preparation is paramount, but 80% of our magic happens after the shutter clicks

by Brian Dressler Photography, Inc.

Volume 1 / Issue 5

“Photoshop is not a verb. It is a noun. It is the means to an end, not the end itself.” - Vincent Versace

In my on-going series about why hiring a professional photographer is a valuable investment in your company’s success, I feel that I would be remiss in my quest to illuminate the inner workings of my industry if I failed to share the dynamic of what happens after the shoot itself--the proof, to us, is in “optimizing” the pudding, so to speak. In terms of maximizing the potential of digital photography in the modern market, Photoshop allows us to push our already-top-notch images to an entirely new level of quality. Photoshop does NOT “fix” a bad photograph; a bad photo is still a bad photo. Optimizing an image involves many Photoshop functions. Photoshop enables the user to adjust layers upon layers that, holistically, comprise the image itself and its resulting impact on the viewer. However, contrary to popular belief, there is only so much that Photoshop can do to enhance a photo. Photoshop cannot make a blurry photo sharp, or re-establish poorly composed subjects, for example. There’s no “improvement” toggle switch that will magically create a flawless, jaw-dropping depiction of your company’s latest point of pride if the original photograph itself isn’t first-rate. You cannot afford to leave the lasting impression of your work in the hands of an inexperienced photographer--even if he/she claims to be able to “fix” photographs using Photoshop, if the photo itself is of poor, or even mediocre, quality, the result will still be inferior--as will be what the audience ultimately associates with you and your company’s quality--mediocrity. Who needs that?! In addition to adjusting color, contrast, hue, and saturation layers, we also utilize multiple exposures of the same scene so that we have control of the various light sources in the frame. One example might be an interior shot where we can see out the window. The outside daylight offers a vastly different exposure and color balance than the interior itself. Add to that adjustments from different exposures within the room’s light source, and you suddenly have myriad variables, that when properly controlled, render the most powerful impact for the collective final image.

Photoshop has changed the game. In his March 2010 article published in The Columbus Dispatch, writer John Boudreau shares the history of Photoshop, which, at the time of the publication, marked its 20th year in the market. He shares:  "It's endlessly amusing to see how much it has permeated popular culture. It really is everywhere," said John Knoll, who created the original version with his brother Thomas, whose title at Adobe is co-creator of Photoshop. John Knoll is a visual-effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic in San Francisco.     "You can hardly turn around and not see something that was done in Photoshop," he said. "And it started out with Tom and I screwing around with it as a hobby." In 1990, Adobe released 200 copies of Photoshop 1.0, which was distributed with Barneyscan scanners. Russell Brown, Adobe's senior creative director who worked with the Knoll brothers on Photoshop, appeared on NBC's Today show in 1990 for a segment on the dangers of photo manipulation. "Technology makes it difficult, maybe even impossible, to tell what's real and what's not," warned host Deborah Norville. Nonetheless, Brown impressed millions of Americans by pasting an image of himself into a picture of former President Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy. "I see the computer as a wonderful tool for graphic artists, and I couldn't live without it. It's a must," Brown said on the show. By 1992, Apple relied on Photoshop to show off the capabilities of its Macintosh computers, and video-card manufacturers used it at trade-show demonstrations. "You could not escape Photoshop," Guttman said. Photoshop has since redefined how people engage with photos, IDC analyst Ron Glaz said. "It was an overwhelming application that has kept on growing." Adobe's Photoshop business generates as much as $300 million a year, he said. And it is the foundation product of the company's Creative Solutions business unit, which encompasses digital imaging, Web-site creation and post-production film editing. Photoshop has few peers: It owns 90 percent of the market for professional photographers and graphic artists, Glaz said. Adobe says 10 million professionals use Photoshop. Photoshop is a tool for skillfully processing photos but is only as good as the skill set of the user. My associate, Scott Nuelken, who has been a full-time employee for more than 14 years, is our resident Photoshop maven. Most photographers go to outside vendors for the level of expertise that he brings to the table. Our full-time, full-service image manipulation ensures maximum impact for extremely affordable, expert services, all with a fast turnaround. *As you can see below, Scott is able to access individual layers within an image in order to manipulate the characteristics that can enhance or distract from the potential impact the image communicates. This intense scrutiny is at the heart of our quality and capability in processing our work. This cannot be undervalued nor, in this day and age, ignored as some sort of passing fad--everyone expects the professional to capture what amateurs often miss, and that means taking the time during the processing phase to bring out the nuances that come from years of experience. At Dressler Photography, we embrace the tools of our technological age, and we bring the know-how to utilize those tools, in order to ensure that you are receiving nothing short of outstanding quality in our field that reflects the outstanding quality of yours. The bottom line and--let’s face it--our top consideration when deliberating any decision we make involving our company’s livelihood, is knowing value when you see it!

how 3 misconceptions about hiring a professional architectural photographer could be hurting your business

how 3 misconceptions about hiring a professional architectural photographer could be hurting

your business

by Brian Dressler Photography, Inc.

