To the readers who have been there with me since the beginning, I’d like to say thanks for all your patience as I’ve walked through several fires of growing pains.  I’ve come to the realization that the more you write, the greater the chance you have to sound like either a fool, or a pure and simple $%^&.   Hopefully I’ve minimized both of these occurrences enough to warrant another 700 posts!

There’s a couple things coming up on the horizon that are quite exciting, and a few fire irons already nice and hot (see contest #1 and contest #2 going on right now)!  The biggest change is coming at the end of the month when CB gets a pretty serious face lift.  Other upcoming things of interest include  a podcast with none other than Martin Bailey on Monday, the 3rd Annual World Wide Photowalk in July, and the 2nd release of the 49 Photo Tips download!  (The first is still available here…)  All this is accompanied by the regular news, reviews, and photography experiences/insights that I share with you here daily.  So, you’d think that with all that, there’s be nothing else of a “big news” item to announce at this time.  After all, it’s just Friday, right?

Well, not to disappoint, but there is some news to share with you today on post #700!  This is not only news, it’s pretty big news!  In fact, it’s not just pretty big news – it’s super huge!  Are you sitting down?  Are you ready for this? (Cue “Jock Jams“…for those of you that did not experience the early 90′s, the link may be a #lame one…)

Actually, I’d better not just quite yet.  But, I can let you know that Anaheim, Salt Lake City, Denver, Minneapolis, Seattle and Portland all have something in common (they make a nice circle…don’t ya think? )…

More tk…happy friday and have a great weekend all!  Get out and shoot ya some!

Here’s where reader input is going to be what makes or breaks the content – that’s right, I am putting it all on the reading audience.  You can link to your own site in the comments, and the “Comment Luv” plugin will show the most recent post for fellow bloggers too.  Here’s what the content topics are to chose from (you can pick one, two, three, or all of the topics to address in your comment):

1. What are your favorite iPhone/iTouch applications (for photography)?
2. Who would you like to see guest-write here on the blog (you can include yourself too)?
3. If Canon Blogger were to start a monthly newsletter, what would you like to see in said newsletter?
4. If Canon Blogger were to start publishing eBooks for download, what topics would you like to see addressed?
5. What one photo tip would you share with others above all else to help improve their photography (and “Take off the lenscap” is not allowed! LOL)

The best part of this?  Some lucky commenter will win a $25 gift card to B&H Photo from yours truly!  Yup, no sponsors, no tricks, no gimmicks, no nothin’ but free moolah to the best photo store on the planet!  All out of my pocket!  What am I looking for?  Useful content and ideas that will help me generate more resources to share with everyone.  So, get your thinking caps on and get to commenting.  If you post a comment and think of something later, feel free to add it – but your name can only be “entered” in the Comment Contest once!

When does it end?  Midnight Sunday!  (August 30, 2009 – so if you are reading through archives and this is like March 15th, 2035, sorry, the contest is over…)

And speaking of contests, you also only have three days left to get your shots into the Flickr thread for the “Win a Wacom” contest!  The contest pool of entries has increased a tad bit, but you can’t win if you don’t play, so get a shot or two in over the weekend – as they say at the Lotto – “Hey, ya never know!”

Finally, on this last Friday of August, I’d like to share yet again, an absolutely hysterical strip from What The Duck (I shared it earlier this week), but this  just floored me, so had to give another shout out for those that haven’t picked up WTD in your readers yet (and you should!).  So, have a laugh, then have some fun and share your thoughts – the sky is the limit.  Have a great weekend everyone and we’ll see you back here on Monday!

The reason why themes are such useful tools is because this can also give you the basis for telling a story, which is a commonality of many powerful and evocative works, whether that story is natural beauty (landscapes), urban decay (architecture), romantic moments (wedding photography), etc.

I’ve put together a short list of a couple great starting points for themes to tell your creative stories:

• Laughter
• Faces
• Circles
• Skies
• Glass
• Fences
• Freedom

Any themes that catch your eye – give you a creative idea?  What about other ideas or themes?  I’d love to hear your ideas, so feel free to share them in the comment section, or via email.  You can reach me, as always, at jason <AT> canonblogger <DOT> com.  Happy shooting everyone!  Don’t forget the August contest to win a Wacom Bamboo fun is underway – with the Flickr thread up and running here:  Win a Wacom! Now, to kick start the weekend… a little WTD humor:

Grab the Feed

We’ll see you back here on Monday!

