Are You Ready For The "Mother" Of All Photoshop Plugins and Filters?

Well, folks, here it is - count them - 1000 Photoshop plug-ins and filters all in one place. I found this post over at AllGraphicDesign.com. Man, folks, they have tons of stuff over there. Check out their listing of over 1000 Photoshop plug-ins and filters mega-list right here.

But wait, there's more. Also, check out their unbelievable list of Photoshop tutorials too right here. I did a quick sample of a few and they look very good - not a bunch of junk here. Bookmark these links guys and girls and you too can go to Photoshop school everyday for the next several months - really good information.

A Quick Lens Update

This one is bigger still. Last Thursday, I did a story on Canon's $99,000 1200/5.6L USM lens. We all thought that was a "Biggie". Thiago Almeida, one of our readers, pointed me to an even larger Canon lens. Check out the Canon's 5200mm 220 pound monster right here. Notice the camera mount - I placed a red box around it so you could find it. It's used for photographing things up to 32 miles away! Boy, am I glad I don't need it for weddings! Next thing we will here is that they've put a Canon mount on all the telescopes over at the Keck observatory on the Big Island of Hawaii ;~)

Hey gang, that's about it for today. I'll see you tomorrow brighter and earlier. Wait, one last thing, if you are interested in getting my next newsletter going out on Thursday, please sign up right here. Have a good one, --David

"Pod Plants"

"Pod Plants"
© David A. Ziser

OK, I know that's kind of a weird title but all I could think about was and old Star Trek episode where pod plants figured heavily into the plot. While visiting historic Temple Square in Salt Lake City one Spring a few years ago. LaDawn and I toured the magnificent grounds of the temple area and were enthralled with the beauty of all the flowers. The "pod plants" which are really Poppies intrigued me. They looked like alien creatures emerging from the garden. Being a "Trekkie", I had to get the shot. The wide aperture easily separated the "pod plants" from the surrounding background adding even more to the "alien feel" of the scene. Although not necessary fine art photography, maybe a more apt description would be "Alien Garden". Camera specs; Canon 20D fitted with 70-200mm IS lens at 95mm, F3.2 @ 1/320 second at ISO 400. Enjoy! --David

Things Are A'Hoppin' Monday

Good Morning everybody,
WOW! There are some exciting things happening to day. Brian Auer, mater blogger over at EpicEdits - a really cool photog blog - ask me to be part of his brand new project - the FineArtPhotoBlog launching today!

The Fine Art Photoblog is a unique website dedicated to collectors and admirers of fine art photography. The site is something of a mix between art gallery, photoblog, and search engine. I'm stoked to be part of it. We are not only posting imaging but making them available for sale to. I'll keep you updated details and on the results of that endeavor.

Check out the press release on the Fine Art Photo Blog right here. It will give you the whole story. Wait there's more - why am I so stoked - one of the reasons in the group of photogs I get to hang out with. Hit the "Photographs" tab on the site and check out some of their images - I spent a good bit of the weekend doing just that! Really good stuff here. Now on with the Monday musings...

Young Skywalker Is Mastering His Craft and His Art Quite Well

When a young photog comes to you and asks if you can "mentor" you what do you say - How about, "How much money do you have?" Wait, not really- that was just a joke. First of all, you feel honored with the request.

I liked Nicholas when I first met him. He was energetic, willing and eager to learn. I hired him to be my assistant on weddings and weekend events then eventually to work part time here at the studio as one of our "Digital Techs".

He has been with me now about 2 years now. He shoots nearly everyday honing his artistry and skills and on Monday sends to a select group of friends a collection of his images. About a month ago, I encouraged him to set up a blog and share his images with the world. Well, he did and for a newbie - he his doing a great job. He keeps it fresh and updated and populates it with a nice series of images. Every time I check it out, he's got some more cool stuff working on it. Give Nicholas's site a look right here - it's a nice visit. Oh no, now he will probably want a raise;~)

3D - It Really Works!!!

You have to see it to believe it, but there it was right in front of me - the swirling, rotating, gyrating swirls of color - I could literally hold it in my hand!

Well, maybe I've overstated it a bit, but I have to admit, it was "super cool" (from my geek point of view.) Here is the rest of the story - I told you I was fired up with the new Fine Art Photo Blog launch and key to my excitement was the cool group of photogs I get to hang with.

