Patterns

The latest issue of Popular Photography did not disappoint! This article really gave me some things to think about, especially because I have an upcoming photo shoot in mid-July where I can use this. Specifically, the article focuses on patterns created in nature - mainly asymmetrical. Take a look at these for inspiration:







Of course, patterns don't only exist in mineral/rock formations. Here are some other examples with plants and with abstract elements:





What has always worked for me was to move my lens around and not take what I see too literally. Also, it helps to use a macro lens - all of these except for one required it. Additionally, don't forget your ISO (higher in low light), white balance (Tungsten indoors), and your f-stop (low number for a "blurry" effect, high number to ensure all items are in focus in an even manner.

As you know, my focus has been on stock photography, lately. Are any of these useful from a commercial perspective? I went to one of my sites where my work was accepted, and took a look. The answer is, possibly. Mineral abstracts seem to be promising, but I'll need to scrutinize my work. While not everything I do should revolve around stock photography, it doesn't hurt.

I had a photo shoot last week! Next time, I'll tell you all about it.

Facebook Ads - Pros and Cons

Ever since I set up my Facebook page, I've seen references to Facebook ads. I didn't really give them any thought, as I didn't think they were practical for me.

However, recently, I came across a discussion board that prompted me to think about it. It's quite simple to set up. You outline some parameters for the ad (title, description, simple stuff), and then you proceed to the targeting options. There, you can set up criteria around country, interests, age, education, and other related demographic information. Finally, you can proceed the pricing area, where you determine the duration of the campaign, the budget per day, etc.

Simple enough. But why would I want to do this? I'm not the type of person who spends money randomly. A few reasons which might compel me to try:

1) I wouldn't mind more exposure to my page. I'd love to see if I can generate any interaction. For the most part, it's all me.

2) More activity means more progress to me - and that's highly motivating. I've felt a "low" from a creative perspective, lately.

3) I'd like some interaction and some suggestions. The page is a great place to do it, but progress has been fairly slow so far.

4) I'd like to expand my reach to other countries. I seem to do very well in the Middle East, and I'd like to do more.

It's probably evident that I have been posting less. It's my intent to post two or three times a week, and to continue down that path. However, it's a reality that I will have less activity on my blog if I do that. However, maintaining an active Facebook page is easier for me. I can post blurbs almost daily, yet stay connected with the community.

I'll give this another week before I decide what to do. :)

Next time - an excerpt from the latest issue of Popular Photography.

My Creative Mojo

I came across this interesting article last week, and had to give it some thought. While it was intended to be only half-serious, most of us are definitely guilty of at least a few of the following:

3) Wait until everything in your life is perfect - this is me to a T. Right now, I'm STILL waiting for things in my job to settle down. Guess what? They never will.

8) Resent the process, your community, and your audience - I wouldn't say that all of this is me, but I have been finding my last few photo sessions somewhat tedious.

9) Resist all urges to rest, play, eat, laugh, or fill your senses - okay, I admit this is me. I haven't actually had fun shooting my work in a while. In the past, every outing was an awesome adventure. Not anymore, sadly.

I've come far in the last few months. I finally have some of my pictures on stock photography sites, and have begun to specialize in a few areas. However, I really miss the fun I used to have taking pictures such as these:





In short, I need to revisit exploring options for my abstract photography. I miss it so much. That's the biggest thing I learned from this article. I am not sabotaging my success, but I've cut off more options than I've needed to. I've overspecialized.

Next time - revisiting abstract photography.

Stock Photography - Lessons and Progress

Last month, I researched a series of stock photography sites, and whether or not any of my work would be suitable. I started submitting pictures last week. Interestingly enough, the answer is yes - some of my pictures are suitable, but not the ones I thought, for the most part. I want to keep a constant tally of my "hits" and "misses" (according to them, anyway), and see how my work evolves over time.

Bigstock accepted these pictures:



And did not accept these:





And, interestingly enough, this one:



Why do I say "interestingly" enough? Because this is the photo that Dreamstime accepted. Bigstock ruled that it contained recognizable people. Okay, fair enough.

A few lessons:

1) Bigstock does not want even a speck of a human being (like a dot) on any of its pictures. Dreamstime is far less concerned about that.

