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Archive for April, 2010

Lets talk about landscape photographers….

This is a landscape post so I thought it needed a landscape photo. I went through all my landscape pictures and found my favorite, just seemed like this blog needed a picture. This picture was taken last month in Montana.

Last week I took a class  on landscape photography. I wanted to share some great tips I learned during the lecture! The first part was an introduction to some of the great landscape photographers. This particular lecture was given by Neil the owner of Rocky Mountain School of Photography. An amazing man who is passionate about photography and teaching. He is one of those teachers who was meant to teach. He has an energy about him that just washes over the class creating a energy of excitement to learn.

To start off we talked about influential landscape artists.
Of course the first is Ansel Adams. A name that is recognized by most. If one was asked name a famous photographer most would know the name even if they haven’t seen any of his work:

Ansel Adams
Eliot Porter
Galen Rowell
John Sexton
Jim Brandenburg
David Muench
Freeman Patterson
Andris Apse

What about you? Who is your favorite? Which landscape artist am I missing I am surely  missing someone amazing!

Nikon D90 SLR Digital Camera Kit 70-300 VR Lens

Savings! Right now there is a instant savings of $250.00 until May 1 st, 2010. Currently the price is $1,489.90 -$250.00 instant savings = $1,139.90 at BHPhoto Video for the Nikon D90. oh yes and there is also free shipping available.

Item Kit:

AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED Autofocus Lens –

is a high-performance super telephoto zoom lens that has been designed to meet the demands of both digital and 35mm format SLR users. It offers a 4.3x zoom with a range of 70-300mm (equivalent 105-450mm on a DX Nikon D-SLR) and features ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass elements that ensure superior optical performance.

D90 SLR Digital Camera (Camera Body)

12.3 Megapixel
DX Format CMOS Sensor
3″ VGA LCD Display
Live View
Self-Cleaning Sensor
D-Movie Mode
High Sensitivity (ISO 3200)
4.5 fps Burst
In-Camera Image Editing
Features
Specifications

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
Standard Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

I have the Canon kit lens – 18-55mm, but it’s only a f/3.5-5.6. When I take pictures in the house there just isn’t enough light sometimes. I have to crank up the ISO or I adjust my shutter speed so much that it just wont work for hand held. It doesn’t take long after you buy your first DSLR camera to realize f/2.8 is pretty awesome!

Now who has the best deal today… Amazon has it listed for $1329.00 + Free Shipping! Bhphotovideo has it listed for $1399.00 + Free Shipping!

Official Product Description:

The Zoom Lens EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM was developed as the successor to the EF28-70mm f/2.8L USM lens released in November 1993. Featuring a new optical system design, the new zoom lens delivers an expanded zoom range with a 24 mm wide-angle focal length, ideally suiting it to digital image sizes, while also maintaining or improving on the outstanding image quality of the superseded model.Moreover, the power of the focusing lens group has been increased to allow a minimum focusing distance of just 0.38 meters, the shortest in its class at the time, throughout the entire zoom range. The new EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM also features a circular diaphragm, to give better background blur, and utilizes only lead-free glass optics in consideration of the environment.

Technical Details:

  • EF mount; standard zoom lens; Comes with Lens Cap E77U, Rear Lens Cap, Lens Hood EW-83F, Soft Lens Case 1219.
  • Ultra-low Dispersion glass with Fluorite elements; inner focusing ring; full-time manual focus; aspherical lens
  • 24-70mm focal length
  • f/2.8 constant maximum aperture
  • UltraSonic Motor (USM) AF actuator


Here is a “Test Photos” video from the Canon EF f/2.8 24-70mm

Canon XSi automatic setting

O.k. so a few days turned out to be more like a week!

This was my first trip without my husband and two children…. Dad did awesome as Mr. Mom taken on everything! No this trip was for my  mom and me. We flew to California to visit family. Just a quick visit to check in on the grandma’s.  I wish I lived closer to family!

San Jose proved to be as crazy as I remember this time we rented a GPS unit which was awesome it got us around like a charm absolutely amazing This was much better then having your head down looking at the google map you printed before you left home. The only time it led us astray was on the way back to the airport. The pretty voice said proceed to the left lane so I did crossing 4 lanes of traffic to get there and then she said exit right… Driving on and off freeways is not my cup of tea.  Seeing my two lovely grandma’s was a treasure each so amazing in their own special way.

This picture was taken by my mom with my camera. Another excellent feature about the Canon XSi you can be as creative as you want or just put it on automatic and hand the camera to someone.

Sunset on the lake!

I am going to heading out of town for the rest of the week so I thought I would leave you with this sunset. This is my first sunset with my Canon XSi – boy that sun sure does set fast not much time to mess with the settings on the camera as the sun is going down down down.

F-Stop – F/6.3
Exposure Time: 1/400 sec.
ISO Speed 100

-

Canon XSi – 2 .JPGS instead of 1 RAW and 1 JPG

Ran across a strange problem this evening… First of all I want to thank some twitter folks for helping me out!

@_dkess_
@MichaelASander
@KW_Daddio
@ReneeFineArt
@WoodbridgeBB
@TheBearInMe

I asked the question searched the forums, but was having a hard time finding my answer. Perhaps it was because i wasn’t googling the right question I don’t know. But I finally found the answer at Canon Digital Photography Forums.

Here is what my problem was:

  • I have a Canon Rebel XSi
  • I set the camera to capture RAW + LG JPG
  • To download the pictures onto my computer I was using an interface cable that connected my camera straight to my computer which is running Windows XP.
  • The problem – there were no RAW images (.CR2) instead I had 2 images in .JPG in my folder

IMG_0019(165).jpg
IMG_0019.jpg

Here is the solution:

  • Buy a card reader – Doesn’t really make sense to me on the forum they said it might be because I am running windows XP, but still should work both ways. I could still save RAW by itself with the interface cable. just not RAW + JPG.

Targus Digital TGR-SD20 USB 2.0 Card Reader

A card reader has been on my list of things to buy for awhile. Was getting tired of setting the camera on the desk worried I was going to knock it off.  For some reason I was thinking a card reader would be a lot more expensive, but they not expensive at all! Inf act they are very affordable and convenient!