Flickr – Page 3 – CanonBlogger

Galleries Addendum

July 31, 2009 Jason4 Comments

Yesterdays post on how to get into galleries generated some great questions and comments both via email and on the blog, so in the interests of keeping that interest and momentum going, here’s a few more tips on Getting Into Galleries, courtesy of Dave Warner from LensFlare 35 and Rich Charpentier (who I’ve interviewed here on the podcast). Thanks guys for chiming in and offering your assistance! Onto the 5 additional tips:

Make sure the gallery shows photography – if gallery owners deal primarily with paintings, sculptures, metal work, and such, the odds of being accepted are much less. This involves actually doing a little research into the gallery. Perhaps a visit or two during different showings could help determine whether the venue is appropriate for your work.
Make sure the gallery shows your type of work – if you are primarily a landscape artist and the gallery primarily shows urban gritty work, portraiture, or architectural types f work, then again, reconsider the venue.
Contact the gallery – let them know you are interested in being considered, and give a few small samples via email. Ask if you can schedule a time to visit with them. Like Dave and Rich said, nothing can be a bigger turnoff than showing up unannounced and possibly interfering with a scheduled appointment or client sale.
Be professional – treat a prospective gallery showing like a job interview. Just like you wouldn’t want to show up with 4×6 photos in a binder album, also don’t show up on site wearing cut-off shorts or be un-groomed. It’s not just your work that is being considered, it’s YOU. If you are accepted into the gallery, in all likelihood, they will want you there for the opening day, so people can meet you, learn about you and interact with you. If you don’t present yourself with your best foot forward, then clients and gallery owners will probably be less interested. Once you are big and famous, sure, being unkempt can be part of your “flair” or quirks, but until then, you are just messy!
Be prepared to be told no. It’s tough to hear, but don’t take it personally if at all possible. Running galleries is a business, and when it comes to running a business, it’s not personal – it’s just a business decision. Consider also that gallery owners get many many requests from aspiring artists, and simply do not have room or space all the time. In the most recent podcast, Matt Timmons mentioned this briefly. Just because someone says no, doesn’t mean a lifetime of “no”. It just means “No” today. Ask again in a few months. Sometimes people like to see persistence, especially if your craft is getting better.

So, there you go, two days of tips on getting into galleries! Ten tips total, so go forth and good luck!

Speaking of luck, best of luck to everyone who has been submitting their “Numbers” themed photo contest running right now over in the Flickr forums. I took a quick glance this morning, and there are just shy of 50 entries. Amazing given that only one entry is allowed per person! And there’s still time – you have until midnight tonight to get your picture in. The winner will walk away with a free copy of the OnOne software Plugin Suite (valued at over $500 retail)! If you are thinking of getting in the game, now’s the do-or-die moment. Like they say in lotteries – you can’t win if you don’t play! Here’s the link to get in the game: Numbers Contest

Have a great weekend everyone – Happy shooting and we’l see you back here next week for the latest and greatest in photography news, nuggets, interviews, reviews, and all that goes into Canon Blogger. We’re closing in on some pretty fun dates, including the 500th post, the 2 year anniversary of CB, 1000 Twitter followers, and much more, so be sure to pick up the feed. I know I had mentioned the next contest on the podcast as well, so be sure to stop back in Monday for the news on what the theme is, and to pick up the tag on Flickr for the thread.

