Also, a nod goes out today to Tim Solley, from Photowalking Colorado.  I looked at the images long and hard, and after careful consideration, decided that his shot was the all-around best image.  Thanks to everyone for contributing, and we have winners all-around.  Here’s the prize winners:

• 1st Place - Tim Solley, $25 Gift Card to B&H Photo
• 2nd Place - Brian Reyman, DVD of all CB Video Episodes to date (as of 8-8-08)
• 3rd Place - David Phillips, CD of all CB Articles to date (as of 8-8-08)
• Honorable Mention - Alvin

I’ll be in contact with each of you to schedule a date to feature your blog/flickr gallery/website here at CanonBlogger.  To claim your prizes, I’l also need each of you to please email me with your physical mailing address so I can get the awards out.  Congrats to all, but special congrats to Tim for his first place finish!

Finalist #1 - Tim Solley

Finalist #2 - Brian Reyman

Finalist #3 - Alvin

Finalist #4 - David Phillips

Tough choices, eh?  I should have a decision by the end of the week, as the rest of today will be spent unpacking the Pod (college kids bailed on me…*sigh)

Happy shooting, watch those apertures, and we’ll see you again here tomorrow!

In other news, I know I had said an audio podcast would be available today, but it turns out there’s something called “Fair Use” and I am not sure the music intro and outtro are legal, so I have to postpone it for another day while I find some podsafe music to insert the place of the two snippets I had in there initially.  If anyone has suggestions for podsafe music that is available for download, feel free to let me know in the comments.

The Pod also got delivered today so I have spent the last 3 hours sweating off another few pounds (3 flights of stairs doesn’t ease that much…).  I should be back in the flow again tomorrow.  Until then, happy shooting and watch those apertures!

I’ve also gotten hooked on the Weekly Podcast from Leo Laporte published on TWIT (This week in photography) TV.  As it turns out, Leo is good friends with Scott Bourne, who puts out a weekly podcast from TWIP (This week in Photography) that I’ve listened to regularly as well.  Photography folks certainly are a tight-knit group as I remembered on listening that Chris Marquardt is the weekly guest on TWIT for photography news and information.  Connection?  Chris is the host of Tips From the Top Floor, which I had been listening to for quite a while - long enough to name it one of the Best 7 Podcasts of 2007 here on my blog back in January.

I’d actually not been keeping up with TFtTF much lately (I guess it goes in waves for me), but I would like to take a moment to recommend each of these shows wholeheartedly.  This group is a great group of folks with such an amazing breadth and depth of knowledge, anyone could spend a few hours listening to these guys and come away with a much better understanding of photography and technology in general.  This outlet alone has enticed me to consider making a switch from video podcasts to audio podcasts.  (Tune in tomorrow for the first sample of an audio podcast!)  For the time being though, make sure you check these guys out on their respective websites:

• TWIT - The Tech Guy - Leo Laporte
• This Week in Photography - Scott Bourne
• Tips From the Top Floor - Chris Marquardt

Do stop in and give these guys a listen - if you like them, subscribe.  Also, don’t forget to tell them thanks - they all do this stuff for free, to help us all.  Thanks definitely come from me here at CB.  Anyway, that’s it for today.  Until tomorrow, Happy Shooting and Watch those Apertures!

Okay, so that last one was a shameless self-plug, but it is a free contest to participate in.  I should also state here for the record on the contest, that the photographer retains all copyrights to their images.  This is just for fun, and to hopefully generate some more interest in the blog, so just to let everyone know, no alterior motives here at all. It’s almost over too, so don’t wait until it’s too late, submit your photos to the CB Flickr pool today to be eligible to win!

In other photo news, I’ve got pictures!  I tried my hand at a few panos (using a vertical position with my camera) while trekking across the country.  I tried the Photomerge in CS2 (on the laptop) but it did not come out very well at all.  So, I need to wait for the main desktop to get unpacked and running to push my shots through CS3.  Hopefully, we will be able to find a desk (and other assorted furniture) locally so I can get a semi-permanent setup back in place to get some quality blogging out to the readership.

