I shot this image of a silhouetted cowboy and a horse at sunset over a year ago. At the time thought is was kind of cool, so I shared it on Flickr. A year later, I received an email from Penguin saying they’d found my image on Flickr and would like to use it for the cover of a new book! Yesterday, a cheque in the mail arrived. It’s my very first book cover!

What shocked me was that somebody actually paid me real money for a experimental shot that I took for fun and for free. I wanted to share this story with you because it really hammered home some really important points about the nature of the photography business in this new digital and social age and all the things that are possible for someone with no training, little money, and a strong passion for taking great photos.

1. You can get great shots with any camera: I shot this with my trusty Canon Rebel Xti (400D) with a basic kit lens. The quality was good enough to print. Never let your gear limit you, instead learn to master what you’ve got and try to the best possible images you can.
2. Even iPhone shots are good enough to print: We are seeing more and more publications accept images shot with an iPhone. The most recent MacWorld Cover was shot with an iPhone 4. F-Stoppers shot an entire fashion shoot with a 3GS. Additionally, when I was reporting on the 2010 Olympics for the Vancouver newspaper, The Province, they posted an iPhone 3G photo taken of me and a very large fry on the front page of the paper. They continued to use my iPhone shots in the paper many times.
3. The more you shoot, the more you learn, the better you get: I feel like I’ve come a long way since that cowboy shoot and if it weren’t for that photo session and the many sessions after that, I wouldn’t be able to take the shots I take now. I honestly didn’t have a clue how to do anything technical when I started out. I often made big mistakes and taken crummy photos. Instead of feeling bad when you take a poor photo, analyze it and try to figure out why it’s poor and how you can improve your skills for next time.
4. Most learning happens by “just doing it”: I haven’t taken a single photography class or read a photography related book cover to cover. I learnt everything I know by doing and doing until I got it right. When I couldn’t figure something out something technical, I’d call other photographers, connect on Flickr, or dive into Strobist for a week.
   
5. Other photographers are your greatest allies: Whenever I meet another photographer like Ken (pictured on left) and Scott (right), I completely barrage them with questions about gear, lighting, techniques, etc. I find most photographers are completely open to sharing information and are wonderful shoulders to cry on when you are lacking inspiration. You can meet tons of photogs on Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook. Share your ideas, go for photo walks and garner inspiration from them.
6. Believe in yourself and your photographic abilities: We all have bad days, unproductive days, but it’s the people that keep plodding through the difficult times that end up succeeding. I’m very hard on myself and my photography, and sometimes I’ve completely abandoned it for months because I didn’t feel like my shots were good enough. Now, if I’m having a bad day with my 5DMKII, I’ll switch things up and shoot with my iPhone. I find by taking the pressure off and just shooting for fun, I can overcome a lot of my self-critical negativity. At the end of the day, we shoot because we love photography, not to create perfect images.
7. Share your photos: If I hadn’t uploaded that cowboy photo to Flickr, Penguin would have never found it. It’s that simple. The greater distribution your photos have, the more people will see them and the greater opportunities you have to publish or sell your images. So start sharing your shots! Plus, it really helps to have others both praise and criticize your work.
8. You can make money with your photography: It’s not easy, but it’s definitely within your grasp. I did it with no training, just hard work and perseverance and so can you! I’m going to do an expanded post on this topic soon, because I know what a battle it is to get paid for professional photography work when everyone’s Uncle Jim considers themselves a Pro photographer.

Until then start with Step One: Get out and shoot. Step Two: Share your photos! I want to see everyone posting pictures on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Tumblr & their blogs. Can’t wait to see your shots!!

The newest version of Camera+ offers some powerful tools to take great shots with your iPhone. I’ve seen some breathtaking shots from budding iPhoneographers through our weekly photo contests.

In this video tutorial, I demo some creative ways you can use our new Camera features, Touch Focus and Touch Exposure, to take your iPhone photos to a whole new level. I can’t wait to see your photos!

Link me to any of your great shots on this post!

Since it’s summertime, I thought I’d do a video tutorial this week on how to take great beach photos with your iPhone since dSLRs don’t seem to like sand and water too much :(

This week’s contest theme: Beach Photos

The second contest’s theme is beach photos. Any images taken on or near a beach will be considered for the contest. Photos must be taken with the iPhone using the Camera+ app.

