Chris Searle

Copyright Scott Bourne 2010 - All Rights Reserved

Post by Rob Sylvan – Follow Lightroomers on Twitter

It’s normal to spend a lot of time in Lightroom’s Grid view, so it pays to learn a few ways to make your time there more efficient. Here are ten ways to get you working at the top of your game:

1. Press G from anywhere in Lightroom to jump to Grid view.

2. While in Grid view, you can quickly zoom in on a selected photo by holding the Z key. Keeping the Z key pressed allows you to click and drag around the zoomed photo as needed. Release the Z key to return to Grid view.

3. Increase the size of thumbnails with the + key and decrease with the – key.

4. Press J to cycle through the Grid cell styles. Press Ctrl/Cmd+J to open the dialog box to configure the cell style options.

5. If you want to arrange thumbnails manually into a new sort order you will need to work within either a collection or a folder (with no subfolders). Group photos located across multiple folders into a collection. From there, be sure to grab the center of the photo (not the border) and drag/drop the thumbnails to rearrange.

6. When working within a folder, you can group multiple photos into stacks to decrease clutter. Select the photos you want to stack and go to Photo > Stacking > Group into Stack (or press Ctrl/CMD+G). If the menu option is grayed out you aren’t working within a folder.

7. If you do not wish to see the contents of subfolders showing inside parent folders go to the Library menu and uncheck Include photos from subfolders.

8. To make the application of flags, ratings and color labels go faster you can enable Auto Advance under the Photo menu. When enabled, Lightroom will automatically advance focus to the next thumbnail after a rating, flag or color label is applied.

9. To devote maximum screen real estate to thumbnails only … press F until you reach Full Screen mode, press Tab+Shift to hide all panels, press T to hide the Toolbar and press the \ (backslash) key to hide the Library Filter bar. Press those same keystrokes again to return panels and toolbars to their original visibility.

10. Remember, when in Grid view everything you do is applied to all selected photos (for better or worse), so use it to your advantage and don’t forget you can always undo with Ctrl/Cmd+Z.

After 2 years of waiting, we have Aperture 3. And it's beautiful! In this podcast I cover the highlights of this new release, then have 10 tips to help you get started. Listen to the Podcast You can also download the podcast here (30 minutes). Or better yet, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. More on Aperture 3 Canon T1i Video Edited in Aperture 3 Full Screen Browser in Aperture 3 Switching Aperture to 32-bit Mode Monthly Photo Assignment Red is the Feb. 2010 Photo Assignment. You can read more about how to submit on our Member Participation page. Deadline...

The car is packed, and I'll be heading up to the Nature Photography Summit in Reno, NV. This is the start of an exciting road trip that includes the NANPA event, then head down Highway 395 past some of my favorite sites in California (Mono Lake, June Lake, Mammoth Lakes, Bishop, Lone Pine), and arriving in Anaheim for the PMA Show. At the shows, I'll be working in the Lowepro booth, meeting photographers, talking about gear, and recording short interviews. I'll post many of these conversations, so stay tuned. It's always great to hear what other shooters have to...

While down here in sunny Florida I have been exposed to Palm trees. Very different than the trees near my home in the Seattle area. Palm trees are all kinds of cool. And one of the cool things they do is make coconuts. (Yes I know not ALL Palm trees make coconuts – but the trees at my condo complex do!)

Now believe it or not, there’s a guy here at the condo complex who’s job it is to drive around in what I call the Coconutmobile picking up the coconuts that fall to the ground every day. On some days, after a big wind or rain, there are lots of coconuts. In fact, it’s kind of overwhelming. There are hundreds of palm trees on our property and each of these produces lots of coconuts.

As I watched the man pick up the coconuts and put them into the Coconutmobile, it dawned on me – there is a lesson here for photographers who want to turn pro or who are already pros and who want to grow their businesses.

You see it would be very easy for the guy who picks up coconuts to say, “Wow – there’s just too many of them. I don’t know where to start.” He could give up, park the Coconutmobile in the Coconutmobile garage and go have a drink on the beach. That would be very easy.

Instead, the man just rolls up to the first tree, gets out, brings out his bag, and starts picking up coconuts. He doesn’t seem to fret about which tree to begin with. He doesn’t even seem to have a pattern. He just stops where he happens to be and gathers the coconuts that have fallen to the ground. He gets back in the Coconutmobile and drives to the next tree where he does it again and again and again. It usually takes him about four hours to pick all the coconuts off the ground. When he’s finished, he takes them somewhere, I am not sure where. But I know the next day he’ll be back to do it all again.

As a new photographer, perhaps you’ve looked at all the things you need to learn to master the craft of photography. There’s which camera and lens to buy, learning about exposure, composition, light, etc. It would be very easy to say “Wow – there’s just too much to learn. I don’t know where to start.” You could join the coconut guy for a drink. But if you take a lesson from him, you can accomplish your goals. Just pull up to the first thing you need to learn and learn it. Don’t worry about all the other stuff. Stick with that one thing – that tree if you will – and learn what you can before you move on to the next. You’re going to have to learn all of it eventually, so just go for it.

Move along from one thing to the next learning what you can. Don’t concentrate on what you DON’T know. That would be like the guy picking up coconuts spending his day counting how many he has left to pick up. It’s much more productive (and satisfying) to say “Wow – look how many I’ve gathered!”

Copyright Konrad Blum

Hopefully you’re aware of our Emerging Photographer of the Year Award – to recap, over the next year, we’re going to identify 24 photographers who have outstanding work and offer them the exposure that they can get through our Photofocus website. Then, we’re going to select one to give a special award to.

