Our New Name!

We have a new name! When we started this business, we were landscape photographers with a dream (and this blog reflects that). We randomly chose what at the time was a ‘fun name’ from a book on nautical superstitions, and I never thought we would have to look back. The business has grown to include so much more than just landscape, and we now focus mainly on wedding and portrait photography. It became pretty clear over the past year that the fun and novelty of a strange name was wearing very thin, and I began to loathe telling people what the business was called.

Though I knew it would be a bit costly and require some work, this past month I went ahead and legally changed the business name, and began to transition our online presence. So here we are!

site: www.kellyseaimages.com

facebook: facebook.com/kellyseaimages

blog: kellyseaimages.wordpress.com

Something New To See…

…and it’s so much better than what there is to see here!

Check out deepsixblog.wordpress.com for the NEW, improved, updated blog. You’ll see photos from shoots, tips for fellow photogs, gear recommendations, and much more!

Hello, Philly: New Jersey Event Photographer

I can honestly say that every time I've gone to Philly over the years, I've gotten lost. I have always been a huge G Love & Special Sauce fan, and being that he hails from Philadelphia, I have gone to my fair share of his shows there. It typically turns into a mess of turning the wrong way down one way streets, and hoping that I luck into finding the place where I'm actually supposed to be going.

I should have known that this trip to the city of brotherly love would be no different. Despite having a shiny new iPhone with a GPS – I stink at navigation. I managed to guide Ray in, but not without our share of last minute turns, desperate lane changes, and several missed parking garage attempts. After monopolizing our fishing pole-laden vehicle (very out of place in Philadelphia) by eating our dinner (wraps) on the hood of the car and having a valet circle us like a shark waiting to park our ride – we began to lug out heavy camera equipment around the city – only to discover we had parked directly across the street from the venue.

Once we stepped inside, however – I couldn’t believe how absolutely gorgeous the Arts Ballroom on Locust street was. With a cocktail hour illuminated in blue lights, and a banquet hall so elegant it was straight out of Cinderella (grand staircase and all!) I could only wish for a glass slipper to lose.

 

We had a great time capturing some candids at the cocktail hour, and then watching several hysterical videos as the 2012 Pepperpots went on. Special thanks to PRSA for letting us be a part of their evening, and for throwing such an awesome bash!

Check out the full set on our Facebook or site!

www.deepsixphotography.com

 

Catching Up: Halloween

So I love Halloween. A LOT. Arguably, I love Halloween far more than I love Christmas. I love scary movies, full moons, ghost stories, and creepy October nights with fog rolling down the street. Additionally, my birthday is the day after Halloween, so I typically enjoy a scary birthday and that suits me just fine.

This Halloween, as many (if not all) of you know – the Jersey shore dealt with a force more powerful than zombies, vampires, or ghouls. Hurricane Sandy swept through our coastline, devastating the barrier islands, and pretty much anyone who lived anywhere near the water. Many people lost their homes, their livelihoods, and their lifestyles. Much of the coast (myself included) was without power for 2 weeks. Life as many of us know it here, has changed dramatically.

I don’t have any photos of storm ravaged shore to show you. Access to the islands is heavily controlled, and I’m not sure I would want to share any more (even if I did have photos). The damage is so widespread and encompassing that there is no need to publicize it further.

Instead, I will focus on some of the happier moments in Ray and I’s current photographic lives. We did quite a bit of shooting the weekend before the storm, and also the weekend after. We were able to see two weddings occur in the pre and post devastation – and also attend one of the most kick-ass Halloween parties we’d ever had the privilege to go to.

Here are a few shots from the Halloween party – which occurred Saturday night before the storm hit Sunday into Monday. The mood was happy, the guests were wonderful – but I couldn’t help a feeling of foreboding as the storm approached. The wind began to kick up as the party went on.

If you’d like to see more of the set, visit our Facebook page – facebook.com/deepsixphotography. Don’t forget to give us a ‘like’ while you’re there!

Cloudporn.

I see the ‘cloudporn’ get tossed around quite a bit. There is also sunsetporn, and skyporn, for those with varying tastes. Frankly, I like all three. Not all sunsets meet the criteria of the -porn designation. Some of them are pretty, yes – but in order to be in the upper echelon some real magic has to be happening. The other day, even though there wasn’t any sun – I found a little magic.

This particular sunset was interesting, because I believe that it transitioned from cloudporn to skyporn over the duration of the sunset. I have a feeling that’s a rare thing.

And while we’re here, if you want to see more from DeepSix Photography, check out the newly re-vamped site I’ve been fiddling with: www.deepsixphotography.weebly.com

A Word on Fisheye

I own a fisheye converter. Note, I did not say that I own a fisheye lens I just said a converter. Essentially this means that I can take the converter and attach it to a lens, and make that lens ‘fisheye’. I wouldn’t necessarily call it true fisheye – for that you would really need to purchase the glass. Fisheye lenses are quite a pigeon-holed genre of lenses. Yeah – they’re cool, and they can immediately cool-ify a shot because of that neat distorted ‘funhouse’ effect – but it’s not something I’m sure I would really invest in just because it is so niche. Anyway – for professional grade photos, a fisheye converter is not where it’s at. It looks cool, but the sacrifice in image quality for the effect isn’t worth it.

Example:

Took this with the converter. I can’t sit here and say that it doesn’t look cool: it does. However, check out all that distortion at the tips of the frame. That should still be sharp, and if it had been taken with a true (quality) fisheye lens, it would be. The converter just mucks it all up.

Now check out the crispiness of this:

Sharp the whole way through, even at the tips.

This was really a lovely sunset, and I was glad that I broke out the converter just for something a little different – but I don’t find the results to be print-worthy. The one thing I hated about this sunset was that gnarly little boat that made its way to the dock just as things were getting good. You can’t see it particularly well here, but it was destroying my shot.

Here is just one more from the other night – some nice rock action. Crooked horizon because I don’t fix these before putting them on here. Have to offer some incentive to buy the real deal prints!

 

Oversaturated

Have you ever seen those skies in photos that are a million colors and look like a rainbow threw up all over the place? Have you ever thought to yourself ‘Wow! I have never seen a sky like that in person! That’s amazing!’ – I am going to let you in on a secret. The person who took the photo never saw a sky like that either. Unfortunately, if a sky looks too good to be true – chances are it is. Not to say that freak-of-nature skies don’t occur – they do – but if the color seems pushed to the point of out-of-this-world: it probably is.

I’m not going to say that I don’t ‘touch up’ some of my photos. Sometimes pictures need color correction – not to overbake them – but rather to get them to look the way the scene really was when they were taken. I will provide a quick example:

This is me sitting next to this year’s pumpkin. I just want to say that: YES! The rumors of pumpkin shortage are true! When I selected this one, there were seriously 30 pumpkins to pick from. When I began to carve this thing, it was already rotten inside and smelled gross. Despite Ray’s pleas to eat the seeds anyway, I threw them out because they were drawing flies. This pumpkin was disgusting! Anyway, back to the photo itself. This is not intended to be a professional quality photo – it’s merely a snapshot. Above, it is completely unedited. It looks a bit washed out.

Here is the photo with some subtle processing. This is the kind of processing I prefer. None of the colors look outlandish. The saturation adjustment brought out the blue in the sky (it actually made the pumpkin a bit too orange, but we’ll overlook it).

This final edit is drastically overdone (so much so, that I’ve got a ton of noise and it looks sloppy and ugly). I wanted to illustrate how when things are oversaturated, you pick up colors in things that were not there to begin with (does my shirt look pink in any of the earlier shots? No.) and you blow drastically out of proportion the colors that are there. Of course, this last photo is a gross exaggeration for the sake of making a point – but now you see how those unnatural colors get to be there.

Just wanted to throw out a heads up to everyone. It’s still cool to be amazed at those incredible sky shots and appreciate them for what they are – but at least we’re all a little wiser now.

Garbage Bikes

I like to take photos of stuff that’s not really important. I find those shots – when framed correctly, and in tasteful light – tend to speak the most. I guess I shouldn’t say unimportant. Maybe I should rephrase and say ‘the little things’. I love the simple, little things. Call me simple minded. Or maybe my life is just not that exciting.

This photo was on a typical day. Ray and I have garbage bikes. I say this with as much love as I can – but they are actually bikes that we found in the garbage. There was a whole storyline with the bikes last year, when a theif began quietly stealing bike parts over the winter. By ‘bike parts’ I mean that one day, handlebars would be gone. The next day, a seat. Pretty soon the theif had enough bike parts to create an entire Frankin-bike (which he rode around on, and got caught on – it’s along story, as I’m sure you can imagine). So anyhow, our bikes have been through a lot. They were sitting on the ramp one day – and I was like, “I need a photo of these bikes. The light is great – everyone get out of the way.” So I scurried to the other end of the ramp to get some photos. I love the sky in them. I love the bikes. I even love that puddle of water in the foreground. This all sounds cheese-y. But this is day-to-day.

I’ve seen some great photography. I love exotic places and palm trees and super blue ocean water with little cabanas and beaches with black sand. Unforunately, I live in New Jersey. You don’t get that stuff around here. What you do get are garbage bikes, dirty bars, and bennys (read: tourists). I’ve got to work with what I’m supplied with. It’s good in the way that it forces some creativity – but I am aware that I don’t live in an ugly place. I just need to work a bit harder sometimes to find what’s beautiful.

Wasn’t that touching?