klsphoto

<p>Re: accommodations in Monument Valley. Also check out the town of Mexican Hat, UT. I was able to get walk in accommodations there in early April a couple of years ago. </p>

<p>Try "Lightroom Labs" with David Marx. He does an excellent job of explaining how Lightroom "thinks", especially about importing & exporting. </p>

<p>While not a photo destination, I would try to visit Kartchner Caverns State Park in Benson. This little known state park has caverns that rival Carlsbad in beauty. Because it was discovered and developed in the 1990's it uses state of the art technology to preserve a living cavern. Reservations are recommended but they do reserve a few walk up spots every day--get there early. <br>

For building & street photography try the Historic Barrio area of Tucson. </p>

Photojojo has a CF card reader for the IPad as well as some pretty reasonably priced other goodies. First one wouldn't

accept a card (alignment problem). They quickly replaced it with one that has worked well. I too am interested in

tethered shooting. Has anyone found an app for the iPad that would be similar to LR's tethered shooting?

<p>Here is my normal set up: At home I use the i-mac as my main computer (it's a 2007 so no thunderbolt or USB3). I have all of my programs (LR, PS, iphoto, etc.) on the internal hard drive (500GB). I have 3 external hard drives (yes, three). The first one backs up the i-Mac's internal hard drive, thereby saving all of my programs, their settings, & any documents I have on the HD). It is a USB drive. The second external (a 2 TB firewire) HD contains all of my photos & the LR catalog. When I'm working in LR (or PS) all photos are written to this drive. Because it is firewire, I do not see any appreciable speed loss vs writing the files to the internal HD. Every night the 2nd external HD is backed up to a third external hard drive (2TB USB) via "Carbon Copy Cloner" which makes an <em>exact </em>copy of the 2nd drive--not a back up that must be "restored" as many back up programs do. When I travel I take the 2nd & 3rd external hard drives with me and connect to my mac-mini for processing of the photos. The mini also contains all of the programs (LR, PS, etc) but no photos. I simply connect both external hard drives & I'm running just as I do at home. Now here's why I'm so glad that I have back ups: The last time we traveled, and I plugged in the 2nd external HD (firewire) it would not work. I tried various configurations (USB, Firewire, etc) and no go. Instead of being a disaster (remember, all of my photos are on this drive), all I had to do was connect the 3rd external HD (USB), rename the drive so that LR catalog knew where to find my photos and I was good to go. When I returned home I purchased a new firewire drive, backed up the 3rd HD to that and it was like the whole thing never even happened. Note: I subsequently renamed the USB drive back to it's old name, and renamed the firewire drive to the original firewire drive name so that I'm still working primarily on the firewire drive and backing up to a USB drive for speed purposes. The 2TB firewire drive was about $150. <br>

I would not keep a mirror copy of your photos & catalog on the same drive, for the very reason described above. Two separate 2TB drives are better than one 4TB. I have no idea why my firewire drive failed. It still powers up so it is possible that it is the reader interface and not the drive itself that failed. It's probably not cost effective to determine the reason for the failure. <br>

Footnote: I also back up all of my photos to DVD's. This may not be the safest longterm backup solution, but so far, I have not had a DVD failure. </p>

<p>This is how I prepare a print for canvas if I want a wrap-around mirrored border in Photoshop:<br>

1. Complete all edits in either LR or PS<br>

2. In PS, select Image>Canvas Size. In "new size" insert the amount of border you need to wrap around on each side (typically 2", but check with your printer). Make sure that "relative" box is checked & the anchor point is center--all arrows pointing outward. At this point, if you just want a plain border, select the border color (black, white, custom) and you are done. If you want a mirror image, select white.<br>

3. Turn on the rulers and with the selection tool, select a vertical portion of the image top to bottom on the left hand side equal to the amount of the additional canvas (ie. 2"). Copy & paste (ctl C & ctl V) on your image then, with the move tool, grab the middle transform handle and pull to the left until the image reverses & fills the blank canvas. Align edges carefully. Repeat on the right side of the image. <br>

4. Flatten the image then repeat step 3 for the top & bottom. Flatten the image again and you should be done. </p>

 

<p>Again, thank you all for your interest and expertise. Since my friends will be starting over from scratch (so to speak) I thought that they might want to try the latest technology, however it sounds like it's not quite ready for prime time. In the interim, I'm going to lend them one of my older DSLR bodies (Canon 20D) & a kit lens to see if they have enough interest in photography to make the investment & commitment that a DSLR (or any other technology) takes. I'm not sure how much the SLR was used in the past--it may have been inherited from a family member. </p>