(The exact prize package is still taking shape but here’s what we have so far:)

1. Copy Aperture $199
2. Copy Nik Complete Collection $299
3. Think Tank Rotation 360 Backpack $279
4. $500 cash from Bourne Media Group
5. $500 worth of free consulting from Scott Bourne on Selling/Publishing Photography
5. One year free premium subscription to lynda.com $375
6. Lensbaby Composer $270
7. $500 gift certificate from Red River Paper
8. One Year NAPP Membership $99
9. One year subscription to Layers Magazine $30
10. One free pass to either Photoshop World East or West (Doesn’t include lodging or transportation – just admission) $699
11. One year free Smug Mug Pro Account $150
12. KIBOKO Camera Bag from Gura Gear $400
13. TrekPod Go! PRO $230
14. $500 gift certificate from Outdoor Photo Gear
15. Trek-Tech T-Pod Mini Tripod w/ Ballhead & MagMount STAR Quick Release System $50
16. Xtand iPhone holder by Just Mobile $40
17. BorrowLenses.com $150 gift certificate

With this selection, 13 superb photographers have been showcased. I’m proud to announce our 13th finalist Konrad Blum, a South-African photographer who specializes in landscape photography. Konrad has something going for him that few of our contestants have – a style. He has a recognizable style and it’s a good one. His images really pop and he’s masterfully selected compelling subjects. His work is wonderful.

Take a look at Konrad’s work here. Congratulations to Konrad. We’re going to announce the next finalist in two weeks.

And here’s a complete list of the finalists so far

1. Ara Roselani

2. Ana Adams

3. Bryan Holliday

4. Amar Rameshbabu

5. Joseph Linaschke

6.Tia M. Bailey

7. Chitra Aiyer

8. Christian Del Rosario

9. Daniel Winters

10. Bryan Rowland

11. Haroon Sheikh

12. Jessica Lark

13. Konrad Blum

PLEASE BE PATIENT – OUR SERVERS SEE LARGE LOADS ON PUBLISHING DAYS. THE DOWNLOADS MAY GO SLOWLY BUT THEY WILL FINISH.

If for some reason it doesn’t show up in your copy of iTunes, please refresh your feeds.

You can subscribe through iTunes free of charge at (Opens the iTunes App)

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=313790661

We’d prefer you subscribe via iTunes because it helps elevate our show on their list – that in turn lets more people find the show, but if you don’t have the free iTunes client or want to use iTunes, here’s our NON-iTunes feed. Thanks.

Direct download – Listen to this episode here.

Thanks to Geoff Smith, the massively-talented musician who created our new custom open for the show.

Photofocus Episode 30

Host: Scott Bourne (www.scottbourne.com or www.twitter.com/scottbourne)

Show notes by Bruce Clarke (www.momentsindigital.com or www.twitter.com/bruceclarke)

Welcome to Episode Number 30 of Photofocus with Scott Bourne. Photofocus is the show devoted to your questions about anything photography related including gear, technique, locations, etc. Your questions will shape the direction of this show so be sure to send your questions to photofocus@me.com. We will try to answer as many as we can but we get a lot of questions so we’ll try to take a collection of questions that represent a particular topic and present them together.

This week we kick things off with a question about photography workshops vs. photowalks.

Question One – Photography Workshops vs. Photowalks

Ryan Harman writes: I am just starting my Career as a photographer and I was wondering what kind of experiences I can expect from attending photography classes at a college or spending a few weekends at photo workshops. What is better to start off with? Is there a difference between photo walks and photography workshops? What are the price points of these options?

Scott: Workshops are a great way to start your career. Workshops are cheaper and less intrusive than college and will give you an idea if this is something you’ll enjoy. Photowalks are typically not teaching situations and typically don’t have an instructor but rather a leader. I think you are better of starting with a workshop. If you have the money, time and interest then you can go to college as well.

Question Two – Photoshop vs. Photoshop Elements

Douglas N Crum asks: I’m going on a cruise to Europe in early March, visiting several countries. However, I think that I will have too much time on my hands on the cruise ship…. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop. SO… I want to learn something worthwhile. I am a mac user. I have a A300 Sony SLR. So far, I just use iPhoto but would like to learn more image manipulation/fixing type stuff than iPhoto will do. I am thinking of getting Photoshop Elements, or maybe Aperture. I have looked at some photoshop tutorials online and it looks a little intimidating. Also what is the difference between Photoshop and Photoshop Elements? What, from your perspective, are the relative merits of those, learning curves, etc.

Scott: Photoshop is much more expensive and much more inclusive then elements but Photoshop Elements includes about 95% of what most photographers need and will use. Certainly it’s a great place to start. You can download trial versions of both products to try them out for yourself. As far as learning Photoshop and Aperture, there are several resources including Sarah France, Lynda.com,& Kelby Training.

Question Three – Lens Sweet Spots

Tim from Indiana sent us an email at photofocus@me.com to ask: I’ve heard you talk about the sweet spot for a lens where you can expect to take the sharpest photo. What are the sweet spots for the following Nikon lenses: 50mm 1.4, 17-55mm 2.8, 105mm micro, 70-200mm 2.8, 10.5mm Fisheye?

Scott: Here’s how you can find out the sweet spot for each of those lenses. Set your camera up on a tripod with a newspaper taped to the wall and ensure you have consistent lighting conditions, etc. Then take a picture from wide open to stopped all the way down and decide for yourself where the sweet spot is. In general, the sweet spot on most lenses is going to be between f5.6 – f8.0 in most cases.

Question Four – Prints Under Glass

Eric Vogt writes: I recently received my 5 free 8×10’s from WHCC. They are gorgeous! I put one in a matted frame behind glass and hung it on a wall, not in direct light. It seems darker under glass on the wall. Are there any considerations or tips to processing photos when showing them behind glass, or is there likely not enough light on this photo of mine?

Scott: You were right to keep your pictures out of direct sunlight but you need to put some artificial light on them. It’s nothing to adjust in processing, it’s something you adjust in your presentation.

