Anthropomorphic Animals and Cats Wrestling

It was very early on in my Animal Antics series of anthropomorphized animal pictures for greeting card when I was given the task of shooting Big Time Wrestling…with cats.

At that point I had only done four or five such images.

I was doing the compositing work with Live Picture, which at the time had better tools for selecting the hair and fur. But neither Photoshop nor Live Picture was anywhere near the tool that Photoshop is today.

Excitement, Intimidation and Challenge

When I saw the sketch from the art director I was both excited and intimidated. It was easily the most challenging job I had been asked to do yet, but done well, would be a really cool image that would certainly stand out from everything else out there.

The original sketch did not show the audience, and for better or worse, I suggested that we make the audience all cats. Boy did that turn into a nightmare!

Blood, Sweat and Funny Animal Photos

To create this funny animal photo my art director, Collette Kulak, had a miniature boxing or wrestling ring built. She also crafted, herself, small plastic cat-sized uniforms. Now photographing cats is not an easy process.

Photographing cats, upside down, wearing miniature wrestling uniforms…now that is a challenge! This was way back before we had mastered the process, and we were doing our best to actually get the cats into the necessary poses. Now we just shoot one part at a time and it is one heck of a lot easier!

We did manage to get all the shots I needed, but not without shedding just a little blood, sweat and, well, thankfully, there were no tears.

An Audience of Cats and 1000 Layers

It took me about two days to assemble the main elements of the picture. Then I set about building the audience of cats. That was my idea, right? Man! Everytime I would drop one cat’s face in I would have to adjust the one next to it, then the one next to it, and so on.

Plus, I only had about twelve different cat faces to work with, and I didn’t it to look like I was using the same ones over and over. To help with that I had the background go darker and darker the further back the audience receded. By the time I had completed the image I had over 1000 layers (in Live Picture…Photoshop wouldn’t go over 99 layers back then).

A Poster, Books and Greeting Cards

At nine days of imaging, the cat-wrestling photo takes the record for the longest time I have ever spent digitally manipulating a single composite image. This funny cat photo has been used as a poster, in books, as a greeting card (still being distributed) and in a variety of other uses. It is still one of my favorite images…though I may be influenced by what a challenge it was to create, a phenomena that must of us photographers, ah, wrestle with!

 Research Your Clients, and Get an Advance

When licensing your images it is really important to research your clients thoroughly and to only license the rights for an image that a given client needs and is good at distributing. A company that is great at selling and distributing greeting cards may not be particularly good at distributing calendars.

In the long run you will do better by researching your clients and paying close attention to your licensing. If your client does not distribute, and distribute effectively through out the world, then don’t give up world rights! I would also recommend getting an advance. Just recently I agreed to let a company distribute my images in a calendar without an advance.

The company folded, sold the rights to the calendar to another company who also then folded. I end up with nothing. Research your clients, pay attention to the rights you license, and get an advance.

John Lund Stock Photos: Nude Torso Study

John Lund’s Funny Animal Pictures: Female Nude Torso Study with abstract light patterns

Concept Stock Photos & Funny Pics: Nude Female Torso With Lights

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The Practice of Aikido in Photography

Until recently I used to practice the martial art of Aikido. While I gave up the physical practice of Aikido (bad knees, etc.), I am still finding it a great practice in my life and business.  In Aikido you blend with your opponent or attacker and then redirect their energy away from you.

You are responsible both for protecting yourself as well as for the safety of your attacker. It is bad karma for you if you either allow someone to hurt you, or if you injure them. For me, the true power of Aikido is not so much in throwing people (and being thrown) in the dojo, but rather the practice of Aikido in everyday life and, in my case, in my photography career.

A Universal Law with Stock Photographers

I will be getting my Getty sales report in a couple of days, and I was thinking about how when the report is good I get fired up to make more images, and when it is not so good I get discouraged.

This seems to be pretty much a universal law with the stock photographers I know and talk to, and the last thing any of us can afford to do in this market is get discouraged. All of us, no matter how accomplished, are going to have those moments of negative energy that we must rise above in order to reach continuing success.

Redirecting Energy into Creativity and Productivity

As I mentioned before, in Aikido, we are taught to utilize an attacker’s energy against that attacker by redirecting it. Rather than get bowled over by a bad sales report, an unfavorable edit, or a difficult shoot, I want to be able to redirect that hit of energy into creative and productive activities. This largely amounts to awareness and intention.

I maintain awareness of my tendencies and I keep the intention of what I want to accomplish. I want to stay positive, to keep my energy high, and flowing in productive directions.

Awareness, Intention and a Plan

When I get those negative energy hits it helps me to have a plan to fall back on. A plan allows me to avoid indecision about what I should be doing and be sure that my energy is directed towards what is important to advance my career. Awareness helps me know what to expect, intention gets me moving, and a plan allows me to move efficiently into my next step.

