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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...
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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).
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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?
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Find the perfect gift for the photographer in your life for Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or whatever you celebrate.
By Tony Donaldson | November 23, 2011
If you have a photographer in your life, you may have a tough time finding the perfect gift for him or her for the holidays. Never fear, we have a useful list to help in your search and help them enjoy photography and take it to the next level.
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It's free and you don't even need a merchant account!
By Tony Donaldson | November 14, 2011
This is a sample transaction using Square to accept a credit card payment
If you want the simplest, easiest way to accept credit card payments, now you have an option. Square (http://www.squareup.com) offers a free credit card reader for iPhones, iPads, and Android smartphones and tablets. Yes, free. All you need is a smartphone or tablet and a bank account.
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Hint: Your stock app sucks!
By Tony Donaldson | October 02, 2011
I am currently using an HTC Thunderbolt. It has an 8 megapixel camera. The images look like utter crap after the stock "Camera" app compresses an 8 megapixel file down to a couple hundred kilobytes. And there are no settings to reduce the amount of compression. I decided to do something about it, and I found a fantastic solution.
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At least one microstock company seems to get the fairness issue
By Tony Donaldson | September 30, 2011
Linda Johannessen, CEO of microstock website YAY Micro, realizes something that most microstock photographers don't. That the photographers are getting a very unfair deal.
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If you've ever taken manuals for your cameras, speedlights, etc. into the field for reference, here's a compelling reason to have an eReader like a Kindle or a tablet like an iPad.
By Tony Donaldson | September 07, 2011
I carry some of my owners manuals with me. Depending on the gear I'm carrying, the complexity, etc., I usually have a few with me. As much of a tech geek as I am, I'm still a little old school about some things. Speedlights, for example, have features I rarely use, and the menus can be difficult, and some of the symbols aren't as descriptive as they could be, so the manual can be handy.
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Sony's Cybershot DSC-TX10 waterproof digital camera
By Tony Donaldson | July 15, 2011
I had a chance to spend a little time playing with Sony's TX10 waterproof digital camera. I had a total blast with it!It's small, it's VERY easy to use, and it's virtually indestructable for most mortals. It's waterproof to pool depths, dustproof and shockproof. The latter means that if you drop things often, this one will likely survive.
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Using some new goodies from PocketWizard
By Tony Donaldson | May 12, 2011
I'm playing around with and pushing limits on the new PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 units. Had a chance to work with a gymnast on a trampoline this week, this was shot at 1/3200th of a second at F/5 using Dynalite packs and heads. Rare partly cloudy skies over Los Angeles were underexposed to show all the texture and darken the blue sky. I lit the model, Leila, with two heads and the action, including her hair, froze nicely. It even worked well on more active stuff, like backflips.
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I have to voice my opinion on this.
By Tony Donaldson | April 28, 2011
Today the APA sent out a press release outlining Getty Images' planned changes to Contributor Agreements. That press release can be read HERE or below.
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One tough and useful field unit!
By Tony Donaldson | April 05, 2011
I've had a chance to try one of Wiebetech's new ToughTech Duo , and I was impressed. It lives up to it's "Tough" moniker and provides the support and security I like in the field. It really has everything you could want in an external storage unit for location work. It's a tiny RAID case, using two laptop drives internally, so it fits in almost any bag or case next to your laptop.
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By Tony Donaldson | March 08, 2011
We all get approached to do work for free or at a reduced fee. How do you decide whether to take the gig or not? Here's a brilliant chart to help you make that decision and understand how to improve your business.
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By Tony Donaldson | March 07, 2011
You're browsing through a website and you see a great looking image. One that is awfully familiar. Heyyyy... Wait a minute! That image is YOURS! And you know you never authorized that use.I've just been talking with a friend who is dealing with this now. We've all experienced it. But what do you do about it?
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By Tony Donaldson | February 21, 2011
I read a lot of articles about all kinds of interesting things. Sometimes these things are the springboard to something else entirely. I was reading a story in the British Journal of Photography on do-it-yourself photographers who build their own equipment for their specific needs. That's awfully familiar, I've done quite a bit of that myself. But that wasn't the most interesting part. That came not from the article, but from the comments left after the article. There was one about a one-of-a-kind camera that was as much a part of the art and artist as it was a tool to create interesting art.
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