Transcripts
Hands-On Photography Episode 145 Transcript
Please be advised this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word for word.
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Ant Pruitt (00:00:00):
Today on Hands-On Photography. We're gonna take a look at fine art photography. We're gonna take a look at NIL what the heck does NIL stand for? Well, I know most of you folks aren't sport fans like me, but there, it, it, it there's a big role in, in the photography side when it comes to I L so I have a great guest this week, Ms. Susan Lloyd, and we're gonna just dive into all of that. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Y'all stay tuned.
V.O. (00:00:26):
This is TWiT.
Ant Pruitt (00:00:29):
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Ant Pruitt (00:00:54):
Hey, what's happening everybody. I am aunt Pruit. This is Hands-On Photography here on TWiT TV. Hope y'all are doing well. I'm unbelievable as always own this fine podcast. I like to sit down and share different tips and tricks that are gonna help make you a better photographer as well as a better post processor. And then sometimes I get the honor and pleasure to be able to sit down with some amazing professional photographers out there and allow them to share their tips and tricks and some of the things that they are working on. And that's what we got going on this week. But before we get into all of that, I wanna just say welcome to everybody that is catching the show for the very first time. Welcome to you. Thank you for popping on in now. Go ahead and subscribe in whatever podcast application you're enjoying us on because we are available on all of them.
Ant Pruitt (00:01:42):
We got what's that Spotify, we got, uh, apple podcast. We even have a YouTube channel. Yeah, go, go subscribe on YouTube, hit the little like, and subscribe and all of that good stuff over there as well. Or if you just can't quite figure out the subscription option, go to the website, TWiT.tv/hop that's TWiT.tv/h o P for Hands-On Photography. And you'll see all the subscription options there. You'll see all of the previous episodes and show notes and all the awesome thumbnails Mr. Victor, my wonderful editor puts together. So go ahead, check it out on the website too. All right. So all of that side of the way let's get started with this week's episode and this week's conversation, all right. Today's guest, um, is someone that I've known for a handful of years now. And, you know, we met through a, a interesting bond, you know, because it is football season at the time of this recording. And, uh, it's perfect timing to be able to finally finally get her on the show because I love her work. I love everything that she's about just, just the positive energy, positive vibes, in addition to creating some amazing photography. And this week I'm sitting down with the one and only Ms. Susan Lloyd, how you be lady?
Susan Lloyd (00:02:56):
I'm good. I'm good. Um, we are in the midst of the monsoon season in, in Charleston, we call it that, but pretty much all of August, it just rains it rains, and then it's hot and then it rains and it's hot. So, uh, but other than that great, because, you know, we got a special event coming up Monday evening and I cannot wait. So
Ant Pruitt (00:03:18):
Of course, of course tears the season.
Susan Lloyd (00:03:21):
It is the season. And, uh, it's, it's time to just completely immerse ourselves in college football. Yeah.
Ant Pruitt (00:03:28):
Yes, yes. I love that. I love that. And so I'm, I've been out here in, in Northern California, Petaluma, California area since 2019 and football season over here has been rather interesting. Mm-hmm
Susan Lloyd (00:03:42):
A little different.
Ant Pruitt (00:03:43):
Just, just, just, yeah, it's not quite the same now. Granted I have, right. It's not a religion. It's
Susan Lloyd (00:03:50):
Definitely a religion in
Ant Pruitt (00:03:51):
The, that is the perfect, perfect analogy. It's not a religion over here, the way it is, where we, where, where I'm from and where you are. Um, but I'm still loving it over here. And, and, and enjoying being here with the, the wonderful NorCal residents here in wine country, and I'm learning some things. And, but yeah, when football season comes around, I just know I'm pretty much on my own. <laugh>,
Susan Lloyd (00:04:15):
It's just the lone Wolf out there. Just, you know, hanging off. I get it. I get it. I'm very, very fortunate to be, uh, around people who love football. My family. They didn't really have a choice though. You know, I think I marry somebody who wasn't, um, who didn't really appreciate sports. That was mm-hmm <affirmative>, I'm not an athlete, but my dad certainly was, my brother is and so, or is, and I was, I was, uh, exposed very early on to all things sports. So we carried the tradition here.
Ant Pruitt (00:04:47):
<laugh> I love it now for the people that are just getting introduced to you, you know, I've mentioned you here on the show before, I think it was like episode 81 ish or something like that, because you have, I
Susan Lloyd (00:04:57):
Need to go back and watch them
Ant Pruitt (00:04:59):
<laugh> cause you've done, you've done some crazy awesome long exposure stuff. And you used to do some light painting stuff. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and I did an episode talking about, um, long exposure versus light painting and your examples are just great. So I, I had to use you, but for people that are just trying to get introduced to you, tell us a little bit about, a little bit about yourself. I know you are over there in Carolina and what we like to call God's country. Um, and, uh, I know you've been shooting some stuff for college football and one team in particular that tends to wear orange and white and purple <laugh>. But tell us a little bit more. Yeah. What, what what's, what's what's going on with miss Susan?
Susan Lloyd (00:05:39):
Well, um, I don't wanna give you, you know, I could give you my entire life story, but I think that <laugh> probably true now after maybe minute one, but, uh, I'll give you a little bit of my, uh, maybe my professional mm-hmm <affirmative>, um, background. I actually got a degree in music education. Yes, I did not. You know, didn't pursue photography until I had my third child. And at the time mm-hmm <affirmative> I was trying to teach voice and piano at home, but I had three children under the age of five. So yeah, that was very difficult to say the least. And, uh, so you know, my husband and I talked about it and I had taught school previously, but neither one of us wanted me to go back into the classroom. Um, because you know, we, we both had made that goal for me to be at home with our children until they started school. So I said, you know, I've always been interested in photography and at the time there was no digital photography. There was no, um, you couldn't go on creative live. You couldn't go on TWiT TV. You couldn't go onHands-On Photography. You couldn't go on any of these places where you can get these great tutorials now. Yeah. Um, so the way I learned was through New York Institute of photography, which sounds really prestigious. It was, uh, a correspondence course
Ant Pruitt (00:07:03):
<laugh> oh, okay. This
Susan Lloyd (00:07:05):
Is, you know, and so literally I would get the information, I would get my assignment and I would take the pictures, have them printed, send them to my professor. And he would mail me a cassette tape back with my critique and wow. For anybody who just needs a little timeline, this was, uh, 20, 23 years ago. So think about how far we have come in this field in 23 years, just the technological.
Ant Pruitt (00:07:38):
Wait a minute. So are crazy. They, they had cassettes little max cell cassettes and dropped it in the mail to you. Yeah.
Susan Lloyd (00:07:45):
<laugh> and yes. And the first, uh, the fir I was shooting 35 millimeter, but then I was like, Ooh, I'm gonna, you know, once I stepped up yeah. I bought a Pentax. Uh, yeah. It was a, um, medium format. And I can't remember the exact model, but I, it was heavy. Nice. Yeah. It felt like it was doing something amazing every time you hit shutter. Yeah. Big of film that a lot of money and cost a lot of money to process. When would maybe have two images, uh, as compared to any time I've shot now with digital around 4,000 that I get to call brew.
Ant Pruitt (00:08:25):
<laugh>,
Susan Lloyd (00:08:26):
Uh, it's, it's a very different world, but, um, it, the, a, the advantage, and I think you have spoken to, this is the instant feedback that you get from digital, and that teaches you more, uh, than if you have to write down all the settings you used for your film mm-hmm <affirmative> and then you get it back and then you go and critique, it's much more time consuming. And this way I can look directly, you know, and say, okay, where's my histogram. What's going on? What settings am I using? I need to go back to this setting because it was a better result. So those things help us learn. Right. But we, you know, we certainly can't learn this craft without really good foundational instruction. And that, that applies even with digital people think, oh, just get a really nice camera and we'll just go out and be a professional. And no, you still have got to learn basics, or you're gonna, you're gonna sink really fast. It's, it's gonna be a very quick death and probably a very embarrassing one.
