We know how expensive it is to rent studio space, and that it can be especially difficult to justify the price when it’s for your own passion project. But if it’s a project that excites you, that drags you out of bed at the crack of dawn and keeps you up late at night, we want to give you the opportunity to create it.
BYO camera? Free?
Not many excuses now to not do that thing you want to do, New Yorkers.
Kudos to VSCO. They’re providing platform after platform for photographers (and “”creatives””) to do their thing. It’s fun to see them stretch and grow beyond film-looking presets for Lightroom (that I still enjoy and use).
I’d give anything for a space like this in my area. My next project is dying for a location to shoot some portraits. I don’t need equipment – just space.
Just for fun, here’s a behind-the-scenes portrait editing session in Lightroom I put together using a photo from my Artists In Jackson project, featuring painter Colleen Peterson.
This is a simplified editing process, but I don’t spend a ton of time on each photo. I have my process down pretty well.
Contrast, exposure, sharpening, and VSCO. Just that simple.
I’m coming up on my 2,000th Instagram photo, and it’s got me thinking about what is my favorite social media platform.
It’s really fun to experiment with mobile photo making, and see the work of other great Instagram photographers. Every day, I think about making good photos for Instagram, and sharing them for the world to see. It’s like a 365 project, even though there are days wen I don’t post (usually the weekend) – thought I post multiple times per day, which kind of makes up for it.
Instagram helps me experiment with photo styles, moods, and subjects. I was never really a landscape guy, until my commute inspired me to share the rural countryside I see every day. And going back and seeing my old stuff (I’ve been using Instagram since January 2011)? It’s rough, but you can see the growth.
What’s nice about Instagram is, there’s no social pressure. Yes, I follow some friends and family members. But the majority of photographers I follow are people I’ve never met. That’s the fun part. Like Twitter, I get to interact with people who are mostly strangers.
Inspiration through photos is a function of interests, not your social connections. Chase what inspires you. Be true to yourself, and inspire others with who you are.
His point: don’t feel bad about not following people you know in real life.
My own quick-read tips:
If someone follows you, check out their profile. Like their photos? Follow them back. Don’t like their photos? Don’t.
See if a photographer shares different stuff on his/her Instagram than, say, Flickr or Tumblr.
I’m still a stickler for mobile-only photos (#iphoneonly!). Call me Old Fashioned.
Hashtags are a good way to (a) be found and (b) find stuff you’re into. Follow your #furry or #abandoned passions. Just, for Pete’s sake, don’t inappropriately tag your photos (#sunset on a non-sunset photo, for instance)
Comment on photos you really like. But say what you like about it. Be specific and generous.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with styles. In time, you’ll develop your own signature style. It took me a long time to find my groove.
I took the new pack for a spin using some photos from last Friday’s trip to the Liberty Mill Pond, with my photo pal John Neff (here with his Sony A7), where Michigan’s Grand River begins – about two miles from my house.
This is a fun pack because the film emulations are so subtle. Looking through the photos, you won’t spot huge differences in the look and feel – but when you’re actually using them, it’s refreshing to see the small differences in contrast, saturation, and mood.
I particularly like the Kodak stuff, like Ektachrome and Ektar 25. The Ektar 25 takes the saturation down a notch from Film 05′s version of Ektar (my current go-to emulation). The Agfa stuff is nice, too, because of how gentle it is.
You can try VSCO Film 00 for free (a great idea), and then pony up for a full pack. This Film 07 pack will be fun to play with.
Film 07 emulations are in the captions of each photo.
I did this a while back on portraits, but here’s a little behind-the-scenes on how I process my photos in Lightroom.
Let’s take a photo from the Heidelberg Project in Detroit – blending a few favorite subjects of mine: an abandoned house, public art in an urban setting, good mix of light and deep shadows.
Here’s a before and after. The photo was captured with a Canon 7D and 24-70mm f/2.8 Sigma lens. The framing of the brick pillar and the burned black ceiling, with the shaft of light streaming down the stairs, made for an interesting scene.
I start with exposure. Is the frame too dark? Too bright? How about white balance. After adjusting those in Lightroom, I pick my VSCO present. These days, it’s Film 05′s Kodak Ektar 100. That particular film setting has a lot of options, but I usually stick with the default, or play with the Contrast+ setting.
I like Ektar because of its high-contrast, green-tinted-shadows look. It’s not afraid to let the shadows go completely to black, and it’s a warmer film tone. But that’s just the start.
From there I’ll probably add a bit more punch in the contrast setting, drop the highlights a bit to let more detail in the bright spots, and drop the blacks down to give it that really contrasty look. Shadows are my friend.
Depending on the image, I’ll also reduce the saturation a bit. Adding contrast makes the colors pop a bit too much for my liking (those shoes might be a bit too blue for my taste).
Increase the sharpening a tad (usually to the 30 mark, with some masking to only sharpen the edges), maybe bump the clarity (only for non-people photos), and increase the color noise reduction if I have to. Peeking at the shadows and dark spots in the photos lets me know if there is color noise.
Hit the “Remove Chromatic Aberration” toggle if I need to, and do any kind of lens or perspective corrections if I have to. And then I’ll add a bit of a vignette and, especially for VSCO film packs, reduce the grain level. My settings rarely have grain going anywhere above 20-30.
As a last touch, I’ll sharpen little details with the adjustment brush, spot remove anything that seems out of place, and crop a bit.
That’s it. Nothing complicated or fussy. I’ll spend a very short amount of time on a photo, and bring it into Photoshop to do any kind of heavy lifting. Getting it most of the way there in camera is the important part, allowing me to make the styling adjustments as needed.
