Kate Craft Photography | Duluth Photographer

Just a simple tip this week …You don’t always need a huge beautiful area to get the shot! Here is another pullback showing a location I recently used to get a rare photograph of Lil’ P and Miss K together. The red arrow shows their location and the blue one shows where I was positioned. And I of course had to share both the black and white and color version.

HAPPY SHOOTING

“oh ya i just hit the black and white button” Nope not me! I love me some black and white images.  I decided to continue my tips on Black and white photos …if you missed the first Tuesday post about them You can see it here. Today I wanted to show how you can edit a black and white photo to suit your style. To bring out depth and tone or add a vintage feel.  Image A is the black and white button in my editting software …kinda blah in my opinion.  Image B is my own action I wrote and tweeked over the last 2 years almost every black and white image you see from me is in this style. Image C is a vintage action a dear friend of mine wrote. And image D is a purchased action.  These are only a few examples ….so go play and see what you come up with!!!

This weeks Tuesday tip is going to be short and sweet.  It is the single most important factor in a black and white image, well really any image.  Lighting!!! The first and most important thing when shooting for a black and white in my opinion is the lighting ….flat lighting does not make a good black and white! The top image is flat lighting the bottom image is much more dynamic with shadows and highlights giving the image dimension. These were shot with the subject standing in the exact same place …I moved.

I know I am bad …I took  a month off. When I swore I was going to keep up on this.  It is sooo (said in annoying valley girl speak) me to do those kind of things.  So I am back and I went out today in the 5 degree weather to shoot a lil’ something something …so that earns me some get out of slacker jail points right??? All I had in my bag of tricks this week was another before and after but I want to show you what you can do if you really learn Photoshop. I tend not to do to much to my images but sometimes for fun I like to play with textures. Now is that the worlds best straight out of camera NO WAY…but like I said it was 5 out and lil P had just gotten off the bus with a new coloring book…he gave me 2 min and that was all. Good thing I got it on the second frame (rolling eyes… I need to teach that kid to tell time) Some day I will record one of our negotiations for you I swear he will be a lawyer or a hustler when he grows up…ekkkkkkkkkkk! So on the bottom right is the SOOC, above that is my regular edit, top left is regular with just a bit of texture on it, and well I made it snow in the bottom left.  Happy editing.

iso 400 f 1.2 1/1500

So here it is a bit over due, but here is the post all about the great app I found for showing off those stunning portraits during in person ordering sessions.  I am not going to get into the technical mumbo jumbo of how to load the pictures and set it up because frankly I am not expert on this subject.  So this app is called Portfolio and it is a lil’ gem in my opinion. I love love love using it for my ordering session and as far as I can tell so do my clients!

So once you get through all the technical of loading the gallerie and branding the app then come the fun features that make in person ordering so much better!!!  Once in a galleries you can press play on the slide show feature and hand it over to the client to watch as their beautiful images are shown one by one.  Then you or they can take back full control and scroll through each image one by one spending as much or as little time as they need on each portrait.

From there the client can narrow down their gallery to thier favorite image with a star rating option. If the client is stuck between two pictures you can double click the second image and compare them side by side.

Once all the favorites have been selected you can view just those in a smaller gallery and begin choosing sizes and products and make notes right there on the ipad.

I really truley love this app for my in person order session. The clients love having control over viewing the images. The easy of selecting favorites and comparing images side by side has made my life as a photographer so much easier . So what are you waiting for …..go get this app!!! If you want to see my other most recommended apps click here!

Today is another before and after post to illustrate how much editing can enhance a photo.  This is one of my very favorite photographs of my son ….so much so that I just order a canvas of it for my wall (expect a picture of that bad boy when it gets here!).

This week I want to talk about locations to photograph at again. While I generally try to find unique “to me” locations for each photography session, it is not always possible!  Then you add in the multitude of other photographers using similar or the same locations, and well, the saying is “there is nothing new under the sun, only new to you” becomes pretty relevant.  This location has been my first love for the last year and while I have done pretty good at restraining myself from using it for to many portrait sessions I know there are other local photographers who use it as well.  So the effort to get creative and use it in unique ways is stepped up a notch each time I decide to incorporate it again…and boy do I have some great ideas for up coming sessions in this location.I narrowed this down a bit to 5 easy tips you can use for shooting the same location.

