Matt Leitholt: Blog https://mattleitholt.com/blog en-us Copyright 2008-2020 Matt Leitholt, All Rights Reserved. [email protected] (Matt Leitholt) Mon, 16 Mar 2020 06:46:00 GMT Mon, 16 Mar 2020 06:46:00 GMT https://mattleitholt.com/img/s/v-12/u413606879-o482977364-50.jpg Matt Leitholt: Blog https://mattleitholt.com/blog 120 68 A Little Out of the Ordinary https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2015/6/a-little-out-of-the-ordinary We just wrapped up a shoot of a local sculpture, it's been a crazy summer here! I've been out flying around the country shooting a lot of hotels and personal work. 

This beauty is called Umbrellas Gracilis and was created by Cobalt Designworks in Vancouver, WA 

I used my really big light on this one to help it stand out from the evening sky, and ended up moving the light around then compositing all of the shots together so you can see every detail, what a blast!

Behind the Scenes!

 

I've really been enjoying all of the commercial photography work here in Spokane, WA and Coeur d'Alene, ID! Off to Nebraska now!

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) cda coeur commercial d'alene photographer spokane https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2015/6/a-little-out-of-the-ordinary Wed, 17 Jun 2015 15:39:02 GMT
Desiree + Kyle // Engaged - Spokane Wedding Photographer https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2014/12/desiree-kyle---engaged---spokane-wedding-photographer It isn't every day I get a chance to be a part of the most important day of someone's life. These two seem to have an immense joy around each other and their love for each other sure does show through their photos today. I'll just let the photos speak for themselves, congratulations to the future Mr. and Mrs. Kyle Rutley! 

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) alene best cda coeur d engagement photographer photography spokane wedding https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2014/12/desiree-kyle---engaged---spokane-wedding-photographer Mon, 08 Dec 2014 21:25:32 GMT
Benjamin Powell https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/12/benjamin-powell Benjamin Powell 

After serving three tours in Iraq for the United States Marines, Benjamin returned home to Idaho to pursue an interest in photography after his "Juliet" convinced him it is what he should do. Through capturing the beauty around us, he has found a way to relax in the civilian world. 

Recently, Kootenai Health discovered his work and hired him to decorate their newest facility with large prints from around the area, shown in the background.
  Benjamin PowellPhoto of photographer Benjamin Powell.

In capturing this, we wanted to show where he was in the past and where he is going to. We went and scouted the location and while there were areas with larger prints, there wasn't much room to shoot, so we decided on this location in the foyer of the building. Ben is a very pensive and quiet man, especially when he is creating, so we wanted to capture that as well. 

Photo by Matt Leitholt Photography | fb.com/mattleitholt | www.mattleitholt.com

In setting this up, I used a large octa with a grid to the left to get a nice soft light, but also not light the background at all. I aimed it at the pillar on the right to create a minimal fill. To separate him from the background, I used a small softbox on a Profoto 7b on the right to just give a touch of light to the right side and the uniform. Additionally, the uniform was lit with a snooted speedlight. My goal was to make the important areas of the image brighter than the rest. 

Finally, we have the prints in the background. To shoot these, I handheld a speedlight and zoomed it in all the way to 105mm. Two shots later, I have the prints. I should also mention I was shooting on a tripod so I can merge these together later ;) 

While the prints could have been lit in the original photo, the advantage to compositing the light in is that you can change the shape of it later to match the print. By simply layering the photos together in Photoshop then using layer masks, I got light on the prints, but not anywhere else, which makes them pop, and not lose any quality from digital enhancement. 

The angle I chose was to keep the focus on him and his face, then fade off to the other elements in the frame. Also, since we had the uniform in the photo, it would make it off balance if I shot it from the setup shot position, which I would have if the uniform wasn't a part of the shot. 

Overall, I feel we accomplished our goal of making an interesting photo of Benjamin and really captured his personality. If you have some questions, feel free to drop them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them! 

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) benjamin camera civilian digital dslr environmental how idaho iphone leitholt lighting man marine marines matt photo photographer photography photos photoshop portrait powell profoto red to tutorial https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/12/benjamin-powell Mon, 09 Dec 2013 08:08:29 GMT
Trying Something Different https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/9/trying-something-different Once in a while, you get in that mood to try something different. I was recently just given an older projection style TV, and I happened to get a Playstation 3 to go along with it. Then, I got an idea. What if I photographed my friend, Brittany, laying in bed looking up at the light, then put it on the TV via the Playstation 3, and adjusted the convergence to make it interesting? 

The original idea was to photograph the photo on the TV, but then I thought it may look cool if we shot her in front of it, watching herself. 

This is what happened.

