When I was a beginner, I was afraid of using light; mainly because I didn’t know how to use it. One of my photography professors shared the secret with me about using light. I’m going to share it with you. The secret about using light and the best way to use light is to, put the light where you want it. It’s that simple. If you placed light behind a subject, in front of the subject will be dark. Do you want it to be dark? If so leave it, if not then place the another light where you want more light and take the photograph. For this photograph I used one light to the left side of the model and I felt as if I wanted to bounce a bit more light on to the subject so I used a reflector.

You should be familiar with your f-stops, shutter speeds and ISO settings by now. You want to be  familiar before you start using strobes. Because then we start talking about shooting with 1/1 (full power), half power etc. The more you practice the better you will get at it because you will start to remember the settings.

Getting good at anything takes practice. However, Practice/Getting better with our photography gets quite expensive; no one never told you photography was cheap. If they did they were lying to you. There are ways to cope with the expenses though; rent the equipment. I’m not able to afford my flock of D3’s as yet, I’m not able to purchase my Elinchrom lights as yet like I used for this shoot. They are in expensive though, somewhere around 1.6k for the kit with two lights etc. if you bought them. If you are in my position the money comes and the money goes, you have electricity bills pay, phone bills, (if you are a photographer wanting to make it turn off your cable like I did), internet bills, the list goes on and on. If you’re not and you are going to purchase them anyway, help a brother out, forget the 500 go for the 600 and make your purchase here: Purchase Elinchrom Strobes

You probably didn’t buy those lights, but if you did thank you because you just helped me pay my mother back for all of the money she spent on me for college. I rented the light from a company Apeture Professional Studios & Supply in Miami, Florida. I’m giving them a shout out here on the blog because they are extremely nice people and they have amazing professional gear you can rent for cheap for film and photography.

So what now? Write your client a proposal and include the fee of renting the equipment you need. After a few shoots you will begin to stack a few dollars to buy the equipment you need. The downside  is a little profit lost for you. If you had the equipment you would be able to charge your clients the same fee, but, you make more because you don’t have to pay to rent. A few losses/ lower profit won’t hurt to get your name out there with better looking photographs.

Scott Kelby has a book, well Scott has many books, but the book that teaches you how to shoot a portrait with one light and multiple ways of lighting portraits is called Photo Recipes Live Behind The Scenes: Purchase Photo Recipes Live On Amazon

I was fortunate enough to help Scott out as a second assistant on a few photo shoots. I like that the book comes with a dvd you can watch and follow along with. Scott may seem pretty down to earth in the dvd, really relaxed and excited about you learning. Well, that’s because he ’s really that way;  I like that about him, an all around nice guy, nothing filtered. The book makes you feel as if you have Scott right there teaching you one on one. Scott Also has an app now for Photo Recipes, take a look at this article, it’s mentioned on the 4th subtitle. [Here's The Link].

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The Biscayne Skate Park project is the result of many members of the skateboard community working together with the City of Miami, specifically Commissioner Marc Sarnoff’s office and the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency.

I wanted to enjoy some good afternoon skateboarding in Miami, while it was free so I purposely left my camera at home. When I got to the skate park I felt so much love and support for the project; I was pissed that I left my camera at home.

When I started photography, I used to complain about not having a good enough camera. After shooting for a bit, I learn capturing moments / capturing the story is sometime, if not all the time most important than what camera I was using.

My BlackBerry has a camera built into it,  so why the hell not (I used it as my fix for my addiction). I wrote this article to tell you use whatever camera you have. I don’t have a flock of Nikon D3’s (I would love to though) but I do use a Nikon D300’s. I didn’t have my D300’s so I settled with the only camera I had.

Commissioner Marc Sarnoff’s office, the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency and MiamiSkaters.com I want to personally thank you for putting this event together for us skateboarders in Miami. Thank you again for helping with the park’s project.

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I’ve seen the amount of people that turn out to Kelby’s Photoshop World. I was so surprised to see how many people actually showed up to the Lightroom 3 LIVE Tour. Seeing the amount of people interested in improving their photography and its workflow excited me. I get so happy when I feel the love other people have for their photography.

I’ve been learning from Scott from as long as I can remember. Denzel Washington still takes acting classes to improve his acting skills. Some might ask, “Who can teach Denzel how to act?” I don’t care how great you are you will learn something new. If the opportunity to learn, even if one new tip, arrives to help me as a photographer I’m always all over it; it keeps me excited about my profession.

(BTW, I don’t want to miss lead you when I compare my desire to learn more about my profession like Denzel Washington. I’m not trying to be arrogant; there’s no way I’m the equivalent for that comparison when it comes to my photography and Denzel’s acting skills. I thought it would make a great example to share though.)

If you are a photographer and you wish for a better way to organize your photographs, Lightroom 3 is for you and the Lightroom 3 LIVE Tour is for you. If you are a photographer and you want to great tips for correcting color and enhancing color correctly, the Lightroom 3 LIVE Tour is for you. Even if you haven’t used Lightroom 1, or 2
and you want to see how Lightroom 3 will benefit you as a photographer, I suggest you be apart of the Lightroom 3 LIVE Tour in a city near you.

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As a professional photographer I love portraiture photography. Photographing my friends for fun during lunch breaks in high school as an amateur photographer has a lot do with it.

My friends over at Eternal Truth Tattoo in Miami, Florida (located on 5th and Ocean Drive) have a new super talented tattooist on the team. Ejay is a new member of the Eternal Truth Tattoo’s Family. When I met him for the first time, I knew his look would make a killer portrait. He was so easy to work with because he’s easygoing with a great personality.

To cook this portrait I used my Nikon D300’s, a 35mm-135mm lens, a reflector, and the SB-900 with a white umbrella. To edit the photograph I used Adobe’s Camera Raw and Photoshop.

Ejay was preparing his gear to work on a new client. I prepared my gear and told Ejay to ignore my presence. Every time I shoot a new image, I push myself to add more spice to my on location workflow; if you want to call it that. One of the spices I try to pull the most flavors from is composition. Finding the righting angles and capturing the perfect action of your subject is not easy, but clearly not impossible.

If I asked Ejay or any of the tattooists of Eternal Truth Tattoo how they improve their skills, I’m sure they would tell me their skills developed over time with hard work. My advice to photographers, as a photographer is to take more photographs and develop compositions mixed with moments that work for you. Good luck, now go and have fun.

If any questions please don’t be afraid to ask me in the comment form: if you love what you see show some love in the comment form as well.

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Quick Post:

…was a great person to work along with; expect more from her here on the blog.

Being a photographer allows you to interact with great people, with great talent and great vibes. I’ll be the first to tell anyone, our job as photographers is the best. The person I speak of in particular is one of my recent models, Ashley Hewlett.

Ashley was chosen as an event model for Roxy and she was the host model for a Teen Vouge event at Dadeland Mall in Miami, Florida.

I photographed these images about three weeks ago.

I’ve been looking at Surfing Magazine’s 2010 Swimsuit Issue, shot in Malibu and Puerto Rico by photographer Lauren Ward as well as the photography for the ad I saw for Reef in Surfer magazine.

Reasons why I look at those photographs and ads are because I would like to be shooting for those magazines someday and I need to study, to know what they are expecting.

There were a lot more photographs from Ashely’s shoot; two years ago I probably would have posted all of them. I became a bit more selective of what photographs I want to show out there.

A few problems I ran into that I’m going to fix:

Every photo shoot I’ve been lucky enough to walk away with a good image. Even if the image wasn’t what I had envisioned, I had manage to add a photo to my collection. Part of that comes from shooting  A LOT for practice. If you keep shooting you will learn what your eyes like and dislike.

