Just got the call from a friend of Bradley’s that the Burnaby Board of Trade needs a photographer for their event tonight. Sorry to the folks at Launch Party v6 but I won’t be there this time.
Just got the call from a friend of Bradley’s that the Burnaby Board of Trade needs a photographer for their event tonight. Sorry to the folks at Launch Party v6 but I won’t be there this time.
One of the photographers who I most aspire to be like, to emulate, get inspiration from is Kris Krug. I think more than any other person his work, example, and encouragement is one of the main reasons I decided to make the jump to go pro.
Every time a great picture has been taken of me, Kris has usually been the person who as taken it. Even with my own camera.
This past summer at Gnomedex Kris give a short presentation on how to take better pics. Doesn’t matter if you’re a pro or budding amateur, this video is awesome.
One of the best features of DSLRs is the ability to get more features or extended capabilities through firmware upgrades. I had heard rumours that Nikon was prepping an update to the D300’s firmware, but last time I looked it wasn’t out yet. Last night cruising through my feeds I saw that UK-based Digital Photographer posted links (sorta) to the update and I quickly zipped over to Nikon Canada to get my copy and update. Here’s what the firmware update for the D300 gives you (and I think it’s pretty impressive):
D300 Modifications enabled with upgrade of A and B firmware to v.1.10
The Highlights playback option has been moved from Display Mode > Basic photo info > Highlights in the playback menu to Display mode > Detailed photo info > Highlights.
The size and color of "Demo" displayed in the monitor with playback when No memory card? in the Custom Settings has been set to Enable Release have been modified.
The range of settings available for ISO sensitivity settings > ISO sensitivity auto control > Minimum shutter speed in the shooting menu has been increased from 1/250 – 1s to 1/4000 – 1s.
When shooting in hand-held live view mode and the frame is magnified prior to autofocusing, operation has been modified so that display returns to the magnified display rather then the full frame display.
Images captured with Rotate tall, in the playback menu, set to On, are not automatically rotated for display immediately after capture (image review).
Recent settings can now be displayed in the place of My Menu.
Custom Setting e3 Flash cntrl for built in flash ( e3 Optional flash when an optional Speedlight is mounted on the camera) can now be added to My Menu using the Add items > Custom setting menu > Bracketing/ flash.
The degree of the High ISO NR setting can now be confirmed in the shooting info display while the High ISO NR setting item, in the shooting menu, is being applied.
Ankara, Riyadh, Kuwait, and Manama have been added to the Time zone options for the World time item in the setup menu.
When a GPS device is used and no heading information is available, –.–° is now displayed for the Position / Heading option in the GPS item in the setup menu.
When shooting in live view mode using Camera Control Pro 2 (ver. 2.2.0 or later) with a PC-E lens, the aperture setting can now be adjusted from the computer.
Focus acquisition performance in dynamic-area AF mode has been improved.
Focus acquisition performance with contrast-detect AF has been improved.
Auto white balance performance has been improved.
The fourth digit in seconds display for GPS latitude and longitude information is now rounded off rather than omitted.
The current MB-D10 battery type setting can now be confirmed in the shooting menu display when R6/AA- size batteries are used with the Multi-Power Battery pack MB-D10.
An issue that caused an increase in noise when shooting in [M] exposure mode at a shutter speed setting of bulb with the shutter held open for less than 8 seconds and Long exp. NR enabled has been resolved.
An issue that prevented shutter release at the specified shutter speed when no operations were performed for 30 seconds in mirror up mode has been resolved.
An issue that caused abnormal image display when Image review was set to On and the playback zoom in button was pressed immediately after shooting at the following settings has been resolved.
Image quality: NEF (RAW) + JPEG
NEF (RAW) recording: Lossless compressed or Compressed
Image size: S or M
When the Speedlight SB-800 was mounted on the camera with flash mode set to distance-priority manual (GN) mode, and the camera recovered from standby mode triggered by the auto meter off function, the distance information in the SB-800 changed. This issue has been resolved.
My favourite, and the one that I set up almost immediately, is embedding the artist and copyright info into the picture meta data when the picture is taken. I used to have Lightroom do this on import, guess I don’t have to any longer.
