Tag: photography

Important Photography Suggestions for Fantastic Black and White Photographs…

March 14, 2012

countdowntowednesday.com3/14/12

I found this great article for shooting in black and white, I hope you enjoy it!  (click on the link above to see the full article)

In this report, we’ll examine out numerous critical photography tips for snapping shots in black and white. Black and white photographs typically are portrayed as being a breathtaking digital photography kind as they rather simply just are probably to share emotions which couldn’t be accomplished inside a color picture…

How to Get Your Photos Explored on Flickr – Improve Your Chances by Performing Some Simple Actions

March 4, 2012

Flickr ExploreThe “Explore” function in Flickr showcases the top most interesting photos or videos, for a given day. There are thousands of photographs uploaded on Flickr every minute – millions of images each day. Still, in each 24-hour period only the best 500, “most interesting or interestingness” uploaded images are “Explored”. These images are chosen through a secret algorithm only known by the folks at Flickr. Just the sheer number of photos uploaded makes it very challenging for your images to be Explored and diminishes your chances. But, do not lose hope! I’ve had 68 photos Explored and I’m going to explain some ways for you to increase the odds of having your photos showcased.

 

7 Tips to increase your chances of getting your photos Explored

1. Make sure to take technically correct, creative, high quality photos. Do not upload too many images; a maximum of 5 per day will be more than enough as long as they are your best 5. You want to make sure your photos get noticed and not lost in the shuffle.  I normally don’t upload more than 1 or 2 at a time.

2. The photos that you upload must be deemed interesting in order to be showcased. This occurs when people tag your photos and comment on them. Comments and photos tagged as favorites by others will increase the chances your photo will be qualified as “interesting”. Moreover, photos that users select as a favorite seem to help your chances of your photo being Explored. You should tag your images with keywords so that other Flickr users can find them and comment on them, this also helps search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) find your photos. Users have the option to search photos by keyword, so this can be extremely valuable.

3. You can also choose your favorites from other people’s photos and comment on theirs too. When you do so, you increase your chances of being noticed and your photography viewed. Usually people reciprocate by viewing your photo stream and may comment and favorite your photos.You will help others, your photography will be recognized and you might make new friends.

4. Post your images to appropriate groups. Be careful not to spam, but stay participative. Show that you are active and involved. However, do not post the same image to more than 5 groups because this will affect the chances of your photo being Explored. Also, be sure to post your image to groups relevant to your photograph. For example, don’t post a picture of a car to a flower group.

5. Be friendly and generous with your comments, Flickr is first of all about sharing our passion for photography.

6. Avoid re-posting the same photo over and over again, this will be counterproductive and can affect your credibility, this will almost guarantee that your photo will never be Explored.

7. It is not a good idea to post your photos to groups that require you to comment or favorite other photos in the group as a condition of posting to that group. This can have a negative impact on your chances of your photo being Explored.

Now that you know what to do and what not to do on Flickr, you are one step closer to getting your photos Explored. Keep these tips in mind the next time you have that great photo you want to share with the world.

Photoshop CS6 – New Content Aware Features

February 16, 2012

Looks like there are going to be some amazing new features in the upcoming release of Photoshop CS6. The video shows a couple of really neat features around content-aware.

 

Nikon D800 Announced

February 7, 20121 Comment

Nikon D800Since I’m a Nikon shooter and I currently use the D700, I’m excited to see the next generation announced by Nikon.  Some of the new features I’m motivated about  included in the D800 are the 36.3MP FX-format CMOS sensor, Full HD 1080p video at 30p and the built in HDR feature.  The price is less than I was expecting too, $2,999.   One thing I am concerned about is the number of pixels they are jamming into the sensor and the effect if will have on the output.   This will definitely be on the top of my list as my next purchase, but I want to wait and see some of the real world photos with all those pixels before I take the leap.

Looks like just over a month for the release.

Here are some highlights from the Nikon press release for the D800.

  • High resolution 36.3-megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor (7360 x 4912 resolution)
  • 91,000-pixel RGB Matrix Metering System 3D Color Matrix Metering III
  • Advanced Scene Recognition System
  • Improved 51-point AF system for images with amazing sharpness, color and clarity
  • Full HD 1080p video, such as full manual control, uncompressed HDMI output, and incredible low-light video capability
  • Nikon’s latest EXPEED 3™ image processing engine
  • Wide native ISO range of 100-6400, expandable to 50 (Lo-1)-25,600 (Hi-2)
  • New enhanced auto white balance system that more accurately recognizes both natural and artificial light sources, and also gives the user the option to retain the warmth of ambient lighting
  • In-camera High Dynamic Range (HDR) image capture
  • Video including Full HD 1080 at 30/24p and HD 720 at 60/30p
  • Dedicated headphone jack for accurate monitoring of audio levels while recording. Audio output levels can be adjusted with 30 steps for precise audio adjustment and monitoring
  • The chassis is constructed of magnesium alloy for maximum durability, and is sealed and gasketed for resistance to dirt and moisture
  • Dual memory card slots for CF and SD cards, and offers users the ability to record backup, overflow, RAW/JPEG separation
  • Shutter has been tested to withstand approximately 200,000 cycles, and the camera also employs sensor cleaning

Price and Availability
The Nikon D800 will be available in late March for the suggested retail price of $2999.95.* The D800E version will be available in mid April 2012 for a suggested retail price of $3,299.95.* For more information about these models, NIKKOR lenses and other D-SLR cameras please visit http://www.nikonusa.com.

