LeggNet's Digital Capture

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I spent Saturday morning in the studio with six young models. The theme for the shoot was a Child’s Birthday Party. I set up a corner of the studio to recreate a home decorated for the party.

For lighting, I essentially flooded the area with a nice soft light provided by three softboxes. This was my first “real” shoot on the newly painted white walls and I’m pleased with how it turned out.

With the six models, their accompanying parents and Michelle assisting me – we had a full house. Working with children is a lot of fun and the party theme seemed to kick that up a notch higher than usual. All of the models did an exceptional job. Being familiar with the subject really helps and I had worked with five of the six kids on earlier shoots.

For the final few shots, I enlisted a few family members to help throw confetti and we had a real celebration. I’ll probably be finding remnants of this shot in the corner of the studio for several months.

Watch for the images to making their appearance in my stock portfolio soon.

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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I was doing some images of Aspen in the studio to use in an advertisement for her rock climbing team. When we were almost finished, she offered to show me her Monkey Face. It was pretty funny, so I thought I’d share it here.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/8, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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One thing that I’ve learned in having my own studio to shoot in is that it is constantly in a state of change. I always seem to be rearranging and altering things based upon what I’m currently photographing.

For my stock work, I find that I’m wanting to get away from shooting on seamless paper more and more. I like creating “life-like” scenes and paper backdrops deter from this.

I have shot a few successful images on the previous “brown-ish” walls left over from the office that used to be in the space (here’s an example), but the color just wasn’t as versatile as I wanted. So this morning I took off my photographer hat and put on my painter hat and got to it.

I now have about 1/4 of my small studio space with white walls to shoot against. This will come in handy for the first shoot on them this Saturday – a stock session recreating a child’s birthday party.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/80 second, f/10, ISO 100

Labels: studio

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One thing that I’ve learned in having my own studio to shoot in is that it is constantly in a state of change. I always seem to be rearranging and altering things based upon what I’m currently photographing.

For my stock work, I find that I’m wanting to get away from shooting on seamless paper more and more. I like creating “life-like” scenes and paper backdrops deter from this.

I have shot a few successful images on the previous “brown-ish” walls left over from the office that used to be in the space (here’s an example), but the color just wasn’t as versatile as I wanted. So this morning I took off my photographer hat and put on my painter hat and got to it.

I now have about 1/4 of my small studio space with white walls to shoot against. This will come in handy for the first shoot on them this Saturday – a stock session recreating a child’s birthday party.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/80 second, f/10, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Here’s a quick and easy tip that could pay for itself a thousand times over.

While at a recent Photwalking Utah event, I noticed that photographer Ann Torrence had a small ID tag attached to her camera. When I asked her about it, she told me that it was a tag designed to put the owner information on pet collars in case the animal is lost. I immediately thought “What a great idea!”.

I made a trip to my local PETCO store and used their machine to have a tag made for each of my cameras. I opted for the smallest version (about the size of a penny) and it is completely out of the way on the camera body. The total cost to label my gear: $12.

Now, let’s just hope that if my camera is ever lost that the person who finds it is honest (fingers crossed).

Labels: tutorial

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Here’s a quick and easy tip that could pay for itself a thousand times over.

While at a recent Photwalking Utah event, I noticed that photographer Ann Torrence had a small ID tag attached to her camera. When I asked her about it, she told me that it was a tag designed to put the owner information on pet collars in case the animal is lost. I immediately thought “What a great idea!”.

I made a trip to my local PETCO store and used their machine to have a tag made for each of my cameras. I opted for the smallest version (about the size of a penny) and it is completely out of the way on the camera body. The total cost to label my gear: $12.

Now, let’s just hope that if my camera is ever lost that the person who finds it is honest (fingers crossed).

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The next Photowalking Utah event is scheduled for November 1st. The group will be heading out to Antelope Island. Here’s a bit of info from photowalkingutah.com:

The November 2008 Photowalking Utah event will be held at the Antelope Island State Park in Syracuse Utah on November 1st. Antelope Island is home to one of the largest and oldest publicly owned bison herds in the United States. The Bison will be corralled into pens starting Oct 22nd and then will receive their health checkups starting October 31st.

The photowalk will be held at the Buffalo Pens where the rangers will be giving the bison their health checks. This is a great opportunity to get up close to the Bison and hopefully get some great photos. We can then proceed to Garr Ranch when we are finished at the pens.

As always, these events are open to photographers of ANY SKILL LEVEL. We have everyone from first time shooters to seasoned professionals join in. If you’ve ever wanted a chance to hang out with some friendly photogs, this is the chance to do it.

