Macro Abstracts & Multiple Exposure feature = Lots of fun

For a couple of days I have been playing with my Nikkor 105f4 macro AIS (micro in Nikon Speak) with the PN-11 tube....this gives me a 1:1 or lifesize magnification at approx 7 inches.
Now with the lens being a 105 I cannot shoot the whole flower, if that is my subject, but instead a portion of it and that portion is a lifesize or 1:1 magnification shot.
I do not have any images to show yet but I am getting closer to having some keepers...oh yeah I have also combined the Multiple Exposure on my Nikon to help with this process...so none of the images have made it out of camera yet....but I feel I am getting closer.

For anyone wonder what a Nikkor (Nikon) AIS lens is ... it is a manual focus lens that works superbly on the Nikon Digital family of camera's.... I do not mind manual focus lenses especially for this type of work as I can have the focus anywhere in the frame that I want...yes it is slower but I do not have to move the focus point around and the bokeh from these lenses is fantastic....
Have a wonderful Saturday.

Why should YOU be shooting in RAW format and Copyrighting your images.

There are several reasons to shoot in raw or raw + jpg. yes several, even for those of you that say I do not need the flexibility of raw because I do not or actually cannot do post processing for what ever reasons... ... ... Unless you are shooting as strictly a photo-journalist then you need that raw file, even photo-journalist really do need it also if for nothing else than as proof you are the originator of the jpg image.
you see if someone steals your image and you have to go to court to prove that image is yours...just exactly how are you going to do that with only a jpg or tiff image...the metadata can all be altered for the thief's benefit...so with out a negative (raw file) how are you going to prove it.

Protect yourself and waste a little bit of memory card space and harddrive space and shoot in raw or raw+jpg...it is the only sure fire way to protect your ownership, especially if you do not religiously copyright your images thru the Copyright Office...and yes for maximum copyright protection you really need to spend the 35-50 $ to send in a copy of your image files to the copyright office every few months of so...or every 1K processed images and remember that you need to re-copyright the image if you make changes to it...so if you have an image that has been processed and cropped 20 different ways you need to copyright each one.

Wow extremely fast shipping from Japan.

I made a purchase for a small lens accessory that was in Japan...Made purchase, paid for item on 3-1-2012...today 3-6-2012..the post lady handed it to me...the purchase was done at night so the box did not ship that day....I am not sure what the time difference is and that really does not matter....I just could not believe that it arrived in less than a week.. WOW ...

BEWARE: I Just Saw an ad on Face Book for Photo Merchant....Holy crap they are High...

I just saw this FB ad for a site Celled PHOTO MERCHANT...WENT TO TAKE A PEEK...THEY HAVE 3 WEBSITE TIERS....9,19 & 49 $$$ per month... and no where could I find how many images you can upload....I have web hosting done by SmugMug and that now costs $150/yr with unlimited uploads and they have partnered with 2 of the best labs in the nation and I also Have an art related site at FINE ART AMERICA (FAA) does their own On Demand Printing and produces really nice Giclee images off a top line Epson Printer.  FAA  also has unlimited image storage, file size at Smugmug is right now restricted to 50mb and Fine Art America is restricted to 24mb...Fine Art America is Free so long as you do not need to have more than 25 images for sale....but at $30 per year you can afford to use it strictly for extra off site back up storage.....PHOTO MERCHANT IS SO DAMN CRAZY HIGH ... IT ISN'T EVEN FUNNY.

Just a thought about T.V. shows ... ... ...

I think this would be hilarious.... several really cool older actors are on the top shows now....
Take David McCallum - Ilya Kuryakin (man from U.N.C.L.E.) now on NCIS ... it would be funny as hell for a group of CIA monkeys to grab him just outside of NCIS offices as they all leave work and proclaim they had finally caught reknown spy Ilya Kuryakin ... next ... Greg & Dharma star - Thomas Gibson , now the staunch supervisor special agent Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner -- scene-: either have Dharma (Jenna Effman) or Larry - Dharma's hippie Father (Alan Rachins) be in a scene and when Hotch shows up they (singualary or together) both run to him as exclaim... GREG WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ...

THIS COULD SO WORK....for so many different shows...

New Tab for Facebook Fan Page

I have added a new tab to my FACEBOOK FAN page..it is a Shop tab, that allows anyone anywhere in the world to easily purchase my photographic work.  The images can be purchased as Canvas, Mated, Framed, Acrylic, Cards or just as an Art Print for you to mat and frame later on... Here is a link to the new part of my fan page ->>>> http://tinyurl.com/7q7m5yu

Please share with all your friends and family.

