Fall Foliage Photography in Arkansas. Coming soon!

I'm getting excited about the fall foliage outlook for Arkansas. We've had a lot of rain this year, and if we keep falling into fall with as much rain as we've had this week then the landscape photography prospects will be GREAT!

In the past few years most of the leaves have been dead and falling off before fall even arrives. In places where there was good color, it would only last at most 2 to 3 days. More rain this year, and hopefully more to come, will keep the leaves on the trees longer and in good shape for a slow transition into peak color. The fall color in the Ozark Mountains and Ouachita Mountains could be really spectacular this year!

October is certainly one of the best months in Arkansas. If you're planning to get out with a camera in Arkansas this fall, keep in mind that the trees in the Ozark Mountains in the northern third of the state peak first. The leaves in the central part the state peak 1-2 weeks after that, and then the foliage further South, especially in Ouachita Mountains around Hot Springs, peaks after that.

All really great fall landscape photography is all about catching the PEAK. At the right time anyone can take a great picture!

Blazing orange maple tree on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

All images are Copyright Terry Smith. All Rights Reserved.

Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy - Part II

Continuing from my last blog post here is another photograph of Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy:

This image is Copyright Terry Smith, 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Waterfalls in the Ozark National Forest of Arkansas

Here are some waterfalls I photographed a few weeks ago. The light wasn't best for waterfall photography. Overcast days are ideal because they minimize the contrast of light shining through the trees. But... after you've driven a couple of hours to reach your destination and hiked down a very muddy trail for 20 minutes, you take what you can get.

When I arrived the trees had not budded out as much as I expected. Actually, not at all in most places, like in the shot below. This shot is actually quite horrible in color, but in black and white it works fairly well. I wouldn't call it spectacular, but it's decent.

Whenever you are doing waterfall photography it's essential to use a tripod in order to get a nice blur to the water and create that smooth, flowing effect. The shot below was a half-second exposure but the wind joined the party and created a nice abstract effect to the leaves. I doubt this image will ever be published anywhere but here (it's too wild and crazy for most publications), but I've learned over the years that you can never tell which pictures editors will pick. I think it's neat though.
This is a more traditional waterfall shot. All of these falls are unnamed as far as I know. I also took a shot like the one below where I put myself in the picture wearing a bright shirt. This makes the work I put into framing the shot (and hiking down and back up a very STEEP hill) pay off twice. Some publishers will want a person in the shot as a "get out and have an adventure pic" and some will need a straight nature/wilderness shot.

These images are Copyright Terry Smith, 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Ozarks Wildflower

Spring has sprung in the Ozarks Mountains of Arkansas.

This image is Copyright Terry Smith, 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Musée d'Orsay

On the top level of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris there a somewhat narrow little room, the back of which held a table with tour guides and art books on my last visit, and out the other side holds this peek-a-boo view toward the Sacré-Coeur basilica. The Musée d'Orsay was originally a railroad station, the Gare d'Orsay, and is itself as impressive as any of the paintings or sculpture it contains.

Clock silhouette looking out from inside the Orsay Museum toward the Sacré-Coeur in Paris, France.

This image is Copyright Terry Smith, 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Photoshelter Featured Photographer

I'm pleased to announce that this website has been featured on Photoshelter's homepage as one of their "seamless customization" examples. TerrySmithImages.com has been completely redesigned since the beginning of this year and in the process integrated with our image archive hosted by Photoshelter. You can now search for images, browse more galleries, and license photography directly from our website!

Photoshelter Collection Slideshow

Below is a web widget of my images available for commercial licensing with the Photoshelter Collection. If you like the pics you can add it to your blog, Facebook, MySpace, pageflakes, etc. Just click "get & share"!

Book Review: People Shots That Sell -- How To Succeed in Stock Photography by Tracey Tannenbaum and Kate Stevens

Creative Ideas

People Shots That Sell is an inspirational overview of stock photography. The book's authors have been editors and agents in the industry and their perspective is clearly from that standpoint which can be a good thing for photographers. However, that also accounts for why the book glosses over many details and how-to information that photographers getting started in the stock business will want to know. There are no technical details on how the images in the book were produced, and none of the images have accompanying sales figures on how profitable they have been. Neither are any of them credited, not even in the back of the book, and that's an oversight that any photographer would cringe at. I suspect that nearly all of them were licensed from royalty-free libraries. I still recommend Photos That Sell by Lee Frost as the best book that I've found on this topic. People Shots That Sell is a beautiful book with wonderful photographs that can be very inspirational and idea generative for staging lifestyle people shoots to generate stock images. Most experienced stock shooters will not learn anything new from this book, but it can be a great resource for those wanting to start licensing their work as stock.

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Book Review - Photo Nomad by David Douglas Duncan

Epic and Awe-inspiring
David Douglas Duncan LIVED the twentieth century. The wars, the celebrations and celebrities, the places and times--HE WAS THERE, and he captured it on film. As page twenty-four introduces, "My 20th Century". Photo Nomad is a photographic autobiography of his life, a life of such far-reaching adventures, experiences, and travels that is almost impossible to fully comprehend. In a time when most photo books have the lifespan of the latest pop song, this book is an epic. Beautifully printed in Italy, it is a quality volume that will last many lifetimes and provide endless inspiration.

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Book Review - Being a Photographer by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Incredible Retrospective
Any photographer lucky enough to have a retrospective of their life's work created with the quality put into this book and accompanying DVD would have to be happy. This is a wonderful volume of extraordinary photographs and excellent text. Being a Photographer traces the life and photographs of Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a French photographer who spent years in Africa as a young man. It was from there that he first started photographing the Earth from above as he gave hot air balloon rides to tourists. Yawn spent more years photographing major sporting events, travel destinations, and other projects before returning to aerial photography to produce his famous book Earth from Above. The superbly printed photographs in this book cover a lifetime of great work and are supplemented with biographical text by Sophie Troubac. The accompanying DVD makes it a great combination and inspirational book for anyone interested in photography.

