Focal Point
Northern California Professional Photographers
JUNE 2011
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Focal Point
JUNE 2011
Northern California Professional Photographers Officers
Committee Chairs and Coordinators
President Wayne Miller 925-330-8737 president@ncpponline.org
Membership Stacey Flurscheim 925-330-7130 3rdvp@ncpponline.org
1st Vice President Programs Denny Weigand 925-336-7994 1stvp@ncpponline.org
blog / Website Wayne Miller 925-330-8737 blogomeister@ncpponline.org
2nd Vice President Print Competition Tom O'Connor 925-586-2745 2ndvp@ncpponline.org
Newsletter - Focal Point Editor Tom O’Connor 925-586-2745 newsletter@ncpponline.org
3rd Vice President Membership Stacey Flurscheim 925-330-7130 3rdvp@ncpponline.org
FP Copy Editor Denny Weigand 925-336-7994 newsletter@ncpponline.org
Send Newsletter information to: Tom O'Connor. newsletter@ncpponline.org Deadline for submission of articles and ad copy is the 24th of each month. Information received after the deadline cannot be guaranteed publication Advertising Costs: 11 Issues per year NCPP Members: • •
Treasurer Malcolm Slight 925-330-8737
Hospitality Lisa Duncan 925-284-3878 hospitality@ncpponline.org
treasurer@ncpponline.org Secretary Kevallyn Paskos 925-766-3121 secretary@ncpponline.org Chairman of the Board Randy Cazinha 925-249-1999
You supply camera ready art work and text. 1/4 page for 3 months per year - Free
Additional / Larger Ads: • • • •
1/4 Page for 3 months $25 1/2 Page for 3 months $50 Full Page for 3 months $75 Change to ad $25
Note: Members can use the Yahoo Group email to advertise at no cost.
Apprentice Membership Ann Gordon 510-222-4115 appmembership@ncpponline.org Sustaining Members: •
Photographer Eduardo Cardona
•
You supply camera ready art work and text. Full Page per year - Free
Non Members/Non Sustaining Members: • •
You supply camera ready art work and text. Full Page per year - $500
Focal Point is published by Northern California Professional Photographers. Articles and comments are invited; publication is subject to space available and editorial approval. Note: Articles are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of NCPP. Ads and flyers may or may not have the endorsement of NCPP or its Board of Directors.
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JUNE 2011 Table of Contents
Presidents Message • "Farewell Message” - Wayne Miller
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Preparing an image for "Projected Image Comp"
6–7
June Speaker – Gary Bergren • “The Ins and Outs of Composition”
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Educational Opportunity • Business 101
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Print Comp Winners and Print Comp Calendar • "PPA Style Projected Comp"
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Best of Show – May 2011
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The Photography Business and the American Dream • Lauren Cekim
12 – 17
Legal Rights of Photographers – Andrew Kantor
18 - 24
"Advanced Portrait and Skin Retouching" – Michael Kirwan
25 - 30
Coming on July 12th, 2011 – Joerg Lehmann
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Membership Information
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NCPP Presidents, Awards & Degrees
33 - 34
PPA Certification, Merit & Degree Programs
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NCPP Membership Classifications and Fees for 2011
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Member Advertisements & Ad Specs.
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NCPP Sustaining Members
38 - 43
Our Neighboring Affiliates
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Calendar - Important Dates
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Sunset Chart
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NCPP MEETING THIS MONTH TUESDAY, June 14, 2011 Doors open at 6:15pm, meeting starts at 7pm
Come early at 6:15pm to socialize!! 3
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JUNE 2011 President’s Message - Wayne Miller
Farewell message…… Wow I cannot believe that my term as President of NCPP is coming to an end. The year has flown by and it was an interesting, fun and challenging year for me. Interesting: Seeing things change in NCPP with image competition going projected, officers on the board growing into their positions, and the shift in the way photographers today are going about their business. Fun: For me was being President of this fine organization, and giving back as your president. It is tough and fun at the same time. Trying to guide NCPP toward its Mission Statement with all the distractions of life, business, and competition like meet-up groups is the tough part. The fun part was seeing the results from all of the officers working toward those goals. My hat is off to all the NCPP officers for the great job they did for the organization this year. The president’s job is only successful because of the support he gets from all the other officers. My personal thanks to: 1st VP, Denny Weigand for finding great speakers, as copy editor, and as Yahoo group moderator. 2nd VP, Tom O’Connor for Image competition, Focal Point Editor, and past webmaster. 3rd VP, Stacey Flurscheim for maintaining our membership and greeting new members at meetings. Secretary, Kevallyn Paskos for scribing our meeting minutes, posting and updating our By-Laws. Treasurer, Malcolm Slight for keeping the books, and the government happy with record keeping. Hospitality, Lisa Duncan for making new people and members feel welcome and Tod Gomes for bringing a gift package for the speakers at the meetings. Chairman of the board (Past President), Randy Cazinha for his suggestions and years of history, experiences and knowledge with NCPP. Challenging: We all face challenges daily as people and photographers. In Nov. 2010 I underwent a planned bi-lateral knee (both knees) replacement that kicked my ass for 6 weeks, and challenged me for another three months. Some knew about my condition others just thought I was getting old and moving funny. Well I am funny but I refuse to grow older……….With those challenges I put my business on hold for six months, hard to kneel with a camera in your hands : )….but, I kept on keeping on. It was business as usually with NCPP as the show must always go on. It has been six months since and I am stronger than ever (in the gym every day) and business is slowly coming back. The economy seems to be taking a turn too and for me May was one of my best months in the last year. We still face the digital revolution and soon those weekend warriors will find themselves back at their old vocations and maybe we professionals can make a living (a decent living) at photography again. Your new officers will be elected at the June 14th meeting and sworn in and officially take office at the July meeting. Without these dedicated individuals NCPP would not exist as an organization, it would just be another group that meets, and leaves it up to someone else to provide them with the responsibility to entertain and educate them without any effort on their part. Whatever happened to “you get back what you give to others”? If one gives nothing then they get nothing in return. Sometimes I wonder if these “take all I can get and the heck with giving back” will ever learn to give! 4
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JUNE 2011 President’s Message - Wayne Miller
Well it is time that I step off my soapbox and let a new President write his/her message. My only hope is that the old 80-20% rule, (80% of the people do 20% of the work, and 20% of the people do 80% of the work) (with inflation I believe it is 90-10 today) doesn’t pertain to NCPP. If each NCPP member brings in just one new photographer we will grow and add to the great bunch of professional photographers of NCPP. Help grow your group today and get off your assets. Thank you NCPP for having me serve as your President, and I am looking forward to being your Chairman of the board this coming year.
The future is looking beyond the horizon. It is your vision, your inner-most being, your spirit, your inner soul. If you do not look outside the box then your world will just have boundaries that hold back your creative spirit. If you do not venture into the unknown then the unknown will be your limits, and the hidden treasures beyond you will never reap. Being adventurous is being alive, and being safe is like being dead. If you do not step out of your comfort zone then the fruits of life will always elude you. Take a chance; a leap of faith is the only way to break the creative block that we all face and face often. It is your choice: sit safely on the couch of life and experience a boring existence or step out into the unknown and push yourself into a new and mysterious world of new visions and experiences that can only be achieved by moving past your comfort zone. Farewell my friends and may all your ventures and experiences be rewarding in your growth as photographers and as people.
NCPP Mission Statement: The Northern California Professional Photographers is an organization dedicated to advancing the business of professional photography. Our purpose is to create an environment amongst professional photographers that will inspire each of us and to help one another grow as business professionals and artists.
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Preparing your image for "Projected" Image Comp This article will remain permanently in the Focal Point.
