Happy US Thanksgiving!

...as I said to my US friends. And to the vast number of young turkeys who were orphaned today, "I'm sorry for your loss". LOL

TriggerTrap

I want to give a shout out about one of my favourite accessories, the TriggerTrap Mobile kit. Sometimes you find a device or an app that's brilliant, and this is one of those. I've supplemented my remote triggering devices for my DSLR with their kit. It gets around any and all limitations the camera has, and it makes it dead easy to do timelapses, star trails, even simple self-timer and remote shutter actuation.

This is exactly how I use it on my camera (although this isn't my photo, it comes from TriggerTrap. I would need an extra camera to get this picture and I can't even use my iPhone if it's in the picture!). I control my camera through my iPhone. 

If you go to the TriggerTrap site, you'll find out that the unit has two parts: the one that connects to the phone through the audio port, and the end that connects to the camera. Just tell them which camera you have and it will tell you which version you need. I'm not going to give you all the details, because their website is wonderful and they tell it better than I do. Here's a tip: click on "Inspiration" at the top of their screen for some great tips and tricks! (or just click here to go there directly).

Now here's two tips of my own:

• TriggerTrap cannot access the Apple iPhone screen brightness or switch it off. So to conserve battery, I turn the brightness all the way down when I'm ready to start. Problem is, even with it turned down, I run out of iPhone battery after about an hour and a half. I have ordered an external battery pack for the phone (like $6.49 on eBay from the Far East...). You'll need it if you want to do long timelapses.

Oh, and you might want to throw a hat over the phone to prevent its light from invading your images. Don't forget to cover your viewfinder. 

• I was having trouble figuring out where to put the phone, I didn't think letting it dangle off the tripod was a great idea. So I went on eBay and within moments, I found a mount, much like the one in the picture above, that fits in the hotshoe on the camera. Ex- Hong Kong or China, shipping included, it sells for the princely sum of $0.99. 'nuff said?

Anyway, it's a great product, very reasonably priced, and I don't hesitate to recommend it to all my faithful readers. By the way, they're offering free shipping worldwide until the end of 2015. Here's the link again.

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One more shout out to 3LeggedThing

My replacement tripod leg arrived yesterday. "Brian" is now walking on his own three legs! In case you're new around here, the back story is that I had tripped and almost fallen down on winter ice, saved only by my superb carbon fibre tripod. It's strong (weighs in at only around 1.3kg including the ball head) but is not really designed to support 270 lbs (8 kg or 17 lbs rating). I bent a couple of leg sections that made it hard to collapse. Still worked, though!

Anyway, too long a story. Cut to the chase: 3LT sent me replacement parts at no charge even though I wanted to pay them. But in the end, although we did everything we could, we couldn't save the leg. So they just sent me a new one. Free. Am I getting special treatment because I write about them? No, I don't think so. They are just 110% committed to their customers. You can see this attitude if you watch this little video on their website. They're as off-the-wall as it implies.

Anyway, pay them a visit. You'll be impressed.

PS: They just announced pre-orders are open for the new Trey Ratcliff/Peak Designs Everyday Messenger bag. Not cheap but this looks like a perfect product and you get what you pay for. Check it out in their USA store.

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A quickie from Topaz Labs

It's Black Friday time. You know what that means!

Topaz Labs just announced a BLACK FRIDAY sale: 50% off the whole package. If you already have some of the apps, you can get 50% off an upgrade, between November 25 and November 30. Use this link to get to the Topaz site: http://goo.gl/WqsVrD and enter "BLACKFRIDAY2015" in the coupon field at checkout. Note: their newer products require some graphics horsepower to run. You should download the free trial to make sure it works before committing. But get it all done before the 30th if you want the discount!

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Picture Time!

I'll start with this one:

Last time I posted the original of this picture. I've had a chance to work on it, using Impression and the new Texture Effects and I have to say I'm really quite satisfied with how it turned out. I can picture it as a large scale canvas print. Hope you like it too!

