From the dark alleys to the neon signs

Urban Textures

Back Door

A month ago I hosted a downtown alley shoot for the photography group I belong to. These shoots always prove to be very popular and very demanding as there is a lot to see, shoot and take in in just two hours.

One of the things I try to do at each of shoots I host is provide some context of what there is to shoot. In this case, a night shoot, in high contrast lighting with bright lights and deep dark shadows, the photographers focus has to shift from what they might shoot during broad daylight.

Focus on the shadows and the lights. Focus on the patterns. Focus on the abstract. Focus on the seedier side of the world.

Zooming In

 In addition to guiding the group of nineteen photographers through the dark, shadowy alleys of Salem, I also gave a brief tutorial on zooming in during an exposure.

In the example on the right, my zoom was limited, 17mm - 50mm, so the effect was limited.

With a lens that had more zoom, like 24mm - 70mm or 24mm - 200mm, the effect is much more dramatic.

Start with the lens at one end of zoom or the other. Start your six second exposure, wait one second, slowly zoom to the other end of the zoom, leaving about one second of exposure remaining. Give it a try some time.

Abstracting

It is always a shame when a photographer leaves a tripod home.

What is more of shame is when the photographer remembers the tripod, but leaves the camera mount for the tripod head at home.

So what does a photographer do when that happens?

Make some abstract art, like the shot on the left.

When was the last time you headed out in the dark. The shadows can be fun.

Happy Halloween: Creating A Monster

Zombie Photographer

Question: What's the difference between a Photoshop makeup job and a real makeup job for Halloween? Answer A: About five hours and forty minutes. Answer B: You can't wear Photoshop to a Halloween Party.

The above image took roughly 20 minutes to put together.

The actual costume I wore to Saturday night's Halloween party took considerably more time. The steps were as follows:

Mastering Blood Spatter

Step 1: Start with clothes: Getting the right amount of blood in accurate splatter patterns is important to a truly scary costume. Using a combination of two different spray bottles, misting and streaming sprays, and a paint brush gives a nice variety of blood spatter patterns.

This is where being a fan of shows like CSI and Dexter come in handy. They are educational in art of creating accurate blood spatter.

Also included in this process was rubbing dirt and grass stains into the clothes as well as ripping and shredding the clothes to age them appropriately.

Total time 1 hour.

Drying the Blood

Step 2: Let the clothes dry.

This is a big deal that can take a day or more.

Mange Look

Step 3:  Hair.

This takes some willingness to sacrifice your ego, as the image on the right dictates.

And while you won't be making a fashion statement, you will make an impact to the effectiveness of the entire costume.

This included messing with the chin-pubes as well.

Of course, after the cutting of the hair you need to a shower.

Total Time: 1 Hour

Merely a flesh wound

Step 4: The facial makeup.

My thanks go to my lovely, understanding and uber-creative wife who created this process of wound generation from tissue paper, liquid latex and makeup.

This whole wound took about a half an hour to make. There was an additional ten minutes in makeup following to blend the wound into my real skin.

The initial preview of this image generated some visceral reactions from my friends on Facebook.

Exactly the reaction I was looking for.

Head Wound

The head wound was a risky choice, but one that paid off big time.

The risk was this: Liquid Latex is like gum, especially when it gets in your hair. But, look at the wound... it is simply amazing!

My wife rocked this makeup application.

This wound took about an another half an hour plus ten minutes for the makeup.

Gruesome as it looks, the application was painless.

I wish the same could be said about its removal.

After this, there was a thirty minute break because I was getting monkey-butt from sitting in the chair for so long.

Looks like it hurts

The final, most complicated wound was the head to neck gash on the left side of my face.

A similar process was used, but was one continuous stream of latex and tissue paper.

This took nearly 40 minutes to apply, plus the makeup time.

Then came the rest of the makeup.

Blood around the mouth; blood in the bald spots on my head; shadowing and general blending took another 20 minutes.

Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

The Bite

Of course after all that work, some photos were needed.

Bitten

The Attack

Incoming

Total time of application was four and half hours, plus a half an hour for Kim's bite.

Then we headed off to the party.

Total time of removal of the makeup and the latex, which definitely got in my hair, painfully in my hair, was a half an hour plus a shower for a total time of a one hour. Also, I had to finish shaving my head on Sunday for another hour, if the shower is included.

Total time: Six hours of makeup application and cleanup after the party.

Was it worth it? Completely! Because again, you can't wear Photoshop to a Halloween party.

By the way, in case you didn't guess it, I went to the party as a corporate zombie.

Happy Halloween from Creative Monkey Studios!