LeggNet's Digital Capture

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Today’s image is a sample from Saturday’s studio shoot. The shoot was based on ‘tween’ girls doing typical things like playing video games, watching movies and painting their toenails. This shot is one of my favorites from the set. I asked the girls pretend that they were watching a scary movie, and they did so admirably.

The lighting setup for this capture was very simple. I placed a medium sized softbox on the floor in front of the girls to create the glow that would be coming from a television in a dark room. I then adjusted the white-balance a small amount to the blue side. The combination worked well to create the scene.

The complete set will be appearing in my stock portfolio in the next week.

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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Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L lens – 1/400 second, f/2.8, ISO 160

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Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L lens – 1/250 second, f/2.8, ISO 250

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The next Photowalking Utah outing is coming up this Saturday (May 24, 2008). The event will cover the Utah Capitol Hill area including Memory Grove Park, City Creek Park and the Utah State Capitol building. The outing will begin at 5:00 pm which will give a great opportunity for sunset shots. If you are attending, you can meet the group at City Creek Park (NE corner of State and N. Temple). We will photograph there, then walk to Memory Grove and finally up to the Capitol.

For more info and a roll-call of who is attending, drop by the announcement thread on the Flickr group discussion by clicking here.

This should be a fun outing. It looks as though the weather should improve by Saturday evening, but let’s still keep our fingers crossed.

Labels: photowalking

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My friend Udi over at DIYPhotography.net is holding a photography contest. The theme of the contest is At My Home. There are some great prizes available to the winning entries, which will be selected by an impressive group of judges. For more information, drop on by the contest page at http://www.diyphotography.net/at-my-home-photo-contest and check it out. And why you’re there, add DIYPhotography.net’s RSS feed to your reader if you haven’t done so already.

Today’s image is a quick portrait taken last year of the most important person in my home, my wife Michelle.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/9, ISO 100

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

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One the of things about selling stock images through a stock agency is that you have limited control over how your image is used. I found out over the weekend that one of my images had been used on a recent cover of The Onion Magazine’s weekly print version. While it is normally great to see an image in use, this particular usage made me stop and think. The standard license at iStockphoto.com (where I sell images) limits purchasers in how they can use an image, but there are always gray areas. Here is an excerpt from the iStock license concerning this:

6. use the Content in a fashion that is considered by iStockphoto (acting reasonably) as or under applicable law is considered pornographic, obscene, immoral, infringing, defamatory or libelous in nature, or that would be reasonably likely to bring any person or property reflected in the Content into disrepute;

7. use or display any Content that features a model or person in a manner that (i) would lead a reasonable person to think that such person uses or personally endorses any business, product, service, cause, association or other endeavour; or (ii) that depicts such person in a potentially sensitive subject matter, including, but not limited to mental and physical health issues, social issues, sexual or implied sexual activity or preferences, substance abuse, crime, physical or mental abuse or ailments, or any other subject matter that would be reasonably likely to be offensive or unflattering to any person reflected in the Content;

While both of the models in the photo have signed a model release agreeing that they have no control over the use of their likeness, I’m still left to wonder if the above license clauses have been violated.

This is just another thing to consider when shooting stock images and especially when using models.

Labels: stock

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

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My most recent stock photo shoot was a Dragnet meets GeekSquad meets Men in Black type of theme. I wanted to have a plainclothes police officer with a very clean look. My friend (and fellow photographer) Glen stepped in to model as the detective and pulled it off nicely. With the help of Erik playing the part of the ‘perp’, we put together a nice set of images to add to my stock portfolio.

The lighting setup for this shoot was fairly simple (as most of mine usually are). I used both of my Canon Speedlites (430 and a 580 II) off camera to light the scene. For the location we used a favorite of mine, the alleyway next to the studio.

As always, we had a lot of fun and got a few strange looks from people passing by as we did the shoot.

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

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

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Today’s image is a concept shot I did after last week’s White Bedroom shoot. I like the idea, but I think I’m going to photograph it again in a more natural setting (bedroom, store, etc.).

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

Labels: photography, photoshop

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I was doing some shooting in studio yesterday experimenting with different lighting setups for product images. When I’m testing stuff in studio, I generally look around for something handy to use. In this case, my Galileo Thermometer worked well.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes shot of the setup I used for the shot.

