Laura Graf Photography

Blue eyes and green apples

2009-02-05T12:49:00.003-05:00

I love to go on photo safari in Old Salem, NC its a mix between my love of photography and history! I love the depth and the green apples in the background not to mention how much her eyes standout. She wasn't very happy with the amount of time it took to get the photograph so that explains the look, but to me it makes it more real than posed something I have been doing a lot of lately.

A few pages...

2008-12-29T12:19:00.012-05:00

At school we got to practice shooting weddings so here are a few pages from the album I made.

New for the New Year

2008-12-29T12:07:00.012-05:00

Here are some of my newest photos. Some for school some just for fun.

I would love to take this moment to thank all my wonderful models!!!

2008-09-01T21:27:00.002-04:00

I shot this photo with a soft box and a reflector. The image is cooler here than it is on the print. I think the lighting adds mystery to him which since he is a man of mystery it fits him.

Freida The Wonder Duck!

2008-08-26T14:50:00.005-04:00

I have collected rubber duck's since I was about 6, I found Freida in a store and she reminded me of a duck that my grandmother had given me and had broken so I no longer have it. I love to photograph Freda so this is just me having some fun. Oh and as a little side note she is the only one I have named she just looks like a Freida.

2008 Graduation Portfolio

2008-08-26T14:32:00.014-04:00

Here are some of my 2008 Graduation Portfolio photos I used some older photos as well, since they are already on my blog I did not include them. I hope you enjoy!

After Internship

2008-05-27T17:37:00.004-04:00

I shot this bike for a friend of mine, its a Gold Wing 1500. I shot it at the school studio. It was so much fun to shoot. I had a lot of fun getting it to look like this with my CS3.

Internship

2008-04-07T16:48:00.001-04:00

So nothing really new in photos because I am busy on internship, just wanted to drop a note to all who do read this blog that I will have new photos from my last internship up soon.

Laura

Sound Slides at Old Salem

2008-02-25T08:50:00.004-05:00

Just thought that you would get a kick out of seeing how they make bread and of hearing what they think of there customer's at Winklers Bakery in Old Salem North Carolina.

Erin

2008-02-24T18:45:00.004-05:00

I took this photo after taking the photo of Erin a friend of mine, after taking another photo of her for a project. I thought that the light was nice and it just screams Erin so I am using it for my blog. I shot this photo using my Canon Mark 2 1D using Broncolor stobs. It was shot using a shutter speed of 1/100 at f-22.

Tear Sheet #2

2008-02-24T18:31:00.005-05:00

I shot this photo of Erin a friend of mine to replicate a tear sheet for my advertising photography class. The original ad is selling mascara and they used false eyelashes, which I thought looked really strange so I didn't use them. I used my Canon Mark 2 1D with a 80mm lens and broncolor strobes. The photo was taken at a shutter speed of 1/100 and a f-stop of 22.

Self Promotions

2008-02-15T08:42:00.008-05:00

We had an assignment to create business cards and post cards for ourselves. I took this image at the NC zoo. My models name is Adam(he's so great!) I took this with my Canon 1D Mark 2 and my 17-40mm lens. I shot at 1/125 at f-4. We used indesign to create the cards but apparently blogger doesn't like them and they look horrible to here is one that I made in CS2, to mimic the ones for class.

Morning light

2008-02-15T08:32:00.004-05:00

I took this at Winklers Bakery in old Salem. We had an assignment to shoot photos for another sound slides. This is just one of 29 photos that will be on it. I shot this using my Canon 1D mark 2 with my 35-80mm lens I was at 1/60 shutter speed and F-6.3.

Tear Sheet #1

2008-02-07T18:00:00.000-05:00

We had to do a lighting assignment for my Advertising lighting class and I chose an Acne Medicine ad, my product is not the same as the ad but other than that it looks the same. I used my Canon 1D Mark 2 and bron-color strobes. I used my 35-80mm lens at F11 and my shutter speed was at 1/125. I had to touch it up a little in photoshop, I took one photo that was over exposed to get a really white back ground, and then took one with a whole bunch of fill-cards in it for a proper exposure on the product. The following photo is my setup.

