Dream Hat Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 16:30:00 +0000

http://marianorodriguez.ma.funpic.org/woltaf.html

Want to Shoot In Bad Weather? Read This

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:20:00 +0000

Bad weather. For photography, bad weather can be good weather. The operative here is "can" because there are always safety issues to consider, so that's a given. My advice would be to err on the side of safety if there is a question (e.g. I don't recommend going out in a field to shoot in the middle of a lightning storm).

If you have an opportunity to go out and shoot in bad weather, besides your personal safety (see paragraph above), protect your camera equipment. Cameras are sensitive to temperature and moisture. One item that is always in my camera bag is a rain cover for my camera. There is an adjustable opening for the lens, an adjustable opening for the back of the camera (so I can see what I am shooting), and a velcro closure along the bottom. You can find these in a variety of colors, I chose white so that it could double as a light diffuser for a flash in certain situations.

Because moisture can be an issue for electronics, I keep an Adorama Silica Gel with Indicator in a Reuseable Canister. in my camera bag at all times. You can find similar products from other companies, I just linked it here for your convenience.

If you are going to be out in any extremes while shooting, be sure to dress properly for the conditions and take along supplies. It seems like common sense but in the excitement to run out and shoot in the rain, you might remember everything to protect your camera equipment but forget to bring along things you might need when you are finished shooting (e.g. towels, extra pair of socks, extra pair of shoes, maybe an extra set of clothes).

Often in inclement weather you get unique lighting which can yield some great photographs. If it is raining, the colors are more saturated and water catches and reflects light in interesting ways. Water droplets on flowers, plants, tree branches, leaves, and other objects can be fun to photograph.

If you are in an urban environment, people move about differently in inclement weather. For example, wind and rain can create some interesting scenes on city streets as people try to go about their day.

So, always be careful, pay attention to safety for yourself and your camera equipment. Try shooting in "bad weather" and you may find that you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: This blog is not responsible for any damage to yourself or your camera equipment if you choose to shoot in inclement weather. By definition, life involves a certain degree of risk. If you are underage, make sure you have all of the necessary permissions before you make your quest out into the elements. It's all I can do to try and keep myself safe. If you can get someone to go along with you, the buddy system is a good idea (again assuming you have taken proper precautions and exercise good judgment when you go out to take photographs). As mentioned above, err on the side of caution.

Hopefully that was enough to cover my backside in case someone makes a bad decision or has a bad experience. It's outside my scope to tell you when you are ready to take the training wheels off.

The music for this post is the song "Head Home" by Midlake. Sit back and chill.

Learning the Basics of Your DSLR Camera, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:24:00 +0000

With the availability and affordability of high quality digital single lens reflex (DSLR) cameras, more and more people are buying cameras. These cameras are amazing pieces of technology that can allow the photographer to capture some stunning photographs. Admittedly, not everyone shooting with a DSLR wants to be a serious photographer. For those people, the DSLR cameras have numerous automatic features built-in that will allow them to point and shoot.

For the people that have purchased a DSLR because they have a serious interest in photography and want to explore their creative side, these cameras offer an almost unlimited number of options for photographing whatever captures their interest.

One of the barriers to someone that is starting out with a camera that has so many options is trying to understand the fundamentals of photography. Like any other piece of technology, part of the difficulty with getting a grip on the basics is trying to learn the technical terms (this is a nice way of saying understanding the jargon). Technical people tend to use their terminology as if it was universally understood. Having had a long career in information technology (known to most people as "computer stuff"), I saw the knowledge gap every day. Rather than get into a discussion about computer nerds being snobby and condescending or about about end users that barely know how to turn on their computers, let's take the high road. This post is about sharing the basic information, we all started somewhere. The more people that understand the basics of how to use their DSLRs, the more they can have fun and be creative with them...oh, and make incredible photographs too.

Sidebar: By nature this is a technical post, I am winging it to some degree (I know, big surprise). Because I am winging it I may go off on tangents to help explain a point (another big surprise, right?). What I hope to do is pass along some information in a format that is easily understood, helpful, and at least mildly entertaining. The mildly entertaining part is a little related to my wandering attention span. When I read technical information, it helps keep me interested if the person writing tries to entertain me a little. My assumption is that a lot of people feel the same way.

You are being very patient with me while I meander my way to something you can actually use.

The basics of photography have been pretty much the same since it was first invented (no I didn't research it and am not going to cover the history of photography here). The two main ingredients to making a photograph are light and time. We will cover how they relate and impact how the image is captured.

Disclaimer: This will not be a substitute for the manual that comes with your camera. Hopefully this will help you use the manual and find the information you need a bit easier.

Let's go ahead and throw out some of the basic terminology. It will help you become more familiar with the terms and help me remember what I am writing about.

ISO - this refers to the light sensitivity for the sensor in your camera, it is a carry-over from film but still applies to the digital world - a low ISO number (e.g. 200) means that the sensor recording the image is less light sensitive, a higher number (e.g. ISO 3200) means that the sensor is very light sensitive - it's also important to know that a lower ISO will produce a higher quality image (less "noise" or visible graininess) while a higher ISO willl produce a lower quality image (more "noise" or visible graininess)

If you are shooting in low light and/or want to shoot something with movement (like a sporting event) then you might have to use a higher ISO to freeze the action without blurring the motion. More on ISO later but that is a general place to start, on to the next term.

Aperture (sometimes referred to as F-Stop) - this is the size of the hole letting light through when you press the shutter to take the photograph, for me the best way to think of the aperture numbers is to make them fractions (like in math class) - a lower aperture number is a larger opening (e.g. think of an aperture of 4 as 1/4) and a higher aperture number is a smaller opening (e.g. think of an aperture number of 22 as 1/22)

Aperture can impact the photograph in a number of ways but for now, just know it refers to the size of the opening that is going to let light hit the sensor in the camera when you press the shutter release. That takes us to the next term.

Shutter speed - this is probably the most obvious and easiest understood one, it simply refers to how long the sensor is exposed to light by telling you how fast the shutter will open and close, a shutter speed of 60 means the shutter will be open for 1/60th of a second, a shutter speed of 800 means that the shutter will be open for 1/800th of a second

These three primary terms are fundamental to how each photograph is captured. Sure, there are other factors (e.g. white-balance) but if we can get a handle on these three and how they relate, it will go a long way to opening up the world of deciding how you want to shoot a particular image.

In Part 2, we will talk about the relationship of these factors and how you can use them. Is that all of the terms? No, but we will take our time and I promise to try and limit the number of terms but some of them are important to helping you understand how to use your camera.

Hopefully, nobody has gotten irritated and decided to just leave their camera on the "Automatic" setting forever. You are of course free to do that but you will miss a lot of opportunities to capture that image the way you want it to look in the photograph.

I will end with a song suggestion. With all of this technical talk, I'll go with something soothing and easy. The song is "Can't Go Back Now" from the album "Hideaway" by the Weepies (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JscAwVu2QI).

Mobile Blogging For Dream Hat Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:40:00 +0000

In my quest to blog on a more regular basis and to take advantage of tools that allow remote posts to my blog, I have enabled mobile blogging.

So now I can report from the field whenever I want. It will allow me to be more spontaneous with my posts when I have the urge.

This won't replace my usual posting. It is more a value-added feature for the Dream Hat Photography blog.

