Canon 7D DSLR

I'm going to be a little braggadocio, I just purchased the Canon 7D. Wow! What a camera! Although the 7D has a lot of new features including 1920 X 1080 full HD video, I mainly purchased it to upgrade from my Canon 20D; which has served me well.

I'm also teaching myself the art of High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. I am so lost, I won't even attempt to give any hints, tips, or techniques on how to perform this highly specialized skill. A couple of recommendations that I found will get you in the ballpark is use a tripod, and whether you bracket three consecutive shots or more shoot them as quickly as possible.

The Buddhist Temple is my first attempt and the Hawaii Theater is my second attempt. You can be the judge but I need a lot of work.

As my new skill continues to evolve I will post my work. You can visit my website at http://www.dannylbaker.com/

Missed Opportunities

Many times when we least expect it, an opportunity will present itself; and most times we realize it but fail to act. Other times it maybe staring us in the face but don't realize it until someone else acts on it. Kind of like the T.V. commercial "Wow I could of had a V-8!".

I have experienced both of these situations but would like to share one of my most recent missed opportunties.

While sitting in a newly opened coffee shop, at a local mall, waiting for my wife to complete her shopping; I noticed the walls were devoid of any art. From my experience, this very unusual for coffee shops.
Although the walls were bare, and painted a bright white, this made a pleasant atmosphere. As I continued to sip on my coffee, I wondered, was this the owner's intent? Or, did they simply run short on cash and decided to focus on their product?

As I sat and watched people coming and going, I noticed a gentleman that was very busy; and it appeared that he was either the owner or the manager of this coffee shop. As he was hustling around, greeting customers, and talking on his cell phone, I chose not to bother him. My reasoning, was I didn't want to interupt him and quite possibly damage any future negotiations with him.

Aproximately three weeks later I returned to the mall and checked out the coffee shop, and my questions were answered. The owner had placed on the nice bright walls some paintings. In business there is a fine line between being overly aggressive and aggressive. What I should have done was left a business card with him at least giving me a slight chance; but instead I chose to do nothing which gave me no chance.

So my reasoning proved to be wrong. Basically, I am in the same position that I was trying to avoid. Always give your potential customer the opportunity to say no. I learned from that.

PHOTOGRAPHING NEW BORN BABIES

Photographing new born babies is probably 90 percent luck and 10 percent skill. Although I am far from being an expert in this particular skill, the one time that I did was far from successful. But, what I learned is portrait photography requires attention to detail and always being mindful of what is constantly taking place while trying to photograph your subject(s).   Below are some tips that will help new photographers especially those that will be taking portraits   of  new born babies.
Although the photo's shown are not bad, had I taken my own advice, these could have been much better. I'll let you be the critic.

1. When photographing new born babies, ask the parents when is the best time of the day to photograph the baby. Parents know baby's personality, and when baby is generally on his/her best behavior. For example, early morning or after being fed.
2. Because of the moving around and setting up, you must be quick to capture the moment that will suddenly present itself.
3. Generally allow 45 minutes to an hour at most, because new borns will not tolerate much more and it's probably very stressful.
4. Whoever coined the phrase patience is a virture much have been a photographer, don't be too quick to take the picture. Set it up making sure that everyone is prepared so when baby does make that special moment you are ready.

As always please visit my web site at http://www.dannylbaker.com/ or if you have any comments or suggestions you can email them to me at dannylb@lava.net

Knowing Your Clients Needs and Taking Care of Them

The business side of photography is a key element to becoming a successful photographer. It is an ongoing effort to find and keep clients. That is why "Knowing your clients needs and taking care of them" both during and after you've completed the project; is critical to the success of your business.

While photographing a model for an advertisement, I didn't fully understand that advertisement photography needs to be approached a little different from regular model photography. Although my client stated they would like to use these photographs for an ad, it was still incumbent on me to get the specifics. In addition to being a photographer I need to be a good sales person, and uncover the needs of my clients. In sales sometimes a customer will not be as direct or forthcoming as we would like. Not that the client/customer does this intentionally it's just the way life is.

So, by being very specific, and asking direct questions such as, in what way will you use the ad. Or will the add include text within the photograph, and how large or small will the ad be. Once you've asked those intial questions then, you can ask more open ended questions so the client will elaborate on how they envision the ad.

Although this is not all inclusive these are just a couple of tips that can be useful. Being a salesperson can be very difficult, but if you belive in your product it makes it significantly easier to wear your sales hat as a photographer. Please go to my web site at http://www.dannylbaker.com/ and click on the "Project" button to view a sample of my work that was used in Tiki Magazine.