Sunday Spotlight On: Getting It Right On Site

My first day in “Art School” as my daughter calls it, I was given a camera and told to go shoot and come back. I started off at The Art Institute of Raleigh Durham and I thought that I was the best student photographer amongst my peers. After I arrived back in the classroom and loaded the photos onto the screen I was mortified by the gasps and the critique that I had received.  I didn’t know what was wrong! I mean certainly my images were on the level of a professional who charges $1000 an hour. In actuality I was so wrong! The images were blurry, camera shake, white balance was off and just all around terrible! One thing that I will never forget is a Professor of mine telling me that if I do not know it, then to cheat. What?! Yes, cheat. She advised me to write down almost everything from the white balance, aperture and shutter speed and always refer to it when I am shooting until I no longer need it. Today there are tons of websites that offers the same thing.

Courtesy of lifehack.org

Photoshop has spoiled a lot of photographers out there. Making things too easy to edit in post production limits some photographers to "get it right on site." Proper lighting is essential to a good photographer's practice. I could only imagine photographing a session and you let your clients view the photos on your camera and they are all wrong. Imagine what they will think if they see themselves too warm or too cool on camera.

Courtesy of lifehack.org

F-stops are numbers that all real photographers must know. Don't be caught without knowledge of what each one of these mean! These numbers depends on your DOF and how much light your camera is letting in.

Courtesy of lifehack.org

As students and professionals we are always learning every time we pick up our camera to shoot. I will admit that if I am in a class that is a studio setting and then I go back and shoot outside of the studio I have to think for a minute on what my settings should go back to. I have made it a habit for me to daily check my settings on my camera and take a shot in the conditions that I am in and time myself on how fast I can get to the right settings. I like to keep my skills sharp because I never know when I might come across the one event that I need to capture but I missed it fumbling with my camera settings.

Happy Shooting!

I am your Funday Sunday Ambassador!



Work Cited:

Life Hack. "The Ultimate Photography Cheat Sheet Every Photography Lover Needs." Life Hack. ND. Web. 29 March 2014.

Pinterest for the Creative Mind

Hi, my name is Carolyn and I'm a Pinterest addict. I remember being warned by a friend that, upon signup, "one gets sucked into the Pinterest void and may lose hours of one's life… maybe even days." Well, she was right. All of a sudden I could imagine myself as Martha Stewart, MacGyver, and Emeril all rolled into one. After a few crafty failures (aside from my rather decent wedding brooch bouquet, above) and the realization that I don't really like to cook, I started to be more realistic in what I pin, and have used it professionally as well. In the year or so since my first pin I've been able to take a step back and assess the ways in which it has helped and hindered my creativity as a photographer (expanding upon your skill set is great, but getting stuck in a Pinterest posing rut does nothing to enrich your creativity!). This week on my photography blog I address how Pinterest can actually cause rifts between photographers and clients, specifically in the wedding industry. I offer some suggestions on how to use the medium successfully in  conjunction with couples, but here I'd like to share some ideas on how to use it to continue your education and be organized in your professional life!

1. Inspirations: When you find someone or something that affects you, pin it to a special (perhaps secret) board with notes on why and how you find it inspirational. You may not have the time to follow up on that inspiration now, but better to pin it for later than to forget it altogether.

2. Location Research: Create a board devoted to places you'd love to shoot (and would realistically be able to do so). You can make it a secret board and include notes on the best times to shoot and what to watch for at places you've already been. It is far easier to carry along a smartphone with the location pin board than a physical binder full of printouts!

3. Outfit Suggestions: Clients often ask about what types of clothing will work for portrait or engagement sessions. You can create outfits on sites like Polyvore and then pin them onto a board that you can share with clients, suggesting styles, colors, and patterns that will show up well in photographs.

4. Sharing Your Work: Some people choose not to allow their images to be pinned, but with weddings being such a popular topic on Pinterest I decided to select some watermarked images to share. Pinning your blog posts or watermarked website images can draw traffic. With proper tagging, your next client might just find you this way!

5. Tutorials: If you follow photography educators on social media, you probably see tutorials popping up all the time. For me, videos are not always convenient to watch, so I collect those that interest me on a photographic education board. I find it so helpful to be able to look back when I do have the time to focus!

