The abbreviated version for those in a hurry: in two weeks I’ll be diverting my attention from prophotolife to my photo studio and new photo a day 2009 blog (I hope to see you there). This conclusion has come after countless hours of deliberation and, believe me, it hasn‘t been easy. For the “fuller” story, read on…
A few things have amazed me since starting prophotolife almost a year ago:
1. The unbelievable reception from readers. We’ve jumped around from topic to topic, sharing random thoughts, and there’s always been someone there …

This is an eclectic selection of links for around the net. Without further ado:
Photo Instruction Resource
I’ve been a fan of professional photographer Will Crockett and the photo instruction on ShootSmarter.com for years now. The free content (and there’s a lot of it) is accessed by subscribing to the weekly Shoot Smarter newsletter. Once you’ve signed up you can access the wide variety of useful content, ranging from using a light meter on studio portraits to documenting the working of a shot. They also have instructional DVDs and other educational materials …

I don’t spend a lot of time looking in the rear view mirror but this time of year presents a good opportunity to reflect. Whether it’s the end of the calendar year or the free time created by the holidays, this is the time I sit and ponder what’s been learned this past year. I’d like to touch on some of the things witnessed and overhead in 2008, including our commercial photography business (Daylight Photo), photojournalism, video, camera gear and wedding / portrait photography.

Commercial Photography
As you may know, commercial photography …

A few months back some friends and I did a test shoot, recreating a vintage Hollywood portrait. While mentioning some specifics from the shoot I’d also like to share a few general thoughts about approaching a test shot like this. Every photographer has their own way of doing things but here are a few things that have worked well for me.

Collaboration
It all starts with an idea and grows from there. I had a new beauty dish to test out and my friend Kelly (a talented photographer and stylist) and …

About the photo at left: every photographer / studio has their own way of doing certain things, little tricks that help their particular workflow. At our studio we sometimes have multiple photographers working out of multiple camera bags so things like media cards can end up floating around loosely. A couple years ago we realized that the slots in a 35mm slide protector page fit our compact flash cards perfectly. Ever since then there’s been a slide page taped to the side of our camera cabinet, providing a perfect home …

A few years ago I spent some time racing vintage motorcycles. It was a great flashback to my youth, working on and riding a vintage 1974 Suzuki motocross bike. Motorcycles (and Steelers football) were the common ground my dad and I shared so it brought back wonderful memories, working in the garage with the same tools we used way back then.
I’ll hang on to those tools forever but the motorcycles have come and gone. After racing and refining that Suzuki for two seasons, getting it perfectly dialed in, I realized …

For quite a while I’ve been planning on shooting more personal work. No specific plans, I’ve just felt that I need to get out and shoot with a camera more, just for fun. That’s why we all got started in photography, isn’t it? The joy of taking photographs. Now, with the internet, there’s also the joy of sharing our passion through posting images and sharing online discussion.
Let me go ahead and give the punch line to today’s post: I’m starting a new photo a day blog in 2009. The goal …

It’s recognized that for every action there‘s an equal and opposite reaction. As the world of online publishing expands, the traditional world of print publishing (newspaper and magazine) appears to be contracting. While I enjoy the new technologies, it’s sometimes been hard for this traditionalist to watch as newspapers and magazines struggle. Until recently it’s seemed like the passing of print publications would cause a terrible void…but I’m beginning to accept that we’ll all make it through, regardless.

I think we’re just starting to scratch the surface of the many …

Before beginning to type this (is it still called typing?) I took a look back at the comments and some emails received after last week’s post on image rights. The plan for today was to talk about a few general pricing scenarios but I see now (and understand) that more than a few readers may have been “left at the station”. I think it would be valuable to back up a bit and discuss pricing and the value of photography in a broader sense. Without an underlying understanding of …

Try as we might, it’s not always possible to capture what’s needed in a single photograph. Though I prefer to do as much as possible in the camera, digital tools now allow us to create most anything. The trick is pulling the elements together to make a quality photo and not a “Frankenshot”. Luckily, my business partner (Bob) is an expert Photoshop user and enjoys a good challenge.
Shown here is an example of when we rely heavily on retouching and I thought you might be interested in the back …