This Darkfield Lighting technique works well for shiny objects and is relatively simple to pull of. For a more detailed description and setup, check out my friend Kim’s blog post.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/7.1, ISO 100

Labels: photography, studio

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/320 second, f/5.6, ISO 100

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

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My latest stock photo shoot was a “White Bedroom” session. The concept was to create a clean & wholesome look of a young woman in various scenes in her bedroom. To create the set we brought a small bed, night-stand, bedding, lamp, alarm clock and other typical bedroom items (predominantly in white) into the studio and set them up on a white seamless background. The reason I chose the white was to surround the model to allow her face to be the main attraction.

The model in the shoot was Alyssa. This was her last stock session with us before taking off for a couple of months out of state on her summer break from college. I have photographed Alyssa more than any other model and we work very well together. With my wife Michelle (above) assisting me with hair, makeup and the other little details I always seem to miss, we captured numerous scenes to add to our stock image portfolio.

Featured here are a couple of my favorite shots from the series. They involve a sleeping/tired girl and an old-fashioned analog alarm clock. This is an everyday scene that most of us can probably relate to.

Here’s a link to the complete set on iStockphoto.

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

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/200 second, f/6.3, ISO 100

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After photographing young model Kate on the streets of Salt Lake City last weekend, I handed her my camera on the way back (it was almost as big as she is) and let her shoot away. Here’s a shot she caught of me ‘working it’ for the camera.

And here’s one of my fellow photographer Julie horsing around after the shoot. I must say that Kate handled the camera well and captured some nice moments.

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L lens – 1/1600 second, f/2.8, ISO 160

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Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L lens – 1/640 second, f/2.8, ISO 160

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Today’s image is another shot from last Saturday’s photography class excursion to the Great Salt Lake. The combination of the blue background and the normally toned bride were achieved completely in camera by lighting the model with several handheld tungsten lights and adjusting the white balance to the corresponding temperature. The naturally lit background then became the wonderful blue tone displayed in the image.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/30 second, f/4, ISO 160

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

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This past Saturday wrapped up a three part teaching series that Kenneth Linge has taught this year called Photographing People, Parts 1, 2 and 3. I feel privileged to have spent time as a student in all of these classes. Anyone that has followed this blog for a while knows that Kenneth is a master portrait photographer that openly shares his techniques with the students that attend his seminars.

In part one and two of the series (held earlier this year), the students spent the majority of the time receiving instruction from and working with Kenneth (along with his wife MaryLyn) in a classroom environment. Part three was a departure from this setting, as we were given the opportunity to put our skills to work and venture out into the real world.

For the first part of the day, the students were paired up, given a model and instructed to head out into the downtown area of Salt Lake City to find locations to photograph. I captured the image of Brittanie (above) during this part of the class. It was taken just off of a sidewalk against a red door.

When the afternoon turned toward evening, the group of students, models and instructors headed out to the Great Salt Lake for some twilight shooting. As the sun set we had the opportunity to continue to put the techniques we’d learned to work in this beautiful setting.

By using a combination of natural light, reflectors and tungsten lights we were able to create some rather unique portraits. The above black & white image of Brittanie standing on the shore is an example of the use of a combination of these three methods of lighting.

Over the past year I have attended a total of eight days of training with Kenneth and MaryLyn Linge. Even though the teaching was aimed primarily at portrait and wedding photography, I can honestly say that the greatest skill I have received from them is a greater ability to see light as it relates to photography. This fluency carries over into ALL aspects of my photography and has greatly helped me in my stock photography business. I look forward to continuing to learn from them in the future.

To learn more about Kenneth Linge and The International School of Photography, visit his website at KennethLinge.com.

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

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This simple capture of yellow flowers just became my first image on iStockphoto to generate over $1,000.00 in income. Regular readers might remember the dumpy surroundings in which this shot was taken (read about it here).

The overwhelming majority of my stock portfolio feature people in lifestyle scenarios and not nature shots since people photos simply sell better. iStock even discourages new contributors from uploading flower photos (they do so anyway), so I find it humorous that this shot has done so well.

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

Labels: stock

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

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It’s the beginning of the wedding season and I’m right in the middle of the two weddings that I am photographing this week. Even though I enjoy the work, I am not looking to make wedding photography my primary business (that was the eighties). With that being said, I do shoot several each year.

