Pleased to announce the new Regusci Winery web site with a lot of our pictures is up.  

If you make it to Napa, be sure to visit this old historic beautiful winery. On top of the that, the cabernet is killer too.

www.regusciwinery.com

www.regusciwinery.com

We started our Learning Tree shoot in a class room situation at their offices. I’ve shot several times in this classroom, but we did it a little differently this time. I’ve lit this room several different ways, bouncing heads into the ceiling, soft boxes off camera, HMI’s punching through the windows, but this time I opted for hanging Kino Flo’s from the ceiling, skinned with #250 diffusion.  The client specified they wanted a very nice pool of even soft lighting. For all you grip fans out there, here is my advice for hanging Kino’s from drop ceiling situations. I originally was going to use a scissor clamp, since that’s what they are designed for, but upon my pre-light day to test these out, I discovered not all drop ceilings are treated equally. The scissor clamps did not fit on these ceilings. I opted to mount baby plates on some 1×6 boards and slide them on top of the frame by removing the panel. A much better solution since the weight is now distributed over two of the frame bars, instead of just one. This worked out beautifully. It also keeps the head a few inches taller in frame, which was critical for these low ceilings.

Baby plates mounted to 1x6 boards

Our stage 10

Next, we went to a studio situation. Well, this is even better for control if you have the option. We had a rather large shot list to try and get as many points of view as we can with these scenarios. Shooting on a large cove would allow this. I wanted to surround the talent in the tables with soft light on all sides. We mounted several heads on speed rail for the cove walls, and punched in 4 more heads through a large silk for the foreground. This worked out beautifully. The only trick was to keep adjusting the power output for the narrow depth of field shots (F4) to wider depth of field shots to around an (F11). Assistant Hugh did a fine job sprinting around the cove to adjust power settings though.

Notice the jib for the camera. Certainly not necessary for a still shoot, this is for the smooth flowing video shots. Although, since we were constantly changing angles and heights, it was great to be able to do that on the fly with the jib, as oppossed to re-adjusting the tripod legs all day.

We were able to shoot at the swanky Quixote Studios in Los Angeles. Right next door, were the standing sets for Criminal Minds. Great fun to go explore their sets since they were on location

Wacky Stephanie doing her thing

Hugh doing his thing????

Wardrobe stylist Annett

How the talent get pampered on set

Results of some pampering

Beautiful model

Client and crew shot

Thank you Learning Tree!  Looking forward to next time.

Canon C300

Early this month, Canon announced their new, much-anticipated Cinema EOS C300 video camera. Some of its key features are a Super 35mm size sensor, 12-stops of dynamic range, on-board 50 Mbps recording to CF cards and HD-SDI outputs. The camera comes in two versions, one with a Canon EF mount and the other with a PL mount. The sensor is 4K (3840 x 2160) in resolution, with a unique color pattern that produces a very clean 1920×1080 signal. From early testing of the camera, they find no rolling shutter artifacts, moire issues, or other problems found on HDSLR camera sensors. The sensor has a native ISO of 850 and produces a clean signal all the way up to 20,000 ISO, giving amazing low light performance. And in the case that you have too much light, the camera also has built in ND filters.

The body of the camera is something in-between a video camera and an SLR. It is light, compact and designed to be handheld, with a detachable hand grip that can control the camera. . The camera’s 4″ LCD screen and audio interfaces are also detachable. The LCD screen attachment can be positioned in many different locations and rotated for better viewing. It also features full menu control, audio control and two XLR inputs. The LCD unit connects to the camera with two cables, giving it a lot of placement flexibility. The rear of the camera also has a small LCD panel, which features camera status info such as frame rate, shutter and ISO. Dials on the back of the camera and hand grip can quickly switch through these settings.

