Shhhhh - D90 pass it on

Here is the link as well  

Gift cards are growing in popularity at Christmas time and special occasions. As a photographer have you considered moving from the old style paper gift certificate to the plastic gift cards ?

Here is a link from Inc. Magazine that talks about gift cards (link).

Here is another link from CNW group that discusses gift cards-Canadians Enjoy Giving and Receiving Gift Cards

Another excerpt, from the above link

Mark’s Work Wearhouse commissioned the Ipsos Reid survey to confirm what
they already knew through their own research: Canadians love gift cards,
whether they are on the giving or receiving end. In fact, gift cards are one
of the top selling items at Mark’s, and the category continues to grow, year
after year.

Visa is also aware of this trend, in this businessweek article: “Gift Cards with a Personal Touch” - Visa is jumping into the create your own gift card.

You are probably wondering, this is all great information but how does it relate to photography. Would you like to get more people in your studio before December 25 and increase sales ?

Are you limited to the available time between Nov 14 and Dec 25 and are a lot of your clients busy attending Christmas functions and parties. How about selling them a gift card and then photograph them in January and February when it is quieter in the studio. Cash now, for services later, sounds good to me !
Here is the big tip, what if I told you that you could purchase 200 of these cards for $ 50, design your own gift card with logos and images, and three different dollars amounts. Caught your attention, anybody who replies to this post I will email them my contact.

If this idea makes you some money, remember your old pal Ron at SML.

Jed at Vgallery gave me some cool stuff to play with.  Jed and Vicki run an amazing studio, they are on Ed Pierce’s Photovison this year, they teach at WPPI and at their new studio.  They are a very passionate couple about life and their photography business.

Jed gave me their new eye lash tool.  If you have female clients that have very limited eye lashes, this PSD file will boost their lashes.  Take a look at the before and after.

How did I do it, I open my model file in PShop.  Then I open the lash PSD from Jed.  I dragged and dropped the lash file on the image.  Then I used (cmd) control T (free tranform) and sized the lash and position in the right spot.  Very easy to use.   Check out Vgallery and tell them Ron@SML sent you !

Have a great Tuesday !

Ron@SML

I always want to be honest and not sugar coat a product or service. I hate when others in the indsutry pump a product but don’t tell you the finer points. Last week I mentioned my heavy use with the SB 800’s.

Here is a big use with the SB 800’s is that they don’t always fire. The flash could be between you and the subject but sometimes the master and say Flash A can’t communicate. I usually rotate the red part of the flash to me (and the camera and the on camera master flash and the flash head to subject). Even after that adjustment, there are times when they don’t communicate.

What I am going to do ? I think I am going to use radio poppers, pocket wizards or the new white lightening triggers. I have been researching on the web and I am not the only one.

If anyone is experiencing this problem, please post. Sometimes when we are working with gear and it won’t work we think it is us. BUT sometimes it is the product.

Have a great day

Ron@SML

This week’s photographer site of the week is Ridout Photography - here is link

Have a great weekend.

Ron@SML

In the past, I used to try and use a reflector and bounce light on my subject when I was creating outdoor portraits. I either did not get enough light or I blind them and the subject squinted.

More and more I am using my SB 800′ s and creating soft light with no reflector.

I have been asked what is my lighting gearing setup I use for a normal light stand, the
Bogen-Manfrotto 175F Spring Clamp with Flash Shoe - aka Justin Clamp, I have 4 SB 800’s, I have a pack of gels, I made some McGiver type snoots.

A quick rule of thumb is I take an exposure of my background and look at the histogram. Most of the time, I like the histogram in the centre. Then I take my on camera flash and drop it to -1.7 to -2.0 and then set my off camera flash to -1.0 to get a nice fill flash. As mentioned this is a quick and dirty starting point. The Sallee’s for example, like to under expose the background so the histogram is not in the centre and then use fill flash to bring the histogram back to the centre. The key to success is play and get comfortable with your gear.

I will post some outdoor sessions next week on how I like to light outdoors with my SB 800’s. I did used my reflector tonight- to cover my lens from a sun flare.

Have a great Thursday and it is nice to be back !

I will be off for a few days for some R&R.

Tonight, I was playing around with my series of DVDs from Graphic Authority and I created this cool 4 X 6 post card for a car owner.  It took me only  2-3 minutes to create it and my client thought I spent the day designing the image. This car was photographed on a lot at large car show in the middle of the day (direct sun).  I cloned out some things in the background, stickers on the window, and gave it a blue tone and then added GA on top.  I love GA products because I can create any look with just dragging and dropping layered files over my image. GA continues to keep providing cool products.  More demos on GA to come.  Go visit GA and tell Charlie, Ron@SML sent you.

Have a great W day.

Ron@SML

Ever wonder how the models on websites and ads seem so tall and slim. Here is a great photoshop technique to slim down a client. (Note commands in brackets are for the PC).

1. Open your image in pshop
2. (Control) J - to copy the image
3. Command (Control) + Option (Alt) + C
4. Click the relative box
5. Enter 3 inches in the height box
6. Select white for canvas
7. Press Command (Control) + T to obtain free transform
8. Enter 115% in the height box and 90% in the width box

If you find the corrections appear unreasonable, try 110% and 95% in height and width.

Give it a shot. I saw this technique at Photoshop World last year by Kevin Ames.

Have a great Tuesday.

Ron@SML

Chase Jarvis has a great video on his blog with his recent golf shoot (LPGA). I really recommend you watch this. It addressed every element of the assignment, except the billing - what did you charge Chase - 6 figure ?- that is why you are the man.

Have a great Monday.