Photography Tips from the Top Floor

tfttf600 – Six Hundred

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 16:33:34 +0000

Tweet Here we are, episode 600! Enjoy. Greetings for episode 600 by: Robert Krulwich and Jad Abumrad of Radiolab Sam and Chris Miller (and Jon of The Rest of Everest) Ibarionex Perello of The Candid Frame Simon Taylor of Phooto … Continue reading →

Spring 2014: It’s Time To Go Back To Everest

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:46:16 +0000

Tweet We’re doing it again! We are planning another photographic adventure to the Himalayas and you can be a team member on the Everest Trek in the spring of 2014. This trip will take you to places like Lukla, the … Continue reading →

Chicago Sun Times lays off all staff photographers

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 08:26:12 +0000

Tweet But why? I simply don’t understand the basis for this decision. “…if you’re a 50-65-year old managing editor or publisher at one of the country’s GREAT newspapers and in an industry that is clearly shrinking… Where people are subscribing … Continue reading →

tfttf599 – The Show’s Greatest Fan

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:46:16 +0000

Tweet Today: an interview with Photographer Ben Shirk, we’ll meet the youngest fan of TFTTF, there’s a quick hello from the folks at Radiolab and Chris will talk about Macro Ratios on crop sensors. Show Links: Video: St. Louis City … Continue reading →

tfttf598 – Giggle Like A Child

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 01 May 2013 23:09:34 +0000

Tweet Today Chris shows you two ways to get your creative juices flowing: The St. Louis City Museum and After Dark, a unique photo event. Also listen in as Chris talks with After Dark mentor Mike Ridinger about how to … Continue reading →

THIS is how you get your creative juices flowing!!

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:56:31 +0000

Tweet Come with Chris to a place of wonder, mystery, creativity and learning: the City Museum in St. Louis is like no other museum. Actually, you might want to just forget any notion that you had of what a museum … Continue reading →

This is After Dark 2013 – St. Louis (video)

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:03:53 +0000

Tweet An intimate look at a very unique photo event: After Dark. Chris Marquardt attended this year’s St. Louis event as a mentor and Jon Miller (The Rest of Everest) was there to film and make this wonderful video. » … Continue reading →

tfttf598 Video – Miller’s Professional Imaging

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:41:11 +0000

Tweet Chris Marquardt takes a quick break from teaching at After Dark in St. Louis and gets a factory tour at Miller’s Professional Imaging, one of the world’s best professional print service providers. Video: Jon Miller (The Rest of Everest) … Continue reading →

Get your free invite for App.net, I’m giving away 200!

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:11:56 +0000

Tweet If you’ve been following me on the social networks, you noticed that lately I became more active on App.net (also known as ADN). And I love you so much, I want to take all of you with me! Here’s … Continue reading →

For the geeks: get TFTTF via Bittorrent

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:39:56 +0000

Tweet FYI, I just added TFTTF to Bitlove.org, a service that makes all TFTTF episodes available via Bittorrent for those who like to use peer-to-peer downloading. Basically community effort » get the torrent at bitlove.org

tfttf597 – Dropping Cameras

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 01:52:57 +0000

Tweet The one and only Julien Smith, about 7 years ago. Steve dropped his camera and tries to find out what to do, we’ll look at a picture that’s mixing it up and Chris explains what Highlight Tone Priority (aka … Continue reading →

tfttf596 – Ultrawide Creative Juices

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 00:09:39 +0000

Tweet Chris takes a look at the lighting at the German parliament in Berlin, Steve has a question on ultra-wide lenses and how to compose with them, and we’ll look at an important way to keep your creative juices flowing: … Continue reading →

tfttf595 – Cultural Kitchen Towel

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:26:04 +0000

Tweet Chris looks at a few tricks to combine different white balances in one picture, let’s analyze a picture that makes use of mixed lighting and Chris has a look at how you can interpret pictures VERY differently based on … Continue reading →

tfttf594 – It’s T-Time on the Top Floor

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:39:45 +0000

Tweet Mike gives the poor man’s tripod a new twist, Tips from the Top Floor is New and Noteworty, Chris won a contest and will be in Los Angeles early May to meet with Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich of … Continue reading →

