Limit the images you display to a small handful of your absolute best work..

So you have one of those shooting moments where you can do no wrong.  It's compete with the proverbial planetary alignment and you come home with gigabytes of the perfect image...the same perfect image...captured over and over...on high-speed burst, at 9 frames a second.   While my first thought is that you might want to be more selective with the images you are making (know when NOT to push the shutter release), storage is cheap these days and buried in the volumes of images are subtle changes in light, expression and detail that might make the wear and tear on your camera's shutter worth it after all..

However....

You don't need to share every one of those images.  Doing so will surely numb your audience.  Remember Chevy Chase in European Vacation?  Caught in the traffic circle round-about passing Big Ben...And Parliament..

What happens when you come across a web gallery or slide presentation with all images having a sameness?  Fast forward please!  PLEASE!  Run and hide!  Quick..I'm nodding off..  am I drooling?

Edit your work with ruthless precision and display only a small portion... the absolute best stuff. 

I just shot a Sweet Sixteen party for a client.  942 images.  The first cull got that down to half the number of images.  The second cull halved it again.  I am working down to the nifty fifty to send the client and then I'll get it down to under a dirty dozen to  upload to my website.  You can look at just so many 16 year kids dancing with feather boa's, Risky Business Wayfarers and...well you get the idea.. 

There's Big Ben, and Parliament...

A moment of magic with Apple...

I'm still in love with my iPhone.. it's been over a year and I doubt I have come close to tapping into more than 25% of what it can do..and it's near bullet-proof.  Sort of...

I caved in a few months ago and made the decision to jail-break my phone..  Not sure why but it seemed like a good thing to do.  But as the days past, I realized that since all I accomplished was uncovering more untapped resources, when the next OS update Apple rolled out for the 3Gs I would revert back to factory spec.

Never as easy as others tell you it will be....

Elastic mouse syndrome...

Ok, I'm a jerk.

It took me over thirty minutes to figure out why my mouse just stopped working (a Logitech wireless Laser something or other).  It was fine this morning.  Tonight, all the mouse pointer does is move about a quarter inch on the screen and bounce back to where it started..

I rebooted.  Un-plugged and plugged back in.  Changed batteries.  Moved it around the desk.  Nuthin' worked.  It might as well be velcro'd to the computer screen.

The culprit?

Stick your Wacom pen in the nifty little holder Wacom provides and put the pen and holder on the tablet's writing surface.

Thank you teacher, I'll just take a zero on this..

Biggest mistake

What is the biggest mistake made by beginning digital photographers??

Trying to load 35mm film into the camera’s compact flash card slot..

But seriously, folks, the biggest mistake made by beginning digital photographers is assuming that the latest and greatest of photographic technology will make it all good and correct all of the hurdles faced by generations of film photographers coming before them.

Granted, advancements in sensor technology and lens control simplify much of the labor in setting up basic shots.  And I am the first to admit I am a serious gear head.  But even the most advanced digital camera cannot suggest composition, dramatic lighting or mood behind capturing a striking photo.

Next time you are pondering that high ticket piece of kit, consider taking a professional workshop or class, or go on a photo oriented trip.  Your photography will improve far greater by spending a few days back to back immersing yourself in your craft than it would by buying a new lens or body..

And, by all means... read the manual!!  Good chance you camera has far more capability than you actually use...