Chuqui 3.0

Photography next steps...

I've been spending time thinking about goals and priorities for next year, and what I want to try to accomplish.

In the photography realm, I need to continue working to push my capabilities at processing photos -- hence my decision to stop waiting for Aperture 2.0 and move on to CS3. Every time I talk to a photographer who's work I want mine to look like, they're using CS3 for post processing.

I need to widen my style; I'm spending 95% of my time shooting with the 100-400, and almost no time shooting pictures with people or building. So I've decided to start doing more "urban" work, more wide angle and start working on lighting and studio shooting, and work on technical issues, especially macro work.

Of course (hah) that means adding more gear. I've been researching macro lenses, and with my history with Sigma, I've decided (at least for right now) to invest in either their 180 F3.5 EX DG, or the 150 2.8 EX DG. Right now, while I'd like the longer glass for in the field, and both go to 1:1 in macro, the 150 is newer, cheaper and seems like the better deal here. They're both 72mm filter rings, which is nice.

Unlike Apple (grump_), Sigma announced a bunch of new products, including some really interesting new lenses...

In the "oh my god, I want this (but can't afford it), there's the new 200-500 F2.8 with a dedicated 2X (making it a 400-100 F5.6, which means it autofocuses!). 72mm rear filter bay. Cost? They won't say, but -- it requires it's own dedicated battery for focus and operation, and it ways 553 ounces (not grams, ounces). That's about 34 POUNDS of lens. Sherpa and Forklift extra.

But god, I"m drooling.

In the realm of "possibly affordable", there's the 150-500 F5-6.3, which seems to be Sigma's response to my dear beloved 100-400 F4.5 IS. If I were looking for a lens for wildlife/bird/nature shooting, this one would be high on my list to check out. No pricing I've seen yet, but the specs sound very nice.

If I were going to spend some time really going super-wide, though, I'd take a serious look at the new 10mm F2.8 EX. It looks nice -- but it's probably next year's lust toy....

Only one lens on the wish list this year, because I want to spend some time (and money) on the lighting side. I currently have a speedlite 420, which is perfectly nice, but as I experiment more, I'm finding I want more control. Because of that, I've put on my list for the next month or two a Canon 580EX amd the Canon STE2 transmitter. The STE2 and the 580 will allow me to build or buy a macro rig that places the two flashes on both sides of the lens to flatten the shadows. Add a couple of softboxes (I like the Lumiquest on the 420 so far), and it'll be a nice field rig to go with the macro lens for insects and flowers.

Delkin, however, announced at PMA the toy I've gotta have; their new universal dual battery charger. Through the use of customization plates, it can charge any combination of batteries with one unit, and you can charge two batteries at once. It's nicely priced, and since Laurie and I both have D30's and Rebel's, I can buy one with two D30 plates and one with two Rebel plates and we can both only need ot carry a single charger. I can't tell you how I've been waiting for something like this... Now, if they have plates for our panasonics, I'll die a happy person. well.. metaphorically.

Yes, Yes. I'm a toy geek. And yes, I have bought both a Brite Vue sensor loupe and a Hoodman Screen Loupe and I love both. The screen loupe was amazingly useful in yosemite trying to review the quality of the exposure of some of the shots while keeping the snow glare off the LCD. I wouldn't have been as successful with the Coyote without it.

But this has created another problem: I need to rethink my bags and carrying strategy. Currently, I use two bags: a Lowepro Computrekker backback (which I like everything about BUT the tripod carry straps), and a Tamrac shoulder holster zoom case. The reality is, my gear doesn't fit into the backpack now, so my normal expedition has the D30 and the 100-400 in the shoulder bag and everything else in the backpack (with a third bag of "stuff" like chargers and sensor cleaning gear, that gets left at home or packed in with clothes.... which means chargers aren't there if I forget something. Not good).