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Preparing your image for "Projected" Image Comp This article will remain permanently in the Focal Point. Here are the basics for creating your "Projected Image" file. We will be setting the file type, dimensions, color space, jpg quality, pixels per inch and file name that that will qualify for NCPP Projected Image Comp. These requirements are the same as the PPA requirements with the exceptions of the two items in NOTE 2 below. 1. Create a file that will become the background for your image that is 4,000px Wide x 2,200px High @ 200 pixels per inch. (20" x 11") This size fits our monitor and will be displayed at its optimal. 2. The color space can be sRGB or RGB1998. 3. The file type is a jpg with a Quality setting of 10. Total file size not to exceed 3.5mb. 4. You can apply a color or pattern to this layer just as you would do for a printed image that you would have entered previously in print comp. 5. Next prepare the image that you are going to insert over the background. The color space, ppi etc needs to be the same as your background layer. 6. Size the image as you wish in either a vertical or horizontal format. The image size must be at least 80 square inches. An example is 8" x 10". The image may be placed anywhere you want to put it on the background layer. The positioning of the image on the background layer will be part of your "Presentation" score just like with Printed print comp. 7. Add a stroke or any other edge treatment to the edge of the image you want, or not. 8. All images will be shown only with the background in the "Horizontal Format". This is the same way that PPA is handling it. The monitor will not be rotated for vertical images. They will be shown just like the example images on the previous page. 9. There is to be no photographer name or studio name on the image. 10. Name your file with the following convention: • Member's First Name_Last Name_Image_Title_.jpg (Use _ for spaces). • Example file name: Bill_Jones_Mount_Diablo_Sunset.jpg 11. More information for download or viewing at. NOTE 1: If you plan to submit any of these images to PPA, I would initially save this file as a layered PSD or TIFF. When I was done and ready to submit to NCPP, I would then save it again as a jpg with all of the requirements listed above and submit the jpg. This way if you later decide to enter this same image with PPA, you can open your PSD/TIFF and make any changes required for PPA. NOTE 2: PPA Projected Submission Specifications match what is required for NCPP, except: • PPA requires your PPA# in place of your name in the file name: Example: 12345_Mount_Diablo_Sunset.jpg • Link to the PPA site for a video on “How To”: http://www.ppa.com/competitions/tutorials.php ENTRY RULES AND DEADLINES: • Cost per each image is $5.00 prior to the Sunday, (at midnight), prior to the Tuesday meeting. Late fee is $10 per image up to Monday midnight. Fee is to be paid via the NCPP PayPal link. Walk-ins Projected Images day of meeting $20 per image (cash at the door) • E-mail images to 2ndvp@ncpponline.org. Limit of 20 Projected images allowed per meeting. This is at the discretion of the Print Chair on a month by month basis.
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NCPP Proudly Presents on June 14th, 2011 – Gary Bergren
“The Ins and Outs of Composition” How is your Composition? Does your image lack the impact it needs to tell your story? Now is your chance to hear an expert tell you the rights and wrongs of composition. Our speaker for June is Gary Bergren, an outstanding painter and instructor in Walnut Creek. Gary’s credentials qualify him to instruct us on composition in our images. He breaks down composition to its smallest parts and explains why placement of objects in an image is all-important to the composition. While Gary uses painting as his medium of expression, his concepts on composition cross over to us as photographers. Come join us for an enlightening evening.
Bio: Gary Bergren's works are varied as he enjoys western / southwest art (sometimes referred to as Cowboy and Indian art), landscape art / painting (including Mt Diablo), portrait painting, commissioned painting, and autumn / fall painting / art. Gary is a San Francisco Bay Area resident, born in Berkeley, California. His interest in art began at the early age of five and has been actively involved ever since. Both parents are involved in the arts. His mother is an interior decorator and his father a successful sculptor. Together they helped Gary acquire the basic principles of three dimensional drawing, color and perspective. Gary grew up in Orinda, California.
Art Education: • • • • • • •
California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA – creative and figure drawing1968. Walnut Creek Civic Arts Dept. - oil painting. Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill CA - figure drawing, painting, architectural rendering and perspective 1970-1974. David Hardy in Oakland CA Renaissance techniques, color theory, composition and pigment Formation 1982. William Parsons color theory, composition and application techniques. Van Waldron Impressionism, color theory 1996.
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TITLE: Business 101 A to Z a new photographers guide to business success. Date: June 25, 2011 9am‐5pm Location: Clayton, CA Business 101 is designed for the aspiring or newer professional photographer to learn the business tools to help in the success of their new business or existing business. With the challenges of competition and changing technology this class is designed to learn about customer service, budgeting, cost of goods, scheduling, networking, social media marketing, blogging, licenses requirements and tools that every photographer needs to be aware of and use. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Accounting: Without a good accounting and cost of goods how will you survive. Branding: Your brand is as important as your artistry as a photographer. Creativity: Artist create business make money merge the two for success. Dedication: Enthusiasm is your key to success so find it and use it to succeed. Education: When you’re green you are growing and when you’re ripe you’re rotting. Stay green. Funding: How to plan spending on your business and equipment without going overboard. Growth: Plan a growth strategy that will help you stay focused and profitable. Health: Learn to monitor you business to keep it health, wealth and wise. Investing: Invest in your education and your business without burnout. Join: Join professional groups and organizations to expand your network. Knowledge: Workshops, seminars, school and lectures to help you grow. Learn: Share and learn from others to grow your business and your photography. Motivation: Stay motivated with your craft and business to thrive, Numbers: Learn the numbers for a successful business, pricing, cost of goods, and overhead. Overhead: Most photographers struggle with this concept, so we will demystify it. Preparedness: Learn to be an active thinker not a reactive one by preparing ahead of time. Quiz: Find out how you are doing by asking others that will give you an honest answer. Resources: Use good resources for good information and look inside for guidance. Success: Know what it means and how to get there before it is too late. Tenacity: Learn to become tenacious and move on in spite of yourself. Understand: Pricing, the market, social media, and the tools for success. Vitality: Your business needs your energy and enthusiasm to grow keep it motivated. Workflow: Learn to establish a clean and fast workflow in your business and post production. Xenophobically: Don’t become one by leaning what it is and how to avoid it. You: Why do people choose you as a photographer? It might open your eyes. Zealous: Keep the passion alive by keeping both the business and artist happy.
Instructor Bio: Wayne Miller Photography Cr.Photog, CPP of Clayton, CA is a Craftsman Photographer and a
Certified Professional Photographer, with a Portrait Specialty Endorsement and also does Commercial Photography. His creative style with an Avant-garde twist has won several NCPP Best of Show print competitions, and PPA merited prints. He has also given workshops in Wedding Posing, Studio Lighting, Model Portrait Workshops, HDR (High Dynamic Range) plus Lightroom and Photoshop seminars. Wayne also has done speaking presentations for local affiliates, PPC state convention, and local photography groups. SIGN UP TODAY: Cost of Class is $99 early bird (PayPal Seminar Fee 5 before June 1st) and $129 thereafter. PPA members get one merit. Open to all professional and aspiring photographers.
Focal Point
JUNE 2011 Print Comp Winners and Calendar
For PPA Style Competition, Only Projected Images will be accepted. People’s Choice remains as it has been and you can also submit Projected images on a laptop or iPad. If you are interested in volunteering with image comp, please contact: Tom O'Connor at 925-586-2745 or Email Tom @ toconnorphotography@gmail.com The next NCPP PPA Style Image Competition will be at the June 14, 2011 meeting where we will have "Projected" image competition. For more information on "Projected" see Table of Contents on page 3 of the Focal Point…Preparing an image for "Projected Image Comp" 2011 Print Comp Calendar: May: PPA Style / Jun: PPA Style / Jul: People’s Choice / Aug: PPA Style / Sep: PPA Style / Oct: PPA Style / Nov: People’s Choice
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! 1st Place – Wayne Miller – “Extreme Watercross" 2nd Place – Malcolm Slight – “Rest Awhile”
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Best of Show May 2011 - "Extreme Watercross" by Wayne Miller
This image started with a motocross freestyle jumping demo at the “Pacific Coast Dream Machines” at Half Moon Bay on May 1st. Denny and I arrived at the event at 8:30am two hours before the crowds. We walked around and got some interesting images at the event. There were planes, cars, tractors, monster trucks, WW vehicles, motorcycles, and some old farm equipment. The freestyle jumping started at 11am, right at the perfect time of day for, well, snapshots. I picked a spot to shoot where the sun was a side-light to the subject and the crowd and background were less obtrusive. I also planned the sky as my background as I already had envisioned how I wanted the image presented. Now for the nerdy stuff: I did a few test shots with aperture priority and spot metering and found that it was hit or miss (mostly missing). So I used the following settings on my 70-200mm at 150mm on my Canon 5dMk2 ISO 100, 1/320 sec. shutter speed at f/8.0. I turned off image stabilization. I went to manual mode, set white balance for sunny, AL Servo Mode, and continuous firing and shot in jpeg. Reason I shot jpeg is I knew that I had to be able to rapid shoot without filling the buffer so RAW was out for this shot. I pre-focused on the last ¾ of the jump, and used f8.0 for best depth of field. The minute the jumper headed up the ramp I pressed the shutter, panned (followed the jumper) and held the shutter down until he landed on the exit ramp. The images were stacked in Photoshop and I layered in the jumper as the jump progressed. I left off the ramps, and the takeoff landing, in the final image because I wanted to add some mystery to the image. The water effect was added via a PS plug in Flaming Pear Flood. I also cloned in the rock on the right so the jumper had a visual starting point and didn’t just appear starting in mid-air. Thank you NCPP for the honor of Best of Show for this image. I am flattered that this image was chosen by my peers for this award.
