Paw Prints

OMG – I love Lightroom (after)

Originally uploaded by Elaine with Grey Cats.

Christine gave me the most incredible light meter as a Yule gift as well as a longed for monopod. The monopod was something that is nigh a necessity: i’ve used my cheap tripod as a walking stick, but continually forget its use as something i can leave a camera on and walk away from. It’s necessary to steady my hand even with the light little digital camera.

The light meter was amazing: an elegant and well crafted analog device that felt wonderful in my hand. My brain, however, was unsure when and where i would use such a device. Both cameras have digital metering that have not caused me any problems, although i fondly remember using the one i inherited from my father (i have no idea where it is now).

A gentle questioning followed: i determined that the price paid for the meter was too high to have the meter just as a novelty analog device. An exchange seemed the right way to go.

I didn’t have anything in mind that i wanted: more time to deal with the backlog of images would be my main wish. I figured a new lens would be fun though, and a lensbaby for the Maxxum 5 seemed just right. (Oh, when i said Maxxum 5 to the sales dude, he responded, “Now that’s old!” — No it’s not! The Minolta i got (used) when i was in high school: that was old. The Maxxum has auto focus for crying out loud! *cough*)

I did look at the Keeble & Shuchat Photography website to see what they had: Lensbabies would be available and in the right price range. Thought about an IR shutter trigger and flashes, but that would just be excess gadgetry. The software seemed all for Nikons.

When we got to Keeble & Shuchat Photography, though, they had Lightroom. There! That! So Christine managed the exchange, noting that she’d thought about Lightroom but, well — and i am hard to shop for, i admit.

I’ve installed and fiddled with one photo, recalling Joe Decker’s ease at managing the tool. It is so much more … well designed … to use. And, in the end, i think this is the gift of more time to work with the photos i do take.

Next stop: Lightroom Video Tutorials

RitzPix’s digital photobooks are a nice product. I found the online web layout tool to be wonderfully flexible. In one photo of a trail, i was able to put a small inset of the stone grain with a penny for size. The “flaoting frame” could be placed anywhere, with edge effects that were different than other photos. The edge effects offer some interesting flexibility and images could have their transparency adjusted. The total was around $25 for a 6×6 hardback book with twenty pages counting the inside cover and the back page. One surprise was that the pages had a white boarder — they weren’t full bleed. I note that they do have a notice to this effect on one of their pre-order pages.

Admittedly, Apple’s hardback book looks like it may be a better deal in some ways: 8.5″ x 11″ hardcover keepsake books include a suede-like cover with a foil-printed title on the cover and a customizable dust jacket. 20 pages (10 sheets) $29.99 The dustjacket is a very nice touch as most hardback books lack any sort of printing option. (Some have inset windows to see a cover image and title.) Another aspect that’s better about working through iPhoto: you don’t have to upload all the photos to a remote server before you begin your layout work. I don’t recall the layout being nearly as flexible as RitzPix’s, though.

The most remarkable difference about the RitzPix book, though, was that i was able to pick the book up from the Wolf Camera on El Camino here in Mountain View the next day. I may have even been able to pick it up in a hour. That’s a wonderful “immediate gratification” aspect that stands out.

***

Another lesson was RitzPix’s photo cards: one can layout images on a 8″x10″ sheet. The “card” and the high price led me to hope i was getting prints on cardstock weight paper. Nope. I’m not sure what the benefit to the purchaser is in choosing this function over the standard reprints. To duplicate what i received for $9, i could have purchased 3 different “4×6 Plus 2 Wallets Glossy” at .49 each and two 4×6 Glossy Borderless at .21 each — $1.89 (and i’d have more photos).

I risked the order because i continue to wish to make photo postcards in small quantities. The cost per card with other print on demand options (plus waiting for shipping) doesn’t appeal to me. I did find adhesive photo postcard backs for photos: 50 4 X 6 PhotoPOSTOS $13.99 (.28 back+.21 print per ~ .50 ea). There is the opportunity to commission custom backs in sets of 1000: i’m not sure that’s within my needs and means, but it is a very clever marketing ploy.

***

And more lessons: Our camera is bloody noisy at ISO equivalent 1600. On the other hand, i think i’ve figured out how to manually set the focus to infinity, and i think that’s better than the auto settings in my attempts at sky photography.

night sky, print on demand, postcards, photo books

It’s a different sort of digital image, but it’s still fun to work with (except when one mis-copies digits in calculations).

In other news, i finished off the lingering roll of film yesterday (Roll2007.06, i think.) with some telephoto images of a goldfinch. I should remember to use shutter speed priority when using the telephoto.

I’m loading Roll2007.07 — Kodak HD4 24 400/27° — to have ready for the next bird opportunity that comes along.

[I don't know why the post-from-Flickr failed.]

The 15s and 4s shots were *much* better than the autoshot. I think i like the 15s shot better as it has the night sky a little lighter and the earthshine is more prominent. The 4s shot keeps more of the crescent moon experience. 10s might have been right for the 400 speed film. Neither of the two good shots were scanned by the developer. (The charge was $4.87 for the developing & CD. I’m sure this was a mistake, but there were enough mistakes on their end, i’m calling it an even trade.)

I did note that the 2006 roll numbering is off. Since i had a practice initially of just getting rolls developed, thinking i would take the time to scan them myself. These are the numbers used in iPhoto.

Roll2006.03: duck on Stevens Creek
Roll2006.04: Yosemite, the sequoias, the unnamed creek cascading off the wall near El Capitan
Roll2006.05: Afternoon shots of Bridal Veil and El Capitan
Roll2006.06: B&W, Afternoon shots of Bridal Veil and El Capitan, tide pool
Roll2006.07: tide pool
Roll2006.08: Virgina
Roll2006.09: Virgina
Roll2006.10: Big Basin
Roll2006.11: Big Basin, Diablo
Roll2006.12: Diablo
Roll2006.12a: Return from Diablo, Comet McNaught, Venus & Moon, some of me

I shot the last three frames of Roll2006.12 at the late twilight view of the crescent moon, resplendent with earthshine, and Venus near by. Spaceweather.com gave this skymap for the conjunction. The shots were manually set to the infinite focus, and i think i overturned the focus for frames 23 & 24 shot at 15 s and 4 s, respectively. Shot 25 may have had better focus at 1 s. It probably doesn’t matter on the 15 s shot, where the long exposure will probably burn in the crescent so much that a sharp focus wouldn’t matter. The camera was on shutter priority and probably chose something like a 5.6 f-stop.

I’ve never been good at keeping notes on this sort of shot. Maybe if i start NOW i’ll be able to eventually reproduce a success.