I am moving the blog back to my own playground and leaving blogger, so if you subscribe to my feed here update your subscription to go to http://www.ericpaulowens.com/blog .

I will be deleting this blog in a month or so.

I am still in love with my Beauty project 8 months in. I think it is because the work brings together so much of the scattered passions I have. From the painting and construction, to the photography, and the graphical post work. Beauty also gives me the chance to play with concept. Sometimes they are humorous, sometimes dramatic and sometimes emotional. Each one is so different and yet they all tie together.

Some of the models have been put through a lot for them and I am so grateful for their involvement. They have been painted, poked, pulled, pinched, glued, taped, tied, and had not so pleasant things put in their mouth. And yet they come back for more.

Each piece is a new adventure and an experiment. I really go into each one filled with more questions than answers. Nothing I have ever done so completely consumes my creative world as each of these pieces do. It is the work I am most proud of to date. I look forward to more and I hope to present it as a show or a book someday.

Check out the whole series thus far here

This weekend I showed some pieces at an independent gallery just off the short north in Columbus.  Really 83 Gallery is a home that has been partially turned into gallery space to take advantage of being on the path of walking traffic to the gallery hop.

I think I am going to try and have more "sellable" stuff like small matted prints I can sell cheap though.  I still would like to see the pieces on the wall go but the traffic is more impulse buyers than anything else and something cheap might sell.

Aside from college my work has always been in a show with numerous artists.  And you would meet people in a crowd and direct them to your work or even just tell them about it if it was in a whole different part of the venue.  It was nice to be in this small location, its more direct contact.  I got some leads on other opportunities and met some new people.  It was a really positive experience.  I am going to start showing there on a regular basis, a couple pieces a month. There is also a possibility of doing a whole show.

My work will be showing at Gallery 83 Saturday August 1 in Columbus, Ohio.

Gallery 83
83 1st Street
Columbus Ohio

That's Gallery Hop night on first just a little west of High.

See you there.

I approached Lola about doing a photo of her and her husband, an amazing photographer that goes by Springheel, at a photo event this summer. After tossing some concepts around we settled on a homage to this David and Goliath painting. Springheel is best known for his horror works and I thought it would play well as a fun portrait.

This is the first of what will be two or three posts to walk through my process in creating the image. In some ways it could easily be seen as a tutorial. I am not calling it a tutorial though. This will not be step by step, nor will it be completely instructional. I have already made the image and I am just walking back over what I have done.

I use adobe photoshop and adobe lightroom. Though in theory the methods are translatable into other software.

This first post is going to cover how things were shot with the camera. And the initial processing in Lightroom.

I think of Lightroom as developing. I try to do as much of my actual adjustments to photos there. Then editing is done in photoshop. I like the tools in lightroom better for adjusting the files, and it seems like a nice logical break in the process.

Shooting Lola

The above are the settings for the shot I eventually settled on. I was shooting at ISO400 more for the head than anything else. I shoot with a D50 and ISO400 has a little bit of noise when you push the shadows in post process I wanted the noise to go with the eventual grungey brushing I would be doing. I am shooting wide (20mm) and from a low angle so that her hand would be exaggerated and I could have the head take a significant place in the frame. I was shooting at 9.5 hoping to keep things sharp. In actuality her two closest fingers are not nearly as sharp as I had hoped but they end up hidden in the shadows in the final image so all was well.


Both Lola and Springheel were lit with a SB25 speedlight at 1/2 (or 1/4) power using a DIY beauty dish made from a turkey pan. I handheld the light and tried numerous angles. The beauty dish provides a directions soft light that fades off quickly Which is nice whe you want things to "emerge" from the darkness.


Springheel was shot with very similar settings. I tried to keep in mind the angles of light I had for Lola and give myself as many options as possible as far as heads to choose from. He wore a black shirt and another was wrapped around his neck in order to isolate his head as much as possible.


This is all the images from the shoot. I went through and marked picks and rejects. The rejects are marked greyed out here. One of the nicest features about Lightroom is the options it offers for going through and editing down a shoot. I mark things with flags and stars to make selections and then I use colors to denote other things. For instance above the final completed piece is labeled in blue. I will also use colors sometimes for alternate crops of pieces or older/newer edits.


After a couple of passes I narrow my selection for the Lola image down to three, they are marked using stars, and using filters I narrow my view to choose one to work on. The Survey view is great for this, its like having all the images laid out on a table and narrowing them down. Its nice to be able to see them all at once. (The survey view button is circled above in the lower left.)

During the selection process I applied a base color adustment to all the files. For the purposes of this review I had removed it from the Image of Lola I used, this is why the color is different from the other two above. The color adjustment is the result of a downloaded preset, that I have then edited to make my own version. The majority of the effect comes from the split tone slider adding some warm gold color into the highlights.

The rest of the adjustment process for Lola's image is pretty straight forward the majority of the sliders used are above. The blacks are pushed up to knock out detail from the background and the lights are pushed up to bring her out of it. There is not an exact science to this I just play with it until I get what I like.

The adjusted image is then moved into photoshop so I can use it to compare heads. This process was straight forward and it took 3 tries. I would bring an adjusted head into photoshop and move it around to see how it looked. We are skipping it here so that we stay in Lightroom. I will show some of it in the later post.

Prepping the Head

A similar set of concerns and goals existed for the head so the sliders look similar here. In both cases the exposure is pushed way up and this brings more noise into the shadows.


