- DigitalPixels.net
Full story at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/digitalpixels/SfVD/~3/ZWvv_qFefuE/
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- DigitalPixels.net
Full story at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/digitalpixels/SfVD/~3/jLz_-BUveXw/
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Weekly Assignment
We finished our Journey assignment this week, and we saw all kinds of different journeys. There were physical journeys, emotional journeys, skill journeys, all of them captured in pictures. But there were a few photos that really stood out to us. Our winner this week is Lepidopteran’s photo symbolising an iconic journey down Route 66. Maybe it’s an American thing, but Route 66 definitely holds it’s place as part of an iconic journey. In fact, it was actually a major path of the migrants who travelled west in the early 1900’s. In any case, this photo really draws you into the scene with the strong graphic element of the Route 66 painted on the road and the curve that leads you through the scene. But add in the light and those buildings and you can’t help but wonder what kind of journeys have taken place on this road. Our first runner up was WildRain’s “Emancipation”. While this photo symbolises the end of a journey, it really isn’t the end as that journey lives on in the stories we hear, see, and read. This shot has an almost eerie quality to it with the fog and trees, but it also really tells a story. And last, but not least was JaiCatalano’s NYC Journey. And this photo really tells the tale of the start of a journey and journeys yet to come. This shot had a nice composition with the boy as a clear subject, while the city in the background helped to provide the context. Well done everyone.
Glamour is an interesting aspect of portrait and fashion photography, but even if you don’t have a model, you can show it in other ways too. And if you haven’t guessed by now, Glamour is this week’s assignment. Check out the first post in the thread for a few tips on fashion photography. But before you head over to post your glamourous shots, a quick reminder of the rules. First, your photo must have been taken between 20 October – 3 November 2010. Second, your post must include the words “Assignment: Glamour” and the date the photo was taken. Finally, your EXIF should be intact, and it’s useful if you can include some of the main points like the camera, lens, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc. Next week’s we will be going back to some of the basics with a Rule of Thirds assignment. It’s one of the first rules of composition that most of us learn, and it can be very useful for creating an interesting photo. So we want you to show us how you can use the Rule of Thirds effectively to create an interesting photo. Best of luck everyone!
Post from: Digital Photography School
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A Guest post by Italian Photographer Giovanni Gagliardi.
I?ve always been fascinated by the endless different places we can see around the world. Undoubtedly this is one of the main factors that ignited my passion for photography.
Since I was a child my parents took me with them when traveling, and this thirst for visiting new countries grew inside me like a inherited gift.
In the last few years I had the chance to make many journeys and as a consequence something in my mind told me not just to make pictures but to learn how to do it better.
This way I discovered the wonderful world of photography! I began to attend photography workshops, read magazines and books, and eventually decided to buy my first DSLR (Nikon D80).
When I returned from my fabulous trip to Australia last summer I was eager to rescan the images of all my last travels. At the same time I read a review about Microstock. These two events came at the right moment and intertwined perfectly.
I didn’t even know that I could sell my pictures over the internet and this news open a new road in front of me.
I immediately tried to figure out how to begin selling photos.
The first thing I had to do was to select the best pictures from the thousands I shot during these years.
It was simple to begin but hard to go on because after a while you review the images you lose the capacity to correctly judge and select them.
The only way to do that is to leave some time every day to dedicate to this purpose. But this time must not exceed 10-20 minutes, otherwise it may become sort of boring.
From last September when I started many thing have changed.
At first my procedure was to select many pictures from a shoot and submit them to the microstock world. I even didn?t pay particular attention to keywords. I just thought about 5-10 keywords and write them in a hurry. Last but not least I went too far with Photoshop filters, eventually ruining potentially good shots.
After a few months of hard work I have constantly improved my skills and now I?d like to share with you what I learned and how my workflow is now organized:�
For every place I visited or every shoot I made I?ve created a different folder.
Depending on my inspiration I inspect one of this folder per day, selecting new pictures that could be sold.
I created a directory called bucket� with many subfolders where I put these selected� files. So for example I could have a subfolder ?Australia?, another� one ?Europe? and another ?Harvest 2009?. I have many of them and they always contain files.
Every� time I have to submit pictures I select only one file from each of these� folders,� trying to make a group not exceeding 10-20.
This way� my submissions will contain images that are visible (as most recent) in a wider range of categories.
Remember� that some of� the main sites give priority to the last pictures submitted, so it?s a good idea to continuously send them new images in small heterogeneous groups.
This was the general idea which is behind my work, but keep in mind that there are 4 other main aspects that I will show you now.
1.�Keywording: if you want your pictures to be found you need accurate keywords to be associated with. Instead of thinking about them there are many sites that can help you. Picniche is one of them. You put a Keyword Phrase in the search box and it will come out with several words. Pay attention to select only some of them, because they may� not be pertinent� to the context. Stocktagger is another great site and I think is more precise that picniche. The principle is the same and you have to experiment a little bit to extract good keywords. Yuri Arcurs, the best seller artist of the moment has a great visual keywording site that I use the most. Here you type a word in the search box and it will come out with pictures of your subject. You select the ones that are most similar to yours and click on ?accept chosen images and proceed to the selection of keywords?, sorted according to their supposed relevance. Now select the ones you think are right and it?s magically done.
2.�Pictures Cleaning and Improvements: first of all your photos must not contain any people or trademark object. So with Photoshop or another software like Gimp you have to remove these potential problems. After that it is better to improve your pictures as much as possible, so they can stand out from the mass of millions. Obviuously It?s up to your creativity and imagination but there are a couple of Photoshop filters that may be useful. I?m not a true expert but I often improve or even save some of my files with Noise Ninja from PictureCode (smoothly removes noise) and Topaz Adjust from TopazLabs. The latter must be used with attention because it could generate too much altered pictures. The trick in this case is to apply the filter and then fade it afterwards with the Ctrl-Shift-F keyboard shortcut. Try it and you can really improve your shots.
3.�Uploading: the last step is to submit your pictures. Basically you can do it either from your web browser or through ftp (istockphoto doesn’t allow ftp for all and is the only exception among the main sites). The second option is by far the best and allows you to transfer a great quantity of files without having to follow the transfer. You just put the files on a queue and make the computer do the hard work. At the end you?ll find your files on the destination site, ready for the final refinements. There are a plethora of ftp client softwares, some of them even free. Filezilla is of of the best option for the free branch, it is well known and continuously updated. In the shareware branch I spotted a great software called SmartFtp. You can try it for 30 days and then you pay about 50 bucks to keep using it.
4.�Finish Submitting: after you upload your file to the variuos microstock sites you have to make the final refinements directly on site. Typically you have to choose the right categories for each image, as well as assign permissions for sale and upload a model/property release. Each site has a separate approach to this last step and if you decided to submit your files to several agencies you could find trouble remembering the whole path. Months ago I decided not to go exclusive and to send pictures to almost all agencies, just to see by myself what could happen. Time after time I build a table where for each site there is a quick reference of the last steps to complete. I hope it can help you:�?�
SITE�PROCEDURE�
SHU�Images stats, Waiting to be submitted
BIG�Uploads, Pending your edit
CAN�My portfolio, Submit images
CLI�Media management
DEP�Files, Unfinished files
DRE�Contributors area, Management area, Select commercial pictures
FOTO�My works
MOS�My profile, Upload, Publish
POL�My profile, Edit image
123�Sell images, Upload, Continue, Ftp settings / Check upload results
CRE�Upload images, Attach model release-Review and submit
CUT�Uploads, Process ftp uploads, Submit
FEA�Manage portfolio, My new images, Look for not submitted pictures
GRA�My account, Manage portfolio
MOO�My collection, Edit every single image
MYS�Portfolio, Process ftp files
PAN�My Panther, My images, Image overview, My images, Image Upload Ftp/Psm
PIXM�Sell photos, Unfinished
SCA�Photographers, Upload images, Transfer files from my ftp account
VEE�YourName, Profile, Contributor, Workspace, Prepare and submit
YAY�YourName, Uploading
See more of Giovanni Gagliardi’s work at her site www.gagliardipictures.com.
Post from: Digital Photography School
Full story at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalPhotographySchool/~3/ryMxZbrIEQM/tips-for-microstock-photography
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Once again, the Photography Blog has been handing out reviews of today’s cameras and it seems that pocket-sized PowerShot cameras from the G series are usually among the ones that get highly favored. At least, that’s what Engadget says anyway. This time, the Canon PowerShot G12 is the camera of interest, succeeding the previously released G11.
Furthermore, the G12 carries the same 10 mega-pixel sensor, 5x zoom lens and set of full manual controls featured in the last model. However, it’s also packing new specifications such as a 720p24 video recording mode with stereo mics and an HDR mode. According to Engadget, these new features along with some other improvements were enough for the G12 to impress the Photography Blog reviewers, who consider this camera to be a very good product. Thus, the Canon PowerShot G12 is priced at $499 for retail.
Tags: Canon, Digital Cameras, PowerShot G11, PowerShot G12
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Full story at http://www.image-acquire.com/unsurprisingly-the-canon-powershot-g12-is-highly-favored-in-its-review/
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The Sony Bloggie digital camcorder that we mentioned close to one month ago is now available for pre-order in pink and blue colors at SonyStyle.
These colors are only available with the 8GB model and the price tag is set at $200. Besides the new colors all the other technical specifications remain the same.
Visit SonyStyle for more details.
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Full story at http://www.image-acquire.com/sony-bloggie-digital-camcorder-in-pink-and-blue/
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