{ Image Blog by Marc Orbito }
{ Image Blog by Marc Orbito }
The shoot style and processing here is inspired by Chiaroscuro, a painting technique which stormed Europe before the Renaissance. Channeling my inner Rembrandt, I chose to focus more on story and psychological intensity as opposed to technics. I used one source of overpowering light (mostly the sun, or when the clouds came, one hidden Speedlight flash) and contrasted it with the shadows and abrasions of the ruins. It's the contrast and shadows, I feel, that make this set more foreboding. Things that I would normally remove, like bags under the eyes, remain in to stay true to style. And without a real fill light, we achieve a flatness authentic to pre-Renaissance art.
DISCLAIMER: Now, the dark and light contrast doesn't work in ALL of the photos, and I'll be the first to admit the deviation. Or...evolution, as I should call it. (Google "chiaroscuro" for the real thing) If you want real Either way, I hope you like what's posted here. :)
Thanks goes out to my model, Kayla (with makeup by her) and my assistant Troi. Great job, folks!
Congratulations to Jared and Joy, an amazing couple I met via Twitter. They flew all the way to Hawaii from Alabama to be married in front of friends of family!
Special thanks to my friends Dallas and Ed White of D'Amour Pacific for co-shooting this wedding!
Here's the second set in my "guerilla series" of photos. I posted Kayla in the City a couple of weeks back, a shoot we did in Waikiki unannounced and unpermitted, in and about private establishments in the area. I can't explain the thrill of this type of shooting - there's something about catching the attention of security guards and scurrying off before they could come close enough.
This week, model Nalani and I shot in a laundromat. I was always fascinated by the light emanating from this place as I drove by at night - the yellow walls and florescent lights begged to be captured by my camera's sensor, so I figured, what the hell. It'd be different from my other shoots, and I'd get to experiment. If the photos didn't come out, at least it'd be a lesson learned.
As soon as the shutter started going off and I was directing, we had pretty much gathered the attention of everyone there.
I took the above shot squatting, some dude's butt at camera-right, just inches from my face as he did his laundry. Fun.
These photos were shot with my Canon 5D Mark II and a 50mm lens at f1.4 using only available light.
To add a bit more color to my compositions, I picked up a cute little basket from Wal-Mart ($2.99). The only color they had was white, so I used some leftover cherry colored spray paint to make the thing a character all its own. I'm pleased with the way that came out and I think Nalani did well, despite her being a tiny bit nervous.
We were there less than 10 minutes. I kept looking into the security cameras before my conscious began to poke at me. I didn't get all of the shots I wanted, but overall I think they came out well. Fuel for next time!
I've been fortunate enough to visit both Disneyland AND Disneyworld in the last 4 months. At both parks, I'd made it a mission to photograph as many "face characters" (costumed Disney castmembers whose faces are not hidden by a mask or faux head) as possible. I'm aware that I've over-saturated these pics. Maybe too much. The reasoning behind that was that I wanted to make them look cartoonish. Hmm...anyway, this is what I have so far. I'm hoping to add to my collection in the future as the scavenger hunt continues! :)
Howdy! My name is Marc Orbito. I'm a general photographer in the state of Hawaii who enjoys photographing people!
I'm also a father, husband, Apple geekboy, writer, Disney junkie, Miami Heat basketball fan and washed-out cinephile.
I invite you to look around. Hopefully you'll like what you see and and maybe even hire me!
Contact me for rates at marc @ orbito.net
