San Francisco Fleet Week

Today is the official start of Fleet Week in San Francisco. Yesterday was media day, and a practice for most of the scheduled demonstrations.

Here is a shot I took yesterday from the Golden Gate Yacht Club.


This is a movie my wife put together of last years San Francisco Fleet Week 2008. Potos and the movie clips were shot by me, but she put it together for here third grade class.

San Francisco Fleet Week October 2008 from Goldi Loxs on Vimeo.

VAL's Voice Activated Lights

(VALs) can go a long way. a great video from the BYU shooting team shows some great lighting techniques and VALing with a monoblok Video

Astrophotography

If you are fascinated in Astrophotography and how they do it, wired.com has a great article of how Rogelio Bernal Andreo does his Astrophotography. He walks you a quick tutorial of how it's done and the equipment that he uses to make his fantastic images of the stars. Here is the link to Wired.com article "The Making of a Mind-Blowing Space Photo".

My attempts have never show the results that Andreo has produced. The closest celestial body to earth is the only thing I can get a good image from in space.

Talking to Strangers

Zack Arias an Atlanta based photographer was in New York City last September. While in NYC he took some time out from his busy shooting schedule and gave himself a little shooting assignment. He decided to take 10 portraits of 10 strangers in 10 hours. He found that most people can be receptive while others are scared of his glass.

Take a look at his work and how he approached his subjects. He includes a video so you can see as he put it "His Dork like approach". Here is the link to his Blog post: Street Portraits :: NYC 09/2009 :: Video + Stills

Hamadryas Baboon

Satisfaction, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

If you think the look on this Alpha Male Hamadryas Baboon is one of Satisfaction, well it is, he has a new enclosure at the Oakland Zoo. No more fence to shoot through.

Today is the grand opening of the new Baboon exhibit and enclosure. If you are in the area, go by and see them.

Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library

Magellan and I finally made it home from our trip to Southern California. Our journey home took to the Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library. Our main reason for going was that Magellan is taking a summer class from UCSD that will give her one credit and move her up on the pay scale at work in October. The secondary reason is we wanted to see the Air Force One, tail number 27000.

It was amazing to see this huge Boeing 707 perched three stories above your head. This massive piece of machinery was literally standing on three pillars.

If you find yourself in Simi Valley, California and on Hwy 118. Take some time and visit the Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library, no matter what political party you belong, you will find the history amazing, and the history of his career for the early days of radio and movies through his political career.

Take Car Photos While In Motion

Here is a quick post for the car enthusiast and photographer in you. In one of the posts from a favorite blog I follow DIYPhotography.net. James Evins shows us how he makes a Do-it-yourself camera rig. I have looked into getting a camera rig for several projects that I want to do. This seems to be a cheap alternative to a more expensive Rig Kit.

Follow along with his detail DIY project. I would like to get feed back with anyone who actually makes a rig for themselves.

Ref: http://www.diyphotography.net/take-cool-car-photos-with-a-diy-specialized-car-rig

OpenRoadTV talks with Michael Adams

Alcatraz Photo Workshop

I just received an email form on of my local photography stores. Keeble & Shuchat Photography and Nikon has sent out a invitation for a unique opportunity to photograph Alcatraz Island and penitentiary during the evening and night.

If you are interested joining Keeble & Shuchat the cost is $249.95 per person. For more information go to this link Alcatraz Photo Workshop PDF or www.KSPhoto.com. Hopefully I will see you there...

Depth of Field

D.O.F. or Depth of Field, What is it? Is it the distance from home plate to the center field fence? Is it the height of the wild grass in an unmowed meadow or field? No, it is none of these.

Depth of Field is a term used in photography to describe the focal distance between the nearest object and the farthest object in focus in the focal plane. Here is a simple example of how D.O.F. works. If you are standing on a street corner and you are looking down the street a sign. You notice that most everything is in focus between you and the sign, but the sign itself seem to be a bit out of focus. However, if you squint you notice that it bring more objects into focus including the sign.

