potd – Page 16 – CanonBlogger

A marriage made in Heaven – FTP and Raw

April 24, 2008 JasonLeave a comment

Yes, that’s right, I am taking a pretty drastic departure from the alliterative titles for posts, but today the two topical subjects are so widely divergent, the title seemed rather amusing. As most of my readership knows, I have been working for some time no on a variety of articles discussing how to create and publish your photos in an online web gallery. For those of you that missed the first few articles, check out the first two articles here and here. Well, today is the unveiling of the 3rd chapter – FTP software. I give a short comparative explanation of a few interface options for both Mac and Windows. That article will be downloadable at the end of the post.

For the other half of the post today, I’d actually like to give some kudos to Scott Kelby over on his blog Photoshop Insider, where he gives an excellent summary of the differences between how Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) functions in Photoshop versus Bridge and versus Lightroom. I know quite a few people (myself included at least initially when LR first came out) had some trouble grasping the differences between each of these uses, and Scott really gives an good post on clarifying this. Plus, it’s Scott Kelby, so there’s always some humor thrown in for good measure! Check it out when you have a minute.

We’re probably not going to get the needed count of 100 votes in the poll for this cycle, but if you haven’t yet, register your category today (see right hand panel for options). I’ll hopefully have a more thought-provoking poll available in May. I’m sure there’s more news to report, but what with getting the photo site (www.jasons-photography.com) more inline and presentable, as well as getting some actual business cards made up and starting to advertise and promote things, I’ve not read much on the web lately. For a good web resource on many of the latest happenings, stop over at Jason D. Moore’s site. He gives an excellent wrap-up every Monday, and has links to a lot of the more popular blogs and photo outlets on the net. He’s linked on the side panel too as I am a member of his blogroll (I actually had the honor of helping out and sitting in on a weekly P&P a week or so ago… *waves to Jason in case he’s reading*…)

Finally today, an amusing shot of the dog from messing around with ambient light earlier today on our afternoon walk (and I am starting to include larger sized images to share so if you click on the pic, be prepared for a pretty large image (1023×646):

So, with an article, a web link and a potd, I bid all the reading and viewing audience a good evening and wish you happy shooting tomorrow. Remember to watch those apertures! 😉

Creating templates

April 22, 2008 JasonLeave a comment

Hey all, today is tutorial Tuesday, and I share a technique I used recently in creating a calendar template to import client photos in. I could only get about half way through the tutorial before I had to stop (I am trying to keep video tutorials at or under 5 minutes), so this will be part 1 of a two part series. Today I show you how I created the graphics with some guides, and keeping things all manageable on just a couple levels. As usual, the tutorial is linked in both Flash (web based) and QuickTime (iPod/iTunes friendly) formats at the end of the post.

Additionally, I’ve got a few rather unique shots (I think anyway) from my outing to Magnolia Gardens this weekend. There was a heavy thunderstorm the previous day, so lots of opportunities for some macro and water works. Here’s two I thought that the viewing audience might enjoy:

That’s about it for today…a few photos and a tutorial for your viewing pleasure. A multimedia blowout this week thus far, with an article yesterday, photos and videos today, and who knows what tomorrow has in store…more articles, and maybe….an audio podcast *gasp!* (Likely not with the latter though – so no promises!) Until then, happy shooting and watch those apertures! 🙂

CB Episode 038: Calendar Template

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Friday Night Lighting…(and a funny)

April 18, 2008 JasonLeave a comment

Normally Frida posts are filled with humor, funny and generally stuff that is trivia to help keep us all grounded in reality and realize that there is more to life with photography. I am starting to get a little of a backlog with the projects I’ve been working on though, so I am goig to lighten the load by one project here today – and that is a DIY lighting project.

Before I continue, the DIY lighting concept is not something that comes easily to me, as I fully admit that I am no lighting pro. If you want pro advice, the best place to go is to Strobist where David Hobby hosts an excellent lighting blog that has become pretty much the place to go for lighting tutorials. What I have learned from that site would take days to rattle off here. So, rather than regale you with all of that, I’ll just say that Strobist has given me new insight into uses for everyday objects.

Here’s the lighting project – a while back David talked on his blog about using household items to create lighting peripherals such as reflectors, bounce lights, light stands, and has been a common theme for quite a while. So, the inspiration for this came from what to use to make your own DIY snoot. A snoot is a device that focuses the light from your flash (which you know of course to take off the camera if you want really good light).

Well, at work I noticed one day that a commercial industrial sized roll of TP had been used and the cardboard roller that it was on was just sitting on top of the paper towel dispenser. I picked it up, looked it over and it seemed to be close to the size of my 550EX flash. I took it home and tried it out – bingo! The only problem was, it really wasn’t long enough. Well, no biggie, I just waited another few weeks and sure enough, another TP roller appeared on top of the towel dispenser. I snaked that one away, and brought them home. A few pieces of scotch tape to attach the two devices together and I was ready for my test shot:

Notice the light leaking through the side though? Well, I decided good old duct tape might be able to fix that. So, a few tears and strips later, and I got this shot:

Looking a lot better now, but now I am noticing a little light seeping through the back end still – any ideas how to eliminate that, or is that there in most snoots? Not sure, but this cost me a grand total of probably 05 ¢ of tape. So, I played around with the distance, as David suggests over at the Strobist site, and I finally am happy to announce that this snoot works best at a distance of about 4′ from the subject, and (surprise surprise) at about a 45 degree angle to the subject. I was hamming it up for the camera just to give a little variety while I figured this out, and actually came out of the lighting test with a self-portrait I am not too ashamed of. It’s end-of-week scruff, so that will be gone come Monday, but I thought the lighting effect of a snoot (concentrated light) is pretty useful.