The camera has two CF cards slots and records in the same format as the XF305 and 105 cameras. This is a 50 Mbps 422 8-bit MPEG2 compression. Video can be recorded to either card, or both at the same time for redundant recording. Video resolutions and frame rates include 1920×1080 at 23.98p, 29.97p and 59.94i fps. Additionally, a true 24p mode is available for those doing film outputs. In 1280×720 mode, frame rates from 1-60p are also available for slow motion. All of these signals can be sent out over HD-SDI or HDMI, which gives you an uncompressed 8-bit signal. The camera also has genlock, timcode, and LANC connections for multi-cam operation and remote control. A WiFi port is also available, and with an additional accessory you can control the camera with a tablet.

Internally, the camera has a host of impressive functions including full painting controls for scene files. Many different gamma modes are available including one that matches Canon’s HDSLRcameras, as well as a Canon Log mode for the most dynamic range (learn more about Canon Loghere). Setting can be saved to an SD card, and moved between cameras. A waveform and vector scope are also built in for adjusting exposure and color.

Canon also has announced several new lenses that are geared for cinema use. These lenses have the same wide aperture as found in Canon’s L series still lenses, and will also come in their EF lens mount. They feature the smooth gearing that cinematographer demand for pulling focus and iris. Here are the three lenses announced, note the low T stop:

• Canon Prime Lens 24mm T1.5
• Canon Prime Lens 50mm T1.3
• Canon Prime Lens 85mm T1.3

Canon’s zoom lenses announced at NAB will also be made available in EF mount. The zooms go from 14.5-60mm T2.6 and 30-300mm T2.95-T3.7 and should be available in the first quarter of next year.

The C300 is the first camera in Canon’s new Cinema EOS line.  The C300 EF and PL should be available in January with a list price around $20,000

Now for the kicker, the C300 will be available in January with a list price around……….$20,000    

A far cry from the 5D Mkll in around $2,500. You can’t really compare the two I suppose, two different beasts.

*Thank you AbleCine for the technical breakdown. www.ablecine.com

Now is it just me, or does the shape feel like it coming back to the classic 16mm film camera that’s been around for ages,the Bolex H16

Bolex h16

How I love to go up to Napa to shoot. I’ve been very fortunate to shoot for a few wineries up there.  I just got back from shooting for Regusci Winery. The Regusci Winery was established in 1932 after the family bought the winery and piece of property from Grigsby-Occidental Winery. The hand-cut , two foot thick, stone facade was built in 1878, and it has all the character you would expect from such an old structure.

These images are going to be used to update their web site: http://www.regusciwinery.com/. In just one day, we shot many frames, but here are just a few of my favorites.

On the tech side, you will see I pushed the HDR (high dynamic range) to some extremes for effect, some more subtle.

After a long shoot day, it was awesome to sit down to a home cooked dinner with Jim Regusci and his friends, while sipping on his terrific wines!  Life doesn’t suck in the wine country.

Cheers!

Chef Angel picking vegetables for dinner from garden

Jim Regusci in his vineyard

Shooting above the vines

Watch this at FULL SCREEN and turn up your speakers!  For those of you that remember the famous scene in Apocalypse Now, where this famous  song by Richard Wagner was playing and the helicopters flying over the beach. Robert Duval said his famous line of ” I love the smell of napalm in the morning”….. After watching this video, I would say , “I love the smell of the Red Camera in the morning”. Great stuff Tom.

One of the things I love about this business if the mix of things I get to shoot. Over the last several weeks I ‘ve been shooting for a large medical client, an international high-tech company and for BritWeek. They all are so different in their photo needs. Below are some images from the BritWeek 2011 events. Soooooo different then my normal commercial clients where I have total control of what I’m shooting. This shooting brings me back to my roots, of really trying to get the story telling images as they unravel, and I better be quick. Lighting is always a challenge at these events, as you can see, the lighting I’m dealing with is often extremely dark, which adds to the challenge. Thank god for these newer DSLR’s where I can kick up the ISO to incredible levels, i..e 6400 sometimes, otherwise there is no shot at all. Yes you might get a little noise, but honestly that doesn’t bother me so much. Finding the story telling image is way more important then a little noise.

These images of Seal onstage were just a kick to shoot, due to how I was practically on stage with him. What a performer!!

Enjoy, and I hope not to wait so long in between posts.

