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Welcome to Orcmid's Lair, the playground for family connections, pastimes, and scholarly vocation -- the collected professional and recreational work of Dennis E. Hamilton
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2008-11-07Friday Cat Picture: In the Princess Eye (from 2007-10-07)
Usually when I am working close with my 105mm lens, the cats don't give me eye contact long enough for a clean photograph. This one (cropped here) shows my good fortune. I love that the surrounding fur frames the eye of little Princess Psyche.
This shot doesn't qualify as a Strobist submission because the SB-600 is tethered and not far off the camera. It also has an interesting defect, although Vicki thinks it adds something to the image: the photographer, camera, and speedlight are all visibly reflected in the cat's eye. But I do like the result. Yes I do. Reflections: My 1992-purchased Nikon 8008s (pictured) was already smarter than its owner, as was almost the case with the 2020 before that. This year's purchase of a D80 shows me how much smarter it is than the owner: It embarrasses me with the raft of features and settings over which I have no comprehension. Once I obtained the SB-600 speedlight, it was clear that the flash is smarter than me too. I have lots of practice to make up before I can again utter that I once (over 50 years ago) fancied becoming a photographer. Modern photographic equipment: Whether or not the D80 and newer high-end cameras like the D3 are too feature-laden with too many options (sort of the Microsoft Office of its breed), it is clear that the digital era has revolutionized photography and creation of other electronic media. In addition to easy entry levels, the affordability of high-powered equipment for amateurs and enthusiasts is telling. There is another phenomenon. The capabilities and economy of competing high-end Nikon and Canon digital SLR lines is leaving little room for after-market suppliers. I don't think anyone can price-compete with the SB-600, for example, and the loss of functionality for lower-priced alternatives is pronounced. I think this has a giant impact on the market, even in the (vanishing) stores where professionals shop. (The difference for the pro seems to be ruggedness, durability, and extreme optical quality.) OK enough pontification. What's needed from me is more pictures and more experiential mastery of my tools. [update 2008-11-07 This is part of my moving keepers from Orcmid’s Live Hideout to my own hosted sites for preservation and improved organization. I’d meant to do this one for Halloween 2008 and I managed to miss it. Now that I have improved the calibration of my monitor, I notice that I remain completely satisfied with the Princess Eye. Not so sure about the little self-portrait taken with my webcam, but I’ll not fuss with that.] Labels: cats, photography Comments: Defect?! As we say where I work, that's not a bug, that's a feature! :-) I really love this shot. Makes me want a 105mm. Oh yeah, I already blew my lens budget for this year. 2008-10-24Friday Cat Picture: Weez Ur Trickz n Treatz
[update 2008-10-27: I couldn’t stand the way the picture worked so I am putting in a different one and discussing how it came to be so different.]
You, as the viewer, have no idea what I have in mind as a proper presentation of the photograph, above, and the alternative that I found unsatisfactory, below (although the difference in cropping should be obvious). You can click on the Calibrize button and find your own balanced monitor adjustment (or use your favorite alternative for non-Windows platforms). That makes this updated post into fodder for my confirmable-experience soapbox and there’ll be more about that in further posts. Meanwhile, it is time to shop for Halloween candies for the Friday night visitors. I have a great cat-picture repost to put up at that time.
I really wanted to keep Teh Amor’s tail in the picture, but it makes the composition really cock-eyed. Looking at it, I think the only solution would be to separate out the two figures and ditch the tail and the framing of them together. The original photograph was taken on Wednesday, October 22, on one of those unexpected and delightful snappy autumn days with bright sunshine. One or both of the twins will usually laze in the sun on the window side of the vertical blinds. I have no idea what has them facing into the room. I was anxious that they not decide to hop down and come closer to see what I was doing. I’m holding the camera vertically, with the on-camera pop-up flash on the right. Teh decided to look right into it, hence the village-of-the-demon-cats effect. No, they’re not dressing up for Halloween and yes, it is a week early. Maybe they’ve over-dosed on the run-up to the US Presidential Election. Could be Princess still yearns for Hilary, or maybe for John Edwards? Labels: cats, confirmable experience, photography Comments: Post a Comment 2008-10-17Friday Cat Photo: Princess Psyche (from 2007-09-24)
Princess is showing her age here. The crow wandered outside my office window and she was alerted enough to hop up onto one of my computer towers for a better look. She has learned that diving at the window doesn't accomplish anything and was content to observe. She's still playful and she is also a scold. Every morning I am scolded until I pet her until one of us can't stand it any longer. I don't know why she is scolding me, but petting is what we settle for. I have been practicing capturing their eyes, which I find so intricate and beautiful. The cats are a bit camera shy, so it is difficult to get the view and lighting just right. Sometimes I get close to what I am after. The whiskers are turning white and thick, with a little salt in the pepper of her black coat.
