Focus

Hello everyone,

Well, it's almost Christmas/New Years time and I've decided to add another blog before things get hectic. While most of everyones "focus" is on the holidays and all that comes with that, some people will be receiving cameras as gifts and will be photographing everything from the family Christmas tree to the kids opening their presents. Undoubtedly, some may have issues with focus, hopefully this may help a bit.

In order to get high quality tack sharp photos, I recommend starting by using the Automatic Focus on your camera lens and in your camera menu. This will give you a good starting point before switching to Manual Focus. Use the "small red dots" in your viewfinder to see where the camera wants to focus. When you depress the shutter button lightly, you will notice the focal points beeping and moving around inside your viewfinder each time before you take the photo. Make sure you are shooting at at least 1/30 of a second shutter speed (use a faster shutter speed if possible.) Then, depress the shutter again lightly when you are satisfied on where the focal points are and finish taking the photo by pressing harder on the shutter button until it clicks.

Here are a few simple tips to improve your focus for photos you will be creating during the holidays. 

-STAY STEADY! Keep the camera as still as possible just before taking the photo. If you have a wall to lean against, a table to sit the camera on, or a tripod, USE IT!

-Depress the shutter completely when you see 1 or more of the focus points on an individuals eye. By focusing on the eye, you will usually capture most of the face in focus as well. Plus, there is an old saying "the eyes are the window to the soul" that may help you remember when creating portraits. I, personally, try to focus on the eye for almost every portrait I do.

-If your camera does not focus properly, it may be too dark for the sensor to pick up where to focus. Use a light, lamp, or even the flashlight on your cellphone to introduce a little additional light to the scene. This should help the focus in most cases. 

If you or someone you know would like to learn more about how to improve their photography techniques, as always contact me anytime. Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!    

Composition

Hi everyone,

As per my last blog, I've decided to share a little about how to improve your photography through some simple basic steps and procedures. However, reading and writing about how to improve ones' photography is much different than actually taking a hands on approach and having a professional walk you through the process. I highly suggest hiring an instructor/professor/ or trained professional to show you how to improve your photography through physical trial and error.

There are many elements that can be utilized to improve a persons art or photography. In art, line, shape, texture, form, color and space (among others) all help to bring a work of visual art to life. We'll touch on these another time. In photography, I truly believe there are 3 important aspects that lead to a wonderfully aesthetic photograph, or make an uninteresting one. The big 3 are: Composition, Focus, and Exposure. 

Lets concentrate on Composition today. Composition is difficult to "define" which is why I suggested a hands on approach above. The most simple way to improve your photography is to use the viewfinder to decide where in the image to lay your subject. This part of the photographic process can make or break a great photo. Composition MAY be the most important aspect in your photography. There are "rules" that will help you starting out, one of these is the rule of thirds. This consists of placing your subject in 1/3 of the frame, hence putting emphasis on that subject in your frame. This rule of thirds is a pretty basic way to get you thinking about how and where the most interesting part of your photograph should be in the frame. It is merely a suggestion rather than a rule (as I ALWAYS believe rules can be broken to an extent) but will dramatically improve the aesthetic of your image with practice. Lots of practice! 

If you or someone else you may know would like to learn more about how to improve your photography, feel free to contact me anytime. Have a wonderful holiday season!       

Camera Training Sessions

Hi all,

I've decided to do a regular blog that will help readers understand better ways to photograph with their own cameras. Part of my business includes camera training sessions with my clients. For $50/ hour, I will sit down one on one (or with a group) and better explain the functions and best operating techniques to help you create higher quality photographs.

