(click for a much larger view)

Never met the guy as yet but I look up to him as my big brother in photography.

One thing I took in from the brotherly talk with chase is: “Sustain.Create.Share.”

I was sitting down creating one of my new TwitVids with a friend.

I create them because my videos share the true me, with you.

It’s just like I am there talking to you

Art is about the person; you deserve to know the personality.

When creating the video [Click here to watch]. I thought of an interesting idea. I then produced the idea. Now I am sharing it with you.

Think. Create. Share.

The world needs more love and the world needs more photos!

Follow my moves and write me what you have to say:

http://twitter.com/DwayneTucker

P.S. My friends and I created a facebook group called “Photography Friends”. The group has 500+ members and growing! We spread the love for photography and our message is, “The freedom to shoot; anywhere.” Join the facebook group today, share your photos and meet other cool people that love photography! [Here's the link].

*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.

–

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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Last weekend Tony and I went to MIA Skate Park, here in Miami, FL.

We went the previous week before as well and decided to stick with it for a few hours every weekend.

I’ve been skateboarding from I was about thirteen years old.

Please don’t be fooled tho thinking I am pro now because I am no Jereme Rodgers.

But, I do love pushing around on myboard with the simple tricks that I’ve mastered: the Ollie, recently I’ve been killing the mini ramp and a few 50-50 etc.

For the past year I’ve been collecting TRANSWORLD SKATEboarding (The #1 Skateboarding Magazine in the world) and admire the shots submitted by the magazines skateboard photographers. I know I can do the same, if not better, with some practice; let’s see if I will have my photograph in the Magazine, here I come!

I will be practicing my skateboarding photography at my favorite skate park in Miami, MIA Skate Park.

Before we continue, that’s my friend Tony in the photograph above.

He’s one of my real friends here in Miami and an awesome skate partner.

The sad truth behind Tony and I rekindling the flames we had for the skate-park is that we currently extremely rusty (your strongest WD-40 won’t help). But, were are dedicated to getting back into the swing of things.

I can call Tony at whatever time in the morning and say, “What’z Good Tony you wanna skate” and he would be rolling over in bed waking up out of his 8th dream and he would say, “Yo man I am down be there in less than 20″.

Two from the old school are back to skate with the new school…well we are not that old …yet.

Let’s drop in.

Skateboarding photography is just like shooting any other sports photography.

To get great at it you have to practice.

Having the best photography gear would help your photos but when you don’t have the best photography gear then you need to suck it up and hustle like I do.

At the park I used Nikon’s AF NIKKOR 35-135mm lens and Nikon’s AF-s NIKKOR 70-300mm lens shooting with the Nikon D300’s body; for a few shots I used the Nikon’s SPEEDLIGHT SB-900.

What I am saving for and been wanting to get my hands on is the 10.5 fish-eye lens and a 12-24mm lens.

Reason why I would like to have those lenses is because they will give me wider angles. Wider angles will be great when I take the photos because I can be as close to the subject as I want and fill the frame the way I want.

In my skateboarding photography the wide angles will be creating more aesthetic, eye pleasing photographs for myself to admire and share with you.

MIA Skate Park an indoor park, a little more work / trickier environment for a photographer to shoot in compared to an outdoor park; perfect lighting becomes an issue.

I shot a high ISO, a high shutter speed with my lowest f-stops.

Doing that added the necessary, needed light into my photographs, freeze the action and give the feeling of depth the the lens I used. Oh I can’t wait to see what my 10.5mm produces when I get my hands on it!

I’ve always been fascinated by tattoos so I decided to photograph and make a collection of tattoos on skateboarders at skate parks. Hence the two photographs you see of the tattoos. I got my first tattoo at Eternal Truth on Miami Beach from my kick ass tattooist Mor Mogli.

Photo by Tony

To close it here for today, that’s me holding my favorite my new board (I got it last December) from my favorite skate company Zoo York.

Have a great day and I will see you here again!

The first time I saw a person using gels on a flash I was at a friends wedding. I walked up to the photographer and asked him why was he using it, he briefly mumbled something about it but that was neither the time nor place for him to school me on flash photography.

I became interested and went on the Internet to find out more information from my favorite professor, Mr. Google. (I beg you to laugh).

