It's right here for your ears - the Top 10 photography podcasts over at Photo-Mentor right here. The podcasts come to you from American Photo, Pop Photo, Nikonians, just to name a few. So.... clean out the ear wax and give a listen!
"Party On"
Hope everybody had a great weekend - yes, my camera did arrive safe and sound this past Friday. On my "do-list" today is to track down the Delta employee who turned it in and give them a great big Thank You.
So many sites, so little time - that's how I felt after cruising our buddy's site over at 1001 Noisy Cameras. It's always worth a visit over there because they always have some new information going on. So this morning while making my visit, I found the link to all, but not really all as Digital ProTalk was conspicuously absent - of the top photography blogs on the planet. Here is the link.
Here are the top ten self portraits over at Wired.com right here - maybe it should be called weird stuff at Wired - just kidding. I'm posting this because I think this self-portrait exercise is a nice exercise in creativity.
Shutter speeds to 1/10,000 sec, flash speeds to 1/60,000 second - from your Canon PowerShot camera! Here are the images to prove it right here. OK, I spent a little mind bending time over at the CHDK-Wiki over the weekend. I originally found the link over at Photography Bay last week and was drawn to the site by it's "geek appeal".
"Entrance To Springtime "
Good Morning Everybody,I was cruising the net recently and have to tell you about this wonderful collection of wedding photographs available for viewing at Flickr. It's called the "Inspirational Wedding Photography" group - here is the link - and currently has a collection of 371 images.
Most of them are truly knock out images. Hey, when you get some spare time over the weekend, just sit back and watch the slide show of the images right here. Beautiful...very cool stuff!
What a cool idea - this kind of stuff really gets the creative juices flowing. One of my Fine Art Photoblog buddies, Niel Creek, ran a contest a few weeks ago entitled "Iron Chef Fork."
This is about one of the most relaxing things LaDawn and I do. Well, let me tell you about one of the coolest art museums on the net and it's available at National Geographic. It is an utterly fascinating virtual exhibit entitled, "Through The Eyes Of The Condor" and includes Robert B. Hass' beautiful aerial photography of Latin America.
Check out the rest of his gorgeous Landscape and Nature galleries right here. Here is the main entrance to his site. Thanks to ADIDAP for this great find.
"The Grand Entrance"
Two subjects in this post everybody. The first is 15 great marketing ideas and the second is a challenge. Please be sure to read through to the end of the post and "Enter to win!" Last week I listed 11 ways to build your portfolio - here is that link. So you can be sure to show your prospective client the fruits of your talents. Armed with a great set of images and ready to book them, how do you start to fill that pipeline and get them coming through the door?
8. Haven't shared an event with them yet, offer to create the images for them of their product and service. Yes, you organize the shoot to create the images for the free promo items you are giving them. Hey, it kills two birds with one stone. You get the practice and sample images and they get some great promotional pieces.
Keep your eye on your success and success will follow. Cut out the chafe of your "stinkin' thinkin'", as Zig Ziglar used to say, and start paving the way to some good fortune. One thing I started doing years ago was to stop watching the TV news broadcasts. These programs are just too full of negativity. Why isn't there ever any good news to report?
Hey, it's Thursday, let's go shopping. Every now and then, I see a story about Adorama getting the refurbished Canon gear in and I run the story here. Well, I'm assuming many people didn't realize B&H has a slew of good deals available. How do I know, because one of my buddies over at B&H saw my Adorama post and sent me and email about their great deals.
"Icy Blue Breckenridge"
Good Afternoon Everybody,
He had the talent to pull off a "Monte" portrait and understood light implicitly. Part of this knowledge may have been the result of Rocky's brief experience in the movies. That's right, Rocky played in The Return of Charlie Chan in the late 70's. Rocky was the photographer that popularized outdoor wedding photography. He was from the Redondo Beach area where there was not a lack of great outdoor locations and beautiful weather most of the year.
On thing I learned from Rocky was that beautiful wedding photographs did not have to be taken on the wedding day. In many cases, Rocky would schedule to meet with the bride and groom a day of two later. They would head to one his drop dead gorgeous locations and shoot away. We instituted the same policy in my own studio in those early 80's. The only difference instead of a day or two after the wedding we photographed the couple a week or two later. That way, we could guarantee beautiful outdoor wedding images even in the Midwest.
"Rockin' On"
It's easy, it's easy, it's really easy - adding a nice soft directional light to the scene or the subject. In many of my daily image posts, I'm often asked how I am getting the light on the subject. Well, this lighting tutorial solves the riddle once and for all.
One of my favorite sites with tons of info is Radiant Vista. While strolling through their virtual bookshelves yesterday, I came across this very good tutorial on sharpening right here. It is nicely paced, easy to follow, and good information to know.
I thought this was a nice article for all my readers out there considering opening a photography business. Professional Photographers of America featured Geoff White, a fairly new kid on the block in this easy to read article. He made the jump from computer engineer to photographer and is turning out some good stuff. Give the article a read right here. Also check out his image galleries right here - good ideas for any wedding photog.
"Christmas Memories"
Good Morning Everyone,
Yes, it can be quite hazardous to your health - at least as it relates to an article I read in the New York Times this past Sunday morning. I know this is not necessary related to photography, but as I write these words, I feel I could "go" any minute ;~) The article mentioned a tech blogger who just died two weeks ago, a second that passed in December, and a third that survived a heart attack that same month. It goes on to state that bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing articles for a news and informational blog. “I haven’t died yet,” said Michael Arrington, the founder and co-editor of TechCrunch, but he has complained of putting on 30 pounds. Hey, this is all pretty scary stuff.
You think you missed the shot, well not really, that is of course if you were using Casio's new Exilim EX-F1 camera which should be going on sale sometime next week. Here is the low down on how it works. Let's say you are waiting for the whales to break the surface while on that whale watching cruise to Alaska. With your favorite digital SLR, you wait on deck, camera ready. An innocent remark by your deck mate diverts your attention for the brief second that the humpback makes a picture perfect leap into the air and you miss the shot.
No problem with Casio's new camera. As you hold down the shutter release half way down , the camera is reeling off, get this 60 frames a second at 6 meg grabs! and holds them in a buffer for a short period deleting the older ones on the fly. When you press the shutter fully but still not soon enough for the perfect image, no problem, just review the buffered images for the shot you missed - there it is - perfect.
I loved this when I first saw it a few weeks ago, but my travels got in the way of posting it. Anyway, here it is today - some of the best sports photos recently run in the Washington Post right here. You have to get past the short commercial intro first, but the images are worth taking a look at. Enjoy!
"The Look Of Love"
There is absolutely no excuse for not getting the training you need on just about any subject available these days. I thought one of the coolest entries into on-line resources was the solution being shown over at Peachpit Press. You have to check out their Safari Books Online service right there.
The Drobo folks were at the show showing their latest networked attached storage appliance for the Drobo. The Drobo device has been all over the net and is being hailed as about the safest way to protect your data. I personally know three friends in business who have had their RAID's fail - I know there not suppose to fail, but somebody forgot to tell the RAIDS.
It's true, Scott Kelby has just released his latest book on Lightroom 2.0 which was just released this week! Man, I just heard about it and Scott's already got a book out on it. I got a chance to sit in on Adobe's Lightroom 2.0 announcement and the new feature set looks pretty cool. Scott's been beta testing it for months so he really does have the inside track on it. Here is the link to his book. Also, check out the FREE Kelby Training videos on Lightroom 2.0 too. Here is the Kelby Training Lightroom 2.0 link.
"Afternoon In White"
The guitar player - Tony 'Guava" Llanes and Scot Stahley, the drummer were phenomenal too. Scott and his wife have been musicians for years and it's quite a treat to see their band perform. This is the third time they've thrilled the attendees at PSW. A great time was had by all. I took about 600 images of them playing and will try to get a sampling up a little later - time permitting.
Before I sign off, let me point you to DigitalPhotoandArt.com. This site offers exclusively fine art prints from Jim Divitale, Burt Monroy, Scot Kelby, and Ben Willmore. Check out their site right here - some very nice images.
"Elegance In Orlando"
Scott and the boys came out strong this morning with a great "Star Trek" skit that had us rolling in the aisles. Matt Kloskowski as Beta and R.C Conception as Worf were the show stealer's. A great time was had by all. I'll check to see if the opening will be anywhere on the web and let you know - it was a riot!!
Last note - we had a great class at my PreCon yesterday. Here is my whole class right here. We had a great group of photos joining us. After things settle down, I feature a few of the images with you.
"Room In the Round"
Good Morning Everyone,
I haven't tried this with digital until just a few weeks ago. Take a look at the first image - it's a straight available light image for the room. It looks OK, but not great. Now look at the second shot. It was the result of about a 20 second exposure at F16 made with about 4-5 flashes of my flash. Look how I was able to spot light different areas of the scene focusing the attention to the cake table since I gave it the most light. 
You can get some great results in really dark surrounds. Check out an article over at the Strobist right here for some more discussion on the subject. It's a cool technique that has sort of fallen out of favor these last several years, and probably is still used by some of the commercial guys out there. Give it a try - it's a great way to get light on the scene right where you want it.
Want to see one of the coolest before and afters ever, check out the Mysterious Lighting Photoshop tutorial right here. It's easy to follow, kind of fun, and really looks good.
There are a lot on noise reducing software solutions out there these days - Noise Ninja, Noiseware, NIK Define 2.0 - and they do a really good job. But, if you want to see some of the Photoshop science behind the secret curtain, check out this great article by Andrew Masur over at Luminance-Landscape right here on how to remove chroma noise. It's a nice read and outlines some good Photoshop technique to boot.
The easiest way to get from A -Z when it comes to lighting - There was a great article over at Fotopunto right here showing 16 lighting diagrams and the resulting image from each lighting set up. Take time to study each set up to appreciate how the light source(s) affect the final result. The diagrams are extremely well done and the final images look great. Take a peak - it's a good way to ramp upon your lighting skills.
