Thursday, June 28, 2012

"Blazing Glory"

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"Blazing Glory"
©David A. Ziser

For today’s Image of the Day post, I want to re-visit one of my favorite sunset images.  The image was made about a year ago on a visit to Florida.  Here is the back story:  What can I say, the sunset was amazing. Part of our journeys on that trip included a stop at the Beach House Restaurant. LaDawn's son, Joshua, was getting married in Sarasota, Florida last March and we are co-hosting the rehearsal dinner there. Anyway, Shawn, the sales manager, one of the best I've ever worked with, BTW, was showing LaDawn the venue as I was poking around on the beach checking out a very anemic sunset, or so I thought. I clicked off a shot or two and thought I had an image good enough for today's post.

We wrapped up our meeting with Shawn, enjoyed a serving of conch fritters, a Florida west coast favorite, and headed for the car planning to head back to Orlando. I backed the car into the street and we pulled past the restaurant. What we saw next was absolutely amazing - the most blazing sunset either of us had seen in years.

I steered the car quickly onto the side of the road, asked LaDawn to park it, and ran across the street to see if I could grab some shots of this unbelievable sunset. I was shooting with Canon's brand new G12 and thought it would give me some good images.

Then it hit me, was I shooting in RAW or JPEG??!! I haven't had the camera long so I was unfamiliar with the menu structure. I saw I was shooting in JPEG and wanted to get to RAW as quickly as possible while the sun was still blazing. After fumbling through the settings for a few minutes, I found the RAW setting and quickly switched. The gorgeous sunset had subsided a bit but I kept shooting. BTW, this is one of the first JPEG images I made.

I knew I had something in the camera and couldn't wait to see them. This image is my favorite from the series. This post today illustrates how great images are sometimes made - unplanned, spontaneous, and in the heat of the moment. What would have happened if I had not been aware of my surroundings, stopped the car, and made an effort to capture this image and instead just looked at the sky, shrugged, and driven on? I would have missed one of nature's most glorious display of beauty.

I'm glad I leaped from the car, in the middle of traffic, and got the shot. We both just watched in amazement for the next several minutes as this cinematic wonder continued. It was a great end to a wonderful day!

Camera specs: Canon G12 with 6.1-30.5mm lens at 6.1mm (28mm – 35mm format equivalent), F2.8 @ 1/30 second, Program mode adjusted to -2/3's stop, ISO 80. Enjoy! -David

Business Day Thursday: It’s Time To: Invigorate / Innovate / Interpolate

Good Morning Everybody,

We had a 5  hour drive to the Indiana Dunes National Seashore yesterday, got settled into our hotel and headed to Mt. Baldy, the largest sand dune in North America.  Yep, our plan was to re-live LaDawn's Mt. Baldy experience of years ago and climb to the top.

Now many of you don't know, but about two months ago, I decided to "clean up my act" and get into shape.  Hey, better late than never, right;~). Anyway, I have fully embraced a much healthier diet, and dare I say, exercise.  Yes me, exercise - yikes.  But the reality is that I’m walking up to about 4 miles a day and feeling better.  As a matter of fact the results of my new health venture has resulted in a nearly 40 pound weight loss, blood pressure well into the normal category, and a cholesterol reading that is literally one half what it was - yes, 1/2 the previously number and now well below normal.

Indy DunesAnyway, I'm ready for Mt. Baldy, right?  WRONG!  Good ol' Mt. Baldy did me in yesterday.  At roughly 125 feet tall, Mount Baldy is the largest "living" dune in Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. As the dune moves, it buries everything in its path, including trees.

You know, walking uphill in sand is quite a chore.  And when you're trying to do it on one of the biggest sand dunes in North America, it's both daunting and exhausting.  The dune is actually three times higher than it seems.  Why?  Because for very three steps you take forward, you slide back two. But after a lot of effort, we did it.

Now take that adventure off my "bucket list".  I am over sand dunes, sand, and Mt. Baldy.  Heck, I don't even know if I ever even want to walk on a beach again!   OK, maybe I'm over reacting now.  Beaches, oceans, and sunsets are still OK for me :~)

Wait now, maybe hang gliding off Mt. Baldy would have been better – uhmmmm…

Hey gang, enough of my adventures yesterday.  How about we get on with today's Business Day Thursday.  Here we go.

Resting On Your Laurels, A Guaranteed Path To Failure

See No EvilOver the last 5-7 years I have watched many photographers studios "bite the dust" and go out of business with those business owners lamenting the fact that times and customers have changed and today's customer just doesn't get it anymore. 

These photographers, and I was guilty of that too for a while, have been resting on their laurels for the last several years of their careers reaping the benefits of a business that has remained basically unchanged for over 50 years.  But change happens, the cheese gets moved, and the successful entrepreneur make moves quickly to adapt.  Like I said, resting on your laurels is the surest way to failure - I've seen it over and over.

Having said that, I've also seen a new crop of young, talented photographs move quickly to fill the vacuum created by the "laurel testers".  Photographers like Lynn Michele, one of the top new wedding shooters in Dallas.  Blair Phillips is tearing up the photography market in Charlotte, NC.  And, Zack and Jody Gray are rocking it down in Nashville, TN after only a few short years in business.

So what's the big difference here.  Is it just out with the old and in with the new?  I don't think so.  I think it comes down to the new kids on the block figuring it out a whole lot quicker that the photographers of yesteryear. "Digital" as they say, has changed the way photographers have done business nearly overnight.  To many of us, and me included at first, we're slow to change and adapt.  But, the new stars on the photographic horizon figured it out early, grabbed the digital tiger by the tail, and are having a great ride.

