BetterPhoto Jim

Latte and Her Lion Cut

Few people know that I am a major animal lover. In particular, I love pets (except for the fact that they often destroy one's furniture). I have had several cats and dogs in my life. Currently I have a bird - a female cockatiel named Duncan and a Himalayan  cat (named Latte because she is colored like the drink which is so prevalent where I live).

Yesterday I took Latte in for a hair cut, to both help her stay cool during the summer and ease her discomfort caused by matted fur. I wanted to share the following Before and After photos so you too can enjoy her new "lion cut":

Before

After

When photographing the After version just a few minutes ago, I noticed that her face was very dark. A common problem. To remedy this, I attached my external flash unit and a Gary Fong Lightsphere II Inverted Dome Diffusor to soften the otherwise harsh flash. As you can see in this resulting photo, this is a winning combination of accessories.

 

Have a great week!

We Have a Winner - the Quickest Keyworder!

We recently wrapped up our first Quick Keyworder challenge and the winner is... drumroll, drumroll...

Crystal L. Craig!

With almost 500,000 points, Crystal is our first champion. She started early, keyworded her way to the top of the list and stayed there for the duration. Way to go!

Crystal wins 50% off an online photography course or BetterPholio Deluxe Web Site!

Our next award ceremony will be held on August 1st, 2008. If you would like your own 50% off discount on a course or Web site, we invite you to take the challenge! Note that this game is only available to those with a Premium, Deluxe, Pro BetterPholio, or student alumni.

If you are a BetterPhoto member with a BetterPholio photo gallery or web site or a course under your belt, sign into your BetterPhoto Member Center and click on the Quick Keyworder link. You'll see how fun and addicting this game can be.

Enjoy! 

Recent Photography Around My Home

As I work from home today, wearing noise-cancelling headphones while my house gets pressure-washed, I can't help but feel grateful. This week has been a fantastic week for photography in the Pacific Northwest! Just what we photographers hope for - frequent showers, cloudy days, with the occasional dance of special light. I love it here.

Let me share a few photos with you. First, my favorite... a close up flower photo, shooting through the yellow of a sunflower. Although the iris are blooming (the tulips are almost all gone), I shot cut flowers from the store for this photo:

In a rare moment of clear skies, we had to decide between photographing the sunset from above the falls or photographing the falls illuminated by the final rays of the day. Boy, am I glad we opted for the latter. This last light colored the Salish Lodge perched above Snoqualmie Falls with such an amazing warm firelight glow. This is the second-fullest I have ever seen the falls. This is a beautiful place to photograph if you ever get a chance to visit this area east of Seattle.

And this final image was photographed in the first light of the day at a nearby golf course, before the traffic of the day started travelling through. No, I did not make those footprints (but I certainly would have, if the original passerby did not do it for me).

Have a great week photographing wherever you happen to live. Spring/Summer is a wonderful time to shoot. Drop me a line when you upload images to share :)

Thanks,
Jim

Recent Outting to Seattle

Hello friends,

Denise and I recently escaped to Seattle's Pike Place Market for an overnighter. It was fantastic! We feel like we discovered a new form of travel. Instead of spending 5-10 hours getting somewhere distant, we felt like we were "on vacation" as soon as we pulled out of the driveway. You can probably tell it's been a while since we felt able to get away.

We enjoyed photographing the Market and the surrounding Seattle city scenes. But a few of my favorite images are less about place than subject. They almost could have been captured anywhere. This first image is a "drive-by" - a view of clouds from the floating 520 bridge.

I love the simplicity and symbolism of this next image. It was a surprise to me at how well it turned out. We were shopping in a very cool store called Watson-Kennedy. The place was full of interesting things that one of the owner had discovered on his travels to England and France. I borrowed this key and placed it on their brick floor in the sunshine.

Finally, this is a backlit Orchid with the window of our hotel room in the background. Denise and I are already eager to do another local photo trip - maybe they will let us out of the asylum again in another couple of months! :)

Talk soon!

