Digital ProTalk

"Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride"

2012-05-25T07:01:00.000-04:00

"Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride"
©David A. Ziser

After getting yesterday’s very late post up on-line and a quick bite to eat, we headed down to a small amusement park in the heart of Myrtle Beach. There are two such areas here in the city, The SkyWheel and Family Kingdom. I have been eyeing both since we arrived hoping to head down after dark and try some more HDR shooting.

It was about 10:00 pm when we arrived. I set up the camera on my tripod – I wanted to capture some of the motion of the rides – framed up the shot of the Ferris wheel and began making exposures. I quickly found that I preferred the longer exposures to the shorter one. After a few tries, I was getting exactly what I wanted.

In this photograph, even though the camera was on a tripod, I must have fired the shutter with a little too much finger force and shook the camera during that first exposure. In spite of the camera shake, I love the result. The extra “shake” is what added the “wildness” and chaotic feeling to the image. Add to that the the motion blur, all the wild colors, and the “out the of register” 1st image and I got a great abstract image – much more exiting than the standard long exposure amusement park shot – I like this one the best ;~)

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with 12-24mm Sigma lens at 17mm, F13 @ 4 seconds, ISO 125. Enjoy! -David

The Rest Of The Story

We were set to move though the midway and enjoy our HRD evening. 15 minutes into our visit and two minutes after I took this photograph, the announcement came across the PA that the park was closing – WHAT! We just got there. I worked quickly to get off another photograph or two of the Ferris wheel. I framed up the next ride just as the lights started to be turned off all over the park – rats.

I suggested to LaDawn that we walk the sixteen blocks up to the SkyWheel, surely they would be still be open on this very busy Memorial Day Biker Weekend. We headed up Ocean Drive and 25 minutes later were nearly there. In the near distance, I could see that the SkyWheel was shut down too, oh no. We both smiled to each other, turned around and headed back to the car.

By noon earlier in the day the Myrtle Beach streets were backing up with bikers from all points north and south. By 10:30 pm it was pretty much gridlock. I have to admit that some of the bikes were decked out with beautiful metallic paint jobs and colorful neon light treatment. This was the weekend to show off your bike and is one of the top events in Myrtle Beach. I’m glad to say we felt like we were in the middle of the action.

I’m just wondering about the effects of all the second hand exhaust fumes to my lungs ;~) Anyway, I did get a few cool shots and we enjoyed our walk back to the car chatting up a few of the revelers on the way – it was a great evening!

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Hey gang, that’s it for today. We head for the airport in just about an hour and then returning home later this afternoon. I hope everyone enjoys our Memorial Day weekend in your part of the world. Stay safe and remember our veterans and service men and women around the world.

Have a great weekend everybody. I’ll see you back in Cincy on Monday.

-David

"Tranquility Base"

2012-05-24T18:01:00.000-04:00

"Tranquility Base"
©David A. Ziser

This was the view the other night from our 11th floor balcony. The rain moved in during the later part of the afternoon but by around 8:15 pm the storm clouds were clearing leaving the scene you see above. It’s not a spectacular sunset but still it imbued with a certain tranquil feeling throughout.

What I like about this image is the fact the you see the promise of the clearing storm with the evening colors just starting to break through the heavy cloud cover. I also like how the light just kisses the edge of the beach. But still remaining on the beach was a slight fogginess that added a certain amount of peaceful feeling to the evening scene.

The simple color pallet, oranges and subtle blues, also helps carry out the overall feeling of this image. I know I’m going to miss this view after we leave tomorrow.

Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 40mm, F10 @ 1/640 second, ISO 1600. Enjoy! -David

Business Day Thursday: It's Always The Difference That Makes The Difference!

2012-05-24T18:00:00.000-04:00

Good Morning Everybody,

It was such a nice day yesterday, and since LaDawn reminded me that we were on vacation, I decided to take the day off from blogging. But, you guessed it, I’m back at it today. But as you see, pretty late in the day. I got a call from local, and very talented photographer, Michael Slear [link] on the left who invited us out to lunch with his friend Joe Carr [link] on the right, one of the leading portrait photographers in Myrtle Beach, SC. Be sure to check out their websites for some pretty inspirational images.

Lunch turned into a very nice, leisurely visit we all enjoyed. Next it was off to Brooktree Gardens one of the most amazing parks and statuaries in the world. Be sure to hit that link too – amazing!!! In fact, it IS the largest in America. Needless to say, I didn’t get back to my earlier started blog post until this evening.

This evening we’re planning a walk down the mile long pier into downtown Myrtle Beach where I’m planning a little HDR photography just to see what I capture – it should be fun. After some much needed R&R and a couple of rainy day afternoons, we've had a wonderful, relaxing time visiting the Myrtle Beach area. The balcony of our room overlooks the beautiful Atlantic Ocean and the sound of the waves is forever peaceful.

But, it's time to head for home and go back to work. Come next Tuesday I begin putting down the first actual words of my book onto paper, or actually into the computer. I'm really looking forward to getting into the guts of each chapter over the next couple months. In addition to writing the book I’ll also be working on our PhotoPro Network Summer School coming up July 13 and 14th. Check my blog for all the details which should pop sometime next week. I hope you mark your calendars now then find the opportunity to make it to Louisville, KY and be part of the weekend festivities.

And finally, we have one busy shooting schedule for the month of June. I'm shooting every single weekend – a couple weddings, a Bar Mitzvah or two, and a high school graduation. I've been telling most of my friends that I'm trying to slow things down at this stage in my career but most of them laugh at me and tell me I'll never do it ;~) I guess the fact of the matter is; that if you enjoy what you're doing you always want to keep doing it.

In any event, we've got a full summer ahead of us and have some great plans coming up in the fall. We’re looking forward to experiencing every one of our summer moments and I hope you get a chance to do the same. Hey, enough of me waxing fantastic over our summer plans. I’ve got an important post - so let’s get right on with today's Business Day Thursday.

It's Always The Difference That Makes The Difference!

I don't care if you just starting a business or you’ve been in business for a hundred years, I think today's advice is important for anybody trying to be successful. I have tried to live these opening words for most of my photographic career.

Last week, while visiting New York City, this mantra was aspired over and over again – great companies achieving that greatness because they chose to do things differently. My daughter’s graduation commencement address was given by Danny Meyer . Danny always thought he would enter college and be an attorney according to his family wishes. But he never really felt that this was the course he wanted for his life. He always enjoyed cooking and had a love of food. Danny was encouraged by the career changing advice of one of his uncles. He decided to go into the restaurant business instead – and for anyone in the business – he knew it was going to be challenging to say the least, especially in NYC!

For anyone who’s ever visited the Big Apple, you know there about a gazillion restaurants on every block within that giant metropolis. After looking at what the competition was doing, Danny decided to take a different approach, and as a result opened what has since become one of the most respected restaurants in the city – Union Square Café. Danny’s Union Square Café Hospitality Group in now one of the most successful in the city. He has also received several culinary awards over these many years.

The interesting fact is that Danny didn't stop after creating this signature restaurant – Union Square Cafe. He also noticed the sea of mediocrity among all the burger and fry joints around the city. He worked on a different concept. After studying all the other burger establishments he discovered they all seemed to be doing things pretty much the same. Danny decided to break the mold with high-quality ingredients, a well run, well trained and knowledgeable staff, burger restaurant.

Shake Shack was born and has become the definitive burger and fries place to go throughout the city. It was voted best place for a burger by New York Magazine in 2005! In fact, many store locations have a web-cam set up showing the lines to the counter so you know just how long a wait is before you arrive on your hurried lunch hour. What this shows is that Danny knows how to do things right. Wait, more importantly, he knows how to do things that are different from the competition.

