Quick Hit Monday: Upcoming Photography Workshops; Lighting Tutorials; Top 10 Wedding Photogs; & Publishing Your Own Book - Really

Good Morning Everybody,
Well, we had a pretty lazy weekend and spent most of the time taking care the loose ends that have accumulated over the last several weeks. This week get back to work. I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things at the studio. At least the day-to-day pace should slow down just a bit since were not traveling the four cities each week.

I checked my notes and thought, "Wow, We got a lot of stuff to cover a Quick Hit Monday." So, let's get right to it.

Upcoming Photography Workshops
Hey folks, I wanted to let you know about the upcoming Kentucky Professional Photographers Association - KPPA - summer meeting coming up next weekend June 21, 22, 23. We have another great lineup of talent including Michael and Tina Timmons. Michael was named Mideast States Photographer of the Year this past January. I have to say that his work was awesome. Hit this link and scroll to the bottom of the page to see what I talking about - you will be blown away!

The association is also trying something new at the Summer Conference. There are five of us going to break out all the attendees into smaller groups for a hands-on shooting workshop experience. You have an opportunity to learn in-studio lighting or working with babies and children or working with seniors, finding the light or creating the perfect image. This is an excellent learning opportunity with some of the BEST in a really small group setting. I'm looking forward to the meeting . This is one not to miss -- I hope to see lots of you there. Here is the link to all the KPPA information.

Top 10 Wedding Photogs Just Named By American Photo For 2009
Congrats and high fives to my blogging buddy Matt Adcock. His wedding studio, Del Sol [link] -along with Matt was named one of the top 10 wedding studios in the country by American Photo magazine. I guess I must have been #11 and just missed the list again ;~)

Anyway, here is the link to the story and the other 9 wedding photogs.

Matt also runs FlashFlavor.com and features several the images from his wedding shoots on the site. David Hobby, the Strobist, also features much of Matt's work as well [link].

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Quantum Lighting Tutorials
I was cruising the net last week looking for some links to Friday's post entitled "Party Shadows [link]." Quantum, as you know is my equipment choice when it comes to the off-camera flash. As I mentioned in Friday's post I prefer their Quantum T5d flash and their FreeWire radio receivers and transmitters.

Anyway, while cruising their site I saw that they had several tutorials on how to get the most out of their equipment. They are posted under "QFlash Academy" - here is the link. They are up to a grand total of 10 right now and they are all professionally produced by my good buddy Will Crockett. If you're a quantum user or considering picking up some quantum gear for your off-camera flash, I recommend a peek at those tutorials.

More Lighting Tutorials
Another site I like to check from time to time is entitled Lighting-Essentials.com. They have a lot of solid information on the site and it's nice to make the occasional visit to see what's new. Check out this link right here to an excellent tutorial on how to balance off camera flash and ambient lighting for portraiture outdoors. We cover a lot of these techniques right here at DigitalProTalk but sometimes it's nice to have just a different perspective. I invite you to take a cruise over to Lighting-Essentials.com and check out their site -- it's a nice visit.

Shooting Tethered With the Canon 5D Mark II
I was all over my Google Reader this weekend since I had a little extra time to kill. Boy, that's a statement that sure hasn't worked into my vocabulary for quite a while. Anyway, once in a while I like to visit is John Nack's site - John Nack On Adobe [link]. I've mentioned John's site previously many times and I still like to stop by just to see what he's up to when it comes to anything Photoshop and Adobe.

One of his links lead to another and before long I was over Lightroom-News.com reading how to shoot tethered with my Canon 5D Mark II. I've done this many times at my Photoshop World Pre-Con meetings but have always used the Canon software and Canon's radio transmitter to accomplish the job. By the way I love the new transmitter for the Canon 5D Mark II [link]. What makes this tutorial fascinating is that it goes through the steps to show you how to shoot tethered and go right into Lightroom.

There are not many of us doing these kind of things but for those of us that are this article is a nice resource on the subject. Here is the link.

Time To Publish Your First Book
Okay, this is a rather interesting round-about way I stumbled upon this website. Many of you know that I'm on Twitter under DigitalProTalk but I haven't "tweeted" very often since I'm still figuring out how to best use it for DigitalProTalk. Anyway, I checked over at my account at Twitter and found some "tweets" by my friend and fellow blogger, Neil Creek. Neil and I are both contributors to FineArtPhotoBlog [link]. He had "tweeted" about his new book having just been published over at issuu.com I headed over to check it out and found out, as expected, that it was very well done.

Well, one thing led to the other and before long I was all over issuu.com site checking out what they were up to. Issuu.com is a fascinating proposition for anyone wanting to publish books -- any kind of books -- including a wedding album books.

The site literally lets you upload any PDF file as a single page or a double page document. The use of a clever flash applet makes turning the book pages a nice presentation of images.

LaDawn and I ran some quick tests over the weekend with the software that we use to create our wedding albums. The software lets us save out our multi-page albums as PDFs. I think you can see where I'm going. With the album saved out as a PDF, we can easily upload it to issuu.com and share the album design not only with our bride and her family but any bride who happens to be visiting our website or blog.

I mention this site today because I think it's one of those sites that once we study a bit more deeply, we will find that it offers a lot of interesting possibilities both in featuring our photography and marketing our studio. I invite you to head over to issuu.com [link] and check it out. Rest assured, you're going to hear more about issuu.com from me in the near future.

Wait, There's More
Just when you've seen it all, somebody comes up with a brand-new phone app for the iPhone and the iTouch. One of my photo buddies pointed me to this link. It's an app that lets you control your Canon 5D Mark II with your iPhone or your iTouch. Heck, makes me want to rush out right now and pick up the new iPhone. For all you iPhone aficionados, here is the link.

Hey gang that's it for me today. LaDawn and I are sitting down and wrapping up a few more loose ends from the tour, selecting our next grand prize winner, and getting things geared up for the fall segment of my DigitalWakeUpCall tour. Keep your eyes on DigitalWakeUpCall.com because I know LaDawn is planning to start the long process of booking the fall hotel locations for all of our stops along the fall segment. I'll also keep you posted on the progress.

