Good Books

Thought for the Day

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:06:00 +0000

And here is something from the wacky world of political irony:

A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence; or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, ‘Huh. It works. It makes sense.’ (Source: President Obama)

Posing Techniques for Photographing Model Portfolios

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:47:00 +0000

From Buy Book Online > Arts & Photography > Fashion > Models
By Billy Pegram
Average customer review:

Posing Techniques for Photographing Model Portfolios

With detailed discussions and eye-catching, dynamic images, this guidebook shows professional photographers how to masterfully create beautiful images of a model to achieve any creative objective. Instructions illustrate basic poses as well as a host of subtle variations to provide photographers with an endless array of looks for editorial fashion shots, athletics, glamour or nude photography, and shots designed to show curves, reveal personality, or showcase the hands, hair, or legs. This comprehensive resource also provides expert advice on conducting a successful session, how to work with the model, how to work with a support staff of image stylists, and tips for designing a high-quality portfolio. Additional lessons provide a start-to-finish analysis of four different shooting sessions, each with a different model and a different objective.

Posing Techniques for Photographing Model Portfolios

Published on: 2008-01-01
Original language: English
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
128 pages

Billy Pegram: Posing Techniques for Photographing Model Portfolios

Customer Reviews
The Fine Points of Model Photography
Unlike most books on modeling and model photography, this book has more than just a bunch of pictures of pretty women. The author takes the time to explain posing concepts like creating an ’s curve’ in the positioning of the body. Great detail is given to graceful hand posing. It is the little things that differentiate between a good photograph and a great one.

This is well written and well illustrated. Definetly worth the money

Extremely helpful resource
I’ve not been shooting models for very long, so I’d say that I am in the beginner/intermediate category.

So far, I’ve been tearing out photos from Vogue, Numero, French and others and tried to duplicate and then improvise, but I’ve always felt that posing and placement of the models was kind of mysterious and “difficult” to get a real grip on. (how to elongate a model, how to make the butt smaller, how to pose the model in a way that leads the eye trough the photo etc)

-So I’ve basically used “what looks good” thus far (and I see after reading this book, that some of my past shoots have lots of room for improvement )

- It can be easy to get lost in the process during a shoot, thinking and stressing to get the light right, -and forget to instruct and help and tweak the model correctly, often resulting in photos that need to be cropped to hide bad hands, or simply scrapped due to a bad pose, caused by bad instructions, for example.
(I mainly work with new/inexperienced models and often need to instruct and tweak their pose, this is a great learning tool for both model and photographer)

I mean, I’ve managed “fair” trough improvisation, try/fail, but it was only after reading this book that I started to really understand more on how and why this and that works – and why some of my previous attempts have failed.

The book is comprehensive and well laid out, it covers and explains the cause and effect from posing the feet and legs, to fingers, hands and arms and also the body and face.

I think that the photos in the book compliment the text very well, what I really liked, was that the author not only show the “best” pose, he also often show everything from bad, to fair, to good to excellent posing -and all complemented with very understandable text captions.

I’ve seen enough tutorials from the classic 70’s to know that this wasn’t what I was looking for, this book is fresh, modern (imo) and is written by a guy that not only knows his craft, he also knows the industry very well.

Highly recommended!

OH
Norway

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Thought for the Day (and Beyond)

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:40:00 +0000

from Waiting for Godot (1952)

Estragon: Nothing to be done.

Vladimir: I’m beginning to come round to that opinion.

Vladimir: You should have been a poet.
Estragon: I was (Gesture towards his rags.) Isn’t that obvious?

Vladimir: Come on, Gogo, return the ball, can’t you, once in a while?
Estragon: (with exaggerated enthusiasm). I find this really most extraordinarily interesting.

Estragon: Let’s go.
Vladimir: We can’t.

Estragon: Why not?
Vladimir: We’re waiting for Godot.
Estragon: (despairingly). Ah!

Temporary Duty Elsewhere

admin — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:33:00 +0000

For the most part, I will be off-the-air for a few days though I will–when possible–try to maintain some activity via the laptop. I will be visiting the local hospital where the gastroenterologist (the one with name no one can pronounce) will practice his art. (I hate that concept: practice. I would prefer that he had already perfected everything before he practices once again on me.) So, other than somewhat curtailed blogging activity whilst I enjoy some anesthesia (good stuff), pain-killers (better stuff), and TLC (necessary stuff) for a few days, I am out of here!

Best-Selling Author Jordan Rubin Recovers $55,000 from Strang Communications in Royalties Dispute

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:45:00 +0000

Natural health expert and author Jordan Rubin has recovered $55,000 from Strang Communications in a dispute that revealed the faith-based publisher improperly withheld royalties payments for three years from the paperback edition of his New York Times bestseller The Maker’s Diet. Rubin said he was forced to file an arbitration claim after numerous requests and attempts to settle the matter were ignored.

“I wanted to believe this was an honest mistake,” said Rubin. “But Strang’s refusal to acknowledge our requests to review royalty statements eventually left me with no other remedy except to take legal action.”

Rubin said he first notified his literary agent, Tom Winters, to review statements from Strang in March 2009 because he believed the publisher had failed to pay him royalties he was owed. Winters said he was perplexed when Strang repeatedly failed to produce the statements and recommended that Rubin should consult an attorney. Rubin retained Sean Ellsworth and Nick Bravin of Ellsworth Law Firm, P.A. in Miami, who filed an arbitration claim on June 3, 2009.

According to Ellsworth, Strang claimed that Rubin was not entitled to review royalty statements. However, after more than six months when arbitrators were preparing to finalize procedures and deadlines that would apply to the case, Strang produced royalty statements and acknowledged it had underpaid Rubin $36,620.91. In addition, the statements proved that Strang improperly withheld some royalty payments for nearly three years, which resulted in Strang’s agreement to pay interest on royalties owed and Rubin’s attorney’s fees, pushing the total to over $55,000.

“When I signed my initial literary contract, I trusted my publisher to honor the agreement they put forth,” said Rubin. “I was very disappointed to discover that earned royalties were withheld for up to three years, but I am pleased that justice has prevailed.”

Rubin has authored more than 20 health titles and is the founder of Garden of Life, a leading whole foods nutritional supplements company. Strang Communications is a multimedia corporation founded by Stephen Strang in 1975 which includes its publishing division, Strang Book Group, with eight imprints including Charisma House, Siloam and Casa Creacion. Strang also publishes the magazines Christian Life, Ministry Today and Christian Retailing.

Ellsworth added, “We are pleased we could recover what was owed to Jordan Rubin. It’s just unfortunate that it took so much legal wrangling to in order for the publisher to do the right thing.”

Copyright © 2009 Good Books

Best-Selling Author Jordan Rubin Recovers $55,000 from Strang Communications in Royalties Dispute

Find Win-Win Opportunities for Publishing Innovation at Digital Publishing Asia Pacific 2010

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:39:00 +0000

Traditional publishing industry is experiencing a new surge of digitization after completing the evolution from “type and fire” to “laser and electronics.” Building from the basis of the traditional publishing industry, and employing the strength of the advantage of modern high-tech information technology, digital publishing has entered a stage of rapid development by virtue of the vigorous support of the government as well as active promotion by enterprises within the industry.

Since digital publishing has been widely recognized as the direction of future development in the publishing industry, the question is no longer, “To do or not to do?” but rather, “How do we do this?” The Chinese government also attaches great importance to the digital publishing industry. The Chinese digital publishing industry had a registered output of RMB53 billion at the end of 2008, a year-on-year increase of 46.42%. China Telecom, which boasted 513.5 million subscribers as of the end of October 2009, already offers e-readers in China and sells e-books on its Mobile Market online store. Presently, the number of individual e-reading terminals in China exceeds 0.18 billion, and the population of phone netizens has reached 50 million.

Digital Publishing Asia Pacific 2010 will be held from June 9th to 10th, 2010. It is specially designed for publishers and distributors, software and hardware companies, telecommunications companies, digital retailers and other leaders in the digital publishing industry. It examines, explores and debates the hot-button issues facing the publishing and telecommunications industries in today’s digital media world. It provides you with a golden opportunity to meet the top-level policy-makers and executives, and to truly understand the current developmental and strategic direction of the publishing industry from viewpoints across the world. Also, it presents the rare chance to meet digital media gurus to discuss cutting-edge innovations and exciting business ventures.

