The latest issue of Shutterbug Magazine has photo contest around the topic of “Red Rock”. Just get the latest issue or check out www.shutterbug.com.
Rudy
Red Rock Rocks
I did a real fun photo shoot with Maria (@marigudelis) and Susan Preston (@susanpreston) in preparation of our social media marketing conference in Las Vegas. [click on the highlighted text to see the transparent video]
The attendees loved the high energy slide show and Susan just received an award on Twitter for the pictures I took of her. These tweets never sleep, visuals are an exciting way to build out your Twitter business strategy.
Rudy Straat
Clay at the PMA Conference 2009 in Vegas
I met Clay at the PMA Conference in Las Vegas this year. For the evening he had planned a model shoot where he would instruct and use the newest Canon equipment.
It was fun to shoot in a crowded area like the strip. Many onlookers were very curious about what is going on.
We had perfect, although windy, conditions to shoot. No wind machine necessary.
I put together a slide show video still presentation of my pictures of that night.
Here it is for you to enjoy! (refresh the page if video does not show)
Rudy
Studio work is coming this week
Studio work at the VisArts Center
This coming week I will be sharing some of the studio work we did at the VisArts Studios in Rockville, MD
Delicate lighting and posing work it was.
Rudy
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite
May I take your picture?
Amanda at the Jefferson Memorial
Frame your world to share your photos and experiences.
You will see different angles and light fall.
Rudy
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite NIK to the rescue
Lincoln Memorial
NIK is not the guy you’d think he is… is the noise reduction plugin from NIK dfine. It worked its wonders on this late night photo. I can’t complain, it has great ambiance, even at 1200 ISO, just like Clay told me to keep the existing light sources in place.
NIK helped me roll out his shot in its full glory, setting the tone for a glamor lit evening portrait of Amanda and Kodi.
Rudy Straat
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite Saved by the RAW format
Amanda and Kodi in Washington DC
Got my new funky D&G glasses yesterday and finally can see clear again for my edits.
I need clear vision for photos like the one above: Shot at 1200 ISO, manually white balanced (got that right) at 1/125 shutter with the 80-200mm. Used a little throttled fill-in flash. Under these circumstances many things can go wrong. But lots can be salvaged. Although I do not like to do it, I went into the RAW file in PS CS3 and made the necessary adjustment and added a final glamour filter and NIK noise dfine to it. Transformed it from NEF to PNG to JPEG. A little bit better lighting and folks holding the quantum flashes and reflector screens could have prevented all the mousing around (smile).
The photo was worth it though. Shot in Washington DC on April 30th with Amanda and Kodi.
Have a great memorial day weekend.
Rudy Straat
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite Rumbling gallery action
Posts to the galleries are coming. The edits are starting to look real sweet. I am completing some of the earlier pictures of the class for you to enjoy and get a feel of the workshop atmosphere all of Clay’s students had.
Amanda in Clay's Studio
Stay tuned.
Rudy Straat
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite Into the editing swing of things
After all my travel, it took a while to get into the swing of things…
I battled highly irritated eyes due to high pollen count in Rockville, MD at Clay’s class and the bad air in planes going overseas. I had to see a doctor, who prescribed me the”anti-dote”. So finally, I can start editing some of the fantastic pictures Clay let us shoot at his workshop end of April. My wife is all enthusiastic and loves the pictures like “Magazine Cover Shots”. I hope will enjoy them too and you will be inspired to go out to make more and better pictures. Or even better, come to Clay’s next class.
To show you some of the pictures, I will be using some NEW, may I say cutting edge, technology. You are going to like it! For now, have a look at the picture of Amanda at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC.
Enjoy and see you next time.
Rudy
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite Clay Blackmore in Full Action
At Clay’s workshop it is all about learning the right technique to improve your Photography. Clay calls it the “Grammar” of your Photography, the underlying foundation of photography mastery.
You need this “Grammar” to be able to set up a great photo over and over again. That is how the professionals do it day in day out.Professional photography is not about lucky shots but about consistent and exquisite photography made with the proper photography “Grammar”.
See Clay here in action explaining the intricacies of portrait photography
Contact Clay if you’d like to know more about the underlying foundation of his mastery of photography at www.clayblackmore.com.
Rudy Straat