Soft Launch of our New "Sportraits" Product

"Sportraits" (Sports Portraits) are dramatically posed and epicly lit portraits that showcase an athlete’s dynamic attitude, grace, and competitive vibe.  Using off-camera flash to allow the athlete to channel their inner bada$$!  I’m excited to begin offering this unique product to local athletes and their families!  

I'm currently planning that a "Sportraits" session will include the following:

• Session at the location of your choice.  Up to five different poses.
• Images posted online for your review and ordering.
• Reduced-size digital files included for social media.
• Order prints and photo products online at your leisure.

Pricing will be the same as a standard portrait session:  $200.  During this soft launch. I'll be offering "Sportraits" for an introductory price of $100, a 50% savings.  

Contact Paul at 412-480-4698 (phone or text) or pwossidlo@aol.com for more information.  

This special introductory pricing ends December 31, 2025.

Something New: "Sportraits!"

I’ve been photographing weddings for over 40 years. Loved every minute of it! But I’m not as young as I used to be, especially for a barn venue where I’m having to move my equipment between buildings. For the last 10 years I’ve been making increasing use of OCF (Off Camera Flash) to create beautiful dramatic wedding photos.

Now I'm applying the same lighting techniques and tricks to portraits of student athletes. Using dynamic lighting to make the athletes look “Bada$$”! If you’re interested in photos like this for your superstar, please reach out. Since this is a new market for me, prices are extremely reasonable!

Fall Fantasy

 

2019 Bettis Holiday Party

It started 36 years ago...

In 1983 I was working as an engineer at the Bettis Atomic Power Lab in West Mifflin.  The company was planning their first employee Holiday Party, and they wanted to give everyone a free 4x6 print of their children sitting on Santa's lap.  They asked if I would be interested in taking the photos and distributing them to the employees afterwards.

Back then, of course, everything was shot on film.  The biggest problem was making sure that the photos were sent to the right parents. Each parent filed out a card with their name and address,and we had to make sure we kept them in order to they would match up with the prints.  We also had to limit each family to one shot per family.

The one thing I remember most from those early years was the line waiting to talk with Santa stretched around all 4 sides of the hall we were in, with a 2 hour wait to talk to Santa!  After that we implemented a numbering system so that no more than 10 families were in line at any given time.

I've been shooting this with a digital camera since 2003, which has simplified things immensely.  The photos are uploaded to an online gallery, and parents can download the file to print on their own.  I have also kept previous years' files online as well, and it seems every year I have one or two parents who will go through the earlier files and order prints from 4 or 5 years' worth of visits.  I love seeing the progression as the kids grow older and new siblings are added.

Shooting digital also means I can shoot more than one photo per family.  In recent years, in addition to the standard posed shot, I've been trying to include more candid shots of the kids as they intently tell Santa what is on their list, and that they've been good this year.

If you are looking for this year's photos, please click here

Gabby's Senior Session

How cool is it when a girl that wants to include her pet lizard in her senior photos!

Our shoot was at Gabby's favorite spot, the working farm at Round Hill Park.  This is a very nice shooting location, with plenty of great spots to shoot at.

Unfortunately on the day we had scheduled it was a cloudy day, with no chance that the sun was going to peak out for us.  So I made it a point to bring along my flash equipment, and we made out own sunshine.  I used one flash with a full CTO gel to one side and slightly behind Gabby.  This was my "sun".  And then used a second flash on camera with a 1/4 CTO filter and a bounce diffuser for a slightly warm fill light.  Increasingly this has become my go-to setup for outdoor portraits.  It is easy to set up and move from location to location.

Taylor's Night Shoot

Shooting portraits at night can be one of the most challenging assignments.  Lighting can be tricky, because you want to make sure your subject is properly lit, while still seeing lights and other details in the background.   But it can also be one of the most rewarding, providing a wonderful contrast between lights and the darkness.  I wanted to try shooting at night down at the Waterfront.  During the holidays their central square features a lot of lights and decorations, making it the ideal background for this type of shoot.  It was an interesting challenge trying to balance the light from my off-camera flashes with the Christmas decorations.

