Where the Sky is Torn Asunder
This Week in Photography show log available
If you wanted some of the links or to find out more about the other photographers on the show, visit the TWIP Log. Also if you found the show enjoyable, please be sure to leave them a comment. I'm sure they would enjoy hearing your feedback!
21 mlllion views -- Thanks! We hit than number today! img.skitch.com/20091114-tr54n63ydeb6n1grru8qax748q.jpg
Daily Photo - Where the Sky is Torn Asunder (deep southern Andes, not far from Ushuaia)
The morning sun sprayed orange across the top of Fitz Roy, and I could feel those sharp tips slicing into the cold sky. It was really an unbelievable experience being there at the perfect time; I feel very lucky indeed.
From the blog at www.stuckincustoms.com
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Uploaded on Nov 14, 2009
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Golfing at Dusk on the Lighted Course
Coming up soon
We have a short video coming up in the next week. It's another of my bad shaky-cams, capturing some of the behind-the-scenes footage of some photos I took in Yellowstone. The quality isn't great... but the content is good... well, let us hope!
National Semiconductor
Thanks to the nice people at National Semiconductor here in Austin! They invited me up to speak today at lunch. They have a huge photo club there with about 100 people. I gave them the old van-down-by-the-river talk. They asked very good questions and were very nice. I invited them to one of the upcoming book launch events (which you also know about, since you subscribe to the newsletter, right? Right???).
Daily Photo - Golfing After Dark
Horseshoe Bay here in Texas has one of the nicest putting courses in the world. They illuminate it at night with hundreds of lights scattered across the meticulous landscaping. This one is worth a large view! I happened to take it right at that moment in dusk that only lasts about five minutes.
from the blog at www.stuckincustoms.com
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Uploaded on Nov 13, 2009
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Crossing the Bridge into Old Lyon
New York Times Article
Did you guys see the New York Times article online about Stuck In Customs and HDR Photography? tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/thursday-puzzle-w... Cool! John Tierney wrote a great little piece and asked if publications like the New York Times should consider using HDR Photos. They have an open commenting system over there, so pop in and give them your two cents (the newspapers need it!).
Daily Photo - Crossing the Bridge into Old Lyon
This was a pretty tough shot to get! This was a little pedestrian bridge that crossed from the new part of Lyon, France, into the older part. It swayed and buckled in the breeze. Plus, it was night, so you kind of have to leave the shutter open for a long time. I hate to crank up the ISO, but I had to so everything would stay sharp.
That night I walked around for about five hours deep past midnight. It was just me and my Russian friend... walking around... solving the world's problems... while he gave me all kinds of hard-ass Russian advice on how to solve my own!
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Uploaded on Nov 12, 2009
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A View from the Ranch in Argentina and Guest Hosting on This Week in Photography
Guest Hosting on This Week in Photography - The technique reveal
I was honored to be invited to guest host TWIP on Monday by Frederick Van. There is a live version of the show where perhaps you saw me in video action! If not, now it is available for audio-download. You can get TWIP Episode 115 here. I had a great time - and I thank Joseph, Ron, and Frederick for humoring me... I think I could talk to those guys all day and geek out on photography!
I revealed that video technique which a clever commenter coined "Stuck In Motion". I put ALL the information there on that link. It should tell you everything, in addition to what you hear on the show. The original video posting gathered over 240 comments, speculation, and more. I think it's fantastic how people guessed, poked, and prodded. Experimentation is great!
My friend RC Conception chimed into the chat, and I hijacked his question as an opportunity to talk about HDR not being a fad. Hehe... Anyway, you guys should also check out the great RC on Layers TV if you want to learn some new tricks in the Adobe suite of products.
Daily Photo
I've always heard about how wonderful it is to have a ranch near the wine country in Argentina. But not until I was down there did I really find that out in person. The idea of walking across a ranch during the nether hours of the day and seeing something like this... well... it kind of makes me want to just go ahead and retire down there. All I need is broadband and these kind of vistas... that's the life, eh? I hope I was able to adequately capture the majesty of that place with this photo.
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Uploaded on Nov 11, 2009
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5 Great Twitter Contests
The Best of Breed
If you have some more ideas, Tweet me at @TreyRatcliff!
