Moving to CS6: Drinking the Cool-Aid, and boy, is it tasty!
I have been using Aperture on my Mac for organizing and editing my images, and have been pretty happy with it too. It always drove me nuts that I had to export an image to get it into Photoshop for heavy lifting, and then import the resulting edited image back into Aperture. Very clunky.
With my recent client signing on for long term promotional support for their recording artists and facilities, I signed up for the Creative Cloud subscription. Like most things that are monthly fee based, the Creative Cloud is a good deal IF YOU USE IT. Signing up for it gave me access to all things Adobe. I decided to give Lightroom a chance to woo me away from Aperture, and it has!
First, it has seamless integration into Photoshop. Just right click and “edit in”. When you save, it’s saved back in Lightroom. The way it should be. Also, Apple chose to store its images in libraries. A library is much like a single database file that has your images and the edits. You can get in there and dig around but it certainly isn’t an intuitive set up. Lightroom just stores the images in a good ol’ folder with no voo-doo attached. Lightroom also supports the Nik software suite which is what I really use for editing, so I didn’t give up any convenience or capability there. On the down side, if the folks at Apple know anything, it’s how to make an intuitive GUI. Lightroom still has me hunting and pecking a bit. It also runs noticeably slower on the same machine. It’s an easy trade to relieve two of my major pet peeves for a little hourglass aggravation.
Photoshop CS6 is nothing short of amazing – yeah I know *News Flash*. While it is still a power user’s power tool, the developers are good about finding the things photographers are doing all the time and making them work better, which equals easier in the long run when you figure out how to do them. I’ll give you a few examples of things I find myself using regularly.
So you have this great concert photo, but it’s a bit flat looking and the subject isn’t jumping off the screen at you. Just auto select the guitar player, then refine the edges – this is where the magic happens! In days gone by, wispy hair and background changes would have had you squinting at the screen to clean up your images, and then they still looked “cut out” and unnatural, at least for me. With the new refining edges algorithms, Adobe has really taken a leap forward in making clean natural looking cuts. In the photo below, I used this process, then added a little blur to the background just to give it a little DOF and made it a more agreeable image.
These photos of the lovely Skylar on the beach are an example of my two other favorite feature in Photoshop, Content-aware fills and Liquefy. Do you have some extra foot prints that need removal? No problem, select the area and CS6 figures out what should be there based on the surrounding image. It’s not perfect. It still may require some touch up, but boy it gets you close most of the time. Liquefy is… well… either the best or worst thing ever depending on your photographic philosophy. I personally find perfect people quite boring and tend to not try to idealize my subjects, however, I do want to show them at their best and often a pose or angle or lighting can produce a bulge or shape that detracts from the overall impact of the image. Skylar is a hard core fitness trainer and competitor, but in my infinite wisdom and creative ability, I managed to pose her so that we created less than optimal lines. And hey – if I can do it to her, I can do it to anybody! So, a little light touch with the new, improved and easy to use liquefy feature and she looks like the fitness queen that she truly is.
Subtle use of these toys is the secret to a natural look. I do struggle from time-to-time on the nature of modifying people for images. Everyone wants to look good in a portrait. If the shot is for them, then they should look their best. Also, as I continue to delve into advertising, the goal is to create an image that your client wants to project – whether its reality or not.
Lastly, God bless Youtube! There are loads of really good tutorials on most things that you want to do in CS6. Most are focused, thorough, and free!
Have some fun with it and do something neat!
mike
Studio812 Promo Shoot
My friends/clients at Studio812 Recording Services have embarked on an effort to promote their top-flight facilities and staff experience for making great music. To that end we discussed concepts for their website and other promotional materials. There were a few requirements we wanted to make sure we addressed for the client.
- They wanted to shake their image (subtly) as a gospel studio. While they have certainly established themselves as the go-to gospel style studio in the area, they also have experience with blues, rock, country, and jazz.
- They are fairly conservative in nature. We wanted to make sure we provided them with choices that are appealing, even compelling, but not too sexy, edgy, or unnatural, i.e., it needed to look like a real recording session.
We came up with some concepts and I called in one of my favorite models to work with, Miss Blaize La Roux. Blaize has a history in theater and a love of pin-up style photography, so I knew we would get wonderfully natural and expressive images with just a touch of over-the-top delivery. She has had quite a bit of art work added to her skin, so I wanted to make sure we did some shots with it exposed, and some with it hidden. Again, to let the client choose what was appropriate for their image. All of this was discussed both with the client and model ahead of time. Surprises are generally bad in this game.
You can see it all here: www.studio-812.com
Get outta here and shoot some pictures!
mike
A Walk Around the Park
I've been fighting a dose of the winter blahs here for the last week. With the time change, I have a little more daylight to play with afterwork, so I decided to just head over to the State Park and roam about to see what there was to see. What a great idea. Nothing planned, just strolling around with the camera to see what caught my eye. It was a wonderful exercise to blow out the old creative cobwebs and get back to basics. Give it a bash!
Here are some of the best from the day.
As a note, if your gonna shoot nature and you don't have a plan, GET THE HELL OUTTA THE CAR! All but one of these shots I would have missed if I had been rubbernecking out the window. Of course, there is a geographic size to consider. If your trying to get around Yellowstone, well you might need some quality time behind the wheel. For the rest of us shooting our home town, hoof it! For good portraits you want to connect with your subject. Well, its the some thing here. Connect with nature. Get those feet in action and slide quietly into its domain. As for the buck, I only counted six points. He's not the big boy I caught last time I was sneaking around out there. The Boss was a twelve point and a husky fella at that. This guy is the up and comer, but has some growing to do. He was running with a doe and a spike when I saw him.
