The web makes for an interesting place, and often I get emails from folks asking for suggestions and recommendations on how to best protect their images from being used without their permission (and let’s not mince words here – nobody wants to have their work stolen). Often my response is a bit of this and that, suggesting to make images “web-safe” (i.e. low resolution so they can’t really be re-printed), and to limit the images you publish. (The more you put out there, the more you have to monitor.) Continue reading “Copyright Isn't Just for Photographers….”
Month: August 2010
It's not the body, it's the glass! (New Canon gear…)
Okay, while everyone is salivating (or slamming) on the new 60D Canon just announced, let’s not forget that it’s not really about the body upgrades – it’s the glass we want to invest in. And, true to form, there are also a significant number of additions and upgrades to the Canon lens line-up that bear some discussion, so here we go:
Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM lens – Touted as the worlds widest fisheye zoom, it’s an impressive feat, but not many shooters really need such a lens. At $1400 price point, the price point will likely be too high for many to justify. Cool factor – high, Use factor – low.
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM lens – I believe this is the first L lens in this zoom range, and for that reason, the optical quality will likely see a market improvement. At a price point of $1500, the reach will appeal to many, but the price compared to the 70-200L f2.8 IS will deter more. You may lose a little reach, but you gain a stop of light. Not a lot of reach loss for IS gain!
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens – The 6th in the continuing series indicates that this is the go-to lens for the serious shooters…i.e. the pros of the sports circuit. The appeal? Drop in overall weight will reduce arm fatigue. The burden? $7 large! (Call your boss to see if accounting will approve it and best of luck!)
Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM lensThe best of the best – a fixed focal length prime and the bees knees of the profession, SI shooters, NFL, MBL, NHL, etc – if you are looking here for advice on whether to drop the $11,000 on this lens, I want to know why! Buyers of this grade of optics are the companies with budgets larger than my annual salary my many multipliers!
Canon Extender EF 1.4x III & Canon Extender EF 2x III At $500 a piece it’s really just improved optics. For each it also represents light loss – one stop versus two. if optics are important and light isn’t, the 2X is your choice. Add reach and minimize light loss – the 1.4X. A more cost effective approach – neither at this price!
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The 60D Cometh! New Canon Gear!
It’s official – about ten minutes ago I got the word from the horses’ mouth directly (a.k.a. Canon), that the new 60D is hot off the presses! Rather than spout all the technical details, (which the rest of the blogosphere will do in short order), here’s the ones I like the most and why: Continue reading “The 60D Cometh! New Canon Gear!”
Hardware Review: Think Tank Airport International V2.0
We all have camera bags. Whether you use a Point-and-Shoot, an SLR, or any other type of camera, you are putting it somewhere eventually that could be defined as a bag. These bags are made in such a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and straps, it’s really amazing sometimes how many options there are for the photographer today. But like it or not, if you have a camera – you are gonna need a bag! Continue reading “Hardware Review: Think Tank Airport International V2.0”
A visit from Andie Smith!
Friend of the blog, Andie Smith has generously donated her time again here to share some insider tricks and tips to get the most out of Lightroom 3 – she shows her work flow, what the effect of various presets are in LR, and how to effectively use them. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…Andie Smith
It is no secret I love Adobe Lightroom… the rumors are true, I refuse to edit without it. As I’ve created my own presets I realized if they are created correctly you can “stack them”. What is stacking? It is similar to using more than one action in Photoshop. I assume you want samples.
RAW image:
1. image with Work It-Awesome Portraits and some local adjustments (cleaned up skin and Work It- Pretty Eyes.)
2. image with Work It-Awesome Portraits +Work It-Meadow. Medow is in the Tints and Tones and just adds some more blues and greens to the image.
3. The way the presets are created, you can use the Tints and Tones on color or Black and White images. Here is the same image with Work It- B&W Contrast Dark and then Work It- B&W Contrast Dark +Bobby
4. But wait there is more! (I hope you read that in your best “info-mmercial” voice) you can use a vintage preset. I used Work It-Vintage
5. Then add a tint and tone on top of the vintage preset. here is Work It-Vintage + Work it- Little Red School House
There isn’t an image that leaves Andie Smith Photography or Eight18 Photography that hasn’t had one of the Work It presets used on it. It is my work flow. No matter the presets you are using don’t forget to customize them to make them work for you… “some assembly is required” as the saying goes.