Don't forget to stop in tomorrow for another episode of Technique Tuesday. I think you'll enjoy it. See you then, -- David

"Waiting To Walk Down The Aisle"

"Waiting To Walk Down The Aisle"
©David A. Ziser

We just delivered the bridal album from which this image was selected. Jennifer, my studio manager, and the bride's mom loved this image so I thought I would select it for today's post. I remember that the processional was too start just in a matter of minutes. The girls were busy with last minute preparations. As I was cruising the waiting area looking for more special moments, I spotted the little flower girl looking out the window watching guests arrive and just waiting for the ceremony to begin. I was able to get the shot before she spotted me. The image was created with natural light only - no flash used. Camera specs: Canon 40D fitted with 24-105, lens at 105mm, F4.0 @ 1/25 second, ISO 1600. Enjoy! -David

You Light Up My Life Friday - Party Shadows

Good Morning Everybody,
Man, Blogger has been driving me crazy these last few days trying to get these posts up. The scrolling feature isn't working correctly when I try to add pictures and it seems any time I make a small change in formatting, font size goes to microscopic and then back again. Mike, where you are - any suggestions ;~) Mike gave us the tour of Google when we were is San Jose last month [link]. He is my life-line for anything Google!!

Anyway, enough with the griping. The weekend starts today with me and no weddings this weekend - WOW! A few days off in a row. I'm livin' large!

I got a nice little post for you today. It covers how to do some special lighting effects at the wedding reception. Hit the "Read more ..." link below for the rest of the story. (Now I have to cross my fingers to see if I can get this posted in under 2 hours)

Here we go.

You Light Up My Life Friday - Party Shadows
OK gang, this is a pretty easy post today. I call it Party Shadows. I like to take this image near the end of the evening. The dance floor isn't so crowded so the shadows are much easier to create. With too many people on the dance floor, you end up with one big shadow so fewer dancer is better.

This image was made at a small wedding I did last weekend. Only about 85 guests, hence the small dance floor. Still, no problem, the technique is still the same. I simply had my assistant go to the opposite side of the dance floor about 15 feet or so from the crowd. He is holding my Quantum T5d flash about 4 feet off the ground and pointing directly at the dancers.

The Quantum is being triggered via the FreeWire receiver which is activated by the FreeWire transmitter Velcro-ed to the top of my on-camera 580 EXII flash which is NOT firing. We also gelled the flash with a red gel for added effect. Hitting any of the links above will provide for you all the details on my gear.

We may do this a few times throughout the evening just to be sure we've captured some satisfactory images. It's kind of fun and "spices up" the reception coverage a bit too. It little things like this that are just a bit different from what the competition is doing and gets a notice from prospective clients when they view our work. Remember, it's always the difference that makes the difference.

Hey everybody, that's it for me today. I'll see everybody on the other side of the weekend - all the pixels willin'. See ya' then, -David

"Looking Up To Dad"

"Looking Up To Dad"
©David A. Ziser

I was looking through some of the wedding images from yesterday's post and found this one which I thought was kind of fun. During a wedding, I will roam around with a long lens looking for special moments just like this one - natural, unposed, and spontaneous. This image certainly fills the bill. The dad tapped his son on the shoulder to get his attention. The moment he looked up I grabbed the shot. Camera specs: Nikon D1x fitted with 80-200mm lens at 200mm, F 5.6 @ 1/500 second, ISO 400. Enjoy! -David

Business Day Thursday: New Contest Announced - $50 Gift Card From B&H and 12 Ways To Keep Your Clients Coming Back For More

Good afternoon everybody,
Hey gang, sorry for the late post yesterday - I was in "slow-motion" most of the day. It's also kind of weird sitting here and NOT typing ...."We had a crowd.... and we are heading to....". What's happening instead - writer's block - just kidding.

LaDawn and I are going to go over our DWUC notes and see if we can put even more polish on the program for the fall. The most important thing that needs to happen over the next few days is to select our second DWUC GRAND Prize winner. Since we have a little time off I'll get everyone caught up on our first winner, Judy from PA, so stay tuned. Keep your fingers crossed if you were in attendance, you might be selected as the second GRAND Prize Winner

OK, now on with the good stuff. I'm announcing a new contest today for all my Digital ProTalk readers. The prize is a $50 gift certificate from B&H Photo and Video - WOW! Want to find out what's it all about? Then hit the "Read More..." link below for the rest of the story. Today's Business Day Thursday is really a good one - you're going to love it!

Here we go.

12 Ways To Keep Your Clients Coming Back For More
At my Master Class a few weeks ago, one of the attendees, Frank Wilson, shared with us a great business building idea. It has to do with gift cards. We all receive them, many of us give them, but most of us never consider them as a business building tool for our businesses. It turns out, it could be one of the best tools we could utilize in today's economy.

Here is how Frank uses the "Gift Card" concept in his business. A potential wedding client comes into Frank's studio and meets with him about the possibility of his studio shooting the wedding. As we all know, many times the client will book on the spot. But, many more will not and say they have to go home and think about it before making a final decision.

OK, sounds like the same situation many of us face every week. How does Frank make it different and "up the odds" of the client calling him back? He gives a $50 to $100 gift card to every client that interviews with him - whether they book with him that day or decide to think about it.

I asked him, "So, how many come back and book their wedding with you?" Frank's reply, "About all of them." And why shouldn't they? He put a $100 bill in their back pocket that they can only spend at his studio. The $100 gift card is good towards a portrait session - outdoors, indoors, bridal, engagement, family, etc.

Folks, what a strong incentive this must be for Frank's clients to come back to his studio. It's an invitation for them to do business with him. Thumbs up on a great idea Frank!!

Now let's take the concept even further. What else can we use these gift cards for increasing business?

Here is a quick list of 12 possibilities:
1. Booking bonuses - If the client books with you within say 3 days, they will receive a $100 gift card. This could work great for photogs displaying at the annual wedding shows.

2. Give it as a "Thank You" for doing business with you. Make it good for any future portrait sessions for that client.

3. Offer it to the client that they can give as a gift to additional family members and/or friends. We you deliver the wedding album, family portraits, high school senior pics - why not include
3 $50 gift cards they can give to their friends. Now your client becomes your envoy to even more business.

4. At silent auctions where we offer a family portrait to help raise funds for a charity event, why not give the top 5 bidders a $100 gift card. Heck, they placed a bid, showed interest in your work, now they too have an incentive to give you a call.

