New Fun Effects!

I have new digital toys. They are texture effects called Dirty Pictures, to lay over photos to make them more visually interesting, or well, Dirty. I recently bought them from Totally Rad Actions (they had a Black Friday sale, my only Black Friday purchase), who provide all sorts of fun and useful photoshop tools for photographers. These effects are used like filters. Where I don't want the texture to exist (e.g. over faces), I can erase it. It's even set up so that I can make up my own textures! I'm thinking of creating some based on my pen and ink comic drawings. Maybe in January, when I have time to breathe.


I figured I'd share several versions of the same pic. Here is a high-contrast black and white. And below, the original image... well not really, it's photoshopped so the colors are enhanced and such, and I removed a random guy walking in the background (because, it is much more fun when an outdoorsy picture looks like it there exists no other people and we have the whole place to ourselves - isn't that why we wait for people to get out of the background?)


Anyways, I always try to optimize the "plain"photo before applying effects, though further tweaking is usually required even after B&W conversions.

Tis the Season for Multitasking Like Crazy (I wish I were an octopus with 4 computers and 4 brains and at least 2 wacom tablets and a personal chef)

I have been computer multi-tasking like mad. I've had 10 photoshoots since Tofurkey Day. Pics were uploaded from memory cards, backed up, memory cards emptied. I sifted through all 3000 or so photos and deleted all the awkward face/blinking photos, made minor color corrections and then made lo-res versions of all photos, zip-filed each set and then ftp-ed them to each client, with a set of instructions as to what to do next. This process takes about 30 mins per client - and I've not even started editing yet! I suppose I could just send all photos, awkward blinking photos and all.... but no-one wants to see themselves with half-asleep grass-chewing cow expression.

Another set of clients, about 12 of them, recently got back to me with their selection for "urgent" photos, ie, please get these done ASAP in time to print holiday cards. That means I have to fish out their selected photos, export in hi-res to photoshop, edit them, zip-file them and send them off as hi-res edited photos.

Meanwhile, I have 8 other sessions this week, and I need to send reminder emails or iron out final details or answer client questions. I need to plan out my timetable for driving, plug in all the addresses into my iphone. I commit names of all family members to short-term memory.

And that's on top of the usual editing of photos, sending out gentle reminder emails: Hello! Please Send Me A Check! or Send Me Your Selection of Photos For Editing from that Shoot We Did a Month Ago! There is impossibly much to keep track of. It's all on my iCal. I'm trying very hard not to let anything slip through the cracks - my lapses in vigilance when I am really pooped. And, requests for sessions are still trickling in, so I need to email Sorry I'm Fully Booked For The Rest Of The Season emails.

The funnest part in all of this is the actual photoshoot. I have a lot of fun getting to know families, playing with kids, trying to make tots and babies smile. Everyone (OK, 99% of everyone) I've worked with has been so nice, it's just reassuring to know that there are so many good people in the world. And when people react with much happiness to my photos, that makes my day too.

A Change in Pace

A glamor shoot! In the name of fun. They had amassed a selection of accessories: silk and crocheted scarves, lace umbrella, long stemmed flowers, strands of pearls. They'd researched videos and other pop media for inspiration. It's fantastic when clients have lots of ideas of their own. I can only have so many ideas myself.

The photos called out for conversion to monotone - something about a vintagey starlet quality. I tried out a few different monotones. Here, a dark deep chocolate forest brown (different from sepia, a light brown sugar brown) and navy blue.

I generally don't like to obscure eyes, but in the above photo, the obscured eye is effective - it really draws your attention to the other eye which has a mischievous glint. I thought the flowers worked out well too - who in real life, lounges around with flowers? But here, she and the lilies look like they belong together.

Great Candid Shoots takes Great Parents

It takes energy, on parents' parts, to get good candid photos. This dad did a particularly impressive job of tirelessly chasing the little guy towards my camera, smiling all the way. Even though candids are unposed photos, that doesn't mean that they just happen by sitting around. Families need to be having fun. Sometimes I warn parents that our photo session will be an hour long playtime with their kids. Often, everyone is exhausted afterwards.


