Photography

I really need to update this page ...

Pictures

• • Most of my pics are at picasaweb

  • Some pictures are in my Facebook account

  • A few pictures at imageshack

  • Flickr ... more pics flickr.

  • Epson ... I have some rainforest pictures at epson. Edit: Sigh ... I used to have rainforest pictures there. I guess I will have to upload the pics elsewhere.

  • Troop 123 ... some of these pictures are mine, many are not. Some of these are mine, too.

  • The newest Troop 123 pics are here (some are mine.)

Hardware (that I actually use)

• • More hardware now at hardware page.

  • Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18K : 18x zoom. Current camera.

  • portable tripod, extra memory, extra batteries ... in the camera case

  • Tripod (rarely used).

  • Monopod

Hardware (that I used to use)

• • Camera reviews can be found at dpreview, among other places.

  • Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5K : 5 MP, 12x optical zoom, image stabilized. 1 step down from a digital SLR, with aperture priority, shutter priority, manual exposure, histograms. No RAW format, no manual focus. 12oz. Cost in 2005, about $350. Now residing with Dianne.

  • Olympus Stylus Digital 400 : 4MP, 3x optical zoom. Automatic exposure, with various preset modes. 8oz . I rarely use this camera now that I have the Lumix ... but it is much smaller than the Lumix. Cost in 2003, approx $300. Now slated for remote-controlled photography experiments (intervals, kite aerial photography maybe)

  • Home-built center of rotation adjuster for use with tripod (very rarely used)

  • Spotting scope or telescope, with adapter for use with camera (I don't have this, but I want it)

Software on the Mac

• • Picasa ... free picture editing, managing software from Google. Very nice. Now with an option to store pictures for free online (picasaweb) ... even nicer. Face recoginition. Tags. Location

  • Lightroom ... thinking about getting it

  • GIMP ... has many features of Photoshop, including layer editing

  • PosteRazor ... for splitting pictures into chunks to print as a large poster or banner

  • Hugin ... panorama maker

  • GeoTag ... pull location data from a GPX file and apply it to the EXIF information in pictures, based on the timestamps of the pictures and of the positions in the GPX file.

Software on the PC

• • Available on the PC, but I use them on the Mac, so see above for descriptions: Lightroom, PosteRazor, GIMP, Picasa

  • Autostitch ... I love this software for use in making panoramas. Free ... for now.

  • PhotoMatix Pro ... I am evaluating this in making high-dynamic range photographs. Free trial download, $100 to purchase. Flickr group here

  • Photoshop Elements 4 ... got it, but never really put it to good use.

  • Microsoft Picture-It Easy ... cropping, color fixing, etc

  • Precision Image Digitizer (PID)

Techniques

• • Geotagging photos ... before shooting pics, I turn on the GPS and make sure the camera and the GPS have the same time. After shooting, I pull track data into Basecamp, and export the tracks as a GPX file. Then I use GeoTag to apply the location data to the pictures.

  • Shooting Panoramas ... if possible, use manual aperture & shutter speed. If the camera has a panorama mode (the Olympus Stylus 400 does), use that. Overlap shots by 20% or more. Keep the camera level between shots. Try to make the seams happen in places where things arent moving. Rotate the camera around its nodal point ... don't make the camera revolve around you.

  • Processing Panoramas ... Use autostitch (or Hugin) to put the pictures together. After stitching, rename the stitched picture to be the same as the first picture of the group, but with a P at the end of the filename (leave the .JPG alone, of course). Use Picture It or Photoshop to tweak the picture and crop the black wobbly border away.

  • Shooting High Dynamic Range (HDR) ... I'm just starting this. Set camera to automatic, take a shot & notice the aperture. Set camera to aperture priority, and set to the desired aperture. Set camera to auto-bracket the shutter speed, probably at +/- 1, but 0.3 or 0.7 might work as well. Pick a subject that won't move (or won't move much in the shutter-speed used). Take the shot ... actually, it's 3 shots. HDR group on flickr here.

  • Processing HDR ... Use PhotoMatix Pro to combine the pictures into an HDR picture. Still in Photomatix, use the Tone Mapping to generate a .JPG file. Adjust the various controls to get a picture you like (I haven't worked out a systematic approach to the controls.)

  • Shooting in RAW

  • Processing RAW in Picasa

  • Processing RAW in Lightroom

Links

• • My links on photography at delicious http://del.icio.us/mikebetz/photography

  • How to take great photos of an electronics product with a digital camera http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=2693

  • PhotoNotes.org, a collection of photography articles. http://photonotes.org/

  • Photo.Net, another collection of photography articles. http://www.photo.net/learn/

  • Understanding Histograms http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml

  • Masking Techniques in photoshop. http://www.sitepoint.com/print/masking-techniques-photoshop

  • Lightning Photography http://www.lightningphotography.com/

  • More Lightning Photography http://www.weather-photography.com/techniques.php?cat=lightning&page=lightning

  • Shooting Panoramas http://www.panoguide.com/howto/panoramas/

  • Basics of Nature Photography http://userpages.umbc.edu/~sjoshi1/mirror/naturephoto.shtml

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