Well, not cover up so you can’t see it!

OK, you’ve gotta love CS5 as your best main digital darkroom, right?
There are so many tools at your disposal, that it boggles the mind.
Sometimes literally.
Now if you work in Final Cut Pro, you’ve seen keyboard shortcut covers before. Why go to the drop down menus every time you need a tool that you use all the time?
Yes, we know there are shortcut keys, but do you remember them all?
We don’t either.
So, as soon as we put this silicon KB Covers CS5 keyboard cover on, we saw all of our main working tools, right in front of us.
Plus the regular QWERTY keyboard functionality was all there.

It covers the keys, it doesn’t reprogram them.

First of all, they fit easily onto the keys, and have a good matte finish to them, making moving around the keyboard just like before: easy.
Each key has 2 CS5 functions, plus letter/number or symbol as usual, and the secondary Photoshop use is neatly spelled out in an italic font, off to the lower right of the keys.
It did take just a small bit of time to shift the thought process from drop down to keyboard, but it has sped up the general workflow.
Strangely enough, there are certain functions that we didn’t call on much in the past that have been explored.

And somehow they’ve figured out a good color scheme to separate the letters, so you do seem to get color coded rhythm.

We also checked out the Lightroom version, which while useful, was not as robust in functionality, but did cover our main workflow needs. Just the way Lightroom set out the shortcut keys determine key function.

It’s the more complex workings of a program like CS5 where you’ll see the true value of these covers.

You can see the full range on their site,

These are made for numerous programs and crafted to fit on your full desktop keyboard, as well as separate covers for your laptops.
Once you get used to them, you’ll either want to keep em on all the time , or travel them in the plastic it came in.
The prices are right, and they run between $30-$40 per skin.

Even if you just want to simplify your OSX shortcuts, or yes, get the shortcuts for Final Cut X ( oh, Apple, why? ), they can take care of you.

Plus you don’t have to worry about spills on your keyboard. ( Anyone remember the Pepsi Syndrome?)

PLEASE NOTE: It’s all for Apple computers

We are putting out a buy recco on this product.

Film is not dead. And it won’t be going away real soon.
OK, it may become a more expensive commodity, but it’ll be here. And honestly, I’d like to shoot it now and again.
But the labs are disappearing, and those jugs of chemical won’t be living in my house anytime soon.
This is a short story about how I came upon a film/digital solution, with little pain.

Re-Cap

I love panoramic photos.
Not necessarily for the landscape photography advantage, but the ability to use a wide format to tell another kind of story. Prefer being able to shoot on the street, and capture the urban landscape in one frame.
After spending a tedious afternoon on a certain sequence of images meant to be strung together, working the CS5 stitching plug-in again and again, it was time to think about alt solutions.

Maybe I should just be shooting panoramic to begin with., although I don’t have the $30,000 needed for a Seitz digital panoramic camera, and the gigapan is a bit to unwieldy for the streets. U2 loves em, but….

above shot with a Noblex 135 U

Years ago, I tricked out my Nikons with a panoramic matte, made by Minolta, that would crop my neg and allow the use of any lens in the arsenal.
It was time to have another look at those negatives and see what was really there.
The scanning began. Digging into the archives, brought out sweet wide format memories.

two shots above, made with a Nikon F3 and a matte in camera

Maybe now it was time to find a true panoramic camera and shoot some film, again.
Off to Ebay where a Noblex 135 U/35mm was fought for and won. 19 shots on a 36 exp roll. Sweet.
But where to get the neg processed? And then what? Were there still pro labs who did this kinda work?

After consulting with my hard core, old school, film shooting friends, the name that kept coming up was Richards Photo.
People from across the country would send them film for fine art, portraits, and weddings.
Going from a time of chimping, where you check your shots IMMEDIATELY after shooting, to the days of yore, when processing and waiting for contacts took a little bit of time, was going to be an interesting experience.
The timeline went something like this:
Drop off on a Friday, ready by 3:00PM the following Tuesday. As always, you can pay a rush fee.
Here is the beauty part though: Once your rolls/sheets are processed, they get uploaded to an FTP site so you have access to beautiful huge scan files.
Nice right? We were just in NYC when I got the email about a coupla rolls being posted and downloaded the images the old fashioned way. One at a time.
Never again. Too time consuming. Now I’m using Transmit FTP program, which is a much simpler way to go, and not too costly.
Freeware FTP programs are a bit complex, and I’d rather keep retrieving the files a simple task.
This is the rub: the files are so huge that you need to plan your download accordingly. Like start it, and go to a movie.
Or set the program to start at midnight and wake up to your photos in your specified folders.
It does take time. The files will be available for download for a month. you can’t use them for your cloud.
Now they will also burn you a DVD and ship that out to you with your negs. I went for both.

