Feb 15 2012

Nikon WT-5: Control 10 D4s at Once

Category: Online Resources, Technology Insightsdjordan @ 11:59 am

If you’re going to lay down $6000 for the super-fast, low-light stalking Nikon D4, you might as well pony up another $900 for the WT-5 dongle that cuts the cord. Or why not string 10 D4s together? Wireless bullet time at a cost of $69,000.

Thanks to the WT-5 dongle you’ll be able to link up to 10 D4s together and to simultaneously control them from a single camera. Shooting with 10 cameras at once isn’t the type of thing you do every day because most people don’t need to record crazy 360 views of action sequences. Oh, and it’s prohibitively expensive. But the WT-5 transmitter also liberates the D4 from wires for other remote controls that are practical if not exactly new. You’ll be able to control all of the camera’s settings wirelessly using the Camera Control Pro 2 software or from a web browser on your iPhone or iPad. You’ll also be able to wirelessly transmit images to your computer or to an FTP server.

When we checked out the Nikon D4 at CES, the WT-5 wasn’t yet approved by the FCC, but now it’s official, and you can even pre-order it at a few locations. The Wachowski brothers eagerly await your pitches. [Engadget]

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Jan 05 2012

WPPI Announces “This is My WPPI” Video Contest

Category: Business & Marketing, Online Resources, The Industrydjordan @ 9:27 am

Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) announces today the “This is My WPPI” video contest. Open to seasoned professional photographers as well as those just beginning their photography career, WPPI is looking for the best 30-second video clip creatively expressing what makes it “your” WPPI.  Photographers are encouraged to submit their most imaginative, original and memorable “This is My WPPI” video for a chance to win a trip to attend WPPI 2012 in Las Vegas, NV.

Videos will be voted on by the public. The video that receives the most votes on the www.wppionline.com site will receive national exposure on WPPIonline.com, Rangefinder magazine and a trip to WPPI 2012. The winner will receive a 4-night/5-day prize package from (2/19/12 – 2/23/12) including round-trip airfare plus hotel accommodations, ground transportation and a full registration pass to WPPI 2012.

“Our first video contest was such a huge success and so much fun that we just had to bring back this opportunity again,” said George Varanakis, Show Director of WPPI and Publisher of Rangefinder.  “We can’t wait to see how creative photographers can get as they tell the public why this is their WPPI. Is it about the education, the inspiration, the energy of Vegas, making new friends and catching up with old ones? We want to know why WPPI is important to our photography community. And we want to see people have a lot of fun with this.”

Directions to enter the “This is MY WPPI” video contest:

  • Complete a 30-second video (max 100 MB). Video files must be provided in one of the following file formats: .MPEG; .MOV; .AVI;  .WMV; MP4.
  • Name video file as first and last name. Example:  FirstName_LastName
  • Fill in the subject line: This is My WPPI Video
  • Fill in the body of email: First and Last Name, Email and Phone Number
  • Upload video file here.

The contest is open to legal U.S. residents, age 18 and over. Limit one entry per person. The contest is open to entries until Monday, January 9, 2012 (at 11:59 p.m. PT). The winner will be announced January 18, 2012. For full “This is My WPPI” 2012 Video Contest Rules click here. Contestants will be disqualified if directions and rules are not met.

All WPPI 2012 classes, events and trade show will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV, from February 16-23, 2012. WPPI is the biggest show in the world for wedding and portrait photographers. Last year, more than 16,000 professional photographers gathered in Las Vegas, NV, to learn from the best and see the latest and greatest products from the hundreds of exhibitors that participate in the trade show.

Popular programs and events like Launch Pad, WPPI Plus, Photographers Ignite and the Awards Night extravaganza, as well as helpful features like Pre-Board, will make WPPI 2012 the most exciting ever.

Registration for all WPPI 2012 classes, workshops, events and the trade show is open now: http://www.wppionline.com/show/register.shtml . The Full Registration pass is $259 for WPPI members and $399 for non-WPPI members. These rates include one (1) free guest pass, 90 Platform classes to choose from and admission to special evening events and the biggest 3-day trade show for wedding and portrait photographers. For information on class offerings and schedules please visit: http://www.wppionline.com/show/classes.shtml

For more information about WPPI 2012 and all of its workshops and events, please visit: www.wppionline.com .

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Feb 25 2011

wikiHow: How-To Resource with Potential, But Not for Serious Photography

Category: Online ResourcesEthan G. Salwen @ 8:10 am

AfterCapture Blog_110225_wikiHow_1“Our mission from day one is to build the world’s highest quality how-to manual, and for every topic be the single, highest quality page available on the Web, and do it in multiple languages,” says Jack Herrick of wikiHow, an online learning resource that Herrick started building six years ago.

Herrick explains that wikiHow aims to offer an alternative to the “mediocre how-to content flooding the Net.” To do this, he entices volunteers to work with a “whole lot of love” and, more important, he pushes their content through an an editorial review process inspired by Wikipedia.

I just found out about wikiHow thanks to this ASPP eNews post, which included this video. (The post also introduced me to WebProNews, which inspires me to once again recommend you check out ASPP eNews.)