2) Bigstock allows you to match your pictures with a theme or a vision. For this reason, my Cabo picture (taken with only a point-and-shoot) was accepted - it lined up very well with its Travel-Luxury theme.

3) Bigstock is not the least bit interested in stained glass.

4) The butterfly picture accepted by Bigstock (which I think is the more particular site) was not accepted by Dreamstime.

5) For both, I need to accept the fact that my notion of distortion, clarity, etc. doesn't always match theirs.

I have to say, I was really surprised by these findings. I'm thrilled that my great butterfly picture was accepted - but I as very surprised that the Cabo one and the mosque one made the cut.

So, what's next for me? I submitted another batch to Dreamstime, and I applied to iStockphoto. iStockphoto is very selective, so I chose the three pictures that were accepted for submission. If I'm not accepted, I'll be able to reapply in a few months. That's fine with me - I am sure my work will have evolved since then.

In the meantime, I need to make sure I do the following:

1) Not take any rejections of my favorite work personally

2) Learn from the accepted pictures, and submit other work within those themes

3) Continue to try and experiment without getting banned :) (hopefully, that won't happen)

Next time - a very interesting article from The Huffington Post - and my thoughts.

"Not Happening" Revisited

I haven't been able to post more pictures since my mosque one was accepted (yay!), but I did research an item I was wondering about for a long time - how to create an App Store application.

Why would I want to do such a thing? Well, I thought (and remember, thinking doesn't mean knowing) that if I created a Wallpaper app, I could bundle my images and sell them. I'd include different themes - maybe a flowers theme, a butterflies theme, a travel theme. I figured, who wouldn't want a picture like this?



Terrible, terrible idea (but a interesting research project). Here are the reasons:

1) Developing an iPad app seems to require an act of God. I haven't written code in years and years. Reading through the documentation to see what this would take was a scary experience.

2) I'd actually have to pay to access the development kit. Honestly, I'd never break even at that rate.

3) The wallpaper apps I'd seen were for free. Not much of an ROI for me.

Looks like I'll stick to the stock photography sites. And that's just fine.

Next time - my first accepted picture, and some findings.

I've Done It!

Well, I finally submitted some of my pictures to an online stock photography site. I chose six, and here they are:






A few observations:

1) I needed to come up with more tags and keywords than I'd initially thought. This slowed down the process for me.

2) Dreamstime's workflow isn't

3) I couldn't use any of my 2007 photos in Syria :( because they didn't meet the 3MB minimum.

4) I rejected far more of my pictures than I'd expected - this process makes me even more critical of my work!

5) I found other options for pictures to post - such as cathedral ceilings (I like the way mine look), other travel pictures, and even some architectural shots. I'll therefore post a few more tomorrow.

Given that it will be at least one week before my pictures are reviewed, you won't see an update from me on this topic anytime soon.

Next time - an idea that I need to research involving Apple and its App Store.

An Interesting LinkedIn Post

I have what I consider ambitious projects - remember my Twelve Days of Photography series? Some of my best work came from that effort, including:



However, I also recall becoming exhausted by day 10, even though I wasn't really wiling to admit it at the time.

I came across a post on LinkedIn about a woman who embarked upon a photo a day project. She set up this really interesting Facebook page where she began posting a new picture every day since her birthday in April. I thought about it for a few minutes, and realized that I could never do this for the following reasons:

1) I have to be inspired - and that doesn't happen for days and days on end for me.

2) I'm extremely picky about my work - what would happen if I couldn't take a good picture that day? Would I post something that was less than perfect?

3) Would this cause my portfolio to lose focus and direction? I don't always find good subjects everywhere I go - and I certainly don't carry all of my lenses around when I do.

Am I just being lazy?

Fortunately, for me, this photographer shared some of the same concerns. However, she's done a better job (look at her site) than I could, given the circumstances. One of her lessons learned that I need to apply is to be more focused and committed like she is - even though she didn't expect it of herself. And to be less hard on myself.

Next time - taking the stock photography plunge. Really. I know I've been procrastinating.

