ser·en·dip·i·ty [ser-uhn-dip-i-tee]
n. pl. ser·en·dip·i·ties
the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way: a fortunate stroke of serendipity | a series of small serendipities.

I had just written to Britt Stokes to comment upon the Lensbaby article that he had written and his response was to inform me that he had just dropped my name to the Marketing Manager of the Lensbaby company to suggest that I might enjoy reviewing one of their specialty lenses. He knew me too well; of course I would enjoy it.

One thing led to another and a few days later a well-packed box arrived with review copies of their Fisheye and Control Freak lenses for me to examine. Lensbaby lens can be had in Nikon or Canon mounts as well as Sony, Pentax and 4/3’s mount mounts, and Britt had already informed the company that I am a Nikon user and so it was a Nikon mount Control Freak that I unpacked.

Britt has already covered other versions of the Lensbaby lens so let’s take a look in the following picture of the Control Freak where I’ve attached it to a D300 Nikon. The most distinctive visual characteristic that first grabs your eye when you look at the Control Freak is the three-point threaded arrangement that allows you to tilt the lens plane angular to the normal lens plane that is usually parallel to the film plane (or in this case the image chip plane) of the camera. Tightening any one or two of these rods allows a precisely controlled tilt‚ which in turn shifts some items in or out of focus even when they should have been controlled by the depth of field of the lens. This is about to make controlling what is in focus very specialized.

This is primarily a close-up or Macro lens and as such will usually be on a tripod or some other type of camera support. This is not a hand-held lens. The lens when fully extended is focused about eighteen inches from the front of the lens itself. Using your fingers to reach forward to the Control Freak lens ring as you look through the camera allows you to pull the lens length backwards or push it forward either of which moves the focus point. It’s tricky the first time you try to decide where the lens is focused and I resorted to using a copy stand with a precise vertical movement to let me “play” with focusing the lens to get the feel of it. Once you’re close to the point you want, pushing a button on the lens ring allows it to snap to a locked position which relieves your fingers of trying to hold the thin depth of field‚Äîthin, I say, because at this stage the lens is an f2 close up lens and you are looking through it with the absolute minimum focal depth available. Once the lens is roughly focused, the lens ring can be rotated to find the “sweet spot” of focus as the lens moves fractionally in depth of field as the element rotates.

If you’ve reached the age of trifocal glasses as I have, I found the use of a focusing rail or the vertical adjustment of a copy stand of great value in getting both the focus area I wanted and the subject position that I wanted. But below is a view of the Control Freak attached, and I about to play with it.

Here’s a side view of the Control Freak where you can more easily see the bellows arrangement that allows the lens element to move both in and out relative to the camera body and to tilt at angles relative to the film plane. The bellows is extremely flexible and the threaded adjustment screws allow precise positioning of the lens element relative to the camera.

You are not limited to f2 because seven aperture disks (f2.8; f4; f5.6, f8; f11, f16, and f22) are supplied with the Control Freak. Each of these thin metal disks is appropriately marked with the aperture number it represents. The disks on arrival are stacked inside the body of a small magentic tool. The tool has a removable tip to allow the magnet full power, and since each disk is metal it is a simple matter of picking up the disk with the magnet and inserting it onto the front element of the Control Freak where three other small magnets hold it in place even if you are pointing the lens straight down. To remove the disk it is a simple matter of using the tool point to “tease” the aperture disk lost on one side, and pick it off with your fingers. The magnets in the Control Freak keep the disk from escaping as you remove it.

As you would expect, putting on the smaller apertures (f8, f11, f16, and f22) limits greatly the amount of light reaching the camera viewfinder as you are essentially using a “stop down” system just as though you had used the stop-down button or lever on your camera body. Focussing first at f2 and then placing on an aperture disk seemed to work best, and as I was playing with what I wanted in and out of focus I set up the camera to shoot tethered so as to immediately see the resuts of shifting the focus plane. Using magnification of the LED screen on the camera was suitable as well but always required me to shift those trifocals a bit and I found tethering to be less bother.

