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Photography Unfiltered Update
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Job Post: CHS Seeks Two New Team Members
Blog, From The Studio 
2
Thu 04.19.2012
The past year has been a time of unprecedented growth and achievement at Catherine Hall Studios. From the weekly production of TWiT Photo –which, within just a few months, was named one of the top tech podcasts on iTunes–to an explosion of top-tier industry events and more-than-ever-before publications, to the debut of our groundbreaking iPhone app, Top Model Release. I’m both humbled and overwhelmed by the staggering successes that my extraordinary team and I are working tirelessly to achieve. And we’ve only just begun!
It is my great honor to announce two high-level positions that need to be filled to accommodate, cultivate, and expand upon the sweeping roster of projects at Catherine Hall Studios. Today marks the launch of my active search to find the best-qualified individuals to assume the roles of my CHS Sales and Account Manager and Online Marketing Specialist & Web Content Developer. I am genuinely seeking the crème de la crème to join my team, and am thus enlisting my trusted community of peers, colleagues, industry leaders, and followers to help direct the best-possible candidates my way. Do you know a deeply passionate individual who is a consummate professional, exceptionally motivated self-starter, devoted team player, rigorous intellectual, highly detail-oriented worker in an incredibly fast-paced environment, and can demonstrate measurable, results-driven achievement through previous job experience? It might sound like a tall order, but I’m seeking the absolute-best recruits to join me and the others in Catherine Hall Studios’ fun, creative, compassionate, driven team of leaders. And, if you refer me to the amazing person who I decide to hire, I’d like to offer you a show of thanks with a $250 cash reward as an expression of my gratitude!
Please click on the following links to consult the criteria that define my ideal candidates for Catherine Hall Studios’ next CHS Sales and Account Manager and CHS Online Marketing Specialist. Please send referrals to jobs@catherinehall.net. Thank you so much for your help!!
Skip’s Summer School 2012
Blog, From The Studio, Out + About 0
Tue 04.17.2012
I’m really excited to be going to Chicago for the first time! I’m looking forward to learning a lot and being inspired and hopefully sneaking away to see the amazing architecture downtown, the Magnificent Mile, Millennium Park, and the Lakefront.
The Background on Skip’s Summer School
The Summer School project started because there was a need for something mid-year to help photographers stay focused, fine tune their skill set and recharge their battery. Over the last three years it’s evolved into one of the leading network builders in the industry. It’s no longer just a workshop of photographers attending to expand their expertise, but a community of people who work to help each other all year long.
Thanks to feedback from hundreds of photographers, Skip’s Summer School has become a hub for education, networking and expanding everyone’s marketing and business skills. This year we’re going to take it to a completely different level and help photographers expand their shooting and marketing skills with a more intense experience. If the last three years was Summer School for the “under-graduate” then this year it’s Graduate School!
I hope to see you there!
Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light and you will know the key to photography – George Eastman
When I first started photography, I was scared of artificial lighting. I didn’t understand it, so I avoided it. It was always easier just to put my subjects in the shade and call myself a “natural light shooter”. Ah, the lies we tell ourselves. Eventually, I learned how to use artificial light and light modifiers, and it opened up a whole new world. No longer was I dependent on the time of day or weather. Supplementing natural light grants me freedom on when and where I can shoot.
Good lighting is key to making your images dynamic. This means avoiding the on-camera flash which typically blasts your scene, lighting up every nook and cranny like it’s high noon. The location of this image was already dramatically lit, all that was needed was to illuminate the couple. Without additional lighting they would have been underexposed and lifeless; with an on camera flash the drama of the scene would have been washed out. So, I set up a directional Profoto head using a strip soft box with a grid that illuminated the couple with very little spill and shot the scene at 1/15th of a second on a tripod to bring in the dimmer ambient lights of the environment.
Don’t be afraid to get out and play with a strobe or a reflector. Take shots both with them, and without; direct the light in from different angles and see how the light and shadows interact to create more drama and zing. Is the image more interesting when backlit? Try it! Maybe the side works better for your shot. Pay just as much attention to where the shadows fall as to what the light illuminates, that is where the drama lies.
Want to learn more? Tune in Tuesday, April 17th on TWiT Photo to watch and learn from lighting master Joel Grimes.
Did you catch Trey Ratcliff’s last Variety Hour? He battled beautiful fireworks, yet still put on a wonderful show about the Great Aussie Photowalk. Watch it here and check out all of the beautiful photos on G+ by searching the hashtag #TheWalkDownUnder
Don’t miss a chance to watch or listen to your favorite photographers – download the TWiT Photo podcast on iTunes for free :)
The master of Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait enlightens us with in-studio demo that rebels against the traditional 3-light setup. Watch Leo get tripped up on Who’s Who of Grecco’s portfolio and hear behind the scenes stories of images of Hollywood’s elite including: Steve Martin, Lucy Liu, and Martin Scorsese.
* Bonus: Photoshop Expert Dave Cross shares tips regarding the under-discussed new sick features of Photoshop 6 beta.
Don’t miss a chance to watch or listen to your favorite photographers – download the TWiT Photo podcast on iTunes for free :)
Below are 3 of Michael’s Tips:
1. Move the light in closer than you would ever think.
2. Always use a large fill and keep it behind you.
3. Keep your light from spilling every where.
Coming up on April 17th – Photographer Joel Grimes
Find out more by watching the video here or on iTunes.
Have questions, suggestions or praises? Please connect with us on the TWiT Photo Forum.
How to Create Soft Light: Move it close! REALLY close!
Blog, Tips + Tricks 0
Tue 04.10.2012
Tune in at 1:30 Pacific time today on TWiT TV for a live demo of this particular tip and guest of the show, Photographer Agent Frank Meo.
Here’s the deal. The softer a light source is, the more attractive it appears when lighting a subject’s face and skin. Soft does not mean flat. You can still achieve plenty of drama by changing the ratio between your fill light and your soft key light. Softness is a factor of various elements. One if these elements is size … (now here is the important part) … with respect to the subject. This means you can have a small softbox and if it is literally on top of your subject, it will achieve a softer light than large octabank that is 10 feet away.
Why does this happen? The inverse square law is why. Because of how measurements in three dimensional space work, light sources become four times smaller and less bright when they are moved twice as far away (and 9 times smaller and less bright when they are moved 3 times further away, etc.) So if you have an 8 foot diameter octabank (Big, right?) that is 10 feet from your subject and a 2ft by 3ft softbox that is 2 feet away, the small softbox will appear much bigger to your subject and therefore will be much softer.
Don’t miss a chance to watch or listen to your favorite photographers – download the TWiT Photo podcast on iTunes for free :)
