Scott Bacon Photography

New Wheels

2008-07-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

This is somewhat off-topic. But I've been thinking about getting a motorcycle for a number of years. And with the high price of gasoline, this seemed to be the right time. I did quite a bit of research, both on the internet and talking to a number of experienced riders. Then I enrolled myself in the Motorcycle Safety Foundation sponsored Beginner Rider's Course. This course was excellent, in every way - lot's of personal riding instruction, time on the motorcycle and relative course work. I tried hard to match the type of bike to my intended use, and ended up with a '99 BMW F650 Funduro. I also spent quite a bit of time shopping for luggage and personal riding gear. So here's the result!

The real test comes in a couple weeks on my first road trip to shoot wildflowers. Be sure to check back to see how it goes!

Google Earth Street View Turns 1-year-old

2008-06-10T11:57:00.000-07:00

And to celebrate Google added a bunch of new cities and even more exciting are the new national parks!

Everglades National Park (Florida)
Florida Keys
Grand Teton National Park (Wyoming)
Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming/Montana)
Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado)
Joshua Tree National Park (California)
Death Valley National Park (California)
Lassen Volcanic National Park (California)
Sequoia National Park (California)
Lake Tahoe (California/Nevada)

I'm off to check them out!!

Great Sand Dunes Redux

2008-06-09T20:41:00.000-07:00

I added another image to my Recent Images Gallery.

This one is a B&W conversion of a dunes abstract I've titled "Pattern and Shadow." I love the dark line patterns leading into the image and the contrast between the hard lines in the foreground and soft shadows playing across the dunes in the background.

The location is mid-way up the Star Dune complex from Medano Creek - a steep and surreal hike.

It looks like a tranquil scene. But as is often the case on early summer afternoons, the wind was howling across the dunes - sand blasting my ankles and attempting to wreak havoc on my camera equipment. My tripod required some extra attention after returning home, but thankfully the rest of my gear escaped the dreaded grit.

Great Sand Dunes N.P.P. & The Crestones

2008-06-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

I made a quick trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve last Saturday for some hiking and photography. I explored some new areas and was treated to a spectacular sunset. :-)

2008-05-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

Spammers are spoofing my email address!! Blech!!!

I started getting thousands of obviously spammy emails "bounced" back to my inbox - all with my address in the From: line.

Here's what is happening...

A low-life spammer sends SPAM emails to thousands of people. They enter someone else's address to the From: field of the email because they (obviously) don't want the spam tracked back to them. When the email bounces, it comes to the spoofed person's address. In this case, me. :-( Then there are the cases where the SPAM goes through, and someone gets it in their inbox. This is even worse because they think I sent them the SPAM email!

So if you're getting SPAM that looks like it is from me, it is NOT! I promise.

Spoofing is a pretty common problem, but it still sucks. And sadly, there is little that can be done about it.

DNG Codecs

2008-05-14T11:31:00.000-07:00

Well, just like that... Adobe has released a DNG Codec for Windows Vista. This should allow those using Pro Photo Tools on Vista to work with DNG raw files.

And there is a solution for those of us still running Windows XP. Ardfry has a DNG Codec for Windows XP. Unfortunately, the codec is not free. But there is a free trial.

Also, all codecs can be found on the following Microsoft site: http://www.microsoft.com/prophoto/downloads/codecs.aspx

Thanks to Josh at Microsoft for the info and links...

Microsoft Pro Photo Tools v1.0

2008-05-12T18:30:00.000-07:00

Microsoft recently released Pro Photo Tools for editing image metadata. Initial reports looked promising, so I decided to give it a try. Here are my initial impressions...

Pro Photo Tools requires .NET Framework v3.0, which many people won't likely have installed already. After installing the .NET Framework you must reboot, then you can install Pro Photo Tools. Both of these installs require the annoying Microsoft genuine software validation - uggg.

