Professional Photography

Defining Your Style

Eileen Fritsch — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:08:00 GMT

Most of us got started in photography as a hobby—as a way to express ourselves creatively. Some were lucky enough to know what they were attracted to from the beginning, whether it was landscape, wildlife, wedding, or portrait photography. Others, myself included, had no firm idea of what compelled us to pick up a camera.

I know that in my case, I was interested in nature photography. But I spent quite a bit of time working with a variety of subjects before deciding it was landscape and macro photography that I wanted to concentrate on. I have a great deal of admiration for wildlife photographers, and love to view their work, but I don’t have the patience to do it myself. So, having decided what interested me the most, I wanted to find what it was that made for a successful photograph.

Along with reviewing work from other photographers that I admire, I made sure to take the time to find what it was about a scene that attracted me to the scene to begin with, and how to turn the image I had in my head to one on paper.

If you haven’t taken the time to find what draws you to pick up a camera, whether it’s for pleasure or profit, I suggest going through your existing images to look for trends. Do you see a pattern developing in your shots?

Once you start to identify these patterns or trends you can begin to concentrate on improving your compositions with an eye toward defining your own style. Hey, it worked for Ansel!

Fine Art Reproduction Part 3: Getting and Keeping Customers

Eileen Fritsch — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:25:00 GMT

By David Saffir

Now that we’ve discussed why fine-art reproduction is a good business for photographers (Part 1) and what types of equipment you need (Part 2), let’s talk about how to market your business. I’ve found that most artists producing flat art still believe that they must invest large sums of money to create reproductions of their art, and that individual prints are very expensive. Very few are aware of new technology available and of the improved costs involved.

So, one way to attract customers is to help artists become more aware of what you can do for them. You can educate potential customers through a combination of web-marketing and snail mail. During the first 6 to 12 months that you’re in the art-reproduction business, you’ll also need to build relationships through some face-to-face time. You can either join a local arts group, or offer to make a presentation at one of their meetings. Many of the artists you’ll meet at these groups will have created a body of work and have thought about creating an edition of one or more pieces. But they’ve just never believed it would be economically feasible.

If you can dazzle a few of these artists with your printmaking (and print on-demand) capabilities, they will recommend you to their colleagues, and other artists will start making inquiries.

At some point, you may get customers who have hired a digital printmaker in the past but have been disappointed with the results. That’s because some companies that are equipped with wide-format inkjet printers aren’t always attuned to all of the nuances of color and detail that artists care so passionately about. A shared appreciation of color and detail can give a professional photographer a competitive edge in the art-reproduction business.

When you meet artists who are skeptical, show them a sample of your work, refer them to a satisfied customer, or make a few promotional prints for them. If you are accustomed to using studio lighting and a light meter, and you have a good camera with good glass, it probably won’t be difficult to differentiate yourself from other digital-printing companies.

Emphasize your professional photography experience in all of your marketing messages to the local art community and your new art-reproduction services are likely to get off to a fast and prosperous start.

Understand Your Imaging Software Needs

Eileen Fritsch — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:22:00 GMT

By Wayne Cosshall

The general assumption is that photographers need to use Photoshop as their primary image-editing and workflow software. But this may not be the best option. Just as we use the right lens for the right job, so it is with software.

While Photoshop is the most high-profile piece of software, it wasn’t designed primarily for photographers. In fact, many of its features have little to do with photography and more to do with prepress, graphic design, and web design.

So what are the alternatives for photographers? In the designed-for-photographers category are Adobe’s Lightroom (which has just announced Version 2) and Apple’s Aperture. Lightroom is for Mac and Windows; Aperture is for Mac only. Both programs enable you to organize your images not only so you can find recent work, but also so you can more efficiently manage specific tasks or projects. Both offer great overall image adjustments that are enough for most images.

The programs go beyond Photoshop in other ways too. Both can serve as a platform from which to print images. Although I haven’t yet had a chance to try Version 2 of Lightroom, I have been exploring the facilities in Aperture for using Apple’s printing service to print photography books.

A recent trip into Photoshop Elements caused a surprise. Since the last version I had a good look at, Photoshop Elements has evolved to include most of the Photoshop features that a photographer would ever need, including layers. This means it should be quite possible for a serious hobbyist or professional photographer to use Photoshop Elements as their main imaging software and avoid the extra cost and memory needs of Photoshop itself. Photoshop Elements is also quite responsive, making fast work in the field easier.

Beyond the AA (Adobe and Apple) products, are other products for handling RAW workflows, such as Capture One from Phase One (a new Pro version is expected before the end of the year), Bibble (which is expected to go to version 5 soon) and others. Each has various strengths and will appeal to some photographers, allowing all or most of the imaging work to be done without Photoshop. Of course, many photographers are also perfectly happy with Paint Shop Pro or other software.

