Reed Hoffmann’s Photography Blog
Enterprise
Back in the days when I was a newspaper photographer, part of our job was to find “enterprise.” That meant looking for feature pictures as we drove between assignments. So when I woke up today and saw heavy fog, my old newspaper instincts took over. With snow still on the ground from last week’s storm, […]
Sharing Videos
Recently I’ve needed to share not just still images, but videos. And YouTube just wasn’t going to do what I wanted. Then I discovered Vimeo. Since I’ve started shooting and producing videos with my digital SLRs, I needed a way for people to view them easily over the web. And I also wanted to be […]
Stylized Printing
I was down in San Antonio for the Imaging USA Conference earlier this week. With some free time Tuesday morning, I took a walk through the print winners, and was struck by how few “straight” prints there were. Considering the state of the photography business these days, though, I shouldn’t have been surprised. As camera’s […]
When Good is Good Enough
One of the great advantages of digital photography is that we’re able to control every step of the process. From capture to output, if you’ve got editing software and a printer, you can manage each step the image goes through. There’s a downside to that too. It takes time. That’s why sometimes I sacrifice quality […]
Yellowstone Photo Book
I led a workshop in the Tetons in September, and was given a photo book by one of the participants at the close. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I had a chance to sit down and really go through it. When I did, I was treated to a nice collection of some […]
Autofocus Adjustments
One of the first things I look to when picking up a new camera is the menus. Body styles and button placements don’t change all that much, so there are few “WOW” moments on the outside of new models. Inside though, in the settings and menus, is where the manufacturers can really do some exciting […]
Monitors Changing for the Better
One of the challenges of color management the past few years has been the brightness of LCD monitors. Most people like them bright and contrasty, and the manufacturers have heard their wishes and complied. For those of us serious about color management, that’s created a problem. There are two key parts to color management when […]
Pixels are Cheap
I’ve always been one to shoot a lot of pictures. Maybe I’m insecure, or just love hearing that click. Lately I’ve been shooting more than ever, and that’s changing my workflow. My rule has always been, “shoot enough to make sure you’ve got the picture.” Whether that’s two frames or two-hundred, the priority is to […]
Grab your Polarizer, it’s Fall
If you live in a place where the seasons change, then odds are the trees are giving you a colorful show right now. If that’s the case, be sure and take your polarizer when you head out to shoot pictures. I was reminded of this last weekend while in St. Paul to teach a workshop. […]
Learning to Accept Failure
Over the course of the last few weeks I’ve taught a couple of workshops, and found myself reminding my students of the limitations of photography. And the bottom line is that one thing we have to learn as photographers is how to live with failure 🙂 When trying to capture what we see, cameras are […]