Covering events: The Fashion Show under a tent

by Stanley LearyApril 30, 2013Photography

Figure 1—Nikon D4, 28-300mm lens, ISO 3200, ƒ/5.6, 1/160

News Coverage

When your space is limited, like in a newspaper, it is quite common to just use one photo with text. Pure Fashion’s Spring Fashion Show was sponsored by Belk’s located at the Forum in Norcross, GA. A few hundred words and the photo above [Figure 1] and you are done. I have communicated the core of what happened at the fashion show.

This is the lighting diagram for the above photo taken under a white tent outside while it was raining.

In Depth Coverage

Sometimes the best images and content is behind those headlines. You may even hear magazines talk about the story behind the story.

Figure 2—Nikon D4, 28-300mm lens, ISO 2500, ƒ/5.6, 1/160, Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc.

One of the stories behind the scenes was the models all got a chance to meet Pip from the second season of The Voice. Now this photo here [Figure 2] is typical that many people will take. they may like this better than when they finally are set in the pose, you can pick up on the excitement of not just the model but the enjoyment of Pip knowing he was having just as much fun.

Posed pictures are OK, but compare this photo of them smiling for the camera to these where you see Pip taking time with the models. Now pay attention to the faces and the eyes. You will see more than just “nice to meet you smile.”

Figure 3—I like the hand gesture, the expression of the model and most of all you can see those looking on noticing the excitement of the moment as well. Do you see it? [Nikon D4, 28-300mm lens, ISO 900, ƒ/5.6, 1/125, Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc.]

The cool thing was Pip didn’t over react and embarrass the models. He just maintained eye contact and most of all he ask each person their name.

Figure 4—Notice the models shoulders and both hands. You can tell she is loving this moment.Two of the girls are just as excited and one is already posting her photo of Pip to social media. [Nikon D4, 28-300mm lens, ISO 2500, ƒ/5.6, 1/125, Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc.]

I was loving these moments, because usually teenagers are trying their best to remain calm and cool, but here we see them acting on the outside how we would feel meeting a real star.

Figure 5—Nikon D4, 28-300mm lens, ISO 2500, ƒ/5.6, 1/125, Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc.

I hope you are seeing how much body language is communicating the moment. It isn’t about the composition and lighting, but that is important, the thing making these photos is the expressions and body language.

Figure 6—This is my daughter talking to Pip. Her friends keep telling her she needs to try out for The Voice too. She is telling Pip she wants to try out one day and Pip starts asking questions and encouraging her. I can tell she is loving the moment. Now look at the lady in the middle. She is the makeup artist working on my daughter. you can tell she is listening and even tho she isn’t talking to Pip she too is enjoying the moment. [Nikon D4, 28-300mm lens, ISO 1800, ƒ/5.6, 1/125, Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc.]

I think the photos behind the scenes with Pip are better than the Fashion Show itself. For promoting Pure Fashion these are great photos. Get to model and maybe meet some stars. How many young girls wanting to be models wouldn’t love this experience.

But wait there is more.

Figure 7—This was shot with the 85mm ƒ/1.4 and while most everything other than the makeup artist is out of focus, there is just enough detail that the makeup counter and background become more abstract art. [Nikon D4, 85 mm lens, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/80, Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc.]

The models get professional makeup artists to help them look their best. Everyone loved how they looked after some of this professional attention.

Figure 8—I shot a little wide here to help show the environment. Since Belk sponsored the Fashion Show showing off their brand helps to recruit them in the future to do more shows. It promotes their products as well. [Nikon D4, 28-300mm lens, ISO 3600, ƒ/5.6, 1/160, Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc.]

Figure 9—I shot this with an 85mm ƒ/1.4 to isolate the models in this very busy environment. [Nikon D4, 85 mm lens, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/125, Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc.]

Figure 10—While you can show all the models having fun, it is important to show how serious these professional makeup artists and hair stylist are about their jobs. [Nikon D4, 85 mm lens, ISO 220, ƒ/1.4, 1/60, Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc.]

Figure 11—Can you see how precise and detailed the makeup artist is with applying the makeup? [Nikon D4, 28-300mm lens, ISO 2500, ƒ/5.6, 1/160, Custom White Balance with ExpoDisc.]

Figure 12—Nikon D4, 28-300mm lens, ISO 3200, ƒ/5.6, 1/160

While I could have just snapped and had a photo of the ladies on the runway, I was looking for those moments where they looked great. Pure Fashion is about instilling confidence into young girls helping them. I think they look like young confident women in this photo [Figure 12].

Figure 13—Nikon D4, 28-300mm lens, ISO 3200, ƒ/5.6, 1/160

My daughter really had fun with this program and did a great job showing her outfit off.

Figure 14—Nikon D4, 28-300mm lens, ISO 3200, ƒ/5.6, 1/160

I think this photo captures the emotion of how Pip performed for everyone.

My spin on the coverage

I hope you are seeing that it is the details beyond color correct images, good exposure, composition and variety of images that I deliver. I am focusing on the details of emotions which show through body language and microexpressions.

Do you think the photo will make young high school girls and their families want to get involved from these photos?

