That’s me in the photograph above  not doing my job about a week or two ago (time’s moving fast), assisting Photographer Joao Carlos on location in Miami, Florida. Please don’t take that part serious because I do take my job very seriously. I was taking a quick snap shot for my TwitPic upload. If Joao turned around he would have probably thrown my phone in the grass because I’m addicted taking photographs with the best camera I have on me and twitting on my CrackBerry. What more can I say, I’m a Social-Butterfly. One of the best MUA I’ve worked with, Jenna Marie Streitenfeld from KissThisMakeUp.com took this snap shot of us while I was taking the snap shot of them.

Until Next Time…

The photograph is a portrait of my friend, Christian Carabias; actor for Telemundo’s show, Mas Sabe El Diablo and Sacrificio De Mujer Univision.

I finished setting up lights two hours early of my shoot. Christian was at the pool when I asked if I could use him to test the lights. His name is Christian (emphasize Christ) and he’s an actor so I asked him to act as Jesus praying to the father.

On huge photo shoots when you are a big shoot photographer hiring a team you’re going to have a MUA, Stylist, Hairstylist and one or three Assistants; depending on what the shoot is for you might even have an Art Director, Creative Director, Copywriter, Graphic Artist, Photo-Retoucher etc. breathing down your neck as you shoot. However, a good team creates great work; those people are there for reasons.

Those big shot photographers don’t hire those people because they can. I’ve assisted on photo shoots with large teams as such. They the team members have titles for reasons.

I’m not considered globally a big shot photographer as yet. But, on my smaller commissioned shoots and some of personal shoots I’m working with a MUA, Stylist, Hairstylist and maybe an assistant to help with reflectors etc. Doing so now prepares me, and makes me feel comfortable when I’m working on my larger commercial client’s projects.

I encourage you to build a great team to work with because it makes life so much easier at the end of the day.

However, there are still times, like this one when I photographed Christian, when I need a fix for my addiction to photography. When this craving occurs, once again I’m the assistant, the MUA if necessary and the stylist.

I’m going to take you through the process of this quick image and simple things to remember when you are the team of your photo shoot.

First thing as a photographer, using a DSLR camera, please, please, please shoot in RAW. Shooting in RAW gives you complete control over your images in post processing. You are able to color balance your photographs, adjust / decrease the exposure, fill light, clarity, blacks, brightness, and highlight etc.  To get the directional light I used honeycomb grid on Elincrome 500 strobe and positioned the strobe head above the model titled down about 45º.

The arrow above is pointing at those cutout-animal rubber bans that seem to be in fashion currently in Miami; everyone’s wearing them. I don’t really care much for them and I knew as soon as I saw the photographs uploaded to the computer I didn’t want them on his hand in the final image.

Stylists are a necessity. Even though the model doesn’t have a shirt on for the shot there are still minor distractions/considerations that the stylist would have to take care of. On these one on one shots you’re going to have to be your own stylist. Forgetting like I did, often results in unnecessary Photoshop time.

If I did hire a stylist for a shoot I probably would have asked them to bring the thorns of Jesus’ crown, drape a garment on him and the ask the MUA to make blood around his forehead.

If it were for a client, you’ve been your own team for so long, when a team comes along to work with you, you’ll know whether it’s good enough, or if you need to get some new team members.

For this shoot I was my own team, but now, that gave me a chance to collaborate with a really sick graphic artist if I wanted to. If I did collaborate I would have the artist put a crown of thorns on his head etc and the blood marks; making sure the artist is very professional and work is up to the industry level.

If you compare the last two screenshots you’ll notice that this one here is a bit cooler, not cool as in “duddeee” but cooler as in literally less warm. That’s called correcting your white balance. The easiest way/the proper way to correct the white balance would have been to have a gray card and take a picture with the gray card against the model. Leave your camera on a tripod with a sync cable, or a wireless remote, or putting it on self-timer, or if you have a really fancy trained chocolate-lab dog, or an assistant you call your dog (what-up dog) then have him/her/it stand in the frame with the gray card.

Next you would use the eyedropper tool in camera raw, drop it on the gray card and POW, there goes your white balance. If you have a client that’s going to be like, OMG you’re the final image is in black and white/ OMG the final image has so many gradients and photo filters on it did you forget to use a gray card?!” if so go ahead and get one.

