"It" photos and DCF Advertising’s Homeless Campaign

As far as advertising photography is concerned, there are two main types that stand out for me. The first type is imagery that looks pretty much like it did straight-out-of-the-camera (SOC). These are the shots that get the job done and make everyone happy. The second type are the “it” photographs. It’s hard to explain exactly what “it” is, but like the Supreme Court’s definition of pornography - you know it when you see it. These images usually have a slightly hyper-real quality that makes them look “advertising-y”, and are the result of a mixture of complicated lighting setups and skilled time-consuming retouching.

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It looks like the homeless awareness campaign we did at DCF advertising is finally being posted around the city. And if I may say, it’s looking pretty good. One of the benefits of being a creative director is you get to use yourself as the photographer whenever you damn well please. And that was the case here. I’m going to post a step-by-step Lightroom tutorial of how I got the image to look all “advertising-y” from the original photo, which looked pretty ordinary straight from the camera. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Just posted the tutorial above…

My Flickr Photos + Google Maps = Scrumptulescent Mashup

Thanks to this tutorial, I was able to combine some of my Flickr photos with a custom Google map, officially creating my very first mashup. Isn’t it just adorable? Pass the gravy.

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Comparing Photoshop’s Lens Blur Filter to a Real Tilt-Shift Lens

By now, many of us are aware that you can replicate the characteristics of a tilt-shift lens with Photoshop. But I’ve always been curious about just how closely Photoshop can recreate the complex bokeh (image blur) that results from a real tilt-shift lens. So with this burning question in my head, I rented a tilt-shift lens and went to work…

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While leaving work today I was slightly miffed to discover that the 6 train was out of commission due to a water main break. But thanks to my trusty G9 (which I’d forgotten I was carrying), I was able to venture back above ground and photograph some of the commotion.

After growing tired of watching the fat, overpaid city employees staring slack-jawed at water pumping equipment as if they were professional mouth breathers, I realized that I was only a block away from where they found Heath Ledger’s corpse. So I went over to 421 Broome St and took some snapshots there as well. The photos aren’t the best in the world, but they’re photos I wouldn’t have if not for my Canon G9. Canon should use me for one of their commercials.

Keep reading for the photos.

UPDATE: More info about my thoughts on the Canon G9 can be found here.

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