Subscribers view basic photo montage technique video here. Try the full screen option on the video control bar.

Here’s something a little different for prophotolife, an eight minute video on basic photo montage technique. As you may know, I like to do most of my work during exposure and usually don’t spend a whole lot of time in post-production. Just a little knowledge can go a long way, though, when experimenting and having fun putting together simple compositions like the one in this video. Luckily, my business partner, Bob, is …

photo copyright 2008 Dave Wendt
What do you get by mixing equal amounts of DIY-crazy photographers and The Monster Garage? The Ansel Mt. Adams racer, of course (named after the great photographer, Ansel Adams, and Cincinnati’s historic Mt. Adams area). This is a just for fun, lighthearted look at a 1930’s view camera that’s been converted to a working soap box derby race car.

I’m fortunate to be a member of the Ohio Valley Chapter of the ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers), a diverse group of professional photographers from all …

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. …

“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 …

video episode 28
I’m often asked, “how do I calibrate my monitor”? What exactly is color management and what are the benefits? The implementation of a good color management system will help you get consistent results when viewing your photos on-screen and when printing them. While implementing color management isn’t critical for the hobbyist, it sure can be nice to make prints that look the image on your monitor.
I’ll be honest, color management was a difficult concept for me to grasp in the beginning. In this video I’d like to share …

This is the third and final video in the outdoor portrait series. We’ll take a little different approach this week, observing as a 15 minute family portrait shoot takes place. Rather than explaining technical details in this installment I thought it might be helpful to watch as I work with the subjects, getting to know them and helping them to be comfortable in front of the camera. After the jump below the video I’ll explain some of my thought process when photographing families and groups.
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Some further thoughts …

Quite a few of you were able to participate in Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photo Walk this past Saturday. For those who weren’t able to attend, I’d like to invite you to 90 seconds of candid video from Cincinnati, just in case you’d like to see just what went on in our little part of the world. Photographers, clicking shutters and laughter were everywhere. Over 50 photographers left Fountain Square at 10 a.m. and every single one met up at our lunch destination at the conclusion. Photographer Ryan Duglosz has even …

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The gallery of images may be found here.
Today’s video is a direct continuation of last week’s video episode 25, outdoor portraits #1. In this video we look a bit more at the approach to portraits and attention to details.

These images were shot wide open at f4 on the relatively affordable Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM Lens with the 5D. Shutter speed was around 1/80 of a sec at ISO 100 so a tripod was called in to duty.
White balance was set to daylight and I …

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For the next three weeks we’ll be looking at outdoor portraits. Hopefully this episode will help out if you’re interested in ideas on how to photograph a senior portrait. It’s pretty timely, too, since DIYPhotography.net is running their Portrait Professional 8 Giveaway at the same time. If you’re looking for portrait inspiration, check out all the entries so far in the DIYPhotography.net flickr pool.
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The day of video shooting was perfect in most all respects except for one challenge we hadn’t encountered before: swarms of deafening locusts! If …

As mentioned in last Friday’s post, I’m busy creating a handful of new videos for coming weeks so this is a rare Monday without a new prophotolife vid. But Monday deserves a video so here’s a good one from one of the masters: well known annual report photographer David Tejada. I really like his use of a strobe shooting through the diffused window, it allows David to set up overall lighting for the scene and then he’s free to shoot from various angles. It’s a real trick to create interesting, …