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Be careful with Adobe updates!

October 10, 2008 JasonLeave a comment

I was just in the NAPP forums (a great place to learn by the way), and learned about the ACR update. Since I already am good on the gear compatibility side, I went to the readme.txt file to see if there were any other updates to the programs that I should be aware of (Podpress has made me very cautious about updating too soon…)

Turns out there are some LR issues with a few tools and with XMP sidecar files versus database entries. If this is all gibberish to you, then don’t worry you are probably fine. For the more technically inclined though, their readme file is something to look at before you upgrade ACR this go-around.

Linked here

Proof positive that the old adage of “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” can still apply in a modern world. If you don’t have a specific need for the update (a very recent camera purchase), I’d hold off until the next update ships as this could break Lightroom to a degree, as well as prevent respecting of previous edits if you use the database option for XMP data.

In more CB-specific news, the last poll finally wrapped up today. With 30 responses, here was the final tally:

The newest poll is now up on the sidebar. 2 weeks does seem to return more meaningful information as that gives people enough time to respond. Feel free to chime in at your leisure. The question is: Does the current economic downturn had an impact on new photography-related purchases? For those reading in feed readers, stop in to see the options and vote! Let’s try to crack the 50-count this go around! 🙂

On a lighter note, the WTD series this week was really pretty darn funny. Here’s my favorite:

Have a great weekend everyone, Happy Shooting, and we’ll see you back here Monday morning!

Five Friday Freebies

October 3, 2008 Jason2 Comments

It’s fun to share resources that can really help you save time and money in pursuing your photography goals, and because there’s not a lot of really high quality resources out there, posts like these are few and far between. However, I do have a few resources that may prove useful to wrap up the week:

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

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

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

The Weekender – Web stuff and some thoughts on CS4

September 27, 2008 Jason3 Comments

The last few days have been insanely busy with work and home obligations, so out of necessity I have not had time to devote to content for the blog. My apologies for abandoning the readership temporarily, and without warning. I’ll endeavor to give advance notice before that happens again. So, with that out of the way, I thought today it might be useful to get a wrap-up of what I have been seeing and reading around the forums, blogs, and internet that’s photography-related.

Jeff Revell, who has become quite well-known for his photowalking blog made a few interesting posts recently. In one of them, he did a reminder on updating your firmware. Great idea Jeff – if you’re interested, I actually put together a post with all the Canon firmware updates as of a few weeks ago. The other one was ab out the Epson Print Academy season for 2009 has been published. I had been meaning to go to one of these for a while, and for a mere $150 think it is definitely worth the cost. They’re coming to Denver and it’s a mere block or two from where I work so I will most assuredly be in attendance this go around.
Scott Kelby, master instructor of Photoshop, Lightroom and author of more books than I can count, is also bringing his tour through Denver some time in December. Check out the schedule here if you want to see him live and in action at what he does best!
David Ziser has offered up a Digital Wakeup Call DVD worht $75 to some lucky participant if he gets 20 ideas on how to incorporate video into your selling packages for photography businesses. Not a bad deal for 5 minutes of your time!
Don’t forget, I’ve expanded the poll here at CanonBlogger to go longer than the 1 week, so the numbers are a more accurate representation. What features do you like about the curreng generation of camera bodies on the market? What motivates you to buy? Share your thoughts on the poll to the right.

Last, but not least, the hubub on most forums lately has been surrounding the release of CS4 and LR2’s latest updates. The reason for all the hoopla comes every time there is a new release to the software, and it’s a cycle that likely will not end. Rather than just pile on and vent, I thought for the second half of this double-feature wrap-up, I’d share some thoughts on why people are frustrated rather than just saying “people are frustrated”. So, here’s a different perspective.

Software is not a tangible asset

Software is not like a camera body, or a car, or a television, it’s something that lives on your computer. Thus, the value of it is not as easy to see. We are very much a society that thrives on all our toys, and software just isn’t the same as having the latest body, or flash or television or car. It’s not something we can touch and feel and show off to our friends. It’s only on our computer.

Necessity

With software, we are sometimes obligated to upgrade. I personally had to upgrade because CS2 did not offer a raw converter for the Canon 40D. Sure, there’s the Adobe DNG converter for free, and I actually have incorporated that into my work flow for the Mac where I don’t have CS3, but that does present another step in the process of a work flow that I was previously happy to not have to deal with. Anyway, the point here is that if you don’t upgrade your software, you will find yourself unable to maintain a stable and consistent work flow (since you re upgrading other gear all the time too).

