The Digital Photo Guy

Go-o-o-d Monday Morning from Boron, CA

Yeah, you read that correctly. I’m in Boron, CA (pop 2000), just outside Edwards AFB in the California High Desert. We drove up here last night without any plans for where to stay and lucked out. George, the manager at the Boron Food Mart let us boondock in his parking lot so we had a very quiet night in the middle of Boron. Today, we’re meeting up with some friends and touring the wind farm in the area. There’s also a huge solar facility nearby. I hope to have some great photos to post next week.

Monday Morning Tip

Today’s MMT is open to all viewers since it’s something that many of us may need to do over the next few weeks or months, upgrading your Windows XP or Vista PC to Windows 7. I received Windows 7 last week along with a new 160GB Western Digital hard drive. I wanted to get out of Vista bad enough that I paid Microsoft’s usurious price for the new OS.

For most people, here’s a great set of instructions from Smart Computing magazine. In a nutshell, if you’re upgrading from Vista, is should be a snap. The operative word is should. Upgrading from XP requires a clean install meaning you need to backup your data, reformat your hard drive, install Win7 and then reinstall all your applications INCLUDING your settings. In other words, a complete and total PITA. Many experts are advising people with XP to consider just buying a new PC with Win7 preloaded.

Since my main Fujitsu laptop running Vista is just a year old and I like it, I decided to go the upgrade route. However, having designed disk drives and computers in a past life, I knew better than to trust the old, “when in doubt, swap it out” theory. I wanted to remove my old 320GB C: drive and set it aside in case things went “bump” in the process. That way, I could always fall back to the old Vista system if necessary.

I was only using about 60GB of the 320GB so I decided to order a new 160GB C: drive. When everything was back to “normal”, I would use the 320GB drive as a portable backup device. The theory sounded good but things started going sideways almost from the get-go. Most of it was my fault for using new software that I hadn’t yet tested. Without getting into all the gory details, here’s what I would recommend for people who want to save their old C: drive in toto.

First, a quick tip, buy the System Builder version of Windows 7 and save US$10 because the Retail version only gives you access to Microsoft’s vaunted (NOT!) tech support. You can tell how much they think of their tech support when they only charge an extra 10 bucks. This is where your kid, neighbor’s kid, kids’ friends, niece, nephew, etc can come in handy. Put them to work if you run into trouble. If things really go sideways, apply the $10 you saved toward a Geek Squad visit.

Quick tip #2. Follow the KISS principle. Use the Windows Easy Transfer utility (Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Windows Easy Transfer) to move your data and settings from the old C: to the new C:. The Smart Computing article (above) tells how to do this in great detail. Smart Computing used to offer free tech support to anyone but I think they’ve stopped that. These days, you have to be a subscriber. The Easy Transfer utility will need a medium sized removeable media (DVD burner, 16GB USB drive, External HD, Network drive, etc) to store all the data and settings that will be moved to the new HD.

Quick tip #3. Readers of this forum need to be especially mindful of this step. Deactivate Adobe Photoshop CSx. This is an option under Help in PS CS4, it may be located elsewhere in other versions. If you don’t deactivate PS CSx, it will think you’re trying to install a 2nd or 3rd version and will lock you out. Don’t ask how I discovered this. When I get home, I’m going to have to contact Adobe and prove to them that I have a legitimate copy of CS4, a royal PITA. There may be other programs that require deactivation so think about what programs you have on your PC before pulling the old C: drive.

All-in-all, my upgrade went fairly smoothly. There were a few things that surprised me such as the biometric scanner. The Fujitsu laptop originally came from Fujitsu with an integrated biometric scanner and password software. When I tried to upgrade the software, the developer wanted another $50 for a whole new program. Given this, I may look for a new password program. Many printers including the high-speed laser, the color laser and the Dymo label printer needed new drivers, which was no surprise. So far, the only thing I haven’t figured out is a Microsoft 2.4GHz transceiver. I don’t have a clue what that may be since everything else seems to be working.

Recommended Books

While in Bishop, CA for the Eastern Sierras workshop, I stopped by the Mountain Light Gallery which was established by Galen and Barbara Rowell in 2001, just before their untimely death. One of the books I purchased there was Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape. This is an outstanding book for all photographers, not just landscape photographers. It’s only US$30 and should be on every serious photographer’s bookshelf.

I’ll write a full review in a week or so after I’ve had a chance to distill what I’ve learned and continue to learn from the book.

