Russ Robinson & Tampa Band Photos - Commercial Music Photography Blog

Top 5 Coolest Things About Being a Band Photographer

2011-08-08T17:03:00.019-04:00

Ever since I decided to become a band & musician photographer in Tampa (sometime in early 2010), I've noticed several things about this genre that I think are flat-out amazing, and definitely reaffirm for me that I've truly found my niche. Here are my top 5 coolest things:

The Audience
No, I'm not talking about the audience at your local rock concert. I'm referring to the audience that will ultimately see the images you create. The truth is, when you're a portrait or wedding photographer, your core audience will typically be limited to the folks who are actually in the images, and then maybe their friends and/or family. In other words, if you post the images on Facebook, those are the only people who will ever really pay any attention. Now of course, if you happen to be talented (or lucky) enough to create breathtaking, truly magnificent images that are bona fide works of art, then perhaps the audience will extend beyond that. But for most photographers, the audience is usually pretty limited.
In the realm of band & musician promos, however, the audience is typically much bigger. Not only do you get the friends & family of the artists themselves, but you also get the artists' fans as well. For instance, when a high-profile artist posts one of your images on their Facebook fan page and suddenly hundreds of people get all googly-eyed over it and begin throwing out words like "epic" and "amazing", it can be quite a rush. I honestly believe that inside most photographers (and artists in general) there's an inherent desire for other people's attention and admiration. So the more eyeballs you get on your work, and the more positive comments you get, the better off your fragile ego will be.
Suddenly You're A Commercial Photographer
When I was just starting out in the world of professional photography, I'd shoot pretty much anyone who would hire me, and the only legal documents I ever had to worry about were things like model releases. But once I began shooting bands & musicians, I realized that the images I was creating were (in many cases) going to be used for commercial purposes-- in other words, things like CD covers, posters, hats, t-shirts, etc. Suddenly there was a need to add some additional legal contracts to my arsenal so that I could account for these changes and make sure that I was being fairly compensated for the images I was creating.
So one of the things that's kinda cool about being a commercial photographer (besides the snazzy-sounding title) is that you can eventually begin charging a bit more for your work. Some photographers negotiate a percentage that they will receive on the sale of any item bearing one of their images. Others charge a flat fee, or simply build the additional cost into the price of the images themselves. No matter which methodology you ultimately choose, the bottom line is that if you become a commercial photographer, you have a legal right to negotiate a higher rate for your work.
Of course, it goes without saying that if your work is average at best, then you just might have a wee bit of difficulty raising your rates. The world of commercial photography is highly competitive, and your lighting and post-processing skills need to be pretty outstanding to have much success. It's a constant battle to stay up with the latest trends and techniques, and it can be flat-out exhausting. Definitely not for the feint of heart, but to those who persevere, the rewards can be quite handsome.
Partnering With Amazing People
I have to say, I was very fortunate to meet lots of pretty cool folks back when I was shooting general portraiture, and some of them even ended up becoming good friends of mine. Obviously, you absolutely MUST have some solid people skills to be successful as a portrait photographer, and of course tons of patience. However, at the end of the day, my relationship with my previous clients used to be based predominantly around the business transaction at hand. In other words, I was really only there to help everyone feel as comfortable as possible, take a few pictures, and then deliver a completed final product some time later. Once that process was complete, all social and business obligations were considered fulfilled. Anything else was just a bonus.
In the case of bands & musicians, however, the relationships I build almost always go much deeper. Part of the reason is the sheer amount of time we typically spend together planning out the creative direction for each shoot. Another factor is my own experience several years ago as a working musician, which helps to create instant rapport with most of my clients. I know exactly what it's like to be out there pounding the pavement trying to make a name for myself in the crazy world of music, and this typically allows me to enjoy an almost instant sense of familiarity and connectedness with the artists I shoot.
But I think perhaps the biggest source of camaraderie and partnership that I feel with my musician clients is the fact that we're putting these images out there to represent both of our brands. In other words, we both have huge stakes in the images from a quality and "market appeal" standpoint, so we always go to great lengths to ensure that our efforts are as successful as they possibly can be. Of course, this typically involves lots of collaboration and sharing of ideas, which only tends to enrich our relationship further. When all is said and done, there's almost always a solid foundation on which to build a lasting friendship, and that's one of the things I love most about being a music photographer.
Networking Opportunities
Honestly, I think there are virtually limitless networking opportunities in pretty much any genre of photography, but when it comes to shooting big-name bands and musicians, there is a very tight "inner circle" that can be next to impossible to break into unless you know the right people. As with anything, it's all about who you know, and the lucky few who are out shooting A-listers for Rolling Stone aren't necessarily the ones with the most talent-- they're simply the ones who happen to know the right people in the inner circle.
Thus far in my career as a commercial band photographer, I've noticed that people in this genre play things extraordinarily close to the vest. Unlike with portrait or wedding photography, where there are countless thriving forums filled to the brim with experienced professionals who are always willing to help the newbies out with a nugget of wisdom, it's next to impossible to find any actionable information on music photography. In fact, the only source of reliable information I've found to date is the School of Hard Knocks.
However, in terms of networking, as you progress through a career in music photography you'll slowly begin to figure out who the "power players" are in your local scene. These are the folks who are extremely well-connected in the music community and have the ability to put you in front of the artists you really want to work with (or at least get you in touch with those who can). So if your work is pretty stellar, and you manage to befriend these kinds folks, then the sky's the limit in terms of what you can do. Heck, even if your work isn't all that stellar, knowing the right people can still pay hefty dividends (see above).
I've been quite blessed to meet some pretty amazing people thus far in my journey. A couple of the artists I've shot recently are on the verge of blowing up on a national level, and when that happens, it'll also open up new doors for me. So the networking opportunities in this genre are actually pretty mind-blowing...one minute you could be shooting what you think is a pretty typical client, and then before you know it your work is being looked at by people in that vaunted "inner circle". It can happen that fast, so you gotta make sure you're pouring everything you've got into each and every shoot-- you never know when your moment will come.
Endless Possibilities
I got my first DSLR as a birthday gift less than 3 years ago. At the time, I knew absolutely nothing about photography, and never could have foreseen the impact it would eventually have on my life. But even when I incorporated my business in December of 2008, and set out to be the best [baby, maternity, family, fashion, glamour, whatever] photographer on the block, this was always destined to be a side project and could never replace the income from my primary day job. There was just no way that I could ever dream of walking away from a "guaranteed" paycheck for something so speculative.
Flash forward to a few weeks ago, when an artist management company flew me up to New York City to photograph two rising Christian artists, and my perspective on things quickly began to change. Suddenly the idea of leaving my day job to pursue a career in photography didn't seem so out of the question. If things continue on this path, I may eventually get to a point where it's an actual topic for consideration, which just seems crazy to even think about. Even though I've still got a long ways to go, just knowing that my hard work and determination might eventually lead me down that path is enough to keep me swinging for the fences.

So there you have it-- my top 5 coolest things about being a band photographer. Can you relate with anything I've mentioned? Do you have any questions about something I haven't mentioned? Please sound off below and share your thoughts!

Also, please take a moment to check out my band & musician portfolio site, http://TampaBandPhotos.com

Band Photos and Musician Promos and Tampa Music Photography-- Oh My!

2011-03-23T07:42:00.003-04:00

Over the past few months I've completely refocused my business on band & music photography in Tampa. It was a natural progression for me, being an aspiring professional musician for many years through my teens and twenties, and it represents a perfect blend of my two biggest artistic passions in life. What's more, shooting band & musician promos, CD covers, magazine photos, etc. plays perfectly into what I believe to be my strengths as a photographer-- namely lighting and post-production (Photoshop). It's a match made in heaven, and I couldn't be happier.

With that said, I've given lots of thought to how I might be able to leverage this blog for the betterment of the photography community moving forward. After all, I've devoted a good chunk of my life to developing it and filling it with [hopefully] valuable content, so I certainly don't want to just walk away and completely abandon it. At the same time, I now have a brand new website/blog to manage, so I'm gonna have to develop a solid posting strategy to ensure that I can handle the load.

To that end, I'd appreciate it if you'd sound off with a comment below to let me know what you'd like to see me focus on moving forward. If you'd like me to continue posting my latest work here, along with before & afters and behind-the-scenes info, just say so. On the other hand, if you'd prefer to see content of a more technical nature, such as lighting and post-production tips, let me know that as well. I'm a firm believer in the concept of "pay it forward", so I'm here to serve you and help you in any way I can. But as they say, help ME help YOU. :)

Lastly, I'd truly appreciate it if you'd take a moment to check out something that's truly near and dear to my heart....my brand new music photography website, Tampa Band Photos. Please blow it sky high with comment love and help me get off to a great start. Thanks everyone, and I look forward to your feedback! :)

Extreme Makeover: BAND EDITION

2010-10-12T10:36:00.004-04:00

Are you a musician, band member, DJ, or producer? If so, do you need some world-class promotional images to take you straight to the top? Of course you do.

Well, you're in luck-- I'm giving away a package worth over $2000 in the very near future. All you gotta do to enter is post a picture on my Facebook fan page wall by October 24th at midnight.

Complete contest details, along with several examples of my work are here: http://bit.ly/freephotoshoot

Good luck!