There are now so many options, that your challenge is to figure out which software is worth spending the time on to give it a proper trial. Just like cameras, some software will feel better in some hands than others. And even though all software companies offer 30-day trials, it can be a hassle to take them up on the offer. Each product is sufficiently involved and uses quite different approaches that there is a fairly impressive learning curve. So you probably won’t have time to try all of the products yourself. That is where published reviews can come in handy. Better yet, now you can watch the increasing number of videos of the software being used so you see which seem to resonate with the way you like to work. All software requires changes in the way you work but you want to minimize how large the change will be.

Nothing is a given anymore in photography and Photoshop may not be necessary for you, or even the best solution to your needs. See if there is something that works better for you.

JPG Magazine Provides Opportunities to See Your Photos Published

Eileen Fritsch — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:19:00 GMT

By Marc Aguilera
Welcome to the 21^st-Century world of amateur and professional photography. Many things have changed, but some have not. Getting published in a national magazine seems to be as much of a goal for photographers as ever. The founders of JPG magazine understand that ambition.

There is something grand about seeing your image and byline published in a quality magazine. Also, how many of us photographers use equipment that we love, and feel the need to share our enthusiasm with the rest of the world?

JPG magazine is published by 8020 publishing and it brings the best photos from an online community to print. About 35,000 copies are printed and are sold through subscriptions ($25/yr) or on newsstands ($6/copy) such as those at Borders and Barnes & Noble bookstores.

The premise is simple. JPG members sign up for an account and shoot, upload, and submit images. Then, a peer community comments and votes on each image and story. Editors create the issue with the final selection of the best of the best. Contributors get $100 and a free subscription.

Issues have themes ranging from Democracy to The Fanatic, Fashion to The Self. The early issues were actually printed by LuLu.com and are still available on demand.

The story behind JPG Magazine is very interesting, particularly because the innovative concept of printing the best content from the web arose at a time when many traditional magazines were under pressure to build strong online counterparts to complement their printed editions. As more and more people started turning to the web for their news and information, some analysts are questioning how long print publications will be able to survive.

JPG Magazine has proven that solid opportunities exist for publishers who think differently. JPG Magazine started in 2005 when Derek Powazek and Heather Powazek Champ saw how many high-quality images were appearing on photo-sharing sites such as Flickr. From those roots, the idea to use reader-generated online content to create a printed magazine was born.

The concept has proven wildly successful. For each issue, thousands of people submit tens of thousands of images. To choose which images get published, hundreds of thousands of votes are cast by thousands of people all over the world. I am a big fan of JPG magazine's submission guidelines. The images need to be authentic, brave, and real. Images with digitally altered text are rejected. No multiple photos on a single upload, no misrotated photos, no digitally added borders, no enlargements, no duplicate photos.

My taste in photography tends to lead toward authenticity, meaning little if any digital manipulation or staging. This is evident in my image Mother and Child which won first prize in HP's 2005 On Assignment Photo Contest.

I am a member of JPG and to date none of the images I've submitted have been published. But that doesn't stop me from shooting images related to each issue's theme and entering and voting. Viewing the winning images in each issue of JPG magazine is just as interesting as it is to belong to the community that votes on the winners.

If you're not yet a member of JPG, check it out. If you haven't yet seen your images published in a national magazine, JPG provides a great opportunity to give it your best shot!

Fine-Art Reproduction Part 2: What You Need to Get Started

Eileen Fritsch — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:26:00 GMT

By David Saffir

Professional photographers are uniquely qualified to get into the fine-art-reproduction business because the element most critical to success is a quality image capture. Photographers not only have a discerning eye for color and detail, but also tend to have the best capture equipment. For fine-art reproduction, the lens, digital sensor, and software used to process the RAW digital image files have to be pro level, with no compromises.

Specialized Training
Before you invest in any additional equipment, it might be wise to invest first in some training—so you can see for yourself how the fine-art reproduction workflow differs from printing your own photographs. During a good training session, you’ll see why it’s not smart to try to cut corners when it comes to buying quality equipment.

For example, the training should cover specific capture, color control, and printing techniques that have proven to be successful in faithfully reproducing the colors used in the original artwork. This usually requires one to two full days of work, with lessons focused on image capture setup, color management, media selection, image editing and print prep. You also need to understand how the build good relationships with artists and some of the printmaking traditions specific to the art market. Once you’ve been trained, you’ll better understand the rationale behind all the other elements listed below.

