Best Western Denver SW (by Chester Bullock)

I do product photography, and I do real estate photography. But when it comes to shooting hotels and resorts, it’s a mix of both.

The manager of the Best Western Denver SW (located in Lakewood, Colorado despite the name), saw my photos recently and liked my work. They are in the middle of a website redesign and needed new photos of the property since they have completed renovations recently. I went down one recent afternoon and took care of the shoot. By the end of the weekend I had presented him with the images I thought were keepers. He was extremely pleased and they should be showing up on the website after the new one is launched. And I’ll be going back for exterior shots once things green up here in Colorado.

Contact me today if you have photographic needs in real estate, products or portraits.

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Arjuni Photo Shoot

I love shooting hard-to-photograph items. I am getting pretty good at it. But this time, I really had my work cut out for me. Arjuni is a Denver purveyor of hair weaves. The owner came to me with what seemed like a simple request – take photos of roughly 27 samples for use on the new website. It was something of a rush job, because the grand opening of the site was two weeks out. On top of that, two other photographers had been tried beforehand, but could not deliver images to her satisfaction. Great, no pressure there.

I experiemented a bit with some different positioning and lighting, and then settled on something that seemed to work really well. The owner was pleased. I started getting comments like “Phenomenal work!” and “Thanks for all of your hard work. You’ve definitely captured some gems that I’m excited about!” Really, this is what it is all about. Sure, I get to make images that make me happy, on my own time, but when I am on the clients’ clock, I need to deliver.

That said, I really like doing product photography here in the Denver area. So far I have done some neat things and met very interesting people. I have started to see repeat business, which is a good measure of success I think. If you need a product shot, even if it is not a hard to photograph surface, contact me for a quote. I have no doubt I will deliver images you can be proud of, and ones that will help sell your product.

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The inaugural photo of the week, I am re-running this image of my daughter, taken at Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. Enjoy.

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Snowflakes – The Sequel

I spent some time the other night working on the snowflake images a bit more. Here is a series of keepers (at least in my mind). All shot on my back patio here in Lakewood, Colorado. I actually thought about taking more during a more recent storm, but it was so cold when the snow was falling, the flakes were really small.

And don’t forget that you could win a $50 gift certificate to my online gallery by becoming a fan of my Facebook page. One fan will be picked at random on 1/31, so become a fan now!

Enjoy.

Colorado Snowflake macro photo by Chester Bullock

Colorado Snowflake macro photo by Chester Bullock

Colorado Snowflake macro photo by Chester Bullock

Colorado Snowflake macro photo by Chester Bullock

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Lakewood, Colorado Family Portrait

Souther Family

A rare occurrence happened recently – all immediate members of the Souther Family were in town, so they took the opportunity to do a family portrait in time for the holidays. Any major holiday tends to be a good time to have your family portrait done, since that is the most likely time to have everyone close by with some free time.

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Golden Gate in HDR, as show by Chester Bullock

This HDR image came out far better than I expected it to in the wind and water vapor surrounding me. It has been chosen as an editor’s pick at HDRSpotting.com, and HDR afficionado website. And now you can hang it on the wall of your home or office by placing an order from my online gallery. White space has been added to the gallery version, allowing proper cropping for standard prints and frames.

Also, if you like my work, consider becoming a fan of my Facebook page. On January 31, I will select one fan at random to receive a $50 gift certificate to my online gallery (for a print purchase only, not for session fees).

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Torrey's Reflection - Tonemapped

For as long as HDR has been a processing option, there has been debate about whether or not a single tonemapped image constitutes and HDR image. Classic thinking would say no. However, Photomatix is capable of taking a RAW image and doing the tonemapping actions that come with HDR processing. In fact, the guy who is now producing the best HDR books, Trey Ratcliff, encourages you to try the technique. So I did, and you see the result above.

I personally am happy with it. Some photographers like heavily tonemapped HDR, some don’t. For me it depends on the image. More importantly though, the image consuming public likes it, and wants more of it. To that end, I guess I will do my part and keep contributing.

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Helicon Focus Flower Macro Composite
I have been using Helicon Focus off and on for a little over a year now. I love the program. I haven’t really tried depth of field stacking in Photoshop, mainly because the results of Helicon Focus are so good. If it is good enough for scientific work, it’s good enough for me. However, I recently became aware of a free tool similar to Helicon, called CombineZP, so I had to give it a try.

Call me crazy, but even though Helicon Focus has a retail price of more than $0, I find it to be a superior program. The interface is easier to use, there are export plugins from Adobe Lightroom, and the resulting product, in my mind, is superior. I created the images below using the 2 programs, each using a stack of 4 shots from my Olympus E-510 to create the resultant image. You be the judge, but I know I will continue to use Helicon Focus.

CombineZP
 CombineZP Comparison Shot (by Chester Bullock)

Helicon Focus
Helicon Focus Comparison Shot (by Chester Bullock)

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Golden Gate Bridge disappearing into the mist, as shot from the north side in Marin County, California

I have been to San Francisco three times in my life. Each time, I have taken what I think are some cool pictures of the Golden Gate. My last trip out was in July of 2009. I got in early enough on a Sunday that I was able to do a mini-roadtrip from my hotel (near Fisherman’s Wharf) across the Golden Gate and all the way up to Point Reyes. I am not a big fan of lighthouses per se, but this seemed out of the way, so I thought “what the heck?”. That’s the kind of tourist I like to be sometimes, going well off the beaten path. First things first though, had to get an updated shot of the Golden Gate.

I drove across it this time, which I had not done before. Exited at the visitors center on the northeast side of the bridge, and patiently waited for a parking spot. It had good views, but wasn’t providing the kind of shot I wanted. And there were a TON of people there. Back in the car, I crossed the highway and started driving on Conzelman Road. If you have driven this road, you know it requires your complete attention, especially after you pass the bunker at the summit and start going down the one lane road towards Nike-Hercules complex on Field Road. That said, I could tell I was seeing same new (to me) vistas with the Golden Gate in them. I drove on the road to the summit, and then hiked around the World War II bunker at the top. Interesting stuff, but with the wind and intermittent fog, nothing super compelling. I continued onward via car, down Conzelman to Field, then circling back around on McCullough to Conzelman and headed back to the 101.

Going back this way was breathtaking. Whereas the Golden Gate had been to my back before, now it was right in front of me. A few pullouts along the way offered interesting perspectives, but still not “the shot.” I continued on, finally stopping at Hendrick Point – the closest elevated point to the Golden Gate on the northwest side of the 101. I took the short hike to the old barracks/ gun emplacement and continued on right up to the fence. Clearly I wasn’t the first person to want a shot from here, as a pretty large hole had been made in the chain link. The wind was blasting pretty good, but I steadied myself on the fence and shot the above image through that hole. Came out pretty good I think. The color version of this image won a photo contest earlier this year. I didn’t expect to win anything, I was just proud of the shot.

If you like this image, it is now available for purchase (along with the color one). And between today and 1/1/10, use coupon code “powgg” for a 10% discount on these or any other prints in my photo gallery.

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Oogave product lineup
Earlier this fall I had the opportunity to do a product shoot for a local soft drink company who was taking their product national in Whole Foods. Made from agave cactus nectars, these drinks are competing for shelf space with a whole host of competitors. The owner was rolling out new labeling and needed pics quick. He chose me because of my experience in shooting highly reflective surfaces, particularly glass bottles. To make the images more compelling, the owner wanted the bottles to look like they had just come out of a cooler. Fair enough, but now I needed to figure out how to do it.

The solution turned out to be fairly simple. I set the shot up as I normally would for shooting glass, got the lighting right, checked some test images and liked what I had. Then I used a common household spray bottle filled with water (nozzle set to a fine mist) and sprayed the bottles lightly. The water beaded up naturally, and I started shooting. It was actually pretty simple.

A couple of things to note when doing this:

  • If you need to respray them, let them dry first. Towelling the bottles off can result in torn labels.
  • Use extra caution if the labels are printed on regular paper. Let the water sit too long, and they will change color.
  • Take your time. Rearrange the items as necessary, let them dry completely, then rewet as needed.

But Wait, There’s More…
Spiderweb by Sam Pierson
Just a couple of weeks ago I came across some very cool photos of spiderwebs that had waterdrops on them. The photographer, Sam Pierson, had gone out one morning after a foggy night and got some incredible shots (link above goes to a great gallery of them). When I saw this, I thought “those are awesome, I want to make one”. I don’t have any good webs like that in my area (at least I haven’t found any), but when I do locate some, I plan to take my spray bottle with me and see if the same principle can be applied to the webs. I think you can make the wet look whenever you want.

Special thanks to Sam for letting me use his picture here. You simply must check out his gallery, he has some outstanding images there. For more information about Oogave Soda, check out their website.

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