Vote Now: Which Topic Should Be July's Monthly Photography Assignment?

I've contacted both Mike and Athena who tied as winners of the June Monthly Assignment topic "Night Shot." Since winner gets to chose the next month's topic, I asked both of them to tell me what they would like to spend July trying to shoot and I would like my readers to vote for the final topic. Which one do you think you would have the most fun capturing this coming month:


A) Fireworks



or


B) History

I will open the poll now and it will have a quick turn around, closing this time tomorrow evening.

Breaking News: Monthly Assignment Tie!

Wow, this month's photo assignment contest was a nail-biter right to the very last hours the poll was open. But alas, PWYP has its first ever tie between images submitted by Athena Otto and Mike Haley, with each receiving 5 votes.

I had to do some thinking about how to address this, and decided to go with an idea I got from Mike: Both Athena and Mike will be allowed to choose a topic for next month's assignment. Then, readers can vote on which topic they would like to shoot for July. I will post up another poll once I get the topic ideas from Athena and Mike. Polls will be open for one day only, so I can give everyone the full month to get their submissions in.

Until then, congratulations to Athena and Mike. Here are some great comments blog passersby let regarding what they thought about your images:

Image by Athena Otto



REBELRESCUER wrote this about Athena's image: I have no technical expertise, but photo "B" is my fav! There's something about the street light, and the front of the building that gives it a certain feeling. Really like that one!! Hope to participate in July!!
Reb

Image by Mike Haley


DIZZLE wrote this about Mike's image: I like D. If I am not mistaken that is Heritage Square...childhood memories come flooding back and capturing it night makes me remember days gone by when my mom would let us run around there with no fear of anything bad happenign to us other maybe a scraped knee from a fall during a game of tag...music playing and just enjoying the summer night.

Instructors Tip: Wear Your Photo Eyes

Enjoy this week's "Instuctor's Tip" by award winning nature photographer Russ Burden Burden:

"When I first got bit by the photography bug, its juices took over and
I was hooked for life. Although it was a long time from the day I
took my very first picture until the time I purchased an SLR, I was
always aware of the power of the bite. As I got more and more into
the art, I began to view the world as if I had a camera fixed to my
eye. I would use telephoto eyes to pick out small slices of the
landscape. I would use my wide angle eyes to incorporate entire
skylines and envision what they would look like as a print. Whether
I’m sitting in my kitchen or leading a photo tour to a gorgeous
location in our country, my awareness of light, composition, and
color is heightened thanks to photography. So where am I going with
all of this?

The lesson to be learned is as you walk around with your camera,
don’t allow yourself to get tunnel vision. In other words, open your
eyes to any and all subjects you encounter as you head to your target
to photograph. Case in point is demonstrated in the accompanying
shot made while leading a tour to WA. The focal point for the morning
on which it was created was Rialto Beach’s sea stacks. As we
approached them, I viewed every step I took with my photo eyes wide
open. In what could have easily been stepped on, when my eyes met the
new growth of the tiny fern emerging from the black beach stones -
CARPE DIEM! I seized the opportunity, we all made the close up, and
still got to photograph the sea stacks."

- Russ

The photo(s) in this post were taken by Russ Burden. To learn more about how Russ captured this image, join him on one of his photo tours. Visit Russ Burden Photography to get more information.

To take a class with Russ or a fellow Digital Photo Academy instructor in your area, check out the Digital Photo Academy. I took Russ' intermediate and advanced courses last year, and he continues to be a strong source of knowledge and encouragement as I progress in my photography.

Don't forget to check Take Great Pictures for Russ' most recent tips. On the home page, click on the "Photo Tips And Techniques" button in the left hand column. Additionally, check out his "Digital Tip of the Month" found by clicking on the Digital Photography button.

Get the Job Done: First Wedding Assignment Complete and Successful!

My presentation with bride Tolisa was a success, and I can't tell you how relieved I am to finally be done with this assignment. Tolisa (seen above) is very pleased with her photos and she took a handful of my business cards and new postcards to give to all her friends and relatives. For her presentation, I chose to display all the images in a slideshow on my MacBook Pro. To hear Tolisa react so positively to the images was a great confidence booster.



I wasn't able to complete the photo album in time as it was a very difficult process and would have required about two hours putting it together. So instead, I went back to my original idea of blowing up this fabulous shot Mike Haley took of the couple walking out of the church and into their new life together. I printed an 11x14 of this, framed and matted it. Turns out this was one of Tolisa's favorites (mine too!) and she plans to purchase it as well as several CDs that have 4x6 print versions of select images taken throughout the day. Tolisa, Jordan and their friends and relatives will purchase larger prints directly from my website.

I managed to cull 3,000 shots taken from three very different photographers to about 600 cohesive "Picture Your World Photography" images. All of those images were then separated into six galleries. I wanted to thank Mike Haley...



and Jason Peckovitch again for a fabulous job! Love you guys!



Now, I wait to see if I will get some print sales from the website. Tolisa mentioned that the first photographer she considered hiring was going to charge her $3,500, so she recognized that my charge for $500 was an incredible steal (and she will be the ONLY bride to ever get my services at that discounted price!). She promised to keep that between us, and she intends to push her guests to buy prints to help me make up those lost sales. Plus, I think I may have secured a new client for life, as she is already making plans for numerous sessions, including a glamour/boudoir set and Christmas shots to be taken later this year. Her brother is graduating this year and needs senior shots. Her god daughter's family needs portraits done. And I hope to be their chosen maternity photographer when the couple gets pregnant. Here's hoping for many more opportunities to work together in the future. Besides, Tolisa and Jordan just moved into a house right up the street from my house....why should they go to anyone else when I'm so close by. ;)

This Weekend: Wedding Photos Presentation and a Night Shoot

I will be presenting all of my wedding photo galleries Tolisa, the bride, tomorrow morning, so send me some good luck vibes! Mike and Jason will be there as well, and I'm pretty excited, as well as relieved to be just about done with this project so I can move on to my "gallery" showing at Heidi's Deli.

