Technique Tuesday: Top 10 Technique Tuesdays For 2009

Good Morning Everybody,

Well, we landed in Atlanta last evening after a magnificent drive through the mountains watching one of the most beautiful sunsets ever.  I think the colors lasted for over an hour.  Those kinds of evenings sure make our road trips worth it.

We stayed with my good buddy, Denis Reggie.  Denis is one of the best and most successful wedding photographers I know and we've known each other over 23 years. Mr. Reggie is the person who coined the term "wedding photojournalism" many years ago and has been a major influence in our profession for the past several years.

Plan to catch Denis' programs at all the major conventions this year. He always fires up the crowds and definitely gets you thinking about how to shoot your images and run your business. In fact he will be at Imaging USA next week.  If you want to delve deeper you might want to invest in a few days with Denis at his in studio programs. You can get more info on Denis' upcoming in studio programs right here.

Hope you enjoy the re-read of yesterday's Top 10 most popular posts.  For me it was fun to look back over the posts too. But now on to the really good stuff.  My Technique Tuesday episodes have been favorite posts for quite a while.

Today, I thought I would re-visit the most popular episodes with you.  Just hit the titles below and enjoy all 10 shows.  I think you'll enjoy them again.

Rank   Views      Title

#1       89,335     Technique Tuesday: Recession Flash - Poor Man's Lighting Set Up

#2       82,461     Gear Bag Friday - Double Blast Video Week - The Video Tour Of My Gear Bag

#3       69,485     Technique Tuesday: Love Lines – Another “Live” Wedding Shoot!

#4       48,843     Technique Tuesday: “I’ve Seen The Light”

#5       48,207     Technique Tuesday: How Slow Can You Go - Shooting Slow Shutter Speed - Handheld

#6       45,825     Technique Tuesday: Lightroom Lighting

#7       41,066     Lightroom 2 In Reverse Part 2 - Rapid Fire Retouching

#8       40,614     Technique Tuesday: Using My Mini-Z-Ray For Great Portraits

#9       40,426     Technique Tuesday: Lightroom 2 In Reverse - Part 1

#10      37,969    Technique Tuesday: Learning To See The Leading Lines

Hey gang, that's it for me today,  we are heading down to Florida and will be spending the next few days in the land of chilly "sun and fun."  See ya' tomorrow for another episode of my Photo FAVS Wednesday.  Adios,  David

Happy New Year!!!; The Best of The Best At DigitalProTalk

Good Morning Everybody, or afternoon, depending on your partying proclivities last night;~)

What a year it was last year here at DigitalProTalk.com - over 1,500 posts to date since I started DigitalProTalk.com about 18 months ago. Reader ship has tripled since last year at this time and I offer each of you my sincere, hearth-felt thank you for making that happen. My deepest gratitude too, to my fellow blogging buddies who felt DigitalProTalk's content was worthy to share with their readers. CameraDoJo.com just named DigitalProTalk as one of the top 20 photography sites for 2008 - thanks guys.

A special thank you to Scott Kelby at PhotoshopInsider.com, David Hobby at the Strobist.com, R.C Concepcion at Layers Magazine, mega-blogger 1001 at 1001 Noisy Cameras, Jim Talkington at ProPhotoLife.com, uber news blogger ImagingInsider at The ImagingInsider.com, our friends over at PhotographyBay.com and so many more for their timely mentions throughout this past year - A Great BIG "Thank You" from me to each of you! And one last Extra Big Thank You to my wife, LaDawn, who proofs every entry and makes the final posts day or night. By the way.... all those mistakes you find happen to be her fault, not mine;~)

Here are some of the highlights from this past year:
Podcasts were introduced and get quite a number of listens - 630,000 listens from its current library of interviews. One of my favorite was my interview with the famous Donny Hoyle of "You Suck At Photoshop" fame. Even John Nack over at Adobe picked up on it. Just hit the G-Cast widget in the right column to hear all the episodes posted to date. Look for many more episodes in 2009.

One of the surprise hits for me was my post "Conversations/Discussions/Insights" just a week ago [link]. This post provoked great response and, I think, proves to me that these kinds of posts can generate a wonderful collaborative resource for DPT readers worldwide. Look for more of these types of posts for sure in the new year.

I'm also stoked about the video capabilities of fusion of the new Canon and Nikon DSLR/Video cameras too. I plan to use this new technology to bring much richer content to DPT. These cameras make it that much easier to do just that. So, look forward to some pretty cool Technique Tuesdays.

I still love doing the "Image of the Day" posts too - over 300 for 2008 alone!. Although I feature wedding and portrait images primarily, I also like that it is not wedding photography each day. I've said it before here and I believe it. We need to get our Brain Juices flowing in other directions too. It's only then that we bring that new creative energy to our primary field of endeavor. I pledge to continue to keep those images interesting and diversified and informative to our DPT readers.

And, don't worry - Technique Tuesday and Business Day Thursday will continue though out 2009 along with many other topics as well.

That said, I promise that DigitalProTalk will continue to bring interesting, informative, content, insights, and news from our exciting digital photography world as long as my two typing fingers are up to the chore.