Jewelry Scan

2008-01-31T18:15:00.000-05:00

I shot this for my commercial class. We had an assignment to shoot jewelry, this is a scan of that project. I shoot with a Sinear 4x5 camera with selective focus. and a 90mm lens, my f-stop was at 11 and my shutter speed was at 1/500. I used Kodak Extachrom 100. I used a Broncolor stobe with a softbox.

A Morning at the Zoo

2008-01-31T18:14:00.000-05:00

We had an assignment to go and collect photos and sound for my multimedia class and I shot this photo of a fellow classmate, Kathryn Lawson during this assignment. I used my Canon Mark2 1D with a 16-40 lens, my f-stop was at 5.6 and my shutter speed was at 1/500. This was just such a neat angle I had to shoot it and little did I know Kathyrn walking through it made the image! Thanks Kathryn.

Haitian Drum

2008-01-25T12:17:00.000-05:00

I shot this drum for a joint project with the design department at school. I used a Premo Bron Color light, with a soft-box and fill cards to get this look. This image was shot using my Canon 1D Mark 2 with a 35-80mm lens. My f-stop was set at 22 and my shutter speed was set at 1/80.The following photo is of my set up.

"Lost in Time"

2008-01-25T12:07:00.000-05:00

I shot this watch to see what kind of problems might occur when shooting another project. I shot it in studio at school, with a Premo Bron Color light. I used a soft-box and fill cards to get the look that you see here. I used my Canon 1D Mark 2 with a 100-300mm lens, my f-stop was at 22 and my shutter speed was at 80. Thanks to Adam for the use of the watch! The following photo is my set-up.

Dessert

2008-01-16T13:26:00.001-05:00

I shot this for one of my classes, we were told to shoot a dessert and to have it look appetizing show a time, and a place. I feel that this image shows all three. I shot it at school with the Mamiya 645 with a Leaf Aptus back. My setup is shown in the drawing below. I shot at F-5.7 with a shutter speed of 1/15 on a macro lens. I really enjoyed this project even though it took me an hour to style my food.

Morning at Night

2008-01-16T13:18:00.000-05:00

I shot this at my house in Asheboro, NC close to 5:00 pm. Using my Canon 1D Mark 2 and a 35-80mm lens. My shutter speed was 1/200 with a F-stop of 4. I lit the scene with a Vivitar 285 on a light stand placed facing the camera and set to F-8. I think that this image is so neat because it was so late at night and it looks like the sun is rising over my mail box.

Internship

2008-01-10T11:18:00.001-05:00

This DeWalt saw was given to me as an assignment to shoot on internship while I was at Action Sports Photography Inc. I shot the saw using a Canon 1D Mark 2 and a 17-40mm lens. My ISO was set at 100 and my FL was at 32mm, I had my f-stop at 16 and my shutter speed at 1/125, this was lit using two alein bees one with a softbox and the other using a grid inside a refletor. I really enjoyed shooting this saw because I found some really unique angles like the one you see here.

Fun at the Zoo!

2008-01-10T11:12:00.000-05:00

I shot this last fall before leaving for internship. The baboon was shot using a Canon 1D Mark 2, and a 100-300mm lens. The ISO was set at 100 with a FL(focal length) of 265mm, my F-stop was at 5.6 and my shutter speed was 1/100, I used natural light the highlight in his eyes is a reflection from the large glass window I was shooting through. I live not to far from the Zoo and go a lot, but this was my first time shooting the baboons. This nice fellow was sitting inside and was kind enough to pose for me and even smile!

Marbles

2007-10-11T18:29:00.000-04:00

So I thought that I would give myself a challenge and shoot something really hard. I shot these marbles on the schools Leaf Aptus17, using a shutter speed of 1/60 at f-11. This was shot using two lights, a hard light with a grid reflexed off of a white wall and a soft box that was double defused.

Jelly Beans

2007-10-11T18:22:00.000-04:00

I have always loved jelly beans and I got a huge jar of them for my birthday and decided that they would make a very tasty photo.I shot this for my photographic illustration class. I used my Canon 1D with an 100-300 canon lens, at 1/60@f-11.

Perfume

2007-10-04T09:24:00.000-04:00

I shot this for my Photographic illustration class. I used the Leaf Aptus and a 180mm lens. I shot it in studio. I made sepreate exposures for the glass, the table top, and the metal lid and then merged them all together in Photoshop.

