One Reason I “Fake It” In Photoshop
Posted on 23 July 2010 | 1 response
If you’re a shooter and you’ve been to any photography related trade show, you’ve seen LensBabys. They’re a very cool way to create artistic zoom blur effects in camera. Photographers love them and with good reason. More about that in a minute…
I have always been at least a bit of a shutter bug. Not crazy-obsessed. Heck, I don’t think I’d even have qualified as a “passionate” photographer, but I have always been interested and played with photography. In college I took a few photography classes as a part of my communications major because I wanted to go into the advertising business. My earliest focus was on layout and design, and since photography wasn’t digital back then, it required quite a bit more time than I could commit. I had to choose between design and photography. I chose design.
Over the years I was drawn back into photography when digital cameras hit the market. I bought the first 1 megapixel consumer digital camera. I bought the first digital SLR (it was 2.5 megapixels). And I tinkered with them, occasionally capturing images myself and incorporating them into my design work. With the progression of computer technology, just about every profession has been able to do more things more quickly, and with the advent of digital photography and the great leaps there in the past few years, lots of people who had a passing interest in photography could “gear up” and do some serious cool work!
Where I work I’ve been surrounded by some of the best photographers who are also among the best trainers in the world. My interest in photography has been juiced up to the extreme and I could almost qualify as “passionate” about it these days. I see things in composition and light that I’ve never seen before. I have a ton of gear (much of it samples from vendors) and I’m in a great place photographically. When I have any question at all, I can walk down the hall to the desk of some great trainers and ask the pros how they’d handle a particular situation.
With my solid, thorough, 17+ year background in Photoshop, I have had a mentality that if I screwed up a shot, I could just fix it later. With my exposure (no pun intended) to all these great shooters I have not only an appreciation for their camera skills, I am starting to gain the necessary experience to pull off some rather solid shots myself. As a result, these days, my Photoshop “fixes” are just minor tweaks as compared to what I used to have to do. Still, I have some old Photoshop habits that seem tough to kill off (and maybe I don’t want to).
As I mentioned earlier, LensBabys are an artistic special-effect lens you put on your camera to capture artistic images in-camera. As it turns out though, I don’t think I’m natural enough (confident enough) with my camera to be able to use a LensBaby effectively. I actually admire photographers who are so comfortable with their gear and who have shot so many images, that they can pre-visualize how and when a Lens Baby would be good to use. I’m not there yet.
For now I’ll need to shoot images like the palm trees next to the mirrored building I shot in downtown Tampa, and then apply special effects in Photoshop after the fact, to get the special effect zoom blur like the two images on the right. I’ve heard arguments that you don’t need a LensBaby and you can easily replicate the effect in Photoshop if you want, and I’ve heard that pro shooters love LensBabys because they love capturing the artistic effects in camera. While I continue to grow as a photographer, I hope I’ll get good enough to know exactly how and when to use a LensBaby effectively one day. The good news is, in the mean time, at least I know how to use Photoshop well enough to get the finished effect I’m going for.
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The World of Model Mayhem
Posted on 16 July 2010 | 5 responses
It seems that Model Mayhem is the go-to site if you want to find models for a shoot in your local area. In fact, I did a search and there are literally thousands of females in a 25 mile radius of my location in Tampa. But wait, you don’t exactly get thousands, or even hundreds of useful model portfolios. The good ones are far too rare. I used their search engine and did a search and then started looking through the results and I was shocked at the huge number of unprofessional sample images. The huge majority of the models don’t even have a single decent head shot! One out of 50 has a forward facing face shot that lets you see what the person looks like.
Shots like the one above are all too common. (Relax, I didn’t rip off somebody’s portfolio image. This is a stock shot from iStock.) But you can see how the focus is NOT on her face and models expect you to pick them based on these “lifestyle” type shots. Now, I’m sure this girl has very nice proportions and a very cute, if not pretty, face. But based on this shot, I’d be hiring ‘the girl with big legs.’ Not that she really has big legs. Just that the camera angle in this shot makes it seem so. You can’t really tell what her hair looks like. You don’t really know what her face shape is like. Heck, her skin color is even indeterminate based on this exposure. And the other problem with LOTS of the close up shots is that the retouching is so over-the-top that all skin texture is blurred to the texture of a warm lump of wax.
In the end, Model Mayhem is a good resource and seems to be somewhat helpful, but I’m thinking they should have some kind of rating system to help photographers weed out the totally unprofessional folks from the people who know what they’re doing. And it shouldn’t be based on the model’s self-description or how “new” they are.
