Category: arts and letters

Digital blending multiple exposures

I received a request on Flickr a couple days ago:

you mentioned taking 3 exposures in one of your shots (a stream in big basin) and combining them together in photoshop. how do you do that?

I can only assume he meant this one:

Redwoods and West Berry Creek

Redwoods and West Berry Creek
Big Basin State Park, Santa Cruz Mountains, California

Nikon D70, Nikkor 12-24mm f/4G
Vari-ND filter, Gitzo 1228LVL tripod, RRS BH-55 ballhead
(3 exposures at 1/4″, 1.3″ and 3″) @ f/16, iso 200, 12mm (18mm)

Here’s how I did it.
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Posted on by tychay 11

Customizing Aperture Books

Canon enthusiast, Ben Long, posted a nice little article on how to customize Aperture’s book printing features.

That’s pretty cool because I haven’t really had a chance to mess with the book layout capabilities yet (except to note that it puts iPhoto to shame).

Custom Book Layouts in Aperture

The article is a shorter version of Ben’s new book on Aperture.

I haven’t had a chance to look at it, but it is nice to know that there are books about this product coming out. There are many neat little things about Aperture that people need to know or might find useful.

I hope I can blog more about them in the future.

Posted on by tychay 0

Golden Gate

Mike Fletcher asked me about shooting the Golden Gate Bridge because he is coming up here soon.

I was shocked to find I haven’t processed any photos of it, even though I drive over it on my way to hikes in the north. In fact, I only took photos of it on one day, and not the best of conditions: morning instead of evening, and in the late afternoon haze instead of a foggy day.

Still after a little work, they came out pretty well:

Golden Gate morning

Golden Gate Morning
Golden Gate Bridge, Marin County, California

Nikon D70, Nikkor 12-24mm f/4G
(3 exposures, 1/400-1/25sec) @ f/9, iso 200, 12mm (18mm)

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Posted on by tychay 2

Yosemite information

I was supposed to go to Yosemite today but had to cancel. 🙁

Based on discussions on flickr which reminded me about the rockslide in Yosemite blocking 140, I thought others would find this tip useful:

It is simply a must to subscribe to Yosemite Blog before your trip out there to supplement your trip. Besides some wonderful photos by the owner and other contributers, there are updates about the weather and road conditions, hiking tips and discussions. For instance, did you know the cables to Half Dome have just been put up?
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Posted on by tychay 0

Where 2 millimeters makes a difference

In an old article, I mentioned that a Canon 18-55mm at high end isn’t that different than the Nikon 17-70mm kit lens in focal length (reach).

My statement was:

After all, you can just shoot the Canon at 55mm @ 1.6x and then crop it down to a 6 megapixel photo and it will look close enough to the Nikon D70 at 70mm at 1.5x.

I’m surprised nobody has called me out on this statement!
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Posted on by tychay 0

Costco cameras and the D50

I was at Costco today and noticed that they now have the kit cameras in boxes out. Normally, you have to write down a number of pick up a flag, take it to a register to pay for it, and then pick it up behind the counter. Now you just pick up the box on some cameras.

If your box is big enough, I’m sure this will help sales. Those extra 20 minutes of gratification when you know it’s “yours” make a big difference.
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Posted on by tychay 5