Digital Photography

Photography Keeps Us Young, Fit and Healthy

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If you are over 55 (as I am), you probably get notices from the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) to join the organization. I received one recently - although I feel like a kid.

That got me thinking: many of professional photographer friends who are over 55 are more active than ever - shooting more pictures, working and playing more in the digital darkroom, teaching more seminars, leading more workshops, learning new techniques, marketing their work, and so on. Not one even remotely considers retiring - and that includes me!

So I venture to say that photography keeps photographers (pros and amateurs) young, fit and healthy.

Young because making pictures and working on them in the digital darkroom energizes us. I think this is especially true with HDR images - because images like the one pictured here were never before possible without this relatively new technology. How exciting! (The bottom image is the average exposure of the scene, the top image is the HDR image - created in Photomatix and then enhanced in Photoshop with a touch of Topaz Adjust). What's more: HDR helps us see - and picture – the world in an entirely new and exciting way. Before HDR, I never would have taken this picture - because the contrast range was far too wide.

Fit because we burn off calories and build muscles when we lug around our camera bags and tripods and walk around the countryside and through the streets of a city - sometimes for hours a day. What a great way to work out!

Healthy because we are constantly learning - and as the old Chinese saying goes: "Learning is health."

Hey, maybe I should start, iARP: International Association of Rockin' Photographers. Wanna join? :-) Please share your thoughts here.

I know my photography-loving dad would join. He's 91!

Hey, you don't have to do this to join!

Speaking of being older (physically) and keeping young, stay tuned for my interviews with John Isaac and Harry Benson over at the Digital Photo Experience podcast. Lots of good how-to articles by our staff on the DPE site, too - which includes some potential AARP and iARP - members.

If you need some inspiration on feeling young, check out Real Magic by Dr. Wayne Dyer over on my books page. I have a few books there, too, for photo inspiration.

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. You can get a discount on Photomatix (and other plug-ins) and learn about Topaz Adjust (which I think is one of the coolest new plug-ins) over at the Plug-in Experience.

Exposing For the Highlights is For the Birds!

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Take a look at the leading edge of the bird's wings in these two versions of the same image.

Bottom image: leading edge is overexposed. Top image: ahhhh, that's more like it!

I simulated the overexposed highlights in the bottom iamge to illustrate what will probably happen if you shoot in an automatic mode w/out any exposure compensation in a situation like this one - where you have a small area that is brighter than most of the scene.

The solution: set your exposure compensation to – 1/2 (for starters) and shoot RAW. With RAW files, you can recover areas that are overexposed up to about one stop.

Just added (because I was reminded of the point by reader Scott Thomas - who probably does not have jet lag as I currently do): Always check your histogram and overexposure warning on your camera's LCD monitor).

Explore the Light,
Rick

Create The Salvador Dali and Fish-Eye Lens Effect with Your iPhone

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Want to create an artistic image with your iPhone camera – the kind of image ("melting" subjects) that perhaps Salvador Dali would have created had he had an iPhone?

Want to create the full-frame fish-eye lens effect (curved lines in an image when you tilt the camera up or down)?

It's easy and fun! For only $49.95 you can download my iPhone Rockin' Rick Rotating Camera Effect App and awaken the artist within.

Or, you can simply rotate the camera (kinda quickly) while you are taking a picture - which is what I did for the two pictures you see here. :-)

Seriously, if you know of any cool photo Apps for the iPhone and want to share them with readers of this blog, please reply to this post.

Explore the Light,
Rick

P.S. Okay, enough silliness! Here is some cool info on the iPhone from my friend Juan Pons.

Did you know that when you send a photo you took with the iPhone as an email attachment from your iPhone, the size of the file that gets sent is much smaller than the original image stored on your iPhone?

When you send your friend that great photo you just took, the iPhone sends a much smaller version to save on the data that is transmitted. For example, the iPhone 3GS has a 3 MegaPixel camera and the files that it creates are 1536x2048, however when you attach that photo to an email your friend only gets a photo that is a measly 600x800. Great for viewing on an email, but usually not big enough to be a good desktop image on your computer.

The same goes for videos, if you email or post to YouTube the videos you took with that iPhone 3GS they are compressed and and don't look nearly as good as the original full sized files.

How do you get large original photos and videos out of your iPhone? Connect your iPhone to your computer and download the original files using iPhoto or similar software. You will be amazed how much better those photos and videos look. 

Almost as Cool as Woodstock

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When I was at Woodstock in 1969 I never imagined that I'd be doing what I am doing now – nor could I have imagined what I did tonight.

I gave my "The Camera Looks Both Ways" presentation at the Maui Photo Festival - outdoors, on a huge screen . . . wind blowing and sky filled with stars. Almost like Woodstock, except now I can and will remember the details of the night :-)

Explore the Light,
Rick