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The business portrait…

There are millions of “business portraits” to be taken in this country, because there are millions of professionals.  This kind of photography can be a good boost to your income, so hopefully you know how to make a good, professional business portrait.  

I’ve shot my share of CEO’s, managers, realtors, and anybody else that needs a quality headshot.  They end up on web pages, business cards, flyers, advertisements, PR and press kits…  just about anywhere and everywhere that a business person can put them.  
I’m not going to do a huge tutorial on my style/version of the business headshot, because there’s a very good tutorial here:  
You’ll have to log in to view the tutorial, so if you get lost while trying to log in or register, just search for the title:  A “No BS” Business Portrait  
Now, he uses three lights and a fill card in the linked tutorial.  I simply use two lights and no fill card.  The light is a bit more dramatic, but I like that look.  Besides, it’s easier to set up on location, and that’s where a lot of money can be made.  If you can set up shop in an extra room at a real estate office, you can knock out five or ten headshots in a row.  At two hundred dollars a pop, you can make up to two grand in a couple hours.  
Back to my version of the business portrait…  Here is an example of one I shot for a local company.  They had some new upper-level management come in, and they needed pictures for the website and press release.  These people were busy, busy, busy.  They asked me to come in to their offices and set up for the shoot.  This would save the new president a lot of time, since she wouldn’t have to drive to my studio – and time is money with companies.  
So, I set up in an empty office, with my C-stand to hold a small grey paper backdrop.  I had my portable Profoto kit that contains two small stands, two heads, and two power packs.  I had a large softbox and my camera bag.  Everything can be carried in at once (with a little effort getting in and out of elevators).  
I set up in about five minutes, waited for the president to come in, and was done shooting after ten more minutes.  Five minutes to break down the gear, and I’m done.  This is what I shot…
  
Now, I’m not going to draw out a fancy diagram for you, but I will tell you this.  My picture is captured almost exactly like the tutorial link does it.  I eliminate the hair light and the fill card.  I use a 70-200 2.8L lens, instead of an 85mm lens.  That’s it.
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They Were Stars…

I was at The Cavern on a shoot this weekend.  I wasn’t there to shoot the band, but I decided to snap a few shots of them anyway.  The band is called They Were Stars, and they were pretty darn good.  

The stage at The Cavern is more than just tiny.  It is almost nonexistent.  The lighting is pretty bad, what little lighting is available.  This may sound like a recipe for photo disaster, but sometimes these tiny, poorly-lit stages can make for some good shooting.  
You need to work harder at it, but you can use the weaknesses to your advantage.  One thing, the band is packed together tightly, so you can often get great pictures of them interacting with each other.  Often, band members will be far apart on a big stage.  A huge stage makes it hard to get more than one or two members in the same photo.  
Another way to make these stages work for you is to really drag your shutter and pop the band with some flash.  The little stage lighting available will create some cool ghosting and a tiny bit of blur, but your flash will freeze the important parts (like the face or musical instrument).  This technique can feel/look more energetic than your average concert image.  
Anyway, here are a few images from my efforts:  
 
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Now I remember!!!

My memory is not the best.  I know that I should know something, but I can’t remember why.  That was the case today, when I went to photograph Lindsay Graham for an upcoming issue of Quick (I can’t leak any details about the shoot or share any pics… you just have to anxiously await the story to hit the stands and the website).  

