The Shutterzone

Pictures of The Colosseum in Rome, Italy

2008-08-19T23:07:00.006-05:00

I'm continuing to edit, caption, and keyword pictures from my last trip through Rome. The good news is I'm half-way done with Rome. The bad news is I still have a backlog of 4,000+ images (not all from Rome) in my digital workflow left to go!

Here are some recent selects of the Colosseum:

Via Sacra sign in front of the Roman Colosseum, Rome, Italy.

Roman Colosseum, Rome, Italy.

Some of my favorite Colosseum shots though are still from my first trip to Rome in 2004. Here are a couple shots where I first tried to eliminate all the clutter, traffic, period Roman Soldiers posing for pictures (only when paid of course), trinket salesmen, tour group salesmen, and all the other tourist madhouse "local color" that surrounds the entrance to the Colosseum:

Roman Colosseum, Rome, Italy.

Rome

2008-08-18T22:53:00.002-05:00

Piazza di Sant'Ignazio is Filippo Raguzzini's masterwork of Roman Rococo in Rome, Italy.

Choo Choo

2008-08-17T22:55:00.005-05:00

I took some test shots this past weekend with the Canon PowerShot G9. I'll be using it a lot on an upcoming trip and have yet to really test it out after owning it for several weeks now. It's been a busy summer!

I lot of professionals are using the G9 as their point-in-shoot "fun" camera to just keep on them all the time. This is my second digital compact, and at 12.1MP plus RAW files it packs quite a punch. In the pictures I've taken so far the noise is very noticeable, even at 80 ISO. The shutter delay is very annoying too, but both of these problems are to be expected in small compacts. Still, I find it very frustrating to use digital compacts after being used to Digital SLRs that do exactly what you want precisely when you want them to.

This photo of a Railroad Crossing in Northeast Arkansas was shot hand-held at at f/4.0, 1/1250 sec., at ISO 80. I cleaned up the noise slightly in Lightroom 2.0:

Yellow

2008-08-16T05:23:00.000-05:00

Shutters for the Shutterzone:

wall, Rome, Italy

Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy - Part III

2008-08-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

Trevi::Back in Black:

Rosco Cinegel Swatchbook

2008-08-14T14:50:00.001-05:00

Strobist blog readers all know about the use of color correcting gels to convert flash output to tungsten light, florescent light, or any other color. The extreme popularity of the Strobist blog and David Hobby's tip to use gels out of the Rosco sample packs, which can often be had for free and happen to be almost the same size as a flash head, has caused a run on the sample packs. Most camera stores are out of them. Just yesterday I was trying to find some myself in order to replace the gels I've been using. I checked several online stores, even those I prefer not to shop with, and everyone was out of them!

Luckily though, I've just got an email from B&H stating they have some back in stock!

You can find them here:
Rosco Cinegel Swatchbook - 1.75 x 2.75"

They sell for $0.01 each! But with a quantity limit of 2 per order unfortunately.

Plus, if you are a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) you always get FREE 3-5 business days UPS shipping! NAPP members get a GREAT magazine (I struggle to read all of it each month) plus tons of other great perks. I find the free shipping from B&H nearly, if not entirely, pays for my NAPP membership each year.

In full disclosure, I added another item to my B&H order so I can not 100% guarantee you can order two sample packs with free shipping and only pay $0.02, but I believe it is possible.

Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy - Part II

2008-08-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

Continuing from my last blog post here is another photograph of Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy:

Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy

2008-08-13T22:27:00.008-05:00

The late afternoon light on the Trevi Fountain in Rome only lasted a minute or two when I took this photo. It certainly did not resemble anything like this when my wife and I arrived. Probably 500-800 tourists surrounded the fountain and initially it was not lit by sunlight at all. This is where it pays to just keep shooting and shooting and working angles. I was able to get a lot of shots without the crowd and some with for the wider-angle perspective.

What my wife remembers most though is the Italian leather purse she bought at a shop a few feet away! Oh wait, correction, that I BOUGHT her a few feet away.

Editorial Correction 8/14/08 2:13PM: Ops! My wife very quickly informed me after reading this blog post that she bought the purse and not me. :-)

Stunique.com Updated

2008-08-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

Jennifer and I have just relaunched the Stunique website. We've been working long and hard on site improvements, redesign, and adding new products, and Jennifer has done a great job on the new homepage design. Please go check it out!

