100 Year Memory; Recover Data From Anything; My Interview With B&H; and More

Good Late Afternoon Everybody,

We wrapped up the Imaging USA Convention yesterday making our rounds through the tradeshow one more time. In addition to all the frame and album manufactures, processing labs, my favorite booths to visit are the photo dealers like Midwest Photo Exchange and Dury's.  I've been a friend of both companies for many years and they both always have a great deal or two.  

Yesterday I picked up a SanDisk 32 gig compact flash card for only $89!  It amazes me how much the cost of media has dropped over the years. I can still remember about 10 years ago purchasing my first 1 gig flash card for, get this, $700!!!!!!

Brand New Memory Storage

I'll tell you, one of the more interesting things I saw at the Dury's booth was the brand new SanDisk Memory Vault.  The SanDisk Memory Vault is nicely packaged flash memory that SanDisk says will archive anything, including photographs, for 100 years!  That's quite a claim, but if true we finally have a much safer way to store our valuable images other than the hard drive, DVD, or Blu-Ray alternatives. Definitely a very interring product to consider.

Data Recovery Solutions For Everything

OK, the SanDisk Memory Vault looks cool but what if it fails?  I also stopped by and talked with Darren at DriveSavers.  I've also been familiar with DriveSavers for a number of years and even used their services a several years ago to recover one of my hard drives.  Yes, they recovered all of my data and have a great reputation of doing just that.

What turned our conversation interesting was when Darren mentioned that they also recover data from dropped, drowned, or otherwise electronically neutered iPads and iPhones. That was news to me and I wanted to pass it along to you.  The bottom line is that Drive Savers can recover data from just about any device that can store data - a good thing to know.  You can get full details here.

The Biggest and Best and Most Fun In The Midwest!

We just got back to Cincinnati, Ohio a few hours ago and went right to work gearing up for our upcoming PhotoPro Expo 2012. 

These next two weeks are the big "push" weeks leading up to the convention. As of last weekend, PhotoPro Expo 2012 is the largest photographic convention and exhibition in the Midwest! 

We should easily hit our goal of 700 attendees and tradeshow visitors.  That's great news to all the vendors at our sold out Expo Tradeshow too. I sure hope you'll plan to come by.

Check Out My Interview With B&H

Yep, I've been doing a lot of interviews the last week or two.  My interview at B&H Insights [link] just went “LIVE” It went a little long – what’s new :~) and they broke it into two parts.  You can catch Part 1 right here.

Here are 4 of the 11 questions I answer in that interview:

• B&H: You’ve been doing this (wedding & portrait photography) for a long time. What are the three biggest changes or turning points in the W&P industry that you’ve seen over the span of your career?
• B&H: Who inspired you in the past, and does anyone inspire you now?
• B&H: What advice do you have for today's up-and-coming photographers who want to enter this very competitive field?
• B&H: We know you are a W&P guy, but we see plenty of landscape and cityscape images on your blog, Digital Pro Talk. Is there a different thought process that goes into your making of personal images versus “business” images? Also, do you have a favorite place where you’ve taken photos?

Check it out right here, I think you'll enjoy the read.

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Hey gang, I'm cutting it a bit short today since we've just got home and we need to tend to a few more things before the end of business day.  How about I see you tomorrow for a very special Business Day Thursday.

I'll see you then,  David

Quick Hit Monday: New Ansel Adams Book; Animoto Does Lightroom; 3T Western Digital Drive Announced; Lots of Lightroom Freebies; and More

Good Afternoon Everybody,

I have to tell ya' - having the weekend off after a pretty long haul of working sure was a good way to charge the ol' NiCad's. Heck, LaDawn and I even got a chance to fit a movie in over the weekend.

Fall around the Midwestern parts of the country have been beautiful. It has been just amazing sitting on the deck, breathing the fresh air, and enjoying the fall breezes while sipping on an adult beverage  ;~)

Anyway, today is Monday and it's time to get back to work - and a pretty busy week it is. Today we play "catch up" around the studio, pack up and head to Columbus, OH for tomorrow's CBTL2010 tour presentation.

Then it's back to Cincy on Wednesday for my brand new Rocket Speed Digital Design Webcast [link]. LaDawn, who is truly our LumaPix:FotoFusion guru, will be co-presenting with me.

We worked on the program a bit yesterday and it's shaping up to be the best 2 hours ever on the greatest design software on the planet. Like I said Friday, I'm going to show you some money-making things you never even thought you could do with LumaPix during the webcast. Yes, you can still register right here.

