You have a great product and know exactly where you can sell it.  You just can’t seem to get the word out no matter what you do.  Here are a few simple tricks to try and get your name and photography business out there.

1.  Make the time

Set aside the time and ear-mark it specifically for “marketing time".  It’s a very basic and simple concept, but many people don’t schedule the time and marketing falls through the cracks.

2.  Ask other photographers

Don’t go out and re-invent the wheel.  Photographers, in general, are incredibly helpful especially when it comes to nuturing budding photographers.  Ask about the pitfalls, barrieres, and obstacles they faced.  Intimidated by asking someone local?  Phone someone in another similar-sized city.

3.  Branding

Develop a “style” about your business and stick to it.  Develop a logo and simple catch-phrase to use in promotions and advertising.

4.  Start Today

Most people spend their time planning rather than doing.  Don’t fall into this trap.  Plan . . . Yes, but also get out there and get started.

When we talk about dynamic range, we are referring to the ratio between dark and bright regions.  Our eyes are much more capable of adapting to different brightness levels than most cameras and computer monitors.  As photographers, we need to be creative when working with this limited dynamic range.  High dynamic range (HDR) images open up a world of possibilities because they can represent the entire dynamic range of the visible world.

When you think of HDR, your first thought may go to the over-the-top, or surreal looking, tone-mapped images that have become increasingly popular over the past few years.  However, that is only one type of HDR.  When I incorporate dynamic range into my photographs, I look to create an image that is as close to the scene I experienced as possible.  There are a number of different programs out there that will create HDR images from your files, one of them being Photoshop where the “Merge to HDR” command lets you create HDR images from multiple photographs.  Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but I prefer not to let a program merge my files.  There are some great tutorials out there that will give you step-by-step instructions for these programs.  One good tutorial you can find at “Backing Winds” and another at “Luminous Landscape”.

Personally, I prefer to merge the photos myself using layers and layer masks.  That will be the process that I will share with you today.

Materials You’ll Need

• Digital camera with the ability to set exposure manually
• Tripod (always a must have)
• A subject that doesn’t move
• A computer with Photoshop

The Process

To begin, you will need to choose your subject.  Preferably something that doesn’t move.  Once you have set up the camera on the tripod and decided on the composition of the photo, you will take a number of differently exposed frames.  In my picture of the lighthouse, I took 3 differently exposed frames.  One exposure for the foreground of sand and grass, another exposure for the lighthouse itself, and finally an exposure for the sky.  You can see the difference in the screenshots below.

All the rest of the process is done in Photoshop.  I take the 3 frames I’ve shot and make them layers in my Photoshop document.  I begin with the middle exposure.  I then take the lighter exposure and layer it on top of the middle exposure.

Make sure it is aligned properly with the layer underneath.  I’m going to use this top layer to more accurately depict the foreground I saw at the time I took the picture.  At this point I will play around with the different blending modes of the lighter layer until I find one that works best.  For this particular picture I used the “overlay” blending mode.

Here is what our image looks like now.

The foreground is starting to look good.  This treatment does not work for the whole picture however, so we’re going to use a layer mask to only use this treatment for the foreground.  With the current layer active, click on layer mask at the bottom of the layers palette.  With a black brush you can hide the area that you do not want visible.

We are now going to repeat the same steps with our darker layer, instead this time we are going to be focusing on the sky.  Once I have finished all layers and am happy with the results, I will usually do a levels layer to adjust contrast and such.  At this point, your layers palette should look something like this.

The final image result:

Thank you for checking out our tutorial and hopefully it has helped you in your own endeavors to create realistic looking HDR images.  You can find this print, along with many others in our store for purchase.  If you have any questions about this tutorial or any other photography related question, please feel free to email me and ask away.

photog@drocphoto.com

Last school year, I assisted with a photography class at Fraser Valley Adventist Academy.  Every couple of weeks, I was able to join the class, teach a few conepts, and even go along on field trips.  Towards the end of June, we went to Minter Gardens in Chilliwack.  If you’ve never been here before then you are really missing out.  It is one of the most gorgeous gardens I’ve ever visited.   As we arrived, we took care of payment and then organized ourselves.  Most of the photography students were eager to get going and discover what Minter had to offer.  I gathered my equipment and headed out after them.