Volume 1 / Issue 4

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.” William A. Foster

1. I am capable of taking my own photos, OR I could hire an amateur and save a few bucks. You’re an architect, designer, or builder. You obviously have a penchant for balance, composure, and structure. However, you’re also intimately connected to your work and, as such, have a very different perspective than someone in the market looking to hire you or your firm. Also, while you completely understand the technical nuances of your design, which may certainly be appreciated by other professionals in your field, do you know how to capture the image that will truly speak to your potential client?   Hiring a professional architectural photographer ensures that your work is represented from every angle—literally—every time and without the mistakes that can inevitably befall the novice, who’s only spent a semester—at most—studying the basics of architectural photography. To sacrifice the years of experience that a veteran brings to your business in the name of “saving money” can adversely affect your future potential earnings. A professional, particularly one who knows the types of construction materials, design choices, and environmental considerations that are necessary to your industry, is invaluable. 2. This isn’t a complicated process. After all, it’s really just point and shoot, right? In order to prepare for a professional shoot that will optimize high-caliber results, many considerations are deliberated. Tantamount to camera specs, there is accessory equipment to set up, adjustments in lighting, positioning, and environmental conditions to factor into the mix, and then there are readings the photographer must repeatedly assess in order to control the quality of the image. These decisions, which are non-existent in the typical point-and-shoot, cell-phone-generated images of the masses, differentiate the consummate professional’s work from the consumer paparazzi’s.

3. The price point is the breaking point. When a client asks you how much it will cost for your design or for a construction to be completed, you know that the answer depends upon myriad factors. Is this a new construction, alteration, enlargement, conversion, reconstruction, remodeling, rehabilitation? Where? Are there certain materials that must be used (or avoided) to maintain historic preservation requirements or to comply with environmental regulations, etc.? As an architect, contractor, design, staging, or construction specialist, you must deliberate many variables in quoting a price—the same is true for the professional photographer.   Quality work takes time to produce. Period. However, there are ways that you can minimize costs in order to budget for the type of quality photography that best showcases your work and your business: Plan ahead so that we can realistically set a schedule that will allow me to consider your needs and the time it will take to give you the best possible quality photos. Retain my services for several projects as part of a single agreement, but that will cover an extended period of time. This way, you are able to look at your long-term needs, and I can offer you the most economical options for the ongoing contract. Be candid about what you want while understanding how your budget will be affected. For example, fast and cheap usually results in lower-quality yet adequate results; on the other hand, requiring a fast turn-around time and exceptional quality will garner a greater expense. Being open to a flexible schedule gives us both the time we need prepare.   Save time and money by anticipating future needs and photographic rights/usage associated with the images that you want to represent your work—both long-term and short-term. I can help you with the planning process in order to help you anticipate any additional costs associated with reproductions and usage rights. This will keep you—and your business’s images—working to enhance your presence now while impacting how your quality will be perceived by future customers.

it’s not about the power of the camera

by Brian Dressler Photography, Inc.

Volume 1 / Issue 3

“A photographer went to a socialite party in New York. As he entered the front door the host said, ‘I love your pictures – they’re wonderful; you must have a fantastic camera.’ He said nothing until dinner was finished, then, ‘That was a wonderful dinner; you must have a terrific stove.’”   Sam Haskins (1926-2009) Photographer

it’s about the power of perspective For years I’ve been distraught over our society’s declining visual acuity. When folks demanded “my MTV” and were subsequently assailed by 10+ flashing images per second, it seemed that anything that kept the consumer glued to the screen was acceptable. Add the sheer volume of cell phone captures and the proliferation of snapshots to the borage of photographic flotsam, and I find myself in a battle over whether or not professionals in other fields are being “dumbed down” when it comes to their visual literacy. Why do I care? Why do I care if the public cares? Simply put, it matters. The saying “ignorance is bliss” may work if you’re trying to avoid stepping on the scale or checking up on your child’s grades, but for folks who operate a business--especially one that relies on photography to showcase projects, products, or persona and communicate brand identity--what you don’t know can hurt.   it’s about the power of the picture Hewlett-Packard, a world leader in imaging and printing products and a market leader in photo-realistic printing and digital photography, is an authority on the power of visual communication and has set out to educate the world-at-large about why the quality of the images we use is even more important than the words we use.  According to HP’s “Power of Visual Communication,” a report of research findings in the area of visual presentations and their effect on audience, the images you use command a presence in the viewer’s long-term memory, and the findings suggest that the more visual content that you can incorporate into your presentation or website, the more likely it will be that the viewer will retain those pictorial concepts of who you are--identity is what people will construct-- and remember. This begs the question: In viewing the current photos associated with your company, what are your potential customers recalling as your identity? And, how’s that working for you?