For more info (or to announce that you’re coming) visit these links:

Photowalking Utah Official Website
Photowalking Utah Flickr Group

Labels: photowalking

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The next Photowalking Utah event is scheduled for November 1st. The group will be heading out to Antelope Island. Here’s a bit of info from photowalkingutah.com:

The November 2008 Photowalking Utah event will be held at the Antelope Island State Park in Syracuse Utah on November 1st. Antelope Island is home to one of the largest and oldest publicly owned bison herds in the United States. The Bison will be corralled into pens starting Oct 22nd and then will receive their health checkups starting October 31st.

The photowalk will be held at the Buffalo Pens where the rangers will be giving the bison their health checks. This is a great opportunity to get up close to the Bison and hopefully get some great photos. We can then proceed to Garr Ranch when we are finished at the pens.

As always, these events are open to photographers of ANY SKILL LEVEL. We have everyone from first time shooters to seasoned professionals join in. If you’ve ever wanted a chance to hang out with some friendly photogs, this is the chance to do it.

For more info (or to announce that you’re coming) visit these links:

Photowalking Utah Official Website
Photowalking Utah Flickr Group

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/20 second, f/4.5, ISO 100

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I’m in Southern Utah for a weekend rock climbing trip with the family and some friends. Before heading out to the walls and going off the grid for a few days, I thought I’d post an image that fits in with the activities.

This image was taken as part of a series I did recently for Michelle to use on her blog. Photographing in the rock climbing gym can be a bit tricky because the existing lighting is pretty ‘blah’ and using strobes isn’t really much of an option. For this shot I found a spot on the lead climbing wall that had sunlight hitting it from an overhead window and had the climber get into that area while I stood on the top of a 10′ ladder. The sunlight created a rather hard shadow which I later softened with a fill-light, but I kind of like it in this capture.

Have a great weekend!

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

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After considerable work by many members of Photowalking Utah, we are pleased to have launched the new PhotowalkingUtah.com website this morning. Special thanks have to go to group member Jeremy Hall who took the lead in designing the new site. Thanks man!

Please visit the site today at http://photowalkingutah.com and add it to your bookmarks and/or RSS reader

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Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/4, ISO 100

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The details on the next Photowalking Utah event have been finalized. The group will be exploring the Halloween themed Gardner Village in West Jordan on Saturday October 18th. Here is the info from the official announcement:

Ghosties, Goblins, and Photowalkers!

Please join us for the next Photowalk Utah event, Saturday, October 18th at 3:30pm. We will wander through the witches, ghosts and goblins of Gardner Village in West Jordan to enjoy the Halloween festivities and atmosphere.

This month’s photowalk will be a family affair. Bring your family and especially the kids! While you capture images, your family can enjoy the shopping, events and activities sponsored by Gardner Village.

Check out this link to see all that is happening at Gardner Village.

www.gardnervillage.com/events.php

No fee to enter Gardner Village, but you might want some cash for caramel apples and other junk food.

Please meet at Archibald’s Restaurant at 3:300pm to start the photowalk. To conclude this month’s event, at 6:00pm we plan to reconvene at Archibald’s for food, warm drinks and share our captures.

Watch the weather forecasts and dress accordingly.

For those not familiar with this location, Gardner Village can be found at
1100 W. 7800 S.
West Jordan, UT
www.gardnervillage.com/

As always, these events are free of charge and open to photographers of all skill levels. It doesn’t matter what kind of camera you use and how good you are with it, you are welcome to attend. If you want to get to know other local people who share an enthusiasm in photography, this is an excellent place to start.

Sadly, I will be on a camping trip in Southern Utah and will miss out on this ‘walk. I can’t wait to see the images as they make their way into the group’s Flickr pool.

Labels: photography, photowalking

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This vintage family portrait from the Twin Falls Public Library was recently featured in the Twin Falls Idaho Times-News newspaper. It ran under the headline of Photographic Memory. Alongside the picture was this caption:

A group portrait of 15 people and a dog is all the information the library has on this photo.

My cousin, who lives in the area, saw the image and immediately recognized family members. She scanned the newspaper page and emailed it to my mother to verify. Yep, this was my family. My mother was able to identify every person in the image. When my cousin went to the library to give them the info, they were kind enough to provide hi-res scans of the image to our family.

I won’t go into the all the details of who is in the portrait, but the baby seated in a lap in the front row is my mother being held by my grandfather. That large man in the middle is my great-grandfather.

What a great find. Since the original image has a fair amount of damage, my next step will be to do a digital restoration of it before making a print for my mother.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/1600 second, f/4, ISO 100

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/100 second, f/4, ISO 100

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Here it is only October 7th and I’m feeling a bit tired of Christmas images. I have spent the better part of the past 14 days devoted to creating holiday shots for my stock portfolio, but now I think I’m done.