TFTTF is New and Noteworthy

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 09:50:56 +0000

Tweet Oh look, Tips from the Top Floor is New and Noteworty! Not sure why, but hey, who am I to complain about visibitlity. And I’m pretty sure it has to do with your support and your reviews and ratings … Continue reading →

tfttf593 – Saving eFKe

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:00:25 +0000

Tweet Gary has a note on backing up pictures during travel, Bear has thoughts on getting out of a rut by using other arts, and he needs a backup strategy for his pictures during a 70 day long motorcycle trip, … Continue reading →

tfttf592 – From The Snowy Sea

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 03:07:06 +0000

Tweet Chris and Monika spend a long weekend in St. Peter-Ording at the German North Sea, getting caught by a snow storm and having a blast working in windy conditions with digital and analog photo gear. Show Links: Chris’ pictures … Continue reading →

tfttf591 – Where Are All The Women

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 01:53:12 +0000

Tweet Barry wants to lead a photowalk and Chris offers TFTTF as a platform to advertise listener meet-ups, we’ll look at a super-low-contrast picture, Mitch has a question about photography in the south of Germany and let’s try to find … Continue reading →

tfttf590 – Photographer Lingo Eplained

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:48:55 +0000

Tweet Kirk wants to buy 35mm film and Chris takes him through several alternatives, where to buy and how to develop, Rob has a question about contrast and Chris explains some photographer’s lingo and what “one stop” exactly means. Show … Continue reading →

tfttf589 – More Light Makes More Dark

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:28:54 +0000

Tweet On this episode of TFTTF German wants to know how to deal with Lightroom and multiple catalogs, Simon has a question on the inverse square law (no math in this episode, promise!) and Happy 111th Birthday, Ansel Adams! “There … Continue reading →

tfttf588 – A Japan Wildlife Adventure

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 00:20:38 +0000

Tweet Get a more in-depth view at shooting wildlife in Hokkaido, Japan and listen to Chris talk about equipment, culture, washlets, video, cranes, snow monkeys, white-tailed eagles, steller’s sea eagles, big lenses and of course how to deal with the … Continue reading →

BACK with a vengeance!!

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:29:18 +0000

Tweet TFTTF Community, we are BACK IN BUSINESS! What a scare that was, when a few days ago TFTTF simply vanished from Apple’s podcast directory, still one of the really important places where podcasts are discovered by a new audience. … Continue reading →

tfttf587 – Shooting At Minus Thirty Degrees

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:00:51 +0000

Tweet Chris packs for shooting in minus 30 degree Celsius conditions, including down pants and a ton of batteries, Bruce wants to know about the advantages and disadvantages of variable ND filters and let’s find out if a modern lens … Continue reading →

Let It Flow – Behind The Scenes Of The TAB TWO Photo Shoot

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:35:56 +0000

Tweet Yes, Chris is in Japan right now, but you can still come along on a photo shoot with him! » some interesting background info about this video

tfttf Special – Update after the Hokkaido Earthquake

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 07:12:07 +0000

Tweet Chris and Martin Bailey are calling in at 5am from a Japanese bus on their way to do a sunrise photo shoot with the workshop group over lake Kushiro. They also briefly touch on the 6.4 earthquake that happened … Continue reading →

TFTTF disappeared from the iTunes Store

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 00:47:55 +0000

Tweet TFTTF Community, here’s your chance to help! Update Feb 07: http://tfttf.com/tfttfback Tips from the Top Floor has apparently disappeared from iTunes, which is the most important place to discover this show. I don’t know how this happened. If you … Continue reading →

tfttf586 – Surprises in Compression

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 02:09:01 +0000

Tweet Chris talks about a double exposure, Mark wants to scan 1000s of photos (not negatives) and we’ll learn a few surprises about how Lightroom handles JPG compression. Show Links: Voigtländer Bessa (video) Kodak Brownie Christmas Ornaments (blog post) JPG … Continue reading →

tfttf585 – Equipment DOES Matter

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:36:09 +0000

Tweet Today Sean wants to know how to get out of his photographic funk, we’ll take another look at vignettes and find out what you can learn from over 40 years of active photography. Does equipment really matter more than … Continue reading →

tfttf584 – Vignettes Of Doom

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 23:06:49 +0000

Tweet Today Chris talks about vignettes and how to do them right, the latest from the TFTTF Google+ community, a picture with extreme spectrum and how to travel with two big cameras. Show Links: The TFTTF Community The episode 583 … Continue reading →

tfttf583 – Comfort Zone

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 20:00:04 +0000

Tweet Happy New Year! Today Chris looks at what leaving your comfort zones can do for your photography, he will review last episode’s you-had-to-be-there picture and take a look at sharpness. Also a quick review of 2012 and an outlook … Continue reading →

