Category Archives: photography

The Girls Come to Town

This week was an extra fun week in the photography studio. A group of 3 wonderful women came to town for boudoir / glamour sessions. They were a referral from a prior client whose book that had seen and decided they all wanted to do one too. They liked how sexy yet classy the photographs looked.

The group had scheduled just over a month ago so I was able to find a time where they could all shoot on the same day. Groups like this are especially fun for everyone. They help each other with changes of outfits and encourage one another with their comments. The fun of doing the photo shoot with friends creates a party atmosphere.

The decision on who gets to go first is always an interesting group dynamic. This time the decision was easy as Beth was ready first. I always start by doing my “warm-up” set on the first outfit. It is a quick set to see how the woman responds in front of the camera and to let her begin to develop her comfort level. The set runs through some standing, sitting and laying poses and allows me to quickly show them how good they look.

Beth was a bit nervous to be first, but after about 5 minutes Jessica was ready and began to watch and encourage her with comments on how sexy she was looking. And just a few minutes later Sharon was ready too. The two of them continued rooting Beth on through the warm-up. I then did Jessica’s and Beth’s warm-ups too.

The ladies were all now really getting into their grove as we progressed onto their next outfits. This time Sharon went first. As the others finished getting ready they came to watch and would often comment on how they wanted a shot just like the one I just shot. As their turns came up I made sure to get those shots they had requested.

Each girl typically will get a set of similar poses, but not the same as I like to work with the flow as I shoot each of the women. I see how she moves and what looks best for her body type and adjust as needed to bring out her very best. I never want my boudoir photography to become boring or formula. Each shoot needs to be different to bring out the special something that makes each woman unique.

This group had two who wanted to do some nudes, whereas Sharon had said she didn’t think she wanted any. I prefer to shoot my nudes low-key and in black and white, but depending on the mood of the shoot will stray away from B&W and the low-key set. Today it ended up being a mix of set-ups as we moved between the different sets in the studio. Jessica saw the implied nudes, which most of my nudes actually are, and decided since she was actually covered in the photograph she wanted some too because they looked so sexy.

Jessica ended up being the star of the nude session. Once she started to see some of the images she really got into the mood and did an amazing job. Something just switched on and she became so relaxed and her photographs showed her new confidence. It’s almost as if she realized how sexy others would see her as, something as if she was a star of an adult film and she realized the guys would want to watch more, in a sexually confident manner.

We continued the day through various outfits and sets. Each one of them ended up with a wide variety of looks to choose from for their books. There are going to be a lot of very happy men next month when they get their books.

Orcatek Boudoir Photography – Phoenix


Weather Thwarts Airship Flight

Airship

I spent the last week in San Fancisco, California shooting photographs for an article on Airship Ventures. Similar to how private fly companies provide jets or helicopters for flying in style, Airship Ventures provide rides in their airships over the local area. It’s slower than a jet of course but the views should be spectacular as there’s more time to take in the sights and less engine noise as well. They also fly to and around other areas for special events.

The plan was to come up to their base at Moffett Field and do their two-hour flight to get plenty of variety of shots from the air. Unfortunately, the first day’s low clouds caused our flight to be canceled. No problem, we would just go on the shorter bay area flight scheduled for the next day out.

As we arrived at the meeting point in the field things look like it would go ahead. Then we got the bad news, winds were too high for our flight and we were canceled again. Winds are a big deal to airships, as they get blown about pretty easily being lighter than air. Whereas they are capable of flying in the winds of the day, they do not as the ride is very rough, unpleasant, and possibly dangerous to passengers. Good call by them, but a disappointment to us.

Airship Control

I did manage to get these shots of the airship when stopped by Moffett for our ground shots. We will be going by soon to take the flight and finish the article.

Orcatek Photography – Phoenix


Glowing Maternity Photography

There’s something incredible about East Brunswick maternity pictures – whether you’re taking them or the one being captured. Capturing that magical look that pregnancy brings to a woman is such a rewarding type of photography. I really enjoy working with pregnant women to document this time in their lives. These photographs will become heirlooms that the family will treasure through generations.

Maternity PhotographyWhen I shoot maternity photographs I take my experience from glamour and boudoir and apply those techniques. The softness desired in glamour photography creates very beautiful maternity images. The future moms are prefect for this type of look.

Also, I find the lighting techniques from glamour and fine art come into play. Using the light and shadows to contour and hi-light the shape of her belly takes an excellent knowledge of lighting. In my fine art work I shoot what are known as bodyscapes, and pregnancy creates some amazing opportunities for this type of photography.

Often the father and/or siblings will pose with the mom to be to show the family’s newest member in their first “portrait”. And of course there are plenty of fun maternity poses such as baby blocks on the belly and hand hearts that are always fun.

As always I am looking forward to my next maternity photo shoot. I know that it will be a joy working with the pregnant mom to be.

