How to Create a Website for Photographers? Part 1

Hmmmm... that's the big question. HELP! This takes longer than I have expected. Since I am unemployed, I guess it is time for me to look around and create a site on my own.
Here are the first steps to create a site on a budget:
1. I bought a domain name on godaddy.com
2. I found a hosting provider: parcom.net (cheapest)
3. I tied to webshost to the domain name
4. I am in the process to download Wordpress because I plan to use it as my content management system.

Some sources I found interesting
Build A Cool Photo Gallery Website from Wordpress

How to Create Websites Using Wordpress

25 of the Best Photographer Portfolio Websites

A tutorial for downloading Wordpress for a Parcom account

Blue Hour Photography

A good exercise for a beginner photographer is to take pictures of a place at different times, during sunrise, sunset, blue hour and at noon to see how the lighting conditions change (as the sun rises you have harsher light and shadows, during sunset you have warm colors, during overcast you have even light). I have always wanted to take pictures Downtown Tampa during blue hour. Blue hour is a magical time to shoot after sunset or before sunrise. I have not shot blue hour shots before sunrise so I will talk about blue hour photography after sunrise. The characteristic of the blue hour photography is the rich blue sky you get if you take pictures after sunset. Blue hour varies- if the sky is clear, you have more time to take blue hour pictures after sunset, if the sky is cloudy, the blue hour happens earlier and you have a narrower window of time to shoot. My advice is to start taking photographs from East to West because of the narrow window of time and use shorter shutter speeds to obtain richer colors. Longer shutter speeds may give you a nice sky but they wash out the lights on buildings. Because of the low lighting conditions and slower shutter speed you use for low light photography, a tripod is a must to avoid motion blur. To see if your exposure is correct, don’t use your in camera meter but use your histogram. I don’t leave the camera’s white balance in auto because most cameras try to warm up the cool colors in the sky. Instead I set the white balance in manual mode and I start at 3400 (note- you can solve this problem in post processing by changing the color temperature). If you can’t set your white balance manually, set it at tungsten. Chimp to see if you got a nice blue sky. I usually take a couple of shots and adjust my white balance accordingly to bring out the blue sky. I start with the following camera settings: ISO 100 or 200, f 6 or7 and 1/45 (if I shoot right after sunset and I have some light). I do test shots and change the settings each time I change the place and the sky gets darker. You have to experiment. The last University of Tampa images were taken with 4, 10 and 15 seconds exposures and f 15 (with the higher fstops, I wanted bring out the starburst). Still, the third minaret remained overexposed so it is something I have to pay attention next time. All the pictures were taken using a wide angle lens, hence the lens distortion that I never got to correct in Photoshop. I only shoot in RAW file format and I use the manual mode. I prefer getting the perfect image in camera because I want to do as little post processing as possible. I only used tripod for the night shots and not for the blue hour shots (big mistake!). I should have used a shutter release cable to avoid camera shake and manual focus as I had focusing problems. I will remember these things next time .
Things to remember:
! Tripod!
!!!!! Do not set your ISO higher! Even though I used a tripod with my Nikon D300 and the pictures I took with ISO 560 are noisy.
!Check the lights on the buildings and street to see if they are overexposed!
! ISO 100 or 200 to minimize the digital noise in the picture
! Long exposure!
! Use a moderate fstop (use high fstops if you want to achieve the starburst effect on the lights; higher fstops are needed for full zoom)
! Remote control! (I don’t have one but I will get one soon) Instead, I will use the “self timer” function in the camera, this allows the camera to rest a couple of seconds before the exposure.

There is even a Blue Hour Site where you can figure out the exact time of the blue hour in your area and a blue hour group on Flickr. Have fun shooting blue hour images and let me know about your results.