The Right Lighting Setup
Digital image capture for fine-art reproduction is based on good old-fashioned copy work. It requires two to four color-corrected lights (strobes or continuous), diffusers or softboxes, a sturdy tripod or studio stand, and a stable copy stand that can support artwork in a range of sizes. You could use continuous lighting using tungsten bulbs, but I don’t recommend it. Even though we can correct color pretty well, a light source that isn’t color-balanced can lead to a number of problems, including excessive time in post-production trying to correct color distortion. It’s better to use color-corrected halogen or fluorescent lights.

A Good Camera and Lens
I use a Hasselblad H-series camera and a Phase One digital back. I really don’t see any reason to use film for fine-art reproduction unless your client wants to archive an image on film for some reason. With my equipment, I have gotten excellent results with images up to 40 x 60 in. in one frame, and panoramas up to 10 ft. long. It is quite feasible to shoot even larger pieces in one frame. Or, you could shoot the image in quarters and stitch them together in Photoshop. The recently released Phase One/Mamiya medium format combination is interesting, and costs less than competing products. A new Mamiya kit with an 80 mm lens has been reported selling for $10,000. You could use a high-end DSLR, like the Canon Mark II and III-series, or the Nikon D3 series on many pieces of artwork, but successfully reproducing a large painting usually requires the resolution that only a medium-format digital camera can provide. In any case, the cost of acquiring technology is lower and dropping every month. Used equipment is frequently an option as photographers trade in and trade up.

Procedures and Tools for Controlling Color
Reproducing artwork requires processes for controlling color at every step in the process, from capture to output. The more careful you are in controlling color, the less time and materials you’ll waste trying to get your print to match the original. If you’re serious about your digital photography, you probably have already invested in a high-quality monitor and tools for keeping it calibrated so you can accurately preview and edit your images on screen.

The most straightforward way to control color while shooting is to:

Ensure that the target artwork is evenly illuminated from corner to corner and from side to side, within 1/10 of an f-stop;
Shoot at lowest ISO available;
Use RAW capture; and
Include a grey card or white/grey/black target in your shot. (This will be an enormous help when processing the image on your computer.)

Finally, you will want to be able to routinely create accurate custom color profiles for each type of print media you use.

You can use a handheld spectrophotometer (such as the ones made by X-Rite), or an online service (which can be pricey). Or, you can buy a wide-format inkjet printer that has the custom-profiling functionality built-in (such as the HP Designjet Z3100). Being able to obtain accurate color profiles is essential, but that’s only part of the game. In order to efficiently be able to produce a print that looks just like the print you output six months ago, your profiles must be re-created or updated periodically.

A Pro-Model, Pigment-Ink Printer
You’ll need access to a wide-format, wide-gamut printer that can handle a variety of media types, media thicknesses, and roll widths. Most people in the fine-art reproduction business have a printer that can print up to 44 in. wide. Many printmakers use devices that can print up to 60 and 64-in. wide. These wider printers can be used not only to make larger prints, but also to efficiently print higher volumes of smaller prints.

If you don’t yet own a wide-format printer, some studios will rent you access to their printers for a day or half-day. In other areas of the country, you may want to purchase one for yourself. To produce the wide color gamut needed to accurately reproduce fine art, your printer should have at least eight ink channels. In my opinion, having 12 ink channels is better because the color palette and the control provided over color and density is noticeably superior.

It’s also important to be sure that the printer uses pigment inks, instead of dye inks. When used with reputable brands of art papers and canvases, pigment inks can create prints that will last well over 100 years without noticeable fading if they are properly protected and displayed. After you’ve equipped yourself to go into the fine-art reproduction business, the next task is to attract customers. I’ll share a few tips on marketing in my next post.

Fine-Art Reproduction, Part 1: Why It's a Good Business Opportunity

Eileen Fritsch — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:14:00 GMT

By David Saffir

If you already own a professional-quality camera and know how to use a pigment-ink inkjet printer to reproduce your own images, fine-art reproduction can be a viable and profitable business opportunity for you.

In this three-part series, I’ll discuss the fine-art reproduction business in more detail. In this post, I’ll describe why it can be such a profitable business opportunity. In Part 2, I’ll go into more detail about what type of equipment is required to get started and in Part 3, I’ll discuss how to attract customers.

Until recently, fine-art printing and art reproduction was expensive, technically demanding, and time consuming. Now, we can digitally reproduce nearly any type of flat art created with paints, watercolors, charcoals, pastels, or other art medium. We can print long-lasting reproductions in a variety of sizes and on a variety of art papers, canvases, or other materials. We can achieve great color fidelity, extremely good color rendering, and good control over the appearance of the final print. Best of all, we can do this at a reasonable cost in time and money.

