Appetizer?

I’m still on the quest for the “fishing shot” and one of these days I’m going to get it.  On this particular day I decided to walk up river after watching one of the local osprey fly off that direction.  Must be something good that way, right?  About 20 minutes later as I’m walking up river, I can see the osprey flying back toward me in the direction of the nest.  I’m on foot while the osprey is following the course of the river, but the bird was gracious enough to make a course correction to fly directly over me so I could see I was too late once again.  Thanks.

Now I know this guy/gal is on the way back to share the days catch with its mate, but maybe it should have just swallowed this one and made another attempt? 

Have a great weekend.

Title This…

I’ve heard of “window peepers”, but these guys are dedicated!  A window washing crew hangs in the balance as they wipe the grim from the glass on Dudley Tower in downtown Wausau, WI.

Have a funny title to share? Use the comments section below.

Deleting Rejected Photos from a Collection in Lightroom 4

Back in February of 2011 I wrote a blog post about one of my Lightroom pet peeves.  You couldn't flag an image as a reject inside of a collection and then Ctrl + Backspace to delete the image.  This action only removed the rejects from the collection.

Guess what?  In LR4, you STILL can’t .  There is some good news, however.  These reject flags now persist across your catalog.  This means that when you flag an image as a reject inside of a collection, it appears as a reject outside of that collection as well.  So, now you can Ctrl + Down Arrow (or “X”) within a collection to flag images as rejects, select the “All Photographs” option in your catalog and THEN issue a Ctrl + Backspace to delete all rejects found within your catalog.  Not perfect, but better.

Have a tip about managing your Lightroom 4 catalog?  Drop a note in the comment section below send me a quick email.  I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time, keep click’n.

-Ken

Willie

Any one remember the movie “Rudy”? Little guy who wants to play football for Notre Dame?  Sometimes big things come in small packages.  This is my Uncle’s Yorkshire Terrier, Willie.  Just go ahead and try to tell him he’s too small to play.  Did I mention that’s not a regulation sized football?

Seize the day. Be BIG.

Lightroom 4.1 Around the Corner (Still)

I’ve been keeping my eye out for the official release of Lightroom 4.1, mostly to correct some of the performance issues I’ve been noticing. Luckily I haven’t been processing a lot of photos lately so my patience hasn’t run out yet, but others in the community have been pretty vocal.

The 2nd release candidate came out at the end of last month and reportedly fixes a number of the issues related to performance and the infamous point curve bug.  According to many in the forums, however, the point release may have had a negative impact in some other areas.

Have you made the leap to 4.1 RC2?  If so, what has your experience been like?

Title This…

“Hey, is this that new iBird app I’ve heard so much about?  I LIKE it!”

There’s that unfortunate saying about what curiosity did to the cat, but with the feline out of the way the door’s been opened for the master of the inquisitive mind – the parrot.  Shortly after this photo, Mwanga called home to her cousins in Tanzania and placed an online order for some fresh millet from Drs. Foster & Smith.

Use the comments section below to offer up your own funny title to this image and remember to have fun.

Photographer Wanted

Currently seeking motivated landscape/wildlife photographer for an unlimited term engagement which includes a minimum 10 year guarantee.  Candidate must be willing to accept the following responsibilities and conditions:

• Annual starting salary of $195,000 per year with a guaranteed minimum 10% increase annually.
• A willingness to receive, test and review ALL of the latest photography gear from the vendor(s) of your choice.  The gear will be provided at no cost to you and is yours to keep, free of charge, once the review has been completed.
• All testing must be completed in the field at locations of your choosing.  Any and all travel, lodging and miscellaneous trip expenses will be covered by the corporate sponsor(s).
• Candidate must possess a valid drivers license.  A new SUV, complete with unlimited gas allowance, will be provided on a rotating 2 year cycle.
• Once per year, you will be honored along with the photographic collection of your choosing at a prestigious New York gallery at the expense of the corporate sponsor(s).  All sale proceeds will be donated to the charity of your choice.
• An annual bonus no less than 25% of your annual salary will be granted upon the successful completion of the aforementioned conditions and responsibilities.

If interested, please re-read the above and ask yourself “If this were for real, do you really think Ken would have shared this information with anyone rather than just take the position himself?”.

If you have knowledge of such an opening, please email me at ken@KenSchramPhotography.com.  Heck, I might even share a lens or two with you.

Reach for the Sky

Judging by the number of laps I’ve made around the yard with the old lawnmower already this year, I’d say spring has sprung one giant leap toward summer. 

What are some of your favorite spring indicators?

In Search of the Golden Circle

OK. I'll admit it.  I've been seeking photographic glory on Google+.  Well, actually I've been seeking inspiration mixed in with a little photographic glory. Enter "The Circle".

They say Facebook is where you share what you had for breakfast, Twitter allows you to announce to the world in real time where you're eating breakfast, and Google+ allows you to share your passion for breakfast with all of the other people on the planet that are passionate about breakfast- complete with beautiful photos.

As I'm not overly passionate about breakfast, I'm instead seeking out those who share my passion for photography.  More specifically, wildlife and landscape photography.  Do you have a clue how many other photographers are also playing on Google+? The answer is more more than there probably should be.  Not sure what I mean? Add a shared circle of 400 self proclaimed "best" landscape photographers and watch your stream for a few days.

"Nice weed photo". Remove from circles

"Oh, what a beautiful rock". Remove from circles

"I wasn't aware you could pile manure that high". Remove from circles

Eventually, you've narrowed down the circle of the 400 "best" down to just 5 of which you truly find inspiring.  It's a tedious process to say the least, but I certainly don't blame the other 395 "best" photographers for trying. I'm doing the same thing by trying to get into other shared circles to help increase my own footprint. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?  To be fair, not everyone has the same intent for G+.  Probably most are just up for sharing and talking shop. So am I, but hopefully with a more specific audience.

If this sounds familiar to you, you'll be happy to know there's a better way.  It's called PhotoExtract.com.  This website provides a glimpse of some of the best photos posted to Google+ each day via it's "Plus Extract" routine.  Plus Extract combines a little computing magic with the curator opinion of one +Jarek Klimek who, by the way, does a pretty nice job at helping the process along.  I'm finding more "circleable" photographers using this approach in much less time.

One casual observation though - not as many wildlife photographers getting Plus Extract love as I'd like.  If you think you're "Golden Circle" material, check out this link to see how you can get yourself seen on Plus Extract.

Title This...

How do you know when you've overstayed your welcome on the river?  Duck butts.

Just like people, some wildlife will do anything to keep from having their photo taken :).

Use the comments section below to offer up your own funny title for the image above and remember to have fun.