Archive for March 2011

30 Mar, 2011 | Posted by: st




The Digital Photography Workflow Handbook - For a photographer's work to really stand out, he or she needs two skills: creativity and technical know-how. The former is more difficult to learn and is largely based on talent and experience. The latter is less an art than a craft and can be learned to perfection.SOURCE: Damien Franco http://www.pixiq.com/article/the-digital-photography-workflow-handbook?

Leave comment (0)

23 Mar, 2011 | Posted by: st



The Professional Photographer’s

Legal Handbook
by Nancy E. Wolff

Review by Joseph Stanski
PhotoSource International



Ms. Wolff is a partner at Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard, LLP located in New York, New York. She specializes in intellectual property law and new media law. She is a member and former Trustee of the Copyright Society of U.S.A., was Co-Chair of the Entertainment Law Committee-New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) and named a rising star by NYCLA in 1999. She was on the Steering Committee for the Copyright Society U.S.A.'s FA©E initiative to encourage copyright education.
Her book is divided into three sections; with over half of the book devoted to concerns with how copyright and photography interact. Part 1 - Copyright Law, Part 2 - Basic Trademark Law, and Part 3 - The Law of Privacy and Publicity.

This is the type of book one would want to read in conjunction with other books relating to copyright issues, as it tends to be more defining of and oriented towards legal cases within the photographic arena.
Its title is somewhat misleading in that it suggests a compete professional photographer's legal handbook - it is less oriented to legal business practices while making us more familiar with copyright issues.

It is worth mentioning here, the author suggests that although it is not necessary to register one's photographs to preserve copyright, it may not be worth pursuing one's remedies for non-registered images.

I found Ms Wolff's coverage on the copyright issues to be practical, informative, and well worth the price for just Part 1 on Copyright Law. I found the chapter on Basic Trademark Law and The Law of Privacy and Publicity somewhat dry and difficult to get through, as well as understand.

I don't think my worst fear with copyright infringement would be finding it had been violated, but "what do I do next"? - and this book educates the stock photographer quite well, with what to do next; with well-founded cases, as well precedent-setting cases about copyright law.

I do not hesitate to recommend this book to stock photographers to be numbered among those books to have in your legal business photography library. The "Professional Photographer’s Legal Handbook,” by Nancy E. Wolff, published by Allworth Press. At www.allworthpress.com. ISBN 1-58115-477-1, and available from Allworth Press at $19.95, and from Amazon.com as a Kindle eBook for $9.99


- - - - - - - - - - - - -


Joseph Stanski has been an agricultural stock photographer for the last twenty-five years. He has published in many ag-oriented magazines as well as national publications. He retired as a schoolteacher and is currently teaching photography and running his stock photography business in Southeast Iowa. www.photos4calendars.com

Leave comment (0)

16 Mar, 2011 | Posted by: st





Commercial Photography Handbook
,
by Kirk Tuck

The topics in this book begin with determining what kind of commercial photography to pursue and how to get the training needed to carve out a niche in the market. Targeting new and experienced commercial photographers alike, the guide explores the different aspects and challenges of succeeding in the industry. The topics also include marketing techniques, negotiation skills, estimating and charging for work, maximizing profits while minimizing expenses, and ethical business behavior.
Commercial photographers who are developing or expanding their businesses will know how to evolve and grow during up and down economic times.

Kirk Tuck is an award-winning advertising photographer whose clients include Dell, Elle magazine, IBM, Motorola, Pharmaco, and Time Warner lives in Austin, Texas.





Amherst Media $34.95 ISBN-13: 978-1-58428-260-0 Order #: 1890>
175 Rano Street, Suite 200
Buffalo, NY 14207



Leave comment (0)

09 Mar, 2011 | Posted by: psnotes





Available Light
– Photographic Techniques For Using Existing Light Sources,
by Don Marr and published by Amherst Media, Inc., marketing[at]AmherstMedia[dot]com.




Review by Joseph Stanski First and foremost, this book deals with rediscovering our sensitivity to available or natural light. And for the most part, deals with just portrait photography. Nowhere in the book does it address available light in say, landscapes, night, or wildlife photography. With that said, this book is instructional as well as informative. Some of the chapters challenge you with projects to take up that will enhance your observations of natural light.

Don starts out with describing Overcast Day light. He uses, with great illustration examples, the technique of subtractive lighting. He then goes on to describe other methods of controlling this type of lighting; with his Tunnel of Light, Short Light, and then Controlling the Quality of Light with this type of lighting. Don explains clearly with great illustrations of each way he uses this type of lighting in maximizing its potential.

Chapter 2, Sunny Day, he shows us some Quick Fixes For Bright Sun as well as some neat ideas with Photographing Children, Shadows and Color, Open Shade, A Short Primer on Color Temperature, Different Qualities of Light.

Chapter 3 thru 7 address other types of lighting, like, Backlighting and Flare, Window Light, The Daylight Studio, Natural Reflectors and as well as Finding Light (my favorite).

In Chapter 8, Don briefly explains Composition and “using light as well as good composition as a compositional element” with Rule of Thirds and Power Points, Leading Lines, Symmetry, Extra Space, and Color, Contrast and much more to improve your photography.

In the final Chapter, Creating Studio Lighting at Home, Don describes different places in our homes that can aid use in creating those studio type lighting effects one sees in the high end studios.

Each chapter in this book illustrated and deepen my understanding of photographing under available lighting situations. Coupled with Don’s illustrations and the wonderful “Projects” at the end of each chapter, this book furthered my understanding and education of the creative uses of available light. I must say, I would not hesitate to recommend this book to stock photographers.

to order:
http://www.photosourcefolio.com/bookstore.htm#1584282525

Reviewer Joseph Stanski has been an agricultural stock photographer for the last twenty-five years. He has published in many ag-oriented magazines as well as national publications. He retired as a schoolteacher and is currently teaching photography and running his stock photography business in Southeast Iowa.


_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _



“ART” WILL SOLVE PHOTOGRAPHY’S PROBLEMS -- Photopreneur: “Microstock isn’t the problem. Microstock is a symptom of the problem. The problem’s cure, the solution that will reinvigorate creativity, deliver paid work to photographers and help them to build secure businesses, is art. That’s the optimistic message contained in Susan Carr’s new book The Art and Business of Photography.” http://blogs.photopreneur.com/art-will-solve-photography%e2%80%99s-problems?
TAKEAWAY: “[O]pening up some uses of your work will hold more benefits for you and your business than being overly restrictive,” she writes in the book.

I interpret this message to mean, “Sure, in many situations, give away your photos.” And I would agree. Technology has brought us to the point where we can multiply ourselves and our product substantially almost to the point where three give-aways here of our picture with the left hand will bring in five sales of our same picture with the right hand over there.
Our industry is beginning to experience what Napster brought about for the music industry a decade ago. For example search engines will soon be able to dip into photo meta data of a photo and not only locate the tags and copyright holder info, but a well-designed commercial ad for the photographer’s studio. There will be no ‘orphans.’ Each photo will become a self-sustaining advertisement for itself as well as a plug for the photographer’s assignment services. “See what good work I do. Hire me.”
Being restrictive about the use of your photos is a way of stockpiling your images and your talent. “Out of circulation = out of sight.”
In the technological times we live in, it seems that spending wasted hours on distressing infringement battles, like the endless hostility mentioned above in Attorney Joel Hecker’s column seems almost an anachronism.
Could it be that we are wasting energy, money and time on infringement? Why not take the attitude, "let it be...let it be.”
If an infringer likes our image that much- it must be good. Sure, a ‘thief’ has lifted our image for his or her own private use. Let's call it a compliment, and consider the infringer a ‘carrier’, innocent or otherwise. Make our image to be a Trojan Horse and imbed our own advertisement (meta data ad) inside it and let the infringer be an ignorant promoter of our own work.
In this new millennium we have we been relying on old-world protection system for images that we can now produce so fast that stock houses have to close their doors lest they become gluttons, bulge and then collapse under their own weight.
The Digital Age is saying to us, “Put your energy to picture-taking, not litigation. Rarely do photographers win that battle.”
I think that we should peel away all the armor we have protected our photos with in the past and instead put our energies to sending them out as messengers of good will that say, "Hire me!” -RE


Leave comment (0)

02 Mar, 2011 | Posted by: psnotes



Self-Portrait Photography, the Ultimate in Personal Expression

By Natalie Dybisz a.k.a. Miss Aniela

Narcissism At Its Finest

A comprehensive guide to the world of self-portraiture, and the first book on this subject, in a growing area. fine arts. Addresses the history of self-portraiture, and features the self-portraiture of a number of professional photographers. Provides types on how to photograph self-portraits, detailed tutorials on technical aspects, advice on echoing the right equipment, and effects of different processing techniques.

$29.95, 9 ¼ x 10, 176 pages
PixiQ Pub Date: March 2011
ISBN: 978-1-60059-785-5
Contact: Leah Eagel
Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
646 688-2557
leeagel[at]sterlingpublishing[dot]com

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


Get Your Photography on the Web – by RC Concepcion - Scott Bourne: "I suspect that this book will quickly become the seminal work on the subject and hopefully, RC will update it over time as technology and tools changed. I have been online since 1995 but I learned a few tricks in this new book that I will apply to my sites soon." SB http://photofocus.com/2011/02/20/photo-book-review-get-your-photography-on-the-web-by-rx-concepcion/


Leave comment (0)