Artists’ editions typically range from 20 to more than 1,000 prints. The great thing about digital fine art reproduction is that you can print an edition one piece at a time, or in multiples. If you choose to print one-offs (and use the same printer/ink/paper/profile combinations), you can be quite confident that the image colors and quality of each print will be extremely close, or identical, even if a few months elapse between one print and the next. Most artists don’t yet know this is possible. Many still believe they must print an entire edition at one time, which can be very expensive. Most artists I work with hire me to make two prints: one to show, and one to ship. When they sell a print, they order a replacement.

Start-up Costs
The cost of entering the fine-art reproduction business ranges between $10,000 and $45,000 for equipment and software. You’ll also have to factor in training and marketing costs. The cost of your initial investment in technology will depend on how much gear you already have in your studio. For example, you will need:

a pro-model, pigment-ink inkjet printer (at least 24 or 44-in. wide);
a medium-format camera;
a good computer with Photoshop and other workflow software;
a good monitor, and monitor-calibration tools;
a method of creating custom profiles;
specialized training in the art-reproduction workflow;

You don’t have to acquire all this at once. You can start by renting some of the camera or printing equipment, then buy equipment as the demand for your services grows. You may also choose to provide finishing and mounting services, or refer customers to a reliable framer.

In my first year of offering fine-art reproduction services, the wide-format printer, dedicated computer,and software such as Adobe Photoshop CS3. paid for themselves in about six months.

Plus, I have been able to use some of the equipment I acquired for fine-art reproduction for other types of general photography and wide-format printing jobs.

Pricing
Pricing for fine-art reproduction varies from region to region. Services for which you can bill clients include image capture, image editing, printing prep work, and the print itself. Here are few examples of typical charges:

Image Capture: $150
Image Edit: $50
Print 20x30: $120
Proof, 8x10: $45

The price per print should never be your main driver, either in quoting jobs to clients or promoting your services. Artists will pay higher rates if you can provide better print quality, are prepared to print extra copies whenever they need them, or have a rapport with you as a fellow connoisseur of fine images.

Return on Investment
The ROI will be determined by your specific circumstances. In the scenario I outline on my own ROI spreadsheet, the printer is used for fine-art reproduction only, and the breakeven point arrives between month 6 and month 7. Your payback results will depend on how much equipment you need to buy initially and how quickly you can attract customers that want either multiple prints or will come to you for repeat business.

A Key Benefit: Repeat Business
The majority of revenue from the fine-art reproduction business comes from repeat customers. Once artwork is digitized and is kept on disk, the artist will want to be able to continue to order subsequent prints from you as needed. This ability to make one or two prints at a time can be a strong selling point, because it frees the artist from having to keep multiple prints safely stored and protected from damage until they’re all sold.

To summarize, the fine-art reproduction business is within reach of an ever-increasing number of photographers and artists. With proper training and a modest investment in tools that you can use for other purposes, you can be up and running relatively quickly.

In my next two posts,I’ll examine the technology requirements in more detail and talk about how to find and attract customers.

Boredom Can Be a Great Tool for Inspiring Creativity

Eileen Fritsch — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:31:00 GMT

By Wayne Cosshall

We all get bored sometimes: bored with ourselves, bored with others, and bored with what we're doing. Boredom with our photography can be a great kick to a new start.

The other day I was bored. I was feeling somewhat agitated. I wanted to shoot something (with a camera), but had no idea what. After some hours of pacing around the house and annoying my wife I realized what was going on. I had the need to do something new. So I went into the studio, looked around and started brainstorming in my head.

Some time ago I had been experimenting with LED lighting and fiber optics. I didn't have those accessible at the time, so I kept looking for alternative ways to create the same effects. Then the light bulb went on in my head and I put it all together.

I grabbed some black thin cardboard, a craft knife, my camera and macro lens (also a lensbaby for fun) and my portable flash unit, along with some flowers. I cut slits in the cardboard to let light only to parts of the flower, then propped up the cardboard on books with the flash underneath. I used some aluminum foil to limit the light to just the holes and slits I had cut. With the flowers covering the holes completely and the camera above, the resulting image looks as if the flower is lit from within.

The technique works simply by allowing you to control exactly where the light goes to backlight your subject. It works with anything that is translucent. I used flowers, but this technique can work with other things.

You don't want the light holes to be directly visible to the camera. With many translucent objects the amount of light you need to pump through would only cause massive underexposure if any of the light source was directly visible to the camera.

The effects can be interesting. I was shooting white lilies, but if I put the green end of the flower through a small hole and lit through the stem, the green of this part of the flower acted as a filter on the light, turning the whole flower green.

