So what did you do this weekend?

Well gee, funny you'd ask. One thing I did was learn. a LOT.



Okay so such photos are easier with someone else's studio and set up, but I LEARNED so much about umbrellas and soft boxes and lights and metering and low-key and high-key and lighting portrait styles .... and then tons about Photoshop and Bridge that I hadn't known previously. Just, wow.

WOW.

hey, eventually......

I mastered Curves last night. As in, the tool in LR and CS4.

*lightbulb moment*

I get it I get it now. AT LAST.

Thunderstorms of all sort this week, so Hoofprints was rained out. Ach well. Let's hope next week dries up a bit, else Golden Spike will be a bit tricky.

On the bright side, found a local good embroidery shop which should be able to do a work jacket (lightly lined fleece but waterproof - hard to find!!) as well as the back of my black sunshirt. yipee?

Picked up the grate/crate system that will make GREAT backdrops for hanging prints off of. Thank you Wal-Mart for $3 frames (thumbs up!). I'm still printing at home. I'll do this for GSHT and then start ordering prints so I can show off the quality that SmugMug can do -- which is such a heck better than my own printing.

Networking and finding local Utah groups -- once they have something that isn't on a weekend in which I'm booked (erm, which is just about every one), I'm very excited to join in and meet the local photog folks.

Lensbaby fun continues, but there's also more learning going on with Lightroom and much else. I won't discuss the dead harddrives and other things fried by the lightning storm.... *sob* but hopefully recovery will help with those. Please cross fingers on those.

So any how, that's the state of things right now. Leaving you with ferns over Bon Tempe lake:

onward! with success

Photo orders are coming in from the dressage schooling show about two weeks ago. Alas, a migraine and a week of showing delayed the upload by a week *cringe*. I'd never plan on such a delay, but such it was.

First USDF rated show this weekend!! Quite excited and the photos from two weeks ago show I can get those 'moments' that pay off, literally. Both the D3 and D200 did admirably well, although I swapped lenses around as it got darker into the evening. Hopefully this show will run on time.

AND I will wear sunblock this time! heh.

Design wise, I've a simple but eye catching 1/2 page ad to put together for the program. I picked up the 3rd edition of the Non-Designer's Design Book to get some basic concept (back) into my head for this so it's at least semi respectable. 24 hours to do it, wish me luck.



And then two very long days -- but only one arena (thankfully!). I've some early morning shots I want to get in the soft light with requests to get more candids and such around the barn between rides. I enjoy those the most, as it keeps the creativity going between the tests.

Also confirmation of helping out with cross country photos at the local USEA event in mid/end June so that'll be a blast for me. Much fun in all forms, plus it's CROSS COUNTRY! So aside from when I'm tacking up/riding/cooling out, I'll be out there clicking away and getting to watch all the fun at least in my area of the course.

Reading continues with a very adventerous pattern study while back in California. Lots of photos to go through, but the orders and Ad are first, then my own stuff.

And Sirens? will be Awesome :D

learning, planning, reading, plotting

Surprise! the Digital Photography Book (vol. 2) was more than the random collection of common sense tidbits I had expected. I folded down pages to come back and reference (and take notes on) for later much more often than I expected. Of course, it had a LOT to do with lighting and portraits -- hello, my two week areas. This is enough for me to be *eager* for volume 3 when it is released soon, rather than seeing it as a chore to review for the sake of reviewing and for dgrin's benefit.

I wonder if I could get a paid job reviewing these books for photography magazines?

On the business thread, I've two choices for wedding photography -- I either do the unthinkable and deeply undercut rates for the sake of a wedding or two to get my portfolio built up, THEN start booking like normal. J's wedding is in mid-October and I need to get that experience sooner than later.

Nik's Posing the Light workshop in June will do a LOT for me in this area, but unless I hand around bridal veils, not much for weddings. (Although that's an idea...)

If getting my foot in the door means kicking it in and taking whomever comes (fates with me, they will be good decent folks who just canot afford a $3k photographer) for the first few shoots that work with my schedule (yet another issue, helllllo weekday weddings).

