Tonight I was doing my normal nightly routine and scanning a couple of the internet forums I frequent for interesting topics.  I saw one on the Rocky Mountain Nature Photographers forum that piqued my interest titled “Nik Silver Efex – Is It All That?“.  No one who has been here for longer than a week will be surprised to hear me make this admission: I’m a Nik Software fanboy.  I love their stuff.  I do.  I preach about it on my blog, at my workshops and to my private guided clients.  I sing their praises on Facebook and twitter.  I use Nik plug-ins in the development of every single photograph I make.

So, what makes Nik plug-ins so great?  Is it because they can make a bad image good?  Or maybe it’s because they have powers far beyond those natively contained within Photoshop and Lightroom.  Nope.  Nik plug-ins don’t contain crazy voodoo magic that instantly converts an average photo into a masterpiece.  Truth be told, they don’t do anything that can’t be accomplished in the old fashioned digital darkroom using tried and true practices like layer masking, complicated selections, luminosity masks and blends, and other technical mumbo jumbo.

I’ve been using Photoshop since 2002.  That’s 9 years, folks.  The first 2 years almost don’t count since I was basically just floundering around in software that was way over my head.  I’m one of those freaks who would rather be outside playing than staring at a computer monitor.  Photoshop forced me to spend way too much time in a chair, at my desk, processing images.  Over the years I learned to navigate the myriad options pretty efficiently.  All was well and I was happy with my images.

Then one day, while guiding a client and talented photographer named Ray (who eventually became a friend), my eyes were opened to something new.  While hiking together in Arches NP he mentioned how amazed he was with these cool Nik Software Photoshop plug-ins he’d been using.  Ray told me how easy and powerful they were to use, and that he’d seen a dramatic improvement in the quality of his processed images.  A few days later, after Ray had headed back home to Texas, I downloaded a trial version of the Nik Software Complete Collection.

I was particularly interested in Silver Efex Pro for converting color images to black and white.  In all my years of using Photoshop and Lightroom I still hadn’t mastered the monochrome conversion.  In fact, I sucked at it.  I went to work on a few images with Silver Efex Pro and after an hour or two of experimentation, I was churning out pretty damn amazing black and white photos that made my previous attempts look like nothing more than sad, sad little pictures.

Next I tried Viveza 2, then Color Efex Pro 3.0.  They both rocked my socks off.  Dfine 2.0 for noise reduction?  Rocks.  Sharpener Pro 3.0?  Yeah, it rocks – especially if you’re new to printmaking, but that’s a whole other post.  The free trial offered by Nik lasts 15 days.  In less than a week I’d busted out my credit card and sprung for the whole enchilada.  That was over a year ago and never have I regretted that decision.  What’s so special about them?  I’m glad you asked.

Nik Software doesn’t make “magical” products.  That’s the domain of Apple.  The Nik plug-ins don’t allow you to do anything in the digital darkroom that wasn’t already possible within Photoshop and Lightroom.  What the Nik plug-ins do is flatten out the learning curve.  To become truly proficient with Photoshop takes months, at the very least.  For most of us it takes years to really attain a high degree of proficiency.  Here’s a bad analogy: Nik Software plug-ins are like the Slap Chop of image processing, but without the annoying infomercials.  Sure, you could slice and dice all those vegetables by hand with a knife but it’ll take a lot less time if you just Slap Chop them into juicy submission.  Nik plug-ins will save you time and headaches, and they’ll take you from a RAW un-processed file to a beautiful, finished image in a fraction of the time it would take using only the native controls in Lightroom and Photoshop.

As I’ve already mentioned, I’d rather spend more time in the field making new images and less time in the office staring at a computer monitor.  Thanks to the good folks at Nik Software, I’m able to do that now.  Every single image I process is touched at some point by at least one Nik plug-in.  Usually, I’ll use three of them: Viveza 2, Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Sharpener Pro 3.0.  For black and white images I’ll use the freakin’ amazing Silver Efex Pro 2, Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Sharpener Pro 3.0.  Nik plug-ins allow me to do more in less time.  They allow me to spend more time hanging out with my family, making new images, marketing and selling my work or napping in a grassy field filled with alpine wildflowers.  Only in the summer, though.  The bottom line is that Nik plug-ins allow me to spend more time doing anything else and less time tied to my desk.  If you’re content without them, good on you.  They’re not for everybody.  But if you want to go farther, faster – download the Nik Software Complete Collection 15 day trial now.  I promise not to say “I told ya so.”

