Snapshots by Stacy: The Blog

Out with the Old....

2009-12-09T10:30:00.001-06:00

It is a bustling and busy holiday season for sure. I admit that I have spent more time shopping and wrapping than I have on designing my new website for Stacy Hanna Photography. In fact, the new website is still very under construction. Each night I get home tired and think I will work on it and truthfully, I don't.

So, while I am not quite ready to unveil the awesomeness that will be the new home for Stacy Hanna Photography, I thought I should let you loyal readers and those looking for my business know that my old website came down today. Actually that happened a lot sooner than I expected. I was aiming for the end of the month, but my hosting service thought I meant right now I guess, so today if you try to visit snapshotsbystacy.com, you are going to get a black empty nothingness. I know you're sad, but I will make it up to you with coolness beyond your wildest dreams!! Okay, maybe it wont' be that cool, but it will be a cozy new home with new (and bigger) photos to look at and a lot of blogging love from me. That helps the sting a little, right?

So what do you do in the meantime, you ask? Well, hang tight on the blog here and before the end of the year, I will pull back the curtain and unlock the doors to our new crib on the Internet Blvd. If you need photography services, you can still email me at snapshotsbystacy@gmail.com and I can answer your questions.

Just a reminder that I am not booking any more sessions this year. After the first of the year, I will start booking spring portrait sessions and will be offering session discounts for early bird bookings.

December Desktop Calendar

2009-11-30T07:00:00.013-06:00

The holidays are fast approaching. I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving and stuffed yourself full of all the fixings. I've been out shooting with my mom the last couple of days. Rather than go out to get the best Black Friday deals, she and I head out to take photos in wilderness and get away from the hustle bustle of busy bodies. We're not crowd people and enjoy some quality time together out in nature. Even as the weather gets colder, there are still nice shots to be had out there. Here we are out at Palisades-Keppler State Park in Eastern Iowa. These were taken with her iPhone.

Speaking of your iPhone and iPod users out there. I've got a special treat for you this month. You will be getting your very own iPhone/iPod background to use this month. Scroll to the bottom for your bonus background.

Here is one from last winter to get you feeling the winter wonderland on your desktop.
This month's shot is frozen waterfall icicles at Mattheissen State Park in Illinois from winter last year. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I remember slipping and sliding on the ice to get up to the icicles.

To get your own, simply click the size you want below and set as your background however you do Mac and PC people. I have 5 widths for you this month:

Bonus iPhone/iPod Backbround: to download the iPhone background to you pod/phone, open the link on your pod/phone. Click and hold on the image itself and when the menu opens, choose "save". Now go to your camera roll in Photos and you should see the image there. Click the little arrow out in the left bottom corner and choose "Use as Wallpaper".

Keeping it Real

2009-11-28T16:15:00.002-06:00

Image courtesy of David Vernon - eScapes Photo

Snapshots by Stacy Photography is soon to be Stacy Hanna Photography. With this change is coming a brand new website and integrated blog.

You might be thinking that I have changed my website in the past and you'd be right. I've changed the aesthetics of my website a couple of times now looking for the right look and feel for my business. The truth is however, that while each revision has been an improvement on the last, I have never been completely satisfied with the result. The website never entirely felt like it represented me as an artist and what I am about. About a year ago, I almost ditched my website for something new and I didn't pull the trigger. The nagging feeling, however, remained that Snapshots by Stacy just wasn't quite really me.

I've had a heart to heart and in the spirit of Jasmine Star, I'm about to "Keep It Real". If you're hiring me, then you are hiring Stacy Hanna, the photographer, the artist. The more I thought about this, I realized that I had to step away from "Snapshots by Stacy". I had to be just myself and shoot what I wanted to and the way I wanted to. I heard Zack Arias say this, "You are going to be one of two kinds of photographers...a photographer that is going to strike out on your own or a photographer who is going to follow everyone else.", and it rings true to how I feel.

My intention is for my blog, like this post, to be a more honest insight to who I am as a person and why I think and shoot the way I do. I want my current and future clients to get to know me and what I am about and what they can expect if they choose to hire me and I also want to share what I have learned with an enthusiastic photographic community. You will see more of my art as well as client work and some posts on things that inspire me. It has been a goal of mine for awhile to extend myself like this. I'm excited not simply because this change is new, but because it feels like what I was meant to do from the start.

I thought about what I could do to better myself and my art and stand out from a similar sea of photographers. I want to incorporate what I am learning from shooting landscapes and lighting into more interesting portrait work. I want to start working with local bands and experiment with this new world of video and still fusion. I have a landscape project in mind for next year. Basically I just have this creative urge to mix it up and push myself. I have ideas and I can't sit still. I don't think I should let me website sit still either and rely on the same old branding and same old web designs as everyone else, so that is why I am making a change, to just be me.

I just want to thank those readers of this blog for sticking with me as I've grown. I'm not sure how many of you are out there, but I hope that you enjoy what you see and read and I really want to improve this experience for you. My goal is that as I keep finding myself, the work will change and the site will grow with me and I want you all along for the ride if you're up for it.

I'll be sure to point you in the right direction when the change happens. I'm excited about it and I hope you will be too.

-Stacy

I'm a Nikon Shorty...

2009-11-25T10:00:00.002-06:00

This one, my photog friends, goes out to you. We're gonna kick off a slow jam.

This awesomely fun video of course pokes fun at all the loving online "wars" of Canon vs. Nikon and the best part, is the video is created by the amazingly talented photographer, Joey Lawrence or JoeyL. You must check out his site. He is a young photographer that produces amazing commercial and portrait work. His knowledge is far beyond his years and I love to see him bring out some youthful fun with this video. I'm a huge fan already.

Around the Internet

2009-11-16T14:40:00.001-06:00

Thanks to my sister sharing this with me today, I watched this amazing video of National Geographic contributing nature photographer, Paul Nicklen photographing Leopard Seals in Antarctica. To see more stills of this event, you will definitely want to visit his website. It is pretty amazing working with nature like this and their behavior. I'm not a nature photographer, but I'm sure my Nature Photographer friends will appreciate this up close look.

