Episode 003: The Keys to Project Planning

In this week’s episode of The Shutter Button Podcast, I talk about some of the keys to effective project planning, as well as some of the ways I generate ideas for projects of my own. Enjoy and, as always, thanks for listening!

Episode 004: Photowalks! The What's and Why's

In this week’s episode of The Shutter Button Podcast, I talk about the benefits of photowalks, why you should practice going on them, and also some of my experiences and the lessons I’ve learned when shooting my own work. Enjoy and, as always, thanks for listening!

Episode 005: Formal Education vs. Free-Shooting! What's the Difference?

In this week’s episode of The Shutter Button Podcast, I talk about the pros and cons between receiving a formal education and free-shooting when you’re first starting out. I also talk about some of the benefits of continuing education and workshops for more intermediate photographers. Enjoy and, as always, thanks for listening!

Episode 006: Why You Should Wait Before Buying That Fancy New Lens!

In this week’s episode of The Shutter Button Podcast, I talk about Gear Acquisition Syndrome, specifically, when it applies to purchasing new lenses. I talk about all the different questions you need to ask and all the aspects you need to consider before spending a lot of money on a new lens. Enjoy and, as always, thanks for listening!

Metadata 101: The Power of Tagging and Organizing Your Work

Hey everyone, Zig here!

Today I’d like to take a bit of time to talk about importing, organizing, and tagging photos after a day of shooting. It’s a very valuable skill to develop because it'll let you easily keep track of projects images, now and far into the future!

The Benefits

It's important to keep track of your project's files for a number of reasons, but first, let's talk about it in the scope of organizing a project. Firstly, it saves time, and if something saves you time, then it's very likely that it will save you money and save you from potential mistakes. Organizing and tagging your images correctly lets you search for and sort through them much more easily. This is especially important on larger projects with many files, as well as projects that involve multiple people. Being able to work in a clean and clear environment, physically, is extremely important for productivity. Why shouldn't we keep our digital workspace clean, as well?

So keeping files organized on a per-project basis is important only when you're working on said project, right? Not necessarily! Imagine a scenario where a client calls you up to make some last minute adjustments to a set of images or videos. If you slacked on organizing and tagging your project correctly, it might slow down your response time and add to the pressure of getting a new set out to the client in time. Much of that stress could be avoided by making sure your project is set up for success, right from the beginning.

Next up, there's a potential scenario where you may be completely finished with a project, but you can use some of the leftover content for projects or reels of your own. For example, if you were putting together a set of stock images using spare shots you took at an event, it'd be much more difficult to navigate through the possibly many hundreds or thousands of images to find the ones you were looking for. If you had, from the beginning, even simply flagged those shots to be used down-the-road, you would be able to quickly look them up and start developing right away.

How To: Importing and Tagging

So, I've talked a bit about the benefits, but not necessarily how to go about importing, tagging, and assigning metadata. This is because everybody uses a different system that they're most comfortable with. I'm going to share some of the processes I go through in my workflow, but I encourage you to look around online and see what other photographers and creatives do to organize their work!

To start off, when I import the images from my XQD card into Lightroom, I do a few things;

1. First, I add a "shoot" name to the batch in the following format: YYYYMMDD_[Optional Client or Project Name]_[Description]_[Location]. For example, if I shot a set of floral images at a local park, I would name the shoot something like 20190417_Spring_Flowers_Stamford_Park. This way, all of my shoots are automatically sorted chronologically, regardless of the computer I'm working on (because of the date format) and I also get a clear description of the project or set.

2. Second, I add every image to a collection using the same name format.

3. Third, I add any generic keywords that encompass the entire set of images. Sometimes, this is not the case, but if I'm out shooting a single, specific subject, then I can do a large amount of tagging right away before I even import my files.

4. Fourth, I go through and flag every image in the set in Lightroom. If an image is a "winner," I flag it as a "pick." If it's a clear "loser," for example, if it missed focus or has clear visual problems, then I typically flag is as "rejected." Finally, I leave every other image flagged as neutral. This lets me quickly sort through every viable image (for the project, or otherwise) in the set whenever I want to explore the photos I've taken.

