During that same presentation, Steve may have unwittingly ended the debate about HDR photography. It’s now part of iOS 4.1.  Apple just put HDR photography in the hands of the masses. Some of us may still sit in dark rooms, blending our exposures like some alchemist, but that’s no longer necessary. Anyone can do HDR now.  They don’t need Photomatix, Photoshop, or any of the arcane tools we use. Instead, people can whip out a phone from their back pocket, grab three exposures and see the result – all on a phone.

HDR isn’t a gimmick (as I saw on a photography forum today).  It’s a tool. People aren’t embarrassed to talk about it in photography message boards. Instead, they’re posting dazzling images that make other photographers jealous. I’m sure some die-hards will ridicule HDR until the day they die, but there have always been cranky people who can’t adapt.

Matt Kloskowski posted on his blog about the most frequently asked question at Photoshop World. That question wasn’t about LightRoom or Photoshop. It was about Nik Software’s upcoming HDR Efex Pro plugin. Matt mentioned that he taught three HDR related sessions at PSW. Just consider the demand for HDR knowledge if there were three sessions on HDR:

• A pre-conference day dedicated to HDR
• A regular PSW session on HDR
• A special session in the Expo hall on HDR

That isn’t happening just because Matt likes HDR.  Photoshop World, like most every other conference, is a business. You don’t waste class time on a subject that doesn’t have demand.

When I arrived at Mandalay Bay during the pre-con, I saw the HDR attendees out taking photos near the restaurant area and they all seemed to be smiling and enjoying the session. During the regular session, I was in the front row of a packed classroom.  When I walked the Expo floor and noticed Matt teaching HDR, he had another packed room. They want HDR in their toolkit.

Some people like to do HDR exclusively, and that’s their niche. Others like a variety of photographic techniques, and HDR may be one of them. During the HDR session I attended, R.C. Concepcion joined and shared his story about shooting portraits at Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando.  He packed up his camera and lighting gear, drove up to Orlando, and set out to make some nice shots. Sadly, the lights just weren’t doing it.  Convention center lights are some of the most wretched creations in the history of mankind, and his lighting gear wasn’t giving him the results he desired.

That’s when he switched gears and got his tripod out to take some HDR portraits. If you haven’t already seen those photos, check out this set on his Flickr page.  They are absolutely stunning. HDR was just another tool for him to use in his photography. Based upon what he shared with the class, it didn’t sound like he went there with the intent of making HDR portraits. There would be no sense in lugging all of that lighting gear. As it turned out, he found a way to combine his small flash and HDR to make some incredible portraits.  That’s the nice thing about having more than one trick up your sleeve.  Use what works in a given situation and get the shot. I wish I’d thought of it.

One of the events I attended at Photoshop World was APC’s HDR WalkShop. 30 photographers with tripods descended upon the Fremont Street Experience and confused the hell out of everyone else there. The registration filled up in less than 24 hours.   People jumped on this opportunity faster than a bell clapper in a goose’s ass. We had people show up ranging from first-timers to more experienced shooters. We had a great time, and I’m sure there were probably more folks who were disappointed because they didn’t get in before the group filled up.

When I read the comments today about HDR from people who referred to it as a gimmick or a fad, I didn’t get irked like I would in the past. Instead, I just realized that those are folks who are too obstinate to see the train running over their horse & buggy.  That makes me feel sorry for the horse.

I think part of the reason I enjoy HDR is still some of the alchemy used in processing images.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea that an iPhone can now take a photo that looks good in challenging light. It’s just that the options available to me when I blend exposures and finish an image provide additional creative opportunities that I find very pleasing. I’m still working on developing my own style, but it’s kind of fun to bumble around in a digital darkroom until I nail it down.

My own analogy of HDR these days is more akin to sculpture. My original brackets are like finding the right piece of stone or marble. The finished result won’t be readily apparent until it’s done. That probably sounds pretentious, but I’m OK with that. When I took the following shot, I had a bit of a grungy, contrasty image in mind. The word “steel” came to mind as I was shooting it, as though I wanted to make it look like a 50′s diner scene.  I have no idea why that thought popped in, but it swirled in the back of my mind until I came out with this result. I’m just glad I wasn’t thinking about pineapple.

HDR is here, my friends. It’s a tool to use when you want or need it. That’s the truth.

Free Concerts Nightly - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

Why do photographers write blogs? If all we wanted to do is share our photos, there are plenty of resources to accomplish that result. Some write to market their business. I write because I like writing and photography, so it combines two creative outlets into one.

While attending Photoshop World, I sat in a session including Scott Kelby & Matt Kloskowski appropriately titled Blogging for Photographers. Perhaps I was somewhat curious if I was doing it right.  Perhaps I was somewhat curious to see if I could do it better. At any rate, I’ll share some of the bullets that they presented and you can make up your own mind. Any comments of my own are in italics.

Why Blog?

• You become a publisher
• You build an audience
• You get to connect with people who have similar interests
• You are seen as an expert on your topic
• You will learn things from your audience
• Make money – note: Scott mentioned that some people make enough money from Google ads to make their car payment.

