[Ben Cochran]

I was talking with Zach about one of the cases that I had mentioned, he made me aware of the fact that it was more of a contract violation and association with copyright laws. I agree that one can be over zealous in this copyright law stuff, especially for a photographer that is just starting out in the publishing arena. In most cases, just a simple copyright symbol and photographers name will suffice. Along the lines of what David was saying, if I get this correct, the best way to protect an image is to never show it. Truth of the matter is, one must take chances and exposure is necessary. As Zach also mentioned, an intrusive watermark does nothing for the image except really get on the bad side of an editor or director. Someone once told me, “If you want to walk in the rain, better expect to get wet”. With the proliferation of digital and new photographers, call that the rain and expect the fact that one has to take risks of possible image theft. Just make sure that you deliver the best-unobstructed images possible and know that the rewards are more in the passion of photography.

[Ben Cochran]

Zach – I agree that it is a case by case bases but there is new precedence in court ruling. Recently, a case was taken against a company that decided to recirculate several images. The use license had expired and when the photographer tried to get a new license contracted, the company basically told the photographer to forget about it. The photographer decided to take court action and not settle. There were many images that were violated and for each one that was not registered, the photographer got $500.00 per. For each image that was also registered with the Library of Congress, the photographer was awarded $149,000.00 per image for copyright infringements on registered copyrights. The final ruling was in the millions and the photographer has been paid.

Like you said though, it depends on the size of the company and what the actual damages were. There is another case where a small magazine stole another photographers “registered copyright” images and even though this was a smaller magazine, the courts ruled $13,000.00 per image.

I think that the unauthorized use of images and copyright infringements were getting to the point that they are violated on such a regular bases that now the court systems are setting precedence in making sure that copyrights infringements do not become an economic tool for cutting image cost to companies.

Erik, I personally research that magazine to see what kind of images they most commonly use and will send accordingly.

[Ben Cochran]

What’s this? Grumpy being nice to someone? ;D It is more than just great to see you over here! I sure do miss those good ole days and I almost miss you too lol.

[Ben Cochran]

Free!! Yes, I will take one 😉 But, I insist that you allow me to make a $15.00 – $20.00 donation to help cover the cost 😉

[Ben Cochran]

[font=Arial:2ol8rp5y][glow=yellow,2,300]”Fly fishing writers and photographers just don't do it for the money.  I personally don't do it for the money – I do it for access.  Writing opens a million doors and lets me fish in cool places with cool people and has made me a much, much better angler.  I suspect most of the other dudes feel the same way

Couldn't have said it better Zach.

If I could offer one peice of advice and do consider this is from a neophyte who just entering my first season as a “Freelancer” for a magazine. Appoach it no differently than you would a job search. Target a specific magazine, learn all you can about their needs, their content, audience and distribution and then try to establish a relationship.”
[/glow][/font:2ol8rp5y]
There is a lot of great advice in these 2 quotes. I can’t add much more than what has already been stated. I can’t speak much about the fly fishing magazines, Zach knows that sector best, but to add a bit more about magazines and advertising assignments in general, I will add this.

The art directors and editors are very busy people, as they are constantly up against dead lines. Most of the unsolicited emails are dismissed or trashed, due to the extremely high volume that they receive from photographers that want to get published. Due to their very limited free time, they don’t like long emails and really hate fancy websites that take way to long to view and don’t allow them to take control of how fast and easily they can view the portfolio and/or book.

As has been stated, relationships and then networking is essential; this and a very good portfolio. A web site full of a bunch of images is really nothing more than a web site full of images, takes to much time for them to exhaust on a photographer that they are not familiar with. Most art directors want to see your best images and/or tear sheets. The tear sheets carry far more weight as it shows not just how many of the photographers images have already been published. It serves more as a verification of how consistent the photographer is.

It really is amazing at how many emails, from photographers submitting images or portfolio links, are received by editors and art directors in a given day. And believe this or not, they are commonly dismissed as the art directors and editors seek photographers that they have discovered through networking or word of mouth. The key is getting published once or receive some national and/or international awards and/or recognition, of at least one image. Again and very important, the portfolio must be outstanding and not just crammed with a bunch of images.

I recently had 2 art directors, in Eastern Europe, contact me and asked if I would supply access or a folder of my stock photography images. I didn’t know them but from accidental conversations from an art director and from previous publications, they contacted me out of the blue. The first thing that they wanted to see was the original files, of published images and then some of my reserve images. After that, they asked for the available stock images. Even other photographer/writers, that might want to use you for supplemental assignments, will first ask for a book and/or website of published images and then images for a certain discipline. As Zach and John mentioned, all of this starts from one contact and then networking it as a true business and not just a photographer that is really nothing more than, “a dime a dozen; in this new age of digital photography.