Now How About YOU!

Now let’s start looking at other companies that we're all familiar with – Amazon, Facebook, Pinterest, Groupon, and the most notable company in recent years Apple. Each of these companies looked at the niche in which they wanted to compete – books, social marketing, coupon sales, and life style products. And each of these companies soared to the top of their field.

Okay, you might be thinking to yourself, "Ziser, I'm not an Amazon or Facebook or Apple brand. I'm a small business trying to do business Small-ville, Suburbia America. How does that advice help me grow my business and be successful?" The answer lies not in trying to become the next Apple or Amazon. The answer lies within you. For the last several years of lecturing and training I've always began my program by offering the best business advice I could to all the attendees – that advice is echoed in today’s post title.

Let's get back to that sea of mediocrity in products and services so prevalent around the world today. The same is obviously true, and especially true, in our digital age when it comes to photography. Everybody and their mother, brother, father, aunt and uncle thinks he or she is a photographer. We have cameras in cell phones, Facebook’s 900,000,000 members sharing photos, the free cost of capturing a photograph all making it easy for everyone to look through a viewfinder from one personal device or the other, frame up their image, and start shooting away. We all know, that these photographs elicits a certain thrill in each of us as we look at our final results. But even my statement above speaks to the fact that everybody is doing pretty much the same old thing.

Don’t Let SAMENESS Rule!

Here's the deal: To do the same old thing – do the same thing everyone else is doing – means that we produce work that for ourselves and for our clients all looks pretty much the same. As photographers try to compete, and professional photography is a very competitive field, it's not about being the same as everyone else that will lead to your success. In fact striving to be the same means that you have only one criteria to compete on. And, it's NOT your photography….. It’s price alone!

This fact is born out very clearly by the number of Craigslist photographers on line. They post their services on Craigslist at rock-bottom prices and hope to book a few events because of those low prices. Sure, but the Craigslist photographer will get the booking, but to expect to build a career by offering your services at the rock-bottom price is no road to success. In fact it's a road to financial doom.

Now don't get me wrong. I know everybody needs to start somewhere. I too was the cheapest guy in town when I opened my business over 30 years ago. Luckily, I learned the lesson very early that low prices were no way a foundation to the road of success. I had the opportunity to attend several lectures by some of the top wedding photographers working at the time. In fact, I continue to attend seminars and workshops even today. Why? Because I continually want to differentiate my work from the competition and the competition is particularly fierce today. Yes, I said I’m continually working to differentiate my work. Before I go much further let me spell out for you the secret of success in any business.

The BIG Secret – Drum Roll Please!

The BIG secret: It’s The Difference That Makes The Difference! Here's my advice to you. Analyze exactly what you're doing in your business right now. I don't care if you’re a part-time business or full time enterprise, the process is the same for everybody. Take a look at every aspect of your business – how you answer the telephone, how you phrase your emails, look at the line of products that you offer, the level of service that you give, the style of your photographs, the look of your albums, the packaging on your DVDs that you offer your clients…etc. Make sure that your list is long and inclusive of everything that you do in your day-to-day business.

Now, this next point is most important. After you've compiled that long and comprehensive list of what you doing in your own business operation, compare each and every one of those line items on your list with your competition in your local photographic community. Analyze each item on your list and determine whether it's a “sameness” or “difference” when compared with the competition. For each item on your list that is pretty much the same as the competition’s, give yourself a big S. Give yourself a score of “D” for anything that is “different” from the competition.

Time To Go To Work

At the end of the process, and be honest with yourself as you work through this process, and analyze your scores. Most business owners will find that they have a lot more S’s than D’s. This is common within the business world today – everyone does pretty much the same old thing, the same way, which explains why we see such mediocrity in too many companies. Weather it be restaurants, burger and fry joints, or photography – when compared with each other's market niche – sadly there's a lot more S’s among these businesses than there are D’s or differences.

You need to proactively work on changing as many of your Sameness's into Differences as possible. You're not going to do it overnight but you definitely need to do it if you plan to walk down that road of success. At the end of the day, the end of the week, the end of the month – you should've determined which of the items on your list you can change easily and which ones are going to take a little more work.

Wait, There’s More: Corollary To Success Secret #1

Another lesson to learn to is that once you make the changes you will see that the number of Differences will eventually outweigh your Samenesses. And guess what? Your clients will notice too. And guess what again – drum roll please…. You can charge a heck of a lot more for Differences then you can for Samenesses.

Let me caution you about one thing. Regardless of how successful you become, regardless of how successful you are at creating the new list of Differences eventually they too will fall back into the Sameness category. It’s important that you recognize the trend early. Then get back to work revisiting your list and go to work again. The bottom line is; you can never become complacent.

You Can Do It Too – And Must, Over And Over

That's why it's important for you to revisit your list at least every six months – the goal is to stay ahead of the competition – don’t let them catch up! Always stay ahead of the crowd. As I said, I've been in this business a long time and unless I went through this process many, many times myself I could not have maintained our business success over all these years. I wish each of you the same level of success, but remember, success takes, work, effort, diligence, and perseverance.

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Whew! that's it for me today (finally). So, have a great rest of the day and I'll see you back in Cincinnati, Ohio. The good news for me is that after we arrive, we need to get ready for big wedding on Sunday with another one of my past clients and I’m really looking forward to hanging with them this weekend.

See you soon, David

"Pier Pressure"

2012-05-22T14:01:00.000-04:00

"Pier Pressure"
©David A. Ziser

I captured this image while on our morning walk today. We're staying on the north side of the beach and just outside our window about a half mile down the beach we could see this very large 200 feet high SkyWheel in the distance. We made a slow walk down the beach eventually reaching this giant structure near the Myrtle Beach Pier 14.

I aligned up myself (and my camera) to get a perfectly front facing symmetrical view of the SkyWheel. I loved how the white color of the SkyWheel played against the rich blue of the SC beach sky. I shot away and this is the resulting image. It is sort of an abstract but still interesting in the context of the Myrtle Beach, SC beach front.

Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 40mm, F16 @1/800 ISO 400. Enjoy! -David

Technique Tuesday: Central Park Revisited – Three Lighting Tips To Make Your Lighting Exciting!

2012-05-22T14:00:00.000-04:00

Good Afternoon Everybody,

We left the frantic pace of NYC behind us and landed in Myrtle Beach, SC about 5:00 pm yesterday. By the time we got settled in it was pretty late in the evening and we were happy to relax and enjoy a much slower pace, especially after our whirlwind eight days in the Big Apple.

Actually we came to Myrtle Beach to check out the area and also to get some real work accomplished. With our well connected world these days, it's easy to set up shop anywhere and work away, albeit the beautiful surrounds of a small beach town in the south.

In about 7 weeks PhotoPro Network will be having our "Hot Times In The Summer" event in Louisville, KY and it's mostly my job to pull it all together. This year we're concentrating on lighting and all things new in the world of Adobe, particularly Lightroom 4 and CS 6. I've got most of the talent lined up and will be providing additional details once I have all the arrangements nailed down. We're keeping the costs low and the content over the top - so stay tuned.

Central Park Revisited – Three Lighting Tips To Make Your Lighting Exciting!

Hey gang, I think I've got a very cool Technique Tuesday for you today. I reviewed all the images I did at my B&H Shootout last week and selected about 15 images I want to share with you today. The gist of today's program is to focus on three specific lighting techniques I demonstrated during my shoot out.

The point of all this is that too many photographers around the country, no, around the world are satisfied with ordinary lighting on their subjects. Folks, it comes down to this - put ordinary lighting on your subjects and you get ordinary results.

