Wine Casks, originally uploaded by Chester Bullock.

I have been on my quest to produce quality stock photos for some time. When I last tried it, roughly two years ago, I didn’t have the patience with the process. I was also a bit lost in terms of what direction I wanted to go, and was trying to rush through the whole thing. I recently started trying at it again, and have had photos accepted by a couple of stock photography sites. It is certainly changing how I look at things. Even in a snack shop recently, I was trying to figure out how I could keep everyone away from the condiment rack while I took a pic of it. I decided that, being the lunch rush, it wasn’t a good idea, so I didn’t even get my camera out. But when I was in an aging cellar at a vineyard a few weeks ago, I did manage to get this pic. It could benefit from some differences in lighting, but the content, the barrels, came out pretty good I thought…

hazel-miller-southlands, originally uploaded by Dizzle @ 2*3 Photos.

I was out shopping and wandered up on a Mix 100 concert series at the Southlands Shopping area in Aurora, Colorado. The Hazel Miller Band was performing and as usual it was a standout show. Gotta love summer and the free concert series.

I have only just recently started taking my camera bag with me all the time. Currently, my bag set-up kinda sucks so I tend to leave it at home a lot, but I decided that I was missing too many photo-ops by not having my equipment so…I toss my bag in the backseat every time I leave the house now.

That is the only reason I got this shot. I was out running errands, heard a lot of ruckus so wanted to see what was going on…and there was the Hazel Miller Band about to end their free concert. I literally jumped out of my car, grabbed the camera and started shooting photos. I probably had about 2 minutes before Hazel walked off the stage, but I got the shot!

To make my life a lot easier I plan on getting a new bag to make carrying the daily needs of a photographer a bit easier. Right now my bag holds almost all my equipment, awesome for traveling, not so awesome for day to day shooting. I plan on getting something that will simply hold the things I need for a day outing.

Originally posted on 2*3 Photos

I read a lot. I am one of those types who actually learns from reading…I know, odd in this day in age. Occasionally I will pick up books that seem to offer something for me to learn in their pages, sometimes it’s just because of a recommendation…and other times its on a whim.

I grabbed 100 Ways to Take Better Portrait Photographs on a whim while waiting for a friend to show up at Borders one day a few months back. I figured if nothing else it would be good to have something in the car to read when I had downtime.

Well the book wasn’t as full of learnable (is that a word?) knowledge as I had hoped, but it was full of page after page of inspirational images and techniques. On first glance the book is an easy paced guide to how to make beautiful people more beautiful in photographs. The models on ever page are simply gorgeous…from the women to the men to adorable children. I was very easily drawn in to the images and forgot the words.

But on each page you find an image and a technique that image shows.

I didn’t get a lot of technical know how from this book, but I did get a ton of inspiration from it. I honestly picked up my camera and started shooting anyone who would let me to try out some of the ideas from the book.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars, mainly for the inspirational images found inside and many of the clever techniques the book covers.

Originally posted on 2*3 Photos

Let’s Play, originally uploaded by Chester Bullock.

Remember, if you don’t have your camera with you, you can’t take the shot…

This photo is now available from photoshelter.com if you are interested in using it for something.

I am putting together a basic photography class for people at work, to help support a photography contest we are going to host in order to boost our internal stock photography library. Putting together the presentation is easy enough, and defining terms in said presentation is easy thanks to the power of Google and Wikipedia. But how do I deal with things that come up while I am giving the presentation? I am no expert, and I don’t want to derail the presentation to go online and look something up. Enter The Glossary of Digital Photography by John G. Blair. The book is 311 pages, and is full of definitions and illustrations of terms ranging from “16.7 million colors” to “bokeh”, “layer masks”, “ISO” and ending with “zipped” (as in zip file). There are no tutorials, this book is purely meant to define terms and concepts. That said, some concepts, such as “descreening” do include before and after images to show what the results of the concept could be. I have found this book to be an excellent reference as I put my presentation together, and will keep it handy as I continue to learn more about this hobby of mine.

Never Ending Circles, originally uploaded by Chester Bullock.

View from the base of the grand staircase in the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York.

I am a self-taught Photoshop hack. First started using it when version 3 came out (on a TON of 3.5″ floppy disks). I have been able to use it enough to generate/ edit web images, scan prints, etc. It is grossly overpowered for what I use it for, but it’s all I know and the company I work for is willing to pay for it. I am equally inept in my photographic workflow processes. I just take pictures, use my limited knowledge of Photoshop to get them to a point where I like the finished product, and go on my merry way. Until now.

Managing Your Photographic Workflow with Photoshop Lightroom is helping change my bad habits. Originally written to cover Lightroom 1.2, the processes are still applicable to 1.41, the latest version I am using. I had seen Lightroom and sort of dismissed it as just more $$ to spend until I started reading this book. Managing Your Photographic Workflow with Photoshop Lightroom has given me insight into using the tools contained in Lightroom and how using them will affect my images. At just over 200 pages, this book is full of images and practical examples. I used to edit my images exclusively in Photoshop. Now I do most of my post processing in Lightroom, exporting the results to be uploaded into flickr, iStockphoto, or burned to CD. I doubt I would have changed my habits were it not for this book. Needless to say, it is highly recommended if you have been curious about using Lightroom.