Tag Archives: photography
Lighting Review: Rogue Flash Benders
One of the most common search criteria on Google that coincides with photography is that of lighting. It’s no surprise as photography really is all about the light, and when making and taking photos (yes, there’s a difference), one of the key things that people can grasp quite easily is the success of a photo is often very dependent on the lighting.
Five Ways to Deal with Harsh/Low Lighting
A common question I get here is how to deal with harsh or low light situations. This is a great question, and for event photographers, it’s simply part of the job to recognize various lighting conditions and address them accordingly. Today, I’d like to share Five Ways to Deal with Harsh/Low Lighting: 1. Cranking the ISO and hoping to fix in post With advancements in technology, noise handling both in camera and in post production has resulted in some astonishing results that in previous years would have been literally unrecoverable. While we should always endeavor to make our images shine … Continue reading
Copyright Isn’t Just for Photographers….
The web makes for an interesting place, and often I get emails from folks asking for suggestions and recommendations on how to best protect their images from being used without their permission (and let’s not mince words here – nobody wants to have their work stolen). Often my response is a bit of this and that, suggesting to make images “web-safe” (i.e. low resolution so they can’t really be re-printed), and to limit the images you publish. (The more you put out there, the more you have to monitor.)
3 Years down! What’s Next?
In the blogging community, a year is a significant milestone, as most bloggers don’t make it to this point. Interests wax and wane, jobs and passions change, and audiences swell and sag as the community of readers often will gravitate toward new topics and content. The idea behind retention of readership is to change with the times. Here at CB/LDP, that has not been a problem. From the beginning, this blog has always been about sharing my experiences in photography with the larger community. So, as new technologies develop, and I learn about them, the writing reflects changes and advances … Continue reading
Digital Photography: Where do we go from here?
I’ve often wondered about the development of technology and the patterns that go with it. As technology has advanced in other areas such as computing, the World Wide Web, and mobile platforms, cameras have also seen similar changes in recent years. The difference between cameras and the rest of the industry though is that with cameras, it’s been a very recent development. Photography has been around a lot longer than the digital world, and the underlying principles and foundations that are the basis for the craft haven’t changed much. Shutter speed and aperture size are still the dominant forces that … Continue reading
Raquette Lake Rendezvous
Every year, the men in the family (cue Tim Allen-esque Home Improvement style grunts) depart from their women and the rigmarole of daily lives to embark on a quest to re-connect with nature. We build fire, we eat man food, we emit bodily sounds not allowed in most social circles, tell jokes that are decidedly not PC or appropriate for most audiences and all sorts of other debauchery. This year I had the chance to attend (I missed a few years due to work), and with a new generation of men-in-training to initiate, it was quite the sojurn! We also … Continue reading
Where in the world am I?
Thanks to the timely receipt of the Photoshop Guys Q&A sets, I was effectively able to go “off the grid” for nearly a week! That’s right – completely off the grid! No email, no Twitter, no Facebook, no phone, no internet – nada! It was quite the enjoyable experience. While a select few people did have a “need to know” before I left, I did try to keep this on the down low…
Q&A With Dave Cross!!
That’s right, you read that right – I got a chance to get with none other than the Photoshop Guys and ask a few questions about Photoshop, their own projects, and tackle everything from product preferences to personal projects and activities, and even a few personal perspectives thrown in for fun! Here’s a chance to catch up on the latest with them including their podcasts and shows. So, let’s just get right down to the brass tacks here…with so much content, it’s broken into three separate posts for today through Wednesday. Getting things started is Mr. Dave Cross!!!
Friday Round-Up
A bunch of news for today – as most of you know, our inaugural workshop was this last weekend in Anaheim, and boy was it rockin’! Great participation, great input, and super feedback from everyone. On the anonymous feedback forms, every ranking was either a 9 or a ten (and there were more of the latter than the former)! Such a rush to see so much appreciation, and Denver is sure to draw an even bigger crowd. There’s only a few early bird seats left (3 I think), so if you haven’t registered yet – better sign up while the … Continue reading
A bit of Tea, Chap?
A recent visit to the parental units in upstate New York was long overdue for a number of reasons. First off, I’d not been back in nearly 4 years! Second, they had done some pretty extensive renovations and were clamoring for family to come see all the newness of their kitchen (and for the record, it was pretty fabulous), but third, and perhaps most importantly – the maternal unit is quite the avid gardener, and she prides herself on the beauty of her English-style gardens.
The problem with words…
Recently, I learned that the Isle of Palms (IOP) in South Carolina has made it illegal for photographers to take commercial photography onto the public beaches. The specific phraseology of a recently posted page for IOP states that: “Commercial activity, including photograpy, is prohibited on the Isle of Palms beach. Unless a special exemption is granted by City Council, photographers who take portraits or photographs on the Isle of Palms beach as part of a commercial transaction are in violation of City ordinances.” For now I will ignore the part where they mis-spelled photography as ‘photograpy’ (because it’s probably just … Continue reading
Shooting From the Hip
While recently taking a reality break and visiting family in my old stomping grounds, I had a chance to tour the Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown, NY. Viewing museums like these is a lot of fun for both kids and adults – kids because of the activities, and adults because I think as you get older, you can start to appreciate with more awareness just how tough things were (or how easy they are now).
