ARENACREATIVE.COM BLOG

StockXpert Bites the Dust

arenacreative — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:06:23 +0000

Getty just put the axe on Stockxpert.com

We’ve heard that Stockxpert was a slowly sinking ship, but this week it has finally sunk. It all began when stock image giant Getty recently bought out Jupiter, who had recently acquired Stockxpert from Haap Media, a Hungarian based company that owned both StockXchange as well as StockXpert. It’s like a big square dance in this business… swing your parter round and round, with all of the buyouts. It was announced a few days back that StockXpert will be no more. What does this mean for stock contributors? Well it means some of our images (not all) are now going to be listed on the new subscription based site Thinkstock.com and whatever revenues we were making at StockXpert are basically history. Can we say pay cut?

I really don’t understand this move, killing a well established brand such as Stockxpert. What does this mean for stock photo contributors? All we can hope is that the existing Stockxpert buyers move to the other agencies, and that the sales balance out. Stockxpert was about 8% (a pretty big chunk of change) of my total microstock income, and that’s now gone. Never a dull moment in the stock photography world! What irks me is that Stockxpert had around 4300 of my images, where istock has just under 600. This is due to their higher rejection rates, and the fact that I can only submit 20 new images each week as a non-exclusive contributor. The pressure to go exclusive is ever-increasing. This is the exact reason why you shouldn’t put all of your eggs in any one basket in this biz.

Microstock – Evil and Devaluing to Photographers?

The Amazing Human Eye

arenacreative — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:24:23 +0000

I was thinking today about how incredible it would be to own a DSLR that was even 1/2 as good as our own human eyes are. Certainly cameras are just imitations of God’s wonderful creation and design, but have you ever really noticed how quick you can focus on any object? Talk about mind blowing; it’s practically instant. You don’t notice a delay, like you will on even the fastest digital cameras. They are getting better and better in time, but we can really appreciate how good we have it. Nature definitely did have it first.

Artist Spotlight: Norman Rockwell

arenacreative — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:07:24 +0000

Norman Rockwell was such a great illustrator, that he was practically a photographer. His photo realistic images and sense of humor in his work have blown me away ever since I was a kid. My mom used to hang prints of these on the kitchen wall, that she cut out of a Norman Rockwell calendar she got as a handout from the local bank. We’ve always had beagles, growing up, so these are some of my favorites. This stuff is just timeless.

The triple self portrait – pure genius. For more info on Norman Rockwell, check out your local library or visit the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

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The Miz Photoshop Tutorial Series – Photoshoptic Surgery

arenacreative — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:53:09 +0000

Here the Miz shows us how to conduct “Photoshoptic Surgery” on an image of a tractor with some dull/flat colors. Here we learn how to use curves and the photo filter option to really bring out the colors and saturation in Photoshop.

I’m So Sick of Winter!

arenacreative — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:44:21 +0000

Are you as sick of these cold winter months as I am? Brr…

Just me goofing around, but maybe I’m good enough to be used on an HVAC direct mail piece or web banner ad or something? Ha!

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Where do my stock photos end up getting used?

arenacreative — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:11:18 +0000

That’s a question a lot of stock photographers and illustrators ask themselves. People ask me how my images get used, and I usually just say, “in advertising and marketing materials”, just to keep myself from babbling and boring them with a long story (like I’m known to do with my flapping jabber jaw). It’s even tough to explain to a normal person what a graphic designer does, and somehow people still end up thinking its CAD or something totally unrelated like that.

Anyways, back when I was a traditional graphic designer, I would horde as many stock images as I could whenever I had a stock photo subscription somewhere such as Photos.com or Shutterstock. That way, anything I had a feeling I might be able to use in the future I would be able to save on my hard drive and then use at a later date. This is something that happens a lot; so basically if you sell stock images, a lot of them are probably laying dormant somewhere on an image buyer’s hard drive. When you have a design position you begin to get a feel for which image themes and what type of imagery you go through the most, and obviously you can’t keep on using the same pics over and over again (unless you want to be a boring designer). I worked at a company that went through tons of sports, fitness, and medical related images in the custom magazines we produced for our clients. I honestly think at least half of my image sales aren’t ever even used – but who knows?

