I recently had the really cool opportunity to work with supermodel Kate Upton for the launch of her fitness brand, Strong4Me Fitness. Strong4Me is the brainchild of Kate and her personal trainer Ben Bruno and is designed to provide strength training and nutrition solutions for busy women on the go.
We were originally going to use a studio, but at the last minute, the shoot was shifted to Kate’s Houston area home which she shares with her husband, Astros ace pitcher Justin Verlander. The brief was to shoot portraits and workout shots that could be title and dividing pages on the Strong4Me site and app. Other models would fill in the blanks with the actual “how to” sequence shots.
Working in a home, no matter how well equipped and nice, provides some challenges, chief among them, finding enough wide open space to create light, bright, and open fitness scenarios. I was reminded of environmental portrait photographer Arnold Newman’s famous quote: “Photography is 5% inspiration, and 95% moving furniture.” That was certainly the case for assistants Travis Schiebel, Michael Klein and I as we cleared out spaces for these photos.
We created this look by covering the window outside with an 8×8 Scrim Jim, and firing some strobe from outside. The indoor key light was a Wafer Hexoval 140.
Once Houston makeup artist Misty Rockwell got her ready, we started with a white seamless background setup. One of the rooms in the house provided us with almost a perfect wide doorway scenario and lots of white walls, so we could set up a traditional white seamless without the need for cumbersome v-flats. Kate had her own ideas about the lighting and was very involved….after looking at a few frames on the digital tech’s monitor, she suggested a more contrasty look, so we switched gears, used a smaller key-light source (a medium sized Wafer Hex 140, instead of the huge box we were using before), and placed a large black velvet fabric on the ground in front of her to soak up some of the bounced light and create more shadow under the chin and neck area (her suggestion – which worked out great!).
Shooting someone of her talent and stature is an incredible thing…I’ve shot lots of models, famous athletes, and celebrities over the years, but no one like her. One second she’s talking to you, and everything seems pretty normal, but when the camera is raised, she brings it…..all the while making subtle adjustments to her pose, chin height, arm position, leg angles, to create perfect photos. It goes without saying, but she’s an incredibly talented pro….all I had to do was show up with a pulse and keep firing the shutter.
Kate’s dog Harley offered his own exercise tips to help us out with the photo shoot
After the white background scenario, we moved on to a “light and bright” airy high-key location in her dining room to do some shots with a workout bench and mat. Kate’s friendly boxer, Harley, who has his own instagram account, btw, wanted to be in most of the photos, so eventually we just went with it. Sometimes the spontaneous stuff is the most fun.
We next moved on to an outdoor setup, shot some exercise photos there, and finished with some shallow depth of field photos modeling the Strong4Me yoga mats available through her site.
A single application of Tramadol (Ultram) provides bioavailability at the level of 68%, this indicator will increase with regular exposure. A small proportion of the drug is excreted in the mother’s milk, so during breastfeeding, Tramadol is undesirable. Withdrawal of the drug is 90% provided by the kidneys, 10% by the intestines.
It was great working with her, and I wish her the best with both her fitness business and the recent birth of her daughter Genevieve. Harley might just have to share the spotlight next time around.
Fitness trainer Carmen Morgan, lit with a Profoto B-4 with a Plume Wafer 100 and a Lighttools grid.
Although we’ve been doing more commercial photography for the last decade or so, I’ve spent over 20 years doing sports photography – particularly sports portraits for magazines like The Sporting News and Sports Illustrated. I also used to do all the covers for the Houston Chronicle’s Health Magazine, but unfortunately, it went away a few years ago.
I was thrilled when I recently got the call from my friend, Features Managing Editor Melissa Aguilar to shoot for a new fitness product for the Chronicle titled “Renew Houston.” The new section would be a reboot of the Health Mag, but as a broadsheet section with fitness and health tips.
Our first subject was the stunningly beautiful and fabulously fit Carmen Morgan, a local certified fitness trainer with a ridiculous Instagram following of 620 THOUSAND followers. (@mytrainer carmen) She also has her own iPhone app available in the App Store.
I’m really into concrete backgrounds lately, so rather than shooting Carmen in a gym or crossfit studio, we decided to work with some superb concrete architecture generously provided by the Cindy Lisica gallery. Although we supplemented some of the photos with a Profoto B-4 strobe and Plume soft boxes, we shot many of the photos in the incredibly soft natural light tunnel at the gallery.
I have a dream to spend my wacation on the beach for a month. To have a beautiful shape I need to lose some wight. Phentermine is a real helper. It helped my sister to lose 10 lbs in two weeks. I hope to have the similiar result. Wish me good luck..
We sent Carmen through her paces in a couple of different outfits, all while Chronicle writer Joy Sewing interviewed Carmen about the keys to her success. It was a great shoot with great people. Hoping to hear more great things from Carmen in the future!
Carmen in her “Super Hero” outfit. Lit with a Plume Wafer 75 and a 30 degree Lighttools grid.Carmen, lit with pure super soft natural light with my favorite concrete background.Another available light portrait against the concrete – taken with a Canon 50mm/1.2 lens.
Glamorous job? Not always…most of my days are spent sitting in front of a computer, not out on location shooting photos.
(UPDATED 12/19/2018 – originally published March 31, 2014)
I get a call almost every week from various photographers who are interested in starting a successful photography business. Many are old photojournalism colleagues leaving their newspaper staff jobs (sometimes voluntarily, sometimes not…), some are college students nearing graduation, others are assistants who are ready to strike out on their own, and sometimes, they are advanced amateurs in other careers who I’ve met at a workshop. All of them want the same thing….”I want to do what you’re doing….you know, work full-time as a commercial photographer.”
It happens often enough, and I’ve given the same advice so many times, that I thought it might be helpful to write it all down in one place, and along the way, dispel some misconceptions about what it’s really like to be a professional commercial photographer. I don’t mean for this to sound condescending in any way. What follows is legitimate info for many who are just starting out, and if you find that any of it is below your experience or skill level, then feel free to move on.