I was drawn immediately to these unusual “tulip-looking” flowers.  Unusual, solely because I had never seen anything quite like them.  The lighting wasn’t the best, but I decided to see what I could do nonetheless.  I spent a few moments trying out a few new lighting tricks I had recently read about and the resulting image was Forgotten Flower.

That image ended up being my first and last of the day.  My camera, being one of only a couple of SLRs, was used the rest of the day for practice by a number of the students.  Forgotten Flower is D-Roc Photography’s featured print for the month of August.  This whole month, it is available for purchase in our store for 50% off.

Wouldn’t you know that things never end up going according to plan.   Granted, truth be told, I didn’t really have an extensive plan.  On Friday, I decided that it was the day I was going to leave to begin my vacation time in Alberta.  You know what that means. . . ROAD TRIP!!  I packed up my belongings and began the drive with the hope that along the way I would have the opportunity to take some pictures.  I was surprised by the lack of congestion on the highway, afterall, it was a Friday afternoon.  Where were all the weekend vacationers?  I chalked it up to good timing and continued on my way.

Just past Chilliwack however, my good fortune changed.  Traffic slowed to a snail’s pace and I could see that it was backed up quite a ways.  “No sweat,” I thought to myself, since I had no real schedule and was in no rush to be any particular place.  Thirty-five minutes later, I was able to see what was causing traffic to slow.  It was an accident.  Hard to tell, really, what happened, but it didn’t look good.  Off to the right-hand side of the road was a tractor trailer hauling huge pieces of lumber.  The driver was out of the cab and appeared to be rearranging a few loose pieces.  Off to the left-hand side of the road was a police car with his lights flashing and directly behind him, a black SUV with a camper.  I’m assuming the SUV had at one point been hauling the camper, but as I passed, they were no longer connected and the SUV was turned around facing the opposite direction with a huge hole smashed into the passenger-side window.  I can only imagine what chain of events led to that scene and I hope and pray that none of the passengers I saw sitting along the side of the road were seriously hurt.

Interestingly enough, the next few hours were completely uneventful, aside from the black bear ambling across the road.  I relaxed and took in the beautiful scenery as I drove.  As the clouds started to roll in and the sun began its decent, I decided I would stop for the night in Valemount, BC.  I would get a room at the Super 8 and then head back to a quaint little lake, I had seen just outside the town, in time to get some great sunset shots.  Great plan, right?  If only it had worked out. . . Instead, when I arrived at the Super 8 I realized I probably should have booked my room ahead of time (oops). . . There was no room at the Inn, nor the chalet across the way, or the Ramada down the road.  What could a girl do?  Find a cute little, out-of-the-way place to stay that ended up being cheaper (woo hoo)!  Except, by the time I had registered for the room and settled in, storm clouds had overtaken the sky and alas, there were no beautiful sunset pictures to be taken.

In my mind though, this wasn’t a huge setback.  The weather report said things should be clearing up by morning.  New plan.  Go to sleep early in order to be well rested for a 4:00am alarm.  Sunrise pics!  YAY!  Ummmm. . . not so much.  Hello, insomnia.  There I lay, tossing and turning, for hours on end.  I believe I finally fell asleep by 3:00am, a mere hour before my alarm was set to go off.  Funny thing. . . I don’t remember my alarm going off and didn’t wake up until almost 9:00am.  So much for that plan.  However, I decided that even though my plan for awesome pics didn’t quite come to fruition, I was going to make the best of the day.  I was able to spend an incredible afternoon in Jasper, AB and made some plans for the photo trip my mom and I will be taking in about a week.  Following that trip I will have more photos to share here that will be added to our store.  Until then you can still take a look at the various prints we have to offer, along with our Featured Print for this month, The Future’s End.

