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The Commercial Photographer

April 26, 2010
7:21
Read My Interview in PhotographyBB Magazine
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Read My Interview in PhotographyBB Magazine
April 22, 2010
17:01
This is just a test
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This is just a test
April 05, 2010
8:45
How to Light the Big Industrial Shot
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How to Light the Big Industrial Shot
March 30, 2010
9:49
My Interview on Lensflare35
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My Interview on Lensflare35
March 28, 2010
4:59
Photographing the Industrial Valve and Faking It
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Photographing the Industrial Valve and Faking It
March 26, 2010
10:27
How to Get a Ringflash Look Without a Ringflash
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How to Get a Ringflash Look Without a Ringflash
March 23, 2010
7:59
The Black Hills Photo Shootout
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The Black Hills Photo Shootout
March 18, 2010
7:59
The Big Yellow Pipes
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The Big Yellow Pipes
March 15, 2010
7:59
More HDR Fun in Anza Borrego
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More HDR Fun in Anza Borrego
March 13, 2010
7:54
Photographing Elise with the Octodome
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Photographing Elise with the Octodome
March 11, 2010
7:59
Casey Templeton Impresses Many With New Promo
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Casey Templeton Impresses Many With New Promo
March 09, 2010
15:24
On Assignment: The Industrial Product Shot
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On Assignment: The Industrial Product Shot
February 10, 2010
11:21
Visit our New Blog; Pro Nature Photographer
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Visit our New Blog; Pro Nature Photographer
January 13, 2010
9:49
I am in no way affiliated with the blog CharlieBorlandNow.com
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I am in no way affiliated with the blog CharlieBorlandNow.com
August 03, 2009
3:59
Business of Outdoor and Nature Photography Seminar
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Business of Outdoor and Nature Photography Seminar
August 01, 2009
3:59
Learn Commercial Photography on the Internet
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Learn Commercial Photography on the Internet
July 28, 2009
3:59
Industrial Photography: Shooting the Wind Turbines
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Industrial Photography: Shooting the Wind Turbines
July 25, 2009
13:54
Portrait Preofessional Software: Nice!
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Portrait Preofessional Software: Nice!
April 19, 2009
8:34
The Lomography Effect
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The Lomography Effect
March 17, 2009
3:59
More thoughts from Seth Resnicks D65 Workshop
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More thoughts from Seth Resnicks D65 Workshop
March 15, 2009
3:59
Making a pit stop in Anza Borrego, California
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Making a pit stop in Anza Borrego, California
March 13, 2009
16:49
In San Diego with Seth Resnick
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In San Diego with Seth Resnick
March 02, 2009
8:49
Must see: Zack Arias video
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Must see: Zack Arias video
8:49
Must see: Zack Arias video
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I usually dont blog about other photographers blog entries, but just in case you have not seen this it is a must watch: [www.zarias.com]
7:50
Digging through the archives: The Mountain Man Rendevous
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Digging through the archives: The Mountain Man Rendevous
February 09, 2009
3:59
Joe McNally has another book due soon!
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Joe McNally has another book due soon!
February 07, 2009
3:59
Photography Usage Rights: Who Can Use Them?
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Photography Usage Rights: Who Can Use Them?
February 06, 2009
3:59
Chromasia announces their new Photoshop tutorial
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Chromasia announces their new Photoshop tutorial
February 02, 2009
3:59
Interior Photography and Photoshop
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Interior Photography and Photoshop
January 29, 2009
12:23
Removing Powerlines in Photoshop
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Removing Powerlines in Photoshop
January 03, 2009
7:59
A Very Special Holiday Surprise
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A Very Special Holiday Surprise
December 19, 2008
7:59
Command your camera with your voice
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Command your camera with your voice
December 14, 2008
8:54
Digital Workflow tutorial now available at Chromasia
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One of our training partners, Chromasia, an online leader in digital photography and Photoshop tutorials has announced their newest tutorial on digital workflow. This latest tutorial is part four of an ongoing series of in-depth articles on processing digital images and is specific to ACR 5. I have read this and can vouch that it is quite informative and educational. Check it out here.
December 06, 2008
5:59
Cool new stuff from Think Tank Photo
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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I have stated it a number of times on my blog and that is, that I'm a big fan of the products made by Think Tank Photo. They have just come out with the new Airport Addicted version 2.0 and it has a lot of similarities with my beloved Airport International roller case. You can fit in lenses up to 400 mm and also include your laptop, use the seam sealed rain cover, and tuck away a shoulder straps.

These guys make fabulous products and are worth taking a look at. My wife and I took a quick trip to Mexico a few weeks ago and my Airport International went with me and here is a happy snap of it secured to the table in the room using the built-in cable and TSA approved padlock. This provided a fair amount of comfort because we not only were able to keep the laptop and some camera gear in their, but also our passports and wallets.

If you decide to order one be sure and use our discount code WS -- 151 and they will throw in something extra.

Happy shooting! And here is the rest of it.
December 04, 2008
14:25
Are You Sitting There Waiting For The Phone To Ring?
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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A commercial photography business will not be successful these days if your marketing effort consists of sitting by the phone and waiting for it to ring. I am sure that most commercial photographers out there would agree that it's not quite like it used to be. Some photographers remain very busy while others are looking for different careers. I am one of those who agree that there does not seem to be quite as many assignments as there used to be and the ones that are there tend to be a little bit lower in budget. But there is work out there and I am fortunate to remain fairly busy.

I went to Brooks Institute in the 1970s and one of my fellow classmates remains one of my best friends to this day. We compare notes about the business and photography on average every 10 days and had a lengthy e-mail conversation this very morning. This is what prompted me to blog about him and his business. He is a fabulous photographer!

He is also a hungry photographer with not enough business to sustain himself. My friend for the last eight years has contemplated every kind of career change you could imagine and has attended numerous different educational programs to make this jump. Real estate school, certified nursing assistant course, truck driving programs, and none of these have led to a full-time and gratifying career change. He wants to remain a photographer but is so frustrated with the business that he puts very little effort into marketing himself or seeking new clients. These possible career changes have also been a distraction from promoting his photography business. He sits by the phone and waits for it to ring and I told him that this morning.

I've never been in any other profession and quite honestly I can't imagine being in another one. But I am convinced that this is one of the most competitive professions anyone could join. There are no professional standards that decide who can and who cannot be a pro. In my state you have to be licensed to file fingernails or to prepare tax returns. Yet the profession of photography is a wide-open door in which anybody can jump in with no experience and charge as they please. This means I'm sure that we are in one of the most crowded and competitive creative professions out there. I am not sure if there is enough professional business to keep everybody making a great living.

So when my buddy doesn't have any work and the self-taught photographer with limited skills is busy, then whose fault is that. First, I'm not trashing self-taught photographers because there are some incredible ones whose work I greatly admire. The point I'm trying to make is my buddy or any other commercial photographer who sitting around twiddling their fingers, need to look at who they blame for no business. As a long established pro, it's easy to sit back and blame all the unwelcome competition but in the end they only have themselves to blame.

It's rough out there, no doubt about it. But if your entire marketing effort is sitting by and waiting for the phone to ring you may be sitting for a long time. As the competition increases the only option is to increase your marketing efforts. It doesn't matter what it is, whether e-mail efforts or direct mail efforts or phone calls, you have to be relentless in doing some or all. You must diversify and enter into areas that maybe you are not comfortable with or have never worked. But the time is to get comfortable and learn to do it.

For my good friend, I have asked him when the last time was he did direct mail promotional campaign and it's been years. I asked him if he expects anybody he previously marketed to, to remember him? Out of sight, out of mind!

In professional photography you must market as if the world is going to end next month and there's no time to waste. Photography is used more than ever on a global basis and that is a huge pie with many slices available. Certainly photography rates and assignments are lower and you're working a little harder for the same dollar, but there is work out there.

To succeed today you must quit waiting for the phone to ring and instead pick it up and make the call yourself.

Take My Class: The Business of Outdoor & Nature Photography
November 28, 2008
9:18
Holiday Photography and Wireless Flash
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With the Holidays here, the opportunities for some fun holiday photography are endless. One of my favorites is photographing all the colorful lights of the Holiday season. There are homes beautifully decorated, the Christmas tree, city buildings, yard displays, and of course, your imagination.

I have photographed all the previously mentioned Holiday scenes over the years and decided I wanted to photograph Holiday lights in non-traditional locations. One idea I came up with was to photograph my backpacking dome tent in the wilderness and decorated with Christmas lights. Since I enjoy snowshoeing and ski-camping, this sounded like a great idea for my annual Christmas cards photograph.

I planned all the items I would need; the tent, a set of cross country skis, the snowshoes needed to get there, a flash unit, a wireless remote to fire the flash unit, 5 sets of battery powered Christmas lights, and a roll of duct tape. I stuffed all this into a backpack along with a pad, water, a headlamp, cell phone, and extra clothing.

I drove up to the mountains and parked in a snow park, strapped on the snow shoes, loaded on the pack, and trudged a couple miles into Oregon’s Mt. Hood Wilderness. It was afternoon when I found this location and knew it was perfect. I switched to the skies to avoid large snowshoe tracks and skied over to the spot with all the gear and set up the tent. I used small strip of duct tape to hold the Christmas lights onto the tent and placed the batteries for each string inside the tent. I next set up the flash with the wireless remote and placed it into the tent. I also turned the flash to manual at ½ power to maintain flash output consistency.

I then waited for the sun to set and began testing the exposures. First, you determine the best f-stop for the flash exposure and then leave that set. The Christmas lights exposure is adjusted with the shutter speed and this is where you have to balance carefully with the ambient outdoor light. Both the ambient and Christmas lights are constant light so for the scene to balanced nicely, you have to wait for it to get dark enough for the Christmas lights to be exposed correctly. Here it was about a half hour after sunset where the ambient light is dark enough that the Christmas lights showed up nicely and are properly exposed.

