There is no doubt the growth of cell phone camera technology has sent the entire world out trying to play photographer. So often the images posted to social media are almost indistinguishable. One of the main culprits is the destruction created by bad lighting. I’m not talking about cloudy overcast days. Actually those are some of the best conditions to take “pitchers” outdoors. (Sorry for the sarcasm!). Oh yeah, the other problems shows up when you take a picture of someone in front of a window looking outdoors. You wind up with faces almost black due to the shadows.

I found a video by Adorama, a camera store in New York City. The video does a great job showing you how to easily work around the condition I mentioned above. Yes you will hear some talk about shutter speeds and f-stops, but don’t let that bother you. In most cases you can make a simple adjustment on your cell phone to change the exposure slider to achieve the same results. Enjoy the video and give me your thoughts.

The post Think Lighting first appeared on Tom Szabo: tom-szabo.com, Email: tom@tom-szabo.com 440-725-6504.

Most couples will celebrate Valentine Day with flowers, candy, dinner or maybe all of these. All of these are great ways to enjoy your time together. However, at the end of the day all you have to show is the memory. Memories are great, unless something really happened you’d rather forget. So, why not try something different or add something extra?

Consider coming into the the tom-szabo.com photography studio for a portrait session. A special priced package is offered and here are the details:

• 1-1/2 hour in studio sitting session. Bring 1, 2 or 3 clothing changes.
• 1 – 11 inch X14 inch color print on premium photo paper. This size is ideal for framing and hanging in your home.
• 2 – 5X7 color prints on premium photo paper. These prints are an ideal size to frame for the office or to gift to others.
• All 3 prints must be from the same pose.
• Order any additional prints from the current price list (not packaged price).
• This limited offer package cost $99.00 plus tax. A $50.00 deposit is required to schedule your sitting session.
• Offer expires February 28, 2018.
• Terms and Conditions apply. They are available from the studio by request.

To take advantage of this offer, call the studio to schedule your sitting:
440-354-2535 (Off)
440-725-6504 (Cell)
Payment may be made by cash, check or credit card.

Your photographer Tom Szabo looks forward to seeing you in the studio. Call now!

The post Valentine Portrait Package – 2018 first appeared on Tom Szabo: tom-szabo.com, Email: tom@tom-szabo.com 440-725-6504.

My wife Diane and I love the beach at Siesta Key, Florida. Anyone who has been to this beach raves about the white powder sand. As a photographer, I’m often left out of pictures. Which is OK. However, this particular trip caused me to think about a photo of my wife and I. Especially since we enjoy Siesta Key beach as we do. I’m always telling Diane, I want to create our portrait on the beach.

So one evening after we’d gotten cleaned up and had dinner, I told Diane; OK, let’s do the portrait on the beach thing tonight. The first words from Diane were; OK, let me fix my hair!  Imagine that. I told Diane, I want to get my camera set up, so I’ll head out and you can catch up.

The problem with this type of photography at this time of day is the low light levels and mix of light sources. With the sun setting or after sunset, you need a long exposure in order to capture the ambient light. To insure the light on the faces is correct, means you need to add some flash. Now you have a mixed light source. So how does this work?

First you need to make the giant leap of faith and shoot in manual! I  can hear you out there now: OMG – shoot in manual, what’s an f-stop? Yep, you will need to know your f-stop from shutter speed. The quick answer is to use the lens aperture to control the flash exposure. Then find a shutter speed to control the ambient exposure. After that, it’s just an issue to get the pose right. In this set up, I didn’t want to drag extra strobes, light stands, camera and tripod onto the beach. Although for you I’d make sure the extra lights are used. One other handy item was the hand held remote for the camera.

So after was all said and done, Diane and I chose the image below to have printed. OK, I’ll admit I did enhance the night sky a little. Let me know your thoughts!

We have this wonderful body of water here called Lake Erie. So if you’d like to have your family photographed in a setting like the one shown, contact me.

Diane and Tom on the Siesta Key Beach at dusk.

The post Mixed Light Selfie On The Beach first appeared on Tom Szabo: tom-szabo.com, Email: tom@tom-szabo.com 440-725-6504.

Prior to the luncheon meeting, Tom comes in early to set up a portable studio. The studio consists of camera, tripod, main light with a 7 foot diameter umbrella, back light, back drop, stool and light stands. Each member needing a  new/updated head shot steps in front of the camera working with Tom to create a suitable image. Subjects do have the opportunity for a quick review of the image(s) and where requested, re-takes are provided.

Portraits can sometime make people a bit nervous. However, most members know Tom and He works with them to relax. The result is a headshot that appears confident and reflective of the persons personality.

Since the photography service is available before and after the luncheon meeting, there’s not a lot of time for casual conversation. However Tom finds a way to break the ice and ease members in front of the camera. These are professionals with busy schedules and not a lot of time. So most are sit down, a couple of quick words, pose direction, shoot and go on to the next person. That means all set up and lighting checks must be completed and finalized before members arrive.

For those of you photographed this year tom-szabo.com wishes to thank you for your time and hope you are pleased with the results.

The post Professional HeadShot first appeared on Tom Szabo: tom-szabo.com, Email: tom@tom-szabo.com 440-725-6504.

So there’s this girl, NO, NO, NO, not like that! Shannon belongs to the same networking group as I. Gosh we’ve known each other for years and years. I feel like her brother. I can’t say Father since I know him also and he’s a pretty cool guy.

Well Shannon and her husband Travis recently had their first child. Let’s call him say, Mike. I’ll use my brother’s name. Mike is now almost four weeks old. So Mom and Dad brought him into the studio for his first sitting. You’ve heard the description of newborns; eat, poop and sleep. That’s what makes them so cool to photograph. You can put them in almost any healthy non harming position, photograph them and they sleep through the entire session.

Well, not little Mikey! Midway through his session, he woke up. I think he just didn’t want to miss anything! In any event, Mikey was a trooper. We put him in all of his poses and he just stayed their for the most part.

Typically, in these sessions, infants are often photographed in the suit they were born in. Of course it was then that Mikey decided to leave his mark on the fleece posing cloth.  Good job, Mikey. But no problem that’s what washing machines and bleach are for!!

So here’s a few images of Mikey for you to enjoy. Oh by the way, can you tell Mikey’s dad is a deer hinter?? Mike was a pleasure to have in the studio. Love you Mom, Dad and Mikey!

Get ready all, I’m waking up!

Aren’t I just so cute while I’m sleeping?

Our little guy in black and white.

Don’t Mom and Dad look so happy?

If you’d like more information about infant photography or any other services offered by tom-szabo.com, check the studio website for contact information.

The post Infant First Portrait Session first appeared on Tom Szabo: tom-szabo.com, Email: tom@tom-szabo.com 440-725-6504.

First of all most Facebook photography I see has one thing in common – Bad Lighting! Please stop and think for a minute; where does your outdoor light come from? Of course the sun. So that means you have a single source for your photos. In this video photographer Aaron Anderson talks about shooting portraits using – guess what: 1 light. Think of his one light as the sun. I know, what a concept – LOL.

In the video you’re going to see a lot of studio equipment. Yes, but pay attention to the main tools he uses, a strobe, a camera and a reflector. That’s it. What Aaron does do however is CONTROL the illumination. Don’t have a big DSLR? no problem use your cell phone camera. Remember his main light placement and position your subject using the sun in the same relative position. Oh you don’t have a white reflector card? How about the side of a building, a newspaper, a blanket. Look at what’s at hand that you can use.

You may not have Photoshop to make the post process editing. Don’t worry, you’re not a pro trying to sell your work. Paying attention to your subject position will get you better results than what you have been doing.

Watch the video and pay attention to what Aaron is doing with his 1 light (like the sun). Enjoy and feel free to post your thoughts and/or results. I’d like to see your results.

Relaxed portrait pose for a high school senior.

The post Sun – For One Light Portraits first appeared on Tom Szabo: tom-szabo.com, Email: tom@tom-szabo.com 440-725-6504.

Light! My wife Diane and I like to vacation at Siesta Key Florida. The beach has the softest and whitest sand you’ll see anywhere. During our walks on the soft powder white sand, Diane gets tired of my commentary on the people taking photos with their cell phone cameras. It generally goes something like this “there’s another photo that won’t turn out very well!”