While those are some of the main ways I've used Pinterest to continue my photography education and help in my professional life, I know there are TONS of other ways to use it. Do you see anything missing from my list that you find helpful? Please share in the comments!

Are You Prepared?

Harms, Marlin. Windy Cove. ND.

Greetings fellow shooters! Tuesday Ambassador Stanley here introducing you to another Tuesday. First off, I want to apologize to my readers for last week’s absent blog as there was much on my mind and my plate and I think everything should be back in tune. Should be! So in my adventures last week I had the opportunity to shoot an editorial portrait of a local retired wildlife photographer Marlin Harms of Morro Bay, California. While my approach to this assignment was almost everything short, I saw this as an opportunity to learn and reflect not just only on the mistakes I had made through the shoot, but to also soak in what I had learned from Mr. Harms as a photographer. And being that most of my passion lies in and around nature as a whole, some of the lessons and teachings with that particular shoot will stick with me for what I hope is a long time to come.

I seem to run into photographers that have either been taking photographs professionally for twenty years, or have been retired after twenty years of shooting. I hope this is not a trend I run into for as long as I shoot. So where are these young guns at? Perhaps they are out and about doing their own thing to make a name for themselves just like we should be doing, or at least will be doing by graduation. I guess the lesson that I had learned and want to write to you guys is that we need be fully aware and always prepared… for anything.

I bet you are asking what being fully aware and prepared have anything to do with what I had already written. Going back on my approach to the photo shoot I mentioned that almost everything was short and being fully aware and prepared had much to do with the majority of my downfall with the shoot. You may remember my post a while back when I talked about testing your equipment the day you receive it to make sure that everything is working as intended so as to not risk dropping a class until you are fully equipped. Now I would like to add to that and say that not only should you test your equipment when you receive it but test them on a continuous basis. You will not believe what it is like to be left with depleted back up batteries as well as equipped batteries that only have five test fires left. That is what happens when you hardly use your portable flash unit.

This particular event led me to discover that I was unaware and unprepared for the shoot. However, being photographers we are constantly dealt with change, learn to adapt to it and go on as if nothing had ever happened to begin with. Despite some less significant errors in the shoot I wanted to point out awareness and preparation as being keys to any successful shoot. If you really think about it they both complement each other and if they are not in sync, therein lies more mistakes and errors that could come up during any shoot. Seriously, if you do not believe me then try doing just as I had and let me know your results.

Case in point is to always know what you are getting into when you are going to (a) new class(es), a new job, an assignment or anything else in your life for that matter. If it is a new class or classes, I would highly recommend looking through the entire course’s readings and assignments so you can schedule everything that you can in advance. Just don’t spend too much of your time trying to focus on getting everything scheduled right away as there is more of a chance that you will neglect certain attention to detail in your assignments. Although as difficult as it is to prepare for any task at hand, ultimately it will save you time and headache after the fact. After all that is what we are trying to aim for. And as always, thanks for reading.

- Tues. Amb. Stanley

Harms, Marlin. Windy Cove. ND. http://howto.digitalchocolate.org/. Digital Chocolate, Web. March 25, 2014. http://howto.digitalchocolate.org/guest-images/marlin-harms/marlin-harms-windy-cove-1600X1100.jpg

Internal Camera Settings

Hey Everyone,

So here we are just digging out from another snow storm, and wouldn't you know it, we have yet another one on the way. Ugh, I am so ready for a vacation. Anyway...

I remember when I first started with AIO a few years ago. I had just purchased my brand new Canon EOS Rebel T3 DSLR camera. I was both positively excited, yet very intimidated by all of the functions this camera had. Before AIO, I had never picked up such an elaborate machine so, I was a little bit scared at all of the symbols, functions, and in-camera terms I had never heard of before. I wasn't too worried, I mean, after all how hard can it really be?