The rest of the week is quite busy with a BIG Bat Mitzvah coming up next weekend. Then it's off to California for the wrap up of the tour - I can't believe it's almost over, and just in time for the holiday rush.

Hey gang, that's this week's quick prevue and since it's going to be a busy one, let's get right to today's post. Here we go...

New Ansel Adams Book Hits The Shelves

I've always been a big fan of Ansel Adams and have several of his books. Ansel is the photographer that has inspired me for my scenic's and landscapes. I'll keep trying to aspire to his level of excellence. Anyway, in my leisurely weekend cruise of some of my favorite sites, I saw that blogging buddy, Jim Goldstein, had a book review of the latest Ansel Adams collection of images entitled, "Ansel Adams In The National Parks” [link].

Here is an excerpt:

"Ansel Adams In The National Parks” excels in that Andrea G. Stillman, the books’ editor, has pulled not just amazing photographs from the Adam’s archive, but also his writing & correspondence that breath life into an otherwise historical photo anthology.

I guess what I'm picking up here in his review is that we get a peak at what Mr. Adams was thinking as he created his wonderful images with his own notes accompanying many of the images. I've been an Ansel Adams fans for years, and even talked with him on the phone once - for real. I'm heading to Amazon to order the book. Here is the link to Jim's entire review.

Just When You Thought You Were Running Out Of Storage Space

Western Digital just introduced their brand new 3 terabyte hard drive - cost, only $269! [link] I still remember when I bought my first 1T drive for $700. It sounds like a "ton" of storage, but it also sounds like it takes a lot more time to backup too.

You know, in our digital world, things continue to get cheaper, faster, and better and that's a good thing. I would just hate to face that one mighty crash. What I would like to see is a faster, easier way to back up 50 gigs of raw file image data from a wedding shoot inexpensively on Blu-Ray DVD's.

Delkin offers archival Blu-Ray disks at about $25 a pop or $20 bucks at B&H [link] - to expensive for me. But, I did see that Panasonic just announced archival discs to be shipping by the 3rd quarter of this year [link]. No price announced yet (maybe $10 ea.) - let's wait and see.

And Speaking Of RAW Files

One of our DPT readers pointed me to this very thorough discussion of how to best shoot RAW files over at Ron Day’s blog [link]. The discussion on exposure was especially illuminating. It's a "geek" read but well worth the time to get your best results when shooting RAW. Enjoy!

Cool Lightroom Features, Freebies, and More

Don't you just love to take a weekend Internet cruise now and then? I like to think of it as a "Duck Tour" for the brain;~). Anyway, this week's foray into the cyberspace yielded some pretty cool Lightroom finds.

Here is the quick list:

Animoto Now Does Lightroom!

That's right, select your images from within Lightroom 3 and send them on their way to  Animoto.com. I'm a BIG fan of Animoto and Lightroom so I'm thrilled to see this new integration. It's just one more easy way to sizzle your client's experience for you and your studio. Here is the link to the announcement and the plug-in.

Adding Edges To Your Images In Lightroom

Here is another little tutorial gem I stumbled on over the weekend. I found it at TipSquirrel.com [link] - a nice little Lightroom/Photoshop resource for digital photographers. Anyway, this tutorial - here is the link - shows a clever way to use the Identity Plate in Lightroom to add edges to an image. Heck, the author even points you the free edges he uses - pretty cool idea.

Lightroom Freebies

That's right, more Lightroom freebie presets that you can fit into tour hands! OnOne Software has lots of cool stuff over at their site, but some of the coolest are the links to all the FREE presets they have made available to you and me! [link]

Adobe Guru, Jack Davis, is the brains behind many of the 190 of the Lightroom presets. I have to say, they do look pretty cool. Wait, there's more - explore OnOne's site and you will find 196 more free downloads including edges, Adobe RAW plug-ins, and more. Here is the link again. I think, I've died and gone to Lightroom heaven ;~). Have fun.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. In a few hours, we are packing our bags and heading north to Columbus, OH. We are catching up with our friends, Kent and Sarah Smith, this evening. Then tomorrow it presentation #17 of CBTL2010 tour. We are expecting another large crowd of over 200 strong so I hope to see you there. Please come up and say HI.

Can't make it, then still plan to stop by DPT for a brand new Technique Tuesday: The Other Side Of David Ziser. There, that should keep you guessing a bit ;~) It will fun, I promise.

