Pieces

-How Should I Price My Photography?- This is an absolutly fantastic article about pricing photography. This is also a fantastic article describing why I will never be a full time photographer. The amount of hustle it would take to get to a decent earning would be so tough to be almost impossible for me. Not that I am afraid of hustle, but that mindset is so different than I am used to that I am pretty sure I would fail before giving myself a fair chance.
I suspect if it was my only means of income, knowing what I know now, I would/could do it. Fear of failure would drive me in new and different ways. It would also probably push me close to hating the one thing I love- snapping photos.
The one piece this article does not describe is price of insurance of any kind. Health insurance, etc. To make an ok living out of photography is an EXTREMELY tough job. I am sure people can do it, but to get the true value of out your work, you need to be willing to push yourself. Stay motivated, and work odd hours. (think when weddings happen or when families are available for potraits) I don't think I could do that...


- New Canon instant rebates available- Lenses, flashes.  Just in time for the holiday season. Nice.

- Norman Rockwell: The Original King of the Photoshop- Gizmodo; Nice discovery. Seems light is light, and editing is still editing... but the end image is paycheck. Norman Rockwell knew that.

- My wish list via B+H Photo Video. Ya know, if you have some spare cash and want to buy me something nice.

Images elsewhere

A couple years ago Flickr turned on Creative Commons (wikipedia) licensing for photos uploaded there. I jumped in and made my Flickr photos all photos Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported. What that means is, you can use it as long as it is not for commercial use, but don't alter the image and give me credit. Because of this posting, I reviewed my license and updated it! (go me)

I have had plenty of my images used in various articles, comments, blogs, etc. I don't mind at all, but give me credit and don't make money off it unless you give me a chance too. I am starting to realize that my images are my hard work. I created them, I edited, uploaded, paid for the hosting, and share them with others. If you want to use them to promote you item for cash, I want in if we can come to a deal. I am done with the days of giving away my work, unless it is for a worthwhile charity.

A quick search on Google and Bing turned up these examples of people using my imagery for their site:

• Charbroiling- Foodista
• The Internet doesn’t give a damn about the recession- pigdom
• Steve McNair found shot dead in Nashville- Inside Charm City
• 250,000 Gallon Oil Slick Spreads Toward Ireland- Twilight Earth
• The Saturday Strangeness- Londonist
• $31 Billion In Alternative Energy Tax Credits Approved by Senate Finance Committee- TreeHuger
• Attractions & Things to Do in Hawaii- eHow
• Why are you leaving money on the table?- Business is Personal
  
• Shorty Goes Swimming-And Almost Doesnt Come Back- Happy Pet Blog- Dog
• The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies- Rates to Go
• Rosh Hashanah Spicy Beef Brisket (+ Shepherds Pie Leftovers)- chowmama
• Where To Find Free Gambling Lessons- Vegas Chatter
• Irish artists lash out at plans to cut tax breaks- Euranet

I could keep going, but hopefully you get the point...

I have also found myself not posting as many publically accessible photos on Flickr. I have moved my family photos to a privately accessible site. I remove the images after a short time. So while the quality of my images improve, the quantity that is publicly available has gone down.

Links

Thought today would be a good day to supply a fresh set of photo-links.

- Canon announced their new 1D Mark IV. It is a beast of a camera. The video example is sick, just sick.

- Picasa 3.5 Organizes Your Photos with Facial Recognition- LifeHacker; I suppose if I was doing more group/friends/social fun shooting this would be helpful. (like uploads for Facebook) But otherwise, not so much. Still- Picasa is a great free tool!

- Giz Explains: When (Not) To Use Your Camera's Flash- Gizmodo; Great information. Most folks just do not know. Prime example is at U2 concerts. Tons of flashes, and the great view of the guys hand in front of you and not so much of Bono on stage.

- Polaroid Pulls an About-Face, Decides to Re-Launch Instant Film Next Year- Gizmodo; I wish I cared, I really do. I know there is something really arty to the Polaroid, but I just am not in to that aspect.

- Custom Folding Umbrella- Artscow; When I think umbrella, I think shoot-through or bounce. Not a REAL umbrella for the rain. Even weirder is that they put photos of stuff on it. Who the heck is gonna see it? Seriously... if it is open it is pointed up... if it is closed, it is put away. Ugh. 

- “I’ll Light Ya For It….”- Joe McNally; The inner photography geek in me loved this little take off. Fantastic. (Strobist take)

- QnA: Big Group in a Big, Dark Room- Strobist; Really good description of how to light a large group. If I get the chance, I will need to buy/borrow a third light to sync. Though I don't know anyone else who uses CyberSyncs. Hopefully it would be a paying job so I can get one. Thankfully the receivers are not that pricey.


- 10 Ways to Improve Your Photography Without Buying Gear- PhotoFocus; Very good list of material.  I think #7 is a problem I have right now. I have no clue what I want to photograph- generally. Though I am narrowing it down slowly.