Starting a photography business is tough. When I speak to college students, I’ve told them not to pursue this if it’s only a passing interest, or something they think would be a cool job. I tell them to pursue photography ONLY if you can’t imagine yourself doing anything else. It sounds corny, but I often compare being a professional photographer to becoming an actor, a professional musician, or a priest… LOTS of people want to do this, and only a handful with total commitment make it in any successful way.
Ok, let’s assume the commitment level is there. What is it really like to be a professional photographer in today’s world?
First, let’s dispel the notion that commercial photographers have a camera in their hands every day. This will vary for individuals, and by season, but I would guess that I spend a good 75-80% of my working hours in front of a computer – not out shooting. I consider that to be a pretty successful ratio. No one starting out really thinks about it, but digital workflow, retouching, billing, marketing, pre-production, post-production, accounting, taxes, etc… and the plethora of general business paperwork takes up a ton of time.
Second, some basic economics about working for yourself in this business. Let’s say you have a staff job at a newspaper, university, or company that pays you 65K a year, with company camera gear and computers, vacation time, insurance and 401K benefits. You might want to seriously consider keeping that job. You’ll need to more than double that figure in revenue to maintain that level of income for yourself. Those with full time jobs who think this is just a fun, easy career often don’t consider all the various ways you’ll spend money as a commercial photographer. It’s not just cameras and computers… you’ll need insurance (healthcare, liability insurance, and equipment insurance to name a few), retirement SEP contributions, accounting and legal fees, marketing expenses, website expenses, advertising expenses, digital storage expenses, office supplies, mobile and office phones, high speed internet, software upgrades (legitimate software… you can’t just steal it from the newspaper or university anymore), really nice custom made portfolios, assistants, retouchers, sales tax, franchise tax, and enough reserve/cash flow to take jobs, pay everybody, and keep the place running while you wait around to get paid – sometimes for several months.
And, oh yeah, I’m not mentioning the fact that when working for yourself, you can kiss that 2-4 week paid vacation goodbye, and that you will spend every spare minute after hours, on your weekends, in your sleep, etc. obsessing about your business and thinking constantly about how to make it better. A staffer can go home at 5 or on a weekend, disconnect, and enjoy their time off. When you work for yourself – there is no time off… and every minute will be filled with worry.
Sorry to be negative, but I want to prepare you for the reality of working in this business, and I don’t want to sugar-coat what the day-to-day routine is actually like.
One of the biggest mistakes I see new freelancers making, particularly the former newspaper guys, is unrealistic gear purchases. Many shooters, particularly those that spent a lot of time doing sports think they need to start their business with 3 of the fastest professional bodies (usually 6K a piece), a 400/2.8 (12K), a 300/2.8 (6K), all three zooms , 16-35/2.8, 24-70/2.8, and 70-200/2.8 (roughly 6K), and a new Mac laptop (3.5K). After all, that’s what you used at the newspaper or university you worked for, right? This is what the well-equipped photojournalist needs, right?
Ok, let’s think about this for a second. That’s roughly 40,000 dollars – just for camera gear. We haven’t even mentioned lighting, grip, cases, desktop computer, storage, printers, etc. You haven’t designed a website yet, or paid for insurance, or any of the other previously mentioned things. What kind of assignments will you do with said gear? Shoot some football or basketball games? For whom?
“I’ll just work for my local paper or an agency or a wire service…” Think carefully about it. There are predators out there waiting to take advantage of people who just want to go to games, news events, and be in on the action. Their business models are built around having an endless supply of newbies to provide free (or almost free) content that they can turn around and sell. If you’re one of the lucky ones, you’ll make 125.00 to 250.00 bucks for your effort (in many markets, there are people lining up to shoot games on spec/and/or for free). When you do the math on how long a sporting event takes, getting there early, parking, shooting, editing, captioning and sending a ton of photos, leaving late, driving home, you’ll quickly see that the average fast food employee is pretty much kicking your ass. …and they didn’t have to invest 40K to buy their own French fry fryers, stoves, or spatulas. They don’t have to wear a ridiculous fanny pack either.
Speaking of capital investment – that 40K in gear you bought can’t be amortized over 10-20 years like capital expenditures in some other business… it will need to all be replaced in 3-4 years, just like your computers… and as technology advances that cycle will continue for years to come.
This is tough for many former photojournalists to reconcile. Many have made their living this way forever, being at all the big news or sporting events, hanging out with their colleagues all carrying big giant lenses on monopods, credentials around their neck, etc. To many, it becomes their identity, and it is difficult to reconcile that despite your years of experience, no one is going to pay you to go to the Super Bowl this year, or the Republican convention, or to the earthquake in Haiti. It’s tough to tell someone who worked at a sports magazine, or a big metro newspaper that, yes, you can still make a good living in photography – it just may not be doing what you used to do. Letting go of that identity is tough. I know… it’s something I experienced myself.
The best piece of photo gear you’ll ever buy.
There are a few prerequisites to starting a successful photography business:
You need great, original pictures with a consistent vision
You need some serious money, as it is very expensive to start a photography business
You need a healthy knowledge about LICENSING PHOTOGRAPHS and how to successfully run a photography business.
(A client or two would help, too, but we’ll get to that later.)
The Top 5 Photography Books That You MUST Own
I can’t help with the first two… You’re really on your own there, but I’ve read a lot of business books, and several specifically about the photography business, self promotion, marketing for photographers, etc., so I can make these recommendations comfortably.
I’ve sent this list around to various friends in transition, students, and former assistants, and I can promise you, if you read all of these cover to cover, you’ll have a firm grasp on how your photography business should work, and a really good introduction to usage-based pricing, which is the cornerstone of what we do. (If you click on the titles below I have linked them to Amazon for you.)
One of the best books about photography business I’ve ever read, and really should be the first thing you read if you’re thinking about doing this for a living. Weisgrau is a former ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) executive director and he speaks intelligently about licensing photography, doing estimates, managing finances, etc. A really great book.
