New website and blog up and running!

Many of you know my strong passion for photography and have been very supportive. My newly revamped site has just went online. Please subscribe to my updates by adding your email in the "Subscribe to Updates" or "Subscribe to Blog" located on most pages on the upper right side. The new site will be much more functional and easier to navigate. Thank you all!




All new blog updates will be posted here.


www.dewitzphotography.com  

www.dewitzphotography.com

It is your turn to be a STAR! Our custom photography and retouching services will make you one. Capture who you are today. Capture the moments of your life. That is what we do. We make every image of you special. The use of the best equipment and strong photography knowledge makes it easy for us to make you look your best. Images last a lifetime and are a great way to tell your story. Photos of today can be priceless tomorrow. Most of our photo shoots end with our client saying that they had a lot more fun than they would have ever expected. Today is the day. Capture Yourself Today!

Every photo package includes your own online galleries. One gallery is your proofs gallery. This gallery is private and is password protected. You control access to this gallery. What are proofs? Proofs are all the photos taken at the shoot which gives you full control of what photos you want professionally processed. Your second gallery is where your select processed photos will be. This gallery can be set to public or private. Your galleries can be accessed by clicking on the "Client Access" link above. Professional prints and products can be ordered from either of your galleries. The watermark on the digital image will not be printed on the photo.

We use top of the line cameras, lenses, and processing programs at Dewitz Photography. The use of top of the line equipment insures that you get the highest quality image possible. The use of high quality camera bodies enables the ability to produce a HQ image in a wide variety of lighting schemes that will be free of digital noise and other digital artifacts. The camera is also a large factor in capturing tones and colors correctly. Our cameras are also capable of printing over 30" X 40" at full resoloution (300 dpi). The other side of the equation is the lens. The lens is what delivers and focuses the subject to the camera. High quality lenses insure tack sharp images with very little image degradation or flaws. High end processing software safely corrects or enhances image files without losing image quality.

We use photography lighting equipment when needed or wanted. This gives us the ability to be able to shoot in natural light, artificial, or to mix both for ultimate control. This control allows us full creative lighting control for any creative effects or lighting schemes that are desired. The lighting equipment we use is also completely portable so that we can shoot almost anywhere you desire.

We use only professional print services and photo papers so that you always receive the longest lasting and highest quality photographic prints available. Lustre “E” - Kodak ENDURA professional photo paper. This is a great choice for photos that will be displayed behind glass. Glossy “F” - Kodak ENDURA professional photo paper with a high gloss finish. Kodak ENDURA Metallic - Metallic paper has a glossy finish and metallic appearance that creates images with exceptional visual interest and depth. In addition to delivering rich, vibrant colors and flattering flesh tones, this paper offers century-plus image stability.

Most of our photography packages come with or have an option to buy a photo CD. Either way you still may want to use the convenience and ease of use to order professional printed prints and products from your own personal gallery on Dewitz Photography. The "Gallery | Store" link above will take you there. From your gallery you will be able to order prints in over 50 different sizes. Other products include; canvas, ThinWraps, Metal Prints, calendars, mouse pads, playing cards, holiday cards, stickers, shirts, buttons, mugs, magnets, and many more options.

Luck of the Draw

Is my photography all skill or am I just lucky? Well, it is both, but it is not the main reason I succeed. You have to be there. That is really 99% of the photo. If your not there, you won't get the photo. You need to go out looking for the compositions you want. Once you are out there looking it is luck's turn to help you out. Luck is what make a good scene great. Luck is what lines everything up for that once in a lifetime amazing shot. Luck is useless if you aren't out looking. Skill is what fine tunes the photo. Skill is what helps you see and capture strong compositional elements. It is skill that fine tunes your camera into a skilled tool. You need all three elements to pull off great photos.

Skills can be learned over time through repetition, training, and analysis of your own work and others. This is something that may come easier for some and harder for others, but in the end you have the power to advance yourself as far as you want. 

