This 243rd Independence Day holiday week saw a lot of fun times here on Photofocus. We start in a serious vein with a video from Vanelli by Skip Cohen on becoming a full-time photographer, Rich Harrington and Abba Shapiro along with our partner ViewBug offer a free video course on getting started lighting with studio strobes, then Erin Holmstead tells why she attended a hair and makeup convention. It wouldn’t be the Fourth without sparklers so Levi Sim shared tips for making portraits with them and Julie Powell explains what’s “in” in color for still life photography. Hope your holiday was as good as ours. Safe travels.
Practical advice: Deciding if you should be a full-time or part-time photographer - In this video, Skip Cohen gives practical advice on how to decide if you should be a full-time or part time photographer. 
Get started using studio strobes with a free Viewbug membership - I remember when I was just getting started with photography. I shot everything with natural light, or with an on-camera speedlight. Strobes honestly scared me, and rightfully so — there’s a lot that goes into using strobe lighting! But once I sat down and learned it, it was something that completely changed my photography for the better. If you’re in the same boat as I was, check out Viewbug’s free one-month membership for Photofocus readers. You’ll get access to this course, “Up and Running with Studio Strobes,” from Abba Shapiro and Rich Harrington, as well as be able to interact with other photographers and compete in photo challenges. About the course In this course, Rich Harrington and Abba Shapiro give beginning photographers a brisk look at using strobe lights in a studio setting — lessons that easily translate to the field and locations, inside and out. Learn why shooting with strobes and continuous lighting makes such a big impact on your photographs, and how to buy a good, affordable starter kit. Rich and Abba also show how to set your gear up, trigger your lights and make modifications with accessories like reflectors, umbrellas and soft boxes. Finally, learn how to make the most of what you have in a series of lighting challenges. Claim your free Viewbug Pro membership Want to watch this and other courses to help boost your photography? Viewbug is offering a free one-month Viewbug Pro membership, exclusive to Photofocus readers. After your free month, you pay just $6.92 per month to continue. In addition to some great courses, you also receive unlimited photo uploads and contest participation, your own website, the ability to sell your images and more. Sign up today! Lead photo by Alexander Dummer on Unsplash
Why did I go to a hair and makeup convention? - Yep, you heard me right — I went to a convention strictly dedicated to hair and makeup artists (HMUA), and I am not even close to either of those. I honestly can’t do a winged eye to save my life! I cut my hair maybe twice a year, but I went fully prepared to look like a fool. However, that wasn’t the case at all. I left the Caper ‘19 convention knowing that they were going to use one of my images for the convention’s press release and with an invitation to return the following year to cover the show! Why I went I didn’t go wanting to educate myself about what hair and makeup artists do. I went with the intention of telling everyone there what I do, which is photography. I am a beauty photographer, so working with HMUA is half my job and this convention had the who’s who of HMUA there. There were some of my dream clients all in one location — the ones that I want to hire me to shoot their portfolio work or recommend me to other clients. They are the bread and butter of my business. So, I showed up with my camera and just started shooting. I was taking pictures of the artists on stage, in the halls, outside talking to students. I was asking models that I saw walking around if I could snag a few images of them really quick and was handing out business cards left and right. I was hustling as if my life depended on it and it totally worked. Their VP of Marketing came up to me at the end of the first day and asked if she could use my image she saw on Instagram for their press release. Conclusion I left that convention with more contacts and future clients than ever before. I built a whole new portfolio with work from the legends I admire and by doing so I now get to go back next year! I challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and go where your dream clients are at. Maybe that’s at a hunting expo or a cooking convention, maybe you need to go to a Cosplay convention to further your clientele. Whoever your dream client is … go to them! Invest in yourself and in them and I promise it will pay off.
