Category: Uncategorized

Flashing Red Light On Canon Rebel

Question from a reader:  I was taking photos yesterday of my daughter at a gymnastics event.  A red light in the bottom right corner on my Canon Rebel kept flashing.  Once I saw the word “BUSY” in the viewfinder.  What was I doing wrong?

The red flashing light on your camera shows that the camera is accessing the memory card.

It’s normal to see a red light when the camera takes a photo. (Nikon users see a green light.)  The light should quickly go on-and-off  if all is well.

During a rapid burst of photos, the red light will flash as long as the camera is moving the photos to the memory card.  The camera has a memory buffer of 6-9 photos.  It’s holding those in memory and waiting to move them photos to the card.

If you take 10 photos in a row, the camera moves some to the card and then some to the buffer. Those in the buffer wait in line until it’s time for them to move to the card.

You’ll see BUSY in the viewfinder if you take too many photos and the buffer fills.  The camera won’t take any more photos until the buffer clears out and has room to store another photo.

You’re likely to see the flashing red light and BUSY in the viewfinder if you held the shutter button down and took a lot of photos.  Those photos need to process out of the buffer and through to the card.

Solution — get a memory card that records faster.  How fast?  That depends on the camera.  A 20MB camera that takes 7 fps (frames per second) is going to record 140MB worth of photos per second.  A card that records 64MB per second can record roughly three frames a second.  The other four frames are going to sit in memory.  That means you have three frames recording to the card while four photos are waiting in buffer.  That’s usually okay since the buffer will clear in a second or two.

This card records 150MB/s. That’s seven photos per second using a 20MB camera.
This card records 45MB/s. That’s two photos per second using a 20MB camera.

 

The card on the left records 150MB/s.  That’s seven photos per second using a camera with a 20MB file.  This is almost more card than the Rebel needs.  Someone who shoots sport or action regularly might need this, though.

The card on the right records 45MB/s.  That’s two photos per second using the same camera.  Too slow for someone photographing sports or action.

The card you need depends on what you photograph and what camera you use.  I get my cards from Hunt’s Photo and Video.  Ask for Alan Samiljan (781) 462-2383 or email him at asamiljan@huntsphoto.com    His hours are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday, 8:30-5:00pm eastern

Let’s Bring Birds Into Our Lives

Pine warbler KAC9274

January 5th is National Bird Day.  It’s a great day to think about bringing birds into our lives.

Backyards big or small can be a haven for birds.  Birds will come to a large grassy lot with trees or a balcony with container plants.

Birds are attracted to a space that has three things:

  • Food
  • Water
  • Shelter
red-bellied woodpecker
Shelled sunflower seeds in a feeder with red-bellied woodpecker

Food is the first big consideration to bringing birds into your yard or balcony.  Shelled sunflower seeds are a favorite because the hulls have been removed and no waste falls to the ground to attract mice and rats.  Shelled sunflower seed is a bit more expensive but the food goes a long way because there is no waste.

Avoid packaged birdfeed that contains millet, milo, and wheat.  Watch for little white seeds common in bird feed that comes from a grocery store.  Northern cardinals, blue jays, and Carolina chickadee don’t eat these seeds.  Blackbird and grackles do, though.

Birdfeed from area nature stores such as Wild Bird Unlimited, feed stores, and locally owned garden centers is usually fresher than that found in big box stores.

Birds like suet.  Suet is a mixture of seeds, nuts, and fruit held together with a peanut butter matrix.  Carolina wrens, pine warblers, and red-bellied woodpeckers love suet cakes.

Pine warblerppKAC3731
In warmer climates, use suet cakes made with a nut butter matrix versus white fat.

Avoid suet cakes held together with a whitish or fat-based matrix.  These are designed for cooler, northern climates and spoil in our heat.

Bird baths are a great way to add water to your habitat.  Traditional concrete bird baths are best.  Birds only need an inch of water to drink or bath.  Concrete bird baths last twenty or more years.

Eastern bluebird. bathing in shallow pool.
Eastern bluebird. bathing in shallow pool.