Blogging vs. Facebook/Twitter

note: The bullets about having more impact and reach than Facebook & Twitter are interesting. When you publish something on your blog, you reach every person who visited the site.  They come to you to get your message.  It’s different with Twitter, though. You may have thousands of followers, but how many of those people actually see your message at the time you post it? Certainly not all of them. More than likely, not even most of them. Facebook is much the same way – your message may get lost in the feed.  If the viewer isn’t ready when you publish, your message is lost.  This doesn’t happen with a blog.

The Secret to Success

• Be consistent
  • You must blog regularly (not necessarily daily)
  • At least 3 days a week
• How your blog looks matters
  • Get a great template. It’s gotta look cool – note: If you use WordPress (and you should), check out the commercial themes at WordPress.org. You can find some great stuff for very low prices.
  • Add images with posts – note: Scott mentioned it looks pretty bad for a photographer to blog without some images. Guess I’ve screwed that pooch a few times here.
• Everything you shoot, you blog
• Encourage comments
• Don’t feed the trolls
• Specialize in something
• Give something of value
• People love FAQs
• Do case studies
• List resources
• Interviews work very well – note: A comment about interviewing someone else is that it helps marketing. Your subject will likely link to your site regarding the interview, and you can link back. Mutual links, in turn, help build your page rank in search engines.
• Share personal stories
• Present your writing as you could normally speak. – note: In other words, don’t get pretentious with your writing if you aren’t pretentious with your speaking.  Use the same words you use when talking to someone. It should flow like a conversation.
• Find your blog’s voice
• Be honest.  Have an opinion
• Leverage Facebook & Twitter to drive traffic to your blog
• Offer to write articles for other blogs

Ways to Help Stick With It

Those bullets are the main notes that I took from the class, so let’s give credit to Scott and the other folks on the panel for this class. Something to keep in mind is that they presented this from the perspective of using the blog for your business.  I’m not in business, though. The following items are my own observations from my experience as an amateur photographer who likes to blog:

• Don’t regurgitate a press release and call it blogging. Cross-promotion is a good thing, but write your own content. Be original, even if you’re sharing someone else’s message. Tell us why you’re promoting this person, product or event. When I read the same press release on 12 blogs a day, I tend to wonder if I need to subscribe to all of those blogs on my Google Reader.
• Use WordPress.  It’s the best platform out there.  Almost every server host knows how to support it (they likely have an automatic installation), it’s free. There’s a huge development community that creates themes, plugins and other tools to customize your site.
• Be fair and consistent with comments people leave on your site. It’s your site and you make the rules, but apply them consistently so your users know what to expect.
• Schedule your posts. WordPress lets you create posts and schedule them to display at a future date and time. Just remember, it’s based upon the server’s clock, not your computer. Here’s an example from my schedule for this post:

Wordpress Schedule

Scott and the others stressed consistency. If you stop posting on the schedule you initially setup, your readers may stop coming back to your site. When they’re gone, they’re gone.  As I sat in the class and listened to those words, I couldn’t help reflect on the irony that I wasn’t updating my blog because I was at the conference learning that I should have updated my blog.

Sometimes you need to have a thick skin because the comments can get ugly. I haven’t really had problems like that here, but I’ve seen it happen on a number of other sites. People will say things in comments that they may never say to a person face to face. That’s why they gave the advice “don’t feed the trolls.”  You can’t win. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

I’ll close with one last thought. Have fun.  Enjoy your blog. It’s a good way to share with others and build a community, even if it turns out to be a small community. Sometimes it’s cathartic to open up and tell your story. Maybe you have some news that you just have to pass along. Whatever the case, be yourself and have fun with it.

Westscott Models - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

I’ll be honest, I’ve never been a fan of continuous lights. Having used these Spiderlites at various workshops, I’ve never found them to put out sufficient light or have the punch of flash or strobe lights. When combined with my favorite lens for portraits – the Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8G VRI – and a moving model, it’s a recipe for fuzzy images.  Perhaps not every image is like that, but most of them are throw-away shots.

Still, the sets are beautiful, as are the models, and I figured that there must be a technique to getting decent shots. Other folks come away with some nice images and I want to do the same. I shot a few frames and chimped. Not bad, but let’s zoom in a bit. I have the center-button of my D700 programmed to quickly zoom so I can see what kind of quality I have in the shot.  Sure enough, most of them were fuzzy, like this one:

Westcott Model - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

That’s just not going to cut it. I varied my settings trying to get a faster shutter speed – pumped the ISO to 3200, opened the aperture to 2/8, made sure the VR was turned on, etc. I was getting shutter speeds ranging from 1/40th to 1/160th of a second. A few shots here and there were sharp, but most still had no comparison to my experience using flash and strobes. I decided to go visit the Westcott booth and speak with one of the sales reps.

That decision turned into the most disturbing experience I’ve ever had with a vendor. I mentioned my problem and showed some examples.  His response was to burst into laughter and openly mock me right in front of everyone in his booth on the show floor.  Some of his comments included:

• You just don’t know what you’re doing.
• You don’t know how to hold a camera steady.
• Maybe you need a tripod.
• You think a strobe is going to help you get a sharp image? No, it’s your fault your pictures are fuzzy.

