Optimize Photoshop CS5 Performance

  Regardless if you're an enthusiasts or professional ensuring that your Photoshop CS5 setup is optimized for your work environment and for the tasks you perform regularly is essential. All users will benefit from optimization, but those who work with video or large raw image files using multiple layers will see the greatest performance gains.
  The optimization process applies to both your system hardware and the software settings you have set. Adobe has created an Optimization white paper which will walk you through the process of determining which type of Photoshop user you are, and what you should do to take full advantage of their powerful product. Visit the link below:


Abobe Photoshop CS5 Optimization White Paper

Flash Bus Tour: Buffalo

  I shuffled off to Buffalo on Saturday to attend the "Flash Bus Tour 2011" and it was well worth it. These guys truly make lighting people look easy. The day started with Joe 'NumNuts' McNally and David 'Strobist' Hobby greeting people as they waited in line to be processed and receive their swag bag of goodies. The bags contained a Flash Bus CF card holder from Think Tank Bags, Strobist filter kit from Roscoe Filters, and a Cinch Strap from Lumiquest. Also included were various coupons towards the purchase of gear and software from the other sponsors of the tour. One freebie coupon that was highlighted in both sessions was for a Frio cold shoe mount that both raved about. I've order it hoping that they deliver to Canada. It looks like the better mouse trap, I'll review the free one and order others if it lives up to the praise.

 The day was split into two sessions with David showing his method of using manual flash settings via a well organized slide show. He walked us through a couple of different shooting scenarios looking at what he looks for in a location, how he evaluates the base light (ambient) and then adds layers of light using "AKFA".

A - Ambient.      K - Key.      F - Fill.      A - Accent.

 I really picked up on the importance of setting the "Ambient" light first. Eliminating it entirely or dialing it down to take advantage of it's color cast or undertones then adding your key and fill lights to taste as he uses his cooking analogy. He kinda strayed off topic I thought for a few minutes as he explained how the photography marketplace has changed, where he thinks it's going and where his upcoming project Hoco360 should leave him in a marketable position. It was interesting don't get me wrong, those that rely on photography for a living may have found it more interesting. But bottom line I'm paying to learn about lighting not how the bottom has dropped out of photography market.

 After the lunch break Joe took to the stage with some live demos of TTL lighting. He walked us through a single on camera flash scenario to multiple flashes including a finale using every Nikon flash in the audience. The session showed numerous lighting setups adding layers of diffusion, different lights for different faces from the audience all using the camera's TTL system to control flash output and making adjustments on what the camera sees. Here I learned how important it was to zero out your flashes as you add them in each setup, don't guess let the camera tell you what it thinks is correct first and adjust on that. Also how to feather the light by positioning the light source angled off subject slightly.

 Both David and Joe were very entertaining and made the day very informative and fun at the same time. Some good nature poking between the two about Manual versus TTL was rather funny to watch... all and all a great day and well worth the money.

Online Nature & Wild Life Reference Resources

Trying to identify a new bird, bug or wildflower that you photographed can be a challenge, here is a list of some online resources that should help out:

Birds of North America (BNA): Comprehensive reference covering the life histories of North America’s breeding birds.
Ontario Field Ornithologists: Ontario Canada Birding resource central. Contains information on recent sightings, Ontario species check lists which includes images useful for identification. 
 eBird Canada: A Canadian subset of the On-line checklist project where you can enter and store your bird observations in a central database, track your personal records, and share your observations with other birders and scientists.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology: A world leader in the study, appreciation, and conservation of birds.
Encyclopedia of Life: Database for every one of the almost 2 million species that are named and known on this planet.
eNature: Web site for information about the wild animals and plants of Canada and the United States.Ability to search or browse thru the field guides of more than 5,500 North American species.
Animal Diversity Web: Database of animal natural history, distribution, classification, and conservation biology at the University of Michigan.
BorealForest.org: Online resource of the plants, insects and animals of Boreal Forest of Northwestern Ontario.
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: Detailed information from the Patuxent Research Center and collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
New York State Mammals: Housed inside the NYFalls.com web site has information on animals and plants of upper NY, which shares much of the same climate and geographic makeup of southern Ontario.
Bug Guide: community of naturalists who enjoy learning about and sharing our observations of insects, spiders, and other related creatures.
Odonata Central:  Online resource for dragonflies and damselflies from around the world.
Ontario Wildflowers: all about wildflowers that grow in Ontario (Canada).
Ontario Trees and Shrubs: Same format as the Ontario wildflower site. 
Mushroom Expert: Everything mushroom and fungi.