Sponsor – Scan Cafe

We’d like to thank our sponsor Scan Cafe for making this show possible. They have a new service and can do a turnaround in a little as 8 business days. They have now scanned more than 38 million images and it’s all done by hand. If you have slides and negatives that you’ve been meaning to scan – Scan Cafe is the answer for you. They hand scan your images, perform color corrections, remove scratches, etc. They can also do B&W negatives. Fees start at around $0.29 and they have complete tracking so you always know where your scans are. Head on over to www.scancafe.com and if you are a new customer you’ll get 20% off your first order by using the code ‘focus‘. Ask for the hi-res upgrade if you’re a serious photographer and looking for the very best quality scans. Scan Cafe and Photofocus are also giving away a Nikon D300s. Find out how you can win this great prize here.

Question Five – Tips for Shooting Level

Peter Annandale from NJ asks: When I shoot handheld, all of my pictures are always slightly out of level. The left side of the frame is always slightly lower than the right. Do you have any tips on how to get the shot level right out of the camera when shooting hand-held?

Scott: A good old fashioned bubble level will help. Also, you can find tripods that come with leveling heads and bubble levels. Some of the more recent and high end cameras come with built in levels.

Question Six – Tracking Ideas for Photography Projects

Matt Johnson writes: How do you organize and track your ideas for photographic projects, possible site locations, and specific shots or techniques you want to try? Is there good software that enables you to do this? Or is pencil and paper the best option?

Scott: In the old days I wrote stuff down in a notebook. Now, there a number of great programs available. Stickies which comes with a Mac or Evernote are great programs to keep track of notes.

Question Seven – ND Filters

Geoff Clark asks: I have recently obtained 3 Cokin ND graduated filters. My question is, how do you decide which filter to use when you have the choice of 1,2 or 3 stops?

Scott: The answer is really simple. Try the 1 stop filter first and if that doesn’t give you the result you are looking for, then try the 2 stop filter and so on. It boils down to experience. Eventually you start to get a good eye for this stuff and you’ll just grab the right filter organically.

Question Eight – Photo Tagging

M. Ball wrote to us to ask: I’m wondering if there is an accepted ‘better’ system for tagging photos with information. Currently, I’ve been using a system of IPTC metadata (especially with Aperture 3), and custom fields to store all my info. But, since I’ve been doing this, I’ve basically stopped key wording photos because it was redundant info and took much more time than on-import info (which is also more accurate per my memory!). Is this fine? I feel like a save a lot of time, and don’t need to maintain an organized keyword structure. Also, is one system better for longevity?

Scott: Metadata is the new search. If you have metadata on your photos and keywords then you’ll increase your chances of finding what you’re looking for when searching.The real question is how big is your library? If you have 1000 photographs then it’s not that big of a deal but it becomes very important if you have 100,000 photographs. What I do is I set four or five keywords to come in on import. Then naming conventions also help me to remember where the job was. I think the combination of file naming, IPTC metadata and on-import keywords is enough.

Question Nine – Future of EF-S Lenses

Stephen Valera from the Philippines writes: I own a Canon 350D, two EF lenses and 1 EF-S lens – the Canon 10-22mm. Just wondering how long will the EF-S lenses last? I mean are we heading all full frame in the future? Will camera makers abandon the APS-C all together or can full frame and APS-C sensor lens go along?

Scott: Two years ago I received information from Canon that they were going to go more full sensor but I think what’s happened is that the marketing departments have overridden the engineering departments and decided that this is what people want. That said, my opinion is that you should invest in lenses that you can use on full-frame sensors in the event that you decide to switch to a full-frame body. Full frame lenses tend to be a bit sharper and more expensive.

Question Ten – Tethered Flash vs. Remote Mode

Tommy Moore writes: I am starting to experiment with flash photography. I recently purchased an SB600 for my D90. Is there an advantage to keeping the flash tethered to the hot shoe via extension cord (Nikon SC-28) vs. remote mode?

Scott: If you shoot with the flash tethered, the advantage is that you don’t have to worry about sync issues caused by interference. The disadvantage is that you have to keep your flash closer to the body of the camera. If you only have to get your flash a few feet from the camera then tethered will be the way to go. If you use a remote, you can get the flash further from the body.

Sponsor – Lens Baby

We’d like to thank another one of our sponsors – Lens Baby. We are giving away another Lens Baby so visit Photofocus.com and look for the banner ad on the right-hand side to enter. Be sure to visit www.lensbaby.com to check out their creative lens system and the new Composer which works with their optic swap system. Check out the new fisheye and soft focus optics. You can even use them when shooting video with one of those new hybrid DSLR cameras. With one lens and 25 different accessories you can shoot many different types of images. Major motion pictures are even been made now with the Lens Baby.

Question Eleven – Filters for Landscape Photography

Thomasz asks: My question is about filters for landscape photography. Do you have experience with the Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue Polarizer? I already own a high quality standard circular polarizer and was wondering if the additional benefit of the Gold-N-Blue polarizer can be fully reproduced with the split toning sliders in post processing of raw images. I love the effect but the filter is not cheep, so before buying it I would greatly appreciate your opinion.

Scott: Back in the day when I shot film I used that filter and it’s very well built as are all the Singh-Ray filters. I do know that I can duplicate that look with a number of post processing products but the disadvantage is that I won’t see it in the field. There is something to be said for seeing the effect while you’re there in the field.

Question Twelve – Preventing Mold from Infesting a Lens

John P writes: What causes mold and/or mildew to fester in a lens ? I don’t have any problems with my lenses <knock on wood>, but I want to prevent anything from causing it. Is it related to shooting in a wet environment? I’d estimate a rainy city such as in the north west? If so, what are common ways to prevent your lenses from being a home for mold?

Scott: Basically what causes mold is condensation. Say for example you bring your lens in from a hot, humid environment into an air conditioned room, condensation can form and that can lead to mold and mildew. To avoid that from happening you can put your camera in a plastic bag and let the condensation form on the bag rather than on the camera and lens. If you have a push-pull lens, sometimes moisture can get in but most of the time it’s from condensation.

Question Thirteen – Online Storage Solutions

Richard Sylvester from Scott Depot, WV asks: I am looking for an online storage solution especially one that you can seed first and does scheduled backups. Do you have any suggestions? I have looked at SOS, Carbonite and Mozy.

Scott: I don’t use any of those systems personally but I have heard both good and bad things about all of them. Photoshelter.com is a combination of place to show off your photos and a place to store them. They are affordable and reliable. You don’t want to rely on any of them exclusively as any one of them could go away tomorrow.

Sponsor – White House Custom Color

Photofocus is sponsored by White House Custom Color. I’ve actually sold my printer and they do all of my printing now. Visit http://www.whcc.com/landing/ScottBourne/Blog/ for your five free 8 x 10 prints. They have a great new photo box now which is a great way to package your prints. You can also follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/whccpro

Question Fourteen – Exposure Advice

Kevin Williams asks: If a given scene averages out to a 2,3, or 4 on Ansel Adams’ zone system (a dark scene), is it better to expose for that level of darkness OR is it better to expose so the histogram is as far to the right as possible without clipping, and then lower the exposure in post?

Scott: My opinion is to expose as far the right as I can, without clipping. More data lives in that part of the file than in the dark part of the image. Be careful to not expose too far to the right though.

Question Fifteen – 32 Bit Plug-ins for Aperture

Stepgen from Dublin, Ireland writes: I was just wondering what your feelings are on Aperture and 32-bit plugins. Its seems that Aperture 3 launches in 64-bit mode on machines that will support it. However, if you use a plugin that was written for a 32-bit system, Aperture 3 has to quit and re-launch in 32-bit mode.

Scott: This is part of Apple’s sick system of not releasing any information to it’s partners about new software so now we have to wait for everyone to catch up and update their plugins to work in 64-bit mode. The only one that I know of that’s available so far is Hydra which is an HDR plug-in. I’m treating Aperture 3 like a beta until most of the 3rd party plug-ins are updated and the bugs are worked out.

Question Sixteen – Guide Numbers on Strobes

Levent Cimkentli (on a cruise ship in St. Thomas) writes: I have zero experience with strobes and I would like to experiment with them. A friend gave me several cheap strobes that I plan to attach to GorillaPods and remotely trigger them. These strobes do NOT have TTL ability. I assume that if I get a handheld flash/light meter I can simply trigger the strobes and take an incident reading to get a recommended exposure from the light meter. My question is: Is this how the flash meter is typically used? Any tips on the use of the flash/light meter? Finally can you explain the “guide numbers” on the strobes?

Scott: Read the guide numbers information in your manual. It has to do with the power of the strobe. The way you use the meter is either through a PC sync cord or through a remote trigger and you can put the meter in front of your subject’s face and trigger the strobe. That will tell you your exposure.

Question Seventeen – Glossy Monitors

Rafael Otoya says: In the last episode of your podcast, you had two questions related to monitors. I got me curious to know what’s the problem with glossy monitors. When I started my photography hobby, I made an initial investment on a IMac 24 inch unibody. I’ve heard that some people complain about this type of screens. I don’t know better because this is what I have been using ever since I started taking pictures seriously. Am I missing out on something? Can you tell me about the advantages and disadvantages of a glossy monitor and best practices in dealing with this?

Scott: I have glossy monitors on all my computers and I don’t mind them a bit. All the work that I do is done in my studio in a dark room with just a child’s night light behind my monitors so I don’t get any reflections. The best practice is to control the ambient light. If you can’t control the ambient light then you might want to consider a matte screen.

Question Eighteen – Off Camera Flash

Nick Bull from Nottingham, England ask: What is the best approach to using the flash off the camera when you are outside with no flash stands to hold it, and you are taking a picture of the person with you (so you can’t get them to hold the flash). Would you still advise getting the flash off the camera and perhaps holding the camera with one hand and the other arm out-stretched with the flash on it, making do putting the flash on the camera, or do you have any other approach/ideas?

Scott: Manfrotto makes all sorts of clips and Gorillapods are great for this.

Question Nineteen – How Much is Too Much When it Comes to Editing

Lee from County Durham, England writes: After many arguments with a photo buddy of mine, I’m still no closer to getting an answer so I’m throwing this question out to you. Will I ever be as good as a pro if I refuse to heavily edit my photos? It seems most photos I look at have an hour or two spent on them in post, whereas I spend 10 min to brighten, darken, or straighten etc. At what point does a photo stop being a photo when editing, and when they have spent alot of time in post, should it come with a disclaimer to stop new photographers like me from getting disheartened?

Scott: My take is that if an image starts it’s life in a camera then it’s a photo. The people who buy the photos and who look at the photos are the ones who count and those questions never come up from them. They don’t care what was used to create the photo or how long you spent in post working on the image – it’s mainly the pixel peepers and photography folks who like to get in rooms and debate this kind of stuff. I like to get my images as best as possible in camera and typically will only spend a few minutes in post working on a photograph. I have also developed lots of actions and presets which I use to cut down the amount of time I have to spend in post.

Question Twenty – Protecting Images from Being Scanned or Duplicated

Joshua in Austin asks: Is there a way to print or protect printed images from being scanned and duplicated. Are there any preferred print services or home remedies to protect photos from being scanned. I would appreciate any input on the subject.

Scott: I am unaware of any way to do that. You can put your watermark or signature on a photograph so then they would have to go into Photoshop to remove it but I don’t know of any way to protect a photo so that it can’t be scanned by modern technology. If anyone knows of a reasonable way, be sure to let me know and we’ll add it to the show notes.

The Blog

Just a reminder that you can visit the blog at www.photofocus.com for the show notes and plenty of other photography related articles. We are here on the 5th, 15th and 25th of each month. Please email us your questions at photofocus@me.com. If you can tell us where you’re from and how to pronounce your name that would be great too. Be sure to join our Flickr group where you can upload and share your photographs with other members of the Photofocus community and follow Scott on Twitter at www.twitter.com/scottbourne for lots of photography new and tips, plus chances to win great prizes. Also, for more coverage of the iPad, check out my new site at http://padpundit.com/ and watch for a new podcast with Andy Ihnatko coming soon.

Wrap Up

We want themes and questions from you. Be sure to visit the blog at PhotoFocus.com for articles, how-to’s, videos and more. You can also subscribe to the blog on a Kindle. Email us at photofocus@me.com follow us on Twitter. Don’t just take pictures – make pictures.

Scott Bourne is at www.scottbourne.com or www.twitter.com/scottbourne

Show notes by Bruce Clarke www.momentsindigital.com or www.twitter.com/bruceclarke

Now that this project has started to move, I've started to think about it less in terms of something that I can build myself and more in terms of a bigger project that lots of different people can contribute to, usually in a relatively small way.

One of the biggest problems with projects like this is reaching consensus with regards to what the finished project will look like. I think that the project could be really held back if we spend too much time on this sort of thing; conversely, it will really fly if it is developed in such a way that anyone is able to muck in when they have five minutes to spare.

I have therefore slightly remodelled the main wiki page so that it is easier to contribute in the following ways:

• There are now four "streams": beginners (BEG), site building and administration (SBA), theming (THE), and development (DEV).
• Under each of these streams there is a header titled "Stuff that definitely needs to be covered in the {name of stream} stream.
• If you want to see something covered in a particular stream, add it under that header. You can add anything, as big or as small as you like. For example, the THE stream should really cover preprocess functions. Don't worry that this is a big subject; just add it to the list. Someone else can break it up into smaller chunks (or you can, if you really want to!). The point here is that we can all quickly note down what we think each stream should cover; we'll worry about the rest later.
• Similarly, there are other areas of the page that you can use to quickly add individual tutorials, or websites that contain a number of tutorials. Again, don't worry about the details: just get stuff down on paper. We'll deal with organising all of this stuff later.
• Finally, if you are a Drupal newbie, you are the most valuable people of all for this project. Note down your own experience of learning Drupal: what you wanted to learn, how you went about learning it, what resources were useful, where you got stuck. Someone has already done this on the wiki; just follow their lead, or add your own wiki page if you like. Even if you're a more experienced Drupal user, you're going to be learning new stuff all the time: please add your own experiences to the wiki.

Does this all make sense? Anyone got any questions or ideas?

Drupalversity

Author: Joseph R. Meehan

Publisher: Lark Books

Review by Conrad J. Obregon

A movie can capture time and motion; that’s why it’s called a movie. But a still photograph, taken in a single instant, freezes time and can’t capture motion. Or can it? That’s the question that Joseph Meehan answers in the affirmative in Capturing Time & Motion: The Dynamic Language of Digital Photography (A Lark Photography Book).

The book is divided into six chapters including the language of time and motion, composition, optimizing camera functions, fast action photography, slow shutter speeds and photographing sports. Essentially the author suggests there are two types of shots that can be used to capture time and motion: fast shutter speed images that, through a series of cues, convey the motion (those are my words, not the author’s) and slow shutter speed images that allow a blur to convey the motion.

It seems to me that in both cases the idea of motion is conveyed by the viewer’s mind more than the image itself. In fast shutter speed pictures, we know what the activity is and we read into the image what will come next, creating the idea of motion. Slow shutter speeds work because, while human vision doesn’t actually capture, or at least distinguish, blurs in real life (with a few exceptions, like a hummingbird’s wings), we’ve come to understand that blurs mean motion. Meehan doesn’t spend much time examining the mind’s role in the process, and in the case of fast shutter speeds I would have liked to have seen more of a discussion of the cues we receive and how the photographer can incorporate them into realizing his vision. He does suggest that leaving space in front of the action on the image field will convey that the action will move into the field, but he ignores the cues presented by gravity, as when a runner leans forward at an angle that can only be sustained by motion. I would have liked to see more of this type of discussion.

The discussion of camera functions that should be set to capture motion and time is interesting and occasionally useful but some of the settings discussed seem more appropriate to a general discussion of photography rather than an in-depth exploration of the subject of time and motion. For example, space is devoted to setting white balance which is important to digital photography generally, but Meehan did not show how it could have some special application to the book subject.

Similarly, the discussion of photographing sports provided a great deal of useful information, like where to stand for the best pictures of particular sports, but didn’t add much to the time and motion discussion.

I was interested in Meehan’s approach since most manuals that deal with this subject usually cover it in several pages in a larger book, which has always seemed to me sufficient. In this book a great deal of the content is about specific photographic subjects, to which the general rules are applied. Moreover, the pages of photographs by Meehan and his colleagues could provide inspiration to other photographers trying to make a single image describe a continuing event.

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This post sponsored by WHCC – White House Custom Colour – Get Five Free 8×10 Prints From WHCC

Sometimes all you want to do is select a bunch of images and show them off quickly... and beautifully. Slideshows on the fly provide the one-two punch of your great photos plus clever presentation. The problem is, you usually have to spend more time than you want creating these presentations before sharing them. What if you could author a something gorgeous by just selecting the images and hitting the play button? Thanks to PhotoPresenter 4, just released at Macworld by Boinx Software, you can ride this fast lane to your audience. To select which images you want to show...

