Fast forward six months and WOW. What a screwed up mess. Two days ago Flickr made even more changes. Most of the photographers I polled on Twitter weren’t happy about them – at all. About 70% were unhappy, 20% happy and the rest “meh.”  And to add fuel to that fire, those chiming in on Flickr’s own forum aren’t happy. (NOTE: This link may be bad by the time you read it since Flickr has a habit of banning anyone who says something bad about Flickr on their site. That is their right and I don’t fault them for it but just wanted you to know in case the link is broken why it might be.)

Essentially, Flickr tried to copy 500px and the new G+ photo theme and at first blush, they did a good job. The front page is pretty – if a little disorganized. The photo stream is attractive but organization is a mess here too. The single page photo view is completely FUBAR. In any event, the changes to the interface are pretty much just skin deep. A few clicks in and it seems that the old Flickr is there lurking.

On the account side, Flickr now offers free accounts 1TB free storage – supported by ads. This is causing many who held a pro account to wonder why they should pay since there was so much new free storage. But there are problems with this free account. There is 1TB free storage, but in my tests Flickr throttles the upload process so much that it would take a long time to actually gain the advantage of the free 1TB storage. The 1TB storage needs to be accompanied by great upload service or sync and so far, that is not happening.

I still think this might be a good deal for casual users who want a free account and don’t mind the slow uploads and lots of ads. There is a price to free no matter who you use. But this is only half the story.

Now as for the pros and the pro accounts (not necessarily the same thing) there are deeper problems.

First the asinine comments from the new CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, who actually said the following…

“There’s no such thing as Flickr Pro today because [with so many people taking photographs] there’s really no such thing as professional photographers anymore.”

Wow – just wow. You know, it’s a great business strategy to attack an entire group of your customers. NOT! If it’s okay with you Marissa, I’ll keep cashing those checks that come in every month for my “professional” photography. I hear you came to your job from the coding side of the business. Perhaps sucking down bags of Oreos and Jolt cola have left you brain damaged but I got news for you – there are plenty of professional photographers out there – whether you like it 0r recognize it is inconsequential. (And this is an open challenge to Marissa. Come on Photofocus and debate me on this subject. I seriously doubt that you have the stones.)

Beyond demeaning, mindlessly attacking and writing off a major subset of her customer base, Marisa also delivered a price increase without really telling us what she plans to do to justify that increase. I am okay with businesses raising prices. They need to make a profit. But there should be some new features for pros to go along with it. And so far, I don’t see any.

The whole change feels rushed, kludgey and poorly thought out. My guess is that they rushed to do this because both 500px and Google+ just rolled out major enhancements to their services.

I’ve had a Flickr account since July, 2007 but with Flickr’s CEO essentially attacking my profession I’m moving on. The 7000 plus of you who have photos in the Photofocus Flickr account will need to know we’re moving that account – where I don’t know – but within a few weeks we’ll have a new place for it. You’ll have to re-join us wherever that ends up being. As for me, I’ve closed my Flickr account and am moving my meaningful photos to 500px or one of my blogs. I guess I’ll be closing my Tumblr blog too since Marissa has her fingers into that. It’s too bad. Flickr had a good thing going. Then Marissa showed up.

UPDATE: I have challenged Marissa Mayer to come on the Photofocus podcast and let me ask her questions about her statement for ten minutes and in return I will give $1000 to her favorite charity. So far, she is still hiding in her bunker somewhere in Silicon Valley. If she finds the stones to come on the show I’ll be sure to let you know.

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lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/ Photofocus.

The HDR Learning Center Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images.  Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDR Soft.

Mosaic — A complete solution for photographers using Lightroom who want to manage and share their photos.  You can easily view images with their iOS app or web service.  Plus your photos are backed up to the cloud with several plans to match your needs.

Gigapan.com. The revolutionary GigaPan EPIC robotic camera mount lets you capture and combine thousands of images into one incredible, interactive panorama. Save 10% with the code PHOTOFOCUS.

Drobo - Not only is Drobo 5D fast, but it’s easy-to-use, expandable, flexible, and protected.

A lot of folks don’t know that Adobe often releases software early as part of its Adobe Labs program. Here you’ll find “prerelease” candidates which simply means software that every thinks is good enough to ship but they want to test a little longer.

A new version of Adobe Camera Raw was released — version 8.1. It is a beta version and will work until June 30, 2013.

Here’s what’s new

• Using a retina display? HiDPI capable monitors are supported.
• New Camera support
• New lens profiles for automatic lens correction.
• A new DNG Converter to reprocess raw files to a lossless format.

New Camera Support

• Hasselblad H5D-60
• Olympus PEN E-P5
• Olympus PEN E-PL6
• Phase One IQ260
• Pentax Ricoh GR
• Panasonic LUMIX DMC-G6
• Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LF1

New Lens Profiles

Download the Camera Raw 8.1 release candidate

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lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/ Photofocus.