As usual, tons of websites trying to feed you the same bullshit, boring information I can read in my manual (I hear my old art history professor’s mono tune voice every time I read those sites).

The honest truth about learning how to use gels on a flash is to simply go out and shoot with it. Try, fail, succeed, fail again, and now you know enough to take you back to a higher step one.

However, I stated something that you would probably respond saying, “I know that dumb ass, but I want to know how to use it” and someone else might reply, “Internet battles rules!”

I do thank you for stopping by here to read the tips I do have to offer you. I refuse to be my art history teacher : so I try not to bore you to death!

I want you to remember that I am just like you, I have problems, but I stay and I search, search, search, practice, practice, practice and then share what I learn here with you; to help you better your photography.

When I was searching for: How To Use Gels with a Flash, I found a website by the name of (unlike the rest) LIGHTING MODS – How To…, Do It Yourself (DIY) and a lot of Photography Information  by Rui M. Leal that I MUST give full credit to and applaud how beautifully the article was written and thought-out.

The article explains as well as I would have for you. Therefore, I am going to pass you on over to that website to learn more about using Gels on A Flash.

First Time…

Before I do so, you’re probably reading this article because this is your first time playing around with Gels and Flashes or because you want to discover more about it. But what’s the purpose anyway?

From LIGHTING MODS lets see what’s the purpose of using a gel / filter,

“Color correction by using color gels, is a process used in stage lighting, photography, television and cinematography, the intention of which is to alter the overall quality of the light measured on a scale known as color temperature.

Without color correction gels, a scene may have a mix of various colors. Applying color correction gels in front of light sources can alter the color of the various light sources to match. Mixed lighting can produce an undesirable aesthetic when displayed on a television or in a theater.”

After the brief summary below of using gels on a flash I want you to head over to LIGHTING MODS [here] so you can view the article that explained it to me, written by Rui M. Leal

Now let’s get to the basics:

Using Gels:

What is the gel? The gel / filter for a flash is the little tint thing you see photographers tape over their flashes or strap on with a rubber-band (keeping it hood) or a strap Velcro.   There are two gels that you should get and will get very familiar with: CTO – Color Temperature Orange and Window Green.

Starting by strapping on the correct gel using whatever technique is convenient for you, just get the gel strapped on. The SB-900 I use came with a nice little case named Nikon SZ-2, perfectly holds the gels for this case.

If you are using the Nikon SB-900 flash you will see that it came with four gels FL-G1 and FL-G2, which are the Window Greens and the TN-A1 and the TN-A2 which are the Color Temperature Orange filters. Now stare at the gels and get familiar! (Smiles)

Which gel should you strap on?

What I’ve learnt that will help you: know that florescent light might appear as a white light but it’s in fact a green light; shooting under that green light you want to use the green florescent gel “Window Green” over the your strobe head.

Simple right? With florescent green light use green gel.

When you do this color balance, on your digital camera, (if Nikon) go into the menu panel, shooting menu, white balance, and choose the appropriate color balance. When you shoot with the gels on the flash your color will now be color corrected.

As I mentioned before, the only way to get completely familiar with shooting with gels on a flash is to go and practice, practice, and practice.

Repeat the same process with the tungsten light, and I wish you the best of luck with your shooting!

DTown TV is a show that covers digital photography tips for you by hosts, Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski, two of the most respected professionals in the photography community.

Backgrounds Of The Hosts for Your New Favorite (to be) Show:

Scott Kelby: “Scott Kelby was just named the #1 best-selling computer book author for the 5th year in a row. His best-selling titles include: The Digital Photography Book (Vols. 1 and 2), The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers, and The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers.

Scott is also the President of NAPP, the publisher of Photoshop User and Layers magazine, and chief “Photoshop Guy” on the popular podcast, PhotoshopUser TV.”

Matt Kloskowski: “Matt’s business card says, “Photoshop Guy” because best-selling author, Photoshop instructor (for conferences, seminars, workshops, online training, DVDs, etc.), photographer, co-host of PhotoshopUser TV, blogger and podcaster for Photoshop Killer Tips and Lightroom Killer Tips (the web’s #1 Lightroom resource), Photoshop User magazine contributor, and Education and Curriculum Developer for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) doesn’t fit.”

