This week is officially “No Blog Week”. I’m going to be super busy and I won’t have a chance to update the blog, so I’m just calling it now. I hope everyone has a great week and I’ll be back next week with some updates, images, and anything else fun that I come up with!
See you then!
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Many photographers are excited about Aperture 3 and all the new features. I am one of those people. I spent the weekend going through Apple’s new software wonder for photographers and I am quite impressed. Many of the new features help cut down the need to go to Photoshop for post production and the ability to import and edit video in the same application you edit photos is outstanding! But, there is a downside – Aperture 3 is EXTREMELY resource hungry.
As a Lightroom 2 and Lightroom 3 Beta user, it was really nice to see Aperture outfitted with some Brushes. You can do a lot of little retouching tasks right there and save yourself a trip to Photoshop. You can retouch skin, remove dust spots and blemishes, brighten eyes, dodge and burn, whiten teeth; basically all the same things you can do in Lightroom. It’s really great.
The import dialog is a little different than Lightroom, but all the same features are there. You can specify how and where images are imported, back them up to a second location, add metadata, and even add adjustment presets to images as you import them. That last feature alone can save you a TON of time in your workflow if you aren’t doing that already with Lightroom and have a common starting place for all of your photos.
One of my favorite new features is the Full Screen mode! WOW! Seeing your images fill your screen like that is just incredible! You can bring up the Heads Up Display (HUD) which allows you to make the adjustments you need and likens the Adjustment Panel in Lightroom. Imagine your whole screen being filled with your photo while you work your magic! The thought of it is pure excitement!
I haven’t yet taken the video processing and editing for a spin yet. I’ll have to get to that at a later time. From watching the videos on Apple’s website it looks to be pretty promising and you can export them to Final Cut Pro for serious video work.
There are some challenges considering my Lightroom workflow is so engrained in my brain, but overall I am incredibly happy and satisfied with Aperture 3. There is one little thing that perturbs me, and that’s the fact that Aperture 3 is very resource intensive and my MacBook Pro lags while making Brush adjustments with my image at 100 percent. That drives me nuts! My MBP has 4GB of RAM and 512MB of dedicated video memory (VRAM) so I shouldn’t have any problems, but Aperture 3 sure sucks up resources. Don’t get me wrong, Lightroom certainly isn’t “light” on resource consumption either but it’s not this bad.
If you have gotten to check out Aperture 3 (there is a 30-day Free Trial), feel free to drop me a line in the comments and let me know what you think. I don’t think the resource issue is going to go away anytime soon, but you just can’t beat working on your images while they fill your whole screen!
Today kicks of the “Winter” Photo Contest and I’m really excited to see some of the images that are submitted! Here’s the link to my original post with all the rules and specifics. The winner will receive a copy of BlinkBid, the estimating and invoicing software for creative professionals! Thanks again to BlinkBid for sponsoring the contest.
In other news, I spent some time over the weekend working in Aperture 3 and trying out a new beauty dish for speedlights. So far, I’m very impressed with Aperture 3 and I think that if I continue to like it as much as I do now, I may not upgrade to Lightroom 3. But only time will tell. As far as the beauty dish goes, I’ll have a full review up here later this week so be on the lookout for that!
And finally, I’m starting to work on some short video tutorials where I’ll talk about techniques, gear, and software. I may even make it into some sort of podcast, but I can assure you that it won’t be super high-tech, but rather more raw and real. Should be fun. Unfortunately, a little case of laryngitis has put a short delay on the videos. You guys would never come back if you heard what’s left of my voice right now. 
That’s it for today, I hope you guys have a great week and for those of you that aren’t working today enjoy your day off!
People make mistakes. It’s how we learn and grow. It’s a part of our history and our future. Photographers make mistakes too. Even great shooters like Chase Jarvis and Joe McNally still make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them so that you try not to make the same mistakes again.
As a new photographer, you’re also going to make mistakes. But don’t worry, you’ll learn from each of them and you’ll be better for it. There is however, one common mistake among new photographers that seems to be repeated over and over again – buying too much gear.
I was talking to a photographer at last weekend’s workshop and she said this a lot, “Someone told me that I needed it.” With all the teasing and good-hearted harassment over those words I think we effectively made our point. I felt bad for her because she had been steered in the wrong direction on many occasions and definitely spent money that she didn’t need to. If memory serves me correctly a salesman at a local camera store managed to sell her a 5-in-1 reflector for $110.00, and that’s just wrong.
New photographers (and even some that aren’t so new) get wrapped around the axle over gear and somehow come up with the idea that they need a lot of it to make great pictures. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – gear doesn’t make pictures, photographers do.
So where exactly does all this bad information come from? It mainly comes from the internet. I can’t tell you how many threads I’ve read where someone was verbally scolding another for using a Sigma or Tamron lens to shoot a wedding that they were getting paid for. There’s something to be said about good glass, but c’mon now.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t buy gear that you need, but the point I’m trying to make here is that you should invest in yourself as a photographer. Instead of going out and buying that new 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II lens for $2,000.00, you could use a fraction of that money and go out and shoot for the next month! If you’re a people photog, hire some models and a make-up artist and go shoot. If you’re into landscapes, take a short drive to someplace interesting that you’ve never shot before. Just go out and shoot!
As a side note, if you happen to get some advice that you think is questionable or aren’t sure about the best thing you can do is ask another photographer that you can trust. Just because someone says that you need that new flash or new lens, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you do.
Thursday is here and the week is almost over. Rather than waste time, lets get right down to what’s going on around the industry:
That’s it for today. I hope you guys have a great rest of the week and weekend too! Don’t forget to go backup your images and clean your cameras! Have a great day!