From the studies, HP compiled the following evidence supporting the power of the visual: The psychologist Jerome Bruner of New York University has described studies that show that people only remember 10% of what they hear and 20% of what they read, but about 80% of what they see and do.   Training materials used by the federal government cite studies indicating that the retention of information three days after a meeting or other event is six times greater when information is presented by visual and oral means than when the information is presented by the spoken word alone. The same materials also cite studies by educational researchers suggesting that 83% of human learning occurs visually.   Researchers at the Wharton School of Business compared visual presentations and purely verbal presentations and found that presenters using visual language were considered more persuasive by their audiences, 67% of whom felt that presenters who combined visual and verbal components were most persuasive.   it’s about the power of perception According to Brian Kennedy, an authority on the importance of visual literacy and its impact on society, all the information that we take in is 90% visual, and we can read non-text 60,000 times faster than text. Given that you only get one chance to make a first impression, the photographs you choose will be what resonates as the lasting impression a visitor to your website or “reader” of your printed ads associates with your business. Now, more than ever, pictures and perception lead consumers to make choices based upon what they see more than what they read.   it’s about the power of the professional Although I may not be able to control the rate by which we are bombarded with instant images, I can control the quality of the professional images that my experience and knowledge have repeatedly produced in a wide array of areas: portrait photography, architectural photography, specialty product photography, on-site and staged photo shoots, as well as community, corporate, and political special-event photography. When the cell-phone paparazzi have plugged their devices in to recharge, or the thousands of “I almost got it” photo opportunities have passed, and the “that will have to do” pictures have been downloaded by your artsy friend who volunteered to capture your latest building project or your new product line, one clear, resonating image will linger in the mind of a potential client--and I certainly hope it’s the one that best represents you.

 

some things can never be replaced

by Brian Dressler Photography, Inc.

Volume 1 / Issue 2

tornadoes slam the midwest when survivors were asked what they hoped to find intact in the rubble of their belongings, or what they hoped to save in the chaos of evacuation, the most common response: family photos

giving thanks for enduring memories Leveled buildings. Uprooted trees. Rubble. Debris. Destruction. Loss. These are the images that pervade recent reports of those devastating tornadoes, which ripped through the Midwest just last week.   As a photographer, I understand the power that images have to tell a story—to capture a moment that often cannot be put into words. Included among the front-page photos of overturned cars and shattered roofs are those of residents searching desperately for belongings, even the smallest possessions that may have remained intact during the tumult.   Of those whose lives and homes were torn apart in a matter of seconds, when asked what they searched for under broken tree limbs and shattered glass, “family photos,” was overwhelmingly the most common response.   Houses can be rebuilt. Insurance can replace vehicles, appliances, and the comforts of home. However, photos, if damaged beyond recognition by torrents of rain, wind, and smoke damage can never be replicated.

While we here in South Carolina, do not fear the destruction of tornadoes, other devastating circumstances can just as swiftly ravage our most precious photographs, and along with them our stories, our memories, and our histories. House fires, floods, or other natural disasters, for which we are often unprepared have the potential to leave us without these most precious relics of our lives.   This is why photo restoration at Brian Dressler Photography is one of the most personally rewarding services that we offer our customers. Not only can we digitally enhance and retouch aged, damaged, or torn photographs and documents, but also when we restore these irreplaceable images, we create digital files that can be used to replicate your photos in the event that they are destroyed. When I studied the faces of the tornado victims in Illinois whose lives were forever changed, I couldn’t help but hope that they had already preserved their heirloom photographs.   I imagined what emotional turmoil that they had to be enduring while they sought to meet their most basic needs of survival, which, I’m sure was accompanied by sheer gratitude for simply being alive. However, I couldn’t help but wonder if during the quiet moments, when families began to recall the keepsakes such as baby pictures or wedding photos, heaped in the remains of the place once called home, there resonated just as deeply another sense of loss.   As the holidays approach and we find ourselves overwhelmed by the chaos of the season, we can lose sight of the people in our lives who mean more than any material objects. While we’re checking off our shopping lists, we sometimes forget to take stock of the memories of holidays past that fill our photo albums or hang over the mantle.   However, it’s during this season when gathered around the tree with friends and family that we’ll pore over those albums, or reminisce about the family holiday vacations, noting how the kids have changed. We’ll pull out the pictures of when Grandma and Grandpa used to dress up like Santa and Mrs. Claus, or pictures of the lights that Dad would string all over the first house he and Mom had. We laugh and enjoy the memories, and we hope that they last a lifetime.   Instead of running all over town on Black Friday, or perusing website after website on Cyber Monday, why not give a gift that truly captures those people for whom we are most grateful—our family. When you have your photos restored or retouched at Brian Dressler Photography, we can make duplicate copies in any number of sizes, whether to fit into a stocking or to display over the fireplace.   While we send our prayers to the families in the Midwest who may be spending the holidays far from home, we will hold onto each other a little tighter and treasure the memories that we can hold on to for even longer.

 

Photo Restoration

We suddenly realize that there are photographs that will disappear, never again to recount the history made in that fraction of a second when the shutter flashed open.	some moments only happen once in life A single photograph has the power to capture a moment in history that will only happen once in our lives—a couple’s wedding kiss, the birth of the first grandchild, a family reunion of multiple generations, high-school graduations, landmark anniversaries, retirement celebrations—these occasions become the stories of our lives, and their images become our memories. When we pull the weathered photo album from the shelf to reminisce or to share, the pictures themselves narrate our life’s story. when photographs disappear, so does history   Right now, we are more than just voracious consumers; we are invaluable players in this technological age where anyone with a cell phone can point, shoot, and even digitally enhance pics on the fly. Our children have seen more generations of cell phones than they have of their own family members.   While we can share images with the world faster than one can say, “digital upload,” and while we still hold dear the barrage of images dropped into virtual buckets, clouds, or books, and while we’ll ooh and aah over the app that makes last night’s take-out appear “vintage,” we suddenly realize that there are photographs—hanging on the wall at Grandma’s, or stuffed in a shoebox under the bed at Great Uncle Ira’s farmhouse, or slowly fading away in the “memory book” that your late husband made for you when you were first dating—that will literally disappear, never again to recount the history made in that fraction of a second when the shutter flashed open.
Contact Us: Brian Dressler Photography 3021 Rosewood Drive Columbia, SC 29205 (803) 254-7171 www.dresslerphoto.com	restore photos, slides, and documents Using the latest digital restoration techniques, we can restore, retouch, manipulate, and enhance new and old photos and can even apply these techniques to restore damaged, stained, or torn documents, like awards or diplomas. In fact, we can even make prints from those old Kodachrome slides, too!
SPECIAL GIFT IDEAS: The look on our customers’ faces when they see their restored photo for the first time is a very touching experience. It’s as if they’ve been reunited with a lost part of their lives. We offer a variety of reprinting and resizing options to allow you to give meaningful gifts that will continue to touch hearts and lives for many years afterward.	a word about “discount” restoration offered by others   We know that there are less-expensive options out there for restoring pictures; however, we eliminate the worry of what could happen if you were to choose to mail off the only picture of your great, great-grandfather to an out-of-state facility that simply feeds the photo into an automatic processor. Remaining optimistic that nothing happens to damage the fragile photo during this one-size-fits-all processing, the results often support the adage that “you get what you pay for.”   our expertise is clearly visible   However, our photo restoration and retouching work is done by hand and on-site at our Columbia, SC, studio, where we can guarantee the color and quality of our detailed work. We first render a digital file of your photograph using professional photo editing software. While most “big box” outfits apply a few coats of superficial “enhancements” to your photo and call it a day, we thoroughly assess the myriad layers that can be altered and work meticulously within those layers to restore the life behind the image—not just a glossy, photocopied version. Years of experience and skillful finesse are apparent in our ability to remove any color casting, stains, blemishes, tears, scratches, and creases. Because no alterations or repairs are applied to your original picture, we are able to provide you with an archival-quality, high-end reproduction of your old prints or slides to ensure that not only the photographs, but also the history, which they share, will be around for generations to come.   Instead of running all over town on Black Friday, or perusing website after website on Cyber Monday, why not give a gift that truly captures those people for whom we are most grateful—our family. When you have your photos restored or retouched at Brian Dressler Photography, we can make duplicate copies in any number of sizes, whether to fit into a stocking or to display over the fireplace.   While we send our prayers to the families in the Midwest who may be spending the holidays far from home, we will hold onto each other a little tighter and treasure the memories that we can hold on to for even longer.