Thursday, March 14, 2013

ALWAYS block the eye piece to prevent stray light

Exposure will be affected by light entering through the eye piece

Moral: Always, that’s ALWAYS block the eye piece, especially with verrrrrry long exposures, regardless of shooting mode.

http://tonysweet.com/2013/03/08/problem-solved/

HDR (High Dynamic Range) Workshop with tripods at Grand Central

Where: Grand Central Terminal 89 East 42nd Street, New York, NY

When: Sunday, April 14, 2013 (11:30 AM to 5:00 PM)

Sign up here

Come and photograph the majestic Grand Central terminal -- capture all of the details in the shadows and highlights with HDR photography! We have special permission to use tripods during this five hour workshop.

We will meet at 11:30 am at GCT and then you will be shooting from 12noon until 5pm. Tom and I will be helping you out with compositions, checking exposures, etc. You will be taking 3-10 exposures in order to capture all of the details in the shadows and highlights.

We will also be offering a separate optional post-workshop workshop to demonstrate Photomatix, the most popular HDR processing software.

Come and photograph the majestic Grand Central terminal -- capture all of the details in the shadows and highlights with HDR photography! We have special permission to use tripods during this five hour workshop.

On April 14th we will meet at 11:30 am at GCT and then you will be shooting from 12 noon until 5pm. Tom and I will be helping you with compositions, checking exposures, etc. You will be taking 3-10 exposures in order to capture all of the details in the shadows and highlights. Meet at 11:30am outside of the station master's office, there is an area to the left of the SMO. The SMO is the customer waiting area with the glass doors on the upper level of the terminal, at the top and just to the right of the escalators on the west side of the building (near tracks 34/35 and the Transit Museum store.

As an added benefit for attending this workshop you are entitled a video where I will process and edit one of your HDR series. Send your series of RAW files to me via this link. I will tonemap the exposures and then edit the processed image in Photoshop, recording each step as I go along in voice and capturing cursor movements and send you the video to watch and learn and pause and rewind as needed. I cannot guarantee that I will process the image the same way that you would have, but you are bound to learn more about photomatix and photoshop by watching me process your images.

We will also be offering a separate optional post-workshop workshop to demonstrate Photomatix, the most popular HDR processing software. http://www.meetup.com/Image-Enhancement/

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Hyperfocal Focusing

Jennifer Wu talked about hyperfocal focusing Saturday and mentioned that she had information on her blog about it, including a link to a handout...

Hyperfocal Focusing

Using Hyperfocal to create depth from near to far.

Glacier National Park, August 2008.

Photographed with a 16-35mm II lens at 25mm, f/18, 2 seconds, ISO 100, Canon 1Ds mark III

Having good depth of field in a landscape image creates interest and depth to a photograph. For this effect, use a wide-angle lens. Tip, get close to the foreground! Using hyperfocal focusing on zoom lenses can be done with use of a chart or app to help getting everything in relatively good focus from foreground to background. Happy shooting! Jennifer

More information: Click here for Hyperfocal Handout

Beginner Photography Tips

Find 10 More Beginner Photography Tips in New Article

If you're new to digital photography, it can be a little discouraging when your photos don't turn out correctly. However, keep in mind that photography is like any other skill:... Read more

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

TED Talk - David Griffin: How photography connects us

TED Talk by David Griffin on "How photography connects us."

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_griffin_on_how_photography_connects.html

