Photography by J.B. Churchill

Last month in our poll we asked our community about whether they watermark their images when sharing them online. The results were fairly split.

So it seems that half of our readers watermark their images – at least some times – but quite a few never do.

Note: if we take out the 7% who don’t share images online we are left with 46% who never watermark their images and 54% who do – at least part of the time.

Interested to hear some discussion in comments below on ‘why’ you do (or don’t) and ‘how’ you do it (if you do).?

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

How many Photographers Watermark their Images? [POLL RESULTS]

We all do it, once in a while.  I’ll even admit to it as I am currently paging through the last six years of travel photos.  I have taken boring travel photos.  Sometimes.  Maybe you know you take boring photos and maybe you don’t.  And maybe sometimes, like me, you look back and realize you took some, but not until it was too late  All those megabytes lost to what might have seemed like a good idea at the time.  Well, if you want to take more of those boring photos, let me fill you in on some of my secrets for taking mundane, ho-hum travel photos.  By the end of the list, your photos should be fairly horrid.  You’re welcome.

Stand In Front Of Something

Me And Guinness, Boring.

Stand in front of things often and with no real purpose.  When nearly every picture you bring back is you in pretty much the same clothes, over and over again, in front of large things, it’s going to bore your friends back home.  Mission accomplished.  And you don’t want your friends thinking you had more fun on your trip than they did huddled inside office cubicles, so make sure you don’t pose, make goofy face or otherwise look like you’re enjoying the trip.  Because you aren’t.  As far as they know from your pictures.

Take A Picture Just So You Can Say You Were There

No one, and I mean no one, will believe you’ve been to the Louvre in Paris if you don’t bring back a photo of the Mona Lisa taken from 30 feet away over a throng of other camera wielding tourists.  Sure, you could tell them all about how you stood in awe for a solid 10 minutes gazing upon the master piece from the front row.  But you didn’t,  because you needed to get a photo.  A photo is worth 1000 words after all, so stop the heartfelt diatribe on the mastery of Leonardo da Vinci’s work as you witnessed it and snap that photo from just above shoulder height from the back of the room.  If you want to up your game and really prove you were there, find someone close to you with a better zoom lens holding their camera high and snap a picture of their viewscreen.  Add in some digital zoom and it’s like you were allowed beyond the security ropes, sniffing the paint yourself.  Your friends will love this.

Super High ISO

Too much ISO noise, noise, NOISE!!

Don’t listen to the ninnies who say there isn’t enough light to really capture the romance of a moon splashed beach, complete with candle lit walkways and lovers walking hand in hand.  Bah!  Shoot away!  You might spook the lovers with a flash so go without, it’s ok.  Just jack up the ISO as far as it’ll go and act like it’s daylight.  Handheld photos will get the best (terrible) results here.  No sense in laying back in the sand to enjoy the warm breeze off the Caribbean, no one will believe how romantic the scene was!  And believe me, a wickedly grainy shot with all kinds of color noise and a bit of camera shake is better than no shot at all when it comes to spelling R-O-M-A-N-C-E.

Too Much Flash

So you didn’t take my advice by jacking up the ISO for dark photos.  Now you’re looking for a new way to bring back craptastic photos? Let’s swing the opposite direction and blow it all out with the flash.  That’s right, the flash.  It’s great for obliterating the mood of any photo and rendering a dynamic backdrop flat as a crepe floating on a windless ocean.  Because what should be shining in this photo is you!  (You are in front of something, aren’t you?  Pay attention!!) Using the ‘night mode’  is for sissies who want to blend into the scenery.  Not you, you want to stand out, so use that flash like you mean it.  Full flash, all the time.  No compromise.

Flat, Flat, Flat Photos

Wanted to edit this photo, but I fell asleep looking at it.

Let’s look at it this way; Ansel Adams’ prints are all two dimensional (literally) so yours should be too (figuratively).  And really, they will all be viewed on computer screens anyway, so keep with the flat, two dimensional theme.  It works (painters usually do the same thing and they’ve been putting out art for years!).  Don’t try to arrange some foreground objects and distant objects, never.  That doesn’t work, at all.  Let’s use a scene of a wayward moose chomping on river grasses with Denali in the background.  Horrid.  No, instead, take a look at that pretty rock in the foreground and isolate it.  Hover over it if need be (don’t try this with the moose, though, because we’re trying to ignore him).  And it’s best if it doesn’t cast an annoying shadow, hinting to the fact that it may be a 3D object.  Flat, people, flat!  Now look to those distant hills and the glaciated 20,000’ peak.  How to make all those rolls and jagged edges flat?   Best to wait for clouds because, again, shadows aren’t going to help you.  Or maybe wait until a noon day sun, when it’s at its brightest, is beating straight down.  That’ll do the trick too.

Centering The Horizon

Who wants to visit Ireland after seeing this? Me!!

The Rule Of Thirds was created by someone who clearly doesn’t understand symmetry.  When you look to the distant horizon over an emerald blue sea, where do your eyes place it?  In the middle!!  Do you tilt your head down so the horizon is in the top third of your field of view?  Of course not!  So why would you shoot like that?  Drop that ‘theory’ and get with reality.  Put the horizon in the middle.  It’s the way nature intended.

Include No Frame Of Reference

Random canons with no real context or sense of place rock!!

This one should be easy if you’re really working hard on making your photos flat.  It’s like getting two awesome photos in one.  Remember where we had you take individual shots of a rock (not the moose) and Denali?  We’re going to refine your shots a bit.  Let’s assume it’s a really cool rock.  So cool, it’d be best if there weren’t any distractions or reference points in the photo.  Take a look at your photo.  Can you see the babbling brook in the frame?  Bad.  Drop it.  What about any activity?  Butterflies or hoof prints?  Nope, don’t want those.  Let the rock shine by making it the only thing in the photo.  Don’t worry, you can always add captions later if your cubicle chained friends don’t understand; “This is the cool rock I found right before the moose charged us.  I think there were some mountains around, too.”  That’s what words are for.

Too Fast To Stop? Blur It!

I'm sure he was interesting, if I had only stoped.

Thank to the powers that be for trains, busses, taxis driven by insane people and other forms of speedy transportation.  If not for them, you’d never be able to cover, and photograph, as much countryside and cityscapes as you’d hope!  You’d be stuck walking around, composing shots for hours.  Best leave those photos to the pros who are paid to hang out in one spot.  You’re on the move and don’t have time for that any way.  Plus, whoa! Action!  It’s in every moving photo.  It’s the blur style you love from National Geographic, except without all the learned experience (read: cheaper for you!).  That shot from the rickshaw where the canvas wall is hiding half of what was an amazing Buddhist statue will help your friends back home connect with the real Nepal you got to experience.  You don’t have time to stop and compose, you’re on vacation!!!