My last shoot was in a living room of a model’s home. The theme was similar to the earlier shoot featuring Alyssa wrapping presents.

By shooting in the living room, even though not much of the location came through in the final images, I was able to have a little bit of a different look than in the earlier Christmas shots. As can be seen in the behind-the-scenes shot (top of page), I used a three softbox setup for a soft light that wrapped around the subject nicely. Even though I had a fairly bright window behind me, it wasn’t providing enough light to affect my exposure.

To see my complete set of Holiday themed images on iStock, visit the lightbox by clicking here.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/13, ISO 100

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Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the very first Photowalking Utah event. Six brave souls ventured out on a rainy Saturday night to capture the sights of downtown Salt Lake City.

Roll the clock ahead a year and we have now had over a dozen events and have nearly 300 photographers who have joined the group. It has been a great year and I now count as close friends many of the photogs that I have met through these events.

I anxiously await the future of Photowalking Utah!

Pictured in the image (left to right): Harley Pebley, myself, Diane Pebley, Brian Jones, Ann Torrence and Scott Smith.

Labels: photowalking

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/200 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

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Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/1000 second, f/4, ISO 100

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I’m up to my eyebrows in image editing today, so for today’s blog post here is another shot from yesterday’s Santa shoot.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/4, ISO 100

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Here’s a quick shot from this morning’s Santa Claus photo shoot. I know what you’re probably thinking, “It’s barely October”, but now is the best time for some new Christmas images for my stock portfolio.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/4, ISO 100

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One of my recent stock photo shoots was a Private Pilot series of images shot at a local general aviation airport. I have a friend that is a pilot and he was able to let me shoot in and around the small Cessna he flies.

Before the official shooting began, the pilot and I took a ride around the Salt Lake Valley in the plane. Though the purpose of the flight wasn’t to photograph, I did manage to get a few interesting shots that I will probably add to my portfolio. Here’s a unique view of Herriman Utah.

The majority of the stock images featured Michelle posing as a pilot, complete with leather jacket and aviator glasses. There are a lot of images of male pilots on iStock, so I thought I’d go with a different angle and present a female pilot.

My good friend Harley came along and shot a few Behind-the-Scenes shots. As you can see in this example I kept the lighting pretty simple, opting to use a single speedlight to enhance the afternoon sunlight.

Why am I holding up one finger? That’s a technique I frequently use when photographing to have the model follow my finger with her nose so I can position her face how I want it. It seems to work rather well and is a quick way to help get the shot I want.

All in all, I’m pleased with the images created in this session. Only time will tell to see how well they sell.

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/1000 second, f/6.3, ISO 160

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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I was playing around on the Wordle.net website last night. If you don’t know what Wordle is, it’s an online tool that creates word clouds out of text that you provide.

I couldn’t think of any riveting text to enter, so I simply pasted in the search terms from my server log that web surfers used to find this blog yesterday. When creating the ‘cloud’, the size of the words are determined by how many times they are repeated in the supplied text.

Give it a try: www.wordle.net

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I was playing around on the Wordle.net website last night. If you don’t know what Wordle is, it’s an online tool that creates word clouds out of text that you provide.

I couldn’t think of any riveting text to enter, so I simply pasted in the search terms from my server log that web surfers used to find this blog yesterday. When creating the ‘cloud’, the size of the words are determined by how many times they are repeated in the supplied text.

Give it a try: www.wordle.net

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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I’ve been hearing about one of my healthcare images showing up in both full and half page ads in national magazines, but I hadn’t been able to track it down. That changed this week when Alyssa (a model I frequently work with) got a tip from one of her friends who saw the half page version in the current issue of Cosmopolitan. it was a bit awkward picking up a copy of my local grocer (thank you self checkout!), but here it is.

(Click here to see the original image on iStock)

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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As I wrote about earlier this month, when shooting images for stock portfolios it’s important to think ahead. With this in mind, I began shooting fresh Christmas images this week.

The first of these sessions happened yesterday with one of my regular models Alyssa in studio. The theme of the shoot was to have Alyssa in front of a Christmas tree with presents. As can be seen from the samples here, she did a great job and I’ve got some nice images to add to my portfolio on iStock.

The blurred lights and ornaments of the tree combined with a wide aperture made for a nice “Christmas-y” background in the shots. I did have a bit of a challenge locating seasonal wrapping paper this time of year, but I found a great source in a local paper company.

I’m going to finish up most of my new Christmas images with two shoots next week. The final shoot will feature a return of a famous model from last year.