So, there it is – the Friday Night Light experiment. I know it’s late, but better late than never right? Anyone else have any DIY lighting experiments they want to share? If so, all are welcome to join in the comments area. Otherwise, have a great weekend, happy shooting, and watch those apertures! (mine was a little soft – but I think that may have been oof, not dof softness)…

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Fridays always feature a WTD cartoon, so here’s my fave of the week:

No blog Thursday – smelling the flowers (and shooting the moon!)

April 17, 2008 JasonLeave a comment

Sorry all – after my Jalbum tutorial hit on Wednesday, I spent the better part of my afternoon and evening talking with some of their folks – and they want me to do a few more videos for them. I excitedly started talking logistics, and details before putting together a few short versions for use on the website. At 11:30, I realized – egad – I’ve not done my Thursday Thoughts yet!

So…rather than try to cobble something together at the last minute, I’ll make this a no blog Thursday, and suggest that if you are still up, go outside and look at that moon! Man it’s gorgeous!

Photo Tuesday (to take your mind off taxes)

April 15, 2008 Jason4 Comments

Since I devoted Monday’s post to the Photography and Photoshop Blogroll report for Jason D. Moore, my other announcement got shifted back a day, so this week things will be a tad more compressed. I’ll try not to bore you with excessive links and heavy-handed material where you have to read a lot. That means – it’s Photo Tuesday! (The tutorial will be released Wednesday…since there’s no “Wednesday Web Gems” for the theme.) Besides, since it is a blog that I am pretty much writing single-handedly, I can change things up if I want, right? 🙂

So…for Photo Tuesday I thought I’d announce that I have a new gallery of photos put together on my dedicated photo site. The site portal is here: www.jasons-photography.com and the latest gallery addition is here. Please take a moment to stop over and then share your thoughts with me here (or via email) on the shots. Too many? Not enough? Layout? Treatment? Etc.? I’ve collected these images over the past 3-4 years and finally have enough (I think) for a dedicated gallery of wildlife. As a teaser, here’s a few thumbnails…all taken from my Canon XT and processed through Adobe Lightroom 2.0 (Beta)

As a final reminder, it is tax day here in the U.S., so if you haven’t done your taxes yet, today’s your last chance to get them in legally. If you’re a last minute kind of person, this is pretty much it! Well, that’s it for Tuesday – happy shooting and watch those apertures! 😉

Sunday/Monday Round-Up

April 13, 2008 JasonLeave a comment

A fellow blogger and photographer, Jason D. Moore, is out on a project this week and asked for some help in writing his weekly P&P (Photoshop & Photography) blogroll which comes out every Monday. With so many interesting and inspirational blogs and resources out there, I could hardly say no, so, this Monday I am happy to fill in for Jason in that regard. Andrew Smith is covering the first half (and is already finished, thereby indicating my slacker status), so be sure to stop over there to see what his half of the round-up includes. Since this took a little time to put together, I obviously had this done before Monday morning, so decided to post here on Sunday to catch the end of the week-end crowd. So, without further ado, on behalf of Jason (and Andrew), here is…

Jason Moore’s Weekly P&P #72:

· Photo Two-Twenty Kinda interesting blurred and shallow focus captures form a track meet. If you’re into abstract works, this is definitely one you should stop on over to see.

· PHOTOBLOG by Jim Larimer has been quiet for the last week or two, but nonetheless, his posts from the last week of March had some very powerful imagery. Worth a stop over just for the creative appeal he has.

· Photoshop Insider – Scott Kelby – Off in Dubai with his brother and good buddy Jeff Revell of PhotoWalk Pro notoriety (see below)

· Photoshop Killer Tips Pretty self explanatory from the title, Matt K. one of the Photoshop Guys gives a tip a day and worth checking out if you want to learn how to commit type, stop an action, clean up your palettes, and decrease file size.

· Photoshop Quicktips Looks like Justin has decided to focus his work efforts elsewhere as this has not seen much activity in a while, but his personal site (http://justinseeley.com) has been pretty regularly active with his sharing of content in the way of thoughts, reviews, and such. May want to update your links to his work accordingly.

· PhotoWalkPro : Jeff Revell joined his good buddy Scott Kelby and Scott’s brother in Dubai for a shoot. Posting some really cool images thus far, so will be one to keep an eye on! (Besides, he’s a devotee of photo walks, which I personally think is one of the best ways to learn, so definitely give the site a visit…

· Richard Vanek – Black and White Photography A quiet week for Richard as he’s been down and out with a bug of some kind. If you’ve never been here before, he’s got some great B&W shots – plus a dry sense of humor (but that’s a good thing!)

· Samuel Barr Photography A small prayer for Sam as he is out from Thursday on bereavement. Judging from past images and diversity fo subject matter, one to keep on your radar though…I love his work he posted Thursday as he made the announcement. Very powerful image!

· SDuffy Photography This weak Shawn shares info on mounting your pictures, some Flickr photo faves, and his own news reports on his “Friday Link Love”. Found a few myself to check out, so stop on over!

· Strobist An authority on lighting, David Hobby this week includes sticks and paint cans for stands, Honl Speed Grids, Reynolds Wrap backgrounds, and much more!

· Terry White’s Tech Blog Terry White’s coverage this week includes a great report on Elinchrom’s wireless peripherals for shooting tethered. Well worth reading!

· The Digital Story Derrick Story’s blog is a new one on me, and I wish I’d known about this sooner. This week’s news includes unlocking raw on P&S cameras and a Stephen Johnson interview via podcast.

· The Global Photographer Andy Biggs was out last week in Botswana and South Africa, so not much recent activity, but bookmark because on his return there should be some spectacular imagery there!

· Visual Realia Okay, yeah, this is Andrew’s so he gets a plug regardless, but Man Alive, he’s got some great floral shots! Great stuff here Andrew! I like how Andrew includes a short poem associated with each image too. Nice touch…

· Watch This Space Like bikes? Then be sure to stop over here as Stephen Waterfall shares his images from Forest City Velodrome where he went last weekend to shoot the race.

· What the Duck I’ve been including WTD comics on the blog for a while – great to keep levity when all around you things are falling to pieces. Always remember to laugh!

· Weekly Photography Tips Scott does a review of Matt K.’s book “Layers” from PSUTV. I’ve always liked Matt’s style, but Scott’s review makes me want to buy a couple copies of this. A good review too.

· What the Heck Journal Martin Andreasen has some interesting photos on his daily photo blog. If you need some creative inspiration or ideas, this is a great place to visit! You can see why he’s got the blog titled this way, and it definitely makes you stop and think…

Thursday’s Thought – HDR photography

March 20, 2008 Jason4 Comments

After Scott Sherman and Michael Stein’s most recent show from DPS, where they bring in Jeff Revell and talk about HDR photography, I am reminded of the attention that HDR got when CS2 first came out. I had tried some HDR back then and it really didn’t come out too well, likely because of the tone mapping that Jeff referred to.

So…now armed with CS3, and the recovery slider, I decided to re-visit some shots that were good candidates for HDR. As it turned out, with the recovery slider and a little bit of attention in Photoshop with normal layering, I turned out a few pretty good ones without having to go the HDR route. Here’s two:

So… anyone else into HDR photography out there? Share your thoughts, shots, and links to your own work in the comments.

Wow – Wednesday went fast!

March 19, 2008 Jason1 Comment

Wow…a long day at work, a short dinner, and a few diversions, now it’s 9:30 and the only “news” that I know of is that Canon released a firmware update for 2 cameras in the line – the 5D and the 30D. News hit the wire yesterday, and there’s a pretty good synopsis of it at the Adorama site, along with links to grab the updates. Check it out here: Canon Firmware Updates

In other news, today it seems Macworld got the bead on a new X-Rite product, called the Colormunki Photo

I am sure other news is out there to be had, but I’ve still got a frog in my throat, so will have to assume y’all know the news reels for the day. Since it’s kind of a skimpy web gem Wednesday, here’s a POTD I contributed to a thread over at the NAPP forums, theme of the thread: BOATS

Cypress Gardens, SC

Enjoy the break from the weekly post-news. We’ll catch up more tomorrow. As always, happy shooting and watch those apertures!

Monday Morning Meltdown

March 17, 2008 JasonLeave a comment

As a part of our daily routine, my wife and I take our dog for a walk every day of the week. Usually we both go, but if I am busy, or she is, the other will take the dog out so she gets her daily exercise. (The vet told us the dog was a tad on the heavy side – we just think she’s curvy!) Well, due to the time change, the sun was just coming down to the golden hours, so I couldn’t help but grab the camera and take it along in case some chance opportunity came up to get some good pictures of the dog. She’s a good girl, but she’s become very much like my wife in that they both look away (or flip me a particular finger or paw)) when I point the lens at them. Continue reading “Monday Morning Meltdown” →

Westward Ho!

March 6, 2008 Jason2 Comments

On this last full day of our travels through Colorado and Arizona, I must say there is something about the South and Southwest. In Denver the mountains were as breath-taking as I remembered. The sunshine, the skyline, and everything about it was just amazing. The same could also be said of Arizona with its clean fresh air, the beauty of the landscape, and the sheer vastness of the scenery. It revealed to me that the West has been and always will be in my blood. As we endeavor to find career paths that take us to our goal of Colorado, we’ll have to enjoy it from the pictures I have taken while on vacation. I’ll share a few of these at the end of this post. Continue reading “Westward Ho!” →