ARENACREATIVE.COM BLOG

A Recent Summer Portrait Shoot

arenacreative — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:38:31 +0000

We had a recent shoot with a beautiful model recently that I thought I might share. Let me know what you think. All of the images here will soon be available for licensing on http://store.arenacreative.com

If you live in the New England or Connecticut area and are in need of Senior portraits, an engagement session, or just a general portrait shoot for your modeling portfolio, please feel free to contact me at the link above.

Lightning Storms are Cool

arenacreative — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:32:48 +0000

Summer Thunderstorm in New England from Todd on Vimeo.

This is a summer thunderstorm rolling through the neighborhood on a muggy, humid summer evening. My wife caught multiple bolts of lightning in this clip. In the background you can hear our stressed out beagle dog panting and walking around the room. I was trying to catch some still shots of the lightning on my Canon 40D at the same time. The best display of lightning is around 00:38 of this clip if you want to fast forward to the best part Enjoy

Out of any other area of the US, New England probably sensationalizes the weather and forecast the most. A few days prior to this we had a rash of tornados that popped up around the area, causing multiple downed trees. Driving through a local town we spotted sights like this:

Not cool.

Below are some screen grabs from the video, as well as a few I crappily captured hand held with my DSLR. To do lightning right, you need to have excellent timing, a slow enough shutter, and a sturdy tripod.

Riddle Me This

arenacreative — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 21:10:36 +0000

This photo was shot at night. I kid you not… at 11:54 pm to be exact. So riddle me this… how is this possible?

Let’s see who gets it first

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Daily Creative Inspiration

arenacreative — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:42:37 +0000

Here’s some really awesome commercials, clips, and inspiring examples of creativity I’ve seen recently that I really enjoyed.

Empty LA by Matt Logue. Los Angeles without any cars or people… Crazy.

PDF article by AfterCapture magazine:
http://www.rangefindermag.com/storage/articles/AC0610_Logue_Smith.pdf

And for all of you that are videographers, or love to produce stock footage and video for microstock… enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SItFvB0Upb8

Don’t judge the B ROLL!

I Am a Parasite

arenacreative — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:16:58 +0000

I just got called a “parasite of the stock industry” and I was told to “wake up”. Well, isn’t that special? I’ll just go back to making my living now…

It’s still hard for me to believe how many bitter feelings are still being held about microstock by those who have been in the stock business for decades. I’m not sure the Rights Managed photobanks will ever forgive it. Microstock strikes a very painful nerve with most rights managed photographers. I can understand where they’re coming from, but it’s been a good 6 years that microstock has been in the limelight. I don’t think rights managed will ever go away totally, but its definitely on the decline. But don’t blame microstock – blame technology and it’s advancement. You can get an 8mp DSLR used for $200 right now in the US. That’s less than the cost of an ipod or iphone, and we all know how many of those are in people’s pockets.

A lot of credit has to be given to those traditional stock shooters that have either embraced microstock, or at least given it some respect and consideration. Guys like Jack Hollingsworth and John Lund. Not everyone is a hater, thankfully. Check out their amazing blogs.

Heck, if I could license all of my work at prices ranging from $100-10,000 per license, I most definitely would. Unfortunately, I had my start in microstock, and I’ve been playing the “bulk sales” game ever since. If you’re a rights managed stock photographer and are still maintaining your sales, that’s incredible – keep up the good work. All the best to you. I’m not knocking that side of the business at all.

All I’m saying… is that the creative fields change yearly, if not monthly. If you can’t roll with the punches, and the changes of the market (the same as in any other field) then you’re going to be left behind. Just because some of us choose to sell micro, doesn’t mean we’re giving stuff away for free. The prices of microstock are, in many case on the increase. The price wars will continue to go on between the newer and upcoming agencies. But you can trust me on this: you will never see my giving my work away for free. It’s one thing to give stuff away. We all do it, you almost have to nowadays just to get hits to your website. Free advice, free tutorials, etc. It helps one another out, and one hand washes the other as in all things.

