On days like this we also reflect on what it is we are thankful for.  So, here you go.  I am thankful for my health, my life, my wife, my job, my family, my friends, my freedom, football, and of course, all of you dear readers!  Call it hokey, but it’s true!  What are you doing today, and what are you thankful for?

Books

• Captured – Lessons from Behind the Lens of a Legendary Wildlife Photographer, Moose Peterson

• Photo Trade Secrets, Volume 2, Zeke Kamm (forthcoming)

Magazines

• National Geographic – December 2010 Issue
• Shutterbug – February 2011
• Consumer Reports – February 2011
• Bits and Pieces
• Arizona Highways – January 2011
  

I guess my nose is always in a book or something!  Got any suggested reading items?  Share your own reading lists in the comments or with me via email.  Happy shooting (and reading)!

After some serious burning of the night oil, I’ve got the last Newsletter of the year ready for release – if you want to get it, the push goes out at 10:30am eastern time.  This means subscribers will also get a sneak peak of the final 5 items on the 25 for $50 gift guide list for 2010.  That final list will be released here on the blog tomorrow with full photos and write-ups of each, so if you miss the newsletter, be sure to stop in on Wed. for that.

The final podcast for 2010 is recorded and in the gates, ready to be run on Thursday too, so this is going to be a week with lots of multimedia and distributions for everyone to download and enjoy as we head into the holiday season.  On that note, I’ll be enjoying the rest of this week off (so no blog post on Friday), and hopefully get the rest of my own family and friends shopping completed in short order.  What is it – ten shopping days left?  If you’ve not started yet, time’s a wastin!

And, oh yeah, one last item to note…Lightroom has had it’s latest update to 3.3, and Camera Raw (for CS5 users) to 6.5!  You can grab the downloads here for Lightroom, and on the Raw Converter the downloads are Windows and Mac specific.

So, on that note, I am going to let the powers of scheduled posts and media distribution do their work while I catch up on a few Z’s and other things!  I will check in periodically for comments, questions, and other feedback items, but for the rest of the week, this baby’s on auto-pilot!  Happy shooting, and we’ll see you next week…..unless of course anyone has any questionszzzzzzzzzzzzzzz?

Being the eternal geek, I jumped right in (figured the water was warm), and suggested that it shouldn’t matter because they are using a card reader…right?  As it turns out, they were not, instead tethering the camera to the computer to transfer files.  While this method is needed for instant viewing (see the tethering via Lightroom post using Canon here and Nikon here), it’s not recommended for transferring of your photos and video off a card that is in your camera.  I tried to find a post on this to point the person to and realized that, son-of-a-gun, I had never really discussed this in detail.  So… here we go!

There are a number of reasons why it is a good idea to use a card reader and not connect your camera to your computer for transferring images and video:

1. Data loss/corruption – The chances for losing data is so much higher because you are relying on the computer detecting the camera, and the proprietary interface between that and the computer (with drivers and software and all that jazz).
2. Battery drain – Unless you have an AC adapter, using your camera to transfer pictures to your computer can be a serious drain on batteries…even with rechargeable batteries.  And, if you are transferring images to your computer and your camera batteries happen to die, guess what can happen…(see #1 above)!
3. Software installation – When connecting your camera to your computer, often times you will need to install software in order for the computer to recognize the camera.  Easy enough sure, but do you really want to bog down your computer with unnecessary software?  What if that software is written to preload whenever the computer turns on?  Now computer performance is decreased, you have less space for other things.  Sure, hard drives are increasing in size and decreasing in cost all the time, but consider whether you will ever use the software for anything other than image transfer.  If yes, then absolutely, use it.  But if not – why bother?  From an IT perspective, if there is a way to do something without installing software, that is always preferred to adding another layer because adding that layer adds a breaking point (or point of failure), and it’s just another item that needs maintenance and updates.  After all, let’s face it.  Software is not as cleanly written as it used to be…
4. Transfer speeds – Seriously.  Many don’t realize it, but data transfers happen a lot faster when you don’t have a camera sitting between you and the computer.  What may taken upwards of 3-5 minutes with a camera acting as the medium can often take less than 2 minutes with a straight connection to the media card.

So, there you have it, 4 reasons to use a card reader!  Need any more?  Got any of your own?  Think I’m wrong?  Please feel free to contribute your own experiences and share your own thoughts in the comments.  Until tomorrow, happy shooting all!