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The Photography Business and the American Dream
Reprinted with permission by Lauren Cekim Blog: http://laurencekim.com/ posted in portraits, strictly business, weddings at April 28, 2011 Here’s how I define the American Dream: living a middle-class or better lifestyle while building enough wealth to send your kids to college and retire at a reasonable age (i.e. before you’re too old and infirm to enjoy it). Your mileage may vary. Personally, I have much higher financial goals than this but I’ll use this as a baseline for this discussion. This post is based on the experience and knowledge that an MBA and 20 years of business experience (both inside and outside of photography) has brought me. It is probably the most important post that I’ll ever write. If you plan on making photography your career, please don’t skip this one. ______________________________ There are lots of ways to build enough wealth to live the dream. I’ll outline some of them here: The Investor The Investor is at the very top of the wealth-building food chain. Just about all of the wealthy (entertainers and athletes aside) have generated their wealth through investment. That is, through ownership of assets – either businesses or real estate. They’ve earned their wealth by (1) being willing to take big risks and (2) by using leverage. I’m not talking about saving some of your salary and buying mutual funds here. Think bigger. Let’s take, for example, a fairly typical real estate investor. He buys a small commercial property for $500,000. He put 20% down ($100,000) and took a $400,000 mortgage. His tenants pay enough rent to cover the operating expenses, including the mortgage. He was smart and bought in the right market. Twelve years later he sells the building for $1,000,000. His profit? He turned $100,000 into $1,000,000 – a $900,000 profit – in 12 years. Or in other words, 30 years worth of income for the average photographer made with a single deal. It’s easy to see why/how most large fortunes are made this way. “You see that building? I bought that building ten years ago. My first real estate deal. Sold it two years later, made an $800,000 profit. It was better than sex. At the time I thought that was all the money in the world. Now it’s a day’s pay.” - Gordon Gekko The Professionals Professionals (dentists, lawyers, accountants, etc.) build wealth in a couple different ways. First, they can earn high incomes. The primary reason for the high income is that their profession may require a high level of expertise acquired at a very high cost. It takes a lot of time and money to become a lawyer. Four years of undergraduate education, three years of law school, and then you have to pass the bar exam. This is an extremely high barrier of entry. Graduating from a top law school raises that barrier even higher. For example, the median starting salary for lawyers graduating from New York University (my alma mater, although I went to the business school, not the law school) is greater than $160,000. Not bad for an entry level job. But beyond salary, professionals build wealth through equity and leverage/scalability just like investors do. The lawyer eventually becomes a partner, which opens him up to ownership of his firm.
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The Photography Business and the American Dream And then there’s the leverage – the lawyer no longer makes the bulk of his earnings through his own labor. He begins to earn income through the labor of his employees (law firm associates). The Corporate Employee Entrepreneurship isn’t the only way to build reasonable wealth over time. Lots of corporate employees do it too. They do it through investment (of profit sharing, stock options, bonuses, employee stock purchase programs, 401k company matches, etc.) and leverage. An employee has leverage? Sure, let’s look at this example: Let’s say you work at a big box retailer like a Best Buy. You work at the cash register or stocking shelves. At this level you’re simply trading your time for money. You don’t earn much because there is a very low barrier of entry for a stock clerk. There is no way to leverage your earnings. You make $10 per hour. Now let’s say you’re a good employee and have a few promotions over the years and eventually you’re managing one of the departments – say the cell phone department. You’re making $40,000 / yr. You have leveraged yourself because now you’re getting compensated on the results of the entire department. A few years later you’re the general manager of the store and make $100,000. Now you’ve leveraged your earnings again because you’re responsible for the efforts of all of the employees in the entire store. A few years after that you’re a regional manager responsible for a dozen stores. Now you’re making $200,000. You’re making the big salary because of leverage and the fact that now you benefit from an extremely high barrier to entry. There are millions of people who can be trained to stock shelves in a day, but there are not that many people who have the skills and expertise to oversee a dozen large stores with hundreds of employees. The Public Employee Public employees have a great opportunity to live the American Dream and build wealth over time. They do this through (1) higher than average wages and (2) extremely generous benefits unavailable to private sector workers. Let’s say you’re a police officer or fireman in a big city. You probably have a pension that’s based on your last few years’ salary. Work some overtime your last couple of years and you can easily have a six-figure per year pension + free health care for you and your spouse for life. Oh, and you’re retiring before age 50. The dollar value of these benefits boggles the mind – it’s easily in the $millions for a single worker. It’s a great deal if you can get it. Most people realize this, of course, which is why it’s not so easy to get one of these jobs. In some parts of the country, it’s harder to get a job as a police officer than it is to get into Harvard. This is no exaggeration. Last year, Harvard had a 6.9% acceptance rate. My nephew is trying to get a job as a police officer in Connecticut. For every job opening there are more than 100 applicants. That’s less than a 1% acceptance rate. Just think about it .
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The Photography Business and the American Dream
Canon 1V, Canon 50mm f1.4, Kodak Portra 160NC, develop/scan: RPL, perfect skin tones straight from the scan with zero corrections. The Photographer Okay, thanks for reading this far. This is the part you’ve been waiting for. Where does the photographer fit in? I’m sorry to report that photographers feed at the bottom of the wealth-creation food chain. Why? Zero barriers to entry. There is basically a zero barrier to entry to the professional photography business. No qualifications, schooling, certifications or experience are necessary. Since most people who become professional already have a camera, a computer and Photoshop (photography was their hobby), there’s a near zero investment in equipment needed. All it takes is a $50 Bludomain website and you’re good to go. Education (from sites like this) is free and readily available. Today’s $700 Nikon D5100 is miles better than the $5,000 Nikon D2X from 4 years ago. Do 2 hours of coaching with me (or someone like me) and you can learn a topic – pricing, for example – that took me years of trial and error to learn. Is it any surprise that every single day another dozen photographers in your town open up shop? Zero leverage/scalability. Unless you’re going to open up a chain of employee-run studio photography stores, you have zero leverage. That is, you are simply trading your time for money, and there is a fixed amount of hours you can work before you run out of time or simply drop dead. Twenty years ago photographers who shot stock for Getty Images were able to leverage their images (i.e. sell them for decent money over and over again), but that market is basically dead now due to microstock.
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The Photography Business and the American Dream Zero equity-building. Unlike the owner of the dry cleaning store who can sell his business and build wealth over time, your photography business builds no equity. [remember the 70's sitcom The Jeffersons? George Jefferson became wealthy by owning a chain of dry cleaning stores]. The typical wedding/portrait shooter (Sally Smith Photography) earns zero income the day she shoots her last wedding. Nobody out there will buy Sally Smith Photography. There is nothing to buy. Her copyrighted library of 200,000 wedding/portrait images has no value, because she’s already sold the images to her only possible customer. She might be able to sell her gear for a few hundred bucks but that’s it. Zero benefits. You have to buy all of your own health insurance, for example. With the cost of family health insurance at $20,000 per year and going up 10-15% per year, this is a huge deal. Employees of large corporations often have dozens of smaller benefits as well – e.g. life insurance, employee wellness programs, reimbursement for health club memberships, employee discount programs, taxsaver accounts, etc. I actually can’t think of a worse business than photography. I honestly can’t. In fact, if I were teaching an entrepreneurship class at a business school this would make a great exercise: Have my class think of a business that builds zero equity, had zero scalability and zero barriers to entry. It would be interesting to see if my class could come up with professional wedding/portrait photography. Knowing what makes a bad business would be very helpful in designing a good business. The bottom line is this: from a wealth-creation standpoint, photography is a lousy career. But you probably already know that.
