Photographic Artistry The Hard Way

Whenever I talk to someone about the importance of hiring a good photographer, it seems that they always say, "You need someone who has the right artistic vision." While I tend to stress, "Someone who understands the technical side of photography."

I think that a person who is very artistic can still take lousy photographs because they lack the skill to realize their vision. But someone who has the technical skill can be lead to the artistic images simply by understanding posing, lighting, composure, etc.

I rarely envision a photograph before I arrive on location. Rather, I arrive at the location and then "see" the pictures as I look around. My artistry comes from a grounding in technical skill. The ability to look at a space and see elements that will make a good photograph and then compose and shoot that photograph is an artistry all to itself. Since, in my mind, it's mostly "technical" in nature... I tend to shy away from calling myself an "artist."

Two people, one light

I recently had the privilege of photographing Michael and Danielle's engagement session in Safety Harbor.  They booked me in 2010 for their wedding in 2012... this is a couple who is prepared!

I always encourage my clients to be creative at their engagement photo session.  Bring a change of clothes, props, anything that you think might be fun.  I tend to adhere to the, "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" philosophy.  My sessions are about 50% planned and about 50% on-the-spot inspiration.

Michael and Danielle did not disappoint.  They told me that one of the funny things about their relationship was that they had a bit of "role-reversal" compared to typical couples.  Michael does most of the cooking and cleaning, Danielle fixes things.

They came prepared to illustrate their respective roles with cookware and tools.  The question was: How do I photograph them in a creative way?

Superheroes.

Santa pictures at Hyde Park Village

I'm spending a week taking pictures of Santa Claus at Hyde Park Village and it's really a wonderful experience.

First, a little inside scoop on photographers.  Most photographers specialize in one sort of photography.  Some are wedding photographers and some are baby photographers.  Some shoot sports and Little League and some shoot school portraits.  Which field you specialize in is based on what you like, what you're good at and what makes money, not necessarily in that order.  There's also some ego stuff involved sometimes... fashion photographers would never lower themselves to shooting a wedding, wedding photographers would never stoop to shooting Little league. That sort of thing.

My problem is that I like to work.  If someone asks me to do a job and I'm not already booked, there's a good chance I'll do it.  I have a family to support and there's pride to be had in working but the main reason is that I enjoy being a photographer.  Any kind of photographer.  There's joy to be had in the work, the people you meet and the pride of doing a good job.  That's why it's not unusual to see me photographing a high-end wedding one day and a High School prom the next.  I've turned down jobs before for various reasons but I don't know many photographers who work in as wide a variety of fields as I do.

This is the first time that I've ever signed on for such a long session (6 days total).  I'm two days in and I can't tell you how much I'm loving it.

Review: PocketWizard Flex TT5 and Mini TT1

I had a chance to use my new PocketWizard FlexTT5 and MiniTT1 remotes last week and I wanted to write down some first impressions.


First, let me detail the pro's and con's of why I bought these remotes:

Pro's

1. Off-camera ETTL: This is a no-brainer and the main reason that anyone buys these remotes. Dumb-fire remotes can be had for a fraction of the cost (I have Paul Buff Cybersyncs and they have never let me down.) The line-of-sight restrictions with Canon's built-in infrared system are too confining.

2. Hotshoe mounts: I really like the idea that I can do away with the cord-attached remotes that I have now. I've never liked having to attach the transmitter with a synch cord, especially when I shoot with two cameras and often move my flash between them.

3. Hypersync: The new PocketWizards claim to allow shooting at very fast shutter speeds. For someone who shoots in Florida sun all the time, the idea of being able to shoot with flash at 1/1000 is very attractive.

Wedding photography at the Sand Pearl, Clearwater Beach

I've been waiting a long time to post these images.

Chelsea and Ofir were married at the Sand Pearl Resort on Clearwater Beach over a month ago.  Immediately after the wedding they took off for a one month vacation in Europe and so I have been sitting on these pictures while I waited for them to return.  I don't post images to my blog before the client has come in and seen them in the viewing room on the big screen.  I don't like the idea of someone seeing their wedding images for the first time on an I-phone while sitting in traffic.

Chelsea and Ofir were a wonderful couple to work with.  Warm and funny, obviously in love, and determined to get good pictures on their wedding day.  The biggest thing you can do to help your wedding photographer get great pictures is to agree to see each other before the ceremony.  The extra time before the hectic day begins allows me to really set up some beautiful shots.

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A new personal record at the Father/Daughter Dance!

Wow, what a night!  The McKitrick Elementary Father/Daughter Dance was a whopping success and I set a new personal record for portraits!

I got to the dance very early because it had been raining all day and I was worried about my equipment getting wet when I tried to bring it in to the cafeteria. Luckily, fate was on my side because it stopped raining just long enough for me to unload my truck.

I set up a white, 10 x 20 backdrop, 2 AB800's with soft boxes, and 1 AB800 to light the background. Normally I would set up my main light and fill light at about 45° from the camera but Friday night I knew I was going to be taking a lot of pictures very quickly and I couldn't be as demanding about creativity and shadow as I would normally be. So, I moved my main light a little bit closer to the camera to about 15°. This meant I wasn't going to get much shadow but it also meant that I could work fast and be sure that everyone was lit.

After I got set up I had some time to kill, so I walked around and took pictures of the decorations. I do want to take a moment to point out, as is usually the case with these events, the entire room was full of women. Keep in mind that the dance was sponsored by the Tomcats, the father organization at the school, of which I am a member.

McKitrick Elementary Dance Pictures

This friday is the 1st Annual Tomcat's Father/Daughter Dance at McKitrick Elementary School. The Tomcats is a group of Dad's at the school who work with the PTA to try and hold fund-raising events and generally be more involved with the school. I'm proud to be a part of the group.

One thing I have realized is that I am terrible at predicting what will be successful. The first event we had was a bowling night for Dads and the kids. I never thought it would work, it was a big success. Then they planned this dance on Friday. Not gonna work I said.... sold out. So, from now on I'll just go with the group on anything they say.

As I tend to do with most groups of this nature, I've basically just been the photographer. I take pictures for the yearbook or if it's possible, try to do something else that will benefit the group. So, this Friday I will be setting up my location portrait studio to take pictures at the dance.

When it comes to this kind of portrait work (proms, dance, etc) I'm a minimalist. I've never been a fan of painted backdrops that are supposed to look like a balcony in the moonlight but instead just look like a sheet that's been painted to look like a balcony in the moonlight. With the dance on Friday I've decided that I want to focus more on faces and skip full-length shots (it's not a prom, after-all). So, I'm going to shoot against pure white. Another advantage of white is that you can take pictures from multiple years and combine them into a collage or wall display at some point without having all the different backgrounds clash. For example, if I take the pictures at your dance school, you can get a collage with five years of pictures and it will look really nice because they all match. More after the jump..

Wedding on the beach at Treasure Island

Perfect Florida Beach Wedding has everything you need for your beach wedding in Treasure Island, FL.

A few weeks ago I was shooting a wedding where the reception was at the beach but the wedding was in a church. Around sunset, I took my bride and groom out to the beach for some nice shots and discovered that the water was about a half-mile from the back of the hotel. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration but it was far.

I told my bride that I would be happy to walk as far as it took to get close to the water but that it was really up to her since she was the one in the dress and it wasn't exactly cool outside. We decided to stay near the hotel.

The effect that this had on the pictures is that we ended up with shots that almost look like they were taken in the desert because it's nothing but sand as far as the eye can see. That's okay, though, because the pictures were still great!

See more St. Petersburg wedding photography on my website.

St. Petersburg Engagement Session

The set up on this picture was funny because we were in beautiful downtown St. Pete for the session and I dragged Danielle and Sean into an alley so I could use the big yellow wall. A woman walked by while we were shooting and said, "You're taking pictures here!?" (see more on BoorayPerry.com)

Engagement session in downtown St. Petersburg

It's been raining every day for a month here in Tampa, which can be a problem for a wedding photographer. On the other hand, if you're lucky enough to catch a few hours in between the storms you get great, even light because of all the clouds. Such was the case last week in downtown St. Petersburg when photographing Danielle and Sean.

