The Show is in the feed or you can download it at Pixelcorps.TV

This week on the show: Social Media Sites Stripping Meta Data, Saturday Night Live Goes DSLR, & Special Guest Commercial Shooter Joey L.

Hosts: Frederick Van Johnson, Steve Simon, Ron Brinkmann, Bruce Clarke

This episode is brought to you by SquareSpace.com. The fast and easy way to publish a high quality web site or blog. Check out the new iPhone app. For a free trial and 10% off your new account go to www.squarespace.com and enter the coupon code: twip.

This episode is also brought to you by Audible.com. Over 50,000 titles. For your free Audible book, go to audiblepodcast.com/twip.

This episode is also brought to you by Ford and SYNC -- voice activated SYNC in your Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles. For more details, visit Syncmyridepodcast.com. And to enter to win a free Nano or Zune, send a tweet with hashtag "Syncmyridepodcast"

Producer: Aaron Mahler - Twitter: halfpress

Show notes by Tom Newman at fogviewphotos.com and on Twitter: fogview

Bandwidth provided by Cachefly
Intro Music by Scott Cannizzaro

HOUSEKEEPING
This is Bruce's first time on TWIP. Bruce works behind the senses, with Tom Newman (Fogview Podcast), doing the show notes for the TWIP podcast.

NEWS & DISCUSSION

Nikon USA launches video contest with US$100,000 prize
Nikon USA has launched a short-form video contest with a main prize of US$100,000 plus a Nikon D5000 kit, and a secondary prize of US$25,000 plus D5000 kit as well. To enter, submit your video, captured with any video-capable camera and on the theme "A Day through Your Lens," before December 15, 2009. Maximum length of the video is 140 seconds (taken from the length of messages on Twitter). Ron thinks that semi-pros or pros will get involved because of the size of the main prize. Frederick mentions that this contest is open to any make of video camera and Ron asks the question, "would they really give the prize to a video shot on a Canon DSLR?". Steve said, the rules are the rules.

Facebook and MySpace Strip Photo Copyright Data
A report published this week by the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) examines the terms of service (TOS) for Facebook, Photobucket, Flickr, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter. These social media sites reserve the right to revise their terms any time, the report warns. In addition, average users don’t read and don’t understand the TOS and copy photos anyway. The report singles out MySpace and Facebook for vague TOS language. Their terms mainly address activity on the sites themselves, not what users do with photos outside the site. Steve adds that these sites are stripping the meta data and the copyright information from the images. If you are serious about your work, you should register your copyrights with the United States Copyright Office. It's good to see that ASMP is monitoring this. The ASMP report mentioned the one thing you could do is add a watermark to your images. The hosts was pretty much against watermarking images but Ron mentioned that adding a small watermark in the corner of your photo would help when your photo is passed along around the web and finally ends up on Facebook with a Creative Commons license.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 7D used to capture HD video for SNL title sequence
Based on a press release from Canon (so not very objective): The entire sequence was shot using a combination of Canon's full-frame EOS 5D Mark II and the selectable frame rates of the EOS 7D Digital SLR cameras. Filming at night, the new stars of the hit TV show were shot in various New York City hotspots by a small crew discretely capturing the cast as they participated in select New York happenings. The entire segment was captured and edited in a week's time, incorporating 30p footage from Canon's 5D Mark II as well as 60p footage used for slow-motion segments shot with Canon's EOS 7D Digital SLR camera.
Ron: This shows how stealth you can be with a DSLR shooting video instead of using a full video production crew and professional video cameras.

INTERVIEW -- Joey Lawrence
At 19 Joey L has accomplished more than many veteran photographers have in their entire careers. He's already one of the hottest photographers in New York City and he's only just getting started. His impressive client list include Warren Brothers Records, Forbes, NBC, Sci Fi channel, Kawasaki, and the list goes on and on. joey has agreed to come on the show to talk about his philosophy towards photography, his techniques, and his successes.

Frederick: You and I ran into each other at Photo Plus and got a chance to talk. Where did you get started in all this stuff? You are only 19 years old.

Joey: I started out when I was really young. When I was seven I use to make movies with my Hi-8 video camera. I would film dinosaur puppets and film them chasing me. Then our family got a point and shoot camera and I would experiment with that. Then I took (photos of) small bands in my local town of Ontario, Canada. My first rep was a music rep and he sent me on tour with bunch of metal bands across America when I was in high school. I used that to build my first commercial portfolio. I was still doing my personal travel stuff.