Any-hoo, when you get a little burned out on all the planned shoots and details of lighting gear and such. I simple walk about is a great remedy for the blahs. Oh and its good for your photography too! :-)
Get out there and be exceptional!
mike
Party in Paradise - The BIG Shoot
The Story...
One of my long time friends and party-mentor, Todd Sparks (toddsparks.com), is a talented musician and great guy. Last Christmas, he released a tropical holiday song to celebrate and asked me to shoot a promo photo to go with it. We had a great time working up the concept, working with one of my favorite models, Wendy, and getting the shot.
Todd is getting ready to release his third album and has asked me again to work with him to develop the album cover. I, of course, jumped at the chance! Todd is great to work with because he is open to ideas and likes to hear your input and then develop the concept from there.
The Plan...
He sent me an early mix of the title track to listen to. It's a really catchy trop-rock number called "Party in Paradise". I pulled some of the elements of the song out to work the concept. We came up with a concept of having a vintage convertible with Todd standing in front of it, a model standing by the open passenger door, and some select friends having a colorful party behind the car
Now for the technical challenges of interest:
1) This will easily be the largest group of folks I've ever needed to light. and they will be layered in the composition. Most likely we will have a nice sunset in the sky behind them, so shadow control will be critical for a natural look.
2) I want to make sure the car is lit smoothly and shows a nice, creamy reflection, not a harsh single point.
3) Need to make sure the focus of a busy photo stays on Todd.
4) I plan to use a big, gorgeous sky and a few palms for the background. Nothing like building in uncertainty and a lack of control into a planned shoot that will require coordinating people, a model, makeup artist, a borrowed car, and a Bongo Man. What can possibly go wrong?
Here is my initial lighting plan.
To get the creamy reflection and minimal shadow on the car I am going to need a really large light source. For this I am going to use a white video screen material stretched across a frame.
The Big Day...
The once again reinforced that as photographers, one of our prime tasks is herding cats, wrangling yaks, and wrestling alligators. From chaos cometh magical images, though! To start with, Ma Nature made her presence felt. It was a beautiful day, but the breeze kicked up and modifiers were flying everywhere. Onlookers, makeup artists, and assistants where drafted to "control" the situation. The rest of the zaniness was pure fun. Todd showed up with a fairy, stilt walker, juggler, chief, the world famous Conch Lady, a noted Nashville producer and his friend that has written 16 (count them, 16) number 1 country hits! Oh yeah, and the Bongo Man that was recruited from the Wal-Mart just that morning!
I was in charge of arranging for a professional Model and a makeup artists. The model selected was Skylar Vanel, and she was excellent! Very professional and nailed the look and energy. With all the pieces and parts going on, it was reassuring to have a model that got the vibe of the shoot and had the experience to get the look we were looking for. This is where paying a pro really pays off and saves money in the long run.
Here is the original image selected fir the cover by the client:
Then it was off to my good buddy and a heck of a artist, Victor Strickland (vicartist.com), for a dose of un-reality!
It's a Party in Paradise!
The Take Away...
This shoot was sure a lot of fun! Met some great new interesting folks, got to work with some old friends, and some real pros. My thoughts?
- Planning a necessity for a shoot, but be prepared total dance some when you arrive, because you just don't know what you will run into on location.
- Working with pros will save your bacon! Having a pro model let me concentrate on dealing with elements that need extra attention, like bikers, jugglers, and inflatable porposes.
- Have a concept, no, a vision to sell to your clients, but don't be so attached to it that you can't let it morph into the end product the makes your client happy!
- Finally, if you're going to be goofy, crazy, or different with a shot, embrace it! Don't be a little different, but REALLY different. That makes for a fun shot and a fun shoot.
Here are the other images (untouched) that Todd is going to use for box and CD art.
Go shoot something fun!
mike
The Tyranny of the Moon
I have been getting some great results recently shooting long exposure images at night. So I got all excited when the full moon came around, thinking that I would have a chance to get some really interesting photos.
First of all i have to tell you about a GREAT application called The Photographers Ephemeries that I use that gives you the sunrise/set and moonrise/set times and angles for anywhere in the world. All this is overlaid on a map. Really nice piece of work. I have been using it on my Macbook, but now have it on my iPad. Check it out here: http://photoephemeris.com
Back to the moon...
The moon is like a really good looking girl at the prom. When it's out full, it's great to take pictures of, but it doesn't really care about how anything else looks. So the full moon, in its vanity, washes all the rest of the colors out in a bright glare which ruins the great dark blues and such that make night shoots so cool. Stars? Forget about it!
ISO 800, 17mm, f/11 29sec
The interesting light glowing in these shots are actually from the building down the beach more than the ambient light. Pretty cool, but limiting, and certainly not worth getting out of bed at 2:30 AM. It also turned the sugary white sand our beach is famous for into a brown shade worthy of the Texas oil coast. I guess I could have adjusted the colors, but it's a different look than what I usually get, and I kind of like the bronze tones. At least it wasn't too cold...
ISO 800, 26mm, f/11, 24 sec
ISO 800, 17mm, f/11, 29sec
Even though the moon was a small light source relative to the subject, the reflection off the dunes really made a great, creamy light for this impromptu shot of the planet-killer.
ISO 2000, 25mm, f/11, 9sec
So, go outside and kick around in the dark. I'll probably never be a really good photographer because have way more fun experimenting with new things than I do perfecting anything. Oh well, guess I will have to seek fulfillment and enlightenment through meditation and watching black and white horror films! :-)
In honor of the full moon, tonight is a screening WereWolf of London.
Lock your doors and shutters! Aaaaaoooo!
- mike