If purchasing your digital camera and your tripod drained your pockets, $30.00 looks a lot like next months electricity bill and not a gray card. The next option to white balance the photograph is to find something as neutral (gray) as possible in the image and place the eyedropper tool on it.

The arrows in the last image were pointing to where I wanted the image to be brighter and darker. When in camera raw I like to open my photographs as an object in Photoshop, instead of just clicking the open key. The reason for opening as an object is because when you double click on the object layer you created, it will take the image back in to camera raw. (Step 1) I duplicate the image layer in Photoshop, hit (E) for the eraser tool, click on the image a message will come up asking to rasterize the image, hit yes. Now you would have an object layer below and a copy of the rasterized image above. The next thing would be is to double click on the object layer and bring it back into camera raw to fix the bright ness and darkness. Open again in Photoshop and repeat step 1.

You would now place a layer mask on your photograph then paint. The default layer mask it’s on the mask will be white. When like this you mask away the areas you don’t want. Example: I know I wanted his face to be brighter like the image but keep the other areas dark. I would have been time consuming for me to paint away the areas I don’t want.

To avoid this long process I simply invert the layer mask to white by selecting the mask then pressing command + i (control + i on a PC). When the layer mask is white, layer beneath it will be shown. Now here’s the thing to remember. When painting on a layer mask, if the mask is white you use the black paintbrush to show and the white to hide again and if the mask is black you do the opposite the white to show and the black to take the image back to its original look.

To make the image in black and white I press command + u (control + u on a PC) then the color balance window will pop up, you will see saturation use the slider and take it all the way to the left. Simple. There are other ways to make your image black and white this is the one I chose to go with.

Now we are almost close to the final image.

If you compared the screen shot to the previous one you will see I removed the rubber bands from his hands. It’s simple to do that. Get familiar with using the clone stamp tool, the patch tool and the healing brush tool. I use those tools to remove objects and work on skin etc.

The image is almost complete. I could leave it at that stage if I wanted to put I do a little something extra in the post processing of my images to give it a look I’ve locked down. It’s nothing genus like a Dave Hill effect, but it’s something I’m persistent with and here I’m now announcing it, “that, Dwayne Tucker Touch”.

Before I speak about that Dwayne Tucker Touch effect I want to point out something else I’ve adopted to my preferred style look. If you look at most of my portraits in my portfolio you will notice some of them are either in the left side of the frame or positioned in the right side of the fame. After shooting so many of them I filtered my images and noticed I like doing it and stuck that look.

The image now looks gray because I applied a high-pass filter. To access that you go to filters – other – high pass. When I apply this filter to my image then select overlay to overlay the layer it sharpens the photograph and gives some really cool highlight effects. After working with it several times moving the sliders back and forward, you’ll notice how sharp is harp enough for you. For females I like to keep the skin unsharpened because it looks nasty, but I do like to bring more highlights in the hairs and eyes etc. Play around with it and you will figure out what works for you.

Now Christian Carabias is a black and white Jesus in my photograph.

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The next articles for this blog are going to be: What Not To Forget – That article will share with you thing’s to remember (because I used to forget) on photo shoots and how-to scan your models when you are not using a stylist etc. The article will be following my season of  articles, “shooting on a budget”.

Until Next Time – Keep On Shooting!

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A few days ago I posted the portrait shown above of Tattooist Ejay from Eternal Truth Tattoo. I was excited about the shoot, I was excited about the photograph, I was excited about editing and sharing the photograph. I got feedback from members of the Professional Photography Industry Group on Linkedin that shared some of the same information. The feedback made me re-edit Ejay’s portrait so I’m sharing it here with you.

The first comment was from Stephen Caissie. Stephen is now a photographer and was a creative director at ID Design and an art director at theadlibgroup. He said,

“I don’t mind the lighting (I’m a sucker for the high-structure thing myself) but as an art director with a decade of experience I can tell you that the composition here is actually pretty terrible. I’m telling you this in the spirit of constructive feedback, not because I think you’re a bad photographer – your shot of Greg Gayle shows that you do know what you’re doing – but because I really don’t think this is a good shot. The large black object in the extreme foreground, out of focus as it is, wouldn’t be so distracting if it were taking up, say, 1/8th of the total image area, but it’s more like 1/5th. None of the lines are leading the viewer’s eye towards your subject, and he’s half hidden. My advice would be to crop the image up from the bottom to just under the tat on his upper arm, and in from the left to the edge of that vertical piece of metal on the wall. Nothing outside that area is in any way interesting to look at and is just fighting with your main subject. This way you’ll still get a little of that blurry foreground object to help create a sense of depth, but it won’t be nearly as prominent.”

