This is The Digital Story Podcast #594, July 25, 2017. Today's theme is "No Such Thing as Free Time." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

Time is like horizontal space in an office. If there's an opening, it becomes occupied. Seems to be a law of human nature that free time belongs to the young and the old. For everyone else, time must be planned. And if your photography isn't on the agenda, it won't make the cut. Ensuring that doesn't happen is the first topic of today's show.

No Such Thing as Free Time

It was a little after 7pm when I had finished watering the garden. The plants were thirsty after another 90 degree day in Sonoma County. But things were changing as the day began to wind down. There was a light ocean breeze in the air, and the temperature slipped back to the low 70s.

My chores were done, and I had a decision to make. Should I head inside, make a drink, and park it on couch? Tempting, and certainly justified after a weekend of work. But I hadn't shot since Thursday. And the light was absolutely beautiful right now.

Instead, I grabbed my camera bag and the keys to the Vanagon (that's right, the Vanagon!). Shilo Park was only a mile and a half from my house. I'm going to spend this last hour of light outside.

My first choice was to fly the DJI Spark. I waited about 10 minutes until everyone had cleared out of the parking area. I didn't want to end their day of nature with the sound of my drone. Once everything was clear, I lifted off and shot video for the next 15 minutes. The shadows were long and the colors were warm. It was a beautiful time for aerial photography.

Later that night as I was editing the footage in Final Cut, I thought about that last hour of the day. It made my whole weekend. And I almost let it slip away.

If you've let opportunities slip by you, here are five suggestions to help keep photography on your priority list.

• Manage Your Energy - At first this might sound like an odd addition, but it's been my long standing opinion and fatigue is the enemy of creativity. The three most important facets of energy management is sleep, exercise, and diet. Keep enough gas in your tank so you can seize the moment when it presents itself.
• Sell Yourself on the Value of Your Photography Work - If you don't believe that shooting is of vital importance, no one else is going to take your seriously. And you need them to do so if you're going to carve out time for your creative endeavors.
• Explore New Techniques and Gear - Many photographers feel a little guilty about acquiring new gear. But if a camera, lens, housing, drone, tripod, reflector, or bag excites you to the point of motivation, I think that's a good thing.
• Create Projects and See Them Through - Projects are vital to creative longevity. Last week I talked about seeing an image all the way through printing to framing. Photo essays, finished movies, printed books are other great examples of completed projects.
• Get Better - Few things are more motivating than mastery. The first thing that I thought when I reviewed my final movie from Shilo Park is that I can't wait to get out there again and make a better movie. What I did last night was better than any aerial work I had done before, and now I have the confidence to do even better.

If you make time for your photography, it will reward you beyond any reasonable exception. It is one of the best investments in you that you can make.

More On Being a Good UAS Citizen

After my podcast about the DJI Spark (Unmanned Aircraft System), I received quite a bit of mail, some of it kindly chiding me for not being more clear about certification. So, here's a bit more info about flying your UAS, including a link to the getting started page on the FAA site.

If you're flying only for fun, there are no pilot requirements. If you plan to use your drone commercially, however, you must have Remote Pilot Airman Certificate that involves a written test. The big question in my mind is how do you define commercial? Education, BTW, seems to fall into the non-commercial category.

Need to be aware of restricted airspace. Maintain line of sight with your drone, and always yield to manned aircraft. Don't fly over people unless you have their explicit permission. Do not fly from a moving car. UAS flight is for daylight hours only.

And just as important as all of that, be courteous to others and use common sense. If you follow these guidelines, you should have a rewarding experience, and it won't be at the expense of others.

ImageFramer 4.1 Available

ImageFramer 4.1 is available, which includes hiding layers (including image layer) and a drop-down list of templates in Lightroom plugin (needs an update of the plugin).

More information can be found at right here.

ImageFramer on Facebook

For more tips like these, and lots more, visit ImageFramer on Facebook. And give your images the ImageFramer look they deserve.

We want everyone to enjoy the benefits of the new ImageFramer. ImageFramer 4.0 is a free upgrade for ImageFramer 3 customers. Note that it requires macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) or later. TDS listeners can receive a 20 percent discount by visiting: our ImageFramer landing page.

New Subjects Added to The Nimble Classroom

I've trying to figure out a way to bring more personalized training to photographer without them having to travel. It's one thing to get on a plane to photograph wine country or the French Quarter, but not quite as alluring to sit in a classroom for two days.

As a result, I've designed a new approach called, The Nimble Classroom. And now there are four courses for the Summer Session of The Nimble Classroom.

• August 19, Catalog Management, Capture One Pro
• September 9, Expert Editing, Capture One Pro
• September 23, Luminar Pro Techniques
• October 7, Photos 3 for macOS

You can learn more about them and sign up for your favorites by visiting The Nimble Classroom online.

Updates and Such

Big thanks to all of our Patreon members!

B&H and Amazon tiles on www.thedigitalstory. If you click on them first, you're helping to support this podcast. And speaking of supporting this show, and big thanks to our Patreon Inner Circle members.

And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

Texas-based Red River Paper recently announced a new fine art paper, Palo Duro Etching. The new paper is a 100 percent cotton rag paper and is free of optical brightener additives. The paper is designed to offer warm white tones, deep blacks and a subtle texture to accurately recreate traditional darkroom fine art prints.

See you next week!

More Ways to Participate

Want to share photos and talk with other members in our virtual camera club? Check out our Flickr Public Group. And from those images, I choose the TDS Member Photo of the Day.

Podcast Sponsors

ImageFramer 4 - ImageFramer is used by artists, professional and amateur photographers, scrapbookers, framers, and people who simply want their family photos to look better.

Red River Paper - Keep up with the world of inkjet printing, and win free paper, by liking Red River Paper on Facebook.

The Nimbleosity Report

Do you want to keep up with the best content from The Digital Story and The Nimble Photographer? Sign up for The Nimbleosity Report, and receive highlights twice-a-month in a single page newsletter. Be a part of our community!

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

This is The Digital Story Podcast #593, July 18, 2017. Today's theme is "Just One Print." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

Sometimes we make things too big. And as such, we shy away from them. I was actually thinking about this as it relates to making prints from our digital images. The idea of printing and all that goes with it seems like so much work. But what if you said to yourself, "I'm going to make just one print." That doesn't seem so bad, does it? We explore this approach on today's TDS Podcast.

Just One Print

Work in Progress - A 13" x 19" print with an ImageFramer matte on my worktable getting ready to be framed.

You probably didn't know that for a while, I smoked cigarettes. I was in a rock n roll band called Section 8. I was in my 20s, and it was the golden era of small night clubs in Southern California. After our sound check, but before the gig actually started, we had a lot of time on our hands. And that's when I learned to smoke.

