Canon 7D DSLR

I'm going to be a little braggadocio, I just purchased the Canon 7D. Wow! What a camera! Although the 7D has a lot of new features including 1920 X 1080 full HD video, I mainly purchased it to upgrade from my Canon 20D; which has served me well.

I'm also teaching myself the art of High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. I am so lost, I won't even attempt to give any hints, tips, or techniques on how to perform this highly specialized skill. A couple of recommendations that I found will get you in the ballpark is use a tripod, and whether you bracket three consecutive shots or more shoot them as quickly as possible.

The Buddhist Temple is my first attempt and the Hawaii Theater is my second attempt. You can be the judge but I need a lot of work.

As my new skill continues to evolve I will post my work. You can visit my website at http://www.dannylbaker.com/

Missed Opportunities

Many times when we least expect it, an opportunity will present itself; and most times we realize it but fail to act. Other times it maybe staring us in the face but don't realize it until someone else acts on it. Kind of like the T.V. commercial "Wow I could of had a V-8!".

I have experienced both of these situations but would like to share one of my most recent missed opportunties.

While sitting in a newly opened coffee shop, at a local mall, waiting for my wife to complete her shopping; I noticed the walls were devoid of any art. From my experience, this very unusual for coffee shops.
Although the walls were bare, and painted a bright white, this made a pleasant atmosphere. As I continued to sip on my coffee, I wondered, was this the owner's intent? Or, did they simply run short on cash and decided to focus on their product?

As I sat and watched people coming and going, I noticed a gentleman that was very busy; and it appeared that he was either the owner or the manager of this coffee shop. As he was hustling around, greeting customers, and talking on his cell phone, I chose not to bother him. My reasoning, was I didn't want to interupt him and quite possibly damage any future negotiations with him.

Aproximately three weeks later I returned to the mall and checked out the coffee shop, and my questions were answered. The owner had placed on the nice bright walls some paintings. In business there is a fine line between being overly aggressive and aggressive. What I should have done was left a business card with him at least giving me a slight chance; but instead I chose to do nothing which gave me no chance.

So my reasoning proved to be wrong. Basically, I am in the same position that I was trying to avoid. Always give your potential customer the opportunity to say no. I learned from that.

PHOTOGRAPHING NEW BORN BABIES

Photographing new born babies is probably 90 percent luck and 10 percent skill. Although I am far from being an expert in this particular skill, the one time that I did was far from successful. But, what I learned is portrait photography requires attention to detail and always being mindful of what is constantly taking place while trying to photograph your subject(s).   Below are some tips that will help new photographers especially those that will be taking portraits   of  new born babies.
Although the photo's shown are not bad, had I taken my own advice, these could have been much better. I'll let you be the critic.

1. When photographing new born babies, ask the parents when is the best time of the day to photograph the baby. Parents know baby's personality, and when baby is generally on his/her best behavior. For example, early morning or after being fed.
2. Because of the moving around and setting up, you must be quick to capture the moment that will suddenly present itself.
3. Generally allow 45 minutes to an hour at most, because new borns will not tolerate much more and it's probably very stressful.
4. Whoever coined the phrase patience is a virture much have been a photographer, don't be too quick to take the picture. Set it up making sure that everyone is prepared so when baby does make that special moment you are ready.

As always please visit my web site at http://www.dannylbaker.com/ or if you have any comments or suggestions you can email them to me at dannylb@lava.net

Knowing Your Clients Needs and Taking Care of Them

The business side of photography is a key element to becoming a successful photographer. It is an ongoing effort to find and keep clients. That is why "Knowing your clients needs and taking care of them" both during and after you've completed the project; is critical to the success of your business.

While photographing a model for an advertisement, I didn't fully understand that advertisement photography needs to be approached a little different from regular model photography. Although my client stated they would like to use these photographs for an ad, it was still incumbent on me to get the specifics. In addition to being a photographer I need to be a good sales person, and uncover the needs of my clients. In sales sometimes a customer will not be as direct or forthcoming as we would like. Not that the client/customer does this intentionally it's just the way life is.

So, by being very specific, and asking direct questions such as, in what way will you use the ad. Or will the add include text within the photograph, and how large or small will the ad be. Once you've asked those intial questions then, you can ask more open ended questions so the client will elaborate on how they envision the ad.

