Blog Posts

Here are some ideas, hints, and tips to help you with various photography subjects.

Amazon Deal Days – 2023

Amazon Deal Days – 2023

I'm doing my Amazon Deal Day Shopping. Anything interesting will be added/updated here on this page. BTW: "Lighting Deals" expire, make sure and check the price before adding to your cart. Deals from the following Categories: Samyang Camera Lenses Nikon Cameras Canon...

Is the Seismique Museum Ripping People Off?

Is the Seismique Museum Ripping People Off?

Planning to visit Seismique to get some cool graduation portraits, family pictures, or selfies?Ā  Be aware of their undisclosed fees, especially if you bring a large group.Ā  HoustonPhotowalks never wants to burn a bridge or make it so we can't visit a location again in...

Photometer 3.0 Quick Review

Pixelmator released Photometer 3.0 a couple of weeks ago. This is an extension that works ONL with Apple’s Photos for Mac app, It isn’t a stand-alone app. That’s an important thing to keep in mind before you buy. If you haven’t heard of extensions, it’s similar to a...

ON1 Photo RAW 2023 – Quick Review

ON1 is first out of the gat with their 2023 version of ON1 Photo RAW. The biggest changes - heavy use ofAI when it comes to making selections.ON1 originally started out as a plug-in series for Photoshop (and later for Lightroom, and Apple’s Photos app). It now comes...

2022 M2 MacBook Air Review

I’ve been debating for a while about trading in my iPad Air for the new M2 MacBook Air as a backup and travel laptop. The iPad is a good intent consumption device, but I've always found it difficult to work into regularly using it for image editing. Ā I’ve been using...

WINNER: 11th Annual Fix-Joe’s-Busted-Images

WINNER: 11th Annual Fix-Joe’s-Busted-Images

We have a winner! Every year as part of keeping things fun even when it's too hot outside to photowalk, we do a "Fix Joe's Busted Images" contest, where I toss out a few of my photographs and challenge members to edit them. And anything goes. No Holds Barred. Over the...

XPOZER: A New Way To Hang Prints!

XPOZER: A New Way To Hang Prints!

XPOZER.COM is a new and safe way to hang large gallery prints.Ā  As photographers, we’re always on the hunt for our next favorite shot.Ā  With Xpozer's reusable frame, you can swap out images as often as you want!Ā  The frames are very light, and the hanger attaches at a...

The Great Migration of Northern Serengeti 2021

The Great Migration of Northern Serengeti 2021

It's time to sign up! Hello Folks! HoustonPhotowalks and BrambleBerry Tours is teaming up with another discount for a Safari Tour in Northern Serengeti!. The folks at BrambleBerry are offering HoustonPhotowalks members a sweet $1,000 discount, but we are limited to...

Holiday Discount!  $300 off our Serengeti Tour!

Holiday Discount! $300 off our Serengeti Tour!

Final Chance for a Discount! Here's a great last-minute Christmas gift idea! Sign up before January 5th to receive a $300 discount! BrambleBerry tours is offering a $300 Holiday discount for this once-in-a-lifetime trip!SIGN UP today so you can join this amazing 7...

Insta360 Black Friday Deals!

Insta360 Black Friday Deals!

Up to 40% off on the BEST pocket 360 cameras! You guys have seen me at photowalks taking group pictures and event videos with either my Insta360 Nano attached to my iPhone, or my updated Insta360 ONE X. They are super slick, very small, and can make full 360 degree...

A Photographer’s guide to Amazon Prime Day 2021, Live Blogging the Good Stuff

Amazon Prime Day Deals!

Photography, Electronics and Photography-travel Related Amazon Deals Today is Amazon Prime Day, the internet's global garage sale of "stuff" that our favorite online retailer wants us to buy. To help you find interesting items to consider, I'll be posting items I find...

The Pain of Advertising

The Pain of Advertising

HoustonPhotowalks manages events and RSVPs through the Meetup.com platform.Ā  This means that members have the ability to submit complaints to Meetup.com about groups or the group organizer (or both).Ā  A recent complaint was submitted about how HoustonPhotowalks...

Fun with Zoom Backgrounds

Fun with Zoom Backgrounds

It looks like Zoom and GoToMeeting events are going to be around a while for many of us. And more than one person has asked me about my zoom backgrounds. First off, I suggest using your own photography. I mean, we are a photography club. šŸ™‚ But at the same time, some...

Updating your Meetup.com Email Settings

Updating your Meetup.com Email Settings

HoustonPhotowalks rely quite heavily on email notifications to make sure you have the best possible experience when you attend our events. To help you not miss important notices, we’ve created this handy How-To, to help make sure you don’t miss anything important.