And so my friends, that is just a snippet of my advice for bringing back boring, and possibly horrid, travel photos. I could go on and on; Make ‘em dark, aim for the sun, shoot from the hip, etc…   No need to thank me, just keep all those bad photos to yourself.  Thanks.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

How To Bring Back Boring, And Possibly Horrid, Travel Photos

A Guest Post by Travis Hill from The Perfect Pose

In recent years photojournalism has been all the rage. Just capture the day or moment as it happens. Honestly that is wonderful style of photography that many people enjoy. The problem is, everyone’s doing it. With so many new photographers in the market today, it’s imperial that we set ourselves apart from the crowd. With that being said lets ask ourselves honestly. How many times have our wedding clients not wanted any formal photographs? How many times have our portrait clients asked; “What should I do”? In these situations we cannot simply rely on photojournalism. We must be able to instruct our clients how to stand, how to hold their shoulders back, we as professional photographers need to tell our clients how to look their best. It’s time for us to take control and make the magic happen.

Know your client: Most people don’t think of this when they think of posing. This is the first step in creating a pose. We need to understand our client’s personality; we need to capture who they are. Establishing a relationship with our clients will not only help us understand what it is they want, it will help build trust. Trust is crucial when it comes to photographing clients. I can’t tell you how many times I have wanted to do something funky, and then get a strange look from the client. Then I just say “Trust The Photographer”. Because I have already established a relationship with the client, they are more willing to “Trust Me”.

Here are some ideas for posing engagement sessions

When you’re posing a couple for an engagement session, remember they’re in love. They want cool artistic images, but they also want some nice romantic images that show their love for one another.

In this image I had my clients lie on the ground and wrap up tight. Of course they didn’t mind! Let you clients have fun with the pose. Remember just because we are posing people, it doesn’t mean they have stiff and boring. Always be willing to go above and beyond the norm.

From this pose we can change our angle and have the couple move around slightly to easily create a few more images. Which is always great, because changing the pose just a little can completely change the image. Tell your clients how good they look. This is going to automatically make them look at you, and then almost always they will look back at each other and smile.

Now just have your clients sit up for the final image in this series. (He actually grabbed his fiancé and rolled her over top of him. That’s why they are laughing, and she is on the other side of him.) Let you clients have fun, and embrace what they do. Posing is about interacting and having fun more than just telling someone what to do.

Two quick poses you can do every time. Look at me, look at each other! This gives them a photo that Mom is sure to love. Plus they have a shot that looks candid, the photo looks natural and doesn’t look posed, but it reality it was. Something important to remember in posing: No matter how posed the shot is, we always want it to look comfortable and natural.

Don’t be afraid to add some background to you shot. Give your clients some space and take in the scenery. Clients are going to want some artistic photos as well.

Notice the pose in this image. They are not facing me. I have there bodies turned toward each other with them looking at me. This will always help slim your clients.

Get two images from one pose. I almost always have my clients pose where the girl is leaning into they guy. Whether it be sitting or standing. It’s a nice relaxing pose that looks very comfortable. And you can always get two images from this one pose. Simply zoom out and give the image a new look and a new feel.

Now when I think; “what do my clients want to look like in an image”? Usually I think they want to look cool. So you always have to set up a cool looking pose. This doesn’t have to be a pose where they are close together. Just brake them a part and make them look cool!

Travis Hill is photographer from Baltimore Maryland. See more of his work at his studio site, his posing blog and on Facebook.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Engagement Portrait Posing Tips

You may have loyalties to the likes of Sony, Canon, Nikon etc but you have to admit Samsung is shaking the tree when it comes to innovation … witness its NX DSLR-style camera!

The company first introduced a twin screen compact camera with the ST550 late in 2009. I have to admit the idea got to me!

Now we see a similar camera – the Samsung 2View TL210 (also known as the PL150 in some parts of the world): twin LCD, 12.4 megapixel capture, 5x optical zoom (tho’ not a Schneider optic this time) and all for a little over half the XT550’s price.

Samsung 2View TL210/PL150 Features

The maximum image size is 4000×3000 pixels, or 34×25cm as a print. Movies? You can shoot MPEG4 video at sizes up to 1280×720 pixels and view them via an HDMI output.

Although the PL150’s price is bargain basement it doesn’t look it: a piano finish gloss black casing gives it an ultra smart look and of course, as a compact, it’s light and easily pocketable.

The basic exposure programs are auto, smart auto and Program AE; selectable on the camera, are two scene modes — night and beauty shot (to hide facial blemishes) — while ten more are selectable via the finder.

The twin screens have been given some extra functionality: in use the camera can recognise two faces in shot; with the self timer in play, a countdown appears on screen; for kids’ shots the PL150 delightfully runs a shot cartoon on the front screen. And don’t forget you can shoot a movie with the front screen active. Make great Web clips.

The camera can automatically trigger the camera to take a photo when a smile is lurking! And of course there is face detection and face recognition (up to 10 people).

ISO Settings

At ISO 80 the definition is acceptable, as are the noise levels.

At ISO 800 definition is already poor, while the noise level is rising. Not a useable setting.

At ISO 1600 noise is very high, definition poor. Not good!

At ISO 3200 the picture quality is unacceptable: high noise and poor definition.

Distortion

Not bad. No problems at the zoom’s wide end but there was a little pincushion distortion at the tele end of the zoom.

Startup

The camera was ready to shot two second after startup; follow on shots came in as fast as I could press the button.

Comment< ?h3>
I get the feeling this camera was made down to a low price. The ISO tests tell it all!

Quality: Low resolution and high noise make this a good buy only if you are really stretched financially.

Why you would buy it: attractive budget price; twin screen feature; simple to use.

Why you wouldn’t: below average picture quality.

Vale for money if you are not too demanding on picture quality. An ideal child’s first camera.

Specifications

Image Sensor: 12.4 million effective pixels.
Metering: Multi zones, centre-weighted, spot.
Sensor Size: 7.79mm CCD.
Lens: f3.3-5.9/4.9-24.5mm (27-135mm as 35 SLR equivalent).
Shutter Speed: 8 to 1/2000 second.
Memory: micro SD/microSDHC cards plus 30MB internal memory.
Image Sizes (pixels): 4000×3000, 3984×2656, 3840×2160, 3264×2448, 2560×1920, 2048×1536, 1920×1080, 1024×768.
Movies: 1280×720, 640×480, 320×240 at 15/30/60 fps.
Rear LCD Screen: 7.6cm LCD (230,000 pixels).
Front LCD screen: 3.8cm. (61,000 pixels).
File Formats: JPEG, MPEG4, WAV.
ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 80 to 3200.
Interface: USB 2.0, HDMI, AV.
Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery, DC input.
Dimensions: 99.2×59x19.9 WHDmm.
Weight: 136.6 g (without battery and card).
Price: Get a price on the Samsung PL150/TL210 DualView at Amazon.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Samsung 2View TL210/PL150 [REVIEW]

Image by Andrew®

Our last community workshop gave one of our readers some great tips on how to approach photographing a model so I’ve decided to post another reader question. This one is a question I get quite a bit – how do I photograph the birth of a baby?

