Now that digital is no longer new, a few rules of the road have been established that most folks would agree yield better quality results. Of course, you might find that bending the rules might be fun, and that there's still lots to learn. But these...
I first saw "White Glove First Edition Books" at the Professional Photographers of America trade show in Atlanta in the summer of 1999. Since it's pretty much just Monte Zucker and I that cover the wedding side of things in Shutterbug, and we usually write about technique, I've been...
When I’m looking at ways to do a specific task my brain often reverts to Occam’s razor. (Occam was a logician and Franciscan friar in the 14th century.) The way I interpret it, is that if there are many ways to do something the easiest and most direct method is usually correct. It’s the KIS principle and keeping it simple works best for me. Like most people, especially those of us who are self employed, there aren’t enough hours in the day, so I’m extremely concerned about workflow and just how much time each project is going to take. If I have a task, like organizing and editing my work, that I can do one way that takes an hour and another that takes 30 minutes, I’ll take the 30 minute option every time. With all that said, I’ll explain how I handle a portrait session, from the original shoot to ordering the final images. It may or may not fit your way of doing things, but just keep my buddy Occam in mind and remember there’s more to life than sitting in front of a computer.
Given the current state of technology, a case could be made that a photographer could exist today with only two lenses--a wide angle to moderate zoom, and a short tele to long tele-zoom. That would be a mistake. For as good and flexible as today's zoom lenses are, there are some compelling reasons to choose fixed focal length lenses on occasion. I'll admit, 90 percent...
I'd like to preface this article by telling you that I have been involved in this industry as a professional photographer for over 30 years. Outside of the fact that I feel really old now, I think it's important, because as a participant and observer of the portrait and wedding photographic world since the mid-1970s, I've seen many changes and milestones in the...
One look at the work of Richard Lohmann and you know you are viewing the work of a very skilled photographic practitioner. But what really has Lohmann excited these days are evolutions in digital technology. A combination of advanced film processing techniques and new ink technology has convinced Lohmann that he can now produce images comparable in quality to platinum prints...
First, let me state that I currently shoot the majority of my wedding photos with a Bronica SQ-Ai medium format 6x6 camera. I use Kodak Portra 400VC 220 film (I like the extra snap in the contrast). It's fast enough for 90 percent of the...
I first met Eddie Tapp when I attended the Professional Photographers of America Judges Workshop in Atlanta in 1997. Flash forward to today when film is a niche in photography, and photographers around the world recognize Tapp as one of the premiere Photoshop/digital imaging experts in the world. He lectures and consults to individuals and corporations around the world and can be found presenting...
Since I first wrote about Portrait Professional 8 in September of 2008, Anthropics Technology has been steadily working on the software to add more features and functionality.