Rasberry Island Dormanen Wedding

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I took some pictures at¬†Gina and Shawn Dormanen’s wedding on May 16. It was a lot of fun. One of the things we did was head outside to get some pictures of the Bride and Groom in this little structure that was build last fall. We were just a little late getting here. I would have liked more blue to the sky, but I think we got some good pictures out of it. I really like playing with flash and trying to combine it with ambient light, especially with some fun colors going on.

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I did some work in photoshop to these images. I needed to darken the stage. It was a ugly grey from too much light spill. The stage doesn’t look quite as dark on my computer. Here they look a little “floaty”. I also did another adjustment layer to get her dress back¬†in the color direction of¬†white.

Nikon Creative Lighting DVD

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Nikon Creative Lighting System DVDI just finished viewing the Nikon DVD called “A Hands-on Guide to Creative Lighting”. You can see excerpts of this DVD from Nikon here. You can get it for around $30. (I got mine from West Photo) This DVD features the host, Bob Krist, and Joe McNally.

This is a pretty good DVD, with something in it for everyone. Probably not for the ripest beginner, or the most advanced flasher, because it covers a lot of ground. A beginner or intermediate photographer with a speedlight or two willing to pause, stop, and rewind this DVD a few times will probably get quite a bit out of it.

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Check out West Photo in Minneapolis

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I have posted before how I was frustrated with National Camera. I have stopped using them. I fugured that I was going to be a purely online buyer until I found out about a store in Minneapolis called West Photo.

West Photo is a whole different deal. For one thing, this is a store for photographers. Staffed with photographers, selling gear to phtographers. They even had a couple of people out at the MN Strobist event I was at.

I have been there a couple of times now, and while I wish they were open later or on weekends, I am glad I went. I¬†was surprised that their prices are right in line with Amazon and others. I am willing to pay a bit more (don’t forget the tax) to buy from a local store, but there are limits to the price difference I can handle. West Photos prices fall in my range.

The staff here also understand, use, and shoot with the photography equipment they sell. They had no problem telling me what they use and comparing it with other gear in their store. Real world experience counts for something.

They have lighting equipment out the wazoo. If you want to look at something and have knowledgeable people talk to you about it without sounding bored, this is the place.

If you drop by, tell Kyle or Jenn I sent you.

More David duChemin

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David seems to be everywhere recently, including the guest post on Scott Kelby’s blog. He talks about the coming revolution in photography where photographers will give up the endless techno-bable and talk about the images themselves. I hope people like David can continue to lead the way adn that people will listen.

David is even in my living room. Well, at least his book his. I tripped over the Amazon box with his book Within the Frame two days ago. I wish I¬†had more time¬†to read¬†it, but I am really enjoying it so far. Reading David’s blog has really pushed me to think about the images. “Gear is good, vision is better.” as he would say. I came at this whole thing from more of a technical geek backbround, and the creative/art process is much harder for me to grab hold of. People like David are helping me get there.

I have only just started the book. It is a great read so far though. It feels like he is sitting in your living room telling you all this info. Just like a conversation on the couch. He has a great way of writing that feel like he is speaking directly to you.

RC (of layers magazine) posted his first impressions, and I can’t believe how similar they are to mine. To the point that I don’t have anything to add other than to suggest you check his post.

Installing Zenphoto on 1and1

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I had all kinds of trouble getting Zenphoto to install on 1and1. None of which I believe are the fault of the Zenphoto project. I am blaming the difficulties on how you need to configure php on 1and1.

What problems did I have. It appears that there were tables that were not created correctly. The way I figured this out was that I was trying to save a ¬†guest user and password to¬†and album. The name wouldn’t stick. When I went in and look under the MySql admin¬†tool (phpMyAdmin), there was no user field in the albums table. Something was wrong right from setup.

So here are the steps that I came up with to get zenphoto installed properly. I can’t say that all of the steps I took were necessary, and some might even be suspect, but in total it works.

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Tamron 17-50mm f2/8 in for Service

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tamron17-50I finally did it. I sent my Tamron lens in for service. This is my main walking around lens, and only wide-ish lens. So… for now I am walking around with the Nikon 50mm f/1.8. I like that lens, but it sure isn’t on the wide side.

