AtkinsTechnicolour, photo processing services for photographers who want the best.

Tips for photographing in ice and snow conditions.

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:55:24 +0000

Batteries will not last as long. Bring several spare charged batteries, expect less than half their normal life. Keep the spare batteries warm.
Condensation occurs when you take a camera from a warm bag or within your parka, it will mist up. Slowly acclimatise it to the outside temperature before you shoot.
Exposure in snow and ice does not work the way it normally works. Your camera measures the exposure of an area and attempts to bring it’s density to a mid grey. So left alone, your camera will expose snow to be a grey, and any dark subject within the scene will be black without detail. You need to over expose the white snow by +1 to +2 stops to place it’s exposure correctly. Shooting RAW will help adjust for this when your camera lets you down.
Look for interesting subjects. Whilst the snowy enviroments are a total experience for you when you are there, they can be underwealming when looking at the prints, always shoot for interesting subjects and details.
If the scene before you is amazing, perhaps a sunset or a great feature, spin around, it may be just as beautiful behind you. Also don’t over shoot the one scene, move your body and get the picture from other angles.
Take many camera cards instead of one big one. The old addage of ‘keeping your eggs in one basket’. Also number those cards with a marker so you know what you have used.

This list came from some research I did before a meeting with the winner of the ANZANG – SAMuseum – Peregrine Travel – AtkinsTechnicolour trip to Antarctica. Jessica is off for an amazing adventure. We wish her and her husband bon voyage!

Paul Atkins.

Adobe adding value to DNG

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:18:15 +0000

DNG format has promised and delivered a lot, while the adoption rate has not been stellar, we find the advantages of DNG format are worth the extra processing power to make the conversion. Here are our reasons:

Smaller RAW files.
Test of a RAW file before it is stored (the conversion process will pick up any failed files before writing to disc, we like the extra interrogation.
Embedding of XMP data. So please to not have those side-car files!
Future proofing, we hope.
Open standard, one day we hope.

Recently with Lightroom4.0 and Photoshop6.0, Adobe has made changes to it’s DNG format. Stephen Shankland of CNet reviews these new changes:

“Three significant improvements are coming to DNG, two for speed and one for flexibility:

• “Fast-load data,” a miniature raw preview image embedded in the file that makes it faster to switch among images in Lightroom’s develop module–eight times as fast, according to Tom Hogarty, principal product manager for Lightroom.

• “Tiled” DNG files divided into parts so multicore processors can read and write them faster.

• An option for “lossy” compression to dramatically reduce file size–though because data from the original is lost irretrievably, this option likely will hold appeal only in some scenarios.

“I do believe the DNG…enhancements will encourage more DNG adoption,” Hogarty told CNET News. Adobe has added new raw-photo features to its software before, but this time the features apply only to DNG, meaning that those who don’t convert their raw photos won’t benefit.” – Steven Shankland – CNet

First Adelaide Audio Visual National Exhibiton

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:47:34 +0000

The same committee that organizes the bi-annual Adelaide International AVFest has decided to include the 1^st Adelaide AV National in the audio visual calendar.

Audio visual sequences are an extension to still photographers enabling them to show a series of images in a slideshow format and also combining music or narration elements to portray a powerful and entertaining story or theme for the viewer.

The committee extend an open invitation to all photography enthusiast to the Adelaide AV National on March 17 2012. For times and venue details please contact Neil Gray 0431704588 or neilf11gray@gmail.com There is a small admission fee for this event which includes the live judging process.

If you have not seen a full production audio visual, you’ll be surprised and amazed with the quality of the photography and production. For examples of audio visuals similar to what you could see, please visit Barry Beckham’s site http://www.beckhamdigital.co.uk/slideshows_1.html

We look forward in welcoming you to our exhibition.

Neil Gray

1^st Adelaide AV National

Video and the still photographer.

admin — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:03:50 +0000

The Canon rig used to film "House".

Can you feel the pressure to try out video? I know the two ‘big camera’ manufacturers are casting their marketing spell trying to draw us in. And why not, the look and feel that DSLR video produces used to be the realm of Hollywood only.

My issue is one of distraction to the professional photographer. Never before has it been more important to focus on our core skills and business practise, than now. And big camera are suggesting us to change career…? Sure some will make that jump, but you think photoshop was a big learning curve, consider the art of editing video.

So what can you do with a DSLR and video that is attainable for the stills photographer?
Yervant Zanazanian spoke at the AIPP Hair of The Dog conference in Brisbane last week, he is wary of the video ‘lure’, but puts video to great use. Yervant uses a Canon 5DMk2 to capture ‘long stills’, from which he screen grabs individual frames and adds to his wedding album prints…yes, stills from video. Yervant said he regularly prints 11x14inch prints from these grabs!