Also floating around the web today is something I am really excited about. Drum roll please....FLICKROOM! Anyone out there reading this should know by now that I am a huge flickr fan, but one of the things about using flickr is that the viewing experience, while not bad, leaves a little something to be desired. Now, with Flickroom, an Adobe AIR based application, we can view the flickr world is a gorgeous dark theme instead of the whiteness that is flickr. Honestly, this application looks just like Lightroom, and I love using and looking at my images in Lightroom, so I am really excited to view Flickr using this application. It looks like we will still be able to comment, tag, upload, search photostreams and explore, favorite images, and now even chat with other Flickroom members.

Much of this sounds similar to Photophlow, which I used a lot about a year ago and occasionally now, however, this interface looks much more appealing to me, so I am excited to try it out.

Local Art You Won't Want to Miss

2009-11-12T11:00:00.003-06:00

Just yesterday I stopped down to Picture This Gallery & Framing in Peoria Heights to check out Doug & Eileen Leunig's latest photography display, "Gathering Light: Light Painting of Central Illinois".

Man, it was fantastically good. It is a different look at local scenes you are probably familiar with. I highly recommend you stop down and check it out. I was torn over a couple shots I wouldn't mind owning myself. Their work is on display until December 15th. If you have time this Friday the 13th, you can meet the artists at the Opening Reception from 6-8pm. Works are for sale if you want one and profits benefit the Sun Foundation. Very cool stuff. I wish I had thought of it.

I also just learned that coming up on December 12th, the 7th Annual Murray Center for the Arts is having a Holiday Open House and giving Studio Tours. You can stop in and visit with artists in their studios. It is a nice inside look. The event is free and you can call McNeil Pottery at 676-1819 for more information. There will be all kinds of art including painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, and printmaking. The event is located on Walnut Street between Water and Washington in downtown Peoria.

And while you're out at the Murray Center, stop by the Peoria Art Guild. They are hosting their Artist's Gift Show also on December 12th from 10am-4pm. This is also a free event.

There you go folks. There is a lot of good local art out there and some nice displays and gift ideas just in time for the holidays.

Purists vs. Processors

2009-11-09T11:00:00.000-06:00

Let's just dive right into the week, shall we. I just came across an excellent article this morning about the great debate that has been floating around the Internet a lot this year. And, no it isn't the great Canon vs. Nikon debate.

I have read a lot of articles this year on the topic of weather using photoshop on photography is detrimental to the purity or reality of the image. Darwin Wiggett and Samantha Chrysanthou have an excellent article on the subject over at Nature Photographers Online Magazine, called Photostop and Nature Photography: How Far is Too Far?

"All graphic art should be judged on how well it expresses its subject matter, and nothing else. If the idea or story the artist meant to convey is successfully told, then the image succeeds. If not, well…time to practice some more." - Darwin Wiggett & Samantha Chrysanthou.

I agree with their concept that photography is a graphic art and should be judged as such and not judged on how "real" it portrays a scene, and for me that includes Nature Photography because in my opinion the use of filters is already manipulation as the point of capture, so editing in photoshop to me, isn't that much different. I want to create art, not just capture a scene anyway.

There is, however, a flip side to the argument that affect some forms of photography, like photojournalism. With journalism, there is a sense from the reader of a magazine or newspaper that the images they are seeing are an accurate portrayal of an event or person. We expect those images not to be manipulated and become distrusting of photos when we find they are not "real" in those contexts.

"Photos that are faked are intrinsically tied to photos that are real. They draw much of their power from the public’s belief that photos never lie. Of course all of us know “the camera always lies” and the second you pick a lens or a place to stand you’re influencing the reality of the picture in some way. But, we can’t escape that the public still wants to believe in a photograph’s ability to tell the truth. So, people who take images that appear to be truthful but are really altered beyond reality are at some level destroying this bond." - Rob Haggart

I will direct you now to Rob Haggart's article published in Outside Magazine "This Photo is Lying to You" He talks about the harm that can come from digital manipulation in the magazine world, but also fairly states that even the purists have been known to stage scene prior to clicking the shutter to get a good shot.

In closing, with all things, there is of course a balance. We need to clearly define what kind of photographer we are, making it clear to the public that we are either a journalist or an artist and be careful not to just slap the "fine art" tag onto our work to dance around the concept of photo manipulation. We either use it with intent or not at all, but we should never use it to deceive. I think Ed Freeman, who is a the principal example in Rob's article, says it best,

"What there DOES need to be, however, is a clear distinction between what we photo manipulators do – work that is increasingly an art of the imagination – and the work of documentarians and photo journalists, who record life with a straight, sober and hopefully, not too creative an eye. I'm sure they don't want to be confused with me, and frankly, I don't want to be confused with them, either." - Ed Freeman

For more reading on Rob Haggart's point of view, check out his blog, A Photo Editor, and his breakdown about his article in Outside Magazine here.

For more on Darwinn Wigget, visit his blog here.

For more on Ed Freeman, check out his blog here.

Love Comes in All Sizes - The Mini Album!

2009-11-04T13:17:00.008-06:00

I just met with one of my brides yesterday and handed off her albums to her. I'm always so excited when I see my clients happy. When they see their albums and prints for the first time, their eyes light up and I know that my job is done. There is no comparison to have a real print in your hand. Looking at images online is nice and convenient for desktop backgrounds, and slide shows at your desk. But a real print or album? Priceless. One of the things I love the most about the album manufacturer I use is their high quality of albums. When my clients see them, they just gush over. I didn't think I could top that, but then this year they offered up new mini albums. They are little 4x4 versions of a big album. Same thick pages and print quality, same leather covers - just mini. They are perfect to keep in your purse or your desk at work and show off, leaving your big album safely at home for you.