Here are the contest details:

1. Follow me, @mostlylisa on Twitter.
2. Share your photos on Twitter using the Camera+ Share button and include the hashtag #MLPhotoContest in your tweet so we can find you.
3. The contest ends July 15th, 2010 at midnight EDT.

There is no restriction to the number of entries, so feel free to enter as many times as you like! I will announce the winner on Friday, July 16th, 2010.

This week’s winner will receive a $100 iTunes Gift Certificate.

Congratulations to last week’s winner Kalle Oksa for his awesome Kullaberg landscape shot.

My video tutorial this week focuses on how to take great landscape photos with your iPhone. I will be running another Mostly Lisa Photo of the Week contest to encourage you to share your best Camera+ photo and win great prizes.

Jump to Contest details.

Kitsilano Beach. FX: Redscale.

1. Shoot during Sunrise or Sunset

The quality of light is one of the most important things in great scenery shots. Ideally, you want to shoot landscapes either at sunrise or sunset when the light is the most even and the colours are the most brilliant. Try to avoid shooting in harsh, high-contrast light around mid-day. 

Scene Mode: Sunset, FX: Miniaturize

My favourite time to shoot is magic hour — the hour right before sunset when the light is soft and golden. This is the ultimate time to capture silhouette and lens flare shots. It’s actually quite impressive how well the iPhone deals with this kind of light. I’ve been really surprised with the lens flare shots I’ve captured with my iPhone. Plus, it is way less stressful taking your iPhone to the beach versus your expensive dSLR.

2. Exposing your shot

Setting the exposure on an iPhone is very finicky. If you tap and correctly expose for the sky (under exposing the land or sea), you get a much more balanced image than if you expose for the land/sea and blow out your sky. It’s much easier to fix under exposure than blow out. If you are using Camera+ (which you should because it’s awesome :P), you can auto correct poor exposures using any of the scene modes and add a touch of awesome with the FXs modes.

FX: HDR

3. Compose the whole frame

When you compose your shot make sure that the edges of your frame are as strong as the centre. Watch for any distracting elements protruding into your shot like tree branches, power lines, or that guy that always manages to walk into your shot and ruin it. If you can’t avoid getting distracting guy into your shot, then make sure to crop him out of your final picture.

Blue Heron. FX: Cross Process

4. Demonstrate a sense of scale

Without a reference point, majestic mountains can lose their grandeur, so make sure you frame in a reference point of scale. Buildings, people, sailboats all add a sense of scale to landscape photos.

5. Rule of thirds

Great landscape photos almost always follow the rule of thirds. This golden rule of photography is easy to implement using a 3×3 grid in camera mode. Instead of placing the horizon in the middle of the frame, place it off centre at one of intersection points. I like to use the power points in the top right or bottom left. Also, adding a foreground element can also add a greater depth to your photos.

Kitsilano Picnic. Scene Mode: Sunset.

With that being said. anything is possible with iPhone photography so get out there, break all the rules and have fun!

The first step to taking great photos is getting outside and taking a lot photos. I know it’s scary to step away from your Apple control station and out into the cruel world, but I know you can do it. We can do it together.

1. Capture the Big Picture

When you arrive at a location try to take a picture that captures the entire scene. Take a step back and try to compose your shot so that you get all the action in one shot.

Empire State, FX: Hipster + Vintage border.

2. Take a lot of pictures.

This seems like an obvious point, but I meet a lot of people who only take one or two shots of at a time and wonder why they didn’t get a great shot. To give you some perspective, I took over 500 photos a day on my recent trip to New York. In the 500, I probably got 20 great photos and the rest were meh.

The Situation :P, FX: Sunkiss’d + thin white border.

3. Pay Attention to Details

Street photography is all about capturing quirky, candid and unexpected shots. This is why it’s almost better to shoot with your iPhone, instead of your dSLR. You can sneak shots in almost anywhere when you are taking it with an iPhone. Try the same thing with a professional dSLR and feel the wrath of angry shop owners, pedestrians and over-protective dog owners :P

King Kong is sad :( FX: So Emo.

4. Compose your shots

Taxi! FX: Redscale.

Composing your images is the key to getting images. With the iPhone you don’t have to worry about setting your aperture, shutter speed or white balance, so it’s the perfect opportunity to focus solely on the composition of your shots.

