iPhone as Mobile Portfolio

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I heard some one once say that if you are a photographer you need to buy a iPhone or a iTouch from Apple. This way, when you are out, or traveling, and run across someone asking what you shoot,  you can simply pop out your device and voila: instant portfolio.

Before I got an iPhone, I thought it sounded it cool, but how could a little screen be of much use? Well, that was before I saw the screen. It is great for showing off your pictures.

I just got some business cards printed up:

business card

I was walking around the office (computer programming day job) and handing them out. People were asking about the type of pictures I took, so I pulled out the iPhone. Nothing like instant ooh’s and aah’s. If someone wanted to see a certain type of picture, I had an album for that. Here is a recent shot:

iphone picture of emma

I find it really easy to get my latest images onto the iPhone. I am using Aperture, but iPhoto would work similar. I create a smart album that collects all the images of a certain type. Could be 5 stars, or tagged as portraits/seniors, etc. Then in iTunes, I select go to the photos page, and select to manually sync pictures. I then select the smart albums I created. Now whenever I update Aperture, it updates the smart albums, and every time I sync, iTunes puts the latest photos on my phone. Simple, instant, up to date, mobile portfolio.

20 Giants Of Off-Camera Photographic Lighting

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On Seshu’s website there is great list of 20 photographers that are masters of light, and who are willing to pass on the knowledge. These photographers offer worshops, DVD’s, blogs and books. I have seen many of their websites, and have lots of their workshops and materials on my wish list. You should check out this list and see who you don’t know.

Out at a Horse Farm

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 Sunset on the Farm 

Well, I swear that it is a horse farm. I didn’t really get any pictures of horses that I liked. Oh, well. I was trying to get pictures of the horses when I missed the only real color to the sky. This is all that was left when I finally turned around. Oops.

Once the sun was down we turned to playing around. First up was taking pictures of the moon. This turned out well. The clouds were moving, so they give a spooky / erie feel to the picture.

Erie Moon 

I need a farm house or something below it. Maybe I should try to combine the two shots that you see here. Well, after that we pulled out the speedlights. I first tried to light someone with hard light from both sides, and that did’t quite work. Next up, I had the voice of Hagrid in my head saying “You’re a wizzard Harry.” I was trying to go for the two balls of light in my hands look. I wish we were a little wider, as the light actually gets cut off at the edge of the picture.

Light Orbs

Eye-Fi for the iPhone

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bike ride picture taken with iPhone

Today, as most Saturdays are, was family day. We went for a bike ride to the park, and a picnic. I pulled Lily in the Burley, and Annie pulled Kate on a trail-a-bike. The only camera I had with me was my iPhone, so I decided to snap a few pictures. Now, how to get these pictures somewhere that someone else can see them. Email? I don’t like doing one at a time, and entering email addresses is a pain.

How about to a web site? My website. Well, if you have an eye-fi card for your camera, you can use their service with the iPhone. What the eye-fi service normally does is sends pictures from your camera through a special wi-fi memory card through your router to their site. From there they can send it back to your computer, or a web site, or both. I have a site using Gallery2 software that they support.

eye-fi-iphoneThe iPhone app works similar, but you don’t need a wireless card, you already have on in the iPhone. So, the images get sent to eye-fi’s servers, then on to my gallery. Here is the one from today

I think this is pretty cool. The interface is simple. The app displays pictures from your iPhone, and you pick the ones you want to send. You can even see other images that you sent to the service (history). The image you see here is how you select what images to upload.

Over 3G you don’t have the fastest speeds, and if your phone goes to sleep, then the transfer is interrupted, but it does a good job of resuming afterward.

I like that I don’t have to sync the phone, export from iPhoto, and then ftp the images. This is so much easier, and so much more immediate for my family scattered across the continent. The app is simple, and it works. If you have an eye-fi card for a camera, you should definitely try this app.

Just found the Hongkiat site

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I have been looking around for inspiration for a site redesign. I have a few things going on in my head for little touches and stuff, but I still don’t have a handle on the core colors I want to go with. I was searching google for “backgrounds”, “photoshop abstracts”, and other things when I stumbled upon www.hongkiat.com.

This is a pretty cool site. It has just about everything. Well, actually, a lot of the content is an agregation of other content, so they have stuff like 40 cool abstract and background photoshop tutorials,  60 useful photoshop actions, 41 great looking free wordpress themes, and so on. There is a lot of content collected here.

There is material here on photoshop, wordpress, icons, backgrounds, and more. A lot of is is more “design” and “photo-retouching” related, but it seems like I will spend some time here looking around.

Seattle In June

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It’s official, I am going to Seattle in June. The hotel picture shows a room with a great view of the space needle and the ocean. I bet I am in an inside room.

Some of you may be wondering why I am going on a vacation in the last month of my programming contract. You would be wise to wonder, but Annie is going for work, and I am going to tag along. I love the West Coast. I couldn’t pass it up.

I am planning a drive to Vancouver for a day too because I haven’t been there in many many years. What the heck I say. So, anyone have any ideas for photo oportunities? In Vancouver or Seattle? I have some ideas, but I am open to suggestions.

MN Strobist Meet Up

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This Sunday I went to a MN Strobist meet up event. The MN Strobist group is a flickr group that uses small (usually) flashes to light their pictures. This was the first meet up event that I have attended. This event was held at the Jackson Street Roundhouse. It’s a train museum, and I had no idea it was here. I definitely need to bring my kids back here. There are a ton of cars that you can walk through, and see what life on the train would have been like.¬† There are also a bunch of toy train tables to entertain kids if they get bored and you want to wander.

