The Photographer - December/January 2018

Official Publication of the Texas Professional Photographers Association, Inc.

VOLUME 53- #1 Dec/Jan 2018

ON THE COVER The cover image of TPPA President, Tammy Graham, and her husband of 30 years, Greg, was made by Vicky Kemp. Vicky took the image at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.

Tammy and Greg have two children, Taylor and Preston, as well as seven grandchildren.

Vicky has been a full-time employee at Tammy’s studio for the last year and a half.

Read more about Tammy on page 8.

Magazine Editor

Bill Hedrick, M.Photog.Cr. 1506 E. Leach St. Kilgore, TX 75662 903-985-1080 Editor@ThePhotographerOnline.com

Executive Director

Steve Kozak, M.Photog.Cr 5323 Fig Tree Lane Grand Prairie, TX 77052 972-601-9070 Steve@tppa.org

Printing by

Complete Printing & Publishing 1501 W. Panola Carthage, TX 75633 800-964-9521 www.CompletePrinting.com

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Plan for Success

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Meet Tammy Graham

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A Message from TPPA President, Tammy Graham

TPPA President 2018 by Bill Hedrick

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Texas School 2018

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Anatomy of an Outdoor Portrait

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Creating a Brand Name

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Shooting Fashion Editorials

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Earning the Money You Deserve!

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Taking Ordinary to Extraordinary

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Surprise and Delight

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Extraordinary Rebranding for Now

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Controlling Light Direction

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Psychology of Portrait Pricing

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Dodging & Burning Techniques

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Drone Photography

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The History of White Balance

It Will Change Your Life! by Don Dickson

Preplanning to Delivery by Don MacGregor

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Important for Your Business by Mary Fisk-Taylor

How It All Happens by Steve Ellinger

What Determines Success? by William Branson III

Don’t Overlook a Masterpiece! by Kimberly Smith

Delivering a Masterpiece by Gregory Daniel

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It’s Time for a Make-Over by Marilyn Sholin

Front, Side, and Rim Lighting by Alison Carlino

A Helpful Analogy that Makes Sense by Bry Cox

Photoshop Tips by Ross Benton

Some Like It RAW by Randy Braun

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100 Years of History by Rob Hull

THE PHOTOGRAPHER is the official publication of the Texas Professional Photographers Association, Inc. Acceptance of advertising or publishing of press releases does not imply endorsement of any product or service by this association, publisher, or editor. Permission is granted to similar publications of the photographic industry to reprint contents of this publication, provided that the author and this publication are credited as the source. Articles, with or without photographs, are welcomed for review for inclusion. However, the editor reserves the right to refuse publication, or if accepted, the right to edit as necessary. For more information, visit www.ThePhotographerOnline.com. Send all communications, articles, or advertising to: THE PHOTOGRAPHER, 1506 E. Leach St., Kilgore, TX 75662. Phone (903) 985-1080, or Editor@ThePhotographerOnline.com.

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2018 TPPA Executive Council President Tammy Graham l

Tammy@locationsphotography.com

3300 Joyce Drive, Ft. Worth, TX 76116 (817) 300-0780

Vice-President Ross Benton l

Ross@StudioBenton.com

Plan for Success

1876 Nacogdoches Rd., San Antonio, TX 78209 (210) 804-1188

Treasurer Marla Horn l

Marla@ahh-photography.com

10716 Camelot Dr., Frisco, TX 75035 (972) 567-8613

Secretary Jenny Rhea Eisenhauer l

photographybyjennyrhea@hotmail.com

12218 Old Stage Trail, Austin, TX 78750 (512) 626-3309

Councilman-at-Large Doc List l

doc@doclistphotography.com

6001 W. Parmer Ln., Austin, TX 78727 (512) 924-9248

Councilman-at-Large Cris Duncan l

cjduncan@mac.com

2402 Slide Rd., Lubbock, TX 79407 (806) 781-2747

Chairman of the Board Trey Homan

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s we knock on the door of a new year, it is a great time to look ahead and start planning for success. I can honestly say that with my own business, success started when I joined TPPA. While many other associations are struggling, TPPA is thriving and growing and it is easy to see why.

TPPA gives us the opportunity to learn from countless others who were willing to share their knowledge to help our members learn the skills required of a professional photographer and to be able to earn a living doing what they love.

As the largest affiliate of PPA, TPPA sets the standards of education that others can only dream of and we have come to expect. For example, Texas School (April 22-27) is attended by over 1000 photographers from almost every state in the US. When you look at the value you receive for the cost to attend, there is nothing that can touch it. If you are a TPPA member, you should be at Texas School. Registration opens at 11PM CST on January 3rd.

l

Trey@ehoman.com

17222 Classen Rd., San Antonio, TX 78247 (210) 497-3809

Executive Director Steve Kozak

While you are waiting for Texas School to get here, take one of the awesome Texas 10 workshops that take place in February and March. These workshops are held throughout the state and are taught by fellow TPPA members, usually in their studio. These workshops are kept very small so you are sure to get lots of individual attention.

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Steve@tppa.org

5323 Fig Tree Ln., Grand Prairie, TX 77052 (972) 601-9070

Texas School Director Don Dickson l

Don@DonDickson.com

1501 West 5th, Plainview, TX 79072 (806) 296-2276

Magazine Editor Bill Hedrick l

Editor@ThePhotographerOnline.com

1506 E. Leach St., Kilgore, TX 75662 (903) 985-1080

PPA Councilors Gabriel Alonso (Ft. Worth), Brad Barton (Grand Prairie), Don Dickson (Plainview), Elizabeth Homan (San Antonio), Trey Homan (San Antonio), Stephanie Ludlow (Round Rock), Fonzie Munoz (Corpus Christi), Randy Pollard (Victoria), Cliff Ranson (McAllen).

TPPA also produces one of the most unique photographic education events, TPPA Summerfest. What makes this so special is that photographers can attend three and half days of photographic education and inspiration and include a fantastic getaway for the entire family. Summerfest takes place at the La Torretta Lakeside Resort on Lake Conroe where family members enjoy a water park, a championship golf course, boating and fishing and much more. Summerfest takes place June 24-27.

PhotoGenesis is our fall conference that will take place October 12-14 in Grapevine. Big changes are in store for PhotoGenesis 2018 including a number of unique excursions and an awesome trade show. There will be a lot of excitement with our new approach to PhotoGenesis, so make your plans to be there.

When I joined TPPA, I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to serve on the leadership team, much less as President. I am honored to be able to give back to this association I love, and I look forward to seeing you in person at one our wonderful TPPA events!

Tammy Graham TPPA President

To contact any of your PPA Councilors, you may obtain their phone numbers from the TPPA Membership Directory or visit the TPPA website at www.tppa.org Complete financial information on Texas Professional Photographers Association is available to any TPPA member by contacting Steve Kozak, Executive Director, 5323 Fig Tree Ln., Grand Prairie, TX 77052 Steve@tppa.org

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If you are not a member of Texas PPA, this is my personal invitation to you to join!

Email Steve Kozak, TPPA Executive Director, at Steve@tppa.org or call 972-601-9070.

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Samples showing the variety of work

by Tammy Graham. “To be successful today, you must be more than just a good photographer. You must be fully committed to the business and marketing part of the business,” says Tammy.