I like Herrick’s attitude but, to be frank, what got me sucked into the video was the cool format that WPN is using — the Skype interview all worked into the online news interview using cool green screen effects. (Note to self: Ethan, you have got to figure out how to do this for reporting for AfterCapture On Photography!)

wikiHow Is Not a Serious Photography Resource

It only took a quick perusal to realize that wikiHow is not a good resource for photographers — at least concerning photography. Currently, there is only a single entry for “Lightroom” and, trust me, you won’t find it of value. Nothing at all came up to help with even basic raw image processing, let alone the serious stuff.

As I’m super interested in learning the wonderful Final Cut Express, I did a search on that. I was dished up “How to Use Final Cut Pro Workflow,” which seemed promissing, but which really isn’t helpful at all. The content just isn’t valuable.

Of equal irritation, I realized numerous ads were actually stuck within the article content. A real turn off, and confusing, too.

wikiHow for Pancakes and Other Basics?

Now, if you want to learn how to make homemade pancakes — as I did last weekend — wikiHow dishes up a bunch on the topic, and the content seems good (although I’m not the one to judge). And, even with its excessive ads, wikiHow does seem cleaner than other how-to sites (that I avoid). And I do like Herrick’s wiki-how-to vision. So like me, you might want to keep wikiHow in might for non-photography questions.

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Feb 21 2011

ASPP eNews Blog: A Wealth of Photo Industry Information for ALL

Category: Business & Marketing, Online Resources, The IndustryEthan G. Salwen @ 6:51 am

The American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP) has done a great service to all serious photographers by, 1) Turning their email newsletter into the ASPP eNews blog, and 2) Making this blog available to all — for free, no sign in required. Very, very cool.

Check it out, and if you like what you see, add it to you feeds or sign up for email alerts.

AfterCapture Blog_110221_ASPP eNews_1

What’s ASPP?

ASPP is a unique photography industry association in that it includes photographers and picture agencies and picture researchers and end users, a.k.a. publishers. This means that when you are part of ASPP, you are not just dealing with your colleague-competitors, but also networking with your colleague-potential-clients.

AfterCapture Blog_110221_ASPP eNews_2ASPP is a close-knit, supportive community (I know; I am a former board member), and as a photographer ASPP gives you the opportunity to befriend supportive professionals at picture agencies you might want to work with (to license your images) as well as researchers (who might want to license your images).

ASPP’s $125 membership fee might seem steep, but it’s a small price to pay for access to this unique community. So definitely consider joining ASPP.

The Old ASPP News

Until recently ASPP sent out a massive monthly email newsletter to members that was stuffed with industry and member updates. Two problems:

• Way, way too much to digest, check out, sift through, enjoy.

• You couldn’t get at it if you were not a member.

The Super Cool New ASPP eNews Blog

It’s the same content, but on steroids: with images, links, embedded videos.

Some content, like the monthly “President’s Corner,” is clearly geared for members. However, you can ignore this content or, better yet, give it a peek as a kind of “trial run” of ASPP membership.

Some content is from members who are industry experts, like Jim Pickerell, who offers these image licensing insights.

Then there is news related to the industry, like “Update on the Senate Hearing about Intellectual Property” and info about contests, like the “Focus Project 2011.

ASPP agency members are dishing up news about their collections, like the “Lebrecht on Self-Portraits.”

And then you have photographer members sharing their latest efforts, like Wolfgang Kaehler’s “Run with the Wolfies.”

And this was all in the past two weeks!

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Nov 10 2010

Vimeo Emails Serve Up Daily Multimedia Inspiration

Category: Multimedia & Video, Online ResourcesEthan G. Salwen @ 6:22 am

To learn multimedia and video, we have to look at the stuff. Vimeo.com makes it easy with optional, daily email notifications. On your Vimeo.com page (no fee, don’t even need to upload videos), select “Edit your profile,” go to “Notifications” and check the desired boxes. So simple.

AfterCapture Blog_101110_Vimeo Inspiration

Sure, sure, we see video all time. And yes, since beginning to play with multimedia I’ve begun to pay much more conscientious attention to movies, TV, and commercials. But as photographers we also really need to be looking at shorter pieces, pieces made on low budgets, pieces made by photographers, pieces that are offbeat, fresh, geared for Web 2.0. and so. . .Vimeo is very promising for daily inspiration.

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Jul 05 2010

Where To Find Royalty-Free Music

Category: Multimedia & Video, Online ResourcesEthan G. Salwen @ 4:55 pm

Like royalty-free images, royalty-free music can be found by the in amazing varieties and quantities on the Web. Just do a Google search, and you’ll see.

Ralph Clevenger, who inspired me to embrace royalty-free music, suggested I check out these sites:

AfterCapture Blog_100705_Find Royalty_Free_Music_2

Royalty-Free Music Suggestions?

Not really sure how I ended up using Premiumbeat.com for the $29.95 worth of music I used in my “Royalty-Free Buenos Aires,” but I was just experimenting, and I was left wondering. . .With all the royalty-free music sits and services, certainly some have got to be better than others. So. . .