Then the professor said those dreaded words, that every first time photographer fears. "Take you camera off automatic, and place it on manual." You could imagine those words spoken as a loud, powerful, echo, banging against the side of my head, in rhythm with my heart. I wasn't sure exactly what manual mode meant. So, with shaky fingers and in preparation of my first assignment I clicked the dial "click, click, click" until it rested on the dreaded giant "M". There appeared on my screen, confirmation that I was now in "Manual Mode Setting".

I went about taking my first series of images. Things looked pretty good on my LCD on camera screen, and I was pretty pleased about my work. I couldn't wait to bring them up on my monitor to see what they looked like. I sat down, inserted the memory card, and what did I see? One big disaster after another. My first assignment, my first photo shoot was in complete ruin.

I was immediately disheartened, and I felt my career as a photographer was over before it began. I was a no talent hack, and I needed to disappear into the shadows of ambiguity. This was especially true when the professor wrote things like, adjust the ISO, watch the shutter speed, and try reducing or raising your aperture by one stop. For all the good it did me at that point, he could have been speaking Klingon.

I had no clue what an ISO was, and I barely understood the shutter speed, and don't get me started on F-Stop. So, for quite a while I struggled with these things, trying to figure out not only their function, but how the worked together. I quickly got shutter speed and F-Stop was becoming clearer, but the whole ISO thing was really frustrating me. While my photography improved, it eventually leveled off and I was becoming more frustrated than before.

It was this way until a professor, sensing my frustration explained it to me. You see, I am a soldier, and with years of military training, I often think like that when I approach new things. This professor was familiar with the military mind and how it worked, so he was able to share these thoughts:

The ISO is like a commanding officer. He decides just how much light, overall, the camera will have to work with. In photographic terms, the ISO controls how sensitive the sensor that reads light is, to the light that enters the camera. The Shutter Speed and F-STOP are like sergeants. The shutter speed determines for how long that sensor is exposed, while the f-stop determines how much light can get to the sensor.

As funny as this may sound, it immediately made everything click. I understood the relationship between these three important camera functions. Suddenly, my photography was growing again, I was starting to create the images that I had imagined in my head. I want to thank my professor for understanding me. He made a huge difference in my ability just by breaking things down in a way that I could understand.

I hope this was helpful to others, especially our new classmates who may be looking at the "mode" wheel on their camera as a giant, black, intimidating, wheel of death. Don't be discouraged, you'll get it, and when you do, the world better watch out!

Ethics in Business

Source: "Stop Stealing Photos." Photo Stealers. Stop Stealing Photos, 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

The ultimate free advertising is word of mouth, when people love your service so much that they share your images and information with family and friends. Eventually, your studio may even become a household name! At the other end of that spectrum, though, is the fact that your reputation can be completely ruined because of one mistake. Taking one shortcut or making one unethical move, no matter how small it may seem to you at the time, can mean the end of your career. Following are just a few examples of people taking those shortcuts and deciding that they don't want to take the time to create their own work, whether photographed or written.

During the past couple of months I have been following Photo Stealers/Stop Stealing Photos, which was started by a photographer with the goal of exposing copyright infringers. You will be amazed at how many so-called photographers she has on her site! Keep an eye on her Facebook page for new listings to see how NOT to run your business. The image above is one example of a photographer taking an original image (right) and using it as his or her own (left). The price for wedding coverage alone is enough to tell anyone in the know that something is off, and having a resource like Stop Stealing Photos that calls out frauds is one step toward weeding out those without real skill.

People haven't just been infringing on image copyrights. Lately, it seems there has been a wave of plagiarism by some well-known photographers in the wedding and portrait industries. Without mentioning names and adding to the myriad articles and opinion pieces out there, one popular wedding photographer has repeatedly copied other people's tweets while another has duplicated entire pages of his workshop brochures from other photographers. While copying tweets may not seem all that horrible, that first photographer has built up a reputation of being a funny, relatable person that others trust. Even such a seemingly innocuous thing can bring an entire body of work into question. Had she simply retweeted instead of making it seem like she was the originator of the various thoughts, she may not have become the center of controversy.

Much like the legal and political worlds, in photography the appearance of impropriety is enough to get you shunned. Build your brand in an ethical, honest manner and your clients (not to mention other photographers) will appreciate and value you. Check out this November blog entry on ethics if you're interested in photojournalism, a field in which even the smallest photographic manipulation is a definite career-ender!

