testing. Trying things on for size.

I had a gig today.  A shoot.  I'm shooting portraits for an advertising agency's web site (I have connections).  They're not sure what they wanted so today we just tested some ideas.

If you have the chance to do something like this, I recommend clarifying the brief first.  Ask questions like:
- what do you want people to think about your business when they see these images?
- how will they appear (a grid, a map, filmstrip style, against white, with type at the bottom)
- what do you like/dislike about your current images?
- who is coming to this website? Who are you trying to attract?
- what's your timeline, your budget?
- what kind of access will I have to the people I'm shooting?  How long?

I'm laughing, because this list makes me sound much better prepared than I was.  Really, I didn't ask all the right questions. At all.  But, that's ok, because today we were just testing. Trying some ideas to see what worked.  I find I'm pushing myself to be perfect and of course, that won't happen.

Also, don't forget to say things like, "let me think about that and get back to you."

It was fun, exciting, nervewracking.  I feel like such a rube, but I am further ahead than I was last summer, that's for sure.

Um, this background idea is so distracting.  I thought it would look like his work, but it just makes you look at the pictures.  (they are my kids and even me.  this used to be my husband's office).

I am trying to go easier on myself.  

I think I do best when I'm just prowling around documenting things rather than setting them up and posing people.  These last two are my favs, me thinks.

p.s.  I just love that Periodic Table of Typefaces poster on the wall here.  

Whew.  That was scary and thrilling, like all the best roller coasters.  Except I couldn't scream.

Sidewalk Sculptures: Messenger Bikes

I walked the 19 blocks from my husband's office to Grand Central and I couldn't stop shooting all of these colorful, personalized, battle-scarred beauties.  They bomb around Manhattan dodging the worst kinds of traffic to get you your pizza or your package on time.  I'm sure with email, messenger work is down, but they remind me of my working days and the M-F culture that's uniquely NYC.

M (10-12). Portraits.

These kids live in the in-between -- not little kids anymore and not yet teenagers.  They are self-aware but not too self-conscious.  Their skin still glows, they work earnestly on their school work, they still think that you will always get a half-hour recess.   I can vividly remember that glory of being at the top of elementary school.  For the first time, I wanted clothes for my birthday instead of toys, I bought pop music and listened to it with my friends in the cafeteria and I realized that not everybody liked me.  I felt on the brink of something big.

the outtakes -- shooting portraits

A few of my few readers asked about taking better portraits of their kids.  Here's a little more of the process for the low key portraits I posted in my previous post.

I shot these while we were in California for vacation, specifically in a hotel room in Marina del Ray.  I took some 1,100 photos that week and the ones in the previous post are my favs, and not all of those are even CA week, so, it helps to take a lot of photos.  However, I have gotten much better at considering the shot before pressing that shutter. I know it's digital, but still who wants to pan all those and search for the gold?

For the images of the boys in dark shadows, I was looking for that perfect window light.  The dark brown wall in the background and the strong window light worked for that chiaroscuro look I love.  Seeing the beautiful light is the cliche, and the truth for getting the best pictures.  I moved the chair, moved the fish statue in the background and closed the sheer curtain on the window.  Then, I asked the boys (or rather begged them) to please, please sit in the chair so I could take their pictures for my class.  They are rather used to this, and are not always willing, but often will give me a minute. Other times it requires a payment (cash, candy or screen time).  Because I shoot them all the time, they have stopped giving me that tight kids smile I so often get when I shoot their friends.  In December, I was shooting my friend's kids and from off camera, she kept telling them to SMILE! turning their sweet expressions into tight grimaces. 

As you can see, they were really dark as shot.  I did all of my editing in Lightroom 3.  I had to lighten things and adjust the color to tone down the reds.

Alex's orange shirt cast a bright orange glow on his face. Needless to say, my kids aren't big on the hair and wardrobe portion of the shoot.  Usually, I just get what's already there, though I do try to make sure they're faces are clean.  And sometimes, I miss that too.