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ife is often like a box of chocolates because you don’t always know what you’re going to get. But there are those who have their eye on the future and take each new day as an opportunity. Instead of giving up, they look for a way to overcome obstacles and to shoot for the stars. Those are the ones who make good leaders who encourage others. Tammy Graham has weathered the storm of our changing profession for over 18 years and her studio in Fort Worth, Texas, stands as a reminder that it is possible for a studio to survive and even prosper in spite of it all.

She is a “country girl by heart” and was raised on a dairy farm and her personal journey in photography began when she was only 7 years old. “My Dad had purchased a new Konica 35mm camera and gave it to me and told me to read the manual and explain it to him. Then, he could have his camera back. He never got his camera back,” she recalls.

Since 1998, it has been her profession. At first, she worked for other photographers in the area but eventually opened her own studio. Her only regret is that she did not do it earlier.

While other studio photographers have scaled back, moved to a home studio, or have gotten out of photography altogether, Tammy still maintains a store-front operation at 3300 Joyce Drive in Fort Worth. It is a beautiful, modern studio with finished concrete floors, three sliding barn doors, and a backyard fully equipped with all kinds of props and settings. But, as everyone knows, having a commercial location does not necessarily bring in clients. That’s where persistence and the willingness to adapt and to change come into play.

“To be successful today, you must be more than just a good photographer,” she explains. “You must be fully committed to the business and marketing part of the business.” Admittedly, Tammy is one who actually enjoys the “business end” of our profession. “During my own career, I’ve known some great photographers who simply had no interest in the business part, something that became essential as the profession changed.” She was determined to not make that mistake. “I’m not sure if it is a left-brain vs. right-brain thing, but I believe you must be a little of both today.”

When the digital revolution took place, Tammy saw it as “just another tool” for photographers to use and embraced the technology. But it was social media that changed the way she had to market to her clients. However, not all clients respond to the same marketing strategy. “Much of my work is of high school seniors,” says Tammy, who provides this service to both private and public schools. “I’ve learned that you use one type of marketing strategy for private students at one time of the year and then another strategy for public students at a different time of the year.” Although most of her marketing concept involves social media (Instagram, FaceBook, Twitter, etc.), Tammy also does direct mail pieces. “Whatever you do, you must have a marketing plan to begin with. Too many have failed when they simply tried a ‘shotgun’ approach to marketing. But, you still must have a good product.”

There is also the personal connection with her clients that sets Tammy apart from other photographers. She works hard to create and to maintain those relationships long after she delivers their portraits. The goal is to make each client a friend for life and those relationships can be emotional. One of the more memorable events took place when Tammy photographed a

by BILL HEDRICK

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young lady who had received a heart transplant. “She was feeling great and having a wonderful time but, as she reminded all of us, it could be gone in an instant. We lost her the following year.”

Even so, there are many who doubt the relevance of photography as a profession today and Tammy does not pretend to predict the future of professional photography. “I feel sorry for people who have all of their family history on their phone. Even worse, they rarely back up anything.

Some day, it will all disappear. You rarely see nice, well-made family portraits hanging on the walls of homes anymore either. Some of this is due to the ‘minimalistic’ views of today’s consumers, something that is taught to them by some interior decorators,” she says. So, if this is a fashion trend, can it change some day? Could it mean a re-birth of a profession that has seen its share of hardships the last decade or two?

“You will have to ask God that, not me.”

Of course, experience is often one’s best teacher and Tammy has been at this long enough to have some good advice for those just starting out in photography today. Most of her formal training has come from the Texas School of Professional Photography, a fantastic resource available to anyone who is serious

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about photography and who loves photography. But Tammy also has some personal advice to both established photographers who find themselves struggling at times as well as new photographers who are charging unknown waters. “You are important. Don’t give up, and never stop learning.”

She will also tell anyone how important it is to “give back” to those who have helped you. That is why Tammy is involved with Cook Children’s Hospital and donates her services to photographing families of those who donate money to the hospital and its mission. But she has also been involved with the Texas Professional Photographers Association and takes the reigns in January as its new President. Her knowledge, wisdom, and determination make her most suited for the job and her love for others makes her everyone’s friend for life.

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It Will Change Your Life!

The Texas School Experience

by Don Dickson

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he 2018 Texas School of Professional Photography will once again be held at the Intercontinental Hotel and Conference Center in Addison, Texas. Classes will be held April 22-27, 2018. Over 1,000 photographers attend Texas School each year and we look forward to another great year in 2018. The hotel, located north of Dallas, just off the North Dallas Toll Road, is the setting for this event.

The 523 room Intercontinental Hotel has agreed to a room rate of only $126, so more people will be able to stay at the host hotel. More information is available on the Texas School website at www.texasschool. org. You might want to go ahead and book your room because they will sell out fast.

Online registration for the 2018 Texas School begins at 11pm CST on January 3, 2018. Last year the first class booked in only three seconds with several others within two minutes! If you’ve never experienced Texas School, you’ve missed out on one of the best learning experiences available to photographers in the world. There will be at least 36 classes covering every topic imaginable and all are designed to help your business grow and be successful.

As everyone knows, the photography industry is changing. You have to be on top of your game. Texas School offers everyone the best education in the country and at the most affordable prices. Along with classroom instruction, there is a fun and exciting social life at Texas School with parties, meal events, entertainment and an impressive trade show. Another good reason to attend is that all evening meals will be FREE, thanks to our many sponsors. So, mark your calendar now for April 22-27, 2018, and come and see what the “Texas School Experience” is all about.

Registration Form and More Texas School Information at

photo of Ross Benton, Texas School Instructor

www.TexasSchool.org

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Bree Adams

Suzette Allen

Melanie Anderson

*Ross Benton

Doug Box

Gary Box

Ana Brandt

*William Branson III

Margaret Bryant

*Alison Carlino

Carl Caylor

Tony Corbell

*Bry Cox

Mitch Daniels

*Steve Ellinger

*Mary Fisk-Taylor

Jeff Gump

John Hartman

Jamie Hayes

*Rob Hull

Randy Kerr

Steve Kozak

*Don MacGregor

Dustin Meyer

Dave Montizambert

Sandra Pearce

Sandy Puc

Thom Rouse

*Marilyn Sholin

*Kimberly Smith

John Wilson

Chris Wunder

Elizabeth & Trey Homan

Richard Sturdevant

Billy Welliver

Cris & Deanna Duncan

Mike & Suzy Fulton

*Randy Braun & Stacy Garlington

Gary & Kathryn Meek

*Gregory & Lesa Daniel

*Instructors who have articles in this issue.

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The approach is very professional in that it is an engineered vision with composition and lighting skills that the public can’t do.

1. Consultation with clients to determine: wStyle of session (casual or formal, classic or relationship) wLocation (linked to image concept) wTime of day (natural light control or flash) wClothing (linked to concept and each person in balance) wDisplay options (pre-framing the potential sale) wPeople involved (number, ages and relationship) 2. The photographer must preplan the session: wLighting and equipment required wBackground choice, details that contribute to composition wPotential posing of people involved Pre planning the session is exactly what commercial photographers do and their work is stunning artistically and technically. In all cases one has to be fluid and prepared to modify a plan but at least there is a plan in place. Another positive for preplanning is it allows the photographer to interact with the people and build rapport which of course establishes winning expressions. Expressions are ultimately what people look at (think about your own experience when seeing yourself in a photograph). Also, pre planning allows you the ability to quickly solve any technical issues like exposure or lighting problems.

