"Carla And Friends"

"Carla And Friends"
©David A. Ziser

This image collage is from one of my most enjoyable weddings I’ve photographed – the clients were great to work with.  Some of you who have been to my seminars may recognize the images – they’re from the sample set I used for my LumaPix demos.

Let’s talk about a few elements of this collage.  First of all, I love the bride’s exuberant expression – it’s spontaneous, happy, and fun.  I know the “spot color” technique may date the image but I still like it.

Lighting for the bride’s image was simple available light coming in from camera right.  You can see the nice contours on the pillars in the background showing the nice directional light illuminating the scene.

I think this image ties in well with the “huggy” photograph of all the girls too.  “Huggies” are always the best way to get great expressions every time.  Lighting for this image is from my off-camera flash, camera right, probably at full power with no umbrella.

The red rose background ties both images together in a bright, rich, wonderful way.  It just makes you smile when you look at it.

Camera specs: For Bride - Fuji S-2 Pro fitted with 50mm lens, F4.0 @ 1/750 second, ISO 400; For Group – Nikon D1x fitted with Tamron 24-135mm non IS lens at 70mm, ISO 640.  Enjoy!  -David

You’ve Got To Come Back With The Shot: Really Low Light Churches

Good Morning Everybody,

It’s busy here again at DigitalProTalk world headquarters.  I just put the finishing touches on our Digital Design Webcast email that’s going out today.  That will probably fill the seats, so beat the rush and get yours reserved today [link].

Another thing keeping us busy around here at the studio is a complete computer overhaul with brand new custom built computers.  We’re speeding things up with 250 gig boot flash drives, faster video cards, and bigger hard drives – don’t you love digital ;~)  Hopefully we should be up to speed by the end of next week.

That’s what happening on the home front – let’s get to our post today.  Hope you like it.

Super Low Illuminated Churches

Okay, so what happens when you walk into a church and it’s so dark no amount of “juicing” the ISO is going to save you? Thankfully I get to say that I haven’t walked into churches that dark in recent years.  Most churches have adequate lighting to at least get the photograph. Thankfully we’re not shooting in the Middle Ages when the only illumination would have been candles only ;~)

It’s also not near the problem it was back in the film days. With our new digital cameras boosting ISO levels up into the six figures, and our wide aperture lenses allowing us to photograph in conditions that were unheard-of in the film days, low light is really not much of a problem these days.

Nevertheless, there are some times when we wish we had more light on the scene. I can think of a wedding I did years ago. I started out with plenty of light but as the ceremony continued, I was losing the ambient light fast. See Figure 1 below.

High ISOs Are Our Friends

Now granted, I'm not going to be in those six-figure ISOs very often but I'm also not going to be afraid to use ISOs in the 3200-6400 range. In fact, with my Canon 5D Mark II I can easily shoot at ISO 3200 and not have a problem with the development of noise in my imagery. So what am I going to do? Couple the high ISOs with great software like LR3 and NIK DFINE 2.0, and it's really not a problem at all to photograph in dimly lit churches.

I seldom carry a tripod with me to any of my wedding events. They are way too awkward and really slow me down. The high ISOs offered by the cameras and the image stabilization features of the lenses really make a tripod a non-issue. OK, let me back up – let’s say you're afraid of the higher ISOs and prefer to shoot at a more nominal ISO 400-800 in a really dim church. Let's say you find yourself in a location where the shutter speed could be as slow as ¼ or ½ second – what are you going to do? Here's a secret most photographers don't know.

Wait For the “Pause Points”

As the priest, minister, or rabbi is celebrating the wedding rituals with the bride and groom, there's really a lot of movement going on during that part of the service. Here's my suggestion. When photographing in any dimly lit location where you’re using slower than usual shutter speeds – ½ - ¼ second, you must be on a tripod to stop the action. The way to assure yourself sharp images in low light at that part of the ceremony, make your exposures during the “pause points” of the wedding rituals.

What do I mean by pause points? Pause points are those moments during the wedding ceremony where everyone has stopped talking or moving – see Figure 2.

Typical “pause points” during a wedding ceremony are at the end of sentences. Let the officiate end the sentence and then take 2-3 photographs a moment after the “pause point”. As the bride and groom exchange their vows they will reach “pause points” -- ends of sentences -- at which you can make your exposures.

You might have to give it a couple of tries but by identifying the “pause points” of the ceremony and making your exposures only during those “pause points” you'll be able to capture many sharp, defining-moment images on your wedding day coverages.

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today. It’s back to work on my BIGGEST project around here – PhotoPro Expo [link].  As president of the PhotoPro Network [link], I have to tell you, it’s sort of like a part time job putting all the pieces together for this ambitious undertaking.

So if I sound super excited about it, it's because I am.  I want it to a HUGE success – both for the association and especially for all the attendees. That said folks, I’m heading out.  Have a good one and I’ll see you for Business Day Thursday tomorrow.

See ya’ then, David

"Springtime Blues"

"Springtime Blues"
©David A. Ziser

This image is from my fine art collection.  It was made a few years ago when LaDawn and I headed over to a local park at the height of the Spring color.

The challenge to myself for this photo walk was to ONLY use my 70-200mm lens and a wider aperture.  Those constrictions would force me to look at the scene differently and hopefully be inspired to get some cool images.  Constraining yourself to focal lengths and F stops is a great way to exercise your creative talents.

I spotted an iris and began taking a series of images.  This one is my favorite,  I love how I’m only seeing wisps of focused leaf tips in the overall composition.  The iris pedal itself is also reasonably sharp but it’s the contrast of the rich blue/violet color against the softly focused vibrant greens that makes this image work.

Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 70-200mm IS lens at 160, F 4.0 @ 1/500 second, ISO 400.  Enjoy!  -David

Quick Hit Monday: Whoops! I Should Have Caught That!

Good Afternoon Everybody,

Things are kind of calm around here today.  I’m feeling a lot better, the sun is shining, and the weather is perfect – it’s a fine day in the neighborhood ;~)

Just a quick note, since I mentioned the FREE Design Webcast yesterday [link], we have almost 100 signed up.  I’m letting the world know about it in the next few days, so don’t miss out, get registered right away. Click here see link in right column of blog.  Remember, there are 1000 seats available in the “webcast room”  and we’re 10% full already.

That said, let’s get on with today’s Technique Tuesday.  Here we go.

Whoops! I Should Have Caught That!

When shooting with a second light, you up the ante just a bit on the complexity of the shoot.  Not a lot - it's not rocket science or anything, but you and your assistant need to keep your "wits about you" when shooting with that second light.  If you don’t you may potentially ruin your image with badly falling shadows or light flares.

This tutorial walks you through one of my recent shoots where we had problems with both.  We quickly discovered the “errors of our ways”,  made the necessary lighting adjustments, and got some terrific images.

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

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for our Wednesday series, You Still Have To Come Back With The Shot!

How about I see you sometime around mid-day tomorrow.

Have a good one and I’ll see you then,  David

"Three Sisters"

"Three Sisters"
© David A. Ziser

I created this image of three sisters during a portrait session a number of years ago. And, it still remains one of my favorites.  Each child had this beautiful "Breck" like hair – shiny, silky smooth, and long. Although, I photographed each of the sisters separately and together as a group, I thought an image of each sister with her other sisters beautiful hair could be quite different and possibly quite interesting.

I chose to photograph each sibling through the hair of the other two sisters. This was one of my favorite images because of the lighter hair of the center sister helps bring attention to her in the image creating a pleasing composition overall.

Lighting was from an old White Lightning flash I’ve had for years – it has since “died”. I was shooting through a Westcott Halo, my favorite studio light modifier.  I used a 36” silver reflector close to the subjects for “fill”.  The use of the convex shaped Westcott Halo pointed directly at the subjects easily through the light into the reflector for just the right amount of “fill” light.  For me, it’s an ideal studio set up.

The parents loved the images!!

Camera specs; Nikon D1x fitted with a Tamron 24-135mm lens at 135mm, F8 @ 1/200second, ISO 100. Enjoy! -David

FREE Digital Design Webcast;

Good Afternoon  Everybody,

First off, let me thank the hundreds of folks that sent me birthday wishes over the weekend.  Yes, I read each and every one of them – very much appreciated. I’m not divulging my age, but let’s just say, I’m still feeling pretty darn good considering the mileage ;~)

Sorry for the late post today.  I woke up a bit under the weather and have been slow moving ever since.  Add to that a mid-morning appointment and presto, we have a late post today.

Anyway, I do have some very cool news for you today so let’s get right to it.

FREE Webcast: Digital Design 2011 – Making It Easier Than Ever!

That’s right, Register Now! [link] for my NEW Digital Design Webcast happening on August 25, 2011 at 3:00 p.m. EST. I’ll be hosting a 90 minute digital design webcast with special guest, Michael Sheasby, the president of LumaPix.  LumaPix is by far the fastest digital design software on the planet! And the BEST NEWS – LumaPix, after months of very expensive development, now works on a MAC!

We’ll discuss and demo on the most powerful features of the software – I promise you will be blown away.  I’ve asked LaDawn, our Chief of Design, to be on hand for the web event too. Every time I turn around, she’s discovered clever new features in LumaPix that just adds even more pizzazz to our digital projects.

You’ll have two opportunities to ask questions.  You can post your questions in the comment section of this post and we’ll be taking questions “LIVE” via Twitter.  After the webcast begins just Tweet your questions to @digitalprotalk and include #lumapixdesign in your Tweet.

Anyway, I’ll give you updated details as we get closer to show time. Even if you’re not sure about being able to make it, register anyway to hold your seat.  Once again, here is the link to register right here.

OK Wedding Photographers – Get Inspired!

• 100 Beautiful Examples Of Wedding Photography: There are a few gems in the collection like this one. [link]
• 10 Inspirational Wedding Photography Blogs: A nice selection – worth the peak.  [link]

And Still On The Subject Of Photography

• 1:1 boudoir shoot training ~ Pictures and technique – Rated PG-13 but good info. [link]
• 32 Fun Outdoor Photographs of Bridges:  Some of the images are amazing!  [link]
• Headline :: I Switched To Canon. World Still Turns: Zack Arias turns in a good gear article, not so much for switching to Canon but more for his choice of gear and why.  [link]
  

Social Media Links You Need To See – Oh My!

• Free Professional Icons Set – Social Networks Icons: Come and get it fellow bloggers! [link]
• The 100 Things You Need To Know About Social Media: This is a great read!  [link]

Photoshop & Lightroom Freebies

• 20 Beautiful Water Textures and Patterns: Pretty Cool! [link]
• 40 Fresh Free Photoshop Actions For Image Enhancement [link]
• 20 Photoshop Video Tutorials – from the Professionals of Graphic Design:  This will keep you busy for a while. [link]
• Lightroom 3 Tips and Tricks: A few More of My Favorites: Some goodie in here. [link]

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today. I still feel like I’m in a fog around here today. I’m planning on getting a new Technique Tuesday up tomorrow – just no promises on what time.  Tomorrow’s title, “Whoops! I Should Have Caught That.”  It will make sense when you see it tomorrow ;~)

See ya’ then everybody,  David

"Morning Glory"

"Morning Glory"
© David A. Ziser

Since today is Inspiration Friday, I thought I’d post an inspirational sunrise for you. This image was made on a trip to Annapolis, MD a few years ago.  We were staying right on the water and were treated to these spectacular sunrises for 5 straight days. It seemed each new day’s sunrise was better than the previous day’s spectacle.

