I've been shooting weddings for over ten years. So have my poor, sore feet. When I first started shooting, I had it all wrong--I showed up for that first job in STYLE, meaning heels and a dress! The way I felt the next day (unable to get off the couch) made me run right out and buy the ugliest most comfortable pair of black shoes I could find, along with several pairs of high waisted black pants. No more teetering on heels and showing my butt crack halfway down the church aisle for me!
I was all about FUNCTION.
But I wasn't having any FUN!
(**PLUG: for a SHOOTSAC look that's FUN and FUNCTIONAL, check out our CURRENT SALE!! Your bag will show up on your doorstep in a few days with absolutely FREE US shipping!)
ANYWAY, back to the story
For a number of years, I settled on a pair of Dansko Mary Janes. Still on the wrong side of ugly but on the right side of function. I would call them...acceptable. But honestly, they weren't really my style. I was on the hunt for the PERFECT pair of shoes.
One morning before a wedding in 2009, I happened to be out shopping in the little town where my wedding was going to take place that afternoon. I came across the CUTEST pair of orange flats. I thought they were adorable, certainly comfortable in the store, and the perfect pop of color on my otherwise black outfit.
12 hours later, my toes and heels looked like they'd been through a meat grinder. Here's a photo of the hateful shoes from that day:
I finally ended up settling for cute flats, but of a different nature. I now wear either Sam Edelman gold flats (mostly THESE) or Kenneth Cole Reaction flats (like THESE. For me, they're the right compromise between FUNCTIONAL and FUN!
BUT
I am still on the hunt for the perfect shoe. I would LOVE a shoe with a small heel in a cute style that I could stand in all day. Does such a thing exist?
So LADIES: HERE'S WHAT I WANT FROM YOU:
A photo of YOUR shooting shoes sent to flamingo@shootsac.com and WHY you love them! Be creative--we know you shoot shoe photos every week, time to be creative with your own! Your shoes do not need to be new, cute, or perfect--you get points for creativity! You can ALSO post photo of the worst shoes you've ever worn to shoot! If we get something really good/funny/interesting/creative, maybe there will be a runner up prize :)
The photo we love the best will be posted here TOMORROW, and that person will win a $25 shootsac GIFT CARD!
SEND IN THOSE SHOE SHOTS NOW!!! Also, feel free to leave a comment with a link to a shoe you like for shooting, a tip on finding perfect shooting shoes, or anything shoe-related!
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HAPPY 4TH: SHOOTING FIREWORKS!!
mon. july 4, 2011
Happy Birthday America!
All over the USA tonight, we'll be able to look up and see amazing burst of fireworks illuminating the sky! It's no surprise that shooting fireworks is on our mind as we get ready for the big night :)
People are often intimidated by shooting fireworks because they seem so tricky and happen too infrequently to practice much. With these little hints, you can nail the fireworks shot of your dreams!
Last year, I photographed a wedding over this same weekend and the fireworks show was quite long--I had a lot of time to practice before the grand finale. Here's what you need for your shot:
-a camera and somewhat wide angle lens (I'd recommend at least a 35, and a 24 if you've got one)
-a tripod is preferable and will give you more options but isn't 100% necessary--fireworks are bright!
-a remote release if you're really wanting to make sure you have no shake lines in your photos
-a clear shot at the sky
Settings:
-If you have a tripod, shoot at the lowest ISO you can. 400 and lower works best for the least amount of grain as long as you are properly exposed
-DON'T USE A FLASH. Tripod or not, a flash will ruin the gorgeous lights the fireworks give off and make your shot look cloudy
-Don't go for a super long exposure without a release ... tripod. The fireworks are plenty bright and a 30 second exposure is more than enough for a nice clean shot most of the time. If you don't have a tripod, stabilize yourself as well as possible (sit down and brace the camera against your face) before triggering the shutter
Here was my favorite experimental shot from last year:
This time, I decided to try a long exposure. My settings for this photo were:
400 ISO, 5.6 Apeture, 8 second exposure, handheld.
That's right--8 seconds, handheld. I didn't bring a tripod with me on this trip.
The reason this technique works so well is that the low ISO keeps the photo from being too noisy. It also forces a longer exposure, which is why the trails of the fireworks are so long. I was able to focus at 5.6 on a previous firework that was set off before this shot.
You can handhold something like this because when the fireworks go off is the only time the frame will be illuminated. Between fireworks, it's pitch black, and the explosion freezes the action like a flash would. If you move during the explosion though, you'll have a blurry shot. It's WAY BETTER AND EASIER to shoot this on a tripod.
(it also helped that the people setting these fireworks off were...untrained and had them going off waaaaay low. That's why the smoke, ground, and barn are so well illuminated.)
hope this helps, and happy belated 4th! We'd love to see your favorite fireworks shots--post a comment with a link or email your best to flamingo@shootsac.com!
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REVERSIBLE COVERS: A DEMONSTRATION!
fri. july 30, 2010
Hello out there! There have been a few questions about how the new reversible covers work, so I thought I'd make a little video to show you live and in person how to use them! I hope this is helpful! If you like videos and want more of them, let us know in the comments! Topic suggestions of things you'd like to learn about are always welcome too!
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BAROQUE: COMING TO A HOME NEAR YOU!
thu. june 25, 2009
HAPPY BLAST DAY!!
If you don't have your email yet with the sale of our BEST SELLING BAROQUE COVER, you should have it shortly! Don't live in the USA? You can go buy from Adorama, our partner who is participating in this months' sale!!
This months' photo is one that Michael Norwood shot of me shooting on the beach wearing Baroque. Michael and I often take turns second shooting for each other on days that we don't have our own weddings, which is an added little bonus for some of our clients! I thought it would be fun to share what I was shooting while Michael snagged that shot of me here today!
