E-books are the future

When I was a kid in the sixties, we bought records that played our favorite bands, new technology then had us listening to those bands on eight track tapes and cassettes. In the twenty-first century our music comes on a CD, but even that is now losing ground to music being downloaded from the internet on to Ipods and MP3s.

The internet allows us now to download e-books that can be read on our computers or printed out. The popular Kindle, Ipad and  the copy cats are changing the way people buy and read books. It’s just in its infancy but I have no doubt that the e-book will someday in the future replace the paper book.  Newspapers are going online and you see magazines setting up their online sites. You will pay to read the news online someday and magazines will follow. It’s cost effective.

This makes sense to me as I self published my own book  ”Tiny Landscapes” and bought 2,000 copies for $12,000.00, and in the last year I’ve created four e-books that cost me nothing to produce the product.  The  Tiny Landscapes book cost to package and ship which is passed on to the customer, and the e-books are sent to the customer via  internet costing me and the customer nothing for delivery, and they can get it instantly. 

Like record stores that have gone under we’ll eventually see the end of the local Barnes and Noble and Borders. Amazon is on the leading edge of the transformation to e-books and it’s getting bigger each day.  This won’t happen over night but it will happen. School text books that cost a fortune at the college level will go to the e-book and someday when every kid has a laptop, public schools will have text books downloaded to the kids computers.  

As businesses are always looking for ways to cut cost, e-books would be a huge savings for publishers printing books.  Now if everyone can produce an e-book without any cost, will this hurt the publishers, as you don’t need the publishers money to produce your book.  Authors can self publish their own e-books and submit them to the online sites. 

I sell my “Tiny Landscapes”  book through Amazon who has to warehouse all these books and the cost of all the people to run the warehouses, which is a huge cost to the company.  Just think how much they will save when all books are e-books.  They just need hardrives to store all the e-books, which will save tons of money on warehouses, labor, and shipping.

Outdoor Photo Gear who sell photography related products is now carrying my four e-books and the e-books of other photographers like  Arthur Morris, William Neal, David DuChemin, Alan Murphy, and now are up to 24 e-books online.  More and more people are going to e-books and it will grow with each year. 

Check out the e-books at, Outdoor Photo Gear and click on, Software, Reference & Training

Aqua Tech Sensory Gloves

I bought a pair of these glove from Outdoor Photo Gear, and really like them.  They have a small area of stretchy material that you can poke your thumb and fore finger out when you need it.

You can purchase the gloves here, Outdoor Photo Gear

AquaTech Sensory Gloves keep your hands warm and in control in harsh environments while still allowing you access to your camera’s controls.

Also great for iPhone or other touch surfaces.

The construction of the Sensory Glove reflects AquaTech’s engineering excellence!  A high-tech fleece lining on the wrist and fingers extend provides great resistance to cold.  Silicone nubs cover the palm for superior gripping.  The body of the Sensory Glove is made from several panels stitched together instead of a seamless piece of fabric for a better fit to your hand.

For precise camera control, the print face of the thumb and index finger are sealed in a layer of neoprene with a small hole meant to allow you to push your digits through the glove when needed, and retract them to keep warm!

Features:

• Waterproof breathable outer shell
• Double fast drying breathable insulation layers
• Fleece seal for wrist and fleece cover for fingertips
• Thumb and Index Finger reveal for fine control
• Silicon Nubbed Palm for superior grip
• Adjustable wrist lanyards to hold gloves to your jacket

Sizes:  Small, Medium, Large & Extra Large

Color:  Black/Moss Combination AquaTech Sensory Gloves keep your hands warm and in control in harsh environments while still allowing you access to your camera’s controls.

Also great for iPhone or other touch surfaces.

The construction of the Sensory Glove reflects AquaTech’s engineering excellence!  A high-tech fleece lining on the wrist and fingers extend provides great resistance to cold.  Silicone nubs cover the palm for superior gripping.  The body of the Sensory Glove is made from several panels stitched together instead of a seamless piece of fabric for a better fit to your hand.

For precise camera control, the print face of the thumb and index finger are sealed in a layer of neoprene with a small hole meant to allow you to push your digits through the glove when needed, and retract them to keep warm!