-Friday Ambassador

Works Cited:

"Photo Stealers on Facebook." Photo Stealers on Facebook. Facebook, 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
"Stop Stealing Photos." Photo Stealers. Stop Stealing Photos, 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

Wide-Angle Wednesday- The lesson outside the classroom

Corina Scoggins "Pulaski County 1909 Courthouse" March 2014

Good Day Everyone!

            Another crazy week of weather here in the Midwest. The local town celebrated the annual RT66 St Patrick’s Day festival on Saturday. We couldn’t ask for a more perfect day of weather. Highs were in the seventies but I spent majority of my time indoors at the Pulaski County Court House museum that is open for a short time on this special day. The museum features the history of the local area and is open on a regular basis from April through October. Though I have visited the museum before, I wanted to shoot some images for an upcoming class assignment. Come to find out the museum suffered flood damage from what historians are calling the 500 year flood last August. The building was built in 1909 and just couldn’t handle the rain and ground saturation. Water crept in along the walls and the ceiling downstairs collapsed.  I was able to shoot a few images but I spent a lot of time talking with the ladies of the historical society about the renovations.

Corina Scoggins "Her Camera Display" March 2014

While chatting with the young ladies, I had mentioned that I was shooting for an assignment. The young lady then lead me upstairs to show me something very special to her. I must say this lady who beat me going up the upstairs is 92 years young! The display she led me to was a three level glass cabinet full of vintage cameras. I would estimate the display had at least fifty cameras, all labeled. Above the display were images of historical homes in the area. Now at first I didn’t know she was the owner of the display let alone the photographer. As she explained the images in terms of lighting and composition, I couldn’t help but ask if she was the photographer. You could see her face light up with great joy and her reply was priceless. She said “You have a camera with so many buttons and technology, I expect it don’t take much to take a picture now days.” I really didn’t know how to respond, so I kept listening.

Corina Scoggins "Flash Powder" March 2014

The conversation lasted a good three hours, but it was time well spent. I didn’t get many images, but what I did get from this visit was worth more to me. In a way she is who I want to be as a photographer. Her work may not be famous, but her work speaks for itself. I asked if we could meet again when the museum opens in April and she said she would be glad to chat more. Do to the large crowd visiting the museum, she was hesitant to open the glass case, but said on my next visit she would love to show me her collection of cameras. I look forward to this opportunity; after all we have to learn from the past in order to create the future.

I have pledged to volunteer in helping the museum get back up to par. I wished I could have brought everyone here to meet this young lady. As you can see I have a few images from the display. She insisted I take photos of certain specific areas of the museum. The upstairs area of the museum is the original county court room. As I shot the image of the US Flag, she made sure that I included the woodwork of the ceiling in the image. The second image she wanted was a picture of the classroom they had recently finished. The courthouse doubled in the past as the schoolhouse when the town was still small.

Corina Scoggins "Courthouse School Room" March 2014

After the beautiful Saturday, we woke up to Sunday temperatures in the teens and four inches of snow. The weekend was a blast, and I’m glad to be able to share. Originally I had something else to write about, but I felt this short story was more important.

As photographers we continue to be inspired in what we do.

What inspires you? Share your story below

Wednesday Student Ambassador

-Corina

Recollecting

Greetings fellow shooters! Unfortunately I will not be posting a blog today. The past couple of weeks have left me to look into some personal issues. With that said, I will be taking this time to recollect my thoughts and hopefully I will be back up and running the next week. I apologize to all of my readers or any upcoming ones who may have been waiting. Until next time!

- Tues. Amb. Stanley

Sunday Spotlight On: Selfie Sunday

You don’t have to be a teenager, young adult, college student or celebrity to take a great selfie. Selfies has become a household name in almost every corner of the world. It has now become common to let people know what you are doing, what you are wearing and whom you are hanging out with in the world of social media. It has also become so popular that it named Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year in 2013.

