Eli's Photography Blog

Even attorneys need great pictures

Yeah, I know what they say about lawyers. I’ve heard the jokes, but I just spent the afternoon with Jason Files and Stephanie Harris, and they’re the exception. Great people with a good sense of humor and knowledge of the law. Jason and Stephanie have a firm located in Historic Downtown Little Rock. They recently had their website remodeled and wanted some updated photos to go along with it.  I think they will be very happy with the new photos, I am, and the best part is Stephanie said she knows a few friends that may be getting married soon. Good luck with the law firm you guys, now I know who I am gonna call if I need any legal advice.

NEW Fine Art Canvas Gallery Wraps Now Available

I am now offering 1.5 inch thick fine art “gallery style” canvas prints. Any photo of your choice can be made into a piece of art for your home or perfect for a gift. I just received my sample gallery wrap in the mail. I will have this set up at the 2009 Kiss The Brides Bridal Show here at the Verizon Arena in Little Rock. I want to show this thing off. It’s super nice. The photo is printed onto a large canvas paper and mounted on a wood frame. Even if you already had your wedding photos taken, if your photographer gave you the rights to get photos printed, you should consider printing a gallery wrap. Right now I am including a 16×20 gallery wrap with every bridal portrait session. If you would like to order any canvas gallery wrap just let me know. Enjoy!

Every model needs great head shots

Britt is a model in Nashville Tennessee. She had some old head shots that were a little outdated and needed to be updated for current work. I understand how important having new fresh photos for a model or actor/actress is. You need photos that reflect your personality and show agencies who you are with just one photo. First impressions are very important, one look at your picture could be all you get for the initial screening. Bottom line…every model needs great head shots. So Britt called me up and asked if I could help her out. I was more that happy to. She brought a lot of energy and made the photo shoot very easy, plus she gave me an opportunity to test out my new homemade ring light. More to come on how I made that super cheap ring light coming soon. We did half the shoot outside and the other half using this ring light effect. Thanks Britt, enjoy and good luck with the modeling.

Photoshop Actions Save Money

I’m sure most of you are familiar with the phrase time is money, but as a small business owner that phrase takes on a whole new meaning. After I photograph an all day wedding or spend two hours with a new engaged couple, my work has just begun. I still have several hours of editing, resizing, uploading, and tagging to do. I know that the amount of time that I spend on a project effects my overall profit. I also know that I am not going to rush through my photos just so that I can make more money. I am a perfectionist, probably like most other photographers, but like any good person of their trade, using the right tools can make the job much easier and save a lot of time. Adobe Photoshop is probably the number one tool that most all photographers use other than their cameras and lenses. I would like to share with you guys a simple photoshop action that I use on a regular basis that saves me a lot of time.

Let’s say that I just finished an engagement photo shoot (e-session) with a couple. I know that they will want there photos online (facebook, myspace, .mac, ect.) asap to share with all of there friend and family. My camera (Nikon D90) shoots 12.3 mega pixels. This is way too large for the web. I need to resize all of the photos and give the couple two disc, one with the originals and a disc with the smaller photos for the web.

Step 1. Make a copy of the folder with the original photos.

Step 2. Open Photoshop and locate the “Actions” window. Option+F9 on a Macintosh

Step 3. Create a new custom action. Name it and click record. Photoshop will now record all of the actions you make until you stop or pause the recording process.

Step 4. Use an test photo to set up your custom action. You should use a photo that is the native size that your camera shoots. For example, my 12.3mp camara shoots a photo that is 2848X4289. This is a vertical portrait. Open the image in Photoshop and adjust the image size. Option+Command+I on a Mac. Now you can adjust the image to your desired size.

Step 5. Save. Do not save-as. Overwrite the file, this is why we created a duplicate folder in step one.

Step 6. Close and stop the “Action” recording. Now you have created you first custom action. You can always go back an remove or make addition steps to that action by selecting the action and picking up the recording process.

Step 7. Automate Batch. This is where you can save some real time. Remember that photo that we used to create the action was just a test subject. Now let’s assume that you have a folder with 700 photos that you want to resize for the web. You now have a custom action that will do just that, but how about using the “Automate Batch” feature to resize all 700 photos at once. There is no keyboard shortcut for this. File, Automate, Batch. this will bring up your options.

Step 8. Point the Automate feature to the folder where you want the images resized. Select your custom action and boom, that’s it. Sit back and let the computer compute. Or go out am take some more photos. Either way you should be happier because you will spend less time behind a computer. The time that this will take depends on your computers processing power and the number of photos it is resizing. Enjoy!

My Mother’s Day

Life can be very busy at times, for me it feels like it is always busy. I spend a lot of time with other families; taking pictures of their most important events in their lives, that I sometimes forget to spend the needed attention with my own family and loved ones. Today is the national day dedicated to mothers all over the US. I just wanted to wish all mothers a wonderful day, and to take a little time to tell my mom how much I appreciate her. I believe that I have the best mother out there. Some how, of all the possible mom’s that I could have been paired with I got the best. My mom has been like a rock to me, she has always been there. She has shown me how to live, taught me how to treat others, and by her example I see how to love others. Before I was even a thought, my mom was doing her thing as an artist. As a young boy I have always remembered my mom painting, sketching, or arranging different things. I guess she passed some of that creativity down to me. For that I am very grateful. My mom has shown me how to be, and then left it up to me to do it. Thanks Mom, I love you.