As you may have guessed, after a while the charm wore off. And when it was time to quit cigarettes, I found that was much more difficult than starting. Fortunately, my paths crossed with someone who could help me. He was teach smoking cessation for the Public Health Dept.

One of the things that he used to say, is that when the urge would strike, just say that I'm not going to do anything for the moment. Not forever, or even tomorrow, Just right now. And soon the urge would pass.

I learned that this technique worked in the opposite direction as well. If I was facing a big task, I would say to myself, "I'm just going to do one thing right now." Then later on, I would do another. And I some point I would have completed the whole thing.

I bring this up, because I think people feel that printing their images is a big task. Not only the actual output, but the matting and framing and all of that. But what if you decided to make just one print? That's it. Just a print, then a matte, then a frame. How would you feel about printing after that?

Making Your Your Own Mattes with ImageFramer

So after I made my one print, I decided to make a matte for it. I had a particular color scheme in mind, so I opened ImageFramer and started playing. Once I created the design I wanted, I substituted the picture with a a blank white Jpeg. Why? Because my intention was to print out this design on Red River Paper, cut it, then use it as a matte. And it looks terrific!

ImageFramer on Facebook

For more tips like these, and lots more, visit ImageFramer on Facebook. And give your images the ImageFramer look they deserve.

We want everyone to enjoy the benefits of the new ImageFramer. ImageFramer 4.0 is a free upgrade for ImageFramer 3 customers. Note that it requires macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) or later. TDS listeners can receive a 20 percent discount by visiting: our ImageFramer landing page.

Vanagon Update

Here's the latest on the VW Vanagon...

New Subjects Added to The Nimble Classroom

I've trying to figure out a way to bring more personalized training to photographer without them having to travel. It's one thing to get on a plane to photograph wine country or the French Quarter, but not quite as alluring to sit in a classroom for two days.

As a result, I've designed a new approach called, The Nimble Classroom. And now there are four courses for the Summer Session of The Nimble Classroom.

• August 19, Catalog Management, Capture One Pro
• September 9, Expert Editing, Capture One Pro
• September 23, Luminar Pro Techniques
• October 7, Photos 3 for macOS

You can learn more about them and sign up for your favorites by visiting The Nimble Classroom online.

Updates and Such

Big thanks to all of our Patreon members!

B&H and Amazon tiles on www.thedigitalstory. If you click on them first, you're helping to support this podcast. And speaking of supporting this show, and big thanks to our Patreon Inner Circle members.

And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

Texas-based Red River Paper recently announced a new fine art paper, Palo Duro Etching. The new paper is a 100 percent cotton rag paper and is free of optical brightener additives. The paper is designed to offer warm white tones, deep blacks and a subtle texture to accurately recreate traditional darkroom fine art prints.

See you next week!

More Ways to Participate

Want to share photos and talk with other members in our virtual camera club? Check out our Flickr Public Group. And from those images, I choose the TDS Member Photo of the Day.

Podcast Sponsors

ImageFramer 4 - ImageFramer is used by artists, professional and amateur photographers, scrapbookers, framers, and people who simply want their family photos to look better.

Red River Paper - Keep up with the world of inkjet printing, and win free paper, by liking Red River Paper on Facebook.

The Nimbleosity Report

Do you want to keep up with the best content from The Digital Story and The Nimble Photographer? Sign up for The Nimbleosity Report, and receive highlights twice-a-month in a single page newsletter. Be a part of our community!

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

This is The Digital Story Podcast #592, July 11, 2017. Today's theme is "DJI Spark - The Nimble Drone." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

Quite frankly, drones were just too cumbersome to mess with. Since aerial photography was not essential to my business, I decided to bide my time until the right quadcopter was developed. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait too long. In June 2017, DJI released the Spark. It is truly the Nimble Photographer drone, and the top story for today's show.

DJI Spark - The Nimble Drone

One of the things I really like about the Spark is that I can carry it with me all the time in my Think Tank Retrospective 7 shoulder bag. It fits nicely in the front pocket, and it's like carrying a second camera. Except this camera can fly.

I don't lug around extra batteries or a controller. I'm sticking with the basic $499 kit. I have an extra set of props and the charging cable. That's it.

All of my testing has been using the iPhone or iPad mini as the controller. My preference is the iPad because of its additional screen real estate, plus my phone is free for other tasks during flights. The DJI GO 4 app is quite good.

So really, the only think I've added to my everyday kit is the svelt quadcopter itself. But the payoff is tremendous. Here are five reasons why I recommend the Spark for Nimble Photography.

• Built Like a Rock, but Much Lighter - You don't need to baby this device. It is solid. I carry it in a soft case in the front pocket of my Retrospective 7, and forget about it. When it's time to fly, the Spark is ready.
• Amazing Technology - Incredible use of GPS satellites, infrared detection, WiFi connectivity, still photography, video recording, and aerodynamics. When combined with a state of the art smartphone, it's mind blowing what you have in the palm of your hand for $500.
• Excellent for Still Photography - The 12 MP camera is quite good. Jpegs only. But on the fly you have options for single shot, burst mode, auto exposure bracketing, timed shot, shallow focus, and panorama photography. You can use full auto, or switch to manual exposure mode as needed. You can change both the ISO setting and white balance. All of this from your smartphone.
• Intelligent Flight Modes - For HD video recording, you can take advantage of settings such as Active Track and Tripod mode. For Active Track, you ID a subject, and the Spark follows it while recording. For Tripod mode, it becomes super steady and moves slowly allowing for the sexy screen saver videos that we see on Apple TV.
• Learn a New Skill - Just like I had to learn all about audio to become a photographer podcaster, I'm learning about aeronautics to become and aerial photographer. And it's fun. I'm using an app called Kittyhawk to review flight conditions such as wind and airspace clearance, I'm aware of obstructions and airport, and I'm learning how to take pictures from a completely new perspective.

I did register with the FAA because I may use some of my imagery commercially. Even though the Spark is super nimble, it's a serious aircraft. And I respect both its capabilities, and the responsibilities that come with its use.

Capture One Classroom

I've been trying to figure out a way to bring more personalized training to photographers without them having to travel. It's one thing to get on a plane to photograph wine country or the French Quarter, but not quite as alluring to travel far to sit in a classroom for two days.

As a result, I've designed a new approach called, The Nimble Classroom. And the first course series offered as part of this program will be for Capture One Pro. Here are the highlights.

Capture One Classroom - Session 1 - Catalog Management
Saturday, August 19, 8am PDT/11am EDT

Designing your Capture One Pro catalog to meet your needs as a photographer is an important first step toward creating a digital asset manager that is easy to use, effective, and enjoyable.