Taylor is a relatively new model going to school in the Pittsburgh area.  It was our first time working together, and I don't think it will be our last.

Sheldon's "Mommy and Me" Shopping Session

During the holiday season I scheduled a shoot with one of my favorite models, Sheldon, and her daughter Adalyn.  I wanted to try doing a "Mommy and Me" shopping shoot.  The Waterfront has some nice Christmas decorations in their central square, so that would be a convenient place to shoot.

We had an unexpectedly bright sunny day for our shoot.  My go-to setup for shooting in sunlight is to shoot with the sun behind the subject and having a flash in the front to fill in the shadows on the face.  I've literally used some variation of this for 40 years.  The sun makes a nice hairlight/rimlight on the subject.  But sometimes a regular flash struggles in this situation to have enough power to fill in the shadows.  Fortunately I had my Godox AD200 super-flash along, with three times the power of a standard on-camera flash.  Plenty of power to fill in the shadows, even at a distance.

Sheldon is also a photographer, in addition to being a model.  I think this gives her an edge and helps our sessions to flow easily.  Adalyn, meanwhile, is perfecting her "Diva Model" impression (which is actually pretty easy for a 2-year old).

Bettis Holiday Party

Earlier this month I photographed the kids in Santa's lap and the annual Bettis Holiday Party at Salvatore's in Baldwin Borough.  It is hard to believe that the first time I did this particular event was in 1983!  That's long enough that the little kids I photographed back then now bring their children to see Santa.  That first year we has no idea how popular it was going to be.  The line for Santa literally went around all four sides of the room.   Back then I shot it on film, and we had to get every employee's name in order so we could deliver the prints.  Now of course I shoot it on digital, and post the files to an online gallery that the parents can download from.  I still keep the previous years' digital file online, and every year I have at least one family that goes through those older files and finds their family's photos going back several years .  It is neat to literally see their kids grow up in five years' worth of photos.

Pittsburgh Photographer's Headshot Meetup

I'm a member of a Pittsburgh Photographer's Group on Facebook.  There are people with a wide variety of backgrounds, interests, and skill levels there.  Members have started organizing periodic meetups, so people can meet each other face-to-face, and, of course, talk about photography.

I thought it would be interesting if instead of just talking about photography, we could meet up and actually do some photography.  To actually see how other people do things, what equipment they use, and how they go about solving problems (photography is often about overcoming limitations to make great photos).

So I decided to organize a headshot meetup event.  In the age of social media, everyone needs a good headshot.  Unfortunately it is really hard to do a good self-portrait with professional equipment.  Selfies don't count.  Besides, try holding 10 pounds of camera at arms length without shaking the camera.

I suggested the idea to the group, and enough people expressed interest to make it worth doing.   I wanted us to have the option of shooting by window light, so evenings were out of the question.  I decided to plan the meetup for a Saturday afternoon at the Panera Bread in Oakland.  Many Paneras have a meeting room you can use, and the one in Oakland has outside windows in their meeting room, so we had our windowlight.

The meetup was a great success.  We had multiple flash setups for people to try, and various reflectors and other light modifiers.  It was interesting to see how others did things, and offer suggestions to those who were new to headshots and portraiture.

Something Old, Something New, Part 2

Last year I shared an image that was taken using my oldest Nikon lens (a 1983 50mm f1.8 AI-S).  With today's post, I'm going one better.  This image was taken with the oldest lens that I still use, the exotic Sima 100mm f2 Soft Focus lens.  I purchased this lens in 1981, and it predates my 1983 switch to Nikon equipment.  Originally I used this lens with the Konica SLRs I was using at the time.  This lens uses a simple T-Mount adapter to attach to the camera, so when I switched to Nikon, I only needed to swap the Konica adapter for a Nikon one.

