Auctions
- Canon 40D
- Canon Battery Grip BG-E2N
- Wescott 43” Silver Collapsible Umbrella
- Leica M Summicron 90 mm Mount Lens
Also, been spending some
time editing the recent work from my Tools series.
My grandpa had two belts - I’m not sure how he figured
on which to wear but I remember both of these quite
clearly. Maybe the latter was used on days when he
needed the luck. No rain. Enough sunlight. Rain.
Commodity prices up. I guess I should have photographed
it with the horshoe up...
Finally, I saw this series on Shoot the Blog and was blown away
- both by the photography, the story and the site
design. It reminded me of the feelings I have as I
work thru my grandpa’s stuff.
Ride Report: 8
miles at Griffin Natural Preserve 1 hour riding
time. Causual pace as I was accompanied by a
friend and was nursing a pulled hamstring.
Firearms
One of the tools my grandpa used regularly were his firearms. He was a life-long NRA member and out on the ranch, his reliance on them was often necessary. They were poor and my mom often remembers that the things he could hunt were what they ate - they were isolated in rural idaho and it was along way from the individually wrapped sections of an unidentified animal found in today’s supermarkets.
They were tools to him, and he used them. I like to separate him and the rhetoric I hear today when the subject of guns is brought up.
Have a great day.
Summer in Idaho
I setup shop in Grandma’s garage and proceeded to work thru a large collection of terribly interesting objects - most of which I remember directly being used on the ranch when I was a kid. I worked all day Saturday (with a break for lunch and a quick dinner visit to my Uncle Mike’s house close by). By mid-day it was 90 degrees in that garage and the lights sure didn’t seem to help.
On finishing for the day, we then went over to “Cruise Night” which was an annual vintage car festival in Emmett. We saw lots of what you’d expect - hot rods, Harley’s and lots of people. I also managed to take a few bike rides on a sweet cruiser and visit a few interesting places in this slightly out-of-the-way community on the edge of the sprawling Boise metropolis.
I’m just starting to go thru the results of the marathon Saturday shoot, but here are some fun pictures from the trip itself.
More to come on the tools
series later this week.
And what of my hypermiling experiment. I drove
my 1998 Nissan Frontier pickup down and back for a
total of just under 1000 miles 99% of it on the
freeway. First, consider the Federal EPA rating for
this car (and these are the revised EPA estimates
that better reflect current driving habits):
Thanks to my Scanguage II, I was able to
monitor fuel consumption, efficiency and cost in
real time. I averaged 33 MPG the entire trip,
spending a total of $130 for the trip in gas. I beat
the EPA estimate by 66% and save almost $50 in gas.
Of course, it took me an extra hour at least each
way, but it certainly was less stressful, quieter
and the knowledge that I was being 66% more
efficient was a big plus - its a stewardship/moral
thing and I consider it to be a total success.
Hypermiling works.
Taking it to the petro-sociopaths, one gallon at a
time...
To Emmett!
My Grandpa and I were pretty close growing up - I spent every summer on their farm from the time I was 7 years old and tagged along behind him everywhere he went. I was mesmerized by his knowledge, capabilities and just loved every minute I had in Idaho. There is a great story of me introducing my Grandpa to someone as “my best friend” and it was an honest reflection of how I felt then. I sure miss him.
Anyhow, so when we were there recently I grabbed some old tools from his garage (we spent alot of time fixing things in his garage on the farm outside Mackay, ID) and began a photo project documenting him through his tools. I brought them back home and the first two series are here:
Grandpa’s Tools - Series 1
Grandpa’s Tools - Series 2
I figured it would be a good idea to just go down and setup a studio in the garage and document as much as I could over the weekend. This would allow me to make further progress and visit Grandma at the same time. Kristin liked the idea and suggested I bring Chloe along with me - she loves to spend time in Emmett because Grandma is the queen of craft. I swear, that woman made a hat out of Pepsi cans once, and to a tinkering 9 year old, that is very cool.
So, off we go, with a truck full of lighting gear, my cameras and my daughter. Even with the price of gas, I love road trips. I purchased a ScanGuage II this week that monitors your real time gas milage (Holden Caulfield’s comments notwithstanding) and with my new bag of Hypermiling tricks, I should be able to squeeze 30 mpg out of the truck (rated at 23). I’m such a nerd.
