Times are changing in image capture. In the latest cameras put out by Panasonic it’s easier than ever to capture action. 4K photo mode allows you to capture up to 30 frames per second video that allows you to pull 8 MP stills. There’s even one mode that allows you to capture 1 second of action, 30 frames, abefore you press the shutter. So you can see something start to happen and still get the moment! Lumix GX8 and Lumix G7. Check out this quick video for details…
Good morning.
I’m in Murfreesboro this AM watching a wonderful presentation with David Peters at the Tennessee Professional Photographers Association’s annual convention Photo Extreme 2015. What a splendid amount of information and wonderful thoughts and emotion are being shared. If you EVER get the opportunity to see David speak… DO IT!
This is one of the quotes from the program that resonated with me from the artistic standpoint.
“Light is the hero in a photograph.” David Peters
This is something I try to share with new, and old, photographers on a regular basis. I think these seven words explain it so well what makes for good, solid and artful photography. Best to you this Sunday.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
David Peters speaking at Photo Extreme
Started out to be a beautiful morning. Up at 5:20AM to catch a flight to Nashville for my speaking and judging gig for the Tennessee Professional Photographers Association. Flight is 7:35 lift off… Err not so much. Maintenance issues called for the plane to not be in service…
So when do we anticipate our new flight? 10AM. Bummer!
Well work on tweaks to the program, answer emails and check some forums on the web.
The flight actually took off a bit later than anticipated about 10:30AM but before we boarded the plane they announced that everyone would receive a $100 travel voucher good until a year from now.
It’s appreciated.
I personally don’t want a plane in the air that’s not ready to go so I say fix that bad boy!
This is the first time I’ve flown Southwest Airlines in many years and I was impressed. I’ll be back.
Southwest Airlines wing from the window…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – Image made with Lumix FZ1000
Panorama Photos
I’ll put on my ‘Old Man’ hat here and say, “Back in the day (can you hear the creaky voice??) we had to make notes with a pencil and paper to record what lens was used, and the settings on the camera like Aperture and shutter speed. We knew the ISO ’cause that was on the film.”
OK. you probably already know I’m a fan of the in-camera panoramic format with the Lumix line of cameras. Well I gotta tell ya’ they’ve made it even better. Must be some new math working but you can make your panoramas longer and the stitching is even better than before in the G7 and the GX8.
I’m stoked!
My wife and I went out to dinner tonight and I slipped out for a couple minutes as the scene was unfolding with some nice light. I dialed the GX8 to the pano setting and opened up one stop of exposure compensation to keep the shadows from blocking up since there was so much sky in the image. In Adobe Photoshop I added a Soft Light Layer to gently burn the top ot the sky back in just a bit. Here’s the result.
Red rock view from Sound Bites Grill in Sedona, Arizona at sunset. Camera and lens information below.
One of the best pieces of information we have as photographers today is the metadata secured in the file for all of our images.
This information is accessed in Photoshop by going to File > File Info >Camera Data. This info makes it possible to understand settings and study how to make our images more consistent and to make situations repeatable as we understand more how our camera’s work.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
Thanks to Karl Mullings, a photographer in Flagstaff, Arizona, for this reminder of a quote from one of his and my mentors, Donald Jack.
It came up in a forum post about how a photographer wouldn’t participate in Imaging Competition run by Professional Photographers of America. This almost 30 year photographer claims that their reward comes from hugs and referrals to other clients and there is no need to receive any other acclaim.
I now take you to the quote from Donald…
“If you have nothing to compare something to, then what you have in front of you is the very best that it can be.” ~Donald Jack
I applaud every photographer in their efforts to become better in whatever way they can. I suggest that using the PPA system of Competition accelerates that growth. When a photographer competes against themselves and push themselves through PPA’s competition system with peers they see an incredible leap in the depth and dimension of their imagery…. I’ve seen it time and time again.
Why does that matter? “Clients are happy with the photographs I supply them.”
Better photography. It translates to more and larger sales and being able to raise prices along with opportunities to create press releases and social marketing pieces that give more credence to someone looking to choose a photographer, not to mention staying front of mind in your community.
What are you waiting for? Give it a shot and see how fast your image making skills grow.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
Spent a lot of time at my desk with my face buried in the computer again today.
But,
I don’t feel tired.
Used to be after a day spent with the LED’s staring back in my face I’d be exhausted. That seems to have been taken care of by my new exercise routine. And, you can do it too!
I started with the Johnson & Johnson 7 Minute Workout downloaded as an APP on my IPad. While it does have a routine that lasts for 7 minutes the reality is you work your way up to doing the set of simple exercises three times in a row with a bit of a warm up and and stretching to finish for a total of about a half hour. **I recommend that you do this each morning. (ease into it a bit at a time)
The 7 minute workout is like having a trainer with you… ** 7 minute workout by johnson & johnson
The other part of the equation is to get up at regular intervals and get the blood moving throughout the day. For this, you need a timer on your computer. Time flies when you work on your images and are in create mode. You can’t depend on your inner clock. Believe me when you start running a timer you will be surprised every time it goes off!
