by successfulbob | photography - art quote, photography education
Good morning.
I’m in Murfreesboro this AM watching a wonderful presentation with David Peters at the Tennessee Professional Photographers Association’s annual convention Photo Extreme 2015. What a splendid amount of information and wonderful thoughts and emotion are being shared. If you EVER get the opportunity to see David speak… DO IT!
This is one of the quotes from the program that resonated with me from the artistic standpoint.
“Light is the hero in a photograph.” David Peters
This is something I try to share with new, and old, photographers on a regular basis. I think these seven words explain it so well what makes for good, solid and artful photography. Best to you this Sunday.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
David Peters speaking at Photo Extreme
by successfulbob | imaging competition, photography - art quote, photography competition, photography education
Thanks to Karl Mullings, a photographer in Flagstaff, Arizona, for this reminder of a quote from one of his and my mentors, Donald Jack.
It came up in a forum post about how a photographer wouldn’t participate in Imaging Competition run by Professional Photographers of America. This almost 30 year photographer claims that their reward comes from hugs and referrals to other clients and there is no need to receive any other acclaim.
I now take you to the quote from Donald…
“If you have nothing to compare something to, then what you have in front of you is the very best that it can be.” ~Donald Jack
I applaud every photographer in their efforts to become better in whatever way they can. I suggest that using the PPA system of Competition accelerates that growth. When a photographer competes against themselves and push themselves through PPA’s competition system with peers they see an incredible leap in the depth and dimension of their imagery…. I’ve seen it time and time again.
Why does that matter? “Clients are happy with the photographs I supply them.”
Better photography. It translates to more and larger sales and being able to raise prices along with opportunities to create press releases and social marketing pieces that give more credence to someone looking to choose a photographer, not to mention staying front of mind in your community.
What are you waiting for? Give it a shot and see how fast your image making skills grow.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix Lounge, photography gear
SD Cards
What speed should I be looking for??
Got word that the Lumix call center has been receiving a number of calls from people who are confused about which SD cards are recommended for which models. In the past “Class 10” were regarded as the fastest out there. The link below shows the speed of each type of card.
Most important numbers to look for when choosing an SD Card for cameras. The write speed.
Also, most people are not aware that SD cards have three speed ratings – Read, Write and Copy. The fastest speed, usually quoted, is the READ speed. The WRITE speed is the important one to consider when selecting a card.
https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/speed
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | cloud photography, Lumix G7, Lumix Lounge, panorama, photography
I dig clouds!
This time of year Arizona can lay out a pretty nice palette for us to enjoy. It’s called monsoon season and thunderheads will pop up in the afternoon and put on a show. I gather all kinds of cloud formations for use in my artwork. I decided to challenge the Lumix G7 (new baby brother to the GH4) to see how well it could do in capturing some panoramic photos of the sky in camera. In the past I’ve found that sometimes the lack of definition in sky scenes made it difficult and I would find stitching errors there occasionally. So I shot some soft cloud formations and some harder edged formations and here’s what happened…
I really thought that the camera might have problems with the lack of definition with this panoramic cloud capture. No problem at all!
Overall did a great job on this one. There was one small area on the left that I had to look hard to find a small stitching error that was easily rectified with the Patch Tool from Adobe Photoshop
Here was another that had an error. It was off to the right and was in the transition area from bright clouds to very dark clouds. After a quick crop this is what’s left.
And, not to forget that the camera can create panoramas in different directions. No stitch errors on this or about 10 other files I let the G7 create.
My overall thoughts on the new panorama stitching in the G7 gets high marks. I always recommend using good camera technique. I point my body to the direction where I want to end up. Then using stomach muscles turn back to the start of the panorama and slowly pivot using the stomach to make the movement to capture the image. If it is a very important pano I will always shoot it several times just in case. Many times an in camera stitching error can be traced to operator error of not capturing the scene smoothly. Even though you can play back the panoramic image at a larger size on the camera you might miss small errors that wouldn’t show up in another pass with the camera.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | architectural photography, commercial photography, Lumix GH4, photography, photography gear, photography lighting resources
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?
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