After installing, I ran Pro Photo Tools and attempted to open one of my raw DNG files. Oops...
The file extension is not supported as an image file format.
Perhaps a codec should be installed.
Since I've been using Adobe Lightroom for my raw image editing, I've switched to using DNG raw format. Next I tried opening a .cr2 file from my Canon 30D. Same error. That's kind of a bummer! I imagine most "pros" and a good number of advanced amateurs will want to work with raw image formats, and these are not supported "out of the box." After a quick Google search, I found this FAQ Page indicating that codecs must be downloaded and installed from the manufacturer's websites in order to support raw image formats. Well, OK. I was able to navigate to the Canon website to download and install the CR2 Codec (which required yet another reboot). It appears that Adobe has not released a codec for the DNG format - disappointing. But perhaps a little more research will turn up a solution?

Finally, after 3 program installations and 2 reboots, I was able to open an image into Pro Photo Tools. And with that behind me, I was able to start using some of the features...

Images opened in the tool fairly quickly, but you can't determine the subject of the photos from the thumbnails created. They just look like digital artifacts. This would be a real problem if geotagging manually - you'd need to be able to identify the subject of the photo (using the thumbnail), in order to place it geographically.
Previously, I downloaded my GPS tracklog from my Garmin ETrex Vista Cx into Garmin Mapsource. From there I saved a .gpx tracklog file. I was able to easily load this into Pro Photo Tools.
I selected all my images and clicked on the Place Images button. This quickly geocoded my images and placed them on the nice, smooth Virtual Earth interface.
You then have the option of adjusting the image's position. This is not very intuitive, but you can adjust the images according to the time on the tracklog. This is better suited for geocoding one image at a time. When you are finished tweaking (I just tried a few adjustments), you need to click the Done button. Then in the GPS Data section, you will see the selected images now have corresponding geo information.
Then I clicked the Get location text button. I can't imagine this feature will produce anything worthwhile for my wilderness images, but I'm looking forward to using it for my travel photography. Again, this worked very quickly with a selection of 10 images.
I selected File - Save All Images with New Data to save my work. Normally, with my standard digital workflow, I'd proceed from here to Lightroom and start processing/finishing my images. But...
I played around a bit editing other metadata and didn't run into any problems. Some of these editing features could be quite useful.

Conclusions after a relatively shallow first use? After jumping through the hoops of the program and codec installation, the tool was fairly intuitive, fast, and easy to use. The lack of DNG support is a big drawback, for me (I'll do a bit of research to see if this can be resolved). And the unusable generated thumbnails should be fixed. But the features of this tool DO look promising. And I look forward to subsequent updates/releases.

Minnehaha Park - Minneapolis

2008-05-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a quick weekend to Minneapolis/St. Paul visiting in-laws. After my plane landed, I had an hour to kill. So I'd planned ahead of time to visit one of the oldest parks in Minneapolis... Minnehaha Park. Oddly, the taxi driver had no idea where the park was even though it is less than a 10 minute drive from the airport. Luckily, I'd brought my printed Google Map. There is a nice set of trails centered around Minnehaha Falls and there are also some interesting historic sites. This site provides a good overview. It was an enjoyable morning. Here are a few photos...

Minnehaha Falls

Flowers near the river

Pasque Flowers in the gardens

Camera Calibration

2008-05-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

I recently picked up an X-Rite ColorChecker chart and used it to create a custom Lightroom develop preset for my Canon 30D using the Chromoholics ACR Calibrator script. It was really simple:

Download and install the script (download and directions at the link above).
Take a photo of the ColorChecker.
Download the photo to your computer and open it in Photoshop.
Run the script, then use the output values to tweak Lightroom's Camera Calibration settings in the Develop module and save a preset. Done!

Previously, I'd created a develop preset by eye, using landscape images I'd taken and averaged/optimized the camera calibration settings. The new preset created with the ColorChecker and ACR Calibrator script is slightly better.

I use this preset as my baseline develop settings and apply it to all images on import. This gets a vast majority of my images 90% of the way to a finished state - a big time saver!

I recommend trying this method if you have, or can temporarily get your hands on a ColorChecker chart.

Google Earth 4.3

2008-04-15T06:14:00.000-07:00

Google Earth will be releasing version 4.3 today. It will include some nice new features. You can read a good summary of the new features at the Google Earth Blog. Happy GEing!!