Earthquake / Tsunami Impacts Camera Manufactures

The earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan this past week has impacted production at all of the major camera and lens manufactures. Thankfully reports from these companies say that only a few employees suffered injuries. Although there was earthquake and water damage to some locations the bigger problem now could be with the nuclear power plant issues, there could be a shortage of electricity to resume production once the facilities have been repaired. This could impact availability and the launch of new products to market.

Canon: Has reported injuries to 15 employees, and “significant” damage at a number of sites located in Utsunomiya  – about mid-way between Tokyo and Sendai. Operations at the company’s Optical Products Plant and Optics R&D Center at Utsunomiya are suspended, Canon saying that there is likely to be a delay before any operational resumption.
Canon has also suspended operations indefinitely at its Optron subsidiary in Yuki where the company produces optical crystals used in stepper, camera and telescope applications. Canon added that if operations at any of these sites were likely to be affected for more than a month, it would be able to transfer some activities to alternate facilities.

Nikon: has suspended operations at a number of key locations. These include its Tochigi Nikon Precision Co., Ltd and Miyagi Nikon Precision Co., Ltd subsidiaries, which both produce high-quality lenses for applications in lithography steppers and scanners used in IC and LCD manufacture.
Also impacted are the company’s Sendai locations which manufacture the D3S, D3X, D700 and the F6 they've been forced to close due to damage to equipment and to the building themselves.

Sony: Operations at 10 Sony Corporation factories and 2 Sony R&D centers have been shut down by the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami. Sony is monitoring the status of each of these sites on an on-going basis, while also considering the most effective recovery measures. Sony also has responded to reports of widespread power outages by voluntarily suspending operations at several sites. No significant injuries have been reported to employees working at any of these sites when the earthquake or tsunami occurred.

Epson: One factory had been hit by one meter high tsunami and two factories close to the nuclear plant have been closed down. Three other manufacturing facilities are being impacted by rolling blackouts. Main production facilities are located in China and elsewhere and supplies to customers should not be affected.
 

SanDisk: Who's operations were withing 500 miles of the epicenter have not been affected and production resumed Friday morning.

Copyright & Newspaper Photography Clubs

 A recent trend with news orientated web sites are "photography clubs" where a news paper for instance will share some tips from their staff photographers and members (readers) post images to their web site. News programs on television have been requesting viewers to send in still images and videos of events that they've witnessed for years. Leveraging the large audience of a news paper to promote your work can be good, however there is usually a hidden cost which comes with the free promotion, copyright ownership.

  All of these sites have a "Terms and Conditions" area that describes the responsibilities of you as the submitter of content and the site itself. They must ensure that you own the copyright of the images you're posting and they need your permission to display the content on their site or printed issue. It's essentially a "cover their ass" statement that dissolves them of any legal issues if an image is published or appears on their web site. It spells out in detail what they can and can not do with the content you have submitted. Some of the terms are very simple and limited to the site's ability to display your images. Others however are complicated and force you to hand over all rights to the images you're submitting and give them permission to edit, sell, license and reproduce your images any way they want.