Copyright Scott Bourne 2010 - All Rights Reserved

If you read my email you’d be busy since I get a bunch of it. You’d also see that many people still believe it’s the gear that makes the photo and not the photographer. If that were ever going to be true, it would be so when it comes to wildlife – or more specifically – bird photography.

The ability to capture birds well often requires a long lens, a fast focusing camera and a high frame rate – or does it?

Copyright Scott Bourne 2010 - All Rights Reserved

It is possible to photograph just about anything with a compact (point and shoot) camera, particularly if it’s one of the higher-quality compact cameras.

Every photo in this post was made using a Canon G11. I went out with nothing but the G11 in hand one morning last week to prove it could be done and yes it can.

Copyright Scott Bourne 2010 - All Rights Reserved

Don’t get me wrong. I’d prefer a Nikon D3s or Canon 1DMKIV for this job. But when people tell me they can’t make good images because they can’t afford good gear, I tend to think they are missing the point.

Give yourself a chance folks. Those pocket cameras are darn good these days. In fact, I’d venture to say they are better than many of the cameras used back in the day to make iconic images that appeared in the pages of Life and Look Magazine.

Copyright Scott Bourne 2010 - All Rights Reserved

The compact camera can be a fun tool. Even if you have the big guns like the Canon 800mm F/5.6 “IS” “L” in your bag, take a break, give your poor back a rest and just head out with your point and shoot and see what you can get. You might be surprised.

As a programmer, you’ll find that working hard often does not pay off. You might fool yourself and a few colleagues into believing that you are contributing a lot to a project by spending long hours at the office. But the truth is that by working less, you might achieve more – sometimes much more. If you are trying to be focused and “productive” for more than 30 hours a week, you are probably working too hard. You should consider reducing your workload to become more effective and get more done.

This statement may seem counterintuitive and even controversial, but it is a direct consequence of the fact that programming and software development as a whole involve a continuous learning process. As you work on a project, you will understand more of the problem domain and, hopefully, find more effective ways of reaching the goal. To avoid wasted work, you must allow time to observe the effects of what you are doing, reflect on the things that you see, and change your behavior accordingly.

Professional programming is usually not like running hard for a few kilometers, where the goal can be seen at the end of a paved road. Most software projects are more like a long orienteering marathon. In the dark. With only a sketchy map as guidance. If you just set off in one direction, running as fast as you can, you might impress some, but you are not likely to succeed. You need to keep a sustainable pace, and you need to adjust the course when you learn more about where you are and where you are heading.

In addition, you always need to learn more about software development in general and programming techniques in particular. You probably need to read books, go to conferences, communicate with other professionals, experiment with new implementation techniques, and learn about powerful tools that simplify your job. As a professional programmer, you must keep yourself updated in your field of expertise — just as brain surgeons and pilots are expected to keep themselves up to date in their own fields of expertise. You need to spend evenings, weekends, and holidays educating yourself; therefore, you cannot spend your evenings, weekends, and holidays working overtime on your current project. Do you really expect brain surgeons to perform surgery 60 hours a week, or pilots to fly 60 hours a week? Of course not: preparation and education are an essential part of their profession.

Be focused on the project, contribute as much as you can by finding smart solutions, improve your skills, reflect on what you are doing, and adapt your behavior. Avoid embarrassing yourself, and our profession, by behaving like a hamster in a cage spinning the wheel. As a professional programmer, you should know that trying to be focused and “productive” 60 hours a week is not a sensible thing to do. Act like a professional: prepare, effect, observe, reflect, and change.

[This is a reprint of a chapter that I wrote for the newly released O'Reilly book 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know]

If you have to switch to 32-bit mode in Aperture to run your plug-ins, which are all 32-bits, you can do so via the Get Info box (File > Get Info). With the application closed, check the "Open in 32-bit mode" box, then relaunch Aperture. All of your current Aperture plug-ins should be available to you then. More on Aperture 3 Canon T1i Video Edited in Aperture 3 Full Screen Browser in Aperture 3 Follow me on Twitter -...

Copyright Scott Bourne 2010 - All Rights Reserved

While teaching a field workshop, you’ll often hear me call out to the students – “Backgrounds, Backgrounds, Backgrounds.” Backgrounds matter. And choosing the right background for your subject can mean the difference between success and failure.

You can have a great subject in great light but a poor background will kill the mood.

Take the picture above. You’ll note the smooth background focuses your eye on the bird. There’s nothing behind the bird competing with the bird for your attention. The background also offers contrasting color which also focuses your eye on the bird.

The picture below, taken on the nest is distracting. The tree twigs and mass of different colors compete with the bird for your attention.

Photo Copyright Scott Bourne 2010 - All Rights Reserved

Neither picture is going to win any awards, but the photo on top is much better. The cleaner the background, the better the chance that your photo will be successful. While this is particularly true in wildlife photography, it’s often true in other types of photography.

If you think the background needs to be full of stuff to make the photo sophisticated or cool, you’re missing the mark. Simple is often the best choice.

Whether you agree or not, at least make a conscious effort to scan the background of your image before you press the shutter.

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This post sponsored by WHCC – White House Custom Colour – Get Five Free 8×10 Prints From WHCC

One of the pleasant surprises in Aperture 3 is the new Full Screen Browser. To access it from the normal browser view in Aperture, all you have to do is hit the F key. This lets you dedicate every inch of your monitor to your pictures. This feature is a blessing while I'm using my 17" MBP on the road. If you want to edit one of the images, just double-click on the thumbnail in the Browser to bring it to full screen, then hit the H key to bring up the Adjustments Inspector. At this point, you can...

We’re far more self-aware these days than in previous generations. We live in a world with very high expectations. We play in virtual or online worlds. Our minds wrap well around video games based on alternate universes. We text, and IM and e-mail and Tweet and it all makes it too easy to forget some of our more powerful human traits. Take empathy for instance.

