Jan 28 2011

Why Wedding Photographers Matter More Than Ever Before

Category: Business & Marketing, The Industry, Viewpoint — Ethan G. Salwen @ 2:00 pm

“I think there is really intrinsic part of human nature in which we validate life by documenting it,” Peter Krogh told me last Fall. He was explaining why he carries his camera almost everywhere he goes, habitually recording his life in photographic captures. He said:

Think about wedding photography. Why does everyone have a photographer documenting their wedding? It’s kind of a weird tradition. It’s because it validates the commitment. The event is more important because it’s documented.

Krogh went on to say:

It’s amazing how a good wedding photographer ends up being kind of a wedding couch. They are there the whole time. They can spend more time with the couple than anyone else. The wedding photographer’s job is much more important than just taking pictures.

It wasn't that Celeste really wanted a picture of her getting makeup applied; she wanted the moment to be documented, to make it more meaningful.

It wasn't so much that Celeste really wanted a picture of her getting makeup applied; she wanted the moment to be documented, to make it more meaningful.

Beyond Pretty Wedding Pictures

Krogh didn’t need to explain what he was talking about. I’ve only photographed a handful of weddings, but I quickly got used to the couples thanking me profusely at the end of the day — without seeing a single image! Obviously they were responding to my presence, and to the fact that I had somehow made their wedding a much better experience.

If you are a wedding photographer, you know this: The images you are making are important, but it’s just as important that you providing an experience that best appeals to the specific couple.

If you would like to be a wedding photographer, or to improve your wedding photography: Think less about perfecting your images, and focus more on how to be the kind of wedding coach that Krogh mentions.

I was amazed how, after only a couple weddings, I was able to provide couples with valuable (and desired) advice about the Big Day. And why shouldn’t I be able to do so? After all, I had been intimately involved in other weddings, seeing them from the most angles and witnessing the most intimate moments.

A Great Time To Be a Wedding Photographer!

Old-fashioned wedding photographers bemoaned the advent of digital; savvy wedding photographers welcomed it.

Now that photography has become so easy for all, if you are interested in wedding photography, you have more and not less opportunities. This is because you don’t have to be stressed out about making the photographs. You can focus on bearing witness and, if you are really good, being a kind of off-the-record wedding coach, even if that’s not how you advertise your services.

As Krogh explained to me, what couples really want, whether they know it or not, is for the photographer to validated their experiences by bearing witness through the act of documenting.

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Jan 21 2011

Backup All Your Images NOW: The Simple System

Category: AfterCapture & Rangefinder Articles, Workflow & DAM — Ethan G. Salwen @ 8:38 am

AfterCapture Blog_110121_Simple Backup_AC1010_RAWProcessingSolutions_SalwenScrewed the pooch and already gone south on your New Year’s Resolutions? Smoking again? Not hitting the gym? No worries. Forget health mandates and get on top of what really matters: backing up all your images easy, relatively quickly and with — your favorite! — no thinking.

I’m assuming you need to get on this, Dude, because, 1) You don’t won’t lose your images, and, 2) As, Peter Krogh notes, the vast majority of us silly Homo sapiens don’t backup our stuff.

For total backup security, Dude, just do this:

1) Guesstimate how many megabytes (or terabytes) of data you have.

2) Buy three hard drives that hold at least 20% more data.

3) Copy all your image files from all sources to drive “A.”

4) Backup up “A” to “B.”

5) Backup “A” to “C.”

6) Store “C” off site.

HALA-LUYAH!!!

You can now boast of having your images much better backed up than 85% of your photographer buddies, Dude. But better than bragging rights, Dude, you’ve gained peace-o-mind! And even better than that, Dude, you’ve backed up all your images — and well!

Yes, your images might be a total freekn’ mess, but organization can come later. I mean, you can’t organize what you don’t have. So don’t wait to get organized to get your images totally, awesomely backed up.

Yes, I realize, you did not burn your images to write-once material like DVDs, and that is important. But again, until you have copies of each image file on three drives in two locations, well, Buddy, write-once backup is purely academic. Over thinking this stuff, Dude, can be a real hazard — to your images.

Read the Article

To read a more detailed version of this same backup system (with an, um, more serious tone, Dude), download “Simple, Practical RAW Archive Backup & Organization,” my recent “Raw Processing Solutions” column for AfterCapture. I go into some fun stuff (for neeerds!), like zeroing out hard drives, performing validated data transfers, and “What is an Archive Anyway?”

Honestly, Dude, you really should know what this stuff is, but I don’t fault you if you don’t give a poop. Only neeerds care about this stuff. And someday soon — go technology advances! — you probably won’t need to.

But, um, Dude, until then, you’ve got to at least get your images safely backed up on multiple drives that you store in two locations. And that, Dude, is exactly what going through Steps One through Six steps (see above) will accomplish for you.

It’s easier than quiting smoking or forcing yourself to go to the gym, and it’s definitely better for your health — or, at least, the health of your images.

