For Photographers

Images from N Sight Workshop 2008 - Behind the Lens

I put together this slideshow of the N Sight Workshop 2008. There are several posts from last week of the images that I shot at the workshop of the models and locations. This is a look at the photographers and models and locations from a different perspective, a different vantage point. This will give you an idea of what goes on just outside the frame. It's what the photographers who attended observed when we came up for air and took our eyes from the viewfinders. There are several candids of Mike Moreland and Tricia Whitmer the instructors for this wonderful workshop and several of the other great photographers who were my workshop mates. We had a blast and here is a little look behind the scene, behind the lenses, if you will.

Mike Moreland and Tricia Whitmer · 2008 "N-Sight" Workshop

Spoke with Tricia Whitmer last evening and signed up for the workshop. This is going to be a great learning experience and can't wait to meet these two fine photographers and the other nine participants.

The workshop will consist of two days of heavy hands on training that will focus on equipment and techniques in the studio and at various locations around the seven acre studio property and off-site in urban settings. If you are interested in this workshop you better act fast because there were only four seats left.

To learn more about Tricia Lee Whitmer and her fabulous photography visit her web site at Tricia Lee Photography and prepared to be amazed.

Mike Moreland is also a well renowned photographer and you owe it to yourself to visit his wonderful website at Moreland Photography and take some time to view his gorgeous portraits and wedding shots.

I can't wait! This is going to be a lot of fun and I know that it will be a true learning experience that should elevate my craft to a new level.

New Logo for Jeffrey Franks Photography

I redesigned my logo because of information that I came across concerning branding. I needed to develop a cleaner and more consistent logo that would have multiple background colors. I am pretty sure that I will reduce the size of the logo by 50% on the splash page and this blog's banner area. However, I do like the new logo and this will be a great addition to frame borders on shots or watermarking of images.

Nikon D3 - Initial Short Supply

Spoke to my supplier in the Washington, DC area and he informed me that the Nikon representatives are warning that initial release of the Nikon D3 camera will be very limited. He could not remember the exact number from his discussion with the Nikon dude, but it was either 600 or 6,000 worldwide for the initial rollout.

Ouch!!! If only 600 are going to be available worldwide there are going to be a lot of very frustrated Nikon pros out there. If it's 6,000, there will an order of magnitude fewer, but still a lot of frustrated Nikon pros. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that my supplier in DC gets enough units to make it down to number 3 on his list.

I keep hearing phenomenal feedback about the camera's image quality at high ISO. I have heard it from three independent sources now that the camera produces tack sharp and beautiful images all the way to ISO 6400 without noticeable noise. Talk about turning a negative into a positive, if true, big kudos to Nikon for finally putting this one terrible issue to rest.

Wedding Website Under Construction

I am working with PickPic on the shopping cart with image proofing and ordering. Hosting and SSL Certificate are purchased and we're going to set everything up on one of their servers. I am ordering another website from BluDomain in a day or two, this will be the Portrait site. Lots more to do, but we're getting it done. Figuring out the images to use is the hardest part, well one of the harder parts.

Here is a screen shot from the HOME section of the wedding site to give you a feel for how the Flash site will look. This section as a slideshow and there is music playing as well.

Jeffrey Franks Photography Website - Update

My Grace Flash template arrived in my email inbox this morning from the nice folks at BluDomain. I spent the afternoon familiarizing myself with the different interfaces and the admin control panel. I began building several of the various sections of the site.

Here's a sneak peak at the Splash Page; notice that a visitor will be able to go directly to the Wedding or Portrait sites (two different templates), a PickPic ordering cart and fulfillment eCommerce site or this blog. The go live will likely be delayed until both sites are built and the hosted PickPic site is up and running (usually about a three week waiting list). I anticipate a late September launch.

Jeffrey Franks Photography Website Inbound

After laboring over which company will develop and host my professional photography web presence I have settled upon Bludomain. They have some worthy competitors in the marketplace and this makes the final decision all the more challenging.

First competitor is LiveBooks. Wow, do their sites really rock and they have excellent site maintenance and configuration tools. However, as with most things in life it comes down to money and unfortunately a base price of $3,300 for a professional wedding photographer site (which would balloon by another grand and a half for secure client access and PDF printing) did not survive the cost benefit analysis.

Second major competitor is Big Folio. Another great company, but was not as fond of their site designs and the $25 a month hosting fee ($300 a year) was not something I was crazy about either. I did like their 2 GB of storage though.

So the winner is Bludomain. I will drop an order in the next day or two and start the process rolling. Not sure which design I will choose - there are four that I have narrowed it down to at present. I am leaning strongly towards Grace, but not decided.

So, it will not be long before I get a decent site up and running. Expect to go live in late September or early October. The site will focus on two areas of my business: Weddings & Portraiture. More details to come...

All rightee now...

Probably will not get a chance to do a lot with the blog until the weekend. Playing around a little and really like TypePad and glad I chose it to host my blog.

OK, gotta write some code, post process some portrait images from the Kimmons shoot  on Saturday. However, most of all, I am going to relax this evening before a big day of heads down work tomorrow.

Aloha

It's A Brand New Blog

This evening while sitting in the bed working on my laptop, I created this new blog. This is its first post, but it will be followed by many more; God willing and the creek don't rise. This is the ignominious beginning of a blog that will become a place for clients, friends and family to chat, gossip, throw metaphorical rocks, recite poetry, share photographs, share thoughts, discuss the day, yesterday, tomorrow or just hangout.

We're rolling now. I am launching a new website on a new domain that will mirror this blog. The new website is an extension of my virtual and physical studio, Jeffrey Franks Photography. There is a lot to be done, money to be spent, colors and photographs to be selected. Flash templates to ruminate over and then ruminate over again. I can't wait!!! Let's roll...