I’d mentioned trying to get in a couple more updates before winding down on prophotolife so I sure want to follow through. This post is split into two parts: today I’ll mention some of the more philosophical things I’m realizing from starting the photo a day 2009 project. Next week, in part two, I’ll share a bunch of the technical things I’ve learned from working with the new camera and website.
Since we all enjoy learning about photography it seems a natural to share what I’m learning from starting the photo …

President Lyndon B. Johnson
Votes for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election are being tallied as I write this. The past year feels like it’s been one long, non-stop political conversation and many of us are relieved to see it finally coming to a close. Though prophotolife isn’t a forum for politics, it seemed a natural to tie photography into the big event somehow. Rather than looking at what’s happening today or contemplating the future, I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at Presidents and photography.
In a few …

A couple weeks ago Brian Auer at Epic Edits Weblog mentioned a project he was putting together and I’ve been looking forward to it ever since, for a number of reasons. The short story is this: the project encourages readers to either buy or use an existing $50 film camera, then write a review on the camera and submit a roll of images for a chance to win a classic Diana+ camera and Ilford film. Brian will fill you in on all the details right here (I encourage you to …

Can a photographer find happiness switching from Apple’s Mac OS X to Windows Vista? This photographer is going to find out in a controlled experiment. Yes, at Daylight Photo we still have our eight Mac machines up and running and that’s not going to change, at least not in the short term. But when it came time to buy a laptop from which to run this blog, I decided to give a PC a try. I do have an aging PC desktop at home that runs Ubuntu Linux but my …

Definitive copyright info
I just watched a couple of very informative videos on Photoshop Insider: Scott Kelby’s exclusive interview with Attorney Ed Greenberg on copyright, model releases and shooting in public. Many of the questions posed by prophotolife readers regarding legal issues (can I photograph that building? do I need a model release? how do I protect copyright?) are answered here in Scott’s videos, all in easy to understand language. Mr. Greenberg starts with a funny (and very accurate) statement, “photographers insist, when they have a legal problem, on asking other …

Today I’d like to share a letter from a reader. Questions like this are always welcome and they give genuine purpose to what I hope to accomplish with prophotolife.com. This young man is the future of the profession…
Hi, my name is Matthew,
I’m 17 years old, and a Junior in High School.
I’ve been taking Graphic Editing and Graphic Design classes for a few years, and photography has caught my interest. I love cameras, I think they’re incredible. I started saving up for a Canon Rebel XTi, and I should have …

My friend Udi over at DIYPhotography.net has a great post on Alex Campagna’s DIY Spiderlight. If you are into DIY studio lighting this is a must-see. I had made a duplicate post on the Spiderlight but I consider DIYPhotography.net THE resource for DIY information collected from around the net, so I’d like to let Udi tell you the details…
I’m pulling out a bonus video to add another entry to today’s blog, to follow shortly (11:30 a.m. EST)

So why do you even need color management? Well, if you do product photography you need to reproduce your clients products accurately. If you photograph people you need nice skin tones. Even if your photos have random, crazy, vibrant, whacked out color then you need color management if you want your prints to look like they do on your monitor. Everyone can get great results once in awhile but the methodical photographer will get great results consistently and repeatedly.

A couple things were on my mind when it came time to …

Lighting: (1) White Lightning X1600 in Photoflex 293 Medium (24 x 32″)
softbox for main light, (1) X1600 background light with 40 degree grid

A great thing about the clamp lights used in the DIY videos is that they’re an inexpensive way to learn the principles of lighting. Plus they should last forever and I still use them without hesitation for tabletop shots. At some point, though, if you’re serious about photography you’ll begin to fully explore strobe lighting. The shoe-mounted flash for your camera is a great way to start. …

What does a custom logo design cost? With The Logo Company you’ll find high quality and surprisingly affordable logo design services.
An earlier prophotolife post discussed why you should design a custom logo for you and your photo business. Whether you have a full-time business or a part-time photo blog, a well designed logo conveys professionalism and sets you apart from the masses. I’m really happy with the prophotolife logo, which was designed by one of this site’s sponsors: The Logo Company. When I’m pleased with a product or service I …