Sep 10, 2012 | Field Reports
We had an absolutely marvelous NAPP Safari at Photoshop World last week! The participants were great, kept Joe & I jumping the whole time with good times, photography and laughs. You really can’t ask for a better way to spend the day!
We had a number models with us for the day as well, dressed in the theme of our location, Bonnie Springs. This is Melissa who was a delight to work with, willing to stand and look gorgeous as we used her as a lighting model. It was hot, the flies annoying and her smile just kept on going. Both of the photos above were created with simple Lastolite Gold Trigrip and Lastolite 1 stop Trigrip. One bounced in warm light and the other diffusing the hard light coming down.
Melissa was a good sport. I asked her if she’d mind having her portrait taken with the painting in the background, and hold still in an awkward pose. She said sure, she liked the idea. While Jake held the Lastolite Gold Trigrip, I lined against the bar shooting handheld with the D4 and 24-70, a 5 image HDR. I wanted the detail out the window along with Melissa. I didn’t want to set up flashes (which I should have) and spend a whole bunch of time (which I didn’t have) so just went with HDR to make the image. Want to thank Melissa for being so understanding of us dingy photographers!
Sep 10, 2012 | Field Reports
I can’t thank you folks enough for your response to my new Kelby Training Fall Color Class being posted on Fall Color Class! Rob at the answer desk tells me he is receiving requests for my Basic and Canopy Preset. Well…here they are …
Photomatix HDR Win (PC – zip)
Photomatic HDR Mac (Mac – zip)
While it’s easy for me to supply you with the presets, you might find installation a challenge. I can only, sorta help you there. On Win you will install them User>Roaming>HDRsoft>Preset and then click Load Preset in Photomatix. On the Mac, you will have to run the chflags nohidden ~/Library/ in Terminal and than in Finder look under Library>Photomatix to see where to install it (not bad for a guy new to the Mac). Hope this helps and once again…thanks for the support folks!
Sep 7, 2012 | Field Reports
Just finishing up an amazing week at Photoshop World. It’s a place that if you’re a person like me, you garner from the participants an overwhelming sense of what you’re doing as a photographer is alright. That what you’re saying with a camera is reaching out an tugging at heartstrings invoking in others either simple awe or more importantly, the desire to them to go out and do the same thing, that’s really the whole point of Photoshop World. To empower others to go out, be creative, share the world they explore visually and in that process, change the world. That’s why I think we should be photographers!
No one starts out in this position though. And here lies the problem and why I think so many want their images “reviewed” or “critiqued.” It a huge part of validation some say, knowing they are on the right track is what others says. On the crits forms we were provided at Portfolio Review and Photoshop World there was a category left blank for the photographer to fill in. I was really intrigued when all but one of my critters filed it in as…aspiring. Where is it we’re trying to get with photography or more importantly, where is it we want our photography to take us?
Here, there is a lot of talk of f/stops and shutter speeds, light, composition (a well warn and misunderstood word if there ever was one) and gear….lots of gear! I decided this time at Photoshop World, I would change up some of the words, phrases and concepts I have used in the past when asked to review images. I’ve seen thousands of images this week and the vast majority were really good images. Some were simply amazing! And in the process of giving comments, I adopted one key word for every image I saw, no matter or weak or strong. That word is heart!
At first, each photographer gave me this quisical look when I said heart, their photograph needed more heart. And for each photographer, each image the heart I was referring to was never the same. One image might have need for feeling for the light. Another image might have needed more love for the subject. Another might have needed the heart to hit the delete key. My goal was pretty simple, to get the photographer to put enough emotion, heart into their photograph that the viewer can’t help but feel it. And that get’s to the heart I think of where most what from their photography.
Creatives, visual folks are always wearing their heart on their sleeve which is why some are so easily crushed when their photograph doesn’t work. But what is it we are really striving for, what am I striving for when I put an image out? Why do photographers when they post an image Facebook or G+ look at the comments all day, foregoing other work they should be doing? We’re all looking for acceptance! We are looking to see is our vision of our world excites others.
Once we have that acceptance, photography just seems to get better. Light not so hard, f/stop not as scary and sharing our images, not so terrifying. And that’s where I want you to be right now, without going through all of that other stuff. You can do that simply, like your photos! There is no right or wrong or better and worse. Understand that means that what, you’re photography will always get better. That means you’re always learning and that’s the process of every photographer, past, present and future. The photography you are producing right now is great and it will be better. With that understanding, you can now move forward because what we are all seeking, acceptance!
Sep 6, 2012 | Field Reports
Details
Argh Matey!That’s right, with pirate hate, sword and eye patch and camera in hand, we’re doing a 3hr Cruise on Circle O with the B&H and Lexar crew on 18 Oct! They are not only crazy enough to let me on board, give me a pirate sword but I also get a mic so you can hear me all over the boat! How sick is that?!
A whole lot of folks have been asking if we’re coming back to New York this fall. I am most happy to say we most certainly are. While everything is in place, plans made and logistics dealt with, details won’t be broadcasted until 8 Sept. I can tell you we’ll start the fun 17 Oct at Calumet, then B&H and finish up at Unique on the 20th with a WHOLE bunch in between. I’ll be doing formal presentations and shoots the like you’ve never seen done by me or in NY before and if all goes well, I’ll have an informal photo walk as well. So stay tuned, we’ comin back to the Big Apple..Yahooooo!
Sep 6, 2012 | Field Reports
I’m here at Photoshop World this week giving the MacBook Pro Retina it’s first road test. It’s doing the usual stuff like emails, blog postings and presentations just fine, nothing spectacular compared to the old Win notebooks. What I am doing that is blowing my mind is dealing with images and video. I’m ingesting my images using Photo Mechanic and that does a good job but what’s blowing my mind is the speed! I’m use to hittin the button and coming back later and watching the upload finish. Not with the Mac! I no sooner click the key and I have thumbnails on the monitor and a heartbeat later, I’m good to go. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s the amazing speed of the Buffalo 1TB Thunderbird! I am able to edit video on the Buffalo in real time! I can’t even tell I’m working with an external. I am lovin the speed, it’s givin me time I didn’t have before and that’s great!!!
Sep 5, 2012 | Field Reports
The next of our very successful Photoshop for Shooters class is coming up this month and we have two seats open, waiting just for you! If you couldn’t make it to Vegas for Photoshop World, we might just make up for some of what you missed. In fact, might even provide you even more. This is not just a Photoshop class, this is a photography class where we go through camera clicks and computer clicks. It’s pretty much one on one in a very intimate classroom setting. Click on the banner above for full class details.
Wanna learn more, you might wanna read what those who have attended have to say….click here…or simply call WRP @760.924.8632 or 661.204.1506 to register. We are very honored to be sponsored by NAPP, Nik Software and OnOne Software NAPP who provide books to all and some will go home with full suites of software. We have more dates coming in 2013 as well so stay tuned.