I surprised my bride with her own 4x4 album and it was perfect because she was worried about handing around her full size album at work in case something would happen to it. I told her I had "a little something that might solve this dilemma". Oh yeah, the cute little mini album saved the day. Even though it is a nice complimentary album to a full size bridal album, it is also perfect for family photos that mom can just tuck in her purse and show off at anytime. Soft, leather, real, and they come in all the same colors as their bigger siblings. Awesome!

For your next session of any kind, think about getting a mini album that you can take anywhere and show off to anyone. I custom design each album personally, so you will get the best images and personal touch. You don't have to have a wedding to have a cute album that is all about you.

They are available in my products online under albums. You can order just one or you can get as many as you want. There is no minimum order.

Just check out how cute these are!

Going Wide with the Nikkor DX 10-24mm

2009-11-03T12:40:00.000-06:00

Ah, wide angle is good. As Joe McNally might say "Mongo like wide". While my lenses with wider ends were in the shop getting repaired, I decided it was a good opportunity to rent a wide angle lens. I've been toying the idea of getting one for a little while for landscape work and I've rented the Nikkor 12-24mm DX in the past and liked it. This time, I opted to rent Nikon's newest wide angle lens for crop sensor cameras - the Nikkor 10-24mm DX. This lens is specifically for use with DX or crop sensor cameras. If you are shooting a full frame camera, then you should look into Nikon's dreamy 14-24mm lens. Drool.

I already own some nice full frame glass that I regularly use on my D300 (a crop sensor camera)but for wides, I really felt like a DX lens, formatted for use with crop sensor cameras, was the way to go. It would really let me get the most wide. 10mm is still the equivalent of what a 15mm lens would be on 35mm format, and folks that is getting pretty wide. If I were to shoot the lovely 14-24 on my DX body, I would get about the equivalent viewing angle of a 21mm lens. Still nice and wide, but not 15mm wide.

I rented the 10-24 from my favorite lens rental place, Borrowlenses.com for 2 weeks. One of the things I noticed right away is just how wide 10mm is. So wide, that things on the edges, get immensely distorted. This is fine if you are shooting landscapes without buildings or people near the edges. Anything that you knew should have a vertical line didn't look that way anymore if it was near the edge. The distortion can be used to your advantage to extend the sky or grassy foregrounds. It has a very nice perspective, you just need to be cautious of what is near the edges of your frame. Also, it is so wide, you need to watch that your own tripod or feet aren't in the shot. I found that while some things really wide looked great, especially if you could get close to some foreground interest, I preferred most of my wides between the 12-18mm range as the distortion was more under control and I found better framing in my shots. As you know, photography is as much about what you exclude from the frame as what you include.

The second thing that came in very handy is that while a lens hood is provided, it is not what I would call a "dedicated" or permanently attached lens hood. It is removable which allow for use with filters. This is something to consider with landscape work and probably the subject you are considering a wide angle for. The Nikkor full frame 14-24mm lens has a permanently attached lens hood as part of its design. There is no way to screw on any type of filter or add any type of rectangular "slot" style system.

I shot the 10-24mm almost exclusively with a circular polarizer attached to the front and then handheld graduated ND filters over the front of the lens. This was possible with being able to remove the petal hood. I didn't have a chance to try a wide angle filter holder like Cokin's P system. I do own their regular P filter holder, but as it is meant to hold up to 3 filter in the slots in front, it absolutely shows up in the frame. In fact, at 10mm, just the very edges of my polarizer showed up and I would have to crop those images just slightly in post process. This was another reason I preferred going to at least 12mm. My circular polarizer does not show up at all at 12mm.

Here are some sample shots taken at Mattheissen State Park in Illinois.

As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed shooting vertical orientation with the wide angle lens. It isn't that landscape orientation can't be interesting, but sometimes it is just wider or more of the scene, not necessarily more interesting. There are exceptions at times however as one of my favorites from the day was a landscape orientation. I personally felt the super wide viewpoint excelled vertically though creating more depth when showing a foreground interest and then a subject in the back of the frame. I'm still learning the best ways to use a wide angle and hopefully when I get my hands on one for more than a week or so at a time, I can learn to create really deep environments. Like all pieces of gear, wide angles have their place, but we must learn when to use them and what their strengths and limitations are. I learned quickly that if you are using a wide angle just to "get more of the scene" in your frame, then you aren't fully using all the wide angle has to offer and probably aren't creating that dynamic of an image. I suggest seeking out good foregrounds and getting in close to maximize perspective and depth and playing with the good and bad of distortion.

Will the 10-24 find a home in my camera bag? I don't know just yet. I may rent the 14-24 before I make a final decision, but unless I feel I can get by without filters on the 14-24, this lens looks promising.

When Bad Things Happen to Good Gear: Part #2

2009-11-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

Let's all just taken a brief second and say "YAY!" with me. "YAY!!!" Okay, that feels so good. I finally have my lenses back home where they belong. It has been a long couple of months without a chunk of my gear that I use regularly. If you are not aware, It all started with my adored 18-200mm lens making bad noises, which was then followed a week later by my beloved 24-70 falling one foot to the ground with a crunch at a wedding. You can read all the details of what happened here.

To sum it up quickly. I sent my 18-200mm lens into Nikon through the local camera shop and then for experimentation purposes, I sent my 24-70mm into Nikon myself directly. In my previous article, I explained how to use both methods if you need to send your gear in for repair.

It has been seven weeks since I sent in my my first lens and yesterday I received the 2nd lens back to me in the mail. Seven weeks is a long time without your babies, I mean, tools.

After rejoicing about my reunited family, I thought I should also share with you all the details of how my experiences were with both methods of getting my gear repaired. I'll start off by saying that I highly recommend that you send your own gear in for repair. I found this method to be the best for several reasons:

#1. It is cheaper. Period. The local camera shop charges $20 to send your gear in for you. The cost for me to FedEx 2nd day with insurance straight to Nikon - $14.00 I'm already coming out ahead.

