What's In A Name? Any Suggestions For My iPhone App?

Hi Friends!

Dr. Dave Wilson, the developer of my iPhone app, and I are trying to come up with a creative, fun and descriptive name for my 1st iPhone app, due out before the end of the year. We could use your help.

The app helps SLR and compact camera shooters turn their snapshots into great shots. It's like having a pro in your hip pocket.

The tips, with interactive before-and-after examples, can be used for making better iPhone pix, too. It's pretty much an A-Z guide.

We sure would appreciate your ideas. If we pick yours, I'll send you one of my books!

Please post your suggestion here.... so we can keep track of all the suggestions. We'd need your real name, too. :-)

Note: app names must be short and sweet.

If you see a suggestion you like, please let us know.

Thank you.

Explore the light,
Rick

Photo Expression Needed For the Young at Heart

One of my favorite t-shirts shows a guitar and has this phrase printed on it: If it's too loud, you're too old.

That got me thinking. Some photographers only like straight shots; they are against digital enhancements, most recently when it comes to HDR images, such as the one pictured here.

So I thought we need a photo expression along the lines of my t-shirt. However, I can't come up with one. If you have any ideas, fill in the blank and post your suggestion here.

If it's too _________, you're too old.

Thank you for playing along.

Explore the Light
Rick - who is turning 60 next year!

The Ray Flash Rocks

I just did an outdoor portrait session with my new Ray Flash, pictured here attached to my Canon 580EX II. Check out the soft and even light from this ringlite-like rig. Say that three times fast!

Basically, the device captures the light from your on-camera flash and sends it down a chute to a reflector that encircles your lens. Man o man, I should have thought of that! What a cool invention.

Anyway, if you are looking for ringlight-like lighting, and don't have the bucks to spend on a true ringlight (which costs big bucks) for portraiture, check out the Ray Flash. Note that there are difference models for different cameras.

Read all about it on the expoimaging web site.

For some tips on daylight fill flash, see this article I wrote for Outdoor Photographer magazine.

Explore the Light,
Rick
P.S. Yes, I warmed up the picture of the girl in Photoshop, using a Color Balance Adjustment Layer.

A Few Fun iPhone Photos, Please

Hi All

My iPhone app will be available in a few weeks! It is packed with photo how-to information, ideas - and more than 100 of my favorite tips and pictures for seeing, making, and editing pictures. There is even a section that features photo tips from A to Z.

Dr. Dave Wilson is the developer. Cool dude! (He also plays guitar, so we have that in common, too.)

I am looking for a few great iPhone photos to illustrate a section on my top photo tips. Here are the categories:

1) Be Aware of the Background

2) Camera Looks Both Ways

3) Create a Sense of Depth

4) Interesting Subjects Make Interesting Photographs

5) Make Pictures

6) Name of the Game It To Fill the Frame

7) See Eye to Eye

8) See the Light

9) Use Your Camera Like a Spaceship

10) When You Think You Are Close, Move in Closer

If you have a photo that illustrates one of these points, please email it to me at rick@dpexperience.com. That's the email address I have for the new podcast/website I started with Juan Pons. Send your photo questions for our podcast to that address, too.

Here is a direct link to the podcast. And here is a link to our new website.

If I use your photo, you'd get credit, of course! When you send your photo, please state that I have your permission to use it for the app.

Hey, I can't let you leave my Digital Photography Learning Center without learning anything. :-) Check out this link for my Top Ten Travel Tips.

Explore the light,
Rick

Works of Wisdom For Thanksgiving & A Lesson We Can Learn From Mother Nature

Happy Thanksgiving - and thank you for joining all the photo fun and photo learning here on my blog over the past six months or so.

And thanks for signing up for the new Digital Photo Experience podcast (co-host is Juan A. Pons), coming December 1st - or sooner if you can find us on iTunes :-)

You'll find lots to learn - and share - in both places in the future!

The Digital Photo Experience has a talented editorial team - which will be announced on Dec. 1st. The team - covering photography, video, iPhones, computers, industry news, etc. - reminds me of a favorite expression that applies to our lives and even to some species of animals - as illustrated by this photograph, which I took in Kenya. See! We can learn a lot from Mother Nature.

The expression:

The path to greatness is along with others.
Baltasar Gracion

That's a good thought to keep in mind if you want your business to grow - no matter what your business.

That expression is from an inspiration book I am working on. Here are a few quotes from that project. Enjoy - and Happy Holidays!

Rick

You don't drown by falling in water; you only drown if you stay there.
Zig Ziglar

Fear an ignorant man more than a lion.
Turkish Proverb

You never really know your friends from your enemies until the ice breaks.
Eskimo proverb

Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith.
Margaret Shepard

A tortoise travels only when it sticks out its neck.
Chinese proverb

Possible Cover Images For My HDR Book. Help Me Decide?

Hi All

Here are two images that are under consideration for the cover of my HDR book - due out early next year.

Which one do you like best - the obvious HDR shot (left) or the more natural-looking HDR shot? Could you do me a favor and let me know here?

You gotta try to imagine type placed over the images.

Here is an article I wrote on HDR for PCPhoto magazine. Enjoy.

I'll also be teaching HDR at Photoshop World in Orlando in March!n

Next week, I will have an HDR gallery on the Digital Photo Experience.

Explore the Light,
Rick

What's Old is New Again

Glub, Glub!

I just approved my recent ScanCafe order - my favorite underwater slides. Glub, Glub! I can't wait to use Photoshop and Lightroom to enhance my images.

Will be fun. Look ma, no more backscatter.

Hey! Here is an old article on underwater photography that you may enjoy. Good info on saving the reef, too. (Before writing about all this digital stuff, I wrote 7 underwater books! Dived in Lake Baikal, too!)

Check out ScanCafe, and check out my current ScanCafe Photo Contest.

Explore the Light,
Rick
P.S. Staying in the Underwater Hotel was cool!