| Jeff Peeples - Filmmaker - Actor - Chillin at LaMonica's |
© Mark LaMonica. All Rights Reserved.
Text and Photography by Mark LaMonica
I met filmmaker/actor Jeff Peeples by what you would call Good Karma and a chain of events that followed. My extensive knowledge of light, exposure,
cameras and lenses sparked a few conversations that resulted in talking shop over dinner before he had to head back to Texas. I gave him enough of a
prime that when he came back to Massachusetts we scheduled dinner at my place so we could really get down to business. After eating it was time to loupe
some slides to show him the magic I created with film, which is "real", no Photoshop, no fixing, it is what it is. Then we did some technical talk about
cameras, lenses, post processing and printing. We discussed several aspects of getting a natural look, capturing the natural flow, how to be fast, light a
scene with minimal gear and make it look like you spend hours setting it up and doing Polaroids. We then proceeded to do interior pictures of my living
room using several wireless SB800 speedlights and checking the results on the LCD as I explained what I was doing in terms of balancing interior exposure
with exterior natural light and how many stops of additional light I was adding to make it look just like what we were seeing with our eyes. This is how we
approached the interior shoot. We went with Auto White Balance and manual White Balance by setting our own Kelvins. This gave Jeff a chance to see that
"Auto" isn't always the best option. With film this would be Polariod Tests and that takes 2 minutes each to process. The first step was balancing the mixed
lighting, so we took a shot and checked it on the LCD, which was about a fraction of a millisecond to process. By looking at what we had so fast it was easy
to make changes in the WB (White Balance) since we opted to just go all manual and dial in our own. We took another picture, reviewed the lighting and
decided it was the best balance between the fading blue light outside and the tungsten light mixed with the SB800's inside. Now that we had that dialed in
we did another light check for shadows, possible reflections in windows, hot spots and overall evenness. Again we were able to take several tests shots in a
matter of a couple of minutes when it would have taken at least 20 minutes to shoot a Polaroid, process it and shoot another one. Since this was a
combination hang out and have dinner and do some workshop stuff, Jeff found that by using digital instead of film gave us faster feedback on the LCD
panel and were able to make adjustments much faster. All the adjustments including the output of the SB800 units were all controlled from the camera.
cameras and lenses sparked a few conversations that resulted in talking shop over dinner before he had to head back to Texas. I gave him enough of a
prime that when he came back to Massachusetts we scheduled dinner at my place so we could really get down to business. After eating it was time to loupe
some slides to show him the magic I created with film, which is "real", no Photoshop, no fixing, it is what it is. Then we did some technical talk about
cameras, lenses, post processing and printing. We discussed several aspects of getting a natural look, capturing the natural flow, how to be fast, light a
scene with minimal gear and make it look like you spend hours setting it up and doing Polaroids. We then proceeded to do interior pictures of my living
room using several wireless SB800 speedlights and checking the results on the LCD as I explained what I was doing in terms of balancing interior exposure
with exterior natural light and how many stops of additional light I was adding to make it look just like what we were seeing with our eyes. This is how we
approached the interior shoot. We went with Auto White Balance and manual White Balance by setting our own Kelvins. This gave Jeff a chance to see that
"Auto" isn't always the best option. With film this would be Polariod Tests and that takes 2 minutes each to process. The first step was balancing the mixed
lighting, so we took a shot and checked it on the LCD, which was about a fraction of a millisecond to process. By looking at what we had so fast it was easy
to make changes in the WB (White Balance) since we opted to just go all manual and dial in our own. We took another picture, reviewed the lighting and
decided it was the best balance between the fading blue light outside and the tungsten light mixed with the SB800's inside. Now that we had that dialed in
we did another light check for shadows, possible reflections in windows, hot spots and overall evenness. Again we were able to take several tests shots in a
matter of a couple of minutes when it would have taken at least 20 minutes to shoot a Polaroid, process it and shoot another one. Since this was a
combination hang out and have dinner and do some workshop stuff, Jeff found that by using digital instead of film gave us faster feedback on the LCD
panel and were able to make adjustments much faster. All the adjustments including the output of the SB800 units were all controlled from the camera.