During this conversation, I just felt humiliated and insulted. However, I also had this out-of-body experience while he was mocking me. As I stood there, accepting his insults because he wouldn’t stop, I imagined that he thought I was one of the worst photographers in the world.  Simultaneously, I thought he must have been one of the worst salesmen in the world. Who mocks a potential customer?

Look, I’m not perfect. However, I know from experience that I’m not as bad as this guy was claiming and I have my own photos to prove it. As you can tell from the bullets above, he laughed at the idea that a flash will help retain sharpness and eliminate camera shake in an image. That’s when I realized I was dealing with someone who was either an idiot or was completely deluding himself.

It’s a matter of physics. Your camera captures a reflection of light. Your shutter speed determines the duration of that reflection. If your subject is moving during the time your shutter is open, then the reflection it captures will result in a blur on the resulting image.  Simple physics. If you cannot reduce the time your shutter is open in order to capture a correct exposure, then you need to reduce the duration of light reflecting on your subject. That’s what a flash or strobe does and that, my friends, is why it eliminates the appearance of camera shake on your image. Short duration is why some people spend thousands of dollars on Profoto lights rather than Alien Bees.  Light is light. You can correct a white balance issue in post, but duration of light is something you have to get right at the moment you click the shutter. If you want a sharp image, you have to stop the movement of that reflection.  Westcott Spiderlites simply cannot do this because they are continuous lights. The salesman’s comments aside, a strobe WILL help you get a sharp image.

Let me give you an example.

Megan - © Copyright 2009 by William Beem

I shot this image using the same Nikon D700 and 70-200mm lens at ISO 200, F/8 and a shutter speed of 1/8 second. Why is this image sharp and the one posted above from the Westcott booth fuzzy? Because this one used a SB-900 flash in a Lastolite EzyBox to light the model. The reason I used such a slow shutter speed was to allow the ambient light time to creep into the exposure.  I knew that the flash would keep the details of the model sharp. This same image would fail with the Spiderite TD5 because of the duration of light on the model would show any movement she made, or any camera shake that I made. I tripod would help, but it’s cumbersome in a model shoot and still wouldn’t eliminate the model’s movements.

During the sessions at the Westcott Shootout booths, the models were moving nearly continuously.  That’s because there were always a dozen photographers or more. They had the odious task of trying to make everyone happy, make eye contact and change poses, etc. We can’t blame the models for the movement in this environment because they’re doing what they need to do. Basically, the only thing this shootout booth proved to me was how poor the Westcott Spiderlite TD5s are for portrait photography.

So how do you work with this lights to eliminate camera shake? The answer is to reduce your focal length. The axiom is that you need a shutter speed equal or faster than your focal length to eliminate camera shake. Since I liked to shoot at 200mm, I needed a shutter speed faster than 1/200th of a second.  That just wasn’t going to happen here unless I bumped up to ISO 6400, which introduced noise and eliminated sharpness and detail.

Another way to eliminate shake is to have more light. That wasn’t going to happen at the Westcott shootout because of the low power of the Spiderlites.  However, my D700 and 70-200 can get some sharp images in challenging light.  I know because I did it earlier that morning at the PSW Keynote:

Felix - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

Felix (100% crop) - © Copyright 2010

It’s not a model portrait, but I find it interesting that I got more detail in a concert setting than I did using a vendor’s lighting gear. For this shot, the stage lights put out enough to get 1/320th of a second. Felix is waving his arms from side to head and moving around for the show, and yet this image is sharper than most of the ones taken with Spiderlites. So is this image of Scott Kelby that I shared yesterday.

Scott Kelby Rocks! - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

Fortunately, I didn’t allow the encounter with the obnoxious Westcott rep to dissuade me from trying to resolve my problem. I went up to my room and exchanged my 70-200 for my 24-70. It worked much better, as illustrated by this image I’m now showing for the third day in a row.

Marionette - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

Here’s what I learned from my experience with these continuous lights. You need to work with shorter focal lengths because they lack the power and duration capabilities of flash and strobe. The benefit of these lights is you can see exactly where the light falls on your subject prior to the shoot. The drawbacks, however, are unacceptable to me. I like using my 70-200 because of the way longer focal lengths compress the subject. It’s a more pleasing result. If I have to use a shorter focal length to eliminate camera shake issues, then I sacrifice some creative choices. It also means I may have to work much closer to my subject or accept some other distortion issues caused by wide angle lenses.

Other photographers who were at these sets posted some really nice photos.  When I dig into those photos a little closer, I generally find two things.  Either they were shot with a shorter focal length (e.g., 50mm) or they don’t post a very large image. That latter issue is likely because the photo looks acceptable at a small resolution, but the imperfections begin to show up in larger sizes.

I have Nikon flashes and Elinchrom strobes.  I’m quite pleased with both. Though I thought there may also be room for some continuous lights in my arsenal, I now know that this is a product I won’t purchase because of its drawbacks. Perhaps I could use them for still life images, but the gear I already have will do that just as well. There is just one more piece of this story that convinced me to never purchase from Westcott again.

