Photography ~ timz blog

Showing posts with label Photography. Show all posts

Nov 12, 2009

Really Digging Flickriver!

Wanted a way to be able to share/send people some of my best
shots, so I grouped them into a 'My Favs' set, then used
the Flickriver 'tools' menu to generate a clickable embedded
html badge. Cool stuff.. I like the way Flickriver displays
the photos in the browser.

honemastert - View 'My Favs' set on Flickriver

Jun 5, 2009

Desert Colors
Originally uploaded by honemastert.

A few weeks ago, we had another low pressure system come in, and the Phoenix area received what is likely to be it's last good rain before the heat of summer. I drove out to the east and snapped this shot from the roof of the Honda Element. Roughly taken at the entrance to the Usery Mtn. Recreation area. (Crismon and McKellips Rd) in far east Mesa.

Took the original into the GNU Image Manipulation Program (just to play around with) and got an interesting version. Saved that out, then used Adobe CS3 (Adobe Camera RAW) to modify the exposure levels. Took the 5 individual .jpg files into Photomatix Pro and had it work it's HDR magic. A bit more noise post processing in CS3 and some cropping to finish.

This is a 'Faux' HDR photo in that it's not really combining multiple exposures from the camera, but just multiple exposure adjusted .jpg's from Photoshop. Compare this to the previous pic from Sedona, which was a 'true' HDR from RAW files. You can immediately see the difference!

For reference, here is a link to the original files (well the last one is obviously not... :)

Here is an HDR photography FAQ

And to see some art from one of the masters of HDR, check out 'The Best of Ben' Gallery

May 23, 2009

CRW_6391_2_3_4_5_6_tonemappedNegPlu2.0
Originally uploaded by honemastert.

Had taken a series of 5 bracketed RAW exposure files after the 50th Anniv. climb of the Mace. Had never taken the time to put them together into a High Dynamic Range (HDR) photo until now. Tripod mounted, Canon Powershot G6 in RAW mode. Combined in Photomatix Pro, then post processed in Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Apr 28, 2009

Kodak Z980 Digicam Take Two

I blogged last week about a new camera I'd picked up and how impressed I was with some of the images I was getting out of it. In this installment, I wanted to take the camera out and shoot some photos with both the Z980 and an older Fuji S9100 (a decent camera in its own right) to see how it stacked up. You can find the image comparison gallery on flickr.

I've included some specific screen grabs from Adobe Bridge CS3 that give you some further insight. You can click on the links or the photos to view larger sizes, enjoy!

The FujiFilm S9100 is a 9MP cam from late 06/early 07. It is a heavy 'bridge' cam that feels very much like a DSLR. Manual focus ring, balanced in your hand feel. I wondered if the Z980 could take photos *this* good?

Bee Gathering Pollen: FujiFilm S9100

Initial indications are that it's pretty darn close! The Kodak Z980 doesn't have the heft or feel of the Fuji, but the photos come across quite well. Check out the details on this Z980 macro shot. Unfortunately, the bee moved and wouldn't 'pose' for me anymore! :(

The other advantage the Kodak has is the 24X zoom as witnessed here in these comparison shots of waterfowl at the local riparian preserve, near our hometown library. The other thing that becomes key at the long focal lengths is 'image stabilization'. The Kodak has it, the Fuji does not. I did put the S9100 into 'anti-shake' mode, which helps, but its not true optical image stabilization like the Kodak has. Think of the 'steady cam' technology that Sony users in their video cameras/camcorders. It's very similar, and can be just as helpful when you get into a camera with such a long zoom range.

S9100 on left Z980 on right

There are features that I like about both cameras, so I wouldn't trade one for the other, but from my standpoint, if you're in the market for a "super zoom" in a smaller form factor, with a few 'pro' type features like an external flash 'hot shoe', RAW output, and full manual shooting control, the Kodak Z980 deserves a look. With the weekly specials that Kodak has been running lately through their online store, the price of this camera, compared to the current version of the FujiFilm S9100 that I used, the S100fd? is a bargain. Again, the final shot has the S9100 on the left, and the Z980 on the right.

Apr 22, 2009

A New Kodak Camera - Z980 wide angle with crazy zoom (24X)

I'll post an in-depth review hopefully this week. For right now you can feast your eyes on the shots below, and the whole background story!

Get the full-sized versions of the photos below by heading over to

my flickr photostream

In the film days it was a Mamiya and Pentax SLR and for my adventures a Yashica T4 with Kodak 64 or Fuji Velvia. In the digital age it seemed that Canon and Nikon were at the top of the heap, although the first digicams and pro digital SLR's came from Kodak. I've liked the idea behind the Powershot G series from Canon. With the exception of a few stray models, they kept the same general form factor, buttons on the outside etc: Optical 'rangefinder' like viewfinder, plenty of manual modes and the like. The S400 Digital ELPH is a little tank.. keeps going and going and takes wonderful photos. I've been a Canon fanboy for a while now. But lately I'm starting to like Kodak? Huh? you mean those guys that used to make film?

Yes!

This all started a year or so ago. I noticed that some of the new Kodak line of point and shoot cameras were starting to incorporate HD Video. The V1273 came out, I bought one a few weeks after it hit the shelves and I've been pleasantly suprised with the quality of photos and having the ability to shoot HD Video in a compact package. Likes? The Schneider optics (maybe it's the name?), the image quality, the 720p video. Dislikes? the touch-screen 'ipod' like LCD and lack of buttons / viewfinder. The camera is nearly impossible to use in the sunshine but with a good hat as a shade, and peering over your sunglasses you can make it work!

Here are V1273 photos from last weekends mountain bike ride.