The D80 also got a firmware refresh, albeit not nearly as interesting:
D80 Modifications enabled with upgrade of A and B firmware to 1.11
An issue that, in some rare circumstances, caused the battery indicator to blink, regardless of actual battery charge, has been resolved.
I only have one gripe with Nikon about the firmware update process: logging into the Nikon site and having an account. To download an update you need to create and an account at your country’s Nikon site (I presume, I haven’t actually tried to go to the US or UK sites) and enter the serial number of your camera, then go back and search to download. It would be a lot easier if they didn’t require an account or at least give you quick links to your camera’s updates (I have my D80 and D300 linked to the account, wonder if you can update a Speedlight?).
Still updating your camera’s firmware is probably the easiest thing you can do to get more out of your investment.
Oh and remember copy only onefirmware file to your flash media at a time to update. Yeah I made that mistake once.
I’m a huge fan of Picnik. I can do so many cool things with it. It’s snappy, fun, and easy. Now I saw on both RWW and Photojojo reviews of Aviary and it’s online photo editor Phoenix and my first question was (and sorta still is) is it worth $95/yr (for the high-end package, the “Green” package is $8/mo)?
RWW has a pretty comprehensive review of the tool:
Aviary is indeed a very comprehensive image editing suite. While testing the different applications, we were impressed with the overall speed of the service and how closely the apps resembled more traditional desktop tools. While the feature set of Phoenix, the core program in the suite, doesn’t quite rival that of more fully-featured desktop applications like Photoshop or even Paint.NET, the combination of all the Aviary apps makes this suite an attractive alternative.
[image removed]
Like most of its free rivals like FotoFlexer or Picnik, Aviary can import pictures from most of the popular online photo-sharing sites, including Flickr, Facebok, and Picasa. Its features, however, go far beyond the functionality of these free online applications and the Peacock application allows you to experiment with images in ways that no other online application has allowed you to do so far. Source: Online Image Editing Suite Aviary Comes Out of Private Beta (Discount for RWW Readers) – ReadWriteWeb
Picnik is $25/yr (disclosure I got a free year at Gnomedex this year, but was more than ready to pay for it) so for an extra $70 you get powerful editing tools. Yep layers and stuff. That is cool. Could you have even imagined that even last year? I have to give them props.
Regardless is a powerful tool like this good for the web? What about just download GIMP or something?
I’ve signed up for an account and will give it a shot. It’s not something that I’d use very often. My only gripe right now is that I only have 48 hrs to claim the Photojojo $55 discount (BTW Photojojo was given more discount code links than RWW), I’d like a lot more time to test. Heck SmugMug gave people infinite time on their “Flickr refugee discount”.
What would rock is an online RAW processor, course uploading like 11 megs to the cloud might be a little much. Which makes it cool that I found a RAW processor for Ubuntu (UFRaw) and even installed it myself.
Brian, it appears this program allows the download of images even when the photographer does not allow downloads. It also strips the metadata from the photo, which is copyright violation.
So if you want to use if your own images, that’s one thing, but to use it for anyone else, without their permission, is theft.
Umm, whoops. I don’t blame the author, from the looks of it the app hasn’t been touched since June 2007, so it’s probably a project that has fallen by the wayside, but it raises the question of whether or not Flickr will let you block unauthorized downloads.
I turned on right-click save prevention on my SmugMug portfolio as well as not allowing people to buy the images, what about Flickr?
Photographers and other artists have a hard enough time protecting our works, much less earning money from them, now some one could just pull all my images from somewhere and use them? Good thing most of my images are watermarked now, but still.
Maybe I’m just getting my nose bent out of joint for nothing, but then again maybe I’m not…
I had a great time today at Media Democracy Day. I didn’t get there until after lunch time, but I managed to catch a couple panels and live tweeted them.
First was:
Journalism in a time of Big Media Domination
In much of the traditional media, newsrooms are being squeezed, local coverage diminished, and serious journalism abandoned. What does this mean for journalists and journalism as a whole? What are the challenges and opportunities? Could this void be filled by independent reporters and innovative journalism projects? In a media system dominated by large corporate conglomerates, independently owned outlets provide important alternatives but rarely reach significant audiences. What have been independent media’s successes and challenges? How do independent outlets and journalists spread critical perspectives that the mainstream ignores? Panelists will discuss these issues and describe what they see as the possibilities of using new media and new models to do in-depth investigative projects, find untold stories, and engage new audiences. Whether relying on contributions from readers, new tools and technologies, or old-fashioned, shoe-leather reporting, could these projects counteract big media, and redefine journalism?
