This is Mari, and This Time it Was Her Turn

So, two years ago I was in San Diego visiting family when my wife's uncle asked me to help out with some photography for one of his friends. At that time it turned out to be his friends daughter's Bat Mitzvah; her name was Halle. Well that experience got me invited back again this year for Mari's Bat Mitzvah.

I was really happy to be asked back to shoot this for Mari and her family. They have to be one of the nicest families that I have ever met and the camera just loves them. Now since I had the experience from 2 years ago I was a little more comfortable in that environment. I knew pretty much where I needed to be, but the Rabbi (the same one from two years ago) was again ever helpful in providing some good direction.

I was able to work with both a D300 and D700 so I had the wide angle on one and a longer lens on the other. Other than a few technical difficulties with my 2 SB900's, battery issues with fresh batteries and for the first time ever I set off the thermal cutoff alarm (seriously I thought it was my phone at first). But we persevere, and mildly curse our equipment (okay and ourselves, too).

Anyway, here are some of my favourite shots.

Enjoy!

DC

Video Tutorial - Lightroom Post Crop Vignette Tool

I've been pulling together some basic video tutorials that focus on my workflow and some of the tools that I regularly use. The first one produced is a tutorial on Lightroom's Post Crop Vignette Tool.



Enjoy!

DC

Children's Pool - La Jolla, California

I was back in Southern California over the weekend and took the opportunity to head down to check out the seals at the Children's Pool in La Jolla. Now, it has probably been about 4 or 5 years since I was last there and at that time the beach area was filled with hundreds of seals; it's a really amazing sight to see that many seals lounging around.  However, I was disappointed this time as there were really only about 10 on the beach, but then I also noticed that there were people on the beach, too!

I came to learn that since the last time I was there it has been turned into a "shared use" beach. Now this creates some problems... as soon as people step foot on the beach the seals scatter. As well, since these are wild seals mothers will protect their pups. There's also a lot of controversy around the beach as well.

Back in 1931 Ellen Browing Scripps funded the building of the sea wall that protects the beach from the sometimes rough ocean. The intent was to create a place for children to play and enjoy while being protected by the waves. Once the sea wall was complete it was gifted to the City of San Diego with the understanding that it would be used as s public park, children's bathing area and general playground.

Not too far away from the Children's Pool was Seal Rock, home to a large seal population that was designated as a wildlife reserve. However, at sometime between 1994 and 1996 the seals began to migrate over to the beach at the Children's Pool. Not long after that seal pup births were noticed on the beach.

So here's where the controversy entered... the large population of seals deposit a large population of excrement, and as a result the beach was closed to swimming for health concerns, then the obvious discussions began about whether the seals should be removed. This would eventually end up with 2 camps, those for public use of the beach, and an advocate group to protect the seals. Needless to say that these 2 groups don't necessarily get along.

A number of legal battles have been waged, but no one has come up with a suitable solution. While I was there I had someone thank me for using a telephoto lens as opposed to going down on the beach to get a closer shot (he was obviously on the seal side). There are regular seal advocates that are looking out for the welfare of the animals on a daily basis, and in the past both sides have gotten a little heated more than once. It really seems to be a no win situation for everyone.

My take, because I usually always have an opinion on most things, is that the beach should be left for the seals only and it should be a continuous marine wildlife reserve. I mean really, it's Southern California and there are tons of beaches to choose from, so why some people feel the need to assert themselves to take over the beach is beyond me. Leave the seals be and enjoy the other beaches that are available.

Cheers!

DC

Snapseed for iPad - Quick Review

I thought that I would do a quick overview of Nik Software's Snapseed app for the iPad. I was a late adopter of the iPad 2; however, I had heard a lot of good things about Snapseed. It was Apple's iPad app of the year for 2011, which says a lot. But even without that accolade the fact that it's from Nik Software should tell you that this is one powerhouse of an app. It's normally $4.99 in the App Store, but I was lucky enough to spot a few Twitter posts on Valentines Day indicating that it was free for on that day only, so grabbing it was a no brainer. But still, $4.99 is a steal for what you get.

So here's a quick overview of what you'll find with Snapseed:

Auto Correct - no thinking required - auto colour and contrast adjustments
Selective Adjustments - talkin' bout control points here...on your iPad... very cool... brightness, contrast and saturation (wish there was a structure option here, too, but alas not yet)
Tune Image - brightness, ambiance, contrast, saturation and white balance
Straighten - self explanatory
Crop - self explanatory
Details - sharpening and structure (both are global adjustments - would love to see these as selective adjustments in a future update)
Black and White - brightness, contrast and grain (combine this with the selective adjustments and you get a mini Silver Efex Pro 2)
Vintage Films - variety of styles and textures along with adjustments for brightness, saturation, texture strength, centre size (vignette), style strength
Drama Filter - variety of styles with filter strength and saturation adjustments
Grunge Filter - styles that range from 0 to 1501 plus texture options, centre size (vignette) that can be placed anywhere also includes brightness, contrast, texture strength and saturation adjustments
Centre Focus - like a vignette with blur where you can control the size and placement
Frames - variety of frames with width and offset adjustments
Tilt Shift - simulates a tilt shift lens

Overall, it's an extremely powerful and very intuitive app. When you launch each filter you get an opaque screen overlay with the instructions and everything uses normal iPad screen gestures. There's a ? in the upper right hand corner of each filter if you need to pull up these instructions again, but after a few times through it you'll be a pro.

Snapseed is a great app for travelling light. Last weekend I was down near San Diego to visit family and took my camera along with my iPad. We spent some time at Legoland (the family that is, but my camera did accompany us) and I grabbed some shots of the miniatures. I spent some time after that playing around with the myriad of creative options that Snapseed offers. Below are few examples that are amazing on two levels: 1) that Snapseed is an awesome app; and 2) that all this stuff was built with Lego!

Original file (jpeg version of the untouched RAW file - that's right, it works with RAW files)

After Tune Image and Selective Adjustments

Vintage Filter + Frames

Original file

Black and White + Frames

Enjoy!

DC