Category: Photography

Looks Like I Picked The Right DSLR

Since picking up the Nikon D300 a few months back, I’ve been constantly amazed at how well it functions, and how superb the images look – specifically ISO performance. I’m generally not the type of person that needs my choices validated by another person, but when it comes to DSLRs I still have much to learn. I was also initially on the fence about whether or not the D300 would be worth it because the D200 was an extremely impressive camera. In fact, more than one person told me that I should keep shooting with my D200…so I was pleased to see Phil Askey from dpreview.com come to this conclusion about the D300:

“My biggest problem writing this conclusion has been picking out the D300’s weak points. The usefulness of Live View would certainly be improved with an articulating LCD monitor (although I’m sure Nikon would argue that this could compromise the integrity of the body), auto white-balance is poor in artificial light (although this isn’t anything unique to the D300) and there’s still no true mirror lock-up feature. But really, these few niggles are really the only things we could pick out as criticism. There is price, but sometimes the best products demand a premium and the D300 is no exception. Nikon’s biggest problem now will be bettering the D300; it raises the bar to a new high, and represents the state of the art despite strong competition from the likes of Canon, Sony and Olympus. There’s simply no better semi-professional digital SLR on the market.”

I’m post this here on my personal blog rather than Digital Home Thoughts because I don’t want to upset those Canon people. 😉

Green-Screen Scanning Makes For Easier Object Extraction

[The following is re-published from Digital Home Thoughts – if you’re going to link to this, please link there instead – thank you!]

I’m working on my first book project – one where I’m creating a vacation scrapbook on 13″ x 11″ pages inside FotoFusion and will export the JPEGs then get them printed up as full-bleed pages in a Blurb hardcover book. This is my first attempt at this type of a project, but I have high hopes it will turn out really nicely.

One challenge I had was trying to scan the little pieces of paper we brought back that weren’t perfectly rectangular, or things I wanted to layer over each other – plane tickets, train tickets, etc. When I scanned them, it was typically off-white on off-white (the background of my scanner). Even using Photoshop Elements’ Magic Extractor, I was unable to properly extract the objects – I tried tweaking the settings, tried masking it myself with the magic wand, etc. Nothing worked because the background colour of my scanner lid was just too close to the colour of my objects. I was beginning to think I wasn’t going to be able to accomplish the visual design I wanted. Continue reading Green-Screen Scanning Makes For Easier Object Extraction

Japan 2008: Day 5

Our fifth day in Japan was a busy one – we did our first full-day tour, which had six stops, including Nijo Castle, Kinkakuji Temple (also known as the Golden Pavilion), Kyoto Imperial Palace, Todai-ji temple, Deer Park, and the Kasuga Taisha Shinto Shrine. Many pictures were taken, and there’s a video showing several of the sites as well.

On a photographic note, I converted a few more of the photos in this set to a high-contrast black and white…I like the way they look, but I’m still trying to hone my own type of B&W look for post-processing.

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(I’m writing this sitting on the floor of the Vancouver airport…back in Canada! Almost home…so sleepy.)

Japan 2008: Day 4

Day four in Japan had us doing our first tour – we spent the afternoon at several historical spots in Kyoto. The temples and shrines are beautiful! We celebrated Jason’s birthday by going out for some delicious food…Chinese food! 🙂 Pictures published in the fourth Japan gallery (sadly they had to be down-sized a bunch before uploading…the Internet access here on Okinawa at the Zanpamisaki Royal Hotel is really slow).

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Japan 2008: Day 3

Our third day in Japan had us waking up in Tokyo, and checking out of the very lavish Prince Sakura hotel to start our walking tour of Tokyo with my friend Andrew Shuttleworth. We saw a variety of places around the city of Tokyo, and by the end of the day we had the blisters to show for it! Warning: many of these pictures are of technology, which some of you may find boring – but I was in geek heaven. Check out the photo gallery…(comments have been enabled on the day three gallery, as an experiment, so if you’d like to comment on the photos, please feel free).

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Japan 2008: Day 2

Our day two Japan photos are up, this time chronicling our journeys from Kyoto to Yokohama to Tokyo. We spent the afternoon in Yokohama – initially we were going to head for a place called Sea Paradise, but when we got to the station the cab driver told us it would cost 10,000 yen to get there – $100 CAD and an hour’s worth of our time. Both factors were steep, so we decided we’d skip that and spend the afternoon around Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Japan.

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We’re keeping so busy that I haven’t had much time to edit photos…and my Dell XPS M1330 is starting to make louder and louder whining noises – in a quiet room, it’s really noticeable and really irritating. <sigh> Time to call Dell when I return to Canada…

Japan 2008: Day 1

Our first full day in Japan was focused on one thing: SUMO! We had tickets (thanks James!) to the second-last day of the sumo tournament being held in Osaka. Off we went! I took a great deal of photos, and heavily culled them all, but it was difficult to not have a rather sizable collection of sumo photos (no pun intended) remain. I only kept the best though, so hopefully they capture some of the action that we saw!

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Japan 2008: Day 0

These are our “day zero” photos, which was our travel and arrival day…although technically we lost a day and a half with the 15 hour time zone change and the 14 hours of travelling (including the layover in Vancouver) so this is more like day zero/one. Not a lot here in the way of interesting photos, but I share them with you nonetheless. 🙂

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The Question of Point and Shoot Cameras

My friend Ed Hansberry made a post to the Mobius mailing list, where we were discussing digital SLR cameras, asking whether or not he was the only one that liked point and shoot (P&S) cameras. This was my reply.

Ed,

I think everyone that has a DSLR also has a P&S – the two technologies are not mutually exclusive in any way. I never leave my P&S behind, even if I’m bringing my DSLR, but I will sometimes leave my DSLR behind and only use my P&S. P&S cameras are great, but there are some things they’re not so good at:

  • fast shutter release (for getting that picture right away – even the worst DSLR is faster than the fastest P&S)
  • flexible lens choices (though there are some P&S cameras with amazing zoom)
  • low-light photography (noise free, focusing without much light)
  • super-sharp images (I love my Canon SD 870, but the image quality it has pales in comparison to any DSLR)

On the other hand, P&S cameras have video while “real” DSLRs do not. The best camera you have is the one you have on you – so there have been many instances where my P&S camera got great pictures that my DSLR did not simply because I have my P&S on me. Continue reading The Question of Point and Shoot Cameras