I've done quite well following my prescription to come out of the photographic doldrums this month, keeping my promise to use the Polaroid SX-70 as my only camera. There have definitely been some situations that I would have been better off with another camera, like a late night party, but on the whole I think I've learned quite a bit from this experiment. Things like composition, timing, and knowing what is and isn't a good photo before pressing the shutter release.

To be honest, I'm not looking forward to putting the camera down at the end of the month, I think I get along quite well with its limitations. Still, I miss some of the other cameras, and Polaroid film is getting expensive!

If you'd like to see every photo I've shot this month, all with the SX-70, just check out my Octoberoid set on Flickr.

Photoshop Product Manager John Nack showing Photoshop features for Web, video, and photographic work, as well as its new integration with Flash and other applications.

No Photoshop required!

Here’s a fun and creative way to take a photo that appears to have a transparent (ghost) person in the photo. There will be those that’ll swear this image has been manipulated in Photoshop, but the truth is, it’s straight out of the camera.

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Photo consumers are now browsing Flickr and contacting photographers and offering to pay usage fees. The amounts might not be huge, which is probably one of the reasons that the sales aren’t making headlines, but they are being handed over at the end of email offers and modest negotiations.

I noticed a discussion of this titled: How to Get Paid for your Flickr Photos over at Photopreneur.

Marketing the Flickr Way
But to increase the chances of making a sale, you have to market. Like anywhere, it’s not enough to put your goods on offer — however good your photos might be — and hope that photography-lovers with bucketloads of money spot them. You have to let people know they’re there.

On Flickr, that doesn’t mean spending vast sums on pay-per-click advertising.

It means investing time in networking.

Kodak’s 7.1-megapixel EasyShare Z712 IS excels by combining an optically stabilized 12X zoom with a set of manual and automatic controls that are easy to operate. Snapshot photographers who want greater creative control will benefit from this compact EVF (electronic viewfinder) camera’s enhanced features without spending more than they would on a typical point-and-shooter, such as the Fuji FinePix F40fd or the Canon SD1000. But the EasyShare Z712 IS doesn’t have the performance muscle, feature set, or photo quality to satisfy serious amateur photographers.

Read full story at pcmag

Since the last time I blogged on 10/12, I have been busy with a number of things. First, and foremost, was the big annual photographica sale put on by the Michigan Photographic Historical Society that took place in Novi on 10/14. I had great help from my friends Ross and Amy, as we had a van full (and then some) of stuff to sell on behalf of MiPHS. We did really well, selling about $1900 worth of cameras, accessories and books, and most importantly, ridding me of about 80% of what was being stored in my garage.



The day before that, Dennis accompanied me to Historic Fort Wayne, just S of Detroit, where we met up with Ralph and wandered around taking shots (mostly with toy cameras) of some interesting dilapidation at the fort. Things are improving there, but nonetheless, the crumbling buildings are interesting material.




Finally, this past weekend, Adrienne and I drove to Marquette to see our daughter, Marjorie, and partake in a Parents' Weekend at NMU. I'll blog that separately.

Monarch by Marianne Venegoni