See ya' then, David

Quick Hit Monday: Peachpit's PhotoClub Broadcast; Learn On-Line Now; Backing Up Is Hard To Do; Hot iPhone App; and More

Good Morning Everybody,

We've having a great time down  in Lexington, Kentucky attending the KPPA Summer School.  We even had a nice little birthday party planned for Beth Forrester, one of our presenters on Saturday.  It’s always fun to party and have a relaxed time sharing ideas.

I'm up bright and early - a little too early for me though - for my Bridal Shoot Out session earlier this morning.  I'm looking forward to getting some great images.  Plan on seeing a few of them later this week.

Today is the last Summer School Day and then we will be heading north and back home this afternoon. I've got to get ready for my presentation/shoot so let's get on with today's Quick Hit Monday.  Here we go...

Layers TV host and Good Buddy RC Concepcion Over At Peachpit's PhotoClub Webcast Tomorrow!

That's right - Tomorrow!!! Layers TV host RC Concepcion will be the guest presenter for tomorrow's Peachpit Photo Club webcast on Tuesday, June 22, 2010 from 8 to 9 p.m. ET (5 to 6 p.m. PT). Here is the link to register right here.

RC will cover everything essential about getting yourself and your work on the Web. What to do, what not to do, useful techniques, how to present your work, and much more.  It's conveniently scheduled later in the day, so it should be easy to work into your schedule.  One more time, here is the link.

More Great Online Education

And speaking of great educational resources, I just stumbled on the Manfrotto School Of Excellence right here. Folks there's lots of good info here on just about everything.  There are plenty of tutorials, webinars, and articles that will keep you busy for quite a while. Bookmark it and plan to stop back now and then. The info is solid and extensive - worth the visit.

What's Wrong with Your Outdoor Portraits

Here is yet another link to a good article on how to make your outdoor portrait look better than ever.  The article can be found at Jeff Smith Books blog right here. This looks like a pretty good resource for the portrait and high school senior photographer.

I went cruising around Jeff's site and before long I found a link to one of his YouTube videos right here.  It's well done with just plain good down to earth info.  The bonus for hitting the video link is the fact that lots of related videos came up too.  Lots of good information and inspiration.  The visit makes for a nice rainy day browse or whenever you've got some spare time on your hands.

Best Little iPhone App Ever

I think I found this little app [link] last week when I was checking a few Twitterers I follow. Anyway, it's and iPhone Business Card app and it is quite cleverly designed.  You can easily design your iPhone card, as many as you want, in only a matter of seconds. 

It's easy to add photos and your contact information.  And you can easily customize background and design too.  Do you like my Cabo card? I'm really thinking quick connects at weddings and events. For $2, give it a try.

Yes, Even More Lightroom Resources For You Right Here

Boy, don't you love it when a new piece of software ships.  There are so many folks out there that jump right in with lots of great info to get us out of the gate and up and running. 

Here is yet another Lightroom 3 resource link right here I thought you might find interesting.  There are several links to lots of LR3 resources.  You know, I might just take all my links I've told you guys and girls about and just add them to a convenient place here at DPT so you can always access them easily.  Sounds like a weekend project.  Stay tuned ;~)

Online Back-Up Once Again

You know, backing your data up online sure seems like a good idea to me or at the minimal at least your most important customer images.  I've just discovered yet another service that offers pretty reasonable prices for the service, but only if you don't have tons of data to back up.  The service is called iDrive and their info can be found right here.  The pricing looks good till you get up into the bigger storage amounts.

I still think one of the best deals is available thru Phanfare where they offer an all you can store price of only $199/yr.  As a working studio, Phanfare would be my first choice for online storage.  I just got a note from them too that they've just posted a plug-in for Lightroom 3. I know it says Lightroom 2 but when I called and checked, it is indeed the LR3 plug-in.

Lightroom 3's Blur Slider IS There, It’s Called A Sharpness Slider

Last Friday I posted my Wish List for Lightroom 4 [link].  One of my requests was that it have a Blur slider.  I even went to the trouble to show how it could look and everything.  Well, as one of our very astute DPT readers, Allen Gambrell, pointed out in his comment, LR3 already HAS a blur button.  He shows exactly how it works right here.  High fives to Allen for that one.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today.  I've got to meet my class at 630 am in the hotel lobby.  Then we are finishing up our school for the rest of the day.  Plan to stop by tomorrow  for the much anticipated post, "Jailbreaking Lightroom 3 To Work On A Network".  See ya' then.

-David

Quote Of The Day:

“Never tell anyone what you can't do.  You'll only end up excusing your way to why the job didn't get done. Always show what you can do and do it. Then you can revel in the pride of your accomplishment.”

