Fine Art America is the premier online marketplace for purchasing fine art originals and prints.  It is also the easiest way to discover new artists and art galleries and to stay connected to your local art scene!   Visit our gallery site at wes-and-dotty-weber.fineartamerica.com    

Looking for some early Christmas gifts?  Or just want a WesDotPhotography print on your wall?   Now is the time!

I know the shopping season can be very hectic so I'm starting my annual Christmas discount early so you can get a jump on things.  So starting today, November 9th, 2013 I am running my annual Christmas discount at our Fine Art America website.

By entering the code XZZUGV the first 30 buyers will receive a 20% discount off our markup.   The base materials e.g. frames, mats, stretched canvas, etc. will not be included in this discount offer.

If you would ever like to see many more of our images 'Like' our page on Facebook by following this link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/WesDotPhotography/183908382540

Thanks so much for your continued support.

Dotty & Wes  
wes-and-dotty-weber.fineartamerica.com   

This is the Scripts screen that I use to copyright several portrait oriented images at once to post to social media.  This screen is located under the File tab in Photoshop.

1)   Open one or several images that are all of the same format.  For this example we will open up several portrait images from Adobe Bridge.  To open several completed JPEG images click on each image holding the Ctrl button down.  This will select each image.  Then either click enter or right click on one of the selected images and then select 'Open in Adobe Photoshop'.   All images will appear in Photoshop with the active image in the preview area of your screen and all others in the tabs above the preview.  That is if you have your Photoshop screen set up as I do. 
See screen print below for an example of two images opened. You won't see both images on the screen but will know there are 2 open by the image titles on the top bar.

2)   Using the Copyright brush tool you created in the prior Blog post on the image click where you wish it to be.

3)   Click on each image by selecting the 'un-highlighted' image tab to make the next image active and run the 'Copyright Portrait' action.  Do this for each portrait image you have opened in Photoshop.

4)   When all images have the Copyright Symbols added and arranged to your liking you are ready to re-size the images and make them ready to add to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, your website or share online.  Here are the steps:

5)   Click on 'File' at the top left hand size of your screen.  This will open the drop downs.

6)   Click on 'Scripts' towards the bottom of the list which will bring out a 'flyout' box.

7)   In this 'flyout' box, click on 'Images Processor'.  The box that will appear next is the same as the screen print at the top of this blog post.  The items to pay attention to are:

• 1) Select the images to process.   I use the 'Use Open Images' button as I want the images I've just copyrighted to be processed.
• 2) Select location to save processed images.  I use the 'Save in Same Location' button as I like the copyrighted images to be saved in the same location as the original.  A new folder will be created in this folder called 'JPEG'.

• 3) File Type.  This has several options. 
•     As I save these images as JPEGs I use that file type by checking the 'Save as JPEG' box,
•     I set the quality at 12.  If you are concerned about theft you can use a lower number.  This will make the image size small enough that if someone does try to print from this it will be pixallated if printed in a large print.
  
•     Check the 'Convert to Profile to sRGB' box.  This is the best profile for the internet to keep colors from shifting.
•     Check the 'Resize to Fit' box.  This box is crucial to resizing the images to portrait, landscape or square format.          For Portrait use W: 687 px  H: 1024 px
•     Use all the prior steps for Landscape images with the exception of changing to W: 1024 px  H: 687 px
•     The same for a square format image except change to W: 1024 px  H: 1024 px   
• 4)  Preferences.  You can add Copyright Info which would embed into the images by typing that into the box and click on the 'Include ICC Profile' box if you wish.
• Click on 'Run' at the upper right hand area of this box.  Each image that has been selected will process and re-sized images will populate into the new created 'JPEG' folder within the original folder.
• CRUCIAL LAST STEP:  All the images that you have just processed will remain in Photoshop.  In 'File'  select 'Close All'.  As you close each file make sure you do not 'save'.  You do not want to have your originals stamped and re-sized.
     

We were honored this week with being named 'Featured Artist of the Week' on the website, Fine Art America that we use to sell and market our images.  This website has what  is called 'Groups' for different subjects that focus on many different topics.  It also makes it easier for visitors to the site to locate images centered around what you might be looking for. 

This group is a fun group as it focuses not on a single subject but instead on the photographers, hence the name 'Old Masters'.  It's not what it appears to be but is instead....well, I'll let their 'About the Group' explain:

"YOU MUST BE 60 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER TO JOIN THIS GROUP, which is established to promote the work of mature artists OVER SIXTY.
All others are welcome to look (and buy!), but please do not join this group if you are under 60 years of age! "

After clicking on this link scroll down a bit on the Fine Art America web page to see the featured artists:  http://fineartamerica.com/groups/old-masters--photographers-and-digital-arts--5-a-day.html?tab=overview

Come take a peek at one of our latest Kudos and while there click on one of our images from this link.  That will take you to our images where you can browse around.  Or once in our images you can also click on the 'Gallery' tab above the image to look at specific albums.

Enjoy and I would love to hear any and all feedback.  It helps us in our growth! 

Thanks

Dotty & Wes

A map of your visitors on your site.  

The website "Revolver Map" as a very clever map to show who visited your website.  It is a free tool and it looks very nice.  See above who visited wesdotphotography since I installed this map.

This is a very highly customizable map, mine shows depth of the oceans as well as snow caped mountains and poles. It will also change based on the seasons of the year.  It can shows flag and locations of your visitors as well.

Enjoy
Thierry

Visit http://www.revolvermaps.com/?target=setup for more detail.

