Category Archives: Photography

Working With The Glidecam XR-2000

Going over the video footage from Matsuricon 2014 shows the Glidecam XR-2000 is a very picky and difficult piece of equipment to use and keep balanced. After some practice, it is easy to get the balance to be very close, but fine tuning get more and more difficult and the balance will change without any changes being made to the camera or the Glidecam. Perhaps this is why all the professional how-to videos I find are of the HD-2000 version.

Today offered more time to practice, so I took the Nikon D7000 and the Glidecam XR-2000 to Harbin Park in Fairfield. It was sunny, but not too warm with a good breeze to keep cool. I walked up and down small hills, in and out of trees, down narrow paths and wide, in and out of the wind. Sometimes the Glidecam was being used truly freehand, sometimes using the three finger method around the gimbal, and others holding onto the area where the weights are attached.

The results??

The Glidecam XR-2000 likes to move all the time. The slightest breeze will cause it to spin. Put the lens cap on after balancing and it will tip as though a huge weight was placed in the front. No matter how well balanced the unit is, when walking the camera will wonder left or right and up or down. Stop and the camera will continue to move. Very frustrating.

What about holding the pole??

Some guides say to use a thumb on the gimbal and two fingers in front of it. The touch is to be light. This doesn’t help. Any shake introduces by the arms or hands will be seen in the video. Hold too lightly and the camera will still move about as though you are not holding at all.

What about holding the weight plate??

Again, this will introduce shake and variance to the video. There is just no getting away from it. No matter how well balanced, the Glidecam XR-2000 will not stay steady.

Several times I held the pole as I walked from one area to another of the park without filming. Once in a new area, the entire rig had to be rebalanced. Sometimes the mounting plate had to be moved. Sometimes the weights at the bottom had to be moved. The settings on the camera for focal length and focus stayed the same. Why is there any need to balance it again?

When compared to other stabilizers for DSLR cameras, the Glidecam XR-2000 is inexpensive, but it is far more difficult to use. Ugh. More practice I guess.

Journey Into Lightroom

English: Adobe Lightroom Icon Deutsch: Adobe L...
English: Adobe Lightroom Icon Deutsch: Adobe Lightroom Icon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the month of March, Adobe is running a good discount on Photoshop and Lightroom Creative Cloud. Normally quite cost prohibitive for the non-professional, the cost of $10 a month was too much to pass up. My daughter wants Photoshop for her artwork and I’ve been wondering how Lightroom can change my photography. As WOW is becoming quite boring for me, it was an easy switch.

Once purchased, downloaded and installed, the search for tutorials started. On YouTube, I came across Anthony Morganti and his Quickstart training tutorials. After going through part 1, it was time to import some pictures to do some postwork. I went through some old photos and came across some from our vacation in Utah. When we visited Antelope Island on Salt Lake, it was overcast and rainy.  The rocks had more color and beauty than the lack of light allowed. How well could Lightroom open up these pictures?

Shooting in RAW mode on the Nikon D7000 has several advantages. RAW saves far more data about the image than JPEG and Lightroom takes full advantage of it. Once imported, it was time to see the adjustments Anthony suggests in his first video.

The first changes Anthony suggests is in the Basic area, setting Highlights to +100 and Shadows -100. The first will flatten the picture and the second will open it up. After performing this on several photos, I am not sure it is always necessary. It does seem a good place to start. It will be interesting to play with these settings as I learn.

Finishing the Basic section is adjusting the Whites and Blacks by holding the Option key down while moving the slider. Anthony’s suggestion is to just allow the Whites in and deepen the Blacks quite a bit. It will depend on the photo, of course. This is also to the taste of the photographer and what is wanted with the post-processing. Here too is another place to learn. Clarity, vibrance, and saturation are adjusted to preference.

Lens correction is another section visited. On some photos, it makes little difference, but on wide angle shots it helps to straighten them out. As the Nikon D7000 will save lens information in the EXIF data, Lightroom will compare against its database and adjust as required. The photos loaded so far used a Nikkor lens. I do have some using my Tamron and it be interesting to see what changes are required for it.

Sharpening and Luminance under Noise Reduction are the next standard place to use a standard setting: 70 and 40, respectively. Adjusting the various colors and details is all according to the needs of the photograph and what the photographer is trying to do. I have learned that push the various colors dials too much can give the picture an other-worldly look. This is good to know, though, as there are times when such results will be wanted.

Here are a few pictures I’ve placed in my Flickr photostream:

Salt Lake Rocks - V 2 - 2012
Salt Lake Rocks – V 2 – 2012 (Photo credit: BrainMuffin)
Salt Lake Rocks - #2
Salt Lake Rocks – #2 (Photo credit: BrainMuffin)

 

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The Road to Elle Macpherson

Elle MacPherson
Elle MacPherson (Photo credit: chaim zvi)

I am quite proud of my daughter, Keleigh Lape. She has been accepted to attend the Dallas Expo (fully the Model & Talent Expo presented by Mike Beaty) as a representative for John Casablancas in Cincinnati, Ohio. There are some who claim this Expo is total crap and a scam. It does costs money to attend the Expo, but it is limited to no more than 500 talented people. This is very unlike other expos and gives the attendees far greater exposure to agencies.

So, what does this have to do with Elle Macpherson?

Elle is a woman I’ve wanted to meet and photograph for quite some time. I’d like to meet her as she seems quite the woman. She leveraged being a model to act in several movies, the most notable being her role in Sirens. How lovely were her assets?

As her modelling career wound to a close, she was able to use her image and fan to become a serious businesswoman. This too makes her quite desirable to meet and interview. No, not an interview like for Newsweek, more a like and afternoon chat among friends.

Who knows where my daughter’s modeling career will lead. It would be a good ending to be in New York someday with Keleigh and meet Elle. Perhaps Elle could give Keleigh pointers and advice on using her modeling for more after the path has been run.

And maybe, just maybe. Elle will let me take her picture.

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Film, HDRI And The Crop Factor Controversy

This image shows a "Nikon Nikkor 18-70 AF...
This image shows a “Nikon Nikkor 18-70 AF-S DX / 3.5-4.5 G IF-ED” lens. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is time to shoot again. This time, HDRI and film are on the agenda. The sun is out today and the day lilies glow in the light. The ideas for today are to take some closeup and macro pictures of the flowers. The Pentax Spotmatic and Nikon N8008s will also be used to capture some pictures on Fujicolor 200 ASA (ISO) film. If the wind is down enough, some HDR images will also be made.

Oh wait, what controversy?

The crop factor in Nikon’s DX cameras is 1.5x. Their line of Nikkor DX lenses are made to only cover the space of the sensor. Place one of these lenses on a full-frame camera and it will not cover the whole sensor. I’ve contented that this means the measurements of the millimeter size of the DX lenses has already been adjusted to the crop factor. So, taking a 70mm full-frame lens and placing it on a full-frame body should have the same view as a 70mm DX lens placed on a DX camera. Some say this is not correct. Experiment time.

Today, this hypothesis will be put to the test by switching lenses on the Nikon D7000. Those lenses are the Nikkor AF-S 18-70mm 3.5-4.5G ED DX, Tamron AF 70-300mm 4-5.6 Tele-macro DI and the Nikkor AF 35-80mm 4-5.6D. The latter two lenses are full-frame and all three intersect at 70mm. The full-frame lenses should look zoomed a bit more on the D7000. We shall see. Watch the resulting video on Bryon Lape YouTube channel. A similar experiment was also performed on the N8008s and will be reported once the film has been processed and the results scanned. Oh, the blending of new and old technologies.

It was a good, though hot, day shooting. Video and stills taken. Yep, so HDR too. It is time to process the images and get busy posting. Ask me your questions, I’ll tell you no lies.

Happy shooting.

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A Return To Harbin Park

Path in Harbin Park
Path in Harbin Park (Photo credit: BrainMuffin)

Harbin Park in Fairfield, Ohio is an interesting place. It is a city park, yet doesn’t feel like one as it is bigger than most. While it contains the typical basket ball and volleyball courts and covered picnic pavilions, it is also a target rich environment for Geocaches. It was this outdoor past-time that first lead me to Harbin Park on a regular basis. It is photography that brings me back.

Star Wars and Home Brewing Day (May, 4th) beckoned many to the outdoors as it was the first warm Saturday of the year. The passing clouds and wind kept one from being too warm and many took advantage. It was time to take advantage and shoot some video. Several people had been sending questions via YouTube and it was time to answer some.

Many ideas flowed through the brain: depth of field, rear curtain flash, HDRI. Which would survive the truth of the situation? Which would be forgotten? What new ideas would arrive once there and walking around? Oh the possibilities.

The first two videos are up on YouTube: Photography in Harbin Park – Intro and Being on the Path – Harbin Park. While walking down a wide path, a new opportunity came about. It was time to get the iPhone out to discuss how to get a blue sky. This is one of the most common questions asked of me. So, here’s the demonstration.

Visit the videos and enjoy. More editing is to be done and more videos will follow. Send your questions in. It is time to learn and explore photography. It is time to explore your own Harbin Park. It is time to get out and see the world through the lens.

Have fun!

 

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My Thoughts On The Nikon D600

Nikon D600
Nikon D600 (Photo credit: Nkolus)

The Nikon D600 is out! It is here! Finally! Woo hoo! Ok, but why????

A few things for the technical geeks. It has 24 megapixels, so now you can zoom way in and have good, sharp images. If you lens can give you that much information. It uses SD based cards like all the other pro-sumer oriented cameras. Ok, not all, but most. The  means SDHC and SDXC are supported. These cards are quick, high capacity and inexpensive. And it has two of these slots, like the Nikon D7000. That’s cool!

Yeah, so what? So it is another camera at the top of the pro-sumer line.

This one is different! This one is….Full Frame!!! Yep! Finally! A full frame camera from Nikon around $2,000!

So?

So??? That means Nikon is finally allowing the rest of us to choose a full frame. That means no more cropping those old, beautiful lenses. That means we finally get great color and low noise ISO down in the price range that doesn’t require a second mortgage. That means that we may finally get a full frame price war between Nikon and Canon (please feel free to join in the fray Sony, Olympus and Pentax). This is great!

I really love the idea of the Nikon D600! No, I will not get one….yet…I tend to be a second generation adopter, but I really love this. Currently, I have a D7000 and I will definitely be upgrading at some point. I had thought to wait for the replacement of the D7000, but now I know I will not. That is, of course, unless it is a full frame camera. I have some older Tamron lenses that are full frame. Yes, the current crop factor of DX sensors is nice, but I’d rather have an affordable full frame with 16 megapixels than a 24 megapixel, APS-C sensor (yeah D5200, I’m talking to you) anyway.

This is the start of the full frame revolution. No longer relegated to the top end, really freaking expensive cameras, full frame for the masses is finally becoming a reality for every one. Yes, it is only the first camera in the Nikon line to be full frame at this level, but more will follow. Someday the entry level camera will be full frame too. I cheer its arrival.

See my video of my thoughts on the D600. Subscribed to my YouTube channel and share in the discussion.

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