Olympus OM2n, Zuiko 28mm lens, Kodak Portra400nc, NCPS process and scan, straight-from-the-scan
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The Photography Business and the American Dream So what to do? Don’t give up! Just because photography is a bad business doesn’t mean it isn’t worthwhile pursuing. It does have other non-business related benefits (primarily, it satisfies the urge to scratch your creative itch, which has non-monetary value that’s difficult to quantify). So here are some options: Option 1: Curl up into the fetal position and rock back and forth. When finished, complain to everyone you know about all the newbies entering the market. Look under the seat cushions to scrape up your health insurance premium. Resume the fetal position and repeat. Option 2: Take positive action. Re-evaluate whether or not to be full-time vs. part-time. I wrote about this topic in my post “for love or money“. While photography is a lousy career (from a wealth-creation perspective), it can be a GREAT part-time business. The “low barrier to entry” issue is not a problem for the part-timer. In fact, it’s an advantage. Shoot 10 weddings a year and you can easily bring in $20,000 of extra annual income. Invest this extra while living on the salary from your day job and you will be on your way to financial independence and lasting wealth. How many people do you know can save and invest $20,000 per year? Pick the right spouse. Photography as a full-time business works best when coupled with a spouse who has a solid job (with health insurance). If your family can live on your spouse’s salary, then you can save/invest nearly all of your photography income. How great would it be to save and invest $40,000-50,000 per year! Invest your profits outside of photography. Spend less than you earn. Invest your savings wisely. Set a specific savings goal for the year. Do not make a single discretionary (i.e. non-essential) purchase until you’ve socked away that amount into an account earmarked for investing. Read a lot about investing. This will build your wealth a thousand times more than spending time reading ridiculous online forums where people debate Canon vs. Nikon and display their photos of brick walls. I don’t care if you choose real estate, stocks, mutual funds or whatever. Become knowledgeable, save and invest. Since your photography business does not build equity, you need to build that equity outside of photography. Buying a new D3s is NOT an investment, it is luxury, unnecessary spending. The $5,000 D3s will not earn you a single penny more than the $2,500 D700. Hold on to your cash. Photographers spend way, way, way, way too much money. If I were hired as a business consultant to a photographer, the first thing that I would look at are their expenditures. Let’s look at some examples: Gear: If your camera is less than 3 years old, there is NO NEED to upgrade your cameras. EVER. Cameras are so good now that you should use them until they wear out. I am still using my 5 year old 5D and getting stunning images from it. I could shoot all of my portrait sessions with my $60, 30 year old Olympus OM2n and my clients would be thrilled with the results. Software: No need to upgrade. At most, upgrade with every 3rd release. Do you really need those thousands of fancy features that you’ll never use? Branding: Branding is one of the most misunderstood topics for wedding/portrait photographers. YOU are the brand. Your images. Your attitude. How you treat your clients. Your brand is NOT your logo/letterhead. There is no reason to spend thousands of dollars on professional graphic design. Sure, it’s important for large corporations like Pepsi, Apple, and McDonalds to have the recognizable 16
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The Photography Business and the American Dream logo. But in order for your logo to establish your brand, you would have to have thousands and thousands of impressions (speaking with my MBA hat on) at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Your name in an attractive font is all you need for a logo. Advertising: Don’t spend your hard earned cash on magazine ads. They are a waste of money. Spend a few thousand dollars on a magazine ad and you’ll be lucky to book one wedding from it. Great, you’re now working that wedding for free. The most effective ways to generate business and profits are free or nearly free. How much does it cost you to not be an a-hole? How many times have you read a post on online forums like this: “My contract does not allow clients to use images without my permission, yet I saw they posted some of their wedding images on Facebook without my permission! How do I get them to cease and desist and/or compensate me for those images?” Are you f_ing kidding me!! Who are you, Annie Leibovitz? Instead I would thank them for the free advertising. In fact, on my client’s DVD I include a folder labeled “Facebook” with images perfectly sized for it. Which approach do you think will better improve your “brand”? And how much does it cost you to pick up the phone and make some sales calls? You can make more with a single phone call than you can with a $2,500 magazine ad. Maximize revenue. Since your time is fixed, you have to maximize the revenue from each session. This is way too big a topic to be covered in a single bullet point or single blog post. It’s the basis of my entire blog. Read up on marketing and especially pricing. Photographers leave way too much money on the table. They don’t have a recognizable style, which results in average pricing. They don’t know how to price albums. Their package design invites nickle-and-dimeing from their clients. They sell online instead of face to face. They don’t know how to price prints. They don’t do proactive marketing. How many sales calls did you make this week? Zero? Then why are you amazed that your phone isn’t ringing? Yes, you can be a photographer and still live the American Dream. But in order to do that you’ll have to recognize the limitations of working at the bottom of the wealth-creation food chain and what to do about it. Keep your chin up! __________________________________________________________________ Please keep these blog posts coming! All you have to do is shop by clicking on the advertisements below. It won’t cost you a penny more to shop that way, but it will provide me with a small commission that enables me to spend time working on new blog posts. Thanks!
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Northern California Professional Photographers
Legal Rights of Photographers Version 2.01 — May 2009 By Andrew Kantor • andrew@kantor.com
Even before 9/11, photography had been under siege. Anyone with a camera larger than a cell phone was considered some sort of threat, and since 9/11 it’s only gotten worse. There’s an incredible amount of misinformation about what rights photographers in the United States have. People have written to me about how they were told, “You can’t take pictures of police,” and “You can’t shoot children without their parents’ permission” and “You can’t take pictures on private property without permission.” None of these are true. Photographers have been harassed, threatened, and killed — all for capturing a moment on a memory card or on film. Images have been deleted or confiscated, police have been called, and innocent people have had to deal with know-nothing guards, cops, and ordinary folks. In 2005, I was a newspaper reporter. Many of us carried point-and-shoot cameras, but our photo department couldn’t give us definitive guidelines of what we could and couldn’t legally shoot. So I set out to learn. I read, sent e-mail, and made phone calls until I was satisfied. (My list of sources is at the end.) It didn’t take long for a clear consensus to emerge, from people who know these things, about what’s legal and what’s not. So I wrote it all out in a document called “Legal Rights of Photographers.” I wrote it to satisfy newspaper editors who wanted, not surprisingly, a detailed list of sources and a legal argument. The end result was a bit clunkier than I would like. And since its publication I’ve had a lot — a lot — of questions sent to me, which demonstrated what I left out of that first document. So here it is again, easier to read with a bit broader coverage to address the questions I got. I hope you find it useful. —Andrew I am not a lawyer. I have not had legal training. I am just a guy who did some research on this topic. Don’t consider this document as legal advice; it may be wrong. Consult your own attorney if you have questions; this is just one person’s understanding and overview. Let’s start with the basics.
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If you can see it, you can shoot it. You can legally take pictures of anything that is visible to the general public (without special equipment — e.g., a telephoto lens), whether it or you are on public or private property. That means you can legally take pictures of children, athletes, people on the street, beach bathers, buildings, cars, policemen, accident scenes, government officials, airplanes, airports, trains, and so on. You can legally take pictures when you are on private property, if that property is open to the public (e.g., a mall or office complex). Perhaps a better phrase is: If anyone can see it, you can shoot it. You do not need permission to take pictures. The answer to the question, “What law says you can take that picture?” is “You’ve got it backwards. What law says I can’t?” All that said, there are two important caveats. 1. While there are few exceptions to what you can photograph, there are exceptions to what you can publish. (More on that in a moment.) A school field trip. Do I even know all these kids? Nope. But I don’t need permission to publish this.
