Typical Shutterbug Podcast

Bart Busschots shares his Aperture workflow

December 26th, 2009

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Podcast Video [00:12:37m]: Download

Bart Busschots a regular contributor to our Flickr pool and comments as well as a very good photographers shares with us his workflow (or one example ) of working with Aperture. Check out his blog for more wonderful posts.

Podcasts, videos

Red Sky After Christmas (iPhone Picture)

December 26th, 2009

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I was able to take this picture with my iPhone this morning on my way to coffee (Actually right outside of starbucks) I used the iPhone and then used OnOne Software Genuine Fractals to enlarge it to 1280X800.
Who said “The best camera is the one with you?” Well it is.

Uncategorized iphone, red, sky, Starbucks

San Diego After Dark using Zoomify

December 20th, 2009

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I spent some time this morning taking the great Kelby Training class WordPress Basics for photographers 2. Rafael “RC” Concepcion is a great teacher and he covered how to turn a Zoomify export into a blog post. This is my example. Thanks to Kelby Training, one of the best money investments so far this year. I have to get RC on the show. RC if you read this, please contact me.

Please click on image

Uncategorized Concepcion, Diego, Kelby, Rafael, RC, San, Training

Union Station LA and iPhone

December 18th, 2009

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On the way to lunch I took this picture with the iPhone out of the window (yes while stopped).

I like it a bit better like this using some Silver FX Pro

Blogposts 3gs, iphone, LA, picture, Station, Union

Canon Powershot G11 – First Impressions

December 18th, 2009

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Yesterday I finally got to go out and shot the new Canon Powershot G11 point and shoot camera. I bought this camera last week as I wanted a point and shoot camera that would shoot in raw and also have some easy access to functions such as ISO settings, aperture settings etc. I also bought a Canon 270ex small flash as I knew this would be a fun camera to experiment with off camera (and on ) flash. My total investment for these two items was approximately $578 US.

I went with Liana Lehua @fittorrent on Twiiter to the Peterson Automotive Museum in LA which is a wonderful place to take pictures and very photographer friendly. I shot most of the pictures below using the Canon 270ex small flash,and generally found the camera to be a joy to shoot with. The quality of the RAW pictures is excellent, specially at ISO’s below 1000. It was nice not to be hassled because I was carrying a “pro” camera around. This was also a large motivator for my purchase.

I found the camera to be noisy at ISO 1600 (see this shot) and above. The pictures taken with these high ISO’s were simply unacceptable but, the G11 though said to be better than it’s predecessors in low light, is no low light magic box. It took me a while to get use to shooing a point and shoot camera again. I found the body to be a bit small for my hands, but I was soon adjusting.

While trying to do flash photography, I found it annoying having to go to the flash menu (via the screen) in order to adjust flash power each time I wanted to. It would have been nice if the exposure adjustment dial which is great to go plus or minus up to two exposures, could have doubled as a flash power adjustment function.

As I was reviewing the shots in Light Room I noticed that about half way through my shots all the pictures were jpg not raw. What happened? Well apparently during one of those times when I was messing with the menus to change the flask power, I fat fingered a menu and changed the camera settings from RAW to high jpg. No mind you the high jpgs are really good and I’m kind of glad this “accident” happened as I got to see the quality of jpg files, but it was a disappointing mistake that may have been avoided by better menu management on the G11.

After day one , I would say the Canon Powershot G11 is the best point and shoot I’ve owned despite it’s less than stellar low light performance at about ISO 1600. This may be user error on my part so I’ll hold off judgement until I get to know the camera better. The ability to have ISO 80 however was so great and darn near with the price of the camera. See the pictures below to get an idea of the versitality of the Canon Powershot G11.

Overall, I need to get out and do some night shots, try bracketing and do some plain old day time photography with the Canon Powershot G11, but for day one I’d give this camera four starts. I know it will serve me well.

Here is a slide show from the shots taken yesterday

Blogposts

Killer deal between Picasa (Google) and Eye-Fi

December 7th, 2009

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I got the scoop on this and yes I am allowed to print it early.

Eye-Fi Collaborates With Google’s Picasa to Make Storing and Sharing Memories Easier

Consumers Who Buy 200GB or More of Extra Google Storage Receive a Free Eye-Fi Card 4GB SDHC Home video card ($69.99 value) includes one free year of Web Share and Geotagging ($24.98 value). These services will remain free if Eye-Fi card is used to upload to Picasa Web Albums.

I own an Eye-Fi card and this is a pretty awesome deal. So much so that I upgraded my 2GB Eye-Fi to a 4GB. The only drawback is that Picasa does not allow you to store RAW. That’s too bad , but still very flexible.

Here is some fine print from the Picasa page

Eye-Fi promotion details

Purchase $50 or more of storage and get a free Eye-Fi wireless SDHC camera memory card to upload photos wirelessly to Picasa Web Albums.
The Eye-Fi card requires a SDHC compatible camera and a Wi-Fi router. If your camera is more than 3 years old, it might not work! Check your camera compatibility.
Special, limited-time offer available while supplies last.
Sorry, no refunds or returns.
Valid only in US and Canada, only for users buying paid storage for the first time.
Limit 5 per household.
Eye-Fi cards will be delivered within 20 business days of purchase.
Shipping information will be shared with Eye-Fi but will not be retained or used for any purposes outside of delivering your card.
Have more questions? Read all the details.