Anywho, have a good weekend. I’ll be blazing away with my tethered 5D into Lightroom 2.
Lightroom Workflow & Import Tutorial
He states that weddings vary, but he can shoot 3-4
thousand images at an event and as all wedding
photographers, needs to get thru them quickly and
effectively in short order.
Read more on his workflow here.
One thing that puzzles me is that many
photographers are hanging on to old-school ingestion
practices (i.e. getting images off the camera and onto
your computer). They use all manner of stand alone
ingestion applications (or even just use the
Finder/Explorer) to do the job, when Lightroom has a
very capable and time-saving import feature that does
most of the heavy lifting automatically for you.
Lightroom was designed to help you speed up your
photographic workflow. Five years ago, the digital
workflow was immature and required many separate
applications that the happless photographer cobbled
together just to get thier job done and inefficiencies
were inherent in the process. Times change, and
Lightroom is a more holistic, efficient approach.
Importing with Lightroom
Here is a quick tutorial on Lightroom’s Import feature to get some of you off those shareware solutions and onto something that saves you time/effort.
1. Make sure Lightroom is running and insert your CF or SD cards. Lightroom wil prompt you with the Import dialog automatically. If anything else comes up (i.e. a “helpful” Windows or Mac diaolg - turn that off now - you won’t be needing those anymore). This is what you’ll see. I have the Previews turned off as I generally just do a “dump and go” operation, but sometimes it is nice to see the thumbnails.
2. Decide where to save your files. Don’t panic about this - you are in control here with the Copy to pop up. You can save them on the internal drive (ie. in the Pictures folder) or on an external drive in a Photo Archive folder of your creation. Just pick one and stick with it. I save all my files into a Photo Archive/YYYY/Month hierarchy on an external Raid drive. Lightroom will remember from import to import where you put them, so you don’t thave to change this every time. In fact, most things here are sticky from session to session so you’re doing the hard work only once.
3. The Import dialog is designed to save you time at
the front end of the workflow. Here are some quick
recommendations:
- You should convert to DNG automatically by in the File Handling pop up. DNG is more efficient, smaller and archival. Nuff Said. And be warned, it wil take a bit of extra time to do this.
- You can organize the import by various date formats or into a named folder (ie. Job Name/Number)
- You can check to make sure you are not importing files already in the catalog
- Skip the Backup option - right now its a pretty basic back up of the files from the card - you need a more comprehensive backup strategy.
4. If you choose, you can reame your files using the comprehensive File Naming option. This dialog looks like this and contains a plethora of options.
- You can add custom text, or add any tolkens from any of the areas (numbering, date, file name etc).
- You can save templates for future use - this speeds things up even more.
5. In this step, you’ll want to apply a few things to
the images as they are imported:
- A basic Develop preset - I have one from Matt Kloskowski s LIghtroom Killer Tips page that does a basic adjustment that works well for me.
- A metadata template. I have a basic one that contains my basic contact and copyright info.
- Keywords - a quick way to get a basic set of generic keywords for the shoot into the files.
- Preview genration - most files have a basic jpeg preview built in, but it is small and you’ll need something bigger to rate and develop the file - you can do this by choosing 1:1 here. Note again, this will take extra time.
That is it. Importing takes some time, but done properly, you’ll be ahead of the game when it comes to editing efficiently. And as mentioned above, most of the settings you choose will be remembered from import to import - its automatic until you want to change it. Sweet!.
Have a great day.
Lightroom Smorgasbord
- Can Lightroom 2 Replace Photoshop - the short: depends on who you are and the kind of work you do.
- Recovering Highlights in Lightroom - How to do it and should you worry about it.
- Lightroom Color Management
- Frederick interviewed my good buddy Phil on the approach we take to Lightroom Design.
- Split Toning with Lightroom
Microsoft had its Pro Photo Summit this past week. I’ve gone the past two years because it was free, well attended and well appointed. This year I was off with Ira in Wyoming so I missed out.
Here is a review of the conference...
Stephen Johnson on "The Intrigue of Complexity "
A quote:
“I would
strongly urge people to see simply, and edit simply.
Your photographs are your asset, much more so than your
Photoshop skills. Those image-editing skills may well
be critical to your craft, but they are secondary to
your photographic vision. “Fix it in Photoshop” is a
prescriptive attitude that often leads to making images
not worth investing time trying to salvage through
image editing.”