After I exchanged my lenses and tried using the 24-70, I encountered the same Westcott salesman again. I was at one of the model booths down on a knee with my camera to my face trying to compose an image. That’s when the sales guy deliberately walked right over to me, stood right in front of my, and spent a little time snapping some shots on his iPhone. All I could see was his ass in front of my lens for a minute or two.

Come on, this wasn’t some misunderstanding or accident. When you walk toward someone and you see them composing a shot, and then you stop with your butt right in front of them, it’s intentional. He turned around and walked off without a word or acknowledgement, though he looked right down at me.

Money goes where it’s treat well.  I’ve had excellent experiences with other vendors at the Photoshop World Expo. Mark Astmann at the Manfrotto booth has helped me a number of times and that’s why I buy Elinchrom lights, modifiers and other gear from his company. Hoodman USA makes great products and treats me with respect, so I’ve bought cards from them at every PSW. The nice folks at Artistic Photo Canvas have also earned my business and I plan on repeating with them plenty of times. My NAPP membership is due for renewal in a couple of months and they will most definitely get my return business.

It disappoints me to end up writing a negative review. I wanted to find to learn how to work with these lights, so I wrote a short note to Terry White asking when he was doing his demo.  He responded with the time and I expected to show up, ask a few questions and learn from a man who uses the product. However, I didn’t see a point in attending after my conversation with the salesman. When you mock me, berate me and show me your ass just because I came to you trying to succeed with your product, it’s not a path to earn my business. I will never, ever buy a product from F.J. Westcott again.

PSW Begins - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

About a year ago, I attended my first Photoshop World conference. Not only did I learn a great deal, but I had a blast doing it.  So much so that I decided to attend the next one in Orlando earlier this year. Once again, I learned a lot and had fun doing it. That was enough to convince me to return to the next one in Las Vegas. Guess what? I still learned even more and still had a great time doing it. That says quite a lot about the people who put on the show, the instructors, and the people who attend. I’ve been to many different conferences in my career, but Photoshop World (PSW) is clearly the best of them all. That means you’re quite likely to see me attending again in Orlando next Spring.

My day job has nothing to do with photography or design, so PSW happens on my vacation time. I pay for the conference and any associated fees.  I pay for my travel.  I pay for my meals. I almost paid for my hotel, but didn’t have to do it. You see, I am the Paris Hilton of Photoshop World. By that, I mean that I enjoyed living a luxury lifestyle without ever having done a thing to earn it. How does this happen?  I have friends who are degenerate gamblers. When they heard I was booking a hotel room, they told me to cancel the reservation and put me in a comped suite at Mandalay Bay. I spent a couple of days before the conference at Encore on my own dime, but my generous friends kept me in good shelter for the duration of PSW. They also stuffed me during lunch at Olives overlooking the Bellagio Fountains and at Nob Hill in MGM grand. It’s a strange feeling to be wined and dined without any expectation.  Make me wonder why the hell they like me enough to do all of that, but I’m very grateful for it.

During my last two visits to PSW, I attended a pre-conference course. This time, I didn’t do it because I wasn’t sure if I would be in town. When I finally decided to come a few days before the conference, the pre-cons were booked up. I’d thought about taking the HDR course with Matt Kloskowski and R.C. Concepcion, but I waited too long. After arriving at Encore on Sunday evening, I spent the next couple of days out shooting in Las Vegas. When I checked into Mandalay Bay on Tuesday and walked to the registration area, I found R.C. out with part of the HDR pre-con group and I had a mild case of envy – they were all smiling and appeared to be having fun. As we walked by each other, R.C. surprised the hell out of me.  He recognized me, smiled warmly and shook my hand.  The reason I’m surprised is because we really don’t know each other.  Perhaps he remembers my face from the last PSW, or because we both attended Scott Bourne & Trey Ratcliff’s HDR workshop in Tampa earlier this year. Either way, I was really impressed by the man’s gracious welcome. Seriously, the guy is really very cool.

The Forum Party & Tweet-Up

The folks on the PhotoshopUser.com forum got together for a party at Burger Bar in Mandalay Place, and then there was another party among the Twitter users in Mandalay Bay. It seemed like about 30 folks showed up and finally discovered how to talk to each other in person, rather than online. This really turned out to be a great thing for me. While I’ve done PSW alone in the past, I found new friends and almost always had someone from that group to share a conference session with me. Shortly after we settled into our tables, we were joined by Scott Kelby, Matt, and R.C.. They pulled up a chair across the table from me and chatted with us for a while. I’ll probably say this too many times during the review, but they were really great guys. We had a nice conversation and they all gave me the same advice – I need to buy Call of Duty for my XBox 360.

After dinner, we headed to the Tweet-up and joined an even larger crowd of folks. Nancy Masse @NAPP_News) is the voice of NAPP on Twitter and she rounded us all up for the party. I’ve missed this event the last couple of times, either due to being on the Photo Safari with Moose & Joe or because I had a deadline to edit photos from the Concert pre-con to try and win a prize. One of the advantages of not taking a pre-con is hitting the party. Folks setup some studio lights and take photos all night.

