Mt Rainier Crossing the Nisqually Glacier

There is a new album on my website as I begin to publish some of my time in the Northwest this summer. The first gallery is of Mt Rainier and Crossing the Nisqually Glacier. We started early in the morning, even for Seattleites and arrived at the Paradise Visitor's Center about 8:30am. Paradise is named such because of the many fields of flowers visible in the July / August months and the colorful beauty that abounds. Getting to the parking lot early is the best way to have a place to park. When we finished our trek about 1:00pm, the parking lot was full.

The challenge right off the bat was finding the best trail to take to Panorama Point which sits about 7,000 feet halfway up the 14,000 foot peak. There are about four different well marked trails climbing in and around the Nisqually Galcier to get to Panorama Point. The problem we had was that they were all still under five feet of snow at the visitor's center. Apparently there was heavy snow in May that hadn't melted yet this year.

After a little time looking at the map and getting our 'snow' legs on, we pushed off. It was quickly apparent that we would be hiking up towards the center of the peak and we would eventually find ourselves on the Glacier, but it was also evident that the trail was well below our feet. The drifts of snow were anywhere from six to twelve feet when you looked down at the trunks of the evergreens lining the base of the Paradise area.

Cresting the last of the heavy forest mounds, we found ourselves staring at the glacier and watching the peak get ever closer. Because of the angle going up the side, it didn't look far in front of us and sure didn't look so high. After another hour of climbing up and not seeing any change in the top, we knew it was every bit of 14,000+ feet.


I was extremely proud of my nine year old son, Ben, who climbed the 2,000 feet with me and my brother-in-law. He plugged along and was equally as excited as I was to see this massive mound of snow and rock.

There were certainly photographic challenges. One of the first is that the sun is well up on the horizon even at 5am during this time of year. Shooting images quickly at the 8:30am to 9:30am timeframe was critical before the sun was overhead. Metering was tricky, but not impossible. I used an incident reading for just about every shot. I checked every now and then by pointing the meter in my Leica perpendicular to the ground and the sun so that I measured a dark patch of blue in the sky. The meter readings were almost always within a 1/4 f/stop of the incident reading. As you can see, I captured some detail in the glacier snow and the detail in the ice near the top was phenominal.

Lightroom helped considerably for this shoot with the ability to synch the settings. I imported these and started development before 2.0 was released, so I am anxious to play with a few of these using the new brushes and graduated filters. The most common adjustment I made was the white balance and the saturation.

It was also a challenge to be sure that the detail in the clouds above the peak came out with some detail. This was a swirling cloud that rotated the entire day around the top of the peak. Mt. Rainier has it's own weather patterns and today was cloudy and windy with little visibility. The different shapes the cloud made were very interesting and the best shots I got were in the form of a hat crowning the peak.


It was hard leaving the mountain. Everytime I turned around, it was getting smaller. Later in the week we returned for another look. It was amazing that in five days somewhere between two and three feet of snow melted. In fact, Reflection Lake no longer had any snow on the water. I think part of good photography is luck in the weather conditions, and this was one of those times.

Enjoy!
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Don't forget to visit my photography web site where we sell museum quality black and white prints framed to last up to 175 years - Outdoor Images Fine Art.

Lightroom Tip#17: Speeding Up LR 2.0 Catalogs

So you have updated to Adobe Lightroom 2.0? Oh, but you don't have the money to update your computer? Here's a quick overview of the Lightroom 2.0 Catalog settings, which aren't remarkably different from Lightroom 1.4.1. However, with a few tweaks, even your older processor can run Lightroom catalogs a little faster. The really good news? These tweaks will work with Lightroom 1.4.1 as well! First, let's look at where the settings moved to.

In Lightroom 1.4.1, the Catalog Settings were under the File menu. In Lightroom 2.0, Adobe moved them to the Edit menu with the other Preferences.

