NoBs Digital Dogbowl
The NoBs Digital Dogbowl Newsletter:
Keeping you up to date and informed on the latest, coolest, and outrageous happenings inside the world of NoBS Photo Success.
Loaded with Free photography tips, Photoshop tutorials, photo reviews,
and other totally relevant essentials. Be sure to check out the whole thing!
Hungry for more? Visit our digital photography forum.
April 2008 Digital Dogbowl
How To Photograph The Two Year Old by Robert Provencher
Can you handle a two year old? Do you want to capture great images of babies and children? If so, you will eventually find yourself with one or more, maybe even twin two year olds. It's inevitable. You can't say you photograph children, except two year olds. Can you?
Many a photographer have changed their minds when confronted with the willfulness of a classic two year old photo session. In a nutshell, it ain't easy! Two year olds are tough, but only if we think it so. We need to lose our old habits and ways and develop a new mindset. You need to give up control, expect the unexpected and be willing to totally let go and let the gods of photography take you on a whirlwind zen-ride like no other.
And capture great expression while you're at it.
James Hodgins Receives Master of Photographic Arts
NoBS cofounder, James Hodgins recently shared some wonderful news with the NoBS community:
"For those of you that know, one of my personal goals was to get my Masters Of Photographic Arts when I joined PPOC. That happened this past Tuesday. What I didn't know was that I also was awarded Best Fashion Portrait, and I received in image in the Traveling Loan Collection.
I also had a kickass fun presenting on Tuesday morning during an early bird seminar.
The convention completely rejuvenated my desire to succeed, and Joce and I are going Gung Ho with the new studio next week. :). " Congratulations from everyone at NoBS!
Workflow In a CS3 World by Bill Guy
If there is one thing that comes up in discussions with other photographers more often than not, it is workflow. Not so much what to do to one image, but a group of images that may need some work done before proofing or printing. For those with Photoshop CS 2 or earlier, I would talk about actions and batching to do groups of images so you can save time with repeated adjustments. With the release of CS 3 (and Lightroom), Adobe has heard the frustrated cries of photographers and made the RAW converter more versatile so it can become a major tool for workflow on a number of images.
NoBS Member of the Month: Judy Fischmann
I wish I could claim some great, unrealized passion for photography from birth. But that's not how it happened. By the time I got my first SLR, I had 3 kids and a Wall Street career. The company I worked for was sold and I was out of a job. I played housewife for a couple of months and got really bored, really fast. I spent a lot of time photographing my kids that summer.
More Great Graphic Authority Deals For NoBS Members
And the fun keeps coming! This smoking hot deal comes to us courtesy of NoBS member Brian Little. As many of you know, in addition to his duties as a super talented senior photographer, Brian has also been designing page layouts and templates for Graphic Authority. Much of his work can be seen in their industry ads. To see this latest, can't-miss deal on Brian's work, go here.
Somebody Loves Us
For just a moment, I would like to take the time to recognize what a great group we have here at NoBS. I am a member (and lurker) on a few other photography forums. Over the last few years I have watched the membership of these forums- ours and the others. It seems to me that NoBS has done a lot of special things that nobody else is doing and I would like to mention those things.
More NoBS Before and After: Jason Abbott
NoBs member, Jason Abbott (aka Boerneman), has made progress in his work by leaps and bounds. He attributes his progress all to NoBS and its helpful members.
"NoBs has altered my existence on the planet! I have had many struggles, many frustrations and many long nights of reading....all of these have helped me grow more than I could have ever imagined. I was skeptical even after I joined. How could this forum really help me as much as I was reading that it had helped others? Well it has helped me by leaps and bounds.
Amy, Josh, Chasity, Tommy, Ken, Rod, George, Kristi, Jennifer, Dan, Shannon, Neil, Steve & Shelley, Tim, Jim, oh and the list goes on and on have been a Godsend. I am far from considering myself a professional photographer. But I feel that I am headed in the right direction. Trying to attend 2 seminars this summer and have booked 22 seniors for this year. And I have not advertised at all...it's all word of mouth. "
To see some of Jason's before and after images, click here.
BACKUP AND BURN!
Most of you already do this (if you don't, then your a fool), but some of us have different opinions on "how" to do this. Myself? I like to download my files, backup to an external, and THEN burn two DVD's. External harddrives are great, BUT, they also fail. We all know those, we read it several times a year on the forum. Some of us actually find the tasks tedious and time consuming. Well I discovered a software that makes these tasks sooooooo simple it's almost a one click wonder. Backupandburn makes it so easy. Simply use the step by step wizard to Copy your images from your Memory Card to your Hard Drive and Burn them to a CD or DVD while you do something else! This software does it all in one step, downloads cards (load and prompt feature for multiple cards from a session), rename the files, copies to computer, copies to 1 or 2 external harddrives (optional) and burns multiple cds. The software comes with it's own burning software.
I used to do all this myself, but now it's even easier with Backup & Burn and it's now built into my workflow routine.
