Five Ways To Get

Here’s an article I did for Idealog Magazine in New Zealand.

Daily Photo – Sunrise Across the Seas

There must be something about the warm air around the equator and the cool sea that churns up these clouds. No matter the morning, there was a new configuration of clouds and light. I got in the habit of setting up my tripod close to the balcony at Amateras so it would be ready in the morning. This minimized my morning wake-up pain. Note that VERY FEW of my sunrise photos are so easy to get… most involve a lot more bodily-morning-travel to find a good spot!

Sunrise Across the Seas

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-04-30 07:01:28
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/2000
• Aperture4.2
• ISO200
• Focal Length45.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

A Quick Step-by-Step Guide

We’re trying something innovative with our new Art of Photography online class – as far as I know, we are the first to try this.

For the previous one, we used GoToWebinar, which had the downside of being expensive and a Limit of 1000 people.

Using a combination of unique steps, we can scale a paid webinar to well beyond 1,000 people (unlimited, in fact) and it’s totally free.

Background

My team has figured this out, mostly because we’ve been really hitting Google Hangouts hard. I have a weekly show that goes out for free called “Trey’s Variety Hour” – go subscribe on YouTube! Very early on, I made friends with a genius named Dave Veffer, who is now my producer and has been doing all the heavy lifting on the logistics of that weekly show and the live webinar. Dave and Curtis Simmons worked together on the complete solution for this process, so a big thanks to both of them!

Note: we use e-Junkie for a payment system so that people can register and pay for the live Webinar.

Benefits of this Method

– It’s Free
– No Limit on Registrations
– Users can watch the video in 720p or 360p
– We can control the entire user experience
– We can show pre-canned videos live at a very high frame rate
– With everyone watching these pre-canned videos at the same time, it increases the excitement of the live event, it compels more people to stay with the event in real-time, and it keeps the Live questions in sync since everyone will be in the same place
– When we are done, the entire video is recorded so we can provide a URL to any registrants that missed the live broadcast.

The How-To

Step 1: Set up the page that the viewers will visit

1) We make a branded special page on StuckInCustoms.com. This page is password-protected.
2) On that page, we include the YouTube Live Event broadcast (embedded video player)
3) We also include the Google Moderator embed code (for Live questions during the event for our moderator to handle). How to Embed it.

Step 2: Set up your eCommerce solution

1) We set up an account with e-Junkie
2) We created a product inside eJunkie so people can sign up for the Webinar for $149.
3) After they register and pay, we have an email address that we will use to send them a link to the page with password we created above.

Step 3: Tell people about your Webinar and link them to your sales page.

1) We created a sales page at https://stuckincustoms.com/art-of-photography
2) On that page, use the code that you get from e-Junkie so people can buy a seat at the webinar. (basic shopping cart embed code)
3) After people make the purchase, they will receive a confirmation email automatically through e-Junkie.

Step 4: Run the Live Webinar

1) My producer, Dave, creates the Event (which is set to “Unlisted”) on my YouTube Live account, configures it for 720p and 360p, and notes the YouTube embed code.
2) Dave starts a Google+ Hangout with a limited audience of me and Karen Hutton who will be asking me all the questions.
3) Dave uses Wirecast to capture part of the screen where the Hangout window is, which he then streams through my YouTube Live account to the Event via 720p and 360p as well as recording a local copy to his hard drive.
4) Dave verifies that the broadcast does NOT appear on my YouTube live channel (it’s unlisted).
5) Dave takes the unlisted video embed code and places it on our private webpage on StuckInCustoms.com that we set up in Step 1.
6) We do live introductions and whatnot through the Google Hangout for everyone to see.
7) (optional) Dave can then play a pre-canned video on his computer and Wirecast can pipe that through to YouTube Live.
8) We then begin the detailed Q&A and take live questions through Google Moderator. I can answer on video and screenshare my computer to show how to do certain tricks or whatever in Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop.

Daily Photo – Boulders at the Beach

This is quite a unique beach, isn’t it?

I came down to these boulders many times per day. The light was different, and on this particular evening, I was hoping for a good sunset. The kharma must have built up because everything came out quite nice…

And even better, the water was warm enough to wade into…

Boulders at the Beach

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-05-11 19:13:02
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/30
• Aperture8
• ISO100
• Focal Length16.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+2

Photomerge in Photoshop

The photo below was made by using Photomerge in Photoshop… do you use that much? I don’t make a lot of panoramas (for a variety of reasons), but whenever I do, this feature is really incredible.

To make this one, I:

1) took about 20 photos of the rainbow at 28mm
2) held the camera in a portrait orientation as I mowed across the horizon
3) imported everything into Lightroom
4) picked one of the middle frames and fully developed it in the Develop Module
5) “synced” those changes to all the other photos
6) exported them then imported into Photoshop using Photomerge
7) cropping and final cleanup!

