Danny Griffin wrote:

Don't these things beep incessantly when they are on but not plugged into a wall? Have you just gotten used to the noise or have you modified it in some way?

BTW, thanks for sharing your technique. I admire your work greatly.

Danny

Just wrap it in a blanket if the noise irks you.  I just got used to it.

Ransom-The Cheese-J wrote:

Well this isn't about whether people like the original better or not, it's to explain how to get MY finished product.

It's great and great info.  Great idea.  Greatt execution.  Thanks.
al perry

Ransom-The Cheese-J wrote:
I find it a bit disheartening that I'm still getting inundated with questions when I specifically said that THIS post was my response to all the "how do you do it" people.  I think I explained my process pretty thoroughly and I'm still getting a shit load of people asking me to hold their hand through MORE of the process.

I already rated you as one of my top five on this site. If I buy the A700, it is going to because someone has finally made me realize I could get where I want to go with it switching to digital (not to mention about 12 lens' and six flashes I have for the Konica/Minolta lineup.

But I have been meaning to ask you about another photog. He is one of my personal favorites because of his simple control of light. I thought he was using some form of modified movie light, but he might be using more less your same setup.  Could you take a look at some of his work and let me know what you think?

I am not busting into your thread, but it seems the style is retro cheese.......

http://www.noahkalina.com/

He does interiors, and he does them well, but I am talking about his other work specifically.

Ransom-The Cheese-J wrote:
I find it a bit disheartening that I'm still getting inundated with questions when I specifically said that THIS post was my response to all the "how do you do it" people.  I think I explained my process pretty thoroughly and I'm still getting a shit load of people asking me to hold their hand through MORE of the process.

I applaud your initial posting, but this one reeks of whininess. It's pretty hard to commiserate with someone who is complaining about attention and accolade they brought upon themselves.

Ransom-The Cheese-J wrote:
I find it a bit disheartening that I'm still getting inundated with questions when I specifically said that THIS post was my response to all the "how do you do it" people.  I think I explained my process pretty thoroughly and I'm still getting a shit load of people asking me to hold their hand through MORE of the process.

Well what do you expect? You gave the movie trailer version of your technique. Now those that are interested want to see the whole thing.

What people don't realize is that you could provide every last detail down to the size and brand of underwear you were wearing when you took the shot and people still could not duplicate it.

Danny

Beach wrote:

I applaud your initial posting, but this one reeks of whininess. It's pretty hard to commiserate with someone who is complaining about attention and accolade they brought upon themselves.

Call it whininess (sic) if you want but i wasn't looking for accolades or attention, I was looking to point people in a direction they had been asking about, and find it disheartening that the effort I put into that is only met with the request to hold their hand through the whole process.

If that's whining then call Whine Wah Wah and get the waaaaaahbulance.

GFP Studios wrote:

Well what do you expect? You gave the movie trailer version of your technique. Now those that are interested want to see the whole thing.

What people don't realize is that you could provide every last detail down to the size and brand of underwear you were wearing when you took the shot and people still could not duplicate it.

Danny

I expected people to go out and shoot and try and experiment and learn from the info they were given coupled with their own experiences.  Shame on me for that.

Patrickth wrote:

I already rated you as one of my top five on this site. If I buy the A700, it is going to because someone has finally made me realize I could get where I want to go with it switching to digital (not to mention about 12 lens' and six flashes I have for the Konica/Minolta lineup.

But I have been meaning to ask you about another photog. He is one of my personal favorites because of his simple control of light. I thought he was using some form of modified movie light, but he might be using more less your same setup.  Could you take a look at some of his work and let me know what you think?

I am not busting into your thread, but it seems the style is retro cheese.......

http://www.noahkalina.com/

He does interiors, and he does them well, but I am talking about his other work specifically.

Lots of single light set ups with little to no diffusion.  I see the occasional long shutter shot, a couple of HDR's and a couple of high pass filters (done very subdued).

I like his work.

