Third Test Shoot with Brynlee

Published
by
Jake Garn
on August 30, 2010
in Test Shoots and Whimsical Fashion Photography
. 2 Comments

Brynlee is amazing.  Our third test shoot… hopefully the future will hold many more!


Equipment used to achieve these images

Links will take you directly to the B&H Photo Video product page for the individual item.  You’re welcome.

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Indecision 2010

Published
by
Jake Garn
on August 28, 2010
in Whimsical Fashion Photography
. 43 Comments

This is a rare event.

I can’t decide on which image I like best – in fact I love each of them for completely different reasons… so I’m going to leave it up to you, my blog readers.  ONE of these images will make it into my portfolio.  I love the idea just too much for it not to end up there, but the question is which one is best?

  1. Black & White
  2. Antique Green
  3. Vivid Color

Leave a comment and tell me your vote.  If you have a good reason for your choice feel free to let me know because I’d love to hear it!

All of the post processing was done in Adobe Lightroom using custom presets I created myself.

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Falling in Love

Published
by
Jake Garn
on August 24, 2010
in Photo Philosophy and Whimsical Fashion Photography
. 8 Comments
If you want to take your photography to the next level then you’re going to have to commit more time to taking photos than just about everyone you currently know.  That is a hard thing to do, but it becomes a lot easier if you have passion for what you do. So how do you get passion?  That’s a question I can confidently answer with one sentence, “Fall in love.”

“When you’re in love it’s the most glorious two-and-a-half days of your life.” Richard Lewis

Love is such a complex term that it means a thousand different things to a thousand different people.  Even the same person can have different definitions of love depending on the context. For instance I love my wife, I love my son, I love my mom, I love my sisters, I love my pets, I love to play Call of Duty and I love photography – and each one of those is in a completely different way. Yet they all have the same beginnings. The beginning of love is always a willingness to get to know and appreciate… in other words, the time you invest into something can convert into love.  It’s easy to become infatuated with something, that only takes a day or two… but to truly fall in love?  Well, sometimes that takes a lifetime, rightfully so.

“You can’t explain love … Actually, you can’t even talk about it.” Charlie Brown, Charles Schulz

Love is not a unilaterally positive emotion, love is difficult.  Almost all the pain, heartache, stress and inadequacies you’ll ever feel in life are because you love.  That pain is absolutely necessary to keep you grounded though, there needs to be something that pulls you back into reality.  The hard times are simply the growing pains of happiness… learn to embrace them as much as the good times, after all the bad times are the best evidence you have that life is important to you.

“Love sought is good, but giv’n unsought is better” William Shakespeare

You can’t choose to fall in love with something.  It doesn’t work that way. Yet the more you understand something the easier it becomes to love.  In order to love something you need to know it, on a level deeper than most.  This concept applies to people, to animals, to objects, to art, to hobbies to music and anything else you can think of.

“I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I’ve ever known.” Walt Disney

Really loving any pursuit, whether it be photography, video games, snowboarding, rock climbing or whatever, is not easy.  Getting to know something well enough to love it takes can easily take 10,000 plus hours. This time you invest usually cannot be invested elsewhere.  When I’m shooting I’m not spending time with my family, I’m not playing video games, I’m not reading my favorite books or watching great movies – I’m shooting.  If you’re not careful a unilaterally focused obsession can develop, and that’s not good.  Make sure there is a balance in the things you love. Make time for family and friends and other things in life, but if you want to be great at something you’re going to have to be border-line obsessed.  Genius is a thin grey line away from madness…

“The greater the man’s soul, the deeper he loves.” Leonardo DaVinci

Great artists throughout history have struggled managing the thin line between a healthy love of their craft and a manic obsession that drives them mad.  If you want to create something that people can’t help but look at then consign yourself to this life struggle. As a visual artist you need to be in love, but as a person you need to not be obsessive.  Inspiration is found in the deepest recesses of human emotion. That doesn’t mean the art needs to be emotionally charged, or poignant or loaded with metaphorical observations of life.  It simply means you need to experience feelings beyond the ordinary, that is if you want inspiration beyond the mundane.  When I refer to art I simply mean something that people want to look at, not necessarily something that has to change the world.