This image was made about 30 minutes after the sun broke above the horizon.  We were taking an early morning stroll through the town and eventually found this vantage point for this beautiful sunrise. This morning's rich colors, the sky textures, and water reflections combined for a stunningly beautiful image.

I tweaked the image ever so slightly in Lightroom bringing up the Fill Light a bit and pumping the Vibrance slider up just slightly.

Camera specs; Canon 40D fitted with 10-22mm lens set at 22mm, F16 @ 1/400 second, ISO 800. Enjoy! -David

Inspiration Friday: "Passion Is Your Power!"

Good Morning Everybody,

I’ve got a light day today and am looking to enjoy a little of this fine weather we are experiencing.  Anyway, it seems I’ve been writing way too much this week with my article for the Professional Photographer Magazine [link] and another project I just finished today.

A few months ago  I was asked to contribute a short article to a book that has a planned publication date of next May. It’s title, “Four Words For Success”. [link] It looks like I’m in with some pretty good company.  Some notable people that have already submitted stories include: Craig Newmark (Craigslist.org) [link], and Gary Hirshberg (Stonyfield Farms) [link] and Dan Coben (Executive Coach) [link].

I was honored with the invitation and agreed to participate. I have written and posted many times on the subject of Success at DigitalProTalk.com so I decided to scan the nearly 3,000 posts and see if I could find my previous posts. The search itself was kind of fun – I couldn’t believe how much information is available in the DPT archives – TONS of great reading!

Anyway, I found several articles on the subject and decided to distill those several thousand words down to my 800 word article I submitted for the Four Words For Success project.  Today’s post is the first draft of my article.  I think there’s some good advice that is beneficial for everyone and as a “kick-in-the-behind” even for me to visit over and over again, just to remind myself.  I hope you enjoy the read.

Passion Is Your Power!

You know, I've been in the photography business a fair number of years and have loved every minute of it.  Like many photographers, my beginnings were very humble beginnings. I'd like to share some of those experiences with you today. Like many folks wanting to start their businesses today, I was nervous, scared, hopeful, and for the most part didn't know how I was going to grow my business.

Slow Beginnings

I was working as an engineer at the time and lots of my college buddies were starting to get married.  They knew that I was a part time photographer shooting weddings and sports events for a prominent studio in Dayton, Ohio and thought I would do an adequate job for them. I graduated with a B.A. in Physics, and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and thought that's what I wanted to do "when I grew up", but deep in my heart, I loved photography - particularly wedding photography. 

I hung out my "shingle" in October, 1978. By 1979, I was working to get any and every photography job I could.  I kept my prices low and was the CHEAPEST photographer in the Cincinnati, Ohio area.  You know, being cheap is good for building your business, I thought. My prices started at $119 and went all the way up $259.

I continued to struggle in those early years, making the same mistakes so many other photographers were making in starting their own businesses.  I knew the "turn over" rate was really high in wedding photography.  Heck, you could just check the Yellow Pages back in those days and see all the new ads for wedding photographers and also see so many missing from the previous year. Amazing, it’s not unlike today's wedding photography climate - just check the Craig’s List listing for photographers.

Time To Turn The Bend

Finally I began learning the lessons of success. The biggest is passion. One of the biggest obstacles to success is procrastination. You know, too many people NEVER get around to taking the time to do the things they need to do to achieve their success goals in their life.  They are always too busy, out of time, don't have the money, etc., etc, etc. Only 5% percent of the population achieves what they want to achieve in their lives.  Too many others think they are owed success.  Too many others get caught up in the "hamster wheel of life" and just can't find the time to get off.  But success in life is about taking charge of your future.  It's about taking that first step in success's direction.

Another big part of success comes down to this - How good do you want to be, just good enough or the best you can be? And if you agree that it's the best you want to be, and you aspire to that goal, and then eventually think that you have reached it - I offer you this. You still are not at your top form.

Being the best is an ongoing journey, it's a mountain that is constantly being climbed with the peak always within site but never reached. But as we pursue our goal to reach the unreachable peak, we go farther and higher with each new step we take when we thought we couldn't take another. None of us know what our "best" is. The worst remark we can make is, "I'm doing my best." Why, because for each of us "our Best" is an unknown level of performance we have within us that we have yet to achieve.

It’s Time To Begin Setting Your Own World Records

Look at all the world records being broken just in the swimming meets so far - Michael Phelps broke his five "Bests" in the 2008 Olympics!. Were his old times his best times, I think the answer is clear - I think his best times are still in his future even as he shatters his past records with his current wins.

We need to do the same if we want to be at the top of our fields, we need to constantly move toward that unreachable peak always keeping it in our sites, always taking the next step when we thought we couldn't take another, and we too will find Olympic Gold Medals laying in our own paths as we move towards that unattainable peak.

And, finally, we need to run scared, constantly evaluating the market, the competition, and the economics and working pro-actively to fine tune all aspects of our business both photographically and financially!

I love this African proverb - it says it all.

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed...every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle...when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."

