Links! getcha photography links right here!

A few weeks ago, stalkers readers who were watching closely might have noticed some experiments I did looking at tools to auto-post links that I as sharing on my Google Reader feed. None of them did what I wanted (in other words, most were buggy), so I’ve been exploring the best way to integrate that content onto this blog.

I’ve decided — at least for now — that I prefer doing it by hand, because it encourages me to add commentary and discuss the links, rather than just display them, and the value (I think) is in adding some context and commentary. Otherwise, it’s just — links.

So we’ll try this, broken out by topic, and see how it works. As I have time. Time? what’s that?

Zach Arias is at it again. Take a look at his bags and notes. Fascinating.

Rob Haggert at A Photo Editor talked about why photo editors send work to some photographers and steer away from others. It’s not (just) about talent and technique, it comes down to professionalism and reliability. This was followed up by the folks at Photo Business News.

Photoattorney reminds us that many of the contests that are out there are also rights grabs. Be wary.

Most of the time, I think these contests are honestly not trying to rip people off. Instead, this is a very common thing in many industries, especially high tech, where managers allow the lawyer to dictate the terms, rather than act as an advisor and is forced to put together legalese that fits the needs of the project, rather than turning the project into something that makes life simple for the lawyer. I wrote about that in the high tech context a few weeks ago. It’s the nature of a lawyer to try to close all possible loopholes and create language that limits a company’s liabilities. it’s what they do. It should be the nature of the managers of the project to push back on the lawyer so that this language is fair to all sides. Remember, if you’re creating one of these contests, the people who submit to it have nobody arguing their side, except you . The lawyer is, or should be, an advisor, not a dictator. If you abrograte your responsibility, it’s not the lawyer’s fault when you end up with legal language that’s a rights grab — there are many contests that prove it can be done. The project owner has to own the project, and make fair language one of the goals of its creation. (of course, that takes time, energy and committment. It’s far easier just to take what the lawyer gives you. But is lazy the way to create a GOOD contest?)

Sunset at Navajo Point by Harold Davis. I keep telling myself  I have to get to the Grand Canyon.

From Digital Photography School, Discover how to become a Photojournalist. (and the followup, Shooting like a photojournalist)

David DuChemin chimes in on the thought that cameras will turn anyone into a pro:

And then just this morning I started writing this article and started with, and erased, a rant about Program Mode and the way camera companies seem more and more to be playing the “this camera’s so good, now there’s no reason not to shoot like the pros” card. Suddenly I realized that the next step for me was complaining about this newfangled VCR technology and yelling at kids to get off my lawn.

And echos hat I’ve come to feel about my own photography technique:

To me this means shooting on what I call AV/EV Mode. I shoot in AV mode, consciously choosing the aperture because the first aesthetic choice I generally want to make in regards to exposure is the depth of field. Then I use the histogram to tell me if I’ve got something close to a good digital negative, and I use the EV compensation to bring the exposure closer to my ideal.

There are still a lot of photographers who believe the only mode to use is manual; there are still many who thikn all this newfangled technology is ruining photography, or actually not photography at all (and I actually sympathize with that idea — there’ve recently been a couple of contest controversies over photos disqualified for “too much photoshop” (PDNblog has a story on one; Online Photographer covers the others. Looks at the befores and afters of both I find interesting, and I agree with the disqualification on both. But — where do you draw the line?)

My general view is that you should take advantage of technology where it’s appropriate and useful, but technology should be seen as a tool, not a crutch. It’s about getting the best possible image. I know there’s a place for the artist who make their own paper like 13th century monks did, grind and mixes their own inks and paints the way the Renaissance Masters did, and personally harvests the bristles off of the pigs they keep in the back 40 to make their brushes — but I’m not remotely interested in being that artist.

The point of all of this neat technology is to make it easier to get the image you want to take. the image won’t be taken for you, though, it’s still up to you to tell the camera what you want, not just take what it gives you. Most of us take for granted the kind of imagery we can get away with almost without thinking — sometimes I sit back and compare my “prosumer” caliber bag of gear with the gear I shot with in high school (on Tri-X) and wonder how anyone got good photos back then. Answer: it was either really expensive, really difficul, both, or impossible.

But the camera will never guess your intent, and neither will Photoshop. Defer to then, and you’ll get really good pictures, but not great pictures. Don’t know about you, but “really good” isn’t what I’m aiming for.

