Ok, I have been thinking lately how I can make my blog more informative about photography, and not just be another showcase for my work. So, this was something I came up with that I'll start doing from time to time. Through my experience, I have found that there are LOTS of little nick knacks that photographers need outside of just a camera, lenses, and strobes.

I see lots of people blogging about the latest cameras and the newest lenses but no one really talks about the little things that make their jobs that much easier. I'm still getting some of the things I need myself as I've only begun in my photography career BUT as I acquire new things I think are cool OR think of something I have already I'll post it up complete with pics and a write up of how it helps me do my job. So, let's begin with the first thing on the essential list after the jump! Click the READ MORE link below.

Ok, so last week I picked up a Intuos 4 Wacom Tablet. Having one of these is essential if you are doing any type of beauty or fashion retouching. It allows you to have a level of control unrivaled by that of a mouse when it comes to precision dodging and burning. Any professional high end retoucher worth their salt will tell you you'd be doing yourself a favor by getting one of these. It feels a little weird at first but after you get used to it I can't begin to tell you how much easier retouching your photos will become. This particular model has 2048 levels of pressure, and allows you to control the opacity and hardness of your brush strokes in real time by how hard or soft you press down with your pen.



I bought the medium sized model so it ran me about $350. The small sized one is $200, and maybe better for those on a bit of a tighter budget but still in need of this tool. If you would still prefer the bigger tablet area but don't have as much to spend I would suggest tracking down a used Intuos 2 or 3 on amazon or Ebay.

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Decided to keep playing around with that last beauty image. Lemme know what you think.

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Beauty retouching can be a really time consuming activity. Doing it well really is an essential component to having a good end product. On this shot I am about to show you, I have been working it over for about 4+ hours now. I still have some very minor nitpicky things to do but I thought I'd show this to demonstrate the contrast between an original beauty image and a retouched beauty image. A lot of people that aren't involved in photography don't really know what kind of time it takes to finish an image like this, and a lot of photographers that do their own retouching often times look for shortcuts or filters to help them finish faster. This retouch took so long in part because I very thoroughly dodged and burned on the pixel level while also using the healing brush. Check this out, and tell me what you think of the transformation.

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These photos are the result of the light setup in my last post. This was a shoot I did with a MUA I had been wanting to work with since December of last year, but I was away in school. We stayed in touch and finally got the chance to collab on this shoot. The model was Nina Cardella who is repped by Elite Model Management in Chicago. Both of them were a lotta fun to work with.

Anyway, here are some pics from the shoot. I thought this would be a good way to share some of the photos that some may not see, as only a few of these are actually going to make it into my portfolio. Lemme know what you think!

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Here's my light setup for the day. Octabox with no diffuser, and silver umbrella for fill and side light for the clothes to give some texture. I'll post the photos from this setup in the next few days.

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Yesterday was my first beauty shoot in a very long time. I think it went pretty well. You know you've had a good shoot when you have a hard time picking which images are best. Such a shame that only 1 or 2 are able to be used. Anyway, the shoot was with Kim Matthews of Elite Model Management in Chicago. She came to me because she has decided to go all natural with her hair, and since then has not taken any new pics with her new look. These are two shots from the shoot that I thought kind of complimented each other since they both have their own unique feel to them.

I'm having trouble deciding whether I like color or black and white more. Both have things about them that make me love both. Tell me which you think is better. I'd love to have some opinions.

Click in the center to view the images larger.



And for people interested in my lighting, here's an iphone pic of my setup.

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Bad Seedz performed last night at Reggie's Rock Room, and these are shots I took of the performance. The show was pretty dope! My favorites are the ones that have the look of a double exposure. Let me know what you think. Also there's another from our shoot the other day in front of the famous wall on the side of Chicago's Regal Theater. The wall is a mural of some of history's greatest black entertainers. Very historic and unforgettable piece of art if you are from Chicago. Also, I have some fashion and beauty shoots coming up next week, so stay tuned for these in the coming days.







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Always fun shooting with these guys. We cruised around the city shooting in various locations. Just went natural light on all these. Two of my favorites from the shoot.



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I'm sorry to all my followers for the lack of updates over the past few weeks. I have been really really busy dealing with life. About 2 weeks ago I graduated from Hallmark Institute of Photography. I received an award for finishing in the top 10% of the class which was a great honor to receive.

For the past few weeks I have been in the process of transitioning back home to Chicago, while also preparing myself for another move to Boston. I accepted a full time assistant position with photographer, Gary Land. With all this going on, I just haven't had much time to plan any shoots. I haven't even unpacked yet, lol. Hopefully, this week I'll be able to put something together and have some new work up shortly.

Stay tuned! Read More!