@mikelongphoto twitter updates...
I’m often asked – how much Photoshop can you / do you do to my pin-up images? When clients see the first round of proofs to choose their selections for final retouching, they sometimes think…”THAT doesn’t look like the images on his website”.
So – here is a before and after. The image on the left is what we leave the studio with. It’s the perfect base point to get started. The one on the right has had my full Photoshop Lovin’. Each pin-up is unique and special…book yours today!
Ok folks – you’ve been very patient! We can’t show you the finished Animoto ad spot yet – that’ll have to wait till the magazines roll off the presses and hit the stands, but here is one from the other project we are working on…And boy was this fun to shoot!!
Not going to tell you where this one is headed…you’ll have to wait n see!
Hey folks – I’m writing from Denver, Colorado where I’m going to be shooting the awesome Sandy Puc for an ad campaign for animoto! The shoot is going to be pinup-ish, but with some twists to suit Sandy’s style!
Sandy and her crew are awesome fun, and I’m having a great time…this really is the best job in the World! We’ll be shooting the animoto shot today in her studio, and then we’re going to do some more portraits of her and her crew in a different style….no secrets revealed yet, but it’s going to be fuun!
While Sandy may not be known to the general public, any photographer worth their salt knows who she is – she tours the World teaching her great brand of marketing and shooting, and she is also the brains behind Nilmdts. To be asked to shoot her is an honor, terrifying, and amazing all at the same time!
For those photographers who read my blog – keep watching your copy of Rangefinder…when you get January’s issue..the animoto ad in there is my image!!
More soon….
My last wedding for the year – Alicia and Tim! They had an amazing wedding, with a really cool bunch of family and guests. We started at The Nines in downtown Portland for some classy portraits, then we all headed to The Secret Society for the ceremony and party. It’s days like this that I truly love my job – weddings are a passion for me and I enjoy being part of a couple’s happy day, and this one was full of fun, emotion and romance…perfect!
My 2nd photographer for the day was the great Joel Bock – a fantastic photographer and cool to hang with too!
Alicia had her make-up expertly finished by Nicole Wagner – I’ve worked with her on several weddings and she’s always wonderful!
Here are a few of my faves as they came off the cards.
Another shot from the NoBS Inferno in Nashville. After explaining my lighting set-up, and some basic ideas about pin-up posing, I relaxed Kourteney with some easy shots using a phone, then we went into a soda fountain theme. This shot, as with about 90% of all my shots, was taken against a plain white background. This was then processed using my new Pindora actions and taken into the Pindora Virtual Room. I added stock shots to complete the image.
If you want to learn more about what I do, and how I do it…and are in either the Saskatoon area or Greater Toronto area, then sign up for my No Limits: North January workshops!
Mike Long (co-creator of Pindora’s Box) and Andy Armstrong (creator of Design House) are teaming up for an invasion of Canada this January. No Limits: North (the canadian invasion) is two-stop tour of workshops in Canada.
Stop one:
Where: Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario at Tina Weltz’ Calla Studio (about an hour from Toronto)
When: Sunday, January 24th and Monday, January 25th
Price per Participant: $299 (USD)
Stop Two:
Where: Humboldt, SK at Alison Berk’sImagin Photography Studio (about an hour from Saskatoon)
When: Saturday, January 30th and Sunday, January 31st
Price per Participant: $299 (USD)
In 2009, Armstrong and Long teamed up for a workshop called “No Limits” in Portland, Oregon. In 2010, the duo is taking the show on the the road to the North. The first two-day workshop is being held in Greater Toronto on January 24 & 25, 2010. The second two-day workshop is being held in Humboldt, SK on January 30 & 31.
This two-day, intensive photography and photoshop workshop will feature:
At “No Limits” you’ll learn how to break the rules and create images that blow your clients away! You will not want to miss this opportunity. Sign up today.
Mike Long is a professional retoucher and photographer. He is co-creator of Pindora’s Box (an amazing set of tools for post-production and pin-up work) and the owner of Katchlight Studio in Portland,Oregon. His pin-up work has taken the Portland area by storm, and his photoshop skills are unreal. Mike is originally from Great Britain and can show you exactly how to create images that wow your clients.
Andy Armstrong is a three-time international award-winning photographer who makes his home in Knoxville, Tennessee. He has covered weddings in the Southeastern United States, the Greater Boston area, Denver, Colorado, Kingston, Ontario, Canada and even St. Croix. He works with models on a local, national, and international level. He specializes in fashion/glamour work, but does not limit himself to a single genre.
