This Week in Photo (TWiP)

Personal Project Profile: Apocalyptech by Jeff Shaffer

In this episode of TheFIX, commercial photographer Jeff Shaffer provides an in-depth look at Apocalyptech, a personal project featuring a series of intricate and detailed Photoshop composites. Apocalyptech was created as Jeff’s thesis project while earning his Master of Professional Studies in Digital Photography degree from New York’s prestigious School of Visual Arts. In the interview we take a look at the entire process for creating this personal project: Developing the initial concept for the story, looking at the work of other photographers who provided visual inspiration for the look and feel of the series, the creation of rough storyboard-like sketches that were the first visuals for the story and informed how the background composites were created, as well as the casting of models to play the main characters, and photographing the models in the studio to match the lighting and perspective in background plates that Jeff had already created. We wrap things up with a look at one of the layered Photoshop files and Jeff deconstructs how the composite was put together.

Links Mentioned in This Episode

Jeff Shaffer website     |     Apocalyptech site

Inspirations:  TokyoGenso     |     Lori Nix     |     David Trautrimas     |     Viktor Koen

LensFlare Studio, $29.99 (for Mac OS 10.9 or higher)

About Our Guest

Jeff Shaffer’s advertising photography has garnered numerous awards from art director’s clubs and other publication design groups. Based in Philadelphia, he has worked on national ad campaigns and annual reports for such prominent clients as Pfizer, Neiman Marcus, Ralph Lauren, Tanqueray, and Heineken. Jeff’s fine-art photography draws its inspiration from futuristic cinema and graphic novels, relying heavily on post-production manipulation in the style of computer graphics. He refined those skills while earning his Master of Professional Studies in Digital Photography degree from New York’s prestigious School of Visual Arts.

Images below from Apocalyptech by Jeff Shaffer

Enjoy the Video or Audio version of TheFIX

You can enjoy this and every episode of TheFIX in its video or audio version. Click the video at the top of this page to watch the video version or use the audio player on this page to listen to the show. To enjoy the audio version when you’re on the go, subscribe to TheFIX in iTunes or your favorite RSS player.

Where’s Seán?

* Check out Seán’s new weekly series Mobile Photography Weekly on Lynda.com (the current week is always free with no subscription required), as well as some of his other courses, including Learn Photoshop Compositing: 10-Minute Techniques and 

This episode of the podcast is an interview with Christine Pobke. Christine is a family photographer based in Canberra, Australia. She’s a mother of two girls and is expecting a new baby early next year.

We talk about how Christine built her family photography business and how it has evolved in the last year to include in person sales. Christine taught an online class titled, “Building Your Business.” She says the biggest mistake she sees new photographers make when starting out is their pricing. She also talks about all the excuses photographers have for not charging more. Christine tells us about the challenges of running a business as a mother of small children and how she’s planning to continue her work when her new baby is born.

More about Christine: Website, Instagram, Facebook

Find Jenny on Flickr, Facebook, Instagram

I’m doing a daily photo project. You can see my project and the 365 projects of other TWiP Family listeners in the TWiP Family 365 Project 2016 group on Flickr. It’s not too late to start a project. Join us.

Do you have a family photography question? A guest suggestion or topic you’d like to hear about on this family photography podcast? Use the Contact Us button to send me an email. Or contact me on the TWiP Family Facebook page and join the TWiP Family Facebook group.

AlphaMirrorless 027: Juan & Andy Answer More of Your Questions

Here is another episode of the AlphaMirrorless podcast that is entirely dedicated to answering your questions. We are so pleased with the number and quality of questions you are all submitting, please please keep them coming.

We don’t always have all the answers, but if we don’t we will research it and try to give you the best answer we can. So what have you got to lose, go ahead and send in your questions to us by going to this form.

Links mentioned on the episode

* Lifepixel Infrared Conversion

Wishes of the Week

* Juan: Lightroom tethering for Sony Alpha Cameras

* Andy: I wish Sony would put pressure on Precision Camera to up their game and provide real high quality professional service. Paying $100 essentially got me nothing

Picks of the Week

* Juan: Sony 90mm Macro Lens (FE 90 mm F2.8 Macro G OSS)

* Andy: Surefire LED Flashlight, be sure to purchase a few extra batteries as well!

Connect with Our Hosts & Guests

* Juan Pons: Website, Facebook

* Andy Williams: Website, Facebook

* AlphaMirrorless Facebook Page

In this interview I chat with Hasselblad’s Pontus Arvåsen about their hot new mirrorless camera, the Hasselblad X1D.

Pontus Arvåsen is a product designer and photographer working in the design team at Hasselblad HQ Gothenburg. He started his career as freelance designer in 2004.