So lets look at this from an assignment point of view. I have a filmmaker/actor at my house who lives about 2000 miles away and we do this in-house lighting workshop with my Nikon F6 and slide film. I go
over everything I'm doing as stated above, but in this case, he can't really "see" what I'm talking about. The next step would be get the film processed and loupe the slides, but the problem is, he won't be
here when the film gets back. Scenario 2 is I do the same thing again as stated above, but this time, it's done with Black and White film. I take all 36 exposures and do in-house processing which would
be at least 30 minutes and then I would have to scan the film for us to see it. So at best, maybe we would be able to send the image to the printer in about an hour from the time I took the picture. So as
you can see If I was using film, the fastest time from click to print would be about an hour and that's only if the shot looked like the one I did digitally. Now here's the bad news . . . . . I stopped developing
my own Black and White film in 1990, so "In-House processing is Out" and slides would take to long even if there was all night E6 processing just down the road.
over everything I'm doing as stated above, but in this case, he can't really "see" what I'm talking about. The next step would be get the film processed and loupe the slides, but the problem is, he won't be
here when the film gets back. Scenario 2 is I do the same thing again as stated above, but this time, it's done with Black and White film. I take all 36 exposures and do in-house processing which would
be at least 30 minutes and then I would have to scan the film for us to see it. So at best, maybe we would be able to send the image to the printer in about an hour from the time I took the picture. So as
you can see If I was using film, the fastest time from click to print would be about an hour and that's only if the shot looked like the one I did digitally. Now here's the bad news . . . . . I stopped developing
my own Black and White film in 1990, so "In-House processing is Out" and slides would take to long even if there was all night E6 processing just down the road.
It's a digital world when it comes to translating real time technical knowledge and images. The fact that Jeff was able to see my work that I've done on film gives him a look at the experience I have to
"make it happen" even on film. The reality is, I would have never been able to take that picture and print it for him before he went back to Texas. Photography is all about painting with light and the tools I
used in the 70's are still respectable, but times change, tools get redesigned and upgraded. Cameras are the tools of my trade and I use the best tools available to "make it happen" and today those
tools are digital cameras, computers for processing images and archival Giclée printers.
"make it happen" even on film. The reality is, I would have never been able to take that picture and print it for him before he went back to Texas. Photography is all about painting with light and the tools I
used in the 70's are still respectable, but times change, tools get redesigned and upgraded. Cameras are the tools of my trade and I use the best tools available to "make it happen" and today those
tools are digital cameras, computers for processing images and archival Giclée printers.
After that round, I explained several techniques I use when I'm in a situation where I have to move fast and being mobile is key to getting the shot. Life happens in milliseconds and if you're not ready,
you'll miss it. Jeff was sitting on the couch and I was telling him just look at the camera and I'll show you what I mean as I was using my "over the head" on the move technique. We ripped this one off in a
fraction of a second and I showed it to him. The picture simply stated, this is Jeff Chillin. I used a single remote SB800 at +3 pointed at the ceiling in my left hand and the on-camera flash at -3 for fill
under his chin. The next step was to check it out on the wide screen computer display and him how my post production software works. We uploaded the picture and there it was, life-size on this huge
monitor in full color. I then converted it to Black and White, did some filtration, sharpened for output at 13" x 19" and loaded my Epson with a sheet of Fine Art Velvet paper and hit print. Out came this
beautiful Black and White print that was extremely sharp and it only took 15 minutes from the time I walked towards him with the camera to having the print in his hands. That 15 minutes of on the move
talking and live action, was the best learning experience he ever had. When he got back to Texas he gave the print to his wife Hilary and she was so excited she had to call and let me know how much
she loves it. Jeff told me it's hanging in her office. That's one happy wife :)
you'll miss it. Jeff was sitting on the couch and I was telling him just look at the camera and I'll show you what I mean as I was using my "over the head" on the move technique. We ripped this one off in a
fraction of a second and I showed it to him. The picture simply stated, this is Jeff Chillin. I used a single remote SB800 at +3 pointed at the ceiling in my left hand and the on-camera flash at -3 for fill
under his chin. The next step was to check it out on the wide screen computer display and him how my post production software works. We uploaded the picture and there it was, life-size on this huge
monitor in full color. I then converted it to Black and White, did some filtration, sharpened for output at 13" x 19" and loaded my Epson with a sheet of Fine Art Velvet paper and hit print. Out came this
beautiful Black and White print that was extremely sharp and it only took 15 minutes from the time I walked towards him with the camera to having the print in his hands. That 15 minutes of on the move
talking and live action, was the best learning experience he ever had. When he got back to Texas he gave the print to his wife Hilary and she was so excited she had to call and let me know how much
she loves it. Jeff told me it's hanging in her office. That's one happy wife :)