In keeping today’s image with the Wedding theme, I’m featuring my fellow photoblogger Bryan Jones as he (we?) crashed a wedding reception on a recent Photowalking Utah event. (Actually, we behaved ourselves and kept out of the way of the guests).

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

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It’s the beginning of the wedding season and I’m right in the middle of the two weddings that I am photographing this week. Even though I enjoy the work, I am not looking to make wedding photography my primary business (that was the eighties). With that being said, I do shoot several each year.

In keeping today’s image with the Wedding theme, I’m featuring my fellow photoblogger Bryan Jones as he (we?) crashed a wedding reception on a recent Photowalking Utah event. (Actually, we behaved ourselves and kept out of the way of the guests).

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

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

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Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/200 second, f/4.5, ISO 100

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Last week I wrote about the Wall Street Journal illegally using one of my images (read here). Today I’m featuring another high profile website using my work, but this time legally.

I received an email over the weekend tipping me off to the use of my image of a graduate on USPS.com. The designer of the website purchased the image from my inventory on iStockphoto and implemented it into their design.

Since I have no direct contact with buyers of my stock images, I usually don’t know where they are used. It’s nice to come across them in the wild from time to time.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/100 second, f/11, ISO 100

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Model Andrew enjoying a fresh cup

Last Saturday I did a photo shoot in a small Cafe`. The purpose of the shoot was to create images to add to my stock portfolio. My friend Jeremy came along to shoot some behind the scenes shots, so I thought I’d share a few of them along with the resulting final images.

On the shot above of Andrew, I used three lights. The main light was a large softbox positioned to camera right with a second softbox behind the model. A third light was used to light the background area.

High angle shot of Andrew at the counter

Model Kattie with the menu board

On this image of Kattie, I wanted to communicate ‘Cafe’, so I shot from a low view to include the large menu board in the top of the frame.

Low angle shot of Kattie with the menu board

Models Julie, Jessica and Kattie on the couch

For the three ladies enjoying their beverages on the couch, I wanted a high vantage point with the girls looking up. I always carry a small stepladder on my shoots for this purpose. As can be seen in the shot below, the extremely slick floor necessitated the use of a ladder stabilizer – namely Josiah.

Josiah offering some stability to my stepladder

Models Kattie, Cerrick and Josiah at the counter

I used a couple of first-time models (at least for me) on this shoot. Both Josiah (right) and Kattie (left) in the above image did a great job. I look forward to working with them in the future.

And lastly, it just wouldn’t be a shoot without Alyssa (below). I have photographed her more than any other model and we work well together. Here she is with another regular of mine, Andrew.

Frequent models Andrew and Alyssa

As you can see in the background, this cafe is located inside a climbing gym. Definitely an interesting location.

As always, I cannot do what I do without the help of others. Involved in this shoot were models Andrew, Alyssa, Cerrick, Jessica, Josiah, Julie and Kattie along with assistants Michelle and Erik. It is always great to get to shoot on location, and this shoot wouldn’t have been possible without the great folks at Momentum Climbing Gym and Cafe opening their doors for us.

To see the full set on my iStockphoto portfolio, click here.

Special thanks to Jeremy Hall for taking the behind the scenes images.

Labels: stock

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I’m a little annoyed right now. I just found that the Wall Street Journal took an image from this site (LeggNet.com) for use on their own “Deal Journal” blog. What’s the problem? Well, it states on the bottom of every page here:

Photographs and text copyright 2005-2008 Rich Legg, Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction or redistribution in any form without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.

They never contacted me for permission. Had they done so, they would have been directed to purchase the image on iStockphoto.com. I see this behavior from small blogs from time to time, but the Wall Street Journal? C’mon already!

I have sent them an email. Let’s see how (or if) they respond.

UPDATE: I have been contacted by the author of the blog post on WSJ.com. She has taken down the image and apologized for its unauthorized use. We had a pleasant email exchange and I am confident that she won’t make this mistake (using copyrighted photos on Flickr) again.

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Today’s image is a sample from last Friday’s Tattoo Artist photo shoot in Salt Lake City. Lighting was provided by a single Canon 430EX remotely triggered to the left of camera. I opted for a cross-processed effect to add a little ‘edge’ to the image.

