©Richard Harrington

I have a tendency to carry a lot (and I mean A LOT) of memory cards on a shoot.  Between shooting panoramic photos, time-lapse sequences, and HD video, I burn through memory cards faster than most.  I find myself needing to be certain that I avoid accidentally erasing data.

Here’s my strategy for safety:

1. Make sure that all memory cards are erased BEFORE going into the field.  Don’t bring cards with data or you’ll sit there wondering if you transferred them already or if you’re about to wipe your only copy.
2. Have two card wallets.  One full and one empty.  Make sure they have the same number of slots.
3. Put the full wallet with all of the blank memory cards into your right pocket.
4. Put the empty wallet with no cards in it in your left pocket.
5. As you shoot cards, place them upside down in the card wallet in your left pocket.
6. Repeat this phrase ten times… The cards in the right pocket are the right cards to shoot with; the cards in my left pocket should be left alone.

I know it’s simplistic…  but it’s saved me more than one time.  Give it a shot.

Richard Harrington is the founder of RHED Pixel, a visual communications company in Washington, D.C. You can read Rich’s blog at www.RichardHarringtonBlog.com as well as follow him on Twitter @rhedpixel. To learn more about time-lapse, HDR, and panoramic photography, explore www.3Exposure.com. If you’d like to check out his books, just swing by his Amazon page.

I just found out that The Agile Photographer, Jay Kinghorn’s acclaimed program from SB3, is traveling to Nashville tomorrow (11/2) and St. Louis on Wednesday (11/3).

A photographer, technologist, futurist and one of the most well-read people I’ve ever met, Jay shares strategies for how you can take advantage of existing and coming technologies to better serve your existing clients, attract new clients and grow your business.

I’ve known Jay for years and you will not find a more knowledgeable or generous speaker.  If you can get to either of these cities, you owe it to yourself to attend this inspiring and informative program.  You’ll find complete details and registration information here.

Remember to store at least one copy of all your files off-site to protect in case of fire, theft, flood or other disaster.

Jay Kinghorn will be presenting The Agile Photographer in a city near you. Check out the seminar schedule for dates and locations.

I spend part of my career speaking at industry conferences. This gives me an opportunity to see who’s exhibiting, as well as talk to vendors and photographers to see what’s on their minds. I wanted to quickly share five things that I’ve noticed popping up more and more. Consider adding these areas to your service offerings to expand business opportunity:

3D Photography
Right now, this is actually starting as a consumer trend. We’re seeing cameras like the Sony Bloggie 3D as well as some mobile phones starting to pick things up. But 3D is on the rise and I expect things like iPad, phone, and computer displays to not be far behind. If you’re into product or location photography, give it some serious thought.

• Here’s an example of web usage that’s pretty cool from Vision3 Imaging

• You should also check out lenticular printing such as Snapily.com

Video
I know for some this is old news… but interest continues to skyrocket. My dSLR classes at Photoshop World sold out in record time. I was amazed at how many people in the photography world are interested in video and have clients willing to pay.

• Want a jump on understanding video and DSLR – check out From Still to Motion

• Canon has big news coming too with new gear being announced in Hollywood on November 3

Time-lapse Photography
A close cousin to video is the art of time-lapse photography. In this case the photographer shoots several stills sequentially using a timer or intervalometer. An exposure can be taken as often as every second, but often longer intervals are used to show the passing of time. There is high demand for time-lapse photography within the stock community and it’s a heck of a lot of fun.

• Want to be inspired, visit timescapes.org

• Want to learn about time-lapse? Visit Triple Exposure

Metal Printing
One of the most popular output options these days is metal printing. Whether it’s large sizes for walls to smaller panels for installations, you’ll find that many vendors are now offering this service. Two things to think of – first shop around… because this is a new service… prices are vary wildly. Second, most printers tell me to reduce the contrast and saturation a bit as the metal will intensify both.

Your Turn
Spot any trends we’ve missed? Help us all out by sharing below.

Richard Harrington is the founder of RHED Pixel, a visual communications company in Washington, D.C. You can read Rich’s blog at www.RichardHarringtonBlog.com as well as follow him on Twitter @rhedpixel. If you’d like to check out his books, just swing by his Amazon page.

I’m constantly on the lookout for emerging trends I feel will significantly impact photography, video and visual marketing, computational photography and 3D projection mapping (a.k.a. spacial augmented reality). Here are some trends I see going places.

Computational Photography
Distilled to its essence, computational photography aims at adding intelligence to the process of taking a picture or capturing video. It helps to think of it this way. Our cameras today are “dumb” devices. They record the light reaching the sensor without any understanding of the content being recorded or the spacial relationships between objects in the scene.

By comparison, computational photography is a “smarter” process. By capturing multiple images and making comparisons between the contents of those images, your camera is better able to infer depth and spacial relationships between objects in the scene, extend the dynamic range of the capture, or allow for sophisticated post-processing like noise reduction, adjusting focus or depth of field on your computer instead of in the camera.

Paired with a smartphone-like Internet connection, possibilities are magnified to integrate location, position and image recognition to your photography.

