Determining Your Shooting Style
As a green photographer, many years ago, I was eager and over-excited about getting into photography up to my elbows. I searched hundreds of forums looking for some magic thread that would tell me exactly which bodies and which lenses I would need to be perfectly satisfied as a photographer. What I kept reading was .. You need to determine what type of photographer you are and then build your lens and camera stock from there. Well .. ok, sure, whatever. I kinda half listened. I was new and wanted it all! I bought a nice versatile lens in the 18-200mm and then a few lenses that seemed to be what I wanted at the time. For the most

Running Lightroom 3 in 64 bit mode (Mac only)
There is a lot of discussion about Adobe Lightroom 3, but did you know that if you are running Snow Leopard there are some advantages you probably aren’t getting by default.

Photographer, Google Thyself
Sometimes it is the simplest of things that can make a difference.  So that potential clients can find us, most of us photographers have at the very least:  Business cards, a blog, a SmugMug account, a Flickr account, and perhaps even a dedicated website - and we’ve tricked them all out with Google Analytics so we know who is findings us and how they did it.   Most of these tools will link the viewer to us via email, Twitter or some other e-means, and will show them a dazzling display of our work. But what if the potential client wants to pick up the phone and call you?  Can anyone do a simple search with: “photographer”, “your nam

Drawing with Light
I shoot with available light.  That is to say, that I will shoot with any light I have available to me.  This could be straight open daylight, nice cloudy diffused sunlight, fill light from a reflector, speed lights, monobloc strobes or full pack-and-head systems.  After all, the true meaning of photography is “drawing with light”. I often hear photographers discussing the fact that they need the latest and greatest camera, or a new, fast lens (because their old one isn’t fast enough) or the latest 50,000 watt/sec, retina melting strobe.  I too fall prey to this mass marketing hunting party brought on by the photography industry.  However, I think what’

Review: Kata 3n1 Bag
Being newer to photography Im learning that its almost impossible to have one bag that meets all the needs of different types of shoots.   Sometimes you need lots of room and sometimes you just want to carry the bare necessities.    Ive gone through several bags trying to find a happy medium.   Ive  gone through two lowepro bags , a huge promaster bag ,  and a nice crumpler bag.    All of these were decent for specific types of shooting but still left me wanting a little more. About a month ago I ordered the Kata 3n1.  Its by far the best bag Ive used.   The 3n1 gets its name because it can be used as a quick access sling bag or a backpack.    You can also set it up as