5. Ever been asked to contribute to a fund raising event - why not make the donation a gift card or two.

6. Why not carry a few on you at all times (like at weddings) - you never know when the occasion will arise when you could offer it to a prospective client.

Where can you get these gift cards? Glad you asked. Just head over to my buddies at Marathon Press to find out how to design and order your own personal gift cards. Here is the link.

Here are 6 more ideas I picked up over at Marathon Press:
7. Send a $100 gift card to new parents to spend on the "first chapter" of their child's portrait history.

8. Enroll clients in a "lifetime portrait program," for which no session fees are charged as long as they present the card.

9. Send a birthday or anniversary greeting and enclose a gift card.

10. Send high school senior prospects a gift card to spend on their senior portraits.

11. And one of my favorites - During the holiday season advertise a "gift card sale" that allows your clients to purchase a $100 gift card for only $80; a $200 gift card for only $160 . . . and so on.

12. Announce the sale by sending a gift card to your own client list.

You get the idea. What are some of your ideas for increasing business using a gift card? If we get more than 20 different ideas in the comments section below, I'll give the winner of the best idea a $50 gift card from B&H Photo and Video.

I'll let the contest run 2 weeks and post our winner in an upcoming Business day Thursday post. Put on those "thinking caps" and crank them up to "high". I can't wait to see what you view your ideas and marketing suggestions.

OK,gang, I'm out of here. I'll plan to see everybody tomorrow for another episode of "You Light Up My Life Friday" - See ya' then. -David

"European Elegance"

"European Elegance"
©David A. Ziser

LaDawn suggested I post this image. I had totally forgotten about it till she reminded me of this beautiful bride. I had taken it about 5 years ago before switching to Canon gear. It is still one of my favorite images from this particular wedding. We had completed all the "formal" group shots and were just waiting for the ceremony to begin. The bride was resting peacefully on this settee in an area close to where the ceremony was to take place. The natural light was beautiful. I asked her to just peek at me as she was waiting. This is the image I captured. The title suggests a European setting but it was really at one of the large banquet facilities in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her expression, the surrounding colors, the beautiful natural light came together beautifully for this strikingly elegant and simple portrait of the bride. Camera specs; Nikon D1x fitted with 80-200mm lens at 105mm, F 3.5 @ 1/80, ISO 400 Enjoy! -David

Portrait Day Wednesday: Booking, Shooting, & Selling The Family Portrait - Divide And Conquer - Part 11

Good Afternoon Everybody,
Yep, we had another VERY wild and wholly crowd of over 180 photogs in Cincinnati, OH last night. Here is a shot from the very popular "Door Prize Time" part of the program. As you know, we wrapped the Spring segment of my Digital WakeUp Call tour last night in Cincinnati, OH - city #30 on the schedule. The program was heard by just slightly less than 5500 enthusiastic photographers in 30 cities so far!

I'll tell you, giving a program in your own city is really kind of exciting - lots of friends and "family" came out to say "Hi" and, it was much appreciated - a great big Thank You to all who showed up.

We have the next few days off and LaDawn and I plan to just slow things down a bit. Next week, we will start booking the hotel locations for the Fall sessions so keep checking back over at Digital WakeUp Call and we will hope to see many smiling faces in attendance this fall.

I also got several projects scheduled over the summer including; producing 5 more Kelby Training videos, maybe a return visit to San Jose for a program at Google, many, many new ideas for DPT tutorials. I'll keep you posted with all the summer developments. - I think you will enjoy what's on my DPT "To-Do" list.

We've been discussing how to shoot the family portrait for the last several weeks. Last week I discussed lighting - shooting the portrait in direct sunlight [link]. I want to elaborate on that even more but for the sake of variety, I'm shifting gears this week and discussing the non-lighting points of the shoot. Hit the "Read More..." link below for the rest of the story.

Here we go...

Booking, Shooting, & Selling The Family Portrait - Divide And Conquer - Part 11
Two weeks ago in my post entitled, "A Good Looking Group", I covered how to bring the family group together in a sensible, pleasing, and flattering arrangement. Shooting a family portrait should be more than just getting the group together, taking a few shots, and moving to another location and repeating the process. Sure we want to do exactly that so we have nice variety in our shoot for the family to select their images. But folks that is only half the job - we still have a lot of shots to capture.

How many times do families get together for a family portrait? The answer to that question is "seldom" to "never" for most families. Busy lives means constantly postponing a family portrait. This is kind of a sad state of family affairs. Think about it - putting soccer, gymnastics, and so many other "busy" things in front of getting a family portrait taken; never being able to get mom and dad and kids together for a beautiful, lasting, and memorable portrait, I think, speaks a bit to our society which always seems to be in overdrive. Too bad and too sad for those families.

I photographed an event for a client in 1985. We had talked about getting together in the summer for a family portrait - it never happened. Our paths have crossed many times over these many years and the topic continues to come up, yet we never got around to that family portrait. I got a call form the mom a few months ago telling me her daughter was getting married - we had a great visit and we are scheduled to photograph the event.

Sure, we will get a family group photo at the wedding but it's just not the same. All these years have gone by where this family and so many others could have been enjoying a beautiful portrait of their family hanging in their home. I still enjoy the photographs of me and my kids as they were growing up. The moments captured in time are worth preserving - at least, in my humble opinion.

Anyway, let me get off of my soap box and get on with today's discussion. Since a family portrait is such a rare occasion for so many families, we really need to maximize our photographic efforts when we have then in front of the camera. In addition to just shooting the family group, we need to break the group into smaller groups as well showing the various family relationships.

Here are a few examples:
1. Entire family - photographed in at least 3 locations.
2. All the kids as a group.
3. Mom and Dad as a couple.

4. Mom with the girls.
5. Dad with the guys.

Anyway, you get the idea. These are just some of the combos that come up in one of our family group sessions.

Here are a few more:
6. Each child individually.
7. Mom and dad individually.
8. Dad with girls.
9. Mom with guys.

