Day 1 of the Google Plus for Photographers Conference

Hey everyone.. RC here just posting a quick update from our inagural  Google+ for Photographers Conference here at the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Franciso.  The entire group is overjoyed at the level of energy and participation that we have gotten from this sold out crowd.  It’s wild in that the energy is so unlike anything that we’ve seen out there.  People are really excited and interested in what Google+ is, and how they can get involved.

The registration for the event is held at the Yerba Buena Gardens, split between two buildings.  The entire conference has a gallery feel to it.  Very clean, with a lot of red and white pronounced everywhere.  It just feels very modern.

Jim Goldstein of BorrowLenses has been so instrumental at the conference.  In addition to providing any gear that some instructors needed (which helped soo much with baggage feels and the like). they also provided charging stations for people to get a little juice during the conference.  People were really into BorrowLenses, and we could not thank them enough for their support during their conference.  They could not have made the lens rental process easier for people here..

Matt Kloskowski is rocking the crowd at one of his first presentations..

My buddy Sarah Jane Todd from Peachpit is catching up on stuff and serving as the biggest smile in the conference area.  There are a bunch of books for you to check out here, thanks to Peachpit!

Here you go, my buddy Nick is rocking it at the Smugmug area.  Smugmug not only doing demos of their service (of which ive immediately signed up for). but the team actually went through the process of baking a BUNCH of really cool sweet treats.  Thanks for Camera Awesome! Thanks for Smugmug! and Thanks for the sweets!!

The one, the only, Guy Kawasaki rocking the stage at the conference!

We all wear many hats around here.  This time around, Photoshop Guy Pete Collins is helping out in the moderation of all of the chats!

Guy Kawasaki, Scott Kelby, and Dave Gales hanging out after Guy’s talk.

Scott is explaining the point that sometimes, the person you shoot makes a difference.  You can have all of the best light and location…

But a different person can give a completely different meaning..

Trey Ratcliff, Jeremy Cowart, Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski at a live Blind Photo Critiques session

Alex Koloskov rocks the product shoot.  This was so well attended..

Jeremy Cowart – mugging for the camera..

The incomporable Karen Hutton, hanging out and catching up with all of her many projects.

Whos got two thumbs, is a famous author, and is sitting in a round chair? Why Nicoley is!!

This is Matt Leitholt.  He wanted to be famous.  Now he is.

Not to be outdone… I was so pumped to get to take a pic with Guy Kawasaki.

Gabe from B&H came and hung out with us at the Live Shoot.  Gabe comes to represents B&H and it was so nice to see him!

Renting the XPro1 From LensProToGo

Back when Frank Doorhof came over from the Netherlands to shoot a class for Kelby Training, I saw that he had brought with him the Fuji X-Pro1 camera.  Since the playing around I had done with the X100, I had really wanted to see how this XPro1 would do (I wasnt a big fan of the X100).  In order to do that, I figured i’d call LensProToGo.com and see if I can get one.  Wouldnt you know it in 24 hours.. it was at my desk.  Figured i’d take you guys through the unboxing process.  We’ll talk about the camera and images later.

(if you go into Full screen, you can see the show info in the upper right corner. Then you can read captions!)

The Adobe Creative Cloud is Here

Exciting news everyone! Just saw the post that went up that the #AdobeCreative Cloud is now available to everyone. I think that this service is going to be an awesome experience for everyone getting into the Creative Suite. Make sure you check it out at http://adobe.ly/LuzuGX

I’m even more excited in that i’ve had the privilege to spend the last week working with #Adobe on creating tutorial videos for users to get started on using the Creative Cloud. When you log in, click on the video here on the right. You just might recognize the voice.

This One is For The WIMPS

This One Is For the WIMPS
A couple of years ago, +Scott Kelby had told me about a Mnemonic that he knew of to keep him thinking about #photography checks before a shoot. This is one of those things that through the years and despite forgetting what a couple of them meaning from time to time (some mnemonic, right?) its one that serves well to say to yourself “Dont forget the WIMPS. Dont forget the WIMPS”

So what are WIMPS:

W: White Balance
Its the one time you are struggling to figure out why everything is so blue in a shot, only to remember you were shooting at 2000K

I: Your Camera ISO
Its the one time you think youre killing a job, when you find out youre at ISO6400. Or when you think that 1/128 is still just frying your subject on a flashpop

M: Mode: Auto? Aperture?
This just happened last night. I asked +Brad Moore “Dude! I cant get this lens out to F16. He looked at me and said “See, this S, RC? This is Shutter Priority… ” – yeah. Its been this kind of week.

P: Picture Type
Its the one time you’re like.. “Dude, I shot this in JPG Basic!

S: Speed
Ever go into a church to make some shots and think you’re being all sneaky? Then you press the shutter and rip frames like a machine gun? Yeah.. me neither..

Oh, and the picture below…
This was back when I was out shooting with +Joe McNally hanging out the side of a helicopter, fake cigar out of his mouth, balancing a 600mm on one knee while turning sideways to talk to me in that ATeam Hannibal Smith kinda voice:

“It’s a great day to be out here, isn’t it?!”

You’re just stupefied as to how natural all of this is to him.

“Yup… great day indeed..Now gets out da way.. I gots to make me some black and white HDR’s or something!”

(I didnt really say that. And he really didnt have a fake cigar. But he should have)

D800 Doing HDR? Sure!

So while I was out in Tampa getting some Nikon D800 photography footage for an upcoming Kelby Training class I am working on, I wanted to take a couple of snaps to see how the camera does in terms of details.  That got me thinking of wanting to fire off some shots in HDR.  This is just a quick sample shot of what it can do.  Color me inspired.

D800 Detail Shots

This is when you know you aren’t playing when it comes to shooting w/ the#Nikon #D800.
When you can count the stitches in this hat.

In this shot.  Sweet huh!

I Got Your Sample Nikon D800 NEF Right Here

So I had posted a quick sample shot that I was playing with here – talking about the incredible amount of detail that the NIkon D800 shoots. That said, I had posted a JPG export out of Lightroom.

I figured, why not post an Actual NEF file. This will let people go and actually check it out for themselves. You can download the 41MB NEF file on my Google Drive: http://bit.ly/JNvO2R – give it a look over!

Shooting with the X-Pro1 : The Apprentice

Just trying a couple of different things. My friend Paul who owns a tattoo shop in Ybor brought his apprentice out to hang out at the graffiti wall.. figured i’d snap a quick shot.