To Shop or Not?

Here comes the radiant bride. Down the aisle and into her father's arms.  The sun peeks through mahogany wooden doors, casting an angelic glow on her flawless dress; a veil covering the silver droplets leaving her eyes.  Friends and family align the walkway winking and waving well wishes as she walks to greet her groom. Going in for the kiss he lifts her veil,  holds her delicate face in his hands, whispers to the soft center of her lips, "I love you" and they kiss - - captured. 

Perfect right? Almost....
 

This day was perfect and it was theirs. Does it matter that generations later can experience this day as if they were there?  Does it matter that her father walked her down the aisle and died two years later? Does it matter that years have gone by and took their youth with them? Does it matter that the dress she wore was her mother's and had been preserved for that day?  That beautiful tear stained bride with the raccoon eyes. The bride with traces of makeup on her dress from an Aunt who hugged her. The bride with lipstick stained teeth. 

This is where Photoshop image editing comes in. 

Why should a few imperfections destroy a perfectly good shot?  It doesn't have to! The purchase of image editing is an investment to sustain the memories of important events and family photographs.  I've seen great wedding photographs with beautiful scenery and pose compositions.  However, those small imperfections can annilihate what the picture could have been.  A run in panty hose, a tooth missing, a bothersome mole, a receding hairline or age detail in the face are just some of the things that can be edited out and can make a dramatic difference in your photographs. 

A lady once told me that she and her family decided to take a family photo.  During the time, her mom was battling Cancer and it was taking a toll on her physical appearance.  When their pictures came back, she couldn't help but notice that her mom looked sickly.  She asked the photographer to Photoshop the picture to make her mom look younger and healthier.  She's grateful for image editing as the photographer brought back to her the mom she knows. 

Not long after the shoot her mom passed away.  She told me she was happy she'd invested in image editing because she didn't want the family photo to depict her mother's illness.  She wanted to remember her mother's spirit.  She wanted to salvage her mother's beauty; the beauty she'd come to know all of her life.  The beauty that would be treasured for many generations to come.
 

Before and After photographs using Photoshop image editing software.











Visit my website:  www.geminiphotographyandgraphicdesign.com
 

Wonderful Winston

I'm nearing the end of graduate courses at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri.  In addition to a Graduate Corporate Communications class, I am also putting together a documentary trailer called 20th Street - For Whites Only.  20th Street is located in the Hyde Park community in North St. Louis City and isn't exactly the ideal area for a woman pointing a camera.  This story however, is a personal one.   

My grandmother moved into a house on 20th Street in the late 60's along with her children.  Two weeks later, the house was fire bombed by an angry white mob.  The mob didn't approve of a black family moving into an all white neighborhood.  Due to an influx of race riots during that time, this incident was covered by only a few media outlets and was soon cast into the sea of the forgotten.

Today, the Hyde Park community is noticeably different with street barricades on every block, decorated with abandoned beautiful brick row houses throughout.  There is one little lady though, Ms. Winston.  She lives in the row house on the very corner of the block and is adamant the neighborhood is making gain.  The front of her home is decorated with Elephant Ear plants that are green as Summer's grass.  She welcomed us to her garden where yellow peaches and bright green apples swung from the trees and watermelons that were almost ripe sat at our feet.

This place that bred racial hate in the 60's breeds a different kind of hate now; hate for environment, hate for lack of resources, hate for unemployment and hate for self.  Hyde Park - the forgotten.  There is one who has the faith of a mustard seed and will work tirelessly to bring back to surface a neighborhood that was once bursting with businesses with a sense of community.

As her eyes proudly glanced over her lovely garden, she said, "Come back in a year and this large empty lot next to my home will be a garden.  I want the children in this neighborhood to learn how to grow their own food and I'd love to work with the City to accomplish that." ~ Ms. Winston, the wonderful

 

Visit my website:  www.geminiphotographyandgraphicdesign.com

Oh Shoot!

Lights, camera, action is easier said than done.  Preparing for a photo shoot can be a delightful experience or a hectic one, depending on one’s ability to effectively prepare for their shoot.  Failure to plan begets chaos, chaos begets frustration and frustration begets the wrong energy for a photo shoot, which in turn spills onto the canvas of the photograph and into your book of memories. 

