This is mind blowing! The Ultimate Digital Photography Bundle is probably the best photography bundle of training products I have seen. This summer’s bundle includes three editions – Beginner, Intermediate and Business and contains a varied collection of high quality ebooks, video training and software, from world class instructors.
Like most photographers, I plan my photo shoots whenever it suits me or whenever I must, like an assignment. The rest of the time that big camera bag is tucked away.
I have heard over and over during my career, that successful photographers always have a camera with them and I sure remember many times I wished I had my camera with me. The thought of always having my dslr with me did not sit well in my mind as I did not always want a camera slung over my shoulder except during a photo outing.
A intentional photographic foray, with the gear, is a conscious effort to go hunt for visual prey. For me it is intensive effort to dig deep and go far with my imagination and imagery. I leave everything behind and immerse myself in a world where I tune out most thoughts and focus specifically on what is around me. This is why I, and probably you, shoot. It’s like another magical world.
I am not always able to put in that effort during normal days/weeks due to ‘life’. Eventually I reach a point where I obsess over my need to ‘go shoot’ and so I do. But in-between those shoots when I am out and about without my gear, in the outdoors or wherever, I have that smartphone to satisfy the need to create even one image.
Not that my smartphone is anywhere close to being a replacement for my dslr, but I can shoot when I see a worthy subject no matter where I am. In fact, I am a ‘happy snappin’ addict now. I am thrilled with the simplicity of just snappin’ without all the setup of my gear and the change to find and capture is just as exciting as it is with my dslr in the field.
So this photo is one such image captured when we walked across into Mexico a few months ago. These colorful chairs in an outdoor cafe made a great design with a mix of colors and it has the impact I like in my photos. I zoomed with the iPhone and then processed it with the Mix app.
I submitted it to my stock agencies smartphone image library as well but it was rejected due to no photo release. Hmmm? 🙂
Captured on a desert hike in March, this was shot with my iPhone in the middle of the day. I was really attracted to the varied color in the rock. There are many places on the planet with colorful rock like this, and I think they are very photogenic and make great photos. This was captured in Western Arizona.
My approach is all about color and not about great light because it is not that great, rather composing based on those lines and cracks and the colors.
I opened in in Photoshop and added some contrast. While the sun was out and there was lots of lighting contrast, the light was flat and that is the reason I punched up contrast slightly. Then because it is all about color, I added a small amount of saturation to make the colors pop some more.
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If you are in the business of marketing your photography, then you no doubt are always on the lookout for great images that are marketable. What makes a marketable image? One that is strong on concept! So why would this be marketable? Because it exemplifies the concept of Drought, Lack of Water or Water Shortage, and more.
I was really surprised to stumble on this and it is one of the best examples I have come across for good cracked mud. In fact it might be the best example of cracked mud I have captured and I say this due to how large the cracks were and how deep they were in the mud. But better yet, you may be surprised where I found this.
It’s not in the middle of some desert wash or a slot canyon in Utah, but instead a storm water collection ‘system’ in Yuma, Arizona. I was out for a long hike/walk with my wife and dog, following a bike/walking path when I happened to look inside this water collection basin.
It is about the size of a football field and completely enclosed to prevent access. When the monsoon rains come the flowing water collects in here and slowly dissipates, and I guess that keeps the water from flooding streets and neighborhoods. I am guessing after years of collecting that water it has accumulated about 1 foot of silt or mud so when the rains stop, it dries out and created this.
I had my iPhone (as always) and stuck my hand and phone through metal fence and began going crazy clicking away and this is one of many results. I captured various different perspectives that all used the lines flowing in various directions. I will definitely be sending this to my stock photo agent.
So the lesson is to always have a camera with you no matter what. You may just discover something unique and marketable.
If you want to learn more about selling photography, check out my online class: How to Be a Professional Outdoor and Nature Photographer
The colors of Mexico always amaze me as they are pretty much everywhere. Saturday we walked into Los Algadones, MX for the Gringos Go Home celebration. I should mention: that is not what it sounds like.
Yuma, AZ is the highest rated Snowbird destination during the North American winters and Los Algadones is right across the border from Winterhaven, CA, a few minutes from Yuma. So you can see the importance of Snowbirds to Los Algadones and their economy.
They local community is so appreciative of winter visitors they put on the Gringos Go Home party on Saturday where there was festive music, free beer, and free food. It was great!
