For Registered Members Only (includes video critique)
Photo critiques are always in demand. My inbox gets filled weekly with requests for portfolio reviews and individual photo critiques. Unfortunately my schedule prohibits me from answering every request for critiques not to mention many images have similarities, so one photo critique is potentially beneficial to a similar photo.
Often, while participating in the various photography Internet forums and communities, I see critique requests and I find some problems on the handling of these critiques. The first problem is the individual(s) critiquing the photo(s) have no reputable credentials. While all photography is subjective and anyone is allowed to form their opinions on a photo, when it comes to critiques, it’s imperative that the photographers, of all levels of experience, who view the critique place weight on the person’s credentials giving the critique. …click here to read more
Playboy Playmate Holley Dorrough and her reflection photographed in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Many years ago, while working as the Chief, Multimedia Branch, Air Force News Agency, I was tasked to bring Color Management to AIRMAN magazine. In addition to providing input to the flagship magazine for the United States Air Force in this management position, I oversaw the radio, television and print content for the multimillion dollar website, www.af.mil, which allowed me the opportunity to work with professional consultants in various multimedia fields.
One of those professional consultants, Jim Rich, from Rich and Associates and author of an Adobe Photoshop 6 book, The Color Companion, provided our staff some great insights including how to make quick, “reversible” corrections on a photo while editing in Adobe Photoshop. While this was back during version 6 of Adobe Photoshop, I still use this timesaving technique today, normally it’s the first step in my post-production workflow followed with editing software tools like Nik Software and Adobe Lightroom. …click here to read more
During an NBA game, James Silas, passes the ball. The photo was captured with existing light on ASA 400 Fuji film.
I was going through my archived photos and remembered that by the time I shot this photo, approximately 30-years ago on Fuji 400 (ASA 400) film, I was already thinking like my camera and capture medium (film), before I took the shot. In today’s digital world, you’re probably wondering, “What does this have to do with digital photography today?” Well, for one, I haven’t changed, I still go to shoots with my Canon 5D Mark II, thinking like the camera and the capture medium, thanks to some great photography instructors.
As digital photographers today, the concept of being able to think like the camera and the capture medium will improve your results. I don’t walk up to a photo shoot and say, “F/stop, check, shutter-speed, check, ISO, check, all systems go,” and blast off great images. Pressing the shutter release is 5-percent of equation, the other 95-percent is broken down into comprehension, creativity and communication—for this photo tip I’ll focus on the comprehension of the digital camera and capture medium as that’s where it all starts. …click here to read more
Almost three years ago, Brian, a private photographic instruction client, hired me to teach him photography in Moab, Utah—a fantastic location. It was my first trip to that area, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I brought a couple of Hensel Porty Premium, 1200-watt-second, portable battery power packs, flash heads, ringflash and even monolights, along with my sturdy California Sunbounce Pro and Mini reflectors.
Note: We’ve installed a Golden Hour Calculator here on Lens Diaries™ to help you determine your best shooting times for the golden hour at any location, now or in the future. Golden Hour Calculator here.
The qualities of the golden hour light in the Moab combined with the rock formations add for outstanding photography possibilities.
This was new to Brian too, so he rented a portable generator and brought lots of extra photography gear of his own. It started as two photographers and a model on a trip that began like a photo expedition as we scouted locations first, though we stopped and took some photos along the way. By the end of the first day, we realized, the best light came from using the California Sunbounce reflectors during the day and the “Golden Hour” of the Utah clear skies during the evening.
Nothing wrong with the Hensel lighting equipment, in fact we use the heck out of it for our exotic photography workshops in the U.S. Virgin Islands, it’s just we realized the beauty of that hour before sunset in the Moab is unbelievable. While portable, studio flash photography is another method of overpowering the Sun with flash, personally, I’d concentrate on the beauty of the golden hour when working in the Moab. Save the creative, outdoor flash techniques for the tropical paradises like Maui or the U.S. Virgin Islands. …click here to read more
Technical: This is the photography experience #2 from the Portland Car Photography series, and as mentioned in experience #1, I was photographing six models at Gordon Jones’ photography studio in Oregon, including Playboy Playmate Holley Dorrough, featured in this photo. The difference between the two car photography experiences, besides the model, the camera equipment and the lighting used, is how we came up with the idea of the final photo, found in the lower part of this article under “The Story Behind the Image,” for now, we’ll focus on the technical.
Playboy Playmate Holley Dorrough recreates a pose while sitting in Gordon Jones 2003 Corvette converted to a 1953 Corvette.
I used a Hensel Integra 500 Pro monolight fitted with a 7-inch metal reflector and two-grids (a 10-degree in front of a 20-degree grid). I then placed the rectangular, metal lens hood from my Leica 19mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R lens in the center of the grid, and secured it with gaffer’s tape. The area around the 10-degree grid I masked off with Rosco Cinefoil. The light striking Holley’s face was still too large, so I then blocked the light, using more Rosco Cinefoil, but this time in front of the lens hood until we had only a tiny, rectangular slit opening, less than 4-inches wide by ¼-inch tall. It was that tiny opening that illuminated Holley’s face. …click here to read more
When capturing this photo of Leah, I turned the camera slightly to help capture the reflection. Notice all the diagonals and triangles formed in this rectangle photo?
On the East Coast, the Sun rises above the water, right where the sky meets the ocean, something photographers in Florida love, especially if they are early morning risers. It creates a beautiful image in our minds and it’s easily captured in our digital cameras. For those not fortunate enough to live along the coastal waters, we still see the Sun rising along the Earth’s horizon line, it’s something we’ve grown accustomed to from the moment we’re born—it’s the necessary norm.
Even television screens bring movies to our minds in a horizontal format, but fortunately, architecture and nature itself, brings us verticals, another format we’ve grown accustomed to viewing with our eyes. It’s like if our minds are programmed to two standard formats, horizontal and vertical. Many photographers even mark a treasure map “X” (the horizontal plane we stand on) and never move from their self-imposed, sacred, shooting spot! Well it’s time to break the mold, even the Earth turns in 360 variable degrees, and so should our digital cameras—explore the possibilities! Don’t be a stagnate photographer. …click here to read more
Nikki tolerated the colder photography studio temperatures during our photo shoot in Portland.
The Technical: I was photographing six models at Gordon Jone’s photography studio in Oregon, including Playboy Playmate Holley Dorrough, Nikki M., and Devon, in a garage being converted to a photography studio and I was doing my best to keep my brain from freezing when I took this photo, as even though the furnace was new, with the weather barely 30-degrees Fahrenheit outside, the studio was only about twenty degrees warmer, so working fast was imperative.
Normally my shooting style is to “keep it simple,” usually using a one-light technique for most of my photography. On this occasion, I couldn’t resist using multiple studio flash heads as not only did we have so many models, but we had several Corvettes to photograph them with as our props.
When lighting cars in photography, in order to bring out the detail, multiple lighting is normally required and these become critical setups. Some of these lighting setups would obviously change throughout the shoot as darker cars require more lighting than lighter cars. In the case of this featured Corvette, it was a darker, red colored car that would absorb light, so more lights were required than when we’d photograph the white Corvette later during this weeklong photo shoot. You’ll see photos of the models with the white Corvette in future Lens Diaries™ posts. …click here to read more
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