Wall Art

Here are the shots:

The King and his QueenThe king with his lovely queen by his side

Below are some shots taken in Fort Lee of a Professional Dancer names Constance, originally from Paris now touring in various NY Dance Productions. 

Dancer

cakesmash

Production of Diana, Navy and the Golden Tooth

diana & Navy

Cast of Sweeny Todd

The Cast of Passing Strange

The cast of This Time

collage

Collage of Laura

Dr Who?

family photos

Here is the initial shot:

And here is another fun one of Jonah and his flippin' friend Jared

These elements are the "gold standard" by which an image can earn a merit and enter into the General Collection. A select 'best of the best' are accepted into the esteemed Loan Collection. I am truly humbled by the recognition and look forward to creating additional Award caliber images. PPA Press Release may be found below.

Soaring Beauty

Local Photographer's Work Goes to International Exhibition

Glenn Lesnick, CPP of Glenn L. Photography is honored by peers and jurors for high-quality photography.

Teaneck, NJ August 13 --   “Soaring Beauty,” created by Glenn Lesnick of Glenn L. Photographyin Teaneck has recently been accepted into the Loan Collection of Professional Photographers of America's 2015 International Photographic Competition. Lesnick’s work will be on display at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia Jan. 10-12, 2016. This International Photographic Exhibition is held in conjunction with Imaging USA, an annual convention and expo for professional photographers and several photographic associations.

A panel of 43 eminent jurors from across the United States selected the top photographs from more than 5,000 total submitted entries at Gwinnett Technical College in Georgia. Judged against a standard of excellence, just over 2,100 images were selected for the General Collection and 1,085 (roughly 21 percent) were selected for the esteemed Loan Collection—the best of the best. The Loan Collection images will all be published in the much-anticipated "Loan Collection" book and over 200 selected General Collection images will be published in the "Showcase" book by Marathon Press.

Titled "Soaring Beauty," Lesnick’s photograph will be in the International Photographic Exhibition alongside other top photographic works from the competition and traveling and special invitational displays. These images constitute one of the world's largest annual exhibits of professional photography gathered simultaneously under one roof.

About PPA: 
Professional Photographers of America (PPA) is the largest international non-profit association created by professional photographers, for professional photographers. Almost as long-lived as photography itself, PPA has roots that date back to 1869. It assists more than 28,000 members through protection, education and resources for their continued success. See how PPA helps photographers be more at PPA.com.

Executive Headshot Exec Headshot

Exec Headshot

Exec Headshot

Jonah

Baby Olivia Collagebaby collage

btsyikes!

http://www.msamodels.com/ny/Fit/Women/Contemporary/866402/Selma-Becirovic

MSA Models Selma

Nicole & BZEngagement Party Photos

Dancer collage

Ingrid CollageCommercial model shoot

Thank you to the Harpist of the Year (literally) - Caroline Cole. It's funny how the last shot we took after wrapping up the shoot is the one that ends up meriting at PPA, winning the Court of Honor Award at PPANJ and now Awarded at WPPI. So happy we put the extra effort in to get the pose just right! Thank you again for being such a great sport!

family colage

Fun Headshots

There is a wealth of information about copyright law that may be found on PPA's website. Here is the copyright notice that typically goes out with every sale to a customer:

The PPA has provided an awareness brochure to help understand and deal with copyright concerns. You can download a copy here: Copyright Brochure.

Per the PPA Website here are some points to keep in mind:

·         Copyright is a property right.

·         Just because you buy a print does not mean you have purchased the copyright.

·         Under the Federal Copyright Act of 1976, photographs are protected by copyright from the moment of creation.

·         Photographers have the exclusive right to reproduce their photographs (right to control the making of copies).

·         Unless you have permission from the photographer, you can’t copy, distribute (no scanning and sending them to others), publicly display (no putting them online), or create derivative works from photographs.

·         Even small levels of infringement—copying a photo without permission—can have a devastating impact on a photographer’s ability to make a living.

·         Copyright infringements—reproducing photos without permission—can result in civil and criminal penalties.

So bottom line - Make sure you obtain a proper release form from your photographer. This will not release the copyright but may specify at the photographers discretion - limited usage rights. For example,  'prints for personal use' or 'uploading to a social network'.  There have been plenty of cases where customers use the photos in marketing campaigns whether online or in printed brochures and then find themselves in legal trouble down the road. Please read the attached brochure or visit PPA.com for more information. 

Wiener family collage

Great stuff! Check it out!

ExtrospectionJonah Lesnick Album

Without the ability to see what the final wall may look like it is very difficult to get a sense of appropriate print sizes for the wall space. As you can see, a typical 5x7 or 8x10 would have been too small to have any impact. 

The sizes ordered were (2) 11x14 (2) 12x12 (2) 16x24 (2) 12x18

Below is a Before and After. The Before is a simulation on a blank wall. The After is the actual canvases hanging.

