You see, traditional wisdom in saving for web is to follow three steps:

1.  Re-size your images to no larger than 600px on the longest side – this is to make them more presentable in traditional screen resolutions.  Keeping in mind though that as technology has advanced, screen resolutions have increased to include capacities such as 1600×900, I would suggest that if you want people to see your images large (as they are always best viewed), consider changing that to 1000px.

2.  The second step is to adjust the resolution on your images from their default of 240-300 ppi (straight out of camera) to a more web-friendly setting of 72ppi.  I would actually recommend that this practice continue, as it  still is able to retain the detail needed for monitors while reducing the possible risk of having others take images off your website and print them without your permission.

3.  Last but not least, and the point of the post today is that of color space.  Traditionally, the wisdom has said to convert images to sRGB (standard RGB) because most browsers are not color-aware.  Yet recent articles and tutorials I’ve read through several communities have suggested that you can tell shifts in color between sRGB and Adobe RGB.  The test was to output images to both color spaces, and view natively inside a browser (just drag and drop in your own browser without the need to go to any web page).  I did this, but could not tell a difference.  So, the conventional wisdom I am not sure has been entirely eschewed as of yet.  In the interests of gaining some thoughts and perspectives from a wider audience – I have two images that I’ve exported to both sRGB and Adobe RGB below.  I’m not revealing which is which, and would like people to take a look at these on their own monitors?  Which image looks better in each scenario?  Let me know what browser/OS combination you are using and sound off in the comments or in the included poll.  The results will be interesting to read – and I’ll likely follow up later with some more information on color spaces.

Check out the following results:

Scenario One – Hot Air Balloon Ride

Scenario Two:  Botanical Gardens

Can you see a difference?  Can you tell (without cheating on the filenames)?  What are your own thoughts on the sRGB versus Adobe RGB color spaces?  Do you save out to one or the other for web?  What browsers and experiences do you have with these various formats?  For me, the results are in the display, and since I want my images to be displayed with rich and full colors – coming as close as possible to what I remember with my camera eye – I’m starting to choose Adobe RGB for my output format of choice.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

If you ask ten different photographers to identify the difference between a photograph, a picture, and an image – you’ll likely get ten different answers.  The truth of the matter is that there is no hard and fast answer to define the distinction between these terms.  With that in mind though, here’s a proposed explanation of what the differences are as I see them:

What is an image?

An image (to me) simply refers to a file on a computer somewhere.  It’s ones and zeros in the truest sense of the word.  Whether or not someone is actually viewing it is up for grabs.  There is no purpose or intent to the file yet because you’re not even sure if it was meant to be seen or if it is even seen at all.  Further, how someone sees it (even if it is on display from a web server somewhere) is a function of their own setup, lighting conditions, monitor calibration, etc.  To me, when I refer to images, I am talking about things in the strictest sense – simply the storage file that represents the picture or photo that I hope to produce at some point.  To me, an image is a file.

What is a picture?

A picture encompasses the elements of an image – it still has the characteristics of being stored somewhere, but it also (to me) means that an attempt has been made to share it with others, and that there is purpose or intent to it.  Whether that purpose or intent is to capture a moment in time (say from a journalistic perspective), document  a a trip (I was here on whatever date), or even just some candids from a night out with family and friends, pictures are frozen moments in time.  They have all the characteristics of an image, but also add a layer of meaning, and purpose or intent to them.  To me a picture is documentation.

What is a Photograph?

Building further, a photograph encompasses all that we would expect to include in our craft.  A photograph is an image, a picture, and yet also includes something more.  A photograph to me connotes something artistic.  The photo usually means that we’ve gone beyond the simple act of pressing the shutter to capture a moment in time.  The lighting, subject, or angle of view brings an emotional element to the table that is otherwise not present. To me, a photograph is art.

*****

This does not place any importance or relevance of one semantic over another.  Instead, I am defining the terms by means of their respective purpose: storage, capture, and expression being the key elements of each.  This is, of course, not set in stone either.  What about you?  Are there distinctions between images, pictures and photos?  How would you define or classify these terms?  Does it even matter to make such distinctions?  Sound off in the comments!

His image, clearly thinking “outside the box” of a taxicab in NYC just jumped off the page for me:

So, Miguel, drop me a line via the blog or Flickr to claim your Streetwalker Pro and I’ll get this shipped out to you in short order!  Congrats to Miguel, and thanks to everyone who participated – this was an excellent month with lots of great ideas, creativity, and inspirational types of imagery!

With July in the books, I’ve got a really cool product up that saved my bacon more than I’d care to remember.  it came to me from none other than David Ziser when I attended his workshop here in Denver.  He had mentioned a little product called PhotoRescue and it does exactly what you’d think – recovers photos off a card that were deleted accidentally!  Sheer brilliance in design, and even affordable to the tune of $30 if you end up not winning the giveaway!  Here’s the nuts and bolts:

1.  Two images per person

2.  Work/family safe

3.  Shared via the Flickr thread here

4.  Downloadable by me (so I can announce you as the winner on the blog)

5.  Deadline is August 31st (this is a Wednesday too, so not a weekend as is the norm)!

6.  This is a software product so the key is distributable globally which means – no country border limit!

7.  And the theme is…”SAVE!“

So, enjoy it, embrace it, and win!  Some extra goodies may be added depending on how sponsorships and such pan out in the next week or so! Hint hint – more coming than what meets the eye!   Thanks to the folks at DataRescue for the sponsorship, support, etc.

