Shooting with the Divas of New Jersey…

I once noticed a sign on a copywriters wall that said:

When shooting rapids in a canoe, if you say ‘I don’t know’, the river will decide for you. In marketing if you don’t know what to do, the river of consumerism will drop your brand right over the falls.
You and your team need to have a clear detailed plan of where you’re going and how to expect to get there. And equally important, that plan needs to be actively managed by the team, with changes and alterations as the consumer landscape data is refined into information and analyzed into knowledge.
Climb into you canoe – and get ready to ride the rapids.

Remember, things are not easily done over night. Success takes hard work, studying your competition and last but not least, make sure you involve your team in your next venture.

Keep moving forward, your time will come. Build a niche and mold an effective brand!

A year ago today I lost my best pal Lynx due to kidney failure, I know many of you may say “Oh Boy, Get over it!” But that’s not the case. The main reason I still carry this on my shoulder is because Lynx was not only my best pal, he was like one of my children. Everyday, every morning Lynx made sure I had his attention and he had my attention as well. Lynx was not your ordinary cat, he was one to hold a conversation with anyone who was willing and dedicated to speaking and listening to him.
Lynx gave love to everyone who walked in the door. Human or Animal Lynx was there to share his expertise in love giving.

Last year I went on vacation when all of a sudden he got sick on me. For 10 days straight we went from one expert vet to another, we got nowhere, Same results and no good news. Our final stop was to a specialist local in our area. Lynx lasted 3 days with them. With the best of care every hour, every minute, every day this special team of vets ran tests and couldn’t come up with any solution to save Lynx and that’s where I got the suggestive bad news. I had no other choice, he was suffering and I was suffering. He was in pain and I was crushed inside wishing I was in some third-world country where they would build him an iron lung that’ll help him live at least 10 more years. After my family and I agreed to the choice we gave our final “Good-byes”. We took it in harder then we thought!

Lynx, you will always been in our hearts!

Lynx was my sunshine!
I miss you and I love you Lynx!
I refuse to say goodbye… so I’m going to say see ya later my friend!
Hugs and Kisses <3

RAINBOW BRIDGE POEM
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.  When a pet dies – one that’s been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.  There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.  There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable, fear and worry free.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and the vigor of youth.  Those who were abused, hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again just as we want to remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them – someone who had to be left behind.  That someone who was kind, gentle and loving.  That someone who took the extra step, stayed the extra minute, reached out and touched with love, even once.
The animals all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance.  His bright eyes are intent, his eager body quivers.  Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again.  The happy kisses rain upon your face, your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look into the big, trusting eyes of your special love, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together. . . . . . . . . . . . .
~Author Unknown

What you’ll need:

Camera with manual settings I prefer a digital SLR for complete control, but you can make this work with compact cameras with either a fireworks setting or manual override

Sturdy tripod I know many people say this, but if you want clear straight lines, a dependable, adjustable but sturdy tripod. You don’t want this slipping and shaking during your exposure

Remote Cable Release I prefer one with a lock and one at least 30 inches in length. You’ll use this to trip the shutter and hold it open for longer bursts

5×7 inch black non-reflective card To cover the lens and adjust your exposures

Flash Light To help you review your settings or possibley paint your foreground with light.

Water, Insect repellant and comfortable shoes You have to take care of yourself, right?

It helps if you can scout the location prior to the event. Preferable getting an obstructed view and a place to place your blanket and cooler and relax. I try to find a place that could offer some interesting reflections or silhouettes.

Set your camera on the tripod and make sure the legs are secure from slipping. Connect the cable release and test to make sure it’s working and get out your black card. Set your camera to manual setting and put your shutter speed at B (bulb). You will dictate the shutter speed using your cable release and black card.

Now decide if you want the skies to be black or if you want some detail or colour in the background. Or if you have a building in your foreground you may want to include some of that detail in your exposure. I prefer black skies and will use the following as starting points for exposure settings for sensor sensitivity/ISO and your aperature.:

ISO/Sensitivity: 100, Aperature f/4

ISO/Sensitivity: 200, Aperature f/5.6

ISO/Sensitivity: 400, Aperature f/8

ISO/Sensitivity: 800, Aperature f/11

ISO/Sensitivity: 1600, Aperature f/16

Keep in mind that the fireworks are extremely bright and will clip out very easily. The lower your ISO the darker the skies and the limited amount of detail you’ll have.

Now you’re ready to shoot.

