Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Technique Tuesday: Best Little Portrait Lesson In The World

Good Morning Everybody,
We made it back home safe and sound from the KPPA Summer Meeting early yesterday evening. You know, I've been in the photo biz for quite a number of years but still feel there is always something new to learn and this weekend wasn't a disappointment. Great information and many exciting new tips and tricks.

Sure, maybe the speakers are a little younger than I am these days but who cares? There are always good ideas flowing from imaginative and energetic minds. It's always good to see what the new kids on the block are implementing into their businesses.

If you're not a member of your local Association, you should really consider joining. It's a great learning experience, and "juices" your creativity as well.

We had lots of things happening while in Lexington these past two days. Great speakers, great photography, and great comeraderie. I did a shoot-out on Sunday evening (along with 4 other photogs) and LaDawn followed along with the Canon 5D Mark II shooting some video from my 2-hour session. I'm going try to turn the shoot into a few Techniqie Tuesdays - we'll see how that goes. I'll also post an image or two from the shoot over the next few days. Anyway, let's get on with today's Technique Tuesday.

Best Little Portrait Lesson In The World

Hey gang, I think I've got a really cool Technique Tuesday for us today. I had something else planned but then stumbled over to the Westcott site while I was browsing the Internet. and I found that they have the video posted that I had completed at the Fresno DWUC tour stop.

Here's the back story. I got a call a few days before we landed in Fresno, CA from FJWescott who wanted to film parts of my DWUC tour showing how I use some of the Wescott products.

I've mentioned it before and I'll mention it again -- I've been a friend of FJWescott products for over 23 years. Tom Waltz, the owner of the company, and I've been friends for just as long. I've always thought that their Halo was the best light modifier on the market.

I've been using it exclusively for portraits since it was introduced 23 years ago. For the tour, I show their new Spiderlite TD5 can be used with the Halo to create a great continuous output portrait light.

Anyway, Marc Blake, a very talented photographer and extremely creative videographer gave me a call so we could make the arrangements for him to come by and shoot some video.

What resulted is a great, informative, short video demonstration on lighting and posing. Even from this impromptu video session I think you get a nice lighting/posing lesson out of this six minute video. I cover all the basics and it's kind of fun to watch - plus you get a quick preview of the tour in case you missed it;~)

Here is the link to my Wescott video right here. Just scroll down and find my video at the bottom of the list. Hey, why are there, you may want to check out the other short videos from a few other famous faces that you may recognize. There's some great information gang. It's definitely worth the visit.

Everybody that's it for me today. We have a very busy week ahead of us. We leave early Thursday for LaDawn's nephew's wedding in Dayton, Ohio happening over the weekend. Don't forget to check in tomorrow for another edition of Booking, Shooting, and Selling the Family Portrait. I'll round out how to prepare the images for client presentation.

I'll plan on seeing everybody bright and early tomorrow, -- David

5 comments:

  1. It is amazing to me how clear you are with your explanations! There is truly a great amount of info in such a short time!

    I must get one of those now...

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  2. Nice video David. I don't remember that demo from the workshop in Seattle.

    I'm liking the look of the spider lights. I'm really thinking I should buy some.

    One thing. You were selling that Z Umbrella or something at the show. That tiny shoot thru. I should have picked up a couple then, but didn't and I can find them anywhere. Can you let me know where to get them. DO I order those from you or somewhere else.

    Gav

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  3. Nice video David. Thanks for sharing.

    Following the program, I picked up one of the Halos, and loaded my speedlite into it. It works great. Which begs the question -- do you ever use this with small strobes?

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  4. David, tried IE and Firefox, the video link isn't working. Hmmm.
    Any ideas? Thanks.

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  5. Great shot from "just breezin", cant understand why the sky is totaly different from that shown of the same shot on tuesday, did you replace the sky?

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