F&B Q&A

Okay, big, big news! Our Q&A podcast with the "Vision Monger" himself, David duChemin is up! We are huge fans of David's, both of his work, and of his human approach to imagery. Please go listen to the podcast, it is informative and funny, and David couldn't be more gracious, both with his time, and his sharing of information. You can find it here on iTunes along with our other podcasts. Don't forget to leave us a review and a comment, and subscribe to our podcasts. If you don't use iTunes, you can find the Q&A on our site: http://fadedandblurred.com/qaafab/128-qaafab-no-3-david-duchemin

David has a series of ebooks that are fantastic sources for inspiration, education, exercises, and beautiful imagery. They are $5 each, and I can't recommend them enough. You can pick those up through our site, the link is on our front page: Faded & Blurred

He has also written some fantastic books, 2 of my favorites, actually. "Within the Frame" and "Vision Mongers". You can find those here:


Do yourself, and your craft, a favor, and pick these up. David's mantra is "Gear is good, vision is better", and I couldn't agree more.

Rami & Khrys revisited

Hey everyone!

Just realized that I never posted anymore images from Rami & Khrys' wedding last month, so here you go. All of these were shot with available light. This is the wedding where I had 3 Canon BP-511 batteries die on me (they refused to take a charge) and wound up shooting the reception with only 1 camera body.

Khrys wore these great red heels under her dress, and when they peeked out they popped, so we had to get some shots of them. And as for the image 2 up from here, that was shot with an off camera flash light in the middle of a golf course. Just having some fun...

Welcome new students!

Hey everyone!

Just a general post to let all the new Tri students know where they can find me, so here goes:

Email: frankwisephotography at g mail.com

http://fadedandblurred.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/FrankWisePhoto

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FrankWise

My website: http://frankwisephotography.com

Super Shoots: http://www.supershoots.net/portfolio.cfm?ID=368

Model Mayhem: http://www.modelmayhem.com/frankwise

And of course, here on this blog. Spend some time, read some posts, and I look forward to the summer semester at Tri!

 

The key to great photographs

I maintain a pretty active Facebook account. I have friends, family, and students (many of which are now friends) that I keep in touch with there. We share images, swap links, do a lot of photography related things, follow each others trials and tribulations. My Facebook account is a little more personal than most photographers. I still deal with the day to day there. I love the concept and idea. Every once in awhile, I get into a discussion there that really sticks with me, and this post today is about one of those. Bobby is a student at Tri, a fellow photographer, and fast becoming a friend. He put's a lot of thought into his image making, and is often looking for something deeper. It is a pleasure to see what he is doing with his photography. Here is a verbatim account of an exchange we had on Facebook, and I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments. And hopefully, Bobby won't mind me posting this...

The last week of school!

WooHoo! This is the last week of school!

For all my classes this week, we will be doing review, and having fun. For my Wednesday and Thursday classes, we will be having potluck. Please make sure you bring something. We need drinks, snacks, munchies, pizza, etc. If you bring soda, please make sure you bring some cups.

And it's your last chance to turn in images. Make sure you bring them in.

The last couple of days have not beeb great for shooting. We got a break today, And had some good light. I had the opportunity to work with Carmen again (my Thursday class knows Carmen). We went out to my not so secret anymore spot in Duarte. Got lucky too, the river was flowing. Carmen is a lot of fun to work with, and is game for wearing 4" heels, and standing on rocks in the middle of the lake. I haven't had a chance to go through all of them, but here are a few from today. All images were shot with the Canon 5D MKII and the 70-200 f/2.8 IS

This first shot was taken with the Westcott Apollo 28" softbox. All the rest of the images were available light, except where noted. Read more

Why is your photography so expensive?

Why is your photography service so expensive? I get asked this a lot. But is it really all that expensive? Let's dispel a few myths.

•  JcPenny, Sears, and that place in the mall are only $50
• Yes they are. They are also cookie cutter. Same lighting, same backdrops, and the same props are being used to take hundreds of family portraits. And the advertised rate on the web site is a "teaser" made to get you in the door. If you want some wallet sized images, or more than 1 image, or a few 5x7's the price increases pretty quickly. And want a full res digital file? Good luck. If you want a unique location, or change outfits during the shoot, you need to call me.
•  My cousin just bought a really nice camera.
• While it's true that in capable hands, even the cheapest DSLR's are very capable of taking quality images, the key is "capable hands". Costs for cameras at the entry level will continue to come down. The camera is only part of the equation. Do they understand lighting? Posing? What about difficult scenarios like a poorly lit church that doesn't allow flash? It has never been about the equipment. It has always been about the person behind the lens.
• Regardless of what I charge you for your family portraits, you are still getting a great deal.
• If you book me to do a 2-3 hour portrait session, my job isn't over when you leave. I have equipment costs and upkeep, educational expenses, gas, insurance, etc. If we are shooting on location, I will have an assistant. I have left my house a 1/2 hour to an hour before the shoot to set up, and I will leave a 1/2 hour after you to tear down. When I get home, I will have several hours organizing, editing, archiving, and proofing your images. When the job is complete, I may only be making $25-$50 an hour. Does that sound like a lot? What would you pay yourself if you were running your own business? Again, we work with quality, not quantity.
• It's all about the post processing
• Yes, your cousin may have a great camera. You may even have one too. But DSLR's very rarely output perfect, ready for print images. They need some finishing touches, color correction, black & white conversion, cropping, blemish removal, etc. This takes time, and needs to be done properly.
• Experience
• Have an uncooperative child? Want to shoot at sunset on a beach? Want to change your eye color from green to blue? Want a family portrait taken at your family reunion? With all 150 family members? Yeah, we can do that.
• I don't compete on price. I compete on service and quality
• I won't compete with cost. So what do I offer? Service. I will help you organize your shoot. Need a make-up artist or want a hair stylist? I can recommend that. Don't know where to do your shoot? I have locations for urban, natural, beach, etc. They are MUCH better than the pull down screens at Sears. Need wardrobe suggestions? I can help there too. I will help you every step of the way. Getting married? I can help organize your day, give you suggestions, put you in touch with just about any kind of vendor you need. And if I don't have an answer, I will find it.

Many of us photographers still value our work, and the effort, experience, talent, and creativity that goes into it. There are customers that understand that, and also value those same things. When you find them, you need to keep them. Consistent quality, and great service does that.

Carmen at the Gas Station

We have had a lot of fun in my Thursday night class this semester, haven't we? This past week, I actually took the opportunity to take some shots, as we were using the Westcott Apollo softbox again (I love that thing!), we had a great car, we had a fun set, and we had Carmen. I am really hoping that I see some cd's from the students. It's getting harder to get models, as they all say the same thing, "we never get that many images". I know, I sound like a broken record.

Several of these shots were taken at high ISO with available light. So, what did you get from this shoot?

And attention students! Do you want your images seen by thousands of people? So do I. But if you send me your single favorite image that was shot in my Thursday night class, I will post it here on this blog for all 10 of you to see ;-) Here is what I need: 1 image sized at 800 x 800 at 72 dpi. Please send it to me at frankwisephotography at geemail.com (please note the purposeful misspelling of geemail) I only want 1 image, and it needs to have been taken during 1 of my Thursday night lighting on location classes. Deadline for this is Friday, 6/11/10.

A funny thing happened...

A funny thing happened at the Quincenera yesterday... But you'll have to read further to find out what it was ;-)

I shot the beautiful Ms Emily's Quincenera yesterday. I have done quite a bit of modeling work with her mother, and when her mom asked if she wanted a photographer for her Quince, she said absolutely, but I want Frank! Things like this make me happy.