What do you like to shoot?

My name is Frank, and I shoot people. It's what I enjoy, and have a little talent for. I don't shoot landscapes, architecture, macros, flowers, product, abstracts, the list goes on and on. Not for lack of trying, and some people may tell you differently, but I don't really have the knack for it. I have great admiration for photographers that shoot all of those other types of images, and am often awed and occasionally jealous of others work and talent.

Many non-photography related friends assume that if you take nice pictures, you must be able to take nice pictures of everything. I whole heartedly disagree with that assumption. I do believe that as a photographer, you will find your niche. Now is that to say that you shouldn't attempt any other subject matter? Absolutely not. Don't think for an instant that when I go on vacation with my family, that I am not snapping away at the beautiful vista or memorable landmark in front of me. And I also very frequently go on photo walks and safaris with other photographers to try and sharpen my skills in other arenas.

But most of that sharpening of the skills get's applied to my wedding photography. As a wedding photographer, you must at least be able to dabble in all different aspects of photography. Wedding at a beautiful 19th century church? Shooting architecture. Getting pictures of the rings? Product or macro imagery. Someone getting married on the beach or in a National Park? Landscape. Table settings, cake, dinner, shoes, the dress, lot's of details that do not directly relate to people photography. I do them all when on a wedding shoot, and try to do them as creatively as possible.

Now, most of my shots that are outside the people realm are "technically" good. As in properly exposed, but they lack that "punch" of a much more talented photographer working those types of images.

So what is the meaning of all of this? I know what I can do decent enough, so that tends to be what I specialize in, but I also like all other types of photography too. So I keep trying. And I think that this adds an interesting dimension to the people aspect of my photography.

What really got me thinking about all of this is a forum posting by a photographer whose work I really dig., Kevin May. He is an amazing photographer who has the opposite problem, (or perception), than I do. He can shoot everything but people. Specifically, this forum discussion was on a website dedicated to shooting pretty girls. Yet he continues to participate in discussions and the posting of images. Said posting is here:

http://www.supershoots.net/forums_topic

So while I don't think I am the next Ansel Adams, I certainly do have an appreciation for what he was able to do, and if anyone wants to go shoot in Yosemite, give me a call, and let's go. I am always up for trying to better my skills and my eye. Can we bring a model?

Now here is what is up for next week. I originally thought I was going to have something super cool to announce for Monday nights class, but it looks like it will have to wait a week. Keep your fingers crossed, it will be awesome. Instead, we will be playing with multiple flashes, in large groups. Maybe we will even try a class picture with everyone holding speedlights.

On Wednesday we will be lecturing. I know several of you have upcoming weddings, so we will cover everything again. Bring your questions.

On Thursday, we will be doing another Engagement shoot in downtown Covina, with one of our own. Cue spooky music...

Please don't forget to bring images. We have done a lot of shooting, and our models are only working for prints and images on CD. I would also love to see some work and critique it for the class.

I am also including a before and after shot from our Thursday night engagement shoot. Remember, I only took 4 shots, as I was just testing the lights so I could get the students shooting, but here they are. The setup was 2 speedlights, set to TTL, the main was shot through a white umbrella, and the light on him was gridded. ISO 400, f5.6, 1/60 sec:

And don't forget to tell me what you think so far in the comments below. Maybe even tell us what you like to shoot, and why? Or what type of photography you wish you were better at, or admire? Let's get all interactive.

See you soon,

Frank

Just shoot!

As photographers, some of us spend an awful amount of time obsessing about the latest and greatest cameras and equipment. 21mp's in this one, and 24mp's in that one, 10 frames per second, facial recognition, and the list goes on and on. Fact of the matter is that if it's a crappy picture, than it is taking up more space on a hard drive than the crappy pictures we took with last years model.

In the interest of full disclosure, I do have a new camera. It's a beast that shoots 21mp images and will shoot video in full 1080 hd. I love the images it captures, and it has the most film like quality I have seen from a camera. So why am I writing this?

2 reasons. The first reason is my iPhone. Barely 1mp images. But it is always with m

e.

My DSLR isn't. And that is the key. It is ALWAYS with me. I use it all the time. It has no zoom, it has no flash. It forces me to be more creative to get the shot I really want. And it has some really terrific applications to tweak those tiny little images. Camerabag and Photogene are my 2 favorites. Little teeny, tiny versions of photoshop "lite". Really "lite". Did I just say I even tweak my cameraphone images? Yes, yes I do. My name is Frank, and I am battling a disease. Again, you are really limited with what you can do with these programs, as the images are small, so you really think before you shoot. I find myself being reinvigorated by trying to get decent shots from it. And it won't do 10 frames per second, so it forces you to slow down.

