Assignment: Covering A Deployment

At first I thought this was going to come about back in July of this year, but things have worked out a little differently.  Tomorrow I am heading out for a six month deployment aboard the USS Sterett (DDG 104).  Part of my duties involve being the Assistant Public Affairs Officer and Command Photographer.  I will be extremely busy working on projects like the cruise book and other media-related items.

I am looking forward to the trip, although I will miss my family and friends terribly.  It’s hard to beat getting paid to travel the world, take photos, and shoot video.

I hope to visit some great places (some of which I have been to before, and some I haven’t) and be able to experience new things and get some great photographic opportunities.

That being said, the blog here will be a little scarce over the next several months.  I will update when I can, but it will only be when I am in port and able to get WiFi somewhere.  I will post images and experiences of how some of the gear I use has held up.

Thank you to all my readers and I hope that you enjoy sharing in my travels and adventures until I’m back at home again.

All the best,

Stephen

Stephen Zeller Photography Gets A Makeover

I have completely redesigned my website for Stephen Zeller Photography, including a new logo which I had mentioned about a week ago.  I wanted to do with a design that could be consistent with both my website and blog.  This was important to me for fluidity and consistency with the design and function of the site and provides a completely custom user experience.

I used WordPress for the back end, which is great because with the jquery slider on the home page and Lightbox in the portfolio pages my site is completely functional and viewable on the iPad – something else that was very important to me.  I loved the look and feel of my Flash site, but didn’t want to miss out on potential clients who may be viewing my site on their iPad or iPhone.  With as many people that are using the iPad, that’s a huge slice of the viewership pie that I didn’t want to pass up.

Please feel free to browse around the site and tell me what you like and don’t like.  I would be grateful for your thoughts on the design and overall functionality.

Also, if you’re looking for a great WordPress site, check out my buddy Don Giannatti and his WordPress Themes for Photographers.  Don is a great designer and web guy and he can get you set up and running.  He’s also looking to strike up a deal if you happen to have an iBook laying around.

That’s it for today.  I have a busy week ahead getting ready for a BIG assignment coming up.  More on that later on this week.  I hope you had a great weekend and got a chance to get out and shoot.

Also, have you had a chance to check out The DSLR Workshop yet???

BlinkBid Version 6 Mini Review

You might remember this review that I wrote awhile back, about an awesome program that I began using called BlinkBid.  Hands down, it’s the single most effective piece of business software I use aside from QuickBooks.  Why?  Because I can create estimates, invoices, track usage licenses, manage contacts, and more.  What makes it so special?  It was created by creatives, for creatives and it’s highly photography-centric.

Just recently, they released version 6 which provided some really incredible upgrades to the program.  You can read the entire list of improvements right here, but I’m going to touch on a couple that I value most as a working photographer.

Export to QuickBooks!
Yep, that’s right – you can now export data to QuickBooks so that you don’t have to manually enter your financial data any longer.  BlinkBid exports that data in a format that QuickBooks can understand and you can easily import.  This is a HUGE timesaver for photographers, who mostly scoff at the thought of doing business-related activities to begin with.

Bid Consultant
This feature is a BIG one.  The folks at BlinkBid got together with a couple of industry consultants, Suzanne Sease and Amanda SosaStone, and came up with a system for giving you accurate usage quotes.  Now, the program won’t tell you what to charge in terms of a photographer’s fee, but you can certainly count on the data to provide quite accurate usage fee quotes.  This is big if you’re getting into or working on the commercial/advertising/editorial side of the business.  What you used to have to go to several pieces of software to accomplish, can now be found under one roof.  And it JUST. PLAIN. ROCKS.

Here’s a screen shot of the Bid Consultant window that pops up:

So if you’ve been thinking about buying some invoicing software for your photography business and you don’t want to enter in all the items manually, then you need to give a seriously hard look at BlinkBid.  It’s an incredible program that will help save you time and effort that you can put into doing something more fun – like shooting!

Oh yeah, and be sure and tell Lou that I sent you.

Naming Your Art

For those who have trouble naming their works of art… heh.

Happy Monday!

Review: Pro HDR app for iPhone

One of the things that I love about carrying around my iPhone is always having a camera with me – and a pretty damn good camera at that.  One of the things that has always been a burden to cell phone cameras though is that dynamic range of the sensor has been pretty limited, therefore making it hard to capture cool scenes that have a lot of contrast.  If you’re an iPhone user, I have great news for you – you can kiss those sensor limits goodbye.

Pro HDR is an app that was recently made available and it takes advantage of the iPhone by way of blending multiple exposures together to create a cool photograph of a scene that has a lot of light contrast.  For a mere $2.00, you can be on your way to creating some excellent images with your iPhone that were not really possible before.

