Folks, one of the most important aspects of digital photography is making sure that the color on your photos is accurate. And absolutely the only way to ensure this is to take control of your camera’s white balance setting at all times. This is something that you can do by shooting a grey card (like this Ezybalance Card (Grey/White)), or you can use a fantastic tool called an ExpoDisc (make sure and get the size equal to your largest lens diameter).

Let me illustrate the point very quickly with a couple of sample images.

This first image comes straight out of the Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon 70-200mm lens. This is a $5,000 camera setup, and the camera was set on “Auto White Balance”. Basically, what I’m telling you is that your camera is definitely no better at auto white balance than this rig.

Now, if you ask me, that is a nice photo. The colors don’t look so bad, and I kind of like how the columns are a bit “rich” in color. All in all, no one would be complaining. Until they see what the image should have looked like…

Here is the same shot taken with a custom white balance set using an Expodisc:

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Apparently, you people can not read! So I’ll tell you once again… This blog is a piece of crap, and you are wasting your time with every word you read! Look. That’s like 10 seconds of your life that you’ll never get back according to Penelope Trunk! Just check out her article, “Blogs without topics are a waste of time“.

I want to send a special shout out to Dan Bates from Monogodo who shared this article with me on Twitter. But come on Dan! What a waste of time that was! Didn’t you know? You could have been reading something “topical” instead of my random mindless dribble.
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Sometimes people ask me about what it’s like to visit Greece. And I tell them that there is really no place like it. From the crazy metropolis of Athens to the volcanic island of Santorini, it’s unique in every way. And if that isn’t enough, you’ll constantly discover gems like this one…

On the Island of Zakynthos you’ll find one of the most famous beaches in Greece. Navagio Beach, or the Shipwreck, is notable because it is home to the wreck of the alleged smuggler ship Panagiotis; thus, it is often referred to as ‘Smugglers Cove’. If you are going to try and find it, here are the coordinates: 37°51′28″N 20°37′36″E / 37.85778°N 20.62667°E / 37.85778; 20.62667.
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Well, since I’ll be attending and speaking at BlogWorld / WordCamp in a couple of weeks in Las Vegas I thought it might be fun to organize a photowalk if anyone is interested in a get together and an evening of exploration and fun. You see, I’m a semi-professional photographer, and an amateur tattoo artist… (think Talledega Nights people.)

If you’ve never been on a photowalk before, essentially what we are going to do is all meet at one place and then walk around Las Vegas seeing the sights, talking, taking photos, and perhaps grabbing a beer here or there. Also, I’m going to take you off the strip, so you’ll see things that most people never do when they come to Vegas.

Now, there are a few good reasons to participate in an event like this:

• I have been to Vegas more times than I can count. I’ve taken hundreds and hundreds of photos of the city, and I’ll take you right to where you can get some great ones.
• Wandering around after dark by yourself might be a little scary for some people, so a group event is safer and more fun.
• If you love taking photos, then you’ll love Vegas at night. There is simply not a better spot for night photography.
• And finally, if you would like some tips and tricks, I’ll be happy to provide some instruction for anyone who needs it along the way.

As far as the details are concerned, here is what I’m thinking…
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For those of you who haven’t figured it out yet, I’m at Photoshop World in Las Vegas this week learning as much as I possibly can. On Tuesday I was in an all day seminar, put on by Canon and taught by Eddie Tapp and Jack Reznicki, in which we studied lighting and composition theory, actually had a photo shoot with real models, and then came back to the classroom for editing and retouching instruction.

Being completely new to portrait photography, this was a day of firsts for me. I had never worked with remote strobes before (fixed lights that act like flashes which are triggered wirelessly), I had never worked with a professional model, and I had never edited a portrait in photoshop.
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As I mentioned in my blog post yesterday, this week is the Photoshop World convention in Las Vegas and I’m here for a week of fun and learning! But after only a few hours in town, I’ve already got a whopper of a story to tell! Screw the whole “what happens in Vegas…” crap.

So Photoshop World is at the Mandalay Bay and thousands of photographers will be converging there from all over the world. In fact they’re sold out. So I had to stay next door at Luxor.

