I’m in a bit short on time today, so I don’t have time for a more in-depth post. Just two thoughts to leave you with (I think all the other thoughts are asleep).

1. The folks over at FlashFlavor recently posted on giving their camera the middle finger and it really made me think about my finger placement. Sometimes, when you need to adjust camera settings quickly, the small things can help a lot. Check out the post here.
2. If you haven’t purchased either of Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography books (there is a volume 1 and a volume 2) go out and purchase them. They’re advertised as being primarily for beginners, but even pros can benefit from a least a few tips (if you think you’ve learned it all, you’re wrong). The book is just full of them. I was reviewing it for information on a post I’m planning for tomorrow and was reminded just how great it was. Oh, and did I mention they were cheap? Seriously, go buy them.

We’re welcoming our newest one, Isabelle, (#4 so far) to the world! Baby is healthy and we were even able to snap off a few quick pictures.

It shouldn’t come as a suprise that I love photos (this is, after all a photography blog). In many situations, though, using clip-art like artwork (vector drawings) can visually communicate in a way that a photo might not be able to. Today, I ran across a few really nice sites that provide lots of FREE vector drawing downloads. When downloading, make sure to read the agreements. Some are 100% free and some are licensed under Creative Commons, which asks that you provide credit somewhere in the publication for the work (the image above was totally free and didn’t require attribution).

Free is good, but free and easy are even better. These two sites do both, allowing you to subscribe with a feedcatcher like Google Reader so that you can easily see when new vectors are posted.

www.vector4free.com

www.dryicons.com

Recently, I endorsed MPix.com, an online photo printer. As a small business owner (I also do a lot of professional printing for the graphic design-related job I do when I’m not doing photography) I’m always on the lookout for a good general collateral printer that can do things like postcards, stationary, flyers, brochures, etc.

I just tried a new printer, Zoo Printing Trade and thought that I’d provide a comparison of it against other online printers I’ve used.

I didn’t include any more high-end local printers. I’ve found that in most cases local printers have higher prices, but much better customer service (it’s always nice to have a local person that you can work with, receive support from, yell at when something goes wrong, etc.). As with most things, you pay more, but you get more.

The Comparison

The three online printers we’ll take a look at are: Zoo Printing, Print Pelican and PrintingForLess.com. (One thing to note – I signed up for a trade account from Zoo Printing and received slightly lower pricing as a result of that.)

Criteria	Zoo Printing	Print Pelican	Printing For Less
Price
Quality
Speed
Printing Options
Service
Website
Overall

Choices

Printing for Less (www.printingforless.com)

Printing for Less provided the best customer service of all three sites. I sent several questions via e-mail (and one that was unrelated to my order) and they were answered very quickly and politely. Their delivery speed was average – they did, however, have the highest prices in the comparison printers.

Print Pelican (www.printpelican.com)

Print Pelican had the second best price and the best set of options (they have a better selection of brochures, printing much longer brochures and a few other products the other two didn’t have), yet they still finished in third place overall. I rated them so poorly because their customer service responses were slow and, in some cases, a little rude. Also, their time to delivery was very long. In some cases, I had to follow up several days past the time they were supposed to ship and they still weren’t done (they did end up expediting things at that point – but they were still way behind their already lower-end delivery times).

Zoo Printing (www.zooprinting.com)

Zoo Printing has prices that blow the others away. That, their solid selection and great web site (it has a feature that allows you to automatically track your printing through the different stages at the press) make them a great choice. The one area that they suffer is their customer service. I sent a few e-mails and didn’t even receive a reply. I haven’t tried the support line – but in the future, if I had a problem, I would definately go that route instead of the e-mail.

My Choice

Amazingly low prices, a reasonable selection and a solid web site make Zoo Printing Trade my favorite option. But, watch out for their poor customer service. If it’s important to you, you may want to consider Printing for Less.

Criteria

• Price: Almost always one of the top factors – how attractive are the overall prices? All three choices provided similarly priced shipping. Check out the in-depth comparison here. It details specific prices from all three companies on some standard printing projects. (You won’t believe how much lower Zoo Printing is!)
• Quality: Are there any quality problems? I gave all four options 4 stars in this area – all delivered a product that fully met my expectations. Printing, trimming, etc. were all perfect.
• Speed: How fast is the product at your door from the day you ordered? See the in-depth comparison for more specifics on quoted turn times.
• Options: How many different printing products are available to choose from?
• Support/Customer Service: How responsive was their customer service? How quickly were e-mails answered? How complete/helpful were the answers?

