Photocombobulate Mason Marsh and Jeff Carlson

Roberto Valenzuela is an accomplished wedding, fashion and portrait photographer, author, and educator. His command of artificial light and dogged pursuit of meticulously-crafted portraits make him an authority on flash photography. In his new book, Picture Perfect Flash, he shares his secrets to success and in this episode we talk with Roberto about his work and how noobs like us can create captivating portraits.

As 2023 winds down, we look back at our photographic year and ahead to the next. We also tackle two listener questions as we discuss staying safe when out and about with camera gear and how we’d digitize old print photos and keep them safe for future generations.

In this our 34th episode, we’d like to thank you for your support and assure you that despite our irregular episode schedule, Photocombobulate has a strong future filled with engaging episodes, exciting guests and lots of fun. Stay tuned in 2024!

Most of us have used smartphone apps that help photographers determine sun and moon positions for spectacular outdoor images. These tools have been great scouting resources for planning shoots when moments are fleeting and camera position is critical, but they haven’t been much help when it comes to predicting the weather or reminding you to wake up and get the shot. All that changes today with the launch of Photo Scout, a new iPhone app by Daniel Kennett that can help you plan difficult photo opportunities and then prompt you to see them through. Leveraging cloud-based atmospheric and space weather forecasting services with device-based sun and moon position data, Photo Scout allows you to build photo recipes with multiple factors and then set up push notifications to alert you when your conditions are lining up. For example, if you are hoping to capture the rising full moon behind a certain skyline in clear conditions that will make that shot spectacular, Photo Scout will tell you when the moon will be where you want it, then check the weather when that moments comes, and then send you an alert so you’ll have time to get into position to capture the decisive moment. In this episode, we talk with Daniel Kennett to find out how Photo Scout came to be and what it takes to build an innovative app with complex functions. Check below for a link to download Photo Scout.

It’s worth noting that Daniel and Photo Scout are not sponsors of this podcast, but Mason and Jeff did receive early access to the app for evaluation. Our strong positive impressions of the app resulted in this episode, not any kind of sneaky financial arrangement.

Anyone who has travelled by air lately has probably noticed that things have changed. Flights are chronically overbooked and flight crews are running out of patience with passengers dragging massive bags they insist are carry-ons. For those of us traveling with camera gear, it’s a great time to plan ahead for less room in overhead bins. In this episode Mason and Jeff discuss several things they’ve started doing differently when they fly.

In an age of diminishing space, there are several strategies you can employ to make travel easier. Jeff and Mason talk about luggage considerations, packing hacks, and how to pare down one’s camera kit for a more enjoyable adventure.

Storm chasing has become a spectator sport in the United States. When colossal supercell thunder storms spin up in the U.S. Midwest, dozens of amateur and professional meteorologists tear after then in hopes of capturing images and video of intense lightning, hail, rain, and of course, tornadoes. Many of these storm chasers live-stream their pursuits on YouTube and other social media platforms, garnering some celebrity status with millions of viewers wing their exploits. Mason’s 12 year-old son, Cooper, has been closely following storm chasers and the severe storms they capture on video. These videos and the stories of the thousands of tornadoes that have ravaged parts of North America have become an obsession for him and he hopes to one day become a meteorologist who works to predict these storms and help people stay out of their way.

Motivated by Cooper’s passion for severe weather, Mason promised him that if he got good grades this school year, they’d go storm chasing. This episode is the story of that adventure.

It’s no stretch to say that Lightroom is the most feature-rich environment for managing and processing your digital images. Jeff and Mason have been using Lightroom for years, and now Jeff has just completed a massive tome of Lightroom knowledge with Rocky Nook’s Lightroom Course & Compendium. In this episode Jeff explores the growing capabilities of Lightroom and shares his thoughts on how to best use the program to organize and edit your images.

It’s also worth mentioning that Mason and Jeff’s opinions on Lightroom and Adobe are their own and Adobe has no editorial influence on this podcast. In the spirit of transparency, however, we do need to disclose that Jeff does occasional content creation and editing work for Adobe and Mason owns a handful of Adobe stock shares. I guess that means Jeff sort of works for Mason. Interesting.