Here are some more photos from the event. Here is a link to learn more about Pure Fashion.

http://www.StanleyLearyStoryteller.com/Pure-Fashion2/index.html

Tips for Parents shooting sports

by Stanley LearyApril 29, 2013January 4, 2023Sports

Nikon D4, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 with Sigma 1.4 converter, ISO 900, ƒ/5.6, 1/2000

I am so thankful I was covering this lacrosse game between The Citadel and Emory University this past Friday rather than when the game was first played. Initially, they had between 100 to 1,000 players on a much more significant field and played for two to three days.

Wikipedia reports, “Lacrosse played a significant role in the community and religious life of tribes across the continent for many years. Early Lacrosse was characterized by deep spiritual involvement, befitting the spirit of combat in which it was undertaken. Those who took part did so in the role of warriors, to bring glory and honor to themselves and their tribes.”

Today we celebrate our sporting victories with parties. In many ways, the money we spend on sports looks like our religious events. Sportswriters even talk about the house of worship when referring to some venues. We have the call to worship with the national anthem, and we even participate by standing and cheering.

All this is to say we love our sports.

The players in the game I covered are not on scholarships but rather play for the pure enjoyment of the game.

As I walked onto the field, I decided to shoot most of the match back-lit. I knew from years of shooting with the sun in their faces that often, the helmets would cast wicked dark shadows over their eyes. I wanted to see the sights.

The dynamic range of a highlight to a shadow goes from the bright spot on their face to the darkest area, which is almost always the eyes. So by shooting on the shadow side, I just opened up a little. The other benefit was the stands in the background were in the shade. This helped to pop the athletes out from the background.

Parents

So you bought a nice DSLR and a lovely lens that the camera store recommended to cover your child in sports. There are just a few tips to remember to make all your photos a lot better.

Get to the game early—This will give you time to scout out the best locations for taking photos and get a feel for the lighting conditions at the field or court.

Get closer—Most parents could have saved a lot of money had they done what most pros do. Get out of the stands and get on the sidelines of the field. You may need permission, but this will improve your photos.

Shoot tight—While occasionally a looser shot can work, if it does, you still need to enlarge it to enjoy it as compared to the tight shots. Also, while you can crop later, the photos shot with a longer lens and not cut tend to look better than the cropped image, technically. One of the reasons is the uncropped idea is full resolution.

Use continuous shooting mode—This will allow you to take a rapid-fire series of photos, which can help capture fast-moving sports action.

Know the game—You need to understand the rules and what the point of the game is all about. This knowledge will help you locate the best place to capture those peak game moments.

Subscribe to sports magazines—Almost every sport has magazines with good examples of great images. Be familiar with what the standard shots are for the sport.

Fast shutter speed—Your photos will be sharper and more in focus if you keep the shutter speed fast. I recommend 1/2000. This will minimize your camera movement and help freeze the athletes. If you read about shutter speed, many recommend 1/500. But, if you got the light, shoot as high as possible.

Shallow Depth-of-Field—Photos shot at ƒ/2.8 or ƒ/4 will help clean up the background by throwing it out of focus. Yes, ƒ/16 will mean more photos are usable because everything is in direction. Refer to your Sports Illustrated Magazine photos to see what I mean.

Watch your backgrounds—Too often, busy and distracting backgrounds can ruin a great image. Sometimes you can’t do anything about it, but be sure you have tried.

Show the competition—If you need a good action photo of your kid, then take them to the field when there is no game and have them pose or play like they are playing and get close. If you are shooting the game, take advantage of the other team. This is why they play, to compete. Take away the competition, and you lose the point of sports.

Edit your photos—After the game, take some time to go through your photos and select the best ones. You can use editing tools to adjust the lighting, contrast, and color to make your photos look even better.

Share your photos with your child—Whether you post them on social media or print them out and put them in a photo album, make sure to share them with your child. They will love seeing themselves in action, which will be a great way to celebrate their hard work and dedication to their sport.

When you “hit the wall” in your business

by Stanley LearyApril 26, 2013January 5, 2023business

In endurance sports, “hitting the wall” is characterized by a sudden and dramatic decrease in energy and performance and can be caused by various factors, including lack of proper training, inadequate nutrition, and overuse of muscles. For example, suppose you feel like you are “hitting the wall” during physical activity. In that case, it is essential to take a break, replenish your energy stores, and evaluate your training and nutrition to ensure that you are adequately prepared for your next workout.

When the phone stops ringing and your inbox is empty for business requests, you have “hit the wall” in your business.

Endurance athletes have the plan to avoid “hitting the wall” on race day. Usually, most of these athletes had experienced “hitting the wall” before they had a plan. Maybe this is your situation as well. You didn’t have a business plan, and now you need one.

What should your plan include?

Like a marathon runner, endurance athlete knows where their finish line is for them. If their finish line is 26 miles when they start, they are not running 26 miles. They break down their plan into bite sizes.

[NIKON D4, 120.0-300.0 mm f/2.8, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 1000, 1/2000, ƒ/5.6, (35mm = 420)]

What is your goal? Do you want recurring income that allows you to use your time as you, please? Do you want to build retirement? Many start their business to have freedom. However, many of these people feel enslaved by it rather than free.