Utah!

2008-04-13T18:13:00.002-07:00

I recently returned from a long weekend in Southern Utah - Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and Capitol Reef National Park. We saw some amazing country, did some hiking and a lot of shooting. I've gone through most of my shots and posted a Trip Report & Slideshow.

Enjoy!

New Images from Cedar Mesa, UT

2008-03-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

Added a few images (finally) from my trip last fall to Cedar Mesa in Southern Utah. Check them out in the Utah Gallery.

Website Tweaks

2008-03-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

I recently made some changes to the website...

Images are now ordered so that the newest images are displayed first.
Some of the navigation in the gallery section has been tweaked - hopefully for the better.
A little code optimization.

Please drop me a note if you run into problems. :-)

Lightroom Geotag Plugin

2008-02-29T14:42:00.000-08:00

Last week, Jeff Barnes released a Beta version of a Lightroom Geotag Plugin. It is definitely Beta software - limited features, performance issues and a couple bugs. But it is AWESOME to see someone working on a plugin to add this feature to Adobe Lightroom!!

After installing the plugin, I got it to work pretty easily with a few .cr2 files from my Canon 30D and .gpx files output from Garmin Mapsource. I did not get it to work with DNG files. I think that's because the plugin works with the .xmp sidecar files. Before running the plugin, you need to write metadata to a file (under the Metadata menu item in LR). Next, select your photos and run the plugin, which updates the metadata .xmp sidecar file. Lastly, select the option in LR to read metadata from the file.

If you're not a software or geotagging geek (like me) you might want to wait for a more stable release. But this has great potential and I'll be watching for updates closely.

Really Right Stuff BH-40 LR II - Wow!

2008-02-22T16:30:00.000-08:00

I've used, and been very happy with my Kirk BH-3 ballhead since it's initial release. It's seen action with various camera systems, from 35mm SLR, to medium format, to DSLR, to 4x5 field camera. And it has traveled the world and many a backcountry site with me. It is one of the best photo-related investments I've ever made. So why would I part with it??

About a month ago I was IM'ing with a photographer friend and he pointed me to the Really Right Stuff website. He was looking at upgrading his ballhead with the RRS LR II quick release. It's cool. A patented lever clamp that adds even more speed to the quick release system. The quick release also has a small spirit level - convenient. I started poking around the RRS website and found the BH-40 ballhead. Again, it's cool - sleek finish, stylish knobs, low profile (a full 1 inch shorter than my BH-3), and even lighter weight. I searched around the internet for some reviews, pinged some fellow photographers that have been using the BH-40 and everyone raved about it. It turns out that since I was perfectly, perhaps ignorantly, happy with my older BH-3, I had just not paid any attention to ballhead discussions when they came up on the internet. I placed an order with RRS and 4 days later the BH-40 arrived.

Wow. Initial quality, fit and finish is amazing. This is really a superior product. The BH-40 is an upgrade to the BH-3 in every way. Well only time will prove out longevity and reliability... The ball action is very smooth and it locks securely with a nice lever knob. The tension knob is numbered, making it simple to return to a particular tension level. After a short time I found 2 different settings that worked well for me in different situations and the numbers make it ridiculously simple to switch back and forth. No more guessing. And the lever clamp was everything I'd hoped it would be. I've been using the BH-40 for a couple weeks with my Canon 30D and I couldn't be more pleased. It is a perfect match to my trusty Gitzo G1228. And with the Gitzo short column, the combination weighs only 4.5 lbs.

If you're in the market for a medium weight ballhead, the RRS BH-40 certainly warrants your consideration.

WikiLoc

2008-02-11T09:55:00.000-08:00

WikiLoc is a free GPS track sharing website. It's a great way to view, find and share locations via Google Maps and Google Earth. I just signed up and uploaded a backpacking trip to Lost Lake in the Weminuche Wilderness of Colorado. I'll be adding more as I have time.

Lowepro Primus

2007-12-13T07:35:00.001-08:00

As you can tell by the lack of activity here, I've been quite busy - mostly with a new day-job. But I recently responded to an all too common question about photo backpacks in a discussion forum and I thought I'd elaborate here on some of my experiences with photo backpacks.

I do a lot of hiking and backpacking. As much as time allows. I love it. And I love photographing the backcountry. I've been doing so for many years and I've tried (and been frustrated with) many, many photo backpacks. I've also tried modifying hiking backpacks for my photo gear. This didn't always work well either. But Lowepro finally answered some of my wishes with their new Primus model. I got a pre-production model early in the summer of 2007 and after 100+ trail miles I'm still quite happy with the pack - something I've never been able to say before.

What I like about the Lowepro Primus:

Carries a nice compliment of gear. Mine is a Canon EOS 30D w/ 24-105mm L attached, Tokina 12-24mm, Canon 24mm TS-E, and Canon 70-200mm f/4 L. Plus a Gitzo G1228 tripod.
Easy "on-the-trail" camera access. The side access zipper is a little awkward at first, but after just a little practice, it works great! Hand-held trail shots are now quick and the camera is stored safely inside the pack.
The pack itself is light. My complaint with the photo trekker series was always the weight. The pack alone weighed 8+ lbs. - ridiculous. The Primus is under 5 lbs. and it is comfortable all day. We're talking 10 hours, 15 miles, 4000 ft. vertical, all day...
Extra storage for extra gear - food, water, clothes, survival gear. Space is spare but adequate for a day's hike.
The exterior pocket/flap is great for storing a water bladder and rain gear.
Easy tripod storage on the back of the pack with the designed tripod holder, or on the side utilizing the water bottle holder.
Access to gear from the suspension side of the pack. This alleviates setting the suspension down in dirt, mud and/or snow to get to gear and then putting gunky straps and waistbelt back on your body to hit the trail. You can also access gear by unshouldering the straps, loosening the waistbelt, but leaving it buckled, and swiveling the pack around to your front. This sounds a bit weird, and I was skeptical when looking at the promos demonstrating this, but it actually works quite well.

So there you have it. If you're looking for a day-hiking photo backpack, this just may work for you too. :-)

Google Earth Weather!

2007-11-08T06:41:00.000-08:00

Those who know me, know I'm a big Google Earth fan. It takes armchair exploration and trip planning to a whole new level. And here's some great news!

Google Earth has just launched a new weather network layer - clouds, radar, and conditions and forecasts - data provided by weather.com. And while this type of data was available via other dispersed network links, which could be loaded and saved individually, it's now all in one place and part of the Google Earth network - available by default in the layers selection.

This will be quite useful for photo trip planning...

Geotagging

2007-10-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

What is geotagging?

Geotagging is a term used for attaching a geographic location, usually latitude and longitude, to a digital image. This allows images to be mapped to the location where they were taken. I've been geotagging all of my digital images for over a year now. It's fun and can be very useful to know exactly where images were taken. You can also view the images in different applications like Google Earth.

There are many, many different ways to accomplish geotagging. Here's a sample of my geotagging workflow...

Turn on my Garmin eTrex Vista Csx and sync the built-in clock of my Canon 30D digital SLR to match the exact same time displayed on the GPS.
Clip the GPS (leaving it on for the duration of the shoot) to my backpack and hit the road or trail. Turn the GPS off when done shooting.
After returning home, download images from camera to computer.
Convert images from raw format to DNG using Adobe DNG Converter.
Start the RoboGeo software program (there are many similar programs now available - some free), load images, connect GPS to computer via USB, match images with lat/long using GPS tracklog, then write geo-info to each digital image EXIF data, and save. Exit RoboGeo (a project file can be saved if desired). The images are now geo-tagged!
Import geotagged images into Adobe Lightroom for processing.

Welcome!

2007-10-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog! So what's gonna happen here??

I'll post info on what's new in my photography world and other items of interest.

And, periodically, I plan to select an image from my galleries and delve into some of the details that went into making the photo - technique, composition, location, timing, etc. It will be good exercise for my brain and hopefully others will find it interesting...

Drop me a note if you have an image that you're interested in hearing about.