Competitive Pricing

With other technologies, competition keeps prices under control. Camera vendors like Canon, Nikon, Sony, and the rest all have to compete with one another for your business. Adobe really has no competition in the market place. Okay, sure, there’s Corel, and the GIMP, but come on, who are we kidding? Adobe is the market when it comes to photo editing software. All the others are simply “alternative programs”. Without a competitor, Adobe can price things however they want, knowing that those of us who have already invested are pretty much committed to maintaining our work flow by keeping the software interface as consistent as we can. To their credit, upgrades are cheaper than the full blown versions of the software, and there are often promotions and suc (educational pricing is the best way to go imho – take a community college class once every two years and you will save anywhere fro $300 to $700 on pricing for the CS products).

Release Schedule

Do we really need to upgrade our software and work flow every 18 months? With cameras, (which are released on the same schedules for most SLRs), most people I know wait at least 2 generations before upgrading. Another analogy that has been made here is to cars – anyone upgrade their car every two years? What about televisions? Do we really upgrade our televisions every 18 months? Unlikely…and even if we do, is the old television still usable? Often times, the older version is relegated to the basement or a childs bedroom, or even sold second hand. Who buys outdated software? No one that I know of…

So, there’s the second half of the weekend post. What do you think? Am I off base? Is the software market competitive? Do you think the pricing is fair and equitable? What about the upgrade schedule? Does 18 months sound about right? Sound off in the comments!

Again, sorry for the lack of material over the last two days. Hopefully this will make up for the lack of content on Thursday and Friday. Now, since you’ve finished this, take that last sip of coffee, pack up your gear and go have fun shooting! (In other words, Happy Shooting!) We’ll see you back here again on Monday.

Friday Frenzy

September 19, 2008 Jason6 Comments

Just a quick wrap up here for the week as the day is getting late, and I’ve got miles to go before I sleep. Um…yeah, okay, that came from a poem somewhere but I forget who wrote it or the title, so no credit line on that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Beauty of Bokeh

July 7, 2008 Jason2 Comments

Happy Monday to all – before getting into this week’s first post, I’d like to take a moment and remind everone of the NEW CONTEST that CB has started. The theme is Photograph Freedom, and there are prizes to be had. More details can be found on the post from 7-3, linked here.

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!

Tip Teaser

June 17, 2008 JasonLeave a comment

Due to birthday circumstances, spousal attention requirements, and other frvolities of life, the tip for Tuesday has not been recorded yet. I will try to get that recorded, produced, and published today. In case it doesn’t make it out though, the teaser for it is that it covers displacement mapping with some pretty neat effects as a result. So, check back in later tonight (I am guessing around 10pm EST) to see if I was able to crunch things together in time. If not, it will likely be published tomorrow with the latest edition of “What’s this?”. So, in the meantime, keep those cameras clicking. Happy shooting and watch your apertures out there!

Geographic Composition

June 16, 2008 JasonLeave a comment

Jason Moore has an ongoing activity where photographers from different parts of the globe capture their perspective on various themes. I was invited to join this group of photographers a short time ago, and this is now my second contribution to the activity. It’s quite a bit of fun as it challenges you to think in new ways, and in participating you get a chance to see other perspectives and ideas. This is probably one of the most useful ways that you can challenge your creativity and to find new sources of inspiration.

Anyway, without further ado, the theme for the week ending Friday, June 13th 2008, was “Passing Down“. My shot is below, and I would encourage you to visit Jason’s blog to see the other visions for this theme. Thanks to Jason for administering this activity, and look for the next one near the end of the month!

Magical Moments

June 12, 2008 JasonLeave a comment

wand

Does anyone remember from earlier this week why this post is so momentous? This is magical post # 200 for Canon Blogger. A few days off here and there, but since inception back on August 21st, 2007, I have made sometimes silly, sometimes serious, and sometimes useful posts to Canon Blogger. It’s been a fun ride thus far, and rather than take the kind reader on a blathering journey through some deep, thoughtful, meaningful, and insightful post laden with pearls of wisdom, trinkets of tips, tricks and techniques, I would rather just take a moment to say: Thank you!

Thank you to all the readers who have let me rant on occasion, wax philosophic on others, and bide their time for something useful, informative, or at the very least… entertaining. It truly has been quite the learning experience thus far. I would like to think I have matured a little, learned a lot, and improved the quality of the content that I’ve been putting out into the blogosphere. That judgement though, will reside with the readership. As of today, Canon Blogger (which I now affectionately call CB), is showing some pretty amazing numbers between Google Analytics and PodPress:

55008 site visits
78175 page views
55775 feeds

Yeah, okay, that’s small potatoes when you look at the more serious bloggers, photographers, and other industry pros, but for a small time amateur blogger/photographer guy like me, I am just shattered that my little page has been picked up and read that much. So…THANK YOU! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it thus far. Hopefully over the next 200 posts the quality of the content will continue to improve, and we’ll be able to look back on this day with a chuckle. Right now, I can’t imagine it – but, as the old saying goes “You never know…”

