Win a free Digimarc Professional Watermarking plug-in
Digimarc is donating one free professional watermarking plug-in for me to giveaway. Just drop your name on today’s blog and on next week’s Q&A Friday I’ll be announcing the winner. The drawing will be random, so just stop by the blog and tell me to hook you up. How easy is that?
Q&A Friday
It’s here: Q&A Friday. And I must say I was really pleased with the questions I received. I’m going to do my best to answer as many of these as possible, but those I don’t get to I’ll plan on addressing next Friday. So here we go— Q–Gina–What kind of camera do you shoot with [...]
Getting caught up
Today’s blog is packed with information from taxes to seminars and even a proud papa moment. Also, looking for suggestions for our next photo contest so stop by the blog and share your ideas.
Cabrini-Green “Making of the Image Part 2.”
Today’s blog is all about why I pick certain treatments for images. In today’s case I really thought a black and white treatment worked well with the Cabrini-Green project.
Making of The Image Part 2.
Today’s blog is all about what goes into my processing. Selecting a final image to work with has a lot to do with composition, exposure and feel.
It’s all in the P.O.V.
Point of view (P.O.V.) can make or break images so today I ran through an image I shot last week and how I changed up it’s POV.
A Snowy Recipe
Yesterday I decided to grab my camera and take advantage of Chicago’s new fallen snow. I took a few photos at the lake and a fun self portrait. Today’s blog breaks down how I created the self-portrait.
GIMP- Free image editing software
I wouldn’t say GIMP is an Adobe Photoshop killer by a long shot, but it’s definitely an alternative for those looking to do more than just crop their images. Not to mention you can’t beat the price – FREE.
Lightroom Presets make life easier
One of the things I love about Lightroom is the really cool developing presets. It took me three clicks to change today’s photos. Three different presets…three clicks…three different looks.
November’s Desktop Calendar
I decided I would get a jump on things and get November’s desktop calendar to you a little early. If you need the 1600X1200 click HERE; 1200X800 click HERE; 1920X1200 HERE and for you iPhone users that just want a cool wallpaper click HERE.
Scan your prints today.
I started out scanning these myself. What a pain! That was until I read an article in one of my tech magazines about scanmyphotos.com.
Why I use Photoshop
Yesterday’s post created quite a stir on my Facebook page. It’s obvious that people have very strong feelings regarding the use of Photoshop in today’s digital age. I tend to be of the mindset that Photoshop is nothing more than a darkroom for the digital photographer. It allows us to process our digital files much [...]
Hire a professional
Have you ever had a class that you thought was going to be a waste of your time, but ended up being quite the opposite? A couple of days ago I attended one of Scott Kelby’s live seminars. The seminar was dedicated to teaching the ins and outs of Lightroom, and its integration with Photoshop. [...]
Back to school
What a crazy weekend. I shot nearly 1500 photos this weekend between two portraits and one family wedding. I had a blast and was able to experiment a bit at the wedding with my flash. I’m not a wedding photographer by any stretch of the imagination, and I must admit I admire anyone that can [...]
Heading to The Big Easy
I’m heading out this morning to New Orleans, but I wanted to make sure everyone received July’s desktop calendar. July’s calendar is a picture of the Oregon coast I took a few years back after my father and I finished a great fishing trip on the Deschutes River. Click HERE to get the new desktop [...]
Pet contest rolls on…
The pet photo contest has been a huge success and I want to thank everyone for participating. Keep posting because the flood gates will close on July 3rd and the winner will be announced July 6th. For more details click HERE. To post your favorite pet photo click HERE. I’m having so much fun with [...]
Are you up-to-date?
Ok, today is the last post this week on software…I promise. I don’t know how many countless hours I’ve spent fixing computer and camera problems because I’ve failed to stay on top of updates. One time I forgot to update my camera’s firmware and sure enough one of the “bugs” reported caused me to have to ship [...]
How to increase image resolution and print size
How often have you had a beautiful 4×6 and wondered how it would look larger? If I could count all the times I’ve looked a photo and said “hey, I wonder if this would make a nice bathroom mural..;) “ Of course, I always get shot down on this idea and redirected to print a [...]
Do the right thing
Father’s Day shopping can be rough business. Especially if your pop has everything he already needs. Now, I know my Dad is much like myself. We don’t need materialistic things to complete our holiday. No, we just need a quality hug and “I love you”. BUT, I realize Father’s Day is just a little over [...]
HDR: worthy of the hype?
One of the things I love about digital photography is the flexibility it provides photographers to experiment. I really didn’t know too much about High Dynamic Range (HDR) a few years back, but now it seems to be all the rage. R.C. from Layers magazine wrote a great piece on HDR so check it out [...]
Sell with video
There’s been a lot of discussion in the past year about using video to sell your photography. I’m far from being an expert on video but I would like to point you in the direction of Animoto. This product simply rocks. In a matter of minutes you can create a great looking video using your [...]
Avoid Image Theft
First, I want to thank everyone that stopped by to see me in Kalamazoo. I had a ton of fun and really enjoyed visiting with all of you. I’ve been fielding a few questions from folks about how to protect your images from being stolen online. The most honest answer is you can’t. If you’re [...]
Turn down the noise
This weekend I had the opportunity to shoot a “city rodeo” except this one didn’t involve horses or cowboys. Instead, it involved rounding up hundreds of little kids for their annual dance recital. What made these shots difficult were the restrictions of no flash photography. What I do in many of these cases is prepare [...]
Pick your poison
Photography is all about expressing yourself. And what I love about digital photography is the versatility it grants you as the photographer. I think Hershey’s summed it up best “sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t”. The fact is, some days I feel like shooting in color, and sometimes I don’t. The reality [...]
John is an award winning landscape and travel photographer who splits his time between Chicago and Montana. His work has been featured in National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole. John loves the outdoors and traveling, and sharing his images with others.