Photo by Matt Leitholt Photography | fb.com/mattleitholt | www.mattleitholt.com Both photos were lit with a 22" Paul C. Buff beauty dish, and a 30 degree grid. 

 

Here is another from the shoot. 

Photo by Matt Leitholt Photography | fb.com/mattleitholt | www.mattleitholt.com

Moral: Try something new!

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) creepy girl lighting tv https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/9/trying-something-different Tue, 17 Sep 2013 17:41:09 GMT
How to Photograph Fireworks https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/7/how-to-photograph-fireworks  

Photo by Chuck Hilliard

Photo with permission by Chuck Hilliard

Looking to take some amazing fireworks photos this 4th of July? Check out this video I made and you'll certainly get some stellar shots. Be sure to post your results for me in the comments so I can see what kind of epic shots you got!

Like and share this video for more tutorials.

Thanks to Daniel Troxell for his help filming this!

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) MERICA, video, dslr, amazing awesome camera epic fireworks great how idaho photo photographing photos to tutorial https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/7/how-to-photograph-fireworks Thu, 04 Jul 2013 23:05:35 GMT
How to Fix Not Being Able to Type Caps in Photoshop https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/6/how-to-fix-not-being-able-to-type-caps-in-photoshop Photo by Ben Watkin

Photo by Ben Watkin

Earlier while I was designing my printed portfolio, I came across the problem of not being able to use capital letters. I contacted my friend Scott Detweiler to see if he knew a solution since he's both a software guy and a Photoshop expert. 

He said on some Windows keyboards (I'm using a Windows keyboard on a Mac) there is a piece of hardware called the "A20 gate" that can sometimes get stuck. The solution is to tap the Control, Capslock, and Tab keys all at once a few times. It ended up releasing them and I was good to go! 

Just wanted to put this out there for people to find in the future because it was a pain not finding any articles about this. 

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) CC a20 able caps cs cs2 cs3 cs4 cs5 cs6 gate lock not photoshop unable working https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/6/how-to-fix-not-being-able-to-type-caps-in-photoshop Mon, 01 Jul 2013 05:42:26 GMT
Philip Vukelich https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/6/philip-vukelich I was on assignment for the University of Idaho's alumni magazine, Here We Have Idaho when I did this photo of Philip Vukelich. The story was about the winners of a photo competition that the Student Recreation Center held. The magazine had me come in and photograph the photographers that took the winning photos. This is one of the subjects from that shoot. 

The goal was to get them doing what they loved, other than photography, since that's quite obvious due to winning the competition. Philip's activity of choice was rock climbing, so we headed to the famous U of I rock wall for a shot. 

The lighting was fairly simple for this shot, a Profoto 7B head with a standard zoom reflector, zoomed all the way in, boomed over the rock wall from the second floor. The next light, a Yongnuo YN-560 III was positioned behind him and about 13 feet high on the C-Stand with a CTO gel to give a little bit of warm separation. 

Rigging me up was fun. I was strapped into a harness, luckily I had a ladder to climb, because I definitely am not built like a rock climber. So we're about 10 feet up the wall, the pose was simple and easy as well, reach the hand towards the camera for drama, be sure to include the whole body, and then have Philip look up at the light. 

The Profoto pack gave the rock nice definition and created a contrasty look on his face. Impactful, just the way we like em' here! 

In post I cleaned up a few random signs and darkened the edges a bit to keep the focus on the subject. 

Overall, a pretty simple, but fun shoot! Questions? Post them below!

If you're looking to pick up some gear, be sure to check out http://www.mattleitholt.com/gear for a basic lighting kit. 

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) behind the scenes bts climber climbing dramatic lighting magazine philip photographer photoshoot profoto rock speedlites strobist tutorial vukelich wall yongnuo https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/6/philip-vukelich Sun, 23 Jun 2013 21:30:00 GMT
Behind the Scenes: Always Reckless https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/6/always-reckless Yesterday I had the opportunity to photograph Justin Nigro of Always Reckless. I had first heard of him from my buddy Tim Ely who recently got into drifting. Needless to say, I was excited to do this shoot as I love cars and creating interesting photos of them and their drivers. 

When approaching this shoot, I wanted to do something a bit more complex than usual. I ended up using 3 lights in this shot. The main light was a Profoto 7B head in a 39" Elinchrom Deep Octa with no diffusion. This gives a nice crisp look. The second light, an Einstein E640 was placed opposite the main light and CTO gelled to give a nice warm rim light and help bring out the interior features of the car. Finally, a beauty dish with an Einstein head and a 30 degree grid was used for fill to lighten up the shadows a tad. 

