A few people have asked if I had plans to make the eBooks iPad-compatible. I hadn’t considered that before (the iPad prefers the epub format over PDF), but am willing to entertain the option, depending on interest (it’s a little pricier of a proposition, so the cost would have to be justifiable). So – you tell me…do you think it’s worth getting the ISBN, converting to ePUB and distributing through the iBookstore channels as well? Sound off in the weekend poll: Continue reading “eBooks on the iPad?”
Category: Poll
Where do you listen?
For those that have been reading the blog for a while, you should know that I run a companion podcast. It’s a lot of fun to produce, and I am looking forward to putting out a new show very soon (hint, early next week). However, while I am out of town for a few days on a special photo shoot, I thought this would be a good time to get some idea of where people are listening most. So, if you could, take a moment to let me know how you enjoy the show:
ETA: Sorry all, the polling service starting spamming the blog with some pretty unrelated questions so it’s been deleted. I was looking to see how many people listened via iTunes, via PLM, or direct download…thanks! 🙂
For those that do not listen to the show, there are a few questions I would like to ask you too. First off, why don’t you? 🙂 Seriously though – I realize that not everyone has the time to listen to podcasts, or the resources to afford things like iPods, Touches, and iPhones, and all that stuff. So, for the non-listening audience (just blog readers), I am trying to come up with ideas for you too. So, here’s a chance to tell me what you want! Sound off in the comments with your ideas too – things always change and it’s the reader and listener interest that keeps me in touch, so let me know what other types of material you would like to see! Is it more contests? More interviews? Worksheets and practical exercises? Workshops and seminars? All are options (and anything else you have in mind). I’ll check back in on Monday to see what everyone has to say. Happy shooting and have a great weekend!
Artist Statement Appeal – the power of the pen
On this weeks show, I take a look at the power of the pen – the artist statement. For those of us with aspirations of sharing our work with others via art shows, galleries, and contests/competitions, the value of the artist statement can make the difference between getting into a show, gallery or other event and buying a ticket. So, if you want to learn what the artist statement is, how to write one, and things to consider, this is the show for you. Here’s the show notes:
- News Links –
- Artist Statement Resources
Another news item I forgot to mention in the podcast is an upcoming web seminar series for photographers, free, from Adobe. Here’s the dates:
- Photoshop: April 23rd
- Lightroom: April 9th and May 7th
- Both: May 14th
Link for more info and to register is here
Make sure you stop in and grab the podcast from the good folks over at Personal Life Media, and visit our show sponsor Lensbaby if you are thinking about the Lensbaby Composer. Diggs from PLM and reviews from iTunes are encouraged, welcomed, and appreciated! Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here tomorrow! 🙂
Don’t forget, you can email me from the show link with any questions, comments, feedback or thoughts, as well as share comments here, and reviews on iTunes. For those without iTunes or Zune, I can provide an mp3 version of the show on request.
Monthly Poll – Twitter and Blogging
I was talking with a friend on Twitter last night, and despite the etiquette against chatting back and forth repeatedly, we had quite a lively discussion on the subject of using Twitter to promote/market/advertise your blog. Rather than regale the readership with the discussion, I’ll simply leave the voting unhindered by personal bias, save for one link – a post one of us read on Twitter etiquette a while back: http://tinyurl.com/5lcrqr
With that pretext set, we’d all be interested in hearing the blogosphere thoughts on this subject. So, vote in the poll, then chime in with the comments – the fate of the universe rests in your hands (not really, but join in anyway, it’s fun! 🙂 )
I promise tomorrow I will return to photography topics. In the meantime, Happy Shooting!
Money, Socializing, and Freebies!
Hey all, welcome to the Tuesday blog post for CB – today the latest in the Canon Blogger Digital Podcast Series is up for your mobile listening pleasure. It turns out I can ramble on for quite a bit as I take a look at three distinct topics:
- Making Money in Photography
- The Value of Social Networks
- and some Free Web Resources that you may have missed
I also take the usual spate of reader/listener questions (great ones this go around, so thanks and shout outs to Marcus, Krista, and Nick! In the future, send me links to your websites so I can return the generosity on the podcast and here on the blog post. For now though – thanks! So, share your questions, comments, and feedback through the many opportunities here at the blog and via email.
A couple of show notes:
The 1st segment is a more detailed look from yesterdays post on “The Cost of Doing Business“, and talks about the details involved in creating a business plan.
The 2nd Segment looks at the value of social networking, so naturally here, I will suggest you stop by and say hi to me on The Twitter, LinkedIn, and through the various forums I participate in.
And last but not least, on the subject of freebies, my apologies for the two contest mentions from Popular Photography, but they have since closed (I hate it when they don’t indicate that at the source page!), sorry! Dave Cross blog can be found here though, and Scott Sherman/Michael Stein’s podcast can be found here. Anyway, thanks for stopping in, and as always, share your feedback, comments, and ideas either in the comments or via email.
That’s it for today, don’t forget to vote in the latest sidebar poll at the blog! Hope all your shots are good ones… happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
What do Photo walks and software cycles have in common?
Tune in to this week’s episode of the Canon Blogger Podcast Series, Episode #58, from either the blog or your feed readers today! I also tackle a few listener questions, and offer up a photo road tip for the listening audience. So, pick up the feed today, or stop in to the blog to not only download the show, but also to see the other content that isn’t in the daily feeds (things like the Online Photography Test, Colors and Textures Galleries, polls and more!
As I tinker a little with the audio quality of the show and try to make things more seamless and enjoyable, you’ll notice I am pushing the show out in segments, with some music to break things up in little snips between the subject material. If you like it, chime in via the comments section of the blog. If you don’t like it, well…chime in via the comments section of the blog. If you are ambivalent, well…chime in via the comments in the blog.
Hmmm…seems like someone would like to hear what the listening audience thinks of the changes in the format for the audio podcast. And it also seems that the feedback can easily be done via: the comments section of the blog!
If you’ve listened to the show and are still yearning for more, please stop by fellow podcasters Scott Sherman and Michael Stein’s new podcast series: Digital Photography Life. Formerly, these guys hosted the Digital Photography Show on another network and they’ve since moved on. Their first show on the new network mis up and ready for your listening pleasure, so do stop over and give it a listen – great to have them back on the air! Their podcast can be found here: Digital Photography Life
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Nitty Gritty Details
The weekly podcast that usually goes up on Tuesdays was supplanted yesterday by the Election Day message. Returning to photography topics today, the weekly podcast has been posted and is ready for your listening enjoyment. I’ll have some notes related to the podcast to include at the end of today’s post.
In the interests of keeping the “What’s This?” on schedule, we are now in week 18. Last week’s was in fact, the stained glass that a reader correctly identified rather quickly. So, I am hopefully going to make things a little more intriguing for you this week. Let’s see the first to identify this image:
Podcast Notes:
- Gadget Infinity is the site to get the Cactus Triggers from – be careful to order for the correct lights
- There are some great patterns inside CS3 (not available in CS4 anymore), just go to the following folder to find them: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS3\Presets\Patterns\PostScript Patterns
- Q&A – Recording Software, Crop Factors, and photo terminology
Wrap-up: Contests, Road Tip, & Polls
Happy shooting all, watch those apertures, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Don’t fear the forums!
Today, I take a somewhat introductory look at the prevalence of photography forums across the internet. With communities cropping up for every nuance and interest, one literally has dozens, if not hundreds upon thousands to choose from. Everything from lighting, to portraiture, landscape, architecture, and even food photography has a community of avid participants. What to make of it all? Which ones are good and which are not as beneficial as others? I’ve referenced a few communities here from time to time, including ones that I still participate in on a regular and on-going basis.
As my interests wax and wane into different specifics, I find myself moving from one community to another in search of what I am looking for and I suspect others do the same. What are we looking for? Well, that can vary depending on where we’ve been and where we want to go. So, to kind of help clear the air on all the vagaries of photo forums online, I cobbled together my weekly podcast to talk about three basic types that I see all over the internet.
Do you participate in forums? What kinds of information do you look for when you visit these forums? What types of forums are they? If you had to classify them according to the 3 main types referred to in the podcast, where would your community fall? Here’s a chance to promote your own communities in new and interesting ways, by sharing your thoughts in the comments. Let me know and I’ll share the best of these in next Tuesday’s podcast. In the meantime, Happy Shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow.
P.S. Don’t forget to vote for my photo over at the TWIP contest on Photrade here – only 2 days left!
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download
It’s All About ME!
Anyone know the Toby Keith song where he sings to his woman that most of the time it’s about her, but every once and a while he wants it to be about him? Well, today that is the theme for the blog – ME. Rest assured though, there is a relation to photography though…
First off, thanks to the 27 people who participated in the last poll on whether the economic downturn was shaping their photo purchases. The results were pretty even:
The new poll is now up and on the side panel, so for the RSS readers, be sure to visit the blog to see the question and possible answers, as well as participate! It’d be really cool if a poll broke the 50 count barrier this go around, so let’s ROCK THE VOTE!
In other “me” news, the photo contest over at TWIP (This Week In Photography) only has three days left, and every vote counts. Again, the photo is listed in the side panel, but you can visit the Photrade site directly to vote by following this link here:
Since this last weekend was a particularly non-photo themed weekend, there’s not much else to share for now. Tomorrow will be another day with a new podcast and other photo news and information, so be sure to stop back in then. Happy Shooting, watch those apertures, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
Camera Profiles
So, today I had the day off work, and was catching up on a few things. I read through most of my piled up photo magazines, caught up on some NAPP tutorials, and some overdue email replies to various asundry things. One of the tutorials I watched was from Matt Kloskowski on installing camera profiles for ACR in both LR and CS3/CS4. It’s pretty cool stuff.
Basically, Adobe has worked with various camera vendors to get the ACR to approximate the same colors that are shown in the vendor proprietary software (Digital Photo Professional for Canon and Capture NX for Nikon, and a whole host of others.) Matt did a great job of showing how close it gets while even still in beta. I was convinced enough to go ahead and download the plugin to use in CS3. Fair warning though, you do need at least ACR version 4.5 or higher to use these profiles (I have 4.6 installed). Since my bodies are Canon-specific my interface may look a little different, but thought I’d share the screenshot of what it looks like for me:
My thoughts are that the Camera Landscape beta is the closest to what DPP shows. Since it’s all happening in camera raw, as Matt stated, it just gives you a better starting point with less editing to get to your final results. I really can’t wait to see how this develops and moves out of beta. Just hope that Adobe sees fit to release the final shipping version for CS3 owners as well as CS4. What about others – has anyone else installed this? How do your pictures look? Are they close to your vendor software? Feel free to jump in with the comments!
In other news for Friday, this is the last day to participate in the economy-photography poll from the sidebar. You RSS readers – stop in and vote, we’re trying to break 30, and only have until midnight! Other than that, it’s been a great day – I even got some cool shots of the dog after our walk with the sunlight glistening in her eyes.
I’ll leave with my favorite What the Duck of the Week. Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again on Monday – have a great weekend!