John runs the Photo Business News and Forum blog (www.photobusinessforum.blogspot.com) and has been a respected voice and frequent speaker in our industry. If you’ve ever watched him dissect an estimate, and show how he turns a simple 500.00 job into a multi-thousand dollar job just by asking the right questions, it’s truly a thing of beauty. His book has lots of actual examples of job estimates and email trails that show his process. Very valuable stuff that few people are willing to share with their peers.
Edited by the late Susan Carr, who really did so many things to educate and help her fellow photographers, this is the latest edition of ASMP’s business bible. There are chapters on licensing, copyright, releases, paperwork, marketing, you name it. A good overview of the commercial photography business. I believe you still get one of these included in your membership when you join ASMP.
Another book by Weisgrau, and really my favorite. (You still have to read ALL of these, though – no shortcuts!). He talks about negotiating tactics, how to present offers and counter offers, psychology, dealing with contracts, negotiating strategy, and includes some interviews with real world professionals who have been in business for years.
I’ve read a lot of books about marketing and self promotion, but this is easily the best and most useful. Sease and Sosa Stone are both former art buyers, reps, and now consultants, who provide a ton of real world expertise to photography marketing and brand building. They also discuss presentation, portfolios, promos, and even include a handy disc in the book with essential business and estimating forms you can use.
I can’t emphasize how important it is to study these books. It amazes me how many people will invest 100k in their business buying the latest cameras and computers, but won’t take the time to study up on how the business works. Don’t be the dork out there charging by the hour and giving away your copyright on every assignment. It’s not supposed to work that way, and you’ll be doing all your colleagues a disservice if you fly blind into our chosen field.
All together, these books cost maybe 130 bucks…they really might be the most important pieces of equipment you ever buy.
Without a smart roadmap, your photography business could end up as roadkill. (Photo by Chip Litherland)
I have a note on my desk that I wrote down at an ASMP business seminar several years ago. Detroit photographer Blake Discher, a super savvy business guy, was our speaker, and he said something incredibly simple that I’ll never forget.
“There are three steps to running a successful business:
Create a unique value proposition.
Ensure that you have a large enough addressable market.
Make more money than you spend.”
Sounds simple right? It is, but you would be shocked how many people don’t think about these simple steps.
Think about number one… What’s unique that separates you from all the other photographers in your market? What skill or know-how do you have that’s totally you? If you live in Denver, and you want to shoot outdoor/adventure sports, what makes you different? There are 50 people already doing what you want to do in that market. How will you stand out from the crowd?
Think about number two… Do you have a large enough addressable market to survive where you are? I would love to shoot movie posters or fashion, but guess what – I live in Houston, and we don’t have any movie studios or fashion magazines here. So that’s probably not a wise niche for me to choose.
You should really think about these first two, analyze your local market and competition, and consider your options carefully before hanging out your shingle. Are you putting yourself in a realistic position to succeed? If there’s a specific genre you want to shoot, and it doesn’t exist where you are, you may want to consider moving.
Number three is pretty obvious.
Anyway….those are the really simple steps. Now I’m going to write about the nuts and bolts of starting up a photo business. A lot of this is common sense and has been covered before. Some of these are no brainers, but I’m going to throw them in anyway, just to be thorough.The
21 Tips for Starting your Photo Business
DISCLAIMER: It would we wise to consult with your attorney or financial advisor: I’m definitely not a lawyer or CPA, and I can’t even claim I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night either.
1. SAVE A BOATLOAD OF CASH – Super important. At a previous photo seminar I attended, the speaker said that you should have at least 6 months salary reserved before embarking on your own. I think that’s a good guide, but bear in mind that your money isn’t just to buy cameras, computers, etc…You’ll need operating cash to do jobs, run the business and pay assistants while you’re getting off the ground.
2. SET UP AN LLC OR S-CORP – Talk to your accountant about what makes the most sense for you in your state, but you definitely should be incorporated as soon as possible. This will help you liability wise, and although you’ll have more paperwork to deal with, you’ll likely get to keep more of the money you make versus being just a sole proprietor. This is particularly important with new post 2018 tax rules.
3. ENLIST PROFESSIONALS TO HELP YOU – You should have a CPA, a financial advisor, and a lawyer. You will likely have the CPA on speed dial, contacting them throughout the year to file quarterly reports, sales tax, and pay estimated taxes. Don’t be cheap and try to do this yourself.
4. GET A SALES TAX NUMBER – State laws vary, and not all photo jobs are subject to sales tax, but in many states, you’ll be dealing with this all the time. Don’t be the loser who tries to fly under the radar on this. Operate your business like a grown up. You might get wacked 5 years from now and find you owe your state a couple hundred thousand dollars. That would suck.
5. SEPARATE PERSONAL AND BUSINESS FINANCES – The first step here, after your corporation is set up, is to run to the bank and set up a business checking account. Don’t operate your business out of your personal funds….you’ll be confused, and so will the IRS.
6. BUY INSURANCE – If you’re lucky, you’ll have a spouse with healthcare insurance. If not, that should be your first step. Next, you need insurance for your business. Make sure the policy is by a company that is used to dealing with professional photographers and their unique needs. It should cover cameras and gear, rental gear, computers, provide shoot insurance for reshoots on botched jobs, rental studio coverage, lost portfolio coverage, and liability coverage. Many buildings won’t let you set foot inside to do a shoot without proof of liability coverage. ASMP is a good resource for this type of insurance.
7. GET A BUSINESS CREDIT CARD – Another part of separating your personal and business finances. This makes it much easier at the end of the year to see what you spent on gear, hotels, airline tickets, etc. I recommend a business Amex, as the Membership Rewards program gives you points you can use toward all sorts of things, but any card where you can get points toward future spending will work well.
