How to Record Good Audio

If you are a photographer wanting to do multimedia slideshow you are probably going to need to know how to get good sound and here is a simple 3 step video on how to do just that

And further for those who dablle with journalism the International Journalists.net have a Youtube site with training videos

The good old days to the norm with compact image transmition devices

I have to say I really enjoyed this post as it reminded me of when I was working as a sports photographer for a national press agency.

It is also strange to think that photographers use common soloutions to their problems, as I have been using the Pocket Phojo and a PDA for the last year to do remote transmitions, with the Nikon D2x or the Canon G9

(using the G9 by swapping the memory card or just using the USB cable to view the memory card while plugged into the camera; It does not automaticaly send from the G9, like it does from the D2x)

With the Pocket Phojo software on a PDA and Canon G9 it makes for a very compact reporting kit as the G9 can redord audio and video good enough for the web as well

Read the full article bellow to see how things have changed

The Sydney Morning Herald Blogs: Photographers

For newspaper photographers, the single greatest advantage of dumping film has been faster and easier delivery of pictures.

Before that, a photographer on an away-job might turn his hotel en-suite into a makeshift darkroom, or pay a local mini-lab to stay open after-hours, then transmit one or two prints back to Sydney in a tedious over-the-phone process making you very late for dinner.

Sports photographers needed to work for several hours after full-time to get their pictures back to the paper, while now they can generally get away with the last of the fans.

A decade on, things have progressed to the point where you can transmit your photographs (live) from a smart-phone in your pocket, all the while continuing to shoot the action you were sent there to cover. Read More >>

Designer Straps for the G9

Well you have all the gadgets and attachments for your G9, but then so do a lot of people so how do you make your G9 stand out from the crowd…with a one off designer strap from Luxury Beads.

These straps are also ideal for the ladies who want to make there camera a little less macho and more ‘girly’ as they see fit, there is even a Suicide Girls designs in the pipeline with skull beads and punky pinks. The straps are designed in strength for a point and shoot cameras but equally work on mobile phones (Cell Phone) and PDA’s

The straps come in two lengths one for wrist and the other a neck strap, that is mounted to one of the strap points on the camera. Each strap is unique and a one off, you can’t buy two of the same strap, so no worries of bumping into some one and being embarrassed you have copied some one else’s set up!

This particular strap consisted of seed beads, black agate, and a large glass focal bead, separated by Tibetan silver bead caps and tube beads. Attaching the camera was a small corded loop; these are replaceable in the event of wear (and needs to be checked on a regular bases) and was easy to fit to the G9, unlike some straps that seem to be incompatible or require a screwdriver to force the fitting.

The straps are strong and can take a lot of weight but I would not say they are heavy duty and are more for the social photographer than those covering riots or working at the extreme end of life. That said only time will tell if I am wrong on that one.

Price for the wrist straps are £11.95 and £19.95 for the long/neck straps in the UK and Luxury Beads will be shipping them abroad in the near future.

Camera Straps and the G9

It might seem odd to be looking at something as basic as a strap, however it can make a world of difference to your photography

The default strap that comes with the G9 is not so much of a problem, however it can be a little short which in turn makes shooting of extreme angles a little awkward as the strap limits how far away you can hold the camera and still keep it around your neck.

Hanging the G9 around your neck can be problematic, your coat can cause damage to the rear LCD screen in the way of zips and buttons scratching it. You also look like a tourist saying ‘Mug Me’

The Digital Story: "How I Did It" 3 – Las Vegas Night Traffic

A really good tip on how to use your canon G9 at night by Derrick Story

“How I Did It” 3 – Las Vegas Night Traffic

When I’m in big cities, I try to travel by foot as much as possible. That’s when I see the good shots, and if I’m lucky, I come home with one or two.

I was walking back from a dinner meeting in Las Vegas with a Canon G9 and a small Gorillapod tucked away in my jacket pocket. I felt like shooting something, but nothing caught my eye until I climbed a set of stairs for a street overpass and noticed this scene. I wanted the streaming lights of traffic driving by, but I thought they would look best in context with the Las Vegas cityscape.

I mounted the Canon G9 to the Gorillapod and wrapped its legs around the edge of the overpass so I could compose the scene. I made sure the flash was turned off and set the ISO to 80 to control noise. I then went to manual exposure mode, which is very easy to use on the G9, and played with the settings until I saw what I liked on the LCD screen. The exposure was 1.3 seconds at f-2.8. I set the self-timer to anticipate when traffic would begin to move, then pressed the shutter button.

Some of the frames didn’t have the right look. But this image has a nice combination of moving lights and stationary objects. So it became my “keeper” for the night.

Photo of Las Vegas traffic by Derrick Story using Canon G9, 1.3 seconds at f-2.8, ISO 80, using manual exposure mode.

The Digital Story: “How I Did It” 3 – Las Vegas Night Traffic

Lens correction for the G9

Well it would be hard to imagine a camera lens that is free from all optical flaws and cramming lenses into small cameras like the G9 means there is going to be some distortion, chromatic aberration and perspective etc.

If this really bothers you, or you want the best quality why not try a software correction such as PT Lens which supports the G9 which has a ten image trial or buy a licensed version at a bargain price of $15 PTLens also plugs in to Adobe Photoshop.

There is also GML  undistorter which is a standalone application and Free

EPaper Press also have very good helpful articles on Monitor Calibration, Actions for Photoshop, Panorama Tools Tutorial and a host more

Reducing Noise with ACR (and Lightroom)

It’s been commented  on several reviews that the G9 is a little noisy due to having so many pixels on a small sensor (less and bigger is better for cutting noise) but its is not as bad as every one makes out, a lot of reviews seem to want the ultimate perfect camera and now! They are getting frustrated at the slow speed of technology and overtly nit picking because the camera manufactures put in features that in some ways is a step backwards.

To reduce noise the exposure is an important aspect and is best moving the exposure to the right (on the histogram) and so it is not touching the Left hand edge. Noise is caused by light hitting the pixel but not being enough to measure a bit like putting a bucket out to catch rain, it may be wet inside from a light shower but can be hard to measure so deliberately adding more exposure is like adding a measured amount of rain so the bucket (pixel) has something to measure

For the G9 at ISO 800, Thomas Niemann (of PTLens fame) has suggested the following settings in ACR Details page: (ACR = Adobe Camera Raw as found in Photoshop CS/Elements and Lightroom)

Sharpening
amount=60
radius = 0.8
detail = 30
masking = 0

Clarity -25

Noise reduction
luminance = 80
colour = 100

Source: Luminous Landscape forums

These settings can be saved as a preset in ACR and Adobe Lightroom

There is also Neat Image, Noise Ninja and Noisewear that are specific noise reduction programs and are worth checking out, the pro versions also work with RAW files and Noisewear do a limited but free community edition