Let's change it up a bit – let’s put exciting lighting on our subjects and get some exciting results. That's the point of today's lesson - how to make your lighting exciting easily and effortlessly without breaking-the-bank with a ton of expensive gear. Why not hit the PLAY button below and see what I'm talking about.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. The post has taken a little while to get up today. In fact I’ve uploaded it twice to Vimeo today and then it took forever to process – sorry for the delay. I think my computer is on relaxed southern time too ;~) In the meantime, LaDawn and I are going looking for that good time southern hospitality the area is known for.

Have a great rest of the day and I'll see you soon, David

"Central Park Beauty"

2012-05-21T06:01:00.000-04:00

"Central Park Beauty"
©David A. Ziser

This is another image I captured at last weeks B&H Shootout in Central Park. Part of my lesson to the attendees was how and why to shoot with wide angle lenses. I love shooting with wide angle lenses because of how the lens accentuates the convergence of lines. The steps in this photograph illustrate the point perfectly. See how the “lines” work as a very dynamic background for our subject.

The secret to shooting wide angle portraits is to keep the subject away from the corners of the frame. To not do so will severely distort their “body parts”. You have to be equally careful about how close you position the subject to the edge of the frame.

Lighting was also a challenge for this image. The lighting was quite flat and uninteresting as we were photographing between 12:00 and 3:00. I dropped a Westcott silver reflector just out of the scene camera right. I then used my on-camera flash, rotated it to bounce into the reflector, to give me the off-camera light I wanted for this photograph. LaDawn had inadvertently laid my Quantum flash on the ground, while still in the on position, just out of camera range camera left. The light firing from that flash created the “hair light” you see in the image.

Lighting, composition, expression, all came together for very cool photograph of our model.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Sigma 12-24mm IS lens at 20mm, F6.3 @ 1/160 second, ISO 200. Enjoy! -David

Triple 5’s Quick Hit Monday: Photography; Photoshop: Fun Stuff; and NYC Wrap Up

2012-05-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

Good Morning Everybody,

We wrapped a great week in the Big Apple and the week truly went flying by. The highlight of the trip was my daughter's Honor’s Recognition on Tuesday and her Commencement Exercise on Wednesday and my shootout for B&H in Central Park on Thursday. When LaDawn and I visit New York City we love to walk and logged about 20 miles walking a good deal of the time including the 6 miles we walked, along with 45,000 other walkers, at Sunday's Aids Fundraiser along with the crew from Animoto. The Walk raised over $3,000,000 for Aids research – a good thing.

The restaurant stops were delicious our favorite being the wonderfully elegant Dovetail Restaurant, considered one the best in the city, on the upper West Side. Even their website makes my mouth water ;~) Our good buddy, fine artist, and Photoshop guru, Vincent Versace, had arranged our reservation a few weeks before and it was wonderful – THANKS Vinnie.

We also loved the plays we saw, Porgy and Bess, a favorite of mine for years; and Newsies, a rousing new play for the stage. Both are nominated for several Tony Awards this year.

One of my secret pleasures when visiting the city is talking with the cab drivers. And, yes, we were also in a lot of cabs. Heck, I had to dig into my retirement savings just to pay for all the fares most of which were spent just sitting in traffic ;~)

Here Are A Few Cabbie Trivia Facts For You:

1. It costs a cab driver $800/wk. to rent his cab for the daytime shift, $900 for the event shift.

2. Average fare runs about $14. That means each cabbie has to make 57 trips before he even breaks even.

3. A New York cab driver can make about $70,000/yr. but that means working 12 hour days 6 days a week.

4. Many cabbies have families with kids living in small apartments where rent is $1800 or more a month.

5. Most cab drivers are not US born - our drivers last week were from Bangladesh (2), Pakistan (2), India, and Turkey - but you probably already guessed that ;~)

7. Most cab drivers, ALL that we met were friendly, helpful, and quite conversational once I started the conversation.

Stories From The Back Of The Cab: My Favorite Conversations With The Cabbies Included:

Our trip from LaGuardia last Sunday: He said the job was not a great job. He wasn't killing himself working 12 hour days. He enjoyed his time with his family, took days off as needed to spend time with his children, but most liked the fact that he was his own boss.

On the way to B&H: His wife was joining him from Pakistan. They were married a year ago. The first time they met was just a day or two before their marriage ceremony. It was an arranged marriage. He was really looking forward to her arrival as it took nearly a year for her visa approval. And yes, she was cute he said ;~)

On the way to Liz's Honors Ceremony: Our cab driver was telling us how his daughter was just given one of the highest honors in her high school. He was quite proud even showing us pictures of her on his iPhone. Yes, it was as he was driving;~)

On the way to Dovetail Restaurant: Our driver was Indian, asked where we were from, and said Cincinnati, OH. He was thrilled to hear the news. He has several family members living in Cincinnati and were in the restaurant business - we were very familiar with the restaurant he was talking about. Like they say, small world.

Can’t Wait To Come Back

On all fronts, it was just a great trip. We can't wait to come back. But for today, it's off to Myrtle Beach for a little R&R. We've never been together to that part of the country and are looking forward to our short 4-day visit. We return home on Friday and then face a full schedule of weddings, graduations, and the start of my new book. It's going to be a busy summer!

Triple 5’s Quick Hit Monday: Photography; Photoshop; and Fun Stuff

Hey gang, that's my NYC wrap up. How about we get on with today's Triple 5’s Quick Hit Monday post. I've got lots of goodies for you covering photography, Photoshop, and a brand new "In General" section. Let's get right to it.

Photography: In today's photography section I want to share with you a few links covering portraits, composition, technique, and inspiration. Give a look.

1. 25 Paintings Every Photographer Must Study: [link] Insightful post for all portrait photographers.

2. How to Scan Film Negatives with a DSLR: [link] Very handy technique to know. I use it all the time myself.

3. 6 Portrait Lighting Patterns Every Photographer Should Know: [link] I’ve been preaching this information for too many years to count. Here’s another take on the same subject – Classical Lighting.

4. 26 Photographs That Use a Vanishing Point to Great Effect: [link] Beautiful images included, this posts speaks to my image of the day above.

5. 10 Stunning Photos of Open Spaces by Scott Ackerman: [link] A little Monday morning inspiration for you.

Photoshop Goodies: Hey gang, this week I've got 5 great Photoshop Freebies for you. Give a look.

1. Bleach Bypass: How To Make Extreme Portraits: [link] Kind of a cool look.

2. Selection Tools Photoshop Tutorial: [link] Some good tips about how to use them to their best.

3. Free Download: 40 Exclusive Photoshop Patterns: [link] Some nice stuff.

4. 10 Free Textures: [link] All Free - all the time.

5. Use Photoshop to Open JPEGs in ACR without Bridge: [link] Thanks to blogging buddy, A.J. Wood for this super handy tip.

In General: This is a brand new section this week. In my weekly readings I, many times, come across a few posts that I find interesting and/or inspirational even though they are not related to photography. I've decided to start sharing them with you. I hope you enjoy the reads. Here they are.

1. 14 Action Inducing Lessons From Ben Franklin: [link] We can all use this advice now and then.

2. Share A Hard Drive Wirelessly With All Your Devices Including Your iPad: [link] A big Thank YOU to Terry White for this post.

3. What Cool Things Can I Do with All This Free Cloud Storage Space? With all the FREE options for Cloud Storage, this is a pretty handy link. [link]

4. Is Your Blog Ready For Pintrest: With all the interest in this new Social Media darling, you may be interested in this post right here. [link]

5. Awesome Destination For Wedding Photography: [link] Way cool, in fact really cool, like in freezing COLD conditions but what a great place for that very special image. Watch the video here. Check it out!