What does it come down to to be successful in this brave new photographic world?  I think it comes down to the same factors it always has and always will - regardless of the age or era entrepreneurs are doing business.

It’s Time To: Invigorate / Innovate / Interpolate

Invigorate:  Get yourself excited about what your all about.  Get yourself excited about your photography again.  Nothing hurts success like apathy.  And, when business is slow - apathy, like a cancer, can start to erode away your optimism and enthusiasm.  You need to take time to recharge your batteries.  Give yourself a creative photographic self-assignment.  Start pointing your camera at subjects outside your normal "business box".  Take a photo-walk around your city or town and shoot street scenes, flowers, people - start a creative conversation, a dialogue if you will,  with yourself with your camera.

InnovationInnovate: Shake the dust webs from your product offerings and offer something new.  Every six months you need to re-visit what you offer, how you offer it, and consider how you can do better.  In that same vein, you need to constantly innovate and introduce new product offerings.  Like I said, every six months you have to force yourself to go through that innovating process. Frankly, in today's super fast moving digital world, it's do it or die. Is that really the music you want to face professionally?  Then get busy!

Interpolate:  Look at where your customers are coming from now and see if there are more customers there.  Reach out to your current clients for new referrals and leads.  Give them rewards or special incentives (spiffs) for sending referrals your way.  The easiest way to do that is with "Two for One", Buy One, Get One", or "Bring A Friend" promotions.

Don't forget to stay connected.  That means staying connected with your current and prospective clients. You can do that with all the social media options available to you - from Facebook to Pinterest.  Learn and embrace the social media opportunities today.  There is no away around it - just do it!!!

SuccessAnd stay connected with your professional friends, I call them my vendor buddies.  Re-kindle, renew, and expand those relationships so you can grow and thrive together.

Folks, those are a few places to begin.  But the real new beginning comes from you and you wanting to make that effort.  I always said it was easy to be the best photographer in town.  You just have to work a lot harder than the next guy.  And, guess what, that's the easy part, because a lot of people just don't want to work that hard.  The path is clear for those who want to walk that road less traveled.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today.  We're spending a few more hours  in the Indiana Dunes area and then heading up to Grand Rapids and then onto Frankfort, Michigan later this afternoon.  Then for me it's banging out about 6,000 thousand words on my book and a big three day wedding this weekend.  Have a good one and I’ll see you soon.

Adios, David

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"

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"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"
© David A. Ziser

I love this photograph. It's a simple backlit photograph of the bride dancing with her father. With my assistant positioned behind the bride and her father and with the both of them turned about 45° to the axis of the camera, the light from the backlight  illuminates the father shirt which then becomes the light source for the bride's face. Utilizing a higher ISO guarantees a decent exposure on the bride's face letting me see her beaming expression as she enjoys this wonderful moment with her father.

This technique works equally well when the bride is dancing with her groom.  The secret is to be sure to catch the couple at about a 45° from a line drawn from the camera to the flash behind the couple. As long as the flash has a clear view of the guy’s shirt – dad or groom, that shirt will become the light source giving you the illumination you want on the bride's face.

This is a great technique I've used over and over again. Once I've made a full-length exposure of the couple I’ll then zoom in and follow the action  for several more minutes hoping to capture a close-up image of either the bride with the groom or dad beaning back at her. 

Remember too, if we use the same technique with the bride’s back to the camera and the front of her gown oriented to the backlight, the light will bounce off of her white gown creating a light source for either the father’s or the groom's face and will get the same result is what we see right here. These new combo images are a perfect combination to the example we see here in today’s post.

Too many people settle for the  simplest of photographs of this special moment - just a quick photograph of the bride and groom or the bride and her dad this looking directly back into the camera smiling.  I think the image I'm showing today represents a bit more creative and exciting approach to that special moment of the evening. Again, it takes an auxiliary flash to pull it off but the results are worth it.  And, that folks, is one of the big differences that makes a difference in wedding photography these days.

DAZNOTE:  The question comes up, "Will this technique work with a remotely fired smaller shoe mount flash?" The answer is yes but once again you get a remember that you will be using high ISOs – probably any ISO 6400 or maybe even higher. You will have to use them at a power setting – maybe full power – to get the same result. 

This image becomes part of a full page spread in the bridal album and is always a favorite for whomever is represented in the image.

Camera specs  Canon 5D Mark three fitted with Tamron 28 – 300 mm lens at 28 mm,  F5.6 @ 1/100th of a second, ISO 4000. Enjoy! – David

Technique Tuesday: Fast, Easy Event Lighting

Good Morning Everybody,

Indy Dunes2I have to tell you, it's been a whirlwind around here all day yesterday and all day today. We pull out bright and early tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. and are heading up to northern Indiana. We’re taking a “round robin” weeklong trip on the way to our wedding in Crystal Lake, Michigan this coming weekend.

The game plan is to see the beautiful Indiana Dunes (above) – a site my wife has been wanting me to see for many years – and then spending evening in that area. The next day we planned ahead up to Grand Rapids and catch up with my good buddy and marketing guru, Chuck Lewis, and who has been featured here DigitalProTalk a few times. As a matter fact, will have Chuck scheduled as a Webcast guest later on in July. I'll keep you posted as to the details.

MichiganAfter our Grand Rapids stop on Thursday we travel the rest of the way up to Crystal Lake near Frankfort Michigan where the wedding will be taking place.  Actually, once we get up to Frankfort, Michigan, we actually get to catch our breath. We've been invited the photograph the rehearsal dinner on Friday.  Saturday is the big day but should really go smoothly.  After the Sunday brunch the following day will continue our travels through Michigan.

