Monday Photo Roundup - April 29

The Terrell High School Tigerettes put on a great show this weekend.  It is always nice to see great students doing good stuff.  Nice job, ladies.

Now this would be a fun gig.. shooting 'official' sportraits for a big college football team.  Great behind-the scenes video of how that works.

On the sports theme.. here is another great look at high quality work.  If any of you crazy motocross guys want to try for some photos like this, let me know. (via @fstoppers)

How about shooting in space?  I'd like to try that too, but... well... you have to be an astronaut.



Or.. maybe you don't really have to be an astronaut.  Chase Jarvis talks about false barriers and a guy flies a camera (almost) to space and back.

Digital darkroom - Figuring out how layer blend modes work can be a life changing experience ... I have only scratched the surface but it really changes how you can use the program.  Here is a great post explaining it. (via @thomasshue)

OK, one more from me.  Like journalism, being a photographer puts you all over the place.  With all kinds of subjects.  From beauty, as at the top, to...  not beauty, below.


Have a great week.

Monday Photo Roundup - April 8

Terrell Tribune Sports/Managing Editor Todd Jorgenson spends his free time as a youth basketball coach.  When his team comes to the Forney Sports Complex for a tournament each year, it is fun to experiment a little and give his kids some unique photos.  These shots were taken in the middle of the day with a single Alien Bees Einstein flash unit at the FSC loading dock.  Just adding a single light and some quick editing in Lightroom can give some fun results.





Picking a location that adds to the images you want to create is important of course...  Here is an article about location-picking for natural light portraits at Digital Photo School (via @resourcemag)

I am anticipating the day that someone calls me for food photography.  How about fancy ice cream sundaes? (via @fstoppers)

How do you show the population density of Hong Kong in photos?  Like This. (via @bhphotovideo)

Weather is warming up... Here is a bit of back-to-the-basics, but thorough post on photographing spring.

Working on your photoshop skills?  This post is a good place to start - 34 techniques to try.

If we needed any more evidence of the decline of basic family portrait studios, the operator of studios in  Sears and Walmart stores is going out of business. (via @ibarionex).   I would also opine that the print-sales based business model and minimal choices compared to even basic "location" photographers.

In case you missed out on last week's April Fools fun.. here is a compilation of photo-related foolin'

Have a great week.

Monday Photo Roundup - March 18

Some quick ideas for photo inspiration. (via @resourcemag)

Thoughts on losing your photo gear, and recovering from such a loss...

Personal projects are often the most moving ... like documenting 57 years of marriage.

Converting your digital images to black-and-white can be great, but to do it well involves a little bit of work and a keen eye...

One of my favorite photographers to follow is Jeremy Cowart ... here is a great interview in which he covers his career and such.

For the best smile, maybe you should say "Cheese Pizza" (via @jdblundell)

7 Tutorials for improved indoor portraiture.

It's a long watch but great info, 15 Photoshop things photogs should know...


Have a great week everyone.

Monday Photo Roundup - March 4

The "Walking Man" sculptures in Deep Ellum are common photo subjects around here, but I like to stop by there when time permits.  Something about the whimsical nature of them that makes me smile.

Further east, there is a nice photo contest going on in the "Texas Forest Trail Region."

Strobist reviews the sub-$100 PocketWizard Plus X.  Looks good to me.

Great shots from young photojournalists...

Yes, post-processing makes a big difference in the look of your photos.  Even if you spent thousands on a camera.  The "Look" from most professional photographers comes from good work with the camera, and more work after the fact in the computer.  Simple tweaks to white balance, color saturation and contrast make a huge difference.

Speaking of which, photoshop guru Matt Kloskowski's Lightroom presets are a lot of fun to play with.  And free!

It looks like Canon has some nice new low-light technology in the works.  Looks like it is video-only at this point, but still... it is great to see even more progress in sensor sensitivity.

Have a great week.

Monday Photo Roundup - Feb. 25

Almost two months into 2013 ... I hope that is going well for you!  Are any of you ambitious enough to do a "365" or photo-a-day project?  If so, I would be interested in talking to you for a blog feature.

With Valentine's Day just behind us, love is still in the air, and brides are (hopefully) getting plans together for the big May-July wedding season.  Photogs, it is worth the 5 minutes to read, then re-read this nice article on what brides really want out of us personally, not just the images. (via @fstoppers)

While you are there.. a nice set of looks for bridal portraits using a minimal setup.

I saw very little of the Oscars last night, but it would be fun to make movie posters.  Chase Jarvis put up a nice collection from this year's nominees. 
My thoughts..  The bottom two Django Unchained posters my faves, followed closely by Beasts of the Southern Wild.  Lincoln and Les Mis are nice photographically, but just OK as posters.  Amour is a nice set of posters as well, but you almost have to have them together, or know the premise of them movie for them to click.  Silver Linings Playbook and Argo posters look like typical DVD cover material.  The life of Pi posters are ruined by seeing them both together.  Did they only have one picture of the actor and the tiger to work with for both posters?  Also, have you ever seen the ocean so smooth?

