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.
September 2010 Digital Dogbowl
Fairy Portrait Feedback Video
Have you recently purchased Rob's Fairy System? If not and you are considering getting into fairy photography, you would be remiss not to buy Rob's system. He has a proven track record with it and will provide one-on-one assistance and feedback. A NoBS member who purchased Rob's Fairy System submitted images to Rob for critique. Below is the link to see his feedback for that member.
NoBS Member/Photo of the Month: Tommy Cooper
You all know him as T COOP on the board, but you can now call Tommy Cooper NoBS' October Member of the Month. Here in his own words is how he got into photography and what he has been up to lately:
"I got hooked on photography back in the 80's when my mom gave me a Minolta X-370 for Christmas in my late teens, I burned up so much film in that camera I wished there was digital back then. I kept a subscription to Popular Photography for years, I did not know of any other place to learn about photography. It was not much of a class in high school for either.
After a year or so of trial and error after error, I was getting nice results. I asked some family friends if I could take pictures at their son's wedding. They agreed, but I had to stay out of the pro's way. No problem I just stayed back and captured other stuff, the "Candids." And that is what they purchased from me.
Photo of the Month
WPPI Print Competition First Half Results
NoBS members proved themselves to be no fluke in this year's WPPI International Print Competition. As in the past, several members were honored for their print submissions. This month's NoBS Member of the Month, Tommy Cooper, also received honors for his first ever submission.
To see more click: Results
Super Monday Workshop With Brian and Clem
Here's a recent announcement from Brian Little, a NoBS member and an extraordinary senior photographer:
"My good friend (yuck, did I say that out loud...)and fellow photographer Clem Kutzli (a.k.a. The Dirty Squirrel) and I are hosting a Super Monday Workshop here at my studio on Monday, October 25th. For those of you who don’t know what Super Monday is, one day per year all across the country PPA (Professional Photographers of America) promotes workshops held by local photographers who have something to share in the art of photography. This year Clem and I signed up to host a workshop we titled “The Big Top 20, from capture to print”. We both often get asked questions about our work, whether it is about the technique we used to obtain an image or questions about the post work done. After talking together we figured “Why not host an all day workshop and talk about all this stuff in detail?” so that’s what we did."
For more info on the workshop click: The Adventures of Brian and Clem
What Is Fine Art Photography?
An obvious question with not such an obvious answer was posed by a member not long ago. What is fine art photography? While it is a subjective thing, the replies were quite interesting. Here was the reply from Bill Guy:
"As to what makes "Fine Art Photography" that is a much fuzzier line of thought. For me it starts with the craftsmanship of the image.
Then "what is the artist trying to say". Is there a story or a statement.
There is also the "Does this image stand on it's own" idea of art. Plus does the image grab you so that you will want to look more than few seconds. For family photos the owner is invested in the image because they love the subjects which is why they put them up and look at them for years. But for Fine Art does the image convey something else about the subjects. Are we drawn into the image because now we care about the subject without even knowing them.
Some joke that if they have some shots from an shoot that are out of focus they should do a Fine Art Photography Show with them. Sometimes this is true as I have seen some images on the walls that I have said "Huh??". Many times the chosen images are from a juror with a point of view mostly from their own work. And I have seen rejects that while pretty really don't break out into something that would be called Art. This is very true of Landscapes where the vista is pretty but that is pretty much it. For me a great Landscape shows the photographer has a great skill at printing."
Think you know the difference? Share your thoughts with us!
Rob's Wedding Interview
How do you sell yourself to a potential bride and groom? Do you use a script or do you just wing it? Getting prospective clients in your door is the first challenge, but then the next challenge is to gauge interest as well as to see if you would be a good fit for each other.
If you are unsure of how to conduct a wedding interview or maybe want to learn how a seasoned professional does it, Rob's got a very helpful audio clip from one his presentations. Another member who listened in on it came up with an outline she now uses in her own presentations.
To listen to the audio as well as see the outline, click here: Wedding Interview
James and Rob are doing their best MacGyver impression again these days. Thanks to their creativity, we now have instructions on making a ringlight for less than $50. Curious to see how it's done as well as the results? Take a peek here: Making A Ringlight
We're proud to announce the latest NoBS members to pass the certification test for PPA. Congrats go out to Beeka and to Diva G! To see more and read more go to this linky: NoBS Certify With Sandy Study Group
Have you heard of Friday Photo School? If not, there is a good possibility you live under a rock. But seriously, Friday Photo School is the brainchild of Will Crockett who also happens to run shootsmarter.com. Live photography classes are offered over the internet with the option to purchase the download of the class. Anyway, Rob recently did a live webinar over at Friday Photo School on Family Portraits. During his visit to Friday Photo School, he got a tour of the facilities which he graciously videotaped to share with the NoBS bunch. To see the video click:
Did you know you can create a custom panel in Photoshop? A member shared with the forum how he did it. If you're interested go here: Custom Panel In PS
The Monthly Success Interviews are a goldmine of information and great interviews which you shouldn't miss. For August and September, Rob interviewed former NoBS member George Dean who today is an incredibly successful photographer, instructor, and photography marketing guru. The other interview is with none other than Neil Copeland, who specializes in photographing Teams and Individuals. To hear these interviews, click below. Success Interviews
In this latest installment of cool NoBS vids, Rob takes us out with him to photograph a trail using HDR techniques. (The image will be used for a book a client of his is writing on trails. All of Rob's work will appear in the book.) To see Rob at work and learn about how HDR is done click below: HDR Vid
Where do you do your photography workflow? A majority of folks do their editing on a desktop because they are able to calibrate their monitor. As you may or may not know, it is next to impossible to calibrate the monitor of a laptop computer. But there are photographers out there who do their editing on a laptop and are quite comfortable and happy with their results. What do you use and what are your thoughts? Share them on this thread: Laptop Editing
No, this isn't an article on how to keep your MIL from interfering with your family. This is a recent thread started by a member because her mother-in-law made a big order then said she couldn't afford to pay for it. Ouch. What would you do? Mother-in-Law