Guest Blogger: Kathleen Murray

Today I have a guest post from photographer Kathleen Murray. I've gotten to know Kathleen over the past several months when she and some of her friends moved into our Midtown Memphis bungalow. I'm inspired by the work of these artists (three photographers and one painter) and Kathleen is no exception. She loves photography and seems to put her heart and soul into her work. Take a few minutes to read her post and I bet you'll be inspired, too! Then, check out her work by clicking her links at the end of this post.

Hello world!

Thank you Leslie for giving me the opportunity to guest write for your blog! And thank you readers for reading and responding!

Credibility, for what it’s worth; here’s a bit about myself:

I began my interest in photography at an early age: in the fourth grade I won first place in a 4-H photography contest locally, regionally and in the state for a photo that I inadvertently double exposed. That is where it all began; my curiosity was peaked! From there my parents allowed me to continue to follow this curiosity by entering a summer art program offered to kids at a local college. I took photography in the mornings, and drawing in the afternoon. I cannot draw to this day, but what I learned in those mornings has fueled the fire for what I now do. 

I was the girl with the camera, who blew through 35mm film like it was going out of style, (little did I know, it would begin to a few years later). College hit, and I was able to EXPERIENCE the DARKROOM. A new love was found. Then, digital became popular, and I jumped on board. I completed my Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Sociology, with a minor in photojournalism. I was the photo technician on campus for three years and a student photographer for the school for two, I was quickly bumped from photo editor of our college's newspaper to the managing editor my final semester in school. As a photojournalist, I have been able to participate in the photographic coverage of disaster relief during hurricanes, tornadoes and severe flooding.

Upon graduation, I ventured off to graduate school seeking an MFA in art photography, after a year of schooling, moved to Texas where I spent yet another year as a photographer in a communications department. Years after graduating with my bachelor's degree from college, I returned to my alma matter to teach art photography as an adjunct professor and program director. After two years of teaching (a total of 18 photo classes) I have temporarily put teaching on hold to finish graduate school, which is where I am currently.

A few unrelated, though related thoughts on the overall theme of gaining ideas for photo shoots and growing in one’s own photography:

LEARN ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY!

It’s really quite amazing to learn about all the photographers that have gone before you! Maybe some of these names are familiar…maybe not…(If not…PLEASE do yourself a favor and do a little research! Who knows…maybe it’ll give you some inspiration.) Have you ever heard of...

• W. Eugene Smith
• Alfred Stieglitz
• Edward Steichen
• Gordon Parks
• Margaret Bourke-White
• Dorthea Lange
• Robert Capa
• Cornell Capa
• Diane Arbus
• Eadweard Muybridge
• Thomas Eakins
• Etianne Marey
• Harold Edgerton
• Walker Evans
• Jacob Riis
• Irving Penn
• Ansel Adams
• Henri Cartier-Bresson
• L.J.M. Daguerre
• Avedon
• O. Winston Link
• Gjon Mili
• Joseph Nicephore Niepce

This list is just a sampler of AMAZING photographers who have paved the way for you to do what you are doing, or what you’d like to be doing.

Knowing the history of photography is also knowing about contemporary photographers! History is ongoing correct? Do you know...

• Joe McNally
• Jeremy Cowart
• Esther Havens
• Chase Jarvis
• Tokihiro Sato
• Mary Ellen Mark
• Hiroshi Sugimoto
• Tim Walker
• Sebastiao Salgado
• Alec Soth
• Annie Leibovitz
• James Nachtwey
• Gregory Crewdson
• Sally Mann
• Nikki S. Lee
• Zena Holloway
• Laurie Simmons
• Larry Fink
• Shizuka Yokomizo
• Jeff Wall
• Robert and Shana Parke-Harrison
• John Coplans
• Michael Kenna
• Duane Michals
• Lorna Simpson
• Eve Sonneman

When looking at the work of these photographers, ask yourself:

• Why are you attracted to certain images? 
• Why are you not attracted certain ones? 
• Why is this photographer important in the world of photography? 
• What can I learn from this photographer and their body of work, or methodology of photographing? Try to decipher what type of photographic equipment they were using and WHY.

Explore!

My former college professor Jim continually reminded me to “Explore!” It’s something that I enjoy doing to this day, with and without my camera. When you are learning about photography, especially early on, it’s important to have your camera on you at all times. It’s also very important to go slow enough to ask questions of what and how you are shooting, that way you are learning as you work. And hey, it’s totally okay to experiment! In fact…it’s always encouraged!

