Strobist DVD Excerpt

Pretty dang cool...

Heavy Metal Photoshoot

I'll be going to Green Bay on January 17th, but it won't be to see a Packer Game. I'll be attending STUN Photo's Heavy Metal Groupshoot. You going? Wanna shoot?

Help Portrait Story in Journal Times Newspaper

The Racine Journal Times did a story on the upcoming Help Portrait Project event being held at Regency Mall this weekend.

Go here for the story.

Renee Klinger Benefit

PLEASE go to the linked website and read about my friend, Renee Klinger. Renee has worked with us at the studio a number of times, and she is really a wonderful person. Studio MLP will be donating use of the studio for an event on December 16th, 2009!

And if you are interested in coming to the event on Wednesday, details are HERE. Photographers will be charged $50.00, non-photographer guests are only $10.00.

Pimpin' Green Martini

So, I've spent almost all night pimping Green Martini. For those of you who don't know yet, Green Martini is a website that my buddy Scott has put together to put Model Mayhem and One Model Place out of business. The guy knows his stuff and has created a great website. The site is still in beta, and there are a lot of cool features that have yet to be added, but it's going to be awesome by the time the official release happens.

I have also been named Green Martini's Education Coordinator. Once the site is up and running, I will be responsible for creating and obtain training material for the site. F'rinstance, I'll be creating videos on Photoshop and lighting skills, and also working with other talented artists to help them create content for the site as well.

So, tonight, I started up a Green Martini Events Meetup page with the help of Brian G. I did a bunch of invited to the Green Martini Facebook page, and I'm planning out a Green martini MySpace page. I'll link that as well once I get it up and running.

Also, but sure to check out my HD YouTube video on Green Martini's CREDIT feature.

Help Portraits Event - December 12th

On December 12th, 2009, I will be joining photographers from all over the world as we donate our time and talents. Go to the Help Portrait website and see what you can do to help!

If you are a member of Meetup.com, go to the Milwaukee Photography Meetup Group to join the group and sign up for the event.

Back from Vegas!

Whew... busy week and a half there... LOTSA stuff going on. I'll be posting a lot of pictures soon!

OK, one more from the Photowalk

I've got a fever, and the only prescription... is more HDR!

One More from the Photowalk

One more shot from the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk. This is another one with the wide angle lens. Shot at 10mm (15mm with the crop factor) at f8. Seven exposure bracket brought into Photomatix, and touched a bit in Photoshop. This is an old, delapidated fence across the street from our end point of the walk, Chartroom Charlie's.

World Wide Photo Walk Pics!

OK, so only one shot so far.. I'll add to it as I get some editing done.. This one was shot with a Nikon 10-24mm f3.5-4.5.. all the way wide at f8. Heavy on the Photomatix for the HDR, and a Multiply Layer in Photoshop to make the colors pop more.

Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk Update

OK, the walk is starting to fill up nicely.. we should have a GREAT turnout.. just hoping for a nice day (keep dem fingers crossed.)

Some of the participants asked for a quick tour of StudioMLP. PLUS, there is also another photography event going on at my buddy Jeff Gruber's place. So, with all that, added to GALLERY NIGHT in downtown Racine, it's going to be a BUSY photography day.

Photowalk - 2pm-4pm
After-walk get together at Chartroom Charlie's - 4pm-6pm (ish)
Quick visit to Studio MLP - 6pm-7pm (ish)
Over to Jeff's place! 7pm

Busy Busy Busy

Sorry I haven't posted for so long... I've had a bunch of stuff going on recently.. So, I'm way behind on stuff I need to get done..

But, here is a link to the You Tube Video of the recent "Anything Goes" Event at Studio MLP.

I'll have a few more things up soon as well, Some recent photoshoots at the studio, a shot or two from a wedding I did, and some shots from an Open Pantry promotional event.

Just gimme a day or two.

Lotsa New Stuff @ the Milwaukee Photography Meetup Group!

Hey there. Go to the Milwaukee Photography Meetup Group Webpage and see all the cool stuff that has been scheduled. Richard Bublitz is teaching us how to take world class portraits, Bob Haig is coming in to share exeriences from his 70 years as a photographer, Photo Walks happening all over the WORLD! Go to the MPMG webpage now! Send your photography friends there now!