So, anyway, here’s my Friday Fab Five Photoshop shortcuts and what they do:

1. CMD/CTRL+J = duplicates your existing layer
2. CRTL+ALT+SHIFT+E = Stamp Visible  This takes all your visible layers and merges them onto a new layer.  Increases file size, but very cool
3. CMD/CTRL+’ = (yes, that’s apostrophe) – it activates the grid in your preferences.  Since my grid is set to every 33.33% and one subdivision, it basically shows a Rule of Thirds grid overlay on my images – very handy for compositional cropping
4. Left and right brackets – decrease and increase your active brush, whether it’s for clone stamp, healing brush, eraser, history brush – whatever
5. Alt+Eyedropper = you can drag the eyedropper outside of Photoshop to sample a color in another application (great for color matching)

So, those are my five for this friday – what are yours?  Sound off in the comments!  In the meantime, have a great weekend and happy shooting! I’ll leave you with my favorite What the Duck cartoon of the week:

Grab the Feed

BAMBOO FUN!

So, here’s a little teaser video for those that are interested:

This might be fodder for an upcoming contest or giveaway, but only time will tell, so keep your fingers crossed.   In the meantime, here’s the rest of the Friday news:

• Get a good laugh at What the Duck (here’s my favorite)
  
• 

• Check out Jason Moore’s blog – he draws something positive from my negative too (thanks Jason!)
• Rob Weiher keeps capturing unique and fun imagery in his 365 Project
• A neat nugget about Flash card speeds that I didn’t know about

Okay all, that’s it – been a crazy busy week, and I am tired, but also geared up for the weekend.  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here next week for hopefully a little more of an uplifting series of content!

Grab the Feed

Happy Shooting!

Those of you on the blog, you can see what I am talking about – this new theme is much more photo friendly – the header image is more standardized, so I can start putting more of my images into the rotation for everyone to enjoy.  Plugins also enjoy more support, as does the RSS, calendar, and other sidebar features.  For those of you picking this up via the feeds, please take some time to stop over and enjoy the new layout.  This is, of course, the “first look”, and I will likely be making some adjustments as things settle in, including widening the body width for the main posting area, and dressing up the edges a little.  Any ideas for what to consider?  More pics?  Perhaps some page links?  (I noticed the pages area is now not visible from the main one…)  Feel free to chime in now while I am still in “clean-up” mode!

Okay, so the Spring Cleaning is a little premature, but felt it was needed due not only to update some features, but also due to some coding deficiencies were brought to my attention (thanks, and shout outs to Kerry of Camera Dojo!).  Anyway, on a happy note, I’ll leave you with a little WTD humor since it’s been a while for a comic post:

What the Duck

Have a great weekend, and don’t forget to share your thoughts on the new theme/layout in the comments – it’s now or never to see your feedback implemented!  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here Monday morning!

1. Online Price Calculator – So many people ask “How much should I charge for…”  Well, here is a good starting point.  For something more serious look FotoQuote
2. Free Stock Photos – So many stock photo sites out there, yet none seem to offer up imagery completely for free.  You do have to register, but well worth the 10 seconds…
3. Free CS Tutorials – Yeah, I know, there’s tons of sites out there that do this stuff, but Erik stands above the crowd in his technique and approach.  Well worth the time to peruse his library of Adobe tips and tricks
4. B&H Photo has a handy resource that shows compatibility for some TC’s.  The one linked is for the Canon 2x TC
5. The Online Photography Test – hosted by yours truly, and with the Beginner and Intermediate tests completed, is an great resource for evaluating and improving your knowledge base across many areas of photography

And, to close out the week, be sure to stop over at What The Duck!  My favorite one this week:

Happy shooting, have a good weekend, and we’ll catch you back here on Monday!

As we all know by now (unless you are in a cave somewhere in the Congo), Canon has released the 5D Mark II and the specs were posted here a few days ago.  Forums and the blogosphere have poked and prodded at just about everything they can until the camera itself comes to stores in October.  So, for the time being we will likely see just more pontificating.  As for the content here at CB, I am probably gonna draw back a little and let others wax on about it.

In more current events, Adobe released the Camera Raw update for all your product needs.  It’s now at version 4.5, and is available for Mac and Windows download free here:  Camera Raw 4.5

What the Duck had a great week from the comedic standpoint, and I really can’t pick a favorite, so just go there and read through them all!  Great stuff!

Nominations are now open for the Podcast Awards for 2008.  They close at the end of the month, so be sure to stop in and let them know who you think is deserving of the awards for this year.  I’ve also got a link to them on the sidebar with a suggestion for CB (hint hint:  Education).  There’s 22 different categories so be sure you’ve got the URL’s for all your favorites handy to plug in the appropriate content areas.  Others that I would recommend for nominations include:

• This Week in Photography
• The Tech Guy
• The Digital Photography Show
• Terry White’s Tech Blog
• Jason D. Moore Photography

The list goes on and on, but there’s only one tech category and most of the blogs I visit fit that area.  Although there is a People’s Choice category too.  As for CB, I’ll stick with the educational theme.  So, if you think I’ve helped with education in photography and photoshop at all, then add a kudo in there.  Who knows – maybe I’ll actually make the top ten in that category! (I doubt it though…but it never hurts to self promote, so there it is!)

Also, I’ve got a new poll up on the sidebar.  After posting the features about the 5D Mark II, I thought it might be interesting to see what features people would like to see in their camera gear.  You can pick any three, so let’s Rock the Vote (so to speak), and get those opinions in.  I wanna hear from YOU!

Finally, I thought I’d share a shot I did kind of by accident.  I was trying to do some night photography with HDR in mind.  Nothing came out all that well so I just started trying all sorts of things.  Came up with this:

3 of Me

Do you like it?  Too much?  Not enough?  Is it too processed?  I’m kind of biased, so rather than reveal my own thoughts on this, I’ll leave it to the readership to decide if this works at all.  Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Okay,  so much for a quickie!  I’ll just leave it at that, and wish you all an excellent weekend filled with productive and creative results.  Happy Shooting!

1. Back story – provide some background on how you got the shot.  Give it a personal meaning or significance for the viewer.  Often times connections with imagery are because of a personal tie to it – and if you give people a hint of the “who, what, where, when why, how” element of your photos that you share, it can increase the impact.  Just remember, keep back stories short – if it takes two pages to set the stage, the show will almost always disappoint.
2. Backgrounds – speaking of backgrounds, take a look at the backgrounds in your photos.  Are there any elements there that draw your eye?  If so, that is likely a detractor.  Keep backgrounds simple.  If shooting a lot of family members at a dinner, keep the lower edge of your camera above the table line to avoid the distraction of glasses, plates, food, centerpieces, etc.  Likewise, look where people are.  Is it a crowded subway or is it a meadow of daisies?  Either can serve to enhance or detract from your image because the background can take emphasis away from the subject or it can help focus on your subject.  Generally speaking, the simpler the background, the better the picture!
3. Backsides – in family or group shot settings, can you see anyone’s backside?  If so, then their face is not likely facing the camera.  We tend to prefer shots of people where we can see their faces, so if you see someone’s backside, hold off on taking that shot – get them to turn around a little.
4. Backups – It’s been said before, but the importance of backing up your files can never be understated.  When do you backup?  I do it three times – on first import to the computer, after I sort through and delete out unwanted images, and then after I process for print and web.  Typically the latter two will be purged after a month or so of inactivity.  By purge, I mean relegated to the RAID side of the house, rather than the active folder I keep on my desktop.

So, that’s the Back to Basics for Friday.  Any other tips out there I missed where you can incorporate the term “back” into the subject?  I had four, but surely there’s more!  (Heh, if it’s not alliterative, at least it rhymes, right?)  Happy shooting, everyone!  Watch those apertures and we’ll see you back here Monday!

P.S.  Don’t forget about the Photographing Freedom contest now underway here at CB – day 7 of 30!

Found a couple neat resources around the web over the last few days. But, I am not gonna share them today. That’s right, the old bait-and-switch! I say something then switch gears once you’re hooked and talk about something else entirely. But, rest assured weary reader, I am not selling anything…yet! Quite simply – I got my 40D!!! That’s right, pulled the trigger, but the bullet, took the plunge, and every other metaphor you can think of. So, now with not one but 2 SLR’s in hand, I feel a little better knowing I have a backup.

That means my trusty Canon XT is now a backup camera! The funniest thing about it is that when I got my XT about 3 years ago, I paid more for that than I just paid for the Canon 40D (body only)! Back in 2005, the XT was hot off the presses and I was chomping at the bit to get it. The market started with it around $1000, and when I found one at Beach Camera for $850, I thought – “This is a good deal!” So I took the plunge.

Fast forward to 2007, the Canon 40D debuts for $1140 retail for the body. Within a year, rebates start kicking in – the struggling economy starts impacting camera manufacturers, so the rebates are big. The Canon 40D now has a $200 rebate, and it’s not the mail in kind! That’s right, an instant in-store rebate knocks the 40D down to $940 bones. This is a pretty darn good deal considering where the 40D stands in the Canon lineup. (3rd in line as I see it: 1D Mark II, 5D, and then the 40D)

But wait, hold the phones, that deal gets sweeter! If you are a current XT, XTi, or XSi owner, an additional $50 mail in rebate is offered too. So, now after all rebates, you can get the pristine new 40D for under $900…a mere $890! What a steal! But, here’s the thing – that means the aftermarket is starting to feel a pinch. This means the 40D that many bought a mere 6 months ago for $1200 could concievably drop to half that in the aftermarket since the XS is coming out, and a likely successor to the 5D which will push it down further. No one wants to see their gear depreciate to the tune of 50% in a mere 12 months. Heck, the XT new was around $100, and it still can be found for $450-$500 after being in the market place for about 4 years! (Although I suspect not for much longer – it’s not even in the current lineup anymore…)

So, anyway, the aftermarket starts picking up. By keeping up with the market via 1001 Noisy Cameras I can see that Canon is taking the majority of the top ten deals for a good 3 months. Now, with the standard for after market stuff typically running around 10-15% less than retail, 40D owners start pushing their bodies for $900, then $875, and most recently I saw one for $850. Well, last week I posted in the Buy/Sell forums of one particular community that I wanted to buy (WTB) a 40D at the 10% off retail rate…after rebates! That meant $800. Within an hour I had a taker, so – for less than the price of my XT, I upgraded to the 40D a year after its release.

Ironic, because it was about a year after the XT was released that I got it for about just as the retail price dropped 10%. In the aftermath, I learned a valuable lesson about camera gear: bodies depreciate, lenses retain value. If you want to spend money wisely, don’t upgrade your body every year, upgrade your glass. Hopefully this upgrade will have been worthwhile – 3 years in the making, and for $100 less than my previous body – I think it was probably a good investment. The only reason I did it was because I really did feel as though I was starting to bump up against the limitations of the XT body. Frame rate was not where I wanted it, the image counter was becoming more of a hindrance as I take more, the images were harder to see, and it was just starting to show signs of wear and tear. A bit of the plastic casing had peeled off in my sweaty mitts. It was just time to upgrade. To the forum guy (you know who you are) that hooked me up…thanks so much!

In looking at the counter, it seems the actuations are even lower than I thought with the count in the 500′s! I simply just re-set it back to 0 and I am rockin’ and rollin’! So, in case you hadn’t guessed it – this is just a “Feel Good” post today – nothing insightful, informational, or even useful – just a gleeful post of what was formerly an adult and what is now a 5-year old kid at Christmas! Have fun all, go out and shoot some (I know I will be…)

Oh yeah, here’s your WTD for the week:

I know web links are typically done on Wednesdays, but a little schedule change was in order given the recent news from this corner of the internet.  So, for this Friday, here’s some stuff I read around the web recently:

Brian Reyman of Professional Snapshots has released a beta version of a neat Flash program for schematics of lighting setups.  It’s a very helpful in documenting studio work and other such photo utilities.  Best of all, it’s Flash-based so it will work on Mac and PC!  Many thanks to Brian for all the time and energy he’s put into this program.

Being very much a fan of DIY photography, I have to give shout outs to the guys over at This Week in Photography for their post on making your own reflectors from cardboard, styrofoam, or plywood and either paiting white or covering with aluminum foil.  Very clever, and a great tip!  Thanks to Scott Bourne for this…oh yeah, check out their weekly podcast too.  Lots of info and always fun to listen to!

Scott Kelby needs no introduction, as he’s pretty well recognized throughout the industry.  He also most certainly needs no help from me for publicity, but his post this week about the “School of Hard Knocks” really hit home as I forgot a CF card for my camera just the other day.  So, sometimes I really am just like Scott Kelby!

David Hobby also gave a little nod to this over on Strobist, and while it’s a little late to be saying it here, there was a Shoot! the Day scheduled for today – photogs the world over will be sharing their shots taken from today over at Photoshelter in the coming week or so.  I signed up, but because I forgot my CF card, was not able to participate.  Still, stop over there to see a day in the life of photographers the world over!

Michael Johnston of The Online Photographer anounced his newist list of Top Ten Cameras, and Canon gear made it in twice (three times if you count them in with the “any entry-level DSLR” listing.)  The top Canon recommendations are the 5D and the SD870 IS.

Finally, in Canon-specific news, we’ all have likely heard about the upcoming release of the Canon XS.  Scheduled for release in July, it’s gotten a few reviews trickling out from various resources.  The best review I’ve read is over at the Photokina site.

Last, but not least, don’t forget to take a break, and laugh a little over at What the Duck!  My favorite one from this week:

Yes, we love this craft of photography, and we could spend every waking hour studying nuances of esoteric subjects related to the field, and peeping at the pixels of countless photos, analyzing techniques, and all that stuff. That wouldn’t be a very balanced existence though, and through having some balance, we can actually probably better focus on our craft when we do delve into it.

So, for this Friday, I’d like to suggest taking a break from photos every once and a while. Consider taking time to “step back and smell the roses”, and stop just taking pictures of them! Rather than thinking about your depth of field, whether to use a ring flash or a fill flash, what ISO to set, and what lens to use – take some time to just step back and enjoy the moment. The same holds true for any photography field. If you’re a landscape photographer, take some time to just enjoy that sunset, or that mountain range. If you’re a portrait photographer, let go of the camera and interact with your models and subjects.

It’s the interaction between the photographer and their subject that actually forms the connection. If you sped all your time taking the pictures, and never interacting with the subjects, your reason for taking the pictures can lose meaning beyond the dollars and cents. Remember, photography is a means of sharing your vision with the world. Losing sight of the vision, and the reason why it’s your vision can diminish both the message and its impact on your viewers. Through connecting with your surroundings, you can actually inspire creativity, and take your own visions to the next level.

I was reading through John Paul Caponigro’s new blog he rolled out recently, and found some audio clips on there – one of these spoke specifically to expanding your creativity, and he suggests closing your eyes to heighten the awareness of your other senses. This same philosophy can be applied to the concept above. By setting the camera down every once and a while (and stepping away from Photoshop and the computer), you can become more aware of the rest of the world around you. Heightened awareness is ultimately what will expand your vision, and in turn, expand your creativity. Enough esoteric mumbo jumbo though, just some food for thought as we move into the weekend. Here’s the weekly installment from What the Duck. Happy shooting everyone and watch your apertures!

So, a thousand pardons as I rush to get a somewhat photo-related post out before the end of the day. Since it is on short notice, I will simply relay a funny story that happened to me the other day as I was out walking the dog. I had taken the camera and flash with diffuser attached as the day was actually perfect for photography: late afternon, cloudy skies, and evenly light all around. So, I am bouncing along, trying different settings here and there with various subjects – a flower, a reflection in some water, and I have the bright idea to do a macro shot super close on a flower. But, instead of going wide open to get available light, I figured let’s try the flash here – so I pop the flash on, attach the diffuser and set it to ETTL. Then I dial the aperture down as far as I think it can go on the fill flash setting – f22! I pre-focused on the lower third of the frame, then set the focus to manual. Finally, I shifted the camera up just a smidge, knowing that the lower portion would be in focus and because of the f-stop, I would have a pretty solid dof throughout.

Well…there’s always something you forget, and in this instance, it was the ISO setting. You guessed it – 1600! ARGH! Well, I cleaned it up a little with NN after the fact, and yeah, it’s okay, but imagine how this shot would have been without the noise and tack sharp?

So, it seems another one that got away from me! I think I am going to tape a label to the back of my LCD and write on it in big fat letters ISO! Long story short – always double check your settings, and always take a few shots. I only took the one, so it’s all I had to work from. Oh well…better luck next time! Hee’s your traditional WTD episode for Friday:

Hope everyone has a good weekend. Happy shooting and watch those apertures!

Brian over at Professional Snapshots got a G9 and shared some initial thoughts on that (as well as an interesting test shot), so stop over to his blog and see his feedback. Comment if you get a chance too – Brian always has fun stuff to read and share.

1001 Noisy Cameras does their latest update to the Canon SLR Market Price list indicating that prices pretty much remain the same, but now we have rebates! There’s also a link to a lengthy review of the Canon Xsi (and apparently somewhere in there a comparison between the 40D and the 450D??? I, like them, don’t understand – it’s apples and oranges. Anyway, stop over to 1001NC and read all about it – thanks guys for your info -you are on my must-read list since I learned about y’all! (Also, the TOP Test you linked to had some updates – see below for more)

Scott Kelby reminds us to back up our hard drives today (which I need to do btw…)

Ctein makes a passionate plea to avoid using music in website design over at The Online Photographer (thank you!)

Last, but not least, here’s some blog updates for CB:

• I am almost done with the article compilations on creating your own photo website, so thanks to all for their patience.
• The Online Photography Test has moved and now as TWO tests: Basic and Advanced! The latter still needs a few questions so stop over and take it, see your scores and share thoughts to round it out!
• My photo shoots have been keeping me busy, but a gallery has been published here for viewer enjoyment: A Day in the Park
• Another gallery should be forthcoming shortly too – still waiting on a model release.

Finally, lest I forget the Friday Funnies, stop over to What The Duck for a chuckle – or would it be a Duckle?

Well, I’d read about white balancing en masse off the eyes, so thought it might work out. But, with the sunny afternoon, pupils were dilated, and kids were squinting, so…I went with the next best thing – their teeth! Turned out to work okay, and I’ve got about 20 shots to share with the mother at work on Monday. In light of my “success” at setting white balance off a subject’s teeth, I thought I’d share that tip with the readership this Friday – take flight in charting new waters – shoot without a white balance card and just use what nature gives you.

Since I’ve not gotten the model releases signed by the mother yet, I can’t make a gallery of images, but I expect to have those on Monday, so stop back in to see the full gallery by then.  For some reason I can’t get to WTD so will add my “Friday Funny” later.  Alternatively, you can just stop over to www.whattheduck.net to enjoy the humor – I hit it every Friday and read the entire week.

Finally, I’d like to close this week out with a challenge – show me your shots!  Let’s see everyone get out there and take pictures.  Email me pictures taken from the theme for the week (or email me a link and I can download that way), and I’ll put a montage together here on the blog.  With me being a Canon shooter, I figured it would be fun to start with a related theme – RED.  So, show me shots with something red – anything you want, and I’ll put a gallery together of all of them and offer some thoughts and feedback on all contributions in a post the following week.  So, the dates that I’ll take shots starts today, and will end next Thursday at midnight.  Please re-size your shots to 800px on the longest dimension before sending.

Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to get out and shoot this weekend – remember the theme is RED!  Happy shooting and watch those apertures!

Four Frame Freezing Follies

1. 1/1000th of a second will freeze action moving either up and down or across the frame.
2. 1/500th of a second is good for aerials (coming in over a scene, like in a plane or along those lines)
3. 1/250th of a second is good for freezing action coming straight at you (toward the camera – unless of course it’s my dog who comes toward you then lurches to the side for no apparent reason)
4. 4 seconds takes objects in motion and turns them into streaks of light (think car headlights here – night photography will never be the same)

In other news, I also saw over on Jeff Revell’s blog today (PhotowalkPro.com) a great post on how to be a frugal lens shopper. Stop over there to read all about saving money. We bloggers love to get feedback too, so if you like it, make a post to let him know!

The camera poll has officially ended, and the results are in. Looks like many of us have at least a few cameras in our bags…fun stuff. Where did you fit into the picture? Thanks to the 66 that did join in for these last two months!

Check out the new poll listed today too…on audio podcasts! I am thinking of adding yet another multimedia feature (audio podcasts) to round things out (presently I’ve posted videos, documents, and pictures, so audio is all that’s left! Don’t forget to vote before you leave.

And, so no one feels left out from friday funnies, another week’s favorite episode from What the Duck:

Before I continue, the DIY lighting concept is not something that comes easily to me, as I fully admit that I am no lighting pro. If you want pro advice, the best place to go is to Strobist where David Hobby hosts an excellent lighting blog that has become pretty much the place to go for lighting tutorials. What I have learned from that site would take days to rattle off here. So, rather than regale you with all of that, I’ll just say that Strobist has given me new insight into uses for everyday objects.

Here’s the lighting project – a while back David talked on his blog about using household items to create lighting peripherals such as reflectors, bounce lights, light stands, and has been a common theme for quite a while. So, the inspiration for this came from what to use to make your own DIY snoot. A snoot is a device that focuses the light from your flash (which you know of course to take off the camera if you want really good light).

Well, at work I noticed one day that a commercial industrial sized roll of TP had been used and the cardboard roller that it was on was just sitting on top of the paper towel dispenser. I picked it up, looked it over and it seemed to be close to the size of my 550EX flash. I took it home and tried it out – bingo! The only problem was, it really wasn’t long enough. Well, no biggie, I just waited another few weeks and sure enough, another TP roller appeared on top of the towel dispenser. I snaked that one away, and brought them home. A few pieces of scotch tape to attach the two devices together and I was ready for my test shot:

Notice the light leaking through the side though? Well, I decided good old duct tape might be able to fix that. So, a few tears and strips later, and I got this shot:

Looking a lot better now, but now I am noticing a little light seeping through the back end still – any ideas how to eliminate that, or is that there in most snoots? Not sure, but this cost me a grand total of probably 05 ¢ of tape. So, I played around with the distance, as David suggests over at the Strobist site, and I finally am happy to announce that this snoot works best at a distance of about 4′ from the subject, and (surprise surprise) at about a 45 degree angle to the subject. I was hamming it up for the camera just to give a little variety while I figured this out, and actually came out of the lighting test with a self-portrait I am not too ashamed of. It’s end-of-week scruff, so that will be gone come Monday, but I thought the lighting effect of a snoot (concentrated light) is pretty useful.

So, there it is – the Friday Night Light experiment. I know it’s late, but better late than never right? Anyone else have any DIY lighting experiments they want to share? If so, all are welcome to join in the comments area. Otherwise, have a great weekend, happy shooting, and watch those apertures! (mine was a little soft – but I think that may have been oof, not dof softness)…

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Fridays always feature a WTD cartoon, so here’s my fave of the week:

1. Work is almost finished on the web gallery articles.  I have one more video tutorial to record on JAlbum, and two articles to share with the readership.
2. My magazine cutting frenzy continues as I shred through stacks of almost two years of photo magazines.  The binder is getting thicker and the magazine stack is getting smaller!
3. I’ve launched a beta for a new idea on a sub-domain for Canon Blogger, The Online Photograph Test (or TOP Test), which has already seen a few corrections and improvements, so thanks to those that wrote in and emailed…keep ‘em comin’!

In other news around the photo world:

1. Adobe launched their new “TV” service…it’s really a flash-based online multimedia portal to all types of content, naturally with much of it focusing on Adobe products.  Seems like a cool enough idea, and probably intended to compete with YouTube, but on with a more professional and polished approach.  We’ll see if it catches on – my guess is yes with the poster boys talking it up all over the web.
2. Adobe makes the weekly news twice as they re-released Camera Raw 4.4 that were previously pulled.pulled, have since been re-released by Adobe.   This link is for the Windows version of CS3, LR and Mac versions are also available from the download site – just use Google as needed to find the version you are looking for.
3. In case you missed it earlier this week, Donny did his last episode (my guess is “of the season” in another hysterical segment of You Suck at Photoshop -careful with kids around…’nuff said.  Well, it ‘s been followed up by a “honorarium” of sorts where you can vote for the DIY’er in both Photoshop and comedy categories.  Kinda funny, but not the same as Donny – so go watcfh, then vote to bring Donny out of hiding!
4. What The Duck makes it’s Friday appearance below, which means my leg is getting numb and the hour is getting late, so it’s time to bid a hasty adieu!  Good night, have a great weekend, happy shooting, and watch those apertures!