Different strokes for different folks, is all I’m saying. I’m done ranting, time for me to get back to work. Happy shooting!

Photoshop Tutorial – Getting Rid of Pesky Wrinkles

arenacreative — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:57:29 +0000

Photoshop Tutorial – Getting Rid of Wrinkles from Todd on Vimeo.

A quick and painless demonstration of wrinkle removal using some tools in Photoshop. I apologize for the fact that it sounds like the mic was inside of my mouth…

My Own Worst Enemy

arenacreative — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:01:35 +0000

Do you ever feel like your work is never good enough? Do you get praise from others about your creations, but deep down inside you don’t feel the same way? Maybe you feel like you just served up a pile of trash. To be honest, I feel this way about my own work a lot. I recently did a few photoshoots and nothing I shot really wow-ed me. This type of thing happens other creatives I have spoken to, as well.

I Am My Own Worst Critic
I’m definitely my own worst enemy when it comes to criticism. I see the flaws in my work. Even if they are minor, almost untraceable to others, I still manage to find them. Am I just being over critical? Am I bored with what I’m doing? Is it just because I’m being overly anal? What’s wrong with me? I want to be happy with what I’m doing. I am definitely enjoying it, but I don’t think I’ll ever be 100% proud of where I’m at creatively. I think we all want to have our own “style” but this is easier said than done. I’m still trying to figure out what it is, and probably will continue to do so for a very long time.

Transform
Last year Atlanta Georgia based editorial photographer Zack Arias made a video like no other. It described a personal struggle that a creative has and lives through. I don’t care if you’re a graphic designer, a hairdresser, a chef, a contractor, a sculptor, or even a basket weaver… if you create on a daily basis, watch this video. It’s a must see, and I am pretty sure you will be able to highly relate to it. Any creative professional should see this.

Getting In and Out of Creative Rutts
We all get in the same creative patterns sometimes, and many times we might not even notice it. As a designer I would find myself using a lot of the same typefaces, or laying thing out with the same compositions all the time. In photography, I might find myself framing a lot of headshots in the same way. Or, I might continue shooting the same themes and subjects with different models. What do you do when you realize you’re in a rutt? You do whatever you can to get the heck out of it. Don’t wait around for someone else to tell you what to do. Mess around and get crazy the next time you get to work. Change things up surprisingly. Look elsewhere for inspiration, if you need some. Try something new (maybe a different subject, theme, or style) that you might have passed up before. I personally find that when I get out of my comfort zone and try something new, I get a lot more satisfaction out of my successes. You will also realize whether or not your new experiments are for you or not, and just might step back into your comfort zone. Even still, you’re going to be a lot more well rounded of a creative than before.

It’s Okay…
Being your own worst creative enemy is not necessarily a bad thing… be worried when the opposite is true. Then, you might have a problem. Heck, maybe it’s healthy. It’s nice to have a constant semi-dissatisfaction with your work, in a way, so that you can use that to drive you onward to the next level. I talked to my mom about this topic recently (she’s a hairdresser that’s been in the business for over 30 years). We agreed that sometimes you just have to keep doing what you know you have to to please your clients and pay the bills. Feeling completely satisfied with where you are as an artist or craftsman might be a lifelong quest… just try not to beat yourself up so much along the way.

Insider Tips for Better Stock Photography Search Results

arenacreative — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:27:49 +0000

When it comes to searching for the right stock photos, I know from personal experience as a past image buyer that it can be a huge hassle. You can many times get lost or even sidetracked very easily when browsing through the ocean of stock photos and graphics. The sooner you find what you need, the sooner you will get your work done, nailing those time sensitive deadlines. Searching for stock photos can be pretty annoying if you’re not going about it the right way. Here are some tips and advice I can offer that might just make your next “hunt” a little more successful, or at least maybe a little less time consuming.

