This particular was taken with the Nikon D700 and the 14-24 2.8 lens. This is an HDR image made of 5 bracketed shots.

I shoot this image at sunset from Lipan Point on Desert View Drive, I believe this is one the best view points to catch the sunset, as you can also see the river from there.

The image is an HDR made of 5 different exposures, as always combined in Photomatix Pro, and finished in Lightroom and Photoshop CS5.

This particular image was taken on one of the side buildings, I just loved the rusted signs. I’ll post more pictures of this place soon.

I took these 2 images right off Route 66, both are in different places, but of similar content, if you look around carefully you can find “beautiful” abandoned buildings, just need to go off-road and in the dirt a bit.

I processed both images using 5 different shots, HDR was made in Photomatix Pro and post processed in Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5.

[ps-gal-flash height=390 width=590]http://www.photoshelter.com/gallery/Miami-Railroad-Museum/G0000OnelD_8xNAI[/ps-gal-flash]

This was my first time shooting a motor-sports event, so I learned a lot and had fun, one of the most challenging situations besides that the cars really go fast!!!, was the climate, it was pouring almost the whole day, so I tried to keep my gear as dry as possible using just plastic bags, fortunately it worked fine.

The gear I used was my Nikon D300, with the 80-400 and the 24-70, and I also carried a Gitzo monopod that was very useful for the bigger lens.

Earlier in the morning I concentrated in the boxes and garages, there are plenty of opportunities there for good images, as I was trying to gather as much as I can to help me tell the history, I also focused in drivers and technicians. Then went down to the track to try some panning and action shots.

Here is a gallery of the shots I most like from that day, it was fun and I’m looking forward to do it again…

[ps-gal-flash height=390 width=590]http://www.photoshelter.com/gallery/Fara-Races/G0000Akj7PUBGqHo[/ps-gal-flash]

That’s all for now…

But with the time they have introduced more and more tools, and today I use it almost every day as part of my workflow.

Photoshelter is a very powerful tool, that not only host my galleries, but also seamlessly integrates with my blog and helps me to distribute my images among the different microstock agencies I contribute with just one click, and also provides an outlet to license my images and sell prints direct.

One of the things that I really like is the ability to integrate with other platforms, it provides different ways to publish and showcase my work, I can easily embed pictures or galleries with slideshows into all social media networks with just one click, and integrates very well with wordpress, but there is more…. they have a full integration with Graph Paper Press and Visual Society for creating photography blogs and websites, in fact this blog is running on that platform and it really works like a charm. You can check my galleries in other posts, but just as an example I posted on this one a gallery with my favorite pictures, a project I recently started, where I am planning to ad frequent posts with my favorite pictures and at the same time embed a gallery containing all of them.

This website also helps me to license my images direct, but in order for this to happen it is important to count with a system that properly catalog and works well with all SEO techniques so my pictures can be found, Photoshelter does that and much more, as their team is fully committed to help photographers to market their images direct, so they also provide educational tools and studies to support us. I have a very small portfolio compared with other photographers but even with that, I managed to license images and sell prints using Photoshelter directly to end users.

As I mentioned before I use Photoshelter for different applications, and beyond licensing my images direct to customers I also use it for distribute my images among all the sites I am a contributor. I just discovered this option not too long ago… and gosh that it saves time…, as I have now to upload my files just once, and from there using an FTP export option I can upload to all the different sites very quick and preserving all the IPTC data intact. So my workflow is more or less like this…

I first export the images direct from my Lightroom catalog direct to my PA (Photoshelter Archive) account; I can do this via a plug in that works very well. I do this every day as soon as I finish editing all the images, I upload them to my PA.

I then place all the images that I know are going to my microstock agencies in a temporary folder so I can easily identify them.

Once I am done and I have a batch ready I simply choose the Export via FTP option and a new window with all the presets I have there appears asking me to select the ones I am going to export. I check them all and the process begins.

A new window opens showing the progress of all the transmissions, and in a matter of minutes I can start submitting those images for approval.

In sum, Photoshelter is a great tool for togs, is not easy to describe all different functions an applications they have developed to help this community in just a post, but you can check them out and try it for yourself by clicking here.

That’s all for now folks, more to come soon, in the meantime get out there and shoot something…

Una gran herramienta para comercializar y distribuir mis fotos.

Hace ya un tiempo que estoy utilizando Photoshelter, al principio como una forma de archivar mis imagines y para poder montar galerias online rápida y fácilmente.

Pero con el tiempo ellos han introducido cada vez mas y mas opciones, y hoy en día se ha convertido en parte esencial de mi rutina de trabajo.

Photoshelter, es una herramienta muy poderosa, que mas allá de presentar mis galerías, se integra sin ningún problema con mi blog, y al mismo tiempo me ayuda a distribuir muy fácilmente las fotos a través de las diferentes agencias de microstock a las cuales contribuyo, y también funciona como una fuente adicional para poder licenciar mis fotos en forma directa y vender reproducciones.

Una de las cosas que mas me gustan es la habilidad de integración con otras plataformas, ya que provee varias formas diferentes de mostrar y publicar mi trabajo. El sistema me permite incluir galerías y slideshows, en toda las aplicaciones sociales, y se integra perfectamente con wordpress, pero hay mas… ellos ofrecen una integración total con Graph Paper Press y Visual Society para crear blogs y websites de fotografía, de hecho este blog funciona sobre esa plataforma y realmente funciona bien.