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. Enjoy today’s Quick Hit Monday links. We need to leave for our plane shortly so explore and enjoy all of today's read and I’ll plan to catch you tomorrow in the great state of South Carolina.

See ya' then.

-David

"Coming At You"

2012-05-18T09:01:00.000-04:00

"Coming At You"
©David A. Ziser

This is just one of the images I captured yesterday at my B&H Central Park shootout. It's just a simple portrait of this lovely young lady, Laurence. What makes it special is the lighting. Whenever you shoot under a gazebo like structure the light is usually flat and uninteresting. Unfortunately, most photographers are perfectly happy to shot away and be satisfied with an ordinary result.

How about we choose instead to make our lighting exciting and bring in some light from a direction that really flatters our subject? I choose to do this by shooting my Quantum strobe through my super large 84inch Westcott translucent umbrella. As you can see, the extra effort was worth it.

I balanced the strobe with the ambient light till I had the look and feel I wanted then asked my model to hit a comfortable pose and shot away. I think we captured a really nice, easy portrait on a Thursday afternoon in Central Park

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Sigma 70-200mm IS lens at 200mm, F3.5 @ 1/400 second, ISO 200. Enjoy! -David

My Shootout At Central Park – Great Time and Great Images!

2012-05-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

Good Morning Everybody,

What a day! We arrived at Central Park's Belvedere Castle, the location selected for my B&H shootout, around 10:45a.m. Everyone was starting to gather for the big event. Peter, from Quantum, and I scouted the surrounds for some good places to shoot. My buddy, David Brommer from B&H suggested a terrific location the castle which worked perfect for the day’s sessions.

By 11:30a.m. the crowds had started to gather and by noon we were off and running. We had a huge crowd for the photo event, the largest in B&H/Central Park history. David had put quite a bit a planning into it so it went off like clockwork. Because of the large number of photographers, the larger group was broken down into 6 smaller groups who rotated through each of the 6 shooting stations they had organized around Belvedere Castle.

I think a lot of photographers including, a photographer from England and a couple of female photographers also from Europe, just wanted an opportunity to photograph the pretty models - who wouldn't - and everyone really enjoyed the opportunity to do so. I took a different tack and decided to present an extremely fast paced training session featuring the focal length lenses I use, some great portable lighting techniques, and a few compositional techniques thrown into my 30 minute segments for good measure. Yep, all in 30 minutes for each of the six groups.

I have to say, by 3:15, I was exhausted AND out of breath ;~) It was like a marathon lecture -high speed, non-stop for over 3 hours. In that same three hours I captured some wonderful images and, from the feedback of the 6 groups, it sounded like everyone really enjoyed my sessions. In fact the buzz from all the photographers was that B&H organized a great event and everyone is looking forward to additional photo-in-the-park extravaganzas.

My Shootout At Central Park – Great Time and Great Images!

Most photographers are happy with shooting away in this kind of flat lighting situation (right). Not me! For me it's always about making your lighting exciting. I added a little off camera flash, thanks to my Quantum strobe, and got this image (below) instead.

In this next photograph we set up in another part of the gazebo. Shooting in this direction gave me a nice full green background of trees and foliage. I needed to get the background well out of focus so I chose a favorite lens, the Sigma 70-200mm IS lens, for the job.

The problem was that the lighting was quite flat and uninteresting. BUT, if I turned our model’s face INTO the light, I could once again create that wonderfully flattering loop lighting pattern on her face. I asked Laurence to rotate her head till I could just see the beautiful lighting caressing her face. What I found was that her profile offered not just optimum lighting but also a beautiful natural light portrait of our stunning subject.

In this next image I wanted to demonstrate to the groups how they could take a photograph of their subject looking directly back into the camera and not have to settle with the flat, uninteresting, unexciting light the the scene presented originally.

I wanted to add additional light in order to create that detail, depth, and dimension to the subject. This time I added the additional light by having LaDawn hold a 36 Westcott Silver reflector approximately 15 feet outside the shaded gazebo catching some of the sun rays and kicking them back onto our beautiful model. The result was exactly what I needed but a bit too harsh for Laurence’s stunning features. It’s important to consider the look you want to obtain with your images. This high contrast light source works better on guys, or a hard edged image instead of the soft background and overall feel of Laurence’s look. But in a pinch it is certainly better than no directional light source.

In the photograph below I wanted to show the class another way to add directional light to the photograph. This time I wanted the light to be extremely soft so I decided to shoot through my 84 inch Westcott translucent parabolic umbrella.

It worked like a charm. I used my Quantum flash with the reflector dome removed, on 1/2 power in a bare-bulb configuration. With the flash tube completely exposed, and with the strobe head pushed in about 1/2 way down the shaft, the light was able to spread out and completely fill the super large light source. The results were amazingly soft and beautiful and a much better over-all feel.

The last thing I wanted to demonstrate was how I use wide angle lenses to accentuate long, converging lines in many of my compositions. We stepped out of the gazebo down the steps on the opposite side. The steps gave me just the compositional ingredients I needed to make my point. Fortunately the steps were shaded so it was easy to set up a decent composition in this location.

The secret of shooting super wide lenses like my Sigma 12-24mm, my all time favorite wide angle optic, is to keep the subject away from the corners of the frame. Get them, or any body parts too close and you'll create the Mr./Mrs. Gumby effect and optically stretch those body parts way beyond their normal perspective.

The next problem I faced was getting my tried and true dimensional lighting on my subject. My creative solution was to place my Westcott silver reflector leaning against the wall to my right and just out of camera range. I then asked Laurence to find a comfortable, relaxing position on the steps. I turned on my on-camera Canon 580EZ II flash, rotated it towards the reflector to bounce the photons from the reflector back onto my subject. I once again was able to obtain the lighting I wanted. Pretty cool result, don't you think?

We had a great day in the park. I was able to cover a lot of techniques in our short amount of time together. My special thanks to my three vendor buddies, Westcott, Quantum Flash, and Sigma Lens for being on hand to answer any specific questions, loan lens and gear to the photographers and be available for tech support as needed. Thanks you guys!!!

My thanks to David Brommer and the entire crew at B&H for putting the entire day together - it was a great time!

Later yesterday evening LaDawn and I, my daughter Elizabeth, Jesica and Gabe from B&H and Nancy all headed down to Katz's Deli, for a taste of real New York City chowing down on Pastrami and Corned Beef monster sandwiches. Of course we selected the best seat in the house as you see from the sign over our table! By the end of the day, after many laughs and giggles a good time was had by all, especially LaDawn and I. We can't wait to visit the Big Apple again!

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Hey gang, on that note I'm out of here. We've got the day mostly off and plan to catch up with our friends Ralph and Cindy Romaguera. We just found out that Ralph is in town receiving the United Nations IPC International Award - quite an honor. He doesn't know that LaDawn and I are also in town.

Last night Jesica told us he and Cindy were taking a tour of B&H today around noon. The plan is for me to don a B&H green vest, keep my back turned till they get up to the counter, then turn and offer my assistance as a B&H employee - thus surprising them. It should be a good practical joke.

Later this evening we have tickets for the multi Tony nominated Porgy and Bess Broadway play. Tomorrow we're seeing Newsies, another "hot Broadway play ticket". Then on Sunday we are both supporting the huge Aids Walk taking place at, you guessed it, Central Park.

Yep, it's one busy weekend. On Monday morning we jump a plane to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for a few days of real R&R. How about I plan to see everyone on Monday from the warm temperatures and ocean breezes of Myrtle Beach.

Have a great weekend everyone.