The Sima lens is a special-purpose soft-focus lens.  It consists of a single plastic lens element mounted at one end of a tube.  This tube slides back and forth inside a second tube that attaches to the camera.  Sliding the one tube inside the other is how the lens is focused.  The single element is why you end up with a soft image.  When I originally used the lens, I noticed my images had a distinct purple flare to them, so I glued a Cokin filer mount to the front of the lens.  A square UV filter in the holder reduces the purple tint and gives a more natural looking effect.

This isn't a lens you are going to use for every photo, but I find it a useful option for bridal portraits.  This lens gives a romantic, ethereal quality to the portraits.  Last month I was second-shooting a wedding for my friends at Platinum Fire Productions.  We had some extra time prior to the start of the ceremony, so I grabbed my soft-focus lens and asked the bride to stand by one of the large windows in the bridal room (soft window light is one of my "go-to" setups for portraits).  No need for any fill light, and no worries about the side lighting emphasizing imperfections.  A minute later I was done, with the lovely example above being one of my favorites.

Bettis 2015 Holiday Party

The first year I did these photos was 1983.  I worked at Bettis at the time, the Holiday Party was something new, and they decided it would be nice if every family would get a 4x6 print of their photo with Santa.  Since I was shooting film, my biggest concern was keeping track of which photos went to which employees.  I had a whole system of name cards, roll and frame numbers, and notations to keep things straight.  I needed two assistants just to keep the paperwork straight.  That first year, Santa and I were set up in one corner of the room.  About two hours into the day, I turned around and was shocked to see that the line of families waiting to see Santa wound around all four sides of the room, and almost back to where I was standing.  In the following years we added a numbering system to the name cards, with the numbers being announced in groups of 10, so no one had to stand in line too long.

Although there was a period when I took some time off, this is easily the longest running assignment I've had.  Long enough that for some of the children I'm photographing now, I also photographed their parents 20 or 30 years ago when THEY were kids.  For the last 13 years I've shot this with digital equipment.  With the advent of online galleries and social media, we no longer supply prints, but rather provide a digital file that parents can use as they wish.  They are in an online gallery for the parent to download, so it is no longer necessary to track the individual photos.  Overall, things are much more streamlined now.

I decided to try a few new wrinkles this year.  Rather than my previous years' setup of an on-camera flash mounted on a flash bracket, I decided to have two flashes firing into 33-inch white umbrellas, using the wireless trigger mounted on the camera.  The wireless trigger was the key to making this work, because I didn't want wires dangling where a child running around might trip on them.  This setup worked like a charm.  The lighting was very even, and the resulting images were very consistent, requiring a minimal amount of exposure correction from image to image.

The second change this year was to use the EyeFi card in the camera to send images directly to my iPad, so parents could get an idea what the images looked like.  This proved to be quite popular with parents, and gave them confidence that their kids looked good in the photos (other than the occasional screaming and crying toddler, of course...).

The photos can be found HERE.

Easter Portraits at the Playground

Late last year I did a series of "Photos at the Playground" sessions over at the Swisshelm Park Playground, where parents could bring their kids for photos in a relaxed, kid-friendly environment. There was a small shooting fee, and parents can then order prints and enlargements online. We were able to have three session in the late fall before it finally got too cold and nasty

After laying low for the winter, I was looking forward to bring the concept back this spring.  Easter Sunday seemed like a perfect fit, even though it came early this year.  Unfortunately, in early April there aren't a lot of flowers in bloom, and the grass is more brown than green.  I needed to come up with something that would say "Spring".  I had a colorful blanket to start with, which would also help if the ground was wet.  A quick trip to local stores produced some nice bright flower decorations and some oversized eggs which added color to the scene and made great props.  Perfect!

The Eye-Fi Card (Part 1)

Eye-Fi cards are a neat technology that's been around for several years now.  An Eye-Fi card is an SD (Secure Digital) memory card (typically found in most non-professional digital cameras) that has both memory for storing the image files as well as a wi-fi chip that allows the files to be automatically sent to either one of the internet photo-sharing sites or transmitted to your laptop or tablet/smartphone.

