A little Magic and a little comedy

djamesdjames Registered Users Posts: 237 Major grins
edited June 2, 2008 in People
I was asked to photograph a friend of mine doing some of his magic routines. He is starting to be asked to show in a number of venues along the west coast of our great nation and I was priveledged to spend some time trying to capture a little of his magic.

Introducing "Tobias the Adequate"
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Spinning scarves, rope tricks, and juggling are part of his act.

Now keep your eyes on the balls
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Now where did that last ball dissapear to this time?

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And again it disappears a second time.

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Now any good "Magician" can pull a rabbit out of the hat, but how many can pull that ball that got away while juggling?

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Keep Watching!

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Just a sampling of good old time stage magic shows that one can still see at a county fair around here.
http://www.djames-photography.com
In this great big world around us, we will find what we are looking for! What we do with it is up to us to decide.
Olympus E-500 Olympus E-520 Zuiko 14-45 Zuiko 40-150 Sigma 50-500 Zuiko 18-180 4-AB800 strobes, 1AB-400 stobe, 4 softboxes, brolly box, umbrellas etc.

Comments

  • leaforteleaforte Registered Users Posts: 1,948 Major grins
    edited May 29, 2008
    This series captures the charisma of the magician very nicely. Well done. Thanks for sharing.
    Growing with Dgrin



  • Frog LadyFrog Lady Registered Users Posts: 1,091 Major grins
    edited May 30, 2008
    great job thumb.gif I think you really captured his charm and love the expressions!

    C.
    Colleen
    ***********************************
    check out my (sports) pics: ColleenBonney.smugmug.com

    *Thanks to Boolsacho for the avatar photo (from the dgrin portrait project)
  • djamesdjames Registered Users Posts: 237 Major grins
    edited May 30, 2008
    Thank you for the compliments. I had a lot of fun doing this one. Great subject that really had an abundance of expressive facial expressions to capture.
    http://www.djames-photography.com
    In this great big world around us, we will find what we are looking for! What we do with it is up to us to decide.
    Olympus E-500 Olympus E-520 Zuiko 14-45 Zuiko 40-150 Sigma 50-500 Zuiko 18-180 4-AB800 strobes, 1AB-400 stobe, 4 softboxes, brolly box, umbrellas etc.
  • joshhuntnmjoshhuntnm Registered Users Posts: 1,924 Major grins
    edited May 30, 2008
    love the lighting. Love he expresions. Love the timing. a great story in pictures.
    Josh
    Las Cruces Photographer / Las Cruces Wedding Photographer
    Other site
  • djamesdjames Registered Users Posts: 237 Major grins
    edited May 30, 2008
    joshhuntnm wrote:
    love the lighting. Love he expresions. Love the timing. a great story in pictures.

    Lighting was a combination of a alien bees strobe on one side with a brolly box and an old flash into a silver umbrella using a cheep (20.00) slave trigger on the other side. His expressions are what makes his show funny.
    http://www.djames-photography.com
    In this great big world around us, we will find what we are looking for! What we do with it is up to us to decide.
    Olympus E-500 Olympus E-520 Zuiko 14-45 Zuiko 40-150 Sigma 50-500 Zuiko 18-180 4-AB800 strobes, 1AB-400 stobe, 4 softboxes, brolly box, umbrellas etc.
  • darkdragondarkdragon Registered Users Posts: 1,051 Major grins
    edited May 30, 2008
    Great images and character. Love the background choice too. It really seems to fit with the whole look.

    If I could make one suggestion, I'd say next time bring the model forward away from the background a few feet so that all the folds/material texture doesn't come out in your shots. Keeping that background nice and soft (not all blurred out, just soft) would I think kick up the photo just another notch.

    thumb.gif
    ~ Lisa
  • djamesdjames Registered Users Posts: 237 Major grins
    edited May 30, 2008
    darkdragon wrote:
    Great images and character. Love the background choice too. It really seems to fit with the whole look.

