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Are you getting ready for spring? I sure am! This past weekend in Logan was a gorgeous 35F and sunny so I took off with some good friends to shoot some portraits with a bit of a spring feel to them. Although it was a nice balmy 25F and breezy when we finished the shoot Austin rocked. She is so talented and such a hard worker, I always love when she's willing to work with me. Go check out a lot of her other work on her page on Facebook!

Urban Fashion Photography Portraits Ideas Grunge Industrial Pictures Outfits Look Style

Urban Fashion Photography Portraits Ideas Grunge Industrial Pictures Outfits Look Style


Urban Fashion Photography Portraits Ideas Grunge Industrial Pictures Outfits Look Style

Urban Fashion Photography Portraits Ideas Grunge Industrial Pictures Outfits Look Style


Be sure to check out my website for a look at my portfolio! 

Massive thanks to: 
Tiffany Johnson for Hair and Makeup
Austin Hipwell for modeling
Christie Quilter for second shooting/assisting 
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 I have tons of fantastic clients and friends here in Logan, but one of my favorites to get a call from is Mark Anderson at Anderson's Seed & Garden. Mark and his wife Ronnette are absolutely fantastic and their business is top notch! They both know so much about gardening and growing and are so willing to share their knowledge and help others in any way they can.


Logan Photographers Photography Commercial Anderson Seed and Garden Portraits Products


Mark bought Anderson's Seed & Garden from his mother in 1999 and since then they have more than doubled the size of the store as well as added some greenhouses behind their building. Mark and his team offer some the best products in the Valley but what a lot of people don't know is that they also offer a range of great services as well! From yard care, to consultation and pest control, Mark is your go to guy! This spring when you're getting your yard ready to be beautiful for summer stop by and chat with Mark. If anyone knows how to build a beautiful yard in Cache Valley, it'd be Mark and Ronnette. 


Logan Photographers Photography Commercial Anderson Seed and Garden Portraits Products
Anderson's Seed & Garden has a large selection of seeds at their seed counter, and their staff is crazy knowledgeable about all of them! 


Logan Photographers Photography Commercial Anderson Seed and Garden Portraits Products
All the seeds are carefully measured and weighed on their antique balance scales. These scales are from the early 1900's and have been on counter at Anderson Seed since they opened in 1942.


Logan Photographers Photography Commercial Anderson Seed and Garden Portraits Products
Flowers, vegetables or any other kind of seed, these guys have it! 


Thanks for coming by, be sure you check out my portfolio at www.endless.photography and follow my Facebook page for information and give-aways! 

Mike Johnson



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3 Times to Always Use a Tripod

(That you may not have thought about before)

I love teaching photography to new photographers, whether it be through the community classes I teach, the local photography club or one-on-one, I love when I get the chance to see when someones eye's light up when the realize they can now start to turn their visions into reality! During all these teaching moments, one thing I always try to teach others is how important a tripod is, and the response I always get it 'Oh, I use a tripod when I shoot the stars or landscapes, but I never use it besides that'. I want to bring up three times you might not think about using a tripod but times that I find a tripod invaluable to my photography and why. Let's get started!

Studio Portrait Photography

Every time I'm in a studio, I have my tripod, always. Why? Two reasons. First, a tripod is going to get you sharper images. Always. No matter how careful and steady you are, those sticks under your camera will be steadier. Normally when you're in a studio, you're there so you can control every aspect of you image and get the best quality images. Locking your camera down will help optimize the quality your camera can produce. The second and more important reason to pull our your tripod in the studio is that you'll get a more natural image of your subject. When your face is smashed behind your lens and you're talking and directing your subject, they can't see you! You're not a face, or a person, you're a big scary lens! As soon as you drop your camera on a tripod you can pull your face out and give them a person to connect with. You can talk, direct and CONNECT with your subject. You get to be a real person and people connect with real people better than lenses. 


On Location Family Photography

The second time I never fail to get my tripod out is on location family portraits. Once again, there are two main reasons. First, you get to be a person! Just like mentioned above, except now it's even more critical! How hard is it to get a little kid to look at a camera?! Seriously! But if you put the camera on your tripod you don't have to say "Hey Bobby! Look at the camera!". You'll frame your shot, set you setting and stand behind your camera and pull faces, make animal noises, and be goofy! Guess what? That kid is gonna watch you and he's probably gonna crack up laughing if you're silly enough. BAM! You've got him looking at the camera! Done! Also, by getting your camera on a tripod and not moving, it's much easier to do head-swaps in Photoshop if you need to. Just in case you didn't get everyone smiling naturally in multiple images. Head swaps are so much easier if your on a tripod.

