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For this weeks photo of the week I chose an image I captured a little while ago of a band named Halestorm. The band member in the image is Josh the bass player. He was preparing to go on stage to kick off the show and was just hanging around just behind the stage. These are the type of photos I like to capture, the ones where its just me on stage in a place where other photographers are not. I say it all the time, if you can get out of the pit and away from the other photographers you will get something different.

It is funny how I ended up on stage and back stage for this concert. I originally did not have back stage access but ended up just climbing on stage before the show started. One of my friends was guitar teching the show came over said hey come on up il introduce you to the band. The more people you get to know at shows the easier it becomes to get access to places you want to go.

This photo is another prime reason why it is a bad practice to delete photos from the camera opposed to when you are sitting in front of the computer. There are so many times where I see the image on the 3 inch screen and go oh this isn't anything special than see it on the computer and go BOOOM WOW thats awesome. The only time I will delete from the camera is if I missed my focus and its out by a lot.

As you can see in the video this image went from a hazy color to a killer black and white in a few lightroom tweaks. Anytime you have a hazy background or smoke or fog you can pump up your black levels which will sometimes kill the haziness. It certainly worked in this image, we went from a lot of smoke to killer tones by really bumping the black levels.

Take a look at the video to hear the full story of this image as well as how the photo was edited.

To see the edited image click here http://froknowsphoto.com/1753/

Zibri a reader of FroKnowsPhoto.com submitted this image into the flickr photo group on flickr. I found this to be a very interesting capture and later came to find out that it is a huge crop from the original image.

We discuss why it was cropped and how he processed the file which is a pretty interesting story.

Take a listen and dont forget to join the group and submit your images

Join the group here
http://www.flickr.com/groups/froknows...

Here we go again, Greg and I edited a Raw file sent in by Aaron Sarauer that I would love to hear the story on. Greg and I both went different directions this week, he went to color that was punchy and I went old school with black and white. Take a look at the video below and let us know which you prefer or if they both work for you? Are you editing styles different or similar?

To see how you can submit your image please click here
http://froknowsphoto.com/let-us-edit-...

Have you picked up an I shoot RAW shirt or Mine's a 2.8 How Big is Yours?

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Super Secret Project time again, this is where I give you digital photography tips that will help you grow as a photographer. This week I wanted to talk about the importance of having a portfolio. Your portfolio be it online or printed out is extremely important. In fact its one of the most important things for a photographer to have. How else would someone know what your work is like and decide to hire you?

What is amazing about photography is you let your work speak for itself many times, a resume is just that, a piece of paper that doesn't fully represent what you do. A degree is great to have but that does't mean you are better than someone who doesn't have one. It all comes back to your portfolio, he has what the employer is looking for will get the job. I also have an Ipad which is great for showing images and many other things. But there is still something to be said for having a physical photo in your hands, the look the feel of a real print. Sure the Ipad is cool and looks pretty good but your not turning the pages. I love my work to stand out when someone see's it, I like larger prints and when I hand someone a book that has 12×18 full frame prints in it they go wow!!

We are always building our portfolios, they are always changing, taking images out putting images in. I personally have 5 or 6 different books showing different styles of work from sports to weddings to music. I bring out certain books for certain situations depending on the type of job I am trying to get.

In this digital age you need to have an online representation of your work but you can not rely on just that. You also need to have a physical representation of your work to hand to someone in person. There is still something to be said for physical prints of your photos, it just feels better and looks better when done properly.

I have many different ways of showcasing my portfolios in the past, from prints in a box to laminated images to Itoya portfolio books. About a year ago I started to look for a print company who made a photo book using real photographic prints. The problem I was running into was that most companies were doing what are called press prints. These are basically large photo copiers pumping out your pages on slightly thicker paper than normal. An example is a company like Blurb or Mpix Press. I looked at both companies along with some samples. As soon as I opened up the packages they sent me I knew that product wasn't for me. Thin pages, four color prints, I could see the dots of that made up the images, they just did not pop.

I finally came across AdoramaPix and their "high quality photo books". I read every piece of information I could in their FAQ section to determine if I should test out their product. I even called customer service a few times to get even clearer answers to my questions. I found out that the photos were all printed out on REAL photographic paper meaning they were not ink jet or press prints, they actually went through chemicals. I could put a horizontal image all the way across the page without having to cut the image in half and trying to line it up with the gutter like I had to do with other companies. AdoramaPix even has a very simple to use photo book building online software to walk you through the process of building your book.

What ultimately sold me on the book's from AdoramaPix was they were running a 50% off sale. Without ever seeing or touching a sample book, based solely on my research and one day left on the sale I placed an order for 6 books. When the books arrived I was more than pleased, they were exactly what I wanted to represent my work. Something nicer than just prints from the store, an actual photo book that makes people say wow when they see it.

For Contest RULES please click here http://froknowsphoto.com/digital-phot...