Photographing Zed Cards

Photo.net has to be one of my favourite websites about photography.  Model photography has to compete with all the other myriad forms of the art, so I was excited to see that one of the sites contributors is publishing a series of articles around putting together a model's composite or Zed card.  The first post is below:

Gary Bernstein: A Model's Shoot - Part


Meanwhile, I have been contemplating why the characters on the CSI
TV-show never seem to be doing the right thing for forensic
photography.  I am not a forensics expert but even I can tell if you are not packing a macro lens, that close up of the thumb-print is probably not gonna be in focus.  I would like to volunteer my services as "on-site photographic advisor" to the show, though perhaps I should have a cooler sounding job-title, like "key grip" or "best boy."  Whatever, as long as I get a chance to work with Jorja, Marg, Emily or Melina - I'd be happy. Might also be sensible to read...

Crime Scene and Evidence Photography

I wonder if gangsters are watching "Sopranos" and thinking "that's not how you kneecap someone !"

Extensions for Firefox

Firefox is my browser of choice.  After using it for a while I discovered that it could be customized through "extensions" that are easy to download install and use.  If firefox is your preferred browser and you have yet install any extensions,  go have a look at this site:

Firefox Addons :: Mozilla Add-ons :: Add Features to Mozilla Software

Photographers and models, since we look at a lot of pictures online, may find the Image Zoom plugin useful.  It does exactly
what the name implies, a kind-of electronic loupe:

Image Zoom - Home
Image Zoom :: Mozilla Add-ons :: Add Features to Mozilla Software


I am a particular fan of "DownThemAll" which is a download manager and very useful it is for grabbing large files:

DownThemAll!
DownThemAll! :: Mozilla Add-ons :: Add Features to Mozilla Software


Since my blog "crashed" I have been looking for tools to help shortcut the publishing process.  I stumbled on "Performancing" which is a editor that works as an extension to the firefox browser.  It gives you a editor with all kinds of formatting tools as well as the publishing commands that will push your content to any blogs that are out there. Its a pretty sweet tool.  Come across a website you like and you can blog about it in seconds.

Performancing.com | Helping Bloggers Succeed
Performancing :: Mozilla Add-ons :: Add Features to Mozilla Software

UV filter saves the day

A lot of photographers advocate the use of cheap, screw in filters to protect lenses from grit, scratches and other abuse and I was fortunate enough to listen to their advice.

When stooping to retrieve a lens from my camera bag I accidentally dropped an expensive image stablilisation lens, from a height of less than a foot, onto a hard tiled surface.

The UV filter took the full impact and shattered, but the lens which it was attached to was undamaged, with the result that I replaced a £10 filter instead of a £300 lens.

OK I got lucky, but it was the best tenner I've spent in a while.

Some useful filter pages follow:


http://www.photo.net/equipment/filters.html
http://www.photo.net/equipment/filters/
http://www.cokin.co.uk/

Re-launch !

I have been put in a position where I have had to completely re-do my blog - a nuisance certainly, but it does give me a chance to put a fresh spin on the content of my diary.

I will be re-publishing older posts over the course of the next few weeks, until the blog is restored back to its previous state. The difficulties may not be totally resolved, in which case I may have to think about hosting elsewhere.

In the meantime, if you are a photographer, model or agent, you may find some interesting links on my del.icio.us page:

http://del.icio.us/jveight