#StraightouttaFROcus, Building Your Online Presence, Jean Claude Pierre Merideth IV: RAWtalk 184

#StraightouttaFROcus, Building Your Online Presence, Jean Claude Pierre Merideth IV: RAWtalk 184

What an action packed RAWtalk we had this week. We had new hashtags, FREE stuff, memes, flying solo and a lot of laughs.

If you would like to get my latest guide the FroKnowsPhoto Guide To Building Your Online Presence for FREE head over to FroKnowsPhoto.com/branding right now.

You can now search out FroKnowsPhoto RAWtalk on iTunes or any podcast network and look for the YELLOW RAWtalk logo which means Video. Keep in mind you should download these episodes if you’re on WIFI as they are 800 megs to 1 gig each. CLICK HERE to access RAWtalk Video on iTunes.

Thank you all for an amazing SIX years of FroKnowsPhoto.com. If you’re new to the site or you’ve been there since before I started, thank you!!!

00:00:16 – Show Start
00:00:33 – Todd’s Intell Jacket
00:01:40 – Todd’s New Hipster Haircut
00:03:14 – FroKnowsPhoto 6th Year Anniversary – June 1st
00:03:43 – Download the Free Guide to Building Your Online Presence
00:05:43 – Download the Video Podcast Soon!
00:08:08 – #StraightouttaFROcus
00:08:29 – Allen’s Canon-Ball
00:08:58 – Jared’s Charity Photo Shoot
00:09:23 – Update: Todd’s Mentorship Program
00:09:39 – We’re Critiquing Jared’s Video Edit Next Week!
00:12:22 – Todd’s New Facebook Page
00:12:39 – Photo News
00:19:28 – Introducing Jean Claude Pierre Merideth IV
00:20:06 – Todd’s French Blooper Reel
00:40:10 – Review the Show on iTunes!
00:40:36 – Gear of the Week: Holga Digital
00:43:18 – Mail Time! Tech Leather Craft
00:47:00 – Flying Solo
01:14:50 – Wheel of Fro
01:22:00 – This Week’s Memes
01:27:28 – #HASHTAGS!

Here’s all of Stephen’s photo news stories in detail:

Wedding Photographer Falls Into Frozen Lake, Keeps On Shooting

A wedding photographer named Nathan Welton recently fell into a “frozen” lake during an outdoor snowy ceremony in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Instead of stopping like any other person would do, he kept on shooting even after being halfway submerged in the cold water of Bear Lake. Welton managed to save his gear after quickly raising his cameras as he began to fall in. He says, “I had a pair of Canon 5d Mark III’s on me, one with a 16-35 f/2.8L Mark II and one with a 70-200 f/2.8 IS Mark II. Amazingly the UV filter was completely dry. I just pulled it out and kept shooting.” Since there was snow on the ground and it was snowing on top of that, he says it was impossible to tell where the ground stopped and the lake began. Welton goes on to say, “I’ve been to this place many times and from prior experience I thought the lake edge was further away than it actually was. So, I walked to the side of the ceremony to try to shoot Brad’s reactions and in an instant was submerged to my belly button.” After falling in, he finished shooting the ceremony and THEN proceeded to shoot the formals right after, while still drenched: “I shot the rest of the 20 minute ceremony, another 20 minutes or so of group shots, another 30-40 minutes of couples shots, and then we continued to shoot in other (snowy) locations.” He says the temperature was hovering around freezing that day too, and that his thermals, down jacket and snow boots allowed him to keep shooting throughout the day even though he was soaked. Smartphone photos from the crowd captured him still taking photos in the lake and after the fact, which you can see below. Props to Nathan! (via HP)

Artist Duo Create World’s Largest Life-size Tintypes

The world’s largest tintypes ever created were taken recently with a ROOM-size camera. Taken by artist duo Walter & Zoniel as part of a project entitled “The Untouched,” the photos are full 1:1 life-sized tintype. They say breaking the world record wasn’t their goal either, they really just needed plates big enough for life-sized portraits. The couple came up with the idea in 2010, but the issue was finding a lens big enough to accommodate their huge 7×4 foot tintypes. Six years later, they finally found one. They say with the large size, it takes time to expose each plate properly: “Each person ultimately has just one shot at a very extended exposure time (up to 35 seconds), we may do a small (16×20) study to test light and chemistry, but only one singular full sized plate.” They note that after the photo is taken, it takes about 20 minutes to develop and voila—a 19th century life-size polaroid. Check out some behind-the-scenes photos of their room-camera over here. (via PP)

4,000 Unseen Photos of WWI Soldiers Discovered in France

A set of about 4,000 photos featuring portraits of WWI soldiers has been discovered in France. The never-before-seen images feature British soldiers on the eve of battle. The set was found nearly a century after they were initially placed in the attic in a farm house in northern France. The photos have since been restored, scanned and published in a new book titled ‘The Lost Tommies.’ A local couple named Louis and Antoinette Thuillier were the photographers behind the pictures. They snapped photos of the soldiers as they were passing through town, which were originally captured on glass, printed onto postcards, and then sent home to their loved ones. The new book is now available for £40. Check out some photos from inside over at Daily Mail.

Canon Files Patent for New Full Frame Superzoom

Canon has filed a patent for a new super zoom lens: an EF 28-560mm f/2.8-5.6 lens. The full frame lens is said to be possibly replacing the 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L.560mm at 5.6 will indeed be a huge front element, so if this comes to fruition, this lens will be enormous! (via CR)

Student Creates World’s First Instant Camera Drone

A student at RIT named Nick Kundrat created the world’s first instant camera drone. For his Visual Media Innovation Project, he rigged a Fuji Instax Mini 8 onto a DJI Flamewheel f450 drone. The only problem? Once the drone is in mid-air and takes a photo, the Instax paper simply falls to the ground—he should build some sort of catch tray for the photos! He also never revealed how he actually controls the camera or remotely triggers the shutter, but it’s clearly taking photos while mid-flight in its maiden flight below: (via PP)

Photographer Taking Wedding Photos to New Heights with Camera Drone

Speaking of drones, a wedding photographer is taking her wedding photos to new heights, literally, by doing aerial wedding photography. Photographer Helene Havard has been incorporating a DJI Phantom 3 into her wedding photography. She says, “I like to shoot them from above to show they are together but alone alone in the world at the same time.” Doing a lot of destination weddings, the bird’s eye-straight down photos she takes make absolute sense, where most are taken with the couple on a tropical island or floating in the water. Check out some of her drone wedding photography here. (via DIYP)

Photo by Helene Havard

Twitter No Longer Counting Photos Towards 140-Character Tweet Limit

Good news for photographers who use Twitter to post their photos. The social media giant will no longer be counting photos toward the 140-character limit of a tweet. Coming in the next few months, Twitter product manager Todd Sherman says the change comes from Twitter being used more as a multimedia platform than just text, now more than ever: “Over the past decade, the Tweet has evolved from a simple 140-character text message to a rich canvas for creative expression featuring photos, videos, hashtags, Vines, and more.” Other media that won’t be counted towards the character limit will include GIFs, videos, @name mentions and more.

LensBaby Launches Kickstarter For New GoPro Circular Fisheye Lens

LensBaby has launched yet another Kickstarter, this time for a 185-degree circular fisheye lens designed for GoPros. Called the Circular 180+, the lens pops right onto your GoPro housing, with the lens itself being waterproof, so there’s no messy installation. The campaign notes that, “With its 185 degree field of view, intense depth, tack sharp edge-to-edge focus plus its small, rugged design, this lens will go anywhere you want to go.” It’s only waterproof down to 3 meters though, so it won’t exactly go “anywhere you want to go.” Also, the included attachment mechanism is only “water resistant;” If you want the mount itself to be waterproof, you’ll have to install Lensbaby’s special Waterproof Mount which replaces the traditional GoPro front housing plastic plate with Lensbaby’s own, and that’s gonna cost extra. Early bird specials are going for $69, with the waterproof mount costing an extra $35. However, retail price will eventually be $100 if the campaign succeeds. They’re asking for a goal of $30,000 and have already raised about $8K in the first week, with about 3 weeks left to go. Check out their Kickstarter here along with the promo video below:

Olympus’ New Action Camera Looks Like a Mini Handy Cam

On the topic of GoPros, Olympus has released their own action camera called the Stylus Tough TG-Tracker. Shaped like a tiny handy cam, but nearly the same size as a GoPro, it’s waterproof down to 100 feet, with no external housing needed. So, you’ll have access to all of the buttons while submerged, which is certainly a plus. It’s dustproof, shockproof, freeze proof and crushproof up to 220 lbs so it should withstand anything you throw at it. Spec wise, it shoots 4K at up to 30fps, slow motion at 240fps in 720P, or 1080P at 60fps. The front lens element is a 13mm f/2.0 lens that has a 204 degree FOV. It even has a headlight mounted above the lens for those really dark situations too. Also, it has a flip out 1.5” screen on the side and built-in GPS—hence the name Tracker—with a dedicated “Log Mode” that won’t drain the battery but still track your movement. Unlike a GoPro, it has a barometric pressure sensor, temperature sensor, compass and accelerometer as well. A pistol grip also comes with the camera and is not an optional accessory, where GoPro typically makes you buy every little extra accessory. It will cost about $350 and will hit shelves in June. Will you be trading in your GoPro for this?