Great post analyzing JPEG export quality in Lightroom: http://bit.ly/dm9YVi
Archive for the ‘photography’ Category
My Lightroom import settings
January 6, 2010
My Lightroom import settings
Here is my setup when importing photos into Lightroom
Folder structure:
My photos are imported to a separate internal hard drive to a folder of Photos/{Year}/{Event}. So photos of Halloween in 2009 would be imported to Photos/2009/Halloween. This structure allows fairly quick identification of photos when browsing the folders or identifying them for back up purposes. Movies (manually copied until Lightroom supports movie import) go to Movies/{Year}/{Event}.
Storage file format:
The photos are converted to DNG format as they are imported.
File naming convention:
Photos are imported and named using the following template:
{Date (YYYYMMDD)}_{Hour}{Minute}{Second}_{Import # (01)}_{Sequence # (0001)}.dng
The date and time refer to the capture date and time of the photo. Import # refers to a sequential count of the imports performed today, and sequence # is a counter that increments during the import session for each photo. So photos end up having names such as 20100106_130532_01_0001.dng, which would indicate the first photo of the first import, captured January 6, 2010 at 1:05:32pm.
Import grouping:
I import similar photos separately, so if I had photos of a wedding, a soccer game, and a portrait session on the same memory card, I would run 3 imports, selecting photos from each of the groups separately. This allows me to apply the appropriate tags to the photos during import.
Backup:
I use Lightroom’s built-in import backup functionality to send a copy of the photos to an external drive as they’re imported in case I need to recover a photo prior to its normal backup process. Photos are copied to another drive across the network as well as sent to the online backup service Mozy.
Firefox 3.5.2 update fixes Flickr viewing (ICC bugfix)
August 4, 2009Update Firefox to 3.5.2 to fix viewing of images with embedded ICC profiles. This was broken in Firefox in version 3.5, making images on sites such as Flickr to appear very dark. This update corrects the problem and adds more flexibility – images will be rendered using their embedded ICC profile (if there is one). Firefox 3.5.2 release notes.
Japanese Maple
May 9, 2009
This was taken with the Canon EF 17-40mm
Night Timelapse
March 15, 2009This week I set up a night-time timelapse exposure with the Canon 5D Mark II
The video can be seen here.
Cyber’s PetSmart Pickup
March 2, 2009(Click to watch the video on YouTube)
A rare snow, a timelapse photography session, and a PetSmart grooming date collided and the attached video was created. The video was shot using a Canon PowerShot G9
Gear Used:
Timelapse Photography Tips:
- Use a tripod or support to keep the shooting perspective steady.
- Set a manual white balance so the camera does not change from shot-to-shot.
- Set a manual exposure to keep the camera from adapting to changing light.
- Drag the shutter – use a longer shutter speed to blur the motion from shot-to-shot to prevent “blips” of new subjects entering the frame.
Made the paper
November 3, 2008Or on ajc.com anyway – I’m the 4th one in this gallery of Halloween costumed freaks:
http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/atlanta-holiday-guide/halloween-costumes/readers-costumes6/
Photo shoot entry coming later.
Photo shoot: Joe Satriani concert
October 29, 2008
B&W Conversion
Guitar god Joe Satriani played the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta and the venue allowed “non-pro” cameras to be used, so I brought the Canon G9
With the help of a female friend (which helps to prevent being punched), was able to work our way up front behind a layer of a couple people. Took shots the whole show – about 400, until the battery almost ran out.
I had the G9 set to manual mode, no flash, using ISO 400, he lowest aperture available and played with shutter speeds from 1/80 – 1/160. A tip I came across is to use manual mode as the lights are always changing. Find some settings that work and keep them there.
I got some fairly decent exposures considering. The best came when the lights were up full of course. Noise at ISO 400 on the G9 in that light is pretty pervasive, but it lends an interesting quality to the shots. I had trouble with the auto-focus so I needed to look into setting a manual focus point, but got some good results and mistakes nonetheless.
I post-processed the shots using Lightroom 2.1 only, converting some to B&W and using Matt Kloskowski’s Sin City presets as a starting place on the shots when Satch was playing his red guitar. Played with the color temperature to achieve some good results. Shots with a lot of noise or lower light I went with B&W or muted colors to control the noise.
A slideshow of all the shots is up on my Flickr page here.
