Marriotts Ridge center midfielder Alex Price led the Mustangs to a 13-3-3 record and the girls soccer team’s first county championship.

Here’s the corresponding Howard County Time Article.

I couldn’t have asked for a better sky that day. …the temperature could’ve been better, though. If I remember correctly, it was hovering around 20-ish degrees, plus wind.

The Marriotts Ridge baseball field was going under some renovation, so rather than take Alex to the stadium (where all those gross white banners live in the background) I put her on top of the mound closest to the backstop.

…that way when she kicked the ball it didn’t go too far.

For all you gear heads out there, I used two Alien Bee 1600′s, both unmodified, at max power, powered by the vagabond II (love that thing) flanking her at the 9 o’clock and 4 o’clock position. I also used an sb-800, on the right, to light the ball.

Same Set up, sans the sb-800.

Grant and Marie are getting married!

Believe it or not, but this was shot in a Gaithersburg, MD subdivision — not on a magical hillside.

I really didn’t want to make the traditional “updated prom photo” pose, as my girlfriend Jess calls it.

Of course I made the safe shots. …we also called them “grandparent” shots — because grandparents are usually the demographic who want the traditional photos the most.

Ultimately, I wanted to make a memorable image that describes them individually and as a couple. …emphasis on MEMORABLE.

I find that the best way to make a portrait memorable is to tell a little story. Pretty people will always make pretty pictures. But there’s no better way to sear an image in your memory than a little theme-action!

…it doesn’t hurt to have someone hanging upside down, either.

The above photo is one of my initial “test shots.” And if I’ve learned anything in my eight years as a pro, is that “test shots” can just as easily become your “A” shot. I quite like this photo. Depending on your school of thought, this photo skirts the line of success or failure. On the one hand, the mood, subtlety, setting, body language, are all working really well. If you wanna get all heady with the right slogan this image is a best-selling motivational poster. …am I right? high five!

Now, if you’re in the camp that thinks the shadows in his midsection are too dark, and for that reason alone, the photo is unusable, then, you probably need to do some soul searching. …that is, you need to find your soul. Remember, a lit photo is so much more than the sum of its lighting technique.

Tutorials can be all about the lighting,

…but photographs need to be all about the content.

But this is a tutorial… so lets talk BEAUTY DISH!

I recently bought an Avenger boom arm which was a game changer. Now I can do things like

hang a beauty dish over 11-year-old weight-lifters’ head and not worry about his barbells breaking anything (lightbulb, my foot, his head). The idea is simple. I wanted to light him brighter than the rest of the room. BOOM! (hehehe see what I did there?) over head beauty dish! It’s like one of those cool lights you see at a wrestling match. Fall off was inevitable, (thus the midsection shadows), but that was okay. I had like two to three more Alien Bee’s to play with. Aside from varying power settings and angles, the boom never changed stage position. It was always to my left and above Tyler.

So, if any of you read the Strobist blog you already know about his love for “on axis fill lighting.”

While David usually uses a ring-flash (or a speedlight close to the axis of his lens to fill in the shadows) I opted to go the big-dumb-light route to fill in my shadows/the rest of the room. I used a HUGE umbrella. And like my boom set up, it also never really moved its stage position. It remained set up on my right at like 2:30 o’clock position. I don’t know the specific dimensions of the ubrella, but I know it doesn’t fit in my light case. Oh, and I’m also shooting through it. The original idea was to have it behind me — you know — classic on axis fill style. But the room was a little too small to accommodate both of us on the same plane.

I think we can all agree the big-dumb-light flattened-out the moodiness from the first photo. The light’s a bit more normalized, which isn’t something I necessarily wanted, but I saw the usefulness in it. In hind-sight perhaps a ring-flash might’ve been a better way to “light the shadows” on Tyler. …but I don’t have one. Don’t worry, it’s on my buy list. In the future I’ll probably use the speedlight-under-my-lens trick.

The shot still needed some pizazz! Don’t you guys think? So, I messed around with some power settings, changed the directionality of the big dumb umbrella and introduced some contrasty side light. I first used a grid, because I didn’t want the spill off to make gross shadows in the background, but I think I ultimately abandoned the grid and just powered down my AB 800. I think I also flagged the light with something. My next purchase will probably be some barn doors.