When it’s time for the fireworks, place the black card in front of your lens, trip the shutter (lock it if you can) wait for the trailer to shoot up and once it disappears, lift the card away from the lens and capture the burst.

Place the card back in front of the lens. If you want to capture multiple bursts repeat this process. If you’re satisfied with one burst, release the shutter, review the exposure (assuming you’re shooting digital) and adjust the f/stop or ISO to suit your camera, lens and environment.

Now this seems like a lot of detail for getting the shots, why not just trip the shutter and let it go? By all means, do it, have fun with it and see what you get. Shooting fireworks is a lot about adjustments and experimenting, but if you can predict what it’s going to look like and being able to adjust will help you increase the number of amazing fireworks photos.

So what kind of lens do I use? Most of the time, I’m shooting with an 18-55 lens. Moderate wide-angle to normal. But shooting with a telephoto zoom can help you create some nice abstract light paintings.

Things to consider for the quality of your image

With higher ISO you will increase the grain/noise of your image plus it will detect a lot of the bomb smoke. While it can provide some great effects, you may want to experiment and adjust

To capture the trails/bursts, you’ll have exposure times for a single burst around 4-8 seconds, This can create some great light trails from other sources but may also create hotspots around street lights. Just be aware.

Reflections of water are generally between 1/2 and a full stop below your normal bursts but are amazing if you can get them just right.

If you’re shooting the grand finale you will see an enormous amount of bursts in a single area and you may experience some blown out areas in your image.

Experiment and have fun. I’d love to see what you shoot for fireworks this season.

Cheers!

~fotodog

So, for the past few weeks I have taking some clicks at things I want to show with you all. Feel free to comment and/or add suggestions… Remember, I’m all open for all C&C!

The shots above are a couple of lighting test shots taken by Daniela & myself. We took some time to make some poster style looks and came out winning after a couple of frames. click the images to view larger shots!

I call this one “FEEL THE  BREEZE”! –Taken @ Clove Lakes Park

I cal this one “Planning a Getaway”! – Taken @ Clove Lakes Park

I Call this one “The Watcher”! – Taken @ Clove Lakes Park … I’m going to submit this one to Caesar Milan – The Dog Whisperer.

I’ll be posting more of my G.O.Y.A shoot, It’s after 1am not… I gotta go! LataZzz!

Have a Happy Easter Everyone!

More on the winner of the JRPContest2010 after the jump >>>

I first want to give thanks to all the sponsors that held this contest all together. If it weren’t for the this contest would still be just a thought in my mind right now.

I want to Thank:

• AdoramaPix & Ingrid Spangler for being a Judge on this contest.
• Brent Cline of Cline Designs for giving that push, Judging and Sponsorship.
• Zack Arias and the OneLight Crew.
• Colin Smith of Photoshop Cafe
• Al Ward of ActionFX.com
• David DuChemin of Pixelated Image

And now, for the moment you all have been waiting for. Please accept my apologies for the delay on announcing the winner but communication and weather conditions really get in peoples way when you just want a simple life ….

Now, I want to give thanks to all the participants. I hope you all will keep coming back and doing your thing when we have Photography contest going. For these contest its a thing of knowledge, something to help polish up your skills and keep you doing what you love. With so much inspiration, friendship and conversations with you all I’ll be more then happy to hold more of these events now and again through out the year. You guys/gals Rock!

And the winner is…. Click Here to view the winning Black & White Photograph

I was on my way to a shoot early this morning and I decided to have my camera out with my 70-200mm lens on while I commute to the location. I wasn’t very far of a distance but I had a couple of hours free and I wanted to capture the day within a couple of frames while I was at it. I did a GOYA as many of the other photog’s call it… “Get Off Your Ass” to be exact!

While on my commute I captured many interesting images. When I uploaded them onto my laptop I became really emotional towards this very image. Instantly a title for this image came to mind… “Liberty and Justice…”!

This is an image that really explains the hard times we’re all going through right now. Beginning with Our Lady Liberty! Many of us are holding onto jobs for dear life, and many others are struggling and pinching every penny they make to get food on the table and the bills paid. We all have a responsibility, a goal and a dream to be successful in life. We tough it out and at the end we all have to start all over again the next day.

I’m posting this image not to make you feel sad, but to inspire you and to remind you that you are not alone in these hard situations. Keep pushing forward, Keep your head up!

