Portrait of a Pet

Taking portraits of pets can be difficult at times. with portraits of humans, we can get them to look and do what we want. But with a pet, they have a mind of their own.

Archie was no diffrent. I was using my iPhone to take candid pictures using a huge window, and soft light coming threw. I took a few pictures and came up with what I liked. Next was to cut out Archie in Photoshop and give him a studio look. I don’t know, but I think the owner will be happy. I know I was happy with it. Most of us have a camera all ready; just look at where the light is going and use it with whatever camera you have. For me, this was my iPhone today. Happy shooting.

Environmental Shooting

For those of you who follow my Facebook page, I said there would be more, and here is the more.

To keep up with your photography skills, it always helps to go to workshops to learn and practice. Plus, I love working with professional models. This was no different. With the help of @Robertsphoto in Indianpolis,In and our model Afton, the class was on an environmental shoot. This class was terrific, for we took pictures in a 10-yard diameter and made the best using lighting. In the above photo, when I was going through the shooting, I could not help thinking this was a teacher escaping her class for a bit of downtime. So I told her to pretend that she was holding a wine glass, for I added this in photoshop to get the image my mind was thinking. The above picture was a 3 light shoot.

If you saw where these pictures were taken, you would say how? It’s a simple look at the background and asks whether it will benefit. If it helps, if it does not, don’t show it. As you know, I love flash photography and have a lot of fun using it. In this case, we used from one light all the way to 3 lights and again in a very small area. That is one way to help with the background. Another is the angles of the picture; another is putting the background in focus or not. (you thought it was just pint and click :) ) I bet we had about 10 shots, and all we needed to do was look.

I can’t say enough about working with a model. For me, it allows me to use my creativity and wait for the moment before clicking. I am a big believer in education and learning. No matter how much you know, you can always learn more. I love workshops for two reasons. First, I get to see things live, and last, I get a chance to see other photographers and learn from them. Photographers are like campers. We love what we do and love to talk.

Headshot Continue

I have to say Thank you to all of the locals for thinking of us for their need in photography. I truly appreciate it. Last year, we had a record year for Corporate Headshots, and it looks like this will continue. Companies have asked us outside of our area for Corporate pictures. While I like the gray background, we have been asked for white background, and we can accommodate that. But, you may ask, why gray? For advertising agents, they can easily change the background color to what may work best for their advertising ad. Thank you again.

Head Shots

Business this year has been good with Head Shots. Why? With social media and jobs, people do not need a selfie but a high professional picture. Me, I do two types of backgrounds. I use Gray and use white on request.

The nice thing with my setup, I can do these anywhere. When I mean anywhere, I mean anywhere. I have done them in a garage, hallways, small rooms, and even outside.

Headshots are changing today from what I like with the above to cutting off some of the head. Everything changes, and it's our job to stay with what is new. Then as I have said numerous times, practice. You can't be good without practice in anything. Thank you, everyone, for your trust in me this year with your headshot; I look forward to more. (Which bookings look good)

Practise Time

The weekends in Ohio have been just about raining all the time. With that, it was time for practice time in my make-shift studio in the family room. This time I wanted to have the perfect photo for cutouts to be used in composites using a white background. I wanted the fly-away hairs and no blowout. So with that, I set up my seamless white paper. To keep it white, I used two 200-watt flashes to light it. I set up a chair about 8-10 feet from the white paper. For my key light, I used another flash with a soft box on it and had it about 5 ft away from the chair.

While crowded, the studio was set. Next was a subject. Yep, I could not convince my wife for this assignment, so I used myself. Messing up my hair so that I would have fly-away hair, it was time to practice. Then, it was time to practice using my phone to trigger the camera. I use a light meter when I am in the studio and begin practicing. I did overexpose background, underexpose, and wrote down what happened. I did the same thing with the key light. (main light). In the end, I came up with what I wanted and time for photoshop and tried different backgrounds and see if the cutout worked. It did. Next time, I need to buy a wig and use it on my mannequin head.