B&W - Some mis-focus leads to a neat effect
Satch hitting his trademark artificial harmonics - tilting this shot adds some interest
What’s in my bag? Episode 2 – Kata Sensitivity V
September 23, 2008This is a 7-minute video walk-through of the packing job I did for my next international trip using the Kata Sensitivity V Backpack
. This is for an upcoming trip to Capetown, South Africa for touring and Botswana for safari. My kit for the trip is listed below. In the video I start with the backpack loaded and unload it an item at a time.
Contents:
- Apple Macbook
- Macbook Power Adapter
- Amazon Kindle eBook Reader
- Canon XSi D-SLR Camera
- Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.4L IS Zoom Lens
- Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens
- Canon EF 50mm f1.4 Prime Lens
- Canon EF 1.4x II Telephoto Extender
- Canon Speedlite 430EX II Flash
- Elinchrom Skyport Universal Trigger Set
for remote strobing
- Pharos Trips and Pics GPS Receiver
- Sony PSP
- LaCie 250 GB Rugged Hard Drive
- 3-77mm photo filters
- LED flashlight
- 2 USB battery backup units
- Camera remote control
- Lens pen
- Mouse/receiver
- Extra batteries and chargers for XSi and G9
- Media wallet with SD Cards
- Screen cleaner
- Shower caps
- Several cables and adapters
SDHC Memory Card Tests Updated with SanDisk Extreme III 8GB 30MB/s Edition
September 23, 2008It’s another winner from SanDisk. The SanDisk Extreme III 8GB 30MB/s Edition
Canon fires back
September 17, 2008New Canon 5D Mark II
More info on the blog at TWIP, and a preview on DPReview.
Pretty interesting features on the newly announced Canon 5D Mark II full-frame update to the 5D.
- 21.1 Megapixel
- Shoots full 1080p HD Video
- ISO to 25,600 with new DIGIC 4 processor
- Still just 3.9 frames/sec
- New RAW options size-wise
- Silent shooting options
There’s also a new Canon G9 successor – the G10. It’s not quite as big a jump from the G9 and the G9 is still a bit different due to a more telephoto lens (6x on the G9 vs. 5x on the G10). I’d expect the G10 to have better low-light ability, although ISO range has not changed (1600 max).
- 14.7 Megapixel
- New wider-angle lens
- DIGIC 4 processor.
I’d like to see them make a G10 with half the resolution but twice (or more) the low-light capabilities — that would be useful.
Thoughts on the Canon 50D
September 16, 2008The newly-announced (estimated early October as far as I can tell) Canon 50D
Pros:
- New CMOS sensor with DIGIC 4 processor
- Gapless micro-lenses on the sensor
- 920k pixel LCD
- Cool new interface to the camera features
- New high-ISO modes
Amazon mentions that is captures to SD cards, that’s not correct. Other sites mention it’s still on Compact Flash.
Canon 5D Successor Coming ?
A new version of the Canon 5D appears to be coming as well as in this teaser on the Canon site.
SDHC Card Test Updated with AData Turbo 8GB
September 16, 2008I purchased a cheap AData SDHC 8GB Class 6
What’s in my bag? Episode 1
September 1, 2008Overview:
My favorite backpack (now) is one geared towards the camera/laptop user — the Kata line is reportedly used by the Israeli military and offers great construction, bright yellow interior to make it easy to find items inside, some reconfigurable areas, and a durable neoprene exterior. This post serves as a visual reminder of how I packed my Kata Sensitivity V Backpack
Items Packed:
Apple Macbook, Canon XSi D-SLR camera, Canon SD800 IS camera, 70-200mm lens, 24-105mm lens, 50mm lens, (2) Canon 580EX II flash units, earbuds with case, laptop power supply, extra battery, card reader, (2) reserve recharge batteries, memory card bank holding multiple SD memory cards, misc. accessories, USB cables.
Compared to:
I recently tried the larger Kata R-103 Digital Rucksack
Other Views:
A video from photog Ron Brinkmann shows how he packed his Kata Sensitivity V for a trip.
Photos:
First is a photo of the bag from above – click on the photo to go to Flickr to see the notes that describe each item in the backpack. The backpack isn’t overstuffed with these items, but comfortably full.
Kata Sensitivity V packed
The Macbook fits comfortably in the back of the Kata
The closed Kata backpack
End view
SDHC Card Test Updated with PNY Optima Pro 8GB
August 29, 2008I received one of these cards and put it in the Canon XSi for test – results updated on the testing page.
