Technique Tuesday 01.22.08 - Artists Have Been Doing It Right for Years; Classical Lighting - Lighting Patterns

Two weeks ago I posted a tutorial on Classical Portraiture. It was entitled "Classical Views of the Face" - here is the link again for reference. Today I want to discuss the classical portrait lighting patterns.

When I use the word "classical" don't get the idea that I mean"old fashioned". What I'm really talking about is illuminating my subject with a beautiful light that really flatters them in the final image. This is something that is sorely lacking in much of wedding photography these days. Unfortunately, most current wedding imagery is pretty flat and two dimensional.

Take a peek at the tutorial and see how we can add highlights next to shadows and create images with detail, depth, and dimension that really separates your work from the rest of the crowd. Enjoy! --David

Still Bouncing Around

...Or how to get even more mileage out of your $1 bounce card. Last week I posted how to make a $1 Bounce card for your on camera flash - here is the link again. It got a little buzz across the net. I guess a lot of people like to save a buck or two these days.

Anyway, I received a comment from Steve who enlightened me to the fact that it's all been done before. He wrote, "It's called a better bounce card and has been around for some time," and gave the link to ABetterBounceCard. I was crestfallen. My $1-Bounce "Ziserizer" was nipped in the bud way before I could get global B&H distribution and sock away millions in my off shore bank account.

I finally had some time to check out the link, and there he was, Mr. Peter Gregg, with my idea on YouTube with over 177,000 views! Hey, all joking aside, check out Mr. Gregg's other videos too right here - he has taken the simple "bounce card" to new heights.

I still think mine looks more cool since I've rounded the corners. I guess great minds think alike ;~)

Playing Like the Big Boys - 11 Ways of Getting Media Coverage For Your Small Business

No ad agency or marketing gurus needed - but here are 11 ways to get some attention for your studio. I found these little tidbits over at Inc. Magazine's site - they have some good business information over there. Click here for the entire slide show. Hey gang, this is the kind of stuff we better think about doing in our heavily competitive businesses.

Here are the "quick hit" points right here.
01. Respond promptly.
02. Use distribution channels.
03. Plan ahead.
04. Tell the whole story.
05. Know your audience.
06. Don't send sloppy copy.
07. Establish yourself as an expert.
08. Show your face.
09. Perfect your elevator pitch.
10. Get online.
11. Be reachable.

Hey gang, that's about it for today, it's back to my real job. Have a great one and I'll see you tomorrow. --David

"Irish Morning"
© David A. Ziser

This is one of my "drive by shooting" images made while touring the Irish countryside one bright morning. I loved how the low lying sunlight was hitting the bright gold and green fields creating so much texture. The sharp contrast of two large trees and their subordinates standing as sentries over the fields finish off the interesting composition. Camera specs; Fuji S1 fitted with Tamron 24-135mm lens at 61mm, F9.5 @ 1/350 second at ISO 800. Enjoy! --David

Monday Again, and What a Week!

Good Morning everybody,
This week is shaping up into a busy one, again. I have a portrait shoot this morning at 10a.m. - OUTDOORS!!! - it's 10 degrees out there. And my client wants it to look kind of warm - yep, warm in mid January in the Midwest. I'll post one of the images tomorrow - the Lord willin' I get one.

I'm working on a brand new lighting program - "How to Flash for Fun and Profit Without Getting Arrested" - for Photoshop World coming up in Orlando this April 2nd-4th. The tough part is getting the 10 page+ article completed for that phonebook sized information treasure trove call the Photoshop World workbook - hopefully by Wednesday, it will be wrapped.

Then Friday, we have the start of our KPPA convention right here in Covington, Ky and I'm one of the lead-off speakers. If any of you are in the neighborhood, this is one of the best photographic conventions to attend. Our speaker lineup is always first class. You can get all the KPPA convention info right here - maybe I'll see some of you there.

My program wraps at 12 p.m. and LaDawn and I head to the airport and catch a plane to New Orleans. Why, my good buddy, Ralph Romaguera is KING of the Carrollton Krewe this year at Mardi Gras and I'm one of the guys on the krewes throwing the beads - the weekend should be a hoot! I'll report back next week on this one. Anyway, on with today's news...

