A little while back a corporate client asked me to come to an event at the Watercolor Resort in Santa Rosa beach, near Destin. It was about 10 hours by car from my place in Stuart (on the east coast) … but seeing the white sand beaches, the beach front town straight out of the 1950′s, the corporate people and the amenities at Watercolor, I’d spend another twenty hours on the road in a heartbeat!!

The skate park in Jensen Beach, Florida, Rio – to be exact – was the site where I and my camera toting compadre’ Tom, hung out for an evening, photographing skaters, both in action and stoic portraits. Thank you to all involved, I am pleased with the results and will be returning soon for another round of skate images. In fact, next time, I’d like to do the same thing – but with video….until then….umm….hang loose??

Two of my favorite words: Summer Vacation!!
Not as relevant now that I work for a living, but I can still enjoy some time off now that my children are school age and get to enjoy the blissful and blazing summer months away from academia.
As a professional photographer, and some may say, a bit obsessive about my calling, I never really have a vacation, just one camera toting adventure after another, and if it happens to be when the kids are out of school, then….yes…it’s summer vacation.
So, in light of an academic hiatus, I thought I’d talk about making cool summertime photos.
I had the opportunity to take my family on an assignment to the panhandle (pre-oil disaster) and they got a vacation while I worked, but in my off time, I was the family photographer. I stayed true to the things I’ve been talking about in the previous “photo finish” pages.

The basics are constant, even if the venue changes: look for good light, remember the rules of good composition, frame the image, pre-visualize, go early, stay late, look for unguarded and candid moments…
Things that could change may be sand and salt water, protecting your gear while backpacking, taking the essentials while traveling light, and keeping your camera clean when you’re out of your element.
Sand and salt water: always a bad combination, the sea spray is brutal on everything, cameras included. Whenever your lens is new, clean and just out of the box, have a glass UV filter installed. It is the single best investment at keeping the front of your lens clean from everything, including sea spray. The simple clear glass filter screws onto the front of your lens, allowing you the ability to carefully wipe of the glass without actually touching the front of the lens. These glass filters at the most are about $60, most float around $25, and the best money you can spend to protect the front of your lens.

Backpacking, hiking, trekking or even long walks can kill your photographic passion when lugging everything you own with you. One thing I dreaded was photographing professional golf, for 18-36 holes, I would need to carry more than 50 pounds of equipment, in the hot sun, chasing golfers that were on my list. Those days would leave my exhausted and sore, usually taking a full day to recover from carrying my equipment and running (walking faster that the golf carts) the golf course.

When I’m adventuring with the family, I usually carry one camera in a small over the shoulder bag. I wrap my camera loosely in a hand towel, just a touch of protection, but I’m not swinging my bag or repelling of cliffs either. There are hundreds of products available to keep your camera safe, from neoprene wraps, to rubberized camera skins, to full harnesses that keep your camera snug to your body, if you can think of it, chances are, you can buy it.
This same hand towel works as a rag to keep the camera dirt free and dry when I’m in adverse conditions. When traveling (overnight) I usually carry a little air blower to remove dust and generally keep things clean. Canned Air works well when I’m back at home, but canned air requires a delicate trigger finger, let me repeat, delicate trigger finger with the compressed air in a can.

So, travel light, even the inexpensive lenses today have a wide range – wide angle to middle range zoom, and then middle range zoom to super telephoto. The drawback would be these lenses don’t do well in low light, but do you really go hiking in low light? If only one lens is the ideal, I vote for something along the lines of 24-105mm lens, a semi wide (landscape) lens that zooms into a medium telephoto (portrait) lens. In fact the 24-105 range is the main and go-to lens for a number of professionals I know, it does just about everything well.

Always keep in mind that today’s cameras are small computers, you would protect your laptop if the elements were unfavorable, and you’d never travel with your desktop system, pack light, keep it clean, and make great summertime images.

Spring is a time when I typically am drawn to cleaning up the gardens, planting new flowers, and really sprucing up the exterior of the house. I also take time to change a few of the art pieces inside the house, and for a while now, my bride has wanted really cool flower images for the walls. Thus, spring, cleaning, planting and redecorating all lead me to this month’s topic, macro flower photography.
There are a few tricks and techniques in photography that become more important as you get closer and closer to your subject.

Composition, lighting, focus, depth of field and color are the things that make or break good floral imagery.

