Category Archives: Friday Follies
The 700 Club
This post makes it officially 700 thoughts and musings on the blog. At an average of 250 posts per year (since I don’t normally post on weekends and occasional “no blog” days), that means we are closing in on the end of three full years of blogging! To the readers who have been there with me since the beginning, I’d like to say thanks for all your patience as I’ve walked through several fires of growing pains. I’ve come to the realization that the more you write, the greater the chance you have to sound like either a fool, or … Continue reading
The first ever Comment Contest!
After a short (and unexpected) break from blogging yesterday, here’s a Friday Free-For-All for you! Here’s where reader input is going to be what makes or breaks the content – that’s right, I am putting it all on the reading audience. You can link to your own site in the comments, and the “Comment Luv” plugin will show the most recent post for fellow bloggers too. Here’s what the content topics are to chose from (you can pick one, two, three, or all of the topics to address in your comment): What are your favorite iPhone/iTouch applications (for photography)? Who … Continue reading
Pick a theme – tell a story
When working on capturing your own creative vision, here’s another useful tip in getting the most out of your work – pick a theme when looking for creative inspiration. A theme can be a useful cornerstone or building block which you can use as a springboard to get started on projects. The reason why themes are such useful tools is because this can also give you the basis for telling a story, which is a commonality of many powerful and evocative works, whether that story is natural beauty (landscapes), urban decay (architecture), romantic moments (wedding photography), etc. I’ve put together … Continue reading
Friday Fab Five
For something new here on the blog, I thought it might be fun to share some of my favorite keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop. The idea here is that people will share their top five in the comments area and we can get an idea of many more keyboard shortcuts than we ever could have found out on our own (unless of course you are some Photoshop guru like The Photoshop Guys and the trainers/instructors of the world that do this for a living and already know all the shortcuts.) So, anyway, here’s my Friday Fab Five Photoshop shortcuts and what … Continue reading
Finally some good news – it’s Friday!
Well, there’s some other good news too. Wacom delivered the something to me door yesterday to review here on the blog. I’ll be doing a more detailed write-up for both Windows and Mac in the near future, but thought y’all might be interested in the unboxing – seeing what you get from the good folks at Wacom when you order a: BAMBOO FUN! So, here’s a little teaser video for those that are interested: This might be fodder for an upcoming contest or giveaway, but only time will tell, so keep your fingers crossed. In the meantime, here’s the rest … Continue reading
On the Coast of Somewhere Beautiful…
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! Happy Shooting!
Facelift Friday
With February now in the archives, I figured this may be as good a time as any to get a head start on some Spring Cleaning with the blog. The theme I had been using for the last year or two had been getting a little dated, and the designer has not issued any updates since 2007. Additionally, some portions of the blog just were taking more muscling to conform to the evolving standards of CSS, XHTML, plugins, and even WordPress itself. So, consider this a Facelift Friday! Those of you on the blog, you can see what I am … Continue reading
Friday Morning Coffee
Well, another day of IT goodness is ahead of me so this is just a short post to say have a great holiday-shopping filled weekend! (We’ve only got 20 days left until the bg day – gosh I hate how commercialized this holiday has become!) In some photo news, I shared a few snapshots with Photography and the Mac – he asks for shots of a coffee cup and a phone for his Friday blog posts so readers can chime in on which is worth me. Kind of a fun exercise, so stop over there and check out all his … Continue reading
Five Friday Freebies
It’s fun to share resources that can really help you save time and money in pursuing your photography goals, and because there’s not a lot of really high quality resources out there, posts like these are few and far between. However, I do have a few resources that may prove useful to wrap up the week: Online Price Calculator – So many people ask “How much should I charge for…” Well, here is a good starting point. For something more serious look FotoQuote Free Stock Photos – So many stock photo sites out there, yet none seem to offer up … Continue reading
Friday Frenzy
Just a quick wrap up here for the week as the day is getting late, and I’ve got miles to go before I sleep. Um…yeah, okay, that came from a poem somewhere but I forget who wrote it or the title, so no credit line on that. As we all know by now (unless you are in a cave somewhere in the Congo), Canon has released the 5D Mark II and the specs were posted here a few days ago. Forums and the blogosphere have poked and prodded at just about everything they can until the camera itself comes to … Continue reading
Friday Feel-goods
Found a couple neat resources around the web over the last few days. But, I am not gonna share them today. That’s right, the old bait-and-switch! I say something then switch gears once you’re hooked and talk about something else entirely. But, rest assured weary reader, I am not selling anything…yet! Quite simply – I got my 40D!!! That’s right, pulled the trigger, but the bullet, took the plunge, and every other metaphor you can think of. So, now with not one but 2 SLR’s in hand, I feel a little better knowing I have a backup. That means my … Continue reading
The week in review
I know web links are typically done on Wednesdays, but a little schedule change was in order given the recent news from this corner of the internet. So, for this Friday, here’s some stuff I read around the web recently: Brian Reyman of Professional Snapshots has released a beta version of a neat Flash program for schematics of lighting setups. It’s a very helpful in documenting studio work and other such photo utilities. Best of all, it’s Flash-based so it will work on Mac and PC! Many thanks to Brian for all the time and energy he’s put into this … Continue reading
Smell the Roses
Yes, we love this craft of photography, and we could spend every waking hour studying nuances of esoteric subjects related to the field, and peeping at the pixels of countless photos, analyzing techniques, and all that stuff. That wouldn’t be a very balanced existence though, and through having some balance, we can actually probably better focus on our craft when we do delve into it. So, for this Friday, I’d like to suggest taking a break from photos every once and a while. Consider taking time to “step back and smell the roses”, and stop just taking pictures of them! … Continue reading
Better luck next time
Heh – I had been so good lately about planning ahead and recording my video podcasts ahead of schedule and just setting a publish time in WordPress, I got on an automatic pilot routine. When that routine got disrupted from some dental and sleep deprivation issues the other day, I didn’t realize until just a short time ago that the post for Friday had not been scheduled. Not only had it not been scheduled – it didn’t even get written yet! So, a thousand pardons as I rush to get a somewhat photo-related post out before the end of the … Continue reading
Finally Friday – A Week in Review
Yes, it’s finally Friday, and with a long weekend ahead of us, we can enjoy a little more down time. Mine will start about 30 seconds after I finish this post! Anyway, some updates on the Orphaned Works Act – some very passionate members of the NAPP community have been working together to get a website up to get the word out on a broader basis, so keep your browsers tuned to www.defendyourart.com over the next few days as updates, links to news items, and representative info will be going live. Additionally, posters and graphics are being compiled for people … Continue reading
Friday Flights of Fancy
I was out on a shoot Wednesday and in setting up, I realized I forgot my White Balance card. I always used my WhiBal card to get accurate settings – it’s the cornerstone of my entire workflow! I was sweating bullets…what would I do? Well, I’d read about white balancing en masse off the eyes, so thought it might work out. But, with the sunny afternoon, pupils were dilated, and kids were squinting, so…I went with the next best thing – their teeth! Turned out to work okay, and I’ve got about 20 shots to share with the mother at … Continue reading
Freezing the frame (for Friday)
Read a neat little blurb in Popular Photography, May issue that I cut out and added to the “clip binder” recently…Four good rules of thumb for fast shutter speeds and what they translate to. So, regurgitated for you here today, are… Four Frame Freezing Follies 1/1000th of a second will freeze action moving either up and down or across the frame. 1/500th of a second is good for aerials (coming in over a scene, like in a plane or along those lines) 1/250th of a second is good for freezing action coming straight at you (toward the camera – unless … Continue reading
Friday Night Lighting…(and a funny)
Normally Frida posts are filled with humor, funny and generally stuff that is trivia to help keep us all grounded in reality and realize that there is more to life with photography. I am starting to get a little of a backlog with the projects I’ve been working on though, so I am goig to lighten the load by one project here today – and that is a DIY lighting project. Before I continue, the DIY lighting concept is not something that comes easily to me, as I fully admit that I am no lighting pro. If you want pro … Continue reading
Another weekend shot to….heck
First it’s the teeth, then it’s the toes – anyway, another weekend of hopefully getting out and shooting for a change of pace (I really do prefer to be out taking pictures, rather than in PS or LR editing them, or even be inside on a computer, but being in the IT industry as a profession, well, that’s the fallout…anyway I digress). As it is, I am stuck inside again, so after a day of actually walking around on my feet, I am trying to post with one leg sticking out to the side (left) and leaning back to write. … Continue reading
Another Top Ten
When the blog started to take off, it was partly due to a “Top Ten” list I did that included some notable sites, including the likes of Photoshop Insider (Scott Kelby), the Digital Photography Show (Scott Sherman & Michael Stein), Strobist (David Hobby), and others. Since then, I’ve done some other “Top Ten” lists all with a photo-theme to them. Well, I hadn’t done one in a while, so figured today is as good as any. But… with it being a Friday, which I typically reserve for humorous anecdotes, here’s a Top Ten to make you laugh (and intentionally not … Continue reading
At long last…
Well, the tooth ache is aching for a reason – apparently I am about to join the millions of Americans who must experience a root canal first hand. While I can take pain, a pain in the mouth is much more difficult for me to deal with than a pain anywhere else. Having had my share of broken bones, back aches, hang nails, migraines, hang overs, sprains, burns, scrapes, scars, and all that other stuff – for some reason oral vulnerabilities seem to cut me to the quick. My guess is on that day, there will be no post. But…until … Continue reading
Friday Freebie – Top Ten Forums on the Internet
One of the most dynamic ways to share photos in real time is via photography forums. There are literally hundreds upon thousands to choose from. So…how do you know which ones to visit? Well, find a Forum Ranking post from bloggers like myself – usually you can find a few good ones from blog posts. So, on that note, here’s the Friday Folly – A Free Top Ten list of Photo Forum communities! Naturally, this list is highly subjective, and indicative of the ones that I have found useful for my own purposes over the last two or three years, … Continue reading
Friday Free-for-all
So, last night after the sappiness ended, I came back to the trusty glow of my monitor and started knocking out a few more photos for my display book (more on that later). During a break, I stopped into the NAPP forums (highly recommend a membership with NAPP btw, at only $99 it’s a steal!) and was reading through some of the stuff, just to try and catch up a little more on my own knowledge base. Boy what a humbling experience that was! I did come away with some great web gems though, so every Wednesday for about the … Continue reading
Friday Follies for February
Okay, my Friday follies are a little later than normal (I usually either post super early or before diner). Anyway, without further ado, here’s some fun diversions for Friday: Stop over at Photo.net and enjoy some amazing photography from Rarindra Prakarsa. I found him through Scott Kelby’s blog. Another fun site to enjoy some photography fine art would be a recent discovery I found: Red Bubble. (I even created a profile there to see how things work) Need a tripod in a pinch? Try Photojojo’s suggestion of using a screw, a string and a weighted washer. It’s not really as … Continue reading
