See the light.

I have had a number of people ask me if I would be putting tutorials up on my page, and that is definitely in the works for 2016, but I think there is a fundamental problem with a lot of people trying to break into composite photography, and that's lighting. Sometimes I think our digital crazed culture has become so reliant on the term "fix it in post" that we forget the little things that make photography special.

When you look at some of the great photographers before us, like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Ansel Adams, you realize that they saw light, it didn't just happen to them and it most certainly wasn't luck. You might be asking, what do two guys who shot mostly black and white film have to do with a digital composite photographer in 2015?! To that I would say, everything! I have had multiple people come to me and ask how I make my composite images look so real, and yes, I use Photoshop a lot, but Photoshop can only do so much. I think most of what makes composite images look real is lighting. More specifically being able to identify lighting and re-create it.

So, what can you do? How can you start to learn about lighting? Well the first thing you can do is go outside! Look at shadows, haze, highlights, soft light, hard light, night lights, natural light, artificial light, fog, etc. and study them. The more you know about what light looks like the better. That's the fun part, I am still obsessed with shadows and I take pictures of them all the time...it's a little weird. I can't stop it though, I think light is incredible and beautiful, I think at the heart of what we do is the fact that photographers love light.

What do you do after that? You learn how to make it. First, learn how to make light and shadows in a studio. This part can be harder if you don't have access to lights, but it most certainly can be done on a budget. This is a critical step if you want to be a composite photographer because your ability to take an object and put it seamlessly into a background is what will set you apart from the competition. There are a ton of tutorials that you can look at online, like kelbyone.com, that will teach you lighting, but make sure you don't just watch videos, go do it!

Finally, you need to learn how to make lighting and shadows in Photoshop. I think this is where things get a little backwards for a lot of people. I can't tell you how many people have said the know a ton about Photoshop and still can't make their images look right. Honestly, if they really do know a ton about Photoshop (I have my suspicions), it's probably the lighting. I think if you just try to learn Photoshop without learning lighting you are doing yourself a disservice, and it makes things very frustrating in the beginning. When you're ready though, there are a ton of websites and resources to help you learn about lighting in Photoshop (Phlearn, Lynda, Kelbyone, Youtube, etc). 

I might be crazy, but I think you need to know this stuff to be a professional photographer, not just have a nice camera. I mean, having a nice camera is great and all, but I would rather hire a photographer with a cheaper camera who knows what they're doing then one with a super expensive camera who doesn't have a clue.

I just recently went in the studio and did test lighting for a shoot that I am getting ready for and to learn more about lighting, because you never know it all! Below are some of the shots that I took from new lighting set ups I am working on, and a little bts video of me running around taking pictures of myself! Until next time, be awesome!

One Year of lessons.

While I have been in photography and retouching for over 6 years, this September marked 1 year of being a full time freelancer. I think most people would translate that as "You haven't had a job in one year?!" but that most certainly isn't the case. In fact, I would say this has been one of the hardest working years of my life...and never more worth it. Here are some things that I learned, hopefully they can help you in your journey!

1. WORK WORK WORK - If you are going to be a full time photographer you need to be putting out new work ALL THE TIME. I cannot stress enough, and I am certainly not the first to say this, that you need to constantly be evolving and growing in your craft, and you can't do that if all the work you create is for clients. Make up a personal project and go do it, if you don't have work, make work. You're a creative, go create. My only caveat is that your personal work should be the work you want to get hired to do. If you want to get hired by Nike to shoot ads, then you better be shooting stuff that looks like that every moment you can.

2. NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK - You've heard the saying "It's more about who you know, than what you know"? Well it's true. Granted, you need to be a good photographer when it all comes down to it, but you need to know people to take pictures for! Meet as many people as you can; meet art directors, creative directors, other photographers, videographers, agents, meet PEOPLE! The more people you know and know you the more likely you are to make it!

3. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH GOOD PEOPLE - My friend Sean Hagwell had something to say about this on his blog, and I readily agree with him. Who you have on set, who you talk to about images, who you talk about ideas with and let into your life, these people matter. This is not networking, this is community, and you must have a solid community to survive. When times are hard you'll need a hand, and you want to make sure that hand is a steady one. (You can see Sean's blog here: http://seanhagwell.com/16-things-ive-learned/)

4. BE CAREFUL - To follow up with what I just said you also need to be careful who you take advice from. Everyone wants to make money, and a lot of people make money by giving advice to creatives. Now, I have met some people who are worth paying, but I have also met some people who aren't! Make sure you do your homework before you go diving into some scheme to get a ton of money making photography...the only real way is to work really hard, and if they are telling you otherwise I would be skeptical. One other thought on this, be careful who you get to critique your work. I have noticed that every photographer has a very specific idea of what an image should look like, and a lot of times it is nothing more than an opinion, and usually a negative one. I do show my work to a select few photographers, but I also show it to industry people who aren't photographers...I would recommend looking into that.

5. YOU DON'T KNOW IT ALL - If you think you know everything there is to know about running a photography business, and you think you can do it all alone without any advice or help, then please do it...that's one less competitor we all need to worry about :) On the other hand, if you want one the most satisfying careers around then strap on your learning goggles and have at it. Always be a student, and know that you can learn from anyone, even if it's what NOT to do.

6. IT'S NOT A SPRINT - You know what comes next...it's a marathon. This might sound cliche, but it's true, and I see a lot of people dropping out photography because of this. If you think you might be the next Annie Leibovitz, and I am not saying you aren't, just remember she had a long and hard road before she made it. This is the story with photographer after photographer, they didn't just wake up one day and have incredible success without any hard work. You have to put in the time, earn the respect, and have some stamina. When we embarked on this crazy road and things got rough the first question we asked is "should we sell the house?" it was not "should I quit photography?". We knew it would be hard, and we knew the only way is through it.

7. HAVE FUN! - This industry is incredible, we get to do and see things that most normal people don't even dream of. Almost every time I am on set I get excited, and I am grateful. I know most normal people sit at a desk, and I do that a lot too, but I even have fun when I'm at my desk! We get to make pictures for a living, and we are a select few people who do what we love for a living. Don't forget that.

8. STAY INSPIRED - It's easy to get burned out, especially when you are working all the time. Make sure you have people, places and things that you look to for inspiration. I have movies that I'll watch, coffee shops that I'll sit at, people that I'll talk to, portfolios that I'll look at. Never stop exploring the world around you, there is so much to be seen and inspired by!

There is a lot of really awesome stuff in the works for the coming months and heading into 2016, stay tuned for more on the blog, tutorials, plus lots of new work. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions and of course, BE AWESOME!

Personal Project - The Dolls

A while ago I did a personal project called "The Dolls Have Eyes". I had originally shown these on my old blog but that has been taken down so I wanted to put them up on the new page for you guys to see!

The idea was relatively simple, take pictures of dolls and morph them together with human features. What I wanted to see was if people could tell, if they knew they were looking at a doll with some real feature. It's my exploration of how a lot of what we see in media today isn't real at all, and if it seems to good to be perfect to be true it probably is! 

Hope you enjoy it, or you think it's creepy...either one :) Until next time, be awesome!

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MUA and Hairstylists

If you are a photographer and you don't know what this acronym is then I am going to tell you! MAKE UP ARTIST. Emphasis on artist. If you are, or would like to be, a professional photographer you need to start working with these incredibly talented people. Sometimes their job reminds me of retouching, they do so much for the photo and process, yet they receive very little credit for what they do.

The other half of this team, and some of them do both, is a hairstylist. They are also unsung heroes of our industry. I've noticed that a good hairstylist will not only make your model look better but they will put them at ease. What better way to start a shoot than to make a beautiful model look even more beautiful and be relaxed?!

I have been blessed to work with a handful of very talented artists and I wanted to take the time to encourage you to do the same. If you want to start elevating what you do as a photographer they can certainly help you do that. It will not only save you time in post production, but it will make your images look better straight out of the camera.

I will mention this below as well, but make sure you do a test shoot if you've never worked with someone before. Not only will it be good to see how your personalities work, but you can see how they work with models and with your team. Lastly, you will be able to see very quickly if they know what they're doing when you see the pictures :)

How do you find a good MUA? Here's how I do it:

1. Model Mayhem - Let me start with a disclaimer, Model Mayhem is not my favorite place to meet other artists, and it can be really sketchy. However, if you're careful, and you screen your contacts it can be a great place to meet models, MUA's, and hairstylists.

