Surely you’ve heard the whole ruckus about Flash versus HTML5, Apple versus Adobe, and the Conan vs Leno thing now, right? Well, before we all get too caught up in these heated debates, let’s take a step back and think about what is really going on here… Continue reading “What Flash versus HTML5 is really about…”
Category: news
Hardware Review: Sigma 4.5mm Fisheye (Circular)
As things start to settle down again, I’ve got a pile of reviews pending work, so this past weekend, while in bachelor status temporarily, I really knocked out a few projects, including getting caught up on some overdue reviews and blog writing. Today, the first of these projects is the Sigma 4.5mm fisheye lens review. This is a super cool lens, and has a lot of opportunities for creative exploration. I took the typical test shots indoors to get a feel for where it’s strengths and weaknesses are, how it focuses, and then took to the streets. Continue reading “Hardware Review: Sigma 4.5mm Fisheye (Circular)”
Droid 2
So, the Droid has been in use for about a week now…and I gave some initial feedback on it yesterday, but thought it might be helpful to give a short video on how to tether the Droid to a computer. It’s pretty straightforward, so here you are (special shout outs to Rich Charpentier for requesting it)…
As you can see – nothing too difficult or fancy to tether a Droid, which makes for great file manipulation and transfer, which means photos are also easily archived across multiple platforms! How are others tethering their smart phones? Just as easily? I didn’t like the Touch having to go through iTunes and be “licensed” on each computer. Thoughts and feedback welcome in the comments!
Don’t forget – I am also sharing pics daily on http://mydroidpics.com Won’t set the photo world on fire, but you can get an idea of the quality of images coming off the Droid! 🙂 Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!
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The Droid Hath Come
That’s right folks – the time has come for an upgrade to my rinky dinky 1990’s flip phone. I’ve gotten with the decade and upgraded to a Droid from Motorola (yes, I am on Verizon). The upgrade was pretty smooth, although the “tech” at Best Buy had trouble migrating my contacts over. Since I use Gmail for most of my contact info anyway, I figured it would migrate in pretty seamlessly once I got online and sure enough, everything pulled down no problem.
So, how is this related to photography? Well, I can now take and share 5 MP photos with much more ease. The Droid also has an app for Audioboo, so I can go back to creating audio shorts regularly on all things photography too. Plus, as photographers, let’s face it, we are gadget-hounds, and this is definitely a gadget worth considering. Here’s a couple pics I took of the Droid the other day:
There’s the Main screen of the Droid, with my own wallpaper already selected as the background. The audio port is the 3.5mm standard, and another neat feature I like is the micro-USB port for charging and tethering to a computer (that’s right, tethering to a computer!) Check it out:
And, the headphone jack which is right next to the on/off button – makes it easy to find and access:
And, last but not least – the 5 MP camera! This is probably what I am most excited about!
If you’d like to see some actual pics from the camera… check out the new blog I set up just for that purpose. I’ll try to post a shot or two every day over at: www.mydroidpics.com
That’s it for today, but more photo goodness coming tomorrow, but I can’t tell you yet (it’s a surprise!)…happy shooting and we’ll see you then!
Over $2000 in prizes!
With April in the books a new winner has been determined. It was a really tough call as all the entries this month were deserving, and each could have easily been considered a winner given the theme, the composition, creativity, and treatment. All in all, the cream really has risen to the top, and I am seeing some really impressive quality in the images this month.
Okay, enough dancing around the subject. The winner is:
Bryan F
Seriously, I don’t know if I can keep doing these contests, because every month the decision gets more and more difficult to make. It was a real toss up, and the only reason this one topped the others is because of the sense of tension brought to the image as well. I just kept coming back to it saying “Wow…” So, congrats to Bryan F – he is officially now the first repeat winner on LDP, and also he marks the winner who took us over the threshold of $200o in giveaway prizes! Pretty cool if you think about it – on many counts!
In new contest news – the May contest is now underway, and the theme this month is:
WIDE!
The reason? Well, by now you should know that themes are typically based around some premise of the prize, and since the prize this month is the well-respected PTGui Panorama Software (thanks to the folks over at PTGui for their generous sponsorship). Given the nature of the contest theme, there will be a slight variation this month: images should be no wider than 1600pixels on the longest side. The theme lends itself toward panorama shots, so it would be silly to restrict the dimensions to prevent any decent panos. This will also be noted in the contest thread up on Flickr. Get clicking and above all, have some fun! Deadline is the last Friday in May (28th).
