My Monstrous Shadow

I rather like this picture for several reasons. One big reason is that there's a dog in it, and he's facing forward, eyes open. Another is that a 1964 Ford pickup truck is a fun photo shoot location. Plus the little girl is cute, and she's got one arm around the dog. Then there's the artsy effect of the reflective glass.

At first I was disturbed - is that MY shadow cast over the windshield? Am I really that blocky looking when I hold a camera? But I reassured myself that it must be a building behind me, as I barely was able to lean over the hood for this picture. You know what, on second thought, that might very well be me. The shape is too irregular for a building. Well then, if it weren't for me, the whole pic would be milky-washed out.

One of the funnest types of photo shoots - day-in-the-life-of a family. They dressed a little nicer than normal, but otherwise I photographed them playing tea-time, hanging out with the dog, in the sand box, and slowed occasionally for posed shots.

Note to Tall Photographers

I know. So Cheesey! But the romantic silhouette in the sunset photos will always be around, until the end of time. As simple as it seems, a lot of compositional issues come up. For you avid readers, you will note right away the selectively tilted horizon. Also, the dark shadow of the couple is in front of the part of the ocean that most brightly reflects the sun, for maximum contrast.

And one other thing to take note of, especially if you're a tall photographer. Don't put the horizon directly on top of anyone's head! I have many photos of me, taken by a certain taller person, who at normal camera holding height, by default places the horizon exactly on top of my head. It looks awkward. And certainly don't put the top of the person's head UNDER the horizon. In general, for a flattering photo of a shorter person, tall people ought to squat down a little, so they're not pointing a camera down at their midget subject - otherwise, not only would one then photograph a lot of floor, but the short person's head looks big. If you're photographing puppies and toddlers and intentionally making cute big heads, that's OK. But it's a different story if you are using a portrait lens (as opposed to wide angle, which is what most point and shoots have). No I don't have height issues.

Back to horizons, I think it's best for the horizon not to cut through major joints, like the neck or knees. I suppose waist would be OK. Chest height is a good cut through point.

Moving to the Front Burner

I'm still working on this set of portraits that I took.... weeks ago! Sadly, friend photo shoot editing must sit on the back burner while I get job photo shoot work done. To friends out there waiting for their final edits, I will get to them, don't worry!

I white-ed out the whole background. Not sure if it's too white. It does make for a nice black and white photo. There is a wall behind her, and the wall texture, a slightly lumpy texture, showed through. I think if it were a smooth surface, I may not have white-ed it out. Perhaps next time I will rent a backdrop; they're not very expensive. $8 for a day.

While Craigslist advertising is working great for me, I'm thinking of expanding my ad efforts. It occurs to me that only a small fraction of friends know that I'm a pro photographer. After all, the bulk of my portrait work happened within the last half year. So I'm putting together a Facebook page for my business (Mom, Facebook is that social keep in touch/networking site), try to build a fan base of friends. Then maybe friends of friends will learn about me too. The page is still unpublished as all I have on it is a title.... but soon!

Sixty and Counting

When I learned that this couple liked trees, I knew the perfect spot for their engagement pics. Here we are in the Golden Gate Park, with lovely late afternoon light filtering through the trees (and subsequently enhanced on Photoshop). I've been enjoying engagements - a refreshing change from photographing babies. Because babies can only assume so many poses, and it takes time to move them from location to location. With grown up unencumbered couples, we can traipse through tall grass and fallen trees, sit down for a shoot and hop up again to continue our search for more pretty spots. That, and grown-ups don't cry and scream.

You could compare recent images with my older blog posts. I was just counting the other day, the number of photo sessions I've had since I launched GinkgoPhoto in November. I've done about 60. SIXTY! With at least another 10 shoots lined up. No wonder I'm improving! with my recent ones. And as my experience goes up, so will my cost - though I hope to stay affordable.