So, I like the composition of this image. Well, I like way the weights look. At a glance, the lighting looks fine. …fine-ish. Okay, so there are some gross shadows I wanna get rid of. At this point I totally messed my lighting up. I think I powered down the big dumb umbrella light a little too much. Bare with me folks. It’s been a while since I shot this. I also think I maybe angled it too severely, defeating any semblance of the “on-axis” effect I was using it for. I also think I powered up the overhead beauty dish a bit too much, too. And rather than point it straight down, using it like a bad-ass, directional key light, I think I angled it to much. So, as you can see it’s lighting the background a bit better than Tyler, who has shadows underneath him again. I’ve also introduced the “pizazz” side light to the right of Tyler.

heh. pizazz fail. . See how gross the shadows are? It looks like bad stage lighting.

So, why am I explaining all this failure? So, you know how it works. At this point in the shoot I realize I have shadow problems and now I gotta fix them! It’s important for photographers to know mistakes are awesome. I’m still learning. Every setting is different. The more mistakes — and this is key — and the faster i learn to correct them — the more versatile and faster I’ll be at making rad photos. And isn’t that what we all want? …Rad photos?

I would like to say that I still think this photo works. The composition is clean-ish — at least where it needs to be (head, feet, weights, body). The setting and the subject matter are still interesting. Right now the image ruiner is the lighting. My fault. I need to fix it.

And I did. The lighting set up in this photo is the same as the lead image in my original post. Sure, there’s still some shadows, but they’re more defined. The background is darker. He’s brighter and more evenly lit. There’s an unfortunate shadow on his face. It’s a product of the weight eclipsing part of the side light. When you have so many moving parts in a photo, something’s gotta give.

But here’s the thing, I didn’t not choose this photo because of the shadow on his face, I chose the other photo because his face had a better expression. It was more interesting.

To be sure I worked hard to achieve this somewhat underwhelming lighting scheme. And I think the photos are more effective because of it.

Before I left I tried a quick “dramatic” lighting set up on Tyler’s mom, Pat.

Admittedly, it’s sloppy. Of course, if i put more time into the design I think it has potential be a really slick photo. But, here’s the thing I notice right off the bat — to me, the photo all of a sudden becomes more about the lighting, and the mood I’m creating. It’s almost discounting the the built in charm this room came with. And that big hot light on her face distracts from those awesome socks she’s wearing.

Do y’all get what I’m saying? (yes I said y’all. I’m a Georgia boy living in Baltimore). Sometimes its best to use lights only to accentuate awesome places. I’ve certainly been guilty of juicing the natural charm out of a setting. Of course it’s important to keep your ambiance creating skills sharp. Sometimes you’ll be called to make an office look interesting and, maybe even, otherworldly.

The bottom line is, it’s important to build up range in your lighting skills.

For this tutorial I used 2 AB 1600′s 1 AB 800, a beauty dish, a BIG umbrella, a grid spot, light stands (duh), a boom arm, and pocket wizards.

Not that I’m claiming to be that cool, but these new backpack systems by Clik Elite my be the nail on the coffin for any shred of coolness I try to have. I look like the dorkiest dorky dork in the world, but the results and possibilities are pretty cool. I’m always afraid something like this will happen when I go to Service Photo. I’ve decided Clik Elite should want to sponsor me. Below is a video I shot using the The BodyLink™ Telephoto pack. It has an aluminum frame originally intended for steadying a telephoto lens while adventure photography-ing, BUT you can totally use it as a steady cam. Wearing it will guarantee your ability to capture the strangest of looks from people while shooting on the street.  I recommend getting at least a ball head. But If you couple it with a bracket or two, you can mount a microphone (or two!), drop a field recorder in the pouch, and fix that horrible “in camera” audio problem. You can look like Soundwave! You can also mount a flash head and any kind of modifier you want on your bracket system to be portable studio dork guy! Who wouldn’t want that title on their business card? Always remember, when wearing this super useful system to hike your pants up as far as they’ll go. It’ll complete the look. I’m about to buy one, so I can make bad-ass videos, and prove to the cool kids at school that I do have some merit!

Dorkiest of the Dorky from Matt Roth on Vimeo.

I know I know I know. the video’s really rough. But I’m super stoked about it. …because I FINALLY made one by myself. Sure, it was on iMovie, but I did most of the basic editing in an hour.

Personally, I would’ve rather unleashed a really bad-ass first video, but this is more like a quick n’ dirty product review.

bon appétit!