Stunique offers a large selection of printed invitations and stationery, party supplies, and custom designed items for your special event. We also have personalized gifts ranging from wedding gifts to designer doggie wear.

Strobist Lighting Seminar Review

2008-08-05T22:00:00.004-05:00

2008 has definitely been "The Year of Strobist" for the photography community. Many of us, and hopefully you too, were regular readers of the Strobist blog before the beginning of 2008, but this year David Hobby's blog has definitely taken off. The blog was mentioned in USA Today a few months back, and if that wasn't enough photography blog after photography blog pointed out the fact that Strobist was in USA Today. Giving him even more traffic! And deservedly so.

This year David Hobby launched the Strobist Lighting Seminar set of tutorial DVDs. The first batch of 1,000 (low because David funded it out of his own pocket so I've heard) sold out very quick. I thought my order was in that first batch, but I barely missed it and had to wait a few weeks for the second batch to come in. (My boss here at Terry Smith Images (myself) doesn't like me to waste training-budget money on rush shipping.)

The Strobist Lighting Seminar is 8 DVDs for $139.00. I paid $143.80 which included the cheapest, US Postal Service mailing option.

Is it worth it?

YES

These DVDs are worth every single penny. If you are serious about learning more about lighting you really need to buy these DVDs. There is an amazing amount of material here.

I've read and watched a lot of photography training material over 10+ years of seriously studying the art and craft and in these DVDs David is sharing a TON of information and "first-hand, real-world secrets" that I have never seen anywhere else.

I'm not going to do an extremely in-depth review here. I'm sure other bloggers have done that already. I will summarize the set by saying the first DVD is about Lighting Gear for Beginners, the next four DVDs are recordings of one of this lecture workshops (two for the morning session and two for the afternoon session), and the next three are all live photo shoots.

The decision factor is this: You are not going to get better value anywhere for the amount of instruction versus cost as contained in this DVD set. Any class, workshop, and conference given by someone with his level of expertise would cost much, much more.

Click here for more info on purchasing the DVDs:
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2008/05/now-available-strobist-lighting-dvds.html

Here's a executive portrait I shot "strobist-style" recently using wireless off-camera flash. In this case an SB-600 was in the back to light the copper wall and an SB-800 with a CTO gel was to camera-right shot through a white shoot-through umbrella. Some window daylight was let in as well to warm the scene up a bit more. I was working very quickly, and in hind-sight this definitely could be improved. Some front-fill from just a large white card or reflector to camera-left would have added some needed fill to the face.

Roman Colosseum Picture

2008-08-04T22:06:00.003-05:00

Every now and then (translation: completely randomly) I try to pass along deep, highly-secretive secrets of the photography masters. Here's one now:

When photographing historical European sights like the Roman Colosseum, Shutterzone Fruition may be attained by the addition of random tourists wearing red jackets (and other apparel) walking into your camera field of view, turning an otherwise uninteresting shot into something... mildly interesting.

Snow in August

2008-08-02T21:36:00.002-05:00

It's been over 100°F every day here in Arkansas quite awhile now. It's time to cool things down with a little snow in August:

Winter snow covering pine trees in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Winter storm at Pinnacle Mountain State Park in Arkansas, part of the Ouachita Mountains region.

Winter snow scene as a snowstorm covers trees and brush in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Arkansas Agricultural Photography

2008-08-02T13:42:00.005-05:00

My family is from the North East corner of Arkansas which is part of the agricultural Mississippi Delta, and several times during the summer I photograph crops while visiting them. Textbooks and editorial magazines often need good agriculture shots. I took this photo below at the end of August one year ago. This past week it was licensed worldwide for a textbook.

Agricultural rice crop on farmland in Walnut Ridge on the Mississippi Alluvial Plain region of Arkansas.

Shooting in New York City

2008-07-15T13:19:00.003-05:00

In all of my travels I have never shot a single frame in New York City, nor have I ever aspired to. In all of my years as a photographer I have heard nothing but horror stories about shooting in NYC. The NYPD seems to behave more like thugs and vigilantes than as police officers. Over the years I have heard and read story after story after story of photographers being harassed and even arrested, especially if you are carrying a tripod. In fact, taking a tripod to New York seems to be the easiest way for an American to go to Cuba, specifically Guantanamo.

