Sam Robles Photography Blog

Behind the scenes snap shots of CYC building

samrobles — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 18:41:32 +0000

Here are more snap shots of the construction on our cyc wall. I tried my best to get all the detail from the parts I had the most difficult in finding information online.I apologize for the simplicity of the photos, it’s just to give you an idea of how it was done.Question are welcome, I hope this is been helpful.At the end of the page there is a picture of the studio in action as well as 2 shots I took this past week.This is how it turned out:Here are some shots I just did last week in the studio:There are a lot more posts to come with behind the scenes from several shoots I did in the last 2 months, plus a new website for the new year. Stay tuned!

Building a cyclorama wall

samrobles — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:28:19 +0000

Back in April I moved to a bigger studio, and part of the process was to build a cyc wall in the new place, it was something I always dreamed about.Since I couldn’t afford to pay a company that would come and build it for me I decided to do some research and build it myself (I had no idea what I was getting into).So I researched in google, blogs, books, everywhere, but didn’t find enough information. For that reason I figure I should share with all photographers out there what I did so they can learn from my mistakes and know what it takes to build their own cyc. Pictures and more details will be posted soon…In this video we explain step by step how we built our cyc:

Target marketing

samrobles — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 21:18:21 +0000

My ultimate goal in photography is to shoot ad campaigns and portraits, all related to sports.The fact that I played sports all my life has a big influence on that, I love the environment and want to stay in it.It’s really hard to break in to the advertising market for sports images, and I just discovered that target marketing is essential. I have done campaigns where I sent the same email to few hundred different companies, at the same time, and the response was very minimal. Couple of months ago I decided to target the companies I want to shoot for and send them images they want to see and potentially use.Since I have shot several different MMA fighter I targeted a hand full of companies that sponsor the sport and sent each of them a custom email.The response was great, almost all emails got a reply and I just finished a campaign for one of these companies. This is the picture I sent to the company that end up hiring me:I had this picture from a previous shoot, and for my luck the athlete had the targeted company’s logo on his gear, so when I sent the email the reply was almost instant, couple phone calls later I was shooting a campaign for them.Photos of the campaign coming out soon, stay posted.

Adding a little spice

samrobles — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 20:24:26 +0000

I’m a photographer that loves to plan the shoot from scratch. Pre-production is one of the things I enjoy the most.It’s not every time that I get to do it, like it happened couple weeks ago on a “pussy cat dolls” shoot. When I got to the location they told me I could use a room with a red wall, that was it. Luckily I found a cool stool that added some caricature to the place. To add a little spice I decided to go for a more dramatic lighting, to kind of set a mood to the shots. When doing series, I tend to keep the same feel to every shot so when you put side by side they complement each other.So let’s brake down the lighting:3 – Alien bees B8001 – silver reflective umbrella1 – softbox 30″x60″1 – 7″ reflector with a 20 degree spotHere is the lighting set up:The softbox was my main light, the umbrella was used to give a not to hard edge light to the face and help creating a 3D look. Last but not least, the 7″ reflector with a 20 degree spot to separate the girls from the background. I used a Canon 5D Mark 2 with a 24-70mm 2.8.Here are some of the shots I liked the most:

Changing the subject

samrobles — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:49:35 +0000

Normally my pictures are made with athletes with a very intense, fierce look. Last week I decided to change a little bit the subject to see what would happen.The truth is that I’m glad with the results, I have learned a lot with this experience and I’m excited to shoot this type of image again with some other techniques.Big thanks to the model, Ashley Gebara, for the great work!Below are some of my favorite images from the shoot:

New work – Sky Series with Academy of Glam.

samrobles — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:37:47 +0000

I’ve been working on some new techniques and ways to improve “my style”. It’s kind of a long journey and I’m enjoying every second of it.The Sky Series was shot for the Academy of Glam, which by the way is awesome. We spent about 2 hours and a half shooting portraits and some action shots. Big thanks to all the models and make up artists for the hard and beautiful work!This are the final images, let us know your thoughts on them.The action shots will be here soon.www.samrobles.comwww.27studiosfl.com

Our first short film, Half Full, is now online!

samrobles — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:11:20 +0000

Couple weeks ago I had the idea of creating a short film. Then I got together with my good friend Maicon Rutz and we started to put everything together. As it was our first, we had lots of questions on how to produce different types of shots, lighting, sounds, sequence, etc, but with Maicon’s talent we were able to make it happen in just one day of shoot!Please watch and let us know how we can improve our next short that is coming on the way soon!For better viewing watch it in full screen.

Sam Robles featured on examiner.com

samrobles — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:44:06 +0000

Big Thanks to Lauren Britz, who is an exceptional writer!Please check out her work here and the original article here.This is the full artitle she made on Sam Robles Photography by Lauren Britz:

Every now and then we meet individuals who have fast tracked their performance in their areas of expertise – and for photographer Sam Robles, the fascination he had with photography seven years ago has now become a hot and steamy love affair!Perhaps the fire within him is internally brewed purely by his inherent passion, having been born in the fiery samba-loving city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and perhaps his cool headed calm nature is from having been brought up in the easy breathing airs of Pompano Beach, Florida.Sam’s fascination with the art of photography started when he came face-to-lens with the first digital cameras in 2001. Messing around with his friends Sony 1.3 megapixel camera had an everlasting impact on him and he “was never the same” after that.After deciding he really needed this camera, with determination in hand, he saved up his pennies, decided on a due date, and that’s the day Sam Robles officialy became an amateur photographer.Photographing himself, the city and the landscapes, Sam got great reviews and compliments on his images and photography seemed to come naturally to him. Over this time he increased not only his practical experience but his technical theoretical knowledge too, through reading, observation and interaction with other photographers.A few years later, with some photographic techniques now in mind, he bought his first DSLR and started working as a paid photographer. A hobby slowly turning into a profession.Always remaining on the go, Sam befriended the inspirational, Jack Wild, a “Fine Art Photographer Extraordinaire” as he is known. Jack’s liking of Sam became not only a good friendship but somewhat a relationship of teacher and protégé - an infinite repository of priceless knowledge!With Jack’s advice in mind, Sam started working under the commercial photographer, Keith Douglas, well known for his mastery in lighting and composition. With Sam in tow Keith showed him many techniques including that which is the complexity of lighting.With 3 years of professional photography behind his viewfinder, Sam has already got an arms length worth of achievements under his belt.His work has been published in local and national magazines such as Veranda, Boca Raton Magazine and Florida Design and was recently featured in Photoshop User Magazine, with Mike Campau, a graphic designer who worked alongside Sam on a series of images.He’s work has also been up on websites like www.costco.com, not to mention the interesting assignments with the Mixed Martial Arts World Champion Fighters.Sam has spent the last few years accumulating clients like Lynn University, American Top Team, ACP Interiors, Village Square Home Interiors, Medicine Shoes, Matrix Imports USA, High Profile International and more and has been personally invited to give a workshop at the Old School of Photography in Delray, Florida.Going on 3 years now, Sam is also a member of the biggest camera club in Florida, the South Florida Camera Club. With his intense, strong, creative images he’s managed to win “Best Photograph of the Year” for the past two years in a row, winning a Canon 50D and a Canon 7D. So after all this it leaves only one question in mind; what’s next?Well according to Sam Robles there’s alot more to come… he’s currently finishing off building out his very own studio in Pompano Beach, FL called “27 Studios“. Why the 27? Well 27 is his favorite number, the day he was born, his current age and has significance with everything happening in this moment. This will be his creative hub for creating high fashion magazine style bridal sessions, advertising photography including cars and things larger than life and much more!For Sam, a fascination turned profession… what is his recipe for success? Personality, perseverance and a whole lot of passion!Check out his blog at http://www.blog.samrobles.com

Sam Robles Photography

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Would you like to know how the Capoeira shot was done?

samrobles — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 06:07:00 +0000

Hey everyone, in this post I’ll be sharing information on how I made the capoeira shot.This is the final image:

The first reactions I get when showing this image are:”Photoshop!”, “It’s photoshop!”, “How did you put this two pictures together?”When I tell them it one shot they never believe me, but I’ll try to show how it was done.There are few key points to create this image. One of them is the perspective. When taking this shot I was on the street, which is about 2 feet below the level that the athlete was jumping. By doing that, it seams that he’s jumping a lot higher than he actually is. Another key point is the lighting. As we did this in the early morning, the sun was behind the athlete, so when I exposed for the background he got so dark that I couldn’t see any detail on his body or face. In order to get the background exposed the way I wanted and get him exposed the way I wanted the only option was to use lights. In this case I used 2 Alien Bees (B800). One with a beauty dish on the right side of the frame, as a main light on him, and the other on the left side of the frame, to light the grass and give a kick light on his back. After getting the right exposure for the athlete and background I just had to wait for the right jump, as Gleidson is a pro capoeira fighter, I didn’t have to wait long to get some incredible jumps.Just so you get a better idea of what it was like as far as perspective and exposure, this is the video I made of one of his jumps:I hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for upcoming shoots!

Welcome to Sam Robles Photography Blog!

samrobles — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 03:54:07 +0000

Hey everyone, it’s Sam Robles! Thanks for visiting my blog!Here I’ll be sharing some of my new work, techniques, behind the scenes action and more.I’m also a contributor for www.fstoppers.com, where I post some informative behind the scenes videos every Tuesday. This is one of the videos, so you can get to know me.In this video I’ll talk about the construction of my new studio.