That wasn’t really what I wanted though, so I decided to table the project as the holidays were rapidly approaching.  Then earlier tonight, while tucking away some Christmas presents in a place I know Tracy will never go, some video cables zip-tied neatly into a shoe tupperware fell out into my office.  I looked curiously at this one called the Diamond Multimedia VC500.

It had been purchased a while back to help convert some old VHS tapes to digital (circa 1998 and 1999), then put away indefinitely…until tonight.  I then went searching for the video cable to one of my EOS cameras…after all, I am a pack rat!  And sure enough, after ten minutes, found it and started kicking the tires.  With my rudimentary video editing skills, I was able to cobble this together:

This should work pretty much anywhere too…whether you are viewing on a computer, laptop, iPad, or phone…the vid has been made as cross-source supported as possible, so let me know if you can’t see it!  It’s, of course, a very cheesy first attempt, but suggests that there may be more of a library to come in explaining SLR settings to help demystify things!

Not much other news here – a few more projects in the final steps of review to put out this week, including the AluminArte from Image Wizards, another eBook, and a couple other nuggets as we inch closer to the holidays!  (Are you ready yet?)  Stay tuned, and if you have suggestions on how to clean up that video noise at the bottom of this test video, I am all ears!

Last but not least, the Holiday Giveaway Bonanza is getting pretty hefty, and ready for your entries – get a photo in for a chance to win an amazing package of prizes!  Submit your photo today!

It’s somewhat dated in that the podcasts themselves were published back in 2009, but so much of what he did in that short series is timeless, even though the videos only encompass about 4 hours of air time.  David was also a guest on the podcast here a while back, so we’ve crossed paths a few times.  As you may or may not know, David also suffered some pretty painful injuries from a fall in Italy while teaching a class a while back.  He is in therapy and from my last understanding, almost fully walking again (doctors have given him permission to bear weight on his legs), so if you get a minute, stop over to his blog and give him some “get well” wishes if you haven’t already!

Anyway, todays’ post isn’t so much a back story on David, rather it’s on something David mentioned in his first podcast (you really should check out the entire series too, it had a limited scope, and that gave the arc of critiques he offered that much more meaning and impact – here’s the link again for those of you who missed it above: Within the Frame podcast series ).  What David mentioned almost in passing was this concept of “If Only”.  The thing of it is, we’ve all had these “if only” moments before – can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had this experience.

On one such occasion, I was driving down a road in south Denver, and a wizened lady with her possessions in a shopping cart was crossing the street.  beyond her, the street sloped downward and the mountains of Colorado were shooting up in the distance, in all their grandeur.  It was a moment that beautifully combined elements of several of the artisans I admire, including Cartier-Bressom, Moose Peterson, and of course, Ansel Adams.  It was such a “clickable” moment, but I ended up said to myself (wait for it, you know it’s coming):

If only I had my camera!

If I did have my camera, I would definitely have probably parked the car, halted traffic, and made several compositions to bring one into my permanent portfolio.  There have been others too.  What struck me though, is that we can spend our time cursing the timing, the light, our gear, what we could have, should have, or wanted to do to capture the image….or we can make a mental note of it to hopefully make the image again later!

In his podcast, David mentioned the phrase “In a perfect world” as well.  These two ideas convey rather nicely the entire reason for photography – because there is no perfect world.  The planets will never align themselves for you.  You have to align things yourself.  By recognizing the composition of the moment, the timing, the light, what’s present, what’s lacking, and how you can make the image better – you actually are making yourself better.  So, the teachable moment here is to not kick yourself for the timing of things or the “if only” moments…rather to make note of these elements, because that’s how you truly grow as a photographer – seeing what’s right (and wrong) to make your work and your vision stronger!

What kind of “if only” moments have you had in the past?  Did you make note of what could have made things better?  Did you remember?  Did you ever go back to re-create the image?  Share your own thoughts, moments, and comments below!

Today, no such luck.  I had neither the resources to create anything (camera gear is all packed up – you’ll see why shortly), nor the time to really review or research industry happenings.  Instead, just a quick video of what I ended up doing all weekend!  (Trust me, it was not just frogging around and being lazy!)

And for the record – I [b]hate[/b] carpet tack strips!

