“One of the nice things about Christmas is that you can make people forget the past with a present.”—Anonymous
It was a dark and stormy night…(continued from last month). Western Digital (www.wdc.com) asked me to return my recalcitrant network drive to them and, after taking a look, declared it DOA. Every cloud has a...
"A good conscience is a continual Christmas."--Benjamin Franklin
Submitted for your approval: A list of gizmos, gadgets, and gear for the digitally-minded who thought they had everything but didn't know that they really needed lots more stuff in order to capture, enhance, or store the ultimate image. Use this month's column as a shopping list for...
This is the time of year when readers are looking for gift ideas for themselves, family, and loved ones, so, presented for your approval, is a list of gizmos, gadgets, and gear for the digitally-minded who think they “have everything” but didn’t know that they really needed more stuff to produce that ultimate image. You can use this month’s column as a shopping list for your favorite photographer or grab a Sharpie and circle all of the goodies that you want and leave it near where your spouse eats their Grape-Nuts. It’s worked for me.
Wherein I hereby submit your Secret Santa’s A-list of gizmos, gadgets, and gear for the digitally minded who may have thought they had everything but didn’t know that they needed more stuff to produce that ultimate image. This month’s column can be used as a shopping list for your favorite photographer or you could grab a Sharpie and circle all of the goodies you like and leave it near where your spouse eats their Wheat Chex. It’s worked for me.
"A turkey never voted for an early Christmas."--Old Irish Proverb
It's time again to write my annual "stocking stuffers" column in which I collect a list of goodies that make perfect holiday presents for your favorite digital photographer. The ideal stocking stuffers are inexpensive, useful, and small enough to fit inside a sock...
“At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year.”—Thomas Tusser
Submitted for your approval: Here’s a list of gizmos, gadgets, and gear for the digitally-minded who may have already believed they had everything they wanted but didn’t know they really needed lots more stuff in order to produce the ultimate image. Feel free to use...
While my silver 10-speed bike is a far cry from the silver Audi R8 I recently piloted around Sonoma Raceway they both have one thing in common: they are essentially transportation devices that allow a person to get from one point to another. And while the R8 gets you there lots faster than a bicycle, the journey is part of the experience. The one thing that the imaging tools featured this month have in common is they help you make images; they do so in different ways, based on the kind of photographer you are and what you like to photograph.
"He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it."--Douglas Adams
In the April 2006 issue of Shutterbug I recounted a story about methods used to rescue image files from a corrupted memory card. In response I received a couple of useful suggestions from readers: The first was from...
“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”—Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Updating to Photoshop CS4 was a rude awakening. I’d put it off because the changes didn’t seem substantial enough but over time I finally realized it was a good idea, at least until I tried to make a...
"I have lost friends, some by death...others through sheer inability to cross the street."--Virginia Woolf
Robert Waxman Camera in Denver made my first Kodak Photo CD on July 7, 1992. That's a long time ago in digital years, which are a lot like "dog years." Back then Photo CD was a simple, inexpensive way for photographers to...
"You haven't even touched your food."--Inga in Young Frankenstein
According to Metrocurean (http://amandamc.blogspot.com), a blog aimed at epicureans in the Nation's Capitol, it is OK to play with your food but taking pictures of it in restaurants is verboten. The story (posted in the...
"No good deed goes unpunished."--Clare Boothe Luce
Editor & Publisher recently reported that Charlotte Observer Editor Rick Thames apologized to readers when a staff photographer "inappropriately altered" an image of a local firefighter. The original photograph had a brownish-gray sky, while the enhanced image featured a deep red sky and a...
When I was studying photography at the Maryland Institute College of Art, one of my instructors commented that some of the best photographs were made in the break room. Not real photographs, mind you, but chitchat among my erstwhile colleagues about the great photographs they were going to make—someday. While some of those images may have eventually gotten made, I’ll bet only a few of my fellow students actually produced the photographs they talked about so excitedly. And that’s because it’s easy to get wrapped up in what you have been successfully doing for so long that you forget to explore what attracted you to photography in the first place. You can be so mesmerized by the pixels on your monitor that you forget to create new photographs, something that’s different from the last batch of images captured. That’s why I think it’s a good idea to not only take time to smell the roses but to photograph them as well.
“Cleverness is like a lens with a very sharp focus. Wisdom is more like a wide-angle lens.”—Edward de Bono
Old news now, but when I started writing this month’s column I’d just purchased an Apple iPad, which may turn out to be a flop like the original Newton—don’t laugh, I had one of those, too—or a runaway success like the iPod. So far, the...
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