And I’m checking out the effectiveness of the Casting Call features too. It will be interesting to see what kind of results come in. Once I have worked with Model Mayhem’s site for a little while, I’ll post an update on any tips and tricks I discover for making the system work for a photographer’s needs.
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It’s Deadline Day
Posted on 14 July 2010 | 3 responses
Note: It should take you about 15 - 20 minutes for today’s blog post.
Do you have a goal, or even a few goals, that you’ve been thinking about for a while? Have you been thinking about doing things toward those goals and possibly even taken steps toward their realization?
If you answered yes to both of these questions, great! But today… in fact, right now, it’s time to set a deadline date for each of the major goals in your life. Do this in the next 10 minutes for each of your major goals. Then write down a brief description of each major goal and the associated deadline date. Finally, write down something that will “punish” you if you don’t make it to your goal, and something that will reward you when you do accomplish it.
Now wake up every day and read your goals list out loud, along with the deadline dates, and your rewards/punishments. And then add the phrase, ’so today I am going to do _______ toward accomplishing my goal.’ (And the blank should be filled with something tangible.)
I’m gonna do this myself. I hope it caught you by surprise and that it motivates you to really do it, and then to stay focused on your goals.
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Are You Ready for Tomorrow (and Next Week)?
Posted on 12 July 2010 | 4 responses
I’m 47 years old, so I grew up in a time before every home and every white collar job revolved around computers. During my childhood, adults generally expected to have a handful of full time jobs in their life and one (or possibly two) careers in their lifetime. Computers changed all that, and technological developments in general have dramatically changed the speed at which a working professional must continue to learn. Some folks in their upper 50s or 60s may have been able to skate by without getting totally immersed in computers and huge changes, but at this point, anybody 55 or younger has simply got to learn and change. Everybody (with a very few exceptions) has to stay up on the leading edge of technology in their industry.
Speaking of my childhood, I remember all kinds of wild predictions about the future from back then. Some have come true, while others have yet to be realized. I remember in 1976, when a futurist came to my social studies class and told us how everybody would be able to buy groceries and instantly have the money come out of our checking account and go into the store’s account. I thought that was crazy futuristic stuff, but I use my debit card every day now. He also predicted that we would all have a printer hooked to our TV set and we’d download daily newspapers via a small satellite dish, straight to our TV and even print them if we wanted. While he was off a bit, I think that’s a pretty solid description of the internet and PCs with a personal printer.
But some of the stuff that didn’t come true had to do with future cars and transportation in general. Another missed guess was that our houses would all be solar powered by now. Nope. Now, if I were a cynical kind of guy, I’d say that’s because the power-company owning government entities and the big car and oil companies have crushed anything that threatens their business as usual profit schemes. But why 20+ year predictions do or don’t come to fruition, isn’t my point today. The thing is, when new technology is emerging, what are you doing about it?
Back in my youth, grown-ups could work from day to day without expecting dramatic changes in their industry. Going to conventions every year or two, was more than enough to stay up on trends. Those days are gone. Almost everybody needs to do online training and read trade related web sites to stay current. Over the past couple of weeks there have been a few stories at Engadget, about what Canon is predicting will be the future of photography. It’s thought-provoking. It’s interesting. And some of it may actually happen. However, I wouldn’t get all caught up in the gloom and doom of the end of the still photography business. Just stay up on what people are willing to pay for and how to do it. For example, these days if you’re selling photography, you had darn sure better know how to do HDR photography.
So get current and find out what people are paying for. Take some classes. Read some articles online. And maybe in 20 years you’ll still be leading the pack.
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Don’t Trust Your Future Self
Posted on 30 June 2010 | 2 responses
Yesterday I spotted a really cool post on LifeHacker.com. It was about the little mind games we play when we procrastinate by telling ourselves that we’ll get to it later. The gist of the article was that your future self isn’t any more likely to get it done than your current self. So do it now! Here’s the article (which also links out to the original source).
LifeHacker is a pretty cool site full of DIYs, business and homeowner shortcuts and advice, and some software and hardware stuff for regular people. Not all of it is accurate, because sometimes the advice is a little off. (Apparently lots of folks contribute to the content.) Still, there are some pretty cool, insightful nuggets and this was a great one in my view! Maybe I just needed to hear it.
Have a great day and get something extra done today that you’ve been putting off. I know I will!