In any event, trying to get all the loose ends tied together before heading out on the seven-day trip can be a little daunting – particularly since we have so many different, non-related activities scheduled in these next seven days. And, somehow or another I need to continue working on the book so I don't fall behind. I keep thinking, “If I only make it through June and the first couple days of July, I'm home free.” I smile as I say that knowing that it seems things never really seen the slowdown around here. But it's always exciting and always an adventure. I just keep trying to keep to smiling through it all ;~)

Fast, Easy Event Lighting

On that note gang, why don’t we get on with today's Technique Tuesday. I'm pretty excited about today's post because I want to review with you some new lighting techniques that we just instituted at a recent wedding. I've mentioned that several times here at DigitalProTalk that the new high ISO cameras offer us all kinds of easy, efficient lighting opportunities when photographing our events. That’s what I want to talk about today.  And, I have to tell you, after this past Saturday's shoot, I am more stoked than ever to make these lighting changes to all my upcoming events.

The bottom line is this – this weekend everything went as smooth as silk and we got some great results. Why not hit the PLAY button below and I'll share with you the lighting techniques that I’ll be using from this point forward on all of our events. I promise you – it’s a great tutorial.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. I'm glad I was able to get the post up early because it's back to work for me. I'm actually seeing the light at the end of the tunnel so hopefully by this evening we will be good to go for early departure tomorrow morning.

How about I plan to see everybody again soon right here at DigitalProTalk.

Have a great day, – David

Monday, June 25, 2012

"A Joyful Moment"

0001 - Jennifer-

"A Joyful Moment"
© David A. Ziser

I’ll mention in the following post that I really enjoy capturing a couple of these images of the bride as she is just wrapping up her preparations for the wedding day. My all goal was to take some very soft, shallow focused, high key photographs of the bride using only the natural light of the bedroom window.  The window light always gives us a very soft illumination on our subject. I like to see just a simple, gentle expression of the bride framed against the white surrounds of the rest of the composition.

I also find that I like the subject’s expression gazing down. That allows, we the viewers, to look upon the image without any distractions and enjoy the gentle beauty of our subject.

I also prefer these portraits in black-and-white. The tonalities of the black-and-white are important for me too so I make a few Lightroom adjustments to get the tonalities I want. I want to shift the darker tonalities to the upper tonal values, lightening the blacks and the dark grays and pushing them into the brighter grey tonalities. For me, it just adds to the soft, gentle feeling of the portrait.

There are several ways to expand on the simple portrait approach. I would continue to take several photographs of the bride gazing down and then asked her to return her gaze back to the camera. I would run a full range of crops from a somewhat loose crop as you see right here to something much closer. This entire short portrait many session only takes a few minutes but, I think it really creates a set of compelling images that the bride, groom, and their families can really enjoy.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your image for today.

Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with Tamron 85mm, F1.4  @ 1/2000 second, ISO 2000. Enjoy! – 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.

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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.

0002 - Jennifer-12

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.

0005 - Jennifer-12

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.

0006 - Jennifer-12

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.

0011 - Jennifer-12

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.

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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.

0012 - Jennifer-12

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

Friday, June 22, 2012

"Half Dome From Glacier Point"

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"Half Dome From Glacier Point"
© David A. Ziser

I’m channeling Ansel Adams with today’s post. A few years ago we were traveling out West and were weekending in Fresno, CA.  Some folks in California think there are better places to stay (they don’t live in Fresno) but for us and with Yosemite National Park a short one hour drive away, it was the perfect place to spend the weekend.

Our travels had us at Yosemite in mid/late May just as the waterfalls are flowing at their peak and, by luck, the road up to Glacier Point was open. WOW!  What a view! I’m a huge Ansel Adams fan and was in the mood to see if I could pull off a few “Ansel Adams” like images.  I didn’t have my 8x10 view camera with me so I had to settle for the 5D.

The light was looking good considering  that we had made it to the top of Glacier Point about 5:30 p.m. – almost the perfect time of day to get the image I wanted.  The rich blue sky with just a few wispy clouds made a picture perfect background for the view of Half Dome and the Yosemite Valley.

I had originally processed this image in Lightroom 2 but decided to “give it a go” again in Lightroom 4 and got a substantially better result.  Since it’s now so easy to tweak the full range of tones so easily in Lightroom 4, I finessed the image to exactly where I wanted it.  To me, the image seems to pop of the screen.  I’ve got great details in the full range of the image from the darkest darks to the brightest whites which, of course was the intent.

Camera specs:  Canon 5D Mark II fitted with 24-105 mm IS lens at 28mm, F13 @ 1/320 second, ISO 250.  Enjoy!  -David

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Business Day Thursday: It's All About Sales - A Great Church Directory Shoot: Olan Mills Gets It Right And So Should You!

Good Afternoon Everybody,

I hope everyone is having a great week this week.  We've been busy with all the events we've had this month, and still getting ready for two big weddings coming up over the next two weeks.  This coming weekend I photograph another wedding of one of my past clients, a beautiful young lady whose Bat Mitzvah I photographed a number of years ago. Once again, it'll be great to visit with the family and several of their friends whom I've also worked for in the past years.

Good To Be With Friends

Garden-Party5We’re also in the process of getting ready for another very big event at Crystal Lake, Michigan next weekend. That wedding is particularly special for me too since I've been photographing the entire family since the kids been very young.  In fact, I actually began photographing next week's bride before she was even born ;~)  We also had the honor photographing her brother last year. That event took place in Phoenix, Arizona. Again, we had a fabulous weekend with the family.

