External storage a quick caution (I must sound like a broken record). I am a big fan on using an external hard drive to store images, a low cost VERY effective tool to add storage to your computer. BUT there are a couple things to check, and it seems like many people miss this part (as I find out each week at the studio). 1- If you get a new external drive check that it works on a couple computers. Some drives are set-up to only work on one computer, this is bad. If your computer dies that you had this drive set-up to work on you are out of luck. Make sure that the drive will work on other computers. I get one or two of these a month and people are always shocked that the drive worked at home, why doesn’t it work here? 2- If you are getting a drive for occasional use, like an hour a day or every couple of days you can get a passport or a external hard drive. If you are going to be running the external drive for several hours a day stay away from the passport type drives, These drives are not designed to cool themselves and will get hot. If you want a drive for a lot of use get a drive that plugs into an adapter and has cooling fans / vents. Once again better to prepare now than to get in trouble later.
Month: February 2015
BEWARE of the negative helper!
I have read a lot of helpful posts this past month on a variety of photography related topics but I have to say BEWARE of the negative helper! This really is not just on the Internet but is involved in so many areas. As an example someone asked on one forum if they should take X or Y lens on a trip and they included a lot of information about what they wanted to do on the trip, both are good lenses and have a good zoom range and both can work for the person that was asking. There were a number of good replies but then there are a couple that came out with “I would not take either lens as the pictures that you will take will be inferior because of your camera and you should buy an entire new camera system” or “Why take either, you obviously have no idea of what you will be shooting so leave your camera at home”.
Selling Some Gear
So you plan on selling some gear, now what? I realized that I have written a lot about buying new and used gear but not a lot about selling gear, so what about selling your camera and photography gear?
First selling anything is an iffy idea as more people want stuff for free than are willing to buy it. “Sure I will take that $4,000 lens for $20, not a problem”. Second selling camera gear can seem impossible as there is so much out there for sale. so what should you do if you are selling camera and photography gear?
A lesson from a car dealer
If you have been following my rant on Facebook about getting my van repaired you know that a lot happened in a short time that the dealer could have solved or at least minimized with the right words and attitude. But after thinking about all that happened I thought that this is a good lesson from a car dealer that I could use to grow with.
A GREAT question……
I had a great question the other day and thought that I would have to share it. I love when students ask questions as they make me think and can really challenge me.
The question was “How do I know when I am ready to shoot weddings for customers?”
Wow a great question and not an easy one as well. So here is what I came up with for the student. Over the next few weeks I am going to expand on each point.
So what are the points.