Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Recent Senior Photo Shoot
I recently did a shoot for my pastor's son. It went quite well even though the day was really sunny, with too many shadows and contrasts. I did get to use my new reflector and that was cool. He chose to stay around his house to do the shoot. Fortunately, there were plenty of beautiful spots for his portraits. Overall, it was a great time and the family was pleased with the results. I hope this will lead to further business through word of mouth advertisement. It felt great to "get back in the saddle again" taking pics. It's been a while and it has encouraged me to continue pursuing my photography career.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Photo Tips by Andres Rodriguez
Andres Rodriguez is officially the best-selling microstock photographer in the world, with an ever-expanding and impressively varied portfolio across a range of different stock sites.
Here are his top stock-photography tips for anyone who wants to get into, or improve, their photography:
Concepts: Spend time thinking about your concepts. Study other photographers images in magazines, newspapers, adverts, websites etc., that should give you an idea of what people use. Take notes while researching. Don't copy other people's work, but get inspired by them.
Lighting: Always make sure the lighting is right before you start shooting. Even if shooting in natural light, you should ideally wait for the right lighting conditions. Try different setups and see what works best; remember that even lighting is more useful for buyers.
Colours and look: Colourful and attractive images sell better. Aesthetics are important. Remember that stock imaging is not about showing how things are, but how they ideally would look like, so your images should portray the world better than reality.
Composition: Learn the rules before you break them; read about the basics of composition, there are plenty of articles online about this particular subject.Photos are normally more interesting when you shoot them from unusual view points.
Camera settings: Shoot using manual modes on your DSLR. Check your settings, use low ISO to avoid noise. Make sure the white balance, ISO, Aperture and speed settings are correct before pressing the shutter button. Do you want to show motion or freeze action? Do you want to isolate the subject from the background? Just a few questions you should ask yourself before taking an image.
Post Processing in RAW: To improve your images you normally need to make a few adjustments to make them 'pop'.Set your camera to Raw format. It doesn’t cost you anything and the outcome from it will nearly always be better than improving an already compressed JPEG image. Raw gives you more control as you can change the white balance, improve contrast, tint, reduce/increase shadows, increase/decrease saturation etc ….
Photoshop: Use all your software skills to illustrate your ideas in the best possible way.Many people, especially traditional photographers, will “put you down” or seem to think less of an image if it has been photoshopped. This is the digital era and not an art gallery, the whole point is to try and represent a concept in the best possible way. If you get it perfect in the camera, that fantastic. Yet, if have to work on it in Photoshop, that's good too! Buyers don’t care they will buy the image if it is what they need no matter how you made it, as long it is a good image.Remember that any post-processing or montage has to be very well done, otherwise the image will not even pass the review process.
Keywords: Keywords are extremely important.No matter how good your image is, if the keywords are bad, your image will not sell or be seen.
Upload only your best images: With digital it is free to get as many photos as you can from a subject so why not do so? If you shoot a lot of photos from different angles and compositions of a subject you are bound to get much better images. Once you have done so choose ONLY your best shots and upload them. Good quality is always more important than quantity.
Consistency: If you are reading this it is likely that you are one of those that really want to succeed in this industry. Remember that practice makes perfect. Set yourself goals, shoot a few images every day and upload constantly, numbers and quality will grow as you go along.
Here are his top stock-photography tips for anyone who wants to get into, or improve, their photography:
Concepts: Spend time thinking about your concepts. Study other photographers images in magazines, newspapers, adverts, websites etc., that should give you an idea of what people use. Take notes while researching. Don't copy other people's work, but get inspired by them.
Lighting: Always make sure the lighting is right before you start shooting. Even if shooting in natural light, you should ideally wait for the right lighting conditions. Try different setups and see what works best; remember that even lighting is more useful for buyers.
Colours and look: Colourful and attractive images sell better. Aesthetics are important. Remember that stock imaging is not about showing how things are, but how they ideally would look like, so your images should portray the world better than reality.
Composition: Learn the rules before you break them; read about the basics of composition, there are plenty of articles online about this particular subject.Photos are normally more interesting when you shoot them from unusual view points.
Camera settings: Shoot using manual modes on your DSLR. Check your settings, use low ISO to avoid noise. Make sure the white balance, ISO, Aperture and speed settings are correct before pressing the shutter button. Do you want to show motion or freeze action? Do you want to isolate the subject from the background? Just a few questions you should ask yourself before taking an image.
Post Processing in RAW: To improve your images you normally need to make a few adjustments to make them 'pop'.Set your camera to Raw format. It doesn’t cost you anything and the outcome from it will nearly always be better than improving an already compressed JPEG image. Raw gives you more control as you can change the white balance, improve contrast, tint, reduce/increase shadows, increase/decrease saturation etc ….
Photoshop: Use all your software skills to illustrate your ideas in the best possible way.Many people, especially traditional photographers, will “put you down” or seem to think less of an image if it has been photoshopped. This is the digital era and not an art gallery, the whole point is to try and represent a concept in the best possible way. If you get it perfect in the camera, that fantastic. Yet, if have to work on it in Photoshop, that's good too! Buyers don’t care they will buy the image if it is what they need no matter how you made it, as long it is a good image.Remember that any post-processing or montage has to be very well done, otherwise the image will not even pass the review process.
Keywords: Keywords are extremely important.No matter how good your image is, if the keywords are bad, your image will not sell or be seen.
Upload only your best images: With digital it is free to get as many photos as you can from a subject so why not do so? If you shoot a lot of photos from different angles and compositions of a subject you are bound to get much better images. Once you have done so choose ONLY your best shots and upload them. Good quality is always more important than quantity.
Consistency: If you are reading this it is likely that you are one of those that really want to succeed in this industry. Remember that practice makes perfect. Set yourself goals, shoot a few images every day and upload constantly, numbers and quality will grow as you go along.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
A Great Photographer Resource!
One of my all time favorite sites is sethresnick.com. Seth is a wonderful photographer, but I think his true value lies in what he has done for photography as a business. His website is a template for all photographer websites. From copyright notices and pricing list, to a list on forms every photographer needs to have, sethresnick.com is the site to bookmark! It has been a great help to me and I'm sure if you look it up, it will be for you as well.
Friday, January 11, 2008
My blogging headache
Well, this is my first attempt at a blog. I've been trying to set it up all evening and it's getting there. Still haven't figured out that blasted slideshow though. Oh well, tomorrow's another day.
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