I continued my search for good, frugal light sources by making another trip to the hardware store.  My quest this month was to find and buy some “clamp lights,”  cheap lights that can be attached to most any surface by means of rubberized pincers, throwing light into work zones, usually construction areas.  They are also frequently used as personal shop lights.  They don’t exactly aim their light, they spray it in as many directions as their flimsy aluminum reflectors will allow.

Choosing a background color for a portrait can be sometimes challenging and sometimes simply intuitive. I have been asked why I chose this color or that, and most of the time the answer is not as clear cut as "I wanted to." Lots of thinking goes into what I am doing, but after doing it for as long as I have, it happens quickly and many decisions are made simultaneously. I thought it may be fun to look at four images and discuss why I chose the background that I did.

I noticed that when many wedding photographers place the bride and groom into a simple safe pose they ask them to smile and look at the camera. I do these poses also for a quick safe shot or two.  Yet clients hire me for my ‘unsafe’ imagery style and artistic captures: fashion posing, walking away shots, lots of wide-angle composition and Beckstead-style imagery.

I am sure that I am not alone when say that I was very excited about the release of Adobe Photoshop CS5. The new “Content Aware” fill is what I was most excited about. The promotional video touting its virtues was nothing short of amazing. Would it/could it live up to its billing? Well, yes and no.