Size Matters

Image size is somewhere in your camera menu.  This is how it looks on my D3.  Do not pick this setting.

I am working on a project for a non-profit where I will be putting some 25 - 20"x30" prints on display at their offices.  Most of these will be from images I did for them, but some we were hoping to use would come from volunteers who have been to different countries for them.

I went to their offices today and spent an hour or so going through folders of images.  90% of all the images were unusable.  They were not usable because they were too small.  They were only big enough for Facebook or a small website image.  Most of the images when blown up to 100% would fit in this blog here.

Those size files are big enough to make an acceptable 4"x6" print. 

Always pick the largest size image.

If you pick the largest size you will not be able to shoot as many photos on a memory card.  The good news is the memory card is so cheap today you can carry many cards in your wallet.

If you pick the largest size you now can make prints and large prints with today's digital cameras.

You can always downsize the images for your Facebook or to email someone, but you cannot take the small image and make a large print.

This is the same as setting your camera to take color or black and white photos.  Why shoot it in black and white?  You can do that later with your Lightroom or Photoshop.  You can't go back and make it color.

Keep your options open and shoot your images on the highest quality setting for your camera.  Since each camera is different on how to do this, pull your camera manual out or Google your camera model and how to set the quality of the images. 

By the way all those wonderful shots of Kenya, Guatemala and Brazil are not usable for the exhibit.  Be sure your photos are always considered for usage, by being sure your images are the largest size possible for your camera.

What I use to display photos on my iPad

Portfolio is a good choice for you to show your photos on an iPad

If you are looking for an app to use on your iPad for displaying photos you might like to try this app.  I have been using it for a while and the cool thing is using DropBox to upload the images from my computer to the iPad. 

You can create a variety of galleries to show.  Here is what I have on my iPad for example.

What's on my iPad

They are really just categories for me to have for talking points with clients or potential clients.

While the iPad has a long battery life and is something cool to pull out and show your work on, I suggest having some leave behind.  It can be some prints, postcards, coffee table book or flyer.

Remember the person who sees your work most likely will need to show your work to someone else before they hire you.  The iPad can be the WOW! factor, but have a website and/or blog to direct them to as well.

Skype Interview Tips

Is this what your Skype setup looks for your interview?

A series of experiments by Princeton psychologists reveal that all it takes is a tenth of a second to form an impression of a stranger from their face, and that longer exposures don't significantly alter those impressions.  Yikes.

In this amount of time you haven't had a chance to even say your name.  That first impression is primarily a visual impression and this is why I think I can help you.


I suggest going to a hair stylist and getting the best style you can for your features.  Maybe find a stylist to help you with your wardrobe.  Remember you only have tenth of a second to impress.

Simplify the backround and add some lights to either side of the monitor and for those of us older folks, I would add a light under you chin as I have done here.  The lower light softens those wrinkles.  You can see television anchors use this light--you just have to look to see it.

I chose white as a background here, you might want to choose blue as a background.  It is used a great deal at press conferences like the White House because it is complimentary to the skin.  The basic idea is the clean up that background of clutter.

The cool thing about a Skype interview is you can have your notes on the screen to read just like a teleprompter and keep your eyes engaged with the audience.  Don't use notes that you have to look down or away from the computer screen.  You want to engage your audience.

Here is a good typical set up of lights.  You can just use a household lamp on either side. To get the light effect under your chin you can just use white card board that you can buy anywhere to lay on the table to bounce the light up.

The benefit from using the additional lights is if you wear glasses this can actually cut down on the reflection of the monitor in your glasses.  The brighter you make those lights on the side the more the reflection of the monitor will disappear.

Most of today's new computers have pretty good microphones and cameras built in.  As long as you are sitting close to the monitor you should sound good.  Test it out.  If your friend has trouble hearing you, then go and buy a small microphone.

Be sure you wipe off any dirt or smudges from your camera lens.

To be really sure you make a great first impression--don't do what I did in these photos and not smile.  Smile a lot.  Practice a few times with your friends.

Share your screen

Another cool thing about Skype is you canshare your computer screen instead of them seeing just you.  This is great if you want to show something on your computer to them.

Remember while you need to practice with some friends and smooth out your presentation, it is still the tenth of the first second they will make a lot of judgement just on how you look. 

