5 Things I Learned Attempting Levitation Photography

Spring could not come soon enough! While I enjoy the beauty of the snow, it is immensely hard for me to do photography during the winter, as the bitter cold is like Kryptonite to me, so during these cold months, I watch tv, read blogs and gain weight.

On one of these blogs I came across, someone had taken a cool levitation photograph, and I told myself “How hard can that be?” So when the snow melted, and the sun stayed out for longer than 4 hours during the day, I took my camera and started figuring out how to get some fun levitation pictures for myself! This is what I learned:

1-The setup:  There are two ways that I accomplished the effect of floating or flying in the air. One is to use a ladder, or a step stool to gain height, then take two pictures; one of you posing on the ladder, the other the scene without you or your ladder. Then you merge them in Photoshop and take away the ladder

The other way is to jump and strike a pose! Many people have posted pictures online doing just that, and it works well for them. Personally, I prefer the first method because I’m up higher and because I’m bad at posing, which brings me to the second thing I learned:

2-Practice your pose! I’m great at telling people how they should move, and where their arm is supposed to be, but terrible at doing this for myself. Luckily, my lovely wife was there to tell me if I looked like a mannequin, or if the pose was worth keeping!

3- Research your background. You want something that will highlight the fact that you’re floating, not hide it or make it appear like maybe you could be flying. I learned this the hard way, as more often than not, the background makes you guess if I’m actually far off the ground or not.

4- Take lots of shots. Of course, this should go without saying, but it’s important, as if you don’t get it right, you’ll have to set up everything again, and if you’re taking pictures to merge them in Photoshop, you’ll have wasted the entire shoot.

5- Have fun! Be creative! The idea is to provoke some emotions from the picture, be it excitement, depression or happiness! This is a great way to get to know your camera better, set up a scene, figure out which lens works best with the effect you’re trying to achieve, or all of the above!

All in all, this was definitely a fun series to shoot, although at times a bit frustrating.  I suppose that’s the point of doing series, to have fun, learn and practice. I guess I should have done more of these projects during the wintertime, but I’m glad I’m out and about now, photographing the world once more!

-Chris

https://www.facebook.com/chrisquirozphotography

VIDEOGRAPHY AND ME

I didn’t actually take any of the video the day I shot Kavitha and Sean’s engagement party, I was photographing it! Shooting video though,  is something that I also enjoy doing. It’s very different from photography, and yet you need to know a lot of the same things in order to do it right : lighting, scenes, backgrounds, where the sun is, color contrast etc etc. So when I was asked if I could shoot video as well at the engagement party, I knew I wouldn’t be able to shoot it myself…but I knew just the right person!

Alex is my brother in law and one of my best friends! We both grew up in Mexico and both love photography and videography, though he actually studied some of it! So I went to Alex and asked him if he’d like to shoot the video for the wedding and he said he’d love to! 

The day of the party, Alex used a custom-made stabilizer which helped keep the camera from shaking too much. It was impressive to see it in action! His camera has a vari-angle screen, which helped him take shots where he needed the camera to be high up in the air, like when everyone was dancing! By the time we were both done shooting, we had been standing for about 10 hours, so our feet where pretty sore!

The next few days were spent editing the photographs, as that was my priority. Once they were finished, I could focus on the video. I was a bit nervous to be editing a video for a couple, as the previous videos I had done were just compilations of my travels. I had never really considered charging to do video until it was proposed for me, but I’m very glad the opportunity came up, because it was a lot of fun to do!

All in all, it took about 3 days to go through the video, figure out a storyline and piece everything together. The storyline is one of the most important things to get right, because you have to base everything else on that! I was pretty happy with the end result, and would definitely do it again if requested!

Alex really did a great job, so I’m thankful to know someone who can handle a camera as well as he can! The whole experience was fantastic, and the setting was wonderful, you couldn’t have asked for a more laid back and relaxed couple than Kavitha and Sean! Congrats again and I hope the wedding in India is as much fun as the engagement party was!