So, what did I photograph with the Control Freak? The short answer is “quite a few fun things, and several serious ones.” It happened that a small commerical job was available where I was photographing for insurance purposes several collections of guns, knives, and silver. For example, in order to extablish each knife’s authenticity it was necessary to photograph the “strike” where the logo or manufacturing mark is imprinted on the hand-made knife (first picture). Other photographs with deep depth of field and crisp focus would show the condition of both the front and alternate sides, as well as full-views of the knife and sheath, but the “strike” was intended to be emphasized in one picture. To do this I used the tilt on the Control Freak to throw the blade and handle out of focus (second picture)

Below you see the out of focus (OOF) of the knife blade, sheath and knife handle. Above you see the close-up in focus view of the maker’s mark.

Before the arrival of the Control Freak I had anticipated using an editing program and producing a blurred vignette to throw the edges of the subject matter out of focus for each picture of the “strike,” but using the Control Freak it was easy to get it in one shot without post-production work being necessary.

Exposure was simple; the instruction booklet suggested that I use manual exposure and suggested that Aperture exposure might also work. In the case of my Nikon D300 I found no difference between using manual exposure and Aperture exposure, and I ended up using Aperture exposure on all my shots.

Check out the complete line of Lensbaby lenses including the Control Freak at Lensbaby.com. The Control Freak has a MSRP of $350.00 and is available from all major photographic retailers such as B&H, Adorama, etc.

There are two basic types of fisheye lenses, circular and full-frame. The full-frame lens covers the full 35mm or FX sensor size frame with image – no cut-off corners. The circular fisheye is designed to project a circular image slightly smaller than the height of a 35mm or FX sensor, with vignetted corners. The second type is now available for your Lensbaby Composer (or any of the other Lensbaby models that accept the optic swap system with a special adapter).

I recently obtained a Fisheye Optic from Lensbaby to use in my Lensbaby Composer. It installs like any other optic, and creates a whole new perspective on “wide angle” photography. The lens is complete with a set of apertures (the front element screws off for insertion of the aperture disks), a carry bubble which serves as a installation/removal wrench, and a nice soft cloth to dust off the front element.

(Read my 3 Part Review of Lensbaby Composer here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 : Read my review of Lensbaby Soft Focus)

When I first opened the package, I was immediately impressed with the build quality of the Fisheye Optic. It feels very solid in your hand when you are installing it. Nice construction and finish.

12mm is pretty wide. That’s how long the focal length of the Fisheye optic is… the coverage is 160 degrees in the field of view. That’s close to everything you can see (although with our peripheral vision, we can’t focus on anything close to that width). Focus is on the body of the Composer, and of course, shifting the lens to skew the image works just as well on the Fisheye optic as others. You can close-focus down to an amazing 1/2 inch! The f/4 speed of the lens without a disk in place is great for low-light shots. Use a supplied aperture to stop down to f/22 for everything from inches to infinity in focus.

Image tend to be very graphic. If your images aren’t graphic enough, you aren’t close enough. Filling the frame really means getting close if you are shooting, say, a flower. Think inches here.

So, why use a fisheye? Huge field of view, of course, so vistas with sunsets and landscape photos take on a whole new look. I know a photographer who used a fisheye lens to shoot airplane interiors – the inside was already circular, so the distortion of a circular fisheye was barely noticeable to the viewer. Need to shoot an environmental portrait of a person behind their desk with all their clutter around? Here’s a choice lens to do that shot. Want to make images that look like the IMAX theater? Use a fisheye. Portraits, like the dog shot mentioned earlier, can take on a very humorous look.

Here are some of my images from a recent trip to Mexico. I tried a few images wide open, but settled on f/8 for all the images published here.