I also want to give thanks to all the participants of the “JRPContest2010” – beautiful submissions on the flickr page, its so hard to decide on just one. We will have a winner announced on Sunday after the SuperBowl, in the meantime… keep strong, get off your ass and keep doing your thing!

LataZzz!

I wanted to practice more on the one light theory, so I brought out the gear and thought I’d share this shot with you guys/gals and show you that “YOU” along with many others can achieve this look with just one light, a Diffuser and a couple white bounce boards!

I first started on what to shoot, and naturally I called out one name and she was available in the next room of course… “DANIELA”!!!! (more after the jump…)

I asked her to bring out her huge Puerto Rico Flag cause I wanted to see how the colors will look within this portrait shot. So I brought out my camera Canon XTi/400D and my flash 580EX ii and of course the Radio Poppers cause I wanted to shoot off camera because according to Father Bob, On Camera Flash is the Devils work… LOL just Joking!

Anyways, I got her to put the PR Flag on her hear so she can look like a Saint of some sort, but I was mainly focused on the star, I wanted the star to have some visibility that way people can identify which flag was on her head. Then I was sketching out in my noggin how I wanted the light to look. And I also wanted the light to be high but soft as well. So I opened up my LastoLite EZYBox 15 x 15 Soft box and placed a diffuser right in front to soften up the 1/2 flare coming out of my 580EX ii. I know I could’ve lower the flash power down a stop but I wanted to cover the head shot and make sure the bounce from the 4ft x 2ft whiteboard came back full and just as soft from behind her.

Like I stated before, I could’ve easily dropped the power down and brought the lighting closer but then the bounce of the whiteboard would’ve been half as much and wouldn’t of lightened up the rest of the head shot at all.

If I would’ve lowered the power to 1/4 and brought the light closer after the bounce I would’ve received 1/16th power on the bounce back onto the flag behind her. shooting at 1/2 gave me the advantage on getting 1/4 on the bounce simply because it was a close shot at a high power and the whiteboard gave me a good soft result at the bounce back.  Receiving a !/4 power on the bounce back is something I am content with, it gives it a more dramatic effect at the end.
Thx for reading!

Below is a diagram of the shot I took above courtesy of Lighting Diagrams Creator

ISO 200 – 50mm 1.4 lens – 1/200 @ f11 – Flash 1/2

Read more on McNally’s Blog – Bless me Father Bob…

>>> Smashing MagZ Brilliant 2010 Wallpapers – Click Here

Why do we torture ourselves ourselves like so you ask? Really?

Since it’s a beginning of a new year do yourself a favor and stop everything! Breathe! Catch up to your mental state of mind and give yourself a break, even if its for just an hour or two and write down your latest projects. Take the time and fix them up, make them look pretty and show them off to us, the public. Get the feedback your expecting, and if you get negative feedback all you can do is improve yourself, practice, get better and note everything down with pen and paper. Share with the world what you have done and see how inspiring you can be… share it with us! Take a breathe! Money isn’t everything… you need to be focused, be happy and the rest will flow naturally!

Wassup guys and gals, let me open up this first blog post by wishing you all a happy new year again. May you all get what you hustle and sweat for in this new life time!

Now, lets get into this new contest. Fantastic Prizes involved, great people participating and courageous effort being executed behind it all. Here are your specs on the contest…

This year I will put you all to the challenge on Black & White Photography. I would like to see what you all can bring on to the stage of chromatic single frame captures. Eliminating the colors will make you get more acquainted to B&W Photography and how it once was back in the day.

RULES:

The rules are simple, get out your camera…. and simply just shoot! That’s all to it!

It doesn’t matter what type of camera you have anyone can join just as long as they submit a B&W Photo! No topic, no lighting restrictions, sheesh if you like and its crispy clear you can even add a pic from you mobile phone if you desire that!
All that I ask is for you to follow this 1 request… “no porn, no nudes”. Simply because we have many participants from all over and you never know what kind of discouragement that type of submission can lead to.. so I thank you for understanding this one request.

Tip: Before you even choose what you are going to shoot, spend some time looking at a lot of examples in B&W on flickr. This will boost up your creativity and you never know, you could come out with some fantastic results.

Submission guidelines are simple… Snap your shot, and to show that you put in all the effort and your not submitting something you’ve had stored for ages here’s the twist… take another shot of the same picture but with you in it holding a paper/sign written on saying “JRPCONTEST2010”.

