How to shoot strobe/daylight mix on a bright location by Sean Armenta
At least once a year, I try to produce a fashion shoot at The Joshua Tree National Park. An immense and varied desert location and it is one of those places where you simply point your camera at any direction and it looks amazing.
I put together a small team of one model, one artist providing both makeup and hair, a fashion stylist, and a photo assistant. I wanted to produce images that were classic, not overly trendy, and would remain relevant for longer than a season. I also planned on using two lenses for the shoot - a 50mm and a 180mm. Using a 50 would allow me to get just enough environment in the shot without being overly wide, and the 180 would be great for beauty shots and full length shots which would show depth and I really wanted to make it different from the previous outing to Joshua Tree where I had shot everything with a 35. The shots you see here were taken in April 2009, a bit off season to avoid all the usual tourist traffic to the park.
Photoshop ABC’s
So over the weekend what started as an idle tweet by Mark Jobson turned into a 3 ways tweetfest with Mark, Sean Armenta and myself working our way through a Photoshop ABC and I thought it might be quite good fun to put it up here to show that we actually managed it! And I don’t think we cheated too much!
Below is an edited version of the transcript, (though it hasn’t been altered too much)
Feel free to disagree with us, this isn’t supposed to be a definitive list or even the best list, this was the list we came up with whilst bantering over twitter… if we’d been in the pub then I’m sure it would have been heated!
Mark Jobson:
Seriously considering teaching my 5yr old how to retouch…
James Lightbown:
Keith Clouston is looking for retouchers if you get your 5 yr old up to speed quick enough! ;-)
Mark Jobson:
Scary thing is though… she seems to be genuinely interested. Right. A is for… Adjustment Layer lol
James Lightbown:
haha We’ve got to do a #photoshopabc … B is for Brushes
Mark Jobson:
C is for Curves
Open studio weekend and exhibition
Clic La Mode and the Clic La Mode studio is a proud to be a part of the following Second Floor Studios & Arts Project and this weekend every artist and the entire complex is throwing it’s doors open for an exciting open studios weekend.
We are hosting an exhibition in the gallery and featuring a large selection of work by photographers from our showcase gallery.
This is an open event to anyone who would like to see both the studio and some beautiful large format photography. There are a selection of stories being displayed in wonderful 24” x 90” photographs… (that’s over seven and a half foot tall!)
The Clic La Mode team look forward to seeing you there!
Photoshop Tips & Tricks: Adding Noise
Noise.
What is Noise? And why is Noise important to you?
Well it’s not as abstract a question as it may seem, for a start to clarify; I’m referring to Noise in the Adobe Photoshop sense. While I’m sure there is an Adobe approved definition of noise out there on the internets somewhere, for our target audience of beginners and novices, it may be useful to think of noise as the digital equivalent of film grain.
In a world in which pixel counts are getting bigger and bigger, producing smoother images and wider tonal ranges you may think that something like film grain is redundant, and that the ability to shoot at 400IS0 on your shiny new DSLR without getting much in the way of noise is actually a blessing.
But what about when you want that grainy feel, when everything is just a bit too smooth? That’s when you’ll be grateful for a bit of Noise.
But, before you go reaching for that handy noise filter the Adobe have so kindly provided for you (or even the film grain filter) give this handy, non-destructive way of adding noise a go first:
Step 1:
Make yourself a new layer.
There’s a really interesting post today on The F Stop discussing the potential of the iPad as a portfolio tool for photographers.
Check out the article by clicking on the link above and make sure you have a good look around the site as it’s a great professional photographers blog run by photographer Zack Seckler.
A full-length behind-the-scenes look at Brandon Voges’ Upside Downy Face series. A brilliant portrait series!
Shows that sometimes it’s all about a simple thing done very very well!
Yet more from Nathen of the Clic La Mode team sometimes hard at work… sometimes not!
If you’re a creative then watch this!
This might seem like it’s a little at odds with the fashion orientated content that we put up on Clic La Mode however this video of Harlan Ellison, a science fiction writer is something that we should all watch and watch often!
As a creative please watch this and everytime Harlan says “writer” please insert your job title and think of the impact that this has when applied to your industry and come back to it and listen to what he’s saying again and again and again.
1:35 - “There’s no publicity value. The only value for me is if you put money in my hand.”
2.30 - “I don’t take a piss without getting paid for it!”
Hey it might be swearing but it’s our livelihoods: Know the value of your craft!
Just genius…
Part Two of Nathen’s Picture story from back stage at the Shane & Falguni Peacock show.
Part One of Nathen Atia’s Picture story from back stage at the Shane & Falguni Peacock show.