Anyway, the name sounded very familiar, but I just couldn’t place it.  He runs a local recording studio, so I figured it was from something band-related.  I asked why his name sounded so familiar and he said it was probably from the senator.  With Myspace, I get hit up by soooo many bands and the name sounded like a band I’d heard of before, but I knew I didn’t recognize the music.  
Then he said, “No, not a band named The Senator, but the senator.”  
Oooooohhhhhhh…  I felt dumb.  There is a band out of New Jersey named The Senator, and I was confused.  He was talking about senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.  However stupid I sounded for confusing an actual senator with a band name, that wasn’t where I was recognizing the name from.  
We talked more about bands and photography.  He told me that he’d done a lot of photography, but that the music recording had taken over his life.  He told me about some of the really cool past and present projects that he’d recorded.  Then he mentioned the Observer right as we were wrapping up.  
Of Course!!!!!!!!!  That was where I recognized the name.  Lindsay Graham used to shoot some of the music stuff for the Observer.  Now I knew why I knew the name…  He always had decent photos, and I’m usually pretty good at remembering other local photographers’ efforts.  
So, my memory sucks, but I did get to meet a pretty nice guy, and a fellow photog.  And that’s how I spent my Sunday.  Oh, and I dropped off a couple art pieces for a gallery exhibit starting next weekend.  I’ll get you more details on that in a few days…
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Wedding bell blues…

It’s real easy to get the wedding bell blues as a wedding photographer.  They are hard work.  They are physically and mentally exhausting (I feel like I ran a 5K and did the SAT’s after shooting a wedding).  It’s easy to get burned out on weddings.  However, if you balance things just right (don’t book too many weddings that they become a chore, but don’t book too few that you feel rusty or out-of-practice shooting them), they can be a blast!  
One thing that really helps a wedding assignment is the subject matter.  Simply put, the people you are shooting can make a wedding fun or make it a disaster.  Wedding couples may be shopping you, but you should also shop them.  What do I mean?  Well, they meet with you and other photogs, trying to get a feel for your personality – and it’s often just as important as pricing and package value.  
Just as they are shopping me, I am studying them, making sure they are compatible with my style of shooting and my personality.  Why bother booking someone who will just be unhappy with your style, and who will just make you miserable for eight hours straight?  
Anyway, I’m starting to ramble…  I really just planned to post a few pics from this recent wedding.  I was really happy with things, partly because I was so happy at the wedding.  The couple and their guests were so nice and fun to shoot.  It made shooting them real easy, because we all just seemed to work well together.  
I skimmed through the images and a few caught my eye as interesting.  I didn’t go through them to pick perfect album shots or classic wedding images.  The bride and groom can do that when they return from their honeymoon.  No, I just decided to post a few random, fun, engaging images from the day.  They are in no particular order:

The above image was interesting to me.  I know the dancing dip shot is caught all the time.  I’ve captured quite a few good dips over the years.  I just thought something was fun about this one.
I always love the hugging and kissing shots.  I don’t know what it is, but there’s this pure emotion that explodes onto the film when it’s captured just right.  There’s a very short window of time to capture a hugging or kissing shot JUST right, so you have to be fast!  If you are a micro-second too early or too late, you miss the pinnacle of the emotion.
Again, a kissing shot.  I told you they get me.  The bride and groom kiss at every wedding, so it’s not a unique moment in that respect.  However, the fact that the bride might’ve been 5’2″ and the groom was at least in the mid 6′ range…  well, it made the image a little more interesting.  He squeezed her tight and lifted her up off the ground as they kissed for the first time as husband and wife.
The above shot was totally spur of the moment.  This gentleman was taking a break from all the excitement.  He was resting his head in his hand and gently smiling as he watched the bride and groom enjoy the reception.  I always try to glance around the room for special little moments like this.  He looked up towards me right as I got him in focus, and I snapped.
 
The cake cutting shot…  They are having fun!  I think this image grabbed me, because I was fondly remembering those tasty cupcakes next to the groom (they were great).  The cake cutting shots are always filled with energy.  They can be the most exciting shots to take at a wedding.  They can also be the hardest.  When the bride and groom stand behind the average white wedding cake (this one happened to be green, instead), you basically have a large white object just waiting to throw off your flash and metering.  If you aren’t careful, you’ll end up with a blown out cake and a bride and groom that are under-exposed.  Not this time, though… they are just right!
As you can see, Aggies were everywhere.  This Texas A&M alumnus borrowed a few more rings from the other Aggie groomsmen to show his school spirit.  Sometimes these moments will pop up out of the blue, and you have to be ready for them.  On the technical side of things, I decided to play around with a little Photoshop post processing here.  I dulled the colors and adjusted the contrast to make the image seem more vintage.  I didn’t want to go all out and start shifting the color, adding dust and scratches, and other techniques to make it seem retro.  I just wanted to add a touch of timelessness to the image with some minor tweaking.  I think too much post production nonsense can make an image feel fake and cheesy.  
Well, there you have it.  A few images that caught my eye while skimming through a recent wedding.  I wonder which images will wind up being the bride and groom’s favorites?