Quick Hit Monday: Rockin' It In NYC; Time For Video; My Head Is In The Clouds; and More

Good Morning Everybody,

We got into New York City late Saturday,  settled into our hotel, grabbed a quick snack and relaxed. I'll tell you, it's just what the doctor ordered.

Sunday was a Great day at B&H Photo and Video. That”s LaDawn, me, and my daughter, Elizabeth, standing among the crowds of B&H customers – the place was packed on Sunday. We had a full house and the program went off without a hitch.

Every time I give a program, I try to weave a few new things into the presentation - new images, a different take on a lighting concept, whatever. It just makes the presentation more fun to give and I think the audience enjoys as well. They sure did yesterday at 420 9th Avenue.

We are up here In the city this week for a little business but a little R&R. So before I get too long winded, let's get right to Quick Hit Monday. Here we go...

So What Have You Done Lately With Your Video Enabled DSLR?

It seems the new video DSLR features that started showing up on the latest Nikons and Canons have not been taken lightly by the video cognoscenti. Those who had the foresight to see and understand the possibilities of these new video DSLR capabilities jumped right on board. The onboard video capabilities of the new Canon camera is a HUGH initiative with the companies these days.

Look at what's happening out there - intro to the Tonight Show is shot with the Canon 5D Mark II, parts of the recently new Terminator movie also shot with the 5D Mark II. Now what were rumors are now the truth. The recently seen House finale was shot COMPLETELY with the Canon 5D Mark II. You can catch a few clips of the show right here. But, there are too many photographers that own these video enabled cameras that are sitting on their hands and NOT EVEN TRYING these video capabilities out.

Folks, it's all new to all of us. Most of us really trying to get a grip on this new camera functionality.  And we need to get our heads around it. It can be the biggest "differentiator" for our businesses! It behooves each of us to to embrace these possibilities if we truly want to embrace our future success in this exciting field of photography.

Sorry, end of rant #27. Just do me a favor, check out the Doctor House clips right here to see what video pros are doing with the same gear many of us own.

A Sensible ??? Approach To On Line Storage

You know, most photographers don't even consider on-line storage as a reasonable solution for our businesses. Why? Because we take too many pictures, and nearly all of them in RAW mode. So, what's the problem? Way too much data to upload.  Even over the fastest internet connections it would take forever, right?

That's all true of course, except when we take a different approach to back-up. Here is my suggestion/solution. Download your flash cards to your computer, back the data up in at least two hard drive locations, and then burn to DVDs. At my studio, we are even looking at the new Blu-Ray solutions since the Blu-ray disks themselves are dropping in price.

This is all well and good, but it still takes lots of time and storage real estate to complete, and is quite a cumbersome solution. Let’s see if we can create a unique storage solution for the MOST important client images and maybe even create a completely new product for our client - “insurance” that their image files will be completely safe forever.

I recently noticed a new service offered by Phanfare.com for photographers. Phanfare [link] has a really interesting proposition for photographers. How would you feel if you could safely store your image data in the "cloud" for only $199/year?

First of all, what do I mean by storing your data in the "cloud"? Here is the lowdown. Amazon has been offering their S3 storage solution for the last few years. I even jumped on board over two years ago to try it out. There have been lots of rudimentary solutions to get our data up to the Amazon servers, so I never really pressured it further.

Now Phanfare comes along and makes it really easy to get your images stored safely on the Amazon servers - in the "cloud" as they say. I had a conversation with the president of the company, Andrew Erlichson, last week. He gave me a complete tour of Phanfare and it looks pretty exciting.

I've opened my account and want to run Phanfare through it's paces. Here is my first take of the service. All of us photographers deliver some kind of finished image product to our clients. We tweak their favorite images making them look great and then deliver the final result. For me, it's a beautiful album of images.

To get to that finished album, we fine tuned the images to their pristine beauty and then design the album in LumaPix:Fotofusion. LumaPix outputs the page designs as high res JPEGs, TIFFs, or even PSDs. We simply print out these pages designs and then send the pages to Zookbinders for binding.

DAZNOTE: We have a super good deal on LumaPix software and some fantastic add-ons over at our Digital Resource Center right here.

OK, here is my plan. Instead of sending EVERYTHING up to the "cloud", why not just send the clients final retouched selections and the album page JPEGs to the "cloud". Total data upload would not be that large or take that long. It may just be the perfect solution for long term storage of the "best of the best" client images.

Over all these many years of wedding photography, people have been concerned about the long term stability and fading of their images. Just look at your parent's/grandparents photographs and wedding album and you'll see what I mean. Heck, photographers today have an image stability problem if they are backing up their images on cheap CDs and DVDs. The good news is that these images are never going to fade when stored on-line.