Inner Reflection: The What vs The Why
Hello CanonBloggers! First off, I’d like to thank Jason for the flattering acceptance of my offer to guest blog this post. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most eloquent when it comes to introductions, so for those of you who aren’t familiar with myself or PhotographyBB, I’m Dave Seeram, Editor of the PhotographyBB Online Magazine. As I am sure most of you are aware, Jason has been a contributing author for the PhotographyBB Online Magazine since our first year (now into our third). I thought that after all the hard work Jason has done for us … Continue reading
What Moves You?
The question of what moves us as photographers is one that everyone eventually questions at some point. Whether this comes early in your pursuit or later…at some point everyone considers where their real passion for a particular artistic genre exists. Whether that art form is painting, sculpting, musical, or photographic in nature, the question is one that will always persist. I’ve asked this question before in an essay simply titled “Why?”, and there have looked to answer the question from an esoteric perspective. (Feel free to read the essay yourself from the PDF article here.) However, today it’s more of … Continue reading
Picking a Theme
We all get stuck in creative ruts, and are in search of ways to inspire ourselves. Kerry Garrison (form Camera Dojo) and I talked about this last night while we explored the place that smart phones and their cameras have in the photography marketplace. As the conversation went on (and on and on – we tend to digress a lot when we get to talking), we found ourselves talking about 365 projects, or photo-a-day projects, and ways to challenge yourself and come up with new topics to shoot. The idea of themes presented itself, and while this is nothing new … Continue reading
Cleaning House – Is Flickr your storage or showcase photos?
How do you know it’s time to clean the house? For me it’s usually when i see a thin layer of dust, or when the dirty clothes pile exceeds the clean clothes pile. Another definition would be when you run out of clean dishes (or start buying disposable because all the regular ones are still dirty. We all have benchmarks that we use to decide when it’s time to “tidy things up”. But – what about your photography portfolio? Do you clean it up regularly?
Sharing your photos online
Posting your photos online has become an almost expected step in becoming known as a photographer. People want to see your website. You are judged on not only the quality of the photos but the quality of the website as well. So, when I found a plugin made by a company called Cincopa that lets you insert browse-able galleries into your posts, I was intrigued. I signed up for a free service, and shortly after signing up, ran out of bandwidth. (200MB/month limit).
Photoshop is not a bad word
A lot of photography conversations revolve around the question of how much editing has been done to a picture. Terms like “sooc” (for straight out of camera) or raw, or “minimal editing” are involved. I also have been known to encourage capturing the best pictures you can in camera. But does that mean editing in post process is a bad thing? No, definitely not. For some, it has become a bad thing though, and phrases where “photoshop” has become a verb have been bandied about a lot. I’ve heard everyone from amateurs to pros say things like “We’ll just photoshop … Continue reading
The Photographer’s Workout
You’d think with toting camera bags chock full of bodies, lenses, field drives, lighting equipment, filters, tripods, monopods, and batteries would be enough to give anyone a workout who carries it all day. It is a lot of stuff to carry, and you can certainly accredit some cardio to this activity, but there’s other ways to work out as a photographer. Today, I give you: 5 Photography Exercises
Free advertising from me today…
Being in Colorado, I am always one of the first to read the latest blogs for the day because East Coasters usually set their publish time to somewhere between midnight and 2am, which means between 10pm and midnight my time, I can catch up on all the news that is going to hit in the morning. (California folks got me beat by an hour…) So, when Scott Kelby’s blog went live a while ago, he was encouraging people to join the Kelby Training website with a video teaser compiled by his chief video guru, Jason Scrivner. It’s a pretty funny … Continue reading
Cultures Colliding – a Podcast with Martin Bailey!
On this week’s show, we’ve got a lot to talk about including a couple of particular news stories to note, with a little insight from the crew, we’ll be taking your questions and answers on the show and the special guest of the week for this show is none other than the well-reknowned Martin Bailey! Photo News 1. 3rd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk has been announced by Scott Kelby, and details are here. 2. Lightroom 3 was announced last week Monday – and is available to purchase and download…you can also download a 30 day trial for free from Adobe … Continue reading
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
Five Tips to Better Photos
With the sudden surge and swell in the blogosphere, Twittersphere and Photosphere over Lightroom 3 hitting the streets (and a nice combo discount is available in the sidebar by the way), let’s not forget that this software is all meant to be doing one thing – letting us get back to the business of taking photos instead of spending our time in our computer. With that in mind, I’m bringing back a popular concept of “Top Tips”. Today, I give you…(drum roll please): “Five Tips to Better Photos” Be Ware of Exposure Values – No matter how good your camera … Continue reading
Lightroom 3 Q&A (Beta)
What a great day to release a new podcast – with the final release of LR coming out very soon, I had the distinct opportunity to talk with Rob Sylvan, author of LR2 for Dummies, and the forthcoming Taking Stock. We talked a lot about Lightroom, working at NAPP, and took a few listener questions and answers. More photo news, additional Q&A, and a new feed for the podcast start today, so be sure to download the latest show. You’ll notice I have pulled the feed back to this site, and the format is more iTunes compatible (m4a) so you … Continue reading
Nothing But the Tail Lights
In the course of pursuing creative inspiration, I’ve often found that just picking a subject and sticking with it can be a good exercise in creativity. Taking something and focusing (no pun intended) on that subject and only that subject can help you see things differently. The exercise is good whether your subject is flowers, thumb drives, coffee mugs (which I’ve done in the past), or in this case – tail lights! [cincopa 10624678] As you can tell, some of the shots are pretty cool, others – well, not so much. Some are out of focus, some are boring, but … Continue reading
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