This is The Digital Story Podcast #607, Oct. 31, 2017. Today's theme is "The Thrill of Fast Primes." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

The best news to come out of Photo Plus Expo for me was the announcement of the new Olympus PRO f/1.2 primes. But Olympus isn't the only one pushing the wide aperture envelope. Fast primes by Fujifilm and other mirrorless camera makers are boosting not only capability, but price and bulk as well. And they are to subject of today's podcast.

The Thrill of Fast Primes

Bigger optics with hefty price tags are the current trend in mirrorless cameras. In many ways, I view these new offerings as the maturation of this product category, not only for Olympus, but Sony, Fujifilm, and Panasonic too. Pros and enthusiasts alike can use these cameras and lenses for their work. Mirrorless has grown up.

What this means for me as a fan of micro four thirds, is that I have tantalizing options for lens selection. I can go compact with modest f/1.8 maximum apertures, or go super fast at f/1.2. So how do I choose? Well first let's take a look at five of these tempting lenses by our favorite manufacturers.

• Fujifilm XF 56mm f/1.2 R Lens ($899) - 85mm (35mm Equivalent), f/1.2 to f/16, 14.29 oz (405 g).
• Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM Lens ($1,798) - f/1.4 to f/16, 1.80 lb (820 g).
• Panasonic Leica DG Nocticron 42.5mm f/1.2 ASPH. POWER O.I.S. len ($1,597.99) - 85mm (35mm Equivalent), Aperture Range: f/1.2 to f/16, 14.99 oz (425 g)
• Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f/1.2 PRO lens ($1,199.00) Will be available in late Nov. 90mm (35mm Equivalent), Aperture Range: f/1.2 to f/16, 14.46 oz (410 g)
• Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 17mm f/1.2 PRO lens ($1,199.00) Will be available in Jan. 2018, 34mm (35mm Equivalent), Aperture Range: f/1.2 to f/16, 13.76 oz (390 g)

So now, just by way of comparison, let's pick the fast optic that I'm most interested in, the 45mm f/1.2. It measures 2.76 x 3.34" (70 x 84.9 mm) and weighs 14.46 oz (410 g). It has a 9 blade aperture. The smaller Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 45mm f/1.8 lens has a seven blade aperture, costs only $399, weighs in at 4.09 oz (116 g), and measures 2.20 x 1.81" (56 x 46 mm). That's quite a difference.

The bottom line is this, regardless if you're a nimble photographer or pro who needs the very best, mirrorless now provides options for both.

A Review of the TDS Wine Country Photography Workshop

Beautiful weather, friendly world class wineries, and amazing photographers combine for a fabulous 3-day event in Sonoma County. Here are a few of my impressions.

The Digital Story - Digital Photography Public Group on Flickr

We have more than 3,000 members and 73,000 photos on TDS Flickr Public Group. This is the gallery that I peruse on a daily basis. It's also the source for The TDS Member Photo of the Day on our Facebook page and displayed in the Member Gallery on the TDS site.

Share your favorite images there so others in our community can see them. Plus, you never know, you may be selected for the TDS Member Photo of the Day!

Updates and Such

Big thanks to all of our Patreon members!

B&H and Amazon tiles on www.thedigitalstory. If you click on them first, you're helping to support this podcast. And speaking of supporting this show, and big thanks to our Patreon Inner Circle members.

And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

Texas-based Red River Paper recently announced a new fine art paper, Palo Duro Etching. The new paper is a 100 percent cotton rag paper and is free of optical brightener additives. The paper is designed to offer warm white tones, deep blacks and a subtle texture to accurately recreate traditional darkroom fine art prints.

See you next week!

More Ways to Participate

Want to share photos and talk with other members in our virtual camera club? Check out our Flickr Public Group. And from those images, I choose the TDS Member Photo of the Day.

Podcast Sponsors

Cascable - Cascable is the best tool available for working with your camera in the field.

Red River Paper - Keep up with the world of inkjet printing, and win free paper, by liking Red River Paper on Facebook.