Here is one paragraph from a local news paper's "Terms and Conditions" statement for their photography club:

You grant the Toronto Star, a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited (the “Toronto Star”) and its affiliates, an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive worldwide license to use, reproduce, distribute, print, alter, edit, syndicate, license, and otherwise exploit the materials you submit, or any portion of them, in any manner and in any media or forum, whether or not currently known, without making payment to you or any third party. You authorize the Toronto Star and its affiliates to use your name in connection with the photos. You also waive any moral rights that you may have in the photos.

Do you really want to submit content here? Is the free publicity to promote your work worth giving up these rights? For me any term or condition that uses the word "exploit" cant be a good thing. It's something you need to be aware of and you must read the fine print before submitting images to any web site.

Flashbus Tour (McNally & Hobby)

 Two different styles of lighting and two different ways of teaching combine as Joe McNally and David Hobby  join forces to explore and explain good light — good light done fast and well. One fully manual and the other via TTL. Spend the day studying light as you watch over the shoulders of two experienced professionals. Their paths may be different, but the end goal is the same -- to create interesting light that is appropriate to the subject and to do it in an intuitive way.
 I've watch all of the Joe McNally videos that are available via the Kelby training site. I've also bought David Hobby's first lighting DVD course and both were great, cant wait to see them live.

The tour bus heads out to Seattle on March 11th  and hits 29 cities in 6 weeks the cost of this light show is:

Event only: $99.95
Event + David Hobby's "Lighting in Layers" DVD (new for 2011): $239.95
Event + Joe McNally's "The Language of Light" DVD (new for 2011): $239.95
Event + David Hobby DVD + Joe McNally DVD: $349.95

Seats are selling out quickly so book today... Flash Bus Tour

Winter Photography - Operating your Camera

 One of the biggest challenges of an outdoor photographer in winter is staying warm. Sure you can wear extra layers, thermal boots, long johns and the all important toque but keeping your hands warm is always a challenge. Being able to control your camera and losing your fingers to frost bite is a fine balancing act that your fingers often lose.

 I've tried various glove and mitt combination's with limited success. Traditional mittens are warmer than gloves but are useless when trying to use a camera so gloves tend to be used by most photographers. Some gloves use rubberized tips to improve tactile feel, others use cut off finger tips with velcroed mitten flaps to cover exposed skin when not required. Most winter wear including these half glove/mitt hybrids do not provide a fabric free thumb option so you often need to remove them to review images or adjust exposure compensation (thumb wheel on Canon Cameras). Some manufactures are starting to catch on to the idea of fabric free thumbs due to the popularity of texting on smart phones.

 I recently came across a company called Freehands who's line of gloves provide both an exposed index finger and thumb with magnetically held tip coverings. Originally designed around the frustration of using an iPhone in winter and having to remove his glove to answer his phone Josh Rubin came up with this perfect solution which can be used for any gadget in cold weather. I purchased two different models the Recycled Fleece ($18) and the heavier Ski Mitts ($45). One thing I really like about these gloves are the magnets used to hold the fold back tips. Other manufactures tend to use velcro which you always seem to fight with, and I've scared subjects away (birds) with the noise of separating the two sides of the velcro.  I've found the lighter fleece gloves to be so warm that I haven't used the ski mitts yet. Normally my hands get cold in gloves, but the fleece gloves have performed very well even after 5-6 Hrs. in -6C temps.

Freehands' order shipping (US/Canada Post) was quick, less than a week to Toronto even during the busy week before Christmas. Their sizing chart was surprisingly accurate. I'd normally buy extra large gloves, but their chart recommend just a large size for me. I was leery ordering the smaller size but they fit like a glove (sorry). Their products have been reviewed by many media firms as genius and I'd have to agree. They're available at only a few Canadian locations, but ordering on line was hassle free so check them out.

Update (17-Jan-2010):  Out on the weekend in -12C (-23C with the windchill) and had to use the heavier Sky Mitts, and although they worked better than most other gloves I've tried my finger tips still got cold after a while. I had to break out the Grabber hand warmers.