Upde Designs

The good news is the weather cooperated yesterday and it was a bright sunny afternoon so I was able to have the photo shoot that I had planned.  This is my dear friend Dave Johnson and this is one of his “Bucket List Items” a Corvette.

I was so happy for Dave when he bought the car.  I think that a lot of  men would say that one of their dream items would be a Corvette.  For me it would be a 1966 Corvette convertible (but that’s another story.)

Oh by the way, there are no more images for this post so if you’re not interested in my rambling babble you can just hit the back button and save yourself.   🙂

I told you that I had a picture in my mind for over a year now.  Actually it’s been more like a couple of years and it centered around Dave and his Corvette.  I even knew what I wanted him to wear and what I wanted the back drop to be.  So he had agreed to have the image made and we’ve been trying to get it done for almost two years now.

Since he is getting ready to store the Corvette for the Winter it was now or not for another year.  I had an appointment in Dubuque to get my flu shot so I was on a very narrow time line to stop and get the images of Dave and still make my appointment.  [Lesson 1] Do not try to rush through a shoot or have a pressing appointment to go to right after the shoot.  Focus on the shoot and only on the shoot.  In other words “be in the moment.”

The sun was “about” right but not quite.  It was still very bright and harsh light.  So Dave had to squint a lot and there was a lot of reflection from the sun on the shiny surfaces of the car, which is just about the whole car. [Lesson 2]  The light has to be perfect or no matter what your subject the image will be flawed. Had we waited 40 minutes we would have had the golden light with it at an angle that would have eliminated a lot of the glare spots.  Dave wouldn’t have squinted because he wouldn’t have been looking directly into the sun.  The colors would have also been softer and richer looking.

Probably the biggest mistake I made was not posing him correctly.  Again I tried to present the picture in my mind and I didn’t communicate it correctly to Dave and consequently his poses were rigid and unnatural for him. [Lesson 3] Once you have a picture in your mind do not take the shot until the pose matches your mind’s vision of the image.   I have several shots where the lighting is pretty good and the composition is good but the subject looks awkward and uncomfortable.

You can’t really tell from that little 3 inch viewing screen on the back of the camera how good or how bad your shot really is.  I have my review screen set to shot blown highlights or the blinkies as they are often called.  So if there is no blinking my high lights will have detail and I’m good to go.  Wrong!  Obviously there is so much more to an image than the highlights.

[Lesson 4] When you are trying to make a professional looking shot take the time to be professional.  A professional would have shot tethered to a laptop computer and reviewed each shot to see what was wrong and then make a correction.  I can always see the mistakes when I am looking at the full shot on my laptop, but when I’m sitting at home 12 hours later it is too late to make corrections.  Which by the way is the reason I will not shoot a wedding!!!!

I only shot 31 images, which is not enough when you’re trying to make a perfect image.  [Lesson 5]  Pay attention to the details.  Take the camera away from your eye and just look at what you’re trying to do.  Does what you see convey the look you’re trying to capture?  The “Devil is in the Details.”

Finally, (well not really but I’ve got to go) a simple light diffuser  (which I have more than enough of them) would have solved a number of the issues I encountered.  I had them with me but of course no one to hold them.  [Lesson 6]  Plan the shoot and anticipate the things you’ll need.  Again I was looking to create a “professional quality” image for me and my friend.  I got a couple of nice “shots” but not what I was striving for.

So I could pontificate for another several paragraphs but I think I’ve made my point.  I learned a lot from this brief shoot.  I’m very disappointed in the final product.  I wanted a quality image I could give my friend and I wanted to be able to say, “I did it.”  As my boss says, “it is a journey and you lean (hopefully) as you go.”

If you stayed to this line, thank you for checking out the blog today.  Hope you maybe picked up some tips that you can use as well.  Enjoy your Thursday and be careful.