Here’s the latest question from one of our readers – Drew.

“My wife and I are expecting the birth of our new baby daughter in two weeks time and I’m wondering if you might have any advice on how to photograph the birth?

It’s such a special time for us as family that we want to capture it somehow but I’m a little nervous about how to do it tastefully, meaningfully and without my camera dominating the event.”

I know not everyone will have experience in this one and that there are probably different opinions on whether people would take a camera into this situation – but if you’ve got some advice or tips we’d love to hear them.

What advice do you have for Drew?

PS: As a dad of two and an avid photographer I’ve found myself asking the same question. I know some families choose to make a birth a camera free event and can respect that – while others take an ‘access all areas’ approach. In our situation we did take and use the camera but were certainly not using it during the seconds babies arrived.

One piece of advice that I did share a while back here on dPS that came from a friend who took a lot of photos through the birth of his kids was – sometimes images in black and white can be good for this type of situation where color images can be be quite overpowering and graphic. My friend took a lot of photos during the birth of his babies but they were so vivid in color that it was very confronting. He experimented with converting some to black and white and found that the images were still very powerful but not quite as confronting.

The other piece of advice I’d give is to talk about it before labor starts! You probably want both of you on the same page before you start pointing cameras on a day like that!

Looking forward to hearing your tips on photographing the birth of a baby!

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

How Would You Photograph a Birth Scene?

Image by mootje_ mootje

1. It can be exciting photographing a newborn so compose a list of shots you want to take before you pick up the camera. Grab these ‘safe shots’ first and once you have this selection in the bag, start to get creative with new angles and ideas.
2. The best lens to use when photographing any type of portrait is a fast 50/85mm prime lens. Operating at wide apertures (small f number) will allow you to work in darker environments and capture stills with the focus on your subject and a blurred backdrop to remove distraction.
3. If you’re uncomfortable operating in manual mode then plump for Aperture Priority and opt for a wide aperture of f4 or f5.6. Focus on your subject’s face and include a section of the backdrop into the frame. This is where an interesting or colourful background can make the scene more dynamic. Alternatively position yourself at the end of the child and focus on the feet – throwing the rest of his/her frame into a creatively blur.
4. Attach a zoom lens to vary the composition of your shots; catering for up close cute pictures of feet, hands, nose or ears for example and then span out wide to grab contextual portraits or ones that reveal the entire length of the child.
5. As with any portrait pictures you’ll want to use even light. Avoid flash at all costs – not only is this disruptive to the calm atmosphere you want to create but it can rob the image of texture and tone. Position the cot or child near a window (using a white sheet or curtain to diffuse if it is a particularly bright day. Remember to exposure for the face.
6. Declutter the scene of distracting items such as nappies or bottles and incorporate soft blankets for interesting colours and texture. Consider placing props such as a loved toy or teddy to emphasis size.
7. Black and white images can carry more emotion that their colourful counterparts so experiment when photographing or editing images post shoot. Some cameras offer this as a menu choice but so you don’t restrict yourself it is advisable to shoot in colour and desaturate or select a B&W option in an editing program later. Play around with curves in Photoshop or the Presets in Lightroom to control contrast and brightness of the shadows, midtones and highlights.
8. As newborns grow at such a daunting pace, many proud parents choose to photograph their tots at periodical intervals to chart the change. A collection of these images printed in a photobook can make a wonderful gift for a family member.
9. To emphasis the petite proportions of your newborn try taking images with the parent. For example – baby’s hand on mum and dad’s hand, or the baby’s feet in between the fathers. Use a wide aperture and ramp up ISO if shooting in low light environments.
10. The best time to shoot an infant is arguably after he/she has had a feed and has been put down for a nap. The noise of the shutter shouldn’t disturb them and means you can move their little hands and feet delicately without resistance or movement.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Newborn Photography Tips for Beginners

Time for another dPS poll. This one is for DSLR users (which is the vast majority of our readers) and revolves around the type of lenses being used in our community.

Do You Primarily Shoot with Zoom or Prime Lenses?

A quick recap for those not familiar with prime lenses – in short they’re a fixed focal length lens. Of course a zoom lens is one which you can…. well…. zoom. It is generally named with the range of its zoom.

For me – my primary lens is a zoom lens (24-105mm Canon) and the second most used lens in my bag is a prime lens – a 50mm f1.4 Canon lens (both are pictured above).

So which do you primarily shoot with?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

In comments feel free to expand on your answer and tell us about the most common lens that can be found on your DSLR.

Further Reading from the dPS Archives: Prime vs Zoom lenses – which are best?

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Do You Primarily Shoot with Zoom or Prime Lenses?

One effecct that many of our readers experiment is creating custom Bokeh shapes. It’s a fun DIY little project for a rainy day – this video tells you how to do it.

The video is by Lucas Ridley.

Further Reading on this topic: Aperture Mask – the Many Faces of Bokeh.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

DIY Photography Project: How to Make Custom Bokeh Shapes

Professional and semi-professional American photographers might soon face a new set of administrative and accounting requirements that could bury them in tax paperwork – unless they act now. As part of the new healthcare reform legislation approved by the U.S. Congress this year, business owners must now report to the IRS on an income tax return any amount over $600 they paid to a company or individual and also submit a 1099 form to that company/individual as well.

In simple terms this means if you purchased a new lens this year that cost let’s say $895, not only will you be reporting that on your income tax return but you’ll also have to submit a 1099 form to the company you bought it from. The new tax rule is meant to track cash payments and cut down on businesses that don’t report this income – and fortunately it excludes credit card transactions – but what it really does is place a massive burden on small business owners. For commercial photographers that might order catering on their shoots or make other similar payments totaling more than $600 in a year, filing a 1099 with each of these becomes excessively burdensome.

Fortunately, the IRS is asking for the opinion of business owners and the American Society of Media Photographers has organized an e-mail protest campaign to protect the interests of small business owners. All submissions must be sent in before September 29, 2010. If you’re an American professional or semi-professional photographer check out the campaign and send in a letter if you’d like to support the ASMP’s efforts.

