Monthly Archives: September 2012

The Anti-Razzi

Posted by Steve on September 28, 2012 No comments

An interesting conversation sparked up with a friend and I over lunch today. I was talking about a recent post by the Internet’s Wil Wheaton (I have decided that should really be his title), where he was harassed by a paparazzi while out on vacation with his wife. This guy essentially camped out at a beach to take pictures for HOURS, behaved like a true douchbag (wait, paparazzi), and then was defeated by Wil since Wil posted pictures of himself online.

The interesting conversation was really about how to thwart the paparazzi, and I think Wil nailed it. Sure, there are tools like the “Anti-paparazzi sunglasses” but the best way is to defeat their purpose in the first place. The whole goal of the paparazzi is to catch a photo of some celebrity doing something embarrassing, or in an incriminating pose. These photos are then sold off to the various tabloids or “news” sites, usually for a sad amount of money too.

The Anti-Razzi

So here is my proposition, as a photographer, ANY celebrity can hire me, for ANY amount of money (yes, ANY. Give me a dollar, buy me a Chai Latte, don’t care) and I will follow you around and take pictures of stuff you do. Be embarrassing, pick your nose, fart in public! You and I will review the pictures together and decide* which pictures to use, then I will post them online under the Creative Commons licence FOR FREE. The goal being to beat the paparazzi at their own game. if there are already pictures of you out there on the internet, they can’t sell theirs.

If enough celebrities start contracting out their own Anti-Razzi, it would kill off the scumbag market!

Oh, it would also help that, if you are a celebrity, don’t do anything stupid, like drugs, or hookers, or hookers on drugs. (But hey, if you want me to take pictures of that, I….umm…maybe not)

Anyways, just saying you should think about it. My services are available!

*Bound by contract, no leaked pictures.

When it rains.

Posted by Steve on September 28, 2012 No comments

Yesterday was Sarah’s birthday. She hates when people point it out, especially me, which is probably why I do it so often. She still lords over me that I am older so I feel justified. The day started off well enough. I crawled out of bed as quietly as I could so she could sleep in, and I headed to work. Around lunchtime I met up with a friend and as I was getting out of the MINI, disaster struck.

You know that cool post I did earlier about how I use my iPad for so many things.… yeah well, it dropped. It slid off my lap and fell to the pavement. Honestly, I didn’t think anything of it at the time, since it had fallen before. It’s in a leather case that tends to protect it fairly well, and it only fell from about 1 foot high. Well, it landed in just the wrong way that this happened:

Ouch!

Yup, the corner shattered and spider-webbed across the whole screen. I too, was shattered. My mind rapidly went through all of the various solutions, from using it as it was (since it still worked fine), to buying a new V.3 iPad ($800!!!!!). Then it dawned on me that a friend had this same thing happen to his and he was able to get it repaired. It’s just the front glass that shattered so the repair really isn’t that bad. I found a place near home to work on it and it was done in 2 1/2 hours. Total repair: $120. (the place was http://apluscprepair.com/ and they did an great job!)

YAY!

Using that extra few hours I swung by the store and bought Sarah some flowers and Oatmeal Creme Pies. (her favorite). After the repair was done we headed out to grab dinner at a place in Front Royal, about an hour’s drive. What we didn’t expect was the Armageddon level rain storm that hit us! Driving back home was a nightmare as the storm was doing it’s impression of a DubStep Rave, with thrumming waves of the water and the strobe effects of the lightning. I could barely see the road. Crazy.

We did make it home safely. Oh, and of course, when we checked the mail, I got a lovely letter from the District of Columbia informing me that they were super nice and took a picture of my car and me the other day when I was driving home from the ren faire (and was dog sick). They felt I should have a copy of the photo and it was only going to cost me $125.

Oh, yeah, it was raining too.

You take the good, you take the bad…

Mobile Photography

Posted by Steve on September 25, 2012 1 comment

The Apps

I have been traveling around quite a bit lately. The thing that always goes with me is my photography bag. (It’s contents are listed in the sidebar) What doesn’t always go with me is my laptop. You see, I have a behemoth of a laptop. It’s an older ASUS gaming laptop that, while great for gaming, and processing photos, and everything else, is just HUGE! I love it to death, but it’s just not a feasible option for simple travel. Sure, if I am going to be someplace for an extended time, or have a lot of luggage I can take, it would make more sense. So in most cases, I just use my iPad.

When I bought the iPad I have now, I knew I would be using it for photog stuff, so the 64gb size made sense. I shoot primarily in RAW and that takes up a lot of space. Of course, storage isn’t the only concern though. I needed a few good quality applications to round out it’s usage. I thought that I would post about what I am using and the process in which I use them.

The apps that I tend to use the most (for photography) are:

Snapseed: http://www.snapseed.com/home/mobile/features/
- Snapseed is a great editor. From quick simple adjustments to spot enhancements, it really is my go-to app for on the road photo editing.