-Chris

Kavitha & Sean’s Engagement Party

Long distant relationships must be among the hardest things a couple in love has to face. Loneliness, doubts, and a lot more effort to speak to your significant other than people who get to see their loved ones on a daily basis. But those who can endure the hardness of a long distant relationship know that the struggle only helps bring them closer together. Kavitha and Sean have had to endure several bouts of long distance relationships, and each time it only reassured them that they were meant to be together.

I had the pleasure of photographing their engagement party which had an Indian theme to it, and if I could sum it up in one quick sentence, they sure know how to party! The energy was fantastic, the food was phenomenal, and the dance floor was the place to be for the later part of the evening!

Kavi and crew got ready at the Brookstreet Hotel in Kanata, and looked pretty relaxed for someone about to host a party for what looked like 200 people! Sean arrived in an amazing modern Indian style suit later on in the afternoon and was ready to get things going!  We had planned to take pictures outside, but the weather was not cooperating so most of the family pictures were taken on the first floor of the hotel. I did manage to sneak Kavi and Sean away for a few minutes to try out some photography with some sparklers, and kudos to the both of them for braving the cold and wind for as long as they did!

Once the family pictures where through, it was off to the Kanata Lakes Golf and Country Club for dinner and dancing! The guests looked amazing, and everyone was having such a good time; and that was before they served the most delicious food ever!

The entire day was a lot of fun to shoot! It’s always easy when everyone is so happy to be there. I was thrilled to photograph such a fun and energetic party! I must thank my brother in law Alex for being the videographer for the day, as he was up and down and all over the place making sure the right angles were caught! By the time we got home, we were exhausted!

If you would like to see a couple of other pictures from the engagement party, head on over to facebook.com/chrisquirozphotography and poke around!

Congratulations Kavitha and Sean! If your wedding is as much fun as this party, India is in for one wild ride!

Awakening the Darkness with Fun

A couple of weekends ago, I went to a Christmas party, where I had a fun conversation with Daniel about the fact that I haven’t had many photographic sessions with men. When I told him that I didn’t really know many guys that wanted to do shoots with me, he immediately took it as an opportunity to  work together! Daniel explained that people always see him as a really nice guy and a kind person, and he really wanted to show another side to him.

 

I had found a condemned house on the outskirts of Ottawa a long time ago, with furniture that looked like it had been there since the 50′s. This house is slated to be torn down in the spring with everything in it; perfect for Daniel to let his darker side out by playing a vandal who has found a place to destroy.

This shoot was a bit challenging for a few reasons. I’m not used to coming up with dark themes, as most of the sketches I have involve people falling in love and being happy, and coming up with the idea of a vandal and what he could do in an abandoned house was not easy! I also have just bought a new 7D and am not quite used to where each setting is yet. The third challenge was unexpected; the house was boarded up and was darker than I had anticipated. Still, these challenges were a lot of fun to take on and figure out!

 

 

 

How much fun did we have? Breaking bottles with a crowbar and trying to time it to get that exact moment it breaks was one of the highlights for me! I got to take advantage of the 7D’s 8 frames per second shooting capabilities, and had lots of practice with my flash. The day was warm (for winter) and the house gave us plenty of props to use!

 

Daniel was a great person to work with, which probably just goes to show that no matter how much you want to look different, you can’t change who you are. And in the case of Daniel, that’s a good thing!

-Chris Quiroz

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The Christmas Prank

Christmas is usually a great time to spend with family and remember to be thankful for all the great things in your life. It’s also the perfect time to pull a quick prank on someone, since people are already expecting presents!

My stepfather decided that was the way to go when he gave me this gift!

 

For about 3 seconds, I actually thought that my parents had bought me a Canon 24-105 L series lens!  After 4 seconds, I noticed it wasn’t a Canon brand but a Canian lens…and it was pretty low quality… and it opened on the top part…and it was not an $800 lens, but a coffee mug.

 

I had already seen this mug online before, and thought it would be a great prank to do on someone, so it’s pretty funny that the prank was played on me! My stepfather says he never thought I’d believe it was a real lens, and when you take a couple of seconds to examine it, it’s hard to see how I fell for it! But i was a great trick, and I’m taking this mug to the office, where I’m sure it’ll be a hit! And so, the Christmas prank was a complete success, and if there’s a lesson in this it’s that I’ll be scrutinizing my birthday presents!