Orcatek Maternity Photography – Phoenix


Shoot cars at The Studio

This week I had the chance to shoot a car in my new studio.  Having done a lot of automotive photography, I knew just what I wanted as the new studio was created.   As I moved the test car into the studio I could see that everything had come together perfectly.

The lighting was everything I had hoped it would be.  This shot gave me just what I wanted using the standard configuration.

BMW Z8 it The Studio 

I plan on doing a lot more automotive photography in future in the studio.  Location work falls off so much here in Phoenix during the summer due to the heat.   Now I can do the shoots in the studio while I enjoy the air conditioning.

The only thing that I will be adding is some hydraulic car wheel dollies to make positioning the car easier.  With them if the photographer needs to rotate the car and inch or two it is a quick job to do as opposed to trying to drive the car back and forth to get it perfect. 

The Studio is available for rental to other photographers.

Orcatek Photography

The Studio – Phoenix


The Studio is now open

The Studio is officially open for business.  We built the Studio so that photographers could rent a studio with the features to create amazing work without paying for all the flashy stuff that doesn’t pay the bills.  With today’s tight economy, photographers need to watch their budgets very close.  The Studio is the answer to their needs.

We have four primary shooting areas available for rent.  Each bay was created to fit the varied needs of a photographer.  Why rent what you don’t need.  Of course if you need more we have that too.

The first bay is a large cyclorama which is 20×36.  Plenty big for photographing cars and large groups.  With two cove corners to allow the photographer to work with ease.

The second bay is a small cyclorama which is 18 feet wide.  The bay extends back 23 feet.  Perfect for fashion photography.

Bays three and four are what we call our standard bays.  They are 18 feet wide and 23 feet deep.  Bring your own backdrops or rent our seamless papers.

 The bays can be draped off for privacy as needed.

 Located on the Tempe / Scottsdale / Phoenix border, it is the perfect location.

It took a lot of time and effort to build The Studio, but it was worth it.  We have already had photographers come in from Los Angeles and they said it was just what they needed – affordable quality and functionality.  Exactly what we had in mind.

The Studio – Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale and the rest of Arizona


Studio Construction Continues

Studio construction continues as we race towards a May 1 completion. Painting is scheduled to begin Wednesday on the main studio. The lobby is scheduled for paint today. We could, of course, have opted for some peel and stick wallpaper to cover the walls, but for what we plan to use the space for the paint makes a little more sense. Still, something for a future project, perhaps?

Construction Continues

So many things to get done, power, internet, alarms, audio systems, new locks, moving equipment, new furniture, permits, etc. We also need to get in touch with a welder to finish off some of the metalwork in our new studio. A friend of ours is a welder and has just purchased some weldpro multi process welders for his welding company, so I might have to give him a call to see if he could help us. I cannot wait to see how everything comes together. This has been our most audacious construction project to date, truth be told. That being said, our construction project was made a lot easier through the use of construction project management software. Keeping on top of all the different tasks involved in a construction project is not always simple, but using software can make a big difference, as well as implementing the right safety practices during the construction stage. This is incredibly important in cases like these, we need to make sure that everyone involved is safe, that is why checking out a safety sign supplier in the UK/US was on our to do list, we needed to label everything just so we could hopefully avoid any injury, and we still hope we can. Slowly but surely it moves on. We have our first scheduled shoot for May 2, sure hope we are ready!

Cycwall

BTW, if you need a great drywall guy in Phoenix, message me and I can hook you up.

Orcatek Photography – Phoenix


Skylights in the Studio

The new studio is still in progress with the build out, but I couldn’t resist testing out the skylights to see if they were going to be as nice as I had hoped. They were better than I had hoped. Simply set the camera up – ISO 400, F5.6, 1/60 and shoot away.

Lots of freedom of movement around the studio area as the pool of light is very large. The skylights themselves are 4×8 and about 21 feet above the floor. If you want to have a skylight dome for your studio or any other room, they would definitely be recommended due to the amazing lighting that they can offer.

Skylight Test

This sample shot is pretty much straight out of camera. I just cropped and reduced it in Photoshop.

We are still on schedule for a May 1 opening of The Studio. Back to the work to make sure everything gets done.

Orcatek Photography – Phoenix, Arizona


Couples Boudoir

Boudoir photography of a couple presents a whole new set of challenges. Each of them can be overcome by the photographer. Many of these issues are the same in a multi-person photograph, but some are more specific to boudoir and glamour.

Lighting multiple people is always a challenge, but boudoir tends to use much more dramatic lighting than your typical portrait. More shadows from direction light. Often the couple will be facing each other so care must be taken by the photographer to keep one of the faces from falling too far into shadow. I always use the main light on the woman’s face, the guy is secondary. Here I may use a fill card to bounce some light, or a fill light with various modifiers to keep the light from hitting parts I wanted in shadow.

