April 4, 2008

<<Click To Listen – Photography Roundtable #6 PPS#44

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Todays Panel…
Michael Anderson
~ Michael Anderson Photography

Gavin Seim
~ PhotographyTools & Effects

Kerry Garrison
~ L7Foto.comL7 Studios

Dennis Zerwas ~ DZ Photography

 

Show notes
Roundatble #5 General Forum Discussion
Photography Contracts Discussion
Photo Gear Insurance Discussion

Lightroom 2 beta is looking cool. Get it here! Photoshop Express is up an running. Strobist had a funny April fools article. And there’s a Burn & Dodge Tips video at Seim Effects.

PSD Tuts has some amazing Photoshop tutorials. A forum member posted test shots from his Nikon D3. And ShowIt Web is great for making slideshows.

Adobe has a prototype 100mp camera. Photoshop Express had a crazy license agreement that has been fixed. Photo Me metadata editor is full of info.

Picks of the week…
Gavin’s is Rice Studio Supply
Dennis’s is WHCC Press Books
Mike’s is Animoto Slideshows.
Kerry’s is Lightroom Enfuse.

Podcast subscription feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/prophotoshow

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April 2, 2008

Lightroom 2

Just about to retire for the night until I read Terry White’s latest post over at Terry White’s Tech Blog. Adobe has released Lightroom 2.0 as a Public Beta and is now available to download. Check out Terry’s Lr 2.0 Beta post for a great explanation on how Lightroom 1.3 and the 2.0 Beta will coexist. Download it here at Adobe Labs Here are some of the new features in this Beta version:

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March 28, 2008

photomatix48.gifHDR Soft, the maker of the popular Photomatix Pro has just released version 3. For HDR junkies Photomatix is a great tool, giving much more function over Photoshops built in tools for merging images to HDR.

Version 3 is even a free update for version 2 owners, and from what we can tell so far, it’s a nice update. Improved interface and some cool new features shape up to be another solid offering from HDR Soft.

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March 28, 2008

aperture2.jpgApple has released Aperture 2.1, and it sports a cool new plugin architecture.

The new version comes with a an Apple Burn & Dodge plugin, that does B&D, blurring, and more. There’s also support for other plugins like Noise Ninja, Viveza, and more. Sounds like third party devs will be able to make plugins similar to the way they do now in PS.

It seems aperture is getting into the pixel based editing territory with Aperture. Look out Adobe!

Still no presets from what we can tell, but when Apple catches uo in that area they’re gonna start looking pretty good. Of course Aperture is Mac only still, but if they ever make this for Win/Mac, Adobe may have a run for it’s money.

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March 26, 2008

wedding image

 This weeks quick tip has more to do with the business side of wedding photography than the technical side.  Where I’m located, it seems that most couples book their wedding photographer about six months to a year out from the wedding date.  Newer wedding photographers might book more weddings in a the “less than 6 months” range whereas your big time superstar wedding photogs book up 2-3 years in advance.  The point here is that it’s a long time to be in a business relationship waiting for the big day to get here.  

 

It’s a good idea to check in with your clients on a regular basis.  It sounds like common sense but too many photographers relax once they have the signed contract and retainer check in hand. Why not use this time to get to know your clients better?  Checking in with them at the one year, six months, three months, and finally one month mark prior to the wedding will strengthen your relationship with your clients.  By doing these timely “check-ins,” you will be able to stay informed as to the progress of the wedding planning as well as updated information pertaining to the photography.  But more importantly, the client will appreciate your thoroughness.  This shows your clients that they are not just a paycheck too you but people you are genuinely interested in providing the best possible service and in turn, the besy possible product (images.)

 

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