MN Strobist Meetup

Looked like a movie set!

The event was very interesting. I am not sure what I expected, but it was very loose. The location was organized, but once there you are on your own. You need your own equipment, your own vision, and the gumption to grab a model and start taking pictures.

I was a little overwhelmed. I have been using my single flash a little bit, but dropping into an unfamiliar location and coming up with a place to shoot and an idea in my head of what to do was difficult for me. I mostly wandered around and watched others. There are some very good shooters here. There are professional studio photographers, location photographers, and other amateurs here. I was one of the few rookies Sunday.

Michael Breeden on Train

In a sleeping berth.

It seems like a good group. Many people knew each other and formed up little groups right away. Like in most of these situations I don’t tend to jump right in. I am a little more reserved, but I did meet and talk to several people. I did set up a shoot with Jorge Rimblas, and globbed on to a shoot that Ben and Martin had set up. Martin helped me out quite a bit, so thanks! My pictures from that shoot didn’t turn out unfortunately. I really need to pay more attention to the expressions on the model faces, and be more prepared and willing to direct. The pictures of Michael here were from the setup that Jorge and I did.

Michael Breeden

Head shot for Michael

My pictures are definitely not up to what some of the others shot, but I really shouldn’t let that get me down. It seems like many of these people have been to a lot of these things and have quite a bit of experience setting up their equipment. I have a lot to learn, but there seems to be people there that will help me out, especially if I step up and ask.

I’ll be back.

Check out the MN Strobist group on flickr for more of the pictures from the day.

The Look

Available light shot taken while others were working.

Hot Shoe Diaries Review

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Hot Shoe Diaries by Joe McNallyI am finally finished reading my copy of the Hot Shoe Diaries by Joe McNally. If you want to check out what Joe had to say, here are links to a couple posts from his blog. But don’t forget to come back 🙂

Why did it take so long? Is it that dry? Far from it. It is an awsome book. Joe manages to work in quotes from several movies, including the Princess Bride. That was funny. I like his style of writeing. It might not be for everyone. Joe writes just like I imagine him talking, if he was talking to me. Just one photographer who has been around the block (or globe, really) to another photographer who wants to know more about this whole lighting thing. It feels very personal. You get to step into the shoes and life of someone who has taken shots with 47 Speedlights, or maybe it was 108. Not sure.

The book doesn’t really have seperate chapters per say. Some of the content is grouped into chapters, but the content is really one shoot. So it feels like every 2-4 pages is another chapter. This is good and bad. It’s great because I can read little bits at a time. I can read about one shoot while waiting for my kids to finish something. I can read about another shoot just before bed. You never have to stop in the middle of one of thes sections, because you only ever have a page or so to go. That’s where it got me. I never sat down with the intention of reading the whole thing, or 40 pages at a time. I just read bits and pieces every once in a while. Now that it’s done though, I wish there was more. I will probably start over with the location shoots again. I did with his previous book The Moment it Clicks too.

I found myself stairing at the pictures and rereading the text, trying to figure out where all the lights were hidden. He calls it a game of inches. Some of the lights are set up to just give that extra little flick of light that most wouldn’t notice, but taken all together, make for extrodianary images. I would find myself tyring to figure out the sight lines for the triggers too. How did he manage to fire that SB900 that is outside shooting through the window? With two extension cords from the hotshoe to a MU800 bounced off a reflector? What? Really?

As I am starting to get more and more into using little flashes, I am realizing just how amazing his pictures are. The lighting diagrams that he has in his head are astonishing. How he can look at a scene and know how to light it is still beyond me. Never mind the pulling it off. And yet it tells you how to do it. It’s all there. You just have to go out and give it a try yourself.

Thanks Joe. The book is great. I learned a lot, and expect to learn more as I reread it. I hope you sell a truckload. (To other non photographers that won’t try to put this knowledge to use 😉

Friday Links

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Bleeding Hearts

Above: Random spring picture from last year. I need to take more this year!

Ever wonder how someone could be a comedian, contemplate theology, and end up a passionate photographer. David duChemin has his story.

I ran across some cool inexpensive lighting equipment today. After watching a NAPP video via Kelby’s blog, I went to photobasics.net. This is a set of inexpensive gear aimed at non professionals. There is some neat looking stuff here.

Added a new book to my wish list at Amazon. David Ziser’s book Captured by the Light: The Essential Guide to Creating Extraordinary Wedding Photography. I am not a wedding photographer, but I bet anyone that wants to create great portraits could benefit from this book.

I don’t get to Moose Peterson’s blog every day, but when I do, I usually read through a bunch of older posts. Here is one from a couple of days ago where he talks about the Nik Color Effects filter plugin. Very neat. The particular filter: tonal contrast. Unfortunately it is only available in the $299 Complete version. (see filter list here)

Just Visiting Stone Arch Bridge

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Just Visiting Stone Arch

The last of the Just Visiting pictures. This one gets a full view of the stone arch bridge in the background. A minus 2.0 EV and a 2.5 sec exposure at f/8 brought out the color of the lights on the bridge/water.

I had my camera on a tripod, and was triggering on a cord holding my SB800 with diffuser on, out to the right. Next time I am going to bring the umbrella and see if I can get better light.

Had to do some white balance/color correction to remove a lot of blue color in the concrete from the Guthrie’s lighting in Aperture.