This information was very exciting to  me because I was always manipulating my images in Photoshop to approximate this result. It took me hours, using the dodge and burn tools and still did not portray the scene I had seen when I took the photo.
I bought a book by Michael Freeman and read it cover to cover immediately. That began my HDR education and experience.

Many people balk at the HDR photograph, especially if it is overdone and cartoonish, saying it is an abomination to the true spirit of accurate recording. But, as in the table above showing the true dynamic range comparisons, we just don’t know what we are missing!  Just because we are conditioned to the low dynamic range of general photographic images, doesn’t mean that we cannot push the envelope to consider that there may be an alternate “sweet spot” where LDR meets HDR and produces breath-taking results!

Here are two images. One is the original “middle” shot in a bracket of three, one being darker and one being lighter. I have not retouched this in any way. The second one is a combination of all three of the bracketed shots, showing the details throughout the image. I am much more drawn to the HDR image. How about you?

I use HDR in all my architectural/building photography, increasing the effects as I see fit with my artistic license and within the requests of my clients.

Kimberly Crest House 1

Kimberly Crest House 2

Getting Water to Drop on the Fire

This blog is off the beaten track of my usual, but I am submitting this story with pictures to a fireman’s magazine and wanted to run it by my blog too! This is in the category of photojournalism and being in the wrong place (?!?) at the right time.

Fire truck rushes to the fire

San Bernardino county water-drop helicopters and fire engines respond to a fire in the Butler Peak area of the San Bernardino Mountains near Big Bear Lake. At about 2 pm. on September 1, 2007 we sat on the deck of our friend’s forest cabin on the North Shore of Big Bear Lake having a sunny afternoon of relaxation when we started to see smoke come up over the mountain ridge behind us. Not 10 minutes later we heard sirens and helicopters surrounding the area in response to the smoke. A fire truck sped by on highway 38 near the Big Bear Lake dam and at about the same time a fire helicopter flew very close over the top of the cabin where we were.

Helicopter and smoke from Butler Peak fire

We hurried down the shore of the lake with cameras in hand to get rare close-up shots of these magnificent water-drop helicopters lowering to the lake surface and picking up water with the special hose that drops down from the center of the body of the “beast”. As the helicopter lowers the beating propellers stir up massive mist clouds around it, giving it a surreal look as if it appears out of a dream. After filling up with water it takes off in a circular pattern to head back up the canyon to the ridge where the fire is gaining ground. Other helicopters, different shapes and sizes but with the same equipment, came to gather the water and speed off toward the fire, only to return a few minutes later to do it again. This dance went on for hours and only near sunset did they taper off their onslaught of the fire. These images represent that afternoon of fear, wonderment and a rare opportunity to see firefighting up close and personal. These machines and the firefighters who fly them are an incredible and vital tool for fighting our fires here in southern California. To see more of these images go to my portfolio and click on Fire Images.

Tons of water to dump on the fire

Accordingly,  wouldn’t it make sense that when a prospective buyer goes online to look at potential homes to visit, he or she is going to gravitate toward the most eye-catching photographs of these properties. He is going to think more positively of the listing agent and know that enough care was taken to put up professional photographs. Choices of which properties to actually view will be made primarily on how it LOOKS in the picture and the emotional appeal that a well executed photograph can elicit.

You would think, then, that realtors would be lining up to get professional photographs made of their lisings, but no….Its a sign of the economic times that when it comes to marketing, that some people cut that budget first, to their own demise!

Here are two photographs, one is a “snapshot” of a house in the winter with dead grass and cars parked in front. Its a “drive-by shooting” of a home to list for sale. Its counterpart is a “fixed up” version of the exact same photograph. I took out the cars (reconstructing the landscaping and building behind the cars) and I greened up the grass as if it had been being watered and cared for in the summer I straightened the “converging vertical” effect on the house itself. I also fixed up the sky to make it more appealing to the overall impression. Which home would you visit? Which home invites you to stay and maybe even live there?

Don’t sell your properties or your buyers/sellers short. Insist on professional photographs and show your committment to the best presentation and marketing on the internet!

A plug for me: I love this kind of photography and the subsequent editing of the images. I have had great success. One testimonial – “I really enjoyed working with you and hope to see you in the future. I love all the pictures, they all look so beautiful and show how really beautiful the community really is.”

Let me help you as a realtor give your best presentation. I do stills, panoramas and tours for all your real estate needs. And head on over to my portfolio (click on link to the right) to see more examples of my work.

Camera manufacturers do their darned best to create cameras that capture detail and sharpness, recording every fine line and detail that can be extracted from a scene or portrait. In many cases, this is pleasing. In the case of portraits, it can be terrifying. I swear the image of that woman’s face is downright scary in its unaltered state! Moles, wrinkles, sags, pimples, stray ingrown hairs, unexplained red spots, scabs, cakey white… well you get the picture. I have to admit that I am excited to get started on an image like this, to ”aestheticize” (verb-to depict as being pleasing or artistically beautiful; represent in an idealized or refined manner) it as soon as possible. Hurry up and FIX it! I don’t want anyone to see it, not even the person whose face it is! Does she know she has all of this on her face? I have used the ultimate tool to capture the “ultimate truth” and now the moral dilemma is, do I reveal this truth?  

How young do you want to look? I charge by the year: 5 years younger - $50, 10 years younger - $100; how much do you want to weigh? I charge by the pound: 10 pounds -$50, 30 pounds – $100. One could actually do it this way.

The age old question…to fix or not to fix.

It comes down to this:

1. I have the permission of the subject to capture a likeness using a camera.

2. As the owner and creator of the image, I have the artistic license to render the final product as I see fit.

3. The subject can accept or reject the outcome.

Simple. I don’t need anyone’s permission to create art from images. On the other hand, I am going to be smart to create an image for the subject that is exchangeable for appreciation and profit!

In the end its like riding a surf board. I have to use my skill, strength and intuition to stay on top of the board during the ride. Likewise is the relationship with the client or subject; all must be balanced so you conquer that wave and a true exchangeable product can be produced. The examples are of an image that I copied from someone else and then made art out of it.

All the railing and fits that have been thrown regarding using manipulation in photography come down to two issues in my mind: The right to freedom of expression and not committing fraud.

Fight me back on this point of view if you will. I would love to hear the counter arguements!

Monterey Pines by Sharon Beth

I am coining a new term, “photocrastination”. The definition is obvious – ” the inability to make up one’s mind as to the type of photographic niche one fits into.”  I am so guilty of this and I get admonishments (verbal reprimands) from the “powers that be” that I am committing photo career death in no uncertain terms. They could be right!  But I can’t help myself. I just get interested in recording light and capturing whatever the object may be, alive or inert. I AM going somewhere with this. My last post was about an actress portfolio that I had done, and this post is about buildings! Whatever the subject matter, I have the intention of beautifying, artifying, impactifying, showing off, and making a pizza-pie-land-in-your-eye type of encounter with the image.

copyright Sharon Beth Photography

Ok, so there’s this apartment building near where I live in southern California. They hired me to photograph the property in its best light so they can use the images for advertising. The property is really gorgeous, but the usual images rarely convey the beauty of such a location. They want it to look inviting. They want it to show the expansiveness of the property with its 17 acres and 400 trees, 2 pools, tennis and basketball courts and fitness center. They want you to know how it feels to wake up in the morning, look out your window as you sip on your first cup of coffee and see the sun rising through the trees and onto the expansiveness of grassy lawns. Now that is enough to inspire anyone’s interest, and then couple it with eye-catching images that enchant the viewer to the point of arriving to check it out. Mission accomplished!

copyright Sharon Beth Photography

My photocrastination has hit polar opposites! I feel just as good about the quality of both of the above mentioned sessions, with the intention of creating a “wow” effect that will enhance the subject matter to achieve its best impact on the targetted viewer.

copyright Sharon Beth Photography

So if you are in need of a photographer that specializes in: actors, models, musicians, real estate, head shots, parties, events, products, scenery and photos of any other object or life form that catches light, I am available!

1. Wash and style your hair as if you are going to meet your future husband or wife that day! Its best not to get a haircut the day before the shoot unless you want to look like a shaved lizard in the photo.

2. Put on/bring your makeup – even if you never wear makeup, bring it anyway! Even the guys can go minimal on the makeup (or not) because makeup DOESN”T show up much on camera! If you don’t bring your makeup, I will bring mine and you will have to bear the humility of me applying it FOR you.

3. Get some sleep the night before. Don’t lie awake wondering how the photos are going to come out and so creating a worse situation with puffs under your eyes and red lines that I have to take out with Photoshop. I can only do so much with Photoshop.

4. DON”T wear Hawaiian shirts or Macaw prints to show your flair for color. This kind of clothing fights with your face and usually wins.

5. DO wear subtle solid colors like tan or off-white, brown and sometimes black. Bring a jacket or sweater to change the hues and shadows near your face.

6. Don’t look away from the camera and frown. This makes for a kind of boring or pitiful shot of you and usually isn’t representative of the kind of image you want to project unliess you are a dog looking for a home.

7. Do smile and look at the camera. Laugh at my jokes and you will get a better picture from me. Laughing at my jokes has the secondary advantage of creating a really genuine happiness toward the camera which more likely than not will be a pleasing image of you.

8. Never face the camera flat on. It makes even a skinny person look fat. The camera does add 10 pounds but in all the wrong places, like under your chin, your belly and upper thighs.

9. Always angle yourself at the camera giving it the “cold shoulder” effect. Tilt your chin down a bit to camoflage your double chin and it has the added effect of making you look sexily up into the camera lens.

10. Last but not least, remember a good camera is SUPPOSED to take detail, so every mole, hair, wrinkle, pimple and liver spot is going to show. But thankfully, because you have me as your hot shot photographer, I can fix all of that in Photoshop!

Happy Picturing!

Diana L Guerrero

Diana L Guerrero and I have known each other since 2006 when she featured my photographs of the Pirate Faire in her local online news publication, the Fawnskin Flyer which is small town scuttlebutt for the township of Fawnskin, near Big Bear Lake, California.

Not only does she have many years of experience as a professional speaker and writer, but she is also an internet marketing whiz!

So there begins our association and her helping me with my internet presence as a digital photographer and digital photo artist.

We help each other with our respective expertise and it is a mutually beneficial relationship.

Her massive online presence and media appearances require that her photographs be updated regularly and I am privileged to be the photographer of choice!

Photographing Diana is a breeze because she is a very happy person and is always laughing.

I think she is laughing at me, but really, she just gets a kick out of life.

Now there is a more authoritative side to her which she attributes that to being an animal trainer (both wild and domestic animals).

This take charge approach and experience has given her the license to admonish accordingly.

LOL

I got her to play around and caught this “stern” look in this shot:

Authoritative!

My experiences as a digital photographer have given me the chance to get to know many good people and she is definitely an asset to all she knows and for all the good she does in the world of animals.

Check out more digital photo art of Diana in my portfolio link!

You can find out more about Diana L Guerrero or her services at Guerrero Ink.

Be sure to tell her that I sent you!

Not only was I impressed with the group as a whole, but we were all privileged to get a lecture on “Standing Out from the Crowd” from internationally famous wedding photographer, Mike Colon!

Mike had a lot of good points and I will go over a few of them here, but worth mentioning is his dedication to a Cause. Supporting a Cause is a big part of his formula of success. He has picked several, one of the foremost of which is Thirst Relief International.

Mike spent the better part of two hours going over marketing, creating relationships, priorities, pricing, taking risks, and many other startling revelations about becoming successful! His insights were so very basic to life and success that they could be used to handle almost any business!

Mike stresses the importance of making your presence known by, surprisingly not just referrals from happy brides (short term) but by helping and referring other good photographers! (long term) He says never forget the importance of helping someone out, giving away things for free and in so doing, creating long-lasting relationships with people that you help. It will come back to you in uncountable ways.

One more BIG point that Mike made that turned my approach to success around 180 degrees was this:

TAKE RISKS, throw yourself out of your comfort zone, say YES for a whole week, do things just because you are afraid of them to become fearless and force yourself to do things you have never done before. Do something different than anybody else – these things are what sets someone apart from the crowd. Just DO IT! I love this philosophy and can think of times in my life when I have ventured out of my “zone” and it worked!

Last but not least is to get educated, volunteer, go to classes, read books, go to lectures, get trained! Get out there and immerse yourself in new things to learn about your profession. Its all part of the formula!

Check out Mike Colon at www.mikecolon.net. Also check out www.ieppv.com to get involved in this wonderful group!