The more I learn about photography, the more I learn how much I don't know, and what more I can add to my photos. And then I go out and try to learn it. I mean this in terms of technique, equipment as well as artistic eye. I put a lot of research/ effort into all those aspects - it's not just picking up a DSLR camera and la-di-da. Not to mention customer service, on which I spend HOURS. I'm starting to understand why some photographers are pricey - though I still don't agree with exorbitantly expensive rates! (check back with me after I've been a pro for five years...)

Go Visit the Marin Headlands

Her fur is shiny like a pantene commercial. In a quest to find new portrait locations and to know the views of the Golden Gate Bridge from all 4 corners of it, we went to Fort Baker (to the NE) and the Marin Headlands (to the NW). The best part - most of it is dog friendly! The parts near to the GGB are probably too close to humanity to house much in the way of threatened wildlife, which means dogs are welcome. Especially by plants along the trail which must've cried out joyfully as they deposited their hooked burrs and seeds in Charlotte's luxurious fur.

Always like to take photos for fun instead of for a job! I got to practice my scenery shots. Lots of beautiful rugged scenery, and relatively easy hikes to access the views. This is Rodeo Beach, quite empty for a clear spring day.

Couldn't Ask for a More Beauteous Day

Beautiful day in San Francisco! A perfect afternoon for engagement photos! And no better place to photograph than Baker Beach and the Presidio. It was a little hazy, so the sunlight was nicely filtered, and cast lovely golden tones on my subjects. I am so glad that she wore the yellow scarf - a simple accessory but the color adds a nice touch of zest to the photo.

In the photo below, we climbed over the safety railing. It's great when couples are happy to nestle down in wild grassiness for the sake of a good picture. I noticed another photographer coax his subjects over the railing open seeing us off-roading.

I'm trying to incorporate more environment in my portraits these days. Previously, I used green backgrounds - pretty, but they could be in any garden or park. Now that I know where to go for dramatic backgrounds, I want to capture it all, without taking the focus from the people.

Wiggly Child

I photographed him when he was a week old. Then a few months old. Here he is over a year old, and now he looks like a toddler rather than a baby boy. I have to admit, I envisioned documenting his progress through toddlerhood and kidhood, but alas, this family is moving to the east coast.

I Have a Mermaid Friend

How did we get this shot? Well. We spread a white sheet on the floor (next to a window, with good lighting of course) then she lay on the sheet, and then I put a chair over her and leaned over her with my camera. It's too bad I couldn't take a photo of me taking a photo.

This is my favorite model friend. She's always up for some fashion-esque photography experimentation. We peruse fashion magazines for inspiration. We saw some ads with models lying on their fronts, but when she lay on her back on the white sheet, and I saw her hair splay out - a deep black contrasting with white, I thought, this looks fantastic. Kind of Octopus-like. Mermaid-esque. And now I've used "esque" twice in one paragraph.

It's not easy to get hair to lay just right. It takes a few trials... of basically doing sit ups, but each time lying-flat on the floor. We wanted some of the hair to be trapped behind the shoulders (a dark background to dramatize neck and shoulder shape), but not tightly. And most of the hair should be arrayed around, but we wanted to maintain some control over the crown of the head. Yes, some of the hair was hand-arrayed by yours truly. One piece of hair is misbehaving, but the rest of the composition is interesting enough to distract from it.

One Easy Step to Preventing Wedding Photographer Disgruntledness

I know, magical, isn't it? Only in San Diego! (and a little help from Photoshop)

I am still working my way through two weddings worth of photos. I remember how long I waited for my own wedding photos to be delivered, and how the suspense was high for about 3 weeks, and then a month passed, and another month passed, and the excitement wore off. I'd like to get my photos to wedded couples while they're still on their wedding high. So they're top priority at the moment. I send couples mini-sets of photos, as I edit a batch, and hope the little parcels of photos spread out the enjoyment of memories (and take the edge off suspense).

In case you get married (or MC a wedding, or have some influence on the proceedings of a wedding ceremony) I have some advice on how to make the wedding photographer happy. It's really easy. Tell the MC to take a few steps to either side of the aisle when the couple does their kiss. Experienced MCs do this already - they know that a kiss photo is marred by the top of the MC's forehead appearing above the kissing profiles of the couple. Fortunately for this San Diego couple, the sky was a simple enough background that I photoshopped the MC out. And what the heck I photoshopped out the mic stand too. Hmm. I think I need to smooth out the water a bit, where I cut and paste over the mic.