D. said he passed my information on as a 2nd shooter to a very good wedding photographer in the SLC area, but my online portfolio? NOT what it should be and unless she spends time searching, she wouldn't find anything to recommend me. So the best I can hope for is to get my 'act' together and then ask him to mention me again with the updating wedding-specific portfolio. The fact I've done weddings in the past and do candids VERY well -- is all on film. Owned by other people, so impossible to scan for my portfolio. Such is that fate.

Real Estate photography also appeals a LOT to me -- flexible and I love making designs out of straight rooms and compassing what is there, making it look even better than what the eye can perceive in the largest of rooms. Fortunately in this I DO have a portfolio, I only need to launch the marketing. Also looking into tethering a laptop/netboo so that there's SOME bigger screen for the client (realtor) to see so that they are certain to get the shots they need for THEIR clients (homeowners/sellers). Research in progress.

OTHERWISE, lower key show this Wednesday, but yet another GREAT way to get my name and face out there. There was the possibility of another this Saturday, but looks like I'll be off showing myself instead. Maybe. I'll finalize this on Wednesday.

geek est moi

The reading continues although I find myself losing some of my focus. I believe a good part of this has to do with the note taking, since I can only chronically take notes in one book at a time. Which means I should finish the Complete Digital Photography book asap.

However, current reads include:



and


(which is actually turning out to be more useful than originally expected....)

The Negotiating book is DONE and underlined and notated and everything else. That is definitely one to go through again many times in this career. It's an excellent book and only sad that it's not as popular or well known. Which only shows how badly so many photographers do business. alas!

First 'real' shoot of the season is next Wednesday after work - a schooling dressage show but a full day and MUCH excellent practice for me on all sides. I'll do a minimal set up but have plenty of cards, treats, etc. I also have e-mails so I can let folks know when all the photos are uploaded.

Next Saturday is a conflict -- I'm rather hoping the regular photographer WILL shoot their dressage show, as I've a show I want to head off to to get experience in for my student and greenie. It's definitely a tricky thing -- and a sacrifice -- to shoot the same events you want to participate in.

Current reading status - aka my photography education continues

The current reading list has rather expanded -- not because I've more books (I've those a plenty plus library holds), but because I seem to be rather A/D/D about what I read right now.


This book is one that I picked up AGES ago as a comprehensive 'teach me' book about digital photography. Ironically, many of the things I had to search around to get answers for ... I had answers for right in here. Lesson 432: use your resources!
However, as I have it, it makes for good review reading and I expect to learn a few more tidbits that I didn't know before. It'll also be a great review for DGrin once I figure out what target market this book is best suited for from my pov. It's not lightweight reading but not too heavyweight either. It's definitely easier since 90% of it is 'review' for me these days. It'd be daunting as a first time newbie read although HIGHLY educational.


I've come to REALLY like Petterson's writing style, so I was willing to give this one a go, although it doesn't talk about Composition as much as I might want it to. I've started it, but not enough in to figure out his definition of 'creative seeing'. But this starts to hit on my current weakness -- composition. I compose naturally, which works most of the time but NOT ALWAYS. I need to make this a more conscious step for a while until I get better at it. Then I can let composition fall into the 'natural' level and let it be what it is. I need those skills to pull out when I'm in a tight spot or just not feeling the photo doing the scene justice.


In that tune, this is the first of Michael Freeman's books. Visually stunning, he appears to be a visual teacher rather than a talker. Petterson is a combination of both -- others I've had are 99% talk (which I rather like). Freeman has a series of other books out there that I want to investigate further, IF I can get enough out of this book to justify the efforts. However, I believe this just might BE the composition book I really need. I'll have to dig in deeper (probably finishing up Petterson's book first) and see what I can uncover beyond the stunning photos.


