I am in everything that you are
under the pier at Coney Island, NYC
I am having fun in NIK Software 2 (I finally updated!) and Plastic Bullet

Beauty reflected

Testing out Plastic Bullet on the Mac, these are samples from Caonon 60d, 5dmk2 and Olympus XZ-1. Fun app, the hardest part is picking just one.

Last night was a marathon 4+ hour hangout -- It was fun meeting so many people and answering questions at the end. Here is a little bonus video that was recorded at the end of a recent Q&A.

It has +Thomas Hawk +Cliff Baise +Lotus Carroll (whose video was always a frozen with a strange photo of her sucking a golfball through a garden hose) +James Brandon +Erica Joy +Julie Jamieson +Dave Veffer +Keith Barrett +Jim Davis +Scott Jarvie ...

Some highlights: I show my Lightroom directory with 52,000 photos, how Thomas processes photos, my new Promise Pegasus drive....

Many many questions: How do you get popular on the internet? Can you enjoy a moment WHILE taking a photo? How do you print and correct color (I answer by invoking the great +Stu Maschwitz and +SmugMug ) ? How do you choose what photos you upload? eBooks from +FlatBooks ( +James Brandon +Joe Farace +Joseph Linaschke +Ron Martinsen and others are great g+ authors on there) and more, trip-planning, and more...

Why I Don't Use Watermarks

I get this question a lot, and I know it came up in the live hangout last night. I know my opinion is different than many other photographers, and that is okay.

As you may know, my work is all Creative Commons Non-Commercial. That means people, as long as they give credit and link back to http://www.StuckInCustoms.com , can use my images on their blogs, wallpaper, personal use – anything – as long as it is not used commercially. Every day, I upload a HUGE 6000+ pixel max-resolution image to the Internet. I do not have any fear at all… Believe me, it’s quite liberating living in a world without internet-stealth-fear.

People that want to license our images regularly contact our licensing team – we get many of these every day of the week.

So why don’t I use watermarks? It’s a multi-part philosophy –

1) Watermarks look ugly. Whenever I look at a photo with a watermark, often times, ALL I can think about is that watermark! It's so distracting. Maybe this is just me.

2) Legitimate companies do not steal images to use commercially. So I don’t have any logical fear there.

3) There are other services, like Tineye (and Google) that can help my team easily find bottom-feeders.

4) We do register our images with the copyright office, so if someone uses an image commercially without a proper license, it is an easy lawsuit.

5) I don’t have to maintain two versions of each image – one with a watermark and one without.

6) NOT using watermarks and using creative commons helps more and more people to use your image freely for fun, which increases traffic and builds something I call “internet-trust."

7) As image search and image recognition get better and better, there will be no need to watermark things. In 1 year+, we'll be able to r-click an image and choose "Google-find the original creator" -- there is a bit trail to first-on-the-internet.

8) Yes, last, there will be bottom-feeders that steal your stuff. I call this the cost of doing business on the internet. These are the Tic-Tacs that are stolen from the 7-11. It is impossible to maintain 100% of your digital inventory, so wanting "perfection" in your online strategy is an illusion.

#SICInDatabase

Artists and the Internet: Digitally Extending Your Natural Self
Just released! First here to Google+... Thanks again for all the shares.

Here is a talk I gave at Google just recently. After the speech, there is a lengthy and frank Q&A session. Not everyone will like my answers -- sorry in advance! Since we're all busy people, I listed out a timestamp set of shortcuts below.

3:05 - Short background on me, behind the scenes at StuckIncustoms.com

4:50 - The Internet infrastructure… grokking it

5:55 - It's not too late to get your art on the internet…just the beginning

8:20 - Common question: How do I get noticed n the internet? I show examples from +Elena Kalis and +Daniel Ibanez

11:45 - All new photos in the past year since the last Google talk… while I talk about various subjects (below).

12:25 - Creative Commons and why I use it. I give examples of how it can be used by great blogs Boing Boing with +Xeni Jardin and Cory Doctorow

14:45 - How I think about various groups on the internet

17:30 - Getting critiques -- watch out...

19:30 - A premises behind sharing for the sake of sharing

21:05 - Making yourself vulnerable - a counter-intuitive point

25:40 - Finding success and happiness… a few thoughts

Questions and Answers

28:10 - Q&A period starts… someone begins by asking me about one of the final photos that appeared.

29:10 - How did I transition into this as a business?

31:30 - I mention the flavors of the HDR Tutorial at http://www.StuckInCustoms.com/hdr-tutorial/

33:10 - What is about HDR that helps you express your vision?

38:30 - How do you keep the photography fun? (how I don't have clients and stuff)

39:15 - How did you know that you are on the right path in regards to the openness?

40:00 - How often do you travel?

42:10 - How do you figure out where to go? AMAZING ANSWER!

43:30 - What do you think is going to happen in the next 50 years?

48:00 How do I keep myself inspired? I shared a bit about George Lucas and a discussion I had with +Stu Maschwitz . After, a few Googlers came up to me and said that +Marissa Mayer has said similar things to them, but she doesn't have the pleasure of knowing Stu

48:15 Are you a perfectionist?

50:18 Is there a best place to go photograph?

53:30 Why I don't like these 365 projects. (however, there was a good counter to my argument from +Kevin Kelly , who you will see in the video I post tomorrow of our hangout)

54:25 Can you pick a photo you like and talk us through the process?

56:30 Translating 3D into 2D -- I mention how +Thomas Hawk and I can both only see out of one eye.

---
Thanks to +Cliff Redeker for helping out. And thanks to +Brian Rose for filming and editing this together (you wear so many hats!). Also thanks to +Anne Espiritu for coming to watch live and introducing me to your dad. That was great :)