Speaking for myself, I first got noticed after receiving a NAPP editor’s choice award. This gave me exposure to the who’s who in 105 countries and with in one month another one of my images was published on a book cover in Europe. From leveraging this and networking, I now spend 6 months a year in Europe shooting in places like Vilnius, Paris, Brussels, Luxembourg and Germany. I consider myself blessed as one of the luckiest photographers in the world, for several reasons and one is that I never had to create my own web site (I will as it is stupid not  to have one) but I am nowhere near the best photographer nor will I ever allow myself to think that I am even close to that point.

Again, John and Zach put it best in stating that it doesn’t pay much, in the beginning, and treat it a real businessperson would. Don’t ever plan to make a lot of money from stock photography though and remember that it is more about just getting recognition of a passion.

I know that you already know this, Chad, and I know that you have experience with it: Never give up and be prepared for a lot of disappointments: Just don’t give up as you have a great eye for very good composition. I know that you are very familiar with the copyright laws too but for a bit of updated information. A copyright image infringement might bring up to $500.00 in a court ruling while a registered copyright may bring up to 150,000.00 in court rulings.

[Ben Cochran]

Zach

It is a large open space, about 3,500 sq ft., but due to the fact that it is no where near a high budget sort of assignment, I created most of the backgorud and fog/misty feel in Photoshop. I prefer to shoot against lighter backgrounds so that it makes it easier to work on the overall composition.

This is the last of the 3, thank God 😉

(re-edited)

[Ben Cochran]

Thanks guy’s 🙂 I added a close up of the engine compartment, if you are interested. These people really do excellent work on rebuilding these classics. Got to finish the profile shot and I am back to saying that I will never do this again :-/ I think lol

[Ben Cochran]

I think that this is going to be the final, on this angel. Going to start that next composition and thanks for the suggestions guys ;). I added a brighter wheel well but felt that it wold be best to tone it down a bit, so that it makes sense with the amount of light around it. Thoughts and ideas are still very much appreciated.

[Ben Cochran]

Thanks Zach. I made a few changes and cleaned it up a lot, there is still a lot of mess inside of it but I will clean that up as well. I have a few hundred shots of the car and will go back to check and see what I have of the wells and how well they look in the final. Something has just been bugging me about the image and I can’t seem to put my finger on it, seems that I am my own worst enemy on these sort of things :).

This is an updated version with some changes to help bring out the detail of the front and rear sections of the car. I am getting closer but just not happy with it yet, I no longer have access to the car so …

Oh yes, what about the front fender, any thoughts on that or is it just me and sore eyes?

[Ben Cochran]

Thanks Aaron, I was surprised at how much color was actually lost in both downsizing and converting. The actual color of the car, at full resolution is far richer and all though it is not my favorite color, it looks great on this car. My eyes were so exhausted that I just wasn’t sure about what I was looking at or seeing, which is why I thought that I would ask for some thoughts here. Something keeps bugging me about the image and before I turn them in, I want to get everything to the best of my abilities. When I was asked to do this, I made the deal with them that I would do my own post edit and then submit a Tiff file. As I said before, my self confidence is low in automobile assignments and I don’t want to cut my throat with low quality work.

I looked at the section that you pointed out and agree. I have to keep that a bit darker, light blending thing but I think that I will add a bit of fog, or mist, behind the car and that should help bring the detail back in. The flattened file is 27MB in size, with plenty of data in it but I agree that it does not stand out enough.

After a full night of rest, I think that my problem is located in the front fender, along the seam, as the reflective light light seems to take away from the rest of the seam and makes the front quarter panel appear flat and unaligned. i have a lot of clean up left to do on it but I wanted other eyes to evaluate and express honest opinions as well… No, I don’t drive these cars as they are far to expensive and I want nothing to do with the liabilities of them.

Thanks again 🙂

[Ben Cochran]

Aaron, I don’t have much more to add than what has already been written. I do, however, want to compliment your attitude as well as the way that you except critique as a tool. You have a great approach about learning how to shoot compositions and that truly is the essence of photography.

If I may offer this by expanding on some of the correct comments above: When you are post processing your images, try several different crops and in several different areas of the image. Granted, the crops might be to small for you to use as a final but if you find one crop that really shines far above any other, remember that composition and try to shoot for that composition, the next time you go out for some shots. I use to, and still do on some shots, print my finals and stare at them for hours. Once my eyes became lazy, they would take me to the distractions that I did not see before. This helped to improve my awareness in future similar shots.

On a shot, where you are trying to take the viewer on a walk into your composition, try getting lower to the ground and open the lens up a bit more, or close it dependent upon what will be in the compositions. If the viewer feels that they can take their next step with you and be able to see where their next foot print might land, it helps convey the feel of stepping into the image.

