Directing the “Conquer With Colosseum” Commercial
As many of you know, I’ve photographed the Colosseum athletic-wear catalog for several years. Earlier this summer, during our Spring 2017 look-book shoot, I directed their first commercial, shot at the historic Gamble House in Pasadena, CA. It was both fun and challenging to wear the director and photographer hats simultaneously, and I couldn’t have done it without the help of two amazing teamsâSlickforce and Colosseum. Our leading ladies, Samaria and Kiki, brought energy and ethusiasm and made every frame beautiful. Special thanks to cinematographers Roger Viloria and Jason Leibsla for capturing such vibrant images.
Check out the final commercial above, and see behind-the-scenes from the production below. Be sure to #ConquerWithColosseum at their online store. Enjoy!
Starring SAMARIA REGALADO, KIKI MCCLEARY
Directed by NICK SAGLIMBENI
Produced by MARIA DONOGHUE
Cinematography by ROGER VILORIA & JASON LEIBSLA
Associate Producers JOYCE PARK, NICOLAS SANSONE, KEVIN SAVARESE
Production Stills by JOYCE PARK
Photographing Priyanka Chopra for Maxim India
Recently, I flew to New York to photograph actress Priyanka Chopra (ABC’s Quantico) for the July cover of Maxim India. It was my first time working with the Bollywood superstar and I was thrilled to find that she is as sweet and collaborative as she is gorgeous.
Ms. Chopra was voted the number one spot in Maxim’s Hot 100 tally of the most beautiful women in the worldâthe first three-time winner in the history of the publication. After working with her, there’s little wonder why.
Go behind-the-scenes of our cover shoot in the video below. My thanks to an incredible glam squad in NYC. More to come on this shoot as new images are released!
Photo by NICK SAGLIMBENI
Styled by KRISANA SOTELO for The Wall Group
Hair TED GIBSON
Makeup by STEPHANIE BARNES
Protecting Sharks with JhenĂŠ Aiko for The Humane Society
Those of you who follow my work know that creating art for important causes has always been critical to the SlickforceStudio mission. So it is with great pleasure that we recently teamed up with The Humane Society of the United States and HS International for their latest campaign, featuring singer/songwriter JhenĂŠ Aiko.
Ms. Aiko is very passionate about animals and natureâand all things aquaticâso she was the perfect face for HSUS’ new campaign to stop inhumane shark hunting. Tens of millions of sharks are killed each year due to the demand of shark fin soup. Humane Society Campaign manager Amber Morasse wanted a concept that was as striking as it was effective. We discussed several ideas before finally settling on a dramatic night ocean scene with JhenĂŠ rising above the surface of the water like a shark.
Besides the obvious risks to talent, shooting in an actual ocean isn’t terribly practical. There’s nowhere to place backlights and you’re certainly not going to run electricity in the deep blue sea. So we opted for a much more controlled environment: a large swimming pool. As you’ll see in the behind-the-scenes video below, our first challenge was turning a bright daylight location into a night scene. The second was getting the lights and camera into the water.
It was a pleasure working with JhenĂŠ, and I applaud her for using her celebrity to spread awareness of these wonderful creatures’ plight. I want to thank Amber and The Humane Society for involving us in this important project, and the SlickforceStudio team for getting wet for a good cause.
Visit hsi.org to find out how you can help.
WARNING: This setup was achieved by trained professionals. Do not attempt to bring lights near water without proper electrical safety training.
(Click here for further info about safely working around water.)
As many of you know, I was a cinematographer and a gaffer for several years before moving into professional photography. Movie lights draw an extremely high current (measured in Amps) due to their size and light outputâand electrocution is a very real concern. As a result, my team and I have been through rigorous electrical-safety training throughout the years. We also teach electrical safety at our PhotoKamp workshops.
To be clear, there is always a risk when mixing electricity and water . It doesnât have to be a water concept, it could simply start raining on your outdoor shoot. You can see in our setup that we had a single light âinâ the pool. The other lights were safely placed (and heavily sand-bagged) on dry land. The light that I brought into the pool was on a sturdy C-stand, ratcheted down tightly, with about 120 lbs. of sandbags on it, both on the base and higher to distribute the weight evenly. The feeder cable was then looped around the stand arm and run up through the frame of the overhead silk, then dropped down to the ballast on dry land, well away from the water. The 1200w/s Profoto ballast was then plugged into a surge protector, which was itself plugged into a pool-safe GFCI outlet (the same ones used for underwater pool lighting fixtures). You can read more about ground-fault interrupters around swimming pools here: http://blog.poolcenter.com/article.aspx?articleid=6065 On top of these multiple layers of protection, youâll notice we kept slack on the cable (some may have wondered why we didnât pull it tighter). This prevents cable tension and decreases the risk of the light being knocked over should someone bump into it. We also have this area roped off and continuously manned to minimize human error.
My team and I take electrical safety extremely seriously, and you should never take a chance until youâve been trained by an expert. Any misjudgments are most certainly errors that you only get to make once. Safety above all else!
CREDITS:
Model: JhenĂŠ Aiko
Photographer: Nick Saglimbeni
Makeup: Felicia La Tour
Production Stills: Joyce Park & Joey Valenti
Videography: Joey Valenti & Ludovica Isidori
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Creating the Colosseum Spring 2016 Campaign
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We recently teamed up with the crew at Colosseum Brand for a massive relaunch of their women’s athletic wear line. Their mission was to capture the active lifestyle of the modern American woman:
WHERE MODERN LIFESTYLE MEETS PERFORMANCE
American women are strikingly versatile: we train, we meditate, we strive, we compete. In between, we manage to pursue careers, run errands, raise kids, walk dogs and impact the world. Our clothing should move between all of these activities without requiring a wardrobe change.
Colosseum. Designed for Motion.
The weather was perfect for our Spring 2016 campaign shoot in Malibu, with models Liz Turner and Dani Herrington turning on the magic to create our dynamic duo. My thanks to the incredible SlickforceStudio team for their support, and here are a few behind-the-scenes from the shoot.
Be sure to visit ColosseumBrand.com for the latest Spring styles. Enjoy!
CREDITS:
Models ELIZABETH TURNER & DANIELLE HERRINGTON
Photography by NICK SAGLIMBENI
Hair & Makeup by COOPER
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Photographing the Kylie Jenner LipKit Campaign
A few weeks ago, Kylie Jenner asked me to photograph the campaign for her upcoming LipKit line at her house in Calabasas. Each LipKit includes one of three colors of matte liquid lipstick and matching lip linerâDolce K, Candy K and True Brown K. Learn more at KylieCosmetics.com.
As most of you know, I’ve been photographing Kylie since she was 13, and it’s an absolute pleasure to watch her grow from a shy teenager into the confident 18-year-old mogul captured in the portrait above. The video will give you a brief glimpse into that history. My congrats to Kylie on the launch of a product that will no doubt resonate with women around the world. Special thanks to our talented glam squad who, as always, help us bring our art to life.
CREDITS:
Photo by NICK SAGLIMBENI
Makeup by ARIEL TEJADA
Hair by CLYDE HAYGOOD
(Below) Photo of Nick & Kylie by JENNIFER COHAN
Creating the SlickforceSystem Holiday Promos
Holiday season brings holiday cheer, and what’s more cheerful than getting what you want at ridiculous discounts?
At the end of October, we were pleasantly surprised to sell out our inventory of SlickforceSoftlights at Stan Lee’s Comikaze. We’re happy to announce that the new shipment has arrived, and we’ve created some holiday promo art to illustrate to our ever-growing audience just how much our learning tools and tutorials can help.
The Slickforce System holiday spot features the talented and ever-professional actress Anna Adjian as our young artist, embarking on a journey of discovery as she learns how to capture her creativity more easily and effectively.
As those who purchased the Mastering Lighting box sets already know, Slickforce Softlights are perfect for pre-visualizing your photoshoots, using your favorite action figures as stand-ins for your models. And who better to model for our stunning softlights than Wonder Woman herself? (and a wind-blown Kotobukiya Bishoujo Wonder Woman at that!) Special thanks to the Hulk, Prince Adam and Hoth Wampa for orchestrating this beautiful lighting setup for our iconic heroine.
Our Black Friday sale starts today at SlickforceStore.com, and you can pickup a 2-pack of Softlights for only $19.95. Or, if you’re ready to get serious about your art, check out our holiday deals on Mastering Lighting, Mastering Retouching and Mastering Compositingânow available at our lowest prices ever.
Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving, and we look forward to helping you brighten your holidays!
Nick’s Lighting Journal is included with Mastering Lighting: Volume One DVD and VIP Box Sets
SlickforceSoftlight™ comes with silver umbrella, removable diffusion cover, power-pack and two stand-extension poles.