I'm still practicing with my recently-acquired digital camera and struggling with indoor lighting and color balance for these photos. These images have all been tweaked from the raw files using Nikon Capture NX. I think I need to spend some time with test images and the Help system. [update 2008-10-17 This is part of my migratory episodes from Orcmid’s Live HideOut. I have nothing in particular to add to this beyond capturing the material here on Orcmid’s Lair, with my own control over its archiving and preservation.] Labels: cats, photography Comments: Nice pictures in your blog! I like too much cats... I have a blog dedicated to the cats... You are invitet to visit it http://blogs.avui.cat/tristeyazul (Its in catalan, but you can translate it eassy whith the google tool in the bar) 2008-10-08Geek Dinner Collection: 2007-09-12 Hanselman Event
Technorati Tags: orcmid, geek dinner, Scott Hanselman, Redmond, Bellevue Crossroads, bloggers, Microsoft [This 2007-09-13 Orcmid’s Live Hideout Post is being recovered from my Live Spaces blog for improved preservation and consolidation. While it is a way to appear to be blogging more regularly, it is also a serious preservation attempt. I want to move off of Live Spaces anyhow, since I can now accomplish all of the same things in a place where I have complete backup and preservation capability. It also happens that there are some threads that were partly over there that I want to build on over here. I did not know that this was more urgent than I realized. It seems the latest Windows Live Writer (or Live Spaces itself) will not let me retrieve previous posts beyond the latest 20. So I am literally scrapping this one off of the blog page. We’ll see how it goes. Scott Hanselman hosted another of his Bellevue Crossroads Geek Dinners this past Monday, 2008-10-06. It is appropriate to retrieve this message while I stall my preparations for a response to Hanselman on a different topic.]
My snapshots from the casual dinner meet-up called by Scott Hanselman with swag by Charlie Owen. Here I play with the thumbnails that Flickr provides, along with the ease of using photos in posts via Live Writer. I do fancy my Live Writer, yes I do. [update 2008-10-09: Along with movement of this post to Orcmid’s Lair, there is also a confirmable-experience moment concerning these digital photos. They appear much darker than on my previous display. This is a noticeable concern and a complex confirmable experience situation. There’ll be something more coherent about that after I manage to calibrate my new monitor for reliable digital-photography work. Oh, I’m also making use of the categories feature and have abandoned any effort to keep cybersmith posts all in one place. Scary.] [update 2007-09-13: Arun Bhatnagar has put his photo set on Flickr. They provide a great demonstration of how the Crossroads Mall building is unusually inviting for socialization and informal meetings.] Labels: confirmable experience, cybersmith, geek dinner, photography Comments: Post a Comment 2008-09-27Suono: Playing with HDR Photography
Technorati Tags: orcmid, Nikon D80, HDR, High Dynamic Range, photography, Stuck in Customs, suono, Trey Ratcliff, Dougerino I envy Dougerino’s proficiency with High Dynamic Range (HDR) photographs. On a photo-walk with him at the Seattle Aquarium on Saturday, 2008-09-20, I figured this was my best chance to get some tips and try the technique myself. I also figured that the garish lighting and colors in aquarium displays would grant me license to mess up color saturation and other aspects of HDR that would be unreal for many other subjects. I’m using the subject to cover up my inexperience with the technique.
My first non-trial effort is the photograph of sea anemones in captivity, above. The HDR image is produced from three separate digital exposures using my Nikon D80. It took a while to learn how to set the D80 to automatically take three successive pictures at –2ev (2 full stops under), +0ev (normal metered exposure), and +2ev (two stops over), but I finally got it working. The downside of this arrangement is that it takes a while for the camera to grab the three separate shots, I can’t see what is happening (the SLR mirror being raised) while the images are being taken, and the +2ev exposure is noticeably slow under low light conditions. Keeping the camera stable is important. I was hand-holding my camera, with my back against a wall. That, combined with using a Vibration Reduction (VR) lens had the images be more stable than I deserved. While I and the camera were still enough, the anemones were not motionless as sea water circulated in the tank. Look closely at the full-size Flickr version and you will see what looks like multiple-exposure effects in the tubes of the center anemone. The tops of the tall anemones are also fuzzed because of movement there. Now that HDR images, not to mention saturated color and extreme Photoshop effects, are becoming popular on Flickr and photography web sites, it is easy to suspect HDR where it is not present. Sometimes, the clues are pretty subtle. Beside the hands-on tips from Dougerino, I found Trey Ratcliff’s Stuck in Customs web site with great examples and tutorial information. Because Ratcliff offers many HDR images, I thought that was before me in his “Some of my favorite shots of children.” Ratcliff’s HDR tutorial illustrates the use of PhotoShop layering techniques to eliminate blurred images in the combined separate exposures. I thought I was seeing that in the image of the girl in this detail:
 No. That is not an HDR image. My suspicions were groundless. Some photographs are richly hued and at the right moment without requiring doctoring, at least not of the HDR kind. The following image from the same set is an HDR image.
If you look at the largest image on Flickr, you can see that there are indications of skater motion in comparison with the clarity of the ice surface. I also suspect there was not a 4-stop range. The D2X might have been working in a faster range of shutter speeds, too. That’s all guesswork. It is valuable to be able to discern how a photographic subject was lighted, an unaccustomed test that I seldom pass. Now I must also train my photographer eye to discern how HDR was used, if at all, along with other digital-processing effects. Meanwhile, I am able to enjoy and learn from the wonderful images that appear in daily Stuck in Customs posts. You can too. Suonare is the Italian verb for “to play” in the sense that a pianist plays a keyboard. With the advent of computer-based music and photographic-image processing, I extent the notion to similar play via my computer keyboard, not just my MIDI controller. Suono is “I play.” Labels: photography Comments: That turned out great. Makes me wish I had tried an HDR of that scene. Yeah, Tray Ratcliff is great inspiration. And those photos of kids are amazing. the one of Cambodia reminded me of a girl I took some pictures of at Angkor Wat. Not because it's anywhere near his shots, just because it's a smiling kid in Cambodia. |
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