The best preventive camera insurance

Decorative Camera Strap showing my love of the comic strip www.WhatTheDuck.net

Back in 1980 during Christmas break from college, I went ice skating with my friends on a lake in New Jersey.  I remember this time very well, because this is the time I dropped my rangefinder camera onto the ice and destroyed it.

The reason I dropped it was I didn't have a camera strap on it.  I didn't own one.  Today I see lots of folks who must have not realized how important the camera strap is when they opened the box with their new camera.  It can be cumbersome, but I can tell you from past experiences not using it can be a disaster.

My favorite camera straps are the Domke 1.5" strap

Besides having a camera strap you need to use it.  Hanging the camera around your neck is the safest place for it to be when you are being a tourist.  Second is maybe over the shoulder, but the worst thing is no strap and just holding it.

Wrap the strap around the wrist if you don't have it around your neck when shooting.

There are going to be times you might want to take a photo out of the car window.  Wrap the camera strap around your hand so that it doesn't slip and fall.

When you get to that restaurant and need to set it down, the safest spot is on the floor--it can't fall from there.  Some folks even put the strap through their leg so no one can grab it and run.

When you put a camera on a table, always try and keep the strap on the table and not hanging over.  It can easily get pulled off the table by animals and small children who are just curious.

If you place the camera on a table, don't let the strap dangle off the edge.  I have seen way too many of these straps magically get hooked onto someone walking by and then the camera hits the ground.  Little kids love to explore and having something at their hands reach will be too tempting.

There are many types of camera straps and I will just recommend one that I prefer the most.  It is made by Domke and here is a link to it for you.  I like the quick release straps that can be removed for easy packing or when the camera is on tripod.

Remember the best insurance on your camera is preventive care by you.

In Silos or a Rising Tide

Does your company have a silo effect?

My last post was about being aware of the relationships and politics of the office. This is to address not caving in and not pursuing what is best for the company, but finding a strategy to make great communication take place.

When a company functions as if each department is separate then you get the silo effect.

While I worked for Georgia Tech I saw this more than anywhere I had been before.  Since I worked in communications, my role had me moving from one department to another.  In the span of a week I photographed three different research projects on the campus and all three of them were solving the problem of epilepsy.

What was strange was that none of these departments knew about each other and even after I told them about each others projects they still didn't interact together.

It was also at Georgia Tech where I saw the silos starting to be dismantled.  When they built the new Bioengineering building they had open labs next to each other.  This was to encourage people to talk to each other and collaborate more.

I enjoyed playing pickup basketball at Georgia Tech.  I played with students, alumni, faculty and staff.  While waiting between games we had time to talk to each other.  Two professors I played ball with talked one day together about their work.  Dr. William Hunt, Professor Bioengineering, and Microelectronics/Microsystems talked with Dr Roger Wartell about a problem. 

At the end of that conversation Dr. Hunt had a major breakthrough in his research. I too had a conversation later with Dr. Hunt about his work and he had a breakthrough, but struggled to get funding.  I asked if he would let me take a look at a way to visually communicate the concept.  After I helped him with some photos of his work he presented his work to a conference.

Very similar presentation to what he had been doing, but now new images.  He had one of the branches of the military come up after that talk and give him a $500,000 grant.  He sent a letter to the president of Georgia Tech telling him how I had helped him.  I was thrilled for him and I.

Toyota can tell you about how one part just about brought down their company in 2009.  It started as what was thought to be floor mats and then it came out they knew they had a faulty accelerator design.  This was an example of silo that just about took down the company.  It is still dealing with the bad PR this gave the company.

You need quality process in place for the whole company and not just parts of it.  You need to address these issues:

    •    A defined end goal
    •    Work done right the first time
    •    Individual responsibility for quality
    •    Verification, not inspection--quality processes focus on the on-going verification of quality achievement and not only inspection at the end
    •    Long-term focus
    •    Improved quality results in lower costs

If a company puts equal quality standards for their communication as they do in their product then it will lift up all the departments and in the end the customer gets a better product and experience.  This makes all those involved walking taller and prouder about what they are apart.

You see a rising tide lifts all boats.

A rising tide lifts all boats

Your work can be too good

The books range form $30 - $70 depending on how many pages

A religious leader for a large church organization told his communications team to not produce slick well-polished pieces, because then folks will think we have too much money and not give.  We want to look like we need help.

