Mommy Day!

I have a long day tomorrow doing various things that require me to look and act like an adult, so I'm going to go slaughter some digital zombies with my husband to prepare for that.  No really, it helps! *sigh* When you're finished laughing I'll continue... You're done?  Good.

I was once again voluntarily torturing myself on Mother's Day as I worked at the florist shop.  After having covered a wedding the day prior, that meant I had almost no time with my "Tiny Monster".  So, to make up for that weekend being lost to income, we spent last weekend doing family things. My camera never leaves my side, so I had time to take a ton of great photos of my husband and son playing all weekend long.  Today I finally went through a few and found out how awesome they are after all.

Anyway, I give you a ton of fun clips from this weekend. Enjoy the crazy birds and smiling toddler monster:

Farmer's Markets Are Wonderful

This week is crowded with work.  Tuesday - Sunday I will be assisting my favorite florist with their busy Mother's Day ordering season, Saturday is my first beach wedding of 2013, and next week I will be meeting with fellow small business owners to discuss having some Weddings By Armando original designs on display at their boutique!

To get ready for all of that I spent Saturday back at the Farmer's Market in Portland.  My son and I enjoyed sampling and selecting our delicious local goodies and eating a healthy lunch in the park at the duck pond.  I apologize in advance that I will disappear for most of the week, but to get you all in the mood for some lovely summer weather I'll give you these beautiful images of fresh food and local goods.  Support your local farmers and visit the market yourself (or check out one near you).

The North Remembers

I have been neglecting this blog as I deal with some difficult family situations lately.  Honestly, it is more that I am just not keeping up with it while I work out a way to get my family through a rough patch. I need to get back to work on this blog and make sure that I am not ignoring my updates. 

We live in Maine, an area always covered in snow in the winter.  When I was in middle school a serious ice storm came through and caused saplings along the road to my family's house to become curved from the extended period under the weight of the ice.  They now make arch over the road and the snow looks beautiful on them.

What I would like is the chance to share more wintery images.  For that reason... I am sharing these until I finish editing the next batch of wedding and portrait works.

Crisp Red Apples

Some of the lovely red apples we picked last year.

I cannot begin to explain how much it has bothered me that my eyes are being light sensitive and giving me headaches when outside in really bright daylight.  I wanted to get photos of the baby playing out in the grass and perhaps going apple picking with my husband in the next few weeks.  Last year I managed to get a sitter for him so we could pick, but this year I think seeing him grab apples from the trees would be adorable.

Apples make great natural light subjects and I was able to get a rare photo of the elusive "husband not making a stupid face" last year.  I would love to think I could do the same this year, but that remains to be seen.  Perhaps they can be convinced to sit long enough for me to take a family photo of my two boys and be able to put it up here at the house.  I want something colorful and glowing to hang on the walls.  

The elusive husband.  This one is about to flee
from our camera as they are shy creatures.

Slow going this week on the final steps with this red wedding.  I took part time job at a favorite local store to help support the ever increasing diaper costs and it has eaten into the time I normally spend on editing.  The books are ready to send to the printer though and I am happy to say the bride did her final review and approved them this morning. 

That means no more wedding related orders until the end of this month.  I will have to find time to select great fall poses and work with the bride at my next booking so we can really take advantage of her date.  Leaves will be in full color at that point and we'll be able to really make much of the colors.

Unique Yet Simple

I believe that making something beautiful does not mean you have to make it overly complex.  Sometimes a portrait can tell more about the subject simply by it's minimalist approach.  A small detail, like the flower tucked behind an ear is often a better statement of personality than an obtrusive multicolor backdrop that detracts from the facial beauty of the model.

I worked for years at a series of chain studios doing formula photography of babies in various suits and dresses, girls in communion gowns, and any of the other traditional family photos that you find as a staple in many middle-class American homes.  This type of portrait was my bread-and-butter and still comprises a good portion of my regular business.  For that reason, I have found a way to keep portraits interesting for myself while still letting each image tell the subject's story.