I have uploaded all the galleries to my website, save for the reception pics which I want to present to Tolisa when she views them on a slideshow on my MacBook Pro. You can get a sneak peak at some of my favorite shots from the reception held at the Tivoli in this thread. Taking the time to see the photos full screen the way your client will see them has been very beneficial for me. It helped me decide which shots to ultimately keep or reject. It can be difficult to see images or catch mistakes when files are only viewed in thumbnail or monitor screen sizes. I didn't realize so many images were out of focus or had some color balance issues until I blew them up to 100 percent viewing (a trick I learned to spot problematic noise issues from iStockphoto.com).



It also helped to allow more "eyes" to look at the photos. I finally got the nerve to let other photographers on the various forums I frequent critique the images. Most everyone had great things to say, and others were very constructive, yet helpful, in pinpointing some of those tale-tell issues.

I am also going to surprise Tolisa by presenting her with a photo album she can purchase that I created at the Wolf Camera store in downtown Denver. One of the clerk's there gave me an amazing deal and coupon to have the album built and produced right in the store. At first I thought about printing and framing a large 20x30 image, but I think the photo album showcasing the complete story of her nuptials will have greater emotional impact (and more likely lead to her buying the album as well as other prints).



Also this weekend, I will be heading downtown with Efrain Cruz, director of Illuminate Photography Workshops, and several of his students for a fun "Night Shot" outing. If only this event could have happened earlier in the month, I might have had something more innovative and creative to submit for my own blog's monthly assignment (besides the overly done shot of the moon). But hey...I haven't had that much experience shooting at night, so that moon shot was the best I could come up with. It will be fun to learn how to master this challenging photographic technique that really forces you to use all your knowledge of exposure.

Here is a great shot Efrain took during the outting he held last month:





Efrain will likely host a new outdoor session every month for socializing and meeting potential new students. Want to hang out with us and shoot? Email Efrain at efrain@illuminateworkshops.com or check out the school website here.

Breaking News: Canon Repaired My Flash! Part 3

I back got my 580EX II today from the Canon repair center, all fresh and fixed! Turns out the flash PCB (or flash printed circuit board) needed to be replaced, a service that cost me $150. I blogged a few weeks ago about how stressful it was to have my one and only flash die a few days before my first wedding assignment.

In spite of the expense, I think I still came out good considering how much a new flash cost would have cost me right before the wedding. Now I have two!

I had tried connecting a Quantum Turbo 2X2 battery pack to my flash to give it more and faster recycle times. But something happened when I connected to the two devices: the flash pilot light button flickered rapidly and then died out. I couldn't get the flash to work from that point on. I still don't know if the battery pack caused the malfunction or if that flash already had one foot in the grave. I'm starting to think the flash was faulty since my friends at Denver Pro Photo said Quantum gave the battery pack a clean bill of health and the store sold it a few days later.

Here's proof that getting those service warranty agreements are a good thing. I routinely get those things whenever I buy photo equipment now, but I didn't a year ago when I first started buying items. And I didn't get one for my flash. If I would have, the service would have been covered under the program for free! And to make matters worse, I have no idea where the receipt is for the flash, so I had no way of proving to Canon that the flash was still under warranty.

All kinds of cuss words! But I'm happy to have a new flash so I can start experimenting with triggering multiple strobes.

An Aside: One Man's Stock Trash is Another Man's Stock Treasure

Last week, I couldn't wait to tell everybody that I finally got accepted to iStockphoto.com. I'm not quite as excited to fess up to this next fact, but I think there could be a good lesson learned from it for all of us budding photogs: Shutterstock rejected every photo I submitted to them!

Shutterstock required I submit a batch of 15 images as part of its application process. Of course I used the three that iStockphoto had already accepted and 12 more I culled from my external hard drive where all my photos live. It looks as though they might have accepted the shot of the deer and the clouds reflected on the office building, but they couldn't be approved because they were unable to approve at least 7 out of the first 10 submitted. To add insult to injury, my uploading function was promptly, though temporarily disabled, as I can try uploading again in a month.

I was shocked by the images they turned down, as they have been some of my most popular sellers in other forums. Even the eye contact with this marvelous fox didn't sway them!




What were the reasons you ask? The fox shot was rejected due to:

NOISE--Noise, film grain, over-sharpening, or artifacts at full size.

While this one and others similar to it were axed because of:
COMPOSITION -- Limited commercial value due to framing, cropping, and/or composition.



I posted about this issue on several of the forums I frequented, including Digital Grin and Digital Photography School, and thought you might be interested in hearing other's responses and experiences they've had trying to get into stock photography.

So here's what I plan to do: I will dedicate all of my initial efforts into giving iStock what they want, learning how to deal with noise and artifacting, etc. by studying their guidelines. Once I get a handle on what differentiates stock photography from other types, I will try again to branch out to other agencies, including Web Shots and Shutterstock. I even asked my instructor Efrain Cruz to consider hosting a stock photography class with Illuminate Photography Workshops to get some tips and techniques from the pros about how to be successful at this type of production.

So how do you fix noise or artifacting? And I can't help but to wonder: do all of these stock agencies reject you on your first try just to see how you will respond? Will you try submitting again or will you hang your head in shame and never turn in anything else? I think it could be a good way of separating the folks who really want it from the ones who just dreaming of success. What do you think?