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

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

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In spite of high winds and dust that threatened to derail the event, 15 courageous photographers showed up at Photowalking Utah’s Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival event on Saturday. The recent cold snap had slowed the emergence of the tulips, but there was still plenty to photograph.

Instead of carrying my normal SLR camera gear, I opted to travel light and loaded my pockets with a Canon G7 (10 mp point-and-shoot), Canon 430EX strobe, 2 Pocketwizard radios and a handheld light meter. Today’s image of a tulip was captured with this equipment.

I lit the subject by placing the strobe on the ground to the left of the subject. The directional light created a nice rimming effect on not only the flower petals, but the leafs as well.

For those that skipped the event because of the wind (I know I was tempted to), you missed a great time. It was actually quite peaceful with very little wind once we entered the gardens.

The details for next month’s Photowalking Utah event are being put together and will be announced soon. To see more images from the participants in the April photowalk and for announcements about future events, visit PhotowalkingUtah.com.

Canon Powershot G7 – 1/125 second, f/8, ISO 100

Labels: flowers, photowalking

It’s a rare day that I do a Sunday post on this site, and an even rarer day that I post a video. I’m going to do both of these today since I feel this needs to be shared. I came across the video of a recently documented search-and-rescue attempt in Southern Utah’s beautiful Canyon Country (thanks to a link from Zelph on PhotowalkingUtah.com) and to quote a friend of mine “I laughed, I cried, it moved me Bob!”

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This simple image of a baby’s hand being held by her father marks a new chapter in my stock photography. I have been accepted as a contributing artist for Getty Images and this is the first image in my new Getty portfolio.

The process of adding images to Getty is a bit different than adding to iStockphoto. The main difference is the time for acceptance. On iStock I can have an image added to my portfolio in around one day, while on Getty it takes nearly two months. Good things can come to those that wait though, since the average income per image sold is considerably higher on Getty.

In the coming months and years, I will be deciding which images to add to Getty and which to add to iStock. I look forward to growing the new portfolio and comparing its performance with my ever growing iStock collection.

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

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This simple image of a baby’s hand being held by her father marks a new chapter in my stock photography. I have been accepted as a contributing artist for Getty Images and this is the first image in my new Getty portfolio.

The process of adding images to Getty is a bit different than adding to iStockphoto. The main difference is the time for acceptance. On iStock I can have an image added to my portfolio in around one day, while on Getty it takes nearly two months. Good things can come to those that wait though, since the average income per image sold is considerably higher on Getty.

In the coming months and years, I will be deciding which images to add to Getty and which to add to iStock. I look forward to growing the new portfolio and comparing its performance with my ever growing iStock collection.

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 – 1/125 second, f/11, ISO 100

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/11, ISO 100

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

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I just returned from spending the morning in the home of a very nice couple that happen to have over a dozen exotic birds. The purpose of my visit was to take portraits to add to my stock portfolio.

Today’s featured image is the star of this morning’s shoot, Dixie. I have a bit of a history with Dixie, since he lived with us for a period of time around five years ago. He is an extremely handsome Cockatoo and loves to be photographed. I set up lights and a backdrop in the couple’s living room and then let the birds hang out while they took their turns being photographed.

One of the things I aim for in my stock image portfolio is diversity. With the addition of today’s bird images, my inventory will definitely become even more diverse.

(The full set of images can be seen here)

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/9, ISO 100

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I just returned from spending the morning in the home of a very nice couple that happen to have over a dozen exotic birds. The purpose of my visit was to take portraits to add to my stock portfolio.

Today’s featured image is the star of this morning’s shoot, Dixie. I have a bit of a history with Dixie, since he lived with us for a period of time around five years ago. He is an extremely handsome Cockatoo and loves to be photographed. I set up lights and a backdrop in the couple’s living room and then let the birds hang out while they took their turns being photographed.

One of the things I aim for in my stock image portfolio is diversity. With the addition of today’s bird images, my inventory will definitely become even more diverse.

(The full set of images can be seen here)

Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/160 second, f/9, ISO 100

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

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

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

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

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These fresh king crab legs served a two-fold purpose yesterday. First they made a colorful stock photo subject, then they became a tasty lunch.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/9, ISO 100

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

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Here’s a bit of vanity for this Monday morning. I needed an updated image for my online profile on sites like iStockphoto, Flickr, Model Mayhem, etc. so I jumped in front of the camera and shot one.

