Wedding at Santana Row (part 2)

As mentioned in posts below about our Unique Selling Points, we are really proud to say that we deliver. Yes, we deliver! Every single wedding couple we photograph can expect to receive their highly customized album designs within TWO weeks. No kidding! So, you fly off to your honeymoon and by the time you return, you'll be invited to see your wonderous album.

Take our wonderful wedding shot on March 28, 2009, Roya and Todd was invited on April 7th to view their album!

Check out their album!

- Michael Soo

My First Wedding Client....all over again!!

Willie works mere minutes away from me in the big Apple HQ in Cupertino. This will give you a preequisite knowledge of where I shot Willie & Pattry's rings... But that's not what I'm going to write about.

Rather, it comes as a great pleasure to have Willie & Pattry be the first wedding clients to grace my new website, Wedding Impress. From now forth, all my clients will have their space for their friends and families to view their Engagement images, Wedding Album, provide Testimonials, etc. Ok, Ok, enough of my shameless plugs. I do have to say that Willie is a heckavu cool guy. I had a load of fun shooting their engagement shoot at the Palace of Fine Art in San Francisco. The fun part isn't just taking shots where every single one of the usual photographers has burrowed their tripods. Rather, the fun arises where we took numerous shots that no other photographers has ventured to take. That, in my opinion is the fun. BTW Willie, despite protests from beautiful Pattry, I do think you look hellavu cool in your shades. ;-) - Michael Soo

Strength in Diversity

By now, you probably think I'm a nutty professional photographer, dipping my toes into such a wide variety of subjects, from product photography to food photography to fashion photography to glamour photography to landscape photography and fine art photography to gosh, portrait photography, wedding photography and what else, commercial photography. On top of all that, I'm also well versed with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Website Design!!. Still think I'm sane?! I think not. While 90% of professional photographers out there strive to specialize in one field of photography, I spread my wings and claim strength in all. Is my brain really that slow? Contrary to what you might think, I have good explanations on what I've done thus far.

1. Mastering different facets of photography has allowed me to apply my knowledge in one to another. For example, if I were to shoot an engagement session at a seemingly boring golf course, I can utilize my knowledge as a landscape photographer for composition; my discipline in fashion and glamour photography to pose my subject beautifully; my in depth experience with studio lighting to use bounce multiple light sources to the subjects to create a wonderful interplay of light and shadow.
2. It keeps me excited as a photographer and continually challenge my ability to improve. It is much more often to hear of, say a specialized wedding photographer to get bored of his craft due to lack of innovation, creativity and exciting work. He/She will tend to do the same style over and over again with overall little improvements. For me, however, I am never bored since I have been peaking my performance by learning everything I know from one area of photography to the next. What I thought about in one area of photography has constantly been applied to another.

However, in spite of the above, most clients tend to think of a photographer is best when he or she is specialized. Just think, a bride probably will be more apt to choose a photographer who is specialized in weddings versus one who does everything. How do you, as a photographer prove otherwise? Show them your portfolio. The images needs to speak and they will, if you are good.

- MS

From the ashes, she rises once more

Everyone meets someone unique every once in a while... Meeting someone who perservere through life's trials of fire and rise again from the ashes, that's definitely inner strength unseen. Stacy and Harold are two such persons. Wife of two months to Army Sgt Adam W. Estep, Stacy went through the worst type of pain that I can only claim to fathom. But time heals and despite not seeing Stacy going through the pain she went through for the past years (and will probably continue to face), it is my greatest honor and privilege to see her rise from the ashes. Her new mate, almost a common man, but one that possesses healing energy of a water dragon of sorts. Definitely one of the biggest heart a creature could claim to own, a kind soul and a being of true love; he managed to coax and soothe her from her burning cinders. Wings torn, golden feathers in soot, she rise again, slowly but surely. I watched in tears, my heart trembled. I am sadden by their circumstance but I envy their bond. These two mythical beings join into a harmonious cry. Such roaring silence of rebirth. For this is truly, life's greatest trials. Stacy and Harold, you both have opened my heart. My warmest wishes to you both. May life open doors in every direction as you move into your new life together. Wedding Album shot at Hakone Garden in Saratoga and Maggiano's in Santana Row - Michael Soo

Wedding Cake Photography, the natural way

Making food photography look better than before using natural AND artificial lighting! I hope you didn't blink. This is the last shot of the day where the baker made an amazingly beautiful wedding cake in less than 2 hours!!! We were using the stone background when the setting sun started shining it's warm golden light onto the wall (top right), casting the shadow of the structure 50 feet above. It lasted mere minutes. I whipped out my 35mm lens to include more background in the shot, change the 5 lights setup in 2 minutes (if you've done wedding or engagement photography, that'll improve your reflexes and thinking speed. Anything "wedding" has to be done in lightning speed, both physically and mentally. The lighting on the cake itself was controlled to show the depth of a white cake that still has texture within itself. The light behind the cake was carefully metered to be subtle and to accent the background, lighting what was supposed to be dark. Its dual purpose is to light up the "La" in "La Baguette" as well. Now, it glows a halo around the cake. Nice! Just what I needed. Within 2 minutes, all the lights were setup to show the white cake on white tablecloth nicely while the composition is surrounded by darker shadows (except the La Baguette paint). Perfect. I took 4-5 shots and the light that hit the wall was there no more. Could I recreate it? Of course! How much would it cost me to recreate a cookied shot like that using the best equipment? $10,000. (A high end Fresnel light + powerpack + a nice tall lightstand + a cookie board) Uh, any cheaper way? $3000. (A fresnel light modifier, the light of course, a tall light stand and a cardboard) Still expensive? $300. (Two really tall light stand, a cardboard and a light source but you need to do it at night. How much would it cost to do it with nature's help? Priceless! - MS

Beauty Shoot, the Beauty Dish Way

I've been desperately shopping for a new beauty dish (that comes with a better semi-opaque center) for a while now. You see, the beauty dish that I have been using for a while (made by Paul Buff = $120) has a opaque center that causes light to not pass through very well. So, the reflections from it looks like a donut. Ok, you must think I'm a madman to spend hundreds, just to show a non-donut shape light on the reflections of my models' eyes? Unfortunately, the laws of diminishing returns has caught up to me. Granted, I can spare my wallet a lot of money to construct a round center that is semi opaque and slap it onto my beauty dish. But I guess time is money and hence, I don't have the time to do that type of construction. Plus, I'm lazy. Go figure. My final excuse is that I'm slowly converting my gears to Profoto, it's a good idea to start swapping out the previous products. Ok, also, you can get a nice grid to go with this one. Which is fantastic. Just what I need, really. ;-) I was looking intently at the 33" Euro Mola. They are really, really nice but are ultra big, heavy and it costs a lot of moolas. Maybe when I have more moolahs, I'll buy that mola. In the middle of the shoot, Jade stopped by to pick up my still_wonderful_beauty_dish and got a bit disgusted with how I sell a perfectly good equipment and got a new one that look just about the same. Damn you, Jade. I still got your extra $3!!! Buahahaha! I invited the whole football team to my residence for this shoot. Since a beauty shoot doesn't take that much space, I had everyone occupy my dining and kitchen area and have the shoot done in the living room. it was heckavu fun. The usual suspects arrived, Janice and Mikel. We even have Van from Ocean Blue Videography of San Jose to help with with my idea of videotaping the shoot for a possible instructional video! The gorgeous and amazing models are none other than Tiffany, Sharin, Brittany and Mary. Test my stamina, baby! I used 5 lights for this shoot instead of my usual 1-2 lights. LOL. Some people think that more lights = better pictures. Is it true? No comment from me on this subject. So, let's move on. Janice did makeup, Mikel did hair, I focused on the shoot. It was like a production line but we were just happily chatting along. It was casual, smooth and I had a blast. I gotto tell ya. The models _really_ worked it. Tiffany got her hair in her eyes the whole time while Mikel had too much fun with the blower. Sharin's skin is omfg, flawless. Brittany pull amazing poses out of thin air while using a toothpick to keep her eyelids open due to the ultra heavy makeup. Mary, she shot with us more than we shot her! It's a complete teamwork that would not have worked if one of us are missing. I would do it again in a heartbeat. For dinner, I got a large spinach artichoke, a large BBQ Chicken & a small sweet pig pizzas from BJ's Brewery for dinner and we're at it again non-stop till midnight. We managed to stay alert enough to capture this shot of Mary looking disgusted at us while we prop her. Hahaha! I love it!!! Love it!!!!

