My Last Camera, or Maybe Not

I look through the viewfinder and what do I see,

Something that's there, or may not be.

I click the shutter and the picture comes up,

Do I say nope or smile cause it's yep?

This hit and miss exercise had gone on long enough.  thank goodness I'm not shooting film.  At least I can delete the sub-par images and be none the less for wear.  The Viewfinder on my Canon Digital Rebel XTi is fine for outdoor shooting.  I found myself having to shoot wide and crop indoors, leading to more computer time.  My video camera has no viewfinder.  It just has a live view screen.  I have trouble shooting outside because I can't see the screen very well in bright sunlight. 

Technology is still helping me keep up my hobby/business.  I decided I needed a DSLR with video and live view.  I didn't have much research to do.  The new camera had to be a Canon.  I have a lot of money invested in Canon lenses.  It couldn't be a full frame because again I already have all these lenses.  So my choices were narrowed to the Canon Rebel T3, T3i, and T5i.  The T3 was out because it's not much of an upgrade from my XTi.  The other two are similar but I choose the T5i comes with a lense that focuses quietly.  No strange noise when shooting video. 

Now I have spare cameras and not at a disadvantage where ever I am.  Andrea is going to be my apprentice so all cameras will be put to use.  I'll use my new camera as a crutch when I need it and my old tried and trues when I don't. 

More on Taking Better Images

  

I stumbled upon the guy yesterday.  I think he has great ideas on many types of photography.  I like how he shows examples and he had a sense of humor.  

He has a video about event photography that is awesome.  It made me start thinking about branching out from just shooting stock and adding events and portraits to my business.  The events video and many of his others may or may not be too technical for you.  If you want to see more of his videos go to YouTube and search for Jeff Cable.

I've been looking for an effective and reasonably priced way to convert my slides to files.  Right now I'm only interested in converting the slides I had at The Stock Solution.  I want to put them on Pond5 for sale.  A basic flatbed scanner won't yield the resolution I need.  I need at least 2000 dpi scans, but preferably 3000-4000 dpi.  A used dedicated film scanner that will do the job is around a thousand bucks.  Ouch.  I've seen gadgets on Amazon.com that claim to do the job.  When I read the reviews it's clear they just want to digitize family slides for personal use.  I have found companies online that will turn slides into files.  Most are cost prohibitive unless you only have a handful of slides to do.  I did find one company I'm willing to try.  I'll send them a hundred slides to see how it works.  Review to come.  If I like them I'll give out their name and web address.

Keep Shooting; get rid of the crap.

Arrogant Or Practical

Some stock photography agencies sell subscriptions to buyers.  With a subscription a buyer pays a fee which allows them  to download a set number of photographs or clips in a certain period of time.  For example,  Shutterstock has a 25 per day plan.  Of course a video subscription is more expensive than a photo subscription.  Agencies tout subscriptions as good for buyers and photographers alike.  Buyers can afford to get more images and presumable more sales are spread over more photographers.  The payout on work sold via subscription is miniscule, twenty-five to thirty cents per photo and between a dollar fifty and two dollars per video.  I opted out of selling videos on subscription.  Too much time and effort goes into making a video to sell for such ridiculous prices.  Microstock photos sell for cheap anyway, starting at a dollar or so for a small image suitable for the web which is split at various percentages between agency and photographer. But subscriptions are the bottom of the barrel. 

I started out at microstock agencies.  I was glad when I made a sale and even happier when the sale was a regular sale instead of a subscription.  Fotolia sells its large photos for seven dollars on a regular sale which would be split with the photographer.  All subscription sales are large and the photographer gets all of twenty-seven cents for the sale.  Fotolia doesn't allow photographers to opt out of subscriptions for photos. 

I was willing to put up with these terms until I was diagnosed with Glaucoma and discovered Pond5.  I can tell my vision is changing and one day I may be unable to photograph.  I want to have a great number of photos and videos online before I'm forced to stop.  I'll need the royalties to supplement my income in my old age.  Pond5 is based on a different model.  The photographer sets his or her own prices and there are no subscriptions.  I struggled with pricing because I had so many pictures up on other agencies selling for low, low, prices.  Will buyers pay my prices when they can get the same photo at subscription prices? 