“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” Lao-Tzu

Photography is only part of what a photographer does. To be a great photographer you need to learn to love the subject you shoot and the tools you use. You need love learning about controlling and manipulating light, expressions, moods, styling, ideas, post-processing and probably most importantly you need to love all the people involved that help make everything happen.  Having a very loving and understanding wife sure doesn’t hurt either!

“How bold one gets when sure of being loved!” Sigmund Freud

The more comfortable you are with your camera, your lights, or your models the more mental energy is available to focus on your imagination!  Original, unique, and bold ideas will get you noticed, they also require imagination above and beyond the ordinary.  It’s only after you’ve invested the time falling in love with your craft and your tools that you are able to focus nearly completely on the idea and have the confidence to pull it off!

“The best way to know God is to love many things.” Vincent Van Gogh

I’m nothing but a fledgling photographer that takes images of beautiful people, I know this.  I want to be something more though.  I want to make images that get noticed by more and more people… Sometimes people see me as something more, just recently someone sent me a message asking how I got to where I am as a photographer… well, the advice I have for them is the same advice I have for myself, the only way to get to the next level is simple… just fall in love.

“I am sick of love.” King Solomon

Recently I reviewed an Elinchrom Octa, I was supposed to send it back a couple weeks ago but I decided that I wanted to fall in love… well, my time is up and I’m sending it back tomorrow but here is a smattering of results from the last couple weeks.  Evidence of a fledgling love affair with a great light shaping tool!  The separation will be short though, I’m ordering one from B&H this week.  :-)


Equipment used to achieve these images

Most of these images were three light setups with two rectangle softboxes providing the key and the Elinchrom Octa as the main light, a couple of them were a classic over-under light setup.

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The Most Important Purchase

Published
by
Jake Garn
on August 20, 2010
in Product Reviews
. 6 Comments

What is the most important Purchase?

Some sort of Data Backup, any sort!

This is an educational announcement, no inspiration here just wisdom.  If you already have an automatic backup system in place skip this blog post and look at my gallery instead.  If you don’t have an automatic backup system then keep reading.

I just purchased this one week ago after my 1TB version was all filled up.  This won’t be a technical review of hardware… so if you’re looking for that look elsewhere.

So why is this the most important purchase?

You will suffer a hard drive failure at some point in your life, unless you’re ridiculously lucky.  When it happens it will either be the biggest stress that you’ve faced in a long, long time or it will be a minor inconvenience… YOU get to decide what it will be RIGHT NOW!

Common Types of Backup Available

  1. Online Backup Sites (like Carbonite or Intronus or Mozypro)
  2. Internal Raid (duplicate harddrives with mirrored data)
  3. External Harddrive (Using Apple Time Machine)
  4. Manual backup onto CD/DVD/Microdrive

So of all those I opt for option 3. External Harddrive.  Is it as secure as other backup options?  Well it does not always protect data in the case of rare events like war, floods, hurricanes, or Dick Cheney hunting accidents… things like that, but it does protect against a much more common form of data loss – unexpected and unannounced harddrive failure.

Backing up with a Mac is about the easiest thing you’ll do in your life.  To start automatic backups all you do is open your system preferences, click on time machine, select the backup drive, turn the BIG switch from Off to On.

You’re finished.

You can tweak the settings if you want but the backup starts immediately, once backed up it continually updates the backup file.  And it really does work like a time machine, you can open a folder and choose whatever version of a particular file you want to back up to within the last several days… distance of time in the past depends on the size of backup space available.

Why do I Use G-Technology?

I like these external hardrives from G-Technology for a couple reasons.  Not only do they look sleek they also run nearly silently, they are pretty durable (I haven’t broke one yet) and work right out of the box with Mac (and work well).

