LIGHT Photographic Workshops: Canon Field Photography with Jennifer Wu: HDR Follow Up

It's been a while since I wrote about the amazing three day weekend with Jennifer Wu in which I suggested that I might have some material for prints, so I thought I should get back over here and show a couple of examples. The two I have in hand are both HDR versions of images, one published previous as non-HDR and one not. They are both photographs taken at Midnight Cellars where Hal is a winemaker up in SLO county. The first is simply the HDR:

The second image I am going to show first the best single of the seven exposures in the series and then the HDR from the seven exposures combined in Photomatix Pro and touch a bit in Lightroom.


I'm impressed! I expect that I'll spend a bit of time determining how to print them when my new Epson 7900 and 4880 printers arrive.

Travel Safe,
Dwight

LIGHT Photographic Workshops: Canon Field Photography with Jennifer Wu

An amazing three day weekend spent with Jennifer Wu [Canon Explorer of Light], Jim Rose [Canon Pro Rep] and Hal Schmitt [Director, LIGHT Photographic Workshops] in and around Los Osos, California, learning about Field Photography ... you know, like landscapes and stuff where you're out standing in a field. As usual with LPW classes, not only did I learn a huge amount of just what the course description promised, but also all those little tidbits and tips that you can only pickup when actually working with the instructors in classroom and field. But Wait! I'm not done yet! There's more! I also captured some superb images that will likely turn out to be my first fine art landscape style prints.

Rather than regurgitate a chronology of events I'm going to talk about things I learned. Right off the top I got caught up in a discussion of the Really Right Stuff Pano kits. I recently bought the pano head and nodal slide (I know Hal doesn't like this name) but when the kit arrived it was clear that I could pop the nodal slide right into my RRS quick release on my ball head and use the panning feature of the BH-55 and didn't see the use of the panning head. Well, Hal steps right in and says, you need the panning head because the BH-55 panning head is beneath the ball head and you would have to level the panning head with the legset of your tripod. But with the panning head from the kit on top of the ball head it is easy. That's when I learned that there is a separate item dovetail that screws into the bottom of the panning head allowing you to use it with the quick release feature. I have ordered one from RRS and will take a few images and make another blog entry to explain it. None-the-less, it was a small epiphany to understand what is needed. It is another topic all together as to what/why the parallax aperture point is important.

I have had my 1DMIII's and 1DsMIII for quite a while but haven't used the LiveView feature. It just isn't too useful in concerts or boxing or shooting models in the studio. But boy is it a game changer for landscape and product work. In landscape work you can see the whole scene much more intuitively than looking through the eye piece. And since you have the camera on a tripod (don't you?) then when you swing it around it is easier to watch the scene change on the LCD. But better yet, with the 5X and 10X magnification you can do pin point focus adjustment. And, when you see the picture you want, you just punch the shutter release ... and you don't need to do the mirror lockup as a separate step ... the mirror is already up!

Better yet, if you are an HDR shooter, you may already know that you can set the camera to bracket, turn on high speed drive and then press/hold the shutter release and it will shoot one bracket's worth of images. But if you like to use mirror lockup, you can't do this ... ya' gotta' depress the shutter for each image and count them to know when you're done. BUT, if you're using LiveView, the mirror is already up and the multi-exposure trick with holding the release down does work! I love it!

We learned about the wonders of the Canon Tilt-Shift lenses and how combined with LiveView almost any idiot can take advantage of the tilt function to get amazing depth of field images in many common situations. Plus we also learned about the standard perspective correcting functions of the shift feature. And last, but not least, a review of what the newest generation of TS lenses does that is so much better than the originals ... the axis of the tilt and shift can be independently rotated and need not even be perpendicular or aligned. I've just started doing some architectural work using HDR but I'm very enthusiastic about trying out the perspective correction features of the tilt-shift lenses ... when there's finally some of them available. And since I have a winery client, I am also excited about trying the DOF correction while shooting vineyards! So I think these lenses will be a double win for me.

I'm not sure why Jennifer threw it in, but she did a couple of little field portrait things where she showed how to use reflectors to put a bit of light in shadows. Then she showed how to do this with a 580EX flash. Almost in passing she mentioned using gels with the flash as she pulled out her Lumiquest Gel Holder that holds the gel over the flash. I know several guys who use gels with their flash ... always taping the gels over the flash lens ... a messy proposition. But Jennifer had this neat little gadget which holds a few gels and uses velcro to put a gel or set over the lens. $12.50 at B&H! Got one in my wishlist!

We spent a lot of hours in the field shooting with Jennifer, Jim and Hal wandering around offering help and shooting. At one point Hal pulled out a Cokin filter set so I wandered over and chatted him up about it. Turns out that he wanted some really long exposures where the waves from the ocean (we were at a beach in Cayucos one time and at Montano de Oro another) and even with ISO 50 and f/22 the exposure wasn't long enough. So, Hal popped two neutral density filters on to get an additional six stops of slowness. I've Cokin filters on my wishlist now, too. But my use will likely lean more toward graduated filters and polarizers.

So, tons of neat stuff followed by image critiques. Then I had to head off into the sunset before they started printing images.

So, in addition to heartily recommending LIGHT Photographic Workshops in Los Osos, California, I am also recommending the amazing Jennifer Wu ... if you get a chance to work with her you'd better take it! She's like an Andy Katz on steroids!

That's it for now. Travel safe!

Dwight

PocketWizard: Follow Up!

In the interests of full disclosure I need to confess that there are a lot of good things I could say about PocketWizard, but the best is that they are listening and within unclear constraints on taking full responsibility for their failures they are working on moving forward. I got a very respectful email from David Schmidt of PocketWizard about my recent Facebook posts and blog entry. Let me tell you I have been threatened by large corporations for speaking out in the past and this wasn't that! Interestingly, those large corporations are no longer in business and some of their principals have gone to jail. :-) David offered to let me be minimally involved in some testing. I declined. I have no qualifications. But the effort and offer speak better about PocketWizard than I had given credit for.

So you know, I have had four PocketWizard Plus II's in my studio forever and even when I was shooting in my garage I only used PocketWizards. I did have some radio frequency interference issues with my Bowens QUADX strobes and temporarily abandoned PWs until I learned about ferrite filters and was immediately back. To their discredit, PW knew about the problem but didn't publish the cure on their website. Every professional photographer I know personally uses PocketWizards. I have every intention of being a PocketWizard user until I can't shoot anymore! But I won't be an early adopter as I detect that PW has moved into the realm of Microsoft et alia, feeling the need to make announcements and promises unmindful of any reality to which I am a part. I may never understand why this whole ControlTL business wasn't thoroughly tested by independent photographers with their own equipment before the first PR was sent out.

Also, for the RadioPopper fans, I do have an ST-E2 and did consider RPs, but I need a daylight robust solution to firing cameras where my current Canon LC-5 IR solution isn't working and RP doesn't address that need.

Disclaimer: David Schmidt does not know I am making this post. David Schmidt did not ask me to retract any statements. I am happy with my TT1 and TT5's to the extent that they work within a limited range well below that advertised.

Travel safe!

Dwight

PocketWizard: TT1/TT5/AC7 Behind Schedule and Underperforming!

After months and months of waiting, the PocketWizard TT1 & TT5's for Canon flashes came out a month or two ago. Immediately it was discovered that PocketWizard's estimates of effective distance were illusory, based on really terrible testing protocols and were probably a bit purposely self-serving. A lot of their advertised features also didn't work. But, with plenty of smoke and mirrors they brushed aside all criticism and patted themselves on the back ... after all, it wasn't their fault, it was the Canon flashes radio frequency interference. They didn't seem to care that distances, rather than being 800' or even 300' feet were actually less than 50'.