Before & After, Episode 17

2010-09-29T14:40:00.001-04:00

Here’s another great example of the sheer power of Photoshop, and a case where a little bit of forward thinking on my part really paid dividends once the shooting was complete. If you’re a regular reader of my blog, then you already know that when I’m commissioned to produce promo images for a band, I almost always shoot each band member separately in the studio. It allows me to work within the confines of my relatively small studio space, and affords me much greater latitude in post-production. But here’s a case where I took things a step further….

LIGHTING

When I was originally planning this shot, I decided that it might look really nice if there were a gorgeous sunset behind the band, and I knew I could accomplish this later in Photoshop with a reasonable amount of effort. However, I also knew that folks with sunsets at their backs tend to have an orange “rim light” that appears along the edges of their clothing and hair, and this, on the other hand, is *extremely* difficult to simulate in Photoshop. So I knew that I’d have to find some way to produce an orange rim light around each person in order for the final composite to be believable. As you’ll see from the “before” shots, I accomplished this by placing a strobe behind each person….but the key is that I placed a full CTO gel onto each strobe to color the light orange. If you look closely, you can see that this does in fact give the resulting light the appearance of a sunset.

POST-PRODUCTION

Using Photoshop CS5’s new Refine Edge tool (which, by the way, is an absolute godsend for digital compositors— I hardly ever have to rely on channel masks anymore), I extracted each band member from their respective original shot, and placed them all into a new blank document. I then dropped in a new sky with a nice glowing sunset, and proceeded to really increase the light intensity in the sun area by applying a Levels adjustment with a radial gradient mask. I also increased the lightness levels along the sides of the two band members’ faces who are standing right in front of the sun. Next I added an artificial lens flare to really drive home the effect. I also had to add a couple of shadows, since band members standing that close to one another would undoubtedly cast a shadow on the adjacent person. I dropped the exposure of the bottom quarter of the image to draw the viewer's eyes upward where they need to be. There were LOTS of local contrast adjustments along with the usual dodging and burning, and finally I introduced a slight orange color cast to the entire image with a warming photo filter.

Here are the before shots. Notice the light stand on the floor behind each band member (with the full CTO gel, as previously discussed).

And here is the final composite, complete with all of the adjustments mentioned above:

Your comments—good, bad, or indifferent—are always deeply appreciated. And of course don’t forget to Like/Share!

How To Create a "Share Us" Tab on Your Facebook Fan Page

2010-09-16T05:25:00.019-04:00

Ever since being featured in Mari Smith and Michael Stelzner's webinar, "9 Companies Doing Facebook Right (And What You Need to Know)", I've seen a surge of activity on my Facebook fan page, and most new fans seem to be particularly interested in how I created my "Share Us!" tab. So in lieu of sending PMs to each person who asks for help (which is what I've been doing thus far), I decided to go ahead and post my entire FBML code here for all the world to see.

As I mentioned in my recent interview on the Composure Marketing Blog (be sure to check that out if you're interested in learning about the social media strategies I've used to grow nearly 1500 fans on my Facebook page), I'm not a web developer by trade. And since Facebook is constantly changing the way FBML and fan pages work, my code generally needs to be "touched up" fairly regularly. With that said, below is the way my code looks at the time of this writing.

Before we jump right in, however, there are a couple of key points worth mentioning. First off, you'll need to generate a custom/alias URL that points to your fan page's main address, because using anything with "facebook.com" in it will will yield errors when folks actually try to use your Share tab (it has something to do with the fact that Facebook's domain has been blacklisted by anti-spam companies). I used http://bit.ly to create my alias, but feel free to use whichever service you prefer. Once you've done that, just plug in your custom URL wherever you see "YOUR PAGE ADDRESS" below, paying special attention to the quotes (don't add any or take any away from what's already there). And of course replace anything else in RED letters with your own info. Here's the code I currently have on my "Share Us!" tab:

<fb:request-form
method="post"
action="YOUR PAGE ADDRESS"
type="YOUR PAGE NAME"
invite="true"
content= 'TEXT FOR THE TOP OF YOUR INVITE BOX <fb:req-choice url="YOUR PAGE ADDRESS" label="TEXT LABEL FOR THE
SEND BUTTON-- e.g. GO or SEND" />'
<fb:multi-friend-selector
actiontext="What you want the invitation to say-- e.g. Check out my super-awesome page"
cols="3"
max="8"
import_external_friends="false">
</fb:request-form>

Naturally, in order to be able to use the above code, you'll need to have the Static FBML application installed on your page. Check out this great Custom Landing Page tutorial on Mari Smith's blog if you need help. Alternatively, a quick Google search for "install Static FBML" will yield plenty of step-by-step tutorials as well. It's really not very difficult at all....just a few steps.

Please click "Like" and leave a comment below if you found this code helpful, or if you have any additional questions about the methods I used to design my page. Thanks!

Before & After, Episode 16

2010-08-31T07:40:00.006-04:00

Being that I was a recording artist and aspiring rock star in a past life, I have a special place in my heart for shooting promo images of musically-gifted people. Although this certainly wasn't my typical band promo shoot (because my subjects weren't rock-n-rollers this time around, but rather internationally recognized DJs/producers Viro and Rob Analyze), the basic premise was still the same-- create some visually engaging images of the highest quality (suitable for worldwide distribution) that really capture their style and personality. Basically, these guys were looking for CD cover & liner notes shots, as well as a few images to include in marketing materials and on websites.

For the shot below, I used a 3-light setup-- two on either side as rim lights/kickers (as you can see from the "before" image), and a beauty dish up front as key. The kickers were fitted with barn doors and 30° grids, and the beauty dish also had a 30° grid on it. I'll be adding stripboxes to my lighting rig in the near future, which will provide much more even illumination on the sides of my subjects, but that's a topic for another post.

I had my subject probably 12-14 feet from the background to control spill and ensure that the light falloff from my strobes would keep it solid black. I used a black shower curtain (yes, you read that right!) because it was handy, and because I was really only concerned about keeping his head/hair surrounded by blackness-- I knew that the rest of him would be quite easy to extract later in post, but hair is always much more challenging if the background isn't solid.

Speaking of post, once I got my subject cut out, I began applying the special effects. The background was simply a pure black layer onto which I drew a tic-tac-toe pattern with the brush tool and applied a radial blur. I then colorized it green & beige with a Hue/Saturation layer. For the particle effects, I used several different splatter brushes, sampling the color from the edge of his skin/clothing. I also used those same brushes to apply a mask along the edge, which provides the "disintegration" effect. Lastly, I really amped up the contrast with LOTS of dodging/burning to polish everything off.

To see the before & after, just move your mouse pointer over the image for a few seconds until it changes. Then you can switch them back and forth as much as you like.

ROLLOVER IMAGE

For further examples of my work, including high school senior pictures, baby & family portraits, and fashion & glamour, please visit my website at http://RussRobinsonPhotography.com

VERY interested in hearing everyone's feedback on this one, because I really pushed the envelope and took some major risks here. Fortunately the client loved it, but what do YOU think? Please sound off below, and be sure to Like/Share!

Pic-A-Week, Episode 5

2010-08-29T21:43:00.003-04:00

As many of you know, I've been super-busy over the past few weeks with a newborn at home. However, I've managed to get some editing done in the wee hours of the morning on several occasions, so here's the fruits of my labor. Enjoy!

Questions? Comments? Sound off below, and don’t forget to Like/Share!

Before & After, Episode 15 | WESLEY CHAPEL FASHION & GLAMOUR

2010-08-12T23:18:00.018-04:00

For this episode, we’ll be looking at a fashion/glamour image that I grabbed last week. It’s worth mentioning that I almost always break out my heavy-duty fan for these sorts of occasions, because making a model’s hair fly all around really tends to convey a sense of excitement and movement, which in turn makes for much more interesting images (that’s why this technique is so common in the industry). Anyway, on this particular occasion, I wasn’t all that happy with what the fan was giving me, and I wanted to really push the envelope. So my makeup artist had this nifty idea to really kick things up a notch…

I had two people, one on each side of the model, grab a couple handfuls of hair. On my count, both of them tossed the hair straight up into the air, and I simultaneously pressed the shutter. It only took us a couple of tries to get “the shot”, and we were all super-thrilled with the result.

When I pulled the image into Photoshop, I began to notice that there was quite a bit more hair on the right side (the model’s left) than the other. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I just felt like it would give the image a better sense of balance if the hair was a little more even. So I started looking through a few of the other shots, paying special attention to the way the hair was flying, and to see if I could find one to “borrow” a few stray locks from. Once I found what I was looking for, I seamlessly blended it into the original shot, and voila!

To see the before & after, just move your mouse pointer over the image for a few seconds until it changes. Then you can switch them back and forth as much as you like.

For further examples of my work, including high school senior pictures, baby & family portraits, and fashion & glamour, please visit my website at http://RussRobinsonPhotography.com

If you “Like” this, you know where to click……..and comments are much appreciated too! =)

Pic-A-Week, Episode 4

2010-07-31T22:21:00.012-04:00

I’ve been extremely busy lately preparing for the arrival of the newest addition to my family. She will be here any day now, so it's been quite hectic around my house, to say the least!

Of course I’ve managed to squeeze a few photo shoots in since my last update, and because I’ve been extremely delinquent in updating my blog, I’d like to use this post to sort of play “catch up”.

You'll notice several maternity shots below, which collectively represent a fairly groundbreaking step for me, since I've never actually done maternity photography before. And as you'll see in the very last shot, I took full advantage of the fact that I had not one but TWO mommies-to-be at my studio on the same day! How often does THAT happen?