I’m going to be honest, I don’t know a ton about hardware… but this is my third or fourth drive from G-Tech and I’ve had no problems with any of them.  They also get good reviews… if you find a better external harddrive I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

In the mean-time do yourself a favor and pick one up… here’s the one I bought (August 2010), you may need much less or much more space than me… look around and find a solution that fits you!

G-Technology 4TB G-Raid External Harddrive Array

Whatever you do, don’t wait until you learn the hard way!

Once the first backup of all your data finishes and you have two copies of everything you will sleep much better at night… trust me.

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How to Steal an Expression

Published
by
Jake Garn
on August 17, 2010
in Photo Philosophy and Working with Models
. 6 Comments

A couple weeks ago  I talked about The Art of the Pose where I discussed three styles of directing models.

Well within those styles are techniques, some simple and some complex.  Over the years I have  developed a lot of techniques to get the look I want on a shoot.  Here’s one of my favorites!

How to Steal an Expression

Expression stealing is a term I came up with to describe the technique of making a model make a certain expression, without specifically asking him/her to do it.  In other words it’s always better to make a model smile, rather than ask her to smile.

Take this image for instance:

This is an amazing expression from Sarah

Sarah’s expression is a unique and complex blend of disdain & joy, boredom & fascination, pity & fear… if I wanted to get this look from Sarah again I could tell her those descriptions but she would have no idea what I was talking about.  There simply is no good way I can think of to tell a model to do this… but I have a thousand ways to make her spontaneously give me a look similar to this!

You can’t describe your way to this expression… you have to steal it.

If I want a laugh I don’t tell a model to laugh, I make her laugh… and not with a lame joke either, that’s not a real laugh.  For instance, the best laugh you can make is that one of slight embarrassment, so to get one I’ll tell a model to smile [take a picture] then frown [take a picture] then smile again.  At first I slowly take pictures, waiting for her expression to catch up… then I go faster, and faster until she starts feeling so ridiculous at how how odd it feels that she just can’t help but laugh out loud!  In other words, I spend ten frames shooting something I’ll never use in order to get a true laugh out.

You, as the director, have to figure out a way to authentically make the model make a true expression and at the exact right second snatch it away!  That’s what I call Expression Stealing!

Any model that shoots with me knows that I usually talk to them throughout the entire shoot, I ask a lot of questions.  Little do they know that I’m silently, usually sub-conciously, noticing their reactions.  I don’t even really care a whole lot about most the questions I ask or the answers I receive (in fact I usually forget about what they say immediately) but what I am remembering is what their reactions are like.

So I thought I’d do a little exercise to illustrate this idea… Without either of them knowing anything about my experiment (at the time) I put the model (Sarah) on the phone with Ryan Muirhead in the middle of a test shoot last week… I gave them no explanation as to why they were talking, I just told them they had to keep talking.  Sarah was able to stay on the phone for over a FULL minute before ending the conversation and passing me back the phone.

The whole time they were talking I was busy stealing genuine expressions. All in 70 seconds.

(CLICK IT FOR A BIGGER SIZE)

By the way, expression stealing is much more than just saying something and capturing the reaction, sometimes the reactions build and build on each other… the more complex the reactions get the better the expression.

The ironic thing is that I love shooting models in a nearly expressionless state. When I think about it I realize there is a genuine reason for why I love shooting blank expressions so much.

“It’s easy to make someone laugh…”

It’s easy to make someone laugh but making a model ignore every care in the world and completely relax?  That’s a bit more tough.  Not only do I love the challenge but I love the idea of blank…

Once you’ve removed expression you are left with a blank stare, and isn’t it interesting how hypnotizing a blank stare can be.

“Isn’t it interesting how hypnotizing a blank stare can be.”

Go ahead, take a few seconds longer than normal and look at the image below… notice how, with a little imagination, it makes you feel like you’re looking into yourself.  Like it’s a mirror reflecting back the emotions that are currently on the edge of your mind?