Amen to that. I resisted digital photography for quite
along time, only really shooting digital seriously
starting in 2007 with the arrival of my Leica M8. I
stuck with film mostly because the prints I could get
in Black & White were better with the analog
process. I have a darkroom and used it extensively for
years, but the last year has seen it become a storage
room (like many others I suspect) because the
technology (camera ergonomics, printers and paper)
improved. While there was always manipulations in the
darkroom - dodging, burning, flashing, and cropping,
the image generally had to stand on its own merits in
that rectangle on the easel. Things have certainly
changed, and often not for the better. We all get
fascinated with a certain look, style or feel and
sometimes its post-processing that gives us what we are
looking for, but its always secondary to vision. That
frame still has to have it before a pixel is tweaked.
I’m really grateful I spent years working with film
before I went digital because it taught me to see and
to edit. These two skills mean more than anything else,
and they take years to learn.
As one who works on Lightroom and has contributed to
other Adobe software related to digital photography, it
always strikes me as odd when a great photographer
comments on his “lack of photoshop skill” as if to
appologize for his work when we talk. These are tools.
They help you acheive your vision, but they are no
subsitute for it. A crappy photograph is still crappy
after 10 actions in Photoshop and some layer magic. I
really like Scott’s cajones for publishing this article
- as one could easily point out his culpability in the
“tips and tricks” arms race.
Another quote:
“Solid
image editing is far less about secrets, trickery,
hidden features and shortcuts, than it is about
starting with a strong photograph, knowing your goals,
and methodically working toward them. Craft is not
tricky; it is most often plain hard work and
care.”
To the point, this past week I was in the field with a
friend shooting a story for the National Geographic. We
spent a lot of time focusing on getting it right -
there were long days (and nights) working with a bag of
techniques to make sure that it was perfect. After a
few hours of shooting a particular object, we decided
that something wasn’t quite right and we’d need do
something a bit different. More shooting and more work
lay ahead. Of course, the knee-jerk was that we could
“just fix it in photoshop” but Alex pointed out that
was the easy way out. His comment (and I’m paraphrasing
- I was holding a big silk scrim in windy conditions)
was fitting:
“This is
the National Geographic - we get it right in camera
because it matters.”
Preach on, brother...
Soccer Tournament
I generally bring my cameras and shoot pictures for the team, but my heart really isn’t in sports photography. However, I do manage to snag a few informal portraits in the available light (i.e. full on, hard sun) now and then.
PS. They lost the final to a golden goal in the 7th minute of the first overtime period. Argh.
Final Field Day
Yesterday was hot. Desert hot.
We spent most of the day shooting and didn’t stop until after midnight (ok with a few breaks to sip water and sit in the shade). Ira and Alex were great to observe - I picked up quite a few lighting tricks that will be employed in the future. Thanks guys - it was great to observe and in my own humble way, assist photographers of this caliber.
I spent alot of time taking pictures of the camp’s inhabitants and the accoutrements of such grand enterprises. Here are a few of my initial favorites...
Our camp from “Cell Phone Hill”
The Work & Mess Tents
Dino - The 1970 Suburban
Fossils wrapped for transport
The Front Entrance to the Work Tent
A young lass relaxes after a day of digging
Mr. Fashion
Scott Drives Dino
Doing Pull Ups
Potato Cannon Prep
Celebratory Post-Potato Cannon Maneuvers
A Sign in Greybull, WY
On the plane now - headed home...
Worland Dig
We’re at an archeological dig site with roughly 25 kids and their professors. What a blast. They’re all young, committed and having the summer of their lives. I think they’ll spend roughly a month out there digging in the ground with picks and shovels.
We arrived in the evening
and they were just eating dinner - they were very
welcoming and pushed us into the mess tent for food
immediately. We spend the rest of the night just
sitting around chatting about random things.
In our abscence, it seems a
TV crew came in and ran over Alex’s tent. They
destroyed his ipod, jetboil stove, tend and sleeping
pad. Doh! They’ll be back tomorrow and we’ll have a
chat with them - we shouldn’t have a problem.
I spent most of my time
walking around getting to know people and shooting some
informal portraits.
Gillette, WY
We woke up this AM in Powell and discussed our options with regard to the shoot last night. Ira feels he needs more contrast in the hills - the rain and the lack of moonlight detracted slightly from his vision. So he’ll probably head back in Friday when the moon is fuller and try it again.