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Get Greedy for Testimonials
Posted on 28 June 2010 | 1 response
Testimonials are the most important free resource when it comes to marketing your business!
Okay, maybe your own ability to speak about yourself and your business is the most important free resource, but I wanted to start with a really dramatic first sentence to drive home the point, so play along, okay?
It’s time to get greedy and start collecting testimonials intentionally. Always have them in the front of your mind. If a client pays you a compliment, be very gracious and incredibly appreciative, and then ask them very politely if you can quote them. If they complimented you in writing, then get their permission to use their quote. If it was verbal, somehow you need to get it in writing. Make it as easy as possible for somebody to give you their written quote. Maybe you shoot them a quick email while the quote is still fresh in your mind and say something like, “Michael, I really appreciated your kind words when you were in the office earlier today and I’d love to be able to use your testimonial if that’s okay with you. I think the way you said it was, [fill in the quote as you remember it here].’ If I remembered it wrong or if you want to change it, feel free. Thanks again. This really means a lot to me.”
The goal is to make sure they know that you appreciate the testimonial and that you somehow get in writing that it’s okay to quote them.
Once you start collecting testimonials, you’ll be surprised how easy it is. And these quotes are gold! When people praise your work or business, that says so much more than even the most clever advertising headline.
Oh, and if people don’t spontaneously compliment your work and business, maybe you need to work on your own customer service or work product a little more first.
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Work Smart or Work Hard or Both
Posted on 24 June 2010 | 1 response
You’ve heard, ‘Work smarter, not harder.’ And you’ve probably heard that you need to work harder from time to time. Really, it doesn’t matter. The main thing is that you must work to be successful! Sitting there waiting, wishing, dreaming, won’t make it happen. Sure, dreaming is a part of the process, but far too many people get caught up in the dreams and never get off their butt and get to work. Some people (like me) can get all caught up in the big picture planning phase and never get anything really done. The concept of working smarter by planning, is good as long as you don’t fall into the trap of just planning and refining your plans.
One of the best things to do is start by making a list of steps needed to reach a particular goal. And don’t make the steps too big. It’s better to break down the goal into little steps, at least in the beginning, so that it’s easier to get started by knocking out some of the small steps. There’s nothing like checking off To Do List items to get you rolling.
One of my favorite iPod Touch/iPhone programs ever, is the outlining program called CarbonFin Outliner. When I bought it, it was $10 and had fewer features. Now it’s cheaper, has lots of editing features, view options, it syncs with a web-based version so you can access your outlines via the web, and now you can even edit online! Very cool and very helpful. The reason I like a good outliner is so I can plan all of the big steps of a project, and then break down each big project phase and add smaller, more manageable, single-step, sub-items to each big step. Checking off any of the little items takes me one step closer to my goal. And checking off one item every single day keeps me moving toward goals, even when I don’t feel up to it.
So if you don’t have a checklist system or program (paper is fine too) then get one. While paper is okay, sticky notes are not, because they don’t usually go with you, stay organized, etc. You need a real system. So… go work your list right now. (That’s what I’m gonna do.)
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Are Digital Photographers Afraid of the Darkroom?
Posted on 18 June 2010 | 10 responses
Some professional photographers who have migrated to digital from film, somehow think that Photoshop modifications are “cheating” or make things “too easy.” These are the same people who really don’t have a big problem with shooters who spent a lot of time in the old chemical darkrooms. For the record, Ansel Adams spent quite a lot of time in the darkroom as a big part of his craft and nobody seems to balk.
Honestly, Photoshop (and Lightroom) are today’s new darkroom, and there’s nothing wrong with taking an image into Photoshop to improve it. There are only a few reasons people wouldn’t “Photoshop” their images…
- They’re intimidated by Photoshop (and/or Lightroom).
- They have strict guidelines about editing that limit their use of Photoshop (photo journalists, CSI techs, etc. following policies).
- They have some distorted sense of reality in which Photoshop is somehow cheating. They think that 100% of all image manipulation is done before or when the shutter clicks and anything after that is cheating.
Ironically, digital cameras do all kinds of image manipulation, and using lights, light modifiers, zooming in, changing your own position, choosing an aperture to control depth of field and motion, choosing a shutter speed to control ambient light and action, etc. are all elements of manipulation. Those just happen before or during the shutter click.