Anyway, enjoy, and please share your comments/reactions below. I absolutely *love* hearing your feedback!

Young girl running wild and free (from a recent family shoot)

Father and son share a tender moment (from a recent family shoot)

Portrait of a cute young boy (from a recent family shoot)

Gorgeous female model (from a recent fashion & glamour shoot)

Maternity portrait of my wife

Maternity portrait of my wife and I

Maternity portrait of a recent client

Maternity portrait of a young mother-to-be and her son

Dramatic maternity portrait of a recent client, similar to the one I did of my wife

Maternity portrait of a recent client and her husband

Dual maternity portrait - my wife (left) and a recent client (right)

Band Promo Shoot With Adalee | WESLEY CHAPEL SENIOR PICTURES

2010-07-05T00:05:00.024-04:00

As I mentioned in a previous post on shooting band promos, my studio isn’t quite large enough to accommodate several people at once. So when a local Christian rock band called Adalee (which consists of 5 members- all of whom go to my church) approached me about shooting their promo, I immediately began thinking along the lines of digital compositing. If you’re not a regular reader of my blog and aren’t quite familiar with that term, it basically means taking individual shots of each member and then later combining them together in Photoshop.

This is my favorite method of producing band/group shots, because it allows me the freedom to select the best individual poses for each member. When they're all blended together into a seamless composite, it appears as if the stars just aligned perfectly and everyone gave you the ideal expression and pose simultaneously, and in the same frame. I gotta tell ya, it sure beats shooting for hours and hoping for this sort of thing to happen organically (believe me-- I've been there!).

Anyway, here are the 5 original unedited shots:

In order to make the composite look believable and not scream “PHOTOSHOPPED”, I had to completely replace the background, because as you can see from the above photos, there are some major differences in the lightness levels from one shot to the next. So I basically created a nice, smooth gray background from scratch in Photoshop using the radial gradient tool. To put the finishing touches on the image, I darkened the bottom half to draw the viewer’s eye more toward their faces, where the focus really oughtta be. Here’s the final result:

For further examples of my work, including high school senior pictures, baby & family portraits, and fashion & glamour, please visit my website at http://RussRobinsonPhotography.com

Questions? Comments? Please leave me a comment below, and click “Like” along the way!

Before & After, Episode 14 | WESLEY CHAPEL MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHER

2010-06-30T14:25:00.007-04:00

In continuing with this recent maternity kick I'm on, I'd like to show you yet another example of an image that was heavily manipulated to achieve the final effect. While I'm a huge advocate of getting things right in-camera, sometimes knowing a thing or two about Photoshop can come in really handy.

One of the first things I noticed about this image when I pulled it into Lightroom was that the hand and flower weren't in the ideal position vertically on her belly. When I was originally taking the shot, I told my subject to just let her her arm hang fairly loosely, which put her hand (and the flower) in a much lower position. I thought it would look better in the final shot, but it turns out that I was wrong.

To move the hand & flower higher up on my subject's belly and into a more visually appealing location, here's the procedure that I used:

Duplicate the background layer
Drop the opacity of this new layer down to around 20%
Use the Move tool in conjunction with Free Transform to reposition the hand/flower in the new location
Mask out everything but the hand/flower
Go back to the background layer and clone out the original hand/flower

Aside from that, I performed some light "digital plastic surgery" to alter the shape of her belly, and of course I reduced (but not removed) some of the skin blemishes that I found to be rather distracting. The background is nothing more than a lavender-to-white radial gradient, with the subject, hand, and flower masked out. Please let me know if further detail would be helpful.

To see the before & after, just move your mouse pointer over the image for a few seconds until it changes. Then you can switch them back and forth as much as you like.

For further examples of my work, including high school senior pictures, baby & family portraits, and fashion & glamour, please visit my website at http://RussRobinsonPhotography.com

Pic-A-Week, Episode 3 | NEW TAMPA MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHER

2010-06-27T21:19:00.001-04:00

Maternity photography can be a rather difficult thing to do well, because the focus generally needs to be on the baby bump, and there are really only so many ways that you can shoot it without being clichè. Of course you can choose to change the scenery by leaving the studio behind and heading outdoors, but it will probably make things rather difficult if your client wants more of an intimate portrait.

So fortunately for me, as I now begin my maternity portfolio in earnest, the "client" happens to be my beautiful wife. We are expecting our precious Ainsley Claire in August, so the time is perfect for me to jump into this new genre feet first. I have been looking at lots of other photographers' work over the past couple of months trying to get a little bit of inspiration, and this particular image was inspired by a shot from the great Sandy Puc'.

To achieve the lighting effect, I placed a beauty dish with a 10° gridspot behind and slightly to the right of my wife, who was laying on the floor. I had my camera mounted on a tripod, and the tripod had to have the center pole inverted in order for me to get the camera low enough to the ground to get the angle I wanted. I then focused on her belly, put the 10-second timer on, and ran over to quickly drop into position behind her. Fortunately it only took a few shots to get it right, as I was getting out of breath from all the running around!

The shot was later processed in Nik Silver Efex Pro, and then some additional dodging and burning was performed in Photoshop to [de]emphasize certain areas and really put on the finishing touches. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed putting it together! If so, hook me up with a "Like" and a comment. Thanks ya'll! =)

Before & After, Episode 13 | NEW TAMPA SENIOR PICTURES

2010-06-21T09:01:00.003-04:00

This shot comes from the same senior portrait session that I referenced in a previous post. It's a typical example of the kind of fashion/glamour retouching that I normally do for my modeling clients, which includes:

Skin smoothing (while still retaining texture)
Removal of major blemishes
Reduction of dark circles under eyes
Eye & teeth whitening
Removal of stray hairs
Lip color enhancement
Iris enhancement
Tonal contrast boost (using luminosity, dodging & burning, and a few other techniques)
Eyebrow cleanup/enhancement
Minor facial reshaping

Obviously, this young lady was quite beautiful to begin with, and by most folks' standards she didn't really need to be "enhanced". However, to be a successful commercial photographer these days it's an absolute MUST to achieve a mastery of the latest high-end beauty retouching techniques. So I give all of my fashion, glamour, and senior portrait clients the 5-star treatment to really accentuate their best features and make them look like they just stepped off the cover of Cosmo. It's relatively difficult to find photographers who have expertise in this area, so I continue to study, practice, and improve my craft constantly.

To see the before & after, just move your mouse pointer over the image for a few seconds until it changes. Then you can switch them back and forth as much as you like.

As always, I am more than happy to share my post techniques with anyone who is interested, and I'd be delighted if you'd click "Like" and share your thoughts in a comment below. Thanks!

Pic-A-Week, Episode 2 | NEW TAMPA BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

2010-06-02T12:23:00.004-04:00

This is a personal family shot that I captured over Memorial Day weekend. I thought it was pretty cute when I first converted it to black & white, but based on the overwhelmingly positive response I've gotten on my Facebook fan page, I am now considering adding it to my professional portfolio as well.

I have to give props to my mother-in-law for assisting with the posing, because getting two energetic toddlers to pause for a sweet moment like this certainly takes more than just one person. Plus, you have to worry about one or both of them falling off the dock, so there are some additional safety concerns as well.

I'm always my own worst critic, so when I look at this shot I still wish my nephew's head was turned a little bit more toward my daughter. I also wonder if perhaps a slightly shallower depth-of-field might have produced a more pleasing result. But in the end I think it still works pretty well, and I'm sure I'll be making a print or two from it.

So what are your thoughts? Do you think I'm being overly critical with my assessment of this shot's weaknesses? Are there other areas where you can see room for improvement? Would more of a sepia tone work better? Please sound off below.

An Exercise In Digital Compositing | WESLEY CHAPEL BAND PROMO PHOTOGRAPHER

2010-06-01T06:47:00.008-04:00

What do you do if you've been asked to put together a promo shot for a band consisting of 4 members, and your studio space isn't quite big enough to pull it off? Freak out and tell them you just can't do it? Of course not......Photoshop to the rescue!

Not only does this method save you the hassle of trying to squeeze 4 people into a space that was really designed for a single model, but it also affords you quite a bit of flexibility in terms of shot selection. In other words, you can mix and match the best individual shots to your heart's content in order to come up with the best overall composite. So you basically don't have to worry about capturing good facial expressions on all 4 faces in a single frame.

Here are the 4 original SOOC shots:

Using Photoshop CS5's new masking tools, extracting a subject from a solid-color background has never been easier. You just draw a rough selection around the subject with the Lasso tool, add a mask, and then use the Refine Edge dialog to decontaminate the excess color (in this case, white). Then just take the individual shots that you want to composite together and drop them onto a large white canvas in Photoshop.

One last thing I had to do in this case was use the Free Transform tool to adjust each band member's size relative to the others. In order to figure out who was taller than who in real life, I had to go back to a previous shot that I had done of this same band. Of course I could have saved myself quite a bit of time by simply using a tripod and shooting each person from the exact same position and angle, but I'll just have to take that as a "note to self" for next time. Anyway, here's the final composite:

Ever use this technique yourself? Plan to use it in the future? Please tell me about it in a comment below, and click "like" along the way! :-)

Pic-A-Week, Episode 1 | NEW TAMPA SENIOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

2010-05-25T11:22:00.002-04:00

Hello, loyal readers! Obviously I've been WAY delinquent in keeping up with my blog over the past month, so here's what I'm gonna do.....basically, I want to implement a few new ideas that will help me to establish a more regular posting schedule so that you guys can better stay in the loop with what I'm working on. One of these ideas is a "Pic-A-Week" concept that I gleaned from Richard Arsenault's blog. Rich has got some fantastic nature shots, so if you're into that sort of thing, then I recommend you take a peek at his work.

Anyway, for Episode 1 I'm gonna kick things off with an image that I shot a couple of weekends ago. Believe it or not, this was actually my very first high school senior session. Although I've had the pleasure of working with a good number of fashion/glamour clients thus far in my photographic journey, none of them have been seniors (or even high school-aged, for that matter). I consider senior portraits to be a natural extension of fashion & glamour, so it only makes sense that I would expand into this market eventually.

This image was shot on a white seamless paper backdrop, and all the other colors and embellishments that you see were added in post. If you'd like a more detailed description of how I accomplished this, please just let me know below, and I'd be happy to share my techniques with you. Otherwise, please leave me a comment below with your thoughts, and help me spread the word by clicking "Like" as well. Thanks ya'll!

For more examples of my fashion, glamour, and beauty work, please visit my portfolio website at http://RussRobinsonPhotography.com.

Before & After, Episode 12 | NEW TAMPA MUSIC PROMO PHOTOGRAPHER

2010-04-16T07:14:00.022-04:00

For this episode I'm going to show you what I consider to be probably one of the best examples of Photoshop retouching in my entire portfolio. This shot's got it all― from color correction, barrel distortion, tons of dodging and burning, compositing― you name it. I basically had to throw the kitchen sink at this one, because I wanted to absolutely knock it out of the park and give this band some proper representation for the awesome music they create. Here's the before & after image (hold your mouse cursor over it for 3-4 seconds to see the difference):

To the right is a screenshot of my Layers pallette in Photoshop. Actually, this still doesn't even show several more layers that I flattened beforehand, and several other minor adjustments that I have made since, but it gives you a general idea of the kind of work that goes into a shot like this. I would guess that I logged about 10 total hours on this one, which is much more than my images usually require.

As you look through my pallette, working from the bottom, you will see that the first thing I did was use a B&W adjustment layer for some subtle contrast (simply change the blend mode to Soft Light).
I then used a simple "defog" action that I wrote to add a little bit of midtone contrast.
I forget what I did in the next layer, but above that you'll see that I made use of a Photoshop plugin called Imagenomics Portraiture to clean up their faces a little bit.
The barrel distortion layer fixed the "lean" of my buildings so that they stood straight up (check the before & after image again to see the change a little better).
I later desaturated the image slightly using another B&W adjustment layer, and then dropped in a new sky.
The sky was too warm to match the lighting in the scene, so I cooled it off with a Photo Filter.
Next I made use of yet another plugin, called Topaz Adjust. I absolutely love this plugin for adding local contrast and a variety of other effects.
Some other minor adjustments were made next-- a High Pass layer for some contrast and selective sharpening, and a screen layer with a mask to selectively brighten a couple of the band members' faces.
Then some dodging and burning for selective contrast
A Hue/Sat layer to take some of the redness and saturation out out the guitarist's face (I actually took his whole body from a completely different photo (lots of compositing going on for this shot)
I then had to work on the sky with some blur to remove noise
Next I ran my defog action again, but masked out everything but the buildings in the background.
Lastly (but not really, since there were other steps later), I did some more dodging and burning.

If you have any questions about any of the steps above, or would like further explanation/clarification on anything, please leave me a comment. Otherwise, if you just wanna give me some feedback-- good, bad, or indifferent, please do so. As I mentioned before, I absolutely LOVE hearing your comments!

Southside Serendade - 4/10/10 | NEW TAMPA BAND PROMO PHOTOGRAPHY

2010-04-16T06:32:00.010-04:00

I was asked to do a promo shoot for a local Tampa band called Southside Serenade recently, and I simply couldn't pass up a great opportunity to break into the local music scene with my photography business. I met the the lead singer, Addison Arfaras, when he responded to a Craigslist ad I had placed for a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe guitar amp. He soon saw all the cameras, lights, and other equipment I had sitting around in my home studio, and the conversation quickly turned to band photography. So Addison, me, and the rest of the band ended up driving down to the University of Tampa campus last weekend to do our shoot.

The band's drummer, Tony Martin, had recently spotted this old drawbridge near the campus, and thought it might make for a great shooting location. However, once we got there, we discovered that the drawbridge was completely blocked off on one side, so we were forced to go across to see if the other side was open. It was, but I quickly realized that there simply wasn't enough room width-wise for me to position my lighting gear far enough away from the band. Plus, the ground was really uneven, being that it was essentially railroad tracks with a strip of rocks on either side-- not good for setting up expensive lights that could easily fall over into the water!

So we scoped out the area even more, and eventually found what I'll call a "grassy knoll", which allowed us to still get the drawbridge into the shot (albeit in the background), and also gave me plenty of room for my lights. Here's a setup shot of the location, showing my 3 Alien Bees firing-- two on the sides/rear, and one in a beauty dish in front and up above the group:

That large, black, boxy-looking thing sitting on a stand on the left side of the image is my viewing station, which consists of a ThinkTank Pixel Sunscreen 2.0 with my laptop inside. It allows me to check my exposure on a much larger screen than I get with the tiny LCD on the back of the camera (which is especially small on a Canon 1Ds Mark II).

I grabbed several frames of the band with that drawbridge in the background, but never could seem to find a composition I really liked, so I shifted everyone and everything about 30 feet to the right to get the downtown Tampa skyline into the shot. Here's an unedited, SOOC (straight out of the camera) shot from this location, which will soon be featured in a "Before & After" post:

Before & After, Episode 11 | WESLEY CHAPEL SENIOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

2010-04-06T21:32:00.005-04:00

This time around it's a double header, kiddies...so strap yourselves in and let's take a ride. ;-)

The first image you'll already be familiar with, since I presented it in my last blog post. I did receive a few questions from readers about the distracting background, and my response was that I simply wasn't shooting for portfolio images (and therefore didn't really care about it at the time). However, I later realized that I had originally promised my "model" that he'd get a Facebook profile pic out of the deal, so off to Photoshop land I went....

I extracted him out of the original background using a tool called ReMask from Topaz Labs. It's a fairly decent "quick and dirty" extraction tool when the item you're trying to extract has a fairly well-defined edge and there is clear separation from the background. However, I wouldn't use it for anything too complex, because it starts to get a little squirrely with your edges, and you'll end up saying a few more curse words than you would if you had used a REAL extraction tool like Vertus Fluid Mask. Anyway, I digress.

I found a nice stock image of a Nissan 350Z on Flickr (photo credit Jeremy Cliff), and decided it would make a much more appealing backdrop for my model, since he also happens to drive a 350Z. I dropped him into the scene as a new layer, used the free transform tool (while holding the Shift key, which constrains the proportions) to adjust him down to a smaller size relative to the car, and proceeded to make all sorts of adjustments to the lighting. That's the real key to making believable composites-- you absolutely *have* to pay very close attention to the lighting or it will scream "PHOTOSHOPPED!".

Anyway, when all was said and done there were a number of adjustment layers......mostly Curves and Levels with different masks applied, and also a couple of Dodge & Burn layers. Sorry that I didn't take detailed notes of all the steps I took, or I would gladly share them with you. I'm more than willing to answer any questions you may have about the process, though. So here's the before & after image (roll over it with your mouse):

The second image was taken in my studio that same day, and basically he was laying on his belly with a Lastolite TriGrip Reflector under his elbows and a beauty dish above his head. It was inspired by an image I had seen on legendary high school senior photographer Kirk Voclain's website a couple of months earlier. As far as post processing:

I cleaned up his skin a bit using the High Pass filter (here's an excellent tutorial on this technique)
I added some additional contrast using another High Pass filter (again, here's a great site explaining 3 great uses for this filter)
I enhanced the color of his eyes by creating a new layer, lassoing his irises with the elliptical marquee tool, filling the selection with a bright blue, changing the blend mode to Color, and reducing opacity to taste
For the most dramatic change, I blended in a texture of a scratched surface, and masked out his eyes and most of his face with a reduced-opacity, soft brush.
Lastly, I created a merged layer at the top of my stack (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E) (or Cmd+Opt+Shift+E for Mac users), added a Gaussian Blur, then applied mask using the Gradient Tool in linear gradient mode so that only the top and bottom edges of the photo would be a little blurry. Kind of gives the photo a little more interest, and helps to draw the viewer's eye to those of my model.

Check out the before and after below. I think the image has much more drama and "punch" now, don't you? Please let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment. I absolutely LOVE hearing your feedback and all the many different fascinating perspectives you share with me. It's what truly makes this all worthwhile. Enjoy!

Learning a New High-Contrast Lighting Technique | NEW TAMPA SENIOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

2010-04-04T00:23:00.006-04:00

So I've got this band promo shoot coming up in a couple of weeks for a local act called Southside Serenade, and I wanted to be as prepared as possible for the lighting setup I plan to use. Honestly, most of my studio stuff is fairly straightforward lighting-wise, and I've pretty much got it to the point where I don't even think about it anymore. But out on location you've got a number of factors to consider, such as the amount of ambient light, the quality/color of that light, weather, wind, space limitations, etc. Basically, I didn't want to have to deal with all of that on top of figuring out a new lighting setup for the first time, so I called a good friend over to sort of "model" for me. Besides, he needed a new Facebook profile pic anyway. ;-)

This lighting technique involves 3 strobes, two on either side of the subject and slightly behind them, and then one light up front as key. Generally the sidelights, also called "kickers" or "rim lights", should be about a stop and a half hotter than your key light (having a light meter is very handy in these types of situations-- I use a Sekonic L-358). It's a very dramatic, contrasty kind of lighting that is very popular these days, and I think it's a good technique to have in your back pocket alongside your usual setups. Now, bear in mind that I wasn't exactly shooting for portfolio-worthy images here-- I was merely experimenting with a new lighting technique....so don't start playa hatin'. ;-)

Anyway, so I shot this with three Alien Bees B1600 strobes. The two in back were fitted with their standard 7" reflectors along with a set of barn doors to help control the spread of light. I could have just as easily used gridspots instead of barn doors (which I'll try next time), or gone with the 7" reflectors by themselves, but this time around I just happened to have the barn doors attached. The key light was fitted with a 16" beauty dish and a diffusion sock.

Here's a setup shot showing all 3 strobes firing (again, this isn't portfolio-worthy stuff.....I'm sure you'll be quick to notice that this shoot took place right in my back yard. Hey- I said no hatin'!!):

Now bear in mind that this was just before 5PM Eastern, so the direct sun was still blazing. In order to overpower the sun and produce the effect you see (which looks more like 7:30PM), I had to put my 2 rear strobes on pretty much full power. That's the beauty of shooting with high-powered strobes-- you have maximum control over the light in any given situation. Now, if I had Elinchrom Rangers instead of Alien Bees, I could make daytime look like midnight....pretty dang cool. Maybe one day I'll be cool (and rich) enough to be able to drop several grand on a strobe setup. But until then, it's okay to dream, right?

So anyway, that's pretty much all you gotta do....set up your lights, adjust the ratio so that your kicker lights are about a stop and a half hotter than your key, use your light meter to determine the appropriate shooting aperture, put your camera on Manual, and go to town. Below is the effect you'll get (notice the "rim" light on the edge, which really helps separate him from the background, and the hard light on his cheeks that really gives kind of a sculpted/chiseled appearance). If you have any questions, or would like some pointers on where to find great lighting information on the Net, please leave a comment or drop me an email.

PS - no, this wasn't edited in the slightest, and yes I need to clean my sensor. ;-)

Photoshop CS5 & Content-Aware Fill | NEW TAMPA PHOTOSHOP RETOUCHER

2010-03-29T13:57:00.008-04:00

In case you haven't heard, Photoshop CS5 (codename "White Rabbit") is right around the corner, and one of the hottest new features rumored to be included in this release is something called Content-Aware Fill (a.k.a. PatchMatch). I saw a demo of it during the keynote presentation at Photoshop World East in Orlando last week, and the crowd went wild. It's a truly remarkable innovation that will surely save photographers and designers boatloads of time. Check out the video HERE or by clicking the image below:

Before & After, Episode 10 | NEW TAMPA BABY CHILD PHOTOGRAPHER

2010-03-28T19:14:00.015-04:00

Here's a shot I grabbed of my daughter earlier today. Since you guys made it clear through your responses to my recent survey that you want more photography and post-processing tips, I decided to change things up this time around and include much more granular detail about how the shot was captured and my post-processing workflow for it. So here goes....

First of all, to get the shot, I was lying on my stomach near a patch of purple wildflowers we found down at a local park. I had my 70-200 2.8L lens mounted on my Canon 1Ds Mark II, and I was shooting wide open at 2.8, zoomed all the way in at 200mm. I asked my wife to call my daughter to walk through the flowers, and amazingly everything worked out just as I had envisioned it. I have to admit that it was a real treat to have my wife there assisting me, because when it comes to pics of my daughter I usually find myself in the unenviable position of trying to *create* the moments as well as *capture* them. Today I had the luxury of focusing on the technical stuff, and as a result the frames I got were MUCH better than usual.

Here's the SOOC (straight out of camera) image, which you can click for a larger view:

Next up was a bit of tweaking in Lightroom, which included adjusting the White Balance, adding a small amount of Fill Light, increasing the Blacks by 6, Clarity by 21, and Vibrance by 38. I also made some minor tweaks to the Tone Curve. Lastly, I used the Adjustment Brush to increase the exposure on her face just a tad. At this point I was ready to pull the file over into Photoshop. Here's what the image looked like with the Lightroom adjustments (click it for a larger view):

In Photoshop, below are the primary techniques I used to get the final product. There may have been a few very minor tweaks beyond what is listed here, but these are the steps I tend to include in most of my outdoor portraiture. By the way, I'm sure you've noticed that a good majority of pro photographers tend to shy away from revealing the "secret sauce" that makes their photos really pop. However, I really want to help you get to the next level with your post processing, so that's why I'm laying this out for everyone to see. As my photographer/idol Zack Arias recently told me at Photoshop World, "we all stand on each others' shoulders". So true, so true.

Oh yeah....if you're a Mac user, please substitute "Ctrl" for "Command" and "Alt" for "Option" (but you knew that already, right?) Anyway, here we go:

To add a bit of contrast, create a Black & White adjustment layer, change the Blend Mode to Soft Light, adjust the color sliders to taste, and reduce layer opacity to around 20%.
To add even more contrast, perform a "Stamp Visible" (which creates a flattened copy of all of your layers at the top of the stack) by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E. Apply a Gaussian Blur at 5 px, change the blend mode to Soft Light, and and reduce layer opacity to around 30%. Then mask out your subject (with a reduced opacity brush, if desired).
To lighten the subject a little, and make him/her "pop" a little more off the background, perform a "Stamp Visible" by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E, desaturate this layer (Ctrl+Shift+U), change the Blend Mode to Screen, and reduce layer opacity to about 25-30%. Then mask out the background (or alternatively you can start with a black mask and reveal the subject with white).
Add a bit of midtone contrast-- perform a "Stamp Visible" by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E, then apply an Unsharp Mask with Amount at 60%, Radius at 20 pixels, and Threshold at 0. Reduce layer opacity to around 30-35%.
Get your colors nice and saturated by performing a "LAB Mode Color Pop". This basically involves flipping over into LAB Mode, creating a Curves adjustment layer, pulling the ends of the line in, and then flipping back into RGB mode. You end up with a super-saturated layer that you can adjust the opacity of, and/or mask out certain parts. You will almost always have to mask out your subject's skin, because it'll be a nasty orangish/reddish mess. There are actually many different methods for popping colors in LAB Mode....click here for 5 of them.
Lastly, finish off with some High Pass sharpening-- perform a "Stamp Visible" by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E, then change the layer's blend mode to Soft Light. Go to Filter->Other->High Pass and set the radius to about 5 or 6 pixels. Then reduce the opacity of this layer to taste.

And that's pretty much all I did to this photo. As you'll see, I also decided to clone out the tree in the background, which I found to be very distracting, but the technique I used for that will have to wait for a different blog post. ;-)

So here's the final before & after image (roll your mouse cursor over the top to see the changes). Please let me know if you have any questions, and if you enjoyed this post, please comment below or on Facebook. Thanks!

What's New in Lightroom 3 Public Beta 2 | NEW TAMPA PHOTO RETOUCH

2010-03-23T11:32:00.003-04:00

I must say that I'm super-excited about many of the changes being introduced in the latest version of Adobe Lightroom, the *premier* image editing/digital asset management program in use today. The most significant additions include: the ability to tag, preview and organize your video files right alongside your images, much better noise reduction capabilities (also, it's worth noting that Luminance noise reduction is finally working), better vignetting and watermarking options, and last but not least, built-in tethering capabilities. If you shoot tethered like me, this last one is a game-changer. Here's a fantastic video overview of the new features, created by Adobe Creative Suite guru Terry White.

With all the new improvements and additions being announced, I have to admit that I'm still stuck using Lightroom 2.6 because there is no direct upgrade path from this version to the new one. Adobe doesn't want to be held liable for corrupting people's primary Lightroom databases with beta software (understandably), and I haven't been willing (yet) to completely jump in with both feet and make the switch. However, I think I may install 3.0 B2 on my studio computer (which is the one I shoot tethered to), and then just import those images into the database on my main computer after each shoot. How about you? Have you played with 3.0 at all? I'd love to hear your thoughts/impressions.

Protect Your Facebook Photos! | NEW TAMPA HEADSHOT PHOTOGRAPHER

2010-03-17T17:42:00.004-04:00

Almost everyone uploads photos to Facebook on a regular basis, and as a result it's become the largest image repository on the 'Net (surpassing even Flickr and Photobucket). But what if your hard drive crashed unexpectedly, and the only remaining copies of your precious pictures were on Facebook? Yikes! Here's how to avoid such a crisis: 5 Ways to Archive Your Facebook Photos.

Survey Results So Far | NEW TAMPA PHOTOGRAPHER

2010-03-16T18:04:00.008-04:00

As you can see, we have a clear leader, but there are three others in a deadlock for second. If you haven't voted, vote! If you have, vote again! :-)

What Do You Want to See on This Blog? Please Vote! | WESLEY CHAPEL PHOTOGRAPHY

2010-03-09T13:18:00.003-05:00

Online Surveys & Market Research

Controversial Photo in Glamour Magazine | NEW TAMPA MODEL PHOTOGRAPHER

2010-03-08T15:46:00.006-05:00

A photographer friend of mine pointed out this article to me earlier today, and I couldn't resist putting up a blog post about it, since I do quite a bit of fashion/glamour work myself (see here for examples). Once my models leave the studio and the REAL work (the image editing) begins, I often find myself in a position where I need to exercise a certain degree of....shall we say, "artistic discretion". I've certainly performed my fair share of digital plastic surgery, from something as simple as removing bags under eyes to changing eye and hair color to completely reshaping a person's body. It's amazing what can be (and is quite regularly) done in Photoshop to achieve a more flattering appearance, but the real question here is, how much is too much?