The HDR Learning Center Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images. Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDR Soft.

Mosaic — A complete solution for photographers using Lightroom who want to manage and share their photos. You can easily view images with their iOS app or web service. Plus your photos are backed up to the cloud with several plans to match your needs.

Gigapan.com. The revolutionary GigaPan EPIC robotic camera mount lets you capture and combine thousands of images into one incredible, interactive panorama. Save 10% with the code PHOTOFOCUS.

Drobo - Not only is Drobo 5D fast, but it’s easy-to-use, expandable, flexible, and protected.

The image on the left is how the camera captured a JPEG. Making adjustments to the image is possible, but will lead to more degradation in image quality. The image on the right is a properly developed raw file. Working with raw files gives you access to greater control over an image.

• Memory cards used to be expensive. Photographers could not afford multiple or high-capacity cards, so they wanted more images to fit on a single, smaller card. This is not the case any more for almost all users. Cards have gotten dirt cheap.
• JPEGS are small. Internet connections can be slow… that’s why JPEG files were popularized. JPEGs are meant to post to websites and send via email. Make a JPEG after you develop your high-quality file.
• Small is not best. A distribution format like JPEG (one that’s easy to email) doesn’t mean it’s a good authoring format to capture your photographic vision. A JPEG file looks for areas where pixel detail is repeated, such as the color white on every key of your computer keyboard. The file then discards repeated information and tells the computer to repeat certain color values or data to re-create the image. The drawback is that a JPEG file is lossy, so every time you modify it and re-save, additional compression is applied to the image
• More info means more options. Raw (or native) formats have several benefits over shooting to JPEG. The images are usually captured at a higher bit depth, which means that the pixels contain more information about the color values in the image. Most raw files have a depth of 10, 12, or even 16-bits per channel instead of the 8 used by JPEG. This raw format also has a greater tonal range, resulting in better exposure for shadows and highlights.
• Almost everything works with raw. Whether you use iPhoto, Aperture, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom, Photoshop, Photomatix, Nik, or more… they all support raw files. Most cameras work with most software tools. You already own the tool set, why not use them?
• Get better exposure, sharpening and contrast. While your camera may contain settings for sharpness, exposure, or lighting conditions, the raw file stores that info as modifiable information and captures the original (unmodified) data that came through your camera’s sensors.
• Advanced photography works better. Want to shoot HDR or Panoramic images? The use of raw makes it easier to blend images together. You’ll get better looking results by feeding in more information to start.

Be sure to get the most from your camera. If it shoots raw, use it. If you really want JPEGs out of camera, you can shoot Raw+JPEG and simply write both to the card.

_______

This Post Sponsored by:

lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/ Photofocus.

The HDR Learning Center Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images. Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDR Soft.

Mosaic — A complete solution for photographers using Lightroom who want to manage and share their photos. You can easily view images with their iOS app or web service. Plus your photos are backed up to the cloud with several plans to match your needs.

Gigapan.com. The revolutionary GigaPan EPIC robotic camera mount lets you capture and combine thousands of images into one incredible, interactive panorama. Save 10% with the code PHOTOFOCUS.

Drobo - Not only is Drobo 5D fast, but it’s easy-to-use, expandable, flexible, and protected.

Guest Post by Gerard Murphy – Follow Gerard on Twitter

We live in the iTunes era for photography. We are moving into the mobile era. This is changing as quickly as music did after iTunes came into the market.

Photography needs to take the same path as music took more than 10 years ago. Steve Jobs announced the iPod on October 23, 2001.

I remember those early days. I was obsessed with my new toy. My wife actually made me a mix CD called “Too Cool For Your iPod.” She didn’t get that the mixed CD was essentially dead the moment I got the iPod. Similarly, when she got her first iPod she manually pushed 30 songs to it. I asked her if she wanted to me to sync her whole library. She said “No, why would I will just listen to these song and put more on later.”

This story isn’t to pick on my wife (who I love dearly). This seemed to be a common reaction for those of us that grew up with mixed tapes and then mixed CDs. So much as changed since iPods, iPhones, iPads, Dropbox and iCloud came into our lives. We now demand access to everything, at all times. We want this without plugging in devices and without thinking about it.

Strangely, photography hasn’t joined this revolution. We take photos off our DSLR and put them into Lightroom, Bridge or Aperture. That’s mostly where they stay. We are content with this because we don’t know another world. (I wasn’t frustrated with mixed CDs either.)

We push individual photos up to Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and 500px. This makes sense. We don’t want to share everything. But this is where we go to access our own stuff from our mobile devices.

