If you had ONE question to ask about PHOTOGRAPHY what would it be? Comment below or email josephburns@me.com (it can be a simple as why are my iPhone pictures dark OR as advanced as how do I use a flash off my camera).

How can a memory card help improve your photography?

512mb Memory Card

How can a memory card help improve your photography?  The answer is in the details. The size of the memory card is what will help improve your photography, simply by forcing you to slow down.

So you've purchased a new DSLR, you threw in that 32gb memory card, and just started to photograph everything you see, landscapes around town, family events, your pets. . . everything. I know this because this is what I did, I began my journey to understanding how creating a photograph works by getting my hands on my dslr, taking dozens of photos, changing my camera settings, and taking a dozen more.  Learning by doing is a great way for us to learn because we can see the changes, and study them.  Fast forward a while, and you then are starting to realize that your photos are properly exposed, they're sharp, and clear, but still lack something.

This is where this memory card comes in.  We work so hard on getting to know our camera, we forget to spend anytime working on "seeing" the scene.  Our photographic eye is just as important, if not more, as our camera settings, but it gets left behind, and thats because when we go out to take photographs, the thousands of photographs that those big memory cards allow us to take causes us to constantly press that shutter simple because there is so much room on that memory card, there isn't anything forcing us to slow down, and ask ourselves "Do I really want that shot?", or "Are my setting right, and the composition what I want it to be?".

Nikon DSLR set to raw with 500mb memory card.

Nikon DSLR set to jpeg with 500mb memory card.

The 512mb memory card in my D600 allows for only 9 frames when it's set to shoot raw files, and only 32 frames when it's set to shoot jpeg files.  Imagine how much more thought you would put into a photo, your settings, and the composition if you only had 9 photos to shoot.  Even if once a month, you put a small memory card in your camera, and set out to only take the 9 or 32 photos, your will start to see an improvement in your results within the first month.  Now this doesn't come without any willpower on your part.  Even though you only have a small number of photos that can fit on the memory card, you could hit the delete button if you don't like a shot, but that would be cheating, and the improvement your looking for will be what suffers if you cheat like that.


I challenge you to purchase a small memory card. set it to raw, go out once a week for a month and shoot, don't hit delete at all, just use your eyes, look at the scene, think about your settings, and shoot.  In a month, look at a photo you recently took, and the last photo of the month.  Post the before/after photos in the comment section here so we can all see your progress, and to help inspire others to improve their photography.

To make it easier for you, here is a link to a good quality 512mb sd card on Amazon.  For less then $20, you can be improving your photography within days from now.

Why not a little low key lighting.

 Check out this photo, and many more at http://www.photographybymeredythandjoe.com/Site-Accets/Pages/Social-Media

Photographybymeredythandjoe.com

"I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life, the way I feel when I'm with you" Baby.

"The best thing to hold onto in life, is each other" Audrey Hepburn

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better then your dreams"- Dr Seuss.

Why it's important to import everything . . .

              
      A year and a half ago, Meredyth and I went to Atlantic City to play in a 9-ball tournament. Being a combination of over packers, and photographers, we brought our cameras, different lenses, fresh batteries, tripod etc. I made sure we didn't forget anything. . . until we got to the tournament in AC, realizing that I had forgotten one major item. . . a memory card. Now with my 24mp full frame camera, very sharp 24-70mm lens, and fresh batteries, I couldn't take one picture. Luckily, I found a 500mb memory card in a small pocket in my camera bag. 500mb is not very much at all, even if I shot all jpegs, and even worse if I shot in raw. 

     Fast forward to last week, and after rearranging our studio, I came across that little 500mb memory card of some photos I shot in AC that weekend, and once we had gotten home from AC that weekend, I put it away, and never touched it. So, last week, I imported the small amount of photos that were on it, and this is one that I found. I shot this photo of a sunset on the rooftop balcony of Meredyth's Aunt Sue, and her husband Steve's home by the shore in Tuckerton Nj. 

      Lesson here is, try not to forget about importing anything you've taken, weather or not you photographed all day, or took only a few, you can't fully apprecitate your efforts, until you see your end product.

I am very happy to announce that I will be leading a photo walk in Ocean City Nj on October 11th, 2014 for the Annual Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk.

Here is the link to see the details to my walk. Details like, when we will all meet in Ocean City, what we will do during the walk such as long exposure photography under a pier. 

http://tinyurl.com/OCphotowalk

Here is a link for you to register.  There are only 50 spots total, so hurry up before they are all gone.  

http://kel.by/wwpw2014

I look forward to seeing you there!