When I work on an image, most of all when it is something I can have a hand in planning wardrobe or theme, I think of it in a series rather than a single snapshot.  Perhaps because I learned photography on a film camera and grew up waiting hours or even days to see things properly develop, I am almost overly cautious when planning a shot.  I try to select angles for their maximum value, slightly above for young children or brides because it naturally lends an innocent nature to the pose.  Off axis tilts with dynamic poses are my most popular combinations with teens because it mirrors the fashion and sports magazine without discrimination based on body type.

What may be difficult for some artists is finding a happy medium between props and poses.  Adding too many items is only going to detract from the viewer's ability to connect with the person in the photograph.  One thing I believe that many people forget is the one to one rule, one prop to one image, and chairs are props!  This is the same simplicity principle to be used when selecting a backdrop.  Too much color can detract from the beauty of the scene, and often they end up looking fake and flat because the backdrop is shot in very sharp focus and fails to have the illusion of depth behind the subject.

What may work best is color, or combinations of color in what are sometimes called "masterwork" or "fantasy cloth".  This can give the right hint of shades without taking away from the subject.  I often use fantasy cloth over a vinyl backdrop when shooting newborns or cake-smash images with toddlers. I find that it lends a great level of interest to the backdrop without looking like random stains on a colored cloth.  None of these are a sure-fire way to have an idea image, and there are ways to use a natural backdrop that is not a solid color - like a brick wall or a beach with flowing waves - to give an edge to images.

Color Theory

Going to aim for a few small updates this week since I am a little scattered between having just held a birthday party for my husband, looking into renting a better studio space, and some family issues here at home. I'll be treating you to a few nice images in these updates, and be promoting another photographer with one of them.

Today I want to discuss how to work with colors. Not in terms of how to pair things in an image, but how to shoot for an emotional impact by using the colors inherent in a setting. This will be a very visually in depth process, so I will only touch on a few emotions and the best way to communicate them in color. This will be a post of strictly my own work, though the concept is not at all something I lay claim to as an original concept; many books, blogs, and other works exist based on this topic.

If you follow traditional thinking, water is an emotional element because it is so closely related to all life. We emerge from water through the process of birth, we require water to survive must faster than food, indeed we even loos what when we feel the strongest of emotions (both joy and sorrow). So it should be no surprise that water is often an essential element of using color to transmit emotion; water is naturally blue. Using blue and purple shades are an obvious progression and can make a basic shot even more commercially presentable.

This photo was a lucky catch while on a vacation with my parents and an ex-boyfriend of mine about four years ago. I point out that there was a UV filter placed on the camera for this, so it did tint the shot slightly, but only enough to prove my point. Below is the shot taken just prior; this time without using a filter and the default settings and basic white-balance. Just looking at the two quickly, it is simple to tell how there is a dramatic feel to the filtered image.

The lesson I want you to take from this is simple, editing is not always required, but can enhance an image to the perfect level to make a sale. In this case, I am discussing non-portrait images, but the same rule applies there too. If you can frame, light, and pose well, the image will simply need to be uploaded or printed. And for now, I leave you with a few more shots where a slight addition or filtering of color has an obvious effect on the outcome.

Exercises in Development

Well darlings, here we are again.

On Monday I started a blog I had intended to post this week. I got about two-thirds of the way through writing before Thursday. Then, on Thursday morning, I had a shoot with a friend of mine from high school. She is lovely, so there is really not much that I have to worry about editing, but there was some strong lens flare in a few images. Thankfully, we are planning to continue shooting on Saturday and can fix the problem. What we need to do is simple enough that I can fix it with just a few tweaks in posing against the light source. While I really should have caught these problems before finishing, I own the mistake and took the time to research the best way to correct everything I wanted to improve.

This brings me to the point for this week's topic; even once you learned it, you never know everything. The solution was something I had done a few hundred times, I just completely forgot about it when setting up for the session. There is the point where allowing yourself to admit mistakes becomes vital... my botching a few shots worked out alright in this case, but I was lucky. I should really take the time to go through some more test shots – I also should take the time to take some additional educational courses to improve my skills and sharpen my memory.

So, this week I will bring up some common focus points where experienced amateurs and even some professionals fall flat. With each point, you may want to review your sessions for areas in need of improvement. Often there are points we routinely ignore or find ourselves attempting to compensate for with digital editing in place of focusing on the solution prior to even snapping the photo.

1. Lighting - I find myself often cringing at the number of wonderfully posed and airbrushed images that would have survived without the extent of editing if they had only been shot with proper lighting. From beach images that are posed against the sun and cause the subject to squint, to studio portraits without a white-balance check. Remember that colors and light are directly related. As you work with subjects, remember that light can make or break any artistic image; and that is why I suggest that all photographers take a basic drawing class to understand the concept of Chiaroscuro.
2. Poses– There are some stock poses that every artist keeps in their head; while some are great because we all need a classic image to ensure there are clear head shots or fun poses for kids, they are stock because we all know how to take them. The saying may be cliché, but as an artist you need to think outside the box. In this case, think beyond the “over the shoulder half smile” or the cutesy “laying on the tummy with hands under the chin”. If you feel you have to get those poses in, try doing something fun with camera angle, lighting, and proportion.
3. Focal Length – This is a particular pet peeve of mine. It comes from seeing so many otherwise beautiful models distorted because they fell into what I call the “Myspace Trap”. Perhaps I am dating myself here, but I remember a time when taking a photo of yourself by holding the camera up over your head and making a pouty lipped face while pointing the camera right down your non-existent cleavage was sure-fire way to get friends online. Yes, the days when everyone was “edgy and unique” by having a black background and pink glittery font brought about a horrible shift in photographic vantage-points. The problem is not with shooting a subject from above; there are some classic poses using this technique to create very tasteful shots. But one should consider the differences between the slightly bulbous forehead and nose, and the demure downcast eyes of a new bride. The solution is all in how one starts the framing process; starting by actually being farther from the subject and zooming IN with the camera to frame is the correct method. Too many otherwise wonderful images are ruined because the photographer positions themselves too close and zooms OUT to frame their image and then steps back. This causes the parts of the body closest to the lens to become stretched and exaggerated. Ensure that you return on Monday for a visual lesson with examples of intentional and unintentional focal-length changes on various subjects.
4. Set & Prop Involvement – Prior to starting my own company there was a time when I worked as a photographer for a commercial studio. That point in my career may not have always been my favorite, but it gave me a valuable collection of “Do's & Don'ts” to draw on in future sessions. As with poses, some photographers have a single set or item they use in every session because it is just so much a part of their style that they forget how easy it is to have those images become predictable. I admit that in my retail photography days clients knew my collection of silk flowers was unsurpassed for life-like and well-kept details. Every communion season was a wash of carnations, white and blush roses, or Easter lilies. In spring I hauled out my favorite girly poses and pinched bouquets to enhance the holiday dresses and baskets full of painted eggs. Around fall I had baskets of red apples or harvest gourds to use along with bags full of autumn leaves. The only problem with all these silk flowers was that they became my “save zone”. When a customer asked for photos with something different, I had to stop and think because it did not fall in my typical plan.
5. Subject Focus– I actually mean this in two respects: First, it drives me insane to look at work from fellow photographers and see that they clearly tried to shoot everything with the auto-focus feature. While it serves an obvious purpose at times, I find that auto-focus has become just another crutch that people lean on endlessly. There is nothing sadder than a wonderfully posed wedding photo that has the bride and groom as blurry as Sasquatch while that random pebble in the foreground is unusually clear. Secondly, there is no nicer way to say things than this... if your subject is less than one-quarter of the total space in an otherwise solid black or white frame, you have failed. In general one should refer to the “Rule of Thirds” in both close-up or alternately cropped images. There is a significant difference between being artistic with an off-set frame, and poor cropping. Again, I will have examples of correct and incorrect use of subject placement in this week's visual updates.

As you might expect, I fell into a rut and had to dig my way back out. At this point I now hardly use hand-held props or certain poses to avoid the traps that occur with them. I have learned and adapted, but I continue to educate myself, as I did this week after my mistakes with lighting and lens-flare.

When you find yourself seeing problematic themes, take the time to research the solution.  You may well find that there is a simple answer to even the most complex question.  Never think of this as a set-back, simply as a learning exercise.  Never stop learning.