Ransom-The Cheese-J wrote:
I find it a bit disheartening that I'm still getting inundated with questions when I specifically said that THIS post was my response to all the "how do you do it" people.  I think I explained my process pretty thoroughly and I'm still getting a shit load of people asking me to hold their hand through MORE of the process.

Thanks for sharing your awesome style with us, I think it was very well done...If they don't get it, they won't get it.

Ransom-The Cheese-J wrote:
whininess (sic)

That was the most passive-aggressive editorial remark I've ever seen

Laurence Moan wrote:
I have a feeling we will be seeing A LOT of squeeze cheese on MM soon.

Damnit!!
I want to be an imitation tube cheese...

Beach wrote:

That was the most passive-aggressive editorial remark I've ever seen

Beach you I'm ANYTHING but passive aggressive.

I just found your use of the "word" humorous.

Ransom-The Cheese-J wrote:

Beach you I'm ANYTHING but passive aggressive.

I just found your use of the "word" humorous.

Beach you [know] I'm ANYTHING but passive aggressive.

Beach wrote:

Beach you [know] I'm ANYTHING but passive aggressive.

YOU on the other hand

.......

W.G. Rowland wrote:
I was just about to start a "how does he do it" thread.. You mind readin mutha fucka.

Asshole.

Ransom-The Cheese-J wrote:

Lots of single light set ups with little to no diffusion.  I see the occasional long shutter shot, a couple of HDR's and a couple of high pass filters (done very subdued).

I like his work.

The reason I was asking is because I am very close to some serious mountains and also find myself in the desert quite often. I wanted to be able to run lights from  my camper system with very long extensions if need  be and found a movie light that fits my needs.  I figure I could just flood the area with a reach out and touch someone mentality.

You have to say, the man knows his contrast. HE, he....
Thanks for looking.

Ransom-The Cheese-J wrote:

YOU on the other hand

.......

Me, indeed! Keep on rockin', man. Also, thank you for not using the "word" "haters" anywhere in your post.

Beach wrote:

Me, indeed! Keep on rockin', man. Also, thank you for not using the "word" "haters" anywhere in your post.

Hater.





Opps!

Ransom-The Cheese-J wrote:

Asshole.

*hug*

W.G. Rowland wrote:

*hug*

Is this becoming a gay male dating website?

Jerry Bennett wrote:
Dude, you must be mistaken. That can't be how you do it 'cause all the experts here on MM say that White Lightnings and Alien Bees suck!

Are you kidding me...that's a joke right? White Lightning does NOT suck. I have tons of White Lightning gear and for the price, it rocks! I also have the ABR800 and I love that too.

Also, there is no other company that I know of that stands behind their equipment like them. Unsurpassed customer service.

Anyway, anyone who shares how they do stuff is alright with me. We need a lot more of that on this site! Thanks! ;-)

Novus Ordo wrote:
Nobody else wants to add some of their most questioned techniques?

Yes,uh Mr Cheese I have one. Can you go over your techniques next for gettin' the hot mommas all nekkid and gorgeous. I really like how those highlights bounce of that purty skin...
Any info you can offer would be greatly appreciated...wink

Patrick Shipstad wrote:

I have and love them both. And for the record,Mr Cheese himself has shot at my crib a few times and he can vouch himself. Just don't trust him to cut the water hose off when he's finished...snickers and runs off to gym.

Ransom-The Cheese-J wrote:
Ok so in regards to my "The "How Do You Do It?" guys... thread, i was given the idea to make this thread.  I'm going to go through my typical process for getting the look that i have on my pics.  I figure that when people hit me up to ask, I can just refer them to this thread, plus if anybody else has a picture or look that they consistently get questions about, they can also post a short tutorial in here to show how they did it.