<p>That was my thoughts, exactly. Not something for a nubie to digital photography (or photography in general, as far as I know) to be fooling around with. I'm going to suggest a whole new set up for them. Any thoughts on suggesting the mirrorless route? Is that going to be the new technology? </p>

<p>As I suspected it doesn't sound like these lenses will work. I appreciate your quick responses and useful information. Now I get to help him build a whole new kit :-) Thanks so much. </p>

<p>I have a friend who has the following lenses which he used on a Canon AE-1 with some kind of adapter (unknown which one). He wants to go digital. Will these lenses fully function (autofocus & auto exposure) with something like a Rebel T3 or T4? <em>Hoya HMC Zoom, 35-105 mm #410339 & Tamron, 80-250 mm No. 355230. If not, what will be their limitations? I'd try them on my Canons but they are not local. Thanks for your help. </em></p>

In addition to what Jeff said, I recommend that you watch some of the short tutorials on the 'net about beginning to use

LR. Google Lightroomlabs or Adobe photoshopTV for some excellent, free advice.

Adam, I only signed up for a half day tour with Carol Bigthimbs from approximately 8 am to 12:30. the rest of the

group continued on and may have gone to Lower Antelope, I'm not sure. I had all the pictures I wanted by then

although I would have enjoyed more of Vernon's stories. There was some climbing in one of the canyons we visited,

but no more than about 8 feet up a steel ladder got you into the canyon. Further climbing if you wanted to go deeper,

but plenty of photo ops without that. Guides were very helpful, holding gear, etc while we climbed, as were others on

tour. The summer heat & times of the light shafts may cause schedule changes, I'd give them a call before you book.

 

I also second a side trip to Horseshoe Bend for sunrise, you'll have a better chance at decent light, sunset can be

questionable as you'll be shooting towards the sun. It is about a half mile hike with some elevation gain to the viewing

site from the parking lot, so another reason to go in the -AM. Have a great trip.

<p>I visited the slot canyons in April of this year. I would highly recommend Carol Bigthumb & Pearl Begay's tour. Yes, it's more $$, but you get what you pay for. Ask for Vernon Tso--he's a photographer & gave us lots of useful tips. We went in small groups (6-7 people) in an enclosed vehicle--not as much dust and a place to change lenses. We visited 3 canyons, two of which are only visited by the Bigthumb/Begay tours so no crowds to contend with. They do a great job of scheduling so you only see other tours upon entry & exit. Lots of time for photos, although they do not limit their tours to only photographers. <br>

Be prepared for a zoo at Upper Antelope. Most tours there herd 75-100+ people through at a time, with the ensuing dust, noise & movement in your shots. Photo tour guides are allowed to stop the crowds for approx. 3 minutes at a time during the light beams in order for you to get your shot. The guides line you up, tripod to tripod and signal when to begin shooting. Yes, there are rude people who push past the guides, but all in all, I found it was a better experience to be with a smaller group. If you are bracketing your exposures, tripod is a must, then you can use your lowest ISO for best quality. Vernon suggested 4600 on the WB and he was right on--colors were incredible. Bring your widest angle lens and plan to shoot a lot of verticals-the canyons are tall. You can see some of the results at my "Slot Canyon" gallery. Also, if you plan (or think you might want to) sell your pictures from any Navajo Nation Property, purchase a photo permit before you go. It's $50 before but if you purchase after you take your pictures, it is $250. The tours do not sell the photo permits. They only collect the canyon access fees. <br>

I imagine it will be hot now and I don't know what the status of the beams will be--you should check before you go. If you want to know more about my experience, drop me a pm. </p>

Here's another vote for the lightning trigger if you want to capture daytime lightning. It does capture single bolts by

"seeing" the infrared pre-flash and triggering the shutter in time to catch the visible bolt. Wide lens, to capture more

sky, aperture priority, around f11 to f13, tripod, manual focus on infinity, ISO 100. Derek's method works for night time

lightning. If you live in a dark sky area you can leave the shutter open in bulb until there is a flash. If there is a lot of

ambient light, try 10, 20 or 30 second exposures to find the right one for the conditions then set an interovalmeter on

continous, sit back & relax. Stay safe.

