Tag Archives: Photography

Promoting the Passion

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This week I needed to put together an advertisement to promote my passion for photography. This is what I came up with.

Our daughter, Lydia, is rehearsing for the high school musical, “Oklahoma,” which will open in the middle of March. I purchased a full-page ad in their musical program, which will be given to the audience members who come to watch the musical. I figure it is just one additional way to promote my photo passion and perhaps help to pay a few of the bills. After all, I did just buy a new piece of equipment! (More on that later in an upcoming blog post)

So, how to promote my passion. I always figure that the photos do speak for themselves, so I decided to start with some photos. My training in communications at Temple University taught me that less is more, so a simple, clean design was also imperative. Of course, with any promotion or the Five Channels marketing tool I also needed to include the pertinent information of how my photo passion can maybe help someone else out.

So, after an hour of thinking, creating, and designing, this is what I came up with for the ad. How do you promote your passion?

 

Taking It One Step Farther – Using the Matte Frame Effect from Lightroom

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Yesterday, I shared how to create a Photoshop action to create a Matte Frame Effect for your photographs. I am using this method for both my photo blog and, with slightly larger images, on Google+. The process is quick and simple once set up. However, I wanted to see if I could execute the process right from Lightroom instead of having to switch software programs manually. It worked!

I will explain this process, taking it one step farther, so if you have Photoshop and Lightoom, you will be able to replicate this for yourself. The goal is to make it easier to make photographs ready to share with others.

Here are the steps to using the effect from Lightroom. I am assuming you already created the action I shared in yesterday’s blog post. You should add another step to that action to have it automatically save the newly created framed photo. Do this by clicking on the last step of the action and then recording: File, Save As, Format=JPG, Save, and then click OK for the JPG option. (I allow the “copy” to remain the suggested file name) Now stop recording the Action. Then test the action in Photoshop to make sure it works properly.

Taking It One Step Farther…

Step 1 : Create a droplet in Photoshop by clicking on File, Automate, and Create Droplet. Choose the Desktop as the location to save the droplet, this way it will be easy to access for the next step. Choose the Action you created yesterday from the drop-down box. Then click the OK button. This creates a Droplet that now appears on your Desktop.

Step 2: Open Lightroom. From the Grid screen, click on Export in the bottom left portion of the screen. I previously created a User Preset, which sizes the image and sets other preferred options for exporting to my blog. You need to create such a preset for yourself.

Step 3: From your Desktop, right click on the newly created Droplet and choose Copy. Now go to Lightoom and from the Grid Display click on Export. Click on your newly created preset to use for this procedure, and go to the bottom and click the After Export: Option Box and choose Go to Export Actions Folder Now. Click on the Folder “Export Action” and right click and Paste. This puts the droplet into the Actions Folder in Lightroom so you can later delete the Droplet from your Desktop. Close this folder box once pasting is completed and go to the After Export option and click on the Option Box. You should now see the Droplet listed here. If not, close Lightroom and try again.

Using the Procedure:

Start Lightroom and go to the Grid Display and click on a photograph. Now click on Export. Then click on the User Preset you created and valla the process is executed and you just created a Matte Frame of that photograph! I created two different Actions and Presets–one for horizontal photos and one for vertical photos. I also created two different ones for when I want to post in Google+ since I use slightly larger images when posting there. I love this process because it makes posting photos quick and easy.

Again, this all sounds much more complicated than it really is in actuality. Follow the steps and get it to work for you. It is a great way to automatically set up images for sharing on a blog, Google+, or wherever.

If you have any questions about the process feel free to ask here in the comments. And let me know if you use this or a similar process when sharing your own photographs.

Catching Up

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Wow!

I’ve been all over the place since December–Pigeon Forge (twice), Cades Cove, Chincoteague, Assateague, and more!

I will be posting photos very soon as I was able to take photographs on most of these trips and did some scouting, too. It’s been a whirlwind!

We live in a beautiful country here in America and God’s creation sure is a wonderful subject to photograph!

Google+ Rocks!

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I started using Google+ on July 31st. I saw other photographers getting really stoked about it and I wanted to give it a try. At this point, Google+ was only open by invitation, so I reached out and Martin Bailey was generous enough to give me an invitation.

I started using Google+ right away and haven’t looked back since. I love Google+! I like the way photos appear on this social medium and I like how it incorporates Circles of friends, family, acquaintances, and colleagues. You can really funnel down to whom you want to send messages.

But the best of all is the rapid growth my Google+ account realized since I started. In just 2 1/2 short months, the number of people that have me in their circles already exceeds all my Facebook friends! This is nothing short of amazing to me.

My conclusion? Google+ rocks!

 

Using a Monopod

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Most photographers know the importance of using a tripod to steady their camera on a photo shoot. And many photographers have also heard about or have even seen monopods, but I wonder how many photographers actually use them?

I find a monopod to be especially useful for sporting events like baseball or football. The monopod steadies the camera and with two feet you can create a tripod of sorts. I like to kneel when shooting sports to get lower angles, so using my knees and the monopod creates my self-made tripod. It works well.

I like the monopod beacasue I can easily swing my camera into several positions just by turning it over the monopod–it’s like a swivel. I can easily focus on the batter at the plate but then swing the camera to catch the base runner trying to steal second base.

If you haven’t tried a monpod yet, I encourage you to do so. It is lighter than a tripod but works very well in some specific situations.

Learning Photography from Other Disciplines

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Yesterday I mentioned that we can learn more about photography from lots of places. One of these places is from other disciplines such as videography. Take for example the movies. Tonight I watched part of an old black and white movie entitled, “One Foot in Heaven.” The movie is about a Methodist pastor and his family who moved several times to different churches in his ministry. The storyline was intriguing to me, but I also enjoyed the images and how the video cameras helped to tell the story.

Watch an old movie sometime and see if you can get some ideas for composition in your own photography. We can learn from other disciplines and it can be fun!

Getting Better

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Are you completely satisfied with the photographs coming out of your camera on every shoot? If you are, then don’t read this blog entry.

Some of us photographers are very good at composition, knowing our camera inside and out, and are even completely knowledgeable about the main subject we shoot. But what about the changing lighting conditions? Or what about when shadows appear unexpectedly? And what happens when you shoot a subject that you don’t know a lot about?

It seems to me that all of us can learn something more about getting better in photography. There is just so much to learn.

So, where do we start? The internet certainly has a lot of information available to us and we should utilize it. But learning from other photographers is probably hands down, the best way we can learn. Attending a workshop or signing up for an in-the-field seminar is highly recommended and will yield great results.

There are plenty of other ways for us to learn how to get better in our photography–reading books, subscribing to magazines, reviewing your own photos, etc.

But in the end, the only way to get better is to admit you don’t know it all and have a strong desire to want to get better!

Don’t Wait – Reformat that flash card now!

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I am a procrastinator and this gets me into trouble in a variety of ways. And as a photographer it does not pay to be a procrastinator.

Take, for example, the simple task of uploading photos from a flash card to a computer. This is a simple step and only takes a few minutes, so why wait to do it? As soon as you get back from a photo shoot it makes sense to start this process. Then, once the photos have been transferred and backed up, reformat that flash card. Don’t wait!

Here’s the danger. Let’s suppose that you have an unexpected photo opportunity early one morning that came from out of the blue. You didn’t know it was coming and your flash cards are full. Did you back up the photos on these cards? Is it okay to reformat these cards or are there important photographs on them that need to be transferred? See the problem? If you had just transferred the photos right after the last shoot and reformatted the cards you wouldn’t be facing this annoying dilemma.

So don’t wait. Process your photos, back them up, and reformat your flash cards as soon as possible. One day you’ll be glad you did!

Keepers

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Here’s a question: Do you keep just your keepers from each photo shoot or do you keep all of your photos?

Photographers have all sorts of strategies in keeping, distributing, and storing photographs. Some only keep their keepers and delete everything else from a shoot. Others, like me, tend to be more like pack rats and keep everything. What is your method?

Here’s the thing, in my opinion. Software seems to get better each and every year. So what might seem like a rather mundane photo today might be editable in the foreseeable future. Besides, I believe that even my non-keepers and really bad photos allow me to learn from them. Seeing them beside my keepers also has a way of keeping me humble!

I do not think there is a right or wrong way in this discussion, but we photographers certainly have opinions. So what is your opinion? Keep just the keepers or keep them all?

Gone Fishing!

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I took some time off this afternoon to go fishing. My son wanted me to take his friend and him fishing. It was cold and very windy–not ideal fishing conditions to be sure! But we had a good time anyway! James, my son, had a very nice bass on his hook and had reeled it all the way in to the shore. He was just about to land the bass, but it shook its head one more time, flopped a few times, and swam successfully away. I also had a pickerel on my line and was reeling it in when it also got away.

Okay. Now I’m back in the warmth of our house and thinking about photography. By the way, if you go fishing, take your camera along. You never know when you might catch a lunker! And these days where it’s common to catch and release, photos can be taken home to show your family and friends. However, the danger of this method is that it keeps those fish stories honest!

What do you do to relax? Hobbies and recreational activities make great photographic opportunities. The next time you engage in a hobby be sure to take your camera along with you!