As a matter fact, I want to feature one of the current projects were doing for the family right now, in one of our upcoming Business Day Thursday's posts.  I’ve been working with the bride and groom for couple of weeks now gathering all their photographs – from babyhood to adulthood – to put together a special slide presentation at next Friday's rehearsal dinner. I have to tell you, the number photographs were working with – nearly 1,000 - certainly turn this into quite a large project. Anyway, it's all good, and I'm looking forward to wrapping the show this weekend.

Thanks For Help Wanted Response

Hey, speaking of this weekend, I want to thank everyone who responded to my "Help Wanted ad" earlier this week. My good buddy and fellow Photoshop Walker, Larry Lohr, caught the notice and said he would be happy to oblige. Larry even called me up the other day tell me he was reviewing my Kelby Training videos just to be sure he was totally up to speed for the shoot. You know, it's nice to know that people make the effort to really get prepared. I'm looking forward to working with Larry this weekend.

Hey gang, I've got a pretty interesting Business Day Thursday post for you today. In the post I’m going to tell you about a recent photographic experience LaDawn and I had which was quite positive from beginning to end. And, I should point out, that you'll probably be surprised by who the predominant players were in this story.

It's All About Sales - A Great Church Directory Shoot: Olan Mills Gets It Right And So Should You!

Olan Mills III think our experience we enjoyed yesterday is important for anyone who wants to run a successful business. The opening title may have startled you a bit particularly with the mention of church directory and Olan Mills in the title. First of all, a clarification – Olan Mills was recently purchased by Lifetouch Inc., the largest school photography company in the world. Olan Mills, for many years, has been a big force in the church directory market. From the street gossip I hear Olan Mills II – now 80+ years old and with no heirs the past the business onto, decided to sell it to Lifetouch.

Lifetouch has been one of the dominant forces in high school yearbook photography for number of years. By purchasing Olan Mills they now become a $1+ billion a year company with more than 20,000 employees photographing a large segment of our society. Yes folks, they've been one of the chief competitors to the small studios for number of years.

Remembering Church Directory Photography Of Years Past

Although church directory photography has been considered at the bottom rung for fine find portraiture for number of years.  I still remember a few years ago when our church produced its church directory,  the photographer had LaDawn and I both lean towards each other and then “knowing gaze off into the distance” much like the photograph of my mother and father featured in a church directory years ago. Let's just say it was a very "50s" kind of portrait – think Ozzie and Harriet.

Anyway, back to my story.  Last evening LaDawn and I headed down to church for our 5:10 p.m. church directory portrait appointment. We met our photographer, Leslie who was quite congenial.  After a few minutes of conversation, he very warmly and graciously invited us into the portrait studio – a meeting room in the church that had been converted to accommodate two weeks of church directory photography.

Still remembering my last “church directory” photo experience, I was not looking forward to what I thought would not be a good thing.  Last night it was different though.  Leslie kept a good banter going to keep us in good spirits as he positioned LaDawn and I though number of poses. I felt none of the poses were in the least bit hokey.  He was really working to get our best expressions and flatter us in every way he could with both decent lighting, good expressions, and confortable realistic poses.

Another thing that impressed me was how he “find tuned” the details of our positions before taking the photograph.  He directed us to turn our heads just a bit, lower our chins when necessary, and position our eyes for a good-looking couples portrait.  I have to say, I’ve been involved in photography for many years.  My first instructor, Monte Zucker, told me that for client to love their photographs they have to look good. And, when you make the client look good with expression, pose, and lighting, the sale will follow. Leslie's attention to detail was above and beyond church directory experience I had seen before.  He was a true professional in the complete process he took in photographing LaDawn and I.

He Worked The Session – No Shortcuts Here!

Not only did he change the light around several times to adjust the contrast that he wanted for each of our poses, he also changed the background from the traditional church directory blue background to a simple black cloth. His lighting set up included a key light a fill light which he was running about a 4:1 ratio. I also noticed a “hair light” above and at the center of the background behind us - good idea to give us good separation from the black background.

My expectation was to be rushed in and out of the portrait session so that the photographer could move on to his next session.  At no point during last evening's shoot did I feel rushed in the least. Leslie made every effort to get the photograph that he wanted while also verifying with us that we approved by letting us look at the back of the camera after each shot. 

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After going through about a half a dozen portrait iterations of both LaDawn and I, he then asked to do individual portraits of each of us. I'm thinking to myself, "This is a great technique every photographer should utilize  when trying to maximize image sales to their clients.”  Always remember to break down the groups. He took a couple photographs of me which I actually liked quite well and then asked that LaDawn switch with me and took about three or four of her, a few of which were quite flattering.

In the entire session Leslie took no more than 12 photographs. Digital photography has produced a lot of very large number of undisciplined photographers these days. Lifetouch is a billion-dollar a year company where time is money. By disciplining their photographers to get a nice selection of photographs in the a minimum amount of shots adds to a streamlined sales session and much less indecision from the customers trying to make a purchase from too many images – a god lesson to learn for many of us, me included ;~)

It's not about shooting 1 million different next exposures and hope we get 10 or 12 good ones. It's about shooting 10 or 12 good ones and letting your sales staff sell to those 10 or 12 good ones – very efficient and very profitable.

The Sales Process:

During the entire portrait session I kept a running conversation going with Leslie. He told me has been working for Olan Mills, now Lifetouch for over 25 years. Confidentially, I hear  he is one of the best shooters for the company and trains a lot of the new photographers that come on board.  After finishing our session with Leslie, he invited us into the sales room where we met Tammy.  We would review our images with her. Leslie was shooting with a Nikon D 7000 and, once finished with our portrait session, handed the flash card over to Tammy who loaded it into her computer and presentation software to make her presentation to us.