Product & Food Photography

Sharpness. Sharpness is key when you're showing off someones gorgeous culinary creations, their hard work on hand crafted soaps, delicately weaved phone case, or whatever else you're shooting. Getting that camera on a tripod is going to maximize your sharpness and it'll make you think about your framing and composition more. Putting that extra time into framing and moving your tripod to the perfect location is going to pay off! Give it a go next time your shooting something small and up close, you'll be amazed at the difference in your images! 

I hope next time you're heading out to shoot, you'll think about dusting off that old tripod and giving it a second chance. Of all the things that has drastically improved the quality of my images, my tripod might be number one. It doesn't matter what gear you're shooting on, a solid set of legs is going to take you're quality up a notch or two. 

Top Tip

Don't buy a ~$50 big box store special! Get something solid, heavy and durable. It's all about being steady! Personally I bought my tripod used on ksl.com and got a $500 tripod for $100 and it's been going strong for years!  

When do you use your tripod?! Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook and Google Plus! 

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Introduction To Portrait Lighting



Photography is light. That's all it is. Learning to see, capture and control light and share that with others. Learning to control lighting in portraits is the number one most important thing you can do to improve your portraits. Whether you're a natural light shooter, a beginner or love using lighting, learning more about light and how to see and control the way it interacts with your subject will take your photos to the next level! 



I teach an 8 week, portrait lighting class. We focus solely on how to use off camera lighting to choose the best way to light your subject. If this is something that interests you, there are a few spots still available! We'll  cover everything for getting your camera and flash working together, lighting outdoors, studio lighting, groups and weddings and breaking down images to understand and recreate the lighting setup.



Class starts January 15th at 6:30 and it only cost $98 for all 8 weeks! Click here to see a weekly itinerary and how to register! 

Here is what some of my previous students have said about this class: 


"I really enjoyed the lighting class. Mike was very professional and had professional models each week to practice shooting. He was always coming up with new and fresh ideas for different lighting techniques which really helped me to think outside of the box. I would highly recommend the class!" -Kaylin Thompson- "The lighting class taught by Mike Johnson through the CVCA is an amazing class. Mike teaches everything from getting the flash off the camera to color gels, modifiers, and different light set ups. He always had a willing and capable model for the class, he covers the inverse square law and qualities of light. If your ready to take the next step with off camera flash, this is an excellent class." -John Hart- 


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Somebody gave me a vintage looking coke bottle a few weeks ago, and well, I don't drink coke, so today I threw some water at it! Let's look at how! 


The Shot: 






The Setup: 

It's a pretty simple set up for a shot like this! I was using a simple white backdrop and a small sheet of plexiglass under the bottle. One light above the bottle (a 24x36in softbox), a light on the backdrop and a bare speed light camera left to fill the shadows just a little bit. Thinking back on the shot, I should have grabbed my large softbox out of my trunk to give a softer light (it was cold outside!).  All the lights were on a low power setting to give a short flash duration and freeze the water droplets (1/64th to 1/16th range on the power settings should work). Below is a behind the scenes shot of the set up! Camera settings were 1/200th of a second shutter speed, ISO 100, and f/6.3 on a Canon 5D Mark III and 50mm lens. 





The Shoot: 

For the splashing shots I held the coke bottle over my fish tank and poured cups of water on it, and used a remote release to trigger my flash. Keep pouring and shooting until you get a good variety of splashes you can use in your final image. 


After you've managed to get a lot of different options of the splash it's time to get a solid shot of the bottle sitting on your plexiglass to composite with the splashing water. I used the same light set up, I just brought the softbox down lower to keep the reflection on the bottle the same, and shot a couple images and you're set! The white paper I'm holding is to keep the liquid from catching too much light off the background and keep it dark and similar looking to the images with the splashes.


The Edit: 

This is where it gets fun! To get good water droplets you'll have to shoot a least 50 images, but probably over 100 and then a solid shot of the bottle by itself. From there it's all about merging the images in Photoshop! Personally here is a how I do that:
-Import images to Lightroom
-Color correct the image I want to merge in Lightroom


-Open those images as Layers in Photoshop
-Use Layers masks to merge them and erase the areas you don't want of each image. 


Finish up with a bit of cloning and masking to finish off the image and you're set to go! 

At that point you should have a pretty solid final image!



Thanks for popping by! If you have any questions feel free to contact me!

Mike Johnson 
www.endless.photography
mike@endless.photography
435-764-4241

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About Mike Johnson

Hi! Welcome to the blog! Thanks for stopping by! I'm Mike, this place is my life. I'm a photographer, film maker, drone pilot and explorer. This is a place where I try to stay up to date with current work, ideas and projects (but fall behind at times). Have a look around and feel free to contact me with any questions.

Thanks!
Mike

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      • Urban Fashion Photography | Logan Photographers
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