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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Tag Archives: Rig
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.
-- Weather When Posted --
- Temperature: 37°F;
- Humidity: 75%;
- Heat Index: 37°F;
- Wind Chill: 29°F;
- Pressure: 30.09 in.;
Posted in Lighting tests, My Photo; My Comment., People
Also 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, 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.;
Posted in People, Rant
Also 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, 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.;
Posted in My Photo; My Comment., People
Also 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, Rkd, rkdauph, Sessions, Shadow, Wisdom Of The Ages
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Adobe Camera Raw 4.5 and Nikon D300 Picture Control Files
ACR 4.5 Screen Capture
I stumbled upon an update to the Photoshop CS3 plug-in Adobe Camera Raw 4.5 yesterday. The camera profile function is very cool and recognized my Nikon D-300 NEF raw files on its own.
Not only does this update support Nikon’s Picture Control Files supplied by Nikon with the D300 ( Standard, Neutral, Vivid and Monochrome) but also the 3 D2X PCFs (D2XMODE1, D2XMODE2, D2XMODE3). It does not however come with Ken Rockwell PCF support. See my ducky Picture Control file test here.
On the few images I’ve had time to play with, the application of the Control File settings in the NEF file appears to be a close match to Nikon’s own Capture NX and NX2.
Posted in Lighting tests
Also tagged Adobe, Adobe Camera Raw 4.5, Blog, camera, Capture Nx, Cat, Close Match, Cs3, D2x, d300, Ducky, File Test, Fun, Image, Images, Ken Rockwell, Nef, Nef File, nikon, nikon d300, Nx2, Pcf, Photo, Photos, Photoshop, Photoshop CS3, picture control file, pro, Profile, Raw Files, Rkd, rkdauph, Screen Capture, Stan, stand, Target, Test
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Lincoln Memorial
On a recent trip to Washington, DC, see Hassled by the Washington, DC Park Rangers for taking photos, I did the tourist thing early Saturday morning before heading back to Texas. I went out at 7am to avoid the heat and the crowds.
I walked from the Washington Monument, past the World War II Memorial headed for the Lincoln Memorial along the Reflecting Pool. There were a few joggers, a few Ron Paul supporters (interesting group of characters) and city workers. As I approached the Lincoln Memorial a small group of tourists were already starting to mill around. I noticed this black city worker mopping the steps, back and forth, back and forth and I knew right away I wanted to include him in the photograph.
When I got to the bottom of the steps the group of visitors were all over the steps and inside the memorial. The worker patiently continued his work, waiting when the people blocked his path.
Standing there with my Nikon D300, waiting for the moment I wanted to capture I was approached by, wait for it — a Canon shooter. He was carrying two cameras (a Rebel XT and a 5D). We had a brief discussion about the light and our shared hobby. Nice fella; other than the Canon part.
Just as we were parting ways I got this photograph. It’s the best of the three I took of this man maintaining the monument’s appearance. The fact that it is a black man working for the Federal Government at the Lincoln Memorial somehow struck a cord with me. I mean no offense to the man doing an honest job, the fact Lincoln’s eyes appear to be watching him, makes, to me anyway, this photograph sort of special.
-- Weather When Posted --
- Temperature: 93°F;
- Humidity: 44%;
- Heat Index: 97°F;
- Wind Chill: 93°F;
- Pressure: 30 in.;
Posted in My Photo; My Comment., Places
Also tagged 5d, Amp, Appearance, art, black, Black Man, Blog, camera, Canon, Crowds, d300, eyes, Fella, Flickr, hassled, Head, hobby, home, Honest Job, Hoot, Job, Jobs, Joggers, Light, lighting, Lincoln Memorial, man, Memorial, Memories, Monument, Monuments, new, nikon, nikon d300, Oment, one, Park Ranger, Park Rangers, Parting Ways, People, Photo, Photograph, Photographer, Photographers, Photographs, Photos, pro, Rebel Xt, Reflecting Pool, Reflection, Rkd, rkdauph, Ron Paul, Saturday Morning, shoot, Shooter, Small Group, Stan, stand, standing, Taking Photos, Target, Texas, Things, Walk, Washington Monument, World War Ii, World War Ii Memorial
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Hassled by the Washington, DC Park Rangers for taking photos
I’ve spent the last three days here in Washington, DC on business. Meetings with the 
FAA, HHS and the WAAS office. Long times between meetings and I’ve been done pretty early in the day. So, I placed a casting call on ModelMayhem to see if I could pass the time doing what I like to do, take pictures. 5 or 6 TFCD models responded and I set up sessions with two of them. As my luck would have it – both at the same time. That wasn’t a problem for me (read assistant) or them though so we met at my hotel and headed for the National Mall to shoot. The plan was to use the monuments as the background. Sounded way cool.