It is critical to show your client that you are completely confident and professional.

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nvironmental portraits, carefully designed and crafted, can create significant purchasing desire and ultimately higher sales. This style captures the essence of a family balanced with the beauty of the world we live in. Further, this style of portrait is ideal for enhancing the decor of a home (wall portraits). The photographers vision must combine the environment with the family…first and foremost, which is best done by bringing the family into the foreground of the composition.

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Beach Adventure (right) - Having photographed this family several times over the years in Vancouver, we explored the option of going to Tofino (a wild windswept area of Vancouver Island). They have special memories as a family (and all families have special memories) there which builds the emotional value of the portrait.

Meeting the family is important. You have to take control and have them embrace your ideas and that is done with enthusiasm and an explanation of what is going to happen and why you have chosen various locations. By talking with enthusiasm and describing your vision (don’t just say it is going to be beautiful … explain the composition and WHY it will be beautiful), your clients will buy into the project and that goes a long way to increase purchasing desire and making the sales process easier.

I arrived several hours before the session to explore the beaches in the area and try to determine exactly where the sun would go down as that would impact camera angle and the background. My vision was to have two concepts. One a classic “full face” composition and also a relationship style. To be successful with this kind of session, you have to have a game plan and an back up. As I walked about I looked for interesting natural scenes and tried to “see” potential portraits with the family and of course consider what conditions I would have in terms of lighting. I determined several options and decided all I needed was my B1 (Profoto) for lighting gear.

I chose the location based on the setting sun and the background.

We would still be in hard light so the goal was to back light the family. Exposure readings defined that the highlight exposure (and overall scene) was significantly greater than the shadow side. Flash was brought in from camera left to increase exposure to the shadow side such that it was roughly 1.5 stops less than the highlight side. A lot of post production work in LR and PS that took about an hour managed the difference in exposure.

Note that we put the clothing with the strongest issue (pattern) in the center.

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Sometimes it is the location itself that provides extraordinary elements for a superior group image. In the image below, my first impression of the location defined the diagonal lines of the grass from left to right, the hillside from right to left, and then the depth of the trees. The scene screamed of a location. I brought the people in and then the magic.

Mother nature kicked in with filtered light through the trees. Follow the lines of the people, the trees, the grass and all. That is the magic of the composition… there is a three dimensional feeling. The family was actually in pretty deep shade. Flash was introduced from camera right to open up the faces.

While hiking one day, I saw another opportunity that had potential. In the image on the right, the light and contrast at the scout time made the situation look awful. I realized that the sun would set to camera right and would slowly lower the contrast issue and planned this as close to sunset as possible. The composition strength is the diagonal line of the rock wall and the repetition of the posing of the family with that natural element. The family had NO light on them and everything was flat. The B1 provided light on their faces and was approximately 40 feet from the subjects. It metered as contributing approximately 40% to the final exposure. That means a gentle main light with good detail in faces.

(Top) Flash was introduced that was one stop less than the ambient scene. (Left) Diagonal lines from left to right and right to left, plus a little help from mother nature, contributed to the magic of the scene.

In the image on the title page, the sun was basically down and the subjects were not effected by the natural conditions because they were in deep shade. There was no light on their faces but the “scene” looked great. Flash was introduced such that it was approximately one stop less than the ambient scene. Matching the scene brightness (faces) would not look real. They should appear a bit darker than normal in this situation. Of course, all of the images shown here have had serious post production work (retouching) and that is now the normal approach for a professional image.

Don MacGregor is from Vancouver, BC, and will be teaching a class on “Lifestyle Environmental Portraiture” at Texas School ‘18. His class will cover composition and posing for individuals and groups, environmental light control, designing portraits for wall decor, sales, and much more. To learn more about Don MacGregor and his work, go to www.MacGregorStudios.com.

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wning and operating a photography business is as diverse as the art of photography itself.

There is no limit to the many styles, concepts, mediums, and genres of photography.

However, in order to maintain a profitable, sustainable, and satisfying business in such a creative field, there are some key elements that will keep business owners on the track to success. These concepts have proven themselves over time and the small businesses that choose to create and sell photography have found them to be essential to their personal, business, and financial goals.

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We all know that roads have curves, hills, and valleys. But, if creative business owners stay dedicated to these concepts, their journey will be much smoother, with fewer trials and tribulations.

This is not to say that there won’t be challenges along the way because, let’s face it, “shift happens” and we often find ourselves in a situation that must be modified, simplified, or amplified. However, those key concepts should never be abandoned. They simply need to be looked over and redesigned to address trends, new technology, and business opportunities that may come your way.

For example, mainstream portrait, wedding, and event photographers had to embrace digital photography many years ago in order to maintain a viable business. Most small business owners have to modify their entire advertising plan every few years to attract the next generation of potential new clients in order to stay relevant in the marketplace. To attract the Generation X clients, they had to create websites, blogs, and to understand the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). When they mastered that, or at least began to understand it, along came the Millennials and it became crucial to understand Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Vimeo, SnapChat, and every other social media platform that came along. Every one of these generations usually require a completely unique marketing and sales concept. However, one thing they all have in common is that they all desire and embrace a concept or brand.

The elements in a small, creative business that do not change should be considered the virtual foundation of the business itself.

When a business is built upon these key concepts, it gives the business room to grow with some flexibility and creativity but ensures a base strong and stable enough to create a sustainable business and livelihood in the realm of professional photography.

All successful businesses must have an established brand name with a substantial consumer reach. These businesses should strive to give platinum customer service 100% of the time and to offer unique and custom products. All of this has to be done in the simplest of systems. In today’s climate, most of our clients are extremely busy, and, while we must stay true to the foundation of our business, we should be flexible enough to consider their busy lives. They must be convinced that we can provide them with exactly what they want, even when they do not know what they want, and then photograph it to perfection and deliver the product and services with all of the excitement and approval they can imagine.

The definition of “branding” is “the marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products.” Beyond having a memorable logo, business card, website or social media platform, good branding increases the value of the business and gives you, your staff and your clients the exact direction in which you want them to go. Your brand should and will be a road map leading your clients and potential clients to the product lines and services you want to sell and offer.

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A “brand name” has been defined as, “the symbolic embodiment of all the information connected with a company, product or service. It also encompasses the set of expectations associated with a product or service which typically arise in the minds of people.” With this in mind, one can come to the conclusion that you, as the artist, business owner, studio employee, become a significant part of the brand and will be identified as the brand itself as your business grows and finds more success. In other words, your brand is not just a pretty logo. It is everything that you share, create and use to promote your business.

This could certainly be your portrait work, your social media or website blogs, and it is most certainly the partnerships you develop with local charities and like-minded businesses in your market area. Your brand can and will set the tone for so many preconceived ideas right out of the gate. It might be sharing exactly what you would like for them to think about your business, but it might not.

For example, if you want to sell fine art black and white wall installations and your brand is earth tones, giving potential buyers the impression that you are an environmental portrait artist, your brand has caused confusion right out of the gate. Unfortunately, confusion does not generate sales.

In today’s world, your target client buys a brand first and quality second. Quality is simply not enough. Professional photographers often take for granted that we create quality images, but we sell ourselves short if we do not capitalize on the things that set us apart from the competition. Therefore, it is vital to establish a unique look or style that makes your images recognizable as a product of your studio business. This will become your studio’s brand name.