#2. You have to fill out the paperwork yourself regardless. Yep, you heard me right. You can either go to Nikon's website and fill out the required online form with the details of your repair, serial number, proof of purchase, etc. or you can either tell the clerk and the camera store or worse yet end up hand writing it on their much less clear and more cramped form. I spend far less time typing up my responses to the questions on the form than I did trying to explain it to a sales staff member that hadn't yet been trained on how to handle manufacturer repairs where I ultimately ended up hand writing it on the form myself. I think is is probably much better communication to Nikon repair staff when they can easily read your typed responses than your chicken scratches, don't you?

#3. You know where you gear is throughout the entire process. When you send in the gear directly you get direct contact with Nikon staff when you gear arrives. You are mailed a quote either explaining your gear is covered under warranty or a quote for the repair cost. You are given information to log into your own account and approve or reject the repair work and once payment has been received (if necessary) they will begin your repair. Throughout this process, you can login at anytime and check the status of your repair. I was able to see that they received my lens, processed the paperwork, ordered replacement parts, performing the repair, cleaning and shipping. I even got a slip of paperwork with my lens when it returned listing out what parts had been repaired/replaced. I was always up to date with what was going on.

I can't say the same for the camera shop. I had to call several times just to check in. I didn't know when they shipped my lens after I handed it off to them. They "hadn't heard anything yet from Nikon", and never offered on their own accord to call and check the status for me. I was told "it may be a couple of weeks" before they hear anything. I'm sorry, but what was that $20 for? I ended up contacting Nikon on my own about the lens I had the camera shop send in and guess what? They replied immediately on the same day with a status update. They were great to work with and I always had my questions answered with Nikon. They just reaffirmed my love for their products because they have the customer services to back it up. Thank you, Nikon.

So, to sum up my experience, I can without hesitation say that you should save the money and just ship your gear in for your repair yourself. The process is straightforward, you can get your questions answered easily if you need to and apparently you will have to do the work regardless since giving your gear to the camera shop doesn't mean it is worry-free for you. You aren't paying extra to have them "handle" it. If you care about your gear enough to have it serviced, then you won't be sorry you dealt with it yourself.

Oh, and just in case you were thinking maybe I had it out for the local camera shop. I must say that I am a firm believer in shopping local when I can. I like to support the local economy and local families and am usually willing to pay a little more to do so. However, like any smart consumer, I also expect that shopping local means good customer service just like I would give to my own clients. I've shopped on many on occasion at the local camera shop and they always have the gear I need or want, but Nikon simply had a better customer experience and customer service. If you need to buy something, I can happily say go shop local, they will likely have what you need, but for getting gear repaired I think you will be happier working directly with Nikon yourself.

November Desktop Calendar

2009-10-30T00:10:00.000-05:00

Here in the Midwest it has been a wet and dreary fall thus far. There have been moments of nice light and sunshine, but mostly a lot of foggy, cool, and wet days. I haven't been out shooting as much as I would like this fall, and the foggy and wet still make for interesting images, so I have no excuse.

I did, however, make it out for one awesome Saturday assisting David Vernon's Landscape Photography Class from the Peoria Art Guild. We took a group of eager photographers along with some friends of ours, Bill and Tim, up to Matthiessen State Park - a favorite shooting locale for both David and I. And while the wet forced us to get up to our knees to wade through streams to get inside the canyons, I must say it was 100% worth it and all that wetness made for some excellent waterfalls in the canyons up there. I will have more images to post later on our trip and my review of the Nikkor 10-24mm lens I used on that outing, but for November, I am sharing one of my favorites from the day.

This is Cascade Falls inside the "Wishing Well" at Mattheissen State Park in Illinois. The light was dancing in and out from the cloud cover and for a brief moment I got a really nice balance of interesting light on the waterfall during a long exposure. I really enjoy this angle and I hope you enjoy it too all November long. I got a little wet so you all could enjoy this from the dryness of your desk or lap. =)

To get your own, simply click the size you want below and set as your background however you do Mac and PC people. I have 5 widths for you this month.

It's All About Style

2009-06-19T07:30:00.004-05:00

I’m guest blogging today over at Central Illinois Photoblog about the importance of finding and knowing your own photographic style. So, if you are a photographer and don’t mind listening to my food though thought (that and $4.99 will buy you a cup of coffee at Starbucks), head on over there and check it out.

But, for my current brides and for any potential brides of the future, I think it is important that I share with you my photographic style. You will meet with several photographers and look through their websites and albums, and yes, you will get an idea of what to expect your own images to look like on your wedding day, but after you’ve scoured the Internet, things all start to look the same and knowing what style you want can really help narrow down your choices.

There are several factors in choosing your wedding photographer and style should be one of them. Knowing what style you want as a bride, can help you pick out a photographer that will produce the kind of end result you want and you’ll be happier in the end too. Photographers spend their lifetime developing a style and are always more engaged and produce their best work when it is their own style and something they love. You should pick a photographer who produces a look that you love as well.

In my opinion there are 3 main categories of wedding photography and many photographers actually blend a combination of these styles:

Traditional – a classic posed look where the bride and groom as well as the bridal party take direction from the photographer. This style the photographer will set up specific shots for your album and may even pull you aside during certain times to get shot. This look is very formal.

Photojournalism – this is an ever-growing, popular style of photography today. Like its namesake, it's about creating a photo journal of your day. There would be little to no posed shots and mostly candid images and honest interactions with little direction or interruption from your photographer.

Contemporary – this modern style creates more of fashion look, taking poses and cues from contemporary fashion magazines. I would consider this to be an updated version of the traditional look with the photographer posing you, but the end look is more fashion than family portrait.

So what is my style?

I am a mix of Traditional and Photojournalist. Let me explain. I do take formal portraits of the bride, the groom, your families, your bridal party, all with the intention for these to be beautiful, well lit portraits that you want in your album and framed on display around your home. I don’t think these have to be boring and blah. I always try to find interesting settings and backgrounds for these shots and I will desperately try to pull you outside to get away from all indoor portraits. I will guide you to where I want you to sit or stand, but I don’t pose every little bit of you down to your toes. I want your portraits to be beautiful, but very relaxed. I hate formals that look stiff and uncomfortable. I'm talkative and a little goofy, which is fine if that is what it takes to get a genuine smile from you while I do it.