Like other locations in Mexico, Los Algadones is quite colorful and perfect for my obsession with iPhone ‘Happy Snappin.’ As I wandered the streets I was not disappointed. That led me to this wall tucked in between street vendors.
I love these types discoveries and the photos I create of them. The vendor next to this mentioned that the wall was 30 years old and hand prints had been added over the years by school children. It is a great story, but the wall says it all to me.
This file is from my iPhone and I then used Adobe Photoshop Mix (the app) to add contrast (make the whites whiter and darks darker) and added some saturation and slight sharpening.
Viva Mexico!
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I just joined Stockimo which is an online agency for smartphone photography. I have learned to love ‘happy snappin’ with my iPhone for quite sometime.
I usually snap away where ever I am and then later open them in Photoshop and play around with the images, simply for fun. I am addicted to shooting on the fly like that.
Then Alamy launched Stockimo and it got me thinking that while I will continue having fun shooting, I might make some money. So I got busy.
The difference between Stockimo and traditional agencies is that you cannot upload regular stock images from your dslr, they can only be from a smartphone.
Knowing full well, that I cannot let any digital capture pass by unprocessed, I wondered how I would process the images, so I dug into the apps. There I found Mix by Camera360 and it is quite cool as well. Adobe Photoshop Mix is another app I am playing with.
I am just now uploading pics to Stockimo to see how it goes and if I make any money I will be sure and write another post stating as such. For now here are a few of my first experiments with Stockimo.
This is a lot of fun!
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Back light in nature and landscape photography is very effective lighting technique. When a subject is back lit the sun is in front of you or very close. I like to reference the Lighting Clock as example.
The camera is at 6 o’clock and the subject is in the middle of the clock. If the light is to either side, then it is at approximately 9 or 3 o’clock. I generally think of back light as anywhere between 10:30 and 1:30.
In this example from the Anza Borrego in CA, the sun is in that zone of 10-12 o’clock. What I love about this photo is that back lighting adds amazing definition to the cactus and especially the Chollas. It looks like fuzz. This approach works on many subjects, even ones that dont look so great side lit.
For processing I added a hint of contrast to make the shadows touch darker, a bit of saturation, and the sky went white which is common in back lit images due to haze and such. So I added a touch of blue back in. Then sharpened a hint as well.
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It is amazing what Mother Nature provides for our cameras. I looked at this scene and wondered what was happening on Earth to make all these colorful layers? The multitude of colors, i presume, means some specific mineral was ‘spewing’ all over for a while before another mineral came along. It’s fascinating! Any geologists out there?
When you think of creating great compositions, scenes like this dont make it hard. There is not only lines and diagonals adding to the composition, but the horizontal layers as well. There is contrast as well but it’s not lighting. Instead, I call it color contrast: a full range of colors both dark and light bring contrast to the scene. If it was converted to B&W it would have tonal contrast.
This is southern Utah due north of Page, AZ. Shot with a Canon 5D and 80-200mm lens
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It has been a few years (too many) since my last Grand Canyon rafting trip where I shot this image. It is Granite Rapid which is pretty ‘hefty’ as you can see here. I am standing on the bank of the river and shot this with a 200mm lens.
Most of our rafts and kaykers stop and watch each boat go through one at a time, for photos and safety. There is a sweep boat ‘eddied’ out below the rapid to pick up anyone should a raft flip in the rapid, also for safety reasons. This is one of many large and powerful rapids in the Grand Canyon.
When I do a trip like this I usually am limited with the amount of gear I can take so I pack my cameras and lenses in Pelican waterproof cases. I take one tripod and one light stand and put those in a small duffel bag. I have another Pelican with flashes, storage devices, cleanibng accessories, and more as well as batteries and lots of them.
Rafting the Grand canyon is a life changing event! If you have done it you know what I mean and if you have not, add it to the bucket list. You will be glad you did!
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I am excited to announce I will be teaching a 2 days Landscape Photography workshop August 15th and 16th at the Cascade Center of Photography in Bend, Oregon. The workshop is called Light on the Land and will include some classroom instruction and plenty of outdoor shooting in beautiful Central Oregon.
You can view the workshop here: http://www.ccophoto.com/light-on-the-land/
If you are interested dont wait long as these sell out quickly.
