Paul Winner, MA

One more tip for new and experienced photographers 😉 Excited to share a photography tip for all my fellow photographers out there! 📸 Using a tripod can make a huge difference in the quality of your photos, especially when shooting in low light or trying to capture those perfect long exposure shots. 📷Not only does it help stabilize your camera, but it also allows you to experiment with different angles and compositions without the risk of blur. Gitzo 💰Make sure to invest in a sturdy tripod that can support the weight of your camera and lens to avoid any shaky images. 🌇Trust me, once you start using a tripod, you'll wonder how you ever captured stunning photos without it! #photographytips #tripodlove #stabilizeyourshot #photographyhacks #captureperfectmoments #sharpphotos #photographyequipment #improveyourcraft Share your own tips in the comments below and happy shooting! 🌟

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One of my favorite aspects of photography is just switching gear on occasion to see how my vision of the world changes. Some equipment inspires new perspectives. I recently had the chance to try out the relatively new Thypoch Simera 28mm f1.4 and put together a blog post looking at some of my favorite images with it. Check them out here if that's your kind of thing: https://lnkd.in/eMjfXnGS

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Using in-house people and influencers for all of your photo content can have several pitfalls. Here are some key challenges to consider: 1. Limited Professional Expertise/Quality: In-house staff and influencers may lack the professional training and experience that specialized photographers bring. This can result in lower-quality images that may not effectively showcase products or brand aesthetics. 2. Consistency Issues/Brand Consistency: Influencers often have their own style and aesthetic, which may not align with the brand’s visual identity. This can lead to inconsistent branding across different marketing materials. 3. Creativity and Innovation/Creative Limitations: In-house teams and influencers might lack the creative vision or technical skills to produce innovative and engaging content. Professional photographers bring fresh perspectives and advanced techniques that can enhance brand storytelling. 4. Time and Resources/Resource Allocation: Creating high-quality photo content is time-consuming. Relying on in-house staff or influencers can divert their focus from other important tasks, leading to inefficiencies. 5. Equipment and Tools/ Lack of Professional Equipment: Professional photographers use high-end cameras, lighting, and editing tools that may not be available to in-house teams or influencers. This can affect the final output quality. 6. Strategic Planning/Lack of Strategic Approach: Professional photographers often bring strategic planning to shoots, ensuring that the photos align with broader marketing goals and campaign strategies. In-house teams and influencers may not have this level of strategic insight. 7. Legal and Licensing Issues/Legal Considerations: Using in-house teams and influencers without proper contracts can lead to legal issues, especially concerning image rights and usage permissions. Professional photographers typically handle these aspects, ensuring legal compliance. While using in-house people and influencers can be cost-effective and convenient, there are significant drawbacks related to quality, consistency, creativity, and resource allocation. Employing professional photographers can mitigate these issues and enhance the overall quality and effectiveness of your visual content. By leveraging professional photographers (such as yours truly!), brands can ensure high-quality, consistent, and strategic visual content that effectively supports their marketing goals.

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Very insightful episode of Social Media Marketing with Ben Angel. Only one thing, Automattic doesn’t own Reddit. It controls Tumblr. 😉 Ben has written “The Wolf is at the Door, which I’m looking forward to reading. The episode is about staying relevant in an AU world. https://lnkd.in/g5Gg5en8

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A favorite of mine from this Spring in Chile. A huge set had just rolled in and a handful of surfers attempted to make their way out. It keeps comeing back to me as an analogy to what it is like for me to work as a photographer. I figured it is something like this. Terrified, electrified, humbled, high risk, low chance of success, constantly changing, relentless, execution is paramount, focus, determination, can’t give up-it’s not an option, get pummeled and just pop up to go, just go, just go for it. You have to, you want to. You have to because nothing else is like it. You have to just be cause it’s part of you. Because it has settled in your bones. Wait and watch what’s happening around you. Actually take in as much around you as you can because it matters. Take your time and be well practiced. Wait and watch till the right time comes then don’t hesitate. Go, just go. Work hard with intention. Know where you are headed and your line. If not you will get washed out. If you are lucky and make it all happen just so, you will find yourself perfectly positioned at least for a little bit. When you find everything you were wishing for and worked for starting to kick off around you go…just go. Be present and grateful. Know everything is fluid, it serves to be the same. When you feel the momentum build under you stay balanced and enjoy every moment. In that moment, all your work, trust, patience, focus and determination might just come back in ways that you could have never imagined.

