Treasure Island Photo Shoot with Phuong My & LaNisa

Well once again, we have come across and met with a FABULOUS Designer, she is young, talented and quite wicked with her designs!  I am saying that in the BEST sense!

I ran into Phuong My, saw her work, and knew instantly, I MUST work with her, she's young and has quite a story, I am sure you will all be hearing about her soon, and I have got to say she definitely has a NEW Fashion attitude for San Francisco!  Fashion weeks are among us and she's keeping busy......so stay tuned!

As a photographer my goal is to work with our clients to make sure their vision is captured, yes through our lens, but one of the very important things within fashion is to stay focused on what you are shooting and why.  Yes we had fun on this shoot and we always like to go outside of the box per se, however, we NEVER lose sight of why we are there...we are there for our clients.

When it comes to fashion editorial shooting one can be a little more risque, however, ALWAYS get the shot of the garment in every possible angle, in the right lighting and with little or NO distracting backdrops or textures.  One has to constantly think of color and lighting schemes or it can all go downhill.  In this case we were shooting again around noon time, possibly the WORSE time to shoot, but lately it has been my favorite because it pushes me to THINK THINK FOCUS AND SHOOT!  We are creating the look with controlling the lighting, and keeping a tight grip of our technical management as well as time management.

This shoot for instance was super sunny but freezing cold as we were shooting in San Francisco's Treasure Island, being close to the SF Bay has it downfalls, wind and cold!  I feel sorry for the models, they are usually thin and well even a large gal like me can get cold, so can you imagine?  When wind is involved one has to think of loose hairs, garments movements, equipment falling over, very expensive equipment!  When cold is involved one has to work fast as the models can easily lose it during the shoot, and we can't have that.  Also controlling, re-directing, and bouncing light in a manner that does not change your color temperatures, etc.

Overall the challenge is quite a thrill and the results are.....well see for yourself!  Please feel free to ask questions or leave comments, WE LOVE and welcome you all!  Have a great weekend!



Fashion Designer:  Phuong My Tran
Hair/Make up  YalunXi
Model:  LaNisa Buena Vista
Photographers:  Me and hubby

Removing a background on Photoshop CS4

Good morning folks!  I can't believe I am blogging at 4:30 a.m., but, I cannot sleep and I am a day late on my blogging....I hope you enjoy this tutorial, in my opinion, and although it may take a bit getting use to, it's the easiest way to remove a background on CS4.  Yes, I know CS5 is now available, but til I get it CS4 is wonderful too.

A few weeks ago we were called by a wonderful local fashion designer to shoot her line.  I had no idea what I was getting into and want to send a much heartfelt thanks to Teresa Reynolds  for her help and guidance, we had so much fun and it was much easier than I thought.

There was a challenge in the space we were using (the fashion designers apartment), but I focused on the lighting and that the TRUE colors of the garments were showcased.  We photographed everything with a less than white background and two strobes.  Again, if you can get the proper white exposure background this is ideal, but if you are in a hurry and cannot control the space you are working in, here is how you can save yourself through PS ... again!

Here is the original image.  As you can see there was fabric instead of a paper background available.

Here's how I removed the background.

1. Open image in PS
2. Create a new layer from background
3. Create a new layer via copy
4. Select the Magic Eraser tool and begin to erase the large parts of the background you wish to remove
(Make sure you are on the correct layer so you can see as you go and remember that as you get to the edges, you will most likely need to decrease the size of your brush)

5. Choose the Eraser Tool to clean up along the edges on what you wish to keep
6. Once done, you will need to duplicate the layer and make sure you open the layer underneath the layer you are working on

7. Select brush and make it large, choose your background color and paint the entire layer (with extracted image on it), I chose white [see photo].

Once you have the image on the white background, zoom in and see if there is any cleaning up you have to do with the Eraser Tool.  When you are done zoom out and look at the image, make sure you clean around the hair, shoes, etc.

Here is the finished image and another cool thing is that you do not have to use only color for a replaced background, you can add an image if you like.  See here the image I borrowed from Jungle Photos ...Have fun, the possibilities are endless in PS!

I LOVE to share and help and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask away OR post a comment, we love those!