Inspiration and passion… two words that drive us to do what we love. We can be inspired by many things, yet passion is what makes us excited about that certain thing. This past weekend, I was the host photographer for a really great workshop, and I was inspired. Not only by the incredible information that was being disseminated, but also by the desire of others to learn more about a shared passion.
During most of the weekend, I spent my time helping attendees with understanding some of the concepts that were taught and discussed. Although it was always with me, I didn’t have my camera in my hands most of the time. Did I mind? Not at all. I was thrilled to see the spark in someone’s eye when a teaching point or concept made sense to them.
By chance, I ran into a dancer from the California Ballet Company, whom I’d worked with only a few weeks prior with Joe McNally. It’s an incredibly small world. And although our days were fairly long, I never got tired of sharing information with others or carrying around gear to help set up some of the shots. I am truly passionate about photography… I only wish I had realized it sooner.
When I was a kid, I remember taking pictures all the time. I remember buying lots of disposable Kodak cameras, putting Kodak Gold in a cheap little point and shoot 35mm camera that my parents bought for me, and even convincing my Dad to let me use his Minolta 35mm SLR a time or two. When I was 12, I took a trip to Huntington Beach, CA to see my Great Aunt and Uncle (who still live there today) to spend two weeks out of my Summer visiting them. I shot roll after roll of film. It just never seemed to get old and I couldn’t wait to see the prints after they came back from the lab.
When Kelie and I got married, her older sister let me use an a Nikon N60 SLR that she had turned in to Lost and Found where she worked, and got it back after 3 months where no one claimed it. I shot a lot with that camera too. In fact, I still have a picture of my wife on our wall in front of the USS Barry (DDG 52) in Norfolk, VA. I’ve even got some prints of sunsets, flowers, and other odds and ends that I shot with that camera.
My first digital camera was a point and shoot that my parents bought for us as an anniversary gift. We used it to take pictures of Benjamin, our oldest son. I shot like crazy with that camera too. I have all the photos saved to this day, since we got that camera. I still don’t really understand why it didn’t click in my head that photography was my passion.
The day it did finally come together for me, I was at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. I was out with a friend seeing the sights. I had a Nikon point and shoot with me and I was taking shot after shot, caring about nothing else but the picture. That’s what really mattered. D.C. has some incredible history and I wanted to have great photographs to remember it by. I took one particular shot of the memorial and looked at the image on the tiny little LCD and all of a sudden, the light came on. I had realized what I was truly passionate about. Shortly after, I won a Nikon D40 in a raffle and I haven’t looked back since.
Be passionate about what you enjoy. Love your family and go after whatever it is that ignites the fire deep inside of you. I had the pleasure of meeting some great people this weekend who helped fuel my passion. I hope you have the opportunity to do the same.
Hey everyone, I’ll be out and about the rest of the week but I wanted to share this quick note with you. While I’m out, I’m listening to a new audio book that I downloaded titled, “Crush It” by Gary Vaynerchuk. The book is about entrepreneurship and business and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ll be posting my thoughts of course after I’m done. You can also find it in the iTunes Store!
On another note, I’m gearing up for the Lighting Essentials workshop that will be here in San Diego this weekend! Should be a great time and I hope to learn a thing or two.
I hope you guys have a great rest of the week and I’ll see you back here soon!
This past weekend I headed out with a neighbor who wanted to shoot the moon, as it was the closest it has been to Earth in many years. This also brought about a VERY high tide, which the surfers were loving.
The night before, I was packing my gear and thought to myself, “I’m shooting landscapes so I probably will only need my 24-70mm Sigma and my D90″. I could put those and a flash in my Tamrac shoulder bag and be good to go. Then I got to thinking that if something else interesting came along and I didn’t have any other glass, I might miss out.
I ended up bringing my Think Tank Airport Security bag and I was glad that I did because I was right. I would have missed out. After the moon tucked behind the clouds and the sun began to rise, the surfers hit the water. After I got all my moon shots, I decided to throw on my Sigma 70-200mm and start shooting the surfers. Oddly enough, I’d never done this before.
One surfer, who also happens to be a Coronado Beach lifeguard, came up to us and asked if we would mind taking a couple of shots of him. I gladly obliged and got a few shots that I happened to like.
All-in-all, I was pretty happy at the end of the morning. If I hadn’t have brought my other glass, I would have been out of luck for sure. 70mm just isn’t enough reach to get out to the waves, even as close to the water as I was. This was one time where I was glad I lugged my whole bag, even though I set out with no intentions of shooting surfers. I’m even tempted to rent some longer glass and give it another go sometime. Lots and lots of fun!
So the next time you think about packing light, put a little thought into where you’re going and what other subjects you might come across that would call for different gear than what you’re thinking about packing. It may save you from some disappointment!
Alright guys and gals, it’s time to get those cameras out and start shooting! Why? Because I’m starting a new series here on the blog – photo contests! That’s right, once a quarter (four times a year) I’ll be hosting a themed photography contest and I’ll be giving away some really cool prizes, brought to you by various sponsors. Are you ready? Let’s kick it off!
The theme for the first contest is going to be “Winter”. The theme is open to anything that has to relate to the season, but I’ll get to all the rules in just a bit. Ready for the prize? Are you? The winner will receive a free copy of the invoicing and estimate software made by creatives for creatives: BlinkBid! That’s right, this contest is brought you by the great folks over at BlinkBid and the have graciously offered up a copy of their awesome software!
And now… The Rules
There always has to be some rules, and here they are!
How to Enter:
Remember that the contest isn’t open for entries until February 15th, 2010. Get your cameras ready, go through your images, and get your entry ready! I’m looking forward to seeing all the great work from my readers, as well as giving away a copy of BlinkBid to the contest winner!
Now, get out there and shoot!