Today is also especially magical for me because I contributed an article to a free magazine called PhotographyBB which was published just the other day. This is my first published article, so it’s especially meaningful. I would like to thank Dave Seeram over at the PhotographyBB Magazine, and the folks in their forums who have accepted me into their community so graciously and with such open arms. I look forward to sharing many years to come with all of you. Do stop over to their site and feel free to join the community yourself. It’s a great group of people. The magazine, in it’s 5th issue, has many excellent articles (one by my) and an extra treat was to be able to contribute as the photographer “In the Spotlight”. Thne one that had planned to do it had something come up and could not, so I stepped in to help fill the content out for this issue. Very cool to be able to contribute to this work, and it really is a great read, so either stop over to their site and check out all they have to offer, or at least download the article linked below for a fun read when you have half an hour to spare.

So, it’s definitely some magical moments for me, and I just wanted to take today to say Thank You to everyone who has made this such a special day for me. You all rock!

Smell the Roses

June 6, 2008 JasonLeave a comment

Rose

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

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

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

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

Look for Lines

June 5, 2008 Jason1 Comment

Shapes

For this week’s edition of “Thursday Thoughts”, I’d like to take a look at the subject of composition. We always are striving to enhance our composition, either by understanding the rules of composition better, or by pushing the envelope in new directions. With the explosion of digital photography, the decreased price of entry, and the abundance of opinions, now more than ever, if you really want to succeed in photography, it helps to get a jump on the learning curve by a better understanding of what works consistently over time. There’s a reason why we often refer to the Rule of Thirds, or the Golden Mean when talking about classic composition – because they work. Time and time again, when photos are composed along these rough guidelines, the results are more pleasing than the same subject without the rules of composition applied.

One of the interesting things though about these rules is how they all use some form of linear movement through pictures. Whether the lines are vertical and horizontal, diagonal or even curved, the way you compose your pictures along these imaginary lines will have an impact on the final result of your image. So, rather than looking at the rules of photography, let’s break it down into a more elemental context: usage of lines.

As I mentioned above, there are four ways in which lines can take you through an image, vertically, horizontally, diagonally, and curved. Knowing the impact each of these types of lines will have on your pictures can really help as you look for scenes to capture and share with the world. And, as the old saying goes, “knowing is half the battle”…

Vertical lines – What creates vertical lines in images? In nature, things like trees are great examples of vertical lines. Architecture also provides excellent material for including vertical lines in your images. Are you a people person? Try taking pictures near someone’s feet, looking up. The vertical lines of their legs will have a tremendous impact on your pictures. So, what does this mean? Usually, vertical lines are connoted with stability and power. These lines will anchor your images at the base (or top) of where the lines start (or end.)

Horizontal lines – What creates horizontal lines? Horizons are great examples, and architecture also can provide horizontals. Looking for portrait examples? Try imagining a horizontal line across the bottom or top of someone’s eyes or teeth. We all love shots of sleeping babies too. Their bodies are usually horizontally composed. Horizontals usually are associated with peacefulness and tranquility.

Diagonal lines – What creates diagonal lines? This is a little trickier, because linear progression usually occurs (both in nature and in man-made objects) horizontally or vertically. This requires actually re-positioning your camera from its traditional position to find diagonals. Some examples that are easier to see include bridges, piers, and docks. Also, try looking at things at a different angle, or just looking in new directions. The sail lines of a boat are good examples of diagonals. Pitched rooflines work for architecture too. In people photography, the nose provides angles as do some jaw lines. You can also position people’s arms and legs to give an angular line in the picture. Diagonal lines are lots of fun because they make things more active and dynamic. I’ve even read about diagonals creating tension and suggesting motion.

Curved lines – What about curved lines? Curves are great at leading the eye through a picture. Imagine winding roads and curvy paths or ripples in waves ax examples in nature. For portrait work, the curvature of some cheekbones is a great perspective to base an anchor point of an image. Eyes also work here, as do smiles and facial expressions. Overall curves suggest motion because the eyes are always following the path the curve takes them on, but this motion is usually a smooth one, so there is also an association with grace.

Lines are fun to find, especially if you mentally take note to look for particular instances. Take a day and say to yourself “today I am going to find curved lines” and see how many you find. Take notes and return with your camera (or take the shot if you have it with you!). With time you’ll find which types of lines speak to your preferences as well as where to position them in camera to yield the best composition.

Anyway, that’s the Thursday Thoughts for this week. I hope you all enjoyed it, and perhaps you’ll find new lines as you go out, cameras in hand this weekend. Happy shooting, watch those apertures, and find the lines!