In this class, Derrick Story shows you best practices for creating a top notch catalog environment. Participants may submit their unique questions before class, allowing Derrick to incorporate that content into his teaching. And there will be live Q&A sessions throughout the course.

Class participation is limited to 6. The course may be viewed on a computer, tablet, or smartphone. Details will be sent to you prior to class.

Tuition for the one-day session is $129. No plane fares, hotel rooms, or rental cars. You can reserve your spot by visiting The Nimble Classroom on theNimblePhotographer.com

Framing Tip of the Month

One thing your professional framer will tell you is that some pieces of art «need» help. If a picture is a non-standard size, either too large or too long, or the focal point of the picture is very close to the lower edge of the image, then the mat can be "pulled down".

This means that the lower edge of the mat is wider compared to the upper and side edges, creating a feeling of proportionality. This same technique can be applied in cases where two pictures of different sizes are shown together. If the inner edges of both mats are made slightly narrower, the two pictures will look more balanced.

ImageFramer on Facebook

For more tips like these, and lots more, visit ImageFramer on Facebook. And give your images the ImageFramer look they deserve.

We want everyone to enjoy the benefits of the new ImageFramer. ImageFramer 4.0 is a free upgrade for ImageFramer 3 customers. Note that it requires macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) or later. TDS listeners can receive a 20 percent discount by visiting: our ImageFramer landing page.

Updates and Such

Big thanks to all of our Patreon members!

B&H and Amazon tiles on www.thedigitalstory. If you click on them first, you're helping to support this podcast. And speaking of supporting this show, and big thanks to our Patreon Inner Circle members.

And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

Texas-based Red River Paper recently announced a new fine art paper, Palo Duro Etching. The new paper is a 100 percent cotton rag paper and is free of optical brightener additives. The paper is designed to offer warm white tones, deep blacks and a subtle texture to accurately recreate traditional darkroom fine art prints.

See you next week!

More Ways to Participate

Want to share photos and talk with other members in our virtual camera club? Check out our Flickr Public Group. And from those images, I choose the TDS Member Photo of the Day.

Podcast Sponsors

ImageFramer 4 - ImageFramer is used by artists, professional and amateur photographers, scrapbookers, framers, and people who simply want their family photos to look better.

Red River Paper - Keep up with the world of inkjet printing, and win free paper, by liking Red River Paper on Facebook.

The Nimbleosity Report

Do you want to keep up with the best content from The Digital Story and The Nimble Photographer? Sign up for The Nimbleosity Report, and receive highlights twice-a-month in a single page newsletter. Be a part of our community!

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

This is The Digital Story Podcast #591, July 4, 2017. Today's theme is "Frederic VJ Lives; New Orleans." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

Some of my favorite moments during the Rail Adventure Workshop were our one-on-one meetings during the 19-hour train journey through the South to New Orleans. And one of the names that often came up during our discussions was my friend Frederick Van Johnson and his podcast, TWiP. Friends asking about friends, Southern hospitality, street photography, and so much more... all on today's TDS podcast.

Frederick Van Johnson Lives

Before we get to New Orleans itself, I want to address an issue that came up along the way: the well being of Frederick Van Johnson. As soon as I returned from my trip, I dropped him a note asking if he'd make an appearance on the show to discuss what he's been up to, and how he's been. Here's what he had to say.

The City of New Orleans

It was supposed to rain every day we were in NOLA. And yet it stayed dry (relatively speaking) until 10 minutes after our workshop ended, when a downpour began. So other than the weather itself, here are my five favorite moments in New Orleans.

• Shrimp Tacos in the French Market - I know that I shouldn't lead off with food, but how can you not when visiting Louisiana? In addition to the freshest shrimp taco I've ever had, I ate my way through the South trying a variety of local specialties, including my introduction to Tasso.
• Wednesday Morning in the French Quarter - We were out the door early on Wednesday, lead by local photographer Tillie Van Etten. There's something special about photographing places like the Quarter as it slowly comes to life in the morning.
• Breakfast in the Classroom - Each morning we dined together enjoying a full breakfast served by the staff at Hotel Provincial. In the evening, we also ate together in the restaurants, but these mornings were just us. And I loved being there with everyone.
• Sergeant Mark Mumme - For our evening shoot in the Quarter, we hired Sergeant Mark of the New Orleans Police Dept. to watch our backs as we worked. I've never had security before during an urban shoot. But I loved it. And it was wonderful being able to just focus on our photography.
• Class Presentation - After all the miles, photo shoots both in Chicago and New Orleans, everyone chose eight shots to share and discuss to close out the workshop. Reliving all of those moments with our crew was special indeed.

How to Choose a Color for Your Photo Mat

A mat can be described as a field of light or colour around a picture, in width usually 1/2 to 1/3 of the image's narrowest side. Mats can be of different shapes and kinds - rectangular, oval, multi-layered, with decorative insertions, etc. The mat creates a neutral zone between picture and its frame, helping the viewer to focus on the art work itself.

Here are five tips to keep in mind while designing a mat.

• The color of a light mat should be a tone darker than the lightest color of the image. If using a dark mat, its color must be one tone lighter than the darkest color on the photo.
• Using a colored mat is a good way to attract attention to important segments of a photograph. In this case, the surrounding color must be the same as the brightest segment of the image, but in more muted tones.
• The simple trick of a double mat will give a personality to an artwork. Two or even three mats of different shades can be applied. The color of the inner mat is usually chosen from a particular tone in the image, which may be lighter or darker than the outside mat.
• It is important to remember that colors and shades of a mat must be chosen to complement the color of the frame and the main color of the picture.

ImageFramer offers a huge selection of mats, as well as frames that play the role of a mat, which is especially good for oil paintings. Besides the usual colors, which accompany photographs and watercolors, you can select the color of your mat, using any color from your photo.

Read the complete article, How to Choose Mats for Photos for lots more information about framing your artwork.

Special Offer! ImageFramer celebrates Canada Day & July 4th with a 34% discount store-wide. No coupons necessary! (New Frames Too). You can learn all about it here.

We want everyone to enjoy the benefits of the new ImageFramer. ImageFramer 4.0 is a free upgrade for ImageFramer 3 customers. Note that it requires macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) or later. TDS listeners can receive a 20 percent discount by visiting: our ImageFramer landing page.

Updates and Such

Big thanks to all of our Patreon members!

Registration invitations have gone out to Reserve List members for the Autumn in Wine Country Photography Workshop. If you are on the Reserve List, but didn't get your invite, please contact me. You can learn more about the workshops by visiting the TDS Workshops Page.