How can you find some of the images you sell in use? Go to amazon and search for your name or username/that you go by on the micros. Also try google book search in addition to plain old google. Lots of books online even have previews, and sure enough you will find your name credited in at least a couple if some of your images were used. Here are some recent finds my wife and I discovered.

Our beagle is pretty famous (he earns his Pedigree dog food, that’s for sure). Try searching for your own images if you haven’t already, and start a collection of tear sheets. You will only find a small random percentage of images actually in use, because obviously not everyone will credit your name in searchable text in each instance of use. If you don’t sell stock, but you do buy it – make a microstocker’s day by emailing them a link, or dropping them an email about how you were able to use their image! It only takes a minute, and you will no doubt put a huge smile on their face

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Hand Tool Flick Panning

arenacreative — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:46:39 +0000

Here’s my first impression on flick panning, a new feature added to CS4. When you click, drag, and release, the image glides and slides all over the place. ME NO LIKEY OKAY!?

I found the answer already, after I recorded the screencast, of course. It’s so easy – just go to: Edit->Preferences->General and then uncheck “Enable Flick Panning”

Photoshop CS4 Settings Tweaks and Cleaning

arenacreative — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:53:29 +0000

A great video tutorial by Deke McClelland on how to use the reset and purge functions in Photoshop CS4 to increase the performance. Clean out Photoshop’s plumbing when things get clogged up: Reset and purge.

Mac vs PC According to Varun Kannan

arenacreative — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:22:44 +0000

This little Indian kid named Varun on youtube is a pretty smart guy. I like this kid’s way of reasoning when it comes to mac vs pc. I love macs, but I’m not going to lie… I think they’re definitely way overpriced for what you get. I’m not taking sides, as I’ve worked with both for years. I actually just ordered a brand new desktop pc with an i7. It has more memory in the video card alone than my current (7 year old) computer has snapped into it’s motherboard DIMMs. Savings? $1000-1500 over the new incredible iMac 27″. That’s a lot of cheddar that can get redirected into new photo gear for me. Anyway, I’ll be sure to post a full review of my new setup once it arrives.

Amazingly, a lot of graphic design jobs you might find won’t always have you on a mac. Make sure you know how to use both – otherwise you’re going to have to educate yourself pretty quick once you land that first design gig straight out of college. That means knowing what the heck you’re doing in Windows XP and the all new Windows 7, as well as knowing OSX. Thankfully the Adobe programs are pretty much identical whether you’re on a mac or a pc, with the exception of the alt/option key on your keyboard (it’s not rocket science).

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Graphic Design On 20/20

arenacreative — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:00:20 +0000

Wow, John Stossel actually covered the topic of graphic design very briefly on the abc tv show 20/20. I must have missed this one – maybe you did too? He talks about the uber-hated comic sans font and even Paul Rand.

Graphic Design Clients – Proofing Can Stink

arenacreative — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:52:28 +0000

Sometimes this is what being a graphic designer really feels like…proofing changes with clients can be funny, but not when you’re the designer jumping through all the ridiculous hoops This is a funny parody on how ridiculous it can sometimes get when dealing with moron clients and making a million and one revisions. Charging an hourly rate for revisions past a certain point will definitely help to avoid this type of dragged out ridiculousness. Sometimes clients make changes just to feel important, or just because “they can”; even after being super specific about what they wanted in the first place

The Miz Photoshop Tutorial Series – Defringe Jagged Edges

arenacreative — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:04:36 +0000

When you’re making a quick selection in Photoshop, a lot of times you will realize that because you were feeling so lazy the selection really came out like crap. The edges are jagged and fringed, and basically look like crap compared to if you had actually used the pen tool and done it the right way in the first place Either way, sometimes you just feel like being lazy. This method show how to defringe a fringy edged image. The Miz’s photoshop video tutorials are always a great resource to all photographers, graphic designers, and Photoshop users alike.

Adobe Photoshop video tutorial by Robert Mizerek

The Miz Photoshop Tutorial Series – The Screen Layer Mode & Gradient Layers

arenacreative — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:00:45 +0000

Here Bob shows us how to use the screen layer blending mode in Photoshop to improve detail and levels. He also demonstrates how to create a simple gradient layer to improve the sky with the soft light layer blending mode. The Miz’s photoshop video tutorials are always a great resource to all photographers, graphic designers, and Photoshop users alike. This is a nice brief tutorial – I’m going to try and remember these simple pointers the next time I’m editing a landscape photo with a blue sky.