My recent upgrade to the Nikon D800E camera opened the possibility of my using an Eye-Fi card.  The D800E is my first camera that includes two memory card slots.  One is a standard Compact Flash card (the standard memory card for most professional photographers) and one SD slot.  With this kind of configuration, many photographers will use a CF card for their primary photo storage, and use an Eye-Fi card in the SD slot to transmit the files.

For the kinds of things I do, there are several ways I envision using this technology:

1)  Currently I set up my laptop at a wedding reception.  Periodically I will copy photos of the wedding  from my memory cards onto the laptop (which means the files are backed up).  I'll then run a slide show so guests can see the photos from earlier in the day.  Besides providing a service to the client, it is also effective advertising for me.  With an Eye-Fi card, I can set it up so the files are automatically transmitted from the camera to the laptop, and automatically added to the slideshow.  Guests will be able to see the photos almost as quickly as I shoot them, and I don't need to spend time at the laptop loading the photos.

2)  I sometimes get asked to photograph events where they want printing done during the event.  The Eye-Fi card can send files to my laptop, where the clients can preview them prior to sending them to the printer.

3)  When I'm on location, shooting a portrait session or a modeling session, I can have the Eye-Fi card send the files to my iPad, so the client can get a preview of the photos prior to my posting them online.

With the D800E, the first thing I had to consider was the size of the files.  When shooting at the full 36MP resolution of the camera, each image file is approximately 50 MB.  A wifi connection isn't fast enough to send that file quickly.  What other D800 users do is shoot "RAW + JPG" (which creates two files), with the JPEG file size set to "Small" (about 9MP).  The RAW files are saved to the CF card for future use, while the JPG is saved to the Eye-Fi card for transmission.  The small JPG files transfer quickly.  It is interesting to note that what is considered "Small" on the D800E has a resolution of 3600x2400 pixels, which is larger than what I got from my original D70 dSLR (3000x2000 pixels), and is more than enough for printing up to 8x10 prints.

In Part 2, I'll discuss setting up the Eye-Fi card and how well it meets my needs.

"Photos at the Playground" Portrait Event. Sunday October 5

This coming Sunday I will be at the Swisshelm Park Playground from 11:30 am until 3;30 pm.  I'm offering outdoor portrait mini-sessions for your kids (both 2-legged and/or 4-legged). Sessions will be 10-15 minutes, approximately 20-30 photos. Photos will be posted to a password-protected online gallery for you to review and order. Fee for the session is $15 (cash or check). Post a comment on the Facebook page for the event and the fee drops to $10 (a 33% savings).

The Swisshelm Park playground is at the corner of Onondago Street and Nightingale Way, which is just off the intersection of Commercial Street and Whipple Street.

I'll see you at the playground on Sunday!

Dana and Erica's Engagement Session

Dana and Erica recently booked me to photograph their wedding next year. They also wanted engagement photos, so in early September we scheduled a photo session for October 8. At the time, I was concerned that with Fall coming, we had no idea what the weather would be like for the shoot. Fortunately we lucked out, and the weekend in question was part of the warm and sunny stretch that we had.

The session was scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Oakland, near the Heinz Chapel. We shot in the garden areas around the Chapel, and then headed over the Software Institute, across from Saint Paul's Cathedral. With the columns, steps, and "porch" area, it is a great place to shoot. It is especially popular with wedding photographers on rainy days, because the "porch" is under an overhang and protected from the weather.

Even though it was a quiet Sunday afternoon, passer-byes still took notice, including one who took a photo of me taking a photo...

Quick & Easy Outdoor Portraits

I got my start professionally photographing portraits and models outdoors. As a poor college student, I didn't have the funds for flashes, umbrellas, and the other paraphernalia that indoor portraits require. Fortunately my alma-mater, Michigan State, had extensive park and garden areas available that made ideal locations.