At the end of the session I asked Danielle if there was anything else she would like to do... anything that caught her eye. She said, "I'd like to do something with the statues." You'd be surprised at how many great picture ideas come from the client and not the photographer.

More of my Tampa engagement photography can be seen on my website..

Tampa baby pictures at home

One of the advantages of shooting newborn pictures at the client's home is that I can use the baby's enviroment to create something more unique than the standard studio backdrop portrait. I think that the portrait below would look great hanging on the wall of a nursery!

See more Tampa baby pictures at www.boorayperry.com

New baby pictures on location in Tampa

In the past, I've always had new mom's bring their baby to my studio space in Tampa for those first important pictures. Lately I've been thinking of doing it the other way around. New mom's already have so much to deal with without having to pack up all the baby gear and come to the studio. Shooting a new baby at home also allows me to use some of the natural environment for more creative pictures while at the same time getting the required "fingers and toes" shots. Fortunately, since babies are so small, I can carry a small black backdrop into the home and get studio quality pictures.

Tampa baby photography by Booray Perry Photography

Olivia in the desert

Taking pictures of toddlers is hard because they don't sit still. You spend the entire session crawling around on your hands and knees trying to get an angle on the child and usually end up covered in dirt or grass. However, it's the exploring nature of toddlers that makes for such good pictures. You don't have to tell a 1-year-old to "act natural," they are always acting natural and it can make for some great pictures if you are fast enough to get into position when they happen.

For more of my Tampa baby pictures, visit my website.

Excuse me, would you like me to take that picture for you?

As so often happens when I am walking around with my camera, I ended up taking pictures of strangers while in Las Vegas. It's very hard to "turn-off" my photographer switch. It happened twice on this trip. The first time I was in The Bellagio and saw a couple attempting to take a picture of themselves with an old, (gulp!) film camera. The second time it was at The Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace where I saw a man trying to take a picture of his entire family (20 people). I have always had a tendency to step up whenever I see something like this and offer to take the picture for them (with their camera) so that they can be in the picture. However, sometimes I just know that the picture will not be very good because of the light and the limitations of the small camera they own and so I will offer to shoot it with my camera and send them the image. I know, I'm a professional photographer and shouldn't be giving away my work but I just hate to see a good picture opportunity ruined by a cheap camera when I have my rig in my hand.

When I saw this family posing I immediatly knew that they weren't going to get the picture they were hoping for. This picture taken with a small point-and-shoot camera would look like a group of people standing in front of a black cave with a few lights in it. You would never get the ceiling and background to show up because the lens is too small to let in enough light.

More on http://www.boorayperry.com/

Red Rocks, Las Vegas portrait session

I'm just back in town from a week in Las Vegas. I have a client there who wanted some family pictures at Red Rocks, a beautiful part of the desert just outside of town.

My clients were on a tight schedule so we only had about a half hour before dark to take the portraits. I would have stayed all day if I could have just to take High Dynamic Range shots but we were losing daylight fast. Still, I was able to get one good HDR shot before we lost the light.

I'll get some of the portrait shots online in a day or two but first, time to un-pack

See more of my work at http://www.boorayperry.com/

Portrait Session in Ybor City

Last week I headed down to Ybor City in Tampa to photograph Ashley. Ashley is a singer and musician so we decided to incorporate her guitar into some of the shots. From the very beginning I knew that it was going to be a great session because she is very easy-going, fun and inventive with her posing. I don't think I gave her detailed direction the entire time.... I just took pictures while she did whatever she wanted.

This picture was taken just as the sun was starting to set which gave me the great glow off the railroad tracks. I used off-camera lighting for the entire shoot so that I could have more control over the shadows. If I had to pick just one image from the day to keep it would probably be this one. Notice how the tracks curve down and lead to Ashley? This is a great trick to use when framing people for portraits.