If these fisheye lens shots inspire you, look up the Lensbaby Fisheye Optic at Lensbaby’s website and get one ordered for yourself today!

My 3 part review of the Lensbaby Composer can be found here… Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3. I tested this new Soft Focus lens element with the Lensbaby Composer that is always in my camera bag.

I got my first soft focus lens in the early 1980’s, a Sima Soft Focus 100mm f/2 lens. It came with three aperture disks (f/4, f/5.6 and f/8) that you could install as desired. I played with the idea of creating a Imagon-style aperture disk for the Sima, but I never got around to it. Craig Strong played with the idea, and built the Soft Focus element for the Lensbaby line. No “woulda, shoulda, coulda” for Craig… he just does it.

When I opened the box of the new Lensbaby Soft Focus, I was immediately struck by the weight of the element. That made me take a closer look. The fit and finish of this optic is beautiful, looking far more like its Rodenstock large format predecessor than a lens crafted for an SLR. Smooth black coating on the barrel, the name written clearly on the side of the lens barrel, and as always, a color coded band. The nicely made clear plastic storage case that houses the element looks like a smaller version of the lens storage case from Nikon some 30-40 years ago. The black plastic bottom of the clear plastic storage case acts as a wrench to change optics in the lens housing. You can carry a Lensbaby Composer and three elements in their cases in about the area required for a large zoom lens… not bad for the amazing range of imaging possible.

Technical specs are as follows… the Soft Focus optic is 50mm in focal length (read that as a short telephoto on a 2/3 frame digital SLR, or a “normal” lens on a full-frame DSLR or 35mm film camera). It is multicoated for best performance, and wide open (no aperture) it is a fast f/2. The Soft Focus element comes with a lot of apertures! There are three Imagon-style aperture disks… multiple holes surrounding a central hole. They are not marked, but are detailed in the manual as to their f/stop equivalents. A trick that I use on my Nikon D3 is to make a custom non-cpu lens setting with the aperture number… so that when I see the f/stop is f/4.8 (for example) in the image metadata, I know which aperture disk I was using. The optic also comes with a full set of apertures, allowing shooting at various amounts of softness down to f/22 (minimum aperture disk).

I think the photos speak for themselves. The multiple hole aperture disks produce a silky smooth image with enough detail to be interesting, but not so much as to distract. On a digital SLR, you can make portraits that look as nice as images shot with the Imagon… without lugging a view camera and shooting large format film in the field. To me, this is a no-brainer!

Visit Lensbaby.com to find out more, and order your own.

I got an interesting e-mail today… a promotion e-mail from an architectural photographer named Dan Poyourow (www.danpoyourow.com).

Dan is based in Maryland, and his work is well worth looking at. At the bottom of his e-mail, he included this tidbit…

“Photography thought for the week:

Contrary to what some creatives may tell you; shooting digital and reading a book on Adobe Photoshop does not make someone a professional photographer. There is still no substitute for experience, proper lighting techniques, good composition and all the other skills pro photographers use/used when shooting film. Digital is simply a new way to record the image; not an end in itself.”

This simple statement really struck a cord with me. This year, I have lost freelance jobs to photographers with much less experience than I have. I lost the jobs based on my price, which I feel is quite reasonable. I’ve been shooting professionally for about 25 years now, and when a client tells me that they found someone to do the job cheaper, I simply smile and tell them that I hope they are happy with the results. I even wish them luck. I also tell them to keep me in mind if it doesn’t work out for them. This has worked out pretty well for me in the past, I seem to get the clients back somehow.

All experienced photographers are basically visual problem solvers. It takes varying years of practice and numerous failures along the way to get really good at imaging. I think it was terrific to learn the mindset of working with transparency film. I’m all for young photographers making their mark on the world, and I’ve mentored several who are working in the industry across the country. I wonder what the result will be of a generation of photographers shooting without the background of film and the many associated problems of working with it will be?

For working pros to lower their price in tough times is very tempting. So far, I’m resisting the urge. I think it hurts me in the long run to cut my price. OK, it hurts me in the short term not to cut my price, but at this point I can live with it. The digital era has made photography much more competitive. I think the best photographers will solve this era’s problems and keep on shooting.

Thanks, Dan, for the thought-provoking start to my rambling!

People of Blue-Green Water

Havasu Creek gets its name from the Native-American tribe that’s inhabited the land for hundreds of years. The word Havasu means ‘blue-green water’ and Havasupai means ‘people of blue-green water.’ The water gets its unique, tropical color from various minerals found in the water that are deposited much higher up before it heads into the canyon. Because of the amount of minerals found in the water, the creek erodes its surroundings much faster than traditional spring water. In its wake it leaves travertine deposits all along its path whether it borders pools or adds to the drama on the cliffs that the waterfalls pour over.

Turquoise Water & Red Canyon Walls

Havasu Falls is definitely the most recognizable and visited of the falls, achieving the status of being one of the most photographed waterfalls in the world, despite requiring a 10-mile backpacking trip in. It’s a 100-foot spectacle with cascading pools at its base, the turquoise water creating an unparalleled beauty contrasting against the red canyon walls. With the water at a year-round temperature in the upper 60s, it can be a bit chilly at first, but warm enough to get used to, which people are quick to take advantage of in this desert oasis.

Following the downstream from Havasu Falls is the Havasupai Campground. For roughly one mile along the creek is a primitive campground where you’re completely free to set up your tent anywhere. Whether you want to be right next to the water or up against the canyon cliffs, there’s always space available, even in the busiest time of the year — the spring season.

Mooney Falls

Just beyond the campground is Mooney Falls. While not as widely recognized as its counterpart just upstream, Mooney Falls is certainly just as, if not more dramatic than Havasu Falls. Mooney Falls pours over an immense 200-foot cliff into an even deeper part of the canyon. To reach the bottom, a hike down the cliff is required. This is definitely not a hike for anyone with a fear of heights. Mist from the falls dampens the cliffs that you’re scaling down adding to the intensity of climbing down. After climbing through a couple of steep tunnels, there are a couple of ladders that descend straight down before reaching the floor where you can stand in amazement at the turquoise waters falling 200 feet into a large pool at your feet.

An optional day trip involves going about three miles downstream from Mooney Falls to a small set of cascading falls called Beaver Falls. Beaver Falls cascades down 30 feet of smaller cliffs just outside the Grand Canyon National Park boundary. The hike there brings you through natural grapevines, up and down steep, sandstone cliffs and even through an almost tropical grove where you think almost for a few seconds, that you’ve accidentally stepped into Hawaii.

Changing Landscape

Photographing these amazing treasures in a new way can be difficult. Roughly every ten years a catastrophic flood winds up completely changing the landscape, so you could always wait for that and then be the first there afterward. That’s not very practical, however, and so you might want a better tactic. The waterfalls of Havasupai are very high on peoples’ bucket lists and thus, receive a lot of attention. They appear in magazines all the time, making photos of the falls with people in them in high demand as well. It’s very tempting when seeing a sight like this to get it in its purest and undisturbed form, leaving people out of every frame. The downside to this, though, is that it’s extremely difficult to accurately capture a sense of scale of the grandness of the falls. Having a person or a few people in there can help to capture the drama and scale of the falls.

Also keep in mind that while Havasu Falls may be one of the most photographed waterfalls in the world, easily 99% of those shots are taken in the middle of the day. Try a different time of day, or even not during the day at all! One of my most successful shots was capturing Havasu Falls after dark. It’s something nobody had ever seen, a fact I was just as surprised to discover.

Photographing the falls is a great reason to spend more than one night down there. It’s almost impossible to not want to get the pristine, natural shots upon first seeing the falls because of the impact of seeing them for the first time. Once you’ve let it all sink in though by the end of that second day, then your creativity can begin to flow. You start to see people as helping the scene out rather than interfering. You’ve most likely already captured the quintessential shots during the day, so you’re a bit more ambitious in capturing more unique shots. Both of my trips were for two nights and it was a perfect getaway to a land that still ranks as one of my favorite places on Earth. There’s literally nothing like it anywhere!

Mike Cavaroc shoots with a Canon 5d.

“I love (the 5D) but I’m also going to upgrade to a 7D soon.”

First, this conversion by Isaac Szabo uses an excellent filter (the infrared filter replaces the high-pass filter over the sensor inside the camera). The infrared images are wonderful, far better than any I got with my previously converted SLR. There is more color in evident in some of the images. With Isaac’s provided Photoshop action, the red and blue channels are swapped making very interesting images that retain the infrared look, but with more conventional looking skies in many cases. The action also has provided an excellent black and white conversion as well, you just have to activate the layer.

Skin tones are rendered very nicely. I shot a lot of candid portraits that look great. I shot most of my images at ISO 200 and got hand-holdable exposures, where I almost always had to shoot at ISO 500 to ISO 800 on my old conversion. The D200 has great characteristics to start with, and its current price point on the used market makes it a perfect infrared conversion choice… 10 megapixels makes a great 13×19 or larger print!

I recommend Isaac’s conversion… look at my images, and the images on his website. Then, decide which camera you want to convert, and start making infrared images!

Want to see these images bigger?  Click here. Its worth the bandwidth…

An initially unintended consequence of the digital photography revolution was that many digital sensors were very sensitive to infrared, to the point manufacturers put a filter over the sensor to block infrared light. With that filter removed and an infrared-passing filter put in its place, a new world was opened to digital photographers.

One of the main problems with doing infrared film photography was that there was no way to meter the level of infrared in a given scene. Exposure was a series of trials and errors (mostly errors for me). Many photographers bracketed exposures heavily, over and under exposing frames around what they thought was the proper exposure. There were a lot of other problems with infrared film that just made it difficult to work with. Handling was only in total darkness, the film was very heat sensitive, and it was very easy to fog the film.

I first became aware of digital infrared around the year 2000, at a workshop on Photoshop. The lecturer displayed a few images in their presentation that had been shot with a Minolta DiMage 7 camera. I was intrigued. I immediately bought a DiMage 7 and a deep infrared filter, and started on the road to digital infrared. One thing that immediately struck me was that I could see the infrared image – no more guessing if I got the exposure right. No more shooting six stop brackets to insure a good exposure. No more wondering how the scene will look – if the model’s clothing will render the way the eye sees it or not. Wow!

Fast forward 10 years. I’ve been shooting a converted Nikon D100 for over 5 years now. I had a showing in 2008 of my infrared work at Angelina College. The infrared world has been very good… but now, I wanted more. More megapixels, and with the now greater selection of infrared filters available for camera conversions, greater variance on infrared vs. visible light captured, and more color.

Yep, color. The only way previous to digital to do color, or “false color” infrared, was to shoot one of Kodak’s emulsions like Kodak EIR Ektachrome Infrared. Green plants turn shades of red, and Caucasian skin tones turn shades of yellow. Images with this film were stunning… but you still had the problems of difficulty in handling and exposure. With the current crop of sensors and filters, some rendering of color is found in the images captured.

I recently had a second camera converted to infrared by Isaac Szabo, a Fayetteville, Arkansas photographer (http://www.isaacszabophotography.com/). Isaac shoots a wide variety of photographic subjects, and does all of them well. His infrared work is great. I found him while doing an eBay search for “infrared conversion” – I was pleasantly surprised to see his price for a conversion. So after thinking about it for a few moments, I clicked “buy it now” and shipped Isaac my Nikon D200 body.

Not only did the camera get converted, but Isaac set the focus for the lens I supplied with the body. Infrared light focuses at a slightly different distance from the lens than visible light, so this can make some real difference.

My D200 came back converted in about 10 days. I opened the package and immediately shot an image through the window of my office. I was pleasantly surprised to find that at ISO 100, I was able to get a hand-holdable shutter speed. Surprised because my converted D100 would have had to be on ISO 400 or ISO 800 to get the same image. I took the camera to lunch that day (it didn’t eat much…) and shot a palm tree in front of a restaurant… and was again pleasantly surprised. There were shades of color in the obviously infrared image. Back at the studio, I opened the image in Photoshop, and ran Isaac’s action (I forgot to mention that Isaac provides this action and instructions to customers who purchase a conversion) to switch the red and blue channels. The result was stunning… blue sky in an infrared image.

If this sounds like it is for you, check out eBay… do a search for “infrared conversion” and look for the infrared photo of the lone tree  – the auction will be titled “Infrared IR Conversion Service for Digital Cameras” and is currently priced at $200.  (or click on the image of the ebay listing)

And, look for a follow-up article in a few weeks – I plan on shooting my newly converted D200 heavily on an upcoming trip to Mexico.

I was doing my level best to get nothing done yesterday. As I was gleefully stumbling away I came across A.Pic.Co.Tv’s Art blog’s post Picasso’s Light Graffiti published by Life Magazine. So I had to ask, seeing as I am definitely photographically challenged, how was this done? I emailed my esteemed colleagues…

Britt Stokes, boy genius, responded in a split second.

He opened the lens in a relatively dark room, drew with a flashlight, then a flash was fired at the end of the exposure to record him in his final position.

Our publisher, Dr. Michael Roach, emailed:

In a fully dark room Picasso drew the bull(centuar) with a small flashlight facing the camera which had its lens fully open on a tripod,  and just at the end of the move the photographer (Gjon Mili I believe) fired the off camera flash that was at the left of the camera.  The flash was fired by a manual button instead of using the synch on the camera.  Neat huh?

Makes perfect sense.
I’m glad I asked.

(Ask The Photographers #1? Had to do with camera choices for a wedding photographer…)

Image Credit & Copyright: Pablo Picasso’s Flashlight Centaur
Photo: Gjon Mili/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  1949

Ok photogs… what is the best DSLR to buy for starting out as a wedding photographer? Googling this made my head explode.

We have a distinguished group of working photographers associated with DigitalAppleJuice, so  I emailed our band of merry  with this question.

Van Redin (Stills Photographer for the movie industry) said:

Hi Madbadcat
It depends on how much you can spend.
As usual you get what you pay for!
If you want the best and can afford it,
the Nikon D3x is as good as they get.
$8,000.
One step down is the Nikon D3.
$5,000.
If you want a really good camera while paying less the D700 is still a full size sensor and around $2700.
A good model which is not a full size sensor and also does HD video is the Nikon D90 or the D5000.
For my money if I was starting out I would try and get the D700 if I could afford it.
All can be found @ www.Nikon.com
Hope this helps!
Van

Read Van’s resume on IMDB.
Visit Van’s Website.
Read Van’s Articles.

Britt Stokes (Architectural Photographer) said:

For my money, I would get the Nikon D700. If I was a Canon shooter, I would get the EOS 5D Mark III.

Britt

Britt’s Infrared Photography.
Read Britt’s Articles.

I’ll post more as they write back.

I gravitate towards that word “disciplined” because I am an analytical and systematic individual. My trusty Mac computer dictionary provided the following:

With that in mind, I have to add I also like insights into the actual step-by-step thoughts in the designing process for a photographer, and I look for good illustrations and well-written tutorials done by an enthusiastic photographer. All of these are well covered in Build A Better Photograph: A Disciplined Approach to Creativity. Add a DVD with additional images, 360 degree panoramas of studio shots in progress, some short videos of photographic sessions, references, and tutorials and you have a concise and worthwhile package.

