Las Vegas family photographer Archives

Fun People! And #3

July 9, 2014 admin
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I had the privilege of photographing a great set of siblings and their mother. I often say that one of my favorite aspects of the photography profession is definitely the people I meet. I can’t think of many other professions that would allow me as much of an outlet to get to know entire families and their personalities and interests, etc.

Maybe a private investigator would be a less personable way of getting to know people but that wouldn’t be nearly as fun for me!

These are the kinds of people who you can just open up to when you first meet them. I don’t know how some people do that. I could liken it to how I will pour my feelings, life story and then-some when I sit down to get my haircut:

“Hi. I’m good, how are you? Yes, I like it short on the sides and a little longer on top. Maybe a 3 on top and a 1 on the sides and then chop off the sideburns. Thanks………………………………………………………………………..so my wife is pregnant with #3 and my back has been killing me….”

What is it about some people that makes that so easy? I am quite a personable man and social but I acknowledge that it takes a little effort for me at first to get a stranger to open up. I still am trying to identify what it is that certain people have that makes others seem to require no effort at all. Maybe if I was shorter and didn’t have such a round face? Or maybe if whenever I met someone, I handed them a $20 bill? Maybe I’ll never know.

Anyway, you get it! These guys are great! Enjoy the portraits!

BY THE WAY, DID YOU SPOT THE ANNOUNCEMENT???

– Nate
Las Vegas Family Photographer . . . a “real photographer” speaks

November 13, 2013 admin
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I had an interesting e-mail the other day. It was a simple inquiry about family portraits. Without a phone number to call, we exchanged a few messages where I gave a few helpful preparation tips and I answered a few questions . In one of the messages, the statement arose, “Sounds good. You must be a real photographer!”

I was a little confused at first by the statement. “Of course I’m a real photographer,” I thought. Quickly though, I realized what she meant after re-examining some of the messages. Amidst all of her questions, she mentioned how she has been unhappy in the past with how her family photos have turned out. I think I must have put her mind at ease somewhere along the way. But still, the line, “You must be a real photographer,” continued to make waves in my mind.

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I have been in this profession for 11 years now. It’s so much fun meeting and working with great people that I rarely feel like I’m working. I feel very blessed for that fact! In the passed 11 years, I’ve noticed how quickly the trends change in my industry and how many copycats there really are and how many, for lack of a better word, wannabes there really are too. Oftentimes, my wife will show me a few pictures on her phone while perusing Facebook.

“Are these good?” she’ll ask. Sadly, not many of them are (in my humble opinion).

“Notice how the lighting is yadda yadda yadda and the lack of care with the clothing yadda yadda yadda and how unflattering the body position is yadda yadda yadda,” this is when my wife usually zones out and thinks about what she wants me to buy her for Christmas or what she’s going to wear for work the next day. Who knows.

I guess my main point is that in the photography industry, the number of “photographers” out there is simply HUGE. So huge that I think the public’s perception of quality has been brutally attacked and the people taking photos aren’t any different really. Forgive me if I seem like I hate every other photographer in existence; that isn’t so at all. There’s a lot of talent out there and much to be inspired from. I do not wish to bash anyone out there at all. The sentence, “You must be a real photographer,” I think just further revealed to me that it is NOT easy for the consumer to find a quality, professional photographer these days.
So I got thinking, what is it the amateur photographers lack that true, quality professionals do not?

Could it be knowledge? Knowledge of the nature of light, proper body positioning, refining and posing, customer service/experience, proper display options, etc. etc. I think those all count but I think if I could point to one glaring difference: VISION.

As I said before, my wife shows me photos on her phone that pop up on her Facebook news feed. I can’t remember many times where the imagery was recognizable as one specific photographer’s work over another. The amount of copying and replication for what someone else did is never ending. I have never wanted to be the next Drake Busath, Van Frazier, William McIntosh, Monte Zucker, Clay Blackmore, Jeremy Cowart, Tim Schooler, Greg Gorman Fuzzy Duenkel……. even though these are all photographers in the U.S. that I admire very much. I can only be me. Nate Grant. I think that’s definitely one thing that separates myself from others in town. When you have a portrait created by myself, you know it’s from me. My portraits…are me. 🙂

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How it was done– tips from a Las Vegas professional photographer

April 3, 2013 admin
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“LIFE’S BETTER AT THE BEACH” PHOTO ~~DAY~~ WEEKEND IS IN MAY! CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE!

Just for fun, I wanted to show a few images and talk a little bit about how they were made, post processing and what my thought process was in the creation of the image. I’m sure there are plenty of you out there that like to hear about these kind of specifics and some of you probably have no interest at all but just like seeing some nice portraits. Either way, it’s win-win! 🙂

PLEASE LEAVE ME A COMMENT AND TELL ME WHETHER OR NOT YOU LIKE THESE KINDS OF POSTS SO I CAN MAKE MORE OR NOT. ENJOY!

This senior portrait was taken on the top level of the Bellagio parking lot. Whenever I’m on the strip, I am always gazing upward at the tall buildings and I thought it would be fun to convey the same feeling with the senior. I glanced around and saw nowhere for him to stand so I had him stand on top of my car as I sat on the ground. The blue shirt, blue sky and reflections made for a great color harmony.

One thing I’ve become known for is my use of lighting and shadows to make extremely life-like, colorful and vibrant images that aren’t easy to replicate. Lighting is one of my favorite aspects of photography as every situation calls for a different type of lighting to be used. For this portrait, I wanted shadowless lighting and striking eyes on a high key background. Four lights were used. Two lights were placed about 135 degrees behind her on either side, skimming across her hair to bring out the texture in her dark hair. These two lights were relatively small because smaller lights are harsher and therefore can bring out more texture in dark hair–if she was a blonde I probably would have used larger, softer lights. There was also a light shining on my white background so that it would be completely white. For her face, I set up a strobe directly above her and placed my DIY large curved reflector directly beneath her. The strobe above her reflected off of this reflector which filled in any shadows that would be under her nose, lips, etc. The reflector is curved/arched shaped because I wanted it to reflect somewhat on the sides of her face and to add a unique catchlight on the lower hemispheres of her eyes (that’s not photoshop, just good ole photography!). The results were quite nice.

When it comes to family portraits, there are many rules I follow for myself to ensure a quality image. One of them being, if I were to remove every single person from the portrait except for one, would that person look good? If I took everyone out except this other person, would that person look good? In other words, everyone in the entire image MUST look fantastic! For this image, I was able to interact with the kids in a way that got them happy, relaxed and at ease with me–parents always seem to appreciate this– and I also was able to get a beautiful view in Zion canyon. I love being able to show off the scenery and location. As a finishing touch, I had the dad here hold his daughter on his shoulders. I did this for a few reasons:
- It kept the girl from running away and losing interest of the photos
- It helped the composition of the group. Notice how it is daughter with son and father with daughter. Also, their faces being where they are creates a diagonal in the image. Everything is vertical in the image–bodies, mountains, the low perspective– so the diagonal creates a contrast for your eyes.
- The sun was behind them and the dad has a shaved head. The little girl’s body blocked the sun from making his head glow.
STILL WITH ME? PHEW! THANK GOODNESS! I LOVE THIS STUFF AND COULD TALK ABOUT IT ALL DAY (BUT I WON’T)! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!

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Thanks!

Nate

TNG Photography

Fun People! And #3

Las Vegas Family Photographer . . . a “real photographer” speaks

How it was done– tips from a Las Vegas professional photographer

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