1.  I am moving hosting companies!  The timeouts here on the website have gotten pretty bad, and I hear you all loud and clear.  To those ends, the confidence in my current provider has waned pretty substantially to the point where I am laying the groundwork to leave for a VPS solution that can accommodate my budget.  So, the blogging may be spotty for the next couple days while I prep the behind-the-scenes stuff.

2.  I’m updating the photography website.  Yup, aside from the blog (which generates the greater of the traffic), I am also giving my photography website a serious makeover.  Truth be told, I’ve never really given it the attention it deserves, since most of my work has been through word-of-mouth, and not through my online presence (do as I say, not as I do!   )

3.  And last but not least, I am updating my portfolio.  We all have our favorite designed and layouts, so will be tinkering with a few to present on both the blog and the other domain.  But, since you all like pictures the best (at least Google Anayltics tells me that’s the case), here’s some selects from the latest upgrade to the portfolio:

And since any portfolio also needs a gallery to really give it the full semblence of appeal, here’s the entire collection assembled.  Ideas, thoughts, comments, suggestions and critiques, are always welcome!

Before I go, just two quick reminders for you today too:

1.  The Live Learning Lab Webinar is coming up this Wednesday – where Kerry Garrison and I will be tackling the topic of “Mastering Exposure”.  All about the essentials of getting your exposure spot on each and every time.  Tag a reminder to join us now, and we’ll see you Wednesday!  http://tinyurl.com/6aexmnm

2.  Nations Photo Lab is also in the final two weeks of their scorching hot Sizzling Summer Super Size Sal (say that 10x fast)!  Get 50% off all enlargements up to 16×20.  And if you don’t have an account, open one and use promo code “Jason” to get $50 free in prints when you sign up!  Can’t beat that pricing, eh?

3.  We’re also in the final two weeks of the monthly Flickr Contest – submit your own photo to win a free StreetWalker Pro bag courtesy of yours truly and Think Tank Photo!  Click the link in the upper right corner of the blog to submit your best “Street” themed photo before it’s too late!

I did have some notes to go back to Faxon (the owner): the back of the box had no hanging wire mechanism, which put me in an awkward position of having to nail a picture hanger into the box myself, and without knowing how it was wired up for electrical, made for a potentially damaging situation. The other thing I noticed is that a thin line of light was evident around the perimeter of the box on all four sides. As we discussed at length later, this was an unfortunate side effect of the production line, with no real professional way to mask this light spill (we both agreed that gaffers tape or electrical tape would just look rather amateurish).

Not long after that, I had an idea when noticing a piece of trim molding in my office was peeling…what if there was a thin piece of trim molding that surrounded the print…this could effectively black out the border thereby avoiding the light spillage. I relayed the thoughts to Faxon, and shortly before I left for my trip, he informed me that the 2^nd generation product was ready to ship and to send another photo in for production.

After sending in another image (a sunset over Folly Beach), I got the updated product literally 24 hours before my departure on vacation, and the end of the April contest series…so the review had to wait until now.

First off, let me say that I was (and am) very impressed with the professionalism that Faxon exhibited during the entire research and development process. Not only did he take constructive criticism well, but he also was quick to implement changes where improvements were desired, including not only a photo hanger on the back now, but also the trim molding to effectively eliminate the the white line of light around the border.  Take a look:

The image looks amazing and I was surprised even that it was one from my own portfolio! Give the image quality, back-lit intensity, and visual appeal from this product, I must heartily give it a two-thumbs up rating, even though it is likely still in development. While most products usually are, this one even more so as he continues to improve upon the original design to deliver a better quality product to his client base. For the cost of printing, it almost is a no-brainer to consider these as part of your portfolio of products to offer clients. I’ve seen two different landscapes, and Faxon has shown me displays of portrait work and architecture work as well that have really rocked my socks off!

It’s a great product that will only improve with time, and is something every photographer should have both in their own portfolio, and as a product offering to their clients. For more information, and to upload/order your own images for production, please visit www.backlitbox.com

For those interested in having product reviews done on your own product line, please feel free to email me, as always. I do also appreciate the many requests for reviews of various products from the readership here, and all it takes is a request to me for a review to begin the process of communication with respective vendors for review copies, so keep chiming in with these ideas – it’s your suggestions that keep the product reviews coming, so sound off in the comments with what you’d like me to review next! Until then, happy shooting!

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?

While reading through the Sept. issue of Rangefinder, I found myself re-visiting the subject yet again, and with artists who I’ve seen and admired before, including Clark Little and Eric Curry (you may have seen Eric’s work featured over on David Hobby’s Strobist site periodically…brilliant lighting setups!).  The whole idea gave me a moment of pause – how much of my own work has been cognizant of the power of light? (It was a very Joe McNally/National Geographic type of moment if such a moment could be attained by an aspiring one rather than successful ones like those mentioned above.)

