March Madness: 10; Photographing Women’s Shoes
Shooting Women's Shoes John McAllister Photograph some high heel shoes? How hard can that be? I immediately called my fashion-conscious daughter to provide a selection of her favourite heels. I soon realised the design and construction of shoes present a far more...
March Madness: 09; Violin Pirate Flag
Violin Pirate Flag By David Price Photographed January 2016 Years ago, some friends and I were messing around, experimenting if you will, with some concept photographic sketches and some writing. We got onto the idea of an extended piratical adventure and ran with it....
March Madness: 08; The Making of “Broken Doll”
The Making of "Broken Doll" By Carla McMahon (NOTE: This image won the Annual Kelby One Photo & Design Contest) This is a composite of about 5/6 images. My camera was on a tripod and every image was taken from the exact same angle and focal length. First an image...
March Madness: 07; A Simple Portable Background
A Simple and Easy Background Stand By Virginia Smith Every photographer needs a simple portable backdrop for portraits, headshots, product photography. If we had the budget of Annie Liebowitz then we’d all have Handpainted Oliphant Canvas Backgrounds, only the finest...
March Madness: 06; One Big Light!
The assignment was to use one very large light source for the shot. Bring it in close, and use the magic of soft, diffused light to present the subject. The students in the still life workshop also photographed their setups for us. They say a picture is worth a...
March Madness: 05; The Making of Chocolate Indulgence
The Making of “Chocolate Indulgence” Creative Director, Photographer, Retoucher: Sam Breach http://www.sambreach.com Hair and Make...
March Madness: 04; Using the Selection Tool
Using the Quick Selection Tool https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxtjC1cE_kg Tutorial by James Kern
March Madness: 03; Modifying an Image to Fit an Alternate Format
How to modify an image to fit an alternate format by Chris Aldridge. Here’s a walkthrough of how I modified an image to fit a particular format. There are several methods used here to widen the overall image so that it fits a wide but squat format. The layout required...
March Madness: 02; Natural Window Light Still Life
Still Life by Window Light Tutorial by Heather Gill, Las Vegas A very simple use of window light to make a softly lit still life This is using a single light source and in this case, natural light on black. I had planned to use a strobe but when I started to set up...
March Madness: One Tutorial Per Day – 01
Choosing a Point of View for a Still Life Tutorial by Lily Dale, Illinois For Don's Still Life Workshop, our class was assigned to photograph objects from three points of view: oblique (shooting from straight on), natural (shooting from a standing position) and...
The Always Challenging “Pour Shot”
The pour shot may be one of the most challenging of commercial photography's many challenges. Getting the pour to look right, making sure the liquid is lit so that it looks great, catching the action as it happens... so many things to monitor as the photographer...
How Would You Shoot a Fork?
(NOTE: This is a repost of an article that was corrupted and caused the outage of the site last week.) "How would you shoot a fork?" That was the question I asked my Project 52 Students for last week's assignment. Photograph a fork and make it interesting. Forks are...
The “Long Game” in Photography
The "LONG GAME" Approach to Photography One of the things I notice about the culture lately is that there is more focus on the easy route, the quick way, 'getting to done' without really knowing what got done. There is a quickness to many things we do, and we expect...
A Fragrance Ad by the P52 Members.
THE ASSIGNMENT: Provide the images for an advertorial designed for a consumer magazine. The layout was furnished to the students with only minor changes allowed. Everyone got the same assignment, and look at the amazingly different interpretations. It is hard enough...
A Beautiful Promo
My bud Dave Siegel sent this to me. I think it is very powerful. Showing the before shot next to the final image makes the package more informational as well, and provides the viewer a glimpse into what Dave can do for them. Email promotion.
Interviewed by Frederic Bye: Creativity, Photography, and Purpose
I really enjoyed meeting Frederic and having a chance to discuss art, creativity, and purpose. If you are interested in hearing me blather on about this stuff - and I do so love to do that - give the link a click and listen in. Frederic is a very good interviewer, and...
Deconstructing a Portrait
I want to take a closer look at some of the portraits the students in the 8 Week Portrait Class are doing. Decontructing an image is a very valuable exercise and one that can garner much insight into the way the portrait was conceived and produced. The image above, by...
What We Can Learn from Portraits
Want to increase your photography chops? Try portraiture. When we are working with another person, and trying to make a great portrait of them, we have many challenges that confront the photographic process. The one that is largest, and seems to be one of the more...
2015: A Postmortem and Retrospective.
We humans love to think in terms of beginnings and ends, and where, in reality, January 1 carries no more significance than any other day, we see it as a beginning of a new year full of promise. And that is fine with me. 2015 was a difficult year for me, and I am...
Portraits for a Friday Afternoon
I love portraits. This week the students looked at Peter Lindbergh and were inspired by his elegant simplicity. See the images after the jump. [gallery columns="5" link="file"...
THE “REAL LIFE” MYTH
Truer words never spoken: "And lastly, never, never ever give-up. You must believe in you when, no one else does. You must hang-on to your dreams when there is no reason to even hope for the smallest of miracles. If you give yourself a backdoor, chances are you may...
Shooting a CD Cover: Front and Back (Project 52)
This past week we have been reviewing the CD cover assignment for the Project 52 2015 group. The assignment was for a cover and back image for a String Quartet performing Samuel Barber's String Quartet Op 11. The assignment specifically noted that the string quartet...
Exceptional Portraits (from the workshop)
One of the most exciting and ultimately satisfying things I am doing is the 8 Week Workshop courses. We mostly focus on portraits, but are beginning to expand out with an upcoming Still Life Workshop as well. And more ideas are in the works. This last week, we studied...
Now Enrolling for Two Different 8 Week Photography Workshops
If portraiture is your interest, we are starting the 8 Week Portrait Workshop 102 in January. There are still a few openings if you are interested. See the workshop page for more information on this unique class. Lots going on in that class, and if you love...