I still enjoy working outdoors. Lighting is much more natural, and being out of a studio environment tends to relax subjects more. I try to avoid an overly elaborate setup, preferring a flash with diffuser attached to the camera with a rotating flash bracket. Put the sun at the subject's back, add enough flash to fill in the facial shadows, and everything's ready to go.

Last week I was contacted by a member of my synagogue, asking if I could shoot a portrait for use with her daughter's upcoming Bat Mitzvah announcement. It needed to be done quickly, and the fact that I would come to their house to shoot the photos was a big plus. We had the option of shooting inside (I had my flashes and umbrellas in the car), but we had a nice day and they had a nice front yard, so everyone agreed that outdoors was preferred. The rest of the family sat on their front stoop while we shot. I used the dark hedges for a background, making the hair highlights really jump and helping to separate the subject from the background.

Easter & Mother's Day Special: Gift Certificates

We have a special Easter and Mother's Day offer available if you are still looking for something unique and memorable: A gift certificate for an on-location family portrait session and one 8x10 print (which you select) from the session. Normally this costs $80.95 ($70 for the session and $10.95 for the print), but from now until Mother's Day, you can purchase a gift certificate for only $39.95 (less than half price!). If you would like a gift certificate, you have two ways to order one:

1) If you wish to pay by cash or check, please email (pwossidlo@aol.com) or call (412-480-4698). We will make arrangements so you can purchase your gift certificate and receive it before Easter or Mother's Day.

2) If you wish to purchase your gift certificate using a credit or debit card, click on the button below to pay for your gift certificate using PayPal. We will mail the gift certificate to your PayPal address within 24 hours.

Samples of my portrait work can be found in my portrait portfolio. If you have any questions, just ask!

Paul

Photos with Santa

Every year, the first Saturday in December is my former employer's annual holiday party. Every year we take photos of the kids (and sometimes the adults) on Santa's lap, and post 4x6 files (1200x1800 pixels) online for a free download by the parents. I do provide the option of ordering prints directly from me if people want, and there are customers who prefer to do this.

Because I've been doing this digitally since 2003, I decided to put images from previous years online also. They're not available for a free download anymore, but folks can still look at them and order prints if they want. Last year I had one family that went through and found their kids' photos from each of the previous years and ordered one print of each. It was cute to see the progression through the years as the family grew and the kids grew up.

(If you're looking for the entire gallery of Bettis Santa photos, please click here)

2011 Portrait Gift Certificates Now on Sale

UPDATE (12/21/2010): Any gift certificates ordered between now and Christmas will be emailed as an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file that you can print out on your own printer. No waiting for it to be delivered!

Just in time for the Holidays!

I now have gift certificates available for 2011 In-Home Family Portrait Sessions. These gift certificates include an 8x10 print in addition to the session itself. The gift certificates are an $82 value and are available for a special Holiday price of only $34.95, which is the lowest price I have ever offered for this gift certificate.

Samples of my portrait work can be found here.

If you would like a Family Portrait Gift Certificate for the Holidays, you have two ways to order one:

1) If you wish to pay by cash or check, please email (pwossidlo@aol.com) or call (412-480-4698). I will make arrangements to meet so you can pay and receive your Gift Certificate.

2) If you wish to purchase your Gift Certificate using a credit or debit card, click on the button below to pay for your Gift Certificate using PayPal. I will mail the Gift Certificate to your PayPal address the same day.

(Button removed because the sale is over)


Please note that these gift certificates are for 2011 sessions only. If you need photos taken before then, please contact me as soon as possible!

"Picture the New Year" Portrait Promotion

For the month of January, I'm offering a new promotion for my family portraits. The sitting fee for the portraits has been reduced from $70 to $50. In addition, all customers receive a coupon for $50 off of their order if they order at least $100 worth of photos. Which means that the the sitting will effectively cost nothing!

Sittings are usually done at the client's house, and typically take an hour. Multiple poses, multiple groupings, and multiple clothing changes are all recommended. My portrait portfolio can be found here.