Ant Pruitt (00:09:31):
<laugh> so, and that's so true. It's so true. It doesn't matter that you've spent $8,000 on a camera body, another, another $4,000 on a lens. You can still take some pretty crap photos. Oh, if you don't know what you're doing, or if you don't quite understand, maybe you understand the camera, but you don't quite understand, you know, how to properly use light. You know, all of that stuff makes a big, big dad gum difference, regardless of the equipment that you're using and
Susan Lloyd (00:09:59):
Just, you know, as much portrait work as I do, uh, you also have to know how to direct people. Mm-hmm, <affirmative>, uh, you have to get them to a, into a space where they're comfortable just, and I'm not talking about just their physical comfort. They have to feel that they are safe. Yeah. That with you as the photographer, that you are, um, going to give them the instructions they need, but you definitely, aren't going to take over and make them, you know, little robots, because right. With power portrait work, you, you want that person's personality and who they are to be what people see. And yeah. All we do as photographers is just get them into that best place for that to happen. Yeah. And, uh, yeah. So there's so much more to what we do than most people are aware of. Yeah. Um, so, and it, it always kills me, you know, they'll, you'll see one or two good pictures that somebody's taken, then they're like, oh, I'm set now. You know, I do this and chances are, they can. Yeah. But not as quickly as they think
Ant Pruitt (00:11:06):
They can. Oh, no, no, this is, this is a grind, you know, I can't speak for you, but this is, what's this 20, 22, I'm going on year 12, 13, something like that. And dude, I'm still screwing up stuff. Oh, listen, <laugh>, I'm still screwing up
Susan Lloyd (00:11:25):
That. Absolutely. And I I'll just think, what are you thinking when you were, you know, and that's the other thing, goodness. For digital, because
Ant Pruitt (00:11:35):
Right, right. There
Susan Lloyd (00:11:36):
Are these horror stories of people who shot entire weddings and didn't realize that one little thing is off the time and they get these images back on their film, you know, from their, and they're like, yeah. And, and it's not just that just, I look at sports photography and concert photography from back in the seventies and eighties and 18, well, before digital. Right. And it blows my mind that people were able to get such incredible photos then right. With the, the technology they had available. Right.
Ant Pruitt (00:12:12):
And no instant gratification,
Susan Lloyd (00:12:14):
None, no, none at all. <laugh> you just kinda hope that you really are seeing in a different way. You're seeing, I guess it is a little bit like a, a pilot in a, a who's flying an airplane. Yeah. They are seeing what's happening through a radar and through their, you know, all of their mm-hmm <affirmative> on the dash
Ant Pruitt (00:12:38):
Avionics and stuff,
Susan Lloyd (00:12:39):
That's it. They can't really, so they're having to really rely on those things to function well, and, and know what they mean. <laugh>.
Ant Pruitt (00:12:45):
Yeah, exactly. Now you've been working on some fine art projects here. I've been stalking you on, oh, I didn't. I was supposed to say stalking on Instagram, I've been following you on Instagram and Twitter. No
Susan Lloyd (00:12:58):
Stalking.
Ant Pruitt (00:12:59):
Uh <laugh>. And you've been working on a lot of, lot of beautiful, fine art stuff. So what got you into doing that? Was this just something that you just felt you wanted to do another exercise of creative pivot, just to sort of keep yourself refreshed in, in, in, in the mode of shooting, but what got you into doing that? Or was it some requests from clients, you know, uh, cuz fine art photography is, in my opinion, could be really, really fun because it allows you to just sort of let go mm-hmm <affirmative> as a photographer, um, you can decide on what the scene is is going to be and what the message is going to be from that scene and just sort of yes. Just let go and just be an artist and mm-hmm <affirmative> yeah. Every now and then you can shoot some things slightly underexposed or whatever, but it's, if it's given you the message, then that's what you want. What, what, what got you to, to doing this more here recently?
Susan Lloyd (00:13:54):
Um, I feel like I'd always kind of, I've always been interested in that mm-hmm but never was able to really just kind step back and pursue it. Um, and then COVID,
Ant Pruitt (00:14:07):
That'll do it here in
Susan Lloyd (00:14:08):
Charleston was literally, and I, you and I good during that time, but shut down, like literally shut down could not shoot, like I normally do. Right. Meaning I couldn't take on clients. I couldn't, um, I was just literally not allowed to shoot at all because it was considered non-essential. And so, um, that is a horrible place for a creative to be initially. Yeah. To be told you, can't do the thing that, you know, you are, uh, skilled at that you've put a lot of time and effort into, and you're just not going to do this and you don't know when you can do it again, the way you've done done it in the past. So for me it was literally a survival thing. Yeah. I thought I do have some things I've wanted to do that. I just haven't had the time to do mm-hmm <affirmative> in the past.
Susan Lloyd (00:15:03):
And so this is a great time. That's when I was doing a lot of the light painting, but I, towards the end of that time where I wasn't able to shoot anymore, um, I had lined up a few people who were willing to let me work with them and I have a porch that we would, I shot some of them on. Um, and I already had the concepts. I knew what I wanted to do. Uh, knew the, the message that we wanted to put into those images and what I was trying to convey mm-hmm <affirmative> and I was able to, you know, to collaborate with my subjects and say, first of all, are you okay with this? You know, are you right this specific message. Right. And, uh, then give them a vision of what I wanted to do. And I think that was really super important is to have that idea of where you're going.
Susan Lloyd (00:15:56):
That doesn't mean nothing's gonna change from point a to point B mm-hmm <affirmative>, but it does mean that I know exactly how I want to pursue this, what it's going to look like from a technical standpoint. And, um, I would communicate that to them and if they were on board then, and it, then it was very much okay, we're just gonna let, we're gonna let go and do this. And uh, I still love to do that. I have several pieces that I've been working on that just kind of get on the back burner sometimes because we just, you know, all the things that, um, keep the, the lights on have to be diversity <laugh>
Ant Pruitt (00:16:36):
Right. So right.
Susan Lloyd (00:16:37):
But there's still several of those that I'm working on. There's still several that I want to, um, eventually, you know, even get the base images for. And so it I'm really thankful that, that I was pushed in that direction. I don't know when I would've pursued it on my own, even though I wanted to mm-hmm <affirmative> I just don't know when, when that would've happened. So as awful as COVID was for everybody, there were a couple of things that came out of it that were positive. And for me that was one of them.
Ant Pruitt (00:17:07):
Yeah. Now going into this well, now that you're pretty much in the middle of it or still sort of going through it, what has been the biggest challenges with this new undertaking of, of getting into fine art and creating fine art?
Susan Lloyd (00:17:23):
The biggest challenge is literally knowing exactly what I want and once I've shot and, and used the lighting that I knew I needed to use was to be able to go into Photoshop. Now mm-hmm, <affirmative> with my very organic training. <laugh> so instruction and Photoshop and figure out, okay, you want to do this? You want it to look like this? How are you gonna do this? Yeah. Because you, you know, that's and that's where things like what you do, where, I mean, just your, your segment on layering and how layers work. I know that seemed maybe to you to be kind of a basic thing, but man, that was hugely helpful. It's hugely helpful just to have somebody demonstrate,
Ant Pruitt (00:18:13):
Oh, I
Susan Lloyd (00:18:13):
Appreciate that. OK. This works. And now I can expand that. So that was literally the biggest challenge was trying to figure out how to get the effect that I wanted to get the brush strokes that I wanted. Um, and to put it all together in a way that made sense. So, uh, yeah. And it's still a challenge. I aunt, do you know anybody who has mastered Photoshop completely? I just wanna sit at their feet. So there's
Ant Pruitt (00:18:47):
I say this? I think I know of one that is like right there at being mastery. Okay. One person, one person, one.