2. Your Friends! - A lot of MUA's and hairstylists have normal jobs at salons and such...you probably know one if you really think about it. I will say that just because they do hair/make up doesn't mean they are good for photography, but it can definitely be a good place to start.

3. Facebook - This is probably non conventional, but I have a lot of friends who are already in the industry, so I will post on Facebook and see who's out there...always do a test shoot!

4. Agencies - If you have the budget in your shoot for a MUA you can go to an agency, most modeling agencies will have them on the roster. They will sometimes charge you more for finding them...so if you have one you like just stick with that!

Hope this is helpful, and if you think you can do without these people on your team then you probably won't make it far in the industry. Here are some bts of the awesome people I have worked with...now go be awesome!

P.S. So much love to the awesome ladies below: Ash, Kelly, Missy, Tasha, Lena and Ainsley... and the many I don't have photos of! I owe a lot of my success to you, and I appreciate all of you.

Photo Credit: Scott Jung - soulgrapher.com

I am a husband, a dad, and a photographer.

I have often thought about starting a blog for dad's, as it feels like we don't talk about the fact that we are dad's and husbands before anything else. We get up and we go to work, of course, but we have wonderful wives behind us, and awesome little munchkins to squeeze when we get home. As a photographer I work weird hours, and long hours...and most of the photographers I know work very similar hours, it's kind of how things work. How do you balance that? How do you make sure that you don't miss the things that are way more important than pictures? Here's a couple ideas. This applies mostly to photography, but I think most dad's could apply at least one or two of these.

1.  You make your schedule, your schedule doesn't make you. When I started into full time photography my wife and I sat down and talked about what my schedule would look like. We knew it would be grueling, and wanted to make sure we put boundaries in place before it got too crazy. Something I learned when I was a Real Estate agent was the idea of blocking out time as family appt, you block it just like you would for a client, and you protect it just like you would for a client. After, all they are your most important client! I also try my hardest to set hours during the week, I know that I want to work from say 7-5 and then take the evening to be with my family. This can be really critical when work is crazy, it's so easy to work longer and longer but if you have a time in mind it is helpful.
2. PLAN! If you don't know what you're doing during the day you will waste huge amounts of time. I will make check lists of things that need to be accomplished, and I will look at it constantly throughout the day to make sure I am staying on course (Yes, writing this blog was on my list today!). I use Evernote as a way to stay on course and keep track of ideas that I come up with, I sync it to all of my devices so I can always access what I need to be doing and what ideas I have. I am not sponsored by Evernote, but I wouldn't be opposed to the idea (wink, wink). 
3. Your family should not suffer for your work. I work a lot, sometimes 70 hours in a week, and at this stage in life that is just going to happen. How do I do that and spend time with my family? I work when they are sleeping. I get up before they wake up and I work after they go to bed. This allows me keep long hours and not miss out on seeing them. This might sound crazy, and it is, but it's possible. If you don't drink coffee, you should, that's one of the key ingredients ;) I read an article a while back that said tired minds tend to be more creative...which means I must be super creative!
4. Take a day off. I'm not going to lie, this is the one I struggle with. If it wasn't for my wife I probably would work every day without stopping, but let me be the first to say it is not good or healthy to do that. Many studies have shown how good taking one day off to recover is, and I know from personal experience that this is true. Now for the hardest part, taking the day really off. Can you imagine a day where you don't think about work? You don't do work, you don't work on your social media, you don't think about an edit, and the list goes on and on. This is what I mean by a day off: you don't do anything related to work and you allow your mind and body to refresh outside of work. Like I said, I struggle with it, and most creatives do. As a quick aside, if you have an idea on your day off just write it down really quick and then leave it, that way you don't lose it and you can continue you day off. In our family we take Sunday's, but pick a day that works for you and do it...Take heart! It can be done! 
5. Integrate your family into your work. My kiddos are still pretty little, but they can still come and see me at the studio and they most certainly can have their pictures taken! One of the things that is awesome about being a photographer is that I can have moments during the day where my fam can come and say hello. I can also plan a photo shoot for my kiddos that I will use as a personal project. Most of my clients don't mind meeting my kids, and models are always excited to meet the little cuties :)

I know this is a little bit different from the normal blog, but it's something that has been really relevant for me and I don't feel like a ton of people talk about it. Plus it gives me the opportunity to share a personal project I did with my daughter recently! Go be awesome parents and awesome creatives!