What did you do this weekend?  Share your own weekend frivolities, photo escapades, or other nuggets in the comments!

Happy shooting, and I promise to be back again with some real content and not this frivolous stuff (although these are usually the ones people seem to enjoy the most – go figure!)

It’s no picnic to dive into color spaces, and color work flow management, but having an understanding past the “it looks nice in the camera” phase is important if you want people to take you seriously.  Thankfully, it’s really not as difficult as first glances would seem, and if you want to gain a measure of control – stop over to the Live Learning Lab webinar tonight!  Hosted by myself and Kerry Garrison (of Camera Dojo), in partnership with Nations Photo Lab, we’ll be tackling the fundamentals of color management, which spaces to work in, and what profiles and calibrations, and all that jazz is about.

So, whether it’s pucks and monitors, prints and photo labs, colors and tones, we’ve got you covered.  It’s a free broadcast, and starts tonight at 7pm Mountain time (6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern), so stop in for a fun and lively discussion, where we’ll also take live questions from the audience!  Here’s the link to enjoy the show:

The Vari-Angle Clear View LCD Screen

Just the other day over on Camera Dojo, I was lamenting with Kerry Garrison about how the LCD’s in Canon EOS bodies didn’t have the resolution.  In addition to having the tilting LCD for a variable angle of view (great for low angle shots when you just can’t get down that low), the LCD is a whopping 1,040,000 dot/VGA resolution!  To me that’s huge, and a long time overdue!

Video Improvements:

This is just insane.  Video HD used to be defined by the 1280×760 standard.  No Longer.  The 60D has a whopping 1920 x 1080 resolution for its video, as well as the ability to adjust it from frame rates of 24p, 25p or 30p!  the fact that the camera retains EF-S compatibility for lenses tells me it’s still  a crop sensor format, so to capture that kind of HD video is just plain HUGE!  For those that want to go after high speed footage, a downgrade to Standard Definition will result in frame rates upwards of 50p or 60p.  Not to the 1000′s yet, but this is an SLR after all, so significant nonetheless!

Bye Bye Compact Flash

With the 60D, Canon seems to be embracing the SD format media cards, because CF is no longer an option.  SD, SDHC and SDXC are all natively compatible to capture the 18 MP images.  It makes sense because the SD format is producing higher memory cards than their CF counterparts, and the extra capacity is really going to be needed for all this HD video!

Canon Commander Mode

To quote the Press Release: “The EOS 60D’s pop-up flash features a built-in Integrated Speedlite Transmitter for control of up to two groups of off-camera EOS Speedlites without the need for an external transmitter, providing an economical solution for multi-flash shoots.”  If you listened to the podcast two days ago, this was my only other lament.  Built in flash control similar to Nikon’s “Commander Mode”.   Finally!

Price

Yeah, it’s only $1099 – basically, making it affordable for most folks, myself included!

*****

Upshot – yeah, I need to get one (but not until the end of Sept it seems).  And of course, here’s the requisite images:

Whaddya think?  Do you want the 60D?  Is it worth it?  My say is YAY, but let’s hear from the reading audience.  What say y’all?

*****

Oh yeah, and here’s the full press release…

One last thing before you go though, I know you want to subscribe to the newsletter, so hit the sidebar and let me know you want a monthly dosage of free premium content including early bird announcements, discounts on workshops, webinars, and ebooks, with user featured photos and much more!  (It’s only available via subscription to sign up today before the Sept one goes out!)

The tools that we use to capture photographs though, have changed a great deal, and with the technophiles and “gear hounds” that are constantly analyzing everything from pixels to color range, to depth of field, and everything in between, the natural question that comes from all this analysis is whether or not, cameras and photography have evolved to a point where we can say that the digital revolution is complete.

In the grand scheme of things, I believe that cameras and photography have advanced to the point where digital capture is no longer in its nascent phase.  I can count on one hand the number of active photographers I know that do not capture with digital tools.  It’s become a way of life, and is generally accepted as the medium of choice.  Just as the typewriter has been replaced with the word processor, and then the computer, I believe film and manual photography has been replaced with the digital devices we have today. When venerable institutions of photography stop producing film (i.e., e.g.: Kodak’s “Kodachrome”), the digital landscape becomes the new standard for delivery mechanisms.

