Interview with Designer and Photographer Jason Morrison
Jason Morrison, currently resides in McDonough, Georgia. Jason has had a successful career in photography and graphic design. Most recently, he has partnered with his brother-in-law and started the photography firm, JayMar Photography. Jason has this true passion for his work, and loves to share his knowledge with other creatives. He has been published in a number of magazines and has been awarded a few awards for his work.
Jason was kind enough to sit down and answer a few questions for us to enjoy.
Jason Morrison (dubtastic)
Case Study of the Amanda Photo Composite
This will help show illustrate the process I went through to create Amanda's Photo Composite.
Here are the stock images that were used or partly used somewhere within the photo.
Interview with the Creative Josh Sommers
Let me introduce you to Josh Sommers, who currently resides in California. Josh is a photo illustrator, photographer, graphic designer, and software developer. I have personally been watching Josh’s work for 17 months from his flickr account, where he continually inspires individuals and has built up a hefty list of followers.
Josh was kind enough to sit down and answer a few questions for us to enjoy.
Canon 5dmk2 EG-S Focusing Screen Review
I recently bought the EG-S Super Precision Matte Focusing Screen for my 5dmk2. I love to shoot wide open on my lenses, and currently I own all primes that come in lower than recommended f/stop range for this screen. The 50mm f/1.4 and the 85L f/1.2 MK2. If this is your first time hearing of this focusing screen I will go through a brief description of it below.
What is the EG-S screen?
(as Ken Rockwell explains)
These precision surfaces simulate ground glass and greatly increase brightness for f/2.8 and slower zoom lenses so popular today. They are designed to be bright and contrasty with these slow lenses.
Oddly, these modern screens get no brighter when you're using a lens faster than f/2.8. Try it: put on an f/1.8 or other fast fixed lens and flick the depth of field button. You'll see no change in anything until you stop down to about f/2.5!
Photographer’s Social Network: Shuttrr
I recently received an invitation to join the new photographer's social network, Shuttrr. It is currently in BETA mode and is allowing members by invitation only. If you want an invitation leave a comment below and I will send you the code.
It has a lot of features facebook has, but yet is catered to photographers. It is not an exact copy of facebook, but contains some base features that has made facebook popular and unique.
Below is a screen shot of what shuttrr looks like after you log in on the homepage.
If you are a photographer, I suggest checking this site out. It is fun and a great way to meet and network with fellow photographers!
SHUTTRR.com
Case Study of the Trevor Stinson Firefighter Photo
Below is a small case study put together to show the process of how I came about the firefighter photo of Trevor Stinson.
This was shot for the Monticello (Indiana) Fire Department Calendar that I am currently finishing up. It was originally scheduled as a 2010 calendar, but I think it might end up being their 2011 version.
Case Study
Final Image
Trevor Stinson: Monticello Fire Department
My New Business Cards
Received my new business cards today.
Uprinting.com was kind enough to send me 250 free business cards of my choice. Huge thanks goes out to Rachel in the customer service department that put up with my multiple emails, letting me have the 250 free prints, and getting the job paid for me. Much love.
I choose the uv-gloss and rounded die-cut corners. Came out perfect and printed exactly how i proofed them. Took a little while to get here because the proofs were approved just before Thanksgiving, but all in all Uprinting.com gets a big thumbs up from me! Will do business with in the future.
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- Print of the business cards
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- Finished Business Cards
Case Study: MFD 2010 Calendar
Case Study
Client: Monticello Fire Department – 2010 Calendar
Photographer: Ryan O. Hicks (me)
Model: Matt Schroeder
Strobist Settings:
Canon 5d2
50mm f/1.4
1/200s - f/5.6 - ISO200 - 50mm
580ex2 shot into 28” Apollo Wescott softbox camera left
Click to enlarge images.
Devising your own Freelance Contracts
Recently I read the article posted by the graphic designer Brian Hoff, “What to Include In Your Design Contracts”. He has some excellent information and I highly recommend you stop by for a visit and read through the article (and subscribe to his RSS feed if you haven’t). I am going to expand on his article a little bit, and his will set the base for what I am about to touch on below.
I would like to give some insight on how I devise my contracts. This will probably be more catered to the photography side, but you can take this and twist this to other areas of the design world. We will be putting together a basic contract for a photo shoot. Now I must use this time to make my disclaimer, as I am not a lawyer and I have limited legal knowledge when it comes to offering advice about contracts. I have read books, I have hundreds of copies of different kinds of contracts saved on CDs, and even took a law class last year, but that still does not make me an expert on the subject. Everyone should seek proper legal advice about his or her contracts if you plan to get serious about freelancing, and you cannot hold me liable if you plan to use anything in this article for a contract. I have pieced together my contracts from numerous sources of information and advice given to me from other individuals.
This contract contains everything in a single form from the description of the assignment with an estimate of the photographer’s fees, terms and conditions, and defined terms. Below each section contains a sample in .pdf form that you can click on and download.
3 Free Lightroom Black and White Presets
I have decided to offer up 3 of my Lightroom presets that I often use when converting my images to black and white. These are my presets and are free to use as you please. No one is authorized to sell these. When I do black and white photos I pump the contrast and exposure up so that the scene is a little overexposed to create a more dramatic look to the image. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
The first one is a simple black and white conversion with a stop of exposure added and somewhat decreased shadows.
The second preset, pumps up the contrast and brightness significantly and nearly adds a full 2 stops of exposure to the frame.
The third preset is one that sort of sits between the first two. It adds to the exposure to about 1.5 stops, increases some fill light, little split toning, and adds a bit of vignetting. This one is probably the most used in my black in white photos.
These may or may not fit your images, but I often find that at least one of them fits most of my images at least. You can always apply them as a base to get started, and then tweak the settings to better enhance your image from the preset(s) if needed.
Use the download link to download them. Installation instructions are provided in the readme file.
Example Image.
Click for bigger view.
Download -
RoH Black and White Lightroom Presets
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Ryan's Flickr
Lifestream
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I love animals ... they are such an important part of a lot of my sandwiches. [rohixx]
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Packing for Florida =)) [rohixx]
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Shared 2 photos.
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I gotta terminate the hate, spread the positive. [rohixx]
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New photo check it out ya dig - ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/rohicks/4425074180 [rohixx]
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Shared 2 photos.
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She faded look into her eyes cuz this liquor got her twisted up like curly fries. [rohixx]
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Shared Bryan Leverenz.
