http://www.ppmag.com/web-exclusives/2011/08/artsy-couture.html

Mother’s day is on its way…

Baby Mocking Bird Stock Photo

First I want to point out this image of a baby mocking bird.  This bird image is simple in composition, with the bird at the bottom and the “copy area” at the top.  As you can see there is nothing in this image but mother nature: the bird the grass.  That’s it.  The rest is lighting and composition.  And although this image has a lot of movement implied with the way the grass is laying, it works well to created curved lines that help to soften the stark (nearly angry) look of the baby bird.  This image is how it came directly out of my camera.  No touching up or post processing.  Are all images that way?  On could only wish.  If they were, there would never have been “dodging”, “burning” or filtering in darkrooms years ago.

The World In My View Stock Photo

To the right you’ll see an obvious use of color and of manipulation and post-processing.  This little girl had a sucker that she put to her line of sight and blocked out the camera from her point of view.  Doing this left nothing but a little red candy.  The idea for this image originally came from a contest on Flickr, however it was picked up by the Getty Images Stock company just as it is seen here.

The colors in this image do clash, and they are bright in places, like in the beads of her necklace.  The reasons that it passes the stock tests are many.  One being that bright colors, coordinating or not, are representative of childhood and so they are appropriate especially on her beaded necklace.  Another reason is because some of those colors tend to repeat themselves, like the green : in the background, the shirt, the necklace; the blues: the shirt, the necklace, the world; and bright pink: the necklace, and her fingernail polish.   And just to let you know there is no nature in this image, except for the lighting.  The background is AstroTurf.

I will leave you with these two examples tonight.  With so much going on in the world the past few days my mind has been left spinning and isn’t at its peak tonight.  I do apologize for that.  However I will be back with more information and photographic tidbits and tips as soon as possible.  Take care.

I decided that Sunday was going to be the day I used to make that shot happen.  It wasn’t suppose to rain.  It would be cold, but I can handle that.  But early, EARLY Sunday morning both of the kids got sick.  First the eldest at about 3:30 am and then the youngest by 5:00 am.  Ken and I thought it might be the pizza they had the night before, because they were the only ones to eat it, but they kept getting sick to their stomachs, started running a fever, and by Sunday afternoon the whole family was down. Ugh.

Today has been better for the kids.  Both have eaten without issue and are in much better spirits, and the fevers are gone.  But I’m guessing you’re not here to read about my family’s illnesses, are you?  I wouldn’t be either if I were looking for stock stuff.  So, on to the photos.

Resting Angel

Since I didn’t do what I set out to do, I will share some things that I have done.  The first is a monochromatic image of an angel sculpture on a large block of quartz. I opted to go with a square format on this because it needed some negative space and a little more structure to the image to hold it up.  So instead of it looking like a pillar, with only a little use at the top, it now has the top and the left side available for copy or negative space.  Also, a buyer could use the mirror image of it if needed, so it gives that much more flexibility.  With this image I would tag it with the obvious words such as : square, monochromatic, white, and angel.  But I will also tag it with more conceptual ideas such as : ethereal, inspiration, protection, and divine.  And since no one will look at this image the same way I do, I’m sure there are many other ideas for concepts as there are opinions.  My point is not to list all ways but the ones that the image conveys to me.  Some times I will ask for my husband’s aid with tagging if I feel I cannot express what I’m thinking.  I tend to have issues with verbally communicating every thought in my head, and he is very articulate.

The Peacock without the feathers

The next example is Chalcopyrite. This is an ore stone more commonly known as Peacock Ore.  In this image, the main subject, the Ore, is also on the right taking up about 1/3 of the spacial are of the photograph.  This gives plenty of room for copy and serves as a backdrop to possible for use as science stock for use in text books or various earth science applications.

Now while these are classic examples of stock, stock images aren’t always shown in basic black and whites.  A lot of the time they come in colors upon colors.  The next post will be about using colors in stock without ending up with clashing or too busy of an image.  This comes in handy when capturing people in their natural habitats or on the street.  Your backgrounds during spontaneously shot images have to have a consistency to them without the clutter of patterns (unless they are made by mother nature).  This can be done many ways and I’ll talk about a few ways to do that next time.

Today is not going well.  Not photographically speaking anyway.  After shooting for the past 4 days, my brain just looked at my table this morning and said, “You want me to do what?  You must be joking.” and my little creative light clicked off.  So now its all dark in my head with the pressure mounting from my head cold, and I think if I could just get the energy together I could pull off one series of shots today.  So I’m starving myself to work.  Yes, I know, my body needs food to have energy, but I personally feel that it has enough of a reserve supply sitting in the chair right now that it won’t die from starvation for a LONG time.

Actually, my thoughts have been streaming towards medical for a couple of days now.  I have a notebook where I keep all my ideas that I’ve had for shoots and one that I’ve been anxious to do since I thought of it was a medical shoot.  It has taken me the better part of a year to collect the items needed to do the first part of the series, so I keep thinking about going ahead and starting it.  But really I don’t want to start it until I have all the items I need to get it done.  I think if I don’t do it all at once (one section after the other) I may end up doing this now and letting the rest of the ideas die off, and I don’t want that.  They are good ideas that need to be put out there.  But time and money are not on my side.  Time is never on my side.  It always argues with me like my daughter does.

Okay, so I guess that has decided the medical series I want to do will have to wait until I can do it…all.  So I move on.  And suddenly I see a little light at the end of the dark abyss.  Its more like a night light but I’ll take any light in what is otherwise a empty canyon of an idea hole.  I am going to do another set of medical based images.  These don’t require as many items, but the do require the art of fake.  That’s what I call a set up image or making something look like it something its not.  Today’s fake will be the leg of a child.  With no children in sight (at least until 3) I will conjure up an amazing look-alike by using only my bear hands. . . and some AFO’s . . . and some shoes and a pair of pants.    So basically I’m manufacturing a leg without a stitch of flesh.  All thanks to my first born child’s inability to walk.  Yes, I should be shot.  I am a shameless parent who is using old equipment to further the interests of my stock images.  But just so we’re all clear, my stock images help feed that same first born, as well as the second born, the hubby, myself, and the disabled mother a time or two.

My lunch hour (half hour really) is almost up.  I’ve got to get to dumping the images from yesterday onto the computer for uploading, and then its off to manufacture a fake child’s leg.  Good day to you all, and have a great time shooting…I mean photographing.  I thought I’d better clarify that after some of the images of my youngest on my feed.  Have a great day!

So tonight I came here quickly in the middle of my work to share a secret I learned just today.  Don’t, no matter how hard it may be, be afraid.  I mean it. Don’t.  There’s nothing to be afraid of.  Nothing.  Don’t ever be afraid of color.  Yes, I learned that today.  Or I re-learned it.  Sometimes in stock we go through the “it must be against white” way of thinking so often that we tend to white-out the world.  Look at the Flickr picture to see what I mean.  So tonight I looked at color through the eyes of a very talented lady photographer who only sees in bright shiny color.  It was like bringing in the sun to warm the toes.  Now I’m thinking Spring instead of Winter all the time.  I’m thinking greens and blues and pinks and orange and not white and black and gray all the time.

So don’t ever be afraid of color.  Find it, make it work, and use the heck out of it. 

Now sitting in front of my computer (because I need to pick out photos for submitting to Getty again today) I find myself needing to write. I’ve got tons of ideas and thoughts swirling around my head, but I cannot get them strait. They mostly aren’t about photography, but about my life over the past 39 years. I think I’m searching…searching for inspiration to find a new photograph. Inspiration to pull out the feelings and pull them through the camera and make them into images. But right now all I can see are gray clouds and the threat of snow…and really, I just want it to go ahead and snow. Although I’m horrible at photographing images in the snow, I have a couple of places in town that will look awesome after it snows, so I am really waiting on that – the day after it snows.

So I’m looking through my images. I’m tossing around ideas. What’s the word on the street? Is it money? Is it love? Just about Valentine’s Day? Is it Egypt and the Middle East? Oil and the prices of gas? And where to my images fall in the mix when it comes to the stock that will be needed in 9-12 months. Money is always a topic, as is love. All the holidays fall at the same time every year, so that’s a reliable subject…always. The Middle East has been a topic since I was a child, but it’s a plastic one that I’ve never been good at putting my finger on at the right time, so I will leave that topic to those that have the means to go there and have the eye to catch the feelings and the situations that seem to always be at hand.

Square Diamond against Sparkles

Going through a few images I found one I want to go up. A diamond against a sparkle background. I want to try this again with a different jewel and a gel on the background as well. That may be what I shoot today. And the kids. They want to use the computers. I will get them working away (playing actually) on the laptops. I have to admit, I love to see them interact with the computers the way they do. My daughter is always doing artistic pages, while my son finds games that challenge his mind in a way no 1st grade classroom can.

Now thinking about the kids’ school. They are both suppose to have Valentine Day Parties on Friday, but I fear with the snow coming today and the below freezing temps until Friday, they can probably forget that happening. I suppose all the valentine cards and goody bags will just go in the next day they have school. And Girl Scouts is suppose to have their party tonight, but I’m not sure that will happen either. Nonetheless, I’ll make my famous “Death by Chocolate Pudding” as was planned. Nothing says love like lots of chocolate to get the pleasure center of the brain cranked up.

Now back to photography. I’ve got to try and stay centered on work even with the kids here this week. And I’ve got to finish the taxes (fun, fun) before the weekend as well. What does the list from Getty say today? It says it takes more. And it does. It says there are “Flickr Select” now. How wonderful. A new status to try and achieve that I don’t have time to try and achieve. Perhaps if more sales happened…but that’s all my fault, and I know it. I have to get more than my puny 29 images up there. So I’ve been shooting better, smarter, and more focused. I’ve been keeping a detail log of all my ideas and saving them to a 3 ring notebook to keep them all separated by theme. Now I have to get my lighting focused. I need a set of barn doors and a snoot. I need gels. Mostly I need time. Time usually taken up by children or my mother. Time I’m spending writing right now.

So I go. I go to do work – as much work as I can before I’m asked to go somewhere or do something for someone. Before I get a text from my dear husband asking me to call someone about a bill or find something for him for his Cub Scout meeting on Friday. Before someone decides that my work isn’t as important as they are and they take my working joy (my second joy – my children are my first) and crush it under their heel yet again today. I know I must sound a little bitter, and perhaps I am today. I’ve been taken advantage of for so long I do believe I’ve become bitter towards some people. But not my camera. She’s never made me bitter. She’s never taken advantage of me – but I have of her. She’s always there, waiting for me to grab her and take her for a ride. She’s my crutch, my rock, and my buddy. She’s my confident competent support system who never complains, never breaks down and cries, and never whines “Why don’t I get to do that, Mommy?” So I go to her now to shed my bitterness and see clearly through her fine ground glass eye.

P.S. If anyone knows where I can find bulbs for red or green American common Shamrocks that I can get shipped FAST, please let me know.  I’ve looked, but mostly what I’ve found are for the “Official Irish Shamrock”, which turns out to be white clover, and that’s not what I want.  I need these for the Girl Scouts World Thinking Day on February 21.  Thanks!

Well, we’re back again with more info from the land of Stock Photography through Getty Images.

Since I last posted I’ve had 3 more images accepted, making a total of 28 available for immediate license and 2 more that need some work (a model release or 2) and I’ll be wrapping those up this week. I know that seems like a tiny number of images to have for sale, however it is what it is.

I began selling my images on Getty at the beginning of 2009. I only had 3 images asked to be a part of Getty, and in January was my first sale that year, of an image called “Taking Flight”. After that I kept only those 3 images on Getty for all of 2009. That year I make a measly $250, all of which came from the repeated sale of “Taking Flight”. In 2010 I decided that I wanted to do more, but I wasn’t sure how. So by the time April came around I decided on a hundred images that I began putting through to Getty for approval. However, my first acceptance was dreary at best. Four images. That hurt.

So I stepped back, and started looking at the images that they accepted to begin with. And then I started looking at what they had on their website. And then…it sort of clicked. By October I was up to 20 images. Now with my last acceptance I’m up to 30 and I have a goal for 2011 to make sure I have at least 100 images on Getty for license. In the end, I wand thousands, but I know that won’t happen this year. Of course, if it does, someone…everyone…will hear about it.

For more information about my images available for license on Getty, please see my Getty Lightbox Here.

