A while back (as shown by a story a few down in the list) I wrote on what it takes to be a professional photographer.  To sum up, it means that more than 50% of your income comes from photography.

There is more to it.  Still, by definition, you would need to have 51% of your income to be from photography, but your presentation of both your work and yourself should also be a cut above the rest of the amateurs who have these starter DSLR cameras.

Sorry, an SLR does not a professional make.
Submitted by Bradley Buskey [/html]

Last night (February 20, 2008) played host to a total lunar eclipse.  The last one, in fact, until December 2010.  I was on my way home and completly forgot about the event, that is until I saw the moon rising over the horizon.  Full, clear and bright yellow.  I went home, dumped my cameras, telescope, tripod and other gear into my car, drove over to E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park and set up.  It was roughly 20 degrees, so setup took some time, with frozen fingers the result.  However, everything was set up and tested about 20 minutes before the eclipse started.

I was set up to take photos through my telescope.  The three images that follow are the results of the limited cropping time I have had since.  The show the moon with a jet and its contrails cutting straight across the disk, the full moon just before the umbra phase and the moon during totality.  I have a series of full to totality shots that need to be lined up correctly (I was not tracking at the time...) and I will post them up when I get the chance.  Keep in mind, these are large images.

[ Read the rest ... ]

I have seen on many different discussion boards a trend for people with high-end point and shoot fixed-lens digital cameras and even digital SLR cameras who have managed to sell a print or two to call themselves "professional" photographer. That's fine. I, myself have managed to sell a number of prints and files. However, I do not consider myself a professional photographer. In response I have seen messages from professional photographers condemning the P&S pros for saturating the market with cheap prints and photographs. An age-old issue that is not restricted to the photographic world.

[ Read the rest ... ]

I have been asked before, and I have seen the question asked in other forums and discussions, "how do I <insert camera function> on my <insert camera>?"

[ Read the rest ... ]

Many of you reading this may remember reading a previous article I wrote on using a Hoya R72 IR filter on a Canon PowerShot G3. In that article, I wrote about taking a color IR filtered image and reversing the color changes. In this article, I will be taking a normal color image, from any camera, and creating a black and white image that looks like it was taken on IR film.

First of all, we need to select an image with good color. Outdoor images tend to have the best chance of success. The brighter and more vivid the color, the better the end result will be.

[ Read the rest ... ]