Lightroom 2

Today Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2 software released. It has been a highly anticipated release of a very popular photo management and editing software.

In April 2008 Adobe Labs released the BETA for Lightroom 2. According to the information released by Adobe over 130,000 copies were downloaded.

I did not download the BETA version, so do not have any fist hand experience on the software. However, I am an avid user of the first version of Lightroom. I think it is a great tool. Most of my images posted to this blog and others have been adjusted with only the Adobe Lightroom software. For photography work flow and management, I don’t think there is better software out on the market. For features of Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2 Click… Here.

Check out the upgrade comparison chart Lightroom 1 vs. Lightroom 2. Click… Here
Check out Matt Kloskowski blog, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips for additional information and news. Click… Here.

Morning Quickie...

Good Morning,

Just a quick post today. I am tired and don’t feel like putting much effort into this post today.

However I did run into a funny mock portrait photo shoot online. It is an ad campaign for the Subaru Forester. If you get a chance check it out. Link: Photo Shoot. If that link doesn’t work try this link, Click… Here, you may have to root around the web site for the gallery.

That’s it for me today, short and sweet. Have a great weekend; keep your lens clean and your focus sharp.

Barque Eagle...

Once again my office window presents a unbelievable view. The USCGC Eagle is parked outside my office window at the moment here is a snapshot of the 295 ft. Barque class sailing vessel, ordered and commisioned by Adolf Hitler, built for Nazi Germany and used by the Third Reich as a training vessel.

Update-

The Festival of Sail starts today at 12 noon with a Parade of Tall Ships along the Bay – ending at the Bay Bridge at around 1 pm. It will be a great experience for you all to see. Take a look from your shop or office windows, stand along the bay side promenade to experience a majestic display of 32 Tall Ships!

Route & Parade Duration
These majestic marvels of medieval engineering, from ports of call all over the world, will make their way past thousands of spectators lining Crissy Field, Marina Green, Fort Mason, Aquatic Park, and locations all along the Embarcadero. The first vessel will pass under the Golden Gate Bridge at Noon. The Parade will last approximately 1 1/2 hours from start (at the Golden Gate Bridge) until the finish (Bay Bridge). Once the vessels pass under the Bay Bridge they will sail to their respective berths. Vessels will be open for tours beginning Thursday July 24th at 10:00 am.

For more information on touring vessels docked at Pier 3 just north of the Ferry Building – or activities at Justin Herman Plaza please visit: http://www.festivalofsail.org/schedule.asp

The World I See…

This morning I walked into work and we are having a little power outage. It has been very warm up here in Nor Cal for the past few days. I imagine it is taxing the power grid to the local utilities infrastructures limit.

I thought I would share with you an image I snapped with my point-n-shoot Panasonic that I always carry with me. I took this image at 6:00 AM while the lights were still out in the building. From my chair this is what I see when I look out the window.

It’s better then looking at a brick wall all day. What do you think?

Happy 4th of July...

"Pig" Would like to wish everyone a "Safe & Sane" Happy Independence day.

This photo was taken at the Alameda County Fair on Monday. Magellan and I had a great time talking with the students in the 4-H Live Stock area.

The students were of all ages and very eager to share their knowledge with us. Some of these kids were barely 80 pounds dripping wet and their "Pets" were six to nine months old and out weighed them by several hundreds of pounds.

They we're all busy cleaning, feeding and practicing for the show and auction. It was told to Magellan, by a very energetic young man (that reminded her of a Nephew), that a pig went for several thousands of dollars in last years auction. Whoa, that's an expensive piece of bacon.

We went camping. See you when we get back. Have a great holiday.

Fireworks…

As the 4th of July draws closer we think of days at the beach, picnics, hotdogs, lemonade and fireworks. Many of us in California are restricted to what kind of fireworks we can have. Most of us in the densely populated coastal regions can’t purchases fireworks. Even the “Safe and Sane” fireworks we sold in fireworks stands as boy scouts have been outlawed.

The only thing we can count on, are the professional firework displays that are put on by most local cities. These are the huge mortar type fireworks launched by professionals.

I have always wanted to capture my own photographs of these large displays. I used to think you went out and set your camera on a tripod, set the aperture to bulb and held the shutter open for a few seconds. Last year I went to a local display to capture some photographs. This was truly my fist attempt to photograph fireworks.

What I discovered was I had no clue what I was doing. I didn’t prepare enough to take a quality picture. I didn’t take into account ambient light, from parking lot lights that are not shut off. Another issue I experienced was line of site interference from light poles, trees, people and buildings. I didn’t scout the site to pick the best position for the camera with an unobstructed view. I also didn’t take into account the flight of the fireworks. In order to capture the entire flight path of the fireworks, I needed to get further away from the launch site. This adjustment in my position added more light and distractions.

Other items I learned. Once you set up and you are ready to shoot, anticipate the shot. If you know where most of the action is going to take place set your shutter speed, aperture and focus beforehand. Another trick learned about after the fact is to take a black card (poster board) with you to put over the front of the lens. This will give you the ability to leave the shutter open and quickly cut off the light to the lens in-between firework launches. When the next launch starts you can quickly pull the card away to capture multiple firework exposures.

Here is a great reference from Digital Photography School on photographing fireworks displays.

Good luck and Happy Independence Day. Have a safe and sane holiday.