The Great Compromise : Canon EOS 60D
The new Canon 60D, pictured with a battery grip.
Since the arrival of the Canon EOS 7D and subsequent release of the T2i / 550D there has been a gap in the Canon lineup. Buying the 50D no longer seemed practical to many advanced amateurs, since it was so outclassed by the features of the T2i, but the price of the 7D put it just beyond the range of what many were willing to spend (and the weight and size beyond what they were willing to tote around). Yet, the advanced amateur still yearned for more features and ease of control, and frankly, more status than is offered by the entry level “Rebel” line.
The Canon EOS 60D, announced about a week ago, is clearly intended to fill this gap. Probably available in September, its expected price of $1099 falls nicely between the Rebel T2i ($799) and the 7D ($1535). Its features, also, are largely intermediate between the two cameras that were already very similar. The controls are similar, but not identical, to the 7D, while the construction is much more in line with the T2i than the 7D (or the 50D, for that matter). Continue reading »
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Sunset reflections in a Cannon Beach tide pool, Oregon Coast.
A tugboat crossing Puget Sound on the ferry ride to Port Townsend
I started this trip on a Tuesday, and then again on a Wednesday, due to an early equipment failure… I’ll probably be replacing my dead old Nikon with a Canon, though I’m still deciding which model will best fit the gap. In any case, I drove up to Whidbey Island across Deception Pass, and down to the Keystone Ferry. The crossing to Port Townsend was beautiful: sunny and warm, but with enough clouds in the sky to keep things interesting. Continue reading »
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Three IPS Panel Monitors: a Viewsonic, an HP DreamColor, and an Eizo with hood and colorimeter.
Is the monitor really that important?
The quick answer: YES, absolutely.
IF YOU CAN’T SEE THE COLOR AND TONAL DIFFERENCES on your monitor, then you can’t make good post-processing decisions and adjustments to your digital negatives. It’s that simple. You can’t adjust your curves to give your print smooth tonal transitions or to distinguish subtle shadow detail if Continue reading »
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Cascade Rain, Mountain Loop Highway
I was a little restless after dinner last evening, having had to delay a long photography trip because of a few different projects that have come up. I could see that the clouds were still dark and heavy over the mountain to the east, but to the west, the sky was clearing, which is a recipe for dramatic evening light. The only question was where to go. Since it was already nearly 7pm, and I knew that sunset would be around 9, my options were limited. I decided to make the drive past Granite Falls and up the Mountain Loop Highway to see what I could find along the way.
As I approached the Verlot Ranger Station, and the trailheads for Mt. Pilchuck, Lake 22, and Heather Lake, it was already clear that I’d made a bit of a mistake. I was in the shadow of the mountain, and would therefore miss the light… and the clouds were still heavy. So I kept moving, heading up towards the Big Four and Ice Caves. Then, it started raining. Rain can be very peaceful, though, especially if you can keep your camera out of it. The rain was light enough that I could stop under large trees and remain completely dry, but the mist defined very pretty layers of trees and rocky crags. I set up my tripod and took a few shots, and then decided to get out of the weather. Continue reading »
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Ansel Adams' "The Negative"
My Favorite Photography Books
Let me begin this post by acknowledging the fact that it’s absurd to try to pick the 10 best photography books. There are thousands of great books out there, from a variety of different fields of photography, and it would be equally hard to pick the ten best books in any sub-field (like fashion photography, landscape photography, photojournalism, etc).
Instead, take this as 1) a list of books that have been influential to my photography or that I’ve found especially intriguing recently, and 2) an invitation to tell me what books would make your top ten list that are not already covered here. Maybe I’ll add them to the list, and make this a best 100 or 200 or…
My thought on photography books is this: If buying a $30 book can help me get the kind of results that I expect from my $5000 camera, then it would be a waste of money NOT to buy the book. There is nothing that gets me motivated and inspired like a good photography book. Continue reading »
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Mac or PC? Actually, I don’t believe that it really makes much of a difference, as long as you know what you’re doing with what you have. But that’s not the point of this post. I just ran across a bit of information that struck me as interesting.
According to NetMarketShare, which seems to produce reliable numbers, MAC OS makes up a mere 5.26% of the total market share of operating systems, compared to 91.23% for Windows. That seemed a little bit low to me, so I checked the stats on a couple of websites that I’ve built, and I’ve found that MAC tends to represent about 8-10% of the visits on most of them.
This site, however, is different. This month, so far, 28.5% of the visitors are MAC users, and last month, a full 29.6%. OK, so it’s just confirmation of what we already know… photographers (and other visual artists) disproportionately prefer MAC, although the vast majority are still using PCs. Still, I didn’t expect there to be such a strong showing for Macs on a blog like this, so I thought I’d mention it.
And of course, this post gives everyone a good excuse to tell me how much they love their Mac, as Mac people are so zealous to do 
I learned Photoshop on Mac originally, but have used a PC most of the time for the past 10 years.
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An evening cloud break, April 5th, 2010. Under-exposed by 1.5 stops to keep the snow from blowing out. Click on the photo for a larger size, it's worth it!
I am currently very lucky to be living in a house with an astounding view. Every now and then, I take a look out the front windows and find a view that is stunning, and I have to grab my camera and start taking pictures. Individually, these photos are not much more than that: snapshots from the front deck. Together, though, they show the volatility of the landscape in this area between the mountains, Lake Stevens, and the Puget Sound. Continue reading »
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Since posting my original Quick Reef Tank Photography Guide, I’ve received quite a few questions about how people can improve their reef tank pictures. In many cases, I’ve found that what’s more important than taking better pictures is properly processing those photos.
This video was made with those people in mind. (Click “Read More” to get to the video…) Continue reading »
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Shot with "standard equipment" settings (Tripod Mounted : 1/30th sec. f8).
Since writing the original Quick Guide to Reef Tank Photography (which is a good place to start if you’ve never visited this site before), I’ve had a couple of additional opportunities to photograph reef tanks. I’ve been able to confirm a couple of my original suspicions and found problems with others, so I thought it might be worth posting them here. Continue reading »
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Reef Tank Photography : The First Try
Last week, I had the opportunity to take some photos of a beautiful reef tank down in Kirkland. I’ve taken photos of freshwater fish before; at one point, I had a heavily planted tank with a nice collection of odd-ball fish. I’ve also taken a few snapshots in marine tanks, in addition to quite a bit of macro photography in general, so I didn’t anticipate too many problems.
So, I packed up my macro lens (a Nikon 105mm micro) and a fast 50mm f1.4, and went to start shooting. But I did encounter some problems, and I think that now, several days later, I’m getting a handle on the root causes. If you’re planning on shooting in a reef tank, perhaps you’ll find these tips useful. And if you have some useful insights, please post a reply!
General Tips
These were the general thoughts that I had in mind going into the shoot. Most of them will seem pretty basic, but if you don’t have experience with these tanks, they may help.
1. Set the White Balance : This is especially important if you have to shoot .jpg! There is rarely anything in a reef tank that is color-neutral, so your camera will have a hard time setting a reliable white balance automatically. More importantly, reef tanks (and aquariums in general) frequently use lights that are unusually high in color temperature (such as 10, 14, and 20,000 K), and if your camera is set at standard daylight settings, your photos will come out very blue. Continue reading »
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