Tag Archives: photo
Shooting From the Hip
While recently taking a reality break and visiting family in my old stomping grounds, I had a chance to tour the Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown, NY. Viewing museums like these is a lot of fun for both kids and adults – kids because of the activities, and adults because I think as you get older, you can start to appreciate with more awareness just how tough things were (or how easy they are now).
Creating the color video
As promised from last weeks post on Youtube, I promised to share the “how to” on the creation of the little teaser video for transitioning from a black and white photo to color. For those that don’t remember, the video is here:
Free 3d Photo Maker
I don’t often do a weekend post, but every once and a while, and since I have reduced the blogging schedule somewhat, figured I’d share this little nugget here today. A friend told me about a site that produces tons of free applications for things like video, audio and stuff – that I should check them out. I took a look and sure enough – there’s literally dozens of apps they offer for free. Now, my mantra is always that “you get what you pay for” but when I saw they had a photo-specific app, figured I had to at … Continue reading
Let’s Make a Deal, or Not
While reading through the foot high stack of magazines in an attempt to whittle it down, I found myself re-reading a Photoshop User magazine from a few months back. I often re-read magazines and find hidden “nuggets” (as I call ‘em). These are fodder for blog posts right here, and last night, I came across an oldie but a goodie. It was the April/May issue of this year so not too long ago. Ed Greenburg and Jack Reznicki were talking about this idea that companies will often lowball or no-ball a photographer in an effort to get their pictures.
Photo Montage Tuesday
Normally, I start the week with either a hardware review, a software review, or something along those lines, but there’s a couple things that have bumped the traditional schedule. So, check these tidbits out to start the week: First off, Scott Kelby has announced the 3rd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk! It’s a pretty big deal now as there are some major sponsors that contribute prizes to this, and it’s just a super cool time. There are usually a couple that start up for the Denver area, and if you’ll be around, let me know and I can post which group … Continue reading
Creating a Monthly Desktop Calendar
I alluded to it yesterday, and have already had several people inquire about the procedure to create this desktop calendar. It’s really quite clever, and kudos go out to Jeffrey Friedl over on his site for the script: http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/calendar He does a decent job at the basic explanation, but since we are a visual world, here are some step-by-step instructions on how to run things from beginning to end! Fair warning – this does require Photoshop as the script (I don’t believe anyway) will run in Lightroom because it uses layers… 1. Download the script from the link above (I … Continue reading
And the Oscar Goes to…
Okay, it’s not an Oscar, nor an Emmy, but the LDP Monthly Giveaway is sufficiently popular that selecting winning images is very tough. Here’s what happens once the contest is closed: I’ve given my wife specific instructions on how to close the thread, and how to download all the images into a folder on my desktop. If an image is not downloadable – it’s disqualified. Once the images are downloaded, I look at the details view on my Windows computer. This avoids me looking at thumbnails and I only see the metadata – if the longest side of the image … Continue reading
More pano testing…
As I continue with various software programs to test pano quality, I tried another application today, and the results were actually pretty good considering. I used the native PhotoMerge function from my Photoshop Cs3 Extended, and I must say that as far as panos go, the results are nice. The native functionality adds a shorter workflow for when you need to clean up minor details (since you are already in PS), and no worrying about control points. The downside is that you are going to lose a little more in post production cropping simply because Photoshop can’t match all the … Continue reading
The value of a sunset (or sunrise)…
We all see them every day – the sun rises and the sun sets. Most of the time, it’s nothing too spectacular, perhaps some pretty colors are cast with various hues of orange and blue, or red and purple hazes…it’s all well and good. We may even see some spectacular ones…a crimson or scarlett red, or fire-y orange ones. They may also have an added impact if they are reflected in a lake, the ocean, or dramatized by their surroundings – palm trees, mountains, boats, or whatever happens to be there. The spectacular ones are typically the ones we see … Continue reading
What’s the best ___?
