technical stuff

Basket of eggs

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Another example to show that it’s not wise to put all your eggs in one basket (or all your digital files on one hard drive):

According to a CBC story, a lawyer in British Columbia is suing Apple Canada after his backup hard drive, an Apple Time Capsule, failed after three years of use. All of his data were lost.

The hard drive included pictures of the birth of his first child.

A sad fact of our digital lives is that all digital storage is inherently unstable. Hard drives will fail. Discs will become unreadable.

There’s a reason why most professional photographers back up their work at least in triplicate. A backup for the backup of the backup. There’s a reason why most top-end cameras allow for duplicate recording of pictures as they’re being shot.

Photographs are very valuable, especially irreplaceable family pictures. So why not spend a few cents and make extra backups? Blank CDs and DVDs are about 40¢ each and external hard drives might run 25¢ per gigabyte. It’s cheap insurance.

When, not if, your basket falls to the ground, will you lose all your eggs?

 

Dialing for dollars

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Freelance photographers usually get paid by cheque and, I suppose, occasionally by cash. Some photographers, including myself, also accept credit card payments through a PayPal account. In this case, the common setup is that the client accesses a web page on the photographer’s site to start the PayPal process.

PayPal just announced its new PayPal Here system that will allow a business to accept credit card payments using a smart phone. This is similar to the up-and-running, two-year-old Square system.

There are differences between PayPal Here and Square but there’s only one difference that matters to Canadian photographers: PayPal Here will be available in Canada and Square is not.

Square says that it’s looking into expanding outside the USA but it’s been saying that for two years. Perhaps the competition from PayPal will force Square to get moving. [Update October 24, 2012: Square just announced that it’s available in Canada.]

Apparently, the Square system is/was capable of being used for credit card fraud. The PayPal Here card reader is encrypted.

For professional photographers, accepting credit card payments on location could be a big help. Some business customers and government clients can pay on-the-spot with a corporate credit card. But not being able to accept credit cards on location means the photographer has to send an invoice and wait up to several months to get paid.

Update March 18, 2013: PayPal Here is still not available in Canada.

 

Filling in the blanks

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Corporate photographers and commercial photographers often produce pictures of buildings, factories and retail locations.

Customers will sometimes request the digital removal of objects such as poles, road signs, overhead wires, fire hydrants, bus stops, etc., from exterior photos.

What’s funny about such requests is the customer assumes that once an object is erased, whatever was behind that object will automatically become visible. But as every photographer knows, when something is digitally removed from a photo, it just leaves a blank spot in the picture.
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Online photo books

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Just a personal review of some photo books I made using Toronto-based Pikto. The two books which were used as Christmas gifts turned out quite well, I thought. The hardcover books were 8-1/2″ x 11″ format with leatherette covers, debossed text on the cover, 170-gsm glossy paper and no vellum leafs, (more on these options later).

Many years ago, I used Shutterfly and was happy with the results. Over the past several years, Shutterfly has greatly expanded its options but I have no experience with these newer offerings. Shutterfly, like the many other USA-based online book printers, often have sales and it might be worthwhile to wait for a discount.

Pikto seems to be about 15%-20% more expensive than other online book printers, although there are a few book printers that are even more expensive. The overall quality of my Pikto books is much better than my early Shutterfly books.
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Champagne and cameras

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It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye. After clinching a playoff spot yesterday, the New York Yankees celebrated in their dressing room with beer and champagne. Take a look:

Notice that all the Yankees are wearing eye protection. If you look in the background, you can see plastic sheets covering the players’ lockers. Everyone and everything is protected.
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Seven tips for photographer websites

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A dozen art directors, creative directors and photo editors were commenting on what they want in a photographer’s web site. Here’s their agreed-upon list, *listed in order*, of the minimum requirements in a photographer’s web site:

1. No music.

2. No Flash.

3. Do not open any new browser windows. Do not resize any windows.

4. Quick to load.

5. Easy to navigate.

6. Easy-to-find contact information.

7. Great pictures.

Certainly everyone’s tastes and expectations are different. But note that most of the above points deal with technical aspects. Having the best pictures in the world means little if viewers have to struggle with your web site in order to see them.

Photographers, how does your web site measure up?

 

Clean up your act

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Photographers, how often do you bathe? No, not wash yourself but how often do you clean your photo equipment?

After a particularly dusty, sandy or otherwise dirty job, I make it a point to clean all my cameras, lenses, laptop, flashes, light stands and other gear by using compressed air, isopropyl alcohol and sometimes an ammonia-based cleaner.

Depending on the item being cleaned, cotton or paper towels, lint-free wipes, a nylon brush, camel-hair brush and even a toothbrush can come in handy. This is also a good time to check that all the little screws in your equipment are tight.
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