Helen Bradley: Don’t make these five mistakes in Lightroom

One reason I haven’t been posting much to flickr is that I finally hit that point where I was getting frustrated trying to do what I wanted to do with Bridge. My copy of Lightroom has arrived, and I’m going to spend some time settling in, and then we’ll see how it goes. I smell a bunch of tutorials coming around as I figure this out. (of course, the other reason I haven’t posted many photos is that work is really, really busy…)

David DuChemin on why photographers should — or shouldn’t — blog. (part-1, part-2, part-3)

I am — obviously — on the should blog side. I also have tried to be careful to stay focussed on the “content is king” aspect. There’s a difference between writing and typing, and typing doesn’t help. For photographers, bad (and badly presented) photography doesn’t help, either. I’ve been working through my long-term strategies on where I want this all to go (more on that soon), and not so focussed on short-term things. Building a business is a long-term investment, and to me, it’s better to take it slow and get it right than try to change direction and convince people the 2nd time around that I’m not an idiot…

(well, maybe too late for that.)

Photopreneur: Why you’re not making photo sales

Brian Auer: Pace yourself

Tao of Photography: Hey, fella, would you mind?

Paul Burwell: 5 Misconceptions about professional freelance photography

My heart telling myself it’s time to retire the Rebel XT and upgrade my primary body to a 50d, moving my 30d to be the secondary body. I really want to get onto the Digic 4 chip and some of the other improvements on the 50d. My head keeps reminding me I simply need to take more, better pictures, and what I have doesn’t already suck. I do expct at some point the 50d will win out, but so far, my head is winning. In reality, I take about 90% of my shots right now on the 30d and could really live most of the time in a single body environment (but oh, that other 5%, I’m really thrilled to have both — and the Rebel is my carry-about setup, also, which I need to start taking more advantage of) — so I’m trying to hold the line on “nice to have” vs. “moving my craft forward” — moving to Lightroom is a much better investment for me than a new camera body. But, well, the 50d is a neat body…

This is a lot like people who think they can be writers — it’s not having good ideas, any more than it’s having an expensive typewriter (yes, dating myself). It’s what you do with them. When I was writing fiction, I (like every writer) got lots of the “I have these ideas….” as well. Ideas are easy. Implementing them and making them salable is hard. Technology is easy — but technology isn’t what makes a salable image. All it does is make making a saleable image easier.

Digital Photography School: How to create a black and white high contrast sky image from a  color image.

Resolve: It takes more than great images to be a successful photographer.

Of course, fi you don’t have great images, you CAN’T be one. That’s one reason I’m taking my time on “making the move”. First, I can afford to, and be patient. Second, I still feel I have a lot of work to do on the technique and portfolio before I should be thinking about the business side.

Chase Jarvis: it’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be.

Although what I tell people is this: people who WANT to be a photographer or writer are going to lose out to those that HAVE to be photographers and writers. So I always question of the word “want”; Wanting isn’t good enough to succeed. you have to be driven to succeed, or drive yourself to succeed.One of the reasons I’m not currently writing fiction is that my drive was to become a professional writer. Once I did that, I lost a lot of the drive to write. (the other reason I don’t write today is I had time for writing or computers, but not both, and computers pay a lot better. easy choice, unless you’re driven to the other. I wasn’t).

A quiet reminder to understand your motivations and goals, and see if they’ll really take you where you want to go. And there’s that damn “want” word again…

Steve Beradi: how to avoid autofocus problems

One thing I always do: set my cameras to put AF on a separate button from the shutter. There’’s nothing more frustrating than lining up a shot and have AF refocus and cause you to lose a shot. On the 30d this is custom function 4, I believe, and makes a huge difference to me in the field. And you can always push both shutter and AF button together if you need to…

Related posts:

1. I seem to be collecting photography links again.. So here, share in the joy that is my...
2. A stunning festival of photography links… I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about photography...
3. The Online Photographer: Major Low-light Digital Photography Breakthrough Inbound from Korea The Online Photographer: Major Low-light Digital Photography Breakthrough Inbound...
4. Fraser Speirs – The Second Step in Photography Fraser Speirs – The Second Step in Photography: There...
5. A few of my favorite Photography books I’ve been going through my library looking for things...