The camera club went out and shot "steel wool" the other night. For those who don't know what it is, you set fire to a ball of ultra-fine steel wool and swing it around on the end of a tether while doing a time exposure. Thanks to Mike Hamilton for being the "swinger"! We had a turnout of about 10 club members and EVERYONE got outstanding images. Here are a few examples:

Mike stood on top of the stone fountain at Head Lake Park in Haliburton. When I looked up, the moon peeked out from behind the clouds and I got this shot of him silhouetted against the moon, before he started to light the steelwool. This needs to be made into a real painting, it's my first project when next I pick up my brushes and oil paints! Blow it up fullscreen.

After he lit it, from the same location. By the way, I really wanted to shoot this with the wide angle lens from this distance, which put me in Kathy's field of view, for which I apologize. She actually got some good pictures with me in the falling flames: I said it adds to the image!  

Out on the flat lawn area, this picture looks like a giant umbrella of flame. 

And my favourite one, you know me, I have to mess with them in post-processing! and it burns, burns, burns...

A whole bunch of painted effects were used to achieve this impressionistic oil painted look. I used Photoshop, Nik HDR Efex, Impression and Texture Effects and more!

I have some great news on an upcoming project, which I should be able to reveal next week, and some pictures of a very different subject, keep an eye out for the next blog posting!

— 30 —

Look where you want to go

Some words of encouragement.

Look where you want to go

Luc is a Staff Sergeant with the RCMP, a motorcycle trainer and all-around good guy.
I have 1000 pictures that illustrate this concept. 

This is a sentence pronounced by every motorcycle instructor who ever lived. Not once, not 10 times, 10,000 times. It's one of the first things every motorcyclist needs to know, to love, and to live. It's something you need to do, and being reminded of it will often get you out of trouble. But this is not about motorcycling.

You need to do this with your life.

I have a friend, in a place where I never want to be, and neither do you. George is in the middle of chemotherapy and radiation treatments and having a tough time. Today he said to me, "...my resolve is cracking...". This is one of the toughest guys I know, he does everything well and to the best of his ability and clearly he's being pushed to the limit, but I know he's going to come out the other side. He needs to keep his eye on the prize... to look where he wants to go. As a Chief Motorcycle Instructor at Humber College, George knows this in his heart, but we all need to be reminded from time to time. Hang in there, buddy.

It occurred to me, as I wrote back to him, that this applies to almost everything in your life. First you need to figure out where you want to go, then you have to focus on getting there. Every day, every step you take, should be in that direction. There was another concept called "True North" that I wrote about some time ago on the blog (perhaps worth a read. Here) that tells a similar story.

There are so many trite phrases rolling around in my mind as I write this. I'm not going to say them. Just think about this for a minute in context of where you are right now and where you want to be.

Now Look Where You Want To Go.

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It's coming!

For the past few years, I've made available my 2012 "Winter Wonderland" eBook at no cost to subscribers to my blog. It's that time again. It's a 56-page PDF eBook with tips on winter shooting and a small composition section at the end. It's not rocket science but it might help some of you with your mindset when you go out to shoot winter pictures.

If you already subscribe to the blog, you've already received the link to the eBook. If not, just click "Newsletter" at top right and follow the bouncing ball. You can unsubscribe afterwards with one click if you really must. I'll send the eBook link again in next week's update. I would just ask you not to reproduce the eBook or send the link on to others, send them here so they can subscribe as well.

I'm Addicted. I admit it.

I'm addicted to images taken in the canopy on Arowhon Pines Road when the fall colours have peaked. I never get tired of them, or of making painted variations of them.

Here's another shot taken in Algonquin Park last week. Yes, the colours were spectacular. Not a lot of reds, though, I will admit.

I was up in Algonquin again on October 24th.  I was with Genny and Dean Ribalko (Genny is with TDPC and was up here a couple of weeks ago, couldn't stay for the Algonquin trip). We met some really interesting people and, it turned out, had a great photo day!

You probably know that names and I don't get along: but if you have a computer to remind you... last week Amin and I met Wesley and Mitch and Stephen (and I don't remember who the fourth person was!). On Saturday, it was Rico and Kent and Jim and Joe. All great photographers and good people. I was especially impressed with Kent's knowledge and experience (and great clothes and equipment!). Off-topic, he had a Canon 100-400mm lens that was able to focus to as close as about 50cm! Nice. Rico had a 500mm f/4 prime, really sharp but it didn't focus close at all. Jim had the Tamron 150-600 on his D7100. Rico and Jim have met Dr. Ron (and me, at Carden Plain as well). They said they have sites where there are literally dozens of snowy owls... hoping for an invite!