And this is my current hardcore reading. Hard core enough that i'm underlining and will take notes later once I've processed everything. A HUGELY invaluable book, I only wish I'd come across it sooner. Fortunately I've a few projects on my plate, so I read with those projects in mind and how I can proceed with the necessary (legally required) negotiations.

Toss in the Lensbaby class (more photos later!) and there's plenty to learn this month!

very very very small easter eggs

Reading continues and so does shooting. I played with the macro set up the other day -- to dangerous results. I managed to cut, squish, and tear my left hand in the process. Ouch! However, the focusing rail is WONDERFUL and I cannot imagine quite how people do macro work without one, at least without compromising their set up. I need to practice more and more with still life inside so I can get faster with outdoor work. I am not *that* fond of insects to want to do them for macros, but if I get the right opportunity … I want to capture what I want to capture.

Otherwise, finished up this the other day which was really quick (since the forms themselves I scanned and mentally noted for future reference):



Interestingly, this now gives me 3-4 different types of model releases. I need to seek out those other legal books to see what they say, as the one 'legal' photography book I've read does NOT suggest nor require compensation. And Heller's books require it to make the contract valid. At least this one noted it only applies in certain states. Ugh! However, the more I read the more I realize I DON'T need model releases, at least not for the type of work I'm doing right now.



For now I'm slowing down on the reading although the above is my 'casual' reading. I don't even know if I'll take notes from this tome. It appears to be rather comprehensive, but most of it I'll know already, although some concepts might be the first time I read them in writing. I've some excellent wedding photography books, but I don't want to tackle those quite yet. As well, the Minimalist Lighting book should be (or so I hope) excellent reading and good knowledge to know. However, I'm wanting to get down into macro-land a bit more and see what sort of skills I can develop.

Not everything is worth it, but it's at least less than the cost of a class....

This was the last book I finished, and it ended up better than expected but still a bit .... eh. I'm past the basics.

Now I'm onto something a lot more complex but nearly MORE disappointing:



I'm certain that this is an excellent book. In fact, I know it is. However, it also decides that drowning you in 99% useless information is a good technique, with the tendency to repeat some of the important parts in case it (as very likely did) get lost. The last legal book I read covered all of this very concisely within a chapter and very few new ideas are presented here.

However, should you desire some need to fully understand this area (especially since 90% of it only applies to stock photographers), this is your book. Just don't expect the obvious: no firm opinions, no sample model releases, no guidelines on when to use and not use one.

Rather, the book seeks to educate you so YOU can make those decisions. Wise perhaps, but in the end a rather fruitless pursuit since the reader very likely did NOT pick up the book expecting this sort of educational tactic.

######

okay, rant over.

Beyond this, I HAVE been looking into online courses for photography. More specific stuff (such as a lensbaby class) that I feel I CAN benefit from no matter what. These are surprisingly reasonably priced, although I could put the funds towards a second lensbaby (but why??) or a dozen new photography books (Oooo. but I think I've found all the 'good' ones so far).

So, things to think about. Classes don't 'start' until May 1st so I've some time. Spring time and a lensbaby could be a rather awesome experience :)

Someday there will be photos, promise!

Yesterday afternoon I attended a good Strobe Lighting 101 type of class through Pictureline (must remember to check out their new store too). It was exactly what I needed, from talking about the different types of lights, the different systems (pocket wizards, etc), diffusers, etc.

There's a lot that can be learned out there -- and of course every photographer is going to have their own lighting set up that is that much different. Photography with lights is as much as stylistic statement as 'regular' photography itself.

In this case, Christopher (the instructor) uses two lights and no more. From what I gather, three is usually the standard, but I'm still ... gathering.

I really light the light from shooting through an umbrella and while soft boxes are nice, the light seems so .... fake. You just don't GET natural light that is like that. Not often at least (haze day, light through curtains, etc maybe....).

Mostly, I love that I can absorb this information, engage in excellent discussions and walk away that much wiser and with MUCH to think about.

Do I own any lights? no. I've been advised to figure out WHAT you want then get them all at once. Logical and sensible.

########

On the book front, I finished off the Best Business Practices book today -- finished the Close-Up photography book a few days ago. The Close-Up book has me artistically inspired again, which is just an awesome feeling. I also feel like I can pick it up and read a few pages to recapture that feeling whenever I need it. THAT has great value no matter the source. I try to not like the author because he's capitalized his books into online courses and other such, but the truth is that he is VERY damned good at what he does - which is teaching. I'm just more likely to pay for a professional redesign of my website before an online course when there's BOOKS on the same topic out there.

The Business book was excellent -- if I ever purge through books, that's one that I'll keep without a doubt. I'm staying on the business trend for now, as I don't want to fill my head with other photography inspiration quite yet. So it's the Guide to Building Your Photography Business. So far, looks like a quick read with huge margins and ugly photos. w.t.f. I'm sure I'll get something out of it, but it's cheaply printed and not a great first impression.

onward!

Learning, but not shooting.

Life's been busy since I last sat down to write about photography. I have, however, used some of that time for reading. I finished up the nature book and while there was an emphasis on stock photography, it still applied to all situations. It does make me curious about stock photography, but working part-time that is something I can in no way pursue. Nor do I want to. There does seem to be a degree of artistic 'blankness' that is needed for stock photos. It almost makes me sad. How odd.

Next was Peterson's newest book about Close-Up photography. EXCELLENT book and great reading. He's quite inspirational in his images and conversational in his writing style. I found myself itching to go study the rug with the camera, just because I COULD and see how close I could get. He does lovely things like recommend a close up filter and diffusers and reversing rings and it is VERY hard to not want those things. I was unsurprised to see two of the items sold out on Adorama's website. Coincidence? He's one of the bigger names in photography books along with Scott Kirby, so I suspect it's not just random chance.

Now I'm on to Best Business Practices for Photographers which is excellent reading if a bit frightful. It's definitely geared towards someone ahead of me -- someone who's been working professionally/as a business for a number of years and needs to refocus and refine their business model. However, it also includes some excellent information that is good to know NOW rather than later. Even some things such as the idea of selling off equipment BEFORE it dies and reaches the end of its lifespan and then using those funds towards the purchase of new stuff (monitor = 18 month limit, 12 months if on all the time). Things you don't really think about logically until you sit down and calculate out the costs and time. Useful.



This will be one book better used as a reference book as time passes. Sections on non-paying clients can help me avoid situations, but are still best pulled out when needed at a later date. I still have one more business book to go through, which I believe is more about building a business. I think I'll read through both before retooling my business plan (which seems to be a monthly occurrence).

"Scouting"

I've been diligent about making progress through my current nature photography reading, although I want to read the new macro book and post reviews on that asap. However, I'm about 1/2 way through the nature book and can probably finish it with a few more hours work. The biggest thing that slows me down is taking notes, but I've already found it is VERY useful to have those notes to refer back to as needed, even if I am filling up the entire journal with enough time here. Wow.

One of the main ideas that's coming into maturity is the idea of 'scouting' out locations. This isn't just work ahead of time or planning where to go. It's not just going to a place and deciding when to come back. It seems to be a combination of all of these, plus working on your visualization, knowledge of an area and a bunch of other things. It's often referred to - but rarely defined. Made for a good discussion topic in dgrin with some *excellent* suggestions.

For the less popular sites, try flickr searches. Where other photogs might not be willing to 'share' information, their photos will tell you much more. Dgrin appears to be rare in the willingness of folks to share details with each other and ideas on where to go shoot.

For the more popular areas -- google maps with photos on. They might not be the best photos in the world, but they WILL often show you places that the maps don't describe in full or the tour book skips over. They can also give you more visual references (for free!) for areas before you actually get there.