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Editor Note: Thanks again to Andie for stopping in and sharing her workflow. If you like the styles, you can purchase the entire preset package from her website for only $89 here: Andie Smith Photography
She has also generously donated a full copy of her presets to the Lightroom Workshop, so if you happen to be attending, you will get the set there too. Not attending, sign up and get the whole rest of the day for only $10 more! Hope to see you there!
3 Years down! What’s Next?
In the blogging community, a year is a significant milestone, as most bloggers don’t make it to this point. Interests wax and wane, jobs and passions change, and audiences swell and sag as the community of readers often will gravitate toward new topics and content. The idea behind retention of readership is to change with the times. Here at CB/LDP, that has not been a problem. From the beginning, this blog has always been about sharing my experiences in photography with the larger community. So, as new technologies develop, and I learn about them, the writing reflects changes and advances in my knowledge base. Continue reading “3 Years down! What’s Next?”
Digital Photography: Where do we go from here?
I’ve often wondered about the development of technology and the patterns that go with it. As technology has advanced in other areas such as computing, the World Wide Web, and mobile platforms, cameras have also seen similar changes in recent years. The difference between cameras and the rest of the industry though is that with cameras, it’s been a very recent development. Photography has been around a lot longer than the digital world, and the underlying principles and foundations that are the basis for the craft haven’t changed much. Shutter speed and aperture size are still the dominant forces that control exposure in images (along with ISO – which when combined gives us the exposure triangle): Continue reading “Digital Photography: Where do we go from here?”
The Newsletter is Back!
After a hiatus on the newsletter, I thought it might be a fun experiment to bring this back (enough of you have also sent me email asking if it would be coming back ever so thank you for your support)! However, rather than just putting it out there, I have decided to make this a bonus feature for the email subscription group. So, if you’d like to receive the newsletter, please let me know by signing up for the free delivery monthly! Here’s what I hope to include in each newsletter: Continue reading “The Newsletter is Back!”
Raquette Lake Rendezvous
Every year, the men in the family (cue Tim Allen-esque Home Improvement style grunts) depart from their women and the rigmarole of daily lives to embark on a quest to re-connect with nature. We build fire, we eat man food, we emit bodily sounds not allowed in most social circles, tell jokes that are decidedly not PC or appropriate for most audiences and all sorts of other debauchery.
This year I had the chance to attend (I missed a few years due to work), and with a new generation of men-in-training to initiate, it was quite the sojurn! We also dealt with survival skills in the wild – land navigation/compass courses, intentionally over-turning canoes and kayaks to recover, and all sorts of hair-raising experiences for the single-digit aged crowd. They learned quite a bit!
In all the ruckus, I did manage to sneak my SLR into the forest for what I anticipated to be some possible chances at some nice scenery. I was not disappointed…here’s a few sample shots from said trip:
In addition to spending some good quality time with family, some “man-bonding” and such, a few decent shots came out of the trip too! Plus, with my packing list, and preparations for keeping everything dry, as well as some other trip-specific details, a few posts worth of content will likely be coming down the road later this week too!
In the meantime, don’t forget to set your alerts for the first free webinar that Kerry Garrison and I are hosting tomorrow night from our joint venture with Lightroom Dudes. That starts tomorrow at 6:30pm Pacific, 7:30pm Mountain, and 9:30pm Eastern(More are coming after that for only $20 a session…) The Denver workshop is also fast approaching , and there are still seats available. You can register for only $79 here: 
Hope you enjoy the pics, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
Delayed
Just as I start to insert myself back into reality, civilization and all that “real” stuff, the very real weather of the East Coast yesterday decided to extend my trip by another 24 hours against my will. Yes, the flight was delayed sufficiently from my starting city that I would have completely missed my connection flight back home. So, I must spend another 24 hours here with the family in upstate New York – oh the tragedy! 🙂
It does mean that my blog post schedule needs to adjust slightly, so consider today a pseudo “no blog” post day. I may have time to get the article finished that I had intended on putting together before too long, but in the event the traveling bug has other plans for me, decided to make a judgment call. Have a great weekend and we’ll see you back here on Monday with a lot of news and photo goodness to catch up on! Happy shooting!