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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Quick Fill Flash Tip

While I was at the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in Campo, I used the opportunity to make some photos for teaching purposes. Here’s an example of why you want to always be thinking about fill flash.

This old AT&SF (Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe) caboose had been moved so I decided to try a new angle. Unfortunately, the sun was ahead and slightly camera right (notice the shadows). This caused lens flare (spots near bottom of door) in the first photo. I set up my Canon 550EX with a Paul C. Buff CyberSync Remote Trigger to add some fill flash. After a few trials, I got the middle photo which is evenly lit. Had I been more serious about this shot, I would have popped a second flash under the trucks to light up the underside.

The last photo is after I toned down the middle photo in Photoshop Elements. Bottom line, fill flash lit the dark areas and reduced lens flare in one swell foop. The ability to move the flash around until the lighting is even is another great reason for an external flash instead of the integrated pop-up doo-hickey. Click to read more

Why a Manual Flash is Good for You

Last week, we reviewed the LumoPro 120 and showed how it stacked up against Canon dedicated flashes. Today, we’ll cover some flash basics and show why a manual flash is a good tool for learning flash techniques other than just saving money.

When you use ETTL (Canon) or iTTL (Nikon) or any other automatic flash system, the flash and camera communicate to make all the decisions for you. This is fine for most snapshots where people accept the harsh, flat, deer-in-the-headlights look of straight-on flash. But, when you want to step up your flash photography, manual control of a  remote flash is a much better.

Here’s an example of a remote flash at work. I placed the flash on the seat of the car and fired it with a remote. Without the remote, it would have just been another antique car photo.

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Monday Morning Tip – 01/11/10

Did anyone notice today is another palindrome? It’s not as rare as 01/02/2010 but 01/11/10 is, technically, a palindrome. What’s that got to do with digital photography? Not a whole lot except that observation is a large part of good photography. Below is a photo I made over Christmas.

We hadn’t made any plans for Christmas so, when we took off in our RV at the last minute, we didn’t have reservations. Readers who own RVs know that usually means boondocking, parking overnight wherever it’s permitted and moving on the next day in search of new adventures. So, Christmas eve found us parked at the San Manuel Indian Casino in Highland, CA. We had boondocked there in the past on our way north and liked the quiet, isolated parking lot with a million-dollar view.
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Freezing Fred’s Beak

This week’s MMT (posted on Saturday, 1/2) had blurred images of Fred’s beak (shoebill stork) as he chatters (calls). I was curious to know how much of the blur was due to slow shutter speed versus hand-holding so I went back on Sunday. Now, granted, this wasn’t a rigorous scientific test but I was able to confirm that Fred’s beak can be frozen with a faster shutter speed. On the blurred images, I was using 1/1000 second and this time, I used 1/2000 second. I’d like to have taken some at slower speeds but Fred chattered 3 times in 3 hours. The first and third times, he chattered for about 5 seconds so I got a few shots. The second time, he chattered only for 2 seconds which wasn’t long enough for me to get shots. Overall, in 3 hours, I fired off 150+ frames and got 3 usable photos. Another issue is that Fred rapidly blinks his nictitating eyelid while chattering. I managed to capture many images of him with weird “Night of the Living Dead” eyes as in the first photo (below).

     
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