Scott Diussa, one of the instructors from the concert pre-con was there and we had a nice chat for a while.  The man travels quite a bit and I got some insight to his world, including his passion for music and aviation photography. Sharon Peterson came over to our table for a while, I think to escape some smoke, and joined the conversation.  I’d never met her before, but I’m glad she joined us – she just seems like a wonderful woman. A bit later, Moose Peterson came along to join her. Do you recall that  warned you I’d say too often that people were really great? Moose didn’t disappoint, either. He politely introduced himself and reached out for a handshake – exactly the kind of man my parents raised me to respect. I follow his blog and training online, so I respect his abilities very much. It’s comforting to meet folks who exceed your expectations. Scott, Sharon and Moose made great company.

After that, I spent a bit more time just talking with my newfound forum friends. In fact, we closed the place down.  Everything was cleaned up and carted away before we finally left our little table for the evening.

The Photoshop World Keynote

Like most conferences, PSW starts with a keynote session to set the tone for the conference. I bought a Speed Pass, as I’ve done in the past.  A Speed Pass allows you to have preferred seating at the Keynote, each of the classes, and the wrap-up at the end of the conference. Not everyone wants to pay extra, but I’ve always been pleased with the opportunity to get up front. Unfortunately, there was a problem. Several of us with Speed Passes were standing right by the entrance waiting for them to call out for our early entry. It never happened, though. They just started letting people in, and that caused some confusion as to why we didn’t get the benefit we purchased. I asked the NAPP staffer inside why they didn’t call for us and he said they did.  I asked other Speed Pass folks and they said that they never heard anything until general entry. Once we got to the seating area, the front was filled.

Once again, I asked a man who was directing seating there about sitting in the Speed Pass area and he told me it was full. I mentioned that there wasn’t any notice, but all he could say was, “Well, I’ve been in here for an hour.  This area is full.”

It irked me. People make mistakes and I understand that. Clearly, some folks were let in early to fill up those seats, but they weren’t the folks standing by the door. Several Speed Pass users were with me and they were also kind of irked about it. it. Quite simply, you expect the benefit you purchase. However, that wasn’t really what bothered me the most. It was the fact that my concern was merely dismissed. Mistakes happen. A good rule for customer service is to acknowledge the mistake and apologize. I didn’t expect that he could fix the issue at that time, but I was rather nonplussed by being somewhat casually dismissed. It left me with the perception that this was my problem, not his.

There are some reasons I bring up this issue. It seems completely out of character for the type of customer service  have always experienced from NAPP. This is an organization that’s gone out of its way to provide excellent customer service in the past. Of course, then I realized that the person who dismissed me wasn’t a NAPP employee, but was one of the instructors – basically, a freelancer for the show. Perhaps he hasn’t received the same customer service training that the NAPP staff members receive.

I’d like to stress that this is the only issue I found during the show, or during the past three shows.  That’s quite impressive to me. There were no problems using my Speed Pass later, and I’ve always found NAPP staffers to be really friendly people. I brought up this issue because I’d like to recommend some changes for the next PSW:

• Be very clear about where Speed Pass users should enter. If you want them to come to a specific door, let us know in advance. When you announce it’s time for us to enter, be very LOUD about it.  There’s a large crowd outside and you need to ensure you’re heard when you make that announcement.
• Train your instructors and other folks who help so they know how to deal with issues and complaints. It’s easy to be nice when things are going well, but these folks need to know that paying conference members also like courtesy when things go wrong. A kind smile and apology for a problem can go a long way toward soothing someone’s feelings and, more importantly, protecting your brand. You’ve worked hard to build an image. Don’t let someone else destroy it with a dismissive attitude, particularly at the very start of the event. This is where you set the tone for the whole show. You don’t want that tone to be a negative first impression.

A big reason I bought the Speed Pass is because I wanted to shoot the keynote opening, and you just can’t do that from the back rows. Since I didn’t get the seating I expected, I figured I was justified in getting up to shoot the show from a reasonable distance, so I had a little fun.

Scott Kelby Rocks! - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

Last Spring, the Concert Photography pre-con was a lot of fun. The truth is, I wanted to shoot a band again and this was one of two opportunities to do it during PSW. The theme for the show was a rock event. They opened with a VH1 Where Are They Now video covering an old band – NAPP. As you can tell, it was a KISS parody with a Photoshop twist. Scott Kelby and Felix Nelson both played live. Dave Cross and Matt Kloskowski were on stage, but had some stunt doubles performing backstage (Tony Llanes and Scott Stahley, respectively). Not only did they sound great, but the stage was alive with lights and smoke. They had everything but explosions and it made for a fun song to shoot. I was behind Laurie Excel and briefly entertained the thought of shooting my own version of “Where is Laurie’s Hair?“, but I kept focused on the band.

Learning New Stuff

You can’t see everything. When you’re sitting in a classroom, you’re missing all of the other sessions. That’s why they give you a book – lovingly referred to as “the phonebook” – filled with course notes for the sessions you couldn’t attend. The trick is to decide what you have to see while you’re there. Last Spring, I focused almost entirely on the photography track. There’s plenty of Photoshop training available online, but first-hand knowledge is a good thing. It also had the advantage of being in the same room, so I really didn’t have to go anywhere to attend the next session.  Zack Aris, Joe McNally, Moose Peterson – they all came to me!

