Livestream Success! And More...

I'm sorry that I forgot to make a post on here about the Livestream actually happening, but if you follow me on Twitter, then you knew about it. Anyways, the Livestream went off really well this past Tuesday at 6pm EST, and it was a blast! You can still see the videos if you'd like, right here on my channel. I say videos, because there were a few disconnect glitches--one which actually cut off and never returned, even though I thought it had.

Still, it was a lot of fun, and I had a great audience. They were small in numbers, but very lively! I'll definitely be doing another one in the future, and I hope to see you there! The next one will have much more advanced notice, and it will be shorter--much shorter. Only one photo next time, but we'll go right through the entire process again. And someday, I'll do ones for specific techniques I like to use and such. So if there's anything you're curious on that I do (retouching wise), just speak up in my comment box on here and let me know! I'd be glad to cover things you're specifically interested in!

Thanks to the Livestream, I do have some new imagery for you as well! Remember, you can see larger versions of these images on my website!

The first one I have I didn't actually cover in the Livestream. It's something that I created, posted on my DeviantART, and then wasn't sure if I wanted to share it on my main site. After a lot of debate with myself, I decided that I would. It's from when I decided that playing with glitter would be a lot of fun, and hey, why not add some fire too?

I've been told this is a very dreamy image in a way, and a lot of people are very fond of it. What do you think?



These next two images were retouched during the first Livestream and can the processes for each can be seen in their entirety in the videos. Definitely a lot of fun, and I recommend viewing the videos!

This first one stems from my love of glassware, and of putting red against white. There's just something so powerful about that combination, and I use it at every available opportunity. I will have another version of this eventually, but here is the first one. This photo will be made available for purchase in the future, so watch for that as well!



This image is a macro shot that was not planned at all. I've just been enjoying macro photography a lot as of late, and this happened to be the winner out of a lot of failures from that particular photoshoot. You can see all the failures and more in those first Livestream videos, if you're interested! I talk a little bit about why things fail, too, so it's totally human and no ego! A nice change from some of the things you can see out there, I'd think.

All this macro is, is some really funky fabric and awesome eyeshadow I found at Hot Topic. The eyeshadow is fairly untouched, which is why it's so clean--and perfect for macro photography! Enjoy!



This last image is going to be best viewed on my website, because it's a triptych and therefore the details are very small for the blog image. It's definitely worth a larger view though! My model was a good friend of mine, and my sister did the hair and makeup for us. I started retouching a photo from the set that these three came from as a part of the Livestream, but that's where it cut off so you never actually get to see the end. Very sad. Still, I love so many of these images, so you'll definitely see more! Please enjoy!



And remember, view them all larger and better at my website!

Livestream

I have a wide network of artistic friends--not just photographers--because I feel we can all learn and share with one another. And it's true, because I often find myself looking at paintings or drawings and sometimes even music videos, and I say to myself, "Wow, the lighting used on that is awesome!" or "I really like that pose!" There are tons of other things I might enjoy too, but those are just a couple of examples. If I'm saying this to myself though, I find a way to save the image, or link, or whatever the case may be; and then I go back to it. I call it my Idea Book, really.

Since I have such a large network, I often hear of cool or interesting ideas they're playing out. One that is huge right now in the anime and manga artist circles are Livestreams. They're live feeds of what the artist is doing at that very moment, and it's popular with fans and aspiring artists because they get to watch how a piece of art is created.

So I thought to myself "Hmm... people are interested in my workflow and retouching techniques, and I'm interested in reaching out to those who admire what I know how to do."

With the push of a couple good friends, I decided that I am going to attempt a Livestream of my digital workflow. It's going to cover the entire process; adding photos to my Lightroom catalog, reviewing images, selecting the best ones, tweaking in Lightroom, retouching in Photoshop, cropping, and probably much more! You name it for the computer, and I'm probably going to cover it--at least for my style.

Some people might say "Well then they won't need you anymore!" and I say so what. Just because I show the process does not mean everyone is going to be able to repeat the steps. I spent a good year learning what I do, and I forgot a lot of it because there was so much information to take in! By no means am I a pro. However, artists work better in a community than in competition; so if I can help just one person get a better understanding of a digital workflow, or help them to decide if they think a program would be a good purchase; then I've done a good thing.

I have no worries about someone "stealing my secrets". There are no secrets. If you look hard enough, you can learn everything that I know. So why should I be worried that someone will steal something? I had to learn it from somewhere too, after all!

The only thing I might be worried about, is that people are going to be able to see all my rejected images, screw ups, and things that you just don't know what the heck I was trying to do. But that's okay too, because no one is perfect. I am not a perfect photographer, and neither is anyone else. I am, however, a strong photographer because I never give up, I never stop practicing, and I always try to do my best.

