The last weekend in August we did a photo shoot at The Vertitude pole fitness, dance and self defense studio in Canoga Park, CA. Sergia and Duncan needed new photos for some upcoming projects - and to update their own website. Since Iris will begin teaching at The Vertitude soon, we both had dual roles for this shoot. Iris was shooting and dancing, and Joe spent the whole day running between camera and lights, working as both photographer and assistant!
We were really inspired by other, traditional dance photographers for the lighting and style of this shoot - simple, clean and raw. Previously, we used two strobes to cross light the subject, or used a big soft main light with a rim/kicker to add definition. This time we didn't want to have so much going on. Instead, we agreed that the dancer and her movement should really be the focus. Big, silvery, dramatic side light.
In addition to the dance photos, we also took some head shots for Duncan, one of the krav maga self defense instructors, to add to his own portfolio. These were to be used for his personal acting portfolio and his own business as well as The Vertitude. He wanted a variety of looks, and we didn't want to make him work the Zoolander face all day. Fortunately, the studio provided a space to shoot with strobes, beautiful natural light, and different backgrounds. We were able to create all of his different looks within an hour. Easy!
Since we started using Lightroom 3, post processing has been a breeze. And on top of that, we're experimenting with some new methods in Photoshop, such as dutone and tri-tone. We used some warm and cool tri-tones on a few of the photos.
Here are some of our favorites!
