Blog – Page 2 – Lucian Coman Photography

Real photos, Real food, Real People !

by poco_bw 19 September 2018 in Uncategorised0 comments

[bais_before_after before_image=”http://www.luciancoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/130A9700_uncooked_slider.jpg” after_image=”http://www.luciancoman.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/130A9700_cooked_slider.jpg”] Before and After pictures! I’ve been doing food photography for The Caravela Portuguese restaurant www.thecaravela.com for quite a few years now. They have a wide variety on the menu but is mainly geared towards Portuguese dishes. Despite the Portuguese flavor, when comes to food photography the owner has a “Japanese policy” approach; and in Japan by law you are required to take photos only of the real food, and that is not easy to achieve at all. Food on camera by default looks flat, unappetizing, etc. and that will be the reason why you won’t see on the “Menu” cellphone pictures taken by regular customers, well at the end of the day a restaurant is “socializing” in the traditional way of the word as opposed to the trendy “social networks”. Along the years I did my fair share of tricks: I filled rolls with wet Tampax microwaved, so they are “still steamy” and they look like “out of the oven”. I colored mashed potatoes and put it in cones since ice-cream was melting way to fast, I used white glue instead of milk so the cereals do not get so soggy, I painted almost uncooked chickens […]

Diamond industry, photographing rough diamonds, focus stacking.

by poco_bw 1 September 2018 in Uncategorised0 comments

Diamond industry, photographing rough diamonds, focus stacking. In Botswana’s diamond industry the sightholders buying bulk rough diamonds will always demand the highest quality photographs. Debswana , www.debswana.com, will hold in Gaborone about 10 of this sightseeing events a year. It is usually a catalog printed on matte paper, but for high value “stones” many producers will also send high resolution photos to the bidders. Rough diamonds: They are not at all “transparent” as the polished diamonds. Almost all will look “cloudy “ in the pictures. Because of the irregular angles is hard to catch the “right” light. There will be slight color changes in all of them. Fancy diamonds will be various colors out of the ordinary. Photographing rough diamonds basic tools: Use a gray card. Always use a light meter. Various lights strobes, fluorescent, LED, etc. Macro lens are usually better. A Full frame DSLR is always better. Tripod with variable angle column. Diffusion materials. Honeycombs . Flags. Computer. Velvet. Reflective stand. Rail. Basic production methods Your biggest enemy will be surface glare because you shoot on a cross angle, second will be the shallow DOF. Usually I go for computerized focus stacking photographs. Even if you put a […]

FATHOMLESS possibility

by poco_bw 24 December 2017 in Uncategorised0 comments

There’s a time when you realize that time passed by and you are not young anymore. You run enough, you fight enough, you struggled enough, you did everything you could ever do and you tried even more…… Why so many commas above? Things are not quite how you expected them to be, something looks erroneous, something disconnects. That’s why you need to stop and reflect. The usual…. Who I am? What I am doing here? Where do I come from?… here are the questions to be answered first to calm your restlessness and structure your journey further and the inevitable where do I go …to show a clear path. You look at yourself reflected in a mirror of self. At first the picture is hazy because you are unidentified. Later things get clear and take shape. In the end everything is crystal clear. You see yourself the way you are. This mirror for a photographer is his work, his projects, his thoughts and the way he understands this noble profession. There is an instant when you should undo TIME and look at everything again. Every frame, every thought, every intention and movement must be found on that retrospective tortuous road. […]

Your models and a successful photo-video shoot in Botswana

by poco_bw 25 December 2016 in Uncategorised0 comments

Recommendations for your Botswana models and a successful pre-production photo/ video shoot . Pre-production is key to any successful shot even in Botswana, but even so often some crews forget or intentionally put aside this important detail. Especially Botswana photographers or cameraman will blame it on the tiny budgets. Some clients will also give you a brief that sounds like” Do you best” ……..? Obviously depends on your assignment and what are you producing but do not ever get fooled that only video needs pre-production . In the PDF bellow is just a tiny part of pre-production the core basics on preparing your models and yes is valid for photography also. Do you have 10 weeks to create a promotional video? You should be spending over six weeks pre-producing the project. We all love the shooting and production days , and most people enjoy seeing their project come to fruition in post-production. But in this era of the modern digital filmmaker, so often pre-production is overlooked. You may have the knowledge to shoot and edit a project, but really well made promotional films and even photographs are meticulously thought out. Every detail is examined. Whether it’s thinking about how to […]

Photography and video industry terms

by poco_bw 16 December 2016 in Uncategorised0 comments

In so many years of practice you pick up few terms what people use in the film industry, however without any intention to hire your services for a quality production. poco_bw