Still at the railroad tracks. I cropped the tracks out of the shot because they were just too distracting to the final image.

I'm usually not a big fan of "selective color" in my photographs. I feel that it's been overused by photographers (especially wedding photographers.) Just because you can make something in the picture be in color while everything else is black and white doesn't mean you should. For this picture against a graffiti covered wall, I think it works. Usually, the thing that's in color stands out and becomes the focus of the picture. The difference is that in this picture, the color tends to make the black and white stand out because it is behind her.

My original intention was to have a sunset shoot but Ashley was running late and it got dark on us. So, I quickly started looking for ways we could turn the night to our advantage. In Tampa Bay there isn't a much better place for night photography than Ybor City with the lights and old Tampa feel (I love cobblestones). So, I put Ashley in the middle of the street, pulled out a second flash (lucky for me I tend to over-pack for photo shoots) and started taking pictures. As you can imagine, a picture like this takes a little more work than the others from the session. I have one flash to my left shooting through an umbrella and another on the ground under a car behind Ashley (see the bright flash on the right side?). Ideally I would have preferred to not have that back flash show so bright but I was hampered by space and the lack of a second tripod (wasn't planning for night shoot, remember?). Still, it works because it could just be light from a car. It makes a big difference in the picture because it puts a rim light on her legs.

Ashley changed outfits again (by the way, can I just say that the restrooms in the 15th street parking garage are cleaner than my house? Nice surprise...) and we moved to the curb. Careful observers might notice something missing from the guitar in this shot. It was distracting to me so I took it out with Photoshop.

It was getting late and we were ready to wrap but Ashley still had some stamina so we walked down to the main drag for a few more quick shots. I like this one because I was only using one flash but the car behind Ashley on the street acted like a rim light (see the nice halo of light around her head?).

Sweaty and tired, we called it a night. It was a fantastic shoot and a lot of fun! As always, you can see more wedding photography and portrait photography on my website.

Senior pictures with Brooke

I had a great session last week with Tampa senior Brooke. It's always a plus when the model brings along a couple of clothing changes because it allows me to capture a much wider variety of moods and styles. Brooke was wonderful and we spent two hours taking pictures at University of Tampa. For more senior pictures go to my website.

Senior Portrait Session - University of Tampa

I recently had a portrait session with a senior at the Univesity of Tampa. The funny thing about this session was that we didn't shoot it at the University of Tampa, despite the fact that he's graduating from there. I shoot senior portraits at University of Tampa all the time with clients who don't go to school there but when I get an actual student I take him off campus. :)

William plays piano so I suggested we go someplace with a nice baby grand. The great thing about this particular venue is that there's this awsome foyer with the piano and all, and right outside there's a lake and pine tree's. So, I'm able to get two totally different types of shots in one spot.

See more senior portraits at http://www.boorayperry.com/

Family Portrait Session - University of Tampa

For more family portrait, visit http://www.boorayperry.com/

I had a session at University of Tampa last week with John, Sandi and Jack. Sandi was the winner of our Free Family Portrait Session that we gave away in conjunction with Parent Guide magazine. They were just wonderful the whole time and little Jack was just a dream. So many people say that photographing children is hard but it really depends on the child because Jack takes to the camera like a champ.

Snapshots of the legends of sports

It's Super Bowl Week here in Tampa and that means lots of events. This week I worked with a client of mine who was sponsoring a charity golf tournament and needed a photographer for publicity stills, etc. There were quite a few big names at the tournament, starting with Seth Joyner who is the host of the event. Ozzie Smith, Eric Dickerson and Brett Saberhagen were there as well along with many other NFL stars. But. the big surprise was Lawrence Taylor, considered by many to be the greatest defensive back ever to play the game and Evander Holyfield, former heavyweight champion of the world.

I managed to get some good shots despite the fact that they were either practicing on the driving range or being mobbed by fans the whole time. "LT" was particularly hard to shoot because he was running a little late and everyone wanted a piece of him (only Holyfield got more attention). I asked him for a shot as he was about to light his cigar and he just looked up and said, "Go."