From the desk of the intern

 

 Hello there it's Devon again. Sadly today is the last day of my internship but before I bid Avant-Garde Images adieu, I thought I'd write one last blog post.

Yesterday Peggy and I went to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade downtown Naples, Florida for a photo walk with her photography club, Understand Photography.

I got to use her infrared camera which was so cool! It makes green things white and mixes up all the colors.  It was a lot of fun to use.  It was an old camera that Peggy had converted through this company:  www.lifepixel.com .

I have had an amazing time here and I am so grateful to Peggy for everything she has taught me. It has been an awesome two weeks and I have learned so much!

Pelican Bay Photography Show and Competition

 Our blog followers all know that we offer photography classes at our studio under the name of "Understand Photography" here in Naples, Florida.   We've had tremendous success with our  photography workshops and now are offering them out in the community.  We have several workshops scheduled at the Pelican Bay Foundation and two workshops at the Naples Art Association this January/February.  Our workshops range from beginner to advanced, portraits to nature to artistic photography.  We now have six regular photography instructors!  

Check out our photography meetup site and join us - it's free to join!  www.meetup.com/understandphotography
Click on CALENDAR to see our selection of workshops. 

The Pelican Bay Foundation kicked off their season with a photography show and competition.  Peggy put together a team of judges with different specialties:
Sara Timmons - Portraits, Landscapes and Travel
Cathy Nocera - Digital Manipulation
Gordon Campbell - Nature and Travel
Erik Keller - Photojournalism and Editorial

and of course

Peggy Farren - Portraiture

The five of us (actually six since Devon the intern tagged along) had a wonderful time perusing all the photographs that the Pelican Bay residents submitted.  There are some incredible photographers in Pelican Bay!  It was tough, tough, tough to make the decisions but we chose winners in each category.  The next night Pelican Bay hosted a Photography Show and Peggy talked about the winning pictures and why they won.  

Pelican Bay Photography Show and Competition

It was a great experience and we are looking forward to spreading the fun of photography throughout the community!  Please think of us if your club would like to put together a fun photography excursion out into the Everglades or on a boat back into the 10,000 islands.  We can come to your country club for basic classes too! 

This was a nice thing to receive in our inbox just now!!

We are so lucky to have such wonderful clients!  We LOVE our weddings in Southwest Florida!   Thank you for the honor of this award!!
--- Peggy and Helen

From the Desk of the Intern....

Hello there, this is Devon.  I'm interning here at Avant-Garde Images/Understand Photography for a couple weeks as part of my school's internship program. So far I've been here for 3 days and I've already learned a LOT. The first day I worked on the computer a bit then went over to Peggy's studio because she had to take some head shots for a bank. When we got there she showed me a little of how to use the studio lights, which was much simpler than all the internet tutorials make it out to be. It was cool to watch how she posed them, which is something I never really thought about for head shots.

One of my pictures from the Studio Model Shoot

The next day I got to work in Photoshop Elements for the first time. It was a little tricky to get the hang of but once I got going it wasn't too hard. I designed two ads that day, one for a photography trip to St. Augustine and one for image sensor cleaning. But the best part of the day was going to the studio model shoot. It was SO much fun. Each group got three turns of 6 minutes with the models. I was so excited to use the studio lights, also extremely nervous, but it ended up being really fun and not too difficult because everyone was so helpful. Some of the pictures turned out quite well and I'm very glad I got to be a part of it.

On the third day we had to get up early to go the Von Liebig Center downtown where Peggy was going to be part of a question answer session. It was really interesting to listen to all professionals there. After that we went back and I worked on editing the pictures from the model shoot. I ran some errands to the post office and to a clients house to deliver some pictures. So far I've had a great time and I can't wait for another week and a half! :)

Providence House Ad comes with a free headshot!

Purchase a half page ad or larger in the 2011 Providence House Luncheon program and receive a free business portrait at Avant-Garde Images, Inc. Photography Studio. Deadline for the ad is October 21, 2011.

Providence House Naples provides faith-based, transitional housing and a self-sufficiency program for motivated single women with young children who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

Avant-Garde Images, Inc. is offering one free business headshot for each half page ad or larger purchased for the Providence House Luncheon program. Cost for the half page ad is only $250.00. 

Please attend the luncheon too!! It's November 12 at St Ann Jubilee Center.  Please contact Nancy at naplesprov@yahoo.com or call (239) 777-8343 to place your ad or for more info.  www.ProvidenceHouseNaples.com

Fine Print - Business headshot must be scheduled on a Tuesday between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Offer expires January 30, 2012. Location: Avant-Garde Images, Inc. Studio. Value of the headshot $95.00 (Tuesday special). Call or email for appointment: 239-263-7001.

NAWP Industry Award 2011

Well, this sure made me feel good!!  Thanks to the National Association of Wedding Professionals! 

Peggy Farren with Jessica Sigg, Naples NAWP President

 The NAWP Naples Chapter Industry Award is given to someone excels in their industry.  It is someone who stands out as an example of professionalism, kindness, success, overachievement.  It is someone who is involved in their industry and their community and who follows through.  It is someone who creates/offers a dynamic product.

