iPad Camera Uses

The top priority regarding the iPad camera isn’t necessarily the device shutterbugs may be shooting with (that would be their digital camera, or iPhone), but more important as a screen in which to edit images and videos taken on other devices from photographs on a PC or Mac to images from their iPhone or Android. 

Keep in mind the ease of use of the touch screen on the iPad and the large size of the screen that makes editing photos and video much easier on the iPad than it is on the iPhone or computer. 
 Since main objective is to get the image and video files needed for editing on the iPad, you have to know how to either sync the device or access your photos from the cloud. 

Photography Applications for Cloud Photography shows you how to do both with a series of  simple steps to follow, The book assists you in making a wise decision about what Cloud  platform is easiest to navigate and lowest in price. 

When you think of the iPad or other tablet computer, you must think about the Cloud if you want access to your by downloading them onto your iPad while you're online. 

Beginning HDR--Using a Single Image for HDR Simulation

Cafe de Flore in Paris

You might have wondered about making an HDR image using one photo. In case you have, know that it's pretty easy if you have the right photo. In order to get good results without much noise after processing, make sure the photo has the following qualities:

1. Bell curve or similar histogram
2. Balanced light
3. No clipping (all white, black or one single tone in part of photo)
4. High resolution (at least 3 MB for jpeg or any Raw file)

After you think you've got the perfect photo, follow the steps below using ACR (Adobe Camera Raw, a subprogram of Photoshop and Elements) and Photomatix:

1.Open the Raw photo in ACR.
2. Click and drag the exposure Exposure slider to +2, and save the image.
3. Open the image again and move the exposure Exposure slider to 0. Save the image.
4. Open the image for a third time and move the exposure Exposure slider to -2. Save Then save the image.
5. Open Photomatix and click on Load Bracketed Photos.
6. In the next window, click on Browse.
7. Navigate to the folder where the three images you made are located.
8. Shift Shift-Click click (Control CCtrl-click in Windows) on the images you want to load. Click Then click Load.
9. Click on OK. In in the Select bracketed Bracketed photos Photos dialog box.
10. A message window will come upappears showing the EV for each of the pictures you made. Click OK.
11. The next dialog box that comes appears is Preprocessing Options. Leave those options at the defaults. Then click on Preprocess.
12. In the Selective Deghosting window that appears, click OK.
13. A window appears showing the image with lots of clipping comes up. Ignore this for now and click on Tone Mapping.
14. Click on the Painterly icon in the bottom of the next window.
15. Move the Luminosity slider to the left to lower it to reduce the noise.

The image above was made from a single photo using these steps.

If you're a French cafe fan, click on the caption link to buy the photo.  Want more? Check out the book Beginning HDR Photographyby Matthew Bamberg.

hdr prints

Understanding the Cloud Part 1

The article Understanding the Cloud Part I by Matthew Bamberg appeared in Professional Photographer in August, 2012. 

halloween photos

Camera with Internet Connectivity

Compact digital camera with Internet connectivity

It's here sports fan, a camera that connects to the Internet (Nikon COOLPIX S800c 16 MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom NIKKOR ED Glass Lens and 3.5-inch OLED touch screen). Sales for compact digital cameras have been sluggish so that the camera makers had to do something. The result: an android camera. What will be next, an iOS camera from Apple?

Nikon's the culprit in bringing forth such an invention. To be sure, they're taking a risk because the cameras that come with mobile devices have gotten much better, so good, in fact, that you really can't tell the difference between an image taken with a mobile device and one taken with a compact digital camera.

Nonetheless, Nikon is at least trying a new concept. A camera that makes it easy to upload images to your favorite social networking and photo sharing websites will make sense to some people who take many pictures and like to show them to their friends and family (not to mention their fans, if they have any).

Here's the good and bad about the the Nikon S800C, the compact camera with connectivity.

Good
16 MP sensor, now that's powerful!
10X optical zoom, Samsung's 3X optical zoom camera phone came out in 2009, no new model yet.
Max shutter speed of 4 seconds.

Bad
No manual, aperture/shutter priority modes. You'd think it would have that at the very least.
Small sensor, about 5 x 6 mm. Don't expect very sharp image when blown up beyond 8 x 10 inches.
No Raw file format.

Okay, I might be stretching what I want in a phone with an Internet connection, but who knows what will happen.

It's either going to be a go or fail. Pick which one and comment below.

Crop and Post as You Wish

Lights mesmerize in a close-up of a Philadelphia building

Breaking the photography rules and doing what you think is best is sometimes the best way to post a photo. I looked at this photo and didn't like the background. I didn't like when I placed the building using the Rule of Thirds.  I didn't like anything but the lights that made red stars in a symmetric pattern that spread across each story. They were riveting, so that's the way I decided to crop--just the building and only the building with a streamlined border of yellow and red light trails from the traffic on the street.

When you're out and about with your camera and tripod, you don't always see the all possible ways that you can crop photos when you're framing and shooting them. Also, you don't always have a zoom lens with which you can hone in on the best parts of a shot.

It isn't until you get home and look at your photos that you find new ways to present them. Not every photo has to be sold. Not every photo has to be within the narrow specifications of stock. And not every photo is to be blown up on a wall full-size in your or someone else's living room.

Some photos you want to put on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pintarest. When you go that route to show off your photos you have myriad of cropping options.

Choose the one you most like and post away.

Storing Images in the Cloud

Learn the most cost-effective ways to store your images in the Cloud. 

The free Mastering Photography in the Cloud covers the cloud platform, which is growing by leaps and bounds. The free Photographer's Guide to Cloud Computing PowerPoint  covers how to store everything from large Raw files to thumbnail images online using such services as Carbonite and Mozy, answering questions about access, security and file degradation. 

The free Cloud Computing Guide for Photographers also covers photo hosting and sharing options on integrated devices with how-to information for SmugMug  and Flickr. 

The Cloud Computing guide for back-up, storing and sharing images includes a detailed description Amazon Cloud Drive and Google Drive cloud platforms, including image file upload/download times, file size limitations and ease of access. 

Edward Hopper Color

Dennis Hopper was a genius with mood and color. 

The first goal in art photography is to take a look at what others have shot or painted. If you take a look at at what some of these artists have created, a myriad of ideas will come to your mind. Why reinvent the wheel?

One painter and one photographer come to mind when studying color in street scenes.

1. Edward Hopper
2. William Eggleston

Hopper was the painter and Eggleston the photographer. Try searching Google images to find work by Edward Hopper and William Eggleston. Both looked carefully at the color they included in their work.

Look at the colors in Hopper's painting above and you'll find that he helped define the colors of an era of history. He takes that 70s color, olive green, bringing it to the forefront of his image. That color is placed using the Rule of Thirds, as the Chop Suey sign does in the opposite third of the frame.

If you see 1970s color in on the street--olive green and/or rust orange take out your camera and frame it so that it follows the Rule of Thirds and you'll come up with a compelling street photo.

Also think about what colors will define the 2010s...please comment about what you think they'll be.

old photos


paris cafe prints

Lower-Priced Nikon Mirrorless Compacts

Nikon J2 comes out in September

Nikon's mirrorless compacts get better and better. They're cheaper too.

This mirrorless compact makes a convenient small-size second camera for a pro and first camera for the amateur who wants to advance his craft.

The Nikon 1 J2 has a bigger sensor (13.2 x 8.8mm verses 7.2 x 5.3 mm or less) than most  point and shoots but far inferior to its competitors, which sports an APS-C size sensor (16.7 x 25.1mm). When a camera has a larger sensor, images taken with it will appear sharper and with more detail than those taken with small-sensor cameras.

Like the Nikon J1,  Nikon J2's settings include manual, shutter and aperture priority modes in a Creative Mode.

Other specs include a lens that has very limited focal lengths (27 - 81 mm--35 mm equivalent) and Raw file capabilities.

red photos

paris art

Matthew Bamberg Street Photography from Around the World

Elderly men exercising in Shanghai.