Happy holidays to everyone! Next year is going to be fantastic!

Chris Quiroz

Adding Color to your World

 

A while ago, I saw a photograph online where someone painted their face. I enjoyed the symbolism of having to paint yourself before being able to color, change or help other people. I wondered what would inspire someone to see things differently, and what circumstances would cause someone to open their eyes and change a part of who they are.

It was based on these thoughts that I decided to do this session. The idea behind it was that in a black and white world, someone would find a way to color it. It’s actually a pretty simple idea, so I didn’t think it would be very hard to do! The weather, however did not help, as we shot against a graffiti wall outside and it was freezing! It’s also located at a dog park and the dogs kept trying to steal our scarves and earmuffs!

My model is Cristiana, whom I’ve known for quite some time!  She was very positive throughout the entire shoot, even with freezing hands. We shot with a 50mm and a wide angle 10-22mm. The day was pretty grey so while there was no sun to brighten up the scene, at least we wouldn’t have to worry about shadows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it’s a pretty simple but fun story on how sometimes you need a bit of help to change yourself, and only after can you change the world around you. It was definitely fun to shoot, and Cristiana was great as a model!

On the editing side of things, I used photoshop to bring in the colors or to make things black and white where I needed them. I’m very happy that I learned how to use layers well because they really were extremely helpful! Editing took longer than usual because it was more than just doing touch ups on the picture, but I’m happy with the results!

On a quick side note, I finally opened up a facebook site if anyone would like to check it out! I’m not sure what the next project will be, but if anyone is in Ottawa, Ontario and has an idea and would like to work with me, let me know!

If You Want Trouble, Find Yourself a Redhead

My sister and I used to live in Mexico. While redheads are not that uncommon here in Canada, down there they are a rare occurrence! Hence, my sister would always be at least partly defined by her hair. Her nick name down there is Chori, which is short for chorizo, a red sausage.  Ale is definitely a special person! She has lots of character, knows what she wants, moves mountains to obtain it, and, true to her red hair, has been known to have a slight temper at times.

As I continue to add to my portfolio, I decided it would be fun to do a quick portrait with my sister where I emphasized her hair. I borrowed her husband’s camera, since mine does not fare too well indoors, and placed her close to a bright light source to lighten her face. It would have been nice to have a flash, or a camera that you can bump the ISO without the picture getting grainy, but, as is the story so far in my photography life, you work with what you have!

It was fun working with my sister! She laughs a lot, and it was really great that you can see her smile even though her face is hidden! I wish that I could have gotten a bit sharper focus in the pictures, especially her eyes, but that will teach me to not use a tripod for these situations!  Thanks Ale for letting me take some pictures of you! We’ll have to do it again!

Creating a Galaxy in a Bathtub

I’ve always loved black light photography. It lets you play with vibrant colors, without having to resort to over saturating your picture in Photoshop! I wanted to try it out, but didn’t really know where to start. What do you use to get that glow? Will any type of paint work? If I buy a bunch of glow sticks and cover a friend’s face with them, will that work? And who would even let me do that?

My friend Ylimay. That’s who.  And so, on a Sunday evening, I came to her house with a bunch of cheap glow sticks I purchased at the Dollar store and my camera.  Yli is a dreamer, an artist and a lot of fun to hang around with, so when I wanted to do a photo shoot involving things that look like galaxies and stars, I knew she’d agree!

I had a hard time finding black lights. The reason, or so I was told, was that it was right after Halloween, and they sell out. So lesson #1- buy black lights before Halloween!

We started doing the photoshoot in Yli’s living room, but problems aroused immediately. The first problem was that there was a window that let too much light come in (it was nighttime, but streets are pretty well lit!) The second and more important problem, was that the glow stick liquid, being cheap, would stop glowing on Yli’s body after about 3 minutes. We were splashing the paint on her in the bathroom because we didn’t want to get her living room all messy, and this did not give us much time to get decent shots. Add to the fact that my camera performs extremely poor in low light, and this was not going well.