Finally, the Mayor's Office has now set official permitting rules as described in this article in Variety. It will take months if not years for the police on the street to learn what the rules actually are, probably only after another civil liberties lawsuit or two, but at least there is hope.

As described in Mayor's Office of Film, Theater, and Broadcasting Adopts Permitting Rules (where you can download the rules in their entirety:

Under the adopted rules, a permit would be required for filming if equipment or vehicles, as defined in the rule, are used or if the person filming asserts exclusive use of City property. Equipment does not include hand-held devices (such as hand-held film, still, or television cameras or videocameras) or tripods used to support such cameras, but a permit would be required in certain situations when the person filming asserts exclusive use of City property while using a hand-held device.

And also, from the actual rules PDF:

For purposes of this subparagraph, standing on a street, walkway of a bridge, sidewalk, or other pedestrian passageway while using a handheld device and not otherwise asserting exclusive use by any means, including physical or verbal, is not activity that requires a permit.

b. The following activities do not require that a permit be obtained pursuant to this chapter:

(i) Filming, photography, production, television or radio remotes occurring on City property, as described in subdivision (a) of this section, involving the use of handheld devices as defined in paragraph three of subdivision (a) of § 9-02, (A) if such activity does not involve the assertion by any means, including physical or verbal, of exclusive use of one or more lanes of a street or walkway of a bridge or (B) if such activity does not involve the assertion by any means, including physical or verbal, of exclusive use of more than one-half of a sidewalk or other pedestrian passageway or, in a situation in which the sidewalk or pedestrian passageway is narrower than sixteen feet, does not involve the assertion by any means, including physical or verbal, of exclusive use of the sidewalk or pedestrian passageway such that less than eight feet is otherwise available for pedestrian use.

Brain Illustrations

2008-07-13T22:19:00.007-05:00

A few weeks ago I put together a brain illustration and then "put it in a drawer", digitally speaking, to come back to it later. Last week, a national science magazine put out a request on one of the "stock images wanted" wires for a photo or illustration depicting brain-computer interaction. So I pulled out a couple of old computer circuit boards from my "props" box and snapped a few pics to incorporate into a different version of the illustration. I don't know if my image will be used for this particular request, but hopefully it will be picked up by some publications eventually.

Here is my the original version:

Keywords

brain; illustration; concept; science; artificial intelligence; brainpower; brainy; capacity; conceptual; memory; cerebral; neurology; mind; intelligence; quotient; IQ; gray; grey; psychology; think; thought; measurement; measure; map

After adding in the circuit board I came up with this. It's fairly basic, but often illustrations shouldn't be too complicated.

Keywords

brain; computer; interface; illustration; concept; circuit board; science; artificial intelligence; computing; brainpower; brainy; positronic; cyborg; cybernetic; scifi; fiction; future; capacity; AI; conceptual

After I had submitted the above image, I wanted to play with the idea some more and the result was a bit more overlap between the two:

Keywords

I really like the varied but subtle colors that came through in the brain detail.

WARNING: EXTREME CLOSE-UP!

The funnest part about all of these to me is that the brain drawing itself comes from one of my childhood sketch books! I don't know if the drawing has an exact date on it. I don't have it in front of me, but I likely drew it when I was between 12-15 years-old. That's what I call turning childhood "wasted time" into something productive!

Stunique Inc. Press Release

2008-07-08T14:50:00.002-05:00

The official press release announcing the new website launch of Stunique Inc. is now available online, or you can view it below:

_________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jul 08, 2008 – Stunique, Inc. is excited to announce the official launch of a new website, www.stunique.com. After extensive research in the field of personalized party supplies, Stunique has developed their website in the hopes of offering a unique and enjoyable shopping experience for their customers.

The website currently offers a large selection of printed invitations and stationery, party supplies, and custom designed items for special events. Stunique also offers personalized gifts ranging from wedding gifts to designer doggie wear.

A special feature of the new Stunique website is the custom series. This line offers completely custom invitations, stationery, and announcements. This allows customers to have a unique design to match a specific theme and color palette. Stunique offers custom designed invitations, announcements, note cards, table cards, place cards, program fans and other items for special events. Their designers create images and designs based on information about the party, and incorporate personal touches such as photographs, monograms, and more to create an endless array of possibilities. Stunique offers hundreds of beautiful paper stocks, ribbons, envelopes, and ink colors in their custom series.

