Learning Digital Photography Podcast – Page 4

Let me count the ways…

June 30, 2009 Jason5 Comments

The age old phrase of “let me count the ways” seemed like as good a theme as any to announce the newest contest from the blog here for the Learning Digital Photography podcast. I just got word from the folks at OnOne software that they really liked the post on Genuine Fractals – so much that they would like to participate in a giveaway! Can you guess the prize? Yup, that’s right, the entire OnOne Plug-in Suite: 4.5! This is an amazing offer, as the package normally retails for $500! That’s five hundred big ones! I don’t know about you, but if I had an opportunity to win a software package worth $500, I’d certainly stand up and listen…so, since we’ve got this contest announcement for the month of July that involves software, there will be no software review today.

Oh yeah, so anyway, that’s the prize package. How do you enter? Easy – just like the last couple of contests – it just requires a little participation. A new thread will be set up on Flickr for people to contribute photos. (It’s already live but entries will not be accepted until midnight Mountain time tonight.) Here’s the rules:

Since the contest sponsor is onOne – then the theme shall be Numbers. I am not going to interpret or give any ideas here, but if your photo incorporates something to do with numbers (any number, multiple numbers, use of numbers, whatever), then it will be accepted.
Join the Learning Digital Photography Flickr Group – the images will be shared in there anyway, and this is a great way to see other inspirational images from people that are regularly contributing to the common pool…just make sure you post your images in the thread titled Numbers Contest (easily linked for you right here)
Photos will only be accepted for the month of July (and that are uploaded during that month, so no archived images will be accepted) Only 31 days to enter so get clicking! 🙂
One photo limit per participant. Sorry all, but with a prize package this huge, I know there’s going to be a lot of entries, so in order to make judging easier one entry per person.
Photo manipulation is acceptable – after all, it’s for a prize that encourages massaging those pixels, so edit away! However, you just be the original copyright owner of the photo used – no “borrowing” the work of others. People found using others images will be removed from consideration.
Images should be no larger than 800 pixels on their longest side, and no shorter than 600 pixels on the longest side. If you need to upsize a photo, use the onOne Genuine Fractals trial! 🙂 On that note, please also refrain from using digital frames to increase image dimensions – images with frames that advance will be cropped.
By submitting images, you agree to allow your photos to be featured in the web gallery and here on the blog without expectation of compensation. The three finalists will have an opportunity to have their photos link back to their Flickr Stream, website, or blog if they like as the finalists will be notified of their advancement one day in advance of being featured on the blog.
The product is being offered by the folks from onOne on the basis that it is NFR – not for resale. The prize cannot be re-sold to someone else.
Judging will be done by myself and I have one representative from onOne who will also assist with making the determination. Decisions of the judges are final.
There will be three rounds of judging:
1. As in the past, the initial pool will be whittled down to ten and the images collated into a web gallery for display here on the blog.
2. Three finalists will then be pulled and featured here on the blog for a final day or two of consideration.
3. Last, the grand prize winner will be declared after even more careful determination from all participating judges. OnOne has generously donated their time for judging as well, so we’ll compare notes and come to a mutual consensus to determine the winner.

Good luck to everyone and have a Happy month of Shooting! Thanks especially go out to the good folks at OnOne for their generous contribution of the Plugin Suite 4.5 Software for some lucky reader/listener/participant. Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

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And then there were three…

June 24, 2009 Jason5 Comments

First off, some software news that we all may want to stay abreast of – Adobe has released the latest updates for Camera Raw and Adobe Lightroom.