Grab the Feed

Creative Composition – Vignetting Photos

July 1, 2009 Jason2 Comments

In general we learn that placing your subject dead center in the frame is something to avoid – creatively speaking it can kill a picture. While this holds true as a general rule, I was walking into work yesterday morning and the sky was a brilliant blue, with the capitol bulding of Denver right dead center in front of me, and I thought that might make an interesting attempt at breaking the rules if only I had my camera….and then it dawned on me, I did have a camera. Granted, not my trusty 40D, but the smaller Powershot As500 IS. So, on a whim out it came and I snapped off a few frames of it. The vertical came out the best compositionally speaking, but it still lacked something to bring it into what I would consider the “creative” realm. After all, it is a rather mundane shot, and something you would expect the typical tourist to capture. So, how could I create interest…and then it dawned on me: vignette! That would bring the eye in more, focus attention where I want it to go. So, into Lightroom I went, and sure enough it did create a little more visual interest. I thought I’d share that view with you here today:

vignette

Granted this is still something that I would probaby personally consider a snapshot from my library of countless snapshots, but it does serve to illustrate that post processing in software can create more visual appeal and vignetting is one way to achieve those ends. So, the next time you are about to toss a shot, ask yourself: Could I improve this with a little vignette? Give it a whirl – you never know whegn a little vignette might surprise you!

On that note, it’s always helpful to remember that post production work can make or break a shot. Yes, the better your images are to start with, the less work you have to do in post, but that is not to say that post processing is a bad thing…so regardless of whether it’s a little dodging here, burning there, perhaps a litle vignette, or even applying some plugin processing from your OnOne Plugin Suite 4.5, always be willing to explore!

Oh wait – you don’t have the OnOne Plugin Suite 4.5? Well, go figure, just the luck – today starts the July photo contest here on the blog, and entries are now being accepted in the Flickr thread here for some lucky reader to win their very own copy of the Plugin Suite from OnOne! Pretty cool as this is a retail value of $500 for this package, so you can imagine the creative possibilities! Feel free to capture away, and share your favorite shot in the contest. You can find all the rules from the announcement post yesterday, but get out and shoot for your chance to wina free copy of this great software suite!

For those of you expecting the podcast today – year-end in state work means processing financials so we were working late today to get a lot of T’s crossed and I’s dotted before the clock struck midnight – so the podcast did not roll out today, but I promise it will roll out tomorrow and I’l be talking more about the photo contest then too, as well as answering viewer and reader questions, so if you have any to throw out in the mix, now’s your last chance to get questions in before the show goes live tomorrow! Got a questio about photography, gear, software, tips, tricks, techniques? Share it in the comments or with me via email. Happy shooting for now and we’ll see you back here tomorrow for the podcast.

Grab the RSS Feed

Hardware Review: The 70-200L f4.0

May 18, 2009 Jason7 Comments

In keeping with the last few weeks of hardware reviews, I am taking a look in my own bag one more time to bring you this weeks’ hardware review: the 70-200mm L lens from Canon. Canon has several variants on this lens, with different minimal apertures both with and without Image Stabilization (IS). So, in the interests of full disclosure, this is a non-IS lens, and the aperture range is the standard one, 4.0 to 5.6. So, with that distinction being made, we’re off and running:

Canons 70-200mm f4.0 lens — Canon's 70-200mm f4.0 lens

The “L” distinction is one that bears discussion right off – Canon only gives this out to lenses that it deems have superior optics – which means a wider range for it’s sweet spot, tack sharp focus, and better sealing against the elements. This naturally means that this lens will, by definition and categorization, be sharper than a comparable “non-L” lens. However, for this particular range of zoom, Canon doesn’t make a non-L lens, so one would have to make a comparison with a 3rd party brand such as Sigma or Tamron. Even there though, comparisons are tricky primarily because vendors are moving toward faster glass (in the 2.8 category) and IS features.

In that regard, the 70-200 f4.0 really is in a class by itself. As a result of its unique status in the field of available lenses, comparisons are rather arbitrary as no other lens out there has the same specs. Rather than making those comparisons though, I’ll just say that this lens does deliver superior performance for its’ category.

So, how is this a review? Well, it’s not just a question of performance, it’s also a question of price. Anything can be stellar, but whether it’s worth the price is another story. I know of luxury cars that exceed 6 figures for their cost, however, most cannot justify the expense, either because of their financial situation or the expected need. So, how does the 70-200 fit when it comes to cost? Pretty well actually.

The cost for this lens at B&H Photo is $600 right now (technically $599.95) after a $50 rebate. Considering the next step up is twice the price for either an f2.8 or an IS lens, this is actually a steal! I was able to find mine second hand from a fellow photographer when I lived in SC, so got it for considerably less. Included in my package was a lens hood, and a collar for mounting to a tripod (which I definitely would recommend given the weight). The previous owner was also nice enough to leave the Tiffen filter on it that provided protection for the lens. All told, the lens and accessories would run around $700 for the lens, lens hood, UV filter, and tripod collar.

When looking at comparable other lenses from Canon, this is where you really see the bang for the buck. Take a look at the most recent prices from B&H for similar lenses:

70-200L f2.8 = $1250
70-200L f2.8 IS = $1600
70-200L f4.0 IS = $1025

So, you can save at least $425 if IS isn’t important to you, or $650 for the next fastest version of this lens

At a smidge over 1.5 lbs, the weight does balance the mid-grade SLR’s quite nicely, although on the Rebel line I recall it being a tad heavy. As a general rule of thumb, with larger and heavier lenses, you’ll want to carry this by the lens itself rather than the camera as you don’t want to put undue tension on the mount.

Overall though, for the price and range, I would highly recommend this lens. It’s tack sharp at both 70 and at 200 with a sweet spot ranging from f5.6 to f16. Kind of hard to say no to that kind of quality when it’s offered at such an affordable price. Here’s some sample shots to show what I’m talking about:

Here’s a sample from 70mm at f9.0

And the same scene from 200mm at the same aperture:

Then, just to give you an idea of the sharpness, here’s some shots at f4.0 (a little noiser because I was at ISO 3200)…first the 70mm shot:

And now at 200mm:

And the 200mm shot:

Okay, so that’s about it for the day. Hope you found it useful and informative (as always). Don’t forget the Lightroom Contest going on over at the Flickr Thread – only about 12 more days left and still not a lot of entries. Great chance to win a free copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (retails for $300)! If you have ideas, suggestions, comments, feedback or other insights on future gear you’d like reviewed, feel free to share those in the comments below or with me via email.

One last little nugget to share today…Scott Kelby announced his 2nd Annual Photowalk early this morning, so be sure to register in your city. I’m already registered in the Denver group and that’s rolling early (7:45ish am) in the Lodo area. More details to come on route, eating place, etc. , but mark your calendars now for July 18th! Here’s the link for more info if you’re not in Denver: Worldwide Photowalk Have a great day, Happy Shooting, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Photo Contest – Win Adobe Lightroom

May 9, 2009 Jason2 Comments

Happy Saturday all. It’s a rare weekend post here – since Friday was silent. Two things – first off, Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there! Second, as the podcast on Tuesday announced, don’t forget the first ever Learning Digital Photography Contest is under way – all during the month of May, submit your shots to the Flickr group (2 entries per person) for your chance to win a copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0! Not only is it a great chance to win this wonderful program, but a great way to get increased visibility of your work and to network with others.

Information is available in the podcast, but you are welcome to just submit your entries directly to the Flickr group. This is a prize package worth $300 retail, so definitely one worth entering! Good luck and happy shooting!

Podcast

Flickr Pool

A Dose of Inspiration

January 19, 2009 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?)

Flat…

January 5, 2009 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.

New Years Resolutions…

January 5, 2009 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).

What-s This – Week 7

July 23, 2008 Jason5 Comments

Kind of funny how moving gives you new perspective on things. While packing and discarding and selling various things we’ve collected over the past 4 years, I wind up seeing things I’ve not seen in a while (or at least seeing things in a new way as I bend and lean over boxes to get through a day.

The above is a different angle on an everyday object. It is a “what’s this” though, because it likely is not obvious to most. Undoubtedly, someone will prove me wrong by saying “This is a ___” and get it right in like 2 hours!

As promised, I’ve also processed a few shots from my “Shoot the Day!” activities, and posted them at the CB Flickr Pool for your enjoyment. While over there, feel free to share your own shots from the day. If you have one that’s also based on the theme of “Freedom” you may win a $25 gift card from B&H.

Not much else going on today…two more days before we hit the road. Until tomorrow, happy shooting and watch those apertures!

Monday Minutes

July 21, 2008 JasonLeave a comment

Hey gang, welcome to Monday, July 21^st. Today is an exciting day for several reasons, both personally and professionally:

First of all, unless traffic falls precipitously, today Canon Blogger will go over the 60,000 mark in terms of number of visitors! I am both honored and flattered to have been the source of such interest since starting the blog. Since I installed Google Analytics and got that running on October 1^st, I am using that date as the unofficial start date for the blog. While the first blog post was technically made much earlier than that (August 22^nd), the first month or so was really a testing month just to work out the details of layout, setup, and configuration. So, thanks to all 60,000+ viewers who have taken the time to visit the blog over the last 9 months and 20 days! Special thanks also to those who have contributed and shared their thoughts and feedback from time to time.
Also today is exciting because it is technically my last full day of work here in South Carolina. I will be off on “vacation” Tuesday through Thursday (if you can call packing boxes and moving heavy furniture around a vacation), and then on my return to work Friday, I will work only for a few hours before out-processing. I have been with this company for almost 2 years, which in the IT sector is a significant amount of time, so in a way it’s kind of sad to leave. In other ways though, it is very exciting (and liberating) when we look at what is coming down the pike. So, this is it – ready or not, Colorado here we come! I am not sure how often I will be able to connect to the internet once we cut things off on Friday, but I will try to set up a few extra posts this week and have them published automatically by the blog software (or as Dave Cross calls it, “robot posts”).
Next in the area of photo news, Photoshelter had its first “Shoot the Day!” event yesterday, and after I spent the requisite amount of time immersed in boxes and packing foam, I picked up my camera and began in earnest to “shoot the day.” As in most things, a theme began to slowly emerge as I made my way around town, running errands and capturing shots. Rather than spoil the fun of the theme with verbiage, I will wait until this afternoon when I can sit down and process everything for the blog to share the images.
Here I would also like to take a moment and refer any readers over to the blog of Jason D. Moore. Although he is also going through a move, his blog has maintained quite an impressive array of content and information, and even some photography shots. I don’t know how he does that – kudos to Jason, and a big “Hey, how are ya?” when he sees the pingback from here. (Jason was kind enough to include little ole CB on his blogroll…) Monday is his weekly P&P listing, which summarizes the activities of many of the most popular blogs on the internet. Be sure to stop over and see everything he has to offer. Last but not least, a reminder about the First Ever Photo Contest here at CB. Simply photograph the concept of “Freedom” in your own way, and share over at the CB Flickr group pool to be eligible for prizes, including a $25 B&H Photo gift card for the winner.

Happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow (or possibly this afternoon for a photo montage!)

Maintenance Monday (and a book review…kind of)

June 9, 2008 Jason3 Comments

Wrench and Book

Hey all, it’s been a busy couple of days for the blog. I’ve been doing some research and maintenance on the blog to try and keep things interesting and to hopefully let more people know about the articles, essays, tips, tricks, techniques, and such that I’ve been sharing now for the past 9 months. I realized that I was in dire need of this when I saw my post count was up near 200 (hint: Thursday will be significant…) and I had not really taken any measures to get the blog registered in any directories.

So, after some research and study, I took some time Friday and Saturday to look at a number of directories and the types of blogs that are typical of those various venues. A couple that caught my eye include:

Of these, Alltop is definitely one of the coolest ones as they have a Photography category. On looking at the category, pretty much every blog that I’ve ever been to was on there along with a few that I’d not heard of. So, I sent them an email to inquire, and as you can probably tell from the new Directory listings on the side panel, they seemed willing to at least give me a try. So, thanks and shout outs to Alltop for the quick addition. Fair warning though – for those of you that may stop in there, you will likely find new must reads to add to your daily surf list. The one that caught my eye is a blog called Hyperphocal, with Chris Bergman. While still fairly new, the approach he seems to be taking with the blog is very similar to the one here at CB – sharing information, helping other photographers, Plus, his own blogroll reminded me of Digital Camera Resource, which I’d known about but forgotten for some time. So, thanks to Chris for putting that back on my radar.

Back on the directory subject though, the listings have been moved in the side panel to the bottom, as has the Google search box and the Feedburner subscription box. I think putting all that material in the same area gives a cleaner and smoother look to the blog. An iTunes one should be up shortly, I’ve just not had a chance to get the graphic I am looking for. If anyone has other subscription services they use, or that they can recommend, I am open to suggestions here as well. Feel free to stop in to any of these directories and share your thoughts of the blog, I’ve provided direct links to those directories where CB is already live.

The last bit about podcast directories though – even though I’ve been blogging and podcasting for a little over 9 months now, the idea of promoting the blog/podcast is somewhat foreign to me. Adding CB to a few directories seems like a good idea, but I would like to hear what others might suggest for venues or approaches to take. Should I promote the blog? If so, where? How? Are the ones I picked popular? I am in uncharted waters here, so would appreciate any suggestions or comments from the readership. if you’re reading directly, feel free to post in the comments. If you are reading from a feed, or would prefer to to comment publicly, please feel free to drop me an email. The address (as always) is jason <AT> canonblogger <DOT> com.

Other maintenance I did on the blog:

I removed the Dig button that was on each post. With a grand total of perhaps 20 digs over the last nine months, it was just another graphic that was taking up space and slowing down the blog more than it needed to. So, unless I start hearing screams for it back (which I doubt), the Dig button is toast!

A few pictures were added to the header rotation. I manually rotate that periodically to change out the look and feel, depending on the post of the day, so you may start seeing a little more variety there. If I can get to it on my “To Do” list, I’ll try to add full-size versions of the header images to the Flickr photo stream.

In photo news today, I got my copies of two reprints I ordered through reading The Online Photographer. The titles are “The New West: Landscapes Along the Colorado Front Range” by Robert Adams, and “The Photographer’s Eye“, by John Szarkowski. Being a Coloradan at heart, I tore the shrink wrap off Mr. Adams book first. I’m about a third of the way through it, and the black-and-white approach he takes to address both the man-made and natural landscapes (especially along the corridor of I-25) are pretty interesting. I would definitely recommend at least seeing if your local library has a copy of this book. I know spending $20 on a book of pictures can be off-putting to some, especially when we are trying to create our own works and possibly our own books. Nevertheless, I am quite happy with the purchase as viewing the works of others helps me to refine and hone my own vision that much more. Thanks to Mike J. from TOP for the heads up on these reprints – hopefully the few pennies he got from the referral purchase will pay for at least a few minutes worth of hosting!

Last, but not least, you may have noticed from the casual reference above, CB has joined the Flickr frenzy. That’s right, there is now a Flickr group for the blog. As I mentioned, I will start uploading full-size versions of pics that are rotated through the blog header, as well as some other shots that may be fun to view that weren’t really “croppable” to header size (is croppable a word?). Anyway, on the Flickr group, anyone is welcome to share images, tips, tricks, ideas, suggestions, feedback, or just share photos with one another. Here’s the link for anyone who’s interested: Canon Blogger on Flickr Fair warning though – if I see pics in the photo stream there I will likely be giving shout outs and links to your stream on the site. (Just keep the images PG-rated is all I ask…)

Well, that should be enough news for Monday. Until tomorrow, keep on shooting and watch those apertures!