Filterstorm: http://filterstorm.com/fs4/
- Secondary photo editor, has a more Lightroom style to it. Good for more precise edits.
Pro HDR: http://www.eyeapps.com/Home.html
- It’s not the best HDR render, but it’s one of the best on the iPad. There aren’t many HDR apps that allow you to pull from the iPad library, but this one is simple and does the job well.
Eye-Fi: http://www.eye.fi/products/iphone
- The main app for the Eye-fi SD card. This allows me to wirelessly transfer the JPG of the shot I take and display it in Full screen. It’s like having a larger preview.
Easy Release: http://www.applicationgap.com/apps/easyrelease/
- Release forms for subjects
Photosmith: http://www.photosmithapp.com/
- Organization tool that allows me to group and tag photos while in the field. Automagicly syncs (wirelessly) with Lightroom when I get back to the PC, transfers the photos and keeps the tags and groups.
FlickStackr: http://ipont.jubilo.ca/ip/flickstackr/
- The best Flickr tool on the iPad. Allows me to view, upload, adjust, tag, etc.
Softbox Pro: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/softbox-pro-for-ipad/id415056105?mt=8
- Simple tool that allows me to use the iPad itself as a lighting tool for photos
Numbers (the iPad Spreadsheet App)
- Created a survey form. Easy-Peasy

So, there’s all the tools, but how do you incorporate them into a shoot? Easy! Here is a play by play on how I would go about using all of these tools out in the field to Shoot, display, organize, process, and publish.

Release Forms

I have an upcoming project I am working on for a photo essay on Portraits. (subject to be explained at a later date) I will be on location for the duration of the project and won’t have access to my PC until much later. So I would go about the shoot, like usual. Meet with the subject and discuss the plans for the project and their involvement. If they agree to the project they would then fill out the release form in Easy Release and sign. Then I would have them fill out the form I created in Numbers that asks them for information specific to the project. (Simple questionnaire) It’s important to have questions in the survey that would identify them in the pictures.

Using my Nikon camera and lighting gear (supplemented by the SoftBox app) we would take the photos. The Eye-Fi card would wirelessly transfer the JPG preview to the iPad, which would be standing nearby, to display the picture I just took (within a second or two). This allows a larger screen to see framing, lighting, exposure. I like the LCD on my camera, but sometimes it’s just not big enough to judge if I got the shot I wanted, or was just off. The downside to this is the time it takes to transfer. If you are shooting at an event where speed is a factor, this is not a good solution. Of course, if you at an event like that, you probably aren’t checking your LCD every few shots either.

Eye-Fi used as quick Preview

Softbox can show different colors or textures

Once the shots are done I import the RAW into the iPad using the camera connector. (it’s an important step to delete the Eye-Fi imported JPG’s to avoid duplicates). Then I can use Photosmith to organize the shots into groups, flag the ones I want to keep/discard/etc. Now, I can stop here and wait for my PC to process photos, since when I get to it I can sync Photosmith to Lightroom and go from there, but, if I am going to be out for a while and want to get some work done quickly, I can proceed with processing.

Organizing and tagging like a PRO!

Using Photosmith I can identify the shots that I want to focus on. If I shot in bracketed mode for HDR use, I would find the two shots I want to combine and open them in Pro HDR. Adjust the levels, and save then move on to Snapseed. For a typical shoot, I would just open in Snapseed. This allows me to adjust all my levels, colors, and balance. I can do some selective adjustment as well. If I need to use more precise editing, or want a more Lightroom type feel, I can use Filterstorm instead of or in conjunction with Snapseed.

HDR Editing on the fly

Quick Professional edits

Precise edits

Once editing is finished I can use the iPad to post to various social networks, email, and even my own website. Using FlickStackr I can upload to Flickr directly, add all the info I need, tag it with keywords, location, and people.

Uploading and tagging on Flickr

So there you have it. The whole process described above can be done, on the scene, in a matter of minutes. (depending on shoot time)

Now, that’s not to say that this process doesn’t have it’s faults. You certainly aren’t going to get as accurate processing as you would with Lightroom on a PC. As with all electronics, battery life is an issue too. The Eye-Fi card adds a draw to the camera battery, and having the iPad up and receiving drains it as well. Barring that, I love being able to set up, shoot, process, and publish all while on the road.

Costuming in Advance!

Posted by Steve on September 24, 2012 No comments

DragonCon is coming!

Well, sort of.

DragonCon, one of the big conventions we like to attend, usually takes place over labor day weekend in September. Since it’s still September now, you may be wondering while I mention that it’s “Coming”. That is because THIS time, we are planning in advance! Both Sarah and I are working on costumes for NEXT DragonCon, and we are getting the jump on them so we don’t end up scrambling at the end of the year trying to get them done.

The big costume I have planned for D*C is Harry Dresden. He is a character from the books “The Dresden Files” which is a Mystery series set in a supernatural world. I had enough friends get on me for not reading the books that I finally broke down and dove into them. I love the series and realized that I had most of what I needed already and just needed to assemble. The results are as follows:

The Book Cover shot, thus the hat.

Important elements: Black leather duster, shield bracelet, power rings on each finger, leather glove on left (burned) hand, Pentacle amulet, Runed Staff, Bob the Spirit skull.
Still needing work: Blasting Rod, more solid electronics for Bob the skull, and potentially a new Shield Bracelet.

Our goal is to have a group of Dresden costumers at the 2013 DragonCon, Sarah is going to be Elaine, and we have a Thomas and Lara as well.