The 2nd reason is Twitter. Twitter has applications like twitpic that make it really easy to share your shots from your phone, and get them on-line fast. Take the shot, email the shot, friends view the shot. I have several friends that share images on Twitter shot with their phones. I see what they are shooting, it makes me want to go shoot something. I want to impress them, they want to impress me. We are always pushing each other to get better, more creative shots. And then there is Chase Jarvis. He is in a league all by himself. Go look at his website. He has a whole portfolio dedicated to shots only taken with his iPhone. It is here: http://www.chasejarvis.com/ . Almost makes you want to put down your DSLR, and use it for a doorstop.

So why is all this coming up now? I was going through my Flickr photostream, and had to laugh when I realized that many of my recent images have all been shot with the iPhone. All of the images posted in this post have all come from my iPhone too. Do I recommend you go out and get an iPhone? No, but if you did you wouldn't regret it. No, I am writing this to remind you that if you have don't always leave the house with your DSLR and a bag full of glass, make sure you do leave with some type of camera, a cameraphone, a small point and shoot, just always have a camera with you. You never know what you might see...


And here are some good uses for your small camera you may not have thought of. At a theme park you aren't familiar with, and hate carrying a map? Take a picture of it, and you can look at it on your LCD and scroll around or zoom into the image. See an item at a store you like, but thimk you can find it cheaper on line? Take a picture of the item and the SKU tag. When you get home, you can use that info to search the web. Have a husband/wife that is a bad gift giver? Take pictures of things you like and send it to them in an email. Ever been in a car accident? Take pictures of the damage. The list goes on.

I have a throw away point and shoot I always carry in my glove box. It is powered by AA batteries, so I never have to worry about the rechargeble battery going dead, or accidentily leaving the battery on the charger when I leave the house. Why? Because you never know when you will be in a hail storm in Baldwin Park in May!

I will leave you with a couple more iPhone snaps I took. Are they great images? No, not really. But I wouldn't have taken them if I didn't have my iPhone with me, and I am glad that I took them.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Frank

Happy Memorial Day!

Here is hoping everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. It looks like the weather will be fantastic for shooting all weekend, so, charge up the batteries, format the cards, slap on the lenses, and get out there!

Speaking of Memorial Day, remember school will be closed on Monday, but it is open all weekend, so make sure you get in there and make some prints for our fabulous models. They are only working for images, let's please make sure we provide them.


I can't tell you how happy I am to see how well everyone has been improving in our Monday night "Lighting on Location" class. I am blown away by the quality and creativity I am seeing. So much growth in such a short time. I hope you are noticing the improvement in your own work.


Coming up for this weeks class, we have no Monday night class :-(

I am working on getting a couple for Wednesday night, does anyone have a couple that is willing to model for us?

Thursday night we will definately have a couple, and we will be doing our "Engagement shoot". For Thursday night, we will be shooting 2 weeks in a row.

On Thursday night, we talked about back up solutions. Here is a link to a program I highly recommend, GoodSync. They have a free 30 day trial, give it a shot.

http://www.goodsync.com/

And for this weeks thought provoking take on photography, please read Vincent Versace's recent guest blog on Scott Kelby's site:

http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2009/archives/4757s/4757

I have gotten a lot of inquiries about the lighting in a photoshoot I did with my wife awhile ago. Here is a sample image from that shoot:


The lighting in this is very simple. The image was shot at 2pm in May last year. All that is done here is to put the sun at the models back. Make sure that the light is even on the models front side, and meter the light on her face. In this particular case, the meter read F4, 1/100sec, ISO 100. Use the Manual mode, and apply those settings from the meter. This was shot with the Canon 5D and 70-200f2.8 IS, at 140mm.


Speaking of Canon, don't forget the instant rebates are still going on.

Another technique we talked about was using filtered window light, which led to using northern light in an open garage. For many examples of the technique, go look at Kevyn's site:

http://www.kevynmajorhoward.com/


And here is your weekly dose if inspiration (some images may not be work safe):

http://www.gormanphotography.com/gorman.html

Greg also has a great PDF tutorial on setting up an action for black and whites.

There are also many great links right over there------------>

See you all next week, and I am putting up a new challenge at the flickr site right now. Tri-students, come join or Flickr group.



Frank

First Post

Testing, testing, 1,2,3, Is this thing on?

Welcome everyone!

Welcome to day 1 of the blog. I will be using this blog to keep all my Tri-Community students updated on recent happenings and coming attractions for my classes. I will also be utilizing this space for miscellaneous ramblings and links to photography sites and information that I find interesting or relevant. Will it be updated daily? Hardly, but I will try and maintain at least 1 new post a week, so please check back often.

I hope that you will utilize the comments section of the blog, I get many emails from all of you that would probably be enjoyed by everyone, I just can't barrage all my students with 15 emails a day ;-)

If you have any ideas for information you would like to see posted, or possible topics for future posts, please comment below. I have also listed several links to sites I find interesting. This list is hardly complete, and will be added to on an on-going basis. I will also be ocassionally post images from students that were shot in my class, that I find exceptional. And posted at the bottom are just 2 such images, shot by none other than Vincent Miao.

Let me know what you think,

Frank