This past Saturday, I setup a FREE photo-booth at Village Veterinary Medical Center‘s 4th Annual Pet Fair in Farragut, TN. To anyone that brought their pets to the fair, I offered free pet portraits. Below are a few of the quick snapshots I got during the event . . .
To those that were kind enough to stop by my booth to get a quick pic of their four legged friend & say hi, you may view the full image gallery at: FREE Photo Gallery . . . where you may download your pet’s images for your own personal use. Furthermore feel free to tag & share your images on Facebook via our business page: FauxTaux Grafix’s Facebook Gallery
Thank you to everyone that stopped by, it was a pleasure to meet you all. And, just a friendly reminder to those that picked up our business card: If you setup an appointment by June 1st to book a custom photo-session of your pet(s) & show our card, you’ll receive 50% Off a 16×24 (or smaller) Canvas Print during your print order. Furthermore, if you like our Facebook Page, you’ll receive an additional 10% Off your order! (Please keep in mind: 1. Booking a session simply reserves a spot on our calender for your pet(s) photo-session . . . you don’t have to have the actual photo-session by June. 2. 50% of all session-proceeds are donated to the Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley.)
Hope to see y’all soon!
Matthew Guss
Photographer @ FauxTaux Grafix
ftgphoto@yahoo.com fauxtauxgrafix.com
Recently, I photographed a dance themed photo-session at my studio in West Knoxville, TN. The session was broken down into three distinct different lighting setups. The first being a modern clean white seamless setup for some ballet shots, and then a transition into two darker directional lit setups that I then manipulated in post-production using LAB Color mode in Photoshop.
Below are three lighting diagrams of each setup used during the session (select each to view larger).
Typically, like most photographers, I work in a RGB color space while editing my work. However, sometimes I use Photoshop’s LAB Color mode as it’s a very powerful tool to achieve unique results that would be much harder, if even possible, to obtain in a RGB color space. Essentially LAB Color Mode is color-space that separates an image’s luminosity and color from one another. One of the downsides of RGB is that when a retoucher is heavily manipulating colors in an image, they are also shifting the luminosity (e.g. shadows & highlights) of the photograph as well. Therefore, LAB allows retouchers to adjust an images color and/or luminosity independently as they wish. Another benefit of using LAB is that the LAB color-space has a much wider gamut then that of RGB. Below are two different versions of the same image. First, the original RGB profile, followed by the manipulated LAB profile.
The Following two short-films explain both the benefits of using LAB Color mode and how to use them in one’s workflow.
Exciting things have been happening lately. For one, I’ve moved to a brand new studio in West Knoxville. Located in Farragut, only 5 miles from Turkey Creek, the new studio is just shy of 2000 square feet and has spacious 14 foot high ceilings. The convenient location and the large modern open floor-plan of the photo-studio allows for endless possibilities for your photo-sessions.
To say I’m ecstatic about the new space would be a major understatement. Some of the studios amenities, just to name a few, include:
Two moveable Backdrop Walls, capable of holding 10ft & 14ft backdrops
Access to both Natural Window Light & Studio Flash
His & Hers Restrooms
Private Changing Room
Plenty of room for a personal Stylist & Makeup Artist
And, vast space for complex setups & projects
Below are a few images of my new modern studio, located in Farragut, TN.
Contact me via email to book a time to stop by and visit the new studio.
Matthew Guss
Photographer @ FauxTaux Grafix
ftgphoto@yahoo.com fauxtauxgrafix.com
Tis the season for giving back. This year I’ve started a personal project with the Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley here in Knoxville. On a weekly basis, I offer my services, for free, to help the local Humane Society document their new arrivals of adoptable cats and dogs, to assist in their adoption process. As someone who truly enjoys pet photography and working with animals, it is a real joy to be able to give of myself to help such a worthy organization in my community.
I believe personal projects are important for my craft, and for the development of all photographers in our industry. In fact, most successful photographers’ portfolios are largely, if not entirely, filled with personal work, as it’s the kind of work they wish to pursue. In other words, one’s personal work reveals the the kind of work and clientele one is attempting to attract. For example, paid projects for clients demand that one works within the limitations of their knowledge and experience. In other words, a paid job is not the proper time for experimentation. However, personal projects are a perfect time to try new things, and expand one’s knowledge base. Additionally, while paid assignments may pay the bills, personal work feeds the soul . . . yes, I know it’s a little cliche . . . but it’s true. In my case, the latter is true concerning my work with the local Humane Society. The project, is not about testing new creative concepts per-say, but simply giving of my time for a great cause and organization that I support, which fulfills my personal passion for photography.
