Piedmont Photo

I have seen a plethora of folks who proudly display pictures that are "straight from the camera." This is all well and good but many of these folks seem to think that having a great image that is straight from the camera is some sort of pure form and that any type of post manipulation is fakery or wrong in some way. I have even heard a few folks say that digital capture isn't as pure as film because people don't have to get it right in the camera. These folks don't seem to realize that in the old days, what you got straight out of the camera was an unprocessed roll of film. Not only is manipulation of an image not wrong but an image straight from a digital camera has already been manipulated by the camera. And what exactly does "get it right in the camera" mean? It means different things to me depending on what I'm shooting and it doesn't always mean perfect.

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A model's tool is his or her face/body and when you look at a models profile, the first thing you usually notice is a picture of that person. The picture becomes a part of their branding because their look is what they are trying to promote to others. When you meet a model for the first time it is easy to identify them because you already know how they look. Make-up artists and photographers are different, however, in that their look is not what they want to promote. Make-up artists want you to see their make-up work and photographers want you to see their photographs because that is what brands them.

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I love being a photographer. It’s so much fun working with other creative people and what I’ve learned from them about being creative is that, they, like me, don’t really know how to be creative. They just are. I get asked, on occasion, where I get my creativity and I have never really had a good answer. Most of the time my answer is, I don’t know.” I’ve never sat down and thought, “I think I’ll be creative now.” Creativity for me is just something that just kind of happens but I can say, it’s easier when you hang around creative people. There are just some people that naturally help to get the creative juices flowing.

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When it comes to copyright advice, I have seen a lot of misinformation floating around the Internet. I thought it might be a good idea to take a moment to dispel some of those myths in the hopes that we can protect ourselves by being better informed.

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Some of our most popular items are our Picture Windows. When I display them at local art shows, people love them and always have great things to say. It’s always fun to hear about what other folks are doing with old windows, things like painting the glass panes or replacing the panes with old ceramic tiles. I like the photography version because it gives the illusion that there is a window where a window doesn’t exist. For example, in my living room, you can look out the window at an ocean sunset, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I have to say that it really looks cool.

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The one day you really want to get great pictures is Christmas morning as the kids are opening presents. Here are some tips to make sure that you get perfect pictures that people will want to see.

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