About 20 industry professionals have committed to deliver speeches at this event, including Nie Zhenning, President of China Publishing Group; Dev Ganesan, President and CEO of Aptara; Maurice Kwong, Managing Director of Springer Asia; Shasha Chang, CEO of Wolters Kluwer China; Tang Chao, President of Dragonsource Group; Mikio Amaya, President of Papyless Co., Ltd.; Zhao Ge, CEO of Beijing Founder Network and Beijing Founder Apabi; Shinya Nozaki, President of Celsys, Inc.; Richard Wan, CEO of E-Book Systems Asia; and Jo Lusby, Managing Director of Penguin North Asia.

Digital Publishing Asia Pacific 2010 highlight trends and predictions for 2011 and examines the key areas that are getting venture capitalists fired up for the year ahead. The conference will also explore the forces driving commercial success in digital media; whether paid content can be made to work; monetizing video and mobile content; and the best routes to maximize sales. As such, the conference is of particular interest to those working in such areas as: publishing, distribution, retailing, digital hardware and software, telecommunication, digital solutions, digital media and other leaders of the digital publishing industry.

Please log on the official event website
http://www.epublishasia.com/

Copyright © 2009 Good Books

Find Win-Win Opportunities for Publishing Innovation at Digital Publishing Asia Pacific 2010

New Digital Services for Publishers

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:38:00 +0000

O’Reilly Media announced today an innovative new digital service at O’Reilly’s Tools of Change for Publishing Conference in New York City.

O’Reilly’s new division aims to help publishers meet the demands and challenges of the 21st century. For publishers to succeed today, their content must be available in multiple formats, distributed through many channels. There’s much to understand and do, including converting and formatting files, finding and managing distribution channels, sales and marketing, and collecting and analyzing sales data.

At O’Reilly, we already do all this for our own content and for Microsoft Press. Indeed, over the past four years, O’Reilly has invested in a technical toolchain that allows us to easily open new markets and channels. Beginning today O’Reilly will make our digital toolchain and sales and marketing capabilities available to every other publisher.

The new digital distribution service division will be led by publishing expert Pascal Honscher, an 11-year veteran with O’Reilly.

“Any individual publisher who wants to enter the digital marketplace effectively must make significant up-front investments, overcome many technical challenges, and then hope they’ve made all the right decisions. At O’Reilly, we’ve done it–and we’ve done it successfully,” said Honscher, General Manager, Digital Distribution.

“By offering a single point of entry to the broad digital marketplace, and fronting our technology with a dedicated sales and marketing team who are always scouting for new opportunities, O’Reilly takes all the complexities out of going digital,” Honscher added.

Working with O’Reilly, publishers can get their content into multiple eRetailers including Apple App Store, Amazon Kindle, Android Market, Kobo, B&N Nook, and more.

Simply put, all publishers need to do is provide the content and O’Reilly will do the rest. Here are the services O’Reilly offers:

- A single point of entry: we aggregate your content and push it out to the dynamic marketplace of ebooks and other digital channels
- Dedicated sales and marketing team actively develops and cultivates strong working relationships with existing and emerging distribution channels
- Easy access to a broad digital market without the up-front cost of creating and maintaining your own digital toolchain or distribution capabilities
- Secure storage, access, and distribution of your digital assets and metadata in our content warehouse
- Integrated, web-based publishing platform encourages direct community feedback, brings your authors closer to their audiences, and helps you develop a responsive and agile product development process
- Quick, efficient, and error-free conversion of your content into digital distribution formats with O’Reilly’s Document Conversion Services
- Easy-to-understand, transparent pricing model
- No up-front charges: you don’t pay us until your content starts to sell
- Flexible pricing strategies: define your own or work with our sales and research teams to identify and maximize revenue
- Custom channel selection for your products ensures that you have control over how and where your products are distributed
- Powerful reporting and analytics that aggregate channel sales data in a unified view and provides digital marketplace trends
- Have it your way: you can go with the complete package or select from our a-la-carte menu of services, including integration of our technology directly into your core infrastructure

For more information, please visit us online at oreilly.com/go/digital, or email digitaldistribution@oreilly.com.

Books Into Movies?

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:10:00 +0000

I have been pondering this question: What movies stand out as good versions of good books or short stories?

The answer to this question, of course, becomes subjective for more than a few reasons, but one reason stands out: an individual’s definition of the qualifier (good) complicates the question. The answer is also complicated by the reality that no one person has either read every good book or seen every good movie.