Use discount code “BEDGE” to receive 15% off your purchase of Nik Software plug-ins at the Nik Software Store.

I’m a firm believer in the power of honest and constructive critique to improve your photography.  I saw considerable improvement in my own work early in my career after discovering several active online critique forums.  I’m still a member of two of those forums and I still occasionally post for critique.  The comments I receive continue to fuel my growth as an artist.

Just a few days ago I was chatting with another photographer, Scott Alvarado, on twitter.  I don’t recall how we got to this point but I offered to critique a couple of his images if he would allow me to post the photos and my critique on my blog for all my readers to learn from.  Scott graciously agreed and sent me two monochrome photos from Badlands National Park.  What follows are Scott’s images and my critique of each.  These photos belong to Scott, they are not in the public domain and they may not be used for any purpose without first contacting him for approval.

Overall this is a well crafted image.  Scott captured a dynamic moment with dramatic clouds and sidelight, which nicely accentuates the ridges of this beautiful landscape.  Initially I thought the heavily shadowed area at right needed to be cropped, perhaps to an 8×10 ratio.  After trying this I decided I like it better as-is.  The deep shadows on the right balance the higher peaks and clouds on the left.  That balance is lost if the image is cropped.

I’d like to see more tonal separation between sunlit forms and shadows.  The shadows are already pretty rich, so I would experiment with selectively dodging the sunlit areas.  The bright areas in the clouds could be brought down a bit.  As-is, my eye tends to find them first and wants to keep going back to them, drawing my attention from the rest of the beautiful landscape.  This should be a subtle burning in of the lightest areas as you don’t want to lose the nice contrast in the clouds.  The image also feels a little bit soft, which is easy to fix with a touch more sharpening.  All in all, Scott’s got a great image to work with and it is clear that he started with a quality capture.

My comments on this image mirror those of the first image, with a couple exceptions.  I think new landscape photographers some times try too hard to incorporate a near/far perspective in their compositions.  This image breaks from that convention and provides us with a lovely portrait of this beautiful badland.  This was likely accomplished through the use of a longer lens, which shows that Scott is using all the tools at his disposal to create dynamic imagery.  The clouds are perfectly exposed, their highlights bright and nicely contrasting with the darker sections of cloud and sky. 

I would like to see the sunlit sections of rock a bit brighter.  The shadows are good as-is, and dodging the mid-tones and highlights in the landscape (not in the clouds) will give the image a little more ”pop”.  I would be tempted to crop out the sliver of sunlit grass at the bottom of the image as it’s a touch distracting to my eye.  I’d rather have the shadows at the bottom to anchor the composition.  As with the previous image, this is a fine photograph that could be made even better with a couple minor tweaks.

I hope these critiques have been helpful to you all and especially to Scott.  It isn’t easy to put your work out to be critiqued in such a public forum.  I owe Scott a big thanks for his willingness to do just that. 

I’ll end with one final thought: image critiques are a great learning experience for the photographer AND the critiquer.  There is great value in critiquing a photograph you didn’t create.  We’re often too close to our own work to be able to effectively analyze the good and bad.  Not sure where to start?  Read my blog post about nature photography critique forums I like to get you started.

Last week I wrote about the best advice I’ve received from other photographers during the last 12 years of my career.  This week I thought I’d go the opposite direction and share a few mistakes that, after all that time in the field and great advice, I still can’t seem to avoid.  Some are humorous and others are just downright annoying.  What mistakes do you find yourself making over and over again?

That Pesky Damn Lens Cap - I can’t tell you how many times I’ll put the viewfinder to my eye only to see…nothing.  Yeah, I forget to take the lens cap off all the time.  Fortunately, I realize the error before pressing the shutter button.  I don’t feel too bad about this as years ago I read that Ansel Adams once forgot to put film in his camera during a workshop he was teaching.  Okay, so the great one only made such a silly mistake once. 