 

What was I THINKING....

Like a dummy, I went and spent approx 8 hours at a POW WOW...before going I did not have any where near full range of motion in my neck...and it hurt like H***.... ... ... ...well it really hurt, to just try and turn it or look up and down...so what do I do...i toss my camera harness to the side and attach my neck strap...yep that is right my neck strap with my D300+70-200f2.8 lens and off I go... ... 8hrs later I am driving home with really intense pain in my neck shoulders and top half of my back...all my muscles are tight, I mean really tight and each key stroke I make hurt real bad....but I am now off loading a few hundred images of various circle dances and people sitting around enjoying the drumming and chanting of the inter-tribal musicians...and I made a few contacts.... now the contacts are what make this venture worth while...
Good Night all have a great Sunday and Week ...

In Need of a Really Good P.I.M. (Personal Infomation Manager)

Looking for a bit help from my collection of really diverse friends ...
I used to run my life off the standard DayPlanner / Day runner and I would loose 2 or 3 a year...quite costly....then I met Palm and wow, my Palm TX with the add on keyboard was fantastic...it up dated the calendar on my destop or laptop so I always had back up calendars ... but alas my great little Palm will not work with Win 7 ... I have tried all sorts of hacks and stuff and it still does not work properly ...sooo where I need your help ...

Can any of you recommend a really great PIM (Personal Information Manager) that can be run say on a tablet and then update my desktop / laptop calendars ... I have found some that are portable (actually run off a usb thumb drive...not viable ...i loose those easier than the paper day planners ... 

PLEASE PUT YOU SUGGESTIONS IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW

THANX IN ADVANCE ...

and if you're wondering...yes my Palm TX is still running great and it will be going to ebay with all accessories shortly to help fund a Windows 7-9" tablet to use as a Photo Portfolio and PIM only.

Blessings to all

CRAZY MIND BLOWING FEBRUARY SPECIAL MINI SESSIONS FOR $25

February Special...
This is your coupon: Feb Special cut and paste to your word processor (MS Word, etc etc) to print and bring along...only accepting Cash for this special.  unfortunately i really do need a printed copy of this coupon for the accountant....they get real mad otherwise and so does the IRS ... ...

Mini sessions $25 (upto 45minutes session price includes tax): includes either 2- 8x10's or 1- 8x10 and 2- 5x7 or 1-16x20 ... your choice.

 

Will shoot in your home, office or outdoor location of your choice in the Wichita Ks area...

Call 316-250-8761  to make appointment.

PayPal Really Read the Terms of Service before asking to be PAID by the GIFT OPTION

this is what Happened on a Photo forum I belong to...
Person is selling a lens for $xxx to be paid by PAYPAL GIFT.  This is a huge infraction of the PayPal TOS and can cause the seller and the buyer to PERMANENTLY lose their PayPal Privileges ....

Below is my post on the forum in to the seller the comment is with his post quoted on the forum but not here.....so my reply to the sellers for sale post is as follows ...



This is just for educational purposes as I would really hate to see anyone permanently lose the ability to use PayPal ... ... ... then again is quite a mystery to me why DGRIN allows anyone to even post an offer this way ... it should be in the flea market TOS that such things will cause your post to be deleted without warning ...

If shipping is included why not the 3% paypal fee???

You do realize that the single bolded line above is going against 2 items of the PayPal terms of service...

1st offense is the asking to be paid as a gift...the gifting is solely for that purpose..sending a gift to someone, also asking to be PAID for Merchandise using the gift option can in fact cause YOU, the seller, and the buyer to loose your PayPal privileges PERMANENTLY and the other reason it is wrong is that if the lens is damaged the buyer has absolutely no recourse.

2nd Offense is the asking for 3% more to use PayPal PROPERLY...It is NOT ok to ask to have added fees for this...IT IS HOWEVER PERFECTLY alright to just add the cost in...So if you would raise your price to $927 OR $930 that would be perfectly acceptable with the PayPal TOS... 

Thoughts on Flip or Twist Lock Tripods

On almost every forum I belong to I praise the almighty tripod...the true image stabilizer.
Tripods were stabilizing cameras and lenses long before the 1st stabilizer was a gleam in the inventors eye....but that is not the reason for to nites post... this post is about flip locks or twist locks..both work and work extremely well.