I've been asking all my social media pals, photographer-friends, and others about some of the most successful and fun Twitter contests that have been run. I was sitting down with my publisher at @Peachpit, because we need to Give Away a few copies of "A World in HDR". While we thought of a few ideas, I thought we would open it up the Internet to see what we can find!
Frankly, and this might offend some people, I think that straight give-aways are crass and obvious. I think it can get you followers, but I can argue those are ill-gotten followers. You may disagree.
I think there are more fun, engaging, and productive ways to run Twitter contests. So, to that end, I've assembled some of the best below. If you have MORE, drop me a note in the comments, and I'll do a redux soon! :) Also, please, tell me your favorite contest idea and we can try to do something similar for the new book! I'll probably have @Peachpit run the contests, since I don't want to Tweet about give-aways once an hour on my personal Twitter account (@TreyRatcliff). Besides, you guys should follow Peachpit anyway, since they are a good company that publishes fantastic books.
1) The Michelle
So named, because it is the idea of Michelle Greer, a clever Twitter user and social media smarty-pants at Rackspace.
We pick a non-photography related blogger who frequently uses pictures in their posts to act as a judge (who's interested??)
Judge announces a theme for the day (Landscape, architecture, etc) and announces via Twitter. We'll get that Retweeted widely and repeatedly.
Contestant picks a photo that fits the theme, "Hey @TreyRatcliff and @Peachpit, this #hdr is inspiring (link)." Note this does not have to be MY photo...it can be yours, or anyone's!
Judge picks the winner and uses it on their blog with attribution. Winner gets a the prize!
Why I like this idea:
People get to find and share great art online
People get to discover new photographers and new sites that feature them
I'm a big fan of Creative Commons (all my work is CC, no Commercial Use allowed without contacting us first). I think bloggers out there should know about all the beautiful photos from photographers that are available. And photographers who believe in creative commons LOVE to be featured on blogs.
Everyone likes eye-candy on Twitter!
2) The Trvial
Thanks to Eugene, a frequent guest on this site!
Send people on a scavenger hunt through a particular website to find something hidden
For example, we could ask, "How many nights in a row was Trey forced to eat borscht cooked by three Russian women in Argentina?"
The contest judge accepts tweets with real, creative, or funny answers.
The winner is selected randomly amongst those that got the right answer in 24 hours.
Why I like this idea
It's fun and game-like
People get even more engaged in a website and might find some hidden gems
You have 24 hours to play, and you don't have to be "quick on the draw"
3) The Macleod
A frequent guest of the site, Barbara Youngleson, brought this one up. Thanks Barbara!
This idea appears to have come from Hugh Macleod, the clever cartoonist and consummate cooligan
It works like this (more or less):
Purchase a book by any means, and send the PO over Twitter
A limited number of winners are chosen
Receive a second book, signed, for free. Give one to a friend!
Why I like it:
It is non-pushy
It rewards people that are real-enough fans to buy the book in the first place! Hehe.
Hugh did it, so it must have some coefficient of cool
4) The Threadless
This idea is being successfully executed at Threadless.com
If you see a Tweet you like, you can submit it to the contest
It is then voted on by the Threadless community
The best Tweets end up on T-Shirts and the Tweet author gets sweet cash.
Why I like it:
It's incredibly fun and engaging.
It's super-viral. I found out about it because someone nominated one of my Tweets: "If I get another dog, I shall name him 'ROFL'."
Threadless is cool, and it is fun to be associated with a cool brand.
5) The Moonfruit
Moonfruit (a website buildin' company) ran a good promotion where you can use the hashtag #moonfruit in any kind of Tweet
They selected a random person every day and gave away a MacBook Pro
It resulted in the #moonfruit hashtag being a trending topic and gaining over 30,000 followers
Why I like it:
It was very easy to enter
It was viral because you wonder why your friends are all talking about Moonfruit!
Today's Photo
The photo today was taken at an awesome Indian restaurant in San Francisco called "Dosa". The manager was nice enough to allow me to move around and take a few photos after dinner. I was dining with the marketing and PR team from Peachpit (@Peachpit), who is publishing the book. Taking roll-call, we had Scott Cowlin (@ScottPeachpit), Sara Jane Todd (@SaraJaneTodd), and Laura Pexton (@Laura7). We sat around all night talking about having some fun Twitter contests for people to give away books... so here we are, and you get to vote on your favorites!
from the blog www.stuckincustoms.com
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Uploaded on Nov 10, 2009
32 comments
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