Kent, especially, knows where the wildlife live in the Park. He took us to one and while the rest of us were chatting he disappeared and came back a few minutes later and said the father fox was back, and was napping in his den. For proof: a photo on the back of his camera of the sleeping fox (link)! He also called in a bunch of grey jays, to Genny and Dean's delight! We all got great pictures.

I took lots of fox pictures when he came out to greet us after his nap! So many good ones that I'm having a hard time choosing which one I like best.

This one is straight out of the camera with no editing whatsoever. Not even a crop: this is straight out of the camera.

I think he was yawning, not growling! Cropped tight and brightened but that's all.

I did edit this one, but only slightly! Some contrast and tonal balance, a small crop, and I removed one weed that was almost in front of his face (so I can't use it in Nature competitions). I will put this up on RedBubble or be happy to talk to anyone who wants a print or other product with this image. 

 

Rico and Genny have visits from Grey Jays*!

Battling over a peanut! 

* I just got told it's "GRAY" jays, not "GREY" jays and that I don't really want to know why! LOL. I stand corrected, Dan!

Some of us wandered off through the park in search of moose... no luck that day. We embarked on an almost-6-km-hike down the bike trail behind the Mew Lake Campground to see a moose carcass reported in a pond where bears were seen feasting on it. Basically nothing left to see. At least I got a little exercise!

All in all, a great day. And as Ahnold says, "I'll be baaack".

Products with my pictures on them

Normally I don't sell stuff here. But I just think it's so cool having products with your own images on them, that I had to share. No pressure: just showing you some stuff you can get!

A couple of months ago, I had an iPhone case made with one of my images on it. 

Although I love it, I think you need a strong image as opposed to a subtle one to give it some impact. So I just ordered a new case, that looks like this:

The case is a "Tough" case. It has a hard plastic shell and a soft rubber insert. You can get them in various sizes, for iPhones, for Samsung phones, etc. The only problem I've had with them is that the opening where you plug in an external speaker is a bit small and I had to open it up with a scissors (a dremel would have been better) so I could plug into it. Just saying. 

Then I decided I would also like a throw pillow with the same design, here I used the full picture instead of the cropped one on the iPhone case.

The pillows come in 3 sizes, this is the largest one. I ordered just the shell, not the complete pillow insert because shipping costs were lower. I'm just going to stuff an existing pillow inside the case or if worst comes to worst, go to Michaels and get some foam rubber. 

I order these products from a company called "RedBubble", where I also have fine art prints listed. If you would like to order one of these (or any of the other products they have with this image on it), go to this link. If you want to see other images that I have on that site, use this link. They are very fast and reasonable, and the quality is great! I can add pretty well any one of my images there, if something else strikes your fancy. Email me.

I also added the fox picture. You can buy 20 different products with that image on it from RedBubble for very reasonable prices! Link

Here's an example: a tote bag! Available in 3 sizes, prices starting at around $10. You can also get prints, canvas prints, smartphone and laptop cases, even spiral notebooks!

By the way, I sent a pillow with the baby owl picture (here) to my granddaughter and she loves it!

See you next week!

— 30 —

It's my birthday

Just a short post, I wanted to get this done now because I've got a busy week ahead of me, with a club meeting and then my trip. More when I get back, of course!

A Milestone...

One that I'm not sure I'm particularly happy about. I've entered my 70th year.
(PS: that means I'm 69, not 70!)

Physically, I understand that I'm that age .

My father used to say,

"everything hurts. Except the stuff that doesn't work anymore".

I get it.

Mentally, I'm much younger, so it's frustrating that my body won't do the things my mind wants – no, expects – it to do. I'm still in my 50's. Or 40's! And that  people (OK, women) might find my chronological age off-putting.

I've done an awful lot of different things in my life – more than most people. Not only career related, but passions and sports and activities. That's something to look back at with some pride, now to figure out a path to go forward.

That iPhone case

A few weeks ago I mentioned a custom iPhone case with my own image on it. It arrived quickly and it looks exactly like the picture:

In hindsight, I might have chosen a brighter image but it really looks excellent. Also, the "Tough" case option comprises a formed rubber skin (no screen protector, though) and the picture is printed on a hard plastic shell that snaps on.