5. Fifth, and finally, I do a round of more advanced tagging that is helpful when uploading some of the images to stock image websites like Adobe Stock and Shutterstock. This last round of tagging is also good because if I want to explore my entire collection of images, I can sort by different styles, subjects, equipment, colors, and even frame orientations.

Set Up for Success

All of these steps combine to create a clear, organized, and accessible project file structure. I'm able to quickly navigate and see every relevant file at a glance, as well as sort through anything when looking back at or re-entering the project. This is an incredibly powerful skill to develop and it takes time, patience, and the right attitude when working, even on personal projects. This type of workflow can set you up for success in a number of ways and will ease many of the technology-related processes of being a photographer.

Anyway, that's all that I had to talk about for today. I hope to see you next week in another episode of The Shutter Button podcast, which is now also available on Apple Music! Thanks, everyone, and happy shooting!

Using Social Media as a Photographer

Hey everyone, Zig here!

I want to apologize for a missed week of photo talk, but I’m back! And today, I’d like to talk a little bit about using social media as a photographer.

Now, when it comes to social media, there are many different uses and benefits you’ll find as a creative professional. For example, through social media you can;

  • build an audience

  • network with other professionals

  • share news about yourself and upcoming events

  • reach out to potential clients

  • sell your work

  • ask questions and get immediate feedback

It should be said that you won’t be able to do all of this right away, though. Building a presence on social media takes time, patience, consistency, and professionalism. The first step that many photographers like to take is to create an account for their photography brand on websites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I would personally consider those to be the big three, but they aren’t necessarily designed explicitly for photographers (except for Instagram, but they allow much more than simply sharing photographic work) The next step after creating the account is learning and experimenting what content you want and need to post. There is a well-understood tool for posting content regularly and it’s something called a “content calendar.” Esentially, what you’ll end up doing is putting together a list of images (or simply posts) that you’d want to post to your page in accordance with a certain schedule. For example. you might post a single image every day of the week, all month long. Or, you may choose to only post images every other day of the week. There are many ways to breakdown your content calendar and it allows you to get creative with how you actually share your content. It’s important to remember, however, that you need to be consistent with your posting habits. Dropping a ton of images in one day may spread yourself thin and overwhelm your audience if you’re cluttering their feed. You can think of it almost like drip-feeding photographs to your viewers. Keeping that in mind, you also don’t want to post too infrequently, either. It’s important to strike a good balance between posting too much and posting too little.

Next, you need to experiment with the tone you want to use when writing captions for your online posts. For me, I typically write a small “blog-like” caption that just gives my audience an update on what I’m posting, how I captured it, and what I’m looking forward to in the future. I mix it up here and there, but usually, I keep it fun and loose, without too much structure. I also keep it very professional so that my audience knows I can have fun, but I do mean business. You want to really make sure that you avoid (unless it’s part of your brand and style, of course) cursing and vulgarity, misspellings, poor grammar, and anything that might give off an unprofessional “vibe.” It’s very important to stay consistent in your tone and writing style, as well, because it does exude a very professional attitude to people looking at your profile.

So, you’ve picked out the images you want to post and when you want to post them, as well as what kinds of written content you want to include with each of them. Next comes the definitely more tricky and experimental piece of using social media: the marketing. The marketing can be quite difficult to nail down so it’s important that you experiment and try all sorts of different things. For example, you may want to play around with posting your content at different times of the day to get the most traffic. Also, you’ll need to experiment with using different hashtags on the different platforms. Part of the learning process for getting the marketing right is to look at what times and what hashtags some of the bigger accounts are using to get a better idea of the direction you can go in. Now, that’s not to say you should go and copy other creators exact posting habits, but it’s helpful to take a look at how other people market themselves on different platforms. I would also recommend looking for and following as many photographers and other creative professionals as you feel comfortable with so that you’re also “in-the-loop” of what other people may be doing when they post content. This is also one of the first steps to networking with other professionals since it helps establish an initial connection.

Networking is a bit tricky, but don’t let it scare you. If you see a post from a photographer you admire, I encourage you to leave a thoughtful comment about the image or the written content, if they’re asking a question, for example, OR if you have a question, I openly encourage you to ask them, as well. It’s a great way of establishing a bond with another creative. Don’t make the mistake of leaving comments like “Nice pic!” or “Awesome shot!” To me, these come across as lazy and most likely not genuine. I also assume that many of these comments are left by accounts using automated services to market themselves. Set yourself apart from the rest and be genuine, thoughtful, and polite. Other professionals will recognize it and be extremely thankful. You may also run into some sour apples here and there, but don’t let that discourage you, either. Most everybody is eager to learn and connect and other creatives are just waiting to see thoughtful comments like yours. After establishing a solid relationship with another professional, you may even find yourself in a position to collaborate or even offer to collaborate with them! People love having professional colleagues and friends work together with them on projects and you never know where your next job might come from! This is one of the greatest and most powerful aspects of social media, but it won’t happen right away.

I would suggest to take things slow, be patient, and experiment with all the different social meda websites and apps out there. Don’t spread yourself too thin, but play around with using multiple platforms to build an audience. Getting exposure to using different platforms will also help you figure out what style of posting and content suits you and your work. That aspect of discovery is probably one of the most fun things to experience when you find out what works best for you. In the end, I think you should strive for two goals;

  1. Build an audience that actively engages with (likes, comments, etc.) your work

  2. Network with other professionals to open up opportunities to work and meet new colleagues

Anyway, I hope that you are able to take the very first (and straight forward) step to creating a social media presence for your photography! Just remember to be patient and have fun. Don’t stress over using social media either if you can’t keep up with your predetermined schedule. Find what works for you and go with it!

So thanks guys, I’ll see you all next week in another episode of The Shutter Button Podcast where I’ll be discussing how to avoid burnout and stay grounded when you’re going through a rough patch in your work. So stay tuned and happy shooting!

A Short Introduction to Focus Stacking

Hey everybody! Zig here!

Today I’d like to showcase an image I took on my recent trip to Mianus River Park and talk a bit about my process of retouching and focus stacking when shooting macro photography. It all starts out with a series of images and in this case, it’s a series of photographs I captured of a mushroom which I found growing on the side of a fallen log. Take a look at the images and notice how each has a different portion of the mushroom in focus, starting from the foremost edge of the mushroom and moving all the way to the back.

To capture these, I mounted my Nikon Z6 on a tripod, composited the image, and then used the “Focus Shift” feature that is built into the Nikon Z6. The way that focus stacking works is that focus on the foremost part of the object you want to photograph, take a photo, move the focus towards to the back while overlapping your first photograph slightly, and then repeating the process until you have captured enough “slices” that each contain a different piece of focus for the target image. The focus shift feature in the Nikon Z6 automates this process and made it very quick and easy to get the results that I wanted.

After I’ve taken the photos, I import everything into Lightroom and make all my processing adjustments to every image in the stack before exporting the full-sized JPEG files and opening them in Photoshop. What I specifically do is open the first image in the stack in Photoshop and then import and rasterize every other image in the stack into that same session. At this point, my layers look a bit like this;

After this step, I select every layer in the layers tab and click on Edit > Auto-Align Layers and then choose to let Photoshop decide on the best way to automatically align them.

Once Photoshop aligns every layer, I then go in and make any additional adjustments like the selective removal of focus from some of the layers or, if there are many images in the stack, more extremely out-of-focus areas to prevent potential ghosting when I merge everything in the next step. After I’m content with the layers in the stack, I then click Edit > Auto-Blend Layers and let Photoshop automatically merge everything together. The final image looks like this, with the expected result being that everything is in focus.

This is a bit of a simplified breakdown of my process, but I hope that it gives the structure you would need to be able to repeat a similar process or implement it into your own workflow. I am always adjusting and improving the process as I learn some of the pit-falls of shooting macro photography and I am always open to hearing suggestions about how you might change or alter this style of processing and stacking!

I’ve only recently started to integrate this technique into my routine and I’ve already seen examples of photos where I would not want to keep everything in focus. However I think that focus stacking, and practicing taking multiple images with different depths of field, allows me to have the freedom and control I’m looking to get with my macro photography. It helps me capture the crisp, sharp edges that I like, as well as selectively keep things out-of-focus when I want to. Anyway, that’s all I have for today. I hope you have a great week shooting and I also hope that I was able to give a little insight into how I produce some of my macro images. I’ll see you all next week in another episode of the Shutter Button Podcast where I’ll be talking about formal education vs. deliberate practice, and my experience with finding a balance between both.

Thanks and all the best,

- Zig

A Brief Photowalk Through Mianus River State Park

Hey everyone, Zig here back with another post!

Today I wanted to share an experience I had over the weekend during my first visit to Mianus River State Park in North Stamford, Connecticut. It’s a lovely place that I’ve always wanted to visit, but for some reason thought it was too far out of my range for a day trip, but as it turns out, it’s much, much closer than I realized! I spent Saturday afternoon walking through the trails in the lower half of the park, practicing my macro photography, and getting in a little late-Winter exercise, as well.

I started off the visit by spending some time around the entrance to the park, which is, in essence, just a small bridge that crosses over the Mianus River into the trail area. I spotted a log along the shoreline with some life burgeoning off of it, and seeing how the light of the sun was giving some great warm tones, I decided to climb down near the water line to get some shots.

In the moment, I was enjoying the sound and the movement of the flowing water compared to this log that was just sitting stationary in the riverbed. The wind was blowing, but not harshly, and seeing this little microcosm of moss and other small plants living it up in the middle of winter gave me hope for the rest of the day.

Soon after, I was on my way along the River Trail which follows the perimeter of the park and is paralleled by the Mianus River. All along the trail, you can spot fallen birch trees and branches, and as I got close to one in particular, I noticed it was sprouting some interesting looking fungi. Something about it reminded me of clamshells!

Walking further along the River Trail, I kept my eyes peeled for any signs of distinct color and contrast that I could composite some shots around, and without too much searching, I found a wonderful little leaf resting on the path in front of me. I knelt down and snapped a few shots of it just before the wind knocked it over! I felt like I got lucky and caught it just in time.

I spent the day practicing a technique used in macro photography called “focus stacking.” I practiced positioning myself in a stable way, compositing my shot, and then snapping the same image, but focusing at different points. The goal of this technique is to have a selection of images that you can stack in software like Photoshop to increase your depth of field more than what you could achieve with a single snap of the shutter. Throughout some of these photos, you might notice spots that are unusually out of focus, and this is most likely because of how I was positioned with I took the photo. Kneeling or squatting to take handheld photos of smaller objects on the ground can make it easy to change the perspective between each image, as well as miss shots that would help complete the stacked depth of field. One of the lessons I learned from this for next time is to work with a faster shutter speed, as well as to bring a tripod with me so that I am always controlling the perspective. One thing I’ll also be practicing with in the future is my camera’s focus-stacking mode, which does a lot of the manual work for me. With this new knowledge, I’m expecting even more technically impressive images from my next visit!

As I spent the remaining hours of my visit walking through the park, I was able to really settle into the hike and enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. I could hear the wind blowing through the empty trees, the sounds of melting streams and cracking ice, and I could really enjoy the tranquility brought on by the warmer tones of the late-afternoon sun. I took this final image as I was making my return back to the park’s entrance at the end of the day. It was more of a snapshot at the time, but it’s turned into one of my favorites from the entire visit. It’s aptly titled, “Leaves Under Log,” and I am incredibly happy with how it turned out. The combination of contrast, lighting, composition, and texture from the top-down angle is superb, and I’m looking forward to getting a similar look in photos to come!

I’d like to conclude this week’s post by making an invition to every photographer out there to explore their nearby state and national parks. I invite you to take some time to go out and, even if you don’t go to take photos, enjoy the park for all that it has to offer. I was surprised by how well-maintained and impressive Mianus River State Park’s trails were and I can see myself going in the future to just walk around and spend some time in nature. I especially can’t wait until the Spring and Summer to see it full of plant and wildlife!

Anyway, that’s all I have now. Stay tuned for another episode of the Shutter Button Podcast next week where I’ll be talking about photowalks as a general topic! I’ll probably talk about an upcoming trip of mine, as well as more about my experience at Mianus River Park in that episode.

So, until then, have a great week!

- Zig