NCCF Charity Art Show Last Week

As some of you know, NCCF is one of my favorite charitable organizations. When they accepted submissions a few months ago, I jumped at the chance to participate. And, when my work wasn't selected, I wanted to treat this as a learning experience - and see what did make the cut for them.

Some observations:

1) Only a few submissions for what I do (macro photography) were selected as a percentage of the total pieces of art that were displayed.

2) Of these, half of them were of butterflies. Examples of my work that could compare would include:



Some common elements - simple backgrounds, good framing of the butterflies, nice details.

3) The others were of flowers - but of solid backgrounds. These examples came close:



4) Most of this work was printed using ink and paper.

5) The sizes were not large - they looked like 5x7s. This is great for me, because I don't love my work when it's zoomed out.

What does this mean for me?

1) Next time, I'll only submit macro work.

2) I need to keep shooting my butterflies and flowers (time permitting) because I'm getting closer and closer to what I want to achieve - a win of some sort.

Next time - an idea I read about online - and why I won't be doing it.

Butterflies!

Ten days ago, I bought a season pass to Brookside Gardens. I knew I'd need it. Sure enough, I went out there twice during Labor Day weekend. The first time was my dress rehearsal. I hadn't shot butterflies in around nine months, and frankly, I felt out of practice. I took around 100 pictures, but only six made the cut.

I went back the next day, and took 900 pictures. 66 made the cut. Here are my favorite ones:





So why such a low success rate? A few reasons:

1) I experimented with various depths of field - and took multiple takes per group of shots. This is because I wanted to increase the odds that at least ONE picture would turn out well. The highest f-stop I used, by the way, was right around 6. Any higher made me too vulnerable to camera shake.

2) Some of these butterflies moved around a LOT, especially the ones that were mating, or almost mating. Those required a great deal of trial and error.

3) Experimentation with angles. If you click on one of these, you'll see the other pictures on my Flickr page. I definitely tried as many angles and views as I could.

Some tips that worked for me:

1) Don't use the lowest ISO. I set mine to around 400.

2) Play with both shutter speeds and f-stops. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. The butterflies will still be there.

3) If you can, go when the sun isn't too strong. Two benefits: You won't melt (it's hot in these environments), and you won't have to deal with strange exposures, like with this picture:



This is okay and all, but the ones I took this time around are much, much better.

Also, try for a background that isn't too busy. Simple is best.

It was a highly successful shoot. Next time, when I go, I'm going to try for even more monochromatic backgrounds. I may also bump up the ISO to 800 and see if that helps me.

Next time - the NCCF charity auction and the work I saw. How did mine compare?

Stock Photography - Conclusion and Next Steps

After reviewing all of the stock photography sites, I came to the following conclusions:

1) Using my iPad as a sanity check (as another way to view and critique my pictures) is something I will continue to do.

2) Dreamstime was the best stock photo site for me.

3) I need to go through and catalog/tag the pictures that I want to submit to stock photography sites. Aperture does this fairly well - I just need to go do it.

4) I need to consider taking my pictures with more solid backgrounds, using this as an example:



5) I need to keep getting out and shooting more. As I've learned with my butterfly pictures in particular, my new pictures don't really look like ones I've taken before - even at the same site. That said, I'm overdue for an orchid reshoot.

So, I've set a few deadlines for myself (which I hope I can meet):

1) One photo shoot by the end of the weekend.

2) Submission of at least ten pictures to a stock photography site.

Wish me luck with that! Next time - my adventures with the butterflies.

Part 4 - My Stock Photography Options

My final stock photography site (that I want to research, anyway) is Shutterstock.

The categories looked appealing, so I started there.

Abstract: Very similar to iStockphoto.com. So, no - not going to work.

Texture and Background: Possibly something like this:



Nature: Ugh, no!

Parks/Outdoor: no!

Flowers: no (okay, this is getting old)

Kites (a new keyword for me) - not so much

Orchids: possibly something like these:



So, I came to the conclusion that this site was too similar to iStockphoto.com for me to spend too much time here. After all, if it isn't a great fit, it isn't.

Next time - my conclusions and next steps. I also can't wait to cover last weekend's photo shoot. I'm long overdue for that! Here's a preview of it: