Photolemur Full Review

I ran across Photolemur while doing a search for some cool plugins. Once I opened their page, I had to have the software. What is Photolemur? It is intelligent editing software.

What does that mean? It means you do not have to do anything. The software does it all for you. All you have to do is install, drop your photos in the software and like magic they come out editing. What is great about this particular software, is that it works as stand alone software or as a Lightroom plug in.

It is really cool and it actually does a really nice job. It does not overdo the image, it just makes some really nice crisp adjustments and the results are awesome.

I have tried it in a handful of photos and it seems to work well all around.  Below are the samples I used in the video. Let me know your thoughts, and if you are a user I’d like to know what you think about the software. I personally think is awesome, and for the price, you can’t beat it.

Clik on this link to download the software.  All photos in this post were shot with my [thirstylink linkid=”17203″ linktext=”” class=”thirstylink” title=”this camera”] and with the awesome [thirstylink linkid=”17204″ linktext=”” class=”thirstylink” title=”this awesome lens”].

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Best places to buy camera gear

A lot of people always ask me where I purchase my camera gear. I have 3 places I purchase all my gear from. Most of my cameras and lenses come from B&H and Adorama the reason being is that they do not sell gray market gear. The rest of my stuff including some lenses I get from Amazon. What is the gray market? The Gray market is when a dealer imports and sells unauthorized gear that was intended for another country’s camera market. The cheaper gear is legitimate, not counterfeit, but it’s unauthorized and it is not covered by the manufacturer’s warranty.

As a Nikon Pro, I have to make sure all my gear is from a reliable source. I trust all these places to deliver the right gear on time, and most importantly for a competitive price. If you are new to the photography game and need a place to get your gear from, you can not go wrong with these three stores. If you ever run into any issues, their customer service is on point.

If you want to rent camera gear before you purchase it, you can do so. I use Borrow Lenses, they are excellent when it comes to having everything in stock and the delivery is on time every time. They also have a massive selection where you can purchase used camera gear.

Drop me a line if you have any questions. You can check out all of My Gear by clicking this link.

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Amazon

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The best Place to sell your photos

Where can I sell my photos? Do you know a good printer? How to I send the photos over to my customer?  These are questions I get often, and the answer is very simple. Smug Mug.

What is Smug Mug?

Smug Mug is a place where photographers can showcase their photos, back them up and sell them all in one place. It’s an incredible all in one website built by photographers for photographers.

I have tested and tried lots and lots of websites throughout the years, I must say from experience Smug Mug is the best option to sell your photographs. The best thing about it is that they handle everything from the customer placing an order, to the printing to the shipping all within your site. All you have to do is sit back and collect the money. It’s true.

They have beautiful templates so you can get your site off the ground in no time, the best part about it is the price. With plans starting at $3.99 per month for the basic package all the way to $12.50 for the portfolio package (that’s the one I have) this should make it very easy for you to make your decision.

Another incredible thing about Smug Mug is that you can use it to back up all your photos, that’s right as a back up for your entire catalog no matter how big it is not only that but you can back it all up for life. Guess what, if your hard drive fails, Smug Mug has your back. This is perfect since we all know hard drives fail and fail often.

I only recommend products that I trust and use. Smug Mug is one of those products. If you have been looking into it and have not made up your mind. Try it out. I actually make money from my Smug Mug store.

They have great customer service and the site is 100% customisable. If you do not want to tinker too much with customisation, just pick one of their awesome templates and you are good to go.

Click on this link or on the images and get a FREE 14-day trial. If you do not like it just cancel it. You can see what mine looks like here.

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How to take pictures of fireworks

Do you want to know how to take pictures of fireworks? With 4 July just around the corner I have put together some tips and tricks that will help you get that perfect shot this holiday weekend.

Fireworks can be lots of fun to photograph, but you have to know what you are doing and you have to be ready for the action.

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1. Scout your location. Get to the place you are shooting early and make sure you walk around and look at all the angles. It’s always best to do this when there is no body around even a day before.

2. Use a tripod. When you figure out where you are shooting from set up your tripod. Make sure nobody will be in front of it and make sure you have plenty of room around you, this way no one will trip over it or bump into it.

3. Use a shutter release cable or the built-in timer in your camera. This is very important as it will prevent you from having blurry or out of focus photos.

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4. Frame your shot. This is very important, you do not only want to shoot the fireworks but you want to tell a visual story. Make sure you include a landmark in your photos and make sure you are able to get all the fire works within your frame. You can test out a few different frames but make sure you are quick as the fireworks display can be over before you know it. Shoot wide.

5. Focus. This is a tricky one but it does not have to be complicated. What I always do is I focus on my land mark and make sure that there will be enough room in the frame to get the fireworks within my photo. This will guarantee that your land mark is in focus and that your fireworks come out crisp and fill the rest of your frame.

6. DO NOT USE FLASH. Make sure you turn off your flash, you want to create a nice long exposure effect and having your flash on will trick your camera into thinking it needs a short exposure. NO FLASH.

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7. Shoot in Manual mode. Make sure you are in manual mode this way you have complete control of your camera. This will guarantee you get the exact results you are looking for.

8. ISO. Shoot at a low ISO try to keep it at 100. The fireworks put out so much light that this should not be a problem. This will assure you have a nice non-grainy photo.

9. Aperture. This is personal preference like with anything else, but if you are shooting a landmark and want everything in focus make sure you are at F9 and up (I always shoot at F11). This way you will have a nice sharp image and everything will be in focus.

10. Shutter speed. This is the most important setting. Creating a long exposure will assure you get the nice light tracers form the fireworks creating a dramatic and compelling photograph. You can experiment from 1 second to 30 seconds. A very safe number is about 8-15 seconds. If you put your camera on bulb mode you can use your remote trigger to experiment allowing you to get that perfect exposure.

Most important of them all is to experiment and have fun out there. Happy shooting!!!

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What is the summer solstice

What is the summer solstice? Well this is my favorite time of the year. I have created a video to explain exactly what it is, but basically it is when the sun reaches its most Northern point from the equator. It is also the longest day of the year.

I love summer, to me it represents the start of my favorite season. Check out the video below.

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