Fashion Photography: DIY Light Saver

Chicago fashion photographer tuxedo male model 60616

Adapting the look of LED or Fluorescent tube backgrounds for still photography with a DIY approach using softboxes, a v-flat, a knife and three Profoto lights.

Fill is not a person, but he is your friend

Using passive and active fill to madimize shadow detail and dynamic range

As photographers we might obsess about this modifier or that one, believe me I have, but often times we fall short when it comes to shadow detail. This is something I struggle with from time to time when shooting in a new room and every shoot poses its own set of problems, so the purpose of this post is to share some basic concepts that I hope will help you maximize dynamic range and develop more details in your depictions.

What ARE those lights I keep putting in my photos…

Chicago Portrait Photographer Vintage Lights and Painted Backdrop

One of the most popular questions I am asked is: what are those lights in the background of my portraits? Aside from the one time that I used a Profoto Monolight unsuccessfully, every other occurrence I can recall featured a vintage light designed by Mole-Richardson.

Making a custom Cucoloris to create dramatic portraits

Cucoloris portrait with a fresnel by Chicago Photorgapher John Gress

After being inspired by Sophie Palmer’s portrait depicting boredom with a Catholic priest inside the confession booth, below, I decided to try my hand at projecting divine patterns on model Alex Mitchell’s face by making a custom Cucoloris.

Steady Focused Interview: Going Full Circle

Chicago Photographer John Gress Steady Focused Interview

A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure and honor of spending the lunch hour chatting with Simeon Hendrix, and recording an interview for his Steady Focused web series. Which covers photography, filmmaking, lighting, lenses, cameras, etc…. discussing how to identify weak points, overcome struggles, how to succeed and how to live a fulfilled life. Their most important rule is to work hard, love yourself and have fun!