This is an overview photo of the ingredients and tools needed for making the Iron Bridge Wine Company’s cranberry bourbon and brown sugar glaze sweet potatoes. This is the Sensational Sides feature Iron Bridge Wine Company offered to make for the December issue of Howard Magazine.

Layer and slightly overlap the sweet potatoes in a circular pattern in a baking dish or, as seen in the photo, an oven safe dish. Cranberry bourbon and brown sugar glaze sweet potatoes is the Sensational Sides feature Iron Bridge Wine Company offered to make Friday, September 18, 2009.

Spoon the bourbon and melted butter glaze over the roasted sweet potatoes. Cranberry bourbon and brown sugar glaze sweet potatoes is the Sensational Sides feature Iron Bridge Wine Company offered to make Friday, September 18, 2009.

Victoria’s Gastro Pub won for Best Bar Food, Best Happy Hour, Best Burger, Best Late Night Dining, and Best Martini. Featured is the restaurant’s Roasted Veal Tenderloin and Jumbo Sea Scallop garnished with summer vegetable succotash and sweet corn butter. Wednesday, August 19, 2009.

Featured is a late night bar menu item, the Espresso Rubbed Pork Belly nestled in a bed of Anson Mill Farms White Cheddar Grits surrounded by a moat of gonzo porter jus. Wednesday, August 19, 2009.

Before the food came out I thought I would play with the light reflecting on this serving bowl.

Similarly, I played with morning sun casting on this pillar before the food showed up.

Featured item from the Maruha Sushi and Steakhouse is the seafood deluxe platter.

Featured is Baldwin Station’s Wild Boar Sausage made with cranberry port reduction and topped with a charred scallion salad.

So, since I love to use lighting, I think it’s worth discussing.

Now, this may not be the best photo to describe emotional lighting, buuuut, it’s by far the most convenient. I shot it Saturday.

I gotta ask: is this photo emotional?

Well, it certainly doesn’t gush. But in this setting, with this lighting, I think we all get the idea that these ladies are not to be messed with.

I called this my mafia shot.

I’m using two lights in this “stage.” One is placed behind the frosted glass. There’s a bar back there. To avoid a huge bright spot and maximize the light spread, I’m bouncing it off the white ceiling. This serves as a rim light does double duty as a part-time ambient light. I also think it’s doing all the heavy lifting, lighting Lisa Troia Martin, in the upper right. The second light, shot through an umbrella, is to my left. I jacked it up to 100% to maximize its throw. It’s about 8 feet away from Carol Troia, the lady in red on the right, BUT it’s pointed right at her mother Elena Troia, sitting.

Deep shadows and high contrast light is a common Hollywood trick to visually describe something sinister. …you know, because villains dwell in the shadows.

But these women are NOT villains. Truth be told, they’re charming charming people.

So, this photo is an outtake. Turning this photo in would be inappropriate for the assignment — a wine dinner preview. Below is the

photo I turned in:

“Salute!” The three women of Cafe Troia, clockwise from the left, Carol Troia, from Towson, her daughter Lisa Troia Martin, from Timonium, standing, and matriarch Elena Troia, from Mays Chapel, clank glasses of Antinori wine for a photo shoot held in the restaurants dining room Saturday, January 2, 2010. On the 19th of this month, Cafe Troia will host a special regional wine dinner, featuring the Italian wine. And as a special treat, Alessia Antinori, the youngest member of the wine family, will be on hand to discuss the business.

I don’t necessarily need a story/caption to go along with either image. The “mafia” pick stands on its own. I also think it’s the stronger of the two images. — more visually arresting.

The “Salute!” photo is more obvious. It’s well lit. With the addition of another umbrella, to my right, everyone’s face is filled in. It’s a happier image. I’ll admit, the lighting is a bit sloppy, but over all, it feels happier, joyous, (and maybe a bit artificial.)

Comments are, as always, welcome. Thanks for looking and reading.

(***Pssst! if you can’t see any photos, please keep reading. I desperately need your feedback. thanks in advance!***)

I just made a gallery on my photoshelter page featuring some of my best portraits. After the jump is a slideshow of the gallery for your viewing (and sharing) pleasure.

Portraiture is my favorite kind of photography, and I’d like to make my living doing it in the future. So, these days, I’m trying to market myself as a portrait/commercial photographer.

But I’m a big enough man to admit when I need some help.

