ShutterSpeedster.com Blog

New Blog is Live!

2009-01-17T18:02:00.003-05:00

WooHoo. The new blog is up and running. It's actually much better than I had hoped for too! Anyway, check it out at www.shutterspeedster.com/blog.

Moving Again.

2009-01-15T12:36:00.004-05:00

Well Sorta. I have decided to go with a WordPress style blog that works a little better with my website. I was forced to switch my hosting from a Windows based server to a Linux server. I was told that my site would possibly be down anywhere between 3-24 hours. So I checked my page and I realized a horrible mistake. Half my site has already been down! My links from the home page going to my portfolio, my take, and contact links where broken! My lastest change to the site I probably overlooked it, but I had made the links start with capital letter when they should have been lower-case. Oh well, live and learn I guess. Bad timing though with so many new engagements over the holidays. I also did some minor adjustments to some of the pages recently so if you haven't looked at the site please do. Some more changes (including a textured background) may come soon as well.

The Knot

2009-01-12T11:25:00.002-05:00

The Knot is the most popular wedding site on the web. From dresses and cakes to planners and photographers, you can find just about anything here.

Bridal Party Tees

2009-01-11T12:35:00.005-05:00

I have been slowly adding some affiliates to link to and will post a few here every now and then.

Bridal Party Tee's offers some really funny (but true) stuff check them out.

I Knowwww!

2009-01-06T13:03:00.002-05:00

Well January seems to be a slow month for weddings, but one of my favorite TV personalities tied the knot for the third time. Craig Ferguson, IMHO the best late comedian showed his ring, made some jokes, and showed a wedding photo of him in a kilt and his wife standing in what looked to be about a foot of snow. He still promised fans he would flirt with his guests especially native Kentuckian George Clooney if he appears on the show. Lol.

Goodbye 2008....Hello 2009

2009-01-01T19:16:00.003-05:00

Well 2008 is finally gone. And most of us are happy to see it go. One of my New Year's resolutions is to blog more and draw some visitors to the site. I spent New Year's eve just hanging out, eating popcorn, and playing some Pokemon Monopoly. The Berea sky has had some wonderful sunsets lately, and the moon and venus looked pretty cool last night as well.

NathanPadgett.com

2008-12-29T13:41:00.002-05:00

I finally decided to buy NathanPadgett.com. I would have bought AdamPadgett.com as well but someone has already snapped it up. :(. Anyway, I thought it would be a good way for the people that know me by name to let people know about my site, without trying to remember shutterspeedster.com.

Who got a digital camera for Christmas? Well here's my gift to you...Free Prints

2008-12-27T09:27:00.002-05:00

There are a few good deals out there on prints. One of the best deals out there right now is from snapfish. You can get 50 free prints from Snapfish for signing up by clicking here.

And if you need more than 50 prints, you can use the code GOPRINT by January 4th to get 75 prints for only $9.99 shipped!!

www.shutterspeedster.com

My favorites....

2008-12-21T12:18:00.002-05:00

Here is a list of awesome photographers that I love to get inspiration from.

Santa Photos in Somerset, KY

2008-12-15T18:00:00.010-05:00

Here are a few of the photos taken at Home Express in Somerset, KY over the weekend. Plenty of happy kids showed up to get their photo with Santa and a free gift.

Of course, not all kids enjoy sitting on some giant red suited stranger.

ShutterSpeedster.com

Santa Photos from Home Express

2008-12-13T17:42:00.003-05:00

The photos with Santa should be up on the site by Monday. Just go here to find them: http://shutterspeedster.exposuremanager.com/ Thanks.

Too good to be true.

2008-12-02T23:07:00.005-05:00

The other day I got a phone call from a client whom had just recieved her CD's of her wedding images. She told me she loved the photos BUT........there was a problem. I braced myself for the bad news. She had taken the CD's to the store to print out a few photos.Once they had been printed the store clerk wouldn't release the photos to her!! The clerk claimed the photos had obviously been taken by a professional and she couldn't let her have the photos! I don't think any clerks where injured in the incedint. I also realized I hadn't posted the wedding photos on here yet, so without further ado here are some of the photos that are too good for you to be able to print.

Nikons new flagship... D3X

2008-12-01T19:19:00.003-05:00

Nikon has officially announced the D3X. The camera is nearly identical to the D3, in form and function. The main difference is the D3X's new 24.5 megapixel sensor, that doubles the amount of pixels in the D3. This is probably good news to some people, but in reality...its not really that appealing to most consumers. Huge file sizes, probably more noise than the D3 in high ISO images due to the pixel density are probably the only downfalls of the new sensor. Oh yeah, lets not forget about the price of the new camera. The D3X comes in at a whopping $8000! The D3 was only $5000 at its release and has dropped to the mid 4k range. And not only that the sub $3000 Nikon D700 has almost taken away any reason to buy a D3. And if you really really really need 25 megapixels and a pro body you could get the $3000 Sony Alpha A900 which probably has the same sensor as the Nikon. I think Nikon has missed the mark with this one.