How about a look at the top traffic posts, most popular posts, and top videos from the past year. Here they are, Enjoy! -David

Top 5 Posts
1. It's Revelations Monday: 8 Hours With The Canon 5D Mark II
2. Canon 5D Mark II Video Monday!!!
3. Heads-Up Wednesday: No Photos In Westminster Abbey & The Analysis Of A Wedding Shoot - Part 1
4. Technique Tuesday: My Cheatin' Light - Or How To get Your Flash To Sync At Higher Sync Speeds Than Normal, and Alligators On Location
5. Highlight Tone Priority - Image Salvation!

Top 5 Video Tutorials
1. Technique Tuesday: My Cheatin' Light - Or How To get Your Flash To Sync At Higher Sync Speeds Than Normal, and Alligators On Location
2. Technique Tuesday: Dancing With The Light Fantastic - Getting The Best Light At Wedding Receptions With Multiple Strobes
3. It's Technique Tuesday This Thursday - Rembrandt Lives: Classical Portraiture
4. "Evening Blues" - A Cool Photoshop Tutorial
5. Technique Tuesday - "Our Emerging Future"

Most Commented Posts
1. Quick Hit Wednesday: Too Much Blogging?; New Training Session on Kelby Training; Inexpensive DYI Flash Gels; and Tom Hogarty Over At Photo
2. Technique Tuesday Again: Conversations, Discussions, Questions and Insights
3. Inspiration Friday: Game Changing Camera Technologies - Who Cares About Video On My DSLR
4. [B]Business Day Thursday - 7 Really Easy Things To Sell To Add To Your Bottom Line
5. I Don't Think I'm Dumb, Maybe I'm Just Stupid

Hey gang, That's it for me today. Thanks again for a great year and let's make 2009 even better. Check back tomorrow for another episode of "Gear Bag Friday: The Little Light That Could". See ya' then, -David

Top 5 Technique Tuesdays for 2010

Good Afternoon Everybody,

We nearly have the suitcases unpacked and are beginning to settle back into “normal”. You know how it is when you return from a trip - suitcases and carry-ons everywhere, laptops sitting here, camera sitting there, everything looking to be unpacked only to be repacked for the next trip.

We're probably still a day or two away before that happens but heck, we still have the Christmas decorations to take down! That's right, it's still Christmas at the Ziser’s. I'm looking at several poinsettias still in good shape but one “live” tree severely drooping. It will be “pine needles everywhere” in a few days ;~)

It was funny, LaDawn just mentioned to someone over the weekend that since New Year's Eve we've only been home for 30 hours. We're both looking to relax at home for the next few weeks or at least until the WPPI convention in mid-February.

I actually started to put together a brand-new Technique Tuesday for today without realizing that I hadn't finished our top 10 Technique Tuesdays for 2010. So instead of popping a new Technique Tuesday let me finish with our Top 10 list.  Then you have all the latest, greatest, hottest posts Technique Tuesday posts from last year. Here we go…

Top 5 technique Tuesdays for 2010

I hope you get a kick out of watching them a second time. As I said above, I'll have a brand-new Technique Tuesday for you next week.

#1 - Posing Large Wedding Groups 2 [link]

This was the most watched tutorial at DPT for 2010. It was probably the most requested as well. So here you have it one more time sit back, relax and enjoy!

#2 - Love Lines – Another Live Wedding Shoot [link]

This post was also extremely popular for 2010 even though it first ran in 2009. I think the reason for that was because during our Captured By the Light 2010 lecture tour I had made reference to this video several times and I think that's what drove a lot of people to revisit the tutorial.

It's still a great lesson on how I light during a real wedding. It features me shooting through my Zumbrella, how I balance the light, and how I compose images. It's been a perennial favorite so enjoy it again.

#3 - Lightroom 3 Secret Settings – [link]

This was the third most popular Technique Tuesday post for 2010. And again, one of the reasons for it’s popularity is that I mentioned it during our 2010 tour. I still think you're find it quite helpful as needed to and fine-tune your images within Lightroom 3.

#4 - Lighting And Shooting Large Groups  [link]

This post is actually the first Technique Tuesday in which I discussed posing large groups. Taken with the number one post above, you get a lot of insights on what I try to accomplish in posing large groups. Enjoy!

#5 - Noise, Noise Go Away  [link]

As many of you know, I'm a high ISO speed freak. I was shooting an event and some of the natural light photographs were taken at 12,800 ISO. I thought it would be interesting to do a post on how I removed the noise from those images. It seemed a lot of photographers enjoyed knowing how I did it, too. So, if you want to revisit the techniques I shared just follow the link above.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today.  LaDawn is insisting that I organize my belongings that I have scattered all over my studio, get them put away and then it's onto removing the Christmas decorations.

See everybody soon, David

Technique Tuesday: A Video Tour Of My Gear Bag - Another Encore Performance

Good Morning Everybody,

Today is our last day in beautiful Hawaii, but you know what, that's OK.  We've had a great stay, explored lots of the sites, walked the beach, ate some great food and just relaxed.  Yesterday we even hiked to the top of Diamond Head and got this fabulous view of the city.

Later this afternoon we head back to good ol' Kentucky and even though Hawaii was a great visit, there's still no place like home.