How NOT to write an article

The article on TBO.com sounds like a joke to me and it is the perfect example of how NOT to write an article. I mean, I get it that reporters run out of time and this and that but still. Fact checking, doing research and actually interviewing people IS YOUR JOB. Dear Tribune correspondent, I don't want to see a press release, a quote from an email and a quote from the artist's website presented to the readers as "a story," PLEASE. If it's a blog, that's fine. If it's an article, then it's not fine. USF and I bet other universities offer reporting 101 courses and TBO editors can also have a higher regard for their audience. That's why journalism goes down the drain.

Multimedia Story Ideas- Challenge Yourself

Some of my students asked me for photo story/multimedia story ideas.
Well, how about localizing a national event (for example, oil spill story with a local angle when the oil disaster hits us. Sadly, it will hit Tampa Bay in a matter of days).
Also, look how other newspapers come up with their stories. For instance, Time has an album called Today in Pictures and Pictures of the Week.
In this means, that yes, you should have your camera everywhere with you at all times :)
I am also looking for stories on my own. This story in the NY Times, One in 8 Million, just yelled at me- do a Tampa Bay version!
Make a list and include places and faces that interest you. This way, you can come up with a story idea almost every day.

Digital Alteration of News Photographs

Back to media ethics again. This time The Dominion Post's credibility is questioned. Obviously, the NPPA Objects To Dominion Post's Digital Alteration Of News Photograph
That's all very good, but how can ethics be enforced if newspapers' editors think outside these ethics rules?
I agree with the NPPA that news photographs should not be altered when used in news context. I do dodging and burning and I still crop the image if it is too much headroom space. Ken Irby from Poynter approves the use of these tools within limits.So what are these limits? Ken Irby's answer is when these practices "obliterate(d) background detail, and this overdramatization, or gross exaggeration of what's real, goes too far."

And then he goes on by saying that the "removal of visual content" is unnacceptable in news images. The editors at The Dominion Post did not consider at all ethical standards when they removed the candidates running for re-election from the image and they attached the image to the news story.
I hope to have a heated debate with fellow photojournalists and j students in the Tampa Bay about this issue.

Photography exhibition at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts (FMOPA)

In conjunction with the exhibition at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts (FMOPA), “Infected Landscape: Works by Shai Kremer,” FMOPA is presenting two events addressing the controversial topics raised by the show.
Kremer will speak on his work at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 29 at FMOPA.
Born in 1974 in Israel, Kremer photographs a Middle East landscape that is scarred by the warfare of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For him, the wounded, infected landscape is a stand-in for the war-torn lives of people on both sides. He does not take a pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian stand. He takes pro-human stand.
Admission to the talk is free for FMOPA members and $4 for non-members.
A PANEL DISCUSSION on the social, political, military and psychological ramifications addressed Kremer’s work takes place on Sunday, June 6, from 2 to 3:30 pm at FMOPA. The museum opens that day at 1 pm. so attendees can view the show before the panel discussion. Admission is free for FMOPA members and $4 for non-members.
Panel moderator is Rob Lorei of WMNF. He also is host of “Florida This Week on WEDU. Panelists: USF Professor Abdelwahab Hechiche is a native of Tunisia. A Fulbright scholar, he studied at the Sorbonne and has been a Fellow at Harvard University, among many other honors. Steve Schwersky was born in Boston. The Clearwater resident is currently Chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council for Pinellas and Pasco Counties, as well as being a member of B’nai B’rith. Kuwaiti-born Samar Jarrah has been a reporter for Jordan Television in Amman, Jordan, and for CNN World Report. She has lived in Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. Dr. Simon Firer was born in Israel and studied psychology, dentistry and business at three universities in Wisconsin. He is also a sculptor who works in bronze.

Royalty Free Music for Photographers

Even though I often advise my students against using music for their multimedia projects sometimes it is necessary. Here is a site that is worthy to explore:http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/
Make sure you check out the FAQs, mention the creator/company and DONATE to ensure that this music stays free.
Another option is to look for a local band, ask permission to record a track from them that would add to your story and mention the name of the band.
I do not use music in my multimedia stories but I have seen stories on Mediastorm.org that use music.