Tammy was exactly the kind of salesperson you want working for you. Not only was she friendly and outgoing, she hit on many great sales touch points that you couldn’t help but want to buy something from her.  As a student of sales for many years and, feeling I’m a decent salesperson myself, I thought Tammy was one of the best I had met. Her congenial attitude, product knowledge, and product suggestions are traits every good salespeople need to develop. Tammy, like Leslie, has been doing this for a long time. Confidentially, I hear Tammy is one of the top salespeople for the company. I've been through a number sales presentations – from timeshare sales, car sales, and pitches I hear from from the speaking platform to know what a good job when I see it. As LaDawn and I say, “Tammy is a  DH – Definite Hire.”

Lesson’s Every Studio Can Learn From Our Lifetouch Sales Experience Last Evening.

One – The sales process need not be I "hard sell" at all. The sales process needs to take place in the congenial, friendly, comfortable atmosphere. It's the salesperson that makes that happen and that's why, who's ever selling in your studio, better have those traits. If they don't - train them or fire them.

Two – When presenting images to your client, don't overwhelm them with huge numbers of images where many of those images are very similar to each other. We were shown a grand total of 10 images during our viewing session. That sample size of images was small enough so that Tammy could  easily move us through the samples and have us select our favorites in no time. In a matter about 60 seconds we had nailed down the photograph of the church directory image. And then it was on to the remaining eight images to view for additional purchases.

0004 - MOG Olan Mills-0428Three Tammy knew we had three separate decisions to make. First, pic our favorite photograph for the church directory. Second, select my favorite individual photograph. And third, select our favorite individual photograph of LaDawn.  Because of the limited number of images to choose from and because Leslie did a good job, we were able to quickly make up her minds as to which ones we liked the best.

Four –  Show the client the options.

12 years ago I was involved with the company called ProShots. ProShots was a fabulous piece of software whereby you could edit the images before you showed your client but more importantly, it allowed photographers the ability to show their photographs in the frames and even show the framed photographs hanging in the clients’ living room. It was the most wonderful piece of selling software on the planet Earth. Unfortunately it was purchased by Eastman Kodak company  who never really supported it much after the first couple of years after they purchased. The software now languishes in the Kodak archives probably never to be seen again – too bad.

0005 - MOG Olan Mills-0429Anyway, once we had picked out our three favorite photographs – one of us as a couple and two individual images – Tammy was quick to preview them in a frame that held all three images. For me, was like déjà vu. This was exactly what I did years ago when we were using a ProShots software. Tammy was using the exact same sales techniques we’ve been using for years. The combination Tammy put together was something that LaDawn and I both took a quick liking too.

Five – Time For The Upsell

As with McDonald's and so many other companies the upsell this is important to enhance profits for any business. McDonald’s runs the gamut – do I want to supersize it, add a cherry pie to the order, or maybe a low-fat dessert?  The important thing is for the salesperson to make the proposition to the customer.

0003 - MOG Olan Mills-0427Tammy quickly showed us the three surfaces we could order on our prints – the standard surface, the linen surface, or the deluxe canvas surface. I know what these upgrades cost me from my lab so we decided to waive the surface upgrades. She even showed us few word enhancements we could add to our images too – just not quite right for LaDawn and I, but at least Tammy was working it in a friendly, non-threatening way.

The Sale Takes A Hit:

I love everything Tammy had to show us and I loved how she made here presentation. She showed us the different combinations of images, how we get save money by placing a bigger order, and how we could even purchase our original hi-res digital images. The kicker to the whole process to me was the retouching upsell. Retouching was $40 a pose.  What, I’m thinking, “Tammy, I like you, but that is one CRAZY HIGH Price” to pay for running a quick retouching Photoshop action on an image.” 

That meant that if we opted for retouching on our three images, the additional cost would've added $120 to our bill. To anyone from Lifetouch reading this post, I would suggest to you that the retouching costs are shocking high, take the wind out of the sales process for Tammy and her counterparts, and is a real deal killer.

0001 - MOG Olan Mills-0425I would've gladly paid $10 or maybe even $15 for the portrait enhancement – certainly not $40!. We all know that, in most cases, this is nothing more than a simple one or two mouse click in Photoshop.  Our favorite tool for portrait enhancement in my studio is the award winning Imagenomics Portraiture2 software [link]. You probably also have seen many ads for Portrait Professional [link] in the photography magazines. I've never had a chance to try it  but it looks like an amazing piece of software. In any event $40 is way too much money for retouching and turned our warm, fuzzy sales experience quite chilly in no time.

I mentioned this to Tammy but said that she her hands were tied. The prices were set by the company and that's what they were. Since her order did hit a certain level we were able to pick up all the Hi-Res images – all 10 of them – for only $49 additional dollars.  I was happy to oblige paying the additional $49 for the images because, as you know, I’ll run through those Photoshop actions and LaDawn and I will “look marvelous” after some quick Photoshop magic..

In Conclusion:

The main point I want to make in today's post is this.  Decent photography and effective sales techniques are the most important tools you have at your disposal to enhance your sales success in this profession. It goes so much against the grain for me when photographers just put their images online and then “Spin the Wheel of Misfortune”  hoping they get a big order. Folks nobody hoping to get a big order ever became successful in this business. Sure, you’ll pick up a little “beer money” on your weekend shoots but you’ll never be able to make your house payments or your car payments until you take sales seriously. It’s not about being just an order taker – IT”S ABOUT BEING AN ORDER MAKER!!!

Lifetouch is in photography for business. That’s exactly the same reason we should be in photography, particularly if we have family responsibilities and want to pay the bills . If you're in it for fun than that's all good to.  Just don't expect to make a living out of it. If you expect to make a living out of photography and that's more challenging than ever before these days with so many people in it for fun, that you better “know the ropes” when it comes to sales and shooting  so you can deliver premium images and enhance your sales with an efficient and profitable sales process.