Just the mere fact that this photo in Glamour Magazine is causing a "controversy" speaks volumes about our society's perception of what is beautiful/acceptable/realistic/etc. What are your thoughts about it? Please sound off with a comment....I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Giving Credit Where Credit's Due

2010-03-06T00:50:00.003-05:00

I've gotten quite a few comments lately from fellow photographers who correctly identified some elements of my work as drawing heavily from a certain "white seamless" tutorial made available by Atlanta-based photographer Zack Arias. Well, the truth is, not only did I base my current studio setup on Zack's amazingly informative 5-part blog post on the subject, but long before I even decided to take the plunge and build a studio in the first place, I actually learned the core fundamentals of off-camera lighting from his OneLight Workshop video. So to say that Zack has been instrumental in my photographic journey would be the understatement of the century-- the guy has taught me more about lighting than all other photographers combined. His down-to-earth style and unique way of explaining things jump-started me from pretender to contender almost overnight.

It would quite simply be a disservice to Zack, as well as to my fellow photographers to move forward without a proper shout-out to him and a firm acknowledgment of all that he has done for me personally and the photographic community at large. So here it is....my official shout-out: Zack, you rock, dude, and I can't wait to see you speak at Photoshop World Orlando in a few weeks! :-)

Emerging Photographer of the Year! | NEW TAMPA PHOTOGRAPHY

2010-03-06T00:31:00.005-05:00

I was thrilled, humbled, and quite frankly taken aback by the recent announcement that I have been named as a finalist for "Emerging Photographer of the Year", which is a contest being held on Scott Bourne's excellent blog, Photofocus.com. I always find it very enlightening to hear other photographers' perspectives on my work, both the good and the bad. Scott refers to my general style as "Relationship Portraiture", and he feels that my fashion/glamour work is my strong point. Do you agree with his assessment? Please sound off with a comment below.

Oh, and if you haven't seen it already, you can view my portfolio here.

Before & After, Episode 9 | WELSEY CHAPEL FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHY

2010-02-06T12:49:00.002-05:00

I'd like to try something new this time around, in hopes that the differences between the before and after images will be more readily apparent. In the past, I've always shown the before & afters side by side, but it was often difficult to pick up on all of the subtle nuances and minor differences between the two. As a photographer who regularly spends hours upon hours in Photoshop, these minor differences in color and tone quite simply jump off the page at me, but I also realize that to the average pair of eyes such things are not quite as obvious. So this new method of displaying the images should make things much clearer for everyone.

The image I chose for this episode turned out to be one of my favorites of 2009, once it was completely transformed in Photoshop from a muddy, dark, and underexposed mess into a truly vibrant and heartwarming shot. It's really amazing the things you can do to rescue a bad photograph sometimes, and I think this is probably the best example in my entire portfolio.

When I'm out shooting with a client, my goal is of course to capture the absolute best images possible, and in the best light. Sometimes, however, the light changes unexpectedly (e.g. the sun goes behind, or pops out from behind a cloud), and it can fool the camera into severely under or overexposing the image. Shortly after this image was taken, and largely in response to the frustration I experienced while trying to edit it, I began shooting exclusively with my camera in Manual mode. This technique certainly isn't for the faint-hearted, but it really helps prevent such situations from occurring.

Although this fairly remarkable transformation just goes to show how much leeway can be enjoyed by a bad photographer who happens to be handy with Photoshop [pointing the finger squarely at myself], it should be noted that this particular example is truly the exception rather than the rule.

Anyhoo, to see the before & after, simply move your mouse pointer over the picture and then back off again. Wash, rinse, repeat. Enjoy!

Ligman Family - 11/22/09 | WESLEY CHAPEL BABY FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER

2010-01-22T22:53:00.008-05:00

The Ligmans brought their adorable son, Jack, over for a family shoot a couple of months ago. We grabbed a few studio shots and then headed outside to let Jack burn off some of that endless energy! I had an absolute blast rolling around in the grass with him and making a total fool of myself! But it was all worth it, as Jack gave us some of his best smiles of the day, and we ended up getting some great shots of him with Mom and Dad. Enjoy!

Photography and the Human Condition? | NEW TAMPA CHRISTIAN PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-12-17T16:44:00.015-05:00

As someone who is extremely passionate about photography, I find myself thinking about it constantly-- during meetings at work, while on my morning run, in the shower, on the pot-- well, you get the point. I'm always sizing up the world through the imaginary camera in my head, looking for interesting colors, lines, spacial relationships, and imagining how I might best capture those things in photographs. Not everything in our 3-d world translates well onto a 2-d medium, so it often takes lots of creativity and out-of-the-box thinking to effectively capture the true essence of certain things in photos.

On a deeper level, however, I find it fascinating that when we press the shutter of a camera to take a portrait (or a landscape shot, or anything else that one might take a picture of), we're not actually capturing the person or object(s) that we see through the viewfinder. The reality is, we're capturing the light that's being reflected from that person or object. If you can imagine an actor standing on a large stage with a single spotlight on him and you were to take a picture, your photo would consist of whatever light was being reflected back toward the camera in that moment. If the actor were to take a few steps back so that he was in a totally dark portion of the stage, then you wouldn't see him at all in the resulting photo, because he wouldn't be reflecting any light back toward you. He's still there, of course, but the camera simply doesn't "see" him.

So the point I'm trying to make here is that, from the camera's perspective, if your subject isn't being illuminated by some light source, then all that can be seen is total darkness. And here's the kicker........it occurred to me the other day while I was on my morning jog (which, incidentally is where I do the majority of my "deep" thinking) that this relationship is profoundly similar to that of humanity and God. Now, bear with me here....and strap on your thinking caps, 'cause we're goin' in.

The idea is this: when it comes to "us" and "God", if we aren't being illuminated by some light source (I personally believe this to be Jesus), then we're pretty much in total darkness from His perspective. In other words, without Christ, you and I would never show up as glowing blips on God's radar screen. On the other hand, if you are a believer, then all God sees when He looks at you is the beautiful and perfect light of His Son being reflected back.

Maybe this is somewhat of a strained analogy, or maybe there's a little nugget of truth to be found somewhere in all of this. Or maybe you think I've just gone completely bananas comparing the photographic process to man's cosmic juxtaposition with God! ;-) But either way, no matter which side of the fence you fall on, I'd love to hear your thoughts below.

Well, take care, everyone, and have a very happy and blessed New Year!

Before & After, Episode 8 | NEW TAMPA SENIOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-12-07T20:45:00.010-05:00

For this episode, I'd like to offer another behind-the-scenes glimpse into a recent photo shoot I did with a friend of mine. He came to me with a pretty interesting idea, which was actually based on a photo he had seen of one of his favorite guitarists.

After several failed attempts to capture him in a pose that really appeared as if he were falling forward, we came to a fork in the road. I realized that I basically had two options-- (1) either put a mattress or something soft in front of him so that he could REALLY fall forward without killing himself (or ripping his spiffy suit), or (2) dig into my bag of Photoshop tricks and try to achieve the desired effect in post-production. Naturally, I chose the latter, because I'm ~~a masochist~~ always up for a good Photoshop challenge. ;-)

Try this-- while looking at the before image in the upper left, imagine in your mind's eye if I had simply tilted his body forward in that exact pose. Since his front arm starts out parallel with the ground, it' s not hard to imagine that it would be sloping downward after the tilt, which clearly would NOT have made him look like he was reaching for the guitar floating straight in front of him. So I had to figure out a way to tilt his body while at the same time shifting his limbs back to where they needed to be.

If you draw an imaginary line connecting the two buttons on his blazer, then do the same thing in the final image, you can get a sense of how much I ended up tilting him forward-- probably a good 30-40 degrees. In order to reposition his limbs to the proper angle after tilting his torso, I mainly used a combination of the Free Transform tool, a few careful selections, and some good ol' cutting and pasting (with a few feathered layer masks). The most significant modification I made was probably the exaggeration of his back leg, whereas I kicked it up extra high for added drama. The end result is a much more off-balance appearance, adding to the sense of motion and tension in the image.

Cutting out the guitar out was a cinch using the Pen tool. Then I just used the Free Transform tool to reposition it and increase the size ever-so-slightly. Lastly, fake shadows were added to give the image a sense of groundedness, since you don't want your subjects floating in an endless sea of white. :-)

All in all, I think we managed to pull off what we were really going for with this image. If you've got any questions/comments/feedback, please feel free to leave them below. By the way, I *love* hearing everyone's different perspectives on these....it really makes it a lot of fun!

Woodall Family - 11/14/09 | NEW TAMPA WESLEY CHAPEL PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-12-06T14:27:00.014-05:00

I am beginning to do quite a bit more family photography lately, and not only that, but I'm also doing it with natural light (as opposed to artifical light, [i.e. flashes/strobes, such as those used in studio photography]). This is a major departure for me, because I'm used to being able to control every aspect of the light. However, when you're outdoors, Mother Nature prevails.

