my only problem with Flickr is that I have to remember a yahoo email and password that I use for nothing else

4/16/2014 9:30:07 AM

Yeah I was really pissed when they dropped the google sign in. It wouldn't have been so bad if the process to create a Yahoo ID and then move my flickr account onto it was easy, but I kept getting errored out during the process. At one point I thought I had lost access and subsequently my cloud back-up.
Its a dick strategy behind the reason, so I hope the whole thing fails and Yahoo crumbles to nothing but a giant photo storage site.

[Edited on April 16, 2014 at 9:38 AM. Reason : ]

4/16/2014 9:38:21 AM

didn't they buy Tumblr? I hope they make Tumblr require Yahoo, i bet the tween outrage would be entertaining

4/16/2014 9:43:09 AM

They did, and they probably will.
The biggest problem I have is they are trying to carve out a chunk of Google's market share on web advertising, and they think that by forcing everyone that uses their services to do so through their login, they can control the same amount of info and profit off of it.
They tend to forget that no one in the US likes them, and a report I heard yesterday basically said if you remove their foreign assets from their stock value, you're left with nothing. Meaning their US market share is pretty much worthless at the moment and rather than trying to increase its value through innovation, they are trying to just copy and paste what their competitor has done and already captured the market on.

[Edited on April 16, 2014 at 10:01 AM. Reason : I can't fucking type this morning.]

4/16/2014 10:00:52 AM

my girlfriend hates this picture but i like it. im a little rusty but i've been shooting a little more lately





shots i did for a client at a wedding show

4/16/2014 10:35:11 AM

Are those top 2 VSCO presets?

4/16/2014 11:03:54 AM

a mix of Kellie Hatcher presets

[Edited on April 16, 2014 at 11:31 AM. Reason : kjh]

4/16/2014 11:31:24 AM

I have started playing with panorama shots particularly to make widescreen backgrounds that will stretch across dual widescreen monitors. Here are a few I have done:

Durham Bull Stadium August 2012


Mile High Swinging Bridge September 2013


Downtown Charlotte February 2014



[Edited on April 17, 2014 at 8:21 AM. Reason : Resized]

4/17/2014 8:17:58 AM

are you cropping a wide angle lens or stitching?

4/17/2014 9:09:39 AM

Both. Bulls and Charlotte were stitched. Grandfather Mountain was just a real wide angle shot that I cropped down, hence the crappier resolution.

4/17/2014 9:55:55 AM

Nice stuff. Were those with a pano head or handheld? I wrote an article for a journalism education mag a few years ago on panoramic photography and I don't think I've done one since, unfortunately.

Get a 360degree pano and stitch it together, then mess with the poles to make a sphere.


Or use 6 GoPros and do the same with video, like this.
http://www.jonasginter.de/360-grad-video-mit-6-gopro-kameras/

[Edited on April 17, 2014 at 6:40 PM. Reason : .]

4/17/2014 6:39:48 PM

Just handheld, nothing fancy.

4/17/2014 6:41:48 PM

4/20/2014 9:04:56 PM

any of you have experience with these micro four-thirds cameras...specifically the sony NEX-5N? i figure it's a long shot, but worth asking

i have a D90 that i keep the 18-200mm VR lens on most of the time, but i find that i rarely use it unless i *really* care about the pictures i'm taking (like vacations)...it's heavy and bulky and i keep it on auto a lot of the time because i'm lazy and i care more about the quality output than composition (i don't really belong in this thread, as i find most pictures taken on auto make me happy)

we're going to costa rica in a couple of weeks and i've found a mint 5N with 18-200mm lens for $650 that i'm thinking about picking up (and then selling the D90)...from what i've read, the good light performance is extremely close and the 5N gets the nod in low-light

my biggest concerns about the 5N are the lack of EVF(yeah, you can buy one, but it's something like $200), the lack of external controls, and the worse-performing AF

i'm not super familiar with sony products, but the 5N uses E-mount lenses (same as the alpha line, i believe)

dpreview of 5N: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonynex5n

18-200mm lens: http://store.sony.com/sel18200-interchangeable-alpha-e-mount-18-200mm-f3.5-6.3-oss-zid27-SEL18200/cat-27-catid-All-E-Mount-Lenses?_t=pfm%3Dcategory

thoughts?