Because most people make purchasing decisions based on emotion instead of logic, you must create an emotion in your prospects every time they see your brand. If consumers care and feel something about your brand, they have a reason to purchase those products and services. So, below are five reasons to turn your product into a “brand name.”

1. A successful brand name demands a premium price and garners greater name recognition. A Louis Vuitton handbag is not necessarily better than any other leather handbag, but the perception of quality and elegance allows them to be sold at a much greater price.

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2. Your client reach becomes greater. As your brand name develops and grows, so will your market area. Clients from outside your area will be more likely to use your services if you have a brand name which has proven desirable to others, and they would be willing to drive greater distances to have access to you and your services.

3. You will stand out amongst your competition. A distinctive photography style and image will be recognizable to those who see your work. This is, of course, your BRAND! 4. You will reduce your advertising costs. When you have secured a brand name in your market area, clients will come to you to own the brand name product. This will allow you to forego more traditional forms of advertising, such as direct mail, print advertising, etc., and rely on more word of mouth, charitable marketing or other partnership plans.

5. You will streamline your business. As your brand grows, so will the top products and services that you truly want to sell. This usually means that you are able to shift your sales and camera room focus to only selling those products and move away from selling the lower margin, higher production items that are usually not as profitable, more time-consuming and higher cost items. This allows you to concentrate fully on the products and services you want to sell and eventually cut out all of the leaner products that you no longer want to offer.

Regardless of their size, the most successful businesses are the ones who establish themselves as a leader in their industry by creating a strong brand. When these businesses focus on building valuable customer experiences, they easily transform customers into “brand ambassadors.”

Join Mary Fisk-Taylor and Jamie Hayes at Texas School ‘18 in their class, “The Best of Both Worlds.” This course is not just about business. It also covers the creative and technical aspects that result in products your customers love. More info available at www.HayesAndFisk.com.

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Fashion editorials always begin with an idea. It can be simple, or very complex involving dozens of team members. I thought readers might like to follow how a recent editorial titled “Ravishing in RED” was produced.

Like all editorial pieces, it starts with an idea. In this case, with the Fall season on the horizon, a very talented stylist, Ashley Nudge, represented by The Clutts Agency, a leading modeling agency, envisioned a piece focusing on how the bold color red would be a fashion trend this Fall.

Ashley has a degree in Merchandising and Digital Retail from North Texas State University, so she knows this business well. Keep in mind that Fall and Winter fashion editorials are usually shot in the summer so they can be ready for seasonal catalogues and publications, so all of this was shot and produced this past summer.

To develop the “idea,” the stylist creates a “mood board,” a graphic visual tool that contains ideas of the desired looks. The moods can be from art, fashion, patterns, architecture (which compliments fashion directly), or any other visual cue that the designer can draw from. A well thought-out mood board will also indicate the sequencing of the shoot so that the wardrobe changes can flow. Once the mood board is finalized, the stylist will consult with the photographer so that lighting, backdrops, locations, etc., can be determined. The shoot will often take place a month or so after the mood board is complete so that there is ample to time scout locations and assemble the team.

The team will typically include the photographer, a photographer’s assistant, the stylist, the stylist assistant, the make-up and hair artist/stylist, the model(s), and sometimes a general assistant to handle just whatever comes up. As you can see, there is a team of 5-8 people behind the scenes working to make the shoot a success, each focusing intently on their respective portion of the shoot to make certain the look is right. I cannot tell you how many times I was ready to pull the trigger on a certain shot when the stylist interrupts to make a small adjustment on the wardrobe, or the hair stylist must fix a small detail that I don’t see as the photographer. But that’s the level of detail that makes an editorial shoot work.

An editorial shoot cannot work without a model, and I mean a great model. I work pretty much exclusively with agencies and agency models. Agency models know how to emote, move, understand the lighting, and how to pose to showcase a wardrobe or accessory. This is critical. It’s all about the fashion, and a good agency model understands that. When the model arrives at the studio or location, they usually have not seen the mood board. I generally have a five-minute team meeting to go over the mood and concept before the model goes into make-up and hair. As soon as the model is ready and dressed in the first wardrobe, he or she goes on-set for the first look.

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am a firm believer that a great photoshoot must involve more than just a great photographer. It takes a TEAM. A team of specialists that know what they are doing to make things happen. I am a fashion and agency testing photographer. Fashion and agency testing is of the most unique and misunderstood areas of photography, probably since so few do it, or the fact that it is a very difficult area in which to build a presence. We all see magazines and articles that are editorial in nature featuring models wearing the latest fashions.

Did you ever wonder how those come to be, how they are organized and most importantly to you is how they are photographed?

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The studio environment is very fast paced. Most of my fashion and agency shoots take, on average, three hours. There is no time to adjust and set lights or backgrounds at that point, other than the initial light check. Time is money. The set should be ready to go as soon as the model goes on. As is with all photography, lighting and equipment is paramount. I shot this “Ravishing in RED” editorial using a simple white seamless background to make the red really pop. I used a simple

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lighting set up with only two strobes, a large 86” diffused silver PLM for the main light, and a large 4x6 softbox for the fill. I am convinced that simple lighting set-ups work best. Most fashion work tends to be a bit flat with the lighting so that details in the wardrobe are not lost. My go-to fashion lens is an 85mm 1.4 prime. I just love the focal length of the 85mm and the sharpness of primes. When doing a fashion editorial, lighting and color is critical, as the result must accurately portray what the stylist and designer are trying to show. An incorrect white balance can skew the color of the wardrobe, making the images unusable. It’s imperative to get it right in the camera so that the time for post-production is minimized. A publication needs a very quick turn-around.

My post production processing generally involves slight color balance if needed to get an accurate representation of the wardrobe, and cropping.

Unlike most photography, fashion cropping breaks the rules. A fashion editorial is to promote the fashion, not the model. A technique that I, and most all fashion and agency photographers use is to slightly crop the tops of heads, feet, hands or whatever to draw attention to the wardrobe being shown. The model is secondary. The eyes must be drawn to the point of the image.

Most of you are saying, “But that’s not what we are taught to do,” and you would be correct. But fashion photography, like fashion itself is supposed to be creative and that means breaking the rules when necessary. I cannot tell

you how many times I have been criticized because I crop “too tightly”.

But when I explain why the psychology of the image works, people seem to understand but it’s still very foreign. In my class at the Texas School of Professional Photography, I am constantly told that applying a fashion crop is the hardest psychological barrier my students must overcome. For those of you wondering, I apply almost no retouch to the models. One of the things about agency models is that they are ready to go, good skin, complexions, figures, etc.

When looking at a fashion editorial in a magazine or on-line, it’s not always apparent that the image was created by a team of people to make it happen. The team is critical. Viewers see the model, but they also see the work by the behind the scenes team that scrutinize every detail, making it look simple. Job well done.

Steve Ellinger, CPP will be teaching his class “The Fashionable Side of Photography” at the Texas School of Professional Photography this coming April! To see more of Steve’s work, his website is: www.steveellinger.com

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On the other hand, the other photographer lives a very different life. Photography is his passion but he finds it challenging to make even a half-decent living from his work. As a result, he sells very few photographs each year, his income is low, and he is constantly struggling from one photographic assignment to the next. In fact, things have gotten so bad that he may be forced to go back to his old job... a job he hated. This photographer’s dream of being a successful, fulltime photographer has been shattered. So, what makes the difference?