What is sad is that it probably costs more money to produce poor quality than great quality work.  If the work is not of a certain caliber then no one in your targeted audience will digest the content and then it was a total waste of money.

I have been producing two to three minute multimedia packages that range from $2,000 - $5,000 to produce in addition to the cost of travel expenses.  The companies I do this for are used to paying $10,000 to $250,000 for similar length video projects. Since they are so much less to produce the client was doing more of them.

This can cause a problem for the client with the rest of their corporation.  They think based on previous expenditures they are spending lots of money, when in reality they are spending less.

This was also happening for books we did as gifts.  People thought these were tens of thousands when they are often only $30 a book for 10 books.

If you are in charge of projects and you are not aware of this political reality of quality of your products you may be in for a rude awakening in a budget meeting. 

As communication specialists we help tell stories effectively. You also have another role to play of educating your organization about what you do.  They need to have you help them understand the strategy of the communications and the costs.

I would recommend getting someone to help you tell your story.  This could be one of your colleagues in the industry to help you.  I think one of the strangest things I have discovered over my career is how communications folks need someone to help them with their PR campaign.

First of all the PR you do for yourself is not necessarily the same thing you do for others. 

Here are seven things you might want to do:

1. Take your analytics or get some to show how many folks you reach with your messaging.
2. Show where you are getting placed—tear sheets
3. Create a notebook/PowerPoint of these talking points that you are ready to now present to a person or a group.
4. Identify those persons in your organization that you need as your allies
5. I suggest taking them to lunch and sharing with them some of you material showing how you are being more strategic than in the past and how you are being more cost efficient in doing this.
6. Create a comparison chart.  What we used to spend on something vs. today what we are spending. 
7. Maybe give them a framed picture and copy of the story you produced for them or coffee table book and include with it a cover letter talking about the number of hits and responses you have gotten to it.

A strange thing may happen after you have done this with a few folks—you will get more work.  You may also get a larger budget next year.  People are drawn to folks who show business acumen. 

While I have given just some suggestions you may want to help those reading this blog with your tips.  I would love to hear your comments and suggestions.

Camera recall

My new Nikon P7000 came with original firmware v 1.0 and I upgraded it to v 1.1

You just don't see camera recalls on the evening news. However, there are very similar "recall" notices on your camera's website.  With cameras they are called firmware upgrades.

If you go to your camera's manufacturer website you can search for firmware upgrade. On the Nikon website go to "service and support" and then to the "download center." You will then see "download current firmware version."

You will need to also know your firmware version. You can find this in your manual or just google your camera and firmware and you will find directions.

Just the other day I bought a brand new Nikon P7000. The firmware version on the camera was 1.0, but when I went to the website there was a version 1.1.

This is what Nikon listed as what this firmware fixed:

• Image recording time at image quality settings that include NRW (RAW) has been reduced.
• Lens control has been optimized to reduce the frequency with which the “Initializing lens. Cannot focus.” message is displayed.
• An issue that, in some rare cases, prevented zoom operation has been resolved.
• An issue that caused the monitor display to exhibit a loss of detail in highlights (blown highlights) when the shutter-release button was pressed halfway with Active D-Lighting enabled has been resolved.

No matter which camera you have, be sure you check to see if there is a firmware upgrade. You may just end up what feels like a new camera if you do.

Have your papers in order if you want to get paid

Expenses from a trip for a client

Virginia Adams, Pam Bonser and Alfreda Thompson all have been very important clients of mine through the years.  What you need to know is why they are important to me.

All three of them were the administrative assistants at places I worked or did work for that processed my invoices and expenses.

The most important thing for me at the end of the day is that I was paid for the work I did.  If I do an excellent job, make the client very happy with my work, and I do not get paid, then tomorrow I have to go and find another job, because I must pay my bills somehow.

How quickly you get paid has a lot to do with your paper work.  All of these administrative assistants were my contacts.  They interfaced with the accounts payable department and not me. 

They taught me to document all my expenses like: meals; transportation; hotels; mileage; tips for couriers; and miscellaneous items.  By having a scanned copy of each receipt attached to the invoice will insure payment in a timely matter. 