I promised LaDawn that we would spend our last few hours on the island just relaxing before we jumped on that 8 hour flight back to Atlanta on the mainland. That means that I'm running an "encore performance" Technique Tuesday this week.

Wait, don't get too "bummed" about not having a new Technique Tuesday today.  Back in the secure DPT vaults are several great TTues episodes and I'm picking out one of my favorites today for your joy and edification.

Just know this - as we travel back that long 10 hour journey home, I will be thinking of nothing but brand new Technique Tuesday Episodes that you will see in upcoming posts.  The verdant, fertile mind of the air traveler is the perfect place to "birth" those new TTues ideas;~)

Anyway, let's get on with today's "Encore Performance" of this week's Technique Tuesday.  Here we go.

Video Tour Of My Gear Bag - An Encore Performance

Today's episode features a tour through my gear bag.  I still receive many comments about the gear I use on a wedding even though most of the questions have already been answered here in my blog.  I know we've got a lot of new readers these days who may have missed those posts. 

That's why I've chosen "A Video Tour Of My Gear Bag" as today's post.  It's kind of long - about 18 minutes, so just sit back and relax and enjoy the show.

Tomorrow I’m featuring another "Shooting Solution" from the wedding I featured a few weeks ago in the post entitled, "Lighting Challenge Wednesday" [link].  Give it a read before tomorrow's post. It will be a good refresher into the post tomorrow.

Hey gang, that's it for me today. We are heading out for one more day of sunshine, cool breezes, and warm oceans.  See ya' tomorrow back in Kentucky. Aloha,  -David

Wednesday Wonderfulness: Technique Tuesday On Wednesday

Good Afternoon Everybody,
And welcome to another late post Wednesday - or if you rather, a very late Technique Tuesday post. Regardless, Technique Tuesday is back on the air - and a mighty cool episode it is. I used cool here because I used "cool" about a 100 times in the video. Actually, I had some "roll over cools" left over from last month that I was trying to use up - so I used a lot of them today;~)

Hey gang, I think you are going to like my little Lightroom tutorial today. I've been using my Photoshop "Paint With Light" technique for years. In fact I featured it in a Technique Tuesday episode, "Our Emerging Future" right here. So I finish this baby shoot last week and after importing the images into Lightroom, I get thinking, "Can I make it work in Lightroom?" Well, the answer dear friends, is a resounding -YES! And now I can do it non-destructively - pretty cool. (Yep, I still have a few left.) Anyway, hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show - "Painting With Lightroom."



Hey everybody, I'm back to the real world which means I'm back to real work here at the studio. I'll see everybody tomorrow afternoon and hopefully will be back on the normal schedule in the next few days. See ya' tomorrow, -David

Technique Tuesday: Little Worlds Of Wonder

Good Morning Everybody,

Good news, we've finally got the Digital WakeUp Call DVDs in and are assembling the pieces this week. All pre-orders should be shipped by the end of the week. Those of you that ordered so far are going to be thrilled when you open your package - more later this week.

Now on to today's Technique Tuesday....

Little Worlds Of Wonder

You know, this week's Technique Tuesday was the Technique Tuesday that almost never was.  I had seen some images Nicholas Viltrakis had posted to his blog a few weeks ago [link] and loved them - they were just so different.  I asked him to do a guest post about the technique he used to get his result and he happily obliged.

Well, between several mis-queues about fill formats to use - we finally got on the same page and Nicholas set off to create the video.  That was fine but in putting the tutorial together, I found that I had recorded the intro and exit at 1920x1080 on my Canon 7D.  As I was using Camtasia, my favorite tool for creating these types of videos, my computer did a BIG hiccup. The error was memory related and wouldn't allow me to make the final tutorial.  I then had to resize all the files to allow Camtasia to render the final video. Unfortunately, just a slight annoyance but gobs and gobs of time for this week’s tutorial.  Bu sure to tell Nicholas how much you enjoyed it.

After an afternoon of frustration, I finally got the bugs worked out so now I give you Nicholas' tutorial.

As I said, the images I saw on Nicholas' blog a few weeks ago really caught my eye.  These were panoramas but just not like the panoramas you've seen in the past. These are called stereographic panoramas, and boy do they look different.  I liken them to the flying forest world in the movie Avatar - way cool!

I asked Nicholas if he could show us how he created his unusual images and he gladly obliged. Hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show.

Check out lots more stereographic panoramas right here.  They sure are fun to explore!

Related links:

Stereographic Images: [link]

DigitalProTalk Flickr Group: [link]

Panorama Software:

PTGUI: [link]

Hugen: [link]

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Hey gang, that's it for me today.  I'm firing up the new Canon iPF 8100 printer we installed a few weeks ago.  I want to run a few canvas tests through the printer.  I’ll share my insights and results later.

Have a great one everybody. I'll see ya' tomorrow for a very unusual PhotoFAV Wednesday.

Adios, -David

Technique Tuesday: Recession Flash - Poor Man's Lighting Set Up

Good Morning Everybody,

We kicked off my Master Class yesterday with photogs coming in from around the country, including Hawaii, Arizona, and even one attendee traveling down from Barrie, Canada.  Once more, we have an international symposium of photographers gathered together for a great week of learning and fun;~)

We had everyone over to our home/studio last night for our Welcome Party just to relax, share and get to know each other.  Thanks to my team for pulling off a wonderful evening and dinner.

