Thursday, October 27, 2011

The Hunt {Jamie Solorio Photography of Redding, CA}

Our local photo club is doing a scavenger hunt this week, this is our group shot that I created from our silhouettes! Fun Stuff!

Keswick Dam of Redding, CA {Redding, CA Photographers Jamie Solorio}

Just a picture I stumbled upon last night while trying to get a picture of my husband riding his mt. bike!  Keswick Dam of Redding, CA.  This was a 30 second exposure with a pretty shallow depth of field, I want to say f/4 or around there.  My ISO was set to 100...I think! ;)

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Adorable Family Session from Redding, CA {Jamie Solorio Portrait Family Photographer of Redding, CA}

Here is a sneak peak of an amazing family who let me take some family portraits of them last weekend!  More to come soon!

To see more of my work please visit my site http://www.jamiesoloriophotography.com/.

PhVusion with Animoto - Notes from a Webinar

This is just a few notes from PhVusion from Animoto.  Not really anything anybody would want to pay attention to, just a good place for me to keep track of my notes. :)

this is not trying to teach you to become a cinematographer, more of just taking short clips of video and merging with still photographs
  • need video editing software(animito will help and photoshop), a way to keep camera still(monopod or tripod), a way to present to client, dh dslr
  • use same concepts of still photography, with light, exposure, composition, just need to add movement in a natural light scene, no flash.
  • use manual settings, focus, temperature, etc
  • keep it short, 8-10 second clips...will only use 4-5 seconds...goal is to enhance photography not show it up
  • forget audio for now, once get the visual down...can get the audio going.
technique

  • steadiness is key, need tripod or mono pod
  • more advanced: slider and flyer
  • don't zoom in and out quite yet, work on just getting the steadiness down first
  • don't pan around yet
  • when decide to move around use a  mono pod and slider/flyers
  • can use  animioto to create the slide show example below  http://video214.com/play/q3Xsqpsqwv8wZEL3kgu1zg/s/dark
  • $249...wow, spendy!
  • Vanessa Joy research her work, hyper books, ipad things, etc
  • rob@robadamsfilms.com Rob Adams research too.
  • imovie-research similar, but you have to do the work learning the techniques.




    Exposure

  • set exposure like you are going to with a photograph...then start recording
  • don't change exposure while recording
  • more advanced: pre focusing,  rack focusing, focusing with movement
  • Pre-focus on an area then have subject walk into the focus area and then out
  • rack focus is shifting your focus while filming and focus was on subject in foreground then go focus on background.  do not move the camera, just use the manual focus ring
Editing

  • animoto will do most of it for you
  • photoshop extended version 3-5, pull in object as a smart object.  this will not replace a video editing program, just help somewhat along with animoto
  • 20% off use code "animoto" PhVusion.com to try it out and see tutorial

More Flash Research - Webinar through Collage.net notes

These are just my notes from a webinar that Collages.net had today.  You can watch this same webinar if  you are a professional photographer and a member of Collages.net for  your printing needs.  Later, after I buy myself a flash gun I will try to post a picture.  Though, I will try to use a reflector today to see if I can control the light even more and post that image.

So, these notes are just for my use and might not make sense to you...sorry! :)  I suggest checking out the very imformative webinar over at Collages.net.  Have a nice day!

