All posts by Michael Banks

A Soldier, Photographer, and Developer

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Natalie Stovall and the Drive

February 27, 2014 Michael Banks Leave a comment

Concert Photography… That is a tricky one as always… You have to deal not only with the low light and not using a flash, but on top of that you have these crazy colors going on at the same time… A few days ago I covered an event on Georgia Regents University called Jaguar Jam, which was an event focused around GRU Athletics and Homecoming. It was located at Christenberry Fieldhouse. Natalie Stovall was the entertainment for the night and she sang many songs that night that were incredible.

Natalie definitely was a great singer and I really enjoyed how she kept the crowd’s energy up as well.

Since I had to shoot without a flash I had to push that ISO and utilize some noise reduction in post. I shot it with my go to lens, a 70 – 200mm f/2.8, since there was a stage and I didn’t want to go through the process of getting all the way to the front in other people’s way.

For me with concert photography it is very difficult to get consecutive good shots because you usually will get one of two things: An Actions shot of them singing or A flattering picture of them dancing or singing. There are many things that hinders that shot from their microphone placement and other like interesting variables that have them covering their face or instrument.

I ended up with only half the photos I shot. I definitely like some of the photo results I got and overall satisfied with my performance at the event.

I will definitely be doing concert photography more often. (if I can) Definitely a challenge.

Blog, People

Preparation is Key – A Family Photoshoot

February 21, 2014 Michael Banks Leave a comment

Just a few weeks ago I did my first family photoshoot. It went great and smooth due to great preparation on my part and the family as well. There was a location that was put out there. The Old Enterprise Mill. A definitely great location, when the weather is right. The other location we used was the train tracks downtown.

With getting ready for a photoshoot it goes without saying that you should adequately prepare for the shoot, if that is by getting posing ideas from other magazines or even Pinterest. Pinterest, believe it or not has a lot to offer in that area. There are loads of images that can get you inspired and you can simple pin them to a board to save them for later.

Having the family dress the part can make or break your shot as well. Their poses and inspiration can come easy, but the poses, location, and inspiration can just as easily break your photo. If everyone is wearing different colors and patterns it will not compliment each other. No matter how beautiful your location is, if everyone doesn’t compliment each other it is a BUST! You can help yourself and the family prepare by letting them know that.

The other way you can easily prepare is by clearing out your memory cards, charging cameras and flashes that you plan to use. Doing this mitigates possible issues that you may run into. The last thing that I usually do to prepare for a shoot is to go and “recon” the area where pictures will be taken to get an idea of the land to see where a nice photo could be done and how the light looks there in advance of the photoshoot. You should do it a day in advance, but if that is not an option, then you should go an hour or two before the client is due to arrive. I personally take pictures of the area because you can take that back with you and show future clients the area to suggest it for future shoots if they don’t have their own location in mind.

Here are some before shots of some of the spots that I scoped out and the after photo:

Blog, People, Portfolio, Uncategorized

“Solitude” – A Fashion Photoshoot

February 17, 2014 Michael Banks Leave a comment

Fashion! Shooting fashion requires a different spin on photography strategy than an average portrait, because with fashion the MAIN subject is the outfit. While your model and the pose is important, it is more important how they both compliment the outfit. Something that you should keep in mind is to make sure you have plenty of light for the outfit. using a simple lit background allows there to be no distraction or another item to compete with the outfit. A neat thing I personally like to add is a reflection at the bottom to create separation.

This photoshoot was based on a piece by Tuttie Lu, a fashion designer in Augusta, GA. The piece is called: The “Crush” Dress. It is a Jersey Dress with lace sleeves and gold zipper detailing that allows it to be dressed up or down. The model was Na’Jelica Burnett. If you would like to get in contact with either the model or the designer let me know.

I used a simple white background and a 3 Point Lighting system: 2 12×24 inch soft boxes to give it the blown out white background and to provide separation. I used a 48″ Octobox with a Honeycomb Grid to focus the light on the subject. I also used white glossy panels on the floor to provide the reflection and I shot it tethered to view the results as they came in through the camera.

Here are some shots from the shoot:

Blog, Events, Uncategorized

TEDx Telfair Street :: MATTER!

January 31, 2014 Michael Banks Leave a comment

I had the amazing pleasure to cover an event Downtown called TEDx Telfair Street. If you are familiar with TED Talks, TEDx simply means that it was independently organized and setup by a third party. The event took place Friday January 31, 2014 and I covered the event photography.

There were amazing speakers that talked about truly interesting things that is meant to spark ideas and action into the viewers and the minds of those that watched. The theme of the event is MATTER. All of the speakers here that are speaking fall into 4 categories:

Education

Message

Creativity

You

Blog

Time for a Logo Re-Design

December 30, 2013 Michael Banks Leave a comment

Roughly 2 years ago I made a logo for my website through Photoshop that I was satisfied with long before I had the Creative Cloud. It was a pain to make the corners of the ribbon as well as the (3D) wall effect in Photoshop as well.

Recently I have been on a mission to use more of the other Creative Cloud applications to attempt to get my money’s worth out of them. I found out that logos and other graphics were better created in Illustrator, so I this is what I came with. I am still a noob at illustrator, but not too shabby for my fist go at it.