Before:

BeforeSimulation on a photo of the wall space

After:

AfterActual Canvases on Wall

And the adjacent wall a 24x36 (hung a bit too high!)

Wall Canvas

I believe Art is not necessarily defined by the finished product, but rather the process that it takes to create it. The photo above has been on Exhibit recently and I've been asked many times how "Blue White and Water" was created. The TABC Photography Club had the benefit of experiencing the behind the scenes for many parts as they unfolded. I'm happy to share the challenges and solutions I came across during the creative process. The beauty of photography is that it merges the technical with the artistic. A successful photo must contain both. I'll explain my thought process and tools used to create the photograph below.

To begin with, the concept of the shot was to convey that no matter where a Jew is located in the world, (just as rain falls throughout the world) - Israel is always reflected within our hearts. I thought it would be interesting to have water droplets reflecting the Israeli flag just as you may see dew drops reflect flowers in nature oriented shots. The initial questions were - How to set this up? How big does the flag need to be to get a reflection size that works? Where to place the flag? How to get large size drops that stay put? Which lens to use? How to light it? How to get everything in focus? How to get the drops in a heart shape? How to make just the heart shape drops reflect the flag? How to draw more focus to the heart shape so it is noticeable? 

The setup entailed an acrylic sheet over a tray holding a wallet size photo of the flag. To get the large droplets and avoid the water beading off, I recalled an old trick in food photography. Adding glycerin to water helps the water molecules bond together. I used a roll of Gaffers tape to raise the sheet until I had the right angle at approximately 1.5 inches distance between the acrylic and paper.

Yet another use of Gaffers tape

As a photographer, I understood lens selection would be critical. I would need to use a Macro lens in order to get in close enough to see the flag reflection clearly.  Though I usually shoot with the Nikon D600 which is a full frame camera, I decided to shoot with my D7000 and the 85mm Macro. The reason is the APS sensor has a 1.5x crop factor, essentially turning the 85mm into 128mm lens. This exceeds the Nikon full frame Macro lens of only 105mm. So the camera and lens are now decided.

The challenge using a macro lens very close to a subject is that the depth of field becomes extremely shallow. For example, focusing on one water droplet within the frame will assure that plane of focus is sharp but the rest literally goes to blur. See below.

Notice the slice on the top portion is in focus. The rest a blur.

To solve this problem, the picture needed to be focus stacked. Shooting on a tripod with the camera locked in position, several images needed to be taken one slice at a time. Each slice in focus and then later combined. To get the entire frame in focus it took 7 photos. To combine these into one complete focused image in Photoshop you do the following: File>Automate>Photomerge which stacks photos in separate layers and aligns the images. Then with all layers selected go to Edit>Auto Blend Layers. That creates near perfect masks which reveal only the focused area within each layer. 

Next was how to light. Though not as powerful as a strobe, using an always on light would be helpful to see the the lighting pattern as I moved it around. Since I was using a tripod, blur caused by slowing down the shutter speed to allow more light in would not be an issue. A quick decision was made to not use a ring light as the reflection of the ring in the droplets was very noticeable and distracting.  

Distracting ring reflections

Once the photos were stacked into one complete focused image, The next challenge was how to make the heart shape. I did not have an eye dropper or syringe which would have made it easier to place the water drops. However, I preferred to keep it more random as water falls randomly.

After changing the light source to a large softbox with 6 CFL bulbs within, I re-sprayed the acrylic until I could visualize an area that resembled a heart shape. After shooting the 7 exposures with different focal planes, I again combined the images through focus stacking and then began to work on the image itself. 

Now came the task of having just the drops in the heart shape reflect the flag. All others were to be clear - no reflection. As you can see from the photo above, in reality that is impossible. Notice every single drop has the reflection. To get just the heart shape to reflect the flags I needed to have a separate photo that contained all those drops in the same position but did not have the picture beneath them. That would give me a completely clear picture as below.

I then added the clear non-flag photo as a layer with a mask over my working photo which hid my working photo completely. By painting with black over the layer mask, I was able to reveal the portions of that layer I wanted showing through on my photo. So drop by drop I replaced clear drops with flag reflected drops only painting in areas that formed the heart shape. Some drops were moved, removed or re-shaped to get the correct shape. I always kept the integrity of the reflection angle given the drop position and lighting. Using curves and level adjustments I was able to darken and lighten areas to get the heart to stand out. Again, the final image:

Blue White and Water

Jewish Federation Artist Contest

This week was another tough one.  Lots of great pics to choose from but the winner couldn’t be denied because it looks like a damn oil painting.  This week’s winner is@njphotog201 for taking the very common Cosmopolitan photo from a balcony of the fountains of Bellagio and north-mid strip and turned it into art.  I’ve no idea what filter is being used but the colors on this thing are fantastic.  Bright blues set against white, both in the fountains and the sky. Lush greenery surrounding the attraction and Cromwell’s exterior color really stand out as well as well.  Capped off by the newest larger-than-life addition to the landscape, the High Roller.  You really get a sense as to how well the high roller fits in with the Vegas skyline, if only because its something that is only in Vegas.  It takes exceptional skill to make this view look different from hundreds I’ve seen posted since the property opened.  Well done and thanks for sharing it.

