Forecast for the future...Clouds! You may have heard of the Cloud, and not the ones overhead, but the computer cloud. And not the one that seems to drift into your mind when you read my smArticles either. In this case, I'm referring to the virtual data storage in the vast somewhere called the internet.

It never hurts to be “too” picky when it comes to choosing a model for your photo shoot. You want to make sure the model is just right for the style of portraits you are trying to achieve. This all sounds easy enough but, as you will soon see, hiring the wrong model can cause you lots of grief, time and money. There are a zillion “Models” in the world, so why not learn to choose the right model for the right job?

PRESENTED BY BAY PHOTO

Overlays and Textures are the bomb. Everyone loves the look and it takes your image appeal up a nice big notch every time! You are probably already in the habit of shooting cool textures wherever you go, like I do, but you've probably also found that a lot of them just don't work that great, right out of the camera. Well, here's the magic number to make them work almost universally and enhance your images instead of create more work to make it shine.

Lightroom 4 beta has been such a buzz the past few weeks that I could not wait to take a look and show you an expanded feature in the Develop tools’ panel. The new Temp/Tint slider is not only going to save you time, but it removes any guess work out of your color correcting process. I know that there are a lot of new features in LR4 beta and I will eventually show you how to apply each of them as I get real color issues to solve. But first up, let's look at a few easy steps to a difficult color correction using the new Temp/Tint slider.

In the past month I have received over 40 emails for a particular photography product.  Each one exposing a new feature of the product or one of the photographers they sponsor.  I was interested in the first few but, after the fifth one in 3 days I became annoyed.  However, I didn't cancel the emails because I really was interested to see where this would all lead.  In addition to this manufacturer, I received 20 more emails from another.  This was getting interesting!  What does it all mean?

The light looks great. It’s late afternoon, but it is still bright enough if you use a high ISO. You decide to shoot all natural light because it looks so warm and soft. You are sure you have a merit print in your grasp. You click the shutter. Everyone is smiling.  You’ve captured the moment. Reality hits you the next day. While editing the images, you begin to notice some strange colors that you did not see on the camera screen. The shirts were surely white. Why do they look pink?  What to do now?

Pinterest.com is another new social media website that is sweeping the internet. It is the latest craze that has people “Pinning” their favorite websites, blogs, images and videos. Never heard of it? Well, you will now. Ever see a website that you like and want to bookmark it? Want to print a web page and read it later? Now with Pinterest, you can compile all of these things onto your own online Pin Boards, kinda like your office bulletin board except virtual. Similar to Facebook, Pinterest is another place to get your work online and into social networks. Like Twitter, you follow and invite friends to follow you. Let me show you how to hop on and start “Pinning” and plan to be “Pinned”.

During the holiday season, I always end up having some free time to play around and experiment in the studio.  This year, I decided try out my new "Ambient Ring Light" that I designed and created months ago from parts I got at a Home Depot store.  Cool, uh?  I was eager to use my creation in an actual session.   Like I’ve always said before, "light is light" and as long as I can get a proper white balance, I figured I could use pretty much any type of light source I can find.  Well, here is my homemade Ringlight in action and the fun results.

Wabi-sabi: The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete…from Wikipedia. I am a big believer in improving your photography. In fact, I think the quality of our photography is often overlooked or devalued compared to marketing when it comes to building and growing a photography business. This is my discussion on finding the balance in moving towards perfection. Read on to find your own Wabi-sabi photography...

I know that in most current photography, ‘posing’ is a dirty word!  But there are still many valid reasons to just take a few seconds to watch what those arms, legs, fingers, etc…making just a few slight changes can really flatter your subject. To illustrate this point, I borrowed a model to run through some basic ‘rules’ of posing that I see broken all the time.  You can break any rules you want, but having an understanding of what and why you are doing so will help you become a better photographer.  You and your subjects will both be better off for it. I present to you five of the most common offenses, along with a bonus sixth that I sometimes break on purpose.

We visit Costa Rica a lot and now own our very own condo, which can only mean more frequent and longer visits to this beautiful country. We love it here! On our last visit, one of our best long term clients from our city was with her large family, visiting as well. We pitched a family portrait and they jumped at it. Since they've been such amazing clients to us over the years, my wife and I decided not to charge them for the session. The reprints will be billed as usual. I treated this as I would any other session, with a structure and outline that I followed. Here it is.

PRESENTED BY ACI LAB

For my first article in 2012, I want to cover an example of a family portrait session, which is the most requested topic in my emails.  I love family portraits more than anything. I was very young when I lost my mom, dad, and grandparents. Being an only child, I find it heartwarming for me to provide a service that the families can cherish for a lifetime. Here is a session that I did in early December.

This month’s Photoshop video is all about how I use layers, masks and saturation to create extreme density and add light. I take a high school senior photo and show you how to add just the right amount of effects for a great image in just a few simple steps. This technique is great for high school senior and sports photos. My short video shows you how…

Danger, Public Beta ahead! You may have heard the Adobe has launched a Public Beta for Lightroom 4, or you may have already downloaded it! For these smArticles, we will continue to use the shipping version of Lightroom 3 until Lightroom 4 is launched and shipping, and even maybe a little after that date. Two reasons: One: Not every photographer can afford - in terms of time and money - to get the latest version of the application as soon as it launches. Two: The Public Beta is BETA software! Should you upgrade to Lightroom 4? Absolutely!

One of the areas of business that photographers often have less experienced in is ‘Sales’. In the beginning most photographers feel that their photography will sell itself.  I have come to understand that this is certainly not true! To be in business for yourself you must learn to be a good salesperson as well. Your photography will only get you so far. Good sales techniques will carry you so much farther than the photography will. The following are my tips for a Salesperson.

Last month I talked about ways to get your work displayed without cold calling on businesses. Now, to take that thought a step further I would like to show you how we market our displays along with big promotions. These have been very successful for us and now we do some of these events from year to year. Take a look…

Lightroom is all about streamlining the digital photographer’s workflow, and among the best tools in Lightroom are the Presets. Basically presets are a group of settings or options you tend to apply repetitively. You set up your settings ahead of time, give this Preset a name, and save it so it is ready to be applied when you need it. Lightroom lets you have Presets for all kinds of functions. There are Import presets, Metadata presets, Keyword presets, Develop presets, and more.

After such an awesome response to the article I wrote a couple of months ago about my new website, I decided to go a little further and talk about branding on your website (or maybe I should be saying websites). How many times have you visited another photographer’s website to see the following menu items: Portraits, Weddings, Children, Pets, Boudoir, Families, Products, Personal Work, Headshots, Landscapes, Macro Images, etc?....you get the idea. Can any of us really be exceptional at all these styles?