Tag: photography

ImageBrief Submission

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Twin Engine Dragster Burnout
Twin Engine Dragster Burnout

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I came across a site today that says it can get photographers some additional work. The name is ImageBrief and they list briefs from designers and other customers where they describe what sort of images they need along with a compensation amount. They take a 30% commission and the photographer receives 70%.

I submitted two images to a call for automobiles doing burnouts. I don’t know what will come of it but I thought about something Mike Moats said the other night in his talk at Outdoor Photo Gear about finding many small income streams to add to his annual earnings from his photography. I decided that submitting a couple of images that were sitting in my library made sense and might even be worth the effort.

Smokin' Burnout
Smokin’ Burnout

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Here’s a link to my work on ImageBrief:

http://www.imagebrief.com/photographers/nick

Wacom Tablet Learning Curve

Posted on by Nick Roberts

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Yesterday I started trying to learn how to use my Wacom Intuos4 tablet. Like anything new there’s a learning curve but I’m sure if I stick with it I’ll be glad I did. I have had the tablet for at least a year but for whatever reasons I have avoided tackling using it.

The impetus was a sudden flareup of carpal tunnel that started when I spent an entire day editing photos with my mouse. I had never experienced carpal tunnel but as soon as I realized what was happening I started apply ice packs to my forearm. I also got out my Wacom tablet and decided this was the time to get used to working with it. Experience is such a cruel master; it gives you the answer first then you learn what the question was.

The stylus and pad does take some getting used to but already I’m learning that it really does make editing easier. My only complaint is that I chose the medium size tablet. I think that I would rather have the smallest tablet since the track pad is directly related to the cursor’s screen positions. I think that the larger Wacom tablets would work well for illustration because when I’m drawing I want to use my entire arm and shoulder to move the stylus. On the other hand when I’m moving around the desktop it would be nice to be able to keep movement to a smaller space.

Outdoor Photo Gear’s SmugMug Event

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Outdoor Photo Gear's New Store in Louisville, KY
Outdoor Photo Gear’s New Store in Louisville, KY

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending a SmugMug Meeting at Outdoor Photo Gear’s new location here in Louisville. When OPG decided to move this year one of Chris Klapheke’s plans for the new OPG location was a classroom space that could be utilized by guest speakers, workshop presenters and local photography clubs.

Tonight OPG hosted their first event in the new store with a SmugMug presentation by well known macro photographer Mike Moats who gave a talk on the business of being a nature photographer. Also in attendance and sharing his business insights was Greg Schern founder of Gura Gear camera backpacks and other camera gear storage and protection gear. Both men spoke about how much they enjoyed their business and the way it allowed them to support themselves while being part of the photographic community.

The turnout was very large, well over sixty people attended, and the space was well received by all in attendance. The staff of OPG made everyone feel at home and assisted in making sure that everything went off without a hitch. In addition Greg of Gura Gear gave away several door prizes including their new “Tembo” memory card wallets. The name Tembo came about because it means elephant in Africa and as Dr. Seuss said “an elephant never forgets” which fits perfectly for the memory card wallet.

Next Friday, March 15, OPG will be hosting an open house to share their new location with the public. If tonight is any indication the event will be a great success and further cement OPG’s commitment to serve the photographic community.

Here are links to OPG, Gura Gear and Mike Moats websites.

Outdoor Photo Gear

http://www.outdoorphotogear.com/store/

Gura Gear

http://www.guragear.com/

Mike Moats

http://www.mikemoatsblog.com/

SmugMug

http://www.smugmug.com/

Old Taylor Images Revisited

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Reflected Memories #3
Reflected Memories #3

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This weekend I decided to return to some images I shot last summer at Old Taylor Distillery. I felt that I had grown greatly in my skills with NIK HDR eFex Pro 2 and wanted to see if I might improve on my earlier versions. I also wanted to make some corrections to the lens distortion with Photoshop CS5. I’m better satisfied with them after this round of processing and feel that I’ve learned a lot from going through this exercise. Just like using the camera requires constant practice to master it; using post processing software requires practice to become proficient. It all comes back to my manta “Practice, Practice, Practice” the more a photographer uses the tools of his/her craft the better he/she becomes.

Temple to the Whiskey Spirits
Temple to the Whiskey Spirits

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Reflected Memories #2
Reflected Memories #2

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Reflected Memories
Reflected Memories

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Temple to the Whiskey Spirits #1
Temple to the Whiskey Spirits #1

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One more shameless plug for my upcoming HDR workshop later this month here in Louisville. If you want to take your HDR processing to a new level this workshop is for you.

Nick Roberts – Using HDR Photography to Create Your Own Personal Style Tickets in Louisville, KY, United States.

Rusted Relics

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Rusted Memories of a Bygone Era
Rusted Memories of a Bygone Era

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While I was down in Alabama I took a drive out past the place where my Grandparents lived. The old house is gone now and I drove a little further down the highway to see if there was anything that might make a good photo along it. I came upon a log cabin, sitting in the middle of a field, that is covered in old metal signs and has several old gas pumps in the yard. This image is a detail of one of the pumps.

As is my practice today I shot a three bracket set of images for HDR processing. Another advantage of shooting brackets is the near certainty that one of the images will be a good exposure if I need something quick for a deadline. I don’t often need to do that but it sure is handy when the need arises.

The first thing I did was merge the three frames in NIK HDR eFex Pro 2 for tone mapping and detail adjustment. I used one of the Realistic presets as my starting point. I then took the HDR image into OnOne Perfect Photo 6 where I used a few different effects to add a vignette and enhanced some of the color. On e of the nice things about Perfect Effects is that it allows me to create layers and apply the effects in varying amounts. By stacking a few effects and adjusting the amount of each one from zero to 100% it is possible to get the feeling I’m looking for. After I had the image nearly finished I returned it to Aperture 3 where I adjusted the shadows and highlight, contrast and sharpened the image.

Keep Out
Keep Out

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This bird house seemed such a great subject with it’s weathered texture and the sign below it. I ran it through the same basic process and settled on this final version. I’m glad I started exploring the OnOne Perfect Photo 6 Suite again. In the future I will be using it more often when I want to convey more emotion than using only HDR techniques affords me.