It’s just that time of year. For wedding photographers especially, their Saturdays are full in the middle of their busy season! There is nothing like have a wedding in June. I have photographed and assisted in photographing several weddings in the DC Area. At this time, the city landmarks will be dotted with brides and grooms. While they are out a photographer is directing them to pose, and look. The photographer is attempting to make some nice photos while trying to minimize the tourists in the background. Given that this is such a photogenic city they have made a great choice of location!
Wedding Photography
It is nice to be part of their big day, and a responsibility that I took for granted before being the person behind the camera. These are the photos that are looked at by multiple generations. In that case, these photos are the first family heirloom. Additionally, these are the items that are sought after when natural disasters take other material possessions. They will survive long after the flowers and cake. These thoughts keep me sharp throughout the day, and humble me every time someone asks me to photograph their wedding.
It is nice to see so many people that use my photos as their on social networks! There are many dancers that we see at competitions that use their action photos as their profile photos. It is funny when I get friend requests or LinkedIn connection requests and associated with the person is one of my photos.
Studio Portraits
Now that I am more comfortable with setting up and photographing the action on the floor, I have had more opportunity to do portraits off the dance floor. With the additional time that I must prepare and frame the photos, I have made more formal portraits. This has translated especially well for people wanting to update their head shots. For actors, dancers, as well as other professionals, it is important to have a current portrait taken within the last 2 years. For promotional materials, business cards, corporate directories, and social networks, the profile photo goes a long way to illustrate what you do.
These photos are used on websites serving as introductions to potentials clients. They convey some of the personalities of those represented even though they are a still image. These can be done in the studio, at your location, or also in outdoor settings. If you have a need to update your headshots, please let me know! They are easy to setup in almost any location, and I am very flexible. At most it can take up to 2 hours to complete. If you need more examples or want more information, please leave me an email [ rassi @ timelinedc.com ] or give me call (703) 864 – 8208. Have a great weekend!
With the internet, it is quite easy to be exposed to many good photographers. For me, post processing of photos can really separate competent photographers from outstanding ones. As with every other aspect of photography, concentrating on only one part of the craft can eventually hurt the quality of your work. You can concentrate on things like – buying gear, social media, marketing your business, making new photos, or post processing. If you only concern yourself with one of these aspects of photography, the others will suffer.
Dance Photography
In being a ballroom dance event photographer, I get the opportunity to make thousands of photos at an event. Post processing takes a lot of my time after events. Looking back at some of my first photos, I can see that I really went overboard using effects and sliders in Lightroom. The effects were good at attracting attention to my images on social networks, and I really had a lot of fun making them.
These “cross processing” presets in Lightroom used color shifts to emulate purposely incorrect film processing in the darkroom to create the effects. Some also used heavy darkening of corners to highlights subjects. This was a cutting-edge way to create photos. Since then, the explosion of Instagram, and other photo editing apps on iPhones and Android has made these looks more prevalent online. (For the record, I have recently joined Instagram, and actually enjoy it!)
So with the change in styles that I am seeing, I have gone back to doing less to photos, and leaving them as close to in-camera capture as I can. This is just another phase until the next thing comes out. For photographers, the message is making your images as best you can in camera, then post process them as you like it at the time. It will make you happy with the creative process and will mark eras in your photography life. We are digital photographers now. We don’t have different film stocks, or film chemistry that will change with the times. The best part is we have RAW files that make the transition with us, metadata, and all. So, you can always revisit photos as they were and update them, or not!
Here is where I am today, and I hope you come back to see what comes next –
