Half of 2017 Has Flown By
In case you have missed it half this year has gone by with the blink of an eye. With every month that passes I reflect on on many things including my photo shoots. With each shoot that I do I'm always trying to better my craft. I get a better understanding about photography including lighting, framing, texture & exposures.
Most of my work for the past 20 years has been for magazines and due to the take-over of the internet the magazine publishing world has been on a pretty rapid decline. Publishing companies don't have it in their budgets to pay for original shoots and can grab existing photos from different agencies for pennies. This has really hurt many working photographers.
When times are really slow for paid gigs I like to take time to enjoy my photography and remember why I love it so much. It also gives me a chance to photograph many different things and not just celebrities for magazines. I also get to take my time and experiment with lighting and exposures.
One of my best subjects is my wife Daniela. At any given moment I will ask her to get a quick makeup and let's do some photos.
In the above photo of Daniela I wanted to take advantage of the early morning beautiful back-light from the sun.
This photo was taken at about 9:30 am It turned out to be over 100 degrees this day. This was shot with my Nikon D800 settings f/11 1/25 sec. ISO -200 Focal length 112mm. When I shoot I always make sure to shoot just a bit under exposed as I can bring it up later in post. If it is already over exposed it is very tough to bring back the details. There was a fence behind Daniela but I thought if I get down lower I can get the trees in the background that were up high. Eliminating the fence and getting the trees added more color and kept an even more organic vibe to the photo.
I really wanted to feature the colors so I asked her to wear a color that was missing from the shot and that was blue. Up in the front of my subject I had a strobe on a stand with a large umbrella this gave me enough light to brighten her face. Again I don't over expose so I can control it later. As you can see from this image there is amazing texture and colors. I never like to center my subject in the frame unless I'm shooting for a magazine and that is mostly required. Having Daniela slightly off center gives me a chance to share the photo with the other beautiful elements without taking away from the main subject.
I would have to say one of my favorite photos of 2017.
In case you have missed it half this year has gone by with the blink of an eye. With every month that passes I reflect on on many things including my photo shoots. With each shoot that I do I'm always trying to better my craft. I get a better understanding about photography including lighting, framing, texture & exposures.
Most of my work for the past 20 years has been for magazines and due to the take-over of the internet the magazine publishing world has been on a pretty rapid decline. Publishing companies don't have it in their budgets to pay for original shoots and can grab existing photos from different agencies for pennies. This has really hurt many working photographers.
When times are really slow for paid gigs I like to take time to enjoy my photography and remember why I love it so much. It also gives me a chance to photograph many different things and not just celebrities for magazines. I also get to take my time and experiment with lighting and exposures.
One of my best subjects is my wife Daniela. At any given moment I will ask her to get a quick makeup and let's do some photos.
This photo was taken at about 9:30 am It turned out to be over 100 degrees this day. This was shot with my Nikon D800 settings f/11 1/25 sec. ISO -200 Focal length 112mm. When I shoot I always make sure to shoot just a bit under exposed as I can bring it up later in post. If it is already over exposed it is very tough to bring back the details. There was a fence behind Daniela but I thought if I get down lower I can get the trees in the background that were up high. Eliminating the fence and getting the trees added more color and kept an even more organic vibe to the photo.
I really wanted to feature the colors so I asked her to wear a color that was missing from the shot and that was blue. Up in the front of my subject I had a strobe on a stand with a large umbrella this gave me enough light to brighten her face. Again I don't over expose so I can control it later. As you can see from this image there is amazing texture and colors. I never like to center my subject in the frame unless I'm shooting for a magazine and that is mostly required. Having Daniela slightly off center gives me a chance to share the photo with the other beautiful elements without taking away from the main subject.
I would have to say one of my favorite photos of 2017.