That being said, we could easily offer our clients piece of mind with regard to the long term stability of their images very easily with Phanfare's storage solution. Does that piece of mind, let's call it "Image Insurance" have a value to the client? I think it might.

What is that value? I think that's what needs to be determined. What do you think? I'd like to get your take on it. We are offered added insurance on nearly everything electronic we buy these days - just make a purchase at any Best Buy. You get my drift.

Is it time we offer "Image Insurance" to OUR clients too? I'm going to give Phanfare a thorough going over and will report back on their services for photographers. They offer much more than just a simple storage solution. Ill keep you posted.

A Few More Educational Resources You Might Want To Check Out.

Never have I witnessed such an explosion of education resources on-line like we have available to us today. Sure, you've got DPT, Scott Kelby, David Hobby, and so many others who offer a tremendous amount of content and information everyday!

But the list doesn't stop there. The manufactures also want your eyes and ears to take a peak at their products and services. And, to get you in their doors, many have been developing solid content sights for photographers.

Here are just a few that I think are doing a great job.

Canon Digital Learning Center [link]

Nikon Digital Learning Center [link]

DataColor Learning Center [link]

F.J. Westcott [link]

Nik Software Learning Center [link]

B&H Insights blog (new) [link]

Lexjet’s Blog [link] – great resource for inkjet printing.

A Few Things Before I Go

Dave Cross Moves and Updates A Great Blog

Hey gang, I just found out that Photoshop Guru and fellow blogging buddy, Dave Cross just moved and revamped his blog. You can find Dave’s new location right here. It looks really great. Just jump right in. Dave has ton’s of info posted.  High fives to Dave!

Meet Me At KPPA June 20, 2010

Hey gang, I’ve mentioned it previously, but let me do it again.  I am extremely involved in our state photographers association (VP) and that puts me in the inner circle when it comes to the association’s meeting planning.

I have to tell you that we have a dynamite 2 day program for only $109 coming up on June 20 and 21. It’s called KPPA PhotoProExpo Summer School. We have Tim Priest, a phenomenal wedding photographer coming in for a presentation.  We also have Beth Forrester presenting a great program on shooting high school seniors. Add to that the fact that we have several hands on shoot-outs schedules with some great photogs (I’m blushing – me included).

Kentucky PPA also has planned a special presentation scheduled to show you all the new features of CS5 and Lightroom 3! So much information and opportunity for a very reasonable cost – YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS– check it out right here and plan to join me at our KPPA Summer School.

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Hey gang, that’s it for for today.  We are getting ready to head on out and soak up a little NYC today.  I’ll plan to see everybody here for another very fine Technique Tuesday tomorrow. You’re going to love it.  See ya’ then, David

Quick Hit Monday: My Latest Video Is "Live"; TeleSummit Update; DPT Flickr Group Update; More 7D Video; Data Storage In The Cloud

Good Morning Everybody,

Is it time to get up yet?  What, it's Monday, and I have to get the blog up?  But, but, but we're still in Hawaii.  Look at the beautiful sky and the wonderful beaches; feel the warm breezes and smell the sweet floral scents in the air.

But as Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet,

"I'll have grounds
More relative than this—the blog's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."

OK, maybe I've misquoted Shakespeare, but as has been said many, many times before, "The blog must go on."  And go on it will, all the way from Hawaii;~)

Hey gang, I hope everyone had a great weekend - you can bet we did while visiting in Hawaii. We mostly just relaxed since arriving. We've taken in a few sites, but mostly just chillin' knowing we didn't need to be anywhere any time soon. 

On Saturday their were lots of weddings taking place here at the Hilton Hawaiian Village – I just needed to grab a shot or two.

On  Sunday morning we hooked up with Greg – he had been to my DWUC tour twice and also recently to my Digital Master Class – and he showed us a few very beautiful sites outside of Waikiki.  It was a nice visit.

We head back home on Tuesday afternoon getting in on Wednesday just in time to spend time with family over the Thanksgiving Holiday.  We certainly have MUCH to be thankful for.

We've got a few more days here on the island so let's get right to Quick Hit Monday.

My Latest Video Goes Live At Kelby Training

It's true, it's true - my long anticipated fifth video has finally gone "live" over at Kelby Training.  It's entitled, "Rapid Fire Tips And Tricks".  I'll walk you through 15 lessons on how to get the most out of some difficult and not so difficult lighting situations. 