As a result of this new direction in my photography, I've had to completely overhaul my Photoshop workflow, because I think it's really important to successfully capture the rich, vibrant colors often encountered in nature. I'm learning new techniques for making colors really "pop", and I've discovered some great ways to brighten skin and increase tonal contrast.

Anyways, enough technical jargon.....here are some of my favorite shots from a recent shoot I did with the Woodall family. Enjoy, and please leave me a comment if you like this look.

John Miseroy - 10/31/09 | NEW TAMPA FASHION GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHY

2009-11-05T17:33:00.008-05:00

My long-time friend John stopped by for a quick shoot the other day. He's a musician in my church's worship band (among others), and wanted to see I could help him construct a particular image he's had in his head for some time now (the "floating guitar" shot below). Once we felt like we nailed that one, we decided to grab a few extra "modeling" shots to spiff up his Facebook profile a little. I really like how a few of these came out-- leave me a comment below if you do too.

Plant vs. Sickles JV Football - 10/23/09 | WESLEY CHAPEL FOOTBALL SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-10-25T15:58:00.006-04:00

I didn't have nearly as much time to edit/enhance these as I did for the last game I shot, but I realize that there are lots of players/fans out there who would still be interested in seeing them. So I've zipped them up into a single ZIP archive, which can be downloaded HERE (warning- the file weighs in at around 85MB, so it may take a while to download, depending on your connection speed).

Plant vs. Alonso JV Football - 10/1/09 | NEW TAMPA FOOTBALL SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-10-05T08:36:00.017-04:00

Last Thursday I decided to step outside the studio and try something completely different-- shoot a high school football game. Being a huge USF fan, I follow their recruiting very closely, so I figured it'd be really exciting to see some of these up-and-comers in their natural element. Turned out to be a total blast walking around the field, hearing the interactions between players and coaches, and being so close to the action I could almost feel the vicious hits. I'll definitely be doing more of this in the near future.

For all the Plant and/or Alonso fans reading this, you can view the images by clicking on the thumbnails below, or you can download them all in a single ZIP archive by clicking HERE.

Before & After, Episode 7 | WESLEY CHAPEL FASHION GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHY

2009-09-13T21:05:00.007-04:00

This fashion/glamour image has gotten more comments than any other in my portfolio since I uploaded it to my profiles on ModelMayhem, OneModelPlace, and FashionPage. Perhaps it's the whimsical expression of the model, or maybe it's the splash of color on the background that complements her dress, but whatever it is, people really seem to like it.

I put this image through my normal glamour retouching routine, enhancing the eyes, teeth, and skin, and making colors pop a little more. I also added a light green gradient to the background to make my subject really stand out and enhance the overall appeal of the image. If you look at the original, you'll see part of the chandelier that used to hang from my studio ceiling (it has since been removed), and you'll also see the edge of the white tileboard that the model is standing on. These things are really easy to clean up in Photoshop-- the only thing you really need to worry about when doing shoots like this is making sure that the model completely surrounded by white.

Drop me a comment if you'd like any further details about how this was done, or if you just wanna give me some feedback.

Before & After, Episode 6 | WESLEY CHAPEL CHILD PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-08-09T10:16:00.011-04:00

This time I'm digging out one of the first photos I took with off-camera flash. Being a newbie at the time, I was still trying to figure out how to balance ambient light with artificial light, and I ended up overexposing this scene pretty badly. Rather than trying to restore some of that lost detail in the blown-out areas of his face and her shirt, I decided to go in a completely different direction.

First step was to remove that annoying white bench in the background, which I felt was much too distracting. Next I desaturated the image, leaving only a hint of brownish sepia-tones. I also added a texture to give the image a really weathered & scratched appearance, and placed a border around the edges to round off the corners. Some vignetting (darkening of the edges) was added to draw the viewer's eye toward the center, and also to emulate the look of vintage photographs. Lastly, I "painted in" some lens blur to certain parts of the photo in order to complete the transformation.

Do you like the end result with all of its adjustments and effects, or do think I should have stuck with fixing the exposure in the original photo and kept things simple and straightforward?

Before & After, Episode 5 | WESLEY CHAPEL PHOTOSHOP RETOUCH

2009-07-29T20:24:00.015-04:00

This episode is dedicated to all the folks out there who have scratched their heads in wonderment trying to reverse-engineer my profile picture on Facebook. I've had a ton of people ask me to explain how I made it, and although everyone correctly assumes that it involves Photoshop trickery, few have been able to really latch on to the process as I explained it to them.

In short, all I really did was: 1) take a picture of myself sitting Indian-style on a bench, 2) take another picture of just the bare wall behind me, 3) combine the two in Photoshop, and 4) "mask out" the bench to reveal the wall behind it, and 5) add a fake shadow behind me to create the illusion that I was really floating. Take a look at the unedited versions over to the right and you'll quickly see how it was done (click each picture to enlarge it).

Enjoy, and please share the love by leaving me a comment! :-)

Shannon Landers - 7/3/09 | NEW TAMPA BEAUTY GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-07-22T16:34:00.011-04:00

Aspiring model and all-around sweetheart Shannon Landers stopped by a few weeks ago to update to her modeling portfolio. The pics she had done up that point weren't all that great in my opinion, so I wanted to give her something that really did her justice and accentuated her natural beauty. She was pretty thrilled with the final product, and I have to admit that she looks amazing in these.

As I often say, if you really want to increase your chances of making great photos, choose beautiful subjects! Enjoy....

Before & After, Episode 4 | WESLEY CHAPEL FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-07-09T13:09:00.009-04:00

In this episode we'll take a look at an image that I captured a couple of months ago while hanging out with some dear friends of mine....well, actually it's two images combined into one, but I processed both of them the exact same way. The kids are Carter and Katie, who are just flat-out adorable, and so photogenic that it made my job an absolute breeze.

Anyway, I had the kids stand in front of their respective parents and then asked mom and dad to put their hands on the kids' shoulders. I was trying to grab a couple of shots that would draw attention to each child's size, relative to the parent standing behind them. These are the sorts of pictures that you look back on many years later and your heart just wells up thinking about how tiny your kids were. As with all of my clients, I wanted to give Rob an Rachel a family heirloom to cherish for years and years, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity.

When I was retouching the images in Photoshop, I decided to take a risk and try a technique that I had never really played around with-- it's called cross processing. Back in the darkroom days when you developed film by hand, this process involved dipping your undeveloped negatives into a chemical solution that was designed for a completely different type of film. Whether done by accident or intentionally, it produced a photograph with wildly unpredictable color tones, and oddly enough this look eventually became a mainstay in the fashion industry.

Well, in the digital days this same look can be emulated with much greater ease, thanks to programs like Photoshop. It's also possible to exercise a much greater degree of control over the final product, because in the digital world the tools work exactly the same each time-- it's just a matter of a few mouse clicks.

The only thing I really did to these images, besides cross processing them, was to re-crop them to improve their overall composition. Tell me what you think by leaving me a comment below (just choose "Anonymous" if you don't have a Blogger or Gmail account).

Before & After, Episode 3 | WESLEY CHAPEL PHOTOSHOP RETOUCH

2009-06-25T15:38:00.008-04:00

On the occasions when somebody compliments me on one of my images, one of the ways that I try to deflect some of that attention and praise is simply to tell them, "Yeah, I spend WAY too much time in Photoshop!". Although I say that in jest, there's actually quite a bit of truth to it.

You see, I'm a hopeless perfectionist at heart. Sit me in front of a computer with an image to edit, and I'll work myself into an absolute frenzy of layers, tweaks, and adjustments-- I just don't know when to quit sometimes. However, this ability to get "in the zone" and tune everything else out until the job is done has proven to be a very valuable skill at times (unless I also happen to be tuning out my wife in the process, which ALWAYS leads to gnashing of teeth....but I digress).

As far as the image for this episode, I had a clear vision in my mind's eye before I even sat down to begin the editing process. I knew I wanted a composite of 3 different poses, which when viewed together would show some sort of a progression-- a story, if you will. Seemed a simple enough idea at first, since I had captured all three poses all against the same beige wall. However, it soon became painfully obvious that there would be MUCH more work involved than I had originally anticipated (does it ever go the OTHER way, really?).

The first problem was that none of the three shots had enough negative space for me to drop the other 2 poses in. So I had to "clone" the wall so that it extended out far enough to give me sufficient room to work. This process literally took me about an hour and a half, because I had to make sure that it looked believable-- that the wall and sidewalk really did extend out that far in real life. I painstakingly worked on the spaces between each brick to make sure that everything lined up and had the right proportions (did I mention that I'm a perfectionist?).

Once that was all done, it took me another hour to drop in the other 2 poses, and then about 30 more minutes to change the color of the wall to something more interesting (the fact that John's shirt was so close to the original wall color made this process even more fun). The final step was to add a thin, artistic black border around the image.

I am happy to report that when all was said and done, I achieved pretty much exactly the effect that I wanted to (which happens rarely, unfortunately). So it was time well-spent, as far as I'm concerned. What do YOU think of the final result? Do you think that changing the wall color was a good choice? Do you see a "progression" from left to right (reservation, reconciliation, realization)? Please share your comments below....I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Before & After, Episode 2 | WESLEY CHAPEL NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-06-18T16:29:00.009-04:00

For this episode we'll move into the realm of portrait photography, where I tend to focus my efforts about 99% of the time. I'll start with an image that has VERY special significance and meaning to me, for several different reasons:

1) When I took it, I was little more than a casual hobbyist with regard to photography. However, once it was fully edited (3+ hours in Photoshop, because I was just learning how to tame that beast of a program), the thought of pursuing professional photography entered my mind for the very first time.