Susan Lloyd (00:18:56):
Okay. One. And this program has been around different ever.
Ant Pruitt (00:19:00):
And it's because they've been around since the program's been around. That's the only reason they've been around since the program come out and they've spent time with Adobe working through it. So actually the knows two people is bet Monroy. And the second one is my dear friend who I love Ms. Lisa Carney. They've been there from day one. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Nobody else can really say that. <laugh> can really say that you cause it's so much in it, just like you said, there
Susan Lloyd (00:19:28):
Is so, and you there's more than one way to, to skin a cat, you know, in that program. There's so many different ways to arrive. Yep. At the point you wanna get to, and so yeah, you can really go down a rabbit hole if you start watching tutorials. Yep. Cause one artist will do it this way and the other one does it this way and oh, whoa. Oh wait. I didn't know. There was so many options.
Ant Pruitt (00:19:50):
Didn't you figure out? Well, I can do it my way too. And just taking a combination of the two and yeah. Oh boy. I love that. Definitely. <laugh> very, now I want to show off some of your images, if you don't mind and just sort of pick your brain sure. With, with this fine art stuff. Because again, I love the concept of, of fine art photography, just because of the freedom. It it's just, you don't necessarily have to, um, be perfect at times. Right. You know, when you go on a photo shoot to do corporate head shots, you better nail 'em, you
Susan Lloyd (00:20:24):
Know, you better know what you're doing.
Ant Pruitt (00:20:25):
Absolutely. You, you better get that, that message across that. This is a professional headshot. You go on the shoot, a wedding, you better nail a wedding cuz there's no do overs in weddings, but
Susan Lloyd (00:20:35):
Do overs.
Ant Pruitt (00:20:36):
But with fine arts, you get to have a little bit of flexibility. So mm-hmm <affirmative> let me switch my screen here and I'm gonna pull up some of your images here, classic portrait, just, just classic portrait. And this one rubbed me a good bit because I recently spoke about a, a portrait of some black folks taken by a world renowned photographer in this Annie Leitz. Yes. And yes, I called her out, but yet I pull up this image of these beautiful black women here. Boy, look at how, how well they're lit look at how beautiful their skin is looking in this image. <laugh> thank you.
Susan Lloyd (00:21:17):
Well, I mean, I always tell my subjects, it helps to start with a gorgeous subject, you know <laugh>
Ant Pruitt (00:21:22):
Yeah.
Susan Lloyd (00:21:24):
Uh, that helps tremendously. Um, and this, uh, this beautiful woman in this, um, image, she and I met, I wanna say about 12, 13 years ago. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and she's a makeup artist. And at the time she was doing some modeling as well, Uhhuh and uh, she, uh, we met on one of these things where there was somebody in Charleston who used to organize these, just bring models in and bring photographers in and there'd be a certain location. We'd all go there and we just kinda up and do these. Oh yeah. Fun. And it was so much fun and that's how she and I met and we really connected then, and as life progressed and uh, she had, um, she already had a son mm-hmm <affirmative> and then she got pregnant with her little girl. And then she brought in, um, a another little girl.
Susan Lloyd (00:22:19):
Um, and I'm, I don't wanna mess it up. I know she told me that I'm not gonna, I just know that both of these little girls are her daughters mm-hmm <affirmative> and one is by birth and the other was adopted in mm-hmm <affirmative> and uh, I wanted to do this mother's day thing and I thought of her and I thought, you know, she's such a great human being to begin with. And these little girls I've been around them and they are just joy, you know? So she was all for it. She said, let's do it. And that what I covered them with is mm-hmm <affirmative> um, a curtain that I got OK. When I was scripting. OK. I knew that color would be beautiful on her. And this is lit, um, single, just a single soft box, an Octa, uh, octagonal box mm-hmm <affirmative> um, and positioning all three of these women or these, well, they're not all women, but
Ant Pruitt (00:23:16):
<laugh> ladies
Susan Lloyd (00:23:17):
Them so that you don't shadow in the wrong place. You don't cut somebody's face off. You know, I had to be aware of that, but, um, I just love to shoot these dramatic portraits. Mm-hmm <affirmative> this turned out to be something that, you know, beyond what I envisioned mm-hmm <affirmative> and so I was really, really thrilled with it. And you spoke about skin tone mm-hmm <affirmative> um, I, I'm not sure when it was that I became very, very, very sensitive to this. It was several years ago. Mm-hmm <affirmative> um, and it may have just been a friend I was talking to, and, and I just remember saying to me, you know, people of color don't wanna be orange in photo that's right. And they also don't wanna be gray.
Ant Pruitt (00:24:02):
That's right. That's right. Preach it.
Susan Lloyd (00:24:05):
<laugh> they, they want their skin tone to be their skin tone. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and they also don't want to be a lighter shape mm-hmm <affirmative> than they normally are. Mm-hmm <affirmative> uh, and I, I thought, yeah, that makes a, so much sense. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and you know, obviously these three subjects have gorgeous skin tone. Why would I change it? Why would I want anything to change that? So I've always been really, really sensitive to that for, for everybody. Um, I get really disturbed when I'm editing and I feel like, wow, I just made a Casper out of that person. And that's not who they are.
Ant Pruitt (00:24:40):
Exactly. It goes both ways.
Susan Lloyd (00:24:44):
It really does. And you don't want people to be pink mm-hmm <affirmative> and you don't want, so there's all this. And I see this so often when I look at other pictures and I think, did you mm-hmm <affirmative> is that really that, that person's skin tone or you were just kind of hopeful, you know? And so I try really, really hard to make sure that I'm paying attention to that. So, yeah, it was very important to get that right in the
Ant Pruitt (00:25:08):
Shot. Now, again, as I'm looking at this image, it's, it's the three ladies here and they're under a, a covering, if you will, it hurts, you said it's a curtain. Yeah. Um, and her hair, uh, the mother's hair is, is draped just on top of the curtain. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, uh, coming from the back of her head to the front of the, of the image. And you have, like you said, you have the key light looks like it's camera right there. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and it's angled down and it's just casting a really, really nice, soft light giving you really soft shadows on their face to help shape their face, but not be too contrasty to make it look rugged and hard. Right. This is a really, really soft, loving image. Mm-hmm <affirmative> my question to you about the actual covering there. Not that it's curtain, cuz that matters. Not to me. It really, I like the, I like the, I like the idea that it's all three of them under one. Mm. Um, was that on purpose? You know, was that part of your thought process to say, you know what I want all three of them together under this one? What, what, what brought you to that?
Susan Lloyd (00:26:10):
It absolutely was. Um, again, this was a mother-daughter thing mm-hmm <affirmative> um, and the unity is really what I wanted to show. Um, my daughter and I are very, very close and I feel like, you know, and that was another reason that I felt like this family in particular, because I know her dedication and commitment to her children, especially to her daughters mm-hmm <affirmative> and I really wanted to show that unity and that, um, connection between the three of them. And it was so important to use that one covering that, that probably took longer to get settled and in place than anything else
Ant Pruitt (00:26:54):
<laugh> because
Susan Lloyd (00:26:55):
It's, it would slip and we would pin it and then it would be wrong. And so, yeah, but that was very, very important to do that because, uh, that unity is, and that just the relationship, um, you know, the older I get amp, the more I realize that the one thing that is more important than anything is relationship and our relationships, uh, that we want to show through our photography. Um, those are the things that 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now, even further people can look back and see that relationship. They will, that will still come through.