Features:

• Waterproof breathable outer shell
• Double fast drying breathable insulation layers
• Fleece seal for wrist and fleece cover for fingertips
• Thumb and Index Finger reveal for fine control
• Silicon Nubbed Palm for superior grip
• Adjustable wrist lanyards to hold gloves to your jacket

Sizes:  Small, Medium, Large & Extra Large

Color:  Black/Moss Combination

Tiny Landscapes – Macro Contest for Nature Photographers

Tiny Landscapes – Macro Contest for Nature Photographers.

I’m looking for the best macro image in nature to win a new Lensbaby Composer with a Macro kit.
Runner up wins a $25.00 gift certificate from www.OutdoorPhotoGear.com

Lensbaby Website

It’s free to enter.

Contest running now thru March 13^th, winner announced on March 15^th, 2010

Submit three of your best macro images in nature for a chance to win.

The best image from each photographer’s submission will be posted along with their name and camera info on my website during the contest. Images will be posted at (www.tinylandscapes.com) and blog (www.MikeMoatsBlog)

 I will be judging for composition, focus, depth of field, exposure.

Submission Guidelines

Size images to,
800 pixels on the longest side at no more than 200kb

Submit only three images.

Any skill level may enter.

Contestant represents and warrants that he or she is the sole and exclusive owner of each image entered.

The Tiny Landscapes – Macro Contest for Nature Photographers or Lensbaby will not claim any rights or use of any image without the permission of the contestant.  

Images using standard photoshop processing only accepted. No special effect filters.

Please include, your name, camera make, lens, camera techs.

Send images and info to Mike Moats at, mgmoats@yahoo.com

See images submitted by photograpgers at www.TinyLandscapes.com click on the Macro contest page.

New Website (Pure Michigan Photography)

Pure Michigan Photography is a new website which is designed to help photographers with their shooting skills.  It has seasonal contests, workshop listings, and forums for travel, landscapes, wildlife, macro, etc.  I will be moderating the macro forum.  It’s brand new so things are just starting to get going, and hope to see more posting the site progresses.  Stop by and check it out. http://puremichiganphotoclub.com/

Macro and More Workshop

Jack Graham and myself will be presenting our “Macro and More” workshop again this year, held in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge and the Oregon Coast.  To see more details Click Here

Time To Scout

Winter in the north for macro photographers can be a bit challenging.  Basically every thing  is colorless which doesn’t sell very well for me.  Once every thing gets covered in snow it really limits what you can shoot.   This is the time of year when I do my scouting for the spring.  I get out and hike areas I haven’t been to before and make notes based on the terrain and any possible hot spots for the spring.  It’s good to be out and connected to the outdoors, keeps you in shape hiking for a couple hours a few days a week, and you may find a great new location.  I don’t carry my camera as I want to travel light during these scouting trips.   If I would happen upon something that would be worth shooting I can always come back with the camera.

THINK SPRING!

Jpeg vs Raw Revisited

Well I finally found some time to explore again the Jpeg/Raw comparisons in print.  Most of you know I’m a Jpeg shooter and  I have always produce good quality prints with jpegs and have never saw a need to shoot using raw files, and sucking up hard drive  space and slower processing. 

I shot an image with both jpeg and raw formats.    I did some minor adjustments in the color of the raw file to match up with the jpeg colors.  I saved the raw files as tiffs for printing.  I slightly sharpened both images with the same percent in unsharp mask and printed both at 24X36.  Both images had identical colors, but the raw file was just a tad sharper in the details.  I went back and added a touch more sharpening to the jpeg file and reprinted it.  Now with the extra sharpening in the jpeg file they both look the exact same in print.

This image was one with a lot of textures and details which  I wanted to compare the difference in sharpness.  Now I know people will say that the texture will hide all the noise from the jpeg, so then I shot an image of a flower that included many areas with solid colors so I could compare the raw file with the jpeg and any noise issues. 

