Photo Warmups

A new Podcast was posted today. It is a recording from the field while on my Florida photography excursion. The recording is an observation I made on the importance of "photography warmups." You can check out the Podcast on iTunes or at Feedburner.

Updates and miscellaneous

I have just completed a data backup and initial RAW review of the images from Florida taken in February. I am very excited about what is to come, but it will be a while before images are presented. One reason for delays is that we are very busy with my daughter in High School tennis right now. So nearly every evening we are with Jennifer at a match or practicing. It is a joy to watch her play. I hope to update the Podcasts very soon with some audio I recorded on the Florida trip. I am also in final testing for my return to astrophotography. I hope to get out during the new Moon in April for a test run and maybe collect some nice data. So, things are slow as far as new stuff as the tennis season reaches its peak in April. Look for many new things coming after the season. Also, I just registered for my 7th workshop with Alain and Natalie Briot. This workshop is the Digital Fine Art Summit and will have as a special presenter and teacher Charles Cramer. I am very excited about learning from Mr. Cramer, oh, and the location is Zion! The workshop is in November. I have many commentaries on things photographic to come. One is my evolving approach toward photographic education. More and more I am convinced the best way to improve your photography is through one-on-one apprenticeships with a quality instructor. Small workshops are fine as long as there is ample time for the instructor to productively engage each student in individualized instruction. More to come on this as my thoughts become clearer. Have a great day and stay tuned for more in the near future.

Quick observing night and some testing

Couldn't pass up a quick look tonight. The skies started to turn
partly cloudy around 10:30 or so. I really love the 8" Orion XT dob.
Everything just works so simply. I wanted to get first light through
my new 19 Panoptic and it was a joy. I switched all night from the 35
Pan to the 19 and then on Saturn went with the 12mm Radian. About
100x was nice for Saturn tonight as seeing was washy. Viewed M42 and
Running Man, the open cluster in Gemini (I was observing with no aids
and strictly from memory-I am a bit rusty), and the Leo Trio of
galaxies. It is always nice to get a little cold and see crisp views
of stars through the scope. Hoping for clear skies next weekend.

Earlier in the evening I did some testing with the Canon 350D and 135 f2 lens off the tripod. I wanted to get some "dark" condition experience operating the TC80N3 remote and also practice focus techniques. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to practice with your gear and get as familiar with buttons and knobs as you can. In the dark it really pays off when you know how to activate image review and move through images at high magnification as well as adjust ISO setting. So even though I wasn't photographing tonight, it was a good practice run for when things get "real."

San Juan River Newspaper article

On March 2, Dave Lavender of the Herald-Dispatch published his article "Nature's Handiwork" which provided some insight into my San Juan Portfolio Grand Opening that same night. Dave did a wonderful job of capturing the spirit of the portfolio and I now have a digital PDF version of the article for your review. The article may be viewed at this link. I do not have a version with the photographs embedded. The article looked wonderful and I am very thankful to Dave for doing such a nice job. He is a self-proclaimed "river rat" himself, and so he has a very strong passion for the beauty of our rivers. Enjoy the article and have a great day.

Horseshoe Bend 2006 Image and articles

Horseshoe Bend is a fascinating location for creative photography. An early view for those who read my blog is now available of my latest print from Horseshoe Bend. The image is a first in two ways. It is my first near-far composition captured utilizing the tilt/shift lens with panoramic movement. It is also my first experience with the stitching plugin in Photoshop PS3 beta. I am very happy with the new PS3 stitching plugin and I am very excited about future efforts with this lens/software combination. The image has stimulated me to write about two topics related to the image. One article is titled "Two and three-quarter years" and discusses the importance of returning to locations in order to fully explore the creative potential that is there. The other article is titled "What do you do?" This article is an attempt to provide a very brief overview of how I take a RAW image and develop the image into a fully optimized print. Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you enjoy the new material.

Astro-Physics to be featured on "Made in America"

I have had the fortunate pleasure of owning and operating Astro-Physics telescopes and mounts over the years. Their equipment is top of the line and I can't speak highly enough of them. I just read on their website that John Ratzenberger's "Made in America" has filmed a segment on AP and it will air this coming Tuesday night at 9:00 p.m. EDT. The show is on the Travel Channel and please double check the listings for the correct time. I have scheduled it on the DVR and I am sure it will be a very interesting segment.

We're back in the game!

I just placed my order for a modified Canon 350D with Hap Griffin. The camera will have the UV/IR Baader filter in place. I am very excited about re-entering astrophotography. I am excited to bring what I have learned over the past 3 years to image optimization and composition. There are at least 8 compositions I find interesting with the 135mm f2 lens and I hope to begin imaging in June. Some testing will take place before then with the first images coming on-line later in the summer. So, here we go, it is definitely not as intense as when I was imaging 3 years ago, but it will be fun and I believe very capable of producing portfolio quality images.