 

The rough surface of a concrete bird bath gives birds something to grip in the event they need to fly quickly away to avoid a predator.  Glass or ceramic bird baths are pretty but the bathing area needs to be rough.  Toss in a few handfuls of dirt and let a bit of algae grow.  This creates a natural surface that birds prefer.

Shelter is the last item needed to create a bird habitat.  Birds need a place to hide when a hawk or cat enters the area.

Place feeders and birdbaths five to ten feet from a tree, shrub, or potted plant.  Birds won’t cross a vast open area to feed or bathe.  Place plants on two sides to create an ideal habitat.

Consider natives when planting around feeders in a yard or on a balcony.  Yaupon and American beautyberry are lovely to look at and provide berries for our birds.  Golden dewdrop  (Duranta) is a large showy plant with purple flowers in summer and golden berries in fall.  This can be grown in a container or in the ground.  Porterweed (Stachytarpheta) is another favorite.  It’s cold hardy and produces lovely purple blooms from spring to the first frost.  Butterflies also like golden dewdrop and Porterweed.

 

#nationalbirdday

 

 

Holiday Lights Through a Crystal Ball

There is still time to order a crystal ball before all the holiday lights are packed and put away.

This is the one I ordered through Amazon.  

Click here to see a gallery of my photos with a crystal ball.

Crystal ball, reflection, reverse,
Christmas tree through the crystal ball.

Crystal ball, reflection, reverse,

Magical Winter Lights KAC1400
F/stop at 22.
Magical Winter Lights KAC1419
Holding the crystal ball to see all the lights in the background.

 

Is a 50mm my next purchase?

One of my photography students wrote: 

I’ve taken a couple classes from you and have enjoyed them both. I’m still very much a beginner and still learning about my camera.

I use a Nikon d5000 and my question is, if you were going to add a lens to my kit lens which I have, would it be a 50mm (nifty fifty)? I take pictures mainly of my 4 year old daughter and have been reading about different lenses.

Any suggestions on lenses or where to buy would be greatly appreciated.

M.W.

My answer:

It’s good to hear from you.  Personally, I’d buy the 70-300mm or 70-200mm before I’d buy  the 50mm.  

Shooting with the 50mm means your daughter has to be somewhat still and you have to be close to her to fill the frame.  Use the 70-300mm or the 70-210mm and she can be running around the playground while you’re sitting on a bench and photographing her.  There’s distance between you and the subject. You don’t have to be right in her face all the time.  

The 50mm is a great lens for studio work.  It’s not the greatest for outdoor or shooting in the living room.  I know a lot of people promote it on the internet but you can get the same results with the other lenses.

I have the 50mm and I always grab my 70-200mm first.  Here’s an example why:

Holiday ornaments, Christmas, raccoons, christmas tree,
Here’s a photo of ornaments against a background with lights.  This was taken with a Canon 70-200mm lens at f/7.1.
Holiday ornaments, Christmas, raccoons, christmas tree,
The above photo is enlarged to 100%.  Notice that both of the little ornaments are in focus.
Holiday ornaments, Christmas, raccoons, christmas tree,
Same little ornament scene but this time photographed with a 50mm lens.  I had to move the camera closer to the scene with the camera and tripod.  The lights in the background have the great bokeh that makes people  want when they use the 50mm lens.
Holiday ornaments, Christmas, raccoons, christmas tree,
The above photo was enlarged to 100%.  I used a 50mm lens set at f/1.4.  Notice that both little raccoons are soft.  My focus point is the little raccoon on the left.  Its eyes are in focus but the soup can is soft.  The raccoon on the right is totally soft.  

Recapping, the 50mm f/1.4 lens gives a great bokeh or blown-out-background.  Yet, if you shoot it at f/1.4 the depth-of-field is super shallow.  The lens should be used at an f/stop appropriate for the subject.  You’ll also need to get closer to the subject than with the 70-200mm lens.

Hope that helps.  I’d let you borrow my 50mm if you used a Canon.  It doesn’t get much use.

Holiday Lights — Make a Sequence GIF

My friend, Patti Edens, and I spent the evening at Magical Winter Lights in LaMarque, Texas, last week.

