Personal Portfolio Post
Colby Smith Portfolio post.
ALPHA ZERO – Vector Tech Wear Collection
A Vector Tech Wear t-shirt collection
I designed these Vector Tech Wear shirts and shot these photos. I currently sell similar designs online, and wanted to try my hand at shooting them on actual models. All the shots ended up being very similarly themed with high contrast and a black background. I originally wanted to shoot them outside but Nature said no. The average outdoor temperature during the shoots was 20F. Not ideal for models with no coats.
Designs
Here are the three designs I built for the shirts. I used Adobe Illustrator to make the graphics. These were some of my favorites.
The Shoot Was Fun
I used speed lights and flashes to get this dark background look. By increasing my shutter speed and shrinking my aperture I was able to black out the background. The flashes kept the models in focus. The white designs reflected the light extremely well, doing the highlights I wanted almost in-camera.
Project Proposal
Metal Art Print
You Ain’t a Real Artist ’till You Have A Metal Art Print of Your Art.
Gandalf said that. Wise words by a wise man, which I now emulate in this post of my Metal Art Print of a soda can that looks pretty fire low-key.
I shot this picture during out exciting and hectic big excursion for the class which was 80% of why I wanted to take it! I didn’t know most of what we would do and I’m not even very good or passionate about photos, but I do love traveling and being better than other people at stuff so I’d say it was an opportunity well spent!
I used one of my camera lenses, can’t remember which, and stole some props from other stations to make mine look special. If you’re still reading this for some reason here’s a little secret, the flavor of Monster in that can is actually peach. I just covered it up with props and named it Citrus Energy to throw everyone off the trail. Only a true Monster fan will know what I did.
Idaho Outdoor Real Estate
Sometimes your neighbor has a sweet house that would look great for your portfolio, but he’d kind of a butt and won’t let you inside so you wait till they go out of town to get some Idaho Outdoor Real Estate photography done for your blog and definitely don’t post them online and share everything you can about the shoot and how nice the flowers you snatched from their garden will look in your crappy apartment…
Lovely Home, Is It Not?
Gotta love those semi-fall colors and gentle rays of sunlight spilling across the giant super expensive all glass front of this crazy nice house. Helps you feel peaceful and poor at the same time! Nothing like real estate photography as a college student to help you fully realizing how little you’ve accomplished.
Indoor Idaho Real Estate
Up in the mountains of Idaho dwells a photography teacher with a dope house… And I took pictures of it for an assignment! Wow! Amazing! Tell us more! Well, as a very experienced Indoor Idaho Real Estate photographer I can tell you first hand that if you want to be as good as me you gotta take more than like, 30sec per room.
Gotta Go Faster!
Now, I like being as quick as the next guy, but dang was I rushed on this session. Lots to do with not a lot of time to do it means ya gotta hustle, and don’t worry about the quality, we can just fix it in post.
Tree Portrait Photography
On my last trip to Yellowstone we stopped for some portrait photography! This Tree Portrait Photography almost won me $50 which would have helped my wallet and diet quite a bit, but hey, what do I know. Good shots all around tho, enjoy the woodsy vibes from this shoot in silence, or with some Taylor Swift in the background. Those are the best ways to view my blog I think.
Mountain Portrait Photography
Setting can make or break your picture, but only if ur bad. Mountain Portrait Photography is a great way to get out and see the world, and get some sweet pics. If it’s your first time touching grass the experience may be slightly jarring, but soon enough you’ll be getting sexy, dope pics just like me. Enjoy the photos, I took them with a camera.
Not People Photography
During my latest photo shoot I took pictures of people, and then also some Not People Photography. Enjoy some of these product/place shots I took.
Couple Portrait Photography
Candid photos are a ton of fun, and make everyone feels so natural and attractive. Couple Portrait Photography is great to do and when everyone is happy and cheerful the shoot is so much better.
Women’s Portrait Photo shoot
During one of my fashion photo shoots I took pictures and then posted them on this blog (which needed some text), leading us to this sentence here; are you having fun yet? Anyway, enjoy my my best shots of Women’s Portrait Photo shoot.
Men’s Portrait Photos
Did a great photo shoot with some stellar models this past week. This is my post focused on Men’s Portrait Photos. I have more photos on my main site, here. Had a bunch of fun taking these, love the variety we got in the shots.
