Thursday, September 16, 2010

Morro Rock

Morro Rock

My friends Allen and Bea invited me to spend a day with them in Los Osos, Morro Bay, and San Luis Obispo and I jumped at the opportunity!  I love hanging out with them and our photo excursions are never a disappointment.

I have been up north several times but I can't remember ever paying attention to The Rock until I saw this amazing HDR photo taken by Beth Sargent.  I was excited to capture it for myself.  I must admit that when I got back home and looked at all the photos from that day, I hated them all of everything except this one of Morro Rock.  I liked the composition of the image out of the camera but I felt that it needed a little extra something.  I added sparse clouds in Photoshop and applied an article I read in the 4th edition of The Ultimate Guide to Digital Photography to boost saturation using Lab Colors in Photoshop.

Original image

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Cool Group Photo

Cool Group Portrait

In April 2010, I met up with some other amateur photographers on Flickr to do a photowalk in Santa Barbara at the SB Harbor.  We walked along the breakwater sharing stories and snapping away.  As we were leaving, I noticed that all of us walked past this window that gave off great reflections and thought, what a great photo opportunity for a cool group portrait!  In this photo, we didn't plan for us to all have our cameras up at the same time.  I was actually the only one who caught all of us with our cameras up.

The Lonely Bench

This is another one of my favorite photos I took during the photowalk.  I have such a deep connection with this picture because I'm an observer.  An open chair, bench, stool, or spot on the wall is always an open invitation for me to observe and think.  It's like meditation for me.  Some people need a book or other devices to let their mind travel, wander, or escape but all I need is a comfortable place to rest and the thoughts and questions flood my mind.

Eye Fi Wi-Fi Memory Cards

Have you heard about the Eye-Fi Wi-Fi memory cards?  If not, the name explains it all.  These little SDHC cards have built-in wifi which allow you to upload photos from your camera straight to your computer.  There are several cards from 2 GB to 8GB which have different features.  I own the one pictured to the left and I must tell you I love it!

I've known about the technology for a while but didn't jump right on it because truthfully, I considered it for lazy people.  I thought how lazy can a person be if they don't want to take an SDHC card out of their camera and put in the computer which takes all of about 10 seconds.  Then I thought about the numerous times that I've left my cards in the SDHC card slot on my laptop and pulled out my camera to take a shot only to see "No SD card inserted" flashing on the back on the display and missing a great photo opportunity.

Now I don't have to worry about missing out again unless I forget to charge the battery which is another story.  Setting up the Eye-Fi card takes no time at all.  However, the first time I set it up, I went thru the entire setup process and it didn't recognize my account.  I think this was due to an Adobe AIR update that happened in the middle of setup.  Now that it's all set up, I just shoot my pictures, take my camera back home, turn it on, and let it upload all the pictures for me.  Well, that's how it works for most people anyway.  I have a Nikon D40 which has special power requirements I have to set on my camera before the upload begins.

The Explore X2 card only uploads JPEGs, not RAW files but the Pro X2 uploads RAW files.  You can also upload to social networking sites and sites to print your photos.  It offers geotagging, uploads pictures to the folder of your choice, offers subfolder options, and email notifications of uploads just to name a few of its features.

Overall, I give the Eye-Fi WiFi memory card 5 out of 5 stars.