It's on.

Taking Tack Sharp Photographs

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:06:00 +0000

Before I get into the topic, I have to open with a few disclaimers. Always consider the source, I am one photographer and naturally some people may differ on my thoughts on this topic. When you think about it, that could be the default disclaimer at the beginning of all my posts.

While this post is about my thoughts on taking tack sharp photographs, there are any number of reasons that a photographer might not want a tack sharp photograph. Sometimes in certain situations, I have other priorities for a photograph that do not include being tack sharp. In a way, that is another disclaimer but I like to think of it as a qualifier.

No, I am not stalling. Posts to some degree are like short stories so you have to let me weave the tale.

Tack sharp photographs are one of my obsessions with many of my photographs. If you are expecting some previously undiscovered trick for getting the sharpest focused photographs, you will probably not find it here. Think of this more as a checklist of things to consider when you are going for the sharpest focus photograph you can take.

My assumption for this post is that many of the people reading this have a good understanding of the fundamentals of photography (e.g. ISO, shutter speed, and aperture settings). A post about the fundamentals of photography and how to shoot on manual with your DSLR is something I would be happy to write if someone wants to know my thoughts on that subject.

The overall concept is simple, if the camera moves while you are taking a photograph, the degree of sharpness in the resulting photograph is lessened. We can pause while everyone rolls their eyes at me stating the obvious. Moving forward, number one on my list for stability is shooting from a tripod. What that really means is that your camera needs to be in a place where it will not move at all when the shutter is relased. There are all kinds of ways you can achieve that without a tripod but play along, please.

Movement and vibration transferred to the camera while the photo is being taken will impact the overall sharpness. So if you are on a surface that is moving or in a place where there is vibration, a tripod does not guarantee stability, another comment by Captain Obvious. While we are talking about tripods, I advise you to think of a good tripod as an investment. Buy a good one, it will last a long time and will be worth it in the long run. What to look for in a tripod could be a separate post.

What are some other ways to try and make sure that the camera is stable during the shot? For me, a cable release is a must. That way I don't have to touch the camera to release the shutter. If you want clear photos and don't have a cable release, I recommend investing in one, they are not expensive.

If you are using a lens that has some type of vibration reduction built in and you are shooting from a tripod, turn it off. But Gerry, what if I am in a strong wind or in some other situation that is introducing movement to my tripod? That is a different discussion and not covered here. The point is that the little motor that stabilizes the lens can introduce movement. At least that is what my research indicates.

Manual focus is something else I recommend for this type of shooting. Again, it is just the issue of the camera making motor adjustments which can introduce movement and inpact the clarity of the photograph.

This next recommendation is one that is probably less obvious for some photographers. Speaking for myself, it was not something that I considered for a while. Many good DSLR cameras will allow you to shoot in mirror lock-up mode. When shooting in this mode (consult your owners manual for your camera to see if you have this feature and how to enable it), you first compose and focus your photograph. When you have everything exactly the way you want, your first press of the shutter will lock the mirror in the up position. At that point you can no longer see what you are shooting through the viewfinder (because the mirror is locked in the up position blocking the view from the viewfinder). Wait a couple of counts to let any vibration from locking the mirror to subside, the press the shutter release a second time to take the photograph. This process will be repeated with each shot when you are shooting in mirror lock-up mode.

Bracketing is something I assume most of you do on a regular basis. It could be the subject of another post if anyone is interested in discussing bracketing. Personally, I bracket each shot and take it three times with different settings. You just never know until you get home which one will be the best.

As always, comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

Encounters of the Human Kind

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:31:00 +0000

After configuring the printer and printing some test photos, moving into the print world will change some some aspects of my photography. In the long run I think it will be positive and make me a better photographer. It is making me more aware of flaws in some photographs and also making me appreciate some photographs more.

Like most things, it will even out eventually.

Shot at Aldridge Botanical Gardens in Hoover, AL this morning. Sometimes the shots fall short. Today was one of those days. Had a weird encounter with a lady that was concerned that I had photographed her. If you follow my photography, you are aware that I rarely photograph people. I assured her that I hadn't photographed her. The fact was I never even knew she was around until she came up. It seemed rude to say that I had not photographed her and wasn't aware of her existence. She mentioned that her brother was a photographer for the NY Times. I'm still trying to figure out if that was supposed to mean something to me. Like maybe I should have asked his name or like maybe I had heard of him.

Later I thought maybe I should have asked her if she wanted to check all of the photos on my memory card, just to be sure there were no photos of her. It seemed more fun to leave that shred of doubt in her mind.

Print Photographs? Yes We Can!

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:02:00 +0000

The wheels are in motion for Dream Hat Photography, 2010 is the year to make a run. A big part of the plan is to get my images out in the world in a physical sense. With the exception of an exhibit in July 2009 at the Gadsden Museum of Art, my photography has existed almost exclusively in electronic format.

Printing. That's all that was left, the only thing I couldn't do with my photography. If I wanted a print, I had to send my image to a lab and get them to print it. After coming up with an initial order of prints, then getting an quote from the printing company that had done a beautiful job on the prints for the exhibit at the art museum, I worked on the numbers. How much was it going to cost me for various sized framed prints? What would be my break-even point? How many photographs would need to be sold to make any money?

Nothing new to those questions. In any business that sells a product, those are basic questions. A few things were obvious, I needed to learn how to mount, mat, and frame photographs. The cost of outsourcing those tasks added too much to my cost for each photograph, Running lean is important, especially in this economy, especially for a new business, especially for a photographer trying to make this feasible as a business.

Printing... I was back to printing as the part of my business that was outside my control. There is the cost of printing, the time is takes to order and receive prints. There is the issue of tying up money in inventory, trying to have enough but not too much.

If this is going to be a serious run, I have to invest in my business, believe in myself (insert 80's movie montage power ballad here). You saw this coming but you were polite and kept reading. A whole blog post, just to say I decided to buy a printer? Cut me some slack. These posts don't write themselves.

What printer did I buy? No big deal, I just went over to Costco and bought this multifunction printer that will also fax and scan. No sweat, done deal.

Yeah, that was a total lie. You know I did my research and bugged other photographers. As of today, I am now the proud owner of an Epson Stylus Pro 3880.

Totally jazzed. That's how I feel about 2010. This is the year.

For the record, I am not really a fan of montage scenes in movies with 80's power ballads. Eyes forward, new music, new photos, new opportunities.

Oh, forgot to mention, after six weeks without my DSLR, the replacement D700 from Nikon arrived yesterday. Things are getting interesting.

Getting Better Results With Your Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:43:00 +0000

"Where there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see" ~ Dorthea Lange

Waiting for my Nikon D700 replacement has not been easy, it's not one of my strong suits. In the time since my camera took a swim in Turkey Creek, I've been busy doing other things. My plans for 2010 and Dream Hat Photography are big and there are no shortage of tasks related to those plans. It would be tedious and boring to cover those details, nobody wants to read them, I wouldn't read them either.

One opportunity I've had while waiting on the camera is a chance to take a look at my photography. The work I have already done. It's interesting to go back through many of the folders containing the photographs from so many days of shooting. In some cases, I have run across images that I missed when I was originally processing that group of shots. They are like hidden treasures. Sometimes I process my work too quickly. Giving it a little time to settle is not a bad thing, at least in my case.

If you are a person that always nails your shots and every photo is golden, then you probably have little to gain from reading my blog. You might get a laugh from reading how someone else struggles with trying to produce quality work and smile at their lack of perfection. Here's the ugly truth, nobody nails every shot every time. If you thought you were, you are sadly mistaken. A slight pause is inserted here as my role as a buzz kill washes over the perfect people.

That was a decently long introduction to the actual focus of this particular post. If I give away the good stuff right away then my posts are shorter and I don't get the chance to ramble. If rambling were an Olympic sport, I would likely have several gold medals.

This post is actually about composition and perspective. Going through my folders and looking through a LOT of images, it reminded me that shooting more is a good thing. That is true for a lot of reasons. No, I am not going to go through those reasons. What I will say is that I learn more from my mistakes than I do my successes. The trick is taking the time to consider why a shot didn't work. Unless you are just out there snapping photos of any secne with no regard to what you are trying to capture. For this post, I will assume we are all trying to capture something specific and meaningful with our photographs.

In looking through the many photos that failed to capture what I was trying to shoot, many of the problems were related to two elements, composition and perspective. Since I don't randomly snap photos, I know that each of the scenes must have interested me at the time. If we throw out the ones where I was simply wrong and the scene was not at all interesting, I am left with the ones that were either hits or misses.

For the misses, if I had spent a little more time considering the shot, if I had recomposed the shot, if I had tried other perspectives then I would most likely have captured the shot I wanted. So I've made a mental note to try and be more careful when I am shooting. Experiment with different perspectives more. Take time to really "see" what is in the frame, edge to edge. Use the whole frame whenever possible. Don't waste frame space expecting to crop later. All of this is basic photography. None of this is breaking new ground. It's simply a reminder that developing solid, basic techniques and work flow are the cornerstones of being a good photographer.

With any luck, my D700 will be back in my hands in a week or so. If I can remember my own advice, it will help me reduce the number of misses. Exploring other perspectives is essential to me becoming a better photographer.

Comments welcomed and invited.

What's In My Photography Portfolio?

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:41:00 +0000

It's been on my "to do" list for several weeks. Significant progress was made today on that item. To be clear, my whole day wasn't spent on this, I did other things too. You don't fool me, some of you are skeptical about how I spend my time. You can't please everybody, some days you are lucky if you can please anybody. The toughest person for me to please is myself, so if you are even slightly disgruntled about me, get in line.

My portfolio had become outdated. Hard to believe, right? Anyway it had to be done. My problem was trying to choose the photos. Part of the challenge is that I am generally a harsh critic of my photographs, part of the challenge is that it needs to be somewhat focused, and the other part of the challenge was deciding what I wanted the portfolio to say about my work. If you have followed my photography or just wandered through my galleries, you will notice that my subjects and style can vary a bit. If you happen to be unfamiliar with my work, just trust me, I have nothing to gain by making this up.

It's easy to let the portfolio sit there and get stale. That's really not a good strategy for a working photographer. In 2010, I am going to make a strong effort to find opportunities to exhibit my photographs and gain visibility through my work at Dream Hat Photography. With that in mind, I had to try and decide how I wanted to define my current work. My photography is mostly centered around nature, the environment, and conservation. Water is of particular interest to me and is often a strong element in my images.

After considering many photographs, I have updated my portfolio and invite you to take a look. As always, I am interested in constructive feedback on my photography. When you look at the portfolio, please leave comments on the images that move you. It is impossible for me to see my photographs the way that you see them, I am too close to them and have limited objectivity with them.

My sincere thanks to all of the people that have encouraged my efforts to become a better photographer, I will always be a work in progress. Earlier in this post I mentioned that I wanted to gain more exposure for my photography. You can help me by subscribing to my blog and getting others to subscribe. It will mean a lot to me. With all of the negativity in the world, photography is a way I can be a positive force.

“Photography is a small voice, at best, but sometimes one photograph, or a group of them, can lure our sense of awareness.” ~ W. Eugene Smith

Portfolios, Partnerships, and Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:55:00 +0000

Procrastination? That's part of it. Tough to make choices? That's another part of it. Lack of objectivity? Yep, that's another part of it. Personal attachment to some images? No doubt, that's also part of it.

It's one of those things that is important to me and important for my photography. It's also one of those things that I keep meaning to do and don't. What am I talking about? It's my portfolio gallery. To stay fresh and current, I should be taking the time to make sure my portfolio is always up to date.

My portfolio should be a concise representation of my best work. Assessing photographs is subjective and because the images are mine, I struggle to be objective. It's practically impossible for me to know how my images are seen by others. There should never be any weak work in the portfolio. Any weak images seriously hurt the overall strength of the portfolio.

In a way I could probably make the argument that my photography is in transition, that I am exploring new areas, new directions. Honestly, for as long as I am able to make photographs, that should always be a valid description for where I am with my work. The day we stop exploring new directions, trying new things, growing as artists is basically the end of our creative journey. When I cease to be stimulated by the opportunity to create an image that interests me, cease to find passion in photography, that's the day I need to do some serious self evaluation.

My portfolio has become stagnant and probably has too many images. Part of my challenge is that I am primarily a nature/environmental photographer but I prefer not to have any limits on what subjects I choose to capture with the camera. The diversity of images has led me to wonder how best to focus my work. The Dream Hat Photography site was initially started with very little thought to where my photography would lead. At the time I was simply looking for a place to post some of my images to share with others. A close friend and fellow photographer suggested SmugMug and it has been a great place for my work to be displayed and be seen by people all over the world. Through my association with the communities at SmugMug, I have met wonderful people, become friends with people that have helped me more than I can ever say, and I have learned a lot about photography.

You're right, I have drifted off course. Consider it value-added content or you can see it as my natural tendency to go down side streets when I am talking and thinking. That's just the way I am and have been that way for more years than is relevant in this post.

What's your point? My point is that I am going to be working on updating my portfolio and also trying to figure out how best to get my work out there. If any of you have ideas, suggestions, comments, or questions, I always love input. Besides the whole "loving input" thing, it's nice to know if anyone is actually reading any of this.

Since I am inviting input, if you have photography topics you would like for me to write about, please let me know. If you are interested in exchanging links between blogs and/or photography sites, contact me. If you happen to be a company that would like to partner with me - Nikon, Epson, Adobe, OnOne, SmugMug, or anyone alse along those lines, I would love to discuss it with you. At this point, I am a bit like an athlete that has space for sponsors and partners. You don't want to look back and think, "We had a shot at building a partnership with Gerry Daniel, his wonderful work with photography, and we totally missed it." You never know.

More From the Incident at Turkey Creek, What You Didn't Know

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:07:00 +0000

In the interest of giving you a more complete account of my untimely and unplanned dip into Turkey Creek, I will share some additional details. This post picks up the story as I am making my way out of the creek and onto the bank beside the creek.

My clothing at the time consisted of a t-shirt, a pair of jeans, wool socks, hiking boots, a jacket, and a baseball cap. The t-shirt and the baseball cap were both souvenirs of my trip to Santa Fe in February 2009 to attend a week-long workshop taught by Eddie Soloway at Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. Allow me to pause here to offer my personal endorsement of both the school, the workshop, and Eddie Soloway. As a bonus, in our workshop, Eddie was assisted by a talented photographer named Jenny Trest. The workshop was probably by far the best thing I have ever done for me and my photography. Hopefully I will have an opportunity to attend another workshop there in the future.

So I am out of the creek, soaked to the bone, but never lost the baseball cap. That part is important for a couple of reasons. The baseball cap was covering a head of crazy hair that had yet to see a morning shower (yep, morning hair) and the fact that the cap was still on my head meant that I hadn't banged my noggin into the rocks in the creek during the rescue of the camera equipment. For a couple of minutes, I just stood there, breathing hard from the exertion and trying to compose myself.

The area where I had planned to be shooting was a fairly short hike down one end of a well marked trail created by Eagle Scouts. For the people not familiar with the Boy Scouts of America, Eagle Scouts are the top echelon of the organization. They have more skills, patches, badges, etc, and do some very meaningful community service across the United States. Personally I was not a Boy Scout, I like to say that I was more of a girl scout but not affiliated with the official Girl Scouts of America. Before anyone gets all bent out of shape, this would have been a period of time when I was in roughly grades 7-12. To cover the more current time frame, I am not talking about the adult me. The adult me would be an admirer of women, not that it has any relation to this story but sometimes you get bonus information if you read.

As I stand on the trail, dripping, calming my breathing and my heart rate, as you would expect, one of the first things I dis was look around to see if anyone witnessed what had to be a pretty funny scene of me trying to rescue the camera equipment. Luckily my unfortunate event ended safely and unobserved, so my dignity was mostly intact. My camera bag was beside the trail and had escaped the incident entirely. With the strap of the bag over my shoulder and the camera equipment in my hands, I began the walk of shame back to my car. Trailing me along the walk was creek water dripping from my clothing and my camera equipment as I trudged back towards the road and the place where my car was parked.

For the people that have had an opportunity to be with me in a situation like this, a situation where I am upset, frustrated, a little angry at myself (OK, a lot angry at myself) not once did I say use any profanity. Looking back, my only explanation is that the situation exceeded the profanity threshold and I was just silent. Along the way up the trail, I pass by a happy lady with her point and shoot camera. She is smiling and snapping away at the beauty that is Turkey Creek. As I got closer to her, I imagined I would have to exchange some type of pleasantries with her, but she either didn't notice me or could sense that there was a lot of bad energy walking with me. If I had been a cartoon, there would have probably been a little swirl of smoke above my head.

Finally I make it off the trail, up the hill, and across the road to the parking lot where my car is parked. In my pocket is my car keys attached to the remote to unlock the doors and open the trunk. For the British in the crowd, I believe that what we call the trunk and the hood in the US is sometimes referred to the boot and the bonnet in the UK. The remote, although soaked, works like a charm. The trunk opens and I begin to forage. The ugly truth about my trunk is that is is not neatly organized. It isn't organized at all, it is more like a lump of objects scrambled in a somewhat chaotic fashion, but the first little section is basically clean and separated from the chaos by a net. The clear space is required for groceries when I shop for food and other necessities of life.

Among the contents of the trunk are a pair of jeans, assorted t-shirts, sweatshirts, a beach towel, an old frayed towel (which I call an accident towel), and a pair of running shoes. There were no socks, no underwear, and no spare belt but at that point I have the essentials.

There is one other vehicle in the parking lot, it is the standard "soccer Mom" van. As I arrive at the car, the sliding doors on both sides of the van open. The van is empty but the opening doors signaled the return of the family from the creek. Typical family, a man, a woman, and three kids (all elementary school age). Like an eclipse, I didn't look directly at the van or the approaching family, I caught them in my peripheral vision. Since we are the only two vehicle there, there is no question that they saw me standing at the rear of my car, looking into the trunk, dripping water on the ground. The make and model of the van were undetermined, I couldn't tell you if there were soccer balls on the rear window with the names of the kids. It was full eclipse mode, no looking at the van.

The jeans were pulled to the edge of the trunk, the t-shirt happened to be a environmentally friendly clay dyed garment with a drawing of the earth and surrounded by "Every Day Is Earth Day" printed on the front and the t-shirt color was a soft, light green for those of you that need details. The family is getting to the van, lots of happy chatter and they are ignoring the dripping wet man standing by the open trunk of his car. My feet are wet and I remove the hiking boots, pour the water from them, then remove the wool socks, and squeeze the excess water from them. It was at that point that I became keenly aware that the parking lot was covered with gravel. Keenly aware because my cold, wet, bare feet were being assaulted by the sharp edges of the gravel.

Slowly I walk around to the passenger door on the driver's side of my car and open it. The idea was to take my time to walk carefully on the gravel and to allow the family time to load into the van and be on their merry way. I take the accident towel, fold it several times for maximum absorbency to protect the fabric on the car seat and sit down. I change into the dry t-shirt, slowly of course, again partially to allow more time for the family to leave but partly because wet clothing sticks to your body. With the t-shirt changed, the top half of my body is dry (remember I had the beach towel). The careful reader has already figured out my problem and the reason I wanted the family to leave. At some point I am going to need to change out of the wet jeans and boxer shorts to put on the dry jeans (no underwear, will have to go commando).

The last thing I need at this point is to be accused of indecent exposure by some family out enjoying the nature preserve on a Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving. So I wait...and I wait. Who are these people and why does it take them so long to get in the van, buckle up and leave? Only snatches of their conversation was audible, but I heard something about something being left by the creek and heard the Dad say he would go get it. It wasn't a large distance to cover, the man could have been there and back in a matter of minutes. This day wasn't going that way, so they only way I can describe the slowness of the man's walk to get the item left at the creek and return to the van is to use the grocery store example. Sometimes, you will be in line at the checkout, there will be an issue with an item in the group of things the person ahead of you is purchasing (maybe there is no bar code, maybe the package is damaged, whatever). The person at the register will enlist one of the other employees hanging out at the end of the checkout line (sometimes the bagger, sometimes just an employee talking and wasting time) to go determine the price or get a replacement item. My experience has been that the person assigned to go on the mission shifts into a slow motion walk that is almost impossible to achieve in normal life. They almost occupy a slightly dimension where time is moving at a different speed.

Sitting on the edge of my back seat, I wasn't timing the man on his trip, but I can tell you it was a very slow walk. Maybe he needed a moment to himself, maybe he needed to gather his thoughts before being confined to the van with the rest of his crowd. Finally he returns and I think I am now home free. He will get into the driver seat, the doors will shut, he will start the engine and they will be on their way. No, I was wrong. As he gets back to the van, I hear the Mom ask if anyone needs to go potty. Thankfully nobody needed to go potty, but there was a process of elimination as each child is questioned individually about their need to go potty. Yeah, it took a long time. Items retrieved from the creek? Check. Nobody needs to go potty? Check. For reasons I can't begin to understand or explain, nobody was buckled in their seats and ready to go. So now we go through the process of situating everyone in the van and securing them to their seats. Did I mention that these people were slow?