Transcript

Let's just start by looking at some great photographs. This is an icon of National Geographic, an Afghan refugee taken by Steve McCurry. But the Harvard Lampoon is about to come out with a parody of National Geographic, and I shudder to think what they're going to do to this photograph. Oh, the wrath of Photoshop.
This is a jet landing at San Francisco, by Bruce Dale. He mounted a camera on the tail. A poetic image for a story on Tolstoy, by Sam Abell. Pygmies in the DRC, by Randy Olson. I love this photograph because it reminds me of Degas' bronze sculptures of the little dancer.A polar bear swimming in the Arctic, by Paul Nicklen. Polar bears need ice to be able to move back and forth -- they're not very good swimmers -- and we know what's happening to the ice. These are camels moving across the Rift Valley in Africa, photographed by Chris Johns. Shot straight down, so these are the shadows of the camels. This is a rancher in Texas, by William Albert Allard, a great portraitist. And Jane Goodall, making her own special connection, photographed by Nick Nichols. This is a soap disco in Spain, photographed by David Alan Harvey. And David said that there was lot of weird stuffhappening on the dance floor. But, hey, at least it's hygienic. (Laughter) These are sea lions in Australia doing their own dance, by David Doubilet. And this is a comet, captured by Dr. Euan Mason. And finally, the bow of the Titanic, without movie stars, photographed by Emory Kristof. Photography carries a power that holds up under the relentless swirl of today's saturated, media world, because photographs emulate the way that our mind freezes a significant moment.

Here's an example. Four years ago, I was at the beach with my son, and he was learning how to swim in this relatively soft surf of the Delaware beaches. But I turned away for a moment, and he got caught into a riptide and started to be pulled out towards the jetty. I can stand here right now and see, as I go tearing into the water after him, the moments slowing down and freezing into this arrangement. I can see the rocks are over here. There's a wave about to crash onto him. I can see his hands reaching out, and I can see his face in terror, looking at me, saying, "Help me, Dad." I got him. The wave broke over us. We got back on shore; he was fine. We were a little bit rattled. But this flashbulb memory, as it's called, is when all the elements came together to define not just the event, but my emotional connection to it. And this is what a photograph taps into when it makes its own powerful connection to a viewer.

Now I have to tell you, I was talking to Kyle last week about this, that I was going to tell this story. And he said, "Oh, yeah, I remember that too! I remember my image of you was that you were up on the shore yelling at me." (Laughter) I thought I was a hero. (Laughter)

So, this represents -- this is a cross-sample of some remarkable images taken by some of the world's greatest photojournalists, working at the very top of their craft -- except one.This photograph was taken by Dr. Euan Mason in New Zealand last year, and it was submitted and published in National Geographic. Last year, we added a section to our website called "Your Shot," where anyone can submit photographs for possible publication.And it has become a wild success, tapping into the enthusiast photography community.The quality of these amateur photographs can, at times, be amazing. And seeing this reinforces, for me, that every one of us has at least one or two great photographs in them.

But to be a great photojournalist, you have to have more than just one or two great photographs in you. You've got to be able to make them all the time. But even more importantly, you need to know how to create a visual narrative. You need to know how to tell a story. So I'm going to share with you some coverages that I feel demonstrate the storytelling power of photography.

Photographer Nick Nichols went to document a very small and relatively unknown wildlife sanctuary in Chad, called Zakouma. The original intent was to travel there and bring back a classic story of diverse species, of an exotic locale. And that is what Nick did, up to a point. This is a serval cat. He's actually taking his own picture, shot with what's called a camera trap. There's an infrared beam that's going across, and he has stepped into the beam and taken his photograph. These are baboons at a watering hole. Nick -- the camera, again, an automatic camera took thousands of pictures of this. And Nick ended up with a lot of pictures of the rear ends of baboons. (Laughter) A lion having a late night snack --notice he's got a broken tooth. And a crocodile walks up a riverbank toward its den. I love this little bit of water that comes off the back of his tail.

But the centerpiece species of Zakouma are the elephants. It's one of the largest intact herds in this part of Africa. Here's a photograph shot in moonlight, something that digital photography has made a big difference for. It was with the elephants that this story pivoted.Nick, along with researcher Dr. Michael Fay, collared the matriarch of the herd. They named her Annie, and they began tracking her movements. The herd was safe within the confines of the park, because of this dedicated group of park rangers. But once the annual rains began, the herd would begin migrating to feeding grounds outside the park.

And that's when they ran into trouble. For outside the safety of the park were poachers, who would hunt them down only for the value of their ivory tusks. The matriarch that they were radio tracking, after weeks of moving back and forth, in and out of the park, came to a halt outside the park. Annie had been killed, along with 20 members of her herd. And they only came for the ivory. This is actually one of the rangers. They were able to chase off one of the poachers and recover this ivory, because they couldn't leave it there, because it's still valuable. But what Nick did was he brought back a story that went beyond the old-school method of just straight, "Isn't this an amazing world?" And instead, created a story that touched our audiences deeply. Instead of just knowledge of this park, he created an understanding and an empathy for the elephants, the rangers and the many issuessurrounding human-wildlife conflicts.

