|
July 2007 - Posts
-
Taking care of those who take care of our customers is something we believe in. So much so that I don’t know how other companies who pay minimum wage and nothing else can expect anything other than a mediocre product. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for.
Susie Drenik, a 35 year Miller’s veteran who manages the Mpix shipping department, shared a story with me about her early days. Susie was 17 years old and the dreaded Christmas layoff date was approaching. On one particular day my grandfather and our founder, Bill Miller, approached her carrying an envelope. She was certain this envelope contained some type of “pink slip.” He sat down and told her what a great job she had done and handed her the envelope. He then said “aren’t you going to open it?” She said she would if he wanted her to. When she did she was surprised to find a $185 bonus check. Keep in mind that she was making $1.65 per hour at the time.
These days we hand out profit sharing checks every month. In 2006 these checks amounted to 55.91% of each participant’s base pay, or another way of looking at it, the equivalent of more than 6 months additional pay. During our busiest months the amount of the check will exceed what a given team member earned in base pay for the entire month. In addition, each year we deposit approximately 15% of each person’s base pay in their individual retirement trust account.
We invest as much in our employee profit sharing plan as we do in new equipment most years. Why? Easy, because people like Susie have been contributing for far longer to our success than any piece of equipment we have in the building. While they may not be listed on our balance sheet, they are the real assets.
|
-
From time to time we like to invite guest bloggers to contribute to the Mpix blog. Today we have invited Carey Schumacher of Barefoot Memories. Carey has become known for her outdoor family portraits that really capture the life and personality of each individual. We are happy to have her sharing some her thoughts and techniques with the rest of the Mpix community.
Here in San Diego, we’re in the middle of the annual Arizona Invasion. It seems Arizona license plates outnumber California cars on the roads every July & August (and don’t get me started on how frustrating it is to hear louder cheers for the visiting team at Diamonbacks/Padres games at Petco Park!). This is all for good reason—it’s beach season! Time to escape the heat and hit the beach!
Beach photography is intimidating sometimes. Lack of shade, full sun, and white outfits can add up to a photographer’s nightmare. Add in the potential camera damage from sand & water, and that’s enough to make many photographers run like the dickens for the soft and safe open shade of a local park. The siren song of beautiful beach photography doesn’t have to be a scary thing! If you’re hitting the beach this summer, don’t be afraid! Here are some tips for you.
First, a side note on light: You’ve probably heard about the “golden glow” of the light right before sunset. The “Golden Hour” is desirable for many photographers, but personally, I don’t structure my beach sessions completely around sunset time. I love the light at the beach in the morning, midday, and sunset, and I think it’s much more important to have HAPPY KIDS than supposed “perfect light”. Many toddlers “melt down” in late afternoon, and all of the perfect light in the world will not help get pictures of happy children if they’re in their “melt down hour”. It will take more work to seek out good angles and creative compositions (more on that later), but don’t feel tied to the “golden hour” for your beach sessions.
Now, on to some tips!
 1) Metering mode, metering mode, metering mode! One of the most important settings on your camera is the METERING MODE. For compositions that include a lot of sky, water, and sand, I use the “evaluative” mode. This mode evaluates the whole scene, giving less emphasis to the center/metering area than “center weighted” metering. If you’re seeing a lot of blow-outs in your beach scenes, check your metering mode. If your camera’s metering is focusing on the center (“center-weighted” metering), you’re likely to blow-out the background and lose that beautiful blue sky and water.
2) HAVE FUN! Kids and families go to the beach to have fun and enjoy each other in a beautiful setting, so don’t spend a lot of time sitting still, posing, and looking at the camera! In full sun, you’ll only get squinting eyes anyway, so get out there and have fun!
