At risk of sounding self-important, I’ve created a Frequently Asked Questions page to cover some of the basic questions I’m — well — frequently asked. If you have any other basic questions I haven’t covered here, feel free to ask on Formspring. If you’ve got a more in-depth question you’d like me to write about, I’m happy to answer them here on Tumblr. (If you’re unsure where to ask, just post it to Formspring, and if I feel like posting it here, I’ll just share it!)
Note: I try to avoid clogging up my followers’ dashboards with unrelated chit-chat, compliments and comments, or questions unrelated to my work (photo, design, writing, freelancing, etc). So while I appreciate all comments and love getting notified of a new message, let’s keep it marginally interesting for everyone! :)
Q: What camera equipment do you use?
A: Canon 5D Mark II
24-105mm L f/4.0
50mm f/1.4
17-85mm f/4-5.6
Q: What lighting equipment do you use?
A: Off-camera lighting:
2 Alien Bee B800s
1 Alien Bee B400
with a softbox, octabox, or beauty dish
On-camera lighting: Canon Speedlite 580EX II
Q: What kind of editing program do you use?
A: Camera Raw (Bridge) and Adobe Photoshop CS4
Q: How long have you been doing photography/design?
A: I’ve been doing art all my life, but I started trying to take it to the next level in 2004.
Q: Have you gone to school for photography/design?
A: I have had no professional training whatsoever. Everything I know has been self-taught.
Q: How did you teach yourself HTML/CSS?
A: With these two amazing books: Learn HTML In a Weekend (2nd Edition) by Steve Callihan, and Creating Web Sites Bible (Second Edition) by David A. Crowder. I’ve been teaching myself since I was in 7th grade (almost 8 years), so it’s not an overnight process.
Q: Do you have any tutorials on your shooting/lighting/editing process?
A: My photog friend, Zach Andrews, and I have put together these videos for your viewing pleasure:
- Photoshoot for DIY-ers
- Behind the Scenes Photoshoot
- Behind the Scenes Post-Processing Walk-through
- Behind the Scenes Guide to a Commercial Shoot
In addition to those, I post all my lighting info in the description of each photo on Flickr.