10. Lifestyle images of them just walking, playing, and laughing.

Once again, you get the idea that there are all kind of possibilities. These are the kind of examples you should show at the initial sales consultation too. Sales and great customer service is always about building the clients exceptions about what you can do for them and all the wonderful image choices they will have from the shoot. It's about getting them (and you) excited and fired up for the shoot!

Just browse through the images I've posted here, put your own "thinking cap" on and see where your imagination leads you, and then go out there and "knock their socks off!!"

Hey gang, that's it for me today. Like I said a little R&R and dinner with friends later today - Ahhhhh - the pause that refreshes ;~) See ya' tomorrow. -David

"Balcony View"

"Balcony View"
©David A. Ziser

Here is another image from this past weekend's wedding. The bride and groom wanted some really cool images around this beautiful synagogue and gave me plenty of time to capture some striking images. The balcony setting is always one of my favorites. The organ pipes in the background offer a visually exciting location for this image. Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark II fitted with 24-105mm IS lens at 35mm, F 5.6 @ 1/20 second; ISO 1600. Enjoy! -David

Technique Tuesday: Retouching Skin - Encore Performance - Porcelain Skin

Good Morning Everybody,
Wow! We had a crowd of over 185 strong in Louisville, KY last night. You know, LaDawn and I love traveling around the country, meeting old friends and making new ones, but there is sometime to be said about being pretty close to home too. It was good to see so many people, photogs, and friends last night. THANKS for coming up and saying HI.

In a short while, we head over to the Netherland Hilton Hotel - that's where this image was taken - to set up for today's program. Again, I know we will see a lot of our friends again tonight and we are both looking froward to saying HI. I'll give you the low down tomorrow along with a pic or two.

Anyway, why don't we get on with this week's Technique Tuesday.

Hit the "Read More..." link for the rest of the story.

Here we go.
Retouching Skin - Encore Performance - Porcelain Skin
I am running a previous Technique Tuesday episode because of so much going on today with the DWUC tour wrapping it's Spring session tonight. I still think you will enjoy it. Heck, even I have to watch it again every now and then just to remember all the steps.

This episode entitled, "Porcelain Doll" gives about the most "Hollywood" beautiful skin I have every seen. Imagenomics Portraiture Plug-In [link], one of my favorite retouching tools can give the same result when pushed to it's maximum limit. NIK's Color Efex Pro Dynamic Skin Softener is another great choice for facial retouching too and gives several degrees of softening within it's dashboard. You can check it out right here - pretty impressive. And remember, if you use my DWUC code - DZISER - when ordering, you will receive 25% off list price.

I know some readers are not into the "over retouched" look, but I think there are some special applications for the technique. This whole post is the result of the comments on the image I posted last week entitled, "Cover Girl" - the image of LaDawn showing her "Breck Girl" beauty. That should score me some points when she proof reads this;~)

Last week I also mentioned my "Beauty Blur" technique. I thought I had posted a tutorial on the technique but apparently not. I'll plan that special technique that we use almost daily at my studio for an upcoming tutorial - stay tuned.

Anyway, give this tutorial a look - it's a very clever tutorial with a great result. Hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show.



Hey gang, That's it for me today. We are heading down to the Netherland Hilton Hotel - my absolute favorite location to photograph wedding receptions. It will be a kick to show the images in the PowerPoint this evening and have everyone sitting in the room where they were created. Come up and say "Hi" this evening. My entire team, Jennifer, Sharon, Martha, Nicholas, Damien will be there and you can say HI to them as well. I'm looking forward to a really great time tonight.

See ya' there. -David

"The Beauty Of Plum Street Temple"

"The Beauty Of Plum Street Temple"
©David A. Ziser

Here is an image I made at Saturday's wedding. This is about my favorite location to shoot a wedding ceremony. The historic Plum Street Temple offers some of the most impressive architecture to be found in any place of worship. Last week I gave a panorama a try in another temple in town and liked the result. I thought I would give it a try again in my favorite sanctuary. Again, the stitching was seamless. I'll have to cover this in an upcoming Technique Tuesday as I broke a rule or two when making the pano - more on this later. For now, just enjoy the image. Camera specs; Canon 5D Mark II fitted with 24-105mm lens at 24mm, F 5.6 @ 1/40 second, ISO 3200. Enjoy! -David

PS: Click on image for large view. - David

Quick Hit Monday: New Wedding Blog; Wedding Summer School; Some Very Cool Hassey Images; And Manhattanhenge

Good Morning Everybody,
Wow! What a weekend - we landed late Friday afternoon, rushed home, said "Hi" to the team, changed clothes, and headed off to shoot the graduation ceremony on one of the prominent high schools in the area. I was running on fumes by the time I got back home about 9:30 p.m.

On Saturday, we headed What an experience!! It was a Russian-Jewish wedding with the energetic ABC Russian band from Chicago that gave everyone "dancing feet" all evening. Here is a link to their band page - Hey, you too can listen to some of their music samples. I think a quick trip to a Berlitz course may have helped me understand the toasts and music a bit better ;~) The night was truly beautiful, full of traditions and over-all a wonderful event.

After a little R&R on Sunday - the weather was perfect - we are recharged and ready to wrap the spring segment of my Digital WakeUp Call tour. We head to Louisville this afternoon and then back to Cincy tomorrow. We are looking forward to seeing lots of friends at both cities.

OK gang, let's get on with Quick Hit Monday - lots of good information today.

Hit the "Read More..." link below for all the latest news.

Here we go.

DWF Announces New Blog - Free To Everyone!
This is a pretty darn good piece of news. Digital Wedding Forum - a great resource for wedding photogs everywhere, just announced their new Digital Wedding Forum Blog. Folks, I have to say, it is jammed pack with tons of info already. They have about 60 posts presented.

Here are a few Titles and Links:
John Tassel On Graphic Design [link]
That's Not An iPhone, It's A grey Card [link]
What To Do When Your Prints Get Stolen [link]
And many more right here. [link] Happy reading!

It's Time For Summer School
I finally got a chance to catch up on about 350 emails over the weekend too. Ron Dawson, one the top videographers around is working a project with my buddy, Skip Cohen - most recently the president of Rangefinder Publishing, and before that the president of Hasselblad USA.Skip is putting together a pretty cool educational experience coming this summer at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It's called Summer School - August 16-19, and yes, Las Vegas is about to get a lot HOTTER! Here is the deal and it is a great deal - 4 days, 10 photographers, only $279 - but wait, there's more that price also includes the $249 convention registration to WPPI next March. Hey gang, that's the best two for one that I've ever heard of. On top of that - room rates are only $69! at the MGM. Here is the link to all the info.