Frederick: A lot of people may know your work from the Twilight movie. Did you do the poster for that?

Joey: Yes, for the first movie.

Frederick: When you're in exotic locales, when you have the barriers of language, gear they haven't seen before, how do you get them into a state of mine to allow this young kid they've never seen before to take their picture, and come away with something brilliant?

Joey: It's hard to do. It's a process. It starts out without taking photos at all. Especially I like to use studio lights, it scares them. Probably the marjory of my time is building trust. I say it like this: my first hobby is travel and my second hobby is photography. So travel has to come first. The two work hand-in-hand.

Frederick: Say you're traveling to Japan, do you find yourself more inspired than if you were back in New York City?

Joey: Yes, I'm from Ontario, Canada, and I get inspired just walking out my door, because I live in Brookline. It's really interesting. You don't need to travel far to get inspired. But when you live somewhere for a while, you miss the obvious and it takes a photographer from a different place to document those things.

Frederick: So in Ethiopia you mention that you brought studio lighting gear. Can you take me through the process of why you brought studio lighting and big soft boxes instead of small strobes like Joe McNally?

Joey: Technically, it's a stylistic element. I wanted to do something a little more personal and stylistic. I take my time and I think it shows in the photos. Technically, why I didn't bring small strobes, is because they are not powerful enough for what I want to do and they look different from studio flashes.

Frederick: So when you are on location, how does it work. Do you go to location and spend some time there?

Joey: It depends on the job. I can think of all the ideas before hand but it can still change. You have to open to change your ideas.

Frederick: I saw a video on your site about gear. What is your philosophy on gear?

Joey: I'm not one of those people who say it's not 100% the camera. If you want to take a high resolution picture, you need a good camera and so many mega pixels to make a good print. That's the way it is. Good photography is never decided by the equipment. Good equipment makes it a lot easier. Whatever you have, use it.

Frederick: Where do you fall on zoom lenses vs. fixed focal length lenses?

Joey: I prefer prime lenses, but I don't care. Prime lenses make you move around more.

Frederick: You are in a position now where you don't have to worry about gear.

Joey: I'm behind the times and don't know what is going on any more. There was a point I know about all the new cameras and stuff. I just learned about the Canon 7D and video a couple days ago.

Frederick: So you're going to some exotic place and you can't take that much gear. What would be in your bag?

Joey: For me it's hard because for my own personal shoots, I like big productions. In my own bag I would have a camera but I would have an assistance with a bag with a 7B (power pack) in it. They are the ones who would have to haul it up the mountain. :)

Frederick: What is in a whole production?

Joey: It all depends on the shoot. Some times I can get it with one light and some times it takes ten lights. But on a big commercial shoot you could expect a whole truck load of stuff. On the Twilight shoot we had two seamless going on. Each one had ten lights each.

Frederick: Having worked with a big parade of celebrities so far, who is your favorite one to work with?

Joey: I've been lucky because I haven't found anyone who is terrible to work with. I enjoy Rap movie and really enjoyed the G Unit shoot.

Frederick: What is the interaction between getting the African tribe at ease and getting 50 Cent at ease?

Joey: 50 Cent was a piece of cake compared to the other ones. I don't get very nervous before a shoot because I've seen it all.

Frederick: One question just came in from Twitter: A link to a article in CNN about stressful jobs that pay badly. One is Commercial Photographer and the medium pay is $43,600 and the number of photographers who say their job is stressful is 100%. What do you say about that?

Joey: I think they surveyed a bunch of broke college kids. :) I agree that it can be stressful, but it's my life. I don't have any days off because I don't have a job. It's my career. When I go for a portfolio meeting, I'm not trying to get a job, I'm trying to sell myself. Everything I do is somehow connected to photography. If I have a stressful moment, it's not because of my job but because of my life.

Frederick: How do you get noticed when you're just starting out?

Joey: I was in the same boat not that long ago. I think the most important thing is to get your work out there. I know a lot of people who do work and just hide them. 95% of my job is trying to get stuff that I shot, shone. It's a constant struggle too. I'm never at a safe point. There's never a "how did you get to the peak," because I could fall off the peak tomorrow. Trends change and things change.

Frederick: How does social media help as a commercial photographer?

