This journal documents my experiences with a Canon 50D, my first DSLR camera, purchased on Oct. 16, 2008. The camera was end-of-lined by Canon in July 2010 and the 60D was announced.

iPhone Panoramic 360 App

gear photos

Wed Dec 01 18:49:31 2010

Robert Scoble has some panoramas made with the iPhone 4 using Panoramic 360 app. It is nice to be able to generate panoramas in-camera and know you have enough coverage— something I unfortunately find after I have gotten home and have loaded the images into Photoshop Elements.

The iPhone seems to have become rather popular for making photography less onerous and more fun; the Lens Blog recently featured Damon Winters iPhone photos from Afghanistan.

Friday Foto: BMW Motorcycle

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Fri Dec 03 11:03:23 2010

From Friday Foto: Downtown

It was difficult to pass by and not photograph a BMW motorcycle parked in front of the Original Motorcycle Gourmet Burgers Restaurant.

This was photographed using the "shooting from the hip" technique— keeping the camera at hip-level and taking the photograph blindly (and not checking the camera until you get home). The technique is used in street photography to hide that you are photographing your subject thus allowing them to behave more naturally.

The biggest problem with shooting from the hip at shallow depth of field is getting your subject in focus. I practiced shooting from the hip and had a surprising number of keepers.

Topaz Labs Unblur

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Fri Dec 03 23:44:25 2010

Topaz Labs has released a PS plugin that uses deconvolution to unblur photographs.

Pretty impressive.

Friday Foto: Festive Lights

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Fri Dec 10 18:24:57 2010

From Friday Foto: Downtown

I've gone back to shooting with the 50mm because the 24mm is just to heavy for everyday use.

In this photograph, I used Flourescent white-balance and Spot metering. The white-balance setting was another happy accident because I usually prefer the Tungsten setting as it removes the orange glow. In this case, the orange glow complements the purplish lights nicely.

Friday Foto: Christmas Trees in Berczy Park

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Mon Dec 20 10:26:41 2010

From Friday Foto: Downtown

This is one of many photographs taken over two days with the 24mm. I used Spot metering and a shallow depth of field (f/1.6) to get this look. I wish there was also some way to record where the scene was metered or what "light setting" was used. I have no way of reproducing this photograph easily as the metering was an integral part of getting this look.

I would have looked better with snow; the distractions on the left should also have been cropped out. Since I'm on holidays, I have an excuse.

Holding the Camera at an Angle

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Thu Dec 23 12:12:42 2010

I recently posted a photograph of a cellist.

After staring at it for a bit, I thought it might look better if I rotated it slightly, to give it a sense of immediacy. So I loaded it up into PsEl and rotated it, keeping the cellist's head at the top-right rule-of-thirds intersection. I also roughly filled the corners with the cloning brush.

It does look better. I will keep this in mind next time I photograph a subject walking towards me.

Friday Foto: On My Way Home

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Fri Dec 24 22:41:51 2010

From Friday Foto: Downtown

Walking home with my Canon S30 in the early days; with lots of noise reduction.

luis fernandes / elf@ee.ryerson.ca / Dec 2010 Canon 50D Journal