The business of photography

I could write a long article about getting paid what you and your work is worth. The difference between licensing and selling an image. Editorial vs commercial and the harm that giving away your images does to the photography industry in general. (the recent disturbing trend of newspapers wanting free photos for credit shows how free has hurt our business) But this topic has been discussed ad nausean and by folks with more business knowledge than me. So check out these websites: http://www.editorialphoto.com/ great resource on the business of photography, if you're the least bit serious about making a living as a photographer, just join.
http://www.d-65.com/ Seth Resnick has an incredible pricing service that will not only give you a price for an image or even help you bid a job, he will also write out the contract. Best $25 I've ever spent, that measly little $25 actually made me an additional 1/3rd more from a recent client who claimed to have a budget of well, a third less than they actually ended up paying me. I use Seth whenever I bid a job.
Then there are the blogs: http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com and articles http://www.loundy.org/commoncents/ and forums http://prophotoforums.com/ and I'm sure if you do some googling you'll find even more great resources.
So do yourself a favor and read up on this stuff, get some information, be prepared when the phone rings and someone wants to license one of your images or hire you for a gig. In this economy none of us can afford to give our work away.

Congratulations to MP photographer Ralph Thompson!

Ralph entered an image into the Sports Photographers Association of America annual contest and won a Nikon D700. Here's Ralph's winning image:

The Nifty Fifty or My favorite basketball lens

After spending 15 hrs hand holding a MarkIIN with a 70-200mm f2.8 at a recent basketball tournament, I remembered that I had packed my 50mm 1.8 or as it's sometimes called the nifty fifty. This little beauty is the least expensive lens I own and one of the sharpest. I love my little nifty fifty and it's the perfect under the basket bball lens. I like to use it shooting low and close. It's long enough not to distort at the edges like my 17-35 zoom (I hate that lens) but wide enough even on a 1.3 crop body to get everything in the frame without cutting off hands. Here are a few shots from the second 15 hr day of last weeks tournament. I was right on the baseline close to the corner or almost under the basket. Cropping in isn't a problem when you're shooting at ISO 250, but most of these are not cropped in that far and the last one is full frame no cropping. You can click on any image to see it full size, use your back button to get back to the blog.

Lens (mm): 50
ISO: 250
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/250

Lens (mm): 50
ISO: 250
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/250

Lens (mm): 50
ISO: 250
Aperture: 3.2
Shutter: 1/250

Lens (mm): 50
ISO: 250
Aperture: 3.2
Shutter: 1/250

The difference in f-stops was a mistake, I really have to remember to tape both wheels down.