Image: 43-00664113
Title:  “Wall of old analog clocks”
Contributor: drob

Time’s running out for holiday gift shopping!  Are you ready?

In a world of rapidly growing digital media and fancy mobile devices, these old-fashioned analog clocks are a welcome reprieve.  We love how the timepieces are squeezed into every nook and cranny, creating an unusual texture that keeps the eye busy.  It evokes the memory of a time gone by when things were slower and less complicated.  We can almost hear the sea of ticks, perhaps inside an antique store off the beaten path.  At the same time, the sheer number of clocks scream “Wake up!  Hurry!  Pressure!  Deadline!” 

This example shows you don’t need a studio full of overly stylized props and complex lighting to shoot a great image.  Appealing subjects are all around us!  Keep your eyes peeled for standout shapes, texture, and colors.  Use existing light to accentuate your subject.  Shoot many frames and shoot often until you find the perfect composition.  You might not always stumble upon something wonderful like a wall full of clocks, but keep in mind that visual interest can come from unlikely sources.  Everyday objects, while seemingly mundane, can be transformed with your camera.  Take a look at the entries from this 2005 photo competition called “Interesting Photo of a Boring Subject”:

http://www.myfourthirds.com/folder.php?id=473

…And if you’re still not sure what to get your loved ones for the holidays, a quality timepiece makes a great gift! 

- Betty

Hi -

We’ve heard from many that have missed our “Image of the Day” blog feature. Sadly we’ve been busy, and our blog has indeed been looking lonely lately.  We’re back and we’re changing things up a bit this time ’round. We’ll be switching to a weekly format - and while I’ll continue to chime in, we’ll also be featuring posts from SnapVillage reviewers and other team members.

Kicking things off - this IOTW (Image of the Week) post comes from Maggie, one of our lead image reviewers. 

Enjoy!

   - Brian

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Image: 43-00621761
Title:  “Loose Green Tea”
Contributor: Elenathewise

 Great shots like this one by Elena the Wise beg the question, “What makes a great food shot?” As an image reviewer, one sees many examples of food photography so I thought it might be helpful to share some hints for successful food shots. Here’s why Elena’s image works well:

• Nice lighting: The shot is well lit with no unsightly areas of shadow or blown out highlights.
• White balance: The lighting helps keep the white balance accurate. Food shots with greenish or yellowish color casts from improper white balance are usually pretty unappetizing.
• Interesting props: The use of the porcelain spoon vs. a regular teaspoon adds interest and a splash of color. The spoon’s decorative blue border contrasts nicely against the pink of the petals in the tea.
• Great composition: Getting close-up and shooting the spoon from slightly above rather than from the side really lets the tea stand out as the main subject. The use of selective focus draws the eye to the subject.

Nice work, Elena!  If you’d like to learn more about how to make your food shots look fabulous, check out these resources:

Introduction to food photography:
http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/food-photography-an-introduction/

Food photography gear:
http://stilllifewith.com/2006/12/12/my-guide-to-food-photography-gear/

 Equipment on a budget:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-food-photography-light-stand/ 

Bon appetite!

- Maggie

Hi SnapVillagers -

Heads-up! SnapVillage will be down for a scheduled temporary maintenance outage starting at 5pm PST Friday December 6th. 

We plan to be back up and running during the day on Saturday.

Be sure to check back here for the latest updates.

Have questions or comments?  Feel free to drop a comment here, or you can reach us at contactus@snapvillage.com

- Brian

The folks over at Smashing Magazine recently posted a great collection of high-speed photography. Most of the examples are linked to more work by that artist.

Feed your creative need with this top notch work.

As a follow-up to Lee Torren’s MicroStockDiaries post about the global diversity of microstock, we thought it would be interesting to check the global footprint of the SnapVillage contributor community.

Check it out:

A few interesting snippets we can add to Lee’s discussion questions:

• SnapVillage contributors come from 104 countries
• Over 50% of SnapVillage contributors are from outside of the United States
• The top 12 countries account for 85% of our contributor base
• The “other” 15% is fascinating:
  • There are significant numbers of SnapVillage contributors in many places that didn’t quite make the “Top 12″ - Latvia, South Africa, Estonia, and Brazil.
  • A big “hello!” to the SnapVillage contributors in far off spots like: Guernsey, Oman, Nigeria, New Caledonia, Syria, Mauritius, and Guinea-Bissau. We’re glad you’re here!

 Another way to look at it:

Using the ubiquitous Big Huge Labs “Places I’ve Been” map maker:

SnapVillage Contributors Around the World

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

It’s awesome that microstock contributors are found across most of the globe, and to my knowledge this does look like a shift from the concentrated clusters of traditional stock shooters.

We’re really thrilled to see a diverse contributor community beginning to take shape here at SnapVillage!

- Brian

We stumbled across this nifty little color hue test and wanted to share it with the Village. Arrange four sets of hues on a spectrum to test your eye.

Don’t forget to blink (we did, made our eyes feel funny).

Take the Hue IQ test here.

Let us know how you scored in the comments. Lower is better on this one.

Good luck!

- Liz

P.S. Brian and I tied at 4 on our first attempt. Beat that if you can!

Our updates went smoothly and we’re open for business again.

You won’t see any changes on your end - these were all system improvements made behind the scenes.

We’re still making updates to the site all the time.

Stay tuned!

- Liz

We’re in the process of making some routine maintenance updates to SnapVillage. The site will be unavailable from Friday, September 20^th at 5pm PST through most of the weekend.

No new page designs this time - these are just simple system updates. Check back here for the latest updates (and interesting reading!).

Questions? Concerns? Feel free to either post a comment here or email us directly at contactus@snapvillage.com.

Enjoy your weekend!

- Liz

Team SnapVillage is pleased to announce that Jared MacPherson has won the Wacom CINTIQ 21UX Tablet! He was randomly selected from a pool of over 30,000 entries by a random drawing.

Jared is a long-time Wacom fan, having owned an Intuos since he was in art school at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. For Jared, “going back to a mouse isn’t an option.”

After graduating in the Spring of 2007, Jared now works as a graphic designer and illustrator at Plumbheavy Design in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. You can see some samples of Jared’s work in this post and on his personal website.

When his new tablet arrives, Jared plans to post a review of it on one of his three blogs.

“I’ll do a comparison to see how it works compared to my older one,” said Jared.

The future looks bright for this young designer. Jared hopes to someday launch an illustration and design business with fellow designer, Jennifer Duong - his original inspiration to begin digital art.

“We’ve been discussing possibilities for a business. It’s still in the beginning stages, but extremely fun and exciting.” said Jared. “It’s great to have people around who inspire and motivate you. One day, when the timing is right, it’d be a great achievement.”

I’m sure this slick new CINTIQ will be a great addition to his blossoming illustration business! Congratulations again, Jared!

- Liz

P.S. Special thanks to Bittbox for posting a link to the giveaway so Jared (and many others) could learn about it.

]]> http://blog.snapvillage.com/2008/09/17/congratulations-to-our-wacom-tablet-winner/feed/ SnapVillage Sample of Jared's illustration Jared MacPherson More of Jared's work http://blog.snapvillage.com/2008/09/12/iotd-dennis-herrons-sulfur-pits/ http://blog.snapvillage.com/2008/09/12/iotd-dennis-herrons-sulfur-pits/#comments Sat, 13 Sep 2008 01:40:46 +0000 Team SnapVillage http://snapvillage.wordpress.com/?p=594

Image: 43-00534235
Title:  “sulfur pits”
Contributor: dennis herron

Why we like it:   Dennis Herron has been submitting some terrifically moody and evocative images lately. Check out his portfolio - especially the “landscapes - nature” set. Actually, it was quite tough to choose a favorite today! This image is definitely near the top.