Photography - Beauty, Beautiful, Glamour, Glamorous, Boudoir

I picked these words because they are sort of related, and yet they may not be, exactly - at least in photography.  Their meaning seems to differ depending where you are reading about these forms of portraiture.  If you were to use me as your photographer, the following is what I would mean when using these words.

Beauty, glamour, glamorous - pretty much interchangeably with each other.  Although glamour might be a little more sexy, perhaps a little more like boudoir, which in itself has different interpretations depending on who is talking about it.  And beautiful would encompass all the other words - I hope and do my best to make sure all my portraits are beautiful and show your inner and outer beauty.

The bottom line, though, is not how I would define these words, but what you would want to have from a photo session.  Do you want to look like a Victoria's Secret model, America's Next Top Model, or like an actress on Oscar night?

Cathy Moriarty - an actress on Oscar night - March 30, 1981 (well, it was supposed to be Oscar night, but the Oscars were postponed 24 hours when President Reagan was shot).  This photo was made at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.  I didn't care for the background, so substituted this background for it and lightened the photo a little:

In order to discuss what look you want, we have to meet on a day prior to any photo session we may schedule.  That is when we can go over any ideas you may have, you can bring photos of the way you want to look, etc.  Those photos and ideas would then be used during the session as a starting point for many similar poses and ideas.

As always, stay healthy and enjoy all that you do.

Vitamin C & E and Pregnancy, and More

As I have mentioned in previous posts, if you are in good health, you will get better results from a photo session than if you are in poor health.  Not to mention all other facets of life will be better.  And there are three major components (and several other ones, too) to good health - a healthy diet, exercise, and supplements.  Some supplements seemingly work for everyone, while other supplements you may have to use trial and error to see if they are right for you.  Of course, always check with your health practitioner as some supplements may affect any medications you are taking.  Same for exercise to make sure you are doing the right amount.

But back to the title of this post.  I have referenced OMNS (Orthomolecular Medicine News Service) before, and will be providing a link to it when there is news that you can use regarding various health conditions.  Today's article about prenatal vitamins and pregnancy is one of those.  Here is the link to that, as well as a list of other articles that may be of interest.  http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/index.shtml

Do I personally take vitamins?  Yes, I would always practice what I talk about.  Have they helped me?  It would seem so as I have eliminated many health problems since taking them, along with a good diet.  And exercise.  When I noticed the biggest improvements in my health was after adding the vitamins to my healthy diet.

How much of each vitamin and supplement should you take?  It will be different for each person, depending on lifestyle, stress levels, diet (how healthy you eat and what variety of foods you eat, how fresh the food is, etc.), how much you exercise, etc.  As for me, I've done the old trial and error method, as well as research so I'm not just guessing, have adjusted amounts, and added and eliminated some supplements over the years.

Here's to your health!  May it always be excellent.

"What's Your Best Quality as a Photographer?"

I heard this question on a radio interview with another photographer.  Her answer was that she knew how to bring out people's pretty side, usually a genuine laugh and that she's good at connecting with her clients so that they trust her implicitly.  So when she directs them to do something, that is something that they willingly do.  As I was listening to her, I was thinking that is the same thing for me....really.  To take what she said one step farther, which I know she does, too, is having the ability to capture what you've asked of your subject, at the best possible moment, the decisive moment.  To quote the 17th century Cardinal de Retz, "there is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment."  You have to know it, and capture it, when you see it.  It is that fleeting moment when the subjects inner feelings and personality are shown.

As Cartier-Bresson said, "To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression."  For me, it would be the significance of an expression.  Of course, it includes much more than that - proper lighting, pose, composition, focus, etc.  If you can't get everything just right, then that decisive moment may not be so decisive.

Have you heard the word "synchronicity?"  It is the experience of two or more events as meaningfully related, where are they are unlikely to be causally related.  This has been happening with what I've been discussing about the decisive moment to press that shutter release - a talk by Tamara Lackey at Google (which you can see here:  http://tamaralackeyblog.com/just-released-my-photographers-talks-at-google-program/) goes into detail on how she catches that moment, mostly with children.  What is really enlightening in her talk are the before and after photos - capturing the subject at the wrong moment vs the right moment - that really illustrates what I'm talking about today.  I saw her video shortly after I started writing this - another illustration of perfect timing.

Tamara talked about self consciousness and why the photographer and the subject must overcome that in order to capture the perfect expression, the personality and spirit of the person that is being photographed.

Below are three photos - in the first one the subject wasn't quite sure if everything was right (and I was a fraction of a second off in my timing - although still not a bad photo), and if you compare that to the other two, you can see the difference in expression and feeling of the photo.  They may be subtle, but ....

Hope you enjoy and have a great weekend as always.

Hit and Run and Other Tidbits for Safety

There have been, in California lately, lots of hit and run cases in the news.  I'm writing about this because on the way home from the beach, riding my bicycle, I saw an elderly couple crossing the street without looking, several feet from the corner, somewhere where the driver of a car might be unlikely to see them in time if turning onto that street.

Did this couple have the right of way?  Yes.  Do pedestrians in California have the right of way?  Yes.  Probably most other states, too.  Perhaps that's why so many are getting hit.  They think cars will see them and stop for them.  What they may fail to consider is the driver may be DUI, texting, talking on a cell phone, or some other distraction.  So although you have the right of way, you may end up being dead right.

What should you do?  I was taught to ALWAYS look both ways before crossing.  If you want to cross and a car is coming, look at the driver, make sure he or she sees you, make sure he or she is slowing down and stopping, and make sure no other cars are coming.  And make sure to do this even at a traffic light where the light just turned green for you.  Years ago, my brother almost got hit by a driver who went through a red light, and would have if I hadn't grabbed him.

Waiting for a car may cost you 10-15 seconds, but not waiting may cost you 10-15 years of your life.  I'd say waiting is a good trade off.

From time to time I will post safety and health tips, in addition to photography info, and other subjects, as I think of them or see something that reminds me about them.

As always, I hope someone finds this helpful.

Photography and Exposures - Film vs Digital

With digital cameras, many photographers now shoot a lot more exposures.  A wedding with film might have been 120 - 240 shots with film, now with digital it might be 10 times that amount.  For headshots and portraits, probably the same ratio.  Thirty six exposures with film might be 360 with digital.  Does that mean you will get better results?  Or perhaps the opposite?  It depends on the photographer - a good photographer wouldn't need to shoot that many exposures.  He or she might, just to make sure to get the client/subject exactly what they wanted and to protect against any possible malfunction of equipment.  Some cameras come with two memory card slots, with the option of recording the photo on both.

For someone who doesn't understand lighting, exposure, composition, and doesn't know the best time to press the shutter release button, it may not matter how many that person takes.

I remember years ago I was visiting a professional photographer socially.  He had planned a for another friend of his to have a photo session with two models, one male and one female, but the male model didn't show up, so I was recruited, LOL.  Well, they got us into the pose they wanted, but the guest photographer took forever (or so it felt) to shoot the first photo, and again for each one.  He just didn't know when to capture that perfect expression, and so missed many.  In addition to knowing when to shoot, the longer you (the photographer) wait, the more uneasy your subject will become.  With digital, this is easier to overcome - you shoot, tell your subject that was good (or great, beautiful, etc.), and then say something like, "now let's try this..."

At one point in my past, I was shooting polaroid photos of people at the beach.  Each shot cost about $1.25 - I learned to make sure I got a good expression and exposure in one shot!  I seldom needed to shoot more than one.  My advice - make believe that each time you press the shutter release, the cost is $3.00 (or more).  Rather than shooting 100 exposures to get one good one, you'll start getting 90 good ones (OK - this might be an exaggeration, but will result in happier clients and bigger orders).

As far as film vs digital - well, that's like the argument for vinyl LP's vs digital for music.  I've done both and listened to both, and digital works fine for me.

Photo Retouching and Exposure

I wrote a little about this yesterday, and wanted to add a little to retouching because I just received an email from a software company whose product I use.  It was an interview with another photographer about retouching.  It's always nice to see that others feel the same way as you.  The point made in the interview was to get as much as you can correct in your exposure to minimize any retouching.  And when you do retouch, the subject of the photograph should not be able to see that you did.  They should not know that you did it in most cases - unless, of course, they specifically requested some post production retouching.  And then it should still appear as though it was not retouched.

About exposure and RAW (not about whether you're exposed in the raw, LOL) - Years ago, when I was shooting with film cameras, I was photographing a young lady with B&W negative film (ASA 125) and color transparency film (ASA 25).  One problem - I neglected to change the ASA setting on my camera's light meter for the color film.  Below is the result.

Yes, I had her climb up into the tree for this photo, so when I got the results, it was quite disappointing.  Years later, after I scanned it, and fixed it as much as I was able to in Lightroom (didn't spend much time on this as it would still not be good), this is how it looked.

Fast forward to today and digital cameras.  Let's say you were taking this same photo with a digital camera.  But your light meter got it wrong because you accidentally exposed for the sky (everyone makes mistakes at one time or another - To Err is Human).  If you shot this with your camera's RAW setting, and processed non-destructively in Lightroom, there is a good chance you would get a usable image.  Below is the image out of the camera (this time, the camera's light meter messed up - only time out of a few hundred exposures), and then adjusted in Lightroom.

I used to shoot JPG because the files were smaller and I could shoot more with the memory I had.  And store more on my hard drives.  But with the flash drives and hard drives getting bigger and less expensive, I switched to shooting RAW as it can save the day.  The only reason I can see to shoot JPG would be for shooting sports and perhaps wild animals and birds, as the images can be written faster to your camera's flash cards, thus you can shoot more faster.

This blog will always be my opinion - others may disagree, which is fine.  The best thing is to experiment and see what works best for you.  And have fun!

Retouching Photographs - How Much Should Be Done?

If it's for yourself (the person who made the images), and for your own use, the answer is easy - as much as you like!  If it's for a client, the answer may be a bit more complex.  You have to give the client what the client wants - but you may have to educate the client about what your retouching is and what it involves.  This may be different from what you may want to put in your portfolio.  So where to begin?  Discuss everything with the client when you meet with her before finalizing a photo session.  What are some of the things to discuss?

Find out if they have any temporary (or even permanent) marks they would not want in the finished prints or files.  Do they want wrinkles minimized?  Are they temporarily overweight (or underweight) and would want that normalized?  Do they want to look younger (or older)?  Would they mind if you changed something to make them look even better than they did - for you portfolio and samples (even though they may have agreed to this in the release, you don't want to ignore their feelings)?

It is a good idea to show samples of before and after photos that were retouched, just as it is to show these for make-up, too.  I think it's important to let you prospective client know that make-up and post production are used to highlight your clients best features, perhaps to better show her personality, etc., and not to make her look like a different person.  Below are three images, the first one as it came out of the camera (made with the camera's RAW setting), and the other two after some post production work.

If you click on the photos, you will see them larger.  There are very subtle differences in the bottom two, which is why I put them side by side.  Which is better is subjective, and that would be something we would discuss when meeting.  I will go more into what we would chat about in our first meeting together so we can make sure we want the same results and that you will be happy with my style.

Remember - if the photographer's brand and desires regarding retouching (or anything else, for that matter) are too different from yours, you both may decide to not work together.

My goals for any photo session is that we enjoy the session and the results exceed our expectations.

Photography at the Paddle Tennis Courts, Venice, California

Was playing paddle tennis today at the courts at Venice Beach, when the two girls in the photo happened to drop by.  They were from Berlin, Germany, visiting.  The one with the paddle was a tennis player, so she wanted to give paddle tennis a try.  We loaned her a paddle, and she picked up the game really quick and we managed to play a very close set (7-5 final score).   But more importantly, we had a lot of fun and they were two wonderful people.

The Media, The Flu, and You

The headline is always the most difficult part of my posts.  For this post, this headline might have included any number of maladies (colds, heart disease, cancer, and more), not to mention any number of drugs.

In all the news stories and ads about these things, what are two things they almost never talk about?  Nutrition and supplements, and how they might help you avoid some, if not almost all maladies (depending on environmental toxins you may be exposed to, heredity, your stress levels, your outlook on life, etc.).  Thankfully, we have the internet, and we still have books, too, although the internet is a bit more convenient when researching something.  And we have search engines - I use Google for pretty much all my searches.

What do you search for - what words do you put into Google?  Well, let's say you want to avoid getting the flu as an example.  These are things I would search for:

Flu Mercola - I just checked, and 465,000 results came up.  Why Mercola?  Because I know he has excellent posts about natural health.

Orthomolecular flu - Orthomolecular Medicine is another great site for natural alternatives.

Or I might search for "flu natural treatments," etc.

If you saw an ad on TV for a particular drug for a particular condition, I would put the condition in Google, along with "nutrition," "natural remedies," alternative treatments," etc.

Thanks to my research on diet, supplements, and exercise, and practicing these things (aka healthy lifestyle), I haven't had the flu for many years.  Before going to health, I pretty much got it every year.

If, after all I've done, I still start to feel symptoms of a cold or sore throat, etc., as soon as I feel any symptoms, I take two things immediately - Oil of Oregano and Cyclone Cider.  Usually the symptoms fade out over a few hours to half a day.

Hope this helps someone.




 

If You Keep Doing What You've Always Done, You'll Keep Getting What You Always Got

I've mentioned in prior posts all the health problems I had growing up (4-5 colds and flues a year, headaches, dandruff, ulcers, allergies, and more).  And I've mentioned how I've changed my diet to healthy whole foods (no sugar if possible, no preservatives, organic, no chemicals, no GMO's, etc.) and thereby eliminated almost all of the earlier health problems.  What I haven't mentioned is what I used to eat.  And drink.

