Drea McClure

Drea McClure

Naming Files

Have you ever found yourself searching your computer for a particular file, then once found and you read what you named it, you ask yourself..."What was I thinking?"

Choosing the location to save your file should be a pretty easy one. I keep all my photo files on a removable hard drive. This drive is a raid drive with another one. In other words there are two drives (I buy them in pairs) and when I save to one, it automatically saves to the other one. This creates two copies of the file, so if (when) I have a drive failure the other one should be fine. This is not a fool proof method. I also back up my finished files (tiff or jpg) to DVD and store them in our detached garage. This ensures against house fire or theft.

So back to naming the files. I use Adobe's Lightroom to import my files from my camera's memory card. In the import dialog box it will ask me, where I want the file saved and what do I want to name it. This is such a critical step. This dialog box can save you hours of time when used correctly. I name each RAW file brought into Lightroom with a gig specific name, or event specific if it is a family event. For example, the photos I shot during spring break, each file was imported as springbreak2010-1, springbreak2010-2...ect. I also took advantage of the metadata and made sure that each RAW file processed carried my copyright information. Even though this was a family trip, the sale of one single stock photo from this trip is always welcome. I don't want to have to go back and look to see if I attached a copyright if someone has their wallet out so to speak.

Keywords are my most loved items in this window. The keywords can literally be anything. I assign global keywords when I import and photo specific keywords prior to exporting. This covers all the bases. Global keywords for our spring break trip would be "spring" "break" "2010" "charleston" "south carolina" "family". Then specific keywords for specific things in the photos "swan" "alligator" or even "BW" for black and white or "Horizontal" or "Vertical". Prior to exporting your edited photos, simply select all the photos that are horizontal, and apply a keyword, then select all the photos that are black and white and apply a keyword. It sounds a lot harder than it truly is.

So here is the power of this technique. Yesterday I had a call from a person who attended a fund raiser a few years ago, we were the photographers for this event. All he could give me was what the fund raiser was for and the fact that he was the only 4 string bass player with a mohawk. Now, I don't add keywords for physical descriptions of people, but I did for "band" photos verses "audience", so it was a piece of cake to search with the parameters "Band" "Cancer" Benefit" "2008" and I was then able to upload the photos in question and reap a nice reward.

So my computer....yes - it has many many removable drive attached. Once a drive and raid drive are full, I remove the raid copy to ... you guessed it... the garage. This allows me to index and fully search all the photos that I have available to me. Yes, I have 4 (4-port) usb hubs attached to my computer.... crazy? Maybe, but I can locate what I want, when I want it and with reasonable speed.

Interested in learning more? I teach for the PPA's super monday classes held twice a year. Drop me a line or check www.ppa.org for more information.

Nicodemi - Noetzelman Wedding

Nicodemi - Noetzelman Wedding

This was my first time at The Manor in Everett, WA. What a lovely location for a wedding! Christina and Nick, we wish you all the best in your new life together.

Digital Art

I was recently commission to create a painting from a digital image. We worked with the client to create what I feel is a beautiful painting of a lovely dog.

Please feel free to leave comments, as I would love to know what people think of this new artistic outlet.

Officiants – You are in the shot.

I was visiting with a recent bride and groom. They were very disappointed in their ceremony photos. Not anything I did, it was what the officiant was holding. He held basic paper type brochure. It looks really tacky in the photographs. One of my favorite officiants has a plain leather portfolio that she uses as a backdrop to her papers. Everything looks great in the photographs. I wish I had kept track of the number of times that the officiant is captured behind the bride and groom when The kiss takes place, and often has a funny look on their face. Out of respect for said officiants, I do not want to post those photographs, but I hope some of them reading this will take it to heart that it can mess things up. I have included some photographs of what not to do as well as what to do.

Animoto.com

Animoto.com

Apocalyptic Wedding

We had a wedding several years ago that occurred in the early spring. It was set in downtown Seattle at the Chinese Room – on top of the Smith Tower. A lovely venue and it was an absolutely exquisite wedding. Everything was so beautiful, like a fairy tale. The bride wore a rhinestone studded gown that floated around down to the floor, the groom wore his uniform, and there was even a Cinderella shoe on top of the wedding cake. It was so lovely. The bride and groom opted to release butterflies as a symbol of their new life together. However, it was not quite warm enough outside for these 10,000 butterflies to fly, so…they fell. Down on the street below, and in my imagination, to the horror of people walking below.

The Intoxicated Mother of the Groom

Let me set the stage for this story. This was one of my very first weddings. So many many years ago *grin*, white church on a hillside, beautiful setting. Can you imagine this scene. We arrived early to the wedding to get set up to shoot the formals prior to the ceremony and the mother of the groom can hardly stand up. She kept swaying during the shots and I continually had to remind her to look into my lens… "Hello…. Mom? Look over here…. " Finally broke down and used some tried and true methods used on toddlers to get their attention during a shoot. The famous phrase by Sam Puc "Ut – Oh!" Works everytime… even on the tanked ones.

The unplanned nude

I received a call in 2006 for a gentleman to have head shots taken as he wished to become a model for a local University’s art department. We agreed upon a price and a date.

At this time my studio was located in an apartment over the garage on our property and I did most of my shooting during school hours and therefore was alone much of the time. So, in many ways this is a cautionary tale, as this particular situation did not pose a threat but in many ways was a dangerous situation. My client arrived that day as all my other clients do, he was an older man in his fifties and normal looking. I had set up that day for headshots; however, when my client arrived he also indicated he would like some full length shots. My wider lens was over at the house, and he stated that he would change while I went to get it. When I got back to the studio, I had a gentleman without attire waiting patiently for me to return. Nothing….not a stitch.

I (calling on every ounce of professionalism I could muster), kept a straight face and asked him if there was a mistake? Because… he hadn’t mentioned wanting to do a nude session and those are…well (whats 5 times….), yes… more money …. He agreed to pay the difference. I pulled myself together, focused on lights, and posing – keeping to the classical lighting techniques taught by Clay Blackmore, full face, 2/3^rd’s, profile, ect. All the time keeping a straight face and doing a good job.

After he left, I slowing sat down on the floor, wiping the tears from my eyes, laughed myself silly. And for years after this I have often been asked how I could ignore the ‘elephant in the room’, I reply…. “it was NO elephant.”

Lesson Learned – We developed a portrait session contract much like our wedding contract to be certain we have covered all bases with our clients as far as the session expectations. This has helped so much!