As I've said so many times before, these lessons are NOT necessarily wedding centric videos. Every lesson is about lighting. My subjects' just happen to be brides and grooms, but the lesson is still about the light.  Anyway, why not make the trip over to Kelby Training right here and check it out. Hey, with the cost only being $24.95 a month for all "you can eat" online training, Kelby Training is a steal of a deal - guaranteed!

Quick Update On 16 Hour Marketing Telesummit Marathon Update

A few months ago I was thrilled to be involved with Sarah Petty's super informative and successful Joy of Marketing TeleSummit [link]. She received so many emails from those who missed it that she has made the download available again. I've just discovered that it will only be available till December 13, 2009.  So, if you are interested check it out right here.

Update On DigitalProTalk's Flickr Group

I have to admit, I've been a little lax about keeping our DPT Flickr group [link] updated. Originally I wanted it to be a place where photogs could come together and help each other out, share ideas, and post contest entries that I occasionally was running here at DPT.

Now for the good news - my buddy and "Ace #1" assistant, Nicholas Viltrakis, has offered to take over those duties for me. So, as of today, you can rest assured that images will be moderated much more quickly.

I want to look to you guys and girls and loyal readers of DPT on just how we can really get the DPT Flickr group really rockin'. Drop a comment or two in the "Comments" section below and "let's see what we can build together."

And Speaking Of Comments, And Comment SPAM

Folks, the comment SPAM has been driving me crazy around here at DPT. I was finding the comment spam being posted to much older posts so I changed the Blogger settings to allow posts newer than 14 days to be posted without moderation. Well, the spammers have worked their way around that limitation too and recently started posting to the most recent DPT posts.

So, to keep this blog free of all comment spam, I decided to enable comment moderation for all comments. After each day's blog posts I'll make it a habit to get the comments posted from the day before. Sorry for any inconvenience this new policy may present, but it really shouldn't affect things much as I've always let just about all the comments stand anyway.

Canon 7D Video Again

Hey gang, here is a post I found over at Photography Bay linking to a post over at Engadget.com on the first impressions of video capabilities of the new Canon 7D - here is the link. For anyone wanting to make video part of their product offerings for their clients - me included, this is a good read.

Store Your Digital Images In A Cloud

With all the talk about "Cloud" computing these days, the option has come up as to whether "cloud" storage is really an option for the digital photographer. You know, so much data and too little time to back it all up.

I started experimenting with "cloud" storage over two years ago when Amazon introduced their Amazon S3 (Scalable Storage Service). It worked pretty cool. I was using the Jungle Disk software which was just in Beta at the time and all worked quite well.

The uploads could be quite long, but it seems that Amazon has eliminated that obstacle too - now you can send them a portable USB drive of your data and they will put it in the "cloud" for you… all perfectly safe.

Let me point you too Geoff Baehr's article at our buddies over at Luminous-Landscape.com. Geoff is a super geek guru who shoots with two of the really big digital guns - the Phase One P45 and Linhof M679cs and really had data storage issues to deal with. In his post right here he shares with you exactly how he does it.

Hey gang, that's it for me today. We are heading off to see the Pearl Harbor Memorial and maybe give Diamond Head a climb. See everybody tomorrow of another Technique Tuesday episode. See ya' then.  Aloha, -David

Quick Hit Monday: Let's Have Some Fun At Mardi Gras 2010; Top 10 Wedding Photogs In The UK; Optical Storage-RIP; Detail, Detail, and More Detail

Good Morning Everybody,

We wrapped my Master Class last Friday, packed the bags on Saturday for the last leg of my Digital WakeUp Call tour, and hit the road on Sunday.  Can you believe it - only 10 cities to go! We made the 8 1/2 hour very picturesque drive down to Raleigh, North Carolina yesterday arriving about 8:00 p.m. and we are ready to go again tonight.

I brought the Master Class images with me and hope to get a show posted over the next couple of days.  I'm planning to mix in a little video too - it should be fun.  And speaking of video, be sure to check out tomorrow's post. Yes, it is ready to go and looks very cool.

Hey, enough already - let's get on with today's post.

Come On Down To Mardi Gras In February 5-7, 2010
I got an email from my buddy, Ralph Romaguera, last week about this great idea he is putting together for next year's Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans.  He wants to put together a float of photography friends every year. 

Ralph has been heavily involved in Mardi Gras for many years in his home town of New Orleans, even being King of the crewe last year. He has informally put together these Mardi Gras extravaganzas for photographers the last three or four years. I've been invited each year and wasn't able to attend because of schedule conflicts.