Since I don’t have any shots to share today (still mobile on the laptop sitting in a coffee shop applying for jobs), here’s a few quick picks from the grab bag of my completed magazine binder:

• When shooting on a beach, cut an X into three tennis balls and stick them on the end of your tripod - it adds stability and prevents the legs from sinking into the wet sand.
• Stay organized by using gaffers tape to attach rear lens caps together.  As you loosen one, the other tightens, making for quicker and easier lens swaps when speed is of the essence (and makes for better organization of your lens cap collection).
• Keep an extra bit of gaffer tape handy by just rolling a foot or two around one of the legs on your tripod - that way if you forget the tape, there’s some available right there!

That’s it for Friday - hopefully I will return in full force on Monday, so enjoy the weekend.  Stay cool, happy shooting and watch those apertures!

During the interim, I am able to get intermitten access through an open wireless connection emanating from a city access point apparently positioned some distance from our condo unit.  Since it’s so intermittent, I will likely hold off on posting for the remainder of the week and resume things as regularly as possible come next week Monday.  I do get email though through my cell phone and the sporadic logins from the AP, so feel freee to keep sending the awesome messages (thanks to Jen, Chris, Andy, Jason, Mike, Stephen, Scott, Tracy, and all the rest that have been keeping in touch during this transition.

In the meantime, I will share a little tidbit that others may or may not know about:  This Week in Technology with Leo Laporte is an excellent broadcast talk show, put out on various radio stations, on XM Radio, and available through podcast on a week delay basis.  I downloaded about 10 shows and listened to them back to back during my drive across the country.  I enjoyed them so much that the time literally flew by.  I even called in on Sunday and made it on the air!  I am the Jason that called in to ask a question about SEO on Wordpress.  Give it a listen if you have an interest and some spare time (it’s a two hour long podcast).  I’ll get a link up to that probably next week, but if memory serves, it’s something like www.techguylabs.com for their main page.

Until next week then, happy shooting and watch those apertures!

(I’ll have a few neat pano shots to share once I get a steady connection again where I can upload high res images, so stay tuned for that…)

• First up is Joel.  Joel asked if there is a way to attach a set of binoculars or some other device t your camera for increased magnification without having to buy the expensive zoom lenses.  The answer is a partial yes.  You can do such a thing, but your image quality will drop accordingly.  You may want to do some Google research (or just hit Wikipedia like I did) to read up on the practice, called digiscoping

• Next up is Amy.  Amy wrote in to ask what the best lens would be to get to expand her range of shooting capabilities.  She is shooting with an XTi and is using the kit 18-55 lens.  Here, it really depends on your needs and budget.  The kit 18-55 is actually a pretty good wide angle lens for the price.  Granted it’s no “L” lens, and the angle of view is not as wide as some true wide-angle lenses, but it gets close.  When you look at the lenses available, and see that the widest goes to a 12m before getting into fisheyes, this is fairly good.  Granted, it’s limited by the 1.6 crop factor, but still a good lens.  So, having the wide to medium range covered, my suggestion would be a zom lens.  The 70-200 is a good lens, and if you want speed and or quality, you can upgrade to the 70-200 2.8 and the 70-200 2.8 IS respectively.  Fair warning, the prices increase exponentially.

• Lastly, Captain Obvious asked in the comments if I could change the page title for Canon Blogger.  Since I am not sure where that is, I deferred back to him for an answer and have not heard yet.  I did find one area in the WordPress admin panel where there was a space, and have now removed that.

Anyway, that’s it for this “robot post” on Monday.  I am arriving in Longmont today, so should be back online tomorrow, but just in case, a Tuesda Tutorial is scheduled.  Until next time, happy shooting and watch those apertures.

Since I am not sure if I will have internet access initially, and being that this is Friday, I’ve planned ahead and taken care of a few days of material in advance.  They are set to auto-post around 6am of every day for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  If I have an internet connection anywhere while en route, I will check in on the comments and email so keep ‘em coming!  (For those of you that wonder if there is ever any email or stuff I get from people that doesn’t make it to the blog - check back in Monday for a special treat!)

Here’s what’s up ahead next week:

Monday:  Canon Blogger Mailbag

Tuesday:  Two-minute tip

Wednesday:  Roll out the welcome wagon

So, keep clicking those cameras, happy shooting!  We’ll catch back up on the tail end of our journey!  Until next week (from the Wild West!)

