Workshop July 28, 2007: Lots of fun!

Lighting Essentials Workshop July 28, 2007
Originally uploaded by Wizwow

We had a full session this month. It was a really wonderful day, and the photographers, models and I had a fantastic time. We started out with the usual "Light is a Tool" part of the workshop. I really believe that lighting is the most important aspect of an image. Control it when you can, catch it when you can't.

After a discussion that included the Inverse Square Law and it's application as both a tool and a technique, we looked at the ways to modify light and the effect of each. We cover a lot of ground in that hour and a half.

Briana showed up right on time and got ready as we discussed several different lighting tools that are in my studio. We then spent the morning doing every kind of lighting imaginable with Briana. We built a headshot from ground up - from no fill to lots of fill, created a faux ringlight look and did some incredible one-light techniques that resulted in a lot of great images.

We decided to do lunch in and Scott (www.visualville.com) ran to get some subs. We shot all during lunch and were ready to go on location when Christina came.

Location lighting is really fun. We covered found light, natural light, modified natural light, fill flash and flash main outside. Whew... all of that on a summers afternoon in Phoenix. Everyone had a blast learning how to find locations with built-in lighting, and when we got to the part where we pulled a bunch of lights out... whoa. You could really sense the excitement. At one point we were using 3 different speedlights, an umbrella and fill - all outside on a bench.

We left as it started to rain and came back to the studio so we could do just a few more lighting techniques. The 'surround' was a big hit as was the quick tutorial on umbrella magic.

At the end of the day, everyone dragged out... but with some enthusiasm gained from the knowledge learned and excited to try it out on their own as soon as possible.

I love doing the workshops and hope to meet more photographers looking to learn how to light with power and finesse.

Next workshop on September 1, 2007.

This'll Keep You Busy

This list, while by no means complete, is a fantastic resource for photographers who are really wanting to use the internet to build their work, reps and viability. Ignoring these technologies, tools, communities, and groups could come at a perilous cost.

90+ Online Photography Tools and Resources: "Photos are everywhere on the web. From sharing with friends, to editing, printing, buying, selling, searching, remixing and free hosting, we’ve lined up a plethora of resources for photo fiends."

The Age of the Ass

Yeah, it may seem a little OT for this blog, but in many big ways it isn't. Ya know? Do ya?

OpinionJournal - Peggy Noonan: "Technology has not helped in this area. Cellphones are wonderful, but they empower the obnoxious and amplify the ignorant. Once they kept their thoughts to themselves. They had no choice. Now they have cellphones, into which they bark, 'I'm on line at Duane Reade. Yeah. Ex-Lax.' Oh, thank you for sharing. How much less my life would be if I didn't know.

BlackBerrys empower the obsessed. We wouldn't have them if the economy weren't high and we weren't pretty well off. Once, a political figure in New York invited me to a private dinner. I was seated next to him, and as the table conversation took off he leaned back, quietly took out his BlackBerry, and began to scroll. It occurred to me that if I said something live in person, it would not be as interesting to him as if I'd BlackBerryed him. It occurred to me that if I wanted to talk to him I'd have to BlackBerry him and say, 'Please talk to me.' And then he would get the message."

Reading and Comprehension Just Gets in the Way

Doesn't anyone read anymore? Have we become a scan and react population?

I put a small ad in my local Craig's List. It was about two lines and stated that I needed a CSS guru to clean up an existing Style sheet for a template product I am working on. Two hours consultation is all I was looking for, and stated such in the ad. I even asked that they come to my office so I could sit with them and learn what they were doing.

I figured to get a few local designers or college kids who could come over to the office and tweak the CSS with me. I only got one local response, and that was after I hired a guy in Minneapolis.

That isn't the interesting part. I also received over a dozen resumes, letters of interest, full-blown IT brochures and such from US, Russia, India and other places. They were sure I would pick them for the "project" as they included lists of websites they had done, Databases they had built, and extraordinary feats of Interface design. Could their project coordinator call me to discuss my needs? Would it be ok for them to send their bid proposal documents?

For a 2 hour CSS tweaking gig? Really?