“No IPod”, a champion of light

by poco_bw 9 October 2016 in photo story0 commentstags: industrial video Botswana

“No IPod”, a champion of light You won’t see him on Facebook checking with who the next door neighbour mingled last week, you won’t see him downloading some new songs from ITunes, or Tweet his newly acquired Plasma TV. He simply doesn’t care about the digital generation. I took this picture long ago and he remains in the Olympics of photography my champion of light. Life is simple near Kalahari, people have a lip-cornered smile until the end of time…. it never changes. No plans, no aspirations, his synapses are standing in a time-lapse frame; the accepted wisdom in his eyes focuses at immediate needs only. The face with a seriousness aged before his generation argue with the childish fingers in the mouth but in the same time agree with the emotional restraint, intriguing but completing a gorged portrait. The day of the wreathing light came wordlessly , and somebody lost his blind eye, and a tumbleweed of Kalahari become known to the world as simply “No iPod” ; he is not invisible anymore. Good Light to everybody www.luciancoman.com poco_bw

Digital Camera Buying Advice and Tips (part 2)

by poco_bw 9 October 2016 in camera1 commentstags: corporate photography Botswana

Digital Camera Buying Advice and Tips (part 2) 4. Optical Zoom is King Not all ‘zooms’ are created equal. When you’re looking at different models of digital cameras you’ll often hear their zooms talked about in two ways: Optical zoom Digital zoom Optical Zoom is king, the digital zoom will simply blow electronically the pixels making your picture look “noisier” and pixelated. If you’re looking for a zoom lens make sure it’s an optical zoom (most cameras have at least 3x ) ‘Super zooms’ coming onto the market at up to 21x Optical Zoom) but the price will increase accordingly. If you are into serious photography always remember that the best “zoom” ever is your feet, buy prime lens and use your feet to “zoom in and out”. Primes will offer you always tack sharp images, less colour fringe and way less barrel distortion………… 5. Keep in mind the ‘extras’ Keep in mind that the camera is not everything what you need for successful photography. There are varieties of other “extras” that you might want (need) to think about including: Camera Case Lenses (if you are getting a DSLR) External Flashes Memory Cards Tripods/Monopods Spare Batteries/Recharger Filters (and other lens […]

Digital Camera Buying Advice and Tips (part 1)

by poco_bw 21 September 2016 in camera0 commentstags: botswana, camera, digital

Digital Camera Buying Advice and Tips (part 1) Buying a new digital camera? There are a few questions to keep in mind when making the decision of which digital camera is best buying for you and what are the factors that you should keep in mind. 1. Determine what you need A mistake I see some digital camera buyers making is that they get sucked into buying cameras that are beyond what they really need. Some questions to ask yourself before you go shopping: What is your budget? What do you need the camera for? Will you largely stay in auto mode or do you want to learn the art of photography? What experience level do you have with cameras? How important is size and portability to you? What type of features are you looking for? (long zoom, image stabilization, large LCD display etc) What type of photography will you be doing? (portraits, landscapes, macro, sports) What conditions will you be largely photographing in? (indoors, outdoors, low light, bright light) 2. Megapixels are NOT everything One of the features that you’ll see used to sell digital cameras is how many megapixels a digital camera has. In the old days […]

The Russian connection

by poco_bw 22 October 2015 in Uncategorised0 comments

The Russian Connection To wake up at 4AM to go for a shoot is never amusing, but we wanted to catch some of that warm morning light. Joberg light is always softer in the mornings compared with Gabs light. I never understood why; probably the dry air just stands still, and the light particles stop a bit from their demented erratic dance . Game Stores assignment, ouch…that sounds commercial, conservative, corporate look ,not so entertaining…ah well all of us must make a living. Models getting a makeover, assistants preparing equipment, producer making sure everything gets right, zzzz….zzzzz….the buzz started. I closed my eyes, matching the various virtual poses, angles, shadows, with the long script what I just finished reading. I turned my head and then I noticed the Russian model. She was just sitting there in a tall orange chair radiating a sense of tranquility .Zzzz…..Zzzzz…..all around, deadlines, multiple locations…. just the Russian girl chairbound almost motionless in that orange background had nothing to say .She had that confident look…I done this a thousand time, why you people are panicking? Then I just knew…she was my sense of steadiness, I snap quickly few offshoot portraits, the zzzz noise start […]

Encyclopaedia Britannica

by poco_bw 4 August 2015 in Uncategorised0 comments

Encyclopaedia Britannica, the British must love me, I can see they bought another picture, a Herero woman this time poco_bw