Since the flash was pre-tested and set then it remains the same f-stop for exposure and I then bracket my shutter speeds for lighter and darker images. I continue to shoot until it gets so dark that the proper exposure for the ambient light forces the Christmas lights to turn white and lose color. I then know I am done. You can use this technique for any Holiday light subject and the variety of subjects is endless.
November 18, 2008
15:31
The Lucious Colors of Mexico
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With the recent crash in the economy and plummeting fuel prices, the airlines and travel agents are scrambling to fill seats and sell vacations. My wife and I decided to take advantage of a last minute incredible deal from Orbitz and headed for Mexico. Although our primary purpose was to take advantage of a lull in assignments and workshops and snorkel and explore. But as a photographer, I can only have fun for so long before I need to shoot some picture.

I took along the Nikon P5100 and did some exploring through the neighborhoods grabbing some great doors and signs. The colors of Mexico are amazing and I could not get enough. I then played in PS with these and this top image was easy. I just darkened the area under the door and sidewalk some because that was the brightest part of the scene and I wanted it to be all about the door.

The Coke sign blew me away. Because it was under an overhang, I needed to lighten the top half some to even it out, straighten it with the lens correction tool, add some saturation, and then a High Pass effect set to 5.

This image of the second door are two images merged with Photomerge. The P5100 could not get in any of the roof when I framed the foreground, so I shot the straight shot and then lifted the camera slightly for some roof, then merged them. I retouched the wall imperfections and then added some saturation and a High Pass set at 5.

The guitars were adjusted first by a lighten layer mask to even out the lighting which was flat and overhead. Then saturation was added.

The items on the green wall were in the market and here again, I added saturation and then a High Pass, which really made it pop and lowered general contrast.

Mexico is amazing and a really fun place to shoot.
November 05, 2008
18:44
Slickrock and Slot Canyons
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Last week I conducted a workshop in Arizona’s Slickrock country with my dear friend Brenda Tharp. Based in Page, the workshop visited some of the most extraordinary geological sites in this border area next to Utah. We visited slot canyons, hoodoos, and places like Lower Antelope canyon where the photo ops were boundless and there were not too many people coming through. Upper Antelope canyon is spectacular in its own right, but word has it that they run 800 – 1000 people through there each day and that makes photography impossible. And the fee is $31 for a one hour visit while Lower Antelope was $26 for four hours, a much better deal for photography.This image is also from Lower Antelope and here our timing paid off with a nice shaft of light coming through the slot. Of course what makes the shaft so visible is the dust created by people walking through the canyon.

Our group also visited what is marketed as “Secret Canyon”. This 6 hour trip was booked with Slot Canyon Hummer Adventures. This is a first class adventure operation and the trip into Secret Canyon was a blast with some serious 4x4 off-roading. Nothing death defying, just plain 4x4 fun!

Secret Canyon is a huge slot canyon and this picture above shows a formation called The Tongue. This canyon was not as colorful as Lower Antelope and much darker requiring long exposures, so if you plan to visit, be sure and book a midday time slot.

Following several hours in secret canyon, Slot Canyon Hummer Adventures took us to The Fins. This location resembles The Wave in every way except size of the area. The layers of eroding stone swirl and wind through the hillside presenting some great opportunities for large foregrounds that lead through the scene.

One of my favorite places is the Stones of Silence, aka, Wahweap Towers. This is a challenging location to find and if you are not familiar with the area be sure and get the proper info or use Laurent Martres book on the area. If you plan to make it for the sunrise shoot you will find GPS helpful because driving in the dark is a challenge with several unmarked intersections. The area is not large but contains some of the most fascinating hoodoos and eroded formations I have ever seen. It is a totally quiet and serene and magical at the same time.

Brenda and I had one of the best workshop groups ever had and this had to be one of the most fun workshops I have yet taught. If you are not familiar with Brenda you can get her book at Amazon. It is one of the best books on nature photography yet published.

If you want the details on how to get to these locations, get Laurent Martes books on photographing the southwest and here are the links:
October 28, 2008
8:07
More Window Photography
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I am having fun with a personal project shooting through windows of buildings at historic sites. Here is the barber shop in Virginia City, Montana where I stopped to teach a workshop in September. These must be shot in HDR for all the details to show because all the light comes from the front windows so the foreground of the interior is quite bright while the rear is quite dark. Here you can see the raw file and it illustrates how the contrast kills the shot or at least it does not have the interest of the HDR. In the final image you can see the HDR image and also the extensive tone mapping using Photomatix for the grungy illustrative look.
October 26, 2008
7:31
Funky Photography of Old Objects
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I was teaching a workshop in Colorado a few weeks ago with my friend Lewis Kemper and one of our more popular stops is Silverton, Colorado. It is a historic old mining town that is now a popular tourist and ski town. It still has the old boardwalks, historic, and rustic charm as if still in the old west. Many of the old buildings are renovated and quite historic looking, but what makes Silverton a great town to shoot is the buildings that have not been renovated and all the old cars and trucks and mining equipment that are fun to shoot.Here is the front of an old tow truck that is parked next to an old garage. I have shot this old rig previously and this time I used my Canon 15mm fisheye in close and then bracketed for the HDR process. This old truck has been painted several times and the layers of paint are flaking off and then when HDR'ing it, it really saturates each layer. There were plenty of powerlines in the sky right behind it so I cloned those out. It's fun stuff to shoot, so go shoot something just for the fun of it!
October 24, 2008
19:49
Halloween Photography update
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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I just got an email from Dr. Audri Lanford, who interviewed me
awhile back for her "7 Photography Questions" podcast.
You may have heard all the buzz in the last couple of weeks
about Audri's new product called Halloween Photography
Secrets.

It's an interview Audri hosted with master child photographer
Vik Orenstein that's guaranteed to let you capture amazing
photographs of your kids this Halloween.

Since Halloween photography is a photography nightmare, 97% of
parents will be SO disappointed with their Halloween
photographs this year. But now you don't need to be one of
them...

I highly recommend you check out Halloween Photography
Secrets. It becomes available today, Friday October 24th, at
3:00pm Eastern.

http://www.charlieborlandnow.com

One warning though, you better do this quickly. Audri has a
long history of making limited offers that sell out quickly,
and there is a bonus for the first 25 people to order you
definitely don't want to miss..
Now I don't want to sound overly dramatic, but it is probably
a very good idea to be sitting at your computer and ready to
go right when she launches. I'd be shocked if this bonus
didn't sell out VERY quickly...

In addition, by ordering Halloween Photography Secrets today
you'll have plenty of time over the weekend to start having
fun using the tips Vik reveals.

These tips don't only apply to Halloween, by the way. They
are invaluable for many other occasions as well. Here's what a
mother of three and a father of one had to say:

"What a wonderful interview. For years I've been
hopelessly frustrated with my family's Halloween
pictures. From kids who don't want to cooperate to a
camera that seems to do everything but what I want, I'd
learned to dread the entire picture-taking process.

"This interview was a lifesaver. Now I can capture my
family's Halloween memories in wonderful photographs
without pulling my hair out in the process. Thank you so
much. I'll be putting these tips to use for other
holidays too!"

