Moving forward, every Tuesday I will bring you something technical. This may be related to photography, retouching or anything technical and related to photography as a whole. Todays TT isPhotoshop. As photographers, we spend quite a lot of time in Photoshop so any tips, tricks or shortcuts we can create will save hundreds of hours off our retouching.
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On Facebook I’ve been engaged in a group discussion about the selling of RAW images.
As you may or may not have known, I’ve moved back to the Midwest after eight wonderful years out West. With me comes everything I’ve learned from working out West and West Coast. One of the things that was a hotly debated subject about five years ago was the RAW images and allowing clients to purchase them.
I am not opposed to implied nude shots, however, it sickens me to see models say “I don’t shoot nude” then you see implied NUDE’S on their page, or a full on topless. When asking them, they say they put it on there because they want to keep away the creepers or those who only want to shoot nudes. I tell them they’re hurting themselves because those photogs that would pay them, skip right past them. Their body their rules. While looking at these photos, I figured this would be a much better blog post to cover lighting.
If you know anything about me, then you know I’m an ordained minister when it comes to Black and White images. I preach that black and white is over done and should only be applied to SPECIFIC images. More so to images that were shot with black and white in mind, i.e. more contrast than anything. The reason is because I hear lots of photographers that shoot an image wrong and can’t get the colors to look right,
I have made my feelings known regarding hotshoe flashes being used as “strobes”, Nothing more than a gimmick, oops… But I did take a portable strobe and beauty dish out for some shots!
I hate to hit you with the importance of Mentors but I am. One of my Mentors, Art Ketchum once told me “You aren’t sh!t” if you can’t shoot white on white and keep the integrity of the clothing. Do THAT and hell, I’ll say you’re good”
Of course after he said that, I went out and tried to shoot white on white.
There was a model that I’ve wanted to shoot for a while named Ann Bang. She was perfect as she has a great look and killer body! She was out of the country for a while and once she was around, I was leaving Colorado. Before I left, I had a chance to shoot her but it was part of a workshop. We had agreed to shoot before I left, but it never worked out. I sent her another email letting her know I was going to be back in the area and she ignored it. Guess I won’t be shooting her anymore lol.
I’ve said a million times you need a Muse and Mentor to be successful in photography wither it be hobby or profession. I feel you need a Muse more than Mentor and its simple; Muses’ will allow you to test out new things and help push you in ways you’ve never imagined. My former Muse Lauren has quite a lot of lighting knowledge and knows her body very well. She’s an AMAZING glamour model and friend.
Yesterday I hosted my last workshop of the 2011 year! It was a shootout (shootouts are no instruction just shooting) and it was fun. I had four models scheduled, but two of them had to last minute cancel and the two that made it were BEYOND success! The two that made it were the two I advertised as being there so it was all good. Today is stressed for time but I wanted to put up two quick edited images:
I will forever and always remember this shoot. The model’s name is Katy and she was a total sweetheart. She was a dance choreographer for kids and the local college. She was at that time, the first person I shot that had a great body and beautiful face.