Their role is to look at the expenses and evaluate each expense.  Most companies have limits for meals for example and any unusual expense needs an explanation to forward to the next person in the process.  These notes are there for when they get audited.

Form W-9

Why is this necessary?  Well there are a few scenarios where having your papers in order will help the client in the long run.  I hate to bring this up, but there are times when your client could be in a political battle for budget planning.  Other departments can put pressure on the accounting department to audit them and see if they are being good stewards. 

If you have done a great job with providing receipts and explanations on your invoice for any abnormalities then when questions arise with the auditors they will give them a clean report.  However, if the books are sloppy this will be enough to not only affect their budget requests going forward, but may get your client fired.  When this happens you have to start all over and hope the person replacing them will use you.

If your papers are the reason the person lost their job, then the replacement will most likely not use you.

One more thing you need to do with each new client.  If you are doing freelance always give them a Form W-9.  They need it and if you do not give it to them when your invoice is due for payment they will call and request one.  So if they pay in a 30 days cycle you could be waiting another 30 days for payment past the first 30 days.

Just like in making pictures I want my standards to be higher than my client so I am giving them my best.  Do this for the paper work.  Your client my not ask for this much detail, but if you do this they will not only be pleased you will look even more professional.

The clients who hired me trusted and listened to Virginia, Pam and Alfreda.  I want to impress them with my paper work as much as I want to impress with my photography.

Scan and attach a copy of all your receipts for the client

Making choices today in business

I just got a copy of Truett Cathy's book Wealth is it Worth it?

The forward was written by Ken Blanchard and the introduction by Dave Ramsey.

Shortly after getting the book I ran across Damon Horowitz TED Talks presentation on YouTube on "moral operating system."

Horowitz does a live crowd source and asks the audience to raise their hands if they use iPhone or an Android.  After he does this then he asks them when trying to evaluate a situation using kantian ethics or Consequentialism.  Almost no hands go up in the audience.

What Horowitz extrapolates from this is we have stronger opinions about our handheld devices than the moral framework we should use.

On the back of Truett Cathy's book is a quote from Warren Buffett that he said to Cathy, "I can't remember exactly what I paid for the last Chick-fil-A I had or the last shirt I bought. But the one thing I do remember is how I got treated. You forget the price, but nobody forgets how they're treated."






Why am I writing about this on this blog?  I believe this is the key to being successful in business. You need to have a moral compass in life. By having ethics and values that you understand will help you build your brand and the trust of people.

Chick-fil-A took off in 1982 in sales.  This is when the executive team established the corporate purpose:

To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A.

If you don't have a personal mission statement for you and your company this is the time to form one. It will help you guide the rest of your life.

Before and After Photos (Part 2)

Click to see 360 degree tour

If you missed the first post please go here to see the before shot and then come back and see the after photo.

There really isn't all that much to add to this except this is the after photo. 

We are now much happier with a lighter and more modern looking kitchen.  We also did the dining room and foyer.  We changed the color of the cabinets, walls and also changed the lighting in each room.

Do you like our changes?

The creator of the Cow Campaign for Chick-fil-A

David Ring, the ultimate Raving Fan of Chick-fil-A

Today I just met one of the biggest raving fans of Chick-fil-A. I was photographing at the Richards Group in Dallas, Texas. Chick-fil-A is promoting Cow Appreciation Day, which is today Friday July 8, 2011.

Chick-fil-A was hosting not only The Richards Group employees, the agency that does the Cow advertising campaign, they also had Raving Fan bloggers as well there. So when I saw this guy convincing four of the cows to hold him for a photo I wasn't shocked, but wanted to know more about this Raving Fan.

"I am David Ring and back in 1994 I created the Cows." Well this was just too cool. I got to talk with David and learn more.

"Chick-fil-A didn't serve beef and this got him to thinking that the Cows would be perfect." He presented the idea to Stan Richards, the founder of The Richards Group who then passed this on to Steve Robinson, Sr Vice President of Marketing for Chick-fil-A.

Stan Richards just pointed out to Dan Cathy, president of Chick-fil-A this is the guy as they walked by.  Dan stopped to shake his hand.

In 1997 Ring left The Richards Group and just recently came back. Currently he doesn't work on the Cows, but still feels proud of what The Richards Group and Chick-fil-A has done with the campaign.

Cows dancing at the Texas Rangers game on Wednesday night.

