Jason Tag Photography

Well September was a crazy month as I wrote earlier.  I’m glad that I was able to do the shoots and work with the models I got to work with.  Now it’s time to sit back and figure out what I learned so I can avoid making the same mistakes twice.

The month started out with me buying a new lens.  The Olympus 14-54mm ƒ2.8.  This lens is defiently superior lens to the kit lens I was shooting with previously.  The biggest difference is in the sharpness of the images this lens produces but also it has a smaller aperture range across a longer focal length which means better collection of light at the same focal lengths as my previous lens. The only drawback I would say is that it had a tendency to focus on the background.  However I discovered that underlow light conditions it takes longer to focus than under high key lighting situations.  when in a low light situation I just need to wait a little before taking the shot. Once I figured this out, things got a little bit easier with this lens.

Another lesson I learned was that I still have to work on steadying my hands when shooting at focal lengths above 50mm.  Of course this is the problem that most photographers spend years working on.  I’m not sure how to fix this except to shoot with the longer focal length and try to be steady or start using a tripod more.  I’ve benn thinking that my next shoot should be done with tripod just so I can figure out how to really incorporate it into my shooting.

During two os the shoots this month I worked with models who wanted direction.  This had been one of my biggest weaknesses since I started working with models.  Since I’m no expert at posing it’s not a skill that comes naturally to me.  I endup having to spend a great dael of time thinking about the body and looking at the models body to determine what poses would look good for her body.  On these two shoots I really felt that I did better than I had done in the past.  I felt that I was able to come up with a pose much faster and was able to communicate to the models exactly where to put their hands, legs, where to look…. etc.  The more I am forced to communicate poses the better I’m getting at it.  I’m still no where near where I want to be with the skill but it’s coming along nicely.  I think I’ll spend some more time looking at images and studying poses that I find in other artwork.

One thing I’m finding is that I’m making less techinical mistakes with the camera.  So I’m getting more good images versus bad images with every shoot.  However the more I shoot the more I realize that the things I have to work on now are becoming more about my interactions with the models and about the actual art itself.  Learning how to communicate my ideas effectively and understanding how to work with the models in a better manner.

Well I got the invite to be on Zivity! Yay! I’m so stoked. For those of you who may not know, Zivity is turning social networking on it’s ear right now! Zivity is a social networking site which showcases beautiful images of beautiful women. Their goal is to promote female beauty (nude or non-nude), empower women, and to allow each woman to be glamorous.

How it works is each user pays a monthly subscription fee to access the site. Each user also gets 5 votes and can vote for their favorite images. The votes represent about 80 cents which gets split between the model and the photographer with 60 cents going to the model. It sounds like a fun way to enjoy beautiful images and support wonderful artists at the same time.

So now that I’m on the site I’m looking for models who are interested in working with me on a shoot for Zivity. You don’t have to have experience,  just a good attitude, an open mind and want to have some fun. If you’d like more information about the shoot, drop me a line at jasontag@jasontagphoto.com.

Mangroves

As I wrote earlier I’ve been reading a book about exposure settings. So yesterday I went out to take some photos and play with exposure settings. I also decided to combine this trip with a location scouting trip. I figured I could do both at the same time. And what I got were some nice images and I had a great time exploring and area of Oahu I had never seen before.

As I set out my ultimate destination was a rock formation known as “Pele’s Chair” It’s in a place that is familiar to me because I’ve done a few shoots at the beach nearby. But I’ve never been over to the chair itself.

Fire Damage

As I got further into the area I began to see that there had been a huge fire. huge sections of what used to be tall wild grass was now charred and black. I don’t remember hearing anything about a fire on the news and it didn’t smell new so it must have been a month or so ago.

Metal Tubes

Further in I found a pair of large metal tubes. they seemed to be structurally sound despite the rust damage. I even climbed into one of them to test their ability to hold weight. They held up just fine. It was certainly unexpected to find these tubes out here and they might make an interesting feature to shoot nudes with.

As I headed away from the tubes I got my first glimpse of “Pele’s Chair”. As I walked the land around me was charred but only on one side of the path. The mountain side of the path looked as if it had never been touched by the fire.

When I got closer to the chair, I could see that a couple had climbed up to the chair. This got me really excited to see that it was possible to get up there. My mind ran wild with all kinds of ideas for shots and I began walking faster in order to get there faster.

Once I got to the top. I was rewarded by a great view of the place I had just walked through. It is views like this that make me glad I live in Hawaii.

Luck I live Hawaii

About a week ago I picked a book titled “Understanding Exposure”  by Bryan Peterson.   Because I shoot outdoors I’m always presented with challenging lighting situations.  I bring a reflector to every shoot and I’ve started to use a flash mounted on top of my camera.  w I still find my self wanting to shoot primarily with natural light and use the flash or reflector for effect or when I absolutely need it.

During my last few shoots I really had a difficult time with my exposure settings.  I felt I needed some help in this aspect of my shooting.  Bryan Peterson does a great job of explaining exposure in a way that makes sense.  Easy to follow and very natural even if you know very little about cameras and how they work.

One idea he presents which blows my mind away is the idea that there are at least six maybe seven correct exposure settings that you can make for any situation yet there is only one artistically correct choice.  I hope I got that idea right because it’s a big deal.  What it means to me is that there is one image I want to capture and only one correct exposure setting for it.  That’s idea totally destroyed everything I thought about photography.

This weekend I’ll take my camera and play around with some of what I learned from the book.  Unfortunately I can’t afford to shoot with a model this weekend, but it’ll be good to just play around and see what I see.

