Central Maryland Photographers' Guild » Features

Lost or Stolen Camera?

Doug Miller — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:57:44 +0000

stolencamerafinder.com

stolencamerafinder uses the serial number stored in your photo to search the web for photos taken with the same camera

http://tinyurl.com/3zeuyy7

SOPA And Photography

Doug Miller — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:22:39 +0000

From APhotoeditor .com

You have the DMCA so you don’t need SOPA (or PIPA).

Like many have suggested SOPA is like banning cars because bank robbers use them to get away. Overkill basically. And, in the wrong hands, ripe for abuse.

Also, there are some serious problems with the way SOPA is written, as Clay Shirky explains in the video below: It reverses the burdon of proof and doesn’t actually stop you from reaching a website. I think it will cause more problems than it solves.

Buuuuuuuuuut, let’s not kid ourselves here. As much as Hollywood and media conglomerates want to protect their businesses, Google and Facebook want to steal it. Nobody is fighting for your rights. They’re simply deciding who will be in control of the copyrighted material you produce.

This is a very difficult position for photographers to be in. You would like to take down rogue sites plastered with your copyrighted content when they don’t respond to DMCA notices and at the same time media conglomerates are finding ways to undermine your ability to make a living producing copyrighted content. Ultimately, I think it is best to not side with the Media Conglomerates. Their business model is dying. Breaking the internet will not fix it.

Video at the site.

http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2012/01/19/sopa-and-photography/

HDR Workflow For The Rest Of Us Vegard Bremma

Doug Miller — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:32:54 +0000

Another voice on HDR

Introduction

Alexandre Buisse in A Plea for HDR said it all. He speaks for me. One of my favourite photographic subjects is church interiors (no castles in this part of the world), and HDR is indispensable. But I don’t want my pictures to look like HDR. And I also want HDR to be just another part of my toolbox. Does anyone remember as far back as 2003? That was when we corrected exposure using multiple layers and blending modes in Photoshop, and when we created “fill flash” using clever masks. Now with Lightroom there are simple sliders for them all and more. I think of HDR as an extreme version of Lightroom’s Fill Light and Recovery combined, just a method to get back what I saw and I know was there. Until the “HDR slider” arrives I would like to have something similar and simple.
The tutorial is divided into two parts.

In the first part I will look at the problem of consistent colours in Photomatix Pro, and how it can be solved. The solution applies to any HDR program that creates unnatural but consistent colours. In the second part I will present a workflow “for the rest of us”, where I use what I found in the first part to effortlessly create a consistent suite of HDR images from one shoot – the HDR slider.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/hdr_workflow_for_the_rest_of_us.shtml

HDR Time-Lapse Photography

Doug Miller — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:36:21 +0000

From Picturecorrect via Warren v U

Beautiful time-lapse photography is difficult enough to achieve, but attempting it in HDR (high dynamic range) photography adds another layer of complexity as was done here successfully in France (Normandy & Britany). This means the photographer has to take bracketed photos at different exposure levels for each individual frame, and then post-process those bracketed sets into HDR in a way that the lighting stays consistent so something called “flickering” does not occur due to rapid changes in lighting between the video frames. This new video has created a lot of discussion between photographers because it is such a difficult technique to master. Take a moment and enjoy:

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/hdr-time-lapse-photography/

Purchasing a New Lens

Doug Miller — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:25:38 +0000

Published Wed, 2011-05-18 19:00 on the B&H website.

I’m outgrowing the kit lens that came with my camera. What’s a good starting point for figuring out how to choose my next lens? Follow the link.

http://tinyurl.com/824hbmx

Thanks to Lisa for sharing.

In-Camera Metering from NYIP

Doug Miller — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:59:00 +0000

We’ve had a lot of questions from students about using their camera’s built-in light meter. Here’s an overview which we hope will give you a basic understanding of the subject. We’re going to cover three aspects of in-camera metering; a General Overview, Metering Modes, and some Tricks and Tips to Use of Your Camera’s Light Meter more effectively.

How To Add Sunlight To Your Overcast Photographs

Doug Miller — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 08:33:58 +0000

Tips from fstoppers.com

I’m sure many of you have heard the saying “overcast skies make for amazing photos”. While it’s true that soft overcast light is usually more flattering on people’s faces, it can also make your photos super boring and even gloomy. So what can you do with your bag of tricks to spice up a photo session during cold, rainy, or overcast days? Damien Lovegroveexplains how you can use a “dingle” (or more commonly a Cookie) to bring some pseudo-sunlight into your portraits . This clip is from Damien’s Speedlight Mastery DVD and he does a great job explaining this super useful technique that can be applied to many of your own shoots at almost zero cost. Next time you see those interesting shadow patterns while thumping through your girlfriend’s fashion magazines you can imagine the dingle that created them!

http://fstoppers.com/how-to-add-sunlight-to-your-overcast-photographs

Flower Shots that Flourish in the Rain Courtesy of Penn Camera & Olympus

Doug Miller — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 13:10:09 +0000

Flower Shots that Flourish in the Rain

Not many people want to trudge outside on a cloud filled, rainy day. Having to carry an umbrella or worrying about getting your camera wet is usually what deters photographers from getting out and shooting. However, there is a beautiful subject that can only be encountered on rainy days: water drops. The sparkling water drops on the delicate petals of a flower can create a picture-perfect shot every photographer wants to take. After learning how to obtain these kinds of photos with your E-System or PEN camera, you’ ll be waiting for the next storm to roll in.