But the distance problems, among others, just wouldn't go away. They had sold too many units to too many guys who know how to count and measure. So, to quell the distress they invented the AC7, a radio frequency baffle of sorts. Once it was in the product pipeline, they could just refer to it each time they were criticized, once again deflecting responsibility. The trouble is, after months and months and many promised dates, there are still no AC7s! They were supposed to be here in June, then July, then August, then September, but today they were slipped until October. Not credible.

And if you're a Nikon shooter, it's even worse. They've kept the Nikon guys on the hook for months and now it may be a year!

So, I'm very disgruntled with PocketWizard. I was one of the guys who believed their advertising and promises and bought quite a few hundred dollars worth of their new line: one TT1 and Three TT5's ... I thought the PWs would work as advertised and then I thought the new shield would come on time. I was wrong.

I guess you can get away with this when you're a virtual monopoly. Oh, I know about RadioPoppers, but they can't also trigger cameras, which is one of my needs ... the Canon infra-red trigger I own doesn't work well in bright sunlight, sigh. So, I am screwed. I expect thousands of guys are screwed. I suppose PocketWizard will eventually be willing to take even more of our money to make their equipment barely limp along way under specs with their AC7s, but I don't expect them this calendar year.

Hope this saves some of you a lot of expense and disappointment.

Travel safe!

Dwight

Getting the Horizon Level

A week ago on Monday Night Lights webinar by Hal Schmitt of LIGHT Photographic Workshops there was a sample image presented during a sharpening talk with a tilted horizon. I made a comment to Hal during the seminar, via the GoToMeeting interface from my computer at home, mentioning it. This week at the start of the Monday Night Lights webinar Hal explained how to correct a tilted horizon ... Hal always takes questions and comments seriously. After a detailed and oft repeated explanation, Hal noted that, "It is always better to get the horizon level in the camera than in post processing." I am a terrible offender with tilted horizons and recently learned that there are bubble levels that slide into the hotshoe. I realized this was a good time to check with Hal for recommendations for such a beast. Without missing a beat, Hal suggested checking with Really Right Stuff, a world famous but local (San Luis Obispo) manufacturer of heads and related devices. Actually, a bubble level won't help me much with my concert photography as I couldn't see it in the dark anyway. But when I'm using a tripod and ballhead I notice I can't always see the little tiny builtin bubble level so this sounds like a good accessory to have in my camera case.

I just went out to RRS, http://reallyrightstuff.com/index.html, and found their RRS-337 Dual Axis level, $33.00. I'll order a couple tonight.

Now I need to recommend MNL with Hal Schmitt at LPW (http://lightworkshops.com/), yet again. That's "Monday Night Lights" at LIGHT Photographic Workshops. Their blog with the links you need to attend the free weekly webinars is http://lightworkshops.blogspot.com/. They use GoToMeeting for their interface which doesn't require you to install horrid software like Silverlight that you just can't get rid of once installed and to which you agree to find no fault! The seminars are approximately one hour although Hal usually runs over five to ten minutes. You can also find short synopsis YouTube videos of the material presented on MNL with the links posted on the blog and/or Facebook and Twitter.

Disclaimer: I am not compensated by LIGHT Photographic Workshops or Really Right Stuff for mentioning or recommending them. I still have to pay for everything. It sucks. But I need to keep them in business because they provide me with two of the few totally reliable resources that I need to keep my own business running.

When the Facts Don't Make Sense, Maybe They're Not the Facts!

I own a couple of Canon 1D MIII bodies and a couple of Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lenses. Back in May I sent the bodies to Canon for a hardware "fix" for certain autofocus issues. Then, near the end of July I shot Jewel in concert and noticed a definite autofocus issue that couldn't be corrected with microadjustment ... I did several microadjustment tests with both the failing lens and my backup lens on the body that I normally shoot with using that lens. I sent the lens back to Canon for repair. $180. Seems OK now but they made a note about sending the body with it if there were more problems.

Last week I shot Toby Keith with the same body but using the backup lens ... note that the backup lens is actually newer and is not a backup in the sense that it isn't as good ... I normally keep it on my 1Ds MIII body in my studio. The images were very soft even though when I did my tests earlier it was fine! So, I thought maybe it was the body after all, although that seemed odd since it was just at Canon. What to do? A series of tests. I blocked out an Excel spreadsheet where I would shoot both lenses at small and large focal length on both bodies. Coincidentally, I started with the body that I don't usually use this lens on. All tests on both lenses were good. I thought, "Aha, it is a bad body!" So, I mounted up the "bad' body on the tripod with the "bad" lens and started through the microadjustment process. "Oh, Crap!" There was the problem ... I had left the microadjustment set to +20 for that model of lens. Although I had used the body for another project, I had used a different lens, which had not used the MA, so it worked fine!

So, I corrected the microadjustment for the lens, which turned out to be +4 and will try it out on the Reverand Al Green on Thursday night. Next time, when the facts don't fit I will try to think outside the box. So, I am embarrassed and relieved!

Travel Safely,
Dwight

HDR: High Dynamic Range: Architecture

I am in the middle of my first HDR (High Dynamic Range) project at the Casa Cassara Winery & Vineyard Estate ranch-house located just to the west of Buellton, California, north of the Santa Ynez River and Santa Rosa Road and south of Hwy 246 that runs to Lompoc. I expect that anyone who reads this blog is familiar, at least in concept, with HDR. Quickly, it is a technique in which several (generally three to nine) exposure variations are taken of the same frame and then combined into a pseudo image with a huge dynamic range, as much as 18 stops of luminance. This requires special software as the numeric values required to represent this range exceed the standard fixed point arithmetic of most image editing software. In my case, I am using Photomatix Pro 3.2.1 that assembles the base HDR image using floating point numbers.

What is the goal of all this extra effort and fancy software? To produce an image that has detail in both the very dark and very light portions of a photograph. I find this most easily conceived by thinking of taking a photograph in a room with the lights on but no flash. Under normal circumstances this would result in an image with localized pools of light around the light fixtures and very dark elsewhere and perhaps with pretty harsh shadows along with burned out areas very close to the lights themselves. With HDR, both the dark and light areas are generally preserved and have good detail.

I'm not going into much of any detail with this blog entry beyond posting a couple of images taken at the estate using a Canon 1Ds Mark III 21MP body, Canon 14mm f/2.8L lens on a Gitzo tripod with Really Right Stuff ball head and Canon shutter release. The exposures were ISO 100, Av priority, evaluative metering, five brackets 1-1/3 stops apart and mirror lockup for all images.

The first image was shot just as the sun was about to set behind the far ridge. The sky is actually very smokey as a result of the ongoing Le Brea Fire in northern Santa Barbara County. The direction where the sun is setting is toward Lompoc and the Pacific Ocean, about 20 miles distant. To the right of the house is the estate Pinot Noir vineyard, currently netted to protect the grapes from birds. Click on the image to see a larger version stored at blogspot.com.

The second image is the entryway to the house, showing detail in the bricks, the statue in the fountain, nice lighting on the windows and a pretty sky.

The final image of the Great Room shows detail in the wood of the vaulted ceiling, near the lighting fixtures and outside the windows, which is very blue due to the color dominance of the incandescent lighting inside.

In the next installment on this project I will show some comparison images using the "as metered" frames compared to the HDR assemblies.

In the meantime, travel safe!

Dwight

Software: I Bought a Bunch of Photoshop Plugins

For those who have followed this blog, off and on, for the last couple of years, it is known that I have had a goal of moving from Corel's PhotoImpact, which I still recommend to amateurs, to Photoshop. I am finally moving right along with the help of LIGHT Photographic Workshops, National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), Photography-on-the.net (POTN), Kelby Online Training and general professional pressure. I thank and recommend each of the above.