Otherwise, there are CDs out there for different areas -- the Photograph America series appears to be outdated but can still be useful. The NWP forums look like great resources for national park information though, as do some backpacking forums. There's a series just for California that I'm only wishing I could justify the purchase on. I'm better off directing my resources towards exploring Utah a bit more. Getting back to the Salt Flats should be first on my list, then exploring the marshes of Antelope Island. It'll be a while before the snow melts and I can get back up into the Alta Basin and hike a bit more in there. But even this includes mental ideas of what sort of photos I want to take, what areas I know exist and what times of day I want to get there to get the best photos. ALL of that is 'scouting', even if it doesn't feel like it.

So, the education continues.

Admitting failures

The Legal Handbook is DONE and danged did I learn some good stuff in there. I've got the Consent to Photograph and Publish all set up (aka. Model Release) but I want to get it done on some better paper and hopefully stored in a small folio (even just checkbook sized) for ease of travel, not getting crumpled, as well as professionalism.

I'm DYING to get to the farmer's market this Saturday morning and shoot a bit, but I'm not sure I'll do it on my own. I'll have to see how weekend plans work out. The D50 with the 50mm (not sure which one. 1.8 or 1.4?) is perfect for that, since it's small enough to not scream 'PROFESSIONAL' but still a step above the G10.

I've moved on to 'Mastering Nature Photography' which is really much more THE book I've been needing than I expected. It even talks about (when I get to those chapters), scouting out locations, dealing with the overwhelming choices available to you in nature, etc etc. Sporting events are cake next to this -- you focus on the athlete(s) and tune out the rest (except the background if you have any control over that). Nature photography? It's like dropping yourself into a psychedelic stew and trying to pick out the best ingredients to use. Let's not even get into composition or anything else.



Speaking of which . . . yes I admit it. COMPOSITION IS MY ISSUE. I've had enough of a 'natural' eye that I could compose a pretty decent photo. I rarely 'center' shot images and had some sense of aesthetics. However, I had a lot more to do and work on. The rule of thirds I understood for foreground/midground/background, but NOT as a grid for composition.

How did I miss learning that? *sigh* so be it. I'm aware of it, working on it, learning more, and yes . . . ordered a book about it. And another nature photography book.

Frighteningly enough, ALL my free time is spent reading these books. Tv shows? That's what dvrs are for (even when 88% full). Mail? Unopened on the sofa. Pets? Pet and snuggle them WHILE reading books. Breaks at work? Reading time. I think you get the idea of how self absorbed I've become in this. Many other things have been flung aside, unfortunately not all of them good.

Two nice days ahead, so I'll at least have a chance for some fun IR outside (strong light needed!) as well as perhaps some macro in my mini 'garden' out front before I mulch the heck out of it.

Books galore!

Another book down, another one started. I might be devouring these, but also taking notes as needed and processing a LOT of this information for my own use.

This time, it's "Legal Handbook for Photographers" which had the benefit of being a thin book. But once I got into it, I'm finding it rather facinating. Then again, I did enjoy that Business Law class in school too and we had a full fledged Law Book for text in that class.



John Shaw's "Closeups In Nature" is done with and left me with an urge to crawl around on my hands and knees outside and see what I can photograph. It's an excellent book although he takes time to go over the basics, there's also a good reason for that. Regardless if you know the basics of photography, you need to understand how it changes when you get so close to your subject -- or start magnifying at 1.5x or more.



I did find a NEW book coming out from the 'Understanding Exposure' writer that's specifically about macro work. This will be fun/good since it'll be updated for the digital age and not go on and on about Kodachrome 65 vs. 25 usage (okok I admit that got a tad old). I'll have that at the end of this month and will review it asap to share on dgrin as well as update the book reviews there. Of course, that's only next week so it's not that far away.

Books and more books and geeks galore

Various stats:

D50: with Nikon and basic level review/repair approved and in progress

Finished reading: "Profitable Photography in the Digital Age". GOOD book and all the business geekery I needed, as well as more information on some important topics (model releases, copyrighting, marketing, etc) that I really needed. Oh, I don't agree 100% with him and I can see how C. said the author is rather full of himself (erm, or implied as much). He definitely has strong opinions but he backs them up with solid facts. Mostly his entire chapter on web models doesn't take into account the existence of services like SmugMug. For shame!