One person sent a single line response noting that he had been awarded 17 times for his interface design and was familiar with more languages than I have ever heard of. He then gave me a list of nearly a hundred links to websites he had supposedly done. Sure, I'll go check them out and ... and ... and what?

Point is this. Do you read the RFP and then react or do you respond? Reacting means grabbing that boilerplate notepad doc and pasting it in anything that remotely looks like a gig you may be able to somehow do. Responding means making sure you understand what they are looking for and sending information that is pertinent to their desires.

Sure, there are lots of people aggressively looking for work out there. There is a lot of work to be done. But I can tell you that the chance that I would hire anyone to do anything for me who hadn't taken the time to even read what I wanted is nil. Can you imagine how that project would go? Can't read the ad correctly, probably can't read my specs correctly either.

Trust starts at the beginning of any relationship. Create a sense of trust by responding with information that lets the other person know that at least you can read their request. And that you respect it and them.

"The Love Boat" meets its match

Now this is what I call a cruise. Can you imagine trying to play cards on the upper deck? Yeah, me neither.

Is Success Contagious?

How about failure? Mediocrity? Stagnation?

We know that we can be defined by those who we hang around with. Now we are learning that we can be far more than simply influenced, we can be processed into similar behavior.

Kinda scary, isn't it?

Who are you hanging out with?

Seth's Blog: Contagious: "The most important thing you can do is choose who you're hanging out with. The second high-leverage thing is to put dynamics in place that reinforce the ideas you'd like to see spread. Celebrate the heroes. Make it easy for those ideas to spread..."

OMG... Tour DeFrance Fiasco for Photogs

300mm f2,8 lenses can burn when doused with super-hot melted plastic.

Wonder if Renault will be using this as a promo... probably not.

What happened, it appears, is that while the vehicle was cruising along at about 60 kph ahead of the pack, awaiting an arrival of disks from the motorcycles, the Renault’s turbo caught fire, sending a ball of fire from the front right-hand side along the underside of the vehicle. Within seconds the car was completely engulfed in flames. Thierry Roge, driving, managed to grab his camera bag on the seat beside him and jump out. Ian, seated at our custom made desk in the back, baled out as the car slowed and immediately tried to remove as many personal bags as possible from the back door of the vehicle.

Eric Gaillards computer bag was hurled out first, Ian’s personal bag was next. But the personal bags were very big and heavy and he was only able to throw them about two meters away. Within seconds the heat was too intense to stay anywhere near the vehicle and he had to back off and as the raging fire spat large flaming pieces of burning plastic as far as the few bags he had saved. Thierry and Ian had no choice but to watch helplessly as the burning plastic sparks set their bags on fire just meters out of reach.

It has been quite a week for photographers and fire.

Come on, Time to Get Serious about Your Art

And there isn't any better person to get excited about your art than Jen Bekman. So put your stuff together and enter the competition.

On Wednesday September 5, 2007 jen bekman will present the Summer 2007 edition of Hey, Hot Shot! Winners' Showcase, an ongoing series of exhibitions by emerging photographers.

Enter your photography in to the Hey, Hot Shot Summer competition. If you're selected by our panel of experts, you will be:

• featured as one of 10 photographers in the Hey, Hot Shot 2007 Summer Showcase
• represented by jen bekman : in the gallery's inventory and on its website.
• eligible to be one of 4 finalists who show in the Hey, Hot Shot Annual, and be represented by jen bekman through 2008.

The Hunters Become the Hunted

Легкий информационно развлекательный портал -

Ok, I don't have a clue what that says above. Probably in some other language. Yeah, that's probably it. However, you should take a look at what we look like sometimes. It'll bring a smile.

Wow. I mean, really... Wow

Photos by Rarindra Prakarsa - photo.net

This is, well, pathetic

The world's most popular blogger is an actress who blogs about her cats. I have nothing to add to that. Nothing. Hold on, let me check again... hmmm hmmmm hmmmmhmmmh hmmm... Nope. Not a damn thing to add to that.

