Future proofing my career learning UX design

After more than 20 years as a photo retoucher and photographer, I’ve started to see that my skills are starting to be devalued. Retouching is increasingly getting outsourced overseas or replaced with AI for things like skin smoothening. Photography has been going through rapid changes for several years. The push towards AI-generated model shoots and CGI products is only going to accelerate as the technology improves.

With that in mind, I’ve been looking for a way to help future-proof my career. Some time ago, a friend recommended UX Design as a possibility. I started to look into the career, and I think it looks promising. Upon researching the attributes and skillsets one would need to succeed, I was pleasantly surprised at how much of my previous experiences would translate.

At the core of UX Design, is understanding what the customer wants and problem-solving a solution while remaining within the realm of what is possible. For years, I have been describing photo retouching with those exact same terms. For example, Better Homes and Gardens always wanted the white walls of an interior photo to be neutral, bright white with a touch of yellow to add some warmth. Of course, my managers didn’t want me to spend hours masking out the walls for every interior image in the entire magazine. So I needed to solve the problem of how to give the magazine the look they wanted while also figuring out how to do it quickly. I loved that part of the job.

Of course, there is a lot of learning in front of me. It’s going to be a long road. Thankfully there are a number of resources available online to help me on my way. I’m always open to hearing feedback and recommendations from others. Anyone reading this in the UX field, I’d love to hear from you!

I’ll continue to post updates as I go.

FIFA World Cup Image Retouching Project

Coca-Cola and FIFA World Cup 3D Photo Retouching Project

Now that the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is over, I can share part of an incredible retouching project I was fortunate enough to have been involved.

For the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Coca-Cola wanted to create an advertising campaign around people around the world watching the matches while drinking Cokes from specially-produced cans and bottles. Because of the production timeline, it was impossible to have the bottles and cans produced in time for the photo shoots. The answer was to replace the existing products with 3D CGI renders.

The process involved taking the 3D renders, scaling to the proper size, adjusting the lighting to match the scene, and blending it into the photograph; this meant adding color casts, blurring to match the depth-of-field, adding condensation and bubbles as needed, and shadows. It simply was one of the most challenging retouching efforts I’ve done. Luckily, I worked with wonderful retouchers and project managers at INDG. I learned so much during that time and continue to learn more as I do additional freelance retouching with the company.

Below are some completed images and some before and after sliders.

Coca-Cola image as part of FIFA World Cup retouching project.
Final completed image where four glass bottles were replaced with cans.
Zoomed in section of the final completed image showing before and after. Because the can is smaller than the original bottle, the arm needed to be moved and hand reshaped to accommodate.

Coca-Cola image as part of FIFA World Cup retouching project.
Final completed image where the 2-liter bottle was replaced with a glass bottle.
Zoomed in section of the final completed image showing before and after. Because the glass bottle is smaller than the original, the table and the glass needed to be rebuilt.

Murphy’s Law: Self-Publishing Edition

Layout showing my need to find and update images
Layout showing my need to find and update images

A couple of years ago, I self-published a photography book about small-time mixed martial arts in Iowa. The process of getting there was fraught with unseen issues. One of which was achieving deep blacks while keeping the greys neutral (See: 50 Unwanted Shades of Grey).

Once it was ready to be released and shared with the world, I was ecstatic. More than five years of photography, editing, worrying about layout, and sequencing was over. I had created something substantial, and that would never change. Over the past year, the full understanding of what that meant became a bit more clear.

The forward was written by National Geographic photographer David Alan Harvey. Harvey also runs a photography blog called Burn Magazine, and he was the first to publish selections from early on in my project. In April, I pulled Fight Night off Amazon and removed references from my website after disturbing allegations against Harvey forced him to resign from Magnum photo agency.

I decided to re-release the book without the Harvey forward. I would simply replace the page of text with an additional photo. Unfortunately, the drive that stored the final edited photos and the book layout died. For the last several months, I have been searching for the original versions of the images, re-toning them, running the photoshop action to neutralise the greys, and re-linking the image into the layout. The process is almost complete, and it cannot come soon enough.

You Can Roll Me, and Capture Blurry Tumblin’ Dice

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What you see there is a blurry bunch of dice being dropped from about three feet. What you are supposed to see are clear dice being dropped from about three feet. This is the dilemma facing me in my studio photography class today. The assignment is one of capturing movement using studio lights. Because I’m me, I had to do something a little more challenging than blow bubbles are toss a ball in the air t=for the assignment, but am facing the possibility that I may not get this one. That’s where you come in.

