Image Processing

Hey, I'm trying out a plug-in called Silver Effects by Nik Software.  It's designed for doing black and white images, which I really like, and it has all these presets that allow you to replicate the grain and appearance of shooting some of the popular films used prior to the big migration to digital image capture.  I processed one image like that, and it's kinda cool.  I can see there'll be quite a learning curve with this, however, before I'm really getting stunning images.  Have a look at an early attempt:

Deer Portraits

Well, haven't been at my blog for a while.  I was out yesterday with a fellow photographer after hearing the deer yard in Warwick.  We sorta used my truck as a portable blind, which allowed us to have our equipment at hand and also helped us keep from disturbing the animals.  It turned out to be an eventful trip, with a couple of good pics as well.

Portraits

Hey!  Since I seem to be doing some portraits in the off-season, I broke down and bought a background kit.  That's really just a fancy name for two heavy-duty light-stands and a crossbar, but it sounds nice anyway.  I think this'll also make a nice addition to some of the services I can provide to my wedding clients, since in our neck of the woods, it takes a big occasion for everyone to get together and allow their photo to be taken.  I'm thinking I'll be able to set up the background and a couple of lights and do family and guest portraits...... I dunno, might be fun for  the wedding couple to offer this to their guests.

Oh, and the two or three people in the world that might actually read this may have noticed I'm on Twitter now.  I thought it'd be cool.

Brag Book

Hey,

Many photography clients are now lugging their precious wedding albums around to work and to friends' houses to show off their awesome day.  This is usually great, but sometimes can be a real pain!  Because I recognize this, as have many other photographers, this year I'm offering a couple of options for a Brag Book.  The book will be a smaller sized album, with a few different options.  There is the portfolio-type, which will hold a number of 4x6 or 5x7 prints, a printed album similar to the wedding album, or the Ultimate Brag Book: an Apple iPod Touch with your images installed, and engraved with your wedding info on the back.  (image courtesy of Apple)

Lenses

I just received my new Nikon lens.  It's the AFS 70-200 f/2.8 IF-ED VR.  That's a long name, but it's a long lens too.  I rented this lens for a recent wedding and I loved it so much, it became a to-me/from-me Christmas gift this year.  I love to-me/from-me gifts.... I always get exactly what I want!  This thing has shallow depth of field with a large f-stop, which I really love.  You just can't beat pro-level glass.

Brides

Ok, here's a very clearly wedding-oriented post.  I find myself speaking with brides who are looking for the services of a wedding photographer.  I photograph weddings.  This should be a good mix, right?  Well, maybe/maybe not.  Some brides are doing their homework and some are not.  The ones that are not seem to simply ask their friends who did their wedding and, if they like the images, call the photog and ask the price.  If the price is within their budget for photography, they make a deal.  Now, don't get me wrong: word of mouth advertising is the best, but this method of hiring someone to document one of the most important days in your life? Hmmm....not so much.  I frequently find myself encouraging the client to look around, do some homework, see what's available, then talk to me again.  ASK QUESTIONS!!!  LOTS OF QUESTIONS!  To that end, I'm in the process of constructing a short list of questions every bride should be asking prospective photographers prior to hiring them.  I'm even asking for help from former clients who, in my opinion, did their homework before hiring me.  I'll eventually make this list available as a downloadable PDF which any bride or groom can grab from my website for their personal use in making informed choices about the photographer they hire.  Anyone who would like to have input on this list is hereby invited to comment on my blog.  I reserve the right to agree or disagree (which translates to us/not use) your comments.  :)  This is gonna be fun!

Ed