What have I been up to?

Moved to fairfax, va ..
and took these photos since I last updated 🙂

enjoy

Overdue for update..

I promise to update this more soon. Just got settled into my new condo in fairfax which I love.. can’t wait to start shooting around DC.. should be an amazing experience.

In other news I did get a new site.. this will start pushing towards my new direction in photography.. enjoy!

The Workmans

Had a great time shooting this couple.
Enjoy 🙂

switching it up.. for now

so I’ve decided to stray away from using artificial light for a bit to see if I can makes things a little more interesting. I want my photos to be more “natural/organic” however you would say that. Of course I will still use lights when its necessary but for the stuff I want to shoot I don’t think it will be necessary.

anyways, here is another shot of my girlfriend Candace. I am trying to shoot as much as possible to see if I truly like where I’m going with this and if I really like the editing I am doing on them.

enjoy

Photo adventures

Candace and I went on a “way too long” hike through the national park trails. after a long exhausting day we crushed Cracker Barrel.. the end.

on another note.. I just got a Yashica Mat 124G which will almost always replace my d700.. although film and processing is kind of expensive. We’ll see how that goes.

I prefer to shoot like this.. it feels better

Grand Canyon

Here are some landscapes I did of from my trip to the Grand Canyon. I haven’t shot a landscape for so long. Over all I am pleased with these images.

Hope you enjoy.
Shot with a Nikon D700 and 14 – 24 2.8

click thumbnails to view larger!

Kyle & Agnes

These photos are a little over due for posting.. so since I am in california and not wanting to get out of my hotel bed here it goes. Enjoy 🙂

We’ll be shooting again as well! So keep an eye out for those. These lovebirds get married in June btw -_-
there are more but not on my laptop currently.. sorry =*(

New Tutorial

Here’s the boring tutorial I promised everyone. Hope you like it.. and again check out the other one two on my veoh page!

Watch Photoshop Tutorial – Heather in Educational & How-To  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

awesome people. awesome wedding. awesome photos(maybe)

First off.. Matt and Heather congratulations obviously.. great looking couple and an awesome wedding. This may be by far my favorite wedding I have ever shot. Decided to step away from black and white this year and go with something new.. hope you guys enjoy these!

In other news.. I have replaced my whole arsenal for 2010 and years to come. D300 has been replaced with a D700. My 17-55 2.8 is replaced with a 14 – 24 2.8 along with a 70 – 200 2.8 VRI.
All of these photos were taken with my D300 so I am really excited to use the new guy!

Shadows can be good.. Mikealis x Sean Young x Brett Helke

When I shoot portraits I like to do a different lighting scheme everytime. Before I shoot a client I already have an idea for what I want in my head(for the most part -_-). First, playing with shadows in lighting make a portrait so much more dramatic and interesting. I see many photographers just flood people with light(two umbrellas 45 deg. or whatever), this is a recipe for flat lighting. BUT.. this situation does WORK a lot of the time for the client so I am not knocking on those who use it. From a photographer to photographer stand point though.. if this is your setup 80 – 100% of the time(since the beginning) your lighting technique will not improve.. Reason being because you don’t really need to know how to control/direct your light when shooting with this kind of set up which will bite you in the ass one day.. believe me I learned the hard way -_-

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not claiming to be a good photographer because I am FARRRR from it.. I am just trying to help others learn from the mistakes I have made in the past to get me where I am today. This post is about helping beginner photographers get past this phase in their photography. For the beginner “strobist” many share the common goal of “no shadows.” I am GUILTY of this when I first started using lighting. I used to always be about FILL LIGHT all the time, and that I must never have a shadow anywhere.

Some steps to help get away from this flood light setup:
1. Use something other than umbrellas. (obviously it depends on the location/situation.. not saying never use these again, but try a modifier with more control.. umbrellas just spill too much light!)
2. Take your initial test shots with one light.. then work the rest in. One thing I learned was when one of my strobes would misfire during the test shots I like the results better due to the shadows that were created.
3. Practice.. one reason you are stuck using this setup is because you don’t practice. The only time you touch your strobes is when you are actually shooting for a client. This will get you nowhere fast. At least take chances when shooting a new client! ( I know many of you reading this are guilty! Cause I was!)
4. Numbers.. Many photographers think that the more lights they use during a shoot the better. NEGATIVE. Unless you have a good amount of experience with lighting you will soon learn that you will just get confused and some of your lights will have no effect on the shot at all.. this equals a waste of your effort AND the clients time. So for those just starting.. keep it to a minimum
5. Get over yourself.. if you think you are awesome already you will not get better.. popularity will not make you better.. cooler clients will not make you better either.. YOU will make you better.

Here are some examples of incorporating shadows in my portraits.

Sean Young

Brett Helke

Mikealis