Dozens of Muslins

Dozens of Muslins at the Los Angeles AIDS Walk

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:21:00 +0000

We were happy to be able to contribute 2D37 (Carnival) to the Starwalker Party at the LA AIDS Walk. Starwalkers are individuals or groups of people who raise a certain amount of money for the event. Their primary motivation might be altruistic, but we like to think that getting to have their pictures taken in front of our backgrounds is at least a secondary goal. Congratulations to our friend Scott and the rest of the AIDS Walk Staff for another successful event. We are proud to be the official photographic background suppliers for the AIDS Walks.

Don't Fear the Camera Phone

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:31:00 +0000

It's a commonly held conception that the widespread use of digital cameras has cut into the professional photography market. For a different perspective, read the following quotation. It comes from July's issue of Professional Photographer - it's an excerpt from an interview with Seth Godin, an expert on marketing. According to Seth:

"Since Matthew Brady - the guy who took pictures of Lincoln - for 150 years, photographers have made a great living when they had no better technology than everybody else. Making a great living at photography has never been about access to the tools....To photographers I say, 'Are you doing photography worth paying for? If the consumer's choice is between doing it himself for free or paying a professional hundreds or thousands of dollars, what is it about what you're doing that's worth paying for? I'll tell you this - it's not because you can take a pretty good photo.'"

According to Seth, it's the experience you create for your clients. He continues:

"What [great photographers] do for a living is create an experience and an approach that is so remarkable people can't help but talk about it. What they do for a living is create interactions between themselves and the people they are taking pictures of. Or to create souvenirs of what they do so that people can't help but talk about it."

Client Showcase - Sherrie Schouten of Sherrie Schouten Photography, Port Angeles, WA

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:16:00 +0000

Last weekend, Sherrie rented 3D06 (Great Wall) and 3D13 (East of Eden) for the Port Angeles High School's homecoming portraits. She shared her marketing strategies with us:

Strategy #1 - Sherrie posted the two background choices on her Facebook page so her clients would know what to expect. Because we ship out for arrival on the Tuesday before the dance, she had plenty of time to iron out the wrinkles, hang the backgrounds, recruit a date (her son-in-law, in this case), and create the photos.

Strategy #2 - Sherrie writes: "...I printed a picture of each of the backdrops as 8x10's and had them at the table where the kids pay. So many of the kids didn't think that Great Wall looked good until they saw the effect in the actual photograph. Also, it is a lot shorter than the other one (the length is much shorter) and I think that they thought the floor would show in their picture."

And finally, another excerpt from Sherrie's email: "Good thing for your backdrops, because if I didn't have them - they would have no reason to have their "professional" picture taken since they all have cameras ON THEIR PHONES even!"

We're indebted to Sherrie for her wonderful compliment, her lovely shots, her willingness to share her ideas, and her patronage over the years.

Don't Say "Nyet" to Vignette

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:33:00 +0000

I confess. I'm a Photoshop novice. I used to use the primitve burn and dodge tools in Photoshop to create a vignette. Then I learned a more sophisticated way to create a better vignette using a second layer. But this one, from Scott Kelby, author and Photoshop expert, is an easier and more effective method of vignetting images. Here's how you do it. (Since we're Mac snobs I'm including the Mac "command" key in the text; if you have a PC—and you know who you are—you'll substitute the "control" key, whatever that is.

After opening the image, add a layer (command-J). Set the blend mode to “multiply” and choose the “marquee” tool to create an area you wish to vignette. Choose “refine edge” from the radio button at the top of the screen, and change “feather” to 200 pixels. (You can lower that for lower resolution images). Hit “OK”, then “delete”, and “command-D”, which will leave a soft vignette around your image. You can then change the opacity slider from 100% to something less to suit your taste. This beats playing around with the burning or dodging tools by a long shot.

Failblog.org's Best Prom Outfit

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:32:00 +0000

One of our favorite sites is failblog.org, where subscribers send in videos and photos of things that aren't quite right. We were struck by this "fail" the other day, called "Epic Fail Baggy Pants Fail", and we realized that this would have been one prom outfit that we wouldn't have wanted to photograph...

Please Pardon the Immodesty

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:08:00 +0000

We have long maintained that your dance business will be enhanced with our 3D backgrounds, but we didn't realize how much until we received this email from Emily Provance, a high school teacher associated with Ohio's Sandy Valley Local Schools.

About our 3D70 (France Inatra), she wrote..."our photographer was very impressed with this one. He thought it was one of the best dance backgrounds he's ever photographed in over 35 years."

OK, so we like to show off a little. That's why we're in this business...

SPA in San Diego

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:36:00 +0000

If you're shooting dances you know about SPA (Senior Portrait Artists), an organization on a constant quest to provide information for the senior photographer in a creative, artistic, and innovative form from both inside and outside the photography industry.

