Tag: potd

A dash of splash

Jason8 Comments

First up – another web gallery of water drops – this time with a neutral black background that I developed in Lightroom.  I am tellin’ ya – this product is just too cool!  Photo management, editing, tagging, and gallery production all in one – what’s not to love?

Also up today, a little shout out to Dave Zarzacki, who owns a like new Canon XSi in mint condition, but just doesn’t need it in his gear bag (he’s trying to round out his collection with an SLR that will take all his current lenses).  It’s a great deal which includes the following:

  • XSi body (black) – $640 value from B&H
  • Canon 18-55 IS lens – $60 value as part of above kit from B&H
  • Tiffen UV filter – $7 value from B&H
  • 2 4GB SDHC cards – $25 value from Amazon
  • Gary Fong Puffer flash diffuser – $20 value from B&H
  • M-Rock Yellowstone bag ($54 value)

Individually, this would sell for over $800 easily, and Dave is only asking for $650 plus shipping.  I know the guy personally and can say that he knows how to take care of gear – this stuff will not have a scratch or scuff and will work as though new.  A great deal for someone starting out!  Any takers?  Drop me a line to get his email address and information.

Finally, for today, the Sigma lenses are in, and I can’t wait to start the review process on these this weekend!  Already found a few features that are just too cool for school!  Some other gear review items are on deck too – but I want to hear from you!  What do you want to learn more about in the way of products, gear, accessories, and such?  Sound off in the comments or with me via email!

Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Grab the feed

Coulda beena contenduh

Jason4 Comments

Actually, all 53 of the images that were submitted to the Lightroom Giveaway I’ve been taking entries for on the blog were contenders.   Truly some great images were submitted to the Flickr Thread for the giveaway I’ve been hosting for the past month.  Some really great images.

The rules were simple:  Take any two pictures you like in May, share them on Flickr thread (& be family/work-safe) and you are eligible to win a copy of Adobe Lightroom – courtesy of the good folks over at Adobe (especially Tom Hogarty who was kind enough to make an appearance on the podcast to talk about the product and to take so many listener questions!

Anyway, I said that after the close date (end of May), I would pick the ten images I thought were best and forward those on to him for a grand prize winner decision (not that there’s a 2nd place, runner-up, or anything like that).  well, in perusing the images Monday and Tuesday, I really couldn’t decide on ten.  There were just too many images that I felt deserving.  Such is the case of contests and giveaways though – and the role of judge is a lot harder than I thought it would be.  But, I did winnow the entries down though – just couldn’t go lower than 14.  So, without further ado, here are the 14 finalists!

Lightroom Giveaway Finalists

Naturally, rather than display the images in the blog, I figured it’d be appropriate to do so in a web gallery, created at the hands of Adobe Lightroom!  Hopefully, this will also give people a little more insight into not only Lightroom, but into critiquing your own work and prepping contest submissions.

That’s it for today – congrats to all the finalists, ant thanks to everyone who participated – it was a lot of fun to see everything.  We’ll see you back here again tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll hear from Tom soon on who the lucky winner is for the free copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom!  Keep on shooting, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

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The Sigma 70mm Macro

Jason6 Comments

Next up in my gear bag is the Sigma 70mm Macro lens.  This is one sweet lens.  With an aperture that goes down to f2.8 this is legally classified as “fast glass”.  It’s got some super nice bokeh, and has an impressive range for it’s sweet spot – ranging from roughly f2.0 – f11.  Seriously, it’s tack sharp through that entire range.  It’s got the characteristic touch and handling of all Sigma lenses with its brushed matte black coating.

Other features include the manual on/off switch for auto-focus, which is typical for most lenses these days, but one thing I particularly enjoy is the limiter.  While this is also characteristic for macro lenses, it helps to keep you within a certain range of focus so it doesn’t have to search as long before finding that tack sharp point.  This toggle can be turned on or off any time, so it really helps when you are in Macro mode or shooting portraits.  Oh yeah, did I mention this does a nice job at portrait work?  The 70mm fixed focal length means I don’t have to get too up close and personal like you would with a 50mm lens, but I also don’t have to be as far away from the subject so it’s still fairly easy to interact with subjects.