Now the point of this post isn't the particular technique I've described above (though it is worth trying). What matters is that, having identified what was wrong with me, I set in motion a creative process that I know works for my personality. It not only got me out of my mental state, but also helped me find a new technique (new to me, at least) that worked well. In fact, it has opened up a new series of work that may be interesting. We will see.

Creative people are often at their happiest when they create. Conversely, they are at their lowest when, for one reason or another, they cannot.

Recognize this trait in yourself and find ways to overcome it. Build a file of good ideas you come across. Or clip out images you'd love to figure out how to do for yourself. Keep these files handy. Have stimulating books around to give you a creative kick. Do whatever works for you.

You will find ways to turn a negative day into a positive one. Your photography and your life will benefit.

Streamlining Your Workflow

Eileen Fritsch — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:07:00 GMT

By Jon Canfield

If you’re anything like me, you are probably spending more time on the road and doing more of your initial image processing on a laptop in an effort to stay on top of the hundreds of images a typical shooting session generates. I used to just copy my images to something like the Epson P-5000, but now I always travel with a laptop and prefer to upload to that every evening. I travel with a Western Digital 320GB external drive that all my images are uploaded to.

My workflow tool of choice is Adobe Lightroom, which lets me import images directly to a location I specify, in this case the external drive, and assign keywords and other metadata to the images. After importing, I do a quick pass to delete the obvious bad shots (which I always seem to have plenty of).This works great for my field work, and saves me hours of time when I get back home. But, at home I work on a desktop computer, not a laptop. This is one of the reasons I settled on Lightroom. I can easily export all of my images as a catalog, including folders, keywords, and collections, from the external drive and then import them into my master catalog on the server. So, none of my field work is wasted, and I’m able to immediately start processing images for submission or web use.

There are plenty of other options out there, such as Aperture (Mac only), Microsoft Expression Media, even Adobe Bridge which is included with Photoshop, just to name a few. The key is to find a tool that you’re comfortable with and use it regularly, making it second nature to process your images every time you shoot. It’s more useful when you work on multiple computers, but even with a single computer, you’ll find that you are spending more time on shooting and image editing and less time on sorting and organizing them.

Teach a Kid, Share the Joy

Eileen Fritsch — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:32:00 GMT

By Jon Canfield.

I recently had the opportunity to give a talk on photography to a group of high school kids. Walking into the room it was pretty obvious that a good number of them were there because they had to be, not because it was something interesting or meaningful.

By the time I was done though, most of the glazed looks had disappeared. Sure, there were still a couple of students who could have cared less if I was talking about photography or how to mash potatoes, but that’s typical of any group. It seems like everyone these days has a cellphone with an embedded camera in it, and kids are accustomed to snapping and sharing photos with their friends. I found that more girls in the group had pocket-sized digi-cams, while the guys were more likely to just have the cellphone.

What was really interesting though was how few of these photos, regardless of how they were taken, were ever seen in print. The kids view them on their cellphones, or maybe on MySpace, but none of them had printed their photos! I had a few cameras with me that I loaned to the kids, and we went around the campus doing some shooting while I explained things such as composition and what type of lighting to try for. Then we all went back to the classroom to review images. I showed everyone’s shots on the whiteboard with a projector, to laughs and in a couple of cases groans, mentally taking note of the best of each kid’s shots.

While talking some more about what drew me into photography, places I’d been, and such, I was printing these images out on the small photo printer I had with me. At the end of the session, I passed out the photos to the surprised group, and it was like they had rediscovered something new.There’s just something different about seeing your photo on paper than on screen that somehow makes it more real.

Will any of these kids get into photography? I couldn’t tell you for certain. But I do know two things: There were a lot of smiles when I left (hopefully not because I left!); and there was a good feeling inside me for having shared something I enjoy.

Getting Your Web Presence Right

Eileen Fritsch — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:27:00 GMT

By Wayne Cosshall

A website is a key part of any business and most hobbies these days, and especially so in photography. But getting it right is key. Even though the Internet has become an obvious and essential part of what photographers do, there are still many mistakes people inadvertently make.

Mistake number one is trying to do business using a Yahoo, MSN, or other free email address. These just stink of being either a spammer or an amateur. Because using these sites suggests a lack of stability (and thus unreliability), you can really limit your marketing opportunities.

Mistake number two is relying on the free or low-cost photo-hosting sites to present your professional portfolio. Yes, some people do this, hard as it might seem to believe. Again, it immediately conveys either that you’re an amateur or someone who has no idea of business.

Mistake number three is developing a totally unsuitable custom website. This might be unsuitable in many ways, as we’ll discuss later, but such a site can actually turn some potential customers away. So, how do you do it right?

Step 1: Register a domain name with a reliable and major domain registrar (so you will have no dramas later). The domain name is not critical but ideally needs to be something you can tell people over the phone without a strong likelihood of them getting it wrong. This can be your business name or something else, so long as it makes sense.

Step 2: Set up a website hosting service with a reliable company. This should not be your ISP, the service you use to connect to the Internet. Look for Linux hosting rather than Microsoft servers. This will give you more free options and is often cheaper. A good hosting account will allow you to easily create multiple email addresses and monitor traffic to your site (statistics). It will also make it easy to control other features, such as installing open source gallery software.

Step 3: Set up a number of email addresses for yourself. For example, you might want to have one you can publish on public forums and another address that you use for direct business contact. Multiple email addresses also allow you to create the impression that you have a larger organization than you actually have.Step 4: Do some research. Clarify why you want to have a web presence, who the most typical and most important users of your site will be, and what equipment they are likely to use to view your site. Keep in mind what information matters most to them, not you. Look closely at a wide range of other photographers’ websites, and not just the ones you personally like.

Step 5: Develop a website to suit your customers, based on the research you did in Step 4. When I look at photographers’ websites, I usually see a lot of over- engineered, fancy, and time-wasting sites that don’t work for the site visitors. Sadly, many photographers won’t listen to recommendations for improvement, because they think they know it all visually. But if you are a small-town wedding/portrait photographer, for example, your clients are likely to be local people with slow Internet connections, old computers, and small screens. The site must be designed accordingly, or you might lose business. Conversely, if you are a big-city fashion photographer, your clients are ad agencies and magazines, with fast Internet connections, larger screens and a sense of style (plus attitude). This requires a very different type of site than that required by the small-town wedding photographer.

Do you get the idea? It’s not you and your aesthetics that matter with a website, it is your clients. If you have diverse clients perhaps you need two websites that you market to appropriate audiences.This client orientation will help you determine elements such as: what screen size the site should be designed for, whether Flash (an overused technology on photographer sites) should even be considered, and whether you can stray too far from normal navigation conventions.

Unless you really know what you are doing, pay someone to design your website for you. Don’t skimp on this. During the design process, look for alternative ways of doing things. For example, many of the sites I develop now use a content-management system so that photographers themselves can upload new images or change text. This way they aren’t reliant on me to make changes to the site except to update the look. It costs them a little more up front, but reduces costs long term.

Finally, plan to revamp your site on a yearly basis. This doesn’t have to be a major overhaul every year, but a bit of a touchup keeps the site looking fresh and in line with current trends. If your site is well designed by your web developer, a yearly update shouldn’t be a costly exercise.

Step 6: Market your website. The website itself won’t bring you much work on its own. It actually just forms part of your marketing effort; it is not the complete answer. If you have followed these steps, your email address should help promote the site. The site URL (www.cosshall.com, for example) should be on your business cards, car, all ads, etc. Keep fresh content on your website and never put a visible visitor counter on your site.Done well, a website is a great asset. Done poorly it is a liability. Which is yours?

You can read more on this topic on my online magazine The Digital Imagemaker.

Follow Your Passions

warren.sander@hp.com — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:21:00 GMT

By Phil Borges

I got into my present line of work by following two of my passions-- traveling to remote locations and photographing people. This combination of attractions has led me to photograph many indigenous groups around the world.

I love everything about the process—planning the trip, finding the guides, meeting and interacting with the people, and making their portraits. There is a unique beauty that comes from living close to the land. It’s a patina or maybe a wildness that attracts me. But it’s a look that seems to disappear as we begin to rely on others to gather and produce our food.

In the beginning of my career I was just trying to capture the beauty that I saw in the people I visited. However, it didn’t take me long to realize the unique challenges that these people face. To bring awareness to some of these issues, I began to combine personal stories with my portraits. I actually silkscreened biographical information about the subjects on the Plexiglas of my framed pieces in my exhibits. I could then highlight an issue (i.e. the human rights abuses in Tibet) through the eyes and words of individuals directly affected by the issue.

Today I look for partners, mostly not-for-profit organizations such as Amnesty International or CARE, that are addressing the same issues that I want to help bring attention to. These partners usually support the production by helping with access and travel expense. However the greatest benefit from the partnership for me is in getting the work distributed. If I’m doing a book, these partners will often pre-order books, making it easier to get a publisher. If I have an accompanying exhibit, which I usually do, they help find venues for the exhibit. By combining forces with organizations you believe in you can set up a win-win situation in which the organization gets exposure for its work.