Finally, mercifully, the van doors close, the engine starts, and they pull out of the parking lot. As soon as they are out of sight, I close the door on my car, unbuckle my jeans, unzip them and take them off along with the boxers. Remember, it takes longer with wet clothing, it sticks to your body. Now I am in the danger zone, pants down to my ankles, about to pull them over my feet, I will be exposed and naked from the waist down. Not a problem, the parking lot is empty, I am alone. Just as I slip the pants leg off of one foot, I hear a vehicle. This is the point of non return, I have to continue. Another van pulls into the parking lot, politely leaving one car space between the vehicles. It's a guy and his dog which he immediately lets bound from the car, no leash. My options are limited, I am committed to the change, I am contorted in the back seat as I get the other pants leg off my other foot and put on the dry jeans. The guy in the van is putting the leash on his dog but I can feel him glancing my way and wondering what I am doing in the back seat of my car alone. Still in eclipse mode, I don't look at him, I finish changing, put on the running shoes, move to the driver's seat and make my getaway.

Funny scene? No doubt about it. Maybe one of the funniest scenes I have been in for years. Life is full of moments, that's what you hang onto, what you remember. It is why I love photography, capturing moments. Until Nikon resolves the issue with my camera, the experience wasn't a loss. Underwear and socks will now be added to the chaos in my trunk. It also gives me time to devise a better way to change clothes if there is ever a next time.

Enjoy the moments, it's what life is about.

Nature Photography, Falling In a Creek, and the Nikon D700

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:07:00 +0000

First let me say, having an opportunity to help the Alabama's Forever Wild Program through my photography is a privilege and an honor. My personal situation in that regard took a bit of an unfortunate turn yesterday afternoon (11/28/2009). My intentions were to capture more of the beauty of the Turkey Creek Nature Preserve with my camera. The water was beautiful and I was working at the edge of Turkey Creek in an area of rocks and rapids. It was very early in the process and I had only taken a few shots. As I moved to look at a different view of the scene, my Nikon D700 camera with my Nikkor 70-300mm VR Zoom lens attached, mounted on my tripod leaned just enough to tumble into the creek. My instinct was to get the camera as quickly as possible, to try and save it, to avoid losing it completely. Into the creek I went, flailing as I slipped on the slick rocks. Luckily I managed to get a hand on the tripod, pull the camera out of the water, and after falling a few more times, I made it to the shore.

My clothing, my hiking boots, my jacket, and of course my camera were completely soaked. Slowly I gathered my camera bag and trudged back to my car. Fortunately I had a large beach towel, a pair of jeans, a shirt, and a pair of running shoes in the trunk. Fortunately I did not get seriously injured in the several falls in the creek on the slick rocks. It did require me to change clothes in my car, all the time hoping nobody would come by at just the wrong moment and have me arrested for indecent exposure.

Once in dry clothing, the first thing I did was call Beth Young. My thoughts were that Beth was an experienced veteran of almost every possible situation and could give me an idea of the chance of salvaging my camera. It turns out I was right, she understood the situation and basically told me that the camera was a total loss. Less than a year ago, I purchased the D700 at the Wolf Camera store in Homewood. It occurred to me that I had bought the extended protection plan when I purchased the camera. From the Turkey Creek Nature Preserve, I drove directly to the Wolf Camera store in Homewood, AL where one of the employees (Chris) confirmed Beth's diagnosis and my worst fears, the camera and the lens were a total loss. The protection plan will help ease the expense, the camera will be sent to Nikon USA where it will either be repaired (doubtful because of the degree of water damage) or replaced. The lens was not so lucky because I had not purchased an extended protection plan for it.

The best estimate they could give me was that maybe I would hear something from Nikon in 12 weeks or so. Until that is resolved, I will have to focus on photos I have already taken and work on learning some new skills on processing and work flow. In normal circumstances, I would probably look at purchasing another camera body to use now and have as a back-up later, and I would also probably simply replace the lens. Unfortunately, I was downsized back in March from my job as IT Director that I had held the past nine years for a company in Birmingham. So, money is very tight, the job market is very tough, and I don't have the flexibility I would have had when I was working.

The camera now becomes part of the waiting game I have been playing since I was downsized. Nikon will decide what will happen and when I will have a camera again. The zoom lens is a casualty.

If I had to offer any advice from my experience, it would be a few things. Buy your camera equipment from a reputable camera store, purchase the extended protection plan, always have an emergency kit in your car (clothes, etc.), try not to shoot alone in remote areas, If anyone has any influence with Nikon, I would appreciate any effort to expedite Nikon's efforts for my camera. Photography is my creative outlet. Photography natural areas for environmental and conservation efforts is something that I believe is important.

At this point, I am hoping for some breaks to go my way. The road has been a bit rocky since March 2009.

Upside Down?

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:48:00 +0000

Reflection photographs interest me for many reasons. Recently I have been doing some work with manually manipulating all of the settings and focus on the camera to explore some new areas. One of these areas involves a number of photographs of scenes reflected in water (e.g. lakes).

Before anybody gets overly excited, we are not likely to be solving any mysteries of the universe here. The truth is that I have a lot of questions about a lot of things. The blog give me a way to think out loud, although "out loud" seems like the wrong words for something that is being read. No, I'm not going to Google to find out if there's a better way to refer to thinking out loud in written form, you know what I'm saying.

So, in short I took a photo of an autumn woodland scene reflected in a lake. In the past, as a general rule, when I flipped the reflected images vertically, they would look strange, so displaying them as shot, even though that meant they were somewhat upside down, looked better.

Why? I have no idea. As a side note, by nature, these reflected images are shot in a way that makes them appear to be more like paintings than photographs. I'm fully aware that I can take pretty much any photograph and use software to make it look like a painting with using effects. The objective with these reflection photographs is to have the look of a painting and in many cases to be somewhat abstract by using the camera to achieve that look by using the various settings (aperture, shutter speed, focus, ISO, etc.) to record the image that way without the the need for effects.

After all, we are painting with light when we take photographs. Our options are almost limitless. Exploring new ways to create images is one of the things I love about photography.

As always, comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

Autumn, painted on the water by the sun

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:11:00 +0000

For lack of a better term, I will call this a mini-post. I have been working on capturing reflections in the water in a way that fits a vision in my head. It's my attempt to record the beauty that I see with my camera.

Water, colors, and light fascinate me - this scene was created by nature and captured by my camera. Other than controlling the ISO, the aperture (manual), the focus (manual), and the shutter speed (manual), what you see in this photograph is the complete frame as it was shot - i used the Curves layer to find the black, white, and gray points to correct any color cast, a slight adjustment of Brightness/Contrast, and minor sharpening using the Unsharp Mask - that's it, no cropping.

Despite my best efforts to capture a scene the way I want, it is rare that I succeed to the degree that I want. For me, this photograph is one of those rare occasions. Nobody is harder on my work than I am. This is a photograph that I truly like. It feels very weird to say that.

Hopefully, others will enjoy it too. You can view the photograph shown above in a gallery on my photography site .

So Many Photographs

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:06:00 +0000

Over the past two years, I have spent a significant amount of time taking many photos and processing a portion of those images. Early in the process I spent a lot of time with the camera, learning how to operate it, learning how to use the camera to capture the vision in my head in a photograph.

Nothing out of the ordinary in the previous paragraph and I am sure it has been repeated in one way or another countless times by photographers. It would make it a lot easier if I just had one question but that's not the case. In the interest of maintaining some degree of focus, this entry is about one particular area that is one of my current challenges.