Ant Pruitt (00:27:33):
Yep. I love this, love this. I, um, I can't really say nothing else on this one. This just, it, it was, it got my attention when you first sent over the batch of images and I was like, yep, I'm gonna talk about this one. <laugh> now let's move into another image here. Uh, I actually have a couple. All right. So again, we're talking fine art, we're talking, you know, a message that's being presented here. What we have here is this young lady is holding and looks like a, a, a ball of light sourcing in her hand. It's just glowing in her hands and it's just glowing up, you know, up towards her mouth, her neck and face. Uh, and it looks like you have one, one other light off again, camera, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative> but then there's the background. You have this soft bouquet happening in the background of the same color of the lights that she's holding. Um, walk us through this, cuz this is a bit of a whole dreamy feel going on and she's staring right at the camera, but, but it's not like a, I'm going to get you stare. It's more of a <laugh> you know, it it's, it is welcoming. It's not something that's scared the crap outta me. Like some people do, but yeah, walk me through this image.
Susan Lloyd (00:28:44):
Okay. So this lovely subject, um, oh my goodness. Uh, I shot her sister's wedding and when it was time for her to get her senior portraits done, she reached out and we did those and I thought, man, this girl is so good in front of the lens and I in front of the camera. And I really wanted to use her for several things because clearly she photographs beautifully mm-hmm <affirmative> and she's fun to work with. And so, um, this was, you know, I love all of the, I love lights. I, I, you know, I want them and so many of, I love that, you know, this beautiful bird out, back light, I mean, lights in the background that just kinda add another dimension. And this, this shot from a technical standpoint, she is actually holding, uh, this is when those little fairy lights were kind of a bitch kind of come on this thing, there's that one copper wire and that little bit are all over you, you know, battery operated.
Susan Lloyd (00:29:51):
So man, they're easy to use. Yeah. And so it was really, you know, we just kind it hands and um, then behind her, she is, I'm gonna say she's probably 15, 20 feet, maybe further in front of, um, a pallet wall that my husband built, not too long after we moved to this house. And then mm-hmm, <affirmative>, you know, we planted and it's got Ivy on it. And so I had strong lights all through that. Uh, not necessarily for the shoot, they were just kind of there, they were just there. This would be great to use as her backdrop for this particular image. And, uh, she, to me has always kind of just radiated. Um, mm-hmm <affirmative> anytime I've been around her, there's this, this sweetness and this radiance and uh, like you said, she's, she's got great connection with the camera, but it's not overwhelming mm-hmm <affirmative> and that is very much who she is.
Susan Lloyd (00:30:48):
People are drawn to her, but she doesn't take over. Um, yeah. And I wanted to show that I wanted, you know, just to be 20 years old again, and to be this radiance and young and all of this promise. And so to surround her kind of with this light that's in, you know, on her face, but then also behind her, um, now I could have gone a direction where we really made this high key, but I like we see a lot and I wanted to do something that wasn't necessarily that, that we really noticed what was going around her. And that, that was a part of the image. It wasn't just lighting the image. Yeah. And so that's why, you know, this background is much darker. Um, we were outside, so, you know, stopping this thing down and, and making sure that I was not getting a lot of that ambient light in as well. Yeah. But I really wanted that to be just the focus is just this beautiful radiant glow that she has
Ant Pruitt (00:31:45):
Absolutely love it. And you, and you crushed it, you crushed it. Well, thank you. I am a, I'm a, yes. I like high key, but low key portraits are definitely my favorite. Um, mm-hmm <affirmative> and I don't know if, I guess it's because I'm a bit of a weirdo when it comes to the way I shoot. If you look at any of my images that I've shot in the past, they tend to have a certain theme. And they're usually on the cooler temperature side. Sometimes they're usually darkish. Um, but it's just, that's just my Mo my mode, my mood. So it tends to come out, unless if it's something that I'm shooting for an assignment, then yeah. I'm trying to hit the marks of the assignment, but I'm just shooting for me. It tends to fall more towards the low key side of things. Just, just because I, I, I like that. I mean, heck look at my screen right now. <laugh> I got one key light right here and a really dark background and one little practical white that's
Susan Lloyd (00:32:42):
I was gonna say
Ant Pruitt (00:32:44):
You're I was just pushing it with that.
Susan Lloyd (00:32:45):
Love it right there.
Ant Pruitt (00:32:46):
<laugh> there it's
Susan Lloyd (00:32:47):
We don't even have to look for a definition, a definition of low key. There it is. You you're demonstrating. I Don what I'm demonstrating today, I just like all the credits and wrinkles of cracks didn't show <laugh>.
Ant Pruitt (00:32:59):
That
Susan Lloyd (00:32:59):
Was my goal.
Ant Pruitt (00:33:01):
Oh, you're file. That was it. Oh gosh. Now let's look at one more here. Uh, let me see what, wow. Now this one here, I remember seeing the file name and the file name says hope.
Ant Pruitt (00:33:16):
And what we have on the screen for our audio listeners is we have a woman that is, she's sort of like crouched down or maybe she's seated. I can't really tell cuz I can't see her legs, but she's she has her hands in a bit of a praying pose. Um, almost as if she's getting ready to say Nama stay and she's looking up into the left of the frame, you know, looking up and out kind of thing, not looking at the camera. And there's just a little bit of light in the background on that's just, just barely light in the background. You, you, you don't get a lot of detail. You just know that there's some type of light casting on it. And again, her gaze is going right past that area. And when you see this and then you see the file name, you're like, oh, I get it.
Ant Pruitt (00:34:05):
Hope it's a bit of a hopeful look. Now, granted, she is often the distance in this shot. It's not a real close up shot, which I, again, I thought was perfectly fitting because when you think about hope, most of the time, it's not like, um, things that you hope for happen right then and there, they tend to happen a little bit further down the road in time, again, off in the distance off looking away. Um, I love this walk, please, please, please walk us through this because I can't describe it as well as you I'm sure.
Susan Lloyd (00:34:40):
Um, this is, this is something and the, the other there's so, um, think there five images in this series. Um, this may be one of the things I am most proud of because of how it came together and how, uh, it turned out and, and my subject, um, who is an artist in her own, right? She is a dancer and one of the most, I love to watch her dance. Um, she's incredibly graceful and, and just a very beautiful soul. And um, yeah, this was, uh, right, you know, again during COVID, uh mm-hmm <affirmative> but that wasn't all we were dealing with at the time. Uh, we were, there were so many things going on with us as a society and culturally, um, I had just, I think I had just been to Clemson when they did their, they didn't call it a, a protest.
Susan Lloyd (00:35:40):
They called it, um, I believe it was a March for quality at Clemson as so many of the football players and, and basketball players were there. And so many people came. Yep. And, um, I had already had this idea had already reached out to Jordan, um, my subject, but after being there became even more important to do this, I was not about to assume, first of all, that I knew what it felt like to be a person of color mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so my, what I wanted to do with Jordan was because she had a dancer and I knew she would just knock this out of the park. And she did, uh, was to say, Jordan, here are the words that we're going to express mm-hmm <affirmative>. And uh, one of them was suffocated. Uh, one was invisible. Mm-hmm <affirmative> one. And then it's this last one being hope.
Susan Lloyd (00:36:29):
And I, my mind is blanking now on the other two, but the, these were all done in a very small room. Um, I don't have a studio. So we were in a very small room. I, it was as dark as I could possibly get it. This is light painted mm-hmm <affirmative>. So Jordan really had her work cut out for her because not only did she have to think what pose should I come up with? She also had to hold it <laugh> yeah. Yeah. She had to hold this post because you know, when you're light painting, you, you do have this open shutter and you were literally illuminating as you go. And, uh, we did several frames. Uh, I'm not gonna say that this is one frame. This was I'm pretty sure I had to pull in maybe a body part from this frame and one from here and put it together.
Susan Lloyd (00:37:17):
But as far as how it was lit, how it was put together, what I wanted to convey, um, was this idea pretty much, like you said of that, we are always looking towards hope. We're rarely looking behind. We don't look behind us for hope, even for inspiration there mm-hmm <affirmative>, but for hope we have to look ahead and, uh, very many times in our lives, the things that we hope for are the things that only we hope for Uhhuh. And so we feel a little isolated in that hope, but then we have a situation where her isolation in the shot was not to necessarily communicate her feeling of solitude and isolation, but entire group of people mm-hmm <affirmative> and the solitude that they were felt in there, but they were not allowing that to, uh, dampen the hope. Yeah. And the hope is what, you know, what you look for is what you claim to.
