One thing that has helped this project along is that I have collected a lot of props over the years and can draw on them spur of the moment when I need something to photograph in a hurry.  This is an antique sand timer photographed by direct window light on the window sill of my office with the Nikon D7000 and 60mm Nikon macro lens. 

A tungsten down-spot was used to light this photo.  The blue cast is created by mixing ambient daylight in with the tungsten.  By balancing the color for the tungsten, the daylight lit areas turned blue.  Done with a Nikon D3x and the 70-180mm Nikon Micro zoom set to 180mm and f/16.

This model was in the studio for another shoot when I asked an assistant to set up our large reflector beauty dish so it would mimic the light in a hospital operating room. We keep medical uniforms handy in the studio for stock shoots so the shot needed no extra propping.

For the top two shots I photographed with the Nikon D3s and 24-70mm zoom to get in close.  I used a very low angle and had the model lean over as if he was operating.

For this portrait I switched to the longer 70-200mm zoom and moved further away.

I have a project going on of photographing the oldest bars in New York with the possibility of doing a book.  To preserve the atmosphere of the bars I have been photographing them at dusk in available light.  This way the lights are on outside but there is still some daylight detail. 

These images were done on the Nikon D700 because of its ability to shoot at high ISO levels with very little noise.  They were shot at ISO 1600 and 2500 using fast f/1.4 and f/2 lenses.

Blueberry season has begun and this year they are especially delicious.  I have been eating them by the handful, and decided it was time to photograph them.  This first photo is a simple, country look accessorized with rustic wood and colorful hand towel.

Blueberries are also important for their health value, which led me to this shot.  Both images done with the Nikon D7000 and 35mm f/2 lens at f/7.1 to keep most of the berries in focus.  The 35mm f/2 Nikkor focuses very close and I often use it instead of a macro.

These little LED flashlights are everywhere.  I even keep one in my camera bag.  Shot with a black card gobo placed in front of a soft window light to produce a gradated, dark background, plus the actual light from the flashlight.  Nikon D7000, 35mm Nikkor at f/2.8 and ISO 160.

We were prepping these girls for an outdoor shoot at our studio when I noticed how well they were playing with one another and asked them to get together for this grab-shot of high-energy "friends".  An assistant quickly added a large fill from underneath to bounce up some light from the cloudy sky.  Shot with the Nikon D3s, 24-70mm zoom, and ISO boosted to 400 as compensation for the overcast day.

As consumer model DSLR cameras become more popular, I have been trying to take more photos of them for stock.  I find  you do have to re-photograph the shots more frequently to keep pace with the changes in technology.

We were doing a series of photos of leaves in the studio today when I had the idea to add a green marble of the earth that we had from an older shoot.  This is the result -- done with the Nikon D3x and 85mm tilt-shift macro Nikkor.

It all started with the light.  I had an Idea for photographing a retro microphone using one tungsten light and a red gel.  Once I had set up for this shot, I thought of adding other objects into the same lighting situation.  Here are a few of the results.

I call this type of shooting "amortizing the setup", where once I have a light I like, I reel through it with a number of concepts that maximize the stock output from the effort.  I ended up with fourteen photos from this one situation.

This was the original photo I intended to take for the blog.

The light reminded me of an emergency so I photographed a stethoscope in the setup.

Next I added this movie countdown clip, and afterwards also photographed a microscope, some forks, a red wine glass, and glass globes.

I had an opportunity to test drive the new Nikon D5100.  So I took it out around the city and picked up some background shots.  I also decided to try out some zoom lenses I don't normally use.  The D5100 has the same sensor as the D7000 and the quality of the results are very professional.

Corinthian column from an old bank building shot with the Nikkor 24-120mm f/4 zoom.  The coloring and some softness were added later in Photoshop.

Plates stacked up on a diner shelf -- two shots put together as a panorama in Photoshop.  Photographed with the Nikkor 24-120mm f/4 zoom at ISO 640.

Fresh basil photographed in the farmers market using the 70-300mm Nikkor zoom.

St. Marks Church photographed with the new 12-24mm Nikkor zoom.

This was the easiest photo I've taken so for.  It is the sunset view from my office window.  I've been working on a project of photographing varying weather phenomena as they react with this scene of New York rooftops.  We had a dramatic sunset today due to a clearing thunderstorm and it left these very colorful clouds.

We wanted to create a retro look with this model who was in the studio for a shoot.  For this shot she was styled in a 50's look and photographed backlit in front of a window with no front fill to create a soft, low contrast effect.