B&H and Amazon tiles on www.thedigitalstory. If you click on them first, you're helping to support this podcast. And speaking of supporting this show, and big thanks to our Patreon Inner Circle members.

And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

Texas-based Red River Paper recently announced a new fine art paper, Palo Duro Etching. The new paper is a 100 percent cotton rag paper and is free of optical brightener additives. The paper is designed to offer warm white tones, deep blacks and a subtle texture to accurately recreate traditional darkroom fine art prints.

See you next week!

More Ways to Participate

Want to share photos and talk with other members in our virtual camera club? Check out our Flickr Public Group. And from those images, I choose the TDS Member Photo of the Day.

Podcast Sponsors

ImageFramer 4 - ImageFramer is used by artists, professional and amateur photographers, scrapbookers, framers, and people who simply want their family photos to look better.

Red River Paper - Keep up with the world of inkjet printing, and win free paper, by liking Red River Paper on Facebook.

The Nimbleosity Report

Do you want to keep up with the best content from The Digital Story and The Nimble Photographer? Sign up for The Nimbleosity Report, and receive highlights twice-a-month in a single page newsletter. Be a part of our community!

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

This is The Digital Story Podcast #590, June 27, 2017. Today's theme is "Out of Chicago." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

It was the day after Summer Solstice when we touched down at O'Hare Airport. You could feel the heat seeping through the cracks in the covered walkway that connected the plane to airport. There was no mistake. It was summer and I was in Chicago. And what transpired over the next few days is the top story for today's show.

Out of Chicago

Later that night I was awakened from my sleep by the sound of rain blowing hard against my window. And there was thunder as well. I had a pre-conference workshop the next morning that included a photo walk.

"What is our Plan B?" I asked myself. "I don't know," I answered.

I picked up my phone and checked the weather. The rain was predicted to stop by 8 am. And what was predicted to follow was three days of glorious spring-like weather.

"If that's true," I thought, "then we're in for a great conference." I rolled over and fell asleep again.

It was true, and we had a fantastic event. Here are some of the highlights with a few embarrassing moments mixed in.

My Favorite and Slightly Embarrassing Moments in Chicago

• A Favorite: Catching up with Valerie Jardine (Hit the Streets podcast) about her transition away from Street Focus on TWiP.
• Embarrassing: When I accidentally called one of my favorite people on staff Michelle when her name is really Malinda.
• A Favorite: Watching participants in my Analog workshop try to figure out what camera the wanted to choose while they were all hidden from sight in old Crown Royal cloth bags.
• Embarrassing: Privately swearing to conference organizer Chris Smith when he was joking with me about my needing a meal break after a very long day. He later said he didn't even remember the incident. (Nice guy!)
• A Favorite: Finding the best street taco joint on State Street for my first lunch in Chicago.
• Embarrassing: Not realizing that I had met Scott Wyden Kivowitz years earlier at Photo Plus Expo.
• A Favorite: Seeing a room full of people waiting for my printing talk to begin.
• A Favorite: All of the TDS listeners who introduced themselves to me at the conference, in restaurants, and on the streets of Chicago.

Mirrorless Panel Discussion

On Sunday I moderated a panel discussion with a terrific slate of mirrorless photographers including Giulio Sciorio, Mike Boening, and Jamie MacDonald. I thought that you might want to hear part of the discussion, so here's an excerpt for your listening pleasure where I'm talking about sensor size, then turn it over to Guido for his thoughts. After that, Jamie and Mike chime in.

Using ImageFramer 4 with Lightroom

ImageFramer's Lightroom plugin is a Post-Processing Action plugin that will add itself to your Export flow. After the plugin is installed, it will be listed in the bottom-left panel of the Export dialog and a "Process with ImageFramer" section appears in the right panel, if the plugin is enabled.

To use the plugin, type the name of the template in ImageFramer that you want to use (case sensitive). During Export, after all the Lightroom adjustments are applied, ImageFramer will be launched, the image will be processed with the template and saved back into Lightroom's flow.

So, if you want to create your own greeting cards and original art from images stored in Lightroom, ImageFramer can be a terrific tool for you.

ImageFramer is used by artists, professional and amateur photographers, scrapbookers, framers, and simply people who simply want their family photos to look better.

ImageFramer helps you to:

• Themed frames: Frames for holidays, seasonal frames, kid frames, romance (for weddings) and many more creative designs. Great for greeting card designs, scrapbooking, enriching family photos etc.
• Overlays: Text or image overlays can be used for adding copyright notices, signatures, descriptions, and even automatic data, like file name, date (file or EXIF), location, caption and headline from IPTC metadata. New in version 4: Snapping overlays to center or edges and simplified interaction with text color and fonts.
• Design Templates. ImageFramer comes with some preset templates. It's easy to add your own templates. These can be used in-app or through Lightroom or in built-in Batch Processor. New in version 4: Saving templates to files and importing them into a another ImageFramer installation.
• Mats. ImageFramer has a special color mat frame types that can look beveled with control over bevel width, and the colors of both the mat and the bevel. Size of mat can be different in each direction (often useful to have a wider mat on the bottom). Multiple mat (and frame) layers allow limitless combinations.
• Integration with Workflows: Adobe Lightroom Export plugin, Photos.app, Sharing extension. Useful for portfolios, web site exports, printing (even simple designs like overlays or a simple white border).

We want everyone to enjoy the benefits of the new ImageFramer. ImageFramer 4.0 is a free upgrade for ImageFramer 3 customers. Note that it requires macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) or later. TDS listeners can receive a 20 percent discount by visiting: our ImageFramer landing page.

Updates and Such

Big thanks to all of our Patreon members!

While you're listening to this, I'm most likely on a train heading south to New Orleans. The anticipated weather looks a lot more challenging than the first leg of the trip here in Chicago. I'll share the inside scoop in next week's podcast.

Registration invitations have gone out to Reserve List members for the Autumn in Wine Country Photography Workshop. If you are on the Reserve List, but didn't get your invite, please contact me. You can learn more about the workshops by visiting the TDS Workshops Page.

B&H and Amazon tiles on www.thedigitalstory. If you click on them first, you're helping to support this podcast. And speaking of supporting this show, and big thanks to our Patreon Inner Circle members.

And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

Texas-based Red River Paper recently announced a new fine art paper, Palo Duro Etching. The new paper is a 100 percent cotton rag paper and is free of optical brightener additives. The paper is designed to offer warm white tones, deep blacks and a subtle texture to accurately recreate traditional darkroom fine art prints.

See you next week!

More Ways to Participate

Want to share photos and talk with other members in our virtual camera club? Check out our Flickr Public Group. And from those images, I choose the TDS Member Photo of the Day.