- Jamie Dale, Milwaukee WI

~~~

"What a sigh of relief, with the hectic days before
Halloween approaching fast, this information was just
what I needed. This year I'm not going to fight with my
toddler to get him to take a good picture.

"I've already used Vik's advice and brought out the
stickers, and played one of the games she suggested. And
it WORKS, no more mugshot pictures of my son. I have to
say as a father with little to no camera experience,
these tips and tricks make taking Halloween Pictures a
breeze!!!"

- Sammy Cain, Fayetteville, NC

Oh... one more thing: Audri is going to have a rock-solid
guarantee for Halloween Photography Secrets: she called it the
"Rock-Solid, No-Questions, No-Quibble, Better Than 100% Money
Back Guarantee." It says "you'll take great Halloween
photographs of your kids, or we'll send your money back."

So it is definitely in your best interest to sign up early and
try it out.

IMPORTANT: If you go to this page and you don't see this
headline:

"Who Else Wants to Take Amazing Photographs of Their Kids
This Halloween?"

Be sure to REFRESH this page after 3:00pm Eastern, because
it means the launch hasn't gone live yet.

Here is the link again:

http://www.charlieborlandnow.com
7:59
Don't Take Pictures, Build Photographs
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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One thing that I preach when I teach is the need to not just go to a clients location and take pictures. Many assignments you receive will seem easy because they just want you to come and take pictures, but I feel that every assignment is an opportunity to build photographs. We can all take pictures; point the camera and snap the shutter and it seems that many photographers get away with just doing that. But the best shooters build their photos and I do it one light at a time.
I shot an annual report last week for an industrial manufacturer and one photo took quite awhile to figure the best places for the light the scene for a good effect. Here you can see the angle the client and I chose for this shot but this industrial lighting is flat, ugly, and boring. A dynamic foreground that leads to the background and the workers. I never shoot in available light either and always use lots of lights. Here we used 9 lights placed throughout the scene. Five large umbrellas, two raw heads, one lightbox, and one grid spot. We took our time setting up the lighting and tested as we went along starting with the four large umbrellas which lit the overall scene. Then we added the lightbox, raw heads, and grid to light specific areas of the scene. This is building the photo one light at a time and it is a great way to see the results as you create them. In addition, I always use some of the ambient light from within the scene as part of my exposure, but usually overide it with the strobe to a large extent. The idea is to light the main subject or activity to stand out and then add light to the rest of the scene to support the subjects, which are the workers here. span>
October 22, 2008
6:33
Halloween Photography
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Did you know... ... that this Halloween, 97% of parents will take photos of their kids and be so disappointed the next day? But you don't need to be one of them... You see, Halloween is a photography nightmare. Awful (or no) light. Chaos. Hyper kids. A million things happening at once. So, if you feel completely frustrated, dissatisfied and overwhelmed -- as if capturing the mood and your precious Halloween memories is almost impossible -- you're definitely NOT alone. Fortunately, THIS Halloween can be different. As I mentioned before, awhile ago I was interviewed by Dr. Audri Lanford from 7PhotographyQuestions.com. I recently sent her a tip that she's included in her new email series and Special Report called Halloween Photography Tips. It's a preview to a special interview called "Halloween Photography Secrets, and it reveals how to overcome all these problems. I highly recommend you check it out and sign up free now: [www.charlieborlandnow.com]
September 28, 2008
5:40
Window Photography
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Yes I am back and asking myself: "Why have a blog if you have no time to blog? I dont have an answer other than I am having the busiest summer in years and that is not a bad thing for a commercial photographer in our pending economic collapse. I will have plenty to blog with this fall, but thought I would post something I have been having fun with and it is shooting through windows using HDR techniques.

Here is an image from a ghost town in Montana where I was teaching a workshop 10 days ago. I basically rest my lens against the window and do so carefully, and then shoot a series of bracketed exposures capturing the full tonal range. Then process in Photomatix for this grungy illustrated look. I have tons more and will post more regularly, but first, busy in Colorado for the next week.
August 15, 2008
6:47
Adventure Sports Photography
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Shooting adventure sports photography is certainly one of my favorite subjects to shoot as a photographer. I have produced and shot many adventure subjects for stock and also joined many outdoor adventures as the photographer. Three times down the Grand Canyon as well as rafting many other rivers in the west and creating large stock photo production shoots. Here we hired models and traveled to various locations around the west to shoot. The work has been published ion most major outdoor magazines and it also lead to some sweet assignments for companies like Columbia Sportswear, Nike, Camelbak, Early Winters, and so on.

I was pleased to be interviewed the other day on www.7photographyquestions.com and about adventure sports photography. This is an interesting website that interviews pro photographers on a variety of photographic specialties. You can listen to the interview here.

The first image at the opening of the post chosen mountain biker flying through the air. This biker was a professional mountain biker and we hired him in shooting the Camelbak catalog. Here he is going off the ramp specially built for mountain bikers and it's here in Oregon.

I chose to do a blur streak affect with him using strobe. I have my assistant to my left by about 10 to 15 feet and he is holding one of my wireless flashes. This nails rider perfectly with the light. I also chose a shutter speed of about 1/15 of a second to get a nice streak behind him. The flash help freeze him in action.

This next shot of the cascading stream is very easy shot to get. You do not have to go very far sometimes to get great shots that look like they're in the middle of the wilderness. Although this is in the mountains of Oregon, this beautiful creek which had lots of wildflowers in other years is right next to an old rock quarry. It's not in the middle of the wilderness. I asked her to hold real still in shot at half a second to get the nice pouring water.

About six years ago I had an assignment to shoot a rafting company floating down the Colorado River through Cataract Canyon in Utah. In the evenings they would circle all the chairs in camp for some great chat time. Here, I am up on the rocks and I based my exposure on the foreground area where the gathering is taking place. This would have made the sky and the sunlit rocks blow out and become white. So I chose to use a Cokin tobacco graduated filter and it brought the sky down nicely. What I love about digital photography now is that I can create the same affect without the filter spilling into the shadowed areas of the rock and thus looking more believable. I guess I need to go rafting again so I can do just that.

I love to put flash in a tent at dusk. They took this shot last year while in Joshua Tree National Park in California. A lot of the time when I am out exploring for photographs or just walking around I'll find a spot that looks suitable for a tent shot like this and I will set it up and planted anything it's. It's very simply done. Just attach the flash to a wireless trigger and then test for the tent exposure and once you determine that bracket only your shutter speed for lighter or darker areas where there is no flash.

This kayaking photo was actually an assignment as well for an advertisement to run in magazines. Here I dislike it where the kayaker the foreground is running behind me and partly out of focus but he frames mom and the kids in the background quite nicely and it worked very well.

This shot of the guy on top of the mountain with his ice ax was a very good seller for me for many years. I shot it in the very early 80s and it sold very well throughout the 1980s. The problem now is nobody goes climbing in Levi jeans and plaid shirts. But it was framed and composed nicely and was on the cover of many publications.

Here's a shot that is also extremely simple and has been published numerous times. We are scrambling on the rocks in an area called the buttermilk's in the Eastern Sierra of California. The sun is now setting behind the mountains and turned the foreground where we were into shadow but the light is still hitting the desert mountains across the Valley. So it makes a perfect silhouette location. And she is placed in one of those compositional hotspots that we learned back in photo 101.

Anyway, adventure sports is really fun whether you are participating in this activity or observing it and photographing it while it happens.
August 03, 2008
8:45
Shooting the Oregon Coast
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Geeezz, I am slammed and finding the time to post has been tough this month. But as most commercial photographers know, it will slow down at some point. It always does. I just wrapped up my Oregon Coast Digital Workshop and what a blast! I very well had the best group ever. They were enthusiastic and eager to learn and do lots of shooting.

We had fabulous weather: mostly sun and one afternoon of rain and that is it. That is great for the Oregon Coast by the way. We also had two foggy mornings at the Charleston boat harbor which makes perfect conditions for shooting. As I always do in these Art of Digital workshops, we cover photo 101, masking, ACR, optimization, and for fun, some HDR. The boat harbors are great for that technique.

The opening image is the boat harbor and it is the Photomerge collage technique mentioned in a previous post. I then HDR'd it using a program that one student introduced me to. It is ReDynamix by Media Chance and is a Photoshop plugin. Most of these images were created using ReDynamix and its HDR effect, which should really be called the Grunge look using HDR techniques.

You can hardly go wrong with the price, they only want $16 for the plugin. The biggest problem is it only works on 8 bit images and that is a big minus. I played long and hard with it and my opinion is mixed. While is does give a good Grunge look and easily, about the time you start getting that look the noise jumps in. And continuing to push harder gives even more noise to the point of being unusable. I have tried variations of Noise Ninja to attempt to control it and will continue to experiment more.

This image from Bandon where we shot the sunset, uses a favorite technique I like. The idea here is to stop all the way down for the longest exposure and then the waves blur. I generally like to do this 30 minutes to more than hour after sunset. I like the shutter to be open for 30 seconds to allow the water to blur a lot. Here I am at 1/8th second at f22. I open the image in ACR and optimized the image, then made another dodge burn layer and lightened the edges of the waves that essentially are white in the sunlight.

I was very attracted to this float on the bow of this boat and pointed it to my students. Here I used ReDynamix pushing the sliders for 'the look'.

One problem with HDR techniques is the noise that is created in the sky when you start pushing the technique. In this image using ReDyanamix, the sky very quickly goes noisy. One solution I use, although not with this image, is to mask in a separate sky. So I shoot a separate sky and then blend them in layers and each image is processed differently in the software to reduce the noise.

I'm thinking this is an old winch off a fishing trawler and has been sitting here a long time. It is totally rusted out. I found this at the back of someones back yard while scouting for the workshop and stopped and had to shoot it. I used Photomatix for the grunge look, had to do some burning and dodging and sharpening for the final look.

I had not seen this turquoise and blue fishing net before and this big pile made for a great and colorful shot.

This lighthouse was shot with a 15 mm fisheye and I also used the HDR look for it. It got noisy quick so I had to back off. I then added the optimized RAW file and stacked it on top and painted back in some of the lighthouse to look normal. Then used Transform> Skew and some Liquify to straighten the lighthouse which suffered from the fisheye look.

I loved the back of this boat and pointed it to my students as well. A rusting, rotting hulk of a fishing trawler with moss and grass growing on the wooden deck. How could the owner let it literally rot away? It made a great subject!

So it was a great week at the coast with some great people and some fun images to play with on the computer. But now, I am off to a month of great assignments. Stay tuned!
July 26, 2008
7:58
Photoshop's Photomerge
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Stitching panoramas and multi-image composites has never been easier. The Photomerge feature in Photoshop CS3 has made this a piece of cake. In fact, the days of carefully leveling the camera, nodal points, and extensive stitching are over, at least for me. Of course, this news is not new as this feature has been well covered since the release.