So why should you choose one locking mechanism over the other?  That is truly a personal choice.  I started out with the quick lock, flip lock, and after years of blood blisters in the web between the thumb and 1st finger I went to the twist lock and never looked back...also i found my wildlife kill average went way up....those flip locks are noisy and I worked to get mine to close quietly...but deer and other wildlife have fantastic hearing.  So now I can be setting up my tripod and have wildlife looking at me and not get spooked by that ever not so subtle snap of the flip lock...yes it takes a few extra micro seconds to adjust and lock down the legs to hold that 50-500mm lens + body but my ratio of shots gotten now as opposed to before is way up...so for me it is very much worth saving myself from the pain I was inflicting on myself.

Aperture Ring, Depth of Field Scale and New Lenses

I have been wonder why aperture rings have been removed from the newer lenses...I mean really people....I used Hyper Focal Distance a lot when shooting outdoors, for wildlife and especially land/cityscapes....which you cannot do without an Aperture Ring and Depth of Field Scale....I know a lot of you have no idea what Hyper Focal Distance is or even the Depth of field Scale is...so i will do a post on that later...but every photographer worth any amount of salt needs the aperture ring and depth of field scale... I know it seems like being able to change the aperture wit hthe turn of a wheel is great... ... ... and it is..but being able to turn an aperure ring to get to hyper focal distance is even greater... 

Photography is about control, control of the light and focus and all the other elements it take to create your perfect image and with out an aperture ring you do not have that control.

ANOTHER FREE E BOOK BY SCOTT BOURNE.

http://tinyurl.com/78eewmn  This is a link to a FREE eBook by Scott Bourne...hope you find it helpful.

CRAZY MIND BLOWING SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY PORTRAIT SPECIAL

BOOK A SITTING ON SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY OR SUNDAY & PAY 27.89  CASH OR CHECK(TAX INCLUDED)
{CREDIT CARDS THRU PAYPAL ONLY BY EMAIL INVOICE MUST BE PAID BY SUNDAY NIGHT OR SITTING WILL BE CANCELLED}
MUST BE PAID AT TIME OF BOOKING SITTING.

PORTRAITS CAN BE TAKEN ANYTIME IN DEC....

YOU RECEIVE 2-8X10 AND 4- 5X7.

Extended hours for sittings thru Dec 15th.....will  take appointments until 11pm.

!!!! CALL 316-250-8761 TODAY FOR APPOINTMENT AND BE SURE TO SAY YOU WANT THE MIND BLOWING SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY SPECIAL !!!!

NOV / DEC SPECIAL

  ... CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW  TO ENLARGE THEN RIGHT CLICK and SAVE TO DESKTOP AND PRINT OFF AS A COUPON ...SPREAD THE WORD .... IF PHOTOS ARE TAKEN BY DEC 15 THEN THEY WILL BE BACK IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS....              Currently only accepting cash and good checks 

 

 

No Interest Payment Plans

I have PAYMENT PLANS WITH NO FINANCE CHARGES ... ... ... I am not talking credit card payments...this is especially good for anyone looking for a wedding photographer...... small weekly or monthly payments, as long as the balance is paid off 2 weeks prior to session / wedding date.

I know there are a lot of people that want professional photography and settle for the wedding Mill or mall portrait photographer cause it is cheap....and they are cheap for a reason.

Yes even I took my family to a cheap mall photographer once.....the images did not last...by not lasting I mean they turned colors, nasty magenta's, yellow's...just nasty and I have snap shots taken by my late father back in the 1940's and 50's that are still crisp and bright.....I use 2 of the VERY BEST LABS IN THE NATION to print my work. Unlike some photographers that run a special and then use the cheapest lab they can find, I still use the same world class labs for my work no matter what the special price is....

Why do I have 2 labs for my work... simply because during different holidays and peak seasons one lab may be running a bit behind or as we all know equipment fails so I always have back ups....for everything....I have back ups for all harddrives, cameras, and also my labs.....That way if one is behind schedule I do not have to contact you my client and say "well instead of the promised 2 week delivery it will be 4 weeks cause the lab is behind....and I am trying out new labs during the year so if need I have another contingency to keep myself from becoming behind.

Fall Special - $100 off for Outdoor Portraits.

Wichita Ks area.....Senior, Family, Business or Modeling Session ...
FALL PORTRAIT SPECIAL UNTIL OCT 31, 2011 - - $100 OFF PORTRAIT SESSIONS ($75 + TAX) - OUTDOORS ONLY - NO STUDIO SESSIONS FOR THIS PRICE .... CALL 316 - 250 - 8761 TO SET APPOINTMENT .... The outdoors is so wonderful right now we should be spending as much time in it as possible.
Fee Due at booking time ... cash ,check or credit card (credit card through PayPal only)

Exif,Dgin, and using a pic as a link to larger image

I had posted a thread on the photo forum Dgrin and I made the images direct links to larger sized images....then I found my exif information was not there...so i unlinked the images made a click here statement and the exif showed up...so if you participate on Dgrin and want to link to a larger image do not use the original as your link or the exif will not show up....
Have a wonderful day.