Invincible Tripod Syndrome (ITS) - We’ve all done this.  Some of us learned from our mistakes while others (me) still haven’t.  We set up our tripod, mount our camera and expensive lenses to it and then walk away.  Do this enough times and eventually gravity will rear it’s ugly head.  I’ve had cameras blown over in the wind, knocked over in the water and I’ve even tripped over my own tripod leg.  I saved that one from near death.  I know the consequences and yet I continue to roll the very expensive dice.  That qualifies for stupid, right?

Image Stabilization Times Two - What is a tripod?  It’s image stabilization.  There’s no such thing as too much image stabilization, right?  Wrong.  Most lenses that feature built-in image stabilization/vibration reduction are likely to produce blurry images if you leave the IS/VR turned on while your camera is locked tight on a tripod.  You see, when your camera is secure in a ballhead and IS/VR kicks on, the movement of the gyro inside the lens is enough to introduce vibrations that may result in blurry images.  I’ve blown more images than I care to remember because of this bonehead move.  Whether or not the IS/VR will cause blurry images is a function of luck, shutter speed and the lens you’re using.  Why chance it?  Make it a habit to turn off IS/VR before using a tripod. 

The Dust Magnet - Sensor dust is the bane of every digital photographer.  Most modern DSLR’s have some kind of ultrasonic cleaning mechanism that does a remarkable job of keeping sensors virtually dust free.  Still, it’s never wise to leave your camera turned on when changing lenses – especially in the field.  Doing so exposes what is esentially a magnetically charged sensor to the environment, thus inviting dust to take up residence inside the camera.  I don’t do this often but every once in a while, when I’m rushing, it’ll happen.  It’s usually followed by a string of self-deprecating expletives.

Lens Envy - An illness I’ve never been able to overcome is gear envy.  If only I had that new lens/camera/computer/software/backpack/filter/truck my images would be soooooooooooo much better.  In fact, I’ve pretty much given up on even trying to beat this one.  I’m a gearhead.  Always have been, always will be.  I just need to realize that I don’t need to justify a purchase by pretending to believe it’s going to make me a better photographer. 

More is Better - In compositional terms, more is rarely better.  And yet, I find myself cramming more and more into a composition until it loses cohesiveness.  I’m usually able to realize this in the field and make adjustments on the fly to resolve the issue.  Occasionally, I don’t discover the error until I see the images on my computer monitor.  The best compositions and thus, photographs, are not usually those which contain everything.  Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Now that I’ve bared my soul it’s your turn.  Share some of the mistakes you still make.  I bet you’re not alone and perhaps we can all learn from them.

If you’ve been around here for any length of time you’re well aware that I’m a huge fan of the Nik Software Complete Collection for Photoshop and Lightroom.  Last week Nik released Silver Efex Pro 2, which is a significant update to their already stellar Silver Efex Pro plug-in that gives photographers the ability to create dynamic black and white images with ease.  The great thing about Silver Efex Pro 2 (and all the Nik plug-ins, for that matter) is that it affords tremendous creative control to those of us who aren’t and never will be Adobe Certified Experts.  I like anything that allows me to spend more time outside making images and less time chained to my desk.

A few weeks back I wrote a short pre-review of Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.  In that post, I guessed that I would really dig the new features like Dynamic Brightness, Soft Contrast and selective edits using the enhanced Brightness, Contrast and Structure controls.  Now that I’ve had a few days to experiment with the new features I’m happy to say that my predictions were accurate.  Silver Efex Pro was good.  Silver Efex Pro 2 is phenomenal.  What better way to show you just how awesome it is than to take you on a step by step tour of the development of my latest black and white image?

Click here to download this tutorial as a PDF document.

Last summer in Glacier National Park I made the photograph above of a false hellebore plant glistening with raindrops.  I love the color version but I needed some black and white images for a recent project.  I chose this photo as a good candidate for monochrome conversion because of the rich tones and wonderful patterns.  I won’t go into detail about the processing of the color image since we’re focused on how to convert a color image to black and white.

I use the Nik plug-ins within Lightroom mostly because I like to keep all my files in one place for easier reference.  The black and white image above is a straight conversion with no adjustments or modifications.  I clicked “Edit in Silver Efex Pro 2″ and this is what I got.  It’s a good starting point but it’s flat.  There isn’t much tonal separation and the patterns within each leaf don’t have much pop.  The raindrops aren’t very luminous, either.  Not to worry, we’ll fix some of that with global changes we’ll make in the next step.