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Salient words we can all benefit from hearing daily, especially in this current economic landscape within media! Thanks for sharing, Karen Williams

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As a food photographer, I don't often utilize models, but while estimating a recent project, I realized that the model costs alone were more than our budget. Model fees have been rising with the adoption of a "usage-based fee structure", making the inclusion of talent in photography or video very expensive. It's no surprise then that clients are considering AI as a cost-saving alternative. I believe this will be one of the first dramatic shifts in our industry related to AI, due to the significant potential for cost savings. #aiartist #teristudios #advertising #models #outsourced

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Most headshots photographers are NOT going to light or direct you well enough to make you happy with your headshots. Here’s how you can save time and money while getting headshots you’re proud to show off. See first comment.

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U is for Umber Hulk, Armoured entomic bulk, Underground quarrying, Mandibles flurrying, Claw-flailing mightily, Confusion-gaze sightly, A fell foe fair fearsome, Try not to get nearsome. It’s the 50th anniversary of #dungeonsanddragons this year. I’ve been drawing a monster a day. 21 of 26. Umber Hulk. Love these big hulking dungeon classics. Stare at an Umber Hulk’s eyes to long, your brain will be addled. On that note, I’ve been using a brilliant tool called glaze, https://lnkd.in/eBpv9_NA helping protect artist from the lumbering, job-smashing onslaught of generative AI. I use the top level of processing, as I love the patterns and texture that it adds to the images, tho the lower levels of protection are almost indiscernible to the naked eye. But the eye of any wandering AI beast that gazes upon this will be addled, halting, in my own small way, the automation and destruction of skilled creative workers livelihoods to line the coffers of marauding ‘move fast and break things’ tech billionaires. Try it. It might just work. #illustration #ttrpg #neoluddite #glaze

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Today: "A Short Primer On Studio Flash Exposures-Update" -I use both my older Dynalites as well as the Westcott monolights to explain studio flash techniques. https://lnkd.in/e55K_FY #wmlulowphoto #photographs #photography #light #lighting #studiolighting #flash #exposure #phototechniques #instruction #studio #photostudio

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Quick but meaningful update: Heavily culled the ongoing workflow, replaced entire parts (ipadapter with instantid), and refined others (the face swap and the enhancer). This version is achieving the highest fidelity so far, but there is still much to do (and hope it all works nicely upstream), mainly on matters of pose, lighting, stylism, and expression. #ai #stablediffusion #comfyui #portraits

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Birthday month, week 3. Here's a photo of me working on site, courtesy of one of my clients (thank you Charles Noble!). I am a studio based photographer, and have a private studio that I love southwest of Portland. I also have access to many different studios around the Portland area, and in a case such as this, will bring my studio on location. The load-in for this client was fairly intense- I brought four different backdrops in bright colors to create images that would pop off the feed which required rotating three lights in several setups. I did standard headshots as well as more dynamic images for each individual as well as breaking the collective group into different chamber ensemble groupings. Some of the people in this group were excited to be photographed and others gave me two minutes. Such is the range with any group of individuals. In this case, Straub Collaborative - a huge industrial commercial space - provided c-stands (used to hold up the backdrops) and apple boxes and I loaded my vehicle with more stands, strobes and light modifiers, additional posing blocks, and the long paper rolls. Setup and load in for something like this takes two hours. Organizing the subjects is weeks in preparation. Selecting and editing images is its own day. There is a lot that goes into taking gear on site! I prefer to work in my own space because I can set up in advance and not be bound to certain working hours but we make it work for the client's needs. For larger groups coming to a more central location helps ease the logistics for everyone [except the photographer! haha]. As always, thank you to those who helped make this day run smoothly - Cassie Adams-Harford I'm looking at you!) and to the organization itself.

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When the customer says “We want some shots of us around Historic Folsom and a studio headshot at the same session” … my portable headshot station is ready to go! With my equipment and know-how, you can’t tell the difference if it’s shot in my studio, at your offices, or even in a parking structure. #makeitwork #headshots #folsom #historicfolsom #attorneymarketing #lawfirms #lawfirmmarketing

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