Sunday, April 26, 2015

WARNER ROBINS SENIOR - Demory - Class 2015 High School Photography in Macon - Warner Robins

Demory is a young teenager ready to graduate from Covenant Academy in Macon, Ga. She braved the weather and the gnats that swarmed around all of us bringing our picture taking down to perfect timing; swat, swat, smile, click...got it!
Covenant Academy graduate.The sun peeked in and out  of overcast skies that threatened to rain, but it didn't dampen her spirit. Demory's smile refused to be diminished while we made art in her backyard.













Covenant Academy graduate.




Covenant Academy graduate.





Covenant Academy graduate.




















Covenant Academy graduate in Macon



















Covenant Academy graduate in Macon

Covenant Academy graduate in Macon

 Wow, she is gorgeous!
Looking for senior pictures in Macon and Warner Robins?  Call, Pederzani Photography, or become a senior rep. Ciao.


Saturday, April 11, 2015

THE ART OF HEADSHOTS by Pederzani Photography from Middle Georgia

Headshots! There are so many different kinds for an equal amount of purposes. There are; corporate,
business, promotional's, glamour, beauty, seniors, models, and actors.  In studio or environmental, relationship to the camera or away from camera; sexy, friendly, basic, or with a little attitude, etc.
I got a call the other day to do audition headshots from a young actress who was going to be auditioning in Atlanta, Ga.
I had to refreshed myself on the criteria for what was required, because I haven't done them in a while. It's almost better to remember what not to do because if done wrong you ruin your client's chances for being considered.
The main criteria for theatrical headshots is emphasizing the sitter's character and best features without the usual angles and beauty poses, and still catch the eye of the viewer with hopes of making them pause for further gazing upon the actors face. The eyes are the soul of the person and should reflect the personality of the sitter, for this reason agents want their clients looking straight into the camera; but theatrical auditions also want to see character, along with a nice smile, and a hint of expression that gives credibility to genuineness, truthfulness for the part they're auditioning for, (this is what we hope to accomplish.)
We decided on using the studio to shoot our headshots instead of an outdoors setting. I used a soft grey material for the background. I set up my speed lights for a kiss of additional lighting, because the window light was the main source; I did have in place a background light for separation and subtle vignetting. I placed my client about four feet from the background, mostly standing, sometimes sitting. I asked her to converse and move her head and hands at the same time to catch some natural expressions, but I stopped her intermittently as well and took shots. I wanted her to be at ease in front on my camera.
I used two cameras; Canon 5D MKii and my backup also a Canon,50D. My main lens was a Tamron 28-78mm 2.8 that I kept almost wide open, between f 3.2-4; this lens stays on the 5D. My ISO stayed between 100-200 because I had speed lights for added lighting. My shutter changed as I changed the settings on my speed lights. On the 50D, I kept with my go to lens, Canon EFS 17-55mm 2.8. I love this lens, it's fast and sharp, it's a wide angle zoom and macro; but it can't be used on the full frame 5D (sniff). However my 50D does just fine in a studio setting anyway; not so good under dark conditions. I resist adjusting the ISO past 800 due to a lot of noise.
The Tamron lens wide open gives me the soft feel I like, which is my over all style. As a wedding photographer I like a soft focus for romantic shots, sharp eyes, shallow depth of field, and a hint of texture on the skin. I wanted to create the same look without the romantic appeal for my actress. I feel confident we accomplished our mission. I wanted to give her a good chance to be chosen for the part she was auditioning for. The images came out great;
overall we had 141 to dwindle down to five. We had
variety, expression, nice eyes and smile. She picked her five with input from me, and I only hope we picked the right ones, because all it takes is one great headshot to catch the attention of the director and you're in!
If we're successful, I will update this blog! Ciao.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

SEO RANKINGS~ Pederzani Photography Moving Up in Middle Ga!