What I have been having fun with is moving beyond traditional panoramas that are wide and narrow and instead creating panoramic collages. This image is Broken Arch in Arches NP, Utah. It is shot at sunrise and was taken during one of my workshops there.

The image not only goes left and right as far as individual frames, but also includes looking up and down across the field of view. Read on to see the PS layers.

When I am shooting this I am not shooting a leveled camera so that I have in essence, 3 across the top row, 3 across the middle row, and 3 across the bottom row. You certainly can shoot that way and you end up with roughly a square image. Instead, I am basically just shooting (in many cases, hand held) to make sure I am overlapping each frame. I try to overlap about 20% between each image capture generally. But with this hand held technique it is tough to be super precise.

So I start at one of the pano and start snapping, then raising the camera up and cpature above that first capture, then drop down below the first camera position. Then I move to the middle area and shoot more, but here I may begin to skew the camera angle meaning I am purposely not keeping the camera levl and may actually rotate it slightly.

In this image was I started on the left and then captured more frames raising the camera and lowering it and rotating it some in others. It is distorted substantially because of the 17 mm lens I used really enlarged the foreground and right side of the frame.

I then open all these frames in Adobe Camera RAW and make a few adjustments and then hit Synchronize to apply it to all of them. Then I open the Photomerge tool to create the composite. The cool thing about Photomerge is that is will blend, align, and even change perspective to 'collage' these frames together. Once you hit OK the files are composited and PS creates masks that show and hide parts of the image. What has also worked pretty neat is that you never know what you will get as the process is pretty random in regards to what it shows and what it hides and especially the perspective and how the changes are unpredictable.

I do not know if I have any commercial clients that would ever want anything like this, but you just never know. I could play all day with these fun and experimental techniques, but I got a studio and business to run! Gotta get to work.
July 24, 2008
21:52
Architectural Interiors and Photomatix: Pt 2
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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A few weeks back I posted about architectural interiors using Photomatix and if using it could replace the lighting of interiors and shooting with traditional methods. Although I believe that most interiors certainly benefit from artificial light to accent the interiors, there may be times when using lights are not an option.

Shortly after that post I received an assignment where adding lighting was not possible. My client builds a variety of projects in hospitals and other commercial projects and they needed pictures of a hospital and another medical clinic. These facilities were fully functioning with staff and patients and the thought of using lights was to much of a distraction and interference.

I love to light! I enjoy the challenge of using supplemental lighting to enhance and improve the scenes, no matter what they are. I think we as photographers and creative pros can do amazing things with lighting and we also have an obligation to do just that for our clients.

Some projects we are presented will require us to use other means to achieve the best result when we can do it the way we want. The clients expect us to be problem solvers. So here I am with this client; they have never used a pro shooter before, have no clue what goes into great interior photography, and want to spend as little as possible.

I was successful at convincing them that pro photographers are worth the cost and had the examples to show them the before and after, convincing them that they could not do this themselves.

I asked if we could use lights. They called the facilities and the answer was NO. Fortunately I have been using Photomatix for the last year and a half or so and my buddy at Chromasia guided me through the early stages. Well, this was clearly the answer for this assignment.

This is one of many images from that day and and shows the before and after. I will post more as I get them processed (still waiting for client decisions). It took 11 exposures to create this shot because that was the range between open shadows and the highlight from that ceiling fixture. I then took the image in PS and set black and white points, adjusted color balance, and tweaked curves. It still needs a little more work, but this is close to complete. Photomatix is clearly worth mastering!
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July 14, 2008
16:03
Stock photographs exists everywhere!
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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It was my buddies birthday on Saturday and his wife threw a big party: it was Casino Night. They rented all the stuff to throw a gambling party, ordered a big barrel of beer, and lots of fabulous snacks. It was a great time!

As a pro shooter, I am always on the lookout for a great stock shot when out and about with my pro gear and as such, I am working. After work I never touched a camera no matter where I was. But since I bought the Nikon Coolpix P5100 last spring after teaching alongside Joe McNally, David Hobby, Chase Jarvis, Bobbi Lane, and other fabulous folks, I carry it with me everywhere and it has opened my eyes to looking for everyday snaps of life around me.

Stock photography has transitioned immensely since I got into it 30 years ago and today's look is a lot more like snapshots. Less stylized, less setup, and more real people doing real things. So having a camera that fits in the pocket and is 12 mega pixels makes the whole approach to stock a different animal.

My nephews birthday is coming up and he'll have a cake and blow out the candles. I shot a big production of this exact subject years ago. It was a major production, but I believe in today's stock photo market the happy snap from the family party will sell better. 10 mega pixels is about the minimum for today's agencies, so the Coolpix produces just enough resolution for a marketable images.

Back at casino night, I lost all my money (Monopoly) as usual, but got a few nice shots of the food and gambling.
June 30, 2008
7:59
Must Read Book: Learn photographic lighting
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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As a teacher of photographic lighting, here is a book that I can highly recommend on photographic lighting. Lighting: Science & Magic is an excellent resource for those learning the fundamentals of lighting. This book is not packed with great shots by great photographers, but instead is an excellent resource for understanding lighting and the physics behind it.

The authors dig deep into looking at light angles, reflections (would you believe there are different types of reflections) and contrast, polarization, lighting styles and much more. A definite must read if you are looking for a thorough understanding of lighting and how it works for your photography.
June 27, 2008
7:59
Looking for some fun with flash? Visit Strobist!
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Certainly if you are a big flash user and especially wireless flash, you know of my friend David Hobby's site, Strobist.com. It's loaded with great tutorials and insights and David seems to have the ability to scan the universe and find some fabulous people doing fabulous things with flash. Now for a really great, innovative, and interesting use of flash, visit Strobist and watch this video. I visit David's site daily and take no credit for this discovery, just want to pass along the link. You gotta see it!
June 25, 2008
7:59
Learn how to Light on Location
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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If you are a commercial photographer, maybe starting out, and need some additional instruction in location lighting, then check out my new class at the Perfect Picture School of Photography called Secrets to Lighting on Location. The program will cover Corporate and Industrial Photography, Architectural Interiors, Portraits on Location, and there is a bonus lesson on color manging your light. Check it out!
June 24, 2008
7:59
Old homestead shot in HDR: new book on HDR
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Can you do high dynamic range photography in low dynamic range or rather low contrast scenes? Absolutely and it can produce some fun and exciting results. In low contrast scenes the range of highlights with detail and shadows with detail is relatively short and easily captured by the digital cameras sensor. In high contrast scenes, where HDR techniques are valuable, the contrast range between highlights with detail and shadows with detail is greater the the cameras sensors ability to capture. I am enjoying using HDR techniques in all my shooting and really enjoy using if in low contrast scenes.

This image was captured when I was returning from Utah after teaching a workshop. Out is southeast Oregon, where it is desolate and windswept, is this old homestead/ranch just off the highway. I have driven by here many times as this is the fastest route from my home in Oregon to the southwest regions. I have passed by it every time, thinking I need to stop and shoot, but haven't because of light conditions. That is until this trip.

As I was driving by this time it was snowing lightly and it seemed the right conditions to shoot today. As I was shooting the snowing became a blizzard, but I kept shooting until I and all my gear was starting to get seriously wet. I shot the scenes as Photomatix recommends: -2, N, +2 and then headed home.

I opened both of these images in Photomatix and processed them to taste as PM is designed to do. Open the images and slide the sliders. I can tell you that I usually have Strength at 100, Color Sat at 50 - 100 depending on the strength and vibrancy of the colors to start. Luminosity 5 - 10 leaning towards 10. Light smoothing at the middle usually so I don't get to weird of effect. Microcontrast all the way right with as little microsmoothing as possible. I also send White point and Black point up to the middle or close depending on the image.

Here you can see the image as it came out of Photomatix. Skies are difficult to maintain as they halo and get noise very quickly. Here you can see the noise and the out of focus snowflakes create big dark blobs as well as the dirt on the sensor is magnified.

So the key for me is to put in another sky. The intro image was a set of clouds from my cloud file for use in images just like this. It looks cool but are not snow clouds (who cares) so I opened the original RAW file of the -2 exposure, processed it in ACR, and masked it in as seen here. This looks real.

Here is another that was run through HDR and processed in a totally different way in the tone mapping. More extreme white and black points and the original color saturation settings provided this sepia tone look.

For more on HDR visit our friends at Chromasia.

Looking for a book on HDR? Michael Freeman is well known photographer and author of many books and he has a new book on HDR: Mastering HDR that came out a couple months ago. Check it out!
June 21, 2008
7:59
Photomatix HDR & Architectural Interiors: The Dream Team?
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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HDR is one of the hottest techniques out there right now. Photographers are flocking to this software to create High Dynamic Range images for a variety of uses from illustrative street photography, unusual portraits, and for architectural interiors. Photomatix seems to be the most popular and widely used, but don't overlook FDR Tools as well.

I was just perusing the net looking at my favorite sites while reading up and looking at others images, when I came across a post about HDR. The posting was generally about shooting interiors and using HDR. One person commented on the post about how excited he was that "he would not have to light anymore interiors". This got me thinking! How can HDR eliminate the need to light when lighting shapes our subjects, shows contours, textures, light and dark, creating highlights and shadows? This does not make sense.

Let me explain and show some examples:

In architectural interior photography, we use lights to bring up the brightness levels of the darker areas AND to create highlights and shadows that SCULPT our interiors with light.

HDR does not do that! I do see it as a powerful tool for increasing dynamic range, but not as a tool to replace lighting. Ideally it would be a tool that could enhance our images that were lit and shot with lighting.

Now if you look at the top image it looks quite good. Detail throughout the image in both shadows and highlights and nicely saturated colors. This looks like it did when I was there. However, if you look at the pillars on each side of the lobby there is no shape to them and they look flat. These need light on them as well as many other areas in the scene that are flat. HDR cannot create directional light where there isn't any.

In my opinion this scene needs HDR and lighting and I would choose to shoot it for HDR then light the scene for the highlights and shadows and bring them all together in PS.

This image shows what I think is a much more appealing look with highlights running along each column and looking like the room was lit. I did this in PS and even though it looks better, there are still areas that should have light on them and don't. This would be much easier to create believably on location with lights.

If you want to learn more about HDR check out our friends at Chromasia.
