Headshots for Interior Designers in New Mexico with Bailey

September 09, 2020 in Commercial

Headshots for the interior designer herself on location

What better location for an interior designer to have a headshot shoot than in the space she designed herself? That is how we ended the interiors shoot I did for Bailey in Ruidoso. The natural light was so good in the space, I just put on my 50mm lens and made all these headshots without any off camera lighting. As always, I wanted to capture as much personality as possible, so there are some usual smiles and some laughing photos as well as unusual foreground composition headshots. Thank you Bailey for helping with the shoot and then being great in front of the camera for your headshots!

Candid 1 Year Old Baby Photography in Albuquerque New Mexico

August 27, 2020 in Portrait

Candid photography I believe is best for babies

As a top three rated commercial photographer in Albuquerque, I mostly have business clients. However, I do enjoy having lifestyle photoshoots when people contact me like Indu did to make photos of her son as he turns 1 year old. We met in Altura Park (a location I have been using more and more) to make candid photos of her son. Since a 1 year old does not really ever sit still, it is my photography philosophy that it is best to just let the baby do what he/she wants and let me make candids that capture the baby’s personality. Maybe the smile will not be perfect, maybe the baby will almost never once even look directly into the camera, but the photos 20 years from now I really believe will make the parents smile more than a posed photo attempting perfection.

Creative Commercial Portraits at Hotel Parq Central in Albuquerque

August 25, 2020 in Commercial, Portrait

Creative and Covid-19 safe Commercial Portraits in ABQ

It often happens when I shoot at a great new location for the first time, like the Hotel Parq Central, other clients see those photos and want to use it as a location too! Such was the case for Marian, and since she was coming all the way from Ruidoso and needed a hotel to stay at anyway, it was very convenient for her to just take the elevator down right to our shooting location! The purpose of the shoot was to create commercial portraits that were not too corporate or like other traditional speaker photos, especially for speakers who speak about librarians. As you can see, not a single bookcase in any of these photos! In a relatively short time, I was able to make a large variety of photos for Marian thanks to her being open to my ideas, the well designed areas of the hotel, and the unique perspectives a 50mm f/1.4 lens creates. In fact, I never did a shoot this varied exclusively with a 50mm lens before.

Creative Graduation Photography at Hotel Parq Central in Albuquerque

August 03, 2020

Graduation Photos that stand out from the rest at Hotel Parq Central

Recent grad Josh wanted different, out of the box, more creative graduation photos. Using the fabulous Hotel Parq Central as a location here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I was able to make for Josh the kinds of creative, Instagram-ready photos he wanted. That is what I offer clients of Jason Collin Photography, creative photography that stands out from other photographers in the city. I am able to make such standout photos for clients because of my high technical competence with off camera lighting on location, combined with on the spot, instant creativity based on the person and the environment. Check out the BTS photo below. In this case, Josh was a natural in front of the camera which helped a lot too! And thank you to Jessica for assisting on this shoot.

Depth of Field Matters in Making a Creative Photo

June 10, 2020 in Photography Tips

Using shallow depth of field and setting your focus point

Since I started Jason Collin Photography back in 2009, I have taught hundreds of people of all levels 1-on-1 photography lessons. In the course of that teaching I repeated some favorite photography advice. Here is one of them:

“Show me something I cannot see by just standing there.”

Another one is:

“A photographer can make something out of nothing.”

In the example photos in this blog post I had my Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART lens on my Sony a7 III full frame mirrorless camera. This lens is my favorite lens for making something out of nothing because the large f/1.4 aperture means I can easily create very shallow DoF (depth of field). Making a photo with a very shallow DoF is one of the easiest ways to make something out of nothing.

Christmas Lights in Old Town Albuquerque Bokeh Photography 2019

December 09, 2019 in Photo Story

Christmas lights better off of focus

One of my own personal favorite photos of all time that I made involved Christmas lights. These shots are quite different from that one, but one thing remains, I like Christmas lights out of focus better than in focus! Strings of lights make are an excellent opportunity to test out the bokeh quality of a lens, and my new Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART lens impressed me with roundness of the light circles due to its 9-blade design. I took the lens mounted on to my Sony a7R IV on a stroll around Old Town Albuquerque during the annual tree lighting event, but the tree itself was not interesting to me to photograph. Much more interesting were these hidden shots I found around small stores and down old alleyways. Scroll down for a top photo tip!

Shallow DoF creates new Autumn views

October 30, 2019 in Fine Art

Warm autumn light & color plus shallow DoF

I tell my photography students that for something to be a photograph (and not merely a snapshot), you have to show the viewer something that cannot be seen standing there with the naked eye at eye level. There are many ways to accomplish this, one of which is to use a very shallow DoF (depth of field). For the first time, I own a f/1.4 lens, the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 ART lens that I bought to pair with my new Sony a7R IV mirrorless camera just to be able to create shots like the one above. Because the DoF is so shallow, an ordinary tree branch,, helped by the colors of autumn and warm golden light, looks like an alien world. You cannot see that just by standing there and looking at it. Therefore, the photo shows something different that can attract the eye of the viewer.