Friday, August 7, 2009

Wedding Photo do-over

    A few years ago I shot a wedding for a friend, and while we agreed that they were good pictures at the time, I have learned a great deal since then.  So I reopened that archive, and took another shot at editing the two best pics from that day.  I wish that I had been shooting raw at the time, but we do the best with what we have available.  We could go through life saying “Oh if only I knew then what I know now”………..

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA          

 OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

what a difference cropping and desaturation can make!

Monday, August 3, 2009

A Tripod for Traveling Light….

As awesome as my gigantic heavy-duty tripod is, I can’t always carry it around.  So I have been in the market for something portable and airport friendly………….  

Today I finally got the second half of my “travel tripod” and so I can write about it now.

Joby “Gorillapod SLR-Zoom” + Manfrotto 484RC2 ballhead =

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This setup is fairly light weight,  and extremely flexible.  If you haven't seen a GorillaPod before, every one of those ball joints down the legs can flex independently.  This allows it to stand on uneven surfaces, wrap around tree branches or whatever, and provide a stable shooting platform in almost any environment.  This GorillaPod was designed to hold an SLR and a Zoom lens, but I think my Nikon D80 and the attached 24-60 f2.8 may be too heavy for it.  The much lighter 75-300 lens behaves a lot better on it.

   It also serves as a light stand!

 

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Finally, I fitted it with a nylon strap and a carabiner, so it can hang on the D-ring of my gadget bag.  That black carabiner had some tape on it, so I will be replacing it with one that isn’t gooey!

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I have high hopes for this little thing.  This November I will take it on it’s trial by fire,  when Manami and I travel light to Hawaii.