So after thinking about it for a little bit, we decided to put Yli in the bathtub, and use the wall as a canvass (I had previously already splashed the crap out of the walls with glow stick light while trying to get it on Yli) This proved to work a lot better, as we had more time to play around and the shots just looked nicer!

Camera issues: Of course, the problem with my camera, is that it doesn’t take in light as quickly as I would like, which meant that Yli had to stay still anywhere between 5 and 10 seconds per shot. The problem with this was that while Yli’s body was very dark, the  lights from the glow sticks where pretty bright! So I was getting an underexposed model with over exposed lighting around her…and on her!

My Macgyver solution to this was to use the light from my cellphone (the backlight, not the actual mini flash that comes with many of them) and illuminate Yli for a couple of seconds at a time. This way, she would actually show up in the pictures as opposed to just blending in with the universe (though that’s not such a bad idea!)

This worked better than having no light at all, but if you’re going to try this, think about having enough light on your subject! Again, it’s tricky because if you put even a little bit of light on her, the colors and brightness from the Glow stick lights vanish…

This would be a good time to thank Yli for helping me out and letting me splash neon lights all over her, her windows, her walls, the floor, and a little bit on the ceiling (no idea how lol) It was a really fun shoot to do, and it gave me a lot of ideas on how the next one could be done better!

For anyone interested, I used a Canon xti, iso about 800 (any more and my camera just destroys the picture with graininess As it is I had to do some serious Photoshopping to cut it down), a 50mm, and a 10-22mm lens, and generally 5-10 second exposures, which of course didn’t help the blur, but Yli was very good at staying still!!

All in all, it was a fun experience. I wish I had better gear, as this is definitely a shoot where having expensive toys actually helps out, but I’m happy with how things came out!

Ylimay has her own WordPress page which you can check out right here! http://anemoimuu.wordpress.com/

SELF PORTRAIT IN A BASEMENT

I’m starting to create a facebook page for my photography, ans decided that I needed a new profile picture. Seeing as I have no money, I ended up using what I could find in the house. It’s always surprising how much stuff we have! Hats, ornaments, books, suitcases, blankets, decorations… it’s a wonder how I don’t do a different theme shoot every day!

One of the things I found in the basement, was a very old fan. It’s probably at least 50 years old! It’s made entirely of metal and looks like it belongs in an old office! It gave me the idea to do a portrait with a little bit of classic in it. Of course, seeing as that was all I really had that was very old, I did my best to look the part and used the oldest camera I could find!

Once again, it all comes down to having fun. As long as I continue to love taking pictures, I’ll keep on doing it!

As for the technicalities, this was taken with a canon t4i, in RAW, and edited with photoshop cs6. Still no full frame camera for me, but hopefully soon!

On Wedding Photography

Last weekend, I went to Vancouver to attend my wife’s sister’s wedding! They had a very fun and unique ceremony, including mixing different spices, which represented certain qualities one would want in a marriage, wine drinking (maybe not so unique for Catholics I guess!) and a fantastic Master of Ceremonies.  I did not intend to take many pictures, because I still haven’t gotten a good replacement for the camera and lens that was stolen in Cambodia. I felt that it was not really a good idea because wedding pictures should be flawless and fantastic and I didn’t think I had the equipment necessary to do this (also, it was a good excuse, since I haven’t really been using my camera much since I arrived back in Canada)

But then I started taking a couple pictures here and there, and quickly realized how much I’d missed using my camera! I had gotten into a funk, ever since Cambodia, and it was hard to shake off because I constantly felt that my pictures could be a lot better with a decent lens and body. My pictures where never as focused as I wanted them to be, or as sharp, or as clear, and it would always get me down thinking that I wasn’t taking my best photography because of this.

But taking all these pictures made me remember why I love photography. It’s not really about the perfect picture (though it helps alot when you take them) and it’s definitely not about having the best gear (though it’s nice to have it!), it’s really about the experience of capturing moments. All moments. And yes, the wedding pictures I took this weekend aren’t the best I could have done, nor the sharpest, and some are a bit out of focus, but it was a fantastic experience to capture so much love and happiness in one place, and in the process, reacquaint myself with photography. So I guess it’s true what the beatles say! All you need is love!