Category: thoughts

Rocket Man!

Jason9 Comments

Cleaning your gear is a maintenance ritual each of us must develop that suits our own style and behaviors.  For me it’s lists…logical lists that I formulate after thinking about what makes sense to me, so I can do things the same way every time.  For me it’s all about consistency and repeatability.  While this same technique is something I recommend for others, it may not always be the best course of action if you don’t like that kind of rigidity.

However, regardless of what styles or approaches you use to clean your gear (and I’ve talked about my approach to gear maintenance in the past in detail), some of the best recommendations I can make is in reference to the types of utilities and tools you use.  So, today, I’d like to take a look at one of the tools that I have come to rely on more than any other – the Giottos Rocket Blower.

giottos

So, what makes this thing so great?  Funny you should ask, let’s get started with the…

PROS

  1. It’s got an air valve built in to prevent it from taking in dust and dirt on the intake end.  This design (I would venture to say) was a first-of-its-kind in cleaning accessories, because every other blower that I’ve seen prior to this made no such claim, which means that they hadn’t incorporated the idea into their design at all.
  2. It’s air at the ambient temperature.  Too many canned air options use chemicals that can be damaging to your sensor – my recommendation is to stay away from canned air entirely.
  3. It’s not super fast air being directed at your sensor like a missle.  Although it kind of looks like a grenade (these are fun to take through airport security! 🙂 ), the power behind the discharge of air is not like that stinging charge that comes from canned air options.  You have more control over the flow of air too, as you can give it a quick pump or a slower steadier pump depending on what you want to do.
  4. It’s not weak air like from many other pump-style – this thing really can deliver a good blast of air to get the most stubborn dust out of a sensor area, or the surface of a lens.  Just don’t use it around your dog that likes squeak-toys because it does give a little sound like that due to the air valve!
  5. It’s dirt cheap!  This retails at B&H for $15!  Low cost solutions are always a huge pro in my book.  The picture above also includes a link to the B&H page for it.  If you are a NAPP member, you can also get free 3-day shipping.  Just my cup of tea!
  6. It looks like a grenade!  Talk about a cool conversation piece.  I can’t tell you the number of airport security people that have asked me “What the hell is that?” !

CONS

  1. It looks like a grenade.  I can’t tell you the number of airport security people that have asked me “What the hell is that?”!  The cool factor wears off when you are trying to catch a plane, or it’s oh-dark hundred and you’ve not had any coffee because they won’t let that suspicious looking McDonalds or Starbucks cup through the security gate.  (That same cup of coffee that costs $6 on the other side of security has been deemed safe though…go figure!)

There you have it, 6 pros and 1 con means this product gets a thumbs up in my book.  (Surprise surprise since it’s in my cleaning kit!)  As always, if you have any ideas, suggestions, or are interested in products that have not been covered here on the hardware review days, drop your thoughts into the comments area or kick me an email (is it possible to kick something that is all 1’s and 0’s inside a computer?).  Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Grab the feed

Seven Super Summer Tips

Jason2 Comments

Since the podcast went live yesterday, the compositional theme was kind of put on the back burner, so I’d like to bring that back to the forefront today with something everybody likes…a list!

For some reason lists of bullet points seem to generate a lot of feedback, and garner the most interest, so here we go with a set of what I am calling “Seven Summer Super Photo Tips”

  1. Shoot early, shoot late – it’s the “Golden Rule” – and I think we all know about it, so this is just a reminder.
  2. Shoot often – seriously, the eye does not improve creatively without practice, so get out as often as you can
  3. Shoot outside your comfort zone – Like landscapes eh?  Shoot some portraiture, macros, or event work.  Nothing gets creative juices flowing better than a challenge.
  4. Shoot lower than you stand – or higher, whatever – take a different vantage point as that can make all the difference.
  5. Shoot with one lens – Preferably with a prime as this will force you to zoom in or out with your feet, changing your perspective and getting your skills down really rote on the focal length you chose.
  6. Shoot with a friend – nothing makes the post shoot high more gratifying than chimping your shots with a photo buddy.
  7. Shoot for yourself – often photographers are thinking of what clients want, what an editor would like to see, or what may sell well on a stock site.  While it’s true that money puts bread on the table, it’s often liberating to shoot without the pressure of a paycheck.  Your results may surprise you!

So, there they are – seven super summer shooting photo tips!  There’s got to be more thoughts out there though on how to get the most of your imaging eforts, so let’s here from everyone – what are your best tips and tricks for capturing the world around you?  Sound off in the comments.  As always, happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Grab the feed

The Un-review Software

Jason10 Comments

This week I am going to talk about the lack of software in the weekly software review.  That’s right – the lack of it! You may be sitting there wondering which software item I am going to talk about, promote, or diss in some way shape or form, but instead of that, I actually want to talk about the general trending of software, hardware, and system resources.  Why?  Because we demand a lot from our computers these days.  Think about it – we want our computers to do many things from surfing the internet, to designing graphics, office functions, building websites, and yes, processing ever-increasing image file sizes.  At what point do we say we are asking enough of our computers?

Lately my main desktop computer had been getting slower and slower and slower, and it seemed no matter what I did whether it was beefing up the RAM, adding a faster hard drive, processor, or the like, and even re-installing the OS every 6 months – it was just getting pathetic.  At one point, I clocked abut 5 minutes for Firefox to start – on a fresh boot!  The culprit?  I am asking my computer to do too much.  I finally said enough is enough – and am re-purposing the computers in the house.  We have a grand total of five computers and each has a unique function:  from Office to web, to image processing, and podcasting.  And that’s just it – each computer has a task.  Yet I have not been disciplined about asking the computer to only perform its assigned task.  I revert to the one desktop and the one laptop.  The end result:  the systems s……l……o……w…… d……o……w……n…….

With a grand total of 78 programs at last count, it’s no wonder my cmputer was screaming “Mercy!”.  So, enough is enough.  I vowed to make each computer perform only one set of tasks, as explained above.  The end result:  removing about 50 applications from the main computer.  It took the better part of an evening (4 or 5 hours) but at the end, the computer is now screamingly fast again – and Firefox loads in seconds, not minutes.  The reason – purposing your computer for a specific software function.

So, instead of looking at adding new software all the time to your computers, you may want to take a look at the computer itself – is it doing the job you want, or are you asking too much?  Think about purposing your resources more efficiently.  Do you really need that HP 3600 printer driver on there from 4 years ago?  What about that trial version of Elements you downloaded a few months ago?  And the 4 instances of Tweetdeck you have there?  Really?  Clean out your software and watch your computer performance increase a notch or two as a result.  It’s just like us humans – we can get more done when we’re asked to do less all the time!  We’re faster, more productive, and yes, more focused on the task at hand.

So, check that installed software list and try cleaning things out from time to time – your computer will thank you!

Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

Photography Secret #1249871

Jason4 Comments

There are so many tricks and little tips to taking better photos – it often seems like millions, doesn’t it?  Well, it does to me.  I thought of one last night that thought the listening audience might enjoy.  This one is a toughie though (because it’s not that easy to do)…are you ready?  here goes:

Shoot for fun

Yep, that’s it.  I say it’s tough because we can often forget about the fun factor.  We get caught up in the gear, the software, rules of composition, ISO’s shutters, apertures, marketing, advertising, booking gigs, constantly on the go, and all that stuff.

Last night I went out shooting with a buddy in downtown Denver – he’s only in town for a couple days, so didn’t have a lot of time.  It was a last minute thing too, so not like I had time to do any major set up or preparation.  Instead, we walked the 16th street mall – I showed him a slice of life in downtown Denver.  We saw some street musicians and other performers, hit some of the tourist sites like the Performing Arts Center, Denver Post Building, etc., etc., etc.  This is all stuff I’d seen before (and taken shots of before).

The difference last night?  I was just out with a friend, shooting the breeze, talking about photography, laughing and joking around, then we grabbed a bite over at Maggiano’s, a great local Italian restaurant.  It wasn’t all about the photography though – we were just having fun.  Yet, we both got some photography in there too, because we’re both photography enthusiasts.  (Well, I am an enthusiast, he’s a professional – his career deals a lot with photography, so he knows a bit more about it and does a great deal more.)  We were just out having fun.  And we (or at least I) had a blast!

Plus, he gave me a few pointers, so that’s always a good thing – to learn a little while having fun.  But without the fun, the experience just isn’t the same.  So, if you want a little secret to taking great shots – make sure you are having fun!  If you’re having fun, you are more relaxed, and can go with the flow, letting creativity and inspiration come to you.  I know I had a lot of fun, and some creative moments came out of our outing last night.  So, to the rest of you – make sure you shoot for fun every once and a while – it can really help energize you!  I’ll try to get a gallery of shots together for posting later – but until then, just keep on shooting.  Thanks for stopping in and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Creative Vision – or not!

Jason4 Comments

When looking at image composition, many of the things we use as our foundation are the typical rules of the trade – things like the the Rule of Thirds, Sunny 16, Golden Mean, etc., etc., etc.  While these rules are all well and good, and they definitely are some of the fundamentals that we all incorporate as we see to create beautiful images – they do not constitute the entire picture (pardon the pun).  As photographers, we should also be challenging ourselves to look at things in unique and new or innovative ways.

