Do I Need A Professional?
Many times I don’t hear the question “Do I need a professional?” but I do know that many clients and potential clients ask the question, at least of themselves. The answer is, to be honest, not always. But if you want the quality that either creates memories or helps you achieve your goals, yes you probably do. Making the decision to hire a pro is actually rather easy to answer. The real question is how do you find the ‘right’ photographer for your project. Continue reading
Light (Not Time) Is Money
A couple of weeks ago I posted an article called Recipe Of Light where I made an analogy comparing photography with cooking and great photographers with world class chefs. The comments ranged widely from photographers, clients and mentors. Each had something to say about my points and views. I heard everything from “You should use the analogy of an automobile because people can relate to how cars require gasoline and maintenance,” to “Great quality is not a requirement for most people.” One photographer even pointed out all the ‘ingredients’ I didn’t mention.
Recipe Of Light
Recently I was working with a potential client and a number of issues came up that seem to come up time and time again. The client said, “With digital, taking pictures is free or next to it. Why are photography prices so high?” They were truly under the impression that to take a photograph costs nothing other than the cost of the camera. Mostly they believed this because that is what the manufacturers of cameras want you to believe.
In fact just to take a digital photograph only takes the cost of a camera. The issue begins when you want to do something with the image you have captured. You need to upload the image somewhere and that takes a computer usually. Then what if you want to fix something in the image? Now you need software. If you want to print the image, well then you need a printer too, either yours or the local print shop.
Let’s just look at cameras for a moment. Sure you can pick up a pocket, point and shoot camera and take a snapshot. The results you get are a lot better than they were with your last film camera too, but are they professional quality? Probably not. But you could get one of those cameras advertised on TV where the guy is running around snapping pictures everywhere of the model types at the party or the models on a runway. Again, a better image than your last entry level SLR film camera but pro quality? Maybe a few of your images are better than the pocket camera. At least as a professional I hope so!
Gratitude
It’s not always easy writing a blog. In fact this week was one of those weeks that I was desperately trying to think of a topic that is consistent with the messages I try to convey on these pages. Out of frustration I decided to just get out of the office and away from the computer. I emailed my wife and told her to meet me at pub across the street from her office.
After a wonderful lunch I was still short a topic. As I was driving back to my office I drove past Eastern State Penitentiary and right in front there was a parking space. I thought why not, I have my camera with me (no surprise there) and I have always wanted to tour the place during the day (previously I had only been there for Terror Behind The Walls, near Halloween). For $12 I could go in and forget my deadline and ignore that “whoosh” noise it makes as it goes by.
This place is a one of the cheapest tourist traps in all of Philadelphia and probably one of the best too. No one tries to sell you anything and all the guides are friendly and helpful (they must be from out of town). On top of that it’s really cool! Of course Al Capone’s cell is the most restored, but most of the place is falling down around you: debris, broken windows and concrete are everywhere. Continue reading
Save Money With Photography
As a professional photographer I hear all the time “I have a digital camera; can take the pictures myself. Why should I pay you?” In fact I was speaking to a potential client yesterday who said exactly that. He is a retired developer who started out as a painter doing very high end residential painting. He has been known to charge as much as $25,000 or more to paint a New York apartment. He understands the idea of a high end service, but more importantly he understands the need for high quality work.
As with painting high quality photography can save you a lot of money in the long run. In the short term, when done correctly and done at the right time, it can make you money too. As my client pointed out it may take him weeks to prepare a space to be painted and painted properly. Some say why bother? The prep work isn’t seen “once you slap a coat of paint over it.” That is sometimes true, for a little while. Over time the lack of preparation can allow heat and moisture to affect the paint and how the paint binds to the surface eventually leading to discoloration, pealing and flaking. Then the prep work, or lack of it, does matter; the initial job may look OK, not fabulous, but OK and the overall quality begins to suffer. Before you know it you have to strip away the ‘old’ paint and start over. Continue reading
New Year = New Opportunities
In this new year everything has changed and nothing has changed. Many people say that the economy is getting better; many others say it’s staying the same or getting worse. Is the glass half full or half empty? It’s a matter of choice.
So what are your choices this year? Most choices you have this year haven’t even presented themselves yet; it is a whole year after all. Although the choices have not yet presented themselves, you can wait for them or you can go out and make the opportunities that create your ability to choose. Continue reading
Portraits? Decisions, Decisions. A Pro Can Help
Remember when you played dress up as a kid? You would put on your parents clothes and pretend to be an adult. Maybe you wore your mother’s apron or your father’s jacket and tie. The idea was to show you in a different way. Perhaps you were showing what you wanted to be when you grew up.
Now you’re all grown up and you need to get your portrait done. But you hate having your picture taken. Join the crowd. Most people do. Maybe you just don’t know how to get the image of yourself that you want, or you don’t even know what you want the image to say about you. After all, there are all kinds of different portraits. There are studio portraits, business portraits, casual portraits, family portraits, candid portraits, formal portraits, fine art portraits just to name a few! How do you know which type to get for yourself?
Finally – Flashlight Flowers!
I know it’s late but it’s gonna be worth it.
If you look closely at the image below you may see what you think is a dog’s face. No its not Photoshopped at all. That is a real flower and that is really the stigma. It may look like a dog but it’s a flower.
If you want to know how I go that shot, click the link… Continue reading
“The Blue Hour”
In this month’s issue of Photoshop User magazine (official magazine of the NAPP – National Association of Photoshop Professionals) there is an article on ‘The blue Hour’, that time of day that is just after sunset or just before sunrise where the sky is not black, but not the full light blue of day either. When the lights of a city or town are on and the sky is not yet fully dark, you can capture some wonderful images.
To learn more and see some more examples, click the link. Continue reading
Elusive Light
Last week I wrote about capturing electric lights at night and some effects you can do in camera. But what about elusive light? What is elusive light? I covered some elusive light when I wrote about long exposure times and capturing the light that is there but we can barely perceive. What about very fast, very bright flashes of light? You have seen them. But have you captured them? Lightning can most certainly be elusive!
Take a look at the first bolt of lightning I captured this past Saturday and you can see that it is trying to hide behind a tree!
With a little patience and a good view of the sky, I caught more. Click the link and see how and what was caught.