- Sylvia Richardson – Host of Latin Waves, Airing 8pm Saturdays on CJSF 90.1 FM
Since I was just live Tweeting this the “old fashioned way” the tweets are in reverse order, but well here it is regardless (with some pics I took thrown in for fun):
Good question-why isn’t the left-wing more critical of itself? Why not challenge the NPD or others? Too many sacred cows? Lefty than thou? about 7 hours ago from web
It seems to me from several comments from the panel that the MSM has put a chill on criticism through law suits. about 7 hours ago from web
W00t! @LiveTwitting is following me just in time for @scales and @mtippet’s panel! about 7 hours ago from web
Comment that the CBC is undergoing a serious shift to the right. Campbell suggests that it is a fear of funding cuts. #mdd
Wait a moment here…flash of insight and opportunity. @bmann I’ll ping you. about 7 hours ago from web
Would it help to centralize independent media into something like an advertising consortium? #mdd about 7 hours ago from web
Independent media are little launching pads. The 100 mile diet came from the #thetyee first then spread. about 7 hours ago from web
Good feedback for Pete on the article. #thevancouverobserver and #thegeorgiastraight interested in info. about 7 hours ago from web
Pete’s question is how to get a particular niche/health issue in the news? Charlie Smith: Find the people who have a connection-niche. #mdd about 7 hours ago from web
Pete Quily at the mic. Pointing out that CanWest is SEO clueless. Hmm. #mdd about 7 hours ago from web
Richardson: Does Canada really have free speech? #mdd about 7 hours ago from web
Constructive criticism is to make sure there a hook. Something new to write about. Not that the MSM isn’t blocking them, but needs new #mdd about 7 hours ago from web
Why hasn’t the suit against a parody of the Vancouver Sun been covered by the MSM? #mdd about 7 hours ago from web
There are no exceptions in Canadian copyright laws for parody and satire? WTF! #mdd about 7 hours ago from web
Now I think the questions will begin. Any questions for the fighting the media behemoth? #mdd about 7 hours ago from web
Solomon: Be the media, be that change #mdd about 7 hours ago from web
And @mtippet is in the house with video! #mdd about 7 hours ago from web
@RobCottingham oh yes, that too… about 7 hours ago from web in reply to RobCottingham
Solomon: What happens when you bring Canadians together. When our values come together. What happens? #mdd about 7 hours ago from web
Linda Richardson: empowering yourself to tell your story #mdd. about 8 hours ago from web
Hmm #TheVancouverObserver tech section is rather empty http://www.thevancouverobse… Hmm. #mdd about 8 hours ago from web
@RobCottingham maybe so, but are embedded journos giving the whole story? about 8 hours ago from web in reply to RobCottingham
Solomon: when challenging the Sun about a suspicious editorial-very similar to hers-threatened with lawsuit. Plus never write for CanWest about 8 hours ago from web
Really odd to hear a Southern accent in Vancouver. Just sayin’. #mdd about 8 hours ago from web
Linda Solomon "Want to tell you up front, I’m American". Canadian in training, must apologize on behalf of all Americans. [me too] #mdd about 8 hours ago from web
Campbell: Support the Independent media to broaden perspective. #mdd about 8 hours ago from web
Campbell Cultivate an area of expertise, be flexible, be able to write about varied topics Writing human story to circumvent censorship #mdd about 8 hours ago from web
Campbell: Journalism students you have to take risks, don’t expect a lot of money-rates haven’t changed much since 70s. #mdd about 8 hours ago from web
@scales has arrived! about 8 hours ago from web in reply to scales
Campbell: Shrinking budgets are reducing the investigative journalism. No money for travel and time spent. about 8 hours ago from web
Campbell: Ask yourself when you watch the news. Was this story brought to you by PR companies? Press releases, press conferences. #mdd about 8 hours ago from web
Questions for this media domination panel at #mdd will come later. Questions for the panel? @ or DM me. about 8 hours ago from web
Deborah Campbell’s focus is Iraq and how the media is controlled – manipulated. about 8 hours ago from web
Really, really wish I could use @livetwittering for this. Would give a one page synopsis. Sigh. about 8 hours ago from web
David Beers pushed the use of Web 2.0 news to make Google see them as important sources. about 8 hours ago from web
Deborah Campbell is up now. about 8 hours ago from web
Beers: The demise of CanWest is troubling. What would fill the void? #mdd about 8 hours ago from web
Van indie news heavy weights all here #thetyee #georgiastraight #thevancouverobserver Deborah Campbell & Sylvia Richardson. about 8 hours ago from web
David Beers on Net Neutrality: a tiered non-neutral net could mean #thetyee & #georgiastraight needing to pay more to match #canwest about 8 hours ago from web
@pmharper thought arts funding would be a wedge issue. Policy=fail. about 8 hours ago from web in reply to pmharper
David Beers of #thetyee is speaking atm. canwest global as analogue of econ collapse. Not sustainable biz model about 8 hours ago from web
Whew remembered my VPL PIN! Let the live tweeting of #mdd begin! about 8 hours ago from web
Next up was another great panel but this time I was able to use LiveTwitting to cover it which means that now the tweets are in the order you’d expect, start at the top, finish at the bottom.