I wanted to do a moving shot, and I didn't have any car rigs available as I hadn't planned on doing this shoot before I left home, so I had to improvise. I ended up using an Avenger D600CB Mini Boom hooked into the latch of the trunk, then sandbagged on the edge of the car to keep it more stable. I needed to attach the camera to the end, so I used a super clamp with a stud in it, then attached a Manfrotto Accessory Arm so I would be able to attach my ballhead, and finally the camera. From the camera, I ran a USB 3 cable with a 15' Active Extension Cable to my computer, a 17" MacBook Pro which enables me to control the camera remotely and also see the photos instantly as they come in. 

Finally, I was going to need to be pushing the car as I took the shot, so I added a wireless remote shutter control. The reason we have to push it is the engine creates too much vibration in the body of the car, so we use a slow shutter speed and slowly move the car as the shot is being taken. The shutter speed for this shot was 1/5th of a second, and Justin is frozen because of the flash. To get this low of a shutter speed, I needed to use a 3-stop ND filter, here's the one I use, it's cheap and good quality

Overall, this took about an hour to set up and test, but I think overall it came out pretty well for having to improvise. 

Questions? Post them below and I'll do my best to answer them! 

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) action always reckless behind the scenes justin nigro leitholt lighting matt racing tutorial washington https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/6/always-reckless Sat, 15 Jun 2013 16:29:00 GMT
Doug Webster https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/3/doug-webster  

Doug Webster
Coeur d' Alene, Idaho
 
Doug Webster
 
Well, this was an interesting shoot. I had been thinking about this shot for over a year now. After scouting many locations around the area, I finally decided on this one. Now, to pull this off, perfect weather was required, and today it was sunny, cloudy, rainy, hailing, snowing, freezing, and windy. We were going to call it off, but decided to try anyways and if it didn't work, at least it'd be a good "dry run". 
 
I get to the docks where Doug had the boat stored and he was telling me about a motorboat I could use to get over there, I was planning on shooting from it, but when I saw how small it was and that it was a plastic floor, I started thinking of other options. 
 
 
Long story short, that small little motorboat was my ride 3 miles across the lake, it was incredibly slow for some reason, and took about 20 minutes to get there. On the way, I got rained and snowed on. By the time I got there I was frozen and quickly got my lighting set up. This was lit with a Profoto 7b pack and an Elinchrom 39" Deep Octa just off frame camera right on the dock. If I had it my way, we'd be out in the middle of the lake with 3 big boats with lights on them ;-)
 
 
When I started taking my test shots, it was still super cloudy, then as I got everything dialed in, the sunset came out and cast some gorgeous light all around us, it was fantastic! The wind stopped and gave us some nice and calm waters. 
 
I shot this on a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II lens, it was my first time using that lens (thanks Jesse), and it was perfect for this because of the compression. I was about an inch off the water laying down to get him as high above the horizon as possible. 
 
Overall, I'm really happy with the shots, lesson learned, don't give up just because the weather looks crappy! 
 
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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) 7b alene black club coeur d' deep doug elinchrom environmental fernan fluidesign idaho lake leitholt matt mountains north octa photographer portrait profoto red reflections rower rowing water webster https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/3/doug-webster Tue, 19 Mar 2013 05:15:00 GMT
How to Turn Off Facebook Notification Sounds https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/3/how-to-turn-off-facebook-notification-sounds I logged onto Facebook today and started getting these annoying sounds for notifications. I did some digging, here's how you turn it off. 

  1. Go to the gear in the top right corner
  2. Click Account Settings
  3. Click Notifications
  4. Under "How you get Notifications" click the "edit" button next to "On Facebook" 
  5. Uncheck the box next to "Play a sound when each new notification is received".
  6. Click "Save Changes"

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) disable facebook kill notification notifications off silence sound sounds turn https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/3/how-to-turn-off-facebook-notification-sounds Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:49:52 GMT
Screenshot-a-holic? Use Skitch! https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/3/screenshot-a-holic-use-skitch I've been a big fan of taking screenshots for quite some time now. It's a great way to share information with someone or to quickly capture inspiring ideas you find on the web. A few months ago, I found a program called Skitch for Mac. It's an incredibly easy to use App. Simply hit the Screen Snap button at the top and it gives you a few options of what kind of screenshots you want to take. You can do a full screen capture, selection, or just a timed screen snap. 

My favorite feature is probably that when you are done screenshotting, you can quickly edit it. For example you can highlight areas, add boxes, arrows, and even pixelate the sensitive information you don't want others seeing. This process would take a LOT longer in another editing program such as Photoshop. 

When your're done, just select which format you want to export as then drag and drop. Another cool feature is it automatically syncs with Evernote so your screenshots are always with you. 

