A two day shoot at PianoWerkes in Albuquerque, New Mexico produced so many great images, this is the second blog post from those shoots (see showroom interior photos here). Having never really seen under the top of a piano before, I was instantly amazed at the detail to be found in the design. It’s not just a bunch of piano wires, there are sound hole openings, wooden braces, and embossed branding. After I got the main shots the client wanted, mostly for my own purposes, I went around with a 50mm lens and at times still some off camera lighting to get creative shallow depth of field shots that show pianos like one does not usually see. the client ended up liking these photos and purchasing them too!
Headshots for the interior designer herself on location
What better location for an interior designer to have a headshot shoot than in the space she designed herself? That is how we ended the interiors shoot I did for Bailey in Ruidoso. The natural light was so good in the space, I just put on my 50mm lens and made all these headshots without any off camera lighting. As always, I wanted to capture as much personality as possible, so there are some usual smiles and some laughing photos as well as unusual foreground composition headshots. Thank you Bailey for helping with the shoot and then being great in front of the camera for your headshots!
As a top three rated commercial photographer in Albuquerque, I mostly have business clients. However, I do enjoy having lifestyle photoshoots when people contact me like Indu did to make photos of her son as he turns 1 year old. We met in Altura Park (a location I have been using more and more) to make candid photos of her son. Since a 1 year old does not really ever sit still, it is my photography philosophy that it is best to just let the baby do what he/she wants and let me make candids that capture the baby’s personality. Maybe the smile will not be perfect, maybe the baby will almost never once even look directly into the camera, but the photos 20 years from now I really believe will make the parents smile more than a posed photo attempting perfection.
Creative and Covid-19 safe Commercial Portraits in ABQ
It often happens when I shoot at a great new location for the first time, like the Hotel Parq Central, other clients see those photos and want to use it as a location too! Such was the case for Marian, and since she was coming all the way from Ruidoso and needed a hotel to stay at anyway, it was very convenient for her to just take the elevator down right to our shooting location! The purpose of the shoot was to create commercial portraits that were not too corporate or like other traditional speaker photos, especially for speakers who speak about librarians. As you can see, not a single bookcase in any of these photos! In a relatively short time, I was able to make a large variety of photos for Marian thanks to her being open to my ideas, the well designed areas of the hotel, and the unique perspectives a 50mm f/1.4 lens creates. In fact, I never did a shoot this varied exclusively with a 50mm lens before.
Graduation Photos that stand out from the rest at Hotel Parq Central
Recent grad Josh wanted different, out of the box, more creative graduation photos. Using the fabulous Hotel Parq Central as a location here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I was able to make for Josh the kinds of creative, Instagram-ready photos he wanted. That is what I offer clients of Jason Collin Photography, creative photography that stands out from other photographers in the city. I am able to make such standout photos for clients because of my high technical competence with off camera lightingon location, combined with on the spot, instant creativity based on the person and the environment. Check out the BTS photo below. In this case, Josh was a natural in front of the camera which helped a lot too! And thank you to Jessica for assisting on this shoot.
Using shallow depth of field and setting your focus point
Since I started Jason Collin Photography back in 2009, I have taught hundreds of people of all levels 1-on-1 photography lessons. In the course of that teaching I repeated some favorite photography advice. Here is one of them:
“Show me something I cannot see by just standing there.”
Another one is:
“A photographer can make something out of nothing.”
In the example photos in this blog post I had my Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART lens on my Sony a7 III full frame mirrorless camera. This lens is my favorite lens for making something out of nothing because the large f/1.4 aperture means I can easily create very shallow DoF (depth of field). Making a photo with a very shallow DoF is one of the easiest ways to make something out of nothing.
One of my own personal favorite photos of all time that I made involved Christmas lights. These shots are quite different from that one, but one thing remains, I like Christmas lights out of focus better than in focus! Strings of lights make are an excellent opportunity to test out the bokeh quality of a lens, and my new Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART lens impressed me with roundness of the light circles due to its 9-blade design. I took the lens mounted on to my Sony a7R IV on a stroll around Old Town Albuquerque during the annual tree lighting event, but the tree itself was not interesting to me to photograph. Much more interesting were these hidden shots I found around small stores and down old alleyways. Scroll down for a top photo tip!