Nevertheless, setting aside the considerable difficulties and subjectivities associated with the question, I shall briefly offer my own answer (with an important caveat): only a couple of movies (and television films) and books come to my mind – Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on the Train; Laurence Oliver’s Hamlet; Orson Welles’ Macbeth; John Huston’s Moby-Dick; John Huston’s Wise Blood; John Huston’s The Dead; Martin Ritt’s The Spy Who Came In From the Cold; Fred Zinneman’s The Member of the Wedding; Henry King’s The Sun Also Rises; Fernando Birri’s A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings; Karel Reisz’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman; and the television version of Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse novels and stories.

I know my list is really short, but the reason, you see, lies in the caveat: I very rarely go to movies or watch such programs on television. So, I guess my contribution to the discussion is rather meager, which means I must turn to you for the answers.

Tell me about what movies (or television films) stand out as good versions of good books or short stories?

Coming Soon – Review of MORTE D’URBAN

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:24:00 +0000

After I made several earlier attempts in past years (false-starts) to read J. F. Powers’ MORTE D’URBAN (when, for reasons not related to the quality of the book, I had to set it aside without finishing it), I am now well on my way into reading and finishing what I am beginning to regard as one of the most intriguing and important novels of the 20th century. I will have more to say about the novel in a few days,when I have given it more thought, but for now, here is a bit of a tease in the form a preview of the review:

When fifty-four year old Father Urban is reassigned from Chicago to a rural retreat in Minnesota, he is forced by environment, personalities, and circumstances to reevaluate his role as priest in the Order of St. Clement. Within days of his arrival in Minnesota, this is his experience: Another priest at the retreat points out the geese flying above. “‘Canadian honkers! [ . . . ] See how they follow the leader!’ And this, when Father Urban thought about it, as he did that night in bed, was the most disturbing thing [the other priest] had said all day.“

So, the question becomes complicated: What is so disturbing about such a seemingly innocuous comment? The answer(s) to that question become the the key(s) the thematic power of J. F. Powers’ exceptional novel, MORTE D’URBAN.

Yet, here is another question: Will my enthusiasm for this novel up to this point be justified upon completing the reading?

TO BE CONTINUED

Review Revisited – H. P. LOVECRAFT: TALES

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:52:00 +0000

H. P. Lovecraft: Tales

Edited by Peter Straub

Publisher: Library Classics of the United States. ISBN: 1-931082-72-3

I want to offer you three absolutely unassailable arguments why you must have this book.

First, this 838 page book contains twenty-two of H. P. Lovecraft’s most entertaining and disturbing tales of horror and fantasy. Read the tales and find out why Stephen King has called Lovecraft the “dark and baroque prince” of the 20^th century horror story, and discover why Joyce Carol Oates has called Lovecraft “The King of Weird.” You will understand the accuracy of their praise and the devotion of millions of Lovecraft fans when you read this collection of fantastic tales, many of which were first published in the 1920s and 1930s in such pulp magazines Weird Tales and Amazing Stories. Enjoy, for example, “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward,” a ghoulish detective tale in which a man succumbs to ancestral influence of alchemy and necromancy; explore the primal mythic mysteries in the haunting Escher-like Antarctic ruins of “At the Mountains of Madness”; accompany a frightened narrator as he encounters a small town’s horrifying subhuman population in “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”; and watch as a meteorite—if that is what it really is—releases its terrifying influence in “The Colour Out of Space.” And the eighteen other stories are equally fascinating.

Second, this hardcover book is superbly edited by the distinguished novelist and short story writer Peter Straub (whose works include Ghost Story, Floating Dragon, and In the Night Room). Straub has selected the best of Lovecraft’s many stories—although that was perhaps the easy part of his editorial challenge—but he has done something exceptionally noteworthy in this collection: Straub has provided a biographical and critical chronology to accompany the texts, and—even more valuable to all readers—he has provided a richly detailed treasure of annotated end notes for the individual stories.

Third, this exquisitely printed and produced book, the 155^th edition in the Library of America’s prestigious series, is a handsome, enduring volume. Because of the publisher’s commitment to preserving America’s best literature in the best possible editions, you simply cannot find a better book (at such a reasonable price) anywhere else.

So, in the final analysis, the bottom line is simple: I give this book my highest possible recommendation.