The dice are moving too fast to be captured by the 1/200th shutter speed limit for synching. Short of using a high-speed trigger to which I don’t have access, what are the other options? I have tried to turn all the room lights off, set the camera to bulb, and use the AlienBee triggered lights set the exposure time. The results are the same whether the power is at full strength or lowered to the minimum 1/32 power.

For you studio masters out there, how would you capture something moving that quickly in the studio?

UPDATE: It looks like the Alien Bee B800 simply did not have a flash duration that was short enough. Going to look around the studio and see what else I can find.

7 Tips To Combat Photographer’s Block

Nick Sparks is a portrait photographer from Denver, United States. In this post, he shares his personal tips on how to overcome photographer’s block. The photos below feature the work of fellow 500px photographers Ryan Pendleton, James Tusha, Elke Vogelsang, David Mar Quinto, Elia Locardi, and Tony Goran.

7 Tips To Combat Photographer’s Block

by Nick Sparks

We all have dreaded picking up the camera and walking out the door at some point. For me, the reason I have feared that simple task has been due to lack of inspiration. There is nothing more exciting than taking that step out of the door when I am feeling inspired, but not so much when I’m not “feeling it”.

However, I had to come face-to-face with feeling uninspired and had to force myself to find inspiration in unlikely ways when I did a 365 Project. I found many ways of dealing with photographer’s block during that tenure.

1. Go Out & Start Shooting
The human brain wants you to find the perfect idea before you go out and accomplish the task of pressing that shutter button. I think many art forms are similar. I have spent many days not shooting, because I couldn’t think of anything to shoot. I find that going out and shooting whatever random subject matter is there—no matter how dull—can create inspiration within itself. Go out and shoot that fire hydrant, and whatever other random dull objects you may find in your line of vision! It may lead you somewhere unexpected.

2. Find A Color

Go out and shoot one color. Narrowing your subject matter down to one color will make you see photographs you never would have otherwise. Different colors have different moods too. If you are feeling calm and cool, go shoot blue. Do you feel happy? Shoot yellow or orange. There are many internet resources that you can look into to explore the color wheel and emotional interpretation of color, I suggest starting with Google.

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3. Shoot Feelings
Basing your photography on a certain feeling can trigger tons of inspiration. Let’s say that I wanted to shoot “happy”. Maybe that would lead me to an area that is connected in my mind with a happy time. Maybe, trying to capture a happy feeling leads me to a photo of that place with the perfect sunset, and I could capture my favorite photo ever. Isn’t that inspiring? Also, you could try making a mood board and capture the vibe that you come up with. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of mood boards, but maybe those could work for you. I hear Pinterest is a great place to put one together.

4. Shoot Street Photography
Go out to the downtown area of your closest metropolitan area. Thousands of people pass through that area every day. They all have different stories and are living different days. Surely, you can find some inspiration in that. Put yourself in their shoes, then capture something that is meaningful to you.

5. Shoot Technical Photography That You Haven’t Tried Before
Not only is technical photography interesting, shooting technically complex photos will help your skill set. You will be able to use those skills in the future by going out and expanding your skill set now. Typically, when I shoot in a new way for the first time, it will be frustrating and not turn out, but having those frustrating experiences has helped me down the road. A few skill sets you can learn are light painting, extended exposure, cloning, conceptual manipulations, and star trail exposures. Keeping busy and expanding your skill set can help you incorporate those ideas into your future pictures; therefore, give you more ways to capture your inspiration.

6. Go Somewhere New
Pack up your photo bag and take a big step out that door. Give yourself a general direction, and see where it leads you. I have done this a few times, and I have never been upset with the results. Granted, I have not used much of it in my portfolio, because for the last year or so, I have been strictly known as a portrait photographer. The last trip I took led me to an abandoned mining town. Let’s just say I was feeling pretty inspired when I got there.

7. Collaborate
Collaborating is always fun. This way, you can tap into the creativity of someone else or get inspired by them. You could collaborate with another photographer, model, makeup artist, a group of friends, your neighbors. The pictures below are a collaboration between me and Joshua Marable. We came up with the idea of a character feeling lost or depressed—a sinking feeling. Joshua went to Goodwill and picked up an outfit that he thought worked well with capturing that feeling. I came up with the location, and thought out different ways to shoot there in order to capture the feeling of this fictional character.