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/100 second, f/4, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

InStudio’s Director of Seminars Julie playing the role of model for the group

Saturday’s Photowalking Utah event was great. The two-part event started with a behind-the-scenes look at Kenneth Linge’s new studio (InStudio) in Orem (Utah).

Kenneth holding a discussion with Photowalking Utah participants in his studio

Kenneth, an international award winning photographer, spent two hours talking to the 50+ attendees about all things photographic. His sense of humor came blazing through as he kept the group laughing the whole time.

Kenneth demonstrating tungsten lighting techniques on the streets (literally) of Provo

After a dinner break (Cafe’ Rio….yummmm!), over thirty of the photowalkers reconvened at the Historic Utah County Courthouse for an evening photowalk. With Kenneth in attendance, the “walking” part of the event turned into a lighting workshop on the streets (literally!) of Provo. Kenneth purposely didn’t bring a camera but instead brought along reflectors and portable tungsten lights. He graciously worked with the group for over 2 hours showing different lighting techniques.

I count Kenneth as a good friend and am delighted that the photowalkers were able to find out what a great guy he is.

The group of photowalkers during the second portion of the event

One of the things I really like about Photowalking Utah is the willingness of the group to try different types of events. This ‘walk was no exception as we didn’t do much “walking” but we sure talked a lot about photography.

The next Photowalking Utah event will be on Saturday October 18th. The group will be exploring the halloween decorated streets of Gardner Village in West Jordan Utah. I will announce the details here at LeggNet.com as well as on PhotowalkingUtah.com when they are finalized.

Links:

Flickr photostream of the participants’ Photowalking Utah images
David Terry’s great recap of this month’s event
Kenneth Linge, International Photographer
InStudio – A Photographic Studio by Kenneth Linge
Photowalking Utah

Labels: photowalking

InStudio’s Director of Seminars Julie playing the role of model for the group

Saturday’s Photowalking Utah event was great. The two-part event started with a behind-the-scenes look at Kenneth Linge’s new studio (InStudio) in Orem (Utah).

Kenneth holding a discussion with Photowalking Utah participants in his studio

Kenneth, an international award winning photographer, spent two hours talking to the 50+ attendees about all things photographic. His sense of humor came blazing through as he kept the group laughing the whole time.

Kenneth demonstrating tungsten lighting techniques on the streets (literally) of Provo

After a dinner break (Cafe’ Rio….yummmm!), over thirty of the photowalkers reconvened at the Historic Utah County Courthouse for an evening photowalk. With Kenneth in attendance, the “walking” part of the event turned into a lighting workshop on the streets (literally!) of Provo. Kenneth purposely didn’t bring a camera but instead brought along reflectors and portable tungsten lights. He graciously worked with the group for over 2 hours showing different lighting techniques.

I count Kenneth as a good friend and am delighted that the photowalkers were able to find out what a great guy he is.

The group of photowalkers during the second portion of the event

One of the things I really like about Photowalking Utah is the willingness of the group to try different types of events. This ‘walk was no exception as we didn’t do much “walking” but we sure talked a lot about photography.

The next Photowalking Utah event will be on Saturday October 18th. The group will be exploring the halloween decorated streets of Gardner Village in West Jordan Utah. I will announce the details here at LeggNet.com as well as on PhotowalkingUtah.com when they are finalized.

Links:

Flickr photostream of the participants’ Photowalking Utah images
David Terry’s great recap of this month’s event
Kenneth Linge, International Photographer
InStudio – A Photographic Studio by Kenneth Linge
Photowalking Utah

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/100 second, f/4, ISO 100

(photo courtesy of Canon)

It is no secret to followers of my photography that my workhorse camera body is the Canon 5D. I have used this camera exclusively for about a year and a half and it has served me well. With that being said, I have felt for some time that if I am going to keep ahead-of-the-curve in my photography business that I needed to begin shooting images in the 20+ megapixel range. The biggest reason for this is that iStockphoto seems to favor larger images in searches sorted by their Best Match formula (not to mention that larger images sell for more money).

Knowing this need, I had the purchase of Canon’s 1Ds Mark III 21 megapixel flagship on my goal list to obtain before the end of the year. With a price tag of nearly $8,000, this was going to be an extreme stretch to meet. That all changed this past Wednesday with Canon’s introduction of the 5D Mark II.

The new 5D features the same (some say improved?) 21.1 megapixel sensor of the 1Ds at a price of over $5,000 less. It didn’t take long for me to make the decision and I immediately called my friends at Pictureline and put my name down for one when they arrive. In addition to the larger sensor, all indications are the the Mark II will handle low-light shooting immensely better than its predecessor. This will allow me to use a higher ISO when shooting reflector lit portraits and/or stock images outdoors and eliminate camera shake for sharper images.

Once I begin using the Mark II as my primary body, my existing 5D (with around 40,000 images shot on it) will move into the backup role in my bag. My current backup body, a 30D, will be sold (at a good price, email me if interested).

Now, I just have to patiently wait until November for the camera to arrive.

Links: Canon’s official 5D Mark II press release, 5D Mark II on DPReview.com

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/4, ISO 200

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(Note: this is a repeat of an earlier post to serve as a reminder of this weekend’s event)

The next Photowalking Utah event has been set. The outing will be a 2-part walk on Saturday September 20th beginning at 3:00 pm. Participants are welcome to come to either or both parts.

The first part of the event will be a visit to InStudio, the new 8,500+ square foot photography studio of Kenneth Linge. Kenneth will give the attending photowalkers a behind-the-scenes look at Utah’s largest portrait studio. In addition to the tour, he will provide lighting demonstrations with both ambient and strobes and do a Q&A session. And there might even be snacks!

After the InStudio portion of the ‘walk, we’ll take a break for dinner before heading out on an evening Photowalk in the historic district of downtown Provo. We will meet at the Historic Utah County Courthouse to capture some great architecture before heading West through the downtown area. Kenneth will be joining us on the photowalk and be available to answer questions and chat with the other photogs.

Here are the details for the September 20th event:

Part 1. 3:00 – 5:00 pm

Photowalking InStudio
40 W. Center Street
Orem, UT

Part 2. 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Downtown Provo Photowalk
Meet at the Historic Utah County Courthouse
51 South University Avenue
Provo, UT

As always, these events are open to photographers of ANY SKILL LEVEL. We have everyone from first time shooters to seasoned professionals join in. If you’ve ever wanted a chance to hang out with some friendly photogs, this is the chance to do it.

For up-to-the-minute details and to check-in that you’re planning on attending, drop by the Photowalking Utah Flickr group at PhotowalkingUtah.com. Also feel free to contact me at rich(at)leggnet.com with any questions.

Labels: photowalking

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Canon 5D, Canon 25-105 f/4L lens – 1/60 second, f/5.6, ISO 50

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I spent Friday morning in a relatives’ luxury home doing a Private Chef photo shoot for my stock portfolio. The goal of the session was to create both portraits of chefs (above) and photos of them “in action” (below). I’m partially through the editing of the images and like the results so far.

It seems that when I finish a shoot I often have a “DOH!” moment when I realize something that I should have done differently. This one was no exception. When reviewing the shots I found that I missed doing some of them with Jenna’s hair pulled back. Even with the small oversight, I still will end up with a nice series.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/4, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/50 second, f/6.3, ISO 100

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Today’s image is a sample from yesterday’s stock photo shoot with Bethany and Michelle portraying a mother and daughter carving jack-o’-lanterns. I’m probably a little bit behind, but I figured it’s time to get some fresh Halloween images added to my portfolio.

One of the challenges for this session was locating pumpkins in early September. Thankfully, a friend’s parents own a nearby farm they allowed me to pick a few of their nearly-ripe pumpkins to use for the shoot. The pumpkins were still a bit green so I let them sit in the sun for a week to fully develop into a nice orange.

Instead of photographing this scene in the studio, I brought some lights home and we shot in our kitchen. Two large softboxes were all I needed to create the natural looking light for the scene. The 600 watt-second monolights were used at their absolute minimum power setting to permit a wide aperture (f/4) for a narrow depth-of-field.

Now, it’s time to start thinking about some new Christmas images.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/100 second, f/4, ISO 100

Labels: stock

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/8, ISO 100

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(Today’s post is written by guest contributor Dale Welcome)

Paris, New York New York, Caesar’s, MGM, Bellagio’s, Mandalay Bay…..what’s happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, right? Ah, but not this time!

Las Vegas was the site of last week’s Photoshop World conference hosted by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and its president, Scott Kelby. But what happened in Vegas just cannot just stay in Vegas…..its was all too good not to share!

What an extraordinary conference! Scott Kelby, world renowned instructors and artists and the NAPP staff put on quite a show, a tremendous learning experience, and truly a photographic inspiration.

By my guess, the conference had well over 3,000 participants and was hosted at the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Resort. Aside from Kelby, instructors included the likes of Deke McClelland, Moose Peterson, Dave Cross, Matt Koslowski, John Paul Caponigro, Ben Willmore, Jay Maisel, Jeff Scheme, Joe McNally, and Corey Barker, to name a few. And the best part was that each was willing to share their knowledge, tips, experiences, and plenty of passion for the art and craft of photography.

I have attended many professional conferences, in photography as well as my various other “careers” over the last thirty years, and I cannot think of one in which I learned so much that “my head began to hurt!” I began the conference with a 4 hour Epson Print Academy workshop led by three artistic and technical masters; Jeff Scheme, Andrew Rodney and John Paul Caponigro. Over the course of the next 3 ½ days, I attended over 15 workshops ranging from still live studio shoots, portrait lighting techniques, retouching, Photoshop “jaw-dropping” tips, high dynamic range (HDR) imagery, color management, and fine art photography.

In addition to the sessions and great instructors, the tech expo itself was worth the price of admission. I spent over two hours talking and learning from Epson technical experts, doing hands-on demos of Wacom tablets (their 21” on-screen tablet is unbelievable!), trying the latest equipment, talking to print labs such as MPIX and listening to additional sessions sponsored by NAPP, Kelby Training and Microsoft on the expo floor.

However, with all of great instructors, equipment, demos, and photographic friends to meet, by far the most inspirational and capstone of the entire event was the 2 hour “digital panel” Friday night. After starting at 8:00 in the morning, I wasn’t sure I had the energy to make it through the last session of the day that ran from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. However, I am surely glad I didn’t miss this portion of the conference.

The panel consisted of some of the greatest digital photographic artists and teachers of our time. Each shared a slideshow or two of their personal work and passion as well spoke to the heart and soul they each put into their work. Words cannot describe the emotion these images evoked, the gesture they represented, the colors that impacted us, and visual stories they told. You simply had to be there to fully comprehend the significance of these works of art. These artists poured out their souls right before us.

I have returned from Las Vegas with a new sense of experimentation, inspiration and passion to this wonderful craft of photography that far exceeds the immense amount of learning I received from Photoshop World. We are truly blessed to be able to capture images with our cameras that tell visual stories, evoke emotion, paint palettes of color and record our reality as well an expression of what we might dream.

Go out and capture images!

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Today’s post is a question for photographers: When presenting an image to the world, how do you decide between color or black & white?

In the stock photography venue making this decision is easy for me – I do all my images in color knowing that the buyer can covert them to black & white on their own if they want. But when it comes to portraits and/or fine art photos, I frequently have a difficult time deciding.

How do you decide? Do you go into the editing of an image already knowing or do you make the decision on the fly? I’d love to hear other photographer’s thought process on the subject.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/4.5, ISO 100

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/4, ISO 100

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The next Photowalking Utah event has been set. The outing will be a 2-part walk on Saturday September 20th beginning at 3:00 pm. Participants are welcome to come to either or both parts.

The first part of the event will be a visit to InStudio, the new 8,500+ square foot photography studio of Kenneth Linge. Kenneth will give the attending photowalkers a behind-the-scenes look at Utah’s largest portrait studio. In addition to the tour, he will provide lighting demonstrations with both ambient and strobes and do a Q&A session. And there might even be snacks!

After the InStudio portion of the ‘walk, we’ll take a break for dinner before heading out on an evening Photowalk in the historic district of downtown Provo. We will meet at the Historic Utah County Courthouse to capture some great architecture before heading West through the downtown area. Kenneth will be joining us on the photowalk and be available to answer questions and chat with the other photogs.

Here are the details for the September 20th event:

Part 1. 3:00 – 5:00 pm

Photowalking InStudio
40 W. Center Street
Orem, UT

Part 2. 6:30 – 8:30 pm

Downtown Provo Photowalk
Meet at the Historic Utah County Courthouse
51 South University Avenue
Provo, UT

As always, these events are open to photographers of ANY SKILL LEVEL. We have everyone from first time shooters to seasoned professionals join in. If you’ve ever wanted a chance to hang out with some friendly photogs, this is the chance to do it.

For up-to-the-minute details and to check-in that you’re planning on attending, drop by the Photowalking Utah Flickr group at PhotowalkingUtah.com. Also feel free to contact me at rich(at)leggnet.com with any questions.

Labels: photowalking

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Labels: photoshop

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/4, ISO 100

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Here’s an outtake image from the Woman Chef shoot Michelle and I did earlier this week. The actual purpose of the session was a series of images along a theme similar to this example:

Not quite as exciting as the outtake, eh?

For those in the U.S., have a great Labor Day Weekend!

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/100 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

Labels: stock

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Here’s an outtake image from the Woman Chef shoot Michelle and I did earlier this week. The actual purpose of the session was a series of images along a theme similar to this example:

Not quite as exciting as the outtake, eh?

For those in the U.S., have a great Labor Day Weekend!

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/100 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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A friend of mine (and not to mention the BIGGEST selling iStock contributor in the United States!), Sean Locke, has put together an extremely comprehensive buyer’s guide for iStockphoto.com. In blog form, Sean has covered everything from lightboxes to copyspace and he doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. His posts are extremely well written and very thorough.

For anyone who has ever wondered or had questions about purchasing quality stock imagery at iStockphoto, this new site is a great resource. In fact, iStock proper could learn a lot from what Sean has created and implement something similar (or just license Sean’s content) into the buyers portion of the site.

Check it out at seanlockedigitalimagery.wordpress.com”. Oh, and be sure to check out Sean’s impressive stock portfolio at istockphoto.com/sjlocke.

Labels: stock

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I’ve been working with a private pilot friend recently setting up a stock photo shoot. In the process we’ve naturally talked quite a bit about airplanes. This has brought back memories of the plane our family had when I was a kid, so I thought I’d share it here.

In today’s capture you can see my dad taxiing the plane, a Cessna 172, before takeoff. To the best of my knowledge this was taken around 1982 from our boat in Big Lake Alaska. I will say that growing up in Alaska and having a floatplane in the family made for some great times.

Nikon FM2, Vivitar Series I 70-210 f/2.8 (if I recall correctly)

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I’ve been working with a private pilot friend recently setting up a stock photo shoot. In the process we’ve naturally talked quite a bit about airplanes. This has brought back memories of the plane our family had when I was a kid, so I thought I’d share it here.

In today’s capture you can see my dad taxiing the plane, a Cessna 172, before takeoff. To the best of my knowledge this was taken around 1982 from our boat in Big Lake Alaska. I will say that growing up in Alaska and having a floatplane in the family made for some great times.

Nikon FM2, Vivitar Series I 70-210 f/2.8 (if I recall correctly)

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/320 second, f/4, ISO 100

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I’ve been a semi-active listener of the LightSource photography podcast at StudioLighting.net for nearly two years, so imagine my shock earlier this month when I was contacted by one of the hosts, Bill Crawford, to be a guest on an upcoming episode. My initial thought was something along the lines of “These guys have interviewed the likes of Paul C. Buff, David Hobby and Chase Jarvis – and now they want to talk to me?!?”. Well I quickly got over the shock and we scheduled the chat.

We did the interview one evening over the telephone and I’ve got to say that it was really cool. Bill and Ed, the hosts, make their guests feel comfortable and they are genuinely excited to talk about photography. They wanted to learn about my stock photography business and how I have been able to create a full-time income from it in a relatively short period of time. We also chatted a bit about this blog and my involvement with Photowalking Utah.

The episode is now live on their site, so if you feel like listening to me ramble on for nearly an hour jump on over and give it a listen. More importantly though, I recommend that you check out their back episodes and subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss the future ones.

Links

The LightSource Episode with Me
Back LightSource Episodes
Subscribe to LightSource in iTunes
www.StudioLighting.net

Labels: stock

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I took a break from photographing Mabey Farm Fresh Corn in the studio this afternoon to head to a favorite overlook of Draper to capture some images of a nearby brush fire. Thankfully, as of this writing, the fire was able to be contained away from the nearby homes.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/8, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/50 second, f/4, ISO 160

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/50 second, f/4, ISO 160

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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“What? You went to Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats and the only picture you show doesn’t have any cars in it?!? Yeesh!”

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/3200 second, f/4, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/80 second, f/4, ISO 100

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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One of the cool things about being involved in a Photowalking Utah event is the people you meet. When folks see a large group of photographers walking down the street they often ask us what we’re doing. I love to use this opportunity to get to chat with the people for a minute and then take their photo. Last Saturday’s event in Ogden was no exception.

During our walk through the historic downtown area we ran into Tony and his gang. Tony owns one of the soon-to-be-gone bars on 25th street and was more than willing to share his story. He was one of the friendliest people I’ve met while photographing and was a pleasure to shoot.

After the walk around the downtown area, a few of us stuck around at the Union Pacific depot for an impromptu strobist session. One of the photographers struck up some conversation with a pair of interesting young men and before we knew it they were modeling for us. They were waiting to hop a train (literally) to Idaho and thought it’d be cool to get their picture taken.

On the top image of Joseph, I purposely created a hard look with both the lighting and processing. I wanted to show the roughness of Joe’s character while still highlighting his striking blue eyes.

I used a similar though less edgy look for Joseph’s traveling companion Jake. As I photographed him he was holding onto his cigarette to get every last bit of goodness(?) out of it and I wanted to capture that in the image.

Both Joseph and Jake made great models. I would love to meet up with them again and pay them to do some stock modeling for me. I think that together we could create some dramatic images.