To begin the planning process, selecting a venue can be a tedious yet rewarding task.  As an on-location photographer, I think it is important that clients know the importance of venue selection.  It requires patience and of course research.  It’s probably not a bad idea to visit the venue to familiarize yourself with its surroundings and all of the indoor and/or outdoor goodies it offers.

I’ve compiled a list of 15 tasks that are highly recommended for preparing for a photo shoot with an on-location photographer:

1) Venue Selection.

2) Book an appointment with a professional photographer.  It may not be a bad idea to know the forecast for the day you’ve chosen, before booking the appointment.

3) Ask your photographer what he or she should expect from you, the client.

4) Arrive on time. 

5) If there are more than one persons in your shoot, make sure all persons are in the mood to be photographed.  Explain to them that this shoot is important to you and the camera can reveal exactly how they’re feeling at that very moment. 

6) If you have small children who will be photographed, make sure they’re rested and fed.  It’s a good idea to bring their favorite toy and a few snacks to keep them happy.

7) Be picture ready.  Make sure clothing is clean and wrinkle free. 

8) If it is hot outside, bring a soft cloth with you to dab away any excess oils or shine on the skin.  If the weather is cold, bundle up! Fact:  Some of the most beautiful photographs are taken in the Winter!  

9) Be prepared to walk.  If your shoes aren’t comfortable, bring an extra pair for comfortability until you and the photographer find a location in your choice of venue that jumps out at you.  Remember, when your feet are hurting, nothing else really matters!     

10) Listen to the directives of the photographer.

11) Ignore any distractions around you, including conversation.   

12)  Be patient, it's a virtue. 

13)  Feel free to make pose recommendations.  Photographers value their clients’ opinion.

14)  Remember, you likely hired your photographer by viewing his or her work and liking what you saw.  A photographers' ability to leverage their photos in a marketing capacity is important for business so many will ask you to sign a photo release for marketing purposes only. 

15) Don't assume, ask questions.  Get a full understanding of any photo releases the photographer may present. 

I hope this information helps in your decision making process in preparing for a photo shoot.

Visit my website:  www.geminiphotographyandgraphicdesign.com

Professional Photography: From Film to Digital with Nathaniel Warren

Veteran photographer, Nathaniel Warren from St. Louis, Missouri, demonstrates the difference between the digital age and the age of film in photography.  Warren accomplishes this comparison using the Graphflex Century Graphic, the Graphflex Crown Graphic along with various accessories for picture processing and then comes full circle with the Nikon DSLR D200. 
Professional Photography: From Film to Digital with Nathaniel Warren

What Type of Photographer Are You?

If I was given a nickel for every time I'm asked that question..well I'd probably never need to take my camera out of its bag!  Now, for starters this question does not irritate me.  As a matter of fact, this very question helped me discover what kind of photographer I am and where in photography my passion truly lies.  When I first began this journey, I took pictures of everything in sight; flowers, trees, skies, buildings, food, dogs, cats, bugs, people, even the ground.  Since my love for photography, you know having to be out in the elements and all, I'm on the way to recovery from a very serious bug phobia.  I mean, I can't exactly run from every flying and crawling thing during a shoot or my clients will think I've completely lost it.  Taking pictures of people is great, really.  I get the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life and since I'm an on-location photographer, it's exciting meeting my clients at different venues and parks for their shoots. 

On-location photographers are not confined to a studio.  Oh no! We're too uninhibited for that!  The great outdoors is our studio and it boasts endless opportunity for dynamic backgrounds.  This is when I'm in my element. My element does however come with a price.  You see, I had a choice to make:  Learn and appreciate the great outdoors and suffer a few bug bites or let the burning desire to follow in my father’s footsteps as a successful photographer just die?  The choice was easy.  It was mid-morning on a Saturday in Forest Park where I took Tommy, a sixteen year old athlete’s photos.  It seemed like the hottest day of the year so I knew bees and other bugs would be a huge problem.  So, here I am trying to keep it all together instructing him on various pose compositions and bees are zooming past me and around me, little wings tickle my ears and fuzzy puffs flirt with my nose.  I didn't know if I should swat or shoot!  Oddly enough, I wasn’t as concerned with the bees and the bugs as I was focused on him.  I normally choose park photos because the scenery is serene and it’s the one place where bugs aren’t my focus – the landscape is.  Through people, I’ve discovered that my feet rustling through the grass, swatting clusters of tiny flying insects, seeing random people walking their dogs and park waters reflecting in the Sun is what makes dragging my camera bag, tripod, lenses and umbrellas, up hills, around corners, down streets and through bushes just to get that shot, worth it. 

