Photographer of the Week - Bobby Deal

Meet this weeks featured photographer, he's the real deal when it comes to stock photography

This weeks featured photographer is no stranger to the microstock industry. Other photographers often covet his work, his eye of creativity and his gorgeous models. To him it is not a hobby or side income but it is a true business. He has a product he has demand and his work sells well. Please enjoy the words of this weeks featured photographer Bobby Deal.

So shall I bore you and tell you all about how like most everyone else in this business I started creating photographs as a teen? How I started out with an old 35mm split view rangefinder, the kind with a yellow viewfinder that was almost impossible to see clearly in. Or maybe you want to know that at the same time I was talking photos for the school paper I was also developing and printing my own black and white work in a makeshift darkroom in a shed behind our house. I could tell you about all these things but I won’t bore you with anymore of the details of that long road from film to digital. The truth is I have followed a path that runs quite parallel with most of my peers in this industry.

The advent of digital photography was like a rebirth for me. From the first simple snap shots I took with a 2.2 mp HP digital compact I was enthralled with the art of photography all over again. A reawakening of sorts I suddenly felt a freedom in photography that I had never felt before when shooting with film. Just like my early days in the B&W darkroom, the whole process was back in my hands, back in my control. With traditional color film photography I always just felt like a shutter release, like the real creative magic was truly created in the darkroom. Today with digital I once again feel the creative process is back in my full control.

Over the years photography has afforded me many wonderful opportunities. From working with celebrities and sports superstars to traveling to exotic locations the adventures just keep coming and with each new adventure comes a new opportunity to learn and grow my skills in this wonderful art. Not the least of which has been Microstock. Microstock has changed the rules and leveled the playing field. For a great many photographers it has opened up a new niche market of buyers that may very well prove to be larger and more lucrative to us in the end then our traditional Rights Managed markets ever were.

My setup is fairly basic

Camera - Nikon D2X
Lenses - Nikon 24 - 120 f/3.5 VR, 80-400 f/4.5 VR Tamaron 28 - 75 f/2.8
Flash - Nikon SB-800

Studio Set up
12' roll white seamless paper
4 Calumet / Bowens 750 watt strobe heads
Soft boxes, umbrellas, reflectors and assorted light modifiers

In the studio for stock, I shoot a very standard light ratio over white to isolate the subject in the camera. I arrange the lights in a 4 point pattern with the background lights 2 full stops hotter then the foreground lights to provide a relatively flat coverage of the light. This allows me to leave a designer as many light modeling choices as possible when incorporating my images into their designs. While many web designers utilizing Microstock may not care about the lighting options I leave open to them the print designers definitely do. I believe that it is because I provide designers with truly isolated images with very flat lighting that I see better then 1/3 of my sales come through at print resolution. Those Large and X-Large downloads add up in a hurry!

This often results in images with are a little less contrast then I would personally prefer, but ultimately my job as a stock photographer is not to appeal to my own aesthetic taste but to provide my clients with as many options as possible in the imagery I provide them. If I leave the lighting as flat as I can while still maintaining enough pop to catch their eye, then they can make the final contrast and sharpening adjustments as they fine tune their designs.

It is because of the need to provide designers with options that I have such a strong tendency to shoot in series. Unlike a still life object, a living model can tell a multitude of stories with just the most subtle change in body language. A shift of the head, a repositioning of the hand or a change of facial expression between to very similar images can tell two completely different stories. By utilizing series I know that I reduce the odds of having any one image appear in any lists of top selling images. However I understand that I trade the momentary spotlight for extended sales and exposure through a wide diversity of design options provided to the client.

When it comes to post processing, I have a real tendency to be a minimalist. I do the usual adjustment of curves and color and maybe make a quick pass over the eyes and teeth of a model with the dodge tool to slightly whiten them or clean up light shadows around the feet with the same tool. But that it pretty much it aside from the occasional cloning out of skin blemishes or the unavoidable logo mark on a prop or wardrobe item.

Today my primary focus is on commercial fashion and glamour for stock and the larger percentage of it is entered into the fast paced Microstock marketplace. That said I am still always available for assignments and to fill all your personal, family and commercial photography needs. Be it a family portrait, commercial food, product photography or event / production stills Real Deal photography has the creativity, equipment and experience to provide you with the professional quality imagery you demand.