tfttf582 – You Had To Be There

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 01:12:24 +0000

Tweet Chris talks about Instagram and how he thinks the big fuss is a red herring to distract from a completely different issue: advertising to users without telling them about it. Also on the show: the spectrum of light and … Continue reading →

tfttf581 – DNG vs. RAW

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 01:42:56 +0000

Tweet Chris sheds light on the advantages and disadvantages of DNG over RAW, you will learn about the spectrum of CFLs and LEDs and he’ll try an answer to the question on how to make your files come out great … Continue reading →

tfttf580 – Why Photography Is Like Gardening

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 23:29:50 +0000

Tweet Kew Gardens, © 2006 Chris Marquardt Find out the secret behind the reflection picture on the last episode, Release Pixie Matt Ravsitar Armstead has a great tip with regards to coin photography, James wants to start a photo club, … Continue reading →

tfttf579 – Mirror Finish

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 01:00:47 +0000

Tweet Find out about the secret behind the car picture of the last episode, learn even more about card speeds, shoot macros of proof coins without the camera reflection and learn how to deal with a CLEAR NO in street … Continue reading →

tfttf578 – Size DOES Matter

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 16:14:51 +0000

Tweet Today we will find out the secret behind the fish-eye picture, Chris will look at how to balance light at a sunset model shot on the beach, you’ll learn about the confusion between pixels, inches and file sizes. Special … Continue reading →

tfttf577 – The Speed Of Bytes

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 22:28:55 +0000

Tweet Rick wants to know how the speed of his SD cards might be limited by the speed of today’s USB ports, so Chris takes a look at current card speeds and compares them with what today’s USB ports can … Continue reading →

tfttf576 – Making Choices

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 00:48:56 +0000

Tweet Pauline asks Chris to explain how and why he chooses the pictures for the episodes of this show, Rafael has a question about how much sharpening you should apply to your images and Jon Miller comes on the show … Continue reading →

tfttf575 – No Permission

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 00:54:23 +0000

Tweet Chris has taken on the role of camera man in a movie project by Allan Attridge and the two sit down over some pumpkin pie to discuss the implications of shooting movie footage with a DSLR and how much … Continue reading →

Adobe Lightroom 4.2 issues solved. Leaves a bad aftertaste

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 09:10:06 +0000

Tweet A couple of weeks ago I wrote about some Lightroom 4.2 performance issues. I finally finished the job, despite the issues. To fix the problem, I had to go through several things that were recommended on the Adobe support … Continue reading →

tfttf574 – 4 Days Of Food Photography

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 00:26:01 +0000

Tweet In this episode Chris talks about his latest foray into food photography, Oliver asks about white balance for panoramas, Mason wants to know what gear to take to china, Andre needs to take notes for his analog photography and … Continue reading →

Should you upgrade to Lightroom 4.2? After today, I’m not so sure.

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:39:42 +0000

Tweet Update Oct/29/2012: I managed to solve the issues. How? Beats me.. read all about it here. Update Oct/16/2012: Adobe has merged my problem report with another few that circle around the same topic. You can find the merged thread … Continue reading →

tfttf573 – Northern Lighty Things

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 00:53:59 +0000

Tweet Chris has a question about hyperfocal distance and the thirds rule of thumbs, Dave loves analog photography, German asks about lenses and Chad from Australia sends Chris on a virtual research trip because he wants to shoot northern lights. … Continue reading →

BREAKING: We’re going to Tibet in 2013 and you can come!

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:32:45 +0000

Tweet Just a quick FYI: we’re readying the details oft the next Himalayan Workshop – an experience of a lifetime combined with an awesome photo workshop held by yours truly, in a breathtaking landscape – and a wonderful culture! » … Continue reading →

PocketChris Incident Light Meter Is Here

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:25:42 +0000

Tweet PocketChris Incident Light Meter has finally been approved! (insert a little happy dance here) PocketChris Incident Light Meter allows you to use a cheap 18% grey card and your camera, instead of an expensive hand-held incident meter, to achieve … Continue reading →

5 Weeks (8): After Dark = Awesome

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:30:11 +0000

Tweet This is the last part of the 2012 North American tour recap. I ended the tour by treating myself to one of the most creative photo events I’ve ever been to: After Dark. The sessions with creative photographers include … Continue reading →

tfttf572 – Be Prepared

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:09:57 +0000

Tweet Chris and Allan discuss why it’s important to be prepared. » Download the MP3 for this episode

