TJP Photo Contest #12 - Dreaming - Reminder

Don't forget that this month's photo contest ends this weekend. Entries are due Saturday, October 31st.

The details can be found, here. $25 Gift Card from B&H is up for grabs!

Engagement Session: Glen and Jennifer

Believe it or not, with all the craziness that is the Jones house these days, we are still actually working with clients and taking pictures. We have had the distinct pleasure of working with an awesome couple getting married here in town next month, shooting an engagement session down on the Tidal Basin, and here in the studio. Glen and Jennifer are a blast to work with. Both of them have a wonderful presence in front of the camera and are a real pleasure to hang out with.

Here's a couple sample photos from those sessions, and I'll make sure to share more after the wedding.

Nikon D3, 24-70mm (at 36mm) - f/14 for 1/80s, ISO 100 

Nikon D90, 70-200mm (at 200mm) - f/2.8 for 1/200s, ISO 200 

Nikon D3, 24-70mm (at 52mm) - f/14 for 1/250s, ISO 100 

Location Lighting with Joe McNally

Hello all. We're still getting used to our new little additions, but I'm going to start trying to blog a little more than I have been. We've had some wonderful sessions with clients that I'll be sharing in the days ahead, but I wanted to say a public "thank you" to my wonderful wife who let me go out and have fun last Friday. 

What kind of fun you ask? Well, photographer extraordinaire Joe McNally was in town for the Location Lighting Techniques Tour put on by Kelby Training. I met up with local DC-area photographer, Brian Jones, at the seminar and we had a really fantastic time. I also had a chance to meet Angelia from the Community Relations Office at B&H. It was nice to put a name with a face, as I spent a great deal of time talking to Angelia over the summer setting up the details of B&H's sponsorship of the blog.

The way the seminar was set up, Joe had a portable studio on stage, and each time he fired a shot the image would immediately go up on giant monitors for the 900 folks in attendance to see. What was encouraging was seeing one of today's greatest photographers set-up and fire off a shot only to say, "Well that sucks" and need to tweak another light or another setting on the camera. That may seem a little counterintuitive, but to know that someone at that level still has to "fuss" to get a keeper certainly gave me hope for my studio work. Now, with that said, when Joe gets his "keeper" it's simply incredible, but if you've seen his work, that should be of no surprise.

Many thanks to Brian for getting this picture of me and Joe talking during one of the session breaks.

Blog Updates and News

Well, as you're probably aware, the blog has been a little on the sparse side when it comes to my contributions. Thanks to all the friends of the blog who have contributed excellent posts to keep things up and running during my hiatus. 

I will probably take the rest of the month "off" in terms of regular posts. I hope to get a post in here and there, but I can't make any promises. The twins are doing wonderfully, but they're keeping Rose and I up most of the night, so my blogging hours are now devoted to catching a few precious Zzz's. I hope you understand.

Please remember that we have a monthly contest in full-swing right now. You can find more information about it here. Your entries are due by Halloween night, so make sure to submit them before you go out trick-or-treating!

Speaking of dress-up, I'll leave you with a shot of our little McKinley playing dress-up her Nana and Granddad's house.

Until next time, all the best from the Joneses.

Finding the Unique in the Familiar by Jason Moore

I am currently working on my entries into NAPP’s “So You Think You Can Teach Photoshop?!” video tutorial contest. They are looking for submissions from people who not only have a grasp of the software but who can also teach it in an engaging way.

As I began contemplating what to do, I was reminded of a shot a fellow photographer had while he was on a photowalk to a rather familiar location. He felt as though the subject was tired and he’d already shot it from so many angles, in so many styles that he had little to no interest in shooting it again. Until he figured out a way of making it fresh for himself which, in turn, made it interesting for all of us.

It was inspiring for me, really, because more than just outlining a technique or walking through a workflow, I realized that a good video needed to offer examples of how to process or present images of familiar things in unfamiliar ways.

Here’s the kind of thing I’m talking about:

Take the Eiffel Tower, for example. It’s got to be one of the most photographed landmarks in the world. It’s been shot from every point of view at every time of day and it’s pretty much impossible to find a new image that you haven’t seen somewhere before. With a subject like the Eiffel Tower, it’s easy for a great shot of it to get lost because it looks like every other great shot of it.

What I did in the shot above – inspired by one of Kim’s excellent ideas – I forced the tower out of focus, in-camera. It took away the undesirable details and people in the fore and middle ground of the frame but also, since the tower is such an iconic thing, I was able to maintain clarity (you know exactly what it is) even with the absence of definition.

The trick is to capture and/or process the subject in a way that makes it stand out. Do something that hasn’t been done quite that way before. Though you don’t want to over-use a popular technique – which will contribute to your image getting lost in the crowd too – carefully processing your photo in imaginative ways can draw people in even further and make you stand above the rest.

Use techniques for landscape photography for your next still life. Use a more photojournalistic style for your next portrait session. Process in black and white what you would normally process in color. Apply filters* you’ve never tried before and in combination. Use textures. Experiment. Take the opportunity to your images to the next level so that your viewers will be as engaged as you were when you took the photo in the first place.

*Note: With that said, please, on behalf of all creative people everywhere, please don’t use a filter just because it’s there. Some of those filters were never good ideas and should never be used by anyone, ever, without proper adult supervision.

Jason Moore is a long time friend of TJP and is the creative talent behind Jason D. Moore Photography and the Photoshop and Photography Blogroll.

Thank you, Jason for helping your old buddy keep the blog up and running while I take care of the twins. As always, you provide great advise and a wonderful perspective.