For the times where there is already action going on, I am more of a fly on the wall. My goal here is to observe your day and catch candid moments of you getting ready, interacting with your family and friends, stealing a quiet moment with each other and trying to capture the little nuances of your day. This part is all about telling the story of your wedding. I do not interrupt the flow of your day to take a photo, I am just there to catch it as it happens. The only time I get involved is during your portraits.

I love albums, because I think of them as storybooks for your wedding. To me, an album is complete when it has both story telling moments, details shots, and relaxed family portraits. This is why I encompass both a little traditional and a little photojournalism. I need a name for my blended style. Just think of it as a modern storybook, if you will. That is what I am aiming for when I am shooting.

Featured at Peoria Area Convention & Visitors Bureau!

2009-02-25T11:54:00.009-06:00

Yay! I have some exciting news to share with you today, Internet! My Photo of the Peoria Riverfront at dusk has been published in the Peoria Area Visitors Guide by the good people over at the Peoria Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. My image is featured in their press packet folder (on the inside folder flap - which is awesome!), in the Visitor's Guide itself (both in print and in the virtual guide as well), and on their newly redesigned website!

I would like to give a big Thank You to Paige, the communications manager at PACVB. Paige asked me last October if they could use my image and I was more than happy about that last fall. I had no idea how much they would use it and how amazing it would be to see my first publication like that. Thank You, Paige. You have been so kind in the process and I am thrilled about this, as you can tell.

Please be sure to check out their new website and the virtual guide. There is a big listing of upcoming events (if you are looking for something to do on the weekend) and information about local area attractions galore! (some of which I have never been two and didn't know about).

Also, I would like to congratulate a few other photographer friends of mine, Tim Sheets and Kevin May who also have images appearing with PACVB as well. Congrats!

Italy

2009-09-18T14:21:00.003-05:00

I was so fortunate to visit some amazing places this summer. We visited Naples, Rome, and Pisa. I've been promising to post some of my photos for quite some time now. I won't hold out on you any longer. Here are some of my favorites from Italy (Italia).

Naples (Napoli)

Pompeii

Rome (Roma)

Livorno

Pisa

Tuscany

Lightroom 3 Beta and Good News Friday!

2009-10-23T13:40:00.002-05:00

This week has turned out to be a good one as I've had good news come my way. First and foremost I am happy to report that my beloved Nikkor 18-200mm lens has safely returned to my possession. It came back all clean and new from Nikon. I am thrilled to have it back, as you know I've been whining about my lack of wide viewpoint for over a month now.
I'm pleased to say it works great and has no more strange clicking and rattling sounds. It appears from the tiny slip that arrived with the lens that Nikon replaced and adjusted the VR (vibration reduction) unit. One down, one to go...

The other awesome piece of news is that Adobe has put out a free trial beta version of Lightroom 3. There are many new features to get excited about including; improved noise reduction, exportable slideshows with music, and bi-directional publishing to online sharing sites like Flickr. Yeah, those are all some pretty cool things. There are already a slew of great sites online reviewing the beta version and giving great tips on how to use the new features.

My recommendation is to first watch the video that Terry White put together. He walks you through the new version completely. It is a straight forward video that non-Lightroom users should find easy to understand and follow along with. Then stop over at the NAPP Learning Center where lightroom guru Matt Kloskowski and Photoshop whiz, Scott Kelby have more training videos and walk throughs. If that isn't enough lightroom for you, Sean McCormack has nice screen shots of what the beta version looks like as well as nice explanations of the latest features new to LR3. Check out Sean's blog here. I'm very excited about this as many of the new features aren't just improvement, but are things that will drastically help workflow and sharing that most photographers I think will rejoice about.

Want your own copy of LR 3 beta? It is free for a 6 month trial so Adobe can get feedback from users. Go to Adobe Labs to download your copy.

That is it for Friday. I'll leave you with some fall images. I'll be off to capture more fall color tomorrow and help out with a local landscape photography class at one of my favorite state parks. I'll be sharing images from that next week along with some new gear I am taking with me this time. Until then, have a nice weekend!

Back from Dallas

2009-10-23T07:00:00.003-05:00

I'm back from my big adventures in the land of big -Dallas! I had a nice little getaway with my family even took a few photos of the Dallas skyline. Here is me with my awesome sister posing in front of the Dallas Skyline at sunset from a parking deck. She was patient and kind enough to drive me to a spot to shoot the skyline.

Let me be the first to say that a quality tripod is a must. My Manfrotto tripod would not fit in my carry on luggage, so I had to find alternate methods and while they got me by, they weren't up to par in my book. I ended up purchasing a $15 tripod at Target which later became a bonus gift to my sister for her point and shoot. It just didn't have enough weight to steady a heavier SLR, especially in the wind. There was a lot of wind on the top of the parking deck and as a result most of my shots were too blurry to use. Before it got dark, I set up my camera and focus. Here are some shots my sister took of me up on the parking deck framing up a shot.

Then we decided we wanted a shot of us in from downtown before it was too dark and quite honestly this one is my favorite. See snapshots are a great thing sometimes. (and yes that is my camera on the edge of the parking deck in the background, but don't worry it wasn't going anywhere.)After the sun went down I started trying to get the skyline with all of the neon and office building lights lit up. As my exposure time became much longer and we had lots of time to kill in between shots, so what did we do? Hoola-Hoop! Oh, yeah (well she did and I merely was trying to learn). We passed the time well, don't you think? I'll leave you with the best shot I got of the night skyline. Until next time, Dallas!

Around the Internet

2009-10-15T12:05:00.010-05:00

Well, even though today isn't technically Friday, it is my Friday this week. I'm boarding a plane and off to visit my sister. It's her birthday tomorrow and her fiance's on Saturday. I'm stoked to be spending some kickback time with them. It is always fun and most likely will involve some good food and drinks. Who could ask for more? I'm also toting along some photography gear. Packing for planes is always interesting even though I am no Joe McNally or Moose Peterson with their MP bags or Think Tank bags. I just don't have enough gear for all that. I do however have to consider carry on size. I'm taking just one camera body and two lenses, my cable release, and some filters. I'm keeping it pretty light. I'm a little sad that I couldn't take my tripod as it couldn't fit in with my luggage, so I'll be looking for alternative tripod options when I arrive.

