Month: January 2010

New Formats for the New Year

Jason5 Comments

With the advent of a new year, the podcast is hopefully going to take on a new format – with things being more conversational.  Erik Bernskiold comes back to the show and we’re talking about all the latest news in photography, as well as a main talking point of how to publicize and share your images online – looking at the pros and cons of the various options that are out there.  Lots of news including announcements from the recent CES show, as well as contest information, and listener questions and answers so it’s a pretty heavily packed show.  Almost an hour and a half, so it could last you through a few commutes!  Here’s the show notes, and enjoy!

CES News

Canon Camera Announcements

  • A3100
  • A3000
  • A495
  • A490

We also had been noticing a lot of the newer SLR cameras have been announcing firmware updates, so if you have a relatively new SLR, check your vendor website for details.

Sharing Your Photos

  • Flickr
  • Forums
  • DeviantArt
  • Photography Corner

Hosting Services

  • WordPress
  • Smugmug
  • Squarespace
  • Livebooks
  • Self-hosting
  • Paying a Design Professional

Picks of the Week

Listener Questions

Print Resolution versus Screen Resolution (Jason)

SEO for Websites and Flash (Erik)

Listen to the Podcast

Catch up with me and Erik on our respective websites – you know my info, but if you want to learn more about Erik and his work, here’s his web presence links:

A long show for sure – but tons of content.  Thanks to Erik for taking the time to sit down and talk again – we’re going to try to make this a regular occurrence, as well as get some others involved in the conversation! Thanks also go out to the folks at Audible for their sponsorship of the blog!  Happy shooting, and share your feedback, here, on Erik’s site, on iTunes or even with the folks at PLM (thanks to them for their sponsorship as well!)  Happy shooting and we’ll see you here again tomorrow!

What's the best ___?

Jason5 Comments

What’s the best camera to buy?  What’s the best Photoshop plugin for photography? What’s the best CS4 tutorial? What’s the best lens for the Vivitar 110? What’s the best iPod for the dollar? What’s the best car? What’s the best truck? What’s the best soda? What’s the best flavor of ice cream?

I think you get the picture…so many questions on “What’s the best____” and almost without fail, the answer begins with an “It depends…”

We all want to get the best value for our money, and it pays to do research before you buy.  No one likes to over spend, or buy something they end up not liking, or even worse, deal with the dreaded customer service lines or phone calls.    Without meaning to sound all grandfatherly (I am only 40 years young…), I distinctly remember a time when we could think for ourselves, and when we formed our own opinions.

This is not to say that seeking the opinions of professionals and/or experts is not useful, because it is.  If Scott Kelby says some photography product or Photoshop plugin is just totally cool – I am going to take a look at that product.  He knows his stuff when it comes to these subjects, and yes, I would consider him an expert.  Am I going to ask him what he thinks the best way to tape drywall is in my basement?  Of course not!  So, seeking expert advice is always a good thing.  But there is a danger in seeking the advice of “experts”.

The danger is that it is so easy to claim oneself as an expert anymore.  Anyone with $10 and an hour can purchase a domain/hosting and set up a website claiming they are an expert in duct tape applications.  People will flock to this site, asking questions about how to apply it in all sorts of circumstances.    What’s the best way to affix bubble wrap to a window?  What’s the best way to tape a package for shipping?  What’s the best way to adhere flashing to an airplane kitchen galley?

Anyone can purport to be an expert, but you need to exercise some common sense in deciphering who is qualified to render an opinion.  Additionally, it may help to exercise a little judgement of your own.  No one likes to make a decision and be wrong.  Being wrong is no fun.  I am wrong on many things, and while I may try not to be wrong – that is something that will never completely happen.  But you know what?  When I make a decision and I am wrong – I usually end up learning more from that than if I take the advice of others and the decision is wrong.  Why?  Because the blame is shifted from me – “That’s not my fault,” I say, “Joe Schmoe told me to do that…he is wrong.”

The thing of it is, whether Scott Kelby or Joe Schmoe tells you something about anything – you need to make up your own mind from time to time.  It’s important because if you don’t make your own decisions, whether it be about dry-walling, duct tape, or photography – your learning curve will never amount to much.  Learn from experience!

Happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow with the Best Blog! 🙂

P.S.  Don’t forget, the best contest is going on right now on Flickr – Circle themed photos are being accepted through Jan 29th and the winner gets a free copy of Photomatix from the folks at HDR Soft.

All about Brighton, Baby!

Jason1 Comment

Last Friday afternoon the local photography meet-up group for the metro Denver area got together and paid a visit to historic downtown Brighton (about 30 minutes northeast of Denver. It was a fun get-together, and with a smaller than average turnout of 6 of us, we really got a chance to not only converse and interact with one another, we also had some great opportunities for photographs. The highlight of the day was when we happened to be walking by the Brighton Armory. As it turns out, this building was recently renovated as part of a new cultural center for the area. The Operations Manager saw us walking by and invited us inside, as well as a tour of both the upstairs and downstairs areas.

Not only did we get a little piece of history about the place, we got some great shots of the building itself.  With several hundred to parse through over the weekend, I’ve trimmed it to the slide show below showing some shots from both around Brighton and the Armory itself.  The other thing that was exciting about this is that after expressing an interest in volunteering our photographic services for any events, they seemed interested in taking us up on the offer.  We shall see what may come of these serendipitous meetings.  It just goes to show you that it’s always a good thing to support the arts, and always good to think about networking – even when you are just having fun on a photo walk!

Here’s a couple links for those interested in learning more about the area and the Armory:

http://brightonarmory.org/

http://heartofbrighton.org/ArmoryVideo.htm

Enjoy the slide show and we’ll see you back here tomorrow – happy shooting!

Don’t forget too, the January Flickr contest thread is open, and the Circle theme should be producing some interesting images.  Speak your creative vision and enter today!

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Keeping Your Resolutions!

Jason2 Comments

As with every new year, there is always talk about setting New Years Resolutions – and setting goals is always easy to do, but what about keeping those resolutions?  Sometimes it’s a challenging thing to do, because we either set goals that are vague or not very specific.  For example, “lose weight” is a common goal, as is “exercise more”.  From a photography perspective, we often will hear (or say) ones like “shoot more”, “get organized”, and other such platitudes. While the ideal is always good, the intangible goals are always the most difficult to reach simply because they are…well, intangible!

Do yourself a favor and not only set some concrete goals, but share them with colleagues, peers, and friends. If you write a blog, announce them! Make your readers hold you to your goals. Not only will you be more likely to achieve your goals, but your readers will also become more vested in your blog! It’s very empowering, and I would encourage everyone who writes a blog or has a web presence to do something like that.

Uh oh, I just  realized something – I kind of set myself up there didn’t I?  Okay, yeah, it was kind of intentional, but it came from the heart! 🙂  My biggest resolution for this year – finish projects!  I can’t tell you how many projects I have started to get distracted by other projects, ideas, or things, only to never make it back to the original project.

For example, I had set a project once of getting all my resume and personal information in an easy to access text file for copying and pasting into database driven websites like USAJobs.  So, it was off to getting various records for inclusion, including my military service.  That led me to the filing cabinet (insert Psycho music here)!  Before I knew it, I had spent 3 hours organizing the filing cabinet into tabbed folders of all things non-job related.  Gas receipts, electric bills, and all sorts of other things kept popping up at me saying “file me file me file me”!  It got so bad I even found myself at the local Staples getting tabbed divider label things for each category instead of getting the original project done!

In keeping with the idea of finishing projects, I would like to share the completion of project #1: The Sunrise Shoot at Rocky Mountain National Park! I mentioned it in December before the holidays and I had every intention of completing this sooner, but first the layoff, then Christmas, then New Years, and many other distractions pulled me away. No more! The trip is completed, the shots processed, and the videos montaged! I give you, ladies and gentlemen, the RMNP trip:

[display_podcast]

So, project #4982163 has been completed…I have all the rest to do!  What are your resolutions and projects for 2010?  Do they include getting a circle shot ready for the January Giveaway?  (Announced here yesterday…)  Here’s the link for the contest thread on Flickr in case you missed it!

Share your own thoughts and ideas, resolutions and projects in the comments and we’ll help keep you on track!  In the meantime, keep on shooting, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you back here on Monday!  Happy Shooting!

PlayPlay

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December Winner!

Jason4 Comments

The trumpets sound!  The chorus rings, and the internet shall stop and take notice!

Why you ask?  We have a winner for the December Giveaway!  I am happy to announce that the winner of the December Giveaway Bonanza is none other than:

Frank Sammut!

Frank’s shot of a childs hand, offering up a gift perfectly symbolized the concept of giving, and his blurred bokeh of the holiday theme in the background was just beautiful!  He’s got some great work on his Flickr page too, so stop by and check it out and tell him congrats!

December Giveaway Winner - Frank Sammut

Congratulations to Frank for winning the giveaway package!  Frank, if you could drop me an email:  jason <AT> canonblogger <DOT> com, I’ll get you all the information and relay you to the donors for the giveaway.  Thank you to everyone for participating, and especially to the sponsors, including:

  • David DuChemin (for a free copy of both Within the Frame, and VisionMongers)
  • MPIX (for a free 16×20 gallery wrap print of Frank’s choice)
  • RedRiver Papers (for the specialty paper bundle)
  • HDRsoft (for the license to a copy of Photomatix Pro)

It’s also time to anounce the theme for the January giveaway.  We’re going to move away from the seasonally tied themes, so people don’t feel restricted there as different areas are in different seasons.  Instead, we’ll be going with something that is going to inspire some dynamite entries for sure:  Circles

That’s right, we’re going with a shape!  It should be interesting to see what comes in.  As always the standard guidelines apply:

  1. Make sure your image is between 600-800px on the longest side.
  2. Try to keep things within the current month.  Archives are okay, but preference will be given to current photos
  3. Images should be family/work safe
  4. Should be posted to the Flickr thread for the current month contest
  5. Deadline for entries is Friday, Jan. 29th (again, 3 weeks)
  6. The folks at HDR Soft have been very generous and have offered up another copy of their Photomatix Pro bundle for the January winner – so if you are into the HDR craze, or are interested, there’s another chance to win your very own licensed copy!

The January Flickr thread is up, live and ready for entries, so get out and shoot!  Happy New Year and Happy Shooting!

P.S.  Can anyone tell me anything different about the site?  (For you feed readers, come on over and check things out – something is different! 🙂 )

The Fan Favorites!

Jason6 Comments

In my zeal to get the “Top Ten for 2010” post out yesterday, I realized that the blogs I referenced were a mix of both long-standing favorites and exciting new ones.  What I should have probably done is split the list up into two:  one for the Top Ten New Blogs for 2010, and one for the Fan Favorites for 2010.  You see, being an internet hound, and constantly reading blogs and websites, I read a lot of content (as in probably close to the hundreds level) in web logs daily.  RSS feeds, Alltop, and Google Reader are the three main ways I parse my information out, but do not be misled that I do in fact read all of these daily, if not directly on the author website, at least through my feed reader.

So, let’s try this again with a breakdown between my Top Ten New Blogs and my “Fan Favorites” blogs (one’s I’ve had in my reader for quite some time now…):

Some of the New Blogs I’ve Added in 2009 (as in not mentioned in previous yearly lists):

  1. Joe McNally’s Blog
  2. David DuChemin’s Blog
  3. The Airstream Chronicles
  4. Petapixel
  5. Canon Rumors
  6. Chase Jarvis
  7. Zack Arias
  8. Zoriah
  9. Pixel Perfect
  10. The Digital Trekker
  11. Photography and the Mac
  12. The Turning Gate
  13. The Travel Photographer
  14. The Photo Attorney
  15. The Digital Journalist
  16. Tenuous Thread

Fan Favorites:

  1. Strobist
  2. Weekly Photo Tips
  3. The Online Photographer
  4. Visual Realia
  5. Jason D. Moore Photography
  6. AJ Wood Photography
  7. Michael Palmer Photograph
  8. Jen Rinaldi Photography
  9. Towner Jones Photography
  10. Luminous Landscape
  11. John Nack at Adobe
  12. Design By Firgs
  13. Bernskiold Media
  14. Kevin Mullins Photography
  15. Sage Family Studios
  16. Da Font
  17. Terry Reinert Photography
  18. Crash Taylor Photography
  19. What the Duck
  20. Photowalk Pro
  21. Photojojo
  22. Photoshop Insider
  23. Lightroom Killer Tips
  24. Dave Cross Blog
  25. Tips from the Top Floor
  26. Camera Dojo

I could literally go on and on with each of these until you were bored to death with all the websites I read daily.  If you want to visit one of these, I would highly recommend all of them.  If you can’t find them via Google, drop me an email or post in the comments and I’ll get you a link!  My thanks to all of the above for they are what I learn from, and what keeps me going.  If anyone else knows of some good web resources (as if I have the time to read even more!  LOL), sound off in the comments with your own favorites, new or old!

The Best Photo Blogs for 2010

Jason12 Comments

As photographers we are always seeking out new sources of information that can help us with our work – whether it be pixel-crunching sites, creative inspiration sites, or news and trending information sites.  As I go through my RSS feeds and Alltop favorites every day, over the past year, some were filtering to the top much more often.  Naturally, this happens every year, as has been the case for the past 3 years now.  When I started this annual event back in 2007, the number coincided with the year, so to wit, here are my TOP TEN PHOTO BLOGS FOR 2009.  This may serve as a good starting point for 2010, so the blog post is titled accordingly, even though this is more of a “Year in Review” type of writing regarding photography blogs.  As always, lists are subjective and others will have different thoughts and opinions, but nevertheless, here’s my faves (meaning these blogs are in my Alltop or RSS ):

  1. Joe McNally’s Blog – The perfect blend of tongue-in-cheek stories, and yet educational and fun to read!  This quickly ratcheted up to the top of my preferred favorites, and it should be in your list too! (And his books are of the same ilk:  read The Moment it Clicks and The Hotshoe Diaries as soon as possible if you haven’t already…)
  2. David DuChemin’s Blog – As David said it best – “Ahhh…..Vision!”  If you are yearning to touch the intangible and learn about creativity, David DuChemin’s blog is a must read!  (I hear he has a few books too!)
  3. Petapixel – Very similar to this one, in that it is informative, interesting, and almost always tied to photography.  He wisely started without a vendor association though, and it’s paid off in spades (he’s been around less than a year, and has double the readership).  Of course it could be that his content is pretty kick-butt and mine is just the meandering mind of an individual.  Nevertheless, a great read and congrats to them for the content they are putting out!
  4. Strobist – If you don’t know about David Hobby’s site, then you are in the dark (literally!), because it’s all about light!  Anything you want to know about photography lighting, this is the place to go.  With workshops, and primers for both the beginners and advanced shooters, this is an absolute must-read!
  5. Canon Rumors – What can I say?  I am a Canon guy, so I am always interested in the news and rumblings of Canon’s next great move in the digital photography realm, and this has become my premiere source of information on the web aside from Canon directly!
  6. Weekly Photo Tips – Authored by Scott Eccleston, this blog is a mixture of tips, tutorials, and personal thoughts on a variety of subjects to include gear, post processing, and such.  Worth the read just for the human aspect of photography.
  7. Photowalk Pro – Jeff is the de facto master at organizing photo walks, and although I’ve been on walks since before discovering his blog – his insights have helped me to organize better walks, be a better organizer, and his subsequent foray into photography (HDR) tutorials and photo books (a review on his book about the 50D is forthcoming!).  Definitely one worth adding to the reader!
  8. The Online Photographer – Not the usual fare, as TOP can get very professorial.  I learn a lot though, and gain insights and get creative inspiration from the photographers and works they discuss here.  The entire staff is great, but my favorite writers are Mike himself and Ctein!
  9. Photojojo – What a great blog, creative ways to use your photos all the time.  Not only are the ideas cool, but almost always they are highly economical.  Definitely for the DIY-er!  They also have great photo montages periodically, so also great for inspiring some creative vision!
  10. Photoshop Insider – Want to get the latest scoop on Photoshop and photography in general?  Scott has taken a a great Photoshop resource and in the last year, merged it into his own foray into photography from the perspective of being behind the camera.

There’s my top ten blogs for 2010.  It’s certainly not definitive, definitely biased, and subject to change at a moments notice, but as of today, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!  What are your favorite photo-related blogs?  Now’s a chance to shamelessly promote your work (or your friends work) in the comments!

Favorite Photos of 2009

Jason5 Comments

One of the resolutions I had wanted to do was publish a “Best of” series from the Flickr group each month.  That did not come to pass, but I did want to take some time to share some of my favorites of the past year with you here. Not much to say in the way of prefacing these, other than to say that I liked them.  Whether for the technical quality, the compositional quality, the message, the colors, or the perspective – they stood out for me.  Feel free to visit the Flickr group pool and peruse for your own favorites, but here’s mine:

My favorites from 2009

My favorites from 2009

My favorites from 2009

My favorites from 2009

My favorites from 2009

My favorites from 2009

My favorites from 2009

My favorites from 2009

My favorites from 2009

My favorites from 2009

Thanks to everyone who continues to share their photos in the Flickr Community.  I will try my best to get some “favorites” put out monthly from this group, as that is one of many New Years Resolutions I am going to try to commit myself to for 2010.   Some are personal, some are inspired by others.  I’ll likely share more of these commitments going forward as well.  Do you have any resolutions for the 2010 calendar year?  Sound off in the comments!

Finally, stay tuned for the December Giveaway Winner which will be announced later this week too!  Tomorrow, be sure to stop back for more top picks from 2009.  Happy shooting and we’ll see you then! 🙂