The Nimbleosity Report

Do you want to keep up with the best content from The Digital Story and The Nimble Photographer? Sign up for The Nimbleosity Report, and receive highlights twice-a-month in a single page newsletter. Be a part of our community!

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

One of the things that I think is valuable about a photography workshop is getting away from daily responsibilities to focus on your craft. Over the last three days here in Sonoma County, a group of us did exactly that.

Learning about wine (and tasting as we go) at Dry Creek Vineyard in Sonoma County.

During our last hour yesterday in the tasting room at Ferrari Carano Winery in Healdsburg, some of us chatted about the delicate balance between critique and vision.

Earlier in the day, each photographer had presented eight images to the group in a darkened classroom with the hum of a projector fan in the background. We discussed each image, noting the things we liked and offered suggestions when appropriate. The quality of work was quite good. And these are the most important moments of any TDS workshop.

Afterward we celebrated our work with one last winery visit. It was a good call. We were able to reflect upon the last few days when we had experienced so much together.

I loved the discussion about balancing the feedback we receive from others with our own developing vision. How does one walk that line between being open to the suggestions while still following our own artistic voice?

The answer is a little different for each artist. I think it depends a lot on their personality and where they are on their journey. But what's really important is the opportunity to slow down for a minute to let this happen, to discuss these ideas with peers.

I had never combined wine tasting and photography before. I wasn't sure what to expect for this workshop. But it worked. Once again, I was reminded that if we can find a way to carve out time to pursue our craft in a supportive environment, good things will happen. Great wine doesn't seem to hurt the process.

And indeed good things did happen. And it was so enjoyable to celebrate them on that warm Saturday afternoon in that beautiful tasting room, deep in the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma County.

PS: Next year's workshop schedule will be announced here in November. Stay tuned, and be a part of the experience.

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

One of the many fun shooting modes with the DJI Spark is Panorama. The aircraft precisely captures eight frames that can be combined into a broad view image.

Hop Kiln Winery from 50 feet in Panorama mode. Photo by Derrick Story.

The Spark will also stitch the images together for you. This is nice for an immediate view of your work. I use an iPad mini to control the drone, as well as review its pictures in the field.

But for higher quality output, I take the micro SD card out of the Spark and copy the files to my Mac for stitching in Lightroom. This version of the panorama is far superior to what the DJI software creates. Lightroom reads the files perfectly and creates a high resolution (6010 x 3570 - 21.5 MP) image that you can further adjust in the Develop Module.

In addition to the photo itself, you also record all of the location data including altitude. If you like shooting panoramas, you'll love capturing them with the DJI Spark. Just remember to take those files and process them in your favorite stitching software.

More About the DJI Spark

DJI Spark: The Nimble Drone.

New DJI Spark Firmware.

Exporting a Single Frame from Video

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

Yes, you read that right. Both new Olympus lenses have a maximum aperture of f/1.2. And they are beautiful to boot.

The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 17mm f/1.2 PRO lens.

"The M.ZUIKO Digital ED 17mm F1.2 PRO and M.ZUIKO Digital ED 45mm F1.2 PRO give photographers more flexibility in low-light environments as well as an extraordinarily shallow depth-of-field. Each optic is designed to achieve a new level of imaging performance, delivering three-dimensional photos that represent subjects as they appear in the real world through a combination of feathered bokeh and sharp resolution."

The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f/1.2 PRO lens.

"By focusing not only on the bokeh's size but also its quality, each lens produces a feathered bokeh effect that better emphasizes the main subject and allows it to stand out within the image. The shallower depth of field produced at f/1.2 is especially ideal for portrait photographers."

"Like other lenses in the M.ZUIKO PRO series, the M.ZUIKO Digital ED 17mm F1.2 PRO and M.ZUIKO Digital ED 45mm F1.2 PRO feature compact, lightweight construction and a dustproof, splashproof, freezeproof (to 14�F/-10�C) design, giving photo enthusiasts and professionals the ability to capture brilliant images in a variety of shooting conditions."

Each lens has the wonderful snap-focus feature that I love. It gives you a hard-stop infinity setting, depth of field scale, and makes it easy to go back and forth from auto focus to manual.

They are easy on the shoulders as well, the optics weight in at 390 grams and 410 grams, meaning that you can mount them on the PEN-F as well the the larger EM-1 Mark II. You can preorder the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f/1.2 PRO lens and the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 17mm f/1.2 PRO lens for $1,199 each. Expect delivery this November.

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

This is The Digital Story Podcast #606, Oct. 24, 2017. Today's theme is "The Cloud's Silver Lining." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

We learned last week that Lightroom becomes a cloud based app with the end of the perpetual license. I was also part of a story where cloud-based backup saved a photo library in the face of disaster. This week we look at both the dark side and silver lining of cloud-based photography.

The Cloud's Silver Lining

As Adobe moves Lightroom into the cloud, there's a fair amount of confusion about the options available to photographers. The bottom line is, that Adobe believes that cloud computing is the future, and they are embracing it.

And to some degree, I agree. I love Photos for macOS because of its seamless connectivity with iCloud. And the Luminar DAM will definitely have a cloud component.

And by the same token, the one shortcoming for Capture One Pro is its lack of cloud connectivity. Those catalogs are landlocked on hard drives. And I think they will soon have to make a move toward more fluid management of those files.

The challenge as I see it, is how do you manage the balance between files stored locally and online? Adobe and Apple seem to be doing a good job in this regard by providing us enough options to craft a workflow that suits our needs.

But this is a moving target. It's something that we have to think about and adjust as variables change. The dark side of cloud computing is often the fees and subscriptions that we have to maintain. And the silver lining can be when the cloud saves all of our work that would otherwise be lost. I have one such story to share in the next segment of the show.

iCloud and the Forever Lost Computer

As I mentioned in the previous episode of The Digital Story, my brother in law lost his house during the firestorms that hit Santa Rosa. All of his possessions were suddenly vaporized, including his Mac and iPad. His belief was that many of his important files were forever gone as well.

But there was a silver lining to this dark cloud. And Pat agreed to come on the show to discuss how cloud computing provided a ray of sunshine at the bleakest of times.

The Digital Story - Digital Photography Public Group on Flickr

We have more than 3,000 members and 73,000 photos on TDS Flickr Public Group. This is the gallery that I peruse on a daily basis. It's also the source for The TDS Member Photo of the Day on our Facebook page and displayed in the Member Gallery on the TDS site.

Share your favorite images there so others in our community can see them. Plus, you never know, you may be selected for the TDS Member Photo of the Day!

Updates and Such

Big thanks to all of our Patreon members!

B&H and Amazon tiles on www.thedigitalstory. If you click on them first, you're helping to support this podcast. And speaking of supporting this show, and big thanks to our Patreon Inner Circle members.

And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

Texas-based Red River Paper recently announced a new fine art paper, Palo Duro Etching. The new paper is a 100 percent cotton rag paper and is free of optical brightener additives. The paper is designed to offer warm white tones, deep blacks and a subtle texture to accurately recreate traditional darkroom fine art prints.

See you next week!

More Ways to Participate

Want to share photos and talk with other members in our virtual camera club? Check out our Flickr Public Group. And from those images, I choose the TDS Member Photo of the Day.

Podcast Sponsors

Cascable - Cascable is the best tool available for working with your camera in the field.

Red River Paper - Keep up with the world of inkjet printing, and win free paper, by liking Red River Paper on Facebook.

The Nimbleosity Report

Do you want to keep up with the best content from The Digital Story and The Nimble Photographer? Sign up for The Nimbleosity Report, and receive highlights twice-a-month in a single page newsletter. Be a part of our community!

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

Macphun was working on their DAM module long before Adobe's recent announcement that Lightroom's perpetual license was ending. But they decided to tip their hand now in light of the news.

