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[Images from the Id] – On the Road Again or too Much and too Little?

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Images from the Id – On the Road Again or too Much and too Little?

After almost two straight weeks of traveling and shooting, I think I have recovered and getting  back from a little exhaustion and even some photo burnout. The exhaustion is  more emotional than physical and the burnout is a combination of physically being on the move and mentally the result of over 3600 images! Don’t get me wrong I love the balloons and entertaining my sister-in-law, and avid and excellent photographer, but 3600 images and I thought I was being conservative. Me conservative, HA! Just remember, what goes in, snap, must come out, processing. I love the hunt but sometimes I am overwhelmed with just the prospect of sorting and  choosing the images to work on.  Adobe Lightroom 5 is a great help. Without it, I would be totally unable to function. Photographers talk ceaselessly  about their workflow or the procedure they use to catalog, sort and process their images. With the coming of Lightroom it has became and endless discussion of what the best workflow is. I have seen professional photographers who use 4 pieces of software and 45 minutes to do what I can do in 10 minutes with Lightroom. I have known them to waste time making endless, unneeded, Tiff file backup copies are unneeded with an understanding of Lightroom. Point is everyone needs a system. Every photographer from a beginner to pro needs to organize and establish a consistent workflow. For the casual photographer nothing is better than iPhoto or better yet Aperture. These can link all of your personal images together in one place. You iPhone, computer, iPad are all interlinked, but it is only for Apple hardware. The next step up would be Adobe’s Photoshop Elements which is for Windows and Mac. It includes organization software and is easy for the beginner. More advanced is the Adobe Photographers Creative Cloud Subscription. This includes Lightroom 5.6 and Photoshop CC 2014. It costs $9.99/month and is a good deal for those working at growing and producing the best they can. They both take effort to learn but are unlimited in possibilities

Back to my problem. I use  two basic rules for sorting. First, keep only images that you would like anyone else to see. Second, keep any personal images to document a trip or family.

Albuquerque? I’ll keep most of the balloon shots, what too cool. Steamboat Springs, the barn shots and the waterfalls, lots of instructional images there and some others. Eyes Park? Some good elk shots but the Landscapes were not too hot or actually too hot, no snow or color.

Image #1 – One solution to a problem, when the scene is dull with no contrast converting to black and white may help

Spanish Peaks (1 of 1)-2

Spanish Peaks 1/20 sec, f/20, ISO 100,105 mm, 0 EV Initial processing in Lightroom left these images flat and uninteresting. Converted this one to Black and White in Silver Effects Pro

Ludlow CO – The site of the Ludlow Miner Massacre April 20, 1914

Ludlow (1 of 1)

HDR processed in Photomatix Pro from 5 images 1 f-stop apart. information for average exposure –  1/50 sec, f/13, ISO 100,12 mm. I love the effect of the wide angle lens.

The Road to Santa Fe.

 

Road to Santa Fe (1 of 1)

 

Look for something unusual. 1/250 sec, f/11, ISO 100, 200 mm Processed in Lightroom. A good demonstration of selective focus. A smaller aperture such as f/22 and too much would be in focus. A bigger aperture such as f/5 and the background would be too blurry. Practice this often.

[Images from the Id] – Friday Morning at the Fiesta or 3:30 in the Morning?

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Images from the Id – Friday Morning at the Fiesta or 3:30 in the Morning?

One of the things we do as photographers is make friends. It is the rare situation when a fellow photographer does like to meet others and talk shop. It is just as important to make friends with non-photographers, it can really pay off. Friday morning in Albuquerque, a bucket list payoff, a ride in a hot air balloon. I have explained about our friendship with the Dee III crew and it was time.

Dawn Patrol is a group of balloons, which because of a combination of training and equipment, is allow to fly before sunrise. As with all balloon flights, the possibility of a flight is dependent upon the weather. Rain and wind can prevent any flights. This year at ABQ the odds looked like about 50%. The plan was, 3:30 am alarm to meet the crew and ride into the Fiesta Park. One of the biggest problems with the Fiesta is parking. The lots are known to fill up by 6:30 am so the early rise is quite worth it. Entering with the balloon is the only way to go. We did this twice and in the future plan to make it the usual habit. On our flight day the weather looked good only a few high clouds.

