Memorial Day 2014

What happens when a Mom photographer goes on vacation? Probably the same thing as any other camera-happy parent, right? (At least that's what I'm telling myself so I don't feel like too much of a pain-in-the-b*tt paparazzi.)

I had a shoot list in mind, with a general feel. The goal was to just capture the kids being kids, having fun, and being outdoors. Hopefully, you'll soon see some of the images from this weekend available for licensing and in magazines and billboards. Crossing fingers!

All the best,

Mui Chao
Digital Artist
SimplyMui Photography

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Miltary Family Day

My husband is in the military. He has been deployed a couple times. We have a young family and it was tough for him to be away from our family for a weekend, let alone years. I'm grateful for every day that we are together. A lot of people understand this, and it's heartwarming how often people come up to us and thank him for his service.

Knowing how hard it is to be part of the military, I donate various services year-round -- sewing patches on their uniforms, making lunches my husband shares with his office, helping with fundraisers, free photo sessions for deploying/deployed families, and just this weekend, taking holiday portraits during family day.

The FRG ladies (Family Readiness Group) put in so much time and effort into family day, a wonderful event to get the families together and show them how much they are appreciated. Even Santa was nice enough stop by and bring some holiday cheer.

Some families (like most families) hadn't taken a family portrait in years and asked for shots with and without Santa. I created a simple, kid-friendly set-up that says "Holiday" without screaming it. Here are some of the happy faces who stopped by for some snaps (including test shots of my own little ones. Yes, I am biased). I love how a simple photo can warm hearts and bring out such lovely smiles.

Happy Holidays



Mui
SimplyMui Photography

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Princess Style

My princesses love to hug

 I have three kids, two of whom are little girls.. correction: princesses. They dress up every day. At least two times a day. They put on "shows." Sometimes it's an interpretive dance. Sometimes it's a concert. Sometimes a play. Occasionally, the older one puts in the extra effort to style their hair (read: put in every piece of hair decoration they can find) and accessorize their outfits (tie each other up with scarves). Sometimes I can't resist pulling out the camera to capture the fun. I don't think I've ever regretted any of our impromptu paparazzi moments.

Mui
Photographic Artist
SimplyMui Photography

The little one showing off her style

K dancing with flair

And even tearful princess are priceless.

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The Battle

Before the holidays (yes, I know that was months ago), I was excited, motivated, and driven to launch SimplyMui Photography as Salt Lake City's newest family portrait photographer. While talking to various families about their experiences and seeing portraits they have had done, I quickly became deflated.

Educating people about the value of professional photography has always been something of an uphill battle, especially now when digital photography is so readily accessible. The quality of consumer and prosumer cameras are pretty impressive, especially for the price point. And EVERYONE has a cell phone with built-in camera. And many people fiddle with Instagram to add funky cool effects to their otherwise mundane images.

All that I can deal with, because my images are unique. My clients are overjoyed when they see the portraits of their loved ones. I have my ability to bring out and capture someone's true personality, not just their fake camera smile. I know lighting and styling. I have professional hardware and software, and more importantly, the skills and ability to use professional equipment properly. I am thoughtful about the details and know how to treat people. I have the taste level, talent and artistic vision to produce beautiful images, and the self control to not over-tweak the saturation, contrast, sharpness, and not to turn faces into over-softened "glam" plastic mannequins.

What I can't deal with? The numerous professional photographers in this area who are giving away their livelihood. So many here have studios, wardrobe, equipment, bills to pay, and they offer sessions with digital files for such a small price -- for less than it would cost to go to Sears, JCPenney or Target. If their work was the department store quality, run by high schoolers whose job is to sit people and randomly push a button on the camera, then I would understand. But, no, we are talking about real photographers, with years of experience, and the ability to create lovely images. This blows my mind. It's one thing for people to not understand the value of a portrait, but for professional photographers to undervalue themselves and hurt the industry, I can't understand.

The truth is, the general public has no idea how much it cost to be a photographer. There's a huge discrepancy between perception and reality.