It is always fun to travel somewhere else then our everyday surroundings and hopefully I come back with some fun stuff. Anyway, as pointed out by a friend of mine, I have been a blogging machine this week. I'll leave you with some good Internet finds this week before I go:

1.) Speaking of packing photography gear and Moose Peterson, he has a video on how he packs his smaller, MP-7 bag for lighter travel. Check it out here.

2.) My good friend, David Vernon is on the Enjoy Illinois blog today. He's a guest blogger there regularly and today has some interests facts about pumpkins in the region (and some nice images to go along with it).

2.) The Peoria Flickr Group has monthly contests, and this month's is none other than "Fall Colors". So stop over, join up, and submit your best fall color shot. By the way, the group is also having their monthly outing this weekend at Tanner's Orchard, so be sure to check that out while visiting the group page.

3.) Since we are on fall with Halloween coming up, there are some amazing bat photographs taken by Kim Taylor. He includes his hand made setup to capture these night creatures drinking from his backyard pond. Very cool stuff.

Have good weekend! Get out and take some fall photos!

When "New" Meets Creativity

2009-10-14T11:00:00.001-05:00

In the world of photography, there is always some new gizmo or gadget out there to buy. It is just one of those things. We must wade through the pile of useless, kitschy, or unaffordable quite often. Most gear is targeted toward the "want to try" part of us and usually doesn't fall into the "got to have" part of us. However, with all the the latest toys out there, we must also realize that there is an ever-changing, rapidly growing technology with camera performance, speed, and capability.

The latest rounds of digital cameras today now do so much more than take still images - they also record video. High definition video. The new world of the video SLR or "VSLR" as I have heard it dubbed has arrived and is here to stay. Whether you need a new camera body or not must be decided for yourself, but there is no denying how cool this new technology is and what creative worlds are opened up by being able to shoot video and still projects together with one device.
Nikon just introduced their new D3s. It is Nikon's top of the line professional camera and boy is it touting some impressive specs. Higher ISO ratings, faster frames per second, and video. It's a monster for sure with a hefty price tag of $5,200. To give you an idea of just how creative and impressive shooting video and still together can be, check out this amazing, must-watch video by Vincent Munier shot with entirely with the D3s. It's not only pretty, but it makes me want video in my next camera.

Can't afford the D3s? There are other alternatives. In the Nikon line up, there are already these VSLRs out there:
D50000 ($680 suggested MSRP)
D90 ($900 suggested MSRP)
D300s ($1800 suggested MSRP)
and the new D3s ($5200 suggested MSRP)

Whether you want video or not in your next camera, it looks pretty clear to me that you are going to get one. It's time to step up again and embrace new technology. This is some pretty darn cool stuff, so it shouldn't be too hard to like. It will take awhile to figure out, however. Just because we can take photos, doesn't mean we are all videographers too. We'll have to challenge ourselves to grow again and see if we can merge these two formats for our own good.

Sharing the Love - Lightroom Style

2009-10-14T07:00:00.002-05:00

Okay fellow photographer friends. Those of you who know me well, know that I am a big fan and user of Lightroom as my digital darkroom. Well, Adobe is sharing the love and letting us current users refer friends to buy Lightroom 2 with a special discount. Yep, now you can save 15% off your own copy of Lightroom 2 if I refer you. If you're interested, leave a comment on this post and be sure to include a real email address and I will send you the referral email with the 15% referral code. You will need to purchase Lightroom through the Adobe Online store and enter the code # when you check out to get your 15% off.

If you've been thinking about getting Lightroom, now you can save a little dough now through December 25th. Rock on! If you've never heard of Lightroom, then be sure to download the 30 day trial.

I'm also planning to start sharing a few of my Lightroom processing tips on here every now and then, starting this fall, so be checking back for that.

*Screenshots courtesy of www.screenshots-artchive.com (yes I was too lazy to screen shot my own Lightroom).

Stealing Art is Not Cool

2009-10-13T07:00:00.006-05:00

Sometimes it is hard for people to realize that stealing art on the internet is wrong. Just a couple of mouse clicks and an image is yours. Most people by now have got the hint that stealing music is wrong and are willing to pay $1.29 a song on iTunes, but haven't yet realized that stealing images is the same exact thing. You wouldn't grab a piece of work off the wall at a museum, would you?

To show how stealing art would be in the real world, ASMP New York put together this video and accompanying website. http://www.dontscrewus.org/index2.html

I checked out their website and these are just a few of their points in their manifesto:

#2 Just because a photo is posted on the Internet, it is not free. It wasn't put there so you can simply take it. It was put there to share an idea, promote talent and gain attention. You can't walk into a museum space or a gallery space and walk out with whatever strikes your fancy. Cyberspace is no different.

#4 Professional photographers are just like you. We have families to feed and mortgages to pay. Stealing takes food off the table. Times are tough enough thank you very much.

#7 That photo you are thinking of stealing took time to make. Sure the shutter snapped in a fraction of a second, but there are years of hard work, education and talent invested in it. Stop for a moment and consider that please.

#10 Some things were meant to be free. Human beings, primo parking spaces, unsolicited advice about your love life. And yes, even occasionally photos. Just ask.

By the way, none of this advice was prompted by anything that happened to me. I put my art up for display in the internet knowing full and well that some people don't get this concept. However, there are many people out there that appreciate looking at art and sharing creative works, so I am happy to take that risk and share my work with you all. I just wanted to share this as a reminder so that you might stop and think the next time you want to grab in image "just for facebook" or "just for my blog". I know it seems harmless and most times, photographers will happily let you use an image if you just ask and offer to give proper credit.