Check it out on the App store at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skitch/id425955336?mt=12

 

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) easy how mac screenshot screenshots skitch take to tools https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/3/screenshot-a-holic-use-skitch Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:03:05 GMT
I'm a Finalist! https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/1/im-a-finalist

I just found out that two of my images (Captain Kline and Jeremy Ritter - the winemaker for Blot Magazine) were selected as finalists in the Digital Photo Pro Emerging Photographers competition. The judges narrowed it down from thousands of images according to the email to 30!

http://www.digitalphotopro.com/6th-annual-emerging-pro/photojournalism-and-sports/finalists.html

Captain KlineCaptain Kline - Engine 15

Jeremy RitterJeremy Ritter

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) contest digital emerging leitholt matt photo pro https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/1/im-a-finalist Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:00:00 GMT
Spying on Orion with Chuck Hilliard https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/1/chuck-hilliard I'm over in Seattle for a few days before I head to New York City. Last night there was supposed to be some decent auroral activity to the North so Chuck Hilliard and I headed out to Anacortes, Washington, which is about 30 miles shy of the Canadian border on the West Coast. It was a foggy night in Seattle, but we figured we would head up and give it a shot. The drive up was filled with dense fog until about a mile before we got there. The puffs had finally cleared and we found a neat spot that looks over the ferry terminal and north toward Vancouver, BC. Chuck brought his massive Meade telescope so we set that up to shoot the moon since he had a Nikon adapter for it. After trying my luck at a moon shot, I decided the telescope and Chuck would make a great subject so I asked him to go stand in. 

I got the tripod super low on the pavement so I could get some stars in the background along with the trees and the road. I love how there is a street light around the corner subtly lighting the road. To light Chuck, I used 1 LED, I held it behind him for about 4 seconds, then ran around the front of him for the front light. I wanted the light to be coming up at him from the bottom. His face got about 2 seconds of light. I used a flashlight to bring out a little more detail in the trees behind him to help with the separation. 

The telescope wasn't the only shot I got from that location, I also grabbed a nice view of the water to the North. I was hoping to catch some auroral activity, but we didn't get it. The city lights from Bellingham did help to give some nice detail in the clouds though which goes nicely with the blue sky and the stars. 

 

And how could I not show the shot of the moon through the telescope? I decided to flip it vertically, I thought it looked more interesting that way.

Want to help support my work and my move to New York? Buy a print at http://www.mattleitholt.com/fineart/h52dc6052#h52dc6052

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) anacortes chuck d800 hilliard landscape man meade stars telescope washington https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/1/chuck-hilliard Mon, 21 Jan 2013 01:01:44 GMT
Lindsay Adler https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/1/lindsay-adler Lindsay Adler

Lindsay is a fashion photographer in New York City and is known for her creative lighting and getting that "fashion flair" look. While in one of her classes, I thought it was really neat how she'd take random, funky objects and shoot through them to get a unique look. If you're lucky enough to get a chance to take a class from her, definitely do it! 

This photo was taken at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Simple setup, just window light with a tiny bit of fill flash from the right. 

Check out her work at http://www.lindsayadlerphotography.com/

 

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) adler bay city dress female lindsay long hair mandalay new red vegas window woman york https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/1/lindsay-adler Fri, 18 Jan 2013 20:59:46 GMT
Todd the Ice Fisher https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/1/todd-the-ice-fisher
"Heck, I probably won't even live that much longer."
- Todd

Todd the Ice FisherTodd I first met Todd on Saturday when I was looking for an ice fisher to photograph. We were at Fernan Lake in Northern Idaho, and it was my first time ever on the ice. I had walked around to all the ice fisherman on the lake to find the perfect one. I was looking for someone with a true "classic fisherman" look to him. A rugged beard and a cool character were a must for my photo. 

I found Todd talking to one of the fisherman I had first chatted up over in a cove. When I saw him I knew he was my subject. I stood around for a few minutes and found a spot to jump into the conversation. I told him about what I was envisioning, showed him a few of my photos, and he was in!

We walked back across the lake to the car to grab my lighting gear (A Profoto 7b pack, 2 heads, a Chimera Super Pro Plus Small softbox, and an Elinchrom 39" Deep Octabank). While I grabbed my gear, he fished his pole out of some grass he stashed it in near by. 

After the trek back to the hole, I set up my lights. 

I had a great time laying down on the snow covered ice pack for a good 10 minutes while I was doing the shoot. I think I'm still a bit chilled from that one :D

I had asked him to give me a nice smile like a happy fisherman and he replied back "But fisherman don't smile", too bad Todd, because I got that genuine smile when you were least expecting it, when you were saying they don't smile ;)

Yesterday, I went and got his photo printed so I could give it to him, I also had it laminated so it would hold up for years to come. 

