"While I have always worked hard at my lighting for people photography from portraits to glamour, to editorial, this job made me focus on the products first and the models second."
Community Photo Challenge-Shooting "Your Home Town"
What's the Difference: Amateur vs. Professional
Creating IMPACT With Your Work is Key
Is "Getting It Right In The Camera" Even Possible?
This is not an editing how-to post. But it is a little bit of a wake up call to remind us all that with a very slight bit of what I call "polishing", we can make improvements that we simply were never able to do in my film days. There were the usual filters we could stack in front of our lenses but we had no control over the amount of any filtration effect.
The "Weirdness" of a Lens, Any Lens
Fast forward to a great little DIY fix for this situation. Can’t read a label? In the hotel shower and you can’t read the labels to know which is the shampoo and which is the conditioner since they look exactly alike?
Here’s the trick: Make yourself a small aperture to view through, even without your glasses. Make one of those “A-OK” signs with your hand, a loose fist, with your finger closed inside of your thumb. Then make the hole smaller and smaller and smaller, until there is barely an opening to see through….then look through that as you read a label, newsprint, or the like. Put your eye right up against the tiny little opening and you won’t believe how sharp things will appear to you.
The Portfolio - Never a Second Chance
The Ever-changing Weather, Canadian Rockies Workshop
The World of PRE-touching Your Images
Consider the image in which there is an exposure issue. Of course with today's high res RAW files we can correct enormous changes in exposure with controls available in post-production. But the habit of doing so and the time invested are two of the main reasons to make the correction at the time of capture. For each image you open in Photoshop to edit, you'll double or triple the time IF you have to continually make global adjustments for the exposure or color balance.
18% Gray - The Middle Value
By definition 18% gray is the “mid-point between black and white on a logarithmic or exponential curve.” Think of it this way; it is simply halfway between black and white. It is the average in terms of scene brightness and has for many years been the one constant thing that photographers use on which to base their exposures on.
It's Always About Quality
I see there is an intense desire for producing quality work that I see in everyone who is successful in photography as well as in any career. I'm referring to quality of the product you produce of course, but I am also talking about the quality of the marketing materials you use, the quality of your equipment, the quality of the people you surround yourself with, your "brand" quality, everything.
The Subtle Use of Flash Outdoors
Working with flash outdoors is more popular now than ever. And there are a few different ways you can make your images appear by simply understanding the controls that are available to you. Consider the background as a highly important aspect of the picture and look at how it's brightness affects the image.
