Andrew Ferguson
Rejecting Your Reality and Substituting My Own Since 1986
Subscribe to RSS FeedTechnology for The Trip
One of the bigest things I had to figure out for this trip was all the technology I was (or wasn’t going to bring) and how I would be using it. Basically, I didn’t want to bring anything super expensive or heavy with me, and what I ever I brought needed to do its job and do it well. Here’s the list of hardware:
- ASUS Eee PC 904HA running a tweaked version of Windows XP for ULCPC
- Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse
- 2nd Generation iPod Nano – 8 GB
- V-MODA Bass Freq Earbuds in Bling Bling Black[1]
- Nikon D70
- Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 AF-S DX
- Nikon AF 50mm f/1.8 D
- Nikon AF Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6D ED
- JOBY Gorilla Pod SLR
- AMOD AGL3080 GPS Data Logger
Additionally, I’ve loaded up my Netbook with some software specific for this trip:
- AVG Anti-virus
- GeoSetter
- Google Earth
- Google Chrome
- iTunes
- Skype
- Windows Live Writter
- TweetDeck
- Lightroom
- Meebone
- Flickr Uploader
- GPSBabel
- Launchy
- NotePad++
Many of the software tools on this list are standare fare, others are new to me. GeoSetter is an application that merges GPS data (from the AMOD AGL3080 GPS Data Logger) with photos (from the D70).
Meebone is desktop version of Meebo, which is a web-based instant messaging program.
GPSBabel is a program which can take GPS data (again, from the AMOD AGL3080 GPS Data Logger, which is in NMEA 0183 format) and convert it into any other format, such as Google’s Keyhole Markup Language (KML).
Launchy is a program used for quick access to programs. I just press ALT + Space and type in the name of the program I want to run.
Windows Live Writter is a desktop program for composing and publish blog posts. I’m using this because there will often be times when I cannot connect to the internet, but still want to write up posts. This will let me compose posts and then publish them when I hit a WiFi spot.
One of the other things I’m working on is a revised workflow for photos. I need a workflow that will quickly let me merge GPS data, import photos to Lightroom for processing, export, and upload. I’m still working out the kinks, but the basic process goes like this (based in part on Bryan Villarin’s My new geotagging workflow with the Amod AGL3080 and Lightroom (Windows):
- Move photos from D70 to Netbook
- Move GPS data from Data Logger to Netbook
- Use GeoSetter to merge GPS data with photos (data added to NEF file, not sidecar XMP)
- Import/Move photos into Lightroom
- Pick good photos and apply Auto Tone and/or Punch filters
- Export filters to JPG with High Sharpening for Screen
- Important photos to Flickr Uploadr
- Add photos to group(s), add tag(s) to photos
- Upload photos
- Delete JPG version of photos
We’ll see how that works. My other option is to just backup the RAW photos to my server and not process them until I get home, which I don’t want to do.
- No, I’m not making that color up [↩]
Tags: AMOD AGL3080, ASUS Eee PC 904HA, GeoSetter, Gorilla Pod, GPSBabel, iPod, Lightroom, Meebo, Meebone, netbook, Nikon D70, NMEA 0183, Travel the World
Sunrise and Moonrise plus Dunstan
I was up early this morning and ended up shooting both the sun and moon rise. I’d be curious to know how often the sun and moon rise in the same quadrant of the sky. It’s a bit hard to see in this first picture, but the moon is rising in the upper right corner (moonrise was at 4:21 a.m.[1], sunrise wasn’t until 6:46 a.m.). I don’t often say this, but I’d recommend you click on the pictures to see the bigger version (click on the picture, then click on All Sizes, then click on the size you want to see).
With the two sunrise images, I also tried using a new filter technique. I was looking to mimic a graduated ND filter so I could get a nice range of color in the sky. Fortunately, Lightroom has such a graduated filter. I applied the filter, dropped the expose a bit, and all was good.
In case you’re wondering, the crop ratio for the sunrise photos is 2.39:1. I’ve always had an issue with cropping. How much is too much? How much is too little? How does cropping in post affect how I take pictures? I decided to take an engineering approach and setup several predefined crop ratios that I would work with. I typically just stick with the native aspect ratio of my camera, 3:2; I also sometimes use a 1:1 ratio. After working with videography in high school, I really liked using the widescreen ratios, so I also use 16:9 (typical HDTV ratio) and 2.39:1 (typical anamorphic ratio…aka Panavision). There are a couple of other ratios I use, but the aforementioned ratios are the ones I use most of the time.
With Dunstan, I was testing out some new photographic gear I got for my birthday, mainly my new umbrella and Cactus Wireless Flash trigger. I decided to try it out on the only subject I had available at the time, Dunstan, my cat.
Nikkor @ 18mm || 1/15 || f/5.0 || ISO200 || tripod
Nikkor @ 18mm || 1/100 || f/13.0 || ISO200 || tripod
Nikkor @ 70mm || 1/200 || f/4.5 || ISO200 || shoot through umbrella off-camera @ 1/8
Tags: 16:9, 1:1, 2.39:1, 3:2, Dunstan, graduated neutral density filter, Lightroom, moonrise, Panavision, ratio, sunrise
Surprise! It’s Snow!
We got a surprise snow on Monday that caught most people off guard. I think it only snowed an inch or so in the Denver area, but we got at least eight inches up here in the foothills (which is at least 500 feet higher in elevation).
Nikkor 50mm || 0.4 seconds || f/4.5 || ISO1600 || tripod
Nikkor 50mm || 0.8 seconds || f/4.5 || ISO1600 || tripod
I tried a couple of new editing techniques on these sets of photos. The first involves how I adjust the exposure and black settings to maximize the contrast ratio. Ideally, there is at least one black pixel and and least one white pixel. I also tried using a new workflow process where I export from Lightroom into Photoshop and then use Smart Sharpen in Photoshop to, uh, sharpen the image smartly.
See the rest: Surprise Snow
Also, don’t forget that Andrew Ferguson Photography will go live tomorrow. Check back here around noon (Mountain time) the post.
Tags: Andrew Ferguson Photography, Denver, foothills, Lightroom, Photoshop, Smart Sharpen, snow, workflow