Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Posted by Bart
There will already be lots of discussion about this out there on the big bad internet...but for my 2c...
I purchased Apple Aperture 2 a while back but never really used it, much preferring Adobe Lightroom 2. When Aperture 3 was released it answered many of the questions I had that was stopping me from using it. Since then I have been using Aperture 3 and even started re-arranging my photo library to suit. But then Lightroom 3 beta came out and just recently beta 2 of Lightroom 3 and I have made the decision to sell off my Aperture licence for good.
I liked Aperture...I liked the integrated book printing and many other things....but for me Lightroom does them so much better (except the book printing).
There was once a time when a photographer could just have a system and be used to it but these days things change so fast it's sometimes hard to keep up.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Posted by Bart
Every photographer worth their salt will have a screen calibrator of some sort. Even the cheapest type is better than none at all because our eyes and brains are designed to deceive us, something that can be easily demonstrated. So we need to get our screens representing colour as accurately as possible if w are to have any hope of having the image not only look good but look the same as it did on the screen when it's printed.
Most people though don't have a colour calibrator and simply use their monitors with whatever setting it came with out of the box. This is perfectly fine for most tasks but it means that when you look at a photo either on Flickr or some photographer website you are not really seeing the same thing as the photographer has created. The only real way to do this (apart from breaking into the photographers house and stealing their computer) is to the the photo printed and displayed as it should.
Moral of the story...if the photos look good on the web, they will look even better printed and hung on the wall.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Posted by Bart
A recent post on Photo Business News & Forum (blog by John Harrington) on the costs of photography explained with one helpful commenter following the breadcrumbs back to the original article, linked here http://www.caughtonfilmphoto.com/costofphotography.html
While those blogs are written from a US point of view, the same holds true here in Australia. The point being that there is so much more than the press of a button when delivering a final image to the client.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Posted by Bart
Specifically, photos.
I've moved to a site that offers Australian dollars and payment with credit card or paypal. I have a couple of client galleries there at the moment as well as some panoramic landscapes here
at my PhotoMerchant site.
At the moment it's a self fulfilment process which means all that happens is I get a list of images to be printed. That's vastly better than the lo-fi method of clients going though a list of images, writing down the name and emailing the list to me....not to mention getting payment. As far as shoppers are concerned it works like any other e-commerce site and that's a good thing. The site is fairly new and automatic fulfilment is in the pipeline.
Feel free do drop a line and let me know what you think.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Posted by Bart
A while ago I had a message on my site that there would be some disruption while I moved galleries to another host. That particular host wasn't ideal but it had a really nice user interface for displaying galleries to clients. Two things have meant I will have to move the galleries again :(
1) Lack of ordering in AUD. I could have set up purchasing which would free me from needing to fulfil orders myself, a process that is both time consuming and prone to errors, but the site would only accept USD. Not ideal and a turn off for clients, thus I was using them for hosting only. Recent communication indicates that not only are they not working on non-US currency's but won't be for the foreseeable future.
2) An Australian focused image gallery with print ordering system and accounting tools has become operational to the point of exceeding the options provided by my current host. This means beautiful galleries for clients and ability to order prints directly with a credit card or paypal.
So....without further ado, I move the galleries once again (and hopefully for the last time for a while). Clients past, present and future will be notified of gallery location as they are loaded up.
Thanks for patience and understanding.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Posted by Bart
As promised, an image from Norfolk Island
I'll be adding to it as I go through and process the files.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Posted by Bart
Spent the afternoon shooting with
Robin Nisbet on Norfolk Island. Wonderful guy and even if he thought I already knew my stuff I still learn't a thing or two...if nothing else it was a good change to take some great photos. Will publish a photo or two when I'm back on the mainland and have gone through all the images.
Such a photogenic island and so close and accessible to Australians.