8. ONLY BUY GEAR THAT MAKES YOU MONEY – I mentioned the gear hoarding syndrome that many of us have a couple of posts back. This is one of the areas that really sinks many photographers starting out. It might be great to have a 600mm/f4 and 12 bodies, but you could probably do 85% of your jobs with one body and a 24-105mm lens and a small lighting kit. Think before you buy. Rent if you can, and ask yourself this question before giving B&H your Amex number: “Will this piece of gear make me more money?”
9. WORK ON YOUR WORKFLOW – Think about your archive 1, 5, even 10-20 years down the road and start with good workflow habits. Learn to properly use Lightroom or Aperture and the correct file naming, organization, and back up system to protect your work. Have a good computer system in place, with plenty of backup drives, and be disciplined. If you’re new to Lightroom, Seth Resnick’s D-65 workshop is excellent.
10. CREATE A WEBSITE AND EDIT RUTHLESSLY – This applies particularly to students and veteran newspaper guys in transition. What you learned about portfolios up till now doesn’t really apply anymore. In most cases, no one cares about your spot news or your sports action photos. Figure out what you’re going after in your market, and edit down to a couple of niches. Be ruthless in your edit. No excuses. Hire a consultant if you have to. I use Rob Haggart’s excellent APhotoFolio platform, but there are other excellent choices including Photoshelter and Sitewelder, or just having someone build you custom solution.
11. CREATE A PHYSICAL PORTFOLIO – Depending on your market, showing up for a meeting with just an Ipad may not be enough. There are ad agencies and design firms out there that are used to being blown away by incredible, expensive, custom made books. We’re talking ink jet paper made from the saliva of free-range fair-trade South American wasps, and embossed leather from humpback whale foreskins. Think about what your portfolio should look like, the market you’re after, and make sure it is consistent with the rest of your branding. In short, it needs to be perfect.
12. SETTLE ON YOUR BRANDING – Do you see IBM or Coca-Cola changing their logo every couple of weeks? No. You shouldn’t either. Settle on a look, work with a good designer and make sure your branding is consistent across all platforms: website, business cards, stationary, invoices, portfolios, promo cards, etc….and yes, you need all those things.
13. NAME YOUR BUSINESS CORRECTLY – My personal opinion – but I think photographers should use their own name in the title of their business. If you want to add “Photography” or “Images” or “Visuals” or “Productions” to the official name, knock yourself out. Know this though: No client out there is going to remember “Hot-Shotz” or “Extreme Images” or “Ginger Snaps” (I swear, this is not a joke….I met someone at a workshop who used that one – and you guessed it…..her name was Ginger). They will remember you, Bob Smith, or whatever the hell your name is. Then they’ll start googling you to look you up one day, because they’ve thrown all your promo cards in the trash without looking at them, and they won’t be able to find you. Why?…..Because you named your business something generic. Have you ever seen a coffee table book in the photo section of a bookstore with “Hot-Shotz” or something dorky like that? No….you see Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Herb Ritts, Patrick Demarchelier, etc…see my point?
14. WORK ON YOUR EMAIL ETIQUETTE – Being able to write well is as important than being able to take great pictures. As a professional photographer, email may be the primary way that you interact with your clients. You should project a friendly, easygoing but professional personality. You should address every email to the person you’re writing (Don’t just send one word responses), and sign every email with your name. Think about how irritated you get when a potential client emails you with one line that says, “what do you charge?”….and then signs the email with their first name, and no contact info because they haven’t bothered to set up their email signature properly. Be a professional. Set up a complete email signature that goes on every email (even on your phone) with your name, business name, phone numbers, website, and your email address listed in type that someone can click on (not an image file). If a client is in their car, and their contacts are inaccessible, and hey have to search old emails to find you, you want to have all your information easily available for them to click on.
15. JOIN (AND PARTICIPATE IN) PHOTO PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS– My belief is that you should support as many of these organizations as you can afford. They all help with lobbying efforts off photographic industry issues like copyright legislation. They all have valuable education programs and resources. They all have “Find a Photographer” type listings for members. All have discounts for members. You owe it to yourself and your colleagues to join and support our industry.
National Press Photographers Association (NPPA): The organization for working photojournalists, both newspaper and magazine staff and freelance photographers, as well as broadcast television photojournalists.
16. EDUCATE YOURSELF ABOUT USAGE AND LICENSING – You CAN do copyright buyouts, burn discs of entire shoots and hand over all your raws to the client, and you might survive for a little while this way, but you WON’T be in business for long. This is not how professional photographers conduct business. Read the books I mentioned earlier. They will give you a good overview of usage based licensing. Join ASMP, or APA, go to seminars, read PDN, read the pricing and negotiating blog from APhotoEditor, study online resources for estimating jobs and writing licenses, learn about contracts, talk to colleagues, attend a photo business workshop. Learn about licensing and how it works in the different fields of editorial, corporate, and advertising. Learn the language and key terms. Learn the right questions to ask your clients before giving them estimates. Run your business the right way, the ethical way, and don’t give away the store and sell out your colleagues.
17. SET UP A PHOTOSHELTER ACCOUNT – This isn’t just for archiving, although it’s great for off-site backup that you can access through the web anywhere. I handle all my client deliveries through Photoshelter. You can give download access to specific people, and track what they’ve downloaded. It’s much safer than using ftp. You can also set up stock licensing and print sales. If you want to get an account, this link will take you there.
18. USE INVOICING/ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE – I use Fotobiz, but some people get by with Quickbooks. Others use custom Filemaker or Excel solutions. I can no longer recommend BlinkBid due to lack of customer service support.
19. CREATE SOME GREAT “LEAVE BEHINDS” – Starting out, you may not have the funds for a full color, 48 page booklet, but you can easily print up some small runs of well designed postcards. After you’ve shown your book to a potential client, it’s good to hand them a “leave behind” card with one of your signature photos to remember you by.