Online Buying....Ebay, Photography forums......

Wichita Kansas is a city of nearly 500K people and we are now down to 2 camera stores (at one time there were 5 spread across town and the largest was almost in the center of town.)... when I switched back to Nikon for digital I went to what used to be the largest but is still the nicest store to see what could be had....the owner told me he gave up the Nikon dealership and was now canon....but the other guy about 2 or 3 miles away has been a canon dealer for ever......So I had to start shopping online for what I needed and wanted, to this I am no stranger.....it seems as If I had almost always been a mail order buyer before the internet, due to the fact that no one carried what I was looking for and seriously all the cam stores carried off brand no name accessories at that time...any way......I do spend a lot of time on eBay looking and checking prices of all sorts of photo items and other stuff I have that I want to sell......I have been told that I was crazy to sell and buy on Ebay, instead of the friendly Photo forums....well I sell on Ebay and only accept Paypal as a form of payment...so your safety as well as mine...........but.....the reason i started this bloated dialogue is this......I cannot believe how many people have stuff for sale for too high a price when the whole item is not there.....for instance....I was looking at a lens the title was quite catchy....Like new such and such lens in mint condition ......included in the auction is the lens and front and rear caps.......email seller asking do you have the lens hood......and get a rude response...WAS IT LISTED IN THE AUCTION....i SAID LENS AND CAPS.....2ND EMAIL.......do you have the lens bag?......response: NO ...WAS IT LISTED...GUESS YOU CANNOT READ...LENS AND CAPS THAT IS ALL.......3rd email....Can I pay extra for insurance......RESPONSE....NO!!......
I see all sort of items stating MINT Condition but missing parts.....how is that MINT.......I mean If I offer a car for sale in near Mint or in Mint condition wouldn't require all the parts to be there....seriously folks......I do not care about boxes or warranty cards on used equipment but I want the lens, front and rear caps, lens hood and the protective bag if it is advertised as mint.....now I can even allow for a set screw mark in the rubber bottom of a battery grip and still have it advertised as "like new but used".......

so folks read the whole advertisement and ask lots of questions when buying online and for your own safety use PayPal and make sure the person has at least a 3 day return if not satisfied if the item costs over $20.00 ...selling something used and not having a return is bad also make sure it is insured so if UPS, Fed Ex or USPS damages it a refund can be had.........


Happy and SAFE shopping..............

Copying Files from Small Hard Drive to Larger Hard Drive

My 2.5" laptop external drive was full, this was meant to be a portable hard drive for traveling......but somehow it became just another one of my external drives.....Then all of a sudden I was going to need it and needed to have it empty.....Well I got lucky and found a great deal on Seagate 2TB internal drives (which is what I started using instead of external drives for storage)and I picked up one...........now to copy all the stuff off the 2.5 inch external to the 3.5" Seagate.......I moved all the files that had been imported thru Lightroom 3 and then started the mass exodus of the remaining 29,000+ files.....highlighted all the folders and dragged them to their new home and waited for the Win 7 pop up that would tell me how long this move would take......approx 10 hours.......Time for bed.....so I went to sleep to get this morning and still have over an hour to wait for the move to be finished....So I took hold of the new Seagate 2TB drive to see how hot it is....to my surprise it was not hot at all.....wow the drive is cool the dock is cool.....and everything is super quiet.
So what I use is this: ThermalTake Black Widow Blac X Gaming Hard Drive Dock...this is a single bay dock that I have been using for a couple of years but this is the 1st time I have used it to move files like this...normally I insert a hard drive and download my memory cards from my camera and do my Lightroom and photoshop work then I am done...so it is turned on and running for a few hours (1-4) at a time.....so a 10 hour continual run and nothing heated up is great, as I forgot to turn on my little 10" fan that I have to keep things cooled down since the dock nor the hard drives have a cooling fan (of course).......
My reason for using a hard drive dock and internal hard drives for storage is pretty simple....I use a 3 drive back up system: 1st drive is main working drive and then I have 2 drives that are exact copies of the 1st drive for back up. Now when you do this with external harddrives in enclosures, it takes up tons of room to store external harddrives but internal drives take up a lot less room and can be easily stack on top of each other in a good quality gun safe for safe keeping (make sure the gun safe has a fire rating of at least 1 hour or more)........As the laptop drives get larger in capacity I will be changing from 3.5" desktop drives to the 2.5" laptop drives to save even more space.