X-Stop
Tony Donaldson is a freelance commercial and editorial photographer based in the Los Angeles area who specializes in personalities and sports images. People are his passion, whether they are top athletes or celebrities or timid executives. His past and present clients include Lincoln, Buick, Chrysler, The New York Times, ESPN The Magazine, The Wall Street Journal,Scholastic, Zero Motorcycles, Razor, and many more. He has written two books on BMX, was a regular contributor to Xtreme Video magazine and consults and speaks around the country on sh...
Read More
By Tony Donaldson | May 15, 2013
The CamRanger is a small, white, wireless controller for your camera. It attaches to your Canon or Nikon DSLR (Full list available at http://www.camranger.com/supported-cameras/) via USB cable. From there, download the CamRanger app to your iPhone, Tablet or Mac.
It allows you to...
Read More
0 Comments
If you think Professional photography is unflattering, wait till you see the what you get with amateurs!
By Tony Donaldson | April 25, 2013
In the wake of some unflattering photos of Beyoncé Knowles from the Superbowl halftime show that appeared in an article on buzzfeed, Beyoncé and her PR machine have gone crazy and BANNED professional photographers from her new Mrs. Carter Show World Tour.
In an...
Read More
0 Comments
Photographing my heroes and friends with the gravitas they deserve
By Tony Donaldson | April 24, 2013
BMX Legend Mat Hoffman
Every year I go to the Old School BMX Reunion at Woodward West in Southern California. It's an invitation-only event put together by one of the luminaries of the BMX freestyle world, Steve Swope. There's a minimum...
Read More
0 Comments
New video from Adobe teases Camera Shake Reduction
By Tony Donaldson | April 17, 2013
Adobe has a new video up teasing new features debuting in the next release of Photoshop. Zorana Gee, Sr. Photoshop Product Manager demonstrates "Camera Shake Reduction", a tool akin to unsharp mask on steroids, to figure out camera shake and virtually remove it from an image.
...
Read More
0 Comments
Now there's a fix for the 20-minute limit
By Tony Donaldson | April 10, 2013
I have a Nikon D5100 that I use as a backup on video shoots. During some interviews and presentations, the 20-minute limit means that I have to stop the camera after 20 minutes or at least be on top of it to restart it running, which means that if it's the only camera recording, there will...
Read More
0 Comments
Visiting the students at Orange Coast College
By Tony Donaldson | March 14, 2013
I recently had a chance to talk to the students of Leslie McCall's Professional Digital Techniques class at Orange Coast College. OCC has an amazing facility and great faculty. The school is amazing, there are tons of 5D, 7D, Canon AE-1 (film bodies) cameras and lenses, all Profoto...
Read More
0 Comments
Ok, so I'm late to the party. This social media site is quite useful!
By Tony Donaldson | January 30, 2013
I'm no luddite. I love technology, I'm an early adopter, beta tester and consultant on a lot of things. But social media, with the plethora of different options, are hard to learn and use effectively.
Honestly, I just tried Pinterest really for...
Read More
0 Comments
Get rid of clients that drain you so you can work on the good ones!
By Tony Donaldson | January 21, 2013
There comes a time in any relationship to know when it isn't working out. In business, it is essential to be able to assess yours and get rid of the clients that drag you down. They all abuse you in some way. Some always beat you up on price or terms, some pay you very late, consistently....
Read More
0 Comments
...and by resolutions, I don't mean 36 megapixels!
By Tony Donaldson | January 08, 2013
For 2013, I've been setting some goals. And by setting goals, I mean putting them on paper. And digital paper, in the form of my devices, so I can have them in front of me and in the forefront of my mind all the time.
There's the obvious, expanding my work and my business. I...
Read More
0 Comments
A parable I tell often to clients
By Tony Donaldson | December 07, 2012
There's a great story, I don't know if it's true, but I'd love to think it is. It goes like this:
A woman is walking through the streets of Paris when she spots Picasso sitting at a cafe drinking coffee. She is overcome with the urge to approach him.
"Oh,...
Read More
0 Comments
A great reason to display new work and meet new clients
By Tony Donaldson | December 07, 2012
What a perfect way to say welcome to the redesign of ProPhotoCoalition.com as I have almost simultaneously relaunched tdphoto.com with an all new design. PPC's design is clean, so far easier to use from both sides, elegant and I just love it.
It's a lot of hard work to get a...
Read More
0 Comments
How to get better control and save $300 in the process.
By Tony Donaldson | September 17, 2012
I've had my Nikon D800 for a little bit, and decided it would be a lot better to have a vertical grip for it. The OEM grip is the Nikon MB-D12 Multi Battery Power Pack (reminds me of my old MD-12 for the FM2), and runs a cool $400. The D700 grip, the MB-D10, was similar, and only $250. This caused an uproar among prosumer users, and most anyone else on a budget. Why would essentially the same thing be nearly twice the price?
Read More
1 Comments
Buying a lens I already have, only so much better!
By Tony Donaldson | August 22, 2012
I just bought a 50mm lens. Certainly not my first one, I've owned many primes, and this is my 5th 50mm Nikkor. I've upgraded for various reasons. Here's why I bought the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G Lens over the 1.4 version.
Read More
0 Comments
A day at the beach with some of the best in the world.
By Tony Donaldson | August 07, 2012
It's been a while since I've shot any surfing, so when friend Lon Levin invited me down to the U.S. Open in Huntington Beach, I jumped at the chance. Besides, how wrong can you go with a day at the beach?
Read More
0 Comments
I found her a new home and got free tattoos.
By Tony Donaldson | July 09, 2012
I recently decided to part ways with my first DSLR, a Nikon D1x. I hadn't used her in a while, had been still using her for high speed sync until a couple of years ago when I started using Hypersync. I wanted to see if I could trade her for some ink I wanted. My first tattoos, actually.
Read More
0 Comments
Flash sync at any speed on the highest resolution DSLR
By Tony Donaldson | July 06, 2012
If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know I love doing unusual things with my cameras to get the lighting and image I want. Hypersync is one of those things. Making a camera sync at any speed is especially useful for freezing action and being able to create good light even in crappy, midday sunlight.
Read More
0 Comments
It's not just having a backup body, it's being able to think on your feet.
By Tony Donaldson | June 18, 2012
As a photographer with a couple of decades' worth of experience, I've seen a lot of things go wrong on my shoots. Though you have to have an extra body and lens (at LEAST), the ability to think on your feet and remain calm and still get the shots you need is PARAMOUNT to being able handle a career in photography.
Read More
0 Comments
I've had this beast for about a week, and I'm in love.
By Tony Donaldson | June 14, 2012
I've been dying to get my hands on a Nikon D800 since it was announced a few months ago. As they started trickling in to the States, I started scouring retailers to get one. A friend on the opposite coast found me one, and I jumped on it!
Read More
0 Comments
It prints, scans, copies and faxes, more wirelessly than you even expect.
By Tony Donaldson | January 06, 2012
I've had the chance to use HP's new Envy 110 e-All-in-one printer/copier/scanner/fax, and I love it. It's amazingly easy to set up, has it's own touch screen to walk you through connecting it to your Wi-Fi (and a LOT more, but we'll get to that in a bit).
Read More
0 Comments
A safe way to archive and store your old hard drives.
By Tony Donaldson | January 06, 2012
Unless you've lived under a rock for the past 20 years, you use computers. And if you're like most of us, you've replaced, upgraded or just added new hard drives. And you've kept the old ones. There's stuff on there you're using for a backup, archiving specific projects, or just saving it. How do you keep those drives safe and organized?
Read More
0 Comments
DBA Createasphere