The ACR update applies to CS4 users, Elements 7.0 users, and Premiere Elements 7.0 users, and includes raw conversion algorithms for the Canon 500D, the Powershot XS1 IS, the Nikon D5000 and several Hasselblads, as well as some other camera updates for Olympus, Sony, and Pentax. It’s version 5.4 and is now out of beta and available for download. The updates for Windows and Mac are available here:

Camera Raw

For Lightroom users, the update takes you to the latest stable release of version 2.4. So, if you are running version 2.3 or earlier, this update is a recommended one for you. It basically is the same as the ACR update for Photoshop and other programs, but since there’s no secondary GUI for the converter portion, it’s just built into the program update. You should be able to over-install it on top of your current installation, but as with everything else, I always recommend backing up your system and important files prior to updating things like this that can have an impact on your entire library. The downloads for Windows and Macintosh are available here:

Lightroom

Now, onto the more exciting news…speaking of Adobe and all, as you may recall, there was a contest held here at Canon Blogger on the Learning Digital Photography podcast a while back and the winner is slated to get their very own copy of Lightroom from the folks over at Adobe. Well, I am happy to announce here today that The Adobe Lightroom Contest has entered it’s final phase here at Canon Blogger/Learning Digital Photography!.

As you may recall, as alluded to above, a few podcasts back, I had the honor of sitting down with Tom Hogarty and talking shop about Lightroom, it’s purpose, development, and lots of fun stuff about photography in general. At the end of the show, Mr. Hogarty generously donated a copy of Lightroom to some lucky listener of the podcast. We started a photography Flickr thread, and the entries started pouring in.

After 58 entries came in that met the criteria we were looking for, the contestants were narrwoed down to 10 finalists, which were then compiled and put on display here at the blog (and you can see all of them here). We now have narrowed the field down to three possible contenders for the grand prize of the Lightroom software. We’ll talk a little more amongst myself and Mr. Hogarty to see which is the “best of the best”, but the three that we are now in our final phase of considering are:

Blooming Orchid

Black-and-white Magnolia Blossom

The Foggy Lighthouse

Once we have the grand prize winner determined, one of these three people will have a copy of Photoshop Lightroom arriving on their doorstep soon. Thanks again to all the entries – we’ve actually worked quite diligently on this to really get a sense of which image captures the essence of both photography, what Lightroom processing can do for your creativity, and also purely on the artistic merit.

Again, thanks to all the entries for the contest – the latest one is still going on for another week – the winner will get a 33% discount code to FotoQuote Pro – and to enter that all you have to do is make an entry here on the blog! (Limit one entry per person per day). Keep on shooting and sharing – happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Reviews, Interviews and Vista Views

June 17, 2009 JasonLeave a comment

The latest episode of the Learning Digital Photography podcast is now live and for those of you picking this up in your feeds, make sure you stop over to iTunes or the via PLM to download the show. This week, I go into a little more depth on how I conduct reviews of hardware and software as there have been quite a few listener questions about that particular subject matter. Thanks to everyone who wrote in to share their thoughts and feedback!

In the second segment, an interview with fellow photog and NAPP member, Erik Bernskiold where we talk about not only what we like about NAPP, but about how we are gearing up for the summer fun of photography, with tips, tricks and suggestions from Erik on everything from Floral Photography to Landscapes. We also get a little insight into Eriks’ blogging and web design background as he’s become quite the expert on the subject matter! Not too bad for someone who’s not even out of school yet! For more details on Erik, follow these show note links:

Many thanks to Erik for taking the time out of his schedule to sit down and talk with me on the show. It was a lot of fun! For the remainder of the show, I throw out some additional tips on landscape photography, and tackle a few listener questions. Lots to listen to, so be sure to tune in, either from the download over at PLM or via iTunes.

A final little asterisk on the show: I mistakenly recorded the intro as episode #25, when it’s episode #24. Also given that I forgot to add the theme music to the entire compliation – it might as well be called the “blunder” show…but rather than spend time on a few minor nits trying to fix it, I’d rather just get the show and respective notes out to y’all for your listening enjoyment. So, on that note, happy shooting, enjoy the show, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Super Sigmas, photo walks and seminars!