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

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Here’s a bit of vanity for this Monday morning. I needed an updated image for my online profile on sites like iStockphoto, Flickr, Model Mayhem, etc. so I jumped in front of the camera and shot one.

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 – 1/200 second, f/4, ISO 100

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

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The next Photowalking Utah event is coming up on April 19th. Here are the details from the announcement:

As was stated in the announcement, these events are open to photographers of any skill level. The group is a great way to meet other shooters and advance your own photography knowledge. Feel free to contact me at rich(at)leggnet.com with any questions about the event. You can also add to the conversation on the Flickr discussion. I hope to see many of you on the 19th.

Labels: flowers, photography, photowalking

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The next Photowalking Utah event is coming up on April 19th. Here are the details from the announcement:

They are located just off I-15 in Lehi. Click here for a map.

As always, this is for photographers of any age and skill level to come and enjoy taking pictures with other like minded people.

There is an admission fee:
Adults: $10.00
Child (Ages 3-12): $6.00
Senior (Ages 65+): $9.00
Tickets are available online.

Afterward, we’ll be meeting for dinner at some place yet to be determined.

As was stated in the announcement, these events are open to photographers of any skill level. The group is a great way to meet other shooters and advance your own photography knowledge. Feel free to contact me at rich(at)leggnet.com with any questions about the event. You can also add to the conversation on the Flickr discussion. I hope to see many of you on the 19th.

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

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Today’s image was created by Jeremy Hall. Jeremy is a friend of mine that I met through Photowalking Utah. I saw this image on Jeremy’s Flickr photostream and asked him to write about how he created it.

By Jeremy Hall

I have some great friends and co-workers that step in as my models when I have ideas for new shoots. Good people. Kattie is a beautiful girl working in our customer service department that has very photogenic eyes and an appreciation for taking good photos. I have had in my mind some ideas for taking a series of photos of just eyes or tightly composed face shots, and she was willing to be my first victim.

After taking a series of shots, angles and lighting adjustments I went to work in Lightroom seeing what I had to work with. Lately I have been spending a lot of time trying to learn new development techniques in Photoshop, so when I take photos I tend to view them as a canvas ready to be brought to life. This is not to say I don’t try to get a perfect image out of the camera without processing, but the processing has been my interest of late. There is so much to learn and evolve in photography that I love!

One thing I especially enjoy about photography is the willingness of most other photogs to share their knowledge. Sure, there are some “secret sauce” business things that tend to stay protected; but when it comes to creating beautiful art, most are willing to help along those of us earlier in the learning process. With that in mind, I am always happy to share what I know to help others learn like I am.

Here are some notes of what I did with this image:

1. Shot normally with single soft box and model facing light at slight angle

2. Slightly underexposed in Lightroom to maintain shadow detail.

3. Photoshop channel mix layer for high key b&w conversion with selective mask to avoid eyes. For the b&w I just play with the sliders until I achieve the look I am going for that best enhances the photo.

4. Same eye selection (control/cmd click the previous adjustment layer thumbnail to reselect) for saturation and curves

5. Several dodge & burn layers for enhanced high key and knocking out aspect of background and face I didn’t want.

That’s really it. I did a crop based on how I wanted to display the image and some additional selective sharpening once the image was downsized. My preferred technique for a final sharpening is to create a duplicate of the background layer, apply the sharpening that best fits the important areas of the image, then apply a layer mask to hide all of the sharpening and then paint back on with a soft brush where I want the sharpening applied.

For comparison I have created this before and after image.

Thanks for the invite on the guest post, and I always appreciate visitors and comments over on my site at www.whatsgottastay.com and on my Flickr stream!

Labels: guest, tutorial

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Today’s image was created by Jeremy Hall. Jeremy is a friend of mine that I met through Photowalking Utah. I saw this image on Jeremy’s Flickr photostream and asked him to write about how he created it.

By Jeremy Hall

I have some great friends and co-workers that step in as my models when I have ideas for new shoots. Good people. Kattie is a beautiful girl working in our customer service department that has very photogenic eyes and an appreciation for taking good photos. I have had in my mind some ideas for taking a series of photos of just eyes or tightly composed face shots, and she was willing to be my first victim.