Some people only photograph a narrow range of subjects, that is a choice and is completely valid. It's my feeling that you should photograph what you love. That's going to vary a great deal from one photographer to another which is a good thing because if we all photographed the same thing, it would be fairly boring.

The interested reader is waiting for the question that I mentioned earlier. The one I wanted to consider in this post. The one I haven't asked yet. The less than interested reader has gotten bored and stopped reading by now. It happens.

Earlier I said I had one question but it might be more like a few questions surrounding one area. The question is about what to do with a fairly large library of images that cover a variety of styles and/or subjects. I have been advised by successful photographers that you should never show weak work. The thinking is that weak work will hurt the strong work. That seems like solid advice.

What if you have a broad range of work? How do you keep it focused? What if you want to give each area a fair chance to stand on its own? In the music industry, it is becoming common for artists to record with more than one band or work on multiple projects at the same time. It allows them the freedom to express their creative energy in a number of directions. If you wanted to apply a similar idea to photography, would you create separate areas that focus on certain bodies of work? The Dream Hat Photography site is becoming very hard to manage as the library grows.

I don't have the answers but I am trying to figure out what to do. I want the freedom to follow a number of directions with my photography but I would like to give each segment a fair chance. If all of the work is combined it is too broad to enable each area to receive the attention it deserves.

I didn't go back and count the actual number of questions in the post. They are all facets of a central question. At this point, I don't have the answer. I am not sure there is a definitive answer. It's something I am trying to work through.

If you have some thoughts on ways to try and resolve this situation, I would love to hear your ideas.

I know, two posts in two days. What can I tell you...I have a lot of thoughts.

Stay Safe? Not Likely

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:37:00 +0000

Several times recently I have wanted to write a new blog entry, have started to write a new blog entry, and have just stopped. The challenge hasn't been that I struggle for a topic but more a case of too many different directions to follow. So to some degree this entry is a bridge or a placeholder.

Where am I going with my photography? The collective water cooler discussions are not pondering this question. For the record, I think about it but I don't think about it. It's one of those things that needs to have the freedom to move in any direction. For some of my photographs, especially ones in recent months, what I am capturing with the camera requires me to understand how to take the photograph but it is more than just point the camera, compose the shot, focus, and press the shutter release.

At this point, some of you are thinking this is getting deep and you are wishing you had worn waders or at least had rolled up your jeans. Some of you aren't wearing jeans but you know what I mean.

Clearly I am not going to resolve the question about where I am going with my photography in this entry. Honestly I don't really know. What I keep coming back to is a quote from Ernst Haas about photography.

"I am not interested in shooting new things - I am interested to see things new." ~ Ernst Haas

In many ways, that embodies what I hope to do with my photography. It is one of those statements that is simply stated but difficult to accomplish. I like a challenge anyway. If you want safe, keep the training wheels on your bike. I have a scar on my right arm near my elbow that used to go about halfway around my arm when I was young and skinny. It was earned by jumping off a swing set with two roof shingles as wings as I tried to fly and caught my arm on a screw on my way to crashing into the ground. I didn't fly that day but I tried.

Don't even ask about the Humpty Dumpty night light. It was more painful than trying to fly.

Photographing Waterscapes

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:28:00 +0000

Over the weekend, I had an opportunity to take photographs at Turkey Creek Nature Preserve. It is an area consisting of 466 acres that is owned by the Alabama Forever Wild Program. You can visit these sites to learn more about this beautiful area and the important work being done by dedicated people to preserve, protect, and conserve some important areas throughout the State of Alabama.

As a photographer, water fascinates me in many ways. The vast majority of the photographs I took at Turkey Creek Nature Preserve involved water. That isn't to say that there wasn't plenty of breathtaking woodlands to photograph, but I was focused more on the water.

The past week had included some heavy rain and the water levels are high from a fall that has been very wet. The moving water plus the colors of the surrounding vegetation reflected in the water offered many beautiful options for photographs.

One of my standard methods when I shoot is to bracket each shot with three different exposures. When shooting a subject like this, shooting the same scene with a variety of aperture settings and try to find the most interesting version when I am processing the shots. For clarity, a tripod is a must as well as a cable release for the shutter. It goes a long way to maintaining a steady camera to insure clarity. The photographs that were taken on Sunday were almost all shot at ISO 100 to reduce noise.

As I write this post, I have a number of photographs from the two days of shooting that have yet to be processed. What has emerged is a series of images that I am calling waterscapes. Based on a quick Google search, it is a term that has already been used by others and seems to fit this group of photos. In many of these shots, the images are almost abstract in appearance. You should know that I have not altered the color in these photos other than to remove the color cast by setting my black, white, and gray points. With the long exposures and the movement of the subject, the resulting image is not what we see looking at the scene in real time.

You can find many of these images on the Dream Hat Photography site in the Turkey Creek Nature Preserve gallery. Depending on when you visit the gallery, you should know that it is sorted to have the most recent photos at the beginning.

It's nice to have a song to go along with a post, something for the mood. The music is part of the soundtrack that is my life. My choice to match the peaceful mood of the location of the photographs is a song by one of my favorite artists, Greg Laswell. The song is titled "And Then You" from the "Three Flights From Alto Nido" album. If you are not familiar with his music, I encourage you to buy the album, every song is a pleasure. A few months ago I had an opportunity to see Greg Laswell play a show at WorkPlay Theatre in Birmingham, AL. The show was opened by Elizabeth and the Catapult who played a great set.

Feels Like Going Home

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:18:00 +0000

Yesterday when I was out shooting, I walked down a path in the woods beside a lake. The leaves on the trees and the leaves scattered on the ground are full of color. The past few days I have posted some images of fall colors in my daily photo gallery (http://bit.ly/35ouzp). They are beautiful and I enjoy photographing them to capture the colors.

As I was walking back down the path to leave the woods, I looked ahead, down the path. The gentle curve of the path, the trees lining the path, and the leaves on the ground was a comforting image. I spent a lot of time in the woods when I was young. Living in a small town with freedom to safely roam about, there was something magical about being in the woods. For an instant yesterday, as I looked down this path, it took me back to those days. The smell of the woods, fresh from a recent rain with the sound of the breeze through the trees.

This photograph could have easily stood on its own as shot, in full color. I enjoy a good black & white photograph. It is easy to rely on color to carry your image. It is much harder to create a photograph that speaks just as clearly and sometimes more effectively in black & white. In a world where we see so much done with special effects and processing, I think less time is spent composing an image, balancing the elements, controlling the depth of field.

The classics never go out of style.

Moderated Comments? Is That a Problem?

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:56:00 +0000

Moderated galleries and blogs. There are pros and cons to both methods. In a perfect world, it wouldn't be a question at all, free exchange, uncensored. My personal preference is towards not having moderated comments but I have never failed to leave a comment because the comments were moderated.

Earlier today i changed the option on my photography site (Dream Hat Photography) to moderated. I may change it back. Who knows, it could become this back and forth thing. I am curious to know how you feel about the topic. Do you have a strong preference about sites that have moderated comments? Do moderated comment sites deter you from leaving a comment? What are your feelings on the advantages and disadvantages of having moderated comments on my site?

My song for this post is "Start a War" from the album "Boxer
" by The National. I honestly like the whole album. The music is compelling, the vocals are different from the norm because the singer has a lower voice, and I enjoy the lyrics. If you are looking for something different but with a nice vibe, buy this and enjoy.

