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**F8 | The Photographers Perspective**

F8 | The Photographers Perspective is the show where you connect with the world’s most inspiring photographers. Join us each week as we go in-depth with the pros, get to know their personal perspectives and introduce you to new places and experiences that help you get the most out of your creative passion. Hosted and produced by Chris Smith, Out of Chicago.

Latest Episodes:

A Walk with Mike Moats: OOC Episode 13 Aug 04, 2014

Show notes

I spent a morning with macro photographer Mike Moats. Mike and I walked through one of his favorite places to shoot and recorded our entire walk. He shares his insight on everything from how he shoots, to the equipment he uses, to making money in photography. You’re going to love the interview.

Follow Mike Moats at www.MikeMoatsBlog.com

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Summer at the Chicago Botanic Garden: OOC Episode 12 Jul 28, 2014

Show notes

Image by Anne Belmont

An interview with Courtney Quigley and Anne Belmont at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Butterflies and Blooms at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Monarch Decline articles and free plant/seed sites:

http://makewayformonarchs.org/i/

http://www.livemonarch.com/free-milkweed-seeds.htm

http://www.thebutterflyfarm.com/free-milkweed-seeds-0

http://www.livemonarch.org/

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0130/Bye-bye-butterfly-How-you-can-fight-the-Monarch-die-off-video

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0129/Is-the-annual-Monarch-butterfly-migration-coming-to-an-end

Moth Exhibition:

http://www.chicagobotanic.org/exhibitions/moths

Garden Photography Tips from Anne Belmont

Visit Anne’s site for some amazing photos from the garden!

Pick of the week: Membership to the Chicago Botanic Garden

The post Summer at the Chicago Botanic Garden: OOC Episode 12 appeared first on Out of Chicago Photography.

The Best Parking Garages for Chicago Photographers: OOC Episode 11 Jul 21, 2014

Show notes

Chicago Parking Garages

One of the best places to find a new vantage point to shoot the city is a parking garage. Here are my top 7 parking garages in Chicago for photographers, in no particular order. If you know of any that I’m missing, let me know!

If you haven’t used SpotHero.com, here is a link that will give you $5 free credit. You haven’t used SpotHero? It’s awesome. Put in the the place that you want to park and it will show you all the nearby garages and their prices. You reserve it through SpotHero and you’re all set!

Get details and photo tips on the first five spots in The Photographer’s Guide to Chicago.

UIC Harrison Street Garage
Navy Pier
Mart Parc Orleans
Mart Parc W ells
Lake and Wells
Hilton South Loop Garage
Batman Garage 200 W Randolph
Rush University Medical Center Parking Garage

Pick of the week

A circular polarizing filter! The best of the best are B+W. Whatever you do, don’t by a cheap filter for your expensive lens. Here’s what I use. Don’t forget that you can get step up rings so that you can use one filter on multiple lenses.

The post The Best Parking Garages for Chicago Photographers: OOC Episode 11 appeared first on Out of Chicago Photography.

Deconstructing Art Wolfe on Composition with Tony Reynes: OOC Episode 10 Jul 14, 2014

Show notes

Welcome Wendy Bright as our new editor of the Out of Chicago site. If you’re interested in contributing to the site, email Wendy at Wendy@OutofChicago.com.

I think that the Art Wolfe seminar helped me to realize why I sometimes am not in love with my new E-M10. I am just not as comfortable with it as with my Canon equipment.

Tony Reynes and I talk about Art Wolfe’s presentation, The Art of Composition. We really go deep on this and talk about way more than just composition. I hope that you enjoy it. I know I enjoyed the conversation. Check out Tony’s images at his new site.

Out pick of the week is Wendy Bright’s website, www.wendycitychicago.com. You’ll love the history, architecture, and photos on the site. Wendy also gives great Chicago tours. Check it out!

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Olympus E-M10 Review, Mike Stephen, and Photographing Reflections: OOC Episode 9 Jul 07, 2014

Show notes

This Saturday is the seminar with Art Wolfe. Use the coupon code “Chicago2014” for 20% off. We may do an Out of Chicago walk or tour after the seminar to put some of these composition tips to use.

Olympus E-M10 Review

It’s a lovely camera! It’s a great compliment to a DSLR. I love it for family photos. I love it for shooting discreetly. I’m not the biggest fan of it for night photography. Their repair service is not good. It took almost 30 days to get it back. Overall, I’d get it again, but it I had more money, I might consider the Fuji X-T1 instead.

Interview with Mike Stephen

Mike Stephen runs the Outside the Loop show on WLUW 88.7 in Chicago. You can listen to all of the episodes at www.outsidetheloop.com.

Mike and I talk about some of the best places and events to shoot in the summer in Chicago and he shares tips for some awesome food photography.

Photographing Reflections

After all of the rain we’ve had the past few weeks, I’ve been shooting a lot of reflections in puddles. You can also get great reflections in windows and even granite park benches. I give you some tips for shooting these. Get some inspiration from Seth Oliver’s Flickr site.

Some of my reflection examples

Please leave a review on iTunes

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Summer in Chicago, Michael Muraz, and Conference Wrap Up: OOC Episode 8 Jun 30, 2014

Show notes

Conference Wrap up

The first Out of Chicago conference exceeded all of my expectations. The presenters were amazing! The team helping me was amazing! I can’t wait to do it again next year!