The key is to slow down enough to question what is working and what is not working. Then move around and keep shooting. In today’s digital world, it’s easy to rapidly shoot off thousands of images and hit with maybe one or two good images. To be consistently hitting the mark with great images takes time and refinement.

Revisit the basics! If you are feeling good with where you are at as a photographer, try limiting yourself to 24 or 36 images with NO deleting for a shoot. It’s the equivalent of shooting a standard roll of 35mm film…anyone remember those? They are getting harder and harder to find. This is a great challenge even for the most skilled photographer.

Prepare, then, GO with what you know—the flow, don’t force it.

In fact, to prepare mentally for photo shoots, I like to revisit some inspirational images that I have acquired over the years. I keep a folder on my computer of images (currently at nearly 8,000 images) that I have found from friend’s photo websites, from blogs, from anywhere online really. These images are filled with color palettes that are aesthetically pleasing to my own current taste, images that are where I’d like to take my photography, images with interesting perspectives on classic images, and images with fresh, creative ideas.  I’m not one to duplicate images in my folder, but I try to adapt them to my own style and technique of shooting. The worst thing I see when looking through portfolios are images that feel forced and overly created and manipulated. I’m definitely one to appreciate the more natural feeling images…no matter how staged or directed they may have actually been.

Remember, it’s not about the camera and equipment, it’s about the persons behind and in front of the camera that matter most.

There are times to pick up the camera and shoot, and times to set the camera down and focus on establishing and maintaining a good rapport with who or what may be in front of your lens. You must be sensitive and aware of the situation you may be in to whether or not you should be the active photographer with camera up, or camera down. In either situation, you must active and your ears must be OPEN. There are always going to pictures missed, but it’s whether you get the essential story-telling images that count. Some of the most story-telling images are the ones that occur before and after the “main event”.

OKAY. Go prepare, do your homework, be an active photographer with open, attentive ears and eyes.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes, which I painted years ago as an undergrad student on the wall of my photo classroom, that I later taught in, “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”—Dorthea Lange.

Here’s to seeing differently!

--Kathleen

www.kmurrayphoto.com

kmurrayphoto.wordpress.com

www.flickr.com/photos/fotoeditor

@fotoeditor on Instagram

Volunteering = Good

The one thing that supercharges me as a photographer is being able to photograph the things I love. For me, these things are related to social issues. For this reason, when I was recently asked to photograph the third-annual Homeless Connect event here in Bozeman, I readily agreed. This event was held at a local downtown church and the purpose was to offer a variety of free services to those who are either homeless or at risk of being homeless. The services offered ranged from massages and haircuts to eye and dental check-ups. The amount of volunteers giving their time at the event was incredible! 

Dr. Jody Fink gives a free eye exam to a patron at the Homeless Connect 2011 event

A patron receives a free dental exam from Kaye Rittal

You know all about what "they" say about volunteering, right? I know you know, and I don't have statistics to spit out to back up these claims but volunteers are happier, live longer, and make more money. Oh wait...maybe not so much on that last one...but you get the point. Volunteering = good.

When I view photographs made by others I often wonder if the photographer obtained permission first. So in case you're wondering, I made sure to get each person's written permission prior to photographing them at the event.

Do you volunteer? If so, do you volunteer within the arena of your career or do you choose to volunteer with something totally unrelated? What supercharges you?

Tips on Posing for Photographs

One challenge I deal with as a portrait photographer is helping people feel comfortable in front of the camera. The majority of people do not like to be photographed and often complain that they never like photographs of themselves. I like to think that I can help those I photograph to overcome this by first making them comfortable with me as their photographer, and then posing them in a way that is most flattering for them.

What do you do when you are the subject and the photographer (professional or not) doesn't pose you? Today I thought I'd offer a little advice (to women especially) on posing for photographs - whether you are the one being photographed or if you are the photographer. There are no hard and fast rules to posing subjects but there are a couple of tips that usually produce a more flattering portrait, especially for women. Go ahead, try them out in front of a mirror and see what you think!

1. The first tip is to make sure your shoulders are pushed down and back. This action alone should cause you to be more aware of your posture and will elongate your neck.

2. Next, stick your neck out, just a little, so that your chin is pointed out slightly. Now, this probably feels very awkward but it will also elongate your neck, giving you a little more separation between your head and shoulders. The effect is especially flattering because it has a slimming effect.

3. Now, on to the arms - You will want your arms slightly out from your body so the upper part of your arm doesn't flatten out. You can try putting your hands on your hips, in your pockets, around someone, etc, but remember to also keep your shoulders back. Also, creating a little space between your arm (elbow) and body will allow the camera to see your waist.

