Category: Photography

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a Blackbird came to Visit

After a hard day at work we took to the garden and in the late evening sunlight we did some gardening. As we worked a rather brave blackbird followed us, only a few feet away eating the insects we had brought to the surface.

Rather sweet.

Relaxing now and doing some more testing of the Photosmith App. I am intending to leave the laptop at home on my next photography trip and just use the iPad with this app.

I have also been using an unsupported kludge to give me reverse sync from Lightroom to the iPad. This has allowed me to test it’s handling of large batches of images.

I had an email from the developers yesterday, the first update is going to be bug fixes, people with cameras that produce dng’s are having a lot of issues due to the way iOS deals with dng’s but after that the next updates will address reverse sync and a degree of batch processing of meta data.

Cannot wait, keep up the good work guys!

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PhotoSmith out now

http://blog.photosmithapp.com/

PhotoSmith, the companion iPad application for Adobe Lightroom is now available.

As soon as it became available this morning I downloaded and installed it.

When I am away from home and don’t have my laptop with me, it will be come an essential part of my work flow.

Import is simple.  I just plugged my Compact Flash card reader into the USB connector of the Apple connection kit and I had soon imported the hundred odd photographs I had taken at Whisby Nature Reserve yesterday.

The app itself is relatively simple.  With the ability to select all, or by a two fingered tap, just the ones you are interested in, you can create Collections.  With a Grid view, Loupe view and a full screen view, interacting with your photographs is simple and direct.  Zoom in and check you focus, flag them with Ratings, Keywords and Metadata.

Once your back home, either wirelessly sync or if you have a lot of images, sync with your iPad cable back to lightroom. iTunes is not necessary, just download the free Lightroom plugin from http://blog.photosmithapp.com/index.php/plugin/

A simple but killer app which will make my work flow easier and faster, when away from home.

I can think of a number additional features I would like to see, such as presets to quickly add common details to lots of photos at once, and two way sync, so I can take a batch of photographs out of lightroom and onto the iPad for updating metadata when I have some free time.

So far its worked as advertised, does it have any bugs, well not really, I have been a little unfair to it, such as cancelling mid sync over wireless then trying to continue over a wired connection.  I had to quit both Lightroom and PhotoSmith and restart them before they would carry on where they left, but to complain about such things is a little unfair. Sometime the refresh can fail but just click to another section and all is updated.

Can I recommend it, Yes definitely, and I look forward to putting it into some real action next time I take a trip as I will be leaving the laptop at home.

Rating 4 stars out of 5.  If it gets the ability to apply presets and two way sync, i’ll make that 5 stars.  For the amount of effect the develops have put in and for the amount of time this will save it is well worth the £10.99.

If your an iPad user and you have Lightroom, buy now.

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A Day at Whisby Nature Reserve


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Monday morning found us at the Lincolnshire Whisby Nature Reserve.

While Caroline concentrated on Macro work, and the multitude of insects and mushrooms that seemed to be around, I concentrated on the birds.

The first lake had mainly black headed gull’s including some engaging in courtship and mating. We also spotted a Coote, Moorhen and a Canadian Goose.

Moving on we slowly walked round the “Coote” footpath, we did not see any Cootes on that lake, but we did spot a Great Crested Grebe sat on the nest, and a very attentive Canadian Goose on patrol, his partner was sat on the nest on the small island.

On the third lake we came to, we hid in the hide watching the action. On the shore was a large crow poking his nose into everyones business. The Coote took exception and chased him off. He then made the mistake flying to close to the Gulls and got dive bombed. We also spotted which we think was a Golden Eye, but I’ll have to check with my Photography Buddy Chris to make sure on Tuesday when we meet up.

All in all, a good day and finished off with a Kangaroo burger and chips in the visitors centre.

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The Future of Camera’s

With the rise of high quality camera’s in phones, now able to replace your typical compact.  The rapid adoption of Micro Four Thirds, many are asking where the future of camera’s is heading.

Many are now proposing that basically the camera will be a lens with a sensor built in rather then a traditional body were currently used to.

These idea’s look amazing but I am not sure they are really practical.  I have major issues with the ergonomics of most cameras these days.

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663674/wvil-a-glimpse-at-the-future-of-photography-after-cameras-die-video

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Large UDMA Compact Flash Cards in Older Camera’s

If your anything like me then you make your camera’s last.  Back in the film days, I bought high end secondhand SLR’s, saving my money towards good glass.  I expected them to last at least ten years.

Now with digital SLR’s the manufacturers seem to push you to upgrade every couple of years.

With the high cost of digital SLR’s I expect to get a minimum of 5 years out of them.

As technology moves on Compact Flash cards get bigger and faster.  The latest cards include UDMA high speed technology, and have capacities reaching 64GB.

The question that often arises is do the newer cards work in older camera’s.

Well I thought I would buy some new cards this week for an upcoming trip.

A bit of research seemed to indicate that cards up to 16GB would work in my five year old Nikon D200’s, if I had the latest firmware but I could find nothing about the speed or if they supported UDMA (they don’t I have since found).

I keep my firmware up to date, but I decided to get some 8GB cards.  Having lots of small cards is always better then a few large cards.  I have only had a card corrupt on me once, and I only lost the last few images, but its not a risk I want to take.

Well today they arrived, and I am pleased to report they work.

Incase your wondering, the Nikon D200’s are running firmware, A2.01 and B2.01 and the cards were SanDisk Extreme 8GB 400x UDMA.

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Studio Fashion Shoot

Today was my studio fashion style shoot with the lovely Charlotte who I have not worked with for ages.  She was as professional and as pretty as I remember.

We kept things simple just two sets, only a couple lighting variations, but lots of clothes changes.

Camera equipment was simple as well, just a pair of Nikon D200’s and Nikkor, 105mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8.

The above shot was taken at the end of the last session, a single Elinchrom RX600 fronted by a large rectangle softbox.  A Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8, wide open was used.  Focusing on the lead eye has with the lens wide open has given the photo a lovely soft feel.

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Photosmith Price announced

The Adobe Lightroom companion application, PhotoSmith announced pricing details the other day.

A very reasonable $17.99/£10.99 which if it lives up to the promise is well worthwhile.

Off now to check my camera gear and batteries as I have a fashion shoot tomorrow in the studio.

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Photosmith on its way soon

Well for those iPad and Adobe Lightroom users, the iPad mobile companion app has now reached version 1.0 and has been sent to Apple for approval.

Hopefully Photosmith will be with us soon.

http://blog.photosmithapp.com/
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Fashion Shoot – initial preparation

Well, we have had Landscapes, birds and wildlife, and of course flowers.  Now its time to get back into the studio and shoot a little fashion and glamour.

Studio is booked as is the model, so just sorting out the details; ideas, poses and of course the clothes.

Hope to post some pictures from the shoot next Monday or Tuesday, as there will be a lot of post production to finish them off.