When I found him at the local shelter, I had asked him to sign a model release and he said "Heck, I probably won't live much longer anyway." Well Todd, I hope this helps you to live on longer than you had ever expected. 

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) 85mm d800 f/1.8 fernan fisher fisherman fishing frozen homeless ice idaho johnson lake man mountains nikon north person pole profoto snow suneset todd https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/1/todd-the-ice-fisher Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:02:35 GMT
Real Change Eddie | New Years in Seattle https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/1/real-change-eddie Real Change Eddie

 
I decided to do a small photo project in Seattle. The goal was to find someone in need, buy them dinner, and get to know them. I wanted someone to feel like someone cares about their life that other people just walk past and ignore when they are standing on the corner asking for change. 
 
After sitting on a corner watching people for about a half hour waiting for the right person, I decided to walk down a few more blocks to 5th and Pine at Westlake Center, it is there I found Eddie. What stood out to me about Eddie was he was selling the "Real Change" newspapers for $1 but he wasn't pedaling them hard like the other people were. I walked up and asked him if he'd join us for dinner and he said he'd love to. We went to McDonalds on 3rd and Pine and got a Big Mac with some coffee. 
 
We sat and talked for a good hour and a half about his life and how he got to Seattle. He told us many compelling stories, many of which I will keep private, but he also talked of his ironic arrest stories. This guy has been arrested in Nevada for the most insane things, such as attempted jay-walking, which is where the crosswalk is walk, turns to the red flashing hand, and you turn back around without actually crossing. Yes, he got arrested for that, jailed for 30 days. Another time he got arrested for open container after being bumped into by a woman while standing by the door of a casino, he was pushed out the door with a beer in his hand and caught the woman from hitting the sidewalk. Well, a police officer saw that and noticed the beer in his hand and guess what, arrested him. I told him he should write a book about his arrest stories. 
 
I asked where he lived and he told me of his tent about 10 miles out of town, he said it's covered in mud. He's looking to find something, anything with a roof. He was $3 short on getting a monthly bus pass so he could save up for an apartment and still get back and forth. He was hoping to sell at least another 3 newspapers so he could reach his goal. I reached in my pocket and handed him $5 to get his pass plus another meal. After dinner, we went back to 5th and Pine where I first saw him for a photo. 
 
He had a job interview the following morning with a local downtown ambassador agency. He said he knows all the guys and is sure he will get the job so he can get back on his feet again. I handed him another $20 to get a haircut and some food later and wished him luck with the interview. My friend Katie handed him her gloves so he could stay warm in the cold Seattle winter. 
 
I look forward to seeing him again next time I'm in Seattle, hopefully he'll be wearing a yellow vest with the word "ambassador" on the back. 
 
That was a New Years I will never forget. 
 

 

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) 5th and pine bulls change chicago eddie help-portrait homeless newspaper photo project real seattle westlake center https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2013/1/real-change-eddie Sat, 05 Jan 2013 01:55:51 GMT
Photo with John Cornicello https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/11/photo-with-john-cornicello What a beautiful day it was today in Seattle, it started off as a cloudy morning as usual then the sun broke through and produced some amazing shine on the clouds! Today I met up with John Cornicello who is one of the main assistants at creativeLIVE for lunch at Blue Moon Burger (fantastic food by the way). We had a fantastic lunch and then we went back to John's place to meet his wife and grab some props for the photo of him. 

I saw his epic 4x5 large format camera and knew that would be an epic prop and tell the story about him and his photography he does. We packed all the gear into the car and headed to Gasworks Park in Seattle. If you're looking for a great place to see the skyline from, Gasworks has it! 

My goal for this photo was to tell the story of him being a photographer and represent his style which is very classy, almost older looking photos. I wanted to have the Seattle skyline in the background because that's where he lives and the Space Needle is very iconic. For the lighting, I wanted a soft light so I went with an octa and a small softbox in the back for a rim light to make him and the camera pop. 

The photo was shot on a Canon 5d Mark II with an 85mm f/1.8 Lens at f/4 with a 3 stop ND filter on it so I could shoot at a wide aperture and still use a flash. My lighting system is a Profoto 7b, and I had that at quarter and 1/8th power. 

Here's an iPhone HDR photo of the setup (the camera moved a bit so it's blurry but it kinda makes a cool effect. 

That's John's wife, Kim on the right. 