Not all parents are prepared for this. Sometimes I encounter Dads who look longingly from their backyard towards the large flat screen TV featuring Sunday football. Baby Moms and Dads are already exhausted. Sometimes Moms are just "not feeling it" and I become a photographer with child-chasing (something like babysitting) duties. Often times though, both parents are enthusiastic participants, and those make for the best photoshoots. These photos are from such a shoot that I was particularly pleased with.

Happy and Safe Travels on this Holiday Weekend

I took this photo ages ago. OK, it was February 2008. I wanted to find a photo that had something to do with travel and transport, and this is what I dug up on my computer. This was taken in Aix en Provence, France. Walking back from Cezanne's house to the north of the city.

I drive a lot for my photography job. Last weekend, during my cross-bay 4 shoot marathon, I was driving towards my third shoot in San Ramon in East Bay. A white cloud appeared ahead, much lower than the other clouds on this overcast day. The cars in all five lanes slowed to a procession. Different from when traffic is funneled through a limited number of lanes - this was not stop and go, but rather, a slow rolling forward, and cars started meandering across lanes, straddling lanes, unsure of where to go. Then the traffic opened up, like a stream splits around a stone. There was a small, turquoise car, its color and munchkin size incongruously cheerful with its heart-wrenching situation. It was upside down, facing the traffic, the front of the cabin partly smushed. I drove right past the passenger side, which was empty. I couldn't see the driver side. A row of cars had pulled over, tearful people on their cellphone. I arrived at my shoot rather shaken.

Sorry to end on such a downer. I partly blame this lingering cold that I can't seem to rid.
Wishing safe holiday travels to everyone out there.

Pumpkins are Heavy

It is one of those days when my brain is tired and so in lieu of witty comments I will provide some cute photos of kids and pumpkins to make you smile.

I just keep squishing people into my schedule. At some point, I should say No, My Schedule Is Full. But I have this inexplicable sense of duty, to provide good family holiday photos for Bay Area families should they desire them. Somehow, people manage to make weekday sessions work out, and so I squish them in. At this point, I'm guaranteeing a small set of family photos for holiday cards, with the rest of the edits to come in January. Next year I will email all my clients in August to start scheduling for holiday photos EARLY.

Dogs Can Jump Too

Four photo shoots in a row. Three and a half hours of driving around the Bay Area. Cold + dayquil + bountiful kleenex + cough drops + a thermos of hot water + bag of croutons (Italian Seasoning). A start time of 8:30am on a Sunday. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it.... But I made it, without coughing fits! Without being late and a comfortable cushion of 5-10 mins early arrival time. And I had fun too, a triumph of a multi-shoot day. Hour long photo shoots go by really quick, even for me, after having done so many shoots.

The day kicked off with a family of many siblings. We met at Baker Beach, and agreed that it was too dismal to photograph there - the bridge was barely visible through the drizzle and cloud. I had a back up plan: the Palace of Fine Arts. A very iconic, unique backdrop. My favorite aspect of the photo is Kai the Husky, wondering what on earth is going on.

Happy End of Autumn to Everyone

Looking for baby photo prop ideas? A (relatively) large floppy stuffed animal may be the answer! And one can never go wrong with baby hats. These are some of the photos I took for the mother who recommended me to her Mother's Club. I am still receiving requests as a result, which is fantastic! But not only am I out of weekends, I am rapidly running out of weekdays. In other news, I just heard from the same mother that Tiny Prints, an online printing company, wants to feature some of these photos on their website. Awesome. I'll update you on those details later.


I apologize for being MIA. I traveled down to San Diego for a few days, and then upon return I promptly fell ill. I've never postponed shoots before, but I had to this week, to hopefully speed up recovery, and to prevent sharing this cold with clients.

I just realized, that I have less than a month left in SF before I head out of the country for the holidays. And still 23 more shoots to do (and I won't scare myself by counting how many I have yet to edit). Yikes. I'd better head over to photoshop right now.

Meandering Thoughts on Why I Give Families Hi-Res Digital Files of Their Photos

Shortly after this photo, her pearl earring fell into the stream below the bridge, but it wasn't a big deal. This wedding was at the Botanical Gardens in Tilden Park, in East Bay. Many habitats to choose from, and many paths.