Couture Bridal Photoshoot at Jinza Jin with my Profoto 600R

The most fun in any photoshoot is when you get to collaborate with the best talents the industry has to offer. Here, in this shoot, we have:

1. two absolutely stunning models, Charisse and Milena
2. our gracious host, Jinza Jin who owns the amazing couture bridal line at 2040 Union Street in San Francisco
3. our lovely Janice Daoud whom I can't have enough praise of
4. the most talented hair stylist, Mikel with a fantastic personality!
5. Of course, our Paul Ferradas who is always there to help

What's this shoot for? How about for all our portfolios? Is that a good enough reason? WE ALL THINK SO!. While I am at it, I got the chance to try out my new toy, the latest little photo gear from Profoto. The tiny little, Profoto Acute-B 600R battery and of course, its equivalent Profoto Acute-B 600 w/s lamp head. I'm not even counting the modifiers and this tiny light bulb made me bleed $3k. Ouch! And I'm actually thinking of buying 3 more sets of these? Hahaha. Michael Soo's lofty goals. Talk about finances, I'm leaking ... gushing money this month. My credit card bill came yesterday and even though I expected it, I still fainted for a few minutes before I ran and played with the lights again. I think I need help. Know a good therapist, anyone? This is probably one of the main reason why a photographer charges a few pennies extra for their services. On the bright side, this little sucker is an amazing pack. Possibly the lightest gear available in the market! 10 measly pounds!!! I could see myself pocketing the long term medical savings when I turn 70! That's where the savings will roll in by the millions!!! Oh yeah! I really enjoy commercial, high fashion couture shoots for a few damn good reasons. I can't do the statistical type of shoot where I take 1000 shots, hoping for 1 great shot. I'm the type of guy who wants to take 10 shots, expecting 5 phenomenal shots! That made me really suitting for commercial since most companies only want 1 to 10 great shots and use it for anything from advertising, packaging to websites, etc. I think we got enough out from this shoot to last us a while. Then again, we're doing a beauty shoot the day after tomorrow. I guess I just can't sit around long enough without fidgeting. ;) - Michael Soo

Model Photography Workshop

"I'll help hold your reflector" is what a fellow photographer will nudge into my ribs when they see my modeling portfolio work. They are interested to work with gorgeous models but has nothing in his portfolio...yet. It's a catch-22. You can't attract a 8/10 model to work with you if you don't have images of other 8/10 models in your portfolio and you can't have a portfolio full of 8/10 models if you never work with a 8/10 model! So, how do you go from point A (zero portfolio, zero interest) to point B (beautiful models calling you to have you shoot them, and PAY YOU $550 while you're having your fun)?!?! I suppose everything comes at a price. You can of course start by investing a lot of time working with the 5/10 models. It will take you some time and if you're lucky and have the charming personality of car salesman, you may coerce a 8/10 to work with you. The alternative, is to find a good model photography workshop that you can get get some immediate air time with great models in a nice friendly location. They'll even sign your model release form while rubbing shoulders with you, handing off more of their friends to you. While you are at it, you do also get to learn about lighting, how to work with models, communications, workflow, tips and tricks that you can't learn anywhere else. It's no secret that I'm trying to put workshops together and one may think this is a shameless plug. The truth is, this really isn't my main line of work where I'll make my millions. I love teaching, I love sharing and I love shooting models. And if I can get paid while doing what I'm passionate about, I'll be in heaven. Workshop info provided here, http://www.soophotography.com/workshop/ These shots are done at Libby's dad's 300+ acre ranch in the east bay, a location that I'm contemplating on doing the model shoot workshop. There are full of wonderful spots, props and rustic background that will fill your portfolio to the brime with amazing landscape (location work) and model work in one. On top of that, it's private and is only a mere 1.5 hrs away from most bay area cities. When is the model photography workshop? It's still undecided. I'll let it swirl in my head a bit longer. Email me if you are interested. msoo (at) soophotography (dot) com Of course, here is a thread to the SooCool Forum with all the images from that day. - MS