Sure, you can add people to an image who weren’t there originally. You can take people out of an image if you want. You can change a boring, cloudless sky to something interesting by combining two exposures. You can enhance colors. You can apply effects. You can blur parts of your image for artistic effects. And everything I’ve just mentioned can be done in a traditional darkroom. It’s just that the new technology of Photoshop makes these things much more available to many more people than traditional darkroom techniques did.
If Photoshop is cheating, there’s a whole lot of cheating going on
I guess that, to traditional typesetters and layout graphic artists, desktop publishing is cheating. To a quick print shop, a color laser printer or inkjet is cheating. Heck, to photo labs, your inkjet is cheating. Here’s a fun one: to an oil and canvas portrait artist, using a camera is cheating. To the paper map companies, a GPS is cheating. To the newspaper companies, news web sites are cheating. To a horse rider, a car is cheating.
Truth is, Photoshop is the continuation of photography technology. Most will embrace it to one degree or another and the rest will go the way of the horse and buggy.
By the way, one of the reasons I LOVE working at the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) is because we focus on teaching people how to use Photoshop and our trainers try to keep people on the leading edge. Photoshop and photo manipulation are now in the hands of the masses and the best we can do is keep people up to speed about how to do all that they want to do with their images.
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Let’s Talk About Fair
Posted on 15 June 2010 | 2 responses
“It’s Not Fair” is not an excuse
Back in Kindergarten we were taught that we should strive to be fair to others and that others should be fair to us. Our laws are structured to try to make things fair. We take things to court to try to balance things out when we have been treated unfairly. And people with a conscience give charitably of their time and dollars when they see something that seems unfair and which they might help improve by a donation. Being fair to customers, friends, employees, and people in general will win you their loyalty and besides, it’s the right thing to do. Fairness is a good goal. But fairness is never guaranteed and in spite of our well-meaning leaders in government, true fairness, a totally level playing field, will never happen!
The point I’m hoping to make today is that fairness is a good thought and an admirable goal when it comes to things you can control, but using a lack of fairness as an excuse for your own lack of success (that’s my polite way of saying ‘failure’) is a lame waste of time that won’t resolve anything. If you’re only focused on what is fair, you’ll see disparity everywhere. But if you focus instead, on what is possible, you’ll be able to accomplish far more.
Stop worrying about things being fair and start plowing ahead toward your goals in spite of the fact that you aren’t as ‘lucky’ as the guy who has already reached the goal you’re striving for.
A favorite quote:
Life’s not fair. Get a helmet. — Dennis Leary
[NOTE: This is another in my series of blog posts I need to pay attention to myself.]
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DTownTV Cheap Shots — Speedlight Gels
Posted on 10 June 2010 | 2 responses
DTownTV is a really cool, weekly TV show style podcast about photography, produced where I work at Kelby Media Group. Each week Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski teach and demonstrate cool stuff with, about, and for DSLR cameras from Nikon, Canon, and others. It’s lots of fun and it has a ton of followers. As a regular viewer myself, I stuck my head in Scott’s office last year and said, “How about I do a 1-2 minute segment on inexpensive photography solutions that you can drop into the show now and then. It can be those DIY projects and money saving photography tips and we’ll call it Cheap Shots.” Scott liked the idea and I did a bunch last year and I’m doing more this season.
One of the segments I did (in this week’s show) mentioned how to print your own colored gels for speedlights using a color laser printer and laser transparencies. (Since inkjet transparency material isn’t designed for the heat of a laser printer, it probably wouldn’t hold up very well at all with the heat of a strobe flashing repeatedly, so I don’t recommend inkjet gels). Anyway, I created a template for the gels I printed for the show, and saved it as a layered Photoshop file, then resaved it as a .zip file. That file is available here for downloading.
A couple of notes: The template I created will probably need to be color adjusted for your laser printer. See the note within the template itself for details. While the shapes I designed are intended for use with an SB 600 and other flashes will require other shapes, you might just consider printing a square of gel and use Velcro to attach it to your flash. Another cool thing to try might be to print some bright blue or bright pink, red, etc. gels and do some of the cool mood lighting like our friend Joe McNally does so successfully. Very cool stuff!!
Finally, yeah, I know gels are cheap to buy and I know laser printers are relatively expensive. This tip is NOT for everyone. On the other hand, if you have access to a color laser printer and some laser transparencies, it’s fairly easy to do. And once you make the template, you can print tons of the little suckers. And the real bonus is if you want to invent creative gels. Give that a try too. Have fun with it.
Enjoy!
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