Photography!

[Apex]

A few more publications:

"Divine Rose"


"Amphitrite"



A few more are on the way.

I also added these sets:
Bethany:


Amy:


Veronica (still have more to add to this one, LOTS more):


I have many many more from the beach shoot that I'll add as I have time. I've found it is super tough to edit photos when you are torn away from your computer every 5-10 minutes by a toddler. LOL

[Snake]

Awesome pics!

[Apex]

Originally Posted by Ninjinsky

At last! a group for me.
I love my primes but:-
I hate the whole Bokeh thing. Like it doesn't matter that your photo is bad or pointless as long as it has swirly blurred leaves in the back ground. Stupid word, stupid obsession with an artifact. It's like every M42 en eBay has to have "Great bokeh" in the description, never mind the color rendition or sharpness
Get back to proper composition. and subject centered photography.


http://www.flickr.com/groups/bokehschmokeh/

I only love bokeh if I really need to pull my subject off the background. I like to include the background if possible. Sometimes you really need a shallow DOF to pull off a good image, but I do think many live by it. It is a crutch in many ways, because you don't need to watch the background as much. That is why I love dabbling with street photography. You gotta be aware of EVERYTHING.

[Apex]

I have a trip coming up in the future to the UK, London to be exact. Wife has to go for work, I'm kind of going for work. I'm bringing my gear with me and I'll be doing headshots for a group one day.

Yet it seems a total and complete shame to haul ALL that gear, over 50lbs of it, over there and only shoot one day. So I reached out to a YouTuber I know that lives in the area, hoping we could possibly meet up for a shoot. She has over 200K subscribers, and I asked her to reach out to a friend of hers that has 1.2M subscribers. I hope they have a free moment, we could do the shoot as a group, it would be rather fun.

I hope she comes back with a sure or something very similar. I learned one thing back when I shot for Lindsey Stirling, it NEVER hurts to ask. Sometimes just asking for access gives you access. So I'm always game to ask.

I have many more photos, I'll try to upload some soon.

[Apex]

Recent Headshots:


From a family day out:


I have so many more, I just have to upload them.

[Apex]

Just made another cover for an October themed issue.

Sorry about the size, I'll try to correct it later.

[csmith12]

Cool! Halloween photos can be hard, still haven't taken a good one. Nice work!

[Apex]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Cool! Halloween photos can be hard, still haven't taken a good one. Nice work!

Thanks! I'll tell you one thing, that image totally didn't start off as, nor did I intend for it to be, a darker image. I took it more like a typical daylight image. Everything I did was pure post, but I would have attacked it differently had I shot it intending to do this to it.

[CaliGrrl]

Nice!

[Ninjinsky]

A simple question, or maybe not
I fix up lots of digital cameras (just got a sweet Canon power shot S50)
Problem is every new card starts
IMG1.JPG,
IMG2.JPG
and so on
So every upload to the PC means a new directory to avoid "do you want to replace" and all that, then renaming and sticking in their category
Is there some kind of software or camera setting that can automatically (random?) rename?
Currently it's like the python "We're all called Bruce" sketch.

[alex.s]

[dcj13]

Nice pic. Is that Long Beach?

[Apex]

Originally Posted by Ninjinsky

A simple question, or maybe not
I fix up lots of digital cameras (just got a sweet Canon power shot S50)
Problem is every new card starts
IMG1.JPG,
IMG2.JPG
and so on
So every upload to the PC means a new directory to avoid "do you want to replace" and all that, then renaming and sticking in their category
Is there some kind of software or camera setting that can automatically (random?) rename?
Currently it's like the python "We're all called Bruce" sketch.

I use Lightroom. It does create a new folder, but it is easy to work with, easy to sort/delete.

[Apex]

Just did a commercial shoot to help promote a starting business. It was fun and I reconnected with an old high school friend (She does a lot of freelance marketing). Hopefully I will get some more business from her. Easy $200.

Also, if they like my work, it helps spread my name.

[CaliGrrl]

Originally Posted by dcj13

Nice pic. Is that Long Beach?

That was my thought, too. Sure looks like the Queen Mary!

As far as naming conventions go on the images, I don't really worry about its name much, especially in the early phases of sorting. Once I determine it's an image I want to play with and edit, or to post somewhere, I might change its name. I have folders done by date, with each image named whatever within it. And yeah, they probably do start with IMG001 and count up, depending on what the camera remembers about its last shot.

[alex.s]

long beach. you can see the round wyland building, the queen mary, the port, the carnival cruise, and the yacht club. it's next to impossible to see, but if you squint really hard you can also see catalina island in the background

[alex.s]

here's a few more photos of long beach
https://imgur.com/gallery/76t16

[Apex]

The one of the ship is pretty awesome!

[alex.s]

not to intentionally spam the same ****, but here's a different version

[CaliGrrl]

Yep, looks like Long Beach for sure!

[Apex]

I covered and event this Saturday, and did a model shoot on Monday. I managed to snag several solid images.

I still have a bit of skin color work to do on the model ones. I want to really bring out the tones in her skin, so that is up next and will require some solid photoshop time. I may also enhance several of the colors there already.

Here is two from he event. (I pulled down the model ones to be safe. I want to publish them, and they get funny if the images aren't totally exclusive)

A couple from the event:

[csmith12]

@alex.s

now where have I seen that ship before??? hmmmm..... OH!!!!!

[Apex]

My latest photo session. I had to crop out a bunch of the picture because I plan on working to get this set published. I did release this cropped shot because the makeup artist has done a couple of gigs for for this model, and had nothing to add to her portfolio or social media accounts. It wasn't the model's fault, it was the photographer's. I feel photographers need to help out the makeup and hair people, ESPECIALLY when they are working for free.