Oh, and in case you can’t keep that in mind – download a May Calendar (yup, they are back at least temporarily…more on that on tomorrows blog post). For now, feel free to download your own desktop sized calendar from the links below:
For those interested in the technique, be sure to tune in tomorrow. Otherwise, happy shooting, good luck in the May contest, and we’ll see you back here mañana!
P.S. For vendors interested in sponsoring a contest or future giveaway, I am getting caught up now and ready to start scheduling giveaway content starting in August 2010. For readers, if you know of any vendors that would be cool for prizes, by all means, let me know and I’ll see if I can’t get them on board!Welcome to the neighborhood!
Not sure if you all remember when we moved a while back, and our first day in, the next door neighbors called Animal Control because our dog was following us in and out of the house as we unloaded. It took some talking, negotiating and convincing, but we did finagle a deal so that the dog wouldn’t be hauled off to doggie jail. It was not the kind of welcome we were looking for. Suffice to say, the lack of any real friendly neighbors or sense of community was kind of a motivating factor in our desire to find new digs.
So, when we found this place, the reception we would get was one thing we were a little curious about. Moving day was Friday. Saturday we re-assembled furniture (beds, sofas, TV’s, half the computer setup, etc.) and Sunday we started unpacking boxes. In the midst of our unpacking, our agent stopped by with a card, a planter of tulips, and a welcome mat (very generous given her commission on both properties). Well, maybe not the best “thanks for your business” gift relative to monies spent, but still a nice gesture. When we did finally meet our next door neighbor, this was the welcome we got:
And they say a sense of community is disappearing! We’ll be hard-pressed to move again…
Here's Your Sign…
Anyone know that song? It’s done up by a comedian Bill Engvall, where people would ask him silly questions and he’d hand them a silly sign so you know not to ask them anything. It’s a funny bit, but one really has stuck out in my mind over the course of the weekend. His family is in the process of packing up to move, moving van in the driveway and as they load things up, the neighbor comes over and asks:
“You movin’?”
His response (which still cracks me up), was “Nope! We pack things up once or twice a month – just to see how many boxes it takes!”
As the last box was unloaded into our new garage this weekend, I literally knew how many boxes it takes! (A lot!) Here’s what we saw as we began to tackle the task of unpacking:
So, what do you think? How many boxes did you think it takes? Can you count them all? Post your best guess in the comments – the person guessing closest to the actual number will win something fun (without going over of course – kinda like The Price is Right)! Post your best guess by the end of the week to be entered in this unofficial “contest”!
Update: It took us longer to settle the dust on unpacking, but it’s pretty much done now and the box count has been officially determined. The total was at 116! Congrats to Myles for his closest guess of 87! Send me an email to claim your prize! 🙂
Off the Grid…
The moment of truth is at hand – the computers, the laptop, the Drobo (yikes!), all of it is getting turned off today. That means for roughly the next 24 hours, you will not be able to reach me anywhere! Not on Twitter, not on the blog, my podcast, via Flickr contests, iTunes apps – nowhere! (Except maybe work! 🙂 )
Don’t get me wrong – you can still call, email, leave comments, post to Flickr and all of that, I just won’t be able to read it! The good news is that our service will be reconnected at the new place Saturday morning. Can we do it? Can we go without being seamlessly connected for 24 hours? It’s do or die! Hope to see you on the flip side! Happy shooting all and have a good weekend!
What's New in iTunes?
With all the buzz and news wrangling to get the latest info on the iPad and iBookstore, people should keep in mind that there is still a HUGE following on iTunes for everything from music to applications, and then, there’s one other thing…oh yeah, podcasts!
Funny that podcasts is mentioned today, because a new one is due out shortly here – and what better way to grab the latest podcast in your very own LDP iTunes App! Yep, in an effort to let you grab the shows in any way that suits your needs, there is now also a dedicated iTunes App for those that enjoy the show. In addition to the normal show content, additional features will be available like digital downloads, calendar themes, and other sorts of fun content. Other easy one-touch options also include:
- Email the show direct from your iPhone or iTouch
- Visit the website
- Follow on Twitter
- Call the Show for free (you can call from a landline too at: 866-809-8663)
Check it out when you have a minute here:
Learning Digital Photography iTunes Application
I also have a coupon or two, so if you are interested in downloading the app – who knows, maybe some lucky commenter (completely at random of course, say between now and the end of April made on this specific post) will get a copy of the app on the house! (hint hint…! 🙂 )
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: Continue reading “And the Oscar Goes to…”