How could two photographers, equally talented, live such completely different lifestyles? The answer is simple... MARKETING.

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magine this . . . Two photographers from the same town, each one dreaming of owning a thriving photography business. Both are equally talented, with many beautiful portraits to their names, and both charge similar prices. But despite these similarities, their lives are very different. One of them is very successful and has clients beating her door down for an appointment. Her portraits hang in homes throughout the area and demand for her photography grows every week. As a result, she makes a very desirable living. She and her family have a nice home in a very affluent neighborhood, she drives a nice car, and takes several vacations a year with her family. In short, she is successful!

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The first photographer learned how to successfully promote herself and her business in a way that created a desire for her photography. She found the right people to market to in the right way, and her business took off. The other, the struggling photographer, did not. The struggling photographer just hopes and dreams that his photography will sell itself.

The successful photographer knows that merely hoping just does not work! You need a marketing plan, and you need to execute that marketing plan in a way that generates the desired results.

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Think about this... It doesn’t matter how good your photography may be (you could be the next Ansel Adams or John Singer Sargent) but, if no one sees your photography or knows that you exist, you will never be successful.

Years ago, I reached out to the university and medical community in my area to let them know that I was available to create the portraits of their presidents and department heads that hang on the walls of their institutions. What began as one or two portraits a year has now turned into a steady stream of portrait work.

Not only am I creating portraits of current department heads, other departments are now having me create paintings from photographs that were made years ago of deceased chairmen to showcase their earlier leaders along with the ones I am currently creating!

This work has introduced me to others who have become my clients through the years.

There are so many ways to advertise your photography. Every area in the country is different, so spend some time studying your situation for opportunities or needs that you can address. I can assure you that they are there. If you are not out there every day promoting your business, you will end up like that second photographer... with shattered dreams!

William Branson is a portrait artist living in Durham, North Carolina.

He holds the Master of Photography and Craftsmen Degrees from Professional Photographers of America and the Fellowship Degree from The American Society of Photography. He is a member of the prestigious Cameracraftsmen of America and is one of the founding members of the International Society of Portrait Artist. William also holds Associate Degrees from the British Institute of Professional Photography and the Royal Photographic Society (both in Europe) and he has the Masters of Portrait Photography Degree within the Master Photography International Organization. At Texas School ‘18, William will be teaching students “how to earn the money they deserve.” To learn more about William and his class, go to www.TexasSchool.org.

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As everyone knows, sessions with one-year-olds can be a bit of a challenge. A sweet little girl named Addie had her moments but, for the most part, was very cooperative. We chose an indoor session because her mom felt she might be distracted and not deal well with an outside session. That was fine by me. It was in June and the temperature in Oklahoma was around 104 degrees that day with high humidity.

We did several different images on a variety of backgrounds. They were your typical one-year-old shots. Although her outfits were a little more bold than I would have preferred for a more timeless look, that was OK, too. It was the look her mom wanted and the colors were fun and vibrant.

Then I asked Mom if she minded us doing just a few in a more simple outfit and, of course, she didn’t mind. We keep a handful of dresses and outfits in various sizes and colors for moments like this and I picked out one that seemed perfect for the image I had in mind.

My studio has great windows in the front, floor to ceiling, facing north (a portrait photographer’s dream). They flood the studio with beautiful light but, if you are shooting into them as a background, you get a background full of colorful cars and a parking garage... not the best option for a nice, clean look in a portrait. However this was not in my plans for this session, so I was unprepared for the outdoor scenery. Of course, it would have made my job easier had I gotten rid of the “junk” in the background, but I would have lost the attention of this little girl. Sometimes we just have to take what we can get... and I did.

I had her sit in the window and I put a sticker on the sill beside her to distract her. It also prompted her to look down and to the side. Stickers are great because they are flat and can’t be seen that well and are easily removed with some minor retouching (just don’t use bright orange ones).

Addie did exactly as directed and I got several beautiful images. I knew immediately which one would be my favorite. When we were finished, her mom was shown the images on the back of the camera. She smiled and agreed with me. It was beautiful! Mission accomplished!

Looking at the images on my computer confirmed what I had seen on the back of the camera. This was exactly the look I wanted. It was simple, but elegant... minus the vehicles in the background.

“Creativity is the ability to look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary.”

-Dewitt Jones

Some people might not have even taken the image because of the additional work required on the background and others might have simply left the cars in the background, converted it to black-and-white, and called it good. But I’m not like some people.

Learning to have vision has been something that has continually worked in my favor and can do the same for you if you can learn to look past the ordinary, the mundane, the unimpressive to see the possibility of the beautiful, extraordinary outcome.

Sometimes we must look past the flaws and the distractions and capture the beauty before the moment passes.

KImberly Smith began her career in 2001 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Join her at Texas School ‘18 and learn how to get your creativity flowing and where to look for inspiration beyond photography.

Learn more about Kimberly at www.

KimberlySmithArtist.com.

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In every session, I know when our goal has been achieved and love to share a peek in the camera.

We will project in their home to ensure final dimensions are proper.

Just a peek – Building excitement during the camera study is a very important aspect in creating a desire. Proper pre planning the purpose and design of a commission sets the stage for success. During the creation process I get very excited when all the elements are coming together. In every session, I know when our goal has been achieved and love to share a peek in the camera. Their excitement and confidence hits a peak during this time and builds until the confirmation / order day.

I get to personally ensure all handling and installation of our pieces are perfect.

Home Design – Much of the initial design is accomplished prior to the camera study. Most of our pieces are commissioned for a particular purpose in their beautiful home. Often, we will project in their home to ensure final dimensions are proper. This builds more excitement as they see the first reveal of their personalized art coming to fruition.

Installation – This is the best day for everyone! As the artist, I get to personally ensure all handling and installation of our pieces are perfect. The client is elated that their investment is given the greatest of detail. In addition, we present them with lovely bottle of Gregory Daniel label wine.

These are just a few examples to represent a method we adopted to set us apart. It has become such an embedded culture for all of us that we don’t even realize the impact it has had on our brand. Now it is up to you to look at all our client touch points to determine if “Surprise and Delight” is something that would help set you apart from the crowd!

Greg and Lesa Daniel are internationally recognized for their artistry. Though he is one of the most awarded photographers in the United States, Greg has the utmost privilege of living out his passion every day alongside Lesa in operating their portrait photography galleries in both Indialantic and Titusville, Florida.

He has achieved both the title of Master of Photography and The American Society of Photographers Fellowship. In addition, Greg is was one of the youngest members to be inducted into the prestigious Cameracraftsmen of America in 1991, proud founding member of the International Society of Portrait Artists (ISPA) and on the Board of Directors for Professional Photographers of America. To learn more about them, go to www.

GregoryDanielPortraits. com.

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here has never been a better time to set yourself apart from all the noise in our profession than now. Swimming in the sea of sameness (doing the same thing that everyone else is doing), produces the perception of commodity, to the eye of your client and in the market place. There is certainly a need for commodities and there is much financial success to be obtained in that business model. We have chosen to walk a different direction from the flow and one of the elements we use is surprise and delight. Adopting this as a flagship culture and weaving it throughout all our processes has become paramount to our success.

Let us take a look at just a few niceties we have incorporated.