May 29, 2009 Jason3 Comments

Lame teaser alert, but that’s the title for the podcast over at Learning Digital Photography. Make sure to stop over to the podcast and download the show today! Here’s the show notes (I may add to these as I remember link references – if any are missing, let me know in the comments so I can be sure to add them…)

The last day to enter your photos for the Lightroom giveaway is super close – so get your shots in the Flickr thread here pretty soon!
Adobe updated the ACR to 5.4 (still in beta), and is downloadable here
Canon announced some firmware updates and break/fix news on some of its SLR lines. Tune into the podcast for details.
My Pick of the Week: Photoshop Insider
Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk
Chuck Conder’s Flickr Thread (listen to find out why…)
Wireless USB Dongle from Engadget

Seriously folks, don’t miss out on your chance for a free copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom! Get your photos in today! A $30o retail value and free from the folks over at Adobe – in this economy we could all use a little help and Adobe is being very generous here.

Well, that’s about all for this week. Thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you back here on Monday – as we head out for the weekend, don’t forget to have fun out there. With that in mind, here’s my favorite WTD from this past week – so fitting for my job in IT!

Happy Shooting!

ETA: Thanks to reader Don for reminding me about the link to the PhotographyBB magazine article. You can download the full magazine here

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The Sigma 70mm Macro

May 11, 2009 Jason6 Comments

Next up in my gear bag is the Sigma 70mm Macro lens. This is one sweet lens. With an aperture that goes down to f2.8 this is legally classified as “fast glass”. It’s got some super nice bokeh, and has an impressive range for it’s sweet spot – ranging from roughly f2.0 – f11. Seriously, it’s tack sharp through that entire range. It’s got the characteristic touch and handling of all Sigma lenses with its brushed matte black coating.

Other features include the manual on/off switch for auto-focus, which is typical for most lenses these days, but one thing I particularly enjoy is the limiter. While this is also characteristic for macro lenses, it helps to keep you within a certain range of focus so it doesn’t have to search as long before finding that tack sharp point. This toggle can be turned on or off any time, so it really helps when you are in Macro mode or shooting portraits. Oh yeah, did I mention this does a nice job at portrait work? The 70mm fixed focal length means I don’t have to get too up close and personal like you would with a 50mm lens, but I also don’t have to be as far away from the subject so it’s still fairly easy to interact with subjects.

If I had to list downsides, they would be that without the limiter on, it can take a while to focus, and that it is somewhat noisy when it is searching. I am very spoiled by the USM features of Canon bodies, and wish I had the Sigma equivalent (HSM – Hypersonic Moter), but that was just not available in this lens at the time (and don’t think it is to date…). Lastly, I don’t like how the lens shade prevents you from capping the lens when out in the field. If the lens hood is on, the cap simply cannot be in place.

As with any fixed focal length lens, it forces you to compose with your feet (if you want a tighter shot, step forward a few paces, and if you want to go wider, step back). But it does give you tack sharp results each and every time.

Here are a few sample shots I took with this lens, both in normal mode and in macro mode over the weekend for this post. My in-laws were in town so we did the tourist-y thing. First off, we visited the Hammonds Candy Factory where pictures are not only welcomed, but encouraged – so, my camera in ahd with 70mm attached (intentionally only went out with one lens each day…), I got some good samples of each category, except Macro (you need a tripod most times when shooting Macro work – at least I do in anything but the brightest light!):

Still Life

Some of the wonderful candies at Hammonds

Weights and Measures

Portrait

There you have it – the 70mm Macro f2.8 from Sigma – the third lens in my bag. Coming up next week, the 70-200L f4.0. it’s an oldie but a goodie! What do you think? How does the Sigma 70 Macro stack up based on what you’ve read here? Like it? Love it? Hate it? What other macro lenses do you have experience with? Share your thoughts in the comments! Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Don’t forget about the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Contest announced over on Learning Digital Photography! Win your own copy of LR by sharing images in the Flickr thread here!