Photography in Austin, Texas
Start a personal project
Some photographers do a 365 project (where they take an image every day). Unless that idea is super-appealing to you, I’d instead look for a way you can merge photography with an interest you find fascinating. Perhaps you volunteer at the local animal shelter, or you are an expert on Ford Mustangs made before 1984. Whatever it is, build a personal project out of it. I recently started one of these based on a shoot from over a year ago. It’s more of an endurance event than a short period of focused work, and I’m looking forward to the end product!
Take a class
This could be something as simple as a short workshop, a dvd/video class, or even a conference. Specifically seek out one that covers something you don’t know. Don’t get caught only going to classes that you know your friends will be at (this is super-important at conferences.)
Trade for practice
Come up with an idea for a shoot, and trade that (for free if necessary) just to get the practice in doing it.
Read non-photo-specific things
It’s easy to collect a list of photo blogs in your rss reader to lean on for inspiration/etc. Try instead to read books about creativity and business that don’t specifically deal with photography. Some of my recent favorites include The War Of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle
by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.
Inside-out learning (on a lens, modifier, etc)
Pick a lens, modifier, or light, and spend a weekend learning as much as you can about it. Some photographers recommend using that piece of gear exclusively until you know it inside and out.
Flat-out copy
Find a photo you love and spend the time to create an image exactly like it. Don’t worry about putting it in your gallery (since it’s a copy). The exercise of creating the image will be a great learning experience, and eventually you will take a small piece of that technique and merge it with your style.
Reach out to someone you admire
Social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus have made people more accessible than ever. Find you someone you admire and reach out to them. You don’t need to send them a 5 paragraph email with a ton of questions. A quick “Hi – I really enjoy the work you’ve been doing!” can get the door open to future communication.
Force variation (at least 5)
Along the lines of inside-out learning mentioned above, try forcing variations on yourself. Shoot a subject the way you would normally, and then force yourself to get 5 different looks of the same subject. You could try different angles, lighting, nighttime vs daytime, lenses, etc. Getting into this practice is good for you, because it always comes in handy on jobs for paying clients.
Rent
If you haven’t rented gear before, it’s worth the effort. Most online rental houses have the process down when it comes to shipping you gear and making it easy for you to return it. With some sites you can get a special deal on weekend rentals (3 days for the price of 2, etc). And be sure to check out any local companies in your area that rent gear. I use a mix of online and local rental options, and I will always be renting certain types of gear vs. buying. I love Lensrentals.com online and Texas Grip locally.
Break from social media
This is the toughest one in this list, and I find myself struggling with it all the time. When I find myself spending too much time on social networking sites, I try to remember that there are plenty of incredible photographers who don’t have any interest in social media. Go try to find Dan Winters in some social network online, for example. Realize that great photographers get great ultimately by doing, not just by networking.
I hope some of these have been helpful. If there’s a technique that has helped you out recently, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
Yes, it’s been a little barren here on the Dogblog. I would chalk it up to the intense Texas heat which has forced all of us to retreat to the coolest parts of our homes for the last few months. Only now are we starting to emerge and go outside.
First off, if you haven’t yet signed up for Google Plus, I highly suggest you do so. It has been exploding since its introduction a few months ago, especially in the area of photography. The work being posted up there daily is incredible! You can find my profile directly at www.EricGPlus.com.
Google Plus has this unique feature called a ‘hangout’. It’s a group video chat, and it also has become quite popular. You’ll find hangouts covering all sorts of topics. It’s a great way to meet new friends.
Using hangouts, myself and photographer Dustin Meyer have launched a new venture: Photog.TV. The idea is really simple: we host and record hangouts weekly covering photography. We talk about photo news, have interviews, show tips that we’ve come across, etc. I think of it as a social podcast. The format and schedule are set, but the guests are random (it’s whoever joins the hangout) and the discussion can go anywhere.
So far, we’ve had 4 episodes. We’ve talked about the current state of photography, the legacy of Steve Jobs, working with clients, and tips/tricks for getting maximum engagement on your blog (Dustin hosted that last one, as I’m in no condition to pontificate on blog engagement lately).
We’ve also had some great guests join in: RC Concepcion and Pete Collins from NAPP, Trey Ratcliff, and even super-famous (about to be famous-er) G+ singer Daria Musk.
When you get a moment, head on over to Photog.TV, watch some of the episodes, and let us know what you think. If you want to be part of an episode, head over to Google Plus and circle myself and Dustin. We record it live on Google Plus every Thursday at 12PM CST. We’ve have some cool ideas of where this could go.