I learned through fear how to appreciate nature and all of her friends.  So, when people ask me what kind of photographer are you? I answer honestly.  I love taking pictures of people but landscape photography is my heart.  The love for landscape helped me to overcome a fear I’ve had for a very long time.  A fear that kept me confined to the house, a fear that made me watch from the screen door as my daughter play outside, a fear that would send me running like a thousand horses, a fear that found photography so that I could find me.

What Type of Photographer Are You?  Find out here!
http://digital-photography-school.com/what-type-of-photographer-are-you/

 

  

Using Photoshop: How To Extract An Image From It's Background

Do you want to make a color photograph black and white? Turn white clouds pink? Or how about put the head of a giraffe on your husband’s body?  Maybe you want to remove age details from a client’s face or sample their complexion to prepare the image for an airbrushing technique?  What about the ability to remove a scar or that mole on your face that’s been with you for years?  The Photoshop photo editing software by Adobe allows much freedom for photo manipulation and improvements.  These are just a few examples of the limitless possibilities lying in the belly of Adobe’s Photoshop. 

A photographer’s ability to change the background or manipulate an image is a skill every photographer should have.  This blog post will provide step by step instruction on how to extract an image from its original background in Photoshop. 

1.  Access Photoshop from your program files location or from your computer's desktop.

2.   Press <File> <Open> or Ctrl+O to open a new file which in this case would be an image.  Photographs are normally found in your downloads or picture folders.  For best results, be sure the photograph is of professional quality.

3.  Double click on the photograph you wish to edit.  It should now appear in the workstation of the Photoshop program. 

4.  To protect the original details in the picture, make a copy of the image in Photoshop by clicking the <Layers> tab and select <duplicate layer>.  Another dialogue box will appear asking you to name the duplicated copy of the photograph.  Often times, I use the default <Background Copy>.  Duplicating an image is a good habit to practice when editing photos in Photoshop.  This ensures the original photograph is not altered; only the copy.

 

5.  You are now ready to begin the process of extracting a photograph from its background!

6.    Make sure the image layer is selected by clicking the <move tool> in the tools panel.  Click the photograph once then hold down the left mouse button and select the <quick selection> tool.  Begin to trace the portion of the image you wish to extract from the background.  This process can be tedious if you’ve never used the <quick selection> tool before. 

7.  If you happen to make an error in your selection choice, this can be adjusted by holding down ALT (-) while using the selection tool.  For example, you may have selected some of the background around the head of the image.  Don’t fret! The ALT key is your best friend and can fix any error in your selection choice.

 

8.  After your selection is made and you’re satisfied with your results, select <refine edge> which is found directly under the  <Help> tab.  Refining edge allow you to correct an imperfect selection or smooth lines out.  Here you can adjust your image to your satisifaction.  After adjustments have been made, go to the “OutPut” options in the <refine edge> diaglogue box.  This section is asking you what you want to do with your selection.  Select that you want the image you extracted to be opened in a “New Document.” 

 

9.  You can now see your image minus its original background. 

 

10.  Save the image under your pictures folder as a .PSD, .PDD file.  Saving it this way will give you the freedom to insert this picture onto any background in Photoshop.