And many people want photography services for free. There are ads all over Craigslist offering photographers the opportunity to gain experience in exchange for their time and images. Imagine asking that of doctors, plumbers, accountants or any service industry.

And many people get into photography thinking it's an easy career with a small start-up cost. Photographer Hayley Juliet elegantly demystifies this on her blog: http://blog.hayleyjuliet.com/2012/11/27/the-truth/

So, yes, I am frustrated. Am I giving up on photography in Utah? No. Photography is in my heart, in my blood, I can't breathe without it. But I do have to re-evaluate and re-strategize. No worries, I am not hanging up my camera. Without compromising integrity, my photography business will find a way to thrive here or anywhere else I may find myself in the country.

Stay tuned.



Mui
Photographic Artist
SimplyMui Photography

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Camera Padding Insert: Anti-DIY

The completed padding insert, with the equipment it was made to protect.

Well, I finally did it. I made the padded insert to convert my purse into a camera bag. My intent was to post how it was done, but truthfully, it's a fair amount of work. And if you don't have the materials already handy, it could cost as much as one that you could just order online (Amazon.com has plenty of choices of size, color, etc for $15-50).

Bottom Line: Just order one. Or reconfigure the pads and dividers from your "real" camera bag to fit your purse.

Confession: I'm an amateur at the sewing machine. I lost the manual before I had a chance to read it. There were many things I realized I did wrong during this project. Sometimes the most important lessons are the ones about what NOT to do. So, if you want to make your own, for whatever reason (you want custom fabric, you prefer a thicker padding, you want to hone your sewing skills, etc), then tally forth! And if you're going to make one of your own, I'm going to assume you know how to sew, so I won't go into detail about the actual sewing process.

First, measure your purse. What size padding would fit in your purse and still allow it to close properly? Write this down. STICK TO IT. Yes, really.

Now, gather materials. Make sure you have enough. I had extra fabric and velcro strips from a previous sewing project. The two inch thick foam padding I had was packing material from a furniture purchase, so that was FREE. I wanted padding thicker than the 1/4 inch thick pads that come with most camera bags, but two inches is a bit much, so I cut it in half for most of this insert. I left it two inches thick for the base of the insert, since the most likely source of shock is from putting the bag down on a table or floor.

Minimum 1 yard of fabric, foam padding, measuring device, sharp knife, velcro, cutting guide for straighter cuts, and usual sewing notions.

Next, figure out the plan. Draw simple blueprints. Make note of the dimensions. Where should the velcro go? Are there extra features you'd like to add, like pockets, covers, etc? KEEP IT SIMPLE. I chose to cover each piece separately, meaning I was making 7 pieces. Had I made the wall one solid, continuous piece, then that would have meant only covering 4 pieces, nearly half the amount of work. My other mistake? See how the walls are different heights? That's because I didn't stick to my plan. I started with the camera laying down, but wanted to be able to add two extra pieces of equipment, so I changed my plan. Standing my camera up makes it easier for me to grab it out of the bag for a quick shot, but it made it taller than the height dimension I had determined from my measurements. It would still fit into my purse, but I wouldn't be able to close it.

This was my plan for my insert. Turns out, it wasn't the best or easiest way to go.

Sew, sew, sew! Cover each piece with your fabric. Make sure you sew on the velcro, pockets and anything else before finishing each piece. Otherwise, you'll find yourself sewing by hand for a few hours. And believe me, hand sewing velcro is not my idea of fun.

Covering my pieces with fabric. I went with two colors for aesthetic reasons, but it added another level of difficulty. Keeping to one fabric would make things much, much easier.

Put it together! Give it a test, make sure things fit.

The base of my purse was roomier than the opening of the purse, so it's a little more snug at the top.

This is how I would like to carry my camera -- with lens attached, standing up. Additional extra lens and shoe mount flash handy.

This was the original plan, which actually fits in the purse. Camera laying down, grip easily accessible and one accessory readily available.

My "new" inconspicuous camera bag purse, padded up, zipped up, ready to go!