2. Although it is legal to take pictures while on private property, you could still be guilty of trespassing if the owner of that property tells you not to, or if he demands that you leave.
What you can’t photograph •
Where photography has been prohibited by law. That’s by law, not by private “No Photography” signs. What’s prohibited by law? Photography of certain government facilities (usually of a military nature) — you will be well aware of this prohibition if you encounter one. For example, it is apparently against the law to take photographs of bridges in the New York City area. Stupid, but true.
•
Things that require special equipment to see — i.e., they wouldn’t be visible to the public. So using a long lens on a rooftop to shoot a woman on the fifth floor of an apartment building is a no-no. That’s invasion of privacy. (Technically, taking the photo isn’t what’s illegal. Violating the person’s privacy is. But they’re tied together in this case.) Note that using a long lens to shoot pedestrians from a rooftop (or high school soccer plays on a field) is fine; they have no expectation of privacy.
All that said, just because you can shoot something doesn’t mean you can publish it.
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What you can’t publish Let’s get the easy stuff out of the way: When it comes to non-human subjects, the only things that you cannot publish are copyrighted images (more on that in a moment) and potentially images that give away a secret (in which case you would have been someplace inaccessible to the public to get the shot — in the vault holding Coca-Cola’s secret formula, or on a military base) . When it comes to people, though, there are a few more rules. Breaking one (or more) isn’t against the law, but you could lose a civil suit for invasion of privacy or (in one case) libel. In fact, publication of photos is all about three parts of privacy law — private facts, false light, and misappropriation. They tell you whether or not a photo can be published without opening yourself to a lawsuit — and this is important — regardless of how the photo was obtained. In other words, even if a photographer violates a subject’s right to privacy, publishing the photos is not illegal. From the Photographers’ Guide to Privacy: Even if a news organization arguably violates a subject’s right to privacy, the subject’s remedy usually will not include the ability to bar the publication of the picture. (See CBS, Inc. v. Davis, 114 S.Ct. 912.) Here are the questions to ask if you want to know whether it’s all right to publish a photograph of someone. Did the subject of the photo have an expectation of privacy? It doesn’t matter whether she was on public or private property; was she making a reasonable effort to avoid being seen? If not, the picture is probably all right to publish — meaning your risk of losing an invasion or privacy lawsuit is slim. But if you need to take any kind of extraordinary means to get the shot — the long lens mentioned earlier, or a hidden camera, for example — forget it. But what if the person does have an expectation of privacy, whether she’s in her bedroom or he’s sitting on a park bench huddled over a medicine bottle? Then there are some more questions to ask. Is the picture embarrassing to a typical person? Does it reveal private and non-newsworthy information that a reasonable person wouldn’t want publicly known? Sneaking into your ex-girlfriend’s apartment and getting a shot of her in the bath — that’s a no-go. Ditto for a shot of someone, say, taking AIDS medication. The definition of private information is fairly specific. From the American Law Institute: One who gives publicity to a matter concerning the private life of another is subject to liability to the other for invasion of his privacy, if the matter publicized is of a kind that (a) would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, and (b) is not of legitimate concern to the public. —Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 652D Does it put the person in a false light? That is, is it published in such a way — perhaps with a particular caption or in a particular collection — that it implies something untrue about the person? A Web page of “My Favorite Drug Addicts” that included a shot of your high school teacher taking an aspirin in the men’s room could be considered libelous.
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Context is (almost) everything. From the Photographers’ Guide to Privacy: A photograph or videotape by itself will rarely place a subject in a false light. Rather, the accompanying text, caption, or voice-over could be misleading and portray the person in a false context. However, an accurate depiction of a person in a publication the person finds offensive does not, in itself, state a false light claim. If a photo doesn’t make someone look bad or embarrass him, chances are it’s legal to publish. But there’s still one more thing to consider before publication. Misappropriation Everyone has the right to the commercial use of his or her image. That means you can’t sell a picture of, say, Eli Manning without his permission. Per the American Law Institute: One who appropriates to his own use or benefit the name or likeness of another is subject to liability to the other for invasion of privacy. —Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 652C There’s an important exception to all this: News value. You can take anyone’s photo — including Eli Manning’s — and put it in a newspaper, magazine, or Web site in a news context (e.g., “Eli Manning makes surprise shopping trip to Smallville,” or “Quarterback John Doe takes a drink before the start of the 3rd quarter”). As the Photographers’ Guide to Privacy explains: Under these laws the use of a relevant picture to illustrate a newsworthy article will generally not lead to liability. The unauthorized use of a celebrity’s picture in an advertisement often will. But what if it’s not in a news context? What if it’s just a great photograph? Whether you’re allowed to publish (without fear of lawsuit) comes down to this: Is the value of the image based on the identity of the person pictured in it? If it doesn’t matter who is in the shot — it’s generic cute kid or beach bums or mall shoppers, there’s a good chance you can use it for commercial gain without anyone’s permission. Put another way, if what’s important in the picture is what someone is doing, not who it is, you’re probably in the clear. For example, if you have a picture of Generic Guy playing touch football on the beach, you can probably publish it — the value of the picture is in what he’s doing, not who he is. But if it’s a picture of Dante Culpepper playing on the beach, the picture is valuable because of him. And he owns the right to his image. It’s not just big-name celebrities. The local high-school quarterback, for example, also owns the right to his image; you might run into problems if you try to sell a shot “Bobby McGillicuddy, start of the Newton High Raptors.” But if it’s a general picture of the team at play, that’s another story. That’s why there are model releases for professional shoots. They protect the photographer by giving him permission to publish and sell those images (depending on the wording of the release). That way a high-school student can’t sue if her senior picture is used to advertise the photographer’s services. Now, if you shoot Eli Manning or Dante Culpepper or Bobby McGillicuddy when they are visible to the public — maybe you run into them walking down the street — you can still publish those images as long as you don’t cross the line into commercial gain. (If you have Google AdSense ads on your site, is that considered “commercial gain”? That’s for a court to decide.)
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What about selling? One of the most frequent questions I get is along these lines: I shoot my kid’s soccer games. Can I sell the pictures on my Web site? Can I sell pictures of individual kids to their parents? If you’ve got general action shots of a game, yes, you can publish and sell them on your Web site. When it comes to individual shots, though, it’s a different matter. Remember, people own the rights to their images. That means you can’t sell a photo of “Billy Stevens, goalkeeper” without his permission — at least not to the public. But you can sell it to him (or his parents) because the act of buying it from you indicates they’re agree to your profiting from it… at least from them. You can also put them on a Web site. You can’t sell images of individuals (except as just mentioned), but you can show off your skills. Just be careful — if one of the players claims that his particular image is worth something, and that you are profiting from having a picture of “Billy Stevens, star goalkeeper” — you may have to take it down. But that’s a tough argument to make if he’s not a celebrity. Trademark and copyright Some inanimate objects are protected by trademark or copyright law, and selling pictures of them could violate those laws. One of the more famous of these is the Hollywood sign. You can shoot it and publish the image (the Hollywood Trust even has a “list of suggestions for safe, legal spots where you can go to get that perfect picture of the Sign”) but you can’t sell it. Ditto for some other private buildings, as well as things like Hershey’s Kisses, Crayola crayons, Lego bricks, Las Vegas hotels, and more. Remember, this only applies to selling images. So yes, you can publish a picture of your six year old drawing with a Crayola crayon on your Web site. And if there’s news value, you’re also in the clear.
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What people can do to you If you are on public property, you have the right to be left alone. People cannot badger you to stop taking photos, nor can they threaten you (physically or otherwise, and that includes threatening to call the police). Private citizens, including security guards, do not have the right to confiscate your equipment or to require you to erase your memory cards (or film). They do not have the right to threaten you in order to make you do so “voluntarily.” If you are on private property, the owner of that property (or his representative — e.g., a security guard) can make permission to be on that property contingent upon your compliance. In other words, “Stop taking pictures and erase your memory card or I’m kicking you out.” Failure to abide by this could make you guilty of trespassing, but the photos you take would probably still be legal. What can a store owner or manager legally do? •
Ask you to stop photographing. Failure to stop could mean you are trespassing.