Or is that just me?

Equipment used to achieve these images

Links take you to B&H with additional specs and current prices.

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Behind the Scenes for Marker Bindings

Published
by
Jake Garn
on August 17, 2010
in Behind the Scenes
. 0 Comments

As Promised…

Here is the official “Behind the Scenes” video of the Steezy Marie campaign photoshoot. Courtesy of Marker!

Video & Editing: John Paul Studios
Creative Director: Jim Whitney of Whitney Advertising

Starring (in no particular order)
Hair: Steven Robertson
Makeup: Paula Dahlberg
Wardrobe: Michelle Boucher
Models: Shelby Boven, Madeline Villano, Ryan Muirhead, Steven Wood, Lauren Johnson
Photographer: Jake Garn
Photo Assistants: Ryan Muirhead, Steven Wood, Dave Brewer
Photo Intern: Alyssa Vincent
Mr. Muirhead’s Assistan: Braxton Duncan
Creative Directors: Jim Whitney and Robin Whitney

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Underwater Camera Review!

Published
by
Jake Garn
on August 16, 2010
in Product Reviews
. 7 Comments

Shooting Underwater is something I’ve never done before, not really sure why… I don’t really have the fancy tanks that a lot of the great underwater photographers have and I guess that kind of always kept me from messing around with it.

But then the other day I realized, I didn’t used to have most the equipment I use today and that never, ever, never stopped me from experimenting and having fun.

So, I decided to give some underwater images a try.  What better way to start out than with some relatively inexpensive, easy to use point-and-shoot cameras?  Both are 14 megapixels, both can go underwater for up to 33ft, and both retail for around $300 or less at B&H.  14 megapixels for $300?  Just five years ago I would have had trouble wrapping my head around that… my how times have changed!

Lumix Panasonic at B&HVersus

Olympus Stylus Tough at B&H

What’s in the Box

The Panasonic Lumix comes with a couple cool little extras, like a rubber camera case, a plastic battery case and a CD that I’d never look at.  Other than that they come with almost identical offerings.

There is one difference in how the batteries recharge though.  The Panasonic Lumix comes with a separate battery charger, however you have to plug the Olympus camera TO the battery charger with the USB plug.  To me the Olympus design is absolutely unacceptable.  For one, if you’re traveling with it you need to remember to bring the chord AND the battery charger that plugs into the wall… two, you’ll have to remember to bring the chord home with you… three, and this is the big one, you cannot buy an extra battery and charge it while the camera is in use.

Score one BIG point for the Panasonic Lumix.

Specs

The Olympus comes with 2GB built in memory, which is really cool, but the Lumix comes with an LED light for video, which is also really cool.   I can’t really say which one is better because both of them would be AMAZINGLY convenient during that one or two times in your life when you filled up all your memory cards and you NEED a few more picture.  Or when you’re 12 feet under water and you want to throw a tiny bit of light onto that eel you’re videoing.

I’m giving them a TIE.

The Test

Anyone interested in purchasing an underwater P&S isn’t going to be extremely picky about minor differences in technicalities, so I’m skipping those.

What really matters to me for a P&S camera is whether or not it’s easy to carry around, there is an intuitive interface and button layout and biggest of all that it is FUN to use… and it should take decent pictures.

So, I decided to jump into a pool a few times with both cameras and see what I could come up with just messing around!

I assumed I would be writing a review about how both of them are great, fun little cameras. I also thought I probably wouldn’t be able to tell much of a difference between them.  On this I was very surprised to find out I was VERY wrong I was.

I preferred using the Panasonic Lumix much, much, much more and it all came down to how short of time there was between me pressing the button and the camera taking the picture.  The Olympus seemed to take an eternity!  As a photographer I want INSTANT responsiveness.

Score a BIG point for the Panasonic Lumix

The Photographs!

After shooting with both cameras on three separate occasions I went through the images and picked some of my favorites.  NONE of these results are straight out of the camera, I’ve taken all of them through my standard development process in Lightroom.

It should be noted, for all of you purists out there, that this sort of tweaking has gone on in the darkroom long before a computer was invented… in my opinion a photo is not finished until it’s been tweaked.

So tweak I did!  Here are the results, grouped by camera.

Results From the Olympus Stylus Tough!

Olympus

Results From the Panasonic Lumix!

The Verdict

I had a blast shooting underwater. If you live anywhere near a source of water I think the $300 for either of these cameras is well worth it, if nothing else just for the fun factor!  I got plenty of useable images from both cameras, one wish would be that they could shoot in RAW format rather than JPG but for $300 I can’t complain too much!

That said this was just a warmup, in a week or so I’ll be taking my Canon 5D Mark II beneath the ripples while trying out the Aquatech Underwater Casing and let you know how the experience compares to the more spontaneous feeling Point and Shoots…

I’m very excited for that, but until then back to the results.

The clear favorite!

Overall the Panasonic Lumix‘s response time made it much more fun to use and I was able to catch the decisive moment much more easily.  Also, since it was quicker I could get an extra shot or two off while holding my breath.

The runner up…

So how do I rank the Olympus Stylus Tough?  Well, it took great pictures but the slight delay from pressing the button to opening the shutter was very annoying… that loss in “fun-factor” and ability to capture the “decisive moment” gets it a solid luke-warm rating.

Special thanks to the models: Ashlé Hansey, Chloe Roberts and my beautiful wife Jenny!

Equipment used to achieve these images

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Steezy Marie for Marker Bindings

Published
by
Jake Garn
on August 13, 2010
in Collections and Series and Whimsical Fashion Photography
. 1 Comment

The amazing folks at Whitney Advertising put together an idea for a national ad campaign that I fell in love with immediately!

Marker USA has a line of ski bindings called ‘The Royal Family’ with product names like The Jester, The Duke and The Baron…

Their idea?

What if we combined Marie Antoinette with a member of todays steezified-culture…  All the vintage styling but with a twist, ski hat and goggles.  The first character to populate this world would have to have a name… and why not call her Steezy Marie?

There’s a bonus to this ad too!  A very high-tech bonus.  You see that colorful square icon near the bottom right?  Download the TagReader app (it’s free) on your iphone. Scan the icon (Yes, it will work on the screen – at least it does on mine) and you can watch some sweet behind the scenes video of the shoot!

The Models!

Credits

Thank you so much to the entire team, especially the two photographer friends of mine that got suckered into modeling with ZERO notice from me!  I make no apologies for doing what I had to do to get a couple guy-extras. :-)

Creative Director: Jim Whitney of Whitney Advertising
Photographer: Jake Garn
Hair: Steven Robertson
Makeup: Paula Dahlberg
Wardrobe Stylist: Michelle Boucher
Models: Shelby Boven, Madeline Villano, Lauren Johnson, Steven Wood and Ryan Muirhead
Location Scout: Mickelle Weber
Photo Assistants: Ryan Muirhead, Steven Wood, and Dave Brewer
Mr. Muirhead’s Assistant: Braxton Duncan

Videographer: John Paul (Video viewable via the TagReader icon on the ad)

Technical Details: 6-Lights*, lots of softboxes. Canon 5D Mark II, 50mm 1.2L

*I should have kept better notes but we had a mini-disaster during setup when I realized that a much needed lens was not inside my photography bag.  The situation was fixed (thanks again Dave) without the clients even noticing… but the hiccup left little time for much note-taking on my part.  :-/

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Test Shoot: Brynlee

Published
by
Jake Garn
on August 8, 2010
in Test Shoots and Whimsical Fashion Photography
. 6 Comments

Test Shoot  (n) by Jake Garn

1.5 to 4 hour shoot just for fun.  I test out new equipment, new models, new ideas… usually with no professional styling. I tell the models to bring a bunch of their own clothes and we improvise. Rarely do I have a single idea pre-planned.   A very good exercise in creativity. I highly, highly recommend doing them as often as you can.

Here is my latest.  Three days ago Brynlee and I shot for just over three hours, it turned out to be one of my favorite test shoots of all time.  (By the way, the drawings in the top two images are Brynlee’s creations)


Equipment used to achieve these images

Classic lighting from both sides, put the softboxes as close as you can to the model and expose accordingly.  For this one I put the left-strobe slightly behind the model and the right-strobe slightly in front of her, the ratio of each strobe is about 1:1.

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The Art of the Pose

Published
by
Jake Garn
on August 6, 2010
in Test Shoots, Whimsical Fashion Photography and Working with Models
. 8 Comments

Posing is hard!

If anyone tells you otherwise then they are a bona fide genius or they don’t realize how bad they are at either directing the action or being a model.

Some models are simply born with the ability to move freely in front of the camera, some are not.  Either way it is the job of the photographer to direct the shoot with just the right amount of attention.  Too much or too little are equally bad, and the tricky part is every shoot is different.

Over the years I have had a lot of experience working with models, in all that time I’ve learned a lot of tricks for directing the action.  How to make someone smile naturally, how to make someone laugh, how to make someone feel comfortable and how to start ordinary people on the path to being great models!  As always this process takes two people.  A director that knows their stuff and a model with enough talent and passion to actually make the shoot better.

Here is my single best piece of advice for working with new models.

Adapt (and use) these three styles of of directing

And know which one is best for the particular shoot and the particular model

1. Meticulously guide the action

Many photographers shy away from this technique, either they lack the confidence or on the opposite extreme they proudly wear the badge of honor that “I do not pose the model, it’s too contrived and I want PURITY in my photos.”  I’ve got news for everyone, the photos you see in magazines in advertising and editorials?  Lots of those are meticulously directed to look like they weren’t directed.  It is a rare combination for the model and photographer to be so in synch that absolutely no direction is necessary… though it does happen.

Personally I find myself using this style most when I’m doing conceptual shoots, close-ups and beauty head shots. I also revert to this style when the model is unexperienced or unconfident in her actions and just needs the extra help.

2. Shut up and Shoot

Sometimes a model knows his/her craft so well that any advice you give them couldn’t possibly make things better.  Just watch and move your camera/lights accordingly.

3. Inspire and Suggest

My favorite style!  I work with a lot of brand new models, a majority of them have never even posed before.  This style is a great way to give the model confidence enough to experiment with posing, in doing so you can mentally assess their modeling talent and create a collaboration worth documenting.

Here’s how you know when you’re doing it right!

Brynlee is not a professional model.  A month or so ago Ryan Muirhead and I went in to get a quick bite to eat on a lazy saturday afternoon, as we walked into the fast food restaurant we both spotted her.  She stopped us both in our tracks, literally, and Ryan and I exchanged a look.

She was beautiful.

So I did something I rarely do, only the second time in as long as I can remember I wrote a note on the back of a contest entry form they had at the front register.  It said simply:

“My name is Jake Garn, I am a photographer and I’d love to photograph you.  No charge.  Check out my work and email me if you’re interested.”

I left my website at the bottom, I only had to wait a day or two for an email.

Since then I’ve photographed Brynlee a couple of times, the images at top are from her third photoshoot.  I gently guided her to play with her dress, shake her hair, stand on tip-toes, and just play around.  Then I just shut-up and watched, click… click…. click…

According to the time-stamps on these images we started shooting this look at 7:13 exactly.  The last frame from this look was clicked at 7:18 and 6 seconds.

5 minutes and 6 seconds.  I think I may make a habit out of doing the five minute modeling challenge in the future… if you’d like to see future 9-image collages like this one leave a comment and let me know!

Equipment used to achieve these images

Classic lighting from both sides, put the softboxes as close as you can to the model and expose accordingly.  For this one I put the left-strobe slightly behind the model and the right-strobe slightly in front of her, the ratio of each strobe is about 1:1.

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