Julia - Tiny Flower

When Julia picked this flower, I thought it was just too small to do anything with. But right when I thought this, I remembered the shot of Sylvia with the seashells on her chest. I also thought of a friend of mine who had suggested that I do more shots that use things found in nature against a backdrop of the nude body. I thought It might be interesting to try this idea with this flower. I love this shot because of the care she is exhibiting in handling this tiny flower.

I know what you’re going to say, and I agree, thinking is dangerous!

I’ve been thinking a lot about my camera and in particular, thinking about buying a new camera. Over the weekend I did some headshot type stuff for a friend (who is also a photographer) and we talked about the idea of new camera vs. better lenses.

That’s what got me thinking. Her point was that the camera I have is fine. It’s in good working order and I’ve been taking good shots with it for the past year and a half. So maybe I should look at new lenses instead. Right now I’m using the Zuiko 14-45mm lens that came with the camera as my main lens. I like it but when I use my 50-150mm long lens I like the results much better with that lens but I have to be like 15 feet away from the model in order to use it. I like being close, being right there so the model doesn’t feel alone. Of course it’s also nice being able to talk without yelling across the vastness of space that the long lens requires.

The lens I’m looking is a 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Zuiko lens It looks like it’s a good lens and with an f-stop range of f2.8-3.5 would be quite a jump from my current lens which is at f3.5-5.6. The price is quite good at around $425. I hope that I can do it in the next week or so but we’ll see what happens with my finances…

A friend of mine called and needs some shots.  It’ll mostly be headshots and some basic modeling shots so she can show off some new stuff and update her portfolio.  Because of my crazy schedule we’ll be shooting indoors at another friends house in the evening.  She also talked finding some fun costumes and just playing around and having fun with photography.  I’ve already been to the store and picked some lights.  All we need is some fun costumes and we’ll be all set!  I’ll definetly be posting shots of my shiny new lights but I’ll have to find out if I can post some of actual shots from the shoot… Stay tuned!

Up to this point in the adventure, I’ve been shooting outdoors in natural light.  I have used reflectors for some shots but I don’t feel comfortable using them unless I have an assistant.  It’s tricky to hold the reflector and the camera at the same time.  Or worse, having your reflector flying away in the wind and having to chase it down the beach while the model stand there waiting.( it hasn’t happened but it would suck if it did!)

Needless to say, I like shooting outdoors because it’s really the only time in my busy life that I get to be outside.  It’s sad I know.  I like being outside in the sun, taking a nice stroll through the woods, or maybe just relaxing on the beach.  And shooting nudes is not a bad way to experience the great outdoors either.  I have also enjoyed taking the minimalist approach and shooting with just a camera and that’s it.  It’s not easy to pull off but I feel that it’ll make me a better photographer if I can learn to shoot without all the fancy gadgetry and just focus on the actual shots.

I love the beach but I’m glad that I decided to shoot in the woods on the last shoot.  I was very happy at how those shots turned out and you can be sure that you’ll be seeing more shots in the woods.  But I would also like to do a few shoots that are industrial nudes or urban nudes.  I think these could a lot of fun.  Imagine playing with the contrast between the our harsh world and the soft skin of the human body.  Or showing off the strength of the human body against a metal structure, or how the body is capable of becoming one with the industrial world.  I am truly excited about the possibilities and seeing what comes of all this…

Aloha!

Since my last shoot I’ve been thinking about ideas. Specifically coming up with a few new ones. Normally my ideas are inspired by the model or the location in the moment. Something magical happens. The model does something or looks at me a certain way and I see the spark. Or the location has something that beckons to have a model pose there.  I become possessed and the ideas begin to flow. However when the ideas don’t flow this can be bad. While this hasn’t happened yet I can see the possibility for it to happen.

I picked up a book the other day that was all about perceptions and changing the way you see the world.  I found it interesting that it’s now got me wondering how I can incorporate that into my photography.  The idea is to photograph things in a different way.  Putting the subject of a photo out of focus or using long exposure times when you don’t really need to just to see what happens and how it makes the photos different.  I’m not sure how to incoporate this into what Im doing but I’ll definetly be thinking about it.

Aloha…

This morning I woke up and had an interesting thought. Does anybody work these days as Muse? I began thinking about this as I drove to work. What occurred to me is that it might be interesting to work with someone on this level because it would be a collaborative artistic relationship. Which I find to be the most exciting of all artistic relationships. One where the Muse and Photographer create ideas and share a common vision. The purpose of which would be to create art that satisfies both Photographer and Muse. I find this idea fascinating because it would allow the Model/Muse to be more creative than in any other Model/Photographer relationship. She would have the ability to select poses, locations, wardrobe items, accessories, the whole nine yards. Just as much as the photographer would.

Of course this raises some interesting questions. Who would own the copyrights if the images contain ideas of both Photographer and Muse? Can the images be published? Under what circumstances can they be published? Who benefits from the publication?

As I wrestled with the issues of this type of artistic endeavour. I came up with a few ideas. This would be a relationship where the model isn’t being paid to pose for a photographer because the Muse is working as an artist as well. This is not to say that the Muse wold not be able to make money from her work. In this kind of collaboration, the Muse should have the rights to publish any photos from this endeavour commercially. And maybe the Photographer should be allowed to publish the work but only in a limited capacity. For example, the Muse could sell the work as prints and the Photographer could only publish through the web at a slightly lower resolution.

The problem that arises is that both Modeling and Photography are inherently expensive. A models time is valuable and if they’re buying wardrobe or accessories for shoots it can get very expensive. Photographers of course have the cost and maintenace of the equipment to worry about as well as their time. So both persons would have a need to publish the work commercially to recover any costs incurred in the process and to make a profit in order to continue working in this manner. Who has what rights and how the work should be published is up to the Muse and Photographer to agree upon.

I am definetly interested in this idea and I’ll have to spend more time thinking about it.