0007 - MOG Olan Mills-0431We professional photographers put too much of our hearts and our souls into this profession to have to settle  for so much less because we are lousy salespeople. I tried to use Lifetouch as an example in this post today to show you what not just a large company does but, what every photographer needs to do to be successful. If you ever think that Lifetouch taking dollars your back pocket, look again, they are probably selling much more effectively than you are.

The lessons I learned for my church directory experience last night are important lessons every photographer who wants to be successful in this business needs to learn. The time to start learning sales is today. I hope you enjoy the read. By the way my hats off to Leslie and Tammy for a job well done - both photographically and in the sales process. Hey Lifetouch – you’ve got two the best out there working for you.  My hat’s off to the both of them!

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Hey gang, that's it for me today  I know the post ran a little long but, what's new – right ;~)  Just a quick note, you’ve probably noticed that I'm down to blogging about three days a week. But, as you can see, the posts are quite in depth – hope you think the read is worthwhile.

The 3 posts/week is because of my studio responsibilities and trying to get my new book written.  My 2000 words/day quota is pretty ambitious but I'm pretty much on track. Part one of the process is nearly complete. About 35,000 words under my belt right now and I plan to complete another 4-6,000 words over the weekend even though I have a wedding all day Saturday. So, as I said, hang in there with me – I can't wait to see what you think of the book.

Have a great weekend everybody. I hope the weather is great in your part of the world. And, if you're shooting a wedding any where in the world this weekend, keep your brides and grooms and your pixel smiling.

See you on Monday, David

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

"Beautiful Reds"

0001 - Stylized Enhancement-

"Beautiful Reds"
© David A. Ziser

This image was made a few years ago but I brought it back because I featured it in my post-production technique on Technique Tuesday today.  I think you’ll enjoy it. 

The image was illuminated with just one light coming in from camera left.  It was a very large Westcott Softbox, probably about 6 sq.ft.  I used a reflector to fill the shadow side of the face in the original portrait but removed the fill light for added dramatic effect in Lightroom 4.

Compositionally I like how our model positioned her hand on her neck.  With how the highlights fall on her hand and her face, the gesture seems to continue the “line” traveling down her profile. 

I think what really makes this image really “sing” are the strong contrasts in the portrait.  Those strong contrasts along with the very vibrant colors make for a striking low key portrait.

Camera specs:  Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 110mm, F5.6 @ 1/250 second, ISO 800.  Enjoy!  -David

Technique Tuesday: New Cool Stylized Image Enhancement Techniques With Lightroom 4

Good Afternoon Everybody,

Help WantedSoooo, does anyone what to be my assistant on a wedding this weekend?  All my regular assistants are busy with other commitments – that never happens but it sure did this weekend – YIKES!!!  If your interested in helping out, shoot me an email at david@ziser.com and I can fill you in on the details.  I photographed the bride’s Bat Mitzvah year’s ago so it will be a great experience to visit with the family and so many of their friends many of which are also my past clients.  So, if any of our wedding experienced DPT readers are interested, drop me a line.

Time for this week’s brand new Technique Tuesday – here we go…

New Cool Stylized Image Enhancement Techniques With Lightroom 4

Welcome to another Technique Tuesday.  I think I’ve got a good one for you today.  In today’s tutorial I’ll walk you through a few new retouching/enhancement tricks I learned in Lightroom 4.

I've been saying for months now that we photographers have two tremendous resources at our disposal when it comes to creating great images.  First off, we have the best digital cameras ever that let us capture the image like never before.

But more than that, we have the best software available too.  Today's iterations of Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4 are the best ever and are necessary upgrades to make.  Today it's not just about the hardware we use on the job, it's the software too that helps us finish that job the best we are able.  The combination of both gives us an unbelievable amount of versatility in creating our finished images.

Even though I got a great image in the camera, as you'll see in this tutorial, the brand new Lightroom 4 allowed me to push the image to an even more wonderfully stylized result that the hardware could not so easily do by itself.  But more that that, Lightroom 4 saves me a few more steps over to Photoshop in getting my result and makes my post-production duties even that much easier and quicker.

Why not hit the PLAY button to see what I'm talking about.  Enjoy! –David

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  It’s back to the book before I call it a day today.  Have a great rest of the day and evening and I’ll see you soon.

Adios,  -David

Monday, June 18, 2012

"Old Christine"

Old Christine

"Old Christine"
© David A. Ziser

Here is an image I took at a photo-walk a few years ago. It was one of my favorites. This kind of subject matter is so great to photograph. There are so many ways to explore the colors and composition. The old, rusty look of this old Plymouth made me think about the Steven King movie, "Christine" - hence the title.

There are just wonderful contrasts in this image - the complementary colors of blues and reds, the rough rusty paint against the smooth chrome, the smooth curved fender lines complimenting and framing the straight lines of the grill work. All these elements lead to a final dynamic composition. There were just so many ways to shoot "Old Christine", I wish I'd had more time. Heck, maybe another visit sometime soon.

Camera specs; Canon 40D fitted with 70-300mm DO IS lens at 135mm, F 11 @ 1/800 second, ISO 400. Enjoy! -David

Quick Hit Monday: Great Photo Education Ops; Canvass Wrap Actions; Landscape Techniques; & More!

Good Afternoon Everybody,

Writing BookI have to tell you - writing my new book and keeping the blog going has become quite the challenge as of late.  Both of those commitments and the fact that we are in the absolute busiest busiest part of the year with events every weekend since the end of May has certainly strained my resources on time around here. Thanks for hanging in there with me - I appreciate it.

