Category: Announcements

Puerto Angel Vacation Photos

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As you may or may not have noticed, the blogging schedule has sort of gotten re-aligned again.  I had slipped from the 5-day schedule down to a 2-day schedule, but during a recent getaway, I was able to get things back on track.  Hopefully there won’t be any more changes to what is now a Mon-Wed-Fri setup, but news-breaking or other earth shattering info may trump the normal order of the universe!  In any case, during the break, I happened across a few really good photo ops.  Some gorgeous vistas and scenery, plus an occasional animal sighting from the trip to Puerto Angel Mexico (you’ll get more info if you subscribe to the free PhotographyBB magazine as a full-length article with many more photos is due out next month).

Nevertheless, since photos have not been at the forefront, I wanted to dedicate an entire post to sharing some photos from the trip here with you.  So, without further ado, some selects from the trip!

Do you Have Your Torx in Order?

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So, after years and years of advice and instruction on maintaining hard drive redundancy, and the benefits of upgrading from time to time, I finally am following my own advice and upgrading my venerable Macbook Pro.  After a screamingly good deal came out for laptop disk drives locally, I went out and snagged a 750GB 7200 RPM hard drive from MicroCenter and brought it home.  I also picked up a copy of Mac OS X.6 since my previous upgrade came through a friends DVD who was no longer living in the area.  All told, I am in for a little over $100 – not too shabby!  However, as they say, the Devil’s in the Details!

I’ve changed out lots of hard drives in my time…after all, it’s no secret that I am a working IT professional – that’s my day job.  I’ve been doing that for about 10 years now, so hardware upgrades are pretty routine for me by this point – and I’ve got lots of tools to do it with too…everything from magnets, to phillips heads, to flat heads, to Torx bits for unique screws, and even a pair of nylon pliers.  But all of this based on a Windows background.  I’d never done much with Macs.  The mentality I’ve always had though is that hardware is hardware, right?  I did check out a few tutorial videos on YouTube and all the tools sounded like ones I own, so I jumped right in and off I went – until I got inside the Mac and was presented with two teeny tiny screws that required a Torx bit T6.  I went to my trusty toolbelt and saw my Torx bits went from T30 all the way down to T4 – awesome!  Until I noticed that one slot was missing – and sure enough, it was the dreaded T6!

A trip to Wal-Mart yielded no dice (it was getting late), so this morning off to Lowe’s I went.  I did find the T6 bit – but it was in a package of other bits and a nut driver – for $20:

Torx KitSuffice to say, I was a bit (if you’ll pardon the expression), a bit torqued to be missing what was likely a 50 cent bit and having to spend nearly $20 to reassemble the Mac.  However, the eternal optimist, I put the positive spin on it – this is a nice kit I bought and the rest will probably go to Good Will since they are showing their age a bit.  Finally, of course, the educational moment for me:  I finally got my Torx in Order!

So, with the Mac now flying on a 7200rpm drive with plenty of storage, my weekend will likely be spent performing a fresh install of all my favorite apps.  Which ones do you think will go on there first?  I’ll give you a hint – the company name starts with A and ends with dobe!  The takeaway from all this – make sure you have your Torx in order – it is definitely a good motto to add to your motto book!  Have a great weekend everyone – just because I wont be shooting doesn’t mean you can’t so be safe, be smart, and…(wait for it)…

Happy Shooting!

Three Top Tips for Posing Your Subject

Jason2 Comments

As the Spring weather comes upon us, so does the urge to get out and shoot more.  Models are also more willing to brave the warmer temps, so it’s easier to get some willing subjects.  As you start to venture out of the warm caves, here’s a couple tips to getting your subjects to pleasing postures:

1.  Turn and Burn:  So many photogs want to get facial expressions but in doing so, forget that most of the time we never see someone’s full face toward us.  It’s usually more of an angled shot, and that’s why it’s often recommended to turn your model to one side.  Some models will swear that one side is better than the other, but when it comes to photography, my thought is not so much shooting their best side, rather shooting an expressive side!

Stand to the Side

2.  Breathe! – That’s right, so often when a model poses, the natural inclination is to “hold that pose” which subconsciously puts them in a state where they hold their breath.  Help them remember by even telling them to do so.  “Turn here, great, now chin up, awesome, and just a little to the right, excellent!  perfect!  Hold that pose….!  Oh, and don’t forget to breathe!  Take a deep breath and now exhale…fill those lungs with air!”  Not only will it surprise the model, but you may get a more natural smile – and if you’re lucky, even a laugh!

Posing Your Subject

3.  Encourage the lean! – When people start to get in posing mode, there is a tendency to lean forward.  Leaning into the front shoulder is common, as is leaning to accentuate cleavage for a woman.  If you think about it though, the forward lean does make everything look a little bigger!  That’s not always a desirable thing, so encourage your models to lean back just a tad.  Not too much as you don’t want them to fall over, but at least make sure their weight is shifted to the back leg.

Leaning Back a Tad

The other thing to remember, (kind of sneak tip for you), is that modeling rules work for both men and women, so even though the ones here are all women, many of the same rules apply!  There ya have it – 3 tips to get you started with subject posing and portraiture!  Got your own tips?  Share ’em in the comments!  Have a great weekend and happy shooting!

Podcast #56: Is Blogging Dead?

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Twitter, Facebook, microblogging, blogging, Audioboo, websites, statistics, logos, graphics, web design and more!  It’s a lot to take in and more often than not photographers who are just getting started ask me “Which ones should I choose?”  It’s a tough question because there’s no unilateral catch-all answer that will fit everyone.  As always, the answer starts with “It depends…”

So, to better address the question I decided to bring in a pro who deals with this stuff all the time.  That’s right ladies and gentlemen, we have another podcast! This is episode #56 of the LDP show, and I shared about an hour or so with Kirsten Wright talking about social strategies and best approaches and practices.  It’s an entire industry, and there are some who claim to know and then those who really do know their stuff.  Kirsten comes with some impressive credentials and a fresh outlook/perspective that many of us need.  It’s a good kick in the…well, a good way to get motivated to get going in the right direction!

Make sure you check out her site over at Wright Creativity and make sure to add her on your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn feeds, and everything in between.  She’s got gems and nuggets of brilliance galore to share.  I’m booking her soon here to help me get things streamlined (in case you haven’t noticed, my schedule has not been as consistent lately as I’d like it to be – Kirsten is my kick in the #$%^!)

If you need some focus, direction, and a good reality check, Kirsten is the one to give t to you.  Get it for free here in the latest episode of Learning Digital Photography:  Is Blogging Dead? with our guest of the hour – Kirsten Wright!

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The March Contest Begins

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With March now underway, and the February giveaway wrapped up (check my rare weekend posts making this announcement), I thought I’d take a moment and let the cat out of the bag.  This month it’s quite an exciting prize!  The winner is going to be awarded a 17″ Tether Table (a $200 retail value)!  As if that’s not enough, the folks over at Tether Tools have also generously have thrown in a Jerk Stopper tethering kit that prevents your cables from snagging.  If you want to know more about it right now, stop over to their website and check out the product line:  Tether Table Product Page

In the meantime, here’s the nitty gritty details for the contest:

  • The Number:  1 image per person
  • The Size:  Longest side must be between 600-800 pixels.
  • The window:  30 day window for capture date (nothing earlier than February of 2011
  • The theme is:  Flat
  • The deadline:  March 31st at midnight (my time)
  • The rest:  You can read more about it at the Contest Guidelines page and the Rules of Engagement

Good luck everyone, and here’s the link:  March Contest Giveaway

For the record, the Tether Table will be very slightly used, as you know a hardware review is likely forthcoming quite soon on this equipment…but then again, that’s something to look forward to, right?

As a final postscript today, a new poll is up on the sidebar, so if you don’t visit the archives much (maybe take some time soon – lots of good stuff there! 🙂 ), be sure to take a moment and sound off in the latest poll:

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I Need Your Help!

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A fellow photographer mentioned to me the other day that there did not seem to be a good resource online where one could go and read reviews on photography books.  Sure, there’s the canned ones from Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Noble, etc., but nothing that was out there just for photography books!

I started searching and sure enough – she was right!  So, as a sort of philanthropic venture, I decided to create a website for this purpose.  While the design is a work in progress (we all know about WIP’s, right?). but the site is live and the forums are ready for people to start contributing their own reviews on any number of photography books.  I’ve tried to break the categories out in a hopefully logical structure, so take a peek, register (it’s free) and start sharing your own thoughts about books from your own library!

Who knows – in time, this could become a pretty exhaustive library of reviews, and discussions on the state of the photography book industry!  To do it though, I need your help, so take a moment and register today!  Happy reading!

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February Winners – Everyone!

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Given the rigors of the week, closing out the February contest was not high enough on my radar, but having stirred from the hydro-codone-induced sleep, I remembered that it’s time to close out February and begin March contests.  As you may recall, for February, a $50 discount card is being offered up to all participants in the February LDP Contest giveaway, so for those of you who participated and were patiently awaiting the discount code – it’s been published in the February contest thread.

And now – the moment you’ve all been waiting for:  the February co-winners, each of whom gets $150 in printing from NPL, the ones whose images were most compelling, the ones…all right already, they are:

Mason Long

Mason Long

Frank Sammut

Frank Sammut

You can find their respective Flickr streams of these and their other photo libraries here and here respectively!  Congrats to both of you and I’ve sent your names over to our contact with Nations Photo Lab so they can deliver the coupon codes for your prizes to you!  Thanks again to Nations Photo Lab for their generous donations for the month of February!  Be sure to tune in on Monday for the announcement of the March contest!

Live from the Road

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Northern Lights Poster

Over the weekend I had the distinct pleasure of joining my colleague and good friend Kerry Garrison (who you probably know from Camera Dojo) out “in the wild” as we traveled to the Breezy Point Resort north of Brainerd MN (about three hours west and north if the twin cities) and spoke at their Northern Lights conference.  Through the coordination of our sponsor, Nations Photo Lab, and the conference hosts, MNNPA, we had a wonderful time.  Not only did the coordinators treat us like Rock Stars (we did give some autographs though), the attendees were quite engaging too.

The pre-conference sessions were set to start at 12, and our gig started at 5.  After a few of the logistical things were addressed that always come up with hosting conferences (they even had a live wedding going on one room next to us – what a great opportunity for a bride to get a wide range of photographers applying their trade), we got rolling.  A mere five minutes into our introduction, we paused to add even more tables and chairs to the room as more and more people started filing in.  For a regional conference to have a crowd this big during a pre-conference tech talk was quite surprising, but also very enjoyable.  So, what did we talk about?

The topic was none other than Lightroom 3!  We talked about how to navigate around, some of the benefits and tips and tricks of LR to soon realize that we are very fortunate to be in the position that we are.  It was humbling to realize that we really are on the cutting edge as so many people are using Lightroom 1, LR 2, or even earlier generations of Photoshop for their workflow.  Our discussion quickly was adapted to both demonstrate why and answer questions on what makes Lightroom 3 such a useful tool for both established and emerging photographers.

The questions raised were just wonderful ranging from very broad-ranging ones like “Why should wedding and portrait photographers care about upgrading their work flow?” to ones as detailed as “Can Lightroom manage PSD files?” and “How can I keyword photos during import?”  By the time our two hour segment was up we had barely covered the import process, a little bit on the adjustment brush, and the nuts and bolts of things like cropping, selective color, and black and white conversions.

Ours was the last segment for the day and we were then invited to the after party over in one of the adjoining houses.  Food snacks, drinks and such were all available and in abundance.  With the abundance of spirits, everyone was in great spirits themselves as we laughed and talked further with lots of people about photography stuff until the wee hours of the morning.  By 1am we were done though and needed to head back to our respective cities (myself to Denver and Kerry to Anaheim, CA).  So, during our road trip back to Minneapolis for the return flight, we decided to record this show for you.  Answers to all the questions above and more are here, as well as a few photo opp stops!  Thanks for taking the time to listen, hope you enjoy it and we’ll be back again soon with more photo goodness!

Catch up with Kerry:

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Learn more about the Northern Lights Conference and MNPPA here:

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And the book winners are…!

Jason3 Comments

Last week Monday, the latest Learning Digital Photography podcast went out, and with it, an extra special bonus for the readers and listeners – not one, but two books from guest Nicolesy (a.k.a. Nicole Young)!  I just closed the post for comments, and counted up the replies…we had 22 unique commenters (excluding twitter references) for this post, making it one of the most popular ones ever!

I know, you’re all really here to find out who the winners are, so without further ado – comment submissions #6 and #10 are the lucky folks:

Comment Contest Winners

Thanks to everyone for their participation…and to Chris and Joe, if you could send off a quick email to me, I’ll make sure the folks at Peachpit get in touch to arrange fulfillment for you.  Once again, I’d also like to thank Nicolesy and Jason Cate for their participation in the show as well as Peachpit for their generous contribution.  It was a lot of fun, and the comment contest also ratcheted things up a notch too, so hopefully we can make these more of a regular occurrence with the podcasts.  With that in mind, are there any other authors, photographers, or folks you’d like me to bring on a show,?  Now’s your chance to sound off and get the folks on that you really wanna hear from!  Sound off (you knew it was coming) in the comments!

Happy shooting (and Happy Valentines Day for the romantically inclined out there), and we’ll see you back again soon right here – same time, same station!

LDP Episode #54: Striking a Balance

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The latest and greatest episode of the LDP Podcast is now live and available for download!  This week not one but two guests…special guest Jason Cate from the listening audience, and an established photographer in his own right, and Nicole Young returns to the show.  Here’s the show notes (and show for download)!  Enjoy the show, and thanks to everyone for their continued support and interest:

1.  Personal Work versus Client Work – What brings clients in is your own creative vision yet at the same time you also have to be able to recognize the client vision too…striking a balance there can be demanding and challenging.  There are several strategies to cope:

2.  Shooting versus Promotion/Marketing – We have to produce work to survive, but by the same token if we don’t tell others about the work we are producing, how can one even begin to survive without some measure of success.  Balancing the creative and business ends of photography is equally demanding and can take a pretty heavy toll if you’re not careful.  There are several approaches to take here as well:

3.  Capturing and creating photos and projects versus down time – With the internet, Twitter, Facebook cell phones, email, and everything assaulting us literally 24/7 – there has to be a way to balance personal time with work time.  In this case personal time means actually putting the camera down and spending time with family, friends, colleagues, and otherwise “unplugging” from the digital photography world.  Can we even afford to take these periods of downtime anymore?  Is it worth the risk of fading?  Things to consider when balancing personal and professional growth and development, and strategies to cope:

4.  Listener Q&A

  1. What’s the best way to deal with noise in photos?  I’ve heard several options out there ranging from using plugins in Lightroom, to layer masks in photoshop, while others just avoid high ISO at all costs. – Karen in New York
  2. Just getting started in photography and wondering if I can build a business in this market.  What are the pitfalls I should be wary of?  On that same note, would it be better to begin solo and keep things small to avoid getting in over my head or should I work with other photogs to defray costs while making larger projects available to the business? – Phil in Las Vegas
  3. Everyone always talks a good game about lenses, but it’s tough to be taken seriously when people have better camera bodies than I do that have 1/10th the experience or knowledge. How do you deal with clients who have better gear than you? – Katherine in Milwaukee

Co-Hosts:

And, for those of you that listened, and are paying attention, you’ll know that Nicole has generously donated a copy of one of her latest books “Snapshots to Great Shots” for some lucky commenter.  So, leave your comments, thoughts, and/or feedback on the show here, and you’ll be automatically entered to win either her 60D or 7D book!  (We’ll know for sure which book it is hopefully later today – Monday)…

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