Photographing Backyard “Wildlife”

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Not all of us will get the chance to go on safari - instead, look around your back yard (or the area around your RV):  

Although a telephoto lens is useful, and advisable if you are planning to photograph big game, lots of backyard wildlife is waiting for your camera no matter what lens you are using. Although this image of a chipmunk was made in my driveway with a Nikon DSLR with a 70 - 200mm lens, many point & shoot cameras have long enough zoom ranges to make a shot like this. For this picture I set out a couple of grapes,  mounted the camera on a tripod about 15′ away & waited.  The waiting is the important part whether you are shooting chipmunks or any animal. Until they are comfortable with you they are likely to stay out of sight. Eventually, as long as you appear non-threatening and don’t move around, they will accept the fact that you are there and go about their primary business - eating!

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Digitizing Old Photographs & Slides

There are a couple of reasons to move your collection of slides and prints to digital images.  First, it will preserve them in their current state, that is as long as you keep the digital files alive - more on that later. Second, by getting them out of albums stored on the back shelf, you will enjoy viewing them as screensavers on your computer or using a digital picture viewer. Third, as RVers, space is at a premium.  If you have a home base (or a relative does) you can keep thousands of images in a space smaller than a paperback book while leaving the originals on a shelf.

There are a couple of considerations when digitizing images:

1. How many are you planning to process?  It the number is relatively small, the amount of labor involved is not all that important.  If you are doing thousands, you might want to stick with the faster methods.
2. What kind of quality are you looking for?  If all you want are files that you can look at on a laptop, show on a digital picture viewer, or your cell phone, and are planning on keeping the originals, low resolution scans are fine, and will be less expensive, faster to process, and offer more options.  On the other hand, if you are planning to make 16″X20″ or larger prints from the files, and are replacing the originals with the digital copies, you are going to need more expensive high resolution files made with professional equipment.
3. How much are you willing to spend? By far the easiest way to digitize your images it to let someone else do it.  There are plenty of services out there that, for a fee, will turn your slides & negatives or prints into digital files.  The price ranges from as little as $.16 per print & $.25 per negative or slide to well over a couple of bucks per copy, depending on the final file size, how much cleaning up of the image is necessary, and the volume. All you need to do is pick out the prints & slides you want digitized, mail them off & a few weeks later they come back, along with a CD(s) or DVD(s) of your images. Some services worth checking with include ScanCafe, Larsen Digital Services, or choose from a Google Directory of Services.
4. Although a flat bed scanner will do a great job digitizing prints and many of them state they will scan slides & negatives, a dedicated slide/negative scanner will work better if most of your images are stored as slides.  Dedicated slide scanners range in price from a few hundred to many thousands of dollars.  The advantage of the more expensive versions is higher resolution (not necessary unless you are planning to make large prints from your slides & negatives) and automatic stack feeding - very much worth it if you are doing hundreds of slides - stack 50 in the feeder & come back when done.
   Still, I’d think twice about doing it myself with a dedicated slide scanner.  If you can borrow one it may be worth it cost wise, however think about the time involved.  By the time you finish loading, doing even minor editing, you will spend 4-5 minutes per slide, more if scanning negatives.  If you have the time, go for it, otherwise, look for faster solutions.
5. A low tech method that is faster than a scanner, at least for prints is to shoot the images with your digital camera. It will take a little time to set up a copy stand, but it could be as simple as a tripod for the camera & a board to tack the pictures to.  A pair of lamps aimed at the photos at 45°, and you can shoot hundreds per hour.  It will help if you order your photographs by size so you don’t have to keep zooming the camera in & out.
   If you are copying slides and can live with less than ideal quality, set up your slide projector & shoot the projections.  Another solution for slides or negatives is an adapter that goes on the front of your camera. This is just one example, but there are a number of them designed for many different cameras. A Google search for “slide copying adapter for camera” comes up with lots of them. If you are shooting negatives, you will need to invert the image file to turn it into a positive.  In Photoshop, use Images>Adjustment>Invert.
6. How are you going to store your image files? - Actually, how is not quite what I mean.  I’m not as concerned with the exact method as I am with making sure you will be able retrieve the files in the future.  Whether the images are stored on a hard disk (or two - mirrored disks make sense - you can purchase a 1TD drive for under $200.00 which will hold hundreds of thousands of images) or a bunch of DVDs, or what ever storage method is available, it is important that you make sure updated computers, operating systems & drives are capable of reading the image files.  You must be an active archiver - As I’ve said in past articles, you don’t want to have to send out your equipment to a retrieval service to get back your images! Which ever method you choose to store your files, make sure you always have at least two copies of everything.  That way when the first method fails (note that I said when, not if) you have the second to retrieve your data.

