iStockphoto: Model Release Update

Just when you thought uploading your photos to iStockphoto.com couldn't be any more tedious...

Microstock giant iStockphoto recently announced that they were stepping up their standards for model releases (those little permission slips for models). The change that is going to make the most difference for my fellow photographers (myself included) is iStockphoto now requires a model release for every session with a model. No more universal releases for the same model for different shoots.

I have a hard time keeping track of releases for the 5-10 models I work with. The one that is really going to give me a lot of trouble is my son. I take photos of him almost everyday, most of those photos are ones I will sell. I can only imagine how many model releases I will have to fill out for him before he turns eighteen...lets say 2 a week for the next 17 years = 1,768! Oh, shoot me now!

All jokes aside, iStockphoto is one of my top earning sites. I can stop uploading new photos anytime, I choose to keep uploading because they are a great site and represent my work well.

Read the article at iStockphoto.com here

POTD #18

Photo of the Day

Took this shot at the beach down the street from my house of my sister in-law and her boyfriend. They wanted some photos for engagement announcements.

The Breakdown: The weather was pretty gloomy, but like I have said before its almost easier to shoot on days like this and work with what you have (great diffused light) rather than try and fill in hard shadows from the bright sun.

I didnt use any lights or reflectors for this shot, just the diffused light from the sun.

Camera:		Olympus E-500
Exposure:		0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture:		f/7.1
Focal Length:		57 mm
ISO Speed:		100
Exposure Bias:		0 EV

Here are links to some of the equipment I was using on Adorama.com (if the equipment I used is no longer available I have listed either the newer version or a similar substitute).

Olympus E-520 - Replacement for the E-500

Photoshop CS4

My Photography Workflow:

I shoot in raw,
organize and review shots in Adobe Bridge,
process raw files in Adobe Camera Raw and export as .jpeg if im done,
if I need to do more work in Photoshop I export as .tiff,
make final touches in Photoshop,
I add titles, descriptions and keywords in Bridge when im done editing.

Please feel free to leave comments or questions.

POTD #8

Photo of the Day


Another example of off-camera lighting and using the existing light.

The breakdown: I got this shot with a Canon Speedlite the 430EX and used it handheld off camera via a 3ft ETTL sync cable for a little extra light and so I could shoot at a faster shutterspeed without raising my ISO past 100. I used the diffused light from the sun (it was an overcast day) as my main light.

I took this shot with the Canon 5d with the 24-105mm lens at 105mm, f8 and 200/sec.

For the post production in Photoshop I toned down the bright yellow slide so it didnt overpower the model and punched up the saturation on his blue coat so it would stand out a little more.

All my photos are shot in raw and edited in Photoshop.

Please feel free to leave comments or questions.
Thanks!

POTD #6

Photo of the Day



A lot of photographers are intimidated by working with kids, when really they can be great subjects to photograph. I think the secret is to go into the shoot with reasonable expectations. If you are expecting a toddler to give you pose after pose and not get distracted its just not going to happen. Try to let the model drive the shoot, just be there to capture the moments where they are happy and smiling or just playing with some toys.

This particular photo shoot when far better than I could have imagined. I shot for at least an hour and got a few hundred great shots and this was the last one I took. The model started getting fussy so we were done.

The breakdown: I shot this on a white backdrop with one off-camera flashes (a Sunpak 383) on a light stand. For more info on off camera lighting check out strobist.blogspot.com.

I Placed the light to my right and used a reflector on my left to bounce back some light from the flash and fill in the shadows.

I took this shot with the Olympus E-500 at 1500mm, f5.6, 1/600 sec, ISO 100.

All my photos are shot in raw and edited in Photoshop.

Please feel free to leave comments or questions.
Thanks!

POTD #1: Photo of the day

Thought I would start something new on the blog, so here it is. Photo of the day, im going to do my best to get one of these up at least 5 days a week.

Here is POTD (Photo of the day) #1


This is a shot of my wife Carra and son River at a park near our house on a little photo shoot for his seven month birthday.

The breakdown: The weather was a little overcast as are many days out here in the lovely Pacific Northwest, but im starting to find this works really well for outdoor shoots. When its a little cloudy the sun works as a giant softbox and provides great diffused light. I brought along my new Speedlite the 430EX and used it handheld off camera via a 3ft ETTL sync cable for a little extra light and so I could shoot at a faster shutterspeed without raising my ISO past 100.

I took this shot with the Canon 5d with the 24-105mm lens at 105mm, f8 and 160/sec.

Please feel free to leave comments or questions.
Thanks!