Seal

Seal and British Consul General enjoying a concert

American Idol finalist Lauren Alaina

American Idol top 6

Actress Minnie Driver

Actress Amelia Jackson-Gray

Actress Amelia Jackson-Gray

Singer/songwriter Daniel Bedingfield

I was really pleased to be able to shoot one of the iconic hotels in Los Angeles , The Beverly Hilton. This hotel opened in 1955 by Conrad Hilton with great fanfare as you can see from the video above. Merv Griffin took over owner ship of the hotel from 1987 until 2003. So much history has passed through those front doors. Now days, the hotel is most known as the home of The Golden Globes for the past 35 years.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that when Zsa Zsa Gabor and Conrad Hilton were married, Zsa Zsa always traveled with her poodle. On one of their many trips, the couple went to Chicago where the manager of the hotel (a Hilton of course) informed them that dogs were not allowed – and there would be no exceptions, even for the wife of the founder. Apparently this situation turned into a learning experience for the hotelier. When he opened his flagship property, The Beverly Hilton, dogs were allowed from the first day – making it one of the first pet-friendly hotels in the United States.

After several scouting trips, I knew we need to do some extensive lighting and compositing as you can see from some early scouting shots of the front.

Sun Seeker App in use!

Existing fountain lighting

I think we're going to need some lighti

Always enjoy putting our heads together with my clients

To view more of my Hotel and Resort work, visit:  www.rexgelertproductions.com

We’re just off a shoot for The Beverly Hilton. I feel very fortunate to have been asked to photograph such a historic hotel. This is one of Beverly Hills Iconic hotels. We did three long days of lifestyle and architectural shooting. Although very cold at times (well at least I wasn’t the one in the bikini ) and some quite long days, I had another great time.

These are just a sampling of some behind the scenes photos. We’re in the process of retouching the group of images. I certainly will be posting the final images soon.

Uffizi

This is just an amazing use of technology. Google has created a web site with their Google Street Map technology that will take you on virtual tours of some of the most famous museums in the world. You will be able to navigate through the halls of the Uffizi Museum in Florence Italy with a point and click of your mouse. Use the map of the whole museum to find what room you might want to visit, click on the painting to see the most detail brush stroke of Van Gough!

I recommend watching the two videos first to get acquainted. The first one shows the basics of using the site, the second is a little behind the scenes of them making the site.

VERSAILLES

The only disappointing thing I can say about this site is we can’t view it on our Ipad’s due to the use of Flash. There are some museums that aren’t on the site, like the Louvre in Paris, but I’m sure they’re working on those right now.

Grab a cup of coffee and go stroll down some of the most famous museum corridors on the planet!

http://www.googleartproject.com/

Now the reason behind this post. I love to observe people on the street, or where ever, and study their body language. Just using my iphone, I’m starting to build a library of real people, in real situations with “poses” I love and would find challenging to use in a commercial situation .

This takes me to this iphone image I just grabbed at a bookstore recently. I love all the subtleties of the boys “pose”, his little hand cupped on his lap, crossing of his legs, his pant leg a little dis-shuveled  showing his white socks, and his head buried in the book. Now if I was shooting a lifestyle image for a client, and we wanted a very “real” look to it, not overly styled and posed, this is what I would try to re-create. Maybe it’s an ad for child education and the need to keep kids interested in books. Don’t you think this would be a stronger image then one where the kid is sitting straight in the chair with perfect posture, his pant leg is perfectly pulled down and he has a fake smile on his face., I think so.

The trick is to really set the mood on the set where the actors/models can feel comfortable to move about and let them play a role in the scene. This is the main reason I prefer to cast actors as opposed to fashion models for my lifestyle shoots, let them ad-lib, thats what they love to do. Here are just a couple of examples from a shoot I did for cell phone provider. I just directed the talent to have a good time taking pictures of themselves with the phone, and let them come up with the actual body positions. It will ring much truer if you don’t over direct them too much.

Now just for fun, I Googled, “posing tips for photography,” It found, 210,000 items, Wow! Here are a couple of images I found interesting.