After taking a series of shots, angles and lighting adjustments I went to work in Lightroom seeing what I had to work with. Lately I have been spending a lot of time trying to learn new development techniques in Photoshop, so when I take photos I tend to view them as a canvas ready to be brought to life. This is not to say I don’t try to get a perfect image out of the camera without processing, but the processing has been my interest of late. There is so much to learn and evolve in photography that I love!

One thing I especially enjoy about photography is the willingness of most other photogs to share their knowledge. Sure, there are some “secret sauce” business things that tend to stay protected; but when it comes to creating beautiful art, most are willing to help along those of us earlier in the learning process. With that in mind, I am always happy to share what I know to help others learn like I am.

Here are some notes of what I did with this image:

1. Shot normally with single soft box and model facing light at slight angle

2. Slightly underexposed in Lightroom to maintain shadow detail.

3. Photoshop channel mix layer for high key b&w conversion with selective mask to avoid eyes. For the b&w I just play with the sliders until I achieve the look I am going for that best enhances the photo.

4. Same eye selection (control/cmd click the previous adjustment layer thumbnail to reselect) for saturation and curves

5. Several dodge & burn layers for enhanced high key and knocking out aspect of background and face I didn’t want.

That’s really it. I did a crop based on how I wanted to display the image and some additional selective sharpening once the image was downsized. My preferred technique for a final sharpening is to create a duplicate of the background layer, apply the sharpening that best fits the important areas of the image, then apply a layer mask to hide all of the sharpening and then paint back on with a soft brush where I want the sharpening applied.

For comparison I have created this before and after image.

Thanks for the invite on the guest post, and I always appreciate visitors and comments over on my site at www.whatsgottastay.com and on my Flickr stream!

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

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/125 second, f/9, ISO 100

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

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Here’s my latest desktop wallpaper for the PC that sits in the #2 spot on my desk (my Mac is #1, of course).

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

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Here’s my latest desktop wallpaper for the PC that sits in the #2 spot on my desk (my Mac is #1, of course).

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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It was a productive weekend of shooting, highlighted by Saturday’s Business People stock shoot. Smiling business people are a bit of a cliche’ in the stock photography business, but that’s because they tend to sell fairly well.

For the shoot I arranged for six models to stage a mock “business meeting” in the studio. I brought in a conference table, chairs, flip-chart, and various other office-type items. The goal was to create a real looking office environment while being able to easily adjust the lighting.

I first shot the meeting against a white seamless paper backdrop. I then re-positioned it on to the other side of the studio against the painted walls. The versatility of my small studio space really pays off.

I ended the day with nearly 300 images to be culled through for candidates to add to my stock portfolio.

As always, this type of photography is a team effort and I could not do it without the help of so many. Thanks to Michelle, Alicia, Julie, Ron, Glen and Dale for modeling and to Harley and Diane for assisting.

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

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Why, hollow it out and use it as a prop of course.

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

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Why, hollow it out and use it as a prop of course.

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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Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/250 second, f/4, ISO 100

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

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Specializing in stock photography, I don’t do a lot of portrait work. But when I do shoot it, I quite enjoy it.

Last week I did an engagement session with a couple whose wedding I am shooting this spring. After three rain snow-outs, the weather finally cooperated with us last Friday. The couple wanted a distressed-urban setting for their photos, so we headed downtown.

The above image is a somewhat unconventional pose for an engagement photo, but it is one of my favorites from the shoot. In addition to the natural afternoon light, the scene was enhanced with the use of two handheld tungsten lights. A diffused light was aimed at the young womans head/shoulders with a stronger light providing hair highlight from the back.

The image the couple ultimately selected for their announcement is a more conventional engagement shot. While being taken in the same area as the other image, this one has a warmer/softer feel to it.

The lighting was provided by the cloud diffused sunlight being reflected into the faces from below.

While reviewing the images with the clients after the shoot, I heard the words a photographer loves to hear: “We love them. We’ll just have to buy them all!”

Labels: portrait, salt lake city, wedding

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Here’s some little construction machinery I came across on last weekend’s Photowalking Utah event in Salt Lake City.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/250 second, f/8, ISO 100

Labels: salt lake city

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/80 second, f/4, ISO 250

Labels: bw, portrait, salt lake city

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After having a Twitter account since the early days (which on the web means last year) but not using it, I’ve decided to give it a go and get active with the service.