Some Very Cool Hassey Images
While checking through my emails, I came across this link to Hasselblad's Master Gallery Of Images for 2009. The gallery is set up for public voting on the favorite images but is a great stop just to see the stunning images. Here is the link. Worth the quick trip.

One For The Road - Manhattanhenge
And now in the "Not Even Related To Wedding Photography" department, I bring you Manhattanhenge. Wait, don't leave - this is too good to miss. On the way from the airport, I caught this story on NPR Radio - always one of my favorite "listens." This story on ScienceFriday revolved the phenomenon that happens in New York City twice a year. It's called Manhattanhenge.

OK, everyone is familiar with Stonehenge, that mysterious stone structure built in the English countryside about 4000 years ago by the Druids. During the summer solstice the sun's rays aligns with the Heal Stone and giant rocks is a dramatic way. Well. it seems the building in NYC do the same thing at the Summer and Winter Solstices too. I know what you are thinking - "What is this guy talking about?" Just hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show.



Now wasn't that fun? Anyway gang, that's it for me today. I've got to hit the road for Louisville, KY and catch up with LaDawn who is already on her way with my team to set the room. Hope to see many of you tonight. See ya' then, -David

"Variations On A Theme #2"

"Variations On A Theme #2"
©David A. Ziser

Here is one more variation of my wide angle ventures last weekend. This image was made with my 8mm Sigma Fisheye on my full frame 5D MkII. I cropped it square to get an image in the same aspect ratio that I was able to get back in my Hassy days with my $6000 30mm Distagon Fisheye lens. So what do you think of the 3 wide angle variations this week - all quite dramatic. It's certainly a different way of seeing, isn't it? Camera specs; Canon 5D Mark II fitted with 8mm Sigma Fisheye lens, F5.6 @ 1/60 second. ISO 3200. Enjoy! -David

You Light Up My Life Friday: Nasty Lighting In The Sun

Good Morning Everybody,
Well, we head home today after 3 weeks on the road. Can you believe it, the first half of my Digital WakeUp Call tour is nearly wrapped – only Louisville, KY on Monday and Cincinnati, OH on Tuesday. I’ve got a special treat for our Cincy attendees – I reserved the Netherland Hilton – Hall of Mirrors for the presentation.

This is by far, the best location, considered by many the most beautiful location in the Greater Cincinnati area for a wedding. Fortunately, we get to work there quite often. I thought it would be a treat to have the DWUC program at the Hall of Mirrors since I show so many images from that location during my program. I’m truly looking forward to it. Hope to see many of you there.

We head back to good ol’ Cincy in a few hours, land at 2:30 and get home by 3:30 p.m. Then I have to scoot right out the door and meet up with my assistants for a shoot tonight. Then tomorrow, we have another wedding – it’s in another one of my favorite locations, Plum Street Temple. I really looking forward to the opportunity to capture some spectacular shots for my bride and her family and guests. I’ll post a few next week.

Oh, did I mention that last night a young photographer drove 1200 miles from the Las Vegas area to attend last night's seminar in Oklahoma City, OK. What an honor it is to share my Digital WakeUp Call message with so many excited photographers. If we add Las Vegas to the tour schedule this fall Kasia is truly welcome to attend as my guest. Congratulations and lucky for Kasia as she was also a prize winner!

Hey, enough of my yakking, let’s get on with You Light Up My Life Friday. Here we go…

Nasty Lighting: How To Shoot In The Sun
This post is similar to Wednesday's post about shooting family portraits in the sun but I thought I would expand on it even more today. It also answers a few questions raised in Wednesday's comments. Here we go.

Hit the "Read More..." link below for the rest of the story.

This question has come up over at my Skribit widget on the right so I thought I would give it some coverage today. So just what do you do when you are faced with the worse of conditions for a wedding shoot? There is no really elegant solution to the high-noon wedding shoot but let me point you in the right direction in still obtaining some decent images.

We talked a little about this on Wednesday, but that involved shooting in the sun much later in the day. As I discussed then, the work around is not so tough. It’s the afternoon sun on those hot summer days that makes it tough on everyone especially us wedding photographers.

Nasty Lighting In The Sun : Here Are My 10 Steps When Shooting In The Sun

1. Let’s start with the ISO rating. I set my ISO to 100 ISO. I need that lower ISO so I can use wider open apertures with my lens. Why? Because I want the background to go as soft and out of focus as possible.

2. Next, grab the longest lens in your gear bag – I like the 70-200mm IS lens. And, I like to shoot it racked out to at least 150mm. With the wider aperture at this longer focal length, I can kick the background a fair amount out of focus. This creates a nice separation between the subjects and the background. Yes, my assistant is much closer to the subjects than I am. My assistant will usually be about 25 feet away.

3. Be sure that the sun is BEHIND your subjects. That puts their faces in shadows allowing me to use my off-camera flash to create the direction of light that is so important to me.

4. That also means that I underexpose the subjects about 1 ½ stops so I can see the effect of the off-camera flash whose intensity has been set to give me the proper exposure on their faces.

5. Here is the tricky part. With the sun behind your subjects, cross your fingers that the background is still acceptable for the shot. Check out my first image below. This image was taken pretty much at high-noon. Fortunately the background was at least acceptable for my shot.

6. You have just a little bit of “wiggle room” when positioning your clients, but be super sure you don’t let any of that direct sunlight hit the front of heir faces. It becomes BIG Photoshop issues if you do. My exposure, by the way, for this shot at 1:30 p.m. was F5.6 @ 1/160 sec at ISO 100 with camera in "manual" mode as it always is when I have a flash attached. I generally underexpose the background slightly as I did in Wednesday's post. This is simply a matter of personal taste.

7. OK, I’ve got the group, the sun, my lighting, and exposure set for the shot – not bad but not great either. Looks like we need to make a trip to Photoshop. I wasn’t the “happiest camper” with the background – notice the “holes in the trees" exposing the sky that, at least for me distracts from the shot.