1. Battery Caddy – this is probably my most appreciated item.  Ranging in price from $5 to $14, I absolutely love mine and have been meaning to get more.  (Thanks go out to Scott over at Weekly Photo Tips who sent me mine as a prize for a photo contest last year – I literally love this item!)
2. Eneloop Batteries – Since you have a battery caddy now, you may as well stock it with batteries.  Yeah yeah, I know, batteries for flashes are so mundane, but get yourself a set of Eneloops and you may re-think this.  These guys are not only super powerful but they retain their charge much longer than traditional rechargeables.  Plus, they really do seem to have the staying power of traditional alkalines.  A set of 4 of these can be had from any store, whether it’s B&H, Radioshack, or Newegg.  The link above takes you to Sanyo’s page (the folks who make them), and it includes a whole laundry list, which includes Costco!
3. Stickey Filters – Okay, I am cheating here for two reasons.  First, because I discovered these from another list (Scott Kelby’s Gonzo Gear Guide), and second, because the price is actually $49.95.  But here’s how I justify it – you get two sets of these stickey filters, so it’s really like they are $25 each.  Lame?  Kinda, but these are so cool, you’re gonna want a set anyway.  These guys are basically gels that have a sticky side that slaps to the front of your flash and act as a filter.  Boom.  Done.  Stickey Filters look to be so cool!  No more cutting and using Velcro on your flash, no more buying sheets of gels and finding a place to store them.  Stickey Filters seem to be the answer to what the gellin’ photog needs in their gear bag.  Plus, they offer a lifetime replacement!  That’s impressive…
4. Camera Bubble Level – These little doohickeys are awesome.  My bubble level on my tripod cracked about two years ago and the liquid drained out, rendering it useless.  I’ve been meaning to replace it until someone (I forget who) pointed these guys out to me.  It slides in your hot shoe mount too, so you know the camera is level.  Amazon is the linked place, but these can be found many places for $10 or less!
5. Remote cable release – Okay, okay, I also stole this from Scott Kelby’s list, but truth be told, I also love mine (got it at the local camera store for like $39, but that was only because I didn’t want to wait the week for Amazon to ship me one.  YOu can get them for any brand, but I have to go with Canon given the blog name.  It’s linked above, and can be had for $24.95 at the time of this post.
6. Joby Gorillapod – I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve found myself out and about with my P&S only to wish I had my tripod with me for some stability just for a few seconds.  I’d heard about the Gorilla pod but never really thought about it for my P&S because I didn’t have a small portable until fairly recently.  When my brother showed up for the holidays with the Gorilla Pod and his P&S, not only was he more portable, but also more stable.  (Don’t you hate it when your brother beats you at your own hobby!)  I had to get one, and you should too!  For the P&S original, it’s $21.95!
7. Earbud Microphone set – When I first got my iPod Touch, it was disappointing to learn that the included headphones did not include a microphone.  The tech in me should have known, but I rushed back out to get the Apple-compatible headset.  When I didn’t have it with me one day, I tried the set for my Blackberry and sure enough, it worked just fine.  (Why wouldn’t it, it’s the same technology in headsets – all with the same adapter.)  Now that my “Apple-certified” headset has developed a short, the replacement set will be the one from Plantronics for $5 from Amazon.  Shoulda gone there first!  For those out there without iPhones, Touches, or Blackberries – most phones these days come with a headset plug, and the mini-RCA should work in all of them.  If not, you’re only out $5.  Small price to pay for the ease with which these operate (and I think they sound better too!)
8. Microfiber Cloths – I know, it sounds crazy, but these do get dirty themselves and you must throw them out.  No biggie though when a10-pack costs a mere $17.99 you can’t go wrong!  You can get different sized cloths from camera vendors like B&H, and I think even Wal-Mart Visioncare has a 3-pack for like $10 bucks, but I like the ones from Simply Good Stuff (linked) simply because the price is right, they are designed for lenses, and it’s just a cool name for a website.
9. Gaffers Tape – anyone who’s been around photography for any amount of time has heard of gaffers tape.  It’s low tack so the sticky stuff won’t adhere to your gear, but man can it save your $%^& in a pinch.  For a mere $5 you can get 12 yards of the stuff from B&H, so the question isn’t “Why?”, it’s “Why not?”
10. Flickr Pro – there’s so much more you can do with a Flickr Pro account over the standard free account.  At only $24.95, it meets the criteria, and the photog will fully enjoy the added features, including statistics, unlimited uploads, and so much more.  Plus, you can give it to them online, so it saves all that added expense of tape and wrapping paper!