I appreciate helpful comments like Stephen’s. When I got back to my desk, I took a look at the photograph and I agreed with him.

As photographers, we should be looking for that perfect composition in our viewfinders. It’s a must to practice like I do to become a sharper shooter. I will remember to recheck my composition more detailed for my staged shoots. In this case, Ejay was setting up to work on a client so I had to work around his movement.

Stephen’s comment reminded me of a design project I worked on my freshman year at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

It was the first project I learnt about and used psych lines. Psych lines are lines you use in art to lead the eyes to different sections of your artwork. Find these lines or place these lines in your compositions when setting up the set for your photographs.

Above is the out of camera image for the tattooist portrait. I circled parts of the photograph I knew I work on. In camera raw and Photoshop I used different techniques I picked up over my eight years of doing this and placed them together. I strongly advise you to use Google, YouTube, Vimeo and search for tutorials and watch Photoshop User TV episodes. I’m still getting better at what I do, and I will forever be on my journey as a photographer. Somewhere on this journey I learnt that it’s the edit that really counts. Learn your tutorials and take your work seriously. I should have titled this article, A Great Edit Makes A Great Photograph.

The photograph below is the new version of Ejay’s Portrait. I took into consideration the advice from members of the Professional Photography Industry Group.

Numbers one, two and three are to show how psych lines works in the photograph. Number one leads the eye to the tattooist (somewhat). It mainly leads your eye to the blurred object in front that creates depth of field. The depth of field gives dimension to the photograph. Number two and three leads the views eyes to the tattooist’s eyes. Naturally the viewer’s eyes should look for the eyes of the subject. Number four and five illustrates the depth of field. I explained the fifth number earlier about the blurred object in the front. The objects labeled number four, I made solid black hole in them because to me it created more distances. It’s hard for me to explain it the way I would like to. You are probably going to think I’m crazier than I really am in a second. The black holes are like passage ways to space / to emptiness / almost to a galaxy for my mind; it adds more distance into the photograph creating a stronger depth of field. I get a feeling of, what is behind if I went. I could almost feel the cool breeze of another world when looking at it.

Above is the final image (so far) for the tattooist portrait. I could see it being changed again if it were to be used as the front cover of a magazine. It would probably be cropped between the edge of his hat and his left shoulder (the one with the tattoos).

Remember to look for and shoot that perfect composition, utilize psych lines, make a great edit and share a good photo. Good luck.

See you next time!

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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My advice however, is for wanting to improve your skill and talent as a photographer. My work is not seen on huge campaigns, or in magazines, or in departments stores with matching catalogs….as yet. But, when it comes to doing what it takes/getting your photo-hustle to getting there, I relate to the hard work and dedication.

When I took this photograph a few weeks ago I was dying with the flu. I’m better now. Another example: I should be in bed because I’ve been up from 5:30 a.m. on a photo-shoot from 11:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. and it’s now 12:01 a.m. of the tomorrow of yesterday because I can’t  be this tired already today.

I know that I am capable of handling my future clients needs. A professional photographer friend of mine with photographs published in magazines, told me that the practice that count comes when you’re in the game. (I think I understand what he meant). Another professional photographer shared, “it’s a difference from being at the game and being in the game.” I’m out here hustling my ass of to be in the big boys games…sooner than soon. I’ve been persistence with my photography practice/ skill and talent development for a number of years now. When I’m in, I’m going to continue to hustle hard and I’m going to shine like LeBron James with my Nikon as his basketball in hands.

I treat all of my personal assignments as if I was doing it for a client or doing it for money. You should do the same.

With all that said I’m about to catch some sleep so I can get back at working on my dream and get back on my grind when  I wake-up at 5:30 a.m. Mark my work  Roxy, Element, HUF, Zoo-York, Skateboarder Magazine, Transworld Magazine, Thrasher Magazine, 944 Magazine, Ocean Drive Magazine, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Burberry, and a few other people on my mind…I’M COMING as your commercial photographer for lifestyle, portraits and sports.

Good night.

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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