100m read daily jottings of ‘ordinary’ star - Times Online: "She told The Times: “I don’t really write about anything too serious, just the little things in everyday life. So it was really beyond my expectations to see so many people reading my blog. Maybe readers are curious to know about the everyday life of an actress.”"

Monk Mania

Thelonious, that is.

'Round Midnight... and Ben Riley only has a snare and a bass... wow.

Ellington's "My Solitude"

I here "LuLu's Back in Town". That's cool, I kinda missed her.

Hey, We Don't Have to Spend No Money Wit You Neither

Jerks. Seth passes this interesting image along with his take on stupid marketers and marketing. So this Yogurt company doesn't like photographs huh? Well, since they are located in public they can just shout all they want. I will shoot the shot anytime I want, and I won't spend a nickel in their pathetic business. If you are a photographer, and like yogurt, I urge to find another source.

Always Well Intentioned...

But as usual, no responsibility, no oversight, no follow-through and no clue... until they are confronted. I wonder if there are some old money folks in, say, Massachusetts who will now start sending unsolicited emails to Nigeria looking for someone there to smuggle a couple of million out of the country? Just wondering.

News | Africa - Reuters.com: "ABUJA, July 19 (Reuters Life!) - Nigerian schoolchildren who received laptops from a U.S. aid organisation have used them to explore pornographic sites on the Internet, the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported on Thursday."

Oouuucchhhh!!!!

... but, alas, so true. Uh, except photography, that is.

: "The marketing of the wedding as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be close to heaven -- or at least close to celebrity -- is explored in 'One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding,' by New Yorker writer Rebecca Mead.

The book is a must-read for future brides and grooms who want to honor the day without getting caught up in the escalating production values promoted by the industry.

'An American wedding is a testament to the enduring desire to have things that seem meaningful and make a statement of commitment,' Mead says. 'People want to know how to get married, and the people most readily available to tell them are the people selling the stuff to do it. There are cultural forces that encourage ‘bridezilla' behavior.'"

How Much TV do You Watch?

Recently I started looking at my "off time" and what I do with it. It was interesting, as I have a home office. Someday I will share what I found, but we are still in the midst of working out plans. This article is a serious look at how we have allowed an entertainment medium take control of us instead of us in control of them.

I will say that after interviewing a few entrepreneurs who have created great success, the below information is not unknown to them.

How Dumping TV Allowed Me to Quit My Job, Create an Online Business and Fund My Retirement Account - SavingAdvice.com Blog: "If you want to know why you don’t have enough money, the first question to ask yourself is how much time do you spend watching TV? It’s probably a lot more than you ever realised. While most people focus on the cost of cable when they think of the price of watching TV, I would argue that a far more costly aspect is the opportunity cost — the things you could be doing during the time that you’re actually watching TV."

"This Just In"

Sometimes Words Fail...

I was sitting here working this morning when I caught a bit of a news report. I perked up when I heard the word "photographer" naturally.

"A photographer's studio was totally destroyed in a fire this morning. It was located near..."

I kind of went a little numb cause I know that address. I know that photographer. I have known him for years.

Rick Gayle is a wonderful, kind man who also is one of my favorite photographers. His studio was well known to art directors and photographers all over the country. His work is world class.

He lost it all today. All. That is such a small word and it means much more. So much more than the three lines in a newscast.

So much more than I can even understand.

Rick, I am thinking about you and will be here to help you any way I can.

Two great software tools

Have you ever wanted to make a screen shot of something you were doing? Maybe to show someone what a proof looks like or how to add a brush to Photoshop? Frustrating, right? No more. And, this is cool, there's one for both Mac and PC. This is amazing technology and you will have a blast with all the things you can do. This one seems to be a winner for me. Free at this time.

The concept of Jing is the always-ready program that instantly captures and shares images and video…from your computer to anywhere.

It’s something we want to give you, along with some online media hosting, to see how you use it. The project will eventually turn into something else.

You have to get this one today! Easy to create an RSS feed from one of your web pages so others can subscribe and be alerted when you add a new pic, news article or whatever. It is free today, then gone. But you should be checking this site daily anyway.