Now let's go over to India. Sometimes you can tell a broad story in a focused way. We were looking at the same issue that Richard Wurman touches upon in his new world population project. For the first time in history, more people live in urban, rather than rural, environments. And most of that growth is not in the cities, but in the slums that surround them. Jonas Bendiksen, a very energetic photographer, came to me and said, "We need to document this, and here's my proposal. Let's go all over the world and photograph every single slum around the world." And I said, "Well, you know, that might be a bit ambitious for our budget." So instead, what we did was we decided to, instead of going out and doing what would result in what we'd consider sort of a survey story -- where you just go in and see just a little bit of everything -- we put Jonas into Dharavi, which is part of Mumbai, India, and let him stay there, and really get into the heart and soul of this really major part of the city. What Jonas did was not just go and do a surface look at the awful conditions that exist in such places. He saw that this was a living and breathing and vital part of how the entire urban area functioned. By staying tightly focused in one place, Jonas tapped into the soul and the enduring human spirit that underlies this community. And he did it in a beautiful way.

Sometimes, though, the only way to tell a story is with a sweeping picture. We teamed up underwater photographer Brian Skerry and photojournalist Randy Olson to document the depletion of the world's fisheries. We weren't the only ones to tackle this subject, but the photographs that Brian and Randy created are among the best to capture both the humanand natural devastation of overfishing. Here, in a photo by Brian, a seemingly crucified shark is caught up in a gill net off of Baja. I've seen sort of OK pictures of bycatch, the animals accidentally scooped up while fishing for a specific species. But here, Brian captured a unique view by positioning himself underneath the boat when they threw the waste overboard. And Brian then went on to even greater risk to get this never-before-made photograph of a trawl net scraping the ocean bottom.

Back on land, Randy Olson photographed a makeshift fish market in Africa, where the remains of filleted fish were sold to the locals, the main parts having already been sent to Europe. And here in China, Randy shot a jellyfish market. As prime food sources are depleted, the harvest goes deeper into the oceans and brings in more such sources of protein. This is called fishing down the food chain.

But there are also glimmers of hope, and I think anytime we're doing a big, big story on this,we don't really want to go and just look at all the problems. We also want to look for solutions. Brian photographed a marine sanctuary in New Zealand, where commercial fishing had been banned -- the result being that the overfished species have been restored,and with them a possible solution for sustainable fisheries.
Photography can also compel us to confront issues that are potentially distressing and controversial. James Nachtwey, who was honored at last year's TED, took a look at the sweep of the medical system that is utilized to handle the American wounded coming out of Iraq. It is like a tube where a wounded soldier enters on one end and exits back home, on the other. Jim started in the battlefield. Here, a medical technician tends to a wounded soldier on the helicopter ride back to the field hospital. Here is in the field hospital. The soldier on the right has the name of his daughter tattooed across his chest, as a reminder of home. From here, the more severely wounded are transported back to Germany, where they meet up with their families for the first time. And then back to the States to recuperate at veterans' hospitals, such as here in Walter Reed. And finally, often fitted with high-tech prosthesis, they exit the medical system and attempt to regain their pre-war lives. Jim took what could have been a straight-up medical science story and gave it a human dimension that touched our readers deeply.

Now, these stories are great examples of how photography can be used to address some of our most important topics. But there are also times when photographers simply encounter things that are, when it comes down to it, just plain fun. Photographer Paul Nicklin traveled to Antarctica to shoot a story on leopard seals. They have been rarely photographed, partly because they are considered one of the most dangerous predators in the ocean. In fact, a year earlier, a researcher had been grabbed by one and pulled down to depth and killed. So you can imagine Paul was maybe a little bit hesitant about getting into the water. Now, what leopard seals do mostly is, they eat penguins. You know of "The March of the Penguins."This is sort of the munch of the penguins. (Laughter) Here a penguin goes up to the edge and looks out to see if the coast is clear. And then everybody kind of runs out and goes out.

