Best of 2012

I wanted to figure out which of my images would follow into the "Best of 2012" category.  I have shot a lot of crap, but I have also shot a few pictures that I am really happy with.  The following would be the top 15 based on visitor popularity and my own preference. They appear in no specific order.

HDR image of a train from the Western Railway Museum

Residence at Black Diamond Mine regional park

Old Oak at Sycamore Valley regional park

Round Valley regional park

Vasco Caves regional park. Access by guided tour only

Contra Loma regional park

Sunset over the Green

My best editing work of 2012- "Tiny Farm"

Mt. Diablo seen over Marsh Creek

Brushy Peak regional park

Rusty tanker in Brentwood CA. Love the flat tire.

This tree at Black Diamond Regional Park was a finalist for the 2012 calendar

Macro shot at Los Vaqueros Reservoir

Brushy Peak Regional Park

Old building at Black Diamond Regional Park

All washed out

Since upgrading to the D600 I have noticed that many of my landscape shots are super over exposed and washed out. Almost everything involving sky requires me to change the exposure compensation to make strong adjustments to prevent the image from being totally washed out.

Over exposed at f8 in Aperture Priority Mode (unedited raw). Circular Polarizer

Same location but with adjusted exposure at f8. Circular Polarizer (edited)

When using the D5100 I never experienced a single over exposed image. Yes, I am using a totally difference lens but the problem has been pretty crazy.  I do not know if it is because the full frame is more sensitive to different types of light or if something is going on with the D600.  When I have done shooting in low light environments, the exposure has been really great. It's bright light or mixed light that is causing trouble.

I went ahead and ordered a B+W graduated ND filter that will give me a 2 stop difference. Looking forward to seeing if it helps correct the problem. 

That didn't last long

Less then a week ago I created a webstore at Photoshelter and I have already deleted the page.

I spent a long time setting it up but closed the page for a few reasons.

1) After about a week I basically had Zero visitors, even after advertising the page to current followers.
2) I already have 500px to sell large canvas prints
3) I got a call from my credit card company that someone was using my credit card number without authorization to shop at Starbucks. That credit card has only been used in a couple of places in the past month and one of them was at Photoshelter.  I am not saying that Photoshelter was hacked, but with the bank sending me a new credit card, I decided to minimize my risk by not leaving the new number on the site for re-billing each month. So to avoid the hassle, I just closed the page.  Maybe I will open it again one day in the future.

Photo Store

I spent some time trying to decide if I wanted to open up an online store. I looked at SmugMug and Photoshelter and after testing both sites, I found that Photoshelter had a better interface and just seemed easier to setup.

So after a few hours I have created a new online store to sell prints.  I will continue to make changes to the layout and see what kind of traffic it generates.

Stop by and make a purchase.

http://store.rhmimages.com

Going Full

I made that great leap to a full frame camera this week with the purchase of a Nikon D600. Combining that with a Tokina 17-35mm F/4 has been a great mixture for landscape work.

With the jump from the D5100 to D600 I was a little worried that the larger RAW file sizes would slow down my post processing workflow, but my iMac has handled things really well. I don't think I have noticed any difference in file load times or the time it takes to apply file changes.

Overall I was really impressed with how much faster the camera is and how much more detail comes out of each image I was taking.

I haven't had a lot of time to shoot, but I pulled together a few shots with the Tokina and a Nikon 70-300mm.

One of my fav. images of the day. Love the water reflections

Wide Angle Circular Polarizers

I have been doing some research info Circular Polarizers for an 82mm filter thread. I have been trying to decide between a B+W XS-Pro Kaesemann at over $250 and the Marumi DHG at under $100.

I have been using a 77mm Marumi with my Tamron lens for over a year and I have always been happy with the results. The build quality is great and at only 5mm thick it is thinner then the B+W, it has been great at wide angles.

At this point I do not see any advantage to spending the extra money on a B+W when Marumi has great reviews, is reliable and produces great quality images.