There were things I could've done better, more efficiently, but I'm happy with the results: a fun, colorful camera padding insert that I feel confident with (over the store-bought padding). Best of all, I don't have to carry a boring, black "professional" camera bag anymore. So, all in all, SUCCESS!


Kudos,

Mui Chao
Photographic Artist
SimplyMui Photography

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Camera Bag?

I'm not a fashionista. I'm still a tomboy at heart, but having two girls have made me a little more tolerant of pretty, girly things. I've even expanded my black/gray/olive green/navy blue wardrobe to include other colors, like maroon, purple, cream and coral (although I insist I will never wear pink. Not that there's anything wrong with that). I'm also very minimalist and don't like to draw attention to myself. The purses I've carried for the past decade (the ones that don't double as diaper bags), looked something like this:

My dinky purse. Just barely big enough to hold my wallet, phone and keys.

Now, throw in the Photographer aspect of my life. On my stock agencies' "Wanted" lists are things like snowy scenery, traffic jams, tourist shots, Open/Closed signs on business windows, skylines, etc. Things that require me to go out and about and keep my camera on me in my daily life.

Obviously, my DSLR with additional lenses, batteries, filters, and speedlite are not going to fit into my tiny purse. So, I had to carry this:

My backpack-styled professional camera bag. Holds lots of equipment.

This was great for carrying all the gear I would need to shoot anything on the fly. I loved it for when I'm doing a formal shoot on location. But as a lone woman doing informal, around-town shots, it screams "HEY, I'm a photographer and I probably have REALLY expensive stuff in here. Come rob me!!"

I wanted to be a little more inconspicuous, so I got a bigger purse (relatively speaking) to stash my camera & wallet in. This meant I had to leave behind the extras. Still, my basic camera set-up (just the body and my go-to lens) weighs 5 pounds, which quickly wore out the purse. And there was the concern about protecting the camera against bumps. I wrapped in a scarf but obviously, that's not the best protection.

There's a few websites now selling more attractive camera bags, geared towards photographers who want a little more style and flair. I perused Kelly Moore,  Epiphanie Bags, Cheeky Lime, Shootsac, and more. But the Ladies' bags are usually too girly and wild for my taste. And the Men's styles are a bit dull. And alas, the ones I want are always the pricier ones. My favorite so far:

Camera bag from Porteen Gear. This one is "For Men" but I LOVE it. All bags are custom made to order, so you can choose your size, style, and materials. Woo-hoo!

However, I'm a frugal person. So I drew up some sketches for what I want in a bag, bought some discounted colored leather from Jo-Anne's Fabrics with every intention of crafting my own custom camera bag, and then happened upon a wonderful find.

Large Jessica Simpson purse found at Marshall's for $50.

Yes, the color is outside of my normal comfort zone, but it's a good size and well constructed. And I figure if someone grabs it and runs, it's easy to spot and chase down.

I don't like that I have still been wrapping my camera in a scarf to put into this spacious bag. And I certainly don't want my extra lenses, speedlite, or batteries knocking around in there either. I've started to build a padded compartment to hold my equipment in here and will post it when it's finished. Stay tuned!!

Mui
Photographic Artist
SimplyMui Photography

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Holiday Portrait Deconstructed

There's a very popular pin going around and if you are on Pinterest and have any interest in photography, babies, or holidays, I'm sure you have seen it. This one:

Photo by Lizvette Wreath Photography

Even with the setup diagrammed in the image, people are still having trouble copying this look for themselves. They are getting results like this one found on Pinstrosity:

Submitted to Pinstrosity, a blog of attempted Pins gone wrong

This isn't a problem that only casual photographers are running into. Fellow pro photogs are trying to figure out what they are doing wrong, and if I hadn't moved halfway across the country twice, I would simple go over and troubleshoot with them in person. But I figure this is a good opportunity to explain what's going on.

First, you need a clean space (or to fake one). You can set up in a living room, basement, or family room. Ideally, I would have a long narrow, clutter-free room for this, but since I don't have that, I chose my bedroom. The bed provides an elevated platform so I don't have to crush myself into the hard floor to get to my little ones' level or to see their faces. Second, I want to keep this as simple and shoe-string budget as possible. Even though I can pull out the studio lights, umbrellas, soft boxes, transmitters, meters and reflectors, I don't want to.