Yellowstone Idaho Photography
A Nice Little Display of Yellowstone Idaho Photography
Oh, the places you’ll look up online, any probably never go see in person.
Ever been to Yellowstone? Well, let me save you a weekend. It’s either completely dead and exploding with foul fumes, or it’s the most gorgeous landscape you’ve ever seen, nothing in-between. I grabbed some pics for this post on Yellowstone Idaho Photography so you don’t have to make the trip! If you like what you see here, def check out some more talented work here!
The Beauty of Sulfur
Is non-existent. But I did see that cool crow! Or Raven! Top 10 birds I saw easy, he looked like a good boy. I would have gone to pet him but he was standing in (and drinking from?) the acidic water stuff that the geysers explode up onto the surface. And there were people watching, not much room for digression. Had fun either way, and I’m sure you will to. If you decide to go. If not, best of luck to ya, go somewhere with more snow. Hope you didn’t hate this post on Yellowstone Idaho Photography.
Buffalo River Photography
Welcome to this post, featuring Buffalo River Photography
Lovely shots here, thank you for visiting, enjoy your stay! Today’s menu features several shots of Buffalo River Photography with a side of semi-sarcastic blog writing. Please direct all comments below.
Most of these shots were bracketed with my Canon camera and then edited in Lightroom. I especially enjoy the water through the reeds portrait shot. It’s further down, just keep scrolling, you can’t miss it.
Delectable, yes?
Ah, wasn’t that nice? Lots of fun for the whole family, or rather, just the bit of the family looking for some armature photography in a couple parks that everyone has been too. Either way, very glad you’re here. If you’d like to leave, check out this site for more goodies.
Grand Teton Park
Welcome to Grand Teton Park!
Wildlife Abounds
Here at Grand Teton Park we’ve got it all, buffalo, squirrels, and even more! Probably. I didn’t actually get any good pics of anything else, but hey, what I shot was cool. We had a whole herd of buffalo hangout right by our little convoy, for a while. The closer they got the more pictures we took until I’d about filled an SD card. Everyone was a little nervous to be so close to them but we made it out without any horror stories.
Big Piles of Rocks
The Grand Teton Park actually features a set of mountains by the same name (crazy, right?). They are amazing to see in person, and we were extremely lucky to see them on such a clear day! The clouds all left, and we had clear shots of the range.
Lots to see, and lots of people have seen stuff at the Tetons
You def gotta check out the Tetons for yourself, there’s a ton to see, especailly in the Fall. Plus it’s right next to Yellowstone, also a bucket list location. If you like this blog, you should check out this one! She has much better lenses than me.
Modern Conceptual Ad
Monster Energy Modern Conceptual Ad
The Process
I took the above picture during a photo excursion with my photography class. We has several stations and props set up to work with, and after getting the hang of the lighting I got this shot. Below you can see what it looked like in real life, rather dull and boring, but the final shot was so cool! I loved learning how to do Modern Conceptual Ad
If you like this you’ll definitely like someone else’s blog about the same topic! Check out this one here.
Idaho Food And Product Photography
Enjoy some of my Idaho Food And Product Photography images
Product photography is a lot of fun!
I really enjoyed this project, getting all of the lights and props ready for that perfect shot. Some of these are outdoor, just using natural light, while some I used speedlights, LEDs and softboxes to get the perfect shot. Idaho Food And Product Photography is challenging, but really rewarding.
Capture The Mood
It’s so important in Idaho Food and Product Photography to understand exactly what makes this product so interesting. Does it have a unique color theme and branding? Does it look clean and modern? Where would you have this product as a user? As you build a picture of the product and how it can and should be used the location and style of shot become clear.
Connect To The World
Everyone needs photos, especially if you’re trying to sell something. I took inspiration from one of my classmate’s blogs, here.
Indoor Light Painting
Me, in the dark, with a flashlight, some dope props then 10min later: Indoor Light Painting
So there’s light painting, and then there’s Indoor light painting. Crazy. Anyway check out these dope pics. I had to take these really fast, but it was a lot of fun!
We speed ran these, but it was awesome. Once you have your camera set up and the room dark enough you can just whip out the flashlight, press the shutter and boom: magic. Light painting is a ton of fun, you just need a bunch of super dope props.
If you made it this far you might want to check out this site that has some good examples.
Outdoor Light Painting
Ever Done an Outdoor Light Painting Picture? Well I Have.