BetterPhoto Instructor Calendar

Hello Friends of BetterPhoto!

Sometimes we have an idea here at BetterPhoto and the idea is implemented within minutes. This is one of the things I love about working with a small, super-creative team.

Sometimes, though, no matter how creative we are, it takes time for an idea to see the light of day. Every now and again, we might wrestle for ages with the best way to present information or a new feature.

That's what happened with the idea of a calendar that showed instructor on-location workshops. Members have asked for this for the past couple of years and, as much as we tried, it never reached the top of the (huge) To Do list.

UNTIL NOW!

Yeeehawwww Yipeeee - I'm glad to announce that we have posted a calendar of Instructor Workshops and Courses.

You can check it out at:
http://www.betterphoto.com/photography-event-calendar.asp

I have been wishing for such a calendar myself... it's hard to keep track of where everyone is heading. I just recently met up with Jim Zuckerman and Tony Sweet and will soon be meeting up with Bruce Smith, George Schaub, and Richard Lynch... it's so fun to work with these photographers in person but it takes effort to keep up with them ;)

To those of you who have been asking for this feature, thanks for your patience. I hope it helps you figure out the best time for you to go meet your instructor in person.

Back from the Smokies

Back from the Great Smoky Mountains and WOW - what a beautiful place! Of course it didn't hurt that I was with my good friends Tony and JZ. I had a wonderful time both photographing and just catching up with old friends.

Here are a few pics. This is one of my favorites. I think I'm going to call it "House of the Flying Dogwoods":

One morning we were blessed with the most amazing mist among the trees:

 

And another morning we were blessed with the most amazing fog. These are the kind of times that make photographers giddy with excitement.

A Warm Hello from the Smokies

Hi everybody - Just checking in from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park!

I am here with Tony Sweet and Jim Zuckerman as Tony prepares for another fantastic workshop. Things are warm here and the leaves are coming in. The dogwood and redbud is are beginning to bloom... it's looking to be a very pretty spring season indeed.

Tony is not only a fine artist, but he's also a great guy - very friendly and easy to get along with. If you ever get a chance to take a workshop with Tony and his family/company (Sue and Kelly), I recommend it. I've been to many workshops and I rarely see anyone go as far out of their way to make sure the students get a satisfactory experience.

Wildlife Photography: Learn How to Take Better Pictures of Wildlife

Discover how to make inspiring images of wildlife with photographer Jim Zuckerman. In his exciting online photo class - Wildlife Photography - Jim will share the techniques he uses to capture his great photos of wildlife and other animals.

For instance, you'll learn how to get within photo-taking range of shy animals, as well as the best lenses to use. In addition, Jim will discuss macro photography techniques, plus the perfect lighting conditions for capturing fine art images.

Along with great lessons and assignments, you'll get helpful critiques and enjoy interaction with instructor and classmates. Check out Jim Zuckerman's 4-week online photography class: Wildlife Photography: Learn How to Take Better Pictures of Wildlife. For additional inspiration, see Jim's wildlife gallery.

BetterPhoto.com covers many other photography and Photoshop topics in its online photography school.

© Jim Zuckerman

© Jim Zuckerman

Travel: Learn How to Take Better Vacation Pictures

Discover how to make dynamic photos of your travels - whether close to home or far afield. In her excellent online photo course - Travel Photography: Capturing a Sense of Place - photographer Brenda Tharp will show you how to record everyday life, capture the action of festivals, show the mood of a city, work with both natural and artificial light, assemble a travel album, and photograph cultural portraits.

All that, plus great interaction with instructor and classmates, can be found in Brenda Tharp's Travel: Learn How to Take Better Vacation Pictures, Internet photo class. For more inspiration, see Brenda's gallery of travel images.

BetterPhoto.com also offers many more online photography classes and online Photoshop courses. Check out the digital photography school.

© Brenda Tharp

© Brenda Tharp