For instance, take the Eiffel Tower.  This particular piece of architecture has been around for so long now that photographers have had an opportunity to capture this from pretty much every angle and in virtually all lighting conditions.  You would be hard pressed to come up with a new angle or an unused lighting style for this monument.  So, what if you take a trip to Paris – should you not even bother with a picture?  Of course not!  Snap away, be a tourist  want and get your other half mugging next to the Tower.

The same could be said for the Sistine Chapel, the Venus de Milo, or any other of thousands of historically significant and/or interesting works.  And seriously – what do you think would happen if you went on a trip to Paris, came back and said “Nope, no shots of the Eiffel Tower, been taken too much already, no sense in taking yet another shot of it.” If your family is anything like mine, people would look at you and wonder – “But, you’re a photographer!”

The point here is that you don’t always have to be “on” and looking for that next great shot.  In fact, the minute you stop trying so hard to find inspiration, in general, the faster inspiration finds you.    Let the boring snapshots happen – they’re fun, and a great way to connect with others.  Imagine being at some social function and you’ve got your camera.  Are you looking at the light, wondering what aperture/shutter settings you can feasibly hand hold at without over cranking your ISO, or are you enjoying the time spent with family and friends?  Before you answer that – answer this – which circumstance do you think will provide more inspiration and creativity?

Just the other day I was delivering some computer stuff to another building, which happened to be 14 floors up.  Sure, I have my camera with me – and I looked out the window.  Aerial photography has always intrigued me, but I had never given it another thought – until the other day.  So, didn’t really think much and pointed my camera out the window, just having fun and taking a few snaps of the scenes:

denverabove1

Quite the boring shot eh?  Certainly not even close to being on par with something like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Venus de Milo, or anything like that.  It’s pretty much a scene of nothing.  But from nothing, and from not even trying to always be “on” you can find your creativity and inspiration.  This shot was taken only ten seconds apart from the previous one:

denverabove2

Okay, so it’s still not as breath-taking as any of the other historical monuments, but you gotta admit, that curved line of the building receding into the distance is kinda neat, eh?  This isn’t really looking for props or accolades though.  The point here is to not let yourself become too preoccupied with achieving your next great “hero” shot on every capture.  That is only setting yourself up for failure because no one can attain that.  Sure, it’s important to try and stretch your creative muscle, and try new captures, and experiment with new styles, using different lighting and all the stuff that goes hand-in-hand with being a photographer, but remember, before you can be a photographer, you gotta be a person!

Enjoy photography, but don’t forget to live your life!

Don’t forget to pick up the feed for the blog and the podcast – all during the month of May, you could be shooting to win a copy of Lightroom!  One of the best ways to do that is to just go out and have some fun.  Forget about the details from time to time and just enjoy life – because that is when you will most likely get your hero shots – when you least expect them.  So, just enjoy life, and enjoy photography – the rest comes naturally!  Happy living and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

No Trumpts, No Fanfare, Nada

Jason2 Comments

As I was sorting through the CB archives for some content to update for todays post, it dawned on me that I blew right past post #400 without even a mention of thanks to anyone.  So, at post #411 (see, I really blew right past it), let me take a moment to give some belated thanks to the listening and reading audience for the past two plus years…

Your comments, feedback, emails, insights and thoughtful notes over this time have been very helpful and motivating in keeping the ball rolling, often through some rather tedious times.  I’ve had people share efforts to increase visibility through iTunes reviews, Digg promos, generous donations for offsetting bandwidth, Tweets and Re-tweets, pretty much the whole schmear!  It truly is humbling to see the amount of support I have received in this continuing journey, and today I would just like to say:

THANKS!

Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!

Can ordinary be interesting?

Jason4 Comments

A while back I took Tracy out for an afternon/evening in Denver.  I agreed to leave my camera behind, but in case she wanted to catch a moment for posterity’s sake, I grabbed the P&S one she asked for as a Christmas gift.  After her initial interest waned in taking pictures, I ended up with the camera in hand (go figure) and even shared a few here on the blog (remember the bottle caps in the grocery?).  Anyway, it got me to thinking about how to take ordinary scenes and make them interesting.  I guess that’s part of the role of being a photographer:  making the ordinary extraordinary.

We do see the world differently than others, and by capturing our vision, and then sharing it with the world with our particular expression, otherwise ordinary scenes can be seen in a new and different light.  With that idea in mind, here’s one I captured recently (with my own camera) that kind of spoke to me in that way:

_mg_8521

What made this unique for me was the ambient light.  No gels, no lighting tricks or anything – it was on our weekend getaway, and since not very many places outside of mountain cabins have things like wood stoves, the idea hit me to catch this scene.  What makes it (for me) is the fact that the ambient light is very “fireside”.  The tungsten light combined with the sun setting behind the trees outside made this a perfect scene.  So, up went the tripod, the shutter went long, and I kept the aperture up, and noise down.  (5 seconds, f10, and ISO 100 for the techies in the crowd).

I think it worked, but would like to hear from the readers out there.  Does this work?  Can ordinary scenes be made extraordinary?  What about the role a photographer has?  Is there really a “symbolic” or larger purpose for people who enjoy taking pictures?  What do you enjoy about photography?  Feel free to sound off in the comments, as there are no wrong answers here…

In the meantime, happy shooting and we’ll see you back here Friday!

Let Me Count the Ways…

Jason1 Comment

A Hallmark Holiday will be upon us tomorrow here in the U.S.  The flower, chocolate, and teddy bear industries probably generate at least half (if not more) of their annual revenue from this weekend alone.   As a photographer, you can take advantage of this in many ways (that’s right, there’s photo ops here too!)

Here’s a couple ideas for photo ops this weekend:

  • Flowers are always great for photos – get that macro lens out, and capture the detail of the petals.
  • Red, pink, blush, browns of chocolate, and much much more – lots of colors.  Throw your lens to manual and go deliberately out of focus for some great abstracts!
  • Taking your significant other some place special?  The views are likely appealing, so make sure you take a camera with you (even if it’s a compact). Sunset dinners (sunsets are great photo ops,  in my opinion, no matter how many times they’ve been captured already because each one is different!) provide venues too.  Near water?  Nothing better for reflections!
  • Valentine’s Portraits – lots of people become enamored enough to propose during this weekend – seize the day and offer couple’s portraits for the happy pair!

These are just a few ways to take advantage of the holiday.  Ahh, Valentine’s Day – how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.  How many ways can you think of to capture the day?  Share your ideas in the comments section.  In the meantime, Happy Valentine’s Day a little early.  Try not to think of today as Friday the 13th – instead think of it as the day before Valentine’s Day!  Happy Shooting and we’ll see you back here Monday.

Wanna Get Lucky?

Jason2 Comments

How many times have you seen a picture where it just made you say “WOW!  I wish I could capture something like that!”  And, you ask the person, “How’d you get that shot?”  Typically you’ll get an answer like “Just got lucky I guess.”  Well, I am not sure I buy into that.  Does luck really factor into taking good pictures?  Perhaps on rare occasions it does, because as the old saying goes, “Even a blind squirrel can find a nut occasionally”

But consistently taking good pictures requires more than luck.  It requires certain key elements that anyone can incorporate to increase their “keeper ratio”.  Today, I’ll look at 5 ways to increase your keepers.  So, here’s 5 ways to get lucky!

  1. Plan ahead.  Just the mere act of planning for a shot can help.  If you know you’re going to be in the mountains, take a wide angle lens with you.  If you know you’re going to be at a party, take that nifty fifty.  Wildlife?  Take a zoom!  Remember, prior planning not only prevents poor performance, but it also can help you take better pictures.
  2. Learn the technical stuff.  Know the technical stuff.  Memorize it.   There are certain fundamentals you just have to know, and by taking that sundry stuff and migrating it to a point where it’s in the back of your head and you don’t even have to think about it, then they can become tools.  If you understand apertures inside and out, then you can really use depth of field to create better pictures.  The same goes for planes of view, angles of view, composition rules, and all that other stuff.
  3. Take lots of pictures.  As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect.  So, stop reading forums, blogs, magazines, books, and all that stuff from time to time (except for my blog of course!), and get out there and practice, practice, practice!
  4. Look at the pictures of others.  Not only is appreciation of others work inspiring in its own right, but you can also train your eye to see what makes some images just “work”.
  5. Dedicate some time each day to do something related to photography.  It can be any of the above, from taking pictures, to editing pictures, looking at the works of others, studying your manual (learning about apertures, shutters, etc.), or any other photography-related ideas.  You can only improve your skills by repeated use.  Since I’ve referenced other idioms, another one could apply here:  If you don’t use it, you lose it.  Just like musicians who practice every day to get better, if you don’t practice your craft regularly, you won’t get better.

So, there you have it, 5 ways to improve your luck.  And this is just from my own perspective.  As is always the case when it comes to opinions, there are probably many more out there.  Got your own ideas about ways to “get lucky”?  Share them in the comments section or via email.  In the meantime, Happy Shooting – hope everyone can “get lucky”!