Photo Layout for Blogs

2008-11-23T10:29:00.008-05:00

I can never decide. I change my mind constantly about what I like and don't. My latest dilemma has been how to show photos on this blog. I have it narrowed down to three ways. First the old school link to my website that shows a little flash slideshow. Example 1. This allows for a fancier presentation but you have to actually leave the blog and take a little time to get downloaded.

The second is pictobrowser. This one allows me to upload to Flickr and then use a keyword from them to show a slideshow viewer here. Best part about this one is takes so little room to display the photos and its very easy to upload.

Finally I could put them on the blog directly. This is the way I am leaning toward now. I believe it gives a little cleaner look but it may be the most time consuming way to put the photos on. It also forces me to combine two vertical photos together to get a uniform look.

So which method do you prefer?

Printing and Resolution

2008-11-19T11:07:00.005-05:00

First off, normally my customers recieve CDs or DVDs of their event. I am a strong believer in allowing the customer to purchase CD or DVD instead of charging by photo, but that is another story for another day. What is important is that you get to choose if you want either CDs or DVDs. I used to only offer DVD's but their are some cons to that. If you wanted to take your DVD to Wal-Greens or Wal-Mart, or wherever they may have a printing kiosk a lot of them don't have anything to read the DVD media. CD's on the other hand work fine, but you will normally have many CD's for a wedding.

What should I do BEFORE I get my DVD/CDs. I recommend you download Google photo application called Picasa here: http://picasa.google.com/. Picasa is great for viewing and organizing lots of photos quickly.

What you should do when you get your DVD/CDs? First thing to do is import them to your hard drive. This is by far the best thing to do. The photos may be slow to appear on your computer screen if you are trying to view them directly from the DVD/CDs since they are high resolution files. For instance, each full resolution photo usually has more data on it than a 4 minute mp3 music file! I also include a small resolution version of each photo, in a seperate folder within the DVD/CDs so you can view, email, upload to the web faster.

What is the difference between high resolution and low resolution? Size. The resolution of a digital photo is expressed by pixels (width x height). A full resolution photos will vary depending on numerous factors such as the megapixels of the camera, or if the photo has been cropped. An uncropped photo from my Nikon D300 is 4288 x 2848 pixels. If you multiply those together guess what you get. 12.2 million....which is 12.2 megapixels. A low resolution version of the same photo could be anything smaller than that, but the point is to make it a smaller FILE SIZE so it can be viewed faster, emailed faster, downloaded faster, ect. I usually make my low resolution photos about 1000 pixels at the long end. So if it is uncropped or I have kept the same aspect ratio the file will be 1000 x 664. This is plenty big to view on a computer. Let's look at a comparison. Here a low resolution photo. And here is the high resolution version. Now while you may think the low res version is plenty big enough to print, it is....but it isn't. Really it all depends on what size you want. The resolution of a print is expressed in pixels per inch (PPI). When printing a standard 4x6 print you want 300 PPI. Lower PPI equals lower print quality (however this is debatable as you may not actually see much difference between 200 PPI and 300 PPI). So is the low res version good enough to print a 4x6 photo at 300 PPI? Lets do the math.

4 inches x 300 ppi= 1200.
6 inches x 300 ppi= 1800.

So we need a digital photo 1200 x 1800 pixels to print a 4x6 photo at 300 PPI. The low res version doesn't quite cut it for a high quality print.

To learn more about PPI, DPI (often interchangable with PPI), print size requirements, megapixels, ect. check out http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=177

A new chapter begins...

2008-11-07T07:46:00.003-05:00

We have finally gotten completely moved. I remember when I thought it wouldn't take very long to move completely out of our old house....I was wrong. My internet access is finally fully back (whew), but still no TV. I could actually do without TV (until baseball season anyway) but I MUST have internet. I had kept internet at the old house leaving my computer there, so I would have access but then my keyboard broke so I could do very much of anything. That has put me behind a little on editing some stuff. Its nice to finally have everything I need in one place again, instead of always needing something that is at the other place. So with that I shall get to editing some pics and eventually post some of my latest stuff on here.

Finalization

2008-10-14T00:37:00.004-04:00

Some things are finally coming to a close. After 2 weeks of near non-stop editing (what can I say, I get a little compulsive) I have finished my latest wedding shoot! You can see some of the photos here:

http://shutterspeedster.com/simpleviewer/Sweger_Marshall_Wedding/viewer.swf

Give a little time to load up...

Also, tomorrow Angie and I finally close on our first house! I will post on here soon with some more updates.

Grace and Ben's Engagement Photos at Raven Run

2008-09-21T10:41:00.006-04:00

I've getting lazy (really just kinda busy lately) and haven't posted any pics in a while. So I'll take a break from studying who I should start in Fantasy Football and give you few engagement photos to nibble on.

I have always wanted to check out Raven Run just outside of Lexington, so when Grace mentioned it as a possible location for her engagement photos I was happy to agree. I got there a little early to scout it out a bit, thinking it was just a small little nature trail. I was mistaken. Raven Run is big. 470 acres big. You actually have to sign in at the nature center building before you begin on the longer trails. I ask the worker there how long the entire trail took to walk and her answer was 4 hours and the Kentucky River overlook was an hour away! Luckily there where a couple of small trails, a prairie, and an old house as you enter the area that we were able to shoot at. With an hour to shoot and harsh shadows from the 3:00 sun, I had to "break" out my umbrella and trusty flash. note to self: small light stands with umbrellas don't stay up on breezy days. And here are my a few of my favorites from the day....