Spring is upon us and I am badly craving some outdoor excursions and landscape shooting. Largely as a result of convenience, I’ve been doing a lot more portraits lately, but I also really love landscapes. Click the photo above for a larger view.

This week’s photo is another from the trip I took with my brother last fall to Moab. I WOULD have posted one of mine, but I wasn’t able to get any of the lightning. Why didn’t I get lightning? I click the shutter two seconds too late. Yeah, it sucked.

The trick to this shot (without a $300 lightning trigger) is to shoot in relatively low light, which we had at sunset. We were also lucky enough to have a pretty great lighting/thunder storm in the distance, just above the mesas, while we were bone dry. With the low light, we were able to close down the lens and leave the shutter open for quite a while, around 30 seconds. The trick was to have it open while lightning struck.

We were shooting pretty much in tandem – he just started one frame 5 seconds later than I did. So, my shutter closed and about 2 seconds later I saw the lightning bolt. Three seconds after that, my brother’s shutter closed. In those type of situations, one considers tossing the other person’s rig over the 1000 foot drop-off. Luckily, I restrained myself and this great photo resulted.

I got to the airport a bit early, so I have some time to wrap up my summaries of Photoshop World.

A few days ago I summarized a class/photo safari I attended with Joe McNally (Joe’s the one in the picture above) and Moose Peterson. During the shoot, I watched Joe/Moose quite a bit and learned quite a bit. Both are great shooters – each with a distinctive style. Joe is a location shooter and focuses on flash. He’s shot everything from the world’s largest laser to college sports superstars.

Even with their differences, though, they had several themes running through the experience.

Know Your Camera

There wasn’t a ton of time devoted to camera functions, which was fine by me. It was clear, though, that each knew their camera and other equipment well. When running a successful shoot, you need to make sure that you become one with your equipment. Spending time fighting with or trying to find a setting can spell disaster.

Human Light Meter

Both Joe and Moose have over 30 years experience in photography. As a result, both are walking light meters. In just about every situation, they would look at the sun and how it was interacting with the models. Then, they would say something like “This looks like f5.6 at ISO 200, with a flash at 1/4 power through a diffusor from 10 feet. They’d take a shot and only have to adjust by 1/3 of a stop or so. It was clear that experience with various conditions is crucial to success.

Working with the Model

They relayed tons of tips for working with the models. Their ability to relate to and work with the models made the shoot go much more smoothly. Making sure they were comfortable and had direction really made for great pictures. Some of their tips included:

• Always stay talking – don’t fuss with the equipment. Many models (especially when they aren’t professionals) are nervous in front of a camera. If you are fidgeting with technical things, it only makes the matter worse. Gently talking with and directing the models actions shows confidence and creates a calming effect.
• Provide a story line. Sometimes, folks freeze up a bit in front of the lens and don’t provide an interesting picture. Giving them a pop-culture action to perform can give them poses to shoot for. In one case, we were shooting a few models in an area with a good amount of foliage. Saying something like “give me an intense tarzan in a jungle look” provides a lot of context for the model and can allow them to have some fun.
• Touch the model. Making some initial physical contact can help calm nerves and establish trust. A small amount of preening (straightening some hair, a collar, etc.) lets the person know that you are interested in making them looks good and breaks down barriers.

Light, Light, Light

Not suprisingly, the number one lesson was to look for the light. Good light can tell a story and sell a picture. While walking around the location, they kept pointing to a place and saying “ooh, look at that light, we should shoot there” or “can you see that light?”.

Always look for the light.

A Few of My Photos

During the shoot, I took a few frames of the beautiful area and great models.

I shot these flowers from inside the art museum the photo safari was held at. Most of the time was spent outdoors, but we had to ride out a pretty heavy Orlando rainstorm for a few minutes.

The garden had a ton of great religous-based sculptures. This one was one of my favorite. I was able to exagerate the muted colors even more in Lightroom.

We were lucky enough to have 4 models join us at the shoot. We shot them in available light and, when it got darker, with some flashes. Unfortunately, they were using Nikon flashes, which were using Nikon wirless technology, so I wasn’t able to take advantage of the flashes. This was one I liked, though. The sun was directly above and behind her and someone was holding a large gold reflector in front of her at camera right to reflect some of the light into the shadows.