There you have it, 1o things under $25 (well, 9 since I kinda cheated on one).  Have any ideas of your own?  Products or items you prefer?  Something blatant I missed?  I’m sure there are lots of other ideas out there, so sound off in the comments and let others know about your “gotta have it gadgets”.!  Just in time for the holidays too!  Happy shooting all, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you back here on Monday!

So, here are 5 tips for getting your work into galleries:

1. Have a theme to your work – while we all enjoy showing off “Best of” works, that doesn’t really work in galleries, so make sure the work you want to have shown has a theme to it – whether the theme is urban architecture, natural landscapes, gritty portraiture, or fruit baskets, gallery owners will be sold better on displaying your work if there is a flow to it.
2. Follow the submission guidelines – Galleries get people from all walks of life and submissions all the time.  To make their process flow easier, they establish parameteres to make the process easier.  If you want to get into a gallery, respect their time by following their guidelines.  As a corollary, a quick way to get rejected is to think their guidelines don’t apply to you.
3. Be consistent – besides the theme of your work, make sure all your images are printed to the same dimensions, matted the same, and framed the same.  You want the gallery owner to see your work, not a mish-mash of geometric shapes and colors that will only serve to distract them from your work.
4. Deliver prints loosely - in the event they don’t want matted work, framed work, or shrink-wrapped work (many don’t), deliver your prints loosely.  This allows the reviewer to lay all your images out on a table, move them around (seeing how things might flow best on the walls), and awkward mats or heavy framing can be a detraction.
5. Let them know who you are – this doesn’t mean just walking in, saying your name and dumping the prints on their hands.  It means having an Artist Statement that talks about your background, your creative vision and artistic goals, or even a little about the body of work.  Title it how you want, whether it be an “Artist Statement”, “About the Artist”, or even “Fruit Montage” – give the reviewer more information.  Include your name, address, phone, email, and even a website if you have more work featured there.  How sad it would be if an owner wanted to give you a show, but couldn’t find you!

SO, there’s the quick tips for today on how to get your work featured in galleries.  I’ll be back tomorrow with a Friday wrap-up, and some more useful photography information as we head into August!   Don’t forget, tomorrow is the last day to enter your best “Numbers” themed photo in the OnOne Software giveaway.  Check out the details on the Flickr Thread.

Until tomorrow then, happy shooting!

Volumes exist on what lenses to use, how to light, depth of fieldand much much more, but perhaps the most valuable information on how to take great portraits comes not just from technical awareness, but from personal interactions, and how to get people to act natural yet emotive and to let that come through in your work.  While no blog post could entirely exhaust the subject, here are ten quick tips on taking better portraits:

1. Establish a connection – portraiture is about connecting with someone through the image.  If you don’t connect with them through the camera, then there will be no connection in the print.  Make sure you connect with your subjects in some way.  Get to know about them, because that knowledge can transform your vision into really beautiful works of art.
2. Relax the subject – Connecting with your subject means they feel comfortable around you – now the key is to get them to feel comfortable in front of the camera.  Many times this is much easier said than done, but when you do get them to relax, the poses will come more fluidly, and you’ll get better results.  One way I do this is to just start taking pictures of things around us as we talk and connect.  The whole idea of hearing the shutter can be scary to some people, so by hearing it almost to excess and know it’s not on them can mitigate the “scary” factor.
3. Choose a background – if you are in a studio environment, this is fairly easy, but if you are on location, keep your eyes out for backgrounds that provide contrast to the subject.  Are they wearing light clothes?  Look for a dark background.  What about props to give a little more meaning.  Are they sports fans?  Have them hold a football, or stand by a basketball hoop.  Backgrounds can help give more definition to your subject.
4. Have a purpose – try to think of reasons why you are taking the picture.  Is it to record an event, or is it for a model?  What about a head shot for a business executive?  If you think of why you are taking the picture in the first place, that can help give you ideas for how to compose it.  For the event, it’s about the moment, while the portrait it’s about just the person, so give some thought to how to enhance their best qualities and minimize flaws.
5. Create separation – this is crucial to giving definition to your subject while minimizing distractions.  In the on-location areas, look out for things like power lines, nearby light sources and other objects that may detract from the subject.  Here it also helps to keep a wider aperture so that any distractions can be effectively blurred out of focus to minimize their impact.
6. All about the angles – Some people have great profiles.  Striking features can be accented from certain angles and can give greater impact and meaning.  Shooting from below can suggest power and strength (for the business executive), while shooting from above can minimize a body style that is more robust.  Even profile shots can be stunning if done right (hint:  try shadows there).
7. Lights, lights, lights – photography is all about painting with light, so portraiture is no exception.  Whether it be modifying existing light with reflectors, diffusers and shoot throughs, or creating your own light with strobes and flashes positioned off to the side or from above, lighting can create a wide variety of moods and bring images to life, especially in portraiture!
8. Watch the eyes – for any subject, whether human or animals, we like to have the eyes in focus.  It’s just the nature of people to look at the eyes in a subject, so make sure the eyes of yours are tack sharp.  Seeing a persons eyes have often been said to be a mirror to their soul.  You can get playful eyes, soulful eyes, sad eyes, sparkling eyes, weepy eyes, tear-stained eyes, angry eyes, hungry eyes, passionate eyes… (you get the eye-dea!)
9. Clean that skin tone – this means make sure that you are keeping the tones in check.  If the skin is too orange or too blue, add or remove some flash or ambient light.  Here the key is in white balancing your images.  Take along a grey card (even something as small as a 3×5 card can work) and you can set your white balance off that – your skin tones will be spot on if you do – and save you tons of post processing time.
10. Less is not always more – let’s all just admit it, it’s a digital world.  Those pictures are really just data packets and with data being as cheap as it is, we can afford to take more shots.  This can help with blinkers, and if you want to try several poses or wardrobe changes, or lighting changes, or location changes, or group changes (think weddings). or weather changes (think sunlight versus rain, versus cloudy), or….I think the gist is clear again here.

So, there’s ten nuggets.  I tried to be brief yet have some detail, but you can never have enough time or space to really cover something with so much to talk about in a short blog post.  With that in mind, what about your thoughts on portraiture?  Add to the pool!  Got any ideas, DIY tricks or nuggets that work for you?  Share them in the comments or via email.

Before signing out for the day, I’d like to give some special thanks to a few people.  First to Derrick Story for the helpful link from his blog post today about the tethered shooting write-up.  It’s always nice to get what I like to call “a nod from the Gods”, but not only did he write a post about my write-up, he also submitted it to the Imaging Insider, who subsequently included the write up on their site.    Second up, I’d also like to throw some NAPP-Love back to Karen from “Pursuing Photoshop” (a.k.a. Mitzs in the blogosphere, also a member of NAPP) for her link back to the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom contest currently running here on the blog – thanks Mitzs!

Oh yeah, and finally, don’t forget the Photoshop Lightroom contest I announced in last week’s podcast – it’s running over in a thread on Flickr, and the images are starting to come in.  Some really nice ones so far, but there’s plenty of time left in May to enter!  Good luck to everyone!  Well, enough content for one day, so happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

1. Camera Raw Conversion – If you aren’t working in camera raw, here is a big reason to think about it – converting images to black and white in camera raw allows you to make a conversion while retaining access and malleability to all image data. The camera raw dialogs that you should use to make conversions here include the saturation slider, then exposure and shadow sliders, followed by the Brightness slider. Don’t forget to play with the contrast slider a little to enhance the effect as desired. Last but not least, for advanced adjustments, the calibration tab can have effects similar to the Channel Mixer.
2. Black and White Conversion – With Photoshop CS3 and now in CS4, the good folks over at Adobe have added a Black and White conversion  option in the image adjustments menu.  This is pure gold because you can duplicate the image before making adjustments and apply the effect to it’s own layer.  You can also add back in tonal values for specific b/w effects that previously were pretty much out of reach without many many edits, layer adjustments, masks and much much more.
3. Channel Mixer – with your image open in Photoshop (7.0 or higher), you can select a specific color set you want to remove from or add emphasis to in an image. The traditional color sets or red, green and blue are available, as well as a constant (think brightness), and a check box for monochrome.
4. Hue/Saturation Adjustment – whether as a dedicated layer, or directly to an image, the Hue/Saturation allows you to account for different intensity levels of a wide range of colors, from Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, and Magenta. You can also adjust the range of color within one of the default ranges for each set by adjusting the left and right limiters of the color wheel at the bottom of the dialog window.
5. Grayscale Conversions – most black-and-white images aren’t true black and whites, because a little color from a specific range is added back in for emphasis. To make an image truly a b/w, it would only have a range of black and white. This can be done using the grayscale option in Photoshop. Often, this is used as the last step in a digital approach to black and white photography so that saturation and brightness level loss is minimized.