The dark room is now referred to as the “digital dark room”, the film has been replaced with memory cards, and the print continues to see itself endangered by the web and mobile readers as people move toward sharing their images online. Professional photographers alike are also being expected to have a web presence, whether it’s a photography website, a Facebook page, Twitter, or other social media.  Those that choose not to participate in such venues risk alienating a world that is moving rapidly down a digital river, and the landscape of the photography world threatens to dismiss those that do not keep abreast of the changing expectations society has for how they want content delivered to them.

There is a more forward-looking approach too which suggests that because technology is always changing, the whole idea of digital photography is merely a point on the curve of history and that other media like video, interactive applications, and such are really where the future is headed., with still images becoming digital dust at some point.  That idea suggests that even digital photography is merely the start of something much larger that we cannot even envision yet.  I also can see the merit of this mentality because even today we are doing things with imagery, videography, and technology that were not even imaginable less than 50 years ago to many people.

It’s exciting times for sure, and regardless of whether you think that digital photography is the new standard for future development, or that it’s merely the beginning of a future trend and digital stills will eventually become the equivalent of analog TV signals, it never hurts to turn a curious eye to our current expectations and look at how far we’ve come – and consider how far we can go.

So, what do you think?  Is digital photography here to stay?  Does it represent the new standard for future development, or is this the beginning of the end for still images?  Sound off in the comments or share your ideas, perceptions, and feedback with me via email…Happy Shooting, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you back here again on Monday!

[podcast format="video"]http://www.canonblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/vids/tether.mp4[/podcast]

As you can see – nothing too difficult or fancy to tether a Droid, which makes for great file manipulation and transfer, which means photos are also easily archived across multiple platforms!  How are others tethering their smart phones?  Just as easily?  I didn’t like the Touch having to go through iTunes and be “licensed” on each computer.  Thoughts and feedback welcome in the comments!

Don’t forget – I am also sharing pics daily on http://mydroidpics.com Won’t set the photo world on fire, but you can get an idea of the quality of images coming off the Droid!   Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

I tried to include as much info in the teaser as possible, but if anyone has questions on how I did all this, feel free to share your questions (or feedback if you prefer) in the comments or vial email!  Here’s a dry run of my daily commute home (if only the real time commute went that fast!):

Happy shooting!  If you have your own time lapse productions, feel free to link them in the comments too!  See you back here again tomorrow…

Well, when I recently twittered with excitement over the newly released calendar of some of my favorite images for 2010, someone asked me about the template I used to create those images.  I honestly answered that I didn’t really use a template as the website www.lulu.com just let me upload the images and they handled the rest.  On realizing that they were talking about the images on my Photography Website, I recalled that a template was used for those images.  I could have done a written post about this, but those take a lot of time to put together (lots of screen grabs, lots of writing, and lots of uploading), so I instead decided to put together a new video on how to create a template for your photos inside of Photoshop.  The video may take some time to load, so please be patient as this is a self-hosted video production!

Keep in mind – this is just one way – in Photoshop there are always many ways to reach similar results, and as the old adage says, there’s more than one way to skin a cat!  Anyway, this is for you @mitz!  Enjoy, happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!  Oh, and lest we forget, there are very few days left in the January giveaway!  For your chance to win a free copy of Photomatix Pro from the folks at HDR Soft, get your Circle-themed photos in the Flickr Contest Thread by midnight on Friday (Mountain Time – GMT-7).

P.S.  For those that like my videos and want to see the archives, check out the Learning Resource Page from the sidebar for more materials.  And as an additional side note, this is post #600.  No fuss, no muss, no fanfare, but yet somehow I landed back on video tutorials – which is kind of how it all started!  Somehow, ,ind of poetic, eh?

Not only did we get a little piece of history about the place, we got some great shots of the building itself.  With several hundred to parse through over the weekend, I’ve trimmed it to the slide show below showing some shots from both around Brighton and the Armory itself.  The other thing that was exciting about this is that after expressing an interest in volunteering our photographic services for any events, they seemed interested in taking us up on the offer.  We shall see what may come of these serendipitous meetings.  It just goes to show you that it’s always a good thing to support the arts, and always good to think about networking – even when you are just having fun on a photo walk!

