Wednesday Photo Roundup - May 22

Yes, it is about time for another amazing blog post.  Or maybe just a set of links to things I've found interesting over the last few weeks.

For the shot above, I imagined something more like this, but shooting outdoors with gusty wind (and no assistant) made it a bit impossible to use anything other than straight reflectors on the flashes.

Looks like Flickr decided 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," and tried to turn into 500px.com overnight.  I haven't decided if I like it any better, but I do know that doubling the price is not exciting.  Considering that I use Flickr mainly for hosting photos for this blog and some sharing within area groups, it will be hard to justify.  The big selling point is 1 terabyte of storage for your photos.  But it used to be "unlimited" for pro accountholders.  Also, if you have a terabyte of photos on Flickr, you may want to learn to resize images.

Photography on the silver screen?  fStoppers has a top-ten list of photography-related movies.

Human models aren't the only ones to get a full photoshop makeover for magazine covers.  Check out this time-lapse of a cover shoot for an iPhone a few years back.

Here is another great post with photographer Peter Belanger who pulls off those pristine product shots.

Another list.. Photo blogs that cover the business of being a photographer.  Worth a look at all five of them.

PDN's photos and photogs of the year.  Be inspired.

Good thoughts on social media marketing misconceptions. (via @justinwise)

Pet photographers... be inspired.

Another list... Places to shoot before you die.  What is on your photographic "bucket list?"

Monday Photo Roundup - April 22

The good news is that I've been busy... of course, that leads to less blogging, but thanks for stopping by to read this :)

The photo above is for the good folks at the Terrell ISD Excellence Foundation.  They do a great job of supplementing the school district in Terrell with grants for equipment, teacher training, and other things that regular school budgets do not cover.

Of course the big news stories of last week were the West, Texas explosion and the bombing at the Boston Marathon.

This slideshow includes some amazing images, including several from east Texas photog ace Mike Stone who went down to West the night of the explosion.

At an $800/day rate (plus expenses, of course) I gotta wonder if anyone is paying for a personal vacation photographer.  On second thought, it could be a pretty fun gig for a single guy or gal who likes to travel.  Come to think of it, for the right price you can hire me to go on vacation with you.  The joys of traveling with a two-year-old will just be a bonus for you :)

If you have some time to burn, the "learning to see" series of posts at Digital Photo School is an interesting read.

Good post on getting better color balance at night.   (and why some light sources look way off ... hint, they are way off.)

Very cool project - lights on wakeboards for long-exposure light trails.

In the market for a new camera strap?

Have a great week everyone ...

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 11

Spring is in the air.  Along with pollen and other allergens :)  If you think catching a good  photo of birds in flight is a fun challenge, try bees.  Even with dozens of them in the lovely wife's jasmine, I didn't catch any facing the camera.

Is photoshop ruining landscape photography?

For what it's worth, I have no problem with digital artists using photos.  Unfortunately, that also means that truly great photography falls under suspicion while something cobbled together from pictures found on the internet is seen as great photography.  With a photojournalism background, I prefer the less-is-more approach to post processing.

For you portrait people, here is a nice cropping guide.  Don't crop on the red lines.

There aren't many color photos from WWII .. Here are some nice ones.

More history in photographs... the 70's.

I love this list of Pixar "Rules for Storytelling."  If you can work that type of thought into your photography projects, you will have truly memorable images.

Pop some corn... and settle in for location portraiture education.

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 - 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?

One more thing ... Time-Lapse

See this ... artsy time-lapse shots created for the Conan O'Brien show..


Then some great how-to from the guy who made them..


An option for controlling your camera for time-lapse is the Trigger-Trap app and cable.  It is cheaper than the camera controllers from Canon or Nikon, with a lot more features for triggering your camera with sound, motion detection, WiFi etc.

Monday Photo Roundup - Jan. 21

Very often getting very close to an everyday object looks otherworldly.  As is the case with this ceramic pitcher.

And on the topic of exploring ... National Geographic is celebrating 125 years of existence.  This is a nice collection documenting the society's history.

Interesting personal projects do not have to be exotic, but unique is good.  How about faces on glass?  (via @ibarionex)

Tackling (photographically) whether the moon landing could have been faked ... and the deeper meaning of what is real and important in what we want to believe. (via @jdblundell)

Need some inspiration to do great and significant work in photography... check out the Framed awards nominees.  (on the other hand, it may also inspire feelings of inadequacy etc. :))  While you are there send a vote for Jeremy Cowart's Help Portrait project in the "Big F" category.