-David

"Soaring Away"

2012-05-17T09:01:00.000-04:00

"Soaring Away"
©David A. Ziser

I captured this image yesterday morning as were were sitting in Radio City Music Hall waiting for the Pace Commencement Ceremonies. It was the first time I was inside of the venue and was immediately taken by the the very cool art deco architecture. I had start photographing my environment.

I looked up, leaned back, framed up what I wanted and shot away. I like this image, because as the name implies, the lines seem to me to be soaring to upwards, almost like waves of orange moving out from its center. I like the striking colors and the contrasts of the smaller details we see in the ceiling. I think it’s a cool abstract of the building.

Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 18mm, Canon Fisheye lens at 8mm, F3.5 @ 1/30 second, ISO 2000. Enjoy! -David

Business Day Thursday: Where’s The Beef? Don’t Believe Everything You Read!

2012-05-17T09:00:00.000-04:00

Good Morning Everybody,

It was a great day yesterday as we headed to Radio City Music Hall and watched my daughter, Elizabeth, graduate from the Lubin School of Business of Pace University. She graduated just .05 points away from Suma Cum Laude receiving her Magna Cum Laude the night before at the Honors Ceremony. She was also inducted into the most prestigious honors society for business in the world. Beta Gamma Sigma is the highest recognition a business student anywhere in the world can receive in a business program accredited by AACSB International. Congrats Liz!!!

Today its over to Central Park for my BIG shootout for B&H. It's shaping up to be the biggest shootout they've ever hosted at Central Park with upwards of 300 photographers taking part in today’s fun. WOW! We need to be hitting the road soon so lets get right to todays post.

Business Day Thursday: Where’s The Beef? Don’t Believe Everything You Read!

It just kills me when I see this kind of post telling photographers which photo to shoot at a wedding. I guess what bugs me most is that photographers read it as a complete list and fail to see all the holes to the coverage. Recently WeddingIdeasMag posted "The 20 Must Have Wedding Photos You Must Take At A Wedding" [link]. I have no problem at all with the 20 suggestions given. In fact, we take ALL those images and more at a wedding.

The problem for me is that there are so many holes in the list. The list implies that a wedding photographer is only shooting for the bride and groom - WRONG!!! Any wedding photographer worth his/her salt realizes that they are shooting not just for the bride and groom, but the bride and groom's parents, the grandparents, family and friends as well. If any of us miss-interpret this list and shoot only for the images listed we only shoot about 2/3's of the event, disappoint the rest of our clients with the LACK of images missed during the day and can look forward to sales much lower than otherwise possible.

Here are 10 more images to add to the list referenced above.

1. Photographs of the Bride and Groom with the bride's mom and dad and immediate family.

2. Do the same for the groom's family.

3. Don't forget to photograph the grandparents in separate photographs with the bride and groom.

4. Photographs of the bride with her girls.

5. Photographs of the groom with his guys.

6. Photographs of the bride walking down the aisle with her dad - vitally important!

7. Photographs of the groom getting ready too. Remember, half the guests at the wedding are there for him.

8. Several photographs of the ceremony, church, synagogue. Get telephoto shots and wide shots. They make great panoramas in the wedding album.

9. Be sure to request if the couple will have any special guests at the wedding. You don't want to miss that special aunt from Milwaukee or a special uncle or godparents.

10. Be sure to check with the couple to see if they need any photographs of college friends, roommates, sororities, fraternities, etc.

11. Key to any/all photographs listed in the link above is not just capturing the action of the day. It's also important to capture the reactions as well. For me, its about capturing the moments of the day - actions+reactions+special moments - and you can't do that without capturing both

12. Yes, don't miss the first dance, but be sure you get photographs of the bride dancing with her dad and groom with his mom - must have images. The reaction photo - when the last note of the song hits and the bride and the groom warmly embrace their parents - hugely important!

And that's a quick 12 off the top of my head - the list doesn't stop there either. If you want to do the best job at a wedding, keep in mind who your REAL clients are - bride and groom, the couple's parents, and the grandparents and the rest of the family. If you keep that thought in mind while shooting, you will will have a much more complete coverage for your clients.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. We've got to run and get up to Central Park a little early to check locations for today's shoot. Hope to see a few of you there!

-David

"Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places"

2012-05-15T11:01:00.000-04:00

"Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places"
©David A. Ziser

I’ve previously blogged this image but I still like it and thought I would bring it around again. The bride was hoping to shoot at Fountain Square, one of our most popular venues for Cincinnati city images. Cincinnati was hosting their Oktoberfest celebration over the weekend and due to the large crowds put Fountain Square off limits for photography.

I had mentioned an even more urban location in which we had photographed earlier and she jumped at the idea. We were about 5 hours into the day’s pre-wedding photography session – yep, a long day -and now were headed to an alley at 8th and Plum in downtown Cincy.

We only had a few minutes to work because we were now beginning to run out of time and needed to be heading to the wedding venue within a few minutes. I had an idea in mind, and I need to say, this was NOT a typical “David Ziser” wedding portrait, but I was looking to try something new and different.

This is one of the images from our “urban” shoot. With the bride sitting on the curb and the groom straddling her, and both of them with somber expressions, it reminded me maybe of Bonnie and Clyde on their wedding day ;~) Anyway, it was fun and the couple loved it.

Lighting (150 w.s. or full power) from Quantum placed camera left and shooting through my Zumbrella gave me the directional light I wanted. Ever so slight tweaks in LR3 finished the image.

Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with Sigma 8-16mm Lens at 8mm, F 5.6 @ 1/320 second, ISO 200. Enjoy! -David

Technique Tuesday: Getting The Money Shot!

2012-05-15T11:00:00.000-04:00

Good Morning Everybody,

Well, today is one the big days we've been looking forward to on our visit to NYC - we're attending my daughter's Honors Ceremony at Schimmel Hall at Pace University campus. Festivities begin at 5:30p.m. with a reception to follow. LaDawn and I are really looking forward to the celebration.

Schimmel Hall, was the location for the debut of the very famous TriBeCa Film Festival years ago as well as being the stage for Al Pacino, John Goodman, and Jeff Goldblum, and many others.

We spent most of our first real day in the city walking, and walking, and walking - about 5 miles worth. With Elizabeth's graduation events, the B&H shootout on Thursday, and the Broadway play tickets we nabbed yesterday, our calendar is pretty well filled up for the week. And that's a good thing ;~)

You know, even with all the walking we did yesterday, I took very few photographs. The day was cloudy and we seemed preoccupied with to many other activities. Well see what happens today. Anyway, that's the latest, greatest update from the Big Apple. How about we get on with today's Technique Tuesday. Here we go.

Getting The Money Shot! Getting The Essential Photographs Of The Bride

Because this is a big family week for LaDawn and I, and also vacation time for the both of us, I decided to share with you a Technique Tuesday from a few years back. I'm also sharing it with you because it was not heavily viewed and was probably missed by most of our DPT readers in spite of the important content on how to make people look good in front of the camera.

When I reviewed this video this morning, I was surprised just how much detail I went into when making the original post. I really do think it points up the important reasons why we need to get these essential bridal photographs at a wedding.

Every now and then, someone will comment on one of my images of the day and that comment will give me an idea for a future post. That’s exactly what happened a few weeks ago when I posted "Rocky Mountain High" and someone commented about my cutting off the bride's gown in the photograph. You should never cut off the bride's gown.