Start Reading the Article Here: Continue reading “Backup All Your Images NOW: The Simple System”

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Oct 20 2010

Using Multimedia to Sell Yourself (Not Your Images)

Category: Business & Marketing, Multimedia & Video — Ethan G. Salwen @ 3:16 pm

“You need to tell them who you are,” Lauren M. Rabaino suggests in her post yesterday at 10,000 Words, in which she is highlighting the importance of applying multimedia skills in non-multimedia jobs. Here, she is specifically talking about the importance of entrepreneurs (read: all photographers) selling themselves to clients with multimedia storytelling.

Photographers are doing an amazing job at harnessing multimedia to highlight their work, but how many (and how creatively?) are photographers using multimedia to sell themselves — entrepreneurial style?

Here are four example of photographers using multimedia to help sell themselves to potential clients. What’s cool is that this self-promotion was either an after thought (#1) or not a thought at all (#2, #3 and #4), but all do the trick — meeting the 2.0 reality of potential clients wanting to identify a cool, like-minded image maker to work with, not just someone who makes cool images.

#1. This video features Ian Shive:

Amazing multimedia, wonderfully highlights his work, but also really shows you want this guy is about. Not surprisingly, he’s told me that he’s gotten amazing attention (and business) from this series.

#2. This video features Gail Mooney:

Amazing multimedia journalism, this is just a rough that Mooney quickly slapped together after her travels for “Opening Our Eyes.” Yes, it wonderfully teases us with the quality of her work (we want to see more!), but it also shows Mooney up close and personal — something you’d never see in a portfolio-only piece. Mooney has told me that every time she has shown this teaser she gets amazing interest in her project, and that her viewers are most interested in what she has to say on camera.

#3. This video features Peter Krogh:

OK, this is not amazing multimedia, nor does it seem to be a super sales device, but I actually think it is. In this world of 2.0 sharing, we get to see super photo nerdy Krogh in a less photo-nerdy moment, sharing a bit of his life, showing us who he is, helping us imagine him out camping in his van, letting us know that Zippy Lives!

#4. This video features Mary Lynn Price:

If you can make a fun, excellent, educational multimedia piece that features you, and starts off you with you mostly naked, well. . . I think you’re doing a great self promotion sales job, even if wasn’t your intention.

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Jun 21 2010

Taking On Data Validation – One Step at a Time

Category: Technology Insights, Workflow & DAM — Ethan G. Salwen @ 8:04 am

AfterCapture Blog_100621_Data Validation_1“Performing validated data transfers is so much better than hot sex,” Peter Krogh recently told me. Actually, that’s not true. That’s a straight-up lie to keep you reading. The truth is that performing validated transfers is one of many critical tasks required to safeguard data — as in, our images!

I’m not going to lie to you (again, at least in this post). Data validation is a nerdy, boring topic, and definitely not as much fun as hot sex. And so, understandably, very few photographers have a good hold on. However, believe it or not, beginning to get on top of data validation can feel quite satisfying.

The fact is that embracing best practices in data validation is critical to ensuring that our archives of images is safely stored and backed up until the day we die (and long after, if we care). On the other hand, if we don’t take proper care of of our data we virtual guarantee that, sooner or later, we will lose beloved and valuable images in the blink of an eye or, more to the point, the sudden click, click, clicking CLUNK of one of our beloved hard drives dying.

Hard Drives Die, Data Decays, But It’s OK

We all know that hard drives are expected to die, just as one quickly learns that he will constantly get flat tires when driving a busted up old car through the wilds of Paraguay. (That’s another story, but you can trust me that it happens a lot).

One of the many, many "gomerias" - tire repair shops - I visited in Paraguay.

One of the many, many "gomerias" - tire repair shops - I visited in Paraguay.

That we know that all hard drives will fail doesn’t seem to help even atheist photographers from relying heavily on prayer in safeguarding our images. Too often we download a memory card of critical images to one single, hard drive, erase the card, plan to back up said drive as soon as possible, and then get distracted by pressing work (or, if we are really lucky, hot sex).

We hop that nothing will go wrong. But something will go wrong.

Continue reading “Taking On Data Validation – One Step at a Time”

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Jun 09 2010

The Joy of Zeroing Out Hard Drives

Category: Online Resources, Technology Insights, Workflow & DAM — Ethan 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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Apr 13 2010

Glorious Data Transfer Validation Made Simple

Category: Technology Insights, Workflow & DAM — Ethan G. Salwen @ 3:13 pm

Thanks to the guidance of Peter Krogh, a few weeks ago I began using “validated transfers” when copying all critical files, such as when making backups and migrating images to my new hard drive. I’m doing so using ChronoSync, an extremely affordable and easy-to-use application for Mac. As a result, not only have I made a critical advance in safeguarding my images, but I am also feeling a lot more secure about the integrity of my data.

Below is a fantastic video that Krogh made for dpBestflow.org in which he shows us exactly how to put ChronoSync to work. (If you are using a PC, no worries. Krogh made a video — shared the end of this post — on how to perform validated transfers using SyncBack, which does the same trick.)