What is Twitter? Well, that’s kind of hard to explain. it’s a free service that allows you to post quick updates (text message sized of 140 characters or less) that are sent out to everyone following you. You can also follow other user’s updates. It really works best using text messaging.

The short updates can be pretty funny. One of the web-celebrities I’m following is Jason Calacanis. He was posting play-by-play updates yesterday from a Jewish wedding reception in NYC that were hilarious. I also found out that my friend (and fellow blogger) Bryan is active on Twitter as well. His updates are funny in a Bryan the Scientist kind of way.

If you want to follow me, check out my Twitter page at twitter.com/leggnet. And if you’re already using Twitter, let me know so I can follow you.

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After having a Twitter account since the early days (which on the web means last year) but not using it, I’ve decided to give it a go and get active with the service.

What is Twitter? Well, that’s kind of hard to explain. it’s a free service that allows you to post quick updates (text message sized of 140 characters or less) that are sent out to everyone following you. You can also follow other user’s updates. It really works best using text messaging.

The short updates can be pretty funny. One of the web-celebrities I’m following is Jason Calacanis. He was posting play-by-play updates yesterday from a Jewish wedding reception in NYC that were hilarious. I also found out that my friend (and fellow blogger) Bryan is active on Twitter as well. His updates are funny in a Bryan the Scientist kind of way.

If you want to follow me, check out my Twitter page at twitter.com/leggnet. And if you’re already using Twitter, let me know so I can follow you.

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

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There was a nice turnout for today’s Photowalking Utah event in Salt Lake City. I joined twenty-five other photographers aboard TRAX (Salt Lake City’s light rail system) for a train ride around the city. We got off the train at various stops to photograph, before boarding the next train to continue our journey. It was great to meet several first-time photowalkers as well as catching up with the regulars.

The next Photowalking Utah event will be in April as the group heads South to Thanksgiving Point for the annual Tulip Festival. Stay tuned for details.

Today’s image is of one of the original members of Photowalking Utah, Scott Smith, working his new 40D aboard the train as the event unfolded. Be sure to check out Scott’s photoblog at www.scottosmith.com.

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

Labels: photography, photowalking

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

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I get a fair amount of email asking photography related questions. While I do my best to respond to all of them immediately, I know that sadly I miss a few (email just doesn’t scale well). Since I’m always on the lookout for blog-post material, I thought I’d throw open the request line and see if there are questions or subjects that our readers would like covered. I know a bit about photography, but more importantly I have a pretty good network of brilliant photographer friends that I can turn to for help.

So if there is a subject that you would like to see covered or a question answered, please add a comment below. I will do my best.

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Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/1250 second, f/4, ISO 100

Labels: bw, sepia

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

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I just returned from an Easter weekend visit to Lake Havasu City, Arizona. While the trip was more about family than photography, I did manage a bit of time doing some shooting.

This early morning black & white capture of a lone kayaker in the Bridgewater Channel was captured from the famous London Bridge (which was relocated to Arizona in 1971). Had I taken the image from this spot a few hours later, the channel would be filled with powerboats and spring breakers.

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – 1/40 second, f/9, ISO 100

Labels: bw

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Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/4L lens – 1/50 second, f/4, ISO 400

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I’m on the road for the next few days for an Easter visit to my parents, so blog updates might be less than my usually consistent schedule. In my absence, here are a couple of adorable sisters in their Easter dresses to keep you company. Have a great weekend!

Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4L lens – f/7.1, 1/125 second, ISO 100

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This month’s Photowalking Utah event is coming up on Saturday March 29th at 4:00 pm. We will be riding TRAX (Salt Lake City’s light rail system).

We will begin our journey at the University of Utah and head West toward our final stop near the Gateway. We will be getting off at various stops to photograph and then catch the next train. Depending on how many stops we get off at, this will take around 2 hours.

As always, these events are open to photographers of all skill levels, from brand new shooters to seasoned pros. Our main goal is to get together and have fun.

We will be meeting at the station adjacent to the Moran Eye Center at 4:00 pm. This is located at 65 Medical Drive in Salt Lake City (there is plenty of parking at the eye center).

For more information, visit Photowalking Utah’s community page on Flickr at www.photowalkingutah.com or email me at rich(at)leggnet.com. If you are planning on attending, please comment on the thread on Flickr and/or comment here.

See you all on the 29th!

Labels: photography, photowalking, salt lake city