When I started out in photography I had no idea I would be doing the humanitarian work I now find myself doing. As I look back I find the things that served me most were the projects I did out of an attraction for the subject or a sincere desire to help address an issue. The efforts that served me least were the times I tried to approach a market for my images or guess which images would sell.

Humaria is an 11-year-old street vendor (selling eggs) in Kabul, Afghanistan. She has never gone to school and like all but 12% of the young girls in Kabul is illiterate. I took this photo on top of a hill overlooking Kabul. She is part of the Women Empowered project that was supported by CARE and promoted by HP.

Enjoying An Old Friend: The HP Designjet 130

warren.sander@hp.com — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:15:00 GMT

By Jon Canfield

As a writer focusing on printing and color management topics, I’m lucky to be surrounded by the latest and greatest tools. But, there is a downside. It seems that I’m constantly learning how to take advantage of this new feature, or that change in printing. Along the way, I’ve learned quite a bit, and gone through plenty of paper and ink.

So, it was refreshing to step back the other day and do some work for myself. I have an image that I’ve been using as a test piece with different printers. It’s highly saturated, so it gives the pigment-ink printers a good challenge. While I can say that pigments have come a long way in an amazingly short period of time, there’s still a little something lacking in the prints I’ve been doing. With this in mind, I set up my older HP Designjet 130 for a test run using dye-based inks.

The first thing that surprised me is that although I haven’t used this printer in a year, the initial calibration test I printed came out perfectly – no nozzle clogs, no head issues, nothing! The 130 just purred away, happy to be plugged in again.

Now, considering all that the pigment printers can do (wide variety of media types, 8- to 12- color ink systems, etc.), you would think they would have a huge edge over a lowly 6-color dye-based system. You’d be wrong though.

Sure, the newer printers do have many advantages, and I’m not about to give up my pigment printers for anything. But, the image I printed on the Designjet 130 had a dimensionality that I haven’t yet been able to equal with pigments. From the rich blacks to the vibrant and saturated purples, this printer did a better job with this image than any other printer I have used.

The moral of my post? Even if you have a printer that’s a little long in the tooth, don’t assume it can’t produce excellent results. Sure, there’s always room for improvement – it’s called progress. But sometimes, an old friend is just what you need.

Your Back Library Contains Gold

warren.sander@hp.com — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:24:00 GMT

By Wayne Cosshall

It is easy to get taken away by our latest images and forget to revisit our library of previous work.

All of life contains cycles and change. We read a new photography book, attend an exhibition, or go to a workshop and suddenly we are a bit different than we were before. Sometimes more than a bit. Over time we change substantially. And this is what we want, because if we are standing still we have either given in to ego or to stagnation and repetition.

An extremely interesting exercise is to revisit images we shot some time ago. And I don’t just mean the ones we have printed or exhibited. It’s also worth re-examining the great, unwashed mass of images that we never did anything with, at the time.

Suppose you look at images you shot five years ago. When you examine these in the light of five years of growth as an artist you will likely make different decisions. You may no longer like the direction you took some images during processing. Or, you may now see potential in some of the images you previously rejected, perhaps by using some new processing technique you have learned or with a changed aesthetic. And, you may find work that now fits perfectly into a new series you are working on.

Another great value in examining your back library is to reflect on your abilities. Sometimes it is easy to forget just how far we have come as artists, how much our tastes have changed, and how much our shooting and processing techniques have improved. When I look back at my body of work I find some images I still adore and others that I no longer value, no longer consider good enough to exhibit.

Sometimes we discover that we have gone backwards. Perhaps a line of work we started then dropped held huge potential. Or maybe a previous way of working (before we adopted a workflow recommended by someone else) was in fact better fitted to our personalities and aesthetics.

Digging through your back images is not easy. Most of us have large libraries of film and/or digital images. The sheer volume can seem overwhelming.

So part of your organizational skill should be devoted to making it easy (or at least reasonably possible) to re-examine images taken long ago. This might involve storing your trannies and negatives in film sheets that allow you to quickly examine a whole lot of images in one hit.

Or, it could mean storing your digital files on a large file server or cataloging your CDs and DVDs of backup images in a program that generates and stores decent- sized previews so you can examine a lot of digital images while the original files remain offline.

However you do it, make it happen.

Your back library can be like striking a huge vein of gold in your own backyard, something you can mine at your leisure. Cast your new eyes over the work and see what you can extract. Can you use a cropped section? Can you extract a component and montage it into another image? Can you improve an image using localized enhancements that you didn’t know how to do last time you examined the image?

Don’t get sucked into believing that since you have improved as a photographer that all your past work will be rubbish. Even if your work has taken a quantum leap in quality, such change is rarely an instantaneous event. Rather it is a process over time in which there will be hints of what is to come. Most likely, you’ll find the odd image or two that hinted at your future talent. It would be a shame to lose these images.

