Point and Shoot Snapshot????

[John]. . .So it's been a while. I've been bad. Sorry about not updating sooner. We did a spring break trip to Marco Island FL. Our friends, pictured here let us use their condo for a week. That was really nice. They just built a beautiful home down there. I wanted to thank them and give them something nice and I thought a family portrait in front of their new home would be nice. The problem was that I didn't take my Pro camera down. All I had was a tiny Canon F100fd point and shoot. But I thought OK, I'll take the risk. Of course, they wanted to dress just the way they do every day while they are in Florida, so I wasn't too concerned about their clothing. But I told them in spite of the fact that I didn't have my professional camera that this was going to be just fine. Now mind you, when I have a point and shoot in my hand, I literally point and shoot. Hey, I'm on vacation, give me a break. I never take care to be careful with the shots. So for this shot I had to REALLY Psyc my mind out. As I was looking for the perfect light and the perfect pose, I imagined that my pro camera was behind me on a tripod. How weird to walk back to my position holding this dinky little camera and here they are so perfect in front of me. I braced the camera on a car trunk, put it on 2 second timer, calculated the time and inspired some verbal communication. I took about ten shots. I had to wait to get home to see if I got anything sharp as chimping wouldn't reveal this. I was really surprised to see that the image held up nice at 100% so I figured OK, I'll take a chance. I'm going to order them a 16x20. So to put the advantage in my court, I printed it myself on textured fine art paper on my Epson 4000 printer. Wow, I couldn't believe my eyes. It REALLY looked nice. I mean, I was thinking, did I use my BIG Canon for this??? So the point of the post is this. It ain't the camera. It's the skilzzz dude. (Or Luck) But I figure if you get the lighting right and the pose right and the expressions right and the resolution holds, you've got a home run. After we had it framed in a very nice frame, you could not tell this was a "Point and Shoot".
Let me burn some bridges here. I've seen way too many so called pros, take mere point and shoot images with their professional cameras. What a shame that our clients are confused as to what a quality image is. Again, it has NOTHING to do with pixels. It has everything to do with content that is uplifting and timeless and perfect in every way.

Some of the best ideas never get old

Ron.... I Finally got my last sessions posted from our Spring animal session, This has been an amazing year We started Shooting on the 19th of March and ended the following week on the 27th. On a normal year we would do from 40-55 sessions This year with a little help from our social networking sites we did 100 sessions, Wow! Facebook thanks for the free advertising.

This year we had Ducks , Bunnies, and a Lamb and on the two Saturdays we had a special guest, a beautiful Miniature horse named Chula belle, Chula Belle was a great hit with everyone.

If you're not offering children's pictures with live animals your missing out, this is a great opportunity to build your customer base. You will see children from just a few weeks old to the oldest we had this year was 20 but for the most part we saw kids from 2 to 7 years old.
While families were waiting in our studio for their turn to shoot they watched a slide show on the flat panel TV, this gave us a opportunity to showcase our other photographic services. We booked several other sessions for families and children and many took information for Senior photography.

A few tips if you decide to do a event with live animals, always have a animal handler, someone who can keep the little critters corralled and close to the children. Another good idea is to use a full length canvas background, the backgrounds that we use are 12ft wide by 20ft long ideal for this type of work. The reason for the canvas is it's very easy to clean, not if but when the animals decide they need to go potty, believe me muslins or carpet is not a good idea.

So gather up the animals and put the word out and they will come. We asked our customers this year how they heard about our Spring animal special just to see how they heard about us, there were very few newspaper a fair amount of word of mouth and a lot of Facebook. Also over 30% of this year's customers were first time customers with us. The coolest thing is many of the parents who brought their kids in for pictures had the same type of session with us when they were children. So it just goes to show you, some Ideas just never get old.

If Your Boat Is Sinking Get On This One.

Ron.... Wow! I can't believe the response I've been getting advertising my studio on Facebook. What a great way to connect to new and potentially new customers and with current fans of our studio. I started the Marion's Studio Fan page about 6 weeks ago, we now have almost 700 Fans. As a direct result from that page I have already photographed or have in my books over 50 sessions, we have booked 1 wedding and have wedding consultations with 3 others. I can't go to the store a ball game or walk down the street without someone telling me they love our fan page. Many of our older customers are commenting on our fresh new look we have. I'm loving it, and on top of all of that its FREE advertising. We will be starting our spring animal sessions this week so I posted an event on the fan page then posted a invitation to our fans, in just a few hours I had 20 confirmed guests to our event. what a great tool, if you're not using it your missing the boat. If your boat is sinking get on this one, it's a fun ride.

"Guest Post" from Tim and Bev Walden

[John]. . .Today I am honored to have a guest that I have respected and loved for many years. Tim and Bev have been one of the MOST influential couples in portraiture. They are the most giving and wonderful couple I know. Below is a post written by the Waldens specifically for our Dueling Brothers Blog. Thank you Tim and Bev.

