She’s a winner!

Over at the DPS forums, they set up “weekly” assignments… I try to do them when I remember. The last assignment was From the Hip. So I submitted on of my “Street TtV” shots…

I was pleasantly surprised when I started receiving congratulatory comments on the image above. From the “This Week in DPS” blog post:

We finished the From the Hip assignment this week, and we weren’t at all disappointed with the interesting pictures that people managed to get without actually looking through the viewfinder! Our winner this week was Haeretik for his picture taken through the viewfinder of an old camera. According to him, “Shot this with my XT pointed down through my TtV contraption held by my waist…”.

Many thanks for the selection!

Tags: assignment, digital photography school, DPS, Street Photography, street ttv, through the viewfinder, ttv

5 Quick Tips to Keep You Motivated

Short little piece over at the Digital Photography School blog… as photographers we all get into funks or feel unmotivated from time to time… here’s 5 quick tips to keep you motivated!

1. Go for a walk
2. 5 in a half (take 5 photos in half a mile or kilometre)
3. Check past DPS articles
4. Be random on Flickr
5. Fill in the blank - what do you do?

As for number 5, I find that playing with other peoples photos helps get things cracking again. Below is a photo that I modified for the Stop, Collaborate and Listen. group on Flickr.

Check out the original 5 Quick Tips to Keep You Motivated post over at DPS.

Tags: bca, bigcrustyape, collaborate and listen, digital photography school, DPS, motivation, Portrait, scl, stop, Tips

How to Geotag Images

Over on the Digital Photography School blog, there’s a new article about Geotagging images.

In this post Colin Spencer gives us a good introduction to how to Geotag images. You can see some of Colin’s images here and learn more about him at the conclusion of this article.

When I first started using flickr, I mapped some of the images I’d taken. The main issue I had with this was that my ONLINE version of a photo was tagged, my OFFLINE version wasn’t. I started geotagging my offline images a few months ago, unfortunately I don’t have a GPS device to automatically do it, but I found a cool freeware program called GeoSetter that does a wonderful job!

Check out How to Geotag Images over at DPS, and check out my geotagged photos on Flickr!

Tags: colin sepncer, digital photography school, DPS, flickr, geo tagging, geosetter, geotag, map, mapping

60 Photography Links You Can’t Live Without

Great list of photography links - help sites, blogs, etc. I recognize a few, nice to see Digital Photography School and Thomas Hawk getting props, going to have to check out a few others, already snagged the flickrRSS Wordpress plugin for the site.

Be sure to check out all 60 Photography Links You Can’t Live Without over at CameraPorn!

Tags: cameraporn, digital photography school, DPS, flickrrss, links, plugin, thomas hawk, wordpress

12 Ways To Never Miss A Photo Opportunity

Great article over at the Digital Photography School blog (as always) by San Francisco based photographer Jim M. Goldstein. Some good tips!

1. Have a camera bag that enables you to easily and quickly access your camera
2. Be sure to have not just (1) one fully charged battery but (2) two
3. Be sure to clean the front and rear elements of your lens to minimize spots (optionally cleaning your camera sensor)
4. Before heading out make sure you have CF cards in your camera that are empty or have lots of free space
5. Pre-set your camera settings for the type of subject you’re aiming to photograph
6. If you have a camera with image stabilization or vibration reduction set your lens appropriately for the subject
7. Have needed filters on your lens or take filters off your lens as necessary before heading out
8. It may sound obvious but take off your lens cap
9. Head out with a notion of what you’d like to photograph and how, but always keep your eyes open for new subjects and the unexpected
10. Have your camera on and your hand on your camera bag
11. Stay focused
12. Don’t chimp

Be sure to check out the rest of the article 12 Ways To Never Miss A Photo Opportunity over at the DPS blog for fuller explanations of these quick points.

Tags: digital photography school, DPS, jim m. goldstein, Tips

DPS Assignment : Wide Open

Over at the Digital Photography School Forums they have a new assignment every couple of weeks. The latest assignment is “Wide Open”.

This weeks assignment is “wide open”. This may have a few people asking what exactly shooting wide open is. Basically it refers to the size of the opening in your lens to let light pass through. The smaller the f-stop the larger the opening. For example, if your lens is the standard 18-55mm kit lens it probably has options of f3.5 to f5.6. The f3.5 is a larger opening than the f5.6. So for this assignment we are trying for smaller numbers to have a wider opening.

A great intro for this is in the blog: http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/aperture/

This was my submission, shot with my 50mm lens at f/1.8.

Tags: 50mm, aperture, assignment, cemetery, digital photography school, DPS, grave

Digital Photography School: Why, What, and How to Blog series

Darren Rowe over at Digital Photography School just wrapped up a three part series on blogging. There’s some really good information and tips in the series, written by Natalie Norton.

Part 1: Why You Should Consider Setting Up a Blog.

1. It’ll turn up the heat
2. Track your progress
3. Feedback
4. Marketing
5. Publicity
6. Relationship
7. Announcements
8. Networking
9. Testimonials
10. It’s Plain ol’ Fun

Part 2: Building Your Blog: 10 things to consider when building your rockin’ photoblog.

1. Keep it fresh
2. Share the love
3. R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
4. K.I.R., Keep it real
5. Keep it simple
6. LARGER than life
7. Piracy is better than obscurity
8. For the love of children everywhere, chill
9. Know your numbers

And Part 3 wraps it up with How to Find the Blog Service that’s Right for Your Photoblog.

I recently asked 8 successful photographers 4 simple questions. Their broad range of answers will rock you to the moon and back if you’re serious about starting your own photoblog, so this week. . . we’re gonna learn from some friends of mine. I hope you enjoy.

Looks like i have my work cut out for me!

Tags: blog, blogging, digital photography school, DPS, natalie norton

Good Samaritan…

Just wanted to say thanks to Magda, a friend of Mike’s. Mike was with me when I accidentally dropped my Canon Digital Rebel XTi/400D about a week ago. His friend Magda offered up her backup Canon Digital Rebel XT/350D as a loaner while mine was in the shop. Mucho gracias, I really can’t thank her enough!

My buddy Sime used the above image on a DPS poll pondering insurance… in my case, this was covered under my house insurance - I have an accidental damage rider on my policy - but with a $250 deductible, it wouldn’t have been worth it in this case…

Tags: 350d, 400d, broken camera, canon digital rebel xti, digital photography school, DPS, magda, mike, xt, xti