Susan Lloyd (00:38:22):
And, um, you know, my faith informs a lot of what I do. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and so I don't wanna get into a lot of that because I, you know, now not everybody's in that same place and I, you know, completely respect that. But the, even the color toning mm-hmm <affirmative> is symbolic, that it is, uh, that purple, which is royalty royalty. And, uh, I honestly believe that every human being that has been created mm-hmm <affirmative> has the DNA of royalty because of who they creator is. And I wanted that to be, uh, also what was conveyed in this. So, um, if you could see the source images for them,
Ant Pruitt (00:39:01):
<laugh>,
Susan Lloyd (00:39:01):
I'll have to send them to you at some point, like from this to this, and you can imagine, yeah, I probably took her a long time to get there because, uh, yeah,
Ant Pruitt (00:39:10):
It
Susan Lloyd (00:39:10):
Was, like I said, dark room, we didn't get to move any furniture out. Like it <laugh>, it was fun.
Ant Pruitt (00:39:16):
That's just the credit to you.
Susan Lloyd (00:39:18):
Loved it. I loved it. It was so it was challenging, but not impossible. It was, um, something that meant a lot to her and to me mm-hmm <affirmative> um, so we were really, you know, it was very happy with, with how she did. She just embraced it completely. And then to be able to, um, arrive where I wanted to go was really nice.
Ant Pruitt (00:39:41):
Wow. It, I, I absolutely love that image. Now. We're going a little bit long. I just realized that and I hate it when it happens, but that's okay. We're gonna power through. We're gonna power through Mr. Don't hurt me, Mr. Victor. I'm sorry. Let's tighten
Susan Lloyd (00:39:56):
It up a
Ant Pruitt (00:39:57):
Little bit, man. I promise I'll tighten it up. I know. See there's it's all good. We gonna, I get
Susan Lloyd (00:40:03):
Together. We're just like, well, let's just talk.
Ant Pruitt (00:40:05):
That's the thing. That's the thing. There is one more here that I wanna look at on the fine art side of things. Um, alright. You just talked about doing some compositing mm-hmm <affirmative> in your, in the previous image. Uh, wait a minute. Are you telling me you took your Canon R five up under the water or what, what the heck's going on here? I mean, we
Susan Lloyd (00:40:27):
Went to, we went out to, um, let's see where where's a great place. I could have taken this. Um, we went to Bali.
Ant Pruitt (00:40:35):
Yeah. And
Susan Lloyd (00:40:36):
We were that beautiful. No, we were not in Bali. We were on my backwards. Um, mm-hmm
Ant Pruitt (00:40:41):
<affirmative>
Susan Lloyd (00:40:41):
Yes. This is a composite image. Um, there are a lot of, uh, licensed images that we can use from Adobe, which is phenomenal, um, to be able to use those. And I knew exactly, you know, kind of what, what that image and you, you start to Google, um, I mean, you start to go on Adobe and look at underwater, be overwhelmed very quickly. Mm-hmm
Ant Pruitt (00:41:04):
<affirmative> so it was, yeah, Adobe stock has a lot of stuff in a ton of stuff,
Susan Lloyd (00:41:09):
And it was a little hard, you know, to find exactly what I wanted, but once I found it, um, it, it matched where I wanted to go with this. And again, this was something that I knew where I wanted to go before we started this young lady. Um, uh, also somebody I've known for a while. My, she was a classmate of my daughter and has been very open about her struggle with, um, anxiety and depression mm-hmm <affirmative>. So I said, I would love to convey that you have felt this, but you are, you know, you may have felt that you were drowning at one point that you are not drowning and you are it's, it's another, just a little shade of difference between our, our hope before image to this one. Mm-hmm <affirmative> where there's got to be hope, or you don't continue go forward, but there's also a triumph with her because she is, you know, coming up from the, the depths of where she was and what imprisoned her.
Susan Lloyd (00:42:10):
And, uh, that's the reason for the, the gown that she is wearing, which is another Adobe stock mm-hmm <affirmative>, uh, I wanted to do, you know, these beautiful, uh, ink clouds and water. You drop the ink. I wanted to do that on my own, but, uh, <laugh> that was like, I really wanna tackle that right now. I mean, one of these days I will, and I have my own stock, but, uh, I still had to manipulate this to make it look like a gown that she was wearing. Yeah. Um, there's a lot of pieces and parts in this one, too. There's a lot of pieces.
Ant Pruitt (00:42:50):
I love this. I mean, what we're looking at, and again, for our audio listeners, uh, we have a young lady who is under the depths of the sea. Um, she's in the water and about halfway up the frame, you can see the surface of the water and there's a kiss of sunlight coming from the surface of the water. But down below her, you see the deep, dark blues and, and purples and little magenta in there, uh, just to show the whole temperature of, of being dark and cold and troublesome. But then again, you get that contrast up at the upper part of the frame of the warm, inviting golden light coming from the sun. So I clearly see that this is someone that yes, at the time they are feeling like they're drowning with depression or other mental health concerns, but there's still hope. And they're going towards the, the light and being able to free themselves of those, um, mental health concerns there.
Ant Pruitt (00:43:53):
And this is absolutely beautiful. And, and again, thank you, people that are looking for stock images, you can find a bunch of stock images. She uses Adobe stock. I use Adobe stock amongst other things. And you can just sit down in your favorite, um, composite app of choice and put some images together like this, uh, and, and really send a beautiful message like with miss Susan. It's done. This is just lovely. Thank you. Freaking love it. Now we're going to look at one more discussion here, but I want to take a few minutes now to thank a fine sponsor of the show. So I'm just gonna pause you there. Miss Susan, I'll be right back to you. <laugh> but this week we're going to, uh, take a shout out to the folks over at Melissa. So look, did you know that poor data quality can cost organizations an average of 15 million a year?
Ant Pruitt (00:44:50):
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Ant Pruitt (00:45:44):
It's really, really easy to use. And then you got five steps to do this. So first you just upload spreadsheet and just copy and paste the tabs, uh, into the second tab. Next, you want to select the data quality service, and then just click the next button. And then step three, you wanna map the input fields, step four, you wanna select the output fields and then append that data. Okay. And then step five is just hit. Just hit process. Boom. It's done. Melissa has got you squared away and getting your data cleaned up. Melissa's data matching will help eliminate clutter and duplicates. This is gonna reduce your postage and mail and costs. You know why you're gonna send two packages to the same address? Just, just send one. Okay. Batch address cleansing. Yes. They offer that. So you can process an attire address list for accuracy and completion.
Ant Pruitt (00:46:40):
Name verification. Now this is gonna allow you to parse and standardize first and last names for personalization. For example, my legal name is not ant <laugh>, but you could personalize it and say, Hey, send it as an because that's what he likes. Cuz he's a very important customer. Next you can profile and analyze your data to improve its quality over time. Then there's email verification. You can remove up to 95% of bad email addresses from your database because we all know people are just perfect when it comes to putting in their email address in these different services. Yes, that is sarcasm folks. Melissa's flexible deployment options offer different platforms to suit any preference, business size or budget. Melissa also has their new lookups apps available on iOS and Google. Just search addresses names all at your fingertips. Melissa continually undergoes independent security audits to reinforce this commitment to data security, privacy and compliance requirements.