If you have an iPhone 3G, I’m sorry to tell you that you’re outta luck on this one.  The app requires an iPhone 3Gs or an iPhone 4 and iOS 4.  Sorry new iPod Touch users, but if you have a brand new one there is no support for your device as of press time.  I would imagine that there will be support for iPod Touch users soon, as it now has a camera.

I really love how simple this app is to use.  I can either operate it in Auto Mode or Manual Mode, giving me control over the exposures I choose to blend together.  From there, Pro HDR handles all the rest of the work and blends and aligns the images together to create the HDR image.  Once that process is complete, I can tweak brightness, contrast, saturation, warmth, and tint from within the app.  I can also choose to save it at full resolution or at a smaller 3MP resolution.  I can also choose to save my original captures if I so desire, in order to edit them later.  Pro HDR also features a Library HDR mode which enables the user to import images from their library to process as an HDR photo.

The folks who developed the Pro HDR app chose to stay on the conservative side of HDR processing, which will likely appeal to more users.  While I’m a fan of the surreal look of some HDR work, there are others who aren’t and I think eyeApps was trying to capture the largest part of the market they could with the app.

Performance-wise, the Pro HDR operates seamlessly on my iPhone 4 and I have yet to have the app crash on me.  That’s something I really appreciate these days – more than most people know!

Here’s the direct link to the app in the iTunes Store, so be sure and check it out.  It’s got all the screen captures of the app there, so I didn’t bother to post them here.  Pro HDR is WELL worth the $2.00 and all you’ll have to do is skip a half-a-cup of Starbucks to be able to afford it!

What’s In A Photo Credit?

There are a lot of folks out there who shoot for free – and not because they aren’t good enough to be getting paid for their work.  But they do so for the thrill of seeing their name in print or online, otherwise known as a photo credit.  While this can be good, it can be seriously detrimental to the photography industry and I strongly caution those who choose to do this to proceed carefully.

The problem with photo sharing sites like Flickr is that unsuspecting photographers are approached by people who would like to use their image(s) in exchange for a photo credit.  While the fact that someone wants to publish their work is great news for the new photographer, it becomes a problem for the industry when the use of the photo(s) will help generate income for the person or business who is asking to use the image.

Do I think that photo credits are helpful to someone who is starting out in photography?  You bet I do – with a couple of stipulations. First, if I am shooting something for free or letting someone use my work for free then I require that I am able to get something out of it as well.  If it’s a photo credit, then I require a link back to my website so that not only will viewers know that I am the photographer who created the image, but they can also quickly and easily take a trip to my website and see more of my work.  Second, if the person or organization that I am shooting or providing images for are going to use them to generate revenue, then free is off the table.  If they are going to make money then so should I – and so should you too!  I also try and do pro bono work for organizations that I have some type of personal connection with or strong feelings toward their cause.

A photo credit in the right location can help to get your name out there as a photographer, so it’s not always a bad thing.  If people search your name in Google and find all sorts of links to photos taken by you, it helps with your ‘street credit’ and gives them a little more confidence in you.

I don’t get paid for my work that I shoot for the Navy (other than my salary) but I get credit for every single image.  The shot above was published by Fox News as well as several other local news sources around the Country.  That’s certainly not a bad thing at all!  It goes right along with what I said in the previous paragraph.

Shooting for free or letting someone use an image for free in the right setting and at the right time is a good thing.  Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you should never shoot for free.  However, don’t start out shooting for free all the time as then everyone will come to expect that you’re the ‘free photographer’ and will get upset when you try to hand them an estimate or an invoice.

Put a limit on what and when you shoot for free and you will not only be benefiting the photography industry as a whole, but yourself as well.

It’s All About Light

I am really drawn to portraits that are lit in such a way that the light doesn’t draw a whole lot of attention to itself.  In other words, I like photos that are well lit but not over-lit.  In the photo above, the quality of the light is nice but you have to look around for a moment to really “see” how it was lit.  There was a good balance between ambient and flash and they blended together well.

Once you learn some of the basics of lighting and you have a good handle on the technical side of it, you should challenge yourself to step up your game a bit.  Learn to light a photo so that it looks naturally lit.  The old “key light with two kickers at a 45 on either side of the subject” has been played out.

When you put a little thought into how you’re going to light a photo so that it looks like something you just walked upon you will be amazed at the results you can achieve.  After all, it is all about the light.

Nikon D7000 – My Thoughts

Yep, that’s right – Nikon has dropped it’s newest and hottest DX format DSLR on the world as of Tuesday night!  Today I’ll share with you my thoughts on this new camera and what I like and don’t like.  So let’s get started!  (All images are courtesy of Nikon USA.)