3) Backlight is beautiful! Go in for some wonderful backlit close-ups. You may want to switch your metering mode back to “center weighted” for this one. Backlight your subject, then walk around your subject in a semi-circle. WATCH THE LIGHT coming off of the face (or faces), and it will change as you walk around! The ambient light will vary based on the angle you choose. If you look carefully, you’ll see skin tones improve & get worse, depending on where you’re standing as you circle your subject while the sun is to their backs. Find the angle with the light that is most pleasing to you. This takes practice and careful observation, but the results are worth the effort! Many photographers will use fill flash, but I’m lazy and don’t want to carry more equipment while I’m gallivanting around the beach, so I work hard to find those ambient light angles that give me good light. It’s hard sometimes with active kids, but keep trying!
4) Headless wonders. Chopped off heads can be beautiful! Go in tight for some detail shots—sandy toes, fingers grasping tiny shells, or grains of sand clinging to a beloved beach shovel. Open up your aperture on your lens as wide as it will go (go into Aperture Priority mode and lower that aperture number as low as you can, that opens up your lens and reduces the depth of field). Using the longest focal length possible on your lens will help as well. This will bring the viewer’s attention immediately to the detail you want to showcase. Everything else will fall in to a beautiful blur of softness.
 5) Back at home…. Typically my camera has collected some sand during a photo session. Grains of sand in buttons and dials (unless you have a sealed body & lenses) can be disastrous! I rarely change lenses while at the beach for this reason—there’s too much of a chance for sand to get where I don’t want it! Every time I come home, I pull out my Dyson vacuum with the hand-held soft brush attachment. I leave the lens attached to my camera and the memory slot closed (don’t vacuum inside your sensor area—duh!).
I go over the camera and the lens with the vacuum brush, brushing & vacuuming all of the sand out of every dial, button, and groove. I do the same with my camera bag if any sand has made its way in there. This is the best way I’ve found to get my camera back in great shape after a beach session. I also keep a “Rocket Blower” in my bag at the beach for quick little “puffs” of air if there’s sand that just can’t wait for the vacuum back at home.
So, don’t let the beach scare you! Practice, practice, practice will always be the best way to improve, so HIT THE BEACH!
That’s a rough demand, I know. “Go to the beach! Have fun!” I’m such a slave driver.
Carey Schumacher, San Diego Barefoot Memories
|
-
Let’s continue our exploration of seeing the light.
Soft Light = Easy ExposuresIn this picture of a Taraino woman that I photographed in Brazil, there are no strong highlights or shadows in the picture. The light is soft, making for a relatively easy automatic exposure. I like photographing when the light is soft, created by an overcast sky or diffused natural or flash lighting
Let’s take a look at the different types of lighting and how they affect a photograph. 
Front LightingFront lighting is nice for portraits when you want the subject’s face evenly illuminated, as was the case when I photographed my guide in Viet Nam. This is another example of an easy automatic exposure. 
Overcast LightingOvercast lighting is perfect for portraits of animals and people – because harsh shadows are eliminated by clouds. The soft light makes for somewhat soft images. 
BacklightingBacklighting creates dramatic silhouettes, as illustrated by this cowboy’s picture that I took in Oregon. How cool is that! And speaking of backlighting, here’s a photography joke: Someone asks a pro, “What is your day rate?” He replies, “$5,000, but it is $7,500 if I have to shoot into the sun.” The point of the joke is that it’s harder to shoot into the sun than away from it. 
Soft Side LightingSoft side lighting makes for more dramatic pictures than those taken on overcast days. Pictures also appear sharper, due to the increased contrast range. In this leopard photograph, taken in Botswana, you can see every whisker on the animal’s face. I used a –1 exposure compensation setting for this automatic exposure.
Strong Side LightingStrong side lighting can be nice, but you need to be careful that the subject’s face is not hidden in a shadow, as is the case with this photograph taken of a lioness after a kill on an African safari. The harsh light makes this picture an “outtake” in my book (actually on my PowerBook G4). No amount of exposure compensation could save this shot. 
