Another Way I Use InDesign

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Those of you who know me know that I'm an InDesign evangelist at heart, singing its praises to anyone who will listen (photographers—that's YOU!). Not only do I use InDesign to build all of my contracts, pricing guides, and wedding albums, but I use it to build my presentations too.

Say what?

That's right. I use it to build my presentations. Whether for a webinar or a platform class at WPPI (coming this February!), I build all my slide decks in InDesign.

Why not Power Point or Keynote? If you're familiar with InDesign, you know nothing compares to the speed and efficiency you get for quickly building and editing layouts. And since slide decks are nothing more than a collection of horizontal layouts, I use InDesign just as I would for laying out a wedding album.

Most of the time, I export the finished presentation to PDF and then present from the PDF itself (if you press cmd+L on a mac it makes the PDF full screen), using the same arrow keys, mouse clicks, or remote to advance the slides. But if I want to take advantage of Keynote's "presenter mode" where I can see a preview of the next slide before it appears, then... well... I have to use Keynote.

Messing around in Keynote for the first time, I found it frustrating, so I swore I'd figure out a better way, and I'm happy to say—I did. And here's how: I build my presentation in InDesign as usual, but instead of exporting to pdf, I export each page (slide) to jpg, and batch import them into Keynote. That's it.

Here's a quick video to demonstrate. :) PS: Obviously, if you want to embed videos and other special effects, your keynote presentation will require additional tweaking. But for the simple and clean presentations I do most the time, this works like a charm!

PSS: Curious about learning to use InDesign for your own photographer related purposes? Check out my InDesign tutorial video and save 10% with the code CRAZYFAST

RAW vs JPG: What's the Story? Part 2

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Let me just come right out and say it—I'm a JPG girl. (gasp!)

Make no mistake about it, I've experimented with RAW and occasionally shoot it for corporate clients who have specific needs—but other than that, I mostly just curse at it on the rare occasion when I find myself shooting RAW by accident.

It seems I'm never quite able to get the color I want form RAW files. They're big, bulky, and since they end up as JPGs anyway, I prefer to cut through the middle and get straight to the point.

Because I shoot in manual mode 100% of the time and keep an obsessive eye on exposure and white balance (carrying a highly used pack of color correction gels for all my flashes), I'm able to consistently nail exposure and white balance in-camera and don't need the extra weight or cushion of a RAW file to correct things later. It's part of what makes my workflow so awesomely lean and efficient.

I shoot JPG because it works for me. Others love RAW because it works for them. As long as you're shooting in a format that works for you, you're in good shape! :)

(If you're looking for Part 1 of this post, you can find it here.)

 

RAW vs JPG: What's the Story?

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The debate between JPG and RAW is sometimes a hot one, with passionate endorsements from both sides of the fence. Here’s the skinny. JPG If you’ve never messed with the file formats in your camera, you’re shooting JPGs (the default setting). Because JPG files are compressed, they’re significantly smaller files, allowing for faster shooting, faster downloading, and the ability to store more images in less space on your memory card or on your hard drive.

On the same token, because they’re compressed—there’s less information (or “cushion”) to mess with in post-production if you need to make adjustments to things like exposure and white balance.

When you shoot in JPG, the camera records the image, processes or “cooks” it per your liking (based on your picture style settings for contrast, saturation, sharpness, etc.), then writes the baked JPG to your memory card. The images are ready to download and print/share immediately (you can still finesse them gently in post-production if you choose).

RAW Compared to the nice tiny file size of a JPG, RAW files are huge. They can easily be 4x as big (or more). Their uncompressed (unprocessed) nature leaves them with all their information in tact, allowing for more dramatic adjustments in post-production later.

Because the camera doesn’t help with any of the “cooking” when you shoot RAW,  you’re responsible for processing the files yourself. Software like LightRoom makes it pretty painless, but nonetheless, it’s a step that can’t be skipped, as RAW files are unusable until they’ve been processed. (In other words, you can’t post a RAW file on Facebook, or upload a RAW file to your lab for printing.)

Bottom line? Ultimately, there is no right or wrong answer to the question of RAW vs. JPG. It really comes down to personal preference. In the end, the files that are printed for your clients are sent to the lab as JPG, so the result is the same no matter what path you take to get there. The difference is who does the cooking—you or your camera.

For more details, check out my book Your Camera Loves You, Learn to Love it Back, and come back next week to find out which format I personally prefer and how I make it work. Until then, don't let this topic weigh you down! ;) It's not as scary as you think!

Down the Aisle: Meghan + Eric

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A dead car, a defunct phone, and not even a broken foot could stop Meghan from enjoying the day she and Eric became a family.(Notice the boot on her foot in the photo below. Broken within 2 weeks of the big day!) The emotion in the room was palpable in her sister's tears, Eric's gregarious grin, and the way Meghan's voice quivered while uttering the words that would change their lives forever, "I Meghan, take you Eric, to be my husband."

I've known Meghan since we were on the high school dance team together, and she's always had a remarkable glamor about her. I could've spent the whole day capturing images of her like this...

And this...

And this... (Hello!? The 1920's called and they want their Hollywood starlet back!)

Yeah, still couldn't get enough...

Since First Plymouth was only 2 blocks away from Meghan's mom's house, the girls decided to walk (broken foot and all!).

I love Eric's reaction to seeing Meghan for the first time. Looks like she was literally tugging at his heart strings!

Looks like album cover material to me!

Eric has a terriffic sense of humor, and I love the way you can almost hear his laugh in this photo.

Sparklers!

You did it. Boot and all! Wishing you all the best on your new adventure.... :)  xoxo

Peachpit Photo Club: A Webinar with Yours Truly!

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The incredible people over at Peachpit Press have put together a great (and FREE!) learning resource available for anyone who wants to make use of it. It's called Photo Club, and it's an entirely free series of webinars from their extensive collection of authors and industry leaders. I'm honored to be presenting next Tuesday, Oct. 11th at 7pm CST (5pm PST/8pm EST), and you're invited to join the fun! Register here!

Down the Aisle: Leslie + Richard

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Some people have only a vague idea of the kind of person they'd like to marry, while others are pretty detailed about precisely what they're looking for in a potential partner. Richard, was one of those people who had a very clear idea from early on. He wanted someone smart (and beautiful), preferably with red hair, and—it would be a major bonus if her name would start with "L" so he could continue the tradition of R's & L's in his family. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Leslie.

Smart, beautiful, and a natural red-head, her parents even had the foresight to give her a name that begins with "L." (I guess that makes both she and Richard "lucky" now too!)

I first met this amazing lady back in the late '90's when we traveled together in Up With People and now, almost 15 years later, I am honored to have been asked to come up to Canada to photograph such an important day in her and Richard's lives. Congratulations to you both!

xoxo

Shooting other camera slingers is like a game! I love shots like these... :)

The signing of the marriage certificate was part of the wedding ceremony, and provided touching moments like this one...

And this one...

Is it me, or are those tuxes extra fabulous? Love those!!!!!

Emir captures this gem of Leslie's parents documenting the moment...

This setting reminds me of the Queen's garden in Alice and Wonderland... somewhat whimsical...

First dance...

Emir had a ball playing with all the mirrors the venue had...

The light in this photo is so yummy, I just want to eat it with a spoon! :) (That, and Abigail looks gorgeous!)

Enjoy Quebec City you two!