Extreme Black & White

Yesterday my friend and fellow photog Chris came by the studio for a photo session.  We had a blast.  These are a few of the black and white images I created using studio strobes. 

Canon G11 – The Little Camera the Rocks!!

If you want the versatility of a DSLR with the size and convenience of compact camera the Canon G11 is the perfect solution.  For years I only had DSLRs.  The problem is that they are big and bulky… great for shooting portraits and weddings, not exactly ideal for long backpacking trips or downhill skiing, two of my favorite activities.

When I found the G11, I found the answer to a lot of my problems (not THOSE types of problems).  Now I have a camera that gives me the creativity to shoot in manual mode, etc.  I can also attach an external flash such as the 580EXII (it also has a built in flash), and I can shoot at 800 ISO without much of a problem.

SHOOTING VIDEO WITH THE CANON G11

Another huge benefit is that it shoots video.  I’ve posted a short video clip that I shot while skiing with my daughter at Mnt Rose Ski Resort a couple of weeks ago.  The video is a little shaky because I am skiing and video taping my daughter snowboarding all at the same time… just take note of how high quality the video is coming out of the G11.

I love having the ability to carry such a versatile camera in my pocket while I’m enjoying the great outdoors.  You won’t find me skiing and taking pictures at the same time with my Canon 1D Mark III, that’s for sure!

TAKING GREAT CANDID SHOTS WITH THE CANON G11

I created several 24” x 36” posters for our local cub scout pack using photos that I shot with the G11.  Here’s one of them.  Note that the photos have not been adjusted in Photoshop or Lightroom in any way.  They are straight out of the camera!  I assembled the poster in Photoshop and had it mounted on foam core.  I photographed my son’s back (the shirt on his back I should say) to use as the poster backdrop and then added the photos that I took with my G11. 

RYAN’S PHOTOGBUZZ CHUCKLE!

“You wouldn’t worry so much about what people think of you… if you realized how little the do!”

Blogging with Windows Live Writer

I have been blogging a while now and I think I am finally starting to get my blog workflow a little under control.  When first started blogging I just typed my post directly into my blog.  Although this works, I am finding that it is not best solution.

I recently switched to Word for my word processing needs.  I used Word Perfect for years and was perfectly content.  It seems the rest of the world is using Word, however, and I got tired of being asked to convert my documents to Word every time I tried to send something to a client.  Tables, especially, seem to get really screwed up during the conversion process. 

Word, I discovered, gives me the option of creating a “blank document” or a “new blog post.”  I was stoked.  Using Word seemed so much better then typing directly into Blogger.  But when I tried writing my blog post using Word I found that the formatting seemed to get screwed up when I would try to publish it to my blog.

Today I learned about Windows Live Writer and so far it seems to be doing exactly what I need.  I was able to insert pictures and type multiple paragraphs without seeing any formatting problems.  If you are using a PC and want to try blogging check out Windows Live Writer. 

COMING UP NEXT: CANON G11 – THE LITTLE CAMERA THAT ROCKS!!

I have had some more time to use the Canon G11 that I got for Christmas and let me tell you folks… it is an awesome little camera!  It is small enough to fit in my pocket, has the control and flash features of a DSLR camera, and takes great video!  I have finally figured out how to take that video and,  through You Tube, post it on  my blog and Facebook account.  It’s very cool!  That’s what we’ll be discussing tomorrow so stop back by!

RYAN’S PHOTOGBUZZ CHUCKLE!

“Ever wonder who loves you more… your dog or your wife?  Stick em’ both in the trunk and see which one is happier to see you when you open it back up!”

Redford Photography and the Art of Marketing

Yesterday I watched a webinar featuring Redford Photography. It is easy to see why these guys have such a successful studio. They have marketing down to a science and they work really hard at it. They discussed their senior portrait program and how they go about generating business. If you ever get the chance to attend one of their seminars (or webinars) I would say that it is worth the money. These guys don't sit around waiting for client's to come to them, they actively go out and get them. Their Ambassador program is pretty amazing. Check out their website if you want some inspiration. Here's the link.

ONE MORE THING: THE ART OF BLOGGING
I am trying get more streamlined with my blog workflow. Instead of writing directly in Blogger I am starting to write my blogs using Microsoft Word. When you open a "New" document in Word it gives you the option of creating a new blog post. There seems to be a glitch when I try to save my documents and I have lost some of the information I've written. I will have to see if I can figure out a fix.

Shooting Tethered Through Lightroom… It’s So Easy!

Each weekend I try to learn something new about photograp and get some shooting practice in. This weekend I decided to learn how to shoot tethered (with my camera hooked up to my computer). I already know how to shoot tethered to my computer, but I wanted to learn how to shoot tethered using Lightroom.

I read a lot of Scott Kelby's books and I learn a lot about photography through Kelby Training. I have written about Kelby Training in previous blogs. It is an online program providing instructional videos on photography. It is a great deal. Here's the link.

For those of you who are not familiar with Scott Kelby, he is a big proponent of shooting tethered in the studio. That is, having your camera tethered to your computer so that you can see your shots "live" on the computer instead of having to check out your shots on that tiny screen on the back of your camera.

I shoot with Canon cameras, which come boxed with the software you need to shoot tethered. If you shoot Nikon, the software does not come with your camera but you can download if for free from the Nikon website. I have known how to shoot tethered for a while now. What I didn't know, was how to shoot tethered and have my photos open directly into Lightroom.

I have attended the Photoshop World Conference in Las Vegas for a couple of years now, and at every convention I would hear speakers talk about Lightroom. I finally broke down and bought it a few months ago and I've got to tell you folks… it's an awesome program. It makes my photos look dynamite and my workflow has become a whole lot easier.

What I didn't know, however, is that I can shoot tethered and have my photos open directly into Lightroom. This gives me a large image to look at and I have my histogram and a ton of control right there at my finger tips. And the REALLY cool thing is that is was so easy to set up. All you have to do is use the free software for your camera to select a destination folder on your computer for you images. Then you choose that folder to be "watched" in Lightroom. There are a couple of steps to complete the process but it is REALLY easy.

BACKUP EQUIPMENT NEEDED!

This week a friend of mine who happens to do some modeling work is going to come over to the studio for a session. We have been planning to do this for weeks. Wouldn't you know it, this weekend my 70-200mm IS lens decided to act up on me. Something is going on with the image stabilization. I press the shutter button on my camera to pre-focus and the thing whirs like a well-fed cat… and won't stop. That's fine for a well-fed cat, but not for my camera.

Today I have to call Canon and see what I need to do to get it fixed. I'll let you know how that goes. It reinforces the point that, if you want to get into wedding photography, make sure you have backup equipment. You never know when it will decide to go south on you! You don't want to be shooting someone's wedding and go, "oops, sorry, my equipment just broke down and I don't have a backup!" That would be very, very bad!

That's it for today. At 10:00AM I will be watching a webinar put on by Redford Studios. It should be a good one. I'll give you a short re-cap tomorrow.