Podcast Sponsors

ImageFramer 4 - ImageFramer is used by artists, professional and amateur photographers, scrapbookers, framers, and people who simply want their family photos to look better.

Red River Paper - Keep up with the world of inkjet printing, and win free paper, by liking Red River Paper on Facebook.

The Nimbleosity Report

Do you want to keep up with the best content from The Digital Story and The Nimble Photographer? Sign up for The Nimbleosity Report, and receive highlights twice-a-month in a single page newsletter. Be a part of our community!

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

This is The Digital Story Podcast #589, June 20, 2017. Today's theme is "ISO 3200 is the New 400." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

My nimble lifestyle depends a lot on not having to carry large, expensive lenses in my daily messenger bag. And thanks to the great design of my micro four thirds optics, I don't have to. But the one thing I do have to sacrifice for the zooms is a fast maximum aperture. That has become less of an issue with the latest crop of cameras providing terrific ISO 3200 performance. We'll take a closer look in today's show.

ISO 3200 is the New 400

I'm going to open today's show with a story about my latest photo shoot in San Francisco. I hadn't plan on it, but there it was nonetheless.[Tell the Vanagon story and why I needed ISO 3200.]

What's Inside My Bag for Chicago/New Orleans

• Think Tank Retrospective 7 bag
• Olympus PEN-F Micro Four Thirds camera
• Compact primes and zooms
• Olympus TG-4 Tough camera
• DxO ONE 1" sensor camera
• Olympus Stylus 35mm film camera
• DJI Spark Quad Copter
• Apple MacBook Air 11"
• Apple iPad mini
• Apple iPhone 6S
• Portable power supply (for Spark, mobile devices, and TG-4)
• Cables, batteries, and accessories

ImageFramer 4 as an Editing Extension

ImageFramer is used by artists, professional and amateur photographers, scrapbookers, framers, and simply people who simply want their family photos to look better.

But it's also a powerful editing extension for Photos for macOS. Here's how to use it.

• Install ImageFramer 4 on your Mac.
• Go to System Preferences > Extensions > Photos and check the box next to "Frame In ImageFramer".
• Open a picture and go into Edit mode by pressing the Return key.
• Go to Extensions at the bottom of the Tools list, and choose Frame In ImageFramer from the popup menu.
• Design your frame, then go to File > Save Image. Close the ImageFramer design window, then click on Save Changes in the Photos window.
• You can continue working on your shot in Photos. Once you're finished, click the Done button. You can always Revert to Original if you change your mind and want a different frame.

What's even wilder, is that even once you've created a frame for a picture, you can open it again in ImageFramer and continue to adjust it.

We want everyone to enjoy the benefits of the new ImageFramer. ImageFramer 4.0 is a free upgrade for ImageFramer 3 customers. Note that it requires macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) or later. TDS listeners can receive a 20 percent discount by visiting: our ImageFramer landing page.

Updates and Such

Big thanks to all of our Patreon members! You will be receiving a free copy of my next eBook!

Registration invitations have gone out to Reserve List members for the Autumn in Wine Country Photography Workshop. If you are on the Reserve List, but didn't get your invite, please contact me. You can learn more about the workshops by visiting the TDS Workshops Page.

B&H and Amazon tiles on www.thedigitalstory. If you click on them first, you're helping to support this podcast. And speaking of supporting this show, and big thanks to our Patreon Inner Circle members.

And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

Texas-based Red River Paper recently announced a new fine art paper, Palo Duro Etching. The new paper is a 100 percent cotton rag paper and is free of optical brightener additives. The paper is designed to offer warm white tones, deep blacks and a subtle texture to accurately recreate traditional darkroom fine art prints.

See you next week!

More Ways to Participate

Want to share photos and talk with other members in our virtual camera club? Check out our Flickr Public Group. And from those images, I choose the TDS Member Photo of the Day.

Podcast Sponsors

ImageFramer 4 - ImageFramer is used by artists, professional and amateur photographers, scrapbookers, framers, and people who simply want their family photos to look better.

Red River Paper - Keep up with the world of inkjet printing, and win free paper, by liking Red River Paper on Facebook.

The Nimbleosity Report

Do you want to keep up with the best content from The Digital Story and The Nimble Photographer? Sign up for The Nimbleosity Report, and receive highlights twice-a-month in a single page newsletter. Be a part of our community!

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

This is The Digital Story Podcast #588, June 13, 2017. Today's theme is "Tiny Gardens for Big Pictures." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

Regardless if you live in a cozy apartment with just a narrow balcony, or have your own house with a spacious back patio, you can create a photo wonderland with container gardening. Not only do you enjoy the benefits of nurturing your botanical friends, but they will reward you with stunning images. I'll plant those seeds on today's show.

Tiny Gardens for Big Pictures

Yes, most of us would love to travel to exotic places to photography flora and fauna. And for a week or two a year, we might get that opportunity.

But for the other 50 weeks, cultivating your own botanical paradise can provide you with hours of photographic entertainment. And to help you get started, here are some of my favorite container plants.

• Pansies and Violas - Vibrant multicolor blooms. Partial sun.
• Dwarf Hydrangea - Most hydrangeas bloom white or whitish-pink, then turn to shades of pink, purple, lime green, or a combination of shades. Mostly shade.
• Summer Snapdragon (Angelonia) - Can take direct sun and will bloom all summer long. They come in pinks, mauves, deep purple, purple-blues, white, and more.
• Begonias - Like partial sun exposure. Don't overwater them. Come in a vast array of colors.
• Double Impatiens - Open flowers all season long--and never need deadheading. Choose double impatiens for areas offering part to full shade. Look for blooms in a variety of colors, including white, red, pink and purple tones.
• Swan River Daisy - A spreading annual, the swan river daisy is ideal for hanging baskets. It produces white, pink, or purplish flowers.
• Florists' chrysanthemum - Pot rooted cuttings midwinter to early spring, using porous, fibrous, moisture-holding planting mix. Move plants to larger pots as growth requires--don't let them become root-bound. Pinch and/or stake as required. Plants need water daily in warm weather, every other day in cool conditions. Feed with liquid fertilizer every 7 to 10 days until buds show color.
• Flowering kale and cabbage - Flowering kale (and cabbage, too) has interesting rosettes that really pop in containers.
• Johnny Jump-Up - Very cheery flower that does great in pots.
• Chives - Chives are without a doubt, one of the hardiest herbs that you can plant. They grow very well in containers or just about anywhere else you want to plant them. Chives are great for adding flavor to soups, dips, and of course, baked potatoes. Chives are also perennials so once you plant them, they'll come back year after year. You can move them indoors if you want to keep your harvest going all year long, but they do prefer a bit of sunlight throughout the day so choose a spot where they can get some sun at least through a window during the winter.

Plus, you can practice using your macro lens. And maybe even justify that LED ring light you have had your eye on.

Review: Lomography Lomo'Instant Automat Glass Magellan

As reported by The Phoblographer.

The Lomography Lomo'Instant Automat Glass Magellan answers the prayers and wishes of almost every Fujifilm Instax Mini film user-and it's arguably one of the absolute best cameras shooting the format on the market.

Obviously, part of this appeal is the glass lens on the front of the camera. This lens is the same optic used on the company's Lomography LCA 120-and so it is the sharpest and the fastest aperture lens available for use on any Instax camera (at the time of publishing this review.) That quality will appeal to a lot of photographers; and though there are a number of shooters who still want manual controls, you'd be shocked at how great the photos are from the Lomography Lomo'Instant Automat Glass Magellan.

It's available on the Lomography site for $189.

Digging Deeper with ImageFramer 4

ImageFramer is used by artists, professional and amateur photographers, scrapbookers, framers, and simply people who simply want their family photos to look better.

ImageFramer helps you to:

• Themed frames: Frames for holidays, seasonal frames, kid frames, romance (for weddings) and many more creative designs. Great for greeting card designs, scrapbooking, enriching family photos etc.
• Overlays: Text or image overlays can be used for adding copyright notices, signatures, descriptions, and even automatic data, like file name, date (file or EXIF), location, caption and headline from IPTC metadata. New in version 4: Snapping overlays to center or edges and simplified interaction with text color and fonts.
• Design Templates. ImageFramer comes with some preset templates. It's easy to add your own templates. These can be used in-app or through Lightroom or in built-in Batch Processor. New in version 4: Saving templates to files and importing them into a another ImageFramer installation.
• Mats. ImageFramer has a special color mat frame types that can look beveled with control over bevel width, and the colors of both the mat and the bevel. Size of mat can be different in each direction (often useful to have a wider mat on the bottom). Multiple mat (and frame) layers allow limitless combinations.
• Integration with Workflows: Adobe Lightroom Export plugin, Photos.app, Sharing extension. Useful for portfolios, web site exports, printing (even simple designs like overlays or a simple white border).

We want everyone to enjoy the benefits of the new ImageFramer. ImageFramer 4.0 is a free upgrade for ImageFramer 3 customers. Note that it requires macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) or later. TDS listeners can receive a 20 percent discount by visiting: our ImageFramer landing page.

Updates and Such

Big thanks to all of our Patreon members! You will be receiving a free copy of my next eBook!

Registration invitations have gone out to Reserve List members for the Autumn in Wine Country Photography Workshop. If you are on the Reserve List, but didn't get your invite, please contact me. You can learn more about the workshops by visiting the TDS Workshops Page.

B&H and Amazon tiles on www.thedigitalstory. If you click on them first, you're helping to support this podcast. And speaking of supporting this show, and big thanks to our Patreon Inner Circle members.

And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

Texas-based Red River Paper recently announced a new fine art paper, Palo Duro Etching. The new paper is a 100 percent cotton rag paper and is free of optical brightener additives. The paper is designed to offer warm white tones, deep blacks and a subtle texture to accurately recreate traditional darkroom fine art prints.

See you next week!

More Ways to Participate

Want to share photos and talk with other members in our virtual camera club? Check out our Flickr Public Group. And from those images, I choose the TDS Member Photo of the Day.

Podcast Sponsors

ImageFramer 4 - ImageFramer is used by artists, professional and amateur photographers, scrapbookers, framers, and people who simply want their family photos to look better.

Red River Paper - Keep up with the world of inkjet printing, and win free paper, by liking Red River Paper on Facebook.

The Nimbleosity Report

Do you want to keep up with the best content from The Digital Story and The Nimble Photographer? Sign up for The Nimbleosity Report, and receive highlights twice-a-month in a single page newsletter. Be a part of our community!

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

This is The Digital Story Podcast #587, June 6, 2017. Today's theme is "WWDC Keynote from a Photographer's POV." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

If you were in San Jose for the 2017 WWDC Keynote, I sure hope you didn't drink too much coffee beforehand. This year's presentation was a marathon 2.5 hours, covering Apple TV, the Mac, all the OSs, Apple Watch, iPad and the brand new HomePod. And thankfully for us, there was a little photography mixed in there too. And that's the focus of today's show.

WWDC Keynote from a Photographer's POV

One of the good things about having Photos as part of the operating system, is that you know there's a good chance for news at Apple's developer conference. And indeed that was the case this year.

But there was more than just a Photos update. So let's take a closer look at the keynote presentation from a photographer's point of view.

• New Adjustments in Photos for macOS - Photos received a reasonable amount of airtime on stage. More machine learning organization, as I anticipated. But a few unexpected surprises included the addition of curves, selective color editing, and synchronized adjustments with third party apps. Apple has also upped its game with photo books. The UI for Photos for macOS also receives some polishing.
• Photos for iOS Goes a Different Route - If you're using an iPad or iPhone, Photos beefs up its Memories performance, which makes sense on a mobile device. New Memories include pets, sporting events, performances, outdoor activities, night out, wedding, anniversary, and baby. We also get new codecs for movies and stills. And speaking of movies, there's portrait mode as well. And finally, Live Photos received lots of attention with the ability to trim, select the key photo, mute, and three cool filters: loop, bounce, and long exposure.
• New iPad Pro 10.5" - Apple got super serious with the iPad, creating a super charger 10.5" model. Storage capacities are now 64, 256, and 512GBs. Lots of horsepower thanks to the A10X Fusion chip with 64?bit architecture and embedded M10 coprocessor. And the new ProMotion technology, increases the refresh rate to 120Hz. You will be able to choose the refresh rate you want, depending on the task at hand and how much battery you want to use. This also makes the Apple Pencil even more responsive and natural. Average configurations will run you between $700 and $1,000.
• Affinity Photo for iPad - Powerful hardware deserves equally robust software, and Affinity Photo has done just that, with the first fully-featured, professional photo editing tool to arrive on the Apple tablet. It features complete retouching tools, non-destructive adjustments, super accurate selections (the hair demo was crazy), raw editing, color spaces, HDR merging, and lots more. It's on sale now for $20, and it's compatible with iPad Air 2, iPad 2017, iPad Pro 9.7-inch, 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch.
• iMac Pro Later This Year - We also got a sneak peek at the upcoming iMac Pro (the most powerful Mac Apple has ever created). Will ship with 8-Core, 10-Core, or 18-Core Xeon Processor options. This workstation will be a blast for photo and video editing. The new iMac Pros will ship at the end of the year, starting at $4,999.