Old Town in Shanghai.

Man talking on pay phone in Mexico.

Two little ballerinas in blue tutus.

Two brooms and matching trash can.

Head on pavement.

Girl with red hair near red bus.

Two cultures juxtaposed on posters.

Woman sitting on street.

Man napping. 

Dummies dancing.

Woman balancing bag of groceries on head.

Man sitting.

Guy with turban.

The watching eye (look for it).

Random table

Black and brown head scarves.

Hailing a taxi.

People walking with bird watching.

Taking a picture of sandcastles in Berlin.

Boy looking out bus.

Hot pink in window.

Horses kissing.

Girl dancing.

Shop talk.

Little man.

Pinata pump.

Cruising in Blythe, CA.

Man with Christmas tie.

blue photos

VW Series--The Bugs of Mexico

Beetles are plentiful among colorful settings all over Mexico.

They're called Beetles. Or Bugs. Their design is unique--a semicircle with wheels.

For several decades the colorful vintage automobiles of Cuba have adorned coffee tables all over the world. But what about the Beetles, more specifically, the Beetles of Mexico?

Their day has come. Mexico is bug-ridden, every city and country road buzzes with old Beetles that zip up and down among the most colorful scenery in the world.

The combination of Mexican's love for color evident by brilliant structures painted with care and the streamlined vintage look of the single-colored VW Bug, make for an exciting new type of image series--new competition for Cuba's vintage classics, up until last year only cars in that country  that could be bought and sold.

Move over Buick, Chevy, Pontiac and Ford. The Mexican Bug has come forward to show that Mexico's scenic surroundings is a perfect match for a car that is loved by the entire world.

Take a look at some of the best-photographed Bugs of Mexico, an ongoing photography project by artist Matthew Bamberg of Palm Springs, CA.

Shooting the Moon without a Tripod

The moon at f/8, 1/1000 sec and ISO 640

A few years ago I wrote a post about how to shoot the moon.

On July 31, 2012, I found the moon to be near perfect light.

It was 8 p.m. in California when I took my camera outside and used it to play with the moon (so to speak).

I knew I had to shoot it by focusing in on it by zooming my camera to 105 mm (I know that's not much, but it is enough to get a good Internet resolution image when viewed at 100 percent screen resolution).  That was obvious.

To be sure, I wish I had my zoom lens and a tripod, but I didn't so I decided to see if I could get a sharp shot of the moon without all that. Also, most people don't carry around those things.

My camera, a D5, had been set to aperture priority mode. Initially I had set the aperture to f/4. That's an appropriate aperture for such a small object in the sky shot at a not-very-large focal length. My ISO was set fairly high so that my sensor would be sensitive to the light, causing the shutter to open and close faster.

Then I shot. The moon was blasting white, an effect I didn't want because you couldn't make out the moon's detail.

Then I recalled the last time I shot the moon I had to be free to set my camera to a fast shutter speed so I reset my camera to a high shutter speed in Tv mode. First I set the shutter speed to 1/2000 seconds. The moon was too dark, but it did pick up the detail. Then I tried 1/1000. That worked, but the aperture (f/4) was blinking, which normally means that the aperture set by the camera for the shutter speed I set it to was not wide enough to properly expose the shot.

Since I was shooting just a small object in the sky against a large darker background with a center-weighted focus, I could see by the f/4, 1/1000 shot that the moon was still a bit too bright. There was also a bit of camera shake in the image. I realized that if I made the aperture narrower, I could make the moon darker and get rid of the blinking.

This had me setting my camera to manual mode, then set the aperture to f/8 and using the same shutter speed (1/1000) so that less light can come into the lens.

Finally, I took a shot. The last shot was perfect. Lots of detail and very sharp. An image good enough to blow up to 100 percent and put here on my blog.

These settings work well if the sky is still blue (dusk) with some ambient light, holding the camera as steady as possible.


mexico city photos