Shooting In The Dark With High Tech

As one who has had a more than passing interest in photography since I was a teenager, I could relate to Anna Vickroy when she said she has had a dark room in her home since she was a youngster.

I, too, was the proud owner of my own Vivitar color enlarger, permanently ensconced in my parents' extra bathroom.

I coveted the Canon A1 camera, at the time one of the best consumer 35mm cameras you could get. Alas, I had to settle for a Nikon FE, the best my teenage savings account could afford.

But I digress.

Vickroy is the owner of  in Livermore. In her own words, she "creates meaningful and emotional photographs that pull at people's heartstrings."

She and Jeff McMillan from McMillan Studios have leveraged the great leaps in photographic technology over the last several years to their advantage in enhancing their craft.

Digital cameras changed the industry

McMillan, a commercial photographer who specializes in product and advertisement photography, said, "Digital photography has changed the whole industry."

He said the first digital camera backs could be used only for still shots. They had three rotating filters to shoot the three colors (red, green and blue). Then the first single-shot digitals were horrible for flesh tones. Fortunately, things have improved dramatically since then.

Modern digital cameras have greatly reduced the time it takes to get the final images. McMillan shoots directly to his computer, allowing him to check focus, tangent lines and details on the spot.

Vickroy said, "I was reluctant to try digital at first. With film, you had to take careful notes about every shot, and you didn't know the end result until it was developed. But once I made the move, what used to take half a day now takes minutes."

She told me that advancements used to be in film technology, so you didn't need to upgrade your camera very often. Now, camera technology changes so fast that constant upgrades to equipment are required.

"It's not so much the greater pixel density that's important any more. Twelve megapixels is plenty for large format prints," Vickroy said. "New advancements in the dynamic range of light sensitivity allow us to shoot much closer to what the eyes see naturally."

She said that modern cameras can shoot easily with no more lighting than a single candle to create the right mood.

Everyone is a photographer

I asked McMillan what the biggest challenge has been. He quipped, "You mean, besides the economy?"

He told me that easy access to high-end digital photography equipment makes everyone a "photographer" but that the real artistry is practiced by a professional who knows how to stage the shot and light the features and details properly. McMillan said he has worked with names like Arlen Ness, Men's Wearhouse, Sears, Duncan Toys, Yahoo! and Xerox — his tagline is "My cameras don't take great pictures, I do."

He said that everything is wireless, and much smaller and lighter now. He used to have an assistant to lug around 45-pound battery packs and run wires all over the place. Now the power packs are 5-10 pounds and can fire the flashes remotely up to 300 feet away. McMillan said the new lighting is more condensed and energy efficient, giving more light out of the smaller devices.

Vickroy said with modern lighting equipment, she can now shoot in bright sunlight at 1/8,000 of a second (an unheard of shutter speed in the "olden" days), and create her own artificial "sunlight." The lighting, synced at high speed with her camera, gives a dark, rich blue sky and is just what she needs to capture the mood and memory for her customers.

Online portfolios go social

Vickroy uses online tools like Facebook to market her business. Her entire marketing budget goes to the online tools.

She said Groupon has been terrific, but she cautions that she had to do a lot of research and some careful math before deciding how to use it.

"I've known photographers who have gone out of business because they didn't do their homework," she said.

McMillan told me that he used to bring his portfolios to potential client meetings at ad agencies. Now of course, most of it is online. "It's scary for me because I never know what it looks like on their end."

He explained that his monitor is color balanced for press proofs and that it's important for his clients to see his work exactly as it would be in print. His monitor has Pantone color chips so his edits to the digital photos will match the printed versions almost exactly.

But as high tech as both photographers are, it's the interactions with people that make them successful.

In the meantime, be sure to connect with them on Facebook:

• McMillan Studios
• Ultra-Spective Photography