But then Paul got in the water. And he said he was never really afraid of this. Well, this one female came up to him. She's probably -- it's a shame you can't see it in the photograph,but she's 12 feet long. So, she is pretty significant in size. And Paul said he was never really afraid, because she was more curious about him than threatened. This mouthing behavior, on the right, was really her way of saying to him, "Hey, look how big I am!" Or you know, "My, what big teeth you have." (Laughter) Then Paul thinks that she simply took pity on him. To her, here was this big, goofy creature in the water that for some reason didn't seem to be interested in chasing penguins. So what she did was she started to bring penguins to him, alive, and put them in front of him. She dropped them off, and then they would swim away. She'd kind of look at him, like "What are you doing?" Go back and get them, and then bring them back and drop them in front of him. And she did this over the course of a couple of days, until the point where she got so frustrated with him that she started putting them directly on top of his head. (Laughter) Which just resulted in a fantastic photograph. (Laughter) Eventually, though, Paul thinks that she just figured that he was never going to survive. This is her just puffing out, you know, snorting out in disgust.(Laughter) And lost interest with him, and went back to what she does best.

Paul set out to photograph a relatively mysterious and unknown creature, and came back with not just a collection of photographs, but an amazing experience and a great story. It is these kinds of stories, ones that go beyond the immediate or just the superficial that demonstrate the power of photojournalism. I believe that photography can make a real connection to people, and can be employed as a positive agent for understanding the challenges and opportunities facing our world today. Thank you. (Applause)

This idea worth spreading from TED Talks

Monday, March 11, 2013

Nikon Equipment for Sale

Nikon Equipment for Sale

Nikon D800 DSLR camera body w/extra battery $2,400.00

Nikon Lenses:

60mm AF f2.8 Micro (macro) lens $350.00

105mm f2.8 Micro (macro) lens $675.00

24 – 120mm AF lens $300.00

80 – 400mm AF VR f4.5 – f5.6 lens $1,350.00

Nikon Flash:

Nikon SB-800 flash $100.00

All of the above in excellent condition.

If interested or need more information, call Andy at: 203-214-9395.

Night Photography Lightroom and ACR Presets

Do your night images lack that 'pop' that really makes them stand out from the crowd? Processing night images can be complex, and since this type of photography is fairly new, there isn't much information out there on how to do it properly. I've spent countless hours developing these presets based on my experiences editing night photographs. Watch the video to see how these work!
Develop Presets
0. Baseline
1. White Balance – Canon
2. White Balance – Nikon
2. Embrace the Color
2. Milky Way
2. Points of Light
3. Reduce Light Pollution
3. Remove Air Glow
3. Tone Down the Moon
4. Bring Back the Blue!
5. Detail – Naturally Sharp
5. Detail – Soft Focus
5. Detail – Very Sharp Stars
6. Noise – I Hate Noise.
6. Noise – Retain Detail
Black and White - Contrasty
Black and White - Grainy
Black and White - Light Contrast
Black and White - Soft Focus

Adjustment Brush/Graduated Filter Presets
Defocus Stars
Defocus Erase
Enhance Clouds
Enhance Foreground
Enhance Milky Way
Light Pollution Removal
Soften Stars

My presets for Adobe Lightroom are “donationware”. I develop, release, and maintain them for free, and you can use them for free forever, but I hope you find them worthy of a gift of thanks or encouragement.

To learn more about night photography I offer Night Photography Workshops that cover the entire process from scouting, shooting, gear and in-depth post processing.

Learn More about Night Photography Workshops

Installation instructions are included in the zip file

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Learn how to set up your camera to take HDR images.

Learn how to set up your camera to take HDR images

Learn how to set up your camera to take HDR images. This workshop is designed to allow you to spend time before the shoot to set up your camera for HDR. You will learn how to take multiple exposures in order to capture all of the details in the highlights and shadows. Learn exposure compensation. If your camera has a creative mode (I know most canon cameras do, C1, C2, and possibly C3 on your dial) we can set you up for AEB (auto exposure bracketing) too

Please bring your camera, camera manual, tripod, cable release if you have one (if you do not have one that is OK, your 2 second self self timer works well too!)

Two sessions (in Hamden) to keep class size small.

Flower Photography Seminar/Workshop featuring Denise Ippolito

Flower Photography Seminar/Workshop featuring Denise Ippolito

$99.00 ~ limited spots available, open to all levels-beginners, intermediate and advanced

March 22, 23, 24

Sign up here

For this seminar you will need to bring your camera, macro lens and tripod as we will have multiple shooting sessions in a classroom setting. Creative set-ups and assistance along with several stations so there is no waiting around. Participants are encouraged to bring their laptops to follow along and also work with their images- processing them in Photoshop and enhancing them using Nik Software, OnOne Software, Topaz Labs, Fractalius and Snap Art (free downloads are available for each of the programs that we will be using and a list of software will be available at sign-up).

The optional in-the-field workshop at Longwood Gardens in PA will be a great way to roll up your sleeves and apply all of your new techniques in the field. Longwood Gardens will be displaying their Orchid Extravaganza on Sunday, we will be photographing inside the conservatory which is HUGE!!

Friday 6:00pm to 8:00pm ~ Lecture series

Lecture Series:
The lecture series will be based on Denise's popular eBooks Bloominâ€™ Ideas & The Softer Side of Macro. Images will illustrate many of the techniques that will be covered during the classroom shoot and in-the-field workshop.

Saturday 9:00am to :00pm ~ Classroom instruction including hands- on shooting and Photoshop instruction. $99.00 for both Friday evening & Saturday all day programs.

Classroom Instruction:
Choosing the best lenses, tripods & heads, extension tubes, working with natural lighting, using reflectors and diffusers effectively. Camera settings including ISO and shutter speeds, shooting modes and more…

Composition- controlling depth of field with f-stops, selective focus, choosing your backgrounds, visual weight and its importance, going with the flow of the subject and how to find that flow.

Hands-on photography instruction using creative demos and set-ups. Denise will share some of her favorite indoor shooting tips. Several shooting stations with lots of assistance.

Photoshop Instruction:
How to use layers and layer masks to selectively apply all of your Photoshop tweaks.
Texture Overlays- how to apply them easily.
Image enhancement using Nik Color Efex and Vivesa.
Creative Filtering using a variety of programs and techniques.

Sunday 9:00am to 12:00pm
~ Optional Longwood Gardens Orchid Extravaganza Photography Workshop
$195.00 per person-admission included
($30.00 discount when you register for both the seminar & the workshop).

In-the-field hands-on instruction, participants will be photographing a variety of subjects that are on display in the Conservatory. We will put all of our classroom instruction to use in a live setting. Composition, DOF, Selective Focus, use of extension tubes, reflectors, diffusers and more!

Rain or shine, a detailed PDF with additional information will be sent upon sign up.

We will meet just outside of the front doors at 8:45 sharp Sunday morning. Bring your tripod as they will be allowed in the conservatory.

SEMINAR PLACE:
Hilton Garden Inn Kennett Square
815 E Baltimore Pike
Kennett Square, PA 19348
Tel: 610-765-1006

DATES:
March 22, 23, 24
Friday 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Saturday 9:00am to 5:00pm with a lunch break
Sunday 9:00am to 12:00 noon

LONGWOOD GARDENS:
1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square , PA 19348
610.388.1000

Sign up here

Minimizing a Double Chin in Photoshop Elements or Lightroom

Study the chin area in the photo of me above (so sorry to force it on you – it was a setting-the-exposure click). Rather than focusing on the overall appearance, think about how the actual pixels are different from each other from the face to the chin to the neck. Ideally, we want the chin to be brighter than the area under it – it should cast a shadow on the neck. However, if your chin is, ummm, generous like mine, you have more unshadowed area than you’d like. You’ve probably already guessed the solution to this by now, right? Paint a shadow into your image!

