Ruby Del Angel Photography - Blog

Ruby Del Angel Photography

Photographing dogs and Improvising

12/8/2014

Recently, I was asked to do a shoot for a lady I know. It was her, her significant other, and her dogs. Oh and one of the dogs is a very energetic 9 week old boxer pup. Cute! The weather started out as overcast and icky, and she wanted to shoot indoors in her living room. Well, most who know me know I deal mainly with natural light and I don't have studio lighting. What to do... what to do... I improvised. I made a soft box in about 15 minutes with materials I had around the house. I didn't want to use a flash because of the pup and because of "demon eyes", so I made a much larger box to use with a regular light. It worked beautifully in my home test. Well, I ended up not having to use it because as I got to her house the clouds parted, the beautiful sun came out and I had the most beautiful light to work with through her large living room windows. (If I had not made it, I'm sure the sky would have managed to be even darker... you know how that goes.) The photo shoot was fun and high energy. I haven't laughed that much on a shoot before... the dogs' antics gave me several great "outtakes" to chuckle at while editing. All in all a great shoot.... and if I do say so myself, some great improvising. I think I'll keep it and use it for dramatic lighting in my conceptual work. Remember, photography doesn't always require the most expensive gear. You can always improvise!

Here are some images of my homemade soft box. Please excuse my mess in the first pic... I had all of my Christmas goodies dragged out for decorating!

Marketing.... ARRRGGGHHH

12/5/2014

Yes, that was me screaming. Well, kind of. More of a growl/scream.

As much as I love photography... and that's a lot..    A LOT.. I hate the marketing side..   A LOT .    A LOTTER? More A LOT? A LOTTEST?   You get the point.   I am really not good at it.   Maybe because I have no interest in that part? Ok, ok.. so I definitely have no interest in that part. I'm having to make myself work harder at marketing. Sigh.. ok.. I'm having to make myself start to begin to work at marketing myself. See, I don't really like to talk about myself. I'd much rather talk about another photographer and their work. Great for them. HOWEVER, I'm pretty sure they aren't going to share with me the financial benefits of me marketing them. Pretty sure.

I also hate Twitter. Well I don't hate it but I can't keep up with it. At all.    I tweet something and by the time I look at the next 10 tweets, 20 more have come in. Or I go to the bathroom and come back and 100 new tweets are there. 20 of them are from the same person. What? What do these people do all day? I have things to do. Sigh.... I have to learn to use Twitter more, I know. I know that it's good for business.

Facebook.   FACEBOOK.   I have a Facebook business page. Facebook hates me apparently. Along with every other small business owner. Playing hide and seek with my posts. Or just hide.   And forget.   I know I need to be more "personable" on my business page. Let people get to know me. BUT.. (if you've been reading and paying attention you'll know what comes next).. I don't like to talk about myself and every little thing I do. I'm a private person. I'll work on that, too. The talking more about nothing part on my Facebook page. I'm actually pretty good at writing and I have a very warped, but great, sense of humor. (oops now you know something about me). I guess I should put that to work for me in the marketing.   Something to think about.

I have business cards. I do. They are beautiful. Made them myself. Well I designed them myself, the lovely printing company made them. I give them out. Sometimes. I'm better at that than I am at Twitter or Facebook.

Well, I feel better now. I have a plan. Ok so it's the same plan I've had all along, but I feel less frustrated with this little bit of venting. I know I have to work harder on the marketing. It's important. It's either that or get a "real" job. Hahahaha.... Look, every photographer I know and the ones I don't just got all defensive. "It IS a real job!".   Yes it is, I agree whole heartedly. Which is why I need to get off of here and get back to work.

Have a wonderful rest of the day!

Xoxoxo

New things going on

11/8/2014

Two calendars for 2015 are now available in my store, as well as a few new prints. They all make great Christmas gifts! They can be ordered any time but December 5th is the last day to order to guarantee delivery for Christmas. Also, I am not finished adding to the store so if you see an image in my galleries that you are interested in purchasing please feel free to contact me.

If you would like to keep up with my work, I have added an email signup tab to my Facebook business page. Your privacy is as important to me as my own so your email address is safe with me! Go here to sign up: www.facebook.com/TheSoulsExpression

Thanks so much for all your support and please don't forget to hop over to my Guestbook and let me know you were here!

New Work On My Facebook Photography Page

9/11/2014

Don't forget to swing by and check out the newest works on my Facebook Photography Page!

Post by The Soul's Expression.

Presented By Arcangel Images

6/16/2014

A selection of my work beautifully presented by my agency, Arcangel Images. Click on the image to see the presentation.

Tips For Beginner Photographers: Tip #3

6/4/2014

Enjoy educating yourself

Photography is one of those things where you learn something new all the time. Look around you. Look again. Inspiration is everywhere, literally. Learn to look at everything you see with the eyes of a photographer.... I guarantee you'll start to see photo opportunities where, before, you saw just the every day moments of life. Go try it! Have fun!

Tips For Beginner Photographers: Tip #2

5/21/2014

Experiment, Experiment, Experiment (with your camera's settings)

Your point and shoot may be able to do more than you realize. Be sure to read the manual for help in figuring out all those little symbols. Explore your camera. Use each setting and see what it does (this goes back to my earlier post about learning your camera inside and out). If your camera offers a manual mode LEARN TO USE IT. Manual mode offers you the biggest flexibility. When shooting in manual, YOU are telling the camera what to do, not just the shutter clicker. Experiment with it and see what happens. Later when you've uploaded your pics to your computer and you're looking through them, if you see an image you really like, you can recall the setting you used by looking at the EXIF for that image (usually in the file info). Remember those settings and work forward from there. Now get out there and start experimenting!

Tips For Beginner Photographers: Tip #1

5/14/2014

(my old Sony point and shoot, which still works great, and my Nikon)

Don't go crazy and buy the most expensive equipment right away. I have seen tons of very nice images from good point and shoot cameras. So if you already have one, learn it inside and out until you feel like you've outgrown it and are ready to upgrade. Many folks who jump from a point and shoot to a DSLR too soon get frustrated by the quality of pics they produce. It's not the camera, guys, it's just that you haven't taken time to learn. Take your time. I started with a Sony DSC-H1.. point and shoot. It's a great little camera and I actually still have it and still use it. My daughter loves to use it when we go out. I used it until I felt like I had learned it inside and out and could not go any further with it. THEN I upgraded to my Nikon DSLR. So, just thought I would share a bit this morning.

GOOGLE +

3/4/2014

Ok so I decided to jump in with both feet and try out Google +. I am still on Facebook, I just wanted to experiment with Google + and see how it goes. So far it's slow going as I'm trying to get use to their layout and goodies. So please go check it out but bear with me as I navigate my way through! Thanks so much and hope to see you there!

Google + ... Ruby Del Angel

VOGUE!

2/1/2014

I've added a new page to my website for my images that have been published by VOGUE Italia. Check it out!