For months I struggled with what to give my family for Christmas. This year, Alec and I decided to give our talents as a gift. Through out the year we took thousands of photos and needed a way to show our family and friends. Animoto came to the rescue! Within minutes our videos were complete. However, being the artist we are, we decided to step it up a few notches. We tweeted and re-edited our videos for 12 hours to make them each special. When we finished, we started looking for more videos we could make!  We are hooked!

Once I get the hang of the software, I’ll start posting tutorials on how to incorporate Animoto into your work-flow. Until then, please enjoy our family photos.

Merry Christmas!

I looked over my calendar and wondered where did 2011 go. I realized it was busy year! I’m not going to recap the entire year, just a few months in the last quarter in hopes you will have questions that will assist me in writing tutorials for 2012.

• Photo Walk: Scott Kelby’s 4th annual photo walk. Took about 40 people through Brevard Zoo photographing in low and high level lighting. Teaching how to capture images through wire fences and fast moving animals. 
• Bahamas Cruise Workshop: Taught classes on lighting and digital work-flow.
• Corporate shoot: Took an intern to photograph Dr.Shoichiro Toyoda, president of the Toyota Motor Corporation from 1982 to 1992. Father founded the Toyota company. 
• Corporate Event: 2011 CCH User Conference Solo photographed the golfing event, user conference plus Paul DePodesta, Oakland A’s Unsung Hero of the Moneyball Movie  and Tim Sanders, a three-time New York Times’ Bestselling Author and Former Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo!
• Family Event: Photographed a baby’s Baptism as a special favor for Alec. It was his gift to one of his favorite school teacher.
• Family Event: Photographed a special 50th wedding anniversary for close friends. The venue was small and intimate with a Hawaiian theme. Since the couple didn’t have a photographer at their wedding in 1961, the goal was to have them relive their wedding. Solo shooting.
• Concert Photography: Took Alec and Cindy to a Mayday Parade Concert at the House of Blues in Orlando Florida. Professional cameras were not allowed. Experimented with an HTC EVO 3d camera phone and tablet. Yes, we enjoyed the concert too!
• American Photo Magazine: Model Shoot out. Took several inters and assistants to photographed 8 stations of models using continuous lighting. 
• Children Photography: Arranged a special shoot with children of my black belts that babysat Alec when he was their age. Alec assisted me on the shoot.
• Senior Portraits: Collaborative shoot with Alec Vanelli developing a system and templates for senior portraits. 
• Corporate Event: Craig Technologies. Took and intern to photographed an event for Carol Craig. Carol position at the Naval Air Warfare Center was the integration of Global Positioning Systems and Cockpit Display development for several Navy and Marine Corps aircraft. Today, she is the founder, president, CEO and CFO of Craig Technologies; a multi-million dollar federally certified 8(a), service-disabled veteran-owned, woman-owned business. The event took place in a low lite Irish Pub with beautiful decor.
• Model shoot: Experimenting with Wescott’s TD6 continuous lights
• Corporate Charity Event: Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Florida Share a Night Event. A combination of indoor and night photography. Solo shooting. 
• Wedding: Davis & Salaka Wedding. Took two interns to assist in photographing a special wedding of close friends.
• Family Event: Photographed my dear friend and attorney’s  mother’s 75th birthday. Took an intern and captured the outdoor events of the day. Finished off with a rapid portrait shoot of the entire family members using Westcott’s TD6 continues lights in a garage!

• Traveling to Tampa to document behind the scenes with Mike Kubeisy as he films an instructional series for Kelby Media on Hollywood Lighting.
• Rushing back to Cape Canaveral to be a location scout and to document behind the scenes with Richard Harrington as he works on yet another book!
• Planning to relax and spend Christmas with Alec, Cindy and family, Cousins and close friends. Yes, some shooting will take place!

Mike Kubeisy is best known for his photography work on numerous hit television shows such as N.C.I.S., C.S.I. New York, C.S.I. Las Vegas, Diagnosis Murder, JAG and Beverly Hills 90210! He is also currently working on the sets of Chuck, Harry’s Law, N.C.I.S. Los Angeles and a few new ones. He is taking time out of his Hollywood schedule to record an online training course for Kelby Media on Hollywood lighting. 

Got a question for Kubeisy? Now is the time to ask it! Simply submit your question; along with your name and email address, and Kubeisy will try to answer it in between breaks. At the end of each day, visit Ask Kubeisy for the answer.

Here are a few brief tips and tricks I picked up watching Kubeisy taping his online training course for Kelby Training.