Luck is luck. You have very little control over luck. You can sometimes improve your chances of getting lucky by putting yourself in ideal conditions for what you want to capture. If you want to capture interesting clouds, you might be luckier if you go out on a cloudy day. If you want to capture wildlife, luck may be more on your side in the country rather then in an urban setting. But luck will be what puts what you want where you want it, in the right conditions at the right time.

When you really boil it down though, you just have to be there. You need to get out and get what you want. Being there will almost always get you something. It may not be the once in a lifetime shot you wanted but those are few and far between. Luck and skills will not go far unless your in position to utilize them. So for your New Year's resolution, you may want to just get out there and capture something that you want, once in a lifetime or not. 

It's here again.

With October almost over, winter is almost upon us. Temps today are at 32F already. Winter is one of my favorite times of the year to shoot. A fresh snow fall is just an amazing sight and morning frost is killer. A good snow storm is what I sit and wait for and it is just yard to beat. 

My hatred of the cold makes this a difficult time of year though. There is nothing worse then the constant internal struggle. I look outside and see the conditions that just burn inside me and drives me into the cold to go photograph in, just waiting outside the door. Soon they could be gone and I need to get out there. All I am thinking is why would I want to leave this warm house, struggle to bundle up and get all my gear ready, sit in the cold doing all I can to keep my camera from fogging up and the lens clear of snow. Well nothing makes that struggle any better, but my Blizzard Stalker boots from Rocky sure do keep my feet warm. I have never experienced warmer and more comfortable boots in my life. They are actually one of the most comfortable pieces of footwear I have ever worn. 1200 grams of Thinsulate does it's job. My feet have yet to get cold in these boots, even after hours in the elements. I'm not the only one that loves these. I have a few friends I talked into buying a pair and they will give you the same review and reaction I gave you. They are good boots, period. So for any of you winter photographers out there, these boots may help you as they have greatly made my winter shooting more enjoyable. 


Rocky Blizzard Stalker Boots

Hard Drive Surprise

With the amount of photos I take, I need some serious hard drive space.  Every photo I take gets uploaded to my PC hard drive, copied to an external hard drive, burnt to a DVD 4GB at a time, and then it gets deleted from my PC hard drive. One set of data is stored off site. All processed photos are then backed up on an off site server. 


I really like the Western Digital external hard drives. They have good reviews and have served me well. My Seagate drive had an issue and has a bad reputation via reviews. So as spaced filled up I went out to get myself another hard drive. I picked up a Western Digital My Book Essential that was on sale. That was a mistake. My other drives are all My Book Essentials also. You plug them in and you now have another hard drive that you can just drag and drop files and folders into. Slick and easy. The "new" My Book Essential drive has SmartWare program on it. This program turns the hard drive into a cheap and hard to use automatic backup system. It is horrible. You plug it in and you have no choice but to download this program before you can do anything. Once the SmartWare is downloaded, you spend hours trying to figure out how to disable the system to make it a normal external drive. After clicking on every option and setting that comes with the drive with no success, I was about to return it. A few minutes searching the internet led me to a solution. Western Digital offers a download that disables this SmartWare program and turn this drive into what it should have been out of the box. This was a disaster of a purchase. There was no indication that this was not a normal drive in the directions, packaging, or on the box. Western Digital dropped the ball on this drive. To save any of you this parasite of a program here is the link you will need to disable the SmartWare. 


http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/wdsmartwareupdate/utilitiesstep1.asp?id=wdfMB_Essential&os=win


Western Digital needed to make the SmartWare program an option from the beginning and not mandatory. They also needed to inform buyers that this drive came with this program and or how to disable it. A External plug and play hard drive should not take 3 hours to get it up and working. Will I buy a Western Digital drive again? Yes, but I will do better research and make sure I get a SmartWare free version.

Rock in the Chippewa Valley

A short video of a handful of bands from the Chippewa Valley.

Why choose a professional photographer?

New book! Trains of the West in 7 days

Trains of the West in 7 Days by Travis Dewitz | Make Your Own Book

Shooting Bands

Shooting a live band is as rewarding as challenging. It is awarding in the mood and emotions that the lighting, colors, fog, and musicians can evoke in an image. The challenge comes with ability to deal with the low light levels and access that is needed to get the shot. This was my first summer shooting the band scene and it went very well. I have found a love in capturing the mood and emotions of the band as they are  performing to an audience. The band ELEMENTS booked me to shoot them at Rock Fest in Cadott, WI and the Northwoods Rock Rally in Glen Flora, WI. I had a blast with great results and they put on a hell of a show.


ELEMENTS - Tigerpalooza


CRUSH - Tigerpalooza


ELEMENTS - Rock Fest


Returning the Favor - Tigerpalooza

Trains of the Powder River Basin by Travis Dewitz | Make Your Own Book

I guess busy bees get behind.

Being busy is better than not having anything to do but being too busy can put you behind as it has me. Not a lot to say in this post but my latest photo shoots have been a blast and have kept me on the move shooting in Eau Claire, WI, La Crosse, WI, and St. Paul, MN.


Taber was a maternity shoot that went really well and she was a blast to work with.



We had two shoots with Qulab, one in Eau Claire and the other one in La Crosse. Both went very well with multiple different looks for her to add to her portfolio. 


The Fredrickson and Gardner family shoot was done at Phoenix Park in downtown Eau Claire.


Nu had a look and style I love shooting and fit well with my style. Look out St. Paul, MN.

Angels over the Chippewa Valley

Had a blast watching the amazing power of the jets at the Chippewa Valley Air Show in Eau Claire, WI. On Saturday a cold front moved in along with the wind and the rain that never stopped. Still got some great images even though I lost the feeling in my thumbs and was chilled to the bone. The whole show is something to see but the Blue Angels really pull it all together and put on a remarkable show.



On Sunday we were threatened with bad weather but besides a few sprinkles we just made it by without getting wet. Yet another great show with a few added stunts then I saw on Saturday. If you have never been to an air show, you should make a point to get to one.



For more photos from the show, please visit www.dewitzphotography.com.

Trains of the Powder River Basin by Travis Dewitz by Travis Dewitz | BOOK INFO

Valentines Day Fire

On a very cold Valentines Day night a fire broke out in one of Eau Claire, Wisconsin's historic homes located on Lake Street. With the hazardous weather conditions already using many of the cities resources, crews were called in from neighboring cities. The fire broke out around 10pm and the crews were on scene until at least 2am. The snow was on and off as the fire continued to rage on this very cold night. After time went on the crew gained control and all that was left was water covered streets and trees of ice.

Glossy or Lustre

One question many ask is what finish they should get their photos done in, glossy or lustre. I prefer glossy in most applications. It has that great shine and deep colors which really makes the photo pop. Applications that I would get glossy prints in would include your run of the mill 4X6, photo albums, framed without glass, portfolios, and many other ways you choose to share and display the photograph.

Lustre is much flatter then glossy but has a much better look then a matte finish. It is in between the two finishes and cuts down on glare while keeping good depth in the photo. I will choose lustre for a majority of my black and white pieces as I think it sets the mood and feel of most black and white works of art better. Whenever I frame any photo behind glass I will get it done in the lustre finish. The glass will add the glossiness that you lost with the lustre finish. When you frame a glossy print behind glass you end up usually getting a reflection off the print which can degrade the quality and cheapen the look of your framed artwork. You will also notice any waviness of the print behind the glass which is minimal with a lustre finished print.

The first post. Welcome to www.dewitzphotography.com

The new site has been up for awhile now as I have been slowly adding photos from 2006 to the present. Once I get caught up with all my older works, things should roll much smoother and more efficiently with my newest work. I hopefully will also have a little more free time to get caught up on many other projects that are at a snails pace. As always, feedback is welcomed.