new SAW photograph > 009

don’t be shy, just ask

At times I am asked to create a mood board; at other times, I offer. Don’t be shy, just ask me. It is my pleasure to help make your case—and my goal?, to be awarded the job! Remember, I come from a film background, so the idea of providing a treatment and storyboarding visual solutions is second nature to me.

mood boards

I have been creating mood boards for ad agencies and designers for quite some time. I have found that it is a great tool to help us partner up and visualize how I interpret your photo project. AND a mood board is an outstanding tool to help us explain to the client not only how we are accomplishing our shots, but why our photographs will convey their brand message.

Ditto for treatments.

the party joke (part 3)

Q: what do you get when you kern A E I O or U?

A: a vowel movement. :-|

SAW is now shooting bread & butter!

new SAW photograph > 008

SAW’s free photography tips

My good friend at the art university hit me up for some tips to tell his graphic design students concerning photography. These tips are for 3rd and 4th year students taking the DIY (do-it-yourself) class. btw, this is the same university I occasionally teach at in the graphic design and photography departments—so I was happy to [embark my wisdom] help out.

These came to me in a flash. I stopped at 11. I could go on...

1)
just click the SEXY button!

2)
every time you launch Photoshop, God kills a kitten.

3)
if you take a photo of poo in RAW,
and convert the RAW file to 16 bit TIF in Lightroom,
and then manipulate that photograph in Photoshop,
making sure you keep the histogram intact,
then what you get is a “beautiful” photograph of poo.

4)
HDR
http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2009/08/black-hole/
read second pet peeve

5)
255 = 666, don’t go there

6)
if you do not know what 255 is, you are blown out!

7)
stock photography is the devil. do not feed the beast.
shoot your concept yourself or collaborate with a photographer.
don’t worry you will have your whole career to “buy stock” :-\

8)
there are 100+ adjustment tools in Photoshop.
figure out which 15 of them to use, then ignore the rest.

9)
photoshop preferences are setup by default for amateurs.
just remember sRGB stands for sh*tty-RGB.

8) part 2
okay, the 15 tools are:
masks, curves, hue/saturation, fade, unsharp mask, dodge/burn, shadow/highlights, crop, free transform, soft light, gaussian blur, noise, convert to profile, save/save for web, and command+option+Z!

10)
back your files up. seriously, backup your files.

- - -

bonus tip

11) in order to go from taking taking BAD pictures to taking GOOD picture you need to take A LOT of pictures—hundreds of thousands.
The good news is that there will be some wonderful ones along the way. These are gifts from the universe; be grateful.

1) part 2
there is NO SEXY button! doh!


Stephen Austin Welch
October 12, 2009

superhero

my superhero name is Commander Z!

new SAW photographs > 007

“after party”

new SAW photographs > 006

behind the scenes

So, you want a behind the scenes video of our photo shoot, well we did not shoot one —> because that third assistant we hired was actually working to help us make our day. Orbiting ’round the “photo-blog-o-sphere” are a bunch of behind the scenes videos [yawn] and a bunch of commentary on them. Okay, so maybe I will get on board and have my 4th assistant or PA shoot some footage... maybe not.

update: ironically, a student from the art university just emailed and asked if he could “shadow me” with a video camera on a shoot...

But, if I do,

my video shot list will include:

• the 4:30 AM alarm clock (and possible pressing of ‘snooze’ » action shot!)
• my espresso order and my second coffee order.
• driving to set in traffic (since I will probably be shooting in LA.) although last time we shot in NYC we walked to the studio, that was pretty cool. :-)
• conversations with the AD, conversation with the CD, conversations with the AB, conversations with the Client... you get the idea.
• CLOSE-UPs of lunch. yes, there will be vegetarian options (always). yes it will be 4-star at least. no it will not be deli (ever*.) *=unless of course you ask for deli.
• me lying on the ground shooting. I always seem to end up on the ground/floor to get the shot.
• outtakes
• and a crew shot (I am a sap from a good group wrap shot**.)

I guess my point is, usually, I am too busy shooting—to shoot me shooting!

p.s.

• driving away from set, in traffic. ;-)

p.p.s. **=okay here is a group wrap shot for ya:


p.p.p.s. please note, the out-of-focus cord swaying from the top of frame, that is a genuine 15 foot shutter release connected to my Hasselblad. good times