On Pond5 I priced my photos according to how difficult they were to make.  Then I priced all sizes the same price.  I did this because I think most photos will be used online and buyers will default to the large because psychologically it's a better buy for them.  With all sizes the same price I'm splitting a higher amount with Pond5.  When a photograph sells five times I raise the price.  I priced my standard definition footage at $25 no matter the duration and HD footage at $50.   I priced a few at lower prices to see if it made a difference.  Pricing is a hot topic in the forums on Pond5.  Some say price low to make lots of sales.  Others say price high or you're not going to make any money.  I like the ones who say produce high quality work and buyers who need what you have will buy it no matter the price. 

Some of my work has sold at one place or another while some other has sold across both formats.  When I don't know what to do I usually do nothing.  That came to a head for me today.  I got three emails from Fotolia telling me I had sold a photograph.  All three were subscriptions so I got a total of eighty-one cents for those three photographs.  I'm glad for the sale but I keep thinking if I had sold the same three pictures on Pond5 I would have gotten seven dollars and fifty cents. I consider the photos that sold at Fotolia today as specialty photos.  The subject was LDS related so it isn't something everyone would have around to photograph. 

I decided not to submit any more specialty or difficult to produce photography to agencies that sell subscriptions.  Anything new having to do with my religion, blindness, or anything I spent hours on the computer making will not be offered on subscription based sites.  I'll decide later if I will take these subjects off subscription based.  As for generic shots, I don't know yet.

I want to be practical about this.  I need to bring in as much as I can and it seems counterproductive to sell specialty photos at subscription prices when other viable options are out there.  

I'm also thinking of doing the same thing with pictures with Models.  I pay my model when a photo she is in sells.  Has arrogance and/or greed taken over?  Am I simply being practical?  the more money she makes the more willing she is to model. 

Ideas

I'm looking for ideas; ideas for footage to shoot and photographs to take.  Lately life has given me lots of subjects to photograph.  Christmas is always a good time for photos; then my youngest turned sixteen.  I got shots of her cake, her wearing a tiara, her in the van my mom gave her, and the damage my daughter caused to said van.  Nobody has a boyfriend so Valentine's Day was quiet.

When my limited life has been recorded for those willing to look can see I turn to my list.  When I think of a subject I add it to my assignment list.  I check stock agency websites for ideas as well.  I get inspiration from their newest uploads, and from other artists' portfolios.  I look at some of their work and say to myself, "How did they think of that?" or, "I wish I would have thought of that."  If it's something I can put my own spin on, I add the concept to my list.  If it's something I could never shoot I move on.  People shhot all kinds of things: people, food, buildings, mining, medical, military, everyday objects, you name it.

With so many subjects to choose from, you may be wondering why I need your help with ideas.  Well, we all have our own prospective and I'm sure there are subjects out there I could work on but haven't thought of.  I need to get as many ideas as I can as soon as possible.  I need to get them photographed or videoed, edited, and uploaded while my eyesight holds out.

My left eye is failing fast.  It is almost useless but I can still see a little bit with it but not read or write.  My right eye is doing mucy better but it seems to be getting slowly worse.  I want to have about four times as many files online as I do know before I'm forced to stop.  I have just over 600 files on Pond5 at the time of this writing.  I'm hoping to have at least 2400 to 3000 online before I'm done.

You can leave your suggestions in the comments section below.  Visit https://www.facebook.com/blindaseyelook, like and leave comments.  Last but not least you can email me at blindaseyelook@live.com.  Visit https://www.pond5.com/video-sound-effects-music-after-effects-photos-illustrations/1/artist:kalani.html regularly to see my take on your ideas.  

A Short Take on Footage

Months ago I said my next post would be about footage.  Life took over since then.  My oldest daughter got engaged and later called off the marriage.  I've put in extra time shooting, editing, and uploading footage.  I have also been putting in extra time at my work at home job.  With all this, along with normal living, my blog has been neglected.  Now I'm back with a short post for you.

I did some research to see which topics need to be addressed first.  I was pleasantly surprised when I went on YouTube to check out what's out there in terms of home video.  Basically, the same issues exist now as they did years ago when we all walked around with those camcorders on our shoulders.  These issues have improved considerable but are still there.

