3 Things

When I first started photography I wasn't good...and I think that's the case with a lot of people.  However, there were a few things that really launched me in a different direction and I wanted to share those with you.

1. Shoot in RAW

If you're just getting started in photography you probably don't even know what I'm talking about, and no, it's not a vegan diet. RAW is a file format that your camera puts out instead of a JPEG. You can usually do both, but I would recommend getting used to just shooting RAW. If you aren't shooting in RAW now I would encourage you to learn not only what it is, but also how to work with them. In a nutshell RAW images contain a MASSIVE amount of information that JPEGS throw away, and it enables you to make larger changes later on.

I remember when my good friend Zak took me out to shoot about 7 years ago and he asked me if I shot in RAW, I looked at him like he was speaking a different language. It was on that day that I switched over and then learned what the heck he was talking about, it was the beginning of the journey for me.

2. Start Learning Lighting

It all started with a reflector. I think it was about 6 years or so ago that I bought my first reflector, and I was blown away! I thought most certainly that my images would be on the cover of Vogue any day (not even close!). Once I started getting more serious I bought an off-camera flash and have now used most lights on the market, from Profoto to Elinchrom and Broncolor to Alien Bees. I think lighting and use of lighting is one of the main things that separates the pro's from the amateurs. So start with a reflector, learn how to use it, and then the skies the limit!

3. Learn How to Edit Your Images

I use Photoshop, a lot. In fact I have even retouched for massive companies like Ariat, Tazo, Coca-Cola and more because I like it so much. Obviously you don't need to become a retoucher to edit your own photos, but I think a lot of people skip this step because cameras are digital now. If you are thinking about becoming a professional photographer you need to at least know the basics of editing photos, just like you would need to have known the basics of how to use a dark room back in the day.

If you're looking at all these things and feeling a little overwhelmed, there are lots of great resources to get you started. Places like Lynda.com, Phlearn.com, and Kelbyone.com are just a few that I've seen that offer great tutorials on everything from using your camera, lighting and handling files. I learned most of the foundations from Lynda.com, then I mixed that with school, a lot of terrible photos, books, and internships, that is how I became what I am today.

Finally I wanted to say this; when you're new it's ok to suck, but in order to grow past that you'll need to invest time to keep growing...then one day it will all click, and you'll get it! So check out this video for inspiration and then go be awesome!

I think it was in the time of spring 2012, when I came across David Shiyang Liu's lovely piece of work about Ira Glass. It was the most inspiring and motivating video I had ever seen in my life. I watched it over and over again, listened to Ira Glass' voice, and told myself, that I am not the only person who is constantly disappointed about the gap between one's taste and one's skills. Later in 2012, I decided to do my own filmed version of Ira's interview - using my own language to tell his message. It took me about a year from concept to upload. I made it for myself and for anybody who is in doubt about his/her creative career. I also think that Ira Glass' message isn't only limited to the creative industry. It can be applied to everyone who starts out in a new environment and is willing to improve. THANK YOU Ira Glass, whom I've never met in real life, but who had such a big influence on my development. Thank you for telling beginners what nobody else does. David Shiyang Liu for the video that inspired me to start the project. You all should watch his awesome kineticTypo-version here: http://vimeo.com/24715531 The people from current.tv who originally recorded the interview with Ira Glass. See the relevant part here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI23U7U2aUY The people from Magic Lantern who gave DSLR videography a new dimension (I chose this project to be a test run with the RAW plugin)! Steven Sasseville for painting the "taste" painting for me. Pedro Sousa for his advice and working his ass off at the "creative work" chalkboard. Wolfgang Kraus for letting me borrow his sound equipment. Kai Löhnert for working out on his birthday in the "fight" take. Wolfgang Hendrik Schnabel for giving me the museum-like atmosphere and his silhouette in the painting takes. Hermiyas Ötztürk for his hairy "good enough" hand. Orange Hive Studio for light equipment and location. Mima and Heinz Sax-Schmitz for the location of the "ambitions" take and finding me the "finish 1 story" typewriter. Joyce Chen (https://vimeo.com/clownmori), Soufiane Mabrouki (http://vimeo.com/user21466567), Damien Tsenkoff (https://www.behance.net/damtsnkff), Nikita Samutin (www.baselinedesign.ru) and Andrej Mikula (http://amara.org/en/profiles/profile/65015/) for taking the time and patience to create Chinese, Arabic, French, Russian and Slovak subtitles and dissolving language barriers to make even more people understand Ira's words. A SPECIAL THANK YOU Solveig Gold for being the most patient and supporting person in my life. She appears in a lot of scenes in this video. Jutta and Uwe Sax for several pieces of equipment and their support.

Pathing and Quick Select - Part 1

I am going to spend the next couple of blogs talking about pathing, quick selection, refine edge and combining these tools. In this particular blog I am going to give a few quick pointers about pathing, next time we'll talk about feathering your edges so they look realistic and then we'll close with quick selection and how to combine them. I am going to assume you know how to use the pen tool and the quick select tool for this series...if you don't you should spend time learning them, there are plenty of tutorials!

One of the questions I've heard is "which should you use, quick select or pen tool?" I would say you need to know how to use both, and know how to combine them. I think it also depends on how quickly you need to finish a project and if you've thought about it before hand. The pen tool is great in that it can create perfect curves/circles. Quick select is awesome for things like hair and edges with high contrast.

I would say almost every image I finish has pathing in it (the pen tool), in fact, pretty much anything with a smooth edge I will path out. It is also VERY essential if you are retouching products, and it is important that you are accurate! When you are retouching a product you need to path out EVERYTHING, for instance, if it's a watch you need to path out: whole watch, strap only, bezel, crown, face, metal, glass, etc. You might be wondering how accurate you need to be, to that I would say you should be within 1 pixel of the edge in most places.

Here are some quick tips for pathing:

1. Get close! I usually path around 200-300% zoom
2. Test it, use a curves layer with your path to see if your path is accurate.
   1. With your path selected create a curves layer and adjust is drastically, you shouldn't see areas of the background being adjusted, if you do, adjust your path.
3. Less is more, the less points you can use, the smoother your path will be

Below is an example of a paint drip that I was working on for a composite, the grey line is my path. You can see that it sits right along the edge and I will feather .5 pixels initially to blend it a little better. Also note that it only took 3 points to path out the bottom of the drop, it's essentially a circle and you don't need more than 4 points to make a circle.

Check out some examples of my paths below, I think paths by themselves can be pretty rad!! In the next blog I'll talk about feathering paths to create accurate and realistic edges...stay tuned and be awesome!