So, in the effort to get a new camera, I have been entering many of the raffles for gear that I am interested in online. What I want is a Nikon D800. I love my D700, but as I do more and more business and expand my shooting, the fact that I have no backup camera body weighs on me. And of course, since I just bought a house, shelling out the $3k for a new camera isn’t so easy. That’s where the giveaways come in. So help me out and sign up, because every time you sight up I get an extra entry!

You can see more about the giveaway and help me win by clicking here.

Big thanks to the SnapKnot wedding photography directory for offering this great camera giveaway!

Over the past couple months I have been getting into the world of fashion photography. It has been quite fun and a great learning experience working with other photographer, professional models, makeup artists and more. Through the help of meetup.com i have gone to many group shoots and I am really enjoying this aspect of photography. It is just fun.

So, what am I here to talk about today? The power of post production when you shoot in RAW. I shoot RAW all the time, even on my little Canon S100 P&S camera.  Actually, every image you take with a digital camera is taken in RAW, but if you select a format other than RAW (JPEG, TIFF, etc), the camera uses it’s little processor and built in presets to generate a processed image.  All a RAW file contains is all the data the imaging sensor collects when it is exposed.  It is a lot of information, but if you are going to do any editing of your photos, you want to start with as much information as you possibly can.  Technically, a RAW file isn’t even an image, it just contains a small JPEG reference image for display on your camera’s LCD screen.  All RAW images need to be processed in a computer, using software designed specifically for that.  The software for processing RAW images on your computer is far more sophisticated than the processing your camera can apply, so if you are willing to do the work, you can get much better results.

Check out this example below:

Model: Kasandra
MUA: Shanna Racquel
Hair: Kasandra
Photographer: Alex Weisman

Model: Kasandra
MUA: Shanna Racquel
Hair: Kasandra
Photographer: Alex Weisman

The image on the left is what comes right out of the camera.  You can see that it is very flat, kinda dark, and many people would throw it away as an unusable image. However, when you work with RAR images you have a lot of latitude to fix issues.  I first tweaked the RAW Fine Tuning in Aperture which yields a passable image. From there I moved on to some of my other editing plugins. One of my favorite pieces of editing software right now is the Nik Software suite. Now owned by Google, they have some really great plugins that are very easy to use.

So, before you start tossing out images, think about what you really can do with them.  I have a handful of images I shot with Kasandra which tend to look a little flat and underexposed. I should be able to work with a bunch of them to make some beautiful shots.

This coming summer is going to be the first in a long time that I am mot going to be going to camp for the summer. It is kind of bittersweet to think about. I know that I will miss camp but I think that it will be nice to have a real summer off and be able to spend time with my wife, my family, her family, our new house, and just relax a little.

As part of the plans for this summer, we have a couple trips planned including time in Israel, Hawaii, Moab, and probably various other camping excursions.  Of course on all of these adventures I will have my cameras with me but I am hoping to be able to do most of the traveling without taking my laptop all over the place.  Why? Well, for most of what I need to be able to do on a daily basis i can do on my iPad, and it is a lot smaller and easier to travel with.  However, the iPad is limited in what it can do with photos, and all things considered, it can’t store all the photos that I will take over the summer.  Of course the other big issue is the fact that I shoot exclusively in RAW, which means huge files and not the best editing software for iPad.  So, how do I travel and take home all the images?

I have been looking into various solutions to solve the storage and organizational products and software. In my searching I came across the various offerings from Sanho. Currently the device that has my interest piqued is the Sanho HyperDrive Colorspace UDMA2. I read about it on another photo blog and decided to check it out.  It is basically a housing for a 2.5″ hard drive that has various card readers built in.  Since the iPad can’t directly work with a CF card reader (not enough power) having a way to download CF cards on the go is a must.  The Colorspace UDMA2 can also connect to the iPad via wireless networking.  The drive can even create it’s own wifi network for sharing with tablets and computers.  For faster transfers it can be connected via USB to a computer.  The Colorspace UDMA2 comes either without a drive, or in various drive sizes.  If you are tech savvy and don’t mind dissembling the device and installing your own drive, you can save lots of cash over buying it with a drive pre-installed.