Be Specific
Let’s face it, there is a sea of images out there for royalty free licensing. You can sometimes search for “cat” and get “dog”. Unfortunately, image keywords are prone to mistakes, spamming, and more. You don’t want to have to dig through a sea of crap before finding the types of images you’re looking for. How can you avoid this? By being specific. If you’re looking for a photo of a cat, go as far as describing what breed, color, and even what pose. You just might be pleasantly surprised in your results. Don’t be so specific that your search string is more than 5 words long, as you might miss a lot of pretty good results. But, at the same time you don’t want to use simple one word searches and have to sift through hundreds of pages of images. An exception to this, of course, would be if you were searching something very rare or a rarely covered subject.

Narrow Results With Additional Secret Words
These words aren’t anything super top-secret, but many image buyers might not be aware of them. They are widely used by stock photographers. Try them in your upcoming searches and be blown away by how this trims down your results to a more reasonable size.

isolated: A cut-out image or person object with a solid color background. These types of images make it easy to pop into solid colored backgrounds or layouts, even easily add or remove negative space. Be sure to include whichever color you would want it isolated over; ie: black, white, red, etc. Other variation: cutout, cut out

clipping path: sick of making selections to isolate images? Search for this phrase and find images that have a preset clipping path already embedded in the jpeg.

copy space: Use this when you want images with negative space, or a little bit of room to breath. Every good deigner knows what negative space is, but not many remember to search with the term copy space. Other variations: copyspace or copy-space

seamless: If you’re looking for a texture that tiles seamlessly as a pattern in any direction, include this one. Also don’t forget about: seamlessly, tiling, tiles

studio: If you’re looking specifically for photos captured in a studio environment, try this word.

vector: If you want just vectors, use the word. The word illustration also works, but unless you want a lot of jpeg graphic results included, use vector.

Employ the Special Modifiers
There usually are different modifiers you can check off on each website. These usually are site specific, but are incredibly helpful. For instance, let’s say you don’t want to see anything but vector illustrations. Usually you will have the option to choose only vectors, and this will allow you to avoid having to use the word vector in your keyword search string. Maybe they opposite is true, and all you want to see are photos – not illustrations. Then you would do the opposite and tick off the “photos only” box. Some agencies go even further. If you searched for the word girl on istockphoto.com, for instance, you could then check off whether you meant: Women (Female), Teenage Girls (Female), Little Girls (Female), or Baby Girls (Female). Many of my personal friends say they don’t even bother with doing that, and they simple keep on scrolling through pages upon pages of stuff before they find what they need. Why would you want to make it harder on yourself? Make sure you employ these additional features created to help you out.

Restrict Certain Words
Certain stock agencies (the better search engines) will also allow you to restrict certain words from coming up in the image results. That has helped me tremendously in the past. For example, you might want a photo of two brothers playing outdoors. For this search you could start with the keywords boys and brothers. If that yields too many results, you could also try adding the word two. You probably might find a bunch of images that have boys or brothers in them, but also have other children or girls in them. You will probably also get a bunch of family portraits. This is when you would restrict words like mother, father, girl, etc to narrow down what you need.

Search For Specific Artists
On most stock photography websites you will also see the artist’s name beside every image with a hyperlink. Yeah, that’s right – you can click it and see all of that artists specific images. If you like what you see, or are maybe looking for more images from a similar shoot, many times you can search within that person’s portfolio. Maybe you like one specific shoot theme that artist has done, but only found a few results from the main site’s search engine. A lot of times you can find similar shots with different angles or with other different variations by searching through that photographer or artist’s personal portfolio. You can also search from scratch for a certain artist. For example, if you search username “arenacreative” you might just find my stuff (shameless self promotion, sorry…)

Change the Search Type
By default, most websites employ results by the newest or most downloaded. Don’t forget, however, that you are able to easily change that search method. You can usually sort the results by most views, download, popularity (usually that is a mix of views and download), newest, oldest, or random (if you feel like living dangerously).