This week I'll start with the basics, manual operation. When you choose to use your camera in full manual mode you choose to override the automatic settings and capture a scene or subject the way your own eyes see it, not how a camera sensor sees it. Personally, I use manual mode in EVERY situation that I shoot. I'm not even sure I have ever even put my own camera on automatic. When I take a photograph (and this is one BIG reason I got into this business) I want the image to turn out the way I see it, or the way that I want it to be seen. This takes the control away from the camera and allows me to adjust to how I want it. Of course, initially, it is a lot more difficult as you will need to learn a little about ISO, exposure, and shutter speeds, but by practicing and having someone patiently teach you it is 

much more fulfilling and will improve your photography exponentially.

If you or someone you know would like to learn more about their camera and how to begin to improve their images feel free to contact me anytime. Until next time...Cheers!   

Bushy Run Battlefield Images-Fall

Hello good people of the blog,

I've found a rare free few minutes to share another project that I am working on. Yes, I have many irons in many different fires, some are roaring blazes, and others are just small campfires. With that, I am sharing a few images of Bushy Run Battlefield in Harrison City, PA. This has been a locale that I have used for many photo shoots since moving out this way in October. It is close to home, has a natural beauty, and important historical significance to our area. So...why not make a photo book of it?!

Here are a few sneak seasonal photographs of the Battlefield, in fall, that I very well may use in the book. My overall goal is to capture the landscape, historically significant structures, and other interesting aspects of Bushy Run throughout the seasonal changes in the upcoming months. The book is still in it's conception, but if this may interest you or someone you know, please feel free to contact me anytime, bobby@drakulicphotography.com and as always thanks for reading!

Some Family Fun

Well, hello all!

For this blog, I decided to throw out just a few images from the many Family Portraiture shoots that I've done back in the fall. 

The first is a silhouette of a father-son, and mother-daughter, that I felt best represented the great connection of the bonds shared by one another. Next up is a wonderful outdoorsy type of family, and the historical Bushy Run Battlefield served as a perfect locale for their shoot. It meshed very well with their patriotic and hard working personalities. The final family was actually about 3 family shoots combined! These were shot at Hartwood Acres, a spectacular location that I FINALLY got a chance to see and shoot at. I've heard many people talking about the place, but I'd never had the opportunity to visit. I'm sure more photos will be coming from there in future blogs! 

All of the families here are 2nd and 3rd time clients so I wanted to represent them in this blog. What an honor for me to be the photographer that they choose annually! Thanks!

Rolling into the New Year

Hi everybody,

So far 2015 has been a tremendously successful year for Drakulic Photography LLC, and yet there is still an entire month left! I've decided to post a few images from a little while ago as I am catching up on the blog. 

The first photo is from a Maternity photo shoot back in September. My client took the liberty of photographing me in action, so I figured I'd share.

Next is another image from a Wedding Photography shoot, also in September. Justin and Talia were a great couple who recently moved to Colorado after the wedding. The image was addmitedly not my idea. Most photog's wouldn't suggest having the entire wedding party climb a tree, but this wedding party suggested THEY do it! Ha, lots of fun and it made for a unique wedding shot.

The last is from a Senior Portrait Photo shoot back in the fall. Jake and I had a blast, and I played around in post-production editing to create a sort of quasi-watercolor photo for him. I wanted to do something for him that I felt would be totally different from anyone else's senior portraits. Thanks for visiting, and as always comments/critiques/questions are encouraged!

Thank-FULL

Hi all,

Crazy, ridiculous, preposterous, cockamamie, and ludicrous schedule as of late! However, boy am I THANKFUL for it! Westinghouse has scheduled me to do MORE photography for 7 straight days (and possibly more!) End of the year shipments need photographed, and I am HAPPY to oblige! Fantastic money that will be helpful for the holidays, and awesome experience working with a great company. I'm honored to work with them. Good stuff!

Tomorrow, I also have the pleasure of photographing the Ramsey family once again! This will be their 2nd yearly family portrait session with me and I'm excited to change creative gears for a day. I will post images from all of my family sessions from this fall in a blog soon. 