Of the other options from Sanho are two versions of the iUSBport.  The basic version of the iUSBport is relatively inexpensive and can share just about any USB storage device via wifi.  As with the Colorspace UDMA2, it can either connect to an existing network or create it’s own.  This device can power a CF card reader and thus would allow for download of CF cards to an iPad.  However if I wanted the security of backing up photos to a hard drive I would have to download the card to the iPad, then connect a hard drive to the iUSBport and copy the images back to the drive.  On the go, that is probably less than ideal, but since I own all the needed hardware (HDD, card reader & iPad) all I would have to do is buy the iUSBport.  It supports connections via FTP or it has an app for your tablet or smartphone.  I suppose I could also use it to download a card and then I could upload that card to my Copy account where I have plenty of storage for a trip or two.

The second version of the iUSBport is the iUSBportCAMERA. It has all the functionality of it’s predecessor AND it can connect to your camera and allows for wireless tethered shooting.  You can control focus, and other camera settings, trigger the shutter release, and view the images you take, as you take them.  I have been looking for a way to shoot tethered to my iPad!  The iUSBportCAMERA is the most expensive option.

Of course on the other hand, I could just travel with my laptop, but I don’t want to be “that guy” who sits in front of the computer on vacation. I am certainly not going to do any major editing on vacation, maybe just some posts to Facebook and such.  Being able to download memory cards and back them up quickly so that I can go on shooting is the goal. Being able to get images on to my iPad will be useful and allow me to back up to cloud storage as well.

As I move through the process, get a device and create a workflow, I’ll be sure to post my thoughts!

Howl at the Moon!

So, what is a Pathtag? Well, it is a custom designed tag that is minted about the size of a quarter. They have become very popular in the world of Geocaching as people use them for signature trade items. Unlike geocoins and travel bugs, pathtags are not trackable items, they are collectible items, if you find one in a cache, you can keep it (though you should trade some swag for it as is geocaching courtesy). Tag owners also trade tags with eachother both in person and via the online trading system at pathtags.com.

Whats the big deal? Why do we care? Well, I have just received my order of my first pathtag design. I had to go with my signature, the wolf, and frankly, I have to say, it turned out quite well.  The image to the right is the “blueprint” image of my tag.  This is the image that is displayed in the gallery and it was used to create the molds for minting my tag. I was so excited by the design that I actually came up with a couple others that could eventually make a series if the money permits.

Since my tag hit the gallery I received quite a number of trade requests.  I have to say, I am doing what I can to keep the USPS in business.  I was able to package up and mail almost 40 tags since receiving my order. I even have trades that are going overseas to places like Germany and Poland! I had to go buy more stamps to get this mess sent out.

Outbound pathtag trades!

I have managed to get all of my trade request filled, in one swoop of outgoing mail. Fun use of the new Global Forever stamp! Now I will have to take some time to browse the galleries and see if there are trades that I would like to make with people.  Heck, there are even people who have my tag on their wishlist already.

If you are a pathtagger and want to trade, let me know. If you are a geocacher in the Utah area, you may start to see my tags pop up in caches. After some summer travels you may even find my tags overseas (if all goes well). I may also be willing to send a few tags to some blogger friends, but you have to ask nicely! It will be fun for me to see all of the places that my tags end up being found and logged!

Happy hunting!

My finished pathtag next to a dime to show scale. Looks pretty cool!

First 20SB Postcard arrival!

Here it is, the first arrival from the 20SB Postcard Exchange. It’s a classic Sci-Fi card to boot, cool. I was starting to get worried that I was not going to receive any cards after I sent out all of mine.  This one came in from Catherine over at SaidtheCat. According to her card I even have something on my blog that was of interest! How great is that? She also used a pretty cool stamp, but overpaid for postage by about 45¢. Since my wife has been working on her 365 Days of Postcards project, I am fairly familiar with domestic mail rates.

Postcards and letters are what connected me with another blogger who has turned into a great friend and trusty penpal. All things considered, if any of my Poscard Exchange partners are interested in continuing to correspond by mail, I certainly would write back!

I have said this many times in letters and on this blog, but I think that sometimes we lose touch with some of the “real-ness” of people in this age of email and text messages. There is really nothing that beats the excitement of receiving mail and the thought that has to go into composing it.  Plus, handwriting is so much more personal.  And of course in a situation like this where you are anxiously awaiting the arrival of mail that you know is coming, it is so much fun.

I hope that my other post cards have found their way to their destinations. If you are interested in writing to me, use my work address as I may be moving in the near future!

Reverse of the postcard from Catherine.