If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed.

On today’s Internet, video is king and still photography has taken a backseat. More people are getting their news from the Internet as opposed to subscribing to the print newspaper. Many newspapers are in trouble because of this trend. They’ve been forced to cut jobs and to do more with less thus requiring their photographers to now double-duty and become videographers as well as photographers.

Now not only do photographers have to carry multiple lenses, bodies, flash, spare batteries, and compact flash cards for their still cameras, they have to tote a video camera as well. While shooting for a local high school football team a few weeks ago, I spoke with a photographer from our local newspaper about this. He said that it was a huge burden in that he had to learn how to use the video camera to produce a quality video that would be used on the paper’s site. He then had to learn how to edit the video and get it uploaded to the paper’s web site in a timely matter. Oh yeah, he still had to get stills from the game as well. He also gave me a little inside information saying that there was light at the end of the tunnel, as major players in the world of digital SLR cameras were about to make his job easier.

Read the rest of this entry »

I was shooting a Babe Ruth League baseball game a few of weeks ago and a parent friend of mine came up to me with her brand new DSLR camera. She had been using an entry level DSLR for a couple of years and she thought it was time to invest in a newer more up-to-date body. I asked her how she liked her new camera and she told me that most of her photos weren’t much better than what she was getting with her old camera and that she was a little disappointed.

Over the years she had purchased several photos from me and she thought because she bought this new camera that her photos would look more like mine. I noticed that the camera was sporting a kit lens (a lower cost lens sometimes sold with new cameras). I asked her about the lens and she said she bought it because it was cheaper and allowed her to also purchase another zoom lens with longer reach. The money she spent on these two inferior lenses would have been better applied to the cost of one good lens.

To greatly increase the quality of photos, invest in good glass and not camera bodies.

Read the rest of this entry »

In February 2007 Canon introduced the EOS 1D Mark III the successor to the EOS 1D Mark II N, it was to be Canon’s new flagship camera. With its phenomenal 10 frames per second, new and improved auto focus, 10.2 megapixel images and the ability to shoot at high ISO’s with little noise, this was the camera of dreams.

Shortly after the camera found its way into photographer’s hands, the photo blogs and messages board began to light up with news of a possible major flaw with the camera’s auto focus system. Under certain conditions the camera would not focus on, or track a moving object. This was a major ordeal as many photographers and photojournalists rely on this camera to put food on the table.

It was early August 2007, with high school football season rapidly approaching. The number of shutter actuations of my three-year-old EOS 20D was pretty high, and I wasn’t sure if it would make it through another season. I needed a new camera.

Read the rest of this entry »

I posted a bit ago about making panorama pictures from your photo. But the always impressive Photojojo.com has stepped it up a notch. This morning, they posted a tutorial on How to Make Video Panoramas from Your Digital Camera’s Video Clips. They call them Videoramas.

Head to their post for a sample and instructions.

Whenever I purchase a lens, I always check to be sure that it comes with a hood. Hoods reduce flare in the images that you take. There are different sizes of hoods for different lenses and sometimes they can be quite expensive.

Well not anymore.

I was just sent a link to a site that offers pintable lens hoods that you can trace onto posterboard and stick on your camera. They have all kinds of shapes and sizes. Now that is neat.

Link: Paper Lens Hoods

One of the ways I get inspired is by looking at photos from others. In order to keep a good stream of nice photos, I subscribe to a few photoblogs using NetNewsWire Lite. For the most part, these photoblogs update with a photo a day and it’s just a nice way to see what others are doing with their talent.

In case you are interested, here are the photoblogs I subscribe too.

• Chromasia.com - the most enjoyable one by far. His portraits are great. Take some time to look at his archives and you’ll be very impressed.
• Mexican Pictures - There is so much color and personality in these photos.
• Ten Years Of My Life - This photos are just of everyday life, but they are colorful and sharp.
• TopLeftPixel.com - Mostly black and white city life.

I also have my own photoblog but it’s not updated nearly as often. I will usually post up a few pictures after trips.

I’d be interested to hear of any photoblogs that you enjoy. And don’t be afraid to share your own as well.

I just read about this product that may be interesting to travelers.

The Quikpod is basically a monopod with a twist. Literally.

The Quikpod basically acts as an extension of your arm. It holds the camera at an angle so when you hold it out, it lines directly up with you and your friends. This avoids the need to hand your $2000 DSLR camera to a stranger and ask them to take your picture. And it provides better results than holding the camera out with your arm.

Just an interesting product that can also be useful. It goes for $24.95.

I’m a big fan of Flickr.com. I like to share my photos that way and i love it when my family and friends share that way as well. This why I was happy to see flickr friends.

The steps are simple. First, you export your contacts as a .cvs file (Outlook) or a .vcf file (Apple Address Book). Then, you upload that file (or any file with a list of email addresses) to flickr friends. The site will scan that file and then use the flickr api to see if any of your contacts have flickr accounts. If they do have an account, it will give you a link to their photos and profile.

This is all a fast process and it does it all on the same page using Ajax and Javascript.

The one problem I found is that your list of addresses can be no larger than 1MB. To get around this, I split my address book into four groups and then exported a card for each group. Then, I just did them one at a time.

Just as I expected, very few of my contacts used flickr. I think it’s natural for people to want to see photo’s from other people but forget to share their own. However, I did find a few contacts on there and was glad to see their photos.

You can give this all a try here. (yes, it’s free)

I just returned from San Francisco, which I believe is one of the most photogenic cities in the world. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much time to shoot since I was at Macworld most of the time.

However, one morning a friend and I took the early bus to Treasure Island. I have been out there many times, but never as the sun was rising and I wanted to see that.

My point in going was to get a nice skyline photo so I could try the new “Auto-Align” and “Auto-Blend” features in Photoshop CS3. Even though my hands were shaking in the cold and a huge ship tried to block my view, I was able to take a few shots as the sun was rising.

When I got back to my computer, I opened up Photoshop CS3 to stitch together the shots. I couldn’t believe how easy it is to do it. It was really just three steps.

1) Open all the photos to the same project.
2) Select all layers and choose “Auto-Align”
3) Choose “Auto-Blend”

That is seriously all that I did and I was amazed at how well the photos were stitched. Even with the morning sky being list from left to right, the blending was good.

You can see my photo below: (click to enlarge)

Also, my friend took a nice panorama while he was in line for the keynote. He also used CS3 to stitch the photos.

One of the dreams of every serious photographer is to get that one photo that is so powerful that it can help define history. All the time, I wonder if I missed my chance by 12 hours. On the evening of September 10, 2001, I flew out of New York City. I was there for the Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Concert and to take photos of the sights of NYC. I had no idea that 12 hours after my photographs were taken, the Twin Towers would no longer be there. But of course I was glad to have my life and safety.

Yesterday I read thru a post that was titled “13 Photographs That Changed The World” I had seen all but one of them before, but their power was still present on me.

Be sure to check the comments of that post for even more photos that could have been included.