4. Lastly, you can try angling your shoulders. This lessens the width of your shoulders slightly but can also give a nice angle in the photograph that leads the viewer's eye into the image. Sometimes you may want a photograph straight-on but this is just another idea to try. 

Now, go ahead and try them out! You can either stand in front of a mirror, or have a friend snap a few pics of you (or use the self-timer on your camera). Be sure to take a few images of how you would normally pose (without the suggestions I listed) and then a few incorporating the above tips in your pose.

What do you think? Did these tips make a difference for you?

How To Get More Accurate Color in Your Images, Part 2

This is Part 2 of this blog post which is geared more towards serious amateurs and photographers who want to improve their color management. Go here for Part 1.

Ok photographers and wanna-be photographers: after the last post on the benefits of having the tools for a good color management workflow, I'm just going to jump right in with you.

I'm assuming you've bought a "nice" digital camera, perhaps the one with the most number of pixels for your budgeted price range, and maybe you threw a "kit lens" on that expensive camera. This will not be earth-shattering for most of you, and some of you may disagree with me, but here's how I feel about the importance of your camera equipment (in order of least to most important):

1. SLR Camera body (if you're only going for the number of pixels as your basis for "good", you need to read this or this) - only buy what you're going to use. There are a number of point and shoots now that can produce amazing photographs. Go ahead and buy what you think you'll need for the size & quality of work you plan to produce, but read the manual.

2. Lens - When I mentioned the "kit" lens, that's the lens that often comes with a camera...so it's a kit that allows you to immediately start photographing with the camera right of out of the box. However, to me, the lens (or "glass" as many pros call it) is MORE important than the camera body. The lens is at the start of being able to produce crisp images with accurate color.

3. COLOR MANAGEMENT TOOLS/ WORKFLOW! - Ok, so maybe this is equally as important as the lens, or maybe slightly less than, but either way...it's an integral part to taking your images to the next level.

What do I mean by "color management workflow"? I mean that you begin to think about the color of your images from the moment you click the shutter all the way until you send it off to print. Here's my process:

1. Set the white balance on my camera for the lighting conditions.
2. Photograph the X-Rite Color Checker Passport with the correct exposure, filling at least the center of the screen with the passport.
3. Import that image into my photo editing software of choice (I use Lightroom 3 although this can also be done in Photoshop by a different process). 
4. In Lightroom, go to the Development module, click on the white balance eye dropper under the "Basic" menu, the click on the bottom right white square on the passport. This will not work well if you have over or underexposed the image.
4. Select the image of the passport, select File - Export with Preset - Color Checker Passport.
5. Make sure the image is still selected, scroll down to "Camera Calibration" on the right side of the module, and select the profile you created for the Passport and lighting conditions you used. 
6. Once all of the images are in Lightroom, you can sync them all by selecting all the images, clicking "Sync" at the bottom right of the Development module, and clicking "white balance" and "calibration".

For a video tutorial on this method, including how to use Photoshop instead of Lightroom, go here. This video is just under an hour long and the first half is about using Lightroom and the second half goes into using Photoshop. After watching, let me know if you're not convinced that you should start using the Color Checker Passport.

As professionals, or "emerging professionals", part of our job description should be to educate our clients about what we can offer compared to Joe Friend who has a nice camera. Having unparalleled management and control over the color in our images is one way to do that.

Did I miss anything? What things do you include in your color management workflow?

What things do you do to set yourself apart as a professional and how do you educate your clients about those things?

Guest Blogger: Photographer Melissa Mann Bean

Today I am pleased to have guest blogger, Melissa Mann Bean. I know Melissa from our days at Union University in Jackson, TN. I recently reconnected with Melissa on Facebook to find out that in addition to being a mom, she is also a working photographer and photography teacher. I hope you enjoy what Melissa has to share with us today:

Hello all you photography equipment owners and users!

Well, I just had a funny experience just as I was reading this email from Leslie to see if I would be a guest blogger. My best friend owns a catering business and this week she was asked by the local “hip and trendy” part of the newspaper to run a print ad in their bridal issue. She was very excited because the price was right for a decent sized ad. She gave the ad salesperson some ideas, then to meet the deadline, they had a person design an ad. Since I have both design and photography experience (and was trained in both), she emailed it to me. IT WAS REALLY BAD. And not only was it one of the worst designs I’ve seen from someone calling themselves a professional, there were misspelled words.

I quickly called my friend and told her I would design something that potential clients would not only see, but read and then call her for catering services. How does this relate to photography?