Be a Conductor Orchestrating Energy

In Aikido the goal is not to resist energy but to flow with it. In this time of transformation for the photography industry it makes far more sense to flow with the forces of change than to resist a power that is so much stronger than we are.

Let that energy propel you into new ways to succeed. Another visual metaphor for this approach is that of a conductor who orchestrates the energy rather than trying oppose it. But whatever the visual or the metaphor, the important point is that while we cannot dictate what is going on around us, we can choose how we react and deal with those forces.

For me, keeping the principles of Aikido in mind, and having a plan, helps me to do just that.

Funny and Stock Photos: Funny cat Picture of two felines

Stock Photos & Funny Animal Pics: Stock shot of a cat eating desert in a bakery

Funny Pics and Stock Photos: cat sitting on the edge of a bed

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/digital-photography-articles/awareness-intention-and-energy-in-photography-1677975.html

Creating Stock Photos and Image Gestation

I am not sure whether it is panic or greed, or perhaps both, that keep inserting their insidious talons into my photographic flesh (can I turn a phrase or what). You see, the problem is that I have a very hard time finishing a stock photo well.

That is, taking the time to make sure every detail is a good as I can make it. I have an even harder time giving it a rest period before submitting it. Yet that rest period is incredibly important.

So often I am in such a rush to finish an image and get started on the next one, and to see that first one up online and potentially earning me income, that I don’t take the proper and appropriate time to let the image gestate a bit before declaring it complete and sending it off.

The Approach That Finally Works

There are many reasons to allow for this gestation period, which I think should be a minimum of three days, and even better a week, all though I imagine each image would have its own optimum gestation period.

Some images, like elephants, might even be best with a two-year gestation…and though that might be taking it a bit far, I have actually had images sit in a unfinished condition for that long before revisiting them and coming up with the approach that finally works. In one particular elephant photo where an elephant is sitting on a bench at the beach looking out at the ocean, I let the image sit for a few days before I had the idea of adding a line of Pelicans flying by. It was a small touch but it adds a tremendous amount to the final image.

Separation, Detachment and Increased Earnings

A waiting period allows you to get some separation, some emotional detachment, from an image. That can be important because, at least for me, the emotional involvement and excitement of creating a stock photo (hey, I hold stock photography in VERY high regard), can hide flaws in the image from me, as well as keep me from seeing derivative versions that can significantly increase the earnings potential of my efforts. Once I send that image off, it makes submitting similar images or alternative versions almost impossible.

Feedback, Breathing Time and Significant Improvements

In addition, having a waiting period allows me to get some feedback from others on a photo. Sometimes someone will point out something about one of my stock images, a problem of some sort that I already knew on some level, but refused to acknowledge to myself. Other times people can give me a new and fresh perspective altogether.

While ultimately I have to go with my own judgment, if several others point out a similar difficulty, or possible improvement, then it certainly behooves me to pay attention. I find it interesting that sometimes my ego has a very hard time accepting another person’s point of view or suggestions, even while I can clearly see the validity of those suggestions.

Having the patience to give an image some breathing time can lead to significant improvements in one’s imagery with virtually no negative consequences. Now I am off to watch some mindless television while my images “gestate”!

Stock & Funny Animal Pics & Photos: Little Red Riding Hood Walks Into the Forrest

Stock Photos and funny animal pics: Little Red Riding Hood emerges from the forrest

Funny Pics and Stock Photography: pair of hands frame a road into the distance

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/digital-photography-articles/panic-greed-and-patience-in-creating-stock-photos-1671634.html

Advanced Digital Photography – How To Take Great Photos in Outdoors

If you’ve ever snapped your weekend outing, family reunion, or a special vacation getaway with your buddies or family, you know that outside photography can present some deeply special challenges. Direct sunlight can beintolerable. Unwelcome objects can meddle with your composition. And many times, good old mother nature is just not feeling co-operative. These are some outside systems that may benefit :
Keep It Simplistic. The sophisticated pattern and colour of an adobe wall, the straightforward repeating pattern and muted tones of planks on a fishing pier, or the uniform color of a patch of blue bonnets, snapdragons, or yellow primrose can serve as dazzling backdrops for your outside portraits. When you’re composing your portrait, you want your subject to be the focus that all eyes are drawn to. Busy patterns,can truly distract from the point of interest of the picture.
Control The Depth Of Field… The fringe of a forest, or mountains in the distance may render superbly as a background for your subject with correct control over the depth of field. If you have an SLR camera, you can adjust your depth of field to bring the background sort of out of focus relative to your subject. This serves as eye control for the observer of your portrait. The eye is naturally drawn to what’s brightest and most sharply centered.If your subject is sharply focused relative to the background, she’s going to be intensified as the focus of your portrait. Controlling the depth of field is realized by adjusting your aperture setting ( the dimensions of your lens opening, recounted in f-stops ). The more small the f-stop the bigger the opening of your lens, and the more little the depth of field will be.

