If you really like Food Photography, this is the book for you:
Shooting White On White…
Shooting white on white can be hard sometimes. You need to have the product look white, but you also need enough shadow and detail held to separate it from the white background. This is something that the best product photographers in Dallas can do with their eyes closed and their hands tied behind their back.
Usually, I’ll practice shooting white objects on white during my downtime, because it’s kind of like riding a bicycle – Once you learn how, you never forget; but you’ll need to practice regularly, if you want to be great at it. Even though I shoot a lot more people/lifestyle photography here in North Texas than I shoot products, shooting white on white is still a critical tool to have.
OK, so my white slip covers could use a wash… you can see the discoloration around the arms. I also think part of it is the fact that the material is more of a natural white than a bright white. However, this cheap Ikea chair is still a great practice subject for photographing white on white. Now, go find something white and shoot it on white! It makes for a great photo practice exercise.
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Playing With Color…
I recently did a little photo project that focused on color. These were my favorite images from the set…
Spring Is Here…
According to the latest cover of Quick that I shot, Spring Fever is here! It’s always fun shooting pretty girls in pretty clothes.
Sure, The Money Is Important…
…but, it’s still great to hear these words from your client:
“you always do great work.”
That made my day today. It’s nice to know your clients respect your photography.
My Boy, The Star…
One of my clients is the children’s museum, which is perfect for my family. They can actually tag along on some of my shoots and enjoy the activities at the museum while I work. The other benefit is they sometimes get to be stars! That’s my middle boy blowing the big bubble at the top of the new brochure. Isn’t he cute?!?
Another Good Blog…
Lots of good info here:
Of course, you’ll want to visit it AFTER you finish digging around at www.janikphoto.com. Just sayin’…
Asleep, Awake…
I’ve been working on a personal project that documents the boys when they are asleep and first waking up, then combines that moment with a portrait of them wide awake during the day. The idea is to show the differences and similarities of our time asleep and awake, and how we relate and react to the outside word in each.
Through the use of a diptych, the two worlds can be directly compared and contrasted. It’s a neat idea and I’m already learning more about my boys than I did before. I’m not sure if I’ll carry this project past my own family, but it would be interesting to see what kind of stories a full book of children could tell… maybe even carry the idea over to adults, too?!?
Recent Photos In Print…
I’ve been keeping busy with my regular clients lately. I’ll have some nice shots coming out in D Magazine any day now, some new brochures and publications from the museum are about to be finished and of course there’s always my stuff for Quick! I always love shooting for Quick, reading Quick and talking to fans of Quick that I meet out in public. Here are some of my most recent Quick covers and pics…
OK, so this meal is a bit exaggerated. That’s actually three full orders of fries! However, everything else is 100% real. No fake food or photoshop trickery that takes place in most food photos. We went to an awesome burger place called Motor and Maple and used a real burger, real fries, a real booth at the place and real ketchup spelling out the words!
Piano bars are fun to visit, but they actually aren’t the easiest to shoot. If you want to show the performer, the piano, the crowd and some ambiance all in one shot, it can get tricky! I think I pulled it off, though. The funny thing is that I hadn’t ever shot at a piano bar in my life (even though I’ve been shooting in bars and clubs for nearly 13 or 14 years now). Out of the blue, I get this assignment and then a shoot for another publication at another area piano bar both in one week! I was waiting for the third piano bar shoot to arrive, but I guess Dallas can only have so many piano bar stories written in a week!
Chocolate! What more can I say? Who wouldn’t want a nice big pile of chocolate to shoot? Too bad I didn’t get to eat it…
The best night of Super Bowl week in Dallas was definitely the Flaming Lips show! I never get tired of shooting them.
I did a lot of red carpet shooting during Super Bowl week in Dallas. Snoop, The Situation, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Gene Simmons and a million other celebs all walked in front of my camera. It was definitely a different experience than most of my shoots.
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