What I’m getting at is:

1.  If you have experience at what you do, and if you are classically trained, your work should SHINE. If you don’t have the expertise or time to get the work done with excellence, then either hand the client over to someone else or ask for an extension.

2.   Say you want to try something new. Use your friends or family first. You can even intern with a professional, or pick a photographer’s brain that lives in another city. Maybe you have been photographing portraits of children and want to get into wedding photography. By all means, you should try new things, but don’t go solo on such a big venture if you don’t have expertise with groups, emotional days or women. Let’s face it, if you are a woman, you know how emotional a group of women can be. Just imagine a room full of these ladies getting ready, trying to beat the clock. And, if you are a man, do you know how to handle when all these ladies seem a little on edge? Does your work show it, or does the work make it seem that this moment was a piece of cake? And the bride should look back and have pleasant memories, not one of angst – no matter how nutty those moments are before her wedding.

3.  When you say you will do something, you should do it right the first time. Yes, we all make mistakes, and early on I know I made a plethora of them. But, you have to learn from them and not keep making the same mistakes. For instance, I never charged enough for my work. I kept being told I should charge more. Not by just my family and friends, but from clients! Clients can set the pace for your business to grow, my friends. And, they can also give you helpful insight, but make sure you have met their needs first. The first time, because you may not get a second chance.

4.  Build a network. Like my catering friend, she knew that I would know how to word the changes that needed to be made to that ad. So, by building your network, and not just of other photographers, you’ll build your business. Go to meetings with people other than clients. Go to block parties. Hang out in cool little shops. Join in the chat with others about taxes, business ideas, art, design, photography... you never know who you’ll meet. You may just meet the next person who will build the best ad for you, not just for their portfolio, but to help you succeed.

For more information and helpful tips, feel free to email me. I would love to hear feedback. I can be found most days hanging out on a college campus teaching both photo and business for visual artists, playing with our one-year old son or taking photographs at weddings, of children, events or just photographing weird stuff around my house.

Melissa Mann Bean melissa@melissamannphotography.com

www.melissamannphotography.com

How To Get More Accurate Color in Your Images

Note about the absence of recent blog posts: I took a bit of a blog hiatus over the past month and a half. We had an family emergency that warranted a very long holiday trip so I just put things on hold for a time. Never fear...I'm back! 

This is going to be a two part post. The first part is geared towards anyone who owns a digital camera, amateur photographers, or anyone who is a consumer of photography. I think that about covers it...

Have you ever ordered anything online and when you received the item, the color looked nothing like it did on your screen? This often prompts people to return the item since it wasn't what they expected. However, what I'm going to share with you today will explain how the issue could possibly be on your end, in a way that the company has no control over.  

As a photographer, it's extremely important for me to have control over the color management in the image-making process from the moment of capture all the way to the final output, whether that's a screen or a print. For the image I've captured to become reality, the colors captured by my camera and eventually represented in a print need to be as close as possible to the reality in front of my camera. I continually stress this to my clients and in this post I'm going to demonstrate this and I'll also explain how you can get more realistic colors in your own images with one tiny step.

I recently needed to submit a new headshot to a company for which I freelance. I have a good bit of experience in making self-portraits so I decided to just set it up myself. After I had my location set up with the lighting and background I wanted to use, I set the exposure settings on my camera and then began to think about my color management workflow. What's the first thing anyone with a camera should do in order to get the best color for the lighting conditions?

1. Set the WHITE BALANCE on your camera.

If you're thinking, "What's the white balance????", you should probably pull out that camera manual and check it out. There are settings on pretty much every digital camera that allow you to set the white balance to things like cloudy, sunny, shade, fluorescent, flash, etc. Maybe you already know about white balance and you're just like, "Oh, I just set it to Auto-WB" and let the camera figure it out. Here's point #2:

2. DO NOT USE THE AUTO-WHITE BALANCE SETTING.

Here's the reason: when your camera is set on auto white balance, it remeasures and adjusts the white balance for every single frame. If there are even slight changes in the light (such as outside on a partly sunny day), you are going to get variations in the color on all of your images.

Back to my headshot (and why you might want to rely on a professional for the absolute best quality color prints)....

I set my camera to the "flash" white balance setting since I used studio strobes. However, I also have some other tools to help me get the best color. One of those is the X-Rite Color Checker Passport. This thing is so very cool. Before I get to that, though, let me show you an image from my camera, with the white balance set at flash, but before the rest of my color management workflow:

The color is not so bad, but I know that the purple color of my dress and the turquoise color of my necklace are just not popping like they did in real life. So, I photographed my Color Checker Passport...