Strong Top LightingStrong top lighting is the worst, and I mean the worst, for portraits. Avoid it at all costs – unless you can control the natural light. I photographed this man in Papua New Guinea to illustrate that point. This image is also an “outtake” that cannot be saved. However, a diffuser or a flash, which helps us control the light, would have reduced the contrast range in the scene and saved the shot. 
Soft Top Lighting  Soft top lighting, which illuminated my friend Chandler at Jungle World at the Bronx Zoo in New York, is not as bad as strong top lighting and can easily be fixed. See the next example.
Soft top lighting can be helped by simply asking the subject to look upward. Now that was easy.
Bottom LightingBottom light, also known as Halloween light, casts unflattering shadows on a subject’s face. In this image, taken near Lake Powell, Arizona, a reflector was held below the subject, bouncing unflattering light from a low angle. This is another lighting effect you should try to avoid, unless you are taking pictures for October 31st.
In addition to learning how to see the light, we also need to learn how to see the brightness and intensity of the subject, because they also effects the exposure. That comes in our next Mpix blog.
Rick Sammon
www.ricksammon.com
|
-
Needing a square Gallery Wrap? It's easy to do. In Photoshop, canvas your gallery wrap on a canvas for the next available print size. In the blank canvas area note to gallery wrap for the actual size needed. For example to get a 20×20, canvas your 24×24 gallery wrap image onto a 24×30 and note in the canvas area to gallery wrap 20×20
|
-
As I stress in my books and at my photography workshops, seeing the light is one of the major keys to getting a good exposure. If we learn how to see the light – the highlights and shadows in a scene, the contrast and color in a scene, the subject’s and the background’s brightness, and even the movement of light – we will become better photographers by making better exposure decisions. We’ll also know when we need to control the light, using a reflector, a diffuser or a flash. And sometimes, we’ll learn that if the light is not right in a certain location, we’ll need to move the subject or change our composition, as was the case when I was setting up this picture of a Native American near Lake Powell, AZ.
What follows in this Mpix blog is a collection of my photographs that I use in my workshops to help students see the light.
To digress slightly for a moment . . . have you ever heard the term “tone-deaf” to describe a person who can’t tell the difference between musical tones? Well in photography, we use “value blind” to describe a person who has a hard time seeing the subtle differences between light and dark areas of a scene.
Fortunately, there is hope for the value blind photographer – because we can all learn how to “see the light.”
Dynamic Range
 In a discussion about seeing the light, we need to begin with what we see with our eyes vs. what our digital camera records. Our eyes are amazing light seeing devices.
We can see a dynamic range of about 11 f-stops, which is why we can see shadow and highlight areas of a scene without the shadows being blocked up and the highlights being washed out. A digital image sensor sees/records only about three f-stops, about the same as slide film. So, when shooting with a digital camera, you should expose the scene as though you are using slide film – paying very careful attention to the highlights in a scene, and being very careful not to overexpose them. That was one of the things I was thinking about when I took this picture of a mother polar bear and her cute cubs in the sub-Arctic. Had their fur or the snow been washed out, the picture would have been a “wash out.”
In Photoshop, it’s possible to pull out shadow detail and rescue some overexposed highlights (especially with RAW files). We can even go beyond what we can see when using High Dynamic Range in Photoshop.
Seeing Differently
 Here is an idea that most less experienced don’t think about, brought to mind in this quote by Norwegian symbolist painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944): “At different moments you see with different eyes. You see differently in the morning than you do in the evening. In addition, how you see is also dependent on your emotional state. Because of this, a motif can be seen in many different ways, and this is what makes art interesting.”
I photographed these polar bears early one morning, when my eyes and I were just waking up. The softness of the image, and my emotional state (I was missing my family back at home), drew me to the scene, one of many on the tundra. Perhaps the close cropping was a result of the closeness of my family.