But we personally don’t have instant, automatic access to the things we don’t share. For professionals, we push our clients work manually to our iPads or to website galleries (or even email them pictures!). This process really hasn’t changed since SmugMug launched in 2002.

It’s time for photography to follow every other industry to the cloud. Companies like mine (Mosaic) are helping to usher in this era. By connecting Lightroom to the cloud and giving people access to their entire photo collection from anywhere, we are ushering in the mobile era for photography. This is the era where we aren’t tied to our laptops. The line between devices becomes blurred because we connect through the web to our stuff which looks the same everywhere.

What’s next? All of the existing photo management platforms exist solely on the desktop. This is just like iTunes. What’s one of the hottest platforms in music? Spotify. No desktop software. Cloud access to everything with embedded social features. Photo management needs to become a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) Platform because desktop software is going the way of the mixed CD.

This Post Sponsored by:

lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/ Photofocus.

The HDR Learning Center Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images.  Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDR Soft.

Mosaic — A complete solution for photographers using Lightroom who want to manage and share their photos.  You can easily view images with their iOS app or web service.  Plus your photos are backed up to the cloud with several plans to match your needs.

Gigapan.com. The revolutionary GigaPan EPIC robotic camera mount lets you capture and combine thousands of images into one incredible, interactive panorama. Save 10% with the code PHOTOFOCUS.

Drobo - Not only is Drobo 5D fast, but it’s easy-to-use, expandable, flexible, and protected.

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons

I hear it every week. People want to find ways to save money on their photo hobby. While the economy is on a rebound and things are improving, I know it’s still tough for some of you. So here are some tips that might help you get more out of photography without breaking the bank.

1. Buy used. Photographic gear depreciates quickly. There are many reputable camera dealers who specialize in or offer used gear. All the big New York camera stores have a significant used gear department. Your local store may also have used gear. There are brokers like KEH which have a very good reputation in the used market. And then there’s always Craig’s List – which requires a little more care (to make sure you’re getting what you pay for) but there are plenty of options. If you buy an older, but high-quality piece of fast glass used, you’ll end up with great image quality at a reduced price.

2. Buy refurbished products. I’ve found some very good deals from Canon in particular on refurbished products. Most of the big camera stores offer refurbished items. These are returns that have been checked and restocked and are sold with a warranty in most cases. Many of the manufacturers also have refurbished items available for sale on their web sites. This can save you 15-20% and still give you a like-new item.

3. Buy gear that matches what your friends have and form a swap club. Agree that you will loan lenses and flashes, etc. in return for the same option. Maybe you buy the 70-200 and your pal buys the 400. You don’t need the 70-200 every day and he doesn’t need the 400 every day and since you have the same system, you swap. It’s a fun and safe way to use lots of gear without having to own it.

4. Rent. If you’re only an occasional shooter, then why buy? I know a guy who photographs birds once or twice a year. He bought a $14,000 telephoto lens that will be used 20 times maybe before he dies. He could have rented that same lens and kept most of his money in his pocket. All the big camera stores have rental departments and that is always my first choice. That way you can examine the gear you are renting before you walk out the door to make sure it’s up to snuff. There are half a dozen online rental companies. Some of these are better than others. Be sure to ask about how new a particular item is before you rent it and ask lots of detailed questions about the item’s condition. I recently rented a slider that was utterly useless because the tracks were all dinged up and the camera wouldn’t move smoothly across the rail. As long as you ask lots of questions, you should be fine.

5. Use the Internet. There are tons of how-to/DIY You Tube videos on how to make studio gear or get more out of what you have. There are several good blogs. My favorite DIY blog is Larry Becker’s Cheap Shots – http://larryscheapshots.com. Larry works for Kelby Media and is a great guy, who’s come up with some neat stuff.

6. One of the easiest ways to save money in photography is to get the most out of what you have. I seriously doubt that five percent of you reading this are utterly familiar with all your gear. You are probably using about 10% of its capacity. Before plopping down extra cash to get the next great thing, read and re-read your manuals for the gear you own. Practice with it. Scour online resources provided by your camera/lens manufacturer. Chances are you can do things with your current gear you didn’t even know you could do.

7. Save money on photo workshops and conferences by offering to volunteer in return for free admission. Sure, you have to work for your beans, but even if you only end up getting to attend a few sessions or are working in a session as a volunteer, you’re getting free info and getting exposure to other photographers for great networking opportunity.

8. Offer to assist a photographer you admire – for free. While most working pros already have assistants on staff, they can always use one more hand and you could be that hand. Then do what they ask, shut up and listen. You’ll end up with a free photo education and real-world working experience that puts you in front of your competition.

9. Learn to prioritize. I mean prioritize everything. There’s the obvious…. Prioritize gear purchases (Lenses over bodies, etc.) Prioritize your time. Prioritize your education. If photography is truly important to you, then maybe you could give up 15 Lattes a week in return for better gear or training.

