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.

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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

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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

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.

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".
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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.

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

Heading South...

Leaving for San Clemente in a few hours. We are go to see family and to surf. I leave you with the Wordle of the day.

The Wordle of the day was taken fro the City of San Clemente's website. I copied the text from the San Clemente history page and pasted it into Wordle. Fun little program... give it a try. Click here...

Maybe I can bring back some images of Hot Surf Action. Catch ya next week...

Trash the Dress...

I barrowed this from the Strobist blog. This great a photo shoot on the beach. Some very clever ideas and great inspiration for location portrait shots.

I really like the kite camera setup for the Canon G9. I would like to know how they did that?

Have a great weekend, mine started today. I off to hunt the allusive Great White Snail, also know as Abalone. I will post some shots from our trip.



Chasing Sunset - Part II from Pieter Van Impe on Vimeo.

Thanks to Didier Jouret, who sent me a link to this video from a Pieter Van Impe "Trash the Dress" -type shoot.

This one is not so much about lighting, but it does include all of the typical stuff: Beach, sunset, trippy beats, happy couple, some champagne, a little nipple pinching, a kite-mounted Canon G9 for overheads, ... wait, WHAT?

Dude, I so want that G9 kite mount. He uses the G9 on a monster light stand, too.

Related links:
:: Pieter Van Impe ::
:: Tom Museeuw ::
:: Bridseye Kite Aerial Photography ::
:: Didier Jouret :: (Videographer)

FX vs. DX compairason

Back to more interesting stuff. Since I have been a slacker, I am going to borrow a little tid-bit from the Digital Photography School blog. If you haven’t been to this site or blog make a must see on your daily surf trip. I have picked up quite a few tips. I even find myself checking the site out and searcher out techniques and how to’s.

DX, full-frame, APS-C, FX, crop factor, 24×36, image circle. Confused yet? Good. With the new Nikon D700 hitting store shelves and the Canon 5D MkII imminent, now is a good time to clear the air on the whole sensor size thing.

Back in the film days, the rectangle that captured the image on a standard SLR (the film) was one size: 24mm x 36mm. That was all there was to it, and nobody really gave it a second thought.

Every camera manufacturer is slightly different; models from the same manufacturer are even different. People usually refer to a sensor’s size by its “crop factor.” That’s the number you use to find the 35mm equivalent of a given lens. It’s just like taking the middle of an image and throwing away the outside edges. If a sensor is 24mm x 36mm, then there is no crop factor, since it covers the same area as 35mm film.

Nikon has two different sensor sizes: full frame (FX) and 1.5x (DX). Click... to read more.

Magic Lights...

I have to admit I have turned out to be a bit of a blog Junkie. Have been using the Google reader to combine all the blogs I subscribe to into on little readers digest online version. I have my reader set up to only load the newest entry to a subscription blog.

One of the blogs a frequently read is the Strobist. In some incestual way all these blogs are linked together. I first started to read Scott Kelby’s blog Photoshop Insider. I have read most of his books and I am a huge fan of his Business Plan and work ethic, not to mention I enjoy his writing style and photography.

Next is Matt Kloskowski. Matt has the very popular Adobe Lightroom Killer Tips blog that I read. Also, Matt works for NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals). Now Scott Kelby is the editor and publisher of Photoshop User and Layers magazines, president and co-founder NAPP and author of many books, and co-author with Matt on a few books. So Scott is Matt’s boss.

Then there is Joe McNally’s blog. I am a new reader to his blog. He has been a photographer for over 30 years and his expertise and experience is educational. He has recently released a book called “The Moment it Clicks…”. Ever since I read this book I have become a fan of his work and a subscriber to his blog.

Joe is a regular contributor to NAPP’s Photoshop User magazine. He also has on-line classes on the new Kelby Training web site. Do you see where I am going with this?

This leads us to David Hobby. Yea that’s right his last name is Hobby. What a great name. Months ago I stumbled across his blog (Strobist) and found it interesting and fascinating. David is a master of off camera lighting. Either he uses a flash or strobe or studio lighting, but his focus is getting the light away from the camera. He is also a big fan of D.I.Y. (Do it Yourself) projects. I am currently working on a D.I.Y. project that I read about on his blog, that he got from another blog.

Back to the incestual part of this post. I read Joe McNally’s blog about his trip to Dubai to teach photography techniques. Also on the trip were Scott Kelby and David Hobby. David went into the desert one evening to help with a photo shot. I say this because he assisted in setting up the Nikon SB-800 Light Tree for off camera lighting.

I imagine it will only be a matter of time before Scott Kelby will Assimilate David Hobby into the NAPP Collective. If it hasn't happen already.

David on his blog this morning has added a link to another blog. This blog talks about the use of rope lighting to show action. Here is a picture and the link to the blog. It is well worth a read. I have some new ideas now.