Be Aware Of Distracting Objects Behind Your Subject. What’s obviously a bush, a mailbox, or a birdhouse to your eye, can appear like an extra member growing out of the apex of your subject’s head in your 2 dimensional portrait.
Control The Light. Down light ( e.g. Thanks to the shadow patterns it creates, it can bring out the worst in your subject. Lateral light ( e.g. Lateral light can be controlled and directed to form gorgeous shade patterns across the face of your subject.
Before the digital age, corrective filters or special films were regularly used for color correction in outside portraits. With digital cameras, the color can be corrected using your white balance setting ( color temperature in degrees Kelvin ). Most digital cameras today do a good job of immediately changing the white balance for outdoors exposures.

Keeping your composition simple, controlling the depth of field, and eliminating objects that may distract from your subject, all help to increase your subject as the focus of your portrait. Controlling the available natural light and correcting the white balance of your photos can exhibit and enhance the true sweetness of your subject.

To find out more about outside digital photography look at this video,. Outdoor Portrait Ideas

Hello everyone. I love photography and I believe digital photography is an art, but it most certainly doesn’t have to be complicated, no matter how frustrated you may get taking digital pictures. I hope the information you read here will help you take beautiful pictures. Understanding Digital Photography

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/digital-photography-articles/advanced-digital-photography-how-to-get-the-best-outdoor-photos-1667529.html

Digital cameras have changed the photography. They made the photography easier and every person can become a professional photographer by using these digital cameras.You can delete the pictures which you don’t like. These cameras were used by adults only and children were only able to see the picture which their parents have taken. There are many children who want to take their own pictures by using these expensive cameras. They want permission to their parents, but the parents do no allow them to do so.

Well, there is finally some good know for all of us parents out their being begged by our children to allow them to take pictures. Fisher-Price realized the need and has developed the very first digital camera just for kids called the Kid Tough Digital Camera. The digital camera is made of a rough exterior that can resist in the toughest of abuse a young child could put it through. This is a kid friendly camera by Fisher Price.

Now the Fisher Price has made it waterproof which is one of the innovative modifications. This quality allows to resist the interior parts of the camera from water. Now you don’t have to do worry even if they submerged it in water.

The Kid Tough Waterproof Digital Camera has all of the same kid friendly and fun features of the previous model, including 64MB of flash memory with the ability to save 500 photos, USB cable, Unique two-eye view screen that allows children to take photos quickly and easily.

This ones sure to be just as big of a hit as its predecessor so be sure to pick up the camera for your kids this holiday season before its too late. The kids will enjoy a lot and will have fun snapping their own photographs and it also help them in their educational growth. For example this will make your child to develop coordination, how to handle the camera, how to operate the buttons etc. Now your child can become a photographer, he she can snap the pictures of their friends, pets, vacations etc.

So get this Fisher Price Kid Tough Digital Camera for your child for Fisher upcoming holidays and festival, and sure they will leave your digital camera.

Are You Looking for Fisher Price Kid Tough Digital camera ? Find out why is it so popular amongs Kids. Please visit our site : Fisher Price Kid Tough Digital camera

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World renowned Casio merchandise are produced by Casio Computers which was formed in 1946 in Tokyo and later incorporated as Casio Computer Co, Ltd in 1957.  It makes a broad assortment of electronics that consists of, among others, calculators, mobile phones, watches, TVs,PCs, PDAs and Casio digital cameras too. It entered the digital camera market in 1995, introducing the world’s first consumer digital camera with an LCD monitor.

On the Internet, there are thousands of websites advertising digital cameras produced by various manufacturers. As you can see, every producer does its utmost to convince that its merchandise are the best currently on the market. This is true of Casio digital cameras too with the difference that what they have to offer, indeed, is the best.

It is of interest to note that some websites deal exclusively in Casio digital cameras. They provide you with all the information about Casio’s current digital camera models and types. This is very useful in that you will not have to go from site to site looking for the model you have in mind. It is no surprise that details on products that have been discontinued are also available.

Not everyone is a professional lensman.  Therefore, it may be difficult for one to make the best selection of a digital camera out of the many hundreds of models on offer on the websites. There are some sites to be found on the Net which feature a novel way of making your choice of Casio digital cameras. All you have to do is answer several queries online with multiple answers.  The moment you finish that exercise, you will be presented with the most suitable model that suits your replies.  For a novice, this is a very new experience of having a simple solution for a complicated issue.

Make it a habit to find every possible detail regarding whatever you’re going to purchase prior to really buying it.  Read all reviews, user comments, and other tips that will prove useful. Websites that publicize Casio digital cameras abound them.  They have up to the minute details of their latest products and models such as Exilim compact camera series. These products have Casio’s state-of-the-art technology in high speed image processing. So, go for a leader in digital photography equipment. Go for Casio digital cameras.

For more Casio Digital Cameras as well as other Gizmos and Gadgets.
http://gizmosgadgetsnews.info

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/digital-photography-articles/casio-digital-cameras-1657451.html