[Edited on April 23, 2014 at 10:02 AM. Reason : links]

4/23/2014 9:56:39 AM

Meh, more nonsense of my gf for her blog.




[Edited on April 24, 2014 at 9:26 PM. Reason : .]

4/24/2014 9:24:47 PM

Been dealing with a sick kid the last few weeks, finally got around to editing some stuff from Easter and surrounding days.

5/9/2014 12:17:45 AM

what is everyone's workflow like when editing photos?

i don't do much...usually just contrast and color/tone correction, sometimes tweak the vibrance...but it's tedious to go through pictures (i use irfanview to look at the JPGs), copy/cut the DNG (if it comes from a camera that shoots in RAW) of the image i want to edit into a separate folder, then use photoshop (which i have through work, i didn't spend the ridiculous amount of money that it cost just to do some simple edits) to make the corrections

i feel like i'm missing something obvious here, because it feels like a lot of wasted time...especially when i'm going through pictures from my P&S, which are only in JPG...it'd be great if while i'm scrolling through the images, i could mark the "favorites" and then copy the whole lot of them into a separate folder, rather than needing to do it with each individual image

5/11/2014 9:35:48 PM

I just use Lightroom, its a breeze and not tedious

5/11/2014 10:36:52 PM

^ +1

5/12/2014 12:03:01 PM

Same. It really cuts down on time spent editing if you're used to doing everything in photoshop. Also, all the post-process stuff like keywording, backing it up, exporting it to various sites and social media is really seamless.

5/12/2014 1:13:55 PM

yeah ... lightroom is great. its well worth every penny for heavy photo processing. being able to batch process pictures along with the other syncable settings are all great.

^ what he said too. organizing and exporting is really friendly

5/12/2014 1:38:34 PM

Finally get a Creative Cloud account, come home to install it and wonder of wonders, Adobe has a fucking outage on log-ins, downloads, etc. As of this morning its still out. Tell me again why I should be pumped about the cloud when I never had this problem with my old "traditional" Photoshop/Lightroom? Not a wonderful start to using CC.

5/15/2014 5:52:59 AM

Yes, the cloud is bullshit. I was really hoping that with all the problems they had with it that they would eventually abandon that idea, especially since it did absolutely nothing to deter pirating but a lot to handicap photographers, especially those working internationally.

5/15/2014 7:55:47 AM

how often does it need to hit the cloud to allow you to work? i do a lot of editing on camping trips without internet access

5/15/2014 8:18:39 AM

I'm not sure what it is now, but it was originally something like once a day, and had to come from an IP in a developed country, anything outside of that was immediately shut down.
This was a huge issue since a lot of journalist were using photoshop to process photos for the wires, and places like Sochi and Brazil weren't on that list of approved countries.

I don't think Lightroom was a part of the same verification system, and they probably got a lot of the issues worked out since there were plenty of images coming back from Sochi.

5/15/2014 8:45:08 AM

i guess i'm just going to stick with my standalone copies of lightroom and photoshop elements, it seems to do everything i need so far.

5/15/2014 9:14:14 AM

Also, I downloded onOne Perfect Effects 8 Premium since it was free. It's just filters and not really worth paying for, but I've found that its helpful to quickly filter photos you don't want to spend time on editing. My siblings think any photo is awesome if you throw preset filters on them, so its pretty handy for that. Crappy family photo + filter that looks like instagram = OMG these look so good!

5/15/2014 9:19:34 AM

Yeah I bought it when I updated to LR5 because it hit the $10/month for everyone. Since then, I used it to create a logo for my site, and thats about it.

That said, at the $10/price, its worth it to get LR, PS and the other ancillary programs.

5/15/2014 10:35:01 AM

Yeah, a some point we are buying an iMac and will probably get it then so I can use Premiere Pro and After Effects and learn video editing (wife already owns Photoshop standalone but for Mac so I can't use it). For now though Lightroom+Photoshop Elements will do.

5/15/2014 10:42:25 AM

Anybody needing a fisheye lens? Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 for $199 today only.

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/120412/ebay---rokinon-8mm-f3.5-hd-fisheye-lens-w-removeable-hood-various-mounts

I am very seriously considering buying it. Don't have any true fisheye lens in my bag. Might be fun to play with next month in Vegas.

5/15/2014 5:52:57 PM

^We had to outlaw fisheyes at student media during my tenure. They are tons of fun to shoot with, so we'd get several shots a week where photographers would submit their assignment edits of nothing but fisheye.

Went to the Got To Be NC Festival today with the family (sorry Nighthawk).

WARNING: photos of my kids

5/17/2014 7:29:00 PM

anyone have any wedding shooting tips?

shooting my first wedding as primary photog tomorrow.

how do i get over the anxiety that comes with directing large groups of people (or even small groups of people) for formal shots? I'm really not confident with posing people.

i'm not worried about the documentary shit.

Oh well. signed up for a Lynda trial, gonna watch some Chris Orwig.

[Edited on May 18, 2014 at 2:03 AM. Reason : /]

5/18/2014 2:01:48 AM

Good luck. I hate shooting weddings.

I usually prep by making lists, things to bring, things to shoot. It helps to ground myself during the day, because it can get pretty stressful and being able to check things off helps with that. The less stressed I am, the more creative I can get.

You're the primary, but are you the only shooter?

5/18/2014 8:08:44 AM

Funny you mentioned Got To Be NC, as I think I might make a run this afternoon. Interested in shooting some of the BMX stuff in Dorton.

Also I bought the fisheye. I have found since I dual-wield the D800 and D7k that I don't use the D7000 nearly as much. I think having that fisheye on the DX sensor would actually make it useful for some alternate shots.

[Edited on May 18, 2014 at 11:42 AM. Reason : ]

5/18/2014 11:40:22 AM

yeah, i was the only shooter. pretty stressful.

did the list thing. wrote out kind of my general aesthetic goals for the day as well as some specific shots

it was mostly fine actually.

and they got a mad cheap rate, so I'm not too worried about it. They definitely got their money's worth.

i just possibly irrationally think i'm bad at portraits of people. i really need to practice more and get comfortable with that. I think when I get back to new york i'm going to hit up all my friends and do some portraits.

the group formals were fine actually, i just get nervous when, like, directing the bride for her solo portraits in the hotel room etc...

also my friend let me borrow his 5d mk iii and holy fuck. want.

5/19/2014 2:30:50 AM

^Yea I get really stressed during weddings. My posing is probably my weakest point when it comes to thinking on the go, especially in a time crunch.

Had a good time at G2BNC yesterday with my youngest son. Randomly ran into my brother and his family not 5 minutes after we entered and hung with them a bit. Then Charlie and I went to the BMX jump contest. I sat down right in the fenced area and got some great jump shots. I had my D7000 setup with the 24-70 lens, and my son asked if he could shoot it. It was in M and all set (I was just getting closer with the 70-200 f/2.8 instead) but he ended up getting some really cool shots too sitting next to me. It was a good time, but definitely an interesting challenge to shoot them.

5/19/2014 6:27:43 AM

Anybody interested in trying to do some night and meteor photography this evening? If so, post in here or message me. I am thinking about heading to Jordan Lake for some shots around 2-4 am, depending on the weather and cloud cover.

5/23/2014 1:19:23 PM

So I guess the Flickr blog guy takes his sweet time in setting things up to feature people. It's been a while since he first contacted me...

Anyway, some shots. I guess it's been a while since I shared anything. I've been shooting a lot of stuff on black for the past year. I like it a hell of a lot more than the way everyone seems to be shooting animals on white, but maybe it's just me.

5/25/2014 10:41:37 PM

So one of my gf's coworkers has a daughter that's in love with Thea's blog and wanted her to do hair and makeup for prom. Somehow I ended up doing prom photos, but I didn't want to do your average boring prom shoot, so I went with some inspiration from Annie Liebovitz. My gf posted the photos on buzzfeed, so if you're of a mind and want to share it anywhere, that'd be super appreciated.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/thean/this-isnt-a-magazine-photo-shoot-its-two-kids-8e0y

One of my images.


Some of the images I used as ideas. I didn't hit the mark dead on, but I'm not at all unhappy with the results. I think next time I'd rethink the props, but I'm happy with the lighting. Anyone interested in how I lit it, let me know and I can give details. I had a LOT of equipment that day, so it's more than a normal 1-3 light shoot.

5/30/2014 1:47:36 PM

^ Nice work!

6/29/2014 12:52:08 AM

6/29/2014 12:53:10 AM

^You just kinda linked to your photostream, not the specific shots you are trying to show.

6/29/2014 7:32:25 AM

My brother came back from Hawaii for a few days...he and my son played the whole time



Also, gonna be at Topsail during the Arthur. Our house is pretty tall with some great views all around but I've never been great at photographing weather. Anyone got some good resources for shooting storms?

7/1/2014 9:06:15 PM

Hatched this out a few days ago.

7/15/2014 10:23:20 AM

8/17/2014 5:04:49 PM

For those nervous about shooting weddings. My photographer contract had me list all my must have posed shots and day of he got all those plus some. It was nice for him having a checklist and it helped me not worry so much.

8/17/2014 9:58:23 PM

^ this...we loved our wedding photogs, but they didn't ask us for a list and we didn't think about until days later

seems to me that a good wedding photographer would at least ask about some basic posed shots and suggest them...because heaven knows, the couple getting married has other things on their minds

since then, that's been the advice we've given to friends who have gotten (or are getting) married...make a list and tell them to check it off

8/18/2014 1:20:28 PM

Yes. A great time to do this with a client that you don't really see often is when you are doing the bridal shots. A lot of times they are really thinking about wedding photos and it gives you a chance to find out from them who the important people to get shots with and what things matter to them.

The ones that can be a real pain in the ass is if it is somebody you can't meet before hand. I usually have a list anyways of all the generic shots, so if I can get them to sit down for like 2 minutes I can save a lot of time in photos later. This works even better if you have an assistant or helper who can really track the shot list and keep up with it. My wife covers this for me and makes it a LOT easier not to miss some shots when the pressure is on and people want to get the reception going.

8/18/2014 1:40:22 PM

Sorry for the double post, but I know some of y'all shoot bands. Is there any specific rules on dSLRs and camera bags at Cat's Cradle? I want to go to the Southern Folklife Collection Festival this Saturday and shoot some. Do y'all usually just take a couple of fast primes and plan to shoot with those? I was kinda thinking just having my 35/50/85 f/1.8 lenses should cover the gamut. Should I even bother with any of the 2.8 zooms or just keep it at that? I've shot some outdoor band photos, but bigger indoor shows I usually am told to get fucked because I don't have a press pass.

8/18/2014 2:12:28 PM

Yeah I always ask for a list with wedding clients. It helps to establish expectations for both me and the couple. I also get pretty anxious during a wedding gig, so having a list helps me focus on a specific task

I got burned last year when we put the list together and they didn't have a location in mind for the formal wedding party photos. They wanted to pick the location and were going to research and get back to me. Day of the wedding they tell me they want to do it at the State Capitol. They didn't realize it, but working photographers are required to get a permit to shoot there. We were able to get 90% of what they wanted done before a security officer asked us to leave.
I had warned them that a lot of locations downtown will require landowner approval to shoot there. I guess they figured if they used public grounds they wouldn't have to worry about it.

Had a chance to work in my dads shop this weekend and got a DIY Ringflash to the point of functioning.
I walked out to take a shot of my son while he played, but instead he was in the midst of a tantrum:


The rest were just us goofing around:

8/18/2014 2:36:54 PM