Wedding in Macon, Ga.  
I'm a wedding photographer in Kathleen, Ga; and it's important that people can find me when they search online for a one. I'm also new to Georgia, so I'm building up my business almost from scratch, and I've also changed my business name from Simply Dorine Photography to Pederzani Photography. What ever I had built up with my former business name is now disconnected from my new domain name. Getting found in a Google search in a new state with a new name is paramount.
I am not a computer geek, wish I was! But SEO rankings, metatags, all that stuff is confusing to me. I built my site with Wix.com I find it easy to design and they're templates are nice. They're suppose to be 'search engine' friendly too, but I wouldn't know; because for all my efforts I have never gotten all green checks after using Wix's SEO Wizard. The other day I gave it another try of adjusting my, 'title' and description (H1) windows, I tweaked and tweaked until I got every  green arrow (thumbs up)  from the wizard with exception to the images not being labeled right for Google's search engine. However, for the life of me, I still can't figure out how to apply a description for the, ALT TEXT, for my images. I can't find the window at Wix that would allow me to make the necessary changes. I'll figured it out later, or perhaps some kind soul will take pity on me and show me how to do it.
As I read more articles on the subject on SEO ranking, it was repeatedly mentioned that blogging plays a major roll for improving your presence in the search engines. So in the last week I became more diligent to produce a few blogs, I had planned to anyway.  Then the next thing I did was to get my site verified with Google, Bing and Pinterest. This too has given me grief in the past, and sure enough it proved true again. I almost gave up, but I persevered and succeeded, ya! After all my efforts I did another search on Bing and came up in two of them. This I considered a miracle, because I never came up on Bing before. Now for Google I slipped down from first and second page to not coming up at all, but after today, I came up on the third and fourth page in my search. So I'm moving up and so thrilled to be I'm beside myself with giddiness, and doing the 'happy dance'.  I know everyone's thrilled for me, because when I read about your success stories, I'm happy for you. Sincerely, I'm not saying that tongue in cheek. I really mean it.
Now the most informative part, I found that impressed me, was a link mentioned in a photography forum regarding this very subject. That link allowed me to check my ranking bypassing the history built up on my own computer that could falsely place me in a higher ranking order than I really was. Here's the link I use: http://whatpageofsearchamion.com/?  It's a sure way of testing where your site comes up in searches, but only in the first ten pages, that's the total length of the search.
I know there's a science to understanding SEO, so much more than what I'm able to explain here, but remember I know very little about this topic except what I read and followed along. Everything I read, I did to my best ability. It seems to be working for me and  it should work for you as well.
So here's to higher search rankings and blogging. It's what Google likes to use to bring you out of obscurity. I hope my article is helpful and enjoyable. Ciao.

Friday, April 3, 2015

Middle Ga, Photographer Explains- WHY BRIDES REQUEST DIGITAL FILES


Hi, I'm Dorine, owner of Pederzani Photography. If you're a photographer, I bet you've been asked if digital files are included in your packaging?  Most clients claim they only want the digital files for printing out their own pictures. But did you know digital files are only what they think they want because they've been told it's more affordable by well meaning friends, and even newbie photographers eager to get hired, myself included. But I have learned this belief doesn't constitute good reasoning for your client. When the consequences are weighed, it turns out to be costly and very heartbreaking for them.  Here's how to respond to the request for digital images.



Modern technology is always moving forward and making new roads into the normal way of doing business, What is normal today becomes obsolete tomorrow. Many newer laptops don't even include CD trays any longer; they're being replaced by the very popular Flash drive that come in a variety of colors and materials. I love them myself. But the question is how long until they become obsolete? The printed medium is the surest way for maintain your keepsakes over long periods of time. They will be with you forever in whatever form you print them in; from albums to canvasses they will be well protected and kept conveniently close. Cd's will necessitate special equipment over time for viewing as well as any electronic storage device. They'll become as obsolete as Atari games and Ericsson Cell Phones (which I also had and loved). And the client will be constantly updating their outdated storage device just to keep the images viewable, (my own word). The bottom line is, it'll become costly to maintain the quality and viability of their images. Storage in the 'cloud', will need more space over time, because more and more files will be added; and then the possibility of losing passwords is ever present as well. In all it'll become very taxing to the individual to keep on top of the problem and very likely to get behind and give up altogether.
"But they want digital files for printing, " they reply. Yes, but the fact of the matter here is most CD's end up in the junk draw, scratched up, ill labeled and forgotten. Any photos that did get printed are disorganized in some draw also, getting dirty, ripped, bent and thrown out.
Your customers need their thoughts refocused with a renew appreciation for art.  Classic art on any printed medium has tested the annals of modern inventions and like a Timex Watch, they keep on ticking....and never lost their charm! Your clients are coming with questions that others have told them to ask, whether friends or some published magazine article; this a perfect opportunity to use the consultation as an educating tool to inform them what questions they really need to be asking. Turn the questions into answers they need to hear; because a well informed client is a happy client. Ciao!