The lighted displays were a lot of fun to photograph.  As you see from the slideshow below, there were huge and amazing lighted objects to photograph.  We had our cameras on a tripod and used an f/22 most of the time.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A different display was a lighted cube.  It was pink, red, and purple outside but filled with disorienting colors inside.

Magical Winter Lights, LaMarque, Texas, light display, Holiday lights, Christmas lights, lighting display
Magical Winter Lights, LaMarque, Texas, light display, Holiday lights, Christmas lights, lighting display

Outside the cube was a huge silhouette of a potbellied man.  The words “In the city where beauty and pain integrate, I am the most perfect stain,” by Fan J.

How funny to see a huge pink cube in the middle of a lighted holiday display.  Yet the cube captivated our eyes.

Magical Winter Lights KAC1327
Patti silhouetted against the pink wall.
Magical Winter Lights KAC1329
Me against the giant pink wall.

Camera settings were pretty basic.  Camera on a tripod, set at Aperture Priority, f/22, and ISO in a moderate range like 400 or 500.  For the silhouette photos, we just stood pretty still.

Magical-winter-lights-me-walkingKAC

For this GIF, though, we used a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the walking.  That meant changing the f/stop to a f/4.5 giving a shutter speed of 1/40th.  The shutter speed gave us a bit of blur but not too much.

Fun playing with lights and our cameras.

(Instructions how to make a GIF are in December 6, 2017 blog post on this site.)

Porteen Gear Camera Bag

My Porteen Gear Camera Bag is here and I’m enjoying taking it out in the field.

Click here if you missed my post about Porteen Gear Camera bags a month ago.  This is my YouTube video showing my bag.

The Porteen bag is amazing and I’m loving it.

Porteen Gear Camera Bag KAC7578
Here’s my custom designed Porteen Gear Camera Bag at Eleanor Tinsley Park in Houston.  This is a great bag for carrying a small selection of equipment around the city.
Kathy Adams Clark KAC6784_1
My Porteen Gear Camera Bag can be rugged, too.  Here it is out in the Chihuahuan Desert of Big Bend National Park.

 

Kathy Adams Clark KAC6785_1
The Porteen Gear Camera Bag looks nice even in a rugged setting.  Yet, it carries the equipment I need for a short outing.

Design and order your own Porteen Gear Camera Bag today!

Thanks to Patti Edens for the photos!

Storm Clouds with Macphun Intensify

We had some great desert lightning storms during my recent workshop in Big Bend National Park.  Each of the images below is a composite of several lightning strikes to make the scene more dramatic.  The images have then been processed with Macphun Intensify to bring out the details in the clouds.

Lightning storm KAC082017
Composite image of lightning strikes in Big Bend National Park.
Lightning storm KAC082017stackintensify
Same image with a touch of intensity added thanks to Macphun Intensify
Lightning Storm KAC6989_7097intensify
Composite image of several lightning strikes.  Then processed with Macphun Intensify to enhance the clouds.
Lightning Storm KAC6989intensify
Single image of magnificent storm clouds in Big Bend National Park.  A touch of drama was added with Macphun Intensify.

I love what Macphun Intensify does to bring out details in a photo.  Thanks to a full range of sliders, I can bring out details and drama that enhance my photos.  Intensify really does “bring out the hidden beauty” of a photo.

Porteengear Camera Bag

Screen Shot 2017-07-14 at 7.27.36 PMPorteengear Camera Bags have me so excited.  I can’t wait for my new bag to arrive.

For years I’ve used a LowePro Passport to carry my cameras and lenses when I’m out photographing the streets or  an amusement park or traveling light with my equipment.  My LowePro Passport carries a camera, two lenses, and flash plus wallet, cellphone, and bottle of water.

But things have changed and Porteengear is in my life.  Well almost — my bag will be here in two weeks.

Porteengear offers camera bags that you design yourself.  On the Porteengear website you enter the custom design page.

Screen Shot 2017-07-14 at 7.12.24 PM

You choose the size of your camera bag from tiny bag to one that will hold your laptop.