So, more than just wanting to showcase my work, I want to start a dialogue about the usability of digital photography online.

I think it’s pretty safe to assume most professional photographers want their photos to be seen. I think we can also agree that most pro’s don’t want their photos to get stolen, either right?

There are various ways to safeguard against theft online, but I’d like to talk, specifically, about utilizing Adobe Flash embedding, which is how I put up the photos on this post.

Who’s eyes just glazed over? Don’t worry this post is not technical. It’s all about usability. Like… can you even see these photos? (If not, tell me.) Would you use the embed function? Is there a better way (I hear people talking about html 5… which I know nothing about)?

DISCLAIMER: I’m in no way an expert in Flash. I’d love to hear the expertise of flash coders and web gurus alike. Your genius is very welcome on this post, but I’m begging, please keep the code-speak to a minimum. All the research I’ve done on this topic seems to be dominated by people fluent in techno-jargin, and that’s fine to a point. But when people like me want to know more about practical things like usability, i think many of us are left confounded and disengaged. So, thanks for understanding.

Flash, as I’m sure some of you know, has its good points and it bad points.

The good: From what I understand, flash embedded photos are basically unstealable. (If anyone knows otherwise, please correct me. I’m sure anyone reading this post might also like to be informed on  this topic too.)

BUT, a simple copy and paste of the embed tag makes them  sharable. I like this because a photo’s ability to be shared increases its chances of going viral, which is a great way to market cheaply and effectively. Better yet, the embed tag always, kinda like a leash, leads back to my Photoshelter site. This way, I have more control over my photos. All the IPTC data stays with it, too. This means I don’t have to use ugly watermarks, the captions are always there (just hover over the image and it shows up), and I don’t have to worry about someone of questionable integrity trying to utilize it as an “orphan work.”

And lets face it, everyone wants photos for their blogs, facebook pages, etc, but nobody wants to pay, right? Truth be told, I feel the same way.

In Chris Anderson’s book Free: The Future of a Radical Price he points out that online content is largely expected, by users, to be free, and if it’s not free yet, it will be.

Looking at the trends, I think he’s right. So, I can either fight the current, or I can try to make a better boat.

And there’s something to be said about being able to give customers what they want, too. I take pictures all the time (for work and for fun) and the people in the photos, more than likely, want them. Sure, I can sell them a print or two, or, in the case of my staff job, the Patuxent Publishing Co.’s marketing department can sell them an 8×10 of whatever’s been published. That’s a tried and true way of selling imagery, but lets be honest, the demand for it seems to be waning. More often than not, people want the digital file. Of course, letting loose our hi-res archival images is absolutely bad for business. But I think most people just want a file for their social networking pages. Perhaps we’ll save the free news online debate for another post. But one of the great things about giving away content, while still controlling it, allows us, the content makers/providers to not be such jerks. Think about it. When we say no, we’re not just saying “no,” we’re saying, “No. You can’t have that. It’s mine, and I’m not sharing! …but I’ll sell it to you for $30. AND YOU BETTER NOT MAKE A DIGITAL COPY OR I’LL SUE!”

By figuring out a way to just give them the picture the way they want it (websized), and yes, for free, then it seems like we benefit, too. We’ve become customer oriented.

By the way, I downloaded Chris Anderson’s book as an e-book via the iTunes store. Pressing HERE will route you to the iTunes store where you can still download the book for free.

And the flash embedded slideshows/galleries are really cool, too. You can make the slideshows full frame. go ahead. try it. The photoshelter slideshow gives you, the user, the ability to tile the images, AND if you like a photo(s) and wanted to make a purchase or get the embed tag on one photo in the gallery, just click on it, and BOOM! you can do either (or both!)  easily.

So, what about the bad side of flash embedded photography and galleries?

Portraits – Images by Matt Roth

All those benefits of a flash embedding are thrown out the window if it doesn’t work. Using a flash player really eats up processing speed. It slows down page load time. Like, I’m sure some of you aren’t even able to see these photos. So, you guys won’t even be able to embed anything. And, of course, iPhones (and I guess most cell phones?) don’t utilize the flash players.

So, do you think this format works? Not just for a blog, but for newspapers’ websites, online magazines, social networking, etc?

What about the big picture idea (photos able to go viral, while “leashed”) and is there a better way to do this?

Thanks in advance for your thoughtful comments, questions, and concerns.