Last summer I took my annual photography trip through Jasper, Alberta with my mom.  Over the years, she has developed an interest in photography and decided to join me.  Needless to say, as fate would have it, the trip ended up being almost a complete bust.  Completely grey skies with no cloud texture, pouring rain, and strong wind.

We stuck it out though, waiting for an opportune moment.  The Future’s End was taken at one of those moments.  We had been driving around looking for an interesting subject.  As I drove along the highway, we noticed the majestic mountains in the distance and a stream that led our eyes to it.  I parked the car safely along the side of the road and we proceeded to climb down a slight hill, through tall grass threatening to trip us up.  The mosquitoes were out in full force, with more and more appearing as we disturbed their hiding places in the grass.  They threatened to eat us alive.

We set our cameras up along the side of the hill and spent about an hour and a half shooting the scene.  We probably would have stayed longer if it hadn’t started to pour rain again.   We quickly packed up our gear as the wind whipped through our hair and made a mad dash for the car.  I guess it just goes to prove that even when the weather doesn’t cooperate, perserverence always wins out.

For the rest of this month, The Future’s End is being offered at 50% off in the D-Roc Photography and Design shop.  Take the time to check it out along with the other prints we’ve got to offer.

A topic that is not generally understood by many people, photographers included, is copyright law.  While I am no expert, by any means, I want to take the time to pass along the information I have been able to gleen through the years, specifically as it pertains to Canadian copyright.

Canadian copyright law is governed by the Copyright Act.  This Act protects many types of items such as original literary, artistic, and musical works.  A few specific examples would be items such as books, magazines, paintings, engravings, films, and photographs.  One specific right that a copyright holder is entitled to is the right to exclusively reproduce the work.  Meaning, no one else but the copyright holder can legally make more copies.

In Canada, registration of copyright is not required, however, it is recommended and provides additional benefits to the copyright owner that you may not receive if not registered.  Copyright can be registered at the Canadian Copyright Office located in Ottawa.

Copyright automatically comes into existence at the time the work is created, and for most things it continues on until the end of the calendar year in which the author of the work dies.  However, photographs are different.  They are protected by copyright from the time they are taken until the end of that calendar year and then for an additional 50 years.  So, unlike other works, the copyright of a photograph is not linked to the date of the photographer’s death.

Additionally, wherever a copyright exists, it should be marked and shown with the copyright symbol followed by the name of the owner of the copyright and then the year it was created (in the case of a photograph).

Finally, it is possible to assign or license the copyright of a photograph to others.  This, however, must be done in writing in order to be valid.  It is extremely important to note that the physical possession of a photograph does not necessarily mean that the copyright has been assigned or licensed to you.  This seems to be an area of confusion with many people.

Hopefully, this has helped to clear up any questions you may have had about this very important subject.  You can view all of D-Roc Photography and Design’s copyrighted images in our shop.   Take a look now.

Well, today has been an extremely productive day here at D-Roc Photography. For years I have had the intention of putting together memory books for my son. One for each year of his life. I’ve never really seemed to have the time to sit down and do it. However, I began the undertaking today and have made great progress. I’m pretty excited to get the first book done so I can see the final product. Amazingly, the memory book was not the only project I tackled today. I was able to put the finishing touches on two new prints and I’ve already added them into the shop.  You can see them below or take a trip over to the shop and see them along with all the other prints we have to offer.

The Dying Shadow

Forgotten Flower

Don’t forget, you can see our whole collection of fine art prints in the D-Roc Photography and Design store.

What a beautiful day it has turned out to be here in the lower mainland.  Such a nice change from the constant drizzle of rain that seems to hover over us on a daily basis.  I’ve been seriously considering taking a little time away in order to take some new photos.  It’s been way too long since I’ve had a chance to do that.  I need more photos for the photobook I’m working on.   While I’m out galavanting about and trying to get together some new content for the website, why don’t you take a few moments to take a look at the revisions I’ve made on the site.  I’ve tried to integrate a better shopping cart for an overall better experience.  I’m looking for feedback to let me know what everyone thinks of the changes and if you encounter any bugs. . .  For each of you who take the time to email me your feedback (admin@drocphoto.com), I’ll give you free shipping on your next order as a token of my appreciation.  Also, since it is Canada Day, I’ve decided to have a site-wide sale.  All products in the shop have been reduced by 10%,  not only today,  but through to the end of the weekend!  That is on top of any other discounts that we currently have.  How can you go wrong?!   All you need to do is enter the voucher code “canada” in the shopping cart before checking out.  Have an awesome weekend everyone.

