Archive for the 'Use your D-SLR' category

I assume that the lens choice was not the right one. Unfortunately, I could not find the author of this image.

With all this talk about existing Full-Frame photo cameras (Canon EOS 5D, Nikon D3) and about possibly upcoming new ones (Sony Alpha 900, Canon EOS 5D Mk II or some other similar name, etc.) many photographers happy with their existing digital equipment are wondering: “What’s all the fuss about?”

And it’s a good question to ask, but the answer goes with some of the comments about sensor resolution. About the same people who noticed that resolution is not all that counts (despite what is said or implied by some of the major brands on this market) also understand that going Full Frame is a possibly very important decision for the attentive digital photographer.

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When you have a web site, it becomes quite common that some people feel so easy to just borrow your images that they do not even take the time to make a copy on their own web site. Not only do they use your artwork, but they also use the bandwidth you paid for.

Normally, there is a solution. You can modify slightly your website to ensure that if this happens, the image served is not the original one, but a modified one (either a big red X, or a message to the reader). But it is a little difficult to do by hand. A wbe site tool comes handy for this: HTMLbasix – Htaccess Disable Hotlinking Code Generator.

SitePoint is giving away (for a limited time only) an excellent e-book about PhotoShop. It’s well worth the effort to donwload the PDF file.

SitePoint sensational Photoshop book is now FREE to Download!

Happy news here: I finally bought a lens I wanted for quite some time. I found and paid on eBay a Minolta APO G 400mm f/4.5 (Yes! The old white lens that is renowned so much for its optical and mechanical quality, while being nearly impossible to find in auctions).

It will go really well with the Giottos MT 8251 carbon tripod and the MH 1001-652 ball-head I bought a month ago in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China.

Soon to arrive from Osaka, Japan. I can’t wait.

I don’t know why (maybe because I’m looking for them) but I seem to find plenty of posts about optimizing your photography of food. Let’s share some of the best ones here:

• First, a real collection of them in one place: Big and Tasty Food Photography Tips Roundup.
• A smaller list of them: The Ten Tastiest Food Photography Tips, giving a list of things to manage correctly from the beginning.
• DIY: Light Beer describes a lighting problem for shooting clear bottles of beer.

This was a little event a few days ago: Adobe launched its first beta version of the online PhotoShop under the name of Photoshop Express. As it was easy to predict, it’s not as simple as marketing would like you to believe and you cannot replace one by the other as most of the reviews hereafter will show you:

• Les Numériques (en français): would better use Picasa to share the images prepared with Photoshop Express, and would want to see Raw files management, curves and histograms, and masks.
• Ars Technica (in English): it is rahter a cross between iPhoto and Adobe Bridge, but they love the basic features and (including color correction).
• Baekdal.com (in English) : disappointed; This is not an image editor, by far – just a fun way to apply a few corrections/effects. Woudl rather recommend Splashup, he feels is superior.
• Photojojo (in English): This is certainly not Photoshop but it does very well what it offers (basic image edition/correction).
• LifeHacker: Not the Full PS Package, but Good Web-Based Editing
• Pixinfo.com (in Hungarian): Honest! I didn’t understand what they think about it…

To notice: Photoshop Express is free, limited to 2GB of online storage (easy to reach) and in English only for now.

If you have a simple Point-n-Shoot digital camera, you may not know it, but you are limited more by the marketing teams than by the real technical constraints of your hardware. But if your camera is from Canon you may find an easy way out.

The Canon Hacker’s Development Kit is an open-source software project that can be loaded on cameras using Canon’s DIGIC II or DIGIC III processors. Interestingly, it has the following features:

• It’s free (as in free beer)
• Its installation is completely reversible (it does not remove anything, does not replace the existing firmaware, just adds new features installed on-the-fly from an SD card)
• Faster shutter speed: up to 1/60,000 of a second!
• Slower shutter speed: down to 65 seconds!
• Automatic bracketing of exposures
• RAW file format
• Live histogram display
• Battery readout
• Scripted actions
• Longer videos
• More image compression options
• Use USB for remote control
• Depth-of-Field calculator

Impressive! The list is long enough to give your food for thought and it applies to an impressive list of compatible cameras.

Sources: Wired article, CHDK source.

I found the user manuals of several Nikon SLR cameras on the web:

• Nikon D300
• Nikon D3

According to IDC, the sales of photo cameras progressed by 24% in 2007 to 131 million cameras. The global market is in the hands of several companies:

• Canon: 24.5 millions (18%)
• Sony: 20.9 millions (16%)
• Kodak: 12.6 millions (10%)
• Samsung: 11.7 millions (9%)
• Nikon: 11.4 mililons (8.4%)
• Olympus: 11.3 mililons (8.3%)

For the SLR market (Single Lens Reflex), two companies are overwhelming:

• Canon: 43%
• Nikon: 40%

Canon looses some ground to Nikon, but the margins were going down thanks to added competition.