DTown TVclosed with twenty-four, consecutive, weekly episodes and now the show’s expected to return, this January. The goal of the return is to continue serving you quality tips to help you advance your digital camera handling skills.

What’s New?

The show is reinvented and reformatted covering everything from equipment brands, light, studio, on location, post-processing and it’s expected to have plenty of special guess drop by.

DTown TV promised that no matter what skill level or interest, each episode is suppose to cover a wide range of topics with beneficial tips and photography techniques for Nikon D-Series owners.

Weekly articles will be posted here on this blog Photography For You by DwayneTucker.com keeping you updated with written content of what’s going on at DTown.

Weekly new episodes will be posted to the DTown TV’s website every Thursdays to help you advance your, everything digital photography skills.

With the economy in recession there’s not a soul present who feels comfortable delving into the topic of money. Unless of course you’re one of those paid individuals galavanting around. However, let’s pretend that you were a photographer. One of the least respected, artistic people in society. You have to approach a client whether it be business on a large scale or rather something freelance and minor. Your main concern is getting the job done adeptly and the funds that reward you for doing so. A client’s main purpose is to be granted top tier work while receiving the most feasible bargain. Here’s where the unspoken war begins. As I journey with you through the ins and outs of the “How much should I charge” battle, adhere to the process and soak up the focal points. It can prove to be vital in the imminent future.

A Random Day On The Job:

1. Invisible dollars are those which you pay the client. How the hell is this possible? (Smirks)  Well apparently the labor, electricity used, travel costs, particular lenses instituted for a shoot, and miscellaneous costs implemented through usage of cd/dvds and bandwidth is also taxing.

2. You spend most of your day viewing through your SLR lenses and crouching in awkward positions. As if this wasn’t tiring enough, wait until you venture back to the work place and commence with photo editing (at least if you were a hard working/beautifully obsessed/incessant fight type of photographer).

3. So you’ve actually become so stressed that you see fit to subconsciously cut a few corners. Your work comes out okay (wrinkles face with uncertainty and does “so-so” hand gesture)

The Week After:

Sally Armstrong that you performed the shoot for is having a discussion with a close friend of hers over brunch. She proclaims “Last week my company had some product shoots with this guy Dwayne Tucker from Dwayne Tucker.com. Although he’s a veteran in the photography industry and a photoshop professional he was surprisingly willing to give me a great bargain. Do you believe that he did the job for free? I loved it. He seems so adamant about the photography society and the perks that come along with being a pro photographer. (She proceeds to further document the shoot and gives her brunch mate a thorough walk through of its happenings) By the end of brunch Mrs. Armstrong has single-handedly convinced her colleague that Dwayne Tucker would do the exact same thing for her with proper coaxing. Now as a photographer, this spells disaster. Why may I ask? As a fledgling with your own photography business people tend to view that as a stepping stool to ask certain favors. Your job is to satisfy customers and gain maximum exposure. So ultimately you give in. A pattern commences and a chain reaction of more free shoots ensues. OH NO!

Hunker Down And Be A Man About It:

One must speak softly and carry a big stick. Ode to Roosevelt. So in all actuality it isn’t inane that you know your worth. It’s not ludicrous that you UNDERSTAND the costs surrounding a shoot. It’s not crazy that you don’t want to complete a free photo shoot. What do people consult a PROFESSIONAL photographer for anyways? (Smile begins to return)

Charge as follows…I’m not asking….rather telling:

Take into consideration:

-Talent. Whichin hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard. Bring them both to the table.

- Travel costs and gas mileage (also expect the unexpected aka flat tire).

- Equipment and studio supplies which include lighting , props, backdrops, last minute additions.

-Shoot duration and intensity.

- Correspondence(GRR!!! be ready for a pleasant war of words), editing, and the headaches associated with it. (Advil present)

-Delivery, packaging.

-Rights.

-Location fees (some locales charge for the utilization of their ambience).

-Helping hands associated with the projects need to be compensated. This affects future relations so make their time worthwhile. If you look at things on a much larger scale and desire to actually. blossom your operation into a force to be reckoned with then take pride in your first few employees. Treat others how you wish to be treated and you’ll expand tenfold. It’s simple doctrine.

