You might want to head over to his blog as he is pretty excited about being published recently for the first time and would likely be even more stoked if you went over and checked it out.
So I guess this makes for his second time being published in a very short period of time.
We will be showing more work from you our readers next week, so be sure to check it out.
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We just posted our 5th episode over at The Photography Podcast and thought we would share a link to it here along with the show notes.
One of the very cool things about doing what I do is the fact that I get to talk with folks who I admire, who I look up to, and Ashley Rodriguez from "Not Without Salt" is one of those people.
Not Without Salt is a wonderful (and equal) mixture of the things most important to her, her family, food, and photography.
So once you finish listening to her interview you need to rush right over to her blog and drink it all in.
We covered a few other things in today's podcast.
Like the fact that we have the good fortune of a Nikon D800 in my chubby little hands and instead of doing a review telling you what I learn/like about it we want your questions, things you might be curious about regarding this latest offering from Nikon.
So if you have a question please email it to us and we'll add it to the list and do a show in the near future covering/answering all of the questions we get.
In our last show we reviewed the latest book from Kevin Kubota, "Lighting Notebook", well since that show it has been released as an iPad app. Three things that make this an attractive option, it's more portable, is 1/3 less than the book, and the app contains videos.
Another app you might want to take a look at is Moose Peterson’s BT Journal, a magazine (app) that will take you nature photography to new heights. The first issue is free so what do you have to lose?
You can check out our video tutorial, it's an easy and inexpensive setup for shooting shiny and reflective objects.
A big thank you to Adorama for sponsoring this podcast.
And last, but certainly not least, something that needs to be said every episode, a BIG thank you to Steve over at Home Recording Weekly for mixing our shows. He takes a bucket full of sound files and makes our podcast sound so darn good.
Hit the "play" button below or feel free to download the show for later listening.
We recently traveled to Connecticut to shoot shiny and reflective components for the world leader in CAD/CAM software MasterCAM .
Not only is MasterCAM a world leader, they work with some of the top companies out there, like:
• Boeing, Sikorsky, and Lockheed Martin • Stryker medical • Gibson, Taylor, Ovation Guitars • Orange County Choppers • Racing teams like Stewart Haas Racing, Waltrip Racing, and Cunningham Motorsports • Segway • RayBan
Just to name a few.
The actual purpose of the trip was to teach their person (with the title of "Intergalactic Marketing Overlord") how to shoot the kind of components their software (and clients) produce and of course regardless of the company, they are ALL shiny and reflective. The backup plan was that if things did not go well then I would shoot the parts.
Things went perfectly and the setup could not have been simpler, 4 "A" clamps, 3 white cards, 2 LED flashlights, foam core, some tape, light stands, and a couple gels.
We used hockey tape because it is FAR less expensive the gaffers tape, but much like gaffers tape it is incredibly strong and leaves no sticky residue behind.
A 1” wide role of gaffer’s tapes is in the $12 range, I bought the same size hockey tape for $1.
I would strongly suggest you test the tape you purchase before using it in a “live” shoot just to make sure it will work as you expect and not leave residue.
The "A" clamps were 99 cents (Home Depot or Lowes) and the 2'x3' sheet of foam core was $1.
In the shot at the very top of this post, we lit it with a single LED flashlight, and put a blue gel over a second flashlight and shined it into the center hole (to give it more "depth")
One of the things you need to be very careful to watch for is things being reflected in the item being shot, here is an example, first the "good shot" and then the bad, you can see the color of my shirt in the item.
It was lit with a "primary" flashlight and a second with a blue gel.
This image is the only one that we used more than two flashlights, it is a manifold for a car engine, there is a (cold) gas intake and a (hot) exhaust port, so we used a red and blue gels over the flashlights and held them over the ports to represent the temperature difference and the third flashlight was used to light the face of the object.
Here are a few more images we shot that day.
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I think the results were as good as the setup was easy and in the video below we share both the gear and the setup.
There are a few things that are needed to run multiple websites, two of those are time and money.
And one of the ways we offset our costs is with an affiliate relationship with Adorama. A few months back we told you that if you used our affiliate links to purchase your gear not only would you help support us, but you would be helping others as well.
Because of all of you that have used our link we've sent our first check to Operation Smile, a check that will cover the complete cost of fixing the cleft palate of a child.
Please, take pride in knowing that you have helped change the life of a child somewhere in the world.
I am sure this is just the first life to be changed, that there will be more to follow. How do I know this? Because we have the best readers in the world.
I think when you are a beauty queen hair is an important thing, so I was impressed when I saw this story of a beauty queen who raised money and shaved her head to raise awareness of childhood cancer research.
A great story, and as usual, I apologize if you have to watch a commercial prior to viewing the video but it is worth the wait.
Speaking of raising awareness, I have a very good friend Irvin Serrano, who is an outstanding photographer and he shot a photo project call "Beautiful Faces of Cancer" that is a must see.
Irvin shoots everything so well, but specializes in architecture and corporate portraits. If you want to see vision, lighting, and post production done beautifully you need to go check out his website.
We are quite fortunate to have a very active Flickr stream, and in that stream there are a handful of people who contribute often (and contribute much).
One such person goes by the Flickr name "half blind" and if I had to label him with a style it would be that of "street photographer".
I simply wanted to share some of his images here for you to see along with his Flickr link (because I think his work deserves to be seen).
Over the next few weeks I will be featuring more of our Flickr contributors here, so be sure to come back and see their work, or if you don't want to wait head right over to our Flickr group and check out their work for yourself.
(click on any image to view larger and in a new window)
The camera gods have smiled upon me (actually it was the American Express god) and in my possession is a brand spankin' new Nikon D800.
I thought instead of doing a review it would be more interesting for you (and fun for me) to take any questions that you may have about the D800 and answer them.
So, if you are considering purchasing the Nikon D800 and was thinking "Hey, I wonder of the D800 can..." or "I wonder if Scott looks even better holding that camera" please email us your questions (yup, you can ask more than one), and we'll answer all of them in a post in the very near future.
Stay tuned for the next post (which will be a podcast) which covers the highly debated use of Pinterest for photographers
Pinterest has gotten a lot of attention in the media recently (and rightly so for their copyright clause in their terms and conditions) but as much as some photographers are running scared, I personally believe that Pinterest is here to stay. As photographers have seen in the last industry movement, your brand is as much about your personality as it is your images. Although changes need to be addressed in the whole of the internet and copyright, for the moment, we've found Pinterest to be a fantastic way to connect with your couples, share ideas, build trust and create leads.
If you're not familiar with Pinterest, you're in for a treat! It’s the newest, hip social network that cracked the top 10 of popularity…while still being INVITE only! Inspiration or vision boards of styles you like, goals for your future, books you want to read, cute DIY wedding ideas have been around for a long time but up until Pinterest, they were created with paper, scissors, tape and poster board – I know, we’ve all been there!
Creating and Adding Pins To Your Page
Pinterest is a gold mine for photographers, especially wedding photographers, because brides-to-be are there, pinning images from their favorite websites to showcase ideas while categorizing their favorite wedding cakes, details, dress and even their ‘something blue!' As photographers, we supply the BRANDED images that they pin. Then, their followers and friends see our work...and…in comes a job lead!
Pinterest for your brand can be used as a way to showcase appropriate wardrobe for their session, fun props they should consider, location options, things personally you love and your clients can connect to, cool posing and lighting concepts, etc. The possibilities are endless for your brand.
But, we're here to talk about workflow, not about the value of Pinterest - sorry, it's just so much fun.
Encouraging Your Clients or Fans to Pin Images
After our images are up on our blog and Facebook (see Step 2 and 3), we've already taken the steps to have our favorites branded. To encourage pinning from your blog, be sure to add the 'Pin it' plugin for your WordPress blog. Speak with your web developer if you have questions on how to install a plugin (it's super easy though!) and discuss whether you want to add a pin under each image (what we've chosen to do) or just at the end of the blog post.
Whether you pin a branded image or your client does, like all social networks, their followers see the pin and the compounding effect of viewers being exposed to your work grows as their friends "re-pin" it. A great image, video or idea can go viral easily as you can imagine.
If you haven't already, your homework is to:
1) Create a Pinterest profile (if you're not sure how, view Pinterest's Getting Started Guide) and create one or two boards pinning your favorite portfolio shots and two or three boards on re-pinning others work with any of the ideas above (posing, lighting, wardrobe, stuff you love, wedding dress ideas, etc.).
2) Add your 'Pin it' button to your blog at the bottom of your post or under each image.
3) Include a Pinterest link to your profile on your website next to your Facebook and Twitter links.