Here’s a couple links for those interested in learning more about the area and the Armory:

http://brightonarmory.org/

http://heartofbrighton.org/ArmoryVideo.htm

Enjoy the slide show and we’ll see you back here tomorrow – happy shooting!

[podcast format="video"]http://www.canonblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/vids/brighton/Brighton-Large_2.m4v[/podcast]

Don’t forget too, the January Flickr contest thread is open, and the Circle theme should be producing some interesting images.  Speak your creative vision and enter today!

Do yourself a favor and not only set some concrete goals, but share them with colleagues, peers, and friends. If you write a blog, announce them! Make your readers hold you to your goals. Not only will you be more likely to achieve your goals, but your readers will also become more vested in your blog! It’s very empowering, and I would encourage everyone who writes a blog or has a web presence to do something like that.

Uh oh, I just  realized something – I kind of set myself up there didn’t I?  Okay, yeah, it was kind of intentional, but it came from the heart!   My biggest resolution for this year – finish projects!  I can’t tell you how many projects I have started to get distracted by other projects, ideas, or things, only to never make it back to the original project.

For example, I had set a project once of getting all my resume and personal information in an easy to access text file for copying and pasting into database driven websites like USAJobs.  So, it was off to getting various records for inclusion, including my military service.  That led me to the filing cabinet (insert Psycho music here)!  Before I knew it, I had spent 3 hours organizing the filing cabinet into tabbed folders of all things non-job related.  Gas receipts, electric bills, and all sorts of other things kept popping up at me saying “file me file me file me”!  It got so bad I even found myself at the local Staples getting tabbed divider label things for each category instead of getting the original project done!

In keeping with the idea of finishing projects, I would like to share the completion of project #1: The Sunrise Shoot at Rocky Mountain National Park! I mentioned it in December before the holidays and I had every intention of completing this sooner, but first the layoff, then Christmas, then New Years, and many other distractions pulled me away. No more! The trip is completed, the shots processed, and the videos montaged! I give you, ladies and gentlemen, the RMNP trip:

So, project #4982163 has been completed…I have all the rest to do!  What are your resolutions and projects for 2010?  Do they include getting a circle shot ready for the January Giveaway?  (Announced here yesterday…)  Here’s the link for the contest thread on Flickr in case you missed it!

Share your own thoughts and ideas, resolutions and projects in the comments and we’ll help keep you on track!  In the meantime, keep on shooting, have a great weekend, and we’ll see you back here on Monday!  Happy Shooting!

YouTube:

Thoughts

Price: It’s free! Nothing beats free in my book, and with the competitive landscape of technology, this is pretty hard to beat.

Quality: The thumbnail does not look right, but that’s a minor nit…on playback it seems pretty good.

Ease of use: Another pro here as well…it was easy (and quick) to upload. It took less than a minute to upload, and adding the video details was also easy. You do need a Google account to do this though, but since that is also free, the downside here is hard to find.

Accessibility: It was VERY easy to find the embed code to copy/paste into the blog. And YouTube/Google is pretty recognizable as far as things go, so it’s going to be hard to compete here. But, let’s look at the other services…

Limitations: The only one I can find is that you are limited to videos under 10 minutes. You can do HD quality, up to 2GB per video (so no data size limit), with no waiting in line for video conversion or anything like that. At first I thought 10 minute limit was, well…limiting, but after looking at the other two services, not as much.

Vimeo:

Review of Video Hosting from Jason Anderson on Vimeo.

Price: It’s free…kind of. You can go the free route, but there are downsides which I will go into shortly.

Quality: It seems on par with YouTube in terms of video quality,

Ease of use: Also on par with YouTube, and the dialogs are very similar, so kind of a 6 of one, half dozen of the other sort of comparison here.