I Want This On My Wall

Every so often I have photographer perks. This time, it was a private suite on the 22nd floor of the Fairmont, possibly the classiest hotel in SF. Perched on the apex of Nob Hill, this regal landmark overlooks sprawling masses of building peons.

Here is the northward view. At first I was disappointed in the cloudy day; the Golden Gate was obscured from view. But the cloudiness gave the city a brooding mood that I later further emphasized in black and white. I desaturated all the colors but Yellow, a bright contrast to the gritty gray. I especially like the yellow of the crosswalk in the foreground. I think this would make an intriguing poster. I want one. Fortunately I'm now in the habit of photographing at the highest resolution possible, which means I can print posters without pixelation. But before investing in that $55 print, I'll get a normal sized one, to make sure.

While I was photographing hotel room views, the guests for a 40th bday party were arriving. In hindsight I wished I'd taken more city photos upon nightfall, but I was too busy, well, photographing what I was hired for - party people.

Communion Confusion

This little guy on the left obviously had enough of the good behavior required for First Communions, and was making every exaggerated expression possible for photos afterwards, when his mom wasn't looking.

I'd met the kids, this boy and his sister (pictured below), extremely briefly before being ushered into the church. I had about 5 seconds to look at each of them, in a miniature black suit and miniature fluffy white dress, respectively. I was parked in the photographer's area, to the side, behind the indoor fountain and mini-pool (Baptism area? Forgive me if I proceed to display my ignorance of religious things). The family sat in the second row, sans the First Communion Kids. And then to my horror, the First Communion kids paraded in, all 30 of them, ALL either wearing mini black suits or mini white fluffy dresses. Some of the boys wore white suits, so I could eliminate them. Ack!!! After placing flowers on the, um, altar? They sat down with their families, and I tried to look at the two kids, and to tried to find distinguishing features. The boy had cap-like hair and a round head. The girl had her hair in a high bun, and her veil extended from a white wreath-like accessory that encircled the bun.

To make the situation even more fun, the service was in Spanish. I don't speak Spanish. Fortunately, the hispanic woman (with the goth son and the goth son's girlfriend) in the pew next to the photographer area was nice enough to translate for me. Take photos as long as you don't get in the priest's way, stay in one place, and there will be time to take pics with the priest later on, no mention of no flash. Flash was an essential in this church, which had lovely stained glass windows, but was awfully dim. And kids move fast. They zipped around. The only good photo opp was when they had their candles lit, and had to walk slowly to avoid flame snuffing and wax spillage. Even then, my designated photographer's spot was rather far away. I saw other people ignoring the priests' rules of not moving around, so I joined the throng and hunkered down (I do a lot of hunkering, a required photographer skill) in front of the first pew to photograph the kids with their lit candles.

Then came a round of family photos, with the priest, in front of the fountain area, in front of... um, well, statues (?) of the Holy Family to one side and then, I assume, John the Workman (because it was the church of John the Workman?) to the otherside? I felt like I was visiting a foreign country, as the only time I visit churches is when I go to Europe.

Afterwards, everyone met up at the family Mexican restaurant. Actually, it was here that I'd met the grandma while I was photographing someone else's wedding dinner. The grandma asked for my contact info. That's how I got this gig. Anyways, it was a relief to photograph kids in kid poses instead of standing stiffly. The sister, on the left, promptly undid her bun upon arrival at the restaurant (with some help from her cousin; you can see the bobby pins in their hands) and placed the veil accessory upon her cousin.

I Like the Starfish Too

I saw this pic and though wow, that would look striking in black and white. I converted it and upped the contrast, pushing the lightest colors towards white so that the brides back merges with the background. The medium and dark colors were pushed towards black. The only thing marring the image was the microphone, which was perched on a stand and jutted out from behind the bride, protruding from her sternum. So I erased it. Ha!