I remember friends telling me about their teenage son. In order
to be unique, to stand out and to not conform he did the whole
mohawk with rainbow colored hair and all black leather attire to
separate himself. He truly wanted to be unique, problem was,
before the end of the school year, over half the students followed
suit in order to be unique themselves and, well as you guessed it,
none of them were unique as a result. In an odd sort of way, it
seems a lot of the portrait photographers have taken this
approach, especially with the "magic" of post capture processes,
actions and software, with simple cameras that shoot under all
kinds of lighting circumstances and allow for "freedom", in many
cases (not all), the simplicity of capturing the individual at
their best can be left behind . For me, it is all about portraits
with "depth", not depth in the focus and aperture sense but
capturing images that celebrate the heart and soul of that subject
that stands before me, and doing so in a simplified manner leaving
nothing for the viewer to enjoy other than that person, their
personality or the relationship they so treasure. It is about
that image moving the viewer emotionally today and again in ten
years without the images being dated by any current fads. I have
also found that, with the mass move into portraiture there is a
true separation of those image-makers that can capture that
classic piece, understanding lighting, body language and the art
of portraiture from those that can not. My assignment, with each
portrait, is to dig deep in the soul and bring the essence of that
person(s) to the surface. As someone who has done this for
several decades now, it is a trust my clients put in me that I do
not take lightly.
Please go to their website below. They are amazing and you will gain so much by their vast knowledge and expertise.
www.timandbevwalden.com

Strength, Security, and Sensitivity

I LOVE this picture. What an example of captured personalities. Each one expressing their true nature. You don't need to ask, only view, and the answers are there. The distance between the sister on the left is a balance for the image. Yet it is also a balance for their relationships. Although she is indipendent, you will notice that the little sister still values her support and affection. The oldest sister usually is the supporting role. And here is no exception. I could have photographed this group of sisters baking a cake in their kitchen, laughing and throwing flour at each other. And wow, wouldn't that fit todays genere' of Hip Photographers? But I don't see how that would show the girls personalities and relationships that are expressed so well here. The title of this post is "Strength, Security, and Sensitivity", which defines the sisters. Taken a little further, it also describes this image of the sisters as well. That, for me, solidifies my intentions. I want my portrature to define my clients image.
p.s. A little detail you may have missed. I had the girl on the far right place her hand exactly in this position to block the older sisters arm. As you may tell by this image, she could be conscientious. This positioning is more flattering overall. Details like this separate Prestigious Portraits from mediocre photography.

My Portrait of Baby Kayla, Ron's Mother in last Post

[John]. . .A bolt of lightning went through my entire body as I was showing my staff Ron's last post. (the one below this). His image was of a baby entwined by the parents both showing tattoo art. Then it struck me. I won an award of this mom when she was a baby. So how funny for me to demonstrate timeless classic portraiture than this. My picture is Ron's tattooed mother when SHE was a baby. It was one of the highest scores in our exhibition as well as national exhibition.
I wanted to point out how well it holds up to time. For today, it is just as beautiful as it was almost 25 years ago. And how ironical that our blog is a duel and these images are such perfect examples of our purpose for this blog. This image was mounted on canvas as well to enhance the classy feel. I think that the title was "Mothers Loving Touch".

Let there be light, and the light was good.

Ron.... It's So easy to get a good picture. Step into the camera room flip the master switch. and all at once you have a Fill, Main, Hair and background light fire up all at once. Grab a subject set your camera and your ready to rock and roll. Yes! good pictures flawless light what else could you ask for?

What else Could you ask for? What about Great, artistic images that kick butt, that's what. I was looking at my images the other day and it dawned on me my favorite images were not done with the normal light set up. So flip of the switch and start playing with alternate light sources, you will be amazed at what kind of light you will get out of just a few candles.

One day I was cleaning the backroom at the studio it's full of years of photographic equipment, I found that dreaded motion picture light bank my father used to blind us every Christmas when I was a kid. I threw the old relic away. after a few minutes my eyes caught and brand new package of fluorescent lights (the ones that look like soft serve ice-cream) that I bought to drive down energy cost at the studio. Then about four of those lights went off in my head. what if I combine the old relic laying in the garbage with the new technology that was tightly wrapped in some kind of Plastic container that makes it imposable to open with human hands alone. after a 30 minute struggle the lights were out of the package and into the old movie light bank. I used that setup for almost half of my next subjects photo session and I loved the results, I loved the shallow depth of field I had by shooting at F/2.8 and the soft light it produced.

That's just one method I used you can try other lights such as spot lights, flashlights, normal household incandescent lighting, the modeling light on your strobe and light modifiers. My last light experiment was with L.E.D. Lights that I put in the once junk movie light bank, it produces a much more natural light very close to daylight. The only drawback to this your subject will scream from the intensity of the brilliant little lights. So the moral of this story is this. step away from what's normal for you and start playing with light. you will soon see a different look to your images that you love.

Shoot on and be nice to you pet.
Ron