I wrote this original article about a year and a half ago. Model Mayhem EDU admins requested permission to reprint this article but I suggested that I write a new one.
Why?
Because that original article was written over 1.5 years ago. For me, 3 months is a lifetime. Looking at the work I was doing 1.5 years ago makes me shudder. Let me show you what I mean...
Alex. My first test with FORD Models
Ugh. This is why I have to rewrite the article. I also need to update the original lighting diagram and update with new pictures.
This is probably the last of my reports regarding changing web hosting services. If you search "JustHost" on my blog, you'll find a few other posts regarding my experiences with them and why I had to switch...
This above screenshot is the uptime as documented by pingdom.com for approximately the last month. You'll see a few downward spikes here and there. The first drop was the transition from JustHost.com to InMotionHosting. The second downward spike was a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack. If you guys were around when IRC was the thing, it's basically the same as "flooding" a user (or in this case a web hosting server). Attacks can be random yet InMotion resolved it within about 24 hours.
The Zacuto RED ONE setup. I have no idea what I'm looking at.
With the release of the 5DMIII, D4, and the D800 there has been a lot of chatter when it comes to gear.
It even got me thinking about selling the Hasselblad (but no longer) as I thought about the D4 and the D800. Now that the commotion has died down a little, I don't see myself upgrading to the D4 unless my D3 falls apart. And being that the D3 is so well built, I don't see this happening anytime soon though I've had it for 3.5 years.
On the video side of things, there's so much more development. RED cameras are dominating the 4K playing field and Canon is stepping up and trying to take a piece of that pie. The "peripherals" market (borrowing a computer terminology) is incredibly robust. Everything from stabilizers, dollies, to field monitors, to rigs, etc. are all going gangbusters. It's a very exciting time to be video, not even just digital video.
And as new technologies come and replace old technologies, many of us become tempted to buy stuff we don't need. Because as Canon and Nikon duke it out on the high-ISO or megapixel battlefield, most photographers don't have the need for the incremental 20% megapixel or the 1.5 stop improvement on high-ISO.
I ask for polaroids a lot. Occasionally I make them for my modeling agents. Here's a set of Ashley pure and simple.
What are the polaroids for? Well, portfolio pictures are nice and everything but I need to see through the liquify, makeup, wardrobe, etc. when making my testing decisions. After all, I get to test on average once a month so I have to make good choices.
Found this when I was looking for polaroid examples (before I uploaded my own). There's Doutzen Kroes about halfway down...
Facebook, twitter, tumblr, Google SEO, what do you share? how often do you share? what inspires us as fashion photographers?
A candid conversation between fashion photographers Charles LUCIMA and Rodney Alan about Internet Marketing for Fashion Photographers and how we use the above-mentioned marketing tools!
Found a question on Photo.net questioning the worthiness of fashion photography education and workshops. Well, being a fashion photography workshop instructor, I had to put in my $0.02 on the topic!
As a businessperson I use "ROI" (Return on Investment) often as a term to describe the appeal of any given job/task/duty/function.
I use it loosely to describe our functions as a photographer. Often I use ROI in discussions to describe abstract functions like unpaid testing, retouching or pre-production for shoots. Obviously these functions don't possess quantitative values to calculate true ROI. It's more of an quick-and-dirty evaluation of whether or not it makes "sense" to perform said function.
I'm pretty excited about this. I honestly didn't think I'd have another opportunity to teach the LUCIMA Fashion-Editorial Photography Master Class (a.k.a. Magic) so soon. Without getting into any specific details, after Magic II there probably won't be another workshop until (maybe) July and then October. There are some things outside of my control that will make the LUCIMA fashion photography workshop scheduling extremely limited for the rest of the year.
I know a secret spot Paradise by the sea We'll find a place to park That's kinda cool after dark
Still Cruisin' - Beach Boys
I've been asked where "Le Secret Spot" is and for those of you that live in Los Angeles, you're in luck because it's pretty much down the street from where you live.
Arlington Garden is in Pasadena. The address is 235 Arlington Drive. Pasadena, CA 91105. Click on the link to see official pictures from their website. The park is an amazing little mediterranean-styled garden that has lots to offer photographers of any type. Personally I love the rustic and country-esque feel of this garden. It's really a little slice of heaven!
Some behind the scenes action from today's LUCIMA Working with Modeling Agencies Fashion Photography Workshop! Shot this time lapsed at 1-minute intervals with my GoPro Hero2. Check out the website for more information about LUCIMA Fashion Photography Workshops!
All this talk about the Nikon D800E approaching medium format territory and I think many of us (myself included) have forgotten one of the big selling points for medium format systems such as Hasselblad/Fujinon (Fujiblad) and Phase One/Mamiya (Phamiya), namely that these cameras employ leaf shutters on their better lenses thus allowing flash sync speeds of 1/800th and 1/1600th of a second.
In layman's terms that's more than 2-3 stops what a Nikon/Canon will sync (in reality, not the listed 1/250th white paper specs).
Which means you're able to turn down that sunny-16 (f/16) sunlight down to f/8 or f/5.6.
Following the announcements of the Nikon D800/D800E and the Canon 5DMIII there has been significant discussion regarding these cameras and what it would mean particularly for us fashion photographers. The resulting podcast is a candid conversation between Charles LUCIMA and Rodney Alan about the Nikon D800/D800E and the Canon 5DMIII based upon our experiences with the Nikon D3 and the Canon 5DMII and 7D. Listen in as we discuss our impressions of the specs, AA-filters, comparison to medium format, what we need, and where we see this going as it pertains to fashion photography.
I cringed when I watched the episode of West Coast Customs that featured the Hewlett Packard car. It was a Lincoln Navigator or a Cadillac Escalade (or something similar) that was decked out with practically every HP technology, gadget, or device that HP makes/sells.
Why? The moment I saw that they brought the marketing team (head of marketing or anyone in marketing for that matter), I knew it was going to be "all show and no go" as we used to say in the motorsports world.
I have the Intuos4 (small) tablet. They just announced the Intuos5 and here are a few things I'm really looking forward to:
- USB wireless battery/dongle making the tablet wireless - Multitouch gestures (looks like they're Apple gestures)
Is it enough to get me to upgrade? Not quite. I don't use the buttons on the tablet. I prefer the shortcuts not the keyboard. Though I do use the trackpad for multitouch gestures already. So really I'm not getting anything new. Still it's a sexy looking tablet!