Define Your Customer

Are they male or female? Do they have a budget for one-time, occasional, or recurring services? Do they spend a lot of little time on the Internet? Where on the Internet do they spend their time? Where do they go to find your product or services?

What am I selling?

Most make the initial mistake of thinking they are selling a service or product. I challenge you to consider what benefit you are offering the customer. When you can connect emotionally, you will increase your business. Just look at all the automobile ads that relate to fear. They help the customer know they can feel safe in their product. What are they selling most of the time? Safety. Sometimes they show almost running over a child, or sometimes, they show how their engine performance will help you pull away from oncoming trucks or pass crazy drivers.

Connect the dots

Now that you know your customer and what you sell, you need to connect these dots.

Today’s most common mistake is an emphasis on quality, not the number of connections.

Suspension bridges, boats, and even rock climbers rely on many strands, not just one, to support them. Using more strands of a weaker tinsel-strength fiber can create a more robust support than with one strand of a stronger tinsel-strength fiber.

Marketing the rules of Seven and Three

Most all research has shown that you need seven different connections to turn a prospect into a customer. But unfortunately, many businesses fail to have a marketing plan with at least seven other links to their targeted audience.

While you may have planned seven different ways to reach your targeted audience, you want to try each method three times.

The first time you do something, you spend a great deal of effort to make it happen. The learning curve alone is very steep. Your audience is just being introduced to whatever you are doing.

You can make some necessary changes the second time you implement your idea. First, you don’t have that steep learning curve and are now building on some experience. The audience is now somewhat aware of what you are doing. Therefore, you have more buy-in from them.

The third time you know you have worked out almost all the kinks, your implementation is at its peak. At this point, your audience may be a raving fan of what you are doing.

By the third time, you will be able to make an excellent evaluation of the Return-On-Investment. If you did this the first time, you have too many things working against you from your mistakes implementing it and customer understanding what you are trying to do.

Marketing ideas

[NIKON D4, 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 4000, 1/100, ƒ/4, (35mm = 38)]

Make yourself newsworthy. When you win, you can enter contests and send a press release promoting yourself. In addition, you can get involved in a community event as a sponsor. You have a good chance of the local paper writing about your involvement by being there and involved.

[NIKON D4, 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6, Mode = Aperture Priority, ISO 12800, 1/400, ƒ/5.6, (35mm = 150)]

Create a seminar. Create a program that will help your target audience. For example, one small public relations agency I work with in Roswell, GA, created a free seminar titled “Social Media Marketing Made Simple” to drum up business in the local market.

Create a brochure. If you meet your targeted audience one-on-one or they come to a seminar, you put on having something they can leave with is another strand.
Website. While this is static, you can point people to this, and sometimes they may stumble upon it if you use the right keywords for listing your website.

Blog. By writing a blog, you establish yourself as an expert in the field.

Social Media. Get involved in groups on the web where you can listen to topics you can help with. For example, you can find these groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

With social media, you mustn’t be pushing yourself on everyone but pulling them to you.

This is true with all of your marketing.

Dale Carnegie said it best; “You can close more business in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you.”

Your photos look dull? Maybe it is the setting

by Stanley LearyApril 24, 2013backgrounds

Location, location, location

While real estate agents tell you this makes all the difference in price, it also makes a different in photography.

We can take the same subject and put them in different settings and what a difference it can make.

Get your subject on the edge of the shade of trees or overhangs outside and not deep inside where the light falls off. Use the open sky to light the subject.

Darker backgrounds verses lighter backgrounds makes a huge difference. Out of focus highlights go from just a small dot to a huge out of focus round ball.

Color choices also make a huge difference in a photo. Complementary colors or the same colors work great. They give you a totally different look and feel.

While you will hear often to watch your backgrounds, it is just as important to watch those foregrounds as well.

My preference is to have darker backgrounds and even as possible.

Remove the color

When you convert the photos to black and white you can see how the light values affect the photo much easier. This is where keeping a light or dark background really becomes more apparent. My preference here is the darker background. You have the subject leap off the screen in comparison.

With the lighter background now the background pulls your eye away from the subject way too much. This also means your subject’s face will be most likely in the shadows.

All those green leaves and pink flowers now are just a muted grey.

Tips:

Choose your location wisely. If you are shooting portfolio shots and you have models pick a great spot. Shooting photos of a bride as a simple church setting gives a totally different feel than the same bride at a cathedral.

Walk around the subject. Once you have the subject in a location, take the time to walk around the subject exploring the backgrounds and foregrounds.

Bring the subject to the edge of the shade. By keeping the subject just on the edge you can use the open sky to help light their faces and keep the backgrounds darker. Also, since they are not in the direct sunlight they will not be squinting.

Helping hurts when communication is overlooked

by Stanley LearyApril 21, 2013October 6, 2022Photography

I believe photographers need a good PR agency, and since no one is volunteering to do it for us, we must step up and take on this responsibility. One such area I want to address is a photographer who wants to help use their talent to help humanitarian organizations or faith-based organizations.