Likes and Dislikes:

The photograph above was from the first locations. I wanted Ashely to think as if she was walking around doing her own thing, maybe on a vacation somewhere tropical and I took her to the side to take a photograph of her wearing her swimsuit.

Ashley’s modeling nailed the idea I gave her perfectly. My main concern every time I shoot a model in a swimsuit is to keep her looking sexy and at the same time keep her from looking slutty/ trashy.

The guy from the vendor was nice enough to let us photograph at the spot for about 20 mins. He even gave Ashley a hat he made. A portrait I took of him is sitting in my print box. Next time I go to that spot I’m going to surprise him with it.

On the view finder the images were looking nice – The poses were excellent, compositions were excellent, but my concern now-a-days is, background distraction.

To help easy my mind from breaking the computer screen when I viewed the images there,  I had to thank God (and the Photoshop Guys from Photoshop User Tv ) for some of the things I know in Photoshop.

I added a layer mask of Gaussian Blur and painted Ashely back into the foreground to somewhat make that busy background less distracting.

Mistake number two of the practice day:

The day of this shoot we went to a location on the beach. I wanted Ashely relaxing, laying out and enjoying her day at the beach.

People were around us on the beach looking ,we even had some people stop and take pictures of us working etc. but Ashley remained focused and nailed every image.

On location I thought it would be an okay idea to maybe have these people blurred in the background doing whatever the want as Ashely relaxed.

It was my fault not getting the image I wanted because I didn’t choose a place with less of a crowd for a shoot like this.  I’m happy with that mistake because now it will never happen again. Her being a model, I’m sure she didn’t mind the crowd drooling over how gorgeous she is.

The problem was that the background became to busy for what I was trying to capture. Maybe if I had Ashely laying out with her friends chit chatting or something I would keep the same backgrounds as before. In this case the photograph didn’t breath enough for me as to why I didn’t keep them and post them here.

As I looked back at Lauren’s photographs and saw her backgrounds with the models…ouch..let’s just say that I love my Nikon D300’s so I didn’t throw it on the floor. Moments like those make me was really upset with myself because I’m way too passionate but I control myself.

We lost a lot of light for what I wanted so it was time to move on to the next locations.

Here are two images I managed to escaped with..Ashely will be shooting again with me very soon again for me to capture that image I have stuck in my head. That day I will only be working on that image and capturing it. I will keep you updated.

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Victor Aragon of Miami International University of Art and Design scores the first goal at last game of the season. Yesterday the team fought with all they had unfortunately they lost 4-6. The new season starts September 2010 and I will be back on the sidelines photographing the games. (Click Images For Larger Views)

Shooting action in general is tough; the challenge of shooting it is what makes it fun for me. Throughout articles of this blog I mention that practice is the key to success for anything you want to be great at. I’m a commercial advertising, lifestyle, portrait and sports photographer. For practice as a photographer capturing action I’ve been photographing at Miami International University of Art and Design’s futbol games. Friends I encourage you to practice, practice, practice it’s the only way to get better.

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It’s late writing this and I was thinking about calling it a night but naw. I do care about the people who stop here to read what I have to say.

Photographing Soccer Games:
I’m going to keep this write up brief by sharing with you things I experienced the day making that image for Miami International University of Art and Design futbol team. Use some of the advice when shooting your next game. Hopefully my experience will help you feel a bit more comfortable if you are wondering how to photograph a soccer game or how to capture action.

This time of the year in Miami, Florida is extremely hot. The weather is something you should always take into consideration before shooting. It only makes sense to right? It’s really irritating wiping the grass off of my leg, wiping my face with paper towels (or my shirt) and trying to focus shooting the games at the same time. I learnt my lesson from shooting previous games. So to avoid that extra distraction: I wore flip-flops for my feet to feel comfortable in the weather, a tee shirt and long jeans because I sit on the grass. I took a small bottle of water with a towel to keep me hydrated and to stop the sweat from making me look as if I was out there playing on the filed.