Spend Less by Shopping Around
Shop around – don’t just stick to one agency just because it’s the same one you’ve been using for 5 years. It takes only a minute to register an account on a different agency. Some websites require a minimum credit package purchase, while others are a better deal by getting a monthly subscription (especially if you need a bulk number of images). If you’re spending company dollars, you boss will probably appreciate how much you’ve saved for the company by purchase (many times the same) images somewhere else for up to 25-50% less. Prices and selection vary from agency to agency. Guess what – most microstock contributors sell their work under the same user name. If you find an image at Pricier Site A try looking that photographer up at Cheaper Site B and you might just be pleasantly surprised to find it there at a much lower cost. You might even be able to score an XXL high resolution version for the same price as the medium size price at Pricier Site A.

If at First You Don’t Succeed…
…keep on trying different keyword combinations. You will find what you’re looking for! Be persistent and enjoy your “hunt” There’s nothing like the feeling of finding an incredible image that fulfills the exact idea you had in your head.

Graphic Leftovers Launches First Stock Image Website for the New Apple iPad

arenacreative — Thu, 27 May 2010 12:57:37 +0000

ST. LOUIS (May 26, 2010) – Graphic Leftovers (GL) has launched GL4iPad, the internet’s premier iPad-dedicated stock graphics and images website. With the launch of this site, GL becomes the only stock image resource on the web where iPad users can purchase and download graphics and images directly to their photos folder. iPad users now have an abundant resource for affordable, royalty-free JPEG images for use in their Keynote, Pages and other apps.

In developing the site, GL created features that iPad users will love; right-hand navigation, large high-definition thumbnails, one-click favorite tracking, one-page search results that can be browsed with a flick of the finger and a pay-as-you-go purchase platform. Anyone can access GraphicLeftovers.com to purchase images online, but only iPad users can experience the new GL4iPad site, which includes over 30 free iPad wallpapers.

GL co-founders Kelly Jay and Daniel Errante were able to accomplish the rapid launch of the new GL4iPad site by initially developing GraphicLeftovers.com on an open-source, non-flash platform with a scalable database architecture and search functionality. The creation of this new iPad-only site was a natural evolutionary step forward for GL.

“We create everything on a Mac, we love the brand and are huge fans of the new iPad platform. We knew the development of business productivity apps would create demand for users needing high quality graphics and images,” said Jay.

“We intentionally built GraphicLeftovers.com using leading technologies so we could efficiently evolve the site to work with the exploding mobile market. We kept Graphic Leftovers.com simple and it paid off by using HTML5 and CSS3 for the launch of our new GL4iPad site,” said Errante.

Steve Jobs said it best in his recent open letter “Thoughts on Flash” posted on Apple’s website; “Our motivation is simple – we want to provide the most advanced and innovative platform to our developers, and we want them to stand directly on the shoulders of this platform and create the best apps the world has ever seen.” GL heard Jobs loud and clear and launched the only stock image site for iPad users.

GraphicLeftovers.com is the leading equitable stock image marketplace for both contributors and buyers on the internet. The company is an innovative provider of high quality, royalty-free graphics and images serving creative professionals around the world. With thousands of images added weekly, GraphicLeftovers.com is the only provider of downloadable graphics and images specifically built for Apple’s new iPad.

Photo of the Day: The Costs of an Education

arenacreative — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:06:05 +0000

#stockphotooftheday

Graduation time is fast approaching for high school and college students. Many of them are thinking how they will even afford college. Will they be able to get help from their parents? Or, maybe some help from the government through financial aid? Will they need to take out loans that will come back to haunt them once they are done with school? Be smart when choosing your educational path. Debt can stab you over with many pains, so be very careful when planning out your education. I can’t stress enough how thankful I am for paying my way though a state university with a part time job working nights and weekends. If you are a high school senior, be sure to apply for all the scholarships or grants that you can. An extra $500 -1000 from smaller or local scholarships might not seem like much, but they will add up over 4 years.

Timing is everything… I think I might be a little late in the year for this image, but nevertheless it was a subject I wanted to cover.

Why I’m No Longer a Traditional Graphic Designer…My Personal Story

Photography Tips for Realtors: Make Real Estate Listings Pop

arenacreative — Mon, 17 May 2010 14:54:56 +0000

Don’t let bad photography cause you to lose precious sales commissions.

Let’s face it. Realtors and Real Estate Agents are extremely busy people. They sacrifice a lot of their lives away from their families just to be in the business. With the blackberry or iphone constantly ringing off the hook, emails, house showings, and client meetings, a career in real estate is a pretty hectic job. So what about one of the most important features of showcasing the “product”? Does the quality of real estate photography often get neglected? From what I’ve personally seen on a local level, I think it does. I’ve searched hundreds and thousands of real estate listings over the past several years, and the majority look pretty scary. Sure, these are tiny thumbnails sized images most of the time, but even those have drastic room for improvement. The majority of home buyers are browsing these online websites first, so you need to make sure you make a good impression.

Here are some quick tips you might be able to use as a realtor in order to improve the quality of your photos in your online listings (no matter what camera you have).

1. Don’t shoot the exterior mid-day when the sun is highest in the sky. Early morning or later in the afternoon is much more visually pleasing. Save mid-day for shooting the interior, so that the light is more even.

2. Keep the sun to your back. Yeah, we’ve all heard this one… it’s a rule that is meant to be broken. But when it comes to shooting houses it’s a pretty good one to stick by. The sun rises in the East, and sets in the West, so figure out which direction the front of the home is facing before you plan your shoot.

3. Take a look up at the sky. Is it overcast? Unless you’re a photoshop whiz you might want to wait until the weather gives you a nice blue sky, even if it is partly cloudy. Anything is better than looking at a hideous blown out white or “doom and gloom” dark sky. A bright overcast day is excellent if you’re taking features of the building where the sky isn’t showing. It will give you shadows that are less harsh, and a nice diffused style of light.

4. Stop down your lens and place your camera on a tripod. If you have some sort of manual control like Av mode, set your f-stop (aperture) to the highest number possible. Make sure you use a tripod, otherwise the shutter speed will be way too slow, causing blur from camera shake. There are full height basic tripods at the local department stores priced as low as $10. If you have one – landscape mode might also allow your camera to get the smallest aperture possible, allowing for the largest depth of field while shooting handheld. This will ensure that you get the most of the home and property in focus (not just one or the other).

5. Try to remove distracting elements beforehand. Does the homeowner have their kids toys laying all over the front yard? This is just common sense.

6. Keep your listings updated! We’ve established that you’re busy, but if you have a listing that still has snow in the yard when it’s June… I mean come on, do I really need to even explain?

7. Make sure you show enough images, but not too many. You want to leave a little to the imagination while featuring the property’s best features or highlights. 8-12 images is a good number. It’s enough to give a nice overview, but not enough to cause the potential buyer to neglect wanting to check it out in person.

8. Don’t forget to capture the home along with part of its surroundings. Step back… possibly even further than you normally would. Capture the home from across the street, or even further if you think it would help a potential buyer envision its situation or property size. This just may help your property stand out from the crowd in the sea of listings.

All of the above tips will work for commercial or industrial properties as well. With lots of practice and learning your camera, you’re going to figure out what works the best for you. If it’s not working out as well for you, maybe photography just isn’t your cup of tea. You can always consider getting some help from a professional. Higher end listings might be worth the extra cost of hiring a professional, while most mid-range priced houses won’t. Maybe you just don’t feel like being a “jack of all trades” type, because you’re focused enough on selling real estate. It really is a lot of work. To any realtors with listings in the Connecticut area that would like to have me help them out, contact me at the link at the top of the page. I would be willing to work on a free trade basis as long as it is a property with a nice curb appeal and the owner signs a release form. No blown out white skies or crummy lighting, just clean images of the beautiful property you are showcasing so that you can get the maximum return for all of your efforts. Contact me for more details.

How to Sell Soap – Viral Marketing Explained

arenacreative — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:28:15 +0000

Ever heard the term “viral marketing” but wasn’t 100% sure on the entire process, or what it means? Well, if you are still curious, this video will clear it up nicely for you.

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Gear Review: Dakine Camera Block Mission Photo Backpack

arenacreative — Wed, 05 May 2010 13:55:36 +0000

Finding the right camera bag is a pain – some of us don’t want to spend $100-150 on a simple backpack to carry our stuff. If you spend too little, it seems that the thing cheaply falls apart in a short period of time (been there, broke that).

