The Progression of Being Photoschooled
Over the past several years, I’ve grown in my photographic abilities and learned to shoot a variety of situations. Over the past several months, an increasing number of opportunities have presented themselves which involve being asked to use my photographic skills for a variety of events and some commercial situations.
I’ve decided to turn my serious photo hobby into a part time photo business. I am now operating as Hockley Photography, focusing on event, commercial, and portrait photography based in the Portland metro area. If you’re local and looking for a photographer, drop me a note.
Part of this transition is that my thoughts and blog posts related to general photography will now be found at the Hockley Photography Blog. It will be the same type of content as has been published here, now published under my business umbrella. This will be the last post on Photoschooled.
Using IMatch to Fix a User Error EXIF Problem
Yesterday while doing some image management work in IMatch, I realized that my Christmas Day images showed a date of 12/24 - obviously not correct. Some investigation revealed that the EXIF dates were wrong, and I grabbed my 40D and checked the camera date. Sure enough, it was one day off.
I wondered two things: how long had it been wrong, and how hard would it be to fix the dates on all the photos shot since then?
Fortunately, my digital asset management software of choice, IMatch, made it relatively easy to answer both questions. I have a script that automatically categorizes images based on the source device, so I was able to quickly see all of my photos I’d shot with the 40D. This let me answer the first question, and what I discovered was that apparently my date had been set wrong ever since I purchased the camera.
I figured with IMatch’s strong scripting environment, there would be a way to update the dates programatically. It turns out that it’s even simpler than that; the IMatch EXIF editor can make the needed changes without writing a script. Just select all the images that need updating, right-click, choose the EXIF Editor, set the date using the “Relative” option and tell it to add one day. IMatch will process each photo and update the EXIF date.
Finding Material: Waiting to Emerge
Waiting to Emerge - click to view larger on Flickr
This morning I went down to the Robertson Tunnel beneath Portland’s west hills to take some long-exposure shots of trains in the tunnels. Since it was Sunday, trains were running with approximately 8 minutes between trains, so I had plenty of time to take shots between trains.
This is one of my favorites. It doesn’t involve a train. It doesn’t involve a level camera. It doesn’t involve color. Sometimes the good photos happen when you don’t follow your plan.
Some New Photography Links
Over the last couple days I’ve been checking out some new photography blogs and sites - here are a few that I’ve added to my feed reader.
- Hey Girl, Nice Shot - subtitled: it takes more than a camera to go pro. Interesting variety of topics from a part-time photographer.
- Camera Porn - gear envy
- Photopreneur - about the business of photography online
- Musings on Photography - a variety of topics
So, What’s New?
Towering Twice - click to view larger on Flickr
What’s new with you?
You are exploring new things with your photography, right?
A good photographer is constantly exploring. New techniques, new equipment usage, even just shooting new subjects will reveal opportunities for creativity and improvement.
I have two things on my photography horizon. As the days get shorter and we move into winter, I’ve made it a goal to spend more time shooting at night. The photo in this post was taken last weekend. My other goal is to simply explore new areas of the city on my lunch breaks. The light sucks, but I can find areas that are worth return visits.
So, what’s new with you?
You Have the Right to Photograph the Police
You have the right to photograph the police when they’re in public performing their job. Unless there are some specific exceptional circumstances, you’re free to take photos.
A year ago, Bogdan Mohora snapped photos of two Seattle Police Department officers arresting someone. They wrongfully arrested him and held him for a few hours. The Seattle Police Department has now admitted the officers were in the wrong and settled a case brought by Mohora.
Server Move Complete
If you’re seeing this post, then the server move is complete and Photoschooled is now up and running at the new location.
Tips for Effective Flickr Tagging
As I explore Flickr and look at others’ photos, here are some tips I’ve learned about effective photo tagging (as well as one pet peeve to avoid):
- Be consistent with plurality: Choose car or cars. Choose airplane or airplanes. Choose flower or flowers. Pick one method and stick with it, rather than some of each.
- Understand spaces: You have two choices to deal with spaces in tags. Either surround the tag with quotes like this: “new york” or simply remove the space and use newyork. If you simply type new york into a Flickr tag box, you’ll end up with two separate tags: new, and york.
- Avoid this pet peeve: If you’re uploading a group of photos, take the extra couple of minutes to correctly tag the individual photos. If your batch of 10 photos contains 2 that have rainbows in them, don’t tag all 10 photos with rainbows — folks will get frustrated as they wonder why photos without rainbows are showing up under your rainbows tag.
By following some consistent guidelines, you’ll result in more exposure for your photos on Flickr. Feel free to comment with any other tagging tips.
When to Upgrade the DSLR?
My primary camera body is a Canon EOS-300D, the original Digital Rebel. I purchased it right after Christmas. It’s served me well. The shot counter (er, file numbering) has been reset a few times but I figure I’m in the 12,000 image range and I haven’t had any technical problems with the camera.
Yet, I’ve been wanting to upgrade. The newer bodies such as the 20D and 30D provide a better-built camera, better sensors, higher frame rates, and a bigger shot buffer.
Unless you have an unlimited budget, you can’t buy every new body that comes onto the market. Thus far I’ve held off, instead spending my photography money on good-quality glass and other accessories.
The 20D was a notable upgrade from my camera. The 30D was another incremental change. I struggled with the decision as to when to drop the $1000+ on a new body. What would get me to that point where the number of improvements justified the cost?
Tonight I purchased a Canon 40D from Pro Photo Supply, my favorite local camera shop. It was time.
Finding Material: Where Waves End
I shot this a couple weeks ago while up in Tacoma with a friend. He has been working in the area for over a year and had wandered past the front side of the Russell Building every day. He assumed that it was just a rectangular “standard” building. Then we wandered around back and discovered an interesting wave shape on the back side of the building which makes an interesting photo. Look around and check out the sides of things you haven’t explored.