This image received considerable post-processing in Photoshop to obtain a dated film look.  Both images were shot with the Nikon D3s and 70-200mm Nikkor zoom.

The idea for these shots came to me the other day after I had done the photos with the domino and chess pieces on an antique map.  I decided to create a stronger graphic with just one chess piece, the king, in a dramatic light.

Both photos were lit with a single LED flash light I hand held and moved around so the lighting would be softly blurred by the long exposure.  In the top image I focused on the chess piece, whereas in the bottom I focused on the map of Europe and allowed the chess piece to go out of focus.  The bottom theme was inspired by some of the drama that is currently playing out in the European financial crisis. 

Went for a simple, country look on this shot of the green apples.  I used one of my favorite still life camera setups -- the Nikon D3x with 85mm tilt-shift Nikkor fairly wide open.  This gives a candid, shallow depth-of-field look  but with the lens tilted enough to keep the important areas in focus.

I wanted to tie the familiar chess and domino concepts to a global theme.  So I placed the playing pieces on an antique map and shot the scene with some tungsten light mixed in to provide an antique color cast.

Both shots were done with a Nikon 85mm tilt-shift lens.  Different lens tilts for the top and bottom shots gave them varying degrees of focused areas.

I was setting up just to do a shot of some chemistry beakers against a backdrop of the periodic table when I noticed how the table was focused in the beakers.  So I altered the light and focus to emphasize the reflection.  Shot with the Nikon D3x and 85mm tilt-shift Nikkor lens. Although the two beakers were on different planes, I was able to give the lens a sideways tilt to keep both reflections in focus even with the lens aperture wide open.

I walked past a country barbecue festival in a nearby park and found these ready-made shots cooking over the fire.

Fortunately I was carrying the Nikon D7000 with an 18-200mm zoom so I was prepared to capture these close-ups from a distance.  Yum!

Today I did two variations of the Turkish Lira that I brought back from my trip.  The top image is of crisp, new bills photographed in a very organized composition.  The bottom shot is of older bills and coins shot in a more casual composition.

I will do some more shots in the studio and will incorporate major global currencies, such as the dollar and euro, for comparison.

The Turkish visa stamp was very beautiful so I decided to take a close-up photo of it right in my passport.  When I return from a trip, I often take some still life images relative to the place I visited.

From the plane window on the way home I took this sky photo with a rainbow effect induced by using a polarizing filter on the camera lens.  The zoom lens was set for 24mm on a Nikon D7000.  The aperture was wide open at f/2.8 because I wanted a shallow depth of field to keep any imperfections on the plane window completely out of focus.

I found a hotel with a restaurant on the top floor with this view of the Blue Mosque.  So I booked a dinner reservation for a table with a view and this image is the result.  For instructions on how to take night shots similar to his, see my other blog by clicking here.



Having covered most of the basic shots of the city, I decided to go out bright and early and have some fun retracing a few of my favorite places with my favorite camera-lens combinations.  This shot of the Blue Mosque was taken with the Leica M9 and super-wide angle 12mm Voigtlander Heliar lens.  The 12mm Heliar is the widest rectilinear lens available for a full frame camera and can give exciting results when exploited to the fullest.  A major plus to working very early in the morning is that the tourists are still in dream land and you have the city to yourself.



Whenever I am doing travel stock shots I try to include images of local foods. 

This is a Turkish Ottoman dish of sea bass cooked in parchment.

A selection of Turkish meze appetizers.

The traditional Turkish Lavash bread.  The best part of this kind of stock photography is that you get to eat it afterwards.



Arrived in Istanbul.  Will be here for a few days.  I have never visited this city before and within minutes I picked up my camera and was off exploring.  This image shows the interior of the famous Blue Mosque.  Here is where you have got to love a Nikon.  I set the ISO to 1600 on my D700 and simply shot a series of interiors with available light and no tripod.  The Nikon has incredible noise control and doesn't even need post processing noise adjustments for ISO 1600. 

My first reaction to photographing Istanbul was that it is a city of details and contrasts, reflected in the centuries of layered cultures each adding a layer of artistic culture on top of the previous culture.  I found myself mounting the long zoom on my camera more than I normally would to fill the frame with detail.

Even this exterior view of the Blue Mosque was done with a long telephoto on a Nikon D7000.  The squashed perspective resulting from the telephoto effect flattens the building architecture in a pattern reflective of the cultural aesthetic.

Details and patterns abound.  Shooting here for the next few days should be a real pleasure.