November is turning out to be as busy as October. Twenty-Eight (28!!) scheduled sessions, with another pending. A decent chunk of them are referrals. Today I learned a bit more about the mother's club recommendation. Apparently, a mom had posted a question to her mother's club: Does anyone know of a photographer that lets you keep the digital images? And a handful of moms wrote back and recommended me.

I also learned recently, from my sister-in-law who is a new mom, that hospital baby photographers (who work for hospital baby photography companies) run in post-birth, take photos and offer prints only - and then come to your home again to do a session, again to offer prints only. And that you can only order prints then and there - no pondering about it - because they will delete the images right after the session! I am so aghast by this photography practice - the lack of photographer generosity with hi-res digital files. It's one thing for a photographer to protect his/her artistic rights (and even then, I think clients should have affordable access to hi-res images, when they are personal pictures) but a whole different level of unreasonableness when the pictures are apparently meaningless enough to be deleted and Still not given to clients. As if moms with newborns don't have enough on their brains/hands that they have to stress out about spending $100 on whether or not to buy photos.

It's different if say, the photo was of a sperm whale wrestling a giant squid. If I had a hi-res pic of that and just let the hi-res version go to my client (oh say, National Geographic sponsored me) then NG could go and sell that awesome image on posters and mugs and make loads of $$ that I would never see. So, I would want to retain control over where my squid/sperm whale pic goes. But family photos - they aren't going anywhere; they're only valuable to clients. I highly doubt any of my clients will post their photos on stock photo sites to sell, or pitch them to parenting magazines.

Some photographers may argue that photos are the photographer's art work, and that they shouldn't be let go so easily. My pen and ink illustrations I hang on to tightly. Those are very personal To Me, and I feel, took a much more intimate relationship between me, pen and paper to achieve, even when the illustration is for someone else's book. And, the channeling of artistic energies are much more raw - the blood sweat and tears much more palpable, when all there is between me and product is pen and ink; very different from camera, lens and computer. My photos of people are more of a collaboration - the photo would not exist without people subjects. Also, you can make multitudes of copies (digital or paper) of photos as opposed to one original drawing. For these reasons, it's easy for me to let go of photos. Perhaps if I were doing this in darkroom ages, I would think differently.

Family Life in Black and White

Gray days can make for gloomy colored photos. But they make for fantastic Black and Whites. The cloud-diffused light means no shadows that will obscure details when converted to B&W. The gray sky can be lightened to white, providing a stark backdrop against which stuff really stands out. B&W works best when subjects are wearing black or white, for maximum contrast. Other shades will disappear into gray tones, like the grass.

Why the black border? Hmm. While I like the expanse of white sky, I didn't want the white-ness to overwhelm. The black border only works because there is heavy black within the picture too; otherwise it would be overwhelming. Also, I thought the contrast between the clean, graphic, black frame and the messiness of the family candids balanced each other out. And, it draws attention to the white negative space created by the black shapes.


Why such a thick border? It makes me think of postcards, or posters (strange that I think of both, since the scale is so different). Actually, none of this reasoning happened when I added the border. I just thought it looked interesting, and came up with reasons for this blog post.

'Tis the Season for Family Photos

A patterned bedspread makes a fun backdrop - using shallow depth of field, the pattern nicely fuzzes away from and towards the camera. Really highlights the baby face.

I don't have enough weekends. Back to back shoots. A huge demand for family holiday photos, and I've gotten to a point where I've stopped advertising on Craigslist. Just a few days ago, a pleased mom recommended me to her local mother's club. The response has been overwhelming. Which is wonderful! I wish I could accommodate everyone, but weekends are finite, and most people don't have time on weekdays. Also, days are so short, shooting time on any day is extremely limited.

I did four shoots today. I think that should be my max. It's a lot of driving and name remembering. I try to cluster shoots, so that I can stay in e.g. Stern Grove for two shoots, and then head down to South Bay for two shoots. I use locations I'm familiar with - less taxing on the brain, when I already know the spots with good lighting.

Things should calm down after Thanksgivings. People tend to send their holiday cards right after then, so the demand for photos will lessen. I can't help but hope so. Scheduling shoots is one thing. Editing the photos takes a whole other massive chunk of time.