The panel was a nice compliment to the one preceding…
The Battle for New Media and Open Communication
We stand at a crossroads in the history of communications technology, a moment when traditional media are in disarray, and a new form of communications and organizing — more grassroots and decentralized — is on the rise. The Internet is upsetting conventional wisdom about "mass media" and changing media power in ways never before imagined. But change also raises new threats. Will an open Internet succumb to the same companies that control traditional media? The new challenge for us is to organize around and develop new sets of policies, projects, and tools that will finally give us an advantage in the decades-long struggle against the gatekeepers.
Panelists will discuss the fight for an open Internet, prospects for online/social media, and future challenges.
Panel Chair: Kate Milberry – Media and Technology Commentator
@mtippet is at the mic. Free market research-asking who’s heard of @nowpublic. edit • delete Technological, cultural, and economic forces aligned help. CanWest has lost $3.5 billion in market cap this year. #mdd edit • delete MSM doesn’t have the money they used to. Not selling, craigslist, development ads … all tanking. edit • delete CanWest might be the largest media presence in Canada, but puny online. edit • delete The news media was in trouble a month ago, right now they are in REAL trouble. Ad revenue has dropped off the table edit • delete "You won’t recognize the media landscape in three years" Michael Tippet edit • delete Scales still "super editor" and "unofficial" China desk editor on NowPublic edit • delete Streets of Torino, they couldn’t talk about the Olympics, IOC shut them down. Hmm. Guess you have to pay to cover, eh? Became cultural show edit • delete @greggscott do you think the contributors need more oversight? edit • delete I’ve heard that CreativeCommons protection isn’t worth a hill of beans. True? My pics are essentially non-comm, share and share alike. edit • delete Leslie Ragan Shade on telecom policy. Maybe touch on net neutrality? edit • delete Telecom policy is driven by markets and econ. But there should be more independent forces to help. Proceed to allow hands-off policy. edit • delete Describing Net neutrality in s few words that is a challenge for any speaker! Prof. Shade did a good job. Fast lane and slow lane on the Net edit • delete Canada lacks any policy on national broadband strategy. Ouch! edit • delete Jeff Davis talking about Community Wireless. I have one of them and need to hook it up here in Van. edit • delete @greggscott I think there are certainly plans in the works to do that. But how would an editor balance the ethos that exists now w/in NP? edit • delete FreeTheNet.ca is the local Vancouver group doing this. I can see how the current providers would have a HUGE prob. with it. edit • delete Municipal wireless is still a dream in Vancouver. FreeTheNet is now Vancouver Open Network Initiative Cooperative (VONIC). edit • delete Although I can share my net access for free, the infrastructure is still owned for profit. Another key part of net neutrality. edit • delete Is there a way for communities to own their access to the Net instead of the telcos? That would be something I’d invest in. edit • delete Okay question time here…Questions? Love to be able to say "A question from the Twitterverse.." edit • delete QA: Question & Answer edit First question speaks to @greggscott’s point about how does/can NowPublic moderate? Ans: There is some, but it is a huge volume. edit • delete Is self regulation enough on NowPublic? Is the user level system working? Self correcting news. Faster than the MSM? edit • delete Q: Why aren’t there web conferencing tool? Scales: The client tools are the issue. The questioner also slammed #drupal Web conferencing=hard edit • delete Man this questioner is really going on a rant. Step away from the mic. edit • delete Comment-question from public health nurse to reach out to marginalized groups. So how to reach VONIC? Could be a great public health resourc edit • delete The revolution starts a home. Is enlightened self-interest enough to help? edit • delete Q: does citizen journalism devalue journalism as a career? A: Michael