20. C.O.D.B. ISN’T EVERYTHING – Many other photo business resources will mention that you should know your CODB (Cost Of Doing Business). There is even a calculator available from the NPPA to add up your monthly list of overhead expenses: mobile phone bill, studio rent, insurance costs, fuel, advertising/promotion, website costs, internet, etc. In some circles, we call this OVERHEAD. This is great information to have because it is a great reminder not to leave your home or studio for a job that pays less than your daily CODB number. HOWEVER, it’s not everything. Run your business purely based on your CODB plus your desired profit, and you could be seriously leaving money on the table. You have to have an understanding of your market, the usage and value of your photos, and know what the market will bear for a given assignment in your market. Don’t be the lowballer in town because you met your CODB plus a modest 1000.00 profit on a given assignment, when it could be the case that a given job routinely pays 10’s of thousands for a particular usage.
21. NETWORK WITH OTHER PHOTOGRAPHERS IN YOUR MARKET – Don’t operate in a vacuum. This is where the ASMP or APA membership comes in handy. Social gatherings of photo organizations, or events like workshops, or Photo Expo are a great way to meet colleagues, develop friendships, and ask questions. You might find out about a deadbeat client to avoid, or you might get an estimating or pricing question answered. Not everyone will be as candid, but personally, I would rather help someone than have them underprice a valuable job because they are new to the game and screw it up for everyone. You should always keep growing and keep learning.
IN SUMMARY: If you are thinking of starting a successful photography business, know that it’s a tough road filled with long days of hard work and you’ll be up against ridiculously good competition. Remember what I said earlier, only tackle this if you really can’t imagine yourself doing anything else. I probably can’t change the way you see things, or change the work you produce, but if you have the goods, do your homework (including reading the books I’ve outlined here), and put these steps into place, you’ll be in a good position for your business to succeed.
It’s been under wraps for a few weeks, but we’re finally able to show some cool portraits from a recent JJ Watt cover shoot for Sports Illustrated. We were lucky, in that we were able to get a little extra time with Watt since he was featured twice in the magazine. JJ’s been tearing it up as the star of the HBO behind the scenes series “Hard Knocks” featuring the Houston Texans during training camp.
For the first set of shots, we wanted to create a memorable and “tough” looking portrait of him. We were stuck working in the Texans practice bubble, which is not my favorite location, but sometimes you have to roll with it, and in this case, a studio portrait was in order anyway. In addition to JJ, SI commissioned four other regional covers for the NFL Preview issue: NY Giants receiver Odell Beckham, Chicago Bears RB Matt Forte, Bucs linebacker Lavonte David, and Seahawks QB Russell Wilson. SI art director Chris Hercik and Director of Photography Brad Smith wanted these to look consistent, so we needed lighting schemes that other photographers could duplicate in other cities, without worrying about backgrounds or ambient outdoor lighting.
Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt posing for portraits on Wednesday, July 22, 2015. Photo by Robert Seale
We utilized several different lighting schemes to give the editors a few looks to choose from. They ended up using a photo lit from the back on both sides by Plume Wafer 140 strip banks with Lighttools grids inside, with a small Chimera strip Bank coming from below on JJ’s face, to give him a “sinister” or intimidating look. Or, as Todd Rosenberg, the Chicago based photographer who photographed the Forte cover said: “Vincent Price lighting.” All the lights were Profoto – a combination of B4’s and one legacy 7B.
Our other setup was for a feature story where the editors of SI asked several different NFL players what position they would like to play, other than their regular position. JJ, of course, said he wanted to play quarterback! This led to a secondary setup where we ran JJ through a variety of quarterback action poses. He had a lot of fun with it (I’m pretty sure he had practiced these before – he looked REALLY GOOD! He even had the telltale slick QB crossover footwork on his drop back down cold.) For lighting, we knew the imaging department would be dropping the action shots into action scenes from actual games, therefore, I shot from a low angle (just like I would shooting game action on the sideline), and used one Profoto B4 with a Magnum reflector to simulate outdoor sunlight. We placed a 6 x 6 Scrim Jim in front of the Magnum reflector a few feet out in front of it to soften it somewhat…similar to what a movie crew might do. It worked great, and gave us a wide open, evenly lit area for JJ to do his thing.
Check him out! JJ Watt at quarterback. I’m pretty sure this is every defensive player’s nightmare. Note the fancy crossover footwork on the drop.
Our crack assistants, Lauren Swanson, and Travis Schiebel had the lucky job of playing catch with JJ: Lauren threw the balls in to JJ, and Travis played receiver. I think JJ had a good time with it. He even did a Peyton Manning style scramble while pointing at his “receiver” (Travis) downfield.
Sports Illustrated even sent a video crew down to document the shoot. You can see the behind the scenes video here.
I tried a few dramatically lit black and white shots of him as well. Tight study of JJ Watt’s chiseled profile in black and white.Another look we tried: flare coming over the shoulder. In the parlance of the great Joe McNally, assistant Travis Schiebel served as a VOL, or “voice operated lightstand” on this one.Happy JJ goofing off between shots.This is the cover shot, as originally shot: minus the red background.Look! I’m taller than JJ! Seriously, he’s got a great eye, and is fully invested in collaborating on great photos.Lauren with about half the gear we used on the shoot. Travis brought a truckload of stuff too.
Loose full-frame composition from a spin class shoot with the new 50MP Canon 5DS.Tight crop of the same frame from a spin class shoot with the new 50MP Canon 5DS.
With the help of a generous friend at Canon, I was really excited to spend a few days last week shooting with a pre-production model of the highly anticipated, brand new Canon EOS 5DS camera. The 5DS is Canon’s newest camera, with a whopping 50MP sensor (8688 x 5792 pixels). Many Canon shooters have been on waiting lists for several months to get one of these in their hands.
For commercial photographers, landscape photographers, and others who grew up shooting medium format film (and more recently, RENTING crazy expensive medium format digital systems), this camera is the one we’ve been waiting for, and based on my very preliminary testing, it’s a game changer on the order of the EOS 1DS Mk II.
My initial impression of this new technological development can be summed up with this classic front page from the Onion. (This is a family photo blog, so you follow the link at your own risk).
