Last Saturday night the folks behind the Lucie Awards, the Oscars of Photography, debuted their latest love letter to photography: MOPLA, or Month of Photography in Los Angeles.
With 2 galleries exhibiting work, B+ spinning ,and libations flowing long and strong, the celebration got a solid turnout at Bergamot Station, with the crowds maneuvering to find the rare parking spots, so they could join in the festivities.

Hossein Farmani and Cat Jimenez, MOPLA Producers

Wall Projection At Bergamot Station

Long lines moved fast for party goers

Along with celebrities like Matthew Perry, the enthusiastic crowd saw the first of a series of outdoor projection (Pro’jekt LA) featuring the night photography of Felipe Dupouy, Amanda Friedman and Helen K. Garber. Very appropriate.

So all this month, you can go to lectures, seminars, workshops, and catch 3 more outdoor projected events at various venues around town.

Start it off this Tuesday at the Pacific Design Center, and then on Thursday we all go back to the Annenberg Space for Photography, the latest jewel in LA’s photographic crown.

That’s right, New York. The left coast is becoming a contender.

Now also around town:

At the Getty Museum, we had a little inspiration for lunch the other day, with a side of incredible view, and some soup. Continue Reading »

This site has always strived to build a community, share what we’ve seen, and review what we’ve found in the world of photography.
[photopress:WEB100_badge2.jpg,full,alignright] On Friday, there was an article in USA Today, linking to a list of the top sites in photography. Our ranking of #40 in a field of 100 of some of our favorite sites was a cause for a celebration.
Yes, just to be included was a pretty cool thing.

The celebration was short lived, however.
That was then. This is now.
We want to keep bringing you more of what you’d like to see here on the site.

[photopress:ranking_copyx.jpg,full,alignright]So, we have been trying to think about where to take this site next. And we’d like to hear from you on that subject.
What would you like to see?
More videos, more reviews, more POV on the photography scene, more listings, more giveaways are, of course, on the way.
There are some photo contests coming with some great prizes.

But it’s your voice we’d like to hear. Speak to us with photographs or comments. Right here on this article, even.
And the more people that check into photoinduced, the more manufacturers and service providers want to reach you, and the better goodies, we get to give away to you. For free. So tell a friend.

We won’t flog junk or items that you have no use for. The amount of items we check out and don’t give coverage on, is significant. Heck, we want to spend our money in a smart place, too. We just want to share the info.

[photopress:images_2.jpeg,full,alignright]And it’s not cliche, trite or puffery, but we do it all for you. Glad you like it. So far.
Maybe next time we move up in the ranks.
By the way, Flickr was #1.

OK, back to editing and writing.
You rock.

There once was a young boy, who was so upbeat and optimistic and everything, it actually had his parents very concerned.
What would happen to him as he grew up and started to engage with the bleak realities of the real world?
Would he be prepared to deal with the truth of the ups and down of life?
To help him cope, they tried a drastic measure.
Filling his bedroom with horse manure,they lured him there, pushed him in and shut the door locking him in.
Extreme maybe, but they felt it would be for the best.
After a few hours they checked in on him.
But instead of finding him a broken young boy, he was shoveling through the manure by hand and said
” There must be a pony in here somewhere”

Well for one thing, I am that boy. C’mon there was no manure filed room, but I am that optimistic.

Especially when going through the files of photographs taken through the years. There is gold in there. It may be just a personal memory image, or perhaps a solid image to work on and share.
How do you know? How do you find it? How many files do I have that are _DSC0192.NEF ? Or IMG_0004.jpg?

Honestly the only way to sift through the â€:umâ€: manure is to start out the right way.

Tagging your photos as you import them. Batch name them to start.
Yep, you can do it in iPhoto, Aperture, or our program of choice, Adobe Lightroom.


Sample dialog box in Adobe Lightroom. This opens automatically when you insert your media card.

