Fun With Computer Keyboards
Some days you’re just stuck for inspiration.
“Hey, this looks cool,” you tell yourself.
But it doesn’t matter how many shots you take, what kind of lighting you try, what kind of Photoshop filters you play around with… you’re just left with an overwhelming feeling of dissatisfaction with the final product.
You win some, you lose some, I guess. Maybe the important thing is to keep trying.
LensPen MiniPro II
I recently managed to put a big honkin’ palm print right on the front objective of my main walkaround lens — a lens that I neglected to put a protective UV(0) filter on because, well, I was cheap. I tried my best to clean it up with a microfibre lens cloth, but it seems to me that they just kind of smear the oils around the lens surface. This particular situation was no different and so off to the NSOP forums I went in search of a better cleaning solution. What I stumbled upon were recommendations for the LensPen.
The Photographic Dictionary
The folks over at Montreal State of Mind posted yesterday about Lindley Warren’s latest project, The Photographic Dictionary. In their words:
Check out this interesting and visually appealing new photography project, put together by proficient online curator, Lindley Warren, also known for her successful We Projects: The Ones We Love and Where We’re From. Lindley has a keen eye and an open mind, attributes that have allowed her to showcase young and emerging photographers in an intimate and personal manner.
Check it out, and submit your own photos!
Kodak Junior Six-20 Series II
While clearing out some clutter today I found my dad’s old Kodak camera. It shoots 620 film… I wonder if I can find any.
Kodak’s tech history page says that this camera was on the market from 1938 to 1939, and sold for the then-princely sum of US$25.00 — nearly US$400 today. Antiques sites I’ve check have it listed for a not-so-princely $90.
Biking Is Fun
Thanks to the unseasonable warmth, and a day off, I took out the bike today for a little bit of errand running — and posted up some long-overdue photos of it.
More in my SmugMug gallery.
I’ve also signed up for advanced membership with BIXI — Montreal’s community bike-rental initiative, which launches in Spring 2009. I don’t use my bike for commuting, so this seems like a great idea.
Playing with Selective Colour
My notebook is pretty monochromatic — matte black, with a big blue Enter key and a couple of hints of red. Since I was pretty bored, I decided to play with one of the most overdone Photoshop effects out there: selective colour.
Click on the photos to open a larger version in a new window.
Little things like this are making me realise that despite wanting to move entirely to Lightroom, I’ll always have a need for Photoshop, if only for batch action automation… and, um, borders.
Switching To Lightroom
Having played with the free trial of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0, I picked up the full version yesterday. It will take some getting used to, but I do like the workflow management built into it. I’ve ordered a book to help me get a little more familiar with it and will post back when I’ve made a complete switchover — although I get the feeling that Photoshop will still be needed on occasion.
Oh yeah, I put up a couple of other photos from my first ‘pro’ photoshoot on SmugMug.
Chinese Lanterns
Dana and I took a frosty little walk in the Montreal Botanical Gardens to admire the Chinese lantern exhibit, on until the 31st of October.
(Click to enlarge)
See the full gallery on my SmugMug page here.
First ‘Pro’ Photoshoot
A friend, who does barata natyam dance, asked me to shoot some publicity stills for the invitations and programmes to her upcoming show. It was certainly an interesting learning experience, both from the technical and cultural aspect; however, the setup was such that the teacher would pose the subjects and then have me take the shot, so there wasn’t too much allowance for creativity.
Here’s a sample shot (click to enlarge):
I rented a dual-flash setup consisting of two Aurora Uni-Lever G400 heads, a softbox, an umbrella, and stands to get the lighting right. While I’m pretty happy with the results, given that it’s my first foray into studio lighting, I’ve got a lot to learn.
I don’t intend on going pro, but I really do like this hobby. Making a little cash on the side, while practicing some new techniques works for me!
Flashy Camera Gear
Yay, toys!
In preparation for an upcoming photoshoot, I picked up a couple of items to add to the big ol’ camera bag, both flash-related.
To soften the often-harsh light from my Canon 420EX Speedlight, I picked up a Lumiquest Softbox. Essentially this is a vinyl box, black on the outside and white on the inside, with a sheer front panel, that fits over your off-camera flash’s head. It works to diffuse the light emitted by the flash, softening it and helping reduce hotspots.
I played around with it a little bit this evening and it does seem to make a noticeable difference. It will drop the light output by about 1-1/4 stops, but you do still need to figure out the appropriate compensation for both your camera and your flash to really make it all work. Flash photography is tricky, and I’m woefully inexperienced with it, so I’ll be doing a lot of experimenting in the next few days, as well as a lot of reading over at the Strobist blog.
The advantage to using an off-camera flash, as opposed to the built-in flash, is that you get the light source further from the lens’ axis. This helps eliminate redeye. But if you really want to get creative with lighting, you literally have to get that off-camera flash off the camera.
To do that, I picked up a Canon ST-E2 Transmitter. It clicks into the camera’s hotshoe and will wirelessly trigger your flash unit(s). Additionally, it will provide near-infrared autofocus assist, whether you’re using a flash or not–which is very convenient given the 20D’s less-than-awesome low-light performance.
I’ll try to post up some samples with and without the Softbox soon.
Student Fined For Taking Photos Of Police Officers
Well, not exactly.
His actual infraction, worth a whopping $628, was the “improper use of city structures.” As anyone who’s been to Émilie Gamelin Park knows, pretty much everyone and anyone sits on the concrete ledges in question.
Jones, an economics and history student in his last year as an undergraduate, was studying at the Bibliothèque nationale when he decided to take a break and catch a few rays at the park.
He saw police approach people who were drinking alcohol nearby, took out his small digital camera and shot some photos.
“I saw this as an opportunity to observe how police deal with underprivileged people,” Jones recounted.
Then a police officer came by and asked if he had been taking pictures.
“Once I realized she was attempting to get me to give her my camera, I became confused and told her I would not give it to her,” Jones said.
“I had not committed any crime and had been sitting peacefully, just like many others around me.”
The officer’s two partners joined her, and Jones slipped the camera into his pocket. The police then told him it was illegal to sit in a city park when not on a bench and he would have to leave.
They said sitting on the ledge qualified as improper use of city structures, he recounted.
From: Canada.com
It’s an utterly ridiculous application of a bylaw aimed at preventing transients from loitering in public places; it’s fairly obvious that Jones was only accosted by police for having taken photos of the officers in action.
For shame.
Hiking Mount Jo/Heart Lake
Concordia Outdoors took a trip out to Saranac Lake, New York for a little bit of hikin’. The weather held out admirably aside from a light sprinkling while we were on the peak. I brought my zoom lenses and managed to get a couple of decent shots.
As always, click to open a larger version in a new window.
NSOP Camera Strap
In my travels across the Internet, I’ve come across a great little forum called the New School of Photography. It was started by Ben Jacobsen, who I know from other non-photography-related fora, and is a small community that prides itself on welcoming n00bs with open arms and avoiding the typical gear-snobbery rampant on some other sites.
To help support the site, Ben is selling a limited run of really great camera straps silkscreened with the site logo. They run about $25 and, quite frankly, are lightyears ahead of the straps included with most SLRs in terms of comfort. I received mine yesterday, and I’ve got to say, I love it already.
The thick cushioning is very comfortable, and the inside has gel beads that add grippiness without feeling like sandpaper on your nape. The version I got has pro-loop fasteners, which include clips for easily removing your camera from the main part of the strap. Anyhow, only I would get excited over a new camera strap, but there you have it. It’s great. Buy one. Support a good website.
Unimpressed
Remember guys, it’s not how big your camera is, it’s whether or not you get the Picard from your subject.
Click to enlarge.
Irony
Sorry for the lack of updates lately — I’ve been quite busy with some extracurricular activities and haven’t had the time for, well, anything. Gear heads will get the joke here.
(Click to enlarge)
The sharpness of this Tamron lens just keeps surprising me.
Scooter Heads Invade Montreal
I got to spend the evening shooting the city with my friend Christine yesterday. Great fun, and some great images. There’s this feeling of a slumbering city now pushing back the blankets and waking up for the coming summer months, and it’s downright invigorating.
I also finally put to use a free ‘Lomo’ Photoshop action that I came across at Addicted to Design (click to enlarge):
More photos from yesterday’s trek can be viewed here.
Foiled Again
I was hoping to get out and give my new (well, one’s just new-ish) lenses a little workout but the weather, combined with a bit of a hangover, conspired to keep me mostly indoors today. Here are a couple of photos anyhow. The first is from my first day with the 70-200mm f/4.0L:
I just love the contrast and sharpness of this lens. Simply phenomenal.
And, just to play with Noise Ninja a little bit more, here’s a shot taken at ISO 3200 and -1EV dialed in for an effective ISO 6400:
This was taken with the Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8 lens I got a few weeks back. It’s wonderfully sharp for such an inexpensive constant-f/2.8 zoom.
Oops.
Yeah, guess what I got.
Plus, after rebates, I pretty much ended up with a free BG-E2N battery grip.
Wee!
Here are two test images — the second is a 100% crop, with no processing done to the RAW file (well, except for the crop). As always, click to enlarge any image.
Decisions, Decisions
I’d really like to pick up a telephoto zoom soon. Right now, I’m trying to decide between one of these two:
Both lenses ring in at about the same price and come with similar accessories (lens hood, case, and front/rear caps).
The Canon is a little slower and will introduce a 20mm gap between it and my wide-angle Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD IF, but going from 50-70mm is really just a matter of taking a couple of footsteps. The added 50mm on the long end sounds good, and Canon’s L glass is top-notch in terms of both image quality and build quality.
The Sigma is no slouch in the image quality department though, and while it’s a little shorter on the long end, it’s a constant f/2.8 that will be very useful if I need to shoot indoor or evening/night action (like sports, for example). Then again, I’m not afraid of using high ISOs anymore. It also weighs half as much as the Canon, which might be something to think about if I want to take it on a hike.
Both have some variant of high-speed focusing.
Bah! I’ll fuss with the decision and ask some folks at NSOP for their opinions.
Tennessee’s War On Photographers
Now here’s some nonsense.
A man walking through Tom Lee Park pauses to snap a photo of the iconic Hernando DeSoto Bridge. Another man shoots pictures of numerous downtown buildings.
Many would assume the men are tourists taking in the city’s sights, but law enforcement officials say they could be terrorists staking out possible targets.
[...]
“You may think a guy is just shooting pictures, but if you report it to us, we’ll send it on to the FBI and they may have four or five other reports of the same thing,” said Richard Pillsbury with the Tennessee Fusion Center, a collaboration between the Department of Safety and the Department of Homeland Security.
Or… they may just be tourists. Imagine that, people photographing landmarks.
Now, don’t get me wrong — I believe that people should be aware of what’s going on around them, if only for their own safety. And by the same token, a community has a natural feeling for what’s ‘normal’ behaviour and what isn’t. But this is just pushing people to snoop on each other — and worse:
Operation Sudden Impact is an alliance between the sheriff’s office and 54 regional law enforcement agencies to fight terrorism. Public affairs officer Steve Shular said the collaboration will allow better information sharing between agencies in case of a major emergency or terrorist attack.
In the next few weeks, Operation Sudden Impact will bring representatives from all 54 agencies to Memphis for a one-day saturation exercise. Officers will perform traffic stops and gang interdictions and serve arrest warrants.
“Every arrest ticket written in 24 hours by each of those agencies will be reviewed to see if any of those people, even those with minor traffic charges, might have any connection to any possible terrorist activity lurking in the region,” Shular said.
A one-day crash course? Sending officers on an anti-terrorism crusade under the guise of ‘normal’ police work? A traffic stop should be the end, not the means to an end.
SOURCE: Tourist or Terrorist? :: The Memphis Flyer :: City Reporter :: The Fly-By
Testing SmugMug Gallery
UPDATE: Turns out the is caused by saving your photo in the sRGB colour space; SmugMug will convert any other profile to sRGB upon upload, which was causing these strange colour shifts.
More info:
“SmugMug Mucking With Colour?” on NSOP forums
“SmugMug Saturates?” on DGrin forums
As a result many of the links are now dead as I’ve since cleaned up the galleries. Anyways, this is a strong argument for automating as much of your workflow as possible in Photoshop, to avoid forgetting such simple tasks. PEBKAC.
OUTDATED STUFF:
I’m trying out SmugMug right now as a host for my photography gallery. So far it’s pretty simple to use, but I’m noticing one particularly annoying thing — it seems to fudge the colours in my images, blowing out the highlights.
Below are two links to the exact same file — the first was uploaded to SmugMug, and the second was uploaded directly to my webserver via FTP. If you open the links in new tabs and flip back and forth between the two, you will notice a colour shift.
http://gongzero.smugmug.com/photos/284421678_5Ja9f-O-1.jpg
http://www.gongzero.com/images/photos/oldport-17april2006/tracks.jpg
On my PC (calibrated monitor, system-wide colour management in Vista) the second image is pretty much exactly what Photoshop shows me. The SmugMug-hosted image is not (her hair is blown out to hell, and things are typically more orange/red).
Very strange. If I can’t figure out a fix for this in my SmugMug settings then I’ll certainly be cancelling my account.
(Noise) Ninjas Rule
I broke down and bought the Noise Ninja Pro Bundle. Holy crap, this thing is amazing. What it does is analyze your photos for noise profiles (you can download profiles for your particular digital camera from their site, too), and employ sophisticated algorithmic magic to clean the image up. I found a set of scans from a concert shoot I did in 2004 and put together this composite to show the difference.
This is a 100% crop from a photo taken on Fuji NPZ-800, pushed to 3200. Then a 16-bit scan @ 2820dpi was done on a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual III film scanner. The only other processing done to these sample images was spot healing brush work to remove a couple of specks of dust.
Click to enlarge the image in a new window.
The image on the left is otherwise unprocessed; on the right, Noise Ninja was used to remove most of the noise.
Very impressive, and this is just with the default settings. Once I learn the settings a little bit more, I’m sure I’ll be able to better compromise between noise reduction and maintaining detail.
Here’s the final photo (again, as always, click to enlarge):
