Ahhh, animated Gifs. Gotta love them right? Usually funny animations or clips from movies first come to mind. But as a commercial photographer and retoucher, I think it's a valuable way to illustrate to colleagues and clients alike, the steps that are involved in creating an impactful image. I recently found great article on how to create animated gifs and decided to give it a try. I highly recommend checking out Brian Dalessandro's Blog:

This is the beginning of a new Google Series that I will be writing about. This series of articles will talk about how I use Google services as a commercial photographer based in South Bend, Indiana. Please note, that I am not being paid by Google to sell services, these articles will be derived from an informational standpoint stemmed from my own thoughts and opinions on how I use these services in my own personal workflow as a commercial photographer. Lastly, in order to use these services, you will need to sign up for a free google account, if you already have a gmail account, then you have a google account. 

GOOGLE DRIVE FOR COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS

Let's start off by talking about what Google Drive is. Simply put, Google Drive a free cloud storage service that lets you store and access your files anywhere, on the web, on your computers hard drive, or on your mobile device, by downloading Google Drive app and using your Google Account. You can also go to https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2424384?hl=en to find out more about Google Drive in full detail. 

With Google Drive, you get a generous 15GB of free storage for any types of file(s) you'd like to access. In addition, creating and using Google Docs, do not count against your 15GB limit. Now lets say, you start using Google Drive a lot, and you need more space. No problem, they offer additional cloud storage tiers for very reasonable prices; the best I've seen on the web actually. As of today's date, you can get 100GB for $4.99 a month up to 16TB for $800 a month, now that's going way overboard for cloud storage for about 99.9% of the population, but you get the point. 

PLANNING

Planning is key to any successful commercial photo shoot. Being that I work for an advertising agency, there are often many players in the planning stages of a shoot. Sometimes the ball is in my court to come up with visuals for a given clients needs. Other times there is a Creative Director conceptualizing the ideas. Often times however, this is a collaborative effort between creatives at the agency. Once the ideas are drafted on paper, my job as the photographer is to execute this idea as a deliverable to the client.

For this particular shoot, I was creating the atmosphere of a classroom. More on the conceptual side; less on the classroom full of desks and kids side. So, I really had to think about how I was going to convey this space without actually having all of the classroom elements in place. The elements that I had to work with were; a nice wood floor, a neutral colored solid wall, a desk, and a model. The rest of this shot would have to be created in post because I didn’t have the items at the time. I knew that it would be easier to composite these items in photoshop, than it would be to go out, buy the items, and place them on the wall.

I always pre-plann the shoot as much as I a possibly can. It puts my mind at ease knowing exactly how I will put the final shot together. I knew that the way I shot it would allow me to composite elements later in photoshop. These elements included a chalkboard, clock, books and a bookshelf. Knowing exactly where I would later place these items in the scene, allowed me to properly frame my composition and allow for a successful photo shoot.

The bottom line here is to plan as much as possible. Paint a clear picture in your head of what you will be creating. Know what you’re going to shoot, and know what you are going to do in post. Always shoot with post production in mind.