Giveaway of the Day - free licensed software daily: "RSS Wizard is an HTML to RSS converter than can generate the RSS feed out of virtually any web page without having to edit it first. RSS Wizard generates RSS 2.0 feeds and allows you to create, edit and publish an unlimited number of RSS channels."

Wah..Wah.. Call him a Wah-mbulanc

I understand copyright. I do. I sympathize with the guy in a way. But the unmitigated arrogance that it would take to want to shut down one of the most popular sites on the internet, indeed all of entertainment, certainly cannot be ignored. I love it so much when people want middlemen to be the gatekeepers. That takes less time. Less effort. "Make them play nice." Wah... Wah...

I say if someone posts the offending piece, sue 'em Tur. Make 'em PAY. You got lauyuhs... got git 'em. But to misunderstand the entire essence of new media, and want to kill it for everyone else? Good grief dude, how do you sit down with balls that size?

The Man Who Could Kill YouTube - Esquire: "Tur wants YouTube shuttered until its parent company, Google, can guarantee his videos and other copyrighted content won't reappear after being taken down. And even if there's a filtering technology out there that really works (despite Google's April announcement of such a technology, Tur is skeptical), he wants a court to say the law doesn't shield YouTube-like services, so he's protected from whatever site becomes the next big thing."

Look, if you find your video there, get the user who did it and sue the crap out of them. It's America dude, you can sue everyone.

Chuckle... hell... LOL!

Whenever you decide to break copyrignt law on several continents, make a big deal about it, go thinkin' you all big an' bad and you got over on the corporate greeeeeeeed, mannnnn... sorry.
Maybe you should remember to remove the EXIF data from camera before you photograph the pages of the book and post them online.

True, maybe the culprit didn't register it. If he has to ever have it repaired...bam. Sell it, nope... bam. Report it stolen now? Ha, ha... yeah, that'll work. Bam.

Hope the SOB rots in jail. Creep should also not be allowed to create any spawn as his DNA is seriously in the stoooooopid camp.

http://reddit.com/info/27ftp/comments

Wow... now that is a great review!

It is finally out from underwraps. I have been working on this with several developers for 6 months. It started with a lunch where I expressed a desire to have a simple CMS for websites, one that I as a designer could simply 'paste in' and create pages. One of the developers there said that what I described couldn't be done and was quite sure that the requests that I had were only available for a huge budget. I stayed optimistic and expressed that there had to be a way using CSS and AJAX.

A month later I received a call very, very early in the morning. It was the developer speaking very quickly. It seems he had hit on a solution that he knew would work. I met him at the office and by noon had a working demo of a simple CMS tool. I have been working with several coders to get this to the point where it launches. During this time I was also reading Timothy Ferris's book "The 4 Hour Work Week." In it he refers to "Muse Income" - that money that can be made on the internet with little or no time expenditure. That was my desire: to create a tool that will empower anyone to create a place to make some "muse income." Thanks to Tim for that focus. (NOTE: this is not a substitute for the PHOTOtool. Photographers should take a look at the PHOTOtool with the new Free Folio site.)

This tool is for people who want an inexpensive site with the ability to develop pages and have complete control over the content, SEO, and even a complete store. Have a product, or are you an affiliate? This is the simplest and cleanest way to have a professional site. I am quite proud of it and it was given this glowing review at SEOAware.com. Thanks Melissa.

myMUSEsite.com review | Affordable Web Design | Templates |: "I spoke with the owners of myMUSEsite.com for a long time today. We discussed the ins and outs of their software and was able to login and play around with it. There is a lot to say about it and there are great benefits for everyone, as I will explain. This is my review of myMUSEsite.com…"

Just So's Everyone Understands

Sometimes I get annoyed. Not terribly annoyed, or really pissed, or maniacally raging... just annoyed. One of the things that annoys me is the thought that the tools make the result better. Like wondering what kind of Typewriter Hemingway used. As if it makes a difference. Good Gawd... what if it was the same kind of typewriter that Jacqueline Suzanne used? (Or whatever her name was... who cares.) Does anyone care, really?

