If you’ve been following me for very long you know I’m a big fan of self-assignments to grow skills and earn new business. As a matter of fact, in putting together programs to teach other photographers about this I came to the realization that I’ve built a large part of my career by doing just that. I’ve built skill sets and gained new clients by giving myself a project as if I was the client. What kind of things?? Things like designing an art piece featuring a business or designing a magazine cover or line of T-shrts. Then taking the resulting work to the potential client and often ended up with pay for doing work I did to learn. At the very least, even if the client didn’t buy that piece of work, they were made aware of my capabilities. In addition, I would enter the resulting images in Competition and sometimes be fortunate enough to win an award or two and generate press release opportunities.
Which brings us to today’s Photo/Art Quote which I think shows you that even if you get no work it’s a great way to jump start your creativity.
“Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.” (Elizabeth Gilbert)
Sponsored Speaking Program Available
If you are part of a photo group looking for inspired speaking programs I am available. As a Panasonic Lumix Luminary sponsorship is available to eliminate or cut down the cost of having the presentation. Check on the seminars page for more information about this program or others available or give me a call to chat about options and possibilities.
Always found myself interested in time lapse imagery. The Netflix Original series House of Cards show intro brought back the ‘want’ to try to create some of my own. The short time lapse clips used were quite captivating! I had held back in the past because the techniques were too cumbersome and software was a bit of a PIA to manipulate to get some good results. For most cameras you had to have a separate timing gizmo (called an intervalometer if you need one) for a camera to capture your images and be able to program it properly.
Fast Forward to today
Like many things there have been some incredible changes happening in camera technology. Most of the newer Lumix cameras (and other brands and cell phones) have the time lapse capture built right in. You can easily program the camera to capture X number of images at X seconds for X number of captures. The camera will tell you the time the shooting will be completed. OK here’s the really wonderful part. The camera will even process the images into a finished time lapse giving you many choices of quality, size, number of frames per second and output format. This takes a lot of the hassle out of creating time lapses. Now you can use that as a finished file or take it to an editing program like Adobe Premiere Pro to add some more action.
Here’s the Time Lapse
Cloud Time Lapse captured 700+ images with one image every three seconds. Processed in camera at 24 frames per second.
Final Time Lapse Video Thoughts for Today
Used the Lumix GX8 with the 7-14mm f4 Vario lens. Couple of things to think about when setting up the capture. How often should you fire the frame? Subject matter and speed of moving objects need to be considered. Manual or Aperture Priority exposure? How many frames are needed? How long do you want the finished video to run. We’ll talk about these settings and processing in a day or two.
I had an assignment from a game of Survivor we are playing in the Arcanum (a place of growing your photography skills at your own pace with a group of like minded folks. Click the link for a peek under the Arcanum’s hood)
The assignment was to shoot a self portrait to help share a bit of who you are. So I decided to make it a learning experience. Here’s the thought process I went though.
First I wanted to give people an idea of how busy it can be in my head. So the title became ‘Under the Hood’.
Let’s see what’s under the hood in Bob’s Brain…
Set up the photo
Start with a solid head and shoulders studio self portrait. Main light forward and bounced off the wall to get a large source with medium contrast. Two strip light soft boxes with egg-crate grids attached were set to camera left and right slightly behind pointing to skim and add separation and spice to the look. Lumix GH4 camera with the 42.5mm 1.2 Nocticron lens mounted on a tripod with the Wifi activated allowing camera control from my IPhone. I use Paul C Buff lights and modifiers because of the good value, selection and great service when needed.
On to the Photo Art
Original concept was to have a zipper peeling back from my forehead to allow the reveal. After some experimentation that didn’t feel like it was going in the direction I wanted. Next thought was to cut off the top of the head and tilt it back but that made it difficult to show what was coming out of the head. Finally, on the third try I took the top of the head and tilted it to the left and got the base image for which I was looking.