Food For Thought -

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  LaDawn heads out to Nashville with her sister tomorrow and I’ll be bachelor-ing it all next week. I’m a little worried – without my blog editor standing by, I suspect the post may be riddled with errors ;~)

How about everyone having a great weekend and I’ll see ya’ on the flip side.

Adios,  -David

"The Dance Of A Lifetime"

"The Dance Of A Lifetime"
©David A. Ziser

This is one of my all time favorite wedding images featured in today’s video. Be sure to hit the PLAY button in the next post to hear the complete story behind this image. The bride and groom, and two children later, continue to be favorite clients of mine. 

I remember taking this image like it was yesterday.  The floor was dappled with all these colors and I thought it would be great if I could capture some of the colors as they fell on the bride's dress. 

The decor lighting was pretty bright so I was able to get by with a reasonably fast shutter speed and ISO to make it happen. I knew that my flash coming from behind them would freeze the action of their dancing. 

I took several images, but I felt this was the best. I was in the right place at the right time and caught the bride just as the groom "dipped" her on the final note of the song.

Camera specs; Nikon D1x fitted with 24-135mm Tamron lens, F5.6 @ 1/50 second, ISO 400.  Enjoy!  -David

5 Of My All Time Favorite Wedding Images–Exposed At Last!

Good Morning Everybody,

I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s post.  It was just the “tip of the iceberg” compared to the full article I wrote for The Professional Photographer Magazine [link] due out next month.  I always think these projects are only going to take about a day to complete – I’ve got three full days in this article!  Heck, it could be the chapter of another book.;~)

And speaking of another book, I was supposed to be well on my way in writing my next book but PhotoPro Expo [link], our 2012 photographic extravaganza has been consuming a lot of my time. 

I sure hope you get a chance to jump on the $139 special 1/2 price registration before it ends at the end of August. 

Hey gang, I think I’ve got a really nice post for you today.  It’s kind of long, about 30 minutes, but I still hope you’ll give it a peak. I’m speaking in a rather conversational tone so you could probably peak at the image, listen, and continue with your normal multitasking activities.  How about we get right to it.  Here we go…

5 Of My All Time Favorite Wedding Images – Exposed At Last!

OK, it was a bad pun, still I'm frequently asked, "Of all my images I've taken over the years what are some of my favorites?"  In today's video, I’ll share 5 of my favorite images and my thoughts about those images including technical details and my artistic insights relating to those images.  Enjoy!

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today. I’m wrapping a few more projects  today then hopefully I can catch my breath.  Have a great rest of the day and I’ll see you tomorrow for a short Friday post.

See ya’ then,  David

"Desert Dreams"

"Desert Dreams"
©David A. Ziser

Since this series of images is featured in today’s post below, I thought it would be a good idea to re-visit it as an addendum to the following post. We had wrapped up the church shoot and then headed outside to work in the dreaded Las Vegas hot sun – and bright it was!  There are a few ways to control bright sunlight.

One of my favorites ways to control the bright sunlight is to use a translucent panel.  In this case I used the large 84 inch umbrella I discussed in last week’s post [link]. By intercepting the sun’s rays that were falling directly on the bride, I was able to soften the light considerably and still maintain it’s direction.

The umbrella also cuts the light by two stops meaning that with the bride perfectly exposed in the shadow of the umbrella, the sunlit foliage in the background takes on nice pastel (albeit overexposed) tonalities. I love the look and feel for outdoor portraits.

Camera specs:  Canon 7D fitted with 100mm F2.8 IS macro lens, F3.2 @ 1/500 second, ISO 200.  Enjoy!  -David

Don’t Be Afraid Of The Light & My WSJ Interview – For Real!

Good Morning Everybody,

You won’t believe it – I was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal yesterday! After my interview the market shot back up +465 points!  Hey, maybe they should have called me last week :).  OK, just kidding.  But yep, I was interviewed about my perceptions of the market gyrations, the root causes of those gyrations, and what was I going to do about it. It was WSJ reaching out to American citizens for their perceptions on our current debt crisis. My understanding is that the article is scheduled to run in the Saturday edition of WSJ – I’ll keep you posted.

Hey gang, I’ve got a great post for you today and it’s all about lighting, bad lighting conditions and how to fix it.  Hope you like it – let’s get right to it.

Don’t Be Afraid Of The Light

I been spending the last few days working on an upcoming article for the Professional Photographers Of America award winning magazine The Professional Photographer. The article deals with working in difficult lighting conditions.  I thought I would post an excerpt from the article today.

You Still Have To Come Back With The Shot!

You know, when you're shooting a wedding, you’ve got to comeback with the drop-dead photographs regardless of the lighting conditions or any other hindrances you might encounter, for example weather of lack of an ideal location. Sometimes we find ourselves shooting in mid-afternoon with the sun high in the sky. Other times we might be working in the park without much shade and we’re fighting “speckled” lighting on the wedding party or family groups.

We may occasionally find ourselves in difficult church situations where the light is so dim that the only illumination is from a few candles. In another church situation we might be challenged with bright stain glass windows in front of the church, at the alter area, where the ceremony is taking place. The challenge is to maintain the color in the stain glass windows while still holding detail in the shadows.

There may even be times when we walk into the wedding reception and the lighting is so low you can barely see the floor on which you’re walking.

In this post I want to address the first of these five lighting challenges, High noon bright sunlight, and show you before and after images and also provide solutions to these challenges. I hope you find this information useful and informative for your upcoming wedding events. Let's get right to it.

High Noon Sun For Bridal Photographs.