The problem with most camera backpacks is they either give away to the world that it’s a camera backpack, either due to the logo on the outside like TAMRAC or LOWEPRO or even CANON (hmm, I wonder what that dude’s got in that bag? Maybe 5 grand worth of camera gear – let’s go mug him) or the FUGLINESS factor.

I recognized the name Dakine because I have a winter snowboarding hat made by them that I bought at Eastern Mountain Sports. I was interested in the Dakine Camera Block due to the fact that you can shove it in any other bag, as long as it is the right dimensions. That way it’s kind of like getting a custom setup for your DSLR, glass, and photo gear. I’ve seen it online as low as $30 USD. What’s the main thing we need in a camera bag, anyway? Isn’t it the stupid little velcro-rigged, padded dividers that keep our lenses and camera bodies separately safely and securely? That, and obviously comfort, durability, and water resistance while outdoors.

There is also the Dakine Mission, which is a lot nicer looking than most bags. This bag is sold along with the Dakine Camera Block as an optional accessory. It comes in a variety of cool colors and textures, from plaid to other print designs. I haven’t picked one up just yet, but it’s next on my list. If anyone has any experience with the Dakine Mission or Dakine Camera Block, feel free to add your comments below. Another Dakine bag available is the Sequence, which looks to be a little bit deeper (which is always useful if you shoot with a 1D series or gripped body, like myself). The Sequence has a weatherproof rain cover that pops out in case you get caught in a storm.

http://dakine.com/skate/photo-packs/

Design Crowdsourcing – Good or Bad?

arenacreative — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:46:38 +0000

If you’re a graphic designer, have you ever thought about competing in a design contest somewhere? For those of you who don’t know what crowd-sourcing is; here is a quick explanation. There usually is an original poster (a company or small business owner) on a design forum or contest site that sets the prize amount and the specifications. Then, a bunch of contestants post up concept proofs and samples for critique. Many times today design firms even have to contribute hours of man hours in order to “compete” for a job. Many times they end up getting the shaft, because they are up against many other firms in the process. So, I guess there is crowd sourcing going on to an extent, even at the professional level.

Are There Any Benefits to Crowdsourcing for a Designer?
These contests are great for students or those trying to develop their portfolios, but in actuality participating in these low budget contests is undermining the industry. Don’t give away your work for free, no matter if you’re new at something, or highly experienced. Design time is money, so unless you’re doing charity work you just might be barking up the wrong tree. I’ll admit – I was a sucker once. I’ve participated in crowd sourcing when I was young and stupid; but hey, you live and you learn. Back when I was just out of college I had a little bit of free time in between graduation and landing my first day job, so I competed in a handful of logo contest. I found one flier design job that I nailed and then it led to some additional freelance work from that business owner. Don’t expect this to happen every time, though. In the end, after I tallied up all of the hours wasted on these design contests, that little bit of assignment work I got was not even worth all of my time and efforts spent in crowdsourcing. In the end, the only parties that, I think, benefit from crowdsourcing are the contest holders and the crowdsourcing websites. The businesses are getting a huge variety of entries, but the majority of times they’re receiving crap-tacular designs from inexperienced ones that just got their first copy of Photoshop or Illustrator. You’ve seen the contests… if you want to see the caliber of design aesthetics just go to any of the major design contest websites.

So in the end, are the original contest posters really benefiting from having so many different proofs to choose from? Evidently not. You get what you pay for. Some of the entries might be very good, actually deserving of traditional commissions of upwards of $1000-2000 for such a design. This is, in fact, that company’s corporate identity. I know you can’t really put a price on that, but do you think that $100-250 is really enough? And remember, that’s ONLY if you win. If you’ve up against 50 other designers, that’s only a two percent chance that you’re actually going to win.