Now sign up for the Spa Event in San Diego January 4-6, 2010, and take Jon Read's class on Blue Ocean Proms, Sports, & Dances: Diversifying Your Senior Market.

By no small coincidence you'll see that one key to Jon's success is Dozens of Muslins. We'll be there, too. We look forward to seeing you and showing you how your business can grow with our backgrounds.

A Little Nostalgia

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:07:00 +0000

We were digging through our archives and found the May, 2005 copy of People, and re-discovered this shot of 3D56 (Your Asia). (We don't remember the photographer, but it's from Killeen, TX - any claimants?) Anyway, it was part of an illustration for an article called "Proms Gone Wild," which documented excesses such as a $5,000 liposuction, an $8,275 Versace gown, and a $6,000 spa treatment. $4 billion was spent on proms in 2005, the article reported. That was a long time ago, before Lehman Bros...and Bernie Madoff...and General Motors...

Smoker

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:20:00 +0000

At some point in our lives we've all thought about becoming "real" photographers. I was twenty-two, a passionate amateur with a college graduation gift Nikon FTN, when I saw this old man, sitting on a bench near the bocce ball courts by San Francisco Bay. I measured the light on my hands, set the focus at about 2', whirled and shot this image on Kodachrome 25. Surprised and disappointed, he unleashed a torrent of expletives at me that forced an immediate retreat. Several days later when I picked up my slides, I was delighted with this image, and I thought to myself at that time, "I wonder if I could ever make a living at photography". It was ten years after that before I had enough nerve to try, and I've never turned back. I entered this photo in Digital Photography Review's "Formal Composition: Portrait" and received a 7th place among the 150 entries. Hey, I think it's even better than that.

A Top Ten Finish

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:36:00 +0000

I (Jason) managed to eke out a top-ten finish (barely - I was tied for tenth) out of 76 entries in Digital Photography Review's "Gimme Shelter" challenge. The requirement for the challenge was to include two of the following in one's image: shelter, fire, stone. Strangely, a very similar (virtually indistinguishable) shot I entered in the same challenge came in 43rd. This shot was my best finish - overall, I'm managing a mediocre 46th percentile or so, which means you only have to be slightly less mediocre than I am to claim your $25 prize...

Marketing 103

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:34:00 +0000

Here's a flier promoting a two-background dance. On the left is yours truly, along with yours truly's then-girlfriend, now wife.

Props Part Deux

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:23:00 +0000

Here's another example of props in action, Nunes style. John Nunes is a photographer in Petaluma, CA. In addition to the creative and effective use of props on the part of its inhabitants, Petaluma is also known as the former host city of the world arm-wrestling championships, not to mention the city where the cinematic tour de force "Howard the Duck" was filmed.

Rust

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:53:00 +0000

We're still entering as many challenges as possible on Digital Photography's Review Web Site, from "Eyes" to "Vertical Panning" to anything and everything that addresses the ten or so new challenges that come up each week. And of course, we invite you to participate, too. In fact, it's free money. If you beat us, we'll give you $25 from your next rental. Click here.

Had you entered the "Ultimate Panorama" you would have won the money, no sweat, as I was humiliated with my "Bonneville Salt Flats" panorama, five images that I stitched together. Apparently critics thought I might have been better served by using my "delete" button on my camera a little more judiciously.

I feel better about this one. Carl's Buick finished 10th out of 250.

Nasty Lines

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Jadyne and I joined this “single file line” to get our passports stamped so we could sail from Brindisi, Italy, to Piraeus, Greece. You can make your lines work a whole lot more efficiently than this if you...(1) let thirty or so couples make “appointments” by signing up in half-hour increments, and (2) set your background up in such a way that people in line can’t see and distract the couple you’re photographing. Or throw M & M’s at them. Which happened to us at Santa Rosa HS’s Homecoming.

We were comfortable shooting about 60-70 couples an hour. One person posed (my trusted assistant, Alan Bartl), one person accepted orders, checks, and cash (Jadyne), and one person lazed by the RB67 with its long roll back, smiled at the couples after Alan had posed them, counted to three, then repeated the operation about seventy times an hour.

The Early Bird Actually Does Get the Worm!

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:37:00 +0000

From Nancy Bouliane, one of our favorite clients, and perhaps the only person who has ever emailed us to say how much she enjoyed reading the pointless, ridiculous, and nonsensical text that accompanies our backgrounds...

This is my 21st prom to do here. When we plan the theme...I do a display with the whole "look" to promote it. It has been great...using your backdrops the last few years because that always sets the stage for their "getting the picture"...that and the invitation.

Thanks!
Nancy

A 7th Place Finish for My Dad

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:45:00 +0000

Jason and I are still entering images into Digital Photography Review's Challenges. (He's doing better than I am). This image finished a respectable #7 in a 50's theme. After my father died I went through his endless carousels and dredged up several Kodachromes from my childhood, including this one, taken in Cincinnati sometime in the fifties. One of the three boys is yours truly, but I'm not saying...

