Do you play music along the slideshow on your website? The chances are that you do, as many others, especially the wedding photographers. Those songs and tunes are subject of copyright and cannot be freely played or distributed to promote (marketing of) the photographer or his/her work. And this subject is covered in the article "Using Music On Your Site, Legally". And have I failed to mention that there are legal ways to do so? Well read on.

For some people who are just stepping on the path of photography it may not be that obvious what shooting modes to choose and what benefit it could bring to you. So they tend to be on the safe side and use Program Mode most of the time. But learn more about it in the post "Be a Control Freak (Shooting Modes Explained)" by Aaron Bieber.
Just to add my two cents to his explanation of the modes. When you use Av (Aperture priority) or Tv (Shutter priority) modes with a flash, the flash will be served as a fill-in light source, not the main light. Therefore the flash light will not overpower the ambient light and simply soften the shadows and may add nice catchlights in the eyes. Try to use this modes and flash in harsh sunlight - it helps

In the recent post at "Photo Business News & Forum" by John Harrington he points us to the latest data on salary of photographers. And speaks about how people value photography (most of the time they think they can do it themselves). Quite interesting I would say. At the link he provides you can see what the salary distribution is of a photographer for your city or region (zip code based). It seems in Washington DC (where I reside) the salary is slightly higher, and it is expected as for all major cities.
But I was thinking about the general trend of being a photographer and expectation of high salary. It seems that such a job is not quite what some people can expect. Of course, they accounted for all of the types of photographers, not only wedding photography, but photojournalism, portraiture, architecture and bunch of others. Though I wasn't able to find any results for a wedding photographer, which sometimes claimed to be one of the highest payed jobs out there (and for very little work).
Well, read more in the John's post.

It seems the bride and groom can insure the wedding, and the insurance will cover expenses even if there is something wrong with the wedding photographs (or if the wedding photographer disappeared).

Photography mishaps: Your wedding photos are supposed to provide a lifetime of memories, but what if they're all out of focus? Or the photographer simply disappears? Wedding insurance policies will cover the cost of reassembling your wedding party and re-taking the photos or videos.

So, may be it's a good idea to suggest such precaution to the bride? At least the wedding photographer could breathe a little better There is more in the news article "Insurance helps cover if wedding goes awry".

Jim Goldstein has put together a collection of stories behind the photographs (links to them). The photographs are taken and presented by various photographers, where they tell about the events and way they took the photographs. So, it's not only nice to see, by interesting to learn and read.
Since I have a few of such stories myself, I wanted to share them as well - just take a look at the blog category "Story Of A Photograph".

It's hard to believe! And I am not quite convinced that it is true - this painting is of such a great quality (photo quality). Judge yourself. Look at the image and tell me that it is not a photograph. I cannot, it's the first time I see a painting with such amazing details and tonal/color transitions. But there is proof that it is indeed a painting. Wow! I'm just speechless...

Swimming in the great sea called the Internet, I've found an island called "Lighting tip - 4 ways to bounce a flash". It tells you about the ways to get a nice soft lighting with your on-camera flash by bouncing it from the ceiling, walls and even people (what an interesting idea - I hope the guy wouldn't mind).
And to piggy back on this article, I would like to share a tip on getting nice catchlights in the eyes of your subjects. Some of the flashes have a built-in diffuser/reflector, which you can pull out of the flash head and clip on atop of the flash (see the picture above). Well, if you leave the diffuser in half-way position - perpendicular to the light plane and try to bounce the flash light off the ceiling, the diffuser will reflect some small amount of light (stronger than the bounced one) into the subject, and it will produce those nice catchlights that make the eyes so lively and lovely

At some point in time everyone of us is facing a need to publish the photographs on the web. Of course, there are plenty of solutions to do so. Some of us even develop their own way of presenting the photographs online. But if you have Adobe Lightroom - you have the means already. Yes, it has built in capability to publish photographs for web. Though you will be much better off with learning a few tips and tricks to make the publishing of flash gallery your way. Or may be you are brave enough to enter into unsupported Advanced Mode of Flash Gallery Settings

Check this out! In this blog post called "How To Win A Photography Contest" you will find not only the criteria and approach the [real] judges use to select a winner photograph, but as well you will see a few great photographs and will get a perspective on how to become a better photographer

You can display EXIF information the way you want it in the Lightroom.

In the Web Module there is a wonderful HTML template called EXIF Metadata, which displays beautifully crafted EXIF information in Bold under the image. Each new piece of information is situated on a new line and looks well formatted and neat. It includes things that people may not want visible however, e.g. the camera serial number.

Read the article "Formatting in the Text Template Editor for Web" at Lightroom News.

Following on the previous post about the aperture, there is another good read about lens related subject - "Things to Know When Buying a New Lens". It covers some known aspects to consider when you buy a new lens and some that may interest mostly a pro - number of aperture blades. Do you why it may be important? Read it to find out.

One of the basic settings of the lens is aperture, but the numbers and the science behind those sometimes eludes us. For those of us, who want to learn or refresh their memory the article "Digression #1" by Dave Read should cast some light on this mystery.
There you can learn what those "full stops" really mean and why increasing the distance between the light source and the subject affects the exposure twofold.

After listening to this podcast where the famous wedding photographer Joe Buissink tells about his approach and passion in wedding photography I would say that his vision coincides with mine. And all of us could learn how to become a better photographer (not a business man).

