Celebrities In front of the Camera

What a incredible year we have had at the studio with Celebrities. It’s hard to believe some of the people that have been in front of my camera this year for their portraits and oh the stories. Most of them, I could never put on a blog without having their big brothers show up. Here are just a few of the people that we have worked with over the last year. We are looking forward to next year with many more to come.

Ben Schwartz, Josh Lawson, Dawn Olivieri, Emma Kenney, Glynn Turman, Shanola Hampton, Justin Chatwin, Maya Angelou, Cam Newton, Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Mandy Patinkin, Morena Baccarin, Ben Best,

Kent Smith Photography

Learn More About Cinemax's 'Banshee' in New Featurette

Reblogged from NC Hollywood:

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Filmed in Charlotte, North Carolina, Cinemax is preparing to unleash its new drama Banshee, from True Blood creator Alan Ball, next month, as a brand new featurette with behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews and some fresh footage was released this week, giving the best insight yet as to the tone of the series.

You can watch the new Banshee…

Read more… 173 more words, 1 more video

Here is another great little show that was filmed in Charlotte, N.C. Make sure to check it out!

'Homeland', Julianne Moore Lead 70th Golden Globe Nominations

Reblogged from NC Hollywood:

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The Hollywood Foreign Press announced the nominees for the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards this morning, including Showtime's hit drama Homeland, filmed in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Fayetteville, NC native Julianne Moore.

Read more… 180 more words

Check out a few more images from this great show that I have really enjoyed working on.

Top 100 Photography Tips: Understand your Camera

PHOTOGRAPHY TOOLS 1:

One of the things all true professional photographers should understand is they are only as good as how well they know their camera. That might be a simple statement, but it’s really what makes a professional able to concentrate on their subject and take their photography to the next level.

This is the best way to understand your camera.

Read the manual! This is one of the first things I was ever told about photography and it’s stuck with me over the years. I am not saying that you need to use every one of the special functions on your new camera. It’s just a great idea to have a understanding of what your camera will do when you are out on that all important shoot. It’s what you can do with it afterwards that will set you apart from your friends.

Keep shooting!

Make sure to visit Kent Smith Photography
Kent Smith Photography

Chris Berman shows that he is a funny guy on set!

Looking inside the Creative Mind

A monkey will use his time wisely to be creative.
©Kent Smith Photography
http://www.kentsmithphoto.com

Being creative is something we all have inside us. I believe we are born with that creativity, but it continues to grow within us throughout the years in our work and passion for expanding our thoughts. So, is it true some people are more creative than others? Maybe. Or it may just be some are better at tapping into that part of their brain allowing themselves to flourish. Or maybe there is a formula to all of it…

Could this formula be linked to the Golden Ratio? Is it some understanding from another time or place that has made a mark on our human thinking? I’d like to think that it’s a combination of many different things including the things we see every single day, Life itself could be one of the most influential factors. Something so simple, but yet so complex has most of us spending a lifetime trying to figure it out. Could it be the influx of images that we see everyday and our own personal translation of those images that drives the mind to think outside of the box? Creative thoughts are made from a combination of other thoughts that have then been translated to another form, such as art or words. So how do we understand the thinking that goes into to this process?

We have 86,400 seconds in a day to process thoughts. From those thoughts, the creative mind captures one or two good ones that have a chance to make a lasting impression. I liken this to being a photographer. When I have to edit down an entire photo shoot to just a few images. We should do the same with our creative thoughts. We should pick our best from all our creative blurbs and turn full attention on just a couple of the best to create a masterpiece.

Unfortunately for the creative minds time is our biggest enemy. The best ideas often come from hours and even days or years of making everything just so. For me there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish all the things I would like the world to see. But I take each day at a time and produce the best work I possibly can with the hours I am allowed.

I would love to hear your thoughts on how you get through the creative process. I think we can all learn from each other. Let’s face it, we all want to be better humans and not just another monkey hanging around.

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http://www.luckyyoufilms.com

Master of your Fate

“I am the Master of my fate.  I am the master of my soul.” - Nelson Mandela

MIke Minter for a Visit Charlotte Advertising a few years ago. It shows the power of digital.

Powerful words are never overlooked.  As an creator of images both still and moving, we must always be looking for heart felt words to inspire our work.  I have decided to make some major changes in my fate over the years.

One that stands out in particular to me is my move from traditional film cameras to the new technology of digital.  It’s hard to believe that it was so many years ago when I was shooting stuff for Topps Trading Cards.  They decided to make a set of select cards that would be shot and produced in the same day. This probably doesn’t sound like anything new now, but at the time this was big news for the entire industry.  There was actually a CNN crew there recording this attempt to do something that no one else had ever done.  Much to my delight we accomplished it, mostly because we had some amazing people working on the project; all of whom believed it could be done.  Everything took just three hours.  The cards where shot and the images were brought in to the computer.  They were then dropped into the layout and then they were off to the press to be printed with a lovely glossy coat.  Three hours later the cards came rolling back to the site where each one of NFL draft picks sat down and signed their cards.

