Can post-processing make a bad image good?

In a word, yes:

(before)


(after)

Keep your eyes open

This was taken while I was visiting my sister and her fiancé in Charleston, South Carolina. We were downtown, by the water, and it was scorchingly hot. I noted this out of the corner of my eye and decided to take a quick picture of it with my BlackBerry.

Little things like this are why I keep my eyes open all the time while shooting, and am always looking around. You start to notice a multitude of things that would normally be invisible if you're concentrating too hard on something else.

So... in short... keep your eyes open, and always be looking for the details.


Sent from my BlackBerry

Nikon D7000

Here's a video of Chase Jarvis testing out the new Nikon D7000. I love how Chase always seems to be having fun while he creates everything he does. Never seems to get flustered or anything. Truly professional. Check it out:

Clay Enos - Street Portrait How To

This is something I saw a while back but wanted to share with you all. Clay is a wonderful photograhper, but beyond that, seems to be a good person in general. His blog is outstanding, and he has lots of interesting projects. Enjoy this video:

Shoot for free!!!!

I saw a recent post on the Black Star Rising blog that has refueled my disdain for shooting for free. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for helping out someone who needs it, shooting for charity, for a good cause, etc... but when people say "It will lead to LOTS of paid work for you"... "It'll make you famous"... or "Doing this gig will get your name out there to lots of industry professionals", it's just hot air. No, putting my name at the bottom of a picture won't fill up my inbox with messages from people wanting to throw their money at me; it won't make my cell phone ring annoyingly into the night.

Don't lie to me.

Already this year, I have been asked by a couple magazines, and a number of websites if they could use a few of my images. "Of course", I replied... "but my normal rates will apply". What did that get me? Well, I'm not published in any magazines yet in 2010, nor are my photos being used on any websites (with my permission, that is; I have found a few that have had my photos up there without my consent).

It all makes me remember a quote I read on the Canon Photography Forums; "You pay peanuts, you get monkeys". You get what you pay for folks.

Before and after

I've been meaning to do a before and after comparison for a while now. I'm going to do a better one at some point in the near future. For now, you'll have to settle for some wicked 'variations', texturing, and levels.

Before:

After:

I'd be more creative if...

.. not much in terms of the blog lately, but I wanted to point anyone who actually reads this to an interesting blog post from Chase Jarvis: http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2010/05/id-be-more-creative-if/

Enjoy.

Sent from my BlackBerry

This is Livid

I have wanted to get into photographing bands for almost two years now. It seems fitting that Vaughn and Livid were getting back into the swing of things and we decided we should see what we could do.



For a small, two-year block from 2003 until 2005, I was playing guitar in my band, aptly named AEPOC. That period of time, concentrating on so much that had to do with the band, really helped me through a difficult time. Practicing multiple times a week, recording audio for every practice, video for some, and still photos for most was always interesting, but I could rarely be doing any of that, as I was playing. I always wanted more, and better photos, to document the best times of my life: Playing guitar in my band.



There's definitely something to be said for standing in front of a speaker cabinet that's so loud it's actually moving your facial hair. But it's an entirely different feeling when you're in front of that cabinet, seemingly shaking the entire Earth, and it's all because of YOUR guitar playing in a song that YOU wrote and composed. Best feeling ever? If not, it's damn close. Shooting the Livid rehearsal the other day reintroduced me to that feeling.



My band never amounted to much... which is sorta fine with me considering it spawned my photography, and I'm WAY better at that than I ever was at guitar, or audio engineering. Livid, however, is a different story. Here is an excerpt taken from their website:

Livid has brought their explosive music across stage after stage since 2003. Their intense and high energy live shows have had them opening up for countless mainstays in their genre including - Godsmack, Sevendust, Dope, Drowning Pool, Soil, Breaking Benjamin, Nonpoint, Flyleaf and many more. After taking a brief hiatus from 2006-2009 for members pursue side projects and other musical interests - LIVID is back...reborn...taking the stage with fury and vengence once again.

I strongly urge you to check them out. They're fantastic at what they do, and are without a doubt headed in the right direction.

Here are some more photos for you, that aren't available anywhere else. Click on them for better viewing:

du du du ...

.. another one bites the dust.

Sent from my BlackBerry ( ZSUNWS49CU2R )

The world of editing.

Most people don't realize that nearly every photo in magazines and on the web is edited or manipulated at least in some small way; and some of those are edited quite heavily (HDR). Have you ever heard of cross-processing film? It's where you deliberately process the film in a chemical solution that was intended for a completely different type of film. You've seen cross-processed photos before, but you may not know it. That's kind of the idea here behind this blog post.