The best image you will ever take might be sitting in your back image library, untouched and unloved.

Previewing Black-and-White Conversions

warren.sander@hp.com — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:19:00 GMT

By David Saffir

Deep down, I’m in love with the look and feel of black-and-white prints. When I was 11 years old or so, I dove into photography in a big way. And because it was less expensive, black-and-white was my medium of choice.

The wonder of watching prints magically appear in the darkroom has never left me. I still experience many of the same feelings when watching a print I’ve worked on come off the inkjet printer. Perhaps it’s a bit less mysterious, but it’s always a thrill.

So now the puzzle: What’s the best way to make high-quality black-and-white images using digital technology? I’ve tried using the presets offered in some cameras, but the trade-offs in image quality are even worse than the ones involved in shooting JPEG instead of the RAW format. It just dumps too much image information to be really useful.

That means the best choice is to shoot in color, and convert the image to black and white later.

What’s the best way to do this?

One way is to use image-editing software such as Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom®. Lightroom comes with a number of presets that let you replicate traditional darkroom processes for toning, contrast, and special effects. These presets are remarkably easy, quick, and fun to use. And the previews are a snap! Simply roll your mouse pointer over the preset, and voila! The thumbnail shows you a preview (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1

If the range of presets that Adobe provides isn’t sufficient, you can download other presets that have been created by individual photographers.

Or, you can try some of the conversion presets included with the black-and-white adjustment layer in Adobe Photoshop CS3. These presets are very useful, and many correspond to film-based techniques (i.e., they simulate the use of a colored filter to increase contrast, etc.)

One thing that has always troubled me when testing options for black-and-white conversions is the “before and after” issue. What’s the best way to visually compare the converted image to your original?

I’ve tried using duplicate windows, layer comps, and other techniques, but the pace was too slow. Recently I came up with another idea (which may not be new to many of you). The method is illustrated in Fig. 2, and involves six steps in Photoshop CS3.

Make a selection in the image.
Create an adjustment layer from the selection.
Experiment with different conversion settings.

Fig. 2

Working this way lets you see the changes side-by-side with the original, in real time. I have found that I prefer this method over other viewing options in Photoshop. And the new dialog box in CS3 includes six channels, up from three available in the Channel Mixer dialog.

Save the combined settings you’ve developed as a preset by clicking on the tool in the Photoshop dialog box in Fig. 3.
Delete the partial adjustment layer.
Create a new adjustment layer, and load your saved preset.

Fig. 3

Your image is now a custom-tuned black-and-white masterpiece!

Improving Print Accuracy

warren.sander@hp.com — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:25:00 GMT

By Jon Canfield

As photographers, we’re always concerned about how our images are reproduced, either on screen or in print. Sure, we learn about color management and how important it is to calibrate our displays and to use the correct printer profiles for output. But, how many of you have actually checked the accuracy of that output? Are you positive that your printer is giving you the best possible print in any given situation?

Most printers come with quality profiles for the paper that is sold by that company. HP is one of the few that I’ve seen that also offers profiles for popular third party papers as well. For the rest of your output needs, you’ll either need to find profiles, hopefully from the paper maker, or from a user group (Yahoo has groups devoted to almost every brand of printer). Or, if you’re the owner of an HP Designjet Z series printer, you can use the built-in spectrophotometer to make your own. The final option is to spend another $500 to $5,000 to buy the hardware and software needed to create your own profiles.

So, you’ve got the correct profile for your printer and paper, you’ve done your edits in Photoshop on your calibrated display. It’s as good as it’s going to get right? Maybe, maybe not.

Anytime I try a new paper, I go to the trouble of printing a test print to verify the quality of the profile for my needs. Many people will use one of their own images, sort of a benchmark, to do this. That’s fine and it gives you a good idea of how the printer does relative to other papers. But I find it useful to use a dedicated test file instead.

The advantage of using a test file is that it stresses all of the critical areas you need to be aware of when printing.
Test-file charts are available from a number of sources, but the two that I’ve found to be the most useful are from Uwe Steinmueller’s Outback Photo site and Scott Martin’s color and black & white charts. You can download these charts for your own use.

The advantage of using a standard chart is in having a known set of values. For example, you can evaluate how well your profile and printer produce gray ramps from white to black, color bars of different hue and intensity, as well as common subjects such as sky, skin tones. If you see problems, you can make adjustments prior to printing to get more accurate results.

Sure, it takes a little time, plus some ink and paper, but the overall time and cost savings can add up if the chart helps you find that your printer isn’t reproducing a particular range of colors as well as it could be.