Did a pre-dawn run to help create some marketing images for Red Rock Jeep Tours with the Jane Zane Ad Agency. Worked in a great spot that allowed us to have a view of the red rocks in the background. It was wonderful collaborating with Jane. This is the first time I’ve worked with her and look forward more photo shoots in the future…
Red Rock Jeep Tours jeep in early AM light.
Another view of Red Rock Jeep
Images captured with the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100 f2.8 Lumix Vario glass. Exposure 1/80 sec f9 ISO 200. Multiple images were made to control contrast of the scene and blended together…
Butterflies! Even the name kind of pushes you to run back to childhood. Especially when you walk in and the first thing that happens is a butterfly flutters around your head… and then lands on your nose! Really!
I decided to take the Lumix FZ 1000 because of the long reach, 4K video and fast glass to see what I could see…
This moth caught my eye. The warm tones and patterns with the cool colors toward the center really worked for me.
The long zoom allowed for some really nice bokeh.
A more traditional butterfly capture of a monarch on a flower.
I told you the butterfly came to visit up close and personal. Thanks to fellow visitor Phyllis Pardoll for capturing
the fleeting moment and sending me the quick snap before my visitor departed.
OK you know me and even though nature is beautiful in her own right I had to play to see what I could do to push the patterns of the moth to new places. Let me know what you think!
This is still a work in progress. Experimentation rules!
Comedian Dana Daniels his parrot Luigi were at Sound Bites Grill last week before I left for the PPA Convention Imaging USA in Nashville. Really enjoyed the show and as soon as I got back I got to working on the image for the SBG ‘Wall of Fame’.
Dana Daniels live on stage with Luigi with audience participation.
Dana does a lively and fun show involving the audience at every possible moment to help with the magic or to help as a foil for his humor. A good time was had by all…
Even Luigi. He smiled throughout the entire performance.
Images were made with the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100mm f2.8 Lumix Vario Leica lens. This combo works well. The longer zoom gives plenty of reach to capture the live stage action from across the room. I find it’s important when photographing live events to cover them unobtrusively. The GH4 has plenty of density to encompass the range of harsh lighting conditions caused by the use of LED stage lighting and the 12 frames per second doesn’t hurt for stopping action with juggling objects during the show. Setting were ISO 3200 f2.8 shutter between 1/15 to 1/60th sec in Aperture Priority with an exposure compensation of minus 1 stop to make sure I didn’t loose the highlights in the scene and to account for the black curtains and deep shadows.
Went to dinner with my lovely wife Holly at Sound Bites Grill last night and Wineaux Wednesday was on in full force in Sedona, Arizona. The deal is $10 bucks and allows you taste wine with friends while enjoying live music and Tapas from 5PM to 7PM.
But what does that have to do with photography Bob??
Glad you asked! I also brought along my camera with a funky lens to play with from LENSBABY. They sent me the f3.5 5.8mm, 185° Circular Fisheye lens to check out.
Here’s a capture of the SBG Wall of fame. I create images of the performers for posterity (and decor!) in an
artistic fashion for the restaurant. Here it is in all it’s micro 4/3rds Fisheye glory.
This lens is made for getting in close. Make sure your performer knows they’ll have a camera really close in their face. it helps to be
the house photographer to have the access to performers during live stage shows. Don’t try this without permission.
Using the ‘Flairability’ of the Fisheye to add some interest to this live stage shot of Eric Miller guitarist extraordinaire.
“OK Bob, how can this lens make me money?” In my case I grabbed the owners and set them up
on stage with Eric to create an image to help promote the wine and entertainment event at the restaurant.
You need some time with the 5.8mm Fisheye to learn to see how it sees. It is quite unique and takes a bit of getting used to to know when it might be just the ticket to set something apart. I mounted this on the Lumix GH3. With the micro 4/3rds sensor size we loose just a bit of the fisheye circle which I actually like. If you get this lens for the full frame DSLR cameras you’ll have the complete fisheye circle.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – If you want to hear some wonderful guitar playing and are not near Sedona you can find out more about Eric Miller’s music here. (I highly recommend hi CD ‘Eclectic Vibe’ subtitled Elevator Music for Cool People. It’s awesome. You have to email Eric to get it. It’s not on his web site right now…
The clouds led to some interesting lighting conditions when I drove up the hill overlooking West Sedona so I popped out to see if it would translate into a cool photograph. What I saw in my mind was not what I was able to capture in my camera but it wasn’t terrible.
This is the color ‘straight version. I liked the play of light and shadow but thought there was more there with a little artwork.
Using a couple NIK Color FX filters (Glamour Glow & Old Time Photo) I feel like this image was made many years ago and
could work as a decor piece for a business that caters to a more timeless vision of Sedona.
The panorama was made from 7 photos with the camera held in the vertical position and stitched in Adobe Photoshop. Manual settings including focus and exposure on the Lumix GH4 made it easier to stitch the pano. The lens was the Lumix 35-100mm f2.8. With the stitching I ended up with a 150MB file which can be printed pretty darn large.
Yesterday I shared the images I entered at the Arizona Professional Photographers Association annual convention. Today I’ll show the awards I received as part of the competition and talk about the marketing value for business.
Emil Eger Photographer of the Year Award for high scoring print case (341 out of 400)
First Place in Masters Portrait, Commercial and Illustrative categories.
American Society of Photographers Award for High scoring image by an ASP member.
AZPPA Top Ten Award for the 15th time in 16 years
OK Bob, big deal, how can this be used in marketing?
I am excited to have earned these designations and will proudly display them in my studio. This is for marketing purposes and what I call a ‘stick’ for when clients walk through the door to be photographed. When people make decisions to spend money they ALWAYS want to be reassured that they have made a good choice on where they’ve decided to spend their hard earned dollars. Seeing the awards gives people more confidence in my skills. Almost everyone comments on my award case… in a good way. Thus they will ‘stick’ with me because of the positive reinforcement of seeing the awards.
Tomorrow I’ll follow up on the next step in making the winning of awards really pay when we chat about press releases.
By the way, as an aside for people who are still on the fence about the quality of Lumix cameras and the micro 4/3rds format… Four of the six images were captured with my Panasonic gear and they scored the highest of my entries.
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.
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Lightning, waterdroplets, sound, time-lapse, HDR sequences, smiles and much more control for your camera!
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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.
