wm j henderson photography

For walking around, you can not beat this!!!

I hate camera straps, I can't keep them on my shoulders, they hurt, and they are always in the way. There is a solution, that is so simple, "why didn't I think of it". I now use this camera strap all the time. Check it out :http://www.blackrapid.com/product/camera-strap/rs-4/

Catch up Images

I have shot a lot of images in the last few weeks. Mostly with studio flash but did the fashion thing with camera flash. I could really see the limits in a big venue, with limited lighting, the Nikon battery packs just did not hold up even with lithium batteries. Most annoying, the flash was inconsistent in rapid fire mode. For slow images, the battery packs would be fine, but if I did events for a living, I would get a Turbo, either one or two heads to power the flash units. You run the risk with a Quantum power pack of burning up the heads, but you will not lack power. I enjoyed watching the people, that is always the most interesting part of the whole gig. The trick is capturing the energy that is dynamic with a single image.

On to more images, here are a few from another fashion shoot sans clothes:This one is about body shapes and movement.

 

My Computer has slowed to a Crawl,.

I have a relatively new IMAC, which runs on 4 gigs of RAM, two external hard drives to keep photos away from the operating system, with 50% of the hard drive available. Admittedly, I just released most of the open hard drive but it remains slow. Bridge is so slow, it drives me crazy, and I open it with the option key to keep Photoshop from opening. I was at Bear Images in Palo Alto and brought up the issues. Jim, an Apple Expert, started talking with me about the steps they take in their operation. As info, they run some major studios in the Bay area, providing technical support as well as equipment. These people know what they are doing, do it well, and above all really are solution oriented regardless of the size of your problem i.e. my IMAC.

Here is his advice, which they follow religiously:

1. Never use more than 80% of your hard drive, if practical no more than 50%. Photoshop uses hard drive and this is a common cause of slowness. Close everything else when running photoshop.

2. Keep your desk top clear. Desk top items eat up lots of computing power with their priority.

3. In this order run: The computer disk utility. Then, run Road Warrior until all red items are eliminated. This may require running Road Warrior several times. Finally run Drive Genius. I won't delve into what they do, you can google. The order is important to maximize the effectiveness of each repair. Bear Images performs this before every job or at least once per month on all computers.

The images are getting larger and I suspect this trend will continue. I know from my own work, lots of files are now over a gig because of the layers and software I use. Add to this a 20+MP sensor, and you have issues. I don't want to be in a situation where I have to spend 3-5K just to efficiently process images, buying a "tricked out" tower. So every trick with my existing equipment is important to me. Hopes this helps(Gallum accent) to those with the same issue(s).   

Another hint for organization of photographic "stuff"

If you are like me, it is the little stuff that drives me nuts. Like what did I do with the shutter release, or where is the extra camera battery, or were did I put the bubble level that fits in the hot shoe. Because I don't think of these things until I need them, they are always lost at the last minute when time is most precious. I keep track of camera bodies, lenses, tripods, flash heads, etc. but continually loose the ch.....s....stuff that I need. For example keeping the correct charging cord with the correct unit. Or, finding my lens pen to keep handy when I'm shooting. I tried putting these things in bags, but I then I have a bunch of mesh bags so I'm looking through bags to see what's there.

Well I can honestly say the TSA has made a contribution in this area. I now have taken a page from my toilet kit when I fly and converted all my photo bags to clear bags. The best I have found come from Think Tank with a slot for a label which I use to identify everything I put in. But I also use baggies, or anything I can get my hands on that is clear. I find this makes a big difference and saves tons of time. I can now glance at a few bags in less than a minute, and I keep a large clear bag for a catch all, where I put odds and ends. I put these clear bags in a Kelty Gear Bag, which zips up. When packing,  "piece of mind" is an elusive state and nothing fries me like finding out I left something that I now have to buy. Another plus is if you are backpacking into an area you intend to photograph, you can simply put these bags in your pack, use a normal backpack instead of those camera backpacks that don't fit. Clear bags make a little contribution, and making a little head way with every annoyance is a good thing, Period.

Want to be a better photographer?