This time, however, I decided to split things up a bit. I started with Zack Arias talking about Stuff You Need to Know to be a Photographer. It was technical, inspiring and terrifying all at the same time. I took copious notes in that session and almost every other one, so perhaps I’ll share more in a later blog post. Suffice it to say he packed a lot of good information in that first hour.

Matt Kloskowski - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

Next up was Matt Kloskowski with Five Ways to Select People. I realized I’d never attended one of Matt’s courses in my previous PSW conferences, so I made up for it this time. I think he was a presenter in at least three sessions.  Poor guy may have seen me in the front row and worried that I was stalking him. I was actually a bit concerned about this course, because I suck at selections.  Truly, I’m awful. Even when I select something, it seems like there’s a little ring around the selection after I make some change. No more, though.  Matt’s instructions were excellent and easy to understand. Techniques that were previous obscure enough to seem as black magic before now seem rather trivial to perform.  That’s a pretty good result for an hour’s worth of training.

The APC HDR WalkShop

I could bore you with a plethora of detail about everything I learned in my sessions, but I’ll break things up now and talk about some of the events. Wednesday night was pretty busy for me, as I signed up for an HDR event sponsored by Artistic Photo Canvas (APC) and lead by Brian Matiash.

APC HDR WalkShop - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

Quite simply, we loaded about 30 people into a bus and headed down to Fremont Street to spend a couple of hours capturing brackets for HDR images. Brian shared his knowledge and techniques with us, and was yet another cool guy to meet. During the ride down, Brian posited an idea that contradicted advice I’ve previously heard about HDR photography, and even heard later during PSW. I’ve always heard to keep your camera in Aperture Priority Mode while shooting to keep it from changing the depth of field. It seemed to make sense, and that’s what I’ve always done. I heard it from Matt Kloskowski in his HDR course on KelbyTraining.com and from Trey Ratcliff during his HDR Workshop in Tampa. It had to be the only way, right?

Not so. Brian correctly pointed out that shooting in Aperture Priority affects how you meter the scene. To make sure you meter the right portion of your scene to get the middle exposure correct, you need to set it in manual mode. My immediate concern was that the Auto-Exposure Bracketing would change the exposure by affecting my aperture and/or shutter speed.  Apparently, that isn’t so. Bracketing in Manual Mode only changes your shutter speed, not your aperture.  Effectively, it controls the +/- exposures in the same way as Aperture Priority mode – by changing the shutter speed. You don’t lose control over your depth of field and you gain more control over your exposure by shooting in Manual.  Who knew?  Brian knew, and that was just one of the lessons he shared with the group.

We broke up and walked around Fremont, apparently confounding the local business owners and visitors alike. Imagine 30 folks with cameras on tripods suddenly showing up in your area. On the downside, it took us a while to spread out enough to get some images without another photographer and tripod in your scene.  I think we all screwed up some compositions for each other until we just moved far enough away.

Another thing we all shared was the questions from people around us. The security guy from one of the local nudie bars came up and asked me what was going on with all the camera, as did a few other vendors. A number of visitors asked the same question, which was then followed by questions about which camera they should buy.  One guy asked me which aperture he should buy.  I could only think to tell him “Apple.”  He didn’t get it.

Pioneer Club - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

The folks at APC were great hosts. They passed out t-shirts and discount cards for a future purchase, as well as holding a nice time at Border Grill after we got back for some free drinks and appetizers. APC is a pretty small company based in Florida, but they work on a grand scale. I had recently received my first canvas from them and appreciated their quality and customer service. Running their business and attending PSW pushed them pretty hard, but they did it all in great style. There were plenty of great examples of their work in the expo hall and that’s what earned my trust to give them a try. I’m definitely a satisfied customer and will return, so the HDR event was just icing on the cake for me. Try them out with your own images and see what I mean.

The PSW After-Hours Party

This turned out to be a very long first day. I’m tired, I’m sweaty and I’ve been lugging around heavy camera gear all day.  Still, I’m not going to miss this party. It had already started before our bus returned from Fremont Street, so I hurried up to my room after the APC cocktails to shower and change before hitting the party. Once I arrived at the House of Blues, the band was up and playing, the crowd was loving it and I immediately pulled out my camera and worked my way to the front of the room to start shooting.

Scott Diussa - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

One of the cool things about this party is that it’s all open for photographers. You don’t have to beg for access if you have a ticket. Come in the door and shoot as much as you want. The band is into it as much as the photographers.  They gave us all plenty of great moments to capture. More important than that was the fact that they’re just great players. I’m not just saying that because I’m kind of snobbish about musicians. It’s not because I’m great – I haven’t picked up my guitar in nearly four years. However, my brother Don truly is great. He’s more than great, he’s phenomenal. Growing up around him gave me an appreciation for the real thing. Scott Kelby and his bandmates delivered. They also brought up Scott Diussa, one of the instructors for the concert pre-con, to play guitar. That’s him ripping through the notes in the image above.