So, being the person I am and desiring a great rep with not only models but makeup artists and hair stylists, I worked for almost a solid hour and gave her this image. She went nuts with it. Normally MUA's only get a copy of the final shots. I made sure she got something that showed off her great makeup work. Of course, I touched it up and worked the junk out of the colors to get the look I wanted, but the end result is worth it.

What do you all think?

[CaliGrrl]

I think it's awesome that you'd give the MUA a shot that shows off their work.

[Apex]

Editing pics tonight. I have just been sipping on vodka as I edit. Now I'm buzzing and I think I need to step away from the edits. Doing a beach edit with a kinda sheer bra on the model.

I think I need to just go to bed before I do seriously bad edits. It is funny how I can really watch my edits, even if I had a drink or two. It is like a sixth sense in me and can tell when I need to step away to maintain good photo edits.

[NDspd]

I know's been a long time since I've last posted here. I am pleased to announce that I'm now a full time photographer for a European Sports car accessories company. It feels so weird to go from working at a car dealership cleaning cars to shooting cars full time....oh and I get to drive the cars too.

[Apex]

One image from my latest publication. What do you all think?

[CaliGrrl]

Nice work!

I'm not published but I think this one came out quite nicely, from the Valley of Fire park in Nevada. https://flic.kr/p/Vw7se2

[Apex]

Got the news yesterday that another publication was released. Here is an image from that set.

*click for larger*

[Apex]

I have a few simple concepts coming up that I want to shoot.

One girl will be a birthday shoot (we were joking about it being in her birthday suit to truly celebrate, lol). We also threw around an idea for glitter used as color accents (possibly as a top as well), shooting with Christmas lights as a light source, and also maybe some boudoir work as well.

I really want to experiment with boudoir more, but barely any models I know would want to shoot the boudoir I want to shoot. I want to have some accent clothing, but let the light also serve as clothing, covering up the parts we want covered. Just really artistic, tasteful stuff.

I also want to really work with portraiture more. LOTS TO DO. Luckily I have models available for most of the work, but the boudoir would be a bit tougher. Especially since they'd have to almost be nude in front of me.

[SLOWn60]

Originally Posted by Apex

I have a few simple concepts coming up that I want to shoot.

One girl will be a birthday shoot (we were joking about it being in her birthday suit to truly celebrate, lol). We also threw around an idea for glitter used as color accents (possibly as a top as well), shooting with Christmas lights as a light source, and also maybe some boudoir work as well.

I really want to experiment with boudoir more, but barely any models I know would want to shoot the boudoir I want to shoot. I want to have some accent clothing, but let the light also serve as clothing, covering up the parts we want covered. Just really artistic, tasteful stuff.

I also want to really work with portraiture more. LOTS TO DO. Luckily I have models available for most of the work, but the boudoir would be a bit tougher. Especially since they'd have to almost be nude in front of me.

Black & white? Lighting (and shadow) is everything

[Apex]

Originally Posted by SLOWn60

Black & white? Lighting (and shadow) is everything

Yup! I love B&W photography. I even plan on using my old Mintolta Autocord TLR with that as well (won't hate on my old Nikon 30mm's either).

I can develop the film here, so that isn't an issue, I just need to figure out settings for a given amount of light. I had a chemical issue recently that overexposed EVERYTHING. So I think my stop bath wasn't working at just let the developer just keep on developing the film. Oh well. I got new chemicals and will try with my shop light in the studio to test exposures. Working with Ilford Delta 400 in that camera right now.

I hope to be able to create a solid body of work.

I also want to dabble in more of a commercial fashion photography setup. Nice colors, watch EVERY DETAIL, you know, being totally anal about everything!

[Apex]

I have a photoshoot this weekend.

Going to do some portraits with small Christmas lights, and also with glitter. We are also planning some basic boudoir stuff. She hasn't shot it before, her ex was always against her shooting that. Now she is free, she said she wanted to do it.

If we do the glitter shoot, it will be a little on the face and maybe shoulders, but it all comes down to how messy it is. She has a shoot about an hour after our shoot, so I don't want to leave her in a mess for another tog to deal with.

I was hoping to use the glitter for facial accent, as well as a top, but I'll have to save that idea for later. A bit too messy.

[Apex]

Ugh, model cancelled on me. GRRRRRRRRR!!!!


Now I'm trying to find a replacement since I'm really in the mood to shoot.

[SLOWn60]

Originally Posted by Apex

Ugh, model cancelled on me. GRRRRRRRRR!!!!


Now I'm trying to find a replacement since I'm really in the mood to shoot.

LOL! I thought that might happen! Models are almost always late and if they have a second appointment: they usually miss the first! The glitter might have scared her off too with having another shoot after yours. I must find my glitter joke! I'll try to post it. Not my joke but a funny story from the internet.

[Apex]

Originally Posted by SLOWn60

LOL! I thought that might happen! Models are almost always late and if they have a second appointment: they usually miss the first! The glitter might have scared her off too with having another shoot after yours. I must find my glitter joke! I'll try to post it. Not my joke but a funny story from the internet.

I managed to find a model for today.

She doesn't show up late either.

[DannoXYZ]

Bah! I make them pay me, then they show up!
Here's one of my friends from high-school.

[Apex]

One of things I wanted to shoot, glitter, didn't happen. Got wrapped up in a possible last minute publication featuring black and white photography. I am not sure I got something solid for that, but I definitely got some solid stuff otherwise.

Here is a couple (click for larger)

[Apex]

I think I just stepped up my game..........

[DannoXYZ]

Awesome!!