For photographers, we sometimes need to take a great photograph of ourselves for our business. After all we are suppose to be the subject matter experts in this field and it is expected that we can capture ourselves as we capture others. I will admit that I am the kind of photographer who would rather be behind the lens rather than in front of the lens. While taking Creative Concepts here at AIO, we were to create a series of images that represents who we are as photographers. We’d all like to identify ourselves with the things that we are strong in, but taking off the layers and exposing our weakness as well takes a lot of strength and willpower.

If I have ever taken a class with you, then some of you may know that my heart is with photojournalism and documentary photography. I love to document anything and everything that deals with women. For my series of images in Creative Concepts, I exposed the darkness in my life dealing with my PTSD, sexual assault and my fear of abandonment. This was a hard series to shoot technically and mentally but I had no choice but to push through and come up with something that represented who I am as a photographer and what I like to shoot. In the end I loved the challenge and gave it my all. 

Quiana P Jackson. Meditation, 2014.

Quiana P Jackson. Motion, 2014. 

My challenge to the students here at the AIO is to capture not only the things that make you strong photographers, but the things that weakens you as well. For some of us it is shyness, nervousness, insecurities, etc and can be seen in a single photograph or an entire series. In order to progress as a strong photographer we have to conquer those things that holds us back from being able to capture the world as we see it. I will state that not everyone will have a "emotional" selfie, some may be funny, serious or very professional head shots. No matter what the driving force behind it is, just make it a good one. 

I am your Sunday Funday Ambassador. 

Happy Shooting! 

Work Cited:

“Oxford Word Of The Year 2013.” Huffington Post. 19 November 2013. Web. 15 March 2014.

Who do you think you are...

As a student here at AIO we take at least seven classes that are geared toward answering the question "who do you think you are". These classes are what I like to call the reality check of the photography world. What I am speaking of is Business of Photography I & II, Communications, Advanced Communications, Marketing, and two classes built around constructing an effective portfolio. Whether you intend on working for yourself, or working for someone else, these classes have one basic concept at their core, the thing that ties them all together and that is "who do you think you are".

One word you will hear quite often in these classes is "branding" or your "brand". You might hear it often enough to get annoyed, but the truth is, whether we intended to or not, when we put our work out there, we are establishing a brand. Some brands are more successful than others in presentation, and so it begs the questions; 1. Why is that?, 2. What is your brand?

The reason many brands are successful is that the branding or logo is simple, easy to remember, and appropriate to the product being presented. This isn't to be confused with the success of an item, rather how successfully a brand is presented to the public. There are many recognizable brands around us such as McDonald's "golden arches", the Nike "Swoosh", or the Pepsi symbol. They don't require accompanying text, everyone knows what they mean. That is successful branding, the creating of an iconic identity.

More than that, these companies have created branding that compliments the design of the products. So, how does that work in the photographic world. Can we created a logo and setup our marketing materials to create an iconic look? Yes!

In order to do this, you first have to understand who you are, and what you create. You wouldn't want to use a dark, brooding, cracked logo dripping with blood, if you enjoy taking family portraits with children, and you wouldn't want a brand containing sunshine and light colored flowers for images of a dark, grungy, style. You need a logo and text that compliments your style and looks appropriate to what you enjoy creating.

It goes a bit deeper than that, especially when considering the design of a website. Accompanying colors, background, text colors, all of these things can effect the comfort level and pleasant experience a customer has in viewing your work, and ultimately, whether a potential client that enjoys your style will contact you for work.

I am sure that any professor will tell you, as they have me, that branding is important and can take a long while to develop successfully. This is important for you to get right. I had one professor describe it this way, Imagine you hear about a business that has what you are looking for. So, you drive to their location with anticipation of doing business. Then, once you arrive, you see a building with peeling paint, cracked windows, a broken sign, and a street filled with liter. Do you get out and do business there, or do you move on?

No matter how well we feel we've constructed our brands, if the design, logo, colors, text, do not all come together to support our work, who we are, what we make, no matter how pretty it looks to us, what the customer sees is a broken and disorganized store front.

Take the time to get it right. Do your research. Look at the various photographers with successful sites and ask yourself, what it is about that sight that makes it work. Be true to the content of your images. Not only is that important because your images are your product, but those images are who you are. So build a brand that supports your work and it will be far more successful.