Started reading and 1/2 way through Shaw's "Closeups in Nature". Good stuff if a tad outdated -- but aside from chapters about qualities of film, it's a solid primer. I also found "Understanding Close-up Photography: Creative Close Encounters with or without a Macro Lens" which releases at the end of this month. So something NEW but a part of the same 'Understanding' series as 'Understanding Exposure'. Ideally that means it should be a 'winner' but I'll get it and see.

I also totally geeked out and found "Mastering Nature Photography: Shooting and Selling in the Digital Age". One, it's a 'new' book again (digital age) and it written in EXACTLY the way I like. Short concise groupings of topics, much like a solid lecture on the topic. There's an accompanying CDROM of images which I rather prefer to the excessive images other books have. I flipped through some of the more 'popular' ones and it was a 1:9 ratio of text to images. I totally 'get' learning by example, but most of it was the same thing over and over again while just saying what settings were used. Um, educate a bit more? Pontificate a bit less?

So I'm reading too much these days and loving every moment of it. And yes, still taking notes on the things I want to remember again for later. I need to reactivate/use my Amazon affiliation account a bit and unlock the 'books' page of my website. Why not, right? The visitors to my site are as much other photographers as they are potential clients.

learning and redirection

1. Hmm. If YOU had a personalized photography instructor, what would you want to learn?????

2. new url to redirect to this blog! http://www.catspawphotoblog.com yehaw :)

Working on my weak areas.

Eeeexcellent. EXACTLY what I need and I suspect many willing participants for me at the barn:

http://www.equinephotographers.org/courses/portrait.php
"The Art of the Equine/Human Portrait"

Things I have learned:

IR Photography, or at least the basics. Expect a lot more of this from me soon!

The wide and wonderful world of masks in Photoshop. Including color masking, near/far, merging focuses and other cool techniques (some of which are CS4 only).

How to set up, take a deep breathe, and really try to STUDY the scene I have. *Then* decide which lens/camera to use to capture what it is that I see.

How to check the ISO. A lot. And then exposure compensation (which on the G10 just LOVES to get misdialed. Grr).

I've also gotten quite excellent playing with my f-stops. F-stop professional, thank you very much. I want something, I get it. I like this power, and it all comes from knowledge.

I'm still not shooting *great* shots, but they are there. They are coming. A few can be done simply from judicious cropping and playing with colors in LR or CS3/4. I'm rather curious to see what sort of shots I can pull out the more and more I work with Lightroom and Photoshop.

I've also learned about fill flashes, especially outdoors (who'd have thought?) in shadows, in close ups, as well as in macros.

the art of Learning

I'm officially turning into a geek, for not only am I reading, underlining and reviewing the books I read .... now I'm taking notes.

Yup, there's some good stuff in there and I sure as heck don't want to forget it! Into Dan Heller's "Profitable Photography in the Digital Age" which requires much thought but is also vastly stimulating.

It also calls me an insane photographer. Except that's a GOOD thing. Insanity = good, since you don't drop out or fade away or otherwise fail to put in the effort needed.

Although I cannot even recall the details of some of the business classes I took in college, this is still proving to be the perfect background for me. Without that? Who knows. I might pitter around like a regular photo hobbyist without ever getting anywhere. Instead I find myself creating *achievable* plans in my head and running through scenarios to get them to work.

###

On another note, Pictureline is running a strobe lighting class next week -- but I cannot attend. Woe! They are, however, opening a new store a stone's throw from where I live so I can only hope they start more classes there so I don't have to drive a half hour for them.

Educational opportunities abound, but I find they presume a full-time photographer who has free time say, noon to 1pm on a Monday afternoon. You know, when most normal folks are at work. PPA has a series of webinars (online seminars) for photography business but there isn't a single one that I want to attend that I can make, hour wise.

Yes, I feel thwarted. Me and the pile o' books will create our own little university for now.