Stills from motion have always been a promise that has never been fulfilled. The idea is exciting, the reality has always been disappointing. Screen grabs from the 5DMk2 are acceptable as ‘filler’ images for an album, they are a smaller resolution than stills, whilst classed as HD, but they are not the RAW masters you need to create great prints. Think of them as a spare 35mm camera loaded with fast film to grab that ‘reportage‘ moment.

Yervant uses SnapFlow (for Mac) software to pick through the thousands of video frames and identify the hero stills, you mark the frames for extraction and when you are done sorting, SnapFlow extracts and names the frames. (There will be a windows equivalent, I haven’t found it yet.)

But what makes Yervant so excited about stills from video, the promise of a 4k Canon DSLR, each frame will have the approximate resolution of current 5D. What will this mean? Will looking for the ‘moment’ be a matter of picking through 10 frames…

Do I look fierce…?

admin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:11:09 +0000

Thanks to Sheshu’s Tiffinbox for this most excellent video of what people say to photographers….

Why we should have swapped places last weekend.

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:16:16 +0000

I had to wrench myself out of the comforts of a post-school holidays work and home environment to head up to the AIPP Hair of the Dog (HOTD) conference in Brisbane. I got there, was not thrilled with our stand location (between two competitors!) and a bit tired from the panic of putting a stand together in a few days (another story).

Within a few hours I had realized how worthwhile the trip was.

The Qld HOTD team had put together a world class line up, but it was the format that was fantastic. Small enough to socially interact with every speaker, and big enough to be able to afford them. And as we all know more is to be gained between the sessions than at them. I hope SA can wrangle something like this one day.

Here are 10 things I picked up at this hairy dog, there are sooo many more, I will slip them to you over time:

1. SEO – on your website put a contact form on each page so readers can ask questions and subscribe everywhere – Matt Adams
2. Website structure – build your website with WordPress and use Artisteer to create your own custom design. – Matt Adams
3. Use Google easy search to find the keywords that people use to find your type of business and make sure you include them in as many pages and posts as you can. This will boost your ranking. – Matt Adams
4. When photographing babies, Kristen Cook uses music and sounds to keep a constant level so when the camera fires, the baby is not startled.
5. Great photographers know what will happen next because they have experience. It takes time to learn your craft. Luck is where preparedness meets opportunity. – Greg Gibson, former Whitehouse photographer, now top wedding photographer.
6. Facebook marketing is really effective because your targets have opted into a walled garden, and tend to trust the environment more than the open Internet. Point in case, the Qld president Jan Ramsay generated 108 leads from a campaign, and has translated that to 12 solid bookings and 15 maybes for a relatively small expenditure of about $500.
7. Jonas Peterson told how his life and his personality informs his work and not a desire to “be like” any other photographer. You can only be yourself, you can only see from your perspective, so embrace that.
8. Christine Pobke spoke of the importance of personal projects to inspire you and promote your name. She told how a chance loan of a sofa to sleep on and the inevitable early wake up from the children of the house, and a close camera, led to her successful sleepover sessions that she has become known for.
9. Yervant demonstrated Snapflow software to remove frames from digital video stream. He is already running a Canon 5d during shoots, sometimes unattended, to capture video, from which he lifts stills for the album! And Canon will be releasing a 4k camera soon that each frame will be 5d resolution!!
10. Don’t ever close your mind off to information because of the source. There is gold in the strangest places. – I have to remind myself this occasionally.

Give yourself a payrise…

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:42:01 +0000

Steve Saporito, the “Portrait Doctor” is running an intensive one day seminar here in Adelaide. There are seats still available.

This will be the best money you can spend on your business.

Give yourself a Pay Rise in 2012

“Are you earning more as an owner or as an employee???

The Business of Portrait Photography

Participate in a practical and intensive one day seminar packed with proven, effective ways to build a business from portraiture. No matter where you are in your business cycle, these simple and effective methods have been proven to increase client experience and business profits.

Whether your working as a mobile photographer or running multiple studio locations this “How To…” seminar really works. Essential for those that already have or are planning to have a dedicated selling area.”

Adelaide
Date: 7th February 2012
Start Time: 9:00 am – 4:30pm
Venue: TBA
Booking via Steve’s website: click here.

2 kinds of businesses.

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:30:43 +0000

I thought this excellent article from the Harvard Business Review encapsulated some marketing principals.

“Business Needs More Judo, Less Karate

HarvardBusiness.org

by ANTHONY K. TJANConsider two hypothetical restaurants: type one and type two.

Restaurant type one: Imagine yourself wandering the streets of a new city. You could be on Ocean Drive in South Beach, or Piazza Navona in Rome. You’re thinking about dinner, and you come across a restaurant conveniently located on a busy stretch of street. Outside, it displays its panoply of meal choices in wax replica splendor, or “freshly cooked” under Saran wrap. On the sidewalk, an aspiring tan model flanks a manager-host, who wears a loud tie to go with the even louder voice he uses to solicit passersby. “Would you like to come in and eat ‘world famous x’? Or maybe try the daily cocktail special?”