You may or may not recall a project I began a while ago where I was collecting only the articles of personal interest I find in my magazine subscriptions.  I clipped these out, and would save them in a binder.  The rest of the magazine I threw away.  Well, as we have been packing, these magazines have no longer been thrown away as they now represented “packing material!”  That’s right, I’ve been using the other pages of magazines as packing material.  Granted, they’ve been through a cross-cut shredder, so are now totally illegible, but as you may recall from Week 5 of the “What’s This?”, it makes for a cool picture.

The other piece of good news that’s come from all this is that the Magazine Reduction Project is now almost complete.  I have about 6-10 magazines left to tear through, and the resulting kept articles will extend passed the reach of a single 1-inch binder (2.54cm for those of you on the other side of the pond)…the articles are filling the side pockets of each cover to the binder, so when I get to Colorado, a new binder will be in order.

The last piece of good news about this is that I have one subject that is always timely for photography that came from one of my more recent “shredding sessions”.  Naturally, alliteration is involved, as it’s a Top Ten Camera Tips!

These came from the March/April 2006 issue of PCPhoto.  The funny thing is that the more things change, the more they stay the same…as Joe McNally says at his Google Talk session, “Some of this stuff, you just gotta know it…”

Top Ten Camera Tips

1. Be Wary of Underexposure
2. You get what you pay for (most of the time)
3. Raw is no substitute for shooting it right
4. Avoid Increasing noise
5. Minimize banding
6. Overexposure can be a bad thing too
7. Exposre to use the whole tonal range of your sensor
8. Sharpness comes from shooting sharp
9. Think ahead as you shoot
10. Compose to get the best shot from the Start

As you can tell - not much has changed in the principles of shooting photography since 2006.  Gear sure has changed, but this just goes to show you that the fundamentals never go away.  Always take the time to learn the fundamentals and in the long haul, you will be both a better person and a better photographer for it.

Okay, that’s it for toda, I’ve rambed on long enough.  Happy Thursday all, keep on shooting, watch those apertures, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Kind of funny how moving gives you new perspective on things. While packing and discarding and selling various things we’ve collected over the past 4 years, I wind up seeing things I’ve not seen in a while (or at least seeing things in a new way as I bend and lean over boxes to get through a day.

The above is a different angle on an everyday object. It is a “what’s this” though, because it likely is not obvious to most. Undoubtedly, someone will prove me wrong by saying “This is a ___” and get it right in like 2 hours!

As promised, I’ve also processed a few shots from my “Shoot the Day!” activities, and posted them at the CB Flickr Pool for your enjoyment. While over there, feel free to share your own shots from the day. If you have one that’s also based on the theme of “Freedom” you may win a $25 gift card from B&H.

Not much else going on today…two more days before we hit the road. Until tomorrow, 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

1. First of all, unless traffic falls precipitously, today Canon Blogger will go over the 60,000 mark in terms of number of visitors! I am both honored and flattered to have been the source of such interest since starting the blog. Since I installed Google Analytics and got that running on October 1^st, I am using that date as the unofficial start date for the blog. While the first blog post was technically made much earlier than that (August 22^nd), the first month or so was really a testing month just to work out the details of layout, setup, and configuration. So, thanks to all 60,000+ viewers who have taken the time to visit the blog over the last 9 months and 20 days! Special thanks also to those who have contributed and shared their thoughts and feedback from time to time.
2. Also today is exciting because it is technically my last full day of work here in South Carolina. I will be off on “vacation” Tuesday through Thursday (if you can call packing boxes and moving heavy furniture around a vacation), and then on my return to work Friday, I will work only for a few hours before out-processing. I have been with this company for almost 2 years, which in the IT sector is a significant amount of time, so in a way it’s kind of sad to leave. In other ways though, it is very exciting (and liberating) when we look at what is coming down the pike. So, this is it – ready or not, Colorado here we come! I am not sure how often I will be able to connect to the internet once we cut things off on Friday, but I will try to set up a few extra posts this week and have them published automatically by the blog software (or as Dave Cross calls it, “robot posts”).
3. Next in the area of photo news, Photoshelter had its first “Shoot the Day!” event yesterday, and after I spent the requisite amount of time immersed in boxes and packing foam, I picked up my camera and began in earnest to “shoot the day.” As in most things, a theme began to slowly emerge as I made my way around town, running errands and capturing shots. Rather than spoil the fun of the theme with verbiage, I will wait until this afternoon when I can sit down and process everything for the blog to share the images.
4. Here I would also like to take a moment and refer any readers over to the blog of Jason D. Moore. Although he is also going through a move, his blog has maintained quite an impressive array of content and information, and even some photography shots. I don’t know how he does that – kudos to Jason, and a big “Hey, how are ya?” when he sees the pingback from here. (Jason was kind enough to include little ole CB on his blogroll…) Monday is his weekly P&P listing, which summarizes the activities of many of the most popular blogs on the internet. Be sure to stop over and see everything he has to offer. Last but not least, a reminder about the First Ever Photo Contest here at CB. Simply photograph the concept of “Freedom” in your own way, and share over at the CB Flickr group pool to be eligible for prizes, including a $25 B&H Photo gift card for the winner.

1. Don’t forget, the Canonblogger Photo Contest.  Join the Flickr group, share a shot and win a $25 gift card to B&H!
2. Shoot the Day! is this Sunday!  Register at Photoshelter and share pics there to win prizes too!
3. For the latest in photo news, and to bring yourself up to speed with copyright law, head over Scott Kelby’s blog, he’s had a few people sharing their wisdom and experience (the guest writers are attornies) here and here.
4. Last but not least, special thanks go out to Scott Eggleston from Weekly Photo Tips.  A photo I shared with him over at his blog won and I received a battery storage compartment and a book on travel photography.

That’s it for this week.  Happy shooting, watch those apertures and se you next week.

Inspired Photography:

25 sources of inspiration

As we all endeavor to find new ways to express ourselves creatively, we can often find ourselves in search of inspiration to give purpose and definition to our expression.  Here are a number of sources that can inspire.  Some are traditional, while others are hopefully new venues to spark those creative juices.

1. Tour a museum
2. Look at others works.  The internet is rife with photo blogs, galleries, and imagery that can awe and inspire.
3. Listen to music – of all types!
4. The dictionary – open to any random page, find the 1^st noun (or verb, or adjective, whatever) and try to capture a picture that encompasses the essence of that word.
5. Take any object you see every day and turn it upside down, backwards or sideways.  Use it in that position for a day or two (unless it’s a drinking glass!)  Your brain will be forced to think differently.
6. Read!  Whether it’s a magazine, book, recipe, or anything, it doesn’t matter.  Go to the local bookstore and pick up something you’ve never read before and open to the first page that catches your eye.  Inspiration can often come from such places.
7. Pick a letter of the alphabet and try to find that in objects around you (buttons on the phone don’t count!).
8. Draw!  It doesn’t have to be structured with paints or anything – use a crayon, pen, pencil, whatever you have handy.  Just start doodling and a direction or theme will come to you eventually.
9. Close your eyes.  Count your breaths.  If you don’t fall asleep you will start to hear things you didn’t hear before, or sense things you were otherwise unaware of.  Pick any one of them and try to define it in one word.  Now take that word and express it with your camera!
10.  Donate some time to a worthy cause.  Pick a cause, whether it’s the United Way, March of Dimes, your church, or some other local venue.  Participating in such a way has its own rewards and often can be an excellent source of inspiration.  The Big Brother/Big Sister program is also a great one!
11.  Buy a compact (you can get these at a discount in places like dollar stores, yard sales, and flea markets.) and use that mirror to look at things.  Looking at the reflection of something can often open your mind to new possibilities. 
12. Take a walk in a new area.  Whether it’s a forest road, a new street, or whatever – new scenes can often inspire.
13. Visit a place you frequent during an unusual time.  (For example, if you get a coffee at Dunkin Doughnuts every morning – try stopping in at night.)
14. Change your desktop to a neutral gray – your eye will start wandering away from the bland to find color or something of interest elsewhere.
15. Plant something.  The act of planting gets you doing something to help the environment, and gets your hands doing something different. 
16. Join a photo club.
17. Sing the first line of the first song that comes to mind – out loud!  Take the third word and find a way to capture that word in camera.
18. Go to the hardware store and stroll the aisles looking at the products.  If something catches your eye, go with it.  If nothing does, buy a box of something, anything.  Whether it’s nails, screws, washers, grommets, o-rings, or whatever happens to be in the next closest aisle.  Take it home and dump the contents on a table.  Take a picture of it.  Now start arranging the objects.  Take a picture of that.  Keep re-arranging, and taking pictures.  Look down at the objects.  Look up at them (if you can).  Put them on their side, upside down or any which way works.  Try balancing one on top of another.  You’d be surprised where this takes you!
19. Open an old photo album and look through some of your past work.  Pick a number and say you’ll make it your next project to re-create that scene.
20. Spell the longest word you can think of.  Now try to find a way to capture the essence of that concept on film! (Anti-disestablishmentarianism doesn’t count!)
21. Dance to the next song you hear on the radio (or your iPod)!  What do your feet do?  Take a picture of your feet!
22. Make a trip to the local animal shelter.
23. Take a self-portrait.  It doesn’t have to be your face – try just your hands, feet, or knees.
24. Organize a photo-walk.  Put an ad on Craigslist or your local paper and make it open to all.  You’d be surprised the amount of people that show up who have ideas of their own to share that can really jump-start your creativity.
25. Go to a playground and play on the swings, merry-go-round, or see-saw.  Act goofy!  Changing your mindset and environment to that of a kid can open up creative avenues that have been closed for a while.