Computer timer software can be found by doing this search and you can find the one that best sui.
I set mine for every half hour. I get up and do something for one minute. Stretch, a few push-ups, jumping jacks, sit ups or a brisk walk to the kitchen for a glass of water. Anything to get the blood pumping and the body away from the computer for a bit.
Makes a huge difference! Ready to try?? Download the J&J link above to your personal device…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
** I am not a doctor, never even played one on TV. Please check with your health professional before starting any exercise routine.
SD Cards
What speed should I be looking for??
Got word that the Lumix call center has been receiving a number of calls from people who are confused about which SD cards are recommended for which models. In the past “Class 10” were regarded as the fastest out there. The link below shows the speed of each type of card.
Most important numbers to look for when choosing an SD Card for cameras. The write speed.
Also, most people are not aware that SD cards have three speed ratings – Read, Write and Copy. The fastest speed, usually quoted, is the READ speed. The WRITE speed is the important one to consider when selecting a card.
https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/speed
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
Our local entertainment newspaper/magazine used one of my images on the cover. The cover story is Guitarist Sir Harrison playing at Sound Bites Grill in Sedona.
Sedona’s weekly entertainment newspaper Kudos
Just a quick share.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
I dig clouds!
This time of year Arizona can lay out a pretty nice palette for us to enjoy. It’s called monsoon season and thunderheads will pop up in the afternoon and put on a show. I gather all kinds of cloud formations for use in my artwork. I decided to challenge the Lumix G7 (new baby brother to the GH4) to see how well it could do in capturing some panoramic photos of the sky in camera. In the past I’ve found that sometimes the lack of definition in sky scenes made it difficult and I would find stitching errors there occasionally. So I shot some soft cloud formations and some harder edged formations and here’s what happened…
I really thought that the camera might have problems with the lack of definition with this panoramic cloud capture. No problem at all!
Overall did a great job on this one. There was one small area on the left that I had to look hard to find a small stitching error that was easily rectified with the Patch Tool from Adobe Photoshop
Here was another that had an error. It was off to the right and was in the transition area from bright clouds to very dark clouds. After a quick crop this is what’s left.
And, not to forget that the camera can create panoramas in different directions. No stitch errors on this or about 10 other files I let the G7 create.
My overall thoughts on the new panorama stitching in the G7 gets high marks. I always recommend using good camera technique. I point my body to the direction where I want to end up. Then using stomach muscles turn back to the start of the panorama and slowly pivot using the stomach to make the movement to capture the image. If it is a very important pano I will always shoot it several times just in case. Many times an in camera stitching error can be traced to operator error of not capturing the scene smoothly. Even though you can play back the panoramic image at a larger size on the camera you might miss small errors that wouldn’t show up in another pass with the camera.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
And then I felt this warm drippy sensation on my arm…
Yep! If you get underneath seagulls while they are feeding you can be shat upon.
It was interesting shooting video from behind (and under) the birds. In addition to the extra present sent my way I thought it was fun capturing this angle for something a bit different.
As I was working on the Lumix GH4 4K files I saw some still frames I want to extract to to experiment with in creating some art pieces. Since I was shooting the video in 4K I’ll be able to pull 8MP still frames. Now I wasn’t shooting in 4K Photo Mode so the frames will have some movement in them which is what I like about them. If I was to capture in the Photo Mode the shutter speed would have been automatically increased in order to make sure there was no ‘Rolling Shutter” in the still frames.
For infrared conversion of my cameras I use LifePixel. Infrared allows you to put an older camera to use and opens up a new time time of day for productive image creation.
Fotopro tripods are well worth checking out. You can learn about the ones I use and recommend by clicking on the Fotopro Tripods link at the top of this page. If you want to see what other tripods might fit your needs check out the Fotopro.com website. Check back with me before you buy as a Fotopro Ambassador I’m able to get you discounted pricing including complementary continental USA shipping for my followers that you won’t find through retail outlets.
Learn Photoshop in a fun environment. Aaron Nace applies the right amount of fun with easy to understand and follow tutorials. Actions and brushes are included with lessons!
Best embroidery ever. Give Queensboro a try, get a $20 instant credit to get started by clicking on the logo! They specialize in great quality custom logo apparel and promotional products with the best customer service.
Platypod has become a great resource for being creative in getting your camera gear easily into unusual places. As an Platypod Pro I get to work/play with the gear even before it comes out. Head over to Platypod, subscribe to the newsletter and you will get special discounts reserved only for subscribers.