This happens because as we squint we close down the iris in our eyes. Just like a camera lens we can close down our aperture and create the same affect, increasing the focal distance. If you have a 50mm lens with the aperture adjustments of f2.8 to f22 the larger the number the smaller the aperture opening and the greater focal distance is created. The smaller the number the short the focal distance and the wider the aperture opening is.

Keep in mind that the aperture does increase or decrease the amount of light allowed through the lens of the camera. So you will have to adjust the shutter speed to compensate, and make a properly exposed image.

If you have a point-n-shoot camera without all these adjustments, don’t fear. It is possible to achieve the same results even when you are using a point-n-shoot style digital camera. On the top or back of the camera is a dial. On that dial are many different settings represented usually with little pictures.

The mountain picture is used for taking scenic pictures. This is the setting you should use for the greater depth of field. When this setting is selected the camera knows you need the greatest focal range and will select the proper aperture and shutter speed.

For a shallower depth of field choose the picture of the flower. This is for close up photography. This setting will allow you to take a sharp picture of a subject and allow the background to be out of focus.

Give this a try, let me know how it works out for you…

Green Sea Turtle

Green Sea Turtle
Originally uploaded by Kirk Howard

This was taken with my new Canon PowerShot G10 camera and Canon WP-DC28 underwater housing. It took a week to get somewhat familar with all the controls and buttons and knobs.

However by the end of my vacation I was able to capture moments like this free diving with an very buoyant housing. I need to get the weights to help make the camera neutrally buoyant.

Aloha...

Aloha, we all made it back from Maui, Hawaii in one piece. I think I speak for all that went (Kathlene, Karla, Krista, Kirk) we are none too pleased to be back on the mainland.

Vacations no matter how long they are, they never seem long enough. It felt like yesterday we were on our way to Hawaii. Unfortunately all good things come to an end and so did our Maui vacation.

If you didn't know and you may not really care I have a travel blog on TravelPod.com. If anyone is interested to read more about our trip you can follow this link to the My TravelPod Blog.

Here is a little video I shot on Saturday our last full day on Maui. I had been snorkeling earlier in the day at Black Rock Point with Kathlene and Krista. During that snorkel session we saw some Green Sea Turtles. The turtles had surfaced for air while we were there.

I decide I would go for one last snorkel session during the evening before dinner. I walked to Black Rock and slipped into the water at 5:30 PM. I was the only person in the water.

I swam over to where I had last seen the turtles earlier in the day. I was pleased to see that one turtle was in his little hidy hole.

Now I would just wait for him to surface for air, which could be a 30 minute wait. Fortunately I only had to wait about five minutes. The turtle surfaced and then proceeded swim along the face of Black Rock...

I will let the video tell the rest of the story. I hope you can enjoy it half as much as I did filming it.

Mahalo

Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle from KiHo on Vimeo.

VANDENBERG MINUTEMAN III LAUNCH

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile configured with a joint test assembly is scheduled to launch from North Vandenberg Monday between 3:01 a.m. to 9:01 a.m.

The launch is an operational test to determine the weapon system's reliability and accuracy.

The missile's three unarmed re-entry vehicles are expected to travel approximately 4,190 miles, hitting a pre-determined target near the Kwajalein Atoll.

The 576th Flight Test Squadron, which will direct the missile launch, installed tracking, telemetry and command destruct systems on the missile to collect data and meet safety requirements. Maintenance and operations task force personnel from the 91at Missile Wing, Minot AFB, ND are conducting operational tasks leading up to launch.

Col. David J. Buck, the 30th Space Wing commander, is the launch decision authority for this mission. Lt. Col. Lesa K. Toler, the 576th FLTS commander, is the mission director. A crew visiting from Minot AFB will launch the missile under the direction of the 576th FLTS.

This launch, the first of three in 2009, comes at a time of change within the missile world, as the Air Force moves closer to combining its nuclear missile and bomber assets into a fledgling Global Strike Command.

"The move to Global Strike Command means that we can re-build the way we do business from scratch," said Colonel Toler. "This is a great opportunity for us to write our future. We are already the best at what we do, but now we are currently looking at our processes to see how we can do our job faster and more efficiently."

The entire ICBM community, including the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, will use the data collected from this mission for continuing force development evaluation.