The D7000 is the replacement for the D90 which was announced in the summer of 2008 and began shipping in October of 2008.  The D90 has been a great camera body and it’s worth more than it’s weight in gold as far as I’m concerned – but it did lack a few things.  I’m happy to report that some of those things that I had hoped would be on the D90 and weren’t, are now on the D7000.  Thank you Nikon for listening to your customers!

PROS

Megapixels don’t really matter, so I could care less that the new sensor has 16.2.  What’s really impressive is that it handles ISOs up to 6400 and I’m sure the files will look as good (or better) than the D90′s do at ISO 3200.  That’s exciting!  Extreme low noise performance out of a DX format body.  That just rocks!

The new magnesium alloy body is something that I wasn’t expecting at all!  I’m really happy that Nikon saw that there were a lot of pros who were shooting with the D90 and decided to make the D7000 capable of putting up with a little more abuse.  You will also note that the camera strap eyelets are the same as the D300s, D700, and D3s/D3x camera bodies.  A subtle, but nice touch.  The D7000 body will also be weather sealed like it’s pro-level counterparts, further enhancing it’s usefulness in the field.

There are some other nuances about the D7000 that scream to those experienced with Nikon equipment that the company is marketing this camera body towards pros.  The shutter release button is the same style that is on Nikon’s pro-level cameras.  They upgraded the in-camera light meter, changed the max shutter speed to 1/8000th of a second, and the max flash sync speed to 1/250th of a second.  Oh, and did you notice that you can now selected your shutter release mode (Single Shot, Continuous Low, Continuous High, Timer) from a dial right below your mode selector?  And how about the 39-point auto focus and the continuous auto focus while shooting video?  Did I mention that the viewfinder is now 100% too?

These are all little things that may not sound like much, but to the working photographer mean a lot.  It’s important to be able to change settings in your camera without the hassle of going through a menu to find what you’re looking for.  We would rather be able to know where the dial or button is and change a setting without removing our eye from the viewfinder.

I mentioned video above.  The dual SD card slots allow you to be able to select the function of the second card – say… for videos.  Being able to shoot in 1080p is also nice, although the 720p HD of the D90 and D300s is nothing to balk at either.  Nikon also changed the format of the videos too.  Video is now captured in .MOV format vice the .AVI format of the D-Movie mode cameras.  Very nice touch.  The dedicated video record button will also be helpful when shooting video.  For someone like me who’s starting to really get into shooting video, the D7000 is a huge improvement on the video features available on the D90, D5000, D300s and D3s.  I’m really excited about it!

CONS

It wouldn’t be fair for me to write about all the things I like so far about the D7000 and leave out the things that I don’t like.  I am not a fan of the new battery – the EN-EL15.  Yes, it’s a technology improvement but it makes all the current models that used the EN-EL3e battery (D80, D90, D200, D300, D300s, D700) obsolete.  If I wanted to use the D7000 as a primary camera body and one of the older bodies as a backup, I would have to carry separate batteries and separate chargers.  I’m not a fan of carrying gear that I don’t need to be carrying.  On the upside, I think that Nikon’s future bodies (D400 and whatever else they release) will use this new style battery.  The D4 will likely use a battery similar to the one that is in the D3/s, but I think it will get an upgrade too.

I would also have liked to see Nikon add 7 or 9 frame exposure bracketing to the D7000.  But alas, I guess you can’t have it all.  If I really want those extra brackets I can shoot them manually if I have the time for the particular shot that I’m making.  That feature will mainly appeal to those who wish to shoot HDR images, but even if you’re not shooting HDR it can still be useful.

I’m also not a fan that there is a new battery grip, but with a new battery it was going to happen regardless.  It’s another accessory that would have to be purchased to maintain my current configuration.  However, even if I upgraded to a D300s or a D700 I would be in the same boat.

What Does This Mean to You (or me)?

If you’ve known me for any length of time, you know that I’m not a gear head.  I like to review gear that I buy and use and try new things, but I don’t believe that great gear makes great pictures.  All great gear does is make our job of making pictures a little easier.  So don’t think for one second that going out and buying this new camera is going to have a dramatic impact on the quality of your images.  Think of it from the perspective of buying a better tool that will make your job easier.  Will I upgrade?  I’m not sure yet.  I’m perfectly content with my D90 and even if I did sell it, I would probably get $800.00 at best for the camera, the MB-D80 grip, and the batteries and charger.  (I even still have the box!)  So then I’m spending another $400.00 for the new D7000 and probably $250.00 for the new grip.  Are the new tools going to make that much of a difference to justify the expense at this point?  Likely not.