In 2008, Armstrong released his Design House software for photographers and designers, and he his second release (Design House Library Vol. 2) to the public. With more than 15 years of graphic design experience and a growing photography business, Andy Armstrong understands the needs of and teaches concepts for the modern digital photographer.
Please Note:
The rate of $299 is an early-bird special rate and is only good thru 12/15/2009. The rate will go up to $325(USD) on 12/16/2009. Get registered now and save!
This workshop is limited to the first 30 people who register through this site. No additional seats will be added. Hotel Accommodations must be booked separately and are not the responsibility of Design House, Andy Armstrong or Mike Long. Andy Armstrong, Mike Long and Design House reserve the right to refuse registration for any reason at any time. After booking, this registration may not be cancelled and will not be refunded. You may transfer your space to another participant if needed, but the transaction for transfer is not the responsibility or Design House, Mike Long or Andy Armstrong. In the unlikely event that this workshop must be cancelled, you will receive a complete refund. After registration, you will receive a confirmation email and receipt. As we move closer to the workshop, you will receive more No Limits: North information via email.
Here is the first image that I’ve retouched from my recent trip to Nashville to teach an international group of photographers. This is Kourteney, and she’d never done pin-up before! She was great fun, and good sport and everyone loved her. She stayed for the rest of the day, and agreed to model for us later on when we had our ‘shoot-out’ in the evening!
More to come from both Kourteney and our star model too!
I had a great time in Nashville, and teaching photographers is going to form a large part of my future plans for Portland Pin-Ups…especially combined with Pindora’s Box, which photographers can use to make their pin-ups look awesome too. I’m in the final stages of planning my first 2010 workshops, and am planning on heading out of Portland again. First destinations will be released soon. If you want to host me in your city, get in touch!
For immediate release: Mama Shan and Mike Long introduce Pindora’s Box Glamouring Edition for photographers
Complete set of tools and training for masterfully creating beautiful pin-up photographs and illustrations
Nashville, TN November 1, 2009 — From digital artist Mama Shan, and photographer and retoucher Mike Long, comes a unique set of tools, training videos and a one of a kind Virtual Room to help pin-up photographers create works of art.
The Pindora’s Box Bundle contains over 230 Photoshop® actions encompassing workflow, retouching, color enhancement, artistic and illustrative. A unique approach to skin smoothing is included, using the MADIMS system to accurately smooth any size of image.
The Virtual Room enables photographers to shoot against a white or gray background, then using the Virtual Room create a limitless number of versions with wallpapers, floors and walls all fully customizable.
The included training videos, all HD quality, show lighting, background and camera settings for a pinup shoot, and also cover every action in the bundle as well as advanced retouching methods.
Membership to a support site is included with purchase, giving buyers a direct connection to the creators and access to the resources created for Pindora.
For additional information on Pindora’s Box, contact:
Mike Long or visit www.portlandpinups.com / Mama Shan www.photoshopmama.net
About Mama Shan and Mike Long:
Mama Shan Canfield has been an artist and teacher for over 10 years, and creates Photoshop® actions and tools to help photographers.
Mike Long has been a retoucher and photographer for over 15 years, and created the Portland Pin-Ups studio brand.
I feel that I haven’t been posting much – it’s been a busy couple of weeks here! I’m currently in Nashville at the NoBS Photo Success Inferno Bootcamp workshop. NoBS is the BEST photo forum on the web, and I’m lucky enough to be a part of it. Run by Rob Provencher and James Hodgins you won’t find a better place on the net to learn, connect and grow your photography business.
This year, Rob and James invited me to speak, and yesterday I spent a couple of hours talking about my pin-up photography and then performed a live photo shoot with two models. The first model was Kourteney, a local girl who was amazing…her first time as a pin-up and she rocked it. The second model was a surprise one, and more details of that later on!!! 
Speaking and teaching to other photographers is something that I love to do, and will be doing much more of in the future.
Nashville is also where Mama Shan and I debuted Pindora’s Box – a wonderful set of tools for photographers. If you shoot pin-ups, boudoir, kids, seniors, weddings….anything! then Pindora’s Box will take your images to the next level, and beyond.
More from Inferno soon, including some behind the scenes videos from my pin-up presentation.