UPDATE: Please read David McRee’s comment below for a much better explanation from a practicing CPA.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

New Accounting Requirements for American Photographers

Weekly Assignment

This week we photographed a subject that is near and dear to me, Books. A good book can create a story, transport you to somewhere new, help you relax, give you a laugh, or make you think. And we had all of those in our winners this week. Our winner though was a shot that reminded us how books can make us laugh with MagdaK’s well read dog. This shot had to be hard to shoot, but even so, it was incredibly well done. We liked the blue tones and the setup was just perfect. Well done, MagdaK! Our first runner up was mseigafuse, who reminded us how books can transport us into a different world. mseigafuse’s shot of I, Robot takes the story out of the pages of the book and brings it into the photo. You might want to view this one larger to get the full effect of it. And last, but not least was a very well done entry that shows us how books can make us think. arofarmer’s shot using the Tibetan Book of the Dead has a very somber feel to it, but at the same time, the lightness of it underscores the fact that it’s not necessarily sad. This one was a very powerful image. Well done everyone!

This week we started our Cars assignment. We’ve all seen those beautiful pics in advertisements and some of us regularly pick up magazines with stunning images of cars in all their glory, so let’s see what you can do. As always, a quick reminder of the rules if you wish to have your photo included in the mini-contest to be featured on the blog at the end of the week. First, your photo must have been taken between 25 August – 8 September 2010. Second, your post must include the words “Assignment: Cars” and the date the photo was taken. Finally, your EXIF should be intact, and it’s useful if you can include some of the main points (e.g. camera, lens, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, etc). Next week, to celebrate the return to school for many kids in the northern hemisphere, our next assignment is Learning. So consider what learning means to you and show us in your photo.

Hot Threads

• Your Standards or Theirs?: If you’re ever thought about doing something with your photography, you might have thought about how you compare to other photographers. And then you might wonder what potential clients would think about your work. But have you stopped to think if your work meets your own standards? So, which of these things matters to your more? Your standards? Clients’ standards? Other photographers’ standards? And how do you reconcile those? Come share your thoughts over in the forums.
• Creating and Printing Photobooks: And if you have thought about doing something with your photos, maybe you’ve considered making a photobook. But how much do you know about creating photobooks, and how do you know which service to actually use? Come read this thread about creating your own photobooks and learn a little more about the process.
• Beginner to Beginner Photography Tutorial: Sometimes it can be overwhelming to be a beginner. How do you know where to start, what the basics are, and even how to actually search for what you might neat to learn? That’s where it can be useful to get tips from other beginners. So if you head over to the forums, you can find a post on just that. Help from one beginner to another!
• RAW: Sharpening and Noise: Nearly all images do need some sharpening. And whether you do this in Photoshop, Lightroom, or a specialized sharpening program, one of the things you might find is that you’re left with noisier images. But why is that? Come read a bit more about noise, RAW, and photoshop processing over in the forums.
• What Would You Do: That’s right, you have another chance to participate in a WWYD thread. These are our post-processing threads where you get the chance to edit another forum member’s photos. So if you’re interested in learning about post-processing, you might want to head over and try your hand at WWYD.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

This Week in the Digital Photography Forums (29 Aug-4 Sep ‘10)

Image by Romain Guy

Getting started

Once you have the intention and the funds (see Part 1 of Becoming a Pro Photographer) in place it’s time to consider the legality, rules and regulations and all the red tape of what you need to do. In the UK the government provide a range of free half-day training sessions to help self-employed people get up to speed on everything from paying your taxes to health and safety (visit http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/bst/advice-team-events/work1.htm if you’re in the UK). Another great port of call is www.businesslink.gov.uk who run a plethora of free (and some paid) business course, catering for everything from web marketing to brand building, to assessing customer body language! A quick trawl of the internet should reap some similar courses in other parts of the world too (feel free to suggest resources for your part of the world in comments below) – sometimes these are subsidised by the government. Something else to give great care and consideration is to getting yourself properly insured. Join us again in a few weeks when we will reveal a complete guide on photographer’s insurance.

Paying tax

As inevitable in life, as death – there is no way to avoid paying tax if you want to work. The rules, rates and deadlines will vary massively from country to country so ensure you fully explore what it is you need to do in your own part of the world, and if unsure always employ the services of an accountant who can check you aren’t paying too little – or too much. Regardless of where you work it is advisable that you keep a solid record of your accounts, expenses, income, invoices and receipts. It is recommended that you back up any digital records stored on your computer and also keep a secure paper copy. There are hundreds of software packages out there that can help with the accounts side of your business or – again – employ an accountant to help. This won’t also be useful for ensuring your tax return is correct, but may also help you secure a bank loan or help you to sell or franchise your business down the line.

In the UK as soon as you start earning through freelance methods you will need to register with the Inland Revenue to ensure you pay any appropriate tax and national insurance contributions.  However it is worth bearing in mind that self-employed people here can deduct many allowable expenses (i.e. those items purchased exclusively for the business, including printing paper, inks, stationary, parking tickets etc) from the sum earned that financial year to reduce the amount of tax paid. What is more; currently self-employed folk can claim 40p for every business mile travelled using their own vehicle and there are even other allowances for “capital” items such as new equipment. How much tax you pay will depend on whether your income is greater than your tax allowance after expenses have been deducted for that year. For more information on taxes and NI Contributions see www.hmrc.gov.uk.< ?p>

As in most countries around the world tax evasion in the United States is also illegal, and doing so could lead to you being fined or serving a stint in jail. However thanks to the online payment system (which we also now have in the UK) filling in the tax form return is relatively simple. If you’re just starting out as a self employed person in the US then most of the questions won’t apply. Remember to register as self employed though and you’ll need to pay the basic national insurance stamp over the course of the year which can be made through direct debit.

Amounts vary across the world on how much you are required to pay, but as a good measure of caution in the UK and US, it is ideal to set aside 30% of everything you earn. This should cover your tax bill come the end of the financial year and whatever is left will be a nice little bonus!

Contracts

When you work as a freelance photographer there will be times when you are asked to sign a contract so be prepared to read the small print carefully before signing. There are plenty of little details to watch out for, such as ownership and copyright laws. Don’t try to ignore these issues as you could end up losing you money, or worse your rights to the images. If there is something you don’t understand, always ask for clarification or take it to someone outside of the company for an objective opinion before signing.

Equally you may need to consider creating a contract for your clients or models to sign. Be sure to cover anything you deem necessary such as; payment demands, copyright issues, details explaining that you may wish to use the images to promote your business etc. Again, having an objective pair of eyes – or even a legal representative check over the document will be incredibly helpful. There are hundreds of templates online that are available to use and mould to suit your own business, just find something that suits what you are attempting to achieve.

Invoicing

Knowing how, what and when to invoice can be confusing at first – but there are many templates online that you can use and change to suit your business, but essentially invoices can be as simple as stating your contact details, addressee details, a quick description of the work done, fee and details of when payment is due. Be prompt and organised when it comes to getting paid – otherwise you won’t eat. Keep a detailed spreadsheet in digital form as well as backed up with a paper copy and chart when you dispatch invoices and receive payment.