I've been lusting for a while for the Tamrac Expedition 7 -- but I've really come to the conclusion that's the wrong direction. it all STILL won't fit, and carrying ti all around is a pain in the back, quickly. So I'm moving towards the idea of a Tamrac Cyberpro rolling case -- and then carry a backpack (perhaps a smaller version of the Lowepro) and a day pack, and then pack for the situation the subset of gear I'm going to want. Or maybe a pelican, perhaps even a hard case. Not sure yet.

Part of my problem with the current setup, other than weight and mass, is that it makes it too easy for me to just grab the 100-400 and go, leaving the smaller lenses behind. I've gotten in the habit of thinking of the rebel as my wide angle body and the D30 as my workhorse and either carrying both on alternate shoulders or just going with the single setup; moving back to perhaps sometimes carrying a single body and multiple lenses seems to make sense, at least in theory, and using two bodies when I'm more stationary. I actually LIKE the two-body setup, because I can tripod one and handhold the other, but I also find it makes it too easy to not do it and just carry the 100-400 around, or carry the backback and not bother cracking it open for the other lenses. By thinking the shoot through and carrying THAT gear, I think I'll be more likely to use it... As it is, I have optimal flexibility, but it's enough hassle I find I'm not bothering. Bad habit, and I need to break it.

Besides, a person can never have enough lenses, bodies, or bags to stuff them in, right?

The Apologetic Jerry Yang - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

The Apologetic Jerry Yang - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog:

One insider told me he cringed when he heard Mr. Yang open his keynote speech earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with an apology.

okay, it's official. Jerry even brought in Steve Jobs for advice. But the reality is, Jerry Yang is no Steve Jobs.

But Yang is no Steve Jobs, and Yahoo increasingly reminds me of Apple circa 1994. And Jerry Yang, while definitely not as bad as Michael Spindler, is really showing himself to be Gil Amelio.

And that's not what Yahoo needs to fix itself.

Time for Jerry to bounce himself to founder emeritus status, and find someone who can come in and fix the place, or sell it to someone who can.

Sigh.

It's too bad they haven't put the time and energy into fixing the infrastructure that they have on "going green" and winning awards at the cafeteria. Of course, where it used to be that the cafeteria was a big plus around there, now, I'm hearing from more and more yahoos that it's getting downright inedible (earlier this week, I was told of a meal that included mango, where they didn't bother to peel it first. ugh). So while the cafeteria's going green and buying local and doing all that fun PR stuff, the employees are increasingly going to Subway and eating off campus.

That may be the core issue at Yahoo: well intentioned, but focussing on the wrong problems to solve. And right now, I have no real confidence that the current management knows what needs to be fixed, much less how, and the layoffs coming are going to be political instead of tactical and make things worse over time, not better.

Of course, the layoffs only exacerbate the OTHER problem, which is that the good people Yahoo needs to figure out how to keep are thinking hard about running for the hills. For every Netflix or Microsoft saying "hey, come work for us!" there are dozens of resumes flying over transoms the other direction....

And does Yahoo have a "steve" that can come back and save it?

Maybe Apple SHOULD buy Yahoo. It'll give them a management with a clue...

The Pirate Bay: Is it illegal to point?

The Pirate Bay: Is it illegal to point? - - mathewingram.com/work:

In other words, The Pirate Bay is only pointing Internet users to those files, in the same way that Google and Yahoo and MSN point users to webpages. Is that — or should that be — a crime?

The analogy isn't perfect, but it's close enough, I think. Think about this: if I were to create a web site called "The Mercenary's Safe House", and it allowed people to advertise themselves as hired guns -- and someone uses that site to hire someone to kill an enemy, do you think anyone would listen to the argument that I'm not responsible in any way?

Of course not. It's still being an accessory to a crime. Ditto for web sites that overtly act as connection points between prostitutes and clients (hence the continuing cat and mouse games over euphemisms like massage or escorts or friend finders...).

but for some reason, with something like Pirate Bay, people don't see the accessory angle. Honestly, I don't see the difference between Pirate Bay and Mercenary's Safe House. Neither commit, both enable. And accessory to a crime is still a crime...

Whither Aperture?

