Dear "Another Pro Photographer",

I want to thank you for pointing out that, somewhere on my website, I have misspelled "Copyright". I did a quick check and can't find it, but I am sure it is there somewhere or you wouldn't have taken the time to write me at 12:04 this morning from your Fenton, Michigan abode to tell me about it... and question my education because of it. I agree with you. There is no way an educated person would ever misspell any word, let alone "copyright". My only regret is that your phone number of 999-999-9999 seemed to be eroneous, as was your email address of "noneGiven@fake.com". I would have loved to thank you for pointing this out and offered your family a free 8x10 for your trouble.
Again, thank you so much for helping me make my website just a little bit better.

Randy

About Digital Retouching

We live in an age where names and nouns become verbs. We don't SEARCH for information on the internet, we "Google It". By the same token, the Adobe Program "Photoshop" has itself become a verb... we don't "Edit" or "Enhance" or "Manipulate" an image anymore, we "Photoshop It". I hear this every day... "Can you Photoshop Aunt Marge out of this picture?", or, " Can you Photoshop my brother into this Family Portrait?... he couldn't be there." This is a little misleading. Pros who know their stuff use many excellent programs in conjunction with Photoshop to do their magic. Don't get me wrong, Photoshop is a marvelous program. It's power comes from years of improvements and updates. Adobe listens to it's customers and comes out with a newer, more powerful version just about every year, sometimes twice a year. Photoshop is a terrific tool for the creative soul, but it comes with a lot of baggage. Like any tool, it is, at it's creative heart, just a tool. Some people use this tool to create wildly beautiful images and some people use this tool to butcher beautiful images. I spend a good part of every day working with Photoshop, and various other programs, because this is the core, the main engine of Digital Photography. For every project you work on, Photoshop has at least 10 different techniques to acheive the results you are looking for. The trick is to know which one is better than others. Photoshop is at it's best when it is used to enhance great photography, or employ great photography in a grander project. What photoshop cannot do is make great photography out of bad photography. It can improve things somewhat, but that's about it. Retouching the human face is an art. The end result should be a perfect image of the subject that still looks natural. That begins with the photography. Another thing to know about digital photography is that it is not the megapixels that matter, it's the Dynamic Range... it's just easier to sell MEGA(manly) stuff to men.

Just rambling today... any questions?

Wedding Photography Today

I spent some time on the Digital Wedding Forum this morning. The Digital Wedding Forum is a website for Professional Photographers... Primarily Wedding Photographers. The biggest thread ever is going on there now having to do with Denis Reggie (A Very Famous Photographer) throwing his hand in with Bella Photography(A National Wedding Mill). There are almost 1000 posts on this subject and the subject of Wedding Mills. In case you do not know what a Wedding Mill is, there are several in our area. They offer multiple services from one provider... but their true strength is that they are powerful marketing companys that operate on the theory that if they book the weddings the photographers, and other professionals will have to follow. They are large and powerful when it comes to resources and marketing. I know exactly how this works as I was employed for 22 years recruiting and training photographers for one of these companies. I am now an independant and enjoy photography again like I did when I first picked up a camera. A lot of my photographer friends used this company for volume, a stepping stone to their own businesses, or to fill in dates they were not booked. Many are out there now doing their own thing and being sucessful, many more did not and are completely dependant on the sub-wages they earn as contractors. One company I know of even requires contractors to cover company liabilities. I really can't say a lot of bad things about these companies, they provide work for some talented people who lack the ability or desire to market themselves, but I will say that the most important positions in them are in the sales and marketing departments. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

Shannon and Nick

Shannon, Nick, and I spend a couple hours last Sunday doing their Engagement Photos at Wahby Park at the Blossom Heath. We had a great time. This couple is so nice, so sincere, and such a wonderful match that it is hard to describe. All 160 of their engagement photos are online, but you will need a paswsword to see them... so I am sharing the following images:

Back to the Blog

Well, I've been gone a long time. I must appologize. My website was looking more and more like a blog, so I have revamped it to a more professional, business look and will put all the Blog type posts here on the Blog where it belongs. I have no idea how I got so far off the track, but I am jumping back on and will build a business facebook page as well.