DigiBlog

It's been a couple weeks.. time for an update.

Digi-Flash Photography - We Bring the Studio to You! - and last week that is what we were doing.  On Wednesday we went to the Rigo Diaz family's home in Bella Vista to take some passport pictures and a family portrait.  We did not use the Mobile Portrait Studio (the Trailer is "in moth balls" for the winter) but set up a white background and studio lighting in their living room.  They were impressed that we could not only show them their pictures right away, but also print the pictures onsight. They were very happy with the passports and will be placing a portrait order soon.
On Thursday we set-up our equipment at the Avoca Fire Department to take group pictures of the vollunteer firemen and of the board members, as well as individual portraits of the firemen against a backdrop with the American flag.  I had hoped to do some additional images of the firemen around the equipment, but late arrivals and training time encroached, so we concentrated on the key images and will plan on making the artistic shots at another time.
The group photo around/on the fire truck went very smoothly, despite the cold outside temperature and some late-arriving firefighters.  The late-comers were photoshopp'd into the final image, shown below.

The week before, ribbon cuttings and the combined Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours held at Fletcher Honda were our main focus.  I have been working on a dual panorama image from the business after hours and hope to have a final print later this week.

We have been offering 2 for 1 super saver coupons through KNWA and was pleased to see they SOLD OUT in about two weeks!  Looking forward to seeing a boost in portrait and wedding sales. 

More to come.  See you on the other side of the lens!

Carl Ballou

Tags: avoca fire department, digi-flash photography, mobile portrait studio, passport, portraits

                                                                    Digi-Flash Photography's latest Theatrical Display Print - Love Letters

Here's a sneak peak of the lobby display print for RLT's SecondStage production of Love Letters, which opens on Friday, January 8th, 2010.  The performers were photographed seated (separately) against a black background that extended over a table.  Her lamp was part of the picture, but his was photoshopped in. The snapshot pictures were also added. 
Try to see the show if you can... Kevin Lancaster and Mary Eileen Ameigh do a very nice job.

I attended Roger's Kiwanis Club's lunch time meeting at the Texas Land & Cattle Steakhouse today to hear Jackie from The Black Stallion Literacy Project .  It was an interesting program, and I also got information about the Kiwanis Club's upcoming 85th anniversary dinner on January 28th. 

Tags: digi-flash photography, lobby display, rogers little theater

A new year, new decade, new website pages!!!
Hi there!  I spent the better part of the Christmas/New Year's holiday updating and adding to the Digi-Flash Photography website.  New this year - slideshow galleries for the Children's, Teens, Couples, Families, and Wedding/Special Event sections, as well as updated title pages for most of the sections.

  I have also started to update the postings for the local / chamber of commerce events and the many theatrical programs I have photographed over the past 3 years.  These have proven to be the most time consuming and I have made only a small dent in the process.  Since some of my holiday time was devoted to some client portrait orders, they will be updated in January as my schedule allows.

Speaking of client portraits, one order presented a particular challenge.  When we took the family picture on Thanksgiving weekend, we included a young lady who was the fiance of one of the grandsons.  When it came time to order prints, that young lady was no longer "in the picture"!  Also, the house that was the setting for the portraits was actually being vacated by the family and had been stripped of personal items.  It gave us ample floor space to pose the group, but had no "personality".  When the client was ready to order, they asked about elimination of the girl and changing the background... "maybe something outdoors...?"
  I looked through my picture files and found some images I took in California around Big Basin with fallen logs and stumps that I could photoshop seated people onto.  Removing the girl from the back row, replacing her with the grandson kneeling on the left side, repositioning the arm/hand that was originally on the back of a chair, and substituting the "mugging" face of the boy on the right with one from another image.  The end result is viewable on the Family/Group Portrait title page - just pass your mouse over the image to see the before and after effect!

I think that is probably enough for my first blog posting.  Be sure to catch RLT's production of Love Letters next weekend, featuring Kevin Lancaster & Mary Eileen Ameigh and directed by Kaye Cotton.

Carl