The Digital Photo Guy

International Gourd Festival

Say what? A gourd festival? Yep, you read that right. I attended the 14th Annual International Gourd Festival this weekend. You’re all probably green with envy.

Held in De Luz, CA, a tiny wide spot on the road between Fallbrook and Temecula, CA, the gourd festival is on the grounds of Welburn Farms, the largest US gourd producer. I first heard of this event 10 years ago and always thought I should check it out. This year, I finally got a “round tuit”.
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Monday Morning Tips – 06/20/10

Went to the Bernardo Winery in Rancho Bernardo for my annual “wassup” look-see. There’s always things that I never saw before and this time was no exception. While waiting in the parking lot for the people who had RSVPed for this Meetup, I noticed a row of old tractors and machinery that I had not seen previously. It’s possible they were always there but I had never hung around in the parking lot so it’s also possible I just missed them. Here are some of my favorites from the day.

     
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It’s That Time of Year Again

July 4th is just around the corner and many of you will be headed out to see fireworks with camera in hand. And, once more, most of you will return with disappointing, blurry, overexposed photos.

Here are some photos taken by Ron, a reader in Australia, who applied my tips from last years’ MMT about fireworks photography. The first is near perfect and shows Brisbane in the foreground but emphasizes the fireworks. The second has a bit too much black sky but the skyline is perfectly exposed with the fireworks as secondary elements. The third shows F111 fighters igniting dumped fuel with their afterburners. The burning fuel is overexposed but lights up the city. Wouldn’t you prefer photos like these?

This year, take a moment to read my Monday Morning Tip for photographing fireworks. Here are some key tips you should remember:

1. Fireworks are much brighter than you might think. Use the correct exposure.
2. Closer isn’t better. Learn why you may want to be further away from the fireworks.
3. Capture multiple bursts for a great in-camera collage. Learn how to do this easily.
4. Always, always use a tripod.

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Keep That LCD Monitor Dust Free

If you’re like me, the sight of dust bunnies, lint balls and cat fur on your monitor is like the screech of fingernails across a blackboard. In other words, it’s enough to drive you up the wall. The only thing worse is trying to keep it clean. Well, for all your dust-o-phobes, I have good news and I have bad news.

The good news is that I’ve found a solution. A 4 inch Kinetronics StaticWisk removes all dust, lint and fur using static electricity. Of course, this does not remove the little spots left behind by your sneezing cat or the coffee stains when you open your brother-in-law’s latest non-PC joke while drinking your morning cuppa joe. I bought the SW-101 with a grounding strap but that’s probably not necessary for most people. The photo of Tylor is simply because she’s so cute. Who wants to edit that photo while looking through dust, lint and fuzz.

Now, the bad news. The Kinetronics people are complete incompetents. I ordered through B&H who doesn’t stock these but has them drop shipped by Kinetronics. It took Kinetronics over 6 weeks to fill the order. Normally, I wouldn’t recommend dealing with such incompetence but, bottom line, the product works. My advice is to search the web for a company that has them in stock.
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The Good – San Luis Rey Pow Wow

The Mission San Luis Rey Inter-Tribal Pow Wow was a small event but I managed to get some good photos. Having attend a number of pow wows, I had a good sense of when, where and how things would unfold. That allowed me to pick out the best sight lines and backgrounds. Here are some photos:

I used my fallback lens, the Canon 28-135 with a Canon 550EX in manual mode at 1/16.

Also in the Good column, I met Dave Plunkett, the Arena Director who will also be the Arena Director at the Pechanga Pow Wow on July 3-4. Pechange is a huge event with nearly 1000 dancers so knowing Dave will help me get the inside scoop. I also met Al Footracer, the Head Gourd Dancer who allowed me to enter the arena and photograph the Gourd Dance. This is the first time I’ve seen a non-Native American allowed inside the arena so I was thrilled.
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