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Rare Opportunity - Birding with Sibley in Montan

Rare Opportunity - Birding with Sibley in Montana

Go birding with BirdWatching contributing editor David Allen Sibley on Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front. The unique mix of habitat, from mountains to prairie and wetland, harbors a tremendous variety of birds and wildlife. The Nature Conservancy’s beautiful Pine Butte Guest Ranch provides our wonderful lodging and meals. Get the details!

Friday, March 8, 2013

Tim Grey -- All-Day Lightroom Seminar in Raleigh, NC

On Saturday, June 1st, I will present an all-day Lightroom seminar hosted by the Capital City Camera Club in Raleigh, North Carolina. I look forward to sharing the techniques I use to manage, optimize, and share my catalog of nearly a quarter-million digital photos and video clips. I also look forward to some good barbeque. Register now to join me!

You can get more details by visiting the Capital City Camera Club website here:
http://www.capcitycameraclub.com/Workshop.htm

Or you can download the event brochure here:
http://www.timgrey.com/TimGrey-CCCC.pdf

Thursday, March 7, 2013

NYBG in Bloom IPhone App

NYBG in Bloom - The New York Botanical Garden

Stunning photos and expert commentary bring The New York Botanical Garden to life on your iPhone wherever you are in the world and enhance your visit to nature’s showplace in New York City.
Now you can hold the secret to navigating the Garden, home to more than 1 million living plants on 250 acres in the Bronx, in the palm of your hand. Take one of two walking tours or choose your own route using our map feature.
Explore the intersection of paintings and plants through the Garden’s past summer 2012 exhibition, Monet’s Garden. An exclusive collaboration between the Garden and The Metropolitan Museum of Art provides an up-close and in-depth view of the plants that inspired the renowned painter’s most famous masterpieces. The “Impressionist Lens” feature allows you to create and share your own photographic works of art.
NYBG in Bloom includes:
- Walking tours
- Interactive map
- Special exhibition highlights
- Garden descriptions and photos
- Audio commentary
- Visitor Information

Made possible in part by

Produced in collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Ar

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

PhotoNorthEast Convention and Trade Show

PhotoNorthEast Convention and
Trade Show

April 6th - 9th, 2013

Special Event

Trade Show Shootout

Sun., April 7th & Mon., April 8th

vist the website at
www.PhotoNorthEast.org

Register Now!

Trade Show Pass Only	No Charge
Rick Sammon - Canon Sponsored	No Charge

Spring Starts Here - Peak Bloom Date Announced!

Cherry Blossom

When Will They Bloom?
This year’s peak bloom date is estimated to be March 26 – March 30, 2013. The Peak Bloom Date for DC’s cherry blossoms is defined as the day on which 70 percent of the blossoms of the Yoshino cherry trees that surround the Tidal Basin are open.

Why You Should Come: Each year the trees donated by Japan over 100 years ago provide a gorgeous vista of pink and white ringing the Tidal Basin, making cherry blossoms the signature event of DC’s tourist season. Visitors to the nation’s capital should not miss this extraordinary event, and local residents needing an excuse to see the blossoms now have one: photography instruction! You will learn how to make best use of your camera in shooting people, architecture, landscapes and monuments, and you will come away with gorgeous images in your camera.

Peak Bloom Dates and Festival Information Announced

Today, the Festival, National Park Service, Embassy of Japan, and DC leadership gathered to announce plans for the 2013 National Cherry Blossom Festival, held March 20 – April 14.

The National Park Service announced that the peak bloom (defined as when 70% of the blossoms are open), will be March 26 – March 30.

The National Cherry Blossom Festival announced exciting plans for this year’s celebration, marking the 101st anniversary of the gift of trees. Taxicabs, pedicabs, and members of Ballou High School band joined to give a preview of the City in Bloom presented by Capital One Bank, designed to unite the region and bring the spirit of the nation’s greatest springtime celebration throughout Washington, DC. This year, City in Bloom goes global as Hard Rock Cafe Tokyo lights in conjunction with Hard Rock Cafe Washington, DC.
Outstanding talent is part of this year’s Festival. The Opening Ceremony is on Saturday, March 23 at the Warner Theatre, and is headlined by pop star Andy Grammer. Free tickets must be reserved in advance online.