New Camera

So, as some of you know, I recently picked up a new camera. And some of those some of you were completely stunned to hear it was a CANON! So, before you get too excited, I'm still keeping my twin Nikon D300's for day to day use, but, I have to admit, for just running around with a point and shoot to do snapshots, I decided on the Canon G10 as being the best snap-shotter out there. The fact that it has a hotshoe and the ability to shoot RAW was important, although I found that the *.CR2 files don't seem to want to open in Photoshop CS3. Not sure if CS4 is compatable, but, I don't think I will be upgrading just for that. I'll stick with the relatively weak Canon software for now.

Anyway, image quality seems to be good. I had it in the studio a few times already, and I got some decent images with it. I'll be posting a bunch soon, but here is a couple shots of Cambriea.

It also does pretty good at bracketing (only 3 shots, but it does give you +-2 stops.) And with the remote cord and a tripod, I'll be able to keep up on my recent HDR obsession. Oh yeah, Photomatix processes the RAWs, but not Photoshop. Go figure.

Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk

Hey gang!

Sign up NOW for this year's Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk. On July 18th, 2009, photographers all over the world will be meeting for photo walks. The Racine Photowalk will be starting at 2pm at Monument Square in Downtown Racine. We will spend two hours winding our way north through downtown Racine to Chartroom Charlie's, just north of the river.

This will be a chance for photographers of ALL skill levels to get together and do some shooting. Level of skill or expense of equipment is not a factor here. As a matter of fact, I'll be leaving the big bag at home for something a little less cumbersome..

If you have any questions at all aboout this event, please contact me. Otherwise, if you can make it, go the the Photo Walk website now and sign up for the event nearest you (or nearest to your heart!)

And a few more HDR shots

Did a little more playing around in HDR at the studio yesterday. Look close and you will see the world famous Kobe in a few of the shots!

11:11 Shoot

So, Frank's shoot went really well yesterday! Lots of great models and photographers. I'll be putting up more info about the shoot soon, but here is a shot that Kevin had to get into when I was shooting with Cambriea! Click the photo for a larger image.

The importance of not editing at 3am

So, I stayed up WAY too late the other night and did some editing.. and this is one of the results. Not sure what I think about it yet, but, here it is.

Lemme just go ahead and pick that name up...

Hey, some big names at the studio this past Sunday! Erinn Finlan stopped by.. Beautiful wedding work. Go check her out on Smugmug. What, name isn't big enough for you? OK, how about Paul Ruffolo? Another great area photographer. He's at Smugmug, too. What? Still not big enough for you. Geez, you don't impress easy.

OK then, how about Author, Trainer, and Photoshop Guy, Dave Cross? That better?

As you know, Dave taught a standing room only crowd at the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee Monday. I know it was standing room only, because Frank showed up late and had to stand for the first part because there were no chairs left.

Dave came to do a little shooting at Studio MLP on Sunday with models Danielle and Brianna. There is a possibility that you MIGHT see one of his Danielle images in an upcoming tutorial of Dave's as we got some very cool images!

As demonstrated by this photograph, there is no photographic evidence that Jim Bunker was there as well.

OK, aside from the fact that Jim took the picture above..

Another Shot From The Hide House

When I was at the Hide House a few weeks ago, I also shot with model Tamara Linn. Here's one of the shots we got from that session. I did a bit of High Radius Unsharp in Photoshop to bring out the textures a little more.

Camera RAW Tutorial

Back Again!

Looks like the last video worked out just fine, so here is the next in the series. Again, this is the FULL SIZED video, and this time, we are looking at an 89MB file. So, be sure to give it time to load.

In this video, I talk about some of the settings in the BASIC panel in Adobe Camera RAW. Again, the image I am using is a shot of Tamara from a lighting demonstration I gave to the Milwaukee Photography Meetup Group last year.

Click here for the video.

Remember, it's a big'un!

More coming soon.. I currently have 12 videos archived on my hard drive.

Upcoming Event at Studio MLP

Picture is too damn big to fit.. go ahead and click on it to go to Adam's Model Mayhem page and get more details on this upcoming shoot that will be held at StudioMLP.

White Balance Tutorial

Hey there!

Last year I did a lighting demonstration for the Milwaukee Meetup Group with model Tamara. Afterwards, I did a short series of Photoshop tutorial videos using pictures from that demonstration. These are the same videos that are on my YouTube Channel, but if you follow the link from here, it brings you to the FULL SIZED video before any shrinking down happens. BEWARE! This is a 40MB file.

This is the first one in the series. It demonstrates how to use a Gray Card and Adobe Camera RAW to properly white balance your pictures for accurate color.