Here is a Google Earth image of what I think the Minuteman III flight path will be. The yellow pin is Vandenberg AFB Launch Complex. The white pin in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is the Kwajalein Atoll. The other whit pin will be my location on the San Clemente Pier. Hopefully i will be able to capture a nice early morning flight path image.

Click on the image to see a larger view.

Geo Metro

Geo Metro
Originally uploaded by Kirk Howard

B-17 & B-24 at Livermore Airport

Memorial Day Weekend at Livermore Airport gives you the ability to view history.

Here is the information if anyone is interested in coming out to see the vintage planes.

Vintage B17 and B24 bombers once again visit the Livermore airport. This year a P51 joins them. You can take pictures, walk through the bombers, and talk to the crew. Flights are also available for a $425 donation.

In recent years a number of other vintage aircraft, many from WWII, have also been on display.
See the eLivermore photos.

Sponsor: The Collins Foundation
Location: Livermore Airport
Times: Walk Through Tour times: Sunday: 12-4; Monday, 11-4, Tuesday, 10-4
Flight Experiences take place before and after the tours.
Admission: Walk Through Tour: Adults: $12.00; Children 12 & under: $6; Rides: $425 for 30 minute flight on B-17 or B-24.
More info: The Collings Foundation. For Rides Call - 978-562-9182

Yosemite Night and Day

Sunday I drove to Yosemite just for the night. Just like last year in June I went to capture a Lunar Rainbow or Moonbow. This time I went in May on the night after the full moon. The difference from the two months June and May, May has a lot more water coming out of the waterfalls. Here is a link to last years post on Lunar Rainbows or Moonbows June 2008.

Here is a Shot that I took from the pathway in Cooks Meadow parallel to the Merced River. It was almost 2:00 AM and the Moonbow was starting to disappear.

This video was shot on the same day May 11, 2009. It is a 360º view from the highest point on Sentinel Dome.

Sentinel Dome 360º from KiHo on Vimeo.

Sentinel Dome 360º May 11, 2009

Fractalius for Mac

Jumping Spider Fractalius
Originally uploaded by Goshinsky

This is not my photo I borrowed it for another Flickr users. I use a Mac, so I can't create my own.

A few months back I put up a little post called Fractalius… It hasn’t received a lot of attention, but it has seen its share of web traffic.

In a nutshell it was about my frustration with Redfield who creates this fractalius plug-in. If you haven’t seen this plug in take a look on the internet. Go to Google or your favorite search engine and type in Fractalius images.

Redfield has stated in thier FAQ, that the plug-in is not supported on for a Mac, and nor do they ever plan on making a plug-in for Mac.

I have noticed an increased amount of traffic to my blog posting over the past few months. After going back through the searches that have led readers to the post and 90% have been from “Fractalius for Mac”.

If you ask me I think that Redfield is missing a crucial market. The Apple Mac user is basically a graphic user, and since this is a graphics image plug-in, I think it would be only natural to have this unusual plug-in available for the Mac OS platform.

I know, I am not the only Mac user that thinks this way. After linking to other sites from the links queried on my blog, I found an on-line petition. This petition is for all those Mac user being discriminated against by Redfield Plug-in. This petition is for all those Mac users that have said “Enough, I want my Fractalius Plug-in”.

Here is the link to the Fractalius for Mac OSX petition.

Do yourself a favor sign the petition above. Do me a favor a sign the petition. Do it for your mom, your dog, your fish or your spider . Sign the petition, sign it for any reason on earth just sign it, so we all can enjoy that little plug-in.

On-line Bait and Switch

My wife and I are planning a trip to Hawaii in July. We have booked the place to stay and have been waiting on airfare to drop to book our tickets.

We have been scouring the web night and day to find the best prices. Most of what we have found is price over $750.00 per ticket. I located a decent deal from American Airlines that had one stop both directions. However the trip would take more than 14 hours in a single direction. I could fly to Sydney Australia in less time.

The other night we were doing our airfare web crawl, and my wife found a good price on Hawaiian Airlines for $577.00 incl. taxes to Maui. Not bad, one stop in both directions and with only about an hour layover in Honolulu. We would depart from SFO and Return back to OAK. Not a big deal since BART takes you to both airports. We booked the tickets through Orbitz.com and we are happy… until today.

Today, I was looking at a TripAdvisor.com ad to win a million dollars (no purchase necessary). I clicked on it and it took me to TripAdvisors new feature of flight locators. So just for S&G I popped in our travel info and what do you know on Hawaiian Airlines I found the same Flights but to and from OAK. The price… the price was $371.00 per ticket incl. taxes. What a deal.

In a matter of only 15 minutes, I did all of the following:

I contacted Orbitz to find out the penalties to cancled our trip. I could still cancel our trip without having to pay any fees as long as it has been within 24 hours. (Cool feature on Orbitz) The only problem is that it could take two billing cycles to refund the money to the credit card. That sucks. I could cancel on-line, but I waited until I had the new tickets first.

My next step was to book the trip on Travelocity.com, who had the $371.00 price. I put in all the information and pressed enter. Poof! I get a per ticket price of $449.00 per ticket. Wait, that wasn’t the price? I check again and went through process a second and third time to make sure I wasn’t doing something wrong. Nope price says $322.00 per ticket +tax $371.00. Checkout says $449.00. Umm… that’s not right!

I called Travelocity.com to confirm the two prices. The operator (Kelly) said she saw the on-line price of $362.00 incl. tax per ticket. So I said I want to book it, and do it online to avoid the $25.00 phone surcharge. So, can you override the system to allow me to book for that $371.00 price?

Then Kelly said wait! We are getting a different price now. I see a new price of $449.00 per ticket. I said, “On your webpage, I still see $371.00”. I would like to have the airfare price I see advertised on your company website. She said she couldn’t give me that price, but she would be happy to confirm tickets at the new rate.

I shared my extreme frustration with Kelly and explained to her that she and her company (Travelocity.com) have committed on-line bait and switch. It was a clear and blatant attempt to lure customers on a great price. However, when the customer actually purchases the tickets they change the price. I told the Kelly that she should still honor the price, she refused. When I asked to speak to her supervisor Kelly hung-up on me.

Nonetheless, I am glad I didn’t cancel my tickets. I learned my lesson years ago with purchasing tickets on the web and canceling one before I had the other. Even though the price is still more than $100.00 cheaper, I refuse to give a company my money, when they practice a disregard in business ethics. I have a long list of companies I refuse to do business with and it continues to grow. Travelocity.com will go on the list right below American Airlines.

Schmap Destination Guide: Photo Inclusion

Pumpkin Pile
Originally uploaded by Kirk Howard

One of my photographs has been selected to be included for the Schmap Destination Guide.

I have personally never used this guide before, but I checked them out to make sure it was on the up and up. It seems to be directed to the mobile phone market specifically the iPhone.

I have included the letters that were sent to me via Flickr mail.

************************************************************************

From: Emma J. Williams
Subject: Schmap: San Francisco Photo Short-list


Hi Kirk,

I am writing to let you know that one of your photos has been short-listed for inclusion in the sixth edition of our Schmap San Francisco Guide, to be published mid-March 2009.

www.schmap.com/shortlist/p=66304943N00/c=SJ20012965

Clicking this link will take you to a page where you can:
i) See which of your photos has been short-listed.
ii) Submit or withdraw your photo from our final selection phase.
iii) Learn how we credit photos in our Schmap Guides.
iv) Browse online or download the fifth edition of our Schmap San Francisco Guide.

While we offer no payment for publication, many photographers are pleased to submit their photos, as Schmap Guides give their work recognition and wide exposure, and are free of charge to readers. Photos are published at a maximum width of 150 pixels, are clearly attributed, and link to high-resolution originals at Flickr.

Our submission deadline is Tuesday, February 24. If you happen to be reading this message after this date, please still click on the link above (our Schmap Guides are updated frequently - photos submitted after this deadline will be considered for later releases).

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides
www.schmap.me/emma.williams

***************************************************************************

From: Emma J. Williams
Subject: Schmap San Francisco Sixth Edition: Photo Inclusion


Hi Kirk,

I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo has been selected for inclusion in the newly released sixth edition of our Schmap San Francisco Guide:

Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival
www.schmap.com/sanfrancisco/events_outandabout/p=20581/i=20581_4.jpg

If you use an iPhone or iPod touch, then this same link will take you directly to your photo in the iPhone version of our guide. On a desktop computer, you can still see exactly how your photo is displayed and credited in the iPhone version of our guide at:

Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival
www.schmap.com/?m=iphone#uid=sanfrancisco&sid=events_outandabout&p=20581&i=20581_4

Finally, if you have a blog, you might also like to check out the customizable widgetized version of our Schmap San Francisco Guide, complete with your published photo:

www.schmap.com/guidewidgets/p=66304943N00/c=SJ20012191

Thanks so much for letting us include your photo - please enjoy the guide!

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides
www.schmap.me/emma.williams

Reflection at Dawn

Reflection at Dawn
Originally uploaded by Kirk Howard

An early February snowy morning in Yosemite National Park. This is a photo from Stoneman Bridge take with my Panasonic Point n Shoot.

What attracted me to this image is the glassy calm of the Merced River and the dawn colors in the reflection.

Snuffleupagus

Snuffleupagus, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

Young Male Elephant Seal at Ano Nuevo State Natural Reserve. He was tucked into a nice cozy bed of sea grass that washed up on the shore during high tide.

Al E. Gator

Al E. Gator, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

If you are looking for a great place to work on your photography technique or just take some fun great pictures, then take a day trip to your local Zoo.

My wife and I have been to our local Zoo a few times this year. We became members of the zoo in January. This allows us to get to the Zoo as often as we like for free. This week I have been to our local Zoo three times.

Our local Zoo is the Oakland Zoo. However, there are several local zoos’ to choose from in the Bay Area, but the Oakland Zoo is just a few miles from our house.

The Oakland Zoo is located East of I-580 in the Oakland Hills. It is a small Zoo with a lot to offer. It is small enough to tour the entire Zoo within a few hours, but large enough for you to see large predators and large game animals up close.

Some of the main attractions are the crowed pleasers like the Elephants, Lions, Tigers and Giraffes. Last year (2007) the Giraffe family had a new addition. However by the time we got off our butts to see the little guy, he wasn’t so little anymore.

Some of our favorite attractions are the Fox Faced Bats. My wife thinks they are the most interesting of all the exhibits. I like the Ring Tailed Lemurs. They are a fascinating little tribe. I also like the White-handed Gibbons. The young male swings in the trees with the greatest of ease.

This year the Oakland Zoo has introduced another Sun Bear. The Zoo has also acquired two rare lemurs, blue-eyed black lemurs. I haven’t seen them yet. According to the Zoo News it may be some time until they will be fully integrated with the Ring Tailed Lemurs.

The Oakland Zoo also offers a great place to take the kiddos and let them run-a-muck in the new children’s Zoo. No it’s a Zoo with children it… The children’s Zoo has kid friendly animas for them to interact with i.e. the Alligators. They’re kind of kid friendly. They’re cuddly in their own way… The Zoo does have a new petting Zoo, and other exhibits that appeal to the pint size patrons.

Go out and enjoy you local Zoo. Have fun and relax, just make sure you take your “Big Glass”. I have shot most of my images with my Nikon Nikkor 300mm f/4.0 with a 1.4x extender. It lets me get up close and personal with the big cats, without becoming part of the food chain.

Lift Off...

Rebound, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

On the Strobist blog I read an article last week about how a reader uses several off camera speed lights to photograph the high speed movement of hummingbirds. In this process of using the off camera lighting he freezes the motion to almost eliminate the blur.

Now consider this a hummingbird will beat his wings from 15 to 200 per second. So you need a high shutter spend and High-speed sync with a strobe to stop the action.

Read more about it here at Strobist Blog., also link over to Pat Hunts Flickr Page and check out more of his work.

The post I read at Strobist blog and Pat’s work is what inspired my photo above of the Rufous Hummingbird, pulling up his landing gear just after take-off. Notice the ripples in the water from the downward air pressure of the wings beating.

