Photography 101

I'm just finishing up a new movie for my members, so it should be posted in the Kris Madison members area Friday afternoon. I've been working on a new photo set that's a little different than my usual stuff too. It should be ready some time this weekend - would be sooner if I could make up my mind and decide what I'm doing with it!

Whenever I'm shooting photos, I rarely create an entire set of 60 to 100 pics that all look the same with consistent lighting. I'll have some sunlight from a window, tungsten light from the lamp in my living room and then sometimes add the flash if I think the pictures are turning out blurry. For close up shots, the flash washes everything out, so even I use the flash in the very first picture, there will always be at least *some* that don't use the flash.

When it comes to editing the entire set, trying to create the same color balance in all of them is tough. I end up with some that look cool when they're really high contrast and other that look better darker or with more natural looking light. My skin tone usually looks best when the photos have a warmer color to them, but I don't want all of my photo sets to have the same orange-y super saturated look.

So I keep playing. I started working on this photo set (which ended up with a total of only 49 pictures!) at 5:30 pm. 9 hours later, I'm finally forcing myself to stop otherwise I could sit here all night readjusting and readjusting. I did take breaks to watch The Office and 30 Rock plus have some dinner. And I'm not complaining - I do enjoy doing this stuff. I just wish I knew how to use Photoshop better or retained any of the tricks I've used in other photos for more than 6 minutes. Part of what takes so long is trying to figure out what settings I need to change to get that nice warm glow without looking jaundiced. Or like I've been eating carrots non-stop.

I think I'm going to take some time this weekend to play with my camera and test out all the different settings. Instead of trying to get a whole set of pictures, if I just take a few of the same shots at different settings, I can compare them all and figure out what looks best once and for all. And yes, I will write it down too!

Tech info, if you want to throw any tips my way:
my camera > Canon Digital Rebel XTI
editing software > Adobe Photoshop CS3

I should update this post with pics to go along with it so you can see what I'm rambling about too, but that will have to wait until I've got some rest. If I'm going to be the photographer AND the model, I need my beauty sleep!