About Me
My job as your photographer is to do more than just put a face to the name. I bring experience, professionalism, confidence, and a relaxed persona that produces photographs that instill a sense of trust and confidence in a potential client or customer. When you don’t do that, you will fail to get everything you can out of a brochure, website, or press release. The picture is critical.
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but you rarely hear about the reactions to a poor quality photograph. Professional photography when presenting yourself or company to the public is a necessity.
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Category Archives: People
A shameless Jane promo video
I have been working with Jane Burch quite a bit lately and must say she is top notch.
I put this short video together to plug our teaming up.
Don’t hesitate to contact Jane if you need an outstanding makeup artist and stylist; be sure to ask about her new line of cosmetics too.
Jane Victoria Burch Professional Make-Up Artist
ph: 972-832-1579
e-mail: jane@janeburch.com
website: www.janeburch.com
Yvette and Jane
.
-- Weather When Posted --
- Temperature: 85°F;
- Humidity: 36%;
- Heat Index: 84°F;
- Wind Chill: 85°F;
- Pressure: 29.74 in.;
Also posted in Just a quick thought
Tagged Contact, Cosmetics, E Mail, Jane Burch, Mail Jane, Makeup, Makeup Artist, Mua, Nbsp, Nbsp Nbsp Nbsp Nbsp Nbsp, portrait, Stylist, Top Notch, Victoria, Website, Website Www, Yvette
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The Transformation
I have a wife and 5 kids, 4 of them girls. There are many, many reasons I am glad to be male. One of those, top of the list, reasons is make-up; selection, purchase, application and maintenance of all things make-up. Don’t get me wrong, I fully appreciate the effort required and result of properly applied and the beautiful results (deceitful on some level) of cosmetics.
The Implements of Beauty
I have photographed a few females in my time as a photographer. As at home, I would only venture into and out of the room where the makeup artist makes magic happens – normally to inquire either “Are you ready yet?” or “How much longer?” or ” Have you seen my camera?” I never paid much attention to the details of the process, only the result as presented in the portrait session. Always impressed by the transformation from the girl next door to the wonderful creature standing in front of me.
Last weekend I had the opportunity to work with the wonderfully talented Jane Victoria Burch Professional Make-Up Artist and the Splice Girl Crystal (The Only Mufinhead). Jane and I are collaborating on an instructional presentation geared toward photographers and new models about makeup for portfolio building. We spent several hours in studio documenting the process from natural (no makeup) to natural looking (minimal makeup) through to glamour shoot ready.
Making the magic happen
It was, I must say, a very interesting experience. I watched, I shot, I asked questions. I won’t try to convince anyone that I followed many of the explanations; I was very much transfixed by the process. Jane and Crystal seemed to be in sync with each other, they had worked together before our studio set. I am no more ready to give up being male mind you, but I have a new found respect for the whole beauty makeup thing our women go through to meet our cultural definition of beauty.
The Transformation
If you ever have the chance to spent an entire makeup session watching the transformation that I, for the most part, took for granted; I highly recommend it. It’ll be an hour well spent.
-- Weather When Posted --
- Temperature: 59°F;
- Humidity: 53%;
- Heat Index: 59°F;
- Wind Chill: 55°F;
- Pressure: 29.69 in.;
Also posted in Things
Tagged beautiful, beauty, Beauty Makeup, Cosmetics, Cult, Explanations, Females, Girl Next Door, girls, Glamour, Implements, Instructional Presentation, Magic, Makeup Artist, Models, Opportunity, Photographer, Photographers, Portrait Session, Purchase Application, Sync, Transfixed, Transformation, Victoria
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Outdoor Speedlight use in portraiture
I always have my speedlights when doing an outdoor portrait session. I know the basics of using natural light with or without reflectors but also know what I want. I don’t always use the speedlights, but I always have them.
When I do use them I try to either use the natural light to compliment the flash or the flash to compliment the natural light.
An example of each:
flash to compliment the natural light
natural light to compliment the flash
-- Weather When Posted --
- Temperature: 63°F;
- Humidity: 41%;
- Heat Index: 63°F;
- Wind Chill: 63°F;
- Pressure: 29.61 in.;
Also posted in Just a quick thought, My Photo; My Comment.
Tagged Camera Gear, CLS, Compliment, diffuser, Face Shots, female, flash, flash photography, Lifestyle, Light And Shadow, natural light, Outdoor Portrait, Photo, portrait, Portrait Session, Portraiture, Raymond K. Dauphinais, Reflector, Reflectors, speedlight, strobist, ttl
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Phoenix in the rain
I finally get a chance to do a shoot in Phoenix. Phoenix = sunshine and moderate winter daytime temperatures right? Not for me – three straight days of rain and 20-45 mph wind.