  • get hand held meter if you have time and want more control
  • attempt drama on subject by lighting face with highlights, shadows, and giving a real 3D look to the face
  • ISO Exposure Index, find out what mine is.  Really understand the capabilities of my gear...best to do with a hand held meter.  So, if my camera runs "hot" then when I meter with my hand held meter, I might set it to ISO 125, while my camera is at ISO 100
  • Latitude Exposure in RAW, only a 5 stop range to play with is being told.  Really our cameras only capture 50% of what the histogram says when it is in the last stop towards right(white).  Do not underexpose, shadow range doesn't have the same amount of information.  Push exposure to the right a tad, more usable information.
  • Reflected metering, what is on my camera.  Hand held meter is the incident, use the flat disk if possible over the dome.  The dome just gives you an average of all the light.  Flat disk will help with main light and fill light and the meter will tell you what you to meter on... ?
  • Light is accumulative, very important with reflectors especially using flash.
  • want to see  highlight side of face, shadows aren't as important today.  We want to see saturation of color, etc.  Base exposure on main light coming on the face!  Still pay attention to the background, but with a portrait face is most important.
  • make sure to use light to highlight the subject to make them look the best.  Using reflectors, flash,etc.  Need to show depth to the face, highlight side to shadow side...added drama!
  • background shouldn't be more than 2/3rd stop difference between subject and background
  • Light comes from all directions outdoors, has many different colors, is specular or soft light, and will be affected by man made and natural elements.
  • secret to finding quality light...look for trees,columns,buildings.  Look that that element has a highlight, shadow sides with a gentle transfer between the two highlights/shadows.  think of Chico state archway!
  • light above head being blocked by trees, then trees to right say to create shadow, then all light fills from the left and background.  exp.  river trail
  • shoot parrell to tree line, don't shoot into trees, especially if sun is behind trees.  The trees create the shadow and sun will create the highlight.  Shoot into the shadow...short light equals drama! research short light!!!!  Does that mean have the shadow close to camera?
  • Overcast days: best days to work as far as even distribution of tones/light/information
  • Heavy overcast days, flash is essential!  Might need to do relationship pictures, people interacting with one and another rather than posed formal pictures.
  • Time of Day to take pictures: morning, evening.....mid day...avoid at all costs on a sunny day.  Would have to use electronic flash
  • morning light is directional, good color temperature...narrow window of light to work with
  • Evening light is also directional, good color, low light on horizon line to sculpt subject, control of subject and background, if sun is on horizon...same amount of light all around...could do that water shot that was blown at Red's.  Even light at that moment!
  • Window light is directional, soft, and easy to learn...really helps you "see" the light.  What you see is what you get.  It is like the parrle light with trees.  Often requires some fill flash.  Avoid direct sunlight.  Avoid other lights from the room
  • The power of reflectors: if in an area with no directional light, add a reflector to catch some light and bounce on side of subject.
  • back lit portraits, some the side of hair the light is hitting from behind...bring reflector to that side and bend reflector til you get some light on her face
  • research black reflectors
  • FLASH:can use as main light, fill light or clean up faces, or accent light exp back light.
  • Types of flash, straight flash, fill/bounce flash, mini soft box,open or bare tube, umbrellas
  • If the intensity of the flash more than the ambient light...will look like flash.  Use hand meter to decide how much flash
  • If intensity of flash is less than ambient...known as fill light. can help green reflections, opens eyes,
  • light is accumulative? learn the math...how much light is added by your flash?  research.  Find out your raw light, then add flash at 20%,, 40% ,etc and see the difference.  add the % to the net exposure depending on how much drama is wanted
  • shutter speed does ambient background light with flash.  the aperture is only illuminating the subject!

short light, meter off the main light!  also meter the subject in the shadow side and compare to highlight side.  So with both readings, need to keep the stop difference less than 3 stops for sure.  that is when you add the flash light to compensate between the shadow and highlights  don@macgregorstudios.com he suggests sending in an image with the question.   can re watch webinar on the Collages.net Blog.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Enterprise Senior Maddi {Senior Photographer of Redding, CA Jamie Solorio}

Yet another beautiful Senior from Enterprise High of Redding, CA!  Maddi is incredibly gorgeous, an involved student, and I am sure one day will amount to a huge success.  Maddi and I took a trip downtown Redding, CA for her senior pictures a couple of weeks ago.  It was fun to trip around downtown just as the sun was starting to shine, yep...starting to shine!  We decided to go for an early AM shoot, which had its perks...less people downtown!  Though...getting up early has never been my strong suit! lol!  Thanks again Maddi for letting me take pictures of you and I look forward to putting some more images up at a later date.