Stunique CEO, Jennifer Smith, created the website after working in the stationery and party supplies business and realizing a need for a more sophisticated product. Besides her extensive experience in sales and marketing, Smith is also a professional graphic designer and has created the designs herself with many more being added.

Stunique is currently offering a promotion for new customers. Use the discount code, newcust, at checkout to receive 25% off any order $25 or more.

It's Stunning. It's Unique. It's Stunique!

# # #

Stunique offers a large selection of printed invitations and stationery, party supplies, and custom designed items for your special event. We also have personalized gifts ranging from wedding gifts to designer doggie wear. Looking for something especially unique? Let us design it for you!

Stunique is your one-stop shop for any event!

# # #

Announcing Stunique Inc.!

2008-07-08T09:13:00.002-05:00

My wife and I are very excited to announce the official launch of our new company, Stunique Inc.! We have been working feverishly for the past six months to make it a reality, and the website is finally live!

Stunique offers a large selection of printed invitations and stationery, party supplies, and custom designed items for your special event. Stunique also offers personalized gifts ranging from wedding gifts to designer doggie wear.

It's Stunning. It's Unique. It's Stunique!

Besides being an extremely talented business woman with extensive experience in sales and marketing, Stunique CEO, Jennifer Smith, is also a professional graphic designer. If you need something especially unique, Jennifer can design it for you!

Our Stunique Designs line features products designed by Jennifer with many, many more coming soon!

Please help us spread the word! Please tell your friends and family about our new website. PLEASE link to us, blog about us, and do whatever you can to help us reach as many people as we can! We would sincerely appreciate it.

We are currently offering a special promotion for new customers. Use the discount code, newcust, at checkout to receive 25% off any order $25 or more!

Thank you!

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

2008-06-27T17:30:00.004-05:00

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.

Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?...

It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood,
A neighborly day for a beauty.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?...

I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.

So, let's make the most of this beautiful day.
Since we're together we might as well say:

Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?

Won't you be my neighbor?
Won't you please,

Won't you please?
Please won't you be my neighbor?

-- Lyrics by Fred M. Rogers

Good Day to Die Gallery

Turks and Caicos - Part 2

2008-06-20T08:00:00.001-05:00

More photography from the Turks and Caicos islands...

You can view more of my Turks and Caicos stock photography collection here.

Turks and Caicos - Part 1

2008-06-18T23:29:00.002-05:00

Three of my friends are vacationing at Club Med in Turks and Caicos on Providenciales island this week, so this two-part blog post is dedicated to them. I hope they're having a horrible, sun-burned time! ;-) Actually, two of them will be spending so much time scuba diving and doing underwater photography that they'll probably not even come back with the slightest tan.

I've photographed Turks and Caicos a couple of times in the past few years and wish no one else would "discover" it so that it would stay just like it is.

You can view more of my Turks and Caicos stock photography collection here.

Arkansas State Capitol Pictures

2008-06-16T23:17:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago I was driving back into Little Rock on a late Sunday afternoon after having been gone over the weekend, and I decided to drop by the Arkansas State Capitol since I was so close. The light looked decent but turned out to be even better than I thought. The pictures below only are a few of the many selects from the shoot, all with good potential to be used for textbooks as well as regional advertisements for the state and local businesses. It was well worth the time!

Shooting a state capitol like this is not the most adventurous form of photography, but it's fundamental to developing a deep stock photography archive. These images will become apart of my Arkansas Picture Library.

It's also great practice in shooting LARGE SCALE architecture! Plus, I don't have to beg for a property release.

Abe's of Maine - My first and likely last order

2008-06-11T23:44:00.003-05:00

Abe's of Maine is one of the largest camera and electronics dealers. They have advertised in the back of the photography magazines for years, though always a second-class competitor to B&H or Adorama. (I always prefer B&H and try to avoid Adorama. Sometimes Adorama is significantly cheaper on an item though, and I have no choice.)

I'm upgrading my point-and-shoot camera to a Canon G9 with the Canon WP-DC21 Underwater Waterproof Housing. I think the duo will be a great combination and profitable investment for some underwater snorkeling photography, kayaking shots, and other lifestyle and concept shots which I have in mind in and around water. Prices vary widely on equipment like this, so it pays to shop around. Gateway actually had the cheapest base price on the camera but not so after adding the sales tax they were going to charge. B&H was out of stock on both of them! One of the price compare websites led me to Abe's of Maine who I thought was a reputable dealer, so I placed my order with them two days ago.

