by successfulbob | commercial photography, Lumix GH3, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, people photography, photography, photography education, photography gear
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…
by successfulbob | landscape photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education
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.
What ‘Cha think?
YOurs in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix Lounge, marketing, photography, photography competition, photography education, photography marketing, success education
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.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | bird photography, Lumix Lounge, photography
I get a warm feeling in my heart when I see this cold hummingbird…
Humming bird on the feeder during snow in Sedona, Arizona
Why? Because I know the story of how this hummer (AKA ‘little shit’ because he chases away the other birds).
It’s my wonderful wife Holly. She was a big feeder of hummingbirds when we lived in the Virgin Islands to the tune of many pounds of sugar every week. (And may have single handed made it possible for many of the critters to survive after the 18 hour hurricane called Marilyn but that’s another story)
After being stopped, literally, by a hummingbird from cutting back some blooms she thought were past prime in our yard she started hanging a feeder for it after swearing many years ago to not start that again. Now we have four feeders. And because it has been going below freezing she is taking down the feeders after dark, sometimes trudging through the snow, and hanging then at first light.
She’s one special lady my Holly.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix Lounge, photography, photography competition, photography education
Imaging competition has helped me become the photographer I am today. There I’ve said it again and I’ll continue to sing it from the rooftops and encourage every photographer that want to grow, or continue to grow to participate in two to four imaging competitions a year.
I recommend you choose between your local PPA Affiliate, PPA District Competition, International Photographic Competition and the WPPI 8×10 and 16×20 competitions.
Why??
It stretches you to push your image making to a higher level. It makes you aware of minor mistakes in posing and exposure and composition and the awareness works its way into your everyday captures keeping you from having to deal with the mistakes over and over again.
Making better images leads to better sales.
Making better images leads to winning awards which leads to having an excuse/reason to send out press releases which leads to press coverage and name recognition in your community.
I had a conversation with Skip from Skip Cohen University on the Weekend Wisdom Podcast on Sprouting Photographer about Photographic Imaging Competitions. Check it out.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