Today we head out to photograph at two of my favorite locations in the city - the Cincinnati Club (who's image is that on their splash page?) and the beautiful Mother Of God Church.  This should be kind of fun today because of the diversity of the locations.  I'm looking forward to all of us capturing some great shots.   

Technique Tuesday: Recession Flash - Poor Man's Lighting Set Up

I was up bright and early this morning to get today's Technique Tuesday up and running before I headed to class.  Well, things took a bit longer that expected and the video isn't going to be rendered in time for me to get it up before I leave. 

So, I’m going to Plan B. Just to keep all my Technique Tuesday fans happy, I’m posting a repeat episode of one of my favorites. Just think of it as a re-release of one of my Golden Hits. I think you will enjoy it. It was a big favorite first time around.

Tomorrow, the planned video for today should be up and running.  It's a double feature by the way, so you won't want to miss it. Anyway, hit the Play button below and enjoy the show!

Hey everybody, that's it for me today.  I got class starting in under an hour and I don't want to be late.  Check out the video and I'll see everybody tomorrow.  Adios, -David

Technique Tuesday: The Photographic Flip Side of David Ziser

Good Morning Everybody,

Well, our best laid plans of yesterday were put on hold and it’s today that we are making the 2 hour drive to Columbus, OH for my CBTL2010 tour this evening.  No big deal, we got a few more projects accomplished around the studio before we head to Columbus.

As I said yesterday, we are looking forward to an excited group of over 200 photographers coming by this evening to hear the presentation. We stay over in Columbus tonight and head on back home tomorrow just in time for my Rocket Speed Digital Design Webcast [link] – yes, we’ve been working on that in between everything else.  We should be able to “rock and roll” with the program by show time of 3:00 p.m. EDT.  Hope a lot of you can stop on by.

Hey gang, I’ve got a brand new Technique Tuesday for you this week.  It’s entitled mysteriously enough, “The Photographic Flip side of David Ziser.”  OK, what’s all the mystery about?  Check out this week’s episode to see what I’m talking about.

Technique Tuesday: The Photographic Flip Side of David Ziser

For just about my entire career, I have been photographing Weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, with a few high school senior and family portrait sessions thrown in for good measure.  Hey, I’ve always enjoyed being an event photographer, but when we travel, an alternate side of my photographic interests surfaces.

That interest lies in landscape and fine art photography. And, why don’t we throw a little abstract art in for good measure.  If you follow the DPT blog you know this because I occasionally post one of those types of images as the daily image post.

You know, it’s just a part of photography that I enjoy exploring.  More than that, I enjoy bringing the image into Lightroom and Photoshop to finish the result.  I’ll take the finished image and create wall decor or even the occasional poster for display.  I find the entire process refreshing and relaxing.

I thought what I would do for today’s post is walk you through, not so much how I create the finished image – I’ve done that several times previously at DPT - check out this Technique Tuesday link right here which will point you to two such posts. Today I thought I would give you a peek as to the creative process I go though to create the image. A peek, as to how I see and then compose the final image.  Hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show.

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Hey everybody, that’s it for me today. Off to Columbus we go.  Hope to see you there tonight!  Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for another episode of the one that got away. It’s such a near miss, you don’t want to miss it.

See ya’ then,  David

Technique Tuesday: Supercharge Your Portable Speedlites; & Perfect Layers Simply Awesome!

Good Morning Everybody,

Welcome to another Technique Tuesday.  Before we get into today’s post, I want to tell you about one hot new product to hit the software shelves last Thursday.  Last week, our good friends at onOne Software offered to give my staff and myself a private showing of all of their software products, including their newly introduced Perfect Layers.

Perfect Layers – One Cool New Product!

Perfect Layers can be configured to run as a stand alone program or as a plug-in for Lightroom, Photoshop, and Apple’s Aperture.  I have to tell you – it is one way cool product!!  Layers in Lightroom – what a concept! Why hadn’t Adobe taken care of this a long time ago?

Here’s a bit of the back story.  Lightroom and Photoshop guru, Scott Kelby, got talking to the good folks at onOne Software and Scott raised the possibility of developing a plug-in for Lightroom that would do Layers.  The rest is history and after many weeks of beta testing, the product is finally shipping.

To see Perfect Layers in action is amazing!  You know what that means for us, don’t you – one less trip into Photoshop in our post production.

Back to our private training session with OnOne Software – the time went flying by and before long we had chewed up almost an hour checking out all the new features of the onOne Software Suite.  The staff and I were so enthused that we are planning another session for later this week.  I’ll keep you posted.

Because of the tremendous power of Perfect Layers, I’ll plan an upcoming Technique Tuesday that target’s it use specifically for the wedding/portrait photographer.  Wait till you see it – Perfect Layers will blow you away.  Hey, I don’t want to keep you hanging.  Why not checkout Matt Kloskowski’s  Perfect Layers primer right here.  Enjoy!

Supercharge Your Portable Speedlites

Have you ever been shooting with your flashes outdoors and wished they could put out a bit more power?  Heck, I shoot with a 150 w.s. Quantum and still wish for more power out of the Quantum.

