A Couple of Days in Vegas

Some of you might have noticed, via my Twitter updates, that I spent a few days shooting for a client in Las Vegas this past week.

The drive to Vegas was uneventful. I headed East to Sin City in my new ride, a Toyota 4Runner SUV.

The 4Runner is way more practical a vehicle than the compact or mid-size cars I usually rent when I shoot in Vegas. All that storage space in the back, with the rear seats folded down, was great! Lights, grip, cameras, laptop, luggage, all packed away with ease and was easy to get at.

On my way to Vegas, I stopped at one of the casinos near the California/Nevada border to take a leak. Having taken care of business, I headed out of the casino but a 5¢ Wheel of Fortune slot machine seemed to beckon to me before I reached the door. I put a buck into it and, on the second spin, it paid $50. Nice. I collected my fifty, walked out the door, climbed into my car, and was back on the road. I wish I could make $50 every time I took a leak. What a great, personal, economic recovery plan that would be! I'd be drinking oceans of water, tea, and coffee every chance I got!

Spent the first day shooting against a seamless we set up in a high-ceiling game room in my client's very upscale home in a private, gated community. I was told all the pics would be used for cut-outs (for web use) so I didn't care much how my lights were working on the background paper. We shot about 10 wardrobe changes the first day. All the pics were "PG" rated. An MUA was on the set all the time.

On Day Two we were going to shoot outdoors but it rained. Started raining sometime during the night and continued raining until I headed home on Thanksgiving Day. So, on the second day, we shot more against the seamless. The second day's shoot was decidedly more "R" rated.

One of Day One's themes was football. In the image at the top, Devin seems to be playfully tackling Amber as Amber catches a pass. I've worked with Devin and Amber a few times before and they're always fun to shoot. It was refreshing shooting stuff where the models were clothed, very animated, and having a fun time. (Instead of the usual naked stuff, posing for maximum sexual allure.) My client was quite specific in terms of what he wanted and he was on set the whole time. I wasn't given much latitude in terms of what was going on in front of my camera. Sometimes, that's a great thing: The clients get exactly what they want and I get paid for pushing my index finger against a button and delivering the results.

As I already mentioned, the background seamless didn't matter in terms of lighting. (All the images will be extracted from the production BG, mostly for web use.) I used my trusty Larson Reflectasol to modify my main light and a couple of shoot-thru's for the edge-lighting working behind the models. Canon 5D w/28-135 IS USM, ISO 100, f/8 @ 160th. Not much processing on the image above: Cropping and some levels adjustments and that's about it.

I headed back home early Thanksgiving morning with the rain still pouring down. It rained off-and-on all the way back to El Lay. Didn't stop at the border for some $50 bladder-relief. Made it safely home in time for turkey dinner with the family.