25 Gift Ideas for 2010 – Part 2

Last week began the grand-tastic gift guide for 2010, where I shared 5 of 25 great gift ideas for the photographer in your life.  I keep the criteria simple.  First, I must either own or want it!  Second, It must be $50 or less.  To read the first five in part 1, feel free to hit the archive for it here.  Otherwise, today, we continue with Part 2:

1.  Wireless Trigger System:  Pocket Wizards, Radio Poppers and Cybersyncs are great if you’ve got the moolah, but for those on a budget, there should be some happy medium to get reasonably reliable triggers.  I had tried the Cactus triggers myself, and they were a good point of entry, but really just were too unreliable.  My buddy Kerry Garrison from Camera Dojo has researched the heck out of this and knows his stuff on lighting.  He’s put together a great kit that includes everything you need from transmitters to receivers, and PC Sync cables too, all for the budget-friendly $50 rate!  Check out his demo video here and get your photographer a set of these.  I can’t wait to get my own set!

Wireless triggers from Camera Dojo
Wireless triggers from Camera Dojo

2.  Lexar Memory:  Everyone could use an additional memory card, and with prices dropping rapidly, the 8GB UDMA CF cards are now within the budget-conscious range, so pick up a spare (or two) of these as we never have enough in our bags…this one is linked from B&H but pick your own vendor of preference as the deals are across the internet.

Lexar CF Cards
Lexar CF Cards

3.  Black Rapid RS7 – Okay, so it’s 8 bucks over the limit, but for the portability and easing of camera holding during extended sessions, the Black rapid RS 7 is a godsend.  If you don’t have one – get one, plain and simple.  Visit here to buy one today!

Black Rapid RS-7
Black Rapid RS-7

4.  Online Training – a month or two from either Kelby Training or Lynda.com is just the ticket to help the photographer in your life help themselves.  Whether it’s a refresher on Photoshop, boning up on Indesign, or even learning how to set up a WordPress blog or website, these are great resources for online training.  Monthly rates are $25 on average, and with the holidays approaching, you could easily find discount codes or bonus offers for signing up, so consider this valuable option.  It’s all part of the mentality of helping people advance in their craft through education!

Online Training
Online Training

5.  Light Stand – I have been procrastinating getting a second light stand for some time now and there is just no excuse.  The primary is an Impact stand I got from B&H and it has served me well, so I just need to add this to my own wish list, and encourage you to add one to yours (if you don’t already have enough that is…but then again, do we ever have enough lightstands – it’s a VAL you don’t have to feed or take out for beers after a shoot!)!.  Here’s my own preferred one:  10′ Impact Lightstand (Tracy, are you reading this?) I should probably note here that I am linking to the 10′ tall heavy duty one – well worth the extra investment in my opinion, but for the super budget-conscious, these can get as cheap as $20 for a light duty 6′ one!

Impact Light Stand (6' to 10')
Impact Light Stand (6' to 10')

Okay, so consider it 5.5 suggestions today.  I’m sure you have your own ideas too, so feel free to throw your own suggestions in the mix.  Remember, with two down and three to go, keep the ideas coming as I do have some room open for a few more!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

How Much to Charge…

So many people ask me this question, or at least some variation on it.  The answer I always give is, “It depends…”  Then, I go on to list the various criteria that factor in to determining an equitable pricing guide for your work.  Here’s a couple of the factors that I’ve always considered when setting prices for work:

1.  Location – Are you in New York, Colorado, South Carolina, or California?  The cost of living varies greatly in each of these areas, and what might be a good rate for Colorado would barely pay the cost of gas in California.  Consider your geographic market when pricing because the market can be a huge factor in how to set pricing.

Where are you?
Where are you?

2.  Competition – What are others charging?  Here you have to be careful because there is always going to be someone who can undercut you.  I see ads on Craigslist and other places all the time where photographers trying to build a portfolio will offer to work for peanuts – or even free, just to get the experience!  It’s kind of hard to compete with that, so consider the “competition” as those who are in the same boat you are in.

The Competition
The Competition

3.  The “Target Market” – Tying all of this in is the target audience that you want to market to.  If you want to bring in as many clients as possible, then you will have to market differently than if you only want to work 12 events or sessions a year.  So, consider who you want to be your client list as this can be a huge determinant in your pricing strategy.

4.  Type of Work – Are you a portrait photographer or an event photographer?  Architectural photography?  Magazine photography?  How specialized is your field or niche?  Different types of work can garner different rates, and rates can also vary based on hourly or flat rates depending on how you prefer to work.  I know some photographers that charge based on the event, and others who charge hourly rates.

5.  What’s included? – Are you talking about just the rate to capture the images or does this also include post production?  What about image usage?  Is licensing a factor and if so, what type of license is being delivered?  if not, are you producing prints, is the cost of the capture time built in to expected sales, or are the resulting images going to be transferred to the client for their own use.  This can have a huge impact on pricing because licensing fees can get pretty extensive, as can re-prints.

Costs
Costs

This is just the tip of the iceberg too…I’m sure others can offer particular insights and considerations to take into account when building out your price sheet.  There’s a lot to take into consideration…and you know what’s coming – the reader question:  What are your own considerations when building a price sheet?  Do you charge by the hour or by the event?  Have you included gear depreciation in your pricing?  What about your hourly rate that you would like to actually earn versus that which goes to paying overhead?  Sound off in the comments – I’d love to hear what others have included in their own formulas!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow…

Winding the Clock Back…

Windy CLock
Windy CLock

Today isn’t Friday…at least in my head.  Today is really Thursday night!  I am winding the clock back a day just because it’s been a super busy week.  In addition to the regular job, still adjusting to the time change, and prepping the house with the honey-do list, I’ve been prepping for a very exciting shoot I booked a short time ago.  It’s gonna take about two weeks of preparations, and with a shoot date of Dec. 3rd, the clock is ticking…

So, to give myself another 24 to catch up, ya know what today is?  Yup, no blog Friday!  Have a good weekend all, and we’ll see you back here bright and early on Monday for another week of photo goodness!

25 Gift Ideas for 2010 – Part 1

We are officially into the holiday frenzy, and with Black Friday sales creeping up quickly, it’s time to start thinking of some gift ideas for the photog in your own family…or to drop subtle hints to others (if you want it for a present)!  Over the next few weeks, I’ve got 25 great gift ideas to share with you.  I’ve tried to keep true to some principles with these gift selections, so just to let you know, here’s my barometer for inclusion:

A.  I either own it or want it!  If I don’t own it, how can I say it’d be a great gift?  Only if it’s something I want!

B.  Let’s be realistic, the current economic trials are hitting us all hard – and throwing $100+ ideas on a gift guide is too rich for the blood of many photog-types in the trenches, so it’s gotta be cost-effective (nothing over $50)

To keep this manageable, it’s been parted out into five posts – each with 5 items.  These are in no particular order, with no favoritism or affiliation to the actual products or vendors.  So, without further ado:

1.  Ditty Bag – My brother had some of these on our canoe trip earlier this year, and they proved invaluable in keeping my gear dry.  $27 for a three-pack of dry ditty bags is a steal!  From REI:

 

REI Ditty Bags
REI Ditty Bags

2.  The Photo Mug – What can I say?  I want one of these muchly.  With my own expenditures being withheld to ones that are needed versus wanting, and not splurge items, I just have to hope someone in my family sees this:

Photojojo Lens Coffee Mug
Photojojo Lens Coffee Mug

3.  The Battery Caddy – I know, this was in last years showcase, but that should tell you how much I love this.  Mine was won in a photo contest online about three years ago and it has never left my camera bag.  Brilliant idea, and worth its weight in gold!  More options available than the AA clip shown here.

Battery Caddy
Battery Caddy

4.  Flickr is probably one of the most recognizable photo sharing sites.  With a pro account ads are banished and you are not limited in your daily uploads nearly as much.  Only $25 gives the gift for a year!

Give the Gift of Flickr
Give the Gift of Flickr

5.  Pocket Rocket from Think Tank.  A sponsor of the Lightroom workshop, Think Tank gave us a bunch of these to include for each participant.  I had to have one myself too, so out went the $17 – totally worth it!

Think Tank Pixel Pocket Rocket
Think Tank Pixel Pocket Rocket

Number 6-10 will be out soon, but I still have room on the list for some late additions, so if you’ve got some ideas, feel free to share (sharing is a good thing) either here in the comments or with me via e-mail.  Happy shooting and we’ll see you tomorrow (or possibly Friday)!

Is HDR really cheating?

HDR, or High Dynamic Range, imagery refers to the process of representing a wider range of colors and light in a photo than what can be traditionally captured in a single image with a camera.  There are several ways to produce this HDR-effect.  The most common way to produce HDR imagery is to take several exposures, by both under and over-exposing the same scene by several stops, and then combining them in post-production.  This process brings out details that would traditionally be lost in both highlights and shadows from normal photography.  There are two schools of thought here really on HDR:

1.  The first school of thought is that we should adhere to the accuracy of what it is the sensor is capturing.  By allowing for interpretation and manipulation of the pixels, photography is no longer the means of reporting things – life, as we know it!

2.  The other school of thought is that pixels and cameras are simply a means of capturing a limited portion of the world around them, and that even the human eye is capturing more in a single instant than any single still image could ever hope to capture.  With that in mind, it is the job of the photographer to bring to life what it is they see, and use the tools available to them to bring that image to life, whether it means performing HDR, sharpening, white balance corrections, or anything!

Now, keep in mind that there are always exceptions to the above two schools of thought.  Journalism for instance, requires accuracy and not making adjustments as it really is meant as a reporting mechanism not an interpretation or individual perception of what is scene.  While I am not sure where my own line of thinking really ends up on this very polarizing issue, it does seem that perhaps there is a time and place for it.  Again, with all subjective work, there is a certain degree of personal preference and bias – and this also speaks to the second point, because some HDR can be really really good, while others can be really really bad.  Nevertheless, for my two cents, it does seem that occasionally, there is both a time and a place for HDR.  During such times,  I’ve tried a variety of approaches to utilize HDR while also keeping some measure of reality in my photos.  Take for example, the three images below taken at different shutter speeds, while keeping ISO and aperture constant – thus creating several different exposures of the same scene:

HDR base Images
HDR base Images

By combining and basically “stacking” each of these images inside our post production work flow, we can bring out the details in the shadows from the first image (down in the golf course area), bring out the details from the highlights (the clouds), while maintaining the clarity of the neutrally lit areas in the middle of the photos (the rocks and pool).  While there are several ways to do this, including Photomatix, HDR Pro (the one native to CS5) and several other Photoshop and Lightroom plugins like what Topaz Labs, Lucis, and OnOne’s plugin Suite), here I am using the HDR Pro function inside of Photoshop CS5.

HDR Pro Sample
HDR Pro Sample

I did choose the option inside the HDR Pro menu to select a more saturated image than what was originally created in camera, and it is more reminiscient of what I actually saw.  So, am I cheating at what I created?  Is this a “real” photo?  What if I were to take another approach, and simply make some adjustments on a single image?  Back to the digital work flow I go…and here is a single shot edited in Lightroom:

Lightroom HDR
Lightroom HDR

Now, while there are clearly some slight differences in tonal range, saturation, and such, there are two things to keep in mind:  1 – I was making these edits pretty quick, and 2 – this is the Internet, which makes color accuracy a difficult thing to achieve.  It does serve to illustrate that you don’t necessarily have to stack images in Photoshop to achieve the HDR look.  Simple slider adjustments in Lightroom can approximate the same thing.  As mentioned above, there are also a number of third-party plugins and add-ons that can bring this effect to life.  Regardless of what the consensus is, HDR is likely a technique that is here to stay, and it’s simply a matter of experimenting and finding a technique that works for you, and that your clients, or colleagues, or friends and family, will find appealing.

This is, of course, just my personal take on HDR.  What about the rest of the readership?  Any thoughts on the legitimacy or validity of HDR?  Does it work?  Can it work?  Or should we stick to trying to capture it all in-camera – on a single frame?  Sound off in the comments or via email!  Thanks for sharing your own thoughts, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

ETA:  Don’t forget – a couple contests are going on through November and the rest of the year:

1.  Monthly LDP Giveaway – Share your own “POP” themed photos for a chance to win a pack of pearl metallic paper from the folks at Red River – this paper is awesome for HDR-styles of work!

2.  The Nations Photo Lab Family Photo Day – Upload your images to their Flickr Page for a chance to win a pretty impressive set of prizes including autographed books, free printing certificates, and much more!

Remember…

For those of us who have served, and who still serve, today is a special day for us.  Thanks to all my comrades – past, present, and future…

For the rest – a rather comical look at my own memories from serving in our Armed Forces:

Me - much younger...
Me - much younger...

Happy Shooting!

Teaser Alert

A review lens from the folks at Sigma has been getting a good tire kicking here for the last few weeks.  I’ve tested it out in a number of environments, including portrait, landscape, and throughout the zoom range.  I have been pretty happy with the quality of images that have come out from it.  However, a new photo/writing project is in the works that will require me to hang on to the lens for a little while longer, so I asked Sigma if they would be okay with that.  Since they did confirm that, I am going to hold off on a review report here on the blog for a little while longer in order to complete project #2 (the first being the lens review).  So, instead of delivering a lens review as I had originally anticipated, here’s a teaser alert from the very lens in which a review is forthcoming:

Moon
Moon

I am quite happy with the sharpness on this lens.  (This was hand held…)  Any guesses as to which glass did this?  And for the pixel peepers out there, don’t peek at the meta or EXIF data!

Episode #52 – Why We Charge!

At long last!  After several weeks hiatus with starting a new job, and lots of other activities distracting me, I finally just dove in and assembled another podcast.  No fuss, no muss, no guests, no news – it’s all you! That’s right, another Q&A show – the best of the listener questions answered in this latest episode of The Learning Digital Photography Podcast! It should be up on iTunes in a bit, and of course, is immediately available from right here in the RSS feed and the blog. Continue reading “Episode #52 – Why We Charge!”

Be sure about your ballhead…

A good tripod really consists of two components – the legs and the head.  Without the legs, you get no stability, and without the head, there’s no way to mount a camera to the legs.  With so many options out there not only in terms of vendors, but also in terms of head types and styles – there’s a lot to choose from.  One of the most popular types of heads is the ball-head. I’ve owned just such a ballhead for a number of years now – the Manfrotto 488RC2.

 

The Manfrotto 488RC2 Ballhead
The Manfrotto 488RC2 Ballhead

Continue reading “Be sure about your ballhead…”

Close to Home – from Craft and Vision

I was on the verge of taking a day off on account of tired – my new shift at work goes from 6:30am to 3:30, and the adjustment on my internal body clock has been a challenging one to accommodate.  However, I remembered a quick post I wanted to make to share with everyone a great eBook I had the pleasure of previewing from the crew working with David DuChemin.  So, now is as good a time as any! Continue reading “Close to Home – from Craft and Vision”