Episode # 49 is in your podcast feed!

As we approach the half century mark in the Learning Digital Photography Podcast series, Erik Bernskiold joins us on the show for another session of doling out some good photo tips – great ways to take and make better pictures and take your photography to the next level.  For those that are grabbing from the iTunes feed it should be published shortly… you know the drill!  🙂  For the rest of the world, here’s a direct link to the show for listening to during the day or your workout/commute/etc.

Skype gave us a few issues so there is one point where the audio gets a bit garbled, and there was just no good way to clean that up, so if you hear a little scratchy noise, it goes away after a few seconds (and a cheesy soundbite transition) Just remember, two hands on the wheel if you’re driving!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Show Notes

1. News

2. Photo Tips

  • Landscapes
  • Portraiture
  • Flowers
  • Architecture

3. Listener Q&A

  • The iPad and Flash – Mark
  • Different Photo Editing Application Pros and Cons – Christine
  • Photos are washed out in browser – Seth

The problem with words…

Recently, I learned that the Isle of Palms (IOP) in South Carolina has made it illegal for photographers to take commercial photography onto the public beaches.  The specific phraseology of a recently posted page for IOP states that:

“Commercial activity, including photograpy, is prohibited on the Isle of Palms beach.  Unless a special exemption is granted by City Council, photographers who take portraits or photographs on the Isle of Palms beach as part of a commercial transaction are in violation of City ordinances.”

For now I will ignore the part where they mis-spelled photography as ‘photograpy’ (because it’s probably just a typo).  Instead I would like to take a moment to discuss the larger implication of making photography illegal.  It is noted further down that commercial photographers can “obtain an exemption” but this is far different from the traditional practice of “requiring a permit”.  This is basically making photography illegal.  You can be granted an exemption from legal enforcement if you request it from City Council, but that is entirely different than requiring a professional photographer to pay for a permit at City Hall.

IOP Laws on Commercial Photography

View the full page here

Keep in mind that coastal beaches are publicly owned and maintained by the state, and thus public access is required.  While restricting the nature of access is fine, the verbiage here presents serious problems and implications for photographers.  So, the burning questions in my mind are:

  • Can IOP do this?
  • Is this an acceptable practice?
  • Does the ASMP know about this?  If so, why aren’t they taking appropriate actions?

Why has no one come forward to challenge the legality of this law, because on prima facia grounds, it seems to run in direction contradiction with traditional practices toward permitting and banning of commercial activities.  Typically, commercial activity requires simply paying a fee at the local municipality, obtaining the permit to continue, and then continuing.  That is not the case here – they are requiring an exemption to be granted by the entire City Council!  Lastly, I also cannot help but wonder where organizations like the ASMP haven’t gotten involved or taken exception to this.

I understand what SC is trying to do, and don’t necessarily have a problem with the intent – what does appear to be problematic though…are the words.  Worded correctly, there would be absolutely no issue with this, but as it currently stands, there is a definite problem with the words!  What do you think?  Vote in the poll or sound off in the comments…

[poll id=”11“]

Lightroom 3 Contest Winner!

After much deliberation over the fantastic compilation of images for the July contest, I’ve finally had to just make probably one of the toughest judging decisions I’ve had to make thus far in the history of the contest series.  However, in light of the theme of the contest (Slick), and the creativity that went into the image itself, I have to give the nod to Stephen Ludgate for his submission: Continue reading “Lightroom 3 Contest Winner!”

Shooting From the Hip

While recently taking a reality break and visiting family in my old stomping grounds, I had a chance to tour the Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown, NY.  Viewing museums like these is a lot of fun for both kids and adults – kids because of the activities, and adults because I think as you get older, you can start to appreciate with more awareness just how tough things were (or how easy they are now). Continue reading “Shooting From the Hip”

Inner Reflection: The What vs The Why

Hello CanonBloggers! First off, I’d like to thank Jason for the flattering acceptance of my offer to guest blog this post. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most eloquent when it comes to introductions, so for those of you who aren’t familiar with myself or PhotographyBB, I’m Dave Seeram, Editor of the PhotographyBB Online Magazine. As I am sure most of you are aware, Jason has been a contributing author for the PhotographyBB Online Magazine since our first year (now into our third). I thought that after all the hard work Jason has done for us and the entire photo-community, this would be a small opportunity to give back to Jason what he has done for us. Continue reading “Inner Reflection: The What vs The Why”

49 Photo Tips – The Sequel

About eight months ago, I cobbled together a laundry list of almost 50 photo tips and tricks to help with everything from gear to composition, photoshop, and more.  Given the penchant for sharing these things online, I decided to launch it as an eBook – but in the interests of keeping it simple, didn’t add much of anything.  It was basically a spreadsheet with a category on the left and the tip or trick on the right.  Given the minimal overhead I had put into the design, decided on a bargain basement price – $1.99.  Half a cup of coffee, and easily digestible!

After a few months of feedback and suggestions, it seemed the idea was pretty good, but people wanted examples, or at least something to liven things up a bit – the “spreadsheet style” was a little tedious on the eyes.  So began the latest project for me (as if I don’t have enough projects, according to Tracy)!  Well, after 6 months of blood, sweat and tears, it’s finally here – 49 Tips, The Sequel!

49 Photo Tips - The SequelAll the tips are new, just as useful, and even more in-depth, but here’s the best part – it’s really an eBook now!  With a cover page, a prologue, epilogue and, as you can see, there’s a photo for every tip! Okay, so some are screen captures so technically not photos, but each one gets the point across quite well (I think anyway).  A few of these tips have been shared out via Twitter and Facebook in recent weeks to give everyone a sneak peek of sorts, but it’s “out there” now, and very excited to see what people think.

So, let me know what you think of the new style and layout!  It’s only $4.99 , which is less than a grande white mocha at Starbucks (at least that’s what I’ve heard…b/c I don’t drink Starbucks…right?)!  And for the time being (through the end of July, anyway), there’s an additional discount code for $1 off if you use it in your shopping cart:  “Sequel

Since it was 6 months between Part One and The Sequel, my guess is it will be another 6 months before I come up with a third installment, so feedback, thoughts and input are always welcome!  There’s a link in the feature product are on the blog, or you can go to the full store here to see all three product downloads! 🙂

Apparently the WordPress eCommerce does not work as advertised as several people have gone through the process and not received their digital download email.  So, to hopefully make things easier for everyone, I’ve signed up with a company friends have used called eJunkie, and after a little configuration and setup, it’s available for purchase through their system (still using Paypal).  My apologies for the hassles initially, here’s the new download location:

49 Photo Tips - The Sequel

Add to Cart

Enjoy, and we’ll see you back here again next week!

What Moves You?

The question of what moves us as photographers is one that everyone eventually questions at some point.  Whether this comes early in your pursuit or later…at some point everyone considers where their real passion for a particular artistic genre exists.  Whether that art form is painting, sculpting, musical, or photographic in nature, the question is one that will always persist.  I’ve asked this question before in an essay simply titled “Why?”, and there have looked to answer the question from an esoteric perspective.  (Feel free to read the essay yourself from the PDF article here.)

However, today it’s more of a motivational question.  What motivates you to shoot – and what are your real reasons for pursuing any of the arts?  For my own photography, the roots lie in scuba diving.  You see about 20 years ago, I became a Certified PADI diver.  I took to it quite easily, and ever since have been enthralled with scuba diving.  So much so that I considered taking the advanced certifications, which required two specializations.  One was a no-brainer, the other was underwater navigation!  You can imagine what the no-brainer was…

Having seen so many wonderful scenes from artists, showing stunning beaches, the underwater marine life, from sharks to whales, dolphins and fish all along coral reefs, the world of scuba diving and beaches have always drawn me.  Part and parcel with that passion has also been one for sunsets and sunrises.  And since we can all appreciate a sunrise or sunset scene from the beaches of the world, I’m sharing today some of my own personal favorites.  Yes, these are retouched to a degree, but I’ve tried to stay true to the scene as I remember it.

While some day I eventually hope I am able to afford the housings to go back underwater with all this gear I’ve accumulated, but for the time being, I’ll have to survive with these above-water scenes.  Enjoy, and if you’ve got your own favorites, feel free to share those here as well through your own links.  Happy shooting!

Mexican Sunset

Mexican Sunrise

SC Sunrise

Road to Folly

Folly Beach

Picking a Theme

We all get stuck in creative ruts, and are in search of ways to inspire ourselves.  Kerry Garrison (form Camera Dojo) and I talked about this last night while we explored the place that smart phones and their cameras have in the photography marketplace.  As the conversation went on (and on and on – we tend to digress a lot when we get to talking), we found ourselves talking about 365 projects, or photo-a-day projects, and ways to challenge yourself and come up with new topics to shoot. Continue reading “Picking a Theme”

Cleaning House – Is Flickr your storage or showcase photos?

How do you know it’s time to clean the house?  For me it’s usually when i see a thin layer of dust, or when the dirty clothes pile exceeds the clean clothes pile.  Another definition would be when you run out of clean dishes (or start buying disposable because all the regular ones are still dirty.  We all have benchmarks that we use to decide when it’s time to “tidy things up”.  But – what about your photography portfolio?  Do you clean it up regularly? Continue reading “Cleaning House – Is Flickr your storage or showcase photos?”

The power of color

I’ve shared many many stories and images on the blog here to help illustrate the various nuances of things like light, angles, and yes, even color.  I’ve talked about complementary colors, and simplicity of colors and I’d like to re-visit that today as we head into the weekend, because it’s not something I see talked about a lot.

The illustration I am trying to make in all of this is that a simplicity of color can be just as powerful as a huge rainbow of colors – and sometimes, even more so.  Sometimes, a uniformity of color can have an impact and a power that all the wild variations thrown together cannot induce a positive reaction.  As in all things photographic, the best way to demonstrate is through imagery.  here are a few examples of the “Power of Color”  In the interests of keeping things consistent, I am working hereunder the RGB principle of Red, Green, and Blue as the three primary colors, and will look at these in comparison to a scene of multiple colors.  Ready?  let’s go! Continue reading “The power of color”