BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – OUR BOY SALA IS ALL GROWN UP!

He’s all grown up but Sala is still injury prone! He runs around the backyard like crazy, patrolling our fence line. He loves being outside and goes out for about 6 hours a day. He’s in great shape from so much exercise, but he’s constantly running into things and getting cuts and scrapes. He broke off his dew claw a few days before this portrait and we were on the way to have the bandage removed at the vet’s office when I thought it would be a fitting time to make his portrait. It’s fitting because being injured and playing though injury is a major part of his character. We found this crazy pup in the Piney Woods outside of Nacogdoches TX and he’s grown into a strapping young man! We’re happy we found him and adopted him, he brings a lot of joy to our family, even if his name does technically mean “Moron” in Hindi.

Beautiful, timeless studio portraits are a specialty of mine. I’ve put in countless hours of study and practice to truly understand the art of portraiture and I am constantly pushing to get better and evolve. When you book a portrait sitting with me you aren’t just getting me for the few hours that we’re together, you’re getting everything that I’ve put into my craft, culminating with my best performance to date, at your sitting. Let me put my passion into your next portrait, visit www.portraits.paulbellinger.com for more information.

Tips for photographers: Well there is a lot of different lighting going on here. The first two portraits are a 3 light setup, with the key light a large soft box in front of and above my pup. You can see the catchlight in the top of the eyes. The bottom catchlight is created by a silver reflector on the floor in front of Sala. The other two lights are two kickers from the back on both left and right sides to create some edge lighting around Sala and help his dark fur separate from the black background. Both of the kicker lights are bare strobes with the standard 7-inch silver reflector on them, and are about two feet higher than Sala’s head, which is probably too high but the stands were at their lowest and I was too lazy to switch out for smaller stands. We had a vet appointment to make after all.

The third portrait is lit with a window to the camera right of Sala and few feet behind him. There is also a silver reflector camera left to reflect some window light back on to Sala’s face. The catchlight you see in his eye is the window. The fourth portrait is lit from behind with the window that has a piece of white diffusion fabric over it. Just behind me on both sides of the camera are two 8 foot high white reflectors as well as the small silver reflector camera right. It’s amazing how much you can do with a window!

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – FASHION TEST WITH CHRISTINE!

I mentioned on Instagram (@PJBellinger) that I should post a color version of Christine’s headshot, because her eyes are insane! Christine is a fantastic model based in Billings but who works around the world. She’s represented by Rocky Mountain Entertainment Agency and Images NYC, and probably a few more. We only had an hour to meet for a quick test shoot, so we’ll definitely have to plan a more extensive shoot soon. Stay tuned for that.

Fashion photography is one of our specialties at Paul Bellinger Photography. Models and actors frequently need new headshots and new images to add to their portfolios. Get in touch to book your portfolio or headshot sitting at www.portraits.paulbellinger.com.

Tips for photographers: This is a really easy lighting setup. Christine is facing a big window and has a white reflector behind her for a background. She’s surrounded by black on both sides, a black wall camera right and black 4x8 foot reflector on the camera left side. I’ve got black curtains on my windows so I can make them bigger or smaller to soften or harden the light or to move the light to one side or the other. The catchlights in her eyes give away the size and position of the window light.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – A FINE ART PORTRAIT SERIES

I’m very happy to show these three portraits from a new series of fine art portraits. Portraiture is something of a lost art in Billings Montana, being a small city in a remote part of the country, our portraits usually consist of a person standing in a field, or on a gravel road somewhere in bright sunlight, smiling at the camera. But elsewhere in the world portraiture is thriving as an art that is far more complex and nuanced. Just look at any magazine rack and you’ll see diversely crafted portraits everywhere. Why? Because portraits are powerful, we make an immediate connection when we see a portrait. The goal of this portrait series is to show off the power of the portrait, to show that we can make fine art portraits in Billings Montana that are made with the same techniques that master portrait photographers are using around the world, and in doing so we can show Billings that we don’t have to settle for anything less. To schedule a portrait sitting please visit www.portraits.paulbellinger.com. Read on to learn about the inspiration and hard work that went into making these portraits.

Tips for photographers: Well I imagine this will become a long-winded story because it seems like I’ve been thinking about these photos for months now, and it took five sessions to get comfortable with the lighting setup and really start making portraits. It all started with Gregory Heisler’s book “50 portraits,” which I’ve been reading for almost a year every time I visit my friend and mentor Ken Jarecke, who always let’s me browse his library (as long as I wash my hands first). A couple of months ago I read about a portrait where Heisler was praising the use of a ring light to create a “shadowless” fill light (p. 86). I made a mental note of it, but didn’t rush out and buy a ring light or anything like that. Perhaps a month later I saw a portrait of Kareem Abdul Jabar by Dan Winters on twitter and it was so striking to me that I started an all out binge on everything Dan Winters I could get my hands on (look at my twitter feed @paulbellinger to find a retweet of the Kareem portrait). Of course Ken had Winters’ book “Road to Seeing,” so I spent a few hours with it before buying my own copy soon after. I noticed that for a lot of my favorite portraits, Winters often used a ring light too. There is a strobist.com post about Winters that has a behind the scenes video of Dan shooting Jack Nicklaus and even has quotes from Dan saying that he prefers to use the ring light mostly for the catch light it creates, and less for fill when possible (click here to view). I set about trying to replicate a Dan Winters look, specifically to achieve a similar lighting effect as seen in his portraits of Tom Hanks and Benedict Cumberbatch.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER IN ALASKA – ILAN’S EPIC PORTRAIT

Meeting new people is one of my favorite things about travel and of course I tend to meet a lot of photographers. I met Ilan on a day cruise from Valdez Alaska to the Meares glacier in the Prince William Sound. For long portions of the cruise we had the whole bow of the boat to ourselves, as only photographers want to be out there in the wind and cold (although it wasn’t very cold, there was a guy wearing only shorts and T-shirt who toughed it out most of the day too). We hit it off and were chatting most of the day about photography and travel, and when the cruise was over I told him where we were headed for sunset/camp for the night in case he wanted to meet up and shoot the sunset with us. We went our separate ways and I thought I had seen the last of Ilan as we headed up Thompson Pass to photograph the sunset. It was a beautiful sunset, and when it was nearly over I saw someone pull up and start quickly hiking towards us. It was Ilan! He missed most of the sunset because he spotted some bears on the way up and photographed them for a bit. I was mostly done shooting the sunset so I just hung out and made a few pictures of Ilan while he made a few pictures the mountains and the rising moon. It was a fun day hanging with Ilan and I really hope our paths cross again on a future adventure. Thanks Ilan!

Tips for photographers: These photos were made after the sun went down during blue hour. I say blue hour, but during Alaskan summers blue hour lasts for hours, almost all night depending on where you are. In the top photo you can see eye to eye with the majestic Chugach Mountains surrounding Thompson pass. The Chugach are a very picturesque range, which are especially dramatic from Valdez at sea level. The bottom photo features a very bright moon on it’s way up during moonrise. Summers in Alaska are great for photographers because the sunset lasts for hours and there is plenty of light in the sky to make blue hour long exposures all night long. The one drawback is that the sky is so bright with sun and moon light that it’s difficult to see the stars or do any kind of astrophotography, which is kind of a shame because there is a lot of aurora activity that far North.

I really enjoy making photos like these that combine two of my passions in photography, the drama of the landscape and the power and prestige of the portrait. I have a deep respect for nature and can’t ever stop exploring the natural wonders of the world (especially mountains). But landscapes are lonely without people in them and to make a portrait in the special places that people go through such great efforts to reach only enhances the power of the portrait. That’s why travel is such an integral part of Paul Bellinger Photography, we want to go to the places that are special to our clients and make pictures that simply cannot be made anywhere else. For destination weddings in Montana or anywhere in the world, please visit Montana wedding photographer www.paulbellinger.com. For the hardest working portrait photographer in Montana please visit Billings Montana portrait photographer www.portraits.paulbellinger.com.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER IN ALASKA - HAPPY BIRTHDAY C-UNIT!

Happy birthday to my little cousin Christopher! We just got back from an epic road trip from Billings MT to Alaska. I jokingly refer to him as my little cousin because he’s younger and used to be smaller than me, but he’s a beast and has been about 5 inches taller than me since college. He was a big 50 Cent fan in high school and had the license plate C-UNIT in reference to 50’s G-UNIT. My dad has called him C-Unit ever since, so it’s kind of a nickname now! Ha! Chris did almost all of the driving on our huge road trip to Alaska and he really assisted me a lot in making some awesome landscape and nature photos. He caught me taking trying to make portraits of him every now and then, and he went along with it. We took my Nissan Frontier and slept in the back each night at an amazing location like this spot on Thompson Pass just North of Valdez Alaska. It required some pretty sweet driving to reach this spot and Chris did it without getting a flat tire. Thanks for everything Chris, that was a once in a lifetime trip and we totally dominated it!

Tips for photographers: Throughout the trip we were joking that our trip should be sponsored by Nissan because we were putting this truck through long grueling stretches of miles, really rough road conditions, and into some of the most beautiful settings you can imagine. The truck was our home, we slept in the bed of the truck under the topper each night and thanks to the extended bed on the truck it was perfectly comfortable and made us feel safer about being in remote locations with bears. But if we really had a Nissan sponsorship and support, we could have put the truck in much more precarious positions and even more epic photos. But since I rely on the truck for my photography business, I couldn’t risk it most of the time. In this photo I would have liked to have the truck up a little further but there were really jagged rocks everywhere I didn’t want to risk a flat tire, which would have been difficult to change on the rocks. It was an awesome place to sleep for the night though, and the truck handled everything we threw at it on this trip. More photos and tips about shooting in Alaska soon.

My portrait studio is based in Billings Montana but I am available to travel anywhere in the world to make amazing portraits at beautiful locations or in a studio. My team and I will go anywhere and do anything to make the best portraits. www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – THE GRAFFITI ARTIST IS PRESENT!

Meet Shylo, one of the most prolific graffiti artists in Billings’ new graffiti alley behind Good Earth Market and Pug Mahon’s. Shylo is unique in the world of graffiti for being a Christian graffiti artist who regularly paints religious themed artwork such as the “Snakebird” piece featured here and a number of murals for churches across the country. We’re lucky that Shylo has recently decided to move to the Billings area and will soon be blessing the region with more amazing graffiti. Stay tuned for more photos featuring this artist’s work soon.

I love making portraits of artists! It’s an honor when another artist trusts me to make a portrait for them, and even more so when I can feature their work or workspace in an environmental portrait. Contact us at Paul Bellinger Photography for your portrait! www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

Tips for photographers: This photo was made outside on a cloudy day and is lit with one light, a large silver bounce umbrella high to the camera left. I like working with bounce umbrellas because unlike a shoot through umbrella, which spills light everywhere, a bounce umbrella is easy to control the direction of light. The key to the light placement in this photo is the angle and direction to create a Rembrandt pattern on Shylo’s face and the ratio of light on Shylo versus the mural in the background. The light is about 5 feet away from Shylo, which is further than I would normally place a light for portraiture (depending on what I’m going for, but I like it close and soft with dramatic falloff in general). I chose to put the light further away than I normally prefer because if it were too close the falloff would be too quick and there wouldn’t be enough light on the background (of course I could drag the shutter to let some ambient light up the background, but that’s not the route I took because I was shooting handheld and wanted the mural to be in sharp focus). I'll be posting a BTS photo of the setup on instagram soon so be sure to follow @PJBellinger.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – NINI AND ME

This is one of my favorite portraits of my wife and myself! I am such a lucky man, Nini is definitely my better half. I am also lucky to have so many great photos of my wife and I, and many of them are printed so that we will always have them. This is one that we are definitely going to print. It was taken at the Comedy BeCause event put on by the Center for Children and Families. I set up a portrait studio on location at the VIP party before the comedy show, and made portraits of the distinguished guests. Trevan Hiersche assisted me for the day and made one for us after the event was over. Thanks for all of your help, and mostly, for this photo Trevan!

This was a really cool event and making portraits on location was a fun way to give back to the VIP guests who helped make the show possible. I don’t think most people were used to seeing an actual portrait studio on location and the portraits turned out amazing. I’ve been doing this kind of VIP portrait studio on location a few times recently and it has really been a big hit with guests.

Tips for photographers:

This photo is lit with two large softboxes stacked on top of each other to the camera left and in front of the beautiful couple about 5 or 6 feet. There is a large 4x8 foot reflector camera right, also about 5 or 6 feet in front of the lovely couple that is isn’t really doing much in this photo. It is giving a very small amount of fill light on the shadow side of the faces. I’ve used this lighting technique before, click here for more information. On a non-lighting note, it was really crazy shooting a bunch of portraits on location at an on going event. This was not my first time doing this kind of studio on location, but it was the most busy and tightly packed event that I’ve done it at. Time and space were very limited. I had to keep it small and simple and having Trevan assisting me helped a lot too. I highly recommend trying this at some smaller events before attempting it at a big event. We pulled it off because we had a good team with my wife Nini helping out too, but it was not easy.

Billings Montana portrait photographer Paul Bellinger specializes in modern, stylish portraits classic tradition of the great masters of portrait photography. Please visit www.portraits.paulbellinger.com to schedule your sitting.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – GROUP HEADSHOTS

I’m excited to offer a modern approach to corporate headshots and business portraits that looks amazing and is very convenient for businesses to upgrade the entire team, including the group photo.  The Rocky Mountain College Enactus team wanted professional portraits and headshots for each member, and a group photo go along with it.  But as any business knows, assembling the whole team in one place is inconvenient and time consuming.  So I took a modern approach and made portraits of each individual conveniently scheduled at their own time and later combined the individual portraits into a group photo. Our theme was based on the Netflix original show “House of Cards,” to make the group look serious, professional, and powerful.  Each team member was posed with the group photo in mind so that we could execute the theme and make a realistic group portrait.  The result is very striking, and very unique for Billings Montana.  Thank you to the RMC Enactus team for thinking outside of the box and entrusting me with your professional portraits.

There are several benefits for businesses that choose to go with this modern approach to their corporate headshots and professional portraits that also produces an outstanding group photo.  First, the photo simply looks better than your typical group photo, as each person is lit perfectly and posed privately without distractions from other group members.  We can even execute a theme, shooting specifically with a group pose in mind (in this case the theme was based on the Netflix original show “House of Cards,” to make the group look powerful). Second, the entire team will have consistent looking portraits, conveying the highest level of professionalism for your business. Third, it’s much faster, as every person in the group doesn’t have to pose perfectly at the exact same time, which requires many takes to get right when everyone is in the same room.  Fourth, it’s very easy to update, if more people are added to the team you don’t have to get everyone together all over again and you can kill two birds with one stone by having the new team members upgrade their individual headshots while also updating the group photo.  If people leave the team it’s easy to remove them from the group photo too.  For more info visit www.portraits.paulbellinger.com.

Tips for photographers:

I’ve posted a behind the scenes photo of the lighting setup for this photo on Instagram @PJBellinger and I discussed other lightingtechniques here.  I learned a lot during this shoot, but I feel like the compositing was pretty straightforward.  It’s never going to be easy, but if you know what you’re going for in the final image you can shoot it accordingly.  I knew I wanted a black background, so shooting on black made it easy to blend each individual portrait together and into the background.  Keeping it dark and shadowy also made it easier to hide the sloppiness of my mask edges, which meant I could do the masking quickly.  If the business wanted to be able to put them on any colored background I would need more precise masks and it would be easier with a white or gray background where there is more separation between subject and background. But make sure to get your exposures right, because separating blown highlights from a white background is impossible guesswork. In that sense there is no substitute for good photography in the first place.  This isn’t a perfect execution, as of course the posing could always be better and I was backed into a corner on which poses would work with the overall photo and the theme, even if I felt there were stronger poses for the individual.  But I am happy with the execution of the concept from start to finish.

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – CONGRATS TO ARLEY, FIRST PLACE IN SWIMWEAR!

Wow this has been an amazing week!  My friend and model Arley won first place in swimwear on a Global Stars Network cruise competition!  It looks like all of her hard work is paying off because this is her second first place finish in swimwear in the last few months!  Arley is a great model, who besides moving well and knowing how to pose, she’s just a great person that is polite, shows up on time, and works hard on and off set.  She’s fun too!  Thanks Arley and congrats again!!!

These are two of my favorite photos from our most recent session with Arley, and we were blessed with having the amazing Sydney Ross on set for hair and makeup, which is always a treat!  The three of us came in on the Sunday before Arley set sail for her cruise competition so that she could get some extra practice and get a little more comfortable modeling swimsuits and lingerie.  But of course she was already awesome and didn’t need much practice at all!  We made lots of great photos that I’ll share over the next month, so stay tuned!

So many ways this week has been awesome:

I mentioned this was an awesome week!  Besides Arley’s win, the new Kendrick Lamar album dropped a week earlier than expected (on Monday) and this album does not disappoint at all.  It will likely be in the running for album of the year and definitely nominated for best rap album of the year.  I also helped out with a film shoot for the Art House Cinema and Pub on Monday, which had it’s grand opening this week (another huge bonus for Billings this week).  Art House is a pub theater that will also be a hub for local artists, and it was fun to help out.  Another treat was receiving my new camera, the Sony A7ii, as well as a new Zeiss lens, the Loxia 35mm f/2 manual focus lens and I’ve already been putting them to work.  Lastly, my wife got some great news from a publisher that is interested in her book.  To top it off the weather has been great, we’ve been smoking ribs, chickens and pork loins on our smoker all week, and going for hikes on the rims with our dogs.  Wow, we are so blessed!

Tips for photographers:  Before I get to the lighting techniques for these photos, I think the best tip from this shoot is to have a good team on set for any given shoot.  For this shoot there were three of us in my little studio, and that was the perfect number of people for a lingerie shoot in a small space.   Having too many people on hand can clutter up the small studio quickly, and it can get distracting for the photographer and model.  We had Sydney Ross doing hair and makeup in the studio and she was on set for the shooting to make sure everything looked great.  It’s nice having an extra set of eyes that you trust on set.  At most I’d add only one extra person, an assistant.

Lighting info: The first photo is lit with two 4ft softboxes stacked on top of each other out of frame to camera left just a couple of feet in front of Arley.  The light behaves like an 8 foot softbox with two strobes, and the result is super soft, full body light.  Some of the light is spilling onto the gray background, which is otherwise dark in the absence of a dedicated background light.  There are no fill light on Arley’s shadow side, no reflectors out of frame to camera right, just a black wall that absorbs the light from the soft boxes and prevents it from bouncing back onto Arley, leaving her shadow side profile in silhouette.  The separation from her shadow side and the background is entirely created by the little bit of light spilling onto the background from the softboxes (hint, it’s important to put some light on your backgrounds!).  The second photo is lit with a large window out of frame camera right and two large 8 foot white reflectors out of frame camera left bouncing the soft light back onto Arley’s shadow side.  My black curtains are opened in such a way as to create a 4 foot wide bank of light about a foot in front of Arley so that she is being lit with feathered light spilling around the edge of the curtains.  There is some additional fill coming from behind me as there is another 4 foot bank of windows that are diffused with white cloth to produce a very soft front fill (the second window bank is about 12 feet in front of Arley, right behind me to camera right).  I used a tripod so that I could slow down my shutter speed and catch a little motion blur (shot at 1/40^th f/2.5 ISO 160 with the Zeiss 55 f/1.8 on the Sony A7 body).

I am Billings Montana portrait photographer, Paul Bellinger and I take the art of portraiture seriously.  It would be my honor to make your portrait.  http://www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

BILLINGS MT PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – A PORTRAIT FROM INDIA

This is one of the most powerful portraits I’ve ever made and it happened in less than a minute.  Rashid is a driver in my wife’s hometown of Hazaribagh in Jharkhand India.  Rashid has taught three generations of my wife’s family how to drive and he’s still driving for the family after all these years.  My wife’s family is Hindu and Rashid is Muslim, but I would have never known Rashid is Muslim until I tried to touch his feet, a common Hindu sign of respect for elders.  But Muslims don’t touch feet, they hug, so Rashid stopped me and gave me a big hug instead. 

All of this came after the previous night when I gifted Rashid an 8x12” print of this portrait that I made a few days before.  I knew I wanted to make a portrait of Rashid the moment I saw him again (we met on my two previous trips as well).  But the laziness of Hazaribagh set in on me and I almost didn’t make his portrait at all.  I was lazing around the front porch reading magazines and drinking tea, as I did most days in Hazaribagh, and like most days, Rashid was there to drive us anywhere we’d like to go.  He was excited about driving us, but we were more interested in soaking up the sun on the front porch.  Each day after he’d do everything he possibly could to keep from being bored crazy, he’d find me and point to the car and signal with his thumbs “let’s go.”  Most of the time we had nowhere to go and everyone was content to sit in the sun and drink tea instead.  But one of those times I said I’d rather make his portrait instead and signaled for Rashid to pose for me in front of a white wall in the direct sunlight.  He went along, gave me his standing blank facial expression and we made this photo in less than a minute.  That was it.  A few days later I converted the photo to black and white and made the print for Rashid.  He was very happy to have it, as I don’t think he ever expected to see himself in that big of a print.  He drove us all around Hazaribagh and Jharkhand and he was always happy on the road.  Thank you Rashid, I really enjoyed rolling with you!   

My wife and I just returned from an amazing trip to India, with my parents and little sister joining us for the adventure.  It was my third trip to India, so I thought I knew what I was in for, but there is really nothing that can prepare you for 17 days in India.  India is so much different than the US!  I don’t think it will ever become “normal” for me, and that’s a good thing.  It helps that India is huge and on each trip we visit at least one new area.  I will probably never have the pleasure of visiting every corner of the country, but I’ll try!  I’m going to post a few more blogs about my experiences in India over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned for more.

Tips for photographers:

Learn to see the light on your own.  You do not need someone to show you a lighting diagram or detail their lighting technique if you can see the light on your own.  So as usual, I’ll tell you how this photo was lit and how you can see the light for yourself.  This photo is lit with direct sunlight and you can see that the sunlight was coming from behind me and camera left based on the shadow under Rashid’s nose, and behind his head on the wall.  How would you know this is direct sunlight?  Well you can’t be sure it’s sunlight, but you do know from the shadow under Rashid’s nose that it’s a small light source due to the hard edge (clearly defined shadow line) and the sun is the most popular hard light source we have around, so it’s a good guess.  Lastly, you can see some reflected sunlight bouncing off of the wall highlighting the left edge of Rashid’s face.  It would be very easy to replicate this lighting in the studio with a single bare strobe on a white wall, perhaps adding in a silver reflector on the shadow side of the face to create the edge highlight we see on Rashid.  The most difficult part of this type of lighting is making sure you get the exposure right by using the spot meter in the camera.  Working in the sunny outdoors with white walls around you can make it very hard to see the screen on your camera, so chimping the screen isn’t going to help you. 

Photographed with the Sony A7 and Zeiss 55mm f/1.8, at f/4, 1/125 of a second, ISO 50.

It is during moments like the one in which this photo was made, that the true power of portrait photography becomes clear to me.  It is very difficult to describe the power of the portrait if you’ve never wielded it.  Consider that in just a brief moment I was able to entertain Rashid, show him a sign of respect, give him the rare privilege of having his portrait made, something that traditionally only the very well off would be accustomed to, and have an overall enjoyable experience getting to know each other.  That’s a powerful moment!  But it would not be enough if it ended there.  I had to make the print for him and deliver it to him in person for the power to be fully revealed.  Chances are good that Rashid has very few, if any photos of himself.  And because it is so rare, chances are good that he’s going to cherish the print I gave him, share it with his family so that they can all enjoy it, and one day pass it on to future generations in his remembrance.  Wow, that is powerful.  That’s why I love being a portrait photographer.  This time when I was in Hazaribagh I got to see a few of the non-family members that I made portraits of the last time I was there, and they all still had their prints I gave them and remembered the experience with me.  I know I’ll never forget the experiences they gave me and I’ll be forever honored.  www.paulbellinger.com www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

BILLINGS MONTANA PHOTOGRAPHER – BIG HOMIE FROM THE BLOCK

This is one of my favorite photos of the year, taken while I was on set with Kenneth Jarecke during a corporate shoot in fall 2014.  It is a real honor to be able to spend time with a legendary photographer and learn from his 30+ years of experience at the highest levels of the profession.  Ken has become a great friend and mentor for me over the last year.  He has thoroughly schooled me on a range of photography and non-photography topics and I am eternally grateful for his friendship.  Thanks for everything Ken!

Want some free advice from Ken?  Check out one of my favorite articles that Ken published a couple of years ago.  The first step to getting better is admitting you suck in the first place!  Read the article here.

Tips for photographers:  Find a mentor!  If you want to be great, you have to learn from the greats, plain and simple.  You cannot become great all by yourself, and more than likely, a go it alone attitude will be a detriment to realizing your potential.  Admit that there are people out there who have a lot more wisdom than you do, and get hungry for that wisdom.  Once you find a mentor, listen to them!  I had a difficult experience recently with a corporate client and Ken predicted their every move and gave me perfect advice at every turn.  If I would have listened to him 100% instead of 90% I could have avoided some major headaches right from the start.  Trust me, investing in a mentor is worth so much more than any gear or online tutorial you can buy.  So stop browsing for gear and start looking for a mentor who can help you reach the next level.

I am Billings MT photographer Paul Bellinger and I make pictures.  I specialize in Montana weddings and contemporary portraiture.  My portrait studio is located in downtown Billings MT and I am available for any wedding destination or portrait commission worldwide.  www.paulbellinger.com  www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

BILLINGS SENIOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – DAVID IN BLACK AND WHITE

Every now and then I make a portrait that stops me in my tracks and reminds me of the raw power of the portrait.  This portrait of David does that for me.  David himself is a raw power hidden behind a polite, soft-spoken exterior.  But in this portrait you can see the raw power of ambition and a not so quiet confidence that lies under the surface.  That’s David.  Focused and determined, he’s an inspiration.  Congratulations on all of your accomplishments David, and thank you for spending the afternoon with me and inspiring me.

Tips for photographers: This photo is lit with window light coming through a wired window creating a unique shadow pattern.  The light source is the sun bouncing off a highly reflective glass building, so it’s very similar to direct sunlight diffused only by the window slightly.  The light pattern on David’s face is called “broad lighting” because the light is coming from the broad side of his face.  How can you tell which is the broad or short side of a face?  It has nothing to do with the actual size of the subjects face in reality, but how their face appears in the two dimensional space of a photograph.  In the photo, the camera left side of his face is the broad side because the distance between his right ear and his nose appears larger than the distance between his nose and his left ear.  The light is coming from the broad side of his face, hence “broad lighting.”  Broad lighting highlights the width of the face so it is often used to convey power, but it should not be used when the subject prefers the slimming effect of short lighting.

Billings Montana portrait photographer Paul Bellinger makes modern, stylish portraits.  Paul is available for any type of portrait session, from corporate headshots to senior portraits.  For a portrait session in Billings Montana or anywhere in the world, please visit www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

BILLINGS MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – CONGRATS ARLEY, FIRST PLACE IN SWIMWEAR!

I just found out that Arley won FIRST PLACE in swimwear at the Rocky Mountain Entertainment Agency's Northwest Model Competition in Kalispell yesterday!  Congrats Arley!  I am so happy to see your handwork pay off and all of your photographer friends in Billings Montana are proud of you!!!  Keep up the good work!

I always love it when Arley stops by the portrait studio!  She’s a new model with Rocky Mountain Entertainment Agency, and still developing her portfolio.  It’s inspiring to be around someone as motivated and hard working as Arley.  We had a quick test session and worked on some fashion and lingerie portraits and Arley just killed it!  I can’t wait to see where her modeling career takes her!

Lighting tips for photographers: These photos are lit with one light, a large silver bounce umbrella directly to Arley’s right and about a foot above her head height.  But just telling you where I placed my light doesn’t help much if you can’t see the light for yourself, so I will describe what it looks like.  You can determine the angle of the umbrella by looking at the angle of the shadow created by her nose.  You can also see that this angle creates nice definition on her abs.  There is also an 8 foot white reflector to her left that is filling in a little bit of the shadow details.  This reflected fill light is most noticeable on the shadow side of her hair where details are still clearly visible and on her left jaw line which is just barely visible thanks to this reflected light.  You have to look close if you want to learn to see the light.

Paul Bellinger, Billings Montana portrait photographer specializes in modern, stylish fashion portraits.  Paul is available for any type of portrait session, from corporate headshots to intimate portraits.  To book Paul Bellinger for a portrait session in Billings Montana or anywhere in the world, please visit www.portraits.paulbellinger.com

MONTANA PHOTOGRAPHER – TESTING A NEW CAMERA AT THE RANCH

I’m testing a new camera system, the Sony A7 and here are a few of my favorites from a recent day at the ranch.  The fall colors are so pretty out here in Montana.  I am very blessed to live in such a beautiful and inspiring place with great friends that invite us to their ranch!

Why am I testing a new camera system?  I’m a very active photographer and I’m always trying to make better images, so it’s important for me to constantly test new technology that might give me even the slightest edge.  Whether it’s on a wedding day, or on a train across India, I always have my camera with me everywhere I go and never stop making photos.  This new Sony A7 camera is smaller and lighter than my current system.  I am hopeful that the A7 will become my primary travel, landscape and portrait camera, while making a nice backup for my heavier duty wedding photography gear.  Maybe one day I'll go entirely with Sony and drop all my Canon gear.

At Paul Bellinger Photography we specialize in Montana wedding photography, but we also do a lot of portrait photography, including corporate headshots, fashion portraits and editorial, senior portraits, glamour portraits, and boudoir portraits. www.paulbellinger.com

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER - LUXURY PRODUCTS FOR LUXURY PORTRAITS

At Paul Bellinger photography we take printing seriously, because it’s the only medium that is guaranteed to preserve your memories for generations.  A hard drive, or CD is not a family heirloom.  Digital is dangerous.  Drives fail, technology becomes obsolete, but prints are timeless.  That’s why we’re excited to be introducing some new print products this fall!  Featured here is a luxurious wooden folio box that is handmade in Billings Montana.  There are currently only two of these boxes in existence, and future boxes will be custom designed for each client so that you will have a truly unique family heirloom.  Inside the folio box is another new product, locally made and mounted fine art prints.  Featured here are 8x12 inch fine art prints with an additional half inch white border, mounted on rigid foam core.  The fine art print is glare free and has a texture that you will absolutely love to hold in your hand.  These types of prints are great for bridal, glamour and boudoir portraits.