Also interesting in that is that they have some separate categories for film and digital.

I really 'need' to get a GoPro.  So many possibilities.


Send me a note if you want to read a blog post on some cheap and simple macro techniques for shots like this


or this


Texas Photogs don't forget, sales tax is due tomorrow :-/.

Have a great week.

Don J.

Monday Photo Roundup - Jan. 14

Happy New Year everybody.  I hope that you have had a great Christmas holiday season and that your 2013 is off to a great start.

Around the Johnson household we had guests for good portions of the last month.  That means test models for new lights and such, including my niece, above.  New additions include a ring flash, mobile battery power for strobes and a few other goodies.  Wherever you need studio-lit photos, we can do that.

I like Norman Rockwell's art, so I liked this collection of photos he used in the creation of his work.

Old meets new ... the marriage of an old Speed Graphic 4x5 camera and a Fuji digital mirrorless camera.

Interesting post by photographer Chris Crisman about failure. (via @davehillphoto)

Being a second-shooter includes the fun part of actual photography without the post-processing and marketing (or credit :).  Here is some help in being good at it so that you will get called again.

And, while  on that subject, there is a whole website dedicated to second-shooters.  I added myself to their list but without any results so far.

Ahh, the value of photographs as propaganda.  It happens everywhere, but North Korean dictators have it down to an art form :)

Actually, Russia's Vladimir Putin is probably tops in the political photo-op management business.

Meanwhile in the US, political photos get scrutinized and critiqued from every angle,  especially if it looks like image manipulation.


Finally, cooperative photo subjects are great, and when they let you experiment a bit, even better.  After getting some sunset photos with this cool character, he let me try something a little different...


Have a great week,

Don J.

Monday Photo Roundup - Dec. 10. And a large green man.

I was asked to so some simple head shots for a new ladies' mentoring group at church.  Which means trying to get the most out of a simple set up in a small space.  White cloth on the wall, two lights and a reflector and I'm pretty happy with the results.


Being the official White House photographer would be a dream job, even though it is pretty much giving up four years of your life.  Apparently things get really crazy on overseas trips.

Petapixel has so many interesting things.. just browse around over there.  This made a neat series - Everyday objects as sea creatures.

Photo-geekiness alert.  Reuters selected their 95 photos of the year.  And here is a breakdown of cameras, lenses and camera settings that were used to get them.

I saw this creative baby belly series a couple of places this week... maternity photogs, top that!

The Canon 6D looks like an interesting combination of features and price.  I have been pondering a 5D MkIII to replace my aging original 5D, but the wifi control could be useful from time to time.

If you are looking for fun photog Christmas gifts, I heartily recommend Photojojo.  Because most photog time is spent at the computer, the most useful gift may be these.

Speaking of which, you are almost out of time to do photo Christmas cards.  And you will need to come with something pretty clever to top these.

It is time for year-in-review photo sharing.  The Atlantic's InFocus blog is a good place to start, in three parts.  One.  Two.  Three.

From the flickr blog... use your lenses and glass objects in a different way.

It isn't easy being green.

Monday Photo Roundup - Dec. 3

Oh my, December already.  If you are wondering, I only want one thing for Christmas – good-natured, adventurous photo subjects.  And B&H gift cards.

And to start it off, another image from the Dallas Christmas parade.. another snap by the lovely wife.


Last week I mentioned "motion fine art"...  I think these slow-motion videos fall in that description.  Be sure to read the details... these were created from single still images, not as stop-motion.

These luminous plastic light fixtures are interesting...  if they can be shaped and molded in any shape, there could be huge possibilities for constant-source photo and video light there. (via @halfpress)

Always a good reminder - we rely on our eyes, but treat them poorly.  Keep 'em in good shape...

Which reminds me ... there are blind photographers out there making great images.  What would it mean to you if you could never appreciate the art you created.  Would you keep doing it? More to check out here.  here. and here.   And the flickr group.

Stock photography rarely gets to be artsy.  And it can be, of course, pretty bad. (via @jdblundell)

I have several friends in law enforcement, and they know all to well how easy it is to make them look bad with a camera.  So, for them, it is good to see this image of an NYPD officer go viral.
*** Update ... And to show that the problems of homelessness and poverty require a much larger solution than simple provisions, the homeless man is shoeless again.  Would it have made a difference to buy $20 shoes instead of nice boots?  Hard to say.

Have a great week, everybody!