I truly hope you enjoy this film.
Inspired by The Tree of Life, by Terrence Malick.
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Perspectives – A short film
Posted in Video
Tagged "After Effects", "The Tree of Life", Camera, Fuji, Fujifilm, Lightroom, Malick, Nikon, S5, S5 Pro, sky, Tutorial
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Yes, but is it art?
Like Man, even when not in an attempt to mislead, a photograph is incapable of recounting the entire objective truth. This is an inescapable fact — perhaps the only truth capable of a photograph. At its most honest, a photograph is only able to tell one of many truths. The resultant image is the photographer’s seemingly futile attempt to capture a multi-dimensional moment in time, from a single unforgiving point in space. If the photographer accepts this charge for what it is, he or she can create an image capable of guiding the viewer’s thoughts to a particular interpretation of the truth. This is what differentiates the true artist from the simple talented operator, and attempts to answer the question “yes, but is it art?”
J R BERNSTEIN
Measuring beyond ISO 8000 with your Sekonic L-758DR Light Meter
With dSLR cameras acheiving higher and higher ISO ranges, like the Nikon D3s which goes up to 102400 ISO, I was left wondering if my top-of-the-line Sekonic L-758DR light meter is now obsolete (as it “only” goes up to ISO 8000).
Manual Focusing with a Split Personality.
Okay…I’ll admit it. I’m not one for a lot of automated camera functionality. I like lots of features and tricks, but I don’t often like auto-exposure, auto-aperture, “Program” mode, or even auto-focus. Sure there are times when all those things are useful, but in general, I find they get in the way. I spend at least as much time correcting or adjusting the camera’s “auto” function than I would just setting it in the first place. So maybe I’m a purist. Or maybe I’m just practical. Or nuts. You decide. Continue reading
Lighting Tutorial No. 2
This is just a quick mini-tutorial.
I thought this would be a good example of how versatile one single lighting setup can be.
Posted in Tutorials
Tagged Diagram, Education, Fashion, Flash, JRBERNSTEIN, Lighting, Photography, Portrait, Strobe, Strobist, Studio, Tips, Tricks, Tutorial, Versatility
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Getting PAID…the residual way.
I’ve run into a problem several times now…getting paid residuals for work already done, in the digital age.
Back “in the day”, residuals were easy money, sort of. Let me explain.
Let’s say you do a head-shot. How much can you charge for a simple headshot? $100? And how long does it take you? Well, there’s studio set-up (or workspace set-up if you’re not in a studio), that might take you 20 minutes (more if you need to find a location), there’s time going back and forth on the phone and on e-mail arranging dates, advising what to where, giving direction, blaa-blaa-blaa, that might take another 20 minutes or more, there’s the shoot itself which should last at least 30 minutes if your client is to feel happy about the shoot, and then there’s everything done in post, like file transfer, picking the best shots, doing colour balance, removing dust spots, retouching, etc. That could easily be 90 minutes. So all totaled, that’s 2 hours and 40 minutes…and that’s if nothing goes wrong. That works out to be $37.50/h, or, not a whole hell of a lot! Factor in your costs for your camera, computer, location, etc., and it’s MUCH less. You might even be losing money! Continue reading
Posted in Musings
Tagged Blog, Copyright, Digital, Fashion, Files, Getting Paid, JRBERNSTEIN, Letterhead, Licensing, Money, Photography, Pricing, Residuals, Value
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The power of the RSS feed…
There are three feeds I read regularly…sometimes multiple times throughout the day.
I think that if you’re going to do something well, you have to immerse yourself in it; be-it fashion photography or basket-weaving.
To be a fashion photographer, not only do you need to know something of photography and lighting, but you also need to be well versed in business, photographic style trends, the technical aspects of digital photography and digital work-flow, and you need to know what’s in style, out of style, and what will be in style down the road. (Plus about a million other things!)
Enter the RSS feed to the rescue! Continue reading
Posted in Musings
Tagged Blog, Education, Fashion, Feed, FPBlog, JRBERNSTEIN, Lightroom, Links, Must Read, News Aggregator, NOTCouture, Photography, RSS, Tips, Trends, Tricks, Weblog, x=, xequals
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Lighting Tutorial No. 1
Lighting Setup
This was a fairly simple 2-light lighting setup, but was able to deliver the impact that I was after. The hardest part of this type of look is getting the light-source relatively large enough to give those smooth gradients and narrow shadows. To achieve this your light needs to be very large or very close to your subject. (Remember, the relative size of your light to your subject is inversely related to its distance from your subject. Further=smaller.) I also made use of some “negative fill” to the right of the frame to make sure those shadows were very dark, creating contrast. Finally, a small amount of light was kicked off a reflector onto the background in order to give it some texture. Visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldwidephotographic/3762213033/ for the full image.
Enjoy!
J R Bernstein
And remember your ABC’s – Always Be Capturing!