Use the aperture to control the depth of field

The aperture used changes the depth of field of the picture. Water drops are very small so it is impossible to capture the background reflected inside the drop when the area that is in focus is not wide enough (that is, when the depth of field is not deep enough).

On the other hand, if the background is also sharply in focus, the water drop itself will be lost so you may need to decide the optimal value while checking the resulting pictures. Also, keep in mind that using high aperture values also means slower shutter speeds, making blur more likely.

Make the subject look BIG

Focusing on the drop in front makes the background nicely out of focus. Water drops are very small and transparent. If you don’t make them appear bigger in the picture, they will get lost. Get as close to the subject as the lens you are using will allow. A macro lens is ideal as you can make small subjects appear even larger.

Getting close to the subject will also soften the focus on the background, making the water drops look even more brilliant. To amplify this effect, try composing your shot so that the subject is more isolated from the background. This will further blur the background and make the water drops stand out.

Try experimenting with different angles and distances and see what you can create!

Try using Art Filters

Water drops are really beautiful as they are but if your camera supports them, try using art filters to enhance your shot.

Using [SOFT FOCUS], you can get a softer contrast and make the flowers appear more delicate.

With [PIN HOLE] you can darken the edges of the picture making the subject in the center more eye-catching.

You can use these filters to draw more attention to the water drops, even though they are so small.

Focus on the flower within the water drop

If you only want to shoot the water drop itself you can simply focus on the drop’s surface. However, if you want to emphasize the image within the water drop, focus instead on the image within. In most cases the AF (auto focus) will focus on the drop’s surface so it may be a good idea to use MF (manual focus) instead. When it is difficult to verify the focus in the viewfinder, it may be convenient to use the enlarged display in live view.

More Tips On Changing Depth of Field

•   Choose a low numbered aperture (large iris opening) for results with a shallow focus or shallow depth of field. Primarily only the subject that your camera lens is focused on will be in focus.

•   Choose a high numbered aperture (small iris opening) for results with deep focus or deep depth of field. Primarily the entire image area will be in focus.

•   Using shorter lenses or smaller focal length (ex. wide angle) lenses creates more depth of field.

•   Using longer lenses or longer focal length (ex. telephoto) lenses creates a shallow depth of field.

http://tinyurl.com/43om3oq

Exposure Bracketing – Courtesy of Olympus & Penn Camera

Doug Miller — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:18:53 +0000

Digital cameras have made exposure accuracy easy and accurate. But sometimes you shoot an image and on the LCD it looks great, then you leave, only to find it is under or over exposed when you get home and download it to your computer. When shooting pictures, it can be difficult to decide what exposure setting should be used in situations such as snow, a spot lit school play, or a sunset. Therefore, it is recommended that you take extra pictures with various exposure settings above (+) or below (-) what the camera tells you the exposure should be. In such a case you can use the exposure compensation (+/-) to bracket, or in the XZ series, PEN and E-System DSLRs, use the Auto Bracket (BKT) function to capture photographs with a range of exposures. Using these features allows you to take successive pictures while gradually changing the amount of exposure compensation. In Auto Bracket, you can shoot a preselected number of pictures as desired simply by keeping the shutter button pressed.

Using Auto Exposure Bracket:
The, BKT is easily reached through the camera menu as “ BKT” or “ Bracket” or with the “ Drive” button on some cameras. As digital technology has advanced and expanded, “ Bracket” now includes more than just exposure, but we will concentrate on the exposure bracket as this is the most often used. In this menu you can set the exposure range in 0.3, 0.7, or 1 (full) steps of exposure to 1 full step of exposure along with the number of images you will capture in this range. The range of exposure compensation can also be adjusted in the Exposure menu for 0.3, 0.5, or 1 EV step.

Once set, all you need to do to shoot is simply continue pressing the shutter button. If you let go of the shutter button in the middle of auto bracketing, the pictures that have been shot up to that point will be recorded. If your camera has a sequential shooting mode, set this to its highest speed, then just press the button for the desired number of shots, this will help prevent camera movement changing the composition as you shoot.

Actual images on link.

http://penncamera.com/Exposure-Bracketing-Photo-Lesson-content.html

Frontier Life in the West

Doug Miller — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 22:13:19 +0000

John C. H. Grabill’s Photos of Western Frontier Life.. 1887-1892

Between 1887 and 1892, John C.H. Grabill sent 188 photographs to the Library of Congress for copyright protection. Grabill is known as a western photographer, documenting many aspects of frontier life — hunting, mining, western town landscapes and white settlers’ relationships with Native Americans. Most of his work is centered on Deadwood in the late 1880s and 1890s. He is most often cited for his photographs in the aftermath of the Wounded Knee Massacre on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

From the denverpost.com

http://tinyurl.com/69lhgal