I shot the flower image with both formats and printed both files right out of the camera without any processing.  You really have to look close to see any noise in the jpeg file compared to the raw file.  At first glance they look identical but if you get really close in (inches away) you can see the slight noise in the jpeg.  This is nothing that a noise filter can’t easier correct.  I was quite surprise that the colors were the same in both file right out of the camera.  So I saw no loss in color from the jpeg compression.

Now everything that I been told and have read is the jpeg when compressed loses all this data which affects the color and details.  As far as my testing shows  no loss in color and only a slight difference in sharpness between the two file, and the very slight noise issue is nothing that can’t be fixed. 

Now I know some photographers would take these two files and blow them up 300 percent on their monitor to compare the files to see the difference but I don’t really care what it looks like on the monitor, I’m interested in how it will look when I print it.  I make my living from how my prints look and not how the image looks on my monitor so I could care less about blowing it up on the monitor.

My test is geared toward what I do which is all macro,  subjects shot in close.  I can’t say that the result would be the same shooting landscapes that are miles away in some cases. 

The file for the raw (Tiffs) were 69 megs, and the jpegs were only 11 megs.  I cannot see any reason to work with raw files this large when I am seeing only a slight difference in quality.  I never blow up an image larger then 24X36, and if a rare occasion came that I needed a much larger printed image, they have programs like Genuine Fractal that can handle that problem.

Very few photographers are blowing up there images larger then 24X36.  I deal with a lot of art consultants that buy my prints for hospitals and offices, and very rarely ask for prints larger then 24X36.  By the time you take a 24X36 print and add a large mat and then a large size frame it gets pretty big when finished.

I do understand that the raw file by it large size has more information than the jpeg, but if I can’t see all that extra info showing up in my images then way would I ever want to shoot using raw.’

Now some will say they can do more adjustments in the exposure with the raw files.  I’m not even sure that there is that big of a difference any more then what I found in the difference in the colors and the sharpness which was very slight.  Just shot with proper exposure and you won’t have to worry about this, and if the high dynamic range is that extreme most shoot using HDR processing, that seems to be the big thing now a days for landscape photographers.

I couldn’t care less if you want to shoot using raw, I just get tired of hearing everyone say you should never shoot with jpegs, which is a bunch of crap and I have the print comparison  to prove it. 

I will be bringing these prints to my Macro Boot Camp to show the results to everyone there.

Lets see how much abuse I will have to take from the raw warriors.:)

Macro Boot Camp (FULL)

I’d like to thank all those who signed up early for the Macro Boot Camp in the end of March.  The boot camp is now full.  We have people from various states coming in and it’s going to be fun.  If you would like to have your name placed on the waiting list in case I have somebody cancel, send me an email with your name and phone number to; mgmoats@yahoo.com

The Artist Statement

If you have displayed your photography at galleries or art shows you may have been asked to give an artist statement.  A written statement by an artist expressing their personal art philosophy.  If you’ve read some of the artist statements out there, they are usually written with some deep thought process that goes into creating their art, and I sometimes feel like the artists are trying to out do each other coming up with the most profound thought-provoking statements.  I will admit that I’ve tried to write mine in this form as I think people want to perceive the artist in this way.  I believe most of this is a lot of fluff and one of these days I going to write one that reads the way I really feel when I create my art.

Hi I’m Mike Moats, and I just like to take pretty pictures.

The End.

Ckeck out the Pro Advice link in the top right of this blog.

Only a few spots left for the Macro Boot Camp in March.

Print Sizes

I have photographers that email me asking about my print sizes.  One thing you need to consider when creating your sizes is will they fit a standard size frame that can be purchased economically.  Not everyone wants to spend the money on custom framing.  Custom framing can be costly but it will add an artistic overall look that will enhance the artwork.  What I have found is the majority of my customers at the art shows are going to Michael’s crafts, Hobby Lobby, etc. to buy their frames.  How do I know this, I ask them.  Nothing will make a customer madder than when they go to the store and can’t find a frame to fit your artwork, and now have to pay the price for custom framing.   

Here are the  four sizes I use.
8 x 10,  11 x 14,   18 x 24,   24 x 36

Always check the local stores to see what sizes they carry before you decide what will work best for your customers.