Children Photographer - Comp Cards

Normally, I would collaborate with the model or with the model's parents (under 18 years old models) for modeling comp card (also known as composite cards or zed cards) creation. Planning tend to start weeks in advanced so that we're certain what to expect, the styles, market segment to go after as well as the environment.

This shoot unfortunately was postponed twice due to bad weather and family emergencies. So, the proper planning was shorter than average. I spent only 2 hours on this shoot (unlike other modeling shoots for model's portfolio that can span 3-5 hours).

A 7 year old model tend to not have the attention span to work for long period of times for a shoot. Going beyond 2 hours tend to wear them out fast. It is also crucial for the Ad agencies to see environmental shots where the model has an action oriented image where she is reading or playing. Agencies and Art Directors often like to see the models' versatility.

After all, modeling is a form of acting. Who wouldn't hire an active looking model when the product that goes with the model is an active wear or even an music player? Creating comp cards for modeling use isn't rocket science, or is it? Is it really just taking lots of pictures and slapping them together as a card, then print as many as you can to send to Ad Agencies, Producers and Art Directors. hoping, just hoping to get a break. We're in the realm of statistics here, right? The more you send, the better chance of getting a call back.

The market estimate survey shows that the chance to get a call back is 0.5% for the average model. So, in order to get 5 phone calls, you will need to send out 1000 cards! Realize that not all 5 calls will work out either. Now, 1000 cards isn't cheap. Neither is the price of stamps nor the time it take to fill them out and send them off. So, wouldn't you be better served to increase that chance by improving the statistics? How do we go about doing that?! Before we even start, here are the things you should NOT do as they will decrease the statistics even lower than the market estimate of 0.5%

1. Don't have your family & friends take your modeling images for the comp cards (with the exception that they are professional photographers and done it comp cards extensively). With all due respect, photographing a model is just a bit more involved than clicking the shutter. Posing a model and understanding the market needs are two of the major components missing from your boyfriend's mind while he drools over the camera while photographing you. ;)
2. Using the same background/situation for all of the images in the comp card. You need a bit more variety to proof your ability to adapt and express.
3. Using the same expression for all of the images in the comp card. Botox won't win you a modeling job, unfortunately.

Doing all of the above will get you to the 0.5% acceptance ratio. We are getting somewhere, aren't we? What if I tell you that you can triple or quadrupling that percentage? It takes time to create a WOW comp card.

1. Time to plan on the outfit that suits your style
2. environmental or action shots to show your versatility and your ability to fit into various roles
3. the spectrum of expressions to show your adaptability
4. masterful lighting that will showcase your charm (notice I'm not using the word beauty. Being beautiful doesn't necessary make you a great model)
5. post-processing or retouching to enhance your look will push your comp further than you can imagine.

Modeling isn't always about how beautiful you are or how sexy you look. Rather, it's your style and look that will fit the requirement, might that be a need for an athletic sportsman or a grumpy woman with an intriguing frown. Plan to collaborate with your photographer. It takes two hands to clap and only by working together, can this be achieved. Here's the final Comp Card. - Michael Soo Soo Photography