Please bear with me as I walk through understanding the elements and then try to put together an action plan for photographers.

The Humanitarian Photographer

If you were to Google the definition of what is a humanitarian photographer, you would not find a definition in everyday places like Webster’s dictionary, Wikipedia or Google. It is a new term used to describe not so much a style as the humanitarian organization.

When you Google “humanitarian photographer,” I have a few friends that will pop up at the very top of the list: Gary S. Chapman and Esther Havens both do humanitarian photography.

You will see every photography style for humanitarian organizations that primarily distribute aid.

Three ways that humanitarian organizations distribute aid

Relief
Rehabilitation
Development

In the book When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself, they say, “A helpful first step in thinking about working with the poor in any context is to discern whether the situation calls for relief, rehabilitation, or development. Unfortunately, failing to distinguish among these situations is one of the most common reasons poverty-alleviation efforts often harm.”

They say, “One of the major premises of this book is that until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do far more harm than good.”

Relief is the easiest of the three things humanitarian organizations do. It is easier to raise money and distribute materials during a disaster than to do more in-depth rehabilitation or development. However, all three can hurt those trying to help and those receiving the service.

Do you know where I am going with all this? Will I be addressing how entitlement programs are the problem? But, on the other hand, maybe I will talk about how we need income distribution to solve the problem.

What is Poverty?

Wikipedia definition—Poverty is the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute Poverty or destitution refers to the deprivation of basic human needs, which commonly include food, water, sanitation, clothing, shelter, health care, and education. Relative Poverty is defined contextually as economic inequality in the location or society in which people live. In the book When Helping Hurts, “Development expert Robert Chambers argues that the materially poor are trapped by multiple, interconnected factors—insufficient assets, vulnerability, powerlessness, isolation, and physical weakness—that ensnare them like bugs caught in a spider’s web.”

The book says, “Poverty is the result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings.”

Based on this definition, everyone suffers from Poverty in some way.

Where the photographer can help

If broken relationships are the core issue in Poverty, then communication is key to rebuilding these relationships. With the fractured relationship between two people, they must come together and listen to one another.

Often counselors can help with the facilitation of restoration. However, when it comes to groups, this is where I believe the professional communicator refines the role of the counselor and helps each group better communicate and move groups closer together.

Leaders of humanitarian organizations and their donors are often to blame for the failure organization’s goals.

Donor and CEO Problem

A philanthropist decides to give a huge amount to an organization with strings attached. “I want all this gift to go to something and none of it to go to operating costs of the organization” is one such gift.

The organization will often take the gift and reorganize it so that they can use it. Taking an advantage that wasn’t a priority is where the organization fails to educate the donor. A good CEO will inform the donor.

I see way too many humanitarian organizations focus on relief. We can give them food, or we can teach them to fish. Learning to fish is a more significant investment in time but not money.

Photographers must understand the relief, rehabilitation, and development and how this applies to the organization. In addition, they need to have a strategic vision to help an organization achieve its vision.

Way too many photographers want to go and travel to take photos. They are in it for themselves and are hurting and not helping.

Photographers need to know as much as possible about the area a humanitarian organization is addressing. What are other groups working in this area? Are they duplicating efforts? Is their approach helping the long-term goal of no longer being needed?

The expectation is once you start becoming strategic and not just a button pusher of the camera, you will help in ways beyond your camera. For example, you may help leaders of different organizations know about each other. In addition, you may help them network due to your work for different groups.

PR for the photographer

Blogging

One of the ways I am watching photographers with PR for themselves is to tell stories through their blogs and be sure they are letting humanitarian organizations leaders know they are blogging.

If you have a blog, you may want to ask some of those organization leaders to do a guest blog for you.

You can create a printed or online newsletter that you send out to your distribution list. This method is different than the blog; it is pushing your message. A blog pulls people to the content.

Gallery

You can put your coverage up in a gallery and invite humanitarian organization leaders to the show. You can also encourage the humanitarian organizations to have a gallery where you could be there as the artist at the opening to help bring in donors.

Social Media

Get involved in groups. Many humanitarian organizations have active group discussions where a photographer could easily be part of the discussion. Give some tips of your own, or maybe you offer links you discovered as a good resource. Be a part of the discussion.
Hold organizations accountable

I would encourage all of your discussions always to be trying to be sure the organization is helping the problem and not hurting. Sometimes it is just asking a question with an attitude of innocence. Sometimes you may need to call attention a little more forthright. Remember, your purpose is to be part of the solution, not hurt. Ticking everyone off is not the best solution since you will quickly discover yourself no longer a part of the discussion.

Photographers: How to Avoid Obsolescence

by Stanley LearyApril 19, 2013October 5, 2022Photography

We need an overview of the industry and beyond it to make decisions on how to build a successful and sustainable business model.

Three elements in visual communication:

Message
Messenger
Audience

Message: There are many ways this can exist. The message could be everything thing from a person, a group of people, a topic, or an industry to many descriptors.Messenger: For this blog, we are talking about the Photographer or Visual Communicator

Audience: This is the group for which creating images that communicate the message.

My advice is to explore each of these three for all the possibilities.

Become an expert on the Audience—The more you know about your Audience, you understand what they need and want. In addition, it will be much easier for you to plug your subject into the Audience when you know how it impacts them in their daily lives.

Become an expert on the Audience—The more you know about your Audience, you understand what they need and want. In addition, it will be much easier to plug your subject into the audience wheAudienceow how it impacts them in their daily lives.

Become an expert messenger—You master not just photography but all the possible communication tools to help you reach the audience witAudiencessage and vice versa.

Common Mistakes

In response to my earlier blog, “Photographers are becoming obsolete, unless …” many comments were way too linear and short-sighted.

Here is one comment that was typical of others:

“… the only thing saving us professionals is a better ability to understand/use composition and lighting.”

The key thing I want to point out is how too many people are focusing on one thing, which is, in my opinion, what is a sure way to obsolescence.

Just taking this comment, I can see the person has no clue as to understanding anything about the subjects they are taking photos of or the Audience. MaAudienceincredible photo of an issue that the audience hasAudiencerest not sustainable.

I believe a few things will happen over the career of a highly successful visual communicator as they grow in understanding of subjects, visual communication tools, and their Audience, thAudiencemake changes.

Changes you may need to make

Message—I want you to consider this your photograph’s subject. However, over time you may discover that the issue has a shrinking market. In other words, you will find from your expertise on your audiences that few people have an interest in your subject. When this happens, you need to find another topic or issue to sustain your career.

Audience—Some great examples of this change include how the web has impacted communication outlets. You may have only been able to shoot for a local newspaper in the past, and today, you may have a very successful worldwide audience due to online blogs, forums, or social media outlets. Unfortunately, some publications [audiences] have gone out of business, so you must change.

Messenger/Medium—As a professional visual communicator, you need to make changes due to the available mediums. For example, you made changes from film to digital and now are changing from older digital devices to newer ones.

Mediums and Audiences are blurring.

A professional visual communicator would consider a publication as an audience just a few years ago. Today blogs are a great example of how the medium is closer to you, thus bringing audiences ever closer to you. As a result, you can interact in a dialogue with your Audience.Today the connectivity we have between all of these is opening up new avenues for communication. It is no longer one way as in the past. Your Audience will tell you what they want and comment on what you are giving them in real-time. You don’t have to do focus groups to find out what the readership thinks—they are commenting on social media and if you allow it on your packages online.

If you focus on mastering photography and how to light things and compositionally capture something alone, then you are on your way to obsolescence.

Those who are growing their business are expanding their horizons and learning more about the world in which they live. They are becoming experts on subjects and learning more about what interests people.

As you grow in your knowledge of the message, the messenger, and the Audience, youAudienceve eureka moments like Steve Jobs, who brought us the technology we didn’t even know we needed.

Bicycle Wheel as a Metaphor

I like to think in visuals, so my visual for going forward is a bicycle wheel. My focus is on the spokes that, when they are equal and have the appropriate tension, help keep the wheel accurate and wobble-free.

I see each of the spokes as another way you can strengthen your business.

How many spokes?

The number of spokes in a bicycle affects its performance. Fewer spokes tend to have aerodynamic advantages. On the other hand, more spokes usually mean more strength and durability.

I see those new faces in the industry getting a lot of visibility as having fewer strokes. But, on the other hand, I see those with long-sustaining careers as those with more spokes.

My advice

Master a subject. Master a medium. Master an audience.

After doing this, add another subject, medium, and Audience.

If life is pretty shaky right now, your spokes may need some adjustment.

Photographers are becoming obsolete, unless …

by Stanley LearyApril 17, 2013October 30, 2022Photography

How we are becoming obsolete

Professional photographers are becoming increasingly obsolete because their work is becoming a commodity. In addition, technological advances have made it easier for one to take a photograph. For example, Facebook’s photo collection already has a staggering 140 billion photos, over 10,000 times larger than the Library of Congress.

Let’s look at some of the advances in photography:

- Autofocus
- Auto Exposure
- Auto Image Stabilizer
- Auto ISO
- Auto red-eye reduction

Increasingly we are seeing photography becoming driven by algorithms. These advances in camera technology are giving photographers more images that are pretty acceptable.

When I teach photography, many students ask me to tell them which button to push. So now we are hearing more about which app to use on their phone to make it all happen for them.

No longer is photography intimidating for the masses, but relatively easy to produce an image. Kodak’s founder George Eastman created the slogan, “You press the button, we do the rest.”

When he said this, producing a print you can hold and cherish forever was pretty challenging. However, the consumer can now press the button and see it immediately.

CPI, which ran the photo studios in Sears, Walmart, and Babies “R” Us, closed on April 5, 2013, after 60 years in business. However, you could get a portrait done for $9.99 plus prints, so these prices didn’t put them out of business; instead, people didn’t need help making portraits as in the past.

In the LA Times, I thought these statements were telling:

“The whole digital world has changed everything so much,” said Chris Gampat, editor in chief of photography blog the Phoblogapher. “People are very happy taking pictures of themselves with their iPhones and putting them on Instagram and sharing them instantly on Facebook and Twitter.”

