Setting Goals for 2014

I love this time of year.  I will typically spend the week between Christmas and New Years every reflecting on last year and setting goals for the upcoming year. I find this really clears my mind and gets me ready for the new year.

Goals 2014
I was excited to find this video from the legendary Zig Ziglar on goal setting. Zig was a sales mans best motivator. I spent endless hours listening to his tapes while making sales calls in my territory right out of college. Right now I’m thinking about whats ahead for 2014 and what the possibilities are.

Here’s a couple good Zig quotes on goal setting.

“If you want to reach a goal. You must see the reaching in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.”

“A goal properly set is halfway reached”

What do you want to accomplish in 2014? Do you have written down goals for 2014?

Top Photography Apps for the iPad

Top 10 Photography Apps for iPad

Top Photography Apps for iPad

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you have definitely heard all the hype about the iPad. I got mine about 3 weeks ago and love it. Here are some of the top Apps that photographers might want to consider. If you have a favorite App that’s not listed here, post it in the comments below.

PhotoBuddy

PhotoBuddy is your personal assistant in photographic matters. It provides convenient ways to help professionals and amateurs calculate some of the most needed camera settings. If you run PhotoBuddy on your iPhone you can use the built in camera to determine distances for objects of known size. The provided grayscale gradient can help you set the white point of your photographs, and the exposure presets get you started very quickly in the most common lighting situations.

FEATURES
– Calculate Sunrise/Sunset and the moon phase
– Determine the moon phase for any given date
– Measure distances with the built in camera (1st Gen. iPhone only)
– Built in exposure presets
– Calculate exposure changes (f-number / shutter / iso) based on the reciprocity law
– Calculate the Depth of Field (hyperfocal distance, near/far limit). Test the calculation online at http://iphone.ambertation.de/photobuddy/dof
– Find the maximal distance a flash can light using a given aperture / iso
– Calculate the minimal camera distance to fit objects of a given size on your photo
– Set the white balance of your camera by a list of color temperatures for common lighting situations
– Supports metric/imperial units
– Supports full, half and third stop
– Database of digital SLRs for simple setup (if your camera is not listed, you can simply choose the film size)
– Database of common motion picture cameras
– Custom Camera Settings (Film Size)
– PhotoBuddy remembers all your settings. You to continue right where you left
– Added Support for the new “Micro Four Thirds” Cameras as well as several new Models introduced at Photokina 2008
– CoC Calculator (based on desired print size, resolution and viewing distance)
– Change the CoC multiplicator for your cameras to fit your needs
– Support for ISO values up to 25600
– Bulb Timer: Allows you to take long exposure shots (up to 13 hours) in the bulb mode of your camera
– Interactive DoF graphic (change the depth of field settings with a flick of your finger)
– Bellows exposure compensation
– Camera presets for Red One and Hasselblad
– Angle of View Calculator
– HDR Bracketing Calculator (determine correct shutter speeds for multiple exposures used for high dynamic range images
– Quick camera selection

LightTrac

LightTrac is a must have tool for any outdoor photographer interested in knowing the best times to shoot their subjects outdoors. Whether you are a landscape photographer or wedding photographer or a nature photographer, use this to find out Sun’s elevation and direction over any outdoor subject at any time of day. Use it to scout for new locations ahead of time. Use this tool to be there at the right spot at the right time. Sun’s azimuth and elevation changes throughout the year depending on which hemisphere you are located, so this is useful even if you think you know your spots well.

This app also displays the different phases of the moon in the month and also the current phase of the moon. Sun, moon event times and position data are all calculated by the app and they are found to be very closer to the chart published by US navy (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php)

SunLight Tracker

Sunlight Tracker is a must have tool for any outdoor photographer interested in knowing the best times to shoot their subjects outdoors. Whether you are a landscape photographer or wedding photographer or a nature photographer, use this to find out Sun’s elevation and direction over any outdoor subject at any time of day. Use it to scout for new locations ahead of time. Use this tool to be there at the right spot at the right time. Sun’s azimuth and elevation changes throughout the year depending on which hemisphere you are located, so this is useful even if you think you know your spots well.

* Find out sunrise, sunset, twilight times and day length for any day and location.
* Easily track Sun’s position and elevation at any time of day for any location. Use it to find the perfect time for photographing your subjects.
* Using Google map, zoom into a spot and then find the direction of sunlight at that spot for any time of day. For instance, you can find out which direction the sun would hit any landscape or a lake or a waterfall or any outdoor subject for that matter and it helps you plan to visit these locations at the right time for best photographic opportunity.
* Save multiple locations and switch between them easily.
* Does not require internet connection for basic functions, so you can take the app anywhere and use it any time. Internet connection is only required when adding a new location, or when using search or using the maps.
* Works on both iPhone and iPod touch.