There are many different rules of composition, in both photography and art. They are there for a reason but once learned, try to break them properly. An example,  most portrait photography: Shoot from eye level but in  most fashion and /or runway fashion Photography: shoot from knee level. The most amazing shots are the ones that understand what the composition is suppose to deliver and break the general rules. Examples: Zach’s composition of the fly fisher from below knee level. Fashion photography that is taken from a level that was suppose to be the rule of arial photography. Learn some of these rules and then play with them in the wrong applications as they can deliver some amazing shots. But never, ever let the eyes be out of focus, as already mentioned in this thread.

Also, study your finals and ask yourself “what is it that I want the viewer to see”?. Then stare at it for a very long time and see if your eye keeps getting pulled away from the subject of your focal point. Everything around it should support your focal point but not take the eyes unwillingly away from it. In your trout shot, I would assume that the open mouth was your focal point and the real subject of your composition, don’t be afraid to zoom in real tight on it and be careful that the reflections add even more distraction, the only thing that you can miss on this type of close up is not having the eyes in focus too. If the reflection is distracting, try zooming in even more. Yes about moving around a lot and snap images like a hound dog on scent. If you aren’t sure about a shot, shoot it anyway, you never know how well it might actually look in post edit. Ask yourself if your final is a flat snap shot or if you actually captured what you saw with your eyes.

Mainly, keep your great attitude as once one feels they are good enough, they leave no room for improvement. I know that I can and will always do or get better as long as I keep my attitude about learning something new or trying something different, it is survival in this trade :).

This is a great place for asking for advice too, some great talent here and professional photographers that do have my respect and admiration. There are a lot of photography critique sites on the net but they seem to have a large amount of people that want to come off as high end pro’s and offer advice that take a great image and offer suggestions, to the offering photographer, that turns an impressive composition into a mere snap shot. You won’t get that type of critique here and that is why I like it here so much. 🙂

[Ben Cochran]

I second Zachs recommendation. Leaving NY City, I would also recommend taking the Merrit Parkway. I lived and worked in Manhattan and traveled this road very often, BEAUTIFUL! You can catch it just north of the city and take it to Greenwich, CT. I would then travel over to Hartford and take the route up through the Berkshires and in to Vermont. This area gets a lot of very deep snow, during this time of year but it holds so many historical places and some great B&B’s, an alternative if the snow gets to deep for your safety. Vermont is one of the most amazing states and it almost seems as if God placed his hand there, when he created the world. Manchester is great but you can also find more lodging in Stowe. Stowe has more of an European flare about it and is also home to the Von Trap lodge. This is the same family that the movie  “Gone With The Wind” was formatted after. The lodge is amazing!!! Stowe is also a ski mecca so make sure to have reservations first.

Make sure that on your way back down to the south, have plenty of coins for the excessive tolls booths in the northern part of New Jersey. 😉

[Ben Cochran]

Oh yes, I also wanted to add this about Adobe. I will probably get in trouble from them for posting this 😉 but when I switched from PC to Mac, Adobe not only sent me the new Mac software, they also upgraded the suite. Price: $10.00 to cover shipping.

[Ben Cochran]

David, I pasted the comment I disagreed with and I don’t take it as an insult at me as much as it insults all of the professional Graphic Designers and Art Directors from every publisher that I know and/or work with.  I like you though so, lets let that go at what it is [ch9786]

This miss conception about Photoshop, on a true professional level, is this. Because of its popularity, many believe that the images are all created and that it takes no skill from behind the camera. Trust me, the skill had better be there as no large well established publisher and/or Art Director is going to touch a photographer who’s work has to be fixed. Images are created but most often they are created from original great images, from very skilled and professional photographers. Granted, great images can also be created but no publisher is going to spend the time or money in making crap look good.

On all of my assignments, I have had to score the images, convert and process from RAW then print the contact sheets for review with the folks from the publisher. All of this is done in Bridge and then the selected files are opened directly into CS3, Illustrator or migrated straight to InDesign. This process takes very little time and a lot of it is automated. So, there really is a savings of time with fixed color management of the entire suite. Being in pre-press, you know how important consistent calibrated colour is, especially while working in a CMYK mode.

Just about all of the publishers, internationally, use either Adobe InDesign or QuarkXpress, with the mass majority now using InDesign. The Graphic Designers and Art Directors are the ones that make sure a photographer gets assignments or is sent back to sit at home wondering why companies don’t want to do it the photographers way.

My mother raised and idiot but no fool, these people don’t care about my beliefs or philosophy, they only care that I can get the quality of images that they want, the proper composition and am able to capture what they imagined in the original images, constantly! There is a reason that they are all using CS2 and CS3 suites, it isn’t just that it is the best on the market, it increases their margins in that it is more effective, less time consuming, more accurate, better detailed and in knowledgeable hands, very easy to use.