With it’s high ISO performance, I think you will see a lot of wedding shooters forgo the D700 for this camera though.  It’s got everything they need and nothing that they don’t.  Especially if they are beginning to shoot video for their weddings too.  Portrait photographers, photojournalists, and maybe even some sports photographers will find this camera useful due to it’s greater durability, 1.5x crop factor, and 6 fps shooting speed.  Overall, I’m happy to see my camera manufacturer of choice stepping up their game and putting out such a great piece of gear.  And you can bet that if I get my hands on one, I’ll be reviewing it here on the blog.

That’s it for today ladies and gents.  I appreciate you coming along and hearing me out on my thoughts of the new D7000 from Nikon.  If you’re going to be in the San Diego area on October 2nd, 2010 (or know someone who is), don’t forget that I’m teaching my Portrait Photography Workshop that day.  Come out and learn about portrait photography, lighting, workflow, and more.  Here’s the link for more information and to register! Have a great day and happy shooting!

Style and Photographic Simplicity

Alright, today’s post is completely a rant but I think it’s a very relevant one.  Lately there has been lots of talk about vision and style on the interwebs, both of which are excellent subjects that are very important to photography.  But what’s bothering me is that I think there are a lot of folks (especially newer photographers) that get caught up in what they think is style, but actually isn’t.

Photoshop and Actions
Photographic style is so much more than a way that you process a photo in Photoshop or run a particular Action.  Those two have nothing to do with style.  As my fellow photographer Don Giannatti said, “If you’re buying [Photoshop] Actions, you’re buying a ‘look’ in a box.”  He couldn’t be more right.

People go on Flickr and they chase around the latest trend or current lighting technique or processing style and then set out to emulate it.  While that’s a good way to learn how to do something, it’s not something you want to put in your book.  In the technical age that we live in, there are plenty of smart folks out there who can pick up technique quickly.  Again, it’s a very good ability to have in order to learn.

There are even particular photographers whose work has been aped more than I care to talk about.  Everyone wanted to make their work look like his or hers because it was what was really hot at the moment.  (The operative word there being ‘moment’.)

There is so much work out there that is so heavily processed (and often by someone else other than the photographer) that by the time the image is finished, they can barely call the work their own.  Some commercial photographers take the shot and then don’t touch the image again.  Some don’t set up their own lighting.  Hmmm….

Getting Back to Basics
So whatever happened to the simple, well-lit portrait?  You know, with the kind of soft light you would find from a North-facing window.  It’s the kind of light that people crave and a lot of photographers covet.  It’s soft, pleasing, and really makes your subject look their best.  Where are the portraits that draw out emotion in the viewer?  And I’m not talking about the “hey that lighting looks badass” kind of emotion either.  If you look at some of the work of photographic masters like Richard Avedon or Annie Leibovitz you’ll see those kind of portraits.  If you have no idea who I’m talking about, you need to head to the library and do some studying!

My Own Style
I’m really drawn to portraits – it’s a large part of why I love to photograph people.  I like to shoot other subjects for fun, but people are it for me.  I enjoy the interaction and bringing out personality in my subject.  It’s what makes me tick as a photographer.

As far as my own lighting, you will typically find me putting one light into a 60″ shoot through (sometimes reflective) umbrella.  I will also use a 24″x24″ softbox, but it’s almost always one light on my subject.  One of the reasons that I think I prefer to shoot this way is because I don’t really pay attention to the gear.  I really just need a camera, a subject, and good light.  I love light.

Is my own style complete?  Ha!  Hardly.  I’m still working on it every. single. day.  My goal is cohesiveness and consistency in my work and it can become awfully hard to repeat something perfectly every time you press the shutter release.  Nonetheless, that’s what I’m after.

Rant Over

Thanks for joining me on my little rant, and please feel free to leave comments and thoughts below.  Constructive comments are always welcome.  SPAM and other BS won’t be tolerated.

Also, don’t forget that The DSLR Workshop kicks off on October 1st and you can follow the show on Facebook and Twitter, as well as subscribe to the podcast in iTunes as well.  It’s a free photography show to teach folks how to use DSLR cameras and make better pictures.  Join us, won’t you?

I hope you’re week is going well!  Get out and shoot!

Friday Photography Roundup

For today’s Friday Photography Roundup, I wanted to point you in the direction of a photographer who’s work I really like a lot.  It’s simple and clean and provides quite a bit of inspiration.  The photographer is no other than Robert Wright.  He’s got a really great portfolio book that you have to check out! (Here’s the link)  I’m sure you’ll find his work just as inspiring and refreshing as I did.

As we head into the weekend, I hope you get a chance to get out and shoot a bit.  I’m off to Phoenix, AZ for the weekend to shoot some portraits and also visit some family while I’m there.  I hope you guys have a great weekend and don’t forget that my San Diego Portrait Photography workshop is coming up on October 2nd and The DSLR Workshop launches on October 1st!

Have a great weekend!  :-)