A Few Favorite Blackberry Photos
Photographs by Robert Lachman @ 2009
November 2009
Holiday Photo Tips
Here are a few of my photo tips for the Thanksgiving weekend.
- Charge those batteries. Remember to take you charger to the holiday party especially if you only have one battery.
- Make sure your flash cards are clear and you’ve moved your photos onto the computer.
- Take lots of holiday photographs. Edit, edit, edit during the long weekend. No one wants to look at bad photos.
- Remember to shoot preparation photos making the food or setting up the Christmas tree or outdoor lights.
- Most important: Get that family group photo taken this weekend so you can send out holiday cards. Include yourself in the photographs not just your kids or pets.
- You have a nice group photo, take three or four shots. It’s always tough to capture good expressions of multiple people in a photo.
- Most people think you’re a great photographer if you capture nice expressions. It’s much tougher than it looks. Shoot plenty of pictures, edit later before posting to a service like Picassa.
- After the edit, post your photos quickly so family members can enjoy them.
- Remember these photographs can be turned into Christmas presents. Have some prints made and frame them. This is so easy, but it does take time. Get it done the first week of December and you’ll be ahead of the crowd.
- Most important: Give someone else the camera and get in some photographs!
A Few Miscellaneous Notes
Question: Name ?a place I’m not going to be on Black Friday. If you guessed the Apple Store, you were correct. I don’t plan to be at any mall or the Apple Store during this special one-day event. Knowing Apple, ?it’s not going to be a barn burner.? No $500 laptops, $800 iMacs or Final Cut 
Pro at a reasonable price. I’m predicting sort of the same old 10 percent off on a few things I don’t really need…
For those fans of ?1Password software, the real deal is their? iPhone application?offered this Thanksgiving week. They are giving it away for free. It usually sells for $7.99. You get it at a bargain and don’t need to leave the comforts of home…
iPhone Christmas Light Swirls
I had fun taking iPhone photos of the Christmas decorations during my lunch break walk at the ice rink which is set up for the holidays at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles.
iPhone Photographs by Robert Lachman ? 2009
Click here to check out the making of the swirl iPhoto pics video.
Where Was the Sun This Morning?
I must have gotten up a little earlier this morning because the early morning clouds where shielding the sun and the blue skies. A striking contrast from yesterday.
Chase Jarvis Day on Photo and Mac
Macworld.com
When is an iPhone better than a DSLR?
By Heather Kelly
Chase Jarvis has a lot of very expensive camera equipment, his own photo studio, and years of experience as a professional advertising photographer. His current camera of choice? An iPhone.
Before this shot was taken, Chase and his wife Kate were enjoying a glass of wine on the deck of a beachside cabin, watching the sunset. When she stood up he saw her reflection in the window and instinctively reached for his iPhone.
?My iPhone just happens to be sitting in my lap, so I hold up the camera, say ?hang on a second hon,? and snap this picture. It?s her profile, the sunset, the trees, and how you can sort of see inside the cabin in this weird mystical way?if you look you can even see the 70s lampshades and wood paneling.? READ MORE…
Two of My Latest iPhone Photographs
?Blanket of Lights?? at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, CA
?Rose Garden? from my backyard
Remember: Panoramas Can be Vertical Photographs
By Robert Lachman
Don?t forget that panoramas can be vertical photographs. Everyone one expects them to be horizontal vistas, but with photography, all rules are made to be broken. I had a little fun at the beach and mall yesterday experimenting will tall skinny shaped photos. All of the pics were taken with my iPhone and were a combination of four photos.
I used the AutoStitch iPhone app from Cloudburst Research for the beach photo and Photoshop on the Christmas pic to make the panoramas.
Have a nice weekend!
Is it Worth More than a Cup of Coffee?
By Robert Lachman
It must be Friday so it is time for, ?Is it Worth More Than a Cup Coffee?? Or, with a slight change today, it?s going to be, ?Is it Worth More Than a Slurpee??
This week I found a Sony WM-FX467 TV/FM/AM Walkman tucked away in one of our garage cabinets. Talk about a drop in value, even though it?s got some great features including a cassette tape player, I think the Slurpee is worth more.
I decided I needed to take a break from writing on Fridays. I need some exercise, so I have started, ?Is it worth more than a cup-of-coffee, Fridays??
Any outside submissions would be greatly appreciated. I just need two photographs (cell phone quality is perfect. That?s what I use). Take a close up of your old technology and any drink: wine, soda, tea or coffee. It couldn?t be any easier. The email address in the left sidebar. Have a nice weekend!
A Simple Lighting Setup
Photograph by Kevin Lachman @2009
By Robert Lachman
Recently I was working with my son who is taking a college black & white photography class at our local college. It?s really back to basics when you?re shooting Tri-X-400 film and then waiting a couple days to see the film developed.
The wait seems endless when you are used to looking down at the back of your camera and seeing every shot pop up on the back of the camera on a beautiful color screen. It hard for me to believe I used to shoot and process film every day.
For this ass
ignment we just used me as the subject and a light we found in the garage. It couldn?t have been any easier.
It reminds me of those portraits on the ?Meet the Beatles!? album cover. That was a long time ago, but don?t say you don?t know what I?m talking about.
After attending the Joe McNally lighting workshop, where he used as many as ten small $500 Nikon strobes to light his subject, our method seemed so archaic.
I mean is it possible to shoot a nice portrait with a 100-watt bulb and a bent-up dusty reflector? I will let you decide.
Around the Internet
Engadget
Ricoh GXR camera system swaps
out the sensor along with the lens
By Paul Miller
Ricoh’s been getting some love on its spendy GR series of late, but this new direction for what’s apparently slated to debut as a new “GXR” system is a wild one indeed. Basically, the camera comes in two parts, a body with an LCD, storage and accessory shoe (which works with an electronic viewfinder), and different lens / sensor combos which can be slotted into the body. READ MORE…
OneOn Software
The Plug-In Suite 5 is now being offered at $399 which is $200 off on Pre-Orders until November 10, 2009. It includes two of my favorite Photoshop plug-ins FocalPoint and PhotoFrame 4.5 Professional Edition.
FOR MORE INFORMATION…
Need a Car Wash
?Need a Car Wash? – – Photograph by Robert Lachman ? 1989
Meadowlark Airport, Huntington Beach, CA
I?m going old-school today with a? photograph taken with Kodak Tri-X 400 black-and-white film. -RL
Around the Internet
LATimes.com
Meet the Beatles’ USB drive; EMI files suit against BlueBeat for selling Beatles downloads
By Todd Marten
While the Beatles may not yet be on iTunes, they’re still embracing new models of distribution. After making their music available in a video game in September, the Beatles will soon be releasing a limited edition custom-made apple-shaped USB drive containing all audio and video found in the recent re-mastered stereo box set. But it will cost you: The USB drive will be selling for $279. READ MORE…
TheBeatles.com
Apple and EMI To Release Limited Edition USB
Following the September 9 (9-9-09) debut of The Beatles? digitally re-mastered catalogue on CD, Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music are pleased to announce the worldwide release of a limited edition of only 30,000 Beatles Stereo USB apples on December 7 (December 8 in North America).
READ MORE…
My Very Own Curves Tutorial
I thought I would never figure out Photoshop curves, but with the help of A.J. Woods, I?m on the right track, Check out the tutorial below. -RL
From A.J. Woods, ?This goes out to @photoandmac who asked me once why he should bother to learn Curves when he’s already comfortable with Levels. Well, even Photoshop creatures of habit can benefit from new skills.?
