Great photo blogs!

If you are a beginner or a full blown pro, there are always new things to learn and inspiration to soak up. There are many great photo blogs, websites and videos where you can learn and get inspired all for free. To make it easy for you I have listed a selection of some of the best and most popular photo blogs.

 

Check it out:

 

http://manfrottoschoolofxcellence.com/

I will have to start with The Manfrotto School of Xcellence

A complete photo school with:

Joe McNally, Drew Gardner, Bill Frakes and myself; Ami Elsius just to mention a few of many contributing tutors.

You can learn and get inspired from us from live (or archived) webinars, still or video tutorials and blog entries. It’s a well of varied and precious information…for all levels of photographers.

 

 

http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/

Of course you have Joe McNally’s own blow which is one of the most popular photo blogs in the world…fantastic resource for flash/strobe users. Joe is the Author of 3 best sellers: A guide to digital photography, The hot shoe Diaries and The moment it clicks.

 

 

http://www.diyphotography.net/

Do it yourself tips for the handy person. A great site for economical and useful photo solutions.

 

I haven’t swashbuckled with pirates, nor have I swam the English Channel. I haven’t even been to Antarctica. But I have travelled to many far away places, created a lot of still and moving pictures for myself and others. And I’ve made it my life’s goal to be as creative as possible towards everything I endeavor.

http://www.chasejarvis.com

Top Photographer Chase Jarvis…a very creative and inspiring person who generously shares his experiences and tips.

 

I really like how he’s written his Bio:

On a deserted island, I’d go insane without photography, film, music, my wife Kate and our family pets. Storytelling, creative innovation, and visual voodoo – no matter the medium – make my heart go thump thump; and sharing all this online with the world, plus as much of my professional experience I can muster, makes my soul sing. I’m fond of crows, and love that they’ll fly toward anything shiny. I can find humor in anything.

 

I have won a boatload of awards for my work, and I’m grateful for every single one of them, but I’ve always been unsure of whether I earned them or whether the jury was rigged. I was transparent long before it was hip to be so, and I believe deeply in teamwork, community, and collaboration. Let’s be friends. Better yet, let’s swim the English Channel.

 

http://www.chromasia.com/training/

David and Libby Nightingale’s blog

A beautiful and highly popular blog with great tutorials (some free and others cost) and stunning photos.

 

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/

A site that mainly focuses on landscape photography, with a special section just for tutorials.

 

 

http://www.1001noisycameras.com/

Heaps of different camera reviews collected in one place.

 

http://www.popphoto.com/how-to

Great and big variety of  practical tutorials. There’s also a gear guide and a buy guide.

 

 

 

Business portraits

 

I will show you how you can take interesting, living and classy business portraits in small and crowded offices on a tight schedule.

You rarely get the time you would like for a business portrait and often you are asked to take the photos on location, where the majority of the staff/owners/directors/consultants are based.

Below you will find company portraits that I took for First Swedish Research and for Intermezzon, in Sweden earlier on this month.

 

 

Intermezzon (Intermezzon is considered one of the world’s leaders in practical measurable skills training.) had together with an advertising agency come up with the guidelines for the photo shoot. Working with performance management and being considered as one of the world’s leaders in their field, they wanted their portraits to stand out, to be warm and welcoming, crisp and personal.

 

 

 

We used their conference room and attached a middle tone grey fabric over the whiteboard. As they preferred a black background I didn’t shine any lights on the background and moved the chair, which I got everyone to sit on for the shoot, further from the fabric.

Imagine the model in the centre of a circle, the backdrop at 12 o’clock and I the photographer at  6 o’clock. At 10 o’clock and at 2 o’clock I put lights (quantum Q-flash Trio) with a warm tinted gel to back light the sides of the models.

 

 

 

At 6 o’clock right next to me, I placed a Hensel  3000 light with a silver reflector, just a little higher than their heads and pointing at their faces at the same time as bouncing light on a sun fire reflector I placed on the lap of the models. This way I got the nice light in their eyes and added warmth.

 

 

 

 

I used a concealer under the eyes and around the nose as well as some matt bronzing powder on the models to add a bit of a healthy sun kissed look instead of the pale wintry look, which is otherwise common in Sweden at this time of the year.

I also put bronzing powder on the hands that were used in the photos.

 

The combination of make up and lights made their eyes clear and sparkly and the skin nice and even. I haven’t done any retouching to these photos at all.

 

 

To pull someone out of a busy deadline or a crucial discusion for a photo shoot is not always popular and it can take a bit of wit to change the energy and facial expression from busy concentrated, even pissed off, to a relaxed spontaneous and welcoming look. A good tip is to get the model to remember and talk about something that makes them smile; could be a holiday, something naughty they did as a child, get them to talk about their children if they have any; anything to move their thoughts away from their mood.

 

 

 

I normally get my models involved in the shoot and show them what it look’s like on the back of the camera (or on my computer if I shoot tethered). I get them to move and try different angles, poses and expressions and show them what it looks like. That way they feel part of the process, in control of the result and relax easier. Remember that people in general are vain and want to look their best…if you can show them a photo where they look good it gives them more confidence to continue and experiment with different expressions and poses…till you get it right.

 

 

These photos are to be used for their new website. The idea is to have 3 photos with 3 different expressions of each person so that when you move your mouse over the image or click on it will change expression….I like that concept.

 

 

 

Here I have picked one photo of each person. It’s just to give you an idée of how you can vary and personalise headshots….and don’t be afraid to use hands in head shots. Just remember to shoot while they move their hands as it easily can look stiff and frozen other wise.

 

 

 

 

This next shoot I did for FSR (First Swedish Research), an FX Trading company that despite the crisis does really well and has been awarded Super Company of the year for the last 2 years.

 

My youngest sister Cecilia (above) works at FSR as a trader and also helped to organize this shoot. We have worked together many times before; with her in front of the camera as a model or a stylist and me as a photographer or make up artist. She changed career a couple of years ago, but still does some modelling on the side.

 

 

A part from portraits they wanted a bunch of image-shots for their website as well. It was decided in the last minute, not well organized and with a small, not the best-looking and very crowded office to use.

 

As my sister and I got very organized and the people at FSR were very helpful and understanding with the mess we made, we still managed to take 9 different types of image-photos and 25 portraits in just 7 hours.

 

Here are 6 of the 25 portraits…just to give you an idea. Also theese are totally un-retouched.

 

 

I used 4 different lights and the frosted glass wall that’s behind them. I will show you how I set it all up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t let small and crowded places scare you. Try to look at the place in small sections and see what angles you can be useful and remember that the smallar the place and the whiter the roof and walls, the more the light bounces. Use lights on low effect when you want to show something on a computer or TV. Hope you have found some inspiration for future business portraits.