The heads are perfectly spaced. I like how the bride and grooms heads point your eyes to the middle and the MCs face then directs the gaze *BAM* back at You! I also like the binder, and the hands holding the binder. Not sure why. Something incongruous about them, yet they personalize the photo.

I am obviously having trouble with this new post titling business.

Make a Meadow

I just realized - I've been blogging for two years! In celebration of this achievement, I will start titling my blog entries. I'd thus far avoided titles, because I feel compelled to come up with something witty, cute or catchy. I will definitely have uninspired days where the title may be a simple brain dump of words. Like today.

Anyways, this couple picked this photo (in its unedited state, see bottom photo) as one they might print and display at their wedding. While the couple looks lovely, the background is Bleah. Especially that ugly patch of grass-less ground in the left corner. I think it might be concrete surrounding a drainage thing. Anyways, It had to be rid of. Easier than photoshopping hair from face, I cut and paste samples of grass from the top right to fill in the concrete area as well as the sunny corner. It just looks so much better, all green, doesn't it? Since the grass was blurred out, it was easy to do. If you know to look for it, there is a banding pattern to the grass in the top pic, but if you didn't know to look for it... it looks like they are sitting in a lovely lush meadow, not on the slightly parched lawn of graduate student housing.

A detail of After and Before. I'd been procrastinating on this edit, because a touch up was requested of me, and touch ups are not my specialty. It was an extremely windy day, but they really really wanted a photo in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. So I sat them on the pier at Crissy Field. After receiving the unedited batch, she asked: Is there any way you could fix my Crazy Hair?

I did the easy stuff first - brightening the pic, warming it up, removing the blue hue, filling in the shadows with light, saturating the colors, upping the contrast. Then first went to work at removing the stray hairs across the forehead. I basically cut and paste other strips of plain forehead over the flying hairs, and blended the edges in. The gravity-defying pouf was harder. Again, I cut and paste, this time: bits of Marin background, to cover up some of the hair. I sampled the light blue part of the husband's shirt and painted over other pouf parts, using layers of transparent paint. In this shoulder area, the bright light washed out the shirt texture , which one can see (perhaps not on this low res version) in the other parts of the shirt, which made things easier.

If you look closely at a hi-res pic, you'll definitely see the photoshopping. But, for small prints, say up to 11x14, I don't think the touch up will be noticeable.

The flowers just so happen to be the same shade as her dress. This was the only patch of shade that we could find - it was 11:30am in San Diego after all. But this clump of xerophilic landscaping provided a great backdrop.

Last weekend was a flurry of photographic activity, and I am still recovering. But it was fun, because my subjects were all friends. It is definitely easier to photograph people I already know - for the obvious reasons of being comfortable with one another. But also I feel free to be a bit more experimental with poses and lighting.

This composition is full of diagonals. Intentionally tilting the camera so that the horizon isn't at zero degrees (or straight; you know what I mean) can add an element of fun/ action/ impulsiveness to a photo. But it also throws another challenge into creating a good composition. Unintentionally tilted horizons make me cringe, like bad lighting. I think horizons are important; not just something that happens to be in the background.

The vegetation runs from top left to bottom right. The stone the couple is seated on is on that same plane. What makes it more interesting though, are the woman's limbs, also making diagonals. They pull my eye in a zig zag from the bottom left, up her arms, to rest on her face, and then his face. Had she been wearing long sleeves or pants, the effect would be different. And the gold shoes - a lovely subtle detail.

This is the happiest baby I've ever photographed. Consequently, it was the easiest baby photo shoot I've ever done. Usually baby photo sessions consist of waiting around for the baby to stop crying.

I'm starting to note that mellow unfussy happy babies are the product of mellow unfussy happy parents. This baby has a drool-soaked pink top - her parents were unfussy enough not to bother to change her out of it for photos. And I didn't mind either - the drool made the color a deeper shade of pink, which was better for photos.