In spite of the lack of time, I've managed to find enough time to get about 20,000 words of the book "on paper" so far.  I'm still managing my 2000 words/day goal too.  The cool thing about all the effort is that the more I write, the more good ideas I come up to incorporate into the book - and that's a good thing.  Anyway, I'm still pounding away at the keyboard and hope to have the very rough first draft completed by the end of the month.  Once I get that wrapped, I start putting the "spit and polish" on it and I’ll begin sharing some excepts with you guys too.  We're getting closer - stay tuned!!

Hey gang, time is short today and it's getting late in the day, so let's get right too Quick Hit Monday.  Here we go.

PhotoPro Network Summer School Coming Your Way!!!

Let me tell you about the coolest thing happening this summer right here in the Midwest.  It's our just announced PPN Summer School.  If you are anywhere - like within 300 miles of Louisville, KY - you need to check out the unbelievable learning opportunity!!! 

Summer school2

We're covering the gamut from Small Flash Photography, Weddings, Fashion, Lifestyle, High School Seniors, Landscape Photography, Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4, Portfolio Development, Social Media Marketing, Brand Building, HOT SHOTS! Digital Image Competition & Review, and much more!  12 exiting photography sessions and 10 unbelievable speakers for only $89 for two days!  Plan to come on down and be part of the excitement.

This year we've got some great web-casts on Landscape photography and social media marketing.  We've got our Hot Shots! Image competition and our Saturday evening shoot out too!  YES, there will be prizes too!!! You can get all the info right here.

Explosive Wedding Photography: How About A great Time In Florida

Nicholas imageOK, gang, I'm stoked about this announcement too.  My good friends and two very talented photographers, Nickolas and Eric, are presenting a solid weekend of instruction at the end of this month in Orlando, Florida.  Here is the quick blurb about what's happening:

Explosive Wedding Photography: June 29, 30, July 1, 2012

We know that times are tough for photographers, the market is flooded and profits are down. However, we are not willing to let that ruin our dream of enriching people's lives though photography. With that in mind, Nicholas and Eric will show you all of the tips, tricks, and effective shortcuts to starting your business, maximizing your time and profits, and to gain explosive growth in a tough economy!  You will also get an opportunity to produce some portfolio-quality images under the guidance of Nicholas, Eric and their coaches. The Workshop will include:

* Lighting shortcuts, * Client management, * Free Effective Marketing,  * Editing workflow, * Multi-Purpose Posing, * Photographing in less than ideal surroundings, * Psychology of the Client, * How to remember it all!

This will be a three-day seminar that is both fun and capable of increasing your revenue 200%! We will be spraying the lucky attendees with lighting, planning, customer, and post-processing workflow magic bullets that will put time back in your day and money in your wallet.

There's one part theory - one part model shootout - and one part creativity!

Those were the BIG news items for today. Let me leave you with a few Quick Hit Monday Links and then I've got to go.  Enjoy!! -David

Canvass Wrap Actions - Indispensable!!!

Canvass ActionsThis is about the best free action set I've seen lately.  We had an image going through the studio a few weeks ago that needed canvass mounting with the canvass wrap.  I could have “fussed” with the image in Photoshop for far too long so hit the "NET" to see if I could find an easier way to set up my image for ordering.  Time to HIT THIS LINK RIGHT HERE!! This link will give you, count them, 5 actions that help you prepare your image for printing so your next canvass wrap comes out perfect!  I prefer the Mirror Wrap.  These are indispensable actions - and they are FREE!  Enjoy!

Landscape PhotosComposing Dynamic Landscape Images: [link]

Utterly beautiful landscape photograph and a good description on how to achieve an outstanding result.  A great read!!!  DAZ

LightmeterHow To Use a Light Meter in Photography:  [link]

I’m not a big light meter user since I use the light-meter built into the camera, but I think this is a very instructive video tutorial by top photographer, Mathew Jordon Smith, on the subject.  He makes a very good case on why and when to use a light meter.  It’s short and sweet and loaded with good info.
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Hey gang, that’s got to be it for me today.  I’m still way behind the “eight ball” and need to get back to the book. 

Have a great rest of the day and I hope to see you tomorrow for a late afternoon Technique Tuesday.

See ya’ then, David

Thursday, June 14, 2012

"City Lights"

City Lights

"City Lights"
©David A. Ziser

I made this image during my Spring Master Class back in April and posted the original right here. I did the original by using the built in HDR feature built into the new Canon 5D mark III and really liked the result.

OK, so how did I get to this image.  I have to admit, I was cruising the APP store on my iPad over the weekend and discovered this new app - FX Photo Studio.  Hey, it was only $2 bucks and had nearly 400 5-star reviews.  I have to admit, I’m not a big App fan when it comes to apps that tend to waste my time – I don’t even own Instagram.  But what the heck, it was a nice day and I was in a time wasting mood ;~)

After loading up the image, I ran it through several variations suggested by FX Photo Studio.  This one was my favorite. I tweaked it ever so slightly in Photoshop to get the poster look in today’s image.  I think it’s kind of fun.  I wish FX Photo Studio gave you the option of saving out the image as a high res photo so I could create a full res poster.  That would make it much more useful.  Anyway, like I said, kind of fun.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III, fitted with Tamron 28-300 VC lens at 42mm, F5.6 @ 1/80 second, ISO 6400.  Enjoy!  -David

Business Day Thursday: New Podcast - Marketing Wedding Photography Today

Good Morning Everybody,
 
Today I’ve got a special treat for you. Last week I did a podcast interview with photography marketing guru, Chuck Lewis, for his Inner Circle members.  I’ve done a few in the past so I was happy to oblige. The interview went quite well and I asked Chuck if I could share it with our DPT readers. He was happy to return the favor.
 
I’ve spent the morning setting up a new Podcast Channel over at Podbean – here is the link right here.  So far this is the only podcast listed but I hope to add to the list.  It’s something new I’m doing around here so I hope you enjoy it. 
 
DigitalProTalk Podcast series logo
 
Please give me your feedback as to topics you would like to hear and special guests I might invite to the program.  I would really like to get your input.  Just leave them in the Comments section below.  Thanks!
 
Anyway, that said, let’s get on with today’s post.  You can listen to the entire interview by hitting the PLAY button on the Podcast player inserted at the end of the post.  For iPad users, please go directly to my DigitalProTalk Podcast Channel right here to listen to the interview.
 

Marketing Wedding Photography Today

ChuckandToddLewis.jpgIn this conversation with marketing guru, Charles J. Lewis, I’ll discuss the two main topics - Marketing & Selling.  Here’s a quick run down of what I’ll try to cover.

Marketing:

What are the best 2 or 3 ways to market wedding photography today? How do you get good, qualified people to call or email you about your wedding photography services right now?

What is the biggest mistake you see wedding photographers making today regarding their marketing?

Exactly how are you using the Internet to market your wedding photography, and what services or companies do you use that work well for you for your online marketing efforts?

Selling:

When you cannot meet with the bride in person, do you meet with her over Skype or GoToMeeting in some way so that you can show her things on her computer screen? If you do this, can you give our members some tips about what to do, and not to do, for this to be effective?

Sales LRWhat is the biggest mistake you see wedding photographers making today regarding their booking and selling methods?

What do you say to a bride on the telephone to convince her to come in and talk with you about the possibility of photographing her wedding? How do you handle the question of price? How do you get the “buyers” – like mom, etc. to come in with the bride?

What is the best way to book wedding photography today – to actually get the decision made, and have them give you money today to reserve the date? With so much cheap competition everywhere now, it seems harder and harder to get a commitment.

Folks, that’s a quick synopsis of the webcast.  Give it a listen and tell me what you think.  Also you can get more info on Chuck Lewis’ Photography Secrets right here.  Check them out – I’ve been a fan for years.

Enjoy!  -David

 
 
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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  It’s back to book writing for me AND it’s LaDawn’s birthday today and we are quitting early today and getting ready for date night.  Have a great rest of the day.  I’ll see you soon.
 
-David

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

"Sixty Minutes To Showtime"

0001 - Sixty Minutes To Showtime-12

"Sixty Minutes To Showtime"
©David A. Ziser

I made this image literally just about 60 or 90 min. before the time the Bar Mitzvah celebration was to begin. As I mentioned in yesterday's post we were on-site pretty early on the day of the big event. Once the family arrives we were ready to go and we jumped right into high gear to get “signature” portrait series of our young Bar Mitzvah Tat I strive for for my clients.  And I was completed in about 20 minutes, slightly before the rest of the family arrived.

I had worked at this temple before and had a good idea how to compose for the best photographs very quickly. My “ace number one assistant”, Nicholas, was running  the remote light for me and, with him being very experienced in that department, we were able to pull off a series of very cool photographs very quickly.  This is one of those images.

It's really an easy, traditional portrait of our very poised young man just moments before he was going to be leading the entire congregation in the Saturday morning service.  I like three main things about this composition in this image. First, I like how all the backs of the chairs swing around leading the viewer’s eye right back to our young subject.  I also like how I used the dark walnut wall decor in the background as an “interior frame” behind my subject. I also like how the height of the wall décor gradually gets larger leading up to the largest portion allowing me to position young Jack against that larger section.  And finally, I like how the scene balances visually with Jack on the right side and the small pipe organ and the two candelabras on the left-hand side of the image.

I did use one Lightroom 4 trick to finish the presentation. To create a bit more color contrast between our young Bar Mitzvah and the background, I use the adjustment brush and “brushed” our young subject a bit more on the cool side. Then, after closing adjustment brush I warmed up the entire image to counterbalance the cooling effect I selectively applied to our subject. The net effect is to have him "pop" right out of the scene now very much warmer than it was originally. This technique allowed me to create an image that invites the eye to go more directly to our main subject.

Camera specs:  Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Tamron 28–300mm VC lens at 46 MM,F6.3 @ 1/40 second , ISO 1600.  Enjoy!– David

Technique Tuesday: Photographing What The Eye Can’t See.

Good Afternoon Everybody,

You guessed it – the book is taking a lot of time and has me “under water” trying to get it written, deal with the day to day happenings here at the studio, and get a blog post up.  Things are coming along OK though.  I had a request from one of our DPT readers to give you a sneak peak at the book.  I have to tell you, that’s been my plan all along.  Let me get it a bit more complete before I move in that direction though.  Anyway, thanks for your patience with me these next few weeks as I keep things moving along.

And as a way of doing just that, I posting an “oldie but a goodie” for you today.  It’s a cool lighting tutorial and features a technique I have been using for years.  Every time I demonstrate it at a trade show, every one watching likes the result.  Instead of me telling you about it, let me show you.  Here we go.  

Photographing What The Eye Can’t See

While at Photoshop World a few years ago, I did a “booth lighting demo” at the Westcott booth. These demos are always fun to do and the crowd always brings a nice energy to the experience.

During the demo, I pulled off a little trick that surprised most of the attendees with my finished result. This tutorial shows a clever way in how we can change up the background of the scene to really add a nice "high key" or white background look to our portraits. The result is really different than what the eye sees.  Hit the PLAY button and see what I'm talking about.

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Hey gang, as usual we are going crazy around here today and I’m need to hit the road.  Have a great rest of the day and I’ll see you soon.

-David