I agree 100% with the remark, except when I cut off the bride's gown. So, how about a discussion about when to cut off the gown and when not to cut off the gown. Hey, wait a second, let me give you the whole scoop on photographing a bride - what you need to cover, how to cover it, what you should expect as final result. Fasten your seat belts and hit PLAY below and watch and listen.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. We're going to take in a few more sites of the city before we head to Liz’s Honors Ceremony this evening. Tomorrow is my daughter's actual graduation ceremony so I'm planning to pass on tomorrows post and plan to be here with a very "lively" post on Thursday. The title? The Worst Wedding Advice In The World For Photographers! I'm really fired up!

See ya’ then, David

"Times Square Straight Up"

2012-05-14T09:01:00.000-04:00

"Times Square Straight Up"
©David A. Ziser

This is one of the last images I captured at Times Square last night. We were near 46th Street looking back down Broadway. Before me were all the buildings, lights, and "glittereeze" that makes Times Square such a photographic Mecca.

I framed up the cornucopia of dazzling lights and billboards and shot away. The camera was pointed nearly straight up at the night sky which gave me the unique perspective of showing the building both before me and behind me. Zooming back to the full circle (full circle on the full frame 5D Mk3) 8mm setting on the captured this image.

Because of the range of the scene brightness, I had to select an exposure that would capture the true feeling and excitement of Times Square. The HDR effect helps eliminate any hot spots too.

Camera specs: Canon 5D fitted with Canon Fisheye lens at 8mm, F5.6 @ 500 second, ISO 6400. Enjoy! -David

Quick Hit Monday: From New York City - My Times Square Photo-Walk Last Night

2012-05-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

Good Morning Everybody,

That's right, today and all this week, I'll be coming to you from the Big Apple - NYC. We landed safe and sound yesterday, had a nice lunch with my soon to be graduated daughter, Elizabeth, and finally got checked in to our hotel late yesterday.

We didn't just want to hang around the hotel, a very nice one btw, so we decided to start walking towards Time Square to see if we could nab a Broadway play ticket or two and then take in a movie. It was about a half hour walk down to 42nd Street and I knew I would have my camera in tow - but which lens to use???

My NYC Photo Walk Challenge

I have this little creative game I play with myself whereby I'll put one lens on the camera and just shoot everything with that lens. Since we've been to NYC many times I sure didn't need any more touristy pics taken with my normal go-to-vacation lens, my 24-105mm IS lens. I wanted an optic that would give a completely different perspective on my subject than any normal focal length lens.

Also, I figured we would be walking back to the hotel after dark and I thinking it would be cool to get some shots of Times Square at night with whatever optic I choose. OK, so which lens did I chose - drum roll please, my new 8-15mm zoomable Fisheye. Have I mentioned how much I like that lens? So, the Fisheye it was. Wait, there's more - I also set my Canon Mark III to the new HDR setting to simply play around and see what images I might capture. Hey, If I didn't get the HDR effect I wanted, I still had the 3 separate exposures to choose from for a traditional photograph.

Below is a collection of some of my favorite images from last night's walk back to our hotel.

From the AMC Theater roof top down on 42nd Street:

Another from the same rooftop looking down on 42nd Street:

In front of the McDonalds on 42nd:

42nd and Broadway heading up Broadway:

From 45th and Broadway looking down Broadway:

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. Don’t forget to check out my new set of Photoshop Freebies following this post – you’ll love them. On that note, we heading out to see the sights today and visit a few friends. I'll plan to see everybody tomorrow for Technique Tuesday.

Have a great one and I'll see you then, David

Monday's Photoshop Freebies

2012-05-14T08:59:00.000-04:00

Monday's Photoshop Freebies

Every weekend I enjoy scouring the internet for the latest collection of brush sets, textures, patterns, tutorials, and what ever other Photoshop tidbits I might find interesting for myself and my DPT readers. I've found a pretty good collection for you today. Here we go.

Free – Modern and Professional Brochure Design Templates: Thinking of putting together that new brochure to promote your photography business? These pretty cool brochure templates may just do the trick for you. [link]

30 Awesome Cool Photoshop Text Effects Tutorials: I'm a huge fan of fonts and text effects - always have been. Even back in the early DOS/Windows3 days, I was a collector of fonts - I have thousands. Today it's about adding the various effects to text. This link features some of the most unusual text effects I've seen. Enjoy TEXT fans! [link]

60+ Must Have Best Paisley Patterns for Photoshop: I've said it a million times - I'm a child of the sixties and have to tell you that I really got fired up when I found the link to these best paisley patterns. So, for all you ex-hippies and even current hippies, this link is for you ;~) [link]

A Collection Of Free Photoshop Hair Brushes: OK, this one is the most interesting, and I think the most useful link I've found today - hair brushes. Wait, no, not hair brushes you find in a beauty salon. Hair brushes for Photoshop. That's right, now you can bring your beauty salon to Photoshop. Hey gang, don't take this lightly - this is good stuff. How many times have you had to clone hair in one of your portrait/wedding images and the clone tool simply was not the best solution for the job? Well, now you have a brand new solution - just comb the problem away with these Photoshop hair brushes - I love them! [link]

That’s it for this week’s Freebies –more next week. -David

"Fantasy Landscape”

2012-05-11T11:01:00.000-04:00

I made this image on our first trip to Sedona, AZ a number of years ago. The colors of the desert, dark green foliage, and rick blues of the sky certainly made you feel like you were standing in the middle of a vortex almost wherever you were.

We were just cruising through one of the scenic drives and I decided to park the card and take in the beauty of the desert a bit more slowly. Right off the side of the road was this unusual looking plant all alone on its small rocky plot with it’s “branches reaching for the sky. I’m thinking, “A perfect subject for my wide angle lens.” The wide angle lens really accentuated the foreground and did a good job diminishing the attention on the objects in the background calling the viewer’s full attention to the plant centered in this image.

The title also implies that the colors have been manipulated here, but let me assure you, only slightly. It's the natural surrounds and colors of the dessert that render the scene a lively display of colors with only modest tweaking in Lightroom.

Camera specs; Canon 5D fitted with Sigma 12-24mm lens at 12mm, F5.6 @ 1/50 second, ISO 400. Enjoy! -David

Are You Spending Enough Time Looking For Four Leaf Clovers?

2012-05-11T11:00:00.000-04:00

Good Morning Everybody,

In my travels around the country I meet a lot of photographers who lament the fact that their business isn't what it should be. New customers aren’t calling, they need new gear to get the job done, their clients are always looking for the best price, etc., etc., etc. You know what I mean and I've been there myself now and then.

Looking For Luck In Life

But then I got thinking about an experience I had as a child. I can remember sitting with my mom on a blanket in our backyard. My mom told me about lucky four leaf clovers. I was a young kid, five or six years old, and didn't even know they came in a four leaf variety. Every clover I had ever seen in our backyard was the three leaf clover.

She proceeded to tell me that luck would follow me if I could find a four leaf clover and save it. I remember saying to my mom, "Well, let’s look for some right now!" We both rolled over in the blanket, put our noses close to the grass, and began looking for the elusive four leaf clovers. As I remember, I found the first one and I can't tell you how surprised I was. There was, a four leaf clover – held the secret to my lucky days ahead. We probably spent another hour or so looking for more four leaf clover's. Hey, you can never have too much luck I figured ;~) I remember that my mother found a couple of them but, by the end of our time together, I had found five or six – I was set for life! And as it turned out, the more I looked for four leaf clovers the more I found.

I Learned A Life Lesson That Day

I think there's a life lesson here. If I had chose instead to look for crabgrass – I surely would've found a lot more crabgrass with a lot less effort. It seems crabgrass and weeds were everywhere but four leaf clovers are much more rare to find and require a lot more effort to find.