The cost is, of course, more than digital.
The film is about $4.00 a roll (forgot that number, right?)
and the full tilt processing/ large file scanning deal is about $26. per roll with tax.
Check out their full price list.

If you do a ton of work like a commercial or wedding shooter, you should invest in the RPL Color PAC which will create profile just for you and your work, insuring the scans are consistent through out the year.
Shoot one or two rolls in 6 months and it’ll be hard for any lab to match it all.

Have you’ve been itching to shoot some film, and then sit with CS5 for your digital darkroom?
Then we highly recommend Richard Photo Lab.
Good, friendly, incredibly knowledgeable staff. They treat your negs with tender loving care.
They are located in Hollywood, CA

Now if panoramic is something you’re interested in, here are coupla samples of the Noblex images and one of the Nikon with a matte, after the jump.
Continue Reading »

The info on a very cool, new camera system from Nikon was released tonight. the Nikon 1 system.
They have gone into the mirrorless category. Not just the size, but the features offer capabilities into a sweet spot of the market:
The folks who communicate with photos and videos and don’t want to change cameras, nor carry around a full or even medium sized DSLR.
Olympus and Sony have gone there, but Nikon did it in a whole new way. And smaller.
Plus you get color choices, and can match your lens colors, if that’s how you roll.
The release was this evening and we’re digesting it all. It’s a lot of brand new, and thankfully, the technology is translating into a very easy, user photographic experience.

Luckily we get a loan of a system to put it to the true test. And we’ll be reporting back in with the straight story.

V1 model shown with optional flash and zoom lens

Until we get some real world experience, here is the official company word:
Continue Reading »

Always the big question: what to charge for your photographic expertise?

We’d like to thank reader Elvis Castillo, for submitting this article on the subject. Let us know what you think!

Gimme… gimme… gimme…

There’s a lot of buzz going around right now about how much to charge for your photography. Most of that buzz is centered around one specific thing… how much money can I make as a photographer? I’ve attended several business and marketing seminars and that seems to be the resounding question from the workshop goers, “how much should I charge?” I’m not even going to remotely pretend to be an expert on this subject, as I myself am currently fumbling my way through this journey, attempting to learn from the mistakes and achievements I make along the way. There are plenty of resources out there that tackle this topic. As a matter of fact, along with some excellent information during his workshop over at creativeLIVE, local Phoenix commercial photographer Mark Wallace posted a recent video in which he walks viewers through a step-by-step breakdown of CODB (cost of doing business) for both retail and commercial photography.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand the difference between plain ol’ fashion greed and the importance of gaining a better understanding of CODB in order to establish a “fair” pricing structure. However, instead of asking yourself “how much money can I make?” perhaps you should be asking, “how much will photography cost me?”

Ask not what photography can do for you – ask what you can do for photography.

I can certainly empathize with the basic need we all have to put a roof over our heads and food on the tables for our families, and sometimes it may be necessary to take jobs that we don’t always feel passionate about (one of the photographers I assist for calls these jobs, “trash for cash”), but often times I think we can get so caught up in what we think is important and forget why we started doing this in the first place. Sometimes that leads us to forget what’s truly important, our creative vision and overall passion for photography! In a sea of get rich quick philosophies and overnight success ways of thinking, perhaps, as creatives, we should consider shifting our point of view from… what’s in it for me, to… what do I have to offer the world of photography! In David duChemin’s book Vision Mongers, David explains, “photography might just cost more than it ever gives back… ” He goes on to say, “A great living, when it happens, is not the goal; it’s the by-product.” That, in a nutshell, sums it up. Don’t sacrifice your creativity, vision and passion for what you know in your heart you love to do in order to simply make a quick buck. Find your passion, seek out your vision, and shoot what you love to shoot!

Elvis Castillo
Commercial & Editorial Portrait Photographer
Phoenix, Arizona, USA

What’s on your photographic mind? Submit articles (with a visual) to damonw@photoinduced.com.

In the second part of the interview, Moby gives you a bit of his photographic history, the gear, the book, the influences, and the point of it all.
Enjoy.

Plus, he gives some advice for the young photographers. No, this is not about how to start a business, but becoming a better photographer.

The exhibit is currently at the Paul Kopeikin Gallery, in Los Angeles.
The book is available there as well as on Moby’s own site, Moby.com