Ant Pruitt (00:47:41):
Yes they are. So two HIPAA and GDPR compliant. Good on you, Melissa. Melissa's data quality suite and clean suite speaks for itself. But once again, they were named the leader by G2. Melissa is experiencing independent and has 37 years of data quality expertise, which explains why more than 10,000 businesses know them as the quote address experts. And if you sign up for a service level agreement, you'll get 24 7 world renowned support from their global support center. Okay. Now this is what you gotta do. Make sure you get your customer contact data up to date. Get started today with 1000 records cleaned for free at melissa.com/TWiT. Again, that's melissa.com/TWiT. Make sure y'all use that link. So they know that we sent you over to check them out. And we thank Melissa for supporting good old Hands-On Photography. All right. So now we're going to take a look at some images from miss Susan here because, uh, again, this is the start of football season and there's been some, some interesting discussions around the football season.
Ant Pruitt (00:49:00):
It's got nothing to do with the game itself. And it's this concept called, uh, NIL name, image and likeness. Now you have been contributing to, uh, to the Clemson football team and, and, and covering, um, heck not just the football team, some of the other stuff going on there at the university, providing images for the various services there, and NL has come up and, and has been, I guess you can say controversial for some people mm-hmm <affirmative> I'll just go ahead and get this out the way as a former athlete. I have no problem <laugh> with Niel because, um, I remember the times when being an NCAA athlete, I could not work. It was against the rules for me to work, but yet my mom couldn't afford to send me money to go get a quarter pounder with cheese or something like that.
Ant Pruitt (00:49:52):
It was up to me to just keep eating peanut butter sandwiches. If I wanted a snack or better yet, I, I was able to get an on campus job, but I was limited to working four hours a week. And I was only able to, to earn the minimum wage at the time, which was $4 and 25 cents an hour. So <laugh> when people start to just rail on I and how these kids are, shouldn't be getting paid and all of that. Oh, I got a bone to pick with them, but alright, I got that outta my system. I just need,
Susan Lloyd (00:50:27):
And I'm right there with you. I, I, I promise, um, I have learned that many times people begin to criticize things because they don't have a clue <laugh> yeah. Or they no idea. They don't have a clue. It's not because they don't have a clue, but, um, but yeah, they just don't, they don't understand. Yeah. Um, the restrictions that come with being a NCAA athlete, uh, it's just, there's so much that those guys have to be aware of and, and keep up with, and the fact that they are now able to, um, earn money from their name, image or likeness, um, is a tremendous boost. Now we we're seeing both ends of the spectrum clearly. Yep. We're seeing, uh, where it's a little, a little more than
Ant Pruitt (00:51:14):
Some of us a bit out there. I'll admit that <laugh>. Yeah.
Susan Lloyd (00:51:17):
Yeah. And I, you know, I thought, wow, just be great to step on foot on a campus somewhere and be like, well, 5 million, there you go. You're good to go. Uh, you know, but that's another discussion for another time. Yeah. Um, but then we see, you know, these kids that are actually looking at, I L as a learning opportunity, as well as an opportunity to put money in their bank account, but right. Um, they are learning how to use their name, likes they're learning, uh, what, what brands fit, bear brand, and they're learning exactly how to express their brand. What is my brand mm-hmm, <affirmative> like, what is it I want the world to see and know about me. That's gonna be consistent for as long as I'm in the public eye. Yeah. Um, and beyond really. Uh, but you know, that is a lot for someone who is 18 to 22 to figure out, um, I, you know, had have a clue what was going on in my life at 18. Right. Um, and so it's a lot for them to deal with. And, uh, you know, I think it's great because it just like anything else can be great or it can be very detrimental. Mm-hmm, <affirmative>, it is really fresh, refreshing to see these kids who use it and their schools who encourage them to use it in a way that is, uh, gonna help them in the long run really. Right.
Ant Pruitt (00:52:40):
I love that. And yeah, you have, you have had the pleasure to work with one of the Clemson football players in particular. Mm-hmm, <affirmative> a pretty, Daum talented wide receiver by the name of Mr. Bo Collins. Now I'm not asking you to give me the whole skinny on that, but how did that come about? I mean, you, you just, you just went and pitched him, say, Hey, I'm a badass photographer. I can make you look good. Let's do something, you know, <laugh> um, how did it work
Susan Lloyd (00:53:08):
If I, if only I were so bold, <laugh>
Ant Pruitt (00:53:13):
Come on,
Susan Lloyd (00:53:14):
There is now Clemson has begun something that is, is called the, an IL exchange, which I'm really excited about because it allows me to, um, put myself out there in front of these athletes and, and let them see what I do and what I can do for them. But this connection with Bo actually came, I, you know, kind of outta the blue, but it was also via Twitter. His, uh, parents, you know, Bo is from California and, um, his parents still live there and his father reached out to me and said, you know, those got his first I contract was with me mushroom there in Clemson, South Carolina. He said, uh, he's gonna, we're gonna be there. Uh, he would, he wants to meet people and we would love for you to come and, and shoot images that night. I'm like, okay. So I said, along with that, why don't he?
Susan Lloyd (00:54:06):
And I also kind of collaborate together and come up with images that are specific to Bo that are not necessarily about me mushroom that are not necessarily about Clems and football, because at the time, uh, these students could not use any school logo. They can use school sellers, they couldn't use the practice facility. They couldn't use a stadium. There, there has been, there have been some changes that will allow that mm-hmm <affirmative>, but still restricted on certain things. But at the time he didn't have that. And so, um, I said, you know, let's just, let's just really focus on you. And
Ant Pruitt (00:54:45):
Cause that's what makes sense. This is their brand, this is his brand B's brand, right.
Susan Lloyd (00:54:50):
His brand. It is, it's not Clemson's brand, it's not my brand. It is B's brand. And right. Um, knowing that he probably did not set foot on campus with this entire creative vision, uh, already, because again, 18, what do we know at 18 mm-hmm <affirmative> um, I felt that I was gonna have to help him in some way, uh, kind of get to the point where Eric, we were like, yeah, this is who you are. And I just came up with this really quick little survey that I sent him. And it was more about his personality than anything, like, you know, questions like, do you, would you rather be in front of a lot of people or are you happier when you're just with a small group of friends, um, do you consider the way you dress a part of who you are as a person or you don't really care, you're just gonna wears, so things like that helped me kind of shape the direction you wanted to go in and Moe as a business major at Clemson.
Susan Lloyd (00:55:47):
And so very definitely he wanted that to be expressed in these images as well. Mm-hmm <affirmative> um, so we did his freshman year, you know, we fast forward to, uh, this year, which is still blows my mind that that Bo still has so much time at Clemson and I'm so excited about it, but <laugh>, um, he, in the meantime got a sponsorship from brightly watches and, you know, being the little non-brand person that I am, uh, when I say brand, I mean, like, I just, I'm not much of a label person. I just don't pay much attention. I didn't know that brightly was what brightly is. Yeah. And then when I looked it up, I was like, whoa, this is, this is great.
Ant Pruitt (00:56:28):
<laugh> um,
Susan Lloyd (00:56:29):
Yeah. And you know, they had reached out, not, not brightly <laugh>, but Bo and his family had reached out again and said, Hey, let's go for year two. Um, and so we wanted to include brightly. We wanted you to include priorities, priority sports, which is those, uh, agent right now. Yeah. They're representing. And of course we wanted to represent both. And so that's, that's how we kinda came up with the ideas that we wanted for, for these shop.
Ant Pruitt (00:56:55):
You, you have to look at it from the aspect of, alright, we got the brand of, of the people that are supporting him financially. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and we have his personal brand. And this first image here, this is, again, you nailed it, um, I'm looking at it and I see, yes, he's out in the cityscape, if you will. Mm-hmm <affirmative> uh, he's got the one key light hitting him off. Looks like camera left. He's standing in front of a car he's in a suit and tie just, just looks perfectly posed and modeled for, for being a business person. You know, someone that's about business and, and professional, if you will. Yes. But yet I can also see to watch, you know, that fine detail right there. <laugh> I can see, I could see the watch. So you, as a photographer, you, you deserve kudos for that. But I, I, I, I just wanted to show this image and, and show what it takes for people to understand. All right. Yes. You have your personal brand, but then if you wanting to work with brands, you need to make sure that brand is being represented, represented in the images that you're putting out there. Walk us through, setting up this shot here.