Overall I wish I had the direct selection tool inside of Photoshop CC… It alone made manipulating corned easy and simple to do. Like the Ribbon corners.

This is the original logo of what I came up with in Photoshop Originally

This is what I designed in Illustrator

This is what I finished it off as in Photoshop

Blog, Portfolio

Exercising to KEEP you going

December 15, 2013 Michael Banks 1 Comment

Exercising by way of music or dance is by no means a new or revolutionary concept, but it is definitely a way to motivate yourself to continue exercising when you get discouraged or don’t feel like exercising. I personally have done structured exercising programs like Shaun T’s Insanity that are great at pushing you to exercise. Recently I took pictures at an International Festival at Georgia Regent University put on by the Jaguar Production Crew and they featured a local Zumba group that danced to about 7 songs back to back and it seemed like a great cardio exercise that a lot of people seemed to enjoy. I personally have never done Zumba, but I know there are loads of people who do it and see results. Photographing them on stage though required me to use a faster shutter speed since, in Zumba, they are moving pretty fast. Find something that gets you active like music or a video and do exercise to it other than the normal day to day things to keep you exercising.

While I was at the festival I also made a neat Auto Awesome Video that I will include in this post for your pleasure of watching that includes a good bit of Zumba footage and how everyone enjoyed it as well.

Blog, Events

Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association’s TechNet 2013

September 13, 2013 Michael Banks 2 Comments

This past week I had the unique opportunity to attend a Technology Conference called TechNet. TechNet is hosted by an organization called AFCEA (Armed Forces Communications And Electronics Association). The theme of the conference was, “Modernizing for Network 2020 and Beyond: Empower, Connect, Dominate!” There were many vendors there demoing enterprise technology catering to the Department of Defense. One demo that was popular at the show as you could image is was a war fighter simulation that seem to catch everyone’s eye that was developed by Dell.

While the exhibit floor has many attractions for many, I sat in on one of the keynotes that were going on in the presentation hall. The speaker I happened to sit in on was Lieutenant General Susan S. Lawrence, Chief Information Officer/G-6 United States Army, who gave the morning keynote. Her keynote was based on Network Operational Effectiveness & Security. She spoke the Army of the Future and the direction the Army will be taking through a Networked and Cyber age of Technology. She showed what right looked like as far as a soldier was that was always connected. She mentioned, “…it’s all about staying connected and getting the right information to the right person as soon as possible.” She also spoke about the balance of Enterprise, Business, and Warfighter in relation to Network Operation. After her presentation Chief of Signal Major General LaWarren V. Patterson presented a token of appreciation for speaking and serving our country.

It was an awesome conference and i’d recommend to anyone interested in the DOD or the Army and is a Techy.

Blog, Events

Low Light Photography is not as easy as it looks

August 30, 2013 Michael Banks 1 Comment

I have taken photos recently at an event at Brunswick National Lanes called jaguaRave. It was a social bowling events. The event started at Midnight so they turn off the regular fluorescent lights and turn on the colorized neon light. I love the vibe and colors in person, but capturing what you see in person was a definite challenge.

Figuring out what camera settings to shoot the event at wasn’t too much of an issue. The only issue I had at times was the ability to grab focus, while keeping a low ISO, WITHOUT using flash. This was a bowling alley and I didn’t want to upset the vibe with using my Nikon SB-910.

I decided to use my 70-200 f/2.8 to cover the event that way I can fill the frame and capture action without being in the way. I shot all of the photos at 1/6oth of a second handheld.

Blog, Events, Portfolio

Starting the GRU Year Greek!!!

August 22, 2013 Michael Banks Leave a comment

The Jaguar Production Crew hosted ClubFest yesterday. ClubFest is a biannual event welcoming students back to school. It is an opportunity that provides student and campus organizations an occasion to share information about their organizations with incoming and returning GRU students. They were able to set up their tables with the decorated table cloths and tri fold boards.

One set of the organizations many eager to meet were the Greek Organizations and they were well represented.

The Greek Organizations that participated were:

Alpha Sigma Phi

Delta Chi

Zeta Tau Alpha

Alpha Kappa Alpha

Delta Sigma Theta

Omega Psi Phi

Kappa Alpha Psi

Zeta Phi Beta

Blog, Places, Portfolio

My Experience Breaking into Night Photography

August 13, 2013 Michael Banks Leave a comment

The Road Less Traveled…

I was told along time ago to try night photography, and I finally got up EXTRA early BEFORE training and shot a few shot in the cold. I didn’t know how I felt about night photography. When I shot this one it was freaking cold, so that’s was a CON to me. The pictures turned pretty good. It was shot with a 35mm f/1.8 which was the best lens I could shoot with in low light since it was so dark. It was at 1/4 of a second at f/8 with an ISO of 640. It wasn’t by any means my last night shoot, but I don’t plan to do it as often as others.

This was my second attempt at Night Photography: “The Imperial Theatre”

This was a shot that I wanted to attempt to get for about a week (weather). We don’t have many high rise movie theaters like I see from many other notable Photographers, but this will have to do.

From my first attempt it was recommended that I use shutter-priority and keep the ISO down to 100 and I made sure to keep alot of the other suggestions in mind. I am overall satisfied with the shot that I got. I did some post-processing in Lightroom, but no “Radical” changes.

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