Here is the deal – I’m outdoors shooting with, not my Quantum flash, but instead with my shoe mount speedlites.  Because they are smaller and more portable, I sometimes prefer shooting with them instead of my assistant carrying the larger strobes around.

When I make that choice to use the less powerful speedlites, I do give up a lot of flash fire power for my outdoor shooting.  Is there any way to boost the power when using my smaller speedlites?  The answer is a resounding YES!  Want to see how I can easily double the output of my shoe mount speedlites – Hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show!

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  Hope you enjoyed today’s Technique Tuesday. I’ll plan to be back same time, same station tomorrow for another scintillating post from DPT.

Hope to see you then,  David

Technique Tuesday: Fish, Fish–Go Away!

Good Morning Everybody,

Photoshop World Washington, DC is wrapped up and we have the next two days off in the city. I’ve got a brand-new Technique Tuesday for you today so why don’t we get right to it.

Fish, Fish–Go Away!

The idea for this Technique Tuesday came when Michael Wiacek and I were sitting around the Speakers lounge at Photoshop World.  I just picked up my brand-new Canon 8–15mm zoomable fisheye lens and was shooting a few photographs with it.

I was curious to see if I can remove the fisheye effect with this lens correction feature in LR4. I know what you’re thinking – why in the world did I get then lens if I wanted to remove the fisheye effect?  Hey, I just wanted to see if I could do it, that’s all ;~)

As soon as I tried I was left with this BIG gray hole at the bottom of the image. I could have removed it the “constrained crop” box checked but Mike and I (mostly Mike) had an idea on how we could remove it in Photoshop.

All I can say is that one thing led to the other and before long together we had it pretty well figured out.

Another thing that happens when you use the lens correction feature in LR4, it tends to turn your subjects into munchkins if they are positioned pretty far back within the scene. So, we had that problem to solve, too. Hey,  why not hit the PLAY button below and see how we solved the problems and came up with a very, very cool image.

Fish, Fish–Go Away! from David Ziser on Vimeo.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. I promised LaDawn I wouldn’t spend all day on my Technique Tuesday today and it’s already noon. Why? Because we’ve got places to go and things to see.

So, for now, we are out of here.  See everybody tomorrow, David

Technique Tuesday: Dramatic Before and After Wedding Images

Good Afternoon Everybody,

Yes, afternoon – I told you I was going to get back on schedule – I’m practically there ;~)  All joking aside, we are back at it with TONS to do after being on the road so often.  My first session was at 8:00 a.m. this morning photographing the national president of the American Bar Association.  It was quite an honor. 

We did the photography on location and after we finished, we headed back to the studio, uploaded the images into Lightroom, and he and his wife selected their favorites.  All went very well, but there was a lesson to be learned.  What was that lesson – always pay attention to detail!

Upon image review Bill selected his favorite image, but then pointed out that his right cuff wasn’t showing from the sleeve of his jacket. “Darn,” I’m thinking, “I should have caught that!”  The fact of the matter was that I was paying too  much attention to lighting and background and missed a very small point that I always pick up in the studio.

You know, the fact of the matter is that Bill’s profession is based on that kind of attention to detail.  As a photographer, I should have been paying closer attention myself.  Sure, I can easily remedy the situation in Photoshop, but that’s not the point.  I should have caught it in the camera.

So, ask yourself the question, “How much attention do you spend on watching for the details?”  I think the answer helps define what level as a professional you stand.  Attention to detail something we must constantly be aware of and strive for. Food for thought.

Technique Tuesday: Dramatic Before and After Wedding Images

You know, sometimes it’s just fun to play.  That’s what I’ve done in the week’s episode of Technique Tuesday.  I think the most important question you can ask yourself is, “What happens if…” The answer to that question can sometimes lead to some very creative results.

In this video, I asked myself the question “What happens if… I gel my flash with a tungsten flavored filter, set the camera to tungsten, and photograph my subject outdoors?  Well, you should be able to easily guess the answer – the tungsten illuminated area, in most cases the subject, should be the proper color balance, but the area of the scene NOT illuminated by the flash should be all blue tonalities. Hummm… maybe kind of a cool image.

I did run this video a few years ago but have updated it with a few more of my thoughts on the subject.

Also, in this video I’m testing my new Flip video camera recently discontinued.  I wanted to check the video and sound quality.  In the future I plan to have the Flip camera record the scene as I’m shooting the image. 

I know what you’re thinking, “Why doesn’t he just use the Canon 7D for the video?” Here’s my quick answer.  If I use the Canon 7D, I must pull the camera away from my face to see what I’m filming.  That’s very inconvenient for me since I wear glasses. 

Anyway, I’m looking forward to giving the idea a try. 

How about we get right on with this week’s Technique Tuesday.  Hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show.

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  Tomorrows post should go up even earlier than today’s – I’m so excited to be getting back on schedule.  See everybody tomorrow, same time, same station.

Adios, David

Technique Tuesday: Taking The Perfect Portrait Every Time

Good Morning Everybody,

We had a pretty easy day in Cabo yesterday and are looking forward to the same relaxing time today.  Now a good time for me down here is usually “geeking” around with my buddy Kent on some new camera or tech gear. 