This is an easy fix with the rubber stamp tool. Check out the second shot and see how about 2 minutes of Photoshop improved the image. In this image, I put a better crop on the image, added additional foliage to the background to make it more uniform, thus more pleasing to the eye, and also added a slight vignette to the bottom of the image.

8. I had one more thing to take care of too. Check out the first shot again. Look at the harsh shadows on the girls’ shoulders on the right side of the group. I used the Patch tool along with the Rubber stamp tool to soften the shadow’s edge. This is pretty easy with the patch tool as it does a lot of the blending for you. I only use the Rubber stamp tool for a little touch up.

9. Another touch up is to brighten the faces a bit. I do this by hitting each face with the Dodge tool in “Highlight” mode. That step pops the faces just enough to draw the viewers attention to their faces and obtain a nice look to the group shot.

10. We are almost there. My final step is to add what I call my Beauty Blur to the shot. This is nothing more than adding a slight Gaussian blur to the images then using a layer mask to punch through to the bottom layer to bring back the sharpness to the facial features and dresses. The foliage remains slightly blurred. It’s the Gaussian blur that sort of blends the tones together and softens the harshness of that strong overhead sun. Maybe I'll show this technique on next week's Technique Tuesday.

Gang, that’s about it. Combine a little common sense about the sun, add the second light to the shadow side of the subjects, and toss in a little Photoshop for good measure and you should be able to achieve a nice finished product.

Hey, everybody, that’s about it for me today. We’ve got a busy weekend and the plane leaves shortly. I’ll see everybody on the flip side of the weekend. Have a great one, -David

"Variations On A Theme"

"Variations On A Theme"
©David A. Ziser

This image was also made at this past Sunday's wedding. It was a simple shot taken from the back of the temple right after I had completed the panorama shot I posted on Monday [link]. Check out both images. Each has it's own wide angle feel. I'm leaning towards the panorama shot as a favorite. I've got one more variation a this wide angle theme which I'll post tomorrow. Friday, let me know what you think. Camera specs; Canon 5D Mark II fitted with 12-24mm lens at 12 mm, F5.6 @ 1/60 second. ISO 3200. Enjoy! -David

Business Day Thursday: Ins And Outs Of Twittering & Twittering For Business

Good Late Afternoon Everybody,
Sorry for the late post – we had to get an early start to Oklahoma City today and there wasn’t time to get the post up before leaving. Tomorrow should be back to normal.

Ahhh! Yesterday I was feeling about 1/2 Texan. Jerry Ward, the Canon rep for the Dallas/Ft.Worth area steered us (notice the clever pun in the spelling) to the Hard Eight Barbeque– This local favorite is considered one of the best in the area – 4 stars well deserved. Pretty darn good food, I must say.

We had another wild Texan crowd last night – which means, of course, that another good time was had by all. We also had a few members of the Ft. Worth Professional Photographers Association stop by too. Ed Barrera, the president made a short announcement about the association and why photogs should join.

Any photogs reading this should consider joining the local association. That’s how I got my start – as a young photog wanting to learn as much as I could, I joined my local association. It was a way for me to “rub elbows” with the best in the city and maybe learn a thing or two that would help my business. Where ever you are anywhere in the world, if photography is your vocation, you owe it to yourself to check out the local photography associations and consider being a part of the group.

Booking Bonus Contest Extended
In last Thursday's post - Booking Bonuses To seal The Deal [link] - I discussed how we could give our clients some added incentives for booking their wedding with us. I got a lot of great ideas from our readers. I’d like to extend the contest for another week and see some more suggestions posted. The prize for the best idea will be a $50 B&H gift certificate. So gang, let’s get those ideas coming – heck, that $50 Gift Card may just give you the start you need to purchase the new Canon 5D Mark II ;~)

OK, time to get to today’s post - Twittering For Business. Hit the “Read More…” button for the rest of the story.

So what do you know about Tweeting. If your like me, not so much. That’s what prompted me to write this post. I wanted to find out what all the fuss was about. I did a little research and turned up some pretty good information. Read on…

Ins And Outs Of Twittering & Twittering For Business
I have to admit, I feel like such a novice when it comes to all this Twitter and Facebook stuff. I’m planning to get a better hand on it over the summer. Why, because I believe, if we don’t the competition will pass us by.

I’ve decided to put together a list of resources I’ve found to help those of us a bit more challenged with the social media phenomenon and get up to speed a bit more quickly. If you guys and gals got some good sources too, I hope you will post them in the comment section below. OK, let’s get to it.

Here are my Favorite 4 Resources to kick start you on Facebook and Twitter
1. Chris Brogan's blog has a great post telling us how we can use Twitter for business. Here is the link to 50 Ideas For Using Twitter For Business. Highly recommended reading.

2. Another of my favorite leads for getting up to speed on Twitter is available at Ploked.com. Check out their post - 16 Twitter Tips For Small Business Owners right here.

3. ReadWriteWeb.com has an informative post entitled, "4 Ways Companies Use Twitter For Business" - again a nice info resource with a number of links [link] - worth the read.

4. OK gang, this one is my favorite. Head over to YouTube and check out the O'Reilly web-cast - " Twitter For Business" right here. This great presentation by Sarah Milstein who has been on Twitter since day 1. This is about an hour long presentation and worth very minute. Sarah covers every aspect of Twitter quite thoroughly and answers several questions - maybe even some you may have on your mind too. I found this presentation to be the best.

I think these resources will really give you some great incite into Twitter's possibilities. I'm going to re-read the the posts myself over the weekend - good stuff!!.