 

Ckeck out the Pro Advice link in the top right of this blog.

Only a few spots left for the Macro Boot Camp in March.

New Life for Your Old Light Table

Dig out and dust off your old light table and put it to use as backlighting for macro subjects.  When I started in photography in 2001 I bought a few nature magazines and noticed all the pros were using Velvia slide film,  so I used slide film which required me to buy a light table to view the slides. 

 I only shot film for three years and then made the change to digital.  The light tables has been dark until I found a use for it.  It works great for backlighting which creates a special look to your images.  You need subjects that are somewhat transparent for the best results.

Here is a group of Beech leaves I arranged on the light table and below is a Turkey feather I found in my local park. I added a drop of water to the feather to add a little interest.

See my new Pro Advice link in the top right side of the this blog.

The Sales Pitch

A camera store salesman was telling me about his frustration since photography forums were created.  Customers come into the store looking for a camera and lenses and ask for his advice.  He would go through his sales pitch and once he was finished the customer would start in with, well this guy on this forum said this,  and another guy on this forum said this and on and on.  Every sale was a battle with the customer on who was right, the salesman or the people online. 

So he came up with this line.  When a customer comes in and starts with the what everybody online was saying and paying no attention to what he says,  he tells them to find a photographer that they look up to, and admire the look of their images, find out what kind of equipment they use and buy that. 

I thought this was brilliant, let’s say you like the work of Art Wolfe, John Shaw, or Ansel Adams, just find out what equipment they use, buy it and your images will look as good as their images.  Problem solved, now you don’t have to worry about what everybody online says or what the camera store salesmen thinks.   

 So many opinions, but this takes the guess work out of the purchase.

Pro Advice

I have added a new link in the upper top right of this blog where visitors can go and ask questions that I will answer about macro photography.  It can be anything from what type of equipment to buy, technique, composition, selling your photos, or running a nature photography business.

 I have people from time to time email about some of these subjects, and decided it would be a good fit here on the blog. Hope to help with any of your questions.   Don’t be shy.

Benefits Of Macro Photography In Nature

If you’re a nature photographer whose passion is in only shooting landscape or wildlife,  you maybe overlooking the many benefits that macro in nature has to offer.  You can start by using just one macro lens and have all kinds of fun, or if you become obsessed like me, then you can expand with more lenses.  

Shooting close to home
There is an endless abundance of interesting subjects from your backyard to the local park systems.  With just a little fuel for your vehicle, a park pass and a few identification books, you’ll be on your way to finding what I call Tiny Landscapes.

One Lens
Macro doesn’t require that you have a lot of lenses.  I shot for many years with just one lens, and only within the last year did I  broaden my macro lens stable.

Subject matter changes every month
With the four seasons, we have an ever-changing environment month by month and sometimes day by day.  I can revisit the same areas every couple weeks and find  new subjects. It’s a constant cycle  evolving from life to death.

Shoot any time of day
Landscape and wildlife photographers have limited control over lighting and tend to shoot  early morning and late evening which offers the best light.  Because of the small subjects macro photographers work with, we have the ability to control our light by using  diffusers and reflectors, so we can shoot any time of the day.

Your own personal art
Every image that you view on my website is an original.  They are subjects that were  present for a brief moment in time, until the environment erased them forever.

How To Protect Your Camera — from a Camera Repair Shop Perspective

Learn some tips on how to protect your camera from a visit to the repair shop from Scott Wyden who works for Mack Camera & Video Servies.  It is posted on the Outdoor Photo Gear’s blog. Click here

Branding Your Photography

In marketing the word ”branding” is something that every business wants and needs.   If you’re driving down a road and see golden arches you immediately think of McDonald’s, and when you hear someone say “just do it” you think of Nike. 

Companies use these logos and slogans over and over in their advertising, product packaging, etc, to tatoo their company name or product into your brain.    

 Can branding work for photographers? 

Yes I believe that you can brand yourself by shooting with a unique stlye that sets you apart from other photographers.  Your images are your logo that people will connect to you the photographer every time they see them. 

Have you ever seen a photograph that by its style alone you can idenifly the photographer that produced it?