A Look at the Visual Effects Behind Mastering Lighting
I’m excited to release this 8-minute video documenting the making of Mastering Lighting. It showcases the incredible amount of teamwork that went into creating a learning experience that didn’t suffer from the usual tutorial boredom. It’s also a fun look at the challenges we faced trying to squeeze PhotoKamp into an easily-distributable format, including scanning a model in 3D, taking you to my favorite locations virtually, and putting the viewer inside my head for a first-person POV on set.
We hired more than a dozen visual effects artists in five countries to help us build the warehouse, the Aryn model, and a full library of lights and camera gear. Being new to VFX, I was naive at best, and I would have been in way over my head if not for the guidance and contributions of good friend and VFX supervisor Raffael Dickreuter.
Dickreuter gave us the blueprint for creating a mini-VFX house within SlickforceStudio, and together we spent endless hours building render farms and network servers, programming camera moves, and adjusting lighting and texturing from the various artists. It’s safe to say that without Raff I’d still be working on this today.
If you haven’t checked out Mastering Lighting yet, you can learn all about it right here. SlickforceSystem.com is offering a Fall promotion for $30 and free U.S. Shipping, enter code MLFALL30 at checkout. Also, for a limited time you can order additional SlickforceSoftlight’s with your order.
Kylie Turns 18: Ranking our Best Kylie Jenner Shoots
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Few people can claim to have accomplished so much before turning 18. Already a fashionista, a TV star, a Balmain model and the #1 most popular person on Snapchat, Kylie Jenner clearly has plenty of momentum heading into adulthood.
The SlickforceStudio team is proud to have played a small part in Kylie’s meteoric rise, as she did her very first professional shoot right here at our studio five years ago. Since then, the younger half of Jenneration K has returned in front of our cameras many times to further grow her brand.
Last month, we asked you to rank our best Kylie Jenner shoots. You voted, and now here are the Top 5. To see the full list (voting remains open), click here.
Click on the titles for more info, full galleries, and behind-the-scenes of the shoots. And if you’re still itching for more Kylie after that, you can view every shoot we’ve ever done together right here.
Wishing Ms. Jenner a very happy 18th birthday and continued success. Drumroll please.
5. Kendall & Kylie’s First Team Up at SlickforceStudio
This shoot was not only the first time I photographed both Kendall and Kylie together (aside from the Christmas cards), but it was also shot entirely in 3D. See the final images and the making of this shoot here.
4. Kylie Jenner: Day One – Kylie’s First Shoot
The historic first time Kylie Jenner stepped in front of my lens, and she couldn’t have shined brighter. See more from Kylie’s first shoot here.
3. Arthur George Socks for Neiman Marcus
The shoot was a ridiculous amount of fun, as you can see both in the video above and also in the behind the scenes and final campaign images here.
2. OK! Magazine Spring Fashion Feature
Beautiful, bright, and full of energyâsee Kendall & Kylie’s full OK! shoot and behind-the-scenes here.
1. WMB 3D: Kendall & Kylie at Ultimate Graveyard
Easily the most epic shoot we’ve done together, K & K take over the desert for WMB 3D: World’s Most Beautiful. Go backstage at their Ultimate Graveyard shoot here.
And there you have it. Love this list? Think you could improve it? Vote your favorites here so your voice is heard!
The Wonderful, Precious, and Disappearing Wildlife of Kenya
Majestic white rhinoceros emerges at sunset to eat.
I had planned to post a larger travelogue later this summer, but amidst the recent attention surrounding the sport killing of some of our world’s most cherished creatures, as well as the news that we’re now down to 4 northern white rhinos in existence, I’m bumping up the wildlife gallery from our most recent company trip to Kenya.
I always say, if you can take one trip in your life, it should be to East Africa. Make it your study abroad, your honeymoon, or your retirement gift to yourself. Nowhere in the world have I met friendlier people and seen more natural beautyâor happier animals. And I don’t mean happy in the way your dog pretends to be when he’s manipulating you for a treat. I’m talking about wild animalsâthat most of us only see caged in a zooâliving in their natural habitats, loving, playing and relaxing, raised and surrounded by their families. It’s one of the few things I’ve seen in life that I would call perfect.
My hope is that these images will serve as a reminder of how beautiful and precious wildlife on our planet is, as we are nearing a critical turning point that may result in the extinction of several species within our lifetime.
My thanks to our amazing safari guide, Ali Khan of Vumbi Jeep Safaris, who I am proud to call a friend. There is no better guide for seeing the wildlife of Kenya, and you are in for the adventure of a lifetime.