Adobe Photoshop video tutorial by Robert Mizerek

The Miz Photoshop Tutorial Series – Abstract Photo Layout Using Squares

arenacreative — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:45:10 +0000

Here Bob show how to create a unique layout with simple square shapes in Photoshop. Clipping group is something I had never even heard of until I watched this tutorial. I really like how non-destructive the editing is with these methods. Everything Bob does, he does it in ways where he can easily modify it without having to go backwards in the history tab. Overall this is a really cool effect that you can easily tweak the template to your own style or personal preference.

Adobe Photoshop video tutorial by Robert Mizerek

The Miz Photoshop Tutorial Series – Reflective Water Flood Effect

arenacreative — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:00:58 +0000

Did you ever wonder how to make realistic water reflections? Sure, there are filters that will do this for you. Flaming Pear makes the flood filter which is another way to achieve this. Filter Forge is another. Here Bob illustrates how to create this look from scratch in Photoshop with an ultra realistic water ripples effect. Best of all, it costs you nothing but your time (only about 5-10 minutes). The Miz’s photoshop video tutorials are always a great resource to all photographers, graphic designers, and Photoshop users alike.

Adobe Photoshop video tutorial by Robert Mizerek

Take The Color Hue Test

arenacreative — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:01:01 +0000

Here’s a fun little game that any graphic designer or photographer will get a kick out of. Definitely something to try when you need a break. I did it as fast as possible, and my score was a 4. Not perfect, but close enough I guess. The closer to zero you can get, the better.

Feel free to post your score in the comments below

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When Life Gives You Lemons…

arenacreative — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:00:22 +0000

When life gives you lemons, as the the old saying goes…you make lemonade. Make the best of a bad situation, and turn it around to be something better than it ever was.

I can highly relate to the experiences shared by these people…getting laid off in a slow economy during a time of recession back in early 2008. It’s nice to know I wasn’t the only one going through this. Share this with a fellow creative who lost their job, I think they’ll appreciate it. This is a trailer for a film that I think is going to huge hit in the creative world.

Did you turn around your layoff and turn it into something better? Maybe you made it full time as a photographer, painter, or freelance graphic designer. I’d love to hear your story – feel free to comment below.

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Canon 7D vs the 5d2 – What to do?

arenacreative — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:25:13 +0000

I thought I was pretty sure I was going to get the 7D as my next camera body. Right now I shoot with an older Canon 20D which I love, but is starting to show its age. I was originally decided on the 5D2, but when the 7D came out I was amazed my much of the response it was getting on the forums. Here are the benefits of the 7D I’ve learned about from all of my hours of research:

- the AF is superior to the 5d2, more focus points, better servo mode than the 5d mkii

- it has pop-up flash (comes in handy once in a great while for fill or to trigger strobes) will mount EF-S lenses (I only own one, the rest in my kit at ED because I was planning on going full frame for a while now).

- it has wireless flash controls built in

- dual digic 4 processors (5d2 only has one)

- shoots video same as the 5d2

- very low noise up to iso 800, where the 5d2 then takes over

- a few more bells and whistles that the 5d2 doesn’t have like on-screen leveling

All of that is fine and dandy, but when it comes down to pixel peeping, I’ve been seeing a lot of softness from the 7D in the samples online. Not just studio stuff – real world conditions.

This review scares me a little. http://darwinwiggett.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/the-canon-7d/
I think we have to wait until Adobe updates ACR and Lightroom more the handle the Raw conversion a bit better, in order to come to the proper conclusions. Right now the 7D is looking softer than everything, at 100% native resolution. Sure, you can sharpen, but if there’s a little ISO 200 or 400 noise that low noise camera suddenly turns into worse noise than ISO 1600.

The 7D also out-resolves the glass you mount to it, much more than a 5d2. That means softer images, seeing that the glass can’t provide enough. There is a great explanation of what that means in this thread http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73591 by my friend David Rehner.

In the end, either camera bodies are a world of a difference over my old 20D. I’m going to wait and see, at least until Spring of 2010, before I start whipping out my credit card. I’m waiting until I am absolutely 100% sure about this. I think I just might have to rent one of each for a week to do my own tests. I’m in the same boat as many other photographers, with the 20D or 30D. No doubt the 7D is 1000 times better in more than one way, but if I can make my daily photo editing a few steps easier by spending the extra grand on the 5d2 I think it might be worth it. Downsizing is fine, unless you shoot stock and want to utilize the maximum resolution that you possibly can, in order to make the most money from your images. If I’m going to drop even $1700 on a camera, it had better produce good enough sharpness and clarity at 100% at the fullest resolution. If not, I might as well spend the extra cash on the full frame.