The only downside is that the opening where the headphone plug goes in was too small for the plug that I was using in the car to connect to the sound system, so I had to do a little shaving with a sharp knife and scissors (a Dremel would have been better but I was too lazy!). That damaged the shell too, but it's hardly noticeable if you do it carefully. I wrote to them about it, let's see how they respond.

It was inexpensive (around $25), and easy to order. Open an account at www.RedBubble.com and you can do it yourself with your own images. Or you could buy one of mine! BTW they have them for iPhones, Samsung Galaxy phones, iPads and laptop sleeves as well.

My book is finished. YAY!

I've just completed and uploaded my latest book, "Best of 2014".

front cover

How do you choose a single favourite image from so many genres? By process of elimination I selected this one which is printed as the page 1 flyleaf for the book. 

It's 92 pages long, a full-sized coffee table book. I prefer the "image wrap" cover instead of a dust jacket, so I didn't put anything on the flaps.

You, my loyal readers, can preview the book here. If you're also a subscriber, you can download a free pdf of the book, click the "Newsletter" link up above.

I use blurb.com's BookSmart software because it offers more flexibility than direct creation in Lightroom or their simpler Bookify or BookWright package. And I once used InDesign which is really flexible but I don't have a subscription to it any more.

If you want to do a book yourself, the process is a bit tedious but straightforward. Basically, you download their software (free), then create a book. In BookSmart, there are hundreds of page templates or you can create your own, then you drag and drop pictures into picture containers and paste or type text into text boxes. Make sure the pictures are high enough resolution. Good practice would be to select the pictures you want to use, then gather copies of them together in an appropriate folder so you don't have to hunt around for them.

The first time I did a book, I carefully resized my pictures to match the boxes: then I stopped doing it and just used a hi-res version (pixel count is important, DPI is not. Read my tech blog at www.faczentech.blogspot.com). You can easily resize or reshape your containers. If I add up the time it took to do this book (not including my post-processing of the images, of course), I'd say around 10 hours.

Blurb books are relatively expensive (it's about $100) so I only printed a couple of copies. I use them because of the quality. If you want one, you can order it from the link above. But you can also get a pdf copy of the book! I'll put the link for the free download in my next Newsletter, so if you're not yet subscribed, click the button at the top right corner of the blog. I'll wait right here until you do so!

Next up: "The Best of 2015"! I might even do a book called "Photo Impressions" that comprises only pictures of that genre that I've done in the past couple of years. I wish I could find a way to print economically so that it would be affordable and I could distribute more books.

Lake scenes

It's the end of Summer and the Fall colours are approaching. The cottagers are slowly disappearing leaving all this glory to us!

Sunset on the lake from the beach at 12-Mile Lake Church. There wasn't a lot of colour in the sky but Photoshop and Topaz Impression helped with that!

If I were any good with a paint brush and oils, this is what I would paint. I've had two conversations in the last week or two with Harvey Walker, the artist and teacher who has been running the Monday morning art classes at the Cultural Centre. I bring him up because he CAN do paintings like this, just as easily as I can do photographs and digital paintings. He said, "come back when you have 50 years of painting experience" when I commented how easy he makes it look.

Golden Afternoon. There's more to this picture than it looks! I took 150 exposures over the span of 20 minutes using my TriggerTrap in TimeLapse mode. Then I blended them together using StarStax – the "lighten" blend mode didn't work all that well but "darken" was ugly. Then I layered it in Photoshop and applied a couple of versions of Impression (Impasto and Van Gogh) at lowered opacities to provide the mix of textures and brush strokes that you see here.  

It's all about being able to express what's in your mind's eye (or ear: musicians can do the same thing with their instruments).  That has to be the goal I mentioned at the top of this blog post. I don't have 50 years... but maybe I can put a dent in it!

ROAD TRIP!

I decided to reward myself with one. After all, I have to get away from the frenetic pace, the pressures of living up here in the Highlands (LOL).

So next Thursday morning (the 17th), I'm getting in the car and heading Northwest. Destination, Lake Superior. Should be peak fall colours up there. First stop, Sault Ste. Marie where I've booked a trip on the Agawa Canyon train everyone says is fabulous. Then a couple of nights in Wawa at the Rock Island Lodge. I hope the weather cooperates because that's the greatest spot for a star trails shot! I want to do a lot of waterfalls and landscapes.

