I've Moved!

It's been a little quiet on the blog for the last few days. And for good reason, I've been working on moving it! You can now find me here:

2Factor Photography - http://www.2factorphoto.com/blog/

If you follow me via RSS, twitter or facebook, you will not see an interruption. I know how annoying it is to have to remove/re-add feeds, so I did my best to keep you from having to do anything. We'll know shortly how good of a job I did (crossing fingers).

I apologize for any inconvenience.

Thanks for following!
-Jon

Zoinks - Green Screen

I've decided to start a new segment on the blog. For lack of a more creative term, I'll tag these with "ZOINKS." The purpose of this segment is to look back at previous photography projects and point out things I should have done differently. The intent is to reinforce these lessons for me, and hopefully some other people out there can learn from my mistakes. Or at least have a good laugh.

So my first attempt at this will be for my latest project discussed here: Pasadena Public Library

When I got home after this gig and started looking over the images, the very first thing that crossed my mind was "Oh my goodness, what was I thinking with these green screen shots?!?!"

Don't get me wrong, I really like this picture. But who cares what I think, I'm not the customer. And think for a moment, what is the purpose of a green screen? To have a nice even color that is easy to cut around and remove in photoshop. Zoinks! Those zeppelin sized shadows off to the left are not leaving us with an even color. Thankfully the people I'm handing these off to are better at photoshop than me (or maybe they felt sorry for me) and they said the pictures are fine, they can work with them.

Regardless, I was slightly disappointed in myself because I should have paid more attention. Worst of all, I know HOW to get the screen evenly lit. I'll spare you the specifics and link you to Zack Arias - White Seamless Tutorial. His tutorial is for shooting on white, but the concept is the same. Light the background separately from the subject.

So in closing, it doesn't hurt to really pay attention to what your customer needs, and why they need it. What's the worst that could happen?!

Pasadena Public Library

On May 7th I had the pleasure of hanging out at the Pasadena Public Library. They shut the library down for the day and had training sessions and team building exercises for their employees. The reason I was there was to do a 40 minute talk on how to improve their own photography. They hold a lot of events and take their own pictures which are later used on their website and possibly brochures, blackmail and other things. I was also asked to arrive early in order to shoot some portraits which employees could use in their profiles on the library's intranet.

I arrived around 1pm and was met by Kirk, their super cool Network Administrator. I'm a recovering IT guy myself, so I can relate to Kirk's situation. Numerous rooms each with laptop's and projector's. Get their early to set up. Then leave late because you have to tear it all down. And to top it off he had to escort some crazy photographer around the building. Be nice to your IT staff, they work harder than they let on! Kirk looks like a guy that wouldn't turn down a nice steak dinner *wink* *wink*

Anyway...I had about 10 whole minutes to scope things out and then another 20 to setup (again, huge thanks to Kirk for helping setup). By 1:30pm I was shooting and it didn't stop until 2:45. The assignment required that everyone be shot in front of a green screen. For those interested, I also offered to take a picture of them with the library's giant corridor in the background (the architecture of the library is REALLY nice). So most of the employees had two pictures taken. If my counting is correct, 31 people had their portrait taken. I was very pleased with the results, and the staff was amazing! They were very tolerant of a few (minor) hiccups and a little "on the fly" testing. I'm always looking to improve, so I have a small list of things I would have done differently. That could make for a good post...I'll think about it.

At 2:45pm I stopped shooting, we moved some equipment out of major walkways, and then made our way to the Children's Reading room (appropriately) to learn up my new friends on pictures! The class was amazing (the people, not necessarily the content)! The topics included things like composition guidelines, as well as some equipment tips. They were all very engaged and had excellent questions. I'm not a great public speaker, much less an instructor. But I have to admit that I really enjoyed myself. I wouldn't object to doing it again.

A HUGE thanks to the library and an even HUGERER thanks to my friend Pablo who convinced the library to let me in.

And now...some pictures!

VARRR!!!!

X1600 Rental

I rented a White Lightning X1600 and softbox for a personal project. The strobe arrived today and I did some test shots with Phoebe.

Besides the sun, the most powerful thing I've used is an SB-900. So this thing blows me away! I can light my entire living room (softbox attached) and shoot at f/7.1. And it's recycle time is fast too!

Why My Wife Rocks

I recently created a book of a birthday party I shot. It was supposed to have been delivered over the weekend but due to some confusion it got postponed until today. Marie, my wife, agreed to work from home today in order to accept the delivery. Well, not only did she accept the delivery, but she took pictures of it so that I could see it!

She's too cool.

Look Ma, I gots a LOGO!