Special Luminar Summer Sale Ends Today

Special Luminar Summer Sale Ends Today

One of our long time sponsors, Skylum (formally MacPhun) is running a special for their partner websites. You can find their ad on our Member Perks web page, and our discount is usually $10 or $20 (depending on what you buy). But for today (Tuesday, June 16th, 2020),...

Congratulations to our 10th Anniversary Winners

Congratulations to our 10th Anniversary Winners

Hello Everyone! Thank you for coming out last weekend, I had a blast and I hope you did too. We had several winners in our door prizes, listed below. HUGE thanks to Betty for grabbing these images for us. In-person winners:Lee Filters Protective Field Pouch - Sabina...

Congratulations to our 10th Anniversary Winners

10 Years of Fun, Photography and a Positive Impact

10 Years of Fun, Photography and a Positive Impact Although "photography" is the subject we all have in common, it is the friendships and social aspect of HPW that binds us.Ā  Ā On May 18th, 2019, we will celebrate 10 years of photography, friendship, and fun with a...

Special Speaker at HPW10: Karen Butts!

Special Speaker at HPW10: Karen Butts!

Karen Butts Master of Photography Certified Professional Photographer https://www.naturalimagesbykaren.com PPA Five time MEDALIST - PPAWe are very honored to haveĀ Karen Butts of Natural Images By Karen Photography as our speaker. She will be doing a presentation based...

How Photowalks are Organized

How Photowalks are Organized

This is the nitty-gritty roadmap details on how Houston Photowalk (HPW) Organizers and Hosts plan events. Sit bag and dig in. This is what our volunteers do to make sure you have a great Photowalk! Why Does It Take So Many Words To Explain How Houston Photowalk Events...

Shooting in the Rain (on a Budget)

Shooting in the Rain (on a Budget)

The conversation of canceling a shoot due to the rain came up recently, and I always remind folks how much money production crews spend bringing in a fake-rain setup. So its pretty awesome when Mother Nature provides rain for free. Shooting in the rain can be a lot of...

The “Nice Shot” Comment Myth

The “Nice Shot” Comment Myth

Comments on Photos, good or bad? Most people appreciate and maybe even crave feedback, especially positive. When it comes to photography, there are those who are very comfortable providing constructive, well-crafted critiques. These paragraphs of personal opinions are...

Using an iPhone / iPad for Document Storage

Using an iPhone / iPad for Document Storage

The iBooks App Many folks know that their iPhone and iPad can read books using the iBook App from the App Store. Its free and very simple to install. What many folks don't know is, it can be used to store things other than just ebooks. My iPad is full of PDFs I've...

Low Light Photography Class – Products Discussed

Low Light Photography Class – Products Discussed

In Part 1 of our photography class, ā€œA Focus On Gearā€, we discussed many different products and how to evaluate what will work best for your needs. As promised, here are a list of products and brands that I’ve used over the years, and some comments on each. A Good...

Working with Large File Repositories and Backups

Working with Large File Repositories and Backups

We shift files back and forth trying to find the best backup strategy. But the activity of moving files around only increases our chance of loosing important data. At one point or another, we've all lost a file forever. Maybe it wasn't a significant tragedy, or maybe...

Photography Travel Packing List

Photography Travel Packing List

Checklists are lifesavers. Checking a list can make sure you don't arrive in Belize with a perfectly good camera and tripod -- but no tripod quick release plate. The 24Moves Photography Travel Packing List About once a year, I update my photography checklist just...

Safer Lightroom Catalog Backups

Safer Lightroom Catalog Backups

Backups are crazy important. No matter how "good" hardware gets, nothing is 100% reliable. So everyone should have two backup strategies -- a backup medium and an off-line backup (even if it is just a USB drive you keep in your desk at work!). Workflows and Backups...

Why Do We Walk?

Why Do We Walk?

Please note: This was originally published on our former website The "Three Reasons" We occasionally talk about the "Three Reasons" we photowalk. This page provides a bit of depth to the subject. In brief, the "Three Reasons" are Fun and Safety (we hang out together...

Photowalk Checklist

There's nothing worse than getting to an event and realize you forgot something. Event photographers usually (religiously) use checklists to make sure everything is ready on event day. Here is a version of my Event Checklist, modified for photowalks (and includes a...

About HoustonPhotowalks

We are a friendly group of camera enthusiasts!Ā  Our events include Photowalks, classes, and trips.Ā  Anyone with a camera is welcome, no specific gear requirements.

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Please note, required FTC Legal Disclaimer: HoustonPhotowalks uses affiliate marketing and advertising to generate revenue for our budget and the organizers who run the group. This money is used to pay Meetup.com fees, website hosting fees, classroom fees, teaching fees, donations to museums and venues, provide bottles of water when possible, compensate organizers for their time, etc. When you click links, the HoustonPhotowalks organization may receive a fee when you purchase a product or service.