•
Ask you to leave. Failure to leave could mean you are trespassing.
•
Ask you to erase your memory card as a condition to remaining. You can choose to erase it or leave the property; failure to do either one or the other could mean you are trespassing.
•
Ask you to do stop shooting and leave. Failure to comply could mean you are trespassing.
He or she can’t demand you erase your memory card or turn over your equipment. That’s called theft. He can’t threaten you physically or by saying he’ll call the police. That’s coercion. He can’t prevent you from leaving until you comply. That’s kidnapping or false imprisonment. Law enforcement officials similarly cannot confiscate your equipment without a court order or if they are placing you under arrest. Neither can they destroy your property — and that includes deleting images or exposing film — without a court’s permission. Of course, they tend to have muscles and guns, which may make it hard to assert your rights. They also, however, have badge numbers and superiors.
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What you can do Know your rights. When someone says, “What gives you the right to take these pictures?” know the proper response: “We’re in a public place” or “I actually don’t need permission.” If a security guard demands your camera or memory card and won’t let you leave without turning it over, ask (as Burt Krages suggests) whether you’re free to go and what they will do if you attempt to leave. Let them know that they are about to be guilty of kidnapping or false imprisonment and yes, you will press charges. Always be polite — firm, but polite. Tell the person that you understand his concerns, but what you’re doing is legal. If someone asks you not to take a photo of her (or her kids, or whatever) and it’s no big deal, don’t. The more polite photographers people encounter the better it is for all of us. That doesn’t mean back down whenever someone asks you not to shoot, but weigh the long-term cost of making a big deal about it. Stand firm with the police. If it’s the police demanding that you destroy your pictures or turn over your equipment, say (politely) that you don’t want to. If they press the point, ask what law you are violating, and under what authority he is asking you to do so. Ask if you are under arrest. If you are not, remind him that he can’t confiscate you property. Keep phrases like this in mind: “I’m sorry, but you can’t demand that I destroy my property just because you don’t like it.” Unless you are interfering with the police’s ability to perform their jobs — standing in the middle of the street, or getting in their way — you can’t be arrested for “Not doing what a cop tells you to.” Correction: A cop can arrest you for whatever he likes. But it won’t stand up in court and won’t look good for him. But being polite and reasonably accommodating can go a long way to avoiding the whole situation. If he asks you to “move over there,” maybe it’s a good idea to do so. Carry a voice recorder. Most digital models have enough storage to record for six, eight, or even more hours. If you get into a situation that might be, shall we say, dicey, start recording. If a cop claims you were being belligerent and you can produce a recording of just the opposite, you’re in good shape. Ditto for private citizens. I speak from experience. Important: In 12 states — CA, CT, FL, IL, MD, MA, MI, MT, NV, NH, PA, WA — you need to have the consent of all parties in a conversation in order to record it. So if you’re in one of the 38 states with a “one-party consent” law, you should be all right. But in these 12, either have the recorder in plain view, use a video camera in plain view, or skip it. Get photo-recovery software. It allows you to recover deleted images from your memory cards. Many products (see “Resources”) are free and relatively simple to use. If put in a position where you are forced to erase your pictures, even if it’s not legal for someone to demand it, you can always recover them later. A list of such software is available at www.ultimateslr.com/memory-card-recovery.php. You can also search on the words photo recovery freeware.
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References Photographers’ Guide to Privacy, from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: www.rcfp.org/photoguide. Journalists’ Right of Privacy Primer by Mark Sableman of Thompson Coburn in St. Louis: tinyurl.com/6f7tjr (http://www.mobar.org/4d443753-26ac-4b19-b05e-d5b54122bcb3.aspx), from the Missouri Bar’s Missouri Media Law Handbook. Interview with Mr. Sableman, December 16, 2005. Key quote: I don't see why the act of trespass would turn something that occurs during the trespass into a tort if it wasn't one already. Particularly in the case of a shopping mall, where there is a reasonable basis for someone to believe that he or she has rights to be there like any general business invitee, and that situation doesn't change until an authorized person utters the magic words “get off my property!”, I don't see why things done in the course of leaving the property would take on any special liability. The Photographer’s Right, by Bert P. Krages, an attorney in Portland, Ore and author of Legal Handbook for Photographers—The Rights and Liabilities of Making Images: www.krages.com/phoright.htm. Interview with Mr. Krages, December 16, 2005. Key quote: [S]tates generally will treat this issue in one of the following ways (1) making publication a factor that goes into the damages for trespass or (2) not finding liability for the publication aspect. The American Law Institute’s A Concise Restatement of Torts by University of Virginia professor Kenneth S. Abraham (on the Harvard Law Web site): cyber.law.harvard.edu/privacy/Privacy_R2d_Torts_Sections.htm
© 2008 Andrew C. Kantor. Some rights reserved. You have the right to copy and distribute this document for non-commercial use provided the following conditions are met: 1. You do not make money from it, directly (e.g., by selling it) or indirectly (e.g., by selling advertising on a page containing it). 2. You inform the author that you’re publishing and/or distributing it. (He just likes to know.) 3. You make no changes to the document, including to the author information; anyone who receives it should know where it came from. You may, however, add content as you see fit provided it is clear the additional content comes from you and is not part of the original document.
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Focal Point
JUNE 2011
Advanced Portrait and Skin Retouching - by Michael Kirwan
Many of the Photoshop techniques used for skin enhancement rely on either blurring, typically Gaussian Blur or Surface Blur, or noise, typically Median Noise and to some extent they work quite well. But whichever method you use, you are blurring the skin which can destroy or degrade the natural texture of the skin. The blur and noise methods also do not work optimally for high end printing, especially portrait sized prints of 16”x20” or larger. The method described in this article overcomes the problem of loosing skin detail and texture, but at the same time smoothes the skin to give the look needed in most portraits. So how does this technique work? Well it splits the image into two component frequency layers. The first layer contains the low frequency component which is used to smooth the skin. The second layer contains the high frequency components, which contains the skin texture and detail. So the low frequency layer creates a nice looking skin, by smoothing the transition between light and dark areas of the skin. The High Frequency Layer contains all the texture and skin detail. In addition the High Frequency Layer can be used as a retouching layer which can make this a pretty efficient process. So let’s run through this process step by step Step 1
Open your image and duplicate the image; Image>Duplicate. This will keep your original which you can keep open to compare the changes you are making
Step 2
With the duplicate image open create two layer copies – hit Command or Control J twice (love these keyboard shortcuts)
Step 3
Rename the first layer copy “Low Frequency”
Step 4
Rename the second layer copy “High Frequency”
Step 5
Select the Low Frequency Layer and apply a Gaussian Blur, radius 10 pixels
Step 6
This is the interesting part. Select Image>Apply Image, in the dialog box enter the following; Layer, select “Low Frequency”; Mode “Subtract”; Scale 2 and Offset 128 and hit OK.
Step 7
With the High Frequency Layer selected in the Layers Panel, change the blending mode to “Linear Light”
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Northern California Professional Photographers
Focal Point
JUNE 2011
Advanced Portrait and Skin Retouching - by Michael Kirwan Step 8
OK so now we are done with the frequency separations. So let’s go ahead and work on our skin. We will first apply our skin smoothing, select the Low Frequency Layer and Duplicate. Rename this layer, “Skin Smoothing”
Step 9
Apply a Surface Blur to the Smooth Skin layer. I use a value of 15 with a Threshold of 100. Your mileage may vary so experiment.
Step 10
Now create a Layer Mask filled with black
Step 11
Select your paintbrush set the color to white with Flow and Opacity both set to 100%. Now carefully paint over the skin. By comparing the results against your original you will see the skin being smoothed while still retaining texture and detail. Once you are done you can go to the next optional step
Step 12
Go to the High Frequency Layer and begin your retouching; Healing Brush, Patch Tool, Clone Stamp. You can also use this layer for dodging and burning the eyes, lashes etc.
Now let’s go through the process with a real example.
Figure 1: Original RAW file
The photographer took a very nice image, but on close inspection, the skin has some blotchy irregularities and is a tad soft, especially the eyes and lips. This is a great candidate for this skin technique.