If I had to list downsides, they would be that without the limiter on, it can take a while to focus, and that it is somewhat noisy when it is searching.  I am very spoiled by the USM features of Canon bodies, and wish I had the Sigma equivalent (HSM – Hypersonic Moter), but that was just not available in this lens at the time (and don’t think it is to date…).  Lastly, I don’t like how the lens shade prevents you from capping the lens when out in the field.  If the lens hood is on, the cap simply cannot be in place.

As with any fixed focal length lens, it forces you to compose with your feet (if you want a tighter shot, step forward a few paces, and if you want to go wider, step back).  But it does give you tack sharp results each and every time.

Here are a few sample shots I took with this lens, both in normal mode and in macro mode over the weekend for this post.  My in-laws were in town so we did the tourist-y thing.  First off, we visited the Hammonds Candy Factory where pictures are not only welcomed, but encouraged – so, my camera in ahd with 70mm attached (intentionally only went out with one lens each day…), I got some good samples of each category, except Macro (you need a tripod most times when shooting Macro work – at least I do in anything but the brightest light!):

Still Life

Candy Form Press
Candy Form Press

Some of the wonderful candies at Hammonds

Candy Swirl
Candy Swirl

Weights and Measures

Weights and Measures
Weights and Measures

Portrait

Cute as a teddy bear!
Cute as a teddy bear!

There you have it – the 70mm Macro f2.8 from Sigma – the third lens in my bag.  Coming up next week, the 70-200L f4.0.  it’s an oldie but a goodie!  What do you think?  How does the Sigma 70 Macro stack up based on what you’ve read here?  Like it?  Love it?  Hate it?  What other macro lenses do you have experience with?  Share your thoughts in the comments!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Don’t forget about the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Contest announced over on Learning Digital Photography!  Win your own copy of LR by sharing images in the Flickr thread here!

Creative Vision – or not!

Jason4 Comments

When looking at image composition, many of the things we use as our foundation are the typical rules of the trade – things like the the Rule of Thirds, Sunny 16, Golden Mean, etc., etc., etc.  While these rules are all well and good, and they definitely are some of the fundamentals that we all incorporate as we see to create beautiful images – they do not constitute the entire picture (pardon the pun).  As photographers, we should also be challenging ourselves to look at things in unique and new or innovative ways.

For instance, take the Eiffel Tower.  This particular piece of architecture has been around for so long now that photographers have had an opportunity to capture this from pretty much every angle and in virtually all lighting conditions.  You would be hard pressed to come up with a new angle or an unused lighting style for this monument.  So, what if you take a trip to Paris – should you not even bother with a picture?  Of course not!  Snap away, be a tourist  want and get your other half mugging next to the Tower.

The same could be said for the Sistine Chapel, the Venus de Milo, or any other of thousands of historically significant and/or interesting works.  And seriously – what do you think would happen if you went on a trip to Paris, came back and said “Nope, no shots of the Eiffel Tower, been taken too much already, no sense in taking yet another shot of it.” If your family is anything like mine, people would look at you and wonder – “But, you’re a photographer!”

The point here is that you don’t always have to be “on” and looking for that next great shot.  In fact, the minute you stop trying so hard to find inspiration, in general, the faster inspiration finds you.    Let the boring snapshots happen – they’re fun, and a great way to connect with others.  Imagine being at some social function and you’ve got your camera.  Are you looking at the light, wondering what aperture/shutter settings you can feasibly hand hold at without over cranking your ISO, or are you enjoying the time spent with family and friends?  Before you answer that – answer this – which circumstance do you think will provide more inspiration and creativity?

Just the other day I was delivering some computer stuff to another building, which happened to be 14 floors up.  Sure, I have my camera with me – and I looked out the window.  Aerial photography has always intrigued me, but I had never given it another thought – until the other day.  So, didn’t really think much and pointed my camera out the window, just having fun and taking a few snaps of the scenes:

denverabove1

Quite the boring shot eh?  Certainly not even close to being on par with something like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Venus de Milo, or anything like that.  It’s pretty much a scene of nothing.  But from nothing, and from not even trying to always be “on” you can find your creativity and inspiration.  This shot was taken only ten seconds apart from the previous one:

denverabove2

Okay, so it’s still not as breath-taking as any of the other historical monuments, but you gotta admit, that curved line of the building receding into the distance is kinda neat, eh?  This isn’t really looking for props or accolades though.  The point here is to not let yourself become too preoccupied with achieving your next great “hero” shot on every capture.  That is only setting yourself up for failure because no one can attain that.  Sure, it’s important to try and stretch your creative muscle, and try new captures, and experiment with new styles, using different lighting and all the stuff that goes hand-in-hand with being a photographer, but remember, before you can be a photographer, you gotta be a person!

Enjoy photography, but don’t forget to live your life!

Don’t forget to pick up the feed for the blog and the podcast – all during the month of May, you could be shooting to win a copy of Lightroom!  One of the best ways to do that is to just go out and have some fun.  Forget about the details from time to time and just enjoy life – because that is when you will most likely get your hero shots – when you least expect them.  So, just enjoy life, and enjoy photography – the rest comes naturally!  Happy living and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Comparison photos from 10-22mm

Jason4 Comments

Earlier this week on the blog, the 10-22mm Canon was reviewed, and in the comments, Julie asked if I could provide some comparison shots.  So, in the interests of demonstrating the perspective change (and provide a few sample shots of things I thought came out well), here’s a plethora of photos.  First, the comparisons… all shots were done at 1/50th, f5.0 and ISO 800 from a range of 5 feet, 10 feet, and 15 feet, and pointed straight on at the door.  No post processing was done in order to preserve as “raw” a comparison as possible…

At 5 feet on the kit 18-55mm

_mg_9396

Now5 feet  with the 10-22mm:

_mg_9397

Notice how much more of a range of view the 10-22 has even at 10 feet?  So much more can be seen now both high and low (notice the tape measure I have in there for scale?)!  Moving right along…

Here’s 10 feet on the kit 18-55

_mg_9401

And the 10-22 at 10 feet:

_mg_9398

Again, even more range of view both top to bottom and left to right (see the book case?)  But as we go wider the differences get even more pronounced!

Finally, the kit 18-55 at 15 feet:

_mg_9400

And the 10-22mm at 15 feet:

_mg_9399

So, you can see why wide angle lenses work well in real estate, eh?  Wide angles are particularly useful in capturing architecture, and their prominence in this specific field is very well known!

Other genres of photography can benefit from its use though.  Remember the HDR shots I put up last week?  These were both taken with the wide angle:

final_hdr_blog1

2a_blog

So, landscapes can also benefit from using a wide angle lens.  But what about portrait work?  Here is where the “group” mentality can come into play.  Here’s a shot from a family reunion I took after acquiring this lens (that’s me on the far side, camera right):

gang_web

You want to be careful about using it for close-up portrait work though, because distortion can work against you, producing unflattering looks (I am intentionally using a super small file size here because it’s really not flattering at all if used wrong):

bad_wide

But of course, this is how the now famous “dog” pictures were developed, so you can try it yourself for unique looks:

moo_wide

So, that’s the ups and downs, the los and highs, the pros and cons of the 10-22.  In closing, here’s a parting shot I took from the island in SC where we were having family photo ops and fun!

wide1

Try getting that without a wide angle!  🙂  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

The Rule of Thirds Really Does Work!

Jason2 Comments

When it comes to composing our images – we are always looking for new ways and angles to capture things.  Often though, sometimes the traditional methods work too though.  In fact, I would venture to guess that if shown 100 pictures where the standard rules of composition were followed, and then 100 pictures where standard rules were deviated from, the former would have more shots that found a widespread appeal.  The rationale?  Standard rules usually will work – that’s why they are the standards.  Things like the Golden Mean, the Rule of Thirds, and Sunny 16 are all basic rules of composition and exposure, and if you want to ensure things “just work” – traditional rules really will work the majority of the time.

For the purposes of this post, I am going to talk about one of the most basic rules – the Rule of Thirds.  The Rule of Thirds (or ROT) basically says that if you divide your image area up into a grid, where the horizontal andvertical areas are divided equally into thirds – you will get cross-sections that define where your points of interest should be – often called hot points.  Here’s a diagram to help demonstrate:

rotgrid1a

So, here the frame is divided (roughly) into thirds both vertically and horizontally.  Where the lines intersect, I’ve created red circles to indicate the “hot points”.  These are your points of interest.  If all else fails, placing your subject matter in these areas (or close to them) will dramatically improve your composition.  Here’s a great example:

rotgrid2

Here’s a shot of a carriage girl I took back in Charleston.  See where the cross-sections are?  I changed the color of the grid to make it easier to view – so you can tell that her eye is right on the marker for the right-most third grid line.  This really helps the composition that her eye is there instead of elsewhere (often times, there is a tendency to place the eyes closer to the center of the frame – resist that temptation to give your shots that extra oomph!).

In fact the ROT concept s such a well-known standard, the folks over at Adobe have incorporated that element into their crop tool – so that you can crop your images to adhere to this rule.  Since I will likely get someone to ask – you can create this ROT grid in other variants of Photoshop (CS family), but going to your application preferences and selecting the Grids, Guides, and Slices option.  In there, change your grid size to display lines every 33.3% and number of grids to 1.  Then choose a strong color so that when you display the grid – you can see it!  Click OK and you are done – from now on, to show the ROT grid when cropping or editing in the CS family – simply use the CMD/CTRL key and the apostrophe ( this doohickey  ‘   ) to toggle the grid on and off.  Here’s a capture of the area you need to make the changes:

rotgrid4

There you have it – the Rule of Thirds grid – what it means and how to use it!  Any other rules of composition you would like explained?  Feel free to email, share your thoughts, ideas, suggestions and feedback in the comments or privately (if you rather would preserve anonymity).  In the meantime, go out, take some shots and practice visualizing that ROT grid in camera – that’s what will turn your snapshots into great shots!  Getting it right in camera!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Experimenting with Photomatix and HDR

Jason7 Comments

For a while now I’ve been meaning to devote some time to experimenting with HDR – specifically comparing Photomatix and Photoshop in their production of HDR photographs.  The industry preference toward the former is there for a very good reason.  Photomatix produces much better results.  Just look at this final shot (be sure to click the image for a larger view – the blog restrictions on size really don’t do it justice):

final_hdr_blog

Now, in the interests of full disclosure, I did do some additional post processing work even after the HDR processing to get the above results.  But Photomatix was superior for a number of reasons.    For starters – Photomatix gives you options in what type of output you want.  Here are the two results, side-by-side, that I got from Photomatix:

sidebyside

The first was the result of  processing from the Tone Compressor tab and the latter of Details Enhancer tab processing.  As you can see, the first produced a smoother sky, but left the foreground a little flat, while the latter had more texture and, well… dynamic range to it.  So, I decided to go with the latter in my post processing.  The Photoshop alternative, however, produced something even less desirable than either of the above.  Take a look:

ps_hdr

Not only are the luminosity levels less interesting, but there’s literally no tone curve application.  No color, no tone curve mapping, and decidedly no interest when you consider the options from Photomatix.  I am in the process of putting together a tutorial of how I got the final result, so be on the lookout for that in the next few days.  In the meantime though, I’d like to take a moment to say “Thanks” to fellow NAPP member,  Elizabeth Gast (a.k.a. Firgs,) for the kind thoughts she has over on her blog – Design by Firgs – where she talks up a shot I took a while ago that is premiering on hew new series “Accidentally Awesome” today, so be sure to stop over there and give her a shout-out!  Until tomorrow – Happy Shooting!

Portraits, Promotions, and Planning

Jason2 Comments

This week’s podcast episode should be available shortly over at Personal Life Media.   You’ll want to listen when you really can dedicate the 25 minutes as it’s a pretty rapid fire show this week.  A couple learning opportunities presented themselves to me recently and I wanted to share these before they got too fuzzy.  As a result, I didn’t really get into the news of the last week, or address any listener questions.

So, the show notes will be pretty short and sweet, but here they are:

First up, I took a moment to challenge the listening audience to take a whirl at self portraiture.  In the interests of sharing efforts in that vein myself, here was one of the better ones from last night:

selfportrait

I also took a look at the idea of self-promotion, and that the listening audience should not be following my example thus far.  Use your blog to promote your work!  That’s what blogs are for – and never sell yourself short!  For all the details, make sure to catch that segment.

Last but not least, when you are involved or asked to participate in a photo shoot of some sort, take ownership to the extent that you are able in the planning and logistics – it will only help you in the long run.

It’s a busy day, so not much time for the other incidentals – happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!  Diggs, reviews, and such (as always) are appreciated and encouraged!

On the Coast of Somewhere Beautiful…

Jason1 Comment

A short vacation means that I’ve not had much time to generate any photo-related content, but hopefully the title will be a hint of things to come, so be sure to stop back in Monday for some photo goodness and other news and events.  In the meantime, enjoy the weekend, and have a Happy Easter.  On that note, enjoy a  Friday funny courtesy of What the Duck!

wtd686

 

Happy Shooting!

Thursday Thoughts with Kevin Mullins

Jason6 Comments

For those of you that visit the blog regularly, you know that Kevin has been a regular supporter through his kind, thoughtful, and well, supportive comments for the last few months.  We all know that reading blogs of others and commenting there is a good way to not only learn but to also generate traffic for your own interests.

Well, this week I am calling Kevin out, because he definitely is worthy of your traffic.  Kevin Mullins is an outstanding photographer, based out of Malmesbury Wiltshire (that’s in England, across the pond, or the UK for the geographically challenged…)  He’s had reviews done by friend-of-the-blog, Jason Moore, and most recently has launched a photography website for his wedding photography.  So, first off, welcome Kevin, and thanks for agreeing to come on the Thursday Thoughts Series.

Thanks’ very much for inviting me on here Jason.  It’s a great privilege.

Q:  I don’t know why people keep saying that, but thanks I guess.  It’s just fun to be learning from everyone thus far that’s been willing to contribute, yourself included.  But anyway, I digress…starting things off, I’d like to talk a little about your Wedding Photography – as you stated on your blog, wedding photography is your passion, and that is evidenced by the work you have put in thus far.  With so many areas to choose from, why did wedding photography stand out for you as a career path?  Well, it kind of “just happened”. 

A:  I have been taking photographs for a long time but around two years ago I knew that I wanted to make a career from photography.  I’ve often looked at wedding photos and thought “I could do that”, or, more often “If I was taking that shot, I would do it like this…”.  The interest continued to grow and I started forming my own style of shots in my head.  Contemporary artists such as Crash Taylor and Jeff Ascough really inspire me and I am in awe of the way they deal with light and composition in a wedding shoot.  Having your own style is key, and whilst those guys inspire, its building my own style that is really important to me.  I really want to give the bride (and groom) some photographic memories that they will cherish and will become a family focus point for years to come, but don’t just look like all the other photographs out there.

Q:  You have a definite journalistic flair in how you create your images, specifically as evidenced by the series from Andrew and Katherine’s photos, as well as those from Marie’s wedding (I love that shot of her under the arched trees).  You’ve mentioned Cartier-Bresson, Crash Taylor and Jeff Ascough as inspirational sources.  Any particular insights you’ve gained from these folks?

A:  Cartier-Bresson’s imagery is just astounding.  His use of geometry and shape in photography is out-of-this-world.  I have read his biography recently and to get an insight into his thought process is intriguing to say the least.  The “modern masters”, such as Crash and Jeff are the people I look to now for inspiration and technique. Both of them run very informative blogs with great great images that people like me can look at, disseminate, and learn from.  They are somewhat different in styles themselves so I look to Jeff’s work more for the documentary and natural-light experiences, and Crash for his awesome signature portrait shots of the bride and groom.  There are so many talented photographers out there and the internet opens up such a huge avenue for learning from them.

Q:   So, how have you adapted techniques from these resources to come up with your own “look”?  Or, better yet, do you have any particular images that you feel uniquely define your approach and/or style?

I aim to develop my own style of wedding photography and the new 5D MK II helps me do that to some extent.  I’m using purely natural light (the high ISO capability of the modern cameras lends to this type of photography.) and I try and use my 85mm lens as much as possible.  This lens is so sharp and the style I am trying to achieve uses a lot of depth of field.  This lens is f1.2 at its widest point and so it really helps in that respect.  Here are a few of my favorites:

portrait

bridge

wedding-3

Q:  As a fellow member of NAPP, how much have you developed your style from the support content and materials in sites like NAPP and other photography communities?

A:  To be honest, whilst I am a member if NAPP, I don’t use their forums as much as I should.  It is a great resource though, and the magazine and techniques online are very useful – especially when new versions of Adobe software come to the market.  I do use Kelby Online Training and I think that is a great resource.  I try and put aside an afternoon a week to “train myself” – although this isn’t always practical as I also run my own web development firm.  I find the POTN (Photography on the net) forum useful when researching gear and also for keeping an eye on other peoples work.  I also find the SWPP forum in the UK extremely useful as there are a lot of very knowledgeable people there too.  I really find most of my inspiration from trawling the net and finding great wedding photography.

Q:  I already know the answer to this, but I would imagine the readers may want to know – what kind of gear do you shoot with?

A:  I was lucky enough to get a Canon EOS 5D MkII back in December last year.  It arrived on the 2nd December just in time for a big family birthday celebration which was great as I got a chance to practice with it.  I have a number of Canon and Sigma lenses too but my favorite lens of them all is the 85mm f/1.2.  It is simply magical.  I also have a 100mm macro, 16-35mm, 24-105mm and 70-200mm which hopefully covers all my bases.  I haven’t really looked at the HD video on Mk II yet, but I am beginning to see some “fusion” wedding photography out there which is a mix of video and stills and this is something I would like to look at in more depth as the technology progresses.  That said, stills will always be my No1. priority.

Q:  Since your style journalistic in nature you obviously will take a large number of photos during any event, whether pre-wedding or the actual wedding day.  What kinds of numbers do you typically return from an event with?  How do you handle your post processing? (Computer/software/etc.?)

A:    I actually did a wedding shoot recently and I took in excess of 1500 shots, of which I will probably sift down to 250-300.  I would expect the Bride and Groom to select anything between 50 and 150 for their package.  I do all my first phase processing in Lightroom now.  It’s such a good tool for cataloguing and doing bulk adjustments.  Anything more detailed such as spot removal I will still do in Photoshop.  I would love to see Adobe integrate Lightroom and Photoshop to truly marry the non-destructive workflow experience.  I am off to a two day seminar with Jeff Ascough at the end of the month and hopefully I will gain an insight into his post-processing workflow as I know he uses Photoshop heavily to create his stylized shots.

Q:  Could you also explain a little more about the idea behind the “pre-wedding” shoot you discuss on your website?

Pre-wedding shoots are quite common here (I’m not sure about in the U.S).  Typically you spend an afternoon or so with the bridge and groom a couple of months before the wedding taking some natural portraiture shots of them.  The idea, really, is to get to know the couple more.  The last thing anybody wants on the big day is for any uncomfortable scenes between the photographer and the bride and groom.  The pre-wedding shoot gives us a chance to get to know each other more and also to go through some ideas of poses and how to work in front of the camera.  It gives me a chance to identify what types of shots I can encourage them to do on the day, and what will be the limits.  Some couples are outgoing and excitable in front of a camera and some simply want to get the process out of the way so it is important to gain that knowledge well before the big day.  If we can, I intend to do the pre-wedding shoots at the venue of the wedding.  That way, we can all scout the area together and look for great places and light at the venue and, essentially, rehearse for the big day!  The pre-wedding shoot is part of the wedding package, but if the bride and groom want to buy any prints or a frame or even a mini-album after, then even better!

Q:  Oh, and since we talked about photo gear and computer/software preferences, I would be remiss if I didn’t ask this:  Chocolate, Vanilla or Strawberry?

A:  Chocolate every time.  My wife bought our nieces some Easter Eggs and they lasted less than 24 hours in our house.  We ate them and will have to buy the kids more now!

Q:  We all know you’re a regular contributor to Canon Blogger – what about other online resources?  Are there any that you find particularly useful that you’d like to share with the blogosphere?

A:  I”ve mentioned a few in the article already, but I think some of the sites that are great are:

I have quite a few blogs in my reader (such as Canon Blogger, Michael Palmer, Jen Rinaldi etc), that I like to visit each day.  I comment when I think it’s appropriate and appreciate it when people comment on my blog too.  All of these blogs are part of the fabric of my learning and I’m always on the lookout for other blogs that inspire and keep me focused.

Q:  Last but not least – any final thoughts you’d like to share on the state of the industry, thoughts on the future of photography, or other “words of wisdom”?

A:  Well, I rely on others to give me wisdom, but if I had to look to the future I would say that we will be seeing a lot more video and still fusion work going on over the next five years or so.  The latest Canon announcement (the EOS 500D) will bring HD video to the consumer level DSLRs which infers that it is here to stay.  Oh, and I definitely recommend moving out of London to the countryside!  It has a great effect on your well being  😉

Excellent advice, thanks Kevin! That about wraps things up here so don’t forget to stop over at Kevin’s blog.to see and enjoy his particular vision and style of work.  In the meantime, tomorrow might be another “no-blog” day because I am doing a little bit of travelling – depends on how soon I can get home.  So, happy shooting all, and if I don’t get home in time for another post, have a great weekend!