PHOTO PRO TIPS

I think one of the most challenging things about being a commercial photographer is the marketing. It’s ironic because we are in a commercial world, yet marketing to our audience seems so voodoo and difficult. In my experience, no matter how good you are or how cool you are, if no one knows about you, then you’re never going to get work. I’ve done many things and read many opinions about what works. I thought I’d share what has worked for me. (more…)

I’ve been a Windows user for a long time now. At first, it was a cost issue. Mac’s are so much more expensive than PCs (you gotta pay for all that marketing ). Then it just became habit. I prefer the Window’s interface over Apple’s. I like the right-click, ALT keying through menus, and having an application background. I used a Mac for a year at a part time job and I practically got carpel tunnel syndrome from clicking everything. Plus that thing would crash all the time.

Anyway, I recently upgraded my PC from 4GB to 8GB of RAM. What I didn’t realize when I did this was that I would need to run a 64 bit OS in order to take advantage of the extra 4GB of RAM. I was running XP Pro and was holding off on the Vista upgrade because I heard of so many issues. This seemed like a good excuse to make the leap.

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Welcome to Photo Pro Tips. This is an outlet for pro photographers to share, learn, and contribute. I am the owner of this site and also a professional photographer based in Oregon. I got into blogging with my business website and quickly realized I had more to say than just what clients I shoot for.

For example, the list below is something I’ve wanted to share, but didn’t feel it was the right place for it on my business website.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my little blog and please feel free to post your comments.

44 Totally Random Photo Tips for Every Pro Photographer

1. Get it in camera whenever you can. Photoshop time is expensive and can cause a drain on your resources.
2. Digital is way more forgiving in color balance than film. It can also screw you up if you don’t have a grey card shot to judge from.
3. Ctrl-Alt-~ will select your ¼ tones in Photoshop.
4. Use a sturdy tripod with a head capable of supporting twice you camera’s weight.
5. Join ASMP

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I don’t mean to brag, but Oregon is probably the best place to do a location photo shoot. I would say even better than California, unless you’re shooting models in bikinis and board shorts (the beaches are a little chilly here). I originally moved here for personal reasons; mostly looking a change of pace from the East Coast. But after living here for a couple years, I realized how fortunate I was to find a photographer’s dreamland.

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UPDATED: So, as Johnny Danger pointed out in the comments below, I didn’t upsample the 5D to match the native resolution of H3Dii in the original test article. I have added two new slides to illustrate this and it really shows how much better the H3Dii is compared to the Canon 5D. I’m still amazed that this little blog post gets about 100 unique visitors a day and is the #3 link when you do a Google search for h3dii.

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As you may have followed in my Daily Photoblog, I’ve been testing out the new Hasselblad H3Dii 39.1MP Back. The camera is just awesome and really fun to shoot with after being in 35mm format DSLR for the past 4 years. And the files I pulled off it were amazing. The image quality, sharpness, and dynamic range just blew my mind. But is it worth $30,000? Better yet, is it worth a $500/day rental versus a $150/day rental for Canon 5D?
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Lately, there’s been a lot of blog chatter about the finer points of selling microstock and how it’s a good idea. Well I, for one, want to start some chatter about how much of a bad idea it is.

Here’s a quote from a recent post at Photoprenuer.com.

“Take a Little Extra with Microstock
If the idea of spending your spare time drinking Champagne and eating salmon or chicken doesn’t thrill, then microstock could be a good alternative.

We talk about microstock a lot here because it’s an easy way to make your first image sale. Remember though that to get the multiple downloads and permanent customer base that top microstock photographers rely on, you need to shoot commercial images that sell, not offer your top artistic shots and hope someone will buy them because they’re nice.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that you can shoot microstock whenever you want. While top-earning microstock photographers shoot full-time, you can generate some useful extra income by shooting at the weekends and editing and uploading in the evenings.”

The whole mentality that you should sell your photos for less than a fair value simply because your a part time shooter is seriously flawed. Microstock is an awful business model. By selling your photos on sites like this, not only are you devaluing photography prices in general, but you are losing money every time you sell a photograph for way under what it cost you to make it.

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