I spoken before about composition, but in the case of macro work, it is most important to compose the entire shot within your viewfinder. In macro photography, since the subject is so close already, all the small details are very important. Cropping into a loosely-framed image deteriorates the quality of the image, and the deterioration is more noticeable in a macro environment. I prefer super close and kind of abstract images when I shoot flowers, but that’s not to say there are not other types of compositions too.

With every image comes an opinion about what is right and wrong about it. My lighting techniques have worked for me, but may not be your style. That being said, I use soft light and overexpose my images by half a stop to achieve the light and airy look of my botanicals. Soft light is the technical term for shade. I keep my flowers out of hard or direct sunlight when shooting, I haven’t yet found a need to use artificial light, studio strobes or movie (hot) lights; simple shade, filter sunlight and overcast days are what make up my flower photo formula.
I set the camera to manual and overexpose a smidge. What that means is that I let more light into the picture that what the camera says I need for proper exposure. I don’t let in much, but just enough to give my images an airy, glowing kind of look. Again, it’s what I like, my style, but there are dozens of different ways to shoot.

Depth of field is another technique that can enhance your floral photography. My style is for shallow depth of field, meaning, I open my lens to its widest aperture (smallest number) to make my images. I have lenses that will shoot at f1.4 and f2.8, making only one or two petals in focus and letting the rest of the flower fall out of focus.
Tripods are helpful, even with shallow depth of field, because with macro photography, even a little camera shake, shooting at a 30th of a second, becomes more noticeable the closer you get.
Other folks will use a tripod and shoot with the highest depth of field, preferring every aspect to be tack sharp, it works, just not my style.

Newer digital cameras have the ability to oversaturate your colors right in the camera. This is a feature I love when shooting botanicals, by tweaking your camera settings, it will produce richer and more vibrant colors during the digital capture of the image, before any computer work is done. Of course in postproduction, anything is possible. I have found that a touch over from the camera produces clean, colorful and crisp results.

And with newer digital cameras, especially consumer caliber SLRs and higher-end point and shoots, there is a macro feature built in. If your camera has a flower icon or button anywhere, that is what you need to push or activate to allow your camera to focus closer than normal. My point and shoot makes really good images when set on the close-up mode.

I hope these ideas will serve as a starting point and an inspiration for a little flower photography this spring.

A recent published piece by Steven Martine

I’m a little behind on my wedding updates, but here are a few selects from the second wedding ever at the Tuckahoe Mansion in Jensen Beach Florida. The mansion has undergone a three year renovation, and when Lisa the bride found it was going to open just before her chosen day, she did some juggling, and was able to have her wedding there. What an amazing venue for photography, thank you to Lisa and to Angela the keeper of the Tuckahoe for such an incredible day at the office.

enjoy the images.

Sooooooo, without a chance to reply to the YMCA admin person’s comment, my oldest daughter Isabella had be volunteered to coach soccer for the Spring season.
Well……
if I knew it was going to be so much fun, i would have signed myself up years ago.
A quick thanks to all the players and their parents who made it a great experience for me.
The Eagles are here - http://www.stevenmartine.com/Eagles/
and New Zealand is here – http://www.stevenmartine.com/Kiwis/

April 27, 2010

The Arts Council, Inc.

80 E. Ocean Blvd., Stuart, FL 34994

Nancy Turrell, Executive Director – 287-6676

mARTies Awards Announced

What:             mARTies Awards

When: April 1, 2010

Where:           Hutchinson Island Marriott Resort

Stuart, Florida: The Arts Council serving Stuart and Martin County is pleased to announce the mARTies awards recipients.  The awards were announced at the mARTies Awards luncheon celebration at Hutchinson Island Marriott Resort on April 1, 2010.

“The Arts Council is proud to present the mARTies Awards, so we can celebrate the arts and what they mean to each of us,” state Arts Council chairwoman, Jeanette Mueller.  She continued “The mARTies celebration is just a mere moment in time, compared to the lifetime many of those we are honoring have invested in the arts; however, is a very special and meaningful time of appreciation and celebration!”

The talented nominees in the seven categories were judged in three areas:  artistic excellence, civic responsibility and leadership in improving the quality of life in our community.   Those receiving the mARTies awards were:

Outstanding Digital Media Artist: Steven Martine

The Arts Council Inc. serving Stuart and Martin County is a 501(c)3 non-profit membership organization that supports the arts and artists.  Revenues from events benefit both the artists and the Arts Council.  The Arts Council and the Court House Cultural Center Gallery are located at 80 E. Ocean Boulevard, Stuart, Florida.  For information visit the Arts Council website at www.martinarts.org or call 772-287-6676.

