Dayla's Black & White Images

Side by Side Comparison Part II

Side by Side Comparison Part I

Dayla's Photos

Sometimes you don't know what kind of interesting things will happen to you at work. Last night at work, I received a call from one of my customer's at Printroom. She was understandably unhappy with the situation on her order. After spending some time trying to find out the problem, I was able to offer her some options. To make a long story short, we ended up refunding part of her order. Now the interesting part is Dayla and I got off topic talking about where she worked, what she does for a living and educational background. I told her some of my background including being a photographer. She asked me one of the most commonly asked questions I get from my customers' on my personal, photography business. "Do I know how to edit photographs?" Which, of coourse, I responded with "Depends on what type of editing." Basic editing like levels, curves, colors can take me 5-20 minutes. Doing things like masking layers, fixing blemishes and the like can take more up to 30 minutes or longer. Well Dayla forwarded me a couple of photos. I wanted to post them here to show her and my blog readers the before and after. I'm also including some Black & White versions of the file.

As always, C&C is welcome!

JP

New Direction, New Focus

After viewing Kevin Major Howard's and Brooke Kasper's website, I've had a major, new direction with my style of photography. I'm now focused on headshots. I've always been intrigued by how much a person's face reveals about themselves. The expressions, a person's eyes, scars, etc. All these things tell a story about a person. Even without a camera, every time I meet someone new I always try figure out something about him or her by what I see in their face. I am especially fascinated by the eyes. There is truth about that old adage, "The eyes are the window of the soul". Well naturally I want to capture that essence, the truth when I take photos. I am empowered more than ever to do that by concentrating my style of photography on headshots. What does this mean for my website and blog? Simply put you will see more portraits and headshots on both sites. I can only hope to aspire that my work will be viewed with same awe as when I view Kevin's or Brooke's photos.

JP

Bay Area Model Photo Shoots - Feb 7th

I found this great photographer group on meetup last week. They were hosting a model photo shoot where a group of photographers' get a chance to take photos of a model in a studio location including lighting and props. Now I've rented out a studio for some of my past model shoots. Nor am I stranger to shooting models on location. However this was a first shooting with a bunch of other photographers' at the same time. I have to admit that it was more a social event rather than just taking pictures of a model. Met a couple cool photographers. The two host, Erwin and Herb, were also very cordial and helpful. All in all, it was a great experience. I highly recommend anyone who wants to practice shooting a live model and meet other fellow photographers should try it at least once.

-JP

DPReview on the new Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 II lens

For all my Canon photographer friends,

Check out the review on the newest lens in the Canon line.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0901/09012801canon501p8review.asp

If your on a budget and can't afford one of those "L" lenses, this is a great starter lens for your new Canon DSLR. Its literally lite in weight, not to mention lite on the budget.

JP

My Model Friend, Ashton

The very attractive model on the front of my website, Ashton, was recently featured in a commercial break during the Pittsburg Steelers' playoff game. I have the pleasure of both being a personal friend and having Ashton work as a model for me on several occasions a few years back. Not only is Ashton absolutely stunning in looks[a pre-quisite for any serious model) but she has a down-to-earth personality and a great sense of humor. I wouldn't be surprised if she turns into the next Eva Longoria as she pursues her acting career in LA. Best of wishes to Ashton! You can some of my modest photos of Ashton on my main website.

JP

Using My Brand New Backdrop that I bought on Ebay a year ago!

Yup. I've had this backdrop with 5 different muslin backgrounds sitting at home collecting dust oh these many months! The reason I never used it before this weekend is that it takes up a lot of space when setup. Its a bit of a pain in the ass setting it up in the first place and it takes a goodly amount of time putting it back in its carrying case. Plus its definitely a 2-man job assembling and dissablembling the bloody thing.

I must admit that after having used it for portraits at TechCU's Annual Employee Party on Saturday, I see the advantage of having a real photographer's background. I plan on using this more often albeit I still have to deal with the setting up part. =(

Check out these samples of the Portraits we took from the party. The camera used was Israel's Canon 40D mounted on Manfrotto tripod using his 17-40L F/4 Lens with the clear Gary Fong dome on a 580EX flash. Camera was set to Aperture Priority F/8 1/250 sec at ISO 200. No EV.

-JP

Harlem Globetrotters in the Bay Area

Once in a while an opportunity comes up that you just can't refuse. Last week one of the VP's at work was looking for some photographers to take photos of the Harlem Globetrotters who would be in the Bay Area for the week. So, yes, I broke out with my Nikon D2h to see what kind of cool photos I could take. Here's a sample of my favorite photos.

Cheers,
JP

Topaz Actions Simplify

Hi All,

Here's a new set of actions (using trial version right now) that was recommended to me by my fellow photographer, Israel. It has a one touch/button that shows the before and after. It can make a good landscape image into a Masterpiece. Best of all, its affordable. The Simplify action package is around $40.00 US. A better price than Kevin Kubota's action packs which starts from $100.00 US and above. Try it out and you'll be amazed!

-JP

Ex: This is the original image I edited.

Ex: This is image after using Topaz Action. What a difference eh?

JP's Headshot photo of Printroom's CEO

Yup. I'm definitely proud of the photo that I took of Printroom's CEO. It was sent last week as part of printroom's mass email to all the customers. Its amazing what you can do with a good camera/lens, couple external flash guns (with a Gary Fong diffuser) and some photoshop editing!

JP

Teeth Whitening Tutorial

Hey Everyone,

I thought I would share this photoshop tip that I created for teeth whitening. As a portrait and wedding photographer, getting your customers' to look their best is crucial for customer satisfaction. Let' s face it, not everyone has great pearly whites. With the magic of photoshop, you can give them those pearly whites in the photos. Check out this tutorial. As always, send me any comments or feedback.

Cheers,
JP

JPP welcomes 2009!

To all my dear friends,

Have a safe and happy New Year!!

Warmest regards,
JP

Malate Holiday Family Photos 2008

Hi All,

I think I've finally found my "photographic style." That style that is unique to every photographer who fancies himself/herself as an artist using the camera as their paintbrush and the image as their canvas. If I were to describe my style, I would say it is "Vibrant, bold colors with an emphasis on contrast." I shoot with this style in mind. However that's only half the formula. The other half is still editing in Photoshop Lightroom and CS2. The reason why I prefaced with my post that I've finally found my style is because I can now achieve my style consistently versus not knowing what I'm doing and getting a good photo. I hope y'all like JPP's new style. Comments and criticism, as always, are welcome!

-JP

Merry Christmas!

To All My Dear Family and Friends,

I want to wish you a wonderful and safe Christmas on this most blessed day of Our Little Lord Jesus.

Warmest wishes,

JP

New Photos from my Lunch Break

Post-Processing Software Tip

As some of my photo friends know, I've been using Noiseware a software application that reduces the noise on photos taken with HIGH ISO. It does such a wonderful job that the photos typically look like a photo that was taken at a lower ISO anywhere from 200-400. Normally I shoot no higher than ISO 800 but now that I've been using Noiseware I can shoot all the way up to ISO 1600. For those of us Nikon users that I don't have the D3/D300/D700/D90 series with Nikon's latest noise reduction feature, Noiseware gives an oppportunity to shoot almost as good as if we were using one of those models. As always this is not a great substitute for fast lenses but for those on a budget with slower lenses, this will do in a pinch. I highly recommend you try it. You can download the community free version of Noiseware here. I'm also including a sample photo using before and after Noiseware.

On the second set, try to guess which is the original and which is the edited with Noiseware version.

JP

Celebrating the Christmas Holidays!

Some photos I took of my sister's family Christmas Tree and ornaments. Enjoy!

-JP

***Major Update on Website***

Hi All,

I've been on the fence for some time now about updating my website with the new full size image feature that are featured on some the newer photo websites on the 'net (especially pro photographer sites). After seeing Brooke's awesome site, it was just the nudge I needed to do it. I've been working on it since Wednesday with the minor problem of my internet connection has been down since Wednesday morning. In fact, I was busy editing the full size images for my website at 3am in the morning when my internet connection decided to stop! So I've been editing photos at home and uploading at work on breaks. I haven't quite finished but I have most of it done. I still need to redo my other wedding, debut and portrait galleries from before the update but I anticipate finishing the site this weekend. I hope y'all like the new look. Please do drop by and leave any comments (good or bad!).

You can click this link to go to the website www.johnpaulphotography.com

God Bless,
JP

Totally Inspired!!

One of the great things about working at a company that is the printing lab service for sooo many photographers' is that often you get to talk to with other photographers. Every once in awhile you see good photographs. Well talking to my good photographer friend Stephanie Lewis from Texas, she happened to mention another photographer from her area with some great photos. As I said earlier, you see a lot of photos in my line of work. Well there's good. There's Great. And there's O-My-Gosh!-it's-Freakin' AWESOME photos. If perchance you don't believe, don't take my word for it. Check out Brooke Kasper's website here. Seeing is believing. After checking out her site with Stephanie on the other end of my phone, I emphatically admit her work is some of the best I've seen both at Printroom as well as work I've seen in photography magazines and books I've perused in the last couple years. I'm simply in awe at her technique (lighting, exposure, saturation, composition). Yup the whole nine yards! I'm not afraid to admit that Brooke inspires me to achieve similar level of photography in my own work. I've got several photoshoots coming up in the next couple weeks that I plan on practicing my photography and post-processing to get similar results. There's nothing like seeing another photographer's work that inspires oneself to improve!~!

www.johnpaulphotography.com

JP

Updated Mae Model Photos

I finally finished the photos of Vanessa Mae this past weekend.

-JP