New Home, New Business, New Times

Hello people of the blog,

The last 2 months have been a whirlwind! In the last month and a half I have moved, and moved my home based business, to a beautiful home in Jeannette, PA. I've shot about 8-10 photography jobs for Westinghouse, did 2 Senior Portraits, 4 Family Portraits, shot a retirement party, did a camera training session with a bright young man, had extra orders for 3 Wedding Photography albums, and have taken on the task of Secretary/Treasurer's role for my BNI Circle of Gold business networking group! 

The photography contract work for Westinghouse seems to be looking up in a BIG way. They are a great company, and I am honored to be associated with them. It is really wonderful to meet and work with the people there and the photo jobs are pretty fun to shoot too!

Starting to get caught up with photo editing and unpacking so I hope to have more time to blog soon!

Drakulic Photography LLC is a professional photography service that offers Wedding, Commercial, Portraiture, Fine Art Photography services, and camera training/digital image editing.       

HEAVY workload this week

Hi All,

Those in the art or photography industry understand that there are busy times and some not so busy times. This week was, and still is, one of those BUSY times.

The week consisted of 5 straight days of contract photography work for Westinghouse, and a wonderful wedding today at Green Dance Winery in Mt. Pleasant,PA. By far the most profitable week I've ever had and super grateful that I can do what I LOVE for a profession...photography!

A premature congrats to my awesome couple today, Talia & Justin on their wedding! We will be doing some very unique and very creative wedding photos this afternoon. Looking forward to switching gears from Commercial photography to Wedding photography today. Congrats again!

 Drakulic Photography LLC is a professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015. 

October 2nd 8:00-2:00 Exhibition

Hello all,

I was accepted into a group art exhibition on October 2nd, 2015 from 8:00 P.M-2:00 A.M. at Rex Theater 1602 E Carson St, Pittsburgh, PA. 15203. The show is called Pancakes & Booze Art Show and apparently they serve, well...pancakes and booze during the evening!

There looks to be a good deal of art to be displayed at the show so come on down and visit with me. This will be my first show since my solo almost 2 years ago and I'm pretty excited to be a part of it. Here is the 3 images that I will be displaying (not sure of what paper stock or sizes I will be printing them on yet though, but they will be BIG!) Hope to see you there!

 Drakulic Photography LLC is a professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015. 

Busy as a Bee

Hello all,

It has been a tremendously busy past 2 weeks for Drakulic Photography LLC. Since the beginning of August Drakulic Photography has had numerous commercial shoots for Westinghouse, product photography for a client for 77 Design Company, a maternity shoot, 2 birthday events, 2 real estate jobs, and several wedding meetings. Good stuff and staying busy for the remainder of summer! Enjoy the dog days of summer everyone!

 Drakulic Photography LLC is a professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015. 

Buildings of Maine

A little change of pace from the landscape photographs that I've posted from my trip to Maine last month. Here are a few interesting architectural structures that I shot from around Bar Harbor and Hancock Maine. 

 Drakulic Photography LLC is a professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015. 

2 New Heritage Trains

Keeping with my commitment to a cousin to try and photograph every Norfolk Southern Heritage train for him, here are 2 more that I shot recently. NS 8103 Norfolk and Western (my personal favorite) and NS 1069 Virginian. That is now a total of 12 out of 20 that we have seen and photographed.

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.

Cadillac Mountain-Acadia National Park

So, I wanted to try something different with this photograph of Bar Harbor, Maine from Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. I was trying to avoid the look of a traditional landscape photograph with this. My love for B&W photography certainly played an integral part when creating this image. The image looks something like a test strip to me (my photog. friends will understand that.) Anyone that knows me well enough knows that I just HAVE to be different, haha! Thoughts? Like/dislike? I'm up for open dialogue on this. Thanks.

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.

Trip to Maine

Here are a few images from my recent trip to Maine. I finally had the chance to sit down and edit some, and will post more from Acadia National Park and elsewhere soon. What a wonderful honor I had to be able to visit 2 of the most gorgeous areas of our country (Oregon and Maine) in the last 3 months!

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.  

While most people will be grilling burgers and dogs today, I'll be shooting a wedding. I don't mind though as today should make for some spectacular wedding photos! Lots of really cool creative shots planned for today! Congrats to Shawn & Jacyln! 

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.  

Bass Harbor Lighthouse in Maine was one of the lighthouses I've seen photos of my entire life, so naturally I ventured out to get my own :) Not the easiest place to get a crisp, well detailed shot at 5 A.M. in the rain, wind, slippery rocks, ocean lapping at my feet, and not really anywhere to get a tripod! Think they turned out well though, thoughts?

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.  

Take Me Out to the Ball Game is now available on my website. What a gorgeous dusk sky that accompanied our trip to Fenway!

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.  

work, work, work, then Maine

Hello all,
Thanks for visiting. Busy week doing some editing, contract photography work for Westinghouse, shoot a wedding on Saturday, and then it's off to Maine! 1st stop...Fenway Park to see my FAVORITE team in action! Then on to the Maine coast the next day to have some leisure time and work on some landscape photography. I'm interested to see the Maine coastline as I've been to all 48 continental states, Canada, and Mexico EXCEPT Maine, so that will fulfill another personal goal of visiting all the states (still will need Alaska and Hawaii though to complete the entire continent.) Photos to come, Cheers!

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.  

Hello all and thanks for checking out my blog,

Just putting the finishing creative touches on a wedding photography gig and a newborn/family photo shoot. Here is a few from the newborn/family shoot.

2 down, 1 more wedding to edit, and then it's on to a commercial photo shoot for Merrill Lynch this week. Looking forward to sharing the images with you, and as always questions, comments, and overall critiques are welcome.

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.

Family, newborn, and wedding photography

Hello all, please let me tell you  how much I LOVE my job! I just completed a family/newborn (Vienna, 2 weeks old and cute as a button) and have another wedding on Saturday. There is nothing like getting to be as creative as you can, in a field that you deeply admire, and getting to have that be your career. Fun times! Cheers all!

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.   

Oregon Trip

Here are a few more photographs of the fantastic landscapes of Oregon from my recent trip to Portland last month. Most are from the amazingly scenic Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. 

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.

Congrats to my clients Eric and Renee! Here's a couple of finalized images from their wedding day on 5/16/15.

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.

I have the honor of photographing Eric & Renee's wedding today! It's always great to switch creative gears, so to speak, and mix in a wedding shoot every now and again. I feel like my batteries are re-charged and am looking forward to coming up with some truly unique and exclusively creative photography for their wedding today that they won't get anywhere else!

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.

Happy Mother's Day to all moms!

This weekend I had the pleasure of doing proms photos on Friday, then an engagement shoot for my fun couple, Talia & Justin. We had a good time in Ligonier, PA at Lynn Run and Justin even got to do a little fly fishing during the shoot. Looking forward to doing some amazingly creative work for their September 5th wedding!
This week I am honored to do Renee & Eric's wedding on Saturday. Photos to come of that event soon too, exciting times!

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015. 

A few photographs from a recent Commercial photo shoot for my friends over at Draft Master.
Draft Master is a local draft beer cleaning business and Drafting Equipment Supplier. If you, or anyone you know, is in need of a great company to clean or supply equipment to draft beer systems, bars, or restaurants, these guys do it right!
If your business is in need of creative photography for promotions, websites, or other marketing materials feel free to contact me at bobby@drakulicphotography.com

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.

Updated the website, www.drakulicphotography.com with some new images in the Landscapes, Weddings, Architecture/Real Estate, and Black & White categories. As always critiques, comments, and overall thoughts are welcome!

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.

A few more photographs from the Oregon coast a few weeks ago.

Drakulic Photography LLC is a Trafford, PA based professional photography business available for Weddings, Senior/Family Portraiture, Commercial, and Real Estate Photography. Call or email today to schedule for 2015.