Before pursuing photography as a career, I heard warnings, from photographers in the industry, directed towards passionate amateurs that they may in fact grow to despise photography as it became a “job”, and to first consider keeping photography as one’s hobby alone. However, in my opinion, it is the professional’s personal-work that keeps that “passion” alive for the craft. Thus, my recommendation to inspiring photographers would be to remember to always find time for some personal project that they have a passion for, in which they can give of themselves, through their craft, to help others, as they peruse their professional endeavors.
The following film, with photographer Chase Jarvis & Chris Jordan, provides great insight on how one’s personal work can become, and drive, one’s professional work as an artist.
As the saying goes this time of the year, it’s better to give than to receive. Nevertheless, as any business owner and photographer knows, you have to receive a little to stay in business. As a result, it seems many individuals in business naturally become fearful of working for “free”. To curtail those fears, I recommend the following two links as they are great resource to judge both when one should work for “free” or not, and the merits of charity work.
In closing, my challenge to fellow photographers this New Years is, one, make a goal of starting a new personal project, and, two, give back to your community through your talents and your craft as a photographer. Whether it be photos for your local Humane Society, another non-profit organization, or assisting in local Nashville photographer Jeremy Cowart’s global Help-Portrait, I know from experience your business will grow tremendously by giving back through personal work.
To see more of my work with the Humane Society throughout next year, please visit my site at wwww.fauxtauxgrafix.com and select the personal-work tab at the top of the page.
Best wishes, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year,
Matthew Guss
Photographer @ FauxTaux Grafix
ftgphoto@yahoo.com fauxtauxgrafix.com
I always enjoy this time of the year, it seems I’ve never been able to properly handle the hot & humid summer weather that seems to last for so long here in the south. Perhaps that is why so much of my portfolio comprises of photographs shot indoors. In all seriousness, I do enjoy shooting indoors, in the studio environment. In fact, their are many benefits to being indoors . . . like A/C. But truly, whether I’m in the studio or outdoors, I’m always trying to find a clean background for my subjects to jump off of.
When in the studio, I’m typically shooting on seamless paper backdrops. Personally, I love the clean, modern, simplistic “fashion” feel of seamless backdrops. For one, seamless backdrops eliminate distracting elements in the frame that take the viewers attention away from the subject matter. Just ask yourself, how many times have you seen an amateur-photo that makes it seem as if a tree is growing out of someone’s head? In other words, one’s background is just as critical to a photos success as the subject matter itself. Thus, while a seamless backdrop may typically be my backdrop of choice indoors, outdoors (as a photographer) I must find clean, modern, simplistic “backdrops” in nature.
My recent fall photo-session here in lovely Knoxville, TN allowed me to find some new unique nature-made backdrops. For this photoshoot, with a young local model, my two key backdrops were the clear late afternoon blue sky and the covered grown of Fall leaves. In both situations, I achieved very different looks in a relatively small space with both the assistance of my talented model, Helen, and a great understanding of my photography gear. For instance, the following two diagrams breakdown my lighting setups for the Fall session.
Depending on the power of my main light-source and my camera exposure settings, I knew I could easily could manipulate a blue sky to the perfect shade and color (or lack their of) as I desired. For example, for Helen’s Fall session, I first set my studio strobe to full power, and after metering, photographed Helen at f/11. In this case, the off-camera studio lighting allowed me to take the natural ambient light from the sun at 4:30pm down to a dark rich clean gradated blue. Furthermore, by using a large light source (a 86″ diffused PLM) close to my subject, I was able to achieve a nice warm soft-light. Fortunately, Helen’s facial structure lent itself towards the allowance of more shadows, bringing contrast and drama to the shot. As a result, I decided to somewhat side-light her to achieve nice soft shadows. On the flip-side, within the same exact location, I was able to achieve a completely different look by opening my appature to f/2.5 and lowering my flash power as well. In so doing, I brought in a lot of natural Ambient light, and used my flash as a soft fill-light. Thus, my sky went to near white, with a slight gradient from very light blue to warm white light, within a few seconds.
My second nature-made backdrop was the fall leaves. Unfortunately, many of the leaves had already turned brown. While the brown leaves did nicely compliment Helen’s brown boots & hair, I wanted to have some more color in a few of the shoots. Thus, with a little photoshop trickery, I was able to turn the brown leaves to a bright warm red or orange.
Below are a few more images from the fall session with Helen.
Matthew Guss
Photographer @ FauxTaux Grafix
ftgphoto@yahoo.com fauxtauxgrafix.com
