My Digital Workflow
Step 1 Ingest Step 1 - I ingest the images from my Compact Flash Card or SD Card. My camera settings are RAW, and I normally use the ExpoDisc to get a custom white balance.…
Year: 2011
How to become a humanitarian or missions photographer
"I feel God calling me into missions photography ..." or "I want to be a humanitarian photographer and would like to meet you," are two things I am hearing almost weekly now. To make this…
Mike Davis’ list of five things in good photos
Mike Davis speaks on photo editing at the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar. Creating images that last beyond the day has been Mike’s mission in settings as diverse as National Geographic Magazine and The Albuquerque Tribune, The…
12 Presentation Mistakes Photographers Make—and How to Avoid Them
After two days of watching photographers present their work, I was inspired and frustrated. Some presentations were outstanding—thoughtful, well-prepared, and engaging. Others, unfortunately, missed the mark. For more than twenty years, I’ve helped organize and…
Create drama with lighting
How do you get the photo on top versus the one below? Read on. Lighting everything and using a white background are what you typically get at the bottom. TIP: to get a clean white…
Use dark objects to learn how to light
If you like this image I will walk you through the steps to get here. (Figure 1) I started here and got the exposure to pretty close to the tones in the carving. (Figure 2)…
Light diagrams for dancers (Part 2)
We liked the lights in the photo to give that backstage feel and decided to rotate some dancers through and go with the best one rather than changing things a great deal. I like giving…
Light diagrams for dancers
The client was looking for a "Gritty Look," We decided to use a brick wall to look like you are backstage and toss in the lights with gels in the background to add to the…
How much should I charge? Part 3
You need to understand what you need for each category over a year. Knowing the costs of doing business is step two of learning how to quote a price to someone when they ask you,…
The best preventive camera insurance
Back in 1980, during Christmas break from college, I went ice skating with my friends on a lake in New Jersey. I remember this time very well, because it was the moment I dropped my…
Model Releases: Easing the pain on getting them
The model can read the release before signing. These are tips on how to get model releases and what I can do to obtain them. Let's start with how you ask for a person to sign…
Sometimes you need a unique lens like the Fish-Eye.
Waco YMF Biplane Years ago, I found myself in some pretty small areas. While photographing research labs, I was photographing what felt like the inside of a closet. So finally, I bought a fish eye…