Whistling in the Dark » Photography http://muad-dib.us/blog Rambling into the Ether Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:41:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 No need to go far http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/08/12/no-need-to-go-far/ http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/08/12/no-need-to-go-far/#comments Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:14:08 +0000 Fyre http://muad-dib.us/blog/?p=36 While it’s great to go somewhere to shoot sometimes you get get the best photos in your own back yard.

My, what pretty eyes you have

]]> http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/08/12/no-need-to-go-far/feed/ 0 My kit http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/28/my-kit/ http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/28/my-kit/#comments Wed, 28 May 2008 16:03:22 +0000 Fyre http://muad-dib.us/blog/?p=25 I finally took a photo of all my camera equipment. I’m linking to it instead of just embedding because I tagged the hell out of it over on Flickr.

Other than the fact that I usually only carry the monopod or the tripod at one time I have the rest of it with me 99% of the time.

]]> http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/28/my-kit/feed/ 0 Flickr, Flashes, and Geotagging http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/19/flickr-flashes-and-geotagging/ http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/19/flickr-flashes-and-geotagging/#comments Tue, 20 May 2008 00:23:11 +0000 Fyre http://muad-dib.us/blog/?p=24 My Flickr feed broke 2000 views this morning. It had taken longer than I had thought (I was getting 50 views a day for a bit there) but I’m still happy it happened. I know others are in the 100s of thousands but I’m still thrilled to get 2000.

I’ve been looking to get a camera flash that will work fully with my Canon. Right now I’m using an old Promatic flash but I want something more automatic; something that can tell how my camera is set and only fire as strongly as needed. The problem is E-TTL flashes (Canon’s standard) are very pricey. Even used they’re going for too much on eBay. I’m still looking though.

Today I finally figured out how to record tracklogs with my BlackBerry and GPS puck. This means I can finally start geotagging my photos again.

]]> http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/19/flickr-flashes-and-geotagging/feed/ 0 The addiction grows http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/04/the-addiction-grows/ http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/04/the-addiction-grows/#comments Sun, 04 May 2008 06:49:32 +0000 Fyre http://muad-dib.us/blog/?p=22 When I got my S5 I picked up a small camera bag that had enough room for the camera, flash, and a couple of SD cards. Then I picked up a 58mm adapter and a lens hood. With those attached the bag started to get tight. When I decided to always carry an emergency set of batteries it got really tight. Then my brother gave me a polarizer which was the last thing I could possibly fit in the bag without bursting a seam.

Well, I was innocently browsing eBay the other day (cough) when I stumbled across a set of 2x and 3x filters for cheap. There is no way they would fit in my bag so I had to pick up a new one tonight. It’s about 50% bigger with enough room for my current kit plus a little left over for a few more filters. I got this one because, first, it’s big enough for what I need without being so big that I feel the need to fill it and second, it was only $15.

One of these days I’ll need to borrow a camera and get a shot of my complete kit. Hopefully I do this before I outgrow the new bag.

]]> http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/04/the-addiction-grows/feed/ 0 On the way to 2000 http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/02/on-the-way-to-2000/ http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/02/on-the-way-to-2000/#comments Sat, 03 May 2008 02:26:26 +0000 Fyre http://muad-dib.us/blog/?p=21 My Flickr page is getting about 50 hits a day. At this rate I’ll have 2000 views in a couple of days. They like me! They really like me!

]]> http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/02/on-the-way-to-2000/feed/ 0 Hello my name is Fyre http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/02/hello-my-name-is-fyre/ http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/02/hello-my-name-is-fyre/#comments Fri, 02 May 2008 14:59:29 +0000 Fyre http://muad-dib.us/blog/?p=20 And I’m a photography addict. I’m getting to the point that I feel antsy if I don’t shoot almost every day. The problem is I’m running out of things to shoot. I dislike shooting people and I’ve photographed every flower, bird, and animal in the area.

]]> http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/05/02/hello-my-name-is-fyre/feed/ 0 Polarizer http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/04/01/polarizer/ http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/04/01/polarizer/#comments Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:37:08 +0000 Fyre http://muad-dib.us/blog/?p=17 Thanks to my brother I now have a polarizing filter. I haven’t had a chance to play with it but I plan to very soon

]]> http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/04/01/polarizer/feed/ 1 I am an idiot http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/03/29/i-am-an-idiot/ http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/03/29/i-am-an-idiot/#comments Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:45:55 +0000 Fyre http://muad-dib.us/blog/?p=16 My girlfriend and I were driving along this evening when we saw a vulture feeding on the side of the road. I have never seen one in real life and wanted to take some pictures of it so I pulled over as soon as I could safely, threw the car in park, and reached for my camera. I always take my camera with me because you never know if you’ll see something you want to shoot. I pulled out my camera and went to put a fresh memory card in when, hmm, isn’t the camera a little light? Yea, I had my camera, a couple of memory cards, even my tripod but forgot all my batteries sitting nice and charged in the charger. I wanted to offer myself to the vulture as a meal because I am obviously too stupid to live.

Lesson learned: Always, ALWAYS triple check that you have in fact brought your batteries. Just so this never can happen again I’m going to keep a set of plain old alkaline batteries (which hold a charge much longer than rechargeables) in my camera bag

]]> http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/03/29/i-am-an-idiot/feed/ 1 In which I suck http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/03/09/in-which-i-suck/ http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/03/09/in-which-i-suck/#comments Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:32:18 +0000 Fyre http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/03/09/in-which-i-suck/ Dani and I went to the Flower Show for her birthday. I thought I’d be able to get some great pictures of all the pretty flowers and displays. Silly human.

I took over 200 shots. Out of those I have about 50 that don’t look like pure shit and even those are either blown out or grainy as hell. I simply don’t have the skill to shoot steadily in anything less than great light without either a tripod (no room with the crowds) or by dialing the ISO up to where the shots are more grain than subject. I’d like to blame the camera for having a noisy sensor at high ISO but I know most of the blame lays on my lack of skill.

]]> http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/03/09/in-which-i-suck/feed/ 0 My Camera http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/03/03/my-camera/ http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/03/03/my-camera/#comments Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:35:22 +0000 Fyre http://muad-dib.us/blog/2008/03/03/my-camera/ I have had a fascination with photography for years. I’ve never been any good at it but I still love it. I started shooting with a little P.O.S. pocket camera, then graduated to a hand-me-down Pentax k1000 from my brother. Eventually I found digital cameras and loved the freedom from film. Today I shoot using a Canon Powershot S5 IS. It’s rather nice for a “point-and-shoot”, having a hotshoe and a 12x optical zoom, and I don’t feel like I need a DSLR, at least not for a while. That being said I do want to upgrade my kit a bit.

What I have:

  • 58mm adapter
  • Lens hood
  • Adjustable flash
  • Cheap tripod
  • 2X 2 G.B. SD cards
  • Lenspen
  • 2 sets of batteries

What I want:

  • Polarizing and neutral grad filters – I hate post processing (I’m allergic to Photoshop) so those two filters would help me get the shots I want in the first place.
  • New flash – The flash I have is quite old and is ever so slightly laggy, even with new batteries.
  • A better tripod – The one I have is about what you’d expect for a $35 tripod. That is, it holds the camera and is steadier than shooting by hand, but just. I’d like one that is truly steady
  • A bigger bag – While I already lament the fact that my camera is too big to just throw into my backpack and go I need more room in my camera bag. As it is the camera, hood, flash, and such barely fit
  • Bigger faster SD cards – What digital photographer doesn’t
  • More batteries – Ditto
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