We had breakfast at the same cafe we at at last night. The funny thing is, every time we walk in the entire place seems to stop and stare at us as we progress to a table. I mean, three guys with big cameras and smiles shouldn’t be that off-putting, but we sure feel like aliens from space. We need to get some sleeveless T-shirts, Wranglers and Bass Pro Shop ball caps and we’d fit right in. I kid, I kid.
After breakfast (good!) we dropped off my car at Tom’s (the Jeep fella) and headed over the Powder River Pass to Gillette to photograph another piece of the story. Enroute, we stopped at an airplane museum (closed, sadly) but we snuck onto the adjacent airfield and took some pictures of four aging aircraft - including two Royal Canadian Air Force cargo planes.
We also stopped outside of
Emblem, WY because the sign on entering was this:
Finally, after checking
into the hotel and doing some research on our intended
target, we dropped Ira off to do some guerrilla
scouting/shooting. Here he is as he exits the vehicle -
the exit-from-the-moving-vehicle-commando-style exit I
suggested wasn’t taken as seriously...
Tomorrow we head back over
to the archelolgical dig for some pictures of the
kids/professors working out there. I’m pretty excited
as it sounds like quite an interesting site.
Cheers!
PS. Why is it that cheap hotels in the middle of
nowhere can have better wireless internet access than
the big hotels I stay at (and pay $10-20 a day) in the
big cities? Wireless in nowhere Wyoming is awesome.
Powell
Ira, Alex (a photographer
friend of Ira’s based in Phoenix) and I headed out for
a conceptual shoot last evening in some hoodoos near
the town. It was quite an elaborate setup, with a Jeep
and an ATV taking us into the location and a couple of
local guides. Here Tom, one of the two, pointing out
our destination.
A rain storm had blown in
just before we were to leave, and there was some
concern that the rain/wind would hamper our plans, but
after a few minutes of concern, it blew past and we
decided to head in.
We were headed for an old
Native American camp site - there were several tipi
circles close by - and while we worked, the two guides
headed off to look for arrow heads.
We got back fairly late and
after doing the card download/evaluate-the-shoot dance,
we went to bed.
Big Skies!
Yesterday I landed in Billings, MT, picked up my ridiculously yellow rental car and headed out for some shooting before meeting up with Ira in Wyoming.
I remember going thru Billings when I was a kid - probably on our way down to Colorado for a family reunion in Estes Park, CO. Salient on that trip was my kid sister getting all excited and yelling “Hooray! Buffalo Billings” as we arrived. And its stuck with me. Whenever someone says “Billings” I hear “Buffalo Billings.”
I headed out of town east, with no particular plan except to visit the Little Big Horn Battlefield - I have a few specific memories of visiting there on that previous trip.
Since my last visit,
they’ve built a whole new memorial (and one much more
fitting) of the battle for the First People’s side. It
was quite striking, well-designed and told the
warrior’s story beautifully. Much nicer than the aging
cemetery plot for the invaders and their mecurial,
sociopathic leader.
As luck would have it, I
have a book on Custer and the Little Big Horn on my
iPod, so I played that the entire day to get the
backstory.
The battlefield itself was
gorgeous - rolling green hills, swaying grasses and
flowers and get this - Agave plants - somethign I never
expected in Montana. Overwhelming all was the
intoxicating sent of the prarie - I can see why someone
would fight for this little corner of land.
I visited both monuments,
did the ravine hike (I was the only one on the trail -
its a very challenging 1 mile walk on a graded path)
and then drove down to the second battle site 5 miles
away.
I also stopped in Hardin,
MT. They had a little country museum that I just dig on
visiting - you know, old buildings with nice
installations of what it was like in the early 1900’s.
Lovely stuff.
Happy Fourth!
The Canadian in me celebrated the 1st of July and now the American in me gets to celebrate the 4th. While I have serious problems with how this country is governed and even more with its hegemonistic, bellic foreign policy, I really am happy and blessed to live in the great state of Washington.
I love this country for is true assets - the deserts, the mountains and wild places and even a few of its villages. Furthermore, I love the real American people - those happy people who recognize their blessings, are always ready to lend a helping hand and try to approach things with love and humility.
Sometimes it is easy to point out the big men who take advantage or the greedy who look to exploit for their own personal gain, and while they seem to run things, the real people outnumber the parasites. And thank goodness for that.
