10 Tips for a Great Photo Presentation

Getting up in front of an audience to deliver an entertaining and inspiring photo presentation is one of my favourite things to do - right after being outside shooting photos. I've had a chance to present to groups of all kinds, from a dozen people in a church basement to keynotes at large venues with a thousand people. Each time, it's equally fun and exciting! Here are 10 tips that I've used over the years to deliver presentations with impact:  

1. Start your presentation with a bang - a great joke or compelling story to capture the attention of the audience.  
2. Tell personal and/or humorous stories that convey your passion. The audience wants to be entertained as much as they want to learn a few tips.   
3. Create a point form outline, but don't script your entire show. Use a few key speaking points to illustrate each of your segments or concepts. The more you get to know your presentation, the better it will flow. Your goal is to deliver a fluid and engaging talk that comes across more naturally and less scripted.
4. Use minimal text on your slides (I can't stress this point enough)!  If the crowd wanted to read, they would have stayed home and picked up a book.  
5. Include photos of yourself in action. It makes your content more real and personal.
6. Show, don't tell. Comparison images are the best way to demonstrate concepts and techniques. For example, to show the effect of using a filter include photos taken with and without it.   
7. Bring some relevant gear with you or interesting props. We're camera nerds and love to see the gear you use! 
8. The ideal length for a presentation is 45-55 minutes plus a few minutes for questions. Keep it short and punchy. Leave the audience wanting more. 
9. Vary your pace. I use a ton of photos (200) in a typical presentation. At times I'll breeze through a series of images and sometimes I linger on slides.
10. Don't take any questions until the end, then take 3-5 questions out loud and stick around to mingle personally. You don't want to hold up the entire crowd with endless questions. 

I hope these tips help you with your next presentation! If you have additional tips, please feel free to share them in the comments. Thanks!

Ethan Meleg 

www.ethanmeleg.com/inpublic.htm

Note: This article is copyright. Feel free to share the link, but do not save/copy the text and repost elsewhere without permission. 

New Photography Software for Mac Users

PC versus Mac - there is a debate between the users. I am personally a PC user and although I have been tempted by the dark side (Mac people are pushers!), I remain a loyal PC user. A large part of this has to do with the software I use for my photography work is either already bought or not available for Mac. One program that I use is BreezeBrowser for navigating my photo collection and for initial editing after a shoot. There has never been a version of this software for Mac, until now, a friend of mine Bhupendra has developed a similar program to fill the gap.

I would like to introduce to you a new image download and editing software for Mac -- FirstPass. Written by a photographer, for photographers!

FirstPass is a lightweight and intuitive program to do a "first pass" editing of photos -- download, thumbnail view, view at 100%, rate, filter, rename, delete and more.

Some of the main features of FirstPass:

- Accelerates your digital imaging workflow

- Lightweight, stand-alone image browser

- Allows automatic download from multiple sources to multiple destinations

- Fast and intuitive interface to sort, rate and view images

- Allows image download over the network

- View images in a slideshow

- Supports all RAW file formats

Available at the Mac AppStore for a limited time introductory price -- $9.99!

For more information, please visit http://firstpass.lightoncanvas.com. Bhupendra will be glad to answer any questions here, or by email firstpass@lightoncanvas.com.

It’s on the Newsstands!!

Be sure to pick up the Canadian Geographic Collector’s Edition – Best National Parks Pictures 2011. This is the issue that features my photo of Banff National Park, Moraine Lake on the cover – once again thank you to all who voted! This issue is full of great photographs of our National parks, marine areas and historic sites by many talented photographers.

more Great Smoky Mountains National Park landscapes....

Here are a few images from yesterday and today in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I've processed these on my new laptop and am just getting used to the monitor nuances, let me know if they look OK!

Blogger is giving me trouble with captions, so here are the location and tech details in order the photos appear.

