New Mexico Panoramas

Here is some fun we had on our trip up to and back from Cloudcroft.

Click on the photos for a larger version. 

(all have been resized for the web) 

These are panoramas. Multiple exposures stitched together for a very wide angle of view. I use a program from Serif, but many others are available, some for very low cost or even free.

View from Tunnel Turnout

View from Mile 61 on Hwy 82 
(this view is almost 180 degrees)

An Escarpment

View from Town Turnout

ASPENS!

Aspens at peak colour in Cloudcroft, NM

 Elev 8600ft, pop 749

New Mexico Photo Exploration, Part 1

A first taste of our exploring our New Mexico home via photos.

This is the White Sands National Monument from near Cloudcroft.

More photos, including panoramas, to come.

New Website for Fine Art Prints

www.stevesfinefinish.com

See website for images available and for pricing.

Showcase your vacation pics! but EDIT!

Your vacation is over. You have many digital pictures and maybe even some video to enjoy. Do you want to share the experience with your friends? Of course you do.

Remember when Dad or Uncle would get out the slide or movie projector after having people over for supper and spending what seemed like the next three years that night droning on and on about "well, it looked better in person", "you really had to be there", or "this is right after that occurrence I told you about happened" ? What was it that made those shows boring? Usually, not enough editing.

If you want to share your pics and movies with people, whether by PowerPoint, QuickTime, Instagram, or some other electronic means, first ... EDIT, EDIT, EDIT.

Yes, edit it down to what is most important, the best shots, something that will catch an eye without boring it out. Remember, you have the memories of the entire trip. Make the presentation of the highlights. 

There are many different programs available to aid in this, some may even have been included with your equipment. So, we won't do any product placement today.

What will really make your photos and movies stand out as very enjoyable is really very simple. Only show your best. If that means editing out the middle 5 1/2 minutes of an AVI file, do it. If it means limiting how many photos of any one subject you put in the show, limit them. If it means cropping out extraneous fluff from the image, make it so! Be harsh with yourself. You will still have all the original footage or files. So, you won't be missing anything. And your friends will be lining up to "like" or forward or even "Pin" your presentation.

Some Dads and Uncles way back when knew this secret, too. Those were the slide shows and movies you really liked. Remember saying "OOh!" or "Ahh!" or giggling and even laughing out loud? Sure you do. Those presentations made an impact, were enjoyable, and are remembered because someone knew how to EDIT.

Enjoy!

 

Choosing Which Slides to Scan

We've talked about sending in our old slides or negatives for scanning or even doing it ourselves. That way, we get to use our film images in this digital age.

How do we choose which chromes or negs to use? Well, you'll have to look at them. 

An easy way to do this is with a light table and a loupe. Even when we were loading slide trays or printing our own enlargements, we still needed to know which slide or neg was sharp enough, had the right details, had good focus, and so on. Holding up a kodachrome or a tri-x neg to the light would hardly tell us anything. A light table (aka light box) with a color correct lamp (daylight, 5000K) and a good loupe what what we used then. That will work well for our current needs, too.

A camera store was where we needed to go then, and it's where we go now for these specialty accessories. 

One place I've used for years is B&H Photo.

I found a small battery powered light box. And a larger, plug in light box/table. That's the light source and flat surface. To see the film's image, we need some magnification. 8X is a good standard, with 6X to 10X also being very usable. Here's a nice one and a better one.

You spread your slides (chromes) on the table/box, turn on the light, and check them through the loupe.

We don't want to waste our time and money sending unusable film out to a scanning service, or spend time on our own scanner for an image not worth considering. So, use the light box and a loupe to find only our best shots. 

As we have seen in previous scanning posts, the time and effort we spend doing this task is well worth it.

Fun Camera & Photo Gadgets!

Camera accessories have always been an interesting part of the photographic solutions for certain problems or situations. (See the pun?)

Current digital cameras and software take care of many things we used to have to do a lot of head scratching and mechanical engineering for. Things like fill flash ratios, panorama stitching, exposure or focus for tricky subjects, etc... But, we still find ourselves wanting something to take care of a photo thought we have.

Such as... Ever see a great shot of lightning bolts? We could take chances (as has been done for years) with anticipating and using really long shutter speeds. Or, we could use a new (ish) product such as a lightning trigger! Available for a variety of cameras and brands. Check compatibility with your camera.Then, set up your foreground or background subject as the storm comes in, sit back, and shoot. Use safety precautions when shooting in foul weather.

I said "Foul" not fowl.

Low cost underwater housings  can enable us to get some nice pics at colorful vacation spots. Yes, $130 is low cost when you consider what a hard housing or true underwater system can set us back (hint: hundreds to thousands of $). Many subjects on a coral reef or in a lagoon are shallow enough to make an item like this very usable. Besides, much deeper and we need supplemental lighting to combat the color shift of deep water photography. If lightning is your underwater lighting, it's time get out of the pool!

Say, "Feesh!"

More ideas to come in a future post. Stay tuned for more stuff!