Daily Photo – Rainbow over the Lake in Queenstown

I had just dropped my kids off for their first day of school. I had my D3S with me because I was taking photos of that momentous event, so it was still with me when I went downtown to sign some papers. When I got downtown, the rain was just starting to slow down, but there was still a thick morning dampness in the air over the lake, and a full rainbow was right in front of me. I didn’t have the right equipment with me to get the rainbow all at once, so I went through the steps listed above! 🙂

Rainbow over the Lake in Queenstown

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-07-15 21:32:33
• CameraNIKON D3S
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/2000
• Aperture3.5
• ISO200
• Focal Length28.0 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Don’t Miss it!

There’s less than a week left to register for The Art of Photography. It’s built for beginners and intermediate levels, and I know you’ll have a great time!

One of the MOST common questions is: “If I’m registered and I miss the live part, can I still download?” Yes, of course! 🙂

Thanks again to our sponsors HDRsoft (makers of Photomatix), SmugMug, Nik, and Adorama! We’ll have many great prizes as well – more info on the page above.

Daily Photo – What the Ancient Seamariners Saw

Imagine seeing this if you were one of the great sea explorers of yore!

This is the entrance to Milford Sound from the Tasman Sea. It would have been so amazing to come across this and wonder what it was like up inside the fjord. And then, the captain could just decide to sail up inside and land some boats on the shore. Maybe if they were a little hungry, they could even grab a few Moas and cook ’em up. After a long sea voyage, nothing goes down smoother than a Moa.

What the Ancient Seamariners Saw

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2010-11-03 04:07:07
• CameraNIKON D3X
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/6000
• Aperture5.3
• ISO1000
• Focal Length105.0 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-1

Live Show Later Today

I’m gearing up for the live show later today! 🙂 It will be a little wild because I JUST moved into the new place here in New Zealand and I don’t even have my computer set up in the right room yet… so… it might be kinda wheels-off for a bit. We’ll see!

Just watch the blog here and the Live Embedded player will appear if you refresh around 7 PM PT.

Daily Photo – The Skeletal Hallway

While walking through one of the amazing Gaudi homes in Barcelona, we came upon this unique hallway. I didn’t have a tripod for my full-on treatment, so I did my best to see what I could get with a single RAW. Frankly, whenever I am forced into this situation, I’m still pretty happy with what comes from that single shot.

There’s a slight chance I’m going back to Barcelona later this year… if so, I’m going to schedule more time with Gaudi! 🙂

The Skeletal Hallway

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2010-09-22 12:54:17
• CameraNIKON D3X
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/250
• Aperture2.8
• ISO1000
• Focal Length14.0 mm
• FlashNo Flash
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

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Daily Photo – The Sphere of Influence

I thought this sphere was so unusual when I saw it the first time. There’s a radar under there, but the design of the housing is pretty cool and modern… And it sits in the middle of an awesome adults-only swimming pool on the front of the Disney Fantasy… very cool.

The Sphere of Influence

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-04-06 08:23:23
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/125
• Aperture8
• ISO200
• Focal Length14.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

Stuff You Need

You might notice there are always little changes being made to the “Stuff You Need” page here on the site. And yes, I really do use a Really Right Stuff tripod that I bought over a year ago… it’s a great one!

Daily Photo – Footprints in the Sand

My RRS Tripod: “You promised you would walk beside me forever, and I would always see our footprints together in the sand.”

Me: “During your times of trial and suffering, when you only see one set of footprints, that is when I carried you, my son. That is when I carried you.”

Footprints in the Sand

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2012-05-04 19:43:58
• CameraNIKON D800
• Camera MakeNikon
• Exposure Time1/4
• Aperture5.6
• ISO200
• Focal Length15.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+1

The Meta Crop

I think the internet is the best means for an artist to display his work, and you have to constantly adjust your art so that it can be enjoyed in the medium in which it is communicated. For the main blog here at https://stuckincustoms.com, for example, I keep all the images 900 wide because that is the best way to view them in a blog format.

But over at Pinterest, I have about a quarter-million followers (thanks!!), and I want the nice people over there to see my images as big as possible. That means there needs to be a strategic haircut. A mohawk, of sorts. 🙂

So, I went back through some of my favorite photos and gave them a strategic cropping. I’ll add more to the exhibition in the upcoming days.

See the Exhibition here: Cropped For Pinterest

Just after opening, I received the following comment on one of the photos (thanks!):

Diana *BunnyKissd* Bukowski Mr. Ratcliff I love you! So many people won’t allow their stuff to be pinned, and here you are cropping it to fit! YAY! I won’t ever understand why people think that more exposure on the internet is bad… Oh, and thank you so much for sharing your wonderful photographs with me and the world…

More About Pinterest

I’ve been outspoken in my thoughts on Pinterest. A lot of photographers disagree with me, but they are too busy sticking their fingers in the dyke like The Little Dutch Boy to bother me much more. Once it’s digital, man, it’s out there. You might as well get ahead of it and play along nicely. That’s what I say…

For more, see my article called “Why Photographers Should Stop Complaining About Copyright and Embrace Pinterest” — something you will either agree with or will make you angry! 🙂

Currently, I’ve pinned about 800 things. About 20% of the things I have pinned are my own stuff. To see some inspirational and design ideas, see this board I made.