As we are quickly approaching the middle of August, and stores are starting to display and advertise “Back to School” (a term usually music to parents’ ears, but maybe more-so this year), it’s a grim reminder that vacation season is also quickly coming to an end.
The corporate world is different than school, obviously; but there’s a certain freshness as most are back from their children’s dictated leave for a break from the hustle and bustle. A time when all employees are back in the office together for the first time in months, gives it that back to school feel to it.
Just like the yearly school photos, now is a great time to update your own business headshot for your company’s website or your LinkedIn profile.
I like to do on-site sessions, giving it an environmental feel to the frame. It is up to you, as I also have a studio on site where you are able to come as well, if you’re looking to get out of the office.
Click on the floating “Book Now” tab on the right side of the screen to book a free consultation.
There have been a long list of real life situations that have prevented me from adding to the blog or updating the website since my last post. If you know me personally, then you know the story, and if you don’t, I’m not going to bore you with the details.
The biggest change, for those who don’t know already, is that I am no longer based out of Seoul, South Korea. I have returned to my native Canada. Now you may be asking, “how is that a part of the newness?” Well, it has been over 17 years since I last lived in Canada, so coming back is very much like moving to a new country again. But, I’ve also moved to an entirely different part of the country, Nova Scotia. Which for those of you at home keeping score is roughly 2,000 km away from the town I grew up in.
The last time I stepped foot inside Nova Scotia was for a weekend, for a friend’s wedding. Before that, I think I was about 7 years old … That’s nearly 40 years ago. So locations, weather, and sun/moon rising and setting times are a whole lot new.
New Shop
As a part of the new, I am going all in on trying to make this photography my life’s work. You will have noticed that a “Shop” section of the website has appeared, which for now is really a menu of what I will offer.
As a part of the new shop, I’m also adding something that I’ve never offered before, but figured it is time to do so, and that is to offer my editing services to the public.
Editing for the Masses
Editing, especially for those who are just starting out can be a scary thing. Trust me, I know. Editing scared me for the better part of the first 16 years of photography. That is one of the reasons why I tried to get as much right in camera, on site, in one frame … editing (or “Photoshop”) was just too intimidating. Editing has come a long way, especially now that a lot of smartphone apps offer filters and some other bells and whistles. But now that there are so many people using those apps and filters, one of the best ways to stand out is to develop your own editing style. I have one friend who is an amazing photographer, Marco Devon, based in Seoul, South Korea, that once you see one of his photos, you know it’s one of his photos. He has developed his unique editing style that is on full display on his secondary Instagram account.
Not only setting up your personal style, you are able to work some magic with a full powered edit. In this example, the original was taken at about 2 pm in the afternoon on a cloudy winter’s day. After a little editing magic, it’s a summer’s night.
Maybe you’re not looking for a full blown digital image. Just milking out some fabulous colours that you didn’t know were there when you took the photo is what you want or need.
No sky replacement was done for this one, unlike the first example. In this one, it was a matter of adjusting the white balance, and saturation. So either way, a solid edit can do wonders to your photos and feeds. So if the idea of editing is overwhelming, or you just simply don’t have enough time to go through all of your photos from your most recent excursion, allow me to free up some of your time and get the most out of your images.
When I first started out on my photographic path, it was pretty much always outdoors. The period in my life that really ignited the spark was my time at Université Canadienne en France. I’ll save you the long version of the story, but if you’re interested you can find the nuts and bolts of it in the feature I was lucky enough to have in PIK MAGAZINE (January 2014).
99% of my photographic journey in Korea before I moved to Yangju, north of Seoul, has been landscapes. After I moved here, I tried to moving to more of a documentary urban feel. I needed to get more people into my shots. Photographing people was always a big challenge for me. I was starting to get more comfortable in getting architecture into my landscapes.
But This…
If you had told me even 6 months, no, 3 months ago that I would be doing product photography in my office in my apartment I may have spit out or choked on my coffee in disbelief and laughter.
I Never Expected This
I had just ended my contract at my school, and I was looking to finally jump into photography feet first. I set up accounts at freelancing sites Fiverr and UpWork. I quickly found that between these 2 sites, that the majority of the services and income in photography seemed to be based on editing (see: Photoshop skills) and product photography. Two things that were quite aways out of my comfort zone, with a 3rd in tow …
Lighting
The thing I feared more than photographing people was lighting. To be more specific, artificial lighting, flashes, strobes, you name it, if the light was powered by some form of electricity I avoided it as much as I could. But I figured if I was going to make a career out of this, I’d better learn how to use artificial lighting.
Staying at home, and not having to go to a 9 to 5 job, afforded me the time to actually sit down and try to learn and figure this thing out. I remembered one video in particular that I watched many years ago in amazement as Joe McNally showed the set up he had for this one particular shoot and the results from it. The way he was able to manipulate the light, (OUTSIDE! nonetheless) blew me away, and pining for the ability to be able to do something like that.
Fast forward to about a month ago, I was trying to find that video again. I was unsuccessful, but not for the reasons one might think. I couldn’t find it because for whatever reason in my head I had gotten McNally confused with Scott Kelby. I was searching and searching all over Kelby’s materials online and I couldn’t find it. So I gave up.
What it did though, was lead me to a video from 2 years ago by a man I had never seen before… Martin Botvidsson. His YouTube style is almost as far away from the Peter McKinnons, Chris Haus, and Casey Neistats of the world as you can get. And that’s a good thing.
It did take a little while for me to get accustomed to his style. It didn’t have the feel of what I had become used to from watching Peter and Chris. When I first started watching his videos, it felt like he really had not much of a direction, just a turn on the video camera and see what comes out. With that being said, I really did enjoy his sense of humour.
After a watching a few videos, I realized that it wasn’t that he didn’t have a specific shot in mind when he starts a video, it was that he is taking you through his artistic mindset and evolution of the photoshoot. His videos are both refreshing and educational, not to mention confidence building. The step by step process and the trial and error that he shows is a tremendous help for those of us just starting out.
I have learnt so much from his videos that I encourage anyone who is interested in small studio, product photography to give his channel a watch. Not everyone is going to have the amount of equipment that he has invested, but he also knows this and gears his tutorials to everyone with any camera and at least 1 off camera flash. He even has one video where he uses only his phone and an LED light panel.
Now he does have over 22,000 subscribers, so I suppose he is hardly a secret in the product photo world, but I felt I needed to introduce him to those of you, who like myself, are new to the area and view him as being a huge contributor to where I’m headed with my in apartment studio…
Leigh MacArthur Photography 
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