Hairmasking

2007-10-04T09:14:00.000-04:00

I shot this as the one picture, of Adam on the white background and then I shot the two backgrounds at the NC Zoo. Now having the 3 components I masked the photo of Adam into the two backgrounds. I did this for my digital imaging class.

Lifestyles

2007-09-27T16:20:00.000-04:00

I shot this for my lifestyles project last week, I thought that it was such a cute picture that I would share it with everyone. I shot it on my canon 1D at shutter speed 1/60 at f-11. I shot this at my parents house with my dog Molly. I thought it would be cute if she was using the computer for a couple of shots rather than the models. Tell me what you think!

Fashion

2007-09-27T16:10:00.000-04:00

I shot this for class. We had an assignment to shoot fashion shots. I used my canon 1D at ISO 100 and shutter speed 1/160 at f8 for both of these pictures.I used my Fhototech mono lights with a soft box at a 45 degree angle on my model. My model was very nice to pose for me when he really hates it!

Rice Krispies

2007-09-20T17:12:00.000-04:00

We had to shoot a tear sheet for my photographic illustration class and ours (Christy Bullins , and Carolyn DeBerry and I) was an ad that looked almost the same as this photo. We shot it on a mamya 6x45 with a Leaf back. Our exposure was 1/20 of a sec at F 10. The second photo is of our setup. Oh and if you make rice Krispie treats get your insturctions from the box not the internet.

Butterfly

2007-09-20T17:00:00.001-04:00

This is a picture of the head of a butterfly. I shot this for my photographic illustration class. I shot it using a mamya 6x45 with a Leaf back (love the schools equipment!) I shot at a 60 of a second at F 7.1 . I shot on a white piece of plexi-glass and a soft box and a broncolor with a med sized grid. Oh, and for all you animal lovers I did not kill the butterfly, I found him.

2007-09-14T10:03:00.000-04:00

This is a photo of the small format crew from summer semester. Just thought you would like to see us all. Photo taken by Glenda Martin. See if you can spot me!

Blending

2007-09-12T14:45:00.000-04:00

I shot this for an assignment for my photographic illustration class. I shot the photo that makes up the left side on my Canon 1D Mark2 with my 100-300mm lens at 1/60s at f-10 at ISO 100, the photo that makes up the right side was shot on the same camera and lens and settings other than it was shot at f-5.6. I took the two individual photos and merged them together in Photoshop. The second photo is a shot of my set up for the first photo it was the same for the second, but shot in studio. I had a lot of fun with this assignment and hope you like my picture.

Breakfast agian...

2007-09-12T14:36:00.000-04:00

I decided that I didn't like my first breakfast (well my grade didn't, and me) so I shot it over again. I hope that you like this one because I feel that it is much better than the other. I shot it on my Canon 1D Mark 2 with a 100-300mm lens, my shutter speed was at 1/60 and my f-stop was at f-10, on ISO 100. The second photo is of my setup.

Scavenger Hunt

2007-09-11T11:00:00.000-04:00

So I decided to go on a scavenger hunt to find some different photographers and tips. Here are the results of the hunt.

Photographers-(I was looking for fashion and found a few but I liked the looks of these more and yes I know there are several wedding photographers in the the mix but there just as hard working without all the glamor of the fashion photographers.)

http://www.walterarce.com
I like his fashion and studio work he seems like he wants to not label himself because he has his hand in everything, but mainly sports.

http://petespringer.com
I like the lighting that he uses in his portrait I wish I knew how he does it, but I am not very fond of his group shots. He also has this site which I enjoyed. http://petespringer.wordpress.com

http://holymoleephoto.com/blog/
I liked there style, some of it is a bit weird for my taste but I am just one person. I really liked there blog that is why I posted that link rather than the home page, it just really gives you a feel for the photographers.

http://craig-photography.blogspot.com
I liked his blog also, he has a link to his web site on the blog page but I liked how he not only blog about what he was photographing but about what was inspiring him that day or week.

