The Value of Hiring a Professional Photographer — A Design Photographer’s Reflection

Lately, I see more and more graphic designers either using their own high-quality cameras and modifying self-shot or using stock photography to fit their design needs. Taking a picture has become easier than ever with availability of affordable and uncomplicated cameras.

I may be a bit biased (seeing as I’m a professional photographer), but I believe that in many cases there are a few key sensibilities missing from the do-it-yourself photographer’s arsenal that will influence the final image’s effectiveness.
“Quick Fix” Shortfalls
In no particular order, some areas where point-and-shoot and stock photography fails:

Assessing mood.
A professional photographer is trained to take into account the visual unity of a group of images within a design as it relates to mood. Ignorance of this can devalue an image even if it is perfectly exposed.
Future use.
A professional researches the project thoroughly, and shoots with the future in mind. Usually, not enough consideration is being given to what happens to the image after it outlives the original design. Deep and careful thought is needed at the point of capture, because it ultimately can be re-purposed in multiple ways if it is true to the brand.
Light and Composition.
A professional will carefully consider light and composition, which work with the image to support the intended style. Amateurs and stock photography often don’t, or can’t, consider this, so the simplified photograph becomes just an element within the design or a background that just frames typography, which now has to work alone to deliver an aesthetic style.
Wider scope — literally.
Amateurs often don’t know to consider the entire composition — even areas outside the crop. Other areas of the composition can be used later; giving cohesiveness that can’t otherwise be achieved. Often, stock photography is cropped for one reason: to get the client to sign-off on the image. This severely limits the usefulness of the image, and is an indicator that the image isn’t really right.

Mental Checklists: Experience is Invaluable
Professional photographers have experience. They spend a great deal of time capturing images — hey, it’s their job, after all — and that experience can be worth more than you might expect.
Some Items on a Pro’s Mental Checklist
Knowledge of:

Pre-production
Industry awareness
Location expertise
Maximizing a shoot location

Experience to:

Shoot both horizontally and vertically (a “guaranteed” horizontal image today could be a vertical image tomorrow!)
Avoid minor, yet costly, mistakes (like knowing to remove the belts from the auto service technicians to prevent scratches on an expensive vehicle
Bring life and believability to any shoot (like knowing to tilt the camera for realism)

Professional photographers also have liability insurance, photo releases, and experience managing talent on set — all things that make a professional shoot go smoothly. These experience checklists usually prove more valuable than the up front cost that you appear to save. A photo shoot may sometimes feel costly, tedious and unimportant, but the true image-maker is working to do exactly that: image making.
Strong Design Thought
To be a great designer you must apply strong design thought to all aspects of your work; in the same way you specify a paper (for it’s eco-friendly nature) or the way you specify a color or type face (for it’s psychological strength), you should be specific with your photography. Don’t let your careful work and reputation be undermined by weak photography!

We have a saying around our office, “the screw in the doorknob matters.” It’s an image that conveys meaning and a story — every detail matters.

Creating great images takes planning, consideration and pre-visualization to really best serve the client’s needs. At Pencilbox Studios we believe custom imagery is worth every penny. Imagery helps us tell better stories, and build stronger brands.

Shocker: Facebook Does What’s Best For Facebook

There’s a debate in progress over Facebook’s new “like” buttons and “Open Graph API”, with open web advocates questioning the true “openness” of the new platform, and Facebook arguing that the move is good for the web.

Read more at Mashable ?.

Thesis development

I recently acquired a Thesis developer's license and have spent a great deal of time learning the nuances of this distinct theme. Below are several samples based on sites I designed. Click on the image to view it in full size.

Illumination Foundation

Pencilbox Studios was asked to create the materials for the Illumination Foundation's newest, soon to be annual, fundraising event. We were happy to create a look for the pieces that will be used in the coming years.

The Illumination Foundation (IF) is a grassroots organization that addresses the crisis of homelessness in Orange County through integrated services that provide appropriate solutions.

CSS rounded corners for all browsers

Every now and then something new comes along that makes you wonder how you ever survived without it.

The ability to create rounded corners using CSS is just such a thing. There are clever javascript tricks for repositioning a circle image in the background, or there's the old school method of creating an image for each corner, but, thank god, both methods can soon be relegated to the back of the css cupboard thanks to the introduction of the border-radius property.

The, still to be finalised, CSS3 method is as follows:
To round the lot: border-radius
To be specific:
border-top-right-radius
border-bottom-right-radius
border-bottom-left-radius
border-top-left-radius

As this method isn't finalised yet, Firefox, Safari and Chrome are making use of their own methods for the time being

Mozilla:
To round the lot: -moz-border-radius
To be specific:
-moz-border-radius-topright
-moz-border-radius-bottomright
-moz-border-radius-bottomleft
-moz-border-radius-topleft

Safari / Chrome:
To round the lot: -webkit-border-radius
To be specific:
-webkit-border-top-right-radius
-webkit-border-bottom-right-radius
-webkit-border-bottom-left-radius
-webkit-border-top-left-radius

So if you want to set a border-radius of 10 pixels to a div with the class 'rounded':

div.rounded {
-moz-border-radius: 10px;
-webkit-border-radius: 10px;
-khtml-border-radius: 10px;
border-radius: 10px;
}

Nb: border-radius: won't have any effect for now, but we put it in there in anticipation of the glorious day when it will work across all browsers!

But what about the excellent Opera browser, and the many Internet Explorer browsers (complete with all their charming eccentricities that web developers love!) I hear you cry?

Well, nothing in CSS is THAT easy and so there is an inevitable hack.

First download this .htc solution: Curved Corner and add it to your site.

For example SITEURL/js/border-radius.htc

Then update the css as follows:

div.rounded {
-moz-border-radius: 10px;
-webkit-border-radius: 10px;
-khtml-border-radius: 10px;
behavior: url(css/border-radius.htc);
border-radius: 10px;
}


For further tips take a look at Jon Raasch's excellent post on CSS rounded corners (particularly the note on the path to the htc file and the section entitled "Hoops you have to jump through for IE:").

Bear in mind that there are a lot of limitations with IE, so you may decide to ignore the hack and leave the site with square corners for browsers that don't support the property as well as putting the champagne on ice (for now).

Edit: 31 March 2010: Opera 10.5 has now been released, including full border-radius support!

Red Deer Now Developing For iPhone

That’s right! i wont give away too much information but stay tuned! Red Deer creative is currently in the process of developing a group of iPhone apps that will be handy in day to day life.

Breast Cancer Awareness Ad

The client, Allergan, came to LehmanMillet and said they needed an ad for Breast Cancer Awareness week, completed in 2 days (yes - concepted, shot and laid out in 2 days). The creative team, Pencilbox Studios' Joseph Banuelos and Lindsay Coluccio concepted the ad in one day. The sketch was client approved and a photographer was called to do the shot. Originally, the model was to be dressed in a pink leotard but that was abandoned in favor of a nude shot. The model was placed in at the exact position of the Breast Cancer pink ribbon, the shot was taken (and slightly manipulated). The ad was composed and sent out on time!

Postscript: The ad won a Print Magazine Award.