People deserve to see the truth. And the truth is, 90% of what you photograph you will never use at first, because you're learning. As you start to develop a solid style, you will use more and more of the photographs that you see and/or create. But it's highly unlikely that every photo you take you will use. Art is a constant learning process, and to learn you must make mistakes.

So despite all the "negative" aspects of what could come of a Livestream, I'm going to give it a shot once I have some new imagery. I'm going to let my audience help me to choose some of the images, I'm going to have audio enabled on my end so I can speak and explain as I'm going along, and there will be a chat box on the side for commentary, chatter, and questions.

I think it's going to be a great creative and learning process for both myself, and anyone who decides to view my feed! So if you're interested, please keep an eye on my Twitter or Facebook Fanpage for details on when a Livestream will be hosted! It won't be for a few days, at the most, since I do need to create some new imagery to use in the first one. But I look forward to it when I'm ready!

My Livestream will be located here: http://www.livestream.com/Saknika

St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone! In honor of this super green day full of rainbows and pots of gold, I bring you some new photographs! Including one specifically for this day!

As you're about to see, I was playing around more with the macro stuff. I have one re-shot photo that I think you'll enjoy, and two new ones! I definitely feel like I'm getting the hang of this style of photography, and I really hope that you enjoy what I have to share with you!

My biggest problem, definitely, is the fact that I have pretty bad eyes. Sure, they could be a lot worse, but I still have issues with my viewfinder on my camera. Every time I switch which lens I'm using, I need to change the diopter so that I can see if I've got true focus or not. Because of this I've become pretty reliant on auto-focus... but auto-focus doesn't really work as well for macro photography. You really want to have full control with macros, and so I'm running into a few road blocks with it. But, rather than alter the diopter, I'm just learning to see differently. That way I will just get used to it, since this isn't my most-used lens. And if you've ever had to adjust your diopter, you know what I mean when I say it's a pain in the butt!!!

Either way though, the more I use it, the better I'll get at seeing what I'm creating. Eventually, I will just know if I have achieved good focus or not, regardless of if it actually looks sharp through the viewfinder. And maybe someday I'll have the guts to let the optometrist surgeons stick lasers in my eyes to fix my vision... but that's pretty unlikely!

Along with all these new photos, I also updated my website! I had to, because I needed two new galleries, plus I had to add all the photographs! So I bring to you my Origami Project in its own gallery now, and my Macro Photography also has its own gallery! Please enjoy!

And now what you've been waiting for! The photos! Remember, you can view them even larger on my website, here: http://www.photo-phantasy.com

Rediscovering an Old Friend

Five years ago I was a film photographer... student. I was in high school, and I was using a Nikon N75 for my b+w photography class. My parents got the camera for me only after all other options were ruled out, and we paid a smooth $250 for it at Ritz Camera.

It came with this cute little Quantaray 28-90mm lens, with macro capabilities at 90mm. Back in that high school photography class, I often wondered what that macro thing was, and just never bothered to ask. I was having too much fun with the projects.

After that class it went in my closet, and wasn't heard from again until I let a friend borrow it for the same class. Came back home in perfect condition, and back in the closet it went. That was about two years ago.

I recently thought to ask about the lens though, and if you could take a lens from a film camera and use it on a digital one. Felt kind of like an idiot for asking, but hey, I only know how to use a lens, not too much of the hardware. The answer was how I thought though--yes, I could.

So I dug out the N75, and I switched that Quantaray from the N75 to the D200, and went to town.

I have been itching to do macro for a while now, and wishing I had the thousand some-odd dollars for a beautiful macro lens to do it with. I've been trying to fudge it with what I have at low apertures, and in very few cases it kind of worked. But after my failed water drop stuff, I realized I really needed the macro lens.

Do you know how badly I wanted to put my head through a wall for being so dense to not have thought about my old N75 until now? Wow... I've had a macro lens collecting dust in my closet for five years.

Playing with it tonight was euphoric, to say the least.

Here are my results, re-shooting will be coming up after some feedback. Enjoy! And don't be afraid to leave me some comments and critiques! You can view more of my photography at http://www.photo-phantasy.com


This was the first shot. The focus is definitely a bit off, but I really loved the idea and the angle, so I included it. It is going to be re-shot.


I had forgotten I had these little daisy buttons... until tonight. I really loved how it "reflected" on the fabric, but I need to re-shoot it with some better focus as well. Still, the concept makes me smile and I wanted to share it.


Looking at this shot makes me smile... a lot. I totally planned this, and pushed colour theory as far as I could.


For this, I had a broken bead and some interesting fabric. I think I'm going to re-shoot it and try to adjust the focus a bit, but I still really like this shot as it is as well.