There are lots of suggestions on why photograph, how to get better, what is a good photograph and the list goes on. The best answer to these questions is an interview with Jay Maisel by Chris Orwig. Jay Maisel is one of the remarkable photographers of our time.  You can listen at this address: http://www.chrisorwig.com/flipside/2009/11/08/jay-maisel-interview/

My take-away, doing something that has the potential to touch someone however infrequent is worthwhile, rewarding, and difficult, takes curiosity, drive, practice, and sensitivity. You start this journey by doing something that touches you, if you don't past this litmus test, the attempts bring you closer until your intuitive skills are honed and your instincts become your guide. This is the road all of us travel, and we are joined in this journey by lots of other artists.

Well the Fashion Shoot is history

Lots of people, lots of models, lots of clothes, is the top story. I might add a footnote, lots of pretty people. The females all looked good as you might expect, the venue was a high end restaurant with difficult lighting i.e. big mirror, bright light in big windows, deep shadows. The fill light performance of the SB900 was great, the SB800 not as good. If I have not said this before, the Think Tank gear is rock solid, and a life saver if you have to walk around doing an event. I will post some images later, I need to clear the images with the client before posting them on the blog. It's fun to catch people in candid moments, although I have learned over time, women are very, very, particular about how they look. If you catch them in an awkward look, they disapprove. So candid is good, as long as it is flattering. Not be sexist, guys feel the same, but tend to keep it to themselves. So don't catch the finger or hand in the wrong spot, try to get everyone smiling, keep the eyes open, limit the shadows that accentuate wrinkles, shoot down if possible to eleminate double chins, and no butt shots unless it should be bronzed(as in great). The best part for me, I move around invisible to the group so I can walk around without being noticed, and that has real advantages. However, the minute you put the camera to your face, the scene changes, people pose. So it's a game of catching people in flattering positions without their awareness. So that is the story, without images, which will only be of interest to the attendees and client. But I will post some shortly. In the meantime, time for me to get these high heels off, they are killing my feet.

Preparing for a Silicon Valley Fashion Shoot, Tomorrow

So here is the run down of gear. First the think tank belt with three pouches. One for an extra lens(24-70mm/2.8), second pouch to hold two battery packs wired to two cameras. The third to hold extra camera batteries, memory cards, and a small cleaning kit(cloth, cleaner, blower, nikon lens pen). No camera bag, only the belt. I'm carrying two cameras: D3 w/ 80-200mm/2.8 SB900 flash with softbox on RRS flash bracket. D90 with 17-35mm/2.8 SB800 flash with softbox on camera. Both flash units are connected to battery packs(Nikon), with the battery packs held in the think tank flash pouch(one pouch holds both). I like the D90 because of image quality and weight. It falls short for fast shooting requirements but does fine as a back-up in these situations.

If I had my way, I would have set up a couple of profoto lights with softboxes, and not carried all this "stuff" around. Unfortunately, the lights were thought to be distracting, potentially blocking the view of some paying customers. Now, I have to look like some tactical swat team dude with all this gear hanging off me, a wedding photographer on steroids. As a young kid, I loved pretending to be a lineman like my Uncle who wore all this stuff on a belt. My cousins and I would hang everything possible on our belts. Life comes full circle all the time.

Check out this new website, very interesting and unusual

I know the author and she is a talented painter who is capturing emotions with paintings. She has several and will be posting them with an explanation. This is very interesting to follow.                                         http://visceralpaintings.blogspot.com/

Back with New Posing

In these images, I used Silver Efex Pro from Nik to convert to black and white. With the hair, I filled the image with the filter, then erased the hair for the effect. The scene(s) are lit with two strip lights with Profoto Air heads. The advantage of Profoto Air is the ability to control all lights from the camera. This gets very cool when tethered to a laptop or projector so that each image can be examined carefully when shot, and each strobe can be adjusted for correction without moving. With a projector, the model can see a full blown image, and you can discuss any changes in positions, and in this case, give valuable input for improving the work. I find the more you include the models in your discussion and decisions on images the better the work. In other words, their opinions count and add real value. Never forget, the model wants a great image as much as you do.

While I'm sitting in a conference room in Little Rock AR.......

I had rather be fishing like these photos from my son Ryan. He is having a better time, getting more from the energy expended, and being more productive!

Now that is productivity

Don't you love people who dress up in the middle of the day on Halloween

The streets of San Francisco are famous for the nightlife on Halloween. But I love the folks that dress up during the day, those brave souls that wear their costume when everyone else is "normal". Here are a few brave souls: Love her, she was sooooo cute!!

Hope you received lots of treats....unless your one of those that love tricks.