Susan Lloyd (00:58:12):
Well, uh, this is actually on the campus, uh, at Clemson university, which, um, that is the brand new, I, I think they opened it maybe in 2020, the business, uh, facility there, which when they were building it like, oh, this thing is right on top of the road. And it seemed a little off mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, and sadly they had to take down the, uh, Clemson house in order to put it there. But, um, but now you look at it and it just looks so good and so sophisticated and such beautiful clean lines. And, uh, I said, but we have got use that, uh, a little differently. We used it his freshman year, but then I let's use it a little differently this time. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so those are the, the lights that naturally you, that they have on at, in the evenings. And, um, <laugh> so we, we had at a spot picked out mm-hmm <affirmative> and, uh, Bowman fields, which is right there, you know,
Ant Pruitt (00:59:08):
All about that,
Susan Lloyd (00:59:09):
Just look right over on the left, across the street from this business. So we're literally right there at Bowman across the street, the sprinklers came on.
Ant Pruitt (00:59:21):
Oh, you gotta love it when that happens.
Susan Lloyd (00:59:23):
Yeah. And I was using, oh goodness, that was an L E D panel that I was using. Um, and so, you know, it was a mad dash to get everything out of the path of this water to move Bo to move the car, maybe everything. So we had to reset from our original image and I'm, you know, thankfully miraculously had a favorite towel roll in my car. So I'm just like drying everything off and crossing my fingers and things. Lord don't let anything, no water seat in. Um, and so, you know, we had to reset and we started over, but, uh, Bo let me tell you, he is such a joy to work with because he is flexible. He's very adaptable. He's very, um, confident, but he is not a prima Donna. Um, right. And sometimes I can, you should be a little more primadonna, but he is not. I mean, it's just not in his nature. Uh, but he still has that confidence about him
Ant Pruitt (01:00:26):
As a former ball player. We like to call that coachable.
Susan Lloyd (01:00:30):
Yes. Yes. And that's a great coachable and you know, you and I could talk about from some football and clubs and sports in general, but one of the things they do look for is these coachable players
Ant Pruitt (01:00:42):
Being coachable. You can be the best of the best, but are you coachable to be able to take criticism and instruction to help enhance your game? Yeah. And he's clear that yeah,
Susan Lloyd (01:00:51):
It's, it's a beautiful blend of confidence and humility. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, you know, it really is. You have to be humble enough to say, I don't know it all. Uh, but you also have to be confident enough to say that I can get there. Yeah. And I will get there if I'm a sponge and let all these people instruct me. Uh, so, but yeah, he totally just nailed every, everything. If there was a mistake in that session, it was not postal <laugh>.
Ant Pruitt (01:01:17):
Right. Totally.
Susan Lloyd (01:01:20):
He did great. Yeah. And the watch, like you did mention it again, detail, I will get so caught up in everything else and paying attention to his face and his body that there's several brains where you don't see the watch. Mm-hmm <affirmative> again, not first fault, but you know, that was, that was pretty crucial. Have that watch visible <laugh>
Ant Pruitt (01:01:38):
Yeah. I'm looking at these, this, this other image. And again, he, yes, he's a subject matter as well, but my eye immediately goes down to the watch because of the way you have it lit. Um, and even if you, I don't, I'm not even sure if you even pulled it up in post processing, like a selective adjustment, but
Susan Lloyd (01:01:56):
Actually tuned it. I turned it down. Some, I, I had to do that light a little bit. Um, yeah. The light on the, uh, looking at the photo, the light on the right hand side, that was a lot of reflection on his car. That is his car too, by the way he laughed. He said, you sure you wanna use my car? I said, yes, absolutely.
Ant Pruitt (01:02:14):
Your car. Yeah. It works. It totally works for the shot. It
Susan Lloyd (01:02:17):
Works wonderfully. Um, but yeah, I had to really kind of tone down those highlights, um, did not have to bring up the watch. You know, I toned it down. This is a dual light. We have the one L E D panel, which you can kind of tell is off to his right. And a little bit low. And behind him is another panel light, which is pretty much just eliminating behind him. Yeah. Illuminating the top of the car and right behind him, just so we get that separation.
Ant Pruitt (01:02:46):
Yeah. His light in his hair a little bit. And his light in his shoulder, just to sort of break him up from the back.
Susan Lloyd (01:02:50):
Right. Just to give the separation from those dark colors back there. Uh, it's, it's very easy to lose dark hair. Um, I lose my <laugh>
Ant Pruitt (01:02:59):
<laugh>
Susan Lloyd (01:03:01):
Uh, we can take that anyways, but, um, yeah, so I, I really had to pay attention to that and, um, you know, it's, it's that knowing where you wanna go, you have to know how to get there as well. And, and you are gonna have to tweet you. You're never gonna get it right off the bat. Um, if it's something that's complex, but at least if you know where you're going, you have a, you have a fighting chance.
Ant Pruitt (01:03:26):
<laugh> that's right now, this one here, uh, I love the, the, the concept of it with the whole rear view mirror. Again, the watch is there and the subject, but it's still captivating with having that mirror there and capturing his eyes. Mm-hmm <affirmative> in the rear view mirror. Um, just, just, just enough interest to, to, to say, all right. Yep. This is pretty cool watch, but Ooh, what is he looking at? You know, this is mm-hmm <affirmative> so well done. And this is still done at the same location. Looks like, right?
Susan Lloyd (01:03:56):
Yes. Um, he was actually looking at me because I was in the back
Ant Pruitt (01:04:02):
Mm-hmm
Susan Lloyd (01:04:02):
<affirmative> in the seat. This is, and there's a little Photoshop magic glove. I'm here too. I was using such a shallow depth field. It was, I could not, I think I had my, yeah, have 51, 8 that's RF 51, 8 that I was using for this, which I have found to be an incredible lens for the amount of money that it costs. It's really amazing. And I'm pretty sure I had it at one eight. And so it was gonna be, there's no way I was gonna get both his space and his, um, hand and watching photos. So I did have to pull couple of images together to get this, but, um, you know, again, it was just a matter of, of knowing that ahead of time knowing that I was gonna have to change my focusing point as I was shooting mm-hmm <affirmative>, uh, because if I didn't do that, there's, that's the one thing I tell people a lot and you Photoshop and other processing software is getting better at this, but the one thing you really can't fix is focus. You're going, yeah, you just, it is, you can get very close, but if you don't get your focus, correct.
Ant Pruitt (01:05:10):
Yeah.
Susan Lloyd (01:05:12):
That's the best way to blow a shot, you know? Um, and so I had to think through that to get that shot. And then of course, to make sure that the watch dial was physical and it, you know, we saw that, but I, I really, again, all I had to do was give those minor instructions and he just, he just took it and ran with it. And, uh, yeah, we had a lot of fun and, you know, I told him, I said, for as long as you live, you're gonna remember that we, you know, got ranged out by the sprinkler system
New Speaker (01:05:42):
<laugh>
Susan Lloyd (01:05:44):
And then, you know, over here, left the lens in the back sea, his car. So I'm getting ready to leave the next morning. Like wasn't even that, that next morning, I was like, oh my goodness, where's my lens. Maybe I left it out on Bowman. Maybe we had shot earlier to different location. It was one 30 in the morning. And what am I doing? I tra around looking for my lost lens,
Ant Pruitt (01:06:10):
Bowman,
Susan Lloyd (01:06:13):
Which is very dark. This, this not been in Clemson, South Carolina. I don't know that I would've done that. I probably would have, because it was a lens, but you sacrificed everything. I get that lens back.