We chose the new WW II monument because it had a nice water fountain. We got there around 7pm, good light, not huge crowds. As one model was getting her ticket from the Park Police (wrong way on a One Way street) the other model (Emily) and I set off to set up and shoot along the granite outside wall of the monument. I 
used 2 SB800s, at first to fill then to light her. Nikon CLS is so cool. So far so good. I get about a dozen shots off when the other model, Danielle walked up. She dismissed the ticket as part of life in DC and we starting posing her along the same wall Emily had used. About 10 minutes later I hear:
Sir – Sir:
Click to continue reading “Hassled by the Washington, DC Park Rangers for taking photos”
-- Weather When Posted --
- Temperature: 93°F;
- Humidity: 44%;
- Heat Index: 97°F;
- Wind Chill: 93°F;
- Pressure: 30 in.;
Posted in Places, Rant
Also tagged art, background, Backgrounds, Blog, business, Business Meetings, Casting Call, Cat, Chap, CLS, Crowds, d300, Dozen Shots, Emily, Faa, face, FDR, Flickr, Fun, girl, girls, Granite, hassled, Head, Heir, Hhs, hobby, Hoot, Hotel, Huge Crowds, Light, lighting, Long Time, Memorial, Memories, model, Modeling, Modelmayhem, Models, Monument, Monuments, National Mall, new, nikon, office, one, Outsider, Park Police, Park Ranger, Park Rangers, Passing The Time, People, Photo, Photo Shoot, Photograph, Photographer, Photographers, Photographs, Photos, Places, Pose, pretty, pro, professional, Professional Photographers, Reply, Rkd, Sb, Sb8, SB800, Sessions, shoot, shot, Stan, street, Taking Photos, Target, Teenagers, Things, Tree, ttl, Walk, Water Fountain, Wrong Way, WW II, Ww Ii Monument, Youtube
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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.;
Posted in My Photo; My Comment., People
Also 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, Rkd, rkdauph, shot, Smooth, Smooth Skin, Target, Thumb, Tight Shots, Urge
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The eyes have it
As the old English or is it Arab proverb goes “the eyes are the windows to the soul“.
I could not agree more.
For me; to photograph someone, in or out of the studio, is an attempt on my part to capture the essence of the photographed. An outsider’s try at seeing the uniqueness of another. I have learned, sometimes at the expense of others; sometimes at my own, that a person is not their clothes or position in life.
The eyes can rarely completely deceive. Lairs cannot calm their eyes. Children cannot hide their excitement., their eyes light up with a fire that makes me smile every time. My mother can still stop me dead in my tracks with just a look. My wife is working on that talent – daily.
An otherwise unacceptable picture can both memorable and cherished because of ‘the look’ captured within it. You know the one I’m talking about, not the picture hanging on the wall you can look up and see from your computer. Go check your old shoe box full of pictures; it’s there.
I talk to the models I work with, giving ideas, comments and instruction. I try to bring out their essence. It’s not always the one they walked in to portray. Oh, we get that alright. But I’m always looking for shoe box shot too.
Posted in My Photo; My Comment.
Also tagged Arab Proverb, art, Attempt, Attempts, Clothes, Clothing, Essence, Excitement, eyes, Flickr, Hanging On The Wall, Heir, Lairs, Light, lighting, Lot, model, Modeling, Models, Old Shoe, one, Outsider, person, Personality, Photo, Photograph, Photographer, Photographers, Photographs, Photos, Picture Hanging, pro, Rkd, rkdauph, Shoe Box, Shoe Box Shot, shot, smile, studio, Track, Tracks, Uniqueness, Walk, Windows To The Soul
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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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Cropping to change mood, attention or perspective
Want to completely change the mood, refocus attention or perspective within your photograph? Try cropping in tightly. Near 100% crop to highlight the gull here.
Truth be known, although it is the same gull as in the taking flight picture, I did not notice its presence until post processing.
-- Weather When Posted --