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Rainy day wedding…

I’m on my way out the door to shoot a wedding in Ft. Worth.  It’s raining pretty good right now.  Hopefully the wet weather won’t mess with the bride’s big day…

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Lifestyle…

I really enjoyed this blog post:  

It is short, but it is to-the-point.  It also reminds us of something we often forget – you don’t need a special environment to capture amazing photos.  A bunch of flowers aren’t going to make a huge difference, if you can’t capture your subject’s essence/soul/character.  Sometimes the best shots will come from a place where your subject feels most comfortable and natural.
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With a little help…

I’ve helped out photogs in need.  If I was down in the photo pit and someone needed extra batteries or ear plugs, I’d give them some.  I’ve let younger photogs test out my L series lenses.  I’ve loaned equipment to photogs in emergencies.  I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t help others.  It’s just the right thing to do.  

Well, Karma must be real, because I was paid back for some of my good deeds the other day.  I had a shoot at DFW airport for one of my news wire clients.  It was a total last-minute assignment, so I had to rush out there and rush back.  
Normally, the airline PR people will help get you access and escort you all over the place, but they were in the middle of some important work.  They gave me free reign in their ticketing area, but couldn’t escort me to get close-up airplane shots.  It was suggested to use the public area, just outside of the airport.  I think it’s called Founders Park?  
Anyway, I wasn’t REALLY equipped to get great shots from a distant location – my biggest lens is a 70-200 2.8L and my extender sucks too much to really use (it is just too soft and blurry compared to simply cropping and upping the file size).  
So, I go out there anyway, because I have to shoot SOMETHING…  When I arrive, I see a guy with a massive lens.  I’ve used a lot of the big boys before – the 300 2.8L, the 400L, the 600L – and they are nice lenses, but massively expensive.  Well, this guy had the 800mm L series Canon lens, and it was nice!  
We get to talking, and it turns out that he makes a living off of aviation photography.  He’s been doing it a long time and I’d have to say he is one of THE guys to go to for aviation pics.  His name is Jim Wilson, and you can see his website here:  
Anyway, long story short, he let me borrow his 800mm lens for a minute.  It really helped me get some better stuff.  I could only use it for a minute or two at most, because I had to run back to the studio on tight deadline, but it would’ve been nice to play with it a bit longer.  
Jim sent me a pic he took from the other day, and I must say it is nicer than what I got.  I could comfort myself by saying it’s due to the fact that he had a while to sit and shoot and I had to snap and run.  However, I think he would’ve left with the winning shot, even if I had all day to sit and snap away…  Here’s the image he sent me:  
Just for comparison, here is an out take from my images  (due to my contract with this specific news company, I can’t share the best images I sent them, only my out takes… sorry):
As you can see, his shot is much nicer.  But you’d expect that from a guy who is one of the top aviation shooters in Texas.  I’d be more surprised if my stuff was better than his.  I only shoot aviation stuff a couple times a year for news stories – not every day like Jim.  
So, the point of this story is that Karma may just provide for you in your time of need, assuming you reciprocate.  I look at it like a bank account in a way.  Good luck and favors can only be withdrawn if you are making regular deposits.  I always try to help my fellow photogs, and I’ve been lucky they return the favors.
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Clouds…

I’ve always enjoyed shooting clouds.  They are so amazing, so unique.  Every time you look up, there’s something new and different.  I was leaving a shoot this evening and looked up to see this:  

Since I was just finishing up a photo shoot, I had my camera gear at hand.  I’m glad I did, otherwise I would’ve missed this image…