Archive for December, 2008
Adobe CS4 and Photoshop Lightroom 2
Posted by: | Comments
A few weeks ago I purchased myself a bit of a pre-Christmas pressie which consisted of Adobe Creative Suite (CS) 4 and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2. Luckily as I am still a student at university I was able to get academic pricing on both of these and save an absolute bundle.
After buying both the packages, and another trip to the store to get a bigger hard drive for my laptop (*hehe*) I was able to install both and start getting my hands dirty.
The main topic I wanted to cover in this post is actually Adobe Lightroom 2, however thought that I would mention Adobe CS 4 as the integration between Lightroom and Photoshop is nothing short of spectacular.
After installing Lightroom and importing all my photos (which is a little over 31, 000 photos at this stage but I started with around 34, 000) I started to get to work actually looking through some of my historical shots.
I have spent the last day going through and starting to organise everything into folders as well as adding meta data such as keywords to each of the photos. I have to say that the ability to search my images by meta data will be a godsend. There have been so many times in the past that I have wanted to find a photo but could not find it at all due to it being hidden in the deep dark recesses of my hard drive that I am now coming across (and appropriately tagging) before moving into meaningful folders.
I am also finding that I am no longer going to the Windows “My Pictures” folder to find things, I am now just going straight to Adobe Lightroom as it is just so much easier to find in Lightroom (and the interface appears to be faster than explorer for most things too).
Back to the integration, when I wish to edit an image, I can make adjustments to the post-production exposure settings and such and then export straight to Adobe Photoshop for further edititing. It is just so easy to move back and forth between the two it really does feel like heaven.
Anyhoo, I just wanted to say that if you are starting out in Photography, the CS 4 suite (I got CS 4 Web Premium but whichever suits your needs will be fine) and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom are an absoulute must.
I look forward to hearing other people’s thoughts, do you use the Adobe Suites or something else?
Stuart 
Animals that show off – Seagulls
Posted by: | Comments
One thing that I have noticed while taking photos recently, is that there are a few animals that really are show-offs, or to put it in technical terms “they are really easy to photograph”.
One such animal is the good old seagull. I have found that the seagull is one animal that can be photographed with ease, this could be their sweet nature (ahem… yea right!) or the fact that there are just so many of them around and you can get up quite close to them.
While I was away in Merimbula I took the photo that you see to the left and the second photo below (which is one of my favourites). As there were so many seagulls around and the other aforementioned factors I was able to get up close to them and greatly increase my chances of getting some great photos.
I found that because they are so timid, I could sit there just constantly taking photos, playing with settings and changing everything around to really have a good play with the cameras settings and features.
This of course was great for a noob photographer (i.e. yours truly) and while I have not yet had the chance to learn a lot about the intricacies of photography, I think that the seagull will probably be a regular guest in my photography during the learning stages.
Now onto one of my favourite seagull photos. I have dubbed the photo below “The Inquisitive Seagull”, I managed to take this shot just as the seagull dipped it’s head and it came out with a really interesting look on its face so to speak hence it looks rather inquisitive.
So please, let me know your thoughts on these couple of photos, as always I am very much open to constructive criticism. Also what animals have you found the easiest to take photos of? Whether you are a budding photographer or a professional I would love to hear your thoughts.
Stuart
One of those moments – Caption This
Posted by: | CommentsWhen I was first starting getting into photography, I decided to go to Taronga Zoo in Sydney and see what sorta photos I could compose.
While I was at the Meerkat enclosure I managed to snap the beauty below. Even as I look back at it now I realise that a lot of photography (especially when referring to wildlife) is pure timing.
Just as I was about to head away I saw this Meerkat poke his head out of the tree log and then proceed to roll around into the “Chillaxing” position below. I have to say it was one of my favourite photos of the day.
Anyhoo, just wanted to show this one off as it does look rather cute and funny but at the same time wanted to play a bit of a game. If you are bored and have a couple of minutes free, have a look at provide a caption for the image. It could be for example what the Meerkat might be thinking.
For example I thought that perhaps an appropriate caption would be “Ahh the only thing that would make this afternoon better is a beer”.
Be creative, have a bit of fun with it. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Stuart
How to deal with all the photos?
Posted by: | Comments
Well, after coming back from holidays at Merimbula for 10 days I have a collection of a little over 4300 photos to sift through.
As I still had the Canon EOS 1000D with me while I was away on holidays I was able to take lots and lots of photos (and Erin, my girlfriend, took the one of me with the goofy look on my face that you see to the left).
Now I have been taking the time to go through them, one by one, picking out the good ones and deleting the bad ones. There was a little over 14 gigabytes of photos that Erin and I took collectively.
So I guess I am wondering. How does everyone else seem to deal with this conundrum? As I see myself getting into photography very deeply in the near future I find myself pondering the interesting question. Taking photos is one thing, but then how much time does it take to sift through them and find those perfect photos?
Look forward to hearing your thoughts (anyone’s thoughts) on the subject.
Stuart
Saving for a Canon EOS 50D
Posted by: | Comments
As I will (sadly) be having to give my Canon EOS 1000D back next month, I am now on a mad savings venture to save up for a Canon EOS 50D. I have found my passion for photography and want to go into it head first and see where I end up.
So I have decided that it would be appropriate to have this savings goal metre on the site to show just how close i am to getting my goal.
Granted at the moment I am only at 4.75% of the total cost but after a couple more paychecks I hope to raise that bar up a lot. I will update this as often as I can when I throw some more savings in (it is *unfortunately* not that easy as I have to re-create the image each time).
So now marks the beginning, it is one month exactly today that I hope to order my camera… can I save the money in time? We will see.
In the mean time however, tell me… What was the last big purchase you saved up for and how did it feel when you finally got your hands on it?
Stuart