Examine the prior guidelines and recall everything with clarity as you discuss photo shoot plans with a potential client. Every aspect should be accounted for. Attention to detail is highly important.  Pitch an unforgettable experience to all clients regardless of genre. Your pricing should be received with warmth. If all fails, then it’s back to the drawing board. What one client doesn’t do, someone else will. Stay stagnant in your approach.

Hey guys,

About are a  few photos from my trip to Bahamas for Winter 2009. I had an amazing time with my family and friends. My friend / graphic designer Greg Gayle and I flew down there and had an amazing time with some family friends!

We went boating,

skim boarding,

dove and got some underwater shots of craw-fish (I will post a Tweet whenever I upload more random photos from the trip on Twitter so follow me —> @DwayneTucker that’s the link say, “What’z good DT.!”.

We jumped of the highest point of the dock into the ocean,

hit our heads on the wood above our heads in the cabins of the boat we stayed on,

had an amazing New Years Eve dinner,

skateboarded,

Learnt me how to drive a manual car (I’m finally able to drive it correctly and I learnt in a 1962 Austin),

we had an interesting limo ride over to the Atlantis Hotel then popped bottles watching the fire works for the New Year, got sick the next day, got better,

played basketball.

We partied it up in Aura our last night (it was an amazing night because EVERYONE was there!) then went to Imperials after for a conch snack,

flew on Bahamas Air and that was the first time that airline has been on time, for our return flight (was delayed going there) and now we have a ton of great memories and photographs

Enjoy your day and I will see you here on the blog again! Reminder if you click the images you get a much larger view.

What’s Coming New On Photography For You?

- On the side bar you before the week ends you will see two cameras (Nikons of course) that I approve for you.

- I am putting up a category section there finally that works to help you better navigate the site, the links will be to filter out the out articles for: Photography Tips, Photoshop Tips, Keeping Up With Mr. DwayneTucker.com, Layers Tips & More (will be added later), Beautiful Models, and My Blog.

- You will find more useful information to help improve your skills as a photographer, a digital artist and a business person.

- I am introducing D-Town TV, PhotoshopUser Tv and Layers Tv to the blog.

(Click To For Transfer Your Comment Box)

Happy New Year!

Arrived back to Miami, FL yesterday from my short but splendid little vacation in Nassau, Bahamas.

I spent my 2010 New Years there with family and friends that should be a part of my family.

Photos from the trip will be shared with you here on the blog tomorrow.

I feel so much great things for 2010.

I promised myself that I would work my ass off this year (more than last year) and I am now mentally prepared for it. September – December of last year were my reality check months; horrible things happened that interrupted some of my future plans and great things happened that will help my future decisions.

Never the less it’s January of 2010 and I am living everyday like it’s my last from here on.

Plans For My Photography and For The Blog

Everyone is still looking for my photography portfolio page. I have a link in the navigation that says My Portfolio and it takes you to some photographs that were are shown in the display galley on the entry page of Photography For You. I am going to have my true portfolio page up sooner than soon this year. That link is starting to annoy me as well.

The sad truth is that I am not happy with a great amount of photographs to show in portfolio, I filtered out a few that I will display in there though.

More about the personal photography —> I have a few themes that I will be shooting this first half of this collaborating with GG. I introduced GG here on the sites a few articles ago if you missed his introduction here’s the post –> [GG's Article]

The Blast Tour Miami photographs will be finished this year, those photographs are still a work in progress.

You will find more useful information / photography tips here on the blog in 2010. That’s why people read blogs anyway right? That doesn’t mean that I am going to cut down on the personal blog entries, but I will be adding a ton of information to the website this year that will help my readers improve their photography. The tips shared  will be pointers from articles that I found on the internet that’s sharing worthy.

Knowing this subscribe to the blog if you haven’t as yet [subscription link] and if you are not following me on your twitter as yet follow me and say, “What’z good DT!” My tweets –> @DwayneTucker

Sharing Another Photographer I Like

Patrik Giardino – [His Website]

That’s it for today.

More tk…

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!!

–

DT.