K.I.S.S., right?

On another note, DOES SIZE MATTER? A friend was concerned that her queen sized bed was constraining her. Honestly, that doesn't matter. And to prove that, I've used a blue ribbon to mark on my king bed where it would end if I were using a queen bed. I didn't get any blue bits in any of my shots.

So here's my setup:

So, you don't need a huge room. I was working in a space 8 feet wide by 11 feet long. The exact measurements and specs don't really matter, but I wanted to show you what my space was. If the room was longer, then I would have been able to add another layer of lights in the foreground (like the first image above). More space would also mean I could include more of my models' bodies and get better blurs, but let's make due with what we have!

There are other blogs that explain the setup, but I'm going to go a little more technical and show you the difference little changes in settings can make to the image you create. So, set your camera to MANUAL MODE (gasp!!) and trust in yourself. You need to know how to manipulate your ISO, aperture and exposure time, and how to read your in-camera meter.


STEP 0: Choose your light source.

Yes, I said "Step 0." You need to decide how you will light your setup first and foremost. If you don't have a good flash unit, or you just love soft, natural light, these are the type of results you might get. Of course, if you have direct sunlight getting on your model or the set, you might want to put a sheer white curtain on your window. (Note: all the sample test shots below are un-manipulated, un-corrected captures so as not to confuse you. You can always add your exposure adjustments and artistic flair later.)

If you don't have windows, if the sun has set, or you like to have control over your light source, use a strobe or flash unit. I find that indirect lighting (bouncing off white/light walls) provides soft, natural-looking lighting. I like to point my strobes into the corner behind me. I didn't want to set up my studio lights though, so I just popped my SpeedLite (camera flash unit) onto my camera and pointed to somewhere to the side or behind me, depending on how I wanted my booger-faces lit.

If you want to get fancy, you can set up an additional hair light. But again, I wanted to keep this simple. Although, really, I should have put up a reflector. You can use actual reflectors or white foam board (like your kid's science fair boards) or white fabric. The reflector would be set up opposite of your light source to fill in the shadows. So, if the model is in the middle of the set and I aim my flash towards stage-right, then I would set up the reflector stage-left. Got it?


STEP 1: Put on the lens of your choice (if you can choose).

You do NOT want a wide angle lens for this. Wider angles create more depth of field and the secret to this shot is to GET YOUR DEPTH OF FIELD AS SHALLOW AS POSSIBLE. As you can see below, 70mm blurred the background out very nicely. 50mm is okay -- you get to see more of the scene and models, but you can kind of make out the light strings in the background. Anything wider, like the 40mm length at the bottom is very undesirable, unless you want to see the mess of light strands in your background. In my opinion, 80mm would be ideal, but then I would either need more space to back up into, or I could climb my dressers and squish myself against the back wall. Otherwise, I would be capturing just parts of faces.

STEP 2: Set your f/ stop to the widest it will go. 

All the other blogs tell you to use your f/1.4 or f/1.8 lens. Well, not all of us have that uber expensive piece of equipment! (Okay, I have one, but I'm trying to prove a point here.) I am hereby debunking that assumption and saying YOU CAN DO THIS WITHOUT SPECIALIZED LENSES. If you can get to f/2.8 or f/4.0, then you'll be fine, with slight limitations and considerations.


STEP 3A: Set your exposure and ISO. (for natural lighting)


This one is easy. Using your in-camera meter, stand where you (the photographer) plan to be standing. Aim at the model setting at the front edge of the bed with the wall of lights behind them. Hopefully, the window(s) are providing enough light for you. Set your ISO to a higher setting, but not one that will create too much ugly noise on your shots. Older cameras got ugly around 640 ISO. New ones can push 1000+ ISO and still look pretty nice. Move your exposure to something you can hand-hold (above 1/60th). If you are shooting active kids, you'll need a faster setting (1/100 and up). Or just sedate the kids. Just kidding. Sort of.