Quick Tip: Save for Web and Devices

I am not sure if this is a little known trick, but even if it's well known I am going to say it again. One of the features in Photoshop that can save you a ton of time and make your pictures ready for the web in a hurry is the "Save for Web" feature. It is now located in File > Export > Save for Web. I have it as a shortcut of Cmnd+Alt+Shift+S, so I can get to it quick.

This will be really helpful if you post pictures on the web most of the time, which is like 99% of us. A couple of cool things the dialog does is convert the image to 72 ppi, which is ideal for screens, and it allows you to convert the image to sRGB so that it will look correct on other peoples monitors. As a quick side note, make sure any image you post on the web is converted to sRGB, otherwise you could get some funky results. You can also resize the image and choose the quality of output so you can keep the file size down as low as possible.

A couple things I see happen all the time is the either the file being way to big, or the color space being wrong. You can do these things in Photoshop manually, but this allows you to do it all at once. Hopefully a few people find this useful...go be awesome! P.S. I this to the image below...and every image on my web page!

Never. Stop. Creating.

There is something that keeps coming up among the creatives that I have around me, and I thought it was worth sharing with the 3 people that read this blog (not counting my mom).

The idea is this: don't stop creating work and new imagery (video, illustration, etc), even if no one is paying you. I know what you're thinking, make stuff for free?! Blaspheme! But I think you'd be surprised how much free work top tier photographers do, both for themselves and in collaboration with other artists. But why? What's the logic? It's simple, when you aren't getting paid and there is no client you create things that you WANT to create. There is no one telling you to change the lighting, to move this person or that, it's just you and your vision. I have found that is when the most dynamic work comes out, when it's for you. 

Recently I did a personal project I call "Tired people drinking coffee". It was probably the most fun I have had in the studio for quite sometime. What was different from my normal routine? I didn't make them composites, I focused on grass roots lighting and fun photoshop techniques. What inspired me do it? Two things, we just had our second baby, so I am exhausted, and I love coffee...especially after the second baby :) It was designed to be fun and that is exactly what it was. Funniest part about it is that the series has received more recognition than most of the commercial work I have been doing...ironic isn't it?

I will leave you with this idea: How do you ever expect to get the clients you want if you only make work for other people? Create a portfolio you love, work with people that inspire you, and most importantly...be awesome.

Be Engaged...

Are you listening? Well you should be. I wanted to take a second to talk about being engaged with your clients, colleagues and potential clients. I guess you could call this a soapbox topic, but I guess you could also call a blog a soapbox :)

In our culture things have changed, even from when I was a kid, which wasn't that long ago! How you ask? Well when I was a kid and I wanted to hang out with one of my friends you had to call their house, and then if they weren't home you had to leave a message on a machine, then you had to...WAIT! Can you imagine it? Waiting for someone to respond to you? To make it all worse, if you weren't in the house when they called you back the whole thing started over again!

What's the point of this story? Well, if you're anything like me you got just a little anxious thinking about the idea of people not responding to you right away. That's important because you're clients think this way. If someone can't get a hold of you, how are they supposed to hire you? In an era of cell phones, e-mail and Facebook you need to make sure you are engaged.

I will end my rant with this idea: people who are engaged are relevant, people who are relevant don't fade away. If you want to stay busy, to stay in business, you need to be relevant. If you want to be relevant you need to be engaged with the people who want to work with you. There are a million ways to engage with people: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Ello, behance, and the list goes on and on, you need to be a part of that. I have a personal policy that if I am awake (which is a lot) I will respond to an e-mail within an hour of receiving it, most of the time half an hour or less. Some of the people I respect the most still have this policy despite being exceptionally busy...and you can too.

So that's all I needed to say, be engaged. If you're struggling, drink a cup of coffee, then be engaged...and be awesome, because that is what we were made to be. Finally, here is a picture of an engaged person, or something like that.