If you are not familiar with the procedure, the balloon is laid out on a large tarp, in this case blue with white stars. The balloon is then inflated (never say “blown-up”) by two large gas powered fans. The top of the balloon is held down by one of the husky crew members. One of the things Tim, the pilot, likes to do is to take spectators, especially children, inside the balloon through the side vent. Once the balloon is inflated the pilot sets the top vent, this actually goes by many names including deflation vent, parachute vent, etc. At the bottom opening, the basket is on its side and has all of the ropes, cables and fuel lines correctly attached. The pilot does this him/herself to assure it is all correct. When everything is double checked the main propane burner is lit. This is spectacular in the dark. The sound is awe inspiring. The heat produced is aimed into the envelope and the balloon begins to rise from the ground. The crew member holding the top shows his value by keeping the rise under control. As the envelope becomes buoyant, the basket is brought to vertical and as many surrounding by-standers as possible are recruited to add ballast to keep the balloon on the ground. With a small amount of difficulty we climbed into the basket. I blinked and we were 50 feet into the air. Photographing was almost impossible. Low light, small basket and honestly excitement made it difficult. The night view of the city and the park was just beautiful. The balloons have two propane burners one for the hot flame and the other burns less oxygen creating less heat but a bright yellow flame which illuminates the envelope . This is spectacular. Thirty minutes later we skimmed low over the rooftops of a southwestern subdivision, nice to have the flat roofs of the adobe style homes, landing in the middle of a cul-de-sac. Quick, everybody in the chase crew hold on, we climb out of the basket, refuel, new passengers get in and a second take off. We are now part of the chase. The pilot expects the chase to be under the balloon at each landing basically to refuel and hold down the balloon. Navigating the streets at barely legal limits seems a superman task but we are there for landing number two in a field of tumble weeds. The balloon is made buoyant and walked to the street for a repeat, change passengers and refuel. The third chase begins. Morning is almost over, the air is warming and flying done. The third landing is next to a business and bystanders are recruited to help lay out the tarp and deflate. What a day! As I told Tim earlier, I am afraid of heights, Tim’s comment, “I am too” Result NO fear. It was just plain amazing and I will do it again, as I said, “Anytime ballast is needed”

This week I am just doing a gallery of shots. most where at high ISO (1600 or more) low shutter and wide open aperture. You will notice some camera or balloon motion.

Balloon (7 of 7) Balloon (6 of 7) Balloon (5 of 7) Balloon (4 of 7) Balloon (3 of 7) Balloon (2 of 7) Balloon (1 of 7)

[Images from the Id] – Sitting in Albuquerque With Something to Do or Did I Really Do That?

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Images from the Id – Sitting in Albuquerque With Something to Do or Did I Really Do That?

Any one that knows me knows I have always had an extreme fear of heights. It manifests itself in climbing ladders, walking on the roof to service the cooler, anything above 5 feet will do. Fear, vertigo and general shaking will kick in but I also have the philosophy of challenging myself to the limits of my abilities and range of activities.

Scenario – After making fiends with a couple of hot-air balloon pilots about 3 years ago at the Steamboat Springs Balloon Rodeo, we kept in contact through Facebook etc. At the Rodeo this July, my wife “cons” Tim Taylor of Dee III  to take us for a flight. She was thinking of the Colorado Balloon Classic in Colorado Springs on Labor Day. Tim was extremely enthusiastic and suggested the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta because although he would be at the Classic he would not be flying. Three months pass and with mixed emotions we arrive in Albuquerque. Understand, I don’t like large crowds and you can guess that the anticipation of a flight left me a little shaky.

Thursday morning, alarm at 5 am. Yes, balloons do fly in the cooler air and less wind of the morning. The day’s schedule included a Dawn Patrol of a few balloons with “running” lights launching before dawn, the inflation and assent of the special shape balloons, glow of the special shapes at dusk, then fireworks. We had ordered tickets in advance for the shuttle bus, bypassing the worst part of a large crowd, parking. To limit my description to a few words is very difficult. The fear of the crowd was no problem- the site is huge and the crowd is spread out. Then there’s the balloons. To use a term I generally hate, OH MY GOD, I have never experienced anything like that. I have seen and shot a lot of hot-air balloons but almost 500 in one place at one time was overwhelming. We found a spot about in the center of the field. Four Dawn Patrol ( I think that term maybe trademarked) balloons took off a little late. The sun started to gradually light the field and inflation began.

Hot-air balloons are first inflated by two portable gasoline powered fans. Once the balloon is inflated on the ground, the burner is fired up and the air heated to raise the envelope. The photo opportunities are infinite. I love shots of the colors and shapes of the balloons. Don’t forget to get the patterns of inside of the balloon as it fills from the fans. I have a couple of shots from the interior looking out. Albuquerque is a hard shot because so much is happening everywhere and the exposures are extremely difficult. You mush continually check your histogram and over-ride the camera. If you are very experienced with manual exposure you’re way ahead. The weather co-operated because the ability to fly needs almost perfect conditions and the skies where beautiful. 400 shots later, many will go in the trash, At 9 am, we happily return to the room via the shuttle. There was no glow that evening because of the weather but we missed our turn off of I-25 because of the fireworks. Next week, Friday Morning at the Fiesta or 3:30 in the Morning?

I think I counted 19 balloons in this shot. I have one shot with about 90 balloons. They just surround you. 1/320 sec, f/7.1,-1/3 EV, ISO 400, 90 mm/135 mm

Balloon-001

 

Chariot – One of 90 different special shape balloons. The details are great. 1/400 sec, f/5.0, ) EV, 65 mm/97 mm, ISO 100

Balloon-002

 

Pigasus – Flying pigs really do exist. 1/640 sec, f/5.0, )EV,ISO 400,70 mm/105 mm

Balloon-003

 

 

[Images from the Id] The Truth About Panoramas

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Images from the Id – The Truth about Panoramas or Where in the hell do I find a frame for this?

Every one knows what a panorama is, right? And for fall – WOW! Well, digital photography has changed this as much as everything else. The iPhone and other smart phone have their way of doing it, while actually pretty cool. There is a little Microsoft (yuk; another story) call Photosynth which I actually like – it works! I have been using it for a while it makes panoramas on the iPhone, and I assume other smart phones, easy. Now ISO 8 has a built in panorama function, it may have been there before but I never looked for it. It does a pano in a continuous movement of the “camera” Pretty cool. If you want a bigger image for any one of a million reasons it’s time to learn how to get a good one with a camera. There are many ways to do this. You could just crop an image. Results could be good with a high pixel camera but it isn’t really a pano because the field of view is narrow depending on the lens and with a wide angle lens there goes the quality. Some cameras do it in camera but that is limited to jpegs and by now you should be shooting raw, except for sports and weddings. So what’s next?

Put your camera on a tripod. Hand holding will work but tales a  lot more practice and you get a lot of unusable junk. Level the tripod, most have built-in levels. Usually you want a level horizontal pan. Vertical pans come with more experience. Stand in one spot and don’t change the focal length (Don’t ZOOM!). Take a series of images across the scene over lapping 1/3 to get the software some the to work with. Once you have the images get them into Photoshop or Photoshop Elements as layers. I do this easily with Lightroom and “edit in Photomerge in Photoshop”. This is easy but search the web for more specific directs on how you are going to do it. There are also many third party pano merging software. One little extra trick is to take the pano series vertically, really nice. A little more advanced try merging HDR images.

Next week the art show.

Some panoramas of Rocky Mountain National Park

rm Pano-002

Image #1 This is a typical series of horizontal images. 5 as I remember. Very long and narrow. Each shot at 1/20 sec, f/16, 95 mm, ISO 200,19960 X 4055 pixels

rm Pano-003

Image #2  This is a pano taken with the camera vertical. Probably about 6 shots. 1/30 sec, f/22, 46 mm, ISO 200, 7331 X3852 pixels

rm Pano-001

Image # 3 This is a pano using 3 HDR braces for each of 5 vertical images total of 15 images. 46 mm, ISO 200, f /22, 7331 X 3858 pixels.

 

[Images from the Id] – Stupid is as Stupid Does or Does it Take Brains?

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Images fro the Id – Stupid is as Stupid Does or Does it Take Brains?

Anybody who knows me knows that have great respect for other people and their attitudes and biases. In general, people can do what they want with in a certain number of boundaries set by  society. I even argue that the act of yelling fire in the crowded theater is not the problem but the damage it causes is. After all- there may be a fire.

Personally I dislike killing anything. Sometimes there is a necessity for food or  safety. Hunting does not usually fit those in my mind but I except I understand its value in population control and the perceived sport it involves. There were two incidences recently which convert acceptance to just plan calling it stupid. In the first an elk affectionately known as “Big Boy” was killed by a “stupid” policeman in Boulder. The animal was about as tame as bull elk can get and was totally accustomed to humans. Trophy hunt? Sport? Just plan stupidity.