Having HD Video capability in your digicam is cool! With a bit of effort, you can turn a static story into something that helps people *really* see and feel what it was like to be there! Check out this fun HD video from an undisclosed location in San Diego :)

So when I received an email coupon from Kodak for St. Patricks day, I dove in and started reading about their latest offering the Kodak Easyshare Z980.....

(to be continued..)

Get the full-sized versions of the above photos by heading over to

my flickr photostream

If you like what you see, let me know! I'll post up the rest of my review soon. In the meantime, here is a link to the specs on dpreview.com and a brief writeup I posted there.

Apr 19, 2009

Goat Camp Out and Back Ride

Sam pinged me on Facebook the other day and asked if I wanted to tag along for a run out to ride the 'Goat Camp' trail in the White Tanks. Greg and I had already made plans for a dual climb/bike day on Sunday, but when that fell through, I switched plans and met up with Sam at 6:30am for the trek out to the westside.

It's starting to get hot here in Phoenix again. This means early early starts, and lots of sunscreen and water. Today, the breeze out of the northwest saved us. It would have been much hotter without it!

Legs started cramping on the way back down and I ran out of water right at the end of the ride, good workout, but getting warm!

I posted up a few photos from the day over on Flickr, and the Garmin 405 data is here:

As promised.. here is the embed of Sam's video which is excellent!
Even got to close out the video.. witness my weeak manual
attempt at 5:51 or so ;-)

Tossed together this quick video using Quicktime Pro

Click to play

Mar 13, 2009

Canon's new cameras PMA2009

Check out the new line of Cameras coming from
Canon. Finally HD video across the line..

They have also have added more of a video camera type of
autofocusing technology to the high end powershot
and a CMOS sensor.

Check out all the info on the imaging-resource website

Oct 25, 2008

YosemiteHDR_Test1
Originally uploaded by honemastert.

The final version of Photomatix Pro 3.1 came out over the weekend. I downloaded it and played around with one of the RAW images from the recent trip to Yosemite. Since I didnt have any bracketed exposures to work with, I took the RAW file into Photoshop CS3 Bridge, then wrote out 3 .tiff files with exposure settings of -2, 0 and +2 respectively. Tossed them into Photomatix and let it work its magic!

Interesting if nothing else, need to try some more of this, although it's clear that in the dark areas of the photo the Powershot G6 has noise issues.

Sep 3, 2008

So you think you want to be a pro photographer?

Read on as Jono talks about the 'numbers' game and the photos taken vs photos actually used ratios of the pro sports photogs:

"....some of the moto guys were discussing how we have such long days out there and we are shooting like crazy but they only end up seeing so few photos online or in print."

Check out this blog post by photo journalist Vincent Laforet. He is recently back from the Olympics where he spent 18 days shooting the events. In his post he gave a great example of images shot verses images used.

Laforet spent 18 days shooting at the Olympics and finished up with 28,444 frames shot. Out of that he edited it down to 1,509 "selects". Out of that 1,509 he transmitted, or used so far, 273 images. That means that out of 28,444 frames shot he used just under 1%!

Apr 26, 2008

Kodak V1273 Digital Camera Review

This new camera from Kodak, the V1273) was announced at CES 2008 in Jan.

It just started showing up in stores, the past month or so. What intrigued me about the camera was primarily, it's ability to shoot HD video and wide format photos. 3 of the 5 TV's in our house are now 16:9 format and can deal with the various HD resolutions, so why not? Also, if you're a Macintosh fan, this camera saves its video in Quicktime mpeg-4 format. This helps enable you to pull it right into iMovie, FCE and FCP or QuicktimePro very easily.

Heres a sample from the kids soccer and basketball games today:

While I can say I'm still a big fan of Canon Digital Elph cameras, this compact unit from Kodak and the forthcoming Panasonic Lumix FX500 have some serious features to consider.

Touch screen LCD is cool, very similar to say, an iPod touch. I'm guessing it will burn through the battery quickly and it is a bit harder to see in sunlight. On the flip side, the camera is extremely simple, and super clean. Not many buttons at all!

The "SMART" feature seems to do pretty well outdoors. Rapid fire (for kids sports) is limited to sequences of 3 still photos. (the SD850IS just keeps taking them, till the memory buffers, if you choose a lower megapixel setting whereas the V1273 gives you 3 photos and thats it.

More time playing with the features will help. With 12 Mega Pixels and HD sizes thats a lot of data to push around. Mpeg-4 is also pretty taxing, from a hardware point of view so that might explain some of the sluggishness in the operation of the v1273. On a positive note, this is one of *THE FIRST* digicams that I've used in recent memory, that allows you freedom to zoom in/out while shooting video. Of course, holding this thing steady is extremely difficult, compared to a larger sized Mini-DV or HD Camcorder.

Mind you, it's not that bad really, it's just that I've been pretty spoiled with the Canon which has a bit better image stabilization while shooting video. Consider this video, shot from a road bicycle, while doing 35Mph with a Canon SD850IS :-)

(Re: Canon, I have 4 of them, Powershot G3/G6 and two Digital Elphs s400 and SD850IS)

I *really* like the wider angle lens on the SD850IS, and am looking forward to the debut of the new Panasonic Lumix with the 25mm-125mm effective focal length, Leica lens.

Overall, not a bad entry at a $275 price point. You'll get some great shots and video from this thing in a small, clean package.

Link to the 'pre-review' on Imaging-Resource.com

Here is another mashup of some YouTube video and some
footage from the v1273 done in Final Cut Pro:

Nov 12, 2009

Jun 5, 2009

May 23, 2009