Merit Images PPA    PPA general collection Glenn Lesnick Pure Harmony

Here is the shot that was on display at the TABC Open House and how we created it.

Earlier this year, Mr. Lesnick has successfully earned the title of Certified Professional Photographer (CPP). Currently, he is the only CPP in Teaneck, NJ. Mr. Lesnick recently received the Court of Honor Award from PPANJ. His photographs have garnered International Accolades and Awards from WPPI and PPA Print Competition. Mr. Lesnick runs a Professional Portrait Studio and teaches a Photography Club at TABC; a local High School in Teaneck, NJ.

About Professional Photographers of America 
Professional Photographers of America (PPA) is the largest international non-profit association created by professional photographers, for professional photographers. Almost as long-lived as photography itself, PPA has roots back to 1869. It has never stopped growing and looking for new ways to assist its now 26,000 members through protection, education and resources for their continued success in the industry. See why photographers love PPA at www.ppa.com
 

In case you are wondering what makes a Merit image, the Photographic Exhibitions Committee of PPA uses 12 Elements to define an image the "Gold Standard." These are the criteria on which images are judged in competition. Here are the elements in accordance to their importance as per the PPA Website.

1.) Impact is the sense one gets upon viewing an image for the first time. Compelling images evoke laughter, sadness, anger, pride, wonder or another intense emotion. There can be impact in any of these twelve elements.

2.) Technical excellence is the print quality of the image itself as it is presented for viewing. Retouching, manipulation, sharpness, exposure, printing, mounting, and correct color are some items that speak to the qualities of the physical print.

3.) Creativity is the original, fresh, and external expression of the imagination of the maker by using the medium to convey an idea, message or thought.

4.) Style is defined in a number of ways as it applies to a creative image. It might be defined by a specific genre or simply be recognizable as the characteristics of how a specific artist applies light to a subject. It can impact an image in a positive manner when the subject matter and the style are appropriate for each other, or it can have a negative effect when they are at odds.

5.) Composition is important to the design of an image, bringing all of the visual elements together in concert to express the purpose of the image. Proper composition holds the viewer in the image and prompts the viewer to look where the creator intends. Effective composition can be pleasing or disturbing, depending on the intent of the image maker.

6.) Presentation affects an image by giving it a finished look. The mats and borders used, either physical or digital, should support and enhance the image, not distract from it.

7.) Color Balance supplies harmony to an image. An image in which the tones work together, effectively supporting the image, can enhance its emotional appeal. Color balance is not always harmonious and can be used to evoke diverse feelings for effect.

8.) Center of Interest is the point or points on the image where the maker wants the viewer to stop as they view the image. There can be primary and secondary centers of interest. Occasionally there will be no specific center of interest, when the entire scene collectively serves as the center of interest.

9.) Lighting—the use and control of light—refers to how dimension, shape and roundness are defined in an image. Whether the light applied to an image is manmade or natural, proper use of it should enhance an image.

10.) Subject Matter should always be appropriate to the story being told in an image.

11.) Technique is the approach used to create the image. Printing, lighting, posing, capture, presentation media, and more are part of the technique applied to an image.

12.) Story Telling refers to the image’s ability to evoke imagination. One beautiful thing about art is that each viewer might collect his own message or read her own story in an image.

http://glennlphotography.com/2013-ipc.pdf

Tools used:

Plastic sheet, White Sheet, Clamps, C-Stand, Boom arm hanging colored lights in back, add glycerine to water in spray bottle to make larger water drops. Background doesn't matter - Shooting at f7.1, 125th, ISO 200 the Inverse Square Law assures it will go black.

Rogue grid on speedlight with 1/2 CTO as main @ 1/16 power

Red Gel on Strobe to add outdoor atmosphere

Grid on Beauty Dish with a cut of CTO to add light to back of hair (was to right side when shot)

The King and his QueenThe king with his lovely queen by his side

Postscript:   Though I was paid by the publishing company for the right to use the image, they decided to create their own version and have used that for the Kindle book photo. See below.

Codex Kindle Book Coverbook cover

Harp-10

A little behind the scenes info - The image was shot using a beauty dish on a gray background. The angled "rays" were created by using a blue colored gel on a flash and shooting it through a piece of cardboard with slits cut in it which hung on a stand at an angle. A flag was used to ensure no colored light spilled on the subject. I used this for one of the 6 compulsory images (angular shot) for CPP.

I now have the official designation of Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) (the only one in Teaneck!). To learn more about the process and what the exam covers please visit http://certifiedphotographer.com/

http://www.ricksammon.info/2012/10/sammon-speedlite-session-at-photo-plus.html