First off, i like bright saturated colors and high contrasts in my pictures. (obviously).  Spectral highlights and hard shadows are also something that i like the look of.  So my style is tailored to that.  For my outdoor pictures (which is what i will be explaining in this thread) i tend to shoot bare bulb strobe with no modifiers, due to the fact that it will give me the harsh shadows, kick up spectral highlights and give me the high contrasts that i like. 


As far as equipment goes, I shoot with two or three white lightning WL-10000's because i like the durability, the color temp and the simplicity of them.  Most shots in my port were shot with the Sony DSC-R1 digital camera, so that let's you know what camera I use. 

The type of pictures that i take are only going to be as good as the model, the MUA, and the backdrop that you choose.  For this one I choose my favorite model, Victoria #133499, one of the MUA's that i use from time to time that i have such a lovely relationship with, and picked a location in the mountains on the way to Lake Mead here in Vegas.  It's a great little desert mountain location where some environmentally conscious people did me the favor of dumping all kinds of great shit to use as background fodder.

let's take the out of camera RAW image:



This was taken as f/11, 1/200, at a focal length of 14mm  with the contrast set at +1 and the color setting on Vivid.

The first bare bulb WL-5000 was about 10 feet to the  to the models left at about her 2 o'clock position.  the sun was my fill to the models right at the  her 10 o'clock and a had another bare bulb WL-10000  about 10 feet behind the model and boat as a rim light.  Both strobes were set to 2/3 power and are rated at 250 watts.


The first thing I do is open the file in PS CS3 and do any skin corrections (evening, smoothing out, dodging and burning)

then i duplicate the layer and go to Image>Adjustments>Selective Color



I normally will bump the blues in the sky to whatever look I want (I like a rich blue or purple sky myself) by adjusting the sliders in the Selective Color tool.

Then I create a layer mask and hide all so i can paint in my sky and bump up the reds in the boat without effecting the rest of the picture (which is where i want it to be)



After painting in the sky and boat, I'm pretty much done so i save the PSD file and then save a jpeg



here's the side by side.




Alright.  That's how i do it.  It's the best i can do as far as explaining it without actually having you there to watch me work.

hopefully this helps some people, and other photographers add in some tips and tricks of their own.

Thanks a million RTC    You da man

Brian Hillburn wrote:

I have and love them both. And for the record,Mr Cheese himself has shot at my crib a few times and he can vouch himself. Just don't trust him to cut the water hose off when he's finished...snickers and runs off to gym.

I SAID i was sorry goddamnit!!

Ransom-The Cheese-J wrote:



I can normally get off a full 4 gig card (200 shots) off of one full charge.  I wouldn't suggest the average person use one of these, as i have a master electrician for a father should anything go wrong with my strobes.

But with two of my coffee cans on full power with no diffusers i can overpower noon sun.  At f16 it'll look like dusk/evening.

WOW I was about to open a thread about using APC UPS units.  You just answered my question.

D Wolff wrote:

WOW I was about to open a thread about using APC UPS units.  You just answered my question.

Glad to have helped.

I've done over 100 shots with it on location and haven't had a single problem out of it.  Not to say that you won't have any or that it can't damage your strobe, but i've yet to have one.

Novus Ordo wrote:
Nobody else wants to add some of their most questioned techniques?

I end with a counterclockwise swirl.

Beach wrote:

I end with a counterclockwise swirl.

Tell us how you do your black and white conversions jerk face!

Love the Arts wrote:
In it's purest form... photography is not about thousands of dollars worth of gear or huge & very expensive loft space.  Both are definitely great to have if you can get access them.

The craft is more about using good tools that you can afford or can get access to and then be about producing the images that come as close to your creative vision as you can. When that is accomplished, it's about producing more great work whlie getting paid!!!

I have always admired the creative vision of this photographers work. he is a great example of a creative using good tools that do not cost a fortune to create some jaw dropping work.




Excellent Photography & Excellent Editing Ransom.... your work rocks!

Thank you sir.

Novus Ordo wrote:

Tell us how you do your black and white conversions jerk face!

Actually,great idea. I love the tones on the avatar.