"to see the world in a grain of sand..."
Let’s have a contest: Who has the grungiest sensor?
I was dismally shocked when I finally tested mine ( I usually shoot wide open so I rarely see all the gunk. But there was one big bit that cause me hours of pain in Photoshop, so I decided to clean off the old sensor. The first thing I do is check to see how bad it really is. Stop down, all the way, find a white wall or clear blue sky, and shoot! UUUUGGGGGHHHHH! ) Frightful!
See what I mean? Continue Reading
The long weekend was a typical one – rainy and cloudy. I think there’s only been one long weekend with perfect weather that I can remember and that was last year!
Here we are on the edge of the big May Long Weekend – the great Canadian ritual where we welcome the arrival of summer with beaches, beer and bonfires! Three days of debauchery for some, for others 3 glorious (hopefully) days of outdoor photography. Or maybe a bit of both 🙂Continue Reading
Typographic portraits. Yes, portraits! I know what you’re thinking – but occasionally there are people in my photos, although not usually in the normal sense.
A while back I noticed a photo album on my book shelf and thought it looked quite interesting – I’m not sure why I didn’t pay it much attention before – I think it was a gift that got put away for “future use” but ended up hidden behind a bunch of books…Any way this is the album…Continue Reading
Everyone is talking about twitter, Facebook and all the other social media sites out there, and I’ve been getting lots of emails from other entrepreneurs about some pretty cool ways to market services and products using these sites. So…Continue Reading
Another crazy week! But here are some updates.
The new year is just around the corner – which today astiunds me more than anything. Wasn’t it just the height of summer!?
I’m in the process of finalizing some photography courses for 2011, in conjunction with Pixels 2.1 Gallery.
On the list so far:
1) a 4 week digital infrared shooting and post processing course. For people with Infrared capable cameras*
2) Extreme photomanipulation, for people pretty good with Photoshop already. It’s not Photoshop training program as such – you need to know how to use it, I’ll just show you how to ramp it up several big notches! This is an advanced program. 6 weeks in duration.
3) Hyper Macro Photography. Getting into those secret worlds hidden in plain view, in plants, dirt, everyday objects and more. You must have a DSLR and a macro lens for this one. A 4 week program.
Contact me for more info, but I will also be adding news as we finalize the details.
Space is limited. You know Pixels is a smaller space so there’s not a huge amount of room. So it will be a good idea to register as soon as the course opens.
Also in 2011, we’re planning the ever in-demand IR Bootcamp. – one weekend of intense photography training. If you’ve signed up on the Interested List, you’ll be getting notifications in the new year. If you’ve bought the IR Program and book, you’ll also be getting the details soon.
As a photographer, you may one day be asked to shoot headshots for clients for their websites and promo materials. Often if they want to use a photo of themselves on their website, it may often be part of the banner of the site. This means that you will have to “knock out” the background.
In the studio, if you know in advance that you need a white background, you can set up your shot easily. But you never know what client’s will want to do with that photo in the future, and if they want a transparent background after the shoot it’s really hard to get rid of a white backround. The solution is that we will shoot on a special green or blue background which is relatively easy to get rid of on Photoshop. The reason is that green and blue aren’t found in human skin tones so the various selections methods in post production will be easier and more accurate selecting JUST the green. (Make sure your client isn`t wearing green or blue!) It’s called chromakey, it’s how all the cool SGI stuff is made in movies – actors are on harnesses flying through the air like Superman, on a green background which is later replaced with a digital sky or space or whatever.
But what happens if you are on a location shoot outdoors with no green studio background available? And you just know the client will sooner or later ask for a cut out or knocked out background? I’m going to share with you my best secret for doing exactly this and you don’t need any new equipment!
I’m going to use an example from a recent shoot I did with my friend Chris, who owns the most excellent FUDE Restaurant, and is also a great marketing consultant. He needed a new headshot for his new marketing website.