Now you go over to flickr after doing all your balances on Lightroom or whatever it is that you use create an account if you don’t have one already and submit, but make sure you submit with the tags/keyword “JRPCONTEST2010” also, otherwise how would we find your submission. *Smile!

Always remember to put in your creativity into your shot, give it meaning, a title and don’t forget to tag it when submitting on Flickr – “JRPCONTEST2010”.

Everyone is limited to 2 images for this contest.
Make sure when you submit your image(s) that you include your signature on it and also make sure you save a “Hi-Res” version of your submission(s) for printing purposes.
If you change your mind and no longer want to keep what you submitted and have another choice to put up, please take down your previous submission and upload your new submission.

Judges:

These judges have many years devoted to this business, I wouldn’t change any of them when it comes to a contest like so.

• Ingrid Spangler – AdoramaPix
• Brent Cline – Cline Designs
• Jay Rodriguez (me) – JayRodPhotos.com

Prizes:

Here is the moment you all have been waiting for!
As the contest is rolling I’m still talking to many other sponsors so I will be keeping you posted on the daily basis. now, on to the Prizes!

- AdoramaPix – True B&W Print (more info to follow)
- Zack Arias – Onelight DVD
- Brent Cline | Cline Design – Velvet fine art Print 17×22 of the winning image
- Jay Rodriguez and Co. – $50 Gift Card to Best Buy
- David DuChemin – VisionMongers
- Colin Smith | PhotoshopCafe – LightRoom 2  & Photoshop CS4 For Digital Photographers DVD’s.
- Al Ward | ActionFX.com – 1 Year Subscription to ActionFX.com

Contest ends on Jan. 31st 2010 – 12am EST
Judging will be reviewed accordingly, no more then 7 days to determine the winner.

More to follow, stay tuned… have Fun!

>>Click here to contact me via Flickr

>>Click Here to view the submission on Flickr

Happy New Year from us here at Urban Grafix Designs & JayRodPhotos.com. May all the best you hope for work out well for you from here on out!

P.S. don’t tell Kelby that I’m using his 2010 balloons…LOL

• 28 Examples of Excellent Animal Photography Shots
• The Photo Argus
• AgentParanoia’s “CHILDHOOD FEARS” Flickr Gallery
• Syl Arena Photography
• Mark Krajnak’s Jersey Style Photography
• MoodAHolic.com
• Cline Design

Tomorrow I will post my final blog post for 2009… LataZzzz!

I first heard of this book over on twitter. Random tweeters were quoting this book and letting us all know how good it is. Every day it was something new from several photographers who were reading the book. It really caught my interest, I was telling myself that I have to read this book. It even became a top trend for a couple hours on twitter.

Making a Life and a Living in Photography – By: David DuChemin

Let  me first let you all know that this is not a "How to get better at Photography book" nor is it “a book with shortcuts or tutorials on how to make you pictures look better” and don’t expect it to be “your traditional photography book showing you all the authors pictures, telling you what lens he/she used and what to buy and you can achieve the same look too”! NO!, this is a book written by a man (David DuChemin) who has had his ups and downs just like any other person, failed and refused to experience the downfall ever again.

This book is for people who are approaching the world of photography today and actually want to make a living out of it. David opens up in this book explaining who he was before he became a photographer, his ups and downs, his major downfalls and how he got up, dusted his knees and continued going forward without any hesitation.

David makes it very clear, this profession is not for everyone! This profession can take a lot out of you depending on your niche, your element…what your good at shooting!  It’s not just about being talented, creative, or familiar in this field. It’s also about being a communicator, being consistent with your creativity and delivering the goods with exceptional results, and that just the opener!

David gets deeper in showing you the ups and downs in the professional field. He also interviews several well know photographers who in the book explain their ups and their downs in their life behind the lens.

“Creating your career – your calling – can be an act of creativity a much as creating your photographs.”

It’s about hard work and paying attention to the business side as much as to the craft of photography. If your ready to start your own business and put food on the table to feed your family then you have to get ready and create your own marketing technique. Delivering the goods in a timely manner is the first approach… that creates viral marketing! Adding some bonus incentives to the goods is boost and will create even more word of mouth marketing. This is just a few of many tips David gives in this book. he also helps you to balance your focus in spreading the word and getting your work done at an even flow.

“It just takes time, and the kind of work you’d put in if you wanted to play the violin”

Making a life in photography involves a lot of gusto. If your going pro just remember that many key elements must be laid out…errr… figured out once you involve your photography with the world of commerce.