Let's apply that to real life. I feel that if a person is always looking for crabgrass and weeds in their life, let's call it complaining – the crabgrass becomes the complaints of life. And we all know it much easier to complain than to look for the positive. Looking for crabgrass and four leaf clovers works the same way. It’s easy to find crabgrass nearly everywhere you look. But as we spend time looking for weeds (or complaining) you over look the occasional four leaf clover (lucky opportunity) that's out there just waiting to be found. Said differently, weed seekers have a lot more weeds to deal with in their lives. Heck, it’s what they keep their mental focus on, what they think about – and those results would be the expected.

I’m Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover….

Now let's say you were a four leaf clover finder – a person looking for new opportunities and working towards a goal. It seems to me that the more you look for four leaf clovers, the less likely you're see the crabgrass in your peripheral vision. If you maintain your focus on the four leaf clover search, and as I remember as I sat there on the blanket with my mom so many years ago, I don't remember complaining about all the grass in the way. I remember myself having a single-minded focus to find a four leaf clover. Once I found the first one I couldn’t wait to find the second one and soon found it too. My search continued, as I said above, until I found nearly a half dozen of the lucky four leaf clovers.

Success (Happiness) In Life Is A Lot Like Looking For Four Leaf Clovers

Life is exactly the same if we live our lives looking for four leaf clovers (opportunities). Then the search for crabgrass (ongoing complaining) sort of dissipates in the background. But the opposite is true too. If we spend our lives looking only for only crabgrass, we will never find a four leaf clover. I also found that in searching for those “four leaf clovers” in my life, metaphorically speaking of course, that I would indeed find them with regularity.

It's inherent that the search for four leaf clovers takes much more effort than the search for weeds. But you know what, spending time looking for four leaf clovers (opportunities) is a lot more productive than complaining about the weeds.

Four leaf clovers are also a metaphor for good luck. But as you can see from my story, it takes a lot more effort, focus, and work to find four leaf clovers. Said another way it takes a lot more work to find four leaf clovers, success, and happiness in our lives.

Start this weekend searching for those four leaf clovers and it’s a lot more fun. It's also a wonderful, productive, and prosperous way to make your journey through your profession and, maybe even life.

Food for thought: David

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Hey gang that's it for me today. I hope everybody has a great weekend. LaDawn and I are heading to Louisville, Kentucky tomorrow to attend a friend's wedding and we are both really looking forward to it. Then is a 90 minute drive back home, finish packing our bags, and head to New York City Sunday morning. How about I see everybody bright and early on Monday hailing from the Empire State. Have a great weekend everybody!

See you soon, David

"Butterflies Are Free”

2012-05-10T14:01:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon LaDawn and took a little time off to visit the annual Butterfly Show over at the Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati, Ohio. It’s a great place to relax on a beautiful spring day. I thought we would get a decent image or two from one or two of the butterflies flitting through the show. I managed to get one or two. This one was one of my favorites.

One of the cool things I learned yesterday was just how close I could get to the butterflies – about 10-12 inches away. That close focusing characteristic of the lens allowed me to create nearly 2:1 macro shots of the butterflies. In the image above the butterfly measured about three inches across and I was able to photograph it nearly full frame. Heck, saves you money on a macro lens ;~)

Instead of posting it as just as a photograph of a butterfly, I decided to add my very own kaleidoscopic effect to the image via Photoshop by flipping it a few times top to bottom and then left to right. This was the result – kind of cool, I think

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Tamron 28-300mm lens at 300mm, F9.0 @ 1/80 second, ISO 1600. Enjoy! -David

Business Day Thursday: The Angels Are In The Details

2012-05-10T14:00:00.000-04:00

Good Afternoon Everybody,

Things have been pretty calm around here this week even though our plane leaves for New York City in just the next few days. The fact that we just returned from Texas School means that the equipment bags are mostly packed and ready to go. LaDawn completed a few orders, retouched a two volume wedding order and is near completion on designing the albums. She should be able to head to New York City without too many work worries on her plate.

Anyway, you don’t want to hear about our upcoming vacation so, let's get right on with today's post.

The Angel Is In The Details

I know I paraphrased the regular saying, “The Devil is in the Details” but, I think today's post really points to Angels. That is, Angels of profits. There are a lot of great new wedding photographers inundating the market, many of them offering different perspectives, styles and products on wedding photography. But, when I look at wedding photographs, competition albums and web sites I see mostly photographs of brides and grooms, the wedding party, some great candids but little to no photographs of the reception venue. What I want to suggest is that you look for the Angel in the Details and place a little heavier emphasis on the reception venue.

Wedding photography surely has to be about the bride and groom, their families and friends. But remember, you’re not just shooting for the bride and groom, and family members, you're also shooting for yourselves knowing that the images that you capture can be used for sales, marketing, and promotion of your studio.

Here is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Whenever I shoot an event, I always make it a point to take several photographs of the banquet room before all the guests arrive. I may take up to 24 images in the 7 – 10 minute time slot I arrange in advance with the banquet captain timed just before the guests enter the room. These images include overall views of the room and many close up details of the table settings. Now, you may think I'm a little crazy for taking 24 images and say, "Just how many of those photographs do the bride and groom want to buy?"

It's not about the bride and groom purchasing all these photographs or even a few of these two dozen photographs. It's about me having them as a resource I can use to approach the wedding venue and offer them a selections from the extensive ballroom shoot, high-lighting their efforts. The reason for this is pretty obvious. First, it shows that I'm a decent wedding photographer and let’s me showcase my work to the vendors I want to recommend me. And secondly, it’s a great benefit to the reception venue and my business building to get these images in the hands of the sales team at that particular venue. It’s a win-win for both of us.

Over the years we have created small, five to ten page vendor albums, which includes our branding on several of the pages, for most of the wedding vendors we have directly connected. We select about 24 or 25 images showcasing the details from the wedding, assemble them into five to ten 8x10 collage pages, and bind them together into a simple book for presentation to the venue.

What I'm suggesting today is to give a much heavier emphasis to the detail ballroom photographs since that vendor is key to my business building and whom I want to recommend my photographic services as they interview prospective brides and mothers of the bride. In my selection of 25 images, I’ll include a few photographs of the bride and groom, the flowers, and a few activities from the very special day. All in all the mix may split 75% featuring the reception location and table/room detail photographs of the venue. That leaves 25% of my signature images just to add a sense of WOW factor.

We collage images very quickly within LumaPix Fotofusion. With the recent release of LumaPix V5, it is an even a more incredible fast and efficient tool to do this. We print the collage pages up as 8 x 10 size prints, bind them in an inexpensive cover (about $12) and give them to the reception sales staff for their use in their sales room. The sales staff is pleased to receive the samples because it shows a recent event and it's free advertising for them (and for me, too).

With LumaPix you can easily send a follow-up email including your collaged pages to the sales staff that they can forward to out-of-town perspective clients showcasing their location and ballroom. Just be sure you have include your branding within a few pages of the album, so as the sales team forwards the images your logo is included.

So, the next time you head out on your next wedding, especially your larger weddings, I suggest you look for the Angels in the Details. That Angel may just give your profits, those newfound wings, to a more prosperous photographic future.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. We've still got a few loose ends to tie up and then were doing our final pack for NYC trip. How about I see everybody tomorrow for a quick note on four leaf clovers – you’ll have to tune in to see what I’m talking about ;~)

See ya’ then, David

"A Private Moment”

2012-05-09T09:01:00.000-04:00

I decided to dig back into the archives for today’s image. This one is from a wedding I photographed shortly after switching to the Canon 20D – yep, we’re going back a few years. I should also say that the groom's family have been my best clients over many years. I've photographed 20 Bat/Bar Mitzvahs for the family and two weddings. This is the first of the 22 cousins to be married!