Keep up with this blog and learn about seeing the light, but don’t forget that how you feel also affects your exposures. Rick Sammon
www.ricksammon.com
|
-
Rick Graves has become known for creating huge single frame photographic images of very fast moving objects. Some of his better known images are of Lance Armstrong’s winning day at the Tour de France (above) and a line of cars racing by at a Nascar event. Rick accomplishes this by installing a special motor that is able to move the film through camera at a speed relative to the speed of the subject. Rick’s work was recently written up in Wired Magazine with a further explanation of the hacks he performs on his camera to get these results. From the article:
[Rick] modified his Hasselblad into what he calls a DistaCam — adding a high-velocity motor, locking the shutter open, and inserting a metal plate with a laser-cut slit. Whenever Graves triggers the motor, film zips past the slit at up to 1,400 rpm, capturing stills of the speeding cars.
You can also read more about his work on his blog.
Does anyone else have any camera hacks that they have experimented to get unique shots? Share them in the comments or on the forum.
|
-
How does Mpix turn orders around so quickly? As COO, I hear this question frequently. The question is asked most often during the busier months when we are able to maintain our delivery schedules and others are not.
I do not point to the equipment we use or a unique work flow. We perform and deliver because of the dedication of our people. Period. The average Mpix team member has 8.5 years of professional lab experience and each person takes their responsibilities seriously. For example, how many of you have e-mailed Mpix customer service well outside traditional business hours and received a response from John, Molly, Barry or Matt promptly? I suspect more than a few.
Let me share another example. Our NexPress system went down recently. We have since added a second press for added capacity and redundancy, but, at the time, we only had one machine dedicated to Mpix. As Murphy’s law would dictate, this happened when we were running a promotion and volume was more than double what it typically is. The next day Neal Wheat, Steve Morrison, and countless others worked from early morning until well after midnight in order to restore our promised delivery times. No one had to tell or ask them to do this. I was in the area late in the evening and no one complained or asked if they could leave. There was a job to do, and our people gladly did it. These are not unique examples, I witness them daily.
Rest assured that as owners we do not take this dedication for granted. In upcoming blog posts I will share some interesting ways in which we reward our staff for their extraordinary effort. Stay tuned...
|
-
There is no doubt about it...photographers love to see their images on postcards. Last Thursday we launched our second postcard promotion, and it appears their popularity continues to grow. I checked in with the folks working in the NexPress area to see if they had any interesting tidbits regarding the promotion. Here's what they had to say:
- The most popular size is 5x7"
- Weddings have been the most popular category for postcards this past week.
- Other popular uses include studio self promotion, advertising and birthdays.
- Many customers are using our premium papers - pearlescent and linen.
- Most customers order envelopes with their order.
- Lastly, they report that all orders in by noon are out the same day!
The promotion ends next Thursday, July 19th. Take advantage of the great pricing, and if possible, try one of the 2 premium papers. You will love the quality!
|
-
Several years ago, my wife started buying a Christmas puzzle for the holidays. Everyone would work on it together - which was great family time. At the end of the season, she would have the puzzle framed. Every holiday season she pulls out all of our memories and hangs them throughout the house. The kids have come to love this tradition, as each puzzle connects them to a certain time in their childhood.
I am sure that as they grow up and move out of the house, the puzzles will become even more meaningful. How about starting your own puzzle tradition? You could frame a puzzle with:
- a collage of your family vacations
- the family Christmas photo
- your child's annual T-ball/softball/baseball picture
- the annual dance recital
- Halloween costumes
...or whatever memory you would like to capture.
Whatever you do, make sure you all sign the back and date it. It will mean more in the future.
|
-
I am constantly amazed at the ideas and discussions that take place on the Mpix Forums. Forum members come up with very creative ways to share information on photography. One of my favorites is the popular thread dealing with poses. Forum participants are now sharing their favorite poses and eventually they would like to create a book that can be at the photographers finger tips at that next photo shoot.