Take a break, get yourself a copy of VisionMongers, read it… eat it all up and then improve your sloppy ways. Make clients Happy, create viral marketing… and last but not least… Take Killer Pictures!

I encourage you to visit David at his website, checkout his beautiful work, follow his blog and don’t forget to friend him on twitter too.

David DuChemin  – PixelatedImage.com

P.S. – In closing, David finishes off the book with an exclusive interview with the ever so popular National Geographic’s Photographer aka Strobe Guru Joe McNally

Last night I tested out 1 light with stofen at a Xmas party thrown by a good friend of the family and I’ve got to tell you, no matter the distance or the location I was taking that 1 strobe to I was guaranteed a no miss!

Anyways, I’m going to take out the new goods (Radiopoppers) out for some test shots during the weekend and I will be writing my opinion on them here on the blog.

I’m so stoked about this because I’ve been using Infinity Gadgets Cactus Transmitter & Receivers for a while now. With special mods done on both Trans. & Recv. I’ve gotten really cool results just as long that in within the range. I’ve tested up to 100 feet but no further. Infinity Gadget makes a great product for starters, really affordable and it does the job just as long as your within the range. I’ll be posting more later on the Infinity Gadgets. Have a great weekend and Happy Holidays.

I got to tell you that as far as I am on this book at this moment I’m totally blown away with the creative ways David has pointed out that we’ve all ignored. I’m just writing a brief note here to let you know that this is a very inspirational book for Photographers that want to expand and actually make this their life, their business.

I’ll be posting a review once I’m done reading it. Stay tuned for the review. I’m so stoked, I’m totally approaching new ways for my clients on 2010. I’ll be filling you in later. In the meantime, enjoy the Holiday’s a cherish all the time you have over this wonderful weekend with your loved ones.

Happy Holidays from Jay, Judy, Daniela and Aron – JayRodphotos.com

P.S. – While your at it and still surfing the net, check out David DuChemins Blog for creative insights and pretty interesting photo techniques also.

–> David Blog – Pixelatedimage.com/blog

Today I did a shoot that I have been waiting a long time for!
Today was “Help-Portrait” day all over the world hundreds and thousand of photographers gathered a team and gave the gift of a personal portrait to someone deserving.

Jeremy Cowart leader of it all is the genius behind this cause. He (Jeremy) along with thousands all over the world participated, executed and made memorable smiles for this day… December 12th 2009. Today is a start of something new and will be carried on for many years to come!

We were all assigned a task, just one task for today… and that task was to give back to your community, give back to someone in need, give back by saying thank you in a memorable way. I couldn’t think of a better way.

So many approaches and attempts ran through my mind. I wanted to do so much for today but I wasn’t sure what to do. It even came to a point that I wasn’t going to do HP and wait it out to next year. Then, this morning my wife Judy woke me up this morning and surprised me with the good word… Engine 279 in Brooklyn agreed to do the shoot as long as I agree to the emergency stipulations. I was so stoked! I gathered my gear and off we went to Redhook Brooklyn, Home of Engine 279 and the coolest Fire Fighters I’ve yet to meet!

Ever since I saw Joe Mcnally’s photographs on Fire Fighters I’ve been wanting to do a shoot similar to it. I had allot of other options for HP but this was the one I really wanted. I mean, who else better then these guys, the Fire Fighters of our city!

When we arrived, they gave us a quick tour of the Firehouse, got to meet a couple of awesome firefighters and listened to their instructions. My wife (Judy) and I once again explained why we were there. Generally to say thank you and to give you one day of cool photographic results for your family and friends. We explained to them that not everyone gets to get their photo taken as they like and give them out to their loved ones, not everyone has the time to do so… and that why we’re there!
Many of them were excited about the idea, and a huge percentage of them always wanted to approach the idea but didn’t know how to or again, didn’t have the time.

On this assignment I only used one light… surprisingly huh?
Didn’t get to unpack and soft boxes, light stands or umbrellas simply cause everything was well lit inside the firehouse. I used just 1x 580ex ii at 1/4 & 1/16 power the whole time. We got to shoot many of the murals dedicated to the fallen on 9/11, their spare uniform’s hung next to a fire bell showing respect and generosity for their services.