There are two types of image editing adjustments: global and local.  Global adjustments affect the image as a whole.  Local adjustments target a specific area of an image.  When processing an image, regardless of whether it’s color or black and white, it is best to start by making global adjustments before moving on to local adjustments.  In the image above, I made the following global adjustments within Silver Efex Pro 2: Brightness = 4%, Contrast = 8% and Structure = 20%.  Brightness and contrast do just what you think they do.  If you’ve never used Nik plug-ins you’re not familiar with Structure.  In short, Structure is a micro-contrast control that emphasizes details within an image.  It can also be used to de-emphasize details but that’s a topic for another tutorial.  As you can see, with just these three simple adjustments the image is already coming together.  Total time spent processing the image, including importing to Lightroom from the CF card, making adjustments to the color image, converting to black and white and making these global adjustments in Silver Efex Pro 2: 5 minutes.

Next, the local adjustments.  In Photoshop, you’d have to make a whole mess of complicated selections and masks to do what I did in a matter of minutes using the new controls in Silver Efex Pro 2.  The image above is almost a finished product.  I made these local adjustments: Using the “Brightness” sub-controls, I increased the “Highlight Brightness” by 20%, the “Midtone Brightness” by 6% and decreased the “Shadow Brightness” by -18%.  This provided greater separation in the tonal values, meaning the highlights and midtones are brighter and the shadows are darker/richer.  Next, under the “Contrast” sub-controls, I increased “Amplify Whites” by 20% and “Amplify Blacks” by 12%.  Next, I increased the “Soft Contrast” by 5%.  So far, all the adjustments I’ve made have impacted tonality.  Next, I’ll work on enhancing details with the “Structure” sub-controls.  I really wanted the raindrops to have more “pop”, for lack of a technical term.  Since they are pretty bright, I was able to achieve this with an 11% increase in “Highlight Structure”.  I also wanted the patterns on each leaf to stand out more, and an increase of 9% to the “Midtone Structure” caused them to do just that.  I experimented with the “Shadow Structure” but in the end, I left it at 0% because I preferred that the shadows be a bit softer.  Finally, I felt the image was a little too warm.  This was super easy to fix using the “Toning” control.  I selected “Blue #7″ and reduced the strength to 8% – just enough to cool things off without going overboard.  Total time working on local adjustments: 3 minutes.

At this point I’m quite satisfied with the image.  I do wish the patterns were more pronounced, though.  It’s time to switch to the “Tonal Contrast” filter in Color Efex Pro 3.0.  I boosted the Highlight, Midtone and Shadow Contrast by 10% each (as opposed to the default 30%, which is almost always much too strong).  The change was subtle, but the patterns are better defined.  Total time in Color Efex Pro 3.0: less than 1 minute.

The final step was to re-size and sharpen the image for web presentation.  For this I used a custom action in Photoshop to resize the image and Nik Sharpener Pro 3.0 set to “Display” and with the following adjustments to sharpen it: “Adaptive Sharpening” = 50% and “Output Sharpening” = 20%.  On a side note, if you have a difficult time making sharp prints you won’t find a more powerful or easier to use way to achieve the perfect level of sharpening every time than Nik Sharpener Pro 3.0.  It takes all the guesswork out of the equation.  Yes, all of it.  Total time spent sharpening the image: less than 1 minute.

Total time invested in the conversion using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2, Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Sharpener Pro 3.0: 10 minutes, from import to final image.

As you can see, I was able to go from a color image to what I think is a pretty amazing black and white image in just 10 minutes.  I’ve done monochrome conversions using selections and masks, and never has it been this quick and easy.  If you’ve never used the Nik Software products it will take some time to familiarize yourself with each plug-in before you’re able to achieve results so quickly.  But, with all the free video tutorials on the Nik Software website and a little experimentation, you’ll be up and running in no time.  Visit the Nik Store to download a free, fully-functioning trial of any or all of their awesome plug-ins.  When you’re ready to buy them, use coupon code “BEDGE” to receive 15% off your purchase at the Nik Store.

Was this step-by-step guide helpful?  I’ll write more of them detailing my workflow using Adobe Lightroom and Nik’s other plug-ins if there is demand for the information.  I encourage you to leave comments and questions below.

Delta Pool, Utah

Back when I shot Velvia I extended the very limited dynamic range of that beautiful but contrasty film by using graduated neutral density filters.  The digital revolution has all but eliminated GND’s from the backpacks of many landscape photographers.  I use to carry three of them.  I now carry only one, a Singh-Ray 3 stop soft-sep GND.  Why?  Blending two or more digital exposures together to create a single image with an expanded dynamic range allows much more precision and control over the final image.  If you’re like me, you’re a little bit intimidated at the thought of learning yet another Photoshop technique.  Don’t be.  I put it off for way too long and now that I’ve gotten more than a few blended exposures under my belt I almost never break out my GND in the field.  The tutorials below will get you started.

Exposure Blending in Photoshop – Sean Duggan
This might be the best place to start.  It’s an easy to follow tutorial and doesn’t delve into the more complicated aspects of blending exposures that might just confused a virgin blender.

The Basics of Exposure Blending – Sean Bagshaw
Here’s another excellent primer to get the virgin blender well on their way to exposure blending bliss.  I found this one to be particularly helpful.

Blending Exposures in Photoshop – John Williams
This tutorial not only walks you through how to blend exposures for increased dynamic range but also how to blend images with different focal points for increased depth of field.  A bit more advanced than the first two tutorials.  Very useful for landscape photography.

How to Blend Multiple Images Together – Kevin McNeal
If you’d rather automate most of the image blending process, this tutorial shows you how to use the Exposure Fusion function in Photomatix HDR software.

Merging Images: Landscape Photo Tip from NANPA Summit Presenter Jay Goodrich
Jay puts a different twist on merging exposures with regard to balancing the transition zone, which for most photographers is the most challenging aspect of blending exposures.

Blending Exposures in Photoshop Elements – Richard Bernabe
Here’s a fantastic tutorial for those who are using Photoshop Elements instead of Photoshop CS5, or one of it’s earlier iterations.  Very easy, very effective.

Guest Post: Exposure Blending – Younes Bounhar
This is the technique I use most often as it more or less automates the selection process.  Anything that makes my life easier is good in my book.

Understanding Digital Blending: Three Approaches to Extended Dynamic Range – Michael Reichmann
Even more ways to blend images for increased dynamic range with a thorough explanation of each technique.

Digital Darkroom: Graduated Neutral Density Filter – Jesse Speer
In terms of digital wizardry this tutorial from 2004 is ancient.  Nonetheless, the technique is still valid and is one of the simplest to master.

Hand Blending High Dynamic Range (HDR) Images Using Luminosity Masks – Tony Kuyper
I saved the best, and most complicated, for last.  Tony is a master of Photoshop and this tutorial will deliver the very best results possible.  If you expect perfection and you’ve got time and patience, Tony’s technique is the way to go.

Got a favorite exposure blending tutorial?  Feel free to leave a comment and a link to the tutorial.

I’m thrilled, honored and even a little bit giddy to announce not one, but two upcoming exhibitions of my landscape photography later this year.  The first, a joint exhibit with good friend Guy Tal, runs for all of July and August and is showing at the Bighorn Art Gallery in the visitor center at spectacular Dead Horse Point State Park.  Guy’s thoughtful images of the Colorado Plateau and beyond reveal an intimate connection to wilderness.  I have been inspired by Guy’s imagery for years and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to show my work alongside his in this exhibit.  I’ll be displaying two dozen of my favorite photographs, including two huge 30″ x 45″ canvas gallery wraps.

The view from Dead Horse Point State Park is my favorite in all of Canyon Country.  Standing at the edge of the rim, gawking at the Colorado River endlessly carving canyons out of brilliant red sandstone 2,000′ below fills me with immeasurable hope and peace.  Being chosen to exhibit my work at this most special of places is truly an honor.  All photographs on display will be available for sale and I am proud to announce that I am donating 5% of every sale right back to Dead Horse Point State Park.  I hope you’ll join Guy and me on the evening of July 1 at the artist’s reception.  I’ll post full details here as soon as they are available.