 

 

 

Photoshop is a very powerful program. Extracting a photo from its background doesn’t even scratch the surface of this image editing powerhouse.  Practice makes perfect is key here! Have fun J

June 13th Photographic Adventure

The day started with a thunder storm warning for St. Louis City and County.  It was no match however for my passion for photography that sits in the pit of my stomach, anxious to snap a shot.  I gathered everything:  water, snacks, umbrella and my camera bag.  Walked out of my front door to meet hot, sticky, stuffy weather with still wind. The plan was to meet my father at the Hanley station metrolink so we could ride the train downtown to Kiener Plaza.  I wasn't the only one suffering from the heat that day--my car was too.  My car with the burning hot leather seats marinating in the sun with not a crack in the windows waited for me but I'd left a light on overnight and the battery was fried.  So instead, my father pulled into my driveway behind my car and he, my daughter and I began our long awaited photographic adventure down my street.

We stood on the bus stop and waited 35 minutes for the 45 to arrive.  We reminisced on my childhood and how adventures were prevalent during my youth.  We stood under an overpass in the shade occasionally glancing down the street anxious for the bus to arrive.  The 45 looked a lot different than the buses I remember as a teenager.  The fare was more expensive for one but the seating was different with an elevated rear and smaller seats.  Father and daughter, together and packed tight with photographic equipment.  He was a wedding photographer for a number of years so we didn't have to ponder very long about this adventure. 

The Hanley Station as expected was jammed with people all coming or going to their respective places.  We waited for the train going downtown.  40 minutes later we were getting off at 10th & Olive which spit us out at the City Garden.  Chocolate bronzed child friendly statues align the parks landscape.  There are people seated under umbrellas, chatting and eating, soaking up the shade.  The sun is bright! It rained long enough earlier in the day to make it hard to breathe then went away.  There's a statue of a lady sitting on a plank in the middle of the water almost as soon as we walk up the stairs.  Her breathtaking beauty made my dad and I focus our lenses simultaneously.  She's silver dusted nude with hair like the Medusa and seems to be falling from some unknown place.  We spot a water park which sent my daughter into a frenzy, anxious to get wet.  I told her to go for it! Like a bird taking flight with her arms out and mouth open, she ran through the cool clear water head first dancing, spinning and giggling.  I captured every laugh, every spin and every turn of her merging with the wonderful waters of City Garden. 

Later, we stopped at two of the many food trucks that embellished the streets of downtown.  My father had an Italian sandwich and my daughter and I shared chicken tacos.  My daughter has a sweet tooth like my mother so she bought a piece of chocolate cake.  The cake was saran wrapped and was melting before she unveiled it.  It was a moist cake with fudge chocolate topping and was gone in 2.3 seconds.  We then headed toward Kiener plaza.  Surrounded by soft red waters cascading up and down positioned directly in front of the Federal Court building is a memorial dedicated October 12, 1966, through a steel-company executive of German descent, Harry J. Kiener (1881-1960). As an amateur sportsman he ran the half-mile on the U.S. track team at the 1904 Olympics held in St. Louis during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. He held the Western Amateur Athletic Union record for that distance for several years.  The statue, known as The Runner, by William Zorach, stands in the midst of the Plaza’s pool and fountain. Kiener Plaza and the Morton D. May Amphitheater today host sports rallies, concerts, festivals and other special events.

After taking numerous shots there, we sat under a tree across from three homeless people; two men and a woman.  I found myself having pity on them while they watch passerbys live a life that's not theirs.  But I also envied them for having front row seats daily to the diversity, culture and beauty beating the gorgeous grounds of Kiener Plaza.  After a few minutes, we headed toward Locust street and found another small park with concrete benches, another statue and an army of flies! The small park sits across from the library downtown.  Lilac and white flowering trees with large hanging leafed branches almost made me forget that I was outside.  That is until I noticed the flowering trees were infested with flies; sitting flies, flying flies, pesty biting flies.  We went into the library to freshen up and wash our hands before heading back home on the train.

This day brought back so many memories of my childhood.  Often called adventures, my mother and father always had something up their sleeves to show us kids that you don't have to spend a fortune to enjoy family time.  I'm glad my daughter got to be apart of an experience she will remember for a lifetime-- even better, with a person who has inspired and supported me beyond belief; my father.

Check out some of the images below! Be sure to visit and like Gem in i Photography FB page! https://www.facebook.com/Geminiphotandgd?ref=hl