Lately in design and photography there seems to be a singularly devilish push back to the old arguements: Nikon vs Canon, strobes vs natural light, speedlights vs studio lights, umbrellas vs softboxes, CSS vs HTML, AJAX vs DHTML... whatever...

It is time consuming and mindless and maybe that is the point. We are so focused on the crap we use that we aren't talking about the art we make. Mention the philosophy of creative design on a forum and the crickets will keep you awake. Ask which is better, Mac or PC and you get flooded.

An a recent forum I saw it starting so I made this post: I am repeating it here because it is germaine to all of us.

Chevy? Chrysler? Ford?

Look, getting an image that is great really relies on the equipment used. Everyone knows that. Equipment, settings, tools used... that is what makes a great image. Few really know all the rules, but I have an old folded copy given to me by a guy who dated a girl whos brother once served lunch to a big time NY shooters assistants. I have guarded it for 2 years... Here goes:

1. f5.6 is simply a superior f-stop and should be used whenever possible. People who keep changing f-stops in order to alter depth of field or create subject / background separation just don't get it.
2. Nikon or Canon... it's all a ruse. Yashicamat 120's rule. Most professionals (the ones with real clients) use them when no one is looking... they just use the others for endorsement money. There simply are no great shooters shooting Nikon or Canon. Just ask the owners of each... they know the other camera maker is a sham.
3. There is really only one Compact Flash card that is worth shooting on and I wish I could read the name here, but it is right on the fold. Sorry.
4. Black and white is simply the only true photographic art form. Those of you who think otherwise have been brainwashed by Kodak Kiosks.
5. Mac. 'Nuff said, ok. Don't make me say anymore. Just don't.
6. Lighting for portraits should always come from a medium white umbrella set at an angle not to exceed 40 degrees nor be less than 32 degrees on axis, with a lift - "chin to forehead" - ratio of not more than 12. And it has to be on the left of the subject. Unless the subject is turned around then it is on, uh... well, you know. BTW, those professionals that are listening in... ssshhh, do not tell anyone of the "amalgamated inverse square law inversed" rule. You know what happened last time, and you signed an oath. In blood. In cursive.
7. The truly best photos are always shot during the week as weekends are amateur hours. If you are shooting on Saturday or Sunday you are simply wasting your time.
8. Actually it wont matter anyway, the 'best' photos have already been taken. They are well known and everything else just sucks.
9. If your camera is more than 8.7 months old, and shoots less than 25MegaPixels it sucks. It just does. What, you don't have 25MP's? Oh, well, ummm, sorry. You appear to be right, there are "NO" such cameras. Yep, you are right... I, uhh, take that back. (Aside to the 'real' pros... wink wink...)
10. When designing your letterhead always use San Serif fonts. Always. It is much more professional, looks a lot better than that serif crap and is much more readable. People who design with serif fonts are amateurish buffoons with no, absolutely NO CREATIVITY. Damn it, creativity calls for precise and well defined RULES. RULES!!!!
    

Now I know that there are some people who actually look at images without knowing what kind of camera they were taken on, or what kind of flash card, or RAW or JPEG, or Nikon or Canon, or processed on a Mac or "that which cannot be named" or in color or.... Why would anyone do that? Just to enjoy an image? What? It is all too much for me to ponder, and I retire to the bar for some libations...

BTW... Corona is the ONLY beer that true beer officionados would ever consider worthy.....

A Different Take

When Barber was alive, he forbid anyone doing any transcriptions or adaptations of this piece, arguably one of the most famous of all 20th century pieces. This is a wonderful rendition by a solo pianist who, by the way really gives it a piano flair. Wow... and I bet no one makes fun of him for playing the piano. You'll see what I mean when you watch it.

And here as written for string orchestra ( sorry - you gotta go on over to YouTube for this one.)
Now we move on to an amazing piece by Aaron Copland. His Piano Sonata is one of the 20th Centuries best. Not a wimpy little piano piece either, full of emotion and energy.