Posing the couple also adds some challenges. First you always make sure that she looks great. Then he is posed to work with her body. The limited to lack of clothing also adds a few challenges. In my studio, no shots can show genitalia, poses must always conceal. Additionally clients may have other levels of modesty to preserve in the photographs. Sometimes it is a movement of a fraction of an inch of an arm or a leg to provide the needed coverage. Always checking through the viewfinder as they move from pose to pose, it takes a careful eye to keep the shots perfect.

Probably the most difficult challenge is the interaction portrayed in the photographs themselves. The photographer has to work to create a sensual image without it looking like something from an adult entertainment site (not that there’s anything wrong with the stuff on www.porn7.xxx). The best inspiration comes from fashion magazines, where they often show couples posed sexy but not trashy. The emotions I work to evoke from my clients are desire, love and passion, but avoid lust.

I have found boudoir couples sessions to be an emerging trend. I have been getting more and more questions about this type of photography. Hopefully the trend will continue, as the couples who choose to do boudoir together tend to be great fun to work with.

Orcatek Boudoir Photography – Phoenix, AZ


Nervous Nancy Does Boudoir

I got a call a few weeks ago from Nancy about doing a boudoir photo shoot for her future husband. She said that she had thought about calling before but got too nervous. This time she said she wanted to at least find out what boudoir photography was all about. I explained that boudoir was about finding the beauty that everyone has bringing it out in photographs.

I asked what her concerns were and she talked about how she wasn’t a model and didn’t have a perfect figure. I pointed her in the direction of some tips to maintain your figure so that she could get a figure she was proud of, whilst also reassuring her that it didn’t matter one bit. It is very common for people to feel subconscious about their figure and looks when they are having a photoshoot like this. I know that some people choose to get something like a tummy tuck in Newport Beach, CA when they’re feeling a bit down about their body, and there’s nothing wrong with that if that’s what works for you, but in Nancy’s case I discussed how with posing in lighting we would make her look great. I explained how people in magazines look in print and in real life. She said she would like to come in and see some samples.

Nancy came to the studio and we reviewed the options and looked over my work. I showed her some before and after images of other shoots (I have permission to show these, privacy is important). After seeing this and talking more about her desires, she decide a book would be the perfect package. We scheduled her for last week.

She arrived at the shoot and was very nervous. She had brought a friend as we had discussed to help her change. Heather did Nancy’s hair and make-up as we chatted about various topics she began to relax a bit. I looked at her wardrobe and started planning the shoot sequence to minimize set changes.

As Nancy stepped in front of the camera I could see was nervous. I posed to show her what I wanted her to do. Me posing like a sexy woman always helps to break the ice. I took a few frames and showed her how she looked. Her friend took a look and told her she looked amazing, Nancy thought so too. Her nerves melted and we continued shooting.

I would stop every once in a while and show her how the shoot was progressing. Each time Nancy would just love the shots. Her friend flipped through my “idea” book and showed her some poses she should do. With her confidence at a high she agreed quickly and changed to an outfit for the new poses.

By the end of the shoot Nancy said she was having the best time. She said she can’t believe how relaxed I made her feel in such a short time. She had no idea boudoir photography would be so fun. Her friend decided she was going to come back next week to get some boudoir photographs for her husband.

Nancy called me after getting the proofs and said they looked even better than she imagined, and they haven’t even been retouched. She said it was going to be hard to pick just the photographs for her book. She asked if she could come back to do some more when her first anniversary comes around. How could I refuse?

Orcatek Boudoir Photography – Phoenix, Arizona


Professional Make-up for Photography

Professional make-up for your photo shoot has many benefits for both the client and the photographer. I include make-up services in a lot of my packages and in others I let the client decide.

There are several benefits to the photographer. First is the reduction in the amount of time spent retouching. A good make-up artist (MUA) can make their skin look almost perfect. With wedding makeup, flamboyant isn’t really a word that comes to mind, but it’s still very rewarding for the bride to see the pictures afterwards, knowing that she looked her best – here is an elopement wedding photographer to look at for some examples. This is a golden example of a time to hire a professional. Additionally they keep the shine off the skin that some people get on their faces (both men and women). I hate retouching the shine off skin.

Now even if a client knows how to do their make-up (many are quite good), a professional MUA will be able to do things beyond this. Airbrushing the skin is one technique that yields awesome results that they provide. Additionally a MUA will be able to create specialized looks that fall outside the range of normal make-up. Classic pin-up is an example; another would be fashion make-up for model portfolios.

Fashion Make-up

One of the benefits to my clients is how easy it is to just come to the studio and have everything handled for them. Many find it very relaxing to have their make-up done for them. We chat and joke around and get to know each other before the shoot. This puts the client at ease prior to the shoot, settling some of those pre-shoot jitters.

The MUA’s that I work with also travel to my location shoots. My clients love it when everything comes to them to make their shoot special. We’ve gone to client’s homes, hotels and even the middle of the desert. Every time the results were worth it.

Many MUA’s work in salons in addition to working with photographers. I have a team of MUA’s that I have used that provide incredible work. Having several on my team allows me to always have proven talent available when needed.

Orcatek Photography – Phoenix


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