10. Use friends, family as models rather than hiring pros. Learn how to do makeup and save money on makeup-artists. Find aspiring models and offer to trade prints for modeling to save modeling fees.

Everything costs something. There is even a cost to doing things on the cheap. Sometimes you do in fact sacrifice quality. But if you’re just learning or testing or experimenting, what does it matter if it’s only 95% of what it could be? When you get to the point where you are ready for prime time you can spend the money the pros do. And you’ll have it to spend because you used these tips.

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lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/ Photofocus.

The HDR Learning Center Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images.  Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDR Soft.

Mosaic — A complete solution for photographers using Lightroom who want to manage and share their photos.  You can easily view images with their iOS app or web service.  Plus your photos are backed up to the cloud with several plans to match your needs.

Gigapan.com. The revolutionary GigaPan EPIC robotic camera mount lets you capture and combine thousands of images into one incredible, interactive panorama. Save 10% with the code PHOTOFOCUS.

Drobo - Not only is Drobo 5D fast, but it’s easy-to-use, expandable, flexible, and protected.

You might be wondering why I’m about to spend so many words on a review for a camera strap.  Some of you are perfectly content to use the small strap the manufacturer tosses in the box or pick up a slightly better one at your local camera store.  Well, let me bring up an old adage… “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.”

I get nervous hanging a few thousand dollars over my neck or shoulder.  Especially since I’m the type of shooter who has to often juggle other things (additional gear, multiple bodies, small children).  Toss in the fact that my shoulders are much closer in width to a linebacker than a male model and you’ll quickly see how most straps make me feel uncomfortable with a camera hanging in a weird spot (with little stability).

Enter the Vulture Equipment Works.  I met the company’s founder at Skip Cohen University.  He seemed super passionate about his product and told me how he was inspired while sky diving in a plane.  He looked at the military plane he was on as well as the  special ops jump rigs.  Essentially, if the materials used were good enough to secure the top grade equipment and lives of military personnel, he thought they’d make an excellent camera strap.

So, while it may seem a little like overkill at first, here are some of the highlights of the strap system:

• The webbing material matches what’s used in parachute straps.  Designed to hold hundreds of pounds with tons of force applied.
• The carabiner clips are easy to attach and remove, but impossible to accidentally detach.
• The adjustable strap system is comfortable for people of all sizes.
• The camera attaches with secure webbing and a multiple lock type system.
• The strap is large enough that you can adjust its length to turn it into a car rig or mount the camera to other pieces of grip gear.

I saw the inventor swinging full DSLR rigs over his head like a rodeo cowboy.  The system is just that rock solid.  If you’re looking for what I believe to be the finest strap you can buy, check out the Vulture Equipment Works.  The product is a premium priced item, but think of how many thousands of dollars you have hanging on the other end.

Highly recommended.

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This Post Sponsored by:

lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/ Photofocus.

The HDR Learning Center Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images.  Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDR Soft.

Mosaic — A complete solution for photographers using Lightroom who want to manage and share their photos.  You can easily view images with their iOS app or web service.  Plus your photos are backed up to the cloud with several plans to match your needs.

Gigapan.com. The revolutionary GigaPan EPIC robotic camera mount lets you capture and combine thousands of images into one incredible, interactive panorama. Save 10% with the code PHOTOFOCUS.

Drobo - Not only is Drobo 5D fast, but it’s easy-to-use, expandable, flexible, and protected.

A few readers have asked for some Apple oriented tutorials…  and I’d like to oblige.  I’m actually a big fan of iPhoto as a great tool for emerging photographers and hobbyists (and yes I like Photoshop Elements for the same reason).  Here is a short excerpt from a Lynda.com class I worked on.  Let me know if you’d like to see more.

This iPhoto tutorial shows how to improve an overexposed or washed out image with the Saturation control.   The amount of saturation you use is very subjective, but consider pairing it with the Definition slider.

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This Post Sponsored by:

lynda.com Learn photography anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace—from bite-sized tutorials to comprehensive courses. Try lynda.com free for 10 days by visiting lynda.com/ Photofocus.

The HDR Learning Center Check out new ways to use High Dynamic Range photography to make compelling images.  Free tutorials and posts to get results. Produced in partnership with HDR Soft.

Mosaic — A complete solution for photographers using Lightroom who want to manage and share their photos.  You can easily view images with their iOS app or web service.  Plus your photos are backed up to the cloud with several plans to match your needs.

Gigapan.com. The revolutionary GigaPan EPIC robotic camera mount lets you capture and combine thousands of images into one incredible, interactive panorama. Save 10% with the code PHOTOFOCUS.

Drobo - Not only is Drobo 5D fast, but it’s easy-to-use, expandable, flexible, and protected.