Gampat, 26, also said that more consumers are buying the digital single-lens reflex, or DSLR, cameras once used nearly exclusively by professional photographers for top-quality images.

Consumer Demand has changed

Photographers need to understand the marketplace as much as they know to survive. Consumers of professional photography in years past have not stopped enjoying pictures. They no longer pay photographers to produce them when they can do it themselves.

How photography looked years ago for the professional.

How many think photography is today

The example assumes that while many people are now taking photos, the number of those making a good living is about the same.

I no longer believe that is the case. On the contrary, I think the number of professionals making a living is also shrinking.

Tips on how to avoid becoming obsolete

Today, people are letting technology handle so much of the process that we have diminished our observation, creativity, and interpretation abilities.

Pictures without context and compassion are dull.

Photographers must work even harder than in the past to survive. They must constantly observe, work on their creativity, and interpret situations to outperform the logarithms of today’s modern cameras.

You cannot make a full-time living today as a photographer because you know how to use camera gear to produce an image. Therefore, you must be offering something more.

Produce images that auto everything camera cannot
Become a hybrid photographer. Hybrid is where you combine other skills to create a package. This might be writing, video, audio, web design, or something that moves you from just pictures to a box.
Consider working with other professionals to create packages. Maybe you need to delegate some of the pieces of projects to other professionals. Maybe work with a writer, video editor, or someone else and offer something you cannot do alone together.
Become an expert on something other than camera gear. If you are an expert on a subject, then you can use your photography to help you carve a career in that subject matter using photography. A great example of this is Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who did a great deal of photography and film due to his knowledge of marine biology.
Be a lifelong learner. An unquenchable thirst for knowledge will drive you to seek new ways to communicate using visuals. Being a lifelong learner may lead you to be not a follower but an innovator.
Workshops and seminars. It would be best if you continued to go to venues exposing yourself to what is going on in the field of photography and outside of photography in your niche.
Create your projects. To get that first paying gig, you had to have a portfolio. To continue to propel your career, you must always create a new portfolio. You will seldom have the opportunity to develop a new approach for a client. They tend to hire you based on what you have produced.

You may think of more things to keep your career moving forward. But, unfortunately, when you stop growing is the day you start dying.

Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

God reveals Himself to the world through His work. Through natural revelation, God’s existence is made known to every person on earth. Thus, work shows something about the one doing the work. It exposes underlying character, motivations, skills, abilities, and personality traits.

Ephesians 4:28

… let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Work is done not just to profit the worker but others, according to the Bible. Therefore, we need to do work that is not just for us but for those we serve through our photography.

Fashion Show

by Stanley LearyApril 15, 2013April 28, 2021Nikon D4

These are some of my photos from this past Saturday of a fashion show my daughter participated in. I was there just as a proud parent and took some photos.

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I found a seat that I liked the angle from and just stayed put to enjoy the show.

I used my Nikon 28-300mm lens on my Nikon D4 primarily. It gave me the most flexibility to get closeup shots and overall shots of the runway for the models.

I also have my 14-24mm on another Nikon D4 camera, which I just used a few times.

Hope you enjoy the show as much as I did.

By the way this is my daughter Chelle. I think she looked great.

Shooting a photo package on a person

by Stanley LearyApril 12, 2013April 28, 2021Photography

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Shooting a package

This is the bread and butter assignment for the editorial/photojournalist. You get a call from an editor and they have have a story on a person and want some photos to go along with the story.

While it would be great to just hangout with a person for a week and then pick the best images, the budget is just not there for those type of coverages. What is typical is to talk with a subject about all that they are doing and to stay focused on what the story is all about.

A health clubs national office contacted me and wanted me to show how their health club was helping people in the community live healthier lives since becoming involved with the club.

The environmental portrait

I photographed this engineering professor at Georgia Tech. We wanted to show that their clients have great leadership positions in the community. I knew I needed something that read Georgia Tech quickly. Having the sign behind the professor seemed to be just the thing to work.

I also photographed him at one of the icons for the campus, a steam engine, located in the center of campus.

I wanted to also show you that I shot some available light like this vertical shot here. I also wanted you to see why it is so important to use off camera flash as I did in the first two photos. The off camera flash really separates my work from so many GWCs [Guy With Camera].

At Work

I made several photos of the subject at work. Here he is in a team meeting with some colleagues. If you look at the slide show you can see some others as well.

At the Gym

I photographed the subject working out. I turned in photos from each thing he does at the gym. Now mind you I shot literally hundreds of photos and then had to go through those and eliminate all the ones where face expressions were just not good, or something may have blocked a good view of his face.

By the way to be sure these images were the best color I used strobes in the gym to help with color, but also freeze him and get the sharpest images I could of him working out. Notice the detail in the clothing of the instructor wearing all black. That is the clue this was not available light.

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I turned into the client 391 images in two folders: 1) Edits & 2) All the photos. They will probably only use three images; 1) portrait, 2) At work shot, and 3) workout photo. By shooting as many photos and narrowing down to capture the best expressions and best moments I am able to give the art director choices and they feel like they can then have some variety to show in the end to their audience.

In the contact sheet above you just see a very small number of photos that I turned in. I wanted you to see this is after I have already eliminated all the blinks and funny expressions. Hopefully this will let you know how important it is to shoot enough photos to be able to have a selection that shows off the subject in the best way possible.

How to recover when project doesn’t go well

by Stanley LearyApril 10, 2013August 5, 2024Photography

Types of clients

I believe there are two types of clients—Educated and uneducated. I am not talking about how bright the client is or how many degrees they might have. For example, when hiring me, I am talking about their experience working with photographers.

Sometimes, clients will have naive, impracticable, or inappropriate expectations. Most of the time, this is done with clients who need more experience hiring photographers.

I generally have little communication problems with those who hire photographers regularly because they are better at communicating their needs, and we establish a solid paper trail together.

The first place the client relationship needs to be corrected is often in communication. When dissatisfaction about something from the client arises, the best thing you can do is look at the paperwork.

A written contract is best for helping resolve these disputes. The second best to a written contract is written documentation that could be as simple as emails.

Even with a written contract, the one thing plaguing client relationships is more planning. The better the planning, the better the results and satisfaction for all involved.

With the ability to scout a location and walk through the assignment, it is possible to anticipate all the needs that might arise.

How do you know you have a problem?

Your client will need to tell you about a problem so you can fix it. Sadly, I have found that in my career, many people will never tell you there’s a problem. They don’t hire you again.

If no one ever tells you, there is a good chance your personality turns them off, and they don’t want to fix the situation. I advise seeking counseling; it will be worth every penny you spend knowing how to stop certain behaviors from undermining your career.

If you are lucky and get a customer complaint, this is good for you. Often, this means people think you need to know so you can both correct this and continue to work with them, or they think you need to know so you can avoid this in the future—either way, you see no problem that needs to be addressed.

How to handle the conflict

Listen—the best tool you have is the ability to listen. Listening is not just being quiet. Good listening requires you to respond appropriately to the comments.

Apologize—A genuine apology lets the customer understand that they have been heard and understood. This should be carefully worded. If you don’t feel that you have done anything wrong, then be sure to convey regret for the other person’s experience due to what you did. This is assuming it was unintended. Apologizing for the effect this caused doesn’t mean you will resolve. Be sure you take responsibility for the impact you caused, or it will not be sincerely taken.

Take Action—After apologizing for what has taken place to cause this problem, move on to letting them know you want to correct the problem. You can say, “Obviously, what we have done is very upsetting to you, and you need to know that I am going to get to the bottom of this.”

Take the emotion out—Now that you have expressed your concern with emotion, the next phase is exploring the facts. This is where you are just getting the facts of the situation. Often, clients may state what is wrong and how this complicates their ability to solve the problem they brought you on to help. Remember, sometimes they have already concluded that this is not fixable, and you have wasted their time. The tendency is to fix things quickly, but be sure you fully understand what they think is wrong at this stage. Once you have all the facts laid out, restate them in your own words and ask if everything is correct. It would be best to put it into your own words because it will help them know you heard them and understand.

Empathy and not sympathy—Focus on actions and not words. You need to come to the client with ideas and not problems. Remember, time is money, so don’t waste theirs or yours.

Patience—It is best to stop after getting all the facts and tell them you need time to process if required. “Do you mind if I take a few minutes to see what I/we can do? I will call you back with our ideas in the morning,” this is one way to give you time to process all that you have discovered.

Deliver on your promise—The genuine apology you started with entails a resolution. It would be best if you delivered on this promise to be sincere and complete. Without this, you will undermine your reputation and brand as not trustworthy.

Fire the client

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When clients have naive, impracticable, or inappropriate expectations, it is time to fire them. Sometimes, ending a relationship with a client is better than making your life miserable.

Here are some things I know I have and other photographers have let their clients go:

Slow or no payment—I have had a few clients where the company policy was to be slow paying, and then I have had clients that had such severe ADD that they regularly forgot to pass along my invoice to the accounts payable department. Use this paragraph with your invoicing to avoid this problem:

Administrative Fee – We are now building into the invoice the cost to repeatedly follow up with accounts payable departments on past due invoices and float the payment cost to our vendors, which requires 30 days’ payment. This fee is approximately 15% of the total invoice. If payment is made within 30 days, you may deduct this amount. A notation will be made to this effect on the invoice.

Lack of boundaries—You have a client that expects to own you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sometimes, clients do not respect that you have other clients and a personal life. To avoid this, put the times you are available in your contract.

Challenging to work with—They are just tricky to work with. Maybe they tell off-color jokes. Try to say politely but firmly that you don’t appreciate the off-color jokes. You may not get a positive response at first, but you may. You’ll also benefit from speaking your mind and at least getting the message out there for everyone’s consideration.

Poor Time Management—The client has trouble keeping appointments or is constantly late. This can become a problem when it starts to affect your bottom line. You have trouble getting things from the client that you need to complete a job. Be sure your contract spells out that missing deadlines or whatever you need from them that there is some penalty. The problem you are trying to address is doing work and delayed payment due to the client dragging out a project. You can put the full payment into the contract by a specific date if the delay is due to the client missing something.