STEP 3B: Set your exposure and ISO. (for strobe/flash lighting)

Using your in-camera meter, stand where you (the photographer) plan to be standing. Aim at the wall of lights WITHOUT the model in the way and with your strobe OFF. Your goal is to have the in-camera meter read +1/3 to +1. Why? So those little tiny Christmas lights get to burn in and make an impact on your portrait.

Now, set your exposure to something you can hand-hold (above 1/60th). Anything slower will probably result in light streaks and blurs, which can be a cool effect to play with. If you are shooting active kids, you'll need a faster setting (between 1/100 and 1/200). BEWARE not to set it faster than your shutter can handle. Newer cameras can capture the full image at speeds of 1/200th. Older cameras max out around 1/125th, after which, half your shot will be solid black. That's the shadow caused by the flash on your internal camera shutter.

Move your ISO to a higher setting so your meter reads between +1/3 and +1 while your exposure setting is between 1/60th and 1/125.

Did I lose you yet?

Now, with your strobe ON, make sure it's set to ETTL (a.k.a. smarty-pants auto flash mode) at +0 exposure compensation. Lastly, swivel the flash head so it is NOT pointing directly at the model. WHY?? If you point it at the model, you will get harsh lights, ugly shadows and an unattractive background. If you point it directly behind you, the light on your model's face will be flat. If you point it to the side wall, the light will be dramatic. If you point it up to the ceiling, it will create raccoon eyes. If you point it to the floor, your model probably will not get any light OR will look like they're telling ghost stories at camp. So pick an angle somewhere behind but to the side and slightly upward. Got it?

STEP 4: Shoot!!!

Have at it and enjoy! Just remember to keep as much distance between the background lights and the models as possible. And remember that the closer you are to the models, the more blur you'll get. Why? I think that explanation is too technical & boring, so just trust me.

ADDENDUM: Point-and-Shoot Cameras

If you don't have an SLR camera or a fancy prosumer camera that allows you to switch to Manual Mode, here's what you do:

..... Go buy a DSLR. (Just kidding)

Okay, play with your point-and-shoot. If you can find the NIGHT PORTRAIT mode, then that's your best shot for this. Otherwise, try your SPORTS mode or PORTRAIT mode on a tripod. And remember to stay ZOOMED-IN. Do not go wide-angled. Good luck!


SAMPLE SHOTS

What the h*ll am I talking about and what's the big deal about the f/ stop and focal length? Well, that's what controls your depth of field, allowing those beautiful bokeh circles to dance like fairies on your holiday portraits. Here are example shots to show you the difference between f/1.4 (big, beautiful bokeh EVERY TIME), f/2.8 (lovely, magical circles of light), and f/4.0 (cute little firefly lights most of the time, if the models can follow instruction and stay in their space).

See the difference in the quality & size of the bokeh when the aperture is increased?

Here's the same comparison, but you can see the difference between 50mm and 70mm focal length.

Lastly, how far you stand from your models makes a huge difference too. Stand as close as you can with the longest length you can fit into your space. This is where a macro telephoto lens comes in handy.

She's standing about 3 feet from me. The distance between her face and her hands are about 12 inches. By focusing on a point 2 feet from me instead of 3 feet away, the background bokeh is completely different -- bigger circles, softer, prettier.

Well, that's the end of this long-winded deconstruction of what looked like a simple, beautiful portrait. Isn't it amazing how good photographers make things look so easy? I'm sure I'm not using all the right terminology correctly, but hey, motherhood has burned off a large amount of my intellect, so please forgive me my many imperfections. Yes, I realize I misspelled "aperture" in my sample images, but I've spent a good deal of time on this and really need to go back to being a mom.

When you try this for real (for a real client or for your family's real holiday portraits), add some layers of interest -- scatter some ornaments, have a color scheme, have the kids blow glitter or confetti at you, wrap them in extra lights. Or keep it basic -- think about wardrobe, wipe the boogers and Doritos off their faces, and tame some wild-child hair.

Happy shooting!

Mui
Photographic Artist
SimplyMui Photography

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