5. Process your images

Ice Cream, FX: Vibrant.

Before I started working on Camera+, I used to process a lot of my iPhone pictures in Photoshop. No joke, I’m that much of a control freak :P Now I just tap the one-touch FXs and share directly from my iPhone to Twitter, Flickr and Facebook. Obviously I’m biased since I made the FXs, but I’m having so much fun adding them to my photos. I can’t wait to see your shots!

I am starting a Mostly Lisa Photo of the Week contest to encourage you to share your best Camera+ photo and win great prizes!!

The first contest’s theme is street photography. Any images taken outside in urban environments will be considered for the contest. Photos must be taken with the iPhone using the Camera+ app.

Here are the contest details:

1. Follow me, @mostlylisa on Twitter.
2. Share your photos on Twitter using the Camera+ Share button and include the hashtag #MLPhotoContest in your tweet so we can find you.
3. The contest ends June 22, 2010 at midnight EDT.

There is no restriction to the number of entries, so feel free to enter as many times as you like! I will announce the winner on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010.

This week’s winner will receive a $100 iTunes Gift Certificate.

I can’t wait to see your shots!

I’m just about to fall asleep for the first time in 41 hours. The launch of Camera+, the iPhone photo App I’ve been working on with Taptaptap, coupled with iPhone 4  buzz, the AT&T fail, and general WWDC pandemonium.

I just wanted to let everyone, especially budding photographers, about this ridiculous promotion we are doing for Camera+  to win my dream camera rig (valued at over $10,000).

It will physically hurt me to give this amazing gear away, but they are making me… boo hiss.

Good luck to all of you. I really hope one of you wins! *fingers crossed*

Best iPhone Camera App Ever and my first App ; )

Camera+, the App that I’ve been working on for over a year, is now available in the App Store.

Woooo! *does a happy dance*

If you’ve been following my Twitter, Tumblr or Flickr stream, you’ve probably noticed a lot of iPhone shots pop up recently from my trips to New York and San Francisco. Now I can finally share the amazing app that created all those cool FXs!

HDR (Special FX)

I partnered with the amazing Taptaptap team including, John Casasanta, Scott Meinzer, Wolfgang Bartleme and Karl Von Randow, on Camera+ and I truly believe we built the most streamlined and extensive camera App for the iPhone.

Purple Haze (Colour FX)

I spent most of my time creating and tweaking all the custom Scene and FXs for the App in Photoshop. In all honesty, it was really hard coming up with 24 unique FXs.

I can’t even count the number of crazy and horrible FXs I came up with in the process, but I’m sure my colleagues can tell you that “subtlety” is not in my post-processing vocabulary. :P

Hipster (Retro FX).

We went all out on the names of the FXs, “So Emo” being my absolute favourite.

We’ve all had so much fun testing and creating the App, minus the time when we got slapped with a big rejection from Apple for trying to sneak in an illegal feature :-/

It’s been a long process and one that has renewed my passion for taking and sharing images. I am ecstatic to share this App with you! I can’t wait to see what you create with Camera+.

Download the App & show me your photos!

I’m doing a bit of digital spring cleaning today, starting with my library of photos in Lightroom. During my cleaning, I noticed all the crummy photos I’ve taken over the last few years. After feeling mildly embarrassed, I realized how much I’ve actually learned about photography, simply from taking bad photos.

So, I’m going to do something that I’ve never done, share some of my worst photos (eek) and the lessons I learned from them.

1. Learn to focus your camera manually.

Both focus and composition were not my friend in this picture.

Focusing is one of the most basic photography skills, yet it seems to be the most difficult to master. When I started I relied completely on Auto Focus, which rarely, if ever, worked in low light and back lit situations.

Because of this dependance I spent most of my time during shoots waiting for my camera to grab focus, then actually taking shots. Since I’ve been shooting a lot more video with the 5DMKII, I’ve had to master manual focus. Now, I find my eye is a lot more reliable than auto focus.

2. Learn to expose your pictures correctly.

Ouch, this photo is blinding me!

Nothing you do in post will save an overexposed picture. You cannot recover information that isn’t there to start with, so turn on your histogram and watch out for “blinkies”. Highlight warning flashes on your histogram let you know which parts of your photo are overexposed.