Parallell to this he was a keen hobby photographer and after two years in the design business, following a successful photo exhibition he went full time as photographer. Initially mostly fine art nature and floral photography with several exhibitions and a successful card collection. Gradually the work shifted to more commercial work, portrait, product and fashion photography with clients such as H&M, Weekday, Volvo among others.

The combination of these two careers caught the attention of Hasselblad who hired him as a product specialist and technical investigator. Shortly there after he shifted to his current role as Product Designer. He’s a part of the design team in Gothenburg involved in all aspects of the design of the entire product range. Available products he’s been a part of until now is the aerial A6D, the H6D and the recently released X1D camera.

http://www.arvasen.com

http://www.instagram.com/pontusarvasen

A closer look at the Hasselblad X1D

Portfolio shots from Pontus

TWiP 480: Did Steve Jobs Change Photography?

Steve Jobs, you know the guy who co­founded Apple with Steve Wozniak… is about to be inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum. In this episode I discuss his posthumous induction, and is it warranted.

Also SmugMug rescues stranded PictureLife customers, sparking a discussion around back­up, and cloud-­based photo storage services.

And lastly, the Federal Aviation Administration in the US has finally ruled, definitively, that commercial drone use is legal. And they’ve provided a few simple steps for would­be commercial drone pilots to follow.

Links Mentioned in This Episode

* Steve Jobs to be inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame

* SmugMug rescues nearly 200 million photos for PictureLife customers

* Now you can use your Drone to make money

* Woman shoots drone out of the sky with a shotgun

* Creatives Against Depression

* The Angry Millennial

* Growth potential indicator score calculator

* Sprouting Photographer podcast

Picks of the Week

* Jose: Pixieset Galleries

* Bryan: Fuji X­Pro2 and 23mm f/1.4 lens  & SproutStudio

* Frederick: Belt holster for Theta S 360 camera

TWiP 480 is brought to you by:

Doug Kaye Workshops

Doug Kaye, the host of TWiP’s “All About the Gear” show and an award-­winning street photographer, is heading back to Cuba. Doug’s workshops are limited to ten participants and *everything* is included: airfare from Miami, your Cuban entry visa and exit fee, meals, hotels, activities and even tips. And all at an extremely affordable price. November is sold out, but there are still a few slots open in January and March. Head on over to DougKaye.com/workshops and use the code TWIP100 to get $100 off the workshop fee.

Connect with Our Hosts & Guests

* Jose Rosado: Website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

* Bryan Caporicci: Website, Twitter, Google+

* Frederick Van Johnson: Website, 

Street Focus 102: Streets of the World – Detroit with Andrew Shields

This week on this episode of Street Focus, we are going to Detroit, Michigan and Andrew Shields is your local guide for this new adventure!

Who is Andrew Shields?

A Metro Detroiter since I could crawl, I’ve always had an interest in the city. Trips to Tiger Stadium with my parents as a child, then live music with my now wife in the city’s small venues as a teen; Detroit remains a destination. Photography classes in my youth taught me the fundamentals and darkroom processing. As film transitioned to digital I took a break from shooting but when I learned that mirrorless systems allowed for adapting classic manual lenses to modern bodies my passion for photography was reignited. Today I shoot as often as possible, preferring candid street scenes with considered compositions over other photographic disciplines. When I’m not shooting you can find me hunting down the vintage lenses that I find at local thrift stores and estate sales which I use for all of my street photography.

Connect with Andrew here:

 www.instagram.com/ ashieldsphoto/

 www.shieldsportfolio.com

Detroit Links:

www.muralsinthemarket.com

www.dallyinthealley.com

www.easternmarket.com

www.thebelt.org

www.michigandnr.com/ parksandtrails/Details.aspx? id=736&type=SPRK

www.campusmartiuspark.org/

blog.visitdetroit.com/entry/ detroit-10-stunning-detroit- architecture.html

Areas of Interest: Downtown, Campus Martius , The Belt, Eastern Market, Corktown, The Riverwalk, New Center, The Cass Corridor / Wayne State Campus

Airport: www.metroairport.com/ 20 minutes from Downtown.

The Detroit Urbex special Street Focus episode

The Episode we mentioned with Mark Reierson

 

TWiP Weddings 045: Tips for Better Posing

Pose. For many photographers and clients the word pose is often viewed as negative thing. It often evokes images of cheesy high school prom photos or something you might see featured on Awkward Family Photos. However the truth is that posing is an important aspect of good wedding photography.

Today we’re going to talk about posing and share our advice for posing the bride and groom, the families, and the bridal party and we’ll share some tips for how to do it in a way that will make people feel comfortable and not dread the word pose.

Picks of the Week

* Robert: Pluto Trigger

* Bruce: LenzBuddy

Connect with Us

We want to hear from you. Your questions and comments will provide direction for the show and will inform future topics. Send in your question and it may end up being answered on the show. Submit your questions for the show by sending us an email at [email protected]. You can also post a Tweet using the hashtag #twipwed. You can also follow us on Instagram at www.instagram.com/twipwed. You can also interact with us on our Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/twipwed/

Connect with our Hosts & Guests

* Bryan Caporicci: Website, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram

* Robert Evans: Website, Twitter,  Google+, Instagram

* Bruce Clarke: Website, Twitter, Google+, Facebook. Instagram

This episode of TWiP Family is an interview with Caleb Kerr. Caleb recently wrote an article titled, Which Critics Count? Identifying the Truly Constructive Criticism. (He wrote about critics after getting feedback about this article.)When you start making photos you’re proud of and showing them to the world, you may get some feedback. Most of the things people say will be good.  Some of the comments might be a little harsh. When do you listen to what someone is saying about your work – good or bad? How can feedback help us grow as photographers? On this episode Caleb and I talk about these and other questions about becoming better photographers.

More about Caleb: Website, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Caleb’s 365,

Find Jenny on Flickr, Instagram, Facebook

I’m doing a daily photo project. You can see my project and the 365 projects of other TWiP Family listeners in the TWiP Family 365 Project 2016 group on Flickr. It’s not too late to start a project. Join us.

Do you have a family photography question? A guest suggestion or topic you’d like to hear about on this family photography podcast? Use the Contact Us button to send me an email. Or contact me on the TWiP Family Facebook page and join the TWiP Family Facebook group.

Photoshop Compositing: Steampunk Radio

In this project-based episode of TheFIX, host Seán Duggan uses elements from four photos to create a simple Photoshop composite of a steampunk radio. If you are interested in learning more about compositing, there are a lot of essential Photoshop skills covered in this show, including retouching, image mirroring, transformations, selections, working with shape tools to create paths for selections, layers,  layer masks, smart objects, and layer styles. This is actually part 1 of a two part project; in a subsequent episode, the steampunk radio will be used as an element in a video composite. Note: The final image in the gallery below is an enhanced version that was completed after the recording of this show. The radio composite created in this episode was added into an old camera case and further modified with additional elements. A deconstruction of this final version will be shown in Part 2 of this project, which will air in two or three weeks.

Links Mentioned in This Episode

Interested in learning more about compositing? Checkout two of Seán’s courses at Lynda.com:

Learn Photoshop Compositing: 10-Minute Techniques      |   Photographing for Compositing in Photoshop

Lynda.com 10-Day Free Trial

 

Enjoy the Video or Audio version of TheFIX

You can enjoy this and every episode of TheFIX in its video or audio version. Click the video at the top of this page to watch the video version or use the audio player on this page to listen to the show. To enjoy the audio version when you’re on the go, subscribe to TheFIX in iTunes or your favorite RSS player.

Where’s Seán?

* Check out Seán’s new weekly series Mobile Photography Weekly on Lynda.com (the current week is always free with no subscription required), as well as some of his other courses, including Photoshop Compositing Project: Replacing a Sky and Photoshop: Create a Portrait Collage. Check out his website to learn more about his photography, workshops, and all of his Lynda.com courses.

* Connect with Seán on social media:  Facebook   |   Twitter   |   Google+  |  

AlphaMirrorless 026: Lightroom Importing and Culling

Lightroom has very quickly turned into THE Digital Asset Manager and photo editing tool of choice for most photographers. Juan and Andy not only rely extensively on Lightroom for the management and editing of their images, but they also teach Lightroom extensively and help people who find themselves challenged by Lightroom. In this episode Juan and Andy discuss one of the less glamorous, yet very important topics in Lightroom, Importing and Culling.

We don’t always have all the answers, but if we don’t we will research it and try to give you the best answer we can. So what have you got to lose, go ahead and send in your questions to us by going to this form.

Links mentioned on the episode

* Firmware link for the Sony a6300

* Firmware link for the SonyA7Rii

* Sony Pro Image Support

Wishes of the Week

* Juan: Wish Lightroom was faster

* Andy: New Macbooks!

Picks of the Week

* Juan: Scosche Dual 10 Watt (2.1A) USB Car Charger

* Andy: Anker Quick Charger

Connect with Our Hosts & Guests

* Juan Pons: Website, Facebook

* Andy Williams: Website, Facebook

* AlphaMirrorless Facebook Page