NoBs Digital Dogbowl
The NoBs Digital Dogbowl Newsletter:
Keeping you up to date and informed on the latest, coolest, and outrageous happenings inside the world of NoBS Photo Success.
Loaded with Free photography tips, Photoshop tutorials, photo reviews,
and other totally relevant essentials. Be sure to check out the whole thing!
Hungry for more? Visit our digital photography forum.
May 2010 Digital Dogbowl
Certify With Sandy Puc'
Celebrated photographer and NoBS member Sandy Puc' has begun what can only be described as the undertaking of the century. She has pledged to help get 1,000 photographers certified. Here in her own words Sandy tells us why she decided to do this:
Hi Everyone,
I did want to jump in and let you know why I created the CWSP program. When I started my 2010 tour, I asked each city how many people were certified. I assumed that it would be at least 1/2 the audience. I was shocked that in rooms of 200 people there were never more than 2 or 3 often times not even one.
After about the 4th show, I realized that our industry is hurting not because there are to many photographers, but because photographers were not talking the time to educate themselves and understand all aspects of photography. This is the disease that is killing our industry. New photographers who don't understand how to price, package, deliver, create and design portraiture are really affecting our jobs. This is my only livelihood. I have been a photographer for 23 year and I want to be one for 23 more. I knew that I had to do something and not just sit and watch this happen.
NoBS Member/Photo of the Month: Tamra Hinman
I have always had a certain level of interest in photography, but it intensified after my three children came along. I found NoBS about 5 years ago through a scrapbooking message board and after seeing the amazing images that people were sharing I decided that I needed a "real" camera. When my camera arrived, I realized very quickly that I knew nothing about photography and needed to learn how to use it! I set the dial to "M" and set to work.
Portrait of the Month
Left Brain vs. Right Brain: Is there a happy medium?
What happens when a left brain person marries a right brain person? It's the beginning of a relationship which will always be mired in logic versus intuition, reality versus fantasy, etc. Typically, one spouse is the artist/visionary (read photographer) and the other is the numbers/logic-driven person (read accountant/engineer). Coming to any sort of compromise can at times be an exercise in futility if one side doesn't understand or speak the language of the other. Such was the case in a recent thread started by NoBS member gemilkovie who was going back and forth with her husband about why being a shoot and burn photographer was not for her. To read more about it, click here.
Fusion Photographers May Have To Pay Royalties
Here's something interesting we ran across recently on another message board. If you are shooting hi def videos to use in fusion photography for clients, you may be breaking the law. All video cameras that shoot mpeg2 or h.264 video apparently must get a license from MPEG-LA and pay royalties for each video sold. The manuals for these cameras (i.e. Canon 5D Mark II, Flip HD), state specifically that they are for personal use only. Here's the article which goes into greater detail about this little known restriction.
Sometimes It's Just Better To Stay In Bed
Longtime NoBS sage and Photoshop expert, Bill Guy relayed a story about a recent experience he had at the airport. It was one of those trips where Murphy was shining in all his glory.
"Deep Breaths, Today has not started well. Have to fly out of Denver International Airport (motto: We are so far out of town we also serve parts of Ohio) and missed my flight. Left in time but freeway traffic was slow and the parking was packed. Went to one of those outside airport parking lots where you hop a shuttle. The driver kept stopping for everyone even though there were two shuttles behind him and we were packed. My guess was he was mad at the other shuttle drivers and didn’t want them to take anyone to the airport. Finally we got to the terminal and I hopped off. Only had one carry on so ran straight for security.
Changes to Canadian Copyright Laws?
Today the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-32 - the Copyright Modernization Act in the House of Commons. The Bill includes provisions to sections of the Copyright Act dealing with copyright in photography. Specifically the Bill deletes section 10(2) which awards first copyright in a photograph to the owner of the negative, plate or initial photograph. The Bill also amends the Copyright Act to award copyright in commissioned photographs to the photographer as opposed to the Commissioner. At the same time the Bill does provide consumer with some limited use rights for photographs commissioned for personal purposes.
The change with respect to copyright in commissioned photography is a significant victory for professional photographers and places Canadian photographers on a more equal footing with their international peers and other creators. Both CAPIC and the PPOC welcomed this change and indeed the Canadian Photographers Coalition was invited to participate with the Ministers of Industry and Heritage in the announcement of the tabling of the Bill.
Next Steps:
The Canadian Photographers Coalition will be lobbying Parliamentarians over the coming weeks and months to ensure the Bill?s passage. We will be seeking a small technical amendment to ensure that a consumer?s limited use rights are restricted to their own personal use. We will also seek to appear before the Parliamentary Committee studying the Bill which is expected to take place this Summer.
Brian Boyle, PPOC Copyright Chair
Longtime NoBS member, KrisG, has spearheaded a NoBS study group for the Certify With Sandy website. If you are interested in joining the study group. Go to this link.
NoBS co-founder Rob Provencher threw together a quick video for a NoBS member having difficulty shooting in natural light. To watch this insightful video, click this NoBS link.
NoBS recently had a webinar with Animoto. If you missed it, it's not too late. All NoBS webinars are posted in the Downloads section. To catch the Animoto webinar, click here.
Webinar Reminders
NoBS has a couple of webinars coming in June, so mark your calendars! First up will be Bill Foster presenting Facebook for Photographers on June 8th. Next up on June 15 will be We Shoot Sexy: Boudoir Photography. To sign up for these, click on the links under the Webinars box located on the right side of the forum pages.
In this month's video, Rob brings us an extra long tutorial on wedding photography poses and lighting techniques he uses. Here's the link.
Design House creator, Andy Armstrong has recently announced a new product which should come in extremely handy for pin up photographers. "Design House "Pin-Up Place" files are designed to be used as a background or environment for your extracted pin-up image," said Andy. As usual, Andy is offering a discount for NoBS members. To see some samples as well as to get the discount code, go to this link.
NoBS members can now get a 20% discount on the revamped Mystical Suite from Auto FX. For more info and the discount code, go to this NoBS link.
With a gazillion (scientific term, really!) apps available to choose from for the iPhone, it's hard to know where to start or what to choose. One member who just dipped his toes in the iPhone pool asked for recommendations from the NoBS gang, and boy did he get quite a list! To see those recommendations, go to this NoBS link.
NoBSer Dawn_ellen shared a truly inspired marketing idea which enabled her to grab a ton of names for her database (or herd as Rob would refer to it). Dawn offered free Lollipop photos to people attending a local wine festival in exchange for their contact information and permission to send them info on specials, etc. Get inspired by reading her post.