This is particularly useful when you are outside on a sunny day and can’t see your camera’s LCD screen very well. Look in your camera manual for Highlight warning and it should tell you how to set this feature up on your camera.

3. Don’t crop off body parts.

I haz no fingurz!

This would be a good photo except for her missing fingers and elbow… Doh! In going through my old shots, I noticed many shots where I cropped out a lovely model’s foot, chin, arm, or leg. Even your most creative editing job will not save a photo of  model with a missing chin.

4. Avoid busy backgrounds.

This background smelled as bad as it looked.

Something that is bokeh beautiful at f/1.8 looks like a hot mess at f/8.0. When I was shooting this I thought cockily, “I’ll just deal with that mess in post”. Yeah right. No amount of post can fix this background disaster.

It’s Happening. The plants are aliiiiive.

Speaking of disasters, this photo is taken at a fairly wide aperture (f/4.0) and that mess of forest jungle is completely overpowering the gorgeous model in the photo. Always watch for busy shrubbery. It will often take on a life of it’s own and ruin your best shots.

5. Choose an appropriate setting for your subject.

Tucker gives his best bokeh face.

As you know, I’m a huge bokeh fan and use it all the time in my portrait photography. While bokeh is a lovely backdrop for pretty girls, babies, and kittens, it’s not necessarily the best choice for a rock musician.

Though Tucker shows off his “sensitive side” quite well here, he ultimately did not choose this photo torepresent his musical career. Maybe if I photoshopped in a kitten? How about a kitten with an iPad?

6. There is such a thing as too much lens flare.

Lens flare attack!

I use lens flare almost as much as I use bokeh to give portraits a dreamy quality, but the nightmare of removing a lens flare nightmare smack in the middle of someone’s face is no fun at all.

7. Avoid flashing your strobe into windows

Poor dear is caught in the headlights.

Seems obvious really, but as you can see from this photo, it does happen. Also avoid taking a picture of your reflection in windows, mirrors, and shiny objects.

8. Avoid dead-centre syndrome

The model is lovely, my framing job? Not.so.much.

Not all of us have 19-focus points, so some of us have to plop our subject right in the middle of the frame for those auto focus points to do their thing. Sounds like a good excuse, doesn’t it?

I’ve noticed that my worst photos are often framed like this, most likely due to my lack of focusing skill at the time. Since we are all going to promise to learn how to focus our shots better… we can start to demonstrate our compositional talent by actually observing the Rule of Thirds.

NB. It’s easier to frame your subject if you have the grid screen enabled on your camera.

So now that you’ve seen my worst photographic efforts, I hope you’ve learnt a few lessons, or at least to not get down on yourself for making the same mistakes. Now get out there and shoot, make lots of mistakes, and become a better photographer!

What lessons have you learned from your bad photos?

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NYC: A city that is dead serious about yellow taxis, car horns, smoking, noise, fashion, firemen & late night diner food.

As soon as I step out of the plane in Newark, NJ, I am in full sensory overload.

Arriving in Newark, NJ.

The stifling, muggy heat is a shock to my system. It reminds me of Toronto in mid-August during an unbearable heat wave.

Pete Cashmore being hit with the muggy air outside of Newark Airport.

The city is sticky. My flip flops slap against the side walk and actually stick for a fraction of a second, until they get a dunk in something wet. I’m hoping it’s left over rain water. *crosses fingers*

Sex & the City sign in Chinatown.

Before coming to NYC, the only things I knew about the city came from flagrant fictional tales spun by the writers of movies and tv shows like Sex and the City. But what about the real NYC?

NoHo Firestation.

New Yorkers seem to have a very strong attachment to their city, something you just don’t see in Canada. I certainly felt immense pride during the 2010 Olympics, but six weeks later I’m already looking to ditch my hometown for the opportunities and sunny weather of the cities in SoCal.

The Fanfare of Little Italy.

My first taste of New York City pride is in Little Italy. It’s the stuff of dreams: Bold, brash, and colourful with the smell of Italian Roast and pungent pizza pies lingering in the stagnant air. I am tempted by wafting scent of mozzarella and oregano, but ultimately pulled inside by indulgent pastry display at Ferrera’s Bakery and Cafe.

Eating Canollis at Ferrera’s in Little Italy.

The cheerful waitress is happy to fill my plate with Canollis, Neapolitans, & everything and anything stuffed with sweet creamy cheesy goop. Mmm.

Kitschy souvenirs sold in Little Italy.

Bada Bing is right. After gorging on sugary snacks, I take a stroll down the back streets of Little Italy. Enter John Jovino, the oldest gun shop in America. If the pictures of deer with target marks splotched between their innocent eyes displayed in the store front didn’t give you the warm and fuzzies then the vast array of weaponry sure would.

This shop scared me.

At some point Little Italy merged with Chinatown and a strange zone of nothingness that no one had bother claiming.

No-man’s land in between Chinatown, Little Italy & SoHo.

No one except monstrous, multilevel parking lots that reminds me of my beloved Hot Wheels Parking Garage set I had when I was a kid. Except this fun game charged you $10.50 per half hour! And I thought parking prices in downtown Vancouver were ridiculous.

Insane vertical parking-lot fills the void.

At this point, I am dying for some Air-Con and a Starbucks. Just as my mouth started watering for a skinny, half-sweet Chai Latte, a Starbucks magically appears right before my eyes. That seems to happen more and more these days.

Starbucks on Canal St, Chinatown.

Douchy Starbucks’ drink in hand, I set off to explore Chinatown. The combination of smells and noises on this sweltering day, is not for the faint at heart. Most of the knee-jerking aromas are difficult to pin-point, but if I have to wager, I’d bet on something fishy, or as the picture below suggests, once ducky. :(

Noooooooo!

After a moment of silence for my fine feathered friends and purchasing a gorgeous pashmina scarf for $5 –is that even legal?– I press on to SoHo.

Broadway St, Soho, NYC.

The scent of hot dogs & pretzels drift down Broadway St. as high-end shops mingle with discount boutiques in one of the best shopping areas in Manhattan.

Broome & Broadway in Soho.

Being useless at shopping for anything other than electronics, I look for someone to guide me in the right direction. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot the girls of Sex & the City: The Real World. Unfortunately, they have little time to talk as they are on Red Alert for a “cute pair of this season’s to-die-for strappy sandals.”

Shop til you drop gfs!

Unsuccessful at finding anything wearable I turn my attention to SoHo for my newly acquired NYC sport: Model watching.

The tall, leggy beauties dance among the mortals, draped in expensive swaths of cloth, cigarette in one hand, $3K handbag in the other.

The day is closing out and I’m due at a Mashable shin dig in TriBeCa. I hop in a taxi that gets stuck in traffic on the same 3 blocks for 30 minutes RRR.

Canal St., TriBeCa.

$20 later I arrive 5 blocks farther where the NY tech scene is gathering to celebrate Mashable’s new NY Office.

Mashable Team NYC: Adam H, Adam O., Pete Cashmore, Brenna & Sharon (5DMKII).

I have a few too many “just surprise me” drinks and end up taking skewed artsy pictures of men in suits.

4 hours later we are all packed into a diner, kitty corner to the 14th St. Apple store. What a trip!

Though I didn’t venture in the direction of Time Square due to the crazy bomb scare, I feel like I took in a lot of the city.

The 14th St. Apple Store. (NB. I still don’t want an iPad :P)

NYC is a photographer’s paradise with both the city and it’s people as potential muses.

Making smoking sexy since 2000.

A city that seems to strike both stereotypical poses…

NYC Taxis are scary!

Doggy-walking in SoHo.

God Bless Soft Serve.

and surreal ones…

The skyline at sunrise from my hotel room.

Skynet? LOLzorz.

And with that I bid adieu to the city that never sleeps… I’m tired and need longer than a New York minute to recover. Back to the frozen north I go…

Mukmuk sees the Rockies! Almost home.

Timbits in hand :)

Photo by Pete Cashmore :P

All shots taken on the iPhone 3GS using a new iPhone App that I’m helping develop! Coming soon :)

I’m back from a quick trip to San Francisco. Although I brought my 5DMKII, I actually spent most of my time shooting with my iPhone. I found myself really enjoying snapping hundreds of pictures with wild abandon, shooting things I would have never “wasted” shots on with my 5DMKII.

This experience was a valuable reminder of what I love about photography: The act of taking pictures. The sheer joy of capturing a moment is such a powerful feeling as a photographer and one that I’ve been missing in recent months.

Team Cheer at the SF Heart, Union Square, SF.

I find that many photographers, especially the perfectionists among us, feel a huge pressure when it comes to their photography. Gaining good editing and photoshop skills, as well as pushing yourself creatively is an important part of becoming a better photographer, but when you start feeling perpetually unsatisfied with every picture you take, you start to lose the passion and love for the thing you love to do.

I’ve noticed this with my attitude towards my own photography, so I thought I’d share some tips to help you generate a little bit of heat between you and your camera.

1. Fill up your memory card.

Union Square, SF, iPhone.

Never limit the number of shots you take based on digital space, just line your pockets with memory cards :) Memory is cheap. Buy plenty of memory cards and don’t be scared of filling up your cards. I carry 2×8GB, 2×4GB, & 2×2GB CFs plus 2×8GB SD cards for my P&S with me all the time.

Market & Montgomery, iPhone.

I’ve had photo shoots with models where I didn’t get a great shot until Shot 100 after one hour of shooting. Think about professional fashion photographers who snap-snap-snap 10s of pictures a second. If you don’t get the shot the first try, keep shooting until you do.

2. Don’t edit in camera

Robson & Howe, Vancouver, iPhone.

You may think that keeping those 50 shots of blurry pigeons flying into the blue sky, but you never know what you are going to get with a photo until you see it on your computer screen. The LCD screens on your camera/iPhone is extremely deceptive and can not be trusted out in the field, especially on a sunny day.

Some photographers swear on editing shots in camera, but I disagree. You can always dump the unusable shots during your first editing pass on your computer. So, keep those shots, even the overexposed, blurry ones, you might just have the next famous, award-winning blurry pigeon shot sitting on your CF card.

3. Share your photos

Pete Cashmore catching a cab on Market St., iPhone.

Never feel embarrassed to share your shots with others because you don’t think they are “good enough”. We are all at differing levels of ability from a day old shutterbug to Annie Leibovitz. And let’s face it, not every shot is destined for the front page of Vogue, so cut yourself some slack and don’t get caught up in negative feedback.

Powell & Market Trolly! Ding ding.

Criticism is never easy to take, especially with something as personal as photography, but learning from our mistakes is how we grow as photographers. By not sharing your photos you are not only preventing yourself from growing, but also shutting yourself off from receiving praise and encouragement from others.

Networking with other photographers is one of the most motivating things you can do. So, put yourself out there a little and post a photo on your Facebook. It’s as easy as one, two, Zukerberg…

4. Don’t miss a photo-op.

Golden Gate Bridge, iPhone shot from plane.

The world has an annoying habit of producing amazing photo-ops at the exact moments when you don’t have a camera on you. I’ve learnt this the hard way by missing many magical moments: A double rainbow over a field of hay bales in the south of England, a golden magic hour backlit shot of wild Pronghorn antelopes in Jackson hole, Wyoming, and a perfect sliver of light shining between two glassy high-rises in downtown Vancouver illuminating a beautiful woman carrying a red umbrella. *sigh* Having learnt this painful mistake numerous times, I now carry a camera with me where ever I go and often, in the palm of my hand.

It may annoy your friends more often then not and you will probably hear this phrase a few times: “Why do you take so many pictures all the time?” and possibly,“What’s so interesting about about that drain grate anyway?” But you’re a photographer, that’s who you are, so keep that camera close and capture as many moments as you can. You never know when that double rainbow is going to spring up.

5. Photograph what you love

My <3 Pete on the flight home, iPhone.

I love photographing people. I’ve explored all kinds of photography from landscapes to macros to wildlife to sports and I find that I’m just more passionate about photographing people. Even when I’m out shooting street photography I try to sneak candid shots of people.

I find that photographers that focus on one particular area of photography and building a portfolio of work in that area, tend to develop a more cohesive style. Plus, they are happy because they are photographing what they love to shoot. You’ll never find a more unhappy photographer than a passionate sports photographer shooting weddings. “Can we have a replay on the bouquet toss? This time really give it some air”.

Now it’s your turn. Make me a promise that you’ll fall in love with your photography again! Happy snapping & share your shots in the comments below :)

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