Joey: It does help. A client that I did a shoot for, followed my blog before he even hired me. Twitter is good for selling my tutorials. For clients who find my work interesting, read my blog and find my travel stuff and written word and are more incline to remember me. The more barriers you can break down and the more you can speak to people directly, the more it will help you. You have to be professional too (about what you put on your blog).

Frederick: You mentioned on your blog that all the photos are processed by you. Do you touch all the photos that go out to clients or do you have assistances to do that?

Joey: I do all my own retouching. There are some things I didn't do like Twilight. Usually I'm not happy when it comes back if someone else does it. I prefer to get paid for doing two shoots instead of one shoot and the retouching. I'm not against out-sourcing my work because I get busy. I'm a big control freak and prefer to do my own retouching. I think 98% of the stuff on my website is my own work.

Frederick: What are you using to do your image management?

Joey: I use Capture 1 for RAW conversion and to sort a few things. I use a small program called Photo Mechanic a lot to build proof galleries. I don't spend a lot of time organizing yet.

Frederick: Generally do you get to select the images that you are going to send on, or does the client?

Joey: I build the proof gallery with only images I'm happy with so they won't choose (a bad image). On the shoot it's good to make the image look as close to the end result as possible. You can't build a proof gallery and say we will Photoshop this in later. Build the proof gallery with images you're happy with.

Frederick: Pricing -- how do you come up with how much your work is worth?

Joey: I work with my agents on that. When I first started out I use to do my own pricing. It depends on a lot of things: like the usage, who the client is. I think my biggest fear is in the digital age when you have a lot of amateurs starting out, they don't know what to charge and that can hurt the industry (undercutting the price). I don't want to share my pricing, but if you don't know (what to charge), work with someone who does know.

Frederick: What advice would you give photographers in terms of how to develop their own person style?

Joey: If I gave them my advice it wouldn't be their own style. :) I would suggest that they look around the internet and take from this and take from that. It good to learn from all the photographers you admire. It's equally important to take a break from all that and just go out and shoot. Eventually you will find what you like and don't like. And hopefully the stuff that you like is the stuff you will be getting paid for because that will be your strongest body of work.

Frederick: What about HDR photography? Some people love it and some hate it. How do you feel about it?

Joey: I've done some of that in the past. I've seen some hideous stuff. But I've seen some subtle stuff and I like that.

Frederick: Here's another polarizing thing, video. It's being embraced in the wedding and event photography, so what about commercial photography?

Joey: I've been asked a few times for jobs if I know how to use a Canon 5D Mk2. I say sure, sure. I've shot five music videos now. In the future we'll see the lines burred (between still and video).

Frederick: Lets talk about your blog. How successful has that been and does it drive traffic to your other site?

Joey: I made my blog for my mom so she would know where I was when I travel: Whereisjoey.com. The more recent stuff on my blog will be about my trips and my writings.

Frederick: Tell me more about sessions with Joey L.

Joey: It's the best thing ever so you should go and buy it. It's the magic thing that will make you a better photographer, instantly. You don't have to watch it, just buy it and it will make you better :) It's a tutorial package that I put together because I get asked to do tutorial workshops. The problem is I could never commit to them because I do commercial jobs and something might come up. I always have to say no to workshops. So I decided to record a workshop myself. So anybody who wants to learn from me about lighting, business, photoshop, and even travel, this is the package dedicated to them.

Frederick: When did that go live?

Joey: I think October 10 or 12th. The tutorial is four hours and a mind dump.

Frederick: What's the bottom line to get the DVD?

Joey: All your money :) It's US$299. Knowledge is power and knowledge is expensive.

Frederick: You're right. If someone has made it and is willing to share how they made it and condense it down, you can't really put a price on that.

Joey: There are other good tutorials too that are not just mine and I'm not against referencing them. Like David Hobby's Strobist and Scott Kelby Training. They are both very different.

Frederick: If people want to find out more about you and online, where should they go?

Joey: Joeyl.com, twitter.com/joeyldotcom, whereisjoey.com, and learnfromjoey.com

LISTENER QUESTIONS

Q: Listener Mansour Aalam writers: Hi my name is Mansour and I am from Iran. I hate lens caps and therefore I slap a B+W UV filter on my lenses. Since I take my gear to rough places some of my filter have scratches. However on the pix I cant see them. Do scratched filters decrease my lens / Image quality? Thank you very much for your help and the great show.

