Monthly Archives: April 2014

Paw Paw Marsh, Martin County, Indiana

Why would you risk snake bite, ruining your camera and God knows what to stay all day in a freakin’ swamp? tick bites-terror supreme!

on the other hand…….

Why would you strap yourself into a plastic and metal thing on rubber wheels  and hurl yourself down asphalt at 60 miles and hour….with idiots coming at you at all directions?

Great Blue Heron

We know air travel is safer….and so is nature. A mucky-yucky swamp is full of beautiful life. That is why a lot of photo people like it. If you have never entered a marsh area (marsh…that is what we tree hugging liberals call it) before sunrise…well you should. As the sun rises and the fog lifts wild life comes alive. Since you and your camera were there first, and you are quiet, then you will see a lot of life others miss. Hint-if you can-do this on a weekday when the other folks are off to work.

Green Heron

I recently remarked to a friend that I did not like the way wide angle lens shots looked because they warp the information on the right and left sides (edges of information lean in towards the center).

He told me how to do “photo-stitching” or panoramic shots. I would now like to pass this on to you. I think you will be amazed at how easy it is!

1. Turn the camera for a vertical format, take 5-6 shots from left to right. Make sure each shot overlaps the last one by about 25%. Take care not to jog the camera up or down, just stay in place and twist your body as you shoot.

2. After putting the photos in Adobe, select the 4-5, highlight them (left mouse button+shift). Now tap the ENTER key. This will load all of your photos ( you will see them displayed at the bottom of the screen).

3. Go up to FILE then NEW. This will open a window that allows you to choose: PHOTO MERGE PANORAMA.

4. A photo merge page comes up. Click on ADD NEW FILES. Then click O.K. Believe it or not-the work is done. Now simply wait for a few minutes and the computer will stitch the images together. Give it time to resolve all of the edges and lighting differences in each shot. When it is done it will be obvious.

Now simply crop the image and save it.

After saving the image it may or may not be in the file you pulled it out of, the first 2 or 3 times I had to go to “recently changed” to find it. After that the image did stay right in the file I pulled it from.

Good luck and have fun!

TTV PHOTOS

I am a very, very (and yes…very) non-technical person. I was recently introduced to something that I find is not only non-tech, it is fun and retro and invites a little Luddite in me to step forward, always a good feeling.

My friend gave me an old camera with a pop up viewer and a black square long box she had constructed. As you can see shapes were cut into it to accommodate the camera and provide an opening for the lens.

The black box slides down over the old camera. The next step is to turn the auto flash on your camera off and set to macro (an image of a flower may be on the dial). You can still use auto-focus. When you first shoot it will be frustrating because everything will be backwards, it takes a while to adjust. When you move left the view moves right, etc. Once you get used to it, things are interesting. This method allows you to embrace the (to my mind) wonderful imperfections in old photos. As a matter of fact I often use Adobe to make them “worse.” In the photos you see here I used two mannequins I recently purchased. Subject matter always counts. Ordinary things take on a new look when shot this way.

 P.S.: Depending on the camera and lens you use, you may have to elevate you “good” camera just beyond the top edge of the black box.