Ant Pruitt (01:06:24):
I don't wanna get the glass, get the glass,
Susan Lloyd (01:06:27):
<laugh> get the glass. But yeah, there, I was tra around and I thought, well, maybe I just left it in his car and sure enough, I got a text from him the next morning. So do you need this? And it was holding my lens. I'm like, yeah, that's mine. <laugh>
Ant Pruitt (01:06:41):
So, gosh, you
Susan Lloyd (01:06:41):
That's very typical of me. I there's, I have left pieces of myself in so many places
Susan Lloyd (01:06:49):
CLEs and football field probably has all of, of my lens caps
Ant Pruitt (01:06:53):
And all the caps are down there. I guarantee your lens caps are down there. That that's like a given
Susan Lloyd (01:06:59):
Yeah.
Ant Pruitt (01:06:59):
Someone I, I was on a recent shoot and um, my lens cap was left on the table. There mm-hmm <affirmative> and they were yelling, oh, don't forget your cap. And I'm like, uh, okay. I'm just sort of used to buying 'em every month. So no, no words.
Susan Lloyd (01:07:14):
Poor little things. I just wonder where do they all end up? You know, they just get left behind.
Ant Pruitt (01:07:21):
Yeah. It is what it is. I don't know if photographer that, that keeps up with all their lens caps. Not I've
Susan Lloyd (01:07:26):
Left, left batteries. I have chargers. I've left have
New Speaker (01:07:30):
<laugh>.
Susan Lloyd (01:07:31):
And my husband's like, Susan, why don't you just keep a stock list in your camera bag? I said there's time for that.
Ant Pruitt (01:07:38):
No, no, no. Come on says,
Susan Lloyd (01:07:39):
But, and I'm really gonna sit there and go through everything. And I know you too well <laugh>
Ant Pruitt (01:07:46):
Oh man. Miss Susan, this has been unbelievable. I'm so glad I finally got you to sit down. Yay.
Susan Lloyd (01:07:54):
I know this was great. I
Ant Pruitt (01:07:56):
Took a while.
New Speaker (01:07:59):
It's
Susan Lloyd (01:07:59):
Okay. Took a while, but that's okay. That's okay. I'm so thankful for our friendship. I'm thankful that you felt I was somebody who could be on your show. I mean, I feel like important now you
Ant Pruitt (01:08:10):
You're, you're a heck of a photographer and you're quite inspirational. So yeah, you have a, a great story. It's, it's a perfect fit for this audience in my, my community. I'm really, really glad you took the time out before we let you go. Is there anything that you'd like to plug something that people can follow you follow and take a look at or,
Susan Lloyd (01:08:29):
You know? Sure. Um, I am the world's worst marketer. Um, I can come up with brands all day long and help other people, but when it comes to me by all that, right. However, I do post to my Instagram, which is, um, at Susan under wait. Yeah. Under underscore, uh, Lloyd underscore photo. I hope I said that.
Ant Pruitt (01:08:52):
Right. Well, the thing is, let me tell you something. I, I, I, I'm pretty tight with an editor named Mr. Victor. He'll he'll just have it up on the screen, right. That now, you know, and then I'll put it in the show notes too. <laugh> I
Susan Lloyd (01:09:05):
On Instagram? Yes, I am on Twitter. Um, I get a little sassy sometimes on Twitter, but it's fun. And I, I do all I can to keep it positive. And it is a mix. Yeah. Uh, it is not a strictly photography, Twitter account. It is gonna be everything it's gonna me. It's gonna be football. It's gonna be Clemson sports all the above. Um, so those two are where I'm most active. Uh, I do have a Facebook page, Susan Lloyd photography. Mm-hmm <affirmative> um, and eventually, maybe one of these days I'll have a YouTube channel. I dunno, but, uh,
Ant Pruitt (01:09:39):
<laugh>
Susan Lloyd (01:09:40):
If you wanna see Clemson football photos, this season, I will be shooting for Clemson sports talk.
Ant Pruitt (01:09:47):
Mm-hmm
Susan Lloyd (01:09:48):
<affirmative> okay. Clemson sports talk, uh, that is an online publication run by Lawton Swan. He's phenomenal.
Ant Pruitt (01:09:55):
I know waning Wanee is actually a, uh, a friend of the TWiT network. Great.
Susan Lloyd (01:10:01):
He's a great guy. And
Ant Pruitt (01:10:03):
Um, yeah, I know. Wanee
Susan Lloyd (01:10:04):
I feel like I've found my, uh, publication home when it comes to, you know, the sports, the, uh, sideline photography that I do, but yeah. So if you wanna see those, uh, definitely follow him and look for those galleries. Um, David BS is the other photographer and I think we're trading off. Uh, mm-hmm thes, I'm not hundred percent sure how that's gonna go down, but I do know September 10, I will be in death valley and I will be shooting that game. That first home I'm looking.
Ant Pruitt (01:10:37):
I really wish I can get back to a game sometimes soon.
Susan Lloyd (01:10:40):
No, you need to,
Ant Pruitt (01:10:41):
I, I, I need it bad.
Susan Lloyd (01:10:43):
That's definitely that definitely need to, and you need to do that, so, and just say, Hey, Susan, I'm on the way. And we'll just, oh my gosh, we'll have a blast.
Ant Pruitt (01:10:50):
Oh, definitely. I would definitely come find you <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah.
Susan Lloyd (01:10:55):
I'm usually sweaty and disgusting. So it would have to be before the game. Not
Ant Pruitt (01:11:00):
I with it. It's all good. It's all good. <laugh> sweet. All miss Susan. Thank you again for joining me. I really do appreciate your time. Appreciate all the knowledged this week.
Ant Pruitt (01:11:13):
You all right, folks that is gonna do it for this week's show. Holy cow. Um, yes, I ran a little bit long, but I think it's gonna be quite all right. I, I, I really enjoyed the chat with her and the knowledge that she dropped and just the bit of inspiration, you know, we can all use that, especially, you know, dealing with, uh, limitations that the COVID world has brought us these days. Basically just get your camera and go shoot. Doesn't matter. Just pick it up and go shoot. I appreciate her continuing to push that message and still be able to create some beautiful Daum art. All right. If you have questions, comments, feedback, you can send that stuff to me a couple different ways. First, you can just shoot an email to hop TWiT.tv. Again, that's hop TWiT.tv and that's for, uh, questions about episodes, about the photographers I've spoken to.
Ant Pruitt (01:12:11):
Uh, if you want me to critique an image, you can do that. If you want me to critique an image on the air, I'm fine with doing that as well. Just make sure you put, you know, say that I have your consent to use your images on the show, or you can give me a follow over on the social media platforms. Tag me over on Instagram. I am ant underscore Pruitt on Instagram. Um, following me over there, doesn't seem to matter because they're not pushing my content to my followers. For whatever reason. I don't know why <laugh>, but you can tag me ant underscore Pruit. And then if you wanna hang out under Twitter verse, I am ant underscore Pruit on Twitter as well. All right, folks, that is it for this week. Thank you so much for your continued support. Please continue to tell other folks aboutHands-On Photography. Please continue to hit that share and, and, and, and like, and leave the comments and the ratings and all of that. So apple podcast will continue to show me some love and support so we can keep on growing this show. All right. Thank you again. I will catch you all next time. So safely create and dominate and go watch a Clemson football game. Y'all take care.
Rod Pyle (01:13:19):
Hey, I'm rod Pyle, editor of ad Astra magazine, and each week I'm joined by Tark. Mallek the editor in chief over@space.com in our new this week in space podcast, every Friday, Tark. And I take a deep dive into the stories that define the new space age what's NASA up to when will Americans, once again, set foot on the moon. And how about those samples from the perseverance Rover? When do those coming home? What the heck has Elon must done now, in addition to all the latest and greatest and space exploration, we'll take an occasional look at bits of space flight history that you probably never heard of and all with an eye towards having a good time along the way. Check us out in your favorite podcaster.
