Whether you like it or not textures have become a frequently utilized tool with photography and post-processing.  Everyone and their mother is selling them, too.  From the horribly outrageously priced packages upwards of $200 to the more reasonably priced packs (like…ahem…mine) they are everywhere.  Most recently I purchased my first set. Read more »

If you have to shoot any event, portrait, etc. a really strong tripod setup can save the day.  You are not lugging the weight of the camera around the entire time and it can free you up to eat candy bars and gulp down Miller Lite while on a professional shoot.  OK, not really.  But you get what I am saying.  A tripod can really make a difference.  So what happens when you take a regular tripod and throw in some really cool improvements to make it even more usable? Read more »

Great, your DSLR shoots video.  Who cares?  I thought you were a photographer?  All of these things ran through my mind the minute I heard that some DSLRs were now equipped with video.  Who would really care about that if they were a serious photographer, right?  Wouldn’t you want to spend your money on something that went more toward improving the camera than adding in something extra like video?  Well, up until a few days ago I was a skeptic, and that is putting it mildly. Read more »

I received a really cool birthday present this year from my mom.  It was a Flip UltraHD video camera.  Complete with rapid charger and HDMI cable.  My current video camera (some older model Sony) is not bad, with the exception of the batteries not holding a decent charge.  But being a gadget geek, new gadgets will always appeal to me.  So I took the Flip for a few test runs. Read more »

Recently, I was over come with spam.  Maybe overcome is putting it lightly.  I was getting more spam email in my inbox than I was actual email.  Which for reasons that are far too obvious is a horrible thing.  Thankfully I found a fix. Read more »

As my business partner and I continue to grow our photography business, we have been looking to build our portfolio.  As he has many more years experience with photography than I, namely weddings, we lean a lot on his body of work.  As a testimony to his ability, he shot my wedding, and did so with a Pentax medium format camera.  While the photos were great, the drawback is having the work in negatives when we need them digitally to work them into our website, studio books, etc. Read more »

If you are a geek like me and also in possession of an iPhone, you most certainly have looked around at the various photography related applications available. I have been trying my hand at two of them, CameraBag and CameraKit, and wanted to share my thoughts with you should you be in the market to purchase one yourself. Read more »

Whether a prosumer, hobbyist, or working professional, you have certainly looked around and done some comparison shopping as to what company would provide you with prints of your work. Some of you, like me, have probably run into local printing vendors who were either horribly over-priced or were not capable of printing larger format images for you, forcing your search online.

As a user at Deviant Art I purchased a print account quite some time ago.  In fact, it was during their 2-year anniversary (if memory serves) and the print accounts were offered half-price.  With no local options and my work already on Deviant Art, their print program seemed like a great option.  As the years went by, my work and needs have also changed, evolved, and adapted.

For the longest time, I have wished to see improvements to the Deviant Art Prints (DAP) program to make it more user friendly for experienced artists.  A fellow photographer recommended using Mpix.  After seeing some of his work printed I knew that I had to give them a test run and see how their services compared against that of Deviant Art Prints.

Some might cry foul here stating that Deviant Art built their print program on top of a “community” and did not start off with the same purpose as Mpix might have started with.  Deviant Art added the print program on top of the community and integrated it in, offering a cool and unique service that many communities cannot do.  All things considered, I think they did well with the integration, separating their site from others that are similar.

Regardless of origins, offering the same services opens you to the same critique.    For the review below, I compared both companies in the following categories: shipping, quality, uploading , pricing, options, and speed. Read more »

After a workshop late last year, I had my mind firmly set on purchasing a new camera strap.  If you have ever used the traditional camera strap, shot portrait, and been highly annoyed at how the strap hangs in the way of the viewfinder, then this new strap is right up your alley. Read more »