Today I received a phone message and email to call them to confirm something on the order. I did so, and the guy asked me if knew that the battery that ships with the camera doesn't last very long and asked if I wanted to upgraded to the extended life battery. I was immediately suspicious.

"Well, I've read tons of reviews and blogs about the camera and haven't heard of any complaints with the battery. How much is it? Is it a Canon battery?"

"Yes, it's Canon. We have a special right now, and if you order it now you get $20 off the price. It's regular $69, and it would $49 today."

First off, I had done enough research to know an additional Canon battery runs about $50 anyway.

With a Jersey accent that I could barely understand, "The battery that comes with the camera lasts only about 45 minutes.... (in a muffled voice) of shooting video."

Video!!!

Uuggghhh! I knew I was "had" at this point. Other than the occasional short clip, if I wanted to shoot video I would be buying an HD video camera, not a 12MP camera with tons of features and RAW file ability.

"No Thanks."

"Would I like to purchase a memory card for the camera? It doesn't come with one."

"No Thanks. I have some." It's actually supposed to arrive with a tiny, and useless, 32MB SD card. At least, that was included on every other website I look at this camera on.

"Would I like to purchase an extended warranty? It's valid for two years, blah, blah, blah..."

"NO THANKS!!!"

The whole "please confirm some information" phone call turned out to be nothing but a sales pitch to up-sell me on more products!

At least they did ship it out today. I finally received a shipping confirmation with tracking number ten hours later.

In conclusion, this was my first and very likely LAST order I will ever place with Abe's of Maine, which is apparently based in New Jersey after all!!! I should have known better from the beginning!

Michael Clark Newsletter

2008-05-30T14:00:00.002-05:00

From his blog:

Michael Clark is an internationally published outdoor photographer specializing in adventure sports, travel, and landscape photography. His editorial and corporate clients include National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Outside, Men's Journal, Outdoor Photographer, Digital Photo Pro, Climbing, Nike, Nikon, Adobe, Patagonia, Pfizer and DuPont to name just a few.

Michael has just published his awesome, 21-page Spring 2008 Newsletter in PDF form. It packs some great photography and great writing. Check out the back issues too.

Joe McNally video

2008-05-27T22:11:00.002-05:00

Google recently invited Joe McNally to give a talk on their corporate campus and the whole talk (over an hour long) is on YouTube for FREE! Joe is an incredible speaker who has seen and photographed an amazing variety of things over a career of 30+ years.

It's funny, inspiring, and worth your time. Go watch it.

Rick Steves in Iran

2008-05-23T13:30:00.002-05:00

Europe Through the Back Door expert traveler Rick Steves is in Iran for 10 days filming a TV show. Rick is an incredible travel writer,and I always read his books before traveling to Europe and take them as guidebooks as well. He was recently asked by the Washington State chapter of the United Nations Association to help build understanding between Iran and the US. I highly recommend reading this blog about his travels in Iran. It's a great read, and he's really finding the Iranian people warm and gracious.

I can't say I'm surprised. If ever there are menacing things being said about another country and its people it is typically coming from the U.S. government or being repeated verbatim by the American media. (And for my international blog readers, I am an American.) Sadly, most of my fellow Americans, the majority of which never travel outside their own country (with the exception of Caribbean cruise ships), never know any different. They hate whomever they're told to hate as being responsible for all their problems, or any problems they may yet to have experienced, instead of seeking out the truth themselves.

Every time I hear our government war rallying about Iran building nuclear weapons it makes me cringe. Oil production in Iran has already peaked and has been declining steadily. Just last year their government started gas rationing. However, you will never hear the U.S. government mention any of those facts. Iran is smart for wanting to build nuclear power plants. It is America who hasn't seen the light concerning peak oil yet. (Please read this if you don't know what peak oil is.) If a side-effect of nuclear power plants is material sufficient for building a nuclear bomb; well, I can't blame them for that either. After all, America voted George Bush into office twice! If I was a world leader I would want some protection from the U.S. government too.

To all of my blog readers, and especially incompetent American politicians, please read Rick Steves blog.