As you know, I’m a big fan of back lighting, and, whenever I get a great location – this just happens to be the groom's parent’s home, I like to pull off something dramatic and special. We had finished all the getting-ready-photographs, family portraits, and bride and groom portraits and it was time to head to the synagogue. On the way out the door, I asked the bride and groom for one last photograph before we left. This is the image I captured.

Lighting was simple – all I had to do was balance the ambient light (about 1 stop underexposed) with the light from my Quantum laying on the floor behind the couple at 1/4 power. I love the result.

Compositionally, look how all the lines from the stairs, both left and right, together with the converging vertical lines of the back wall and windows all point you to the couple. Also, note the contrasting colors of the warm tones throughout contrasting with Dale Chihuly glass sculpture on the table in the foreground. All coming together for a pretty cool combination in the finished image.

Camera specs: Canon 20D fitted with 10-22, lens at 10mm, F6.3 @ 1/200 second, ISO 400. Enjoy! -David

Wednesday Notebook: Italy, Central Park, Spain, News and More

2012-05-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

Good Morning Everybody,

I can’t believe it!!! I just got a call confirming that I will be presenting a program for the Professional Photographers of Spain the first week in November - WooHo!I! Wow – Italy in October and Spain in November – looks like I might have to do my 2012 Kelby Photo walk in Europe this year ;~)

LaDawn and I have been talking about having a slower year but with these two trips and my new book due to be completed by August 31, and over a dozen events on the calendar I think the year is about booked full. Don’t get me wrong – we’re loving it. Italy and Spain are two countries I’ve never visited so we are really looking forward to it. I’ll keep you posted.

Hey gang, I’m quick in and quick out today. I just wanted to bring you up to date with a few projects I’ve got coming up.

My Italy Master Class With Clay Blackmore September 30-Oct 7– Almost Sold Out!

That’s right, we are limiting the class size to only 22 people – that’s all the rooms we have on the castle grounds – and those rooms are about booked. When I talked with my buddy, Jeff Medford who is coordinating the reservations, he told me we have only about 3 seats left!

Jeff is in Italy as we speak checking out locations for our class, lining up models, and being sure all the arrangements are made to make this the most exciting photographic experience EVER!!! If you are the least bit interested, give Jeff’s office a call at 202.448.2895 to reserve your space. Here is the link for the all the info right here.

Sold Out In Central Park Too!!

Next Thursday I’ll be doing my “Beyond Light Shoot Out” in Central Park, along with 4 other talented photographers - thanks to B&H. Sign-ups are limited to the first 350 photographers that register. Lots of gear available to borrow and try-out, make new friends, and have a great time! The last I heard was there are still a few seats available AND IT’S FREE!!!

Want To Win An iPad 3?

You can and it’s really easy. Just sign up and submit images to a brand new photo contest entitled “Spring Through Photos” at Photo Scramble The deadline is May 14 – hey gang, that’s next week already! My good buddies at MorePhotos.com recently fired up a new website for anyone to host photo contests. I think the concept is really exciting and I plan to use their new service here at DPT later this summer.

Here is the “inside skinny”. Not many people have entered (only 32 entries so far) so you really do have a very good chance of winning. If I didn’t own an iPad 3 yet, I’d sure be entering! Check it out right here. Remember deadline for contest submissions is next Monday May 14, 2012 – Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!!!

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today. Believe it or not, LaDawn and I are taking the afternoon off, running a few errands and grabbing a late lunch. How about I see you tomorrow for another Business Day Thursday. Have a great one and I’ll see you then.

Adios, David

"The Softness Of Your Smile”

2012-05-08T17:01:00.000-04:00

I just love it when I can create a very nice portrait in the simplest of surrounds. That was the case here. I was teaching a class at Texas School last week and the first church we had scheduled on our agenda was a small Baptist church not far from the hotel. The sanctuary offered some cool composition elements to work with and we captured some terrific images.

When I entered the lobby of the church I was immediately intrigued by the simple, clean surrounds of the building. As I was exploring those surrounds I noticed this hallway which I thought would give me a very pleasing space for a bridal portrait.

What I was seeing was the white wall, to the right of my subject, creating an interior frame with the wall you see in the foreground. I’m thinking that the space would be a good way for me to frame up my subject. I decided to light my bride with my Z-Ray flash light. It worked perfectly giving me that George Hurrell Hollywood lighting on her face – small cone of light illuminating the subject’s face with it’s gradual fall off down the dress. That, plus the little “kicker light” supplied by the light coming in the far door down that hallway also helped to sculpt the bride’s beautiful features.

The warm lighting on that pale yellow back wall added to the soft feeling I see in this image. The image bonus was the repeating splash of color contributed by the touch of yellow flowers in the background to the right. All these elements, together with the bride’s very nice smile all combined for a very pleasing portrait of our bride.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 109mm, F5.6 @ 1/50 second (handheld), ISO 1600. Enjoy! -David

Technique Tuesday: Give Me A Show Of Hands – The Finer Points Of Good Portraiture

2012-05-08T17:00:00.000-04:00

Good Afternoon Everybody,

Hey, better late than never, right? Sorry for the late post today. The morning got a little ahead of me and before long it was nearly 4:00 p.m. and I hadn’t even begun the post yet. No problem, I got it together and posted on the “air” before midnight ;~)

Hey, all joking aside, I think you’re really going to like the post today, especially if you want to make your images look their best. With the trend towards “run and gun” photography, by far too many photographers, much of the wedding images all look the same. I’m suggesting at least understanding a few “tools and techniques” of the portrait masters of years past will help you to create your own style. Knowing those details really can make your images stand above your competition and away from the crowd. And, if the crowd doesn’t care, doesn’t want to make an effort to learn at least you should if this is your path as a true professional.

Fine portraiture is not just smiles and pretty faces. It's about making the client look the best they can from head to toe, including right on down to the smallest details. Those details include, in addition to so many other aspects, how the client's hands are presented in the image. It's our job to enhance and flatter our clients, key on their assets and camouflage the areas that may need less attention. That includes their hands.

Most photographers today pay NO attention to such things, but artists in past had to be sensitive to the finer points of the portraits they painted as they were painting for the royalty and prominent citizens. If those in the royal court were presented in an unflattering manner or looked bad, heads, literally, would roll.

Why not hit the PLAY button and enjoy the presentation.

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today. I’ve got a few announcements for tomorrow’s post so I hope you’ll join me.

See ya’ then,

David

"Right Of Passage”

2012-05-07T10:01:00.000-04:00

I have to admit, I really enjoy photographing Bar/Bat Mitzvahs. Maybe it’s the parent in me that likes to see these young men and women do well on their very special day. As I make these images I feel the pride each of each parent whose child is making this rite of passage.

It takes about one year of study for the young Bar/Bat Mitzvah to make it to the bemah. That means learning Hebrew, studying the Torah portion, and then preparing a lesson to the entire adult congregation. Each of these kids are indeed “Rabbi for the day.”

This image was made Friday before Charlie’s big day. Charlie was a great guy to work with – obliging his parents wishes and mine for the entire photography session. This is one of those images from our Friday shoot. It’s a simple set-up showcasing our Bar Mitzvah reading his Torah portion which will be featured in the next morning’s service.

For this image I strived to get a dramatic profile view on my young subject then added my signature “loop light” to his face with my Quantum shooting through my Zumbrella at 1/4 power camera right and slightly behind the subject. Balancing the ambient light to underexpose by a about 1 stop makes the subject “pop” from the background and gives us a very memorable image for our clients.

Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with Sigma 8-16mm lens at 8mm, F6.3 @ 1/30 second, ISO 800. Enjoy! -David