"Rufus is chasing rabbits?" you ask. Um... no. Other than being a good boy all the time, Rufus does not have to work for his meals. He does get a treat when we come in from a walk.
But, I digress. As usual.
This is more like Alice (as in: of Wonderland) going down the rabbit hole. I have been educating myself on video lighting. There is a vast number of YouTube videos showing people how to shoot YouTube videos. I own very little in the way of photography or video equipment these days... that is way behind me. To go along with people learning to do YouTube videos (or TicTock or Instagram, or whatever else is the happening social media these days), manufacturers are making all kinds of lighting equipment. And, considering what I used to do for a living, I know lighting.
Oh, the lighting equipment has changed a lot in the past 17 years. It does more; has gotten lighter, and there's a big market for "consumer equipment" (as opposed to pro stuff). I am just looking for ways to spruce up the music videos Mark and I have been doing.
To go along with that consumer priced equipment, there are all those videos showing beginners how to use lighting: stuff like key lighting, fill lighting, background and hair lights. From what I have seen, the state of still photography (as in: studio lighting) has drifted away from photographers knowing how to light a particular face/body shape. Not to sound like a "back in my day" kinda guy, everybody with a phone can be a "professional" (no, they can't) and the art of lighting to show off a person at their best (and understanding posing and anatomy) has taken a back seat. But now, lighting for video seems to be on the upswing for learning proper technique.
Back in our studio days, we were early adopters of digital technology. Even with the life-changing equipment, we were still all about lighting and posing to show people at their best. We were using Photoshop in its early days, when you didn't have a "healing brush" or automatic density and color correction. Because we already knew how to do all the work necessary to make great finished images (retouching, enhancing color and contrast), as well as doing hand artwork, the change to digital wasn't tough for us. Photographers who just sent negatives off to a color lab (we had our own full in-house lab) to "make their finished prints look good" were way behind that learning curve.
We had an absolute passion to shoot, process, retouch, print, and finish (loved those canvas prints) to make our clients look their best. People could tell the difference. Well, our clients could. Looking at some photography back then, some people couldn't tell the difference. I am digressing again.
I started out looking at YouTube videos of video lighting equipment last night. That led to videos showing lighting techniques. That led to comparisons of video and still photography lighting. That led to seeing a bunch of videos on shooting still photography. I thought to myself, "Do you really need to shoot 30 images of the same thing before moving on to another pose... and another 30 shots in a minute or so... and so on?" I understand the "take a bunch and there should be a good one in there somewhere" school of photography... but, it would take forever to sort through all those images! I guess some photographers just shoot and the customer can download the images, and they can sort through all that?
For a few minutes, I thought back to doing the shooting - that was my favorite part of the business. Joan was great with dealing with people and helping them get what they wanted. We had good staff who all played a significant role in customer satisfaction. Looking at some of those videos, this is the first time since we retired from the photography business that I kinda missed it.
I mentioned that to Joan and she said, "I could not do that again; especially not if you felt the need to shoot hundreds of images for each client. There aren't enough hours in the day. And, do people even buy finished portraits these days?"
From what I've seen and read: people (as a whole) do not buy finished portraits... they get the satisfaction of showing images on their phones. It's a moot point - I don't have the equipment or the physical stamina to do that again. Those are memories that will stay in the past.
That reminds me of some of the catch phrases we had back in the day... many of our clients told us, "If the house ever caught fire, we'd grab the kids, get the portraits off the wall, and get out." It was "memory insurance"... we created images that marked special occasions. There were a bunch of hours that went into creating those finished images. Yes, even with digital imaging, there was mounting, lacquering, texturing, and printing on canvas... which led to my favorite phrase: a beautiful portrait isn't expensive, it's priceless.
Whoa - that was a long time ago. ;-)
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I got out for a motorcycle ride today; first one of the new year. Not weather
related - living in a destination vacation area, the traffic has been
crazy since last Friday. A lot of the rental condos and hotels have
3-day minimum stays over holiday weekends, and some working folks have
the Monday after a holiday off. The biggest fireworks display on the
Texas coast on NYE. The weather was warm and windy, and it brought a
lot of people this way.
I was thinking the traffic would be thinned out by today. Not so much.
Plus, I thought I was putting on my armored shirt, but it must have
been a "cloak of invisibility"... more cars that usual pulling out in
front of me. Or backing out of a driveway or parking spot without
looking. It's a proven scientific fact that some (many) people leave
their brain at home when on vacation. Maybe it's just that part of the
brain that controls smart driving decisions? This is the main reason
Joan is not a fan of riding here. Well, that and the flat, straight
roads.
I read that if you frequently have "close calls," it may be you. For
the record, I ride on high alert and do try to anticipate what other
drivers may do. None of today's "Stupid Driver Tricks" resulted in what
I would consider a close call. The worst of what I saw today: a
totally oblivious driver blew through a crosswalk with pedestrians in
it. At some of the crosswalks here (where there isn't a stoplight), you
can push a button and signs on either side of the road light up with
flashing lights - state law: you are supposed to stop when those lights
are flashing and pedestrians are anywhere in the crosswalk. I saw him
coming up fast (in my mirror) in the lane to my right. I put out a hand
to signal him to slow down. The family of 4 were past that lane, one
lane away from the curb. It could have been a bad driver's education
film. The driver was exceeding the 30 mph speed limit and made no
attempt to slow down. Other than that, it was a couple of the usual
right turn into traffic while not stopping for the stop sign or stop
light. People pulling out of parking spots without looking. Left
turning across traffic when there isn't quite enough room to do so
safely. I anticipated all these that I saw, never had to slam on the
brakes.
Ride safe out there!
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