Got another way to inspire or encourage creativity?  Sound off in the comments…meanwhile, happy shooting, watch those apertures, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

So, any guesses for the latest edition of “What’s This?” Last week, the crop was from some fancy ornate crown molding in a capture from an old plantation house here in SC. It was kind of a stretch as I was pulling from my portfolio, rather than taking a shot specifically with the weekly theme in mind. This week I did a mite better though. I had hoped to have a tutorial compiled for publishing tonight too, but alas, t’was not meant to be. Someone did mention in the comments earlier this week though that the title page was notdisplaying correctly in their feed reader. Could anyone enlighten me further, as I don’t see any punctuation or anything wrong in the blog title header info. Thanks a bunch! Good luck with the theme, and we’ll see you out here again tomorrow! Happy shooting and watch those apertures…

From back in October of 2006 - nearly two years ago, I saw an article in PCPhoto that took a look at tips for making great slideshows.  Written by Chuck Summers, it reminded me of the days of yore when my dad would crank up a slide projector to have us watch slideshows of ourselves in Florida, the Grand Canyon, and other family adventures.  Well, the digital age is most definitely upon us, and one area I’ve not gotten into much is that of slideshows.

Chuck did a great job with this article, and I’ve condensed it down here to the nuts and bolts of each tip (twelve total, which makes for great alliteration - it pains me to dodge the obvious usage!)  Anyway, here’s his 12 Slideshow Tips:

1. Determine the Theme and Purpose of Your Show
2. Set a length
3. Methodically edit your images
4. Maximize image effectiveness
5. Prep images
6. Set Image Order
7. Determine transitions
8. Title Slides
9. Choose music to set the mood
10. Time the Presentation
11. Preview, Evaluate and Revise
12. Test Projection Needs

While very informative, and logical in layout (I like logic!), what the article did not present is software recommendations.  I’ve read various bits and pieces around but have not had reason to delve into it thus far.  However, with a cross country move coming up, I thought it might be fun to take images that capture the trek from the East Coast to the Rocky Mountains and compile them into a slideshow when done.

To do that though, I need some software that is designed for slideshows.  I know Photoshop and LR can do these functions, but as an old hat, I like a specially designed piece of software for each function.  Thus, I can’t help but wonder what would be the best software to accomplish these ends.  I recall Proshow Gold as a name, but forget who produces it.  In the interests of full disclosure, I feel that I should also state that I actually have not really tried the slieshow functions in either PS or LR, so am appropriately ignorant on both counts.

So, what should it be?  Should I use Proshow Gold, Photoshop, Lightroom (I am using the Beta 2 via invite), or is there some other software out there that is better purposed to these ends?  Any slideshow superstars care to share their own secrets on software and other tips for making great shows?  Feel free to educate me in the comments.

Meanwhile, happy shooting, watch those apertures, and see you here again tomorrow.  (Perhaps a video tutorial is in the air for then…ya never know! )

The challenge here was to see how many letters of the alphabet you could find in the image. It took me about ten minutes, but I was successfully able to decipher the outline of all 26 letters of the alphabet. How many did you get? Share your results in the comments (or over at the Flickr site. FOr those that give up, I put together a PDF of all the letters below. Try it yourself though as this is just one interpretation of things. have fun, and enjoy the “Monday Mindbender”! It’s a great way to stimulate the creative juices to get you thinking outside the box!

See you all back here tomorrow for the Tuesday Tutorial (I’d better start working on one, eh? )

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!

In web news, I will say that there was an amazing post by a guest writer at Scott Kelby’s blog today. (I am going to refrain from my personal thoughts on the subject, but it’s worth reading - especially if you have a background in higher education like I do). I’d be interested in hearing what others think on this subject in the comments.

The other fun bit of news also involved another guest writing on Scott’s blog, courtesy of John Nack, one of the senior staff over at Adobe.  He wrote on his appearance about the desire for transparent windows and was met with a little bit of ruffled feathers from others in the field.  Check out the respective posts to the discussion here, here, and here to get Matt K.’s take, John’s take, and then Jeff Revel’s take.  Interesting world we live in.  Three people all with direct ties to “the man” and three different opinions on it.  I wonder which way Adobe is going to go on this?  While I realize that there is some agreement on parts of it, and alternatives vary depending on whether you’re talking about transparency or translucency, but to me, it’s a window that I have off on my second monitor anyway, so I don’t really care.  Go with John’s approach and devote R&D to other more meaningful improvements.  But, I said this would be a quick post today, and this is starting to ramble, so I’l leave it up to the readers:  Where do you think PS development should go?

So, moving quickly to the “What’s This?” subject for this week, I went through some of my own archives to see if I could find an interesting crop (and I did), so here is a crop of a much larger image. I’ve tried to keep some of the context, but at the same time make it intriguing to guess what this is. So, without further ado…What’s This?:

Last week, in case you hadn’t guessed it - it was a flower!  Congrats to those who knew and saved their comments for a more challenging post (ahem - today!)  Good luck, have fun, Happy Shooting and we’ll see you here tomorrow!

We are now in day 5 of the first ever photo contest from Canon Blogger, so keep thinking freedom as you point that lens - it could win you cold hard cash!  Check out the details from the post of July 3rd, here. In new news, I got a good long weekend with family to shoot with the 40D, and after some pretty extensive shooting (over 1500 shots in 48 hours), I’ve had a chance to get at least a good handle on the basics of the 40D.  Granted I do not have the minutia of it down pat like on the XT, but I suspect that will only come with more time behind the lens.

Anyway, I thought now might be as good a time as ever to give you the lowdown on my thoughts of the 40D as they compare to the XT.  It was definitely worth the upgrade!  I put together a short video showing a comparison of some of the benefits of the 40D over the XT, as well as one rather disappointing thing.  I should be back next week with a regular Photoshop tip - just the last few weeks have been rather crazy with prepping the house to be “show ready”.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s the 40D versus XT home video I recorded earlier today.  Enjoy and we’l see you tomorrow with the latest edition of “What’s This?”.  Happy shooting and watch those apertures!

On to new news, I was thinking about subjects over the course of the weekend that could serve as useful material for fellow photographers and aspiring photographers that has not seen much coverage lately (no sense in repeating everything that everyone else has already said 10 different ways, right?).  I got to thinking about everything that makes for capturing great images, and one aspect that contributes (or detracts from) that I’ve not seen much attention on lately is that of bokeh.  So, in the spirit of putting out new and original (as well as useful) content, I did a bit of research over the weekend, and have put together an article on The Beauty of Bokeh. Any who would like to read this initial version are welcome to download the PDF file attached to this post.

In closing for Monday, I’d like to leave it to the readers out there:  what are your thoughts on the quality and nature of bokeh?  Do you clean up your bokeh or do you like the effect it has on images?  What types of bokeh appeal to you and what do you find not as appealing?  Share your thoughts in the comments!

With tomorrow being the 4th of July, I will be taking the day off from blogging. I will be taking a short trip to NY to spend some time with family and close friends over the long weekend - then it’s back to SC to finish our packing and preparations for the move to Colorado.

While many others will also be traveling and spending time with family and friends, we will all no doubt be snapping away with our cameras. We’ll likely be capturing our relatives, families and friends in various activities: eating, drinking, general merriment, perhaps a baseball game, or running with sparklers, or taking in some fireworks at the local ballpark. All of these activities are just a few of the ways in which we celebrate our freedom and the establishment of our independence as the United States of America!

The United States of America has many problems that we face. Tomorrow though, we celebrate one of the best things about this country - the establishment of our freedom from the crown of England. It’s pretty amazing if you think about it. A bunch of rough-shod farmers, a few businessmen, and political thinkers, stuck up for one another and to defend our rights. Our right to own land, unobstructed from military regimes, the right to bear arms, the freedom of speech, the freedom from religious oppression, the right to choose those who we permit to govern on our behalf - and in our best interests. Yet these days, it seems our rights to freedom are gradually eroding away. Land can be taken “for the public good”, while the country is faced with economic recession and layoffs, the military-industrial complex continues to thrive, laws continue to limit our ability to defend ourselves, speech is becoming offensive and restricted, religious zealots (or aetheists) push agendas in purely subjective directions, and elections are becoing more and more of a circus, it seems we are not as free as we once were.

Before people think this is a political post, or a rant on the social and economic woes of the times (which it kind of has been thus far), rest assured: it’s not. Instead, I am suggesting that we photographers go out tomorrow, and over the course of the next month and look for examples of freedom. Capture the essence of freedom in a photograph. Think you got a good one? Then share it! I’ve set up a Flickr group to share pictures into with Canon Blogger. We’ll go for the next 30 days, so from July 4th to August 4th, the challenge is to go out and capture the essence of freedom in a photo.

Share it with the Canon Blogger Flickr group. Once the time window closes, I’ll go through all the pictures and put a slide show together here on the blog of all the images. Plus, the best shot will actually WIN something! That’s right, Canon Blogger will be hosting it’s first ever photo contest! I’ll choose what I think is the best image that captures the essence of freedom in a photo and give that lucky winner the first ever prize from Canon Blogger. Since this is a prize that is coming out of my own pockets, there are a few restrictions though (you knew there would be). Here they are:

• All shots must be taken within the United States.
• All shots must be taken between July 4th and August 4th 2008
• While photo corrections are permitted, editing should be restricted to corrections (adjusting shadow and highlight details, a little dodging and burning here and there, etc.) only. No composites!
• Be prepared to submit an original image with all exif data, no smaller than 800 px on the longest side.
• All images must be submitted to (and remain shared in) the Canon Blogger thread titled “Photograph Freedom” on Flickr.
• The decision of the judge (me) is final.
• 2nd place, 3rd place, and Honorable mentions will also be noted for their images.
• No person can submit more than 3 shots for consideration.
• Shots included on Flicker should be no larger than 600px on the longest dimension.

So, the big question is still lurking in everyone’s minds: what’s the prize? Well, it’s not much, but the winner of the first ever contest from Canon Blogger will receive a $25 gift card to their choice of Amazon or B&H Photo!

Everyone who enters an image will be included in the slide show, but there will be only one grand prize winner. But wait a second, grand prize? You mean there’s more? That’s right! The 2nd, 3rd place and honorable mentioned photos will also receive accolades. Here’s the list of all prizes:

1. 1st Place: $25 gift card to your choice of Amazon or B&H Photo
2. 2nd Place: A DVD of all videos produced by CB thus far.
3. 3rd Place: A CD of all articles written and shared here on CB to date.

All finalists will also get (Honorable Mentions included) a day of your photo (and website if you have one) promoted and highlighted on the blog. Naturally, all ownership of images stays with the shooter, except for the instances of display outlined above (the slide show and the day of recognition).

P.S.  While travelling I hopped online while on layover at DC, and saw a link to the blog coming from Hyperphocal.  Looks like they picked up my latest article I submitted, titled “Looking at Light“  It’s actually a pretty good read, even if I do say so myself.  But, since todays post was already on another topic, that article will likely be long gone by the time I get back from NY.  So, stop over to Hyperphocal today and check out the latest!  Happy holidays all and happy shooting!  (Keep watching those apertures…)

As the final hours approach me here on Tuesday, I still find myself struggling to capture something of interest that would be a fun topic for the “What’s This?”, so, a rather easy one is up for your guessing pleasure. Truth be told though, this is kind of lame, and as such, I would like more of the focus for today’s post to be the traditional “walk around the web” Here’s what’s going on this week in photo land:

1. First, stop over to Scott Kelby’s blog - guest writer John Nack from a little company called Adobe will be filling in, and if you don’t already know who he is, and why we listen, stop over at his blog to catch up…
2. Next, some shout outs to…well, myself sort of, but also to Scott Eggleston, over at Weekly Photo Tips. He chose an image I shared with him over on his blog as a monthly winner in his photo contest! While I am flattered to have won the prize, it’s just more germane to say that as I was packing things up the other day, I was talking to my wife about how I wished I had some convenient way to pack my AA batteries! Hello Alanis Morrisette, isn’t that ironic? He also had a post on late last week on how to shoot reflective surfaces with a YouTube video too - very informative!
3. Next, Brian Reyman over at Professional Snapshots has his third in a series of lighting tutorials he’s posting on. Very useful and a great presentation of the info there. I’ve been reading Brian’s blog for a while now and he has a truly innovative way of thinking. Shout outs to Brian!
4. Visual Realia continues to keep my creative juices flowing, even though I did not come up with a very good image for today./ Look at Andy’s blog any time you need a kick start for your creative voice. His last three images of normal playing cards, show how anything can be beautiful if well visioned and composed!
5. Finally, stop over to Hyperphocal for some great reading material if you have some time. It’s becoming quite the repository of excellent photo-related articles. A couple recent articles include the subject of Getting your photos into gallery shows, and Reasons to watermark your imagery. Like I said, great reading all around!

Since others have discussed it, particularly today, it bears mentioning (at least acknowledging anyway) that Nikon has released to new bits of gear - the D700 body and the SB-900 flash. Rather than regale you with tons of links on both of these, let’s just say that since reading quite a few posts from some respected photog-types, it seems people are curious about teh new body, but almost to the tune of 75%, they are expressing more excitement over the flash. Even Michael Johnston from The Online Photographer
picks up on the news, and throws in an off-handed remark about the new flash (and two new PC lenses that I’d not even read about until hitting his blog). Just goes to show you, the bells and whistles are there to generate new interest, and in many cases, it works! Having said that, it seems more and more that the tried and true utilitarian upgrades and additions to a camera line are what pulls repeat buyers back for more.

Until tomorrow, happy shooting and watch those apertures!

As a shameless self-promotion slug, as we move toward the holiday weekend, it’s time too brush up on your night photography. Remember what apertures and shutters are and how they relate? Refresh over at The Online Photography Test , hosted right here at CB! So, stop over there to test your A&S awareness (among other things) before heading out to shoot for the day! Don’t forget to pick up the feed for CB if you haven’t already.

Anyway, it’s kind of a bandwidth intensive episode this week at over 100 MB of download in Quicktime ® format.  Sorry, again, no flash-based version.  Until Camtasia can import .mov files and render as Flash, when I record in QT, the .mov format is all I can do.

With that in mind, I’d like to also open it up to the readers/viewers out there.  What kinds of bags or bag systems do you use?  Backpacks?  Belts?  Shoulder bags?  What works best for you?  Sound off in the comments!

This was quite the weekend!  Two of three bedrooms have been cleaned up, packaged, and taken to an off-site storage so we can “stage” the house.  Apparently staging a house is very important when selling.  It helps “define the space” for the prospective buyer.  Anyway, as a result of all the lifting, bending, pushing, pulling, hauling, and shoving (oh yeah, we packed some boxes too!), we are very much in a state of “muscle failure”.  For the more athletically inclined, you know what I am talking about.  For the rest, when you push your muscles to the brink of not being able to work, they quiver visibly, and that is called muscle failure.  Suffice to say, our normally light-hearted fare transitioned very quickly to a Whopper with fries and an ice cold beer afterwards.

Anyway, no glory shots from the new 40D to share…sorry.  Although I am stopping by the storage unit later on today, so will likely have the camera with me.  Whilst organizing that, I did notice a few “photo opportunities” (whenever I hear that phrase, I think of Ron White and a  bit he did - see reference link from the 4:30 mark to 6:00 mark) , so may have some better post material tomorrow or later on today.  Tomorrow will be another fun video too…so a little teaser there just to keep you interested.  Until then though, take a moment and stop over at ProPhotoLife.  They put out a great video on how to light tabletop stills wit just one light and mirrors as your other light sources.  Very cool - especially for the DIYer (I am going to go retrieve a mirror I was going to throw out in the move now!)

Happy shooting, watch those apertures, and we’ll see you tomorrow!

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:

Well,it’s not really bewilderment over which browsers to use, because