To visit my website to see my work please visit http://www.jamiesoloriophotography/ or check out my in the process of being created Facebook page Jamie Solorio Photography which has even more of my pictures available to check out.  Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Redding, California Senior Session with Emily of Anderson High School {Jamie Solorio Photography of Redding, CA}


My word...this girl is gorgeous!  I had so much fun last night taking Emily of Anderson High School's senior portraits.  This is just a little sneak peak of more to come soon.  Not too mention, I have several other seniors that I need to post on.

To see more of my work please check out my site http://www.jamiesoloriophotography.com/.  I also just added a new page to my Facebook called Jamie Solorio Photography, come and "Like" away please. lol! :)

Monday, October 10, 2011

My Adorable Little Girls - Jamie Solorio Photography of Redding, CA


My adorable little girls, the light was perfect on our way home from the coast late this summer.  I love this picture of them, it makes me smile.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Creative Live - David Nightingale Post Process Techniques

After image using David Nightingale techinques I learned today.

Before image

THIS IS A MESS RIGHT NOW, CURRENTLY TAKING THIS CLASS AND TAKING NOTES.  a BETTER POST WILL BE PROVIDED LATER NEXT WEEK. :)

Right now Creative Live is having David Nightingale as their featured guest/teacher.  Instead of having to write things down on a notepad and loosing it...I thought I would just put my notes straight up on my blog.  Hopefully others can benefit from my notes too!


  • shooting a reflection, get lens right up against glass to make it look like a mirrored image instead of just a reflection
  • LAB Color Mode
  • get a back up via net
  • calibration -spy 3 - calibrate every month or 2 and do it in a group
Optimizing Raw Files
  • Avoid overexposure (lost data of highlights)
  • Expose to the right a tad, especially in landscape pictures.
  • sensor records more data in the highlights, so that is why you want to expose to the right a bit and not underexpose.
  • watch histogram in RGB
Working in Camera Raw
  • Srgb/16 bit/blah blah    research according to my lab, I thought they wanted it in 8bit.
  • Open from Camera Raw as a Smart Object by holding "Shift" and "Open Image" in Photoshop.  Can set it as a default to the way you change bit size.
Working with Levels

  • can use levels to bring more contrast, brightness to picture.  Set the black and whites to end of the histogram.  Can use the middle slider to control the mid-tones.
  • can also get more contrast in levels by doing this step again, however might clip the highlights and/or shadows. 
  • might need to use info dropper to see if you clip off
Working with Curves

  • can also do the same step as levels first, then continue
  • to see if data has clipped in curves, hold alt and which slider you want to check for clipping, gives you a black screen hopefully.  right and left arrows
  • to add contrast make an s curve on the same curves box that the blacks and whites were re set at again .... much better to work with then contrast button in adjustments, can see no data is lost
  • decide what data is okay to leave, creative....but be careful
  • to delete points on the curve, click on point and hit delete.  Or go to menu of curves box and click reset curve
  • curves to use  b/w
  • how decide where to put your points,  see hand tool in upper right of the curve box.  Take the dropper and select a bright place and dark place in image where you would like more contrast.  Click on each spot and now you have the points.  Then pull the points into another s-curve
  • to fill a mask black alt plus delete.  ever want to see the mask you created, click on mask thumbnail and click alt.
  • command click on mask and it makes the selection, then if you want you can load up another adjustment layer.  If you want the inverse before you do another adj layer, go and select the inverse
  • can have an underexposed image and then create another image from that pictures to get the correct exposure for say the foreground.  then put a mask on one and adjust from there.  ocean/sky exp
  • when you increase the contrast, saturation increases also.  If you do not want that saturation for say the sky, can click on Luminosity blend mode.
  • create a vignette, draw a square selection in cneter of image, inverse, refine edge, feather at 250, create the curves adj layer,grab center point and pull down or up to from center to make dark or light
Fixing minor flaws

  • select a new layer one layer above the background layer
  • say you  wanted clone tool, then go to top of its menu bar and click under and below instead of current layer
Converting to B/W with channel mixer

  • hue sat adj layer
  • channel mixer
  • click to monochrome
  • check out the filters in this adj layer, then can drag sliders on each color...watch out for clipping over value of 100, it will show a warning sign too.  Check histogram for blowouts
  • your checking to see what filter will look best for each channel, then can adjust sliders to make it ideal
  • can turn off the hue sat adj layer to see what is going on
  • can stack up bw techniques, by putting the other filter under the original conversion
  • can change things up with blending modes, exp luminosity
  • red filter will help create a high key portrait will help with skin tones

converting bw with bw tool - use this method

  • click bw tool
  • play with sliders
  • watch histogram for each color that it doesn't spike up
  • can use different bmodes too

Converting bw in ACR

  • hsl/gray conversion
  • mess with the sliders, much more control...more sliders to choose from
  • he doesn't usually use camera raw, nearly always starts with color and if color is a distraction, then conversion to bw.  More flexibility in channel mixer
High Key Portrait BW for women and girls,children

  • red filter in either channel mixer or bw tool, then do a curves adjustment to brighten/contrast
  • can use blues to bring out freckles and lighten eyes, red evens skin
  • still play with sliders
High Key Portrait BW for men

  • use the blue filter
To lighten and brighten the eyes

  • use curves to lighten eyes to what you want eyes brightness to be, then mask in at 100%.  If you have darkness around the eyes, then using that same mask used to brighten/lighten the eyes just drop opacity and paint around the eyes.  You won't effect the brightness of the eyes since you already did it at 100%.

COLOR

  • use the color channel to change the colors by using the different channels
  • u can mix channels one at a time or two at a time
  • color balance tool works too: set to mid tones and just move sliders, then if you want highlights to change you can do, same with channels.  color balance is more smart, since it can change the highlights, mid tones, shadows
  • selective color tool:  can select neutral color square and then play with sliders.  blacks will be darker color, etc.  can add highlights, etc with this method too.  Neutrals are the mid tones
  • relative should be used most of the time, absolute is not paying attention to brightness, ?
  • if I have a bright white spot (sun) and want to add a little yellow just ot it: go to curves then go to the highlight point on the grid...top right and turn the channel to blue and drag down a bit.
  • really need to understand the color wheel to manipulate
  • in curves you can play with cross process, and other in the drop down menu

LAB Color

  • image>mode>lab
  • use curves in lab mode, doesn't effect color, just brightness...neat effect
  • center point in the curves mode is 0,0
  • can rotate the curves to horizontalish line
  • canyon conundrum using lab color a book that has good info
  • if you want to saturate an image, this is a great way to do so.  U get really good separation between the colors, no color bleed.
  • can rotate curves counter clockwise to saturate
  • can rotate other way to desaturated
  • can color correct with lab each curve a and b.  select part of image that should be white for example and then click with eye dropper on the white.  it should be correct at center, but you have to move new dot just created and move to center.  do both curves a and b
  • can lock the curve by making new dots on the curve, then you can move just the top or whichever dot you want to change.

  • might need to use luminosity bm.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Flash Photography - Trial and Errors - Jamie Solorio Photography of Redding, CA






Tonight I practiced my flash over at Visual Rhythms located at 1072 Lake Blvd Unit C Redding, CA, which was taught by the very talented and beautiful Destiny.  I am fortunate enough to practice a skill that I have yet to develop and in trade get some free belly dancing classes!  THANK YOU Destiny! :) Watching these girls was amazing, really I wanted to put down my camera, grab some yoga pants and try to move the way they did!  Thank you Destiny (pictured above) and Jan Boehle owner/instructor at Visual Rhythms for letting me experience your dance studio.  Also, thank you Jan for the free Zumba class!

To get more information with regard to this Fitness Studio or Zumba classes please contact Jan at 530.410.3983 or jmboehle@charter.net.  To contact Destiny for Belly Dancing information please click HERE to view her Facebook page.

I did learn that with out flash, this shoot would of been impossible and I was glad to be able to play with the light a bit.  More images to come soon!




To see some of my Natural Light Photography please visit my site Jamie Solorio Photography of Redding, CA.

FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY

To begin, I just started to read up on flash photography last night and a little today...so please do not consider this information to be 100% correct.  I keep this blog as a diary of my trials, errors, and all my notes to reference from time to time.


I am currently using the Nikon D7000 with my friend's SB-800.

I watched THIS video from Youtube to familiarize myself with how in the heck to operate the SB-800 to begin with.  This video was very informative and easy to follow.  Now, thanks to the Youtube video, I understand how to use the SU-4, which is pretty neat and fun.  I sort of grasped the whole REMOTE function of the SB-800 from the video.   However, I think I am still too much of a rookie at this point to use several lights, not to mention...I don't have any!  But I am still a little confused on MANUAL Flash and TTL Flash.  So, this is where I am now...gathering information trying to understand this SB-800 Nikon Flash.

The first place that I went to check out for a good explanation of external flash was Neilvan Neikerk.  This is a quick break down that I am just jotting down for my sake.

  • Shoot Manual mode in camera and expose for ambient light using Matrix/Evaluative Metering Modes.
  • Have my flash set to TTL Mode and either bounce light off ceilings/walls/behind me/reflective surfaces/etc
  • I can change the exposure of my ambient light in the background by either changing my shutter speed, aperture, and/or ISO.  Flash in TTL Mode will compensate for this an properly expose my subject.  As far as I am understanding, Manual Flash you can only control ambient light using shutter speed, ie.dragging the shutter speed.
  • I need to keep my Shutter Speed between 10 and 250th of a second to not get some sort of black bands on my image
  • Use the Flash Exposure Compensation to dial in the flash even more
  • The ambient light is brighter in the background than the subject, so you meter for the background ambient light and the subject would normally be underexposed.  To correct this underexposure the flash fires giving you both background and foreground correct exposure.
  • The ambient light and subject are in the same low light situation, what to do...as far as I can tell, underexpose 1.5 to 2 stops for ambient light, this allows the ambient light to be there but not overtake your picture.  Then your flash in TTL mode will fire off at your subject that is also underexposed and compensate for the subject being under exposed.  While the ambient light of the background is exposed properly for the low light situation by having been underexposed by 1.5 to 2 stops for more light to be allowed in.
  • Put subject in the most shadowy spot?
  • Do not use the ceiling directly between myself and subject, try to bounce behind me or on a wall, it can cause unflattering light under the eyes and uneven light distribution.
  • Bouncing light directly behind you will give more flat one dimensional light
  • Bouncing light to the side will give more of a dynamic look to your subject
  • When using TTL Mode, you do not have to use full power when bouncing light
  • note to self: re-read bouncing light and visit all links available
  • note to self: figure out why TTL-BL isn't working
  • Taking pictures outdoors with bright background and needing fill flash on subject use TTL-BL, and use the Flash Exposure compensation to adjust the amount of light hitting subject.  With the SB-800, need to start with -1.3 or -1.7 exposure compensation or so.
  • Taking pictures in the shade outdoors and need to match the exposure of subject in shade to bright background, will need more flash.  Start at Zero for Exposure Compensation.
  • Shooting dimly lit indoors where I know my flash is going to be my mail light source: Starting points:  ISO 800, wide apertures, and slow shutter speed around 1/40th of a second.  TTL Flash Mode will be used with an Exposure Compensation of +0.3
  • Shooting Bright Light Outside Guidelines: Lowest ISO, change flash sync speed to highest available for camera, set aperture to where I want it (I read f11, but I do not like to shoot that small of aperture)  I am going to have to test this one myself and see what happens.
  • A cameras maximum sync speed is the the fastest shutter speed you can use your camera's "standard" flash at.  My camera allows a "High Speed Sync Speed" which will allow my highest shutter speed to be 1/320th of a second.  Though I have to go into the menu of my camera to turn it on.
  • Shooting for Overcast days starting points: ISO 100 to 200, 1/250th, f10.  Again, I am not a fan of middle of the road aperture, so I would have to figure out something else some how....PRACTICE!

MORE TO COME AS I LEARN MORE...tonight I am going to try this out!