While I still use PhotoImpact X3 (the current version) for my extant workflows such as concerts, boxing and poker tournaments, all new areas such as portrait and glamor are carefully guided into Photoshop. As a consequence, given the amount of time it takes to retouch skin, I finally gave in and bought some plugins: Imagenomic bundle that included Portraiture for skin smoothing. While it doesn't do exactly what I'd like all the time and now that I have used it a bit I need to go back and redo the tutorials, it does well that it saves me from getting overwhelmed. Anyway, I can see the value of plugins, both as time savers and to unleash the minuscule amount of talent I have.

So, yesterday I bought HDRSoft's Photomatix Pro, OnOne's suite and TopazLabs bundle. I know what each does. I don't know how to operate them, yet. Fortunately I am not a purist. In fact, I don't mind copying things that I see others do. To me, saying, "I did this without any Photoshop Plugins!" as a matter of pride is pretty silly! If you could say, "This is straight from the camera!" then I might be impressed. But once you're in Photoshop, all is fair and only the end result is of interest, even if it was done by an unlimited number of monkeys sitting in front of an unlimited number of keyboards.

I have an architectural project for which I wanted Photomatix. I am hoping to get into using textures and wanted OnOne Mask Pro to extract some models. And I like the effects I've seen with TopazLabs Adjust. I also like several of NIKs plugins so I'll likely snatch them up, too.

Anyway, my plan is to explore these different plugins with respect to my projects and share the results here. Sharing will help keep me more organized. As Marcie likes others to take point and start off on a project, I need help keeping organized. Besides, if I come up with something good I have place where I can sell prints! :-)

Travel safely,

Dwight

Model Mayhem: Don't Expect Much!

Based on seeing a few of my fellow photographers use models found on Model Mayhem, I created an account, added a profile and uploaded images. Then I started contacting models and MUAs. I checked their profiles. The number one thing these girls put on their profiles is that they don't do nudity. They really want you to get that. NO NUDITY! They aren't going to take their clothes off. I have never asked a model to take her clothes off. I don't need to be told over and over that a girl won't take her clothes off. But that seems to be their biggest issue and they are going to flog it until all us perverts get it. The only nudes I've ever shot were girlfriends and wives. It is hard. Why would I want to subject myself to that again? But, of course, I have also noticed nudes of these very same models show up. So, I guess they have the Sarah Palin Abstinence program for nudity: deny, deny, deny ... and then do exactly what you say you won't do!

Which leads right into the second Model Mayhem pronouncement: I AM NOT A FLAKE! This comes right after the "I won't take my clothes off. I won't even pretend to take my clothes off!" Yup, and not only are the models flakes, the MUAs are flakes, too. I have had nine Model Mayhem contacts, models and MUAs, in a row cancel or not show up. And that is 100% of my Model Mayhem transactions. I recently arranged for a model to do TFP for a photographic social gathering. She was absolutely committed. Was even going to bring her own MUA. And then she had a friend that was going to come and model also. I arranged this three months in advance. When I didn't hear from her after two months, I messaged her. That's when I found out her sister had to get married and had chosen the same day. Girls used to be able to plan for their weddings a year ahead, but under the Sarah Palin rules of abstinence the pregnancy will dictate the wedding date! But she arranged for another, "I AM NOT A FLAKE" girl to come instead. I exchanged messages with this girl and then didn't hear from her. So, I messaged her and got back, "I got laid off so I will only be doing paying work now!" Like I'm going to pay someone who just in the same breath demonstrated she operates on the Sarah Palin model .... oh, did I mention that she has a daughter but no mention of husband! Is that sexist? I thought it was just practical to have a partner before getting pregnant!

And this hasn't just happened for TFP gigs. Marcie and I had a paid agreement with an MUA who decided at two days before a shoot we put together that she'd make more money if she did a teaching seminar and could we move our shoot to some other time for her? Not a thought about the commitments the other three people had made!

So, I am ranting about it. It is stunning. I would never pay a model that I hadn't worked with or done a test with. And since these Model Mayhem girls don't ever get to me, I will never pay them! I will use an agency model ... which won't be these girls because agencies won't put up with flakes and that's all there is at Model Mayhem. Of course, I'm laughing as I say all this because after all, Model Mayhem is free and we all know what you get for free! NOTHING!

But I guess I am no better. I keep promising to blog something useful and I keep getting overtaken by events, too. But, the blog is free so I guess that's OK! :-)

Travel Safe!

Dwight

Julie Morgan: Makeup for Photographers

I've been very busy as usual. This week I attended a 1/2 day makeup demonstration, photographed Liza Minnelli at the casino, attended a 3/4 day makeup hands-on workshop and spent ten hours photographing a poker tournament. I have a zillion images in my post processing pipeline. Busy, busy.

Anyway, I thought you all might be interested in makeup adventures! I had a photosession with some of the Team Dazzle promotional models a month or two ago. One of the models had gotten separated from her makeup and I didn't have any. Somewhere on a DVD or tutorial from Jason Cole, the Australian Wedding and Glamor photographer I recalled mention of his BOB ("Bag O' Bras) [Actually a bag of bras, panties, bikinis, etc.] and of having makeup on hand, 'Just in case!' So I decided I needed to get some makeup to have on hand. Well, as a 64 year old male I knew less than nothing about makeup. I asked my wife and she had no idea what I should have in a backup kit. So, I asked my intrepid collaborator, Marcella Kligman, who has since moved off to Sacramento, and she pointed me to Julie Morgan. So, I contacted Julie and asked about one of her makeup kits. She sent me her brochure. There is a lot of stuff, packaged up in two or three graduated kits: basic, advanced and ultimate! I told her to give me everything.

Well, Julie is an amazement. Since it was clear that I had absolutely no clue, Julie said, "How about if I meet you with the stuff and go over everything with you?" So, a couple of weeks later when Julie flew into town for a client she made time to meet with me at Starbucks in Goleta with a box of makeup and tried to go over it. There's no way! We finally sorta laughed it off, I took the box of makeup and we parted.

Then Julie gets back to me and says, "How would you like to come to Brooks and learn how to apply makeup?" It turns out that Julie works with Paul Meyer. Paul Meyer has been teaching a "People" class for advanced students at Brooks since Christ was a corporal. As part of the class, Julie does two sessions: a three hour demo to prep the students for a six hour hands-0n workshop that includes makeup application, photographing their models and doing an analysis. Julie had gotten permission from Paul for me to audit the two sessions for this group.

At the first session, the demonstration, I was a bit overwhelmed ... I had no clue that there was so much "stuff" involved: cleansing, sub-foundation (matting), foundation, concealer, mascara, eye liner, eyebrow powder, contouring, shimmer powder and on and on. I got four pages of notes and was lost, lost, lost. Paul was laughing. He said when he first started teaching at Brooks that there were ten guys to each girl. Now, of 23 students in this People class, there were 16 girls and it made the makeup section much easier.

So, the following Friday, at 9:30 am at the Jefferson Campus of Brooks Institute of Photography I had the opportunity to slather makeup on Carmen Kuchera, local life coach [www.lifenotescoaching.com] and jazz flautist along with twenty or so Brooks students. It was hilarious! On the first pass I applied contouring that was so thick that pale delicate skinned Carmen looked like a Polynesian warrior! Julie brought a mass of makeup wipes and suggested removing it all and starting over. Meanwhile, of course, all the other students were zooming right along as though they did this every day (I guess most of them do), sitting in student desks facing each other in pairs. But, once back on track and with Carmen, Julie and Julie's model (Carmen's sister) telling me continuously how wonderful I was doing (and making me grotesquely aware of how poorly I was doing) I managed, with lots of intercession by Julie, to get a face onto Carmen ... and it actually did look OK.

I learned a huge amount despite being inept. I will certainly never look at makeup the same again. I will have a much better appreciation and ability to judge MUAs. I will never simply ignore the makeup process and leave it entirely to the models and MUAs. I will never be afraid to look at the model after makeup has been applied and say, "I need this fixed!" I will know if there is too much shimmer, too little matting, if the the makeup is caking or the skin too oily! I now know about Lip Tox and Lip Lock and Lip Gloss. I know you don't apply lipstick with a tube of the stuff. Oh, I know so much and so little at the same time. But I know that I don't know and hopefully that will keep me safe. :-)

But now I have one last amazement to share. I had met one of the students previously at a seminar put on by the Gold Coast Professional Photographers Association (of which I am a member) by Jim DiVitale, master product photographer of Atlanta, Georgia and Santa Barbara. She is Courtney Miller and is a rising star. Courtney does underwater glamor (my words, not hers) ... you can see her stuff at CourtneyMillerPhotography.com. So, I decided to see what the other students had come up with. I got to Courtney's model and my jaw dropped. She was certainly a beautiful model. And the makeup was very nice and sultry. But, Courtney, not to simply 'do the work' had added a stunning stripe of black dots running down one side of her face from above the eyebrow to the upper outer cheek. And later, I watched Courtney take this model through some of the light setups in "The Cove" and see how powerful her vision was when put to the test of actual photographs. I have no pictures of Courtney's work. I did tell Courtney I would love to work with her but haven't heard back ... I have a feeling she is even busier than I am! :-)

So, guys, if you get a chance, learn makeup! :-)

Travel Safe!

Dwight

More Monday Night LIGHTS!

Well, I know I keep writing about LIGHT Photography Workshops but I do have some other stuff in the pipeline, honest, and I will get to it. But, yes, once again, I want to spread the word about MNL from LPW. Every Monday at 6:30 pm Pacific for an hour or more. Costs less than $5 per session. Stunning value for the money. Hal Schmitt, fighter pilot turned photography pilot and amazing instructor. But enough of that.

Last night covered two curves topics I have been anxiously awaiting for a while: adjusting color casts separately for highlights and shadows, and ensuring that white seamless backgrounds in studio shots are white and consistent. This was the third or fourth curves adjustment layer evening, and each has been a revelation on my pathway from Corel's PhotoImpact (that I have used for ten years) to Adobe Photoshop.

We all know about the midtone color adjustment eye dropper in curves and what it can do for color casts. But there is also a technique, although a bit more involved and using the separate color channels that allows color cast correction that differs between shadows and highlights. It involves dropping color samplers onto representative areas of the photograph and then adjusting the curves endpoints for the respective color channels to bring the three channels into equality. Hmmm, a little hard to summarize, which is why tuning in is so helpful.

The other technique covered was the white background issue. Same deal, but this time using the builtin layer mask automatically generated on new curves adjustment layers. Makes perfect sense in retrospect! And produces much more pleasing results.

Well, I'm off to a meeting.

Disclaimer: I am not compensated by LPW.

Travel safe!

Dwight

Light Photographic Workshops: Monday Night Lights

Last night, Monday, was the first of the Monday Night Lights (MNL) webinars that I have attended and it was well worth it ... well, yes, it was a free demo session, but I mean it was worth the effort to download and run the software which can be brutal for some applications and I won't put Silverlight on my system (it is a Microsoft product that apparently doesn't allow removal) which so many doing online classes want to use so I skip them. Anyway, GoToMeeting wasn't onerous at all and the software was flawless although it requires a little getting used to where things are, but no big deal.

The session was an introduction to PS "Curves", targeting mainly CS4 but with legacy discussion for previous versions, taught by Hal Schmitt, the soon to be legendary Digital Photography Instructor. Hal ran through most of the controls on the Curves Adjustment Panel using provided images (in case you wanted to do the exercises along with him.) He missed a couple on the bottom as we sorta ran out of time. But as always with Hal, he revealed two or three little tidbits that just wouldn't have occurred to me ... things as simple as dragging control points off the histogram to get rid of them, using the pencil, using the luminosity blending mode (which I should know but keep forgetting) when there is crossover coloring and a few others that I don't recall at the moment. This, of course, in addition to demonstrating the power of curves for adjusting contrast in images in RGB, explaining how the slope of the curve correlates to that contrast, how to use control points and how to mask when using the adjustments panel.

Normally, this hour long session, as part of a weekly series, would cost a whopping $5 (paid monthly ... ). What is it that you can get for $5/hour these days? And watch in the comfort of your own home while sipping on a gin and tonic and maybe a fancy chip or two? [I know Hal and Victoria would probably sip wine, but my wife hordes Hal's wine.]

So, a couple of other little items: MNL (this series) doesn't have an itinerary ... you can't really know what's coming! I thought this was bad. Now I see the added power ... if something really striking comes along there is no more than a week wait before Hal can share it. I mean there's a ton of stuff in the waiting queue, some of which I have requested, so it's not like there's nothing to talk about, but if there is a new update to Lightroom, new NIK filter, some cleverness with Imagenomic Portraiture or a hot new feature of Photomatix, it doesn't have to wait three months to get onto the end of the schedule!

Also, for those who prefer more structure in their lives, even in the online world, there is a schedule of more conventional webinars at LIGHT here. I'm considering Wednesday's Retouching People if I can get through some paying work tonight to clear the decks. I am hopeful that this schedule will be expanded significantly.

So, if you are feeling like you've lost the muse, are bored with your work, need to find some zippy energy by learning something new but don't have time to take a class or pore over a magazine article, then I'm suggesting MNL.

Usual Disclaimer: I am not compensated by LIGHT for these reviews (except by Victoria's gorgeous smile.)

Travel Safe!

Dwight

Light Photographic Workshops: Online Seminars

LIGHT Photographic Workshops (formerly Lepp Institute) has started a new service: Online Seminars. They seem to come in two flavors: specific topics with one time subscriptions and Monday Night LIGHTS (MNL) with unannounced topics. The MNL series is amazingly cheap: $5 a shot for once a week paid either monthly or annually. [Please note that you must verify all this information yourself ... I am only reporting what I believe to be the case.]

As an introduction to this service LIGHT occasionally offers "free" seminars and one of those is coming on next Monday night, June 8th. You can sign up at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/208559489 as well as find system requirements and time. My inside tip is that this seminar will be about curves for all you folks fearful of this adjustment.

Their website, after rebranding from Lepp to LIGHT is still available at http://www.leppphoto.com/index.html for more detailed information.

Hope to see you there!

Travel Safe.

Dwight

Los Olivos Dance Gallery Centre Stage 2009: 300 Ballerinas

Last week I shot 300 ballerinas during the Los Olivos Dance Gallery Centre Stage 2009 annual performance recital in Solvang, California's Festival Theater. This was the third year I have done this as a volunteer in support of Artistic Director Maggie Mesikep. It is an awesome experience to watch these girls (and a few guys) perform ... sometimes I am so moved that I forget to press the shutter release. My daughter, Anna, age seven, just completed her third year as a dancer-in-training. I got involved when Mike Mesikep, husband of Maggie and Chief Photographer and Technical Director for the shows, lost his primary volunteer photographer as the result of a family tragedy and came to me as a possible participant. I agreed to shoot the dress rehearsal. It was a mistake ... but only in the best way: after that first experience I took vacation from my day job and shot for four days straight.

OK, now let me go back and correct a couple of things. First, it isn't just ballet ... I just say that because it appeals to me. There is ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, flamenco and I expect others that I am totally ignorant about. I am not a dance person. As for the shooting, Mike pretty much just says, "Come and do your thing" and I do. Many of you will know that I am the house photographer for the Entertainment Department at the Chumash Casino Resort and have a lot of experience shooting world class performers ... and my boss at the casino, Wayne Hurte, gives the same kind of management ... "Go do what you do!" I am quite comfortable shooting what amounts to a continual stream of "One time only and just for an instant" captures for which my 'Best in the World' Canon cameras work wonders. It is a gift many, many years in the making.

Festival Theater is almost a Theater-in-the-Round ... similar to what I think of as the Shakespearean setup with a stage that projects out into the audience but with a tall facade off one edge where lighting and dressing rooms exist. It is nestled almost in the middle of Solvang, California, which is a pseudo-Danish tourist trap. The images from my 'Eye-in-the-Sky' (this year a Canon 5D Mark II with 24-105mm f/2.8L) are from as high in this facade as they will let me go.

This year I spent my hours sitting on a cold hard concrete step with a wool blanket as padding and no back support. Next year I'm getting a seat! I'm too old for this.

The performances include the dress rehearsal day with both juniors and seniors. The public performances are by juniors on Saturday morning and by seniors on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. It is a huge production involving about half the little girls in the valley and their families ... there is a lot of family participation as Maggie and Mike make everyone feel essential and loved.

I shot using two Canon 1DMIII's bodies and a variety of lenses from 14mm f/2.8L to 70-200mm f/2.8L IS and including 16-35mm f/2.8L and 24-70mm f/2.8L. Selecting some example images to include with this blog entry is almost impossible. I have 1236 "Keepers" that I will provide to Mike on a DVD and from which I must select for here. I hope they are representative! You can click on the images in the blog post to see larger versions. For the technically inclined, the larger versions contain both EXIF and IPTC data for your persual.

I am already planning for next year. Mike and I are going to try to put a second 'Eye-in-the-Sky' camera in one of the very high lighting towers that sit up behind the amphitheater style seating ... the lighting provider says I'll have to wear a harness to climb the pole to the tiny little platform where the ellipticals are positioned, but it'll be worth it to capture images from directly above and from a high angle out front at the same time. I do have to remember to use bigger CF cards. This year I used 8GB and ran out of space. Next year I'll use 16GB or bigger. There's always something new to learn! The following photograph is a three frame panorama stitched together by Photoshop ... there's "errors" near the middle:

Below are Maggie and Mike with their daughter Hannah.

Travel safe!

Dwight

Light Photographic Workshops: More on Canon Presentation

Well, I bashed Canon's presentation last weekend at LIGHT pretty thoroughly: I was not impressed by the Rep's or their seminars. So now I want to offer a few suggestions on what they should have presented.

(1) Flash: most of the attendees were primarily interested in learning to use their Canon flashes better. Rather than demonstrating only with one flash in an expensive softbox ($500) which none of the students owned (to my knowledge), the Reps should have polled the students about what they needed to know. In addition they should have explained in as much detail as possible how E-TTL works (which by my reckoning is, "Not very well!") and worked with students to explain how to overcome the deficiencies. And rather than make disparaging comments about the diffusers students did own, such as Sto-fen, Demb and Fong, they should have done clear demonstrations showing the effects of each and allowing the students to experiment under their tutelage. And how about showing the off-camera-cord and how to use it to the best advantage? And there should have been a fair amount of time devoted to using two flash units in various scenarios. What was needed was an opportunity for the students to learn how to get the most out of the Canon gear they owned and were used to. The way to brand loyalty is through photographers who feel they are getting great value for their money.

One of the more unintuitive flash subjects that deserved much more/better attention (although it was approached by the Rep) was using and controlling ambient versus flash lighting. It was demonstrated. But in order to take something home in this area, each student probably needed ten minutes one-on-one and then group experimentation in the field. As it was, the Rep spent all his time shooting the professional model with his own camera (and the expensive softbox and unused on-camera flash) and telling the students to wait.

(2) Cameras: nothing was said about the various features of the various DSLRs that Canon sells. It would have benefited many there to understand the limits and advantages of several Canon lines: Rebels, x0D line (20D, 30D, 40D, 50D), 5D (original and Mk II) and not least, the 1DMIII and 1DsMIII. About the only comparative remarks made were, "You can't do this with 5D. It's only available on the 5D Mark II."

(3) Printers: most of the second day, until I left at noon being pretty disgusted, was devoted to Photoshop retouching techniques. The morning should have been devoted to printing images, student and instructor, and explaining what makes a good print, what kinds of things go wrong, how to work with the Canon software/drivers to overcome these issues and making the same print on numerous different kinds of media. Before I left the Rep did say he was going to go over the Canon printer driver plugin for Photoshop so I hope that happened in a way to help students use it effectively back home.

(4) Miscellaneous: Most of the prosumer level bodies now support Wifi. I have a WFT-E2A and wanted to learn to connect it to my laptop. I asked about this early the first day. It was never acknowledged after that. I expect this is a feature very few of the other students know about.

Most of the newer prosumer bodies support lens microadjustments. This was a procedure I wanted to see demonstrated. I asked about this early the first day. It was never acknowledged after that. This is a feature that has been known to cure a lot of frustration and a process that used to require a trip of both camera and lens to Canon repair for several hundred dollars. Probably a 30 minute demonstration would have handled it.

Live View is a new and very popular feature. Live View tethered to a laptop would have been interesting. In fact, hands on use and demonstrations of DPP and EOS Utilities would have been excellent rather than just having one of the Reps run it for the other, as they did, and blaming it's failures on Apple. Knowing how to review your images while shooting using a laptop is very useful but few amateurs I've met have a clue how it is done, they just see it in all of the professional lighting tutorials.

Disclaimer: I am obviously not paid by Canon to review their seminar (although it would probably be a good idea!) I am not paid by LIGHT to review or promote their facility nor do I get any special treatment. I simply think that it is the premier facility in the country with the best instructors, particularly including Hal, and it is in my own best interests to promote it.

Second disclaimer: I own LOTS of Canon equipment including 580EX II flashes, 5D Mark II, 1DMIIIs, 1DsMIII and lots of "L" lenses from 400mm f/2.8L IS down to 14mm f/2.8L II and I am fairly familiar with it. I have been photographing for over 40 years.

Travel Safe!

Dwight

LIGHT Photography Workshops: Canon & The New Lepp

Some of you know that I have been trekking up to Los Osos every couple of months for the last two years to take photography classes at Lepp Institute, owned and operated by Hal & Victoria Schmitt. I go there because I have always gotten great 'Bang for the Buck'. It has been through their classes that I stepped up to shooting RAW and profiling my monitors as well as finally starting to migrate from PhotoImpact to Photoshop. In my mind, Hal Schmitt is the premier photography instructor on the planet.