Top Ten Things NOT to say to say to a Police Officer when queried: “Do you know why I pulled you over?”

1. Out of Doughnuts?
2. Couldn’t catch the guy who sped past me 5 minutes ago?
3. Lost a bet?
4. Yup.
5. Boredom?
6. Quota time?
7. “That’ll 2 Whoppers, 2 large fries, a Sprite, and a Coke please.”
8. Oh goody, junior has a gun and a badge!
   
9. Why, don’t you know?
10. Because I hung up on your lame charity drive when they called at dinner last night?

In all seriousness, never say any of these…(for liability reasons). Got any funny ones to share as well? Post ‘em in the comments!

Okay, with that, have a good weekend all – happy shooting and watch those apertures! I’ll leave you with another WTD comic for your weekend enjoyment:

My guess is on that day, there will be no post. But…until then, I will try to keep to my regular schedule. So, here’s some Friday fun to share:

• It looks like the Canon Spring Rebate has kicked in early in Canada. I’d expect similar savings to start soon in the States.
• Second, I came across a funny blog about bad Photoshop design
• An optical illusion
• The latest on the You Suck at Photoshop series is out – I about fall out of my chair every time I listen to this guy!
• And finally, another episode of WTD to enjoy:

Happy Easter, happy shooting and watch those apertures!

1. Fred Miranda
2. Digital Photography Review
3. Photography on the Net
4. Nikonians
5. Photo.net
6. Naturescapes
7. NAPP Forums
8. South Carolina Photography Guild
9. Popular Photography Forums
10. Shutterbug Forums

It wouldn’t be a Friday without a funny, so here’s my weekly reference to What the Duck:

Until Monday then, Happy Shooting and watch those apertures!

In the meantime, here’s a couple to start things off – think of them as “Friday Freebies”:

The Graphic Reporter : Not only does her voice sound better than mine, she’s got an amazingly look and feel to her site.

Photoshop Cafe: A little heavy on the ads for me, but a great source of info, articles, and gateway to lots of things to do with photography.

DXO Labs: I recently installed the Film Pack demo after hearing about it on DPS, and have been playing with it for a few days now. This is a very cool plugin, and the coolest part about it is that you can launch the Film Pack w/out photoshop! Make your adjustments quick and easy and on the fly – very intuitive. Here’s a capture of an image you may recognize that I posted earlier this week with some tweaks done to it:

The types of effects you can run are quiet myriad, and well worth it. Stop over at DXO and check it out!

Finally, in the most recent issue of Photoshop User Magazine, I saw an add for a PS plugin called SiteGrinder2, from a company called MediaLab. I’ve not heard of them before, but I must admit, the ad makes me want to buy it. It does seem like a costly one though at almost$200 for the thing, but worth the trial which I downloaded last night and will try over the weekend.

And, as many photo-blogger types do, I’ll leave you with a laugh from What The Duck:

Have a good weekend! Happy shooting, and watch d’em apertures!

Stop over at Photo.net and enjoy some amazing photography from Rarindra Prakarsa. I found him through Scott Kelby’s blog.

Another fun site to enjoy some photography fine art would be a recent discovery I found: Red Bubble. (I even created a profile there to see how things work)

Need a tripod in a pinch? Try Photojojo’s suggestion of using a screw, a string and a weighted washer. It’s not really as stable, but makes for a neat and compact way to add a little stabilization while on the go. Check them out for a fun diversion: Photojojo

This also came up in conversation over on the new blog of Michael Johnston (of T.O.P fame), www.photoborg.org

Last, but not least, a little humor from What the Duck: