Lowepro asked me to shoot a Nimble Photographer movie using their Event Messenger 150 Bag($59 US), which I really like anyway. And since iPhoto for iOS had just been released, it seemed like a great time to make another video.

The setting was old town Petaluma, and there's a fun coffee shop there called The Apple Box Cafe - seemed like a perfect stop for the Nimble Photographer. I shot the scene with the Canon EOS 60Dbecause I can turn its flip-out LCD around to see the composition while filming.

Once set up, I recorded a few minutes of ambient sound to use as a background track. For the dialog however, I opted for voiceover because the coffee shop was a bit too happening for live audio, even with a lapel mic. I pulled all the pieces together using Final Cut Pro X.

The movie storyline is very simple. Packing little more than a digital camera and an iPad 2, I can street shoot, then duck into a coffee shot to edit and upload the images to my online sites. The goal is to show people just how darn easy this is.

Thanks to the good folks at the The Apple Box Cafe for letting me take up a corner of the room for this project. If you're ever in downtown Petaluma (maybe visiting Leo Laporte), be sure to visit and have a coffee or something sweet. And don't forget your iPad.

The Digital Story on Facebook -- discussion, outstanding images from the TDS community, and inside information. Join our celebration of great photography!

In this week's podcast, I discuss the basic game plan for successful event photography. One of the subtleties during the actual shoot is learning how to anticipate the moment.

A toast is a perfect example. The speaker begins to wax about a person or event, and you can feel the anticipation building up to everyone raising their glasses to acknowledge the recipient of praise. At that moment prior to climax, frame your composition, lock in your focus, and have your finger poised on the shutter release. I like to shoot in burst mode so I have variations to choose from in post production.

Beware of being lulled in as a participant. You'll miss the shot. Stay focused, be ready, and have your settings in order. These are the images that please.

The Digital Story on Facebook -- discussion, outstanding images from the TDS community, and inside information. Join our celebration of great photography!

I just finished covering a big 3-day event in Petaluma, CA called the Artisan Cheese Festival. There were so many things going on at once, we needed two other photographers (Rick Roellke and Frank Filice) to help cover all of the action. In this week's episode, I share 5 tips for successful event coverage. Plus, I talk about the event itself, which was a real eye-opener for this "not really a foodie type" of guy.

Listen to the Podcast

You can also download the podcast here (31 minutes). Or better yet, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. You can support this podcast by purchasing the TDS iPhone App for only $2.99 from the Apple App Store.

In the pasture on a Farm Tour during the Artisan Cheese Festival in Petaluma, CA. Photo by Derrick Story. For more, visit my Artisan Cheese Festival Flicker Gallery.

Monthly Photo Assignment

Eyes is the Mar. 2012 Photo Assignment. You can read more about how to submit on our Member Participation page. Deadline for entry is March 30, 2012.

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

Red River Paper -- The $7.99 Sample Kit is back! And with free shipping.

Make Your Photos Sizzle with Color! -- SizzlPix is like High Definition TV for your photography.

Need a New Photo Bag? Check out the Lowepro Specialty Store on The Digital Story and use discount code LP20 to saven 20% at check out.

Motrr Galileo is raising money through Kickstarter, and it looks to be a promising device. It's an iOS-controlled robotic iPhone platform with infinite spherical rotation capability. Just swipe your finger on the screen of your iPad or other iOS device and Galileo reacts, orienting your iPhone or iPod Touch accordingly.

The applications for iPhone photographers are intriguing. Being able to remotely reposition the iPhone (capable of infinite 360 degrees pan-and-tilt at speeds up to 200 degrees per second in any orientation) during recording or sequence photography opens up a new dimension of imaging possibilities.

For as little as $85, you can become a part of the Kickstarter program for the Galileo, and be one of the first to use it when released to market. To find out more about the project, visit Motrr Galileo Kickstarter page. Personally, I'm signing up for the $95 pledge that will get me a limited edition Galileo in Kickstarter green. (Keep in mind there's always some risk with Kickstarter programs.)

The Digital Story on Facebook -- discussion, outstanding images from the TDS community, and inside information. Join our celebration of great photography!

Photographer Dustin Farrell explains how to combine HDR and timelapse techniques in his post, How to Create an HDR Timelapse. Sounds like a great weekend project to me.

How to HDR Timelapse from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.

The Digital Story on Facebook -- discussion, outstanding images from the TDS community, and inside information. Join our celebration of great photography!

Pro shooter Dan Patitucci offers plenty of sage advice for travel photographers in his post, Making Respectful Travel Portraits.

Among the many points Dan makes, he includes, "The ugly photographers, jostling for position, elbowing others out of the way and rudely shoving a lens in someones face have it all wrong, as much for themselves as anyone. Seeing an image but missing it is okay. I'd love to have that shot of the little girl, and hundreds others like it, but they weren't to be. The memory is even more valuable, so much so that sometimes I put the camera away just to witness something."

Good food for thought here from a professional with lots of experience.

The Digital Story on Facebook -- discussion, outstanding images from the TDS community, and inside information. Join our celebration of great photography!

The evening of Monday, March 20, 2012 began lighthearted enough. I had a beer in one hand and a bobble head in the other. We were at Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA to honor one of the Bay Area's best basketball players ever: Chris Mullin.

Chris Mullin thanking the crowd for honoring his career at Oracle Arena.

But the atmosphere changed. Poor play by the Warriors in the first half managed to put the crowd in a bad mood. Many were already upset because management had just traded Monta Ellis, the team's current star. All of these emotions surfaced near the end of the halftime ceremony honoring Mullin when the Warriors owner, Joe Lacob, took the microphone to speak.

In the darkened arena, thousands of fans booed him and persisted doing so even as Mullin came to his rescue. It was a moment that had our group looking at each other in amazement. "Is this really happening?"

As always, Chris Mullin conducted himself with poise and class. That's one of the many reasons he's in the Hall of Fame, and 20,000 others attending that evening are not.

The Digital Story on Facebook -- discussion, outstanding images from the TDS community, and inside information. Join our celebration of great photography!

Working efficiently in Aperture or Lightroom allows you to spend more time being creative and less fooling around with medicore shots. In this week's podcast, I cover the 5 basic workflow steps: Intelligent Import, 2-Pass Sort, Isolate Your Best, Edit to Perfection, and Share Your Work.

This the same approach I teach in my Aperture 3 Essential Training on lynda.com and in the TDS Aperture Workshops.

Listen to the Podcast

You can also download the podcast here (31 minutes). Or better yet, subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. You can support this podcast by purchasing the TDS iPhone App for only $2.99 from the Apple App Store.

Monthly Photo Assignment

Eyes is the Mar. 2012 Photo Assignment. You can read more about how to submit on our Member Participation page. Deadline for entry is March 30, 2012.

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

Red River Paper -- The $7.99 Sample Kit is back! And with free shipping.

Make Your Photos Sizzle with Color! -- SizzlPix is like High Definition TV for your photography.

Need a New Photo Bag? Check out the Lowepro Specialty Store on The Digital Story and use discount code LP20 to saven 20% at check out.

Small enough to fit in your pocket, but adds big capability to your iPhone photography, the iPhone Shutter Remote is great for group shots, time-lapse, and long exposures.

Buy the The iPhone Shutter Remote at the Photojojo Store!

They are available now for $40.

I was intrigued by a new free photo sharing service called Blinq. In essence, it facilitates seamless image sharing among your computers and iOS devices, even to the point of being able to tap your iPhoto or Aperture library from an iPad or iPhone. Then, beyond that, you can share selected images with friends and via social networking.

This type of widespread capability usually makes me a bit nervous at first, even if I like the flexibility. But after just a short bit of testing with my Mac, iPhone 4S, and iPad 2, Blinq seems more like a smart facilitator rather than a "grab your stuff" service. The images live on your devices, not their servers.

When you share stuff from an iOS device, a folder is created in your Mac's Pictures folder titled Blinq, and the images are placed inside via dated folders. I made an alias of the Blinq folder and placed it on my Desktop for easy access.

The files are compressed during transfer. The screenshot I used for this article originated on the iPad. If I were to email it to my Mac via the Photos app (the old fashioned way), it arrives as a 1.2 MB PNG file. Sharing the same photo with my Mac via Blinq, it arrives as a 215 MB JPG. Both images look about the same, side by side, even at increased magnification.

If you want to tap your iPhoto or Aperture library via an iOS device, Blinq handles that well, as long as you're using a default library name. If you create custom Aperture Libraries, as I do, Blinq can't see them.

Overall, this service and its apps seems useful for photographers with multiple devices, including Windows machines. They have apps for both platforms. I'll keep testing and keep you posted.

The Digital Story on Facebook -- discussion, outstanding images from the TDS community, and inside information. Join our celebration of great photography!