Randomn3ss

Here. Just look at the picture below. It’s been in all the major print news outlets since Monday morning. In Metro, it was juxtaposed next to a headline with Bush’s comment that the deaths of 4,000 American soldiers in Iraq has not been in vain.

And shame on you, Easter Bunny. I thought you were better than this - a partisan attention whore who jumps in on any photo-op possible, despite the fact that you are inextricably attached to a religiously-based holiday in a country where church and state are to remain separate. For shame, Easter Bunny!! Added to the fact that I got Luna bars instead of Reese’s peanut butter eggs, now I’m really pissed at you (are you calling me fat, Easter Bunny??). You just keep being pink and fluffy and emotionless with those big, coked-out pupils and hug the demon next to you. By the way, don’t get too cozy - his reign of terror ends on January 20, 2008.

Do you have your barf bags ready? Here’s the picture:

I was at gallery crawl last night, visiting Olaf Starorypinski’s photography studio. (Olaf is an outstanding photographer I am honored to have worked with, and continue to enjoy to know. Check out the previous article on him on Randomn3ss.)

Olaf was projecting videos by a most amazing artist I hadn’t heard of before. Andy Goldsworthy is a British sculptor who uses pieces of nature, found tools, and his body to create visually stunning and contemplative art, much of which is fluid, fleeting, decays or will change, on purpose.

Here’s one image:

Check out this video to see the broad range of his work.

And check out these stills and comments by the artist.

Thanks, Olaf!

Back in the first part of this series, I briefly touched on the importance of keywords. This article will be all about keywords, how to choose them, how different people choose them and why some work better than others. Keywords are what buyers type into the search boxes to find your images, it is far and away the primary way that a buyer will get to see your image. It is fair to say that the more time you invest into keywording, checking your keywords and updating them will give you greater returns over just putting enough to get you by and never updating them.

It is my strong belief that an average image will do exceptionally well if the contributor can understand how designers think and search for images. iStockphoto.com has 2.2 million images on it, focusing time and energy on making your images more search friendly will greatly increase the chances that a buyer will find your images. A great image with stellar keywords will succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

In web design and marketing, there is something known as SEO, or search engine optimization. It is an industry on its own that focusing in making websites more search engine friendly so that they show up better in common search results based on the content of the site. As a contributor to a stock photography site, you need to do similar work to get your images viewed. Unlike websites that must hire SEO experts to try to optimize their sites for how Google may or may not work, you have a direct affect on how people find your images in a search query on a stock photo site. Knowing what your audience and what they are looking for will help get your images more views in common search terms, but where do you start?

• Describe everything in the image by physical description, or what your eyes see turn into words. This is really obvious, but some people really miss this critical step.
• Designs in which your image may be used. This doesn’t work for all images, but it does for a good deal of them. If you are submitting a photo of some tropical resort, using words like travel, destination, vacation, Jamaica, etc.
• Just like real estate, location, location, location. List the location of the photo, it is a very common search pattern for designers to look for certain cities or locals, so include them.

Telling you how to do this is nearly impossible with just words, so I’ve bought an image from iStockphoto’s dollar bin, a place where images go to die a slow death. The dollar bin on iStockphoto was created as a last chance for images to get some downloads before being deleted off the site. Many reasons can be given for having a file put there, as it is at iStock’s discretion, but more often than not, the image hasn’t performed for a period of time and / or it just is old and not up to current standards. All images and all sizes in this dollar bin are $1 to download, a good place to find high resolution images on the cheap and a great place to find an example for this article. I don’t know the photographer who took this image, but I do know that the keywords that were chosen for it are probably the reason it has received a low number of downloads. From a technical standpoint, the photo is a bit flat and has a small pet peeve of mine, two catch-lights in the eyes, but it is a solid image regardless.

The keywords for the sample image are: male, college student, 20-25 years, casual clothing, relaxation, men, boys, looking at camera, portrait. Sadly, because of the poor keyword choices, it has only been viewed 168 times and downloaded 17 as of me writing this article, over a 27 month period. One of those 17 downloads was mine for this article.

That is it! A lackluster list of keywords on what could have been a very successful image. As an experiment, I asked five regulars on iStockphoto to give me keywords for the same image, provided they were submitting it themselves. I also only sent them the image instead of linking to it on iStockphoto, I didn’t want them to see the keywords that the actual user chose. Here are the results,

• man, standing, alone, one man, isolated, relaxed, hands in pockets, vertical, young man, color

• man,male,young,twenties,casual,smiling,tee shirt,t-shirt,looking at camera,portrait,hands in pockets,waist up,isolated,isolated on white,cheerful,happy

• male, isolated on white, white background, young adult, teen, man, one person, smiling, standing, looking forward, caucasian, white, tee shirt, short sleeve, casual clothing, blue, confident, front view, hands in pocket, confidence, youth, student, relaxed, short hair, happy

• man, male, young man, casual clothing, jeans, hands in pockets, blue, tshirt, smiling, looking at camera, relaxed, 20-25 years, 25-30 years, shy, bashful, timid, unsure, handsome, blue jeans, isolated, on white, young adult, one person, Caucasian, attractive, standing, white background, denim, waist up, cute, good-looking

• Isolated On White, Isolated, Vertical, Full Length, Front View, looking at camera, Casual Clothing, One Person, One Man Only, One Mid Adult Man Only, hands in pockets, Cheerful, Comfortable, Smiling, relaxed,Males, Men, Mid Adult Men, 30-35 Years, Adult, Mid Adult, 30s, Caucasian, Only Men, Only Mid Adult Men, white background, white, standing, t-shirt, blue, smirking,

What you will notice is that there are a lot of common terms used between the five people who submitted. Men, man, age, jeans, shirt, pretty common stuff, it is what is can be seen. Some keywords given were just great, ones that I would have never thought to use. Timid, comfortable, handsome, looking at camera, hands in pockets, front view. These all relate back to how a buyer may be searching for your images. Even the term vertical relates to how a buyer may search, as they need to fill a specific hole in their design. Chances are, someone looking for this image is going to type in some of these words, and then further narrow their search using more of these very keywords.

What I’ve also found to be very helpful is to ask someone who is not into photography or design to help out. Grab a friend or family member and ask them to look at a photo and describe everything in the scene that they can. Take note to what words they use and the order in which they give them to you. You may be a bit surprised. You can also use the forums on iStockphoto or any other photography forum to ask for assistance, many people will often give you some advice. Don’t rely on them to come up with all of your keywords all the time though.

I’ve scoured around the internet to try to find a list of most searched stock photography keywords and phrases and haven’t been able to come up with anything for free, some sites clearly want money for their info, but it doesn’t carry that much value to me. What I will do from time to time is browse the popular downloaded files (function currently disabled) and people that are in my creative network to see what they are uploading and see what words they use.

Keywording is as much an art as photography, expect to spend 2-5 minutes per image to add keywords, so be prepared going in. I’ve found that submitting several similar shots that share keywords at the same time can help out as well. Copy all of your keywords into your favorite text editor and then copy / paste them to each file you upload that they relate to. Doing this should save you some time, but make sure that the keywords apply to the images you are submitting.

One word of wisdom, do not use unrelated keywords. I wouldn’t use the term TEENAGER in the sample photo above, clearly that man is not a teenager. Doing so will not only make you look bad, you could loose the right to sell photos on any particular stock photography site.

Lastly, keywords evolve, images evolve, designers wants and desires evolve, even how people search is evolving. Building a great portfolio these days is only half the battle, getting people to look at it is where the war is. If you are serious about selling stock images, plan on spending one day every few weeks to look over the images you have submitted and the keywords associated with them, tweaking when needed.

Related articles:

• Make money selling digital photos Part1
• Make money selling digital photos Part II
• Make money selling digital photos Part III
• Make Money selling digital photos Part IV

Special thanks to: diane555, PattieS, Carole Gomez, wolv, and Qingwa for taking the time to create keywords for this article. They did a great job and are an excellent cross-section of iStockphoto’s members, including contributing photographers, illustrators, image buyers and designers. Please take a few minutes to check out their portfolios.

Over the last 7 years or so I’ve teetered on the scale somewhere between advanced amateur and semi-professional photographer. The reason for the teeter is that one classification just doesn’t seem to fit everyone and I’m not everyone. Since about 2000, I’ve been taking photography pretty seriously, in spurts, but still with a good amount of vigor. During this time I’ve had images published in several national magazines, used for CD covers, promotional flyers, inserts in books, and countless websites and so on, so I’d say I’ve learned a few things along the way, mostly at a price and over a longer period of time than it should have been. Additionally, I’ve worked in the photographic print industry for the last three years, mainly doing IT work, but in the industry none the less. Over this last three years I’ve realized most people don’t know how to get a decent print from their digital camera, I’m going to share some really simple tips to help with this.

• Shoot better
• Understand your camera
• Take a class
• Learn what white balance is
• Know what size print you are ordering from what size file
• How to crop your files and understand aspect ratios
• Making edits on your computer
• Don’t convert to grayscale
• Don’t print at home
• Order lots of samples

First and foremost, shoot better. Just like nearly anything else in life, the better you start with the better you end up with. Several months ago I gave you 5 tips for getting better photographs, if you haven’t read it, it is a good base.

Understand your camera and what all the little buttons and dials do on it; learn how to navigate through the menu options and what everything means. Back when most people shot film, they really only had a few choices, the two major ones were color or black and white. For color, they needed to choose chrome (aka slide or positive) or negative film. Once that choice was made, regular or tungsten, based on the lighting conditions and then onto the actual film characteristics and grain. Black and white was mostly about choosing the right speed film for the application and how much or little grain you wanted. Confused? Not a big deal, don’t get too worried about it. Be aware however that with your point and shoot digital camera, you have even more options than that, they are all laid out in your owners manual. Most of this stuff is pretty self explanatory, camera manufactures have presets for most conditions, take the few minutes to flip through the manual and figure them out, Auto mode isn’t always best.

Can’t get a grip on what all these terms are or what the crazy buttons and dials all mean? Look up the camera shop in your area, chances are they offer cheap or free classes on the basics of photograph and / or basics of digital cameras. These classes, usually under $20, are designed to help you feel more confident with your camera so you can enjoy it, not be mad at it. Usually they are anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours long and a once and done class, this isn’t something to be scared about getting locked into. Want more knowledge, check with the local community college, most now offer several levels of digital photography classes.

White balance is a funny thing that no one outside of photographers really seems to grasp onto, but it is possibly the single most important element in digital photography. Without going into some crazy dissertation as to what it is, I’ll simply give you an example. The image on the right shows streetlights, you can see how green they are, this is something we should all be familiar with. In the example on the right of the fluorescent bulbs, often seen in schools and office buildings, you can see how white / blue they are. They are both light bulbs however they shine at a different temperature, this is called Kelvin. If you were to hold a piece of white paper under each of these light sources, you would see the color cast projected onto them.

All digital cameras made in the last 5+ years have a setting to adjust the white balance in them; this is meant to compensate for the different color light that emits from different sources. Auto works most of the time, however it fails miserably when shooting in school gyms or outside at night with no flash. Camera manufactures have made this fairly easy, making the choices in most models symbols of what each light looks like. Look at your situation, look at the camera’s white balance symbols and match them up.

Understanding what size print is native to your camera and associating that with a print is possibly one of the most painful experiences I’ve seen consumers make while working in the industry. It is simple math once you understand it, but too many choices have confused the hell out of nearly everyone. Most point and shot digital cameras on the market shoot in 4:3rds mode. This means that the aspect ratio is 4:3. Since I’m aiming this article at the amateur photographer, I won’t get anyone confused with the DSLR market. That said most people who have had film pictures printed are pretty used to ordering a 4×6” print. Problem is, your shiny new point and shoot digital has a native picture size of 4×5.3”, not 4×6”. One of two things will happen, depending on who does your printing, cropping will occur or you will end up with two thin white borders on your images. It gets even more confusing when you start to look at larger sizes, such as 5×7, 8×10, etc. It is crucial that you either do cropping ahead of time on your computer or you find a place that will give you the proper aspect ratio prints, these are sometimes referred to as 4xD, D for digital, but usually just called 4×5.3 or 4×5.33 prints.

Exploring this cropping a bit more, I found a piece of [Windows only] free software called JPEGCrops, a super simple program that allows you to crop to a specific size and maintain proper aspect ratio. I personally do all of my cropping in Adobe Photoshop, however spending a grand on a piece of software isn’t in everyone’s budget and this is not only free, but super small, fast and really easy to use.

Download and install it, then go to Start > Programs > JPEGCrops to launch it. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the layout; I’m not paid by the guy who wrote it, I just think it’s a nice little program. This also means I’m not his tech support, however we will customize the settings a bit to make it more user friendly and I will answer questions that I am capable of.

Click File > Preferences, this brings up Settings applet. Delete out the sizes you won’t be using, mostly anything that is in centimeters and the European paper sizes like A4. When you are done with that, highlight 4×5 and then Edit that size so it is 4×5.3. You may want to check with whoever is doing your printing to see if they offer other sizes, like 8×12 and add those in there as well. For convenience, I suggest moving the 4×5.3 and 4×6 options to the top. When you are done, click OK at the bottom of the applet to return to the program

Click the Open Images button to select an image to work with and select the 4×5.3 size, you may need to tick the Flip Aspect button depending if you are working with a horizontal or vertical images. You should see no cropping occurring.

Now select the 4×6 crop option from the drop down box and notice where the cropping will occur on the image, this is what I was talking about when I said order the proper size print from the proper file. Had you gone ahead and ordered a 4×6, you’d loose a sliver off each side, not a big deal in this photo; it can be in others though.

You can do this with any size you are ordering, just make sure you do crop and order the proper size. A word to the wise, when you save, do not over-write your original. Save the image as a new file, I’d suggest appending the file name with _cropped, so you know next time you go to order.

To crop in closer to the subject matter, simply left click on the corner of the white outline and drag inwards. Because the aspect ratio is set, you can’t free crop and screw this up. In the example below, I’ve cropped in closer to the subject and maintained the 4×5.3 aspect ratio; this would mean ordering a 4×5.3 print would also be in order.

Digital photography has allowed us all to soft-proof on the computer prior to order, it also allows us to edit files. This is not entirely a good thing and you may be very unhappy with the print results if you don’t take a couple of steps prior to making edits on your home computer. Most computer monitors and nearly all laptops are not color balanced when you buy them, the brightness and contrast are usually set to 100%. This means that the colors you see on the monitor are not truly what the output is going to be on any given printer. To complicate matters, the ambient light in the room where you use your computer will have a direct reflection on what your eyes determine colors to be. I won’t bore you with the details, but be aware that making even slight adjustments to color, density, brightness or contrast to an image can be drastic changes on the printers end. If you are truly serious about editing on your computer, look into getting a monitor calibration unit. Every professional lab uses them to color balance their monitors. How can you check to see how bad your monitor is off color? Take a photograph of something you know and see daily that doesn’t change, like your front door, mailbox, etc. Ensuring you are properly exposed and the white balance is correct, send it off to a lab to have it printed with the request please do not make color corrections (more on this later). When you get the print, hold it up next to the subject you shot, it should be really close. Now take that same print and hold it next to your computer monitor with the digital file on screen and compare. I’m willing to bet you will be shocked at the difference you see. If you don’t want to spend the money on a calibration unit or go through the hassle of using it ever 4 weeks, learn to trust your lab’s judgment. Dan’s Camera has gone as far to post on their site,

If you are going to have Dan’s make prints for you, do not adjust the images. Our expert technicians use state of the art machines and software to adjust each image for you at No Charge. Since every computer monitor is calibrated differently, the corrections you make could negatively impact your photos. Feel free to crop, using a software program that maintains the proper proportions.

Don’t convert to grayscale if you want black & white prints. There are several ways in many different photo editing programs to get your images black & white, the trouble is, most offer grayscale as an option. Grayscale is a color space, not a conversion that will work anywhere properly, except for text printers. All labs and all printers print in the sRGB color space, converting to grayscale strips the important data out of your file that the printers need to make a quality black & white print. If you don’t know how to do the conversion properly, simply ask your lab to do it for you, most do at no extra charge and you’ll be more than pleased with the results.

I just suggested you send a sample photo off to your lab; note that I did not suggest you print it at home. Home printing of digital files is not only complicated, it’s downright expensive. There is more color management and calibration to do and the cost per print when you factor in the printers cost, ink and paper is usually 4-20 times that of a real lab. Most home inkjet prints also start to fade within a few years. The only time I advise someone to purchase and use a printer at home for digital photography prints is if they need instant gratification, say if a grandparent is in town and wants prints of their new grandbaby. Outside of that, avoid them.

Order lots and lots of sample prints! The digital print market is booming, as a result, most places give away 10-20 digital prints, shipping on these freebies is usually only a buck or two, so give them a test ride. I’m making this suggestion because every lab is different. There is no given industry standard for matte or glossy paper, most places use Kodak or Fuji, however there are dozens of different finishes for each. Other factors will come into play as well, such as speed of delivery, cost of shipping, customer service, quality of packaging, so on and so on. I’d also highly suggest giving your local lab a try. Chances are they are a few pennies more than the big box store, but they will more than likely better build a rapport with you and give you much better customer service. Building a rapport can be extremely important when you need favors out of them, such as a same day rush on prints, something you can’t always get from an online or big box service. Another thing to consider is the level of corrections being given to your prints. Some places now offer a no correction checkbox. If you are comfortable with your monitor setup and have done samples, use this, for most people, don’t use this option. Nearly every major lab, even the big box stores, has someone sitting at a printer looking at your files and making color corrections to them. This is done to give you the best quality print. Getting samples made from several different sources will help show you who is doing what and to what extent. When you find a lab you like, stick with them! Additionally, when you place your sample order, use the same set of photos for each place! I know it is really tempting to order 10 from here and 10 from there and so on, but use the same set of files. This will allow you to really compare the print quality from store to store. Some of the places I’d suggest trying out are:

• HP Snapfish - 30 FREE prints plus free shipping with coupon code AUGSHIP07
  
• Kodak Easyshare - 20 FREE Prints with the purchase of a photo book
• Photo Works - 25 FREE prints
• SmugMug - FREE trial membership
• Dans Camera - 10 FREE prints
• WinkFlash - Almost always running a 50% off sale

Concluding, photography is very much a growing hobby and passion for many people now, it can also be extremely frustrating, like any new hobby. Ask questions, don’t be afraid to take classes, learn as much as you can, it will all pay off in the end.

Resources:

• iPhotoForum.com
• White balance explained
• Luminous Landscape
• Photo.net Learning
• Dan’s Camera Going Digital Guide
• Digital Photography School

Consider this more of a rant than an actual how-to article, and possibly a bit one-sided as well since I am a photographer. You need a wedding photographer, you’ve made the decision to get married and you want to remember that day as best you can, for as long as it takes until you get divorced. You have a budget though, so there are things that need to be taken into consideration and places where you need to shave some money out of the budget to pay for more important things, like booze.

What are you to do? You know hiring a professional wedding photographer is going to cost you some serious money, but the photographs they produce will be simply amazing, what other options do you have? Craigslist! Perfect, chances are you can find someone on here for half or maybe even less than a pro and because they probably shoot digital, you’ll still get amazing photographs, let’s work a deal. This is a directly from a Philadelphia listing:

I NEED A PHOTOGRAPHER AT A WEDDING IN 2 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY BEST FRIEND IS GETTING MARRIED. SHE NEEDS A PHOTOGRAPHER. IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO HAVE A PORTFOLIO MADE FOR SCHOOL OR SUCH. EXPERIENCE IS NOT NECESSARY BUT YOU MUST BRING SAMPLE PHOTOS OF ANYTHING SO I CAN SEE HOW CLEAR THEY ARE AND HOW PROFESSIONAL THEY LOOK. IF NECESSARY I WILL PROVIDE PHOTO ALBUM AND HELP PURCHASE YOUR FILM AND WHAT NOT. THIS JOB IF FOR THE RIGHT PERSON MUST HAVE GREAT PERSONALITY. I WANT TO HELP YOU BETTER YOURSELF AND YOUR CAREER WHILE YOU HELP ME REMEMBER THIS EVENT FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE………..SERIOUS INQUIRES ONLY. YOU WILL BE COMPENSATED FOR THIS AS WELL!!!!!!!! NOTHING IS FREE DON’T EVER SELL YOURSELF SHORT. I WILL PAY YOU WHAT YOU ARE WORTH.

I’ll break this down as best I can to show you how wrong this really is.

I need a photographer at a wedding in 2 weeks. Most weddings are planned months in advance, thus, photographers are booked months in advance. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find one, it just means your selection will be drastically reduced to who is available and you may need to pay a premium because of the short notice. You don’t take a package to the post office on Thursday and ask to have it shipped overnight for the same price as regular mail because you forgot to take it in on Monday, do you?

If you are looking to have a portfolio made for school or such. I’m sorry, that doesn’t make sense to me, are you in the print, book, or binding industry?

Experience is not necessary. Fine, you shoot it then!

Must bring sample photos or anything so I can see how clear they are and how professional they look. Wait a minute, you just told me that experience is not necessary, now you want to see how clear they look, whatever that means, and how professional they look? Clearly you must be confused, I know I am.

If necessary I will provide photo album and help purchase your film and what not. Most wedding photographers have access to albums that are not usually available to the general public, if you want something nice and you want it to last, get it from them. I’m not sure of many photographers these days that use film, so that won’t be of much help.

This job if for the right person must have a great personality. And I agree and willing to go out on a limb to say that most wedding photographers enjoy working with people and capturing the moments you have. If they didn’t, they would shoot wildlife or landscapes.

I want to help you better yourself and your career while you help me remember this event for the rest of my life. Thank you so much for your deep concern about my persona life. Shooting your wedding will not help me in any other way than financially though. Unless you are a booking agent or have a dozen friends who are getting married who are not low-balling, cheap bastards, or you are the advertising representative for a magazine or billboard company, how exactly do you plan on helping my career?

Serious inquiries only. For serious?

You will be compensated for this as well!!!!!!!! Wow, 8 exclamation points. You must seriously be willing to compensate me; however you have not listed what your budget is.

Nothing is free, don’t sell yourself short. Again, thank you for this great life lesson.

I will pay you what you are worth. This is somewhat confusing to me. How are you to justify what my worth is, especially if you are looking for someone with little or no experience? Is this to say that you are willing to let them eat at the wedding and that should be compensation enough? Maybe gas money?

Here’s the thing, photography is very much a form of art. It is much more than a wedding album or the cost of film, you are paying for someones talent and time. Looking for an inexpensive way to get a wedding or any event photographed is not a bad thing, hiring students or assistants for the event is completely acceptable as well. That said, an understanding should be made that when you hire someone like this, you need to accept the fact that accidents could happen, you may not get you the best quality images, they may miss critical elements of the event or be slightly out of focus, etc., these things all could happen, it is the price you pay for accepting someone of lesser talent to save some money.

Photography is service; you pay for the talent of the photographer much in the same way you pay for the talent of a chef at a good restaurant. At the restaurant, food is the outcome. With a photographer, prints are the outcome; these trigger memories for all involved. I know of no one who has gone to the grocery store to buy a steak and taken it into a restaurant and asked the chef to make it for them, why would you do this to a photographer?

Don’t tell me how shooting your event will help build my portfolio; chances are I have enough friends and family to shoot for free to help me build a decent portfolio. Let’s not get this twisted and make me feel like you are helping me out, you, the client, are in need of service. Unless you have several friends who are in need of paid photography service or you can grow my business by means of free or cheap advertising, don’t insult me.

Be aware of your timeframe, the less time you have to an event, the less photographers you will have to choose from. Additionally, you may need to pay extra because of the short notice.

Be realistic with your expectations. If you want great, long lasting images, get someone who has been doing this for a while and has an established portfolio and a list of people who have recommended them. If you are on a tighter budget, don’t expect to get the best of the best, realize that there could be some speed bumps along the way.

After working in the photo and imaging industry for nearly three years and having dealt with nearly a thousand unhappy customers who have lost images from their camera’s memory card, I am sharing some great tips for keeping your memory card healthy and corrupt free. Most of the common problems are what we in the industry refer to as PICNIC errors, Problem In Chair, Not In Computer. The following tips will help prevent most of the common errors that lead to corrupt data in nearly every form of memory cards.

1. Format the card in your camera before you take any photographs. This is an important and often overlooked step. Formatting the card (see your owners manual on how to format the card for your specific model) helps ensure you are starting clean and there is no bits of data floating around.
2. Don’t delete photographs because they are blurry, flash didn’t fire, card is full and you need to make room for a few more new photos. I know this is a hard one to do, especially when the card is really full and you need to get just one more photograph on it. If you can imagine that the data you store is in a circle with a start and stop point for a moment, imagine if when you got the to end of the circle, the card didn’t see the finish line and kept on writing overtop the first photos you took. That is one problem that can happen as a result of trying to stuff one more image on the card. Going back through your card with the picture review function and deleting images that are blurry or that you just aren’t fond of can also cause data corruption. Wikipedia has a great technical answer as to what defrag means, in a nutshell, fragmented cards can split images data apart and thus lead to lost or corrupt files.
3. Transfer the images to your computer on a regular basis, preferably after each shooting event. Sounds pretty obvious, right? With memory cards growing in size and dropping in price, it is not uncommon for your average user to have a card that will hold 500, 1,000, or even more digital images. This will often lead to people leaving photos on the card for years, never removing them, just adding to what is already there. Doing so will lead to possible corruption, aside from the increased chance that you will drop the camera, loose it or get caught in the rain and ruin the card. When film was dominant, you screwed up one roll, the most you could lose would be 24 or 36 exposures. Today, you could loose a summer vacation, last year’s holiday season and little Timmy’s birthday.
4. Format the card in camera (or in computer) on a regular basis. By formatting the card, you set the data back to total zero. This helps bring the card back to as new status and wipes the slate clean.
5. Verify the images have transferred to your computer and are OK by viewing a few of them at full resolution prior to formatting the card. Having done this myself, I can tell you that the sinking feeling in my stomach is a horrible feeling, after I thought I transferred the images to my computer and then proceeded to format my memory card, only to later realize that the images I transferred were incomplete. Simply transfer them to your computer, open a few random ones at full resolution in your favorite image editing software and make sure they are OK. If you do see corruption, try to transfer them again. If it fails a second time, there are some solutions for data recovery and also look to replace the card.
6. Use a card reader to transfer the images, not the cable supplied by the camera manufacturer. Using the cable that comes with a digital camera has several negative aspects to it. The transfer speed is not nearly as fast as with a dedicated card reader and it requires your camera to be turned on. This means that you are using the battery power in your camera, which can lead to problems (see next tip). Dedicated card readers come standard in many newer computers, most can be purchased for under $20, this is a must have for anyone offloading a serious number of images.
7. If you have a low battery warning in your camera, stop taking photos and change / charge your battery. Yes I know you can probably get another 15 or 20 shots off before it is dead, but consider writing your college thesis of 40 pages and on page 39 of it, unplugging your computer, prior to saving any of it. That is essentially what can happen when you try to utilize the last bits of power to your camera. A spare set of batteries is a wise investment if you are going to be taking a lot of photos and won’t be near a charger for a while.
8. Turn your camera off before inserting or removing the memory card. Having the camera on can cause problems due to voltage shock with the memory card. Don’t do it, ever.
9. Memory cards do not last forever; there is a lifespan to them, albeit a long one. Memory cards have a life span they simply don’t last forever. From use, they will start to wear a bit on the contacts, internally, the controller is only capable of lasting for a certain number of read / write cycles. With the price of cards dropping so drastically, be aware that you may need to replace your card. Time will vary depending on use, most should last 2-5 years with moderate use.
10. Keep your camera out of the dust, dirt, sand, wet and your pets mouth. There is an old saying in computer hardware maintance, if you are uncomfortable in your surroundings, so is your computer. This includes, dust, dirt, heat, cold, wet, misty, drops, etc. Your memory card is an electronic device; treat it like you would nearly any other.
11. If you use one card in two or more cameras, format the card in each camera prior to using it. A good number of homes have more then one digital camera in them now; many people will swap cards between the two cameras. Formatting the card prior to use in each camera will ensure that the camera / card relationship is starting off at a clean point.

These tips should help to give you a trouble free camera memory card, one, which should last through several, thousand photographs. Now go out and shoot!

Looking for a new memory card? Check out these cheap camera memory cards.

Olaf Starorypinski has been and will continue to be an influence in my photography and has already taught me so much in such a short amount of time, which is why I chose to do our first Q&A session with him. His fine art nude, glamour and fashion photography is on today’s cutting edge of the industry, and so is the equipment he uses. He also manages several models careers.

Would you consider yourself a professional photographer, i.e. is this your living or your passion?

Olaf: It has always been a passion, and I think it always will be. Although I do not make 100% of my income from photography, it�s becoming a larger and larger part of what I do for a living. I also own and run a company that does architectural lighting design.

How did you get started, who / what influenced you?

Olaf: I was given a Zenith E 35mm SLR when I was about 13 or 14. The results of the 1st roll of film I ever shot were about 100 times better than what my Dad had ever shot (I�m so modest) and I really liked being so much better at something than my Dad! I also really liked shooting�

I�ve always been fascinated with light and lighting. It used to drive my grandma nuts that when she took me to the movies as a small kid, I would crane my neck back and watch the beams of light coming out of the projector! I think my photo work reflect that interest in light.

Influences have been (and still are) David Bailey, Howard Schatz, Helmut Newton, Andreas Bitesnich, Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, Sante D�Orazio, Giles Bensimon . Also, and almost as importantly, Mattise, Monet, Chagal, Rodin, Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, Turner. Pilobolus Dance Co, Twyla Tharp Dance Co, Martha Graham Dance Co, Alvin Ailey Dance Co.

Your style of photography includes harsh high contrast light more often than not, usually in a studio, so much so that it�s almost become your signature. What influenced this and why don�t you shoot natural light more often?

Olaf: Laughing�.well, I�m glad I have developed a recognizable style, but I have to disagree with your use of the word �harsh.� True, I do use a lot of low key/high contrast set ups, but it�s very rarely �harsh��that implies unpleasant. I hope it�s never unpleasant.

Another one of my early influences was Greek mythology, and I still enjoy reading it. My low key, sculptural treatment of the human body is often an interpretation of that genre.

I do shoot with natural light more and more these days. I find I go through phases of how I work, and the use of natural light is a part of those phases. One reason I like studio lighting is that it�s 100% controllable and I can manipulate it pretty much anyway I want.

All of your work is model / people based photography. Is this purely by choice, or because you find other subject matter such as landscapes, still life or objects boring?

Olaf: More laughter�no, I definitely do not find those other subjects �boring�!! In fact I do some landscape and still life photography.