<p>Google "Commemorative Air Force". They have a wing in the Dallas area. </p>

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<p>Also, ACR in CS5 is the same as the develop module in LR3, albeit with slightly different user imputs--making it more user-friendly. LR4's develop module is supposed to be even more intuitive for a novice user. The catalog features of LR3 are far beyond "keywording" in Bridge. Another vote for LR3, especially at the great deals out there now.</p>

<p>I use this product on my Canons (40D & 50D) and highly recommend it for daytime lightning photography. You can see my images in my "lightning" gallery. <br>

First of all, be safe. Study the patter of storms in your area and position yourself outside of the path of the storm. <br>

This company modifies an OEM remote shutter release for your camera model & as a bonus, include the other half so you can use it as a regular shutter release cable, too. <br>

Use aperture priority, somewhere around 11 or 13, whatever is the sweet spot for your lens, manual focus set on infinity, tripod, ISO for light conditions. Experiment for best results.<br>

If you have other questions, drop me an e-mail. Good shooting, Karen </p>

<p>The One Horse Motel in West Yellowstone caters to photographers--rates around $100 a couple of years ago. Nice folks, basic amenities. 2nd vote for Dirggs or Tetonia--longer drive but lower rates. Might look around Gardiner, MT at the north gate. Enjoy your trip. </p>

<p>Jeff S. is right--Lightroom's Develop Module <em>is</em> ACR--with a few user interface enhancements. Watch for 1 day internet specials on LR3 (Amazon and NewEgg come to mind)--often have deep discounts. Also you can download a 30 day trial from Adobe. To get started right with LR, I suggest visiting "LightroomLab.com". Great tutorials on setting up LR to get the most out of the catalog features. As a long time PS/Bridge user I wondered why I needed LR--now I do 80% of my work there and find older photos much faster. Good luck.</p>

<p>The Develop module <em>is</em> ACR--just with slightly different interface. You can make most of your adjustments there then tweak in CS5, if necessary. Getting your catalog started right with LR is important. Check out the "Lightroom Lab" for some good tutorials. </p>

<p>Another vote for the iMac from a long time windoz user, for all the reasons able and more. BTW, there <em>is</em> a right click available. If you do choose Mac, get the "Switching to the Mac" in the Missing Manual series by David Progue. It's invaluable for transitioning from Win to Mac. </p>

<p>If you prefer videos, check out Lightroomlab.com. David Marx makes it clear how Lightroom works & also the steps to take when you are just beginning. Patrick is right--it is easy to start off wrong & have to re-do some things to get the most out of LR. Good luck.</p>

<p>You don't mention how many days you have for this round trip, but the route you indicated is over 1,700 miles of driving. If you have less than 8 days, you might consider cutting out San Francisco from your trip--thereby reducing the driving by about 700 miles. Even 8 days only gives you 1 day each in San Fran, Yosemite and Death Valley. As for photography locations, check the used book stores on line for travel and photography books for the areas you want to visit. As mentioned in another post, you will most likely be limited to the valley floor in Yosemite due to snow. The valley loop has some great locations. The main road through Death Valley will also yield some good photography locations--don't plan to go off road in a rental car. <br>

Alternately, if you eliminate Death Valley, you could squeeze in the drive up Highway 1 to San Fran, which has some great ocean views. Even though this drive is only 325 miles, plan on it taking all day + as Hwy 1 is a narrow winding road and there will be many stops for photos. <br>

Have a great trip. </p>

<p>Here's another vote for Kauai for all the reasons stated above. Depending upon how long you'll be there, you might consider a "fly-drive" package to Oahu for one day. I found them to be very reasonable--less than $100. By taking the 1st flight over and the last flight back, you get about 12 hours on Oahu. That's time enough for the Pearl Harbor memorial and a trip around the island, with a stop at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Both must-see's IMHO. Unlike the flights to/from the islands, these inter-island flights require a minimal amount of time to be spent at the airport--which means more time for sight-seeing. Check out used tour guide books and even coffee-table type photo books. They are also reasonable ($3-5) and offer great suggestions for photo locations. Have a great trip. </p>

<p>Note that Brooks has indicated the actions are saved under the set name--not the individual action name. If you have individual actions saved that are not in a set you need to move them to a set first in PS. Then, as Brooks said, copy them to a folder on your desktop for easy retrieval. This drove me crazy until I realized what was going on. </p>