TeachMeToShoot blog

There are lots of Black Friday deals, Thanksgiving weekend sales, and limited time savings. One deal that caught my eye is from RitzCamera.com.

You can pick up 3 4 Gig Sandisk Extreme III SD or CF cards for nuthin’. Well, almost nothing. You do have to pay for them and mail in a rebate form so you’ll pay a little for shipping and a stamp.

With today’s high MP cameras and video enabled DSLR’s (thanks Nikon) having a ton of memory space is essential. Go grab your deal now as it’s only for 4 days (offer ends Sunday 11/30)

** Update - The rebate goes thru 1/17/09 so you can grab the rebate form and buy frm anywhere that’s listed on the form.

The buzz around the Internet photo communities is the new and improved  Mpix.com is a winner. Ordering is much easier and their streamlined process makes it quicker to upload your images and get new products like the wall clings.

Other new products include frames, borders on prints, assembled albums (from Art Leather), and foamcore mounting of your prints. And many people are happy to see mixed paper types available on one order. Previously you would have to make separate orders for Glossy, Lustre, Metallic or B&W.

Sending your images to an online printing service can save you some money compared to using local printers. Plus you’ll have a larger variety of services available than your local superstore photo lab. The small shipping charge you’ll pay is likely less than the cost of gas to drive back and forth to your local lab.

Visit the Mpix website for further info

There is a great post on Strobist.com titled One-Light Real Estate Photography that details using a single strobe to light up both interior and exterior shots of a house. You’ll be impressed by the results, as David is a master of light.

What you need to pay attention to is the ease in which he got the results. He shoots the flash in Manual mode and then finds the right aperture and shutter speed by trial and error. Shoot, chimp the LCD, adjust. Repeat as needed.

So often we photographers rely on the automated equipment we buy instead of just thinking. I know the CLS system on my Nikon can control multiple SB’s and give me perfect exposures with ease. Getting back to basics with one flash and Manual control tests MY knowledge and experience.

Setting a suitable ISO and consistent (Manual) power on the flash allowed David to try different settings until he got the desired result. He also adjusted the zoom setting on the flash to change the light pattern.

Using simple techniques with a single flash can result in beautifully light. Take yours out of the camera bag and go experiment a bit. Want inspiration? Visit Strobist and read some of the articles there.

I recently found a website that lists Photo contests, Calls for Entries, and Art Shows from around the US. Visit ArtPerk.com and you can search by event type or geographical location (they wisely use the power of Google Maps).

No matter what type of photography you do you’re sure to find a number of places to enter your work. Each listing gives details about the contest or show, submission requirements, and entry fees (if any).

ArtPerk.com is a free listing service, so if you are organizing a photo contest or art show you should list it there. Gain more exposure for your event and get more entries.

I’m not affiliated with ArtPerk, just passing on a good online resource.

For all of you suffering from NAS, here’s another item to add to your list. The Nikon D700 looks to be a scaled down D3 and has retained a lot of the nicer features. Pricing for the body looks to be $2999 USD and Nikon says they’re shipping in late July.

You can preorder a Nikon D700 body from Ritz Camera.

Some of the features:

• 12.1-megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor with Nikon’s exclusive EXPEED digital image processor
• Super low-noise performance from 200-6400 ISO
• Continuous shooting up to 5 frames per second
• 3 inch high resolution LCD with Two Live View shooting modes
• Shutter mechanism tested to 150,000 cycles
• 51-point AF with 3D Focus Tracking
• a builtin flash
• Dynamic Integrated Dust Reduction System
• Active D-Lighting with NEW Auto mode
• …and lots more goodies

Visit the Nikon website for full info on the D700

With a whole slew of improvements, Nikon Capture NX 2 looks to be the best NEF editor in town. It incorporates new Selection Control Points, dual monitor support, and a host of other features.

A few of the new or enhanced features:

• Selection Control Point - kind of like layer masks
• Auto Retouch Brush - quickly remove dust spots, blemishes
• Shadow/Highlight Adjustments
• Workspaces - Browser, Metadata, Multi-Purpose and Edit
• Quick Fix
• Label/Rating support?XMP) - compatible with Adobe Bridge, Windows Vista, etc
• Auto Color Aberration Control - fix those minor lens errors
• Distortion Control Function
• Black/White Control Points - quick contrast changes

Capture NX 2 should be available in the US late in June and the upgrade from Capture NX will be around $100.

Read the announcement on Capture NX 2 at Nikon’s website.