Backdrops can be fun

Once again, Fake Studio Set Up in the living room of this couple's home. We tacked (OK, the husband tacked) up my black backdrop, and it hung from the ceiling. To the immediate left, a large window over which the white back drop was tacked, to provide a soft light source. Pushed dining room table to the side, so that I have space to back up. My backdrop wasn't long enough to cover floor for sitting on the floor shots. Just so happened that one of them had a large black sweatshirt - we spreadeagled that across the floor.


My black backdrop was actually quite wrinkled, so in photoshop, in a separate layer over the image I painted over the wrinkles using a large, soft black paintbrush. I keep the opacity around 50%, and build layers of blackness, rather than to use a 100% opacity brush. Then went back and used a hard eraser to remove black from where I'd overlapped with the image.

Sometimes I am temped to buy a proper backdrop set up, the scroll of non-wrinkly matte plastic, with a stand (like a projector screen). I would save much time in photoshopping. There are cheap ones, for approximately $100. While I do prefer natural background photography, it is fun to do dramatic shots with backdrops.

Wine Country Time

Welcome to Keller Estate Winery! I drove up to Napa for the first time ever to photograph the staff of Keller Estate. Just 45 minutes from San Francisco, it was a different world, of gently rolling slopes of vineyards, or fields with frolicking lambs and Shetland (those little midget horses) ponies! I thought I would stop by that ranch on the way back, the ponies were so cute, but as it turned out I was too exhausted.


These photos are for the website. Not so much a head shot, said owner MK (above), but more like a profile of a person. People in their work habitat, to show off the functionings of the winery. I had tour of the various machines, and the cave dug into the hillside where wine is aged in barrels. I know nothing about wine making, and today I realized that one can get very geeky about wine making. It's not something I've ever before associated with geekiness - and I'm talking wine Making, not wine Tasting - but wine talk can be as geeky as say, guitar amp talk, biofuels talk, computer programing talk, classic English novels talk, camera lens talk. Well anywhere there's a passion, there are geeks.

The floor of the main room is a lovely brick red. This way, it's harder to notice any spilled wine. But I really like that color in the photos. Don't ask me what these machines are. I just climbed up on the catwalk and took photos.


This is the underside of the squishing machine. In olden days, I imagine a similar stream would squirt out from beneath a giant vat containing grapes and barefooted people stomping on them. No stomping people here - a large, metal, cylindrical press, squeezing the last out of... um. I forget what grape. Petite Sirah? Actually, they called it a berry, rather than a grape.

Chinese American Comfort Food

It's Chinese Food. Or rather, it's Chinese American food. When Chinese Restaurant News assigned me to photograph VIP restaurant, I assumed I'd be photographing chow fun, fried rice, steamed fish. But I was surprised. The first thing the owner/ head chef plated was french fries served in a bowl made of baked noodle, with fried chicken.

Then I realized what was going on. This was Chinese fusion. Different from Chinese American dishes like Kung Pao Chicken, Orange Chicken, Fortune Cookies. But also not fancy-schmancy-tiny-portioned-over-priced-catering-to-non-Asian-tastes Asian Fusion a la PF Chang. Rather, this was a fusion of Comfort foods. Or perhaps, Western-food-catering-to-Chinese-tastes food. While much of Hong Kong western food is Chinesified, I'd not been to a restaurant in the US that specialized in this genre. Fascinating!

A customer favorite, and a good example of fusion, was Baked Pork Chop with Fried Rice with Tomato Sauce. The whole thing was baked, with a sprinkle of cheese. It looked like a baked bolognaise, except Chinese pork chop and fried rice lay beneath the generous blanket of sauce.


The owner was eager to share his noodle baskets with me. We went downstairs to the bakery, where he pulled out a tray of various noodle and pastry baskets out of the oven. The noodles were molded over metal bowls, and baked to a crisp. These baskets can hold all sorts of things. The owner seemed really happy to be plating (the art of arranging food, decorating). The curry dish above is comprised of 3 noodle baskets, held in a clam shell shape by strategically placed tomato slices.

I claimed a booth in the back of the restaurant to do food portraits. And then the servers brought out more food. And more food. I had two booth tables worth of food to photograph.