Other Concerns
I really don’t care where you live or how little you need to earn in order to pay your bills. Don’t undersell yourself! Sometimes the original poster will even choose an uglier design over a more professional one… because, well; beauty is is the eye of the beholder. If you’re a designer and haven’t had to dumb down one of your best designs just to please the client, then you must be new at this. Also – there is a lot of theft going on nowadays – lots of “right click -> save as” or screenshotting and auto-tracing fun, as well. I’ve even had some of my stock images retraced and resold on the same website I was selling mine on. For what it’s worth, if you’re going to be posting up hours of your design time, even in low web-resolution screenshots, make sure you watermark them at the very least.

Just please – take what I’ve said here with a grain of salt. Be wise. Think before you crowd source.

Photoshop Tutorial – Basic Clone Stamp & Patch Tools

arenacreative — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 03:10:48 +0000

Here is a recent photo edit I did on a photo of my dog, using the clone stamp and patch tools in Adobe Photoshop. This video illustrates a pretty simple yet effective way of removing some unwanted elements from the image – all in under 4 minutes. These are the types of edits I do on a daily basis to each and every one of my photos, when it comes to removing logos, flaws, zits, etc. Once you master these tools there’s very little you can’t fix. Be sure to click full screen and watch the video in HD.

Get That Finger Out of Your Nose!

arenacreative — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:44:02 +0000

This is the perfect example of why you should never sell a stock image where you’re doing anything embarrassing. Here I am, digging for gold, featured at a busy international tradeshow blown up at poster size. Yeah, my mother would be proud.

Gigabyte, a Taiwan based notebook company, used myself as well as a few others in an ad campaign geared towards their dockable notebooks. The point was supposed to be that it gets better once you “stick it in” to its dock. I can’t say that I think it’s the best marketing concept, but I definitely got a huge laugh out of it

When you post an image up for sale that you don’t think will be used, chances are… someone just might find a way!

I still think I had the best technique in the series

The Miz Photoshop Tutorial Series – Creating Vignettes

arenacreative — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:00:51 +0000

Here Bob “The Miz” Mizerek shows us how we can create vignettes in two different styles using Adobe Photoshop. Vignetting is an effect that is also very easy to add to your images using Adobe Lightroom.

It’s April 15th – Don’t Forget to File Your Income Tax Return

arenacreative — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:55:18 +0000

Just a friendly reminder to those living in the US (not sure about the other states)… be sure to mail or efile your tax return before midnight tonight!

Click here for more tax related stock photos.

Wow… 3 blog posts on the same day. What’s wrong with me? It must have been all the coffee I sucked down today.

Dropbox – Free and Easy File Sharing

Vermont – A Great Place to Visit Year Round

arenacreative — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:09:35 +0000

This last fall my wife and I ventured up to Vermont to peep some colorful fall foliage. We aren’t huge travelers, but everyone needs to break away from the same old same old every once in a while just to get away and to break up the monotony of life in general. We didn’t even have an exact plan where we were going, but we had the trusty little TomTom GPS, a full tank of gas, and our cameras ready for action. The day was a little bit overcast, but sometimes that can be a good thing when it comes to creating softer shadows that aren’t as harsh. Skies can always be replaced easier afterwards, in Photoshop, anyway (tutorial here). Here are some of the stock images we captured that day.

Scenes like these are everywhere in Vermont. Gorgeous and untouched mountains, rivers, countryside and forests.

We stumbled upon Hogback Mountain and I captured these panoramic shots.

One more thing you can expect to find in VT is incredible beer! There are tons of microbrewers including Magic Hat, Long Trail, Otter Creek, Harpoon, and McNeill’s. Be sure to stock up on the brands not available in your area, before you head back home.

These portraits of us were taken at the river just underneath the Dummerston covered bridge.

I just found out that Mount Snow, Vermont is using this shot of the historic Dummerston covered bridge on their postcard to suggest things to do and see in the area during the “off season” for skiing.

Check out MountSnow.com for all sorts of affordable activities and local area attractions. They are so much more than just skiing!

The Miz Photoshop Tutorial Series – Depth of Field

arenacreative — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:38:57 +0000

Here Bob “The Miz” Mizerek shows us how we can simulate shallow depth of field in Photoshop.