Time for an upgrade

I think I have finally made the decision. Time to upgrade to a Nikon D600.  I don't see a D7100 coming any time soon and I don't want to wait. 

One of my challenges was how to deal with a full frame camera and an Ultra Wide Angle lens on a budget. With some more research I found the Tokina 17-35MM F4 FX AF for Nikon which appears to really well liked.

So for now I am looking for a buyer for my D5100 and waiting to see if any special deals come along for the Xmas holiday which could give me a lower D600 price or some type of bundle. 

Why Flickr?

I have seen a few stories over the last few days about how the CEO of Yahoo is not really showing much interest in Flickr. It seems that even the Yahoo homepage redesign may be missing a Flickr button.

I keep using flickr mostly because of the existing community of not only photographers but local groups in my Area. As an example, the East Bay Regional Park District uses Flickr as a way for park visitors to share images. My local city has a flickr group as well.

I find it to be an easy place to share images with the non-photography world in a way that is recognized by many as a "safe" photo site. Name recognition goes a long way. Flickr really has helped me to get exposure as I build my photography portfolio. I also like the basic stats they provide to help me track views.

I have thought about opening an account at smugmug.com but I do not see a "community" the way I do on Flickr to help get exposure for my images.

Do I think Flickr is going to go away? No I don't, but I also don't see it changing any time soon.

For now I will keep using Flickr and 500px.

My new HF Triple Unboxing

I have always been a big fan of the products over at Holdfast Gear. They are hand made in America using some of the best quality materials available.  I previously bought the Ruck Strap and I have loved using it every day.  Today my "Triple in Kodiak Leather" arrived. The size is a little smaller then a typical shoebox.

As always the packing shouts quality.

The straps are well made and the rope is a very nice touch. Fully loaded I have packed it with 9 filters (some 77mm), Nikon charger, 18-55 Nikon lens, air blower and I have room for some more odds and ends.

Overall I love this little bag. Honestly I would love it if Holdfast offered the same bag in an even larger size so I could also fit my Macro tripod slide. Maybe Matthew will offer one in the future (hint). Two of these would fit well on my shelf.

Vanguard Monopod Roundup

I was getting pretty tired of dragging around a bulky tripod or skipping the tripod all together, so I ordered a new monopod and head from Vanguard.

The ballhead comes with 2 quick release mounts and the movement is smooth and responsive. It was an  outstanding purchase.

The foot of the monopod includes a rotating bottom that exposes a spike for stability in soil.  The overall size is pretty manageable and easy to hold while hiking.

Canvas Prints gone wrong

Just over a week ago I ordered 2 canvas prints as a gift for my wife from http://adoramapix.com. I have never ordered a canvas print before. I had heard they do good work, so I figured they would be a good choice.

Today she opened the prints only to be disappointed with the results. On the outside everything seemed really well wrapped and protected. On the inside the brown wrapping paper was stuck to BOTH  prints.

Paper stuck to print on left edge

From what I can tell, it looks like the print was still wet when it was wrapped up for shipping.  I have contacted AdromaPix customer service and I am waiting for a response.  I will update this post when I learn how they will handle the problem.

I was planning to have some images printed for a public showing of some photos, and now I will pick a different photo lab. Any recommendations?

UPDATE: Within an hour AdromaPix replied that they will re-ship my order ASAP. Pretty good response from them.

Trying out DxO ViewPoint

I do a lot of shooting with a Tamron 10-24 Ultra Wide angle lens. I love the wide angle, but it causes a lot of buildings to tilt backwards.

A new program was released this month from DxO labs called ViewPoint and it is designed to help users adjust photos that have an odd tilt to them.

I downloaded the trial on my Mac and in about 5 minutes I was able to make some pretty major adjustments to one of my images. I have to say I am impressed.

I used the "Standalone" version on the Mac since they have not yet released an Aperture Plugin.