2) It's also the first time I ever used off-camera flash (as opposed to on-camera flash, such the one that comes built into almost all modern cameras and even some cell phones and PDAs). It's next to impossible to get good results with on-camera flash, because it essentially turns your camera into a Xerox machine, and often creates problems such as the dreaded "red eye". However, when the flash comes from a position that’s OFF-camera, the resulting light is much more flattering and natural-looking.

3) This image ultimately became the very first one in my portfolio, and I proudly showed it off to all of my friends and family for several weeks afterward. Of course the fact that it’s a picture of my very own daughter made it even more special.

You’ll see that the image went through quite a bit of Photoshopping to arrive at the final product-- everything from cleaning up and smoothing the skin to bringing out the blue color of her eyes. My daughter also had a piece of skin hanging from her upper lip that had to be dealt with (apparently this is common with breastfeeding newborns—who knew?). Anyway, I think the final image really portrays her beauty in a much more flattering way than the original, and it almost single-handedly inspired me to pursue professional photography. Enjoy, and please leave me a comment down below if you like/dislike it! :-)

Before & After, Episode 1 | NEW TAMPA HDR RETOUCH PHOTOSHOP

2009-06-17T14:47:00.009-04:00

OK, so here's the deal-- I've been kicking around this idea of posting some before & after shots for a long while. I don't think most people realize how much time & effort goes into retouching digital negatives in order to get them looking like a professional-caliber final product. In fact, I get the impression that many folks assume that all of my images come right out of the camera looking the way they do. While that would certainly make my life a whole lot easier, it's unfortunately not the case at all.

Yes, having a good-quality DSLR is a great start. Having nice lenses is even MORE important. However, it's what you do with the images AFTER they're captured that really matters. The critical thing to realize is that a camera is an inherently imperfect device for capturing light. I don't care how many megapixels you have-- a camera's sensor has nowhere near the capability of responding to different light intensities as the human eye does. So your camera is forced to make an intelligent guess as to which tones in your scene should be kept and which should be dropped. What this essentially means is that the resulting images will always pale in comparison to what you originally saw when you looked through the lens and pressed the shutter. That bright, colorful sunset that was so strikingly beautiful when you saw it in person will always look washed out, flat, and just plain dull when you compare it to the image your camera ultimately gives you.

However, through the magic of Photoshop, it is possible to bring back some of that lost charm, and restore an image to somewhere near the way it looked in real life. Over the next few weeks I'm going to be trying out a new concept on this blog by posting some "Before & After" images. Based on the response I get, I may also decide to share the steps I took in post-production to achieve the final result.

Anyways, since I used the example of a sunset above, I'll start with an image that I took while on vacation in Hawaii last month. One of the first things you'll notice is how blown-out the sky is in the unprocessed version of the image. To get around the fact that my camera's sensor could only properly expose either the sky or the foreground (but not both), I took several shots, each with different settings. I ended up with a collection of images of the same scene, and in each one a different part of the scene was properly exposed. By selectively blending these different versions of the image together in Photoshop, along with a dash of contrast, a sprinkle of saturation, and sharpening to taste, I was able to produce the final image.

Enjoy, and please leave me a comment if you dig this "Before & After" concept! :-)

Hawaii 2009 | NEW TAMPA HDR PHOTOSHOP

2009-06-07T09:27:00.013-04:00

Finally got around to editing the pics from my Hawaii vacation last month. Since we completely missed the surfing season, there were no waves (well, no 20-30 footers like I had envisioned), so finding points of interest in landscape/beach shots proved rather difficult. I still managed to pull off a few decent shots, though....and as always, the pictures do this place no justice.

Devon Baxter - 5/22/09 | NEW TAMPA FASHION GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-05-24T12:49:00.010-04:00

Last Friday I finally got the opportunity to direct my first fashion/glamour shoot, and I had a blast! Devon was amazing, and she really knew how to work the camera well. We went through a variety of different clothing changes and looks, and I even got to try out some new lighting techniques, which I was pretty stoked about. Here are the best photos from the shoot:

Ayres Family - 05/05/09 | NEW TAMPA NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-05-24T12:43:00.005-04:00

Our long-time friends Chris and Michelle Ayres brought their 5-week-old baby Lilly over for a quick late-night shoot a few weeks ago. Here are the best 5:

The Baer Family - 5/1/09 | WESLEY CHAPEL FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHY

2009-05-06T19:33:00.005-04:00

Last weekend I had the good pleasure of hanging out with my dear friends Rob & Rachel Baer, along with their two kids Carter and Katie. We spent some time monkeying around on the playground, and after that the adults stood around and watched in amazement as the kids continued running all around on a big field nearby. Where do they get the energy??

Anyways, here are the best shots from that day:

Baby Playdate - 4/17/09 | NEW TAMPA FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-04-20T13:21:00.005-04:00

This past weekend, my wife, Heather, and I played host for the monthly "Baby Playdate", where about 7 or 8 mommies and their little ones gather together for some fun & social time. With all the little "models" running around, of course I just *had* to grab my camera and start snapping away. :-) Little did I know, I would end up shooting for about 2 and a half hours straight! But it was totally worth it...here are 5 of the best shots:

Hannah - 4/10/09 | NEW TAMPA SENIOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-04-10T15:41:00.004-04:00

These shots were actually taken on 3/20/09, but I had a break in my schedule and decided to go back to that shoot and pull out a few more for editing. Hannah is so sweet, and she always gets really excited when she knows that I'm getting ready to release newly edited pics. So Hanna, these are for you, girl! :-)

Adelyn - 4/6/09 | NEW TAMPA CHILD BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-04-10T09:10:00.004-04:00

This is my beautiful daughter, Adelyn Renèe, who absolutely HAS to be the most photographed baby in the entire world! Seriously, I learned everything I know about photography and lighting by using my poor baby girl as a captive subject, so she's certainly no stranger to the camera.

I'm still trying to perfect my "white seamless" technique, constantly adjusting my lighting ratios and post-processing methodologies, but I feel like I'm getting a lot closer lately. The next time you're in Target, take a look around and you'll see this exact same look on all the big posterboard ads & displays hanging from the ceiling-- lots of commercial photographers are doing this (and have been for a long while). Anyways, enough chatter-- check out my pride and joy:

Owen - 4/5/09 | WESLEY CHAPEL CHILD BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-04-10T08:56:00.007-04:00

My adorable little nephew, Owen, just celebrated his first birthday. When I was asked to take some pics to celebrate the occasion, I couldn't resist-- his cute smile and precious little dimples are irresistible. Oh, and the whole "trash the cake" idea was a total blast...check it out:

Jillian & Jocelyn - 3/27/09 | NEW TAMPA BABY PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-03-28T13:52:00.007-04:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of photographing Jillian and Jocelyn, the 2 daughters of our good friends Mandy & Jason Stephens. Jocelyn got a little bit camera shy, but Jillian worked it like a pro! Her beautiful smile just warms your heart, and her bubbly personality will have you grinning right back at her in no time-- see for yourself!

Lifepoint Church Worship Band - 3/21/09 | NEW TAMPA MUSIC BAND PROMO PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-03-25T17:07:00.004-04:00

I moved completely out of my comfort zone last Saturday and did some low-light shots of the worship band at Lifepoint Church. Shooting in concert-like settings is very tricky, as the light is constantly changing (spotlights, stage lights, strobes, etc.). So you absolutely cannot rely on any sort of automatic settings with your camera-- you gotta take the bull by the horns, baby! Anyways, I was fortunate enough to escape with a few decent shots. Enjoy!

More Hannah & John - 3/20/09 | NEW TAMPA COUPLES & ENGAGEMENTS

2009-03-25T17:05:00.003-04:00

Hanah & John - 3/20/09 | NEW TAMPA COUPLES & ENGAGEMENTS

2009-03-25T16:50:00.006-04:00

I did a shoot on Friday 3/20 with my good friends John Miseroy and Hanna Frisby. They're like the cutest couple I know, and they are an absolute joy to work with. Here are a few frames from that shoot. Enjoy!

Hello, world! | WESLEY CHAPEL FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER

2009-03-24T14:48:00.002-04:00

This is the first official posting on my new blog, which will serve as the counterpart to my portfolio website at http://www.russrobinsonphotography.com/

Here I'll be posting pics as I shoot them-- anything from family photos, portrait sessions, photojournalistic work, etc. so that all of you can see what I'm currently working on. Since Facebook compresses and hopelessly mutilates the images that I invest countless hours editing and perfecting, and since cross-posting them on Flickr is quite frankly a large pain in the posterior, I came to the realization that a blog was the best solution. I mean, why Photoshop these images well into the wee hours of the morning, enhancing subtle details and making colors pop, just so Facebook can essentially defecate on all of them in one fell swoop?

Anyways, sorry for the imagery, folks, but as a photographer the details are what's really important, and I don't like having my efforts go in vain. I trust that you will see quite a difference in quality versus what you've seen me post on my Facebook page. Hopefully this blog will grow right along with my business, and who knows-- maybe it will become something much bigger than just a place to share my photos. Thanks for visiting, and do check back often!