Okay, enough preaching - now go enjoy looking at some awesome art out there and hey, why not buy some too? You know that one wall is totally bare at home, right?

Renting Lenses

2009-10-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

It was a dark and stormy night....

Okay, maybe it was more like a full moon or just plain dumb luck, but I have been without 2 of my lenses in my arsenal for a month now. One month ago, I turned my Nikon 18-200mm lens in for repair because it was making bad clicking sounds and the image was jumping in the viewfinder. I gave it over to the local camera shop to be sent in. Then about a week later, I managed to drop my beloved Nikon 24-70mm at a wedding. Trust me, folks, it didn't fall far or very hard, it just slipped out of my lens bag while I was knelt down about a foot off the ground. It fell on gravel. The barrel got distorted on impact and while it would zoom, it was oh so slowly and with much difficulty.

Sigh. It was hard to send it in, but it wasn't much good to me in its current state. So, I shipped it off to Nikon myself bypassing the local camera shop. This in part was experimentation for me to see which method was better, although I already sort of knew the answer based on how little feedback I was getting on the status of the 18-200. I made a few phone calls on my own and I figured direct communication would be better and so far I am right. Working with Nikon has been easy and all of my questions to service and support have been answered thoroughly and in a timely fashion and with access to online progress reporting, I know where my equipment is in the process. I will keep you all posted on the outcome once I get my gear back in hand.

Right now, all I know is that my 24-70 is being repaired and my 18-200 was waiting for a back ordered part which has finally arrived and should be being repaired now.

I've been getting pretty ancy to have them back as now I don't have any wide angle options. I went out shooting landscapes and sunsets with a friend last week and made due with my Nikon 70-200mm (which does a nice job, but required me to think differently for landscapes) and my 50mm lens. So with 50mm being the widest (on a crop sensor) my angle of view, well, wasn't very wide to say the least. While I produced images I was happy with, it wasn't without whining for some wide angles.

To get me through an upcoming trip to Texas and an outing to Mattheissen State Park, I've decided to go ahead and rent a wide angle lens. I'm renting again from borrowlenses.com and based on my previous experience with them, they are easy to work with. I'm renting a Nikon 10-24mm lens. That is a lot of wide! I'm pretty excited about it.

I will be comparing it to the Nikon 12-24mm lens that I rented last spring. I expect a lot of similarities, but I am curious to see if the extra 2mm is worth it for me or not. They are about $200 difference in price to buy with more mm being less money. From what I have read the build quality is where the difference lies. From having already shot the 12-24 I already know it is solid, metal cased lens. Very nice build quality and performance.

I'm looking forward to testing it out. I'll keep you posted on my thoughts and show off some images taken with it.

Mattheissen Trip Part I: Packing and Planning

2009-02-09T12:44:00.030-06:00

Welcome to Part I of the Peoria Flickr Group's outing to Mattheissen State Park. Now, last fall I posted some images from Starved Rock State Park and Mattheissen is her equally enjoyable sister park. In this first part, I want to share with you my improvements over my last hiking trip in terms of what I've learned for packing and what to carry when going on an all-day hiking photo excursion, if you will.

The Rental
The first thing I have to mention is that I rented a couple lenses for this and another outing. I knew in advance that I was going on this adventure and it was a great time to rent a lens that I wanted to try and wouldn't normally need and give it a thorough testing. I rented the Nikon AF-S 12-24 DX wide angle lens from Borrow Lenses.com for this specific outing. I still have the lenses and need to ship them back this week, but I can say thus far, my experience with them has been great. The lenses shipped via Fedex and arrived the day I requested in a well protected box filled with foam. The foam was cut to fit the two lenses I rented and everything looked ready to use with UV filters, front and rear caps, and hoods included. I was excited! You should consider renting a lens if you want a specialty lens for a specific shoot (like I did) or you want to test out a lens you think you want to buy and see how you like it and if it is worth those extra hard-earned dollars to have a permanent home in your camera bag. I rented my lenses for one week, but the folks at Borrow Lenses will let you rent for 1, 2, 3, or 4 weeks, or 10 days. Maybe more, but you'll have to communicate your special needs with them in advance.

Packing:
Okay back to packing. One the last trip I made a few (but big) mistakes. I took with me my large camera backpack that holds ALL of my gear. Yes, a 22 lb behemoth that should never been worn backpacking. Ouch! This time I bought an inexpensive plain backpack. One of the reasons I didn't use a camera bag is because I knew I would needs lots of layers of clothing due to the weather and I would need room to stuff those extra layers. You can't do that with a camera bag and the other is because my small shoulder bag won't hold my bigger SLR by itself, let alone a couple of lenses, so plain backpack it was.

What I took:
My camera body mounted with the rented 12-24 wide angle lens (the primary lens for the trip).
2 extras lenses: 18-200 super zoom (for anything and everything) and 50mm (portraits).
My Tripod (that I carried in hand or slung over one shoulder or doubling as a walking stick).
3 Memory Cards (one in camera and 2 spares)
An extra battery (probably not necessary, but you never know)
My filter wallet with filters (I primarily shot with a polarizer filter)
A packable waterproof windbreaker
An extra pair of socks/shoes (socks in the bag, shoes in the car)
Arm warmers
Ear band
fingerless gloves
super absorbent packable towel
water bottle with water
4 granola bars
chapstick
cell phone
coin purse with ID, and insurance info. (Information is important in case I were to get hurt - don't forget this one!)

Everything went into the backpack, except for the the tripod. I had to get a little creative with the extra lenses seeing as how I didn't want them loose inside the backpack clanging around and I wasn't taking a camera bag. I discovered I could fit them both on their side stacked on top of one another inside a lens case meant to hold my much bigger 24-70 zoom lens. Ah, problem two solved!

The towel was on the bottom of the bag and served to protect the camera and lenses for cushioning and could be used to easily wipe off any water and mud that could get on the gear (and trust me there was lots of water). After the camera gear was inside, I put in the windbreaker, arm warmers, and earband into a interior pocket leaving plenty of room for the down vest and/or the fleece pullover I was leaving the house in.