 

Jessie and Murray Album

Helen just finished designing, retouching, and ordering Jessie and Murray's album.  Here are a few of my favorite page spreads!  Their beautiful wedding was held at Mediterra Country Club in Estero, Florida.  It is an incredibly beautiful place! 

We love the RED!  Notice Jessie's gun in her garter!  LOL!

Gorgeous and happy couple, beautiful day, beautiful surroundings, wonderful friends and family!  It was fabulous!

National Association of Wedding Professionals NAWP Conference

Both the photography business and the wedding business are highly competitive so the summer/early fall is the time we get educated by going to conferences, seminars, etc.  The National Association of Wedding Professionals held its national conference right here at the Naples Beach Hotel this year!  The kick off party was Sunday night on the Naples Princess.  Wedding pros are a lot of fun!

 We were shuttled from the Naples Beach Hotel to the Naples Princess via the wedding trolley by Premier Trolley Services.

The Naples Princess!  Even in the rain, this boat is fabulous!

Dave and Stephanie - Along Came Stephanie Wedding Planner

Diego from the Naples Princess takes great care of us!  Courtney Herrell from the Naples Zoo looks adorable.

Sara Booker from the Inn of Naples and Dina Eisenberg of Positively Wed.

My new friends from Fort Myers!  Jovina and Barbara.

Chocolate covered macaroons from Roy's Hawaiian Cuisine.

El Presidente!  Stuart Rosenthal

Siri Ecklund, CEO and found of Two Bright Lights

It's me, Peggy Farren, with Bill from Premier Trolley Services.

Feeling the LOVE!

Thanks Jerri Lynn Merritt, of www.photographybyjerrilynn.com for the super sweet blog post!!
http://photographybyjerrilynn.blogspot.com/2011/08/naples-wedding-photographer-weddings.html

We had so much fun with our "Weddings 101 with a real "fake" wedding"! This is the second time I've taught this class and it is so much fun! Yes, I'm giving away my "secrets" but I would much rather have great competitors who bring the value of photography up! We had a mix of seasoned pros in our class, along with some photographers just getting into wedding photography.
We were so lucky to have professional makeup artist, AlexAndrea for our rain date. We got rained out at the end of our fake wedding last week so we got together again on Sunday to take more pictures at sunset. We made it to sunset and then got rained on AGAIN! But it was so much fun! And we all got the chance to practice beautiful sunset portraiture!
As Jerri Lynn says in her post - even seasoned professional photographers need to get out, learn new things and practice! It's way better to try new things on models than on a real wedding day!

Show and Tell - Photoshop Actions and Layers

We host Studio Model Shoots twice a month through Photography Naples. If you have a DSLR - come on down! We will help you with your settings and it's only $19. You will have so much fun!! www.PhotographyNaples.com

We had a fabulous model last time, Jessica Stone, who is a teen singing sensation. Jessica loves to dress up and we love it to! http://jessvocalist.bandvista.com/bio/

In this post, I'm going to explain how I achieved this look. I will assume you have basic Photoshop or Elements knowledge.
Here is the retouched image:
Instructions:
1. Convert the RAW file to JPEG in Adobe Camera Raw.
2. Make a copy of the background layer.
3. Run “Portrait Pop” action. Paint eyes, lips, headress and armband with white brush.
Portrait Pop, Shannon Beauford, 9/28/08 from www.atncentral.com (This may or may not work with Elements - if not, you can skip this step).
4. Reduce top layer to 88% (portrait pop is a little intense).
5. CTL E to merge one layer down.
6. Make a new copy of that layer.
7. Use Quick Selection Tool to choose floor under model.
8. Use burn tool to darken floor.
9. Deselect and burn a bit around top of picture.
10. Make another copy of the layer.
11. Desaturate picture (SHFT – CTL – U).
12. Add a Layer mask to that layer (it's at the bottom of the Layers Palette - Elements didn't come up with this option until Version 9).
13. Paint the model with a black brush to bring the color back.
14. Paint with a white brush to fix any mistakes. I love layer masks because you can easily fix your mistakes!
15. SHFT-CTL-E to flatten layers (or go to Layers - Flatten Image)
16. Add contrast of +18.
17. Crop as a square.

Here is the original picture:
Stay tuned for more photography tips! Better yet, join our Meetup group: www.PhotographyNaples.com.

Chantal and Rob's Naples Beach Wedding

Chantal and Rob had a wonderful beach wedding! We started at Chantal's parents' home. I love the birdcage veil. Chantal was incredibly beautiful!

Chantal and her sisters! Pink was the theme!

Kelly Werder from No Worries Weddings made sure every detail was wonderful!

Chantal's parents walked her to the ceremony. We had fun using our digital infrared camera for a mix of traditional and artistic photographs!

These two were laughing so much! This was a fun wedding!

Kelly Werder from No Worries Events organized AND officiated at this fun wedding!

The guests blew bubbles at the end.

More laughing as Chantal and Rob got bubbled!

Infrared is so COOL!

The handsome groom wore raspberry!

I think Chantal is happy about being married!

More laughing!

Fun with the siblings!

Gazing out to the future!

Now the families are blended together!

And Naples gave us a beautiful sunset... as usual!