We had so many ideas we wanted to work upon, but it was a fine line of wanting to be just cliché enough, without going crazy with it. After a lot of deliberation we settled on some rail road tracks. YEAAHHHH thats cliche to the max! It had to fit the theme and I was pretty sure I could pull off a shoot on a railroad track that didn’t look like a country and western album cover.

Challenge  accepted.

I wont bore you with too many details and I wont share too many of the shots because they are still to be edited by their graphic designer for their album work. I cant wait to see what they get turned into for the final product. Very cool stuff. And if you get a chance to check out Epic Death tell them Big John sent ya!

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Sure, this special is geared towards the social media sites like Facebook or Twitter but use your imagination. With your picture being delivered to you as a digital download you can print your new profile picture on business cards and blanket the city with your pretty face, or you could include a cute photo of you to your utility companies each time you send them that fat check each month.

So you may find yourself asking, “Big John, what does all this mean?”

Well let me tell you. It’s a chance to get a new, fun, stylized profile picture that will amaze your friends, wow your family, and make you the center of attention for a price that wont break the bank. In fact its a pretty crazy price for the level of attention your new profile picture is going get.

What You Get
A Pre shoot consultation to find out what you want in your final product.

Roughly half an hour of shooting time.  This is your time to shine. You should have some props, some facial expressions and possibly an outfit change at the ready.  Keep in mind this isn’t going to replace your family’s JC Penny portrait, it’s going to crush it was the force of a thousand angry elephants.

Post shoot proofing to pick the image you want in your final product.

A digital image to use online, in emails, etc.

Your Investment
All of this is yours for only 50 dollars with the inclusion of one pose in a digital file and a lifetime of awesome-ness.

Dont miss your chance to become immortalized in an image that is exactly how you want to be portrayed, as fun or as boring as you want to be (or are).  Book your appointment now by calling or texting 281.756.7056 or emailing me at John@BigJohnsPhotography.com you won’t be disappointed.

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When I heard that this kid is out racing these things I got excited and told them I wanted to make his portrait. It turns out My friends brother really likes my work and thought it would be cool if I would do one of my signature portraits for his son. I already knew what I wanted to do, so I told them to suit the kid up and meet me at the parking lot.

I shot everything with just one light, an Alien Bee 800 in a beauty dish boomed camera right. The sun was high and to the left giving me a 2 light look. Interestingly enough I didn’t composite in a new background though I did some work to it obviously. There isn’t really much to say about it I suppose, and stupid me again forgot to take a shot of the whole set up so once again use your imagination.

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One of my New Years resolutions is to try to give some more behind the scenes stuff for your enjoyment and to help me have set up shots just for my reference. Ansley (at the time) was in the process of moving and had a great room we could set up and use. It was a basic 3 light setup.

behind the scenes 3 lights on a medium gray wall

As we were getting everything set up I started to take some shots of him, not really having a game plan or direction. I like to keep things in one place and move around myself. It can really create some different lighting that you otherwise may not have considered using. And thus we arrived at what we call, the Abe Lincoln shot.

profile ansley… the “abe lincoln” shot

When I got these shots home and on the computer I was pretty excited about this one. I really felt that it was going to be the winner of the batch, especially in a shoot that really was just chimping lights and camera settings to ensure an easy time the next day for Derek.

After we had everything set up, I asked him to go get some interesting prop and I would see if I could make him something nice. He came back with a big road case that has a lot of sentimental value from all of his years playing music. I still made use of the 3 light setup, however instead of using the third front light to really light up Ansley I used it to brighten up the case.

This shot sat unedited for a while until I finally had that “ah ha” moment and was ready to work on it. Turns out it was the winner of the bunch and will soon be printed on a large canvas for him to hang in his new loft apartment. I love it when stories have a happy ending.

The post Ansley. The Next Chapter Begins. appeared first on Big Johns Photography.

I have 3 different shoots I have completed since christmas that I wish to share and I cant wait to do it!

First up, is Derek Norman of Advantage Point Video. Last year he created some fantastic artwork for our Tough Mudder team “The Splitstickers” and in return I wanted to make him a great portrait he could show off to his friends and use on in his business. Derek is a great guy who does tons of great work as a videographer for a lot of Houston bands, as well as making amazing recordings of your life moments, weddings, birthdays etc.

Derek has a signature look to him when you see him out in the music venues. He always has his camera attached to a monopod, which allows him great stability along with being able to get different angles that your average Joe with an iPhone just wouldn’t be able to get. In his logo he uses an image of himself with his camera perched atop his monopod and I thought it would be neat to do a take on this idea. I know that these days videographers don’t really use “tape” anymore but most people I think still like to associate video with “tape” so we destroyed an old Metallica VHS tape and let it drape from Derek. After the shot was done I created the little plasma ball effect and took a separate shot of Derek with his camera and added it to the center. It is a nice blend of portrait and composite combining elements of Derek and his logo.

Derek Norman of Advantage Point Video is draped in an old Metallica VHS tape for his portrait with an orb of his likeness.

After this shot I wanted to produce something a little more normal but still with some fun than a plain ol portrait on a gray background. The last two shots have backgrounds that started with stock shots I took while wandering downtown with the first one having some slight smoke added to the shot and the second one adding in a big blood blob because, well, what is more metal than that?

Derek against a stock shot taken during an outing in downtown.

Derek with a smile against another stock shot taken downtown with a blood overlay

In the end I am really happy with how they turned out and I was able to give Derek something different that I am sure he wasn’t expecting.

Do you want to see more of AdVantage Point Video? Do you want to get in touch with them and book Derek for your video work needs? You can find him here:

Facebook : AdVantage Point Video
YouTube : Advantage Point Video

The post Happy New Year! (better late than never right?) appeared first on Big Johns Photography.

Merry Christmas everyone! This coming weekend will be my last weekend for the year. I will be going on vacation until the first of the year while we relocate and celebrate the holiday season. From my family to yours, have a safe, wonderful Christmas.

The post Merry Christmas! appeared first on Big Johns Photography.

Here is the raw image of myself straight from the camera. Pretty amazing huh? I know what you are thinking, who does his hair? This was shot with a basic 3 light set up, nothing special. My left hand does a decent job hiding the remote shutter release which is generally a problem for me. When I made this shot, I had an idea of what I wanted the final image to look like but I had no idea the twists and turns it would go though. The hat is actually from Blue Bell Creamery. We carefully pulled it apart and put it back together inside out. Nothing says I’m gonna get you sucka like Blue Bell ice cream, so that had to go.

After I got the shot of me the way I liked it, it was time to paint in some details. I didn’t realize I was going to wind up painting in so much. This stage took a lot of time and had a big learning curve. Oddly enough I had never done this before so there was a lot of trial and error trying to get it right. In the end I am happy with it especially for being a first time.

Great! Now lets put me together. Plain ol boring me goes underneath the fancy pants details and bloody stuff. Now I can start to see the image taking shape. I am getting excited and worried at the same time because while the subject is coming together and for the most part is finished it means I have to get started on the background. I thought I knew what I wanted. I got to work trying to create a tile wall to mimic what I would think the inside of a slaughter-house might look like. Guess what, it turns out I am not very good at digitally creating a tile wall. In all my infinite wisdom it never once dawned on me to head into my bathroom and take a picture of an actual tile wall to use.

Here I am, just scratching my head at what to do for a background. I simply cannot come up with anything to save my life! Then one day a friend gets in touch with me, he says he wants to head downtown as he has some things he’s been wanting to shoot. We head downtown and cruise around the streets, grabbing shots of anything that grabs our attention. As we walk past this little parking garage thing (I suppose that’s what you call it, I’m not sure) through the closed gate I see this awesome truck. It just screamed at me to not pass it by. At the time I wasnt really sure what I was going to do with it, but I knew that night there were going to be some great opportunities to expand my stock collection of backgrounds and textures. I set up the tripod and got as close to the gate as possible so that it wouldn’t be in the shot. It was one of those gates like you see in malls, the chain link kinda style and fired off a couple of shots that I knew would make a great HDR shot when I got home.

I created the HDR image and I knew I had a winner in it. I was already smitten, but I felt I could make it pop even more. As I sat and stared at it I realized it would be the perfect background I needed for my butcher character. I started painting in some blood on the van, painting in some blood on the ground in the tire tracks and some smears here and there. I added in some haze in the shot and added some more grunge to the truck. Just when I thought I was done I thought it would be super cool to add my logo to the side of the truck to make it something truly unique. And now there is a perfect spot right there on the left hand side, begging for the killer. So drop me in on top and the shot is complete. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

“The Butcher”

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I have been so busy lately, that I have not managed to actually pick up the camera to create anything new so I have resorted to going through some of my older work and seeing what I can make new from it. Its been kinda fun, trying some new stuff and actually making some shots that I have had sitting around wondering what to do with useful.

Heres my mediocre attempt that a billboard. I wish I had used a better picture for the billboard, something that would be more believable. The question is, is this something I want to explore again?

A proof of concept so to speak of adding a picture to an already existing billboard.

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I was invited as a guest of Mike Allen (GMA Photography) to attend this shoot and it was really fun to watch him work. He graciously let me snap some photos after he was done since there was still some time left. It was a fantastic experience to say the least. Hit the jump to see all the images, as well as links to First Step Pro-Wellness supplements, and GMA Photography. You wont want to miss them!

GMA Photography on Facebook

First Step Pro-Wellness on Facebook

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