What’s the best camera to buy? What’s the best Photoshop plugin for photography? What’s the best CS4 tutorial? What’s the best lens for the Vivitar 110? What’s the best iPod for the dollar? What’s the best car? What’s the best truck? What’s the best soda? What’s the best flavor of ice cream? I think you get the picture…so many questions on “What’s the best____” and almost without fail, the answer begins with an “It depends…” We all want to get the best value for our money, and it pays to do research before you buy. No one likes to over … Continue reading
December Winner!
The trumpets sound! The chorus rings, and the internet shall stop and take notice! Why you ask? We have a winner for the December Giveaway! I am happy to announce that the winner of the December Giveaway Bonanza is none other than: Frank Sammut! Frank’s shot of a childs hand, offering up a gift perfectly symbolized the concept of giving, and his blurred bokeh of the holiday theme in the background was just beautiful! He’s got some great work on his Flickr page too, so stop by and check it out and tell him congrats! Congratulations to Frank for winning … Continue reading
Favorite Photos of 2009
One of the resolutions I had wanted to do was publish a “Best of” series from the Flickr group each month. That did not come to pass, but I did want to take some time to share some of my favorites of the past year with you here. Not much to say in the way of prefacing these, other than to say that I liked them. Whether for the technical quality, the compositional quality, the message, the colors, or the perspective – they stood out for me. Feel free to visit the Flickr group pool and peruse for your own … Continue reading
How Low Can You Go?
In episode #34 of Learning Digital Photography, we look at the subject of low light photography. In these shooting circumstances, you often need to drop your shutter speed pretty low, while shooting with apertures that are relatively open, and high ISO’s in order to get the scene with enough light. Whether you are shooting night photography, concert photography, or foggy weather, these are all things to look at and think about. To help shed some light on the subject (get it? ), we talked to Becky Thomas (aka BecThomasPhoto on Twitter) on the show. A great conversation, and lots was … Continue reading
Software Review – Genuine Fractals 6.0
Don’t get too excited – no software giveaway on this one folks, as I’ve not had a chance to call OnOne yet and see if they’d be interested in participating in a contest. Instead, I am working off a trial version of one of the premiere up-sizing software programs on the market – Genuine Fractals from the good folks over at OnOne software. Available for both Mac and Windows, this product really has developed a good name for itself in the industry. While reputation may precede it, I have been wanting to give this product a try for some time … Continue reading
The train rides again (take two)…
For today’s post you’ve got a special treat coming, because the train rides again! If you recall, earlier this week I posted the results of a little miniature project where I tried some varying depth of field, angles, and such on a model train. The project results didn’t yield anything breath-taking in picture, but I did learn where the best areas for focusing are on trains. I found out what appealed to me, what appealed to others, and filed it away. Then, as luck would have it – I had my camera with me today on the way home from … Continue reading
I’ve got friends in snow places
Okay, it’s a lame title, but my day has been centered around the blizzard conditions in and around the metro Denver area. With some areas near where I live experiencing whiteouts, we had a fun time of things today wit traffic, early closures, and the whole 9 yards. Tracy actually was the one who took the day off ahead of schedule (smart gal that wife of mine) and then braved the elements to come pick me up after the mass transit shut down service to my parking place. After a fender bender of her own – we finally got home … Continue reading
The Crop Factor…
First off, my apologies for the absenteeism yesterday. After a really fun photo shoot with some friends in downtown Denver (more on that next week), I got home super late (by working standards – my shift is 7-4 and I need to take a bus an hour to get there…so I leave at 6, which means I am up at 5!), and went almost straight to bed! Hopefully the content today will make up for this, because it’s time to talk about (cue fanfare music)…the crop factor! Now, before anyone gets all uppity because sensor crop factors have been discussed … Continue reading
The Boneyard and the Backstory
I realize that photos should stand on their own merit without any back story, but in this case I am making an exception. This island is called Bull Island, and is most well known for the dead tree trunks on the eastern shore that died from the assault of the Atlantic Ocean. Bleached white by the sun, salt, and sand, the beach area is called the boneyard because they look like bones. I was organizing a trip to this island off the coast of SC which is only accessible by boat…so to the east of the island is the ocean … Continue reading
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