Even though she gets tired of listening to me, I’m right. Two major problems I see: Stop putting the sun at your subjects back! Number two, move in closer. So let me spend some time again talking about lighting. Why my comment about sun placement? Camera sensors don’t have the capability that our brain does. Sensors can’t adjust the image we see through our eye and correct the exposure. Don’t believe me? Take the scenario I just described and experiment. Put the sun behind your subjects back. Look at their face. I’m sure you’ll see the detail in the face. That’s because our brain and eyes work together to adjust the lighting and see the detail. Now take the picture. How much detail do you see in the near black orb called the face. Almost none.

So how do you fix this problem. You have to train your eye to evaluate scenes for lighting. Look for the highlights and the shadows. Make slight adjustments in subject positioning to reduce the amount of shadow in the subject. Take a picture after your adjustment to see the results and continue to adjust your subject. Eventually you’ll begin to learn what works.

Another way to learn is to observe what other photographers do. I’m not saying to copy their technique as much as observe and adjust. Evaluate the lighting of the scene and subject to see how they work with light. Look at what award winning photographer Irene Chen has accomplished in her photography. Although she uses studio lighting for the award winning images, see how she uses control over lighting to work her magic. Read more about her work.

You’re welcomed to ask me questions. Or just give me your comments.

Portrait photographers strive for detail in their final prints.

The post Light, It’s All About The Light! first appeared on Tom Szabo: tom-szabo.com, Email: tom@tom-szabo.com 440-725-6504.

Film, remember that stuff? With the explosion of digital cameras today, most of you would likely wonder why shoot on film? Let me back you up a bit. Before digital, you had to put more thought into your photography based on the type of shooting and light conditions. You selected film to support your planned shooting.

Cameras were available in varying sizes. The size concept was based on the physical size of the negative you were shooting. Real photographers would argue the benefits of shooting 35mm, 2-1/4, 4X5 and 8X10. Who cares, you say. Well it all boiled down to the larger the size of the negative, the sharper and more detailed the print. Speed was also an indication of the density of the film. The better the density of the negative, the better the image quality. So if you could record an image on a larger negative size, then you could get incredible detail in your print. That is what photographers would strive for.

So here comes this photographer, Pali Kalsi. He started photographing on the larger formats and got intrigued by the results. To the point where he decided to build an 11X14 camera. Those of you who still remember film cameras and negatives, think back to the negative size for a 35 mm camera. Now imagine a negative 11 inches by 14 inches. The detail in an 11X14 print would be simply amazing.

For more details and to see some of Pali Kalsi’s work, check out this article. As always, let me know your thoughts!

Portrait photographers strive for detail in their final prints.

The post Film Photography – Dead? first appeared on Tom Szabo: tom-szabo.com, Email: tom@tom-szabo.com 440-725-6504.

School pictures are a real tradition for families. People often ask if I provide that service. My answer: well I’d like to. I learned a long time ago this is a very difficult market to break into. Schools have told me they are under contract with large photography studios for the service and in addition, the school gets a cut of sales. One of the biggest contract term that’s a barrier for me is the no competitor clause. These contracts often prohibits another photographer from suppling promotions to students within the school.

In fact, the picture business made the news in Washington, D.C. on the local News Channel 4 report. Please don’t think I’m angry or upset about their practices. I just wish I could participate on some level.

This high school senior portrait uses 3 colors, skin tone, white and red.

The post School Pictures And Special Deals first appeared on Tom Szabo: tom-szabo.com, Email: tom@tom-szabo.com 440-725-6504.

Baby portraits can be fun or a disaster – trust me! If you have a 6 month old child, wake them from their nap, bundle them up, put them in a strange location, in front of a stranger and tell me what you expect? Yep, one unhappy little child.

I’ve had plenty of little ones in the studio. Best description – a crap shoot! You just never know how things are going to go. Over energetic. Screaming. Crying. You name kids will do a lot to indicate their lack of interest in being photographed.

Recently Grandma and Grandpa brought their 6 month old into the studio for a portrait sitting. This little guy was one of my top subjects yet. He was so happy and had so much fun in front of the camera. I’ve never managed so many exposures in such a short period as this. Tell me what you think of these two pics!

I’m having so much fun at tom-szabo.com!

Don’t you think I’m cool?

The post Baby Portrait first appeared on Tom Szabo: tom-szabo.com, Email: tom@tom-szabo.com 440-725-6504.