Studio 311 Blog

Enter to Win Free Headshot

City of Angels Headshots — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 23:18:38 +0000

As part of a summer special from “City of Angels Headshots” we are offering a free headshot photoshoot lottery.

The winner will be chosen at our Event on Sunday, August 7th featuring the music of ”Wahid.” All are welcome!

See this link for more information: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=195999697121063

So back to the lottery :-O!

To enter the lottery for a free headshot package please follow these directions. We will only send you emails about our free art events in downtown Los Angeles. Pinky Swear!!

1. Go to our Contact page and fill in the name and email fields then put in the description “photoshoot lottery.”

http://www.cityofangelsheadshots.com/contact

2. Go to our Facebook Fan page and “Like” us.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/City-of-Angels-Headshots/137488916337282?sk=wall

3. Go to our Twitter Page and “Follow” us.

http://twitter.com/LAactorheadshot

Once we see that you’ve completed all three steps we will enter your name in the lottery and send you an email confirming your entry. If you win, you will receive an email announcing the prize of a professional photoshoot worth $150.00 (one look, one retouched image) OR 60% off a a 3 looks headshot package (worth $300).

Thanks for entering and good luck!!

Laria & James

We Are Back Again!

City of Angels Headshots — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 06:40:39 +0000

Our New Loft for Portraits & Headshots

Hello World! We moved, changed our name and our website and got all new equipment!

So much has happened since our last post I don’t know where to begin!

We are no longer called Photography Studio 311. Our new name is City of Angels Headshots

and we are now located in a beautiful artist loft in the arts district of downtown Los Angeles.

Our new website is:

http://www.cityofangelsheadshots.com

We know time are tough these days so we are offering a summer special on headshots.

It is now 50% off all packages ($150-$300) which will expire 9/14/11. So book your

photoshoot soon!

We are also still running a studio rental special for only $20 an hour in

1600 Sq. Ft of space with a long list of amazing equipment! For the full list

of equipment and amenities see our website under studio rental.

Happy to back in the blogosphere!

Actor Headshot / Aerial Silk Performer

City of Angels Headshots — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 20:39:58 +0000

Recently had a shoot with a beautiful subject, Alycia Grant aka Ali Grant. Beautiful, funny and multi-talented as an actor, voice over artist and aerial silk performer. Please enjoy a few samples below. Click on the images to see a larger version. If you would like to see more, please visit:

City of Angels Headshots

Actor Headshot - Ali Grant

Portrait-Ali Grant-Aerial-Silk

Photoshop Tip: B&W Conversion Technique #1

City of Angels Headshots — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 04:29:39 +0000

Christian Lincoln, Writer

I’ve received several emails commenting on the B&W portraits on my headshot website – City Of Angels Headshots – and asking if I would share my approach to B&W conversion. I have several techniques I use that range in complexity. Generally, the more complex methods give the greatest flexibility, but can be overkill in many circumstances as well as impractical for a workflow that requires converting many images on a tight deadline.

In the coming weeks I will share other approaches, but I would like to kick things off with one of my favorite techniques that allows for a tremendous amount of experimentation and gives many “happy accidents”. I’m going to assume a fundamental knowledge of Photoshop. I hope you find it of value and fun!

Steps:

Layer 1 – The bottom layer in Photoshop is your color image.

Layer 2 – Add a Hue / Saturation adjustment layer. Leave the settings at their defaults. Set the blend mode to “color”. Rename the layer to “Filter” for clarity. You won’t see any changes in the image.

Layer 3 – Add another Hue / Saturation adjustment layer. Set the saturation value to -100. Rename the layer as “Film”. Blending mode is set to “normal”.

Now return to the Filter layer by selecting it and adjust the Hue value for different interpretations. Optionally, you can adjust saturation as well. Another option is select individual color channels, then adjust the values.

I think it’s important to note that this approach maintains the integrity of your highlights.

If you would like to “go deep” into B&W conversion, I highly recommend Katrin Eismann’s classes at Kelby training.

More soon….

~James

History lessons in photography

City of Angels Headshots — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 15:30:58 +0000

Some time ago I had the pleasure of hearing Colin Westerbeck speak at MOCA in Los Angeles on Robert Frank‘s, “The Americans”. After his lecture, familiarity with the back story of Frank’s work definitely increased my appreciation of the exhibit. Westerbeck is Director at UCR/California Museum of Photography. After hearing his lecture, I wanted to read every article the man had written. He was that good. As we all know, “google is your friend” and I found a series of articles Mr. Westerbeck had written for the Los Angeles Times newspaper. The articles span several years. If you’re interested in knowing the historical context, etc in which various photographers created and exhibited their work, these articles are highly recommended!

You can find the articles here: http://8.12.42.31/writers/colin-westerbeck

Enjoy!

~James

Rejoining the blogosphere

City of Angels Headshots — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 07:07:08 +0000

Hello all! Welcome and thank you for visiting the blog of photographers, James Duffy and Laria Saunders. We hope sharing our explorations in photography will be a catalyst of mutual learning. To view our photography work, please visit: City Of Angels Headshots. We will be launching individual websites in early 2011 to showcase our personal work, from abstract images to landscapes to fashion photography. Please check back often for updates.