Then we got to the good part, getting to know the Bravest that serve NYC.
These guys are build like brick houses, they keep healthy and fit for any obstacle that comes in their path! I started shooting them one-on-one and then the others started to show up in the areas we were shooting. I was happy that they cooperated with almost all requests, posing with the fire engine, getting their gear on, shooting inside the engine and allot more fun involved in this shoot.

The hardest part of this shoot was keeping Judy to stay still, I mean its something that triggers inside her every time she see’s a fire fighter…err… or even a fire engine.

To finalize this day of excitement, I want to give thanks to Jeremy Cowart for putting Help-Portrait all together. Second, I would like to thank all the fire fighters across the world for risking their lives and doing what they do everyday for the people of their community. Final thanks but not the least a HUGE thanks to my wife Judy for making this happen. If it weren’t for her I would still be wondering what to shoot today for HP, or maybe I wouldn’t be shooting at all!

See ya next year… Jay Rodriguez – Participating for Help-Portrait.com

Last weekend I was called in to shoot an up-n-coming very talented R&B (RnB) Artist named DaWhit… also known as Mr. Whitfield. I was open for the date so I said lets go!

Packed the gear and my assistants and I headed over to Corona Queens. Arrived to the location and discovered that he wanted to shoot inside the church he grew up in… It was cool with me, plus how can I ever say no especially to the house of the lord and the vibrant colors this shoot can generously bring out!

So, I started setting up we started setting up and realized, wow this place is beautiful.. and we have it all to our selves for this shoot! AWESOME! I opened up to make the client “DaWhit” feel comfortable, get relaxed and get into his role. I was chit-chatting with him for a while so I can get to know him. From there on out her started to play some music on the piano for us… giving us some samples of his talent, his voice the lyrics from the book of hymns. Once he started singing the whole place lit up with joy, and there was my opportunity, Before he knew it I was already taking shots of him while singing and being himself… doing what he loves best, singing.

After a couple frames he asked if I could get a couple of frames of him with a white seamless background, It was really nothing to it. Just another light a quick adjustments here and there and “Bada-Bing” seamless white Background.

These type of projects I love working on. Especially when their ready to rock, no chaos of groupies or entourages and the scenery is all set. There wasn’t much heavy lifting or rearranging involved because DaWhit already had the look and scenes he wanted all ready for the shoot.

The shots with DaWhit and the Piano were all One Light with a 28” Softbox at full power.
Minor adjustments… Light left, light right camera centered and all shot tethered.

check out the setups below….

Thanks for stopping by, leave comments if you feel.
Don’t forget to stop over DaWhit’s site and check out his music… www.DaWhit.com

Now, my laptop that is currently doing the job at the moment with external HDD and the software’s that need to be involved for either the shoots and/or presentations is doing “Okay”. It’s not a top of the line PC laptop but for now its doing the job. My reason for getting this post up is because I would like to hear from all of you, hear the differences and the advantages. I would like to see if its worth upgrading my laptop which is doing the job and has taken a beating during the years or should I just get real and get a Mac Laptop.

Again, this Laptop is currently doing the job but I am sure that while the industry is upgrading almost everyday I should take advantage of the new resources and techniques that are arriving for us involved in this industry of Photography and Graphic Design.

I know that Mac has its advantages, but so does Windows. I know that Mac can be a powerful machine, but so can Windows. Both involve continuous updates and lots of caring because its a laptop. I have worked with both Platforms and enjoy them both, but in reality its almost like comparing a Mack Truck vs.. a Porsche sort of speak.

I appreciate your time and opinion, I’m just in a cluster-F!@# for now. I want to know if their is anyone out there that can help me or slowly migrate to the right choice.

I packed my gear and headed off to my home town of Brooklyn, New York. I love shooting near home because there are hundreds of areas that have vibrant colors and perfect scenery for subjects like so. Getting this opportunity from these young lads gave me cool ideas to test out with a “one light theory”! So I broke out the 580ex II and my 28” soft box and started to shoot. I was hoping on more then one change but the sun was going down so fast we had to race against time… oh, and the World Series was coming on within the next hour!

Here are a couple of shots from the shoot. It was pretty fun and quick to the point! I will be continuing this series real soon, it just takes a nice day and everyone’s availability.

- The shot way up top of my little bro Aron – Canon XTi  @1/125 • iso 200 • F9
- The second shot, his BFF Johnny – Canon XTi @1/100 • iso 200 • F8

More to come, thanks for cruising by, feel free to comment

Vincent just keeps amazing me with his production talent behind the video camera… errr… or should I say his extreme talent behind the Canon 5D MKII!

