Dr. Paul Hetzel wasn't always a landscape & nature photographer. He retired from a medical oncology practice in Springfield, MA, and found his second calling.

He and I talked about the power of printing one's own photography and how he has found a wonderful group of fellow photographers in the Photo Arts Xchange, an event hosted by Connecticut photographer, Steve Sherman.

Another important point that Dr. Hetzel makes in our chat is the importance of looking in one's own backyard for “travel” photography. In other words, you don't have to travel too far to make great photographs.

What challenges Dr. Hetzel the most as a photographer? What can make or break an image? Listen to the podcast below to find out!

Interview With Nature & Landscape Photograher

Photographers & Events Mentioned

Here are the links to some of the photographers and events mentioned in the podcast:

Sample Of Paul Hetzel's Portfolio

Speaking of landscape photography, years ago, I hosted a guest blog post by Brett Stoddart about being an Urban Landscape photographer. Check that out.

Paul Hetzel's Camera Gear

Nikon D850 [Affiliate Link]

Sony RX10 III [Affiliate Link]

Melissa Welsh is a lot more than a photographer. She is a problem solver. Especially, if it is a problem photographers are having.

One major topic of contention among photographers is how to respond to clients who ask for digital files. If you are reading this post, I know you have had a client who has asked or demanded for “their” digital files. And, you have struggled to find the right words that will satisfy both them and you.

Am I right?

Most of the wedding industry now “gives” the files to the couple. Some portrait photographers sell the files. Some photographers bundle it with other products. There isn't one industry standard that makes everyone happy. Either the clients are miffed because they were expecting or assuming the files would be included in the fee, or the photographer is upset because she or he is now having to deliver more value with no or a negligible monetary return.

Something had to be done and Melissa Welsh, a Victoria, British Columbia photographer with 20 years of experience as a photographer set out to find a solution that will be a win-win for all. Information about the Pixel Cents app is available here.

So what is this elixir? It's called Pixel Cents. It's both an ebook and a iOS application. The ebook is smartly bundled together with a few other tools you will find useful.

Photographers can use our industry standard cents per pixel (cpp) rates and calculate the value of their photos for all types of personal, commercial, editorial and advertising photo use.

A few weeks back, when Melissa was about to launch Pixel Cents, she emailed a bunch of her friends to introduce the idea to us. Some of us received the Pixel Cents ebook to read in advance and to possibly review.

Most often, I download an ebook, I let it sit for a few days before reading it. Pixel Cents was different. I dove in and couldn't stop reading it. If you could have seen me then, I was nodding in agreement to what Melissa has written. It's a well-crafted, lucidly written alternative to the craziness that is currently our lives. I quickly wrote back to her and asked if she would spend a few minutes speaking to us about her big idea – Pixel Cents. So click the video below and watch the interview:

Pixel Cents is bringing both efficiency and profitability to my family portrait photography business. And, I am no longer struggling to explain whether digital files are or are not included. Who wins? Everyone. Clients receive their files and I am compensated fairly. Hand wringing is history.

Need more convincing? Here in a nutshell is Melissa's solution.

The Pixel Cents Formula is the simple, easy way to value your photographs for personal, advertising, editorial and corporate use.

I trust this post will stir a pot a bit and we are all open to having a healthy dialogue here. So, comment below. We would love to hear from you. If you buy Pixel Cents, let us know what you think. Could this business model be the new industry standard? I really think so.

So, let me ask you again, do you have any Pixel Cents?

Behind The Scene Look: How I Got That Shot

The image you see below was created as part of an engagement session. It was towards the end of shoot when we were at a beach and sun had already gone down. The park visiting hours were already over and there was a cop driving everyone out. And it was cold, the chill factor in the wind was sending shivers down our spines. We quickly grabbed couple of shots and drove out of the park.

This shot was taken with the help of an off camera flash, Nikon SB900 inside a Lastolite 24″x24″ softbox, triggered with my trusted Pocket Wizards. The following is a lighting diagram showing the set up for this shoot.

The flash had a full cut CTO (color temperature orange) gel on it. I wanted to give the feel for the post dusk bluish night sky. So I turned my camera to tungsten white balance. This gives the blue tint to the whole image. To compensate the blue tone on the subjects and bring the skin color back to normal yellow/orange tones, the flash had the orange gel on it. The full cut CTO gel fully compensates for the tungsten white balance.

Another challenge was that we required the light to be very close to the couple and we wanted wide angle shot to include more of the background for context. So the assistant was in the picture.

The Photoshop Work

To fix that we took two shots, one with assistant lighting the couple and in the shot. Before the second shot, the assistant ran out of frame and switched off the light. So the second shot was taken with the couple without any light. Once we take these two shots it is very easy to do a composite in Photoshop:

1. Open both the images in Photoshop as layers, with the image with assistant as the top layer.

2. Auto align layers (Edit –> Auto-Align). When we don't use a tripod there is always a slight movement of the camera and the frame changes. To compensate for that, we have to align the layers.

3. Once the layers are aligned, select the top layer and use layer mask to mask out the assistant. Now we are using everything else from this layer except area where assistant was. That area is picked up from the layer beneath.

4. Make other changes as required.

And, voilá, we have our final image. Do you have any questions? Feel free to ask below!