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Steve Bedell, M.Photog.Cr.

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'Lights, Seniors, Actions'

By Steve Bedell

Normal and 'Split Blue and Warm'Action (My Favorite!)

What can you do to set your images apart, to make people notice your work, and to make you more money? I’ve found one of the easiest ways to do all of the above is by using cool Photoshop actions. I'm proficient enough in Photoshop to make many of my own basic actions, but my favorite image altering actions come from Kevin Kubota. I’ve had them for about a year and wasn't using them much until recently. Big mistake! My high school seniors are freaking out about them! More…

Anatomy of an outdoor portrait

A quick little tip for your outdoor portraits.  Always look for 'secondary' light sources.  In this portrait, notice how the sun is behind her and lights her hair, creating a 'rim light'.  This is a secondary source since our main light on our subjects face is coming from camera right.  This is from the open sky and the sunlight reflecting off a white building.  By turning her head into the light and shooting into the shadow side of the face, we've created a traditional 'short' lighting pattern.  Yeah, I know her weight is on the 'wrong leg', but she just fell into this, it looked natural, so I took it.  Make sure your background is about the same density or within one stop when backlighting and that the sun isn't too strong, it's filtered through the trees in above example.

A Special letter from EPhoto reader Paul Purpura.  Thanks Paul for reminding us how important our chosen profession is.

Hi Steve,
 
You probably already know this but I read today that Joe Rosenthal past away. He was the photographer that took the picture of the Marines raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima during World War II.
 
When I was younger, I used to worship and aspire to be a manager that could wield power and make a lot of money. As I got older I realized that such was shallow and callous. It was also just plain stupid because I would have been absolutely miserable.
 
As an aspiring professional photographer, people like Joe have become my inspiration. His picture of those Marines will live forever. As I wrote in my journal today, presidents come and presidents go, and so do CEO's of major corporations. During their tenure they hold much power and make a lot of money. But they fade off into history and are remembered when it is appropriate to do so.
 
I realize now that people like us (photographers) preserve memories, and through our work we also preserve history. And once in a great while, if we are very lucky, we become part of history. I am so proud to be a part of this profession. Nothing brings me more happiness than when I am behind my camera taking pictures. My editor already knows that.
 
Best regards,
Paul Purpura
Photography By Paul Purpura
 

  Natural light DVD

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