A Story You Can Share With Your 2008 Wedding Clients

Give it all away, but for a good cause. That's what Miriam and Jake, two of my wedding clients from this past November did for their wedding. In lieu of gifts, they asked each of their guests to make a donation to the Save Darfur Coalition and raised $22,000 in the process! Kudos to the both of them for their commitment and unselfish generosity to such a worthwhile cause.


Check out the story in the Savannah Morning News right here. You can "meet" them in their TV interview right here. It's truly an honor and privilege to be in this business and have the opportunity to meet and work with people like Miriam and Jake. Hopefully each of you have such an experience. You can check out a very cool selection of their wedding images right here too.

A Peek Into A Creative Mind

Last week I did a post about the beautiful and creative art of our friend Melanie Feldman. Over the course of the evening, Alan, Mel's husband asked me about blogging and could I show him how to do it. We set up the basics of a site for him and that was it.


About three days later, Alan drops me an e-mail and asks me to check out Mel's new Fine art site featuring most of her paintings. I checked it out and was "blown away" - Alan must have been working on it morning, noon, and night! It shows many of her paintings but along with the art are her thoughts about each of the pieces. It's a fascinating look into the artist's creative mind. I invite you to check out Mel's new "ThePainterOfWomen" site right here.

So I'm Reading This Article Over At Inc. Magazine...

The title is "Better Photos, Better Sales" - here is the link. Hey, it seems right up my alley - photography. I gave it a further read and the article is discussing how to get better product images with most of the product centering around better e-bay images for better sales. It tells me I should be "Blinging" my images and I can make more money - OK, I'm interested. Well, it seems there is this rather unique stand alone program that will easily extract the background from the image, and maybe even easier than Photoshop - it's called "Blingit."

I headed over to the Blingit site right here and watched their tutorials and the software does look fascinating. I know I posted two tutorials on extracting backgrounds; the first entitled, "Winter Wonderland Any Time Of Year" and the second entitled "Designer Portraiture Or How To Fool Mother Nature." Hey, check it out and see what you think.

Hey gang, that's about it for today - I'm heading out for my winter portrait session. See you tomorrow for Technique Tuesday. I'm going to post another lesson on "Classical Portraiture." See ya' then, --David

"Oregon Sunset"
© David A. Ziser

This image was made while touring down the Oregon coast. The sun was giving us a beautiful show and I just stuck around till the sunset was at it's peek. I exposed mostly for the sunset and had to pop the shadows a bit in Photoshop. This is one LaDawn's favorite images from the trip. Camera specs; Canon 20D fitted with 17-85mm lens at 26mm, F5.6 @ 1/50 second, ISO 400, Jpeg. Enjoy! --David

Back Home Friday

Good Morning everybody,
Well, we are back in good ol' chilly Cincy - about 24 degrees this morning - ahh, to feel the brisk breeze on one's rosy cheeks - OK forget it, I wish I was still in Tampa;~) We did have a fine time in the Tampa area these last 11 days, but it always feels good to be back at the old homestead. I'm going to get right to it this morning since I have a mid morning appointment coming up in about an hour. So, off we go...

Lighting, Lighting, Lighting

Without good lighting, you get lousy portraits. It's just that simple!! It's always about that direction of light. Hey, I've been talking about it most of the week for the Kelby Training videos we were working on, so when I found this link over at Tammy Cravit's NicePicsLady blog, I thought I'd point you to it. Tammy has a "ton" of good lighting links in her post. Some really good information here - way to go Tammy.


My favorite is the link to Maurice Mc Duff great article right here with 16 great illustrations and lots of images showing lighting results - two really good finds.

Even More Ways To Train Staff

...Or how to get your team up and running in no time. I recently posted a piece about how to train your staff without the burden of time being on your shoulders. Here is the link to the "Training New Personnel In Record Time" right here.

In addition here is the publisher's description: "This program, allows you to capture your screen and record audio to produce a flash video (FLV). It is intended to allow anyone to easily create their own flash video tutorials and share them with other users online freely." You can even upload it to the V-Tute website for free and share with friends. Get all the info on V-Tutes right here - it looks pretty darn interesting to me.