We did a variety of shots with long exposure. Some were using LED light bars and some we sat in a river with a big flashlight and lit up a bridge. Lot’s of fun doing outdoor light painting.
Some Structures
We had our teacher stand out in a the river to with some powerful flashlights to light paint the bridge over a few different shots.
We definitely didn’t almost set the bridge on fire to get this shot. Was fun though.
While we were shoot the above shots there were a few different electric bikes and ATVs that drove by so I grabbed some taillights to add to my collection.
If ya liked this then you should probably raise your standards, but since you seem to have a lot of free time check out my other pics here.
If you’re looking to see some better examples of this check out this page here.
Studio Quality With A Speed-Light
SQIBB – Bringing the studio to you! Studio Quality With A Speed-Light
You don’t need a full photography studio to achieve studio quality lighting. With just an external speed-light/flash you can make this style of single light, black background style.
Ingredients
- Speed-light
- Snoot
- Camera
- Subject
- Snacks (optional)
I just used a single light and my camera, in a well lit room to get these shots. The effect can be achieved in full daylight if you know what you’re doing. It takes some practice, but the effect is pretty simple to get. Let’s go over how to achieve studio quality with a speed-light
HOW TO
- Position your subject
- Shut out light from your camera by turning your shutter speed and f/stop to make you image completely black
- Set up a speed-light at an angle to your subject, make sure it’s synced to your camera via a trigger, then shoot!
You’ll need to play with the settings depending on your lens and how much light is around you, but that’s it! If you need a speed-light you might like this one I found on Amazon for cheap.
Looking for this effect for your own photos? Reach out and book a session or with questions!
Studio Quality With A Speed-Light Examples
Ordinary Spot Extraordinary Shot
Find an ordinary spot around you, and try for an cool shot!
What is OSES?
For an Ordinary Spot Extraordinary Shot challenge you need a camera and that’s it. Go out and find a rather ordinary spot to take pictures at. Use you photography ability to take an amazing shot.
This picture example above I took out in a field full of sharp bushes and weeds. Looked nasty, but after I got lower and played with the focus I started getting a look I really liked.
The more you move around and watch how the light looks, the more interesting your shot gets. For this one I did the same thing as the last one, I just got down and shot up towards the sun. This was a lot of fun, and I recommend it!
I’ve showed other people my little shots and explained the idea and they get really excited and go out and shoot! It’s so fun to look for the beauty all around us then capture it for the world to see.
Check out some cool spots for pictures here!
Personal Photography Branding
Let’s go over the graphics, colors and layout styles I used for my Personal Photography Branding
Personal Photography Branding
For this project I worked to come up with a branding style for my photography webpage. I chose colors, fonts, and built a logo. I used Adobe Illustrator to built a pricing guide, logo, watermarks and a business card to form my Personal Photography Branding.
Understanding how you want to be represented is very important so I make sure to choose a design that fit the idea of what I wanted to do. I would like to eventually update my graphics and layout, but I like what I have for now. below is my personal photography branding.
Colors
After some debate I decided a light blue would be best for this brand. I want something friendly, upbeat and clean looking. Pairing the soft blue with a slate gray or white background helped me finalize what colors I wanted to use. I could brand myself in a variety of styles now that I knew the feel and look I wanted.
Logo
The name Light Lenz Photos is obviously a photography or similar group so I started with the idea of a lens and built the logo from there.
Layout
I kept everything simple and easy to distinguish, letting my logo stand out while the bold text grabs your attention and clearly shows what I offer. I applied this type of layout and simple, but recognizable icons to my website lightlenzphotos.com
Minimalist Tech-Wear Designs
ALPHA ZERO – Minimalist Tech-Wear Clothing Designs
I created several tech-wear themed t-shirt designs in Adobe Illustrator, printed them on shirts, and had a photo shoot with them. Each design is totally unique and built by me. They are minimalist, vector, clean designs with sharp edges, abstract themes and high contrast. I built a full Tee Public store filled with similar designs that I passively make money from.
I saw a need in the market for shirts that anyone can wear, and that can adapt to your style and vibe. Instead of adding text to force the wearer to share my message or branding, I chose to simply make designs that are simple, but interesting. Themed, but open-ended. I make shirts that share your message, not mine.
All the designs you see and many more are available for purchase HERE
Check them out!
Mockup Photo
Here I used this project as the final step in creating a tri-fold visual resume. This demonstrates my skills quickly with very visual examples to showcase past projects and current skills.