Update 10/12/2012

As I’ve indicated in another post, I’m still contemplating buying the D800.  In the meantime to tide me over, I purchased a Fuji X100. 🙂  What a great camera and I just love the retro rangefinder look.  Watch for my first take on the X100 soon.  Anyway, my daughter’s boyfriend purchased the D800 and really likes the camera.  He primarily uses it for portraits and will be doing some wedding shoots.   The shots I’ve seen have turned out great and the resolution is nice though the files are huge.

Let me know if any of you have tried the D800 and your thoughts.  I’d also like to hear from folks that have both the D4 and D800.

 

Lightroom 4 Beta Released

January 10, 20121 Comment

I just noticed Adobe has released the Lightroom 4 Beta.  I’m excited to check out the new features.Adobe Lightroom logo

Here are some of the highlights that you can do with the new Lightroom 4 Beta.  If anybody gives it a try, let me know what you think.

  • Bring out detail in highlight and shadows.
  • Create photo books using automatic layouts or select from a variety of page layouts for a custom design.
  • Find, group, and display images by location.
  • Easily organize, view, and edit video clips.
  • Use new local editing tools for white balance, noise reduction, and moiré.
  • Ensure more accurate color in your prints and online images with soft proofing.

You can get a free trial version of Lightroom 4  HERE.

If you still need to upgrade to the latest released version of Lightroom 3, you can find it HERE.

Get your camera and take some photos today!

Jim

Abstract Architecture Photography

January 3, 20122 Comments
Back in early October 2011, I took a trip with my wonderful girlfriend to London and Paris.  I’ve been to both cities several times and have some wonderful photography to show for it.  As much as I love the wonderful old architecture of both locales, I was very keen on seeing and photographing the modern architecture of La Defense in Paris.  The area is much larger than I imagined and I could have spent a couple of full days there exploring.
Lately, I’ve been getting into abstract architecture photography.  I find it interesting the things you can discover in the viewfinder with a long focal length lens.
I think the trick is to try out different angles and perspectives.  Walk around the building or structure.  I find I do best with the camera up to my eye.
Here are a couple of shots I like:
La Defense Abstract
And the Grande Arche:
La Defense Grande Arche Abstract
Look for another post soon.
Jim

New Web Site – jmclarkphoto.com

January 23, 20110 Comments
JM Clark Photo Website

My Photo web site - JM Clark Photo


My new website is live! http://www.jmclarkphoto.com. I decided to make the move to Livebooks to save on cost, ease of posting new photos and now I can also sell prints of my photography.

It’s still a work in progress, but take a look and let me know what you think.

Until next time!
Jim

Panoramas

July 21, 20090 Comments

Certain places just beg to be reproduced panoramically.    You just can’t do some scenes justice with a normal single frame photograph.  I’ve always been interested in panoramas, something about them mesmerizes me.  I guess it makes me feel like I’m experiencing the scene like I did when I was there.

There are a number of methods for taking the shots and probably just as many more methods of stitching the photos together.

You can take panoramas handheld, with a level tripod or with a special tripod head designed specifically for panorama photography.  Nodal Ninja and Really Right Stuff both make panorama heads and I’m sure there are numerous others.  These can be expensive, as with most camera equipment, but produce superb results.  The advantage is the camera can be set up perfectly level and the nodal point, optical center of the lens, can be set.  The Really Right Stuff site has a good explanation (http://reallyrightstuff.com/pano/05.html).  Currently, I take my panoramas with a tripod and a hot shoe bubble level, it seems to work fairly well, but I will eventually purchase one of the panorama heads.

I’ve used several panorama stitching software applications including PTGui and Photoshop.  My favorite is a free program developed by Microsoft Research named Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor).  You can download the program at he Microsoft Research site (http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ICE/). I recently used this program to stitch together a handheld panorama of Lake Powell down in Arizona.  The panorama was a total of 6 photos, 2 rows of 3.   I took the pictures fairly quickly as we were about to head back into town.  I didn’t really think it would turn out as well as it did.  As a test of ICE I renamed each photo and opened them out of order just to see if the program could figure out which photo went where.  A couple of minutes of processing later and out came a perfect panorama.

You can see a larger version here.

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Until next time!

Jim

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