Sierra Studio's new website is finally done! It is temporarily living at http://www.sierrab2b.com and will soon replace the original sierrastudio.com site. For those who have not had the chance to work with me, Sierra Studio is where I do most of my work and have been the head photographer there for 14 years. While shooting is what I do primarily, I have developed other skills over the years. Building Sierra's new website as well as Sierra's food website ( http://www.sierrafood.com ) is just one of the skills that I have developed. Please feel free to browse through the sites and give me a call to schedule a shoot.
How to communicate with and get the most out of your photographer
1) Paint the overall picture of what you want-
Share your vision with the photographer on the overall expectations and vision you have for the final image or images. Both photographer and designers are creatives and clueing him into your vision early on will help you to get images that you envision and more importantly work.
2) Give the photographer the finer details-
Tell the photographer what style or mood you are looking for. Ex: Bright and airy or dark and moody. Show him or her sample photos, drawings and color palettes. But do not expect him to copy existing images that you find on-line or in print. This can be considered copyright infringement and should not be expected. But parts of several images can be used to express what you are looking for. Explain who your target market and demographic is. Use descriptive words that explain your goals for the shoot.
If you don't yet have a vision for the final image or images, be open and honest about it. Most photographers will be happy to work with you on collaborating ideas to help you mold and evolve ideas into a final vision.
3) Keep in mind why it is you chose this photographer-
If you found his or her website or saw their portfolio and really liked what you saw, then remember that you are also partly buying their vision and style. This is what attracted you to him or her in the first place, correct? If you chose this photographer based on price only then keep in mind that you often get what you pay for.
4) Make no assumptions on how long a creative or complex shot will take.
Often times, creative images takes longer than expected and sometimes it happens smoothly and quickly. Lighting usually takes time to evolve to be the best. Consult with the photographer on how much time he may need before-hand to work the lighting out. With models, assistants often stand-in while hair and make-up is happening with the model. In food photography, the food stylist will often put a stand-in dish very roughly styled to allow you to work out composition and lighting while the "hero" dish is being styled.
5) Be a part of the shoot-
Feel free to express what it is you like and don't like about the shots. You are part of a team trying to achieve a common goal and this should be everyones attitude at the shoot. Most importantly, don't forget to relax and have fun.
I know it's crazy to be blogging today especially when I dont blog that frequent to begin with, but Im very thankful to be bedside with my 19 month old daughter at Childrens Memorial Hospital in Chicago and to watch her sleep peacefully. She had a rough night last night and watching her sleep is something I'm very thankful for. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone and keep on shootin!
It's been one and a half months in the planning stage but we finally started the project. In collaboration with a team of creatives we started the first half of shots for Tonya Gross Millinery (2010 collection) and will finish up with one more day in mid August. This is not the norm for me to shoot tfp but I approached Tonya several months ago after finding her website and discussed with her how I would like to shoot her hats for my portfolio. Tonya was happy with the idea and we quickly put together a team of people to help make our vision a reality. The shots above are just a few of many and more can be seen on my website. I will post more from this shoot later.
The shots in the car were actually taken in the basement of the building where the car was found. I first worked out the main light which was a 5' octabox with grid to the right of camera along side the car and feathered toward the camera to just skim the model and car. I had a hard light with grid on the left side in back and one in the right side back to help seperate Kelly and the hat from the background. The shot of the model from her back used the same lights just re-arranged. You can look at the actual light on the model and car to see where the lights were. Lighting starts with vision. If you know what you want the final image to look like, you are half way there. Look at an image and see where the light is coming from and the shadow that is produced. Look at the catch light(s) in the eyes to see the shape of it. Look at the color of the light, the quantity and the edges of the shadows. Are the shadow edges soft or hard. What about the direction of the light? Study your favorite images to see how they were lit. When you can do this, it will be much easier to take the vision in your head and translate it to a photo.
It's not often that I get to photography a band with a lead singer/bagpipe player. Once again, I had the opportunity to shoot an awesome band from Grrr Records. The Crossing has been around for quite sometime and each member was a blessing and pleasure to work with. We had some ideas for the shoot before we started but mother nature had her own ideas. We ended up with a completely overcast day. Not such a bad thing though as I was able to use a little off camera flash to simulate a little sun light and then we dropped in a dark ominous cloud scape. I really liked this more cinematic movie screen crop. We also shot other various shots some of which are seen here. Thanks again guys for a job well done.