More than a few people have talked to me about my photographs and asked the question "Did you 'photoshop' this?"; and when I tell them that I did, even if it was minor editing, they seem disappointed.

Color and contrast are the most common edits, at least for me... along with cropping. I will also go through an image (sometimes painstakingly), for anything that will detract the viewer's eyes from the subject. These could include dust specks on dark material, extremely bright reflections or catch lights, etc. When I shoot models, I'll take out small blemishes, scars, stray hairs, and things of that nature.

The advent of manipulating photographs started (I hope you're sitting down) in the 1860s; it's nothing NEW. It's just that far fewer people saw them before they were manipulated (and photographers didn't tell anyone) so people had no idea that it wasn't the actual photo that was taken. Almost everyone in the modern world has a camera these days, and most of those people have computers on which to share the pictures they take. That alone is a far reach from what was possible thirty years ago. I guess people just assume that incredible photos take little work, knowledge, patience, or practice.

For me, if I have an incredible photo, it's edited. Maybe I straightened the horizon because I had to take the photo in a hurry to capture what was happening. Maybe I increased the contrast to make the subject stand out more, or just wanted to crop out the half of the person that started to walk into the frame at the last second. Less than 5% of my photos taken to date have been drop-dead jaw dropping straight out of the camera (SOOC). And even those jaw dropping ones can benefit from some post-production. Not many photographers (pro, amateur, hobbyist, or newbie) can walk up to any random scene or situation and snap an incredible photo quickly in only one click. A lot of photographers don't tell you how many photos they take in order to get THE SHOT. They don't show you every photo that was taken in order to get to that point, or the multiple angles in order to find the best one. They don't tell you how long they waited for the sunlight to be perfect, or how early they got up to wait for that really great sunrise photo you like. My point here is that there's a lot the casual viewer doesn't know about photography or photographers... so judging them upon eiditing or post-processing is quite unfair.

Photography is an art form, and post processing is part of that art. The only exception I can think of to that would be documentary photography, where it's widely frowned upon to edit the photos as you are there to document what happens as it happens; not alter it. Some of my photos I'm able to finish my retouching in only a handful of minutes, and other times I can end up taking eight or more hours on... it all depends what I'm going for. And I WILL do whatever I feel I need to do in order to have the image look how I want it, and give the feeling I'm trying to evoke. Maybe 8 hours on a single image is a bit much. You call it "crazy", I call it "dedication". I prefer to stick to post-processing that doesn't change the nature of the photograph I took. That is to say I'm not going to put four legs on a model, but I will increase the contrast to give a mysterious feel.

The art of post processing has been around nearly as long as the art of photography. It's just easier to do in general, now that it's digital and nearly everyone has a computer. I'm going to end this with a quote from Ansel Adams: "Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas; it is a creative art."

What is it to be an artist?

I've spent a long time and a lot of money on photography, and I am grateful for everything I have learned, and all the experiences I have had.

Lately I have been realizing what it is to be an artist (at least in regards to the photography that I do). One has to think about what people are about ; how they feel; what they're interested in, and what is important to them... and capture that in a natural, raw (yet flattering) way. That's something I never really knew before. I know all the technical settings for my camera, where to have the lights, etc., but I never knew the connection with the subject was so important in capturing something in a natural way. Ever look at a photo and think to yourself that the subject isn't comfortable in it? If you have, odds are that they weren't comfortable at all.

Strange as it may seem, I tend to make my best images when I'm having a difficult time in my life. Some people even think that in order to be a successful artist of any kind you have to have a lot of pain in your life. (Musicians are the most known for having and enduring lots of pain, due to the widespread reach of their art form). Anyhow, of course I want to be happy, but I'm beginning to wonder if that's possible given how much I absolutely HAVE to create. If I'm not creating something, I feel like I'm useless. If it came down to it, would I choose happiness over my art? I'm not so sure.


Sent from my BlackBerry

So much reading...

Lately I've had so much to do at work that I haven't been able to get as much reading done as I'd like. Photography websites, blogs, Flickr, Twitter, Photographer portfolios, forums, etc. There's so much to learn and know about photography that it's overwhelming sometimes. I know I can't ever get through all of it, so I guess my best bet is to just read about what I find interesting in regards to it all. Lately that has been the business side of it all, as opposed to the technicalities of how to produce certain kinds of images. The business aspects aren't all Greek to me, but they're not that far off. It's going to be a lot of hard work but it will be worth it in the end if I'm able to attain what I want.

I really think a year off of everything would help me significantly. Both as a photographer and as a person. I know where my passions lie, I know what I want to do for a living; all I have to do now is get there.

