usage

So I’ve lost track how many times my day job has used this photo of our local morning radio host. It appears in the latest member guide along with another photo of a host I shot– with no photo credits of course.

Drives me nuts but I can’t really do anything about it without turning over the apple cart. And those apples are needed for meals! The crazy thing is the image was shot in May 2005 — so it’s just a bit dated at this point. And… there have been a string of other photogs paraded into my day job to shoot portraits of on-air talent, yet the marketing folks keep using this image. Over and over.

So for those photos you can use over and over and that will remain timeless over time, check out Portland photographer:

Pete Springer Photography

I now do nails (sort of)

Thanks to some help over at my fav photog forum (dpreview), I learned how to do nails in post! Well, sort of and it’s a complicated process that involves two different adjustment layers and it doesn’t always work with every photo. But hey– it worked on this one (these are very rough, I know, I still need to work on my actual painting technique). Geek alert: I did create an action for this but I’m still not getting consistent results for a full set of nails so the trick might be to individually paint the nails using the action for each one… whew talk about a ton of layers!)

Here’s the actual photo… might need the nails to more match her lipstick too, but for now, I’m stoked they match the pepper!

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

retouching fingernails

So the one thing I would really change on this beauty shoot would be to paint her fingernails. Now I knew this going into the shoot and also knew there was no budget (ie money in my own wallet) for a nail stylist/artist. But how cool would that be if there had been?

As it is, I’ll probably make an attempt at painting them in PS myself. I tried a little last night– including a yellow nail with a white stripe down the middle– but they didn’t quite look ‘right’. Got a tip off a forum though that details a couple of adjustment layers and clipping layers– so I may try that when I get a chance.

And now a moment for a bit of rambling on retouching. Post-prod, retouching, photoshop– whatever you want to call it– can take up way more time than the shoot itself. Especially when it comes to painting fingernails! So there are retouching services out there that charge a fee and they do a nice job too. Honestly– the fee itself is reasonable since I know what kind of work goes into a decent retouch.

But then there’s also the time professional retouching adds to a project. Locally, I recently used some retouchers on a project of mine. And even though I dropped the files off in person (further adding cost — have you seen gas prices lately?) it still took TWO weeks to receive ten retouched files! Yikes. A week of that time was burned waiting for the CD to arrive in the mail. Yup, it took the good ol’ postal service a full week (actually eight days) to deliver a CD across town. Puts new meaning into the phrase, “snail mail” though I suspect a snail could have delivered that CD faster! And with no way to track USPS packages in real time (a feature I LOVE about UPS on the other hand), well, you’re stuck waiting in ether-land for your files to arrive.

You’d sure think with the internet it would be possible to transfer files on-line… oh wait, it is! In fact, that’s how I deliver the majority of my files to clients.

Sooooo… as much as I’d like to support local businesses, it’s pretty hard to support local businesses when they are offering a 21st Century product (retouching) yet still relying on 20th Century technology (CD’s and the USPS) to deliver the goods. “But the cost of bandwidth is expensive…” I hear you say. Well, yes and no. Shop around. There are plenty of photo hosting sites that are cheap and can EASILY handle the bandwidth necessary for hundreds of BIG retouching projects. I promise. My own web host is a prime example. Private, password protected galleries and an easy (and fast) way to deliver files. As they used to say on The Soprano’s, “I’m just sayin’…”

Pete Springer Photography

hurray for hair and makeup!

Hair and makeup– two crucial aspects of any successful fashion shoots. Their work can make or break a shoot. This team is one of the best I’ve worked with– Julie Ruckman and Terri Lodge. Here they are prepping wonderful model Erin for another pepper beauty look.

Good hair and makeup people hang out on the set and keep an eye out for touch ups and stray hairs. Speaking of hair– check this hair do out! Julie blows my socks off all the time with her styles.

Alright– and here’s my behind the scenes shot. The red is ‘real’– it’s from a geled spot just behind Erin’s head. I have to say, beauty photography is a real blast when you have a stellar team like Terri and Julie.

Pete Springer Photography Portland Oregon

on location fashion photos

Wrapped up a job Sunday for a location fashion clothing boutique in Portland, Oregon. Here’s a set-up shot– packed in the white backdrop and four studio strobes plus modifiers for catalog style shots on location (this was shot inside a local boutique). The results are a clean white backdrop with some nice rim lighting to help sculpt the light.

Hey all you other Portland boutique owners and Portland fashion designers! Pete Springer Photography is affordable, fast, and high quality! Pressed for time? I can come to your location/boutique/studio and set-up my studio gear! All you have to do is provide the clothes and within a couple of hours, you’ll have perfect photos of your designs! Easy, fast, and affordable! You don’t have to hassle with downloads, resizing, color management, retouching, lighting, posing, etc. I’ll handle that for you!

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

high fashion portland oregon

Pete Springer Photography

new fashion pics posted

Cool new photos of Holly Stalder designs just posted on:

Pete Springer Photography

more peppers

Pete Springer Portland Oregon Photography

thanksgiving dinner

Strobist setup– should have thrown another flash off to camera left for the background, but I was traveling lightweight and only had two hot shoe strobes with me. The one in the kitchen created awesome light though (used a sto-fen on it with a tungsten gel if I remember correctly– I’m firing the camera and two strobes relayed using a PW in my left hand– key is an umbrella to the left of the table removed in PS)! Also should have had the dog and another light in the shot… luckily there’s always next year!

Pete Springer Photography

portland beauty photography

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon