Mar 10 2010

Time-Lapse Photography Inspiration

Category: In Motion — Ethan G. Salwen @ 2:03 pm

For some serious inspiration in time-lapse photography, check out “12 Creative Uses of Time-Lapse Photography (and 4 Ways To Create It),” a post from “10,000 Words.”

Tracking flight patterns might seem fairly obvious, but then I never thought of using data from the FAA! The time-lapse documentation of the reconstruction of a Katrina-ravaged home is a great piece, and reminds of the time-lapse possibilities in documentary photography. Seeing a man age eight years in less than two minutes is bizarre, but is certainly idea-provoking. Of the 12 samples, my favorite is definitely the cross-country road trip, mesmerizingly shortened to four minutes. Nice!

Unfortunately, the “10,000 Words” post doesn’t deliver as much as I had hoped on the ways to create time-lapse photography, although there are a few links. The site’s previous entry also offers a few time-lapse photography tips and links, but nothing super substantial.

Are You Time-Lapsing?

Have you been bit by the time-lapse bug? Have a time-lapse video to share? Know of any instructional resources that are better than the ones featured in “10,000 Words”?

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Mar 08 2010

Black Star Rising: An Amazing (Not-Just-PJ) Photo Resource

Category: Resources, The Industry — Ethan G. Salwen @ 1:30 pm

AfterCapture_Blog_100308_BlackStarRising_1Sure, you know that “Black Star” equates to photojournalism, but did you know that Black Star hosts a Web Site stuffed full of truly valuable information for working photographers of all manner?

Well, I didn’t, and it’s my job to know. But (not that I should look for excuses!), perhaps my oversight of “Back Star Rising” (the Web site resource in question) came from the fact that photojournalists often seem so “out there” from what the rest of photographers are doing.

In any case, you don’t need this post to find the value in “Black Star Rising.” Just head on over there and take a gander.

If I’m assuming to much about your knowledge of Black Star, let me share a bit of the agency’s history, as explained by the site:

“The list of those who in the early years signed a contract with Black Star reads like a Who’s Who of photojournalism in the following decades: Walter Bosshard, Robert Capa, Ralph Crane, Herbert Gehr, Fritz Goro, Andreas Feininger, Ernst Haas and Philippe Halsmann, to name but a few.”

“According to photo historian Marianne Fulton, Life brought Black Star 30 to 40 per cent of its business. Black Star, in turn, contributed to Life becoming the most popular magazine in America for nearly three decades, with tens of millions of readers.”

You can see why I equated Black Star to photojournalism. And you will certainly see why Black Star Rising rises far beyond the needs of photojournalists alone. Here are a few recent blog posts:

• “Writing Your Photography Marketing Plan: Setting Goals.” By Matthew Kauffmann.

• “Get Trippy with Black-Light Photography.” By Jeff Wignall.

• “Eye on Image-Making: Sales Is Not a Four-Letter Word.” By David Weintraub.

This is good stuff!

AfterCapture_Blog_100308_BlackStarRising_2Regular categories include: Advice for Clients, Art of Photography, Business of Photography, Photography Law, Photojournalism, Stock Photography, Teaching Photography, Video and Multimedia, Video Blog Posts.

This is good stuff!

Did Black Star Get a Rise Out of You?

Presuming your not a photojournalist and also presuming that you ran to check out “Black Star Rising,” let me know what you think. Do you like the site? How does it relate to your specialty?

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Mar 05 2010

Still, Video and Social Media: Gail Mooney Will Open Our Eyes

Category: Creative Process, Photographers, The Industry — Ethan G. Salwen @ 10:30 pm

AfterCapture_Blog_100305_Opening Our Eyes_1“We are two people — a mother and a daughter — embarking on a journey around the world to document and film the stories of individuals — ordinary people who are following their own dreams, passions and ambitions and doing extraordinary things.”

This is from the Gail Mooney’s new website, “Opening Our Eyes: Global Stories About the Power of One.” As the site explains, Mooney — an accomplished documentary photographer and filmmaker — will be heading around the world with her daughter, Erin Kelly, to gather the material they need to create a feature length film.

This is a project worth keeping tabs on. For one thing, it’s Mooney’s latest personal project, which are always impressive, as she uses them to push her photography forward, both creatively and in terms of business.

“Opening Our Eyes” is particularly interesting to those of us in the industry because Mooney will be pushing her limits in terms of working in both still and motion, employing light and affordable equipment. In short, she will be heading into waters that many of us will heading into ourselves — still & motion — and she does so with the insights of an impressive background in traditional still and motion.

Mooney is in a perfect position to show us how to capture both great stills and motion, ensuring that both get put to the best use. (To see what Mooney’s capable of, check out her shorts for “The Delta Blues Musicians” and “Freedom’s Ride.”)

Freedom’s Ride from Gail Mooney on Vimeo.

This is not to suggest that “Opening Our Eyes” will be about photography for photographers. Hardly. As always, Mooney will focus on the story — on her subjects — focusing on the task of best communicating that story to the most appropriate audience. Continue reading “Still, Video and Social Media: Gail Mooney Will Open Our Eyes”

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Mar 04 2010

Jay Kinghorn: What’s a GPU and Why Should I Care?

Category: Technology Insights — Ethan G. Salwen @ 10:59 pm

AfterCapture_Blog_100304_GPU_1I’m currently considering which new Mac to buy, and so Jay Kinghorn’s blog post today was of particular interest. Kinghorn is a digital imaging educator who is always articulate and often ahead of the curve. If he’s ahead of the curve on this one, I’d better look into the GPU of my next purchase, not just the CPU.

GPU What?

“In most specifications, the Graphics Processing Unit, or GPU, is way down on the spec list and is rarely, if ever, considered by photographers looking to purchase a new computer,” Kinghorn writes. “This is likely to change by the time you purchase your next computer.”

Actually, truth be known, I’m on a limited budget and choices for Macs are few, so GPU appraisal might not factor into my purchase. However, truth be known, I’m pleased to know about the GPU, of which I will appraise, and of which Kinghorn explains the importance:

“GPU vs. CPU
“Traditionally, when we make corrections to our photos in a program like Photoshop or Lightroom, the application applies those corrections serially, one pixel at a time, until all the pixels in the photo are adjusted. This is the way CPU (Central Processing Unit) computations are made and is the current standard for most applications on your computer. Continue reading “Jay Kinghorn: What’s a GPU and Why Should I Care?”

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Mar 01 2010

Panoramic Photos and Videos on Steroids

Category: In Motion, Technology Insights, The Industry, Viewpoint — Ethan G. Salwen @ 12:05 pm
AfterCapture_Blog_100301_Panorama_1

Still from "Haiti 360º"

“Panoramic photos and videos and how to create them” is a great post that “10,000 Words” featured on February 17. The featured video panoramas — in which you can pan 360 degrees, zoom and pause all while riding on the car or head of a journalist — are truly incredibly, at least from a technological point of view.

As always with “Wow!” technology, I find myself asking, “What’s the point?,” or, perhaps less cynically, “What is a real, applicable use for this technology for working non-journalist photographers?”

While I couldn’t come up with a good, clear answer to this question, you should still really check out the “Wow!” technology featured in this post. After all, technological innovations always come before practical applications, and so my posing (let alone trying to answer) the “why?” question is probably inappropriate.

Wedding photographers may or may not be able to market panoramic videos. What’s important is to understand how quickly this technology is advancing. I myself was startled. It really is amazing. Continue reading “Panoramic Photos and Videos on Steroids”

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Feb 26 2010

When Frozen Professionally, Focus on Your Passion

Category: Business Strategies, Creative Process, Photographers — Ethan G. Salwen @ 9:18 am

Gail Mooney, commercial and documentary photographer and filmmaker, continues to inspire with her honest, insightful writing in her blog, “Journeys of a Hybrid.” The last paragraph of her February 22 post, “Standing on a 10 Foot Frozen Wave,” reads:

“So I looked out over the endless view of frozen waves and into the orange glow of the setting sun. For an instant I became fearful of where I was when I looked behind me and saw a deep crevice that I could easily fall into if I lost my footing. But then I looked ahead to the orange glow on the horizon and I felt hope and with that a sense of security because I knew where I came from and I have the heart and spirit to survive.”

AfterCapture_Blog_100226_Mooney_1

Mooney is finishing up a tale of recently photographing on frozen lake in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for a personal documentary movie project. She likens her experience on the ice to some of the issues she and other photographers has been facing professionally: Continue reading “When Frozen Professionally, Focus on Your Passion”

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Feb 24 2010

What is “Nature Photography”?

Category: Viewpoint — Ethan G. Salwen @ 1:03 pm

“Mr Rodriguez strongly denied that the wolf was a trained animal,” the BBC News reported on January 20.

Nonetheless Jose Luis Rodriguez was stripped of his first-place price for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the judges disqualifying him based on his subject probably being a “model,” even though they had already awarded Rodriguez first prize in October 2009 — out of 43,000 competition entries.

AfterCapture_Blog_100224_nature_1

Frankly, I don’t really care about the politics of this particular competition debacle. But the story grabbed my attention because — to me, before reading the article — the photograph of the jumping wolf rang out as staged.

I didn’t think, “The photographer staged this image.” It was just a gut reaction. Continue reading “What is “Nature Photography”?”

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Feb 22 2010

What’s Your Winning Difference?

Category: Business Strategies — Ethan G. Salwen @ 8:03 am

AfterCapture_Blog_100222_winning_1Thousands of people have told me that they would love to be a professional photographer. Very, very few ever will be.

As you well know, the reason that few photographer hopefuls will ever become professionals is because the competition is  stiffer than stiff and, um, it’s not that hard to make good images.

Of course, it’s not so simple to make good images consistently, and to do so on-demand and in a way that meets the exacting needs of various clients. It’s not so simple at all. But it’s still very doable. And this is why today’s photographers need to get beyond highlighting their image making skills.

Who cares if you have a stunning portfolio? So you make good images. It’s not that important. It’s a little important. But what’s important — and I mean really, really important — is what is your winning difference.

“What’s your winning difference?” I love this question, and it comes to me from reading Sonia Simone’s great Coppyblogger post titled, “Take 15 Minutes to Find Your Winning Difference.”

She jumps right in with this great start:

“The unique selling proposition (USP) is one of the cornerstones of marketing. There has to be a reason people do business with you and not someone else – a winning difference that sets you apart and makes you the only real choice.” Continue reading “What’s Your Winning Difference?”

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Feb 18 2010

Simon Carter on Rock Climbing Photography

Category: Creative Process, Photographers — Ethan G. Salwen @ 9:49 am

Yesterday I featured an amazing video by Simon Carter. Today, I point you to a second video featuring Carter, in which he talks (with an amazing, grounded calm) about exactly what goes into making great rock climbing images.

Both videos are featured in a Carter’s blog post yesterday, in which he gives the back story of the assignment.

Carter’s blog will be an RSS feed must for any photographers interested in rock climbing and what goes into making adventure images.

In this video, I love it when Carter talks about creating a “nice, stable platform to work from” — as he twists and turns in a harness tethered to multiple points on different cliffs. : )) Continue reading “Simon Carter on Rock Climbing Photography”

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Feb 17 2010

Simon Carter Proves The Soaring Possibilities of DSLR Video

Category: In Motion, Technology Insights — Ethan G. Salwen @ 7:00 pm

Can photographers make truly high quality videos using a DSLR? Rock climbing photographer extraordinaire Simon Carter offers a resounding “Yes!” with this amazing video, which he captured with a Nikon D3S, produced for Nikon Professional Services.

Watch this video (in HD, full screen!) and be inspired about the evolving possibilities of capturing motion using “still” cameras.

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