I equate it like this: Just because I drive a car everyday, doesn’t mean that I will win any Formula One races. I can purchase a Ferrari but again, I can’t win any Formula One races. I can learn a small bit about a Ferrari and try some other petrol’s but again, I am not going to win any of the races. But, if I learn the tips and tricks of the real pro’s and use the same tools, in the same ways, as the professional racer’s, I am getting better. If I listento the drivers and set my own opinions aside as I apply theirs, I am getting into the same race. Once I go back and spend time with the mechanics and really learn all of the tools that they create for me and understand the why’s of why they use them, I might just win one of those races. Point is, I can’t make an informed decision until I learn every single aspect of the car and how to race with it properly.

Back to the topic of this thread, PS is a very complicated and complex program. It is professional software that has very well designed professional applications but that does not mean that it is right for everyone. It does a GREAT job of enhancements but the software goes far beyond that as well. If you don’t need the Ferrari and don’t want to have to dive into the intense training of how to drive one properly. Get a package that is designed and limited to enhancing images, there is nothing wrong with purchasing only that which you need. They are great programs at a lesser price point.

(sorry had to edit several times due to my terrible writing and spelling skills 😉 )

[Ben Cochran]

The Photoshop® CS3 Book for Digital Photographers. One of the best to follow, funny at times and easiest to read, you don’t have to go in and rename everything or change the shortcuts. Very well written by Scott Kelby who also holds the record of best book sales of any Tutorial ever written.

I had the same for CS2 but know first hand that this newer one is written just as well.

[Ben Cochran]

FX Digital? I sure hope so and hope that mass production should be just around the corner. Not only do I agree with “Murphy’s Law”, it seems that he has adopted me as his best friend. Due to this, I have learned to be nervous and on guard.

[Ben Cochran]

So, what I am looking for is a lens that will allow me to look through through the camera, snap the pic and end up with an image like: My backside looking through the camera taking the picture. 😉

I’ll have to talk with the folks and Manfrotto, on this one, but I feel confident that they will void my warranty as, unreasonable care

[Ben Cochran]

Aaron: Outstanding decision on your part and truly the route that everyone should go, when deciding on new equipment. Feed back is great but nothing comes close to hands on.

Malcolm, The 70-200 VR is faster and more silent. Speaking just from my own experiences and expressing my own opinion: I would not replace the 80-200 with the 70-200VR. The lens that you currently have is still one of the best lenses that Nikon has ever made. I don’t use my VR that often and do hand held down to 1/40. I prefer to shoot as slow as possible, no matter what the shoot is for or what assignment requirements dictate, I will still go for the slowest possible speed and still be able to turn in the images, as per the requirements dictated. If I am in the middle of a low light and more technical shoot, that demands controlled natural motion blur, or if I am on a location shoot, then I go VR.

I also used the 80-400 VR during a fashion shoot assignment. Again, I stayed off of the VR and many of the shots, with that lens, were selected from the contact sheets and made final publication.

What I am getting at. The VR is like any other tool; great to have when you need it and rarely missed when you don’t.

The second generation VR is FAR better than the first generation as well. The first generation kind of feels like someone kicked the lens, when it is activated

[Ben Cochran]

Adobe enjoys a huge position in the market and there is a plethora of “experts” getting rich trying to teach people how to piss there life down the drain in Photoshop.  

I was going to ignore this comment but then I remembered that someone actually asked for advice and this pasted quote is so far off of the truth that it must be addressed: Wrong and very insulting to those that know how to use this software package and understand the potential of same.

Drifter, getting back to your question: I agree with just about all of the advice already offered. CS2 and CS3 are very complex packages and they are so great that one can also get college credits for studies and certificates in this package. I don’t know of any other editing software that hold this sort of recognition of national accreditation. How-ever, it is professional software and the learning curve is very profound. It really is not a wise investment for using it as just a post editing enhancements tool, unless you are on a contracted assignment with a publisher that allows the photographer to enhance their images. If that were the case, they would also demand that everything be done in separate layers and named for each corresponding action. Or, request the TIFF files with light post processing, in other cases.

I would support and advise the same packages suggested already but use the 30 day free trials and find the one that is both best and easiest for you. Form your own opinion after that and let us know which one you chose. 🙂

[Ben Cochran]

WOW! You guys have some great talents posted in this thread!!

Matt, I consider myself to be pretty proficient with the PS suite but when it comes to drawing, I can barely draw my name. I even tried the “draw by numbers” kits but my final results always looked like number 2  😮 I am amazed at the works that some can create in the software and yours too, simply amazes me! I like that a lot!!!

Christine,  liked your blog, fun reads! Like them little cakes and guess I would have to throw out the old catch and release pledges and  go the keep and eat route.. Glad you kept the heads on too, so we can check the eyes and gills to make sure they are fresh  😉

[Author]

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