June 18, 2008
10:51
Nikon 500 mm F4 EDIF lens for sale!
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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SORRY BUT IT SOLD!

I have a 500mm Nikon F4 EDIF P series lens for sale. It is in mint condition and it is a P series meaning it has a chip in it and is compatible with many Nikon digital bodies.

Read more and additional stuff for sale: I know you have heard it before and are thinking "yea, right!" but I have used this lens maybe 12 times. I switched to Canon more than 10 years ago so I dont take this lens with me anywhere and haven't. I kept my F3 to use this lens with, but here again, I have not shot film for several years and when I did it was not with this lens.

I wanted this lens for most of my career and then when i got it I never used it. I am not a wildlife photographer. Anyway, it is in mint condition, has the hard case and a few filters. If you are interested or want to buy it, I will guarantee that it is mint condition. Many of you know me and know my word. I am asking $2700 plus shipping. Email for details and sale conditions. charlie@borlandphoto.com

I also have a couple other items;

1 Quantum Radio Slave D Channel Receiver
1 Polaroid Back for Canon EOS 1 NEW
NPC Polaroid Back for Hassleblad CM

Make Offers!
9:26
Photographing the Oregon Coast
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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One of the most popular places to photograph among nature photographers is the Oregon Coast and it is also one of the best places to conduct a photo workshop. There are lighthouses, rocky shorelines, massive sand dunes, forest, tide pools, and much, much more. Above is an image of the Cape Arago Lighthouse. This lighthouse is no longer illuminated at night, but is still very photogenic. Here I photographed it with about a 30 second exposure and then opened the image in PS and added the beam of light and the windows and a few others retouched to make it a moodier shot. I would like to show you how to do this! The area has so much to offer, what better location to hold my workshop: The Art of Digital Nature Photography: Oregon Coast at the end of July.

Our group will be based in Coos Bay, Oregon and from there we branch out and head for the sea stacks at Bandon, the old boat harbor in Charleston, the rocky headlands of Cape Arago, and much more. The idea behind this workshop is to show the power of digital photography and Photoshop together in nature photography.

Read on for more photos and 'how I did it'.

The course will cover digital photography, how the camera works, composition, lighting, depth of field, B&W conversions like this image, lightening and darkening images, or what we used to call burning and dodging in the traditional darkroom of the 'olden days'. Also covered is masking, blending of multiple exposures, HDR, and much more. It is designed for the beginner and also has plenty for the advanced photographer as well. And it is a fabulous time!

This image here shows the beautiful creatures on the side of a huge rock in Bandon. Here I opened the image in PS and adjusted the curves and Hue Saturation.

This image is a B&W conversion in PS and I wanted some negative space and that is the reason the rock is black. It makes for a powerful statement and strong compositional element. I used Channel Mixer to create the B&W conversion in this image, but currently am using the B&W Adjustment Layer that is new in CS3.

And the boat harbor is one of the favorite places to shoot. In this image I just adjusted the Curves for more contrast in the flat light and then used a mild Hue/Sat adjustment to pump the color a little. Last years workshop was a huge success and some of the best weather you can get at the coast. We had misty mornings, gorges sunsets, a tiny bit of drizzle one day, and great mild coastal weather.

Interested in the workshop? There are only two spots left.
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June 16, 2008
9:00
The power of Adobe Camera Raw-Amazing!
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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What does your digital workflow really look like? If you are a busy shooter like me, you undoubtedly have a basket, drawer, or something loaded with DVD's of your personal work, waiting to be processed. I not only have a huge basket full of DVD's, but two 300 gig hard drives patiently waiting for my attention.

It is really not that bad because since I have no urgent need for those photos and prefer to process them leisurely rather than urgently. I go through the folders and pick at least one image a day to process and this is today's image.

It is from one of my favorite places to shoot, Death Valley, and is across the road from Devil's Golf Course. I was teaching a workshop with my dear friend Brenda Tharp and we spent the morning with our group photographing the golf course. When we were about to wrap up our morning, I was in the parking lot with a few students when I spied this view about a mile away. I call them the Neapolitan Hills because they remind me of a bowl of different flavor ice cream with some various syrups poured on top.

I'll show you how I did it:

I attached my 300mm to my Canon 5D and aimed it the hills. I shot various sections of the scene and then also made sure I overlapped a few frames to make a panoramic image.

These files have sat on the hard drive for 6 months and the reason is that when I looked at the thumbnails of the images, they looked very flat and boring like this one pictured. I was not inspired! However, today I needed a challenge and decided to look for an image that can be rescued and here it is.

I opened the image in ACR and first went to the curves dialog where you can see a very flat image with all the data compressed in the middle. I needed to pull the shadow areas closer to black and the lighter areas closer to white. I selected and pulled the black anchor point in closer to the black area of the curve, then did the same pulling in the highlight anchor point.

I next went back to the Basic panel and adjusted the WB to 8000 to reduce the blue/gray cast that was prevalent. I also slid the Black slider up to almost the middle while watching the histogram to make sure I did not go to far. I also considered the fact that there really was not a black in the scene so I did not move the slider to far. I next bumped up the brightness and contrast a little, added some Clarity, and some Vibrance and Saturation. Here I am "sliding to taste" or until I like the image.

I then selected the HSL panel in ACR and slid the sliders for almost all the colors to the right slightly to increase the saturation.

I then opened up two more images that were the left and right of the first image and when they opened in ACR I selected the Previous Conversion from the drop down menu on ACR and processed them with the same settings as the first image so they matched. Finally, I opened Photomerge in Photoshop and selected these three images and stitched them together.

Digital RAW files and Photoshop......truly amazing!
9:00
The power of Adobe Camera Raw-Amazing!
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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What does your digital workflow really look like? If you are a busy shooter like me, you undoubtedly have a basket, drawer, or something loaded with DVD's of your personal work, waiting to be processed. I not only have a huge basket full of DVD's, but two 300 gig hard drives patiently waiting for my attention.

It is really not that bad because since I have no urgent need for those photos and prefer to process them leisurely rather than urgently. I go through the folders and pick at least one image a day to process and this is today's image.

It is from one of my favorite places to shoot, Death Valley, and is across the road from Devil's Golf Course. I was teaching a workshop with my dear friend Brenda Tharp and we spent the morning with our group photographing the golf course. When we were about to wrap up our morning, I was in the parking lot with a few students when I spied this view about a mile away. I call them the Neapolitan Hills because they remind me of a bowl of different flavor ice cream with some various syrups poured on top.

I attached my 300mm to my Canon 5D and aimed it the hills. I shot various sections of the scene and then also made sure I overlapped a few frames to make a panoramic image.

These files have sat on the hard drive for 6 months and the reason is that when I looked at the thumbnails of the images, they looked very flat and boring like this one pictured. I was not inspired! However, today I needed a challenge and decided to look for an image that can be rescued and here it is.

I opened the image in ACR and first went to the curves dialog where you can see a very flat image with all the data compressed in the middle. I needed to pull the shadow areas closer to black and the lighter areas closer to white. I selected and pulled the black anchor point in closer to the black area of the curve, then did the same pulling in the highlight anchor point.

I next went back to the Basic panel and adjusted the WB to 8000 to reduce the blue/gray cast that was prevalent. I also slid the Black slider up to almost the middle while watching the histogram to make sure I did not go to far. I also considered the fact that there really was not a black in the scene so I did not move the slider to far. I next bumped up the brightness and contrast a little, added some Clarity, and some Vibrance and Saturation. Here I am "sliding to taste" or until I like the image.

I then selected the HSL panel in ACR and slid the sliders for almost all the colors to the right slightly to increase the saturation.

I then opened up two more images that were the left and right of the first image and when they opened in ACR I selected the Previous Conversion from the drop down menu on ACR and processed them with the same settings as the first image so they matched. Finally, I opened Photomerge in Photoshop and selected these three images and stitched them together.

Digital RAW files and Photoshop......truly amazing!
June 15, 2008
8:00
Subaru is looking for car photographers.
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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If you have an interest in shooting cars, Subaru is looking for car photographers and is holding an open competition to find the winner. This is actually a photo contest where there is a winner and the website is quite cool. It is totally interactive where you choose the camera angle, the position of the sumo wrestler, and then can click the shutter.

There is a lightbox where you can open your images and retouch them. It is complete with audio of the studio workers and the photographer directing. The prizes are nice with lots of camera gear for prizes. Unfortunately this is open only to the great photographers of our northern neighbor, Canada, but the website is still fun to play with.

You have until September to git 'r shot! Check it out: http://www.sexysubaru.ca/
June 14, 2008
8:00
Must have book: Joe McNally's-The Moment it Clicks
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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There are many ways to learn photographic lighting and a lot of different lighting styles and approaches among photographers. Joe McNally is one of those lighting masters and in his new book, The Moment it Clicks, Joe takes you on a journey into the mind, philosophy, and photographic technique of one of today's leading photojournalists.

As a teacher of photographic lighting myself, I am inspired none the less by Joe's fascinating approach to lighting and the concepts behind the photos. He shares not only the lighting approach, but also what was behind the photo and why.

This is a must read for anyone interested in the work of a true master and techniques behind the images.
June 13, 2008
8:48
It's Friday the 13th! Do you feel lucky today?
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Today is Friday the 13th and as superstition has it, today is the unluckiest day of the year, or so we are led to believe. So what is it about Friday the 13th that makes for all this suspicion and lore? Of course we have the slasher movies depicting some unlucky souls having a bad day, but where did it really come from?

Well there are many stories and legends professing the truth about the origins that would require some extensive research, so the answers wont come from me. What few things I did find was that it originates from ancient times. And a British study was done in 1993 found that said there was a dramatic increase in car accidents on Friday the 13th over 'normal' Fridays.

Dr. Donald Dossey, a Psychotherapist says that an estimated 21 million Americans may suffer from the Friday the 13th phobia. They wont go out and eat at restaurants, drive their cars, or even get married on that day.

It gets more interesting, keep reading:

But wait, there is more. Some cities do not have a 13th street, the one supposedly between 12th and 14th. (No wonder I could never find that place.) If you have 13 letters in your name you may be evil. (Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy). Some buildings do not have the 13th floor.

It is said that the ancient Egyptians viewed life as a spiritual ascension that went in 12 stages in life and a 13th stage was beyond that and considered the afterlife. This means the number 13 symbolized death! Aaahhh..............

I needed more, so I used my Lightroom search feature to scan my photo files for a image taken on the 13th day of any month and then determined if it was a Friday. I found this image as appropriate for the day.

It is from Bannack, Montana where I was shooting the cool historic buildings. I had entered this old house and crept slowly among the creaking floors looking for good photo ops. Was my presence known? I found this room and shot it.

