The model in this photograph emailed me last night and was very excited to have found an image I took of him on a billboard in Salt Lake City! I decided to head down today to get a photo … it’s always cool to see my images used, but finding an image on a billboard is about as cool as it gets. :)

Original image is here.

I get a lot of questions about microstock, mostly from people starting out who are wondering where to start. The thing is, most of the questions are all the same, so I thought it would be good to put together a post that will answer those questions.

So if you have a question you’d like to ask me about microstock then this is the place! Ask whatever you like, whether it’s about microstock in general or about my own career in microstock. I don’t guarantee that I’ll answer them all, but I promise that I’ll read and consider every question I get.

To ask a question just type it in the comments section below, or if you’d like to stay on the down-low and ask me privately then you can contact me directly.

I’ll take questions for about a week and post the answers up later next week.

A few weeks ago I did a photo-shoot with “Heavy Metal Heidi” for an event she puts on monthly. We spent about three hours going through different concepts … holding colorful ballons on grey background, a smoking gun, chains, etc.

She wanted to look elegant in the shot since many of her previous posters have portrayed her as a “rocker chick”, so she wanted to have something different. As a photographer it’s impossible for me to not add my own creative flare (no pun intended, lol) to the photo so I decided to place one of the lights behind her and literally add some lens flare to the shot.

The cool thing is that it is one of those photos that made it to the poster. It’s always a good feeling and adds a sense of justification as an artist when one of your favorite shots gets picked by the model and designer for the design. :)

Here’s a link to the event on Facebook, too, if you want to see what it’s all about.

Canon 7D, Canon 24-105 ƒ/4L IS lens, 1/400 sec at ƒ/4.5, ISO 100

I’ve been catching up on editing and taking lots of photos this week … I’ve been crazy busy and it’s been great! Thankfully I have had a small break from writing (although I don’t expect it to last too long). ;) I feel a real vacation is in order before my schedule gets too hectic in the months ahead.

Tomorrow I have a newborn shoot planned … super excited, since I was there for the birth. More to come!

Canon 7D, Lensbaby Composer lens, Double-Glass optic, 1/160 sec at ƒ/5.6, ISO 100

This photo was taken at the iStock event a few weeks ago here in Salt Lake City. It has very little editing done to it, although I do admit to a little bit of tooth lengthening to make it look like she has fangs. :) We had an amazing makeup artist that day, Chris Hanson, who also did the makeup for the models in a few of last week’s blog posts (Monkey and Mime).

I used a Lensbaby for this shot, along with many other images throughout the day, and was able to get really amazing focus on a lot of them. Anyone who says that you can’t get a sharp image with a Lensbaby hasn’t used one long enough to get it right. I’ve been trying to use my Lensbaby Composer as much as possible and I’m learning it’s one of those pieces of equipment that really takes practice to get the hang of it.

So if you have a Lensbaby and are frustrated—don’t give up! It is possible to get great focus with it. My one tip would be to compose, focus, take the shot … then re-focus and do it again and again with the same setup. Even if I think I nailed focus I usually refocus and take the same shot a few more times just to make sure (especially if I like the composition). I still miss focus, but the more I use the lens the fewer “bad” shots I end up taking. I really enjoy using my Lensbaby and find that it changes the way I see my images and compose the shots … doing it in the editing process just wouldn’t create the same experience for me.

Canon 7D, Lensbaby Composer, Double-Glass Optic, 1/125 sec at f/8, ISO 100

I spent some time yesterday editing a few of the photos from a recent iStock mini’lypse event here in Salt Lake City. This one was from the “Carnival” themed location where I used my Lensbaby for all but one of the sets. I though the background needed a little bit more so I added some textured and a bit of blur (to keep it consistent with the Lensbaby effect) and am pretty happy with how it turned out.

I still have a LOT of images in my back-log to edit, and keep planning more shoots and taking more photos. Plus I still have a bunch of writing I’m trying to keep up with. It’s such a good feeling to stay busy … normally I would cringe at having some much photo back-log to get to but for some reason it’s making me smile. :)

Canon 7D, Canon 70-200 ƒ/4L IS lens, 1/125 sec at ƒ/4, ISO 100

Canon 7D, Lensbaby Composer, Double-Glass Optic, 1/125 sec at ƒ/5.6, ISO 100

This is a photo from this weekend’s iStock photo event organized by Todd and Renee Keith (http://www.bellaora.com). I had a fantastic time and got some really amazing images from the event and will be posting more images from it throughout the week.

One thing I did during the event was I challeneged myself as much as possible. On the first day of the event (Friday) at the SLC Library I only shot with my 50mm ƒ/1.4 lens. The next day I did all but one set with my Lensbaby Composer, and yesterday I used my 70-200mm ƒ/4L IS lens for all but one location (one room was just too small to use that focal length).

Of all of the lenses I used the Lensbaby-day was the most challenging, since it’s tough to get perfect focus on every shot but one thing about that lens is that when it is focused it’s CRAZY sharp. It was also dark in the room and we were using studio lights for nearly every shot, so that of course made it even more difficult, but I really like the results I got and can’t wait to get them all edited. :)

Canon 7D, Canon 70-200 ƒ/4L IS lens, 1/50 sec at ƒ/4, ISO 100

Here’s a nice, clean stock image from my trip to the iStock event in St. George earlier this month. There are a few other images in this series and I have to say that this set was my favorite from the event … really shallow DOF, sharp focus, nice lighting, clean colors and great models/expressions.

One thing that helped with the lighting in this image is that I was fortunate to be able to shoot this in the early morning before the harsh sun started shining down on us. The models in the background are in the shade and I used an off-camera speed-light to fill in the model’s face.

Canon 7D, Canon 24-105 ƒ/4L IS lens, 1/125 sec at ƒ/4, ISO 100

This is Lissa, photographed in St. George at an iStockphoto event … the same dancer I posted in an earlier blog post. She was doing some stretching before we started and I was standing nearby, so I got this quick shot of her before she changed positions. :)