Mr. Stern writes in an easy-going style that makes the reader feel that they are in the presence of an out-going teacher who enjoys sharing his techniques and learning experiences‚ both the good and the bad‚ and he is not ashamed to admit to mistakes made in that they provide part of the lessons learned that he would share with the student. It is no wonder that he has had a wide and varied teaching career in addition to his studio work. Among the places that he has taught are Los Angeles Trade Technical College, Art Center College of Design, Glendale Community College, Burbank Unified School District, Julia Dean Photographic Workshops, Studio Arts, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, and Brooks Institute.

Mr. Stern’s professional career involves some seventeen years working for the Disney Studios, extensive architectural, product, and portrait photography. He cites a deeply committed relationship to Adobe Photoshop and its importance to the digital studio of today.

Build A Better Photograph: A Disciplined Approach To Creativity (ISBN: 978-1-933952-18-5, US $34.95 CAN $41.95) covers four major areas.

The first is environmental portraiture, and in it he delves deeply into the process of designing the portrait and how to load the image’s environment with telling clues that give insight to the depth of the personality of the subject. Along with that he gives serious tips about controlling and predicting color output. Workflows on the computer with an emphasis on organization (remember that word “Disciplined” in the book title?) are considered in depth as well.

The second major area that Mr. Stern discusses is involved in compositing techniques using the computer and Adobe Photoshop. How to light and shoot a myriad of different images and to bring them together in a final composite is painsakingly described with a variety of tutorial screen shots showing the multiple layers and layer masks necessary to produce the final image result.

The third area that is discussed gives lessons on using the scanner in place of the camera and takes a trip into personal style and creativity. It attempts to open up the student to looking at shape and form in the small world in order to sharpen the student’s design skills and to realize that not all images have to come via the camera lens.

The final section of the book looks at product photography and how to light a product in such a way that it is easy to vary background and key colors and to composite separate product images into final images.

Throughout the entire book several ideas continue to travel side by side with the craft and techniques of both photography and Adobe Photoshop as skills. One of those ideas is that the photographer must sell himself or herself continually to the client. This is necessary because there are many photographers who are skillful as photographers but who do not maintain a pleasant working relationship with the client. The job of the photographer is to satisfy the client with both the product and a pleasant personal working relationship. A photographer walks a thin line as he or she trys to promote their own ideas and creativity, and at the same time to deal with the preconceived ideas that the client may bring to the conference table. Satisfying the client in part means that the client must feel that they have contributed to the design concept greatly even if the photographer has promoted his or her own creative design successfully. Each photographer must know when to listen and when to speak (and how to do it tactfully) as the photographer and client come to terms with the final design.

Dealt with indirectly, but explained well, is the difficulty in dealing with the chain of command in large organizations. The filtering process between the ultimate client in the chain and the photographer is a delicate one because each individual in the chain of command feels the necessity of placing their own mark on the final product‚ else they cannot justify their own position in the hierachy. Putting it bluntly, this is hell on the creative process and can lead to difficulties.

I found Build A Better Photograph: A Disciplined Approach To Creativity a good read; it will provide a great deal of insight to the creative process and the day-to-day managerial skills and personality  necessary. Definitely a must read for the aspiring photographer who feels that mastering photographic and computer skills are all there is to the photography business.

His book has been published by Rocky Nook Press. Their books are printed on acid-free paper and the color in their books will survive long after the technical skills described in each volume will be replaced by the advances in our technology. Sometimes we get so caught up in the latest information that we forget how we receive that information. The “how” in this case is also important and should be acknowledged.

Build A Better Photograph: A Disciplined Approach To Creativity
by Michael E. Stern
ISBN: 978-1-933952-18-5
US $34.95 CAN $41.95

Michael Stern around the web:
His website CyberStern.com
His blog is  DigitalBeast.Wordpress.com
Find some excellent tutorials are at  SlideShare.net/Mr_Pixel
Michael Stern at The Brooks Insititute