Plus Apple is introducing an augmented reality toolkit for developers that should bring AR to our devices in the near future.

So much for that idea: Swiss village lifts photography ban after story goes viral

As reported by DP Review.

Just days after 'banning' photography, the Swiss village of Berg�m has, not surprisingly, reversed course. In a bizarre video, the mayor of Berg�m states that 'until the ban on photography is officially lifted, everyone with a camera will be given a friendly special permit.'

The video leaves little doubt that the whole thing was a PR stunt, with Mayor Peter Nicolay proclaiming 'the beauty of our village has become world-famous thanks to our friendly photography ban.' Judging by how quickly the story spread, the stunt worked exactly as planned.

ImageFramer 4 Ups its Game

ImageFramer is used by artists, professional and amateur photographers, scrapbookers, framers, and people who simply want their family photos to look better.

ImageFramer helps you to:

• Add artistic frames and effects for photographers, great for promoting your photography business
• Decide how to best frame your art by comparing multiple designs
• Create fine art cards that are unique. You're not stuck with the standard templates in Photos or other apps.
• Spice up your family, travel or holiday photos
• Print and share your designs

Cool new features in version 4 include:

• Photo.app extension
• Batch Processing
• Lightroom Plugin
• Share Extension to share photos to ImageFramer
• Export images quickly by dragging and dropping to Finder or to desktop.
• Export images in different sizes and multiple formats

We want everyone to enjoy the benefits of the new ImageFramer. ImageFramer 4.0 is a free upgrade for ImageFramer 3 customers. Note that it requires macOS 10.11 (El Capitan) or later. TDS listeners can receive a 20 percent discount by visiting: our ImageFramer landing page.

Updates and Such

Big thanks to all of our Patreon members! I was able to pay for the podcast server and the backup system from last month's pledges. Your contributions are making a positive impact.

Registration invitations have gone out to Reserve List members for the Autumn in Wine Country Photography Workshop. If you are on the Reserve List, but didn't get your invite, please contact me. You can learn more about the workshops by visiting the TDS Workshops Page.

B&H and Amazon tiles on www.thedigitalstory. If you click on them first, you're helping to support this podcast. And speaking of supporting this show, and big thanks to our Patreon Inner Circle members.

And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

Texas-based Red River Paper recently announced a new fine art paper, Palo Duro Etching. The new paper is a 100 percent cotton rag paper and is free of optical brightener additives. The paper is designed to offer warm white tones, deep blacks and a subtle texture to accurately recreate traditional darkroom fine art prints.

See you next week!

More Ways to Participate

Want to share photos and talk with other members in our virtual camera club? Check out our Flickr Public Group. And from those images, I choose the TDS Member Photo of the Day.

Podcast Sponsors

ImageFramer 4 - ImageFramer is used by artists, professional and amateur photographers, scrapbookers, framers, and people who simply want their family photos to look better.

Red River Paper - Keep up with the world of inkjet printing, and win free paper, by liking Red River Paper on Facebook.

The Nimbleosity Report

Do you want to keep up with the best content from The Digital Story and The Nimble Photographer? Sign up for The Nimbleosity Report, and receive highlights twice-a-month in a single page newsletter. Be a part of our community!

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

This is The Digital Story Podcast #586, May 30, 2017. Today's theme is "Wide Glass Can Save Your..." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

Clients can put you in the tightest spots, and I don't mean just with scheduling. Physically, I've found myself with big shots to capture and virtually no room to record them. Then there are the times your arms aren't long enough, the steps aren't high enough, and room just isn't deep enough. How does one survive such tight squeezes? By going wide, my friend. And that's the focus for today.

Wide Glass Can Save Your...

When I'm walking around exploring the world, I typically have a standard zoom mounted to the camera. With my Pentax KP, I like the 20-40mm HD. On the Olympus Micro Four Thirds, I favor the 14-42mm EZ zoom.

But I dare not attempt a pro shoot for clients with just my standard zooms. Sometimes I need longer lenses, but the ones that have really saved me are the super wides. And here are a few stories about them.

My Favorite Wide Lenses

There are some great wide optics on the market today. Here are five that have caught my eye.

• Venus Optics Laowa 7.5mm f/2 MFT Lens - $499 - This A super wide and fast rectilinear lens has really sparked my curiosity. It's due for release in mid-June.
• Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 Ultra Wide-Angle Fisheye Lens - $299 - This one is a fisheye, but it has saved my bacon on numerous shoots. Hold it perpendicular to the subject, and the results can be stunning.
• Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM Autofocus Zoom - On Sale for $449 - This optic is available in Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and Sony alpha mounts. I have the Pentax version and I love it.
• Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM Lens $1,999 - I depended on the version II of this zoom in my Canon days, and adored it. Version III looks even better. A true pro optic.
• Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED Lens - $1,896 - Nikon shooters can go even wider with this top shelf zoom. This will bale you out of some tight situations.

Exposure Even More Important for Video Work

As helpful as an external light meter is for our still photography, it's even more critical for movie making. And anyone who has ever had to correct exposure in post knows exactly what I mean.

The Sekonic Speedmaster L-858D-U handheld light meter has full HD Cine and CINE modes, with the ability to measure from 1 to 1000 fps or shutter angles of 1 to 358 degrees. One of the features that I really like, is that you can hold down the meter reading button and see continuous readouts as you move the meter around the scene. This will help you choose the best overall aperture for that take.

If you want to learn more about the Sekonic Speedmaster L-858D-U handheld light meter, visit the link in these show notes.

Red River Paper's new Palo Duro Etching paper aims to recreate look and feel of fine art darkroom prints

Via Imaging-Resource.com.

Texas-based Red River Paper recently announced a new fine art paper, Palo Duro Etching. The new paper is a 100 percent cotton rag paper and is free of optical brightener additives. The paper is designed to offer warm white tones, deep blacks and a subtle texture to accurately recreate traditional darkroom fine art prints.

Red River Paper owner Drew Hendrix says of the new paper, "Our new Palo Duro Etching paper is one of the finest photo papers we have ever produced. From its subtle-textured surface and quality 'feel,' to rendering warm natural tones and deep rich blacks, Palo Duro Etching will satisfy even the most critical eye." The museum-grade paper is produced to deliver this high quality over a long period of time too thanks to its acid free base stock and coating. Further, the paper has a thickness of 21 mil and a weight of 315gsm.

The textured matte paper is said to offer deeper blacks than most traditional matte papers thanks to a special barrier coat that is placed between the paper base and the inkjet receiving layer. This ensures that the ink remains in the inkjet coating rather than bleed through into the paper base, which would diminish the richness of the black ink.

