INTERVIEW: Crime Scene Photographer, Nik Havert

Just this past weekend, I had Nik Havert in the studio for a portrait session. Nik is a close friend of my husband, Chad, and works as a police officer in the tiny little town of Nappanee, Indiana. During Nik's session, we struck up a conversation about his work as a crime scene photographer. As a small town police officer, Nik pulls triple duty as not only a patrol officer out on the back roads of Nappanee (watch out for those Amish horse and buggies!) but also as a crime scene technician and crime scene photographer.

While the background info may not be necessary to enjoy the interview, I thought I should elaborate on Nik's photo session as well as his other interests before getting to the video. Nik, in addition to being a police officer, is a fantastic writer. He's heavily involved in indie comics, graphic novels, and (oooh la la) some erotic fiction. If you would like more information on Nik's writing, please stop by the following links:

 www.picklepress.net

www.pickle-press.livejournal.com

You may also be wondering why Nik was in the studio for a portrait session... Well, Nik also hosts a local cable access show titled "Weird-o-rama." As the title suggests, Nik hosts all sorts of weird, creepy, and strange films. Most of these films are older and in the public domain. He also edits in a few bits of comic relief with old cartoons before the main attraction. However, Nik hosts the "Weird-o-rama" program as the character Victor Von Psychotron. The photo session was actually for promotional portraits of the character. I had a fantastic time coming up with ideas and then dragging Nik all over a local cemetery for the portrait session.

 If you're interested in checking out Weird-o-rama, then stop by the following link: https://www.facebook.com/WeirdORama

You can also stop by the Weird-o-rama YouTube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/VictorVonPsychotron

So enough rambling on... I thought the discussion about crime scene photography was fascinating. I hope you do too!  (Please excuse the sound quality.  I'm a photographer, not a videographer.  This is why you don't use the preamps on a Canon T3i for your audio.  The original audio was super noisy so I stripped it, scrubbed it in Audacity, and then resynced the audio.  The results were only moderately better.  Next time, I'll use dual system sound for better audio.  Hey- you do what you have to do when you're under a deadline for your guest to leave and drive across the state to go to work!)  Keep scrolling WAY down to get to the interview after all the photos!

 Here is the interview:

Canon 7D camera body gets firmware update in August 2012

Canon's 7D camera body to receive firmware update in August 2012... What do you think? Normally, I would not post from another blog, but many photographers are familiar with the CanonRumors blog so I thought I would redirect my blog followers to their site to read the content rather than do a rewrite of my own. I highly recommend following this blog if you are a Canon shooter. Reposted from another blog: http://www.canonrumors.com/2012/06/canon-eos-7d-firmware-v2-official/

Syncing and labeling multiple cameras in Adobe Lightroom software

Have you ever wanted to mesh files together from multiple cameras but you weren't sure how to do it?  Do you have a second shooter or assistant in training that would benefit from viewing an entire folder of their straight out of camera originals versus their edited proofs?  In this easy to follow video, I discuss why you would want to use these techniques, how to do it step by step in the Adobe Lightroom software, and some various reasons why these techniques could benefit your business. To view the video in full screen mode, click the four arrows next to the HD icon. To exit full screen mode, press your ESC key.

Tiffen introduces new filter software

Tiffen introduces some new filter software.  Thoughts?

http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Software_Reviews_and_News_130/tiffen-dfx-3.0-software-review-magic-in-the-making.php

Canon introduces new mirrorless camera body & another STM video lens

So Canon introduced a new mirrorless camera body with interchangeable lenses...  To whom do you think they are marketing this tiny wonder of technology?  Pros that want great family photos on the go but don't want to lug out the big guns?  With pricing higher than some entry level DSLR's, I have to think that's the marketing they're going for with this model.  Any thoughts?

Here's a quick overview of the new camera model from our friends at Dury's in Nashville, Tennessee:
https://www.durys.com/product/13724/Canon-EOS-M-Body-with-22mm-f2-STM-Kit/

Easy Geotagging for Google SEO

Learn how to geotag your images easily for dramatically improved Google SEO (search engine optimization) in this easy to follow video demonstration in which Kris Gay of Bella Vita Studios and Best Lightroom Training shows you how to use a cell phone photo with location info (GPS coordinates) embedded to sync metadata on all your website example images.

Don't forget to rename your web sized images upon export from Adobe Lightroom with keywords separated by hyphens as well because Google treats all words separated by hyphens as individual words (makes for a stronger keyword match and therefore higher SEO rankings)

You can also watch this video in a larger format by holding down CTRL or CMD and clicking this link to view the video in another window in HD resolution:
https://vimeo.com/46074695