Peace

Moving forward

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:04:00 +0000

In an effort to have more frequent updates to my blog and to indulge my love of writing, future posts will likely be shorter in length (generally speaking). My goal is for the blog to have more of my voice and personal style which is a bit more stream of consciousness (translation for the people that don't know me, my thoughts are all over the place most of the time).

I want to continue to share my thoughts about photography but in a more informal way. So if you had your heart set on a more formal photography blog, you must have wandered over here by mistake anyway.

Since photography and music are two of my primary sanctuaries, many posts may include a song, album, or artist recommendation. If you like to explore new music, you may find the music recommendations a bonus. If you don't like to explore new music, you can disregard it.

Song recommendation: "Keep It Clean" from the album titled "Underachievers Please Try Harder" by Camera Obscura.

Expand Your Photography Skills

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:41:00 +0000

In an earlier post, I wrote about photographing what you love. That is still something that guides my photography. Part of the process involves how i "see" the subjects around me, the potential shots that surround me wherever I go.

One of the special gifts I have received from becoming a photographer is noticing the amazing world around me every day. At any given time, there are so many different thoughts racing through my head. Some of them are in the range of practical, rational, everyday stuff. There is another large group that is anything but practical, rational, or everyday stuff. That's a long way of saying that I have an active imagination. People that know me well know that my attention wanders and I am always a threat to check out and be off on a tangent with ideas and thoughts.

Since we all see the world through our own lens, everybody has a unique view. When I was young, I imagined that when I got older, you know like became an adult and was part of that world that I would be different. In a sense that is true because we are always changing if we are truly living. What I didn't know was that the part of me that sees things with the wonder of a child, the part of me that wants to be an idealist, the part of me that loves to imagine things would remain basically the same.

Sure, I can cope and blend with the "adult world" whatever that entails. Inside there is this inner child that survives. Right about now you are thinking, "I thought this was a blog about photography, when did this turn into a therapy session?" My whole life is a therapy session but that's another story.

The above rambling was a preface for talking about how I continue to be amazed at ways I can grow as a photographer. At the core, I photograph for myself first. But with all these photos lying around and the possibility of trying to let them earn some money for me, I have been looking into stock photography. A future post will talk more about stock photography from a business perspective but I'm not going to deal with that in this post.

Shoot what you love, continue to grow, find new ways to "see" the world, expand your skills, get out of your comfort zone. My recent work with shooting for environmental and conservation purposes has helped me with that. The entry into the world of stock photography is not something I expected at all. Whether that will be a financial success will be decided over time. For my photography, trying to get my head around stock photography has pushed me a bit outside my comfort zone. Looking at things in a new way for those shots has helped uncover more ways to "see" and opened more options for me in almost any photographic situation.

Let's be clear, I am not recommending that you should get into stock photography to become a better photographer, what I am saying is that finding new ways to look at the world will help you be a better photographer. Comfort zones lead to complacency and that leads to stagnation which will prevent you from growing.

Who the hell am I to talk to you about growing? That's a fair question but it doesn't make the concept any less true. You are perfectly free to never question yourself, to settle into a comfort zone, to stay with what you know, to not stretch as an artist or a person. From my perspective, an artist never stops growing and a person should never stop learning.

Whatever you decide, walk your own path, make your own way, squeeze all you can from this life. Remember to take your camera and capture some of the moments. You will be richer for the experience. No, I am not saying that somebody is going to give you money, I am talking about richer in the broader sense, not material wealth. Life is funny though, maybe somebody will give you money, so far they haven't given any to me. There's a lot of stuff I want to buy though, camera equipment is expensive.

Before I forget, I want to give a shameless promotion to my music blog. The Music blog is called "Music You Should Own" so when you are finished reading this, please go there. Music and photography are two of my sanctuaries. I need to write more posts in my music blog. If you are looking for some new music or want to see what I think about music, read my music blog, subscribe to it, tell your friends, get them to subscribe. I need to build a huge following for this blog and my music blog. So spread the word, this could be a crazy ride, who knows where we can go.

Peace

Adobe Lightroom, Are Your Images At Risk?

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:20:00 +0000

If you are using or thinking of using Adobe Lightroom to manage your library of images, you should read this post. It is not my decision to make for you but I think you should at least be aware of this incident.

Using any software from any company presents a certain degree of risk. Read the fine print sometime on the license agreements and you will see language to that effect. That is one of the primary reasons why you always want to have good backups and a solid disaster recovery plan in place. If you don't, the risk is yours.

Before I get into the circumstances that led me to write this post, let me make some things clear. Adobe is a fine company and I am happy to have their software products. Photoshop is arguably the industry standard for graphic artists and digital photographers to use at their primary tool for their work. Currently my personal software choice for working with my digital photographs is Photoshop CS4 Extended. It is an excellent program and is a powerful, amazing set of software tools.

Early yesterday morning, I was contacted by a photographer friend who was experiencing a serious problem with Adobe Lightroom 2.5. This is a successful professional photographer with a very large library of digital images. She purchased Lightroom and spent the summer creating catalogs in Lightroom to help her organize and manage this large library. To her shock and dismay, she discovered that some of her Lightroom catalogs were becoming corrupt and many of the image files in some of those catalogs were being ruined. She contacted Adobe support but the problem was threatening her entire library, her life's work, her livelihood, her art. So as she was waiting to hear from Adobe she asked me to come over to see if I could help.

My personal background is a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Management Information Systems and 15 years of IT experience that covers everything from being a programmer/systems analyst to being an IT Director for the last nine years for a company that relies heavily on technology to operate their business. Troubleshooting problems on computers is very familiar territory. My experience has mostly been with servers and workstations running Microsoft Windows. She has a Mac with OS X but basic troubleshooting still applies.

The first thing I did was make sure she had clean, complete backups of her image files. She had been smart and had a good backup system in place. If you are reading this and you are thinking that you really need to do something about getting your files backed up, do it right away if your files are important. There are various strategies to insuring good backups for disaster recovery but this post is not about that topic.

Once I verified that her image files were clean, secure, and backed up, I began to troubleshoot the problem. The OS was current with all updates, the Adobe products were current with all updates. The hard drives were healthy and functioning properly. The problem was isolated to images that were in her Lightroom catalogs, some of which were corrupted.

After about three hours on the phone with Adobe tech support for Lightroom, we determined that Lightroom was functioning properly in that we could create new clean Lightroom catalogs. So, what's all the fuss you ask. Adobe tech support was not able to give me any assurances that this problem would not reoccur at some point. They apologized for the problem and asked that if this happened in the future to contact them as quickly as possible.

In case you missed the last part, Adobe tech support acknowledged that this could happen again in the future and asked us to contact them as soon as possible the next time it happened. They apologized for the problem. So for the photographer, a summer's worth of work cataloging her images was no longer safe or reliable. Whatever product she chose to use, the work would have to be redone. Adobe tech support hoped that it didn't happen again and they were sorry.

You may use Lightroom and never have a problem. I hope that you never experience anything like I described in this post with any software. But as a digital photographer and as an IT professional, I think you should be aware of this potential problem with Lightroom, make sure you understand the risk and have good, safe backups of your important image files.