Unwilling to accept price increases—Over time, your prices need to go up due to increased living costs and other expenses. When the client is reluctant to adjust their budget, you must let them go; you cannot afford to work for them.

Only Photography can capture the “Microexpressions”

by Stanley LearyApril 8, 2013April 30, 2021photojournalism / The Decisive Moment

Microexpressions

Lie to Me is the hit TV [January 21, 2009 to January 31, 2011] series based on the research of Dr. Paul Ekman. Haggard and Isascs are credited with the discovery of Micro Expressions in the 1960s. Paul Ekman created a coding system for microexpressions and in 2001 he was named by the American Psychological Association as one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century.

A microexpression is a brief, involuntary facial expression shown on the face of humans according to emotions experienced. They are very brief in duration, lasting only 1/25 to 1/15 of a second. The 1/25 second was determined because back in 1960 this is how they slowed down a film that ran at 1/25 frame rate.

Even in the TV show Lie to Me you see that when a microexpression is detected they must investigate further, because one must not conclude that someone is lying if a microexpression is detected but that there is more to the story than is being told.

While some people are natural at seeing microexpressions many people learn how to detect them through training. What is important it is much harder to detect a microexpression on people in person or within video.

The easiest tool to practice detecting micro expressions are photographs. So as you will see if you watch the TV show Lie to Me, which you can get on Netflix, is they use photographs to isolate and show the facial expressions.

The major emotions-how surprise, fear, anger, disgust, sadness, and happiness are registered by changes in the forehead, eyebrows, eyelids, cheeks, nose, lips, and chin. These help as there are not just one type of each expression. For example the emotion of surprise has many different expressions; questioning surprise, dumbfounded surprise, dazed surprise, slight, moderate, and extreme surprise. The intricacies of facial expressions are more easily read in photographs of how various emotions can blend or create different expressions.

Charles Darwin believed that facial expressions were universal. Through the years many have disagreed with Darwin.

Dr. David Matsumoto however agreed with Darwin basked on his research during the 2004 Olympics. He studied both the sighted and blind Olympians during the 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

What is important is how he conducted the research. He studied the thousands of photographs and compared the facial expressions of sighted and blind judo athletes, including individuals who were born blind. All competitors displayed the same expressions in response to winning and losing. So it is not something learned, but innate.

Take away

I believe that the power of the still image is because it can capture the microexpression that video cannot do. Sure you can argue that if you slow down video you can see a microexpression, but you are then trying to stop the video and thus creating a still image.

Today we can record up to 200 million frames per second, but the most common used high speed cameras record around 1000 frames per second. Television series such as MythBusters and Time Warp often use high-speed cameras to show their tests in slow motion.

We use these high speed cameras for seeking the truth and helping us scientifically build safer cars for example.

So if we want to understand something and get to the truth as in TV shows like MythBusters we must examine things in fractions of a second. This is where the still photographer has worked for decades.

My take away from all this about the microexpression is the the power of the photograph is it’s ability to freeze the moment for us to truly understand. For most people microexpressions are not controlled and therefore when we see these expressions tend to hold them as truthful moments.

It is important to point out that some people are born able to control their expressions (such as pathological liars), while others are trained, for example actors. “Natural liars” know about their ability to control microexpressions, and so do those who know them well. They have been getting away with things since childhood, fooling their parents, teachers, and friends when they wanted to.

Photojournalists are very aware of “The Decisive Moment” and what I believe is that microexpressions is more about that moment. This research and material published on microexpressions is great content for the photojournalist. Understanding microexpressions will make you a better photojournalist in my opinion.

Vacation Photo Tip: Long Lens can compress the scene

by Stanley LearyApril 5, 2013telephoto

Nikon D4, 28-300mm [56mm], ISO 100, ƒ/10, 1/80

We were on our quest to get a good photo of the Hollywood sign by going up the road to the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. After parking we immediately took our first attempt here.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm [68mm], ISO 280, ƒ/29, 1/60

Now we move up the road to the observatory. Here the photo is a little better. Had there not been cars and road right behind me I might have backed up a little and used a longer lens. While I like the photo, I still feel that the Hollywood sign is just too far away.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm [190mm], ISO 280, ƒ/29, 1/60

To get the last photo we went further up the mountain. I used a longer focal length and to be sure the Hollywood sign was readable I stopped down to ƒ/29. I like this photo so much I did another one of my wife alone.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm [280mm], ISO 280, ƒ/29, 1/60

One last thing about that latest photo, notice how I zoomed in even more to 280mm focal length. The sign is even closer in feel and based on this if I had shot this with a 600mm it would appear even closer.

Just a couple of posts ago here I recommended composing the background first. This is still the case, but sometime You need to consider bringing the background closer.

Remember this is just the opposite of what they are doing when they shoot TV sitcoms. They are trying to make the most of the small space they often work in and therefore are using moderate to wide angles to expand the set.

Storyteller

Month: April 2013