1.  Scenes and videos are too long.  Sure, the topic takes as long as it takes but cut out the extras.  For example, a bride getting ready. Many will show her washing her face, putting on moisturizer, doing her hair, plucking her eyebrows, applying blush, brushing on mascara and eyeshadow, lining her lips, putting on lipstick, blotting said lipstick, stepping into her dress, having it zipped, someone placing every pin in her veil, and finally the bride smiling into the camera.  Reduce this to a couple of strokes with the hair brush or one curl from the curling iron, bride applying mascara, stepping into her dress, finishing touches on the veil, and finally with the bride smiling into the camera. 

I know you're excited about the event.  You're right there feeling the vibe.  You want to capture every moment.  Do this if you must.  Just please do some judicious editing before you show the footage to people.  You don't want them falling asleep before they see the rest of your wonderful footage.  I think after you edit every moment of hours of footage you will shoot with the essential point in mind next time. 

2.  Too much zooming, panning, and tilting.  People zoom in then out and back again.  They'll pan right, then left, then back right.  The same with tilting, up, down, up.  STOP, just stop. 

Follow these rules whether you're zooming, panning, or tilting. 
     a.  Move in ONE direction and stop.  Period.  If you're shooting a wide view of the Salt Lake Temple and want to zoom in on the Angel Moroni, zoom in as close as you'd like and STOP.  Don't zoom back out.  Don't pan or tilt unless you're sure of what you'll see.  Same rule for panning and tilting.  If you are shooting a vista choose a starting point and pan in one direction and STOP.  Do not pan back the way you came in the same shot.  Want to show how tall that building is?  Tilt upward and STOP. 
     b.  People tend to start in the middle and pan, zoom, or tilt; then they'll go back in the opposite direction past the middle and onto to the other side.  Don't do that. 
     c.  Practice your moves.  Take a dry run or two before you shoot.  Pan the scene to decide where to begin and end.  Practice zooming so you'll know when to stop.  Stop at a good composition, not when you run out of zoom. 
     d.  Pan, zoom, and tilt at an appropriate and steady speed.  Most people move to quickly. 
     e.  Use pan, zoom, and tilt to enhance your footage.  These techniques are like spices, a little goes a long way.  Too much can ruin your efforts. 
     f.  This may be a blind thing but don't shoot while you're looking for your subject.  Pan, zoom, tilt, find, then shoot. 

3.  Use a tripod whenever possible.  For the most part you will be shooting action in front of you; the track meet, the parade, a sunset.  That is the action we want to see.  Stabilize you camera by placing it on a tripod or another stable surface.  Because I have to be very close to the video display I can rest the monitor part of the video camera on the bridge of my nose  when I can't use a tripod. 

4.  Know when to move and when to stay put.  These two examples are the best way I know to explain this. 

     Church video.  Somebody set a video camera on a tripod in the balcony.  They zoomed out so part of the congregation could be seen from the back.  The piano, organ, and pulpit could also be seen.  The entire service was recorded from this vantage point.  Someone should have been assigned to pan the choir members during a song, to zoom in on the soloist, get some medium shots of the pianist, pan the minister moving into the pulpit to preach, and some medium shots of him preaching the sermon.  The audio was good because the church used microphones.  Granted this is difficult with one camera but I believe the show would have been more interesting.

     YouTube Video.  Someone also set the camera on a tripod and left it there.  This person used a medium shot.  The scene consisted of a little girl standing at a table with play dough and cookie cutters.  The camera showed her mushing the play dough into the shapes and unmolding them.  After she unmolded each shape she would hold it up so the viewer could see.  The little girl talked about what she was doing the whole time.  The audio was good because the camera was close enough to capture it.  This video worked because the action was framed with no distracting extras. 

My motto is, "Go where the action is." 

4.  Audio.  I'll direct you elsewhere for that.  Your camera's built in microphone may be fine for close work or when other microphones are used.  I know you can buy extra microphones to enhance audio quality.  I usually remove the audio tract for my stock footage so I don't know much about making your audio better.

Next blog, I don't know.  I don't know when I will write and post my next blog.  Neither do I know what the subject matter will be.  If you have suggestions please comment. 

When you need stock photographs or footage please take a look at my portfolios.  I would appreciate it very much. 

Thank You Digital

Back in the day I used to cringe when somebody brought out a photo album.  I knew what was in store and was never proven wrong.  These albums contained a collection of mostly horrific snapshots that never should have been seen by anyone.  I've come to the conclusion people kept these monstrosities because by golly they'd payed for them.  Back then they would have bought the film and flash, took the film to the processor, and waited for their pictures, either one hour or a few days.  It's no wonder people keep most of them.