And lastly, here's a shot John took of me taking the photo of him. :)

Happy shooting everyone! If you aren't already, follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mattleitholt or on Google+ at http://plus.google.com/117882771047512175327/posts

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) 4x5 7b beard camera dslr film format gasworks iphone large lit man old park photo photography photos portrait profoto seattle skyline tripod https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/11/photo-with-john-cornicello Sun, 25 Nov 2012 01:59:12 GMT
How to Geotag your Photos using your iPhone and Lightroom 4 https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/11/how-to-geotag-your-photos-using-your-iphone-and-lightroom-4 Have you ever wanted to figure out where you took that favorite photo on vacation or wanted to build a folder of cool photography locations that you can pull up on a moments notice? I wanted to find a way to do just that using the equipment I already have! After digging around, I couldn't find much without using other third-party software or expensive GPS receivers for your camera. This method works with ANY camera, all you need is an iPhone, Lightroom, and a free app with a $1.99 add-on. 

 

Things You Need

  • Camera (DSLR or Point and Shoot)
  • iPhone
  • Galileo App (free)
  • GPS Track Recording Add-On ($1.99)
  • Lightroom

Preparation

Before you set out on your photo adventure, be sure your camera time is set EXACTLY to your iPhone time, down to the second. If you don't, you will not have accurate tags. 

Setting Up the App

First, you'll need to install the app, get it at the link above. Once you are in the app, click the settings button. Then go to Paid Features, select the GPS Track Recording and buy that, you'll need it for this. After you've bought the add-on, go back to the main screen and tap on the record button in the top right of the screen. Go take your photos and then hit record again when you're finished. 

Your track is now saved. Tap on settings, go to "My Collections", tap the blue arrow next to the track you just recorded, scroll down to the bottom, hit export, choose email, then tap on GPX. Email it to yourself and then follow the instructions in the video for the Lightroom side of things :) 

Tagging Your Photos in Lightroom

Comments keep me posting, so don't forget to let me know there is someone else out there reading my post :-)

 

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) app camera digital dslr galileo geotag gps guide how iphone location photo photography photos scouting to tracker tracking https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/11/how-to-geotag-your-photos-using-your-iphone-and-lightroom-4 Sun, 04 Nov 2012 08:06:47 GMT
How to Enlarge a Logo in Photoshop CS5 without Pixelization https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/10/how-to-enlarge-a-logo-in-photoshop-cs5-without-pixelization Hey there! I am creating some new business cards and ran into a problem where I was getting some pixelization from my logo being too small for the document I was making. Here is a way to enlarge it to without getting the pixilation you do when you use the "place" feature. Note: your original logo must have vector properties (ie: font and vector graphics).

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/10/how-to-enlarge-a-logo-in-photoshop-cs5-without-pixelization Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:16:19 GMT
Check Out the Epicness of Metal Prints from Bay Photo https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/10/bay-photo-metal-prints  

Hey everyone, I wanted to write a review on my impressions of metal prints from Bay Photo lab. I had never printed on metal prior to this and had heard from many people I respect that their prints were top notch and gave photos a "3D look". I had to see it for myself so I began to think of what I wanted to print. 

I had remembered this old truck next to my place I used to live at, it was the first subject I ever photographed on my first DSLR. It had been 4 years and 1 day since I had first photographed the truck so I decided it would also be a good comparison of my improvements in the past 4 years. 

Here is my first shot of the truck from 4 years prior. Back then I was really into over-editing my photos and I had totally messed the photo up by doing this editing to it in the way I did. Back then I thought it looked cool, now I cringe. 

When I was approaching the photo again and thinking about it in a whole new way, I thought of the problems the old one had. The first major issue was the over use of dodging and burning on the sky. The second was the halo that was around the truck again from over editing. The composition wasn't terrible, but it wasn't exactly how I wanted to shoot it the second time. 

To solve these problems I decided to use lighting and gels to give the truck a look that portrayed it as being lit by sunset light. In lighting the photo I used Einsteins by Paul C Buff with 11" long throw reflectors on them to give it that punch and naturally underexpose the background.  

After shooting the truck I composited the images together into a small collage to share different details of the truck. This gave the viewer multiple angles of the truck and showed the important details well. 

I ordered a 24x36" metal print from Bay Photo Lab in Santa Cruz, California, their staff was super friendly and helpful throughout the process. I received the print about 10 days later, it came well packaged and arrived safely. 

I found the perfect frame for the print at a local thrift store, it fit the print super well with matching tones and being old as well. I got the print mounted and it looked fantastic! 

The print was a tad bit on the dark side but that could just be my monitor. I used an art light on it and it looked phenomenal after that! The tones of the rust just lit up like none other and gave it that deep look. 

The print was beautiful, there were no imperfections that I could see. Of all the prints on my wall, that is the one that catches the attention of my guests the most. The metal quality makes it pop and people stop there. 

While I was at Photoshop World in Vegas this year, I noticed many people are going to metal prints. They give you that look that paper and canvas just don't give you. Whenever is see metal print now, I stop and really check it out because it pops the color and gives you that strong depth.