...then I imported that image into my editing program (I'm using Lightroom 3) and by a wave of my magic wand (read: a quick button click in Lightroom), the true colors of that palette and everything else in the image show up...

If you click on each image to enlarge, you'll see a dramatic difference in the purples, blues, and reds, not to mention a difference in the background and my skin and clothes. 

Of the various poses and outfits I photographed that day, here is the final image I chose as my headshot, originally white balanced with my camera set to flash, but then processed in Lightroom 3 with the corrected color palette:

Side-by-side comparison of the two images:

White balance set to flash, no further color correction

White balance set to flash + color correction

Check out the color of my clothes and background, and even the color of my skin from the first image to the last one. Now, I cannot guarantee that you are seeing what I see on my screen for one last reason. I have a color calibrated monitor that accurately displays color (I use the X-Rite ColorMunki). THIS is why that thing you ordered that I mentioned at the beginning of this post looks nothing like what it looked like on your screen. This is one more piece of my color management workflow that is not available to the average friend, brother, father, or cousin who has a good camera and takes good pictures. I have specifically invested in these tools because of the importance of getting the correct color in my color photographs. Finally, there are a few more pieces of that puzzle that affect the color of the final print that I can control if it's part of my own color management workflow. If my work is taken to Costco or somewhere else to be printed, it's more than likely that the color in my photograph will not look like it should.

In closing, set your camera's white balance to start getting more accurate colors, and then be sure to rely on your professional photographer to get the very BEST color images and prints.

MSU Photography Students to Serve the Community

Today I am pleased to have a guest post from one of my former professors in the School of Film & Photography at Montana State University, Alexis Pike. In her post, she talks about something that is close to my heart: community service. She is working with one of her photography classes to host a service-oriented photography event that will be held this Saturday in the photography studio at MSU. This event is being held in conjunction with the Help Portrait movement which was started by photographer Jeremy Cowart.

MSU School of Film & Photography Portrait Project
by Alexis Pike
 
The photography students enrolled in Advanced Studio Lighting (MTA 342) course at Montana State University will be photographing families from the community who could not otherwise afford this type of opportunity. The event will involve students meeting and greeting families, making them feel at ease in the studio, capturing their image, helping families chose their favorite photograph to have printed, and archiving images to cd for use by the family. Families will receive a free portrait session and F-11 has been extremely generous in offering to donate a 5x7 print (following the event) for each family from their cd of images.
 
This is an opportunity for my students and myself to work with our community. In my previous teaching position, my classes were involved in various service-learning events. Note the word “service-learning”. The students provide a service (typically to the community) and the students learn from that opportunity; it’s a perfect partnership—everyone involved benefits from the event. In the past, when I’ve pitched the idea of service-learning in classes, many students seem hesitant to participate, probably because they don’t know what to expect. But, I’ve always found that the students involved find it very rewarding on both a personal and professional level. It’s a positive experience; it places students in a real life situation where they learn from the experience and they want to continue to find ways to serve others. Since Montana State University is a land grant institution, I feel it is especially important that students at MSU learn about community outreach. Students need to understand that learning is a life-long process and part of that process is discovering how one can share their “gift” with others.
 
This week will be full of preparation so we can make sure we are fully prepared when that first family walks into the studio on Saturday. Over the past two weeks the students have been doing a wonderful job in arranging the event. On their own, they’ve contacted various businesses to solicit donations for the event (food, coffee, gift bags for kids). The students' involvement and enthusiasm has been like a snowball rolling down a hill, it’s getting bigger and picking up momentum. We’ve also been working on making sure the information about the event is distributed to families. The Bozeman based organization, Thrive, has been very helpful in passing on the word. Since this is the first time we are holding this event, we are only taking appointments for twenty-five families. My guess is by the end of the day, we will have worked with roughly 100 people. I think it’s important to consider this is an event about “quality” and not “quantity”. We want to make sure that every family who leaves the studio is happy and has had a pleasant experience. When it comes right down to it, the event is just a day in our lives, but the photographs from the event can be something that lasts a lifetime. I believe I speak for my students when I say that the event will provide a service that spotlights the families in front of our cameras, it’s not just for those behind the camera.

• When: Saturday, December 4th 
• Time: 10:00am-3:00pm, by appointment only
• Location: Montana State University, Visual Communications Building-VCB Building, corner of 11th and Grant, Room 211 (Photography Studio). (Parking is free on Saturday.)
• Contact Information: photobozeman@gmail.com