Join us for Part 3 when we will discuss marketing and brand building concerns. Subscribe to dPS to make sure you get it.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

How to Become a Pro Photographer: Part 2 – Getting Started

Image by GiselaGiardino

Your challenge this weekend is to take and share a photo of you with your camera.

Yep – it’s self portrait time – but we want to not only see you (or part of you – you can have some anonymity if you prefer) but also your prize and joy – your camera (whatever it might be).

To take it you might need to set yourself up in front of a mirror (although I’m sure those of you with two cameras could do it differently). Don’t just take a rushed shot – this is a photographic assignment. Think about composition, your background, lighting etc. As you’ll see from some of the examples in yesterdays post – these kinds of shots can be quite creative and say a lot about you.

Once you’ve taken your best “Self Portrait” image, upload it to your favourite photo sharing site and either share a link to it below or embed it in the comments using the our new tool to do so. Please note it sometimes takes us a while to approve comments with images as there’s a moderation queue – particularly over the weekend.

If you tag your photo on Flickr, Twitter or other sites with Tagging tag it as #DPSMYCAMERAANDI to help others find it. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.

PS: don’t forget to check out some of the great photos shared last week in the ‘My Favorite Subject’ challenge.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

My Camera and I: Weekly Photography Challenge

Going hand in hand with the previous Travel Photography Subject: Food, is what goes on behind the scenes. Some will consider food and food preparation one and the same and photograph them as such. But I have often found the ceremony, skill, art and heart that goes into creating the meal deserves its own category.

While food photography on the road may be fairly easy (it’s placed right in front of your or you grab it from a cart, after all) shooting food preparation is going to take a little more tenacity.  You’re going to have to get behind the scenes and often through kitchen doors to get the low down on where your food comes from.  For the most part, previous techniques of smiling and asking politely are a great place to start. If it’s a food cart out in the street or a market where everything is in the open, it’s always appreciated if you sample the fare first.  I won’t discourage you from simply walking around and shooting, but I have found I get a better response when I’ve stopped and made a purchase, shared a smile and show genuine interest in what’s being cooked.

Restaurants can be a different nut to crack.  In more developed countries, with their strict rules and health concerns, getting into the kitchen can take some work.  A good first step is, after enjoying a wonderful meal, ask to meet the chef.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If the chef is busy, they are busy.  But sometimes they will come out to talk shop.  Everyone has an ego and many of us enjoy hearing compliments about our work, especially if we pour ourselves into it.  If you’re a good conversationalist, you may be allowed to sneak a peek in the kitchen.  In third world countries there will be less barrier between the kitchen and the eating area and it may only require simply asking your waitperson if a photo is ok.

Another great way to get a feel for food preparation is to go couchsurfing.  Couchsurfing is the act of staying in someone’s home, either on a couch or spare bed, while on your travels.  I had great luck with the site couchsurfing.org (there are others out there as well) on a recent trip to Morocco.  While I don’t have a lot of photographs inside the home, I was welcome in the kitchen to watch the mother of the house prepare a tremendous, delicious couscous dish.  This wasn’t some cookbook method, it was simply the way she made it for her family week after week and it was a pleasure to be involved.  Cooked on a two burner camping stove with multiple washings and steamings and other techniques I don’t use, it was a delight to behold and I do have a few quick snapshots of the mother in action.

Chances are, if you’re not out in the hot sun of an open-air market, things are going to be dim.  Resist the urge to use your flash.  In the end you may need to, but cooking is an active, lively event, so let a little blur into your pictures (blur of motion that is, not blur of everything).  Practice at home with higher ISOs to see what is tolerable for you.  I’ve found great luck at times with ISOs as high as 6400 and used the grain in the image to an effect.   Be careful of getting in the way of the food preparation if you’re in small spaces.  Before your step in, observe the flow and understand what’s really going on in the cooking space.  Watch out for all the hot stuff, obviously, and slow your shutter to around 1/15th of a second to experiment with capturing better looking flames from a burner or direct fire.  Focus on faces and the action.  When people are really focused on meal preparation their faces will reflect the concentration and add emotion to the shot.  Cover the mechanics, but don’t forget to bring some emotion (smiles, frowns, curses, sweat, etc…) into the frame.

I’d like to see what you’ve managed to shoot while on your travels.  Share a photo or five of Food Preparation in the comments section below.

—–

Previous articles in the Travel Photography Subjects series include Water, Old People, Young People, Religion, Sports, Socializing, Icons, Rich, Poor, Transportation, Economy and Food. These posts are not intent on telling you everything you need to do, step by step, to capture perfect, cookie-cutter pictures while traveling.  Instead, they are intent on pointing out some vital elements to capture when on the road and highlight thought provoking questions you may want to ask yourself.  My hope is they help guide you to find your own means to better expressing what your travels have meant to you and present that in the best light possible.  Be sure to subscribe to this site to receive the other nine subjects as they are posted!

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Travel Photography Subjects: Food Preparation

It’s perhaps a little cliche – but we’ve all done it. A camera, a photographer in front of a mirror. Here’s 10 shots that caught our eye today with photographers, their cameras in front of mirrors (PS: this is the theme of the next weekly photography challenge – so get your thinking caps on and polish up those mirrros).

Image by G|o®g|O

Image by Chapendra

Image by Lawrence Whittemore

Image by andres.thor

Image by byfer

Image by Janine

Image by Eugenia

Image by Josh Liba

Image by (davide)

Image by cambiodefractal

Image by stephcarter

Image by striatic

Image by Arty Smokes

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

13 Fun Self Portrait Mirror Shots

Female nude photography has always intrigued me, particularly how a sense of trust is created between photographer and model.

What I find even more intriguing is how, as Australian photographer Peter Adams does in the majority of this book’s pictures, is how he convinces a model to pose outdoors in and on often forbidding — and uncomfortable natural landforms. Rocks, trees, seashore etc.

Adams pictures are never boring, never salacious and frequently with a touch of humour invested in them. His lighting is impeccable, compositions arresting.

However, The Digital Female Nude is not just a book nudes: Adams takes it further, into tutorial-land, telling you too how to shoot quality nude pictures.

His first message is for you to decide what sort of photographs you want to take, in colour or black and white, then he encourages you to take inspiration from other, successful photographers or the acknowledged old masters in art … da Vinci, Degas and the rest of the crowd.

More help: how to recruit models, choice of location; getting the legals right … release forms, the issue of copyright etc.

Then he gets down to the choice of camera gear. Whilst he admits it is possible to use a point-and-shoot, he stresses that using such a basic camera “can quickly become very frustrating.” His advice: jump in the deep end and acquire a DSLR.

There are a few vitally useful chapters on technicalities: exposure control; speed and lens aperture; ISO setting etc; lighting; useful accessories … and finally, 30 or so pages on the Digital Darkroom.