They are definitely something you need to see with your own eyes to appreciate the beauty but I hope my thoughts will encourage you to check out Bay Photo the next time you are thinking about printing that special shot. 

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) 1937 37 bay dodge metal photo print printer review tin truck vintage https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/10/bay-photo-metal-prints Thu, 11 Oct 2012 00:07:28 GMT
Allen Stone https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/9/allen-stone Allen Stone

Allen is an up-and-coming R&B/Soul artist. He is originally from Chewelah, Washington and now lives in Seattle. With his release of his self-titled album he jumped into the Top 10 of Billboard's Heatseekers chart and entered the Top 5 of iTunes' R&B/Soul charts. In addition to his charts accomplishments, he has also made TV appearances on Conan and CNN. 

Check out his beats at www.allenstone.com

 

Tech Info:

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II with 85mm f/1.8 @ 6.3, 1/160th, ISO 100, 5600k

Lighting: Canon 580EX Mark II in 28" Westcott Apollo Softbox to the right. 

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) R&B allen stone artist beard black blonde glasses hat hipster male man musician mustasch portrait red soul https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/9/allen-stone Wed, 19 Sep 2012 20:37:38 GMT
Top 5 Tips for Shooting the Las Vegas Strip https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/9/top-5-tips-for-shooting-the-las-vegas-strip  

My TOP 5 Tips for shooting the STRIP!
 
 
Hello from Photoshop World Vegas 2012! 
I'm out here having a great time with the guys from Kelby Training. Last night I went out and walked the strip to get some sweet night shots. 
 
Here's the top 5 tips for shooting the strip:
 
1. Find a cool angle - for this photo I was up on the bridge to the Cosmopolitan Casino, this provided a cool view of the strip. It also allows me to keep my camera level so my buildings aren't leaning. 
 
2. Use a tripod - Make sure to bring a tripod and a cable release to shoot your photos, but be careful you aren't being a trip hazard!
 
3. Look for the traffic - Watch the traffic lights and begin your exposure just as the first car enters your shot, this will give you those long streaking lights you've always wanted! Remember, the brightness of the streaks is controlled by your aperture!
 
4. Use a low ISO - The cleanest looking image is going to be when you are taking your shot at a low ISO, this also goes along with bringing a tripod, without the combo, you'll just get a blurry image!
 
5. Take advantage of long shutter speeds - Use a long shutter speed to get the streaking tail lights of the vehicles and also motion in the people, it can really show how busy the strip is!
 
Happy shooting! See you next year in Vegas!
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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) belagio camera digital dslr guide hollywood how las photo photograph photography photos planet shoot strip tips to top vegas https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/9/top-5-tips-for-shooting-the-las-vegas-strip Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:59:49 GMT
Completely Stoked About Trigger Happy! https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/4/completely-stoked-about-trigger-happy  

I want to start by sharing how completely excited I am for a new product called Trigger Happy, it's seriously the most innovative and high tech camera trigger out there. I'm really excited about this new product, it's still in development but it looks very promising and adds a lot of neat features to your remote. 

It works off your iPhone or Android through a specially designed cable then plugs into your Canon or Nikon camera (some other cameras are supported too). It sends an audio signal to a chip in the cable which does some magic and turns it into a signal your camera can read, thus triggering the shutter of your camera. 
 
Some of the rad features currently includes: 
  • Simple camera trigger
  • Bulb functionality for long exposures
  • Time-lapse mode (intervalometer)
  • HDR mode
  • Bramping (Bulb Ramping) for time-lapses from day to night, etc.
 
Other features in development:
  • A way to trigger the camera when the accelerometer data of the phone changes.
  • Face detection. When a face enters the phone's view, the camera can fire.
  • Lightning detection.
  • Audio waveform detection.
 
Why Trigger Happy over your standard camera remote? 
  • Don't need to remember another device, just toss the small cable in your bag and have use your phone to trigger your camera
  • Bramping
  • More advanced
  • Less expensive and with more features

I had the opportunity to see a live private demo of it and can say it works great, can't wait to get my hands on one. 

Check it out and order your's here!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1435018402/trigger-happy-camera-remote

 

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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) android blackberry camera droid iphone smartphone trigger https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/4/completely-stoked-about-trigger-happy Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:29:10 GMT
The Process of Taking a Panorama https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/4/how-to-take-a-panorama  
 
Steptoe Butte, WashingtonSteptoe Butte, Washington
Steptoe Butte is located in the middle of the Washington Palouse and is famous for its underlying quartzite. It towers approximately 1,000 feet above the Palouse and offers a 360 degree panoramic view. It is a popular place for photography, hang gliding, sight-seeing, model airplanes and kite flying. 
 
For this shot I wanted to show the panoramic view of the Palouse that Steptoe Butte offers. The best light of Steptoe Butte occurs when there are patches of sun illuminating the rolling hills of the Palouse or at sunset. The problem with sunset is you don't see much of the green so it's better to shoot sunset later in the year when the fields are golden. This is due to the golden wheat reflecting the sunlight better than the green crop.
 
Angle
I wanted to have something besides fields in my shot so I drove to the East side of the butte for this photo. I wanted to shoot a very wide panorama so I could crop in on any part of it at a later time and show the specific parts I wanted. The Eastern side of Steptoe Butte offers a view of the town of Steptoe, Washington (as seen in the photo above).
 
The Set Up 
I chose a 300mm lens for this shot to compress the background and bring out the details in the photo. Because I was taking a panorama, I needed to be on a sturdy tripod so that my photo had no camera shake introduced and so my horizon was straight. I use a Gitzo carbon fiber tripod with a Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead because it is robust but still lightweight for the amount it can hold. If you have a lightweight camera you don't need this extreme of a setup but a nice sturdy tripod and a ballhead will allow you to get a nice, sharp photo. After I mounted the camera on the tripod I wanted to make sure the tripod legs were level so I could pan the ballhead and not have any tilt in the horizon. After that I composed my shot starting on the left side and did a quick "left to right check" to make sure my horizon was level throughout the entire shot. 
 
Camera Settings
When shooting a panorama you want to ensure your exposure is the same throughout the image. If one shot is lighter or darker than another in the panorama, it will look funky when it's merged. For this photograph, I set my camera to manual and set the aperture at f/11 to give me great depth of field and ensure the entire photo is in focus. I set my ISO to 100 to get the best image quality and colors. After these were set my shutter speed was set at 1/160th to make the proper exposure. I autofocused my lens and went to live view and zoomed in 10x to check my focus and ensure it was perfect. After I did this I set the lens to manual focus so my focus wouldn't shift. If your camera allows you to shoot RAW mode, shoot in this mode because you will have more latitude in your files and be able to perfect settings like white balance later and adjust your exposure with less degradation of image quality. 
 
Taking the Shot
I turned my camera to a vertical orientation to capture more fields and sky. I always shoot panoramas this way because it gives you more detail to work with. To take the photo I used a remote shutter release to ensure no camera shake was introduced. I started on the left side of the photo and took each shot overlapping the other by approximately 20% to ensure Photoshop could blend the shots together well. I used the panning part of my ballhead to do this so the horizon stayed level. It's important to finish your panorama quickly because the light and sky is constantly changing and your photos won't merge together well if there is too much change.
 
Post Processing
I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II which is a 21MP camera so the file sizes are quite large. I always shoot in RAW so I have the best flexibility later in processing but the downside is larger files. To help with this, upon importing into Adobe Lightroom 4 I convert the RAW files to DNG (Digital Negative) by doing this it reduces the size, but does not compromise quality or functionality. Once the files were imported I adjusted one of the frames to get the correct exposure, white balance, and contrast I wanted and then applied that to the rest of the files via the "sync" feature. After this point I exported the photos at JPEG files which are smaller in size and easier for Photoshop to handle when there are so many photos to blend.
 
In Photoshop, I used Photomerge to blend the photos together into one panorama. This is located under File --> Automate --> Photomerge. From here I selected the folder with the JPEG files and chose "Auto". After Photoshop worked its magic I merged the visible layers to reduce file size once I had verified that the photo looked correct. Next, I made a selection around the areas that were white in the edges and needed to be filled in. I used Content Aware Fill to do this and got a great result. Next, I saved the photo and re-imported it into Lightroom. 
 
In Lightroom I decided to make a virtual copy and crop it down to just the town of Steptoe because it had interesting elements in it and is easier for viewing on the web. By making a virtual copy I still kept the original and didn't waste hard drive space since virtual copies take no additional space. After I had cropped the photo down to what you see above, I made my final adjustments to the image. I added minimal saturation and clarity to give it an extra "punch". 
 
I hope you enjoyed learning how to shoot a panorama, the best way to get better is practice so get out and shoot. Feel free to post your favorite panorama in the comments! 
 
Purchase a print or view larger at the fine art gallery http://www.mattleitholt.com/fineart/e3db4d94c#h3db4d94c
 
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[email protected] (Matt Leitholt) blending butte camera digital dslr expert fantastic film great guide how landscape lightroom palouse panno panorama photo photographer photography photos photoshop processing states steptoe take to travel tripod tutorial united usa washington https://mattleitholt.com/blog/2012/4/how-to-take-a-panorama Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:14:16 GMT