Sunday, April 25, 2010

What type of photo equipment I work with?

OK time to start this blog... :-) been pushing it forever... I am going to use this blog to give updates about my work and projects as well as answer questions... it seems people have alot of questions about my work so instead of endlessly answering them individually which I really don't have time u guys can ask me and I can post answers if time allows. I am also going to use this stage to voice my opinion and personal experience about topics in the industry. So don't get mad... Also dont be mad at my spelling I am not American so English is a second language.

So first of all I'm going to answer the most common question I get from a lot of fellow photographers...

Q: What camera I use and lights?

A: I currently work with Mamiya AFD II with Phase1 medium digital back 32 mega pixel quality (16 bit per channel) this allows me to have great fine details and the high resolution is sufficient to anything u would need such as billboards, magazine covers, campaigns, and large art prints... I found that my 12.3 mega pixel Fuji camera with Nikon lenses that alot of the images on my site were taken with provided great quality but I was unhappy with the detail quality when printing above 24 by 36 inch or when shooting tall people full body, which prompted me to move to medium format digital. again the difference is not really visible on web or small prints but more in enlargements.

Lights: I use profoto light system with a variety of light shaping tools, soft boxes, spots, umbrellas and beauty dishes are all commonly used. I use less expensive strobes to light backdrops and as fill lights.

Post production: Mostly PS and I specialise in beauty retouching, I love seeing textures in skin and fabrics so my retouching is very meticulous to maintain those, I am mostly self taught and have less experience in composite work so 99% of what u see are real backgrounds and set designs even if they sometime look "computerised" I TRY TO ACHIEVE AS MUCH IN THE PHOTOGRAPHY so u don't need to retouch too much, that's where my make up skills come into play sometime u will see me doing full body make up if necessary to give that flawless look and minimize any retouching. If something doesn't look right I don't shoot it....

Experience: I BEEN DOING THIS FOR A MINUTE.... After majoring in art at school where I learned about variety of arts I took some classes in photography to get some technical information, those days- there was no digital and I worked with manual cameras and film. Also used to develop my own film and prints and had a dark room in my studio back in Israel which i cant tell u how happy I no longer do...lol all the fumes I inhaled and smelling like vinegar all the time... ones I moved into digital photography never went back to film.
I come from a family of photographers, my dad was an armature photographer and I "stole" his camera and experimented with it first when I was 17 over ten years ago... my brother went to 4 years of photography school and worked as professional in the field he hooked me up with all the dark room equipment. Who knew it would be the girl in the family that would make it a full time succsful career.

6 comments:

  1. Great Blog and reading material. Thanks for the info, i have been wanting to email you for a while now to ask about you and your equipment but i was embarrassed that you wont have time to answer it. Hope to meet you sometime. Great Great Work.

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  2. Gee Mod .... thanks for creating your blog .. It's very inspiring

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  3. I am so glad you have a blog, now we can get a behind the scenes look of your creations. I have a question though, do you use mouse to retouch or do you use tablet also do you use dodge and burn or what, not asking you to reveal all your secrets lol, just the basics as your retouching work is impeccable

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  4. I like profotos light accessories, but would rather work with elinchrome when given the opportunity. Im an amature and am currently using alien bees... Its really cool to see what equipment different photographers use and i always enjoy getting "the secrets" from renowned photographers ... You are one of my inspirations as a photographer and I enjoy your work very much. Look forward to seeing more and more :)

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  5. @Ade i use a regular mouse... and my process includes many tools depending on what the picture needs, including the dodge and burn.

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  6. Maya, you are an amazing photographer, I admire you a lot and I hope one day I'll be half as good as you are!! Well I'm sure you have tons of fans in the States, Israel etc but then just know I'm your biggest fan in Rome, Italy!! Ciaoo. I especially love your posts on photo technique and beauty shots which are just amazing (ok ...and you're simply the best at photographing sportsmen!)!
    I am curious about one picture there the female model has blinks in the eyes reflecting what seems neon lights placed all around her face. Do you use kino fluorescent lights?
    Ciao Luca

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