Tip sites- Some of these are more for the amateur but I found it really hard to find photographers sharing lighting tips.

http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/19002.html
I found this site that tells you how to build a light tent but I would NOT build the one out of bathroom tissues. It gave several ways of building it and some I liked like the using a large tube .

http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/light_box_light_tent
This is another site that tells you a how to for building a light tent or box, I liked this one a little more and I might use it one day if I forget to get a light box from school.

http://www.tabletopstudio.com/documents/glass_photography.htm
This is how to light glass, I must admit I put this one up for my mom she wants to light glass. I looked at it because glass is one of the hardest things to light but I found this to simplify it, the site talks like our teachers talk about glass and does make it easier. I liked the site for the many options it gave you.

http://professionalphotography101.com/photography/basiclighting.html
This site reminded me of my first semester at RCC and I thought that it simplified lighting even more for me it also brushed me up on things that I had placed in the back of my head and needed to be refreshed on.

http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/2006/04/lighting-101-textural-lighting-for.html
Loved this site!!!!!!! This is the best thing I came across the entire time I was scavenging. Although I didn't find it alone my teacher told the class about it, but I found this one part extremely interesting. I never knew that you could make taking a picture of a piece of paper into art.

I hope you enjoyed the sites but I will encourage you to do your own . And remember we need to share information with each other!!!! It could only make us better and the need for each other stronger NOT take clients away.
Laura

Pie the second time around

2007-09-07T08:37:00.001-04:00

This is my second attempt at this pie shot. It was for a self promo shot in my photographic illustration class. I shot on my Canon 1D Mark2 with a 100-300mm macro telephoto lens at ISO 100 with my shutter speed at 1/15 and my f-stop at 5.6, I was zoomed in all the way to 300. I tried the pie a second time just because I wasn't happy with it the first time around, but I am really happy that I did.The second photo is of how I set up. I shot at home so I blurred out some personal items on the counter, I also have some flare from the soft-box both in the second photo.

Adam

2007-09-06T15:57:00.000-04:00

I took this picture of Adam, around 6:30 at night. Using natural light, I used a fill card to light the side of his face that was not facing the sun. I took this photo for my photographic illustration class. I shot it on my Canon 1D Mark 2 camera with a telephoto lens with my camera set to 100 ISO and the shutter speed at 1/60 and the F-Stop at 5.6. I really love how intense his eyes are. The second photo is just an over all so that you can see how I shot him.

Pie

2007-08-29T17:06:00.000-04:00

I shot this photo for a self promo assignment. It was shot on a Canon EOS 1D Mark 2. The camera settings were, shutter speed 2 sec, F-stop 14, I SO 100, on a 17-40 mm lens. This image was shot in RAW format giving me the opportunity to have a larger range for my adjustments. I was really trying to capture the texture in the pie, and feel that I have.

Breakfast

2007-08-29T16:55:00.000-04:00

I shot this image for a project for my Photographic Illustration class entitled "Breakfast". It was shot on a Cannon EOS 1D Mark2 at ISO 100, my shutter speed was 2 sec and my F-stop was at 14. I was using a Cannon USM 17-40mm lens. The image has been cropped and touched up but only minimally. I was trying to capture the feeling of a nice hot breakfast on a cold winters day, I think I have achieved this.

The Best of First Year

2007-08-22T16:13:00.000-04:00

I attend Randolph Community College and am majoring in Commercial photography.This work is some of my best and favorite photos from my first year. I hope that you will give me your honest opinion, I look forward to improving with your help.

The first photo was taken in studio at Randolph Community College in Asheboro, on 4x5 Kodak ISO 100 Extachrome (transparency) film with a Sinar F1 large format camera at F30 at 22 sec with a hot light, of some old spools of thread, for summer portfolio in my large format 2 class.

The second photo was taken on location at Friedland Moravain Church in Winston-Salem, on 4x5 Kodak Extachrome ISO 100 film with a Sinar F1 large format camera at F32 at 15 sec I used a Vivitar 285HV flash poping it 3 times,of the sanctuary I took this for portfoilo in my large format 2 class during the summer.

The third photo was taken at the North Carolina Zoo on 35mm Kodak Extachrome ISO 100 filmwith a 35mm Canon E-1 at F8 at 1/60 of a sec, of a leaf laying on the ground this was taken for design lab 2 class in the spring.

First Post!!!

2007-08-22T13:38:00.000-04:00

I am doing this for class, my name is Laura and this will be my new PHOTO blog I hope you enjoy it. Hello world and HI MOM!