  1.   You select the flap design.  Options include a bit of accent color or fabric to a uniform color.
  2.    Then the fun beings.
    1. You can select  the overall bag covering including tooled leather, snake skin, aged leather, or even Damask.  There’s a Vegan fake leather option.
    2. Then you select your second leather color.  For example, black with tooled leather.   Maybe teal leather with a some subtle brocade.    Maybe distressed leather with a nice tartan plaid for a more masculine look.
    3. Next you select the color of the outer shell of the bag.
    4. Then you can select the interior color of the camera bag.  All my camera equipment is black so the last thing I want is a black-colored interior.  Select a bright color or a dark color.  The interior color of your camera bag is your choice.
    5. We get to choose the color of the strap.
    6. We get to choose antique hardware or traditional.
    7. Then there’s an option to add a dust flap and/or luggage sleeve.

Screen Shot 2017-07-14 at 7.22.37 PM

All those options are live on the screen.  That means you can design several bags and then make a final decision in a couple of days — or maybe after consulting your friends.

screen-shot-2017-07-14-at-7-23-48-pm.png

Need help designing your bag?  Head to Porteengear’s Etsy page to see bags designed by the pros.  Click the Shop option on the Porteengear page and see bags already designed for you.  Order one of those or use the design as a starting point.

My new Porteengear camera bag!?  I’ll show you in a couple of weeks when it arrives.

 

Macphun Free Launch of Beta Luminar for Windows

 I’ve been working with Macphun’s Luminar on my Mac and love it.  PC users can now get a beta version of Luminar for Windows.  Free!

Here’s the Press Release from Macphun:

Macphun makes free public beta of Luminar for Windows available for download 

 

San Diego, CA – July 13, 2017 — Macphun, the California-based developer known for delivering award-winning products for Mac, today launched the free public beta of its award-winning photo editor Luminar for Windows. To download the beta, please visit macphun.com/beta.

Luminar is a powerful photo editor designed to tackle anyone’s photography needs, from correcting challenging image problems to artful stylizing. Users can choose between levels of image processing complexity based on their experience, and adapt the workspace controls to their skill level, moving up to more advanced modes as they learn. Luminar works in non-destructive fashion and aims to take “work” from photo editing “workflow” for photographers worldwide.

In April, only 5 months after its launch, Luminar for Mac won the prestigious TIPA award for Best Imaging Software 2017. This all-in-one photo editor is a cutting-edge solution for creating fascinating images without extra hassle. Luminar includes over 300 robust tools that make fixing, editing and perfecting a photo as easy as moving a slider.

“We are thrilled to release our first PC product today and give photography enthusiasts around the world the first taste of our best-selling Mac product,” said Kevin La Rue, Vice-President at Macphun. “By test-driving Luminar for Windows, beta testers can help shape our software and make the final release a perfect fit for everyone,” concluded La Rue.

 The public beta is free of charge and already matches some of the most important features of Luminar, such as the newest and most advanced tool developed by Macphun’s Research and Development Lab – the Accent AI Filter, powered by artificial intelligence technology. The filter allows anyone to create stunning images with a single slider, substituting for dozens of traditional controls like shadows, highlights, contrast, tone, saturation, exposure, details and many others.

Admittedly, several features from the Mac version of Luminar remain in development for the Windows platform, among them workspaces, plug-in integration, object removal, noise reduction, and more. As these are completed, the public beta will be updated regularly leading to a full cross-platform release late in 2017.

Key features of the Luminar for Windows public beta:

  • Adaptive user interface – Exactly matching the Mac version, the software adapts to the skill level and preferences of the photographer.
  • One-click presets – Over 50 pre-defined styles for every photography style.
  • Photo Editing Filters – Over 40 custom filters, each with built-in visual tips and a unique set of easy-to-use controls for correcting, enhancing and stylizing images.
  • RAW file conversion – Support for the latest RAW file libraries.
  • Non-destructive workflow – Edit without fear.
  • Recommended System Requirements – Windows 10, Core i5 2.2 or better, 8GB RAM, 1GB GPU RAM, SSD with 20+GB free space.
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