My favorite way of showing my images is as the screensaver for my computer.  Although screensavers are not really necessary with modern monitors, they offer a great method of viewing your pictures.  You can also use slide show software (built into most operating systems & photo editing software) to show your pictures, or put together a Powerpoint presentation.  If you don’t keep a computer running all the time, a digital picture viewer (or digital frame) will provide a good way to show your images.  Since the quality of digital picture viewers is all over the map, I’d put together a USB thumb or flash drive of your images & take it to the store so that you can look at the images before buying.  Also, view it at the distance you will be viewing in your RV.  It is easy to purchase one too small to be useful, however they get more expensive as the size (and quality) increases. Remember, you can purchase an entire laptop PC for less than $600.00 these days, so don’t spend too much for the digital frame!

Another way to view your images is on your TV.  Thee are a number of ways to do this.  Many DVD players are capable of showing JPEGs as a slide show.  If you have the software, you can build a picture CD or DVD that can be shown on many DVD players.  Many digital TVs have inputs that can be connected to the output of your computer. There are also boxes that can be used to connect a computer through a wireless network to a TV. One example is Apple TV.

There are many other viewing devices. I have hundreds of my photographs stored in my iPhone.  Woe to the poor person who asks if I have a picture of my granddaughter! There are even keychain picture viewers! The joke about the proud parent or grandparent bringing out a wallet foldout 4′ long of images is no longer a joke - you can carry around hundreds or even thoudands of pictures.

Converting your original slides, prints & negatives can be a good backup to your original film material, and provide a practical way to view the images.

Custom Maps with Google Maps

You’re not a real traveler if you don’t like maps! I’ve been staring at maps and dreaming about places all over the world since I was a little kid. My favorite Christmas present was a world atlas. There’s no better ‘wish book’ than an Atlas!

I still like to look at maps and dream, but now I also like maps to show where I’ve been! I love sharing my travels and, what better way than to show your travels on a computer map and let your viewers click on points for more information.

That’s exactly what Google Maps lets you do with it’s ‘My Maps’ feature. Here is a map of our 2008 travels. You can use the zoom in and zoom out tools, or you can click on any marker, or route line to see more detail - maybe a picture or a link to a blog post.

View Larger Map

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Theatre Photography

Since this was part of what I did for a living prior to retiring, I thought it might be useful to make some suggestions for photographing performances.  Although most of you will probably not photograph plays, the techniques are useful for sports, concerts, dance shows, and many other types of presentations.

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Part 2 Getting Ready For The Great Adventure.

Well we are just a month away from the target jump off day when we roll out our dirt road in New Hampshire for a 6 month trip around the perimiter of the US. Yep we will stick our journalistic toes in the bodies of water that surround our part of the North American continentand let you know our thoughts.

Well this week most of my time was spent on the trailer that Subie the Subaru will ride on. It is an older trailer made by Diamond C that I have used for a decade to transport my old Ford 8N tractor to tractor shows. One of the down side things about using a trailer on a trip  like this for the toad  is the un hooking and hooking up of the trailer in camp grounds.

For years I was always going to do something to make the project easier and had the plans all laid out in my head. This week I built it. My thought is that it is a pain backing up a 38′ DP to an invisible to the driver 2 inch trailer ball. Why not put a small hand crank winch on the tounge of the trailer and a hook eye bolt on the back bumper of the coach just above the ball. Then back up near the trailer, set the brakes, run the winch cable to the hook eye, and winch the trailer to the ball. It works just fine with an empty trailer and shortens the hook up time and most of all reduces agrivation.

The next one is a safety item as far as I am concerned. Stop and think about where the lights are on a car trailer. On the Diamond C trailer thay are all across the bottom of the trailer about 6 inches off the ground. Now the federal government has decreed that each auto sold in the US have a high mounted stop light. So here is what I did.

I rigged the lights on Subie to work with the coach lights, stop, directional, and tail. I then rigged the running lights on the trailer to work with the headlights. Now Subie lights up at the following drivers eye level for tail, stop, and directionals. The ICC lights on the trailer work and we look like a Christmas tree.  

The last item was to help make more room in the storage bins on the coach. We are selling our old Chevy plow truck, as we won’t be here to plow snow. I looked at the diamond plate tool box in the bed of the truck and thought that it would look good mounted on the front of the car trailer. So with the help of a young neighbor the box was taken off and moved to the trailer. I then hit the shop and made up a set of mounts for the box raising it 6 inches off the trailer floor. I can snake chains and tie down straps under it to the hold downs on the trailer. Now all of my tools, tie down straps, jacks, spare oils and parts are carried in the tool box freeing up two cabinets on the motor home. Now I have room for my bread machine and several other things that Lucy wanted to carry.