Accessibility: Vimeo videos are just as accessible as YouTube ones are, anyone can see them if you set them up the same, so kind of an interesting dichotomy here…

Limitations: Your limitations with Vimeo are that you can only upload 500MB of data per week.  This may sound like a lot, but when it comes to video, that could get eaten up pretty quick. I didn’t see a length limit on Vimeo, but could be wrong here. Another limitation on the free account is that you have to wait in line for your videos to get uploaded. I uploaded the video 20 minutes ago, and still have another 40 minutes to wait before it will start the conversion for me. If you upgrade your free account to the Vimeo Plus one, you can get 5 GB of content, HD quality, no ads, and for $60/year or $10/month. Not too pricey, but again, in a competitive economy, it’s something to consider…

Animoto:

Not reviewable – as it turns out, Animoto only allows 30 second videos for free – everything else is a paid service. The price is cheaper than Vimeo for the service at $30 per year, and it does seem to have no limitations on video length or things of that nature, but the fact that you can only do a 30 second video on their free service seems rather lame. I realize that we need to be quick and to the point with our content, but 30 seconds? Really? This one gets a major thumbs down from me for this and on that basis would not recommend it.

Self-Hosting

In the interests of being as broad in the review process as possible, I thought it would help to also include the self-hosted option as one worth considering. There are some caveats to this though, as services and limitations would vary from one hosting service to another. I use Dreamhost, and I like their hosting, so figured it would be worth showing that here.(You can sign up from the link or from using the promo code CBPROMO to save 50% on sign-up!)

[podcast format="video"]http://www.canonblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/vids/VidReview.mov[/podcast]

Price: Free…kind of. You do have to pay the hosting company for hosting your website, but as far as I know ISP’s typically do not charge additional fees for specific types of content.

Quality: Perfect! Since you are uploading the original video, there is no degradation in video quality – but that being the case, you are solely responsible for quality control…fair warning.

Ease of Use: Again, it depends on your host. For me and the blog, it’s pretty straightforward as I am using a self-installed version of WordPress and I am familiar enough with the functions and formats to handle it, but if you don’t want to be bothered with uploading a video via FTP, then referencing that source URL in your WordPress or website with HTML and all that, it could be challenging.

Accessibility: I hate to beat a dead horse, but it also will be a function of your host, and what format you choose to upload your videos. I uploaded the raw Quicktime video, so it will be dependent on people having Quicktime on their computer. There should be a conversion utility (I think it’s called jwplayer) that converts the .mov format to flash for easier viewing on the web, but this may need to be installed in your version. It is free, but could be a limitation as Flash viewers are more common.

Limitations: You are only limited by your own comfort level here – if you don’t want to deal with all the nitty gritty details, then this could be problematic. For those that enjoy managing all their own content, this could be ideal though, it really just depends where on the spectrum you are. For me, I am okay dealing with it, but if I had my choice between fussing over the details and using a service like YouTube to host it for me so I can go back out and shoot more, record more, and research more content, I’d choose the latter.

*****

So, that’s the top three reviewed for your consideration. If I had to vote on one, I would say YouTube gets the nod. Ease of use, lack of expense, and visibility is just unbeatable. But, keep in mind, that’s just my thoughts. What are yours? Anyone have any particular favorites or preferences for video hosting? Any I missed? Benefits and downsides? Sound off in the comments!

In other blog news, don’t forget, the post from Saturday (yes, I made a Saturday post!) allows you to embed your own photos to the comments! Share your own thoughts on the best photos of 2009 – they do have to be online (embedded via URL) but it’s a great way to share your favorites with the community at large.

Finally, time is ticking away on the December Giveaway. Over $400 in prizes including books, prints, paper, and software are up for grabs so make sure you get your “Giving” themed photo to the Flickr thread before the end of the year!

Only four days left to win the $500 package of a Thinktank Photo Multimedia Bag System and the Topaz Labs Photoshop Plugin Bundle over at the Learning Digital Photography Flickr Thread.  Get your photos in soon!  Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot in doing it, both about other methods, some of the short comings of this approach, but for the cost, figured it’d be a good entry into doing these kinds of things for comparison sake.  Check out the main YouTube video that gives a narrative on the process and my finished result:

The reference material I used for building this leaf-style star tracker came from a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology (sounds impressive enough to me!), so figured I should give credit here as well:  http://people.rit.edu/andpph/text-star-tracker.html

If you have thoughts, comments, feedback, or suggestions to either improve this one, on how you’ve made your own (or plan on making one), and even if you have shots to share made from DIY star tracker kits, please feel free to et me know via either the comments or email!  I will start a photo gallery for all shots shared and plan on updating that monthly with all the photos received, either via links in the comments or via email!

Happy (star) shooting, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

P.S.  Don’t forget, we’ve still got the Wacom Bamboo Fun Giveaway going on all this month!  Share your shots in the Flickr thread and you’re entered to win this prize worth $100 retail!  Thanks go out to the folks at Wacom for contributing this awesome tool for blog readers and podcast listeners!

Grab the Feed

Truth be told, the reason for the deferment again is to admit to the charges – and I may as well come clean, since my “friend” Gregg Lowrimore was kind enough to capture me with the evidence in hand.  So, before the rumor mill starts blowing things out of proportion, let me just post the evidence myself and be done with it:

Busted with a Nikon!

So, there it is – the “Canon Blogger” – holding a Nikon!

*****

The back story:  I was holding the gear for a friend who had to use the facilities during the photo walk, when Greg happened to make note of the fact that “The Canon Blogger is holding a Nikon!”  He snapped a picture of me (smiling happily for fellow photogs – and now you see why I prefer the other side of the lens than being the subject of the lens), and now is holding me ransom until I come clean.

He is, of course, kidding, but let me tell you that Gregg’s photography is far from a joke – you simply must visit his site as he’s got an incredible portfolio of work there, and is someone that I could definitely learn a thing or two from (including his skullduggery)!  Please take a moment to visit his site here:  http://www.lowrimore.com and get a taste of what I am talking about.

The other photo walk news I have is a short video of some of the results from the Worldwide Photowalk.  Most of you have probably seen this by now, but I would be remiss if I did not share it here on the blog.  Rather cool too that Scott also generously shared some of his blog space yesterday to the video as well.  Regardless, here it is, and please, feel free to stop over to YouTube and share your own comments:

Since this was totally a “fun” post and not much depth or deep meaningful content here today, I promise to be back tomorrow with something that everyone enjoys – another podcast!  (Episode #27 if my counting is correct…)  Happy Shooting all, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Initial thoughts?  It’s pretty sweet – love the App Store, the WiFi, email access, twitter access, youtube, and so much more!  A few downsides though – no built in camera, and no microphone – I know it’s not for phone, but recording audio snippets would be ideal.  There are apps you can download but need a mic and with just the audio jack, not sure I am gonna be able to do one of the things I had been dying to do after getting this.  There may still be a way so Googling and researching to see.  In the meantime, we shall wait and see!  Look for a more detailed review of this in upcoming weeks!  Until then, just a couple reminders for everyone:

The Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk is this Saturday in cities all over the world.  There are still openings and it’s free to join.  You could win prizes too, so check for a city near you at www.worldwidephotowalk.com to see.  You can still join the fun if the group leader is okay with it, but if you are not registered, then you can’t contribute images or be eligible to win!

The OnOne Software Plugin Suite 4.5 Giveaway is going on for the entire month of July, but time is starting to tick against you as we are halfway through the month.  This is a $500 retail value and some lucky winner will walk away with this package for free!  Details and rules for participation are at the Flickr thread. If you own the software already, tell a friend as it’s an NFR copy.  If not, then chime in as the deadline will be here before you know it!

Here at the blog though, rather than take sides on such post processing methods, it’s more fun to show people how to do things, and then let you all take your own liberties either with the approach or with your processing afterward, or both to get results that appeal to you!  With that in mind, the feedback I’ve received from the previous discussions included a large number of people that asked for visuals of the process (I guess they are all visual learners).

Well, rather than take several dozens of images showing all the various settings and then explaining how I got toeach, a video seemed a more appropriate approach.  So, here’s the video short for those of you that requested visual aids.  It’s not the most professional but you should be able to get the gist.

This would also be a good time to remind everyone that we are in the dwindling days of the Adobe Lightroom contest.  You can win your own free copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, courtesy of the folks at Adobe, simply by entering images you’ve taken in May over at the LDP Flickr thread.  Limit two images per person, but there’s still room for many more entries (no limit on the number of PEOPLE that can participate!)  just join the group for free and post your images.  Good luck to all and may the best photo win!  (Final results will be posted in June – I’l send my top ten picks back to Tom Hogarty for final judging when he’ll pick the winner!)

That’s it for today – I should have the podcast up tomorrow, but as always, no promises as my schedule has been fluctuating at work lately.  Happy shooting, and I will be back with more news, information, insights, tips and tricks tomorrow, whether in written or audio form.  Thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Grab the Feed

Scott is also known for his annual worldwide photo walks that he started last year.  This year response has just been enormous to the walks, with several cities (including Denver) filling up within the first 24 hours.  Well, on his blog this last Monday, he wrote a Q&A post describing the photo walks, what they are, how they work, and all that stuff.  One question he snuck in though was that he would be in Denver and did anyone know of any good places to shoot in the downtown area.

Since I work downtown, (pretty close to the Convention Center I might add), I have a fairly good understanding of where things are, and what’s fun to shoot.  So, I posted a comment on his blog of where he could go and what might be fun.  To my astonishment, he actually wrote me back via email, asing if I’d be interested in going on a photo shoot with him to kinda show him around!  Not give him a few locations, not recommend a restaurant – he invited me on a photo shoot!  With him!  My jaw about hit the floor, but I did respond that it’d be my pleasure to show him around the area.  He sent me some info on where he’d be staying and to come on over after work on Tuesday!  My jaw hit the floor again.  But, regaining my composure, on Tuesday after work, I walked over to his hotel to meet him.  Knocked on the door and sure enough – Mr K. himself!  The maker of the Kelby Kool-Ade!

For the next 2 hours, we walked around the downtown area -  talking shop, and all that stuff.  I was silent for about the first 30 minutes, afraid I would say something utterly stupid to embarrass myself, but as I walked and we talked, found that he’s just a regular guy (despite his amazing base of knowledge, and…well, the fact that he’s Scott Kelby!)  After a few hours of shooting, I then enjoyed an amazing dinner with him and his crew – names like Bert, Ben, Moose, Matt, Corey, etc., etc., were bandied about in the regular conversation.  Needless to say, I kept quiet for most of it, trying to keep my jaw off the floor.  I know, I know – they are all people too, but every time someone’s name was mentioned, I just kept thinking to myself, “Yup, I read their blog too!”  Oh, and then for the next day’s seminar – he reserved a front row seat for me!  It was an incredible day, and I just wanted to take a day here on the blog to give a nod to Scott for being so open and friendly, and just – so, well….cool!

My shots from the day were pretty much lousy as I totally wasn’t paying attention to my technique or anything – just trying not to look like an idiot.  Nevertheless, in honor of his visit to Denver, and in hopes of his return:

Additionally, I should also note that the project was finished a while ago (two maybe three weeks), but I am just now putting all the shots together and into a photo montage and tracked to music.  YouTube compression also takes away from it to a certain degree, but you can get the gist.  Thanks go out to my brother-in-law Bill, for letting me use a track off his bands’ CD.  if you want to know more about the band, they are called Billband, the CD is called “Blurred” and the track is called Original Blend.  They can be found at www.billband.com

And now – the basement slideshow:

Like the video? Think it was horrible?  Want to learn more about how to create engaging and interesting videos and slideshows?  Already know how?  Share your ideas,feedback, suggestions, and such in the comments either over at YouTube or here on the blog.   n the meantime, Happy Shooting and be sure to stop back tomorrow for the completed presentation of another project – the weekly podcast!

An Interview with Peggy Dyer from CBJason on Vimeo.

A couple links from the interview, including some local charities and other resources that readers may find interesting are also included below:

• The One Million Faces Project
• Peggy’s Website
• The Davis Phinney Foundation
• The Chanda Plan Foundation
• More Photos
• The Lensbaby Website

Until tomorrow, Happy Shooting!

As the video shows, it’s a pretty painless process as long as you follow instructions. Unfortunately, because I had to use Quicktime to record it, there is no flash version available. Podpress has not been updated to co-exist with WordPress, so I am continuing to have to post videos and multimedia via link rather than by an available feeder, so apologies there as well.

But anyway, enough falderal, here’s the video:

I should have some more pics, a Wednesday “What’s This?” and fun stuff again tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping in, and until then, happy shooting and watch those apertures!

Anyway, take a gander on the download feed listed at the end of the post. The result of the tip is actually at the top of the post so you kind of get a little teaser there! (Yes, I am a tease!) Not much else today, as I am still swimming in a sea of boxes. I’m hopefully a little ahead of the game now for video tips and tricks, as next weeks is set to auto publish Tuesday morning.

I do have my “Shoot the Day” pics for Photoshelter, and will hopefully have those processed (at least a quick process in DPP) and ready to share tomorrow, so stop on back to check those out. In the final news tidbit – don’t forget the Photo Contest here at CB. Stop over and share some pics along the lines of a “Freedom” theme, and you could win a $25 gift card to B&H! 2nd place and 3rd place prizes will be awarded too!

So, until next time, happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Wed Edit: The linked video is not displaying for some reason so for the time being, it can be downloaded directly here

CB Episode #48: Clouds Filter

The tutorial for this Tuesday, you may notice is not your typical Photoshop tip, trick, or tutorial. I took things outside of the desktop and into the real world to show you examples of thinking outside the box when it comes to lighting. By now we are all familiar with Strobist, and the methods he uses to encourage people to think about lighting and how to do things in an economically friendly way.

Today, I wanted to take a moment to share with you a few lighting ideas I’ve had and some of the effects they’ve produced. None of these home-made products cost me more than 15 cents! Anyway, I’ll let the tutorial stand alone, but did want to include the show notes:

Tune in to Strobist for anything and everything lighting you ever wanted to read – David Hobby is the lighting guru of the blog world!

David was interviewed recently on Studio Lighting, so now I’ve listened to their podcast, and it’s definitely one to return to. These guys just sound like they’re a lot of fun.

And the shots… you saw the montage up top, but here’s the individual shots from my diffused snoot:

So, there’s just a few examples of how to generate creative lighting by looking at usual objects in unusual ways. Tune in to the podcast to see what other stuff I’ve come up with. Because it was recorded outside of the computer though, I only have the Quicktime version. I am still looking into a decent Flash converter so I can put that together with the “intro” and “out-tro” clips, so if anyone has suggestions for that, I am all ears there too. Anyway, to close out, I’d like to pose another question: What have you come up with in the way of uses? Any everyday objects become part of your photo gear? Share ‘em in the comments section!

This whole project started from wanting to make a single-page calendar and in looking at the design offerings on Mpix, thought “Hey! I could make that!” The second half of the genesis came courtesy of Matt Kloskowski over fro the Photoshop Guys where he did a tutorial a while back on making a desktop calendar for a single month. So…I put the two ideas together and this is the end result of that effort. I figured it may also have some interest for other photographers in making calendars incorporating either their own prints or those of their clients. Clearly, this is a “down and dirty” version, but if anyone is interested, I do have a pretty high resolution sized template that I would be willing to share on request.

In other news, I’d like to give some shout outs to Brian over at Professional Snapshots, who just last Friday celebrated the birth of his new daughter Isabelle! Congrats to Brian, even though this means he has pretty much lost the ability to sleep through a night for at least the next 18-24 months! Yeah, this may be your fourth, but I’ve heard the stories from siblings and neighbors! Enjoy!

Also, don’t forget to stop over at Jason D. Moore’s weekly summary of all things photography! I always head there to make sure I’m not missing anything interesting.

Last, but not least, the tutorial links: Flash first and QT second…

Calendar Templates, Part II

[podcast format="video"]http://www.canonblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/qt/cb039caltemplate/cal.mov[/podcast]

Additionally, I’ve got a few rather unique shots (I think anyway) from my outing to Magnolia Gardens this weekend. There was a heavy thunderstorm the previous day, so lots of opportunities for some macro and water works. Here’s two I thought that the viewing audience might enjoy:

That’s about it for today…a few photos and a tutorial for your viewing pleasure. A multimedia blowout this week thus far, with an article yesterday, photos and videos today, and who knows what tomorrow has in store…more articles, and maybe….an audio podcast *gasp!* (Likely not with the latter though – so no promises!) Until then, happy shooting and watch those apertures!

CB Episode 038: Calendar Template

[podcast format="video"]http://www.canonblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/qt/cb038caltemplate/cal_template.mov[/podcast]