You see the temperatures called for 50 degrees in the midday. But, seeing as how it is February, it was chilly in the morning and chilly in the evening, so layers were a must and extras in case of wetness were also important (I failed that on the last trip as well).

And lastly, the rest of the gear fit into outer pockets on the backpack. There was a shallow zipped pocket that perfectly held my filter wallet, a mesh pocket for my water bottle and a small outer zipper space for my cell phone, memory cards, battery, granola bars, chapstick, and keys. Whew!

The bag weighed in a 10 lbs (a huge improvement!), this appeared to be the perfect combo for a day trip like this.

Room for improvement:

I never did use my 18-200 lens. Probably because I was loving the rented lens and couldn't bring myself to part from its wonderful wide view, but never the less it was an extra and therefor unnecessary weight. I did use the 50mm for portraits of my fellow photographers. I wanted to take a few of people working and some just to document the fun of the trip (its not all work you know!).

I didn't bring any ziplock bags. I should have had the camera items like the camera, cards, battery, lens and my cell phone in bags to protect them from water damage since my plain inexpensive backpack was in no way waterproof or water resistant in the least (D'Oh!) I am lucky I don't have proof of that theory.

I forgot sunglasses. This both stunk while driving there and while hiking between shooting areas in the bright sunshine.

My shoes, while hiking boots, are not waterproof. Yes, this one was a big mistake. This trip had lots of snow, ice, slush, mud, and water to deal with. My feet were wet within the first 1/2 hour of being there. Squish-Squish the rest of the day. There was even one point where I couldn't reach stepping stones across a creek and had to step in the running water - ugh!! I joked about bringing waders (while ridiculous and heavy) and was teased about not needing them. Ha! They so would have been helpful (at least for the creek scenario). Certainly a new pair of waterproof hiking boots are now in order. At least I had dry socks and shoes to put on for the drive home at the end of the day, but they couldn't help me on the trail.

On the Upside:

My backpack and the rest of me besides my feet stayed dry and the extra socks and shoes for the drive home was a nice treat.

The rented lens was great and I am glad I planned in advance to rent one.

I wore the right amount of layers and wound up stashing the vest (glad I had room for it) in the backpack and got away with wearing a fleece pullover for most of the day. I never ear band or arm warmers, but was glad I had gloves for the first half of the day. The temperatures were amazing to be in and produced some nice images as well with a lovely mix of ice waterfalls and running water.

I drank most of the water and ate a couple of granola bars on quick break to re-energize.

We had an awesome day to be outside together. I think fun was had by all. One person did manage to fall in the creek, but the upside is that this person was not me.

Even though my friend David had a bounty out there for anyone who snapped the first shot of me on the ground after falling, I managed not to fall despite much squealing and near falls on the precarious ice, and thank goodness no one took into their own hands to push me.

I bought my friends for the day by bringing bagels and cream cheese and offering to drive. This is how I make friends and probably why no one actually pushed me to win the bounty shot. I recommend this method for anyone else hosting a photo outing. Bagels = friendly photographers.

Stay tuned for Part II of the trip to see my favorite images from the trip and see some shots of the people who came along.

Flashes & Parking Decks...Oh My!

2009-10-01T07:00:00.010-05:00

Now that's a title to make you wonder what I'm up to, right? Well, last Sunday the Peoria Strobist Group had our fist outing in Peoria. The PSG is a strange combination of the Peoria Flickr Group mixed with David Hobby's Strobist Group. Sprinkle in a bunch of off camera lighting, a few friends, two awesome models, and a gritty parking deck and you had our first meet up.

The idea of the group is to have regular meet ups where we can all practice setting up off camera lighting. A sort of trial by fire while creating some hands on learning. We want to improve our skills and share the knowledge with other photographers who want to learn off camera lighting techniques. So, if you are a photographer who understands photography basics and wants to learn lighting, then you should stop on over to the Peoria Strobist Group , say hello and bring your flash.

Please welcome back to this blog our fabulous models, Stephanie & Josh donning their rocked up wedding attire for this session. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the outing. Also, be sure to check out the group pool to see more shots and ideas from the others who were there and also David Hobby's Strobist website if you are new and want to get your feet wet. His website is a great learning resource.

And for the photo geeks out there - here is the inside scoop on the shot from the top of the post:

Nikon D300 w/24-70mm w/ 4 flash setup.

One SB600 on stand camera left gelled 1/4 CTO at 1/2 power and one SB800 in SU-4 mode camera right on stand gelled 1/4 CTO at 1/4 power. Camera was set to tungsten white balance to match the gelled strobes. The ungelled strobes are a Vivitar 285 at 1/32 power via Paul C Buff remote on a short stand pointed at wall and an SB800 in SU-4 mode on ground behind the couple pointed back at camera. The blue color comes from using tungsten white balance which shifts the daylight corrected flashes even cooler and more blue. Setup was fired using a Paul C Buff trigger. (and focusing efforts were aiding with headlights from a car).

October Desktop Calendar

2009-09-30T07:00:00.003-05:00

Wow, is it seriously October already? The pros: football season, tailgating, bonfires, sweaters, and fall color! The cons: 2 months until Christmas (get shopping), snow boots need to come out of the closet, watching leaves fall to the ground. =(

This month I am hooking you guys up with with a shot from fall of 2008. This was taken at Banner Marsh in Central Illinois. I was searching for right image and while this isn't a standout, the colors really sold me for the month of October. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you can get out and see some fall color yourself (don't forget your sweater!)

To get your own, simply click the size you want below and set as your background however you do Mac and PC people. I have 4 widths for you this month.
1280x1024
1200x960
1024x819
800x640

I'm also throwing in a bonus size for you super wide screen peeps.
1680x1050

Nicole & Dan Sneak Peek

2009-09-22T23:39:00.005-05:00

Just a little taste from Saturday's wedding... more to come soon. I'm busy working on this gorgeous wedding while I hope they are living it up in Jamaica! (Jealous? yes I am!) Congratulations to you both!