February 24, 2009

alan-hutchingson-sIn an effort to try and produce more quantity and variety on the website I’ve been doing some recruiting for new writers.

The first is Alan Hutchison. He’s an award-winning photographer based in Scotland who has been taking photographs since he was 6 years old and even had his own darkroom at the tender age of 11. You can learn more about him on the about PPS page.

You can find Alan’s work at www.alanhutchison.co.uk or hook up with me on Facebook. Stay tune for more great content and more variety from our new writers. Welcome to the PPS team Alan.

by Gavin Seim:


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February 24, 2009

Midnight Seattle: Seattle SkylineClick the image for a large view. Click here to see the full resolution zoomify version:

I recently went on a trip to Seattle. One of my missions was to shoot the skyline at night and in HDR. Above is the result. It’s a 41.7 megapixel Panoramic photo of the Seattle skyline from the Space Needle to the Black building. Naturally I’ve re-sized the version above to make it accessible, but if you click on it you can see the large version. It must be seen big to be appreciated.

This piece is not finished yet, but will be officially released in the future. If you’re interested in getting one of the editions you can contact me. I plan to offer the feature piece as a large ultra limited edition. Probably 10-12 feet long.

For the photographers among you, this was made from 4 images taken late at night from my Canon 5D MK2. I used a Canon 70-200 2.8 at around 160mm on a tripod and shot 3 image 2EV brackets. Working on them individually I rendered the primary HDR’s with Photomatix Pro, then used PTGUI to stitch them together. I’ll post a more complete article once the final is done… Gavin

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February 19, 2009

Click To Listen>>  Photography Podcast. PPS #55
Review in iTunes, or Vote on Podcast Alley
Subscribe in itunes

Today’s topics: Pet Photography
Host: Gavin Seim
Special Guest: Paul Walker

pet-photography

Notes, Deals & Links:

Podcast #55 forum discussion:

– Time Index 0:00. We start off with quick news and PPS updates.
– Time Index 7:00. Paul joins us for an informative talk about pet photography, pretty much from A-Z
– Time Index 1:24:57. Show ends. Join us for some general business and photo talk in the after show.

OnOne Software is giving listeners 20% off, good till Feb 28th. Use Promo Code PRPHT2

Photomatix Pro from HDR Soft. Save 15% with code PPS15

Seim Effects. Save 15% with promo code PPS

Follow Gavin on Twitter.

Colbert video about Amtrak photographer

Paul’s Pet Photography Workshop.
Shooting Animal Companions. 2 Day workshop.
May 19-20 2009 In New York

Check out Paul’s book. Pet Photography Now

More talk about online proofing coming soon, including updates on Smugmug.
Smugmug
, Zenfolio, Exposure Manager, Instaproofs, Collages. Even install your own with somethihg like Pictures Pro.

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February 13, 2009

Most of us know about print templates in Lightroom, but the cool secret is that you can make multi image page layouts too.

This article over on Seim Effects give the details, as well as a set of FREE layout presets to get you going. I’m pretty stoked about the new possibilities of making multi image layouts right from Lightroom. While it won’t replace In Design for my full scale albums, it’s so fast at making quick attractive layouts for things like Press Printed Books. Check it out.

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February 10, 2009

This weeks cool product is the Itoya Art Profolio series. I really like these for presenting and storing prints. They solve the problem of displaying images in an easy and portable fashion. Having images in print simply makes a better impression than looking on a screen.

Profolio’s come in various styles, but the bottom line is that their a reasonably priced simple way to present your work. Coming in a broad range of sizes such as 5×7, 8×10, 11×14, and even 13×19 (which is the odd print size that comes out of my Canon Pro 9000 Printer).

Here’s a few available styles and some Amazon links. I also found them on B&H Photo.

Standard Art Profilio: This has a simple hard plastic cover with plastic sleeves inside. It’s not the most finished and while I would not sell it as a client album, but it’s simple and clean looking for a REALLY low price. This is basic presentation that’s inexpensive enough to double as print storage.

itoya-profolio
Itoya Art Profolio Std from around $7

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