So here is the good ol’ pull back shot of what the actual area looks like …nothing spectacular….it’s all in the details tho!!

Tip 1: Lighting will dictate how you use the space.  These two images were shot in pretty much the exact same spot but I turned the girls in opposite directions due to the position of the sun/ time of day when I shot each of them! Lighting can also set the mood for a photo. The image on the right was shot much later in the day so I could use this spot for more of a back lighting situation.

Tip 2: Use environmental Elements.  I am in love with the texture on this door! And the bike rack in the image below.

Tip 3: Interact with the client. The best way to make a location unique is to focus on the subject (which will be unique) Get candid shots if you can, have them bring a prop that is meaningful to them or use a prop that you have not used in that location before.

Tip 4: Pay attention to posing. Now every photographer has their go to poses, I know I do. When using the same location I try to make a mental list of new and different poses I want to try.  Don’t get me wrong I still use my tried and true I just try not to use pose A in the same set up again and again the smallest difference can be so beneficial sometimes.

Tip 5: Switch up those lens. Using a different lens in the same spot can give the picture a totally new feel.

Happy Location Scouting!!!!

Me and my Ipad we are a close lil’ pair…(shhhhh don’t tell my hubby, he approved of the love affair with my camera lens. I’m not sure he is ok with another googly eyed obsession LOL.) I use my Ipad for a lot of stuff, photography related and not so photography related.  There are so many photography  apps out there I can not even begin to tell you all the cool photography related things you can do with your Ipad There are apps for editing, for customer forms, for making fontographs (you know those photos of random objects that make letters to spell your name and such), for lighting, the list goes on and on. Ok back to the point here I am going to tell you what I use my ipad for!!!

So as you can see there are games to entertain my 5 year old,gossip mags (I swear those are for posing ideas LOL ) and lot of other stuff. But we are going to go through my favorite apps for photography in the next few weeks.

First up is the notes app. I used to carry around a notebook and write down ideas for sessions, posing, contact information off business cards, lil’ bits of inspiration.  Problem was I did not always remember  the notebook so I ended up with an unorganized mess of scrap paper and a big ol’ headache.  This application came on the ipad and I just had to put it to use. I have list upon list of things to do all stored in one place and because my home computer and my ipad are synced I can easily access the information anytime I need to.

Next up is photographer’s workflow app …this lil gem is GREAT it syncs with the calendar app I purchased.  Basically you can put in your basic or very detailed workflow. Workflow being all the tiny steps you do to complete a session from “email welcome packs” to “blog session” and all the reminders are in your calendar automatically!!

Ok that calandar app I mentioned earlier ….Informant HD! I love that I can have one calendar with all of the important dates and tasks color coded for me. It makes it easier to  keeping both my personal life and professional life organized. And I love that it looks like a real calendar too!

Ok I think that is enough for one week …come back next week to see what I have to say about this app

So this week I wanted to share something about locations.  I am a sucker for a big sprawling local but I also love love love finding small pockets for shots too.  It is amazing the tiny space that can create a big portrait! oh ya, and please excuse my horrid snapshot as you can see someone was so over it by the time I wanted to shoot the pull back LOL

And P.S. this handsome lil’ guy is 5 today …I can’t believe my baby boy is 5!!!

“Tuesday Tips” is something that I have been thinking about doing for a while. I’m super excited to add this to the blog. And I am going to do my best to keep up with it, I swear!!!  Every other Tuesday I will post a before and after, a pullback, or some tips or tricks. And by doing so I hope to accomplish two things. I was so lucky when I found an on-line mentor to take me under her wing and start to show me the possibilities of where I could go.  I, unfortunately, do not have the time to pass on that great one on one mentoring but I want to share some of what I have learned. The second reason is to give clients a better understanding of what I do after the photo shoot is done. Hopefully placing a greater value on the time and work I put in after the photo session.

Up first is a simple before and after shot. My biggest advice to any photographer is to get it right in camera! Get that camera off auto and learn to shoot in manual mode where YOU are in control ! You can not fix a bad photo with editing …it should only be enhanced with post processing.