Starting on September 10, a collection of my photographs will be on display at Back of Beyond Books in downtown Moab during the wildly popular Moab Art Walk.  A much smaller venue, this exhibit will feature several smaller Duraplaq mounted prints displayed in a wonderful space that invites a more intimate experience with the art.  An artist’s reception with refreshments is planned for the evening of September 10.  Come to Moab, visit all the wonderful galleries participating in the Art Walk, pick up a classic Edward Abbey book at Back of Beyond and be sure to say “hi” as you enjoy the gallery.  I hope to see a few of you there!

Neither of these exhibitions would be possible without the support of some great people.  Megan at Dead Horse Point State Park has been an absolute pleasure to work with in planning my show.  Thanks for the gentle nudging, Megan!  Many thanks to Andy at Back of Beyond Books for so quickly reviewing my portfolio and inviting me to exhibit in his lovely gallery space.  A major shout out to Lew at Artistic Photo Canvas for his endless support, and for basically saying “whatever you need, we’ll make it happen”.  Where would I be without my lovely wife Melissa, who has been my #1 fan from day one?  She honestly believes I’m the greatest photographer on the planet and I would be hopelessly lost without her love and support.  I’m incredibly fortunate to have such kind, thoughtful and generous people in my life.  Finally, thank you to all of you!  I certainly don’t say it often enough but your support and encouragement over the years means far more to me than I can express through words.

By now we’re all well aware of just how useful the Apple iPad is to photographers.  We can check our email on the fly, surf the web, keep an eye on the weather, get sunrise and sunset times, sign model releases and use it as a slick digital portfolio viewer.  Indeed, it is a sweet piece of technology.  All of this leaves me wondering – what’s next?

With it’s beautiful, fairly large screen there have to be some additional uses for the iPad beyond the current crop of “in the field” tools.  I did a little digging and found a couple possibilities, both of which I’m very interested in putting to use.

iPad As a Second Monitor – A company called MaxiVista created an app that allows the iPad to function as a second monitor.  What a perfect place to move all your Photoshop tool palettes to unclutter your main monitor!  I haven’t used it but if it works as advertised, this could be a really cool way to utilize your iPad at home.  Inexplicably, the app currently works only on Windows machines.  I hope MaxiVista (or someone else) is working on a Mac version.

iPad as Graphics Tablet - This one seems like a natural fit for the iPad.  Sure, there’s the pesky fact that the screen isn’t pressure sensitive.  Seems even that can be worked around, as evidenced by this hack by Ten One Design.  Not down with hacking your iPad?  Apple may just be working on making this one a reality.  A recent patent application for a pressure sensitive pen suggests that Apple might be looking to take a bite out of the graphics tablet market with the iPad (or a future generation of iPad).  I’ve never used a tablet but I’ve heard they’re fantastic.  I might make the leap if Apple releases this cool gizmo.

iPad as Portable Photo Storage Drive – I dreamed this one up all on my own.  How about a ruggedized iPad with a larger SSD hard drive and an easy way to download RAW images in the field?  Sure, it’s bigger than an Epson P7000, but it’s also got a much larger screen that would make it easier to weed out the good images from the bad.  The darn thing could even run a mobile version of Lightroom (or Aperture, if that’s your thing).  Yes, you can do this on a laptop but if the iPad could do it just as well, I think I’d leave the laptop at home.

Who knows what’s next?  The whiz kids at Apple seem to be light years ahead of my simple way of thinking when it comes to future tech.  No doubt they’ve got some really cool stuff planned for photographers using the iPad.  What apps or functionality would you like to see in the not-so-distant iPad future?

I was lucky enough to attend the Outdoor Retailer show again this winter.  One of my favorite things about OR is the entrance hallway lined with racks filled with outdoor magazines.  All the heavy hitters are there: Backpacker, Climbing, Outside, Ski, et al.  Even cooler are the lesser known magazines, many of which are filled with authentic adventures photographed by rising stars in the adventure photography genre.  These are the magazines to which I pay special attention because they’re the ones looking for people like me.  They can’t afford Corey Rich or Jimmy Chin, but they still need dynamic imagery to illustrate their engaging articles.  So, I stuff all the magazines in my backpack and back home, I email all the photo editors to introduce myself.

More often than not, I won’t receive a response and it takes repeated emails before they realize I’m not going away.  Eventually, the information exchange usually goes something like this:

Me: Here’s who I am, I dig what you’re doing, this is what I do, and this is how I can make your life easier.

Them: Cool. I’ll keep your information and contact you if we need anything.