Controls are easy to use but I found them pretty slow to respond, even on my Mac with over 12GB of RAM. But still it was very usable.

I tried to do a quick edit on a few other images but the POV resulted in too much cropping in order to fix the tilt in the building, which was not going to leave me with the image I wanted.

I will probably buy a copy of program next time I am in the middle of editing an image that just looks a little off. http://www.dxo.com/intl/photo/dxo_viewpoint/introduction

D600 or no D600?

The news has been buzzing about the new D600 from Nikon. You probably already know this is the latest feature rich full frame DSLR from Nikon, at a "reasonable" price. Even Ken Rockwell pre-ordered one for himself.

I have been dreaming of this camera all summer, really wanting to upgrade from my D5100, but now that it is officially available I am probably going to pass....  The reason? The cost. Below is a breakdown of what it would cost for me to have a configuration equal to my D5100 setup.

Lets break it down:

1) Camera Body: $2,100
2) Battery grip: $322
3) 3 additional batteries @ $62 each
4) Nikon 16-35mm FX Ultra Wide angle lens to replace my 10-35mm DX lens: $1199
(Lens needs to support a 77mm filter for my current filter collection)

Total: $3,807

So now the cheap D600 is no longer a cheap upgrade for someone moving up to a full frame camera.

The logical next upgrade would be the D7000, but it isn't a big enough difference from the D5100 to make the leap. So for now I am going to wait for a few things before I upgrade:

1) I want to see what Nikon releases as the next generation of D7000 level cameras (released 2 years ago)
2) Wait to see if the D600 drops in price AND if a new selection of cheaper Ultra Wide angle lenses hit the market. Yes, I know cheaper does not mean better.

Next you may ask, why do you want to upgrade? These are a few of the reasons...

1) I want more controls at my fingertips and not hidden in menus
2) I want a histogram to view prior to shooting
3) Hoping for an onscreen level
4) Additional bracketing options
5) More autofocus points
6) Custom pre-sets
7) Better weather proofing.

Lowe Pro vs. Thinktank

Yesterday I was lucky enough to win a Retrospective 20 shoulder bag from ThinkTank Photo.  I have been using a Lowe Pro Messenger 200 AW bag for about 6 months so far, but I was still really excited to get the ThinkTank Photo bag. I have heard a lot of great things about ThinkTank, and I can see why they have such a good reputation.

I was very impressed with how many internal pockets I found inside the ThinkTank bag. Seriously, I never expected to find a pocket for just about everything you would need to stash. It had room for a flash, room for filters, lens cleaning supplies plus a camera with a tall lens attached.  I was also pretty impressed that it had multiple zipper compartments, including room for an iPad.  The bag was a great color and the material was really pretty thick and well padded. Also included was a rain cover in a small pouch. The shoulder strap was also really well padded.

My Lowe Pro bag is longer, but not as tall. It also would not hold the iPad very easily. When I need a smaller bag for a short trip, I will be using the ThinkTank Retrospective 20 bag. When I want to take just about everything, I will use the Lowe Pro.

Train Interior Series Continued

I had a chance to return to the Western Railway Museum today for a special membership day, which allowed access to some "new" trains. While I didn't get to use a tripod, I was still able to sneak in a few decent interior images.

I was able to capture a few of the interior features in more detail....

It's in the Signs

I know, I haven't posted anything to this blog in a while. I really haven't taken very many photos over the last month or so, mostly because of the very hot 95+ degree temps almost every day since early July. My last two photo walks took place in over 100 degree heat.  The heat makes me extra lazy. Basically I am looking forward to fall. Cooler temps and clouds in the sky.

Anyway, I thought I would post a few of the wonderful signs I have found while taking photos. I love the age and history that comes from each sign. I am always on the lookout for interesting signs in my area.

Love the giant crawdad!

Abandoned Dairy Farm in Oakley/Brentwood CA.

From the historic town of Locke