If you want to move into nude photography, this book would be hard to beat.

Author: P Adams.
Publisher: PIP.
Distributor: Capricorn Link.
Length: 176 pages.
ISBN: 978 1 86108 556 6.
Price: Get a price on the The Digital Female Nude at Amazon.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

The Digital Female Nude [Book Review]

Image by Romain Guy

As lovers of photography – we can all admit to dreaming of chucking in the day job and setting up shop as a professional photographer, but for many of us it can remain just that – a dream. But for those with the talent, support system and drive, becoming a freelance photographer can be realised! So what’s stopping you? To help you negotiate your way from using photography as a hobby to making a living from your work we have outlined a few helpful hints below. Obviously not everyone has the luxury of jacking in the job right away but with a little patience and preparation anything is possible!

Financing

Your first consideration has to be monetary. Can you afford to quit tomorrow? For most people this is probably unlikely. Most pros who give up a reliable stream of income to become self-employed suggest saving two to three months salary before even considering what they will write in their resignation.

Perhaps your spouse can afford to support you for a while or perhaps you already have some money invested in savings that can be used to pay the mortgage and bills before work starts to come in – everyone’s situation will be different. Whatever your own personal situation, it is worth sitting down and planning your income and expenditure for the first few months of being self-employed and work out how much you will need to sustain yourself and your family. It is also worth investigating whether you can secure a grant from your local authority, a charity, organisation or even the government.

Finally – there is of course the option of taking out a bank loan to get started, but this should be given a lot of thought before a commitment is made.

Location

Next decided where you want to ‘base’ yourself. Working from home has many obvious benefits but can become quite isolating if you live alone and depending on your strength of will – can also become quite distracting. Also if you are working from home, bear in mind that this may not be possible in some rented accommodation – so check with your landlord. What is more, regardless of whether you are a home owner or are renting – try to avoid dedicating one room solely to your business – for example a study or a home studio – if you do you could be asked to pay business rates.

Working in a collective studio with other photographers is a great way to bounce ideas of people, whilst making and maintaining friendships – however there will be another cost involved. Setting up a shop or your own studio is another option, but again if you start off with limited finance this may be something you can aspire to over time.

Equipment

Sure you have a camera but do you have all the other necessary bits and bobs that a professional could require such as: flash guns, reflectors, filters, shutter release, battery packs, a wealth of lens, tripod, memory cards etc? This will ultimately depend on what genre of photography you enter and so you may not need every accessory under the sun – just be prepared for what you will need. Furthermore just because you are turning pro – doesn’t mean you need ‘professional’ kit! It’s how you use it that counts.

Look online for second hand deals, visit camera exchange stores for bargains, and never forget January welcomes a month of sales!

In some countries, self-employed individuals can claim back certain ‘capital’ costs against their tax bill, so ensure you keep all receipts of new items. Also if you have remembered to keep the receipts of items you are ‘bringing into the business’ i.e. kit that you already own, you may also be able to claim back some of the value of these items back against your tax bill (more on this in part 2). Talk to your account or a tax advisor to discuss these matters further.

Work ethic

Once you have your business in place, equipment at the ready and a brand built, the next key element to put into place is your working style. It goes without saying that to succeed you will need to be reliable and efficient and always meet deadlines, but how will you operate and how will divide your working day? The benefit of being self-employed is being your own boss and thus you can set your own hours, however this could also mean working late or weekends to compensate. A disciplined and motivated approach will ultimately reap the most dividends, but be sure to factor in time to relax and recoup creative energy too. For those less disciplined, create a schedule carved into twenty-four hour portions; colour eight slices to represent sleep and eight or so hours dedicated to work. The remaining hours can then be labelled for relaxation, activities, personal photography projects, housework or non-business related errands. With time, this segmentation will flow more naturally but is a great boon to those who are easily distracted. But be honest with clients and decide a reasonable date when you can realistically deliver on your promises.

In this four part series we will explore everything you need to know from getting started to finding work. In the second part, posted in the next week, we will outline the legal concerns with getting your business up and running. Stay subscribed to dPS for the next installment of this series!

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

How to Become a Pro Photographer: Part 1

This post is the final part in our Backing Up and Saving Your Images series. See previous posts on Backing up and Saving Your Images – External Hard Drives – Online Storage Sites and Software Solutions.

That crushing, sickening and agonising feeling of realising your memory card has corrupted or for whatever reason you’ve lost some of your most important or sentimental images, can stay with you for some time. It’s that combination of frustration and disappointment that takes its toll; perhaps knowing you can’t go back and reshoot what has already happened. Even directing your anger at your equipment can seem futile. But wait, lament no more, for there are solutions! Despite what people may think there are ways to retrieve files, even after they have been deleted or subject to technology failure.

Deleted files and formatted cards

Accidentally deleting images or formatting the card before the current frames have been downloaded are both common reasons for loss. However even when a card has been formatted in-camera the majority of the photos will still be able to be located. Success can depend upon the camera brand, with Canon and Nikon yielding the strongest rates of recovery. A quick trawl though the internet will present a list of companies which specialise in the retrieval of images from memory cards or data banks. For example Flashguardian (www.flashguardian.com)  charge up to £60 for the successful recovery of images from memory cards in capacities of 1GB or larger and offer reduced prices for smaller capacity cards, whereas the charge for recovering data from a hard drive can cost between £200 and £500 depending on the size of the device and the nature of the problem. DiskDoctors is another recovery company, that charges anywhere between £177 to £1500 depending on the size and brief of the problem, however the company offers a free analysis service to pinpoint a quotation and assess whether the issue can be rectified. To take advantage of this particular service, photographers should post the storage device or memory card along with a completed shipping form (available at www.diskdoctorsdatarecovery.co.uk/shipping-form.asp) to a local DiskDoctors lab for physical analysis. The company claims that photographers will receive an analysis report along with a quote in less than eight business hours once the item has been received.

Online and Software Recovery systems

There are an abundance of software and online solutions if you’d rather recover your files with a DIY approach.  DataRescue (www.datarescue.com) for example provides an app called PhotoRescue, which for only $29 checks your memory card, external hard drive or computer for deleted images, displaying a lengthy list of all the work you’ve binned. CardRecovery (www.cardrecovery.com) is another software option fronted by WinRecovery Software. Retailing at $39.95 CardRecovery performs a read-only operation on offending memory cards, and retrieves any lost pictures and video files to a folder on hard drive.

Computer crashes

One of the most common cases of data loss is due to a system failure. To recover files in these situation photographers will simply need to generate a copy of the information held on the machine which is accomplishable by using a CD that contains a bootable computer operating system. The user can then move the images to the system disk, which can then be backed up with the file manager or authoring software. If you are unsure of how to do this yourself, take your machine to a local computer shop that offers a restoration service.