The owner was extremely proud of his cakes. The decorations are entirely fresh cream, he emphasized several times - none of that fondant, or marzipan. Other cake stores send their decorators to him for lessons on fresh cream coloring and application techniques. The hard part he says, is in getting the gradient of colors just right. He decorated this dragon cake himself; took him 1.5 hours. Western style cakes have been appropriated into Chinese cuisine. Chinese food is rarely baked, and usually it's buns. But here we have a sponge cake, with cream - Chinese don't traditionally use cream or milk in anything. But atop this otherwise western cake is an unmistakable Chinese dragon. Often such cakes have Asian-appealing flavors too, such as taro, ube, green tea or mango.


The staff were very welcoming and excited about having a photographer around. They were all ethnically Chinese, all spoke Cantonese more comfortably than English, and all their customers were Chinese too - there was no doubt everyone considered this a Chinese restaurant.

They worked around me and my camera bags without complaint, offered lunch and drinks, warmly insisted that I come back for a visit. They sent me off with 2 large boxes packed with Chinese pastries and egg tarts.

VIP Coffee & Cakes Shop, 671 Broadway in Chinatown, San Francisco. Definitely one of my funner shoots - I miss photographing food. Hopefully I can keep this gig with Chinese Restaurant News.

Pouty.

A fantastic pout. Usually we want smiling baby pictures, but sometimes less-than-pleased baby pictures are just as cute.

When taking baby photos, I like to get up really close. Crop out the top of the head. Make sure focus is on the eyes.


And here are some candids. Why is it that babies like being upside down? As an adult, if someone swung me around upside down I'd demand that they stop immediately. Being upside down makes babies and little kids smile 9 out of 10 times.

I was a wedding photographer for Halloween. It was not a Halloween themed wedding, but it did have some Fall inspired decorations. But more on that later. Then Sunday, I photographed four families, almost one after another. I scarfed energy sustaining snacks in between shoots (vegan chocolate chip cookies from Trader Joes - they're excellent!) I do give up having any weekend fun with friends to do all this photography, but I do really enjoy taking photos.

Big Monkey and Little Monkey

The unlikeliest of dog friends, Charlotte and Tippy. They get along brilliantly. Charlotte is a girly girl, and shies away from dogs that are too rough. Tippy is a feisty little guy. They are Yin and Yang. Ebony and Ivory. They both know it's all in good fun, no one gets hurt, no one gets mad, no egos get bruised.










They both have a play move that involves flipping over on their backs, and thrashing legs around happily. For those of you that know dogs, you know dogs don't flip on their back for just anyone, especially other dogs.

I used my 50mm f/1.4 on sports mode. Used the 50mm lens because it's my "fastest" lens in non-flash conditions, but the trade off is that it has a shallow depth of field; ie, focus happens at a specific distance from the lens, and all else will be out of focus. Some of the fuzziness is due to movement as well. I could use a wide angle lens, with greater depth of field (everything in focus), but out of direct sun and without flash (flash would distract pups from play, I assume, but maybe not?) there would be a lot more motion blur.

Little Monkey

This little man was So Cute, I couldn't decide which photos to include, so I just posted a bunch.

At first, he was very very serious. I noticed that he often fixed his eyes on his blue fish-shaped teething toy. So with my left hand, I swooped the fish around, while saying "WHOOOOSH!" in a really theatrical way.

This was very effective. He burst into delighted giggles, and didn't tire of my repeated Whooshings. Meanwhile, I photographed with my right hand. What I really wanted, besides smiles, was for him to look up so that his eyes would be large and lit nicely, and looking at the camera. In general, for humans of all ages, it is more flattering when eyes are looking up. Not that this baby has to worry about it, but it helps to remove any eye bags. And eyes just look bigger, and the light brings out the iris colors.


Simple white onesies are great for baby shoots. Flattering on all babies. Also good for natural light photography, because light reflects off it, and helps to light places like under the chin, nose and brows. I also like to photograph knit items on babies. The textured yarn emphasizes the smoothness of baby skin.

These were taken at 1:30pm, which is in my least favorite window of time to photograph. The diffuse lighting in the shade was wonderful however!

Say It With Your T-Shirt

"SOMEONE NOT SOMETHING" [plus illustration of cow]. "THE GREATNESS OF A NATION CAN BE JUDGED BY THE WAY ITS ANIMALS ARE TREATED" [plus illustration of cartoon protesting animals with signs]. "BEEF CUTS 101" [with cow silhouette with parts labeled "EXPLOITATION, HEART DISEASE, DEFORESTATION, CRUELTY, GROWTH HORMONES, FEAR, MUTILATION, PAIN and GLOBAL WARMING". And finally "EAT LIKE YOU GIVE A DAMN".