That is not the case for 2010 - LaDawn and I are both planning to be there. Ralph wants me to offer a formal invitation to all of you. Why not plan to "pass a good time" with LaDawn and I and several other party-going, celebration happy photogs for a very special few days in the great city of New Orleans.

Here is the link for all the info right here. Check the Texas School Mardi Gras link and Ralph's link to get all the Mardi Gras information, costs, agenda, etc.  Leave a message in the "Comments" section if you would like to attend.  Hope to see you there - it should be a blast!

Congrats!  To One Of England's Top Wedding Photogs

I just got news that fellow blogging buddy, and great wedding photographer, Crash Taylor, from England was just  being named one of the Top 10 Winter Wedding Photographers. [link]. 

I've pointed you to Crash's site many times for his very interesting series of interviews he features with wedding photogs from around the world. Here is the link to Crash's interviews right here, and his outstanding wedding photography right here. 

Look for Crash to do an interview for us here at DPT once both of our schedules settle down - should be pretty cool.

Optical Storage:RIP

Yep, that was the title of the story I read over at the ZNet blog right here. What, no more CD's, DVDs, Blu-Ray disks?  Hey gang, I'm not going to over react on this piece.  Things change and I think for the better mostly. I point you to this article because as we move up to higher powered, more mega-pixeled cameras, our storage needs are going to change.

I had one photog point me towards a $3,500 tape backup system, but that's not practical for the smaller studios. I admit, I'm a bit paranoid about backup at my studio with everything on DVDs and duplicated on 2 sets of hard drives going back to 2000.

When I shoot a job now, it's usually 40-50 gigs of data I need to back up to something very permanent. Backing up that much data to DVD's takes lots of time.  Is Blu-Ray the answer - for me, not at $25/disk! So what is the answer?  We are sticking with DVDs at this point, reconsidering shooting strategies to reduce job storage, and keeping an eye on storage options and the price of those options.

Thanks to fellow blogger, Jeff Revell, where I first saw the story.

More Detail Than You Could Ever Need

And speaking of Jeff Revell, you've got to check out his tutorial on how to get the maximum detail out of the shadows [link].  Jeff's PhotoWalkPro Blog is one of the best out there and I always like to make the visit when I get a chance.

Anyway, check out Jeff's 5 minute tutorial right here - you'll pick up lots of nice Lightroom tips and tricks along the way.

Hey gang that's it for me today.  LaDawn has already headed down to set the room for tonight.  We have over 200 excited photographers registered for tonight's program.  Hey, if you are a DigitalProTalk reader, come on up and say HI.  Hope to see lots of smiling faces this evening at the program.

And, by the way, be sure to check back tomorrow for a Technique Tuesday double-header video segment - one of my favorites to date. See you soon,  -David

Business Day Thursday; Super Secure, Super Easy, Super Cheap On-Line Storage

Hey gang, how many of you guys and girls are using on-line backup system? My guess is probably not many of you. Most of us are satisfied with our CDs, DVDs, cheap USB drives, etc. There are a lot of on-line storage solutions available and most of them cost an arm and a leg – like in the $$$ per gigabyte range.

In March 2006, Amazon.com got very smart, well in my opinion they've always been smart they just got even smarter. Amazon decided to leverage the massive amount of extra storage they have throughout their extensive data infrastructure. They call their new initiative Amazon S3 - the 3S's stand for Simple Storage Service.

They decided to rent their excess storage to anyone for any number of things from software development to data storage. It’s the data storage that has been intriguing me these last several months.

Here is the deal;
Get this, instead of spending the average $10/month for 10 gigs of on-line storage, you can get storage from Amazon for $1.50 per 10 gig/month. You heard right that's only a dime and a nickel, fifteen cents, per gig! That’s about as cheap as it gets. Yep, you have to pay to upload those 10 gigs up to Amazon but that cost is only a $1.00. Furthermore, there is a retrieval cost but that amounts to $1.70/10 gigs to retrieve your data. but that's still just a drop in the bucket.

When I originally started checking out storage solutions last year, a lot of the software available to simple data storage solution was still in beta. Now we have some solid solutions that make the entire process nearly effortless. Here is the link from Amazon showing some of those solutions right here. My two favorite solutions are Jungle Disc and Maluke.com. Both install easily and simply set up a virtual drive on your local computer which treats your online storage just like a drive on your computer. It’s really easy. You need to get yourself set-up with an Amazon S3 account, not a big deal, install the software, add all the security codes and you are good to go.

