Like a kid in a candy shop, I stood on the bright fresh green grass, eyes wide open watching the Arizona Cardinals on their practice field. I wore my media badge like an Olympic gold medal. This was my first time shooting professional sports and I was quite excited to be there. At the end of the day I walked away with some great photos, but even more important I learned a lesson in the art of mastering your craft.
This weekend is the Worldwide Annual Photowalk, the largest photography event on record. This will be the sixth year for the event and the best part about it is that it's entirely free. The photowalk, which will take place on October 5th, is an amazing way to meet local photographers in your area, spend a couple hours shooting around town with them and make great friends.
The hot topic for wedding photographers is the guests and their smartphones getting in the way of photos or video during the wedding. The topic has been covered on a number of photography blogs and finally beginning to get mainstream attention as well. Fox40 News out of Sacramento, CA published this video yesterday for their viewers sharing great advice for people attending weddings. Great video to share with Facebook friends and fans.
Today registration opens around the country for the new Affordable Healthcare Plans (a.k.a. Obamacare) which will take effect on January 1, 2014. People on both sides of the fence are fired up and expressing their support or disgust for the plans. It got me thinking though: What does this mean for self-employed photographers?
I am a big fan of automating as much as I can in life. As a husband, a daddy to 5 kids and a busy wedding photographer I am always looking for life hacks that can save me time in my day and help me live more efficaciously. One free program that I'd highly recommend to anyone who is looking for a little automation in their life is IFTTT. Here's why.
There is no wrong or right way of naming the folders on your computer. It is really just a matter of preference and what works best in your workflow. Having been doing this for a number of years though I have experimented with quite a few different ways and this is by far the one I like best. Here's a quick video, less than 2 minutes long, that shares with you how I name my folders and why I chose to do it that way.
Often as photographers we put in long hours on our feet, walk quite a bit, bend, crouch, shimmy and shake all while carrying heavy gear on our shoulders and back. At the end of the day my feet would be sore, my legs tired, my thighs chaffed and my back aching. If you have felt the same way, here are three things that will help you be more comfortable and pain free while out on long shoots.
Mark Joseph Solis, a student attending the University of Philippines, won a $1000 prize and round trip tickets to Chile and Brazil for his winning photo in the "Smiles for the World" competition. However, the photo is not his, he stole it right off Flickr. Further investigation has revealed that Solis has won numerous competitions over the last 3 years using other photos he never took, but rather stole from others online.
How would you feel if you were taking photos of some train tracks and suddenly found your name on a list formed by the government of people acting suspiciously? What about photos of planes taking off and landing, sea ports or industrial buildings? NPR reported today that such a list exists and I'll post some shots of it below. If your name shows up on this list be ready to have the FBI knock on your door or give you a call as one photographer in LA experienced.
This morning our community tragically lost an amazing photographer, Marvell Smith. I have had the opportunity to get to know Marvell, or as his friends call him "V" or "Vell", over the last couple years and have a tremendous respect for him as a person and talented wedding photographer. When news got out this morning about the loss, I was truly amazed at how a community of photographers came together over social media groups to pay tribute and make sure V's client's needs are met.
Lightroom released their lastest update today (5.2) which added some new features, addressed some bugs introduced in previous versions and added additional camera raw support as well as more lens profiles. Here's a break down of what has been added and fixed.
According to the Hindustan Times the Darul Uloom, India's leading Islamic seminary, has issued a ruling that "photography is unlawful and a sin." The ruling came from an authority at the seminary after an engineering student requested to pursue a career in photography because it was something he was passionate about doing.
Just about every day I read a comment from a photographer complaining about Facebook making their images look terrible. There are hundreds of websites that have done tests and posted results to show what they feel is the best resolution to post your images to Facebook. Rather than run a bunch of tests I am going to keep things simple and tell you exactly what has worked well for me.
Ever taken a photo only to find dust and small hair particles on your sensor. It can be quite aggravating. Here is a quick and easy way to clean up your sensor and only spend $8 doing it.
Update: The featured video has been changed per request of the photographer that was featured in it. In summary the video showed the back of a photographer standing up in the middle of the aisle next to the front two rows shooting with a 70-200mm lens aiming at the bridal party. I saw this video (video replaced with dancing dog) posted up in a Facebook group I belong to by the amazing team of videographers over at Motivity Films.
Have you ever felt inadequate as a creative artist? Have you internally credited luck to your success rather than give yourself credit for the hard work you put in to get where you are today? Maybe you even just feel like a fake? All of this even though you have worked your ass off to become the successful artist you are today. I know I personally have felt this way on numerous occasions. It wasn't until photographer Sascha Reinking shared a post he got from Brian Friedman in a Facebook group that I realized there is a name for this condition.
"Do you think we could do these photos that I found on Pinterest?" If you are a wedding photographer, or even a family photographer, it is more than likely you have heard this phrase before. My friends, Troy and Aimee Grover, extremely talented photographers in Southern California, decided to write up a post for future brides that shares the photographer's perspective on Pinterest, along with tips for brides. It's a fantastic read. With their permission I wanted to share some of the key ideas with our readers here.
Over the last couple years, more and more photographers are turning towards a new business model of sharing the digital files with their clients rather than requiring them to place print orders to generate revenue. The traditional business model photographers who rely on sales of prints to make money are furious with the growing popularity of "shoot and share photographers" even going as far as "declaring war" against it. Here's what photographers need to know.
UPDATE: Original video was removed, but we found it again! In order to make our subjects look their best we need to be shooting them from the correct angles. Peter Hurley is the master at this and in his DVD he gives so many fantastic tips on how to accomplish taking photos of people looking their best. This YouTube video that popped up today on Reddit is probably the best example I have yet to see of how the simple change of an angle will give your subject an entirely different look. This is might just be the best 14 seconds of your day!
Facebook changed up their News Feed algorithm again in an effort to constantly improve our experience on the site. Their goal is for us to spend as much time as possible on Facebook and in an effort to keep us there they will now be featuring the most highly ranked posts first in our news feed followed by those with less engagement. What does that mean to all of us? In short, it means if you post something boring it now has even less of a chance of being seen. Let me explain.