When people view a black and white photo of a landscape from Yosemite they tend to think of Ansel Adams.  People in the art world can identify painters by a certain style they’ve created or even the type of brush strokes they use. 

Finding a certain look or style that sets you apart from the rest of the photographers will put your brand in the viewers mind.

Ten Favorites From 2009

I was looking over my images from 2009 and decide to pick my ten favorite images.

They are in no order as far as which ones I like best.

#1)  I’ve seen this type of shoot done before and went out one dewy morning with this image in mind.  I was lucky to find an interesting combination of grass and dew.  Placed the oxeyed dasiy in the background.

#2) We didn’t have a lot of frosty mornings this year, but I did catch one morning of frost and got this nice comp.

#3) I found this stump that had this interesting pattern and a hole that I liked, but I thought it needed a little color so I added these tiny flowers which I believe are called Morning Stars. They are only about three quarters of an inch and the area you see is maybe five by seven inches.

#4) This flower is from a May Apple plant.  The top is like a big leafy umbrella and a single flower grows under the umbrella.  I like the way this looks with a soft focus.

#5) Shot this bee on golden rod with the new Tamron 60mm macro lens, very nice fast shooting wide aperture lens.

#6) Shot this while co-teaching a workshop with Jack Graham in the Eastern Sierras.  It’s a trunk of a Briste Cone Pine tree.

#7) This shot was inspired by my photographer friend Jack Graham.  I had seen this comp done by Jack and liked it enough to shot my own.

#8) This was from a dewy morning when the fall color was pretty much gone, so I brought these flowers out with me with this comp in mind.  I like the contrast of the color against the muted leaves.  The dew adds a nice touch on the leaves.

#9) The color and condition of the Sumac bushes this year was awesome.  I’ve shots these many time with a lot of focus, but this year I decided I wanted a more soft abstract feel. The early morning sun was the bright backlighting.

#10) Here’s a cute beetle in some grass.

I was pretty happy with many of images I shot last year so had a tough time picking ten, Hope you liked them.

Winter Ice Abstracts

When December rolls in the cold weather here in the north I start getting excited to shoot abstracts in ice. The first ice is when these abstracts form. I find small streams in the woods where I live and follow the edges in search of this interesting artwork. It happens in the first ice formations at the edges of the streams. As the ice starts to thicken you lose the patterns. I shoot these using a longer focal length macro lens like the Tamron 180mm. You will be shooting from the bank and need the extra reach of the longer focal length. I shoot these in the highest f/stops to bring in all the details. Very cool stuff.

Once the stream ice thickens and I lose the cool patterns, I move to the lakes. Search out the edges of frozen lakes where fall leaves have blown into the lake and froze. On a warm sunny days you will get melted patterns in the ice above the leaves. You can shoot these with any macro lens  as you will be nice and close and you’ll be shooting a flat subject so just position your tripod directly over top of the leaf and shoot in the F/8 range.

Nik Viveza 2 is available

The lastest upgrade to Nik’s Viveza is out. It’s a great program for enhancing images, simple to use and effective. Anyone interested in purchasing this program use my promo code,  Moats  that will get you 15% off all Nik Software programs. Go to www.Niksoftware.com for details.

How Do You Price Your Prints

Being in the art show business and selling to art consultants I sell a lot of prints, and pricing is always a hot topic.  I’m going to look at different ideas on how prints are priced and give my opinion on how I price my own. 

I’m hoping to get opinions from other photographers on how they price their work and how it is working for them.  If you post I won’t debate anyone on their pricing as everyone has the right to sell at whatever price they want. This is just to open everyone eyes to different pricing structures, and who knows you may take a different approach to how you price your images when you hear what others say.

From what I see there is a huge range in pricing from one photographer to the next.  There are different schools of thought as some sell for less and in volume, some sell in the higher ranges and in smaller volumes and some price somewhere in between. 

I price my images in the lower range and there is a few reason why. 

One I feel that photos are to easily reproduced to have much value and the endless supply of great images doesn’t help raise the value. There are lots of good quaility photographers selling images and that large supply of images lowers its value. 

