Allan Akins Photography

03/25/2018

This article is about combining good exposures of illuminated signs with a good exposure of a building at dusk in order to avoid washed-out signs.

Allan Akins Photography This image of a Starbucks store was created for UCR, United Commercial Realty, which was bought by another company, CBRE, a

12/10/2017

This art cube puzzle was created with images of stained glass windows from the sanctuary of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. These puzzles are designed and manufactured by Made In Museum, a company that creates art cube puzzles for museums, churches, businesses, universities, etc.

Once I finished the photography I uploaded large, high resolution images to the FTP site of Made In Museum's design studio in Italy where the graphics for the puzzle, gift box, and story card were created and then sent to China for manufacturing. Their website has a video showing a pair of hands manipulating multiple samples of cube puzzles. There is also a link to download a catalog showing a wide variety of art cubes for sale.

Visit Allan Akins Photography to see more stained glass windows in the galleries, "Architecture - Sacred Spaces" and "Stained Glass Windows".

12/05/2017

I have a new cover for my Allan Akins Photography page.

11/06/2017

This office building was photographed for PegasusAblon, a commercial real estate development, management, and investment company in Dallas, Texas. To see more images of this building please visit the website, Allan Akins Photography, which has two galleries of architecture covering office, retail, residential, and sacred buildings.

10/29/2017

Product Photography

AgileMesh is a company in Richardson, Texas that designs a range of surveillance products for use by Law Enforcement, Fire and Rescue, Military, Home Land Security, and Loss Prevention applications. To learn more about AgileMesh please visit their website at: www.agilemesh.com

The website for www.allanakins.com has seven photography galleries: Architecture, Architecture-Sacred Spaces, Fine Art, People, Graphic Design Work, Products, and Stained Glass Windows.

10/07/2017

My daughter Emily is a Highlandette at Lake Highlands High School, and I am one of three volunteer, Highlandette Dad Photographers. The three of us photograph the Highlandettes at social occasions, parades, pep rallies, basketball and football games.

Emily loves the Dettes and playing her flute with the band. She even marches with the band in her Highlandette uniform. She especially enjoys marching with the Dettes in the July 4th parade and going to see fireworks. July 4th is also her birthday!

10/02/2017

Beverage Ball Logo and Product Photography
Allan Akins Photography

The idea for a Beverage Ball came from Matt Dickerson of Austin who took the idea to his dad Bill, an engineer by profession. Together they drew up the design and started the process of creating prototypes for testing. You can read more about their product on their website: beverageball.com

With their final prototype they needed some product photography, but first they needed a logo for the ball. After working on several versions of their ideas for a logo I thought maybe I might be able to offer them an extra logo idea for their consideration.

As it turned out they liked the logo I designed, and I was able to apply it digitally to the footballs in my product photo. This made it possible for them to begin right away on creating marketing materials. I also used this photograph and the logo to design a portable, pop-up banner that they used in a Las Vegas trade show.

It’s a fun product for tailgating and pool parties and even tubing down a river! They can also personalize the ball with names, logos, and colors.

09/22/2017

Computer Simulated Studio Backdrops
Allan Akins Photography

Sometimes it may not be possible to take a product to a studio or to even bring nice studio backdrops to the product for reasons of space or time. When I photographed this flower arrangement I brought some white cloth panels and white cloth to isolate the flowers from the surroundings.

The white cloth in the small inset photo made it possible to create a clipping path around the product and then delete the cloth. That same clipping path could then be used to copy and paste the product onto different computer created backdrops.

To anchor the flower urn on a white backdrop I used Photoshop layers to create a slight reflection of the brass urn feet to simulate a shiny white surface. On the gray background I used layers again to paint a light drop shadow beneath the flower urn to help anchor the product to this computer created backdrop.

Other product shots can be seen in the “Products” gallery of my website, and I recently added a sixth gallery to my website titled “Fine Art”.

09/13/2017

Aesthetic Editing of Visual Distractions
Allan Akins Photography

​I love photographing people and architecture, and I especially enjoy the exteriors and interiors of sacred spaces. My new website has galleries for “People”, “Architecture”, and “Architecture – Sacred Spaces”.
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​One of my favorite architectural photographs is of the exterior of First United Methodist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. I use it as the wallpaper for my iPhone. The original photo has a street sign that I found distracting. So, I positioned my camera with the sign in a good location for easier editing.

​Like landscape painters who include or eliminate elements in a scene, I eliminated this street sign that I felt distracted from the beauty of this Gothic church. I like to think that if Monet had been confronted with a similar street sign in front of Rouen Cathedral that he too would have chosen to leave it out of his paintings.

​Here is my iPhone wallpaper, a close-up of the original photo with the street sign, and the photo without the sign. This image and interior photos of the church can be seen on my website. There are also galleries for “Graphic Design Work” and “Products.”

09/04/2017

I recently completed building a photography website. It has six galleries: Architecture, Sacred Spaces, People, Graphic Design, Products, Stained Glass. You can view the site at either allanakins.com or allanakinsphotography.com