    If I could make one suggestion, I'd say next time bring the model forward away from the background a few feet so that all the folds/material texture doesn't come out in your shots. Keeping that background nice and soft (not all blurred out, just soft) would I think kick up the photo just another notch.

    thumb.gif

    I would have loved to do that, but the space was to small to allow. sometimes you just do what you have to, to get the shots. Thanks a bunch for the feedback. I really need all I can get.
    http://www.djames-photography.com
    In this great big world around us, we will find what we are looking for! What we do with it is up to us to decide.
    Olympus E-500 Olympus E-520 Zuiko 14-45 Zuiko 40-150 Sigma 50-500 Zuiko 18-180 4-AB800 strobes, 1AB-400 stobe, 4 softboxes, brolly box, umbrellas etc.
  • darkdragondarkdragon Registered Users Posts: 1,051 Major grins
    edited May 30, 2008
    djames wrote:
    I would have loved to do that, but the space was to small to allow. sometimes you just do what you have to, to get the shots. Thanks a bunch for the feedback. I really need all I can get.


    Ah, well since the photos are so great I figured that was probably the case but thought I'd mention it anyway.

    :D
    ~ Lisa
  • djamesdjames Registered Users Posts: 237 Major grins
    edited May 30, 2008
    darkdragon wrote:
    Ah, well since the photos are so great I figured that was probably the case but thought I'd mention it anyway.

    :D

    I played around with some of the shots and used a digital background. Here is one with a crazy expression.

    302739925_jrePv-L.jpg
    http://www.djames-photography.com
    In this great big world around us, we will find what we are looking for! What we do with it is up to us to decide.
    Olympus E-500 Olympus E-520 Zuiko 14-45 Zuiko 40-150 Sigma 50-500 Zuiko 18-180 4-AB800 strobes, 1AB-400 stobe, 4 softboxes, brolly box, umbrellas etc.
  • Scotty_RScotty_R Registered Users Posts: 108 Major grins
    edited June 1, 2008
    Fabulous! Every one of them, just perfect.
    Scotty
  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,958 moderator
    edited June 1, 2008
    I really like the way that you've photographed your friend. He seems
    very comfortable and natural--that will come out when the photos are
    presented to potential clients.

    One change I'd make is to add a bit of fill light to the magicians back.
    You could do that by masking and lightening the area a tad. Just enough
    that the jacket isn't black.
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
  • PhilCollumPhilCollum Registered Users Posts: 111 Major grins
    edited June 1, 2008
    Fantastic shots! You've really captured the essence and excitement of the fair well.
    Phil Collum
    Phil Collum Photography
    San Diego, CA, USA
    Equipment list in my profile
  • djamesdjames Registered Users Posts: 237 Major grins
    edited June 2, 2008
    ian408 wrote:
    I really like the way that you've photographed your friend. He seems
    very comfortable and natural--that will come out when the photos are
    presented to potential clients.

    One change I'd make is to add a bit of fill light to the magicians back.
    You could do that by masking and lightening the area a tad. Just enough
    that the jacket isn't black.

    Thank you for this suggestion. I will work on trying that and see how it comes out. His coat is quite dark by nature.
    http://www.djames-photography.com
    In this great big world around us, we will find what we are looking for! What we do with it is up to us to decide.
    Olympus E-500 Olympus E-520 Zuiko 14-45 Zuiko 40-150 Sigma 50-500 Zuiko 18-180 4-AB800 strobes, 1AB-400 stobe, 4 softboxes, brolly box, umbrellas etc.
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited June 2, 2008
    Great series! I love the lighting, and the expressions are priceless!:-) WTG!thumb.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • djamesdjames Registered Users Posts: 237 Major grins
    edited June 2, 2008
    ian408 wrote:
    I really like the way that you've photographed your friend. He seems
    very comfortable and natural--that will come out when the photos are
    presented to potential clients.

    One change I'd make is to add a bit of fill light to the magicians back.
    You could do that by masking and lightening the area a tad. Just enough
    that the jacket isn't black.

    I attempted to lighten the coat as suggested. Please compare and comment. Did it help?305713762_YqPfo-L.jpg
    http://www.djames-photography.com
    In this great big world around us, we will find what we are looking for! What we do with it is up to us to decide.
    Olympus E-500 Olympus E-520 Zuiko 14-45 Zuiko 40-150 Sigma 50-500 Zuiko 18-180 4-AB800 strobes, 1AB-400 stobe, 4 softboxes, brolly box, umbrellas etc.
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