Well, you've got to check out Neil Creek's site for sure. All the others are great too, by the way, but Neil's site has some really fascinating 3D images on it and I'm kind of into that kind of thing. Neil goes into the whole 3D process right here, shows a nice selection of images, discusses how to view the images, and discusses how he is using the nifty Loreo 3D lens in a cap to capture the images. The concept works a lot like the 3D Magic Eye books we enjoyed with our kids when they came out years ago. You know what I mean, stare at the images while crossing your eyes slightly and, presto, you saw it in 3D.

Neil's images work the same way - I found holding my finger out about 15 inches (a little less that half a meter for our international readers) helped your "eyeballs" fix on the image a bit more quickly. Some people can make it work and others have a bit harder time with it - if you can see it, it really is a fascinating exercise. I've posted the image you see me staring out in this post just for starters for you. Check out Neil's site right here for many more.

More 3D - The Old Fashion Way

I don't know how I get on these "kicks" but I actually had the following video - "How to Make 3D Pictures" scheduled for the post today before coming across Neil's site. So since the two go hand in hand, let me point you to the video below that shows another 3D solution.

The video demonstrates how to take 3D images, process them and view them. It's a quickie and kind of fun to try. Here is the link to the 3D software mentioned in the video right here. Here is a link on how to easily and cheaply make the make 3D glasses right here, or you can just order them on-line right here.


Make 3D Pictures From Any Digital Camera! - A funny movie is a click away

A Few Quick Updates

I checked the DigitalProTalk Flickr group and we only have two submissions for the "rear sync" flash challenge. I'll let it run the month and see if we get any other interest. Thanks to Gavin Jensen and Thad Lawrence for being the first to submit. Everyone else, come on let's see what you're doing. Also, Look for a Photo Dump of some of the coolest images uploaded so far - Mr. Viltrakis - who I featured earlier is our lead contributor. So, hey, post some of your best wedding, portrait, landscape, abstract, fine art images to the DigitalProTalk Flickr group right here for all to share.

Hey gang, got to go - back to the real world. I'll see everybody for tomorrow's Down and Dirty Portraits" on Technique Tuesday, plus over 1000 Photoshop tutorials, and, of course, much more. Au Revoir, --David

"Spring Splash"

"Spring Splash"
© David A. Ziser

A beautiful splash of color covers the scene. A long lens, shallow depth of field, and the bright sun backlighting the tulips intensified the result. A touch of Photoshop to add the abstract elements gave me the image I was looking for. Camera specs; Canon 20D fitted with 70-200mm lens set to 130mm, F4.0 @ 1/2000 second, ISO 400. Enjoy! -David

Fantastic Inspiration Friday

Good Morning Everybody,
Inspiration + Reflection = Creativity, at least that's my take on the subject. Whether you are a wedding, portrait, landscape photographer - it doesn't make any difference - inspiration can be found anywhere. Carl Jung's theory of inspiration reiterated the Romantic notion of inspiration by suggesting that an artist is one who is attuned to something impersonal, something outside of the individual experience. That means inspiration can come from anywhere.

Then, reflecting on that feeling of inspiration many times leads to the "Ah - Ha" moment - the creative thought. Most Fridays at my DigitalProTalk blog, I try to fine some sites that offer some kind of inspiration. Today is no different. The images and videos I'm posting today are meant to do just that. Hey, I'm a wedding guy, and they fire me up, so off we go searching, hoping, waiting for the "Ah - Ha" moment. Enjoy!

A Short and Sweet Inspirational BBC Video

Sit back and relax - it's Friday - enjoy this short little video from the BBC's Motion Gallery right here. It's full of great images and sort of, shall we say - inspiring. After yesterday's "Back to B(Business) School Thursday", you might need a few inspirational words and images to keep the "Eye of the Tiger". There is a nice selection of inspiring videos to help you stay focused right here. Remember, it's Friday - take a short breather and enjoy the shows.

How About Some of the Most Inspiring Images You Have Ever Seen - Meet the Don of Photography

I have known Don Emmerich for many, many years. He is one of the best and also one of the original Photoshop instructors to begin holding workshops. In fact, I took my very first Photoshop class from Don about 5 or 6 years ago. He was a great resource in lending me a helping hand to foray into ink-jet printing. Forget Photoshop for a minute and check out Don's absolutely gorgeous photography over at Lexjet. They just featured him this month in their "Artist Spotlight" right here. It is both a fascinating read about a master of photography and is chocked full of stunning images. A great Friday read!

Luxuriating In the Lap of Landscape Photography

Now check out these three sites:

Site #1 features some truly the gorgeous landscape images at Landscapes 2.0 website right here. Click in the keyword cloud on the left or whatever word tickles your fancy. I personally like mountains, clouds and sea. Be prepared to be blown away - every image is breathtaking!

Site #2 features the work of Kenneth Parker - again an outstanding gallery of images are presented on Mr. Parker's site right here. Turns out he was Eliot Porter's field assistant . That sounds like a good place to pick up a little experience!! He works in the large format analogue world and is producing amazing images. His mentor has been Paul Caponigro who has graced these posts before. Paul writes: "Parker’s stunning prints have impressed me and will no doubt also impress you for their beauty of craft as well as content. Those who will give sufficient time to discover what has been wrought through his efforts will no doubt be rewarded. He has met and mastered the shape of his own passion and vision. Don't miss some nice article on his site as well."

Site #3 Haven't had enough yet - check out the stunning work of Paulo Jorge Oliveira right here. Paulo's blog has been named the 2007 BEST PORTUGUESE BLOG. His blog was also name PHOTOBLOG OF THE WEEK at COOLPHOTOBLOGS (May 2007). Truly amazing as well as inspirational images here.

OK, forget about taking a break, go home early today and spend some quality time with these amazing photographers.

Creativity - A Different Way to View the Simple Things

Forget "outside the box" thinking - Chema Madoz has 56 of the intriguing, interesting, inventive, some time funny, but always uniquely creative images displayed at HaHa.nu right here. You can check out the English version Chema Madoz's website right here. I just picked up two of his books over at Amazon. He is truly a photographer who views the world and its surroundings in a very unique and creative way.

Now, If You Have Spent A Little Time Visiting These Inspiring Sites...

You may be on your way finding some balance in your life - and, boy do some of us need that in our lives. So how about taking another step in that direction by checking out this inspiring article over at FreelanceSwitch entitled, "Is Your Work/Life Balance Killing Your Chances Of Freelancing Success?" right here. All kidding aside, this article gives us a solid 12-Step program to finding balance in our sometimes crazy lives. It really is a worthwhile read - and highly recommended if you live you life in a "pressure cooker" now and then.

Hey, everybody, that's about it for today. Hope you enjoyed "Inspiration Friday" and can maybe enjoy the posts a bit more into the weekend. So let me wish everyone a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday. Adios, --David

"Nessie's Lair"

"Nessie's Lair"
© David A. Ziser

This image was made while on a trip to Canada a few years ago. I was enthralled by the large numbers of ducks all around the boat docks. The original image was quite plain and lacking in contrast. After manipulating the image in Photoshop, the image improved considerably. All the ducks look like baby "Loch Ness Monsters" to me, and the large number make it look like a breeding ground for all the little "Nessies", hence the title. Camera specs; Canon 20D fitted with 70-200mm IS lens at 200mm, F6.3 @ 1/1000, ISO 800. Enjoy! -David

Thoroughly B-School Thursday

Good Morning Everybody,
This idea has been in my head for a while now. While Technique Tuesday has been quite a hit with the tutorials on photography and Photoshop, many of Thursday's posts have been about sales, marketing, and business building.

So here is what I am thinking - I'm going to focus this topic as the lead story every Thursday. I'll discuss ideas on starting, building, growing, and enhancing your photography business whether it falls in the "full time", "part time", or "emerging pro" category. Let me know if you like this idea. I'll run with it for a while and see what the feedback looks like. With that said, how about our first edition of "Thoroughly B-School Thursday"...

Are You A Leader or a Boss

I know what many of you are thinking out there - "Hey, Ziser, I'm a one or two person operation. I'm the leader, my wife's the boss." Wait wait, just joking - no emails please. Here is the reality. Even in a very small organization, we still need to strive to be leaders because those leadership skills play a bigger role in our success as we interact with all those around us - customers, vendors, employees, potential clients.

Remember growing up? Heck, just look at your kids if you are so blessed - they all want to be the boss. Isn't that what "sibling rivalry" is all about. As we grew up we found that being the boss never got much accomplished, but developing the leadership skills of coaching, problem-solving, delegating, leading by example, etc. is what makes a good leader and more importantly, helps you build your business. White Stag Leadership Development has quite a bit of info on leadership right here.

Here is their listing of their 11 Skills of Leadership;
Getting and Giving Information
Understanding Group Needs and Characteristics
Knowing and Understanding Group Resources
Controlling the Group
Counseling
Setting the Example
Representing the Group
Problem-Solving
Evaluation
Sharing Leadership
Manager of Learning

Jeff Gitomer is a terrific sales trainer too. I get his newsletter every week. Check out his article, "Are You A Leader Or A Boss" right here. OK, I know I not talking to the the next president of IBM (or maybe I am), but the point is this - it's about how we interact with others that reflects our leadership potential - read; business success.

And Speaking of School, How About Heading Back To Photography School - Part 1

One of he best ways to grow your business and deliver a better product - in this case, I'm talking about the product of Wedding Photography. We all want to be able to make better images - right? When we see a great image, it inspires us, we want to be able to create the same kind of image. How can we do that? Here is a great way to “kick start” you brain juices – how about going back to school – for free!

It’s easy, just head over to Google and Flickr and do a search on “Wedding pictures”. Here are the number of matches that popped for Google – over 19,000,000 and for Flickr - over 200,000. Hey folks, that’s a lot of inspiration and many great ideas here. Sites like Flickr even let you group your favorites so you can easily revisit them for future reference. Find someone whose work you really admire and check out their photo-stream - lots of little gems there. As you add to you favorites, you are continually creating a “go-to” source of ideas for your own weddings.

When I did my Google search, the first few pages had some great images on them - so save the images that "speak to you" for future reference. It’s easy; just do a quick “right mouse click" grab - rename the image to your "Image reference" folder that's always handy for later review. I remember, years ago, that as a student of the craft, I would purchase legendary Monte Zucker's proof set, study it thoroughly, and try to get a few of images to look anything like his. Slowly but surely the concepts and ideas start to take hold. When mixed with your own creative juices, you start to develop your own creative style - that's a cool feeling.

But remember, these are just for your personal review and cannot be used in any promotional way. The point is this, as you “Go Back to School”, save your favorite photographers site links, and your favorite images from your image searches into your very own reference library of any number of categories. For example; Wedding Portraits, Wedding Photos, Reception Photos, Details, Bridal Portraits, Fun Candids, etc. It's a great way to ramp up your skills and the learning possibilities are endless.

We can also go to seminars, and workshops - there are a several seminars coming around the states this year. Be sure to check out my good friend, Ed Pierce's series entitled, "Captivated By The Light" right here. Ed always puts on a good program. I'll keep you posted as I hear of more such seminars - if you know of any, please let me know too.

And wait, there's more, my Digital Master Class - info right here - held in the greater Cincinnati area is nearly full for the April 28 - May 2, 2008 session. We have about 6 six seats left, so if you are interested, give Jennifer a call at 800.292.2994 to reserve your seat.

How About Heading Back To Photo School -Part 2

Now how about learning the "techie" part of the profession. I was really surprised when I saw all the resources available on line. Just head over to Canon's Learning Center right here for "tons" of info on equipment, technique, and photography.

Nikon's Learning Center right here is also a rich source for general information, articles, technique, and creativity too. Hey, wait there is still more. Just head over to Wikipedia right here and look at the "gobs" of info they have just on the basics of photography.

Folks, it all comes down to this - How much do you want it? How much time do you want to spend learning it? How much time will you practice it? I learned one thing early on in my career - a lot of photographers are a bit lazy, and the easiest way to separate yourself from the competition is simply - work, study, practice harder than they do!

OK, I'm getting off of my "soapbox " now - mainly because I have to get back to my day job. Have a great day everybody - see you tomorrow for "Inspiration Friday!" --David

Wait, One More For The Road - The Monster Lens

Have you received $99,000 for just sitting around? If you do, you too could be the owner of this monster lens. My thanks to Bill Kissam for pointing me to the "Mother of All lenses" story right here. It's Canon's very rare Canon 1200/5.6L USM lens. There are "more than twelve, less than twenty" of them in existence. They were produced at the rate of about 2-per-year and a delivery time of about 18 months. Throw it on a Canon 40D with a 2x tele-extender and you end up with 3840mm F11 optic! As they said over at B&H - "Operators standing by."

Hey gang, really got to go now - see you tomorrow --David

"Renaissance Bride"

"Renaissance Bride"
© David A. Ziser

This image was made at the Cincinnati Art Museum in one of the galleries featuring paintings from the Italian Renaissance. I slowed down the shutter to pick up the painting in the background and bounced the on-camera flash off of a nearby large pillar to my left in order to bring the resulting light in from a direction that would give the dimensional lighting on the bride's face. Camera specs; Canon 20D fitted with 17-85mm IS lens set at 76mm, F6.3 @ 1/25 second, ISO 800. Enjoy! -David

Wondering Around (the Net) Wednesday

Good Morning Everybody,
What's happening out there? Most of us out there that try to stay current in our profession usually cruise the Big sites like the Stobist, Rob Galbraith, DPReview, etc. But don't miss some other great gems of information and inspiration that are available.

Here is a quick list of some of my current favorites you can check out. 1001 Noisy Cameras, Epic Edits, Photography Bay, Imaging Insider, AllDayIDreamAboutPhotography,etc. And don't forget to check out my buddy, Jason Moore's site - he is a always a treasured Nugget of a find. Anyway, how about wedding and not so wedding related news. On with Wednesday....

Visit Over To Matt's place

I'll tell you, Matt Adcock does a really nice job over at FlashFlavor. His posts are both informative and fun. He definitely puts a fresh spin on wedding photography and creative lighting. I occasionally make a trip to Matt's place just to see what he's got cooking. He always has something new and creative like his current post Flash Flavor before and after with Photoshop. Hit his site FlashFlavor right here and give it a long scroll - always good stuff.

Famous Faces You Can Own

If you are a Yousef Karsh fan as I have been for years, you have to check out this site right here. Mr. Karsh has been photographer to the famous people his entire career. I have always admired his portrait images for their striking, yet simple representation of the subject.

Well, guess what - you can now pick up portraits by Yousef Karsh. They are offered reasonably priced as gravure prints, color, black and white reproductions with archival matting for about $20 with the matting. I have to say it is way kind of fun just browsing the gallery of the images.

Wait, there's more - go to the bottom of the page and click on http://www.marekuliasz.com/ and you will be presented with a beautiful landscape image with a kayak in the foreground. See the links on the left - I invite you to take a very interesting journey through Mr. Uliasz multi-faceted world. It's quite a interesting trip.

Micro-Stock - 500 images - $21 in 2 months

So is there any money in Micro-Stock photography? I thought this was a great article by Marek Uliasz right here.
See what I mean, this guy has a lot of "irons in the fire." (See previous post) Many of us want to make an extra buck or two and maybe some of us have considered micro-stock photography but the big question - "Is it worth it." This article covers the results for Mr. Uliasz's first two month experience. He has 3 informative links at the bottom of this article, too. Good info if you are interested in finding another avenue to explore in how to make a dollar or two.

Related links from DigitalProTalk:
Freelancer Sells 500,000 Photos on iStockphoto!!!
How to Earn $300/day in Micro-stock Photography
Micro-stock agencies out there and their pay rates.

One For the Road - A DVD Slide Show Creator - Cool!

I know there are a million pieces of software that claim to do what DVDSlideshowGUI does, but this one looks really way cool. We are making slide shows up all the time for our clients, putting them on CDs, DVDs, iPods, etc. so I am always on the lookout for software that makes it easier, faster, and better. I've been all over their website and am pretty intrigued. If you are into this kind of stuff, check out DVDSlideshowGUI right here. I'm going to play with it over the weekend and report back next week - maybe sooner.

Hey, gang, that's about it for today. See everybody tomorrow - have a great one! --David

"Mother's Love"

"Mother's Love"
© David A. Ziser

This is one of a series of images described below. I love the way the mother's hands are embracing her baby in both a loving and protecting manner. This simple image is captured in just the subtle tones of blacks and greys and I think speaks clearly to the connection between both mother and baby. Camera specs; Nikon D1x fitted with Tamron 24-135mm lens at 105mm, F10 @ 1/125 second, ISO 400. Enjoy! --David

Its Technique Tuesday 02.05.08

Good Morning Everybody,
I've got another full day planned today - all technique all day with, count them, five, that's right, five video tutorials for your viewing pleasure. Sometimes these posts grow and grow - that's what happened today - so I hope you enjoy the all posts today.

I'm honoring a request from one of our readers, Ivan Makarov. He wanted to know how I produced the image "Our Emerging Future" which I posted several months ago. I'm featuring that image in today's lesson. I've also posted a short slide show of the client's favorite images for the shoot as well. And, don't miss the piece on using tele-extenders and lots more. So we have a lot to cover, so on with the show...

Technique Tuesday - "Our Emerging Future"

I posted the image a while ago and receive a request as to how I did it - it was Photoshop all the way. I was hired to photograph 2 newborn twins, which were only 3 weeks old - these were teeny babies. The session lasted about 3 hours and the babies only stopped crying for about 10 minutes of that time.

My lighting assistant and I were literally following mom and dad around the living room to grab whatever we could of the babies. When I got back to the studio, I thought I had nothing. I pondered what I was going to show the client for about two weeks. Over that time period, I was experimenting with Photoshop on a few new techniques. What resulted from my experimentation was an entire series of dramatic images of the babies images. Here is how I did it.

An Now the Rest of the Story - "God's Light"

The thing that struck me as I was "painting" these images was that I was putting the light exactly where I wanted it, exactly as God's own light may have touched these little babies. The client loved the result and we put together an album of several of the images.

Check out the slide show below of those images. We also put together a 9-up collage of the client's favorite images. The experience has served us well as we have used the "God's Light" technique on all of our portraits of very young babies.

Original Digital Backgrounds

So you say you are fed up with all the "same old - same old" backgrounds out there. You don't want to spend and "arm and a leg" on some "fancy-dancy" painted background. Well folks, you have come to the right place today. That's right, in a matter of minutes you can make your own, personalized, stylized background. It's super easy. Give a peek at the tutorial below - hey, all kidding aside, it's a pretty cool Photoshop tutorial - give it a peek.

Tele-Extenders - How To Use Them and What to Expect

I like to keep the Technique Tuesday posts mostly to technique and this one fits the bill. Have you ever thought about getting a Tele-Extender - sometimes called "tele-converters" for your camera. It's a piece of gear that fits between your camera and telephoto lens. It's purpose is to increase the focal length of your lens by 1.4x or 2x. That means if I use a 2x Tele-Extender on my 200mm telephoto, I really have a 400mm optic.

Here is what is cool - put the new 400mm lens (with extender) on my Canon 40D and I have in effect a 640mm optic - pretty darn long. What do you give up - with a 2x extender, it's 2 stops of light, so now my F2.8 200mm lens has an effective maximum lens opening of F5.6. Still, that's not not a bad trade off considering the cost of the tele-extender - about $280 at B&H Photo. Check out TheDigitalPhotographyConnection to see Michael Rather's (no relation to Dan) informative tutorial on using Tele-Extenders right here.

One For The Road - $1 Image Stabilizer, and It Works!

I just caught a peak at this yesterday. Sometimes we really try to complicate our lives, or think spending money on new gear is the solution. Well, astute readers of this blog, check out this "Image Stabilizer". Yes, it only costs a dollar and five minutes of time to make, and yes, it works. Watch the five minute video and be AMAZED ;~)

That's it for today, everybody. See you same time, same station tomorrow. Have a good one, --David



$1 Image Stabilizer For Any Camera - Lose The Tripod - video powered by Metacafe

"Springtime Beauty"

"Springtime Beauty"
© David A. Ziser

I made this image a few years ago, but it is still one of my favorites. The simple presentation of the bride against the new spring blossoms is striking in its simplicity. I illuminated the bride with my off camera flash to create the beautiful loop lighting on her face. I also used a shutter speed of 1/400 second so that I could over power the ambient light and keep the subject in the "flash sync" part of the image area to get the lighting result I was looking for. The short lived blossoms were blown away by the next day making this image truly a rare moment in time. Camera specs; Canon 20D fitted with 70-200mm IS lens at 130mm, F4.0 @ 1/400 second, ISO 100. Enjoy, --David

A Good Morning Monday

Good Morning Sports Fans,
Well, to anyone watching the Super Bowl yesterday, I hope your team won. I've never been a big football fan till this year - and no, my team didn't win, but we did have a great time with several friends joining us to watch the game. LaDawn, on the other hand, has always been crazy for the sport. Her dad was a highschool coach, her sons both played highschool and college. She knows the game inside and out. The guys always get a bit peeved when she is in the room and makes the call before the refs and she is ALWAYS right. I think I just heard a rumor that for the 2008 football season, that any time a play was called for review, they were just going to call LaDawn and forgo the review monitors ;~)

OK, football aside, how about some news. I had a request to post a title on my image of the day - seems some readers of the blog aren't picking it up on their readers. The reason I have never titled the image of the day is for aesthetics, but for the next month, I'll include the title - ah, change is so difficult sometimes. So what's up for today? How about some inspirational photography and some gold nuggets from the web. That said, on with "Gold Nugget" Monday....

An Speaking of Sports and Light Painting

You have got to check out David Blacks' site - here is the link. Not only is he an exceptional photographer, so don't miss any of his links as you cruise his site. He shows a tremendous amount of outstanding sports photography. But, David's site doesn't stop there.

He has perfected the art of Light Painting and has produced a wonderful series of images with his light painting technique - check out his Light Painting images here. Wait, there is more. He has even posted a step by step guide as to how he does it right here. The Strobist had a very good post on the subject in a similarly related context last week right here. Hey folks, David's site is a great Monday morning find - enjoy!

And Speaking of Great Portrait Photography

Check out some of the most exciting "Senior" (no, I don't mean old people) photography anywhere. Senior Portrait Artists - SPA - holds a convention every year and brings in top speakers from around the country. Not only that, but they put our a call for the top models too. I mention this because the model shoots are wonderful examples of senior photography by some of the best shooters in the country.

Check out this link to the 2008 winners gallery right here to see what I mean. These are the top 15 models from around the nation. These 2008 seniors were chosen from over 50 studios and 200 entries. Congratulations to all the winners and their studios! Tons of good shooting ideas and a great examples of portrait technique over at SPA - thanks for the great images!

Another Great Info Inspiration Resource

I've known Jonathan Penny for a number of years. He is a master print-maker and has been the source of the best B&W prints anywhere for a lot of photographers around the country. Well, good news, he has just started a new blog for 2008 - and I have to say it is crammed packed with good info. He has a series going right now entitled, "Photoshop and Your Creative Vision". I just read his lasted post - inspirational stuff here. Check it out Jonathan's blog right here.

Hey, gang, that's it for today. See you tomorrow for another Technique Tuesday, and can you believe it - it's going to be posted on Tuesday. See you then. --David

"In the Spotlight"
© David A. Ziser

This image was also made during my KPPA MasterClass Workshop this past Tuesday. In fact, it was made shortly after the image I posted yesterday. I liked the look of the composition of the bride among the pillars, but I didn't like how the lighting looked when I illuminated her through the umbrella. The pillars seemed to lose some of the inherent beauty when illuminated with the flash. I decided to use my "Hollywood" lighting technique discussed earlier in my blog - here is the link. It put the light directly on the bride without hitting the pillars for a beautiful illumination on the bride. Camera specs; Canon 40D fitted with 24-105mm IS lens at 97mm, F5.6 @ 1/8 second at 800 ISO. Enjoy! --David

A Fine (Finally) Friday

Good Morning everybody,
Can you believe it - it's Technique Tuesday again on Friday and I think I have a another good one for you this time around. It's a cool technique on how to get rid of some unwanted color. I've followed that with some more good stuff too. Check out the article - Look At All That Equipment. There is a wealth of info here. Also, check out DigitalProTalk's second contest - Rear Curtain Sync - Is It Good For Anything? You could win my super popular 4 1/2 hour Digital WakeUp Call 2-DVD set. Check it out - it's a $78.50 value so join the contest and you could be the next winner!

Technique Tuesday on Friday - "Out, Out Darn Green"

I loved the image I posted yesterday. I loved the lighting, color, composition all came together for a really nice image. But I need to tell you, it did not start out that way - at least in the color department. The original image here had a "greenish" cast throughout the entire background that I thought detracted from the image. Take a peek at this tutorial to see how I remedied the situation, I think you will like it.

Look At All That Equipment!

Our buddies over at AssignmentConstruct always have some really good posts. In Mr. Harrington's new series of videos, and he has spent quite a bit of time putting these videos together - 32 videos in all!!! He describes exactly what he uses on his commercial shoots - from light stands to lights to computers to about everything under the sun. It's a great peek into a photographers brain and gear box or should I say, gear boxes and boxes and boxes. Check out the "What We Use" post right here.

Another Daily Blogger - Must Be Crazy ;~)

You know, I love photography, I love teaching photography, and I love blogging, probably for the same reason. When I was presenting my program at the KPPA convention last Friday, I asked "How many blogged?" and a lot of hands went up. Then I asked the follow up question - "How many blogged daily?" - there was one last lone hand left held up in the room. So I definitely had to talk with her as blogging daily takes quite a bit of commitment - boy, do I know.

Between my writing and LaDawn's editing we spend about 2 1/2 hours a day getting the "Digital ProTalk" blog together. I asked Camille why she did it. She told me her blog was client focused, posting portrait and wedding images from her client work. Her clients love it and her potential clients love the peek at her work and felt they know her before they even come into her studio. I blogged about that same thing a few months ago in a post "To Blog or Not To Blog" back right here.

She told me it was great for her business - heck, what else would you expect? Check out Camille's great looking blog right here. She did a great job recapping the KPPA convention program line up too, so give her blog a read - good information here. I sure would love to know what software she used to make up her wedding shows - they look pretty cool. You can also check out Camille's web site right here. Way to go Camille, keep up the good work.

New Contest - Rear Curtain Sync - Is It Good For Anything?

Carrie
Originally uploaded by VJ Spectra

OK, gang, I having a contest to see who can come up with the best "Rear Curtain Sync" image. It might sound like a fancy term but what's it good for? I'm in the process of writing this article for the Photoshop World Workbook coming up in Orlando this coming April 2 -4. I'm listing about 30 ways to improve your flash photography and I thought "Rear Curtain Sync" might make a good topic. But, what is it? Our cameras are normally set to sync at the beginning of the exposure and all is happy with the world. Canon and Nikon both offer the option of setting the flash to sync at the end of the exposure. At this point, you might be thinking, "What's the point?"

The more I thought about it and researched images using the "rear curtain sync" technique shown on Google and Flickr, I found I wasn't thrilled with the images I was seeing. This one by V. J. Spectra was my favorite after going through several Flickr images. The main reason one would use it is for the effect of leaving trailing (as opposed to leading) light streaks of, say a car's headlights, when making a nighttime time exposure. Check out the article over at Short Courses.com to see what I mean.

I wanted to see how I could incorporate it into a wedding image. I was envisioning for instance, a clear image of bride and groom walking down the aisle with their motion streaking behind them. Here is one of the problems with the current set of cameras - you must use the Canon or Nikon's own flashes on their respective bodies to make it work. That generally means no direction of light. You could do it with an off-camera flash with the camera in "manual" mode and come up some shots like this,

but the fact of the matter is that I could have done this with front curtain sync and still got the same result just by reversing my start-stop zoom points.

Anyway, I'm soooo confused ---- So here is the deal - I want to see some really creative uses of the "Rear Curtain Sync" technique - not all that blurry stuff I see on Flickr and Google. Submit your best images to the DigitalProTalk Flickr group right here. I'll plan to announce winners sometime in February after a sufficient number of entries are submitted. Remember, the winner, based upon the opinions of our esteemed panel of judges - me and LaDawn - will receive my very popular Digital WakeUp Call tour DVD set worth $78.50. Even Scott Kelby, DWUC DVD owner, called it one of the best out there - here is the link to his review. So let's see what you guys and girls come up with - it should be fun.

That's it for today everybody. Good Luck on the contest. Have a great weekend, and I'll see you on Monday. --David

Related links to "Rear Curtain Sync"
PCIN.net
DigitalPhotographySchool
Short Courses.com