Optimization

After you access these settings, the first tab is the General settings tab. Notice the bottom section on Optimizing. This is where you can have Lightroom reorganize your catalog data file. It doesn't do anything special that you can see, but it does rearrange how the data is stored to make it more efficient to access. Think of it as a routine like disk defragmenting. Do it every so often to keep things running smoothly. You can even see the last date your catalog was optimized in the top section of the General tab. It depends on the size of your catalog, but the larger the catalog and the more often you make changes to data, the more often you might want to optimize your catalog.


Oh yeah, don't forget one of the cardinal rules: BACKUP THE CATALOG BEFORE YOU OPTIMIZE IT! You never know about the power company or some other gremlin. This is good practice anyway.

Preview Size and Quality

The second tab in the Catalog Settings is the File Handling tab. Here we determine what size and quality our 1:1 previews are rendered as. Do you have an old or slow video card? Does it take longer than it should to show the 1:1 previews? If it does, then change the size and type of the preview. The image below shows the options for the preview size in pixels. The highlighted choice is the default. You can see that you can lower the size a little. Of course the converse is also true, blazing video graphics? Enlarge the preview!


Next, take a look at your quality setting. I know, I want the highest quality too. But, if you want to speed up what you are doing, set the quality to a lower value. Again, the image below shows the default item selected.

Metadata Suggestions

One of the neat featurs in Lightroom is the ability to help you remember what you typed in the Metadata blanks. However, this feature can slow down your computer with a large database. The program has to search for ocurrences of that data field with typing similar to what you have already input. Sometimes this causes a delay in your typing and you have to wait while the computer catches up. Personally, I don't find this feature necessary for me in the Metadata fields, so I turn it off. Go to the last tab in the Catalog settings, aptly called Metadata. Uncheck the box as shown below.

Don't Forget to Restart!

As with any major setting changes, after you are finished, close down Lightroom and restart the program. This should reload all these catalog settings.

One more point, changing the 1:1 preview settings won't help you until you have new previews. When you have some time, like right before you go to sleep early one morning (all nighter, huh?), use the Library -> Previews -> Discard 1:1 Previews menu item. Then use the Render 1:1 Previews menu item in the same place. This should re-create your previews with the new settings.

Remember that these settings are for EACH catalog and not global. You will have to do this for all your catalogs to make a difference.

My Settings

I have a dual core 3.2mhz pentium with 4gb of memory for my main computer and a laptop with a dual core 2.0mhz pentium and 2gb of memory. I use the standard settings on my desktop and everything is reasonable, but on the laptop I find that rendering takes a little longer. While I am out of town shooting images, I use the smaller previews on the laptop and then when I move the catalog to my desktop, I increase the previews to a higher quality. This seems to work well for me. Leave me a comment and let me know what you find.

8/1/2008 EDIT:

Also remember that hardware is important and if you decide not to upgrade hardware, you should still remember to defragment your hard disk. For those that don't know much about this, your hard disk gets pieces of files out of order over time. Like a file cabinet that is no longer in alphabetical order, it's takes longer to find stuff. Putting the file cabinet back in order (defragmenting your hard drive) makes it quick to locate things again. Typically, a defrag program comes with your system tools on your operating system. I use Diskeeper 2008 because it does a great job of defraging my computer while it's not doing anything else.
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Don't forget to visit my photography web site where we sell museum quality black and white prints framed to last up to 175 years - Outdoor Images Fine Art.

Multiple Computers and Adobe Lightroom 2.0

I have seen several questions about how many computers Adobe Lightroom can be installed on for use with a single license. Below is a copy of the LR 2.0 License agreement and it appears that home users can use two copies - one desktop and one laptop. You can see this here: Lightroom 2.0 License Agreement. If I find out any different, I'll post an update here.