A sneak peek at Luminar's digital asset manager module coming in 2018.

For those tired of Adobe's "business first" attitude, or who don't need the more complicated approach presented by Capture One Pro, Luminar 2018 offers a very tempting alternative.

Luminar is already an amazing image editor - one of my favorites of all time. Later this year, it will run on both Mac and Windows platforms. Following that, it adds a beautiful, easy to use asset manager module. All of this for an affordable price with no monthly subscription fees.

If you're ready for a change, I would hang on to see what Macphun does with this new feature. There may be joy again in the world of photo management and editing.

Photos for macOS as Your Digital Darkroom

You can learn more about using Luminar as an editing extension in my lynda.com training, Photos for macOS: Advanced Editing Extensions.

And if you'd prefer to cozy up with a book, check out The Apple Photos Book for Photographers that features chapters on basic editing, advanced post processing, and editing extensions.

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

iOS 11 is a robust update for iPhone and iPad users. One of my favorite surprises is the improved screenshot tool.

The capture process is still the same: you simultaneously press the power and home buttons to record a screen. But now, instead of sending the image directly to your Camera Roll, a mini-thumbnail appears in the lower left corner.

Tap on the thumbnail, and the image appears with cropping guides around it, plus a markup toolbox below it. You can choose from a variety of writing and highlight instruments with some basic ink colors to annotate the screenshot. When finished, tap Done to send it to your Camera Roll.

But wait, there's more! In the upper right corner is an Undo command. Lower right has a + symbol, that tapped on, reveals a text tool, signature option, magnifier, and more. You can go crazy adding callout arrows, text and even cartoon dialog bubbles. The Share button in the lower left lets you send the image off to a friend directly from this screen.

If you have iCloud sharing on, the image will appear on all of your connected devices inside the automated Screenshots album in Photos for iOS and Photos for macOS.

If you haven't checked out the new screenshot function in iOS 11, do so now. Become familiar with the tools. That way, you'll put it to use. It's another great way to document our world and catalog the information.

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

Zach and I caught the E Train last night from Queens to Midtown so I could introduce him to Times Square. He's never been to Midtown before, and I thought 42nd Street would be a good place to start.

The Characters of Times Square - Photo by Derrick Story.

Since my focus was on being a tour guide and not a photographer, I decided to leave my gear back in the room and just pack the iPhone. It was an interesting exercise. Normally, my street shooting is a mix of smartphone, mirrorless, and film.

What I liked was the portability. It was easy to keep track of my phone and wallet in the hustle bustle of busy Manhattan. I could shoot RAW when I wanted to, and I didn't draw any extra attention since I was just like the other 10,000 tourists hanging out that night.

What I missed were my lenses. Back in the room I had a 45mm f/2.8 Zeiss Tessar and a 17mm f/1.8 Olympus Zuiko. And there were moments when I was craving focusing with those optics. The other thing I missed was looking through a viewfinder. I don't mind capturing off an LCD screen, and sometimes I need to for a particular angle. But I love the "isolation booth" sensation of composing with a viewfinder. I can really get into the shot that way.

I was looking at the images on our subway return trip and thinking about how the night went. I had made the right call. I was focused on Zach and not my cameras. We had a great time. And some of the iPhone pictures were pretty good.

So, apparently, I did choose the right tool for the job at hand.

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

A free app for both Windows and Mac computers enables direct uploading of images to Instagram, as well as browsing photos posted by others.

The Windowed browser with a new posting to my Instagram account.

Windowed acts like a mobile browser so Instagram will allow connectivity. if you're a Mac user, you'll have to approve opening Windowed via the Security Preference because it's not an Apple approved app. Depending on how you feel about operating outside the Apple walled garden, Windowed may or may not be an app that you want to try. And for that matter, I'm guessing that it violates the Instagram user agreement as well. Be sure to consider all of these factors before downloading.

If you do decide to give it a spin, it's fairly intuitive to operate. When you click on the camera button, you're prompted to select an image from your computer. You might want to square crop it first, because you don't have any cropping ability within Windowed. IG filters are not available either. What you upload is what you get.

That being said, in my test, the picture did appear in my feed, and the caption was included. So Windowed appears to be a useful option for posts directly from the desktop. Plus, you can manage multiple Instagram accounts with this app. That's a real plus.

We've seen these types of apps come and go. The Windowed developer has already made improvements to the software, so many this one will stick around for a while... that is, if Instagram doesn't clip its wings.

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

This is The Digital Story Podcast #605, Oct.16, 2017. Today's theme is "Fire Coming Down the Mountain." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

In the early morning hours of October 9, 2017, a wind-fueled blaze stormed into Santa Rosa, CA, roaring down the mountain from neighboring Calistoga. My family, my friends, and my cat were evacuated, not once, but three times over the following week. Here's the story about how those events unfolded.

Day 1 of the Tubbs Fire as it reaches Santa Rosa, CA. Photo by Derrick Story.

ILCP WildSpeak Coming in November

Conservation photographers from all over the world will gather again at WildSpeak 2017 in Washington D.C. I covered this event last year, and it was one of the most important conferences I've ever attended.

WildSpeak will once again take place at Carnegie Institution for Science on November 14 and 15. Presenters include top naturalists, biologists, and nature photographers who have been immersed in their particular specialities. They share their findings in a series of presentations over the two days of the event.

Plus, you'll learn how you too can participate in the world of conservation photography. Be sure to allow enough time during your visit to explore places in D.C. such at National Geographic headquarters and the Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian.

You can learn more and register by visiting the WildSpeak site. I'll be there again this year. If you plan on attending, be sure to let me know so we can say hello.

Updates and Such

Big thanks to all of our Patreon members!

B&H and Amazon tiles on www.thedigitalstory. If you click on them first, you're helping to support this podcast. And speaking of supporting this show, and big thanks to our Patreon Inner Circle members.

And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

Texas-based Red River Paper recently announced a new fine art paper, Palo Duro Etching. The new paper is a 100 percent cotton rag paper and is free of optical brightener additives. The paper is designed to offer warm white tones, deep blacks and a subtle texture to accurately recreate traditional darkroom fine art prints.

See you next week!

More Ways to Participate

Want to share photos and talk with other members in our virtual camera club? Check out our Flickr Public Group. And from those images, I choose the TDS Member Photo of the Day.

Podcast Sponsors

Cascable - Cascable is the best tool available for working with your camera in the field.

Red River Paper - Keep up with the world of inkjet printing, and win free paper, by liking Red River Paper on Facebook.

The Nimbleosity Report

Do you want to keep up with the best content from The Digital Story and The Nimble Photographer? Sign up for The Nimbleosity Report, and receive highlights twice-a-month in a single page newsletter. Be a part of our community!

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

One of the more popular 35mm film cameras on the second hand market is the adorable Contax Aria. It is the lightest Contax SLR ever designed, and one of the last film cameras produced by the company before closing its doors. It is a truly nimble SLR that accepts the full line of Carl Zeiss lenses. And the funny thing is, its design intentions were driven by female appeal.

Contax Aria with Zeiss 45mm f/2.8 Tessar pancake lens. Photo by Derrick Story.

Contax cameras were known for their robust design and heft. I have a Contax ST that I just love. And if I need to, I can pound nails with it as well. It is solid.

But, back in the 1990s, women were't going for the large, somewhat heavy design. So Contax started from the ground floor and created a camera that was smaller, lighter, and well specified, but not overly so. And they even gave it a pretty name: The Aria. Then to sweeten the pot, they cut the price in half as well.

The upshot was that men, not women, loved the camera. It packed all the features they wanted in a more nimble package. And it remains popular to the day. Generally speaking, Contax Arias sell for about the same price now as they did decades ago at introduction.