Well, I checked in and dropped off my stuff in my room, then grabbed my camera to go walk and take some photos on the strip. Of course, the Excalibur is the first hotel on the way down the strip, and I’ve taken photos of it literally every time I’ve been in Las Vegas. But this time I took some photos OUTSIDE the hotel, and as I was going to walk through the hotel to get something to eat, a security guard stopped me before I could enter.

He wanted to know my name, where I was staying, and my room number! He told me it was because I was taking photos of the outside of the building! And claimed it was for “homeland security”.
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Unbelievable as it may seem, the Luxor in Las Vegas offers high-speed internet access – but there’s a catch! In order to get it, you need to stretch a wire all the way across the room, and it won’t even reach the desk for you to actually work at it.

The cost for this little act of fire-hazard creation? $15 per day. FML.

Howdy gang!

I’ve been a little slow in updating the blog lately. Sorry for my lack of entertaining everyone as usual. Hope to get back to the fun stuff soon. However, in the meantime here are some updates:

• Alex Terehoff, a Russian blogger, interviewed me recently, and posted the whole thing in both English and Russian. I think it’s the most thorough interview I’ve ever done. So if you want to know anything about me, he probably asked!
• The big news is that Woopra is coming out of beta. Here is a blog post and a video of me explaining what is going on. We’re taking all feedback into consideration, so feel free to share your opinion.
• Tomorrow I’m leaving for Photoshop world in Las Vegas. I hope to come back a dramatically improved photographer. If any of you are going please let me know as I’d love to meet you. Just drop a comment below. Heck, maybe we could even put together a little meetup.
• In a couple of weeks, I’ll be speaking at the Blog World / WordCamp Las Vegas event. My speech will be unlike anything I’ve ever given. So, I suppose if you enjoy my previous lectures, you might not want to miss this one.

But I wonder… what the heck are YOU guys up to? I’m dying to know! So please leave a comment and tell me! Seriously. I’m serious about this. Do it! That is all… :-)

So, one of my favorite comedians, Kyle Cease, is having a course where they teach standup comedy to new and aspiring… um, comedians. Make no mistake about it, I NEVER want to be a comedian. Ever.

But I would like to go hang with Kyle and the rest of the folks and just experience what is going on there? Who knows? I might even do some stupid shit and give a few comedians some free material. One can never tell.

Anyway, Kyle asked people to answer a few questions so that he could choose to give one person a free pass to bootcamp. And I decided to answer just for fun! But since there are like 100+ entries (plus who knows if mine actually gets approved!) I figured I’d share my submission here for you guys to tell me how I did. :-)
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MUCH thanks to Terry G for forwarding this video on to me. Before I saw this, my stomach was all tied up in knots and I was just an anxious mess. I mean the fact that there are always too many hot dogs, and not enough buns, has been clearly unacceptable!

Come on people! Why can’t Oscar Meyer and Wonder just call a truce and negotiate a settlement on what the proper number of dogs and buns to a package should be! As the person from Kraft said in this video by John Hargrave, “…sir we don’t work together with Wonder….” Well, that’s obvious! But maybe you should my friend! Maybe you should.
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This is the greatest commercial that anyone has ever done for an event that I’ve seen. You’ve got Guy Kawasaki, Chris Brogen, and Cali Lewis… oh, and Chad Vader. :-)

Incidentally, I’ll be attending Blog World in Las Vegas as well, and I’ll be lecturing at the WordCamp Las Vegas event that will be happening right smack dab in the middle of Blog World! Yee Haw! It should be a blast.

I’ll be teaching you everything you ever needed to know to grow rich, powerful and sexy from your blog! Well, either that or I’ll give you some WordPress tips and tricks, as well as an overview of how to use your stats to improve the online experience.
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Ok everyone, I’m making up a new Twitter / Facebook game. You can use it in either place (or as I plan to do since I use TweetDeck, both).

This little game is called FabriTweet. And here is how it goes:

• You fabricate the most outrageous story that you possibly can fit into 140 characters or less.
• You Tweet it and use the hashtag #fabritweet

I’ve already set my search up in TweetDeck to keep an eye out for FabriTweets, so I hope that someone out there will play along! This could just prove to be a fun creative outlet to provide Christmas cheer all day long.
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