elf's Canon 50D Journal

• Rear Focus Tutorial (I learned something new about my camera— in AI Focus mode, the rear AF-ON button can be used to lock focus on the subject before recomposing; pressing it again will release the lock and the camera will track the subject when it begins moving.)
• Product Lighting Tutorial(a detailed tutorial showing the lighting setup for shooting an iMac)
• Blur Magazine(a free PDF magazine about photography; note: some nudity)

Each tripan takes about 5-8 hours of Photoshop work (depending on the complexity of the background). Three photos are overlayed, the overlapping portions are erased and the background is blended to look seamless.

From Passing Fancy

I was experimenting with her "stepping out of the picture".

Night is generally my time for walking... The glare and hurry of broad noon are not adapted to idle pursuits like mine; a glimpse of passing faces caught by the light of a street-lamp or a shop window is often better for my purpose than their full revelation in the daylight; and, if I must add the truth, night is kinder in this respect than day.
—"The Old Curiosity Shop"

I noticed that since Moffat took over the Dr. Who franchise, the Christmas specials have been titled after classic books from the English Canon— A Christmas Carol and The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe. So We were discussing what next year's special might be named and what classic would make for a good title. Based on title alone, Dicken's "The Old Curiosity Shop" has potential. Since I had never hearf of it, I started reading it and noted how the opening agreed with my photographic philosophy. I thought that "Dr. Who and Mr. Smith" based on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic would make both a great episode title and be inspiration for a great Christmas special.

It was noted that Moffat is possibly emulating Philip Hinchcliffe a former producer of Dr. Who in whose era the episodes were inspired by classic English horror films.

• The Pure White Background Done Right (step by step tutorial showing studio lighting for subjects shot with a white background)
• Sharpening De-Mystified (covers the settings for sharpening different subjects)

At this stage there is a high probability that my next camera will not be a Canon. Very likely the Fuji X1 with the 53mm (equivalent) lens (but does it focus fast?) and/or a Nikon DSLR (the D4 is tempting but it's too "big").

The Canon prosumer G12 Powershot replacement doesn't have an APS-C sensor. Once you've photographed at that quality, there's no going back to anything smaller.

Street Photography is an abused term. Its only competitor for abused phrases is the "Decisive Moment." Both phrases used to refer to fleeting moments of time, outside of a studio, where a photographer captured a once in a lifetime opportunity. Now I see it more referring to any snapshot taken on the street, which may have a subject in motion. Just because an image was taken on the street does not make it "Street Photography."

A great street photographer faces all the same issues as a painter, except they have only one or two chances to pull of the shot. They cannot ask someone to go back and do that again. After the moment passes, the subjects go their separate ways and the image is gone.

— Surrealist Manifesto, Part 2

• Famouse photogs pose with their most iconic images
• Sanna Dullaway's colourized photos
• 100 "Understanding Photoshop" video podcasts
• Canon Lens App

My post on G+.

For the first time ever, I shot entirely in Manual mode last night. And I took my camera of Safety Shift because it was usually the wrong exposure when it compensated.

After trial end error I found that f/1.8, 1/60s at ISO 800 and spot metering with my 50mm gets me the correct exposure nine times out of ten (ignoring the exposure meter), in streetlight, as long as the scene isn't in bright light or severe shadows otherwise I have to use exposure compensation.

I can finally go pro.