Snaptotes
If you are looking to expand your product offerings for clients, one item which comes highly recommended from NoBS' very own Rob Provencher & James Hodgins is Snaptotes . Snaptotes offers handbags, purses, and totes personalized with your images. Professional photographers who create an account with snaptotes receive wholesale pricing.
April Photo of the Month
NoBS members selected this image by member, combinepilot, as the April Photo of the Month. Here is combinepilot's story behind the image:
" This was a session in which her mom brought her out for a specific shot. Her older sisters had had photos taken by another photographer at the same age. It was way too cold for her to be outside but her mom wanted to try. I took this shot with my 70-200. She was probably only 10ft away. Her mom was holding her and she was staring at me not sure what to think.
I just snapped a quick one. It was one of those photos that you know when you pull the trigger it worked. It wasn't the shot her mom was after but she bought a large framed and matted wall portrait. "
ShootsmarterTV.com In The House
While we were in Vegas at WPPI, we met Will Crocket, the founder of shootsmarter.com. Will, as it turns out, is a huge fan of No Bs. He says love our `style`.
We asked him for a special deal for our members. Here`s what he sent:
Our friends over at ShootSmarter.com want to extend a special discount to the No BS viewers on their popular online video site that is crammed with all kinds of great info.
You simply buy a ticket for one month or one year for unlimited viewing of hundreds of video clips right through your regular browser.
It's not expensive, it's super easy to use, and you can try it for free.
Click Here for more info and discount code
The Adventures of Steve and Shelley: Building a Studio
NoBS members, Steve and Shelley Harrington have their hands full this year. In addition to their thriving senior photography business and hosting a seminar on Senior Photography this summer, they have also recently embarked on building their dream studio, which will hopefully be completed in time for the upcoming Senior season. Steve recently started this thread in which he details the progress of the construction.
"We've talked and talked about it...well today we pulled the trigger. I wrote a 5 figure check - with a comma and everything to the contractor we secured to build our new studio!
Now we pray for good weather for the next few weeks and keep our fingers crossed for no bad luck at all! If all goes well, we should have a new studio by the first part of July! Just in time for the big senior season!," said Steve.
Many congratulations to them and here's to a successful undertaking!
Triple Scoop Music was created to provide world-class music for professional photographers and offers one-stop licensing for thousands of songs by acclaimed artists, including Grammy & Emmy-winning songwriters.
NoBS members save 10% until May 31st at midnight (EST) using a discount code as many times as they’d like before it expires.
Combine the EZ battery and one of the many multi-function EZ brackets and you've got a go-anywhere studio that's small, lightweight and packs easily into your gear bag. NoBS members receive 20% off until May 15!
This month, Rob brings us an exciting interview with Amy Coe (aka peppypea). A long time NoBS member, Amy discusses, among other things, how she got into photography. To hear the interview click here.
Marketing Opportunities: Home Shows
In her chat with Rob, Amy (peppypea) discusses her recent experience and her setup for the Home and Garden Show in Montana. It's been a tremendous success for her in the past and she shared what makes them work. To see her setup and get more details on where she buys her materials, go to this link.
In his latest video tutorial, James shows us an economical and effective way to hang and store your backdrops. The backdrops in this tutorial happen to be Silverlake backdrops he just received. To see the video (free for everyone) go here.
This month, James lets us tag along with him on a shoot for a men's clothing store. See how he sets up his shot and more...
Go here.
OK, so we all have heard "I want proofs" or "can I just take something home..." SO, we all get sick of hearing it, right? Well, there is a solution. Peppypea offers Portfolio collections. She uses folios from GP Albums and makes custom montages of their favorite 12 (give or take) images.
Posting Your Images For CC
This is a small reminder to our members that if you are looking for constructive criticism (otherwise known as CC) on your images, please make sure to indicate exactly what it is that you are looking for feedback on (i.e. lighting, composition, pp, etc. ). Otherwise, you may not get the feedback and assistance you are looking for. If you are just posting to share, then state that in your post. Thanks and keep those posts coming in. Everyone learns when you post!
This month's MacGuyver award goes to Susan aka isabeau71 for creating this beauty dish out of a bowl, some foam core, and some tape. With some ingenuity it's possible to get beautiful light from a tiny speed light without spending big bucks.
The wedding season is upon us and you may be looking for some fresh ideas or a refresher on engagement sessions. In the Downloads section, Rob shares a couple of videos on his couples sessions. To see those, click here.
In this video, James shows us how he does the workflow from a portrait session of a 2-1/2-year old girl. To see the video (free for everyone) click here.
NoBS Get Togethers
All over the world, NoBS members are setting dates and having get togethers where they meet up for a day or three to share knowledge. Typically they'll have models to shoot and some members will even give presentations on outdoor lighting or marketing. If there's one close to you, don't miss out. Check out the forum to find out.
Another tutorial comes to us via James. This is a video he shot of a three-minute portrait session. He further enhanced the image with concrete textures. To see how he did it, click here.
Courtesy of Ricky, we bring you another way to darken the edges of your images in Photoshop without altering skin tones. To see this step-by-step tutorial go here.
The last Silverlake Group Buy took place April 14-23. To see the results, click here. Stay tuned for the next vote for May's group buy!