Palo Duro Etching paper is available now in both sheets and rolls. The sheet sizes are: 4 x 6, 5 x 7, 8 x 10, 8.5 x 11, 9 x 13, 11 x 14, 13 x 19, 17 x 22, 17 x 25 and 13 x 38 inches. Fifty-foot rolls are available in 17, 24 and 44-inch widths.

Updates and Such

Big thanks to all of our Patreon members! I was able to pay for the podcast server and the backup system from last month's pledges. Your contributions are making a positive impact.

Registration invitations have gone out to Reserve List members for the Autumn in Wine Country Photography Workshop. If you are on the Reserve List, but didn't get your invite, please contact me. You can learn more about the workshops by visiting the TDS Workshops Page.

B&H and Amazon tiles on www.thedigitalstory. If you click on them first, you're helping to support this podcast. And speaking of supporting this show, and big thanks to our Patreon Inner Circle members.

And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

See you next week!

More Ways to Participate

Want to share photos and talk with other members in our virtual camera club? Check out our Flickr Public Group. And from those images, I choose the TDS Member Photo of the Day.

Podcast Sponsors

Sekonic Light Meters - Learn more about the amazing Sekonic Speedmaster L-858D-U handheld light meter by listening to next week's show and visiting the Sekonic web site.

Red River Paper - Keep up with the world of inkjet printing, and win free paper, by liking Red River Paper on Facebook.

The Nimbleosity Report

Do you want to keep up with the best content from The Digital Story and The Nimble Photographer? Sign up for The Nimbleosity Report, and receive highlights twice-a-month in a single page newsletter. Be a part of our community!

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

This is The Digital Story Podcast #585, May 23, 2017. Today's theme is "The Crossover Shot" I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

How many times have you held back a shot because you thought it was too cliche? Or maybe it featured what we call a mature subject, such as a sunset or the Golden Gate Bridge. But, maybe, just maybe, it's more artistic than you realize. And it's even possible that both photographers and the general public would admire it. That's what I call the crossover shot. And it's the first topic for today's show.

The Crossover Shot

I want to start by telling you a story that happened just a few days ago. Seven of us were reviewing 3 days worth of pictures that we had captured on the Northern Sonoma Coast. This is postcard territory for sure, and one of the biggest internal struggles group members were having was choosing eight original images for the final class presentation.

Among the various subjects, everyone had a sunset shot. Yet, not one of those dazzling twilight images made it into the final presentation. And afterwards, as we talked about our choices, each photographer felt that it was either too cliche or that someone else would present theirs. So no-one did.

This gave me the opportunity to talk about the crossover shot. Images that appeal to both the hardened photographer as well as the Mom with loving eyes. And from that discussion, I have five key points to share with you today.

• Just Because It's Common, that Doesn't Mean it's Bad - Most of us are leery of photographing postcard subjects. But that doesn't mean that you can't add your own artistry to them.
• Just Because It's Difficult, that Doesn't Mean it's Good - Yes, we're proud of those images that we had to work really hard to capture. But...
• We're Often Not the Best Judge of Our Own Work - Having non-photographers review and comment on our photos helps bring balance to our final selects.
• Consider a Mix for Your Final Choices - If someone lobbies hard for an image that you feel isn't artistic enough, consider including it with one that you also feel strongly about.
• Respect for Those Who Achieve Crossover - And learn from them. Just because someone is popular, that doesn't mean they've sold out.

A Remote Trigger As Well

In order to accurately measure the flash output on your subject, you want to measuring from that position. So how do our trigger the flashes?

The Sekonic Speedmaster L-858D-U handheld light meter also is compatible with optional radio triggering modules for PocketWizard, Elinchrom EL-Skyport system, and the Phottix Strato/II protocol.

These modules provide multiple zones, flash power control (except for Phoenix), and model light control (except for Phoenix). And since this is a radio system, you can stand just about anywhere, inside or out, to trigger the flashes and take a reading. The Speedmaster also provides the old school PC terminal connector for those who use wired systems as well. And if you don't want to mess with any of that, there's a tripod socket in the bottom of the unit, so you can mount it on a stand.

If you want to learn more about the Sekonic Speedmaster L-858D-U handheld light meter, visit the link in these show notes.

More Stupid Photographer Moves

Here are some of my favorites from the TDS Facebook comments on last week's podcast.

Mark: Yup, I've done the 'Went out with a spare discharged battery', and I can add one 'Formatted the wrong card' (fortunately without erasing any good images that mattered!).

Carl: Realizing half way through a shoot that the only memory card I have is nearly full because I failed to format it. Now that I think about it this is two stupid mistakes.

Richard: I often leave the house with just a camera and lens...and no memory card. Then I'm just carrying jewelry.

Rob: My doh moments: camera still in bracketing mode from the day before, and I wonder what is wonky with the exposures.

Jim: I routinely found myself with a bag of discharged batteries. Now when I charge a battery I wrap an elastic band around it. Now the discharged ones are easily identifiable because they are the ones in my bag with no elastic on them. It also has a side benefit in that it prevents anything in the camera bag from shorting the terminals.

Jerry (from our recent workshop): Yes, I put my batteries in their chargers on the power strip before I went to bed. Problem was, the switch on the power strip was off. So I was looking at a day of exciting workshop shooting with a batch of dead batteries.

New Capture One Pro 10 Training Videos

lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning have just released Capture One Pro 10 Essential Training. And I talk about this title, and those related to it, during this segment of today's show.

Updates and Such

Big thanks to all of our Patreon members! I was able to pay for the podcast server and the backup system from last month's pledges. Your contributions are making a positive impact.

Registration invitations have gone out to Reserve List members for the Autumn in Wine Country Photography Workshop. If you are on the Reserve List, but didn't get your invite, please contact me. You can learn more about the workshops by visiting the TDS Workshops Page.

B&H and Amazon tiles on www.thedigitalstory. If you click on them first, you're helping to support this podcast. And speaking of supporting this show, and big thanks to our Patreon Inner Circle members.

And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

See you next week!

More Ways to Participate

Want to share photos and talk with other members in our virtual camera club? Check out our Flickr Public Group. And from those images, I choose the TDS Member Photo of the Day.

Podcast Sponsors

Sekonic Light Meters - Learn more about the amazing Sekonic Speedmaster L-858D-U handheld light meter by listening to next week's show and visiting the Sekonic web site.

Red River Paper - Keep up with the world of inkjet printing, and win free paper, by liking Red River Paper on Facebook.

The Nimbleosity Report

Do you want to keep up with the best content from The Digital Story and The Nimble Photographer? Sign up for The Nimbleosity Report, and receive highlights twice-a-month in a single page newsletter. Be a part of our community!

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.