A letter to me...

I received this e-mail from a very talented photographer and thought it might be a good thing to share and might help others to see how I try and deal with the same issues everyone does in the digital world...

The splash ones are beyond cool. Where did you find a lens to take those? Same with the water drops?

The orange splash photos are just done with the kit lens that comes with the d90 the 18-105. I actually took all the splash photos including the water drops with the D90. But all were done with the help of both my strobes. I was able to use the in combo together to take a photo with at 1/4000 of a second with Nikons CLS system. Meaning I did not use any kind of trigger or pocket wizard to set it off. Using all the setting in the camera and built into the flashes your able to do really amazing stuff thanks to the smart peeps at Nikon. Look into CLS and High speed sync or FP Auto. Really cool stuff I am just getting into. Nikons are limited to 1/250 of a flash sync speed usually but with "FP on" you can make the shutter whatever you want. With such a high shutter speed and  aperture of say f22 using such a huge amount of light you don't have to worry about having a black background it is made for you. The camera absorbs all the light it can in the fraction of a second and has no time to see the background. 

How do you keep up with editing all the photos you take? (Like when you do weddings or events)?

This really is not a straight forward answer and each photographer has their own way of dealing with it. Sometimes I have to force myself to sit down and finish and others I get really into it and don't want to stop. A good bit of advice is to get a good program to arrange all your photos  before you take them to photoshop or wherever you do your editing with. I use Lightroom 2 but there are tons... this give you a head start in sorting out good and bad shots.

How do you stay on top of your work and if you fall behind, how do you manage?

Well this is kind of the same answer as the last question. The stuff for my blog really drives me. I am really passionate about learning everything there is to know about my new camera (d700) and well digital photography in general. So that is my drive. I had a post about always having you camera on you. I have been really trying to practice what I was preaching as of late and have really been amazed at just how many shots I have gotten that otherwise would have gone right past me never to be seen again. Doing this has also got my creativity going in a big way for other projects that I would like to get going on. 

Also, what is the typical turn around for photos you take for other people and how much editing do you do? Where did you learn your editing techniques?

I do a lot of editing. It has gone down a bit since I got my new camera but on the hole I am an artist so I love messing with the images. I am a graphic designer so i edit all day. I know a bunch of programs because of that. Photoshop should be your best friend :) I learned it before I knew anything about cameras in HS. That gave me a huge leg up when I got my first camera (d70). My one bit of advice on editing would be to get really good with photoshop learn the keyboard short cuts it will save you tons of time.

hope that helps,
Euan