After Wawa, I might go back South to Batchawana Bay or I might head East along 101, through Timmins and perhaps Iroquois Falls before turning south towards home. We'll see how it goes.

I plan to take my oil paints and easel with me; again if the weather cooperates, I'd like to try painting in some of the places the Group of Seven were in so many years ago. I'll take pictures too, because my painting skills are non-existent. It will be fun to try.

Stay tuned...

— 30 —

Nikon Issues

I'm camera-less.

As many people know, Nikon has had some issues with the D600, revolving around dust (or actually lubricant) that gets thrown on the sensor. They won't admit it, but that's why they came out with the D610. My camera has been back three times. I sent it in again this week with a recurring case of the dust measles.

I'm going through withdrawal, but it's easier the third time around. Besides, I have so many images in my computer that I haven't worked on yet, who has time to go out and shoot? Actually, I was thinking about honing my skills by using nothing but my iPhone or my P&S for a while. Guess I have no choice!

 

See? The little Nikon S6000 point-and-shoot does a pretty good job. I turned the clarity down on the first shot in Lightroom, used the radial filter on the third one, did nothing to the middle shot. My house is basically ready for winter. That firewood has now been stacked, gazebo roof stored, maybe I will have to cut the grass one more time. Two more things to do, but I won't for a couple more weeks: put the snow tires on the Subaru and the snow plow on the ATV. 

but Nikon is doing the right thing

They're replacing it.  Too bad they can't do it directly, they have to support their dealer network and not sell directly to consumers.

There is now a cheque in the mail to me from Nikon for my full purchase price. I'll go out and buy a D610 next week. However in my discussions with Nikon, I told them that I would rather have a D800 or D800e and I would accept an exchange for a factory refurbished one. The bad news is, they don't have any on hand. The good news is, I have a written open agreement that when and if they do get one, they'll take the D610 in an even swap.

So I'm a happy guy, anxiously watching for the mailman...

It's a bad time to be without a camera. Here's an oil-painted image out of the point-and-shoot when I rode up into the woods today.

Another one. I love the contrast between the yellow maple leaves and the bare aspens and birches. 

I also did an iPhone video while riding one-handed through the trails. Too big a file to keep, unfortunately.

Did you  upgrade to Photoshop CC and do you run a Windows 64-bit system?

By default, the link that gets installed into LR5 when you install CC goes to the 32-bit version of Photoshop CC. That can only access a limited amount of memory and will crash on you with big files. You need to go in and point that to the 64-bit version.

Also by default, Photoshop CC installs a shortcut icon on your desktop that in my case (and in others on TIF, apparently) links to the 32-bit version. Toss it in the trash can, go to the c:/Program Files/Adobe folder and find "Adobe Photoshop CC (64 Bit)" and drag a shortcut to the Photoshop.exe file in THAT folder to your desktop and you're good to go. By the way, in the same folder you'll find a subfolder, "Plug-ins". Drag copies of your Topaz, Nik (Google) and other plugins from your previous version (assuming it was also 64 Bit) into it and they'll appear in your filters menu in CC.

PS: I was the one who caught that. Hold your applause... nah go ahead. Make my day.

Mechanic in a Can

One of the advantages of writing a blog, especially one that contains "the sporadic musings..." in the subtitle, is that you can write about anything that strikes your fancy. It doesn't have to be photography related but it has to be interesting, or at least of benefit to the readers. This is a case like that.

Many years ago, word of a product was passed around the Vulcan Riders and Owners Club. It was touted to be the solution to all problems mechanical. Unfortunately, it was only available at select locations in the US and the occasional visitor to Canada was kind enough to bring a few cans up with him (the main player in this ongoing play was – is – a Canadian ex-pat nicknamed "Kudzu" (all VROC members have nicknames. It's a biker thing. Mine is "Guns"*) from North Carolina who regularly visits family up here.

* It was supposed to be "Gunslinger", a play on my name and what I used to do before I turned back to photography, but there was another guy with that nickname. Although he died a couple of years ago, I've not changed mine in his memory.

