Archive for August, 2012
My app – Top Model Release – is now 3 months old! To celebrate, we gave it a little cupcake with a candle on it, and then we waved an iPhone over the candle to blow it out. Seriously.
But the bigger event is that you – the community – have helped shape this app into what it is now, and you will continue to help us define what it needs to be in the future. From Day One we have relished community feedback and made many changes to the app, and are continuing to improve the app with each revision to address your needs, concerns and awesome ideas.
Today we are happy to announce version 1.03 has been approved by Apple, and many of the improvements included in this update have come directly from your feedback! For example – on Twitter @vanlamify suggested we remove the Ellipsis from the app title, as the length makes it read “Top…Lease”. Thanks for your Suggestion Van – it now just reads TMR!
Another user named Joshua on our support form asked that the app info be removed from the bottom of the automatically generated PDFs – also done! And one of my favorite improvements – to enable sending incomplete releases suggested by Joseph Linaschke and Teresa!
In addition to the above changes, we’ve also implemented the following improvements to version 1.03, available in stores now:
- Improved iCloud performance.
- PDF naming conventions improved – each release will now automatically be named after the model’s name and date.
- Email screen will automatically appear after a witness signature is acquired.
In addition to these changes there are even more large-scale modifications being planned for future versions, including the universal iPad version. We can’t wait to tell you more about these very soon!
Again, thank you all so much for your feedback, your support, and your notes of inspiration about how much you and your clients love the app! We love reading them, and it makes all the late nights and time spent so, so worth it.
Quick Tip: Who Let the Dog out?
Tips + Tricks 
0
Tue 08.21.2012
This was shot at F/2.8 @ 1/200 sec. using Canon 5D MII @ 85 mm.
Quick Tip: I love it when a couple brings awesome props to spice up the shoot. Whether it is a dog (they are always great fun) or a picnic basket, your subjects will have more fun and feel more comfortable when they are enjoying themselves. The best props are those that have a special meaning for the couple – it could be something they made together or an anniversary gift. This makes for more unique images that showcase the personalities and rapport of the couple. Before the session, you can also suggest props such as balloons, cool sunglasses, bubbles and hats – but let their imagination run wild.
Quick Tip: Light It Up!
Tips + Tricks 1
Thu 08.16.2012
This was shot at F/8 @ 1/200 sec. using Canon 5D @ 24mm.
Quick Tip: Strobes, like a continuous light source, correspond to changes in aperture settings. For example, if you increase your aperture from f/5.6 to f/11, you must increase your strobe output by two stops to maintain a consistent exposure.When working in direct sunlight or nearly dark sets, choose a 1000 w/s strobe over a 500 w/s. You will relish in the extra power. If a strobe is too powerful at its lowest setting, you can further decrease its needed strength by using neutral-density gels. In this particular photograph we used 1000 w. strobe at highest power to overpower the bright outdoor sun.
Thank you so much to everyone who sent in entries for the contest. With hundreds of creative, clever and even funny taglines to choose from, it was really hard to choose just one. After much (heated!) discussion we selected “Photography Unfiltered – Inspiration Unlimited” by Kate Thomas. We ultimately chose this entry because it was – well, unlimited. It embraced the idea we wanted the show and community to be boundless, not restricted to one genre, skill level or even media.
Congratulations Kate on winning the cool Rezo 180 AW bag from LowePro.
Another favorite was Aaron K – from a comment on the blog post. We did change it just a bit to “Your passion is our Inspiration” and will be using it as the sign off from the show. As Honorable Mention we will be sending you a LowePro camera strap. Congratulations Aaron!!!
Also we wanted thank Ali Elhajj, Blake Johnson, Bryan Conner, Dennis Morassut, Gary Harris, Irene Liebler, Ivan Boden, Shawn Highfill, Victor Alberts, Paul Balchin, Tamara Pruessner, and Steven Ray Price. Your submissions were among our favorites as well.
Thank you Lowepro for your support of this contest and photography education!