Lucy has been busy inside the coach and we now have new bedding to start the trip with. We have als been talking to solar electricity people about getting solar on the rig that will give us 20 or so amp output at 12 to 14 volts. If that happens then I will run a switch on the dash that will shut off the field circuit of the alternator. That will, on sunny days, allow us to shut off the alternator when traveling and not then be using engine horsepower to keep the batteries charged as well as add to battery life when boondocking. I would love to eliminate generator use except to run heavy use electrical devices.

Next week we will be mounting our E Machine computer and running the wiring for the flat panel screen and key board as well as some mechanical things on the old coach. Till then….

Brad & Lucy aka the Geezer and the Hedgehog. Oh, and Earl the Kitty Kat too.

 

Exposure Compensation

You may have noticed a button or menu item that provides exposure compensation on your digital (or for that matter, film) camera.  What does it do & how do you use it to improve your photographs?

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Shooting Fall Colors

In the Northeast it is time to start thinking about shooting the Fall colors. If you live here you probably have already picked out some of the places to take pictures, but if traveling there are a number of things you can do to choose locations. First, you need to see how far along the color change has progressed in the different parts of the country.  My favorite place to look is the Foliage Network. They have information posted by volunteers in the Northeast, Southeast & Midwest US. A sample post for September 6th, 2008 shows we still have plenty of time before the leaves change. Towards the peak of the seasons the Foliage Network updated their maps a couple times per week. They also have data for the last couple of years so you can estimate a general time to plan your visit to an area.

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Consumer vs Pro lenses

When the owner of a DSLR decides to purchase a new lens, one question often arises:  “Is it worth paying 2 - 3 times the amount for a ‘Pro’ lens verses a ‘Consumer’ model?” The kit or consumer lenses that come with new digital cameras are far better than many of the pro lenses manufactured five to ten years ago.  The software used to design the latest versions of lenses as well as the glass and coatings used to control flare & provide color correction have improved over the past few years to the point that even the least expensive lenses match the abilities of most consumer DSLR sensors.

So, why pay more? An example - the AF-S DX VR 18-200mm F3.5-5.6G IF-ED Zoom-Nikkor pictured on the left is a popular “kit” lens that is available with the purchase Nikon D200, D300, that if purchased separately lists for $899.00 with a street price of around $650.00.  Expensive, but a very good quality lens that has over 11X zoom range, Vibration Reduction, fast Silent Wave focusing (the focusing motor is built into the lens so that you can use it with Nikon’s D40, D60, etc, cameras that do not have focusing motors built into the camera body). Nikon also makes the AF-S VR Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF lens pictured on the right, with a list price of $1,700.00 & a street price around $1,625.00.

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Picasa 3: The best gets better

Picasa is the best software you can have on your computer for managing all those digital photos you take as you travel! I say that because it does everything you need to do:

1. Transfer photos from camera to computer
2. Organize your photos on your computer
3. Make them look better with simple editing tools
4. Single-click easy to email, print, or make a free website
5. Backs up all your photos to CD/DVD

It does all this fast, easy, *and* it’s free. What more could you ask for?

Well, people have been asking for the ability to print text on top of a photo, they’ve been asking for a way to print multiple photos on one page and manually place them on the page wherever you want. Or how about better slide shows?, or editing out blemishes on peoples faces?, or tighter integration with your web album?

All these things and more are now included in the new release of Picasa called Picasa 3. It’s in Beta, which means they’re at the end of the development stage but not quite finished. When you use Beta software, it’s always recommend to make a backup of your system first. Picasa 3 is only available for Windows. The Linux version is 2.7 and there is no Macintosh version … yet.

I’ll write more about Picasa 3 once I’ve worked with it some more. Meanwhile, watch this video about the greatly improved Collage feature. I’d love to hear from any of you that do scrapbooking. How does this compare to what you’re using now?

If you have any problem viewing that high resolution one, below is the Youtube version:

Chris Guld
www.GeeksOnTour.com
Computer Education for Travelers

Taking Better Photographs, Part 4

First, you might want to check the previous “Taking Better Photographs” Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Although the information may overlap, the suggestions in the first three articles is primarily aimed at the aesthetics of producing better photographs.  Today I’ll cover some of the technical steps you can take to improve your images. By the way, most of the specific terms discussed are covered by earlier articles - I have linked to them when possible.

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