by successfulbob | Guest Post, marketing, Marketing Monday, photography, photography marketing
Waiting for Your Ship to Come In
Marketing Monday with Skip Cohen
I’ve used this quote by Ross Perot in other posts, because it’s so relevant.
“Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one-yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touchdown.
If I ask a group of photographers about advertising, somebody will always say, “We tried it once, but it didn’t work!” Ask some people about trying some different lenses or shooting wide open for a different look and you’ll hear almost the same, “I’ve tried it, but my clients like the look I have!” Ask them to move the lights in the studio, the ones that are put in the same spot every day on the masking tape on the floor, and you’ll get almost the same response.
Empty Dock just waiting for a ship…. or a boat – © Bob Coates
Well, what if those photographers are all standing on Ross Perot’s one yard line? What if they just needed to run that ad a few more times for people to contact them? What if they only needed a little more patience?
Trust me, I know it’s tough waiting for your ship to come in. But I’ve seen so many photographers who were able to stay focused, stay aggressive in their marketing efforts and believe in themselves and things did come together.
It’s all about taking action, being patient and not giving up. And since Ross Perot put me on the one yard line, might as well stay with a football theme and give Vince Lombardi the spotlight:
“It’s easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you’re a winner, when you’re number one. What you’ve got to have is faith and discipline when you’re not yet a winner!”
Skip Cohen has been involved in the photographic industry his entire career and previously served as President of Rangefinder/WPPI and earlier, Hasselblad USA. He founded SkipCohenUniversity.com in 2013. Skip is a co-host for “Mind Your Own Business” and “Beyond Technique,” webcasts through Photofocus.com, writes for several publications including Shutter Magazine and is actively involved in several advisory boards for non-profit organizations.
by successfulbob | Lumix G9, musician photography, people photography, photography
Sound Bites Grill Entertainer
Gaelle Buswell
Great Show
First I want to say what a great show it was at Sound Bites Grill in Sedona, AZ. I photograph musicians at this venue on a regular basis, and it’s a great space. Gaelle is from France, and she brought her A game with her for the performance. I look forward to a return engagement should it happen to come this way.
Gaelle Buswell Live on stage at Sound Bites
Photographing a Live Performance
I want to talk to you about capturing images from a live performance. In the studio, you have control of the lighting, posing, and expression of your subject. Not so much when the performers are live on stage. The lighting is what the lighting is, and while it was set for a specific place on stage, the entertainers often are moving in and out of the preset light pattern. Expressions can be all over the place with closed eyes, weird mouth positions, and strange body positions. To get the best captures that are flattering to the subject you need to study the movements of the performer before beginning to photograph. If you do this, you will start to notice what type of body language will happen with certain kinds of songs. When does the performer close their eyes? And better yet when will they be open? Where is the light best? The study will get you more and better images than if you just start firing away.
Processing the Files
Once you have the capture, it’s time to finesse it in post-processing. There are always improvements to be made. Control of the highlight and shadows. Getting the best color for the situation can be a bit of work because of the LED lighting not having a full spectrum. This can give some bizarre color tones on the skin, and even if everything else is excellent, an unflattering skin tone can kill a shot. Many times I will double process an image and combine. One copy is prepared for the background and the other for the skin tones. Using Layer in Photoshop and adding Masks allow complete control.
Original image of Gaelle after ACR Process and before tweaks
You can compare the image above with the photo on the top of this post. You will see with a little dodging and burning along with a tiny bit of cloning there are fewer distractions from the performer. Let me know if you can see what the differences are. There are five.
Black and White
I always process out my images to black and white. One is for my clients use in PR situations. Providing BW images will lead to better quality in print, especially newspapers rather than letting the Paper just do a desaturation. The other reason is viewing a black and white image tells you if your tonal values are on because you are not distracted by the color.
Gaelle in black and white
Camera Gear
As always I am using Lumix Micro 4/3rds camera gear. The camera is Lumix G9 with the LUMIX G X VARIO LENS, 35-100MM, F2.8 ASPH Instead of using the Leica f2.8-4.0 12-60mm when I am shooting in scenes with this much contrast and moving performers I want the speed and control f2.8 of the fixed aperture lens.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | landscape photography, Lumix G9, photography creativity, photography gear
Interpreting the Red Rocks – Juuuust a Little Different
If you have followed this blog and my work for any length of time you know that I often like to take my images further than a ‘straight’ photograph. I have found a weird thing while working on this process. There are times to get a certain look you need to make what I would normally consider a ‘bad’ photograph. One that is either under or overexposed to create the vision in your using certain textures.
Here’s a case in point. The density range for this image was huge in that I was shooting the flower in the shade and the background was in full sun. I originally bracketed this scene to get a ‘correct’ exposure. I processed that, but when I went to work, I found that I had better results with the image that was a single exposure rather than having all the detail that Aurora HDR 2018 software would provide.
Here is one of the bracketed images slightly over-exposed. Little to no detail in the sky.
The little to no detail in the sky gives the texture a chance to shine. I used texture from a small section of an old painting in various blend modes to achieve the image below.
Here is my artistic rendition of the image.
I think the plain image needed some help other than making a full range of tones visible. I work photos in many different ways before I find the vision for which I was looking.
Here is the Photoshop Layers Palette from the image above. Note: all Layers had a different blend mode applied and Masks were used to extract or cover the information I did or didn’t want.
Lumix G9 with the Leica DG Vario-ELMARIT Professional Lens, 12-60MM, F2.8-4.0 was used for this capture. The fully articulating screen is helpful when framing an image where the camera is low to the ground. Saves getting down to try and look through the viewfinder and also save work in the laundry for clothes that have been doused in dirt!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Guest Post, Lumix G9, travel photography
Porto, Portugal – Guest Post Part Two
by Ken MacAdams
Ken is a traveling man and uses Lumix gear during his travels. Ken will share some of his travel photography and stories here on Successful-Photographer as he has in the past. Ken’s camera of choice is Panasonic’s flagship stills camera the Lumix G9 with the Leica DG Vario-ELMARIT Professional Lens, 12-60MM, F2.8-4.0
If you want to start at the beginning here’s part one.
Heeeeere’s Ken again!
We made a day trip out into the beautiful, hilly, wine region to the east of Porto. Vineyards cling to the sometimes steep hillsides bordering the meandering Douro River. Old World cities cling to these hillsides also, as the narrow road snakes its way inland. We stopped at one of the vineyards along the way for a tour and wine tasting experience. A narrow road switch-backed us from the river side to the establishment set high up on the hillside. Views up and down the river valley revealed terraced vines as far as the eye could see. Inside, the guide explained the different types of port wines – white, red, tawny, and rose. For the different varieties of grapes there is a different aging processes for the wines, with some aged in wooden casks, others in bottles. We were led deep underground, into their wine cellar, and allowed to walk between rows of neatly stacked wooden casks. Another area housed thousands of bottles of port wine, all quietly aging away! Climbing back up from the cellar, we entered a tasting room, where several different varieties were uncorked for our sampling.
Rural vineyards as far as the eye can see
All Images in this post © Ken MacAdams
Douro Valley vineyards with the town of Sabrosa in the background
Back in the 1700’s, the wines processed inland by the different vintners was transported downriver to Porto in large casks on Rabelo boats, small river-going boats. The casks were stored in warehouses along the river in Porto, called “lodges”. The port wine often aged here for years before being loaded onto ocean going ships which transported them primarily to England, or to final markets in Europe. Modern dams on the river make this shipping process impossible today. Many of the original “lodges” in Porto along the river have been converted into wine tasting establishments. You can still see replicas of the historic boats, complete with wine casks, in many of the old riverside cities that dot the banks of the Douro River, as well as in the Ribeira district in Porto.
The River Douro with vineyards clinging to the hillsides
It was late in the night when we returned to Porto, but our travel experiences up through the Douro Valley were priceless. We’d seen history, tasted the famous Port wines, and walked among the vineyards. We could have easily stayed in a villa back in the valley, but other destinations in Portugal beckoned.
Ken MacAdams – “I grew up with a darkroom in my basement…so all the old film skills were my friend when 
digital came on the scene. Funny thing happened…photography just got more interesting as digital posed new challenges! While I loved the characteristic sounds and smells of the old wet-process darkroom days, I wouldn’t go back!”
Ken has always loved to travel, so when he made a common connection with the fact that either a long day pounding the streets of some foreign city, or shooting the last dance at a wedding, a good part of his physical weariness came from lugging around my big heavy DSLR. That’s when he started looking at alternatives – and ended up selecting Panasonic Lumix Micro Four Thirds gear.
Ken is rarely without a camera, and the next great photo travel experience – whether local or abroad – is always in the back of his mind! A longtime resident of the Four Corners, and when he’s not out on the road, he enjoys some of the great outdoor opportunities found there – mountain biking, hiking, and Jeeping.
by successfulbob | photography
Sedona, Arizona Hiking
Photos and Preferred Gear
I’m always told how lucky I am to live in a beautiful place. Living in Sedona gives me some wonderful chances to make images that are just a bit different than others. Different is good. It attracts attention because of the red rocks and scenery. BUT, the beautiful view does not guarantee a beautiful photo. It only ensures a superb photo opportunity.
It’s about light, composition, shadow and more
I often remind people to remember that it is about the light. It’s about the composition. It’s about the shadows. It’s about all of these things and more. All of these items when appropriately assembled into frame take a beautiful scene and make it memorable. Do I always accomplish this? Hell no! But, lots of the fun is in the trying.
Here are a couple of images from hikes a couple days ago. These are from Bell Rock Vista in the Village of Oak Creek just south of Sedona where the red rocks reaching to the heavens begin. Think of the Grand Canyon upside down.
Here is the middle exposure from a bracket
With the image above we have detail in the shadows and the highlights, but overall it appears flat and relatively uninteresting even though it is a beautiful subject. I photographed a five-stop exposure bracket because I knew there wouldn’t be enough exposure range in a single capture due to the deep shadow area and the sunlit highlights.
Using two separate exposures and blending with Aurora HDR 2018
Post-processing Rocks!
The processed image above was more as the eye would see it. The eye’s pupil opens and closes depending upon the amount of light it is viewing. We have more detail and color in the shadow areas and better color and detail in the sunlit area including the sky. In my opinion, the image only begins with the capture in camera. Post-processing is necessary to complete the vision and to show the scene as the artist wishes it.
Tiny flowers with a skim of sunlight caressing the blooms
See the Light
The flower image shows how just a small shaft of the sun can highlight a subject and break it away from the background.
My shooting kit for a general walkabout hike is the Lumix G9 with the Leica DG Vario-ELMARIT Professional Lens, 12-60MM, F2.8-4.0 . I also have a * Think Tank Mirrorless Mover 20 belt pack with some extension tubes (used on the flower image above) and an extra battery. Also, sometimes I’ll have an extra lens or two.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
* I’ve had this camera bag for over five years and use it constantly, and it hardly shows any signs of wear and tear.