___________________________________________________________________________

The Arts Council is sponsored in part by the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council, City of Stuart, Martin County Board of County Commissioners, and private contributions.

Steven Martine, second from right, owner and lead creative of Steven Martine Photography and Videography has received the highest honor from his peers as the Digital Artist of the Year for still image and video production in Stuart Florida.

l-r: Ethel Christin, Sandra Thurlow, Pam Waxler Foyt, Douglas Jewett, Steven Martine, Ruthann Hewson

As a wedding photographer for 17 years, I find there are many things to consider when shopping for a photographer for your special day. Recently I was asked by a dear friend and professional wedding and event planner to answer questions wedding photography, what to consider, and how to determine if a photographer is right for you on your wedding day.

Thus, here are a few tips for working with and finding a photographer on your special day.

1. Personality. Since you will be with this person for the better part of an entire day, make sure you (as a bride) get along with the photographer.

2. Body of Work. In today’s environment, anybody can be a photographer. Cameras are getting cheap now, and with a minimal investment and a business card, anybody can be in business. Make sure you look at a photographer’s work, ask how many they’ve shot, where they traveled, questions that reinforce the credibility and professionalism of the photographer. Think about what style you like and how the photographer shoots (examples would be documentary “journalistic” image-maker, portrait specialist, “computer heavy” stylized shooters, and now, even some fashion photographers have thrown their hats into the wedding ring).

I have many friends who wish I had shot their weddings for this very reason. As a professional wedding guy, I have shot destinations weddings from Hawaii, Portland, Denver the Caribbean and everywhere in between. I have the images and portfolio to prove it. Make sure whomever you look at has more than one or two brides in their books. If they only have a few, that’s a tell tale sign that they haven’t shot a lot.

3. Cameras. You don’t have to be an expert on photographic tools, but simply ask how many cameras they own. They must have more than two. Professional cameras and professional lenses help make better images. I don’t know a photographer out there who, when asked, will talk your ears off about the latest and greatest piece of equipment that they just got.

If a camera breaks during the wedding, can the photographer still keep going? This happened to a buddy of mine: A camera died in the middle of a shoot, he went to his bag, grabbed another and kept going. I will happily spend a couple thousand dollars for a back up so that I NEVER have to tell a bride I can’t shoot pictures because of an equipment failure…

4. Referrals. Ask your friends who they have and liked. References from the photograph are worthless, but referral from your circle of friends or your wedding planner are golden. There isn’t a planner out there who is going to refer someone who is going to make that planner look bad.

5. Commitment. Look for someone who is a full-time photographer, someone who has made the commitment to capturing images, and for someone who has been around for a while. Photography is a really difficult business to be successful in. Making a living, supporting a family and paying a mortgage is a testament to the photographer’s professionalism. I wake up every day thinking about pictures, some say I need mental help; others appreciate the fact that photography is my passion and I am spending all my hours chasing that, and working within the field of that passion.

6. Confirmation. When working with larger studios, confirm which photographer is going to shoot your wedding. Many big operations have multiple photographers, so try your best to confirm and meet the person coming to your special day. For all of the reasons above, it is important, try not to get the new guy on his first wedding.

When you wedding day is all said and done, all you are going to have is your memories and the images captured by your photographer. Hiring a good, solid, passionate and professional image maker should be high on your wedding list.

tearsheet from Stuart Magazine

If you follow my facebook postings, you’ll know that I was working on an editorial photography – magazine piece – on Florida Cowboys. It published just about a month ago in Stuart Magazine. This publication, and others in the GulfStream Media holdings, help me keep a sharp editorial eye. The two that I answer to, Kim and Nila, have been giving me some really cool projects to work on, I am looking forward to what this year has in store for me and my cameras.

As I have some time, I’ll edit and publish the video that I shot while out on the ranch.   Stay Tuned…….

magazine cover

pages 1-2

pages 3-4

pages 5-6

pages 7-8

The Photo Booth

It seems to happen more than not, a couple who have contracted me to document their wedding turn into great friends whom I look forward to hanging out with. Erin and Tripp are just these people, soooo super cool….what a great honor and fun time meeting with them and being part of their life. Thanks!

I know the images, more than 4,000 that I shot and edited, are a hot topic for people to see…

here are the links for the different galleries I’ve created, enjoy!!!

www.stevenmartine.com/Higsphotobooth/

www.stevenmartine.com/Higsbefore/

www.stevenmartine.com/HigsWedding/

www.stevenmartine.com/HigsReception/

DONE!!

portrait

bamboo

cake