I wonder if these women wear these t-shirts normally, or if they are only brought out for events like Walk For Animals. I wonder if they have several t-shirts with similar messages, and had to decide which one to wear on this day.


"For Life Go Vegan" and "If you love animals called pets... Why do you eat animals called dinner?" It's great that people wear t-shirts that support a cause they believe in. But personally, especially with an issue as potentially polarizing as vegetarianism and especially veganism, I myself wouldn't wear such a t-shirt. I worry that it may be as big a turn-off to omnivores as say, a t-shirt proclaiming religious beliefs might be to me. Vocabulary makes a big difference. When "YOU" is used on a t-shirt, I can't help but feel intrusion on my personal space, even though it's dumb to feel intruded upon by a t-shirt.

Well so far, this post has had nothing to do with photography. When I was covering this event, I devised a little project for myself - to photograph all the message-giving t-shirts. Just to set a little goal, to practice observation skills, and out of curiosity of what people's t-shirts had to say.

Vegan Pup Kibble

Walk for Farm Animals! It's Farm Sanctuary's annual outreach and fund raising event. The sponsors are vegan or vegetarian, but the vegan/vegetarian lifestyle I think, is not the main point of the event. Rather, it's to encourage people to have compassion for all animals. The event consisted of a Silent Auction, Speakers, Awards (for fund raising) and then a walk around downtown with posters with lovely Farm Animals and the "A Compassionate World Begins With You". Going around with signs that say Stop Eating Meat would be ineffective and annoying, so this is a better approach.

Home base was by the Embarcadero, near to the Saturday Farmer's market. About a hundred people and maybe a dozen dogs gathered with their pledges, and received fun gift bags and freebies. Such as these vegan dog kibble samples. When I brought these home, Charlotte knew there was something in my bag for her before I even settled down. She nosed around, and then sat eagerly for a sample of V-Dog kibble. She loved her sample. I am considering getting a small bag to serve as training treats. More Walk For Farm Animals photos and details to come.

The Obvious Question

This was the funnest gardening store I'd ever been to. They'd incorporated interior deign ideas into the layout of their plants, so that every corner was a lovely nook with a different artsy feel. Succulents, planted in a wall display, never looked so inviting! Great use of color and textures everywhere. It was the perfect place for a photoshoot. So I asked the guy at the cash register about using Flora Grubb Gardens for photography.

In the past, they welcomed photographers, and said Sure, Come On Over and Do Photoshoots! But then. The photographers started bickering. I imagine they were getting in each other's backgrounds. Perhaps ceramic flower pots or exotic gourds were hurled. Photographer assistants pushed into cacti. In any case, FGG had to put a stop to this nonsense. "We have a small fee for photography", he said. I uttered the obvious next question. He replied "$100".

I tried not to look absolutely shocked. Apparently, they get such high-end photographers that can afford such an entrance fee! Me however, $100 is more than I make in one session. As enamored by the place as I was, I knew that photographing there was an impossibility. What a complete disappointment, that some drama queen photographers who couldn't Share have ruined it for everyone. Sigh! But taking photos Not for photo session are free. So here you go.

Speaking of being shocked by prices. Remember that the Yelp person was to give me a call today? Yelp can do all these wonderful things to make my Yelp profile stand out. I can be a "Sponsored Search Result" so that my page pops up first when ever anyone types in Photographer San Francisco. My ad will even pop up on competitors' pages. I'll have a huge slide show on my page. Sounds fantastic. Once again I ask the obvious question. $300 a Month for the cheapest package?? And $1000 for the most expensive. If you've ever wondered how Yelp makes money, well now you know. I said that my business is not at the stage where I can afford that kind of advertising. Especially given that Craigslist is working well for me at the moment. And Yelp keeps pulling my reviews.

As for Review Pulling, there's nothing they can do about that. I made a verbal suggestion for their Suggestion Box - at the very least, please Notify the reviewer and reviewee when the review is pulled. She said she'd bring it up with the relevant peoples.