DIYPhotography.net

I was not always a photographer. I used to be a project manager and before that a coder. (If you are you using Skype, Comcast voice or TimeWarner cable modems, you are probably running my code daily).  One thing that we were thought as coders is that it is a pain to memorize keyboard shortcuts, but once memorized, it is significantly faster to work with keyboard only than with mouse and keyboard combined.

This is especially true for programs like Lightroom where items are hidden in sub-menus and issuing a command looks kinda like this: take hand off keyboard; find the right menu; the right sub menu; click command; regain hands-on-keyboard position.

In fact, there is an Apple study by UI guru Bruce Tognazzini saying just the same. So is how to get your Lightroom workflow mojo on: Click to continue ›

The Giant Squid AKA the Kraken is the stuff nightmares are made from. While it is about two stories tall, it has yet to be photographed until recently.

Edith Widder is one of three scientists who first captured hi-res footage of the giant 2 stories high squid. Click to continue ›

You know that to get the most of your DSLR you should be shooting in RAW, right? But these days Nikon cameras gives you even more options: 12-bit or 14-bit, and compressed or uncompressed RAW (NEF) files. Which should you choose?

Short question: Does it matter? Will you see any difference between compressed (lossy) and uncompressed (lossless) RAW? And between 12 and 14 bits?

Short answer: No it does not matter. Choose 12-bit compressed (because they take up less space) and forget about this topic. Or choose 14-bit uncompressed because theoretically you’re getting the “most” from your camera – you just have to live with the file sizes.

Not happy with the short answer? Then read on… Click to continue ›

I don't really know how to tag this short here, but after yesterday's announcement on the MoVI I thought it would be right to bring some counter opinion.

This two years old short by Doug Bayne is there to remind us that it is not enough to buy $1818 worth of a 60D and a 1.4 50mm lens, or a $15,000 MoVI to make a good film.

Thoughts?

h/t to sinisterbrain Click to continue ›

There are a lot of misconceptions about photography and copyright. Some of the more common questions (and wrong answers - at least on the net) concern copyright ownership, photo usage, online usage, fair use and licensing.

Others concern model releases, invoicing & payments (and their relations to copyrights) and legal documents and wordings.

Jack Reznicki and Ed Greenberg A.K.A The Copyright Zone (and authors the Photographer's Survival Manual: A Legal Guide for Artists in the Digital Age) have a great lecture on B&H indepth blog.

It is a one hour and fifty minutes long lecture, but it clears a lot of the questions and misconceptions around the subject of copyrights and well worth the time watching it.

[The Copyright Zone Guys | BH Event Space Videos] Click to continue ›

A few years back we were first introduced to Benjamin von Wong with a creative flour and dancers shoot. We thought it was quite Epic back then. How little did we know :)

If cleaning up after a flour session seems like a crappy job, how about the mess after doing a session with colored pigments.

Ben took a visit to Place Cliché to collaborate on a high end pigment based shoot. The results are exploding with color and creativity. Video and some tips after the jump Click to continue ›

A few years back we released what was then a revolutionary product called the Bokeh Masters Kit. It is a revolutionary device (or at least it was back then), that transforms light into shapes with the spirit of Create Your Own Bokeh.

Just in case you need a refreshment, Bokeh® is a Japanese word with a close proximity to the English word blur, and in photography it is used to describe the blur (or out of focus area) quality. This made it perfect to describe our product which changed the shape of out of focus specular highlights. Click to continue ›

So, you’ve got the shoot planned to perfection, you’re all good to go and the subject walks in the door. But how do you make someone smile, and how do you dig out those genuine expressions? That is what we’re going to be talking about today. Well, what I’m going to be writing about anyway. From the pre-shoot planning and meeting, to how you act on set, and a few stern words on not being a damn creep. So let’s get on with Communicating with your subject Click to continue ›

Just because your production has a small crew does not mean you cannot make a kick axx movie.

Just like everything in life, physical constraints can be overcame with creativity.

Vimeo Video School (am awesome resource by its own) just released an entertaining clip with three tips on enhancing production value without actually adding any resources to the production mix aside creativity and creative effort.

In my previous post I walked through the concept and shoot of my portrait of Mairi. At this point all I've got are a bunch of RAW (and jpg) files of the shoot. I know that I forgot to mention it in the last post, but for goodness sake if you can shoot RAW - do it. (It saved my butt with this image, as you'll see below).

Also, you'll be able to download my RAW file, and JPG output from RawTherapee below.

This is a long post.Seriously, this is the longest post I've ever written.I'm walking through many of the things I had previously written tutorials for, and apply them to a process this time so you can see them as part of a workflow.So, here's a Table of Contents so you can jump to the section you need: Click to continue ›