Tag: matt granger

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Live Show Recap: Portraits with Matt Granger

Guys! We had Matt Granger Skyped into the show this week and it was a blast. We review your portraits and we got some gems!

Matt is doing a trip to Bhutan which he tells us about here.

NO SHOW NEXT WEEK! Remember and don’t be disappointed. But in two weeks we’ll be looking at your landscapes.

We start the show with Chit-Chat, everyone’s favorite segment where we talk about mean/funny/weirdĀ things that people say to us on YouTube.

  • Nkeyah and David, hittin’ on Tony
  • if you missed it, Nigel Barker was on a bonus live show this week! Today is the last day to submit to sdp.io/topĀ to compete on Nigel’s new show, Top Photographer.
  • moon troof. “oh, you speak maniac”
  • erratically flying head
  • “this guy spends his days listening to mowers.” TLC “Scrubs” sing-off!
  • Home Alone-ing

Okay, we start looking at your portraits here. Please forgive the crazy echo on Matt, we get it fixed around 18 minutes:

  • toilet pose
  • first pick of the day
  • “this baby is watching the news, and bad things are happening in the world”
  • “this baby is having feelings”
  • balloon fro
  • Ā “Matt, how’d this person get a picture of you?” “people don’t realize how much they hate Christmas.”
  • “that baby has her Phd in posing” “do you think that baby’s gonna kill him after?”
  • first portrait attempt, first pick!
  • “it’s like when someone points out how you walkĀ and then you forget how to do it”
  • great mood, great lines

Over to me for some questionsĀ for the crew:

  • jack o’lantern camera?
  • how to get your model relaxed for a portrait? Weed. Jk, be set up totally beforehand, have inspiration photos and a run sheet prepared, etc.
  • Best portrait lenses for Nikon DX and for Canon EF? Depends on your setting says Matt. Tony loves the Sigma 50-100 f/1.8.

Now to a portfolio! Get a more professional portrait of yourself! Don’t include multiple shots from the same shoot. Your horror shots are great, you have good range of styles. Maybe change up your cover page.

T&C and Matt are meetingĀ up in Germany at Photokina! You can meet up with them too.

Now back to portraits:

  • “she’s got the same braĀ as Tony”
  • great color
  • “Is that Obi Wan or HasanĀ in a bed sheet”
  • unconventionalĀ composition
  • “Matt, could we do some cosplayĀ stuff? Like I dress up as Pikachu and you take pictures of me?”
  • so many good babiesĀ this episode
  • lovely B&W
  • “I feel like this guy’s my dadĀ and we went out to lunch and I told him something that disappointed him”
  • they just tear into the styling of thisĀ shoot and it cracks me up. “She’s wearing so much but so little.” Also the birth of the phrase “American teeth.”
  • portrait winnerĀ for the night

Matt’s connection starts breaking up, and it’s hilarious. The show devolves from here.

  • lovely portrait by Andrew
  • “I feel like they just got their faces paintedĀ at a carnival.” “that’s what you feel like? What makes you feel that?”
  • tips on groupĀ portraits, make a pyramid
  • story in the sunglasses

Chelsea channels me for more questions:

  • Photokina plans?
  • comment on this imageĀ on the screen real quick, lovely
  • how to make a model look taller? Put her next to short people, build small props, put her next to an innaccurate ruler, platform shoes, corrective surgery.

Back to portraits:

Back to me:

  • maternity shoot tips? Keep it classy. Just don’t do weird stuff.
  • how to keep in fresh and not get burned out? Collaborate, be grateful that you’re paying the bills taking pictures, switch genres, shoot for yourself in between paid shoots.
  • tips on the meteor shower? Night photography tips!

Here’s Matt singing No Scrubs, the thing you never knew you didn’t want.

Sharky James who is great posted a photo on Twitter of him with TLC. They were my favorite group in 5th grade.

Chelsea wants to be thankedĀ for being here. Thanks Chels!

Ā 

So again, no show next week, but in two weeks tune in for Landscapes! Byyyyye.

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Live Show Recap: Travel with Matt Granger

Guys! This week I’m watching the show for the first time right now with you. I was driving while the show was happening, so I wasn’t there live. Thanks to Chris Reddy for filling in!

Matt Granger skyped in this week to help review your travel photos and be generally hilarious as usual. Teaching us all that if you have a guest you fill the cupboard with crackers, in case Vegemite appears.

Next week is smartphone photos! That’ll be fun. I take those. Lots of my dog. How do you feel about shooting with a smartphone?

We look at some of Matt’s photos at the beginning here, you can see them at sdp.io/mattperu. Matt talks about studio workshops and photo tours, things that Tony and Chelsea hate doing as introverts.

Ok, let’s get into your photos and see the favorites:

Some tips gleaned from the reviews:

  • make sure you have a focal point that your eye rests on
  • make sure the image conveys either the movement or feeling of travel, or is an image that readily conveys where you are
  • sdp.io/toptipĀ for tips on contrast

Over to Chris with your questions:

  • monkey selfie copyright? Monkeys are taking our jobs.
  • Sony pro-support? Pretty much a scam.
  • 5D Mark II or 70D? Depends on what you shoot and what you need it for.

Now let’s look at a portfolioĀ and give some suggestions. Make the photos click through to your gallery since you only have one category. Great images though!

Instagram=$$$, the Kyle Wolfe story. Kyle got work through Instagram! Someone bought his image. He’ll be writing a blog post about it for us, so look out for it.

PhotoNews:

Back to Chris for your viewer questions:

  • what do you do with throw-away images? Store them on drives.
  • multiple catalogs in Lightroom? Yes for Chelsea, no for Tony. Matt is transitioning from a Tony to a Chelsea.

Here’s Matt’s taxi pic. Put a towel down. He’s gotten busted in Australia, but not anywhere else!

Back to photo reviews:

Back to ChrisĀ for questions and some great tips from T&C&M:

  • Google Nik software is out for free!
  • how to get models when you’re inexperienced? Have something to trade or pay an experienced model.
  • save money on gear, go travel instead

Let’s look at some more photos, speed round:

  • here’s an adorable seal
  • birds
  • there’s some great ones in the speed round, just watch um all
  • “do you have deer in Australia, Matt, or have the giant spiders eaten them all?”
  • cloud city
  • cute town
  • some sort of duck inception
  • hazy beach

And here’s a barbershop quintet sing-along. It fell apart quickly.

Here’s another question.Ā Thanks so much for filling in, Chris!

  • what are our future channel goals? Matt’s are for more episodic videos. He wants to focus on having enough, then going and working outward instead of for himself. Chelsea wants to be proud of what she does instead of following the business. Working on a travel show. Tony wants to teach photography to people who wouldn’t consider themselves photographers. Spread the photo joy!

Kum ba yah happened.

That’s our show! It was a great one. Next week tune in for smartphone photos.