You know the pictures I mean, we've all seen them.  Lets use some familiar photo ops as examples. 

Family with Christmas Tree in Background.  First shot; flash didn't go off.  Second shot; toddler is on the floor kicking and red faced.  Third shot; Dad is in the process of picking up said toddler, so the shot is blurry.  Fourth shot, flash glares off Grandpa's glasses and/or the mirror in the shot.  Fifth shot; someone has his/her eyes closed.  Sixth shot: finally a keeper!

On Vacation.  Here we are in front of Cinderella's Castle, The Grand Canyon, Hollywood sign, etc.  First shot; photographer's finger is in front of the lens.  Second shot; random person walks directly in front of the camera, ruining the picture.  Third shot; somebody wasn't ready.  Fourth shot; somebody blinked, sneezed, was looking away.  Fifth shot: a keeper! 

School Performance.  First shot, second shot.....all shots; you can't see the stage very well but the heads of the people in front of you are very well illuminated.  There is one and only one cure for this in still photography.  Get up and move close to the stage and take your pictures.  A powerful flash will light up 20-30 feet in front of it.  Chances are you are sitting farther back than that.

Small Children and Pets.  Shot one, and most others;  because the tall adult is towering over the child or pet the subject looks smashed and squat.  The photographer should get on the same level as the person or animal being photographed.  Sit on the floor where the action is or put the child in a chair or have someone hold the pet.  Your pictures will look much better.

Light Source Behind Subject.  Shot one, and probably all others, subject is dark while background is light.  Moving your subject is the best remedy.  If that isn't possible use the flash, even if you're outside.  The extra light from the flash will help illuminate your subject.

Digital cameras have gone a long way in improving peoples photography and photo albums.  Now the photographer can see what the shot will look like before it's snapped.  If a picture is bad, no great loss, just delete it and retake.   I looked through some Facebook friends photo albums for this post and was pleasantly surprised.  Most pictures were good.  I have to chalk that up to the digital age.  First they decided to keep only the good ones.  Second they were selective in which pictures to upload.  Thank goodness uploading takes a little time.

I'll talk about Video in my next blog.

Happy Shooting.

The Sunbeam Girl

I called my mother the other night to find out why she decided to get me a camera for Christmas that year.  Her logic is as convoluted as my husband, Edwin, used to say mine is.  So this is how it all began.

"You liked to look at things,"  She said.  "you liked to look at catalogs, TV, the Sunbeam Girl, everything."  Did I look at things differently?  It appears I didn't look a different kinds of things than other kids.  This is all the explanation I could get out of her.  She says that camera is around the house somewhere.  I wonder, because we moved when I was ten and I'm pretty sure I had a different camera then. 

Now if I had a little girl who, "liked to look at things I would have gotten her some picture books or a ViewMaster with extra slides.  I never would have made the leap to a camera.  But I'm glad she did.

Now I must explain about the Sunbeam Girl.  The Sunbeam girl was an icon for the Sunbeam Bread Company.  She was depicted on the bread wrapper eating a slice of buttered toast.  In Pine Bluff, Arkansas, the courthouse sits at one end of Main Street and a huge billboard of the Sunbeam Girl sits at the other end.  The girl used to sit on an operational swing.  She swang from one end of this gigantic billboard to the other constantly, day or night, rain, or shine.

I used to have my parents stop so I could get out of the car and watch the Sunbeam Girl swing.  I bet they avoided Man Street as much as possible so they didn't have to stop.

The original billboard stayed up until sometime in the 1970.  I'm guessing they took it down about the time of the Energy Crisis.  The replacement billboard simply had a picture of the girl on a swing.  I think they tried another billboard with a operational swing but it didn't stay up very long.  To me, this picture looks as if the swing would work but this is the current billboard and she doesn't swing. 

If you like white bread but not soft white like Wonder, then you would like Sunbeam bread.  It has a courser crumb than Wonder.   I't more like homemade.

I found the picture above on Google.  I couldn't find a full sized unedited version on my computer.   Here is a version I was working on for a local contest.  I ended up abandoning it because the isolation was sloppy.  I ended up using some other local scenes for the Office of Emergency Management Calendar.  Even though it was 200? it doesn't stand out in my mine as the 1992 Beautiful Tropical Flowers calendar does.  It was 2006 or 2007.  I'm pretty sure Edwin was still alive.