So, it is a rarity that I have anything less than stellar to say about my attendance there, but this weekend is a bit of an exception. As part of their sponsorship of Hal & Victoria, Canon provides occasional workshops by their representatives. One such presentation was this weekend. From my reading of the flyer, the two Canon reps were going to cover things Canon from cameras and flash, including WiFi through printing. That's not quite what happened. The complete first day was about shooting using a 5D Mark II, two 580EX II strobes and very expensive softbox setup ... oh, but only light from a single flash was used as the other, on camera flash, was only ever used as a Master with flash disabled. Now, I have a lot of equipment. But I don't have a large, $500 BruceDorn softbox with special Wescott shoe for my two 580EX II's and none of the other students did either. So, the extended shooting in the studio with this softbox wasn't useful for anyone. Nor was much of the information useful for those with slightly older bodies/flashes. I guess if the flyer had suggested that only the latest greatest Canon products were being showcased that wouldn't be so bad ... oh, except Canon doesn't make a softbox! That's a Wescott affair. The same thing happened when we went into the field ... softbox! I don't know very many folks who haul a softbox into the field ... literal field with grass and trees. But again, that's all the Canon Rep did. And, while pretty continually saying how much better this was than using true studio strobes, the 580EX II's misfired often and the much vaunted E-TTL system misexposed often. Several times he noted that his flash had not recycled quickly enough but when I offered to loan him a Quantum SC battery (of which I have two for my 580EX IIs) he put them down saying they would burn out the flash ... even though he had just commented about how the flash has circuitry to prevent overheating, etc. There were frequent comments about how much easier this was than having to use a meter as one does with studio strobes, but in almost the same breath the Rep would talk about having to use FEC (flash exposure compensation) to correct the bad E-TTL exposures. And, consider, his entire studio shoot was done tethered to a laptop so he could see and adjust the light. I am one of a very few photographers that I know who always shoot tethered to a computer in the studio. I doubt any other student there has ever done that. I really don't think anyone was favorably impressed by this presentation.

The second day was to be about printing. I left early since the rep spent almost the entire morning demonstrating his favorite Photoshop techniques for retouching women. They never touched on WiFi and although I had explicitly asked, they never reviewed making microadjustments for lenses. In fact, they never seemed to hear any of the questions students asked and anything outside their predefined patter seemed like a big issue for guys who should be experts. And when their vaunted Canon DPP software failed, it was quickly blamed on Apple ... although the computers they used were their own and their own choice. All-in-all, pretty sad from Canon.

But, I gotta' say, Hal & Victoria know full well what they are about. They had a Grand Opening ... although it was really a rebranding of sorts. Huge party! Great turnout! Superb food. Amazing wine. Wonderful guests. Made new friends and ran into old friends not seen for some time. The amazing Kevin Cole was there talking about his pending Canon 800mm f/5.6 purchase and wildlife techniques. There were even some folks who had an interest in my Chumash Casino Resort photography ... a little eqo stroke for me.

My wife, Marna, and daughter, Anna, attended. Anna spent most of the evening playing/dancing with Reagan (I'm not sure of the spelling) who is Hal & Victoria's daughter. And somewhere mixed in was a ribbon cutting for the new LIGHT Photography Workshops! Lepp Institute Gone High Tech!

I will be back up to LIGHT soon. I will not be attending any Canon workshops soon.

Travel Safe!

Dwight

B and H PhotoVideo: The Most Reliable Online Photography Equipment Vendor in the World

My last post was about my upset with UPS whose business practices surely result in hundreds if not thousands of complaints a day ... they seem to be about minimizing their expenses by minimizing their services and self monitoring in order to maximize profits. At the other end of the spectrum is B&H Photo Video of New York City whose word is their bond. I have been a customer of B&H for over ten years, starting back in the days of Usenet. Even back then they believed in Customer Service, dealing with complaints of customers right out in the open for all the world to see and doing one damn fine job of it. And even back then, it felt as though most of the complaints brought to them were about the poor delivery services of ... wait for it ... UPS, where they explained over and over that they had no control over the abysmal practices of UPS.

But you remember that most recent package of mine that they lost? Well, I did have to initiate the complaint rather than UPS stepping up and owning their failure, but it entailed a simple online query about what to do sent to their customer service department. And I got a reply that said essentially that they would look into it and ship another shutter release when the ten day "waiting period" elapsed. And that's what they did without wasting any more of my time.

Other great things about B&H? They don't sell you something if they don't have it. I won't shop online at Adorama any more because they sell things they don't have and don't tell you about it until you have waited a long time and finally ask! I have the emails to demonstrate this. They are simply not reliable. Another thing is that B&H keeps online records of your purchases if you login before you buy ... which I always do ... and you can look things up online for years after, say for getting tax information about equipment purchases. They will also maintain both public and private Wishlists for you. I use mine to keep track of items that I buy repeatedly such as Epson paper and ink. Also items that I am considering purchasing but haven't decided yet or that I am saving for ... this is a very handy feature. Most places want you to "register" so they can SPAM you but at B&H they only use your information to provide real services! And they'll give you advice either online or over the phone. And finally, since you might want to know when they do get your item in stock, they will let you sign up for a notification of when the item comes in and then you can buy it if you want ... no hassle, no pressure, no SPAM.

They only have a presence in New York so you don't have to pay sales tax if you live elsewhere, although I would urge you to pay it in your home state anyway. But the difference more than makes up for shipping ... and here I urge you to pay a couple of bucks more and step up to FedEx.

And finally, a word about prices. B&H may not always have the lowest price you can find on the 'net! But if you follow the stories associated with many of these other 'discount' vendors, you learn why. There are a bunch of these apparently cheap vendors operating out of New York. They are all the same vendor. They don't have a storefront because they are a scam. They sell you a camera online, but always they must telephone you to 'verify the order'. And when they do, they try to sell you add ons, like the manual, body cover, neck strap, etc. (that all come in the box from the manufacturer but they don't include) and when they can't upsell you such that the total price is actually more than the B&H price, they discover that they are Out of Stock. This is even worse than the Adorama trick of selling you an item, at a good price, that they don't have but eventually hope to have!

I realize that this has been another Rant and I promise to do some useful blogs very soon. But if I can save one person from being ripped off it is worth it.

Travel safe!

Dwight

When Brown, Flush Down III

If you noticed my last post about UPS you'll know that they have had a package "Out for Delivery" for me for four days. I checked with our regular driver today and he says, "I don't know ... if it isn't on my truck I don't deliver it". So I called the Goleta office (they don't list the address/phone number of these facilities where you can just Google them up and the driver doesn't know the number.) The nice young lady, after looking on two computers, says, "Since there hasn't been movement on it in four days it's probably stolen or on the wrong truck and you will have to contact your shipper." So, they know it hasn't "moved" in four days because it is in their computer but they just ignore it. Then, even though they lost it, I have to report it to the shipper and start a claim. I'm incredulous. It's not like they think they delivered it and didn't ... they know they had it and now they don't and no one signed for it ... so they should contact the shipper and report that they lost it! Now I have to waste my time explaining and explaining when all I ever did was order a remote shutter release from B&H and they took my money. I guess I'll just start paying a couple of bucks more and go with FedEx when I have the option in the future and hope that Brown is overtaken by the recession and incompetent business practices.

Travel Safe!

Dwight

When Brown, Flush Down II

Well, here we are again! Back in November I blogged about how terrible I thought UPS was and that their tracking information often is misleading. I am waiting today for a package that was indicated as "Out for Delivery" yesterday at 7:00 AM. Well, I guess it's still "Out for Delivery" because we are closed for today and it's still not here! You can check on it yourself: 1ZE6W3110399193577 and see what's happening. Hopefully it won't cause me all the pain that their last four-day late delivery did. And it would sure be nice if they'd say why they failed to deliver it in the tracking information, but that would be too helpful I guess, sigh.

Update:Well, another day has passed without delivery or explanation other than an updated delivery date (for the fourth time) so it will be at least four days late and unlikely to show today, moving us into a three-day weekend, so I expect it to be at least a week late ... although more than likely it's lost. Naturally there's no way to query what the problem is so I just have to sit and wait for another week and then contact the merchandise vendor. What a sad way to run a business. On the up side, maybe they'll be another business to go down in the flames of the recession so my vendors won't be able to use them.

And again, I still have not had a single problem with FedEx! On Time, Every Time! And accurate tracking information.

"Outlet for My Creative Self": Helene Glassman @ Lepp Institute

Another amazing weekend spent up in Los Osos, California, at the Lepp Institute! This time with Helene Glassman, of Santa Barbara, California, and Atlanta, Georgia. Helene is a photographer (as is her husband, Jim Divitale.) She has done PJ. She has done weddings. She has done lots of things and sometimes just needs to "to do her own thing" to let the creative juices flow. And apparently this flow has been into specialized greeting cards and bookmarks. And over this weekend, Helene walked us through both the business and the workflow aspects of this process.


Before I forget, I need to mention that I am always amazed at the quality of people who turn out to be my fellow students. Often doctors and lawyers although no indian chiefs, yet! Susan is just a hobbyist with no intention of selling anything ... turns out she has been a math teacher and computer programmer (and knows several languages that I know, too.) Greg does dogs! Cynde, who has been in two or three other classes with me is a professor and hospital administrator. And Alice has already been doing this for a while. Fascinating high quality people with wonderful personalities and amazing life stories. We all sat around in the break room chatting several times until Victoria herded us up like kittens to get back into the digital lab.

So, Helene showed us her products, both physically and "on the big screen". Then she looked through our stuff making suggestions and offering direction. While most everyone else had animals, landscapes and flowers, I as usual had well known entertainers, sigh ... same old boring stuff!

Next she reviewed many ways to put images onto cards and many types of cards: triptychs, Thank You note, vertical, horizontal, in series with lots of variations. She talked prices. She talked supply vendors. She talked software.

Then she had us shoot a bunch of flowers she had assembled in vases ... plus an old chair that she had found dumpster diving behind the Institute! Out came the cameras. I have just purchased a G10 and that was what I brought! I normally lug a big Pelican Case up with $20K worth of stuff but I needed to expand my horizons! I did discover almost immediately that I needed a tripod (I'm big into tripods!) I borrowed a RRS plate and tripod. I have since ordered (and received) a RRS L-plate for my G10. I also have a cable shutter release coming.

We then took our images and started working our way through her techniques. I, as usual, didn't use my new images but pulled up entertainers and worked with them. Victoria really likes this so I normally use Tom Jones as that's her Mom's favorite ... and when I come back home I leave all my Sir Tom Jones stuff for her to send to her Mom.

As we neared the end, we were printing off cards left and right. Some of the other students were amazingly artistic. Then Helene and Victoria ran down to the pizza place, grabbed an employee, brought her back and made her judge our output and pick a winner! I didn't win which I am sure was a mistake!

And now the usual disclaimer: I am not compensated for reviewing the Lepp classes I take in any way by the Institute, the instructors or the sponsors!

Travel Safe!

Dwight

Big Monitor and Sound in the Studio

With the two new 20 amp circuits in place I decided to upgrade a bit. First I put my 30" Dell monitor on a pivot arm and added a glass shelf underneath to put my laptop on so that I could tether to it. The monitor swings out so that the model can see it or it can be turned back so that "visitors" can see it. I almost always shoot tethered in the studio using EOS Utilities and pulling the gray card images into Bridge to check exposure. The only down side is that the little jpeg preview the camera embeds in the RAW file starts to pixelate at this size.

I also bolted up three other glass shelves next to the laptop setup, unboxed my old stereo components and bought a couple of JBL wall mount speakers. Now I have SOUND in the studio ... the most requested addition by models. Anybody know if there are adapters for iPods to RCA plugs?

So, I had just shot a few images of my daughter and decided it was a good time to get a couple of shots of the new additions. Starting on the lift is my new big beauty dish turned up toward the ceiling to light the scene. On the floor right next to it is a QUADX 3000 generator. Camera on tripod tethered to laptop is 1DsMIII with Really Right Stuff L-plate & quick release on Gitzo legs. Behind the camera is laptop with Dell monitor overhead. The power strip shown is plugged into one of the new 20 amp circuits. Above the monitor you can see one of the new speakers. To the right of that stuff are new glass shelves: top to bottom is 200 watt per channel amp, 5-CD changer and pre-amp. The copper wire is the test speaker wire that I expect to replace today with Monster Cable, with the cable run being in #6 screw hooks in the ceiling ... since the speakers are mounted in removable lift out adapters I will have at least 25' of cable to each and will be able to move them elsewhere as needed, although they are a bit heavy. For those offended by exposed speakers I will be putting the grills on them ... my wife can't stand to see the speakers, sigh. Underneath the stereo are wire rack shelves.

Kate & Kacey Coppola @ Chumash Casino Resort, February 26, 2009

Most everyone who reads my blog knows that I am the House Photographer for the Entertainment Department at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California, which is about 30 miles north of Santa Barbara. Last Thursday night there was a small convergence of events for me at a concert at the casino: Big Machine Records recording artists Kate & Kacey Coppola opened for Little Big Town. Below is Kate.
Kate & Kacey are currently managed by Nashville to You. Nashville to You is partnered by Rick Barker and Lex Lipsitz. Rick Barker is my long time friend and cohort and the guy who got me into country music and concert photography and who created my job at the casino. Rick and Lex, currently out of Nashville, do promotion and management of rising country singer/songwriters. Rick managed Taylor Swift to her current national fame and fortune although their paths have separated as both have matured and gone on to bigger things ... that's the way in the entertainment world. Below is Kacey.

So, I happen to be the photographer where Kate & Kacey happen to have a gig. An opportunity to give some payback to the most supportive, dynamic, clever and professional promoter I know. I've sent a bunch of images to Rick & Lex and hope a couple may be useful. This is the sort of networking that far exceeds any other asset in the live entertainment photography business. You want to be successful ... reach out and help everybody, especially those who help you.



Travel Safe!

Dwight

GCPPA: Patricia Mathis on "Ordinary to Extraordinary"

It may seem like all I do is attend photography workshops, classes and seminars. They are easier to write about than a lot of my projects such as adding sound and a big monitor to my studio, or documenting my photographic work although I promise to do that, too. It is because they are nice and compact with clear beginnings, endings and intent/focus. With that said, here's a little review of my Sunday event with the Gold Coast Professional Photographers' Association: Patricia Mathis' "From Ordinary to Extraordinary" (you can see her work at www.reflectionsbypatricia.com), a $69 9:00am to 5:00pm event in Lompoc, California, which is 16 miles down the road from me.

I was invited to this seminar by Michael Collins, recent ex-president of the Gold Coast Professional Photographers' Association, by way of a standard flyer. I glanced at it, thought, "Not very interesting" and went on my way. But when I heard that my in-laws were visiting for the weekend, I took another look at the flyer and that's when I noticed all the awards that Patricia has garnered and I decided that I would give it a spin. So I spent all day yesterday listening to her and getting better acquainted with the GCPPA and PPC folks.

The seminar was broken into two distinct sections, one morning and one afternoon. In both, Patricia sat up front with the inferior laptop and projector/sound systems that were provided and braved through it like a Pro ... which she is, of course. The morning section was "Elements of Design" and the afternoon was "Photoshop tips and tricks with strong emphasis on NIK filters" ... Patricia appears to be sponsored by NIK, but her presentation was well rounded, didn't dwell on NIK so much as demonstrate what you can do as part of a larger workflow.

The elements of design section sounded dreary to me as a concert photographer who has no control. I mentioned this to Patricia who said, "But you get to compose as well as choose position!" Well, that might be, but since I never know what's coming in the next ten seconds on stage, that isn't very helpful. :-) But as so often happens to me when I've been in a particularly judgmental mode, I was totally disabused of the notion that this part wasn't for me. I was rapt! While not the slickest presentation, Patricia's presentation really hit a chord with me. Since I don't think of myself as artistic and since most of my paying work is concert style where I don't control anything, I have never even thought about the elements of design in my compositions. Now I can't get it out of my mind! I think I will be forever compelled to think about harmony, unity, dominance, complexity, oblique lines, verticals, "getting the milk from the grocery store" and all the other pieces clarified by her hand drawings, the works of Rembrandt and other masters as well as her own. An excellent pry-bar to open at least a tiny corner of the box I think in.