It seems like I was sweating again in no time, but I didn’t care.  There was a cool band in front of me and I had access to shoot. Front of the stage, the left or right, side-stage, from the back of the room over the crowd – I got it all. Hundreds of live concert images are just begging to see which ones I’ll pick.  It’s an embarrassment of riches and I wish I could shoot like this all the time.

Model Tableaus and Expos

Every conference needs an expo hall for vendors to show their wares. If you go, here’s a tip.  Some of them will drop prices on Friday to clear out inventory. Even if they don’t, there are often show specials to save you money compared to regular prices. I like to buy my Hoodman CF cards at this show because I save $50 apiece and this show was no different. I love these cards. The first reason is because they’ve never had a reported case of corruption, so I trust that my images are safe. The second reason is that they’re fast – 675x fast. During PSW this trip, I filled up three 16 GB Hoodman cards and one of my old Kingston 133x 8 GB cards. When it came time to download images from the CF cards into Aperture on my iMac, it took longer to download the one 8GB Kingston card than all three of the Hoodman cards combined!  That’s some serious speed. I’m using the Hoodman FireWire CF card reader for all of my downloads, so the only variable to affect performance was the card itself. When I was shooting the keynote and band at the after-hours party, I never once had to stop and wait for my buffer to empty out before I could shoot again while using my Hoodman cards. I won’t buy anything else. I just wish I could afford the 32 GB versions.

One of the big draws at the Expo Hall is a set of tableaus provided by Westcott. They contract with a local modeling agency and bring in some really great scenes to support the lovely models. They do this to show off their TD5 Spiderlites. Honestly, I’m not a fan of those lights, but it makes sense to use continuous lighting in this kind of circumstance. Could you imagine trying to pass around a PocketWizard to use strobes in this kind of crowd?

Westscott Models - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

That’s the crowd on a light period. Imagine the scene with three times as many photographers, and many of them don’t want to leave once they work their way up to the front of the pack. I’ll write a separate post on my experience with this situation, the lights, and dealing with the vendor rep. For now, suffice it to say that my only other negative experience happened with the vendor and I will NEVER give any of my business to Westcott again.

The models, however, were lovely and did their very best to accommodate the crowd. As I showed yesterday, people went home with some really cool photos from this part of the expo hall.

Marionette - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

Wrapping it Up

I am not a man who wins at games of chance or contests. I don’t expect to win anymore. That’s why I’m surprised that I won a number of things at PSW.  Here’s the list:

• I played video poker and won $5. You may not think that’s much, but I had to cash out once I got $5 ahead just so I could leave happy.  I count this as a win.
• I won a DVD from Zack Arias (One Light).  To win, I had to ask Vanelli what was in his shorts.
• I won a DVD covering retouching techniques from David Cuerdon at his excellent session on Fashion Portraits. That was because I remembered that Shift+ cycled through various Blend modes in Photoshop.
• I won an APC print of a photo that Alan Hess took of Scott Kelby during the first concert pre-con. You had to be present to win.  I was, but the person they drew before me wasn’t. Perhaps I’ll mount that one here in my home office so I can imagine Scott Kelby questioning my decisions when I process images.  ”You’re going to use Pinlight blend mode on that shot?  Seriously?”

Despite my long-winded account of the event, I left out a ton of stuff.  My plan is to go into a bit more detail of specific portions of the conference in other posts this week. What I hope you can take away from my review of PSW is that it’s really a great event full of nice people and great information. Yes, I had a couple of quirks, but that’s it.  Just two things.  Certainly nothing to ruin my experience or take away from all the good things I encountered. When you consider all the complexity of putting on a conference for thousands of people, I’m amazed that NAPP continues to produce such an excellent experience twice a year. I wish I could be around this group of people all year long. Next Spring will be here before you know it, though.  See y0u in Orlando.

In the mean time, those of you in the USA can enjoy your holiday weekend and I’ll start work on sorting things out and catching up on laundry today. Until I can post in a bit more detail, consider this a tardy version of Photo Friday.

Marionette - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

I’ve noticed other photographers pass out cards as a way to stay in touch, let others check out their web-site, or perhaps collaborate on a project in the future. Quite a few of those cards ended up on my desk and they all have something in common.  They suck.  Seriously, they’re just flimsy, tacky and cheap. That’s not the kind of impression I want to hand out to someone.

One person gave me a MOO card, though.  It wasn’t a business card, but one of their mini cards. I liked it right away because it was printed on very sturdy cardstock and you could tell this thing was meant to last longer than the other cards I’ve seen. At the time, MOO didn’t have regular business cards. They started doing those a little while back, and it was the first company that came to mind when I decided to create my own.

I’m not disappointed. MOO cards come double-sided on much sturdier stock than any other cards I’ve seen.  You can upload photos or pull them in from sites like Flickr, Facebook, SmugMug or Etsy. The opposite side with your text can be another image, a text layout you input on a web-form, or a combination of both. I was able to upload the header on my web site for a logo and input text with my web site, e-mail address and Google Voice number.

There was no issue with cropping my images to fit the cards. Each of them appears in standard format and I think they look great. This is the kind of product I want to hand out when I make  a first impression with someone. It just feels solid and looks wonderful. It gives the recipient an example of my work, contact information, and I hope a sense of confidence that I never received from the flimsy cards passed out by other photographers.