He’s borrowed a brand new 200mm F2.0 lens from our Canon rep and picked up Canon’s new ultra-wide (and ultra expensive) TS-E 17mm F/4L swing tilt lens. As LaDawn says, “Boys with their toys.”  You can watch a nice demo of it at B&H right here.  I’ll keep you posted as to any vacation observations we may have on these two lens.

Hey gang, I’ve got a great Technique Tuesday for you today.  You’re going to love it.  Here we go…

Getting The Perfect Portrait – And Perfect Expression Every Time

After arriving in Cabo on Sunday and getting settled in we headed out to dinner with our buddies, Kent and Sarah Smith.  I’ve mentioned many time before that Kent and Sara run a very successful studio in Columbus, Ohio [link] specializing in high school seniors and family portraits.

I’ve always said that if you get a chance to see them speak, definitely DON’T MISS THEIR PROGRAM.  You will get that opportunity at the Professional Photographers of America Imaging USA convention being held in Nashville, TN January 10-12 [link] and also at SPA – Senior Photographers Association January 4-6, 210 in San Diego [link].

Anyway, we were having dinner Sunday when I brought up the idea of them being my guests for this week’s Technique Tuesday episode.  We kicked around a few topics and settled on today’s very innovative topic.

One reason for Kent and Sarah’s success is their ability to capture the perfect shot every time – everybody looking into the camera, smiling, and looking great, even when the group includes several small children.  You want to see how they do it?  Sit back and relax and hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show.

Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  If you liked the lesson today, drop me a note in the comments section below and maybe I’ll be able to talk Kent and Sarah in to doing another Technique Tuesday for DPT.

Are those ocean waves I hear calling in the distance – it must be and the sound is ticklin’ all my beach pixels so I’m out of here.  See ya’ tomorrow with another Shootin’ Solution Wednesday. Adios, David

Quick Hit Monday: A Few Of My Favorite Images From Saturday’s Wedding

Good Morning Everybody,

Wow! We had one great wedding this past weekend. As I mentioned last week, I photographed the young lady's Bat Mitzvah several years ago so it was good to be with the entire family again. We got a fairly early start on the day with Larry Loar, my assistant and good friend, meeting at the studio about one o'clock. We quickly reviewed the order of the day, the wedding cast, and the different locations in which we would be working. We then packed up the gear and headed to the wedding.

We were on site by around two o'clock and and after a very busy and super exciting day, were finally making our way back home at around 12:30 AM. I can always tell how energetic a wedding is by when we get our first "Coke break". I think we grabbed our first one about 10:15 Saturday evening. That meant that we were going like crazy for most of the day but, I have to tell you, it was a blast and get some great images.

I thought for today's post I'd share with you a couple images showing you the type of variety I try to capture for my clients on the wedding day.

Wedding Day Re-Cap

Image #1:

In our first image you see a simple, easy black-and-white portrait I took of the bride while she was still in the dressing room at the hotel. I featured this image in the “Image of the Day” post above.  I love it just get a few of these photographs that capture the soft, beautiful qualities of the bride on her wedding day.

Image #2:

We had scheduled a few moments for the bride and groom to see each other for their first wedding day encounter. After photographing those special moments, I had allowed about 15 more minutes to quickly get some photographs of the couple  around the beautiful Netherland Hilton hotel. This hotel is on the short list of historical places the United States and always offers some great opportunities for some fantastic wedding images. The image below is a simple bridal portrait against the magnificent beauty of the hotel that, I think, will look great in the final bridal album.

Image #3:

This next image is just a cute photograph of the bride with her sister and her good friend. In getting these photographs, it's always important for me to bring in an auxiliary light – my off-camera flash – in this case, coming in from camera right. The additional light source just adds a much greater sense of dimension and depth to the photograph. By using a long lens and a wide aperture, I'm able to throw the background out of focus isolating viewer’s attention just on my three beautiful subjects. The finished result is a nice portrait of the bride with her friends.

Image #4:

I love this next image too. After we had completed our entire series of group photographs, the florist finished up the flowers on the Chuppah (the weeding canopy) and also created a rose petal path up the center aisle.  This combination gave me a great opportunity to get this beautiful image of the bride and groom within the setting of the wedding ceremony just moments before the service began.  By under exposing the surrounds slightly and with the combination of the backlighting, we get a really cool photograph of her wedding couple.

Image #5:

One of my favorite photographs to take of the couple is an image among the magnificent surrounds of the reception venue. For Saturday's wedding, the venue was a Cincinnati Art Museum – one of the most popular wedding venues in the city. My good friend, Kevin Ford, one of the top florists in the city did a spectacular job with flower and room decor. 10 minutes before the guests  were brought into the room my friend, Jennifer Hillman, our bridal consultant for the event, invited the bride and groom to join me and my assistant for this exciting photograph. We take a series of photographs with the bride and groom in the room but the backlit photograph is always one of my favorites.