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Book Review - Shooting & Selling Your Photos by Jim Zuckerman

Great Introduction
This is a great introduction to selling photography by one of the very best in the business. Jim Zuckerman is very diverse in his stock photography subject matter and that diversity shows through in the wide range of knowledge he shares in this book. The best coverage is on selling photography at art shows and advice on submitting article and calendar proposals to publishers. If you're specifically interested in stock agencies, I highly recommend Lee Frost's Photos That Sell. Mr. Zuckerman's advice on stock libraries is a good introduction but Lee Frost devotes most of his book to the topic. The photography in the book is of course wonderful, but I would have liked to have seen the author share more information about which images were his best sellers, how many times each image has sold and where, and other details which Lee Frost shares in this book in many cases. However, this is very solid introduction to selling photography and I recommend it.

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Book Review - Photos That Sell by Lee Frost

The BEST book on Stock Photography
I've read a lot of books on the stock photography industry and this book is by far the best. When I first got it a year ago I paid too much attention to the extraordinary photography and not enough to Lee's text. Recently, I went back and very carefully, slowly (one or two pages a day) studied Lee's advice. I've sold images myself to clients around the world and can tell you this book is what you need if you're interested in selling images. It's accurate, complete, and packed with tips that few others would be willing to share. I have and will continue to look back to this book for ideas in producing my own work. The author provides great advice across the range of stock subject matter as well as the various markets.

The are two things that really make this book shine though. The first is the numerous photographs accompanied by sales info: number of sales, where it sold, and the total sales to date in U.S. dollars. Not all the images in the book have this information (most have the standard equipment and exposure stats), but some do. Next, there are several two-page interviews with other stock photographers. They share their backgrounds, markets, and tips.

Buy this book. It's worth it!

Also check out:
Stock photography articles by Lee Frost
Lee Frost Photography

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Book Review - Portraits: Developing Style in Creative Photography by Terry Hope

Interesting B+W Picture Book
This is an interesting picture book for B+W photographers, particularly those interested in alternative development techniques and materials. Each picture has a paragraph or two from the photographer with, by my count, 19 photographers represented across roughly 51 photographs. Accompanying tiny print from the book's author provides technique tips and pointers. The stunning photographs run the gamut between grainy and non-grainy and different forms of toning. The book doesn't include any images created from digital capture. It's interesting and sometimes inspiring but you need to be specifically looking for examples based on different B+W papers and chemicals for development in order to get much out of it as far as technical know-how is concerned.

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Book Review - Commercial Photoshop with Bert Monroy

Great for Illustrators

Bert Monroy is a commerical illustrator with 30+ years of experience in the business and co-authored the very first book on Photoshop. Needless to say, the technical content of this book is unquestionable and quite educational. While many of the techniques in the book can be applied in other areas, a prospective buyer should be aware that the book is completely targeted toward illustration work. One of the techniques that Bert is famous for is creating photo-realistic images by painting them entirely in Photoshop with very few stock photography elements. Whether this is good or bad depends on what you're looking for, but don't buy the book thinking it's going to teach you how to retouch your family photos. One of Bert's many other books would be better suited for the later.

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Book Review - Photoshop Secrets of the Pros: 20 Top Artists and Designers Face Off by Mark Clarkson

Illustration Inspiration

Photoshop tennis anyone? In Photoshop Secrets twenty designers face off in ten different matches, two designers to a match. One designer starts an image through a combination of photo clips and Photoshop actions then passes it to another designer for the next "volley". Each match has ten volleys and produces ten completely unique images. These are images that fit the digital illustration genre. If you're looking for photo-realistic techniques, check out one of Bert Monroy's books. How much you'll learn about Photoshop techniques certainly depends on your current knowledge level, but based on what I found this book will give you a few interesting things to try and, even more, a good bit of inspiration if you're interested in doing some professional illustration.

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Book Review: Wonders of the Reef by Stephen Frink

Exceptional introduction to underwater photography
Stephen Frink is one of the most experienced underwater photographers in the world and certainly the most published. Wonders of the Reef is a must-read for anyone interested in underwater photography. The book is divided into two sections. In part one, Photo Opportunities for the Dive Traveler, Stephen relates his experience and recommendations on dive spots in the Caribbean, Red Sea, Pacific, and elsewhere. Anywhere holding something interesting to photograph underwater, the author has been there, likely several times. This section of the book would be valuable to all divers, particularly those looking for their next travel destination. In part two, The Science of Underwater Photography, Stephen shares decades of experience in shooting underwater, covering technique as well as equipment. Advanced underwater shooters will find the level of instruction introductory but for most readers the content is right-on. Stephen has written hundreds of articles over the years on diving as well as photography, and his writing, as well as his photography of course, is exceptional. This book was published before the digital camera era really took off, so digital equipment is not covered here. However, that is minor and nearly everything he relates about lens selection, when to use a dome port, etc. is still valid. In addition to all of the above, Wonders of the Reef is also a coffee-table book with tremendous photographs. The pictures are wonderful, captioned well, and the book is superbly printed.

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Book Review - John Hedgecoe: the new manual of photography

Excellent for beginners. Insipiring for everyone.

John Hedgecoe is a great and thoroughly proven photography teacher. I have been shooting for many years now and relied on his books when I first got started. I still love going back to them to be inspired by the amazing breadth of his work. I can recommend this book to anyone looking to learn the basics of photography, and I also recommend it to anyone looking to take their photography in different directions.

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