So, it's been over a year now since I had the honor to photograph the fabulous show, Cavalia.  I had never done a bog but have posted many pictures on my Facebook page.  If you have never seen this show and have the opportunity to do so by all means do it.  You will be rewarded with one of those memories you'll never forget.  They have now taken their show to Australia which has their opening at Brisbane on March 6th, 2013.  Visit their website for more information and make sure you click on all the tabs to get a feel for the beauty of the horses and masterful talents of the riders. 
http://www.cavalia.net/en/cavalia-show

This slideshow below while it has many  of my favorite images from my shoots at the Portland Oregon show in 2011 and Seattle Washington show in 2012 is but a small amount of my images.  If you would like to see even more images check out my Facebook page to view the album links listed below:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150504452337541.365322.183908382540&
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150474729397541.361340.183908382540&
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150431168882541.354250.183908382540&
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150361159562541.345858.183908382540&
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150353877492541.344967.183908382540&
I hope you enjoy as much as I enjoyed experiencing the show in person.

Seeing these three beautiful places in California in our 2-week vacation was our goal.  But what time of the year seemed to be most favorable to us?  We settled on the first 2 weeks in April.  Here are some of the things we considered during our planning:

If we went later than April, Death Valley will be very hot.  So we made this our 1st destination and even with that the temperature peaked at 97° in Badwater.  So going in February the weather would be awesome.   But another thing to consider for going in early April is that the spring flowers can be spectacular with some luck and the right weather conditions being on your side.  So many decisions to be made!

To include Mono Lake into this trip we drove up Hwy 395 from Death Valley to Lee Vining which is the nearest town to Mono Lake.  We had one snowstorm overnight but by mid-morning it had melted.  Again in February you'll probably see more snow.  By the way, the tufas at Mono Lake are way cool covered in snow.  One more down side to February is missing a visit to the great ghost town of Bodie as the road will not be passable yet. 

The road over Tioga Pass into Yosemite Valley from Lee Vining is only 77 miles does not open until mid May.  This causes a detour to a pass that is open, meaning about a 6 hour drive.  This was our route:

• Drive North on Hwy 395 to Minden Nevada.

• Take Carson Pass (Hwy 88) to Jackson California

• Then take Hwy 49 South to Big Oak Flat

• Hwy 120 which will then take you into Yosemite.

If we went earlier than April, Yosemite would still be quite frozen.  Even in mid April we had two overnight lows of 15° and 19° and one snowstorm overnight which melted by early morning.  This time of the year also means we escaped the summertime crowds and saw the waterfalls flowing throughout the valley.  So Yosemite in February means you need to be ready for possibly a lot of snow and very cold temperatures. 

But here is my MAIN reason to suggest a visit in February.  You see there is this crazy, beautiful photographic event at Horsetail Falls that happens only around mid to late February.  Conditions have to be just right, enough snow melt for water to be coming over the cliff, and enough of a break in the clouds at just the right time around sunset for the light to hit the falls to see what looks like lava flowing where Horsetail Falls should be.  I've never seen it but it's on my bucket list of things to photograph.  And as I've not seen it myself I have no images I can share.  But here is a link from Yosemite Park to visit and see why it's a must see!  http://www.yosemitepark.com/horsetail-fall.aspx

We had a fabulous trip in April but I would bet you would have a 'WOW' trip if you go in February.  I know the next time we go I'll be aiming for a February trek!

Aperture Priority
ISO 800
f 5.6
1/1250
Manual Settings  This is quickly becoming my favorite shooting mode as long as the lighting is even and not constantly changing.  I try for an aperture of F8 to as wide open as possible depending on how close the subject is.  And the shutter no slower than 750th of a second, the faster the shutter the better.  Unless you are going for motion blur and panning then a 30th or 60th of a second can give some fun results.  I try to keep the ISO as low as possible like 200 or maybe 400.  
The secret to using manual is to keep an eye on the needle on your Canon camera viewfinder.  If it is in the middle your exposure should be 'right on'.  Changing either the aperture, shutter or ISO will move the needle either to the right of middle which will lighten your image or to the left of middle to darken your image.

Aperture Priority (AV)    I still like this mode a bit more than using a manual setting.  Sadly I must admit I very often forget to look at the needle in my viewfinder when in manual.  Then especially with wildlife you'll miss a great shot because you haven't changed your settings when you've gone into a forest after being in a wide open meadow.  
So with that being said I like shooting in AV priority mode with an aperture wide open like at 4 or 5.6 as long as I have plenty of light.  I again try to keep the ISO as low as possible like 200 or 400 to get fast shutter speeds. With those wide open apertures you get that great background blurring and sharp subjects that you have locked your  focus on.

Shutter Priority (TV)   I will use TV when the light has gotten very dim and I can't trust AV to stop the action enough to keep the blurring under control.  Try to steady the camera if you aren't using a tripod or monopod by leaning against something.  Depending on how fast your subject moves a 500th should work if the subject isn't a real fast mover.  If you are trying to shot a bird or galloping horse a 1,000th is really needed to get a sharp image if you are steady.   What you will find in TV is you might be getting shots but they will be very dark.   To avoid this you can either set your ISO higher or even try the automatic ISO setting.  I never used this automatic ISO setting as I didn't want my camera to be shooting at one of those astronomical ISO settings.  But since I've upgraded my Canon 7D with the new firmware that I blogged about earlier I was able to set the maximum ISO to an acceptable level.  I still like to set my own ISO but that is always subject to change, I never thought I would like to shoot in manual mode either.  So I never say never.

And always, always check your LCD often no matter what mode you shoot in to see if you are getting the results you want.

AND ONE LAST TIP:  I never ever believed all those photographers who said 'Turn off the image stabilization when shooting fast moving action in the burst mode'.  I really thought they were crazy.  I fought this for a long time until I tried it.....the results were many more images in focus than ever before. 

Remember, I'm by no means an expert at this but I keep on working at it.  Some of it might be helpful in finding your photographic road.