I didn't even have to ask some questions, Ring was so excited. David Salyers, Vice President, National & Regional Marketing for Chick-fil-A, asked Ring about coming up with a billboard campaign, "We need something folks can talk about the next day in their Sunday School class," this set the standard for how Ring proceeded. 

Today at events all over the US, the cows are their to activate the brand of Chick-fil-A. Fans love the cows.

One thing that I learned from Ring about the Cow campaign. He said the success of the Cows has to do with Chick-fil-A sticking with the campaign and the experience customers had when they went to Chick-fil-A.  People love the cows not just because they are fun, but because the experience was excellent.  The Cows remind people of the great experience in great food and customer service.

This week the public relations team for Chick-fil-A has been in different major markets helping the restaurants to promote Cow Appreciation Day.  If you come into any Chick-fil-A restaurant partially dressed as a cow you get a free sandwich today, Friday, July 8, 2011.  If you dress head to toe like a cow get a free combo meal.

What other companies have their fans dressing up and driving around town letting everyone know where they eat?

Do you have a Chick-fil-A story to tell me about.  Let me here about it below.

Images used by permission of Chick-fil-A. Photographer Stanley Leary.

Before and After Photos

Click to see 360 degree tour

You need to plan ahead for a project to be truly successful. Unlike a writer who can create the story as they go, the photographer must see it for it to exist.

We are painting our kitchen and we wanted to have a before and after photos of the work being done. I thought it would be fun to do this as a 360 degree panoramic photo.

The second part about this post is sometimes the eye-candy is what is needed to get your audience to listen. Would you have read this far in this post if the photo was a traditional photo?

Why did I choose to go this way with the before photo and most likely the after photo? I want you to feel our excitement about having a new look to our kitchen.  We will be wanting to create events at our home just to show it off.

Want to get your audience to pay attention to your message--sometimes it is the eye-candy that will first hook them.  Give me a call and I can help you create a 360 degree panoramic image of your location.

Stay tuned for the "After Photo"

Are you passionate about something?

If you are passionate about a topic and are a communicator--I challenge you to create a blog. The whole process will make you a better communicator for your clients. Let me tell you how I came to this conclusion.

I enjoy making connections with people.  While I struggle with the social skills to connect with folks, my wife thrives in making connections.

Over the years I have discovered my gift of telling stories and teaching. Teaching seems to be my best gift.  I am not sure if I am a good teacher because I know how to get the message across (from years as a journalist) or my obsessive-compulsive behavior. 

Maybe it is a little of both.  I don’t like giving up and will work at being sure if a person wants to understand something I know about, then I will work at it until I find a way to help them understand.

I have been taking some time thinking about connecting with audiences. I bought an iPad this week because one of my clients has started to issue these to their people to use.  I found out that I needed be sure the work I was producing was working on it. 

This was a difficult buy for me to do. I would have rather bought a tablet that played flash files so that everything that is on the web would work on the device. But the reason I was buying the iPad was to ensure that my audience was getting the messages I was creating.

There are other things that I have learned to do so that I could connect with an audience. A few years ago I dipped my toes into blogging.  I learned how to post a photo, video and text. 

Just in the past few months I decided to dive into blogging.  I am posting three times a week and slowly building a larger audience.  I am using analytics to see how often my blogs are viewed.  I am using analytics to see how long someone watches a slide show.  Do they watch all of it on average?  I am doing the same now with videos.

The analytics show me that more and more of the audience is using smart phones and tablets to view my blog. 

As my blog continues to adapt by posting images that are viewable on more devices like the iPad and iPhone more folks are returning to read the posts.

I am also fascinated as to what things are more popular than others.  If I post a how to article with a list of points I know it will get a better audience than just a photo with a small caption on something I saw.  This is also true with the videos.

My top blog postings of all time are here in descending order:

Variety is the spice of life               1,010 Pageviews
Jealousy, Selfish Ambition & Envy     760 Pageviews
How to be critiqued                        385 Pageviews
Good photographers play...              374 Pageviews
Three Stages of Composition      343 Pageviews

My top videos are:

Learning to see light                     2,016 views
Café Justo (Just Coffee)                523 views

I like seeing how I am connecting to the world

Because I am blogging 3 times a week, I now understand things that I didn’t before.  I understand how difficult it is for my clients to connect with their audience. 