The afternoon section was equally inspiring. She worked through several images showing her skin and eye techniques, comparing lots of skin enhancement techniques both "manual" and using NIK filters, and lots of ways to incorporate the elements of design from the morning session to control and enhance the viewer's eye. She is strong on vignettes (which I generally dislike) and makes a strong case for them ... I guess I will have to change, sigh. She is right!

As she started to wind down it would have been a mistake to look away. Out of nowhere she demonstrated using clipping masks to create design elements and then magically demonstrated how to use them to make templates (I'll have to ask some of the other attendees to send me their notes on the steps, sigh) and even to fill text. While most of her work centers on Senior and Engagement/Wedding material it is easily extrapolated to glamor and fine art work.

There were a dozen or more examples of her final print output including books, gallery wraps, other print presentation media, triptychs and award winners. She talked about her prices and marketing experience and brands. All in all, well worth the time and effort!

As part of the GCPPA piece, upcoming events of the GCPPA were announced. They sounded too good to miss, so I joined both PPC and GCPPA and expect that I will be attending a number of events from now on ... it's just too much bang for the buck to miss out on.

Be Safe,

Dwight

PhotoArt: Fay Sirkis at The Institute

I spent an amazing week at the Lepp Insitute in Los Osos, California, at Fay Sirkis' "Impressions of Art" workshop/seminar. It was total immersion in Photoshop and Painter X in a workflow to convert your photographs into paintings. It was glorious. I have not a single artistic brain cell, but this gorgeous lady from New York seems to have given me a stem cell transplant (now that it's OK to do that again) and I was amazed at what we produced.

So, what happened? Fay walked us through her vision, sharing examples of her work along with their backstories to get our brains atuned. Then we started through the workflow for producing photorealistic images which first entails taking the image into Photoshop, retouching blemishes, treating the skin, a whole special section on working with the eyes (as Fay keeps reminding us, they are the "Gateway to the Soul".) We learned her "sandwich technique" for making adjustments. And once that was all done and we were swimming in layers, we flattened and caught our breath.

While I am familiar with Photoshop and did install Painter X on my workstation along with a Wacom Cintiq 21ux, I had no clue how to use Painter. Not a problem. Fay pulled up Painter and gave us a guided tour through the places we would need to go. But I have made this sound too trivial ... it is not! Fay spent many hours explaining and demonstrating where the various tools hide, what they do, their differences and similarities, how to customize them, arrange workspaces, palettes, panels and save them. And then she pulled her example images in and acquainted us with her workflow for photorealistic painting, step by step, with prepared student notes. And then she set us out to work on our own images all the while moving slowly from student to student giving intense personalized attention to everyone.

It is the way at The Institute to have open lab from 8:00 to 9:00 am each morning, class from 9:00 to 5:00 with breaks and lunch, and open lab again from 7:00 to 9:00 pm with assistants available to untangle our misunderstandings, find the tools we have hidden from ourselves, demonstrate the techniques that we missed because we were overwhelmed with information, and generally make sure that we are in control of the programs at our individual digital workstations which drastically reduces the class time needed to help less adept classmates the following day. It is a marvelous system.

The next major topic revealed a workflow that allows Painter to assist in jump starting our painting exploration. This is a fairly well developed set of ordered tools for enhancing target images, using the painterly tools such as brush styles and adjustments, creating an underpainting and then augmenting our hand painting enhancements.


So, what did I do that so overjoyed me? I took the picture of Anna, my daughter, from my previous blog entry, and turned it into a photorealistic painting which has been printed and my wife will have matted and framed for Anna's Grandmother. It is the image above. I also created a painting of Tom Jones from a concert capture of mine. I'm not sharing that image for now but I have included a detail in which you can see the brush strokes and style below. I have some project plans that I may reveal as I move forward.



Finally, we learned some additional critical printing preparation steps for enhancing the painterliness of our work and made a few prints. And then Fay explained many, many marketing tips and processes from handling the work in the presence of clients to titling, signing and numbering limited editions: the Ka-Ching portion of the program. It was surreal and filled with Fay's personal experiences and emotions.

Now, you may not be able to venture out to the West Coast to attend a Lepp Class with Fay, but there are other options. She has two tutorial DVDs available including the one I bought: produced in conjunction with Kelby Training. She has two more coming, one of which will be of particular interest to animal/pet aficionados. She is also touring with a number of other teaching Pros this year so you might want to check the Kelby Training website for that.

As always, I want to be clear that I am not affiliated with Lepp Institute as other than a normal student. I am also not affiliated in any way with Fay Sirkis or Kelby Training and receive no compensation or gratuity for sharing experiences. I should also disclaim that I have purchased wine made by Hal Schmitt (one half owner of Lepp) for my wife for Christmas but I am not reviewing it here or elsewhere.

Travel safe!

Dwight

Anna & Marna in the Studio

If you've followed this blog you know that back in November I took a seminar with Kevin Ames at the Lepp Institute in Los Osos, California, entitled "The Art of Photographing Women." I had a particular setup from that workshop that I wanted to emulate and it has taken me a couple of months to get the equipment I wanted into the studio, grab my most used models and shoot it. I've still got a lot to learn but that will come with experience. In the meantime I want to share some of the images.

My most willing and very talented model is Anna Martina, 7 going on 14. She does her own hair and makeup, requires virtually no retouching, takes direction very well and is a prize. (I assure you I have parental approval to use her pictures.)

The setup includes a beauty dish high on the left of camera and white paper on the posing table to act as a reflector. I noticed the I sometimes get the paper in the images but I thought it looked quite good. If you don't think so, please comment and offer suggestions. There is also a hair light directly overhead to help pop her off the black background. This is all pretty standard stuff. What makes it Kevin Ames is having the camera on a tripod, tethered to my laptop and using an X-Rite Gray Scale and Balance card. After metering the exposure I shot an image with the model holding the gray scale and used EOS Utility to upload to the laptop. In the utility I opened the image in Bridge, did white balance on the gray bar of the card and then put droppers on the white and black, mainly to ensure that the white end of the exposure wasn't over about 245. I backed down about 1/2 stop from the meter. This gives a superb exposure and as long as you are using the same lighting and outfits and are using good studio lights, the exposure should be about perfect for a series.


With my second most willing but utterly most difficult and demanding model, Marna, I added a rim light behind her ... it has a reflector with barn doors limiting the light spill. I also tried adding a red gel to a background light but it didn't work and I decided it wasn't the right thing anyway. Marna, like Anna, can pretty much go through a series of poses without much direction. She does, however, insist on a lot of control and has her own thoughts on what she wants. In this shoot she specifically wanted her bangs in her eyes and wanted a tough/powerful look more than soft glamor or sexy.

Did I mention that Marna is very firm about having her own way at the photoshoot?


Finally, here's a BTS (Behind The Scenes) image of the setup. The beauty dish on the upper left is a Bowens QUADX head with a Supersoft 600 Kit which is a deep white reflector with two diffusion panels. The overhead light is a reflector with barn doors as is the rim light which you can't see as it is behind the model. The camera is on a tripod just to the left of Marna and is tethered with a 10' USB cable to the laptop which is on top of a wire drawer stand to the right.


Have any questions? Please ask.

In the meantime, Travel Safely!

Dwight