Liz Rhodebeck - Business Portraits

One of my favorite things in the world is doing creative business portraits. When i say creative I mean the type of creativity you get to use in senior portraits, a bit more whimsical and much less structured. Since I don't have a studio, and love working with natural light, I get the chance to challenge myself a bit more and find fun new ways to explore a traditionally boring and stuffy type of picture.

This week (back in September when I had originally started writing this post) I had the privilege of taking new headshots for a poet friend of mine. We decided to walk around a bit and explore some lesser known areas of Menomonee Falls, such as Lime Kiln Park. The light was wonderful. Early morning shoots are my favorite to do; the way the sun gently rises giving soft, ambient light, it's perfect for portraits!

Here are my favorites. 

 

Wow. I need to get back to this. And soon. The past few months have been so busy with work and Mary Kay that I haven't actually had much time for photos! Other than having my phone with me and snapping a few photos here and there and posting them to Instagram, I haven't taken many photos. 

This past Sunday, however, I did have a fantastic family portrait session from an amazing family I met at church. I'll get a few of those photos up soon!!!

Let me know if there's any projects that you'd like to see me do! I'm open to trying a few new things this fall, especially to hone my craft and push myself farther!

Dear MKE

A couple of weeks ago I was hired to photograph an event in downtown Milwaukee. It's one of my absolute favorite places in the world to be. The event was held in the 41st floor of the US Bank building. For those of you not familiar with it, it's the tallest building in Milwaukee. I forget the name of the architect, but it's (affectionately) known as his last erection. As he passed shortly after it's construction. Since I had never been in the building before, I was excited to see the views. It was an evening event, so with the sunset, these are what I was able to capture on my phone. These are from nearly every side of the building (West, North, and East). Panoramas for nearly all of them because of the sheer beauty. And even those didn't accurately capture the breath-taking views.

NEW EQUIPMENT!!!!!

Okay so ANY time I get anything new, I get a little psyched. And when it comes to photo equipment?! I go a bit BERZERK!!!!

So last week I figured it was time for me to step my photo game up. Originally I was going to save up for a new camera body and lenses, but figured my current need was a new lens and larger capacity memory cards. After quite some research, I decided on the Canon 18-135mm zoom lens. Bought that, and got expedited shipping.

I also knew that I would need a filter, so I got a great deal from Amazon on a three pack (UV, Polarized, Neutral Density). On my 50mm lens, I also have a lens hood and picked one up for the new lens. Lastly, time to upgrade my storage. I was going to go for a couple 16gb cards, but decided with the savings I'm getting from Amazon, might as well pick up a couple 32gb instead. So that's what I did. Being an Amazon Prime member (woohoo!) I got my free two day shipping for that!

I received my new toys this evening and am ridiculously excited to start using them! Here's a quick photo of my new toys!

Not pictured: Lens Hood (not sure I like the style of it, might have to trade it in for another brand)

Instagram Favorites

Here's a few that I've recently posted on Instagram.

Simplicity

Yesterday I had the privilege of second shooting a wedding. This was the view as we were leaving the reception. Naturally, I had to snap a picture!

Simply beautiful.

Rain

Took this a while ago, a rainy evening driving in Milwaukee. I only had my phone with me, but was able to capture this fantastic photo. I love sunsets and rain!

Product Review: Nokia Lumia Icon (Verizon Wireless)

I had the pleasure, and honor, of product testing the Nokia Lumia Icon for the past month or so. It was a very fun experience, as I've never product tested, well... anything before! It was quite a learning curve as I've never used a Windows-based phone, but I liked the interface overall, and liked the camera and editing aspects of it. 

Photo Quality: 8/10
 - Amazing. What else can I say about the fact that the camera gives you TWO options for taking/savings photos, and each of them are GREAT! I was still surprised at the quality difference the Pro High Res presented, but was still more interested in how the PHR setting was NOT always the best photo option. I wish I knew why! Even still, these are photos I would be happy to send to clients. 

Mechanics: 6/10
 - Though the camera has a great, high megapixel quantity, the fact of the matter is the mechanics of the camera didn't work like I wanted or programmed them to. When used in short distances, the flash STILL went off despite the fact that I turned it off. The shutter was delayed (but quick when it did finally go off). The lag in the shutter can make a huge difference between getting the shot, and not. 

Editing: 7/10
 - Nokia has some fun apps that allow you to edit the photos you take. But keep in mind, they are very SIMPLE. Most of them (if not all of them), are basic filters to allow you to change the colors on the photos, but they are still fun if there's certain looks you're going for. 

Overall: 7/10  -  Great CONSUMER level camera!
 - While I liked the quality of the photos, and the ability to choose camera settings, the shutter lag and flash usage even though I had turned the flash off, was something that bothered me a bit too much. As a consumer, looking for a great camera on a phone, I would highly recommend this. But as a professional photographer, I'm going to have to pass.

Thanks again to Chelsey, Core Creative, and Verizon Wireless for allowing me to test this fantastic device!

Product Test: Nokia Lumia Icon (Verizon Wireless) - Startup Milwaukee

Back in January 2013, I became the photographer for Startup MKE. I had friends that were involved in the organization and by their recommendation I reached out to the co-founders. After a short round of email communication, I joined the team as the Official Photographer for their Meetups. I was thrilled and honored. It had been a couple of years since I had really taken photos, and I felt that I needed to get back in the game. These photos are from one of their most recent Meetups.

You can see how the flash went off, even though I had manually turned it off. It only happened in close settings, but it was bothersome nonetheless. 

No idea why this happened, it only happened once or twice while I was taking photos, but they turned out dark like this. 

 

 

 

 

  

Below are a few shots that I really wanted to highlight. Since I had primarily set the camera settings to automatic, I wanted to experiment a bit. Since I had a small window of time, I wanted to focus on the ISO. Leaving all other settings at automatic (f-stop, shutter), and standing in the same spot for each photo, this is the result. Obviously, the higher the ISO, the grainier the photos that are produced.

ISO 4000

ISO 800

ISO 400

ISO 200

ISO 100

ISO 250