It probably also helped that the photo session was on the (naturally lit with lovely ambient light) home patio - though it was her first foray onto the patio, the baby was sitting in a familiar high chair, and provided with an array of familiar toys.

This is how short I am. Even in 2" heels. Every photo I took at this business/net working happy hour includes a view of the ceiling. I was looking up at Everyone. Some people were so tall, that with my wide angle lens, their heads seemed very far away, compared to their exaggeratedly close torsos. The people in this photo aren't even that tall, but you can see plenty of ceiling. Part of the challenge was that it was extremely crowded, so I couldn't back up much.

It was a friendly crowd - everyone in town for a media conference. I had several people tell me that I was doing a good job. I've been told that at other events. I often wonder, how do you know if I'm doing a good job? I actually mentioned this of someone at the wedding over the weekend. I said: Wait til you see the photos, then decide if I did a good job. The complimenter had replied: I know they'll be good. You know what you're doing. And you're friendly.

Which made me think: there's more to photography than taking a good photo. The people interaction part is huge, in both event and portrait photography. At weddings, I have to herd groups of 30 into a well composed group. At events I have to politely interrupt conversations and sweetly request to take a photo. With portraits, I have to converse to get people to feel comfortable. People don't want to pay for a surly/ aloof/ anti-social/ unfriendly/ obnoxious/ impatient/ shy/ bossy/ awkward photographer. It's one of the biggest differences between being a pro and a non-pro photographer - dealing with people. Unless of course, you're a landscape/ wildlife/ object etc photographer, but being nice never hurts anyways.

One fun thing about wedding photography... I get to try my hand/eye at product photography. The bride handed me the rings and I ran off to the (pre-food laden)buffet table, which was decorated with scattered shells, blue glass pebbles, coral skeletons and other beach-themed inanimate objects. Very San Diego.

I didn't have much time to be selective, but I chose a shell with little knobs over which I placed the rings. I found a smooth patch of table cloth in the shade and snapped away. Experimented with different ring poses; the items, being so small, tiny changes in angles made a big difference in composition.

I put a white vignette around the whole pic - the corners fade to white - so the real contrasty shades are on the rings, and no say, in the shadow of the shell, which happens to fall in a corner.

The flower girl - always a popular subject for wedding photographers, and for good reason. They are cute, and are so happy to be wearing a princess dress and lady-like shoes... they love having their photo taken, and give great smiles. OK so I've only ever photographed one flower girl, and here she is, collecting the petals she scattered, in the waning afternoon rays from the sun disappearing into the Pacific.

Wedding photography went well. I'm at a point where I know how to handle all sorts of lighting conditions, and know which lens to whip out for what situation. It is nice having that confidence; I don't get stressed out like I used to. And knowing how to apply photoshop tricks to photos I can't optimize while shooting - that helps a lot too.

I still don't intend to specialize in weddings; they are exhausting, and I like the variety of doing all sorts of family-related photos - babies, engagements, parties, etc. But I'll do them for friends and other mellow people. I have been talking about wedding photographers with friends - there are often lots of complaints, mostly to do with cost. It's true - Wedding Photography specialists are very pricey. While I do understand the equipment cost, the skill, the time spent editing... but several thousands of dollars?

And sometimes - that doesn't even include the rights to the photos - couples can only buy prints from the photographer. I think that's extremely unfriendly. The digital files will be sitting around collecting dust on a external hard drive or back up DVD, never to be given another glance by the photographer. Why not just give em to the wedded couple? I guess the answer is To Make More Money. OK, so it's art, the artist has the rights etc etc... but as a artist and photographer and friend to engaged and recently married people, that practice just makes me mad. I can rant about it for a long time.

For that reason and more, perhaps I can find a niche in the mellow, affordable and fair wedding photography market.

Isn't that the cutest kid?
I've decided that I like playground shoots. When ever there's kids involved, I will encourage my clients to meet me at playgrounds. Makes it much easier than to think of poses, kids don't get bored, and backgrounds are interesting.

I'm going to be away for a few days, off to photograph a wedding and babies and friends. I'll be back next week. Thanks for staying tuned!