Excerpt From Section 2 of the Lightroom 2.0 License

2.1 General Use. You may install and use one copy of the Software on up to the Permitted Number of your compatible Computers; or

2.2 Server Deployment. You may install the Permitted Number of copies of the Software on the Permitted Number of Computer file server(s) within your Internal Network for the purpose of downloading and installing the Software on up to the Permitted Number of Computers within the same Internal Network; or

2.3 Server Use. You may install the Permitted Number of copies of the Software on the Permitted Number of Computer file server(s) within your Internal Network only for use of the Software initiated by an individual through commands, data or instructions (e.g., scripts) from a Computer within the same Internal Network. The total number of users (not the concurrent number of users) permitted to use the Software on such Computer file server(s) may not exceed the Permitted Number. No other network installation or access (either directly or through commands, data or instructions) is permitted, including, but not limited to: (i) from or to a Computer not part of your Internal Network, (ii) for enabling web hosted workgroups or services available to the public, (iii) by any individual or entity to use, download, copy or otherwise benefit from the funtionality of the Software unless licensed to do so by Adobe, (iv) as a component of a system, workflow or service accessible by more than the Permitted Number of users, or (v) for operations not initiated by an individual user (e.g., high-volume automated server processing of wire feed content); and

2.4 Portable or Home Computer Use. Subject to the important restrictions set forth in Section 2.5 below, the primary user of the Computer on which the Software is installed (“Primary User”) may install a second copy of the Software for his or her exclusive use on either a portable Computer or a Computer located at his or her home, provided that the Software on the portable or home Computer is not used at the same time as the Software on the primary Computer. You may be required to contact Adobe in order to make a second copy. ... Read More!

Don't forget to visit my photography web site where we sell museum quality black and white prints framed to last up to 175 years - Outdoor Images Fine Art.

EYE 2: Placement of the Subject

This article is part of my series on the study of 'The Photographer's Eye' by Micheal Freeman.

Our second essay will begin discussing the placement of the subject within the Frame. We will begin with a rather broad overview and then several essays on subjects with fairly plain backgrounds and different ways to divide the frame. Rather than post one large essay, these mini-essays will be cohesive and develop the whole concept of subject placement within an image.

Centering a Subject

Centering is one of the most common placements for a subject within an image. I believe centering occurs for two reasons. The first reason is a learned behavior and the second is the physical makeup of a camera.

Centering as a Behavior

First, centering is automated behavior or a 'habbit'. Most beginning photographers are looking through a camera viewfinder and tend to center the subject they are looking at. When we look at someone, we center our view on their face. When we look at a building, we center our view on the building and then begin looking up and down at the building. By our very nature, we square ourselves up in front of things that we look at. We don't stand sideways, turn our head and have a conversation with someone. This behavior needs modified in order to create an image with the subject located away from the center of the photograph.

Centering Because of Equipment

Second, equipment and technology has directed many photographers to use centering through design. This cause of centering is physical rather than behavioral and comes from two different eras of technology. The first era is the creation of glass lenses used in cameras. Early lenses were made without the mechanical precision used today and each lens was slightly different even though the maker tried to keep them exactly the same. Early lenses were made first and a camera was built around the lens. Today, lenses are made with such exacting specifications that the lens is made to fit the camera.

The result of early lenses was that the center of the lens typically had a very sharp focus while the edges of the lenses were rough and out of focus. Even today, cheaper photographic lenses have less resolution and contrast at the edges when compared to the center. While lens errors are well beyond the scope of these essays, the point is that early lenses and even less expensive lenses today force the photographer to center an image so it will remain sharp.

The second era in technology that pushes centering of images is the digital camera. Digital cameras typically focus by default in the center of the viewfinder. Some digital cameras allow for off centered focusing, but the technique is to focus in the center, recompose and shoot the image. Many beginning photographers do not recompose, they simply focus in the center and shoot.

Results of Centered Subjects

While there are arguably cases for an exact centering of a subject in an image, the vast majority of cases call for a subject out of center. If a subject is only slightly off center, the image can look like an error or extreme lack of experience.

In addition, as we will be discussing throughout the remainder of these essays, art is viewed not as a whole, but in pieces as the viewer's eyes wander the image. A subject contained in the center of an image causes the viewer's eyes to typically remain in the center, static, without movement. This is boring and dull.

However, placing a subject off center to the image as a whole allows for the subject to have space with which to move. The empty space causes questions about what the subject will or has done. The empty space causes speculation from the viewer. These questions and speculations are the cause of tension and eye movement, which is part of the essence of great art, and hence photography.

