©John Tsiavis

John Tsiavis has made a name for himself by his effortless yet evocative portraits of celebrities. But as we all you know, you need to step out of your comfort zone from time to time. When John was asked to shoot a series of images that were “unique in an interesting way” he saw an opportunity to do just that.

Surprisingly many successful photographers did not want to become photographers at first. John Tsiavis is one of them. John wanted to work with advertising. The only reason why he started to take photography seriously was that he needed a portfolio to apply for an advertising course at the university. When he was not accepted at the course, he took the interviewer’s recommendation to show his photographs to the photography faculty down the hall. And from there on one thing led to another.

Today, John is above all known as a commercial portrait photographer, creating effortless yet evocative portraits of celebrities and people of interest, such as Bono, Al Gore, Geoffrey Rush and Rachel Griffiths.

“I enjoy it because it’s a challenge,” says John. “Often with celebrities, it’s a ‘high stakes’ kind of photography. The pressure is really on. You’ve often got a very small amount of time with some huge personalities and you have to come out the end with something unique. When you get the shot you want there’s a great deal of satisfaction amongst everyone involved.”

But John also enjoys the variety that comes with a broader repertoire. For instance, he was recently asked by a client to shoot a series of images that would illustrate the various professions within the media and arts industry. The only requirement was that the images had to be vibrant and interesting in a unique way. So, John left the well-treaded path and set out to create the so-called Movement shots – a series of images that forced him to approach his art from a whole new angle. (more…)

Shooting outdoors always has its challenges, and when you’re shooting an ad for a car, the art director has locked down your camera, and you can’t move the car, you’ve got more than a few challenges to overcome.

Peter Dawson, though, is up to the task and he reveals some of his techniques in this feature on Shutterbug. When shooting on location, he relies on Profoto Pro-7b packs to give him the power he needs. “I shoot with a lot of natural light,” he says, “mixing strobes in to highlight certain parts of the car… I use Profoto white beauty dishes with grids frequently to highlight tires and anything that’s not just metal.”

Read the whole article on Shutterbug and see more of Peter Dawson’s photography at peterdawson.net.

All images and quotes in this post are used with permission and ©Shutterbug and Peter Dawson, all rights reserved; story is ©Profoto. Please respect and support photographers’ rights. Feel free to link to this blog post, but please do not replicate or repost elsewhere without written permission.

Photographer Morgan Moller has written a great blog post in which he gives a detailed account of a recent shoot with musician and renaissance man Marques Toliver. Morgan begins from the very beginning, explaining how the shoot came to be and how he prepared, and goes on to describe how he utilized the Pro-7b and the Beauty Dish to create a number of portrait set ups.

“It was the first time using Profoto gear, but I know now why I’ll rent them in the future,” concludes Morgan.

Recommended read if you are curious about the Beauty Dish or just into portrait photography in general.

Mark Wallace walks you through using zones, or groups, wirelessly in this video from AdoramaTV.

Mark sets up six Profoto D1 lights: a White Softlight Reflector as the key, a 2×3’ Softbox for fill, two kicker lights aimed into V-flats to highlight the model’s cheeks, and two different background lights — one with a 5 Degree Grid and another with a Zoom Reflector.

Since all his lights are in their own zone using the Air Remote, he can control them independently without ever leaving his camera. “In fact,” he says, “we actually got six different looks from our shoot.”

Watch the video to see all six looks and read more on AdoramaTV.

All video and quotes in this post are used with permission and ©AdoramaTV, all rights reserved; story is ©Profoto. Please respect and support photographers’ rights. Feel free to link to this blog post, but please do not replicate or repost elsewhere without written permission.

©Eric Chang

Not many photographers can brag about having their prints hanging on a wall in sir Elton John’s home. But Eric Chang can. And just like the knighted singer, Eric likes his art exceptionally extravagant and beautifully bizarre.

Eric Chang is a Los Angeles-based photographer and film director born in East Java, Indonesia. The son of a sculptor and a ceramic designer, Eric spent his early years in his parent’s workshop, playing and writing music and poetry, sketching with charcoals and sculpting gypsum.

“My family taught me a lot of things,” says Eric. “From drawing, painting, sculpting and creative writing to playing and writing music. These experiences have grown inside me ever since. They brought me an enormous amount of freedom and joy, but I still felt restrained and could not articulate my point of view. It wasn’t until I discovered photography that I also discovered a way to express myself and communicate my ideas to people.”

When you meet someone at a party who don’t know the first things about photography and they ask you what it is that you shoot, what do you reply?

“I never give the same reply twice,” says Eric. “Part of it depends on who’s asking, of course, but generally I always say something beautifully bizarre.”

What does that mean?

“What I want to suggest is that I don’t just shoot beautiful fashion portraits. For me, that’s boring. It has to be more to it than just assembling a team, getting models and designer clothes, and ‘wam-bam’ shooting it straight away. I like to spend time thinking of different ideas and combining to make something unique. And most of the time, the result of that process is something that is … beautifully bizarre. (more…)