Backlighting, as I've mentioned so many times here DigitalProTalk, is easy to accomplish. My assistant has the Quantum flash at about quarter, half, full power behind the couple depending on the amount of ambient light in the scene.  In this case Larry would've had the light on quarter power. I selected a shutter speed to pick up the right amount of ambient light, asked the bride and groom to just look at each, other bringing their foreheads quite close together (a nice posing trick for couples photographs), and then made my exposure.  This is one of the signature images I try to bring to all of my coverages and again, I think look great in their wedding album.

Image #6:

Now let me give you a preview of tomorrow's Technique Tuesday. I wanted to try completely different lighting set up for Saturday's wedding. With the benefit of our new high ISO cameras and my light weight portable  lighting units, I knew I could get great reception lighting for the entire evening very quickly and efficiently.

With your Museum's permission we arranged to remotely fired strobes on either side of the room up on the second floor balcony of the Art Museum. The cross-lighting bathed the dance floor with a wonderful dimensional light that you just would not get any other way. I love the result.

Please be sure to tune in tomorrow and I'll talk about the entire concept and technique with you.

Image #7:

And finally, another one of my signature images taken as a bride and groom enjoy their bridal dance. In this image I switched off the room-lights and used only Larry's strobe behind the couple a quarter power. This image is always been one of my most popular  for as long as I've been photographing weddings. Don’t you love how the light bounced off the groom’s shirt and illuminated the bride’s face – very cool.

I did many variations on the backlighting theme during the wedding dance and the father daughter dance which I hope to bring to you in another upcoming Technique Tuesday down the road. Please stay tuned. Anyway, in the meantime, enjoy this image today.

I know I featured a lot of my signature images in today's post, but please keep in mind that I also took over 2,000 other images capturing the fun, spontaneity, and excitement of the day.  You'll see several examples in tomorrow’s post.

Tomorrow’s Technique Tuesday – A Preview Of Coming Attractions

As I mentioned earlier in this post, I was trying a new lighting set up for the reception shoot. For tomorrow's Technique Tuesday, I've already selected the images and have a great lighting tutorial lined up for you that I know that you enjoy.  When a plan to tune in and see what I've got in store.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. We got 48 hours to get several projects wrapped before we had to Michigan bright and early Wednesday morning. LaDawn and I are both "pedal to the metal" until we leave  bright and early on Wednesday. Everybody have a great rest of the day and I'll plan to see you tomorrow morning for brand-new technique Tuesday: wedding reception lighting!

See you then,

– David

Technique Tuesday: Happy B-Day & New Orleans Wedding Shoot – Part Two

Good Afternoon Everybody,

First off, let me thank everyone for all the birthday wishes that came pouring in from around the world.  I read each and everyone of them and really THANK YOU all for the very kind thoughts. Yes, it’s another year older for me today – should I try that box of Grecian Formula or not ;~) All joking aside, a person is as old as they feel and I really don’t feel as old as I’m suppose to be.  I think it comes down to how one embraces life, always looking on the bright side, and always embracing all the new challenges that we sometimes must face.

This past weekend, after all the trials and tribulations of dealing with 3 cancelled Delta flights, and all the frustrations in trying to get my daughter, Elizabeth into town, I can happier report that we all had a great weekend even though it was much shorter than expected.  The highlight of the weekend had to be the trip to Kings Island and the marathon riding of the coasters. 

I remember a few years ago, I mentioned to LaDawn that I felt my coaster days were over. I was heading into that 6th decade of my life and felt like I was needing to slow down.  Part of those feelings were due to the extra weight I had put on and an overall felling of losing some of my never-ending energy. 

But about 4 months ago a few students in my Master Class and I were discussing getting and staying in shape. They convinced me it was my time to take the “bull by the horns” and do something about how I was feeling. The following week I began my journey to do just that. Now 4 months later I’m walking 7-8 miles a day, eating sensibly, and am currently 50 pounds lighter than I was at the beginning of my journey 4 months ago.  I felt alive again – and ready for the Kings Island coasters!!!

Now you have to picture this.  I am quite literally the “most senior” person in all the coaster lines.  I read with trepidation all the cautions about riding the coasters with bad backs or necks, high blood pressure, and the myriad listing of ailments that I probably have to some degree or another.  But, none of that deters me away from a great coaster ride. And, I want the front car too!!

Anyway, this weekend showed me that I have a few more years in me to ride the great coasters of the world and I can’t wait!!! Alright gang, time to get back to our regularly scheduled feature – Technique Tuesday.

Technique Tuesday: New Orleans Wedding Shoot – Part Two

As I’ve previously mentioned, we had a great time in New Orleans a few weeks ago. My wedding shoot-out was a kick because I got the opportunity to shoot with the new Canon 600 EX-RT speedlites and I really put them through their paces. In my first post about my shooting experience [link1], I covered a lot of details about the strobes. I also posted two other very informative articles covering my use of the strobes that you can find right here - [link2 and link3].

In today's shoot I will walk you through several more images from that session. As I review the series of images I’ll discuss the lighting, the exposure, and the compositional challenges we faced during that shoot. I was thrilled with the results that I was getting.  During that class-time, the bride had her mother with her, so I shared all the images with her mother as well as with the bride.  The bride and her mother were both ecstatic over the results.  

Why not hit the PLAY button below and let me share a few more those images with you here today.  I think you'll enjoy the show.