Conclusion and Exercises

The question now remains - where and how do we offset a subject within the image to best cause tension and eye movements throughout the image? This will be the topic of the next few essays.

For now, as an exercise, choose three fairly stationary subjects and shoot at least six or more images of each. For each subject, shoot one image with the subject as exactly in the center of the image as you can. Then shoot one just barely off center. Shoot the remaining four or more images with any type of offset that you care to use. Compare each of these groups of images making notes about how the centered subject strikes you compared to the offset images.

As a second exercise, go through a few of your favorite magazines. Look at the images in the advertisements as well as the articles. See if you can find any images that have centered subjects and try to determine if this was done intentionally. Record your impressions of the centered and off centered images clipping out the pages to put with your notes if possible.

Go back through the results of these exercises as we continue moving forward to see if they strike you differently.
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Don't forget to visit my photography web site where we sell museum quality black and white prints framed to last up to 175 years - Outdoor Images Fine Art.

The Photographer's Eye Essays and Study

The Photographer's Eye by Michael Freeman is a superb text on learning to visualize an image with a camera and create art. In my introductory post I gave you an overview of the book and told you I would be creating a group of essays on the text, each with an exercise to practice the theories presented in the book. This post will be organization of these essays and allow you to keep up with me on the study. Bookmark this article so you can visit or reference our work.

For notational purposes, I am using EYE and a number to denote these essays. Also, in order to keep the copyrights properly noted, all references to 'The Photographer's Eye' and the terms 'Frame Shape' or 'Frame' as used here are copyrighted by Michael Freeman. The essays are my reflections on the chapter's of his book, The Photographer's Eye, and unless noted otherwise, the exercises are created solely by me to further the study of Michael Freeman's concepts.

• Introduction and Summary of the Essays
• EYE 1: The Frame Shape
• EYE 2: Placement of the Subject
• EYE 3: Objects in a Plain Background
• EYE 4: Dividing the Frame: Linear Divisions
• EYE 5: The Golden Rule
• EYE 6: Geometric Series and Framing
• EYE 7: Frame Recap and Summary Exercises

Enjoy!
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Don't forget to visit my photography web site where we sell museum quality black and white prints framed to last up to 175 years - Outdoor Images Fine Art.

LRG Complete to Get Digital Download!

Joe at Lightroom Galleries has been hard at work the past six months putting together a unique Adobe Lightroom Web Gallery that enables users to create galleries online and sell their images with Paypal, Google Checkout and plain ole' emails.

Joe has now announced that he has figured out a method to add electronic downloadable images for sale as well. Termed 'Digital Downloads', this enhancement will mean you can not only place your prints for sale on the web, but soon you will be able to offer downloadable image files as well. Think about the possibilities!

Read the full post on Digital Delivery at Lightroom Galleries. The really neat concept here is that Joe is leveraging the work already done by a third party service to keep your digital images protected from hacking downloaders. The service he has incorporated into this Digital Download is LinkLok by Vibra Logix.

The LRG Complete web galleries are really shaping up to be not only unique, but a very high quality E-Commerce solution that is available to Adobe Lightroom users. Thanks, Joe for using your mental energies to create such a fantastic product!

Keep watching as the first official release is on the way. ... Read More!

Don't forget to visit my photography web site where we sell museum quality black and white prints framed to last up to 175 years - Outdoor Images Fine Art.

Lightroom 2 is now Released!

Lightroom 2 is now here! Thank you to all the Adobe folks who have listened to so much bantering from the Beta version. There are many new improvements that were only hinted on in the Forums, so if you've been working with the Beta 2 version, you'll still have some new surprises in store!

You can go to the purchase page at Adobe or get a 30 day trial version.

Also, be sure to lookup some of the new feature videos from the Adobe Photogshop Lightroom 2 Learning Center.

Gotta go, time to buy my copy! ... Read More!

Don't forget to visit my photography web site where we sell museum quality black and white prints framed to last up to 175 years - Outdoor Images Fine Art.