The National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade on Saturday, April 13, is one of DC’s largest spectacular events and will be aired in a delayed telecast on WUSA 9 . Celebrity performances including Grammy award-winning artist Mya and Elliot Yamin from American Idol join giant helium balloons, specialty units, marching bands from across the country, and elaborate floats.

Get up to date information by downloading the free Festival app, available mid-March, and check nationalcherryblossomfestival.org for updates.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

HDR Cookbook – Taking HDR Vertorama Shots with a Tripod

Taking HDR vertoramas is a difficult task. You have to shoot multiple sections, each with at least three exposures. These sections have to fit together well such that the stitching will not cause problems. The ambient light is usually very low (e.g. in a church) and the final composition of the stitched vertorama is not obvious while you are shooting the source images. In an earlier post, I have explained how to master these challenges when you are shooting hand-held. In this post, I will give you a detailed explanation of this process when you are using a tripod. You may think that using a tripod makes thing a lot easier. However, both (hand-held shooting and tripod shooting) have their challenges.

http://farbspiel-photo.com/learn/hdr-cookbook/vertoramas-with-a-tripod

How to find the Milky Way using Stellarium

"Stellarium is a great piece planetarium software for the beginner night photographer, why is it so great? Because it's free! Stellarium accurately shows what the night skies will look like at specific date and time, which is critical information when planning a shoot. There is one problem I had to look long and hard to find a solution for though; the milky was too dim. Stellarium shows what the milky way looks like to the human eye. What humans see versus what cameras see is drastically different. This is because cameras are collecting light over a period of time (20-30 seconds for example), and that light is all combined into one image."

Read the entire article here

Essential Guide to Photographing the Geminid Meteor Shower

http://www.davidkinghamphotography.com/blog/2012/12/essential-guide-to-photographing-the-geminid-meteor-shower

Some quick and dirty settings for your camera (assuming you have a capable full frame camera):

These are just suggestions for a starting point, play around with different settings and see what works for you.

14mm 2.8 lens: ISO 3200 @ f2.8, 30 seconds (this is what I used for the Perseids meteor shower)

24mm 2.8 lens: ISO 5000 @ f2.8, 20 seconds

24mm 1.4 lens: ISO 1250 @ f1.4, 20 seconds

The shutter speed is determined by taking 500 divided by your focal length, this will avoid moving stars, any longer will cause star trails.

Read the whole article here...

Monday, March 4, 2013

HDR Workshop with tripods at Grand Central Terminal

HDR (High Dynamic Range) Workshop with tripods at Grand Central Terminal

When: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM
Grand Central Terminal 89 East 42nd Street, New York, NY
Sign up here!

We will meet at 9:30 am at GCT and then you will be shooting from 10am until 3pm. Meet at 9:30am outside of the station master's office, there is an area to the left of the SMO. The SMO is the customer waiting area with the glass doors on the upper level of the terminal, at the top and just to the right of the escalators on the west side of the building (near tracks 34/35 and the Transit Museum store.

As an added benefit for attending this workshop you are entitled a video where I will process and edit one of your HDR series. Send your series of RAW files to me via this link. I will tonemap the exposures and then edit the processed image in Photoshop, recording each step as I go along in voice and capturing cursor movements and send you the video to watch and learn and pause and rewind as needed. I cannot guarantee that I will process the image the same way that you would have, but you are bound to learn more about photomatix and photoshop by watching me process your images.

We will also be offering a separate optional post-workshop workshops to demonstrate Photomatix, the most popular HDR processing software.

See other workshops, photo tours and classes here

Connecticut Photographers & Illustrators Showcase

ONE WEEK AWAY!

CT ASMP & AIGA CT present

Connecticut Photographers & Illustrators Showcase

theme: ORANGE

Join us for a lively get-together of art, music and creative camaraderie! AIGA Connecticut and the Connecticut Chapter of ASMP are coming together to showcase their member’s work. Come see the work of Connecticut's creative professionals, meet future collaborators and make new friends.

Please click here to RSVP for this FREE showcase event