Nikon Announces New Flagship Cameras, the D5 and D500!

At CES 2016 on Tuesday morning, Nikon announces new flagship cameras to their lineup.  They announced the Nikon D5 and D500.  The D5 is Nikon's full frame camera will be replacing the D4s, their current model.  The D500 will be their flagship camera for their DX or crop sensor line.  Nikon has not had a flagship DX camera since the D300 and D300's.  To find out more about these two camera's check out the YouTube video I created.  If you like the video give me a thumbs up and subscribe!  

Millpond Park Senior Session

I wanted to share another senior session I had a couple of weeks ago. The location was Millpond Park in Fenton, Michigan.  The shoot time was later in the day around 5ish, the sky was very overcast. Which some people might cringe at that and think it's not a great time to shoot.  It's a photographers dream to shoot when it's overcast.  Overcast skies are like using a really big softbox.  What does that translate to for the non-photographer technical people?  Think of the sky as a big light, now cover that light with a sheet, what happens?  If you guessed that it softens the light, then you are correct!  When it's overcast, I don't have to worry about harsh light hitting the subject or weird shadows on the face.  

Ok, the photography lesson is over, now back to the shoot.  I've been in communication with the parents of the senior several times before the shoot.  The seniors mom was full of ideas on what poses she would like during the shoot and props that she wanted in the pictures.  At one point, she asked if I minded that she had all these ideas.  I, of course, stated that I didn't mind after all customer service is very important.  Now how I really felt about it.  I love it!  I love having, what I call an organic session.  A session where the parents and the senior has input on what poses they would like to see.  I do this for a couple of reasons.  One; it puts everyone at ease that I'm not trying to control the whole situation and just putting their son or daughter in artsy poses. Two; if the senior is comfortable, then the posing and facial expressions are much more natural and not forced. Of course, I mix in my poses during the shoot.  

This shoot was super fun, with great ideas coming from the parents and the senior, we zipped around the park taking picture after picture, going from pose to pose.  There was a time we got super goofy and ended up having a great time.  We had such a great time we started losing track of the time.  If you look at the pictures you can tell we all enjoyed the shoot.   

Please feel free to comment on this post.  If you know of someone looking for a Senior Photography session, feel free to send them to my website!  

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Latest Senior Session

I wanted to share some pictures of my latest senior session. The session was a couple of weeks ago Saturday morning at the Detroit Riverfront Park. The morning was filled with smiles and laughter. I like to hold what I call an organic session, where receive input from Sydney and her mother Stephanie. They were great sports with allowing me to take creative freedoms and giving me great input during the shoot. - Here is a link to the full gallery - Seniors

Plenty of time left to schedule a Senior Session with Jack Scicluna Photography!

How to Format USB Flash Drives to Work with Both Mac and Windows.

Newer computers don't include CD/DVD drives. By not including an optical drive, the computer is smaller and lighter. Apple had started doing this when the Macbook Air arrived on the scene. They are also doing this with their latest laptops and their iMac.I’ve been reading how some photographers have tried to switch from using CD/DVD’s to USB flash drives to deliver their digital pictures to their clients. Because of the issues they have had with their clients being able to read the USB flash drive they switched back to using CD/DVD’s. This article will teach you how to format the USB flash drive so both Mac’s and PC’s can read them. I have two parts to this tutorial. One for Mac and the other for Windows 7.

Mac Instructions

Step 1:  Double Click on the Finder icon that is located in the Dock. It looks like the Apple smiley face. Here’s a picture.

Step 2:  A finder window should be open now. On the left-hand side of the finder window locate "Applications". Click on Applications to open the Applications folder.

Step 3:  In the Application Windows look for the Utility Folder. Double click on the Utility folder.

Step 4:  If you haven't already plugged in your USB flash drive into your Mac, please do so now before going on to Step 5.

Step 5:  Look for the Disk Utility icon and double click it.

Note: From this step on please be careful. You don't want to erase the wrong disk. Doing this will delete all the data on the disk. If you accidently choose the wrong disk, you will not be able to recover the data without special software or even a data recovery specialist, which can be extremely expensive.

Step 6:  Locate your USB flash drive. Mine displays as 2 GB SMI USB DISK Media, then underneath it you will see USB DISK. Click on USB Disk.

Step 7:  When you click on USB Disk, you will see a few tabs. Click on the Erase tab.

Step 8:  You will see Format: Select ExFAT

Step 9:  You will see Name: Input the name you would like to call it, for example, your clients name or your business name. You only get 11 characters and spaces count as a character. Don't use any symbols or special characters. For this example, I will be using my company name abbreviated: JSP

Step 10:  Your screen should look like the screen example below.

Step 11:  Now if everything looks right click on the Erase button. A confirmation window will pop up. Click on the Erase Button.

Step 12:  The formatting process is pretty quick depending on how old your Mac is. Unfortunately, there is no confirmation that the computer is done formatting your USB flash drive. When it's done, it will automatically mount the drive with the name you gave it. When you see this, you can close the Disk Utility application.

Your USB flash drive is now ready for pictures.

Windows 7 Instructions

Step 1:  Plug your USB flash drive in an available USB port on your computer.

Step 2:  Go to the Window Start Menu, then Computer.

Step 3:  You should see your USB flash drive. On my computer, it displays as the G: Drive.

Note: From this step on please be careful. You don't want to erase the wrong disk. Doing this will delete all the data on the disk. If you accidently choose the wrong disk, you will not be able to recover the data without special software or even a data recovery specialist, which can be extremely expensive.

Step 4:  Click on the USB Disk once. Then do a right click with your mouse to pull up a menu. Click on Format.

Step 5:  You will want to change the File System to: exFAT and then enter a Volume Label. You can make this your client name or your company name. I picked JSP; no special characters allowed.

Step 6:  Click the Start Button (Make sure you keep the Quick Format Checked. This will speed up the process).

Step 7:  Click the OK button.

Step 8:  You should see a message Format Complete.

Your USB flash drive is now ready for pictures.