Color concepts in still life photography — what’s in? - In colors … In my part of the world (Australia) everywhere I go in stores, online, in magazines, etc., the IN color for home decorating is blue and cream (or off white). Yellow is also making a bold statement. Considering it is winter here, these seem almost summerlike colors, perhaps influenced by warmer climates? Other areas online I find that berry colors seem to in style. Still life styling often seems to follow this trend, not always, but often. Color palettes come and go, and most still life photography is used for social media, or digital Magazines and advertising, as well of course for our own fun. It seems only reasonable for it to follow trends. But what if the IN color is not to your liking? What if you do not have props, linens, flowers or whatever in those colors? Is it wrong to beat your own drum? Of course not! Setting your own mood and color … Do you shoot whatever is at hand, or do shoot more intentionally? Perhaps you shoot more for a mood or a season. Let’s face it — there are seasonal colors than there are IN seasonal colors. There is no right or wrong in setting your own color scheme and moods for your images, after all, they are YOURS. If you are partial to browns and gray and more somber colors, use them! If you have a preference for reds, greens or pinks, why not use them? The same goes for if you like really bright color choices or something a little more pastel. Adobe Color Have you ever visited Adobe’s Color website? It’sa fabulous resource for artists and photographers, allowing you to pick colors and work to set schemes or moods. Have a play with different color palettes, perhaps combinations you may never think to try. Visit their Trends area to see what is ‘on trend’ around the world in different industries. When following an influencer on Instagram, blogs and such I have seen there tends to be a run on a certain color for a week or even a month. This can be a great way to explore different color combinations, complementary color or monotones for instance. Perhaps try analogous or compound colors, for a particular color. For example, using red, burgundy and pink for berries. Finding inspiration Grab some images from the internet, or from your own galleries, that really grab your attention. Then bring them into the Create module in Adobe Color and extract the colors from that image. See if there is a pattern forming there for your taste and style. Perhaps you are really drawn to a color, for which you currently have no props, backgrounds, fabric, etc. Make yourself a shopping list, save images to your phone and then you can color match with fabrics and props in-store, in bargain bins or even your friend’s house! What’s next? Have fun and play! Create a shoot list for yourself, perhaps set a challenge to only shoot blue tones for a week or a month. Or try limiting yourself to reds, greens, browns or other colors.
Portrait Tips: Sparkler portraits - Photographing fireworks is one of the most fun things you can do on the Fourth of July — but it’s also a great way to ruin your family’s fun. While everyone is trying to enjoy the show, you’re sitting there cussing at your camera and running around to get a different angle while your spouse wrangles kids who are throwing potato salad at each other. Fortunately, there’s a great way to redeem yourself: Sparkler portraits. I can’t wait to make these this year — last year we were in a forest and couldn’t use sparklers for fire danger. Warning Remember, you’re trying to make a fun activity for the kiddos, so don’t get stuck and focused on making the perfect picture. Let the kids have fun — they’ll surprise you with their creativity. Tuck the ideas away for next week when the sparklers are half price and you can spend some time with a model making the perfect picture. Right now, just let the kids have fun and don’t let them burn each other.Camera settings The key to making these pictures is time, so shutter speed is your creative setting and you’ll adjust everything else to give you the time you need to let the kids make shapes and spell their names. Start here: Manual mode Shutter speed: 3 seconds Aperture: f/8 ISO: 100 White balance: Daylight Focus on the kids, then switch to manual focus Do the kids need more time? Make the shutter speed longer. Is the picture too bright? Make the aperture smaller — f/11, f/16, f/22 Need more light in the background? Raise the ISO a little. Add flash Adding flash with sparkler portraits is where this gets really fun. The flash will freeze the kid’s face and make a sharp picture with the lights blurring all over elsewhere. Read this article for complete instructions on how to use your flash. Practice!!! These are pictures of my kids practicing this technique in the living room with flashlights this morning. They had some fun for about 15 minutes and then got tired of me telling them what to do. But tomorrow night with friends they’ll have a blast telling the other neighborhood kids how cool it’ll be and they’ll help set up the pictures. Ideas to try with a sparkler Have a kid write their name Draw crazy shapes with the light Draw smiley faces Have several kids each write one letter of a word — it’ll be backward, but go with it Outline something else, like a car Have several kids dance around one kid who holds still and gets flashed I can’t wait to see your results. Upload them to the Photofocus Facebook Group and tag me. For more ideas, check out my course on Viewbug, “Ten Portraits with One Light.” Portrait Tips come out each week, and you can see them all right here.