Right now, much of this research is being conducted in the labs of universities and manufacturing facilities (e.g. Stanford, MIT Media Lab, Adobe, NVIDIA, etc.). We’ll most likely begin seeing the results of this testing in smartphones phones first, then dSLRs. I eagerly await the results.

Computational Photography: Resources and samples

•  Camera 2.0, the FCam from Stanford: http://graphics.stanford.edu/projects/camera-2.0/

• - American Scientist magazine: http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/computational-photography/1

• - FxGuide Podcast: Adobe CS 5.5 & Tool Tech (Technology Behind After Effects Warp Stabilize Feature): http://www.fxguide.com/fxguidetv/fxguidetv-108-adobe-cs5-5-image-tech/

• - Computational Photography on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_photography

3D Projection Mapping
3D Projection mapping, more accurately called spacial augmented reality, projects images onto the physical environment. What makes 3D projection mapping different than, say, projecting an image onto a screen, is that the three-dimensional geometry of the surface receiving the projection (e.g. a building or studio set) is used to pre-distort the projected image. This means the image takes on the shape and physical characteristics of the surface upon which it is projected.

It’s much easier to show you projection mapping than describe it, so here are three examples of 3D projection mapping in action. Right now, there are a handful of companies producing high-end projection mapping events for large companies, and a number of video DJ’s who pair geometric designs, bold patterns and brash colors to music, but there aren’t many uses in-between. My hunch is this middle ground is an area ripe for exploration by intrepid photographers.

From an artistic perspective, the concept of being able to create environments from digital photos, videos and graphics is quite tantalizing.

3d Projection Mapping Samples

• - Music Band, Animated: http://createdigitalmotion.com/2011/09/band-of-instruments-animated-wondrous-projection-mapping/

• - Adidas France Event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp2Z_RBcLPs

• - Architectural Projection Mapping: The Future of Motion Graphics? http://www.fuelyourcreativity.com/architectural-projection-mapping-the-future-of-motion-graphics/

• - Living Room by Mr. Beam: http://vimeo.com/18460233

Jay Kinghorn will be presenting The Agile Photographer in a city near you. Check out the seminar schedule for dates and locations.

What do you promise your clients regarding archiving images?   We all know hard drives and DVDs fail.  Be sure you are archiving by using best practices as recommended by dpBestflow,  but also be sure you are not taking on liabilities (assumed or real) for archiving images for your clients.   Be clear about who is responsible for what.  Don’t assume.

For ASMP’s recommended terms and conditions, which limit liability for archiving, go to www.ASMP.org/t&c

Todd Joyce is a recent Past President of ASMP and specializes in conceptual people photography for advertising. See Todd’s work at joycephotography.com and contact him at todd@joycephotography.com.

This week, we are focusing on our contributors’ favorite bookmarks.  The places we go when we’re looking for information, inspiration, insights, training, time-saving tools and more; the bookmarks we find more valuable than the millions of other potential bookmarks that populate cyberspace.  And there are millions.

Now that the vast majority of the world wide web has been fully indexed, our society has discovered the downside to comprehensive search.  There are just too many choices.  How do you decide which ones are worth clicking on?  How do you know that something even better isn’t lurking on the 3,712th page of your favorite search engine’s returned results?

I’ll tell you how – just go to CameraCake.com

ASMP’s new social bookmarking  resource by and for professional photographers is live and open to all!  CameraCake lets you:

• post links to your favorite books, websites, blog posts, tutorials, articles – anything with a URL
• search resources that others have posted  by topic, category, type, tag, poster or reviewer
• like/dislike resources, add reviews and subscribe to resources, posters or categories
• easily identify the most popular and most recently posted resources in any search category

This is your opportunity to help build the largest and best searchable database of resources with value to professional photographers; a database that will help us all work faster and work smarter.

So, go to  www.CameraCake.com, create a user profile and submit your favorite resources.  Search, like/dislike and review resources others have posted.  Help your community, help yourself.  Join us at CameraCake.com – and bring a friend!

Judy Herrmann has spent the past 9 months building ASMP’s new social bookmarking site with invaluable help from Barry Schwartz and Luke Copping.  You’ll find her favorite bookmarks on CameraCake.com.

Inspired by two short What I Read interviews with Clay Shirky and Chris Anderson, I’ve been focusing my attention on those writers and publications that provide deeper, thought-provoking content, rather than the daily media buzz. Here are a few of the blogs and podcasts I follow to gain insight into the trends shaping our future.

- Anil Dash: http://dashes.com/anil/
I first heard about Anil’s blog from my good friend and colleague Judy Herrmann and was hooked once I read his Redefiners presentation. His posts are crisp, insightful and usually flecked with humor.

- Robert Cringely: http://www.cringely.com/
A bit curmudgeonly, but in a good way. The I Cringely blog usually takes a contrarian viewpoint to the industry consensus and he’s often right. He accurately described what the new version of Final Cut Pro (now Final Cut X) would look like more than a year before the software was released.

- IT Conversations Podcast: http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/
My connection to a world far geekier than I’ll ever be able to inhabit. The IT Conversations aggregates presentations from O’Reilly technology conferences (Web  2.0, Where 2.0 and Gov 2.0) along with interviews from top authors and thought leaders. A great source for keeping on top of technology trends.

- O’Reilly Radar: http://radar.oreilly.com/
Tim O’Reilly, the sage of Silicon Valley,  has built a publishing enterprise based on having the best insights and the best information. The O’Reilly radar is another great source for figuring out how technological changes will impact the publishing and media industries.

- Clay Shirky: http://www.shirky.com/weblog/
He doesn’t post as often as most of the others on this list, but when he does, his insights on how social media, user generated content and internet connectivity are affecting media are pure gold.

- TED talks: www.ted.com
If you haven’t already experienced the TED talks, stop reading and dedicate a half-day to unearthing the treasures on this site.

- FxGuide TV Podcast: http://www.fxguide.com/podcasts/
The tools and techniques used by Hollywood Visual FX artists are the leading indicator of what we photographers and multimedia creators will be doing/using several years from now. Watching the software demos in these podcasts is a bit like peering into the future. Insightful and entertaining.

Jay Kinghorn strives to find a balance between being informed and falling prey to the time-suck that the Internet can be.

There are dozens of useful Internet sites I visit daily (and yes, I realize this means I spend too much time online), but to know the ones I find most valuable, I need look no further than the bookmarks bar itself. Because it’s on that precious, narrow landing-strip of browser space that I store my holiest-of-holies: the sites I may not use all the time, but that I really, really need handy when I do.

Like a timer, for example. It doesn’t get much simpler than Online-Stopwatch.com, a gigantic countdown-style clock with a rather hideous interface and a jarring alarm. But when I need to rouse myself from procrastination mode, it’s a simple, no-cost way to time a pomodoro-style work sprint wherever I am. (Guaranteed to wake up your seat-mates, too!)

I know that the less often my hands leave the keyboard, the more productive I become. I try to pick two or three shortcuts per month to add to my repertoire (via a decidedly low-tech “bookmark,” the yellow sticky note on my monitor), but when I’m feeling ambitious or when I’m on the road, I turn to this great list of Mac keyboard shortcuts that Dan Rodney put together.

For the “break” portion of my pomodoro, sometimes I’ll treat myself to a spin on my Tumblr dashboard. The mix of funny, newsy, and visually stimulating stuff I’ve selected for my stream provides a great break. Some of my fave photo-oriented Tumblrs include PhotoJoJo, Dear Photograph, the L.A.-centric 10 > 110 > 101, and the always hilarious Awkward Stock Photos.

Finally, if you’re a crazy-mad bookmarking fiend but also of a visual bent, you may find AllMyFaves.com useful. The landing page sends me into overload pretty quickly, but you can sign up for an account and build your own page of most-used links.

Colleen Wainwright spends most of her time lately clicking the link to the 50-for-50 Fundraiser site so she can see the numbers go up. You can enable her and help send teen girls in L.A. to college at the same time by clicking there too, and giving generously.

Clientcopia – www.clientcopia.com
This site lets me know that everyone has crazy clients. Good for a laugh and a pick me up.

Basecamp HQ – www.basecamphq.com
I use this online project management tool for both my companies.  This keeps me organized and ensures open communication with my clients.

Apple Trailers – www.apple.com/trailers
I’m a movie junkie.  Plus this is an excellent way to see the best lit, best composed shots in the whole movie.

Rafael Concepcion – www.aboutrc.com/blog
RC is a helpful author and podcaster who shares his discoveries in great posts.  He’s a natural storyteller and very passionate.

Twitter – www.twitter.com
I follow a great group of photographers and media pros.  This is the water cooler/bar for the digital age.  I get news, gossip, and strong opinions. Feel free to follow @rhedpixel and share any news you have with me as well.

Photo Focus – www.PhotoFocus.com
This site is an extensive collection of articles and resources.  There are daily posts and I truly enjoy the breadth of coverage.

Screenr – www.Screenr.com
If I need to record a quick tutorial or show a colleague a technique, Screenr is great.

Creative COW – www.creativecow.net
This is where I go to get all of my video questions answered.  You’ll find active forums and extensive selection of tutorials and podcasts.

Kelby Training – www.kelbytraining.com
This site offers a large selection of classes and tutorials by some of the top photographers and photoshop users in the world.

Mac Rumors – www.macrumors.com
I’m an Apple enthusiast.  I like to know what’s going on as well as what might be going on in the Apple ecosystem.

Photoshop Disasters – www.psdisasters.com
This is another site that’s good for a laugh.  It’s also educational as you can learn from other’s mistakes.

Triple Exposure – www.3exposure.com
This one is a blog I share … but that doesn’t mean I don’t read it every day.  There are great comments and resources all about my three favorite styes of photography – panoramic, HDR, and time-lapse.

How about you?  What are your must read sites?  I’m always looking for more.

Richard Harrington is the founder of RHED Pixel,  a visual communications company in Washington, D.C.  You can read Rich’s blog at www.RichardHarringtonBlog.com as well as follow him on Twitter @rhedpixel.  If you’d like to check out his books, just swing by his Amazon page.