{"id":6,"date":"2009-08-08T18:16:44","date_gmt":"2009-08-09T01:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aboutrc.com\/?p=3"},"modified":"2009-08-08T18:16:44","modified_gmt":"2009-08-09T01:16:44","slug":"working-with-ariel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aboutrc.com\/?p=6","title":{"rendered":"Working with Ariel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Shot of Ariel at the Worldwide Photowalk<\/strong>
\nA couple of weeks back we got together with about 32000 of our friends for the annual Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk. I was hosting my own in the afternoon \u2013 taking about 50 walkers through the city of Dunedin, FL. In the morning, however, I got a chance to be a walker and just hang out with Scott Kelby\u2019s group over in Ybor city- an area in Tampa that I happen to think is really cool!<\/p>\n


\nIts wild- Ybor city reminds me of a mash up of New Orleans and Little Havana in Miami. The city really gets a bad vibe because of a rash of crime that\u2019s associated with the nighttime bar scene. In recent years the place seems to have cleaned up it\u2019s act, and it really does have a cool vibe to it \u2013 mostly anchored by it\u2019s massive Cuban presence (which I personally love\u2026 mmmm. Cuban sandwiches.. )<\/p>\n

Hey? Is that an SB900 There? Can I Snag That?<\/strong>
\nWe were walking down the street and my buddy Kathy threw me into a Cuban Tobacco bar to check out the Tabacqueros hand rolling some cigars. A bunch of photo walk people followed us into the place, and it turned out to be a shooters paradise.<\/p>\n

Cameras were going off wildly at the guy rolling cigars by the window, but for me \u2013 that wasn\u2019t the shot. He was in front a window at around 11am, so I knew the backlight on him would be intense. Behind me was a totally different story.<\/p>\n

\"ariel1\"<\/a>Ariel is the owner of Casa de Tabaco, and was sitting there watching all of the photographers in his place. Wearing a white shirt and hat and holding a cigar, he smiled as I approached him and immediately agreed to pose for some pictures.<\/p>\n

Another problem,- The bar was darker than the window, and there was a skylight, which meant that there was cool light around him but there was no way tthat we were getting light under him.<\/p>\n

Everyone\u2019s firing like mad \u2013 but I just don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to work. I see next to me a guy who has an SB900 on camera. I ask if I can borrow it. Switching to all manual, I power the flash down and go camera right and slightly behind me about eye level with his face and I hit a couple of frames. As I was doing it, I knew that the picture would have some problems, but I knew that the shot would definitely be a LOT better than not shooting it with Flash at all. Scott Kelby sees the back of my LCD and starts yelling to everyone that I \u2013nailed- it. Now, I\u2019ve known Scott for several years now, and have worked under him for 2. It STILL never gets old when someone who you really admire starts saying that you\u2019re onto something \u2013 even if you know deep down that this picture is going to fall apart when you bring it into Lightroom.<\/p>\n

When One Door Shuts, A Window Opens.. Or Something.. <\/strong>
\nSure enough, when I get it home I take a look at it and all of my worries were right there staring at me. Because it was such a small and tight light, I knew that the shadow behind his arm was going to be a problem. I needed to soften that light up, either by putting it in an umbrella or softbox, or trying to pull it away for a bit. It all happened in seconds.<\/p>\n

Again, back to another conversation with Scott Kelby who brought up another idea. Paraphrasing, his thought was that the shot that I had was probably a lot better than most of the shots the guy is used to. Why not \u2018do up\u2019 the shot, print it, and bring it to him? That way, you can give something back and let him know you want to spend some time doing the shot a little better? Great idea!<\/p>\n

\"ariel2\"<\/a>I fiddled with it a little bit in Photoshop, setup a print, and brought it to Ariel and he was over the moon with it (even though I wasn\u2019t). I told him I would like some of his time in the near future to setup the shot a little better, and not only did he agree.. but we agreed over a Caf\u00e9 Con Leche \u2013 something you should NEVER turn down if you are in Ybor city!<\/p>\n

The following week I went back and spent some time working with Ariel, and got a couple of better shots. The entire experience highlighted a bunch of cool things:<\/p>\n