Some of what I used to ingest - candy (milk duds, candy bars, salt water toffee, m&m's, tootsie rolls, etc.), hot dogs (haven't had one in over 30 years), hamburgers (maybe one a year or less now), margarine (they said it was healthier than butter - they lied, and haven't had that in over 30 years), junk food (cupcakes with sugar, danish with sugar, cake with sugar, etc.), bacon, canned fruits with sugar, canned foods with salt and sugar (and many of these with other chemicals such as MSG, artificial color, etc.), steak and liver (from who knows what kind of cows), white bread with preservatives, bologna, salami, pastrami, and on and on.  And soft drinks (in the Summer, 4-6 bottles of Coke, Pepsi, RC Cola, orange soda, etc.).

Another advantage to a healthy diet - after a while on it, everything starts to taste better.  And you don't wake up in the morning with that horrible ugly taste in your mouth.

In short, I stopped doing what I had always done, and stopped getting what I had always got.  You can make those changes too.  When you do, problems will very likely fade away over time (my "nervous stomach" took about six months to fade away).  So if you make the right changes to your diet, give it time.  Some problems may take a few months, some may take a few years.  But in time, you'll not only feel better, you'll look better.  Which means, getting back to photography, you'll get better photos of yourself.  And it will be easier on the photographer (me?) because he or she won't have to touch up as much!

It is my hope that if you read this, you will go to health.  I'll be continuing more about this in future posts.

Helpful tip - when you go food shopping, remember that if you don't buy something, you won't be able to eat it when you get that craving.  And don't go shopping when you're hungry.

That's it for today - have a great and healthy weekend, and a happy one.

Never Stop Learning About Photography, Nutrition, .....

Because this is a blog about photography, and to a lesser extent, nutrition (as it can make a difference in your portrait results), I'll mostly be talking about these two things.  However, there are many other topics to choose from, things that affect your style of life.

I am constantly reading photo books, blogs (Jasmine Star, etc.) magazines, attending photo webinars (CreativeLIVE, those given by Adorama, etc.) and more.  I've been making photos for a long time and much of what I read, etc., is review for me, but there's always something new to learn, some new ideas to try, perhaps a new pose, etc.  Yesterday I was reading about a new form (new to me, anyway), called 2257.  The author said he uses it for all his shoots.  Should I also use it, or should you?  After researching it further, I probably won't use it.  But will use its guidelines for checking ID's to make sure the subject of a photo session is over 18.

This brings me to something else that is important to learn - how to find what you want with Google and other search engines.  For this example, I entered into Google, "What is form 2257 for photography?"  Over 5 million entries came up.  As with anything, the more you practice, the better you get.

Some old photos shot in Venice CA many years ago - Charmers Tea House is no longer there.

Thoughts on What Is a Professional Photographer, Etc.

What is a Pro (or Professional) Photographer?  He or she is one who can solve your photographic problem, will always give you results that exceed your expectations (or give you every penny back), is ALWAYS on time, who can give you ideas you may not have thought of, and always produces at the very least what is asked for.  And he or she will do this in the nicest way possible - in a way you will most enjoy.

What is Beauty, Boudoir, or Glamour Photography - May be close-ups of your face or up to and including full length, sitting, standing, or lying down, in lingerie, bikini, evening gown, or any combination you can think of in a variety of settings.  It can include nude (completely the clients choice) and is acceptable and tastefully done should you prefer that.  These portraits will always have make-up done professionally so that you will look stunning, your absolute best ever.  You are the one in charge of how you want to look or dress, and while the photographer may offer suggestions, you always have the final say.

Post Processing - After the photo shoot, but before you see the results, the images will be adjusted in Lightroom and/or Photoshop or other image editing programs to further enhance your look, remove distractions, remove any temporary blemishes you may have had at the time of the session, color corrections, etc.  If, when you do see the results, you see something you would like changed, the necessary changes can be done.  The main objective of this is to give you a final image that you will absolutely love.

The above are my thoughts - I welcome yours.  Hopefully this will give you an idea of what to expect from a photo session.  I will be adding more thoughts as time goes by.

I am in the planning process for 2014.  One of goals is to build a new website, and I will want new images for it.  So I will be offering five "free" photo sessions to update my portfolio with relevant beauty, glamour, boudoir images.  I put "free" in quotes because you may have to pay for professionally done make-up - I want you to look absolutely perfect (if you've watched Americas's Next Top Model, you know what make-up can do).  The session would be on location (yours or outdoors).  You will receive, for free, a disk of the best images.  However, because disks can fade and technology changes, professional prints are a better option.  These prints are completely optional, and you would receive these at a reduced price.  I will require a signed model release, and an optional testimonial.

Below are some past images that were shot with film - I want to update with digital.



Taken at UCLA Sculpture Garden.



Various locations - note that photos can be color or B&W.



Meanwhile - I wish you all a healthy, happy, fun, and successful 2014.  May all your dreams come true, and may everyone keep the Christmas spirit every day.