Fun with long exposures

Fun with long exposures
Originally uploaded by Phil Romans

So it has been raining here for about four days straight. A classic Nor'easter. It stopped raining finally this morning. Perfect time to head out for some waterfall photos along the Gunpowder. I knew the side streams would be raging and the overcast clouds would provide perfect shading for longer exposures.
At last second, I grabbed my strobe- thinking I could practice some 'painting' of objects with strobing on it. I really wasn't sure what I could do, but better to have it than not.

I tried the one idea and it failed horribly, painting a rock with strobe light. Then I got this idea to light my face with the strobe. I set the exposure at 2.5 seconds, time delayed trigger. The shutter opened and I popped the strobe two/three times at 1/4 power- hence the blur of my hands.

The long exposure allowed the stream flow to even out... and the strobe light on my face highlighted me. Kind of cool.

New DIY grid spot

About a year ago I had made a grid spot based on a David Hobby suggestion- black straws are free. I spent a couple weeks collecting free clean black straws based on this theory... Cutting all the straws up was a pain but I finally glued it all up, and had at it. It worked great. I even used the existing half side of Velcro on my strobe to help keep the grid spot on. (also used to help keep gels on for common lighting conditions)

Then about two months ago, the straws started to drop out. Seems the glue I had used was not consistently applied.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

I had liked the used of this device and wanted to NOT spend a bucket load on other devices like the Honl line. Good products but not good for my wallet. I tried to find coroplast at local hobby stores, no luck, and at office supply stores, also no luck. Yikes.

Then I located a store on line via Amazon. However my buddy John pointed me to a cheaper option from Beacon Graphics. Alright! I could get several sheets of coroplast for less than the cost of one Honl grid spot. I can get more cardboard for free and the gaffers tape I have will last forever.

I got the shipment Monday and had some time this evening to whip up the new version.

Great!

I even used an old FedEx express shipping box to surround the new grids. It was WAY much easier to put together. I followed, roughly, the instructions I found at the DIY Photography site. The resulting test shots were telling.


My old straw based grid spot:

My new coroplast based grid spot:

Seems the channels of the coroplast are more squared and the resulting pattern is a reflection of that. No HUGE problem, but something to be aware of when snapping.

I think I am also going to make a shorter grid spot. The current one is 2 inches deep from front of the grid to the back. The next one is either going to be 1 inch or less. Maybe... lets see how much use this one gets first. Any longer and it just becomes a snoot.

New Challenges

I haven't had nearly the free time to explore new photography ideas and concepts as I used to. And by extension I haven't had to practice anything new and different. So I am pretty much locked in to the 'same old same old.'

I feel motivated by a couple different things, they include but are not limited to:

• Seeing other work
• Travel and associated research
• Chatting with other photographers
• Passing by something and seeing in a different way
• Trying to relay everyday things differently

So my challenge recently is finding time to become motivated and finding time to shoot. I don't always feel motivated, or have the right conditions to do so. Most of my free time is after baby goes to sleep at night, which is limited.

One thing that I found interesting is try to duplicate something like this example. I see that and I want to be able to duplicate the effect. I should go back and watch the Strobist DVD se t to get new examples of things to think about. There are plenty of points of inspiration. I just need to get the resources in place to be ready to shoot that next great photo. 

While I find myself at a point that I am pretty happy with results, I also know I don't want to just stop at this level. (probably more like a plateau) I want to get better... some of that involves research, some of that involves inspiration... and maybe some of those limits are due to the gear I currently have. So now I need to figure out if it is my motivation, vision, or gear that is limiting me. Where do I find the time and inspiration to reach out?

I honestly don't know... but here is to finding out. Wish me luck.

Links

Here is a list of photo related links I have collected in the past week:

- Video: elaborate multi-camera rig elegantly captures giant redwood tree- Engadget; Impressive setup, and SIX Pocket Wizards in use.  The resulting image is damn impressive.

- Breathe Like a Sniper to Take Better Photos in Low Light- LifeHacker; 'Shooting' is a generic term in photography and guns. Stands to reason some of the same physics would apply to each.

- PhotoLapse Makes Time-Lapse Movie Creation a Snap- LifeHacker; I thought about applying this to my horde of U2 Chicago photos... however, it can't handle vertical vs horizontal display of images. Oh well.


- China celebrates 60 years- The Big Picture; I love this site... but the link mention is because my reaction to the images were, "I get it already, they have A LOT of people who can march in step... good grief."

- New SNL title sequence and segments shot using Canon EOS 7D, 5D Mark II- Engadget; Thats a HUGE win for Canon DSLR world. I am still not a fan of the video function on a DSLR, but to get that sort of result from a show like SNL- nicely done Canon! (yes, I am a Canon fan-boy)