Wednesday night will be another Circle Meetups event at Weld, this time with Dave Onkels ... "Double your Price."

Finally!  How to be a happy photographer.

If you must shoot silhouettes, make them good.

Geek-a-riffic... Slow-mo video of how your camera shutter works.  It really is kind of violent.

Monday Photo Roundup - Feb. 18

Having great subjects makes a  photo booth setup a lot of fun.  Especially if they are willing to play a bit.  It helps to have fun props to interact with as well.



Here is a great project ... Photos from Civil War reenactments done with large format pinhole cameras.  Makes for amazing and intriguing images.

Seems simple but ... Five things to make sure you have covered before a portrait session...

What makes 'professional' lenses superior?  It's all in the details.

Bad photography habits to break...  Guilty.

Lots of lists today ... Things to learn while shooting with your phone.

Photo inspiration for the week ... 2013 World Press Photo contest winners.

Strobist goes back-to-the-basics on balancing flash in a photo.

InFocus blog goes back 50 years.

And, photo fun in the car ... go out when it rains and focus on the rain drops on your windows.

Monday Photo Roundup Feb. 11

The next edition of Kaufman County Life should be  popping up soon.  I will blog about making the cover image soon.  It was a fun one, playing with toys.

If you wonder about the power of good still photography to drive web traffic observe things like The Weather Channel's use of "30 Outdoor Photos you Won't Forget." Is it weather? Sort of.

Having a memory card fail would be a nightmare... here are some "health" tips for keeping cards in good shape.

I like this ... a Tumblr site calling out photogs who steal images for their websites.  Bottom line, if you didn't shoot it, don't try to make people think you did, or that you can. (via Photoshelter)

Winners from December in the SportsShooter monthly clips contest.  No I didn't win any, but it was the first time I got any votes (one second place and two third place).  In that company, it is a positive step!

Also on Sportshooter you will find several good "remembering 2012" posts.  I thought Gary Miller's take on some lessons from the year were very good.  Notably, the need for horizontal images for a web-based world.  Even in typically vertical shooting situations like basketball, horizontal images rule the web.

Happy Lunar New Year..

Have a great week!

Monday Photo Roundup - Feb. 4

A lot of Dallas press showed up for a U.S. Honor Flag ceremony honoring Kaufman County Assistant D.A. Mark Hasse, which presents a whole set of other photos to take, of local officials being interviewed.  I am glad to see that the story has received a lot of attention.  I also wonder how much of that comes from the current gun law debate.

Overheard ... "They can catch these guys and string them up right there on the flag pole."
Overheard dumb question from a reporter to the district attorney ... "Are you still actively looking for suspects in the case?"

Here are some tips on getting the most from older images (digital, film or print).

Do you have any subjects that you want to document for decades to come?  How about more than 30 years covering prisoner work details?

If you are trying to grow a photography business, this would be the contest to win.

Plot your spot to shoot the next full moon... it will be hard to top this.  Oh, and you will need some serious lens.


Also good... some tips for making your landscape images better...

Favorite SuperBowl commercial?  Mine was the Dodge Ram Paul Harvey 'Farmers' spot for a few reasons.  I am a sucker for sentimental sappy patriotic stuff anyway, but I was also a Paul Harvey fan.  The man simply knew how to tell a story, and he was an authentic and overwhelmingly decent guy.  Throw that together with some very nice still photos and it is golden.  Of course we find out that the concept was taken from a Farms.com YouTube video (obviously with a lower budget) post by ... I hope that the person who put together the first one is getting proper credit for it.  Here is the rest of the story about the ad.

And a few more from today...  I shot the event for the Kaufman Herald and assume they will put up a slide show of images at some point.

Translation - No one attacks me without being punished.




Have a great week.

Monday Photo Roundup - Jan. 28

It has been an interesting month weather-wise.  That has created a few problems for outdoor photo assignments, but also some opportunities like these trees in a pasture, filled with fog.  How often do you see something, find a place to stop and just shoot it?

I would love to get some acreage to turn into a photo destination with a variety of scenery, nature, sets, props and walls.  For nature photographers, there is the Texas Photo Ranch...

Abandoned places make intriguing photos.  This photographer has gone into the 'exclusion zone' around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor site and made some great images.  Would you risk the radiation exposure to make photos that, while beautiful, are most interesting because of the risky location?

Most interesting to me are photos from the abandoned town of Pripyat, where most of the Chernobyl workforce lived.

A friend of mine tossed a rock at a lazy lion once but missed and didn't get much reaction.  These folks must have had some pretty flexible safari guides to let them do this...


Very nicely done colorization of historic B&W photos.  Makes the lighting look even better as well.  Study the lighting for great portrait light.

And, for all of you out there who are "waiting for a sign"... are these the signs you are looking for?