I believe that everyone should be able to afford to buy my prints and I don’t target the higher income customers.
With lower prices I have a much larger market I can reach.
One of the problems we have as photographers in business is getting our names known and how to get the word out that we’re alive and in business.  By selling in volume I sell to many more customers which means  many more people advertising for me. 

Ed V. mentioned about pricing in my last post that if I sell 200 prints at $10 equaling $2,000,  and he sells 20 prints at $200 he only has to make 20 sales to make the same $2,000.  Ed’s method is fine,  but my thought is I like having 200 customers spreading my name to Ed’s 20 customers.   My prints are hanging in 180 more homes than Ed, which exposes my art and name to more people.  

I also believe it’s always better starting out low and rasing your prices if sales get out of control.  You can always raise your prices easily, but if you price yourself to high and are not selling well, you look like a chump when you have to lower your prices to make more sales. You will have angry customers if they find out you lowered your prices after they bought.  So go lower and get a track record going before you go to high right off the bat.

I see guys at the art shows in this exact position that sold at high prices for years when the economy was strong and are now getting their lunch eaten by the guys selling at the lower prices at the art shows.  Hey lower prices will sell well in a good economy and a bad economy.   As I said it looks bad if these guys start lowering their prices as past customers may be upset to see they paid a higher price, and that the value of their art they bought just went down.

I was talking about my thoughts on pricing on a couple websites recently and a photographer brought to my attention that another photographer believes in what he calls “Real People Pricing”.   His name is Brooks Jenson and he is the publisher of LensWork magazine.  His website is http://www.brooksjensenarts.com/  With Brooks  permission I’ve copy this from his website, which explains his thought behind his pricing.

About Commerce 

I have been, for a long time now, an advocate of the philosophy we use in the LensWork Special Editions, that is to sell Fine Art Photography at Real People Prices™. I believe this even more strongly in my personal work. It is a simple and fundamental idea that photography is the most democratic art and should be — deserves to be— affordable enough that everyone can own images and treasure them as a part of their everyday life and experience. I applaud the expensive and collectible artwork found in typical art galleries and in no way exclude photography from this category. I do, however, still believe there is a place for affordable images in the everyday lives of all of us who love images. Because of my experience as the publisher of the LensWork Special Editions, I am even more dedicated to “real people prices” than ever before. Since 1998, LensWork has sold over 20,000 gelatin silver prints about half of which were less than $50. My philosophy about bringing photography to a new level of affordability is not a theory; LensWork has defined a new marketing paradigm which we are pleased that others have chosen to follow. I carry this philosophy even farther with my personal work. I create artwork because I love to. I sell artwork so I can make room for more I am now creating. I am discouraged at the thought that some people would love a work of art — particularly an easily reproduced piece like photography — but would be separated from it because of a barrier of price. I price my work so everyone can buy as much as they are motivated to enjoy. If you are interested, here are my original two articles about pricing that led me to the ideas we used in the LensWork Special Editions. 

This is how I felt when I started pricing my prints that I wanted everyone to afford to buy them. So I’m not alone in this thought.

I guess by now you know my thoughts and I have to say that it’s working very well as my sales are doing great and my profits are also great.  I do work hard at keeping my overhead and material costs as low as possible.  I buy in volume on materials and watch for sales on paper, inks, etc. 

This is my way of selling and on the other hand there are photographers that are selling for very high prices and doing well at this method.  Peter Lik  who has three galleries in Las Vegas, Maui, and I forget where else, is reported on the web as sales in the thirty million dollar range.  Wildlife photographer Tom Magnelson’s Business I read does something like eleven million in sales a year. I’m sure there are many more out there doing well with this marketing system selling in the higher price ranges. 

So I’m not saying my system is the best or the right way it’s just what I believe in and does well for me.  I have had many photographers that tell me I sell to low at the shows, and all I can say is I like my prices and I’m making money, so I’m going to stay on that path.

One thing I will say is pricing is also based on where you’re selling.  If selling in galleries in touristy towns, or high-end markets, then that will affect how you price, in these markets you can sell in a higher range if you like.  You just need to know your market. 

Let’s us know what works for you.