I took this at the Coyote Hills Regional Park Nectar Garden. It was the only place I could think of that had a regular visitation of hummingbirds. I went back two days in a row to get this image. As Ms. Brezden used to say “Patience is a virtue in which great things happen”. I know she is did coin it, but man she used to tell me that everyday.

My image was taken with ambient light. I pumped up my ISO to 800 used my 300mm prime lens set wide open at f/4 and shutter speed at 1/2500 of a second. I set my camera on my tripod, and just waited for my quarry to come to me.

In the garden they have three water fountains, bird baths that the hummingbirds like to drink at. The walkway converges right in the middle of these fountains. All I had to do is wait. It wasn’t long and I could hear the familiar, but distinctive click or chirp that they make. I would hear them buzz around behind me. As they would get close to the birdbath I would slowly put my eye to the view finder and slightly adjust the camera to where they might be next.

Hummingbirds can be very skittish. Plus they have a great need not to stay in one place for more then they have too.

Action!...

My life through actions. Actually it’s my life through Photoshop CS3 Actions. Earlier this week while I was furiously trying to catch up on all the photography blogs I follow, I found a tutorial by wildlife photographer Moose Peterson.

The tutorial is how to create a poster action in Photoshop for a web page. The first few times I tried creating the action I had a few hiccups. Then when I got the hang of creating an action, I felt more confident to create and work on my own. I took his action and put my own spin on it.

It really is a process of trial and error. Unfortunately I discovered you really have to double check your work. Once the action is created and you find a mistake… It is a pain in the arse to correct one line-action. I find that it is better to scrap the whole action and start over. I have managed to shorten a few steps because I have had to redo a few more than once.

If you don’t know how to use or create actions, take the time and learn. Once they are created, you spend less time in Photoshop and more time creating more productive stuff.

Above and below are examples of the poster and picture frame actions I created in the past few days. If you have any question about actions or how I created mine drop me a note and I will do my best to explain what I learned.

Lomo Macaw - Featured in Diablo Magazine

Lomo Macaw, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

Diablo Magazine in their infinite wisdom has selected this photo for the Feb. 2, 2009 "Photo of the Day".
______________________________________________________

In the September 2008 issue of Popular Photography, Digital Toolbox there was an article “Cheap Shots” that described how to recreate Lomography.

Lomography started about 17 years ago in Austrian photographers got their hands on some cheap Russian made plastic cameras called Lomo LC-A. This came gave them extra contrast, saturation and big vignette. Lomography has expanded from these cheap little cameras.

This is my version of the Photoshop remake of the Lomography PS tutorial.

Food Porn...

Crab Cakes, originally uploaded by Kirk Howard.

Crab Cakes...

My wife doesn't cook much so I took the opportunity of photographing tonight’s masterpiece.

She made Crab Cakes and they were delicious.

Strobist info:
One Calumet Geneses 200 (1/6th power)
One Calumet NOVA 32 softbox
Pocket Wizards

JPG has been revived...

For all those who were not aware. JPG magazine or (8020 Media) had sent out a blast email at the end of the year stating that the Magazine and Online site no-longer had the capital to continue doing business.

They explained how they had exhausted all possibilities of finding backers. So on January 5th, 2009 they were officially done.

However today I received an email stating that with the help and support of the readers and on-line friends they may have struck and deal for continued life of the magazine and website.

I enclose the actual letter for your review.

REF:
A Future for JPG
1 message
________________________________________
8020 Media Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 12:40 AM
To: Kirk Howard
We couldn't ask for a better community. In the week or so since our last email, the outpour of support has exceeded our wildest expectations. Your efforts, such as starting savejpg.com, writing blog posts, commenting on Twitter and Flickr, and generally making your voices heard, have provided exciting new opportunities for us.

We're thrilled to say that because of you, we have multiple credible buyers interested in giving JPG a home. We will be keeping the site up after all, and hope to have a final update in the next week or so on who the acquirer will be. Thank you for making all of this possible.

Laura Brunow Miner
Editor in Chief