The best part about engagement photos is really just to get to know the couples a little better before the wedding. Not many people are too comfortable with strangers shoving big lenses in their faces, but this gives everyone a little taste what to expect on their big day. Just a few more days until the wedding!

Interest.....ing.

2008-09-21T09:11:00.003-04:00

My first home purchase a few weeks ago seems like forever ago (maybe someday we will get to move in). What seemed to be a very quick and easy deal, that would be finished within the month is now being reworked. But that is a good thing. When the government bailed out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae on September 7th , interest rates dropped nearly half a percent. Half a percent doesn't sound like much...but it is. That half a percent should chop off nearly $40 a month on the mortgage payment and up to $18,000 over the course of time! I immediately started shopping for a better deal and found plenty of them quickly. The national average rate now is at 5.78%. That is getting close to when the rates hit their lowest point back in 2003. However, the rates are very volitile right now and now with the news of the government asking congress for 700 BILLION DOLLARS :0 rates may go down even lower. Here is a great site to look at current rates and predictions: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/.

Printing Big and Loving It!

2008-09-05T13:46:00.002-04:00

The other day, I stumbled onto a great deal on 11x14 prints. It had been going on for a few days and I found it on the last day of the promotion. I've never been crazy about printing stuff out for a few different. First off, I go crazy trying to decide which ones to print, and after that which ones to put on the wall. Secondly, printing 8x10s and 11x14s usually means I have to crop my photos a little boxier than I usually would. I like a wider aspect ratio. The part of photography that I enjoy the most is the actual process of capturing the images and I even like the post processing part too. I can really lose all sense of time while editing a photo. Anyway, I snapped up a few prints I thought that would be good for my physical portfolio and a few I was just curious as to how they would look in big print. I also decided to try a couple of different types of paper to compare.

A day or two passed and I got my prints much faster than I expected. I am in shock at how great they look! Both papers look good too. I got a regular matte finish and a metallic paper that I had been wanting to check out. The metallic really looks nice on contrasty photos. Deep rich blacks, and just a very cool shine to the photos. Now I wish I had printed so many more photos, but now everything is back to normal prices :(.

Site Reviews

2008-09-03T09:04:00.003-04:00

After making a couple of requests for suggestions and criticisms for the new site, I have gotten some good news and bad news. All the comments about the photos have been great! But it seems most people don't really like the blue background color. I may change that in the near future. Other suggestions seemed to be things I have problems with myself.

1. The need for a better logo.
2. The portfolio page uses simpleviewer, and you have to use the back button to get back to the main page. I need to figure out how to integrate this better.
3. The event gallery and blog look completely different from the main site.

Feel free to make suggestions here if you have any ideas to improve the site.

The Best Wedding Photography Value in Kentucky

2008-09-03T09:02:00.001-04:00

Check out the new website at www.shutterspeedster.com.

ShutterSpeedster Photography is the best value you can find for wedding photography in central Kentucky. Wedding Packages starting at only $500. Combining a modern photojournalism style, a splash of traditional wedding photography (your parents still want those posed group shots), mixed of with modern creative editing techniques, and top of the line gear; I guarantee you will love what you see. Free online galleries, affordable for any budget, all photos delivered on DVD with personal usage rights to print anywhere you like. And most of all, great customer service. Covering Lexington, Richmond, Somerset, Georgetown, Berea, Monticello, London, and more in the Kentucky area.

New Home Page.......and a new home.

2008-08-26T13:14:00.003-04:00

Its been a crazy month. The website is now up and functioning as it should, after a few failed attempts. Thank goodness for youtube tutorials and hours, upon hours, upon more hours of trail and error. I've learned quite a bit about webdesign. I ended up thinking I was done plenty of times before finding out something doesn't work the way it should in a certain browser (internet explorer) but was fine in firefox. I built the first site with frames, only to learn that is not a good way to build websites anymore. That lead to a tear it down and start all over again approach. I am fairly pleased with the final look and functionality. I will be tweaking some things soon, but for now I need to seperate myself from it. So anyway...check it out at www.shutterspeedster.com. Be sure to let me know if something isn't working for you.

Now the big news. We have/will become homeowners. My beautiful new home is located in Berea. (just saying that makes me sick to my stomach in a good nervous way.)

The new website is 90% finished!!!

2008-08-19T13:31:00.002-04:00

I have finally gotten the website near completion. I am very pleased with the simplicity and elegance of the site. It should be up within a couple of days. I can't wait.

New Website Coming Soon...

2008-08-09T12:04:00.004-04:00

I hate building websites. Hate it. Hopefully it will be done before too much longer. You can preview the layout by going to http://shutterspeedster.com/ NOT www.shutterspeedster.com which will bring you here. Tricky, I know.