Lesson learnt

Unfortunately there are some cases when files simply cannot be recovered, whether it’s because the memory card was a fake or because the camera used permanently deletes making recovery impossible. If nothing else, we can take the experience as a costly lesson never to be repeated. Prevention is said to be better than the cure, so to stop it happening again invest in a solid external hard drive and subscribe to an established online storage provider. Never delete files in-camera, wait until you have uploaded to them your computer, backed them to an external data bank or online storage provider, and then and only then format the card. Only use memory cards from a reputable brand and purchase them using a trusted website or at a high-street store.

To minimise the risk of losing photographs, we’ve compiled a cheat-sheet of tips to ensure your images are safe and secure.

1. Size doesn’t matter: Don’t keep all your photos on one high capacity memory card, instead use several lower capacity cards so there is less chance of losing everything if one card breaks or is lost.
2. Reputation is everything: Stick to reputable memory card brands and only buy from trusted sites and stores, as there are a large quantity of ‘fakes’ circulating online that don’t work.
3. Don’t forget a spare: Taking a spare card out with you on a photo session will ensure you don’t miss a thing, should the memory card you are using falter.
4. Don’t believe everything you see:  Just because the image thumbnail looks ok, it doesn’t mean that the file isn’t corrupt. Thumbnails are embedded in the files for fast preview and do not necessarily reflect the state of the full picture. Open several frames, or particular favourites to ensure they are ok.
5. Be patient: Don’t turn off your camera when it is reading and writing to the memory card and don’t rip the memory card out of the card reader before it finishes uploading files to your machine. Doing so could result in lost or corrupt files.
6. Safety first: Store memory cards in a safe and secure place. Protect them from moisture, dust, dirt, animals and young children.
7. Don’t delete: Refrain from deleting files in-camera. Instead wait until you have successfully transferred the images to your computer and backed up your files before deleting the ones on the card.
8. Once bitten, twice shy: If an image card is faulty – bin it, or better yet get a refund! Never use or write to a card where data has been lost before – it will happen again.
9. Back up: Keep your images on several external hard drives and/or with an online storage provider.
10. Watch out for nasties: Protect your machine with an up-to-date firewall and install sensible antivirus software. Never ignore those updates!

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Recovering lost or deleted files – Backing Up & Saving Your Images: Part 4

It’s a new week and I’ve got a new set of tips to improve your photography. This week’s tips focus on planning and decision making while taking your shots…. Eventually it will feel like second nature and you won’t even be aware of the process, until then… keep these tips in mind.

1. Daydream

Yes, that’s right keep dreaming about your shot. Pre-Visualize in your mind what it will look like and walk through the steps you need to take to get it. This is a shot I thought about for several weeks before finally setting it up and taking it. With only one camera, I often feel like I’m constantly juggling lenses!

2. Use wide lens

Try to use wide lenses for landscape shots when you want to create an impact of size. You can use a wide range of lenses to shoot landscapes but the vistas are amazing if you shoot with the widest lens possible because they give you a bigger angle of view.

3. Sharpen Your Subjects

Keep your main subjects sharp. Sharp details in the image truly draw the viewers’ eyes towards the subject. Use your tripod in low light conditions to make sharp pictures. Try to make use of the new sharpening effect in Adobe Camera RAW. It does a great job and has improved from previous versions.

4. Keep it Clean

A background makes or breaks your shot so be sure to think carefully about the how you place your subject. Keep the background clean, simple and clutter free. Think about where the viewer should be focused….

5. You Can’t Have Too Many Clouds

Use fluffy white clouds on a blue sky to produce dramatic skies. Is it overcast with too many clouds to see the sky? The sky is now a giant soft box. This is the time to shoot portraits or waterfalls and streams with a motion blur effect.

6. Behind Every Great Shot is the Sun

Stand with the sun at your back and the light of the sun falling on your subject. Unless you are making artistic pictures always try to keep the sun behind you.

7. Light Trails

Enhance your dawn and night urban shots with light trails. Use vehicles or any other moving lights to add interest, mood, and drama. Light trails almost always makes the shot interesting (learn: how to shoot light trails).

8. Silhouettes

The key is an uncluttered, lit background. Simply place your subject in the foreground so that you have clean, sharp lines and go for it. Play with placement and angles to make awesome silhouettes (learn: how to shoot Silhouettes).

9. Top to Bottom

Look straight up. Look straight down. Now examine everything in between. There are great shots from every vantage point, including an unexpected angle. Sometimes we focus so much on the obvious shot that we miss something special just a heartbeat away.

10. And finally… It’s a Camera not a Machine Gun

Unless you are taking action shots or a time lapse series, try to reduce the number of shots. Don’t just fire away hoping for something good to appear during editing. Think, move, and adjust your framing before you click the shutter. You’ll develop better instincts and save hours of time editing those hundreds of extra images.

Check out these links to follow the whole series

• 10 Quick, Easy and Intuitive Tips to Improve your Photography
• 10 Landscape Composition Tips Illustrated with Pictures from Eastern Washington
• 10 More Quick Composition Tips Illustrated
• 10 Quick Tips for Photographing Antelope Canyons 

Amar Ramesh is an emerging photographer from Redmond WA, USA….Photography, to him is a passion with infinite opportunities and he loves to share the lessons and tips that he learned with others….Please visit his Facebook Page for more….He is also in Flickr|Twitter|Portfolio.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

10 Quick and Easy Tips to improve your Photography

I fondly remember earlier digicams like the Coolpix 5400 way back in 2003, complete with 5.1 million pixels, a 4x zoom lens and a vari-angle LCD viewfinder. Dirt cheap at AUD1599!

In terms of the Coolpix 5400, the new Nikon Coolpix P100 is definitely retro style-wise, with a severe kick up the tech specs posterior! It’s also an excellent example of a fixed lens mega zoom camera that does much of what a DSLR can do.

These shots show the range of the amazing 26x optic that relates to a 35 SLR focal length of 26-678mm. Capture to a CMOS 10.3 megapixel sensor can lead to a maximum image size of 3648×2736 pixels or a print dimension of 31×23cm. For what it’s worth, the CMOS sensor is shifted to perform vibration reduction.

What makes the camera doubly fascinating is its ability to shoot a run of six full-sized shots at ‘Normal’ quality (a peg down from Fine quality) and 10fps. Alternatively, the P100 can pull in 200 full-sized shots at 2.8 fps. Yet another option is the Sport Continuous mode, for continuous shooting of 25 1600×1200 pixel shots at 25 fps or 60 1280×960 pixels shots at 120 fps. Got me!

Nikon Coolpix P100 Features

No doubt thanks to a big slice of buffer memory the camera’s movie capture potential is also gob-smacking: it shoots MPEG4 video in the Full HD resolution of 1920×1080 progressive pixels, triggered by a rear-mounted button. This button is circled by a tiny lever that offers the option to shoot in HD or HS.

What’s HS? High speed or slow motion, which means it captures video at rates of 60 fps (1280×720), 120 fps (640×480) and 240 fps (320×240).

What appealed to me immediately was the vari-angle LCD screen that can be tilted 82 degrees downward and 90 degrees upward for shooting from a variety of angles. Added to this is an electronic turret finder.

Another delight was the CMOS sensor with its ‘backside illumination structure’; as I moved from a shaded area to a sunlit one the screen automatically boosted in brightness. Great!

I was surprised to find a High Dynamic Range (HDR) function built in; this is a mode where a run of shots are taken with widely varied exposures, then the shots are merged to create an image with optimise exposure in both the highlight and shadow areas. The camera must be completely still during the shooting phase. This is also used in Advanced Night Landscape mode to capture an ideally exposed night scene.

ISO Tests

The P100 was a surprisingly good performer in ISO tests.

ISO 160 and running well.

Reaching ISO 800 we see only a little noise while definition is still good.

At ISO 1600 definition is still good while noise is still minimal.

At ISO 3200 definition is lower but noise is still low. Well handled!

Distortion

With the zoom set to wide there was some sign of barrel distortion, while the tele end showed no problems.

Startup Time

The P100 took two seconds from power up to first shot; follow-on shots came in at a second each.

Comment

A very impressive camera with picture making controls that will impress the educated photographer, although I was surprised that there was only JPEG capture in stills. It does however have a degree of complication that could scare the wits of a beginner.

Quality: about average. The long end of the zoom presents problems in outdoor shooting with atmospheric haze and the need for a firm tripod.

Why you would buy it: you want a long zoom range; you want a very competent camera without a DSLR’s complexity.

Why you wouldn’t: you want a simple, pocketable point-and-shooter; you want RAW capture.

Nikon Coolpix P100 Specifications

Image Sensor: 10.3 million effective pixels.
Metering: Auto, Program AE, shutter and aperture priority, manual.
Sensor Size: 11mm CMOS.
Lens: Nikkor f2.8-5.5/4.6-120mm (26-678 as 35 SLR equivalent).
Shutter Speed: 8 to 1/8000 second.
Continuous Shooting: 2.8, 10 fps at full image size.
Memory: SD card plus 43MB internal memory.
Image Sizes (pixels): 3648×2736, 3648×2432, 3584×2016, 3264×2448, 2736×2736, 2592×1944, 2048×1536, 1600×1200, 1280×960, 640×480.
Movies: 1920×1080, 1280×720, 640×480, 320×240 at 15, 60, 120, 240 fps.
LCD viewfinders: Turret 0.6cm (230,000 pixels), 7.5cm (460,000 pixels).
File Formats: JPEG, WAV, MPEG4.
ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 160 to 3200.
Interface: USB 2.0, HDMI, AV.
Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery, DC input.
Dimensions: 114.4×82.7×98.6 WHDmm.
Weight: 481 g (inc battery and card).
Price: Get a price on the Nikon Coolpix P100 on Amazon

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Nikon Coolpix P100 [Review]

I was blown away the first time I saw Jon Cornforth’s images.  Even more so because many of the images were taken in my native Washington State.  While we have many talented photographers in our fine state, I was also impressed with how personable Jon was on Twitter and when I subsequently emailed him to ask if he’d like to be interviewed for DPS.  His images have been featured on covers of Backpacker, Outdoor Photographer, Alaska Airlines Magazine and he has won numerous awards for his stunning photography.  I wanted to interview Jon to see what insights he had to help those considering following his footsteps into the awe inspiring world of nature photography.

1. By the look of your site, would it be safe to classify you as a nature photography, primarily?

For better or for worse, I shoot only landscapes that are untouched by man or wild animals in their natural environment.  So yes, I call myself a nature photographer.

2. How did you get your start in photography?  What lead you to it?

I bought my first SLR ten years ago to take on mountaineering trip as well as an extended backpacking holiday through Southeast Asia.  I have always been very connected to the outdoors, from growing up sailing to backpacking & rock-climbing in college.  I became hooked on photography once I started shooting with a real camera rather than disposable or point & shoot cameras.

3. At what point did you go pro?  In other words, when did it become your major source of income?  And what decisions did you have to confront on that path?

Fortunately, I was not addicted to a high income or a particular career path when I naively decided to make photography my career.  My wife was supportive of my initial ambitions, but it took several years until I started making any money at it.  After 9 years as a professional photographer, I now make a modest living.

4. On your blog you mention making a switch from traditional gallery showings and sales to gaining more sales online.  Can you fill in some of the gaps about how that came about for you?

I found initial success working with several art galleries in Washington & Hawaii, as well as selling prints at prominent juried art festivals.  Those sales started to dry up for me a few years ago as the housing market declined.  I was also advised early on by several pros that I became friends with that stock agency income was evaporating, so the only way to make any money licensing images was by doing it myself.  I realized that I needed to adapt to the new reality, so I built my website to be search engine optimized (SEO).  I have also started taking clients on photography tours.  I have zero interest in taking 6-12 photographers to popular National Park viewpoints, so most of my tours are on a custom/private basis.

5. What have become your biggest marketing tools in the last two years?

Admittedly, social networking has been a huge benefit for my business.  I was caught off-guard by it and it certainly does not come naturally to most people.  I started using Twitter 18 months ago, adapted my previous blog to a custom WordPress site 14 months ago, then reluctantly joined Facebook 12 months ago, Flickr 10 months ago, and only recently started using YouTube.  I can not definitively state that when I do X online that I then make Y amount of money, but overall my social networking has helped my reputation grow into a highly regarded and recognized natural history photographer.

6. What advice would you give to our readers looking to follow your path and make a living selling photos?

Do not even begin to think that you can quit a high earning job and make a comparable amount of money shooting nature photography.  There is a reason that a lot of photographers are retired.  You need to be able to pay your bills.  I am very careful about how I spend money on my trips.  I hardly ever pay for a hotel, but instead camp wherever I travel.  I recently flew to Iceland and spent 15 days shooting, but only spent $1921 including my airfare, but that was still a big indulgence for me.  I have a small boat in Alaska that is a major investment, but it has allowed me to shoot things that otherwise would have been impossible.  Ultimately, you have to treat your photography as a business in order to make a living.

——–

I want to thank Jon for taking the time in-between trips to Alaska to answer my questions.  More of his fine work can be spied on his site, Cornforth Images, and he can be followed on Twitter as @cornforthimages.  And if you’re intersted in traveling with Jon and learning a thing or two, he’s heading back to Alaska in early September then off to Patagonia in January.

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

An Interview With Professional Nature Photographer Jon Cornforth