So, what have I added and what have I removed?  The Black and White conversion method is the latest addition, and I jettisoned in-camera conversions.  While pretty much all cameras have the in-camera option to take images in black-and-white, as I have crawled my way up the learning curve, I am cognizant of the fact that if you lose image data in-camera, there is no getting it back afterward.

Well, that’s it – the new and improved post on Black and White conversion options!  If you’d like to read the original post, that can be pulled up from the archives here.  In the meantime, feel free to share your favorite techniques for black and white conversions here in the comments or via email.  As always, Happy Shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

1. You go into a sandwich shop and order a Gallery Wrap
2. You wonder whether “Reduce Noise” will work on the kids
3. You look for the healing brush to fix your drywall
4. Your idea of hitting the snooze button involves cloning the digits because it’s quicker
5. When accused of gaining weight, you say it’s layers you choose not to discard
6. When “Vanishing Point” becomes something you hope can be applied to your in-laws
7. When “Sharpen More” is something you wish you could beat your students with
8. You hear about a stimulus plan on the news and wish it had a “Auto-Enhance” or “More Accurate” option attached to it
9. Your write-in candidate for the last presidential election was “A Configurator Panel”
10. You try to move something by just putting your hand in front of it and dragging…

I know this is just a tip of the iceberg – let your creativity and originality shine through in the comments!  Until tomorrow – Happy Shooting!

Here’s a couple ideas for photo ops this weekend:

• Flowers are always great for photos – get that macro lens out, and capture the detail of the petals.
• Red, pink, blush, browns of chocolate, and much much more – lots of colors.  Throw your lens to manual and go deliberately out of focus for some great abstracts!
• Taking your significant other some place special?  The views are likely appealing, so make sure you take a camera with you (even if it’s a compact). Sunset dinners (sunsets are great photo ops,  in my opinion, no matter how many times they’ve been captured already because each one is different!) provide venues too.  Near water?  Nothing better for reflections!
• Valentine’s Portraits – lots of people become enamored enough to propose during this weekend – seize the day and offer couple’s portraits for the happy pair!

These are just a few ways to take advantage of the holiday.  Ahh, Valentine’s Day – how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.  How many ways can you think of to capture the day?  Share your ideas in the comments section.  In the meantime, Happy Valentine’s Day a little early.  Try not to think of today as Friday the 13th – instead think of it as the day before Valentine’s Day!  Happy Shooting and we’ll see you back here Monday.

As the day starts to fade into the last few hours, I realized nothing had been prepared for posting today.  At times like this, I either decide to make it a “no blog” day, or put together a few brief thoughts, that are tied to photography.  The latter won over today, so for the readers who continue to visit on a regular basis, you are in for a treat (or a trick, since we are getting kind of close to Halloween!).  So, here’s my three thoughtful tips for the day:

1. If you’ve got some blown highlights or high contrast pictures that just aren’t working – try a black and white conversion.  Add a vignette and you may actually have a shot worth keeping.
2. In a pinch, your on camera flash is still a flash…granted not the best one, but with even a piece of regular copy paper in front of it, you can diffuse it and spread the light a little more.  It may not be ideal, but better than the glaring brightness of direct flash light.
3. In tough lighting and no gray card?  Stick your hand out.  Yup, it may not be the best metering source, but your skin can be used to neutrally balance a shot.  From there you can find the rest in post process…

Got any other ideas off the cuff?  Share them in the comments!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Inspired Photography:

25 sources of inspiration

As we all endeavor to find new ways to express ourselves creatively, we can often find ourselves in search of inspiration to give purpose and definition to our expression.  Here are a number of sources that can inspire.  Some are traditional, while others are hopefully new venues to spark those creative juices.

