Category: thoughts

The problem with words…

Jason10 Comments

Recently, I learned that the Isle of Palms (IOP) in South Carolina has made it illegal for photographers to take commercial photography onto the public beaches.  The specific phraseology of a recently posted page for IOP states that:

“Commercial activity, including photograpy, is prohibited on the Isle of Palms beach.  Unless a special exemption is granted by City Council, photographers who take portraits or photographs on the Isle of Palms beach as part of a commercial transaction are in violation of City ordinances.”

For now I will ignore the part where they mis-spelled photography as ‘photograpy’ (because it’s probably just a typo).  Instead I would like to take a moment to discuss the larger implication of making photography illegal.  It is noted further down that commercial photographers can “obtain an exemption” but this is far different from the traditional practice of “requiring a permit”.  This is basically making photography illegal.  You can be granted an exemption from legal enforcement if you request it from City Council, but that is entirely different than requiring a professional photographer to pay for a permit at City Hall.

IOP Laws on Commercial Photography

View the full page here

Keep in mind that coastal beaches are publicly owned and maintained by the state, and thus public access is required.  While restricting the nature of access is fine, the verbiage here presents serious problems and implications for photographers.  So, the burning questions in my mind are:

  • Can IOP do this?
  • Is this an acceptable practice?
  • Does the ASMP know about this?  If so, why aren’t they taking appropriate actions?

Why has no one come forward to challenge the legality of this law, because on prima facia grounds, it seems to run in direction contradiction with traditional practices toward permitting and banning of commercial activities.  Typically, commercial activity requires simply paying a fee at the local municipality, obtaining the permit to continue, and then continuing.  That is not the case here – they are requiring an exemption to be granted by the entire City Council!  Lastly, I also cannot help but wonder where organizations like the ASMP haven’t gotten involved or taken exception to this.

I understand what SC is trying to do, and don’t necessarily have a problem with the intent – what does appear to be problematic though…are the words.  Worded correctly, there would be absolutely no issue with this, but as it currently stands, there is a definite problem with the words!  What do you think?  Vote in the poll or sound off in the comments…

[poll id=”11“]

Hardware Review: Sigma 4.5mm Fisheye (Circular)

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Sigma 4.5mm f2.8 Circular Fisheye
Sigma 4.5mm f2.8 Circular Fisheye

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)” →

Ammo in the armaments

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Last night the DALPUG (Denver Area Lightroom Users Group) had their bi-monthly meeting and host Brian Reyman walked us through some of the features of the Lightroom 3 Beta.  It was a gret seminar and offered an opportunity for many to get an idea of what to expect.  I had not realized that there are many work flow options out there because when queried, the audience responded with quite the variety of software approaches.  We didn’t officially count votes, but it seemed roughly along these lines:

40% Lightroom 2

40% Photoshop CS (no query here on version #)

10% Aperture

10% Elements or some other platform, including GIMP, Corel, and others…

If you think about it – the first software platform you learn for editing photos is usually the one where you really cut your teeth, grind your fingers to the bones, and once you know it, you just know it.  So, for a new software application to come out and challenge the fact that you have this established work flow, suggesting that there is a better way can often be both disheartening and somewhat defeating.  After all, some of us can even remember dodging and burning negatives in a dark room not too long ago.

It was quite an epiphany though to see people from such a wide variety of backgrounds – some younger than me (in their 20’s), many in my age range (30’s – 40’s), and others even senior to me (50’s and up) coming out to learn about this new-fangled technology of Lightroom 3.

What it brought to mind for me was a fundamental dichotomy in the way photography has transformed us.  We have learned so much and in such a little time frame, yet there are always barriers to learning more, not the least of which is our own prejudices.  We learn something, we know something inside and out, and then something new comes along that changes the paradigm.  It’s no wonder there is still so much confusion over what “the best” way to work through images is.

One the one hand, if you have a flow, and it works – why change something that does what you want it to do, and it’s something you not only know, but are reasonably good at?  Meanwhile, on the other – what if you are spending countless hours doing something much slower than you wish it could be and this new carrot is being dangled?  Do you stick to your guns or do you lay that gun down and find a new one that fires better?

It’s a struggle to be sure, and while sticking to your guns can be a good thing in the face of a changing technology, for those of us that stick too long, we can ultimately find ourselves actually staring down the barrel of a gun.  It’s all ammo in the armaments and the important lesson I learned is that while the principles may not change the tools to flex those principles are always changing.