Unfortunately, we seldom have the opportunity to photograph our wedding couple, their families and attendants in prime lighting conditions or the “sweet-light” time of the day. High noon or early afternoon sun has more often been the case and always been a big problem for wedding photographers. The sun’s angle in the sky, if high enough, will pocket the eye sockets - not a good thing at all. So how do we handle this light challenging situation during your summer afternoon weddings?

First Backlight the Subject(s)

My general rule of thumb when shooting outdoors is to always backlight the subjects – have them turn away from the sun with their faces in shadow. Another challenge to this rule is that with the subjects turned away from the sun, you’re still able to pick up a decent quality background behind them.

Use Reflectors

Let’s say for example, the background is working – how are we going to light your subjects? One solution is in using reflectors. I like to bounce the sun's rays back at the subject.  Yes, you do have to be careful about the sun’s intensity coming off the reflector. Too close and direct and the reflective light can be blinding. Part of that problem can be solved by having your reflector about 20 feet from the subject as I did in this photograph– Figure 1. In this image, the bride was able to look up and back into the camera without any problem or feeling of discomfort or even worse squinting. Figure 2 shows the position of the bride, my assistant, and myself using my SunSpotz reflector when capturing that photograph.

Now take a look at our next photograph – Figure 3 below. This image is revealing the lack of an ideal situation, high noon, bright, very sunny location without much foliage to take advantage of. How in the world are we going to get a decent photograph in this location? Hey, that’s my job and paraphrasing Tim Gunn, I’ve got to make it work.  As I stated above, the first thing I'm going to do when working outdoors is to position the sun behind my subject(s).

With the sun behind the subject(s) I created a  nice accent light on her back, hair and veil. With the bride face in complete shadow, I can easily bring up the highlight side of the face by bouncing the reflected light from the sun directly back into the bride’s face. As you can see in this photograph, Figure 3, we get a beautiful result. I will admit, that the sun was really bright so I asked the bride to keep her gaze down so as to not blind her. My lens choice was a Canon 100 mm F2.8 macro lens at F3.2. The larger aperture framed my subject while blurring the background nicely. As it turned out we captured a nice soft portrait of our bride in the burning sun of a hot summer early afternoon.

Use Large Translucent Umbrellas

But, what happens if you want to photograph more than just one person at the same location and lighting situation? Well, that's where my 84 inch translucent umbrella comes into play. The nice thing about my 84 inch translucent umbrella is the fact that it can be held by one hand. Secondly, it creates a 7 foot shadow under which I can photograph up to four subjects.

Take a look at our next photograph – Figure 4. It shows the size of the umbrella next to the subject.  This umbrella is made by Westcott and is my favorite. I was using my Canon 100 mm F 2.8 macro lens at F3.2 which gave me a long enough focal length to throw the background out of focus and yet keep sharp focus on both the bride and the groom.

The umbrella was positioned camera left intercepting and diffusing the sun’s rays before they landed on the bride and groom. With the umbrella intercepting the sun’s ray’s from camera left, not only do we get the couple in the shadow of the umbrella but since the umbrella’s surface is brightly illuminated too, we are also creating a three dimensional direction of light on the subject free of charge. The light couldn’t be more beautiful.

Use Large Apertures

The cool thing about using reflectors and large translucent umbrellas is the fact that I can use wide apertures to soften the background. In my final example, Figure 5, the image was captured at 1/500 second at F3.2 with my Canon 100mm F2.8 macro lens. The result is a beautiful photograph of the bride and groom that captures the fun and spontaneity of the day and still gives us a great result in a very challenging lighting situation.

The point is this; as I’ve said since the beginning of this series, you’ve got to come back with the image – no excuses. A depth of knowledge in the subject of lighting and a creative approach to the lighting challenge will get a great image about every time.

BTW, you catch a video tutorial I did on this subject of using reflectors in bright sunlight and create beautiful wedding portraits right here. Enjoy!

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  Hope you enjoyed the post.  Remember, tomorrow is Technique Tuesday on Thursday.  Tomorrow’s title – it has a bit of an Oprah ring to it – “5 Of My Favorite Things”.  I know you’ll enjoy the post.

See ya’ then,  David

"Subtleties"

"Subtleties"
©David A. Ziser

I feel this is a very mysterious image.  Part of that mysteriousness is caused by the shadow play and subtle densities within this image.

I’ve been trying to remember the back story on this image. As best as I can piece it together, it was made about 10:15 p.m. as we returned home from dinner at at a local restaurant in San Jose del Cabo a few years ago.  This is an agave plant right outside the entrance of our friends home in Mexico. 

I had just gotten my new Canon 5D Mark II camera and was testing it’s low light capabilities. Check out the camera specs below and you'll have a clearer understanding of what I mean.

As I was reviewing images for another project, I stumbled across this one. I was immediately taken by the subtle dark tones throughout the image. The image looked OK in color but I wasn’t a big fan of the green tones.  A quick switch to B&W and some judicious cropping and I could enjoy those shadows and dark tones even more.

The image just seems to draw you in the more you look at it – an emotional side effect of a good abstract image.  The darkness of the tones almost forces you to look more deeply into the image searching for the “tone boundaries” moving through the image.  Anyway, I like it, I hope you do too.

Camera specs: Camera 5D Mark II fitted with 24-105mm lens at 102mm, F 4.0 @ 1/30 second, ISI 6400.  Enjoy!  -David

Business Day Thursday On Tuesday: Sales and Marketing With Chuck Lewis

Good Morning Everybody,

I’m off to a much better and earlier start on the day today – hence the early blog post ;~) I’m switching the normal Tuesday post for Thursday’s post because of some timing issues with a few projects   happening around the studio. We’ll be back to normal next week.