Filterstorm

Filterstorm was designed from the ground up to meet your iPad photo editing needs. Using a uniquely crafted touch interface, Filterstorm allows for more intuitive editing than its desktop counterparts with a toolset designed for serious photography.
Filterstorm contains a suite of powerful tools including curves manipulation, color correction abilities, noise reduction, sharpening, vignetting, and black and white conversion fine-tuning. It also includes the powerful ability to apply any of the available filters by brush or color range, as well as to the entire image.

Features:
• Ability to apply adjustments to entire image, by brush, or color range
• Curves: Luminance, RGB, Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow
• Adjust brush size, softness, and opacity
• Brightness
• Contrast
• Color Balance
• Saturation
• Black and white fine-tuning
• 10-step Visual History, saved between sessions
• Cropping, with the ability to specify aspect ratio
• Scaling
• Rotation (90° increments only)
• Vignetting
• Sharpen
• Tone Map (Simulated HDR)
• Box Blur (Simulated Boke)
• Noise Reduction
• Clone Tool
• Send images through e-mail
• Send images via FTP (setup through settings menu)
• Add IPTC Captioning to images sent through e-mail or FTP
• Image Straightening tool
• History/Undo Brush (Choose a past state of the image, and brush it back onto the image)

Photographers Contract Maker

Create, Edit, Sign and Email 1 Page Photography Contracts from your iPhone!! Go paperless, reduce clutter, and streamline your contract organization!

Features-

– Comes with 4 great starter photography sample contracts:

1. Photo Shoot Contract
2. Model Release
3. Copyright Release
4. 2nd Shooter- Work for Hire

– “Settings” screen allows photographer to enter all of his/her information, including signature. This information is automatically embedded into templates. (Edit and Change your info at anytime.)
– Add, Manage, & Sync “Client” List to and from iPhone Contact list.
– “Auto Embed” Feature automatically inserts Photographers and Clients Information into template contracts. (This is a huge time saver, all you need to do is select which client you want. App will feed their info from your iPhone contact list).
– Select Date (Dual Feature Selection) and Time of Shoot
– Shoot Date and Time – Automatically embedded into each contract with shoot data fields.
– Create New Client Contracts (Unlimited)
– Create New Contract Templates (Up to 12)
– Edit Current Contract Templates, including “Add”, “2x” (Duplicate), “Edit” and “Delete”
– Edit Single Draft Contracts (Allows you to change parts of a new contract without effecting a template)
– Clients can “Sign” and “Resign” using their finger on touch sensitive screen.
– Contracts are converted to PDF documents which you can then archive by emailing to yourself and/or your client.
– “Saved” Contracts allows you to access previously saved contracts, signed or unsigned.
– Unsigned Contracts can be signed later.
– “Placeholders” allow users to create their own custom templates and still have auto-embedding features! (Wow!!)
– Save and Email Unsigned Contracts
– Works in Horizontal and Vertical Modes
– Contact your Clients from your “Client List”
– Trash Bin, allows you to recycle or empty deleted contracts and templates

Zosh

Finally, take those emailed forms, fill them in and sign them all from your iPhone. No more printing, signing and faxing. Throw out your fax machine! Turn around important emailed documents instantly using only your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

Zosh is an innovative new application that lets you fill in PDF, Word, Excel, PPT, BMP, JPG, GIF, and BMP documents. Insert Text, Dates and Signatures using our patent pending signature tool. Sign documents using your finger and the iPhone touchscreen. Transmit the completed documents as standard PDF files.

EDIT AND EXECUTE FORMS AND DOCUMENTS

• Insert text, dates, images and signatures
• Move, rotate, scale and re-size inserted items
• Change fonts and colors

RETURN DOCUMENTS FROM ANYWHERE

• Sent as a standard PDF file with all of your changes
• Email back to yourself with a click of a button
• Or choose from your address book people to email to
• Works with your existing email account
• Manage and maintain a secure library of frequently used documents and forms

TURNAROUND IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS INSTANTLY

• Sign documents on the go
• No document conversion or special upload tools required
• You get immediate improvement in efficiency
• Saves paper and reduces costs as you don’t need to print contracts anymore
• Document quality better than a fax machine