Now for one more piece that for me defines elegance. Sam Barber's violin concerto was commissioned for a young violinist who complained after the first two movements that it was too "simple" - too "sweet" and he wanted more fireworks. Barber wrote the third movement with some, well, pyrotechnics may be a better term. The violinist then complained that it was unplayable. Barber returned the commission money and a year later it made its debut with the NY Symphony to overwhelming acclaim. (Morons - ya gotta love em.)Below is the first movement.

Second Movement:

Third Movement: By the way, that debut of the "unplayable" Concerto... the violinist was Itzhak Perlman... that's the guy conducting the orchestra here.


I really hope you listened and gave this remarkable music a chance to touch you. I really hope we don't lose this music and the incredible emotions it can deliver.

28 Tips for Home Based Entrepreneurs

Here is a great blog post rich with links and info! No matter what you do, there will be several posts that you will find invaluable. Check 'em out with a cold one and a notepad.

28 Internet Marketing and Home Business How To's - eMoms at Home - Blogging and Internet Marketing for Home Based Entrepreneurs: "Our second Group Research Project is a resounding success! :D Read on and learn about SEO, web analytics, blogging, social media, copywriting, home business, entrepreneurship and work-life balance!"

5 Different Headshot Techniques

I thought it would be fun to go into the archives and pull out a few shots that used some interesting lighting techniques. From movie lights - yeah, real honest Mole Richardson 2K's - to the largest softbox I ever owned, these shots feature some cool, and easily reproduced lighting schemes. Enjoy over at www.lighting-essentials.com.

Yep... It Works

Erin in a Red Dress
Originally uploaded by Wilgar

One of my workshop attendees is using some of the very simple (yet elegant) lighting techniques. I am a huge believer in light as a substantive property that is malleable and controllable. Light is photography's most important subject.

This image is so well lit that it is hard to imagine that it was lit with only a couple of work lights and a shower curtain. But when you know how to light, the tools become simple to use. And you will find that manipulating light doesn't require a ton of money, just a lot of practice and creativity.

Damn fine image, Wilgar.

Clever....

Good for you, Daniel. Well done.

WaffleBox | How Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) Messes with the Paparazzi: "So, what does this do? This means that any photos the paparazzi take will be worthless because they will look like they were all taken on the same day. They’ll be boring photos that can’t really be used elsewhere since they will only have one photo to sell. Oh Harry! How clever"

John Szarkowski Dies at 81

One of the most influential people in all the world of photography, John Szarkowski will be missed. He was one of the people that I loved to read about. He had the most creative and unusual shows, and they helped define photography as an art form. He was controversial as well, and that just made him even more enigmatic.

In the early 1960’s, when Mr. Szarkowski (pronounced Shar-COW-ski) began his curatorial career, photography was commonly perceived as a utilitarian medium, a means to document the world. Perhaps more than anyone, Mr. Szarkowski changed that perception. For him, the photograph was a form of expression as potent and meaningful as any work of art, and as director of photography at the Modern for almost three decades, beginning in 1962, he was perhaps its most impassioned advocate. Two of his books, “The Photographer’s Eye,” (1964) and “Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures From the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art” (1973), remain syllabus staples in art history programs.

Mr. Szarkowski was first to confer importance on the work of Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand in his influential exhibition “New Documents” at the Museum of Modern Art in 1967. That show, considered radical at the time, identified a new direction in photography: pictures that seemed to have a casual, snapshot-like look and subject matter so apparently ordinary that it was hard to categorize.

This could be more frightening than anything I could ever imagine...

"...according to the American Association for Nude Recreation and The Naturist Society, there is an upswing of people working at home in the buff."

Balintore Mermaid: A Story About the Value of an Image

Here's a great little blog to make a favorite. Andy shows real life examples and tells honest stories about shooting freelance and staff. Take a look at this great little post.

"I was initially offered £20 for that photo of the mermaid, and £20 for another photo to run alongside it. The reason? 'We have no editorial budget.' Well you can be sure that all the reporters are getting a proper salary, along with the designers, the guys running the printing press, delivery van drivers, etc. So why do photographers fall outside the budget?

After determining the intended usage of the photo and the distribution of the magazine, I quoted a price of £125 for the full-page picture and £50 for a quarter-page use of the other photo. Those figures were accepted without any haggling or other unpleasantness. Plus I secured a £50 payment for an amateur whose photo was also being used, although that's being invoiced at £75 because the photo was used larger than agreed."

America's Roadside Bloomery: A Gallery for All of Us

This sounds like a fun project. As soon as it rains and something grows here in the pizza oven we call central Arizona, I will participate. I hope this turns into a great little project with images from all over. Good luck, Floyd.

Fragments from Floyd, Virginia: America's Roadside Bloomery: "It would be neat for contributors from all over the country to offer their images to an aggregate gallery called Unplanted Gardens: America's Roadside Bloomery.

All images would include in their composition a road of some kind, just to place it, and then the wildflowers that grow there unplanted. Hiway department wildflower beds don't count.

Each image should be 72 dpi, max size of 800 pixels on the largest side. Information should minimally include the location, if possible some ID on the flowers, and any other pertinent or interesting information.

If you would like to accept this assignment, send them to me at -- fred1st over at gmail -- with Unplanted Garden in the subject line. I will upload them to a public gallery on Smugmug. I'll collect these through October (there are lots of fall asters, Joe Pye Weed, Iron Weed, etc.) If at least thirty are received, we'll go farther."

Where Have All The Pictures Gone?

Scott really nails a significant meme on photographers minds lately. Prints. Are they important? Are they passe? Personally I love the printed image, the feel of the paper the look of the color, the patina...

Visualville: A Photographers Resource: Where Have All The Pictures Gone?: "A fireman once told me that normal folks will only run back into a burning building for one of the three P's... People, Pets and Pictures. Could you lay your hands on 100 meaningful printed images from your life? I doubt if I could."

Hot? Let me tell you...

Off topic but interesting...

This morning I purchased some 12 pack sodas for the office and forgot them in the car. When I went out this afternoon and saw them, they seemed a little weird looking. When I grabbed the 12 pack of diet Pepsi one of the cans exploded. By the time I had set it down on the ground 6 more exploded and at the end we were only able to save 2 cans. The diet Pepsi Blast fared a little better - 6 cans exploded. The Coke (non diet) seemed to be fine.

The car was in the shade and the temp read 113 ambient. Inside the car it must have been 130 plus degrees. That's hot. In the shade.

You don't leave cameras in the car that's for sure.

McFarlane Site: Cool New Design

Mike McFarlane's site is an example of the new design in photographer's sites. Clean, easy to navigate and very functional, the site looks very hip and fresh. Going to the different portfolios is easy and I love the home page with the news, welcome text, featured images and search engine friendliness.

Many photographers choose to be locked in to Flash sites that are difficult to navigate, have no search engine ranking, and cannot be updated by anyone than the Flash designer. This type of site is the antidote to that providing a simple CSS based page and text for SE's.

Only neg I have is the refreshing page on the galleries. Even on my large monitor it keeps refreshing and forcing to the top. Then I have to scroll. A little AJAX or some cool work with CSS and it should be easy to fix that small annoyance.

Excellent work, Mike.

New Lighting Setup on Lighting-Essentials

Briana's First Shoot: Black Top
Originally uploaded by Wizwow

I have just finished putting up the newest Lighting tutorial page at Lighting-Essentials. It is a glamour post using one light sources - one soft and one hard.

There is also information on using a speedlight instead of 'pro' strobe units and this lighting lends itself very well to that kind of shot. Check it out and please let me know what you think.

Cheers

Silenced... and sorely missed

Diagnosed only two weeks ago with lung cancer, Beverly Sills died last night. An incredible voice, and supporter of the arts and artists, the night will be a little dimmer now. Whether you like opera or not, give a listen to this voice, now stilled forever. You can only be better for the moment.
This is Beverly at 7 years old.

As Queen Elizabeth.


And here is her final perfromance.

Go with God Beverly.

A Tangled Mix for Sunday's Concert

Been thinking a lot about Argentina lately. I don't know why.

Also been thinking of the difference between alone and lonely. My daughter sang this for her audition and I played the piano. That was fun.

Patti LuPone... Damn!

Freddie!