A little bit of camera history: though many of my photojournalist friends were VERY EARLY adopters of digital camera technology (anyone remember the lovely Kodak NC 2000?), most of my sports magazine shooter brethren arrived late to the digital party. Although early digital was “good enough” for newspapers and wire services, magazines still needed and demanded, high resolution images for magazine spreads and covers.
My Sporting News colleagues and I made the switch to the first EOS-1D (4.15 MP!) camera in the Fall of 2003 for most of our action photos. We clung to our medium format film cameras for portraits though, and we were still hanging Hasselblads up as remote cameras in NBA arenas as late as 2005. The original EOS-1DS (11.1 MP) was an improvement over the regular 1D, but it was slow, and still produced a file that was not up to medium format Velvia scanned on a fantastic Hell drum scanner.
The BIG game changer for me (and most of my colleagues) was the Canon EOS-1DS Mk II. I began using this camera in 2005, and it clocked in at a pretty impressive 16.7 MP (4992 x 3328 pixels). That’s roughly an 11 x 16.5 inch photo at 300 PPI. For reference – at that time, we were making 50 MP drum scans of our Hasselblad chromes. I remember shooting a test and looking at two files, side by side on the same monitor, one shot on film, and one out of the EOS-1DS Mk II, and my colleagues and I quickly decided that this camera was the one to finally allow us to become an all-digital publication.
It wasn’t just The Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, and other magazines…..this camera changed things for just about every commercial photographer I knew. When this camera was released, the price of medium format gear dropped like the 1987 stock market crash. Waiting for Polaroids to develop became a completely unnecessary ancient photography ritual.
I went out on my own in 2006, and my EOS-1DS Mk II cameras were the cornerstone of my corporate and advertising photography business. Things quickly improved even more in 2007-8 when the EOS-1DS Mk III was announced. I sold my Mark II’s and upgraded to the new 21.1 MP chip (5616 x 3744 pixels).
I LOVED my DS bodies. I loved the professional grade finish, the weather sealing, the EOS-1 ergonomics and standardized controls, the robust build quality, and the 1/250 flash sync. When the 5D Mark II was released in 2008, I was impressed with the full HD video capabilities, but the actual still resolution was unchanged. I didn’t like the prosumer body form factor. I did not buy one.
Almost five years after the DS Mk III, Canon combined their EOS-1D lines (previously the high resolution, but slower DS and the lower resolution, but faster Mark IV) into one camera: the EOS-1DX. The 1DX is a fantastic camera: faster than hell autofocus, 12 FPS motor, great ergonomics, wonderful low light capability, and solid professional build quality….it’s awesome….BUT, wait a minute…..they went DOWN in resolution to 18.1 MP! (5184 x 3456px). A new 5D Mk III was also released, but with a disappointing 1MP upgrade over the previous 1DS Mk III. UGH! I eventually gave in and switched out my aging 1DS Mk III bodies for the extended dynamic range and higher ISO capabilities of the 5D3.
And there we’ve sat for the past 3 years. While Canon shooters were waiting, Nikon came out with the D800 (36 MP), and then the D810. Sony came out with their A7R (also 36 MP). I toyed with switching systems, but had a ton of money invested in Canon glass, and after testing the D800 with my Lightroom workflow, I decided that I actually preferred the color rendition of the Canon sensors better – particularly on skin tones. I also loved using the X bodies for faster moving objects, and since I use both types of cameras, I didn’t want to take another step backward in MP size since Nikon’s similar competitor to the 1DX was the D4 at an even lower 16 MP. (Again, different cameras are tools for different needs…if you are a photojournalist shooting in low light, the 1DX or D4 might be just the camera for your needs).
All of this said, please remember that pixel counting is mostly for photo gearheads. Your clients probably don’t notice a difference between photographs shot between 16, 18 or even 22 MP. It is nice, however, to have options, and the option to recompose and do a ridiculous crop from a wider frame is pretty useful at times.
There were a couple of times where an ad agency requested bigger, non-interpolated files, and we had to rent a Phase system. The quality can be absolutely amazing, but incorporating medium format into my average job workflow definitely requires a slower, more methodical way of working. Shutter lag was also an issue, and I had a really hard time timing shutter release delay on sports portrait images.
So after some frustration, I was excited when I began hearing rumors about Canon’s new high res baby. I was ecstatic when I finally got my hands on one in late May.
Loose full-frame composition from a tennis player shoot with the new 50MP Canon 5DS.Tight crop of the same frame from a tennis player shoot with the new 50MP Canon 5DS.
This won’t be a scientific review, you’ll have to go to DP Review or another site for that, but I wanted to convey a few first impressions. First, if you are an EOS 5D Mk III user, this will be a seamless transition for you. Unlike virtually EVERY new camera I’ve ever purchased, the physical size of the 5DS is relatively unchanged, which means the battery grip from the Mk III is the same! It uses the same batteries and charger! That’s great news, as I can just use the same grips I already own, keep plenty of extra batteries around, and I don’t have to buy new Really Right Stuff tripod plates. In reality, I’m told there were some physical changes made to the body – Canon strengthened the area around the baseplate and tripod screw to make the camera more stable. I’m just glad they designed it to accept the same grip and batteries.
Inside the camera, the menus are very similar, but there are a few new features, including one where you can set a slight shutter delay after mirror lockup to dampen any mirror vibration before the actual shutter release. This is very useful if you’re locking down the camera and shooting long exposures on a tripod. Since I shoot a lot of industrial facilities stopped all the way down with 20-30 second exposures, this is something I will definitely try. (My solution, prior to this was, to hold my hand or a black card in front of the lens at the beginning of the exposure).
The flash sync is 1/160, which is very disappointing (why is 1/250 so difficult?)…..my solution to this is to use hypersync and high speed sync more and start incorporating that feature into my location work with my Profoto lighting gear.
A long overdue feature is the incorporation of a USB 3.0 port, which will be a huge help during tethered shooting. The Nikon D800/D810 have had this feature for some time.
