Mathapoovu (regional name)

Photographer: Shaji Philip

Again a beautiful shot.but sorry guys i don't know its English name.Its called Mathapoovu in Malayalam (kerala).If anyone of you know its name,please comment.

                                    CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW FULL SCREEN

If you liked this photo,then you will love this one for sure A COCK lol 

If you want to do something really moving...

Saturday December 4th is Help-Portrait Day.

The premise is quite simple:

1. Find someone in need

2. Take their portrait

3. Print their portrait

4. Give them their portrait

And do it all for free.

As I write this the memories from last year come rushing back, it was moving, emotional, and one of the most gratifying things I have done in the last 12 months.

One story from last year... a man brought his son in for a portrait and after we handed him the print he stared at it for awhile smiling, he then shook our hands and thanked us (repeatedly), explaining that this was going to be a Christmas gift for his wife... the only gift he was able to give her.

You can read our entire post from last year here.

If you are interested in getting involved by helping out at an event in your area (or starting one) you can get the details here.

Let me leave you with a short 2 minute video our our humble Help-Portrait day.

Subscribers will need to return to the blog or head directly over to our YouTube channel to watch it.

Here are a couple images...

Here are a couple shots from this past Monday night at the Maine Photographer Coalition.

Mark your calendar for the next meeting scheduled for January 10 (2011) and you will want to bring your laptop as the evenings instruction will be (hands-on) Lightroom workflow.

Hope your face is in next months picture!

Color management and monitor calibration...

I know, I know, when you start talking about color management and/or monitor calibration peoples eyes glaze over and they start looking for the nearest exit (or the closest ledge from which to jump).

But it is such an important part of photography workflow that if you ignore it, it will surely come back to bite you in the butt.

So... if you would be happy with Stevie Wonder editing your images you can stop right here, otherwise please read on.

Here are a couple educational/informational resources to check out:

1. Last night Earle Christie did a great presentation/Q&A at the Maine Photographer Coalition and an online article he wrote on the subject "Predictable Color"is a must read.

2. If you want to delve even deeper into the subject then head over to Digital Dog and you'll feed your need to knowledge.

3. Monitor calibration (back to Stevie) - if you are editing your images on an un-calibrated monitor it's like putting on rose colored glasses before you start editing your images, which makes it a huge exercise in futility, because I don't know anybody who can make precise (and accurate) color corrections and adjustments when they're not even looking at the real colors!

There are a handful of really good tools out there to help you calibrate your monitor and after looking at the different options I settled on what I think is the best and easiest calibration tools available, the Spyder3Elite from DataColor.

I could ramble on about why I like this product more than any other, but you can take a quick tour of it here and see how it would fit into your workflow.

If you think I am overstating the importance of monitor calibration then don't take my word for it, take the word of someone many believe to be one of the finest photographers of our day, Vincent Versace.

Below is an audio excerpt from an interview he did with PopPhoto.com, and is his response to the question about the importance of calibrating your monitor (it's only 4 minutes long and worth every second of listening):


Vincent Versace on monitor calibration

Let the (snow) games begin!...

Watching the weather this morning I saw that they were calling for snow which made me just a little sad (and utter an unprintable word or two).

Not that there is much snow coming, it just seems way too early for this to be starting.

I think I'll refill my coffee and move just a little closer to the stove.

Sorry for such a late notice...

This post is for local photographers - there will be a meeting tomorrow evening (Monday November 22) of the Maine Photographer Coalition which will be holding its inaugural meeting at the studio of Stacey Kane (134 Black Point Road Scarborough, ME).

Folks will be gathering for the "meet and greet" portion of the evening which starts at 7 with the "formal" meeting starting at 7:30.

The talented Earl Christie will be speaking/instructing the group on color management.

All are welcome and the meeting is free but for planning purposes RSVP is a must (just follow this link).

Hope to see you there!

I'm with you

Photographer : Jirah Rith Bernales Fermin
Camera : Sony DSLR-A330.

Jirah Rith Bernales Fermin took this photo at SPD Photoshoot.when she noticed these kids together what really caught her attention was the affectionate gestures of the girl towards the boy. (may be Siblings ).This photo shows us that love 

does exist. They are in their own world,happy with whatever they have .sharing and caring for each other.Now a days a scene like this is very rare.In Our busy life we forget the importance of love ,sharing and caring.i have hardly noticed such close relation of friendship or bro-sis relationship.This photo gives us a very positive message Thanks Jirah for such a beautiful pic.