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Northern California Professional Photographers
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JUNE 2011
Advanced Portrait and Skin Retouching - by Michael Kirwan First we are going to create the Low Frequency and High Frequency layers hit CMD-J (Mac) or CTL-J (PC) two times and name the layers. Your Layers Panel should look like this:
Now select the Low Frequency Layer, go to Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur and select a radius of 10 pixels and click OK. Now select the High Frequency Layer and go to Image>Apply Image>
In the dialog box: Layer = Low Frequency Blending = Subtract Scale = 2 Offset = 128 Click OK, and your image should look something like this.
Now go to the Layers Panel and change the Layer Mode to Linear Light; and your image should look more normal, like this:
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Northern California Professional Photographers
Focal Point
JUNE 2011
Advanced Portrait and Skin Retouching - by Michael Kirwan
If you have gotten this far, you have successfully separated the image into the High Frequency and Low Frequency components. As mentioned earlier, we will use the Low Frequency Layer to smooth the skin and the High Frequency Layer for retouching. We will start with the skin smoothing. Select the Low Frequency Layer and Duplicate and name the layer “Smooth Skin� With the Smooth Skin layer selected, go to Filters>Blur>Surface Blur and select a Radius of 15 pixels with the Threshold at 100. Depending on the size and bit depth of your image, this filter can take some time to run, so be patient, it will be worth the wait. When it has finished we need to add a Layer Mask filled with Black, hold the ALT key and click the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers Panel. Once this is done, select your Paint Brush, set the Opacity and Flow to 100% and the brush color to white. Painting with white will allow the smoothing to show through. Be careful not to paint over the eyes, lips, eyebrows and cloths. Once you have completed the painting you will see the skin has been smoothed and looks much, much better.
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Northern California Professional Photographers
Focal Point
JUNE 2011
Advanced Portrait and Skin Retouching - by Michael Kirwan
This is the result of the Skin Smoothing, looks much better and as you can see has retained the detail of the skin and texture. Now if necessary we can move to the High Frequency Layer to complete the retouching, using Healing Brush, Patch, Clone etc. After some retouching and a small amount of Dodging and Burning (D&B) and Highlight enhancement we end up with this final image. I use separate layers for D&B, I create a new layer with the mode set to “Soft Light� and filled with 50% grey. I set my paint brush Flow to 7% and Opacity to 15% and use this to further smooth or emphasize detail in the image. The advantage of this approach is the D&B is non-destructive.
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Northern California Professional Photographers
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JUNE 2011
Advanced Portrait and Skin Retouching - by Michael Kirwan
The final image looks pretty good and the client was very pleased with the results.
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Northern California Professional Photographers
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JUNE 2011
NCPP Proudly Presents on Tuesday, July 12th: Joerg Lehmann This program will cover the essentials of studio lighting for the portrait photographer. Starting from the basic properties of light: quality, direction, quantity and color, Joerg will introduce lighting concepts and discusses various types of studio lights. Triggering options will be compared and the use and advantages of light modifier such as softboxes, umbrellas and grids will be explored. Joerg will explain function and use of the different lights in portrait setups, such as main, fill, accent (kicker, hair) and background lights. He will show lighting patterns and discuss their effects. After showing possible setups for high key and low key lighting in the studio, Joerg will venture outside the studio and show how he combines ambient light with strobe lighting for the best effect. The program is supported by BayPhoto and by Cottage Industry Designs. Bio: As a third generation photographer Joerg Lehmann has been taking pictures since a young age. According to his great grandmother, his very first word, uttered while being pushed by her in a cart through a cold winter night in Germany, was "Licht" (light). To this day, Joerg is excited about light and he shares his excitement with photographers in programs, classes and lighting workshops, partially as his way of giving back to the community but mainly to have fun with likeminded people. Joerg is a Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) and holds the degree of a Photographic Craftsman. He is also certified by Special Kids Photography of America (SPKA), with specific training to sensitively work with children with special needs. Joerg strongly believes in professional organizations. He has served on the board and as president of his PPA affiliate and he is currently a PPA councilor and CPP liaison and print judge. While the goal of his work is to create images for his clients and himself, he considers himself fortunate in that some of his photographs have been recognized in competitions from the regional to the international level.
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Northern California Professional Photographers
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JUNE 2011 Membership Information
Contact Stacey Flurscheim with / for any Membership Information Stacey Flurscheim @ 925-330-7130 If you have comments or information regarding new applicants, please send them to: Stacey Flurscheim, NCPP Membership Chair: membership@ncpponline.org PROSPECTIVE NCPP MEMBERS
WELCOME NEW NCPP MEMBERS Stephen (Tony) Gotelli - Aspiring Business Name 1108 Springfield Ct., Antioch, CA 94531 Ph: 925-550-9400 Email: tonygotelli@mac.com Websites: Sponsor: Stacey Flurscheim
Marilyn Cunningham - Aspiring Business Name 1421 Lydia Lane, Clayton, CA 94517 Ph: 925-200-0413 Email: info@marilyncunningham.com Websites: Sponsor: Wayne Miller
NorCalProPhotogs - Meetup NCPP has a new web presence with a Meetup group. Join NorCalPhotogs now for free. NCP-Meet-Up 32
Northern California Professional Photographers
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JUNE 2011 NCPP Member Awards
NCPP Past Presidents 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Michael Van Auken Judy Host Jim Fidelibus Linda Johnson Walter Guasch Kimberly Peterson Jim Fidelibus
2005 2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011
Michael Gan Michael Gan Laura Cottril Leslie Artis-Gan Brent Walton Randy Cazinha Wayne Miller
NCPP Member of the Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Peg Jackson Michael Van Auken Jim Fidelibus Jim Fidelibus Kay Simon Shelly Najera Linda Johnson
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Heather M. Whiting Michael Gan Laura Cottril Tom O'Connor Brent Walton Wayne Miller
2005 2006 2007 2007 2008 2009 2010
Richard Stahlberg Leslie Artis-Gan Michael Van Auken - Tie Richard Stahlberg - Tie Richard Stahlberg Wayne Miller Wayne Miller
Photographer of the Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Peg Jackson Jim Fidelibus Richard Stahlberg Michael Gan Richard Stahlberg Shelly Najera Leslie Artis
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JUNE 2011 NCPP Member Degrees
PPA Master Craftsman Photographers Lisa Evans Peg Jackson Michael Gan Judy Host Leslie Artis-Gan
PPA Master Photographers Jim Fidelibus Linda Johnson Deidre Ligenfelter Mary Small
PPA Craftsman Photographers Denny Weigand Wayne Miller
PPA Certified Professional Photographers Leslie Artis-Gan Dana Smith Laura Cottril Richard Stahlberg Lisa Duncan Arleen Thomas Michael Gan Darleen Tom Jill Hager Denny Weigand Judy Host Wayne Miller Greta Heintz Brent Walton Tammy Hughes Pam Biasotti Linda Johnson Jennifer Chesterman Scott Kouns
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Jennifer Fink Stacey Flurscheim Nicole Gee Tod Gomes Ann Gordon Malcolm Slight Terry Riggins Mary Small
Northern California Professional Photographers
Focal Point
JUNE 2011
PPA Merit & Degree Programs & PPCC Certification Professional Photographic Certification Commission If you are interested in becoming a Certified Professional Photographer, Master of Photography, Master of Electronic Imaging or a Photographic Craftsman, click here. Or, contact Wayne Miller or Denny Weigand PPA CPP Liaisons. This link will take you to the PPA website and you will see the page shown below. The image below is just a screen shot of the website, the links are not hot on this screen shot.
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Northern California Professional Photographers
Focal Point
JUNE 2011
NCPP Membership Classifications and Fees for 2011
Professional Active: Annual Dues $135. A professional photographer is an individual who on a regular basis, takes and sells photographs or photographic services. Must satisfy federal, state (resale permit), & local license requirements. Professional Active members have full membership privileges (Free meetings, voting, use of NCPP logo for self promotional use, and image competition). Aspiring*: Annual Dues $135. An individual who does not work in the photographic field, or derive any income from photography but plans to enter the profession. Limited to one year. Membership privileges: meetings and entering image competition, but may not vote, hold office or use the NCPP logo. May not actively sell photography or advertise/promote themselves as a photographer for hire. Limited 20% enrolment. Student*: Annual Dues $50. Members preparing for a career in the photography and currently enrolled in a school as a full time student. Applicant must show evidence for enrollment. Membership privileges: meetings and entering image competition, but may not vote, hold office or use the NCPP logo. Limited 10% enrolment. Sustaining: Annual Dues $150. Membership issued to the business name of the organization, which is a supplier, vendor, or manufacturer of photographic materials, supplies or photographic services. One representative of the organization shall have meeting privileges only, additional pay guest fees. * Aspiring & Student Classifications must assist/help six events per year to maintain classification or move to Professional Active.