Este servicio también me ayuda a licenciar las imágenes en forma directa, pero para poder hacer eso, es muy importante contar con un método de catálogos e indexación que trabaje en forma adecuada con todas las técnicas de optimización de buscadores, para que las fotos puedan ser encontradas. Photoshelter puede hacer eso y mucho mas, ya que el equipo de trabajo esta totalmente comprometido a ayudar a los fotógrafos a licenciar imágenes en forma directa, proveyendo además soporte permanente y material educacional. Mi portfolio es bien pequeño comparado con otros, sin embargo he logrado, utilizando este servicio vender licencias y reproducciones a clientes en forma directa.

Como mencione anteriormente, utilizo Photoshelter para diferentes aplicaciones, y otra de ellas es la distribución de las imágenes entre los sitios a los cuales contribuyo. Esta función la descubrí recientemente, y realmente agiliza el trabajo, ya que ahora solo tengo que subir los files una sola vez, y desde allí puedo exportar a los diferentes sitios preservando toda la información contenida en el IPTC intacta. Así que ahora mi rutina de trabajo es mas o menos de la siguiente manera.

Lo primero es exportar las imágenes directamente desde Lightroom a mi cuenta (Photoshelter Archive) PA. Esto lo hago en forma diaria o cada vez que termino de editar las fotos a través de un plugin. Este es un proceso bien directo y sencillo.

Luego coloco estas fotos en una carpeta temporaria junto a todas las imágenes ya se de antemano voy a exportar a las diferentes agencias de microstock.

Una vez que tengo un conjunto de fotos listas, simplemente elijo la opción “Export via FTP” y se abre una nueva ventana donde puedo seleccionar cuales son los sitios a los que quiero exportar. Una vez seleccionados el proceso comienza.

Una nueva ventana se abre mostrando el progreso de todas las transmisiones, y en cuestión de minutos ya puedo comenzar con el proceso de envio para aprobación en las diferentes agencias.

En suma, Photoshelter es una gran herramienta para fotógrafos, y la verdad es que ofrece tantas opciones que es casi imposible describir en detalle todas en un blog, pero te recomiendo que las pruebes vos mismo haciendo clic aquí.

Bueno, es todo por ahora, luego te cuento mas… mientras tanto salí por ahí y saca algunas fotos….

[ps-gal-flash height=390 width=590]http://www.photoshelter.com/gallery/My-favorites/G0000PYre3eJq3Xg[/ps-gal-flash]

My Faves Gallery

This gallery contains just the collection of my favorite  images posted in the blog, there is no particular reason or specific theme, I just like them so I decided to create a gallery to gather them together.

[ps-gal-flash height=390 width=590]http://www.photoshelter.com/gallery/My-favorites/G0000PYre3eJq3Xg[/ps-gal-flash]

Composition, lighting, textures, are just some of the elements photographers are constantly looking to create compelling images.

I can see images almost everywhere, even when I am not taking pictures I can see frames going through my mind, and because of this I observe things in a different way. I can easily perceive details in objects and places that other people might not see; I can see and enjoy the beauty of highlights and shadows, colors and textures.

Oh yes, when I walk around I also look everywhere, not only what is in front of me, but on the sides, in my back, up and down, because images can be found anywhere.

And of course if I walk around with the camera… oh my… people just don’t get it, I can’t count how many times people passing by asking me what I am shooting at, when they see me pointing the camera down the floor or just to a empty rusted wall… “dude… don’t you see it? I am just shooting the texture in the wall”

And talking about textures, a couple of weeks ago I went to Lake Worth, here in Florida to see the “street painting festival” which is really great, a lot of artists get together to participate in this event and paint in the street showing their art, and one of the images I love from that day is this shot of the pavement almost from the floor, showing lots of colors and textures of an area where kids where doing their own paintings.

Also, during a workshop I took back in January, during lunch we needed to go out and shoot something to bringing it back to the class, and I found this very simple electrical wire going across a rugged dark wall, and I just loved the texture and color contrast and just shot it.

So there you go, photography trained my eyes and brain to distinguish and perceive the world around me in a different way and see beautiful things where other people just can’t, and I love that…

That’s all for now folks, more to come soon, in the meantime get out there and shoot something…

Needless to say my camera was always with me, but I’ve decided to travel light and just brought with me the Nikon 18-200 VR and the Sigma 10-20 mm in both occasions.

Man, what a great place!!! Nassau has it all, from perfect sandy beaches, to the most impressive luxury resorts. I leave you with some of the pictures I most liked, and I really hope to get back there soon, with more time to shoot.

That’s all for now folks, more to come soon, in the meantime get out there and shoot something…

Nassau, un lugar idílico en el Caribe

Durante los últimos 60 días estuve dos veces en Nassau, Bahamas, la primera vez fueron vacaciones familiares y luego viaje de negocios…

Y como es de esperar mi cámara siempre estuvo conmigo, solo que en ambas ocasiones había decidido no llevar demasiadas cosas y solo cargue con la lente Nikon 18-200 VR y el Sigma 10-20 mm.

Que lugares!!! Nassau lo tiene todo, desde playas perfectas hasta los mas impresionantes hoteles de lujo. Acá te dejo algunas de las imágenes que mas me gustaron, realmente espero poder regresar pronto, esta vez con mas tiempo para hacer fotos.

Es todo por ahora, luego te cuento mas, mientras tanto, salí por ahí y saca algunas fotos…