Other than that, the 5DS and 5D Mk III are very similar, I went right to work with it without as much as reading the manual. I’ve warmed up somewhat to the 5D form factor with the grip (it still doesn’t feel quite as good as the 1DX), and I sometimes get irritated that critical buttons are in different locations than they are on the 1DX series cameras (like the button to light up the LCD display for example). For 50 MP at 3700 bucks, I’ll make that trade off gladly, but I will still hold out hope that the DX series continues in higher resolution form at some point.
It’s not exactly scientific to show you resolution testing results on a (decidedly low resolution) blog. However, I am here to tell you that this is a transformative development that we haven’t seen since that EOS-1DS Mk II. I purposely made some very loose compositions during my week with the camera, just to see what it would do, and the 200, 300, and even 400 % crops are just stunning. I’ve included some samples, but like I said, it’s hard to compare skin texture and noise from my 30” monitor to your mobile phone screen. To become a true believer, you’ll have to try it out for yourself.
This will not be my high-ISO camera, so I didn’t even test those features….everything I shot was between 50 and 250 ISO, most of it portraiture with studio strobe, and it is fantastic at those ISO’s. If I need to shoot low light, high ISO photos, I’ll use the 1DX.
Some people have asked, if Canon’s 35mm lens designs will still hold up at 50MP of resolution. Resolution that high will certainly magnify any design flaws in your glass. Again, these are first impressions, with a pre-production camera, but I feel like the results were good with my workhorse lenses: the 24-105/4L, and the latest version of the 70-200/2.8. I didn’t have time to test every lens in my bag. I know that Canon has been steadily redesigning most of the lenses in their arsenal over the last few years with higher resolution sensors in mind.
I had no issues with filling the buffer, but I was shooting the way I usually do….portrait subjects with strobe, so I was not motor-driving like a typical sports photographer. Again, there are different tools for different jobs, and if you want to motor drive all day, you’re better served getting a 1DX.
I don’t do a ton of video, and I didn’t really test the video capabilities of the 5DS, but with the new addition of the USB 3.0 port there is now no room on the camera for a headphone jack. Those of you who are full time video shooters will want to hang on to your 5D Mk III cameras for now.
Another big question: 5DS or 5DSR? There are two models of this camera available. The normal 5DS , just like every Canon digital camera we’ve discussed, has a built in anti-aliasing filter in front of the sensor. The R has a “self cancelling” optical low pass filter. This is the same thing Nikon did by releasing two versions of the D800. Anti-aliasing filters on the sensor inherently soften the image, but also prevent moiré patterns in things like football uniforms, herringbone suit fabrics, etc. If you shoot landscape images you might prefer the R version, as there is little chance of getting moiré patterns in that type of work. I was not able to test the two cameras against each other, so I reserve the right to change my mind, but I was pleased with the sharpness of the regular 5DS using my regular workflow, which adds a nominal amount of capture sharpening in Lightroom. I ordered the regular 5DS for now.
I’ve heard a fair amount of moaning on the internet about the “lack” of dynamic range in the 5DS. During my brief time with the camera, I had no issues, and at the risk of sounding like “HEY, you kids get off my lawn” – does anyone remember shooting Kodachrome? How much latitude did we have then, like maybe 1/3-1/2 stop? How about medium format Velvia? It was a little better, but still required critical exposure skills. There are times in the past where I’ve wished I had more range….like a portrait with a blown out sweaty forehead hotspot, or an aerial at sunset that would call for a split neutral density filter back in the old days. Honestly though, I’m pretty amazed at what we can do now with these sensors, and the amount of control I have in Lightroom with highlight/shadow sliders is nothing short of amazing.
I’m sure that the higher bit depth of a five figure medium format system results in higher dynamic range – there’s no doubt…but, keep in mind that this is a 3700.00 camera, versus a 20-50K camera, and it’s doing something amazing that’s never been done before at that price. Sometimes it’s like hearing someone comparing the relative shortcomings of Gisele Bundchen to Alessandra Ambrosio…..when they are both supermodels! Keep things in perspective folks.
I just got word as I’m typing this that my wait-listed camera is in a Fed-X box, on the way to the studio, so I’ll definitely be reading the manual and checking out and utilizing some of the new features, but for now, I’m just blown away by the increase in resolution. This camera is a game changer.
Loose full-frame composition of the Houston skyline with the new 50MP Canon 5DS.Ridiculously tight crop of the same photograph of the Houston skyline with the new 50MP Canon 5DS.
We’ve been fortunate to work on an ongoing advertising campaign for the Huntsman Corporation (HUN), a very large differentiated products company. Huntsman doesn’t make products that you or I can buy in the store, but their products are everywhere…the foam in auto seats, insulation in buildings, even the soles of athletic shoes.
The challenge for Huntsman then, is showing what they do, without “selling” a specific product. Their advertising is often BTB in trades within the industrial world, and the theme/concept for their ongoing campaign is collaboration between Huntsman and the partners who use Huntsman materials in their products.
To that end, I’ve done a few shoots for them, always collaborating with the incredible Chris Pearson, a British designer who really knows his stuff. I’ll break down a few of the recent shoots I’ve done for them below:
In advertising photography, unlike corporate or editorial photography, you often get a very specific comp or brief. In the old days, designers would draw the concept on paper, and after these were presented to the client, the advertising photographer was brought in to execute the idea. These days, the comps are often “theme boards”, or “mood books” – multi page PDF presentations with a mixture of drawings, existing stock (to show mood or lighting style), and sometimes, full-on Photoshop illustrations made up of 10 or more individual photo elements….a background from here, a person from there, etc…with color changed to suit the designer’s vision of the final piece. Sometimes there is room for collaboration and interpretation, and a good photographer always tries to give the designer what they want, but improve on the concept if at all possible.
