TWIPPHOTO.COM

23 May 2008

TWIP Podcast Episode #27 - Flickr

Posted by Scott under: Audio Podcast

The latest episode of TWIP is in the feed. You can find it at Pixelcorps if you don’t want to catch it in the iTunes feed.

Hosts: Scott Bourne
Guest: Heather Champ
Contributors: Fred Johnson, Ron Brinkmann, Steve Simon
Locations: San Francisco, Hermosa Beach & New York City

Intro Music by Scott Cannizzaro

Producer & Show Notes Author: Aaron Mahler - Twitter: halfpress

Bandwidth for This Week in Photography is provided by Cachefly.

TWIP is sponsored by Audible. For a free downloadable book visit www.audiblepodcast.com/twip

- We have a new link contest going! If you link to our blog from your site and we randomly select it from our referrer logs, you’ll win a Drobo! You must be 18 or older and live in the US to participate (Scott explains why - ad nauseam - in episode #26).

Our special guest this week is Heather Champ… artist, designer, photographer and Director of Community for Flickr

Alex is skulking around on the east coast this week, so Scott is hosting this one solo along with a full house of our regular contributors. Scott put his 1Ds Mark III on the middle of the table to intimidate Fred as he arrives (traveling on San Jose time again).

Steve Simon will be shooting both political conventions this year, so stay tuned for some interesting stories come late summer.

NEWS & DISCUSSION

- Scott will be speaking about Mac-centric digital photography at Mac Day LA on May 31st! Details can be found on the TWiP Blog.

- Nikon is about to begin shipping the new CoolPix S52c with T-Mobile Wi-Fi access. The camera has the capacity to upload images via wi-fi directly, has a 3″ LCD and shoots at 9 megapixels. Each S52c ships with six-months of complimentary T-Mobile HotSpot Wi-Fi service for digital cameras, which allows the user to send images and videos from T-Mobile Hot Spots all over the country. Sounds like an interesting possible trend in the point and shoot market.

- Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital Field Guide appears as a pre-order on Amazon. This is a pretty interesting hint toward the impending new version of the current long-in-the-tooth Canon 5D. If this title is accurate, it will be a 5D Mark II rather than the rumored 7D name that has been tossed about. Let’s just hope it comes significantly before the books apparent November release date.

- Talk about dedication: Photographer speared by javelin at Utah meet. A photographer covering field events at a meet in Utah had a javelin thrown through his leg. Ouch. Really, really big ouch. Want to share in the pain? The dude took a picture of it in his own leg. (editorial: sound of Aaron slumping over in a heap)

- May 15th was the 50th Anniversary of the publishing of Robert Frank’s remarkable book, The Americans. As Steve explains, this is arguably one of the most significant photography books ever published. There is quite a history behind this, so be sure to check the link.

- On a very sad note, Cornell Capa, founder of the International Fund for Concerned Photography, and the founder of ICP in 1974, passed away. From the official release: The entire International Center of Photography community mourns the death of Cornell Capa, who passed away early this morning, Friday, May 23rd. As a renowned photographer, as the founder of the International Fund for Concerned Photography, and the founder of ICP in 1974, Cornell was a singular force in the world of photography, opening our eyes to the power of the photographic image as an agent of change. ICP and photographers everywhere are his lasting legacy. Cornell was also the younger brother of Robert Capa, the famous war photographer killed in 1954.

SITE OF THE WEEK

- World Press Photo: The Award Interviews

- This is a fascinating site covering the story behind some of the most significant press photos of the year. The link provides both the 2007 and 2008 images accompanied by very engaging videos of the photographers discussing the work. Be sure to check out Planton’s interview about photographing Vladamir Putin for Time Magazine. Putin generally refuses ANY individual portrait work and getting this image was a last second opportunity after an interminable wait for the photographer. Very gripping story and a tremendous image. Also be sure to play around with the nifty loupe on the website while listening to the interviews.

- Steve indicates that the contest behind this award involved 78,000 submitted photos. Ouch.

- Speaking of dramatic images, Ron mentions this site containing photos from a wedding photographer who was on the scene during the recent earthquakes in Sichuan Province.