Important Note on ChronoSync: As you can see in the video, it’s absolutely critical that you check the option for “Verify copied data.” If not, you are just making a regular copy, not performing the bit-by-bit comparison of data that is so important. (More on that in a minute.)

The World of Data Validation

Making validated transfers is just one part of the world known as “data validation.” Krogh wrote the “Data Validation” section of dpBestflow.org, and this is definitely must-read material on a must-know topic for all photographers. It’s clearly written and super informative, typical of Krogh, a major guru regarding all aspects of digital asset management. Continue reading “Glorious Data Transfer Validation Made Simple”

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Mar 22 2010

Best Practices: How to Format a Hard Drive

Category: Technology Insights, Workflow & DAM — Ethan G. Salwen @ 3:43 pm

The weekend I put my new LaCie 1.5 TB drive on line for my Mac, and I’ve got to give a big hand to Peter Krogh and dpBestflow.org for making sure I did it right. It’s a very simple process, but it requires being alert to a few things that I, for one, certainly did not know.

In the “Hard Drive Handling” section of dpBestflow.org (which was written by Krogh), I encountered this:

Putting new drives into service

When you buy new drives, you should do a little preparation to increase the likelihood of trouble-free service. As part of this preparation, it’s a good practice to zero all data on the drive. ‘Zero all data’ means that you write all ones and zeros on the drive, using the formatting tools available for your operating system. Doing this will ensure that every bit on the drive is touched. This will force the drive to do a thorough scan of the volume, find bad sectors and mark them as “off limits.”

This was certainly a best practice I didn’t know about, but it makes really good sense. (Heretofore I just plugged-and-played. Major oops.)

When I my launched Disk Utility to perform this “zeroing out,” I found myself a little perplexed, not exactly sure which settings to set. (Don’t you hate that sense of almost knowing what to do with your computer, but being just a little uncertain.)

Luckily, right below the above text, Krogh provides this super dpBestflow.org video:

These are the the two steps I would have never figured out without Krogh help (applicable to Macs with Intel processors): Continue reading “Best Practices: How to Format a Hard Drive”

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Dec 11 2009

The Michelin Guide to Rating Images

Category: Workflow & DAM — Ethan G. Salwen @ 2:07 pm

ACOF_091211_1_ratingI have major difficult ties applying basic star ratings to my images, but I think the Michelin Guide might be able to help.

“The most basic component of higher metadata is the rating,” Peter Krogh told me on page 36 the first edition of his “The DAM Book.” And then, using logical, lucid language and excellent graphics, he illuminated how, instead of emotionally throwing various zero- and five-star ratings on images, I should focus on applying stars extremely selectively (if quickly), almost never using the four-star rating, and holding off on five stars until the future.

If you haven’t read Krogh’s text on rating, it honestly is worth the price of his book, now in the second edition. If 32 bucks seems like a lot for rating advice, consider that most of us — certainly I — have very haphazard, emotional rating systems, and that they do not help us, as Krogh wants us to, to “build for the future.”

Krogh’s thinking is that a two-star image should be a two-star image, no matter what the subject matter is, what job its for or how Continue reading “The Michelin Guide to Rating Images”

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Nov 03 2009

Learning All About The Amazing DNG

Category: AfterCapture & Rangefinder Articles, Online Resources, Technology Insights, Workflow & DAM — Ethan G. Salwen @ 3:20 pm

AC_Blog_091103_1In my last post I featured the nifty “DNG Recover Edges” and made the point that it only works on DNGs. I discovered this nifty, free application while researching my column for the latest October/November 2009 issue of AfterCapture. In “Catching Up with the Amazing DNG” I celebrate how far the DNG has come in five years, since it was publicly announced by Adobe on September 27, 2004.

If you would appreciate a little background information on the DNG or to better understand how this amazing file format continues to pick up steam in its march towards a universal standard, give my piece a read. It’s based in large part by conversations with Adobe’s Tom Hogarty and digital workflow guru Peter Krogh.

Both touched on some pretty heady technical developments about the DNG, which were both hard to understand and even harder to communicate. However, both Hogarty and Krogh insisted that what really matters Continue reading “Learning All About The Amazing DNG”

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Oct 26 2009

A Not Recap of the PhotoPlus Orgy

Category: Creative Process, The Industry, Viewpoint — Ethan G. Salwen @ 10:06 am

AC_Blog_PPE_CrowdThe PhotoPlus Expo officially ended on Saturday, but my experience didn’t come to an end until yesterday, with my visit to the studio of commercial photographer Andrew Matusik. My PPE experience was less frantic and more fantastic than I had anticipated.

I think this was simply because I did myself a favor and realized — before the madness began — that I should focus on quality over quantity. So my personal mantra was, “If you learn just one thing today and connect with just one person, this will be a success.” And a success it was.

I won’t try to recap my whole PPE experience — way, way too much to share — but I will give you a taste by simply listing some of the people and ideas that came my way:

The best part of PPE was spending real quality time — and enjoying good eats — with photographers I already knew, including Gail Mooney, Tom Kelly, Richard Anderson Continue reading “A Not Recap of the PhotoPlus Orgy”

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