This particular print is especially beautiful because it’s one of my amazing brides, Kristen!  More from that photo shoot will be coming soon.  As a Montana wedding photographer I specialize in photographing women, including bridal portraits, glamour portraits, and boudoir portraits.  I have a full service portrait studio in downtown Billings Montana.  www.paulbellinger.com

MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – FASHION PORTRAIT

Katie and I had a ton of fun this summer in the studio!  While everyone else was sweating it out in the heat, we were shooting in the comfort of the studio.  Oh it is sweet to have a real portrait studio in downtown Billings Montana.  This is a fashion portrait from our shoot for Marcasa clothing.  I think this is Katie’s edgiest and most mature look to date, so it will be a needed addition to her model portfolio and she’ll be ready to give modeling her full attention soon.  All wardrobe and styling by Marcasa Clothing, with hair and makeup by Sydney Ross.  I always knew that Marcasa has awesome clothes, but never realized they have such a large selection of jewelry too.

I am Billings Montana portrait photographer Paul Bellinger.  I specialize in making modern, stylish portraits that never go out of fashion.  Look no further for the most exclusive portrait experience in Billings Montana.  www.paulbellinger.com

BILLINGS MONTANA SENIOR PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – KATIE’S FASHION EXPERIENCE

Katie has been crushing the studio lately!  We’ve worked hard this offseason to develop a new type of senior portrait experience in Montana for a limited number of 2015 seniors.  We’re calling it “the Senior Fashion Experience.”  The goal is to provide an exclusive, fashion-inspired senior portrait session that will make any senior feel like a fashion model.  Only a very limited number of these sessions will be offered so that our senior fashionistas will stand out from the crowd of mundane senior photos.  The senior fashion experience includes a style consultation with a professional stylist so that our seniors will look like they just came off the runway.  Senior fashionistas will also receive the full super model treatment, with professional hair and makeup on the day of their fashion shoot.  The portrait session itself includes two hours in the studio with magazine style fashion lighting, as well as a two hours shooting on location anywhere in Montana.  Finally, each photo selected for print will receive my personal artist signature edit, fit for publication in a fashion magazine.  Hurry to book your senior fashion experience now so you can get the look that no one else will have!

Billings Montana senior portrait photographer Paul Bellinger specializes in crafting modern, stylish senior portraits that are as unique as you senior.  Seniors from all over Montana contact Paul Bellinger Photography for a unique fashion look that is not available anywhere else.  www.paulbellinger.com

MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – BABU PORTRAIT #2

This is the second photo in my portrait series of my brother in law Kaushik “Babu” Mukherjee. Babu stayed with us in Billings Montana for three weeks and during that span we did several portrait sessions together. Some of our sessions were short, such as this one where Babu is lit with all natural window light in my studio. Other sessions were more complex with intricate studio lighting, such as the first Babu portrait I featured here. We had a lot of fun and I think Babu learned a lot more about photography than he ever wanted too! Thank you Babu!

Tip for photographers: This photo is lit with all natural window light. Babu is standing only a couple of feet from the window and there is an 4’x8’ white reflector to his right (camera left). That’s it!

Billings Montana portrait photographer Paul Bellinger specializes in modern, stylish corporate headshots that will help you stand out from the crowd. Go from boardroom to badass with Billings Montana portrait photographer Paul Bellinger. www.paulbellinger.com.

MONTANA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER – RED APPLES CREATIVE TEAM

Father and daughter duo, Kenneth Jarecke and Shadya Jarecke posing for the #redapples press release.  I love my team!  We’re already hard at work on the next big project!

Ken is an internationally celebrated photographer and Shadya is one of the best stylists in Montana.  Together, the three of us and our four lovely models created the visual event “Red Apples,” an after art party that was a huge success in downtown Billings.  The event was promoted and executive produced by J+M Creative group, Kenneth Jarecke and Brian Murnion.  Over 400 guests packed the Bin 119 Kitchen and Wine Bar to see our images projected onto the Montana Power Building, including one three story projection.  The photos depict a vivid marketing campaign for a fictitious cigarette company from the 1960s.  The project was completed in four weeks from idea to exhibition.  Signed, limited edition prints are available for purchase, but no additional photos will be released publicly as we consider publishing offers.  Thank you to everyone who came out to support this unique art event and helped to make it a success!

How do you dream of being photographed?  Billings Montana portrait photographer Paul Bellinger specializes in dramatic fine art portrait photography.  Paul has cultivated an artistic vision for portrait photography that is truly unique.  Contact Paul Bellinger Photography in Billings Montana for dfine art portraits that will stand out from the crowd. www.paulbellinger.com