Each program has tools for you to rename your images. Do it first in groups or batches. It’ll make the seemingly daunting task, much easier. This is true for new imports or files already uploaded.
Use a key word you can honestly remember. Like the event name. “annenberg preview” for instance.
Add a date also, like 04309 for today’s date. I’ve always found that to be very helpful. Events do repeat.
And here’s another tip; When you import your photos for the first time, set up a specially named folder for them all to load into.
So when you look for all of your photos of “annenberg preview”, for instance, all you have to do is go to the “find” or “search” function and you will be rewarded with the images you were looking for.
You can, and should, also retrofit.
Take a little time each day and go through all of your your digital files. Select a group and tag ’em. In short order, you will have an organized collection.
Make sure the photo software you use has the tools you want and need.
Yeah, the steps are easy. Making tagging them it a habit doesn’t have to be. Actually that’s why I love Lightroom. Once you’ve set your preferences, your workflow starts off on the right foot. Backed-up into the right places, and properly tagged.
It even ejects your card after you upload, if you like. And I like.
Of course we will discuss organizing your negs, contact, transparencies, and prints, another time. And where to hire a good intern to help with that.

Just remember, there is a pony in there, somewhere. You’ll see.

Megapixel Madness! Is 12 Enough?
by Fred Bonilla

While the PMA show in Vegas yielded some nice gear goodies, as Photoinduced highlighted last month, It seems that the biggest news made there was a seemingly innocuous statement made by Olympus’ Akira Watanabe, their head of SLR planning.

Mr. Watanabe

In gearing up for the future of their E- series cameras, he declared that “Twelve megapixels is, I think, enough for covering most applications most customers need.”
While also saying that he planned to stop at that megapixel number for their E series SLR’s, he also stated that had “no intention to compete in the megapixel wars”. A correction of sorts was later issued saying that he meant the figure is more like 20 megapixels, and that 12 would be enough for the casual user and amateur.
But not before the firestorm of comments both praising Watanabe for his insights or lambasting his lack of vision for the future on photo blogs and websites ( Just Google “ Is 12 megapixels enough to see what I meanâ€:).
As a photographer whose day job has been selling cameras for over 20 years, here’s my take on the matter; He’s probably right, butâ€:

Watanabe’s intent on concentrating on other factors of a camera’s performance such as higher dynamic range, better ISO range for low light shooting, and improved image sensor based autofocusing is commendable, and is necessary for taking digital cameras to the next level. But camera companies, as well as their ad agencies are guilty of using megapixels as their magic buzzword, an easily measurable level to gauge sharpness; hence it’s overall quality. For every customer who comes to me having done their homework, Consumer Reports in hand with extensive notes & 3 part questions with follow-up, I get an equal amount whose ONLY concern is the megapixels.
For those folks, whipping out the latest dot packed beauty while grunting like Tim Allen in Home Improvement will usually close the sale.
By picking 12 mp as an arbitrary number, and drawing a line in the sand, Watanabe is saying that other factors need to come into play in creating a quality image, and in that sense, he’s correct. Educating the general public is another matterâ€:

Articles written as early as 2006 have pointed out the so called “megapixel myth”, including David Pogue of The New York Times whose 2007 article with his own unscientific test made some (forgive the pun) noise of it’s own.
But when the words come comes from inside the camp of camera manufacturers, it carries it’s own resonance. The camera companies should put up and resolve to prominently feature the improvements that ultimately result in what everyone wants, a good picture. Not just the pixels. Sensor size and compression aside, the number of pixels seems to be the lightning rod. And the more the camera manufacturers want to top themselves without further education of what else makes a good camera, a disservice is done to all.

Thank Fred, for a little front line insight!

Those guys in black are doing it one more time, with gear for those of us that may shoot on location. Or out of the studio. Or anywhere you can set up your computer.

This is the Pixel SunScreen V2. Folding light and flat as a round reflector, this pop up workspace has been designed just right.

Here is how we used it: did a location shoot in a backyard, MacBookPro set up with Seagate external drive, Lexar UDMA firewire card reader, broadband card. We could have added more stuff, (mirror back-up HD, shot list, pens, penlight) but this has been a simple set-up, working quite well for us. And when it came time to fold it up the thumb illustrations worked perfectly.

And for about $70 USD, this is a total winner. Order through this link and you’ll also get a free ThinkTank bag worth over $30. Sweet.

There is another piece of gear we have been looking for that meets real world requirements.
We’re talking about the best flash bracket out there. After disappointments with a few, we may have found the best unit out there. Only have done a few shoots with it, but loving life. No re-tightening, smooth operation, compact for travel. REALLY compact
Coming soon!