A: Steve answers: Not inducing another lenses is the best way to get maximum quality out of it. I keep a lens hood on my camera to reduce lens flair. When I decided to take off my lens filter and really examine the results, I couldn't tell the difference, so I decided to put a high quality filter on my lens. There are times I might take it off when I'm in a safe environment. One other thing, if you shoot wide open you won't see a thing but if you drop down to f/11 or f/16 you are going to see more of it.
Ron adds: The specific question Mansour asked was about scratches on some of his filters but doesn't see it when he's shooting and that's dependent on the aperture he's shooting. When you're shooting wide open, you are getting light entering (the lens) at all angles. It's really amazing how much you can get away with when you are shooting wide open when you have dust and scratches on the front of the lens.
Frederick: Bruce, where do you stand on this issue:
Bruce: I have removed most of my lens filters and use a lens hood. I tend to baby my lenses.
Frederick: My mindset comes from sitting in on a workshop by Seth Resnick where he is saying that these cameras are tools that are finely tuned optics vs. electronics put together to render the best image possible on the sensor in the camera. And when you throw a $50/$60/$200 filter on the front of your multi-thousand dollar camera, you are kinda defeating the purchase.
Ron: I don't buy that as a rational argument. The reason you put a filter on the front of your camera is to protect it -- it's not about the image quality. If you are in a situation where you need to protect it, it's a valid thing to do and you may not see the different. ... Do the test and see for yourself. (Ron and Frederick continue to disagree about this issue.)
Steve: Replacing the front element of the lens may be expensive, but it's not the most expensive part of the lens.
Frederick: Folks, do your own research. See Joseph Linaschke's site for his lens filter test.

Q: Listener Warren Verity writes: I have the Canon Powershot G9 Will I get any value out of the wide & Tele Converters. Will they offer greater abilities for distance and close ups? I read a blog that said that they offered no more than the camera already gives. What is your experience - thoughts? Thanks -Love the show

A: Frederick answers: I have no experience with that on this particular camera. For some old digital video cameras I bought the wide angle attachments, and they work. It depends on what your are trying to shoot. Go into a camera store and play around with one first. Anything that you place in front of your lens with degrade the quality of the image by a factor. Bruce adds that you may be able to rent the converter from a camera/lens rental place to try it out.

Q: Listener Dan Fenn writes: I shoot virtually 100% in RAW. With this in mind, is there any advantages to shooting in the various Basic Modes offered on the 50D? Seems to me the only real advantage, if you could call it that, is the aperture and shutter speed would be set automatically in the Basic Mode of my choosing. Is this correct? Also, what about the ability to select different picture styles (standard, portrait, landscape, neutral , faithful and monochrome) If I shoot in RAW, will the settings (sharpness, contrast, saturation, color tone) in a selected picture style have any affect on the image I capture?

A: Ron answers: It's a good question and most of the review websites don't make this clear that most of those settings don't do a lot when you shoot in RAW in terms of the picture-style stuff. They will get baked into the JPEG when you shoot and ignored when shooting RAW. They will affect what you see in your view finder. I know some picture programs like Lightroom and Aperture may try to apply the picture settings. Some of the other modes (high speed, portrait, etc.) are not affected by RAW, but take away some of your control (of camera settings).
Steve: Nikon has picture modes and Capture NX2 will apply the picture modes to your images. High volume shooters (i.e. wedding photographers) may benefit from this feature.
Frederick: Bruce, do you shoot RAW or JPEG?
Bruce: I shoot RAW all the time. I'm been shooting RAW from the very beginning and use Lightroom for my workflow.

PICKS OF THE WEEK

o Bruce - Help Portrait - http://www.help-portrait.com. The event is taking place on December 12, 2009, all around the world.
o Ron - Sun Seeker (iphone App $2.99, vs. $29.99 for the previously-mentioned Helios) - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sun-seeker-3d-augmented-reality/id330247123?mt=8
o Steve - Book: Periodical of Photographs by Dan Winters.
o Frederick - Geekbrief.tv and Motorola Droid

WRAP UP

Ron can be found at http://digitalcomposting.wordpress.com and via Twitter: RonBrinkmann

Steve can be found at http://stevesimonphoto.com and via Twitter: SteveSimon

Frederick can be found at http://www.frederickvan.com and via Twitter: Frederickvan

Bruce can be found at http://momentsindigital.com and via Twitter: bruceclarke

To share your suggestions and questions go to www.twiplog.com

Show notes provide by Tom Newman of Fogview Photos and via Twitter: Fogview