For the first shoot, we needed to show a builder and a client looking at plans within an unfinished home highlighting a spray foam insulation product. We used Plume Wafer 100’s with Lighttools grids on each person, lighting each model’s face. We used a large softbox to fill the scene (very slightly) from above the camera, and a low shutter speed on a floor level tripod to open up the ambient light coming in from the window. I used the new Canon 24 Tilt shift on this shot. (If you would like to see more lighting scenarios from previous shoots, you can find them here.)
Grocery store shoot for Huntsman freezer insulation products.
For the grocery store shoot, which was to highlight the insulation products Huntsman makes for commercial freezers, , we had to rent a large grocery store location after hours (the middle of the night!), and balance our strobes to the existing banks of fluorescents overhead. It was a tough lighting situation, as the lights couldn’t show in the final picture. We ended up using two large rectangular softboxes high above the camera on either side of the camera, feathered up slightly above level, and two Canon 580 speedlights inside the glass freezer cases on each side to pop a little fill on each model’s face. A retoucher removed signage on the back wall in post.
Stadium shoot with two soccer players for Huntsman products in athletic shoes.
For the third shoot, we rented a large Texas high school football stadium to highlight Huntsman’s products used to create Adidas soccer shoes. Since the theme, was one of Huntsman working together with other companies, the decision was made to show a couple of soccer players doing pre-game drills….working together on the soccer field.
Finding soccer players that looked realistic was a tall order for casting, but eventually, we found models with soccer experience, and we shot a series of drills that players might do together on the field – running, stretching, warming up, kicking a ball back and forth, and heading the ball back to each other. Again, the emphasis was on teamwork – not competition, hence the identical uniforms.
This shoot was the most elaborate in terms of lighting. We brought in three assistants for the shoot, and used Profoto 7A’s with Bi-tube heads and Magnum reflectors from behind the subject on high-rollers, 2 more 7A’s with large Plume 140 strip banks with grids from a slightly closer to side angle (still slightly from behind though), and a Plume Wafer Hexoval 180 feathered up slightly from high above camera. We shot throughout sunset, and did enough takes to make the models really, really sore the next day! A retoucher was able to duplicate the edge of the high school stands in the background and create a mirror image that made the stadium seem larger than it actually was.
In the end, the client was very happy, and we had a great time creating images for some hard to illustrate concepts.
High-tech engineering schematic of the set…..drawn with pinpoint laser accuracy.Behind the scenes set shot from the soccer shoot, showing assistant Andrew Loehman with the 5 light setup.
The workshop is the brainchild of Rich Clarkson, the legendary photographer and former Director of Photography at National Geographic and several newspapers.
Among the scheduled faculty this year: Brad Smith, Director of Photography at Sports Illustrated; Nate Gordon, Photo Editor at Sports Illustrated; Lucas Gilman, adventure photographer; John McDonough, photographer at Sports Illustrated; Mark Reis, Director of Photography at the Colorado Springs Gazette; Mark Terrill, staff photographer at the Associated Press; Joey Terrill, Los Angeles based commercial photographer and frequent Golf Digest contributor; and several others.
The workshop is sponsored by Nikon, and offers students a chance to shoot in and around beautiful Colorado Springs, with access to the Olympic Training Center and many of the elite athletes that train there.
This one is lit with two Wafer 100's with grids for backlight, and a Hexoval 140 directly over the camera.
I’m really drawn to barren landscapes. I told a photographer friend of mine once that if I could establish my business at the edge of El Mirage dry lake bed in California and shoot all my photos there, I would be a happy camper. There’s something about the flat textured landscape with distant mountains in the background that makes your work look like you just landed on Mars.
Our assistant Ryan playing the human light boom.
I had heard from friends in Utah that the salt flats often were coated by a thin layer of water during the early summer, and I thought that location would be a fabulous one for a portrait of a competitive swimmer reflected in a mirrored otherworldly landscape. Things don’t always go as planned, and when I arrived to scout the area, I found a lot of mud, but no water.
This is where newspaper experience becomes a handy thing. I knew from my feature photo hunting days that I could make a cool photo with little more than a puddle to work with. With the right lens and an extremely low angle, I knew I could make a 2 foot wide puddle look like a lake. After considering the possibility of building a tray of water using 2 x 4’s and a black tarp (it works – ask any car photographer from the early 80’s…), we eventually found a puddle right behind a rest stop. The rest stop had a water hose/shower set up so people touring the area could wash mud/salt from their feet before getting back in their cars. How convenient.
I tested the look with my Salt Lake City based assistant Ryan Faulkner, and it looked great. The next morning at sunrise, I photographed our swimmer with our “lake”, using a Plume Wafer 100 mounted to a Manfrotto extension pole so that Ryan could boom the light near her face and still stay out of the frame. We used a Profoto Acute 600 for this photo.
I had another photo I really wanted to make, and that was a tighter image of our swimmer, backlit from both sides with Wafer 100’s and Lighttools 30 degree grids, and a Plume Wafer Hexoval 140 directly above the camera on a boom. As the sun came up, we made a few other photos with the beautiful early morning natural light.
A "lake" created with about 2 inches of water in a very small area.An available light photo made with a long lens and gorgeous early morning light.
Perfect form running along the rocks in Kodachrome S. P.
I recently photographed an awesome fitness instructor, Melanie Webb in Kodachrome State Park in Utah. Melanie is unique in the world of fitness professionals in that she runs a great business combining two of her areas of expertise: wildlife and fitness training.
Melanie was originally a wildlife biologist with the state of Utah, and later became a very sought after fitness instructor at top health clubs in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. She combined her two loves into Sol Fitness Adventures, an adventure travel company, where she leads custom expeditions in southern Utah and throughout the world. Not only can she guide you up the mountain safely, she can also tell you the scientific names for all the flora and fauna you’ll encounter along the way.
Her company, Sol Fitness Adventures, has been featured in Outside magazine, Real Simple, and a number of other news organizations.
Although she normally leads tours in places like Zion National Park, Arches National Park, and Lake Powell, we decided to shoot at Kodachrome State Park. Melanie is a gifted athlete and we made some great photos in the awesome late afternoon Utah light.
