The Power of Suggestion, or Winter in Paris

There is this thing that happens between my wife and I regarding traveling. Out of the blue, she will say something like "How do you feel about taking a trip to Paris in a few months?" And I will reply something like "Paris? We just got back from Ireland a few months ago!" A few days will go by, my subconscious busily mulling over the prospect of another trip to Europe, while my conscious mind is thinking about getting older and having only one life, and the prospect of never seeing a place before I die. Yes, I am only 31. Yes, I am overly dramatic. These are both facts. At the same time, the rational part of my mind is telling me to pay off my credit card bills...



Usually a few more days of silent thinking will go by, and I have already come to the conclusion that we are going to Paris...in fact, I can't wait to go! What a great idea...I can't believe I hadn't thought of it! What are we waiting for? We are young and healthy and I will always make more money, but I won't always have the freedom to pick up and go for a week. So one night I ask her "How much are flights to Paris?" She looks at me with a mischievous smile and says "Really? Are we seriously doing this?" To which I eloquently reply "Fuck it, let's go!"


The view from the top of the Notre Dame Cathedral is amazing and a must-see!


Creepy gargoyles are so cool.


Inside Notre Dame


Pere-Lachaise Cemetery


"Cancel my subscription to the resurrection,
send my credentials to the house of detention."


We will see you again soon.


More to come...

What a character!

After a long break, she is getting back in to acting and needed some fresh shots...this is what we came up with.


Headshot with character.






Shoot wide open and get some leaves right in front of your lens for the cool green blobs of color in the right corner.



Shot it all with the trusty Canon 85 mm f/1.8 lens. Best bang for your buck...I've had this lens for almost 5 years and I still love it!

Model: Sashe

What's the difference...

between a headshot and a portrait?

Model: Jillian

Quick editing with Lightroom presets

Here are some quick before and afters from a recent shoot:





Sometimes I want to edit a picture that I kind of like but that I'm not crazy enough about to invest a lot of time in Photoshop. I usually use Lightroom only for these sort of pictures and make some quick adjustments. I also don't mind getting creative with these sort of pictures, since they're not destined for any serious use and are really just snapshots to look at.

With programs like Lightroom, you can literally make one-click adjustments using presets. You can either download or create your own presets and then apply them to whatever image you want. Certain presets look great on some pictures, and horrible on other pictures. It's all about matching the right preset with the lighting and style of the original picture. For the images above, they were shot in flat light and if anything, slightly underexposed. So the preset I used added lots of brightness (quickly concealing any skin flaws), and used split tones to add some color.

The nice thing about presets is that you can apply one, then move all the sliders around and adjust to taste. Presets just give you a quick starting point. Someone may want to use this preset and then make it less bright and change the tones in the image...it's really easy to do.

I called this preset "clean bright/split tones" and you can download it below. I made it with LR2 (I know...it's outdated), so hopefully it's forward compatible with all the LR3/4 users out there! If it isn't, please let me know.

Download clean bright preset

Here are the final images in a bigger size:





Model: Sashe

James Vanderberg at Gravity

The artist is James Vanderberg. Several of his huge paintings are hanging at Gravity Media, and from March 1 to April 1 you can drop in and see them...and you should because a)They're cool!; and b)The artist is my cousin!









There is an opening reception on March 22nd from 6-9PM where you can come by, see the paintings, have a drink, mingle with cool people, and chat with the artist. He might even let you touch his beard!

James Vanderberg @ Gravity
315 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Ode to the grip

It doesn't have a sensor, or a shutter, or a screen. No light travels through it, and there is no aperture, nor even any glass to speak of. It actually adds weight to the camera and makes it more bulky and obtrusive. It's not sexy, and no one ever writes about how much they love this particular piece of equipment...until now!

For too long I have gone without a place for my pinky finger when holding the camera. For too long have I lived without a vertical shutter release and had to wobble all over the place holding my right arm above my head to press the shutter release button. But no longer!

Unlike a camera body or a lens, this is the kind of gear that you can buy heavily used and cheap off of Craigslist. It's got signs of wear but who cares..everything works just fine. It makes the camera stable and comfortable to hold and makes it way easier to shoot in portrait orientation. I love my new grip!

Snow

When it snows, it's prudent to get out and shoot something!













As is usual in snow, I like to shoot manual and overexpose the ambient by about a stop to keep the snow and skin tones bright. You don't need a reflector or lighting etc...the snow is a huge reflector and makes everything look good!

Model: Amy