Magical Portraiture

Kathryn and I went to a sensational seminar today put on by Clay Blackmore and Jane Conner-Sizer. They started off by saying that to succeed in portrait photography, where everyone has a digital camera, our images have to stand out. 'Yeah we all know that, but what are you going to bring to the table?' was my thought. How innovative can you be in commercial studio portraiture and wedding photography? Well, was I wrong!

These guys absolutely blew my mind! Watching Clay grab random people in the audience, pose and shoot them was pure magic. The camera was hooked up to a large screen, so it was as if you were looking through the viewfinder at the subject. The audience actually clapped after some of the shots it was so amazing. I actually got to pose a bit. It's been a theme this week. Hey maybe I am meant to be a supermodel.

Then Jane took the controls and showed off her stuff on Photoshop. She showed us a seemingly incredible portrait and just took it to another level. Her skills at retouching are insane! Her 18 years of experience with digital retouching might have something to do with it. Then she showed us how she uses Paint Shop Pro. She took images that had no value because of bad exposure or composition and turned them into masterpieces by painting over them digitally. It was as if they came alive, unreal! Have I used enough exclamations marks yet ?

So in summary, yes they have found truly unique ways to shoot portraiture !! Can't wait to put to practice what I learned...

Check them out at http://clayandjane.com/home.htm
Clay Blackmore was taught by the legendary photographer, Monte Zucker. He passed away this year and the seminar series is dedicated to him. You can read some of his articles on this site: http://www.montezucker.com/