And In the Only Slightly Related to Photography Department

We have Steve Jobs complete 90 minute Mac World address right here in only 60 seconds! I found this over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog. It's fun to watch and will save 89 minutes of your time over the alternative at Apple's site. Hey gang enjoy, I've got to hit the road and get ready for my appointment. Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday -- David

"Afternoon Delight"
© David A. Ziser

This was one of the last images we made yesterday afternoon at the Marriott Riverside in downtown Tampa before heading to the beach. It's always one of my favorites. My assistant was holding the flash about 12 feet behind the bride and groom and about 4 feet off the ground pointing it at their shoulder blades. The flash in this position wraps nicely around the couple for a dramatic back lit effect. Camera specs; Canon 40D fitted with 10-22mm lens at 10mm, F5.6 @ 1/50 second, ISO 800. Enjoy! --David

Heading Back Home Thursday

Good Morning everybody,
Yep, today is the day we finally head back to good ol' KY side of Cincy - the land of cold weather and maybe a little snow, so I hear. But home is a good thing so LaDawn and I are anxious to get back review information gathered at Imaging USA and the hundreds of images from our three days shooting down here in Florida. We had a great trip and got some great images.

On a different note, my thanks to Scott Kelby for asking us to be part of the Kelby Training Video series and especially for his very kind words in his blog yesterday. It is always a kick to come down to Florida and visit with the entire NAPP crew.

Well, it's almost "bag packing" time, but not before some more hot news and views from the land of sun and fun. Here we go...

Did I Forget to Mention...

...Some hot news tips over at Layers TV yesterday? Last week I did a quick episode with my buddy, R.C. - one of the Layers TV gurus - which aired yesterday. In my section, I gave a few tips on "Window Light Portraiture." Check out Layers TV Episode 18 right here along with a bunch more great information from R.C. and Cory, the Layers TV guys.

Just Wishin' and Hopin' For a Sunset

So what do you do when your out on the beach.... on Honeymoon Island....waiting for a sunset.... on a grey afternoon day? Well, that's where we found ourselves yesterday. Not much going on in the "sunset" department. So what do you do - how about just start playing around to kill some time hoping that a sunset happens.

Here's what happened. I got the "bright" idea to take a photograph of the groom on the boardwalk leading to the beach with the camera set on "tungsten" mode. I know what you are thinking - Ziser, your crazy - it's going to look weird - like really blue. Well, you are half right. Why only half right, because I put a tungsten balanced gel on my flash to get a tungsten "flavored" light source.

This gave me the proper color balance on my subject while letting the rest of the scene go quite blue. It sure beat just standing around waiting for the evasive sunset.Looks pretty cool, doesn't it - it kind of reminds me of one of those Inc. Magazine executive portraits. Anyway, there you have a little mini "Technique Tuesday" on Thursday. By the way, you can try some other filter combos too - kind of fun.

One for the Road - My Art On Display In a Museum

Just for fun today - I found this information in a posting over at John Nack's site - always a good place to find really interesting stuff. He had a link to Museumr, a fun little site that let's you hang your favorite images in your favorite museum. I headed over to give it a try - a nice afternoon diversion. Also, check out the mother site - Dumpr right here . It's a site that lets you do all kind of interesting things with your images. I threw up this quick "screen grab" just to show a few of their image enhancement ideas. Got some time to kill - give it a peek.

Hey gang, we've got to get packing, so I'll see you tomorrow back in chilly Cincy - Adios, David

"Afternoon Rhapsody"
© David A. Ziser

I created this image during our shoot yesterday afternoon. The sky filled up with these light feathery white clouds and I wanted to have the bride really pop out of the background. That meant that I had to "underexpose" the sky relative to the proper exposure on the bride. I metered the sky and gave it about 1 stop less light. The bride was properly exposed with my off camera Quantum flash. I was then able to minimize and fill the shadows using my on-camera flash. Camera specs; Canon 40D fitted with 10-22mm lens set to 22mm, F 10 @ 1/320 second, ISO 200. Enjoy! David

Off and Running Wednesday

Today is our last shooting day for the Kelby Training videos. I have to tell you, I feel like I've shot 3 weddings in three days. Exhilarating and exhausting!! We are getting some beautiful images and I'm able to cram the lessons full of practical, informative, and creative information. We had one "party crasher" today though - the man himself - Mr. Scott Kelby came cruising in right before he was to shoot PhotoshopUser TV and took a few shots of us working before heading back to the NAPP offices. I haven't read his blog yet today, but check out what Scott has to say right here.