PhotoVision – Education and solutions for pro photographers!

I love PhotoVision! I LOOOOOVVVEEE PHOTOVISION!! Do you understand what I’m trying to say here?! PhotoVision has been around over a decade and has tens of thousands of pro photographers learning from them.

PhotoVision has much to offer in the way of educational videos. I ran across their products around five or six years ago and I’ve been a fan ever since. The DVDs I bought back then are still helpful and I love to go back and watch them all the time.

PhotoVision offers other stuff as well like products such as calibration targets but what they are most known for and rightly so are their instructional videos.

For a yearly subscription, you can receive their videos six times a year. They also have other DVDs available with all subjects related to portrait photography from top portrait photographers in each given genres such as children’s photography, wedding and senior portraits. Names such as Kirk Voclain, Kia Bondurant, Sarah Petty and Sarah Antisdel. What they ask for membership is so worth the money. If you haven’t purchased their videos before you can go back and get 2009 at a very discounted rate! But even full rate is worth it in my opinion.

Also, check out their facebook page!

Enchanted Images – Amazing portrait photographers!!!

Today’s post we’re featuring one of our favorite portrait photographers out there, Enchanted Images. The awesome photographers behind this great portrait photography business is James and Stephani Hays.  They are from Roseville, California, near Sacramento if I’m not mistaken.

I first became fans of theirs on photoSIG when James would post images for critique. His work made me an instant fan and I’ve been one ever since. He’s an inspiration of mine and his work just gets better and better and more classy all of the time.

Enchanted images specializes in seniors and family portraits. A great combination for these guys as they know how to do it perfectly with the right artistic touches. They are so inspiring to me I think because they never cease to produce images that look  beautiful and cutting edge, fashion forward and timeless, artistic and perfectly flattering for each individual subject. I just love these guys!!!

If you haven’t ever checked them out or it’s been a while, stop what you’re doing and go there now! It will be well worth your time.

Check out their site or their blog. How about their facebook page? If that’s not enough, you can even check out their photoSIG page! If you talk to them, let them know you found them on our site!

RangeFindermag.com – great online source!!! and FREE MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION!!!

Are you a pro? If so, you may already know this, but if not, let me let you know that if you are, you can get a free subscription to Range Finder Magazine just for signing up!

RangeFinderMag.com is also a great site with lots of resources and information for professional and amateurs alike.

RangeFinder Magazine has a long history of photographic excellence and being a leader in this industry. Check it out!

How To Use Sunset to Light Portraits

Using frontal light for portrait subjects can be quite flattering

Today’s post was found on was found on Digital Photography School, a great website that has tons of helpful tips and advice for digital photographers. Since the writers of our site are portrait photographers and many of our readers are as well, I thought I would share today’s post with you as it is simple but great advice for photographing outside.

The article being featured today is “How To Use Sunset to Light Portraits“. They briefly but very helpfully explain using the sun to front, side and back light your subject outdoors. A good article for beginners and a good reminder for everyone else as well. We all need a good reminder here and there, every once in a while.

Using the sun as backlight can be very interesting and appealing if done right

If you are unaware of Digital Photography School, their website describes it as the following

Welcome to Digital Photography School! Discover how to use your digital camera with our Digital Photography Tips. We are a community of photographers of all experience levels who come together to learn, share and grow in our understanding of photography.

Definitely a site worth checking out! I would suggest making their site part of your continuing education as there is always something new, interesting and helpful on their site.

Todd Owyoung’s Concert Photography

No Doubt

Music is something that we don’t usually think of when we think about photography. Imagine if you will, going to see one of your favorite music performers play and you get to shoot the show.

Roots

Todd Owyoung

The excitement of being on the side or front of the stage doing what you love (photography) and being able to shoot one of your favorite bands is really a rush. Unfortunately, when the lights start flashing red, blue, green, on, off, on, off, on, you’ll find that things can quickly become difficult as your light meter does sprints from one side of your view finder to the other. Please allow me to introduce to you Todd Owyoung. Todd is a Professional Concert Photographer whose work will give you the feeling of being in the front row.

John Mayer

Todd’s work has been published in publications such as Spin, Rolling Stone, the New York Times, Alternative Press, Metal Hammer, Entertainment Weekly, and Billboard Magazine. Some of Todd’s portfolio includes Metallica, Kiss, Aerosmith, John Mayer, Dave Mathews, Willie Nelson, and many others

Todd’s site is full of fantastic and inspiring concert photography. His work captures the excitement of the show. His site contains a “gear” section in which Todd discusses in detail the gear he uses for each situation.

Street Drum Corp

Todd also writes about how to meter under the constant change of lighting while shooting a concert. If you’ve shot a concert before you know the challenge with the lighting changes. It can really be crazy, but fun! Todd also provides tutorials and Q&A’s on how to capture some great shots under extreme lighting conditions.

The Devil Wears Prada

If you’ve ever wanted to get into concert photography Todd’s site, I Shoot Shows is a great place to check out.

Awkward Family Photos

Laser Cat

Today’s post is about a site I love. It’s Awkward Family Photos! Not necessarily a site I’d call inspirational. But maybe it is, in an opposite way. It’s hilarious and it sort of comes in perfect after yesterday’s post.

Punked

I have to admit, we have photos like these in our family albums. Who doesn’t!? But I just hope that now as a portrait photographer, I won’t ever take photos that will end up on this site!

Funny stuff, you have to check it out! Got an awkward family portrait? Sumbit it!!!

Hot Tub Time Machine 80’s Contest Champ: The Situation

Actually, I think part of the comedy of it all is in the comments. There are so many hilarious captions that it almost makes the site twice as good!

Crash Taylor’s Interview Site

Today’s site just blew me away! I am so happy I found it. I am surprised I’ve never heard of it. It is called Crash Taylor – The World’s Best Interview Site About Photography. It was love at first site. I totally fell in love! He interviews the best of the best. Photographers that specialize in portraits, weddings, fashion and even sports. He features a new interview every month and the photographers are so interesting to read.

They are photographers you may have heard of like: David Ziser, Paul Johnson, David Beckstead, Jules Bianchi, Grant Oakes, Michael Grecco, Jasmine Star, Andy Marcus, and the list goes on and on!

Here is a segment from his site where he discusses exactly what he does:

“Welcome to photographer interviews by Crash Taylor. Every month Crash will be interviewing a photographer whose work pushes the boundaries of our profession to create images that are emotional, edgy, original, and most of all capture a unique moment in time.  Whether you’re an amateur or seasoned pro, Crash hopes these interviews will inspire you to stamp your own imprint on the landscape of great photography and become the best and most innovative photographer you possibly can be.”

Crash is an award winning wedding photographer from the UK and was voted one of the top ten wedding photographers in the UK by Professional Photographer Magazine.

He is certainly accomplished and he knows what good photography is. He is able to ask the right questions. The questions that answer what we all want to know about these photographers. His questions are indepth and the interviews are beautifully written and put together.

I look forward to reading through them all. I am sure it will take me some time. But it will be worth it!

Quick and Easy Editorial Head Shots

From the extremely helpful site called ShootSmarter.Com, comes a great and concise article about shooting editorial shots that are quick and painless to the subject, photographer and everyone else involved, but primarily to the subject who normally is someone who doesn’t have much time to spend with you.

ShootSmarter.Com is jam packed with helpful articles that I think are worth checking out on a daily basis. This article was written by Rob Provencer, but he’s only one of many talented authors on this site. It should be at the top of the list for portrait photographers wanting to educate themselves constantly. Their articles are called appropriately called Smarticles . Read them daily and you will get smart!

An smarticle and site worth well checking out and bookmarking!

COFFEE TEA PHOTOGRAPHY

Sometimes I get lost reading all these photo blogs.  They are full of wonderful photographs, stories, photography tips, and so on.  “Rita”, is the writer and owner of a blog site called Coffee Tea Photography.

Rita is a “stay at home mom” who describes herself as being addicted to photography.  She also loves to help others with her knowledge by sharing her personally made actions used in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.  Her site also includes Storyboards and templates, Textures, and tons of tutorials.  Sounds cool right?  What if I told you, everything on her site is free?  Well, it is!  Why free?  It’s simple; part of Rita’s passion with photography is helping others.

I’ve found Coffee Tea Photography to be very informative, full of great ideas and useful items.  Rita’s site is a great place to learn from and for those of you that can’t afford some of the expensive editing software out there, stop on in and take a look around at Coffee Tea Photography.com

Antisdels Photography – Fresh and Contemporary Portraits

About eight years ago, I was shooting portraits in Louisburg, KS and had a conversation with an older woman who told me that she had twin granddaughters who lived in Chicago, but flew into Kansas City to have their senior portraits done by a studio called Antisdels. She also told me how much they spent on senior portraits and as I recall, she said it was somewhere in the ballpark of a couple thousand dollars. I was in disbelief. I couldn’t believe someone would come that far for senior portraits and secondly that someone would pay that much for them. That was until I saw their work and have now come to realize who they are.

Antisdel’s Photography, located in Louisburg, KS, a suburb of Kansas City, is a portrait studio that specializes in children and senior portraits. They are also founders of Senior Portrait Artists, or SPA as they are more commonly known, an organization dedicated to art and business of senior portraits. 

Antisdel’s photography to me is really what senior portraits and children / family portraits are supposed to be all about. They are bright, colorful, youthful, vibrant, fresh, new, contemporary, stylish, cutting edge, emotive and the list could certainly go on and on and on. If you haven’t heard of Antisdel’s, I highly suggest checking their work out and also checking out SPA. It will be well worth your time!