PixelatedImage Blog

1. Three images make a final photograph – the one you visualize, the one you shoot, and the one you develop and output. The better you are at the last two, the closer you will come to the first.

2. Long lenses are not for shooting close pictures of ducks. Choose lenses based on their behaviour. Know what a 200mm (or 14mm or 135mm, you get the idea…) does to space and you’ll be better able to use it to realize your vision.

3. Aperture and Shutter speed do more than control the light hitting your sensor. Make decisions about aperture and shutter based on behaviour. You have multiple means of making sure your exposure is correct, but fewer means of achieving the exact look you envision. Be intentional.

4. Shooting with a wide-angle? Push it in tight for a stronger foreground and really sweeping background!

5. Quality of Light trumps Quantity. Look for the best light, not the most light.

6. Exclude EVERY element from the frame that is not part of your vision, and keep your backgrounds clean.

7. Shoot what you love and make me care.

8. Get closer.

9. Setting a shutter speed is selecting the size of the slice of time you capture is, but WHICH slice of time you choose to capture is more important. Cartier-Bresson called this the “decisive moment”

10. Unless you know how people read a photograph, and to what the eye is drawn, you cannot intentionally create an image that leads them where you want. Studying the WHY of composition is more important then the HOW.

When I was in highschool I caught the bug. I was 14 and when I discovered photography I had found my idiom. Those were the heady days of darkrooms and chemicals and film that cost us $4 for 36 frames. I remember going out to shoot, excited that I had two - TWO - rolls of film. 72 whole frames. And I’d shoot like an idiot - I’d experiment with shutter speeds, wierd filters, and the usual sophomoric subject matter: friends posing like rock stars, etc.

And along came digital. I can shoot THOUSANDS of frames without it costing a penny in film costs. But I also became a professional, my art became tied to my income, and somewhere along the way I stopped being so flippant about shooting images just for the joy of seeing what happened. I became more serious, as befits a professional of any discipline. Or does it?

When we stop being willing to make mistakes, we sabotage the process of discovery, and we stall as artists. Even commercial artists need to discover new means of expression, new quirks, new angles and techniques, and that comes best through trial, error, and discovery. So while there is a time and place for it, don’t let the worries of vocation steal the joy and expression of your art. Find time to make some really big mistakes, screw up a little more - because to get to that point you need to play, and in so-doing you’re likely to rediscover a muse you’ve found missing.

Go play, shoot 72 frames of foolishness, break some rules, do it the wrong way, run with scissors, and pee into the wind. In the end, genius aside, it’s this that has long separated the generic artists from the Picassos, Monets, and Rembrandts. And as a plus, if all this talk of artistic decadence scares your pragmatic self, you’ll have a more creative spirit and a better product to offer your clients. And it will cost you nothing. No film, no chemicals, no paper.

I am really excited to announce that Evrium, the makers of Fluid Galleries, has joined the ranks of exceptional companies that sponsor me. This is even more exciting as it allows me to bring discounts and door prizes to my students, and all participants in the Lumen Dei Kashmir Tour and Workshop will be getting a Fluid Galleries Basic package as part of their tuition.

For more information on Evrium Fluid Galleries, click HERE. To see it action you can browse my portfolio or for a much different look, see Matt Brandon’s

Hey folks, just a quick note to let you know I’ve added AdSense on a trial basis. I know the ads are clunky, and I know this blog is already pretty full, but I thought I’d give it a try. A little more income frees up a little more time to blog and add meaningful content, which is why you’re here. So, it could be a good thing. Or, it could be a horrible error and drive you from my site in droves, though I suspect not.

Anyone feel like adding your two cents worth? Good experience with AdSense? Bad experience? Got an opinion you need to share? Comments are open.

Updated April 08/08 - I’ve shut it down. So, false alarm. Nothing to see here, Citizen, move along.

A few of my Ethiopian images, Harar in Yellow, being one of them, were licensed for today’s public announcement of the Lucy’s Legacy exhibit coming to Seattle’s Pacific Science Centre this fall. The exhibit opens in Seattle on October 4, 2008 through to March 8, 2009.

Looking for a place to post a portfolio and be discovered? Here’s a short list of some very solid resources for you. None of them come cheap, and some, like Viisual, are very picky about who they list, but if you don’t try, you’ll never know, will you?

The Workbook
Viisual
BlackBook
PDN Photoserve

AdBase - This is a direct mail resource, for either email or traditional mailings. They team up with Modern Postcard as well, making it very easy to create, order, and mail your postcards/mailers without doing the hardwork of dealing with creating lists, printing labels, and sticking stamps.

I’m a fan of Lightroom’s ability to put great-looking galleries out to the web quickly and elegantly. Greg Kendall-Ball just alerted me to SlideShowPro, which has versions for Flash and for Lightroom, as well as having SlideShowPro Director which is installed on your server and acts as an online content manager.

This is just a heads-up kind of announcement. I have only just purchased SlideShowPro and haven’t bought the Director, so I can’t yet recommend or review them - but my initial glance made me very excited. I often give clients online presentations of their images and the Lightroom galleries - and the plethora of third part galleries - make this elegant and simple. Just create a collection of selects, go to the Web Module, select the gallery you want, fine tune it, and hit UPLOAD.

SlideShow Pro installs and works like other third-party galleries for Lightroom, it’s just deeper and more flexible for the needs of someone who knows what they want. There are many, many options in SSP for Lightroom. For $25 this is a deal.

SlideShowPro Director is installed on your server and allows you to administrate and manage it all from an online browser-based interface and sells for $29.00 per server.

For this price you’d expect a bare-bones website to support the product but the intro videos on the SlideShowPro website are clear and well-produced, and the website itself communicates alot of benefits and features very clearly without the usual hunt to discover what the product really is and what its limitations are. The downloaded files come with a well written 40 page documentation/user manual.

I’ve already told you about what a great value Kelby Online Training is. NAPP members get it for something like $17/month for unlimited access to some really great videos.

Scott Kelby announced yesterday that David Ziser’s new class has been posted and this morning I watched the whole thing from beginning to end - not because I have ANY desire to shoot weddings again, but because this first class is about 15 Ways To Improve Your On-Camera Flash For Wedding Photography. I think it wins the award for most verbose class title, and I can’t vouch for whether there are actually 15 ways. But if you’re looking to brush up on your on-camera strobe techniques, or haven’t considered trying to use on-camera strobe to make images that don’t look like crap, you’ll some good ideas from this.

Stop reading this blog right now (ok, not RIGHT now, finish the post, then stop) and go do two things:

1. Calibrate your display.
2. Backup your drives.

OK, you done? You can come back now.

Spoiler: If you’re the kind that hates it when someone reveals the ending, don’t read this part. I love this gear! Here’s why:

My Think Tank Skins came this week, and I wanted to get an initial review up as soon as I could. So, thanks to a free afternoon and a fetish for camera bags that demands I play with stuff NOW, here’s a look at the new Skins. Stretch your scrolling fingers, it’s a longer, more complete review than I’ve done in a long time.

PACKAGING
My kit came as you see it. Think Tank Photo has some nice new packaging and it adds to the feel that one is getting solid value. But I hate packaging. I loathe it. It forces me to fill trash and recycle bins and a box for bags just seems nutty to me - but you can’t fault them for the professionalism. I’d just rather not encourage this weird addiction to packaging that our culture has. (After several days I should admit that this box is pretty nice and built so you can re-use it. I store some of my Skin pieces and some other bits and pieces in the box - so at least it’s one of those useful boxes you’ll be inclined to hang on to.)

CONSTRUCTION
Every piece of Think Tank gear I have owned is built extremely well. I have yet to see a flaw in the material or the workmanship. The zippers are quality, the shock cord is beefy, and the velcro is large and sewn in solidly. Each skin has a couple large pockets, a weatherproof rain shield, a large belt loop on the back, and includes at least one adjustable foam divider for the inside.

The Skins are not padded. These are meant to be working pouches - easy-in and easy-out. If you want padded pouches, look into the Think Tank Modular System.

The Skins do not come with a belt but are deigned to be used with one. The belt is not included, presumably so you can choose one of the three excellent Think Tank belts. The Pro Speed belt, the Steroid Speed Belt or the Skin Belt. If you’re going to load these I highly recommend getting the Belly Dancer harness or the Pixel Racing Harness. I haven’t shown these on a belt/harness, but you can see them in several configurations on the Think Tank website.

Here’s a shot of the Skin Strobe with the belt loop shown. Depending on whether you use the white plastic strip or not, the pouches either remain locked in place or move (rotate) freely along the belt. I have yet to use this feature as I prefer my pouches all slidey.

The 5 Piece Skins Kit includes the following pieces.

1 SKIN CHIMP CAGE POP DOWN - For Pro Sized SLR
Shown with the Pop-Down in place. Carry your spare body on your belt. Lots of room for pro-sized bodies. Bodies without vertical grips will easily fit into the Skin 50. To be honest I’m not sure when or if I would use the Pop Down feature on this particular unit, but it’s been very handy on my holsters.

1 SKIN 75 POP DOWN
Shown with Pop Down zipped-up. More than enough room to quickly access a 70-200/2.8L IS, either with or without the hood in place. The Pop Down makes this really easy. It’s a feature I didn’t think I’d use until I began using the Digital Holsters, which have this feature.

1 SKIN STROBE
I’ve packed this to the gills to show you how volumous these Skins are. This is a Skin Strobe with a Canon 580EX and a 430EX inside. I wouldn’t work out of this configuration, but if you’re after the ability to pack alot of gear, these skins have it in spades.

1 SKIN DOUBLE WIDE
OK, this thing is huge. I put a spare 5D with grip and a 70-200/2.8L IS into this. It’s really big. I mean really, really big.

1 SKIN 50
Shown here with my 135/2.0L lens - When placed inside there is plenty of room to spare - making it easy to work quickly when on a belt or convenient for packing extras and sectioning them away with the included foam divider. The Skin 50 will also hold a DSLR without a vertical grip, where the Chimp Cage would be too large.

FEATURES

Weatherproof rain shields
Each Skin comes with a weatherproof rain shield that fits into a zippered pocket on the bottom of the Skin pouch. All are attached to their own labeled leash so when you pull the thing off and it mixes with all the other rain covers, you know which is which. These little details show again that Think Thank thinks this stuff through rabidly.

Front Flap Pockets
The front flap pocket on all pieces is large and accessible. (The Pocket Rocket is not included.) The Skin pictured below is the Chimp Cage Skin (here with the Pop Down zipped-up).

Under Flap Pockets
The pockets under the flaps are all very large. This is the Chimp Cage Skin with a loaded pocket.

Silence Tabs
Most of the time the big flaps close by means of large velcro patches, but if you want to work silently the silence tabs are easily deployed, disabling one side of the velcro. In the photo below the tab on the left is deployed, while the one on the right is not. Simple. All Skin pouches close with a elastic shock cord in addition to the Velcro patches.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
I am really impressed with this gear. I’ve been looking to get something like this for a while and unable to find it anywhere else but from the Newswear folks, so I’d nearly placed an order with them. The Skins set is well-built, full of solid features, and big. Everything fits and is easy to pull out, which is the point of this kit.

I give extra points to Think Tank Photo for resisting the urge to put fancy striping and two tone colour schemes on their bags. All I want in a bag is something professional looking, brilliantly designed and solidly built - Think Tank Photo delivers time and time again.

I’m looking forward to working out of this rig. Right now I work with a Steroid Speed belt and two Digital Holsters, and the odd Modular component. But I like these better than the Modular pieces, they fit my working style better as the additional pockets,and the flap, are more important to me than a little extra padding. I’ll pack these within my Airport Addicted or Airport Security, and use my Urban Disguise as my second carry-on. When I get where I am heading I’ll attach it all to the belt and harness and I’m ready to go.

The 5-piece Skin set costs $149, and you save 20% over buying all the pieces individually. You’ll also need a belt, and I suggest a harness too if weight on your hips for an 8-12 hour day hurts you the way it does me.

Would I recommend this gear to my closest friend? I sure would, without hesitation.

If you missed my review of the Digital Holsters, find it HERE
Think Tank Photo’s website is HERE