And you’re always welcome to view all of my images, family and work, at flickr.com/michellewarrenphotography/

At the moment life is filled with so much going on.  The family has been in and continues to make shifts of the holiday.  I will actually get to see my sister this week.  I love to see her.  She was one of my best friends in life.  Granted, I’ve had best friends outside of the family, but no one can hold a candle to my sister – she’s my sister.  She’s my confidant.  She is my hero and my friend.    And I miss her terribly.  I miss our long talks into the night.  I miss our ever evolving line of jokes.  I miss hearing her laugh.  I cannot wait to see her and her kids.

Now, onto photography.     With the holidays all around us, I have found it hard to think about photographing anything but the things that relate to the holidays.  Mostly I’ve been working with photographing the craft items the kids and I have made for their classes and clubs, like the Scouts.  And since my daughter received some bracelet making kits for Christmas, she’s allowed me to shoot her progress with doing that as well.  I have not done a lot of bokeh work with the tree, although I though I probably would before it comes down this weekend.  I’m not sure how I will use it yet, but I believe that I’ll be doing some alterations in the bokeh shapes, experimenting with more ornate shapes – things beyond stars and hearts.  I do know that one shape will be a princess crown, because my daughter received a princess crown paper punch by Martha Stewart for Christmas along with a princess scrapbook.    I will be trying out some baby related items as well.  I’m thinking a teddy bear shape, a bottle shape, and a hand rattle.  If anyone else has any ideas for shapes, I’d love to hear some ideas.  And if you don’t know how to change the shape of your bokeh lights, comment here.  If I have enough who are interested in the idea, I’ll post the instructions – complete with photos.

Next on the agenda is my stock.  I’ve gotten a lot of ideas lately from brainstorming.  Usually I’ll sit with / around the kids when they go to bed.  I know my husband thinks they are too old for that (and they really are) but it allows me some quite time with no distractions and I can delve into that part of my brain that comes up with ideas.  Then the next morning I run my new ideas by the kids.  They are so great too.  Never have they said “I don’t like that idea, Mommy.”  Instead they begin letting their creative side show and give me extra notes to add to what I’m doing.  So, yes, I use my kids’ ideas.  To not use them seems wrong, actually.  They love to be included in the process of my work, and they really love the idea of seeing their idea show up on Getty.  One example was my son’s Wacky Wednesday they had at school his kindergarten year.  After he had gotten dressed that morning he let me take photos of him.  Then he showed me how he wanted his expression to look – sort of an irritated look – which turned out to be completely right on with the outfit.  And when Getty chose that image, he was thrilled.  So those of you out there who are shooting stock or want to shoot stock, take lessons from your children if you have them, or someone elses’ children if you don’t.  The imagination of a child is unsurpassed in most ways.  They don’t put boundaries on what “should be” or “can’t happen”.  They dream big.  They beleive huge.  And they love to be listened to when they have ideas.

Now, for the link to Shadowhouse Creations.  Make sure that you check out his whole site and please brag on those awesome, FREE textures he offers as CC.  All he requests is acknowledgment or a link back.  Personally, I don’t think that’s too much to ask at all.

Yes, you read that right.  I’m planning my holiday decorations around my stock photography set ups.  Why?  Because the decorations are going to be pretty anyway, why not have a plan that will end up paying for itself in the end?  I see no reason not to take advantage of that, do you?  I’m sure there are people out there who will think my plan is rooted in evil, for the idea came from the need (want) of money.  Well, let me tell you, in our home money is a NEED, not a want.  And if scooting some furniture for a profit makes for a dinner for 4 more than 1 time a week, then I’m doing it, evil intent seen in it or not.  Because it’s not evil to want to help to provide from my family.  And its not evil to go buy a can of beans, some chicken, noodles and cheese to make dinner so my kids won’t starve.  So, I’m going for it.  And I’ll post some pics when I’m done.  Actually, I’ll probably post some mid disaster pics (occurring right now) and then some after shots for full “Oh my Gosh!” effect. 

I must go now.  I just got word that my grandmother-in-law, Mary Kay, just passed away.     She had some mental issues and she tended to tick people off, a lot, but her health had deteriorated recently and she was placed in a nursing home.  Anastasia’s Girl Scout Troop is going to sing Christmas songs at the nursing home where Mary was in this Tuesday.  I know the families didn’t get along but I was hoping she would get to see my kids once more before the end.  :*(    Alas, it is a current tale and example of “don’t wait”.  Good day to you all.