I'm going to be on a several day road trip next week in Wyoming and I'll see many of these everyday Americans. I'll even bring a few cameras and document this all-american of journeys.
So Happy Fourth! Raise your drink of choice and celebrate the good in this country. Huzzah!
Here are a few images snapped over the past few days.
Free Lightroom Presets & More
Who does not love free stuff? Some of these presets are
pretty good, so head on over and do a bit of exploring.
Lightroom has a great community of users who provide
all kinds of interesting and useful solutions.
Speaking of assets, the Lightroom team is loosing one
itself this week. George Jardine is off to recharge, as
it were.
I always appreciated George's frankness and especially
found his informative Lightroom podcasts to be a great
addition to the Lightroom team and community. There are
lots of jewels there in case you have not been
listening. I'm not sure how long these will remain
available, so its best to subscribe via iTunes and get
them all now.
Especially recommended (in
no particular order):
- Subjective Color Correction
- Gregory Heisler Interview
- The Lightroom Catlaog - Part 1
- Jay Maisel, Greg Gorman and Seth Resnick
- Adobe Raw Sharpening Controls
- Develop Module Baics for Color Correction
- Eric Meola
The Snoqualmie Valley
Its lovely and pastoral - honestly I find it hard to believe it is just outside a sprawling city and its bloated suburbs. Perfect. I always think of Thomas Hardy or George Eliot as I pedal like a madman.
Today, I took my camera and documented some of the sights I've been visualizing for several years. I'm very pleased with how these turned out.
Have a great day.
EBT 2007-2008 Yearbook
"Available in hard or softcover, with 275 photographs from the past year, this yearbook will become a prized memento of your dancer's hard work, determination and beauty."
If you're the frugal sort,
use coupon "flickr10" to save 10%
The book is the culmination of a years worth of work
with EBT. It contains, as mentioned above,
approximately 275 images taken in weekly classes,
rehearsals, performances, and many EBT functions. I'm
really happy with how it turned out - its a beautiful
book with most of my favorite images. You can purchase
it directly from Blurb and there is a preview of the
first 15 pages available for your perusal.
All purchases will go directly to support EBT's
programs and classes. Consider ordering a book or two
and supporting these wonderful dancers in their quest
to make the world a bit more beautiful.
Update: for all my blog readers, if
you buy a book, I'm offering a 20% coupon for any print
of a photo therein. Just buy the book and email me with
your print selection and I'll handle the rest.
Happy Canada Day!
Bonne Fete Du Canada!
Batman
Goodbye June-uary and hello July (well almost). Summer bring soccer tournaments, long days, long bike rides and festivals. My youngest got to go to Strawberry Days in Bellevue this weekend and the highlight was either the cotton candy or the face paint. The former didn't last very long, but the face paint persists.
I'm going to Wyoming this
weekend to meet up with a Ira Block, a good friend of mine
who shoots for the National Geographic. Ira is, to
put it short, da man. I'm looking forward to some
shooting, continued warm weather and some road
tripping.
BTW, is the road trip facing extinction with gas prices
as they are? I sure wish we had a national rail
infrastructure that could support frequent,
comfortable, convenient travel like the Europeans. With
a bike and the train, I'd be a happy man.
Remote Backups
Once you have your onsite redundancy thing nailed, then its time to address the second part of the backup problem: remote backups. It isn't good enough to have backups on a hard drive next to your computer if your studio or house burns down. Or if it sinks into a swamp. Or if it burns down, falls over and then sinks into the swamp.
My friends over at SmugMug (a rocking photo sharing/printing site) have just released a new feature that solves your problem.
Its called "SmugVault" and
its a way of backing up all your valuable Raw files to
Amazon's distributed data centers. No more earthquake,
flood or the appocalypse to take out your collection of
digital files.
Read more...
Making Lightroom Faster
Sure, as software developers we always make improvements and talk in terms of seconds, milliseconds and even X times faster. And we mean well.
Sometimes, it depends on a myriad of factors beyond our control. Have a slow drive? An old computer? Lacking reasonable Ram (and whatever you have, its probably not reasonable enough). Take good care of your computer?
Well, there are lots of
things you can do, and the guys over at shootsmarter.com have a nice article by Michael Clark on
tips to speed up Lightrooom (you may need to sign up
to view the article).