Check out http://community.mpix.com/forums/t/39484.aspx . You will find a collection of poses for babies, children, teens, seniors, weddings, adults/headshots, and more. Read what others think and note some of the excellent tips on how to make the pose even more dynamic. And, if you are really proud of one of your recent poses, share it with the group. They would love to learn from you.
|
-
At Macworld this past January, I had the privilege of visiting with two representatives of an engineering firm. In the course of the conversation, they picked up one of our hard bound photo books. One gentleman commented to the other, “You know, we could make some of our proposals into books. How impressive would it be to a client to receive a full color hard bound book?” A $30 investment could help their firm land a large contract!
A book for under $30 is possible with great people and state of the art technology. Here at Mpix we are using the Kodak NexPress to print our books, and the quality is second to none!
On another note, our press team leaders, Neal Wheat and Steve Morrison, are always looking for creative ways to use photo books. A couple of cool ideas they have seen are children’s books and coloring books. Both of these ideas allow you to be creative in developing a family keepsake. Do you have a unique idea for a photo book? Please share it with us! Photo Books are not just for coffee tables. With today’s technology you can design your own book for less than $30, and have it printed and shipped in 24 hours or less…what a world we live in!
|
-
We are excited to introduce a new version of ROES (Remote Order Entry System). The new version has a much simpler appearance, a faster user interface, and will be even more reliable than our current version. Thousands of Mpix customers are using ROES, and are appreciative of the amount of time that it saves…especially when developing those large or complicated orders.
How do you download the new version?
Simply go to http://www.mpix.com/MpixRoes.aspx and click on the 'Download Mpix ROES' button located at the top right of the page. The new Mpix ROES version will update automatically if you have previous downloaded the ROES software.
So what is Mpix ROES, and how does it differ from our traditional Web-based ordering?
Mpix's traditional ordering system is a Web-based solution. You simply upload images into albums and then the images are available for sharing and ordering. The key is that images are uploaded at the beginning of the order process.
Mpix ROES, on the other hand, is downloadable software that you install locally on your computer. ROES is available for the Mac and the PC. ROES allows you to view thumbnails of your images while you are building your order. When your order is complete the images are uploaded at the end of the process.
As with any solution, there are trade-offs with both methods of ordering. Certainly the strength of ROES is the ability to build large orders quickly. The main disadvantage with ROES is that sharing and tracking are not available.
Customers enjoy the following ROES features:
- Both Mac and PC versions available
- Image uploads at completion of the order to decrease downtime
- Simple user interface with drag and drop functionality
- …and many more
Either method of ordering is simple. However, if you want to order a large number of prints at one time, consider trying the new ROES ordering method. It will save you time!
For more information and to view the FAQ regarding ROES, go to the Mpix ROES page.
|
-
Our spring postcard promotion was definitely popular. It was so popular, in fact, that we decided to offer the 50% cards again this summer. The promotion launches today and will end July 19th.
http://www.mpix.com/productsinfo.aspx?prod=18
We see an endless number of applications for postcards. Here are just a few examples of what you can do:
- Hold the date card
- Thank you card
- Promo card for your studio or organization
- Birthday invitations
- Sports schedules
- New baby arrival
- Wedding announcement
- Reminder of upcoming meeting
- Publish a meeting agenda
- Announce church services
- Price list
- Publicize where to buy your prints
- Real estate listing
- Announce an open house
- Invitation to an art gallery
- Direct mail
- Campaign cards
...and more
Postcards are 50% off for this special 2 week period, and the minimum is only 24 pieces. That's only $0.33 cents per card! Take the time to create an inventory of postcards for different activities coming up this fall. You will be glad you did!
|
-
The Mpix team will be celebrating Independence Day with family and friends this Wednesday. We will ship through Tuesday, July 3rd and then resume shipping on Thursday, July 5th.
Mpix.com wishes you and your family a very safe holiday.
John Rank
|
-
|
|
|