Don’t forget, you can see our whole collection of fine art prints in the D-Roc Photography and Design store.

A post-processing technique that has become increasingly popular with photographers is that of adding texture to a photo.  These days, it seems as if no photo is fully complete until it has been textured by the photographer.  Done well, it works, and can turn a good photo into something better.  However, adding textures doesn’t work for all photos.  It is particularly well-suited for portraits, landscapes, and old buildings.  The reason being, textures add an emotion to the image.  It evokes a nostalgic feeling and is reminiscent of old sepia toned and faded photos with rough surfaces and tattered edges.

The images I will be using for this tutorial are:

1.  A texture I downloaded from Deviant Art’s darkrose42

2.  This month’s featured print on my website, The Future’s End.

Resizing The Images

First, resize the texture to the size of the original photo.  With your original file active, go to Image > Image Size in Photoshop and make a note of the dimensions and resolution.  In this case, my image is 4752 x 3168 pixels and has a resolution of 350 pixels/inch.

Now let’s go to the texture file, once again under Image > Image Size.  Uncheck the Constrain Proportions box and choose the Bicubic Smoother option.  First, change the image resolution and then the pixel dimensions to match the values of the original image.

Copy and Paste

Next, select and copy the texture.  Command > A (ctrl > A on a PC) selects all and then Command > C (ctrl > C on a PC) copies the image.  Now go to the original image and paste the texture by using Command > V (ctrl > V on a PC).  The texture should now be sitting on top of the original image in a new layer.

Blending Modes

By default, the blendng mode is set to normal.  This means the texture layer is sitting on top and you cannot see anything on the layers beneath it.  You can make the texture layer partially transparent by selecting another blending mode.  Different blending modes will give different effects so play around a bit and see what works best for you.  In general, the modes that usually work best are overlay, soft light, and hard light.

For this particular image, I liked one blending mode for the sky and a different blending mode for the rest of the photo.  To rectifiy this issue, I used layer masks (a technique I will be discussing in another tutorial).  Here is the final image.

Don’t forget, you can see this image plus our whole collection of fine art prints in the D-Roc Photography and Design store.

In our first article on shooting sharp images, we discussed how using a tripod and cable release can aid immensely in achieving the sharp images we want (Click here to read the article).

Another trick that many pros use is to shoot at your lens’ sharpest aperture whenever possible.  In general, most lenses have a sweet spot about two full stops smaller than wide open.  For example, if you had an f/2.8 lens, the sharpest apertures for that lens would be f/5.6 and f/8.  However, that is just a generalization and may not necessarily hold true for all lenses.  If yours seems to be the exception, use a little experimentation to find the sweet spot for your particular lens and try to shoot at that aperture, whenever possible, to increase the sharpness of your pictures.

Click on any image to get a closer inspection.

Secondly, buying a good lens makes a huge difference in sharpness.  However, good glass is never cheap.  A quality lens is an investment.  It will give you crystal clear photos that inexpensive lenses just can’t deliver.

Finally, when you’re shooting on a tripod in dim or low light, don’t increase your ISO.  Keep it at the lowest setting your camera allows.  Raising the ISO adds noise to your photo and unless that’s the look you’re going for, you’ll want to avoid it.  There are some situations that you will have no choice but to raise your ISO, such as shooting a wedding in a dimly lit church (lots of action so a situation where hand-held is necessary), but when you have the opportunity to use a tripod, avoid high ISO’s.

Don’t forget, you can see our whole collection of fine art prints in the D-Roc Photography and Design store.