Click here for the video

If this all works ok, I will post more videos over the next week or so.

Strobist and Such

Hey, Guess what I did at Photocamp Milwaukee? I did a Strobist presentation with Derrick. Check out http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/

I also did a posing and lighting demonstration with James Conway. Remember, your homework assignment is to do a self portrait with a "ninja" expression.

And I didn't get to stay until the raffle drawing. My numbers were 717528 and 717529. If either of those were chosen for a prize and I missed out, sucks to be me.

This one time, at Photocamp...

So, I made it to Photocamp, and I'm sitting here in the back of the room, waiting for the event to start, and I don't know anyone... Yet.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular

PhotoCampMilwaukee

Looks like I might be going to hang out at PhotoCampMilwaukee for a while this Saturday. See you there? I'm planing on getting there about 10am and sticking around until 3pm or so.

Maximum Photoshop Seminar Tour

Have you signed up for the Maximum Photoshop Seminar Tour with Dave Cross yet? Why not? There is still time. Stop what you are doing and go sign up. I'll still be here when you get back.


OK? You back? All signed up? Good. I had the chance to attend one of Dave Cross' presentations at Photoshop World in Vegas a couple years ago. You are definately going to get your money's worth. If you are going to the Milwaukee seminar at the Midwest Center, you just may run into one of the guys from Studio MLP!

Ya know, if you would have went to the link off to the right and joined NAPP first, you could have saved money on your seminar admission...

MLP's Triumphant Return To The Hide House

This past weekend, Gib of the Hide House in Bayview was nice enough to come let me do some shooting at my old stomping grounds. A few years back, I had the good fortune to have a studio at the Hide House. I tell people all the time that any competance I have at all in photography comes from having the opportunity to learn from so many other photographers who are willing to share their knowledge. The Hide House was a mecca for so many artists a few years ago (and still is to a lesser degree) that one couldn't help but learn something new each and every day.

So, anyway, Gib gave me the chance to come shoot there. I wrangled up a few models - Tamara Linn (TOP notch model. Do what you have to do to get the chance to work with her), and Brianna. I got this fantastic image of Brianna...

My YouTube Channel

You can also find the link to my YouTube Channel on the permalink bar to the right.

When I get some free time, I will post links to the Full Sized videos for easier legibility.

Upcoming Events at Studio MLP

Spring is here and we are busy, busy, busy at Studio MLP. Recently, we hosted a meeting for the Milwaukee Photography Meetup Group where we welcomed approximately 30 photographers from all over the area. We talked about how to go about getting your photography published in a magazine. Afterwards, the attendees were able to shoot in the studio or walk the grounds and shoot some of the awesome architecture around the complex.

Coming up, we have even more neat events...

• My partner Frank is hosting a group shoot on Saturday, May 16th. Photographers and models from all over the area (Racine, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago) will be attending. Go to Franks page for more info.
• Rick from the Great Lakes Glamour Photography Workshop Group will be having two events at Studio MLP in the coming months. Go to the GLGPW webpage for more information on how to sign up.
• Adam (Phoenix of Miltown) will be putting on his Painted Muse Photoshoot at the studio on June 20th. Adam is having some incredible bodypainters come in for this event. Attendance will be limited, so sign up NOW! Go to Adam's page for more info.

I also have a few special visitors coming in to visit over the next couple months. I'll post more details on those later.

HDR Photography with Photomatix

You use Photomatix to do your HDR? That's so weird... I use Photomatix to do my HDR!!!

Now that everyone in the world is doing HDR photography, I figured I would give it a shot myself. My main introduction to HDR photography came from my friend, Jim Bunker, and a Milwaukee Photography Meetup Group meeting a few months ago.

I downloaded myself a copy of Photomatix Pro 3.1 at HDR Soft, and gave it a shot. here are a few of my early attempts at HDR. This first shot is of the outside of my studio. I needed a studio image for the new business cards I ordered, so I just threw this one together real quick.

This next shot is from the south side of Milwaukee, looking north towards the US Bank building. I added in some Photoshopped rain and a pond in the foreground. The pond came out ok, but I'm not too impressed with the rain effect I did. I'm gonna be redoing that in the future.

The third shot is a view from the inside of the building where my studio is. If you've seen any pictures from my studio of a creepy old elevator, you'll recognize the gears for the elevator at the top right of the picture.

Hello World!

OK, so, I have a blog.

And off we go!