F/1.0

http://www.photographyblog.com/index.php/weblog/comments/microsoft_and_hoya_pentax_join_forces/

I’m honestly not sure what to make of this - seems like kind of a weird combination for a “cross-licensing” agreement. On the one hand, it will surely be good for Pentax to have a company with the weight of Microsoft backing it, but on the other hand I am leery of the direction MS might influence Pentax in. I fear that MS would push Pentax toward more flashy, mass-market, consumer-level electronics (aka toy cameras) and away from what I feel to be their greatest strength: Fantastic optics and well designed cameras.

I mean really - not to bash Microsoft, but how often do you hear the words “Microsoft” and “well-designed” in the same sentence. I cringe to think of the feature bloat

Although to be fair, it is really to early for more than idle speculation. We’ll have to wait and see how this pans out.

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A few nice links on the more technical side of things

• David Tejada has done a great post on making a very professional looking beauty dish out of hardware store parts (for a speedlight/strobe). Awesome - I may just have to give it a shot myself
• http://davidtejada.blogspot.com/2008/04/beauty-dish-for-sb-800.html
• a *huge* pack of photoshop actions over at reynespho.com. I’ve only checked out a few, but they seem good!
• http://www.reynsphoto.com/articles/Post_Processing/extra/70_Photoshop_Actions_app.php#
• and finally: 44 random photo tips. definitely some useful stuff here:
• http://www.photoprotips.com/20080421/44-random-photo-tips/

that’s it for now! more to come soon.

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I love prints, especially large prints.

one of the downsides
to me of digital imaging is that it lends itself to *not* printing your
work. Back in the “olden days” of film negatives, you *had* to print -
there was no image other than the print (I’m not counting slides) This
of course had downsides of it’s own - prints take up space, and are
harder to catalogue

but with the advent of digital, I feel like
more and more people are simply chosing not to print their images,
sharing them electronically via the internet and photosharing sites
etc…

And in some ways this is great. it is convenient, it
is quick, it is easy and it doesn’t cost anything. Prints are somewhat
more time consuming (if you do them yourself), require physical storage
space, and cost money.

but there is something wonderful about
the experience of looking at a rich 16″x20″ print, nicely matted and
framed that simply cannot be replicated by staring at a computer
monitor.

Another advantage to printing is that digital noise and grain is not
*nearly* as offensive in prints as it is viewed 100% on a computer
screen. I hate it when someone will rant on and on about minute
differences in noise performance between x camera and y camera and iso
settings etc… and when I ask them how it looks in prints they admit
that they never actually *print* these images. Arrrrgh.

So do it! make some prints! there is no reason not too, it’s as easy
as uploading a file to mpix or such and ordering. Photobooks are good
too. it is simply amazing to me that I can get a nicely printed and
bound book of my photograhs for < $20. (I’ve been pretty impressed
with blurb) I feel like it’s pretty much made the old-school 4×6 print
album obsolete.

With so many options available, making printing easier than ever it is really a shame not to print your work!

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In case you haven’t heard there are 2 bills in congress right now dealing with the issues of rights of “orphaned works” meaning the rights to works of art and photographs for which the copyright holder cannot be located.

Now I am not one of those die hard “protect copyright at all costs” - I think that the internet and digital distribution is changing the business model of selling photography much in the same way that it changed the business model of selling music. Those who adapted and embraced the new model and the new media profited, those who cling to the “old ways” (cough - RIAA -cough) are doomed to fail.

HOWEVER, this bill has *serious* ramifications for copyright and fair use for photography. It is absolutely *ripe* for abuse.

John Harrington, of “Photo Business News & Forum” has written about it far better than I ever could. I agree with his assessment entirely.

check out his article here:

http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/2008/05/orphan-works-2008-wolf-in-sheeps.html

and email/mail your representative!

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