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his year I decided it was TIME to finally redo my website and make it totally usable and incorporate all my business under one brand name. It’s been quite a journey and this is a lot of information I want to share with you as an amateur technology junkie who stepped into this project being FEARLESS as to what I wanted to accomplish.

In the past my websites were geared towards portrait clients and education for photographers. I actually had two websites separately: marilynsholin.com for my clients and digitalpaintingshop.com for my students. Although many things were already in place, I wasn’t using them to the best advantage, especially considering my large following on all of social media. As a result, I was getting pretty much lost in the shuffle. The bare bones start was I owned my domain names and I have it covered by owning the “.net” of them as well as anything else I can think of like “msholin.com.” I had purchased them years ago and also have my own server. So, I have all my information and it’s not hosted by anyone else but me.

Since moving to Asheville, NC, in December 2007 my work and art took a totally different turn and my website was still in the old mode and not very friendly to even look at. So I had to make some decisions. How to find a decent web designer was the first priority. In the past, I was lucky to have a good friend that helped me, but now I had to play with the grownups! Where to go?

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From viewing websites of other artists, I noticed that some were very impressive and others were cookie cutter websites sold through domains that hosted them. So I looked at some up and coming artists and photographers to see what they were doing and found that many of them were designed quickly and easily with templates but were still hosted in the cloud.

After some research, I eventually ended up at www.upwork.com which, as it turned out, I was already a member of because it is who Corel uses when looking for freelanceres. I quickly filled out some forms to become a business hiring instead of my being a freelancer on the website. It was easy. Now I wanted to “talk” to some people and get their ideas. Some were happy to talk to me on the phone for free or for a modest fee to give me their thoughts and opinions.

After some discussion, it became obvious that I needed a Wordpress website with Woocommerce and I was already familiar with it from my old websites. After a few phone calls, I learned a great deal. Here are some take aways from them:

Sample from old website (above) compared to new website (below).

wWebsites should be “Responsive” which means optimized automatically for all devices. wA Favicon is a little image in your tabs that identifies what page you are. All your pages have this so when people are looking at 30 tabs open they can find yours easily. wCurrent trend is big format and scroll down and down and down. Get the page huge and let it scroll. wThemes and plugins are what drives Wordpress. Don’t use too many plugins as they can break a page or website when they are updated. Using a theme that cost a little is worth it to have most of what you need built into it. wDo NOT size your content until a web designer gives you the sizes you need for each element of the website.

What was nice about working with Upwork is that there is an app for your phone where you can read messages from your designer. So, even if I’m gone, he was able to ask me questions and not wait for an answer and I could answer quickly wherever I was. Another is the types of payments you can decide to use.

We decided to go with what is called Milestones with one set fee. So, as he finished a milestone, the money was released to him as I approved it.

When choosing a web designer, they should give you a list of what they need from you and provide some choices of layouts.

Also, be sure they give you all their PSD files they used to create the website as those are already filled with the right sizes and fonts you need for updating the site.

Most importantly, choose someone who will help teach you what to do so you don’t need to hire them for every little thing.

A good designer will explain the process and what you need and don’t need.

To see what my new website looks like, see the previous page. It’s big and bold and easy to navigate and read. There are animations and bells and whistles that make it interesting without being cluttered. It is still a work in progress in that I need to keep adding products. But I finally have a website for selling workshops and tutorials as well as my art. There is now a “Marilyn Sholin brand at work for me.”

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Yes, it was a lot of work but the heavy lifting was all by the designer. He also saved me a bundle on hosting my servers by recommending a switch for my websites. They are the experts! Use them to learn and to create for you what they know best. After all, your clients come to you as the photographer expert so you need to have your own experts for the rest of your business.

I will talk a little about this in the Marketing segment of my workshop at Texas School. Besides learning to paint in Corel Painter, it’s important to know how to sell those paintings.

After 25 years as a professional portrait photographer, Marilyn Sholin directs her creative juices toward fine art digital painting. Her fine art prints are exhibited in private and corporate collections throughout the United States and Europe.

She is the only artist with honors in three worlds of art: digital art, portrait photography, and acrylic paintings. Join her at Texas School for a most enlightening workshop. For more information about Marilyn, go to: MarilynSholin.com

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Let’s say it’s a wedding day and you are forced to work in this type of lighting situation.

Be sure to look around for open shade first or indirect light against the side of a building. If neither of those exist, your best bet is to give the subjects a pose they can handle in this type of lighting (above).

Plan to expose correctly for the bright sunlight in order to keep your highlights from overexposing and bring along a soft white reflector or off camera strobe to open/fill the shadows. If you’re familiar with high speed sync and your strobes can handle it, this would be a great time to use it. Shooting beyond your sync speed allows you to darken your surroundings but you’ll need to keep the strobe close to the subjects because, the brighter the sun, the harder your strobe has to work.

Side Lighting - This lighting can be used to create texture and shadows. If it’s used with people, a fill light will be needed on the opposite side to open the shadows. For example, this gown (top-right) looks yummy in the natural window light because I’m on the shadow side.

The textures and the details of the gown pop out. I often “rake” a low powered & gridded speed light or a video light across wedding rings so that more dimension and depth is created around the rock.

o matter the genre of photography, one quickly realizes that he/she has to learn to control the direction, color, quantity, and quality of the light falling on your subject. The following examples will demonstrate how and why I use the three directions of light in my work.

Front-On, Full Sun - In this situation, the light is shining straight into the subject’s face or coming in from the top down, such as noon sun.

This type of light is harsh. Clients may not be able to open their eyes and deep shadows under the eyes and jaw will appear. Let’s say it’s a wedding day and you are forced to work in this type of lighting situation. If you can’t find an open shade or indirect light against the side of a building, your best bet is to give the subjects a pose they can handle in this type of lighting.

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Understand how to control the light coming from these three directions has really given my imagery a different look.

About 8 years ago, Alison’s style of dramatic lighting and bold colors really came into play and she enjoys seeing how any form of light can change the mood of an image. After leaving a teaching career to be at home with her kids, Alison is now able to teach lighting and off-camera lighting and posing to those who are hungry for knowledge.

Join Alison for a week at the 2018 Texas School of Professional Photography and raise your lighting and posing game!

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Back/Rim Lighting - The final type of light direction is one of my favorites--back/rim light (either at night or in dark interiors). Adding a gel and a low powered/ gridded speed light about 6 ft behind the couple is a great nighttime trick to add to your bag (bottom-left).

The couple could also be in full silhouette or I could choose to add a video light in the front to illuminate their faces slightly as seen in the photograph on the title page.

Sometimes I even let the flash behind them flare into the lens to create even more drama!

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while back I consulted with a photographer who desperately needed help. She was a single mother trying to make a living as a self-taught photographer shooting “auto” and selling digital files. While attending her first big convention, she heard a speech about a $3,000 sale and she began to sob. Such a thing was so outside her world that it seemed unreachable.

She had tried to sell products and even added them to her price menu, but no one was buying. Aware of my online videos and articles, she contacted me for a personal consultation. In reviewing her practices, I saw that she had major holes in her pricing “ladder steps.” Good sales start with appropriate or rational pricing, and her pricing was totally askew.

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night out, the ambiance of the restaurant, the social night with their friends, a good meal, and they don’t look like a cheapskate. The middle option is their friend.