Adding Photo Elements to Tell the Story
Then the search was on to search for and create elements that were to tell the story. Inverse square law. Brain. Smoke brushes. Neon signage. “Wait I’ve got an idea, a light bulb went on in my head.” Textures for blending element together. All images were layered in Adobe Photoshop using various blend modes. You can see the Layers and their Masks used to put this together. Got a question? Give me a shout…
Photoshop Layer stack showing Layers and masks…
Hope this inspires you to take a project and push yourself to a new limit.
Valerie Romanoff is a musician that shares her time between New York & Sedona and we have started working together to create images for her social media campaigns and possibly CD covers. Learn more about Valerie and her NY gig… Starlight Orchestras
I also photographed Valerie over in Cottonwood at the Main StageTheatre where she sat in with the Bottom Line Band who host the Bottom Line Jam on Thursday nights.
Here’s a few images from there…
Main Stage dance floor in Cottonwood, Arizona
Band and dancers at Main Stage
Valerie with Bottom Line
Sax man!
Guitar with Valerie
Valerie belting one out
Live performance photos were made with the new Lumix GX8 12-35mm f2.8 and 7-14mm f4 lenses. Kicked in a little fill light with an on camera speed light with diffuser bounced in as the stage lighting was really spotty
Red berries interlaced with green and red leaves topped with a coat of snow grabbed my attention and put me in the holiday mode. Had a wee bit of snow yesterday which is a relatively rare occurrence here in Sedona. I had my Lumix GX8 with me and grabbed an image that put me in the season spirit. Add a little Photoshop Bevel & Emboss, a canvas texture and some text with a Bevel and Emboss with a soft Drop Shadow to, as they used to say in the Playtex bra commercials, ‘lift and separate’ it from the background…
Happy Holidays to you and yours for the rest of this year and deep into the next!
I feel so fortunate that I am able to make a living creating imagery and being able to share thoughts & ideas with you. If you get the chance take a little time each day and think about all the wonderful things that are happening in your life. Cheers!
It’s a new learning platform put together by photographer Trey Ratcliff of Stuck in Customs fame and a few others. You apply to be an apprentice in the Arcanum and a Master will ask you to join his or her group called a Cohort. You have challenges to meet and along with the rest of the group’s support and feedback you increase your photography skills at your own pace. You can find out more by clicking on the link.
And now to the rest of the story for today. As a side event within the Arcanum a team of masters and a team of apprentices are facing off in a Survivor type environment of photography challenges and teamwork. Images are scored each for each challenge and the highest scoring team gains immunity and the losing team sends a member home. It’s a fun little exercise and is pushing people to be creative. We were given the challenge to create an image based on a swimsuit. Being at a loss to find a model I created something quite different from the expected with a self portrait.
Here are the comments of the judge, Luke Ballard…
Video of my critique by Luke (BTW highest score is three)
As my wife said, “It pays to not take yourself too seriously!” She got quite a laugh out of this when she discovered me putting this together in my studio. She even had a hand in helping with the styling as she remembered a hat I bought on vacation in Cedar Key, Florida. Here are some of the outtakes from putting this together.
I used the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100mm f2.8 lens with a single Paul C Buff flash head bounced off the wall camera left. I used the Wifi connected to my IPhone to see what the camera was seeing and operated the camera remotely. Then, since my wife was there laughing, I put her to work triggering the shutter with the phone so I wouldn’t have to remove the phone in post production.
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.
Fotopro tripods are well worth checking out. You can learn about the ones I use and recommend by clicking on the Fotopro Tripods link at the top of this page. If you want to see what other tripods might fit your needs check out the Fotopro.com website. Check back with me before you buy as a Fotopro Ambassador I’m able to get you discounted pricing including complementary continental USA shipping for my followers that you won’t find through retail outlets.
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!
Lightning, waterdroplets, sound, time-lapse, HDR sequences, smiles and much more control for your camera!
Cameras Get Smarter -
A High Speed Smart Camera Remote
Best embroidery ever. Give Queensboro a try, get a $20 instant credit to get started by clicking on the logo! They specialize in great quality custom logo apparel and promotional products with the best customer service.
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.
“Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.” (Elizabeth Gilbert)