I had two TF models lined up – one canceled – good call – it was nasty out.
The second day Lindsey and I manged to get some shooting done between rain showers on South mountain. What a sport she was. we worked inside a covered gazebo then walked up the backside of the mountain to get to the ‘hole in the rock’.
Lindsey is a beautiful young truck driving Army reservist who goes on active duty next month with hopes of becoming a helicopter pilot flying Blackhawks.
See more of Lindsey (LC Pace)
-- Weather When Posted --
- Temperature: 59°F;
- Humidity: 59%;
- Heat Index: 59°F;
- Wind Chill: 59°F;
- Pressure: 29.61 in.;
Also posted in Places
Tagged Army Reservist, Backside, beautiful, black, camera, Days Of Rain, eyes, face, Flickr, Gaze, Gazebo, girl, Hawk, Helicopter Pilot, Hole In The Rock, Hoot, Lc, Light, lighting, Lot, man, model, Models, Moderate Winter, Nasty, one, Pace, Phoenix, Phoenix Phoenix, Photo, Photo Shoot, Photography, Photos, Places, portrait, Rain Showers, Rig, Rkd, RKD Photography, rkdauph, shoot, Straight Days, strobist, sun, Sunshine, Target, Umbrella, Walk, Winter Daytime Temperatures
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Bokeh: How we love thee
I shot a corporate annual conference dinner the other evening, then posted the images on-line for the attendees to download. We used flash at the start of the event. In an attempt to capture the feel of the evening I switched to my Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 IF-D and shot wide open at f/1.4 in the dimly lit rooms.
I love the lens for it’s sharpness and speed. It works amazingly well with the high ISO capabilities of the D700 which I had set to ISO 1000.
Nearly all of the feedback I have received were on the photographs with the heaviest bohek.
“Bokeh (derived from Japanese, a noun boke 暈け, meaning “blurred or fuzzy”) is a photographic term referring to the appearance of out-of-focus areas in an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field.”
I like the bokeh too but the comments got me to thinking about why. I will hazard a guess that it most closely mimics the human eye’s ability to sharply focus and isolate upon a single subject within a busy field of view.
Pay attention to your vision the next time your gaze is fixed on just about anything. Notice the ‘bokeh’ effect of the background when concentrating on your morning coffee cup; the sharpness of the person across the room while all else seems to disappear.
Let me know.
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- Temperature: 37°F;
- Humidity: 75%;
- Heat Index: 37°F;
- Wind Chill: 29°F;
- Pressure: 30.09 in.;
Also posted in Lighting tests, My Photo; My Comment.
Tagged Appearance, art, Attempt, Attendees, background, Bokeh, camera, Camera Lens, Capabilities, Coffee Cup, Conference Dinner, D700, Depth Of Field, flash, Flickr, focus, Focus Areas, Gaze, girl, Guess, High ISO, human, Human Eye, Image, Images, Ink, Iso, lens, Lit Rooms, Love, man, Morning Coffee, Nikkor, Nikkor 85mm, Noun, Pay Attention, person, Photo, Photograph, Photographs, Photos, pro, Rig, Rkd, RKD Photography, rkdauph, Shallow Depth Of Field, Sharpness, shot
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It ain’t easy being beautiful
I have been both pleasantly surprised and left speechless by the way some of the folks I have photographed show up for their portrait session.
‘Models’ show up with only the street clothes they have on. Personal hygiene, chipped and mismatched finger and toe nail colors, dirty feet, makeup, hair weren’t a consideration. When I’ve mentioned it they have done everything from just shrugging their shoulders to suggesting I ‘could’ have had an MUA and hair dresser for them to telling me to ‘fix’ it in Photoshop. And yes, I do mention the above to any model I shoot TFP – doesn’t seem to matter.
Others walk in just drop dead ready to go with makeup, hair, nails and wardrobe and most importantly – ideas.
Paying clients generally do better but I’m still perplexed at times by some of the by what some folks consider ‘portrait ready‘ appearance for themselves and their family.
This is a small rant only, the majority of the many people I’ve photographed are very nice, ready for their session and know what they want from it. But some of them—-
People are funny.
-- Weather When Posted --
- Temperature: 42°F;
- Humidity: 82%;
- Heat Index: 42°F;
- Wind Chill: 36°F;
- Pressure: 29.64 in.;
Also posted in Rant
Tagged Appearance, beautiful, Clothes, Clothing, color, Colors, Dirty Feet, family, Feet, Flickr, Fun, hair, Hair Dresser, Heir, Hoot, Lot, Makeup, man, model, Modeling, Models, Mua, Nail Colors, one, People, person, Personal Hygiene, Personality, Photo, Photograph, Photographer, Photographers, Photographs, Photos, Photoshop, portrait, Portrait Session, Portraits, Rant, Rants, Rig, Rkd, rkdauph, Sessions, shoot, Shoulders, street, Street Clothes, Toe Nail, Tree, Walk, Wardrobe
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Portraiture: The changing human face.