I had finally had enough of the lens. I sure hope it can get fixed. I would feel bad about trying to sell it and move to a Nikon version without getting it check out. So, what did I want looked at? Three things:

  1. Ever since I got the lens there has been issues with the camera reporting a F–. That means that the camera body doesn’t think there is a lens attached. I had to return two other versions before this one too. The current copy doesn’t do it often at least.
  2. The front mount where the hood goes seems loose. It is very jiggly. I don’t remember it like that before. I don’t know if that effects any of the lens elements. Probably not.
  3. The biggest issue is focus. I have been disappointed since getting this lens with it’s sharpness. I think it deteriorates toward 50mm the most, and is most evident as smaller apertures like 2.8. When I try to take pictures of people at 2.8-4.0 the success rate of in focus shots is rediculously low.

I lived with this stuff for awhile now, thinking that this is what I get for not going Nikon, but it isn’t acceptable now. I bought this lens after hearing from several Canon shooters who had the similar lens in a Canon mount just how good it was. I can’t believe it is the same lens they talk about.

It was getting some quality Nikon glass that pushed me to send it in though. I now have a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8, and that lens is amazing. It really does make me want to try other Nikon lenses out and see if they are as good. The Tamron is no where near as sharp a lens. I can only hope that Tamron can find some little screws to adjust in there somewhere that will magicly make me like this lens. Otherwise, I am saving pennies (and lots of them) for the Real Deal.

Update: Tamron Customer Service.

Update: I got a paper confimation (05/29/2009) that they had recieved the lens and found issues they would fix. Paper. Really?

Update: Lens Fixed.

Star Trek on You Tube

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It didn’t take long for this Star Trek movie to¬†make it up on You Tube. I think this is the most hilarious movie yet. Check it out here. I thought they would have had a bigger special effects budget though. The new characters are spot on. Kaplah!

What did you think?¬†I just found out about it here. ¬†I had no idea. Too funny. I guess this is from a couple of years ago, but I hadn’t heard of Photoshop World until recently. I would really like to go sometime though. The next showing is in Vagas Baby!

Post Vision, Still Motion, 35mm

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There was a lot of stuff going on today. It‚Äôs ‚ÄúGuest Blog Wednesday‚Äù featuring Andrew Kornylak at Scott Kelby’s blog. It is another great post. Andrew has started to create what he calls “still motion” video, where he takes still images from his camera and puts them to music to make a video. Some of these are really good. You can get some pretty powerfull stuff when the music syncs with the images. Check out the Parlour one. That was my favorite.

David duChemin put’s up a “Big Q” today that came from your’s truly. I was wanting to know more about some calendar pictures he posted that were split-toned.¬†When¬†did the vision for the image strike – at picture time, or later. Check out the response, and the original calendar post.

I got a response from Tamron. I had written to them last night about sending my 17-50mm f/2.8 lens in for repair. I think it back focuses,¬†the camera¬†still sometimes reports that it is not connected, and the end of the lens with the mount for the hood seems like it has too much play.¬†Makes you want to buy the lens¬†doesn’t it! Anyway, Tamron responded right away. Don’t need an RMA,¬†and turnaround is 3-4 weeks. Think I will send it in.

So what do I shoot with in the mean time? I will have my 50mm f/1.8 prime, but it is not very good inside. I can’t back up far enough usually. What I could use is the new Nikon 35mm f/1.8.¬†It looks to be about $200, but isn’t out yet. There are reviews at SLRGear, DPReview, and PhotoZone. Not a perfect lens, but for $200, seems pretty good.

Back to my Roots

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Spring is finally here. Well, it has been for a bit, but my backyard has been slow to bloom. I have often taken pictures of flowers from my backyard, but it seems like it has been forever since I have been able to do that. We finally got the tulips to bloom, and I took a couple of pictures.

Rain on Yellow 

I had the girls help me. Their favorite thing is to get the spray bottle and spray everything in the backyard, except the flowers I am trying to photograph. It had rained earlier in the day, but we needed to add a bit of water by the time I took these in the early evening.

Rain on Red 

Once again, I am taking these with my Nikon 50mm f/1.8. I love the bookah that I get from that lens. I can get the focus better with this lens too. I am not convinced that my Tamron 17-50 focuses properly. I am looking at sending it in. So, it probably means that I will be using the niffty 50 for most of my pictures after sending the Tamron in. But that’s ok. It is sometimes a little too big when taking pictures of the kids, I have to back up further than I want to, but I still like the pictures I get from it of them.

Big Little Jump 

These two were the reason I picked up a DSLR in the first place, so it is good that I am getting back to taking pictures of them. I have been trying to concentrate on getting portrait pictures for a new portfolio that I haven’t taken¬†many pictures of my kids lately. But now that it is nice out again, we will go for¬†more walks and hikes, which will present more¬†oportunities for pictures than just the sidewalk in front of our house.

Behind the Railing