February 1, 2010 by
Alan Hess
I have written 3 books and worked as a technical editor on a slew of others. I decided to clean up my office to start the new year out with a clean working environment and in doing so I realized that I had multiple copies of some books. I thought I would give them all away to one lucky Twitter follower.
These are all great books but more on that in a moment, first the rules.
1) You must be following me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/shotlivephoto
2) You must retweet the following : Big book giveaway by @shotlivephoto http://alanhessphotography.com/archives/1656
3) The winner will be announced on February 8/2010
4) Thats it.
There are the books that will all go to one lucky winner:
Confessions of a Compact Camera Shooter by Rick Sammon
The Digital Photography Book Volume 2 by Scott Kelby
Digital Wedding Photography Secrets by Rick Sammon
Photoshop CS4 Down & Dirty Tricks by Scott Kelby
Exposure Digital Field Guide by Alan Hess
Random Issue of Photoshop User Magazine
Music Bonus :
Walk Through the Fire by Mark Karan
January 27, 2010 by
Alan Hess
It’s here!!
The iPad.
So what?
Ok, so I am a little jaded but I do think that the iPad is a game changer, especially for writers, publishers and photographers.
Lets start with the basics:
- Height: 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
- Width: 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
- Depth: 0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
- Weight: 1.5 pounds (.68 kg) Wi-Fi model; 1.6 pounds (.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model
- 9.7″ LED Dsiplay
- Wi-FI 802.11n
- 3G Versions do up to 7.2Mbps HSPA
- Speaker and Microphone
- iBook
- 2 models in 3 configurations: WiFi and WiFi + 3G
- WiFi Models: 16GB $499, 32GB $599, 64GB $699
- WiFi + 3G Models: 16GB $629, 32GB $729, 64GB $829
Here is what you can do with it:
What the iPad can do:
- Browse the Internet
- E-mail
- See Photos
- Watch movies
- Listen to music
- Watch TV shows
- Contacts
- Calendars
- Bookmarks
- Applications
What the iPad can’t do / doesn’t have:
- No built-in camera
- No video chat
- No Flash support when browsing so no “full” internet
- No multitasking so no note taking while reading
The upside for publishers is that this device looks great and will have an audience that already is very comfortable purchasing content online. The iPod / iPhone user base are comfortable buy what was traditional a physical media (cds) in a purely digital form and should have no problem when it comes to buying magazines and books the same way.
The upside for photographers is the great portable portfolio that the iPad can be. High resolution images that can be shown to prospective clients that can be updated instantly to make sure that the images match the client. Think about it for a minute, you run a studio that does portraits and weddings. You can have a wedding portfolio and a portrait portfolio and never worry about having the right one with you. You can have the top wedding shots and another gallery with the top bride shots and yet another with groom shots and all can be used to show prospective clients your work.
The upside for authors is that the same way independent musicians get a direct audience with the iTunes store, writers should be able to do the same thing with iBooks.
I’ll have more thoughts when the actual device is released or when Apple updates the software.
January 25, 2010 by
Alan Hess
Pro photographer Joe McNally showed up to shoot in San Diego last week and managed to arrive during the worst storm in years. It rained for two straight days and then it rained some more. Sunny San Diego was not living up to it’s reputation or name.
On Saturday night Joe and company ended up shooting in Coronado at one of the all night Diners but there were no people. The shot called for people! There needed to be come “local color” sitting at the counter so Joe and his assistant Drew put out a call for bodies.
It was a treat watching Joe light and shoot in the Diner.
This shot was taken with my iPhone.
January 19, 2010 by
Alan Hess
On Thursday, January 14, I had the privilege of shooting Jackie Greene at the Belly Up Tavern in San Diego. Awful lights but using a Nikon D700 and some good prime lenses I got some really nice shots.
For the full gallery go HERE.
January 18, 2010 by
Alan Hess
If you can spare a little, they really need it. Just click on the banner above.
January 7, 2010 by
Alan Hess
My third concert post just went live over at Digital Photo Experience. This one is all about picking the focus thats right for you and the music. You can check it out HERE.
My first two posts dealing with manual shooting mode and spot metering mode are HERE and HERE.
January 6, 2010 by
Alan Hess
Nikon has posted firmware updates for the D3X, D3, D700 & D300S DSLRs. The latest firmware allows all four cameras to use the new 64GB CompactFlash cards. Other changes are as follows:
Read the rest of this entry »
January 5, 2010 by
Alan Hess
TicketMaster controls most of the concert / event tickets sales in the USA. Live Nation controls a ton of the concert venues and now these two want to join forces. This is a bad idea for ticket buyers / concert goers.
I urge everyone to go to www.ticketdisaster.org and read all about it.
January 5, 2010 by
Alan Hess
Yesterday was my first shoot of 2010 and if they all go as easily, then 2010 will be a good year. I wasn’t shooting a band, or a model. It wasn’t a wedding or even an event. Yesterday I shot a series of dog portraits of two very special animals; Annie & Shasta.
Both Annie and Shasta are trained service dogs (retired) and now live a comfortable life here in San Diego with owner Lori. The shoot was set up because Annie is getting on in years and Lori wanted to make sure that there were some good photographs while it was still possible. This included shooting Annie in her favorite spots around the house and out in the yard.
Annie sat quietly and patiently waited for me to adjust the background and add a voice activated light stand to add a little drama to the lighting.
Shasta on the other hand has a lot more energy and runs around paying little attention tot he big guy with the camera. It was only the liberal application of doggie treats that got her to sit quietly.
It was a real pleasure photographing subjects that didn’t complain, fuss with their hair, and need makeup breaks. And it was wonderful knowing that the photos will be treasured for many years to come.
January 3, 2010 by
Alan Hess
Years ago I read a post by Scott Kelby over at Photoshop Insider that had to do with checking your settings before starting to shoot. Scott used an acronym to help remember to check the most critical settings. The acronym is WHIMS, which stands for:
- W: White Balance
- H: Hightlight clipping warning
- I: ISO
- M: Mode (JPEG or RAW)
- S: Shooting (Resetting to the right shooting mode for the subject: Aperture Priorty, Shutter Priority, Manual, etc.)
If you check these before the first shot, you are less likely to have a problem later.
For the whole story, see the post HERE.