Considering the hours invested in creating her libraries and the prospect of having to redo all of that work, I can tell you that neither I nor the photographer that I was helping will trust Lightroom to handle that function for our images. The risk is simply too large.

Let me be clear that I am not accusing Adobe of any malicious intent or negligence. I am disappointed in the acknowledgement by Adobe tech support that this problem is a known issue and that at this point if it happens again they will be sorry for the trouble. If that is good enough for you, please continue to use Lightroom to catalog your images. Consider this a cautionary message of experience.

Shoot what you love

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:04:00 +0000

To some degree the title of this post is a major part of what drives my photography. If you've followed my photography at all, you know that I love nature photography. If I had to create a diagram of the subjects I like to shoot, and that diagram was a pie chart, a big piece of the pie would be nature photography. Thankfully for you and me, I won't be creating a pie chart to represent my favorite photography subjects.

Before I go any further, I need to insert a general disclaimer. I am not saying that I need a disclaimer but in the off chance that there is someone reading this that feels compelled to take issue with my overall concept, I understand that sometimes photographers have to shoot things that they might not love. Since this is my blog, I choose to write as if that is not a factor here.

In my case, shooting what I love presents certain challenges to my skills as a photographer. Some of the things I love to shoot fall outside my comfort zone as a photographer. The perceptive reader realizes the dilemma this creates for me. For the less perceptive, I will give you the short version of the problem. My comfort zone is an area of my photography where I feel like I can produce consistently acceptable results in terms of quality images. I could write a whole post about my own insecurities with my work, my tendency to be overly critical of my work, my lack of ability to have any objectivity with my work, but this post isn't about that.

Recently my love of nature photography has presented me with this challenge to shoot what I love but falls into an area that I think is a weak zone for my skills. One option would be to shoot this subject in a way that allows me to stay in my comfort zone but doing that doesn't help me expand my comfort zone or help me grow as a photographer. While I will never master any particular type of shot, I think there is always room for improvement, expanding my range is an opportunity. So I accept the challenge and look forward to trying new things. Who knows, what is currently a weakness could become a strength.

For the terminally cynical that are thinking "Thanks for the enlightening recap of the obvious." I know, there may not be that type of person reading my blog, for that matter, I can't be sure that anyone is reading the blog. But if such a person (you know, the terminally cynical person) is reading this, I hope they channel their energies in a more positive direction and look for things to enrich their lives. For those of you that know me, you know that was my version of a polite "Bite me" to such a person.

what do you want?

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:08:00 +0000

This isn't about food or sex, although it could be. When I grab the camera and go out to shoot, "What do you want?" is one of the questions that I ask myself. Sometimes I know part of the answer. I have a place or a subject and head over to photograph it.

Before I get back on topic, let's go ahead and establish that any number of things can happen once I arrive. If you know me, then you are aware that my mind wanders and I follow it on a fairly regular basis. We can talk about what goes on when that happens in a different post. For now, let's pretend that I am able to avoid the constant distractions.

What I shoot is almost always driven by my moods. At this stage of my life as a photographer, I am not "in demand" or "on assignment" which means I am relatively low budget on my choices. In practical terms, that means I can't choose an exotic locale and just go there to capture wonderful scenes. Technically I can make the choice but I don't have the money to back it up.

This is not a criticism of the photographers that have both the freedom and the money to go where they want to shoot what they want. To some degree I am saying that living in what would be called the Birmingham/Hoover Metro Area in Alabama offers a different range of choices than locations like Hawaii.

So assume I have selected a location/subject, have walked or driven to the location, and am not being sidetracked. Stop laughing, it happens, on occasion. The point is that once I get there, a number of factors influence what I shoot and how I choose to shoot it. My instinct tells me it isn't necessary to list the factors because I will not be able to list every factor and that nobody wants to read a discussion about available light or any of the other obvious factors that have to be considered. If you are someone that wants to list the factors, you are welcome to add a comment to cover that ground for me, you can consider it as a footnote or as your contribution to the photography world. If you are someone that needs that list and wishes I had included it here, you will have to glean that information from another source.

There is wisdom in shooting a subject a lot of ways and taking a lot of photographs. Sometimes you take the "money shot" and nail it, but sometimes you are wrong. Not you specifically, I mean it collectively, so if you are the person that nails the money shot every time, without fail, then clearly that statement did not pertain to you. The previous sentence was sort of a disclaimer to cover myself because there is always the exception lurking out there somewhere. What I am saying is that even though you have selected a location and a subject, be open to what is there.

One of my favorite quotes about photography is by Ernst Haas who said, "I am not interested in shooting new things - I am interested to see things new."

So take your time, look around. Try to find something about the subject that captures your imagination. Look for the magic, then capture it with your camera. When you find the magic you will have answered the question, "What do you want?" and that will go a long way towards capturing something special.

I know, you are thinking this would have been a better post if it had been about food or sex. I can't say that it would have been a better blog entry, but I am pretty sure more people would read it.

Photographs

noreply@blogger.com (Gerry Daniel) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:57:00 +0000

Through the trees...

When did you begin your interest in photography? It's a simple, direct question. My answer is a bit more complicated than what I have heard from other photographers. If you want to know when I started taking photographs, the answer is in the late 70's when I purchased a Minolta SLR 35mm film camera. I took photos with that camera for several years.

My first son was born in late August of 1980 and my second son in late June of 1983. The third son was born in October of 1988. Somewhere between the arrival of the second son and the third son, photography was put on hold. That is a polite way of saying that I had no time for photography for what became many years. During that time a I purchased a VHS camera and kid events were "filmed" to capture it for later. "Later" eventually became "never" because nobody wants to watch a VHS tape of a kid's soccer game, not even the kids that were in the game.

But to answer the question I posed at the beginning of this blog entry, you have to travel much further back in my life. Yeah, you guessed it, we have to take a little trip back to the early years.

Aren't you curious about the events that shaped me? Sure you are, it's a twisted tale and I have the scars to prove it.

Growing up in a small town in Alabama limited my exposure to the arts. The arts were loosely defined by my sister's piano lessons, paint by numbers, and classical music that was background for some of the old cartoons. The closest thing to musicals were cowboy movies with Roy Rogers or Gene Autrey.

Looking back, I started to compose photographs before I was in the 1st grade. I had no idea that was what I was doing until many years later. Actually I wasn't aware of it until this past year. So if you are doing the math at home, that would be somewhere approaching 50 laps around the sun. For those of you following closely and want to point out that I had a DSLR in the late 70's, you are technically correct but I had not given any thought to when I became interested in photography nor did I realize that I had been composing photographs for such a long time.

It was this past year when I realized that my introduction to what I would call photography was through jigsaw puzzles. No, not the easy ones with the big pieces, the hard ones with lots of small pieces. The photographs were often mountains, a view of a forest, or a cottage beside a lake.

You spend a lot of time looking at the photographs on the boxes if you put together a lot of jigsaw puzzles. Beginning with those early years, whether we were on vacation at the beach in Florida, or playing in the woods near our house, or taking a trip somewhere, I was constantly composing photographs in my head. Since I didn't own a camera and had no knowledge of photography, in my head I would say, "That would make a great jigsaw puzzle."

These days I don't work on jigsaw puzzles, but I'm still composing photographs.