind it that I’ve already read and forgotten.

It’s hard to argue with sweet background blur like this! Softening the background really separates the subject from the background when compared to the black and white infrared landscape image above.

Jacque .:. Fashion

Steve Z — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:06:52 +0000

I’m keeping up the bloggathon this Monday morning by posting something a little different for me. While I often post photos of regular people trying to look like a model, today I’m going to post some photos of a model looking like a model. Jacque was in need of some new shots for her portfolio, and I was happy to oblique with some unapologetic posing and shooting. All these shots were taken in my natural habitat of the alleys of downtown Boulder.

Ann .:. Pinup

Steve Z — Tue, 25 May 2010 22:06:31 +0000

I’m back with another round of photos that I took with my friend Ann this winter. Ann really loves the historic pinup style of photography. So we did two shoots that emulate the classic style and poses from that era. First we did some shots at the Hotel Boulderado, which is a historic hotel in its own right.

This next pose is pretty funny! We copied it from an illustration Ann found on the internet. “Ouch, my poor thumb! Can you kiss it and make it better?” LOL.

The next few images in this post were all shot in the studio. These continue to work the classic poses developed by the pinup artists in the early 1900′s.

These next shots deviate from that classic style a little bit. But I like black and white photographs as well!

Ann .:. Vintage Fashion

Steve Z — Sun, 02 May 2010 19:17:12 +0000

Here are some photos from a fun shoot that I did this winter at the historic Hotel Boulderado in downtown Boulder. The hotel was the perfect location in town for some Hollywood glamor style images.

Tiffany .:. Fashion

Steve Z — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:51:13 +0000

This is the second half of my fashion photo shoot at the Ghost Mine at Nelson Nevada. While a lot of the area is pretty touristy/cheesy, there are plenty of great backgrounds if you choose your locations wisely and stay away from the obvious backgrounds that have been quite overused! I really enjoyed the desert background which didn’t even really have anything to do with the Ghost Town itself!

Alex .:. Fashion

Steve Z — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:50:57 +0000

Earlier this month I visited Las Vegas for the WPPI photography convention and trade show. I helped organize a photo shoot with some of my photographer cronies in the old ghost town in Nelson, NV. Here are some pinup and fashion style photos that I shoot with the lovely Alex modeling for me.

Fashion Photos in the Snow

Steve Z — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:58:26 +0000

It’s a new year and we are getting back in the groove of doing some shoots and creative work here at Steve Z Photography. I haven’t been blogging very much as the winter season has been full of vacationing, summer wedding bookings, and work on the new soon-to-be-opened studio space. The lack of blogging is going to change as I’ve been working on some exciting side projects.

I awoke Sunday feeling a little bit lazy and unmotivated for office work. Light fluffy flakes were piling outside on the patio, and I said to myself, “Self, today would be a great day for a winter photo shoot. Too bad you don’t have a model.” Fortunately, Ann called a short while later and I was able to convince her that a short period of being cold was worth immortal glory. So we devised a costume plan and headed to the hills.

The humorous part of the story revolves around the coat she is wearing. This fantabulous garment has been sitting in my closet for quite a few years. I made it out of real peacock feathers and a fake fur coat for a Halloween costume where I was Pootie Tang!

Fashion Shots in the Studio

Steve Z — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:59:48 +0000

In preparation for some winter shooting, I have re-joined a studio. It has been quite a while since I’ve done any studio work, and I’m actually excited about working on my lighting and posing. I think that by working on the subtle nuances, that it will help improve my outdoor location work which is my predominant style.

Tiz and Rose were models in a little fashion show down the street, and they stopped by for some shots before the show with Ian and myself. We didn’t have a ton of time, but I think we got some good shots amidst the fast-paced environment. I tried a new lighting setup that I’ve never used before, and I’m pretty pleased with the results. I was going for a very fashion look, and I think I got what I was going for, in conjunction with some post-processing color shifting in Lightroom. Well, that’s it for the latest blog installment, look for more studio shots over the course of the winter!

Mario and Steve .:. International Supernoodles

Steve Z — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:57:15 +0000

Last week I was down in Denver shooting, schmoozing, and hanging out with friends. I had all my gear with me and got the crazy idea to do a shoot for fun with my pro photographer friend and fellow DWF member Mario Masitti at an urban location near his place in Denver. I’m excited for the off season to be here so that I’ll have some time to do some shoots for fun in the name of artistic development. I really like the color of this building that is right across the street from The Penthouse.

Then we just drove around for a while until we found somewhere cool. We liked the look of this graffiti encrusted building! I started out just taking some pictures using natural light.

Then I busted out my new portable beauty dish for some harder light.

For this final shot I just turned and took a shot in an opposite direction that what I intended. I really like the short lighting look in this case! Also, I used the tilt shift to make both of his eyes in focus with a shallow depth of field despite the fact that his head is turned away from me!

As part of the trade, we exchanged RAW files to compare editing styles of the same photos. It is really cool how the same photograph usually has a completely different look depending on who processes it. This is why the whole concept of ‘digital negatives’ in wedding photography is so inherently flawed. The photo isn’t done until it’s processed people!

So these next photos of me were all taken by Mario Masitti Studios. I did the processing in my own style, thus my watermark on them. But the pics are his, to be marginally clear These shots are going to be the ‘before’ shots, before I go in for a haircut tomorrow!

Fashion Lifestyle Portraits Featuring prAna Clothing

Steve Z — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:45:15 +0000

Before the fashion show, I once again took some portraits of the models after they were finished getting done up at Twig Salon. The last time I did this I got some pretty cool lighting effects from a chainlink fence in the alley. Once again I was in the alley behind the salon, but this time I decided to put everyone in a different spot. The sun was blazing, so we were forced into the shade amongst the dumpsters. But I really like the results, and fully expect to see some dumpster yoga on the cover of prAna’s next catalog! Full gallery can be found on my Facebook gallery. Here are some of my favorites.