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Northern California Professional Photographers
Focal Point
JUNE 2011 Focal Point Advertising Information
Advertising Costs: 11 Issues per year NCPP Members: • •
You supply camera ready art work and text. 1/4 page for 3 months per year - Free
Additional / Larger Ads: • • • •
1/4 Page for 3 months $25 1/2 Page for 3 months $50 Full Page for 3 months $75 Change to ad $25
Ad sizes are: • 1/4 Page: 4-1/4” Wide x 5-1/2” High • 1/2 Page: 8-1/2” Wide x 5-1/2” High • Full Page: 8-1/2” Wide x 11” High Spec is: • Jpg @ 94ppi • Color Space: sRGB • Include at least 1/8” of white space at the outer edges the sizes listed above.
Note: Members can use the Yahoo Group email to advertise at no cost. Sustaining Members: • •
You supply camera ready art work and text. Full Page per year - Free
Non Members/Non Sustaining Members: • •
You supply camera ready art work and text. Full Page per year - $500
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Northern California Professional Photographers
Focal Point
JUNE 2011 NCPP Sustaining Members
Sustaining Members are companies that manufacture or distribute photographic equipment, laboratories, publishers or firms providing services to photographers. These Sustaining Members also contribute to the welfare of NCPP, with monetary and technical support. Sustaining Members may participate in all NCPP events, however they may not vote or hold office. We encourage our NCPP members to support our Sustaining Members. If you are interested in becoming a Sustaining Member, contact Denny Weigand. 925-336-7994 or E-mail @ digitalwhims@comcast.net -Listed Alphabetically-
THE ART OF PICTURE FRAMING APF is a full-service wholesale custom framing facility. We work closely with Fine Art and Framing Galleries, Interior Designers, Professional Photographers, Art Consultants, Retailers and others in need of custom framing at wholesale prices. APF specializes in creating custom programs or packages to your individual business or market needs. We offer superior quality with flexible pricing to fit your individual needs. Contact: Mike Moretti 1084 Shary Circle, #B Concord, CA 94518 (Located behind Costco) E-mail: apfwholesale@sbcglobal.net 925-689-5177 web: http://stores.apfwholesale.com/StoreFront.bok
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Northern California Professional Photographers
Focal Point
JUNE 2011 NCPP Sustaining Members
BAY PHOTO LAB Contact: Debbie Thomas E-mail: debbie@bayphoto.com 510-585-7049 web: http://www.bayphoto.com/ 2161 Delaware Ave. Santa Cruz, CA 95060 800-435-6686 fax: 931-475-5257
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Northern California Professional Photographers
Focal Point
JUNE 2011 NCPP Sustaining Members
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Northern California Professional Photographers
Focal Point
JUNE 2011 NCPP Sustaining Members
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Northern California Professional Photographers
Focal Point
JUNE 2011 NCPP Sustaining Members
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Northern California Professional Photographers
Focal Point
JUNE 2011 NCPP Sustaining Members
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Northern California Professional Photographers
Focal Point
JUNE 2011 Our Neighboring Affiliates
PPC Professional Photographers of California Affiliates
City
Company Name â–˛
Phone
All Valley Professional Photographers - AVPP
La Canada Flintridge
(818) 262-7903
Associated Image Makers - AIM
Fairfield
1-888-442-6606
Central Valley Professional Photographers - CVPP
Fresno
559 266-0305
Channel Islands Professional Photographers Association - CIPPA
Camarillo
(805) 573-7637
Gold Coast Professional Photographers Association - GCPPA
Pismo Beach
805 733-5197
Inland Empire Professional Photographers & Videographers - IEPPV
Riverside
951-737-7310
Northern California Professional Photographers - NCPP
Walnut Creek
925 330-8737
Professional Photographers of California
Escondido
Professional Photographers of Los Angeles County - PPLAC
Culver city
(818) 344-0671
Professional Photographers of North Valley - PPNV
Redding
530-241-2191
Professional Photographers of Orange County - PPOC
Mission Viejo
949.916.2471
Professional Photographers of Sacramento Valley - PPSV
Sacramento
530 363-0138
Professional Photographers of San Diego County - PPSDC
San Diego
(858) 695-9563
Professional Photographers of Santa Barbara County - PPSBC
Santa Barbara
(805) 403-6556
Professional Photographers of Santa Clara Valley - PPSCV
San Jose
408 244-2293
Professional Photographers of the Greater Bay Area - PPGBA
So. San Francisco
530 574-6033
Professional Photographers of the Redwood Empire - PPRE
Santa Rosa
707 548-1181
Stanislaus Professional Photographers - SPP
Modesto
209 847-0540
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Web Site
Northern California Professional Photographers
NCPP
1
2011‐2012
A
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
2011
Jun-11
Jul-11
Aug-11
Sep-11
Oct-11
Nov-11
Dec-11
Jan-12
2011
2
SAT
1
3
SUN
2
1
2012
SUN
SAT
4
MON
1
3‐
2
MON
5
TUE
2
4
1
3
TUE
6
WED
1
3‐
5
2
4
WED
7
THUR
2
4
1
6
3‐
1
5
THUR
8
FRI
3
1
5
2
7
4
2
6
FRI
9
SAT
4
2
6
3‐
8
5
3‐
7
SAT
10
SUN
5
3‐
7
4
9
6
4
8
SUN
11
MON
6
4th of JULY
8
5
10
7
5
9
MON
12
TUE
7
5
9‐Meeting
6
11‐Meeting
8‐Meeting
6
10‐Meeting
TUE
13
WED
8
6
10
7
12
9
7
11
WED
14
THUR
9
7
11
8
13
10
8
12
THUR
15
FRI
10
8
12
9
14
11
9
13
FRI
16
SAT
11
9
13
10
15
12
10
14
SAT
17
SUN
12
10
14
11
16
13
11
15
SUN
18
MON
13
11
15
12
17
14
12
16
MON
19
TUE
14‐Meeting
12‐Meeting
16
13‐Meeting
18
15
13‐NO meeting
17
TUE
20
WED
15
13
17
14
19
16
14
18
WED
21
THUR
16
14
18
15
20
17
15
19
THUR
22
FRI
17
15
19
16
21
18
16
20
FRI
23
SAT
18
16
20
17
22
19
17
21
SAT
24
SUN
19
17
21
18
23
20
18
22
SUN
25
MON
20
18
22
19
24
21
19
23
MON
26
TUE
21
19
23
20
25-FP Due
22
20
24
TUE
27
WED
22
20
24
21
26
23
21
25 FP Due 25-FP
WED
28
THUR
23
21
25-FP Due
22
27
24
22
26
THUR
29
FRI
24
22
26
23
28
25-FP Due
23
27
FRI
30
SAT
BUSINESS 101
23
27
24
29
26
24
28
SAT
31
SUN
26-FP Due
24
28
25-FP Due
30-FP Pub
27
25
29
SUN
32
MON
27
25-FP Due
29
26
28
26
30-Fp Pub
MON
30-FP Pub
31
33
TUE
28
26
27
29
27
34
WED
29
27
28
30-FP Pub
28
WED
35
THUR
30-FP Pub
28
29
29
THUR
31
29
30-FP Pub
30-
36
FRI
37
SAT
38
SUN
39
2011
TUE
FRI
30-FP Pub
SAT SUN
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
JANUARARY
2011
Focal Point
JUNE 2011
I
Sunset Table
This information is for Walnut Creek. You can obtain sunset times for other locations at http://www.sunrisesunset.com/ 46
Northern California Professional Photographers