Joe Buissink talks about training your eye to capture decisive moments, keeping your equipment simple so that you always get the shot, and how to bring emotion to your photography.

In the article called "Improve Your Artistic Eye" written by two photographers: Richard Hamilton Smith & William Neill you will find a series of advices and techniques to poke into new things and try new compositions without fear of errors.

I got the following letter, without a way to send a response back:

Hello Sir
just been reading your great articles about wedding, superb I must say... I have my first wedding... in 3 months and I'm scared stiff... I'm being paid as the official photographer. I have a Canon 5D, 24-105, 70-200 is L USM and need advice for a wide angle x 2... one for my nik-d200... and my canon... and any other lenses i may need.. etc.. and what zoom for my nik d 200...

It seems he was reading my article "Wedding Photography - Lessons Learned". And the only way for me to respond is to post it in the Blog, hoping that the person will read it:

Good luck with the wedding. It's a very important day for you and the newly weds. And I will try to help you as much as I can. The only thing is I don't know much about Nikon equipment.
I would say that you made a good choice by buying Canon 5D and 24-105 with 70-200. Considering that the 5D has a full frame you will already have a wide angle at 24. I would say that for the first wedding these two lens are good to go. Although if you want to be covered in the wide angle range, I would recommend 16-35 f2.8 L - there is another good lens 17-40 f4 L, but it's not that wide, which will may prevent you from getting some shots in dim lit rooms and churches.

Regarding other choices for Canon and Nikon, you may find some answers here - "Spring 2007 Camera Recommendations" by Ken Rockwell.

And my advice to you is better get over the stiffness and fear. Consider that you've made your decision and you have to do the best you can. And I don't think that the bride and the groom do not trust your abilities, more likely their like you work and think that you will do just fine. I am not sure whether you read the other article I wrote "Spirit of Wedding Photographer" . Hopefully it will relieve some of your worries and make your job easier.

Meanwhile, I wouldn't be that concerned about the equipment. You've got the right one that can do the job. I would recommend to learn the equipment, so you can concentrate on the wedding day. You have to be quite confident in how you operate the gear - what buttons to press to get the right setting and so on. You don;t have to worry about how much room is left on your flash card, because you have another one, empty and ready to be used. You see, such small details will help you flow through the day and the assignment, instead of constantly worrying about and overcoming the obstacles. You have to free your mind as much as possible - and focus on the wedding, on the people and situations. Then you cannot fail

Well, I hope this helps.

Good luck

If you are developing your own website and are struggling with browser compatibility, various presentation issues and simply learning Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) then you may be interested in the list of "70 Expert Ideas For Better CSS Coding" or in "53 CSS-Techniques You Couldn’t Live Without".

I encourage you to read the article "How to Get Great Colors" by Ken Rockwell, where he stresses the importance of those 60 seconds during the day when you get the greatest light and colors. Art requires sacrifices, and that's not unusual for photographer miss his sleep to get at the location well before the sunset to set up the equipment and take those precious photographs that make his day. Read more about in his article.

I'd like to introduce one more photographer that I admire - Nina Larsen. Just by looking at her website and the photographs, you would see that her name will not be lost among others. What fascinates me most about her work is the Droplets (see Gallery section) - this is true Macro Art
You may want to see her page with recent work at DevianArts.com.

You may want to shuffle through the photographs created by Florian Schneider. He is one of the people we would like to look up to and learn from.

Safari is probably one of the best trips you can think of. And considering the exotic views and abundance of photo opportunities it is photographer's heaven. Well, at least it is what I have in mind And whenever my budget will coincide with my longing and other small details of my life I will do it! Meanwhile, I am still dreaming.
But there were a few guys and gals who actually have not only been there but have the experience and know what to choose in terms of safari trips.
Jim L Griggs is one of them and he is generously shares his view on the Photo Safari trip - where to go, what to look for and such.

Seconds form minutes and hours. Every second counts, especially when you do so many routine operations while working with Photoshop. That's why you may want to consider a tune up that will give your tool a boost. Read the post "Optimizing the performance of Adobe Photoshop CS3" where Jim Kidwell at Manage This blog points us to Adobe web pages with the right settings.

Photoshop seems to be a bottomless pit of various features, shortcuts and possibilities. The list of "101 Hidden Tips & Secrets For Photoshop" proves it once more. Read the article to find out faster ways to achieve your goals and complete routine tasks.

Some cool effects are possible when you play with your flash and slow shutter speed. The article named "Slow Sync Flash" posted at Digital Photography School expands on the topic of long exposure, which I covered in one of my tutorials - "Long Exposure".

The peaceful beauty of landscapes and mountain vistas is conveyed in the photographs made by Guy Tal. Take a moment of your life and enjoy.

Don't forget to visit the page with the articles written by the author.

You may appreciate the abstract photographs created by Ciro Totku - a different look at the world around us. No that many people can see what others don't. And Ciro is one of them, that's what I like about photography - exploration of usual to find unusual

PopPhoto runs an article about a very unusual approach of a magazine to publish celebrities photographs - Look Ma, No Photoshop. It's not a secret anymore that magazines don't publish a photograph (especially on the cover) without some [...times] heavy retouching. But People magazine decided to try and play fair - everything is done in camera, no Photoshop tricks. And no makeup either!
How is it possible? Well, read more about the beautification techniques, such as long exposure, overexposure, shallow depth of field and more...