Here is a possible drawback;
A possible drawback.... Your Internet speed determines how fast the data uploads and downloads will be. It could still take several minutes to move a gig of data around. So uploading 40 gigs of RAW files from a wedding may not be the thing to do. A little good news here is that it handles all the uploading in the background so you really don't notice it.

And here is the jewel of an idea!
I think the best back up strategy is this. Why not take the client’s selected and finished images – bridal, portrait, etc. - compress the 100-200 images to say an 80 quality JPG – only about 200 megs worth at best, and upload only these preferred images to your on-line Amazon storage drive. That amounts to less than a nickel per wedding for 200 images. Upload time would be fast and you (and your clients) now have a super secure back up of their most important images.

When you purchase a piece of art, it usually comes with a certificate of authenticity. Now we can offer our clients something very close to that same certificate. Let’s call it a Certificate of Image Security, which verifies the archival safety of each of their selected images backed by one of the top Internet companies on the planet. Not a bad little add-on for your photographic services. Just thought you might like to think about it.

Hey everybody, that's it for me today. We've got bags to pack, a rental car to return, and a plane back to Cincinnati to catch. I'll see everybody back in Cincy tomorrow. Adios, -David

Monday Morning - Reporting From Florida; Time Magazine Says Photographers Are Weird, Client Ordering In Lightroom, and Blu_Ray Backup

Good Morning Everybody,

LaDawn and I are settled into our hotel, our home away from home for the next few days. We are back in the Tampa, Florida area to wrap a few more videos for Kelby Training. It’s always a kick to come down here and work with the terrific NAPP team in putting these videos together. Yes, it is work, but a lot of times it feels like play. Anyway, we are happy to be here for a few days. I've got a few quick hits for you today, so let's get to it.

Time Magazine Says Photographers Are Weird
Yep, that's what they said. I picked up last week's issue of Time Magazine, I'm a regular reader, and there it was, a story that was discussing Nikon's newly introduced D90. I had just finished doing my first article on, "Where Had All The Business Gone" and now I was presented with another reason right here in a respected national magazine.

Here are the opening lines of the second paragraph, "It's pretty well known that professional photographers are weird, which is why I worship them. They are persnickety about all things yet have pulses that never exceed 60 beats a minute." Here is the Time article link right here. That's it! - That's why business is down for so many photogs - we are just plain weird. Heck, even my own dad always wanted me to get a real job. I know it was a "tongue in cheek" remark, but all the same it speaks to the perception many have for the business of professional photography - 'nough said.

Lightroom Galleries And Client Ordering
Chris, a resident computer gurus at my Fall Master Class, dropped me a note to tell me about this cool little application over at Lightroom Galleries.com. Download their Lightroom template, fire up Lightroom, and create your own gallery where your client can easily browse their up to 800+ images, pick their favs, and comment and order any image. Once they sign off on their selection, you get the email with their picks and you are good to go to process the order. A lot of people are loving it. Sounds great and I think it has possibilities - check it out right here. Thanks Chris!

200 Year Archival Storage Now Available From Delkin
Delkin just announced their new USB 2.0 outboard Blu-Ray drive. Now you can burn all those RAW multi-gigabyte wedding images to just one or two discs. Delkin says it only takes about 30 minutes to burn a full 25 gigs to one of their "200 year life" archival discs - not bad. Hey, this looks like the way to proceed, but $25 per disc - Whew!! I do believe this is the way to go - eventually, but I'm waiting for the price to drop on the disks. Anyway, here is the link to the Delkin info.

Easy Terabyte Network Attached Storage

I came across an article in PC magazine a while back talking about this new company –Hammer Storage. John Dvorak, the columnist, was mentioning what a great piece of backup hardware they made called ‘myshare”. “Myshare” is a network attached storage (NAS) device in the very reasonable $429 range.

NAS is very convenient when you have a number of workstations needing access to the same data – like image files. I thought I would give it a try and, so far have been quite happy with the results. It was fairly easy to set up – about 15 minutes – and when I ran into one “hitch” the company’s tech support was quick to pick up the phone and resolve the issue. That was a pleasant experience in this digital day and age.

We have it plugged into our gigabyte switch and can easily access our data quickly over the network. I set up the drive as a stand- alone 1 terabyte drive. The device can also be set up as RAID 0 (Stripe), 1 (Mirror), JBOD (Span) configurations.

I chose not to set the drive up as a "RAID" device with the data redundancy built in, but when it is coupled with another "myshare" drive for backup, it becomes a pretty reasonable solution for data integrity. I'll talk about some back-up solutions in an upcoming newsletter.