Nobody owns the crystal ball for consumer electronics. But I find it interesting that photographers craved nimbleosity long before I launched my campaign. And thanks to the effort to appeal to female aesthetics, we still have one cool film camera available these days that packs lots of power into a compact, portable package.

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

I've received a few notes from workshop attendees wondering if we're still having the TDS Fall Color event scheduled for October 26. The answer is yes. And I'm moving forward with everything else we've planned for the remainder of the year and in to 2018. There's no reason not to.

Off Eastside Road, Sonoma Country, Oct. 12, 2017 - Photo by Derrick Story

Anyone who has lived in Sonoma County for any period of time knows that we're already putting the pieces back together. True, the fires are not over yet. But we don't really have time to wait around for the all clear signal to get to work.

Many of us haven't had a home to go to since 1 AM Monday morning. And true, our productivity right now isn't what it will be soon. We have to spend big chunks of our day helping others less fortunate, finding services, and dealing with rustic living conditions.

That being said, we are all working.

Yesterday, I was able chip away at projects that didn't require connectivity or electricity. I photographed new items for TheFilmCameraShop, filled a couple orders, worked on the new version of the Wine Country Workshop, published on social networks, and helped my displaced family members.

As soon as I get power back at the studio, I'll start recording again. We will have a podcast this coming Tuesday. I will be ready for everyone when they arrive for the workshop in two weeks.

We have a hashtag going around here, #SonomaStrong. That pretty much sums it up. We have a lot of work to do in the coming months. We'll get it done. That's what we do.

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

Dogs are attached to their masters and cats connect with their homes. For Dibs the studio cat, she's going to have to think more like a dog for a while.

Dibs is on the road with us as we continue to stay one step ahead of the fires in Santa Rosa. We picked her up at the studio 1am Monday morning when we had to leave our house, thinking that my workplace in the middle of Santa Rosa would be safe. She was there waiting for us. That's her home.

An hour after we set up shop at the studio, we were notified that we had to evacuate again, and that included the cat. She hates traveling. Every car ride equates to a trip to the vet. But there was no negotiating this journey, and she seemed to know it. She sat quietly while we worked through traffic again in search of our next safe zone.

Our second stop was Theresa's Dad's place in Bennett Valley. It was up on a hill where we could see the fires down below. We all spent a night there, until another evacuation notice arrived the next afternoon. A separate fire, the Nunsvalley blaze was approaching from the east.

This evacuation was mind-numbingly slow. There are few routes out of Bennett Valley, and everyone got the notice at the same time. Once again, Dibs was riding shotgun in my car. By this point we had a caravan of family as well: Theresa, her dad, her older brother and sister in law (who had already lost their home), and her younger brother. This time we were heading to Forestville. There was enough room for us at a rustic cabin. We all found a place to sleep.

Dibs is starting to get the hang of this travel thing. Now, once introduced to her new accommodations, she calmly surveyed the scene, then looked a me as if to say, "OK, this will do."

I never thought that Dibs would become a road warrior. But she's evolved into a "have litter box will travel" kind of cat. I'm happy to have her with us. No band of gypsies is complete without a kitty or two.

PS: She may be packing her kibble again. We just heard a fire flared up West of Santa Rosa.

At the moment, our family is safe on a ridge in Bennett Valley. We're lucky in the sense that we didn't have to go to an evacuation shelter, although there were moments yesterday when we thought that might change. Meanwhile, the fires in Santa Rosa are as dangerous as ever.

I'm fairly certain that my brother-in-law (and one of my best friends) lost his house. He and his wife are staying with her mom in Forestville. They had to leave with the clothes they had on, and nothing else. They are going to need our help in the coming days.

My sister-in-law may have lost her place as well. We can't know for sure yet, because all of our places are located in a mandatory evacuation zone in the North of Santa Rosa. When the fire blazed south from Calistoga, fueled by 50 MPH winds, we were in its path. She is staying with friends right now.

We don't know about our place yet. Yesterday, we stood outside the border of the evacuation zone, patrolled by officers, and looked at the treeline and the roofs of places we knew. There's a chance that we may be the luckiest of our family. But it's too soon to tell, and the fires are still burning.