For a deeper look, see our previous Kenya travelogues here.
Photos by Nick Saglimbeni and Joyce Park
Large images above and below: Descriptions in captions
Thumb Gallery: Click to enlarge, descriptions on full-size
Hippopotami pod watches and waits.
Young Thomson’s Gazelles grazing on the plains.
Baby baboon hitches a ride on mother’s back
INTERVIEW: Lighting Like a Comic Book for SlickforceGirl
This is an excerpt from a recent interview I did with Rebecca Britt for Fstoppers. Read the full interview here.
Fstoppers/Rebecca Britt: Iâm always fascinated when a photographer uses their talents for a greater cause than themselves. SlickforceGirl is a commercial and creative pinup brand that helps raise awareness for womenâs causes and breast cancer. I recently had the opportunity to review creator Nick Saglimbeniâs Mastering Lighting series, and I wanted to sit with Nick to discuss his SlickforceGirl campaign and how he uses the techniques taught in Mastering Lighting within the campaign.
FS: Iâve been a fan of your SlickforceGirl brand for a couple of years now. Can you explain to our readers what started the idea of a SlickforceGirl?
Nick Saglimbeni: I originally created SlickforceGirl because I found myself at a crossroads in my art. My career first gained traction in the urban glamour market, an arena which boasts huge fan followings but very little recognition outside of that world. The models are gorgeous and every bit as talented as â and in some cases, more hard-working than â their âmainstreamâ counterparts, but because they are curvy, or ethnic, or short, they are historically limited to roles such as âmusic video girlsâ.
Iâve always seen color, curves and shape as assets rather than hindrances, and I think I instinctively knew how to photograph these women in a way that was different from what had been done before in that world. I wanted to create a diverse universe full of strong female characters for a new generation that isnât used to every character just being tall, skinny and white.
FS: The scale of your Astronaut Vanessa character looks massive, it looks more like a movie. How did you choose your location and why?
NS: Visually speaking, Vanessaâs story was the most logistically difficult to shoot, but itâs also the most excited Iâve ever been on set. It felt like we were making a feature film, and we all turned into producers trying to find ways to get feature-film production value into a photo shoot budget. Iâll never understand this new era of just compositing everything onto a stock photo background. Being on location is at least half of the fun, and it changes the energy of the shoot dramatically.
We found a huge spaceship set that was built on a sound stage for a sci-fi movie, and they hadnât broken it down yet. It was architecturally perfect, but aesthetically very gray and drab. I wanted a very stylized color palette for our pop version of deep space, similar to the bioluminescent scenes in James Cameronâs Avatar.
One of the ways we achieved this was through costume and glam. We originally planned on putting model Vanessa Veasley in an actual NASA Mercury suit, but quickly discovered they were so bulky that it was impossible to shoot anything even remotely sexy. So we had her space suit custom-made, and used fabrics with a reflective sheen to capture the âmonitor glowâ around the spaceship.
FS: How did you approach the lighting for this concept?
NS: For the cockpit scene, we had two lighting motivators â the interior glow from the monitors and bridge controls, and the exterior glow from the stars. Thereâs really no manual on lighting for outer space, so I looked at old American Cinematographer articles on Armageddon and Terminator 2 for inspiration.
I didnât want to deal with the spill from green-screen, so we built two 12×12 white griffolyns outside the cockpit window and fired 4 heads on two 2400w/s packs into them. Compositing is much easier in stills than in motion-picture, so you can use whatever color you want to end up with. We then created ânebula hitsâ by pointing a couple of strips and softboxes with pink and purple gels directly at Vanessa. The trick with making outer space ambience look believable is to let some of the scene fall completely to black, so we were very careful not to overlight the cramped space. For the interior cockpit glow, we placed small double-silked strip lights with steel blue party gels around the ship and behind camera.
This scene was shot at ISO 100 on a 50mm lens (medium format). Even though we were wide, the biggest challenge is carrying the depth of field at that speed because theoretically both Vanessa and âthe starsâ needed to be in focus. Ultimately, we were able to get the light barely to an F4/5.6 split, and then I set the lens to F8 and let it underexpose a stop-and-a-half, except for a few highlights on her suit. It would have taken too much power to get our ambience higher, and if there were really stars outside that window, the light that reached the ship would be perfectly believable a few stops under key. Also, blues and purples saturate better at a darker luminance than warm colors so it ended up working in our favor.
(Read the complete interview on Fstoppers here.)
— My thanks to Rebecca and the Fstoppers team for a great interview!
