STEADY, COWBOY #008

🗞️WELCOME TO ISSUE NO. 8

Welcome back to “STEADY, COWBOY”, where I do three things:

1. Document the effort I’m putting in to become a world class photographer & creative entrepreneur

2. Track the progress I’m making, where my head is at, and what I’m testing to raise my own game

3. Share crazy amounts of value so that I can be useful to you in your own creative mission, whatever that may be

I’m super psyched you’re here. Let’s go.

🛰️CAPTAIN’S LOG

Welcome, took a week off last week, back in the saddle now - let’s get straight to the good stuff.

🔬EXPERIMENTS & LEARNINGS THIS WEEK

1/ 🎬VIDEO: Sound effects on transition - you may have noticed in my last couple videos, I am adding a little “camera shutter” sound effect on transition. I don’t think it’s too distracting and I think it adds a little interestingness. If you want to add this for yourself, it’s in CapCut under “sounds” - just search “shutter” and there’s bunches of options.

2/ 📸PHOTO - An update on the “NO GATEKEEPING” stills approach: Mixed bag on whether this is driving any sort of additional traction. Comments are positive, so that isn’t nothing. I am going to keep doing it for now because I want to build the habit (and the reputation) for helping others understand how the finished product was realized. If you see anything you think could make it more useful, let me know.

3/ ⚙️OPERATIONS - Consulting calls: I got asked a couple weeks ago about consulting another photographer, and I’d never been asked that before. I admitted that I totally didn't have the infrastructure in place, but now I do: Pretty simple setup, just a Calendly account connected to Stripe and my Google Calendar (which’ll feed into my iCloud calendar). Alternative options could be Stan or Beacons. So if you’re looking to offer this to others, I bet it’s an hour or less to set up the whole thing.

🎞️STILLS

Let’s break down the work I put up this week:

📸 Isabela in Dallas, Texas [Spring ‘24]

Let’s break this down: some studio portraits with Isabela. Most of these, besides the flash shot, are shot with one continuous light in a softbox in studio. Here, I’m really trying to create a high level of contrast on one side of Isabela’s face, and the cowboy hat is a big part of that, we’re trying to really “compartmentalize” the light. I love how these came out, western studio is one of my favorite things.

Camera + lighting intel:

• Estimated aperture: F/2.8

• Estimated shutter speed: As fast as I can go, probably 1/640 or faster.

• Estimated ISO: 400

• Lighting intel: One continuous light on my left, Isabela’s right

• Gear used: Sony A7IV, Sigma F2.8 24-70, Tiffen Black Pro Mist ¼ strength, and a couple of generic continuous lights with 36in soft boxes, white covers, no grid.

📸 Hannah in Dallas, Texas [Fall ‘24]

Let’s break this down: really simple studio setup with Hannah. You’ll notice most of the light is coming from the left side of the frame, Hannah’s right. That’s a big transparent garage door. So if you’re taking Hannah’s picture, twelve o’clock is a white curvy wall divider, and your 9 o’clock is where all your light is coming from. One thing to know - don’t underestimate the “bounce” light has in a white room like this. Just because the light’s on the left doesn’t mean we’re not also getting some of it reflecting (is that the right word choice?) from other surfaces in the room.

Camera + lighting intel:

• Estimated aperture: F/2.8

• Estimated shutter speed: It’ll vary. I am likely no faster than 1/800 and it’ll vary a little bit based on angles

• Estimated ISO: 400

• Lighting intel: No lights other than the window

• Gear used: Sony A7IV, Sigma F2.8 24-70, Tiffen Black Pro Mist ¼ strength, and that’s it.

📸 Moses Lake Roundup [Summer ‘24]

Let’s break this down: some rodeo shots as night had fallen in Moses Lake. The first thing to know is, this takes some serious zoom. If you ever want to shoot rodeos, or any type of sporting event, you’re gonna need a big lens - this was the Sony G 100-400 F4.5-5.6. You just can’t get shots that feel that close without a lens like that. That brings us to lesson 2: See how the widest aperture this lens has is F4.5? This is the perfect example of tradeoffs in camera gear. No tool is perfect for every job. These do a great job of getting you close shots, but you run into another constraint: Low light. To make matters worse, these animals are moving fast. So you’ll see below, I had to punch it on ISO big time, and I’m probably overexposing a couple stops in Lightroom, too.

Camera + lighting intel:

• Estimated aperture: As wide as I can go

• Estimated shutter speed: Trying to get it as fast as I can for those motion shots, and about 1/200 for any others.

• Estimated ISO: 2000+, had to sacrifice there

• Lighting intel: No lights other than the stadium lights

🎬VIDEOS

First off: I’m in a rut on video, man. They’re just not getting as much traction, and it’s a bummer because I like what I’m putting out there. I’m testing this new “DIY Art Director” series that’s all about giving tangible ideas on how to easily level up the creative “oomph” of the work you’re shooting, I’m back to lighting tutorials, etc.

And: It only matters so much. Do I need to sharpen my hooks? Always. Do I need to continue to test and iterate and learn something new each time? Yes. But I saw these two tweets from Colin Landforce and the lines “ship relentlessly” and “content compounds” is keeping me on the rails.

It isn’t always going to be easy, often it won’t. And it often won’t make sense in the moment. But I just have this gut instinct that I gotta stay on the horse and I’m eventually gonna like where it leads. There have been creative ruts before. There’ll be creative ruts again. Maybe what matters is how quickly you get out of them.

Okay, on to this week’s videos:

10/23: DIY Art Director #02 - Stressed Interns IG | TT
10/21: Lighting Tutorial #19 - Beach Flash w/ Gels IG | TT 
10/20: Studio Backdrops - Light or Dark? IG | TT
10/19: Lighting Tutorial #18 - Paparazzi Crosswalk Effect IG | TT
10/18: Posing Tutorial #10 - Obscuring Your Subject’s Face IG | TT

Best of the bunch: That stressed interns video flopped but I really like it.

📈AUDIENCE GROWTH

Instagram: 9051, +278 vs. last post, +3% vs. last post (two weeks ago)
TikTok: 962 followers, +59 vs. last post, +6% vs. last post
Newsletter: 912 subscribers, +42 vs. last post, +5% vs. last post

Overall, growth is slow right now, and I’ve had those spells before & will have ‘em again.

🙋GOT A QUESTION?

Have a question about cameras, lighting, editing, workflows, whatever? Ask me here - your question may get featured and answered in depth in next week’s newsletter.

💬COMMENT OF THE WEEK

Always fun to get boosted up. Thx dude.

💬LINKS

📍Free mood board #03, vintage car ads: LINK
🆓Five free Lightroom presets: LINK
🛠️All the cameras + flashes I use: LINK
🤝1:1 consult calls: LINK

🔗SHARE

If you saw something you like or found interesting in today’s post - will you do me a solid and forward it to a friend or creator you think might like it?

Everybody have a great start to your week,

Garrett