Some times they contact me a few months down the road, some times they don’t.  That’s just how it goes.  Rejection, or just being ignored, is all part of the game.  Thin skins need not apply.

This year, I discovered a really cool and eclectic magazine that clearly has a higher end readership.  I know this because the back of the magazine was filled with ads for multi-million dollar, ski-in/ski-out, houses and condos in not-cheap places like Aspen and Jackson Hole.  The list of contributing photographers was like a who’s who in adventure photography.  Feeling a bit intimidated,  I went ahead and fired off an email.  I learned a while ago that if you don’t ask, you don’t get.  Much to my surprise, I received a response just a few hours later.

The photo editor complimented me on what he called my “detail work”.  This is good since intimate landscapes are my true passion.  But here is where things get interesting.  Instead of the standard “I’ll keep you on file” response, he challenged me with a question.  Huh?  Yeah, that was my initial reaction, too.  In essence, this was his response:

“Here’s an image request in the form of a question: If I needed two images for the gallery, and they needed to be similar in some way but still unique, what would you send me?”

Wow!  First of all, he has enough interest in my work to ask to see more.  Second, and I figured this out only after a bit of thinking, he wants to see if I’m able to think like an editor and produce work that fits his needs, thereby making his job a little bit less stressful.  Then again, maybe I’m wrong.  At any rate, I found this little project to be a fantastic opportunity to learn and grow a little bit.

How, you ask?  Talk to anyone with much experience designing print portfolios for photographers and one thing you’ll hear often is the importance of properly sequencing your work.  The prints in your portfolio should flow from one to the next, and there should be some kind of cohesive theme.  This is much easier said than done.  I spent hours agonizing over it and I’m certain my portfolio still could use some serious help from a consultant.  However, breaking that down to just two images that would compliment one another on the opposing pages of a magazine made the task a little less daunting.  That is, it should have, except that I had but one chance to get it right and make a positive impression on a photo editor whose business I was trying to earn.

I wracked my brain and skimmed through hundreds of images.  I had to respond quickly because I needed to impress upon him that I’m able to deliver the goods in a reasonable time frame.  After much deliberation in a too short period of time, I chose the two images you see below.  I selected these images because I felt they conveyed the power of one and both are studies in contrasting elements.  They’re similar, and yet each stands on it’s own.  They’re also both intimate landscapes, and I already knew that he appreciated my detail work.  I composed an email, attached the photos (something I’m well known for forgetting to do) and hit the “send” button.

Did I choose the right images?  Did I earn a spot in his magazine?  I don’t know yet.  But even if I didn’t, I learned something from the experience.  His question forced me to think about my photographs from a different perspective.  It got the neurons firing in a way they hadn’t before.  Whether I’m building a print or web portfolio, hanging photos in a gallery or working with an art consultant to choose images for a design project, I’ll continue to challenge myself to think in terms of complimentary photographs.  But it sure would be nice to see my photos gracing the pages of his magazine alongside those of Corey and Jimmy!

I just discovered this cool iPhone app, Square, that allows you to take credit card payments from your iPhone without a contract and without outrageous fees.  Before you ask, the answer is no - I have no affiliation whatsoever with Square.  I just think it’s a great idea and thought some of my readers might find it cool/interesting/useful.

Here’s how it works:

• Visit the Square website and sign-up for an account
• Download the Square app
• Wait 3 – 7 days to receive the tiny credit card reader that plugs into your iPhone
• Start taking credit card payments

I’ve looked at a few other credit card processing apps but this seems to be the simplest and most affordable.  To charge a credit card you can either swipe the card or enter the account number manually.  Square charges either 2.75% or 3.5% of each transaction, plus .15 cents, depending on whether you swipe the card or manually enter the information.  There is a funky $1,000 transfer limit but it doesn’t seem like a huge inconvenience.

I plan to use it to collect payment from clients on private guided photo excursions who would rather pay with a credit card than cash or check.  If I ever decide to dive into the world of art shows it will also come in handy to collect payment on the spot.

Caveat: I haven’t yet used this app.  I found it, dug the idea and thought I’d share it here.  Reviews are mixed but mostly positive.  I’ll post an update immediately if I discover anything fishy.  If not, I’ll post a review after I’ve had a chance to use the app for a while.