hates term "citizen journalism" like ‘citizen dentist’ edit • delete A truly free market is important. Telcos are monopolies regulating themselves. Net neutrality again is so important to us. #mdd edit • delete Explaining the freethenet.ca wireless mesh. Oy, need a whiteboard here #mdd edit • delete Q: Open source software…really catching on? A: Open source is still a wee geeky for most. #RCS uses OS because it is flexible #mdd edit • delete Open source is gaining strength, but not there yet. #mdd edit • delete Kate Milberry makes the key point is that this is all about sharing. Your net connection or news or software. #mdd edit • delete non net neutrality analogy: If Ford owned the highways and limited how was a Chrysler could drive on it. #mdd edit • delete That’s a wrap folks. edit • delete
Very thought provoking stuff. I couldn’t stay for the ending keynote on net neutrality, which was a pity, so I hope someone else covered it.
As for the rest of the pics, here is the Flickr slideshow:
The pictures were taken with a Nikon D300 using an 85mm f/1.8 at ISO 320 –1/3 EV and 70-200mm f/2.8 ISO 500 –1/3 EV.
Over the weekend I went to Seattle for a little shopping and while Sheila was browsing bead stores (she makes amazing jewelry), I took pictures around the stores. At our last stop I was playing with small apertures for some landscapes (f/16 to be exact). I wasn’t really getting what I was looking for so after shooting a few other things, I decided to take a picture of an interesting light pole on the street and got this:
Well “wow” was the next thing out of my mouth.
I have been playing with motion blurs and trying to do them in full manual mode and having a tough time with the exposure settings. This was in aperture priority and well I was amazed at the results.
Yes, if I had taken a class, read more, asked around more I would probably have learned this sooner, but I didn’t I discovered it by accident. I think discovering things by accident is way more fun, even more satisfying than just being told how to do it. Now I have more insight into how to compose and take pictures. I understand a little more about the balance of ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. Now I’m ready to experiment more.
Here is a slide show of the whole motion blurred set from that street:
Tomorrow is BlogActionDay and I intend on doing a photo essay on the subject of poverty. I’m not going to wander to the Downtown Eastside either, I’m going to look for poverty in the places where you wouldn’t expect it.
Today we had the October edition photowalk around Vancouver with the VanDigiCam group. We started around Terminal and Main and then meandered around until we found ourselves at the Cambie St. Bridge.
What a fantastic night for a photowalk. The light was just amazing and the air crisp and cool.
Right now I’m still exhausted from the walk to really get into all the stuff I learned, but I did decide to play around with Lightroom to get some HDR (high dynamic range) effects and other colour effects.
I wasn’t going for reality as much as, wow, that shows something different. Here’s the slideshow from my Flickr set:
I think you will excuse me a little me a bragging about the latest issue of FeedFront—Issue 3 : FeedFront—because the cover picture is one of my pictures from Affiliate Summit East from this past August. Well, that one and about a dozen other pictures I took from the conference scattered throughout the issue as well. Yes, Shawn and Missy hired me to take pictures for the conference, but it is one thing for the pictures to be good enough for online/Flickr, a whole other thing to be published.
This makes two covers and at least one picture in every issue of FeedFront thus far. Hmm, Issue 4 might be a tough one…
There is my bit of bragging for the day. I’ll go back to being just Tris now.
Like all art forms, photography is a life-long pursuit. Of course, we all “learned” how to take pictures in a few minutes—especially with today’s point-n-shoot cameras—but for those of us who strive to go beyond the basic snapshot, it takes work. Work and a ton practice, patience, and humility. The practice part is pretty easy. Take lots of pictures. Experiment. Emulate pics that you like and see if you can do the same thing. Humility?
