Casey Templeton Photography

A common headache for photographers getting started with digital photography is keeping their images organized; if left untouched, images can get lost in the shuffle very quickly. The key to keeping images organized is to come up with your own naming structure for your images and folders. In this post, I am going to explain my process of keeping images organized.

The goal is to have all of your images named in a way that if they are all put into a single folder together, they would all be in order by the date they were taken. Same for all of the folders we keep the photos in.  Often, your camera will come with a photo editing software you can use in taking your photos off of your memory card and onto your computer.  You can also use Apple’s iPhoto, Windows Live Photo Gallery, or for more advance photographers, Apple’s Aperture or Adobe’s Lightroom.

If you use a program such as Camera Bit’s Photo Mechanic to download your images, you can use this in your naming window:
{iptcyear2}{iptcmonth0}{iptcday0}_YourEventName_{seqn}   =   100302_YourEventName_001
or
{iptcyear4}{iptcmonth0}{iptcday0}_YourEventName_{seqn}   =   20100302_YourEventName_001

It is also important to keep your images similarly organized in the program you may use to organize your images such as Apple’s Aperture, Adobe’s Lightroom or any other program that may be provided in your camera’s software.  Below is how I keep my Aperture library organized.

I’ve received several request to give simple camera/post-production/shooting tips so here is my first of many weekly photo tips. Please feel free to leave comments with questions as well as suggestions for other photo tips. Enjoy!

Cloudy White Balance, My Go-To

Starting photographers often complain about dull or blue tinted photos that make their subjects seem lifeless. My cure for this is to start using cloudy white balance.  This setting can be found on most digital point-and-shoot as well as DSLR cameras and uses a cloud symbol. I use cloudy white balance when shooting in direct sunlight, when using a flash, indoors with natural light coming in from windows as well as any other situation where my images seem too cool. This works great for natural skin tones.

Below is an example of a piece of finished wood that is inside near a window, the difference is stunning.

Auto White Balance vs. Cloudy White Balance

I am thrilled to announce two 1-month internship opportunities with Casey Templeton Photography for Summer-Fall 2010.

Position Summary:

This is an opportunity to work in a broad range of environments and with a broader range of clients. Photographers who wish to gain experience in on-location commercial photography will find this opportunity particularly beneficial. This position will also give the participant unique insight into the challenges and strategies involved in maintaining a photography business.

The first 1-month internship will take place between May and August, while the second will run between September and December. The participant must be available for six days a week during their assigned four week block. $1,000 will be provided to help cover living expenses during the internship.

Skills:

The best candidate is a driven individual with experience, either through education, work, or both, in photography or video and a desire to advance in the field.
An understanding of basic functions and principles of the camera and photography is a must.
Proficiency with Apple computers is preferred.
Proficiency in basic web design and Video and Audio capture is a plus but not required.
Firm grasp of social media management preferred.

To Apply:

• Download Application Form and submit with a resume
• Write a short essay (feel free to be creative in both writing and presentation) explaining why you would be the best candidate
• Find/take a creative self portrait
• Submit a portfolio of 10 images (longest side 1024px) or a video (posted on YouTube)

Tis the season for holiday cards to be bought, signed, shipped and forgotten.  To fight this un-merry trend, I teamed with Adam Mead and his crew at The Creative System to produce a holiday card to be enjoyed by all.

Here is how I had to shoot it:
The wood panel wall was super reflective so I had a hard time keeping streaks of light from appearing. I placed 2 side Canon Speedlites pointing directly to the middle so they wouldn’t hit the wall, only the models. I wanted all the images to have a gold tone to them so I had a 3rd Canon Speedlite aimed away from the scene and bouncing off a the gold side of my 74″ Impact reflector. To light the wall, I used 2 simple shop lights that helped to add to the gold tones.

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I had the opportunity to photograph a great Virginia-based band, Louisiana Territory (myspace | Twitter | Facebook). Their new album is called, “Traces of Gold” so I worked with coordinator, Rob Jefferson, and stylist Molly Todd, to capture images that carried the “Traces of Gold” theme.

You can read The Richmond Scene’s review of their album here: “Trace of Gold” Review on TRS.  And you can read more about the details of the shoot below.

The guys wanted to stay away from typical band photography and were willing to try almost anything. This gave me the freedom to incorporate unconventional methods and experiment with some new ideas. (more…)

My all-time favorite assignment was my “Pigeon Culture” project I produced during my internship with National Geographic Magazine.  To put into perspective how valuable some pigeons can be, auctions are held around the world where pigeons are bought and sold for over $200,000 and races are held in some countries with a top prize of $1 million to the winning flyer.  I explain more in depth in my multimedia presentation about the amazing and beautiful sport of racing pigeons.  I would like to share my techniques, settings, and my approach to three of my 10,000+ images I took during the assignment.

Butch and His Prized Trophies

Pigeon Racer Butch holds his prized trophies

I was kindly invited to Butch Gentile’s home in Spring Hill, Florida for dinner with two of his racing friends.  I arrived and Butch was cooking swordfish with no shirt on.  As the four of us sat down to eat, Butch still had no shirt on and I knew I had a great opportunity for a photograph.  After dinner, I asked if he could show me some of his prized pigeon racing awards. (more…)

Earlier this year, I shot a story on Virginia’s peanut farming for Virginia Living Magazine.  After the article was selected as the September/October cover story, I had the opportunity to shoot the cover image.

Art director Tyler Darden wanted to “keep it simple and clean, yet homespun and comfortable…like peanuts!” I brought my lights and soft boxes in case we needed the additional light but my first approach on any shoot is to keep it as simple as possible. I try to use available light and only add external light when necessary.  I shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and used a 74″ Impact reflector to reflect and diffuse the available light. The camera’s live view function is crucial on shoots like this for nailing focus points and white balance, and allowing the art director to look over your shoulder to preview framing.

In this picture, Rob is using the large reflector to diffuse the light coming in from the skylight and the small reflector to cast a shadow on the back of peanuts.

As you can see, this allowed the peanuts in the foreground and in focus to really pop while the darkened background would allow the cover text to read better in the layout.

Rob used Aperture to download, preview and select potential images with the art director.  We then connected our Macbook Pros over the wireless network  to transfer the selected images. From there, the art director dropped the images directly into the InDesign layout and chose the one that looked best with his cover composition.

This workflow allowed the art director and I to be sure we nailed the shot even before we broke down the set. I just picked up the magazine and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

I love helping out photographers just getting started. On a daily basis, I get questions from other photographers about improving their images, running their businesses and determining their pricing. Being only 25, I am just getting started myself and have a lot to learn. I also know there are many photographers out there that are doing this much better than I am. I did not attend a photo college but instead I started learning this business by calling, emailing, assisting and visiting seasoned photographers and asking their advice. Rarely did I pull out my portfolio and push photos in front of them. I was seeking their advice so I just shut my mouth, and opened my ears.

The biggest piece of advice I can give you if you want to be a successful photographer is 

“be a better businessperson than you are a photographer.”

This sounds counter intuitive, but if you want to make a living from photography, its essential. (more…)