Behind the Scenes! Cody Cameron Photoshoot

       About a week ago, I got the chance to take pictures of this super awesome cool girl, named Cody Cameron! I want to point out that Cody is someone who really inspires me. She is a smart and talented person who is brave enough to do whatever it takes to follow her dreams. Not many people I know could drop everything and drive 2,000+ miles to LA and start a new life with no home or plan AND be as successful at it! Bitch got balls. ANYWAYZ we talked about doing a photoshoot for a couple months, and since she was in town, we finally did it! I knew there was a barn two miles south of my house that had this really old punching bag in it. After seeing it, I imagined the person who would use this bag, back in the day, and thought it would be really neat to recreate that scene in a photo! (With a cuter person) :P

       My friend Myles Beeson also came along and brought his super awesome lights and equipment to make the shoot 34752390750927352235 times easier and more fun! We had three 600w constant lights, one with a lightbox and one with a barn-door. 

       Below are some photos that I took to kind of show how this stuff is done! Check out the rest of the photos here! If you want to see more work by Cody, click here!!! more work by Myles heeeeere! Thanks!

Cody being cold!

Miles working his magic

Cody and Myles texting LOL :)

Cody being cold again

Cody and Myles reviewing photoz!

Photos by Kyle Dunn

Photoshop Tutorial: Hair Color

Hey! If you're interested in learning how to change hair-color using Adobe Photoshop, here is a simple way to do it!

STEP 1: GET A PHOTO (with a white background)

   

I took the photo above in my garage. The light is reflecting off of the white garage door, brighter than the other lights in the room, creating a washed out effect behind the subject. You can use my photo for practice!

STEP 2: COLOR THE HAIR (with a brush tool)

Create a new layer. (I will refer to this as your "Color" layer.) Use the brush tool (shift + b) to paint the colors you want over the hair. Use a soft brush If you want to blend different colors together.

Apply your color(s), completely covering only the parts of the hair you want to add color. It is a good idea to try this a couple of times on different layers. After a couple tries, choose your favorite layer and hide the others. Keep in mind, the final colors may turn out different than the colors you intended.

Hint: Any color that is covering your white background will not be visible in your final image. Don't worry about staying in the lines! Erase any color that is touching the skin.

STEP 3: Change Opacity and Layer Style

Lower the Opacity of the Color layer to 60%

Then change the layer style of the same Color layer from Normal.. To Overlay!

WOW! Look at that! It's like MAGIC. I know. 

Some Final Tips: Play around with your image, using layers and layer masks to create different effects. Use brighter colors because they usually end up looking less saturated. If you want less saturated colors, lower the opacity. If you want even brighter colors, duplicate the Color layer and keep the opacity at 60% or below for both layers. 

Have fun!

Film Photography

       Random scans from my first three roles of film for my Photography Class at Parkland College this spring. I was using my friend Pat's scanner and I we couldn't figure out how to scan one slide at a time, so a lot of these are multiple pictures in one. It looks pretty interesting so we didn't try to fix it. There are also a couple photos where pat scanned two negatives at once, creating a double exposure photo, and that effect looks pretty neat as well!

Photos by: Kyle Dunn

Model Spotlight: Jill Schultz

       Hailing from Gibson City Illinois, This small town girl has always loved being in front of a camera! Jill Schultz does it all, whether it be acting, modeling, singing, or playing music, there's no doubt in the amount of talent this girl possesses.

       Last summer, Jill decided to move to New York City to pursue a career in the fashion industry. She worked for fashion photographer, Michael William Paul as one of his assistants. There, she was able to experience all the behind-the-scenes work of some of the fashion industry's top representatives. By the end of the summer, she realized that working in this industry was not for her. Jill is now pursuing a career in acting. She recently signed with Rock Agency, a talent agency in Madison, Wisconsin. Through this agency, she plans on finding work modeling, acting and singing.

For those who are aspiring to become models, Jill gives some advice for what it takes to get started!

       Young models should start with doing test shoots, by finding recognized photographers and paying them to take their photos to start a portfolio. The goal is to get signed by an agency and what these agencies are looking for is versatility in the models looks and photographs. They want a bunch of different looks, not just fashion shots. They want to see some commercial and fitness shots in there as well. Once you have this, you send them into different agencies all over the country, which you can even do online. You don't have to be from the same city your agency is in. It's very important to read through your contracts and make sure to bring a parent because when getting signed, a lot of information is thrown at you at once. If an agent makes you pay to have them as an agent they are not legit. They should only get commission off of the work you do.

       I was also fortunate enough to take some photos of Jill in a random field about a mile south of my house. I love the way she is able to easily channel different emotions and express them so dramatically. Each photo she takes just shines with passion and life. Below are a few of my favorites!

Canon 7D 50mm F1.8

Model & Styling - Jill Schultz

Need more Jill!? Check out her work:

Jill's Vimeo Page

Model Mayhem Portfolio

Update

Hey guys! So, keeping up with all four of my daily blogs has been a lot harder than I thought it would be! It was hard at first, but it's been a couple of days and I feel like I am getting into the grove of uploading and posting things all the time. I'm really glad that I'm taking more photos now than usual. I took something like 5,000 photos this weekend, and below are two that I really really really like! :) If you want to see more photos like this, check out my blog  Cornfield Swag  <--click it!

Also this week, I am going to post an interview I did of one of my good friends, and up-and-coming model, Jill Schultz! I had the privilege of taking her photos this weekend, so I will share those and our discussion about her experience in the modeling industry and her plans for the future!