I snapped a bunch of frames, bracketing wildly to capture all the details. When I enlarged it on the LCD to check the shot, there was this image of a ghostly apparition standing between the two windows. I was aghast to see this figure....it was me! My eyes appear as though they had been gouged out and I appeared pregnant. Could it be with alien child?

I ran from the house with camera and tripod in hand, only to trip on the old steps and go down, breaking the lens shade off the lens. Brushing off dust and spitting out the dirt, I continued running back to my RV to share this with my wife, but she was gone. Where to I feared. I quickly downloaded the files and there was the image again. Terrified, I tried to erase the file from the hard drive, but the computer froze. Panicked, I dashed out of the RV and jumped in the truck and there was my wife, sitting in the drivers seat, wild eyed and waiting for me. We sped off on the most unlucky day of my life.

NOT! Yep, if you believe that I got something else to sell ya, but I sure enjoy spinning a tale occasionally. Actually I cannot think of any unlucky events on any Friday the 13th. As far as this image, it was shot on August the 30th, 2007, a Thursday.

In my quest to continue experimenting, I actually bracketed this image for HDR to bring in an exposure for the outside of the windows. Then I had an idea and it was to stand in for one series of the bracketed exposures. I set the self timer and jumped in.

When I returned to the computer I opened Photomatix and for the three files I was about to process, I replaced the first normal exposure with the normal exposure having me in it. This meant two of the exposures did not have me in it and one did. I processed these normally in Photomatix and this image is the result. It makes for a ghostly transparent figure with parts of the background showing through. It is fun to experiment so go push the envelope. You might create something that sells, making it your lucky day!
June 12, 2008
11:32
Photographing Hollywood Stars
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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I am not actually a photographer to the Hollywood stars, but am thrilled to see a beautiful young woman I used as a model 10 years has made it in Hollywood. Katee Sackoff, who went to high school in a Portland suburb, was a model I used several times for stock photo shoots using teens. She is now the leading star on Battlestar Gallactica and rumor is she is heading for Nip Tuck in the fall.

Katee was wrapping up high school when I used her and several friends to do a stock photo shoot that was based on the concept of teens and teen life. We shot them hanging out, in the city, on the phone, and a ton more.

I also built a set in the studio to look like a bedroom and you can see that here in this shot. Why build a set? Because most real bedrooms in most homes are small and barely have room to light the way i like as well as the depth of the set allows better depth of field. Here you can see the rear wall is out of focus because the distance is there when shooting wide open to give that look. This was a great setup to photograph her and her friends being teens and my stock agency loved the shots.

Congratulations Katee!
June 08, 2008
16:53
So you think you can dance?
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Photographing theater, stage, or concerts has it share of technical challenges. Last night I attended my daughter’s high school dance recital and I took my Nikon Coolpix P5100 to essentially play with and see what I could capture.

There were a number of inherent challenges with the whole scenario. The lighting on stage was very contrasty and low in brightness as expected. The black rear curtain fooled the camera meter and as you can see when Aperture Priority was used, there was faint detail in the curtain and the dancers are blown out. So I quickly switched to Manual metering and tested for a better exposure for the highlights.
I tried exposures at ISO 100, 400, 800, 2000, and 3200 and each delivered different results. The ISO 100 produced some fun and creative blurry images because the shutter speed was 1/4 second. The ISO 3200 captured less movement but produced tremendous noise as expected. The ISO’s in between captured files with varying degrees of blurring movement.
Even at ISO 3200, I still had blurry images because at 3200 the exposure was 1/125^th @ F5.3. The Coolpix when zoomed to the longest telephoto setting has f5.6 as its widest aperture and this limited the shutter to 1/125^th. If I would have used my Canon 5D and 70-200 mm f2.8, then my exposure would have been closer to 1/250^th, f2.8, and a better ISO of 800.
All and all it was fun to experiment with and see what I could get. I am happy with these colorful and blurry images. The experience also demonstrated the challenges that commercial photographers specializing in concert and theater photography encounter.
June 02, 2008
8:00
Stock Photo Agency is looking for photographers.
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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If you are producing stock images and looking for an outlet, check out Blue Moon Stock. I chatted with these folks last year and the were cordial and seemed to have a solid plan in place.

That is the most important aspect of seeking a stock agency to represent your work. No matter the agency, try to get a feel for how solid their plan is, do they have startup funding if they are new to the biz, and what is the program details for their photographers.

Here is the submission page.
June 01, 2008
8:00
In My Opinion: The best case for carrying lights
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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I am often asked in my workshops and online classes; "what are the best cases for carrying all these lights". As you may know there are a lot of options out there and I have looked at many of them. There are soft cases and there are hard cases and of course, you cant test them all on a flight to an assignment.

I selected the hard Pelican 1650 case with padded dividers (#1654) and they have held up the bumping and bruising that the airlines deliver for close to 12 years. Within each case I can carry 5 White Lightning strobes, the cords, reflector, grids, small three-way plugs, extra modeling lights and flash tubes. (Once again, Amazon has a killer price as usual.)

What about weight? I have heard this question before and the big concern is the airlines. (You should also be concerned about your back and lifting these.) When I started flying on assignment to shoot annual reports and other assignments, you could check 3 bags at 70 lbs. each. Then it was two and then it was 50 pounds and then it was one bag at 50 lbs. and now: you have to pay for each bag.

Even with my small White Lightning units, I am close to 50 lbs most of the time and occasionally I am over the weight limit. In fact I think no matter what cases are used; soft or hard, and normal sized strobes are packed in them, they will be over 50 lbs or awful close.

I used to dread going to the airport with the 5-6 large cases I usually flew with because of the weight issues and extra bag charges, but soon realized that the trends were not going in our favor so I quit worrying about it and pay the fees.

You will have to tell your clients that the fees are there and that I will add them to my invoice and they will have to pay them. The cost of doing business today is getting higher and higher and doesn't appear to be slowing down. Your clients have to understand!

By the way, for my stands, umbrellas and light boxes, I pack them into SKB Golf Cases. These are hard sided and fly well on the airlines. Be sure though, that you duct tape each latch because if they pop open by mistake, they get ripped off the side of the case. TSA can still remove the tape to inspect them.

Also, remove your modeling lamp from the strobe unit and warp in bubble wrap before flying. The air travel seems to rattle the filaments into breaking.

Safe travels!
May 31, 2008
8:00
Lifes a Beach: Go photograph with your kids.
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Commercial photography is a lifestyle, not a job! If your business keeps you busy photographing on assignment or for stock, when the weekend comes around picking up the camera is often a chore. My former studio manager became a massage therapist a few years ago and I once asked her husband if he got a lot of massages and the his reply was a smile and rolling of the eye. Our business is our work!

For years I rarely picked up a camera unless it was business related or traveling to shoot stock and I always felt a little guilt for never photographing great events like my kids, leaving that 'job' to my wife whom I bought a point and shoot. What a mistake, now that my son is in college and daughter soon wraps up high school.

However, it is never to late to redeem ones self as I have re-discovered the joy of 'snapping pictures', something I teach my students to not do when critiquing their images. Obviously there is a difference when snapping pictures for fun and and creating images for business in which they turn out like snapshots. There is a clear difference between snapping pictures and building photographs and each purpose is clearly different.

On my road to redemption, I recently purchased the coolest point and shoot camera: the Nikon Coolpix P5100. After chatting with Joe McNally a month ago about the one he had, I ran out and bought one. I love the fact I can carry it in my pocket, it is easy to operate, AND it is 12 mp-more resolution than my backup Canon 40D! My only regret is that i did not buy it at Amazon where I would have saved $100.00 on the price.

My kids are mostly grown and if you have teens you know that they are beginning their own lives and rarely have time for you. Maybe its payback for the many times that my photography business took valuable time away from them.

I was fortunate last weekend to yank my daughter away from her teen activities and head for a night at the beach with me in Seaside, Oregon. Seaside is our hot spot on the coast and the spring break capitol of Oregon. It's a fun spot with rides, aquarium, seafood, kite flying, and our famously clean beaches. My daughter is a star in her high schools photo program (I had nothing to do with it) and she loves photography! She is in her second year in the photo department which incidentally is run by one of my assistants from 20 years ago. They spend a lot of time developing B&W film and printing under the enlargers, something I haven't touched in 15 years. I kinda miss it! This year it was beginning digital so she has plenty need for my old Olympus 20N.
We lucked out with great weather while snapping away at the colors, textures, water and rocks, moving rides, and each other. We talked techniques, drank lattes, had some ice cream, ate a bowl of clam chowder later and then visited the aquarium. It was great fun. I cant wait until we can break away again

If you think you have all the time in the world, you really don't. Go photograph with your kids!

Photo Notes:
All shot with the Coolpix.

Bumper cars:I used the Coolpix to shoot three bracketed exposures (+2, -2, N) of the bumper cars and then used Photomatix to generate and tone map them. If you want to know more about this technique, visit Ben Willmore and his new DVD.

The merry-go-round and the Seaside panorama were shot in multiple frames and then stitched using Photomerge in Photoshop CS3. Truly amazing!

The handsome fish is a wolf eel. Beauty is in eye of the beholder!
May 30, 2008
12:11
Photographing Simple Business Portraits
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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There is a lot of work out there for photographing business portraits. In fact it seems in this economy that there is more portrait work than everything else combined. Each photographer has there own techniques for lighting and mine has certainly evolved. My portrait training came from schooling at Brooks Institute and the portrait program there was very classical. Rigid poses and lots of light.

When it comes to business portraits today, the look is different and I have evolved my lighting style as such. This portrait is your basic business head shot. The client will post these on their site, maybe a brochure, or email a file to a publication. When shooting this type of portrait you may be asked to shoot one person or the staff, but rarely do I have or need more than 10 minutes for a portrait like this.

I like the look I get with two lights: a large light box, reflector panel, and background light. Simple! You just have to make sure that the lights are balanced meaning one is not to much brighter than the other causing the eye to get confused. The star of the photo is the businessman, so he needs to be the brightest with the background being a supporting light.
May 29, 2008
10:45
Industrial Photography and Photoshop: A match made in heaven!
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Photographing industrial locations as always provides plenty of challenges. Often locations are huge, meaning you cannot own enough lights to light them entirely and must use ambient light. You have color shifts from sodium vapor lights or other sources, and if you have moving parts, it is pretty well known that on ‘photo day’, if it can break it will.
When on assignment, assume that if something can go wrong it will and you need to be the hero and brainstorm your plan for the shoot when it does go wrong. Let me explain:

I had an assignment awhile back in NY to shoot this new machine for a longtime client. The machine extruded glowing red-hot pipe and the client had bought the machine used on the market. I had been talking with them for months as to when the machine would be ready and we could come and shoot. We waited months for it to be ready.

We fly out and arrive to shoot the image which will be the cover of the company annual report. I spend about an hour looking for the angle to get the image and then start to setup. I had my assistant start placing lights where I asked and the machine operators began production. The machine was to operate all day and we had all day to get several angles of the process.

As soon as the machine began running I started shooting test shots and lots of them. I would have my assistant continue to move and add lights where needed and I shot tests of the machine and glowing pipe. As I tested we kept fine tuning the lighting. THEN THE MACHINE BROKE! Oil was pouring out all over and we soon found that the machine was to be down for days. Oh #*&%#@* I thought. I had not shot the complete image suitable for the annual report.

The client was spending about $10,000 for us to be here one day to get the shot. Everything was running through my head: “Should we stay a couple days?” “Will it be fixed tomorrow?” and much more. I know this client would say pack up and come back and then he would hire a local photographer to shoot it later and live with the results, meaning the image would not have my ‘look’ that was present throughout the annual report and for which they were accustomed to.

Once my head cleared I got to thinking: I am shooting digital and Photoshop is my new best friend. I scrolled through the test shots and had plenty of glowing pipe. What I did not have was the perfectly lit machine and the guy who was supposed to be in the photo. With the machine down I was able to run around and place lights next to it and under it or wherever, places I could not due to safety issues when the machine was running. We got it lit nicely and then shot the machine. Since the operator was helping with repairs, we added him for one more shot.

In this first image you can see a test shot showing the angle in the ambient light and before we set up. Of course we had to color manage the shot for the mixed light sources and did that first.

When the machine began to run I then shot a lot of images and including this one to determine the best exposure for the glowing pipe.
We waited over 2 hours for them to use some heavy equipment to pull the machine apart and get out the pipe that was in there when it broke down. We then moved in our lights and lit the machine and background.
Next, the guy moved in who was to be in the shot and captured a variety of poses.
Here is the composited photo the client put together and how it was used on the cover. The machine, the pipe, the operator! Photoshop is my best friend! And the client was pleased that I came back with all the elements required to create the composite photo.

When you are shooting a large process photo, assume the worst and get the elements you have no control over captured first, and then set up the lighting. If all goes well, you will have the pipe and operator all in one image capture.

For lighting I used 8 lights: One off to the left hitting the front of the machine where the pipe comes out. Two in back right with a blue gel to light the ceiling area and far right corner, another over there hitting the front of the operator’s booth. Another near the camera lighting the front of the pipes on the cooling table while another far right lighting the back of the operator and this side of the machine and one inside the operators booth.
May 25, 2008
8:10
Contribute to TCP
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Do you have something you wish to share with the readers of TCP? We are interested in publishing short pieces on other commercial photographers, articles on technique, Photoshop and photography, business and legal issue, assignments you have had, how you handled a job estimate or stock sale, and pretty much anything about commercial photography business that would interest working pros and aspiring photographers as well.

Email us your ideas: charlie@borlandphoto.com and mention TCP in the subject line.

Once we have received your inquiry we will determine whether it is suitable for posting on TCP. Please understand that we make no guarantees.
May 23, 2008
10:24
Selling Stock Photography: When to walk away.
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Pricing, negotiating, and selling a license for your stock photographs is an integral part of many commercial photographers business. Being successful at negotiating is a skill that many photographers have and many do not. We all want to make a sale and get top dollar for our photos. Lets face it, clients use our images to help them make money, so we should make money as well. My feeling is that if a client licenses the use of one of my images and makes $50 million as a result, I want a slice of the pie. This post is not about RF or RM or Microstock, I will save that for another post another day.

Several years ago I was hired by an ad agency to shoot the Camelbak catalogs. As I almost always do, I negotiated a usage fee based on 2 year usage and after that the images became available for stock photos. Then recently, one of our models from the shoot, a professional mountain biker, had referred me to a bike manufacturer who was now sponsoring him. Since the model was riding the companies bikes during the Camelbak shoot, they were looking for an image to be used in an ad. I gladly went through the shoot and selected numerous images that matched the clients criteria, prepared a PDF presentation and emailed that to the client.

A week later I got an email from the client saying they wanted to use one image and got the usual "How much!" questions. Since I base my prices on usage, I replied inquiring where would it run, how long, how big, and so on. I was told 2 mountain bike magazines, 1/2 page, 2 times each magazine.

I looked up the price in my pricing book by Jim Pickerall of Selling Stock and based on the magazines circulation, size, and so on, the usage fees was recommended around $2500.00 for the license fee to use the image. I sent the client an email and stated the price and how I derived it.

I got a reply and in a nutshell: "Clearly whoever publishes your guide does not understand the bike industry" and he offered "I will give you $700 for unlimited usage!"

My reply: "Last unlimited usage I licensed was $12,000 and this pricing guide represents what photographers in the business charge or consider fair pricing based on usage.

His reply: "Okay, forget the unlimited usage, how much for these uses?"

My reply: "I would love to work with you on this and am willing to drop the license fee to $2000 with a photo credit."

I dont view photo credits as having any value. The phone does not ring off the hook when you get a photo credit. It is a negotiating point and successful negotiating is the key to making sales. I will lower the price in exchange for the credit. Dont give anything away without asking for something back, even a worthless photo credit.

His reply: "That is way to much and I dont understand how you can say that is a fair or reasonable price. It's not worth it and I dont know why people pay that for a picture."

By now I figured there was no sale since I was not going to give away the shot.

My reply: "This is how I feed my family and plan to put my kid through college. If the price is out of your budget I understand. But speaking of value: why would anyone PAY $4500 for a bicycle?" (That was his average price.)

I walked away!

His reply: none!
What is the value of your work? Only you can decide, but I just sold this image AGAIN for $1500 full page catalog use. Why would anyone sell images as Microstock?
May 19, 2008
11:03
Wireless Flash Photography
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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I was sitting in a bar recently with new friend David Hobby and others from the Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai where we were all leading workshops a few weeks ago. We were discussing the usual: photography, business, technique, and all while taste testing the local 'focusing solutions'. I had been playing with my new Nikon Coolpix P5100 when I handed David my camera to shoot this picture. It was a bowl that was on the table for whatever reason, and he had turned it over and placed a SB800 flash inside, capturing this lovely portrait of me.

Flash photography is really fun! There are so many things you can do and like anything in photography, experimenting is the key. Here David placed the SB800 flash under the bowl and used Pocket Wizards to fire the SB800.

Experiment: place a flash behind a rock, inside a window that you are shooting from outside, inside a tent, or on a light stand to shoot a portrait. There are plenty of resources on the net to learn about wireless flash. I teach an online class: Electronic Flash: The Mystery Revealed at PPSOP and we touch on wireless flash. If wireless is a passion of yours, check out David's site Strobist. This is I am sure the largest online community and resource dedicated to wireless flash photography.
Here is my best selling stock photo. A tent with a flash in it and triggered wirelessly. I love shooting this way.
Another image from Grand Staircase-Escalante NM, Utah, where I teach a workshop each year. Here I placed the flash in the crack of some rocks and and used a orange lighting gel (Rosco) to color the light and then played in Photoshop with it.
Your imagination is the limit.
Play hard!
May 17, 2008
21:49
In My Opinion: Photography Usage Fees
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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When should you ask for photography usage fees for the use of images you have shot? First, i am not referring to stock photographs, rather images you have shot on assignment. Usage fees for stock photo images are a different ballgame. As a stock photographer, you produce images at your own expense (most of the time) and when someone wants to use or publish that image, you are paid a usage (aka, license fee) in exchange for the clients right to use the image(s). There are occasions when photographers shooting on assignment charge usage fees above and beyond the assignment or shooting fees. When should you charge these fees or actually, when CAN you charge usage fees?

I decided to write this post and give My Opinion on the subject after I was contacted by a former student of mine whom I will call 'Bob.' Bob took a commercial photography course from me last year. He is I believe in high tech and has a great paying job and job security, but his passion is photography and working as a pro is the mission he is on. As a part time educator, I am happy to help him. Bob has the motivation and passion to make it and he will, it will just take some time. He is doing all the right things from continuing to educate himself and to also study the business, attend ASMP meetings, and correspond with working pros.
Bob was thrilled when he got in touch with me a week ago. He had done some photography on spec for an area hotel and they liked the work so much they asked for an estimate to shoot the rest of the hotel. He was ecstatic! Bob worked up a bid based on all that he had learned and sent it to me for advice. Unfortunately I was overseas and could not reply before he sent it to the client. The client received his bid and pretty much said that the costs were out of their budget. Bob understandably was disappointed. When you are starting your photography business, all clients are good clients and you need each and everyone of them!
Bob based his estimate on what he has learned about the business from other pros and from the ASMP pdf Guide to Working with an Assignment Photographer. This is an excellent publication and a great guide for understanding business practices for assignment photographers. This publication gives an excellent overview of Usage Fees for images taken on assignment and other general business practices.
Bobs estimate was rejected due to the price. He had a $1200 per day shooting estimate which is competitive in many markets. He also was charging $250 per day for the use of his lights, $100 per day for a second digital camera for backup, meals, mileage, 1 day of travel @ $600, $2 for each digital image capture, and another $250 for image optimization. These assignment and misc fees totaled just under $3000. Then there is the quote for usage fees which based on the clients use of a lobby kiosk and the website was another $5000.
Bob has done everything right in his thinking of how to handle a project like this and the items he should be charging for. The problem is that this is not a reality for a client like this or in today's hyper-competitive markets. Let me say again: usage fees are a good thing and should be charged, but only when you have a client who expects to pay those, otherwise you quickly price yourself out of the assignment.
Like any business, no matter what it is, you must qualify your clients. Some clients will understand the concept behind usage fees and others will totally not get it. When I work the local markets I am often competing against a lot of photographers and I can guarantee that most of them will not charge usage fees just to get the job. When I work on a national account and get the assignment because they want me to do it, I start right off asking what the usage is going to be and I work up anywhere from an additional 50% to 200% above the assignment fees. I call it the big leagues and the clients in the big leagues understand usage fees. They pay you a creative fee (assignment fee) and then additional fees based on how the image will be used. A national campaign brings the client much more value from your creative work than a smaller or local campaign so fees will be higher.