When you set out to make a portrait of somebody, what are you thinking? Chances are you’re thinking about any one or more of the following things:

a. Gear, camera settings, technology
b. Lighting
c. Selling the portrait
d. Showing the portrait
e. Winning an award for the portrait
f. Having the portrait measure up to the subject’s expectations
g. Having the portrait measure up to your peer’s expectations
etc.

While I may be using a little hyperbole there to make a point, my guess is I am not far off for some of you.

What’s missing from this list?

Empathy.

While all the things on the list I just offered you may be reasonable to consider, the first thing I’d like to ask you to consider is your subject. How are THEY feeling? How’s this process going from THEIR point of view? Are they happy, sad, afraid, tense, angry, tired, thrilled, worried, anxious, etc.

If as the portrait maker, you’re not focused on how the subject is feeling, you’re missing a big opportunity to improve your work.

Seeing this experience through the eyes of the portrait subject is revealing. They may misinterpret much of what’s going on. If they are fearful of having their portrait made, they may be spinning out of control on the inside just about the time you say “SMILE!”

Try slowing down and examining the situation from their point of view. Stop looking at yourself in the mirror and look at them. Remember that most likely, unless the subject is a professional model, they may fear that they don’t “take a good picture.” It’s our job as photographers to reassure them that they measure up just fine.

Next, try to connect with the subject. I mean really connect. Come OUT from behind the camera. Come close to the subject. Shake their hand. Thank them for the opportunity to tell their story. Ask them questions that would help them understand that you really care about them more than the photo. After all, isn’t a human life worth more than any photograph?

Lastly focus (not your camera) but your mind on your subject. Listen to them. No I mean really LISTEN to them. Don’t fiddle with your camera or check your text messages or talk on the phone or type on the computer when they come in. Focus 100% of your attention on them. Put yourself in their shoes. They just walked in to your studio or met you on location to have their portrait made. See how they are doing. Deal with their condition first and then, set out to finish any other list you have.

How do I know this works? Simple. For the first 10 years of my career I was so focused on my work that when I made portraits I ignored nearly every one of these suggestions. Then one day I had a relative come into the studio. She was so nervous she was sick. Because I cared for her more than my previous clients (she was a relative after all) I paid attention to her. She relaxed. I made a portrait of her that she said was the best she’d ever seen. That lesson wasn’t lost on me. I hope it will help you too.

InfoPeople Corporation Drupal Themer Employment type:  Full time Employment type:  Contract Telecommute:  Not allowed

Title:Drupal Themer:
Location: NYC

We are looking for a PHP developer that will build application for our Drupal based website. You will be responsible for wide array of exciting projects on strict deadlines; ranging anywhere from 2 days to 2 months.
Work history should reflect competence in programming best practices (writing clean code), implementing 3rd party API's and Content Management Systems. This position requires excellent front end coding skills in addition to PHP based backend. The ideal candidate will have prior professional experience with Drupal with excellent PHP skills.
Great communications are required as you will be interfacing with editorial, design and project management team(s) on daily basis.
This will likely start as a Drupal Themer type of role that will evolve into a senior developer.

Key Responsibilities:-
Develop PHP application modules for our Drupal based website. - Closely work with project management and editorial to estimate build time for applications, suggest innovative solutions where needed and then build them. - Implement 3rd party APIs to integrate content or implement functionality. - Interface with 3rd party vendors to evaluate new products.

Skills:-
At least 2 years working knowledge of PHP based web development in a LAMP environment. - At least 6 months of full time Drupal experience (Drupal 6 is ideal). Working knowledge of Drupal theme hooks, FAPI etc. - Proven mySQL experience. Must be able to write efficient queries from scratch. - Excellent frontend coding skill to create Drupal templates. This includes HTML, CSS and JavaScript. JQuery framework knowledge is a plus. Must be able to write cross browser compatible HTML layouts. - Implementing 3rd party API, generating and parsing content feeds. - Ability to build a webpage from Photoshop* design mock. - Version control software (Subversion, CSV) is a plus.
– Excellent communication skills. - Knowledge of social media trends is a big plus as it will help you suggest new products to the team.

"Referrals are highly appreciated"

Vikas Aryan

InfoPeople Corporation
99 Wall Street, 17th Floor
New York, NY 10005
Phone: 609 662 0279
Fax: (212) 232-0070

Email: vikas@infopeoplecorp.com
Web: www.infopeoplecorp.com
SBA 8(a)/SDB Certified Business
NYC & NYS Certified Minority Business
New York State OGS Contractor
GSA Schedule Contractor

This e-mail is property of InfoPeople Corporation. It is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential, or otherwise protected from disclosure. Distribution or copying of this e-mail or the information contained herein by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify us by replying to this email and destroy all electronic and paper copies of this e-mail.

Albany, NY

Last week I wrote the first in a series of posts about the iPad’s impact on photography.

In this series, I will start to lay out the case for how and why I think the iPad will change photography. Now before you get too excited, I’m not talking about major change, but IMPORTANT change.

Last week I mentioned that the iPad is a CONTENT machine – aimed at consuming it not creating it. Today, I want to talk about the interface.

The iPad doesn’t come with a pointer, a trackpad, a trackball or a mouse. It relies on multi-touch technology. If you’ve seen the Tom Cruise movie where Cruise uses his hand to interact with a computer while hunting for a criminal you understand multi-touch. If you have an Apple iPhone or laptop you probably use multi-touch right now. And that is one very crucial factor in the iPad’s ability to share photographs.

Millions (and I do mean millions) of people are already familiar with Apple’s multi-touch technology. They use it every day. So that means the iPad will come to their door ready to use. No training required. Heck, you won’t even need to read the manual.