At the moment, our only connectivity is through our iPhones. Comcast has been down. And there's no power through large areas of the city. The smoke is choking, and it's unsafe outside. The air is still right now. There's no visibility.

As most of you have already figured out, there won't be a TDS Podcast this week. In so many ways, there just isn't enough bandwidth. But I'll keep you posted. Be sure to follow on TDS Facebook page and via my Twitter feed.

No one loves mobile photography more than me. But my toolset goes beyond the iPhone, even though it remains an integral part of the workflow.

The Olympus PEN-F on location. Photo by Derrick Story

What I also like is the act of rotating knurled dials, pressing physical buttons, and looking through a viewfinder. I like the way a well-designed camera with a half case and wrist strap feels in my hands. It makes me want to use it.

And thanks to WiFi, I can still quickly send the picture to my iPhone and publish on Instagram in just a minute or two. The fact that maybe I can enjoy a cup of coffee during the process just makes it all the better.

I just returned from 3 days of driving around Silicon Valley covering events and taking pictures. I used my iPhone all of the time. At moments, it was my camera, and other times it was my publishing conduit.

But when I could, I also reached for the PEN-F. And in the end, I captured more images with it than my smartphone. And I love those shots.

My point is, we don't have to limit ourselves to smartphones, no matter how wonderful they are. There are moments when I want photography to be more than simply tapping a screen. And that's what keeps me enthused about this craft.

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

I've had a number of projects stack up where I needed photo subjects to demonstrate image editing and organization for online posts, videos, and my next Photos book. I had grown weary of my other sources for models, and had read an article about tapping Craigslist for new talent. So I decided to give it a try.

Molly - She replied to my ad on craigslist, and we had a terrific shoot.

One of the things that I was after was more of "the person next door" look. I didn't need, or even want, what many consider the model look. What I did want were subjects who were enthusiastic, punctual, and had a presence in front of the camera. In the case of Molly, she has beautiful eyes. So that's where I focused my work.

I think it's very important to be upfront with potential creative partners. I run my ads in the "talent" section, and I state clearly who I am and what I am seeking. I include my website for reference, as well as my name so people can Google me to learn more about my work. I'm very clear about my positive intentions.

In return for posing in front of my camera, I offer experience in a professional setting, a gallery of pictures that they can use, plus money for travel expenses and their lunch for the day. I have them sign a model release before we start working. And I keep the sessions between an hour and 90 minutes, during daylight hours. Most importantly, I treat them with the same respect that I would any professional that I'm collaborating with.

So far, so good. I've had about a dozen responses that led to two shoots. That's actually not a bad success rate. I've had to rule out a few candidates because of their age. My suggestion is to only work with photo subjects who are 18 years or older, and be sure to verify that.

As for "the person next door look"... I'm definitely getting that. And I'm loving it. It's what I call everyday attractive. These amateur models are really helping me with my projects. And I think they're enjoying the work as well.

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

This is The Digital Story Podcast #604, Oct.3, 2017. Today's theme is "The Joy of LED Lighting." I'm Derrick Story.

Opening Monologue

I'm working on a series of studio portrait shoots for a project, and have been leaning heavily on my LED lights. They have been serving me well both in the studio, and on location, and I thought now would be a good time to revisit this affordable, versatile, lighting solution.

The Joy of LED Lighting

My current favorite LED light is the Genaray LED-7100T 312 LED Variable-Color Light for $189. The kit includes the light, two batteries, a diffusion panel, a charger, and a nice case.

It's portable enough for location shoots, yet powerful enough to use in a studio softbox. So I thought I would share five reasons why I'm preferring the LED array to traditional strobes.

• Continuous Lighting with a Broad Source - What you see is what you get. And the bigger panel with diffuser means I don't always need modifiers.
• Color Adjustable - All I have to do is turn a know to adjust the temperature of the output. And it's so easy to calibrate them to the ambient lighting in the scene.
• Long Battery Life - I charge the set of duo batteries before the shoot, and they last for the entire session without having to change them.
• Cool to the Touch - Even though the lights are always on, the room doesn't heat up.
• More Affordable than Most Strobes - A dedicated flash can cost $350 or more. These LED panels are less than 200, including batteries.

I still carry a flash in my camera bag with an extension cord. Because there are those times when I need the power or portability. But given a choice, I tend to reach for my LED lights whenever possible. And I love them!

ILCP WildSpeak Coming in November

Conservation photographers from all over the world will gather again at WildSpeak 2017 in Washington D.C. I covered this event last year, and it was one of the most important conferences I've ever attended.

WildSpeak will once again take place at Carnegie Institution for Science on November 14 and 15. Presenters include top naturalists, biologists, and nature photographers who have been immersed in their particular specialities. They share their findings in a series of presentations over the two days of the event.

Plus, you'll learn how you too can participate in the world of conservation photography. Be sure to allow enough time during your visit to explore places in D.C. such at National Geographic headquarters and the Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian.

You can learn more and register by visiting the WildSpeak site. I'll be there again this year. If you plan on attending, be sure to let me know so we can say hello.

How to Shoot an Annie Leibovitz-style Group Portrait with Affordable Gear

Petapixel published this article that explains how to create amazing big group shots by breaking down the subjects into smaller groups, then compositing them together.

One way portrait photographers like Annie Leibovitz light large-scale group photos is by lighting smaller groups by themselves and then compositing everyone together into a large group. Photographer Barry Harley recently employed this technique with relatively affordable gear for a group photo with friends while on vacation.

The group had brought along outfits specifically for the photo shoot, and upon arrival, Harley decided to shoot the portrait on the main entrance stairway of the castle.

The article walks you through all of the steps with photos. It's really kind of amazing.

Updates and Such

Big thanks to all of our Patreon members!

B&H and Amazon tiles on www.thedigitalstory. If you click on them first, you're helping to support this podcast. And speaking of supporting this show, and big thanks to our Patreon Inner Circle members.

And finally, be sure to visit our friends at Red River Paper for all of your inkjet supply needs.

Texas-based Red River Paper recently announced a new fine art paper, Palo Duro Etching. The new paper is a 100 percent cotton rag paper and is free of optical brightener additives. The paper is designed to offer warm white tones, deep blacks and a subtle texture to accurately recreate traditional darkroom fine art prints.

See you next week!

More Ways to Participate

Want to share photos and talk with other members in our virtual camera club? Check out our Flickr Public Group. And from those images, I choose the TDS Member Photo of the Day.

Podcast Sponsors

Cascable - Cascable is the best tool available for working with your camera in the field.

Red River Paper - Keep up with the world of inkjet printing, and win free paper, by liking Red River Paper on Facebook.

The Nimbleosity Report

Do you want to keep up with the best content from The Digital Story and The Nimble Photographer? Sign up for The Nimbleosity Report, and receive highlights twice-a-month in a single page newsletter. Be a part of our community!

Want to Comment on this Post?

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.

Those interested in learning about the state of Unmanned Aircraft Systems should follow the news out of Drone World Expo, opening in San Jose, CA on Oct. 3.

As the conference organizers explain it, "Drone World offers real-world solutions to your business and environmental challenges. UAS/UAVs provide the capability for you to capture data in a way that will have a tremendous impact on your business. Applications including imaging, photography, video and film, precision agriculture, construction, security and public safety, mapping and surveying, inspections, research and conservation, communications, parcel delivery, and humanitarian efforts."

Speakers include high ranking U.S. government officials such as Michael Kratsios, Deputy Assistant to the President and the Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer at the White House; tech specialists such as Eric Mueller, Aerospace Engineer, NASA; plus business leaders and enthusiasts.

If you're in the San Jose area, you may want to attend in person. You can register here. Otherwise, I'll be on the ground and will share the tidbits that I find interesting.

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.