For this game I shot my Nikon D300’s with the AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5 – 5.6 lens. God I love that lens. Something I love to do before shooting anything is putting the camera in aperture priority mode then take a snap shot and letting the camera automatically decide its settings. It’s a comfortable starting point for me. From there I put the camera in shutter priority mode. Then I adjusted the shutter speed to 1/500^th of a second at F/9 and -0.3EV. 1/500^th of a second freezes action. My White Balance was set on direct sunlight, A-4 and the camera was shooting Vivid. Those settings allowed me to get a warm photograph with the motion frozen.  My ISO was set at 320. I start out at ISO 200 and adjust to what I feel is the best for me. When your settings are best for you the next thing to do is to wait for the moment and fire.

Good luck with your shooting out there!

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Within the last few moths I’ve received many kind messages from people that find my work interesting. Those people are new to the blog, people I’ve meet randomly and new clients. I’m asked the same questions so I decided to write this article of the top five frequent questions that I am asked.

Q: How did you get into photography?

A: I started photography in high-school. I found out how much I really loved it after I saved up enough money to buy me a point and shoot camera. Lunch times at school I used to photograph my friends just to keep the memories. When I got home after school I used to upload the photos to one of those MSNGroups. People from school would look at them their and download, so I kept doing so. In my CR. year I became president of the schools yearbook club. Being a part of the yearbook club I shot some school events and after school sports etc. I went to the Savannah College of Art and Design after that and my professor Timothy Keating taught me that I can dive deeper into photography.

Q: What type of camera do you shoot and what type of camera should I buy?

A: Right now I’m shooting the Nikon D300’s. I’ve shot the Nikon D3’s as well it’s a great camera. When I’ve saved up enough for it or the Nikon D700 / get the clients to pay for the cameras I will invest then keep advancing my way to becoming a master of the Hasselblad . If you’re just starting out with photography and you’re sure this is something you want to stick with, then I recommend getting your hands on the Nikon D90 and starting from there. If you want to get some good shots to save etc. just a camera to practice with the Nikon D3000 is a good one. I’m NOT paid by Nikon to say that, as yet! I admit yes I’m a Nikon guy.

Q: Did you go to school for photography / do you recommend going to school for photography?

A: No. I went to Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and Miami International University of Art and Design to study advertising design. At SCAD I did a course of photography that helped as well. I believe if you want something bad enough the thing is to pushing hard and keep pushing hard until you get it. When I started out I used to take a bunch of photos and touch them up after I watch Photoshop User Tv or a tutorial on YouTube. Some of the things that I’ve seen on there I’ve came across in classes at college. There’s so much information on the Internet on at our finger tips to practice.

Q: What Inspires You?

A: The love for what I do is my main source of inspiration. I’m also inspired by: Bob Marley – the same love he had for his music I feel for my photography. He spread the love for what he did globally and to day his songs still touch people. Kevin Fleming – an internet entrepreneur and old college buddy of mine from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Kevin and I had the same speech and public speaking class at SCAD. He actually helped me start my blog.When I came out of high-school, html, css, and php was still a big blah to me; I don’t fully understand it and don’t plan to but Kevin taught me enough to make you read this. Scott Kelby – Scott is the president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. When I was in high-school in the Bahamas I remember spending my Sundays in my room practicing things I saw on Photoshop User TV (Scott owns that as well). I spent a day photographing with him back in 2008 when he came to the Bahamas and two days as his second assistant recently in on a shoot Miami. I can sit here and write a book about why I think Scott Kelby is awesome so to save boring you to death with my excitement let’s end on that note.

Q: What do you want to do with your photography?

A: I’m going to be that main guy in my area for commercial advertising, lifestyle, portraits and sports photography. The guys on top appear to be welcoming me; but no body likes to be replaced. When I’m in their position I don’t want some snotty nose kid like myself trying to take spot either; but I will welcome that kid to keep on trying. To get where I am going takes lucky breaks -being the right places at the right times and to keep on pushing hard. I would never tell myself that I am that top guy because I think it would make me lazy. Being second to the people
I look up to gives me reasons to push harder.

