Self Portraits - the toughest assignment - Orcatek - Part II

In an earlier post I talked about trying to shoot a self portrait. Well I finally got one I liked.

The hardest part is getting a photograph that looks relaxed. It is easy to see how important it is to have a good rapport with people so they can be relaxed in their photographs.

Orcatek Photography - Phoenix, Arizona

Headshots in Black and White

With almost everything being in color in photography today, the fine art of a great black and white headshot is slipping away. It seems that photographers are usually reserving it for fine art photographs. Whereas I include it in my glamour and boudoir work, black and white also has a place in portraits and headshots.

The tonality of a black and white image adds a special depth to the images that just can't be done with a traditional color photograph. It is even more important that the photographer control the light with black and white to create those moods.

Color has become a crutch for some photographers, so worried the perfect red they overlook the other key elements to a photography. Black and white, with the constraints it poses, forces the use of all a photographer's skills to get a great image.

Digital photographers have it even tougher. A portrait / headshot shot in black and white digitally does not have the same available range as film. Some of the typical techniques to work around this in landscapes such as HDR, do not work practically with a person whose expression and eyes are key and move just the slightest bit between frames.

There are other techniques that a skilled digital photographer can use to work around this, but it is a skill that takes time to learn.

Orcatek Headshot and Portrait Photography - Phoenix, Arizona

Sassy Sarongs Product Photography

This week the most fun I had was as the photographer of product shots for Sassy Sarongs. A great company which produces an amazing variety of sarongs. Lisa is always great fun to work with on her projects. Each time she gets a new batch of sarongs in, she calls her favorite photographer - me.

We started the day with some photography of Lisa for her marketing materials. Her sarongs made for some very colorful and interesting shots. She was a great sport about trying various things to get a large variety of photographs to work. As usual, my photographers eye saw some great opportunites to create some amazing photographs.

After the headshots were done, we moved on to the product photographs. The shots were targeted for her website catalog along with some printed materials. Once again there was a large variety of sarongs to shoot. The colors and quality of these sarongs is amazing.

We ended the day by shooting the full body promotional materials. These photographs will featured a beautiful model posing in a gentle breeze. Getting the sarongs to behave in the breeze to was a challenge, but as a photographer I've learned a few tricks to get it to work. The final photographs will be used in magazine, posters and other marketing materials.

I look forward to working with Lisa and Sassy Sarongs again on their next project.

Orcatek Photography - Phoenix, Arizona