Also, we’ll cover even more with each subject being like a puzzle piece that fits together into a more successful business. We’ll photograph models indoors and outside as we cover quality, custom lighting, emotion, understanding social dynamics, psychology of pricing and sales, and valuing your talent.

Similarly, our photographer had a couple of cheaper digital packages and some high priced products so her price menu looked like the second ladder. In her low-end digital packages, one option didn’t offer much, but one rung up gave people everything! They got free travel to any location (because she didn’t have a studio), they got all their images digitally delivered, retouched, and full-sized.

From there, her clients would go to the grocery store or online and have cheap canvases, prints, and albums made up. She felt bad because she’d see these in their homes and things looked shoddy. They didn’t represent what she wanted to produce. She wanted to do better. So, she found a lab, came up with some expensive packages …but no one bought them. Why?

Ladder Steps - Imagine a ladder where each rung or step is within easy reach of the last with no large holes. If there were holes, you couldn’t get higher or you’d fall through the ladder (above image).

It’s much like eating out at a restaurant that has entrees for $15, $20, $25, and suddenly there are two items for $75 and $80. Would you order the most expensive dishes? No, because it doesn’t make rational sense. As a result of their crazy gap pricing, this restaurant would sell mostly $15 and $20 meals, and the $25 meal would be the most expensive because people psychologically fall off the ladder at that point.

Like Goldilocks, Clients Prefer the Middle - A big aspect to the Psychology of Pricing is that people are like Goldilocks, comfortable with the middle price option. The cheapest is seen as too basic and disappointing, the top is perceived to be too expensive and offering more than they need, leaving the middle option as the Goldilocks choice... just right.

The Value of One Image - Aside from her ladder steps being off, she also didn’t understand the value of one image. Her pricing was based on material costs, not value. She saw the cost of digital images being “free” because they were just electrons easily sent over the internet, whereas her products came with an actual lab bill and therefore she priced them higher. Everything was askew.

As a result, her clients would never buy, for instance, three printed photographs. Why would they when they were getting a digital file for less? That file gave them the ability to effectively produce a million copies and never pay her again. She was giving away her value because she saw photography in terms of material costs.

Understanding the value of one image helps you properly price these and other products on your menu, regardless of what these products may actually cost you in materials. Pricing is just one small piece of the big picture in running a successful photography business. So, come spend a week with me at Texas School 2018 where we have the time and ability to really delve into these subjects deeper.

Bry Cox is a Gold Medalist out of 25,000 international photographers. He is on the Adobe Software Evangelist team and is a PPA Master/Craftsman about 11 times over.

Bry owned a studio in Utah for over 20 years and has been teaching workshops for over a decade.

To learn more about Bry Cox, go to www.BryCox.com or TexasSchool.org.

The solution was to put a value on one image... like an 8x10. What’s the true value of that 8x10 vs. the material cost? Then, what’s the value of one digital file in relation to that 8x10 print, knowing that a digital file is really access to multiple prints? What’s the value of an album that contains 20 of your custom images? What’s the value then of a 4-image standout collection on the wall of a cute baby? What about the value of a finished and framed trio complete with 3 custom-made photographs?

As seen in the illustration to the right, that middle price is perceived as having the most value for the dollar.

In this restaurant analogy, the $75 and $80 options don’t even exist to a customer. They scan the menu, climb the ladder, and subconsciously analyze the three lower options, then fall through the ladder’s gaping hole and start over again at the three bottom choices.

The “actual highest” price is effectively $25, so people float down to the middle option at $20. Their subconscious mind says they’re getting everything they want – the

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However, instead of using the “dodging” or “burning” tools in Photoshop, I’ve developed a technique that enhances the image with a more natural look. It is something we use, not just for competition images, but for all of our images. This technique adds contrast in shadows and highlights to provide more detail and to make the images come to life.

The following techniques were used in the sample images (right). The image needed a darker and more detailed sky and foliage and richer, yet natural color in the grass. For the grass, I’ve developed a “recipe” that is the only burning and dodging technique where I actually change the green color. For the most natural look, I recommend using lower percentages and lots of brush strokes to better mimic nature itself.

Because the dodging and burning techniques vary depending on what you are trying to accomplish, I’ve listed all three... basic dodging and burning, color burning, and the burning “recipe” I use for grass.

Before and after showing results of dodging and burning. Ross uses these dodging and burning techniques on all of his portraits, not just competition images.

Dodge and Burn 1. Create a New Blank Layer.

2. Change the blending mode to Soft Light.

3. Select your Paint Brush(B), mode normal, opacity 20% to 30%.

4. Before painting, press D for default colors and use black to burn and white to dodge.

Color Burn 1. Create a New Blank Layer.

2. Change the blending mode to Soft Light.

3. Select your Paint Brush(B), mode normal, opacity 10-20%.

4. Before painting, option-click (PC alt-click) on the color tone of the background you wish to intensify. This will set your foreground color to the color you selected.

5. Now we want to make the color more intense.

6. Open the color picker and increase the intensity of the color by dragging the color selector to the right to increase the saturation.

7. Paint over the areas you wish to intensify.

RGB values for Ross’s “recipe” for naturally green grass.

NOTE: I like to paint with a more intense version than the color in the image. I do not try to change the color with the above process.

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nyone who has ever printed pictures in a darkroom can appreciate how much easier Photoshop has made life for professional photographers. But many of the tools and techniques used in Photoshop are carry-overs from those used by darkroom technicians and photographic artists for over a century and a half. So, whenever I finish with a Photoshop workshop or seminar, I typically ask those in attendance if there was any one thing that stood out among the various techniques I demonstrated. The answer given most often is the “dodging and burning technique.”

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Burning in grass with color ~ Start by creating a New Blank Layer.

Change the blending mode to Soft Light. ~ Select your Paint Brush(b), mode-normal, opacity 100%. ~ Before painting, set your foreground color to Dark Green, RGB - 51, 87, 34 ~ Fade layer to desired mix

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Ross Benton is Vice-President of Texas PPA and is a popular instructor at Texas School. In 2008, he opened a small storefront studio in central San Antonio where he is known for his weddings, family, and senior portraiture. His laid back, approachable style creates a relaxed environment for his clients and also flows over into the classroom. Learn more about him at www.StudioBenton.com or www.RossBenton.com.

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Shooting in RAW, I intentionally captured this scene with the church underexposed by approximately 4 EV’s (exposure values or ƒ-stops). What was I thinking when I captured this original photo? Why would I intentionally capture a scene like this with a “wrong” exposure? Why not just use the camera’s light meter to make a “correct” exposure?

This is why; with experience in photography there eventually comes a gut feeling about how far we can push the exposure latitude of a digital image during capture. Sometimes, I want to override the camera’s computer to achieve a particular effect. In this case, I could have shot the church scene with my Phantom 4 Pro in fully automatic settings and the outcome would have been a fairly average looking photo. In doing so, I would have lost most of the nice hues in the sky, and also lost the rich emotional feeling of the twilight hour. These things are important for me to convey to the viewer.

those are more delicate in post processing. An over-processed sunset leads to posterization or banding between subtle hues.