Restaurant type two: You want to have a couple of special dinners during your travels so you’ve done some careful research prior to your trip. You find out about a restaurant that’s somewhat out-of-the-way, does not take reservations, has humble décor, and is only open for dinner five nights a week. None of that deters you. Your foodie friends recommended it — “amazing artisanal, local dishes,” they say. Pete Wells wrote something nice about it in The New York Times. Your favorite restaurant blogs concur.

Where would you rather eat? More to the point, if you have a business, which would you rather be?

Type one represents what marketers call “push.” Type two is “pull.” Push marketing uses advertising (billboards, spam, direct mailings, banners, cold calls, and similar techniques) to hunt for the customer. In contrast, pull marketing bets on product quality and its ability to create awareness and eventually a brand that will lure and keep customers.

One is a bullhorn, the other a magnet. Or, as I like to say, one is karate and one is judo. More on that in a sec.

You obviously need a mix of both push and pull marketing. But businesses and businesspeople tend to lean toward push. That may be fine, but it becomes a problem — a big problem — if all you have is hype that is driving customers to try a product that isn’t good enough to inspire long-term loyalty. Such a situation is a treadmill of disaster, since eventually there won’t be sufficient cash to lure enough new customers to replace all those who have left. As I have argued in a prior blog post, the best business models focus on recurring revenue.

In the venture and start-up world it is sometimes easy to confuse marketing, publicity, and “push” with progress and success. People begin looking at site visitors, PR impressions, or leads generated as key performance metrics rather than looking at these in conjunction with real performance metrics such as customers, product usage, and oh yeah, sales and profits.

This is the fallacy of “push” — it yields results that sort of look like and feel like customers (e.g. visitors or member sign-ups), or like product acceptance (e.g. PR stories via expensive PR agencies), and that even feel like performance (e.g. leads or sales generated without profit). But none of this is enough to sustain a business. In contrast, if a product and its brand are strong enough to “pull,” then metrics such as NPS (net promoter score), recurring profitable revenue rate (i.e. customer loyalty), product usage level (i.e. customer utility) begin to sing. These are examples of real pillars of a great business — and you can’t get there just by yelling louder than the next guy.

So how do you shift to more of a pull mindset? Simple: think more judo and less karate. The word judo translates to “gentle way,” and this martial art focuses on using an opponent’s strength and weight to one’s advantage. Karate, in contrast, is characterized by punching and kicking. We need much more of a judo mindset in business. Not just in marketing, but in negotiations, product design, communications, and selling.

Here are the three possible outcomes of business karate:

a) It works because the product or deal really is that good. This is a best-case, but not common scenario; you have the right to push and shout.
b) It feels like it works short term, but creates long-term disappointment. There is an expectation gap that gets discovered over time, leading eventually to customer defection.
c) It triggers defensive mechanisms. As one investor in my VC firm has told me, “A yellow light always goes off in my head when someone is pitching hard. I don’t want to be sold something.”

That is the irony of it, and why business judo can be more effective — especially when you have something authentic, good, or purposeful. People don’t mind buying, but they don’t want to be sold. In a similar fashion, regarding product design or presentation of information, people prefer intuitive self-discovery over complex how-to instruction.

This is the real judo counterweight to understand. We are by nature predisposed to want, to desire, to deal, to buy. Yet while we don’t mind being gently guided there, we are wired for mostly for self-control. The key principle in the judo of business is to create and allow the conditions for people to make your goal their own conclusion. A colleague of mine says he sometimes will wait a few minutes in a meeting for everyone else to figure out something he knew at the beginning. It’s that important for them to arrive at the answer themselves and sell themselves on it.

Such restraint does not always come easily. But focusing on the core of what matters for long-term business success — real customers embracing authentic, purposeful, and compelling products — is the stuff of really great companies and leaders. As in judo, if one masters it, it’s possible to triumph over seemingly much more formidable competitors. It is also — at a time of much cynicism towards business — just a more pleasant way of doing things.”

Marketing photographers – last session today.

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:43:05 +0000

This morning Paul Atkins will lead the final session of the 2012 Summer School.
There are still seats available, if you are interested, be at the lab for a 9.30am start.
more info action on the Summer School

First Summer School session is a blast.

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:46:39 +0000

You never quite know what Norman Weedall will say or do. It is part of his boundless charm. Well he was in full flight this morning, the attendees had a great time and came away with an understanding of the subtleties involved in making great portraits.

What I took away was the importance of confidently controlling your subject. Portrait photographers rarely deal with experienced models, subjects rarely know what they want or what will make them look good. Norman can affect control with humour and confidence.

Unfortunately there is no substitute for practise and experience. This is something you need time to perfect.