Here’s a reminder of a way to keep your name in front of your clients. I write a column for the local newspaper sharing with people how to make better photos. The idea is when it comes time for the choice to hire a photographer I’ll be front of mind…
Article on photographing portraits… Note the credit line with links to web sites.
When you share solid information about photography people will realize there is much more to capturing a good image when they try… And when it comes time to hire a pro your name should be at the top of the list.
Just before leaving town to judge images for a week at an International Competition I photographed Sedona restaurant Sound Bites Grill who hosted Rockin’ guitarist Jennifer Batten to a packed house. Jennifer has some serious licks! She plays to a sound track that allows her guitar to shine. In addition there’s a video show to accompany each song. If you like great hard rock and blues guitar and you see her coming to town, don’t miss her!
Images were captured with the Lumix GH4 and 35-100mm f2.8 lens ISO 3200 f2.8 1/50 sec. with -2/3 stop exposure compensation in Aperture Priority Mode. The GH4 is able to retain the lighting from LED lights yet still not block up shadows.
Jennifer’s Sound Bites Grill ‘Wall of Fame’ image. This image uses my ‘Photo-Synthesis’ technique of blending Layers and textures.
Batten live on stage during the show with video in background. Used NIK Silver FX Pro 2 for black and white conversion.
Art print from the restaurant of Michael Jackson with Jennifer. See her video below with Jackson for a taste of her hard rockin’ guitar.
He was an artist in his own right as a coach. He was an inspiration to his players and all those he came into contact.
John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the “Wizard of Westwood,” as head coach at UCLA he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period, including an unprecedented seven in a row. Within this period, his teams won a men’s basketball-record 88 consecutive games. Wooden’s streak of seven consecutive NCAA Championships is even more remarkable and impressive due to the fact that to this day no other coach or school has won the tournament more than two consecutive years.
You ask, “Wait a minute Bob! What does a basketball coach have to do with photograph and art?”
“Make each day your masterpiece.” John Wooden
It has to do with art & photography because Wooden was an incredible motivator and being motivated is an important part of creating great art. Think about how you can stay at the top of your game. That’s one reason I keep looking toward short quotes to keep motivation front of mind. Here’s a few more from the coach…
“Nothing will work unless you do.“
“Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.“
Look for inspiration in, and out, of photography. It’s a big world out there…
We had the Lumix Luminary gathering over the last couple days where we get together and share ideas, techniques and new information about the Lumix cameras and their capabilities. They were long days but very productive. We broke into teams and created some videos together. Video not being my number one priority in my business I learned a lot. Saw quite a few ways to add some value for my stills clients through using video and some new ideas that were introduced.
Here we are working on the beach. I’m getting the audio ready for the shoot and Armed with an FZ 1000 on one shoulder and a GH4 on the other. Image capture with the new Lumix G7 f8.0 200 ISO 1/640 sec It was shot by Dan using Tom’s G7 and 14-140 lens. He imported into his phone and messed with it using Snapseed. Added an HDR Scape layer and a Drama layer then used the Vertical Perspective under Transform and may have adjusted tone a bit..
(I’ll be sharing some work and features shortly from the G7. Pretty powerful camera!)
Sometimes as photographers running a one-man show our world can become a little insulated. Having an intense couple days with colleagues working and sharing ideas can be a great infusion of energy. Even if you can’t get together with a group like this I highly recommend at least getting together with a couple photographers and go out and shoot together for a couple hours. Then have a cup of coffee or an adult beverage or two. The relationships that you build doing things like this are wonderful!
Still working on photographing the Phoenix Airport Hilton after their eight million dollar refurbishing of the property.
It was great working with the staff while on the photo shoot. Everyone was as helpful as possible in getting the areas set for the photography. This makes the shooting day go better, smoother and leads to better photographs.
Sales manager Mike Manginelli was great in letting me know specifically what he was looking for. We were able to shoot to the IPad from the Lumix GH4 using the built in WIFI and Panasonic Image APP (free download) so he could see exactly what the camera saw as we worked out angles and ideas.
A bonus in operating and controlling the camera from the IPad (or IPhone or Android device) is when making multiple exposures to handle lighting situations with bracketing the camera is not touched. This allows for exact registration for blending various exposures using Adobe’s Photoshop Layers and Masks.
The Saguaro Room set for a reception.
Exterior night image.
Ballroom set for meeting.
Another bonus to shooting from a remote system is being able to ‘paint the room’ with multiple pops of a flash and see the results as you go. These images are blended into the final scene adding light where necessary to fill shadows or creativity for esthetic reasons to add interest. I used a Paul C Buff light with a strip light box attached and a Vagabond battery pack to stay mobile. The Buff wireless triggers complete the remote set-up.
I’ve found the ability to ‘light my images’ with multiple exposures has made my shooting more efficient giving a better quality image to my clients. I spend more time in post production but my clients time is not wasted and I’m able to get the property rooms back online so there is little revenue loss when I photograph.
How do you work your interior and architectural shoots?
For infrared conversion of my cameras I use LifePixel. Infrared allows you to put an older camera to use and opens up a new time time of day for productive image creation.
Learn Photoshop in a fun environment. Aaron Nace applies the right amount of fun with easy to understand and follow tutorials. Actions and brushes are included with lessons!
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Platypod has become a great resource for being creative in getting your camera gear easily into unusual places. As an Platypod Pro I get to work/play with the gear even before it comes out. Head over to Platypod, subscribe to the newsletter and you will get special discounts reserved only for subscribers.