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*On this blog I share: photography tips that I’ve learned, tips I’ve found useful when photographing clients and I share images that I photograph while on my journey of advancing my photography skills. Follow me, your new photography friend on Twitter today! @DwayneTucker (click to be transferred to my twitter page). If you are not on twitter please look at my sidebar for other free subscription options.*

I am a commercial advertising, lifestyle and sports photographer and I love everything about photography.

I felt as if my presence on the internet should expand because I have so much to share.

Meet Dwayne is my show coming Monday March 29th, 2010 (write it in your calendar) to bring to you, inspiration for doing what you love doing; because you love doing it.

I created, “Meet Dwayne“, to welcome you into my life with video for you to understand why I do what I do.

I am an artist. I feel as if art is about the artist and what’s going on in the mind. It’s about sharing the messages of the artist’s ideas to communicate with an audience.

When thinking about what exactly I want Meet Dwayne to display I decided, the show is not going to be one to show how to use the camera or showing off what’s in my camera bag.

I leave that for well known photographers to share with you and I.

In this show I am showing the making of that well known photographer with creditability and status to create those shows.

The Meet Dwayne show will:

- Help you understand me.

- Help you realize why I am extremely passionate about my photography.

- Show you that I am “normal”, “average guy” but I come with a fuck load of ambition.

Hopefully the show will inspire you.

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My Past Week In Photographs

(About to go to bed in the early a.m. falling asleep in the work clothes. This explains why my the next photograph, your sunrise, is and looks like my sunset.)

(Awake early in the a.m. and saw a photo opp so I captured it.)

(Let the day begin!!!!) / (When I look at my photographs I get a feeling that I can’t explain; well I could but you wouldn’t understand me. From 2007 I’ve been wanting to get the feeling that I got from this photograph when I nailed the style of the colors I wanted.)

(Remember the Pet Photography Project? We have to make small legal hustle somehow!)

(Stopped to chill for a bit and drop a hello to the staff at my favorite stake shop; Zumiez!)

(Totally Random but I want to share with you.)

(MIA skate-park in Miami, Florida is one of my favorite places to skateboard in Miami. After I am done skating I take some photographs of the skaters to help me develop an eye because I am aiming to shoot for Thrasher Magazine and Skateboarding Magazine. Besides, you can tell from the photographs that we always have a great vibe and great sessions at the park so I must document that.)

(Look at who is on the blog! That’s my sister Katrina Lomidze from the personal and make-up blog KatrinaLomidze.com She, the Fam (Jerrid and Baby JJ) and I went to dinner at Raphael’s; my favorite restaurant on South Beach for mussels and pasta!)

(Shay, Stevie and I. They are two beautiful models from the shoot I did on Thursday and Friday with the Photographer I looked up to from I was a kid, Scott Kelby!)

(That’s Mr. Kelby in the background not holding a big Oreo, but instead a grid He was explaining what it was for and when to use one for one of his new videos! Check out his post from behind the scenes in Miami with me, click here. – P.S. Jerrid from the Fam is the model in the first image of that post.)

More to come..

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Hey Friends! I wanted to get a quick blog in. I am on a boat right now in Bahamas about to get ready to head over to the Atlantis hotel for my New Years party with family and friends that are here over here This photograph was my favorite shot that I captured in 2009. Special thanks to my model Lesly Hernandez for helping me capture this photograph; we had so much fun on the shoot and captured great video footage, for my DTTV that you will hear more about in 2010

Everyone enjoy your night be safe wherever you are and I will see you all here again in the New Year. HAPPY 2010!!

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DT.

Feel free and BE YOURSELF. Gold Saturn tee shirts brings out the YOU.