White House Press Photographers, circa 1924 (Library of Congress Archives)
I must admit, it’s hard to concentrate on photography at the moment, given all that’s happening here in the U.S. financial markets. News on the bank failures abound, I won’t rehash them here, but it has us glued to the radio at Daylight Photo. Through every crisis of the last 25 or so years emerge memories of the different photo studios I’ve worked in and the respective radios that would bring us news and updates.
My love for news developed in the …

It’s Monday…where’s the original video? The plan was in place for shooting this weekend and a model all lined up. Then an old, forgotten back injury came to revisit on Saturday morning and it’s taken me off of my feet for the weekend. A visit to the chiropractor today should get everything back in place (literally) but it’s left me calling for backup to get through video Monday.
Everything happens for a reason and it’s given me time to cruise around the ‘net, looking at some interesting videos from other sources. …

* I mountain bike nearby at East Fork Lake when possible. A trip to the beach is always in order and so is picking up trash, doing my part to keep the beach clean. Last week I took along my point’n’shoot, making compositions of the trash and found objects. Photography can make a person do crazy things…
This week’s “around the ‘net” starts with a hearty thanks…to you, the reader. Prophotolife has never been just about technique, or just about equipment or just about the photo business. It’s a dialogue on …

Last week I introduced our standard location photography gear setup. We’ll be looking at different bags week by week and today it’s the heart of the business, the camera bag.
You won’t find the latest, trendiest equipment necessarily. This is what we’ve amassed over years in the business and what has produced a good return on investment for our commercial studio. We generally make equipment purchases at year end based on profitability and the guidance of our accountant.

Let’s take a look inside:

In the main compartment:

Cameras:
Canon 5D
Canon 20D (backup – it has …

Surrounded by nine computers, fifteen strobes and more light stands than you can shake a tripod at, I’ve been daydreaming. The dreams have been about what it would take to create a “bare minimum” photo business. Sometimes you grow a business and look around and one day the idea of paring things down sounds appealing.
Starting tomorrow we’ll be looking inside various bags in the Daylight Photo commercial photography location kit. Everything in those bags serves a purpose and is necessary for the work we do. But what if I were …

Wal*Mart advises us to “Save Money, Live Better”. As consumers we strive to save money but as sellers we need to sell at an amount fair to all. How much should you charge for your work? Okay, here’s the short version: I don’t really know. For the long version, read on…
Most every photographer that has been at it for awhile has been asked for a print of their work. Perhaps you’ve created a beautiful image that someone would like to frame and they want to pay you for it. Maybe …

“How do I shoot tethered to my computer with a digital SLR?” That is possibly the most oft-asked question here at prophotolife.com. In most every instructional video I’m watching a computer monitor to view the images as they’re shot so it only makes sense that we give the process a look.
If your photography allows it this is a great way to view a large histogram and to check critical sharpness of the photos enlarged to 100%. The files can be easily managed and the good ones immediately tagged as you …

I thought this post could use a random photo…
I’m behind on some news after taking last week off, most notably updates on two very fun online photo projects. Last week Udi at DIYPhotography.net announced part one of the winners of the Portrait Professional 8 Giveaway, judged from numerous portrait entries from around the globe. This week the winners of the portrait tips classification were rolled out and what a wonderful collection of portrait shooting ideas (15 in all). These tips are useful for portrait photographers of all skill levels.
Just a …

As we were packing for location photography this week I thought it might be interesting to show an overall of just what we take along on the average location photo shoot. This is our “medium” location kit, sometimes we pack less, sometimes we take the whole studio. Most of our location jobs (probably 75%) fall around this “medium” category.
It’s important to have everything we may need and then a backup for each item in case something goes down. It’s also nice to have the extra equipment in case we decide …

It‘s Wednesday already, a day when we usually talk business. A couple weeks ago I mentioned possibly “downsizing“ my photo studio, Daylight Photo. Since then I‘ve received some wonderful input on the subject. Faithful readers Jan Klier and Juan Bonilla have suggested the benefits of possibly renting out part of Daylight Photo to other photographers, either full-time or on a “time share” basis in order to cut expenses. This kind of system is working well for Jan, he is currently part of such an arrangement. Juan (another Cincinnati photographer) pointed …