FLICKR CHALLENGE & POLL

- The last two-week challenge topic was: Doors

- Our winner this week: Blue Door 3 by dennishh.

- The runner-up this week: Doors by marcus.bain.

- Congratulations to you both!

- The next two-week challenge topic: Adventure

- We’re giving away at least two books this time around, but check the blog for details as the contest progresses.

- We’ve got videos to help you sign up for Flickr as well as videos showing how to upload to Flickr.

- Our TWiP Flickr group is nearing 4,400 Members with over 1,800 in the TWiP Flickr Critique group.

- Our previous poll asked whether you describe yourself as an amateur or professional photographer. The answers were broken down mostly on the basis of amount of income (if any) derived. In a nutshell, 81.9% of you claim to be amateurs, while only 3% are full-time professionals. 13.4% earn between one and 25% of their income through photography.

- This week’s new poll topic: Have you ever paid money to attend a photo workshop? Pretty simple folks: yes or no.

GUEST INTERVIEW: Heather Champ

- Heather’s official title at Flickr: Director of Community. Fundamentally, Heather acts as a conduit between the Flickr community and her team and is constantly interacting with Flickr’s vast, passionate user base.

- Flickr has always been predominantly about photography and is not, by design, specifically a social networking site. Despite this, a sense of community is an undeniable aspect of the Flickr universe now. People gather together in groups around interests, specific topics, challenges, etc.

- Steve Simon and Heather are both Canadian-born. Be sure to listen for a quite interesting and passionate side topic they are compelled to engage in: bagels. Who knew?

- Fred poses questions about the recent introduction of video to Flickr and how it came about. Heather points out that the use of video has always been on the roadmap for Flickr based on the founder’s original intent to design a site for sharing things from his life with others. Photography became and, of course, remains the primary focus… but the original concept never precluded using video as well. Flickr’s approach, however, has been to make the use of video very compact (90 second limit) resulting more in the concept of a “long photo” than a video. This leads, too, to individuals tending to produce the video themselves, unlike sites like YouTube where a tremendous amount of content is clips or items ripped from other sources. That is not, of course, a criticism of YouTube but rather a differentiating aspect in purpose between the two sites. Videos on Flickr can also tend toward being instructional, “behind the scenes” or come in the format of slideshows or montages of… you guessed it… photographs. Time lapse is a superb combination of photography and video in this context.

- What tips might she recommend for Flickr users branching a bit into the video realm? Tripods. Keep it smooth and keep it stable. This spurs a quick side mention of the highly convenient product known as The Pod.

- Continuing on the topic of video on Flickr, Scott asks about the outcry and controversy when the feature was first introduced. Heather points out that this speaks to two particular things: the passion of the community and the wider fact that, in many cases, humans just don’t like change. Much of the roar has died down now and people are embracing video in many of the ways the Flickr founder and designers had initially hoped.

- What is Heather’s favorite thing about Flickr? The breadth of the content that is captured by the community. Last year on May 5th, Flickr had a “24 Hours of Flickr” event where people were asked to submit a photo. Over 7,000 images were contributed and amazing commonalities were visible when looking at the pool of submissions. These images came from all over the world and, in many ways, contradicted the words of those who constantly emphasize the perceived, intractable differences between people and cultures. We’re all human, we have tremendous overlaps in interests and priorities and a global, participatory event like this tends to bear that out.

- Everyone is encouraged to look at the photos on Heather’s blog and take particular note of her marvelous photo collages and mosaics.

- By Heather’s own description: “I’m not a girly girl… if I have money, I’m going to buy a new camera, not a new pair of shoes.” TWiP loves Heather Champ.

AUDIBLE PICK OF THE WEEK

- A Walk in the Woods by the marvelous author, Bill Bryson.

- From the official description: Following his return to America after 20 years in Britain, Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail.

- Aaron here: This was an audiobook I chose on the basis of having read the original book some years ago and thoroughly enjoying it. Bryson himself narrates and provides both insightful and often hilarious commentary as he details his adventures. Of particular note is a fascinating description of Centralia, Pa which has been - quite literally - burning from underneath for decades.

