Learning Digital Photography: Episode #57

You heard it right, the latest and greatest episode of the LDP Podcast is now live and downloadable from your favorite outlet.  Six long weeks in the making and with the patience of my special guest, Kevin Mullins, this is Episode #57!

For those of you that may not have heard of him, Kevin Mullins hails from across the pond to get together on a podcast and talk shop on photography. A well-established wedding photographer in the UK, Kevin is probably one of the most talented wedding photographers I know. He joins me in the latest episode of the Learning Digital Photography Podcast to talk about the documentary style of photography and the impact that has on how you both shoot and manage your business. You can download it from iTunes or directly from the website via the following links. Below the links are the show notes…enjoy!

Talking Points

  • Approaching group shots versus cookie-cutter portrait poses
  • Work flow of the wedding day – how things start, where to budget time, & how things end.
  • Gear preferences
  • Pre-planning the event in Documentary Photography
  • Still and video convergence

Links Mentioned:

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Podcast #56: Is Blogging Dead?

Twitter, Facebook, microblogging, blogging, Audioboo, websites, statistics, logos, graphics, web design and more!  It’s a lot to take in and more often than not photographers who are just getting started ask me “Which ones should I choose?”  It’s a tough question because there’s no unilateral catch-all answer that will fit everyone.  As always, the answer starts with “It depends…”

So, to better address the question I decided to bring in a pro who deals with this stuff all the time.  That’s right ladies and gentlemen, we have another podcast! This is episode #56 of the LDP show, and I shared about an hour or so with Kirsten Wright talking about social strategies and best approaches and practices.  It’s an entire industry, and there are some who claim to know and then those who really do know their stuff.  Kirsten comes with some impressive credentials and a fresh outlook/perspective that many of us need.  It’s a good kick in the…well, a good way to get motivated to get going in the right direction!

Make sure you check out her site over at Wright Creativity and make sure to add her on your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn feeds, and everything in between.  She’s got gems and nuggets of brilliance galore to share.  I’m booking her soon here to help me get things streamlined (in case you haven’t noticed, my schedule has not been as consistent lately as I’d like it to be – Kirsten is my kick in the #$%^!)

If you need some focus, direction, and a good reality check, Kirsten is the one to give t to you.  Get it for free here in the latest episode of Learning Digital Photography:  Is Blogging Dead? with our guest of the hour – Kirsten Wright!

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LDP Episode #54: Striking a Balance

The latest and greatest episode of the LDP Podcast is now live and available for download!  This week not one but two guests…special guest Jason Cate from the listening audience, and an established photographer in his own right, and Nicole Young returns to the show.  Here’s the show notes (and show for download)!  Enjoy the show, and thanks to everyone for their continued support and interest:

1.  Personal Work versus Client Work – What brings clients in is your own creative vision yet at the same time you also have to be able to recognize the client vision too…striking a balance there can be demanding and challenging.  There are several strategies to cope:

2.  Shooting versus Promotion/Marketing – We have to produce work to survive, but by the same token if we don’t tell others about the work we are producing, how can one even begin to survive without some measure of success.  Balancing the creative and business ends of photography is equally demanding and can take a pretty heavy toll if you’re not careful.  There are several approaches to take here as well:

3.  Capturing and creating photos and projects versus down time – With the internet, Twitter, Facebook cell phones, email, and everything assaulting us literally 24/7 – there has to be a way to balance personal time with work time.  In this case personal time means actually putting the camera down and spending time with family, friends, colleagues, and otherwise “unplugging” from the digital photography world.  Can we even afford to take these periods of downtime anymore?  Is it worth the risk of fading?  Things to consider when balancing personal and professional growth and development, and strategies to cope:

4.  Listener Q&A

  1. What’s the best way to deal with noise in photos?  I’ve heard several options out there ranging from using plugins in Lightroom, to layer masks in photoshop, while others just avoid high ISO at all costs. – Karen in New York
  2. Just getting started in photography and wondering if I can build a business in this market.  What are the pitfalls I should be wary of?  On that same note, would it be better to begin solo and keep things small to avoid getting in over my head or should I work with other photogs to defray costs while making larger projects available to the business? – Phil in Las Vegas
  3. Everyone always talks a good game about lenses, but it’s tough to be taken seriously when people have better camera bodies than I do that have 1/10th the experience or knowledge. How do you deal with clients who have better gear than you? – Katherine in Milwaukee

Co-Hosts:

And, for those of you that listened, and are paying attention, you’ll know that Nicole has generously donated a copy of one of her latest books “Snapshots to Great Shots” for some lucky commenter.  So, leave your comments, thoughts, and/or feedback on the show here, and you’ll be automatically entered to win either her 60D or 7D book!  (We’ll know for sure which book it is hopefully later today – Monday)…

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The Passion Principle

Editor Note: Episode #53 of the podcast is ready for your holiday listening enjoyment!  This should have gone out last week, so my apologies.  System problems with the post production delayed the publication, but better late than never is my motto!  Anyway, enjoy!

Many notable photographers have spoken and alluded to this idea of shooting photography with passion.  The idea is to approach photography with your creative voice, and a vision of what it is you want to accomplish.  So, what do you do when the voice is silent, or the vision is blinded?  Re-igniting the passion for photography is something we all face, and while we can all agree that shooting with passion is always a good thing, the question really is how to achieve that intangible in your work.  Tune in to the latest podcast here with Andie Smith as we broach the subject head on.

We also tackle some really engaging listener questions, so be sure to listen in – yours may be answered!

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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!”

Encouraging the Slide…

I’ve had this podcast done for a while and for some reason completely forgot to post it to the feed with all that’s been going on.  My apologies to Andie Smith as she was the guest for the show (I’m sure she has been wondering what the heck happened!).  Granted, the news items are somewhat dated and not as current as I’d like, but I digress…  In any case, without further ado, here’s the show notes: Continue reading “Encouraging the Slide…”

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

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!”

Blogging for Photographers

With the huge expanding nature of blogging and sharing your photography through an online blog, there’s been a lot of photo-blog projects started, and while many are quite good (and also inspirational), others have been started and it’s pretty obvious from the start that while the photos may be decent – the blogging platform has left a little to be desired. Continue reading “Blogging for Photographers”

Cultures Colliding – a Podcast with Martin Bailey!

On this week’s show, we’ve got a lot to talk about including a couple of particular news stories to note, with a little insight from the crew, we’ll be taking your questions and answers on the show and the special guest of the week for this show is none other than the well-reknowned Martin Bailey!

Photo News

  1. 3rd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk has been announced by Scott Kelby, and details are here.
  2. Lightroom 3 was announced last week Monday – and is available to purchase and download…you can also download a 30 day trial for free from Adobe here (or buy via the sponsored link in the sidebar!)
  3. New Plugins available for LR – Pro Show Gold, a popular slideshow and movie creation software set.  Info here

Martin Bailey

  1. Photography and Culture in Japan: Laws or hassles shooting in public?
  2. Workshops and your development in photography
    • Workshops
    • Development/Inspiration
  3. X-Rite Colorati
  4. Martin on the web

Links: http://www.martinbaileyphotography.com/
Blog: http://blog.martinbaileyphotography.com/
Podcast: http://www.martinbaileyphotography.com/podcasts.php
Workshops: http://www.mbpworkshops.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MartinBailey
Folio: Martin Baily Photography

Q&A

  • Professional Critique
  • Cost of Printing
  • Starting Camera Suggestions

Martin was also kind enough to share a sample selection of his portfolio with us here on the show.  These are the low res versions, to see things super nice, head on over to his folio link provided above.  In the meantime, enjoy the photos, the show, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow for the latest in photography reviews!

Snow Monkeys

Bathing Snow Monkeys

Snowy Hands

Distant Dance

Scene from Hokkaido

Soft Arched Wings

Honking Dance

Kussharo Lake Swans

Eagle Eye

Sunset Flight of the Cranes

Stag in Element

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