That being said, why don’t we get on with today’s post.

Sales and Marketing With Chuck Lewis

Last week I hosted a very informative webcast with my good friend, Chuck Lewis.  We had a huge crowd attend the webcast and the RAVE reviews flooded in at the end. But as usual, many couldn’t attend because of a time conflict.  No time is a good time for everybody so I generally record these webcasts for later broadcast and I did that for Chuck’s presentation as well.

It was a lively 90+ minute presentation packed with plenty of sales and marketing insights and ideas to kick start your business growth.

For me, Chuck was "singing to the choir" - I was an early student and have incorporated most of the ideas discussed in the webcast into my own business over these many years.  Yes, they work!

I think you'll really enjoy these down to earth insights and ideas Chuck and Todd have to offer.

Last Thursday I also “LIVE” blogged the event [link], quite an experience in itself – trying to type and pay attention at the same time – I know I would flunk Stenographers School.  I got most of the points correct but the best thing to to is watch the webcast and digest the entire story.  That said, why not hit the PLAY button below and enjoy 9 Secrets On How You Can Double Your Sales.  Enjoy!

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  I got a few more “irons in the fire” with a few deadlines closing in on me and I need to get back to them.  How about I see you tomorrow for the continuation of our series, “No Excuses For Not Getting The Shot”.  Tomorrow I’ll be discussing how to shoot in some horrible lighting conditions.

See ya’ then,  David

"Somewhere in Time"

"Somewhere in Time"
©David A. Ziser

I get quite a few requests from my DPT readers asking me about my favorite wedding images.  Do I have a Top 10 list of my top all time images.  On Thursday of this week, I’m planning to review a few of those images with you.  This is one of those images.

It was taken a number of years ago in Rochester, New York.  I remember I captured the image in one of the city’s government buildings.  It was approximately 10 minutes after 12:00 noon and nearly all the civil servants had left the building on their lunch break – we practically had the building to ourselves.  The location was almost Romanesque with all its beautiful arches and columns.  What a great place for a wedding photograph!

I went up to the forth level asking the couple to stay on the second level.  Compositionally, I think the image is just striking.  I’ll talk more about how the image came together on Thursday.

Camera specs:  Hasselblad 500 CM fitted with 40mm Distagon lens, F8.0 @ 1/500 second, Vericolor 400 speed film.  Enjoy!  -David

Quick Hit Monday: Wedding & Portrait Photography; Lighting; Inspiration; and Photoshop Freebies!

Good Morning, uh Afternoon Everybody,

Hey gang, it’s a BIG day today with lots of good information coming your way – 18 scintillating resources in all that will keep you busy for hours, just like they did for me. Also, thanks for your patience with the late post. My morning got jammed up with a lot of appointments and multiple planning sessions involving several new projects.

Add to that a noon appointment with our financial advisor that went longer than expected – just what I needed with the market trajectory these last few days, and it was afternoon when I got back to the computer.  Here we go…

My Cincinnati, OH Photo Walk Update

First of all, I would like to give you an update on my Scott Kelby Photo Walk scheduled in Cincinnati Ohio. Within 24 hours of posting the photo walk it was completely full. We have a few people on the the standby list and I suspect that they will be able to join us on the walk as there are always a few last minute cancellations.

Let me say that there is another great walk happening in Cincinnati, Ohio on that same weekend. It's being led by my good friend, Jason Lykins, works with Terry White on Terry’s  Best Apps site. Jason is a great guy, full of terrific information, and a wonderful photographer. I promise Jason will do a great walk, too. Here's the link to his sign-up page.

In The World Of Photography

Wedding & Portrait Photography:

1. 10 Tips to Improve Your Wedding Venue and Detail Shots: [link]

Capturing detail photographs or what I like to say, photographs of what  your clients spend their money on, is really important to the storytelling aspect of your wedding photography.  This link has some great ideas to capture the best detail shots possible on your next job.

2. Wedding Photographers | Five Questions To Ask Your Wedding Photographer: [link]

I like this post because it gives good advice about what the bride should be asking her photographer. I think it's food for thought for every photographer thinking about shooting weddings.

3. Beautiful Video About Wedding Photography: [link]

I think one of the best things you can do for building your business is to include a video on your website (obviously it includes your blog, too) that illustrates your passion, your talent, your dedication to the profession of wedding photography. I’ve suggested many times that I believe Jasmine Star has one of the best websites emphasizing this approach. The wedding video presented in this post does exactly the same thing. I still believe it's one of the most important things you can do for yourselves in building your own business.

4. Beginner Photography Tips - Composition: [link]

Although this post is listed “Beginner photography tips”, I feel it contains some solid information for designing your images in the viewfinder. I certainly think it's a worthwhile read because I believe this is where a lot of photographers come up short in creating their best images.  Give it a read and see what you think.

5. Studio Lighting for Portraits: [link]

This is a great, in-depth article on portrait lighting.  There's a lot of variety in the model poses as well as a lot of variety in the lighting. This is definitely a link I’ll be adding to my favorites list.

6. 5 Lessons You Can Learn from One Portrait: [link]

This post is like “singing to the choir” for me. I find I use just about everyone of the ideas and suggestions listed.  Give it a read, make your notes, and plan to use a few of these ideas on your next shoot.

And Now A Little Inspiration For You

I think you really enjoy this next set of links. It's these kinds of posts that I could use to inspire and enhance my creativity every now and then. The topics are varied, the photography is exciting and the imagery presented is fun and refreshing.

• Extreme Examples of Photo-Journalism: [link]
• Long Time Exposure Photography: [link]
• 24 Hour Landscape Photography Guide: [link]
• Beautiful Digital Arts By Elena Dudina: [link]
• "Captain America: The First Avenger" Action Shots Captured With Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR Cameras: [link]

Photoshop & Lightroom Freebies

The Photoshop freebies section of my Quick Hit Monday post is always fun for me to put together.  Every week I'm always able to find some great links to some wonderful resources that we can incorporate into our studio work flow. I hope you too find these resources useful, as well. I'm thinking maybe I should create a directory of these posts. There must be tons of instructional posts I have listed over the past several weeks. Enjoy!

• 18 Essential Free Photoshop Tutorials for Black and White Photography Lovers: [link]
• Creating Custom Brushes: [link]
• High Resolution Concrete Free Photoshop Brush Set: [link]
• Classy Photoshop Action Sets for Image Enhancement: [link]
• Free Photoshop Patterns for Your Creative Designs: [link]
• Business Card Design: Collection Of 20+ Great Tutorials: [link]
• How to Tone Map and Create an HDR Like Image Using Only Lightroom 3 – Lightroom Video Tutorial: [link]

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. We've got a lot of things going on at the studio and I better get back to my real job. How about I plan to see everybody tomorrow for a special edition of Business Day Thursday only its going to be on Tuesday.  Don't worry, I'm moving Technique Tuesday to Thursday of this week. I know it sounds confusing but, just know you'll still be getting your full dose of DigitalProTalk this week;~)

Everybody have a great day and I'll see you bright and early tomorrow for Business Day Thursday on Tuesday.

Adios for now, -David

"Bonsai Sunset"

"Bonsai Sunset"
©David A. Ziser

As I was getting ready this morning, I was trying to think what I could leave you with for the weekend.  I remember I had posted this image over a year ago and remembered just how cool it was so I thought I’d bring it back for an encore presentation.  What’s cool about this image is it’s back story.

Last year, LaDawn and I visited the Cincinnati Conservatory where they were featuring their annual Butterfly Show.  On the way into the exhibit, we had to pass through the Bonsai Tree exhibit.  I have always been fascinated with Bonsai trees and remain inspired by how the gardener achieves these wonderful, natural works of art.  I had to take a few shots of these dwarf trees just for the fun of it. End of part 1 of the story. 

Part 2 of the back-story begins with me testing my Canon iPF 8100 inkjet printer that weekend over a year ago.  I wanted to see how it would print some of my fine art images on canvas.  This image of a Manzanillo, Mexico sunset was conveniently at hand so I printed off a copy. 

Later in the day, it was back to Lightroom to review the shots from the Butterfly Show and up popped the images of the bonsai trees.  That's when it hit me - wouldn't be cool to collage the small bonsai tree with the glorious Manzanillo sunset. 

Time to fire up CS5 and make it happen.  The colors, visual balance, and textures of the image - I love the finished presentation.  Notice even how the sun seems to be glinting off the trunk of the tree.  Sounds like a possible Technique Tuesday to me.  And that is how you too can spend a super-geek filled weekend with your new Adobe software toys;~).

Camera specs: Sunset; Nikon D300 (I was testing the camera at the time) fitted with 18-200 IS lens at 48mm, F 11 @ 1/800 second, ISO 800.  Bonsai tree; Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 70mm, F 7.1 @ 1/250 second, ISO 1000. Enjoy!  David

Join Me For My Napa Experience In October

Good Morning Everybody,

It has been one busy week around our studio and today I’m planning to take the rest of the day off. Before I do though, let me just give you a quick re-cap and update on the week including my Napa Experience, Webcast re-broadcast, and the premiere photographic event of 2012.

The Napa Experience – October 23-26, 2011

First off we’ve just scheduled my upcoming Napa Experience – A Private Workshop for only 6 photographers.  We have 5 seats left. We had such a great time with the Sedona Experience in June, we thought we would bring it to the west coast.  You can get all the details right here.

Sales/Marketing Webcast With Charles Lewis A Huge Hit!

We had a packed house at Chuck’s webcast yesterday afternoon.   The comments that came flying in were over the top - “I won’t be able to sleep tonight with all this information” … “Amazing webcast!"!” … “Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!”

Anyway, you get the idea.  I blogged it “LIVE” yesterday [link] so if you read yesterday’s post you’ll be up the salient points of Chuck’s program.  Also, I head from many of our DPT readers about re-broadcasting it.  Good news!  I recorded the entire program and I plan on posting it for next week’s Business Day Thursday post.  So yes, if you missed any part of it, you’ll be able to catch it again next week.

PhotoPro Expo Is A Must See Photographic Event!

I think this was the biggest news of the week.  We are putting the finishing touches on one of the most exciting photographic events of the decade [link].  It takes place next year in Cincinnati, OH/Northern KY. It’s the PhotoPro Expo next February 2,3,4,5, 2012. Unbelievable price, great room rates only $99 at Marriott Rivercenter, and huge tradeshow!

4 days with the top speakers in the country for only $139 (reg $179), the best convention price ever!

VIP seating for first 100 registered!

CLICK HERE TO RESRVE YOUR SEAT!

I have personally talked with all the speakers lined up and they are excited about being part of this new convention!  Just look at the line up!  These are the super stars in our profession!

You need to book now! Folks these prices are going much higher at midnight August 31, 2011

So don’t wait – just reserve your space NOW!