First Look at PS3 beta

Adobe has released a beta version of Photoshop PS3. I have been reading some remarkable stories of the enhanced Photomerge function with PS3 over PS2. I have recently gone to utilizing tilt/shift lenses as well as panoramic gear to aid in the quality of digital stitching. While at the Fine Art Digital Summit I captured a 3 pane image with the 24mm tilt/shift from Horseshoe Bend. I had played around with PS2 Photomerge and the results were not that impressive. Now my core program for stitching had been PTAssembler, so I was not concerned, it was simply an act of experimentation more than anything. Well I have been quite busy with the San Juan work and finally had a chance to take a look at PS3 Photomerge with the same 3 Horseshoe Bend images. I must say that the first impression is extremely positive. The blend was seamless and dead-on with alignment as well as tonal transitions in the sky. This is really impressive for an automatic setting. Now I just went through the paces rather quickly tonight and hope to really give the image a thorough workup over the next few weeks, but I must say that the initial impression is very favorable and I am relieved to now have a very high quality stitching solution with a very simple user interface. Stay tuned for more.

The San Juan River Exhibit Debut

On Friday night the San Juan River exhibit opened and was very well received. I am very happy with the look and feel of the exhibit. It is really my first attempt at building a gallery style show and I am hopeful to place the show in other galleries. Now my attention will turn to some other publications I am seeking on this as well as updating the website for the portfolio and individual webpages for each portfolio image. All prints will be in a limited production of 100 and will be available in one print size. More to come soon so stay tuned. Also, more Podcasts to come from Florida as well as on numbering prints. A lot to come, so stay tuned and thanks for your interest.

Getting closer to AP gear decisions!

OK, things are getting very clear now. I have settled on the 135 f2 Canon L lens for my main imaging lens for the next few months. After comparing the field of view with the 200mm, I really like the compositions I have in mind for the 135mm much better. Reviews for the 135 are very good and like I mentioned before, Loke Tan's work with the lens is excellent. I am not 100% sure on the camera yet. It is between the Hutech modified Canon 350D or the XTi. From my readings it appears that the 350D may have some advantages for one night sessions over the XTi and therefore be the most appropriate camera for my needs. The mount is a G11 which will be most graciously loaned to me by my very good friend Dave Tolley. So, the Astro-Photography picture is getting very clear and I am hoping to pursue my first compositions this summer. Stay tuned for further updates.

Update: The weather did not cooperate for photographic opportunities of the Lunar Eclipse, but we did catch some of the reddish glow of the total eclipse during the early moments of the penumbra eclipse. The clouds parted just enough to see the beautiful glow on the totally eclipsed portion of the moon.

Maybe I found it!

Wrapping up a crazy weekend with a very successful opening of the San Juan River exhibit. I am writing to follow up on some of the "return to astrophotography" musings I posted earlier. To reiterate some of my criteria for re-entry:

1. Ease of setup. This means no computers, no autoguiding, and lightweight mounts and scopes.
2. Quality data in one night. The system must be fast and produce superb images.
   
3. Everything must come together in a unique package that I am not seeing done by anyone else. This is very challenging, but we will give it a try.

So, I revisited some of my first impressions of astrophotography and recalled that I just loved the Schmidt camera field of view. Today everyone seems to be headed for the big 20" RC and small fields of view, at least with one non-mosaiced frame. My first thoughts on an imaging system were the Tak FSQ. Now this is a great scope and may be in my future, but I believe I have found a better alternative for my needs. The Canon 135mm f2 lens performed for Loke Tan very admirably on his trip to Chile. I revisited his website as I recalled the remarkable photographs taken with that lens and the SBIG 11000 camera. The 135 stopped down to 5.6 provides excellent quality at a fast speed. The field of view is roughly 9x6 degrees which is nearly equivalent to a 5" Schmidt camera. Even better is that it should not require a computer or sophisticated equipment for focusing as I should just be able to utilize infinity for focus on the barrel. I just reviewed the field of view in compositions on my star charts and I calculate at least 10 compositions that I feel are worthy to pursue with this lens. It should be simple to piggyback on a scope and should not require autoguiding with a well trained PEC mount. So, that is the update today as we are looking at the 135mm f2 lens with the modified Canon 400XTi camera from Hutech. Now to find a mount! No hurry, just thinking out loud, remember?

Addendum: After further research, it appears that the Canon 200mm f2.8L II lens is very good giving a little tighter field of view at a very affordable price. So this is perhaps the direction now.