Greg Skaz is an interesting photographer that I discovered recently. A lot of his work that I enjoy the most is commercial in nature, and captures different aspects of the firearms industry and community. Given the commercial nature of his work, and the watermarks and editing that go along with that work, Greg Skaz uses a Canon DSLR. Which model exactly, I am not sure of. I saw a photo of the backside of his DSLR and it looked somewhat similar to my roommate's EOS 60D. It may be an older model, but I know that he works with high end Canon DSLR's. Many of his photos are probably taken using a macro lens given the incredibly high level of detail, and I would imagine he uses a wide aperture so that more of the image can be in focus. A lot of his work is done in a studio, which is evident by the highly controlled lighting and background in his first two photos. The second photo in particular was clearly edited to layer two photos of the same gun-wielding, tattooed, gentleman on top of each other, and then adding the gentleman's signature as a third layer. The photo looks like it may be an HDR shot due to the detail, colors, and contrast. I'm not familiar enough with HDR at this point to ID the photos, but I am guessing this photo is HDR. His final photo was taken outdoors, at what appear to be very high shutter speeds to capture the exact moment a firearm goes off and shows a muzzle flash. He probably shot his DSLR in burst to capture this photo, since it would be very hard to get it in one shot. The fast shutter speed also seems to have affected the brightness of the photo, since there was less time for light to hit the sensor of the DSLR at those speeds.
Greg's work is very heavily focused on firearms, automobiles, and the outdoors. That seems to be the common theme that connects all of his work. As I mentioned previously, much of his work is commercial and as such he goes to great lengths to ensure he captures incredible detail in his closeups of weapons and weapon parts. The studio work, macro shots, and high speed photography seem to be the common styles he uses. He likes to inject a bit of humor into his work to keep things light, so some of his photos may come across as cheeky and lighthearted. In a world where firearms and anything related to them tends to be incredibly serious and often controversial, it is nice to see someone who's work doesn't take the subject too seriously while still exhibiting great quality and technical skill.
Greg's work captures some of my favorite things, guns and outdoorsy things. I think he does some cool stuff with lighting and macro shots. Close-up shots that capture lots of detail are really interesting to me, because they often highlight features of an item that you may not notice using the naked eye... even if you are familiar with the item being photographed. High speed photography is also awesome, in that it shows you things that you can't really process or see with the naked eye at regular speed. The muzzle flash on a rifle is a perfect example. Guns being fired are naturally very loud, bright, and fast. When you shoot a gun or watch one being fired, it all happens so quickly that it overwhelms the senses. You just hear a bang and see a flash. High speed photography unlocks the ability to really see and comprehend what is actually occurring when the trigger on that rifle is pulled. You get to see everything, even the bullet traveling out of the barrel if you time the photo right.
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