If you are ahead of me on this royalty-free music learning curve — which wouldn’t be hard — are there royalty-free music services and basic concepts that you might share with me, and my thousands of faithful readers?

SmartSound and Sonicfire Pro?

As long as you’re Continue reading “Where To Find Royalty-Free Music”

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Jun 30 2010

Critical Multimedia and Video Learning Resources

AfterCapture Blog_100630_Video_Resources_1-1I’ve been writing a lot about multimedia these days, focusing mainly on providing inspiration. That’s because I think being inspired about what we can do will lead to us figuring out how we can do it. Still, excellent how-to learning resources are critical, so. . .

Two Great Books

From Still to Motion: A photographer’s guide to creating video with your DSLR (New Riders, 2010) is an absolute must have. Written by James Ball, Robbie Carman, Matt Gottshalk and Richard Harrington, From Still to Motion is an engaging, comprehensive techniques manual geared specifically for knowledgeable photographers. Very, very, very cool.

The Lean Forward Moment: Create Compelling Stories for Film, TV and the Web (New Riders, 2009) by Norman Hollyn is a lucid, eye-opening book focused on storytelling and production concepts critical to multimedia success. Drawing from famous movies to teach essential ideas, this book will have a long shelf life.

Three Super Web Sites

DSLRHD.com — “Get into the DSLR Video Game!”

DVInfo.net — “The Digital Video Information Network”

PhotoCineNews.com — “The first blog dedicated to the convergence of photography and video.”

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Jun 09 2010

The Joy of Zeroing Out Hard Drives

Category: Online Resources, Technology Insights, Workflow & DAMEthan G. Salwen @ 5:25 pm

AfterCapture Blog_100609_The Joy_aIn March I shared best practices for formatting hard drives, passing on the wisdom of Peter Krogh and dpBestflow.org. On Monday, I put yet another 1.5 TB Lacie external drive on line, and again I needed to refer to Krogh’s excellent video tutorial featured in the “Hard Drive Handling” section of dpBestflow.org.

Here I share screen shots of the step-by-step process because, 1) they serve as a quick, valuable reference to Krogh’s video, 2) I want to encourage you to do this!, and 3) Because, let’s face it, you guys just love my screen shot posts.

Zeroing out hard drives is really easy, but the steps are not at all intuitive. For PC users (and Mac users wanting the skinny on my steps), check out Krogh’s video tutorials featured in my earlier post.

AfterCapture Blog_100609_The Joy_1

AfterCapture Blog_100609_The Joy_2 Continue reading “The Joy of Zeroing Out Hard Drives”

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May 20 2010

Easy Web Production Solutions from Mark S. Luckie

Category: Online Resources, Technology InsightsEthan G. Salwen @ 3:44 pm

AfterCapture Blog_100520_Web Production_1“Web Production” might not be your cup of tea (and the term might even make you cringe), but every day sees a further blurring in the line between contact creation (e.g. photographs) and how this content is published in the digital world (e.g. posting photographs, a.k.a. web production). In a 10,000 Words post, Mark S. Luckie offers a quick, useful Q&A on web production that you’ll likely find interesting.

As Luckie writes in “Easy solutions to web production’s most common problems”:

“In my role as multimedia producer for California Watch and in other newsrooms where I’ve worked, I am frequently approached by reporters to help them with web-related issues. Often it’s how to post content on the web, how to edit something. . .”

Luckie goes on to very briefly answer a number of critical questions, pointing to a lot of cool online resources.

Sure, you might be a Photoshop wiz, but maybe you’re on the road and just need a simple, online solution to resizing an image. That’s when it would be good to know about the “free online tool Resizr“?

Other, non-photo-specific answers by Luckie will likely prove even more valuable and, just as important, keep your mind open to the increasing options in (easy) web production.


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May 14 2010

Underwater Photography Resources and The World’s Greatest Juggler

Category: Online Resources, Photographers, ViewpointEthan G. Salwen @ 6:55 pm

AfterCapture Blog_100514_Underwater_aI had a great talk today with Eric Cheng, a fantastic underwater photographer, the driving force behind WetPixel.com, and the publisher of “Wetpixel Quarterly” magazine. I am researching an article on how photographers can best embrace the possibilities of video, and the tech-savvy, video-embracing Cheng offered great insights on the topic.

If you are at all interested in underwater photography, definitely check out Cheng’s stunning images.

WetPixel.com is the a fantastic online community of underwater photographers — articles and forums galore — and a must-visit resource if you are dedicated to (or just thinking about) making images underwater. Very, very cool.

AfterCapture Blog_100514_Underwater_1

What’s all this have to do with juggling?

“I would say that the YouTube community is extremely toxic,” Cheng emphasized to me when he was weighing in on whether photographers should host videos on YouTube.com or Vimeo.com. “People are really nasty on YouTube. Someone is always going to come and write something nasty.” Cheng explained that, inevitably, more negative responses follow, and “big wars” get started.

Continue reading “Underwater Photography Resources and The World’s Greatest Juggler”

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