IMPORTANT NOTICE for Photoshop Elements Webinar Students

A number of people registered for the webinar seem to be incommunicado. I suspect their e-mail program is relegating my messages to their spam folder. If you’re registered for the webinar and haven’t received the 3 e-mails over the past month, please check your spam filter. You need this information to participate in the webinar on November 14.

We have students registered from Hawaii to Connecticut to Florida to Washington. If you are a serious digital photographer or want to be one, you owe it to your artistic side to take this webinar. In 4 hours (9AM to 1PM Pacific Time), you’ll learn more about getting the most out of Photoshop Elements. And, you won’t find a better deal than this webinar.

It’s time for a new photo contest. This time, the theme is holidays. Being American, I’m partial to Thanksgiving during this period. For readers from other countries, the photos must reflect some sort of national celebration. The contest is open to registered readers of this site. Registration is free. The contest is open now and submissions will be accepted until December 8, 2009. The winner will be announced in time for them to receive the prize by Christmas 2009 unless they happen to live outside the USA in which case, all bets are off as to ETA.

800+, 8.5" x 11" pages

The prize is a Photoshop World Workbook from Photoshop World 2009 in Las Vegas. It is 800 pages of PS tips, tricks and hints from virtually every class at PSW. For a peek at the contents, see this description on my site. Because the book is heavy, I’m asking the winner to pay US$10 via PayPal for shipping.

Photos will be judged on three criteria:

1. Exposure – is the photo correctly exposed. Correctly does NOT always mean right edge of histogram at right side and left edge touching the left side. Many photos look better when one side or the other is pulled in to achieve a specific “look”. Color balance will also be evaluated.
2. Focus – is the photo in focus or was blur used artistically. If your portrait has a sharp ear but blurry eyes, it will be noticed. Not only must the important parts be in focus but the unimportant parts must not be distracting. Controlling DoF is an integral part of good photography, it will be evaluated.
3. Composition – what is the emotional impact of the photo? Does it tell a story or do the colors/shapes/lines/negative space evoke an emotion? Does the photo engage the viewer? Does it create tension through unanswered questions? More than anything else, I’m looking for photos that have impact, that makes me sit up and notice.

Since I am the sole judge and arbiter, here are some of my biases. As much as you think your kids/grandkids are precious, I rarely find any redeeming artistic value in photos of children or pets. On the other hand, I love landscapes, portraits, wildlife, birds, flowers, still life, architecture, old things, new things, shiny things, rusty things and just about anything. See photos on this site to get an idea of what yanks my chain, floats my boat, tingle my toes and, in general, makes me happy, sad, excited, thrilled, thoughtful or otherwise emotional. BTW, I’m also not a fan of street photography unless your name happens to be Henri Cartier-Bresson.

All photos must be resized to 640 pixels along the longest side and no larger than 1MB. Send it to me via e-mail or post it on your own website and send me a link. If you send a link, it should be a link to one photo. In other words, don’t link to a page with a gazillion photos and expect me to figure out which is your entry. The photo must have been taken with a digital camera (any type, make, model) and the only edits allowed are crop, color correction, levels and sharpen. No composites or collages will be considered. HDR will be accepted but the more it looks like a single frame, the better your chances. Each person is limited to three (3) submissions. Once a photo is submitted, it can be withdrawn but not replaced.

The purpose of this contest is to promote photography as an art. I want people to elevate their photography beyond snapshots of Fluffy & Rover at the backyard barbeque. I want more people to see the potential within themselves. Even if all you ever take are photos of your kids/grandkids, I want you to make them into art, not simple snapshots.

Legal stuff – By entering a photo(s) in this contest, you affirm that you are the photographer with all rights appertaining including, but not limited to, copyright. You agree to hold harmless the owner and publisher of this site and contest promoter from any claims, past, present and/or future arising from any actions related to the photo(s) submitted by you or in your name. By submitting a photo(s), you agree to convey an irrevocable, non-exclusive 5 year license to The Digital Photo Guy (Lee Otsubo) to display the photo(s) and use them for teaching purposes. All other rights remain with you. Any part of this agreement/contest may be modified by The Digital Photo Guy without notice.

Accepted 2009 San Diego Fair juried competition

Accepted 2009 San Diego Fair juried competition

Not Accepted 2009 San Diego Fair juried competition

Not Accepted 2009 San Diego Fair juried competition

The interesting thing is that I printed both accepted photos on my Epson R1800 while both unaccepted photos were printed at a local “big box” store where I thought they did a better job with the skin tones. I wish I could ask the judges if the print quality had anything to do with their decisions. Next year, I plan to print all my entries in my office.

If you get a chance, stop by the fair which opens Friday, June 12 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in Del Mar, CA.