Photo 1: Clingman's Dome, Canon EOS 1D mk IV, Sigma 70-200/2.8 lens, Singh-Ray LB ColorCombo polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad

Photo 2:  Clingman's Dome, Canon EOS 5D mk II, Sigma 70-200/2.8 lens, Singh-Ray LB ColorCombo polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad

Photo 3: Roaring Fork, Canon EOS 5D mk II, Sigma 24-70/2.8 lens, Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer

Photo 4: Roaring Fork, Canon EOS 5D mk II, Sigma 24-70/2.8 lens, Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer

Upcoming Presentation in London, Ontario

I will be doing a presentation in London for Sigma Canada and Forest City Image Centre on “Top Tips for Outdoor Photography”. It’s on a Wednesday so if you are looking to break up your long work week come on out and get some ideas on outdoor photography. There are still tickets available.

The presentation is April 27^th at the Best Western Lamplighter Inn & Conference Center. For more information or tickets, see poster above for details or visit http://www.sigmacanada.ca/2011/04/tips-for-outdoor-photography-with-ethan-meleg/ or call 519-661-0325 to register (Forest City Image Centre).

Hope to see you there!

Photo Exhibition & Presentation, Kingsville (Ontario) -upcoming

I hail from the small town of Kingsville in the southernmost part of Ontario, Canada (about 45 minutes from Windsor/Detroit). For the first time ever, I'll be doing an exhibition of my photos and presentation back in my home town. 

During the month of March, drop by the Kingsville Public Library (during business hours) to see 12 of my favourite photos on display. The library is located at 40 Main Street West in Kingsville, Ontario and the hours are:

Monday, Tuesday - 1:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Thursday - 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Friday - 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Saturday - 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.


The exhibition is a prelude to my presentation "Confessions of a Crazed Photographer"on April 9 at the Pelee Island Winery. For more info or tickets (limited numbers, get them quickly), see poster above for details. Or visit Shooters Photography Club website: http://shootersclub.wordpress.com/ethan-meleg-event/


If you make it to see the exhibition or presentation, let me know what you think!

Announcing.... a new logo!

I'm pleased to present my new logo, designed by Carve creative studio in London, Ontario. I've been in serious need of a professional logo to sharpen up my marketing materials in a consistent fashion. Carve designer Jason Recker did a great job of translating my ideas into a series of prototypes, leading to this final version. Thanks Jason!

Let me know what you think of it....
thanks,
Ethan

Help me name my boat !

Here's my latest photo accessory... 16' and 50HP of boat-awesomeness to shuttle myself around to faraway shorelines. A boat needs a name and I need your help to come up with something clever! The name should be photo related and it can't be too long (it's a small boat so the name has to fit!). So far my friends have given me some good suggestions:
Shutter Speed
Over-Exposed
F-Stop
I wanted to call it "EthanMeleg.com Corporate Yacht" but my friends said that was lame.

Please post your best suggestions! If I pick your name, you can either have 1) a boat trip (if you live nearby) or 2) an 11x16 print of your choice from my entire collection.

My Mom is up for a visit and the boating conditions were perfect yesterday, so I took her out for a tour along the spectacular shoreline of Bruce Peninsula National Park. That's Georgian Bay in the background.... love that Caribbean-blue water! Below are a few photos from our excursion.


Photo 1(above): That's me with the boat on the shoreline of Georgian Bay. EOS 5D mark II; 17-40mm lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer; photo shot by my Mom


Photo 2 (above): The cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment in Bruce Peninsula National Park plunge into the clear blue-green waters of Georgian Bay. EOS 5D mark II; 17-40mm lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer


Photo 3 (above): Framed by a shoreline cave, my Mom looks out at the blue waters of Georgian Bay from Bruce Peninsula National Park. EOS 5D mark II; 17-40mm lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer;


Photo 4 (above): That's me at the helm. Photo shot by my Mom with a Canon G11.

Welcome to my new Nature Photogrpahy blog

Welcome Nature & Outdoor Photographers!
Here's my blog to share facts, opinions and miscellaneous ramblings about nature photography, photo techniques, camera gear and whatever else comes to mind.... all in an informal way.
Happy shooting!
cheers,
Ethan Meleg