5 Weeks (7): Canyonlands Landscape Photography Adventure

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:30:23 +0000

Tweet Let’s continue to recap of 5 awesome weeks with the very special workshop at Canyonlands National Park in Utah. I teamed up with Jon Miller, Monika Andrae to bring some adventure to the tour. Good thing we had done … Continue reading →

tfttf571 – A Sliding Scale

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 18:22:53 +0000

Tweet In this international episode Chris gets a call from Mexico (about a photography business), one from Peru (about size reference in pictures), one from California (about normal focal lengths) and another one from an undisclosed location (about the best … Continue reading →

5 Weeks (6): Harsh Sun, Urban Photography and a Secret Ballroom

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:30:44 +0000

Tweet Toronto was a productive time! (and yes, this is part six of the 2012 North American tour recap) Release pixie Matt Ravsitar Armstead posted an episode of TFTTF about dealing with harsh sunlight. That episode was pre-recorded before the … Continue reading →

5 Weeks (5): Toronto – Beer, Big Cameras, 4×5

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:30:57 +0000

Tweet The 2012 North American tour recap continues, from one cost to the other, after San Francisco came Toronto, Canada. Toronto fun fun fun this year – two weekends, two workshops. And the fact the Monika flew over from Germany … Continue reading →

5 Weeks (4): TWiT Brickhouse Behind-The-Scenes

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:30:07 +0000

Tweet And yet another one in the 2012 North American Tour recap marathon: I don’t know about you, but when it comes to stuff like TWiT, I *love* finding out how things look and work behind the scenes. I love … Continue reading →

tfttf570 – Turmoil In The Photo World

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 20:22:18 +0000

Tweet In this episode Chris talks about Photokina, the biggest photo trade show in the world, about what the NIK Software acquisition by Google means, about printing and color management and about taking pictures from a kayak. Yes, a kayak. … Continue reading →

How is it possible to replace one incident measurement with two grey card readings?

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 09:05:47 +0000

Tweet When I introduced a way to do incident metering without an incident meter I received several questions with regards to how this was possible. Let me try to explain a bit further. An incident light meter uses a white … Continue reading →

5 Weeks (3): The Stats

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:30:57 +0000

Tweet A quick detour in the 2012 North Amercian Tour recap.. You know I’m curious, so I’ve just put together some stats about the tour. During the five weeks, I’ve been flying on 13 different airplanes (must have added at … Continue reading →

Incident metering without an incident meter – introducing PocketChris Incident Light Meter

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 14:32:00 +0000

Tweet Incident light meters are expensive. They can easily go for $300 or more. The recently announced Sekonic L-748DR with touch screen will be almost $470. Your camera’s automatic metering in the Program, Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority modes does … Continue reading →

5 Weeks (2): Photo Day at TWiT

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:30:24 +0000

Tweet The recap continues. After the Washington D.C. workshop, I continued to San Francisco, or rather north of it to Petaluma in beautiful Sonoma County. As in previous years, Leo Laporte was super awesome to let me have the TWiT … Continue reading →

Google bought NIK Software – is this the end of great looking photography?

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:08:16 +0000

Tweet Today NIK Software announced that they’ve been acquired by Google – and the photography world is in turmoil. The comments range from “Hope you have better luck than those before you…” to “Congrats and good luck!” and anything in … Continue reading →

5 Weeks (1): The Washington D.C. Group Shot

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:30:06 +0000

Tweet The last five weeks have been a wild ride for me, from Washington D.C. to Kansas City, via San Francisco, Toronto, Colorado and Canyonlands Natl. Park. Come with me on the trip during the next few posts! Stop 1: … Continue reading →

tfttf569 – After Dark

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 22:08:05 +0000

Tweet Chris has spent the last three days at a photography event like no other. After Dark is a very relaxed and highly creative meet-up of several hundred participating photographers and several tens of professional photographers who act as mentors … Continue reading →

How good can you operate your camera upside-down?

chris@chrismarquardt.com (Chris Marquardt) — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 18:34:07 +0000

Tweet We’re lucky that we have access to one of the best views during the Toronto Urban Photography workshop. The roof on the building that Sean Galbraith lives in reveals a stunning skyline… …and a high ledge that my tripod … Continue reading →