We have another contest winner...

We can't do this for every contest... but will one more time.

Because Miguel was the first to congratulate our latest contest winner I wanted to reward him for being such a "gracious non-winner".

We will be sending him 4 SlimLine "AA" battery caddy (you read our original battery caddy review here).

Be sure to check out Miguel's Flickr stream here.

Congratulations Miguel!

A cool Lightroom trick from Kevin Kubota...

I have received several emails recently asking how to synchronize images in Lightroom when multiple cameras were used but their clocks were not sync'd beforehand.

So here is a previous post that will walk you step by step through the process of synchronizing those images, it works perfectly, I know because I have used it (more than once) myself.

If you've ever shot an event with more than one camera and/or more than one photographer and forgot to synchronize the time on the cameras, then you've lived through the nightmare of trying to get all the images in their correct chronological order.

The last wedding I shot with Stacey Kane involved 4 cameras and well over 5000 images!

Getting that many images "chronologically correct" can be problematic (but extremely important). I learned how to synchronize my images from Kevin Kubota and I'll share that "trick" with you now.

If you're at an event and suddenly realize that you forgot to synchronize the time on your cameras, do the following:

1. Take a shot of an inanimate object (like your foot) with each camera, be sure to fire the cameras at the same time
2. You now have "sync" images
3. When you bring the images from that event into Lightroom you will use these images to get all the images in order

But what if you don't realize until the next day that your cameras wheren't synchronized, then what?

4. Look for a key point in time (such as "the kiss" during a wedding, because everyone shooting the wedding will capture that precise moment)
5. While in the Library mode (in Lightroom) you will select (highlight) one reference image from each camera used (the picture of your foot, the kiss at the wedding, or whatever key point image you have chosen as your reference)
6. You will pick (in your mind, not Lightroom) one camera as the "Master Camera" and the reference image from that camera will be your "Master Image", the images from all other cameras will be adjusted to match the master image
7. Write down the "time shot" for the "Master Image" (you'll need it later)
8. Go to the "Metadata" browser window in the left panel
9. Select the "Camera" sub-menu and beneath it you will see all of the cameras used
10. Select the secondary camera in the "Camera" sub-menu
11. Just the images taken with that camera will be displayed (included highlighted image you selected before)
12. Select all that cameras images ("CRTL + A" for Windows or "Command + A" for MAC)
13. From the top menu select "Metadata" then "Edit capture Time"
14. The "Edit Capture Time" dialog box will be displayed, along with your reference image
15. Remember the time you wrote down from your Master image? Write that it in the "Correct Time" box and select the "Change All" button

All of the images shot with the secondary camera will be adjusted accordingly and all your images (from both cameras) will now display in correct chronological order.

If you shot with more that two cameras you will select one reference image from each camera (step 5), then follow steps 10 through 15.

Who wants "Sessions with JoeyL"?...

Yup, just found from Joey Lawrence that he is donating a copy of "Sessions with JoeyL" as the prize for our next contest.

How cool is that?

The contest will be starting October 15th, we will post the details soon.

The work of which I am most proud... again...

Robert N. Dechene, 23 / Army – Tour of duty 7/16/67 – 9/17/67

Raymond A. Borduas, 20 / Marine – tour of duty 5/5/68 – 6/4/68

This story was originally posted when I first started this blog, and because of the significance of the work (to me) and the dramatic increase on folks visiting this blog I wanted to dust it off for more people to see.

Of all the work (photographically) I have done, these two images are what I am most proud of. Though they may have little to do necessarily with photographic skills, the families (and fellow veterans) think them to be wonderful “pictures”.

I was a green beret (special forces) at the end of Vietnam, so the fact that seven boys (literally, boys) from this small town in southern Maine where I call home never returned is of significance to the people who live here.

After more than 30 years (and for the first time) I finally visited the Vietnam War Memorial. While there I took a picture of the panels that hold the names of these two of young men.

Here is a (very abbreviated) overview of what I did In Photoshop:

1. Burnt all but their names so they were pushed to the background but still viewable
2. Painted their names white to make them stand out
3. Took one of their old pictures (scanned it) and converted it to digital
4. Combined their old photo with the photo of the wall that bore their name

It was difficult at times working on these images, having these young men literally “looking” back at me… and at one point the Pink Floyd song “Wish You Were Here” came on the radio… I will save you the details; suffice it to say I was glad no one else was at home.

Then it came time to give them to the families. Roberts family had been told something was going to be delivered to them, all of the family and friends in the area had gathered at the house and were waiting… after they passed the picture around several times and looked at it for awhile, they all climbed in their cars and headed to the nursing home where his mom now resides, so she could see it.

Rays family was equally as grateful; his brother has been to my studio more than once to thank me.

I did not do these for praise or recognition, but because these boys deserve to be remembered and I wanted to do my part to make sure that happens.

And the winner is...

A couple things before I announce the winner.

First, I LOVED looking at all the images that were uploaded, trust me when I say I looked at every single image and they were outstanding. Because of all the great stuff that was uploaded I think all future contests will include folks uploading (at least) one image.

Second, this contest was truly random. The name of each person who entered was dropped into a program called "The Hat" and it was used to randomly pick the winners name.

I just don't want folks to think that they didn't win because their mage "wasn't up to snuff" because nothing could be further from the truth. The one thing I DON'T like about contests like this is that I can't award prizes to everyone who entered.

I strongly recommend that everyone go take a look at the images that have been uploaded to our Flickr group, you'll see some real good stuff.

Now, drum roll please.... our winner is... JW Stovall!

Congratulations. If you send me an email with your snail mail address I will get your prize right out to you.

Below are a few of the images he entered and be sure to check out his blog and website to see more of his work.

Our next contest will be announced very soon, as we have some really good stuff to give away.

(click on any image to view larger and in a new window)

loving nature

Dragonfly

Dragonflies spend most of their lives in the larva stage (up to three years, depending on the species). The adult, winged stage only lasts a few weeks. Mating is the primary reason for their winged stage. So when you see a winged dragonfly, you know it's toward the end of its lifespan. Sad but true.

Though you can't see them all with the naked eye, the compound eyes of the dragonfly can contain thousands of tiny lenses. Because of their large, multifaceted eyes, the adult dragonfly can see nearly 360 degrees around it at all times.