Elk 2-001

Last Saturday, a bow hunter killed a moose all perfectly legally. The problem was it was in an area where the moose are perfectly accustomed to people. In fact, I have been too close to them myself there. The areas willows are usually frequented by 5-10 bull moose and they have no concern about people. I quit going there because I really didn’t like the concept of large, dangerous, wild animals becoming humanized and “stupid” people tempting the inevitable. There was always the excuse “I didn’t approach him, he approached me” to get around the rules. People including many photographers of all levels were getting to adapted to the situation.

The story goes like this. The Forest Service allows the “taking” of 2 moose in the area each year. It is a contest for the rights to kill. The archer came in with a ranger picked out the one with the largest “rack” (makes me think of a high school junior picking out a prom date) and in front of  a large number of spectators finished off the beast. There has been a huge response to the act. Most people defend the legality but condemn the location.

Moose 2-002

I have a different slant on both situations. First there was no “sport” involved in either unless killing just for the thrill of killing is sport. Second, There is no sport in killing almost tame and trusting wild animals. The raising of food animals has never been considered sport but a necessity and some have trouble with that. These are moral questions which dig in to the basic question of what the modern human believes. It is no longer, kill or be killed by our evolutionary cousins but let’s look to our selves if we need to feel threatened are plenty of threats. When killing fore killing sake is a sport, we lose the boundary between civilized and chaos.

Moose 2-001

This week’s photos are  some more elk and moose. Nothing special about shooting them (with a camera) just remember they are wild and respect them for that. These guys were very close and some important decisions were made as to how much “contact “ is ok.

 

[Images from the Id] – It’s Bound to Happen or How to Survive the Great Crash II

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Images from the Id – It’s Bound to Happen or How to Survive the Great Crash II

If you remember, a couple of weeks ago my MacBook crashed and thanks to Time Machine I was able to get everything up and running on the New MacBook Pro. Yeah, I chronicled the whole thing before, but now here’s the news and the magic of Mac. Disclaimer – I am very sure there are maybe similar ways to do this with Windows but I can’t even get Microsoft to reauthorize a copy of Windows 7 on a crashed Windows machine. They want me to buy another copy. I tried for an hour to get a human! Arg! I have (had) three Windows 7 machines. These were mostly to placate my curiosity to build a computer and run Quicken for business, Electric Quilt and Simulator. I have found OS X replacements for everything but the simulator.

So there I sat with a dead computer and a lot of curiosity. As I have sad before having this kind of curiosity is very expensive and very satisfying. Other people just can’t understand the huge “rush” I get when I solve a problem or make something work especially for other people. Well, here’s one for me.

A friend reminded me that I could connect two Macs with a Thunderbolt cable in tethered mode and “mount” the hard drives of one computer on the desktop of the other. Simple! The hard drives, one a SSD drive and the other mounted. I erased both drives, I had already transfer this “computer” to the new one with Time Machine (Previous Blog). Then Apple made it easy to install the newest OS X on the SSD drive of the “Dead” computer. After a little bit of restarting, about a half hour of time (these guys are fast through Thunderbolt!!), I have a brand new-old computer. Did a bunch of diagnostics and everything checks out. I now have two souped-up MacBook Pros. Anyone want a 2011 Top of the line 15”, Macbook Pro with a 500 Gb SSD and a 750 GB Hd 8 Gb Ram?

This week, we’ll look at shooting the Chihuly exhibit at The Denver Botanic Gardens. If you are not familiar with Chihuly take the time to look it up. These large, temporary, glass art installations are amazing. You may want shots of the whole pieces but I like to look for textures and shapes in the glass and its relationship to the gardens environment. The name are my names for the image not the art work. These were all done between 7 and 9 am using a special ticket to the exhibit. They were all done on a tripod. This allows control of all aspects of exposure under various conditions.

Chihuly-001

Medusa – 1/350 sec f/8, 0 EV, ISO 100, 50 mm. This is actually a composite of 5 images each 1 f-stop apart (HDR High Dynamic Range). Make sure you vary the time not the aperture so depth of field does not vary. Part of a large, 10′ diameter piece

Chihuly 2-001

Lilies – 1/4 sec, f/27, 0 EV, ISO 10, 150 mm/225 mm, Processed Lightroom 5. Keep the f-stop small for greater depth of field to get the lilies and the refection in focus. Remember to focus a refection it’s not the diastase to the water but to the object. Looked good out of focus too.

Chihuly 2-002

Lilies 2 – 1/10 sec f/22, 0 EV, ISO 100, 130 mm/195 mm, processed in Lightroom 5. Basically the same as the last one but fooled around with the wight balance.

Chihuly 2-003

A Little Black & White – 1/250 sec, f/13, -1 EV, ISO 100, 95 mm/142 mm, Processed Lightroom 5. The problem here is to get rid of the ugly wall in the background and keep the depth to the art in focus. A good lesson in using local adjustments in Lightroom.

[Images from the Id] – Another Trip to the Mountains or Surprise , Surprise

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Images from the Id – Another Trip to the Mountains or Surprise , Surprise

The word had gotten out. It had been talked about and it was passed along all of the social media and on the Forest Service Website. Mount Evans was going to close the road to the summit the day after Labor Day. So what’s the big deal? Mt Evans is 14,240 feet high! Actually, the road ONLY goes to 14,130 feet being the highest paved road in the US. If you are in shape and like a little self-torture, you can climb a well kept trail to the summit. Leaving the 80 degree Denver area at a mile high, in less than 90 minutes, you are almost 2 miles higher and 50 degrees cooler. The scenery is amazing every mile of the way. The drive can be exhilarating especially for the faint of heart lowlander. Most to the road is narrow without guardrails. Just you and the sky on some turns. The altitude can be a major problem for lowlanders and the shear drops can be tough for the acrophobic. The trees stop at about 11,500 feet (the “tree line” varies by exact location) and you are into the Alpine Tundra. Dress warm. The University of Denver has the third highest optical observatory at about 14,148 feet (according to Wikipedia).

So, other than the “thrill”, why go? The answer, for most photographers, is goats. Mountain goats are everywhere, even in the restrooms They are attracted to the minerals in the rocks that are exposed at the summit. There are other side attractions. There are Pika, extremely cute small relatives of the rabbit, sometimes Bighorn Sheep, Ravens, comical Yellow-bellied Marmot and new to me this trip the White-tailed Jackrabbit. Wow an alpine, tundra Jackrabbit.

The best is the goats. They are there most of the time because they a plentiful and you see adults yearlings and new kids. Photographing the Mountain Goat here is fun and can be done with almost any equipment. They can be too close and their horns are long and sharp. Legally they have the right-of-way. You are to never “approach” a wild animal. People stretch this but need to be more careful. The results are wonderful especially if the kids are at play. We decided to go last monday. Up at 5 am, breakfast at McD’s for speed we got to the top early and the goats were waiting. Tuesday the summit was closed because of ice and snow slides closed the road, lucky us.

Photography: After you get over the initial trill and altitude sickness, take a few portraits and the look for interesting behavior. Try not to take to many shots from the rear. We call these “Butt Shots”. Don’t forget the cute factor. You won’t get this all of the time but a little patience and warm clothing, you’ll get a ton of great shots. Switch to the Pika at the overlook. There are usually one or two running around in the rocks below the wall and that view! The Marmots are usually along the road down from the top. They can put on a great show with a little  time. Bighorns can be anywhere but much rarer to locate. The rams are even harder to find and there are better locales for them.  I have seen the Jackrabbit only once, this last trip. On the way down stop at the Mount Goliath Trailhead. There is a nice information station and trails which go along the tree line and you can photograph  the twisted Bristlecone Pines, rocks and vistas.

WT Jackrabbit-001

White-tailed Jackrabbit – 1/1500 sec, f/8.0, 0 EV, ISO 1100, 400 mm/600 mm, Processed Lightroom 5. All of thine I have gone up to the mountains I have never see one of these before. At first I thought it was a Snowshoe Hare but looking at the photos, some taken trough there windshield, confided the Jackrabbit.

Goat 2-002

Mountain Goat – 1/2000 sec f/8, 0 EV, ISO 280, 400 mm/600 mm, processed in Lightroom 5. I still like these majestic poses even thought there is not much action it is still behavior.

Pika-001

Pika – 1/500 sec, f/6.7, -1/2 EV, ISO 100, 400 mm/600 mm, These are the cutest! They are a little smaller than a tennis ball. Just try to get one with grass in its mouth. Good luck I have a few of those from other trips.

Marmot-001

Marmot – 1/250 sec, f/5.6, -1/2 EV, Iso 100, 400 mm/600 mm. This is our name for the Groundhog.These guys are clowns. Some of them are well adapted to people. Got some shots of it with a youngster but there are rocks in the way. It went over to a parked car and stood up to inspect the engine. I warned the driver not to leave for a while.

 

[Images from the Id] – Watch your Ps and Qs or what does that manual really say?

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Images from the Id – Watch your Ps and Qs or what does that manual really say?

After a pretty miserable start, we arrived at Rocky Mountain National Park much too late for anything to happen or even be encouraging in terms of photography. You need to remember, sometimes getting going early in the morning is just not in the cards and after too long of a breakfast at local truck stop, we finally arrived. Part of the reason for the trip was to check out the damage from last September’s floods. Both the Alluvial Fan/Indovalley and Fall River Road were basically wiped out. They are to re-open in about a year and the great fall colors of the area will be missed this fall. On the high side, after 3 years the Bear Lake Road was completely open and we had been earlier we could have driven to the lake but were not the mood for the shuttle. Why did we go up on a Sunday?

As expected not much going on, way to late for any self respecting wildlife, and even landscapes are bad in this light. My shooting became an exercise in getting images for a presentation I am giving. That was pretty much crap because of being too lazy to carry the tripod. Or was it just forgetfulness that I would need it?

Sprague Lake is a favorite for landscapes of Hahn’s Peak and surprises. Just call me quick draw. I was shooting some “nice” scenes of a couple of fly fisherman and above appeared an Osprey. The good news was the 80 mm to 440 mm lens was on the camera, the bad news; the camera was not prepared for shooting the bird, especially in a dive. Solution is all based in experience and knowing your camera. Did you read that manual?

The Camera menu settings take too long to do that fast so… have the focus lock on the back button for all of your photography NOT on the half pressed shutter button. This takes a while to get used to, fro me a couple of hundred shots, but do it!  You can use the on-camera settings (if you have them) with that setup, use continuous servo (in your manual) and 3d focus metering. Exposure metering should be “spot” and the shutter should lock it (these may not work for you so experiment) Have the ISO easily changed. I have mine adjustable on one of the top control wheels, Know how to change the frames per second quickly.

So there’s the bird, within seconds I have the ISO, frame rate, and metering reset. Just practice and take a lot of photographs for re-enforcement.

Results: The camera basically locks on for the first shot and follows the action. As the bird got to the trees the camera tried to follow the trees 8-( Back to the manual. Hum, if I slow down the tracking lock on it should not lose the bird so quickly. I always learn something.

The settings for all of these are basically the same

Iso 800, 400 mm/ 600mm, 0EV, metering was Pattern (not spot), 1/6000 sec, f/5.6

Osprey 2-001

 

Osprey 2-002

Osprey 2-003

Osprey 2-004

[Images from the Id] – The Importance of Being…or Backup Backup, Backup

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Images from the Id – The Importance of Being…or Backup Backup, Backup

I entered the week with the sincere belief that things would be different this. The best plans of men and gods bend at the whims of fate. Sunday, the MacBook Pro crashed. It had served well for 4 years of extensive work, but the point really is, how well prepared are you for the worst computer meltdown? I back up all the time at least twice a week for the system and every shoot or Lightroom session. Have a plan and stick to it. Being an Apple product user this is all very easy. The Mac OSX has a function called “Time Machine” which is absolutely amazing with the ability to keep even hourly backups if needed . These are not just data backups but complete system backups. I do this about twice a week and before any major work session. I back up all of the image files at the conclusion of each session. I use backup software called Goodsync and have also used Chronosync. Both are good with not too steep learning curves. This means I have three up to date copies of all my images and Lightroom catalogs.

After catastrophe

Other than the pain of getting a new computer things have gone well. The initial setting up of the hard drive was completely automatic and Time Machine did it in two hours. I now have a computer setup exactly like the last one. Well almost. The “old” computer had to drives and setting up there single SSD drive on the new one was the easy part. Even reauthorizing the Adobe apps and, luckily, this was a big worry from past Microsoft experiences, I got MS Office up and running. Now how to get this year’s image files, which were on the second HD, on the new computer and link to Lightroom? I move the files to the system (SSD) drive and sync to Lightroom in the Library Module. They are still a little bit out of sync but in a few days I’ll get it how I want it. I am going to miss that 300 Gb of extra HD. In the meantime let’s look at a photo

Mueller State Park on the west side of Pike’s Peak is one of my favorite camping areas. It’s quiet. The hiking trails are shorter and easier than most. It has beautiful scenery but not a lot of wildlife action. Actual there is one thing that has become my favorite place to shoot. It’s a little pond called Dragonfly Pond and it is exactly that, a great concentration of dragonflies. These guys are extremely difficult to shoot but practice makes perfect, well almost in this case. Just try to track and focus on a fast flying 2-3 inch dragonfly.

Dragonfly1-001

Dragonfly 1/2000 se. f/6.7 ISO 800 400 mm/600 mm -1/2 EV