With the Phantom 4 Pro, I commonly expose a bit to the left on the histogram (one EV underexposed). This helps me retain more solid data in the sky. All of this is easier than it sounds. Let’s take a look at the basic slider settings I used in Adobe Lightroom: In the very first panel (Basic Panel) I made 4-5 quick adjustments which recovered the shadows while preserving the highlights. It took me a total of 30 seconds. From that point I made additional adjustments in other panels to suit my personal taste. This is one of the biggest benefits. When you shoot in

While flying the camera near this church at dusk, I knew how much shadow and brightness my RAW file could handle, and so I opted to expose the image more for the sky and later open up the shadow detail in post processing.

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ith our aerial DJI drone cameras, we all have the choice to capture either JPEG or RAW photograph files. Each format serves its own purpose, but there are vast differences. A realtor, home inspector or hobby pilot may prefer JPEG files to save time and end up with a tidy, smart looking image straight out of the camera. My choice is to shoot RAW because I intend to spend time processing every selected image.

In my opinion it is crucial to capture your photos in RAW format if you intend to work at a higher level in still photography.

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I never fly without first opening the histogram in the DJI Go 4 app.

Remember that this numerically based chart represents the exposure values of a JPEG image (not a RAW file) and so in this case I ignored the heavy left side of the graph, indicating underexposure.

Conversely, on the right-hand side of the histogram I was more careful to preserve the highlights because

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reduction of quality, because there’s more levels to work with!

RAW you record all of the data from the sensor. This gives the highest quality files. And when it comes to your awesome images, you want high quality.

Look at it this way: all cameras technically shoot RAW. Yes, it’s true. The difference when you shoot in JPEG format is that the camera does it’s own processing to convert the RAW information into a JPEG. However, your camera is nowhere near as smart as your brain, nor is it as powerful as your computer. When you shoot RAW, you’re able to do that processing yourself.

You can make the decisions on how the image should look, and produce way better results.

Shooting RAW has other benefits as well. You can record greater levels of brightness. JPEG records 256 levels of brightness and RAW records between 4,096 to 16,384 levels! The effect this has on your images is huge. Those additional steps of brightness let you make more adjustments (exposure, blacks, fill light, recovery, contrast, brightness) to your image without a significant

Another huge advantage is that you can easily correct dramatically over/under exposed images. Obviously you want to get the best exposure in camera, but sometimes things move fast (especially with weddings!) and you wind up with a dramatically over or under exposed image.

With RAW you have additional information in the file, so it’s much easier to correct the image without a drastic reduction in quality. You can also recover more blown highlights and clipped shadows.

White Balance is more easily adjusted when shooting RAW. When you shoot JPEG the white balance is applied to the image and you cannot easily choose another option. With RAW the white balance is still recorded, but because you have way more data, it’s easy to adjust. Great white balance and color are essential to an awesome image, and shooting RAW lets you make the adjustments easier and faster, with better results.

There are many other benefits to shooting RAW including better detail and non-destructive editing. When you make adjustments to a RAW file, you’re not actually doing anything to the original data. What you’re doing is creating a set of instructions for how the JPEG or TIFF (another file format) version should be saved.

If you decide to shoot in RAW and learn post processing, there are several RAW file processing applications available; Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Camera RAW, Macphun Luminar, DXO Optics Pro and Capture One Pro, to name a few.

Randy Jay Braun & Stacy Garlington are co-founders of the DJI Aerial Photo Academy, providing live city-to-city workshops guiding attendees to create better aerial drone photographs for work and for play. They will be teaching a class on “Learning to Soar with Your Camera,” an introductory course on drone photography, at Texas School ‘18. For more information on them, go to: www.DJIPhotoAcademy.com

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W

hite balance is one of the most fundamental controls you have on your camera and in post capture editing software. But did you know that the groundwork for white balance in digital photography was laid a hundred years ago by German theoretical physicist Max Planck. Planck was a brilliant scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. He is best known for being the originator of quantum theory.

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In the late 1800’s, Planck was commissioned by electricity providers to help them determine how to get the brightest light from a light bulb with the minimum amount of energy.

To do this, Planck studied black body radiation which resulted in a model that expresses the color of light based upon the temperature of a theoretical black body. It is this model that is the basis for white balance adjustments today.

As the temperature of the black body increases, it begins to emit a visible light - just like the heating element on an electric stove. At about 1500° Kelvin, the radiation emitted becomes visible to our eyes and is a reddish color. As the black body gets hotter, the visible colors shift, moving through a spectrum of warm reddish colors, through white light, at about 5000° Kelvin, and ending in the blue portion of the spectrum somewhere above 15000° Kelvin.

Sound familiar? Your white balance adjustments are also based upon Kelvin color temperature with white daylight being about 5500° Kelvin. The white balance slider in Lightroom runs from 2000° to 50000° Kelvin.

Now, it’s important to remember that color temperature does not define all visible colors. It only considers light that behaves like the theoretical black body.

In 1931, the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) published a color model that is called the CIE 1931 Color Space which illustrates all the colors that are visible to the human eye. We can plot all the colors that are defined in Planck’s color temperature theory within this color space and the result is called the Planckian Locus.

In 1931 the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) created a color space model that represents those colors that humans can perceive. The line that arcs through this space is called Planckian Locus and plots the colors that are defined by a change in color temperature.

A locus is just a fancy mathematics way of saying points or a line on a graph.

Look at the CIE Color Space illustration and you can see the Planckian Locus plotted on the graph. This line corresponds to the colors that can be adjusted using a color temperature slider.

When you adjust the white balance temperature slider, you are effectively shifting the image colors along the arc of the Planckian locus. This works great for the amber colors in incandescent light bulbs or the blues in open shade. If your image has a purple cast from a neon sign, you can’t fix that with white balance.

But what about the white balance tint slider, you may ask? In Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom, the white balance

A proper white balance setting is crucial to ensure that bright daylight images render the proper colors. It’s important to make sure that the white-washed Church of Panagia Paraportiani is white.

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The light that falls upon the altar in the Cathedral Pisa in Italy is from tungsten floodlights. The blue color above the alter is from sunlight that floods in from windows high above. The color temperature from each light source is quite different, creating this dichotomy of color.

adjustment also includes a Tint slider. You’ll notice that the tints are green to the left and magenta to the right. This helps you fine tune your white balance, allowing for an adjustment that can deviate a bit from the temperature curve. It’s very helpful to shift out of the greens of a fluorescent light.

It’s ironic that the way we describe the colors that fall along the Planckian locus emotionally seems to be in opposition to the color temperature. The lower temperature light is described as “warm” light while the higher temperature light is considered “cool”. Even with roots in quantum physics, the color of light is still subject to human perception, with one foot in empirical science and the other firmly planted in psychology.

So, next time you are adjusting your white balance, you have a German theoretical physicist to thank. Thank you, Max.

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This image (top-right) of a rustic porch blends light from several different light sources, each with its own color temperature.

Tungsten flashlights illuminate the porch and the adjacent building while candles light up the paper luminaria. The rich blue in the sky is created, in part, by the twilight and also by shifting the white balance toward the warmer colors. (right) Nobel Prize winning German theoretical physicist, Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, was born in 1858 and is considered the originator of quantum theory. He also developed the theories on color temperature that we use today as the foundation for white balance adjustments in digital cameras.

At Texas School ‘18, Rob Hull teams with Tony Corbell in a most informative class titled, “Between Light & Shadow.” Rob is frm Coppell, Texas, and has offered commercial, portrait, and freelance services for over 20 years.

Learn more about Rob at www.

GreatPhotography.com or go to www.TexasSchool.org.

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