Summer in Chicago: My top ten places to shoot in Chicago in the summer

Millennium Park and Crown Fountain
Buckingham Fountain
Chicago Riverwalk
Architectural tour or water taxi
Navy Pier
Museum Campus
The Loop
18th St Bridge and Chinatown
Lincoln Park and North Avenue Beach
Museums and Cultural Center

Interview with Michael Muraz

Michael Muraz is an architectural and cityscape photographer out of Toronto. Follow him on his site, AnotherAngle.eu, Flickr, and Facebook.

Art Wolfe in Chicago!

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Angie McMonigal, John Crouch, and Nick Ulivieri: OOC Episode 7 Jun 23, 2014

Show notes

On a very special episode of the Out of Chicago Show… We have interviews with three of the photographers presenting at this summer’s Out of Chicago Conference!

Angie McMonigal

http://www.angiemcmonigal.com/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/angiemcmonigalphotography/

John Crouch

http://www.crouchphotos.com

https://www.flickr.com/photos/crouch/

Nick Ulivieri

http://nickulivieriphotography.com/

https://www.facebook.com/nuphotography

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Art Wolfe, Post Processing Night Photos, The Old Seminary at UChicago: OOC Episode 6 Jun 16, 2014

Show notes

Please subscribe and leave a review of the podcast on iTunes. Thanks!

Post Processing for Night Photography

White balance is critical (make sure you were shooting in RAW!)
As with any image, it is absolutely essential that the black areas of your image are true black. Lower the black slider in Lightroom if you need to
If you want detail in the highlights, you may need to lower the highlights slider
Boost saturation selectively using the HSL toolbar in Lightroom
Eliminate distractions
HDR can bring out detail in shadows, but it can really mess with a night scene
Dodge and Burn

Interview with Art Wolfe

Art Wolfe will be presenting at Loyola University on July 12th. Don’t miss it! He must have thought that I was such a nice guy that he’s giving us a 20% discount off admission! Use coupon code “Chicago2014” for 20% off.

In this interview, Art gives us tips for photographing architecture and urban scenes, talks about what he does to improve as a photographer, and he talks about the seminar he’ll be giving on July 12th.

Photographing the old Seminary Building at the University of Chicago

If you like shooting the University of Chicago, then I’m sure you know that the old seminary building has been under construction for the past couple of years. It is almost complete and I found my way inside to give you sneak peek into what you can expect. I think that you’re going to like it, but it’s not going to be without some controversy.

Thank you to Matt Frankel for first showing me around to all of the amazing places at the University of Chicago. Check out his images on Flickr.

Pick of the week

I received a request to go through my current camera gear. Here it is!

Canon 6D

Sigma 15mm fisheye, Canon 17mm Tilt Shift, Canon 24-105mm, Canon 70-300L

Gitzo 3541LS tripod with Arca Swiss Z1 Ballhead and RRS clamp

Olympus OM-D E-M10, 17mm 1.8, 40-150mm

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Night Photography Subjects, Max Wilson, North Avenue Beach: OOC Episode 5 Jun 09, 2014

Show notes

Please subscribe and leave a review of the podcast on iTunes

Night Photography Subjects

If you missed our last two episodes, go back to hear about night photography equipment and night photography camera settings.

Night photography in the city leads to subjects that wouldn’t be interesting during the day. Here are some of my favorites.

Long exposures without ND filters: fountains, the lake, people, car trails (bus and train trails too!) See my article 5 Advanced Tips for Light Trail Photography on Digital Photography School.
Reflections in water/rainy nights
Cityscapes, light pollution
The lights of the city (starbursts)
Silhouettes

An Interview with Max Wilson

Max Wilson is a timelapse photographer that shoots mostly Chicago timelapses. I joined him this week for one of his rooftop shoots and was able to interview him from the roof!

http://www.photoalbumarchives.com/

Chicago Timelapse Project

Announcements

Art Wolfe in Chicago

The Out of Chicago Conference

Photographing Chicago from North Avenue Beach

North Avenue Beach is one of the best spots to photograph the Chicago Skyline. It’s different than shooting from Adler Planetarium where you can see the entire skyline, but it gives an opportunity to see more interesting views of the city. It’s a great location at night, sunrise, or sunset.

Along the water’s edge
Out on the breakwater
Walk to Fullerton Beach, Lincoln Park, Downtown

Pick of the week

Lenskirt: A great tool for shooting through glass. I was going to recommend it to Max Wilson until I saw that he has about 4 of them.

The post Night Photography Subjects, Max Wilson, North Avenue Beach: OOC Episode 5 appeared first on Out of Chicago Photography.

Night Photography Camera Settings, Interview with Levi Sim, Buckingham Fountain: OOC Episode 4 Jun 02, 2014

Show notes

Please subscribe and leave a review of the podcast on iTunes. Thanks!

I am going to get a podcast out for the beginning of each week. Every Monday morning there will be a new podcast waiting for you in your podcast player.

Tony Reynes and Anne Belmont have been leading a lot of photowalks on the weekends for the Garden Photographic Society. That’s a fancy term for the Chicago Botanic Garden Camera Club. They have invited followers of the Out of Chicago site to join them on these walks. Stay tuned to Out of Chicago for future walks.