Other links discussed in today’s post:

Quick Hit Monday: My First Day With Canon 600EX-RT Speedlights–WOW!

Technique Tuesday On Wednesday: New Orleans Wedding Shoot - Part 1

Bonus Post: Canon 600EX-RT Works Great For Reception Photography

Canon 600 EX-RT speedlite info: [link]

David Ziser’s 42” Zumbrella: [link]

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Hey gang, that's it for this Birthday Boy today.

Have a great rest of the day and I'll see you soon, David

Technique Tuesday - All Day Tuesday

Good morning everyone,
Yes, it's true - this is Technique Tuesday - really happening on Tuesday. Even though we're checking out the great Imaging USA trade show in Tampa, hangin' with our buds, partying till all hours of the morning - I'm still determined to pull-off this Technique Tuesday:~) We are having a great time catching up with friends and finding some really cool new and exciting items at the show. See below a few of our favorites, but first, on with "Invitation to Love"...

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

Technique Tuesday: The Ziser Wedding Series: Experiencing The Complete Wedding Weekend – Part 5

Good Morning Everybody,

Hey gang, I found a new way to walk and chew gum at the same time.  Well, not chew gum but blog at the same time. I just picked up a brand-new Sony IC voice recorder its model number SX712 and works really great with Dragon Naturally Speaking. Some people might not like using Dragon Naturally Speaking because it puts you in a different frame of thought than when actually typing the words.  I found that issue early on that when I tried to adapt Dragon Naturally Speaking to writing my first book and blogging but now I have things worked out pretty well and I use both more and more.

The voice recorder is great for getting my ideas down right now. And, Dragon Naturally Speaking does a decent job of transcribing those notes especially if you take the time to train the software occasionally. Now, the fact of the matter is this.  If I just type the words directly into the computer, I generally will have better “wordsmithed” paragraphs.  But, at least getting my ideas and my thoughts down with the Sony digital recorder and then transcribing them still makes it fairly easy for me to clean them up for the final blog post.

The nice thing I like about the Sony voice recorder is the fact that I'm not tethered to my computer.  When I have an idea occur to me I can just grab the recorder and make my quick notes. I have to say, after using it for about 5 days, I love my new voice recorder and sure look forward to finding about million other uses for it down the road. It’s quite the production enhancer. Okay, time to get for post for today.

The Ziser Wedding Series: Experiencing The Complete Wedding Weekend – Part 5

Welcome to another Technique Tuesday today. That's right I'm getting another Technique Tuesday up on Tuesday!  Actually today’s post is an extension/continuation of my video blog post from yesterday.  In today’s video I'll walk you through the rest of the rehearsal set up and my photography of my recent wedding I did in northern Michigan.

Our main challenge during the rehearsal shoot were a lot of lighting issues which I knew I had to fix either in camera or in Lightroom 4 after the fact. As I walk you through the images today I’ll also talk with you about what was going on in my mind at the time and what I was trying to capture during the event coverage.

Actually, I think that's probably the most important aspect of this video series. It's sort of a peek into my mind, my “photographer’s brain” when I'm out there shooting. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, this series seems to be taking on a life of its own and seems to continue to grow and expand.  Who knows where it will end up ;~)

I think that's a good thing. I hope you find it interesting and informative and will follow along. So, with that said, why not hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. It's back to the book writing for me plus tidying up a few other loose ends around here. Then, we pack our bags tomorrow and head the New Orleans first thing Thursday morning. Hope to see you soon.

Adios, David

Technique Tuesday On Wednesday: How Slow Can You Go - Shooting The Very Slow Shutter Speed - Handheld

Good Morning Everybody,
Well, it just wasn't in the stars to get Technique Tuesday up yesterday. We made the mad dash from San Francisco to Sacramento, got started late on the room set up because of a meeting in process when we arrived, and barely had time to get the room set before over 200 of our Digital WakeUp Call guests started to arrive. No problem - we'll just post it today.

This, by the way is the day we visit Google - actually, in just a few hours. I'll give you the low down tomorrow. I can't wait! Anyway, let's get on with yesterday's Technique Tuesday...

How Slow Can You Go? Shooting The Very Slow Shutter Speed - Handheld
During my seminars, I show many images where I use very slow shutter speeds for example; 1/10 second to obtain the shot (I never carry a tripod to a wedding) and everyone is surprised by how I am able to pull this somewhat easy task off. In this tutorial I'll reveal my secrets. Well, not really secrets, just good technique.

And the technique has to be good to pull off the shutter speeds I'm demonstrating on this video. I made all the images at 1/4 second and slower - all hand-held. I needed the slow shutter speed to blur the motion of the flowing water which really added a sense of beauty and in some cases power to the finished photographs. Instead of me talking about it, why not hit the PLAY button below and see what I was up too. I hope you enjoy the video.



Hey gang, that's it for today. I'll get back on the regular schedule once we can sneak a few more minutes in the day. I'll plan to run our next post on "Portraits - Booking, Shooting, and Selling" tomorrow. It's sort of business related so it works for tomorrow. Enjoy the tutorial today and I'll see everybody sometime tomorrow. Hope to see some friendly faces tonight in San Jose. We're are off Goggling this morning, -David