I also used 3 adjustment brushes. Two outside his head to get rid of parts of the shirt that had caught light, and one to add light to the side of his head. I did this initially to make isolating his head in photoshop simpler, but I like the look of it and so it stayed that way even after cutting the head out. The red you see is the brushing for that adustment and then the accompanying sliders for it.

So That is pretty much it for Lightroom both of the resulting below images were then moved in to make the composite, which we will cover in the next post.

I attend a number of "GroupShoots" each year.  New people often ask me advice and such about attending them.  So this post is a primer, my thoughts on what these events are and what to expect. 

The term "Group Shoot" means something different to different people.  Some will be more of a workshop atmosphere with all photographers shooting off one set-up with one model, learning from either each other or the host.  Some follow a theme and all the shoots for the day relate to one another.  Most of the shoots I attend bring people together at a venue where they are free to make their own schedules and plan their day as they choose.  This is the type of shoot we will focus on.  The ones I attend are organized through Model Mayhem.com but, the ideas translate elsewhere of course.

Keep the concepts simple.
An important thing to remember as you go along, the primary purpose, in my mind anyway of a group shoot is networking.  
When I first started attending these events I would formulate complex concepts, and I would stress about trying to make them happen in the hour.  Your time with people for shooting is short at a shoot (typically an hour, after meeting up and getting things organized and such really about 45 minutes).  I started to enjoy myself a lot more once I started to keep most things simple.  I will still do some more involved things but I either have 2 hours to shoot or a break beforehand to prepare.

Spend some time talking to other Photographers and models.
An important part of networking is the actual talking thing.  You will find people very open and sharing at these events.  I have learned so much from them.  I have gotten leads on opportunities as well.  See a widget you have never seen before? Ask about it.  Be sharing yourself as well, we all shoot different and all learn things from different sources. 
Some people will schedule in breaks in their day for time to socialize, there is usually a central meeting place.  Some events will even have a scheduled lunch where people are not supposed to not schedule shoots so there can be a potluck of sorts.  I also try to bring some form of print portfolio, even a 4x6 book, to pass around and show people my work. Bring business cards too.

What to Bring?
One word to think about when you make every decision about what to bring: Portability.  I try to avoid bulky things, remember depending on location your likely going to have to carry it around all day, or your assistant is.  I really recommend battery powered speed lights and such for lighting at these things.  Electricity is scarce in some locations and you are competing with others for it.  In the end your concept determines what you need.  But if you want to bring an 8ft octobox and big lights you are going to eat a lot of time moving your set up over time.

Move your setup.
Right now some of you reading the last bit are saying, "Sure, but if I set up in one place all day I only have to haul my lights in once."  This is true. But, while their are exceptions hanging in one location all day is considered rude to others who may want to use the location.  Camping in one location is often against the rules of the event as well.   Every event is different and you will have to use your judgment as to whether camping would be ok.

Make-up
Make-Up Artists are often available, they will charge a nominal kit fee, which is to cover their costs.  Make-Up takes time.  Sometimes a lot of time.  If you ask for something more than a basic beauty face, dont expect more then 20 minutes shoot.  Look at the portfolios of make-up artist.  They can make your photo work but they can also ruin it.

Scheduling
Especially when you are new you need to go through the participation list and contact the people you are interested in shooting with.  Don't expect everyone to want to or need to shoot with you.  If they say no or don't respond move on.  If your schedule is not full don't stress, you will pick up open people at the event.
Personally I think it is a good idea to post your schedule publicly.  That way models can see if you are open when they are.  Some people will not post schedules.  Sometimes because they feel it is no ones business, and sometimes so they can just tell people they don't want to work with they are booked.  How you handle your schedule is completely up to you.
Typically, the day is broken down into one hour blocks.  If you schedule something different you may find your schedule hard to mesh with others.  You may want to block out a lunch or a break.  I typically avoid schedulling the first hour.  Shoots during the first hour rarely work out.  People arrive late, and in general the check in and arrival eats into the time.

Have a Plan
Try to plan each shoot with the model and MUA (if needed) before the event.  The more everyone is one the same page the smoother things run.  So many waste time going through clothes with the model looking for what to wear.  Have a concept in mind discuss clothes before hand and you don't lose that time. 
The more you have discussed the less chance there is for conflict as well.  Make sure any plans as far as nudity, props, make-up are discussed beforehand.  I also send a copy of my release to the model so that they are informed as to what is in it.

People will flake
When it comes down to spending the money and showing up, some people always tend to not make it.  You will see a lot of cancellations in the days before the event.  Cancelling is not flaking, flaking is not showing up while scheduled, both happen though.  Some due to emergency, some not.  Expect it and don't let it upset you.  Just find other people to shoot with during those times.
I give people a couple chances at group shoots.  Many people wont work with people who flake on them.  I usually give it another try.  Your policy is up to you.

Send out the photos swiftly
A large part of networking is about reputation.  One of the biggest problems models run into with photographers from these events is when they dont send them photos.  These are trade events, the model is giving you their time, you are supposed to be delivering photos.  If you are new and upset because you feel they are not very good, send them anyway.  Every model I know of will give a second chance to a green photographer who gave them photos before they will a seasoned one who gave them nothing.  This is a learning event to and in the end your less than great photos let them evaluate themselves if nothing else.



Keep it Simple, Take it lightly, have fun
When it comes down to it you will get out of these events what you put into them.  Think about logistics and planning, spend some time getting to know the people, and fulfill the obligations you have, and over time you will be a better photographer for it.  A long the way you will learn a lot of things and develop some good relationships with some talented people.