The product in question goes by the unlikely name, "SeaFoam". They make more than one product, it's the 'motor treatment'. I'm here to tell you that if you own ANY machines with internal combustion engines, especially small ones, get some SeaFoam and put the recommended amount in the gas from time to time. I've used it in all my motorcycles over the years, but had forgotten about it until a couple of months ago when I couldn't get my ATV to start. Now you turn the key, it starts instantly. First bang. Every time. The same thing is true of a snowblower that hadn't been started in 2 years (for sale: I have the ATV and don't need it any more), a lawn mower, ANYTHING.

This stuff cleans out the carbs or injectors, it'll double your gas mileage, you can stop on a dime and get 9¢ change, it takes moisture right out of the gas (so you can use it when you're storing your bike over the winter) and I'm told it tastes like fine single malt scotch and will make your digestive system completely regular. OK, that last one was a joke. Don't drink it.

I thought it was a big secret: but the word's getting out. I mentioned it to the mechanic who's looking after my ATV and he says, "Yeah. It's magic. A mechanic in a can". And guess what? It's available at Canadian Tire now. Pass the word, but on the QT. You wouldn't want everyone to find out about it!

Here's a shot of my ATV from last week. Remember I wrote about increasing the colour temperature to 10,000°K? Oh yeah, that was in my newspaper column! If you do, it really changes the look of forest shots! OK, technically that's not what I did here, in camera, I did it in post-processing. 

Speaking of my newspaper columns... I've written 18 articles now. They're all up on the http://www.photography.to site (click on the "Tips" button). Taken together, they'll make a dandy eBook, so that's my next project. It's tough coming up with a new topic every week: years of writing this blog have helped. The other thing I'm going to work on is another printed coffee-table book, so watch for it! I'm going to try to do it in Lightroom 5.

This week's Feature Photo

When this immaculate 1965 Shelby Cobra showed up at the Inn across the road, I knew I had to photograph it. And I also knew what shot I wanted to achieve.

The trick was to get rid of everything except the rim-lighting and the orange signals. It started with a shot that was 5 (yes, five) stops underexposed. And then a lot of careful Lightroom and Photoshop work. I think it would look fantastic as a poster or a large scale print. Click to blow it up to full screen. Interested? Let's Talk! 

I'm going to try to do a featured image whenever I post to the blog. I've sort of been doing that, but not specifically. Let's see!

Still going through withdrawal

{whine}. My camera's still not ready. I'll be in Toronto on Friday, so I hope I can pick it up from Nikon  then. In the meantime, the only camera I have is my iPhone.

I took a pano with it: how cool is that? I'm not posting it here because I was just playing, but it works well. Just so I don't leave you without pictures (I wouldn't do that!), here are a couple:

I woke up the other morning to a sugar-frosted world. Not ice, but snow, that stuck to all the branches. About half an hour later, it was gone! Beautiful, though. This is the view from my driveway towards my dock. 

From the same spot, I took a shot of the Red Umbrella Inn. I used the oil paint filter in Photoshop CS6 and I LOVE what it did to the trees at right. iPhone. Who would have thunk it?

... until I met a man who had no feet...
You know the old saw about feeling sorry for yourself because you don't have any shoes... OK, so I had a few dust spots on my D600. That doesn't compare to the pain Dr. Ron felt when a bull elk TRASHED his D3S and 600mm f/4 lens in Yellowstone. I'm trying to get his permission to reproduce the story here. I get mine back from Nikon in a day or so. I think he has to wait a bit longer.

Web Presence revision
I'm working on revising my web presence. I've taken ALL my Smugmug galleries down, they were really silly. I intend to have one gallery for limited edition exhibition quality prints for sale, a gallery for wallpaper images, and a portfolio, and that's it. So far I created the print gallery, and put one image in it, more to come!

Next comes the www.photography.to site, which needs revamping and the 2013 teaching schedule, then my main site, then... it never ends!

— 30 —

First Impressions

I've got my new Nikon D600 and I'll share some first impressions here. But first...

Announcing Photo Mini-Tours
On the weekends of October 7 and 14, I'll be running some what I call "mini-tours". The intention is to take some people out to shoot photos of the fall colours up here in the Highlands, at venues I've scouted and perhaps give them some tips on how to take better shots. These are not full teaching workshops, just a 3-hour session that should give them some great ideas and if the weather cooperates, probably some "keeper" images. There will be 3 sessions each Sunday, depending on demand: loosely termed "morning", "noon" and "night".