Earlier in the week I said:

Chuqui 3.0: Aperture 2.0 coming?: "rumors are starting to circulate that Apple will be announcing Aperture 2.0 on Tuesday at PMA.

All I can say is I don't know. I was kvetching at a friend at Apple last week about the lack of an Aperture update, and got told to be patient. So I'm trying. I'm really trying...."</p>

And now, coming out of PMA, we're heading -- well, nothing. And Rick Le Page at Macworld is covering that nothing...

Macworld | Creative Notes | PMA notes: Whither Aperture?: "I’m in Las Vegas this week for the annual PMA conference and trade show. I’ve been here for a few days already, and there’s one topic that has come up in almost every discussion I’ve had with photographers: Aperture.

More specifically, the topic is: ‘Where’s Version 2.0 of Apple’s image management and editing app?’ With the the show starting this morning, it seems pretty clear that we won’t see anything announced this week, and the disappointment I’m hearing is pervasive.

What’s most interesting to me is the shift in attitudes and usage. People aren’t actually excited about an Aperture update; it’s more of a ‘will it be significantly better’ type of vibe. And photographers aren’t saying that the Adobe competitor, Photoshop Lightroom, is a better product. No, what I’m hearing is that neither Aperture nor Lightroom has taken hold with this crowd. At least three photographers I spoke with said that they bought both products, and that they aren’t really using either one."</p>

I've been waiting -- increasingly impatiently -- for SOMETHING. A year ago, Aperture was a great start; the problem is, you have to follow up a great start with making it even better and staying ahead of the crowd chasing you, and frankly, Apple hasn't. There are various reasons for that -- changes within the development group and fixing some issues with the development process, for instace -- but ultimately, my problem here is that where a year ago Aperture was breaking ground and was worth fighting some of the rough edges and warts, now both CS3 and Lightroom have done good jobs of improving the products and leapfrogging Aperture, so it's now a me-too product with warts and rough edges.

When I check with friends On the Inside, I keep getting a "be patient...." message. Unfortunately, the "be patient" clock has been ticking for six months now, and that just doesn't fly with me. Basic compatibility issues with Leopard and various bugs are unresolved, adn it's been almost three months since Leopard shipped. Apple and Apple users chide people like Adobe and Microsoft for being slow at full intel or leopard compatibility -- but in Aperture, Apple's not exactly setting a good example to live by.

And then there's this fact: people (like fraser speirs) that one would expect to be involved in this upgrade aren't. That implies to me one of three options: (1) that Apple won't brief plug-in developers ahead of time, leading to delays while they scramble to be compatible; or (2) there are no changes to the plug-in interface at all; or (3) that (my most likely pick) Apple's building these things into the core product, and aren't even bothering to warn Fraser his product line is going to be obsolete whenever they announce the upgrade...

Now, I'm not saying Apple shouldn't add this stuff to the product. I do believe Apple should (especialyl for an early supporter like Fraser) take him aside quietly and brief him -- given Fraser's working on the new version of the plug-ins, if that time and energy end up wasted because Apple's simply throwing him out the back door because he's not needed any more, I think a lot of early adopters of Aperture should be pissed.

but in any event, I hate the implications of all three of those options....

And I, for one, have called time:

Shipping Details

(order will arrive in 1 shipment)

Delivery estimate: February 1, 2008

"The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2" Scott Kelby; Paperback; $14.99

"The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)" Scott Kelby; Paperback; $31.49

"The Digital Photography Book" Scott Kelby; Paperback; $11.99

I've been patient long enough. I'm moving to CS3. For all my griping about Adobe's upgrade and pricing, they got a lot of things right about the software, and it has the third party support and user base that Aperture is missing. And so now, apple can do what it wants with Aperture. I can be infinitely patient, since now, Apple has to convince me to NOT deprecate the product in my work. And I've watched a number of other early supporters and users abandon it for CS3 or Lightroom -- I'm starting to feel like the last rat off the ship, but at least I'm off the ship before it sinks any deeper...

I have no insight into what Apple is planning for Aperture, but I do know that PMA’08 would have been the best place to show its commitment to the professional photo market. Aperture 1.5 is a good product. However, in talking with photographers who’ve used it, they say it’s not a great product, and that’s what they need. I hope Apple’s listening.

Listening isn't the problem. The time for listening ended a while back. What Apple needs to be doing is talking. Since it isn't, I have to make decisions without knowing Apple's story, because I simply can't wait any longer. And that means I can't consider Apple as an option moving forward here. Maybe Apple will listen to the sound of everyone leaving the room, but what good is talking to an empty audience?

I'd almost rather use iPhoto. At least I know it'll be updated....

Digg Demonstrates The Failure Of Completely Open Collaborative Networks - Publishing 2.0

Digg Demonstrates The Failure Of Completely Open Collaborative Networks - Publishing 2.0:

Digg is a great experiment in web “democracy” — a site where ANYONE can submit links to content and vote on links to their favorite content. The positive outcome of the Digg experiment has been demonstrating the power of “networked human intelligence” to filter the vast sea of content on the web and allocate attention to content on a scale only rivaled by search.

But Digg has also demonstrated that a completely open network will be subject to so much gaming and manipulating that it’s not possible to maintain that openness.

The choice Digg has faced is either:

1. Allow the site to be taken over by an “elite” group power users and by bad actors seeking to game it, which ceases to be an open system
2. Implement so many algorithmic and manual controls that the it ceases to be an open system

Yesterday, Digg announced a change to its algorithm that makes it clear they’ve gone with the second option

This horse has left the barn long ago at Digg, and it'll be interesting to see how they fix it, or if they can. There are a couple of ways social networking sites and online communities can go sideways, and Digg is a casebook exhibit of them:

First problem: you have to be very careful about how you build karma systems (whatever you call them: rankings, reputations, karma, etc); What starts out as a way to recognize your top/best/most-whatever users can quickly turn into a system to be gamed -- what starts out as a way to recognize contributions that improve the site turns into a game for people who want to see themselves on the list. this usually makes things worse, not better, because these people do what it takes to end up on the list, and those things rarely improve the site -- and they aren't intended to, because those users don't care about the site.

And that's the second problem: users who see themselves as more important than the site itself. This is a huge problem with Digg -- one Digg has encouraged upon itself -- and now that Digg is trying to rejigger itself to better represent it's entire user base, it's running straight into a conflict with those that are used to defining the agenda and don't want to share it.

Well, of course they don't. They've gamed the system to make things happen their way, and they don't like it that Digg wants to change things so be more representative. Gee, that's a surprise. And even more amusing, it's more important that Digg do what THEY want than Digg do what Digg's owners (the people who write, run and pay for Digg) want.

It'd be one thing if these people were arguing that Digg is doing something bad for the community, but aren't. They're arguing that Digg shouldn't be allowed to change things so Digg does what the DIGG folks want, since it will reduce their influence on Digg's results. Really bizarre because what Digg is trying to do is add to the diversity of opinion and reduce gaming.

It can be a tough thing to do, but whenever you have people in your community threatening to take their toys and go home, it's usually a smart idea to help them to the door. Since Digg has already decided it wants to reduce the gaming of the system -- if the people who are gaming the system hold their breath and turn blue and then leave the system, that can only help Digg.

One of the things community admins tend to forget in the noise is that the people making the loudest noises are rarely people who represent the community consensus. They're people who've figured out that being the squeaky wheel is the way to get what they want -- and it's not about the community, it's about them.

It's up to the community managers to understand their community and weigh complaints based on the community at large, not just who's yelling loudest. Sometimes those screamers are RIGHT, and then you need to listen to them. Most times, though, they're really interested in them, not the site. And at that point, the community is better off without them.

I hope the Digg managers follow through on what they're doing and tell the people who are trying to hold this change back to stuff it. Otherwise, they'll be saying that it's about the gamers, not about the site or the content, and that's when they'll become irrelevant.

This is why I hate automated reputation tools, and instead always preferred some kind of administrator-driven recognition system. As soon as you publish metrics on users, there will be users who will look for ways to "win" the race to the top of the metric. Instead, use the metrics privately and find ways to recognize and reward those users who make the site better. I can't think of an automated system that isn't gamed in some way -- and that's a good hint that these systems are inherently flawed.

Sometimes, there's nothing better than a pair of eyeballs and some careful consideration, instead of just throwing numbers around. With social networking, automation is not necessarily your friend...

(also see:

VentureBeat » Digg top users revolt as company tries to appeal to buyers:

Digg, the social news site where anyone can submit and vote on their favorite online articles, has changed its method of deciding which articles are featured on the Digg homepage. Top users say their votes now count for less, and are on strike — refusing to submit stories until Monday, unless the company responds to their demands.

)

How I Used Flickr To Power My Blog and Got 1,496,603 Visits

Some interesting thoughts on using Flickr...

Photoblog 2.0: » Photoblog 2.0 Archive: » How I Used Flickr To Power My Blog and Got 1,496,603 Visits:

my presence on Flickr has taken on a life of its own. My Flickr photostream is complementary and as important to me as my blog. According to Flickr (as of January 25, 2008) 1,496,603 people had paid visits to my photos. This is a huge number. It’s hard to see how else I could have exposed my photos to so many people. Besides that, the Flickr community of photographers are a great, creative, and supportive bunch.

Apple and bloggers revisited

Marketing Apple: Secrets of the World's Best Marketing Machine: Apple and a blogger, Part 2:

Very interesting post by a now former Apple employee on why he left the Cupertino mother ship. Interesting to note Jens' perspective on Apple's employee blogging policy. Or lack thereof. Perhaps it's no wonder that one of my best friends and long-time Apple employee told me I had big balls for starting this blog.

Brand Autopsy: Bad Apple?:

Fascinating post from Jens Alfke, a just-resigned Apple employee — read it here. (Thanks to Steve Chazin for the hook-up.)

In this post, Jens reveals his dissatisfaction with Apple’s reluctance to embrace the open source/social software culture. Other "creative differences" causing this 16-year Apple veteran to leave include the lack of individual expression and celebration within the company.

I'm amused to see this one come back for a second round of "oh, wow. Look at this!". Probably because AppleInsider finally noticed it, and everyone else is grabbing it (without attribution as if it was their own scoop...)

They must not read the right blogs. Those of you who do realize this is old news, and some of us were talking about it a couple of weeks ago. Repeatedly....

Hey, latecomers, welcome to the story...

Aperture 2.0 coming?

rumors are starting to circulate that Apple will be announcing Aperture 2.0 on Tuesday at PMA.

All I can say is I don't know. I was kvetching at a friend at Apple last week about the lack of an Aperture update, and got told to be patient. So I'm trying. I'm really trying....

It's also coming out that RAW support for the new Nikon D3 and D300 will be in the 10.5.2 release, which is close to release. One thing a lot of people don't seem to understand is that the import routines (RAW converters, etc) are NOT part of Aperture, but are actually part of OS X itself, which means they're equally available to Aperture, iPhoto and any other application. That's good in some ways (anyone, including Preview, can read a RAW image) -- but it means support for new camera formats has to be done through updates of the OS (or Apple needs to issue a special release to support the formats). That complicates the matter of when and how quickly cameras get supported -- it also means an Aperture update won't necessarily add the camera support in. They're separate updates completely.

In any event... I can't wait. I wish I could say I can't say anything because I'm under NDA, but I'm not. Which means I can say anything -- but I know nothing I can say anything about...

Not that this ever stops me.

Are Your Pictures Ready To Sell?

Are Your Pictures Ready To Sell?:

So you’ve done the shoot, downloaded the images and archived the best onto your hard drive. Now you’re already dreaming of how you’re going to spend the money when your pictures hit the market.

If only that was all it took.

Before you can make your images available for sale there are a number of things that you need to do.

Here’s a pre-sale checklist.

Really nice piece on what beyond the camera you need to know about if you're moving into the pro ranks.

I've gotten involved with a group on flickr called Chosen Challengers Challenge. Unlike a lot of groups on Flickr these days (many of which seem to fall into one of two camps, trying to promote the group, or trying to spoof the interestingness algorithms), it's just a bunch of pretty damn good photographers who have gotten together and are comparing their photos against each other.

At any time, there are ten topics open; five photos get posted to a topic, then everyone votes on what their favorites are. First photo to five votes wins, and gets posted to the photo pool.

It has been a real eye-opener. I thought my photos were pretty good. They are, actually, and looking back on my collection, I've taken huge strides in quality over the last six months and a year. Most of my photos from early 2007 and earlier make me wince now, and they ALL need to be reprocessed(*) -- but when putting them head to head with the other photographers, it's showing me how much further I have to take it to get to that level of technical and stylistic quality.

Some would probably look at those challenges and get down on themselves, I'm choosing to take it as a challenge and a motivator, and I'm really enjoying the interplay of seeing how others are creating their photos. It's really giving me a chance to get in the heads of some really good photographers and study how they see a view and make it a shot, especially in areas that I really haven't done much with yet.

I have had some success, nine wins so far. You can see those photos here, but I have to note my favorite winners right now are my Yosemite shots:

which I still love and which hangs on my wall, and my retake of that same shot this december when we went there for some winter photography:

and, of course, half dome:

Personally, I really like this half dome better, but I think I need to reprocess it; too much noise in the sky.

2006 was where I decided I wanted to get serious about my photography again. In 2007, my photos clearly made some transitions -- and I took fewer, but much better, photos. And so here in 2008, I'm hoping to take that another step or two (or three), and continue pushing my skills and technique and also widen my focus to new types of photography; currently, I do little to know people photography and little "urban" work. I need to get comfortable with both types, and spend a lot more time on landscape and wide angle photography as well as macro photography and start doing studio work. I've been doing a little experimenting with flash to supplement available light in my wildlife work, but I still have a ways to go there, too.

But I'm really looking forward to 2008, especially how 2007 closed out...

Here's a quick look at the transition for me. In 2006, this was one of my best photos:

in fact, I used it on my business card. Today, I see it as a nice, but really flawed shot; the bird doesn't separate from the background well, the shadows are too strong. It could have really used some fill flash to clean it up...

2007: much better awareness of light and shadow issues. Overall, a nice, solid flight shot:

or this one, which I'll forgive myself for leaving the face obscured, under the circumstances:

but on the holiday trip (and since then), I've tried to really stop and think my way through the technical and stylistic issues and tried to take some shots that really defined the best I could do. And I'm really pretty happy with them:

and

(which is actually a testament to post-processing. Don't believe me? Look here)

and then the Yosemite trip, which I'll write about soon (still finishing up the photo processing and uploading, to be honest). I did some self-admittedly awesome work, not just of the landscape (see above), but when we ran up against the coyote and it cooperated, I was very happy with the results:

For all of the Yosemite shots you can check out the Flickr set. I'd be curious what you think and which ones you think are best and what's not up to snuff.

(* and in many cases, thrown out. And re-keyworded. And recaptioned. And... And that's all waiting for Aperture 2.0, or the lack of it. But that wait is close to over, I'll be figuring out What's Next in the next couple of weeks after I see what happens at PMA. Or doesn't happen...).

State of the Sharks... going into the all-star break

Two for Elbowing: State of the Sharks... going into the all-star break:

A bit behind on complaining about writing about the Sharks, so here's some catch-up moving into the All Star Weekend.

Detroit game: In case anyone was wondering, Detroit is clearly is clearly a better team than the Sharks. I actually think the talent is fairly close (and I think sharks goaltending is much better) -- but Detroit has the committment and discipline to implement and follow the system more than the Sharks do.

I haven't mentioned this for a while, so.... If you're reading this blog and wondering why I never talk about hockey (or sports in general) any more, it's because you're probably not reading our other blog, Two for Elbowing, which is all about hockey, the Sharks, and whatever else I decide belongs over there involving sports.. feel free to stop on by and try to cross-check me into a corner...