Anyway gang, that's it for me today. My program starts in about an hour and I've got to get scootin'. See everybody bright and early tomorrow. Adios from Norman, Oklahoma. -David

"Look Into My Eyes"

"Look Into My Eyes"
©David A. Ziser

I made this image as part of a portrait session I did of this young man for his press kit. He was quite an impressive young man. He had been doing “stand-up” magic at one of the local malls in the area for the last few years and had been quite successful. He was only 17 when I took this photograph. He was planning to head off to college but still planned to pursue his magic career. I think his look that comes through in this image speaks to his success. His dark complexion and dark hair made a striking contrast with his bright white eyes – hence the title. The lighting was straight forward. I lit him with a Westcott Halo on my studio strobe which gave a very soft light on his face. Contrast was controlled by bouncing a bit of light off the back wall behind me to fill the shadows just barely for the shot. Camera specs; Canon 40D fitted with 24-105mm IS lens at 96mm, f14 @ 1/125 second, ISO 200. Enjoy! -David

Portrait Day Wednesday: Booking, Shooting, and Selling A Portrait - 9 Steps For Shooting Portraits In Sunlight

Good Morning Everybody,
After a Whataburger in Waco yesterday and the 4+ hour drive across the state, I felt about 1/4 Texan by the time we arrived in Dallas at about 3:00 p.m. We had another great crowd in Dallas last night. I was amazed that some attendees had driven over 4 hours to hear the Digital WakeUp Call program. One fellow even drove all the way from Albequerque, NM just to be in attendance.

I have to say, it is quite an honor for me when I meet the people who have made these long journeys, these extraordinary sacrifice of time and effort to hear the DWUC program. My thanks to everyone who was there last night and every night. And especially, my thanks goes out to all who literally go the extra mile(s) to be there too.

Anyway, let's get right to todays post - Booking, Shooting, and Selling A Portrait - 9 Steps For Shooting Portraits In Sunlight

Hit the link below for the rest of the story.

Here we go...

Booking, Shooting, and Selling A Portrait: Shooting In Sunlight - Part 10
Last week I discussed how to bring groups together in a pleasing composition of the family members. In this week's post, let’s discuss how I light the portrait. Let's also add a level of difficulty to the shoot and discuss how to handle the situation in direct sunlight.

Remember in our 8th post I discussed “background selection" - here is the link. That was part of my challenge for this portrait I’m featuring today. I scouted the client’s home and backyard to find the best location for the shot. I really liked the vantage point I settled on for this portrait. I was able to pick up some of the great architectural features of their pool area and was able to include a beautifully landscaped knoll with lots of color in the background as well. Thrown out of focus, the background should look great for the shot.

The challenge was the sun. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky to soften the sun’ s direct rays, but it was still low enough in the sky that I could still deal with it and maybe even use it as an accent light. But it was still quite bright and that presented some shooting issues. The bottom line is this – when I shoot in the direct sun, I’ve got to use a combination of camera and lighting technique along with a little Photoshop to pull off the finished result.

Let me walk you through my 9 steps to pull off this family portrait.
1. My main rule for shooting in the sun is to ALWAYS back-light the subjects. The challenge is when back-lighting the family that the background holds up too.

2. With the subjects back-lighted I have shadowed faces in which I can create the "loop lighting" pattern [link] on their faces with my off-camera flash.

3. I’m going to use the lowest ISO possible which means I’ve got to use my flash – Quantum T5d – at full power to get the maximum light out of my off-camera flash. The low ISO is needed so I can slow the shutter down to it's lowest "syncable" speed and use the widest aperture possible for the shot in this bright light situation. The full power setting on the flash is necessitated because of the working distance of the light to my subjects - more distance means more power.
4. The on-camera flash is hardly ever used simply because the ambient light supplies the fill light.

5. I also can’t use an umbrella since the umbrella fabric cuts the light output by two stops. Remember, I need all the light I can get on the subjects. Without using the shoot through umbrella which I love, I get much sharper edged shadows on my subjects. Look at the close up of mom in this shot. See how sharply defined the “hair” shadow is on her face. Unfortunately, this becomes a Photoshop fix – no way around it.

6. Once I’ve got my lighting and composition strategies worked out, I ask the family members to step in for the shot. I arrange them for the most pleasing group composition and start the photography. Check out the lighting diagram and see exactly where I had the strobe positioned. I bring it in about 30 degrees from the right or the left hand side – depending on how shadows are going to fall on my subjects and their clothing.

7. The next thing is to get the best expressions on everybody’s faces. I’m not opposed to combining expressions to get the best finished portrait. I think I made about three expression swaps on this portrait. Hey, it’s part of the job these days. 8. After getting the image I want, I’ll shoot the family in a few more locations around their home – more on that next week.

9. The final step is to take the image into Photoshop. Now we can soften those shadows, enhance expressions, polish the faces, add the vignetting, and refine the lighting.

Hey gang, that’s about it. It’s not “rocket science”. Be sure to give Friday’s post a read too. It goes right along with today’s post but on Friday I’ll discuss how to fight the "high noon" sun when shooting weddings. Also, don’t forget to check back for tomorrow’s Business Day Thursday – very interesting.

On that note folks, I’m out of here. We’ve got a little time off today because of the short drive to Ft. Worth. Hope to see you there tonight. Adios, -David

"Cover Girl"

"Cover Girl"
©David A. Ziser

This image was made about 6 months ago as part of the lighting tutorial I’m running in my Technique Tuesday section today. Pretty nice portrait, don’t you think? This image was made in the waiting area for the elevators at a hotel LaDawn and I were staying in earlier this year. We had a decent sunset happening and I wanted to use minimalist lighting technique to create a soft lighting pattern on her face. Notice the characteristics of the light and shadows on her face – the light has direction, softness, and a flattering contrast lighting ratio – the ratio of the bright to dark areas – on her face. You’ll have to watch the video to see how I pulled it off. Camera specs; Canon 5D Mark II fitted with 24-105mm IS lens at 71mm F10 @ 1/200 second, ISO 800. Enjoy! -David

Technique Tuesday: Easy Portrait Lighting

Good Morning Everybody,
What a day yesterday. Blogger was a bit problematic yesterday and I was down to the wire to get the post up before I had to head to the airport. With about 60 minutes to go, I hit "Publish" and headed out the door for the airport - whew! What was cool though was the fact that Delta had Internet connect on the plane, so at 34,000 feet I was able to get a head start on today's post - pretty cool.

We had a great crowd in San Antonio last night – they were about the best “Door Prize” crowd yet even dancing in the aisles when they won. Lots of fun!! A good time was had by all.

Josh and his team from Limelight Studios - David, Chris, Desirae, Angel and Marisol (Josh's fiance) came by and took good care of getting the room set for LaDawn. After the program we all headed to Chacho's about 11:30 p.m. Chacho's restaurant is one of the local favorite restaurants very close to the hotel. It was still hoppin' at mid-night and the food was great. After a few margaritas I was ready to call it a day after 22 straight hours.

