Calgary Photographer » www.nathanelsonblog.com

Sandra Lizotte

Nathan Elson Photography — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:21:40 +0000

Sandra Lizotte is a Medical Intuitive that is creating a whole new web presence for her practice, and as such, contacted me to create some new images for her. When we met, she said she needed one look that was more ‘clinical’ (i.e. safe) for use at the clinic she owns, and then from there branch off into edgier fashion based looks to show more of her personality, which is awesome and I’m glad to see more and more people doing this. Below are a few of the looks we created, and below that is a small gallery of behind the scenes for the photographer folk out there. Hair & makeup provided by the very talented Mallory McGowan.

Behind the Scenes

Look of Live Cosmo

Nathan Elson Photography — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:51:06 +0000

I was fortunate enough to be brought on board to shoot some new promotional material for Live Cosmo after they ran an online submission contest looking for Calgary’s best photographers, makeup artists, stylists, and models. As you may have guessed by this point, I was selected in the photographer category, and yesterday I got to work with Live Cosmo’s other selects during a big ol fashion shoot. Here are a few of my favorites from the day, as well as a listing of the other talented people I got to work with.

Photography: Nathan Elson Photography
Hair / Makeup: Mallory McGowan
Styling: MaNoKin Design
Model: Brooke
Client: Live Cosmo

Powder

Nathan Elson Photography — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 01:24:58 +0000

Models: Drewe – iModel Management
Mina – iModel Management

Hair/Makeup: Mallory McGowan

Photography: Nathan Elson Photography

Klara

Nathan Elson Photography — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:00:41 +0000

Yesterday I had the chance to put together a quick fashion creative with Klara, and here are a couple of my favorite frames from the shoot:

Like a Boss

Nathan Elson Photography — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 03:41:31 +0000

This is Bill Andrews, Director and CEO of Penn West Petroleum Ltd, and likely the wealthiest man I have ever met in my life (think Forbes wealthy). He’s also hilarious, and from what I gathered a super genuine guy. I think Hollywood has created this idea of what a ‘rich oil baron’ is supposed to be like (which it does with most things) and the picture they paint isn’t all that pretty. Bill on the other hand is the very opposite of that Hollywood portrayal, and was really just awesome to hang out with, I laughed a lot during my time with him this morning.

After I fired this frame I told him he looked “like a boss” (think SNL digital short) hence the title of this post. Cheers.

From Canon to Nikon – The Switch

Nathan Elson Photography — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 23:39:08 +0000

Over the last month I’ve switched everything over from Canon to Nikon and I’ve had multiple photographers asking if I am going to post my reasoning, so in a blog post aimed strictly for the photographer folk out there, read on to find out why I turned to the dark side.

Now in no way whatsoever do I believe that switching to Nikon is going to magically make me a better photographer, it’s not, though I wish it could, and in no way do I think Canon sucks, cause they don’t, so why switch?

Well to clarify, I’m going to be comparing everything against the Canon 5D mII, because in the entire Canon lineup it’s the only camera body that I have any interest in. The reasoning behind that is that the 1D mIV is a cropped body, and I will never buy another cropped body, and the 1Ds mIII is four year old technology, and I am not spending that kind of dough on technology that old, that’s just crazy talk. Now, this is where some people are likely saying in their head, “But what about the 5D mIII?”. Well, that camera is still currently fictional, and I needed new cameras now. Also, I know Canon wins in the video department, but I’m a photographer, I shoot stills, so again I’m not taking that into consideration, and if you even mention mega pixels we are no longer friends, they don’t matter. So let us begin:

Reason #1 – Weather sealing
On the rare occasion that the weather gods are out to get me (which isn’t often, I’m super lucky that way), being able to shoot in drizzle or even light rain without having to wrap my entire camera body in some sort of plastic bag making it nearly impossible to use is a huge bonus. Now I know Canon offers weather sealing in the 1D mIV, but as I’ve already stated, cropped body, and Nikon offers very good weather sealing in all bodies from the D700 and up. Nikon wins.

Reason #2 – Focusing (especially in low light)
This is an argument that Canon shooters shouldn’t even get into, because everyone who shoots a Canon knows that once the lights dim down all hell is breaking loose. The Canon 5d mII has 9 rather spaced out focus points with the outer focus points being rather small (and in my experience really unreliable), Where as the Nikon D700 (its direct competitor) has 51 focus points that are all fairly large and super accurate even in low light (again just my experience so far). Nikon wins.

Reason #3 – High ISO
Yes, the Canon 5d mII has some good high ISO, but Nikon’s is again better, and if you compare anything Canon against a Nikon D3s, it’s not even a competition. Nikon nailed it with that camera, hands down. If you haven’t seen it, you need to shoot a couple of quick files with one at your local camera store and take the files home to your computer. It’ll blow your mind into pieces. Nikon wins.

Reason #4 – Lens quality
I know, I know, Canon makes some super nice glass. My Canon 70-200 f/2.8L USM was amazing, and easily my all time favorite lens for years, but even so the Nikkor AF-S 70-200 f/2.8 ED VR II that I replaced it with is sooooooooooooooo unbelievable. I don’t think it’s possible to make a sharper lens, I’d even put it up against any prime from either company, its just flat out crazy. Now this wasn’t an actual reason for the switch, but I’ve yet to put a piece of Nikon glass on my cameras and not been impressed. Nikon (barely) wins.

And there you have it, my main three reasons for the switch along with a fortunate find afterwards. For those of you wondering what I now have in my bag, the original plan was to have a D3s and a D700, but with the current situation in Japan, stock on either body is extremely hard to come by, but I managed to get my hands on two D700′s with grips so I jumped on them, then added the Nikkor AF-S 24-70 f/2.8G, the Nikkor AF-S 70-200 f/2.8 ED VR II, and the Nikkor AF-S 60mm f/2.8G Micro.

So that’s it, that’s all, and I’m not saying anyone should make the switch, but for my needs, Nikon just makes sense right now, and I hope it makes sense for a good long time, cause this switching business is pricey. If anyone has anything to add or a suggestion on a piece of glass I should try, sound off in the comments. Nate out.

P.S. – For those asking, the shot of the camera was lit with a single 12×36 stripbox with grid, and I used a black t-shirt taped to the wall for a backdrop because I am just that fancy.

Big Dead Tree – BTS

Nathan Elson Photography — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 16:23:42 +0000

Digging through my shoots I found even MORE behind-the-scenes footage that I never did anything with. Looking through all these BTS videos it would seem that I like to photograph models in totally awful weather… I really don’t know how that happened. Anyways, here is some more video for you from the archives. Both shots are two light setups, with one light on the model, and another bringing out texture in the tree. The music is loud, so check your speakers.

[See post to watch Flash video]

The Photos:

Fashion in the Woods – BTS

Nathan Elson Photography — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:45:53 +0000

Another behind-the-scenes video that was long overdue, this one even more so than the previous one, but at least it’s here now. This is still my favorite shoot to date, and a big part of that is due to our model Justine who managed to make it look like it wasn’t +1C outside (as you can tell everyone else in the video is nicely bundled up). This video really shows the power of studio lighting on location as you can see what it actually looked like out there vs what the photos look like, and the photos have next to zero post production on them, it’s all lighting. The smoke machine that helped to make the final photos so awesome came into play after these video clips were taken because my friend Ryan who was in charge of the smoke also happened to be in charge of the BTS video. I’m a real slave driver. Enjoy.

[See post to watch Flash video]

The Photos: