When talking to people who are either getting into photography or want to improve their skills at it,  I often find myself giving the following 6 tips:

 

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So you paid a good amount of $ for your camera gear and feel very enthusiastic about taking your photography to the next level. Like everything we cherish and want to protect from damage or abuse we tend to stay on the “safe” side when it comes to using it in places where we might feel could be “risky”. Although this is a perfectly normal behaviour at some point it will likely limit your options and creativity.

A few months ago I invited a friend of mine for a 2-hour swamp walk in the Everglades National Park, where water levels were up to my thighs (and I’m not short!). His first questions were “can we really bring our cameras? What if we slip and fall in the water with them?”. Very valid questions and although I couldn’t promise any safety for his gear I just told him that going there and NOT taking the camera was worse than the perceived risk of damaging his equipment. I ended up going by myself and although I did drop a few items in the water (lens cap, a map, some batteries) my equipment stayed dry in my photo backpack.

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With today’s ultra-low noise dSLR cameras, every one is tempted to use high-ISO values to maintain decent shutter speeds in lower light conditions. Although this might be perfectly fine as people can now take shots that were not possible a few years ago, the art of “dragging the shutter” (using slow shutter speeds) should not be forgotten as it can produce very artistic and dramatic results, unique to this particular technique. (more…)

Looking to upgrade your point and shoot camera? Consider these 2 top choices:

 

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So you’re starting to amass a hefty collection of photos and wonder what’s the “best” and “simplest” way to back them up. This is actually a loaded question as the answer really depends on how much risk you’re willing to take in your photographic workflow.

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Guess what I got for Christmas? No, not the 5D Mark II,  but probably the best value upgrade I’ve made in recent years. I got BlackRapid’s new RS-4 camera strap, a model that falls between the RS-1 and RS-2 in terms of size and functionality. (more…)

For a long time sub $800 LCDs have been frowned upon for photographic work, many pros preferring CRTs despite their shortcomings with color stability and calibration creep. Low-end TN type panels found in the cheapher LCDs are certainly inadequate for accurate color reproduction and can show strong banding problems (low-bit), but in the last couple years I’ve seen some wide-gamut (large color space reproduction) sub $700 models with S-PVA panels (better quality for photo work) getting pretty decent reviews. I had been using CRTs up to now, enjoying the color fidelity but desperately needing more working real estate (had a 19″ Mitsubishi Diamondtron CRT). I decided to take the plunge and get the DELL 2408WFP 24″ LCD monitor. First impressions were that it was a very bright, contrasty and sharp monitor, showing rich and deep colors. I calibrated the screen using the Spyder 2 and got excellent results. (more…)

About a month and half ago I stumbled upon lulu.com, a self-publishing service that offers on-demand personalized photo book (and other types of books) publishing and some potential e-Commerce extensions to sell your publications online. And all this at a very reasonable price since you can order 1 or 500 copies of your publication, starting at $25 for my full bleed hard cover 8.5″ x 11″ 20-page photo book. I decided to try Lulu after test driving their amazing web 2.0 interface. (more…)

A few months ago, I wrote a post on the nightmares with non-color managed web browsers that ignore your images’ sRGB color profile. The only browser that really shows you (out-of-the-box) what you see in Photoshop/Lightroom is Safari, it has built in support for color management and that’s great but it accounts for a very small percentage of web browsers out there. (more…)

 

 

This interview was published back in February 2008 and I just happen to discover it recently on a Peachpit podcast. I thought I’d post a link here to spread the good word. I also shared a quick review on this blog of Joe’s book “The moment it clicks” a couple months ago, and after listening to this podcast I have to say this guy gives some of the most inspiring and profound (yet simple) advice you’ll hear from a pro photographer. Get a coffee, sit down, and absorb as much as you can from this interview. (click on play button below)

 

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