The Liquify Tool – Photoshop Video Tutorial

arenacreative — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:37:13 +0000

I came across a great Photoshop video tutorial today demonstrating how to properly use the liquify filter to enhance images of people. This guy does a great job of showing a little about what each tool does, and how simple it is to use it. I’ve stuck to the basics up until now, but this tut has helped me learn a lot. You really can do anything to people with this tool…make their butt larger or smaller, their boobs, their arms and legs, eyes, face, twist their head, even. Yes you can become a digital plastic surgeon! Now, obviously we don’t all have this much time to invest into perfecting every single image. In stock, buyers want what’s real as well, not just perfection. Keep that in mind, but have fun playing with this sweet tool.

Video by imaging expert and award-winning author Deke McClelland

Below are a few other videos demonstrating how far you can go with the liquify filter.

Celebrity Photographers – 5 Celebrities That Also Get Behind the Camera

arenacreative — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:33:17 +0000

Celebs see a lot of cameras in their daily lives. Usually they’re getting chased around by paparazzi or getting blinded by flashes going off at movie premieres, parties and charity events. Ever since I started see Ashton Kutcher in the Nikon TV commercials, it made me wonder which celebrities actually know their way around a dslr?

Which super stars enjoy photography as a hobby? Which prefer getting behind the camera it and not just being in front of it all the time? Here are a list of all the celebrities (who are also photographers) that I could track down.

#1 Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks is not only one of the world’s greatest supermodels and talk show hosts, but she can also handle her own with a Hasselblad! You can see her on her show America’s Next Top Model (ANTM) frequently shooting some of the contestants. Now does she know how to set everything up in the camera settings and lighting? Who knows, and who cares – she probably just has to worry about pointing and shooting. Being around the modeling business for so many years, she has probably absorbed so much photographic knowledge that it just comes naturally to her. Think about it, don’t most actors usually move towards directing later in their careers? It seems to be a common trend in models and actors.

#2 Vanessa Hudgens

Vanessa Hudgens told MovieFone in an interview that photography is her favorite hobby. “I think it’s a lot of fun … savoring the moment. I get to go to all these beautiful places, so it’s nice being able to take pictures of it.”

#3 Drew Carey

Yes sir, Mr. Price is Right himself also shoots sports! This surprized me a lot. I’ve always liked Drew Carey as an actor/comedian, now I like him even more. Drew shoots for the U.S. National soccer team on occasion, and he sells his images under the pseudonym “Brooks Parkenridge”.

#4 Jerry Bruckheimer

We all know Jerry as the fantastic film and tv producer, but he actually started out as a photographer. His interest in film got him to where he is today, but that’s not to say that the art of photography didn’t help him along on his career path.

#5 Brad Pitt

You might be sick of hearing about Brangelina gossip on shows like TMZ and Extra, but here is an interesting tidbit. This dude is so much of a photo geek that it has been said that he drives his wife Angelina Jolie insane with it. Angelina said her hubby Brad Pitt “has become obsessed with photography and ruminates for hours on how to improve his art”. Supposedly Brad really geeks out and studies everything about the art and science of photography and imaging. Hey, I have to give him some credit. He isn’t pulling the “rich doctor” syndrome. You know, when highly wealth people buy a Canon 1ds MkIII even though they have no clue what they’re doing with it. In that case, it’s like they’re walking around with $8000 necklaces. Brad seems like the type that really geeks out, and for that I have to give him props. You can read more about his obsession here.

I highly that Ashton was into photography before Nikon decided to use him as their post child. Hey, I’m not knocking him – I think he’s great as an actor. Heck, one of my dogs is named after his character on That 70s Show. I could be wrong, but I can’t find any evidence that he’s a real life photographer aside from his Nikon commercials.

Did I miss anyone? If you know of any other famous musicians, actors, actresses, athletes, or other celebrities that also love photography, please post them in the comments below! To learn more about top celebs and their other hobbies, check out this great post at NotSoBoringLife.com