Laptops, tablet computers and such are much more complicated. Small children can use a mult-touch device right out of the box – as can elderly folks who think “learning” a computer is too big a task.

I’ve seen it with my own two eyes. When I first got the iPhone I put a portfolio of my wolf pics on the phone. I knew my neighbor’s five-year-old daughter loved wolves so I just handed her the phone and asked her if she wanted to look at some wolf photos. She got excited, literally grabbed the phone from me, turned it horizontally (since the first pic in the show was horizontal) and started enjoying the photo. Then I simply said, “Go on to the next one now.” She looked at me funny but then back at the iPhone and sure enough, she just organically knew to try swiping the image. When it worked she let out a little yelp of happiness. I then showed her (one time) how to pinch to zoom in and within a few minutes she had mastered the whole thing.

This is the stuff Apple does very, very well. And you can bet it’s going to make the iPad one of the most consumer-friendly pieces of technology we’ve ever seen.

Apple has worked to expand multi-touch on the iPad. There are numerous new “gestures” planned for the iPad.

Bundles (or piles or stacks) can be made by holding a finger on one picture and then tapping others to group together.

New Resize handle makes it easy to tap and grab one or more images and resize them.

New page navigation sidebar lets you see thumbnails of pages to select.

New context-based keyboards will automatically resize to fit the app you’re using.

There are many more like floating control panels, optimized views, more spread and pinch options, popovers, dragging to create lists, etc.

And this doesn’t even count all the new gestures we’ll see once the third-party developers get into writing new ones.

In short, I see the ability to interact with the iPad via multi-touch as a new opportunity to show off your photo portfolio with flair. Not only will you be able to show pictures, but if you become skilled at multi-touch gestures, you’ll be able to do it with style.

The ability to use the iPad as a portable portfolio is probably my main attraction to the device. And portability is the next thing I’ll cover in part 3 of the series.

Apple finally took the wraps off Aperture 3.0. The application appears to have caught up to Lightroom 2X and then some. But until Adobe freezes the LR3 beta, we can’t know how the two programs stack up head-to-head.

Some important new features in Aperture 3.0 include:

a. Presets (including on import)
This is one of the things I really found I liked about Lightroom. Presets are fun, cool and time-saving. Glad to see Aperture 3.0 finally has them.
b. Easier import and more import options
c. Backup on import
d. Faster thumbnails on import – This works as advertised
e. Color labels
f. Merge and Sync Libraries
This one is huge – I’ve been wanting this since Aperture 1.0. If you work with many Libraries as I do, this can be a real neat option
g. Fast Library Switching
Another feature I’ve wanted – again because I use multiple Libraries. This should make it easier and faster
h. Better Library/database maintenance options
i. From iPhoto Faces/Places – very cool
j. Non-destructive brushes – Finally selective adjustment in Aperture
k. New curves tool
l. Web publishing to Facebook or Flickr
m. Video support – HUGE with fusion making waves in the industry the ability to do ANYTHING with video in Aperture is a big deal
n. Slideshows vastly improved – yes! Finally you can export and share an Aperture slide show and you can add audio, text and video. Aperture 3.0 also offers six professionally-designed themes.
o. Printing – lots more printing options including books. I’m impressed to see that Apple worked out deals with companies like GraphiStudio. These folks make some really high-end stuff. Should be a boon to wedding and portrait shooters. There are also cool new printing presets.
p. 64-Bit support – huge if you have a beefy machine
q. New project view lets you organize and view projects more efficiently
r. AND last but not least – Aperture FINALLY supports Panasonic’s RAW format on the LX3!!!

There’s a partial laundry list. Apple claims there are 200 changes to Aperture 3. This list represents some of the changes I consider important.

About performance…

There’s no doubt that on my test machine: (Intel Core 2 Duo – 2.93 GHz – 8 GB Memory) Aperture builds the previews MUCH more quickly. But I see no additional enhancements to performance – so far. The program still takes a while to process images and while you can technically work on your photos while this happens, it only took me 30 seconds to crash Aperture 3.0. All I did was try to see a Full Page View of an image that was processing.

Clearly, those hoping to find Aperture noticeably faster will find little to cheer about. The program is also still a bit buggy for my taste. I had one other random crash. I expect these problems to quickly be sorted out.

All-in-all it looks like Apple has caught up to Lightroom and perhaps surpassed it in some ways. Aperture 3.0 is a major update. It was a long wait between Aperture 2.0 and Aperture 3.0 and hopefully Apple won’t take so long between this and the next update. I will continue to use both Lightroom and Aperture, but for me, the jury is still out. I am a little worried about the crashes I experienced and I may wait for 3.01 before I try doing any serious work with Aperture 3.0.

As soon as Adobe announces the gold version of Lightroom 3, I’ll do a side-by-side comparison.

Aperture 3.0 retails for $199, and existing Aperture users can upgrade for $99. Visit Apple for more information.

When Apple enabled video trimming in Aperture 3, my guess is they wanted to enhance the Slideshow module. And that they did. You can now combine still images, video, and separate audio tracks to create beautiful productions. After playing with this module for a few hours, however, my message to Apple is that I would prefer even more video functionality (yeah, I know). But quite honestly, the task I often have at hand is to shoot video, cut it, then upload to YouTube -- as quickly as possible. Incorporating still images and soundtracks are fun, but not the normal project....

Photo bags are like your cameras: you want the right tool for the job. Often this means having a couple different types of bags to meet the different situations you face as a photographer. In this podcast I help you get your bags together. Listen to the Podcast You can also download the podcast here (25 minutes). Or better yet, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Monthly Photo Assignment Red is the Feb. 2010 Photo Assignment. You can read more about how to submit on our Member Participation page. Deadline for entry is Feb. 28, 2010. TDS Workshops Update The...