Vincent’s website was burned out earlier this week with a phenomenal video named “Lights Out, Camera, Action By: Vincent Laforet” but it was, the video was truely extreme! That video was filmed with a Canon 1D MKIV and it was filmed outdoors to test it at night. Vincent wanted to test out the stability and also how it would handle in natural ambient light. Enough of that, too much to type… go and peep his blog post on the video and hopefully it will be back up due to legality issues… eh, what ya expect, these corporate companies are anal sometimes but in the end you end up doing fantastic stuff like commercials and promotional stuff too.

Heres the link to the blog post >> Lights Out, Camera, Action

By the way, Vincent, if you read this… Thanks for inspiring me with your killer video edge!

We all are facing the core of the budget crisis these days. I have spoken to many people in the past couple of weeks telling me that the competition today is tougher then normal… and these guys have been in the business for 20+ years now. They all tell me the same thing over and over again… “don’t give up, things are going to get better”!

I keep that in my mind all the time, and I push forward!
Everyday and every night I sit with a pad on my lap and start to develop some marketing strategies, trying to figure out what can be more effective in my area… how can I get more paying gigs so I can keep on putting more food on my table without spending what I have now. So I start researching the same services in my area within a 10 mile radius. I look on what their doing and execute on some similar things and keep visuals on my campaigns using Google Analytics. This is one effective way of doing things, and the only spending you will be doing is some marketing time.

Another way along side with Google Analytics is Google Local, this website aka application will help you post your business/services on Google Search with minor details of your business for free. All you need is a Google account and start filling in the form. Within days your services will be up and running according to targeted listings in your local area. Yahoo has a local listings also… yes I encourage you to do the yahoo local listing also.

If you have your own website with access to the FTP you can do a landing page with all links to your works and keywords within the links targeting your audience. researching on this is highly recommended. I can suggest checking out Ozzu.com to get the right idea. It’s not easy to score high in the search engines, but once you start learning the ropes you can start seeing great results and start creating awesome campaigns with effective keywords on your landing pages.

Its a tough world for people wanting to start their own business today. Just don’t lower your value and keep you pricing at a reasonable competitive rate. Don’t go giving your services away because you’ll end up regretting it at the end. making your services cheaper then the others only makes you and your services look cheap. Keep within the lines of reason! Keep reminding yourself that you have to hustle hard to get the next gig going!

Just remember this… your not in this alone! We are all facing our downtime! We just got to ride it out, make sure it doesn’t get the best of us and keep pushing forward!

The Game must go on!

Download Photoshop Action here.

Installation
In Adobe Photoshop CS4, open your Actions palette (ALT + F9) and then click on the drop down to the top right of the menu.  Select “Load Actions” from the menu.  Browse to where you saved the Skin Softener action and load the action.

It will then appear in your Action Palette.

Given what the action does, it is recommended that you begin with a flattened image.  Select the “Dub’s Skin Softener” action and click the “Play” icon to fire off the process.

Follow the dialog boxes and you are done!

Along with Help-Portrait.com I’ve decided to join Images For A Cure.
Joel Meisels from Adorama (@joel adorama) had put up this post on FaceBook that caught my attention on helping out and raise awareness to find a cure for cancer. I for one know about the dreaded disease that has taken many loved ones from my life. So I clicked on the link and started reading about the information.

Images for a Cure is a fundraising effort started by Kristen Weaver and a group of passionate photographers who are motivated to make a difference. It’s not often that we have an opportunity come across our paths that allow us to use our talents and strengths to contribute to such a fantastic cause. We have recognized that our support will make a difference, and encourage other friends and photographers to get involved in our cause.

On July 23rd 2009 I lost my Best Friend, my Siamese Cat Lynx to Feline Cancer (Lymphoma) from there on my Family and I have taken the littlest things into consideration. Whether it be the pets or ourselves we are sure to check what’s wrong and get it check/fixed. I then started reading on how and why this could happen to Lynx, but there was no explanation. 

I know most of you might be saying in your own mind(s) “but it was just a cat”, nope… to me he was my child, my best friend, someone who stuck with me for almost 8 years. Gave me and many others love they didn’t expect from such a cool looking cat. There are no cures for animals when it comes to diseases like so. In third world countries there are attempts and substitutions to help keep your pet last a while longer!

My participation here isn’t for the pets, though I wish it were! My participation and contribution is for the many others I love like my Mom, my Wife, my Dad or even my own Children that at any given moment I can be told that the results are bad and it isn’t curable. My contribution is for the many others I knew and have experienced this disease and are no longer with us… I miss them too!

My crew and I are stepping forward and giving our time to Images For A Cure and all the earnings/fees are all donated to them…

On October 11th I will be offering 3-5 One Hour Photo Sessions for $100.
Family Portraits, Headshots, Children Photos and/or Single Portraits.
All will be scheduled though my email address <— or through –> Image for a Cure Website.

If many others choose to schedule after my 3-5 shoots I will consider them just as long as their in the New York -  5 Borough areas.
If all goes as scheduled I am willing to take on up to 10 sessions. Please check with me via email for proper scheduling as they keep coming in.

You donation is appreciated. Please click on the links or the images below to submit your donation.

• Find a Photographer in your location [ Click Here ] 
• Participate in Images for a Cure [ Click Here ]
• Make a Donation/ Schedule a Session to Images for a Cure [ Click Here ]

check out the email… click the images to view larger versions.

After the flattering feeling I replied to the so called Jaime Bridge…

and the funny part about it, the douche bag responds…

We are happy to inform you that you are one of the few people chosen out of the screening exercise performed for us by Model Mayhem, The taken pictures will be used for the FHM Magazine update (www.fhmonline.com) 9th – 14th OCTOBER 2009 issue, We here by decided as a committee to offer you this  job I will be very happy if you could send me more of your work  picture. My client wants to update her Catalog with her End Of The Year Release Fashion outfits and I’m interested in you for the professional work  So if you are interested you can get back to me. Presently the company needs a photographer on the next edition and am giving you the offer. The  taken shoots will be exhibited on their website and also after the first set of pictures sent. Subsequently depending on you, you could be invited over to the company to sign a contract with you.The location of the shoots will be somewhere close to where you are located. There is a model for the project..As soon as we agree, the model will get in touch with you to agree on the location  the shoot will be 2hrs daily,we would be responsible for your transport and feeding  throughout the photo shoot, the invitation letter would be mailed to you, all make up will be taken care of in the studio.
   You have the opportunity to bring along an Escort which we would handle the expenses along with your own just for you to feel comfortable.
As written in my previous mail, you will get $500 to start which will be sent to you through a check immediately. After payment has been received, the photo shoots will be taken and sent to the company.There will be a pre-arranged model, makeup artist, hair  / wardrobe stylist that will be coming over to you for the shoots.They will be contacting you for proper arrangement of time and location after payments has been made. As soon as you get the payment, you will take out your $500 and send the remaining balance to the pre arranged model for her transportation to your location and also for her to be able to pay her wardrobe stylist.Guess the arrangement is understood. In order for payment to be made to you, provide me with the following details:
PHOTOGRAPHER  INFORMATION
1. Name on check:
_____________________________________________
2. Complete Mailing Address:
_____________________________________________
3 City:
_____________________________________________
4.State:
_____________________________________________
5.Zip Code:
­­­­­­­­­_____________________________________________
6. Phone#:
_____________________________________________
7.Age:
_____________________________________________
OTHER NAMES:
List any stage or professional names, maiden name, aliases, or any other name you have ever used.
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
I here by represent and warrant that the above information is true and correct.The names listed above include my present name and every name that I have ever used including my maiden name, alias,nickname,professional.
Kindly know that P.o.Box are not applicable.
FGXCELTALENT
32 Vauxhall Bridge Road
London SW1V 2SS
United Kingdom
Tel: +447031955927
www.fhmonline.com

I did a Google search for “FGXCELTALENT” and all these results came up!

My Google search –> click here <–

I wrote back, me knowing the results to see if he will actually call back. That way I can get either some ore information on him. A phone number or at least a contact email address. If I can actually crack this down then I’ll feel like a hero of some sort.

Right now I’m waiting on his reply and hoping he calls back… here is my reply to his reply.

Just giving you all a heads up on things. There are too many people out there especially overseas trying to damage someone or something and they use the INTERNET as a weapon of some kind. Then when your ready to do an investigation, its all to late because you lost the funds, you lost interest or no-one in the countries want to crack down on this stuff cause it went over their jurisdiction.

Everyone, please make sure you all do your homework when your dealing with clients or contacts like this. It can and will cost you allot of money and we’re at the time that we cannot afford to lose what we have right now!

Take care everyone… be wise

~Jay