Spot the Differences

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:50:00 +0000

Here are two copies of 3D57 (Party Gras), as painted by two different artists. We've had copies of our most popular backgrounds painted by as many as four or five artists, each of whom has a slightly different style and technique. We've even had the same artist copy the same design at two different times, which can also lead to small variations. When we send out multiple quantities of the same background, we send out copies painted by the same artist at the same time, whenever possible. Barring that, we'll send out backgrounds painted by the same artist at different times. If that should prove to be impossible (very rarely) we'll let you know that you could be receiving backgrounds by different artists. The variations between these two images are typical of what you might expect to find. Some of our clients worry that their subjects will prefer one over the other, but in our experience, this only happens in the case of two totally different designs, and even then, only sometimes.

Marketing 102

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:23:00 +0000

Here's Jan Lundberg, of SF, CA, going all-out for one of her clients - she made this background "menu" for a jazz-themed party last year, using high-res JPEGs we sent her. If I'm remembering right, the client decided to rent a couple of them...so obviously, we heartily encourage this sort of approach.

Props Part One

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:00:00 +0000

This scene was put together by Dirk Bietau, of Santa Rosa, who's also featured in our "Double Prom Set-Up" posting. Here he showcases how a few small (read: easily transportable) props can add to one of our backgrounds, in this case, 3D24 (Dock of the Bay). We design all of our backgrounds to complete scenes by themselves, thus eliminating the need for props, but that doesn't mean a couple of carefully chosen items can't add additional interest.

Digital Photography Review Rejection

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:51:00 +0000

I (Jason) submitted this to the "Autumn" Challenge, but there were "several complaints that it has nothing to do with Autumn." When else are you supposed to play mud football?

Return of Trompe L'Oeil

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:41:00 +0000

What Does it Mean? How Does it Work? And How in the World Do You Pronounce it?

Let's start with #3...it's pronounced "trômp ˈloi", which is French, meaning, "Trick the eye."

What Does it Mean? According to Wikipedia, "It's an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects appear in three-dimensions, instead of actually being a two-dimensional image."

How Does it Work? That's the hard part. Our artists know that to successfully create the three-dimensional illusion the entire floor of the background has to be painted with exaggerated brush strokes, rendering the appearance of objects as common as a suitcase completely unrecognizable. Railway tracks have to bend, an asteroid is stretched to the breaking point, and marble pillars curve. When the camera lens sweeps across the floor, suddenly the suitcase, stretched across the vertical and horizontal planes of the background, becomes a real suitcase, the railroad tracks and the pillars straighten, and the asteroid becomes round again.

Here's an image of 3D106 (Call Me Flowers), stretched out, as it was painted, laid out flat. Click here to see the completed transformation, courtesy of Peg Buckner, in Fallon NV.

High-Tech Set-Up

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:28:00 +0000

Here's a high-tech set-up from Kendrick Shadoan of Muncie, IN, featuring background 3D70 (France Inatra).

Marketing 101

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:22:00 +0000

Here's a Tolo Dance ticket made from an image of 3D77 (Sweet Dreams), from Jason Alvord of Extreme Sports Photos in Yakima WA. We can provide high-res JPEGs of our images if you have to make tickets, posters, etc. for your dances.

Group Shots

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:24:00 +0000

Here are some great examples of group shots from a few of our clients - the top one comes from Diana Cooke at Cooke's Fine Photography in Bishop, CA. Note the triangular composition of faces, which is much more pleasing than a police line-up-like horizontal row. On the bottom left is a piece of Fred Molesworth's work, out of Encore Photography in Salem, OR. Fred squeezes in 15 people in our background, using three separate levels—the floor, unspecified (and apparently backless) stools, and for the three young men in the back, their own two feet. In addition, Fred disguises poles, cords, lights, and other distracting elements by simply and selectively burning in the edges. Bottom right is another triangular composition from Jim Wham, of The Dalles, which is also in the Beaver State. Here he uses a bean-bag sort of thing to help create different levels.

Another Digital Photography Review Entry

dofmuslins@sbcglobal.net (Dozens of Muslins) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:15:00 +0000

Okay, so it isn't going to be hanging on a museum wall anytime soon, but the theme of this challenge was "Laughter," and this fits the bill in triplicate. Here's the description I posted:

"My dad's 60th. On the pretense of showing him our new car, my wife and I picked him up at his SF Bay Area home, only to collect a hitchhiker (my brother, who had come in from Sacramento), and then stop at a lemonade stand (which was staffed by my aunt and uncle from Colorado.) When he opened the trunk to pack up the lemonade stand, he discovered my sister and her husband, who'd secretly flown in from Kathmandu."