New photos for my website are up now!

A little while back, I had asked for opinion and ideas form readers of the Creative Dreamers blog to help to determine the new photos to be featured on my arts services and photography website homepage. See post entitled: Help choose the new photos for my website.

Well, the deed is now done and three new photos have been added to replace a few of the older ones. I know I had initially said that six new images would be added but due to some technical issues that are a bit out of my area of expertise, I ended up only going with three.

Here’s a screenshot from the new front page:

Thanks for your feedback.

Three ways to bring out the color in your photos

As a photographer, I know that a lot of people are looking for ways to bring out the color in their shots to make their digital photos pop. Here are a few tips along with sample shots.

Making color pop

1. Make use of the saturation effect

- Use your photo editing software’s saturation tools to increase the saturation for more vivid colors. Be careful not to go overboard though.

2. Utilize the dodge/burn tool

- Most likely, your chosen editing software will allow you to either burn (darken) or dodge (lighten) specific areas of your photo. This can really help with bringing out the color in skies and nature scenes as well as washed out clothing or body art.

3. Go with a spot color effect

- Here, you take out the color in a photo and essentially make it black and white with the exception of the area in which you want to showcase a specific color. This takes a little work but is well worth it. My e-book “Making Beauty Photography” has a deluxe edition with links to video tutorial on several of these techniques.

The multi-talented Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams is well known…

for his long career in the music industry. After all, he’s been pumping out pop and rock tunes since the 1980s. But, considerably less people probably know about his other artistic talent.

This November, Adams released the book “Exposed,” a collection of his work behind the camera as a photographer. I myself just heard about it today and decided to do a little research. As it turns out, this musician is quite the double threat.

Check out some samples of his work below:

Lindsey Lohan

Ben Kingsley

Lana Del Rey

I usually avoid flash in photography but…

While in most cases, the use of flash in photography is actually unnecessary at  best and possibly even destructive at worst. Pop-up flashes often result in harsh and unflattering shadows or a blown out, over exposed shot. And while it is harder to make this sort of mistake with strobe lighting units, some people overuse these as well. One such example would be taking them along for mid-day outdoor shoots.

But on occasion, using flash can be just what is needed to get the desired effect.

One such example, intentional and artistic shadowing.

Here are two simple and interesting ways to pull off this approach.

1. Place the subject of the shot close to the background -

The closer the two are, the easier it becomes to produce intended harsh but artistic shadows.

2. Go projector-style -

Place an object that can cast a shadow in front of the flash unit and shoot away.

Have fun!

Halloween themed photo contest

Halloween is right around the corner

It has become the second biggest commercial holiday in America and can be a blast for both adults and children alike. Considering my own personal affinity for this holiday, I figured this might be a good time to run another quickie Creative Dreamers contest.

HOW TO ENTER

Submit you photos (each person can submit up to five different ones) to me at tcrapromo@gmail.com.

All images should be Halloween themed and your own original work.

You will retain all rights to the images you submit.

Deadline for entries is October 28.

All photos will be displayed on our blog and the winner will be chosen based on reader votes.

PRIZE

Featured post about you and/or your website on this blog along with free promotion of your work via Twitter, Tumblr, Stumbleupon, Google+, Facebook, Pinterest, Vi.sualize.us, and Weheartit.

We look forward to seeing your entries!

Senior photos are getting a makeover

Senior photos used to be all pretty uniform

Maybe something like this for example:

- Blue or grey molted backdrop

- Fairly formal attire

- Vertical images from the shoulder up

Sure shots like this can be nice but then again they can also be boring. They rarely offer the opportunity for students to showcase their unique personalities. Perhaps that is why in recent years, schools have begun to allow more flexibility in what they will publish in yearbooks.

To date, I have shot senior portrait photos for students from four different school districts. And each district had a very different set of requirements. But I really do think the trend seems to be moving toward a less rigid and more creative style for senior photos.

Here are a few samples of my work below:

Delicate beauty – the art of blown glass

While I hold respect and admiration for just about every type of art out there. I’ve always been blown away, no pun intended, by the artists who work with blown glass. I can’t imagine the level of skill and precision it must take to develop such amazing pieces out of such a frail medium.

Here are a few visual samples:

 

 

 

Abstract photo

Once in a while, it’s fun to “break the rules” if you will. To go against the grain of what is considered proper of correct in a given art. On occasion, I mess around with my photography in order to do so. This is especially true when it comes to intentional blur and streaks of light. With that in mind, I decided to post one image from a while back featuring just such experimentation.

Check it out below:

We will never forget!

Eleven years ago today, one of the greatest tragedies is modern history occurred at the hands of men of pure evil. September 11, 2001 was to my generation what the attacks on Pearl Harbor was to those young men and women living in the 1940s. The senseless events of that day brought on emotions ranging from shock to sadness to fear and anger. And, I will never forget where I was that fateful morning. It’s as fresh in my memory as the moments of yesterday.

This being an arts related blog, I’ve decided to post a few things below from the world of the arts that honor the victims of the acts of 9-11-01 and ensure each and every one of us remember this always.

God Bless America!

The Old Masters Can Inspire The New Artists

Guest Post by Steve Fowler

If my teenage daughter’s taste in art and music is representative of the majority of her generation, it can be assumed that the next superstar will be the product of inspiration provided by the last superstar.

Since I travel around the world I have the unique opportunity to get a glimpse of many different cultures. It seems, at least for the young generation, inspiration for new, creative art and music is no more than one generation past and usually much less than that.

It might seem that up-and-coming artists are stuck in a rut. Then something happened that restored my faith in the value of those artists’ works  which have been around for hundreds of years. In February during one of the coldest weeks in recent years, I found myself going to the State Pushkin Museum of Art in Moscow. A temporary exhibit of the works of Caravaggio was being hosted. One might think that such harsh weather conditions would deter visitors. To my surprise there were Russians of all ages lined up for many yards and around the corner waiting for their turn to enter.

The State Pushkin Museum of Art in Moscow

It didn’t surprise me that citizens of a country which has such a rich cultural history would flock to an exhibit of Caravaggio’s best paintings. After all, to see these paintings in their usual environment would require a lengthy journey and, quite likely, a visa. What did surprise me was the inconvenience and harsh weather that so many had disregarded.

One of the paintings on display was Crucifixion of St. Peter. I had only just two weeks earlier been in Rome to see that painting myself. As I approached its usual spot in the Santa Maria Del Popolo I saw a notice announcing that it was on loan to the Pushkin Museum of Art in Moscow. Since I go to Rome so often I elected to visit the Pushkin European Gallery next door where no line existed.

As I have thought back on that frigid day in Moscow I have wondered if any of the fans of the Moscow band “Pussy Riot” were also braving the weather to pay a visit to a 500-year-old painting. I hope so.

Russian punk band Pussy Riot

Steve Fowler is a travel writer and planner for tours of Rome, Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as being a pilot for a legacy airline in the United States.