Although this is not all inclusive these are just a couple of tips that can be useful. Being a salesperson can be very difficult, but if you belive in your product it makes it significantly easier to wear your sales hat as a photographer. Please go to my web site at http://www.dannylbaker.com/ and click on the "Project" button to view a sample of my work that was used in Tiki Magazine.

Taking good notes is an essential part of photography

I recently was reviewing some of my photographs that I took earlier in the year. I opened this particular folder and remembered the day I took the photo's in the folder, but was uncertain how the pictures shown were taken. It became clear to me after carefully reviewing these abstract non pictorial objects what I was looking at; it was a creation I made using photoshop. How I got to this point is not so clear. The original image I took was a flower. Wow! Had I taken copious notes while performing this procedure I would be able to duplicate it at some point should I choose. Take good notes while photographing and while working in photoshop or as soon as possible once you've completed your project. I learned from that. Please visit my website at www.dannylbaker.com and share any comments or thoughts you may have.

Finding a Model

Finding and hiring a model is very difficult, especially if the photo shoot requires a model that specializes in a specific area. The model I was looking for had to dance hula. But if you have limited resources available, and little to no experience with photographing models; where and how does a photographer go about searching for a qualified model.

I was fortunate to find an excellent model on my first attempt. As a side note, I would not do the Hula Dancer any justice by labeling her a model only. In reality she is an artist, she performed to a level of experience far beyond what I expected.

As I mentioned, with limited resources (e.g money) that may restrict you from hiring a model agency, the only other option I could come up with is search the Internet. I'm sure there are many options available but these were the two that I thought were most practical and convenient.

I'm not promoting a particular website but craigslist.org is the website that I chose only because it is a well known website. I placed an ad, (which is free by the way), and soon I was receiving inquiries about my ad.

The ideal approach to hiring a model is to have a written plan of action. However, in this case it was my first time venturing into this area so I relied on my life's experience. This approach is not all inclusive, and is not detailed, but it is a starting point that can be tailored to your needs.

1. Search: Approach model search as if you were hiring someone to work for you, because you are.

a. Post ad.

b. Set-up appointments to responses.

c. Conduct interviews.

d. Make selection.

2. Second interview with selectee: Know what you want the model to do.

a. Set guidelines/discuss specific clothing or outfits.

b. Set time/location.

c. Sign contract.

3. Preparation for the shoot:

a. Visit location prior to shoot.

b. If possible use assistant.

c. Prepare equipment.

4. During the shoot: Be assertive but not too demanding.

a. Talk with model to make them comfortable.

b. Be specific and communicate with model.

c. Take plenty of photographs.

d. Take written notes if time permits or make mental notes and write them down as soon as possible.

5. Conclusion: Thank model and provide any additional information (e.g. Portfolio, Photo Package).

These are the basics that I found I needed to conduct a successful model search. Unfortunately these were lessons learned during and after the search and I consider myself very lucky. I learned from that and hopefully you will too.

As always happy photographing and please make comments or suggestion. You may visit my website at www.dannylbaker.com

I Learned From That

All photographers face dilemmas, especially when you are just beginning your photography business. How you deal with those dilemmas will determine how successful you are. I recently faced such a dilemma. Imagine you've just finalized all the specifics and you are ready to shoot. I was photographing a hula dancer at Laniakea Beach. The day of my photo shoot it was overcast and the rain was impending. As I stated in a previous blog, in Hawaii, if you don't like the weather just stick around for awhile and it will change. However, this was not going to be the case, the whole state was covered by clouds. Because of my eagerness, and wanting to get the experience from this particular shoot, I decided to move forward as if I were going to complete the session. But I knew if I did, it wouldn't be exactly what I wanted, and I probably would not be satisfied. All of these things were racing through my head and I needed to make a decision. But, I didn't want to rush to judgement. I had scheduled the photo shoot with a professional hula dancer on Thursday but she had overlapping commitments so we rescheduled for the following Tuesday. Because I had little to no experience with photographing models I had to rely on my instinct or should I say better judgement. Fortunately the model I was working with was very flexible and easy to work with. She called me the day of the shoot to inform me it was raining near the location we were going to do the photo shoot. Both of us agreed it would be better to delay the photo session until the following Monday. While listening to a photography podcast recently the photographer that was being interviewed said he waited for 12 years to get the particular photograph he was looking for. Hopefully I wouldn't need to wait that long but I realized that although we would like to shoot regardless of the situation sometimes a little patience make it worth the wait. To see some of the photographs I took please visit my website at www.dannylbaker.com I learned from that.