Category: Work
Halloween Photo Booth
Happy Halloween! We had a small celebration yesterday in the office, and the boof was there! It’s a good thing, too. I would not have wanted to be caught without a camera on this fun and colorful day! Here are a few of my favorite shots.
Mission Bio Tapestri
Another fine rendering with Cinema4d and V-Ray. The newest instrument from Mission Bio. Actually, there’s a bit more to the workflow. The original customer-provided SolidWorks file was opened in KeyShot, exported as an .obj file and imported into Cinema4D where V-Ray lighting and materials were applied for output in V-Ray. The resulting layered image was…
Hoping that one day I can make a career out of producing life-like 3D product renderings.
Hoping that one day I can make a career out of producing life-like 3D product renderings.
SeqStudio Genetic Analyzer
I’ll bet you don’t have one of these! A new instrument rendered with V-Ray. It also has this cartridge thingie. I made a little animation which was looped during the launch announcement. Yay! Learn more about the SeqStudio Genetic Analyzer.
Thedude Gets Wired, Squared
One of my renders made the Wired Magazine web site in an article titled “Fast, Precise Cancer Care is Coming to a Hospital Near You“. Nice! (Also, our amazing technology totally rocks!) That’s not the only cool place my work appeared recently. Here’s another:
ION Inspector
Combining a bit of photography with 3D modeling and a PhotoShop pinch filter for this quick one. It kind of messes with my vision. That’s a good thing.
Mission Bio
So many favorites from our photo shoot at Mission Bio. What a great group! Thanks to all of you.
White Background for Business Head Shots
I’ve decided that the white background is my favorite for business head shots. This is mainly because they are so easy to produce consistently, but also because a pure white background is so versatile. To create these, I use a simple two-light setup. First I place a 7-foot umbrella with diffuser behind the subject and,…
Our Fastest Sequencer Ever!
A fun project for this special day. From the e-mail sent to the whole company: Finished with subtle touches from the impenetrable genius of industrial design guru Jim Pire, the new system’s speed will leave the competition in the dust. Have I ever told you how much I love my job?
Lifeng at Work
Twenty-five image bokeh panorama shot at the office today. I’m learning a lot about the process of creating these. The 90mm lens I’m using seems to be a bit long and a bit slow. It’s not easy to get good coverage without taking a lot of shots. The depth of field is not shallow enough…
Be Smart – Try Again
I noticed that my photo stitching software was a couple versions behind, so I downloaded the most recent version and rendered the Smart pano again. Forty image bokeh panorama shot in the garage at work on a Sunday morning. Right-click here to download a 5K version.
Halloween Photo Booth
I’m getting better and better results from the booth. Not just because of tweaks to the hardware, but also due to the fact that my audience at work knows how to get better pictures out of it. (Get closer! Lean in a bit!) And although I can fit 10 or 12 people in the booth,…
Interns!
I decided not to these in a more casual setting than my more formal headshots. These were taken handheld with my Fuji X100 and a Nikon SB 800 flash. I wanted a bit of variety, so I shot them in different locations around he office.
Thermofisher Ad
Well, we gave up on the Lombard Street idea. I thought it was an impossible shot, and it turned out I was right about that. So, we opted for another iconic Bay Area view. What I like most is that this piece will be printed 6 x 4 FEET in size, and hung around Thermofisher…
Seeing the Unseeable
Here’s an interesting view of one of the six rows of gear I maintain in the datacenter. Looks kinda cool, eh? You might wonder how I created an image like this, given that the rows of servers have less than three feet between them. This means I have to make the shot from about two…
Work in Progress.
Work in Progress.
This is the other start-up shot by JC Pire Consulting yesterday.
I am really liking the white background! Super-clean, professional.
JC Pire Consulting provides more than just world-class Linux consulting!
They also sometimes shoot corporate head shots. Here’s one of the start-ups we shot yesterday. I like this technique because the white background is so versatile, but also because it’s so easy to pull off. These were made with a simple two-light setup. A small umbrella to the right, reflector on the left, and a…
Fun with coworker Jonathan Wang.
Fun with coworker Jonathan Wang.
This is not your mama’s photo booth
It’s difficult to pick favorites from yesterday’s party at work.
Lombard Street
Last night I went on a scouting mission. I’m looking for a location for an upcoming project. The Creative Director floated this top-of-Lombard-Street idea. I’m certainly not the first to make this shot, but I was surprised at how easy it was to grab this 30-second time exposure on a cold and windy summer night…
V-Ray deliciousness
I had experimented with V-Ray a bit a few months ago, but at the time it only ran on an earlier version of Cinema4D, and when it did, it felt a bit flaky. Well, I’m happy to say that it runs flawlessly on on Cinema4D R17! My product renderings never looked better. I wear a…
S5 mosaic Installation
So I created this mosaic of pretty much every picture I ever took at work using a program called Mazaika. The image was constructed from more than 4,500 pictures of all the people and products that came together to enable us to create the amazing Ion Torrent S5. The image turned out to be quite…
Headshots-III
More coworkers got brave enough to step into my amazing hallway studio for a head shot.
Some Vials and a Box
I often do not know exactly what I’m rendering. I just try to make things look good. Unfortunately, our products will never look like this on our web site. Our “real” real product shots are required to have a pure white background and a reflective white foreground à la outdated Apple ads, but this is…
Boof Strikes Again
This is so much fun! I set up my photo booth at an event at work yesterday. Once again, the results do not disappoint. Who can resist self-portraits like these? (Yes, we occasionally do have some fun at work.) Photo Booth continues to amaze me. I have never found a better way to get nearly…
It’s official!
After years of helping people for free, I finally started my consultancy. I hope to offer lots of services, (Linux, 3D design, photography, etc.) but my first four customers are all paying for Linux and web work. A great start! No, I’m not leaving my full-time job. I love the people at Thermofisher – some…
The Cawleys
The photo booth brings out the whacky side of my boss and his family during a shoot for this year’s Christmas card.
Coworkers
I volunteered to shoot headshots of my coworkers a few weeks ago. Having never actually done such a thing, I realized that I’d better learn how. So, I watched a couple of YouTube videos, bought an inexpensive studio flash and umbrella, and set it up in our office hallway, where the Venetian plaster walls seemed…