Category: Flickr

News, Artists, and Inspiration

Jason2 Comments

Welcome to the show notes for week #17 of Learning Digital Photography.  Here’s the show notes for this week’s podcast…

First off, I’ve done some further tweaking to give a little more consistency and structure to the show for your listening pleasure.  The three segments that I am going to try to regularly stick to will be:

  1. News, Events, and Information from around the community and industry – here I’ll share nuggets, information, and other useful snippets from the most recent days and weeks of activity within the photography community.  Sometimes I’ll share information that’s available elsewhere, and other times I’ll offer my own perspectives on the news and events that shape the industry.
  2. Authors and Artists from within and related to the industry of photography are also an area I would like to devote some time to since the Thursday Thoughts series has not seen much attention lately (not that I am planning to either – I think it’s just on sabbatical!), and I had the good fortune of actually sitting down with an area professional recently which provided a source of inspiration for this weeks show.
  3. Sources of Inspiration – As artists I think we are always searching for and discovering new sources of inspiration.  Often these can come from well known venues such as photography magazines, galleries, and the like, but I am not adverse to featuring unusual or new sources either.  This week, I will be featuring an unusual source of inspiration, so make sure you stop in for this segment too!

To find out why these links are all up and on the blog, make sure to stop over to Personal Life Media and grab this weeks show! For the link grabbers, here you are:

That’s it for today all! Enjoy the show, and we’ll see you back here bright and early tomorrow (well, maybe not so early, as I still have an on-going problem with the sandman! LOL) Happy shooting!

P.S. I am still including a copy of the show locally, so you can grab it from here if you like too. Don’t forget, we still have a poll going on re: Twitter and Blogging, so if you’ve not voted yet, vote here!

[display_podcast]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

HDR, Web links, and a podcast!

Jason3 Comments

fissure2

So, this last weekend I went on the photo meetup group outing for the month of February into Eldorado State Park, south of Boulder, and had many an opportunity to capture some landscape and macro work. Some great views were had and I only hope that they all come out as well as this one did. While hiking up a trail of slippery snow and ice (it was cold out Saturday morning), I saw this fissure that was pretty intense looking because it was only partially lit. I thought about it for a second and decided to bracket some exposures to see if it would turn out with some HDR massaging. Not only did it turn out better than I would have thought, I was also very pleased with how Photomatix did with this. I would highly recommend this software to anyone interested in HDR work. Not only is it more intuitive than Photoshop, the results were much more gratifying! You can buy Photomatix for PS, Lightroom and for either Windows or a Mac over at www.HDRsoft.com.

Some other web links I learned about recently also include www.fotoblur.com and www.usefilm.com Both are much more cognizant and respective of photography copyright than other social and photo networking sites like Flickr and Facebook (we all know about the Facebook Terms of Service fiasco, right?). One thing I like about both Fotoblur and Flickr is that you are limited in how many images you can upload daily. This requires you to be more careful about what you publish, and as a result, you are more thoughtful and objective of what work is worth posting and sharing online.

Last but not least, the podcast that I had intended to put out last week was delayed for a few days as I put the finishing touches up on a home improvement project. (We finished out one of the basement rooms – expect to see some photos on that makeover forthcoming!) The good news is that not only is the basement room on the verge of completion, but that the podcast is up for this week. Naturally, the title of the podcast will match the blog post title, as the show notes follow closely to todays content. Stop on over to Personal Life Media for the show, or pick it up in iTunes! (Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the review section of iTunes too…the more the merrier!)

Until tomorrow, when I’ll have some more HDR shots to share, keep on shooting – hope all your shots are good ones!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

A Dose of Inspiration

Jason2 Comments

For those that are keeping up via feed reader, you may have noticed some Flickr additions over the weekend.  As the “What’s This?” arc came to completion, I thought it might be fun to compile all the images into their own dedicated set on Flickr for everyone to enjoy.  As it turned out, I had not been keeping up with cross-posting images there as much as I had thought, so it took several visits back and forth between the site files and Flickr to get everything together.  The Flickr images show up as their own feed posts, so there were a few extra feeds over the last few days.  It’s rather fun to see the collected images all in one place, and it also brings a project to completion.  See the complete 22 week collection here:  What’s This?  Flickr Gallery

Seeing projects come to completion can be a motivating force and can drive inspiration, so I’ve also brought myself current with the latest photography magazines.  Most especially relevant for today was the latest issue of Rangefinder magazine.  The web version can be found at www.rangefindermag.com and is enjoyable to be sure, but the print version really shows so much better.  Get your copy off newstands  – this issue is well worth it!  Artists such as Dixie Dixon and Jay Stock give a great dose of inspiration and demonstrate that anyone can be successful if you have the passion and inspiration, no matter if you are new to photography or have been around the block a few times.  Also in this issue is an excellent article on creating your own fine art photography books.  The price tag is high, but the end results seem pretty amazing!

From the blog front:

  • I also would like to take a moment to thank Crash Taylor again for his Thursday Thoughts interview last week.  Some great imagery in there also serve as excellent sources of inspiration, so be sure to stop over at his site and see the latest developments he has to offer.  Thanks Crash!
  • For those of you that have not downloaded the podcast yet, be sure to take some time to give it a listen – you can win the new Streetwalker backpack from Think Tank Photo!  I did my review on the show, and am giving the back to some lucky listener.  Find out how by listening to the show.  It’s a $140 value and you can have it for free!  How’s that for a dose of inspiration?

Feel free to share your images too – remember, at the end of the month, I will be doing a montage of all the images submitted to the “Flat” theme thread over at the Canon Blogger Flickr presence to feature here on the blog, so get in while you can to win fame and fortune!  (Well, maybe not, but it’s always fun to see your images online, right?)

The Show Must Go On…

Jason2 Comments

While the folks at Personal Life Media continue to work behind the scenes at getting the show re-branded, I’ve been encouraged to keep producing podcasts so, this week, the podcast returns.  I have a couple fun segments including a more detailed back story from The Boneyard Beach post earlier this week, the Think Tank Photo Review, and some blog/podcast housekeeping including the inside scoop on how you can win the Streetwalker bag I reviewed!   Be sure to get this week’s episode so you know what to do.   The bag is valued at $140!!!

As you may have noticed if you’re picking up the feed, I am also uploading all the “What’s This” images to the Canon Blogger Flickr Pool.  As that content arc has ended, I thought it might be fun and of interest to see the entire gallery of photos that have gone up on that subject over a period of roughly 23 weeks.  (Almost half a year of images there to rack your brain on!)

As we head into the weekend, be sure to take your camera with you -never know when a photo opportunity will present itself, so as the Boy Scouts always said:  “Be Prepared!”  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here Monday morning!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Flat…

JasonLeave a comment

To kick start the NYR for 2009, here’s my first idea for the theme “Flat”.  I’ve also posted it to the CB Flickr group, and more shots are likely coming, but I probably won’t post all of them here, so be sure to visit there and see not only the theme, but what shots are being tagged in there (anyone is welcome to add their themed pics to the thread or group pool).  As mentioned down one post, I’ll be taking an assorted set of the pics at the end of the month and posting a collage here at CB.

Flathead Screwdrivers

New Years Resolutions…

Jason1 Comment

We all do it – set some sort of expectation of what we want/need/should do for the upcoming year.  Whether we admit it or not, everybody thinks at some point about doing something new, better, different, or whatever.  What usually happens is some lofty goal or achievement that receives attention for a month or so before petering out.

This year, CB is setting everyone up to succeed…in taking more photos!  Instead of a generic goal, I’ve come up with a way to not only achieve those ends, but also to reward those that do!  Every month, CB will host a new “assignment”.  You can upload your photos to the CB Flickr Group any time you like within that month.  At the end of the month, I will compile a montage of 10 or so images and give accolades here on the blog.  To get things started, I’ve set the themes for the first four months.  Feel free to chime in with your own ideas in that thread, or just start contributing pics!

As always, because Flickr is its own entity, I cannot help protect your images there, so make sure to keep your images at web-friendly resolutions and sizes to protect your copyright (Flickr strips out meta data).