My challenge is simple for those involved in communications, if you are not creating content for a passion of yours where no one has to approve of your material how are you going to be able to help your clients?  I believe every professional communicator needs to create a blog.  The exercise will help you be more valuable to your clients.

Model Releases: Easing the pain on getting them

Model can read the release before signing

These are tips on how to get model releases and what I do to obtain them.

Let's start with first how you ask for a person to sign a model release.  Less is more when asking someone to sign a model release. 

I always start with the reason I am making the photos. I am here at the university helping them with their recruiting materials.  Would you mind me taking your photo?

Once they say yes then I follow up with question two. Would you mind signing a model release that gives the university permission to use your photo? 

At this point I find it best to not open the can of worms.  I let them open the can of worms if necessary.  95% of the time people will sign the model release.

For those less than 5% I usually talk about what their signature allows the university to do with the photos and what most likely could be some possible uses of the photos.  "The school will put these into their database of photos and then use them for things like their website, recruiting printed materials, posters, billboards and maybe as part of a TV ad for example." 

This is example of the model release on your device

At this point I have only had a handful of people in my career ever say no to giving permission to use their photo.

What not to do

I have been with a couple of my clients that they wanted to handle getting the model releases signed. Many use a similar technique that I outlined above, however I have had a couple who do a better job of talking people out of signing a release than talking them into signing one.

"We are here today doing a photo shoot for the school.  Stanley here is the photographer working with us to make these photos.  He does a great job of getting great images for us. We have a model release we would like you to sign. The model release gives the school the right to use the photo in anyway that we choose.  We may use it in the recruiting materials or on a billboard."

Here is where it falls apart

"You won't see your photo published just anywhere.  You will not see it somewhere else on the web.  You won't see it in some other publication not associated with the school.  By the way the teacher doesn't have to sign this we already have you sign an agreement that gives us permission to make these photos without your permission."

Model can sign with their finger

As you can see the person thought they were being helpful, but in the process of talking actually brought up all the reasons they hadn't even been thinking about.  Then they helped nail it with the fact that the institution was mistreating the professor.  Who wants to help a group like that?  I wouldn't.

Now that you know how to ask for a signature on a model release what should you use?

It affects expressions

Your asking for permission to make a photo and asking for a release can help expressions or hurt them.  Do it right and you will make everyone feel like this is their special day.  They are being treated like a movie star.

Do it the wrong way and you will have people wishing you were not there.  This is where they are this time of day all the time and why are you here?  You are bothering them and they want you to leave.

You can see this in their expressions--even if they signed the release they will not be as positive if you do it the wrong way.

What to use 

I personally have been using the pocket release, which I modified from the American Society of Media Photographers.  Their legal counsel came up with forms and so many photographers have been using them through the years. Click here for a link to their website which gives you all you need to know about the model and property release.

I put 4 of the pocket release forms on a page and print them one 8.5" x 11" card stock and have them cut into smaller sheets.

Which language should I use?  Click here for examples.

You can then send an email with it attached as a PDF and JPEG

Easy Release App

This past week I got an iPad and have been exploring all that it will do.  If you download an App the App store then will recommend more Apps for you based on what you have already downloaded.  I got a recommendation for the Easy Release.

You don't need an iPad for this App.  You can put it on just about any Smart Phone or Tablet as long as they are Android or an iPhone/iPad.

The App generates a PDF and a JPEG of the model release.  I love this because then I can put many of these PDFs into one larger PDF and upload this to my PhotoShelter Image Database.  The client has a copy now of the model releases along side the photos.

When I first started reading I was hoping for a simple release and a way for the person to sign the release only.  You can do even more.  You can now have the longer verbiage form or modify it to what you and your lawyer deem necessary.  You can take a photo with your Smart Phone or iPad and attach it to the model release.

The Easy Release model release has more information than I was gathering earlier.  I have longer form, their information typed (I can now read it), a signature and a photo of them all on one document that I can then email to them or anyone.

I do think in some situations it might be more feasible to pass out forms to a large room of folks to sign than passing around your iPad, but I do think I prefer the final model release of the Easy Release over all others I have ever used before.

So if you are hesitant about getting those releases because it is difficult to remember to carry those forms—they are now always with you on your phone or iPad.