With every portrait session I use light, shadow and pose to portray a different mood, facet and aspect of the subject. I see it during the session, I count on it to produce the shoe-box photograph – the keeper.
During nearly every post production process I am pleasantly surprised how a single person can look so differently in a photograph. Soft, rough, hard, beautiful, thin, heavy – you name it. The human face holds a true fascination for me, the eyes – the eyes, expressing the wisdom of the ages or the delight of youth.
People are wonderful creatures.
-- Weather When Posted --
- Temperature: 34°F;
- Humidity: 78%;
- Heat Index: 34°F;
- Wind Chill: 25°F;
- Pressure: 30.01 in.;
Also posted in My Photo; My Comment.
Tagged beautiful, Creatures, Duri, Expression, eyes, F1, face, Facet, Fascination, Flickr, human, Human Face, Light, lighting, man, People, person, Personality, Photo, Photograph, Photographer, Photographers, Photographs, Photos, portrait, Portrait Session, Portraits, Portraiture, Pose, pro, Rig, Rkd, rkdauph, Sessions, Shadow, Wisdom Of The Ages
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High-key portrait process
From my Flickr photostream of this image:
Mark Chamberlin says:
“This is a really strong effect. Would you mind divulging what you did to the original image to get it to this point? “
Well Mark, I start with a nice looking model.
Seriously, this photograph was taken almost as framed here. Sometimes when I really like the expression on a wider framed picture I will crop down to the face. this photo of Mona Marie was one in a series of tight shots I took over several minutes, I coached her to look here, there, up and down. I feel this image has the ‘strong effect’ you mention because she is looking pencefully away from the camera.
Orginal photograph
The original image is show here. The first step I took was to spot heal any blemishes (of which there were very few, Mona Marie has very smooth skin), then I did a general smoothing to accommodate the high-key effect. I try to leave enough detail to the face so the larger delicate features are not destroyed.
With this photograph I did add back a bit of color to her lips, but just color, I liked the formation and shape/size as it was. After several bleaching passes to reach the desired effect, I sharpened the image.
Normally I have to resist the urge to tweak more; here I did not.
-- Weather When Posted --
- Temperature: 84°F;
- Humidity: 54%;
- Heat Index: 86°F;
- Wind Chill: 84°F;
- Pressure: 29.78 in.;
Also posted in My Photo; My Comment.
Tagged art, Blemishes, Blog, camera, Cat, Coach, color, Colors, Delicate Features, Desired Effect, Expression, face, Flickr, Flickr Photostream, frame, High-Key, Image, Images, Lips, Mark Chamberlin, model, Modeling, Models, Mona Marie, one, People, Photo, Photograph, Photographer, Photographers, Photographs, Photos, portrait, Portraits, pro, Rig, Rkd, rkdauph, shot, Smooth, Smooth Skin, Target, Thumb, Tight Shots, Urge
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Holland Shoot
Holland was such a hoot to work with during this session. She showed up on time, prepared with a lot of her wardrobe and most importantly a great attitude and ideas.
We worked for over 4 hours and everyone was happily exhausted.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/byrkdauph/sets/72157604018923600/
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Strobist shooting on location: Don’t miss the targets of opportunity
Makeup by Marie-Térese MM#1317488
As a people/model photographer I spend time looking for locations with an interesting background, lighting or feel. Once I have the opportunity to shoot at the location I work through in my head where and how within the location I will setup or design the scene to get the image I want. A lot of it depends on the person’s looks, wants and vision of the session. I am always open to ideas and really enjoy the collaborative process when working with talented people or a least someone who knows what they want to portray in the portrait. Always with the goal of getting the shoe box picture.
There are basically three types of pictures; there are setup or designed shots, candid shots but many times a third type of ‘design’ comes into play for me and I see a ‘target of opportunity’ shot I hadn’t planned or noticed when I scouted the location. In the this image of model Lady Dori Belle, by the way if you get a chance to work with her – jump on it, she’s a class act. We were shooting in a large motorcycle warehouse as we were walking from one side of the warehouse to the other I noticed the light from the skylight.
I placed Susan into the shaft of sunlight screaming brightly through the roof onto the warehouse floor. I had a single Nikon SB-900 Speedlight on an 8′ Cheetah stand with 40″ Wescott white shoot-through umbrella. I used the sun to back light her by changing her position until I had the light where I wanted it and used the SB900 to fill the harsh shadow. An unplanned shot for sure, a target of opportunity you bet – but impossible to pass up when noticed.
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