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One of the cool things about being involved in a Photowalking Utah event is the people you meet. When folks see a large group of photographers walking down the street they often ask us what we’re doing. I love to use this opportunity to get to chat with the people for a minute and then take their photo. Last Saturday’s event in Ogden was no exception.

During our walk through the historic downtown area we ran into Tony and his gang. Tony owns one of the soon-to-be-gone bars on 25th street and was more than willing to share his story. He was one of the friendliest people I’ve met while photographing and was a pleasure to shoot.

After the walk around the downtown area, a few of us stuck around at the Union Pacific depot for an impromptu strobist session. One of the photographers struck up some conversation with a pair of interesting young men and before we knew it they were modeling for us. They were waiting to hop a train (literally) to Idaho and thought it’d be cool to get their picture taken.

On the top image of Joseph, I purposely created a hard look with both the lighting and processing. I wanted to show the roughness of Joe’s character while still highlighting his striking blue eyes.

I used a similar though less edgy look for Joseph’s traveling companion Jake. As I photographed him he was holding onto his cigarette to get every last bit of goodness(?) out of it and I wanted to capture that in the image.

Both Joseph and Jake made great models. I would love to meet up with them again and pay them to do some stock modeling for me. I think that together we could create some dramatic images.

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/2000 second, f/5, ISO 100

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/8 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

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(this is a re-post of an earlier post as a reminder for tonight’s event)

The next Photowalking Utah event has been set. It will be an evening ‘walk around the downtown area of Ogden. Here are the details:

Date: Saturday, August 16, 2008
Time: 5:30 pm – ?
Where: Downtown Ogden

The group will be rendezvousing in the lobby of the Union Station located at 2501 Wall Avenue (map). For the photographers coming from the Salt Lake area, riding the UTA Frontrunner train is a great alternative to driving.

These events are open to photographers of ALL skill levels, from first time shooters to seasoned pros. This is a great way to meet other people that share your love of photography.

For more details (and to announce your participation), drop by the event discussion by clicking HERE.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/8, ISO 100

Labels: photowalking

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One of the easiest tips I give beginning photographers that are looking to improve the look of their portrait shots is to shoot at the widest possible aperture. This means the lowest f/ number on the lens. In doing so, what could be a boring or distracting background translates into a nice smooth surface helping to accentuate the subject.

For today’s example image, I photographed Brenda on the streets of Seattle during last weekend’s shoot. I spotted a surface with a great blue reflection that would help enhance Brenda’s eyes. By shooting wide open (f/4 in this case), I was able to smooth the harsh circles in the background into an interesting design. Using a long focal length lens helped to further add to the effect.

When shooting outdoors using reflector lighting (like in today’s image), I set my camera on AV (Aperture Value) Auto mode and leave the lens aperture wide open. Doing this lets the camera determine the appropriate shutter speed and frees me up to concentrate on composition.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/100 second, f/4, ISO 200

Labels: tutorial

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One of the easiest tips I give beginning photographers that are looking to improve the look of their portrait shots is to shoot at the widest possible aperture. This means the lowest f/ number on the lens. In doing so, what could be a boring or distracting background translates into a nice smooth surface helping to accentuate the subject.

For today’s example image, I photographed Brenda on the streets of Seattle during last weekend’s shoot. I spotted a surface with a great blue reflection that would help enhance Brenda’s eyes. By shooting wide open (f/4 in this case), I was able to smooth the harsh circles in the background into an interesting design. Using a long focal length lens helped to further add to the effect.

When shooting outdoors using reflector lighting (like in today’s image), I set my camera on AV (Aperture Value) Auto mode and leave the lens aperture wide open. Doing this lets the camera determine the appropriate shutter speed and frees me up to concentrate on composition.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/100 second, f/4, ISO 200

LeggNet’s Digital Capture
© Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.

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There are a couple opinions on using UV or Skylight filters. Many photographers use them to protect their lenses, while an equal amount of shooters feel that it’s counterproductive to put a “cheap piece of glass” in front of their expensive optics. I fall into the “protect my lens” camp.

My decision to use UV filters on my lenses paid off big time while I was on the shoot in Seattle. I had just made a lens change when my 24-105 rolled off my camera bag onto the slate floor. The lens hit the hard surface on its front edge. I expected the worse when I picked it up, but the lens cap and UV filter took the fall for the lens. I did a quick check to verify that focus was still intact and moved on with the shoot.

In retrospect, the $35 I spent on the filter paid for itself many times over with this single event. If I hadn’t had the filter attached, the lens barrel would have taken the hit. At the very minimum I’d now be unable to attach filters, or worse the front element would’ve been damaged.

Now, off to pick up a replacement filter.

Canon 30D, Canon 50 f/1.8 lens – 1/60 second, f/1.8, ISO 400