Really, there isn’t. Because usually you hear it like this:
“Achieve work-life balance.”
As a creative trying to build a business while taking care of my family and other relationships, I’m in a constant struggle to keep progress going on all fronts. And the word ‘achieve’ suggests that you can somehow get there if you only use the right time management techniques, or the latest to-do app, etc.
“Balance” as I see it is like your lane on the highway. You have a steering wheel, and you’re constantly making little adjustments to stay where you are. If you don’t pay attention you can drift to one side or the other, neglecting your other responsibilities. Also, there’s no point where you’re perfectly in your lane and can let up on the wheel. If you do, into the guardrail you go.
So don’t get caught up reading every book/post about how to achieve this balance. Focus on making little adjustments to stay in the middle.
The road ahead never ends. The fun is how you drive down it.
Have you ever been interested in pumping up the contrast in your work beyond the standard tone-curve adjustments that all of the books teach? After hanging with my friend Douglas Sonders at Photoshop World in Vegas and mentioning my technique to him, I decided to put together this video tutorial on how I do it.
For me, I enjoy walking a line between real and not real. I tend to use HDR, for example, on certain parts of background images but never the whole image. With this effect it’s the same idea. In the past I would use a plug in called Lucis Art to get a similar effect. It’s a very popular plug in and has a very distinctive look. One of those ‘you know it when you see it‘ looks. Unfortunately, the company that makes it has stopped further development on the Mac platform. This is a shame, really, because Lucis Art was creating a look that no one else could do. Enter Silver Efex Pro 2 by Nik Software.
I picked up Silver Efex Pro 2 on a whim. It was totally an impulse purchase during a conference last year (I think it was Photoshop World Orlando). Silver Efex Pro is designed to do one thing well – make black and white images. It excels at it, to say the the least. After using the plug in for 2 minutes, I completely ditched my older methods for creating black and white conversions. It really is that good. However, while messing around with it I came across a way to use it to give my color images a Lucis feel. Check out the video below to see how I used it for the cover shoot of the first issue of Austin Man Magazine:
So there you have it – pretty straightforward. If you liked this tip, you my want to subscribe to the feed as I’ll be posting more soon. Also, be sure to add me on Google Plus if you are there, as I’m planning on doing a hangout to show this in action.
I recently finished putting together my portfolio book, and I’d like to share a little walkthrough of it.
The process of putting this together was longer than I had originally planned. It all started by going through images from the last few years and figuring out what worked. A lot of this process was with Natalie Ogura, who has a very strong background as a producer as well as a set stylist. I’ve brought her on for commercial shoots before and was excited to to work together again. We culled images for the website, and then I used those images as a starting point for the book.
When it comes to book printing you have a ton of options. While it would have been easy to go to the companies I’ve used before for weddings, the problem with those books is that they are permanent: no changing out pages without sending the books in (and paying a nice change fee.) Ultimately I decided to go with Lost Luggage. While they do high-end custom work for clients, they also produce a series of standard portfolio books that allow you to trade out pages easily. They had just the look I wanted.
I also had to make some decisions when it came to printing. Lost Luggage sells matte paper that is pre-drilled and works perfectly with their books. I did a test run with their paper, but in the end wasn’t happy. I felt that paper with a slight gloss would work better since my images had a more contemporary, commercial look to them. Lost Luggage didn’t sell any paper like that, so I went on a paper hunt.
I was immediately drawn to Hahnemuhle. I just loved how the prints looked with their paper! It had enough of a sheen but wasn’t glossy. My first round with that paper was Photo Rag Pearl. The paper was rated as 320 gsm (which is a measure of its thickness). That paper was incredible, but once I printed the book, I noticed that the paper was too thick. The book couldn’t lay flat, and became unwieldy. Fortunately, Hahnemuhle makes a version of the same paper at 285 gsm, and it was much better.
Here’s a video walkthrough of the book:
Regarding the video, creating it was pretty straight-forward. I put a 5d Mark 2 on a c-stand (held by a Manfrotto magic arm). The camera was running tethered to a laptop. On the laptop, I was using the Live View feature of Canon’s EOS Utility. This allowed me to watch it while recording to make sure the book was straight and the pacing was good. For lighting, I used a single ring flash behind the desk. Here’s a setup shot:
Overall, I am really happy with the book, and the response by those that have seen has been great!
Thanks for stopping by the DogBlog! If you have any comments or thoughts about the work, I'd love to hear them. [Read More …]