Photography Unfiltered can be found:
An Exclusive Look Inside Facebook Headquarters
Blog, From The Studio, Out + About 1
Tue 08.14.2012
With 900-million active users worldwide, Facebook’s international social-media stronghold needs no introduction. The company has radically transformed communications and information-sharing. New face-recognition software and the recent purchase of Instagram aren’t the only changes afoot. Just last year, founder and owner Mark Zuckerberg moved the company’s headquarters from Silicon Valley’s Palo Alto to Belle Haven in Menlo Park.
Facebook now occupies Sun Microsystem’s former office compound, and while the building’s incredibly refined, modern exterior still exudes “corporate,” the interior renovations are anything but. Entering Facebook’s campus is like stepping into a wild hotbed of daring, free-form creativity that feels decidedly more “street” than “sleek.” Graffiti and guerilla-art rule the day at Facebook; its walls are literally interactive, with employees encouraged to participate in the process of daily transforming their environment and unleashing their creativity to claim the space as their own. With exposed steel-beam ceilings and stylistically-grungy stairwells to shepherd them throughout the campus, the mood at Facebook crackles with possibility and ever-renewing redefinition. Every last detail is oriented toward worker-inspiration—from the fantastic food, free-for-all cocktail bars, innovative video arcade, and even in-house laundry. It’s a place where employees not only want to be (and stay long hours), but one that feeds their creative drive.
It was an honor to receive a private tour of their new headquarters from one of my favorite clients, Facebook’s Stephen Heise, and Zalman Stern from the photos team. Below are some of my favorite shots from an unforgettable afternoon that left me my head spinning. Come along on the photographic tour!
Facebook generously offered me free reign to explore and document the campus. Their one caveat? No pictures of computer screens. (An obvious prohibition, given their classified work.) But that didn’t stop me from bending the rules just a little bit! I couldn’t resist capturing this neon-light sign, as reflected off a blank computer screen.
Few structures could smack less of ‘Corporate America’ than the grungy, gritty, fantastically urban-style flights of stairs throughout Facebook’s new campus.
Edgy, reality-check signs like this are in heavy rotation around Facebook’s headquarters. The themes that rule the day here include to avoid playing it safe, to push the boundaries of creativity, and in all things to be courageously inventive. Generic ‘inspiration’ posters would never disgrace these walls; Facebook interior décor instead constantly encourages its employees to defy convention.
One of Facebook’s latest ventures is the Open Commute Project Foundation, a global hub of engineers whose mission is to maximize the open sharing of ideas and intellectual property with the most efficient server, storage and data center hardware designs for scalable computing.
You’re never too old for playing with Legos, and this build-your-own-Lego-art board within Facebook’s halls proves just that.
A nice close-up of my tour guide Zalman Stern’s sick (as in awesome) German-made Leica camera. What a perfect little machine, and what a glorious, too-good-to-be-true host. Thank you, Zalman!
Not your average conference room wall-art, eh?
I originally photographed this motherlode ‘F’ insignia against a white wall, but then in post-processing recreated the sign’s texture and imposed it on the background to further reinforce and enhance the futuristic feel.
Check out FB arcade - the graffiti artist who created the stunning painting you see here opted for Facebook stock instead of cash. That was a smart move, as the worth of this piece increased from an original cash-offer of $60,000 to a stock earning of $200-million. You heard me right. Graffiti, in this case, pays handsomely.
Like everything at Facebook, brilliant design saturates this campus. The sign you see here is far from ordinary, but rather a composite mosaic created with the public profile pics of everybody working for the company at the time the sign was made.
Not the standard courtyard tile.
Not only Facebook’s motto, but increasingly the end-all truth in our globalized, virtual world.
Facebook employees are always encouraged to work in the most comfortable manner possible. It yields higher productivity, maximum creativity, and a perfect suntan. And no...he is not naked.
Beef, it’s what’s for dinner. In this case, BBQ. Lest you be in doubt, Facebook’s employees eat well. Think of it as brain food.