If you're interested in attending or if you know someone who might be, visit http://www.photography.to for more information, but don't delay! The colours are coming, the colours are coming!

As I mentioned earlier, I've written a guide to taking better fall pictures. It's included in the registration for the mini-tours, but it's also available for separate download here.

They're Baaack...
Yes they are. The alien bunny-rabbit like creatures from a planet far, far away, have come back under cover of darkness and placed another caché of carrots for their forthcoming invasion of the Earth. I have proof, captured on digital film:

Some of the alien bunnies must be colour blind because they threw in a few parsnips this year. Also some onions and turnips...
perhaps we're destined for a stew in a giant crock-pot! 

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

iPhone Picture
I have to admit, it isn't bad!

I built this little fence to block the elements so barbequeing  will be easier in the winter. I do that year-round.

OK, OK. You're waiting for the D600 impressions. Here we are.

Nikon D600 first impressions
Some good, some not-so-good, but I'm glad I bought it. I wrote most of this up on the TIF forum last night as well, so if you're on there, this might be a repeat. Here's what I wrote:

I have an overall positive feeling about the camera but there is a learning curve and a few glitches that take the shine off it a little for me. Some of it is just me but I thought I'd share anyway. 

Negatives

• Without Lightroom/ACR support, it's a bitch to post-process images. The only software I have that will handle the NEF files is NikonView NX2. Remember when LR4 was creepy-crawly slow? NX2 is worse. Adjust the white balance and wait 20 seconds before the screen refreshes. Exporting one file to TIFF is a 60-90 second process. The controls in NX2 suck compared with LR (or maybe it's just me). I initially set it up to output RAW+JPG(fine) and chose "vivid" toning. That looked horrible so I switched to "Neutral". That's also awful, I'll try a different setting tomorrow. Images are really flat. When you overexpose (eg. bird in flight) there's nothing you can do to recover.

• You can only do 3 shot bracketing. 1 stop increments are too small, 2 stop are too big. Or maybe it's because I'm stuck with JPEGS for now... 

• I used to walk around all day with my D300/70-200 in my right hand. The middle finger on the right hand sat comfortably under the little ledge on the front of the camera. With the D600, they reshaped the ledge and my finger hurts. I suppose I'll get used to it.

• None of my old accessories fit. Batteries, CF cards (the D600 uses 2 x SD cards), the cable release, even the AC power supply.

Positives

• The autofocus is super fast and tack sharp. I wasn't sure because it was hard to tell on the LCD but I went out yesterday and practiced on birds in flight and 80% of my shots were bang on. Learning curve, though: I have to figure out which settings work best. There's "AF-A" mode that takes some getting used to, but I can see using it as a default when 'walking about'.

• High ISO performance is OUTSTANDING. I did a forest scene at 1/200 sec, f/4, ISO 6400 and after a little noise reduction in LR (on a JPEG!) it looked like an ISO 800 shot from the D300.

• You can blow up/crop images to 200% and they look like 100% crops on the D300. Tons of detail on that 24Mp sensor!

I picked up the camera on Friday, and shot this test image that afternoon:

This is cropped from a larger image. The significant fact is, I shot it at ISO 25,600. Yes, I said 25,600.  I did apply a little noise reduction in Lightroom, but this blows my mind. ISO 25,600.

On the way home to Minden, Rosa and I stopped at a cool pine forest and I took these shots:

Rosa's taking an iPhone picture up in the trees.
We're probably going back to this spot on one of the mini-tours, by the way. 

On Sunday, I stopped at the landfill (OK, the "garbage dump"!) with the intention of testing the autofocus as I said above.

On the way home, I came across this wild turkey (the one above is a "turkey vulture". Different beast).

This was shot with the 400mm, quite far away so I had to crop. I used shutter speed priority, 1/640 at f/5.6, ISO 800. 

Heartwarming little dog picture
My neighbours, the Sweets, have a couple of little dogs. Marty walked by while I was shooting some fall colours and the dog stopped yapping long enough for me to get a photo:

I used the oil paint filter on the fur, and painted some catchlights in the eyes. It's cropped quite tightly.

That's it for now. More to come soon!

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