4) Once you've created the baseline for your boards, announce your link to your profile on Facebook and encourage your fans to follow you on Pinterest. Geez, you can even ask them what they would like to see on your Pinterest board and have them vote on the topics of choice using Facebook's Questions.
5) View what pins have already been pinned from your blog by going to: http://pinterest.com/source/yourcompany.com (where you change the yourcompany.com to your domain URL).
6) Twice a month, check your pins and comment, like and/or follow those that have re-pinned your images. Add more images to your boards and create new boards. Keep the dialogue going...
Thanks so much for participating in the Web Marketing Workflow Series. We'll be wrapping it up with Scott with a special, last post very soon! As always, if you have questions, don't hesitate to comment below or send them over directly to me. If you've found this series to be helpful, please share the link on Facebook and spread the love so that others may learn and benefit. If you'd like to follow us, our Pinterest profile is at: http://pinterest.com/studiobr/
Wendy Roe has spent the last 10 years ingrained in all things web marketing – from design/development to search/social media. In May 2010, she decided to quit the corporate life and join forces with her husband, Byron Roe, to shoot full-time one of life’s ultimate highs – weddings! She now focuses on business development and her role as a second shooter for wedding photographers, Byron Roe Photography, based in Bend, Oregon.
She is the co-author of "55 Smart Web Ideas for Photographers” e-book, a 2-time speaker at WPPI Photographer’s Ignite, and has traveled through west coast speaking and consulting with photographers on web marketing. She’s known as an "interpreter", changing technical language into easy to understand information. Above all, she’s an educator at heart and believes: “Web marketing and wedding photography are two passions that drive bringing the best out of beauty and brands.”
Here are a couple cool pieces of gear you might be interested in, the first is the Capta Tripod Mount Phone Stand, it's a universal tripod mount/phone stand for just about any mobile device like the iPhone, Blackberry, iPod, Android, Samsung Galaxy, and more.
• It's manufactured from polished aluminum and anodized for a strong scratch resistant finish
• Has an embedded is a 1/4"-20 thread that can be used with any with a 1/4"-20 stud
• Incorporates a cable slot for managing cables
• Specially formulated pad that allows the phone to be securely held in any orientation
If you are an Astrophotographer (which sounds like something you would be on The Jetsons), you can pre-order the new Canon EOS 60Da DSLR Camera Body, which is the first astronomy specialized DSLR to come out since the 2004.
It features increased IR sensitivity for astrophotography light transparency approximately three times higher than the EOS 60D and other digital cameras allowing for crisp, clear, sharper images.
The Canon EOS 60Da comes with a Remote Controller Adapter RA-E3, but in all other ways it shares the same features as the original 60D, including an 18MP CMOS sensor (a significant upgrade from the 20Da's 8MP sensor), with an ISO range of 100-6400 up to 12800, a 3-inch flip-out LCD with 1,040,000 dot resolution, and compatibility with the entire range of Canon EF and EF-S lenses.
It seems (to me at least) that Michelle spends as much time in the air as on the ground as she is frequently shooting in some pretty cool places, like Mexico, Ireland, Spain, France, heck, I heard she even shot a wedding in Maine once.
;)
So take it away Michelle:
Wedding photography is about a series of wonderful moments, and it is the responsibility of the photographer to capture them in a creative and thorough fashion.
However, weddings are events that take time to create, and whether these events take place on a beach or in a church, it is also the responsibility of the photographer to capture the essence of the event in a series of images.
For me, when I look at a group of wedding photographs I want to feel what it was like to be at the event. The little details are so often forgotten in the course of the day; as the photographer covers the events and the emotion, occasionally the details that took months to create and sometimes even years to plan can be ignored.
And while it is absolutely essential to capture the emotion and moments, I don't think you can get an accurate feel for the day unless you capture the details as well.
Each of these detail shots from weddings I photographed over the past year helps to tell the story of the event, and it shows the style of the couple.
From the vintage weddings to the ultramodern weddings, from the very expensive to the DIY details, each is an important part of the day and is an essential element of the creation of the "feeling" of the wedding day. I remind my couples that the buildup to the wedding style started long before their wedding day coverage did, and that they should bring their invitations and their "save the dates" cards as they are important details that set the stage for the day itself.
We are the visual historians responsible for that couple's day, so don't forget those important details!
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When Michelle sent the post to me it was the very first time I had heard a photographer being referred to as a "visual historians", but that is exactly what we are.
I am sure you would love to see more of here work, you can find it at her website and her blog.