- The nature photographers in particular among our listeners will likely derive a lot of joy from this particular book. Enjoy it!

LISTENER QUESTIONS

- Chuck Smith wrote: A few weeks ago on the show there was talk of a slide/negative scanning service. It was a service that was overseas, and posted the results on line. You only paid for what you kept. Does anyone remember the site?

- This one was directed at Ron Brinkmann and the answer is: Scan Cafe. Ron wrote about this on the TWiP Blog as well.

- Ian Nelson wrote: How do you care for/store your DSLR and lenses? Also how dustproof/water resistant are lenses? Would you shoot in light rain and be comfortable? Thanks your podcast is a excellent resource and a great way for amateurs to ask technical questions….

- Fred fields this one. He uses the lens and back caps in the camera bag, of course, but doesn’t make significant accommodations otherwise. He does clean them from time to time, but doesn’t baby them beyond common sense handling. If shooting in light mist… no worries. In heavier rain he’ll use baggies or shower caps to protect the body and some of the lens. Steve pitches in that he found an umbrella that mounts on your tripod and also suggests that keeping silica gel packs in with the lenses when you have them in storage. He also discovered that repairs are up on digital cameras vs. film. Why? It’s not a quality issue. People are just shooting more and wear and tear, fundamentally, remains the same.

- Michael Rubin wrote: I normally shoot on “Program” mode or “Aperture Priority” mode on my Digital Rebel XTi. I don’t remember where I saw this tip, but I always keep my exposure at 1/3rd of a stop below normal, to supposedly preserve more saturation and not blow your highlights, since you can just bring the exposure back up in post. Does this make sense? What do you guys recommend? Thank you.

- Steve Simon responds: That -was- the case in the film days… but far less so now with digital. Sensors in most cameras tend to have more headroom in the highlights than in the shadow areas. Don’t blow out the highlights, of course, but don’t expose heavily for the shadows if you’re needing to choose one or the other in a contrasty scene. Pulling up the shadows in post-processing will often turn them into noise and grain where a surprising amount of detail might well reveal itself when reigning in the seemingly blown highlights. So, in a nutshell, that old advice seems far less relevant in today’s digital context.

- Matt in Orlando wrote: Hey Guys, Love the show. In the last episode Scott mentioned that everyone should, at the very least, have a polarizing filter. Can you please explain more about what a polarizing filter does, as well as how and when to use one? Thanks a bunch.

- Scott hits this one. A polarizer eliminates reflections and reduces or eliminates stray light. The results will include deeper, bluer skies but also an elimination of reflections off surfaces like water and plate glass. You can shoot through a store window from the street with a polarizer and eliminate the reflection that would otherwise stand between you and the interior. Glare on water will be reduced or eliminated as well. The CP will cost you a stop or more of light, so be aware of needing to possibly compensate if you’re in a dim environment.

COMING UP NEXT WEEK

- Another all Listener-submitted Q&A episode! We had a great response to the last one, so we’re going to do it once a month. Get your questions in, TWiPpers.

COMING BETWEEN WEEKS

- A video introduction to studio lighting. Look for it in the feed soon.

TIP OF THE WEEK

- Scott offers the tip this week: shoot at subject eye level. It’s more engaging for both wildlife and portrait photography. If you’re using a tripod, lower or raise the legs to accommodate this.

WRAP-UP

- Scott’s photography can be found at http://avianstock.com. Twitter: scottbourne

- Alex can be found at http://www.pixelcorps.com and http://www.pixelcorps.tv. Twitter: alexlindsay

- Steve Simon can be found at http://www.stevesimonphoto.com.

- Ron Brinkmann can be found at his blog, http://www.digitalcomposting.com. Twitter: ronbrinkmann

- Fred can be found at his blog. Twitter: fvjohnson

- Aaron can be found on his blog (which is painfully in need of updates… soon) and via Twitter: halfpress

Send your thoughts, suggestions and questions to: twip at pixelcorps.com

Story ideas and other items of webly interest can be submitted via the TWiP Ideas Del.icio.us bookmarks

Share photos with your fellow TWiP listeners through the TWiP Flickr Feed

Submit your photos for “ruthless compassion” through our TWiP critiques forum.

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