The best part is that it’s quick and inexpensive. A box of 50 cards is $22. You can have them printed and shipped in a week. If you want rush shipping, they’ll accommodate you for an additional cost.

You don’t have to take my word about the quality, though.  They’ll ship you a free sampler pack of ten cards with your own images. That gives you the chance to see how your work looks on the cards before you commit.  That’s not something I’ve seen offered from other printers. There are other products available that I haven’t tried, but I’m willing to use them on faith after experiencing the business cards. I’d give these cards my highest recommendation.

Sunset Flyer - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

1941 Cadillac Series 62

A few of those blog authors recently mentioned writer’s block as an issue for not posting something. It happens. There wouldn’t be a name for writer’s block if a number of writer’s didn’t feel blocked. I think that’s why I see so many press releases being repeated on blogs. They don’t get any financial reward from pimping the product. It’s just easier to re-hash a press release than it is to think up some original content.

My problem isn’t coming up with original content. Instead, I have to deal with finding the time to develop that content to my satisfaction. The ideas are all over the place, though. You can take anything and make it a topic. Deal with writer’s block by writing about writer’s block, perhaps. Take any part of your life and explore it.

Just today, I considered:

• Writing about writer’s block
• Writing about message board discussions
• Writing about your First Amendment rights (because of the message board discussion)
• Writing about people who lack the ability to analyze and think beyond surface impressions (don’t ask)
• Writing about the inaccuracy of common knowledge
• Writing about new HDR software from NIK (but I don’t pimp product releases very often)
• Writing about the need to understand the exposure triangle
• Writing about the need to practice, make mistakes, and practice some more
• Writing about my favorite subject
• Writing about over-processed images
• Writing about hypocrisy of whining about over-processed images and then over-processing them yourself

I could have written about any of those things. If you still don’t feel it and you just can’t write a word, then do what I do.  Dig out a photo, process it, and slap it on the blog.

Rachelle - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

Timescapes: “Death is the Road to Awe” from Tom Lowe @ Timescapes on Vimeo.

Alina - © Copyright 2010 by William Beem

Do you remember this photo? I just posted it a week ago. It’s probably my favorite image from the day and I elected to give it a very light finishing in photoshop.  That means I added a slight bit of contrast with Curves, I brightened her eyes and added a bit of contrast to her iris, and then I brightened her teeth and highlights in her hair. She’s a beautiful model and I didn’t feel like she needed a heavy-handed manipulation. This was my photo and how I intended to present it to the world.

Shortly after I posted this image, I received a note telling me, “Nice shot but you have to fix her eyes.” OK.  Everyone has an opinion. Let’s say that I was mildly annoyed because I’d already attended to the eyes in a manner that suited me. Then I found the next message from the same person:

I’ve been spending time on the fiip.net site. There are some GREAT senior and portrait photographers there.

I used your picture and tried to do a couple of techniques I see on pictures posted there.

I sharpened and whitened her eyes, removed the lines under the eyes and gave a slight surface blur on the face.

Again, it’s a great shot.

Along with that message was my photo with his edits:

Now I’m no longer mildly annoyed. Instead, I’m pissed. I kept my reply simple by stating that I didn’t choose to employ those edits because I didn’t believe she needed them and that I thought my approach was a bit more natural. In the past, I’ve made the same edits that this guy made. Over time, my tastes have changed and I’m less pleased with this look.  However, it isn’t as much about the look he employed that upset me as it was the notion of taking my image – without first asking permission – and making these changes.

When I shoot images, I register them with the U.S. Copyright office before I post them. Technically, you have a couple of months to register them after publication, but you have to specify the difference between published and unpublished work.  I may be wrong, but I think that would require a separate registration fee and double the cost of registration.  That’s why I hold back from posting until I’ve completed the registration. Now, what good does that registration do in a case like this? Not much, if anything at all.  My concern here isn’t about someone who used my images to make money (so I could cash in on their ignorance!).  Instead, it’s about the etiquette of taking someone else’s photos and changing them.

When we post something on the Internet, we know that someone is going to take it. If it’s for personal use, I generally don’t have a problem with it. If you see one of my photos and you think it would make a nice wallpaper, I don’t mind if you use it. Try selling it or using my photos to make money without a license from me and I’ll get miffed and come after you. Most legitimate businesses won’t do something like that because it’s not worth the headache.

This, however, is a different issue. I do not honestly believe that the person who made the changes had any malicious intent. I think he was just ignorant of the concept of asking before taking. That shows how ubiquitous the problem has become – a man who makes his living as a photographer has no qualms about taking someone else’s work and modifying it. To my mind, that’s just wrong. Had he asked me if he could have used this image to demonstrate another look, I may have well granted permission and we could’ve discussed the pros and cons from there. Instead, it’s like coming home to find your neighbor went into your house to get some eggs. No real harm done, but I still feel slightly violated.

My audience on this blog is primarily other photographers. When I look at the incoming links, it’s generally from another site related to photography. My message to this community is pretty simple. It’s the same thing you probably learned growing up. If you want to use something, ask first. It’s not that hard. It’s just the courteous thing to do.