Just a reminder that the Cincinnati Photo Walk scheduled for Saturday, July 18th is filling up FAST! Only a few remaining spaces available. I'd love to have you be a part of the day. Here is the Cincy LINK so you can join in on a fun photo experience and true camaraderie with 50 other photographic enthusiasts.

LaDawn is still looking for a helper or two for Wednesday in Arlington / Ft. Worth. If you'll willing to lend a helping hand with set-up, registration and tear down please give her a quick email at ladawn@ziser.com. We will be on the road for several hours so LaDawn may not be able to respond to you until late this afternoon. THANK YOU in advance.

Hey, let's get to my short and sweet Technique Tuesday today - hope you enjoy it.

Hit the "Read More..." link for the rest of the post.

Here we go...

Easy Portrait Lighting
Typically if we were going to photograph our subject against the sky as I have done in this image, many photogs would just use their on-camera flash and shoot away. Let me show you in this short tutorial how you can easily use your on-camera flash to create beautiful and flattering lighting on your subject. Just hit the PLAY button and enjoy the show.



Hey gang, that’s it for today’s short and sweet post. We’ve got a long drive to Dallas, Texas so we’ve got to hit the road. Hey, we might just check out some Texas barbecue along the way. So see ya’ tonight in Dallas. Wait, what’s that I hear in the distance? It’s true, it’s a real life “pixel” band singing, “I’m so lonesome in the sensor since the battery died ;~)
See ya’ gang, -David

"A Very Wide View"

"A Very Wide View"
©David A. Ziser

I made this image at yesterday's wedding. I wanted to try something different - a panorama from the back of the ceremony. I had watched some panorama demos with CS4 and CS4 seemed to do the best in stitching panos - so why not give it a try. This image was made without a tripod. I simply rotated my handheld camera through a 180 degree view from the back of the temple. I did my best to keep it level and maintain the same horizon line throughout the arc of the shot. It turns out that it worked just fine. I, under close inspection, could find no stitching artifacts in the finished shot. This is definitely something I'm going to try again - lots of possibilities available. I'll post two more variations on this wide angle theme throughout the week, so stay tuned. Camera specs; Canon 5D Mark II fitted with 24-105mm IS lens at 24mm, F5.6 @ 1/160 second. ISO 6400. Enjoy! -David

Quick Hit Monday: Photo-Walks, Deals, and Updates

Good Morning Everybody,
I've got lots of information on lighting this week. Tomorrow I'll cover really easy portrait lighting, then on Wednesday and Friday's post discuss lighting under the worst of conditions - shooting in the open sun, how to deal with it, and still pull off a great shot so stay tuned all week. Also, I'm going to be taking a little trip down "Wide angle" Lane looking at three dramatic variations for wide angle photography - the first of which I posted today - also stay tuned.

Anyway, what a weekend it has been. I thought I had the day off on Saturday, but I spent most of the day just getting ready for the upcoming week. I was lucky to have yesterday's wedding wrap a bit early. That made it possible for me to start packing my bags for San Antonio by around seven o'clock in the evening.

The wedding was a kick -- I had several past clients in attendance and it was good to visit with all of them. I tried something a bit different too today. I took a series of photographs from the back of the temple in which I created a panorama of the ceremony. Be sure to check out the image of the day I posted today.

I just have one thing to say about creating easy panoramas with your camera. The thing that makes it the easiest is Adobe CS4. I've been playing around a panorama stitching through a number of versions of Adobe Photoshop, but using CS4 is by far hands down the best for stitching together your panoramas. I'm getting a bit carried away here so let me reserve my enthusiasm for a future post. Anyway, let's get on with Quick Hit Monday.

Quick Hit Monday: Photo-Walks, Deals, and Updates

It's Photo-Walk Time In Cincy
So are you ready for the 2009 Scott Kelby Photo-Walk here in Cincinnati, Ohio? July 18, 2009 is the date - so mark your calendars. That's right, I'm leading the Cincinnati Photo-Walk again for the Worldwide Scott Kelby Photo-Walk scheduled for July 18, 2009. Can you believe it - Scott's Photo-Walk is 549 cities strong this year!

We had one heck of a good time last year so let’s do it again for 2009. We will be meeting at the Playhouse In The Park parking lot where we can view and capture some great vistas of the city. We will wind our way through some beautiful places for some great shots. We wrap the Photo-Walk with a nice stroll through Mt. Adams, one of Cincy’s most unique neighborhoods. Lunch will be at the Teak Thai Restaurant - another local favorite.

Unlike last year I'm going to conduct the photo walk in a circle so that we end up pretty much were we started out -- I'm pretty much an expert on the Photo-Walks now ;~) The walk back to the cars is only a few blocks away. Everybody that was there last year knows what a kick it was - I’m looking forward to a great time and a lot of return as well as new participants.

Anyway it should be a kick. Here is the link for the Cincinnati, OH sign up -- I look forward to seeing everybody there. I must admit participating in the walk and sharing the enthusiasm for photography with all the enthusiasts it is one of the most fun photographic thing that you can do. So, see you July 18 in the Playhouse In The Park parking lot.

How To Get Your BEST Deal On Your New Canon 50D
Folks, it doesn't get any better than this. Canon recently announced their brand-new rebates program [link].

That means that you can save gobs of dollars on new Canon gear. You can save an instant $150 at B&H on the 50D [link]. If you're a NAPP a member, you save another $19 in shipping. And if you win one of the two B&H gift cards at my Digital Wake-Up Call tour, that will save you another $50. Wow!, practically free - it just doesn't get any better than that.

Canon 5D Going Manual On Video With Next Firmware Upgrade Tomorrow
Yup, that's right Canon is updating the firmware of its Canon 5D Mark II camera[link]. Many of us had been hoping Canon would do this from the beginning - let us use the manual settings on our camera when shooting that great video. Here is the link for the firmware upgrade. Remember, it goes live tomorrow.

Hey gang, I've got a plane to catch in a couple of minutes heading to San Antonio. I'm landing at three o'clock, grabbing my bags, and heading to the hotel. I look forward to seeing you in San Antonio Texas this evening. Adios, David