So what types of clients can you charge usage for? I would say any client willing to agree and pay it. Now the hard part is determining who will pay it and who will not and I feel after 28 years in the biz, I have developed a good instinct on who I can bring the subject up with and whom I cannot. In this image here I was contacted by the owner of a venetian plaster business. The company had one employee, the self employed owner, and he decided to run an ad in a local homes magazine in a town of 50K. He called another photographer and got a day rate that was reasonable for the area, but a quote of several thousand more dollars in usage fees. The client called me. Here is a client who does not get it and rather than going and learning about usage, they call the next photographer. If the first photographer would have qualified the client he would have understood that this is a client is clueless to the concept of usage fees, and would have had the job.

Nike was a huge client of mine in the 90's and i shot about 1.2 million shoes for them (really rough guess), actually I just shot a lot of shoes until they opened their own in-house studio. Usage fees, at least while I was working for them, would not be considered in any form no matter what. I am not saying this is official policy, it is more that the photo director was looking for the best price. I am not talking about their ad campaigns shot through their ad agency, rather working client direct. The photo production line of shooting shoes. If I wanted the work, the images were theirs.

This tear sheet is from a shoot for a highly visible manufacturer of outdoor products. when I had my initial meeting with the ad agency, they told me right off the bat they wanted a 2 year usage. I gave them a quote to shoot the job and also a usage fee on top. No problem, they get it.
Renting your equipment or charging the client to use your camera and lights to shoot the job??? This is recommended by the pro organizations, yet I know very few photographers who can get away with this. If you need your car fixed, are you using that full service shop or are you considering the mechanic who needs to rent space and tools to fix your car? Remember: as much as we want to be paid for our creativity, we are in the service business and with all the competition, those who provide the best service for the best price are the ones to prosper.
I am by no means trashing the idea of usage fees, we need to charge for them when we can. The real point is the reality that they are not easy to get in today's market and you really have to qualify the client to determine if they understand and would pay it. Otherwise, it is very easy to price yourself out of some good assignments.

That's My Opinion!
May 16, 2008
23:41
Photoshop Master: David Nightingale
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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The hot topic of late for digital photographers and Photoshop users is High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. My friend, David Nightingale, a photographer from the U.K., has mastered HDR techniques. David and his company; Chromasia, are the recipient of numerous awards for photography and have been profiled in several magazines showcasing his striking HDR images. David's technique pushes the limits of the digital HDR technique. In case you are not familiar with HDR techniques, film and digital often do not have the ability to capture the full tonal range of a scene. If it is sunny and you want to capture detail where the sun is hitting and your composition also has large areas of dark shadows, the camera usually cannot capture enough detail in both areas. The HDR shooting technique is to lock the tripod down on the camera, tightly so it wont move, and then shoot your scene in a series of bracketed exposures. You want to make sure that you are bracketing with your shutter speed rather than aperture. Using the aperture means that depth of field would change with each exposure, so it is imperative that you bracket with the shutter.
While some of the HDR software suggests three exposures bracketed +/- 2 stops, other photographers suggest 5 stops in +/- 1 stop increments for more detail. David's technique is up tp 7 stops in +/- 2 stop increments (depending on the scene contrast) to insure the capture of all data in both highlights and shadow areas. David then uses Photomatix Pro to combine the exposures that were captured during the sequence.
In early 2008, Chromasia Training was launched offering online training tutorials in a wide range of subjects that would interest the digital photographer. The tutorials include subjects on Digital Workflow, Lab Color, HDR 1 and 2, Masking, Toning, B & W, Curves, and more. The tutorials are well designed, well written, and are illustrated with before and after examples and including histograms for the varied exposures. And the price is right: the British pounds translate to roughly $10 US and that's a bargain for these lengthy tutorials.
May 13, 2008
15:22
Awesome photography camera bag for travel
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Please note: You can get a discount for any of their gear, not just this case, and the discount code is at the bottom of this story.

I recently traveled to Dubai with my friend Ben Willmore and as I lugged my beloved Lowe Pro Trekker backpack loaded with cameras and carried a briefcase through the airports, I watched Ben casually rolling his Think Tank Photo Airport roller case. As I asked about it, he showed me this wonderful camera case. First, it holds a lot of gear AND the laptop. My Photo Trekker carries the laptop as well...but on my back. The Lowe Pro is an amazing camera backpack and when I am wandering the wilds there is no better choice in my opinion, but for air travel I have formed a new opinion and am ordering the Think Tank camera case for air travel.

Here is the seller in my opinion: you can lock the zippers to prevent opening the case. Of course you can do that with other cases, but this case comes with a security cable and lock that is built into the case to secure the laptop and another cable hooked to the frame that allows you to secure the case to any object.

While travelling with Ben we visited an airport lounge and he cabled it right to the chair before we went to get some food. He also mentioned that he has secured it to the toilet if he needs to leave the room for long. Here's a horror story: A friend I will leave nameless was teaching a workshop in Miami's South Beach. When the group was done shooting, they returned to their rooms and dropped gear before meeting for dinner. Upon returning to his room after dinner, my instructor friends camera bag and laptop were missing from the room. The room had not been broken into, rather someone let them in. Hmmm.

I contacted Think Tank Photo and told them I would be blogging about the bag and they gave me a discount code. If you want any of the gear and it is over $50 purchase price, use this code WS-151 and they will throw in another small bag of your choice. Camera security...priceless!
May 10, 2008
5:42
Beauty lighting with the lovely Lenka
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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There are many forms of fashion and beauty lighting in photography. Photographers working in this segment of the market are often known for their lighting style and the motivation is there to create a new look that is their own. While I was teaching at Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai last week, I had the chance to demonstrate beauty lighting for my Studio Lighting workshop with Lenka, a well known local model. It makes my job as the photographer much easier when working with pro models because they know how to work with the photographer and the camera . I had maybe 5 minutes with her to demonstrate lighting before handing over the set to the students. Beauty lighting also is a style that often is very frontal with more highlights than shadows around the face. This flatter light approach softens skin and hides blemishes creating a glowing skin quality, an approach favored by clients and photographers alike. In this image I used the over and under light approach of a key/fill. I then opened the image in Photoshop and used Eddie Tapp's Dream Glow technique, which is a fabulous skin softening technique. More fashion and beauty techniques, as well as advertising, industrial, and product photography are included in my online 1 Year Commercial Photography training program starting in September.
May 04, 2008
5:23
Digital Night Photography in Dubai
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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There are plenty of great opportunities for digital night photography after the sun goes down. Last night, while teaching at Gulf Photo Plus, I took my night photography workshop group from Gulf Photo Plus to the Madinat Jumeirah here in Dubai. The 'Madinat' as most locals call it, is a beautiful shopping location in Dubai next to the Burj Al Arab, the most expensive hotel in the world.
The area is very nicely designed in middle eastern architecture and colorful lighting displays. Eevening is a very popular time for locals and visitors alike to venture out as the hot days give way to warm evening's. The goal of the workshop was to photograph all this great color after the sun has set. When shooting the skyline, consider first the light sources of the scene. You have light outside and inside the buildings and you have the sky. One light source remains constant (the building lights) while the other changes (the sky). When it comes to your exposure, both sources need to be considered.
The key to a successful skyline photo is to capture both the lights and the sky at a proper setting. After the sun has set and the sky darkens, the building light will eventually become brighter than the sky. The best shot comes from a proper balance between sky and foreground lights. The window of time where this balance is perfect is very short, maybe 15 minutes long. To capture this exposure properly, start shooting about 10 minutes after the sun has set and check your lcd. If the sky is to white or bright, wait 5 minutes and try another image. Continue testing and you will reach the point where the sky is balanced nicely with the building lights. When the prime time has passed and the sky darkens, you will get only building lights and no blue sky. Not nearly as exciting! When the sky is to dark look for details such as the stairs and railing with bright lights and blue spotlight from the building roof.
Here are some examples! You can see where the sky is to bright, to dark, and just right!Gulp that dinner down and go shoot! Ga' night!
May 02, 2008
19:02
Greetings from Dubai
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Certainly you have heard about Dubai and possibly you have visited or even live here. It is an amazing and very interesting country. I am here for the 3rd time, teaching at Gulf Photo Plus along with a distinguished cast of other accomplished photographers such as; Joe McNally (nicest guy in the world. National Geo/Life); Chase Jarvis and his team (another nicest guy in the world and advertising photographer/Seattle); Bobbi Lane (master portraitist and commercial photo goddess); David Hobby (photojournalist, lighting and flash genius, Strobist.com); Ben Willmore (best Photoshop instructor in the world); David Nightengale (Chromasia.com and awesome HDR master); Robin Nichols (Austrailia/publishing icon of photo magazines); Jack Piccone (globe trotting, camera toting road warrior and Brit living in Bangkok); Chris Hurtt (San Fran and rapidly rising star); Drew Gardner (an amazing shooter and very funny Brit with amazing work. Google him!); and Manus Van Dyke (South African wildlife photographer. Looking for a photo safari?).

We are all here, halfway through our week of teaching and educating photographers from all over the middle east region. It's an amazing place and the people are wonderful! Booming economy, high rise buildings under construction and sprouting up everywhere. The most expensive hotel in the world, the Burj Al Arab is here and we enjoyed a cocktail on the top floor last night. The cost I understand starts at $2500 per night. Motel $6000?

Traffic is a bit of an issue and the air is full of a haze, some natural and some man made and the temperature is arising. For us westerners from more temperate zones, it is dang hot, sticky, and steamy. But it is a great place to visit for a while.
May 01, 2008
19:19
The stagecoach has arrived in town!
» ‎ The Commercial Photographer

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Yes, I admit that I am a bit slower than many others and a tad behind the times, but I am pleased to join the blogging community. So welcome to my very first post on my very first blog!

Who am I? Nobody to most of the world, but in my area I am one of many commercial photographers. I have been shooting for close to 30 years for a wide range of clients and in a wide range of areas, both locally and nationally. Mostly in the U.S. and occasionally internationally.

Commercial photographers in generic terms, are known sometimes as the 'jack of all trades' in professional photography, often shooting a variety of subjects that might be specialties for many others. This loosely used term should not by any means be interpreted that CP's are the 'handyman' of professional shooters. Rather, it is just the opposite. CP's really have a broader range of skills and are accomplished at solving a larger set of photographic problems.

As a commericial photographer I love the variety of assignments that have been offered to me. These have ranged from advertising to product catalogs, sports fashion to industrial annual reports, adventure sports and tons of stock images.

So stay tuned for more posts on the business, photographic techniques, other commercial photographers, and shooting and selling stock images.