Sent from my BlackBerry

Throw me back

Not as good as I was hoping it would be. I'm at work so early in the morning that I need to have some caffeine to help me stay awake. I am definitely NOT a coffee drinker, and I happen to like Mt. Dew quite a bit, so it works out. I gotta say I like high fructose corn syryp better.

Sent from my BlackBerry

Zoom zoom.

A shot of the dash in my car. Just another "hey that might be kinda cool" photo.

I'm trying to take pictures of random things with the BB but never think they're good enough to put up here. I'll attempt to look past the quality and just continue to throw pictures up here as much as possible.

Sent from my BlackBerry

Take me to your leader.

This is a portrait of my two Canon flashes and accompanying PocketWizards. I'm taking a break while shooting some old guitar pickups, some decks of cards, and my Strat. Normally I'm a 'natural lighting' kind of guy, but wanted to play around with light that I can control entirely. It's tougher than one may think right off the bat, but becomes second-nature the more you work on it (sorta like driving). These lights are fantastic, and I'm learning a lot every time I fire them up.
Sent from my BlackBerry

Advertising in the snow

Just a little something I created in yesterdays snowy festivities down by work. What else is there to write besides aepoc? Exactly. :)

Shoot with Marie: 01-30-2010

Had another shoot with Marie on Saturday, January 30th. We only had a few things we wanted to get, and for the most part we got them. It was about 10 degrees, so we shot right outside the Capitol building in downtown Madison so we could go back inside to warm up a bit (and so Marie could switch up the outfits). The shoot lasted around 45 minutes, and we each got some great looking photos. They can be viewed here on my Flickr stream.

I also wanted to have a little interview with Marie in regards to what she looks for in a photographer, what projects she's interested in, and that sort of thing. See below for the interview:


AEPOC: How do you know when you want to work with a certain photographer? What sorts of things do you look for in their portfolios?

Marie: I definitely look for skill, of course, but more importantly I look for a pattern. I look for consistency and purpose. I like to shoot with photographers who have ideas that mean something to them and who want me to put their thoughts into a photograph. I feel like it is then truly art, because let's face it, anyone can take/be in a picture, but to make it good there needs to be skill and purpose.

AEPOC: What sorts of photos are you interested in shooting? What types of projects would you like to be a part of?

Marie: I really need to diversify my portfolio, and thus I am up for almost anything. This question really comes back to my mantra of purpose. I want to shoot projects that serve a purpose, whether it means something just to the photographer or myself, or if it is a nationwide campaign, I want it to mean Something to Someone.

AEPOC: Is there a specific career path you're leaning towards at this point based on the modeling? Professional modeling, acting, or something unrelated?

Marie: Well, my plans are to move to LA in the next 2 years, but not necessarily for modeling. My real career path is to become a teacher, but modeling for some shopping money can't hurt!

AEPOC: What do you love most about being in front of the camera?

Marie: I love being in front of the camera. There is something about it that makes me comfortable, and I don't know why, it just does. :D

AEPOC: How do you feel about post production, and the negative connotation of the question "has this image been Photoshopped"?

Marie: I feel like post production can either enhance a photo or ruin it. I think that whoever is doing the touch-ups needs to use their discretion wisely. When it comes to altering a model in a way that makes them unrealistic, I dislike it, but enhancing color, contrast, and exposure is fine, that is where technology has brought us and if it can make the overall image better, why not.

Something Like Prison

Took this the other day at work. Seems like an applicable title to me.

Going down

Took this in the elevator this morning. I was going up to the 8th floor, and as soon as I hit the button to take the shot, I got to 8 and the UP arrow turned to down. Decided to keep it anyhow :)

Starting a new project

Professional Photographer Chase Jarvis gave me a good idea with his "The Best Camera Is The One That's With You" book. For those of you that aren't familiar, it's a 241-page book he created with photos strictly from his iPhone. I am going to try to document my days with my BlackBerry and see if I can keep at it. I won't be going to as many awesome places as Mr. Jarvis, but it should still be entertaining.

My first photo is a soda from Culver's the other day.

The Madison Ice Muskies

The Madison Ice Muskies hockey club has had their operations suspended for the remainder of the '09/'10 season by the AAHL due to financial reasons. This isn't much of a surprise to those close to the club, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with.

I really feel for the players, and the coach; neither of which were getting paid. I'm still going over, editing, and sending some of the players photos from the half-season we were able to complete. It makes me feel good that the guys still like seeing the photos that I was able to take. There were lots of photos that I wasn't able to get to create, and I sincerely hope that someday I will be able to. Best of luck to all the Muskies I've met over the last four months... it's been a blast.

Also, the email that I was given for the Ice Muskies isn't exactly working at the moment (shocking)... so if there are any players that would like photos, please contact me via my contact form here on aepoc.com