Outdoor Photo Gear

Is there a future for the solo nature photographer or photojournalist?

Jerry Monkman — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:33:19 PDT

A couple rock climbing near the top of Cathedral Ledge. Echo Lake State Park in North Conway, New Hampshire. White Mountains.

This last April I attended the American Society of Picture Professionals’ reinvention weekend in Boston, and the major theme was finding ways for those working in the picture industry to keep working while the landscape of the industry is rapidly changing. Both stock and assignment prices have been deteriorating for years, if not decades, challenging both stock agencies and photographers to change business tactics in order to survive. It’s no secret what is causing the decline in prices – digital technology. To some extent, digital cameras have leveled the playing field on the content creation side of things. More importantly, digital distribution has drastically reduced the cost of selling images. On the stock side of the business, digital distribution (first in the form of royalty-free CDs, then with the advent of microstock) has enabled stock companies to be profitable without charging large rights-managed fees as the administrative costs of managing a large stock library have been drastically reduced due to digital image management and distribution. Lower stock prices have also led to lower assignment fees, both on the commercial and editorial side of the business, though to a greater extent in the editorial world, as newspapers and magazines are downsizing and going out of business.

See the Light – Capture the Light

Rick Sammon — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:31:00 PDT

Here is a very quick tip: See the light.

Look for the direction of light (above: back light), the contrast range in a scene (above: medium), and the color of light (above: warm).

In the opening shot for this post, back light, which created beautiful rim light, makes the shot more than snapshot. The back light also adds a sense of depth to the image, much like a background light adds a sense of depth to a portrait.

South Texas Songbird Shoot Video

Alan Murphy — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 07:44:08 PDT

Check out this nice video of a morning shoot that Alan Murphy and I did together in South Texas. Still images from the shoot are interspersed with the video of the birds' activity. It makes me want to go back right now! More information about Alan's workshop where this video was shot is here: I'll also be [...]

Beginners Guide: Basic Photoshop shortcuts [video]

Richard Peters — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:56:50 PDT

If there is one thing I like, it’s to spend more time taking my photo’s than editing them. Of course some degree of processing IS part of the workflow that can’t be avoided…but…you can decrease your time sat in front of the PC by using a few keyboard shortcuts to speed up your Photoshop operation. And what better way to fully show these in operation than a video tutorial!

Less Is More
I try not to do too much editing to my images, with the thought process that if an image requires too much work to get it looking good, I should just go and shoot it again. However when using Photoshop, one of the things that I quickly learned was this…shortcuts make editing a much faster process. There are however MANY to be learned, so I thought I’d go back to basics with a video to show a few of the more commonly used ones as a beginners guide. They may be simple, but once learned, I guarantee they will speed up your editing.

Further down you can see a brief list of what is covered in the video for quick reference. However do check out the video to see examples of them in action, as well as a couple of extra tips that show examples of how you can really use them to your advantage.

In a nutshell
The video above talks about and demonstrates the following basic functions amongst other tips:

B to select the paintbrush
S to select the clone stamp
C to select the crop tool

Photographer Spotlight – Rick Sammon

Chris Klapheke — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:09:26 PDT

From books, to iPhone apps, to podcasts, Facebook and Twitter, Rick Sammon is everywhere. A Canon Explorer of Light, Rick is also everyman’s photographer. One of Rick’s basic photography tenets is that he “Specializes in not specializing”.

When we talked to Rick for this article, his opening comment to us was “I never thought, in 1969, when I was 19 and dancing naked in the mud at Woodstock, I’d have 36 books and a bunch of iPhone and iPad apps”. We knew we were in for a good story.

After Woodstock, Rick attended the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston, receiving his formal education in Arrangement and Composition. He wanted to play jazz, and play he did. Late night shows and jam sessions over the next few years left him plenty of free day time, so to stir his creative juices, he began shooting images and submitting them to publications.

In 1978 Rick submitted an image and article to Studio Photography Magazine. On this first submission, the magazine invited him to be their editor. Rick traded in one keyboard for another, and entered the publication world.

The Dumb Luck Shot

Rick Sammon — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 06:43:16 PDT

Much as been written on the web about waiting years and years for all the elements in a scene to come together for a “once-in-a-lifetime shot.”

That’s all well and good, and sometimes it’s true.

But sometimes a good shot is just dumb luck. Here is an example.

In the above photograph, the five subjects are completely isolated, the side lighting is wonderful, the reflection is perfect, the background is effective in adding to the “sense of place” of the image, the dog adds an extra element of interest, and the exposure is good.

Black Rapid Introduces the RS-W1 Camera Strap for Women

Matt Dennison — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:58:48 PDT

You can learn more about the new RS-W1 in the store here: Black Rapid

Introducing Wimberley

Chris Klapheke — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:16:58 PDT

In light of this country’s holiday weekend, we are proud to bring you products from our friends at Wimberley—a company whose products are made right here in the USA, and whose products set the bar for the highest standard worldwide. Photographers all over the world know and respect Wimberley products for being the pinnacle in their [...]

Tips For Great Fireworks Images

Theodore Stark — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 06:24:59 PDT

Fourth of July is right around the corner. For all shutterbugs of all levels, that means we are all thinking about capturing that most quintessential of Fourth of July image - fireworks.

If this will be your first time shooting fireworks, or if even you are a seasoned pro, I’ve put together some tips that I hope will appeal to you.

Out of all of these helpful hints, I'll give you an important pointer up front: do some research! See what various people are recommending on the net. Don't just read this article--read a bunch! Just like a a recipe, there are a hundred different ways to make the perfect meatloaf. Pick and choose which recipes you follow. Bon Appetite!

Ready for my recipe? Here we go…

Grand Tetons Landscape, HDR Stitched Panorama

Juan Pons — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:00:56 PDT

I am not much of a landscape photographer, I tend to concentrate more on wildlife, but sometimes the landscape is so majestic, as it is in the Grand Tetons, that it is hard to make a bad image. I made this image (MAKE SURE to click on it to enlarge it) last week during my Spring Yellowstone & Grand Tetons photo workshop. We had some pretty uncooperative weather the first few days we where there, but we had a few occasions during those rainy days where we had a pretty clear view of the mountains.

That morning, I took the opportunity to make a large HDR & stitched panorama. This image was made by taking 18 individual frames. Here is a quick rundown of the process to making an image such as this.