Archive for the ‘Social Networking’ Category

Yellowstone Buffalo (1/160 sec at f/9.0, 700mm at ISO 400)

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years. I just returned from Michigan where I spent the last few days teaching my daughter to ski, splitting wood with a friend and having my butt handed over to me in a mean game of Wii bowling . Yep, it was a perfect New Year’s weekend. Now the holidays are over and I’m getting back on track.

A little Shameless self-promoting:
First off, if you own a Kindle you can now receive my blog via Amazon’s Whispernet. That’s the good news. The bad news is Amazon charges .99 a month for the service. I have no control over the Amazon delivery price, but if you’re as addicted to your Kindle as I am then the convenience might be worth it. Click HERE to subscribe.

Don’t miss another blog:
As a friendly reminder you can subscribe to my blog via email or an RSS feed. Just click HERE TO SUBSCRIBE

Connect with me:
I really enjoy connecting with all of my readers and fellow photographers. I realize not everyone uses the same social networks so I try to keep as many accounts open as possible to allow me to connect with each of you. So here’s to hooking up:

Facebook Fan Page: Click HERE

Twitter: Click HERE

LinkedIn: Click HERE

Flickr: Click HERE

Mentorships:
I’m currently in the process of wrapping up a few mentorships and accepting new students so if you’re interested in a three month mentorship program then click HERE to learn more

Wow, I feel better. I just crossed four things of my to do list. Thanks for bearing with me through the process. Tomorrow, I promise not to be so selfish and give you a few solid tips..;)

Matt's Sin City -Light Red Preset

Wow Green only preset via OnOneSoftware.com

Lightroom Black and White high contrast, vignette (John's preset)

I spent some time yesterday exchanging quick chats with fellow photographers on Twitter regarding Lightroom Beta 3.  By all accounts, the beta version of Lightroom 3 appears to be stable and very close to being complete.  However, with that said, I still don’t recommend using it as your primarily library application until it’s released in its final form.   One of the things I love about Lightroom  is the really cool developing presets.  It took me three clicks to change today’s photos.  Three different presets…three clicks…three different looks.  Bing, bang, boom. Oh, it’s addictive.   For those of you that don’t know what a preset is, please click HERE and HERE for an explanation.  Presets can make your life easier and are a serious addition (and addiction) to any photographer’s work flow.  Not to mention they can be straight up fun. So I thought I would share the name of a few sites I visit to download the latest presets.   Ononesoftware, the creator of some great plug-ins,  provides several presets free of charge for download – just click HERE and scroll down to free downloads.  If you use Lightroom and you’re not following Matt Kloskowski’s blog, well, shame on you.  This guy kicks out presets faster than I can get them downloaded and installed.  Check out Matt’s archive of presets by clicking HERE.  Adobe Exchange is another wonderful location to check out the latest presets. Keep in mind that not all Adobe Exchange presets are free, but not all good things in life are free (accept my blog of course..;) Click HERE to check out Adobe’s Exchange.  Lastly, if you dare, you can make your own presets and to learn more about how to do that just click HERE.  Now, for me, I use presets as a starting point in some cases.  I’ll apply an effect and simply tweak the images from there.  It feels like cheating, I know, but it’s very useful in speeding up your work flow and  providing creative alternatives along the way.   Don’t take my word for it.  Download a few presets and tell me what you think.

p.s. If you know of some sites with great presets then comment on my blog so others can check them out.

Temple in the Rain, Kajsa Stolberg 1/60s @ f/5, 28mm, ISO200

Happy Saturday everyone!  It’s Kajsa at the start of your weekend and I hope you all have earned a well-deserved rest.
As you know, I’m working with John, helping him out with his blog and in return he’s helping me with this whole photography thing.  Little did I know that there was more to it than making sure I packed enough memory cards in my bag before leaving for a shoot.  It’s a pretty good gig, I mean I help him with some of the nitty gritty details of his blog and in return I get health care complete with eye and dental, a 401k plan, and even a petty cash box for my desk drawer!  Nah, I get way more than that with John as my mentor.  Being the seasoned photographer he’s helping me develop my style, he’s introducing me to software and equipment that he personally uses and trusts, he’s sharing other tricks of the trade, and he’s constantly challenging me.  Honestly, I’ve learned more practical information in the last month and a half about the internet and social networking than I have since opening my first hotmail account in ‘97.
Before even meeting John, I copied the list he gave in his “It’s a Brave New World” post onto a sticky note so I could have some direction to go with photography.  Because of that list I can now say that I’ve got a website (check it out HERE), and other social networking accounts, I’ve set the goal to get into grad school (yes, that was my post last Sunday, John’s finished with school!) and I’m on the move to capture, improve, and discover new images.  Possibly most importantly from that list, John has become a mentor to help keep me and my goals in check.  Can you see how much having a mentor has done for me?  Imagine what you could accomplish if you sought out someone whose photography and experience is one that you admire or aspire to.  I understand that I’ve got a special case here, John is very invested in the “project” that I have become, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a mentor too.  One thing is for certain though, you’ll never find a mentor if you don’t look for one.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and if you’re in Michigan then make a snow angel!

Do you tweet?

Cold weather has finally hit Chicago and it’s feeling a little bit like the holidays. I want to start off by thanking the folks at Outdoor Photo Gear for the super cool Think Tank bag I won via a Twitter contest. Check out the announcement HERE. Now folks I’m going to play it straight up. I originally thought Twitter was stupid. I mean 140 characters? What could you possibly communicate, or more to the point, what could you possible communicate with any meaning in 140 strokes on a keyboard? Well, I’m here to tell you this social networking tool has some teeth. It’s allowed me to have conversations with fellow photographers in real time, sharing ideas, links, work and the occasional joke. As you know, I’m a big believer in Facebook (especially my fan page) but the one thing Twitter does a little better is to allow you to selectively seek out people you want to follow versus having to send a friend request. Believe it or not I’m a slightly private person and I don’t always want to share all my family photos or those photographs from college where, well, let’s just say ,”things were a little blurry”. The advantage of Twitter is it allows some of you to simply sit on the sidelines of the communication stream and follow some of your favorite people. I like to think of it as socially acceptable cyber stalking, but the truth is some people just enjoy listening and that’s cool. And, if you feel like adding your opinion to a stream that’s cool too. It’s a “community” that you can create around your interest. So what are the rules? Ask yourself this: If someone on the street said, “hi” would you say, “hi” back or simply keep on walking? Well, I generally say “hi” so when people add me, I typically will add them back providing they’re not “spammers”. Keep in mind if for some reason you change your mind you can always “unfollow” a person and if you don’t’ want someone following you then you can simply block the user. If you’re super private, you can make all your tweets “private” so that only people you approve of can read your tweets. To manage your twitter account I always recommend using either Tweetdeck or Hootsuite. The reality is if you want to connect with fellow photographers on Twitter you’re going to need to let your guard down a tad. But trust me. The reward is real. The internet has allowed many photographers, including myself, a way to promote their work and connect with people who share a passion for photography. If you’re not on Twitter then give it a try. It may seem frightful… but it can be oh, so delightful Oh, and remember you can find me on twitter by clicking HERE.