1. Tour a museum
2. Look at others works.  The internet is rife with photo blogs, galleries, and imagery that can awe and inspire.
3. Listen to music – of all types!
4. The dictionary – open to any random page, find the 1^st noun (or verb, or adjective, whatever) and try to capture a picture that encompasses the essence of that word.
5. Take any object you see every day and turn it upside down, backwards or sideways.  Use it in that position for a day or two (unless it’s a drinking glass!)  Your brain will be forced to think differently.
6. Read!  Whether it’s a magazine, book, recipe, or anything, it doesn’t matter.  Go to the local bookstore and pick up something you’ve never read before and open to the first page that catches your eye.  Inspiration can often come from such places.
7. Pick a letter of the alphabet and try to find that in objects around you (buttons on the phone don’t count!).
8. Draw!  It doesn’t have to be structured with paints or anything – use a crayon, pen, pencil, whatever you have handy.  Just start doodling and a direction or theme will come to you eventually.
9. Close your eyes.  Count your breaths.  If you don’t fall asleep you will start to hear things you didn’t hear before, or sense things you were otherwise unaware of.  Pick any one of them and try to define it in one word.  Now take that word and express it with your camera!
10.  Donate some time to a worthy cause.  Pick a cause, whether it’s the United Way, March of Dimes, your church, or some other local venue.  Participating in such a way has its own rewards and often can be an excellent source of inspiration.  The Big Brother/Big Sister program is also a great one!
11.  Buy a compact (you can get these at a discount in places like dollar stores, yard sales, and flea markets.) and use that mirror to look at things.  Looking at the reflection of something can often open your mind to new possibilities. 
12. Take a walk in a new area.  Whether it’s a forest road, a new street, or whatever – new scenes can often inspire.
13. Visit a place you frequent during an unusual time.  (For example, if you get a coffee at Dunkin Doughnuts every morning – try stopping in at night.)
14. Change your desktop to a neutral gray – your eye will start wandering away from the bland to find color or something of interest elsewhere.
15. Plant something.  The act of planting gets you doing something to help the environment, and gets your hands doing something different. 
16. Join a photo club.
17. Sing the first line of the first song that comes to mind – out loud!  Take the third word and find a way to capture that word in camera.
18. Go to the hardware store and stroll the aisles looking at the products.  If something catches your eye, go with it.  If nothing does, buy a box of something, anything.  Whether it’s nails, screws, washers, grommets, o-rings, or whatever happens to be in the next closest aisle.  Take it home and dump the contents on a table.  Take a picture of it.  Now start arranging the objects.  Take a picture of that.  Keep re-arranging, and taking pictures.  Look down at the objects.  Look up at them (if you can).  Put them on their side, upside down or any which way works.  Try balancing one on top of another.  You’d be surprised where this takes you!
19. Open an old photo album and look through some of your past work.  Pick a number and say you’ll make it your next project to re-create that scene.
20. Spell the longest word you can think of.  Now try to find a way to capture the essence of that concept on film! (Anti-disestablishmentarianism doesn’t count!)
21. Dance to the next song you hear on the radio (or your iPod)!  What do your feet do?  Take a picture of your feet!
22. Make a trip to the local animal shelter.
23. Take a self-portrait.  It doesn’t have to be your face – try just your hands, feet, or knees.
24. Organize a photo-walk.  Put an ad on Craigslist or your local paper and make it open to all.  You’d be surprised the amount of people that show up who have ideas of their own to share that can really jump-start your creativity.
25. Go to a playground and play on the swings, merry-go-round, or see-saw.  Act goofy!  Changing your mindset and environment to that of a kid can open up creative avenues that have been closed for a while.

Got another way to inspire or encourage creativity?  Sound off in the comments…meanwhile, happy shooting, watch those apertures, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

1. Back story – provide some background on how you got the shot.  Give it a personal meaning or significance for the viewer.  Often times connections with imagery are because of a personal tie to it – and if you give people a hint of the “who, what, where, when why, how” element of your photos that you share, it can increase the impact.  Just remember, keep back stories short – if it takes two pages to set the stage, the show will almost always disappoint.
2. Backgrounds – speaking of backgrounds, take a look at the backgrounds in your photos.  Are there any elements there that draw your eye?  If so, that is likely a detractor.  Keep backgrounds simple.  If shooting a lot of family members at a dinner, keep the lower edge of your camera above the table line to avoid the distraction of glasses, plates, food, centerpieces, etc.  Likewise, look where people are.  Is it a crowded subway or is it a meadow of daisies?  Either can serve to enhance or detract from your image because the background can take emphasis away from the subject or it can help focus on your subject.  Generally speaking, the simpler the background, the better the picture!
3. Backsides – in family or group shot settings, can you see anyone’s backside?  If so, then their face is not likely facing the camera.  We tend to prefer shots of people where we can see their faces, so if you see someone’s backside, hold off on taking that shot – get them to turn around a little.
4. Backups – It’s been said before, but the importance of backing up your files can never be understated.  When do you backup?  I do it three times – on first import to the computer, after I sort through and delete out unwanted images, and then after I process for print and web.  Typically the latter two will be purged after a month or so of inactivity.  By purge, I mean relegated to the RAID side of the house, rather than the active folder I keep on my desktop.

So, that’s the Back to Basics for Friday.  Any other tips out there I missed where you can incorporate the term “back” into the subject?  I had four, but surely there’s more!  (Heh, if it’s not alliterative, at least it rhymes, right?)  Happy shooting, everyone!  Watch those apertures and we’ll see you back here Monday!

P.S.  Don’t forget about the Photographing Freedom contest now underway here at CB – day 7 of 30!

1. Wedding season kicks into high gear (wedding photographers)
2. High school and college graduation parties are scheduled (which is great for portrait photographers)
3. Engagements are announced (with anticipation of #1 the following year) (portrait photographers again)
4. Family portraits are planned in conjunction with all of the above (portrait photographers yet again)
5. A new season of sports swings into gear such as baseball, soccer, lacrosse, swimming, and countless other summer leagues (great for sports shooters)
6. Mating seasons begin for birds (nature photographers)
7. Rivers, streams, and waterways are teaming with new life (landscape photographers are just ecstatic)

Yeah, we’re all pretty much chomping at the bit to get out and shoot all our favorite subjects as May approaches. So, now is the best time to make sure you’ve brushed up and kept apace of things in the photography world. That means dusting off your equipment, taking a few dry runs, refreshing on the technicalities, and testing your gear to make sure everything works.

What’s my point in all of this? Well, the best piece of gear (your eye, and by extension, your brain) also needs testing. So, stop over to the TOP test, as I’ve rounded out the questions for the Photography 101 – A Primer! It’s a test bank of 25 questions, ranging from the basics of composition, to the technicalities of focal lengths, some basic Photoshop, and a little more. After first releasing the beta version, I’ve gotten some great feedback, adjusted some wording, added some elements, and tweaked some scripting issues to make a fully functioning test to rate your skills in the category of “PHOTOGRAPHY 101 – A primer”. Stop over today, and see how you score! After you’re done, stop back over to the blog to share your comments, or email your thoughts to me directly via the form fields at the bottom of the page.

Finally, I’d also like to point out the new poll again – just started over the weekend, and I would like to see if there is any interest in adding just an audio component to the blog. Thus far I’ve stuck with video as photo people do tend to be visual in nature, and a few penned articles and essays for your reading pleasure, along with occasional photos to share. (Anyone notice the change in format there for photos posted to the blog? A big ‘ole “atta boy (or atta gal) for the first that can tell me what the change was…) But, since I do enjoy listening to the occasional podcast myself, thought that others might enjoy an audio format that is possibly more portable than a video tutorial. The options should be pretty straightforward.

Since there is an option for a “dialog with fellow photographers” I should also mention that the floor is also open for anyone who would like to either take part in a weekly or monthly episode either as a fellow commentator, or as an interviewee. So if either of this sounds appealing to you (would possibly help increase your own photography site’s traffic and visibility – not sure how much though as I only have a PR of 3). Anyway, just opening the possibility for some dialog with others in the community if they are interested. Drop me an email if you are…would love to hear others thoughts on it!

As a bit of Canon trivia and as kind of a PSA, I also would like to share the news of their National Parks Contest, which started back on April 22nd and will be going through September of this year. I suspect I might get an image or two in, so if I make it to the finals, you know I’ll be pumping the vote here! (That’s a big IF though – look at what they’ve got online already! The link for contest info is here.)

Anyway, so much for keeping things short after my diatribe last week, eh? Until tomorrow:  Happy shooting and watch those apertures!