It may be cold comfort to photojournalists to see some editors also get the ax at CNN, but the bottom line means there are fewer jobs in photography today.
Layered in HR-groomed executive double-speak, CNN claims in an announcement issued earlier this month to take into consideration the use of “…user-generated content and social media.” Most likely that means you’ll be seeing more cell phone photos, microstock, and Twitpic photography.
The announcement also cited the availability of improved consumer cameras as one of the reasons for cutting loose their pro talent.
“Consumer and pro-sumer technologies are simpler and more accessible.”
CNN also mentioned their growing reliance on iReport, which has been criticized in the past for not paying for the photos they use.
The timing of the announcement, immediately after Employee Appreciation Week, only seems to rub in the irony of putting the “…right resources in the right places…”
As many as 12 photojournalists were let go from offices in Miami, New York, Washington, and Los Angeles. Several media editors were let go in Atlanta, apparently to be replaced by workers in other areas working remotely. Right now there is no indication if any of the replacements are outsource contract labor or employees in other offices.
Even though CNN says the review has been going on for three years, the news came as a shock to many staffers. And even though CNN discovered that, “Small cameras are now high broadcast quality.” That certainly wasn’t true three years ago.
Having a big lens does not make you a professional photographer - by sgsprzem
Nikon really irked me with their Facebook post suggesting a photographer is only as good as his equipment. That was an arrogant statement of the type one would expect from a brand name company and it’s wrong.
I remember taking golf lessons one time, certain the reason I was golfing so poorly was my clubs. Without a word the golf pro asked to borrow my clubs and then proceeded to hit one perfect shot after another. He then repeated that performance with clubs from every other bag, including the kids and left handed players. He was making a point that being a pro doesn’t depend on your equipment.
That’s also true to a certain extent in photography. The real professionals are the people who can pick up any camera, spend a few minutes familiarizing themselves with the controls, and get fantastic shots that keep getting better the longer they use the camera.
You can argue that your equipment should reach a certain standard of quality and you’d be correct. But that standard has come down in price so far lately that it’s within reach of most people with an average income. So what then separates the “Uncle Bobs” from the true pros?
Rapport
Being able to capture fantastic portraits means getting people to relax and express real emotion. You don’t have all day to establish that trust and connection. One of the marks of a pro is having a knack for putting people at ease.
Establishing immediate rapport one skill you won’t get out of a book. You have to genuinely like people and be able to see anyone in a positive light. My pledge to people is that I’ll never take a shot that makes anyone look bad. Sometimes there’s a fine line between an unguarded moment and a goofy look. As tempting as it is sometimes, I’ll pass on the goofy look.
You Pay Your Dues
Not in terms of money to a professional organization, although there are good reasons to do so. I mean you put in the time. The professional photographers I know are shooting pictures all the time, whether they’re getting paid for it or not. They are driven to shoot, constantly striving to get a better shot, a better look, and honing their distinctive style.
The true professional photographers I know are both student and teacher, sometimes on the same job. In my experience the photographers who have all the answers are shooting work that looks like yesterday’s news. Perhaps technically correct, but lacking passion.
Driven To Perfection
The drive to perfection will also yield consistency. Your pictures will not only be good, but they’ll get a little better every time you go out. In any weather conditions, any location, any subject, whether you’re having a good day or a bad day, you’ll be able to bring back the shot.
At a certain point your clients will have more faith in your abilities than you have in your own. That’s kind of the tipping point in professional photography. The moment you know you’ve arrived as a professional. The point your clients know they can send you anywhere and not worry they’ll get fantastic work back.
Mainly, being a professional is staying focused on your work and honing your craft over a lifetime. That’s the difference between the pros and Uncle Bob.
It's not unheard of to have 10 to 12 photographers sharing TFP models
Photography is one of those fields that requires a certain amount of study, whether that comes out of books, online, or in a classroom, combined with practical exercises in order to grow in the field.
There are lots of ways to get that experience. You can strike out on your own with the equipment you can cobble together and slowly build your portfolio. Another approach is to partner up with other photographers in the area and pool your resources.
TFP Shoots
TFP stands for Time For Prints and it’s how poor photographers starting out get to work with poor models just starting out. The basic arrangement is an exchange of the model’s time for your pictures.
When it comes to a commercial release, some TFP models will sign them, but many will not. Usually a commercial release comes with a price tag. Some photographers will insist on a commercial release for a TFP contract, and more than a few get them. To me it seems a little unfair. If you’re going to sell the photos, the model should get something, even if it’s on a contingency basis. That’s my philosophy anyway, not everyone agrees. You don’t need a commercial release to use TFP photos in your personal portfolio, you may when using them on a commercial web site or for promoting your business.
It’s not unusual for two, three or more photographers to team up for a large shoot involving several models. When I say “models” most people are picturing women in the 18-24 demographic, but don’t get tunnel vision when it comes to picking talent. There is a big call for older and middle age models and don’t pick all women, either. Mix it up. The more diversity in your model selection the bigger chance you have of making a sale.
Make diverse choices when selecting TFP models and don't forget to consider men as well
Studio Rentals
I know successful photographers who do not have their own studio. They rent studio space when they need it, sometimes scheduling several portraits on one day. It makes sense in many instances. You can rent fully equipped studios with high end lights by companies like Paul C. Buff and Bowens that even include the radio triggers and backgrounds. In some cases you’re just renting lights, space and supplying your own backgrounds.
Until you have the business to justify your own studio and equipment, this may be your only option for getting started.
This is another area where partnering up with other photographers can save money. Two photographers splitting a studio rental may be able to work with high end lighting equipment for as little as $20 an hour.
You can find other photographers in your area on Flickr, through professional associations like PPA, or just running an ad in Craigslist. Obviously, you’ll want to spend some time checking out potential partners and agreeing on the ground rules of shoots beforehand.
By looking around and working with other photographers, you’ll be able to encourage one another, learn from one another, and cast a longer shadow than either of you could alone.
This is another installment of a long series of articles shot and composed with the help of professional photographer Karl Leopold at ImagesForever.net in Melbourne Beach, Florida. Karl is one of the top photographers in the area and president of the Atlantic Professional Photographers Association and graciously opened his studio up to us for this series.
Today we focus on the distance difference between d1 and d2
Light ratios is one of those subjects that makes people’s eyes glaze over because it’s technical and there’s math involved. That’s why I started with the more fun Three Point Lighting instead. But to really understand studio lighting, we have get into light ratios.
In order to give a portrait depth and character, we control amount of light and the shadows. To keep a face from looking flat, we change the ratio between the amount of light coming from the main light, the key, and the secondary light, called the fill.
When applying light ratios to the subject of three point lighting, most often it will be applied to the ratio between the key light and fill, but not always as we’ll find out in later articles. Each f-stop difference equates to roughly half as much light reaching the subject. So the key and fill being perfectly matched would be a 1:1 lighting ratio.
Knock one stop off the fill either by cutting the flash power or moving it farther from the subject and that gives you a 2:1 ratio. Take 2 stops off the fill and you’ll have a 4:1 ratio.
As discussed above, you don’t usually want the key and fill perfectly balanced on a 1:1 ratio. The most common ratios used in portrait photography are a 3:1 and 4:1 ratio. So if someone told you to set up a three point lighting set with a full power 3:1 key/fill ratio at f/11 and -2 stops on the hair light, you’d know what to do. You’d set your key power to give you a metered f/11 at the subject and the fill -1.5 stops, which would be between f/5.6 and f/8, technically f/6.7 on the half-stop scale. The hair light would be two full stops less at f/5.6.
Because you need a 3:1 ratio at full power, you’d know that you’ll have to move the fill farther from the subject and use the light meter to gauge the distance. Since he’s been shooting portraits in the same location for years, Karl has marks on the floor where the fill goes for a 3:1 ratio and a string from the key to the subject for the proper distance for f/11. Once you get in the ballpark, most photographers are going to eyeball the subtle changes anyway.
The old full stop calculations are starting to give way to modern cameras that are graduated in ⅓ stop increments (1/3 EV), which yields a slightly different f-stop series, but since we’re fixing the camera at f/11, it doesn’t matter.
Let’s go back to our three light setup graphic. Notice the fill is much farther from the subject than the key? That spot corresponds to a 3:1 metered ratio with two identical floor flash units set to full power. Why would you want a full power 3:1 ratio instead of just knocking back the fill power? Maybe you want bracket the photos by raising the ratio to 5:1 and 7:1 and the easiest way to do that is just to cut the fill power instead of moving it and shooting a meter reading.
We switched to dark clothing on a light background to make it easier to focus on the facial lighting.
You can see in the photo the differences are subtle but noticeable. We went with a white background and darker clothing so you can focus on the lighting changes to the face. As you can see, by the time we get to 7:1, it’s looking a little dark on fill side. Not a flattering look for women.
This is the first installment of a long series of articles shot and composed with the help of professional photographer Karl Leopold at ImagesForever.net in Melbourne Beach, Florida. Karl is one of the top photographers in the area and president of the Atlantic Professional Photographers Association and graciously opened his studio up and lent his expertise to us for this series.
The basic three-point lighting setup
While we’re going to start with an overview of basic three point studio lighting, this series may jump around a bit as basic lighting touches on several peripheral topics that are key to understanding how good portraits are composed along with studio lighting.
First, the equipment we had to work with:
The Key is the black Fomex on the right and the fill is the Octodome on the left. Please note that flower leis are not stock equipment on Alien Bees
Our key light is an Alien Bees 800 in a Fomex rectangular soft box
Our fill is an Alien Bees 800 in a 48 inch Octodome
The hair light is an Ultra 1800 fitted with a grid screen on a boom
Throughout the shoot we used only a single modeling light on the Fomex soft box.
We maintained a consistent distance to the subject the old-fashioned way, with a string to the center of the key soft box.
Start off with a meter check to make sure we're in the ballpark
All the lights are on PocketWizard Plus remotes and the transmitter on my Canon 7D was a PocketWizard MiniTTL. The lens was a stock Canon 28-135mm zoom set to my closest eyeball approximation to 85mm.
All camera settings were manual unless otherwise stated, we used 1/125 of second for a shutter speed through the entire series. The f stop varied as I’ll explain in the article.
Karl checking distance the old fashioned way - So we didn't have to do meter checks constantly
I did minimal post processing adjustments on the pictures so you can see the difference in the lighting. Standard color correction and cropping is all that was done.
The Setup
While the layout of a basic three point setup is fairly straightforward, it’s actually a little tricky to get everything working together properly.
First we moved the key 10 degrees off the camera axis and shot a key only test. That’s actually not bad, if a little flat.
This is the key only, about 10 degrees off the camera axis - A little flat but not bad
Next we added in the fill and you can see that gave us much more natural looking lighting and skin tones, but our subject’s hair looks a little flat. That’s where the hair light comes in.
As you can see the hair light really helps separate the subject from the background. It highlights her hair, but also her back shoulder, which changes the entire character of the photo and makes the background more distant.
This is adding the fill - As you can see it yields a much more natural looking lightWhat a difference the hair light makes! See how it separates the subject from the background