Nevertheless, taking cue from their inspiration, I perused my own portfolio for the theme of light.  It was actually quite extensive, so much so that another theme had to be incorporated to pare things down further.  Since Clark Little’s work has always been a source of inspiration and envy, I decided to go with a water pairing.  How have I managed to capture both water and light effectively?  The exercise was a good one, and looking at your archives with a new vision or perspective has always been one I encourage.  So, without further ado, here’s my take on combining the themes of water and light:

As inspiring as it was for me, take this cue as a source of inspiration for yourselves…pick a theme (or two), and peruse your archives (or go shoot with the theme in mind), and see where your creativity will take you.  Got ideas for creativity along these lines?  Share ‘em in the comments too, as ideas for inspiration are all around us.  Check out what everyone says in the comments section below!

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

In keeping with just going to take it all in, I left all my camera gear at home, save my Motorola Droid, which I wasn’t really counting because that is my phone, and it’s serving multiple purposes.  Yet, (surprise surprise), I found myself compelled to take photos of some of my discoveries from the excursion, so, restricted to my camera phone, I was very much “shooting from the hip”.  While the images are certainly never going to make it into the Smithsonian, some were quite compelling for their historical reference (and to its credit, I was quite happy with the Droid performance given the range of conditions I put it through).

Here is a sampling of some of the more interesting shots of the day, including an old time Apothecary pill manufacturing device:

A milker for the Bessies on the farm:

A broom maker:

A loom:

and a boat:

I’ve already put a few of these on Flickr, so for those of you seeing duplicates, my apologies…

Anyway, fun stuff, and always good (in my opinion) to take some time off to re-set.  You can still take photos even if they’re not works of art, and just knowing your purpose can always help to get the creative juices flowing again.

So, what helps you re-set?  Is it a break from routine?  Taking a trip?  Putting photography out of your mind?  Powering through it with a point and shoot?  Sound of with your strategies in the comments!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here soon with the announcement of the winner for the Lightroom 3 Giveaway!

To start, I took an image and pulled it into Photoshop.  Realizing that I would need to do some virtually identical steps across several images, on the first one, I started the process of creating an action.  The action in essence, creates a duplicate layer of the image, converts it to black and white, then repeats the duplication for another 9 black and white layer copies.  So, ultimately your Layer panel has 11 layers to it – 10 black and white layers and one color layer (at the bottom).

Next, I went to each layer and adjusted the opacity down by 10%.  So, the top layer was at 100% opacity, then 90%, then 80%, etc, etc, all the way down to 10%.  At this point I stopped recording the action.  Now, it was a simple matter of saving each of the 11 total images to a folder.  I started with the full layer set visible and saved to web (Control+ALT=Shift+S).  I saved to a specific folder so that each subsequent image could easily be numbered sequentially for easier management later.  In the end, I had 11 images, numbered 1-11.

For the final step, I opened my video editor (Camtasia) and imported the media.  Here it now may take some trial and error to determine image length, transition length, and if you want titles included.  Next, I picked some audio from the native library and added to the time line.  After clipping and taking the last few seconds for a fade out, the slide show was done. All I had to do now was export and share.

In Camtasia, there are many options to choose from for sharing your work online, from Screencast.net (their host) to YouTube, exporting as Flash, .mov files, .avi files, and many other options.  Here you should choose the one that works best for you and your needs.

Last but not least, it’s just a matter of either exporting the video you created and uploading either to your own host through FTP, or using the native interface to export to any one of a number of video hosting services as mentioned above.

For those interested in giving it a whirl, here’s the action I put together in 10% increments.  Feel free to experiment and try your own settings and percentages to style and taste as needed.

Black and White Layers

Got your own ideas for how to create new effects and appearances with stills in videos?  What are your thoughts on this technique?  Share your thoughts, comments, and feedback below or with me via email.

As a final reminder for the week, there’s limited time left on a couple of fronts:

1. The contest for July is about wrapped up – you still have a chance to enter to win a copy of Lightroom 3 from the folks over at Adobe, so don’t forget to sign up today!  Just submit your photo in the Flickr thread.
2. The Lightroom Workshop Series kicks off in a little over a week in Anaheim CA, with Denver following shortly thereafter.  We’ve also added some webinars for those who can’t attend an entire day, and more info coming on that.  We’d love to see you in on a workshop day though, so sign up soon as time and space are limited!  Signups are being handled over at Lightroom Dudes
3. Last but not least, the eBook is out of the gates and initial response has been overwhelming!  Thanks to everyone who has shared their thoughts and feedback on the sequel for 49 Photo Tips.   The 20% savings window is almost over too, so be sure to get your digital download before the end of the month.  After that, it’s regular price of $4.99

A friend told me about a site that produces tons of free applications for things like video, audio and stuff – that I should check them out.  I took a look and sure enough – there’s literally dozens of apps they offer for free.  Now, my mantra is always that “you get what you pay for” but when I saw they had a photo-specific app, figured I had to at least try it.  It’s called 3-D Photo Maker, and is a pretty quick and easy download/install and to create the images.  (I don’t think there’s a Mac version as of yet.)

It’s a neat idea and I am not sure what algorithms they are using, but here’s the upshot of what it does.  You reference two images and it does some sort of processing to them that theoretically creates a 3-D look.  It was hard to tell the results because you do need those 3-D glasses to view the results, but on a first glance, it’s kind of neat.  Here’s a few sample screenshots from the program:

For those interested in trying it themselves, the download link is here:
Free 3D Photo Maker

It reminded me of an eerily similar experience that happened to me a while back.  I was contacted by a fairly reputable magazine (Charleston Magazine) by an intern, saying they were doing a piece on the well-known Bull Island, and saw some photos I had posted on the site.  They’d like to use them and were willing to offer me a byline in their article.  Even before I knew about Jack and Ed, something smelled funny to me.  I responded with a letter saying that while I was honored they liked my work – a great deal of time and research as well as resources were spent in capturing those images.

Further, while I appreciated their concern for fiscal caution, I could not just simply give the images away.  I conservatively estimated their distribution at under 10,000 and using the online stock photo calculator looked for what the average going rate was for a 1/4 page editorial use.  The rate?  $150/image.  I quoted them this information and said that in the interests of amicability, and because I am not at the top of the photography food chain, I would be happy to give them one-time use rights for that issue at $50 per image and I had some great ideas for which ones they could choose from.

After a few emails back and forth, they thanked and informed me that they were going to go with some contributed images from other local photographers, unless of course I still wanted to contribute my own images.  Again, a red flag went off in the back of my head and I politely declined.  Then the person I was emailing with said something interesting…”Well, maybe we won’t run the story at all then!”  It spoke of exasperation, and my knee-jerk response was – “Why should I care?”  I didn’t say that of course, but let them know it was entirely their decision.

The article did run with some okay images (nothing like what I had even if I do say so myself), but the experience showed me that often the corporate world will always try to get you to relinquish your copyright for less than what its worth.  This same sentiment was echoed almost verbatim in Photoshop User Magazine years later!  I felt somewhat vindicated in reading this from two highly qualified attorneys long after my experience.

The lesson I learned – and the one being shared here today is to never be afraid of walking away from a deal.  If you are in negotiations and a proverbial “line in the sand” is drawn, consider why that line is even there – do they really want to walk away?  is it in their best interests to do so?  Is it in yours?  While aspiring photographers should always consider the value of contributing to charitable causes (and yes, this means sometimes giving your work away for free), a for-profit venture should never ask you to donate images to their cause.  If and when that ever happens, it never hurts to ask “why”?  Sure, in the end I did not have a photo published, but they also did not have the benefit of my images for their article.

Here’s a few images from what I sent them, for the curious in the house (click on each for a larger view):

So, should I have given them away for “credit”?  Would you have?  Share your own thoughts on what you would have done in the comments or with me via email – I’d love to hear what others perspectives are.  (For the full back story on capturing these images, read that blog post here.  Have a great weekend and we’ll see you back here on Monday!

First off, Scott Kelby has announced the 3rd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk!  It’s a pretty big deal now as there are some major sponsors that contribute prizes to this, and it’s just a super cool time.   There are usually a couple that start up for the Denver area, and if you’ll be around, let me know and I can post which group I’ll be in so you can join (or avoid) as needed!

Next up, I am having a couple really exciting podcasts coming up in future weeks, so my one that I recorded over the weekend will never see the light of day – it was a solo run, so not as much fun as, perhaps talking to Rob Sylvan (Also a NAPP Helpdesk writer) or Martin Bailey!  They are coming up soon, and we’re recording soon, so get your questions in via comments, email, or the free 800 line:  866-809-8663!

In other blog news, you may notice three new sponsors in the sidebar:  Adobe, NAPP, and Red River Paper!

• Adobe – So, if you’re trial version of CS5 is almost up – order the full version here and you can still take advantage of great savings.  Just come through the side panel link here to get the same pricing as elsewhere, and when you do, you’ll be helping me keep costs to a minimum on the blog and podcast!
• NAPP – For the NAPP link – you can sign up for a membership through this affiliate link and get lots of special bonuses, and the referral also helps to keep costs down too…(I think you get like 2 additional months free or something like that).
• Red River Paper – These guys are terrific – not only have they donated prizes in the past to monthly giveaways, but their continued support and service to both myself and readers/lilsteners is now available through the affiliate link in the sidebar.  Enjoy (especially their latest Pearl Metallic paper – totally rocks!)!

Finally, speaking of contests, the May giveaway entry deadline has passed and the winner of the free copy of PTGui Pano Software is:  AlinNZ!  Congrats to him and to Alin – if you contact me via email, I’ll get you in touch with PTGui to have them send your license key to unlock the software!  Great photo, and thanks to all for participating!

Click the photo to be taken to his photo stream and comment on his excellent body of work there as well.  Congrats, and for those interested in the June contest – the news is posted on the Flickr site with all the details, so head there for more info.  I’ll go into more details on it later this week, so keep on feedin’ on the blog!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

1.  Download the script from the link above (I downloaded to my desktop on Windows XP)

2.  Copy the script from your desktop (or whatever download location you configured for your browser) to your Photoshop folder, as indicated in the screen shot.

3.  Open Photoshop (if it was already open, you should probably close PS and restart it)

4.  Open the picture you want to apply the script to (I started with the largest size desktop I wanted to configure it for, in this case 1600 x 1200.

5.  Navigate to the Presets option in Photoshop and open the script

6.  The interface lets you select certain information such as the month it will run for, when the week starts, etc.

7.  Special mention here to include certain holidays – if you have custom days (say birthdays, anniversaries, etc) to add, create a text file for reference and point the script to that txt file location.  If you don’t want certain days highlighted,you can leave this option un-checked and proceed with the script.

8.  It may take the script some time to run (it took me about 58-61 seconds to run it on my computer, but I was multitasking with other things at the time…).  When it’d done, you’ll get a stack of a lot of layers that looks like this, with the default layer selected of “Picture Mask”.  Note:  I’d also recommend checking the option to rasterize most text layers otherwise you’ll have up to 30 additional layers of text (one for each day of the month)! The layers underneath this are where all the really cool stuff is, and the other layers are dates and effects that you can change to suit your own tastes.

9.  Once you have tailored the layers to suit your needs, simply flatten, save as a jpg and configure your desktop to use that image!  Since I typically will save to multiple desktop dimensions, I start with the original and re-size to each output, from largest to smallest saving each as a jpg then letting the script use that to create the desktop calendar.

There you have it!  The nitty gritty details on how to create a really slick looking desktop calendar for you and your clients.  Simply print as pictures through your favorite venue if you like and watch the sales come in!

One final little news note that is time sensitive – DIY Photography has a very creative approach to contests and the prize package is worthy of a nod (don’t know how he/she/they managed to come up with this big bag of goodies!), so stop over here and throw your hats in the ring:  http://bit.ly/aRQa9l

See you back here tomorrow for the latest in photo goodness!  I’ll also bring up a couple tips on how to tweak the layers to your own ends, but feel free to begin exploring your own creative approaches!

1. I’ve given my wife specific instructions on how to close the thread, and how to download all the images into a folder on my desktop.  If an image is not downloadable – it’s disqualified.
2. Once the images are downloaded, I look at the details view on my Windows computer.  This avoids me looking at thumbnails and I only see the metadata – if the longest side of the image is UNDER 600 pixels, it’s disqualified.
3. Next, I look at the remaining set, and look for dimensions OVER 800pixels.  Any images that are over-sized – are disqualified.
4. The next test is whether the photo adheres to the theme – so now I switch to thumbnail views.  Any that are not somehow related to the theme are disqualified (although this has not happened yet…)
5. Last but not least, I import the remaining photos into Lightroom and look at in slide show mode.  I pick the ones that either show real artistic expression or spot on composition and color treatment.  The others are removed from consideration.
6. Finally, I pick the three images I think are the “Best in Show” (if more than 3 remain at this point).  I’ll review these three more carefully, looking for things like distractions, depth of field, and other nuances that can either improve or enhance an image, and pick the winner on that basis.  If I cannot decide – I usually will email them to a friend and have him or her look at them and ask for their input.  From that, a winner is decided.

Here’s how the numbers crunched this month:

There were 22 images submitted in the contest thread:

• Round One eliminated5 photos that could not be downloaded
• Round Two eliminated one photo that was smaller than 600px on the longest side
• Round Three eliminated seven photos that were larger than 800px on the longest side
• Round Four eliminated no photos – all adhered to the theme
• Round Five eliminated no photos – all the compositions showed creativity and recognized at least one of the standard rules of composition (rule of thirds, golden mean, creative bokeh, contrasting colors, etc.)
• Round Six was the tough one.

It was tough because I basically had to pick my three favorites and judging here is never fun because you are (in essence) rendering a judgement which is never free of bias or subjectivity.  Nevertheless, three had to be chosen, and the three finalists were decided.  At this point I had to really look at the nuances of composition and the winner was:

Josh Fassbind!!!

The artistic bokeh and dof, combined with the compositional and lighting appeal makes this one the winner!  Congratulations to Josh for a well deserved win!  Thanks to everyone for participating, and good luck next month – the theme for April is:  Balance And the prize?  Ooooh – an awesome prize this go around, because it’s all about balancing things – it’s the Expo Imaging Expodisc!  This beauty is kind of like a filter you place on the front of your lens and by shooting toward the light source, you can guarantee your white balance (get the theme now? ) will be spot on in post production.

This is a fanstatic product which I have reviewed on the blog before and can save hours of time on the computer, and spend that much more out doing what really matters: taking pictures!  Valued at up to $100 (based on the filter size you need for your gear), it can literally be the one that saves the day on your shoot because you nailed some white balance in tough fluorescent phosphorous conditions that could take hours to correct in post production!  So, get shooting because the new thread is up on Flickr and now’s your chance to get out and win this from the generous folks over at Expo Imaging (and thanks to them for sponsoring the giveaway for April!)

For those of you that read my previous post that had panoramas in it (“The Moment it…Oops”) you’ll notice this is a different picture, and in all fairness, I should note that this had more images in it, and I was using a different lens during capture.  But, when I get down to the nitty gritty and review all the programs side by side, it will be the same image.  This one was from our recent Denver Photo Walk group outing to RMNP that I had talked about last Friday here on the blog.  Thoughts, comments, feedback and critiques are always welcome, and since the blog doesn’t really work well with displaying panoramas, if you click the photo below, you’ll be taken to a full (web size anyway) image where you can see all the details!  Enjoy!

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

The spectacular ones are typically the ones we see in print, on calendars, and in magazines.  Yet every day, we find our eyes gazing toward that first and last light…knowing that we could see something magical.  Does this make the ones with more vibrant colors more magical?  The ones with fewer colors less magical?  Perhaps, but consider this – we are always looking for it.  Consider this project: take a picture of the sunrise and/or sunset every day for a week, month, or even a few months.  Take it from the same spot every day.  Find yourself some nice vantage point with some nice accents to the main subject (that being the sunset).  Then, after your specified time period is up, peruse the results and see how many “great” sunsets (or sunrises) you saw.

It could be a fun project not only to help you gauge when the sky will be well suited to sunrises and sunsets, but also to exercise some discipline in taking the same shot from the same vantage point, if only to understand when conditions are ideal.  This could be termed “scouting” in a sense, because you’ve found a nice place, set things up, planned, and then you just wait for the right light.  So many photographers talk about the light, and we hear terms bandied about like “seeing the light”, or “painting with light”.  I’ve heard a few mention the idea of “waiting for the right light”, and it mostly has come from landscape photographers.  This is what they do…they take the same scene over and over and over.

With practice, they can anticipate when the conditions will be favorable.  Their sense are more attuned to things like clouds, weather, and distractions.  Rather than relying on luck and serendipity, they plan, research, and study the scene for long periods of time before they find “the right light”.  Sure, you can manufacture it, and we’ve all seen the wonder shots in the galleries of others – but if you think about the time and energy that goes into capturing that perfect sunrise or sunset, imagine all the “almost” shots, and the time and energy that went into them, I would suspect that many landscape photographers would say there is value in every sunrise or sunset.  Because, even if they didn’t get the light just right in their location, someone – somewhere – when the sun set, nailed it perfectly!

Have you captured your perfect sunrise or sunset yet?  Was it planned or by accident?  Sound off in the comments and let me know if you think there is still value in sunrises and sunsets.  If you’ve got a shot you would like to share, feel free to post that via the upload link too (also in the comments).  Happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow.

Oh yeah, did anyone in Colorado see the sunset today?   Nothing spectacular to write home about, but it was kind of cool colors, and worthy of showing here to indicate that just because it’s not a portfolio shot, sunset shots (in my mind) have value!  What do you think?

P.S.  Don’t forget, the January Flickr Giveaway is in progress…submit your photos for a chance to win a free copy of Photomatix Pro from the folks at HDR Soft.

I think you get the picture…so many questions on “What’s the best____” and almost without fail, the answer begins with an “It depends…”

We all want to get the best value for our money, and it pays to do research before you buy.  No one likes to over spend, or buy something they end up not liking, or even worse, deal with the dreaded customer service lines or phone calls.    Without meaning to sound all grandfatherly (I am only 40 years young…), I distinctly remember a time when we could think for ourselves, and when we formed our own opinions.

This is not to say that seeking the opinions of professionals and/or experts is not useful, because it is.  If Scott Kelby says some photography product or Photoshop plugin is just totally cool – I am going to take a look at that product.  He knows his stuff when it comes to these subjects, and yes, I would consider him an expert.  Am I going to ask him what he thinks the best way to tape drywall is in my basement?  Of course not!  So, seeking expert advice is always a good thing.  But there is a danger in seeking the advice of “experts”.

The danger is that it is so easy to claim oneself as an expert anymore.  Anyone with $10 and an hour can purchase a domain/hosting and set up a website claiming they are an expert in duct tape applications.  People will flock to this site, asking questions about how to apply it in all sorts of circumstances.    What’s the best way to affix bubble wrap to a window?  What’s the best way to tape a package for shipping?  What’s the best way to adhere flashing to an airplane kitchen galley?

Anyone can purport to be an expert, but you need to exercise some common sense in deciphering who is qualified to render an opinion.  Additionally, it may help to exercise a little judgement of your own.  No one likes to make a decision and be wrong.  Being wrong is no fun.  I am wrong on many things, and while I may try not to be wrong – that is something that will never completely happen.  But you know what?  When I make a decision and I am wrong – I usually end up learning more from that than if I take the advice of others and the decision is wrong.  Why?  Because the blame is shifted from me – “That’s not my fault,” I say, “Joe Schmoe told me to do that…he is wrong.”

The thing of it is, whether Scott Kelby or Joe Schmoe tells you something about anything – you need to make up your own mind from time to time.  It’s important because if you don’t make your own decisions, whether it be about dry-walling, duct tape, or photography – your learning curve will never amount to much.  Learn from experience!

Happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow with the Best Blog!

P.S.  Don’t forget, the best contest is going on right now on Flickr – Circle themed photos are being accepted through Jan 29th and the winner gets a free copy of Photomatix from the folks at HDR Soft.

Why you ask?  We have a winner for the December Giveaway!  I am happy to announce that the winner of the December Giveaway Bonanza is none other than:

Frank Sammut!

Frank’s shot of a childs hand, offering up a gift perfectly symbolized the concept of giving, and his blurred bokeh of the holiday theme in the background was just beautiful!  He’s got some great work on his Flickr page too, so stop by and check it out and tell him congrats!

Congratulations to Frank for winning the giveaway package!  Frank, if you could drop me an email:  jason <AT> canonblogger <DOT> com, I’ll get you all the information and relay you to the donors for the giveaway.  Thank you to everyone for participating, and especially to the sponsors, including:

• David DuChemin (for a free copy of both Within the Frame, and VisionMongers)
• MPIX (for a free 16×20 gallery wrap print of Frank’s choice)
• RedRiver Papers (for the specialty paper bundle)
• HDRsoft (for the license to a copy of Photomatix Pro)

It’s also time to anounce the theme for the January giveaway.  We’re going to move away from the seasonally tied themes, so people don’t feel restricted there as different areas are in different seasons.  Instead, we’ll be going with something that is going to inspire some dynamite entries for sure:  Circles

That’s right, we’re going with a shape!  It should be interesting to see what comes in.  As always the standard guidelines apply:

1. Make sure your image is between 600-800px on the longest side.
2. Try to keep things within the current month.  Archives are okay, but preference will be given to current photos
3. Images should be family/work safe
4. Should be posted to the Flickr thread for the current month contest
5. Deadline for entries is Friday, Jan. 29th (again, 3 weeks)
6. The folks at HDR Soft have been very generous and have offered up another copy of their Photomatix Pro bundle for the January winner – so if you are into the HDR craze, or are interested, there’s another chance to win your very own licensed copy!

The January Flickr thread is up, live and ready for entries, so get out and shoot!  Happy New Year and Happy Shooting!

P.S.  Can anyone tell me anything different about the site?  (For you feed readers, come on over and check things out – something is different! )

1. Joe McNally’s Blog – The perfect blend of tongue-in-cheek stories, and yet educational and fun to read!  This quickly ratcheted up to the top of my preferred favorites, and it should be in your list too! (And his books are of the same ilk:  read The Moment it Clicks and The Hotshoe Diaries as soon as possible if you haven’t already…)
2. David DuChemin’s Blog – As David said it best – “Ahhh…..Vision!”  If you are yearning to touch the intangible and learn about creativity, David DuChemin’s blog is a must read!  (I hear he has a few books too!)
3. Petapixel – Very similar to this one, in that it is informative, interesting, and almost always tied to photography.  He wisely started without a vendor association though, and it’s paid off in spades (he’s been around less than a year, and has double the readership).  Of course it could be that his content is pretty kick-butt and mine is just the meandering mind of an individual.  Nevertheless, a great read and congrats to them for the content they are putting out!
4. Strobist – If you don’t know about David Hobby’s site, then you are in the dark (literally!), because it’s all about light!  Anything you want to know about photography lighting, this is the place to go.  With workshops, and primers for both the beginners and advanced shooters, this is an absolute must-read!
5. Canon Rumors – What can I say?  I am a Canon guy, so I am always interested in the news and rumblings of Canon’s next great move in the digital photography realm, and this has become my premiere source of information on the web aside from Canon directly!
6. Weekly Photo Tips – Authored by Scott Eccleston, this blog is a mixture of tips, tutorials, and personal thoughts on a variety of subjects to include gear, post processing, and such.  Worth the read just for the human aspect of photography.
7. Photowalk Pro – Jeff is the de facto master at organizing photo walks, and although I’ve been on walks since before discovering his blog – his insights have helped me to organize better walks, be a better organizer, and his subsequent foray into photography (HDR) tutorials and photo books (a review on his book about the 50D is forthcoming!).  Definitely one worth adding to the reader!
8. The Online Photographer – Not the usual fare, as TOP can get very professorial.  I learn a lot though, and gain insights and get creative inspiration from the photographers and works they discuss here.  The entire staff is great, but my favorite writers are Mike himself and Ctein!
9. Photojojo – What a great blog, creative ways to use your photos all the time.  Not only are the ideas cool, but almost always they are highly economical.  Definitely for the DIY-er!  They also have great photo montages periodically, so also great for inspiring some creative vision!
10. Photoshop Insider – Want to get the latest scoop on Photoshop and photography in general?  Scott has taken a a great Photoshop resource and in the last year, merged it into his own foray into photography from the perspective of being behind the camera.

There’s my top ten blogs for 2010.  It’s certainly not definitive, definitely biased, and subject to change at a moments notice, but as of today, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!  What are your favorite photo-related blogs?  Now’s a chance to shamelessly promote your work (or your friends work) in the comments!

Thanks to everyone who continues to share their photos in the Flickr Community.  I will try my best to get some “favorites” put out monthly from this group, as that is one of many New Years Resolutions I am going to try to commit myself to for 2010.   Some are personal, some are inspired by others.  I’ll likely share more of these commitments going forward as well.  Do you have any resolutions for the 2010 calendar year?  Sound off in the comments!

Finally, stay tuned for the December Giveaway Winner which will be announced later this week too!  Tomorrow, be sure to stop back for more top picks from 2009.  Happy shooting and we’ll see you then!

To help shed some light on the subject (get it? ), we talked to Becky Thomas (aka BecThomasPhoto on Twitter) on the show.  A great conversation, and lots was covered so be sure you give it a listen.  Thanks to Bec for her time – it was a lot of fun.  Make sure you stop over to her site as well for a great dose of inspiration.

Photo News

• Panasonic Sound System NW-10
• Facebook Automated Photo Tagging (Face Detection)
• Price Cuts on Photo Storage from Google ($4096 for 16 TB)

Photo Technical Tips

• Pros and cons of increasing ISO
• Pros and cons of opening your aperture
• Pros and cons of slowing the shutter

Listener Questions and Answers

• Camera Prices/Lines – What camera should you get?
• Difference between a Lightroom catalog versus photo backups
• Which stock agency to use?

To do this review, I decided to just share the work flow on a particular image that I happen really like, but because it was a pretty heavy crop, never really had a chance to see it in print very large as the limitations of Photoshop prevented more than a 4×6 image.   The first step was to open that image:

Here we’ve got this heavily cropped image of a butterfly I liked – and the capture shows the image is a 600px photo.  Way to small to print – I want at least an 8×10.  So, after installing Genuine Fractals, I loaded that in Photoshop by going to the File | Automate option and it showed up in there:

So, after selecting that, I got the GF window, which shows the current image dimensions, and the upsizing options, as shown below:

You can see the default dimensions of 2.5×1.72 just will not work for anything useful other than a desktop background or a postage sized stamp.  I need to make this bigger.  So, I plugged in the values that would take me up to an 8×10, and in this case the aspect ratio wasn’t exactly on, so I took the short side up to 8″, and that put the long side at 11.6″ roughly.  Nothing I can’t crop out a little as I move through post, so here’s the larger sized image.

The little dots are the logo of OnOne software so yo can disregard that because when you purchase the software, those go away.  Instead, click on the image and zoom in on the antennae for a better idea of how it handles the up-sizing process.  I was actually pretty impressed.  Granted this image is unusable as it stands because there is too much jpg artifacting since I was working off an already processed image, but if I was going off the original raw, the results would likely be that much better – and the results are much more impressive.  Take a look at this next one.

That”s the original file, a roughly 15×10″ image, cropped to about the same dimensions and then sized for the blog here.  I’d include a hyperlink to the re-sized version, which blew up to about 75″ on the long side, for the same approximate increase in percentages (500% – GF claims boosts up to 1000%), but it really is too huge to accommodate on the web.  Besides, since it is copyright-protected, just putting that large a file out there is like – oh I dunno – like leaving your garage door open for thieves to steal your car! ! Think about 75 inches though!  That’s like 6 foot wide.  We’re talking billboard sized posters now, and the degradation in image quality is much less because I was working with the original file.

So, whether you are trying to recover size from an accidentally compressed image, or trying to increase an image to use in large applications – you can see how Genuine Fractals might be a route to consider.  It may be a pricey option at$300 retail, but when you sell just one billboard print – the software expense is covered.

I’d give GF6.0 a two thumbs up just because it produces such impressive results.  To me, the proof is in the pudding!  So, what do you all think of the software?  Does anyone else use it?  I’d like to hear others opinions, as well as some alternatives if you have any.  I am pretty convinced, and should I ever need to up-size, I know where I am going from here!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Then, as luck would have it – I had my camera with me today on the way home from work (there were some other trains I wanted to capture on my way in – but the clouds and lighting weren’t as conducive as I’d hoped – plus I would have been late…).  A now-defunct set of boxcars were sitting on an unused rail near the house, and as I was driving down the access road, I saw this scene with new appreciation. I felt compelled to stop and try my hand at a life-sized model!

The results are much better in my opinion.  The new problem – post processing.  As I always try to keep an open mind, after a little post work on exposure, sharpness and levels I said to myself “Wonder how this would look as a black and white…”  How is this a problem, you ask?  I like both!  So, it’s the new poll here – which do you like?

Feel free to share your thoughts on which should be the “keeper” and why in the comments!  Meanwhile, enjoy my latest choice from WTD as we head into the weekend…

Happy Friday and Happy shooting!  We’ll see y’all back here on Monday!

After a fender bender of her own – we finally got home in one piece (but not the car).  Of course, in the midst of all of this, our dog Maggie was just happy as could be frolic-ing in the snow.  Props to Tracy for having the idea to take a few snaps!

But, all is not fun and games in Bronco/Rocky Mountain land.  I’ve been helping a friend work through a bad time, and things just took a turn for the worse with him a few days ago.  Let me set the stage here for hyou.  Imagine you are a Photoshop/Adobe guru.  You know the crap outta all things Adobe.  Working in the industry for roughly ten years.  Now, imagine the company hiring some young gun.   You’ve been asked to train a new guy, then after four months or so of teaching a wet-behind-the-ears newb how to do things, you get laid off.

You knew that was coming right?  Well, now, imagine this:  as work becomes more and more challenging to find (despite the fact that you have practically every Adobe certification that exists), your beloved pet comes down with a time-sensitive medical issue that requires surgery to fix.  And you have no dollaz to pay it!  That, my friends, is no picnic.  Yet that is exactly what happened to my good friend David Zarzacki.  Finally, after some pushing from me, he’s set up a blog to explain the status with his pet, and Paypal links for donations.  He’s had some very generous contributions, but is still only about a third of the way to having enough for the vet bills.  (It’s surgery, after all, which isn’t ever all that cheap to begin with!)

So, please, today, take a moment and stop over to the blog to help save Mojo!  Make a contribution, even if it’s only a dollar or two.  And if you can’t contribute financially, then help spread the word by making a Twitter post, or a comment on your own blog – heck even just comments, thoughts, and prayers are welcome.  Every little bit helps!

Anyway, enough of the friends and snow places – I’ve rambled enough for the week.  I’ll leave off with the link to Mojo’s site.  Happy Shooting all and we’ll see you back here on Monday!  Have a great weekend:

Help Save Mojo

Thanks in advance to all that take the time to visit, share their thoughts, prayers, and contributions.