Giving the image depth

• Distinguishing the background from the foreground by recognizing how the light falls on the background. 
•  Have the light turn on the subject by using a light modifier 

This style isn’t a glamour shot, it’s a Hollywood head shot.

T-marker- When marking where  the model will stand during a studio shoot, create a T shape with tape. This will help her know how to stand horizontally and vertically.

Dutching the shot -  tilting the camera off to the side so that the shot is composed with vertical lines at an angle to the side of the frame.

raking the shot - 

Gripology

•  Flag
• mount the knuckle properly on a C-stand

In Hollywood, when a television show films it’s 100th episode it’s a big deal. When the same show films it’s 200th episode, it’s a huge deal. In the middle of it all is Mike Kubeisy!

Kubeisy has just completed shooting on the set of N.C.I.S.  for their 200th episode. A great accomplishment for any photographer. But Kubeisy isn’t just any Hollywood photographer.  He has had the honor of being part of  C.S.I. New York, C.S.I. Las Vegas and Diagnosis Murder shows when they filmed their 100th episodes. Now, with N.C.I.S., he has added them to his 200th episode list that includes JAG and Beverly Hills 90210!

It’s great having this talent, it’s even better when you are willing to share it. For those who know Kubeisy will agree he’s sharing man. In fact, next week he brings his Hollywood skills to Kelby Media. He’s creating a new video series that I’m sure will be a hit!

I’ll travel to NAPP headquarters to spend time watching Kubeisy teach his magic and share some behind the scene adventures with you. If you have questions for Kubeisy, send them and I’ll sneak them in during breaks.

Mike Kubeisy; affectionately known as Hollywood, asked me why I kept raving about onOne’s new Perfect Photo Suite. I got him a copy and Hollywood agreed why everyone is calling it the next big thing!

“What would take me hours in Photoshop to create a certain glamour look, now takes me less time with the Perfect Suite. I can create presets saving me even more time when editing future images“, Kubeisy told me. Being a veteran shooter for major T.V. shows such as N.C.I.S., N.C.I.S. Los Angeles, Chuck, C.S.I. and a host of others, Kubeisy doesn’t have the luxury to spend hours experimenting in Photoshop. With onOne’s Perfect Effects, he can see in real time what the image will look like before he makes a change. He still uses Photoshop to tweak the final image.

I’m looking forward to Kubeisy creating and sharing his onOne presets. He’s also currently working on a video project for Kelby Training! To learn more about Kubeisy, check out his web site at http://digital-ops.com

I’m shooting an event for CCH.  CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business is a leading provider of integrated information services, software and workflow tools to address the evolving requirements of tax, accounting, business and legal professionals. Sounds stuffy? Not at all. This event is like Photoshop World for accountants! 

Three weeks before the event, I received a complete detail list; scheduling, event happenings, travel arrangements and who was picking me up at the airport.  I’m impressed with their organizational skills and how they communicate with staff.

The team they assigned me to is made up of several talented CCH employees. From the beginning I made it clear, I will kept my mouth shut and ears open. I will adapt to their work-flow and will only give advice was asked. Remember, I’ve never worked with this company before. I was welcomed in return with open minds! They gave me freedom to pull from my Lightroom and Photoshop skills. 

In the morning, I photographed the Golf event. During my break I decided to experiment with lighting so I went around and took shots of registration, interactions of staff and attendees. The evening we were treated to an amazing feast. Again, I took shots that showed fun, excitment and most important, people networking with each other.  How did I know what to shoot?  I spent 20 minutes with CCH’s talented marking personal Tracy Moton.

She is responsible for creating brochures, signs and overall marketing material. I asked her from a marketing stand point what do you need. She went into detail what worked last time and what didn’t. Armed with this information, I was able to get the shots she needed.

My simple point, before you begin to photograph an event, do your homework ahead of time. Ask the right questions, check with the right people and everyone will be happy! 

More to follow during the week.

 The walk is the largest global social event for photographers. Photographers get together (usually in a downtown area or trendy section of town) to walk around, shoot photos, and generally have fun with other photographers.

This year, we selected Brevard Zoo for our Photo Walk. A little over 50 photographers participated in the world wide event. Michael Tapes, Barry Kirsch, Kevin McSparron and Vanelli hosted the local event.

 Before the event, the team held “ASK THE PROS” session where photographer could find answers to questions they have. After the event, we headed to Chili’s to relax, look at each other’s photos and share ideas.

 The FREE event is so popular we decided to host a photo walk monthly. Kevin McSparron has created a meet up group called Brevard Clicks to help organize it. If you want to be informed of upcoming events and receive photography / Photoshop tips and tricks, join our email list!