Gavin Photography

Engagement Shoot – Mirna and Marcus

Gavin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:36:02 +0000

Today I shot Mirna and Marcus over at the Getty Center in West Los Angeles. They are getting married in Miami later this year, but wanted some engagement photos over here in socal.

I like this next one. It’s their own pose.

I then did this awesome series using a ringlight to get “that look”

Here’s a little different take on the sunset shot. We were at the Santa Monica beach and I used strobe with my left hand to get this one.

Judy still has “it”

Gavin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:35:35 +0000

On the way back from WPPI in Las Vegas, I was determined to scout the desert. Judy was my test subject and this is what we came out with.

And here is a wide shot of the quickie AlienBee setup. BTW a Vagabond with two AB1600s at full power doesn’t last very long!

Commercial Photography – USA Swimming

Gavin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:19:16 +0000

I was contracted by USA Swimming, the largest swim organization in the country, to do marketing and promo shots for their 2010 redesign. We pulled in nearly every major US swim Olympian (except Phelps) for the shoot. Here’s Matt Grevers cheering on a swimmer at the end of the lane…

and checking the posted scores

and most swimmers are familiar with the post-race “drying off by your parents”

Here’s, from left to right, Nathan Adrian, Ricky Berens, Dana Vollmer. Ariana Kukors, and Matt Grevers.

And here’s Natalie Coughlin and Ryan Lockte with a selection of young swimmers.

Lockte was a goof between shots, which was refreshing for everyone. What a cool guy

This shot was actually candid

and here are some “hero” shots

And this is a cool shot of Matt walking the pool with competitors that don’t stand a chance…

Weekly Pic – Into the Sun

Gavin — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:01:05 +0000

ALWAYS use the sun in pictures. It’s a natural light photographer’s sole source of amazing light. You can shoot behind it, protected from it, and most drastically into it. The sun was setting on the horizon up in Ventura at the the Buenaventura golf course. My couple was on a small hill that was at the beginning of the back 9. I laid myself down on the grass to crop out the cars in the parking lot. I was shooting at:

iso50, f1.4, 1/1600s @24mm

I love shooting at iso 50 on prime lenses in bright daylight. The 24mm I have is the older one, which means I get free vignetting. Here is the post-processed image:

And just so you can see the original image:

You can see that the vignetting is natural in camera. I underexposed the couple enough to get the blue sky, only peaking the white surrounding them. I’m shooting in JPG, so I don’t have much leeway otherwise. The couple still has enough detail to pull in post, with iso50 giving me almost no noise at all in the shadows. I just have to mostly watch for the JPG compression to break down my gradations.

Engagement – Tiffanie and Greg

Gavin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 06:19:17 +0000

Today I shot Tiff and Greg. They’re having their wedding at the Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica, which is actually one of the first venues I had second-shot at. Tiffanie wanted a rustic look to the photos, so we started at Rancho Capistrano. I love the lighting in the next shot. There really isn’t selective color (with blue) as much as the whole background being that yellow.

It’s cute when people get back to their inner child.

Again, another shot that I love from the lighting in the background

One thing I noticed about them is that they are very intimate. It’s awesome capturing how each couple has a different way of showing it.

I threw this one in because I thought it looked cool. It’s MAAAAAGGGGGGGGGIIIIIICCCCCCC!!!!!

By the time we hopped over to the St. Regis, the sunset was already this low. Luckily I LOVE low-light photography.

This is a real background. I saw that the light in the background and the pool had the same light levels. I had them stand in the right spot and VOILA!

I’ve always wanted to shoot in this room.

This is the last shot of the night as we went back down to the garage.

You can see the whole shoot (and the way it progressed) right here.

Weekly Pic – Hills on Fire

Gavin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:40:36 +0000

Hey everyone! I’m going to start posting a picture for every week. This could be just any picture, but it’s really to show off a single image that I think is special in some way. It’s also so I can get my lazy butt posting more articles. I’ll also explain how I got the image, photographically.

This last Sunday I shot with Judy for her very first wedding. We were up in Pasadena and the Station fire was in full swing at the time (I think less than 10% contained at the time). Before we left that night I promised myself I would get an image with the fire in the background, and here it is:

Yeah, this one was a bit difficult to nail. For the photogs out there, I was at:

Canon 5D mk2 w/ 85mm f1.2
iso5000, f1.4, 1/20s handheld

This was all done with natural light. I choose the high iso because of the lack of tripod of course, but I had little leeway otherwise. I wanted to stop down the aperture, but 1.4 was the furthest I could go before losing the image.

I hope this inspires other people out there to:

take advantage of the environment
push your equipment outside of your comfort zone

BTW, the noise looks worse than it is. At 21MP, the noise is smoother as a print. The interpolation used for resizing added more texture to the sky than you’d normally see. Happy shooting!

Engagement Shoot – Afsoon and Mehdi

Gavin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:24:16 +0000

Today I shot Afsoon and Mehdi, who are getting married in Iran but wanted their engagement pictures here at home in Los Angeles. We started at UCLA and hopped down to Santa Monica.

We then went down to Santa Monica for the sunset, where I got some really cute images.

Afterwards, they wanted some more “fashion” style images, so we switched streams.

You can see the whole engagement shoot here.

Fashion – citygirls – Julie

Gavin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:36:42 +0000

The last girl I have slated for my citygirls series (at least until I have more time later) was Julie. An aspiring casting director, she currently freelances for music videos and what not. Here’s what we got.

This picture is a bit smiley for me, but it was the beginning of the shoot and she has a great smile. I threw this one because of the awesome colors.

I really like the lighting and mood of this next one

This one is actually pretty close to what was shot in-camera (RAW files with b&w preview). It’s nice when a mistake makes a picture.

I’m a whore for these natural flares. I’ll never trade in my older lenses.

Fashion – citygirls – Aleece

Gavin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:31:26 +0000

I shot Aleece last night (or early morning depending on your lifestyle). She rocked this black dress that looked amazing in the photos.

This next image just blows me away

hehe this next photo got us harshly scolded by security (she wore my sandals under the water)

I love her shoulder line in this shot.

Fashion – citygirls – Jody and My

Gavin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:04:23 +0000

Tonight I shot Jody, My, and My’s friend Mikela. Mikela isn’t a model, but is visiting from Italy. I had to get a shot of her.

Here is My doing her thing

And here is Jody

I really like this next shot. The flares are all real.