The reason why I tell this story is because I believe you must make your own fate.  It was the fate of the client that believed enough in me and my team to take a risk and put all their cards on the table to make this happen.  This all came to life because  I decided a few years before to make the jump to the digital world.  I invested in a digital camera that would allow me to the make the jump into this new wonderland.  It was a decision I will always look back on because it was such a big one and it had such a huge impact on my career and where I am today.  I often ask myself where would I be now if I hadn’t made the switch; the answer is more than likely out of business.  To think, jumping off the cliff would lead me to find the gold at the bottom of the ocean. It was my fate.

So keeping up with the changes in technology are only a part of the many things that you must do to keep up with your fate.  Next up, how do you look inside yourself?

Follow Kent Smith Photography

http://www.kentsmithphoto.com

http://www.luckyyoufilms.com

Value of Photography: Difference between Great Photographers and Good Photographers

What’s an image worth?  Why does an experienced photographer cost more than an inexperienced photographer?  There are so many questions that art directors and buyers of photographer’s services must ask when acquiring a photographer.  So how do you know the difference between one photographer or another?

Ferrari has always inspired speed, but sometimes it inspires love. ©Kent Smith Photography

The major difference between great photographers and good ones are the images.  It has been said for years that a great image is worth a thousand words;  it can tell a story before you even had time to read 10 words.  So it makes complete sense, that a great photographer will make that happen with even more impact than an average one.  Let’s face it, it has gotten easier to take images with the  advances of still cameras in the digital world, but it still comes down to the basic knowledge of how to light an image for the still world.  It also takes an eye for the unusual that will push other people’s eyes to the page or website.

If you look around you everyday, you will be inundated with images every place you go.  You can’t go down the street without seeing an image on a billboard or a poster at your local Starbucks.  These images are done for a reason.   You have  less than a second to take your eye off the road to look at a billboard on the side of the road. During that time, you will need to understand exactly what the advertising company wants you to know. This is called impact.

Great photographers (visionary people) have many years of experience on sets acquiring more skills than they guy that just picked up his camera.  He/She will understand how to light an image that will stand out from the others.  He/She will have many years of experience handling all the problems that can go with photography in case something does happen on set.  These are the things that will make them stand out from the rest, in addition to making your company money in the long run.

Over the years, we have seen many different things happen on set.  We have worked with many different art directors.  We have created different successful campaigns for many different companies around the world.  The one thing we always hear from our clients is:  ”It’s nice to work with someone who knows how to work fast, but accomplish the perfect results.”  The proof is on the Billboard.  Look for it next time you are rolling down the road.

For more images from Kent Smith Photography

http://www.kentsmithphoto.com

ADJUSTMENTS

To take your editing skills to the next level, you need to learn how to make local adjustments.

There are many reasons why you may want do use local adjustments, but before we give you reasons we will have to explain what local adjustments are.  As you can figure it out from the title, they are adjustments applied to specific areas of the image, rather than global adjustments that effect the whole image.

Local adjustments come handy in situations where you want to bring an emphasis to specific parts of the photo.  For example, when you want to focus more attention on your athlete.  Shooting outdoors often exceeds the dynamic range of your camera, and in these situations you can use local adjustments to brighten the shadows or darken the highlights.. or both.  Sharpening could also be used as a local adjustment when you want to make your athlete stand out even more, without over-sharpening the whole image.  A similar effect can be applied when you want to bring out a lot of detail form the sky or clothing, but you don’t want your shot to look overdone.  Or may be you want to change the color of someone’s jacket, then you need to apply local adjustment to the jacket itself.  You can always apply any of these adjustments to the whole image, but you will either ruin the rest of the image or it is going to look ridiculously over-done.  Local adjustments are really important, and can easily change the overall look and feel of your photos for the better.

Many of the most popular photo editing programs have added local adjustments in their latest versions.  Now you don’t have to be a Photoshop guru to apply these.  Adobe Lightroom and Camera Raw now have the Adjustment Brush and the Gradient Tool, Capture One has a whole Local Adjustments tab, as do most popular photo editing programs.  Of course, since the beginning of time Photoshop has had Layers and Masks that allow you to apply local adjustments.

The next time you start editing your photo, try to focus on specific areas of the image and apply local adjustments rather than global.  After you get the hang of it, we can guarantee you there is no going back.  Just like the example above, try to fix problems in specific areas.  Use the gradient tool in Lightroom to darken/recover the sky.  Mess with the Adjustment Brush and apply more sharpening to your subject.  You should be able to see the difference right away.  Overusing the Clarity slider for example, makes the your images look really over-done.  Try using the brush and apply it only to the clothing of your athletes to give them a nice 3D look without ruining the rest of the photo.

Article Reposted from ActionPhotoSchool.com:

http://actionphotoschool.com/local-adjustments/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ActionPhotoSchool+%28Action+Photo+School%29

Kodak going bankrupt? Where will our film come from? « Vincent Laforet’s Blog

Kodak going bankrupt? Where will our film come from? « Vincent Laforet’s Blog.

Everything’s Sexier With Lenny…

Even Charlotte’s Bojangles Arena, which, let’s face it,  isn’t among the sexiest of venues.  Lenny Kravitz is a very cool cat, at ease with himself, and a pleasure to work with, if only for a few brief minutes.  And after all these years of making great American rock & roll music, he still obviously enjoys what he does, almost making sweet love to his microphone.  He also likes to take in a great show as well, attending a recent performance in Charlotte by the amazing Sade.  Sex appeal was off the charts that night, with the two of them in the same room.

All in all, a great day with a great subject… a phenomenal performer who loves what he does.