Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona taken on 4-12-2011
Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior, Arizona taken on 4-19-2011
Picket Post Mountain Trail in Arizona taken on 4-23-2011
Loch Vale Snowshoe Hike taken on 2-4-2012
There are new galleries of photos from 2010 and 2011 posted to smugmug. I’m still working on labeling the photos and uploading a few more galleries. Check them out: http://justphotographin.smugmug.com/
Gardener’s World Poinsettia Festival 12-10-2010
East Saguaro National Park, Arizona 1-17-2011
Colorado Rockies Spring Training Game at Salt River Fields, Arizona 3-7-2011
San Tan Regional Park, Arizona 3-13-2011
San Tan Regional Park, Arizona 3-27-2011
A new feature that I would like to focus on is a newsletter! I have a form on the contact page that can be submitted to me. When I publish a formal newsletter, I will send a copy to anyone on the list. The newsletter may feature: a story from recent photo opportunity with a few photos, a technical data section about equipment I am using, and an outlook of things to come [calendar of events]. *Content is subject to change.
I would like to make the newsletter a PDF file. This type of file requires Adobe Reader which can be downloaded for free. The tentative publishing schedule will be: January, April, July and October within the first week of the month. However, the first edition will be coming up later this month or the first week in May since this is a new feature. The newsletter will be emailed from justphotographin at gmail dot com. Add this email address to your contact/safe list to make sure it does not get marked as spam. I am working on a template right now. Head on over to the contact page to subscribe!
No, this does not mean that I was distracted while taking a picture! Rather, I was on my way home from a meeting and spotted a Great Blue Heron walking near the edge of the lakes not far from the house. I continued home and grabbed my camera and went straight back.
The unfortunate part about trying to photograph birds is that most of them have fairly decent eye sight. There was not really anyway I could sneak up on the Heron. Luckily, there are a few different ponds/lakes in the area and it just flew to the next one over. This provided a little bit of an opportunity to get a little bit closer. The heron got spooked again after I took some photos of it walking around the edge of the pond. It then flew back to the first lake and I missed the takeoff and flight shots. It was still a fun experience, and I am guessing that the heron will be around for awhile.
I have been using the eye-fi card as my primary memory card since the middle of February. The card is still working fine and handles shooting RAW and JPEG during casual photo opportunities. I have not really pushed the limits with fast frames per second. Tomorrow, I am receiving two Compact Flash cards and then I will be primarily using the eye-fi card to save JPEG files while the CF card will save RAW files.
The one thing that I will say is that I would not use this card for RAW files on a regular basis. The reason being that RAW files are large. It takes a long time for them to transfer from the camera to the computer. The other thing that I am noticing is that the software keeps track of which files have been uploaded to the computer. A couple weeks ago I took the card out of the camera and did a direct transfer to my computer which was much faster. However, the software had no record of the file transfer and therefore it went through the process of transferring all of the same files via the wi-fi connection on a later date.
So, my overall conclusion from the experiences with the eye-fi card so far are: use it for JPEG files because they transfer much faster, and let the software do the transfer unless you want two copies of the same file on your computer. Another thing that I have been doing is in the first camera setup menu, there is an option to turn on and off transferring from the eye-fi card. I turn off the transfer while I am out shooting pictures. A) I am just guessing that it saves a little bit of battery power because the card isn’t searching for the network connection, and B) I set the card to be as secure as possible, but I am not sure if it is going to find a stray connection or if the connection is visible to the public. Eventually, my plan is to use the card in connection with an iPad for infield previews of the JPEG files.
With three months gone out of 2013, I thought I would report on highlights.
January saw more purchases of equipment – mainly lenses and lens accessories. I also continued my self tutorial on learning the Canon 5D III with treks into the park!
February was what I am going to call – the break through month! I found a friend to discuss photography with and went on a photo trek into the park with them. During the third week of the month, I watched a CreativeLIVE workshop on the fundamentals of photography which refreshed prior learning and added new learning! I really dove into my camera settings after the workshop. This also motivated me to set my standard higher which means that I need to continue to upgrade my hardware and software in an effort to meet industry standards for professional photography.
March was a somewhat slow month for photography, other than a few minor equipment purchases – mainly camera accessories. The main highlight for March was finding a few more local photographers and attempting to shoot Comet PanSTARRS! After about a week long struggle to even spot the comet due to terrain and weather, we finally succeeded to photograph the comet on March 19th!
That brings me to now. You may have noticed a reduction in project life 365 posts over the last month. I decided that I no longer want to participate in the photo-a-day challenge for a few reasons. I want to focus on landscape, wildlife and wildflower photography. Many of the themes [although can be ambiguous] have nothing to do with landscapes, wildlife and wildflowers. The project is geared more toward a different style of photography; that is the best way to put it. The galleries of photos are still up, but they aren’t highlighted on the main header of the gallery page anymore.
On another note, photography is not my only business endeavor. I am also still keeping up with aviation topics and have been able to refer information to a few friends and individuals who have expressed interest! Being that photography is a somewhat new venture [in business], I am also doing a couple of other part time things as a contractor and sub-contractor. My time gets filled surprisingly fast!
A few things that I am looking forward to in the next few months include more opportunities to take pictures. I am also looking to add a few more pieces of equipment – including: a few more lenses, a tripod, tripod mounts and brackets, and a faster computer with more current software. I am also thinking about making some changes to my online store – which may include: price changes, availability of products and possibly a more focused or re-organized set of categories. I am also going to work on marketing and advertising within the local community which can actually lead to a wider audience and more opportunities! As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am intrigued with a longer term goal of purchasing a photo printer to do in house printing.
I have yet to make a photo sale. The feedback continues to be positive, and I am thankful for everyone that has looked at my photos and left comments! I am going to continue to learn my equipment and strive to take better photos. It is fun to find ways to challenge my creativity! Luckily, with all of my endeavors, things are looking good for 2013!
You know, I have been, whether I am flying or not! My role as a certified flight instructor is to be open to questions about aviation and to encourage people to learn how to fly. It is amazing how many people have been talking to me about exactly that!
Ever since I started my own flight training, I have been a resource for people interested in aviation. Just tonight I was able to provide information to a friend about flight training requirements! So, next time someone asks me this question – are you going to use your skills in aviation? I will answer – I am.
After I posted the last post, I thought I would expand on some areas that I find intriguing. I am not huge into post processing of images. My goal is to get as close to what I want in camera and do minor tweaking on the computer. The main reason for a computer upgrade is to more quickly process raw files and convert them to the necessary output type.
I started shooting and stitching panorama shots with the point and shoot camera. With a new computer and software along with the new camera, panorama stitching is an area that I would like to continue improving.
Along with panorama stitching is what is known as High Dynamic Range Imaging [HDRI]. I was unaware of HDRI until after I upgraded to the Digital Single Lens Reflex [DSLR]. However, now that I am aware, this is something that I would like explore. My camera has an automatic mode, however, with better software I will able to make more of the processing decisions. Also, less data will be lost in the process resulting in a better image.
I have been running ideas around over the past month about business decisions and opportunities. One of the concerns that came up is that when I converted from the point and shoot camera back in November, I was slightly ignorant. I knew that the upgrade would open up more photographing capability. However, I didn’t realize how much – which is a good thing with draw backs. All of the business decisions and opportunities I have been thinking about are in an effort to produce the best possible image that I am capable of getting.
I am currently in the process of looking at computer upgrades that I did not realize I would need to make. The reason for the computer upgrades, which include both hardware and software, is because I found out that my current system does not handle the version of raw that my camera shoots in [very well]. I am limited when I shoot raw, which is the highest quality and most versatile file type to work with. Raw is also the industry standard for professional photographers. Therefore, in order to be competitive, it makes sense to strive for the industry standards. I can shoot raw files and process them in camera or with the proprietary software, but it is somewhat limiting.
Another reason for the computer upgrades is that eventually I would like to do some in house printing. I have been learning more about image processing over the last month and am intrigued. One of the things that I am still learning about is getting the photo to look as close to what I saw/shot. The first step is obviously the camera [settings, preparation, and taking the photo]. The second step is processing and formatting the file to the proper output. The third is printing, if that is a desired output. It may take a little while, but printing in house has intrigued my interested.
The current online gallery works well for a lot of reasons. It reduces my workload to shooting and processing the photos. Once I upload the photos to the online gallery, sales and shipping is handled out of house. This is definitely a good option for me right now because I can focus more on what I need to do to shoot and process the files. However, there are some drawbacks to my current store setup. I am limited to pricing photos at the same value. There may be some post processing by the print lab. Between the photo I see on my screen to the photo that makes it to the consumer, there may be some discrepancies. The print lab is going to make changes for the type of paper the photo is printed on and make color adjustments based on the printer and ink they use. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I am striving to produce the best photo possible and the less discrepancy the better!
A few other ideas that I have been going over include marketing. Obviously, three months is a short time to be in business. It has been great to have positive feedback! Since January: I started the online gallery as a place for customers to make purchases; I created this blog as a way to share behind the scenes stories and other information; I also created a facebook page. Technology is a great marketing tool. However, I am also looking at other ways to market to consumers. Printing business cards to hand out while I am out taking pictures is on my list. I have been looking at entering into some art shows so that I can display my work and talk with people. There have been some photo contests that I have looked at entering.
I have already been approached by a few people about doing some presentations about some of the photos that I have taken. I also submitted a few photos for a local Christmas ornament fundraiser! The results have not been posted for the photo for the Christmas ornament yet, but it was a neat experience to be asked for a submission! All of these are great opportunities! The main thing that I need to do is continue to get out there and continue to improve!
I have not been ignoring the projectlife365 photo-a-day challenge. The issue that I am running into now is that my main photo editing computer is running low on storage space. I’m using my netbook to upload the photos now and it doesn’t have the photo editing software or capability to handle making the photo collages.
I am still uploading photos from the past few years off of that hard drive. Until I am completely through those photos, I will not be able to delete them to make more space. Not to worry, I do have backup drives. The photos for the photo-a-day challenge are up at the online gallery as well as on facebook.
Upgrading my computer is another option and may also happen soon. I ran into another issue when uploading RAW files from my camera. It seems like a never ending cycle of upgrades at the moment – all worth it though!
JUST PhotographIN' 