I sometimes have trouble with the focus.  I really have to watch that.

Here are two that I liked best, and that I worked on:

You can see how the post processing part is just as important as the in-camera part.  I also tweaked them again during the printing process to get the colors right.

I shot Jack too, though he would only sit for about 10 seconds.  You can tell he's so annoyed.

I won't punish you with more of those outtakes, though that last one makes me smile.  Anyway, for that set up, I got it with relatively few outtakes, but often there are many more.  I'm taking a continuing ed class and our photo teacher says if you get one picture for a roll of 36, you're doing fine.

Just for the record

Hullo?  Anybody home?

I have fallen off the face of blogger Earth.  No reason.  I just dropped the ball there for a while, and didn't feel the least bit guilty about it.  I over-volunteered this month and last and was having a bit of a scramble.  Still not out of the weeds, but there's hope.  Always hope.

Well, even if I'm the only one who sees them, I'm posting some of the pictures from my digital 2 photography class.  This class has kicked my butt a bit -- again, wishing I had more time for it -- but it's so good to be pushed out of that comfort zone once in a while.

Our first project was portraits.  I started out with the idea of shooting my identical twins to capture what makes looking at twins so intriguing.  I see them so much as individuals that it surprises me when people say they can't tell them apart or refer to them as "the twins."  Somehow, I thought maybe I would play up the similarities though, since the similarities make them special too (and they enjoy it).  But in the end, I just see them as I see them --  as individuals.  And, I think, that's how these portraits turned out.

Hullo 2011. Care for a cuppa?

Hullo there.

 Happy new year!  I've been neglecting my little blog.  But sometimes that's how it goes.  I have things to say, but they have not made it to this space.  For one thing, our house was robbed.  We were out, thankfully, and someone probably walked through the front door and collected most of our electronics, including my beloved computer.  All of my pictures were on it.  Thousands.

 Luckily, Mark guided me into one very smart thing last August.  I had everything backed up on mozy.com.  It costs a little over $100 for two years of back up.  Thankfully, my pictures are all floating around in cyberspace until I get a new computer. Then I hit restore, and they'll be back.

It's still a drag though on many levels.  However, I really do feel that all they took from us is things.  Things we can replace.  They will have the bad karma. They will eventually get caught and run through the system.  We will be fine.  Far worse things can (and do) happen.

My new year is still happy.

The pictures I've posted here are from my latest project, a 365.  That means a picture a day, for 365 days.  My goals are: document daily life, improve my photography and stretch myself creatively.

My other goals revolve around sugar, veggie-filled meals, exercise -- things I haven't quite tackled yet.

three + three

Three things that are dragging me down this morning:
1.Watery coffee
2. The garage runneth over with trash.  Seriously, there is so much cardboard out there (I've missed the recycling a few times) that you could build a life-sized cardboard village.  You have to flatten and tie into lovely twined bundles for the recycling guys to toss it in the truck, and even then, they are fickle.  It's such a pet peeve of mine, but refusing to participate has gotten me nowhere.
3. There's a mouse in our house.  Yuck.

Three jolly good things:
1.  No homework! Again!
2.  The-biggest-Christmas-tree-I-have-ever-had is still in our dining room.  It will move to the tope column soon, but for now, it's still jolly good.
3. Christmas day is over, but the Christmas holiday continues.  My favorite part.
4. My kindle.  I have entered the 21st century, and you, know, I'm digging it.
5. My D is for DiMassimo book arrived!  I made a 2010 book with an ABC theme for our family this year.  It came today and I love it.  I guess I'll post pictures of it later, since I can't link to the layout.

Here's a few of my little nephew Luca and his lovely parents.  They wanted a family picture.  Fooling around with some PS actions, which can get a little crazy, but post processing can be a jolly good thing too.  

Look at that, more jolly than crabby.  I'll end there.