Yes. I don’t think there is a photographer worth his/her salt who can’t learn something new. For me learning how to use white cards/gray cards for setting white balance (including that blacktop is a great sub for a gray card in a pinch) and using bracketing better in my shots. Yes, I’ve been taking pics for a long time, but I know that every time I go out to shoot I learn something and get just a little better.
All that said, bracketing, playing with settings, gray cards, I do love my auto-settings.
First off, I pretty much stick to aperture priority mode. I like wide-open apertures (usually f/1.8-2.2), especially with my prime lenses (50mm f/1.8 and 85mm f/1.8) for the tight depth of field and clarity. I guess that’s my “style”. Regardless, this means that shutter speed is up to the camera.
I don’t stop there though, I’ve learned that auto-ISO is really handy. Even on my short walk going from sun to cloudy to shade for the best results I’d have to tweak my ISO often. With auto-ISO I pick a good ISO for the walk in general, then let it float. Yeah I know that if I picked and ISO I’d have more control, but I check after a series of pics what ISO the camera picked so I can see if I like it and want to shoot again.
I also I stick to auto white balance instead of flipping around to different settings. Both the D80 and D300 have pretty decent auto WB and because I shoot in RAW/NEF I don’t really have to worry about it. I always look at each pic and adjust the tone, white balance, and contrast (I love Lightroom’s “strong contrast” preset), so I get a chance to tweak a bit. Of course if I’m lucky enough to have blacktop in the pic, then my WB is just a click away (another great feature of the digital darkroom, IMHO).
There is something to be said for setting everything by hand, and I do this sometimes, but the freedom of letting the camera do some of the work so I can just focus on composition and practice is freeing.
Of course I’m not not always happy with the results, and that’s when I tweak more for another shot.
Practice, experiment, practice, learn.
And one more tip: read the manual. As obtuse as it can be, sometimes you learn a great new feature or two.
I’ve been taking pics for about 30 yrs (yes I love saying that, because it reminds me of taking pics of my grandmother’s birthday party) and moved up into the world of DSLRs a year ago (just before BlogWorldExpo 2007 in fact) from a nice Canon point and shoot. This week I really stepped it up to Nikon D300 (I’ve been using a D80 for the past year which is also an excellent camera and I highly recommend it) and well I have a new lens that, well, let’s say cannon is a apt description of it.
My friend Aaron recently stepped into the world of DSLRs and blogged about his thoughts on how to do it right:
I take my camera everywhere I go now. Out of every 100 photos, I toss 90. I insist on using pure manual settings, because there’s no better way, in my mind, to learn than to trial and error it. When I say manual, I mean manual. I manually focus. I usually keep my ISO around 200, but I can change that. Shutter and aperture settings are all adjusted on every shot.
Recently, I’ve had a number of people mention that they plan to buy their first DSLR camera. Some of these usually follow this up by mentioning really high-end cameras like the Canon 5D or the Nikon D700 as cameras they want.
My response is always the same… Why?
As rookie photographers, they don’t know why. They just know it’s better. Which is true, but that’s not the point.
Here’s what rookie photographers need to focus on when picking up a brand new DSLR camera. Source: Buying Digital SLR Cameras
I think he’s mostly right. Here’s how I’ve been teaching my kids (and my daughter is a gifted photographer even at the young age of 11), play with Auto first. Get a feel for how to frame things. See what happens when you take pictures under different conditions.
After Auto, I like Program. You have more control, but the camera still does a heck of a lot of the work for you. This is when you get to play a bit, see what happens when you tweak this or that.
After years of using various auto settings, I switched to Program in the months before my jump to the D80 (encouraged by Tim Bray and Derek Miller). Wow. It made a huge difference, even with a point an shoot.
When I got the D80, I played in Program for a while before switching to Aperture priority (where I think you can have the most fun).
I shoot in Aperture priority most of the time. I do switch to manual for some shots, especially when in low light and trying different new techniques.
Aaron is right, you do need to understand light and framing before really investing in gear. No, I can’t always explain how I get a shot (honestly some are just blind luck, getting a look or movement for example). Kris Krug gave me great tips (read instruction) today, which reminded me we all have a lot to learn from each other and that I really do need to brush up on my fundamentals.
Notice I attacked the second part of the question first? Yeah that was on purpose, because the real answer is that the two are tied together.
You learn a DSLR before you have one. Meaning, figure out what you can do with what you have. Point and shoots are great cameras. Nothing wrong with them. I keep mine around for fast and easy shots. It’s my “spare”.
I didn’t upgrade really until I knew that I wanted to have the flexibility that a DSLR provides. I didn’t move up to the D300 until I a) wanted to be serious about going pro and b) knew that I needed the power it came with.
DLSRs are fun, so much fun. Try one. Yes, I’ll probably bring both bodies, all my lenses, tripod, and such to BarCamp/PhotoCamp this weekend. See what you can do. Then see how much the they cost. Then see how much gear costs. I’ve bought three lenses, filters, three bags, flash, gray cards, photo box … yeah it adds up.
After having such a blast a Affiliate Summit East this summer as their official photographer, I’m putting it out there that I’m available for hire to cover your conference as well.
Of course there are always people taking pictures at events, but this is what you get when I’m on task for you:
Complete coverage of the event start to finish
All speakers, sessions, and panels (I’m not there to listen, I’m there to shoot for you)
Pictures of the parties, breakout sessions, and candid pictures around the conference
Promotion of the event (through pictures) on Twitter, etc.
Guaranteed minimum number of usable photos
Headshots of organizers and staff for social media avatars
Pictures of all booths and exhibits on the show floor
Retouching pictures before delivery
DVD of RAW and high-resolution files suitable for publication
Telling the story of your event or conference in photos, photos that you can use and have publication rights to this is what I provide for you.
While I will certainly enjoy myself while at the conference, I’m there for you. My goal is to capture the moments of your event or conference to show the rest of the world what they missed and give attendees memories captured to enjoy later. I want to make sure I’ve captured what you think will be important, and a few things that you might have missed.
While conferences are covered almost continuously in pictures and video by attendees, they aren’t there to capture everything. Attendees might share their pictures with you, but there is no guarantee that you’ll be able to use the pictures in promotional materials or publications. When you have a dedicated photographer, you don’t have to worry about it. The pictures are being taken, and they are yours.
I am available for events ranging from partial day events (morning or evening) to multi-day conferences.
If you are interested in hiring me for your event, contact me and we can start the ball rolling. Email me at tris.hussey [at] gmail [dot] com for more information.
Since I’m going to Beantown, I’ll be bringing back a few goodies that just aren’t available here. Rochelle has asked for Boston Baked Beans candy, I’ll be picking up some marshmallow Fluff and some Boston Brown Bread. Which means that on Aug 23rd I should have people over for a traditional New England Saturday dinner: hot dogs, baked beans, and brown bread.
BTW the brown bread I’m talking about is dark and full of molasses, and baked in the can!
On the photography front, I’m thinking about getting an 85mm f/1.8 lens to give my pics for the event a little more punch. Might rent a bigger zoom too, but then we’re getting into carrying a lot of gear.
Regardless it should be fun to be back North. After the event I’m going to visit my mom and see my kids up in Maine for a little bit, then back home here to Vancouver (which still sounds strange).
As photographers we’ve all had the situation where someone has asked us why we’re taking pictures and/or asked us to stop. While taking photographs in public is a right in the US and Canada, it’s a good idea to know your rights, the rules, and a few tips.
I’ve been challenged a few times and have been able to deal with the situations with body, camera, and images intact (my media pass from an Apple event helps…it says MEDIA on it). But the question is, when do I have the right to take pictures and when don’t I? When do I have the right to but it might not be a good idea?
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. Take the advice here for what it is, advice. For specific legal questions or situations you should consult legal counsel.
Myself, one of the rules I follow is not to take pictures of kids unless I ask the parents first. Meaning, a specific picture of that child. Sometimes kids are in the background when I’m taking pictures in the park of my own kids and if asked I would delete pictures if a parent asked. I’m also very careful not to include extraneous youngsters in my shots though. Also, when I take a picture of someone, I generally will show them the picture and give them my card in case they’d like a copy.
From all the advice and rights I’ve read the one thing that I keep reading is to keep your cool, don’t give in, don’t give up your camera, and call the police if you need to.
But most of all, it is your right to take pictures…
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A Copyright information has been added to the setup menu. When Copyright information is enabled, the copyright symbol ( © ) is shown in the shooting info display. 
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