So, the answer for me is to stick to my guns in principle, but be ready for a new rifle and prepare to adapt to meet the needs of that new tool, because odds are, the new one will ultimately do it better, faster, and cleaner than anything that came before it….eventually!

Sort of a philosophical musing for today, but nonetheless one I wanted to share, and hopefully get some feedback on.  Are you an early adopter?  Do you come out guns blazing with new technology whenever it becomes available, or do you stick with the rounds that you know how to fire until the proven replacement has been demonstrated and taught?  Sound off in the comments, and come on back tomorrow for yet another round! 🙂

Trade show transitions…

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In the most recent podcast Erik and I talked about several upcoming trade shows, including PMA, WPPI, PSW, and GPP to name just a few.  Lots of acronyms though and it can leave many questions open about which ones to attend.  While we tried to cover the nuts and bolts of each, one thing was not really discussed to a great degree, and I thought I would share my own thoughts on the future of trade shows here today.  To do that though, there are two key news nuggets that tie into today’s post to kind of set the stage:

  1. This year marked the first year that Apple declined to participate at Macworld…
  2. This year Canon also decided to not have a booth at the venerable PMA Show…

This may be the tip of an iceberg or a coincidence, but my guess is that it is a hint of things to come.  With technology changing more quicky than many can even keep up, the trade shows of yesterday are not going to be the trade shows of the future.  I hate to sound like an old fogey, but back in the day, trade shows were the platform that vendors used to announce new products that spent years in R&D.  Not anymore, as the window for R&D has dropped significantly, and tailoring your development to an annual trade show could lead you down many dangerous routes as a vendor…

  • Dangerous route #1 – Technology changes at a pace faster than you anticipate and when you launch that 8MP camera in a market where 18MP is the latest and greatest, all that R&D, marketing, and advertising money was pretty much burned for nothing.
  • Dangerous route #2 – You predict a pace of technology and make projected announcements on that prediction.  Tech moves slower than anticipated and the 18MP camera you promised at next years show is only a 12MP.  An equally embarrassing fiasco for the PR dept to deal with.

So why attend trade shows?  I don’t think they will last much longer as venues to “pimp new products”.  Sure there will always be secondary and tertiary players that introduce new gear, but I think the trade show will turn more toward a networking show where professionals can network with one another and with possible vendors.  From a personal perspective, I’ve already talked to several contest sponsors from previous contests that have asked if I will be attending show X or show Y so we can talk about new sponsorships.

The face time and interaction between the working folks and the vendors is what gets deals done.  Vendors get evangelists that talk up their products and pros get gear and software deals at pretty good discounts (and sometimes free).  It’s a win-win situation for both, and the larger community can also put a personal spin on the gear they want and/or like.  It also comes down to the 6 degrees of separation mentality that people associate themselves with.  They associate with another photographer or a professional who uses a certain kind of gear, and they see the results of that, and it’s only natural to think that the gear may have something to do with it (and sometimes it does…). Here’s a few good examples of the line of thinking:

  • “Hey, I was at a Scott Kelby seminar and he talked up that Elinchrom light set…I should take a look at that…”
  • “What was that lightbox thing Jason and Erik mentioned on their last podcast?”
  • “Alex on the photo walk last month mentioned some book on workflow in Lightroom for photographers…gotta make a note of that…”

You get the idea…Scott Kelby is a pretty big name, and while we’re not as “well-known” as Scott, we do have an established set of followers or regulars that read our material.  Photo walk leaders also carry weight in their messages too, and Alex is no exception.  He is a great photographer, a super friend, and when he recommends a product, you can bet I will listen to what he has to say.!

So, I think the networking and social connection aspect of trade shows will really be the impetus for the future.  It always has been to a certain degree, but not nearly so much as I think it will in the future.  That’s just my two ¢ though, and you know what they say about opinions – they’re like…..haircuts (everyone has one).

Speaking of which, what are your thoughts on the next phase for trade shows?  Will more big names bow out?  Or is it just the economy and as soon as we’re back on solid ground they will come back into the mix?  Having not attended any, I gotta say I am kind of guessing from the outside looking in, so if anyone has attended trade shows themselves, feel free to chime in here.

Which ones have you attended?  What did you gain or get from the show?  Positive experience or worst thing ever?  Sound off in the comments.  In the meantime though, there’s only a few days left in the Flickr contest for February, and the theme is Height!

How To Make Your Pictures Sing!

Jason2 Comments

Mexican Wall Art
Mexican Wall Art

While recently listening to This Week in Tech (a great podcast, and I highly recommend it), the show host, Leo Laporte, made an interesting observation about the advancement of technology.  He was musing about the changes that have happened in audio consumption.  We listen to much of our music in iPods and portable music players, when not too long ago, we were confined to a certain space.  To that end, he noted that the technology of audio in those days revolved around things like the number of amps, tweeters and woofers, quadraphonics, decibels, and much of that technical information.  We jam-packed our houses with stereo components, our cars with subwoofers, and on and on.  To get truly high quality audio you needed to have resources (a.k.a. money), and the producers of that audio content was restrictive because of the costs.

Not today – these days you can plug a $5 microphone into a USB port on a $400 computer, say or sing anything you want, and almost instantly have beautiful high quality digital recordings of whatever you like. This is a good thing though – because even though more people are recording audio, what matters is what the message of that audio is saying.  I can’t just go on the podcast and talk about nothing because no one would listen…although sometimes it feels like I am blathering on and on!  🙂  As the old saying goes, “content is king“!  Leo’s observation was that in the audio world, it’s a wonderful thing because anyone can produce audio, and there are now more voices for creativity.  With the lower cost of entry to producing high end audio, two questions came about.  The first is “What does that content say (what is the point, or message)?”  The second is “How do you want to consume that media?” (With the options being whether you want it on a CD in your car, on your iPod at the gym, on your computer as you work, or where ever.)

It was a very astute observation, and that description applies to other media as well.  I am, of course, thinking about photography.  Think about the analogy for a minute.  For the longest time we had the film world, and as ASA speeds got better, grain got finer, the size and quality of image development improved as technology permitted.  With the movement to the digital world, and the subsequent “Megapixel Wars”, capturing high quality detail in your photography was no longer such an arduous process.  I believe we are at a crossroad now in digital photography, where the technology has expanded to a quality level that anyone is able to produce excellent quality images, in terms of technical details. The portability factor for audiophiles doesn’t really apply as much to photography though as the medium is more portable by definition.  You are also looking at the image rather than listening to it.

The advances in the technology of photography has also introduced a creative outlet for many where it previously did not exist.  The decreasing costs of production have allowed many to find their “photography voice”.  With the holidays upon us, many are likely to get a shiny new camera with lots of bells and whistles, and for some out there, this will be an opportunity to “sing”!  It’s an exciting time to be a part of the chorus because with so many voices, there are lots of melodies and harmonies to be heard and enjoyed.

This will undoubtedly lead many to ask “So, how do I make my pictures sing?”  It’s a great question, and one that I have been tackling in some way, shape, or form for some time now from various points of view, including technical, compositional, and subtle intangibles that are all part of this larger question of how to better express yourself photographically.  There’s more to come on that, and I’ll be sharing more thoughts on this in the weeks to come.  But it is a good exercise, so I would like to throw it to the reading and listening audiences.  As we take a blogging break over the holidays, ask yourself (and post your thoughts here in the blog)  the following two questions:

  1. Can pictures really “sing”?  Why, or why not?
  2. If so, what does it take to make your pictures sing?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!  As a reminder, you can also now embed photos in your comments by using the link to attach a URL.  Happy shooting, Merry Christmas, and we’ll see you back here next week!

P.S.  Don’t forget – next week is the last week to add your “Giving” themed photos to the December Giveaway!  Should be lots of opportunities to capture some photos with that theme over the weekend!  There’s over $400 in prizes will go to one lucky person, so post your best photo to the Flickr thread here.  The guidelines are posted there, so be sure to check those to make sure your entry is counted…Happy Shooting and good luck to all!

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Geek Factor Alert

Jason4 Comments

Today’s post comes courtesy of a comment posted to Twitter from a friend (who shall remain nameless) asking about whether a particular camera was compatible with their computer.

Being the eternal geek, I jumped right in (figured the water was warm), and suggested that it shouldn’t matter because they are using a card reader…right?  As it turns out, they were not, instead tethering the camera to the computer to transfer files.  While this method is needed for instant viewing (see the tethering via Lightroom post using Canon here and Nikon here), it’s not recommended for transferring of your photos and video off a card that is in your camera.  I tried to find a post on this to point the person to and realized that, son-of-a-gun, I had never really discussed this in detail.  So… here we go! 🙂

There are a number of reasons why it is a good idea to use a card reader and not connect your camera to your computer for transferring images and video:

  1. Data loss/corruption – The chances for losing data is so much higher because you are relying on the computer detecting the camera, and the proprietary interface between that and the computer (with drivers and software and all that jazz).
  2. Battery drain – Unless you have an AC adapter, using your camera to transfer pictures to your computer can be a serious drain on batteries…even with rechargeable batteries.  And, if you are transferring images to your computer and your camera batteries happen to die, guess what can happen…(see #1 above)!
  3. Software installation – When connecting your camera to your computer, often times you will need to install software in order for the computer to recognize the camera.  Easy enough sure, but do you really want to bog down your computer with unnecessary software?  What if that software is written to preload whenever the computer turns on?  Now computer performance is decreased, you have less space for other things.  Sure, hard drives are increasing in size and decreasing in cost all the time, but consider whether you will ever use the software for anything other than image transfer.  If yes, then absolutely, use it.  But if not – why bother?  From an IT perspective, if there is a way to do something without installing software, that is always preferred to adding another layer because adding that layer adds a breaking point (or point of failure), and it’s just another item that needs maintenance and updates.  After all, let’s face it.  Software is not as cleanly written as it used to be…
  4. Transfer speeds – Seriously.  Many don’t realize it, but data transfers happen a lot faster when you don’t have a camera sitting between you and the computer.  What may taken upwards of 3-5 minutes with a camera acting as the medium can often take less than 2 minutes with a straight connection to the media card.

So, there you have it, 4 reasons to use a card reader!  Need any more?  Got any of your own?  Think I’m wrong?  Please feel free to contribute your own experiences and share your own thoughts in the comments.  Until tomorrow, happy shooting all!

The Beauty of Bokeh Revisited

Jason3 Comments

I know – the blog has not gotten much attention lately.  My apologies – but after the job loss, and pounding the pavement, my schedule has tightened up considerably, so the “planned posts” have pretty much been exhausted as I let myself get behind.  The good news is that with several opportunities on the horizon, I am a little less stressed about “real world” economics, and can dedicate some time back to the blog.  A few items of note:

#1 – The Year End Blowout Bash is underway – and LDP/Canon Blogger is giving away a ton of goodies.  I posted details about this last week, but in the interests of giving it a little more “face time”, I would encourage everyone to start thinking about their “giving” themed photos – could mean some seriously cool prizes coming your way to start the new year off right!  More details on the prize package and such here:

#2 – The 3rd edition of the LDP Newsletter is forthcoming – with some little known tidbits about the guests on most recent podcasts, including nuggets from David DuChemin and Andie Smith, as well as the monthly roundup, great quotes and christmas/holiday ideas for the photo buff in all of us.

#3 – With many things under way both professionally and personally for this time of year – the posting schedule that I had been adhering to for most of the year (hardware, software review, composition, podcast, etc.) is likely not going to be followed as strictly as things will be done more on a “catch as catch can” sort of thing.  If you like tuning in for one thing or another – keep on reading because the stuff you like will be there, just maybe not on the schedule you are accustomed to.

#4 – Last up, I’d like to point out that the donations tab is still active, and all are welcome to contribute via that conduit – but in the interests of getting some tangible things back to the reader and listeners that have been so encouraging, I am going to be coming out with some short eBooks (5-10 pages max) and there is a new link for the website to bookmark for that content:  https://canonblogger.com/store  While I am getting a fairly good idea of things readers and listeners would like to see/hear, feel free to send in questions, comments, suggestions and the like for store content as I am open to input.

So, with the vegetables out of the way, I’d like to delve into the “meat and ‘taters” segment of today’s post and that lies in the title:  bokeh

For those of you that may not be aware, bokeh refers to the blurred portions that are out of focus behind your subject matter.  The quality and nature of that out of focus portion can really enhance a photo, and can even become the subject matter itself when looked at creatively.  Now, I‘ve talked here on the blog about bokeh in the past, but in the spirit of the holidays, I thought it would be fun to share some samples of images where I actually forced the entire scene out of focus, to basically make the bokeh the subject:

The Beauty of Bokeh #1
The Beauty of Bokeh #1

The Beauty of Bokeh #2
The Beauty of Bokeh #2

The Beauty of Bokeh #3
The Beauty of Bokeh #3

The Beauty of Bokeh #4
The Beauty of Bokeh #4

The Beauty of Bokeh #5
The Beauty of Bokeh #5

As the samples show, you can make some pretty fun use of blur and bokeh.  Shapes lend themselves well, and varieties in colors, as well as monochromes too.  Another thing – when getting bokeh and blur – don’t worry too much about noise and crank the ISO if need be – it’s all about your creative mind.  You can remove noise if you must, but the idea is to capture something in a new way and getting bokeh this time of year specifically can be a lot of fun.  A few suggestions though:

    1. Look for shapes, as suggesting what the subject might really be can catch visual interest by teasing the eye – you know what it is by the shape…
    2. Look for light, because without much variation in light or bright spots, the bokeh will end up looking like just some smudges of a limited tonal range
    3. Use your best lens(es) as these produce softer bokeh – less angular edges, and more rounded or smooth textures, which is usually better for bokeh (“better for bokeh”, did I just say that?)
  1. Shoot wide open, then switch to manual focus and intentionally blur – push the lens further out of focus for variations on your bokeh elements.   Watch what happens and adjust to taste.

So, there’s a few ideas for you – there could be an eBook coming out on this later with more samples and suggestions so let me know if this whets your appetite.  Do you like the idea?  Want to see more?  Get more tips on shooting for the abstract?  Do the photos above help or hurt the idea?  Do you like them or think there are better samples?  Got any of your own?  Feel free to post links to your own libraries of bokeh and blur for everyone to enjoy – there might even be a newsletter mention in it for ya! 🙂

That’s gonna do it for today – coming up later this week, the aforementioned newsletter, another podcast, and much more, so keep on shooting, until then, may your batteries be charged and your memory cards filled with lots of photos this holiday season.  Now get out there and shoot ya some! 🙂

Post # 499: Audioboo Addition!

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As promised, as we gear up for magical #500 tomorrow – more content has been added to the blog.  This is not something that can be gotten from the feed though, so for you feed readers out there, stop over the the blog and check out the new widget in the side panel that has links to… AudioBoo!

audioboo

So, what is Audioboo?  AudioBoo is a unique way for people with iPhones and iPod Touches to share their short audio recordings – courtesy of the folks at Audioboo.fm  It’s kind of a cool concept, because the recordings (called “boos”) are typically short – 2-5 minutes in length, and if you visit the site, you can see there is quite a bit of content there.  If you’d like to pick up my audio feed from that directly, you can grab the RSS for that by following this link:  http://audioboo.fm/profile/CBJason.

The whole premise behind this is that I can deliver audio tips and tricks, thoughts and ideas relating to photography to you whenever a good idea strikes!  It should be a fun experiment and I can promise that there will be some personal stuff to give a little more variety too (like my favorite brew at a local microbrewery!)  Fair warning – as football season rapidly approaches, you may here more Broncos talk too!  I’ll try to stay on point with photography ideas though, so either pick up the feed there, or (preferrably) visit the blog regularly for content updates.  This is definitely in a beta stage and may grow or fade away depending on interest, time, and other factors.

In other news, I’ve had a number of people as about photos taken from the star tracking station I built and recorded onto YouTube.  Unfortunately, the astrophotography gods have not been kind thus far as the night sky has had a lot of cloudiness.  Hopefully this weekend will be more favorable – but I am planning on packing it into the bottom of my checked back on my upcoming trip.

Speaking of which, thanks to everyone who gave their thoughts on what the last book should be for the trip.  I’ll likely be making my book purchases through Amazon this weekend (unless the library comes through for me again! 🙂 ), and I’ll have an announcement on Monday of who wins the B&H gift card, so be sure to stay tuned for that!

Given the title of this post – you should at least have an idea of what’s coming tomorrow – but it’s a two-fold announcement, and because it’s just so cool, I am going to be announcing something big for the September Giveaway too!  And how’s that for a great segue to let you know that there is little time left in the August Giveaway – where you can Win a Wacom!  (Click the link for the Flickr thread and details.)

Well, that’s enough for today – happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow for the big one!

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