Let me just say that I had an easy job that day--this couple was gorgeous, easy to work with, and the light was perfect. Perfect light to me is that golden light about half an hour before the time of sunset on the beach, when the whole world looks warm and glowy.
It absolutely KILLS me when I see a photographer shooting on the beach in this light and using a flash or reflector. The point of lighting devices is to help create the very light that is ALREADY EXISTING NATURALLY at that time, and I feel that my responsibility is to capture it, not interfere with it. Here's a few shots from that session:
No reflector here, Just a little "S" curve in photoshop to bring up their faces which were a little dark since I exposed more for the light in the background
This one was processed with the Boutwells Totally Rad Action "Pool Party" at about 45%
My absolute, hands down favorite, also processed with theTotally Rad Action "Pool Party" at about 25%
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APRIL SHOWERS: FAKING A RAINY DAY!
wed. april 22, 2009
**the april blast is being sent as we speak! we have VERY limited quantities of some of this month's blast items, so if you want to buy, get on it quick!**
April Showers Bring May Flowers, as the saying goes! April is normally a dreary month, not quite winter, not quite Spring/Summer, although here in California we've been having quite the heat wave! I was hoping that the weather would stick with the blast theme of the month, however all we've had is drought and heat. Therefore, I had to fake a rainy day to share my empathy with people who are experiencing more typical less-fortunate weather :)
Do you have any idea how hard it is to find rain boots and umbrellas in California? Most of these ended up coming from J.Crew, although I did get one of the umbrellas at the Gap. The boots were all $19.99 at J.Crew and even though I don't need them, I did buy them in my size :)
For those of you who aren't on the mailing list, here is the photo that went out:
A fairly convincing rainy day! Special thanks to Jeffrey Neal for being the garden hose sprayer while I shot safely and dry-ly from the sunny spot immediately to the front of the photo :)
This photo was processed using a few different means. First of all, I believe very strongly in trying to shoot a photo as close to the way you want it to be as possible. Photoshop isn't a way to make a bad photo good, its a way to make a good photo BETTER! As such, I knew that I was going to try to make the photo look as rainy as possible straight out of camera. I didn't do a very good job:
I knew I'd be able to work with it though. I knew I wanted the atmosphere to be darker and the colors to be more popped out. The first thing I did was use the Totally Rad Actions Yin/Yang to even out the exposure. Next, I used the clone tool at 100% to remove the piece of garden hose at the right hand side. Next, I used Jesh De Rox's Enlighten Action "blueberry night" at 62% to darken the photo down and add a purple/blue tone similar to what you might have on a cloudy, rainy day. I used Yin/Yang again afterwards to accentuate some darker tones around the back left of the photo, and used a slight "S" curve in Photoshop to make the colors pop a bit.
I finished it off with "Dappled Shadow", Jesh's darker vignette, and there you have it--this month's blast!
As of next month, all behind the scenes stuff, feature articles, stuff you should know about, and people you should care about will be coming in our free (for now) newsletter! Get on the mailing list before it's too late!
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BREAK OUT OF THE RUT!
mon. april 6, 2009
I've been thinking a lot lately about photography and what separates GOOD photographers from GREAT photographers. Is it just the photos? Is it attitude?
And what about creativity? Is it more important to be creative, or to be consistent?
I've built my business on consistency. I know other people who have built their own businesses on being 100% creative and never doing the same thing twice. Neither group seems to be on the whole more or less successful than the others, which makes me think that there must be some other formula to determining which is right!
I'm a believer in finding a happy medium, but I realized the other day that it's been a long time since I did anything other than shoot right there in my happy little comfort zone, doing what I'm good at and ignoring the creative aspect. So I decided to shake things up a little bit, and bought this:
I'll be honest with you--I have basically no idea how to use this thing. Business wise, I'm sure it's a terrible purchase, but I just couldn't resist it's solid build, Zeiss 80mm 2.0 lens, and the dream of getting buttery, beautiful, film images. I'm almost positive I DIDN'T get any buttery, beautiful film images this time, but the sound of the shutter when it advanced the film sure was nice!
More importantly, it gave me something NEW to be excited about! As you can see, I didn't ditch my handy staple, 5d, but for 45 frames yesterday, I felt like a completely different photographer. It inspired me to see things in a different way, and to break out of my comfort zone. I don't think that can ever be a bad thing.
Plus, this photo shows my shiny new bling!
To see the images I got on film (whether they turn out good or not) and to hear the backstory behind them, you need to JOIN OUR MAILING LIST RIGHT NOW!!! We are going to be starting our new newsletter this next month, and that's where you'll get all the juicy, behind the scenes details and info from us!
*this post brought to you, of course, by SHOOTSAC*
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YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT THIS WORKSHOP
sun. december 14, 2008
I just found out that my good friend Jay Reilly has FINALLY started offering seminars & workshops! If you don't know Jay, he's one of the most amazing lifestyle/wedding/commercial photographers I've ever met. I'd say he's a lighting maverick, and he's getting maverick-y all over the place with his new workshop website:
If you have the opportunity to take advantage of something he's offering, DO IT!! He's so freakin' talented, so there's no doubt you'll learn a lot. I'm going to take one of his one-day lighting ones myself.
Awesome new site Jay!!
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DO YOU FLICKR?
thu. july 19, 2007
Do you FLICKR? Do you know what FLICKR is? I recently found out that we have our very own shootsac group on flickr! I originally thought that it was a place for anyone with a camera to post photos for others to view, but I see that it is more than that! Anyway, if you flickr, or even if you don't, you should go sign up to be a member of the flickr shootsac group! You can post photos, trade covers with others, and chit chat all in one place!
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