Of course, you know it, a photo tripod is an excellent solution to stabilize your photo camera and get crisp images despite a long shutter time (or a trembling hand). But there are other simple solutions that you should keep in mind:

• A photo monopod: After all, one leg (instead of three) can be enough, even more if you push the camera against another fix support (a wall, for example). and, the monopods are lighter and cheaper than photo tripods.
• The bean bag: It’s only a bag filled with dry beans or grain; The result is a deformable and stable base where you can easily push a camera into. Even a heavy one.
• The self-timer, shutter-delay, remote release function of the camera: Most of the camera moves come from the photographer pressing on the shutter release button. Why not use the self-timer integrated in your camera (even if the supporting base is not very stable, it will improve the situation a lot)?
• Several images: I use it a lot, shoot three images in a row using the auto-drive of the camera; The first one is most influenced by pressing the shutter release button, but the next ones are better.
• In-camera shake reduction: Yes, it is included in the camera system just for this purpose. Be it part of the lens (at Nikon, Canon, for example) or of the body (at Sony for example), it brings between 2 and 4 speed stops. But sometimes, you may have to take seevral photos to get one really good (when you are bordering with the limits of the system).
• Hold your breath: And press the button just after blowing slowly al your lungs air; It’s an old and reliable solution and it works.

Last but not least, do not forget that if the subject itself is moving (and the camera is already stable) there is no other solution than a fast shutter speed (or flash light).

If you want the best possible Flash memory storage for your camera, you need to look for a good Flash memory card. But which one is the best? Just look at those tests:

• Rob Galbraith’s CF/SD Performance Database (in English)
• Clubic : 40 cartes mémoire en test : la loi du plus cher ? (en Français)

And remember that the fastest memory cards are no longer needed if you are not using one of the biggest SLR cameras and in RAW mode. However, a fast memory card is still useful to get the data into Photoshop (if you have a really good flash card reader on your computer, not the first 13-in-1 USB reader on eBay).

In order to easily realize good panoramic photos, it is not enuogh to have a good software package. You also need good images to start with, or the shooting results may degrade significantly the results.

Some easy-to-follow advice:

• Start using the Auto exposure mode of your camera, then switch to Manual to shoot in these exact same conditions (of course, the ambient light must not change, so don’t wait too much and avoid times when light is changing quickly -sunset, storms, etc.).
• Use a tripod, but if there are not too many objects in the front of the subject don’t worry about computing the exxact optimcal center of the camera+lens.
• Disable the autofocus after setting the focus correctly and maintin this focus position on all the images.
• Do not keep the Auto White Balance on the camera. Instead, select one single WB mode that will be used on all images.
• If you do a horizontal panorama, shoot in vertical (portrait) orientation (to increase the usable surface and to improve the final resolution).
• Make sure that you have a wide cross-image section to ease the merging process. The merging software package will thank you.

HDR photography (High Dynamic Range Photo) is a process where you take several photo pictures with very different exposures (different speeds or different apertures) and then use a software to pack them into one image packing the whole range of light. The result is often a little erie but allows to take images impossible to catch in any other circumstance.

Good examples come from the Japan HDR group on Flickr, like the following.

But if you want to test your capacity at this, I suggest you dig into the following links:

• How to Create Professional HDR Images in Photoshop
• HDR photos with the GIMP
• Using the GIMP exposure-blend plugin
• How to Create High Dynamic Range Photos

Whatever your software package, you should find something to use.

If like me your a photographer who wouldn’t dare making a video, you still can think about doing a decent time-lapse sequence out of your photographs. However, this cannot happen just by taking images and loading them into a software.

You must start by studying the lessons from PhotoJojo.com’s Ultimate Guide to Time-Lapse Photography.

When you think that you’ve mastered the technique, you can think again and look at the following example created by Lucas Oleniuk, photographer of the Toronto Star. Taking 20,000 of his still photographs, he built a 20-days sequence re-hashing the issue of global warming for us.

Direct link to video

… the day dream of all photographers. Instead of spending your nights playing with the setups, knobs and buttons of Photoshop (are any other similar software package), why not simply go through a process full automated, effortless, questionless, and with a nice little result?

ImproveYourImages.com

To be tested right now.

I recently stumbled upon several good ideas for the photographer (and cinematographer) with a limited budget. They seem quite simple and interesting to apply.

Ring Flash for a penny

For macro-photography and proxi-photography, a flash is often needed. But it is difficult to obtain a nice light not simply coming from the side (and casting ugly shadows). This is why exist those ring flashes that are usually so expensive.

Today, Strobist provides a neat little idea to make nearly free ring flash out of a common cobra flash. Just use a circle (more precisely, an ellipse) of cardboard or white metal to reflect the light of a more common flash light (see the image below). In seconds, you’ll get most of the advantages of a ring flash without changing your equipment.

The flash light comes from the side and is reflected toward the scene while the hole in the middle allow the lens to peer naturally into the scene.

Poor man’s steadycam

You may know that a steady-cam is a simple rig that allows to stabilize a video camera for use while walking or running. It is so essentially simple that Johnny Lee made one out of three metal pipes and a weight. It is much nicer than the expensive pro ones and you can easily copy the design if you do not want to pay for the 39$ he asks for it.

Older issues

If you have been attentive, you can remember that there were similar other ideas popping up in these pages before.

• Poor man’s light photo tripod
• Poor man’s fish eye lens