One of the reasons that I shoot people is that I just find people VERY interesting. Also, I really enjoy collaborating with other creative people, whether it�s a model, make up artist, stylist, or another photographer. I�ve often had shoots where the end result is much better than I had hoped, but NOTHING like how I imagined�I love that!

Since you do shoot with models so often, how do you avoid getting into a rut in regards to posing them?

Olaf: Sometimes I do get into a rut, but I prefer to call it a �phase�(!!!) it�s sort of along the lines of what I mentioned earlier with regards to light. However, I am constantly influenced and inspired by all manner of art that I see, not just photography. Music is also a HUGE influence on my photography. I love trying to create an image inspired by a piece of music that I�ve heard.

It�s not hard to stay fresh if you just keep your eyes (and ears) open and really look at and study what you see or hear.

Do you feel that a models personality and ability to work with a photographer truly is important to a successful shoot, or is the photographer the one that should be blamed for poor posing and facial expressions?

Olaf: I absolutely believe that a model�s personality and talent have a HUGE influence on any image. If you listen to the world�s top photographer�s talk about who they like to shoot, you will almost always hear them using words like �attitude�, �charisma�, �magic� �charm� �seduction� before they talk about a model�s physical attributes. I�ve shot dozens of people who are physically stunning and beautiful, but look lifeless and dull in images. Some models can only do one or two �looks.� To be able to do it all is a very rare talent, and it�s why the top models get paid so much.

BUT, as the architect Mies van der Rohe said, �God is in the details� and the details are up to the photographer.

You�ve been shooting Digital SLR cameras since the Canon D30 was released, owning nearly every Canon DSLR body released and now shooting a Canon 1Ds mkII. Other then the obvious time advantages of shooting digitally and the reduced cost per shoot, what other advantages and / or disadvantages have you found shooting digitally?

Olaf: Good question, since it seems that everyone thinks that digital only has advantages�

The disadvantages are mostly time related. For instance, it used to be that I would shoot 200 images, send the film to the lab and have 200 pretty good images to share with my client a day or two later, end of story. Now when I shoot 200 images digitally, I spend a LOT of time editing and tweaking those images.

Color management is very important. Actually getting printed results that are identical to the colors on your screen is no simple task, it seems (please let me know if I�m wrong on this!!!)

Also storage is a problem. CD-Rs are (apparently) not archival, and hard drive space is expensive.

One of the biggest advantages of digital is being able to see results immediately. This has improved my photography immensely. You are now able to check all the crucial ingredients of an image as you shoot, and to a much better degree than you ever could with Polaroids.

What kind of time are you spending post-processing shots before they are ready to print?

Olaf: It totally depends on the image, and how much care I took taking care of the details during the shoot. Software is good, but it does have its limits.
Post-processing one image can take anywhere from 1 minute to over an hour or two.

How are you outputting your prints?

Olaf: I either give my client a CD of high-res TIFF files so they can print themselves (charging accordingly and retaining rights), or I print on an Epson 2200, or I have a commercial lab do the printing.

With all the high end electronic technology that you have at your disposal, every time I�m in your studio you have your Pentax 67 medium format film camera with you. What does it take for you to pull it out of the case and shoot it?

Olaf: Still more laughter! I use the Pentax 6×7 more often than you might think, especially for �fine art� images that are intended for gallery show etc. There is a quality to low iso black and white film that digital cannot rival.

Do you feel that film will always have a place for photographers, especially black and whites for their tonal values and slide films for their color saturation?

Olaf: Yes, definitely. See answer above! I cannot imagine that film will be going away completely anytime soon.

Over the last few years, technology has advanced, costs have come down and consumer point and shoot digital camera sales are now through the roof. This has resulted in a huge growth spurt for the photographic industry and everything around it, and sparked the interests of many people, old and young to try photography beyond your typical birthday or T-ball games snapshots. The bi-product of this is many budding �photographers� whom seem to be into everything from portraiture to wedding photography without any real training, experience or apprenticeship. Do you feel that this is hurting traditionally taught photographers?

Olaf: Hmmm�I think that the adage �you get what you pay for� is applicable here. Quality work will prevail.

Where it bothers me most is in the area of �fine art.� It seems that lots of people with a digital camera, but no training, no knowledge, no skill or talent, are taking pictures that are very average at best, and passing them off as �fine art� and galleries are buying! Now, I�ll be the first to admit that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that there is nothing as subjective as art, but I do think this trend is a bad one. Maybe that makes me elitist�oh well.

That said, I absolutely welcome an increase in interest in photography!

In regards to the previous question, is it true that you get what you pay for? Someone with more time and a traditional art / photography schooling background will tend to produce better photos then someone who is self taught?

Olaf: I didn�t read this question before I answered the last one�HONEST!!!

I don�t think that traditional or formal training is the crucial issue here. Talent and/or lots of practice are.

Where are you hoping to take your current career?

Olaf: I would like to do more fashion work, preferably for the magazines. That and a show at MOMA�

Any last words, comments or rants?

Olaf: Today�s words of wisdom & rants are�

Really look. Pay attention to everything around you. Use your eyes AND your brain�together, not just your eyes. And once you�ve looked, analyze, ponder, consider, and ruminate. Then go out and shoot�a LOT.

Will someone PLEASE explain to me why Microsoft is the dominant OS??? That stuff is utter crap.

�Models� on modeling websites who only have shitty webcam pix who say �No experience. Looking for paid work only� That ticks me off.

Buying high quality lenses is WAY more important than buying expensive cameras.

And�here is the advice my idol and mentor Howard Schatz gave me:

A photograph is only as good as its weakest element. Strive for excellence in EVERY aspect of your image.

Devour as much photography as you can. Buy every photography book and every magazine you can afford. Study imagery.

Take notes. Figure out what works for you, as well as what doesn�t, and WRITE IT DOWN!!!!

I’d like to thank Olaf for taking the time out of his busy schedule to do the interview. His work can be seen on his website: http://www.orsphoto.com

And his One Model Place porfolio is: here (not work safe)

As a photographer, I can truly empathize with this article and while I am not a parent, plenty of my friends have children and have asked me to photograph them. Most parents take hundreds of photographs of their children in the first two or three years of their life, with digital the number is now several thousand. It is not uncommon for them to snap photos daily because at that young age, subtle changes happen often.

One of the more common photos parents will take is of their children in a bath tub (often with their spouse or siblings), running around the house naked after just getting out of the tub or sitting on the toilet for the first time. Usually these are kept for the family and occasionally for that first time you go on a date to embarrass you. Things are slowly changing.

The FBI has issued blanket requests to photo processing labs and computer repair shops in some cities to be on the lookout for pictures of kids in compromising positions, urging them to call the authorities whether they’re sure or not about a picture’s legality. The big national chains that have photo processing labs — Costco, CVS, Rite-Aid, and Wal-Mart — have company policies that compel them to notify the police about any criminal activity they see in customers’ photos. And when children are involved, they’re more than willing to err on the side of caution.

Makes sense, right? One would think so, however it is nearly impossible to draw a line in the sand to what is or is not worth calling about, even top executives at major drug store chains who process photographs states that this is near impossible to force.

Where is the line drawn and at what point should the authorities be called?

Source with more information: Popular Photography

Here are five simple tips to help you get better photographs, no matter the camera you are using.

1. Try vertical composition. Point and shoot cameras rarely come with viewfinders in them anymore and the way the controls are setup, shooting horizontally feels right in your hands. Often times though, a vertical shot will yield a better result, so give the camera turn and try shooting some vertical images
2. Shoot from waist level. Many photographs from people to buildings simply look better when shot from waist level. Perspective is something that needs to be considered when shooting. If you use the first suggestion of shooting vertically to compose a portrait of less then 5 or 6 people, try shooting it down on one knee. You may find that this method yields to more flattering photographs across the board.
3. Use the rule of thirds. The Wikepdia link gives a very technical answer to what the rule of thirds is, but I’ll sum it up for you in some more simple terms. When you shoot a sunset / sunrise, don’t put the horizon dead center in the frame, position it in the top third or bottom third of your frame. Same thing goes for shots of people. Whether you choose to shoot horizontally or vertically, don’t put someone’s face dead center in the frame, you’ll only get dead wasted space above it. Position their face to the top third of the frame.
4. Always carry a camera. You can’t get a shot if you don’t have a camera with you. Years ago, insurance agents would suggest keeping a disposable camera in the glove box of your car in case you are in an accident. Today though, prices of digital cameras are so low that you should be able to find a carry everywhere camera. Sometimes the most amazing cloud formations happen during the boring drive to work, you’ll want to be able to capture them, so be prepared.
5. Turn your flash on for outdoor portraits. If you are taking photographs of people outside on a nice day, more then likely the auto-flash function on your camera will not fire because the camera thinks it is bright enough and not needed. In reality, you do. Shooting people, whether formal portraits or just a friends and family get-togethers outside on a sunny day is shadow hell. By using a flash you can help fill in some of the shadowed areas in a person�s face from their eyebrow ridge and nose, thus creating a more flattering image. The flash from the camera will more then likely also cause another desirable feature in portrait photography called a catch light, that little twinkle in the subject’s eye.

Next time you are out shooting, give these tips a try, see how they work. I’m also very interested in hearing what tips you may have to share to get better photographs!

This was posted through MySpace and I�m reposting here to get a little more exposure for this wonderful cause. It was originally posed by For Mia Fundraiser:

Hello Friends!!

We’re looking for is a graphic designer who can make us flyers. If you design flyers or have anyone you can suggest that would be a big help. However, it has to be donated time, we can’t really pay for anything because all money made goes to Alex’s Lemonade Stand. We need a couple of designs too. One for internet advertising, one that’s 11 x 17 and the standard postcard flyer size 4 x 6. Once you message me I’ll send you all the details needed for the flier.

I also wanted to reach out to photographers because there is an amazing website Flashes of Hope where photogs donate their talents to take pictures of children with cancer with their families. It’s a great way to help each child with their little bald heads to feel beautiful and to have special pictures. It’s a national program so any state you’re in chances are you and your camera can make a difference. If it’s not in your state, you can start a chapter and bring the hope into your city. I can’t do the site justice, just check it out and find out more information there. Some of the pictures of Mia on here are from Flashes of Hope, so check them out!

Thanks for your time.
xo
-Kate

If you are a graphic designer and interested in helping, please contact Kate through her MySpace profile, For Mia Fundraiser. I know a lot of you out there are photographers, defiantly check out the Flashes of Hope site as well. It only takes a little bit of your donated time and talent to make a world of difference for these families.

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