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Hey gang, that’s it for today.  It’s 1:30 p.m. and I’m still not out the door on my day off ;~) Everybody have a great weekend and I’ll see you bright and early Monday…. all the pixels willin’.

See ya’ then, David

"China Doll"

"China Doll"
© David A. Ziser

As I was browsing images for yesterday’s post I remembered the wedding I did a number of years ago and had to do several of the photographs in the rain.  As I was looking at the rainy day images I can across this sweet photograph of the little flower girl.

Many times I do photograph flower girls by themselves but in more recent years have changed my approach to photograph younger children this way. When small children are all alone in front of the camera, they can often times become very shy - real quick.  An easy solution to this is to take a typical photograph of the bride with the flower girl then I’ll simply ask the bride to draw the little flower girl close into her. 

In my next series of images, I’ll zoom in much closer to the flower girl only.  I like the fact that bride is in the photograph too, almost in a supporting role.  With the bride that close to the small child, she also offers  a sense of security for the little girl making her less shy in front of the camera. It’s easy to get the shot every time when using this easy posing technique.

This image is 100% jpeg right out of the camera – no enhancement whatsoever. Lighting, BTW is from camera right with my strobe shooting through a translucent umbrella  on 1/4 power.

Camera specs; Nikon D1x fitted with 80-200mm non VR lens at 112mm, F5.6 @ 1/100 second, ISO 400.  Enjoy!  -David

Business day Thursday: Sales & Marketing Webcast With Charles J. Lewis

Good Afternoon Everybody,

Did you get a chance to read through everything I posted yesterday? There was a “ton”of information.  I’m going a little lighter with today’s post since I have my webcast with marketing/sales guru, Charles Lewis at 3:30 p.m. EST.

I know we have a full house (1000 attendees) for the webcast but as generally happens at the last minute, some folks wont be able to attend, so you may still have a shot at getting in. You can still try to register right here. 

Now let me say this before I get into trouble. You may be able to register because GoToWebinar will over-book an event. That's being said, with the no-shows, most everyone gets in, but there is always a chance at this late date that you may be unable to attend even if you are registered. Anyway, that being said, I gave our DPT readers an early heads up last week so you know what they say, “if you snoozed, etc….”

I’m “LIVE” Blogging Our Webcast Today

Here is my plan for today’s blog post.  Since Chuck and his son Todd will be carrying most of the 90 minute program, I’m going to “LIVE” blog from my end.  You are welcome to follow along. The plan is to constantly update this post via Windows Live Writer.  You’re RSS reader may “ding” several times when I post new info, but at least you’ll know there’s fresh content up and ready to read.

And, if you can’t follow along, no problem, just read my posts later when you have some time.  It’s something brand new I want to try so today is as good a day as any to give it a shot.  My expectation is the by the end of the posting, we will have one info packed post.

Hey gang, Webcast starts in just a few minutes.

We’re on the air.  Chuck just shared a great bit of advice about PST.  We need to Plan, Study, and Train at least one hour each day!  I agree 100%. You’ve got to apply your effort and energy pro-actively to your success.

Chuck’s quick poll showed this is what photographers want to solve:

The 4 Biggest And Most Costly Sales Mistakes Every Photographer Makes:

1.  You know what the client is looking for. 

Wrong – We need to discover the client’s Dominate Buying Motive

2. Your work will sell itself.

Not – Our work may turn heads, but it’s up to us to make the sell.

3, Selling is a bad thing and manipulating people.

Wrong - Selling is a service you offer your clients.  Find out what they want and help them get it.  Selling is central to building a relationship.

4. They never make the effort to find out what the client needs.

It’s up to us to discover what the client is looking for.  That too is central to successful sales.

Audience poll # 2:Key Points For Successful Sales:

The relationship is the whole deal!

Secret #1: People invest in photography for EMOTIONAL reasons.

Secret #2: What’s UNIQUE about you? Know the answer.

Secret #3: In photography, your GUARANTEE is one of the all time most important secrets to your success. A guarantee removes the risk from the buyer in making the buying condition.

Secret #4: Your TELEPHONE is  your most important tool. You better be able to communicate on the phone.

Telephone Tips:

1. Ask questions – get to know your client, make them feel important.

2. Use the “re-direction question” and that question is the magic question.  Use the magic question – “If you don’t mind me asking, what’s most important about your wedding, family portrait, etc.” Then shut up!

3. Use the “Volunteer Statement.” – Do you mind if I give you an idea what the photography will cost?”

4. Ask the “Qualifying Question.” – “Is that within your budget?”

To have a successful telephone outcome, don’t “wing it”, work from a script based on the telephone tips above.

Heck, you can use these same tips in email communications with your clients.

5. Your Photo Business Layout and Design is critical – You sell what you show!

6. Design consultation sales chats – Yes, don’t try to book the session over the phone.  Every successful sales is the result of this preliminary design consultation meeting. If you don’t meet them in person the sales goes nowhere.

7. To be successful with photography you must use the correct words – the vocabulary is  way more powerful than to realize!

8. Overcome “Sales Resistance” the easy way – by being enthusiast.

9. The 1st impression is the most lasting impression – always project! Be pro-active is your approach to sales!

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  I hope you enjoyed the “LIVE” Blog-cast today – it was quite an experience for me – listening and typing ;~)  I also hope that all of you that tuned in the actual “LIVE” webcast really enjoyed it too.  I’ll see about getting the web-cast rebroadcast right here at DigitalProTalk – stay tuned.

Chuck and his son Todd had so many tips, techniques, and insights to really help you take your sales to the next level.

Have a great one everybody,  David